Hello! Man, end of January already. Time flies when you’re having fun and busy as hell.

I got to do 2 playtests of 3d6 Fantasy this month and the game changed a lot for the better!

Gameplay changes

This is the important/fun bits so I will start off with them.

Saves

Initially I wanted an ad-hoc save system for 3d6 Fantasy. It used Save vs Traps, Save vs Magic and Save vs Death with no attribute modifiers and each class had it’s own Save number and got bonuses depending on the class.

My players for that game where only slightly familiar with this save system. They suggested I change it to a 3.Pathfinder style of Fort, Will, and Reflex save.

I didn’t want to ape those entirely, but thought ok this could change. So now you can Save vs Attribute and let your modifiers add to your roll. So now instead of rolling Save vs Trap to avoid the pit trap you roll Save vs Dex. Or if you want to bust a door open you Save vs Strength.

Classes still get bonuses, however it is based on the Attribute.

Spellcasting

Spellcasting in 3d6 Fantasy isn’t Vancian style like in OSR games/ D&D. Instead you roll 3d6 + Level - Spell Fatigue and look for a static Target Number of 9.

Initially that was it, anyways. My 2nd playtest group suggested I let them add their Spellcasting Attribute to the cast to promote assigning their higher rolls there (3d6 Fantasy uses roll 3d6, assign as you see fit by default)

So now, a Mage will roll 3d6 + Level + Int Mod - Spell Fatigue

Weapon Changes

Every weapon in 3d6 Fantasy does 1d6 damage, alongside no class gaining HP as they level. In my 1st playtest I had a player want to Dual Wield. I added that Dual Weilding/ 2 Weapon Fighting gives a +1 to the attack roll

This bonus is shared by 2 handed weapons to make up for not having a shield.

Fast Leveling

I added an optional rule for faster leveling in which each player character gets a roll on a Treasure Table after clearing a monster lair. Players love rolling treasure and love leveling up even more!

The game only goes to 10, at least for now. Without this rule the leveling speed is fairly slow as most of your XP comes from getting gold from monster hordes.

Editing/Layout

Short section here as I had to clarify how I wanted stats to be rolled. Was initially 3d6 down the line but my players misread it! I decided to keep it as roll 3d6, choose which score goes where. That’s really about it for editing!

Monsters

Added Ghouls, Giant Ants, Zombies, and Skeletons. Even made some artwork for the ghoul to use in one of the provided adventures!

Wrap up

That’s it for the design diary this month! Hoping everything calms down in Febuary and I can do some more work on the game and possibly even name it!

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