Home > Uncategorized > DnD to Tartary character translation notes

DnD to Tartary character translation notes

January 10, 2013 Leave a comment Go to comments

Tartary is flailsnails, but it doesn’t run in DnD – it kinda runs in Ars Magica Lite but not really.
Which is stupid but it’s because I don’t want levels and some other DnD baggage, and AM wizards are not native. Go figure.

Tartary natives use this chargen here.
Complete combat system here.

DnD flailsnailers use this converter:

Attributes

DEX, INT,  WIS, CHA are all the same.
The higher of STR or CON becomes PHYsique.
New stat: PER
ception – either use WIS or roll 3d6.
We only care about your bonus/penalty here: this will affect all skill  rolls. If I say “add Wis” I mean add your bonus/penalty (+3 to -3). A DnD attribute of 3 gives -3 penalty, 4-5 = -2, 6-8 = -1, 13-15 = +1, 16-17 = +2, 18 = +3.

Reroll Hit Points. You get D6 + Wis + Phy + 4 + level. So your dude is 3rd level, that’s +3, regardless of class/race.

REP: Reputation records your fame and badassery on Tartary, useful in social combat and when asking for favours, recruiting redshirts etc.
Rep = your DnD level +/- a modifier based on your greatest career highs and lows to date:  Tartary gets television from across the flailsnailoverse so there’s a fair chance Tartarians have watched your glorious or embarrassingly funny exploits on the village big screen.
If you have a Rep of 5+ then you must choose one of the 2 Tartary alignments, which affect how people will react to you. The alignments are Face and Heel.

Classes and skills

Tartary uses a skill system but the skills are so broad they’re like classes.
You get your current level + 3 in your core competency. So eg a 4th level fighter gets FIGHT 4+3=7. A second level thief gets THIEF 5.
EXCEPTION: at 5th level and above instead of getting an extra +1 in your primary occupation you get something else. Bring a high-level character and I’ll tell you what.
You also get 2 other minor skills, one at 3, one at 2.
Everyone gets FIGHT 3 anyway.

Minor Skills are narrower than classes but still act as a basis for players to bargain with the DM. They include:
Acrobatics/escapology (circus work, includes multi-person stunts),
Athletics (parkour – climb, run, jump)
Stealth
evaluate goods/bargain,
smuggle/conceal/bribe,
etiquette/savoir faire,
folk ken (applied psychology/empathy),
Animal handling/whispering,
leadership/oratory/bluff,
act/lie/disguise
Direction Sense (track, find your way in the dark etc),
Dowsing,
radiation sense (aka detect magic),
Concentration/iron will (useful for rocket surgeons, lookouts)
ride,
survival,
swim,
linguist,
scribe,
forgery,
jimmy (pick locks, also fix machines with a kick or whisper),
healer/herbalist,
mimicry/ventriloquism,
read lips/gesture,
weather sense,
shoot – bow or guns or artillery,
sleight of hand, 
music, 
showmanship,
law, beliefs
, anthropology,
sail, drive, or fly vehicle.

Most equipment and magic items will be just fine: Tartary’s built around dangerous gear. But it might attract a lot of attention/avarice from powerful people. Psionics and MUs in particular will attract trouble, and Cleric magic may or may not work.

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  1. trey
    January 10, 2013 at 9:20 pm | #1

    Interesting. I don’t think I had been aware of what system your were using. Different Time Zones makes it like a whole different gaming world :) .

    • January 10, 2013 at 9:29 pm | #2

      Maybe it’s silly of me not to use DnD -there are certainly costs – but I kinda like how the assumptions are different. For instance, nobody’s asked me what sort of armour they can have. And once you’ve done away with levels and gold and you’ve added firearms, I think it’s swimming upstream to try to run the game as DnD.

    • January 10, 2013 at 9:30 pm | #3

      also, G+ makes it a different world, at least for me. I don’t keep up on blogs any more.

  1. April 21, 2013 at 9:44 am | #1

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