Forest of Fiends: Temples on the Frontier

Okay, so I've been developing my jungle sandbox campaign setting a bit more.  Because the effort on the coast of the ancient continent is led by contingents from the temples of several major deities I need to sketch in some basic information on them.  In the beginning the temples of The Radiant Triad (Torm, Tyr, and Ilmater) provided priests, paladins, soldiers, servants, and pilgrims for the holy crusade and the faithful of did not stint in providing support of all kinds.  Alas, their first fleet was wrecked on the coast in an ouragan storm and only a few survivors escaped in a small boat to tell the tale.  Two smaller expeditions explored the coast more cautiously and eventually discovered the island they named Light of Fortune.  After establishing a base in the abandoned town of Tahala and bringing reinforcements they quelled the ire of the local tiefling savages and pacified them by teaching proper worship of the True Gods.  With the help of tiefling laborers from the newly-pacified clans the Temple of Jannath cleared jungle and built a small village named Lady of Bounty dedicated to the goddess.  Unfortunately, not long afterwards the village was ravaged and mostly burned by evil fey marauders.  The rebuilding is mostly complete but more settlers are needed.

Temple of Torm (God of duty, loyalty, and obedience [LG])

Our here on the frontier the clerics of dauntless Torm are led by the dashing but vain Paladin-Captain Rynaldo Lyma <male/human>, about whom the songs are many.  The majority of the representatives of this temple out here are paladins but there are still many clerics and others.  Paladins are always stationed at the docks to determine the quality of the souls of new arrivals.  Those found wanting are sentenced to paid positions under "supervised service", mostly as oarsmen on two small triremes (the Tidecutter and Ocean of Faith) which patrol near the island, up the river, and along the coast; others work with hammer and chisel to level the rock at the island's highest point to prepare for a planned temple.

Temple of Tyr (God of justice and war [LG])

Judge-General Chessanta Turindei Urbaville <female/dwarf>  is first among the clerics of incorruptible Tyr.  The temple operates the only court of law out here on the edge of the world.  The temple of Tyr is represented mostly by judge-priests here, but there are a few paladins.  The judges work with the paladins of Torm to find fair employment for those arrivals whose souls are found to be clouded.  The temple also has a contingent of mercenaries, half halberdiers and half crossbowmen, led by two Priest-Captain clerics of the temple.  These defend the island, Lady of Bounty, and serve as marines on the two patrol galleys.

Temple of Ilmater: God of martyrdom and patience [LG])

The priests and priestesses of Ilmater currently have no one preeminent among them.  They operate a small hospital on the island, providing healing to all who enter without prejudice or fee.  Most of his clerics, however, are currently onshore ministering to  the pacified tielfing clans and the colonists at Lady of Bounty.  They sooth fears, heal wounds, and teach forebearance.  Many have willingly gone forth into the jungle to proselytize more tieflings and more than a few subsequently gladly accepted martyrdom in his service.

Temple of Chauntea, called by some Bhalla or Jannath (Goddess of agriculture, farmers, gardeners, summer [NG])

The center of activity for the Grain Goddess is the struggling colony of Lady of Bounty.  The chief priestess Henrielta Lurical <female/human> is determined to tame the savage jungle and replace it with proper, decent fields of grain and orchards for fruit.  The village is well-located, with fairly good soil, a river along one side, and a spring for fresh water; it is also protected by a log stockade.  However the fey of the jungle seem to hate the place and they harass it constantly.  About two weeks ago it was attacked by an unusually large band of raiders who burned over half the buildings and some of the stockade.  The inhabitants are mostly "volunteer homesteaders" transported from the Holy Realms and thus not fit material for farming or fighting.  They are instead a mix of half-orcs, half-elves, petty criminals, beggars and vagrants, ransomed debtors, and some political exiles.

