Upcoming
I’ve been meaning to add this page to the blog for a while, as it helps to focus my mind if nothing else. For all of you who are curious to which HD&D topics I am tackling next (and there must be at least one of you, surely), below is a list of everything that I’m currently working on. As can be evidenced by the length of the list, I have the attention span of a mayfly. I’ll update this page whenever something new is posted to the main blog.
Combat
This is the big one. Starting on 20th September, the Walk Between Worlds will update every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with the next part of HD&D’s combat section. Combat is conveniently divivded into nine sections, so it will take three weeks to upload everything. The full release schedule is as follows:
- The Combat Sequence – Monday, 21 September 2009
- Action Types – Wednesday, 23 September 2009
- Taking Your Turn – Friday, 25 September 2009
- Attacks and Defences – Monday, 28 September 2009
- Combat Modifiers – Wednesday, 30 September 2009
- Movement in Combat – Friday, 2 October 2009
- Actions in Combat – Monday, 5 October 2009
- Atypical Combat – Tuesday, 7 October 2009
- Wounds and Healing – Friday, 9 October 2009
Feats
Writing the combat system has led me to create various feats that interact with that system. So expect to see a full list of general feats and talents (ones that aren’t keyed to any particular class or race) at some point soon after the Combat system has been posted.
Weapons, Weapons, Weapons
There are 175 weapons in HD&D, divided between twenty-two weapon groups (including unarmed combat). I am currently working on a definitive list and descriptions for all of those weapons. This obviously encompasses a master weapons table, but each of the 175 will have at least a paragraph of text describing what the weapon is and what it does.
My goal is to have all (or at least most) of the weapons functionally different from one another. A longsword should work slightly differently to a broadsword, or a scimitar, or a sabre. Much of the work has already been done in various sources; and I’m going to be pillaging the second edition Arms and Equipment Guide and Plays Option: Combat and Tactics as well as the obvious third and fourth edition sources. This is a longer term project that I will probably fit in around the following.
The first post to the blog concerning weapons will include at least all the weapons that were published in the third edition Player’s Handbook. They should be enough to be getting on with for the time being.
The Fighter
Only after the post on Weapons and the post on Combat will I issue the Fighter class. This will be the full class and should include a few dozen talents and feats. Obviously, anyone who wants to invent other talents or feats for the class is more than welcome to do so. If the fighter seems a good enough template for other classes then I might consider issuing a design call for other classes at this point. If not I may do with wizard or cleric next.
Further Races
Of the races that put out on the first Design Call, no-one has yet taken up the Genbassi, Half-orc or Halfling. All those races are still on the table. I’m going to be starting on the Genbassi next, so anyone who wants to get stuck in should let me know.
Spells
I am currently working to convert all of the 1st level wizard spells from the third edition Player’s Handbookto HD&D. Once I have finished that I will issue a Design Call. I want all spells of levels 1-3 for all classes converted to HD&D before we start playtesting. And I don’t want to do it all on my own. I’m not that far through the spells at the moment, so this might take a little while.
Beyond the Blog
Now that I have uploaded the final version of the skills system we are beginning to build up a library of finished (or rather, “play-test ready”) rules for HD&D. The question now is what do we do with them. The blog is not a good place to put the finished rules as it’s really tricky to find anything; what we need is a well-referenced and easy to use website. This new site will appear as part of www.iourn.com a little later in the summer. It’ll be a nice and simple HTML reference that is very similar in style to the d20 SRD site. I’m also taking this opportunity to redesign the homepage. The new HD&D site will also be in a different format to the other portions of the website. This new design will cascade across the D&D, Iourn, FBI and Hurssia sites when I have time. Probably between September and Christmas. Obviously, the blog will still remain active as a forum to discuss continuing additions to the game.
I am well aware that we’ll eventually need a printed version of the HD&D rules for game play, but I don’t see us having one before the start of the first official HD&D campaign in September 2010. Until then we’ll have to reference the rules electronically from laptops during the session. I’m conscious that any printed ruleset is going to be a parallel project to the website, and therefore the rules will have to be kept up to date in two formats simultaneously. Therefore, I’d like to get the rules finalised in one format (the webpage) before creating the second.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game has now been published. I’ve read most of the finished game now, and it’s good: on balance, better than third edition and much, much better than fourth. Pathfinder seems to have a similar remit as HD&D, except that because of the need to be compatible with the entire third edition back-catalogue, Pathfinder cannot be truly innovative. Although, I’m not arrogant enough to assume that HD&D will do a better job of righting the wrongs of Dungeons and Dragons, I am still fonder of my work that Pathfinder. At least at present.
The plan is that by the time I have published the Fighter class to the blog in October, we’ll all be in a position to make a reasoned judgment as to which version of D&D we want to continue playing 2010. Nothing is set in stone at this stage.
