I'm a little busy today with work, then training, and then more work. After both are done, I have to finish doing prep for my game session tomorrow.
Are you running a game?
If not, this great post by Tim Shorts explains how little you really need to do in order to be running a game. It doesn't have to be complete, or perfect. It just has to be sufficient to cover a few sessions. His post outlines what that really boils down to, at least in a fantasy world.
6 Steps to Starting a Small Campaign
Sure, it says "small campaign" but it's a seed for a bigger one, once the players get some buy in to the setting through their adventures there. A throwaway game I did to satisfy my old buddy's urge to get back into gaming turned in a 10-year campaign this way, with even less prep than Tim is suggesting. You could do the prep for a game like than in an afternoon, and have it run indefinitely.
While I'm off writing up monster stats and stocking rooms, please take the time to check that article out.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Kickstarter: Jeff Dee's AD&D Module Cover Paintings
I'm backing this kickstarter:
I love that image from the cover of S2 White Plume Mountain. It was one of my first modules, bought back when I was all of 10 years old. It's my favorite "funhouse" dungeon and I adore that awesome action scene. So naturally I have to get a copy of it, nevermind I have either 2 or 3 copies of S2 around (counting the compilation S1-4 they put out years ago). It's too cool not to have a print.
This walkthrough poster isn't related to the Kickstarter or done by Jeff Dee, but it's still funny if you've played S2. It seems vaguely on-topic.
I love that image from the cover of S2 White Plume Mountain. It was one of my first modules, bought back when I was all of 10 years old. It's my favorite "funhouse" dungeon and I adore that awesome action scene. So naturally I have to get a copy of it, nevermind I have either 2 or 3 copies of S2 around (counting the compilation S1-4 they put out years ago). It's too cool not to have a print.
This walkthrough poster isn't related to the Kickstarter or done by Jeff Dee, but it's still funny if you've played S2. It seems vaguely on-topic.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Dealing with Berserkers
The Berserk disadvantage in GURPS is an interesting one. It's both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing in that once you go berserk, you're extremely hard to stop and you can shrug off things most combatants can't. On the other hand, your tactical choices get cut down from "how do I want to balance offense and defense?" to "which suicidally crazy offense-only tactic do I want to use?"
The short version of Berserk is:
- you always All-Out Attack.
- no stunning or shock penalties (and no stun means no knockdown, although you can still suffer knockback)
- you're at +4 to stay conscious or alive.
If you're sufficiently wounded and survive it, you can go berserk. Or if you have Battle Fury, you start every fight berserk.
How to fight as a berserker is a whole other post. Today, let's fight against one. Or more than one - a lot of this advice may seem silly in a party vs. one berserker fight. But what if it's 396 of them? Suddenly you really need to focus on "Can I kill him in one second, or do I need to disable him now and finish him later?"
So what do you do if you're fighting a berserker?
He can't defend, so he's wide open. Your first problem is hitting.
First and foremost, you are going to Telegraphic Attack. The is no reason not to do this. Against someone who is pathologically unable to defend, it's essentially a free +4 to hit. Take it, and use it. It won't increase your chances of a critical hit (and thus possibly some bonus damage effects) but you don't need to main benefit of a critical, anyway - he's already not defending.
All of the below assumes you are using GURPS Martial Arts and Telegraphic Attack. If not, you're much less likely to hit.
Don't worry so much about criticals, just make sure you hit. A miss versus someone who is using All-Out Attack is as close to pure waste as anything can be in a GURPS combat.
Next, you have to put him down. You can't stun a berserker, or knock him down with a high-damage attack. With a +4 to consciousness checks, even a HT 10 berserker is likely to stay awake (and has a 50/50 shot of doing so even at -4xHP!) And it's not exactly common, in my games at least, for berserkers to run around with only HT 10. So your best bet is to a) utterly destroy his ability to attack you or b) put him down to -5xHP.
Here are some options for putting a Berserk opponent down as soon as possible. If you think you've either got a good shot at one-shotting him, or you really only have one chance to do it before you're in a world of hurt yourself, go with a first-tier attack.
First-tier Attacks
These are what I consider the best options, if you can avail yourself of them, to put a berserker down for the count. These can kill.
Eye Shot - if you can pull this off, the eye shot is your best shot. It's -9, -10 if he's wearing appropriate armor, but if it lands you're bypassing 2 DR from the skull, getting an easy freebie cripple on the way. A crippled eye gives the berserker One Eye, which is a -1 in melee combat on subsequent turns.
In any case, hits to the Skull have a x4 injury multiplier for most attack types. So even a mere 2-3 points of damage to the eye is going to inflict 8-12 points of injury and a Major Wound to the berserker. For most folks, this is a -10 roll vs. stunning and knockdown, but a berserker ignores that totally. All you're doing here is reducing the chances of successful retaliation (he's blind in an eye, probably) and accumulating damage needed for force consciousness and death rolls. The sooner you get him down to -5xHP, the better, if you don't want to deal with this guy again.