Temple of Tymora (Goddess of Luck, Adventure, Travel  [CG])

Tymora is the only deity with a fully consecrated temple out here.  It is led by Luck-Chanter Sanchetta Lurical <female/human>--free-spirited older sister of the chief priestess of Chauntea at Lady of Bounty.  In fact Sanchetta eagerly came out here as a way to tease her stuffy (but much loved) little sister.  The other temples currently make due with small portable shrines in temporary housing, which causes some resentment.  The House of Tymora, however, is not a simple temple but a thriving bar, casino, and (so persistent rumors have it) brothel.  The goddess is a natural focus for worship under the circumstances and her casino temple is the only major location in Tahala for fun.  The clerics of the Radiant Triad are not amused by this den of iniquity but shutting it down would destroy morale and likely lead to rioting.  They content themselves with stiff watch patrols in its vicinity.

There's Only One Condition (Simple Condition Rules for Old School Hack)

So, yes I am still chugging along with my hack of the very fun Old School Hack, thanks for asking.  Being a very old school game, it does not waste any space on rules for "conditions", such as dazed or nauseated.  I wanted to add some condition rules, but they had to be very simple.  An excellent example for me of the approach NOT to take is Pathfinder.  Pathfinder has 36 (!) conditions.  Several have names which are way too similar in meaning, such as Frightened and Panicked, and many apply such slight modifiers that they aren't really worth bothering with: Oh, no, I have a -1 to attack rolls for 3 rounds!? Pfffftt, whatever.

Thinking over a quick and easy way to do conditions I decided that really there are three basic states for a creature: 1) fine (no impairments), 2) suffering a condition which partially impairs (such as blindness or nausea), and 3) suffering a condition which totally impairs (such as being paralyzed or unconscious).  Fine is fine and totally impaired is totally impaired, so we really only have to tackle conditions which partially impair.  I decided up front that there should be a single, easy-to-remember  mechanic for all impairing conditions (as opposed to a massive list with finicky micro-rules).  In the end I went with the advantage/disadvantage mechanic from D&D 5th Edition.

So when a character is suffering a condition which partially impairs and they need to roll for some action, the GM rolls a d12 against them which is the condition die.  If the condition die beats  the character's roll, either the 1d12 roll for an attribute check or the both of the d10s (individually) for an attack roll, then the character action fails.

Simple.

Doing Initiative Like a (Dungeon) Boss!

Okay, so I've been playing this fun RPG batttle game on my mobile phone called Dungeon Boss.  You acquire heroes, run dungeons, level up, etc.  The initiative is based on classing each hero or monster as fast, normal, or slow.  Fast characters/monsters go first, then normals, then slows.  I'm interested in adapting this for regular RPG games.  I don't quite like the old school "party initiative" because it lumps everyone together regardless of dexterity, encumbrance, etc. and I'm tired of slogging through the stilted 3E/Pathfinder individual initiative (even though I generally treat the party's opponents as one group to speed things up).

So the Dungeon Boss initiative model looked like an interesting alternative.  The first step is to sort your classes into the three speed categories:

Old School Classes
Thief = fast
Halfling = fast
Fighter =normal
Elf = normal
Magic-User = slow
Cleric = slow
Dwarf = slow


D&D 3E/Pathfinder Classes
Fast:
Barbarian
Monk
Rogue 
Normal:
Bard
Drud
Fighter
Paladin
Range
Slow:
Cleric
Sorceror
Wizard

If one side has more fast heroes than the other then that side automatically gets the initiative.  Otherwise, you roll 1d6 for each side as though you were doing party style initiative and the higher scoring side gets the initiative  The winning initiative side acts with all fast heroes then the other side acts with all its fast heroes.  Next all the normal speed heroes on the winning side act, etc.  The overall sequence will look like this:

1. Winning side fast heroes
2. Other side fast heroes
3. Winning side normal heroes
4. Other side normal heroes
5. Winning side slow heroes
6. Other side slow heroes

This method has its own quirks but I'm looking for something with more granularity than old school initiative but without the tedious fiddly bits in 3E initiative.