Days of the Week

For my ongoing world, these are the days of the week that most human communities follow.

Days of the Week

1st Day: Counting Crowns (Crown is a gold piece for most civilized people)

2^nd Day: Steadfast (or Steadfast Prayer or just Prayer)

3^rd Day: Burning Candles

4^th Day: Sharpening Swords or Sharpening

5^th Day: Market (or Tower Day)

6^th Day: Wash (or Well Day)

7^th Day: Peal (Ringing Bells or just Bells)

8^th Day: Hammering (or Hooping)

9^th Day: Gate (Travel)

10^th Day: Sword Day

Days are generally known by these names throughout the domain for most Nyssian speaking peoples. Here are specific tasks most people follow on that day.

These days are rarely fixed, cities share the same week day names, but have them on differing days. Thus the day that fair are is in that location is Market day, the next day that town will have Market day, and so on and so on. Usually scholars will keep a definite record to determine where they are in relation to other locations as counted by the number of days from a specific event.

Most faiths have a day of service, wherein the faithful should visit their church (Obelisk); once a specific period (some every week, others every month, etc.) The 2^nd, 3^rd & 7^th days are the most common. Market day is the rarest, as it is fair day when the market is open and most people do their weekly shopping. Sword Day is often used for military faiths.

Because the days can differentiate between towns, it is possible to visit the same days in a row by Chasing the Week-Wheel. Some merchants, bards, and religious orders deliberately make their living doing this, so virtually every day they have their special day of activity. 

Sword Day: Most non-nobles do not pay taxes but can be called upon for military service in times of danger. It is mandatory to participate in training once a week during sword day, but not necessarily using the sword as a weapon. 

Reward Tokens

Game Tokens

My bi-weekly game is utilizing standard Pathfinder rules in my own game world. I've gone through various levels of optimization and home brew rules over the years wwhen using the D&D (1e, 2e 3.x)  but am trying to stick mostly to the core stuff for a whole bunch of reasons. One difference is in how I reward players - with ongoing tokens, it tracks both good / bad actions, successes as well as awesome moments. It is similar to action points, but there are many more benefits they can potentially utilize them for.

Players are given two red & two blue tokens at the start of every game; players earn a white chip at the end of the adventure not always a session. Players keep any unused blue or white green tokens at the end of the session at the start of the next session. They need to declare their use before a dice is rolled.

Blue: +3 to  to any roll deciding roll (attack, saving throw or skill check but not damage or initiative checks)
before the dice is dropped for either their own or another player's rolls. Having five unused blue tokens, a player can trade up for a white token at the end of a session. Blue tokens are open, meaning other players can throw down another blue without limit.

Red: -2 to any roll deciding roll; if someone puts down a red token, no other player can put then put another token (either red or blue) down on that same roll. The rolling players can put down one other token if they so choose.  If the dice roller fails the check, they take the normal in-game penalty and keeps that red token. If they succeed, they trade the red for a blue token. Any unused red tokens at the end of the game will penalize the player in an equal number blue tokens.

Green:  +4 to any roll (attack, damage, initiative, save, or skill roll.) These are given to player whose character are at least two levels below the highest level character in the party. Unlike Blue or Red tokens, these are use or lose, they do not count if you have them at the end of the game, every session you gain these tokens if you play a character at a lower level. This is really a way to help minimize character level difference.

White: +5 to any roll or a re-roll. Using these tokens will enable players to purchase Player abilities

The GM can also reward red and blue chips through-out the game, normally a red will be given if someone rolls a natural 20 and a blue for a natural 1,2 or 3 assuming failure at that specific action.

After every adventure (not session) the DM rewards one white token for every player.

Typical Player Abilities (1st - 5th level; double at 6-10, triple at 11-15)

5 white tokens: being able to lay a blue token down after a dice is rolled

5 white tokens: being able to lay double the normal tokens at any one time

5 white tokens: create a character to be in the character pool. Creating a character is open to every other player after the first mission.

