Knowledge ► Research

I'm considering a small tweak to the DFX rules. I would rename Knowledge to Research, and then redescribe how it's used. My current usage is similar to the 3e Knowledge skills, but I just have one of them; this would be a bit more like a combination of Research from d20 Modern and the Cthulhu Mythos skill from Call of Cthulhu. You'd also get a benefit (advantage next time you check it, if related to something occult or supernatural, etc.) if you read a blasphemous tome before you make the check. Of course, you don't read a blasphemous tome real quick in combat, so this would again, focus more on slowly building tension and a different kind of investigative paradigm for how to play the game. More like Call of Cthulhu than like D&D, but then again, I've said that for a long time.

It's a relatively minor change, and if I decide not to do it, I might write it up anyway as an optional house rule. 

This is in part driven by my reread of Darkness & Dread, which has a whole chapter on how to use the Knowledge skill from 3e for this purpose. I think that's overkill, but it's pretty part for the course for 3e, so not surprising. I've actually had a few minor details hit me as interesting on this reread, many years after the first time. There might be a few more minor changes. I should probably reread Heroes of Horror first, just in case it suggests something to me too.

I'm even considering renaming the blog and the game again. Sigh. Or at least the game. I picked Dark Fantasy X because it had a Conspiracy X and X-files like feel, and because it matched my tongue in cheek Spacer X username and YouTube channel, which was meant to evoke the old Speed Racer character Racer X, but in space. Probably won't change the URL of the blog, because that's kind of a pain (I can tell you that first hand!) but might well change the name of the game.

And when I do, and when I've made whatever minor changes I do make, I'll see about getting it Lulu printed, and I'll have a hard copy that will... never again really be subject to change, because if I make a hardcopy, I won't want to mess with it anymore after that. I've kind of gotten to the point where my tinkering isn't very consequential anyway, so I should decide if I'm going to "fish or just cut bait forever", as they say.

Anyway, here's a character doing more of the new research stuff as I imagine it in game. Reading blasphemous tomes remains hazardous to your mental health, of course... but there are certain reasons to do it regardless.

UPDATE: The more I think about it, the more I think I'm less likely to change it in the main rules or the name of the skill, although I may elaborate on usages of Knowledge for Research / Cthulhu Mythos type activities in the Appendix. Before I run a printable version for Lulu I need to modify the appendix anyway and take the color pictures of all of the races out. I want to print in B/W and save money, after all!

UPDATE II: Because I use my blog as a stream of consciousness rambling for my own benefit as much as for anything else, I thought it would be interesting to put a little about my upcoming Easter weekend. Due to some spectacular crossed wires early in the week when both my wife and I were too busy to really touch base with each other, she canceled my flight back to our house up north, because I casually mentioned that I wasn't sure it was a good idea for me to go. I actually was going to go anyway, and then the exact thing that I was concerned about turned out to be a red herring too, but by that time, the flight was already canceled, and I decided; what the heck; a weekend at home by myself isn't the worst thing ever. 

Of course, it's not entirely just to myself. I have to drive my wife to a different airport on Friday evening that's an hour and a half one way away, and then pick her up again at the same airport on Sunday evening. Two of the three evenings, I have to spend a minimum of three hours on the road. Of course, half of both of those drives will be by myself, so I can plug in some music and relax and enjoy the drive. The other half of both times, I'll be with my wife, and we can catch up on all of the crazy things that we've both got going on this week, including her downloading all the stuff that happened on her brief trip to see some of our kids. 

For some context, my daughter has a delayed baby shower this weekend. She already had her baby a good two months or so ago, but he came quite early; the shower is, by coincidence, his original due date. Because they were in the hospital and early, the shower never happened. Most people have already given her whatever presents they were going to, but this is more like an open house, come see the baby, hang out and chat like women-centric social situations like to be. My thought was that if there wasn't anything for me to do other than hang out at the other house with the other grandkids, then maybe I shouldn't spend the money just for a quick weekend trip; we've got lots of other travel that we need to do in the next couple of months, and while flights aren't that pricey, they're pricey enough. Plus, I hadn't done my taxes yet, and I was concerned that we might actually owe money. (We don't. Should have done them two months ago; big refund. Oh, well.)

Anyway, for a variety of reasons, I'm not going. I have to drive my wife to and from the airport. I also have a D&D session Saturday 10 am for three hours. I'm also thinking of going on an afternoon hiking trip Saturday afternoon, since spring has nearly fully sprung, the trees leaves are pretty full, and it's still not too hot yet. Although Saturday's high is the highest it'll have been all week. Highs in the mid-60s will give me to a high in the mid-80s. Oh, well. Too bad I had to work Tuesday and yesterday; those would have been the perfect days to hike. Bright and sunny, but relatively cool, even in the height of the afternoon. Sigh. And Sunday we have abbreviated church to give us more time to spend with family (ironically.) Although it seems like I have most of Sunday free until I have to go pick up my wife, I don't really because I'm sure all my kids will call.

So I don't have as much free time as I really think, unless I postpone the hiking trip, which I'd really rather not do. (Although maybe I can work a half-day Monday and do it then? Let me think about that...) And I'm hoping to finish three of the four books that I'm reading... one of which I haven't even started yet. Then again, I've got nothing going on tonight, and I try to read a fair bit during my lunch hour. I shouldn't have any trouble finishing Darkness & Dread today even, before the weekend starts, because I'm down to about fifty pages or so left. Then I'll start the novel, The Hungering God, which I should read pretty quickly. The real challenge will be finishing the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting pdf; I've got close to 200 pages left on that one. That probably won't actually happen, and I'll fall a little short of my goal after all. But if I get the other two done, I'll feel like it was a successful week for reading, and if I'm closer to 100 pages left than 200, I'll be happy enough. If, by some miracle, I actually end up finishing it after all before the weekend's over, it'll be a triumph.