If you're crazy-good, do two Telegraphic eye shots at a net -5/-5 or -6/-6, plus your Rapid Strike penalties (-3 or -6, depending on Weapon Master, Trained By A Master, and availability of Extra Effort in Combat). If you get both, he's probably getting Blindness, just in case he's somehow still standing.
Skull Shot - A -7 to hit (nets to -3 with Telegraphic Attack). Much easier than the eye, and the same x4 injury multiplier, but any berserker who planned ahead will heave a heavy helmet - a pot helm or great helm over a mail coif is a common choice in my games, because layered head armor isn't that heavy nor does it give you a DX penalty. Plus, the skull comes with DR 2 of its own. Still, if you have a high-damage attack and/or an opponent with insufficient head armor, it's a good target. The x4 injury multiplier means potentially a lot of injury, and you need to put a lot of hurt on.
(Designer's Note - this is one reason the Gladiator Ape in DFM1 has a helmet - it helps head butts and gives it some DR versus the old "I just chop its head in half!" move. Every little bit helps when you're berserk.)
Vitals is the target of choice for impaling attacks if Eyes are too hard. It's only -3, or a net +1 with Telegraphic Attack (and a miss by 1 hits the body, anyway!) The x3 injury multiplier and no cap on damage means a good stab to the vitals can finish a lightly-armored beserker. It's a great choice for piercing attacks, too.
Torso may seem odd as a prime location, but it's less odd than it seems. For a high-damage attack or a lightly-armored defender, or a low-skilled attacker, it's a great choice of locations. -0 to hit plus a Telegraphic Attack is a net +4 to hit, which can go a long way toward negating a lot of penalties for lighting, shock, or bad footing. Plus, no damage is wasted. If you meet the right criteria (can't hit something better and can inflict a lot of damage), it's a very solid choice.
Neck is a pretty good choice for a cutting attack. It's -5 to hit, net -1 with Telegraphic Attack, and cutting gets a x2 injury multiplier. However, it's often well-protected, so it's not quite as good as Skull or Eye, but nearly as hard to hit as skull. Still, you might be able to get in a solid hit at -1 but not at -3 for skull, or he might have armored the hell out of his skull but not his neck.
Veins and Arteries are a good choice as well - only -5 (net -1) and -8 (net -4) for limbs or neck, and they ignore HP limits! This is excellent as you don't want to waste any damage to a berserker. Remember, a good berserker, for you, is one at -5xHP and not getting any more rolls to stay up.
Second-tier Attacks
If those don't work for you for some reason, here is where I'd look next. They've good but they can't (generally) kill the berserker outright. They are also useful if you're dead certain you can't finish him in one blow and at least need a shot at reducing his combat viability. These generally won't finish the job but they'll make it harder for him to kill you after you're done hitting him.
Spine is -8 to hit (net -4), but it's got an extra DR 3 under that for the torso, which generally isn't so bad. And while a berserker who takes more than HP in damage to it can ignore the automatic stunning, he can't ignore Bad Back and Paraplegic. If you've got a very high damage attack and want to cripple both legs in one go and you're behind him, take a look at this one. This one can kill outright, but it's tough to do enough damage in one blow to do so.
Legs - Cripple him! One suggestion is to go for the legs. It's only -2 to hit, and if you inflict over HP/2 he goes down in a heap.
I think this is a good but second-rate choice because the berserker isn't out of the fight, but merely fighting prone. This will severely limit him (see Python, M., "I'll bite your legs off!"), but your work isn't done yet. For some berserkers (Gladiator Apes, I'm looking at you again) merely putting them to the floor doesn't do much besides change their movement mode from "run" to "crawl" and they're still dangerous. They still deny an area of the battlefield where you're worried about something grabbing your legs, chopping at your from below, and otherwise keeping up some offense from what otherwise seems like a weak position.
Arms Crippling the arms is a good idea, if this will also disarm the berserker (or partly disarm him, either way). Again, you're reducing his ability to deal damage out but he's still a factor in the fight. This is more useful against a berserker with a two-handed weapon than a one-handed weapon or two weapons (or more than two, in the right sort of game). Taking out one limb makes the weapon that much less useful and might force a default roll to try using it one-handed, probably with additional penalties for being below the weapon's ST score.
Extremities If you can hit him with straight-up skill, this is a pretty good option for either knocking the berserker down or disarming his attacks. It's -4 to hit but a net -0 with Telegraphic Attack. It's got the same downsides as the limbs, and in fact the lower crippling threshold means more damage gets wasted. A berserk humanoid with a pair of crippled hands can still elbow strike, head butt, and kick, and isn't going to be close to death from accumulated HP. He won't even be making consciousness rolls.
Special Location
Chinks in Armor lets you target weapon points at -8 or -10, depending on where. Use this if your berserker type is extremely heavily armored, but otherwise, it's usually more important not to miss (and get in some damage) than to hit something a little less armored with this. But if it's the difference between causing damage or not, or if you're so skilled you have skill to waste, you might want to get some "free" DR reduction this way.