5 white tokens: receive double starting red or blue tokens at the start of a game

5 white tokens: being able to lay a blue token down to add to damage (only your roll)

5 white tokens: being able to lay a blue token down to subtract damage (your roll or others), never less than 1 damage

5 white tokens: lay a blue token down to grant auto success for skill checks before dice are thrown, this is permitted once a game and never in a final boss scene

5 white tokens: lay blue token down to grant auto success for saving throws before dice are thrown, this is permitted once a game and never in a final boss scene

5 white tokens: lay a blue token down to re-roll initiative

5 white tokens: lay a blue token down to re-use a character ability, if normally limited to a certain number of times a day

10 white tokens: being able to play two characters at the same time

5 white tokens: Making a character exclusive for one player

2 white tokens: re-do character skills, feats & spells

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I have used the red and blue token rules at some local cons and had some pretty good feedback.  Decided to incorporate them in my game sessions. Players seem to like it but what I have found thus far, is that players are *stingy*. They keep the blue ones for themselves to build up, and rarely help the other players. However, when players deviate from the group, players certainly won`t hesitate to penalize using the reds one after the other.

Also hope that the player abilities don`t become overly burdensome to either keep track or or unfairly affecting the game. There is still a cost in blue tokens so you might have lots of abilities, but you can use only them four times or so a session, not too over-powering I hope.

20 Questions Version 1


Ability scores generation method? All characters are pre-gen at start, I use 16 points

How are death and dying handled? Normally staggered below 0 hp, dead at their constitution score (Standard PF)

What about raising the dead? Common among PCs, in fact, players can assume that as long as they are on good terms with their employer, it will happen in a day or three. If their bodies are not raised by the fifth day, the COMPANY probably won't raise them.

How are replacement PCs handled? They travel in a war-wagon, their next PC will walk out and join them. There is a list of 15 or so pooled characters, so they can choose among those.

Initiative: highest individual wins first action, then we go counter or counter-clockwise until combat ends based on even or odd dice. Generally all NPCs act in the same sequence. Started this at a con worked really well to keep track of & then implemented it for all my games.

Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work? Standard Pathfinder rules. I decide the results of a fumble based on a dex or str check.

Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet? Yes, much less likely to be stunned

Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly? Yes

Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything? Yes, I use random monster tables in dungeons, without taking APL into consideration

Level-draining monsters: yes or no? yes

Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death? yes

How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked? specific resources like spell components yes, but nothing mundane, if it isn't rare or expensive and fits into your back, you have it if you want it. Don't want to limit players creativity, and this kind of book-keeping isn't why I play.

What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time? There are long period in between adventures, that's when this kind of things happen. Training is required for spell-casters or changing classes

What do I get experience for? attendance and completing goals; but being smart and funny helps

How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination? combo, if they are lazy they roll and then I describe; if they perfectly describe what they want to do they get a +20 + their perception rank for their search, thus most non-rogues can do this

Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work? encouraged, as they work with lesser soldiers

How do I identify magic items? Skills will give you a good chance at having an understanding, but, should be examined by a priest or mu of mid-level to determine specifics

Can I buy magic items? There are limited use items available, but enchanted weapons, armor, misc are extremely rare and expensive. Items also have a limited shelf-life, so they are relatively cheap and they don't add up as they eventually expire.

Can I create magic items? When and how? only limited or one time use ones, but weapons, armor, miscellaneous are not really available, there's an asterisk here for my players but that sums it up.

What about splitting the party? easiest way to get killed, but sure, I rarely disallow anything the PCs want to try

First Post

Umm, hi there.

Welcome to Discrete Dice my gaming blog. My mission statement: write stuff, get into some conversations, & post some links that I like.

What do I want to do with this space:

1. Post my game summaries
2. Post back-up info for my players, both direct and indirect
3. Rules, Changes, Adjustments, Clarifications
4. Random Tables

What I don't want to do: Care about real world problems, issues, politics. Also not gonna care about anyone else's posts or critiques.

Things I am not sure about yet: How much of the game world and my ideas I want to publish for players to see and read.