Truths and Terrors in Surreal Dungeonscapes with Imaginary Hallways' CESR!

Charlie over at the kickass blog Imaginary Hallways has written a great post on the Bloodborne frenzy mechanics I wrote two years ago!  With a killer little system that I will talk about.

CESR (Charlie's Eerie Simple Rules) is a succinct and no-nonsense game system that involves desperate dungeoneers going into dark, otherworldly places and trying contend with the horrors within.  I'm going to make a quick character for the game to show you why I think it is wicked.

Rolling 2d6+3 for each stats gives us 11 Strength , 9 Dexterity, 13 Wisdom, and 10 Charisma.  Standard checks are 1d20 equal to or under stat.  For HP rolling 4D6 drop lowest gives us a whopping 17 HP. 

Now to pick three abilities.  These are great and really sell the weird, desperate sorts that must contend with the horrors of the dungeon!  I'm going to roll 3 abilities on 1d6, rerolling duplicates, since there are only six currently and I want to see what kind of weird dungeon guy I roll up.  I get 1, 2, and 5.  

The first is a really handy extra attack/1d6 damage per round of fighting.  It's cool how you have to describe why you get the extra damage.  This has great roleplaying potential with the player explaining their character's method of fighting.  It could be a better understanding of weakspots, brutally attacking foes with pure ultra violence, using pocket sand to create an opening, etc.

The second result gives advantage in an area of expertise.  I'm going to randomly roll this one too and receive a bonus to dealing with mechanical devices.  Very handy!  The final ability is the power to see invisible beings and never be fooled by illusions.  It makes me think of the actor character from The Seventh Seal that possesses second sight.  I think I've basically rolled up a medieval "Rowdy" Roddy Piper from They Live.  Fantastic! 

Character advancement is purposefully not a thing, besides maybe getting one more ability.  It's a great call for a horror game like this where the maddening truth lurks in dangerous realms and characters can be made quickly.  Said madness comes in the form of Frenzy, which deals huge damage if it reaches the same score as your Wisdom stat.  Spells can be stored in your head by taking the burden of a number of Frenzy points per spell level.  Being a wizard is a risky game of juggling power and the possibility of having your head explode.  Great stuff.

Did I mention that one of the abilities includes always having a hidden knife?

Needless to say, I can't wait to see further updates!