Other options: If you can't take him in one blow, or you have more than one blow (Rapid Strike, Dual-Weapon Attack, and Extra Attack), you've got a few options. I mentioned one in Eye Shots, above. Another good option - again, in combination with Telegraphic Attack - is to aim for one second-tier target and then one first tier. Limb/Skull or Extremity/Vitals are both good choices. Chop off a foot and then stab his heart, or break an arm so his greataxe is useless and then split his skull.
This holds true if you've got a friend nearby. If there are a few of you and you have local superiority of numbers (bearing in mind how fast a berserker can move using AOA), you can split up the targets - you go leg, say, and your friend hits his skull while he's down. Or you each take a leg and he also gets the skull or vitals.
Now, these aren't your only ways to go. This isn't exhaustive and it leaves off a lot of special "yeah but" kind of cases.
But in general, I find the best way to deal with a berserker is, again, to put him to -5xHP as fast as possible. Barring that, you want to limit the damage he causes. Some players prefer to cripple first and finish off later, but in my experience it's possible to get too cute and end up dealing a death by 1000 cuts and having to cede important sections of the battlefield while you do it. A straight shot to automatic death is better, if you can do it.
And that's how I like to deal with berserkers.
The short version of Berserk is:
- you always All-Out Attack.
- no stunning or shock penalties (and no stun means no knockdown, although you can still suffer knockback)
- you're at +4 to stay conscious or alive.
If you're sufficiently wounded and survive it, you can go berserk. Or if you have Battle Fury, you start every fight berserk.
How to fight as a berserker is a whole other post. Today, let's fight against one. Or more than one - a lot of this advice may seem silly in a party vs. one berserker fight. But what if it's 396 of them? Suddenly you really need to focus on "Can I kill him in one second, or do I need to disable him now and finish him later?"
So what do you do if you're fighting a berserker?
He can't defend, so he's wide open. Your first problem is hitting.
First and foremost, you are going to Telegraphic Attack. The is no reason not to do this. Against someone who is pathologically unable to defend, it's essentially a free +4 to hit. Take it, and use it. It won't increase your chances of a critical hit (and thus possibly some bonus damage effects) but you don't need to main benefit of a critical, anyway - he's already not defending.
All of the below assumes you are using GURPS Martial Arts and Telegraphic Attack. If not, you're much less likely to hit.
Don't worry so much about criticals, just make sure you hit. A miss versus someone who is using All-Out Attack is as close to pure waste as anything can be in a GURPS combat.
Next, you have to put him down. You can't stun a berserker, or knock him down with a high-damage attack. With a +4 to consciousness checks, even a HT 10 berserker is likely to stay awake (and has a 50/50 shot of doing so even at -4xHP!) And it's not exactly common, in my games at least, for berserkers to run around with only HT 10. So your best bet is to a) utterly destroy his ability to attack you or b) put him down to -5xHP.
Here are some options for putting a Berserk opponent down as soon as possible. If you think you've either got a good shot at one-shotting him, or you really only have one chance to do it before you're in a world of hurt yourself, go with a first-tier attack.
First-tier Attacks
These are what I consider the best options, if you can avail yourself of them, to put a berserker down for the count. These can kill.
Eye Shot - if you can pull this off, the eye shot is your best shot. It's -9, -10 if he's wearing appropriate armor, but if it lands you're bypassing 2 DR from the skull, getting an easy freebie cripple on the way. A crippled eye gives the berserker One Eye, which is a -1 in melee combat on subsequent turns.
In any case, hits to the Skull have a x4 injury multiplier for most attack types. So even a mere 2-3 points of damage to the eye is going to inflict 8-12 points of injury and a Major Wound to the berserker. For most folks, this is a -10 roll vs. stunning and knockdown, but a berserker ignores that totally. All you're doing here is reducing the chances of successful retaliation (he's blind in an eye, probably) and accumulating damage needed for force consciousness and death rolls. The sooner you get him down to -5xHP, the better, if you don't want to deal with this guy again.
If you're crazy-good, do two Telegraphic eye shots at a net -5/-5 or -6/-6, plus your Rapid Strike penalties (-3 or -6, depending on Weapon Master, Trained By A Master, and availability of Extra Effort in Combat). If you get both, he's probably getting Blindness, just in case he's somehow still standing.
Skull Shot - A -7 to hit (nets to -3 with Telegraphic Attack). Much easier than the eye, and the same x4 injury multiplier, but any berserker who planned ahead will heave a heavy helmet - a pot helm or great helm over a mail coif is a common choice in my games, because layered head armor isn't that heavy nor does it give you a DX penalty. Plus, the skull comes with DR 2 of its own. Still, if you have a high-damage attack and/or an opponent with insufficient head armor, it's a good target. The x4 injury multiplier means potentially a lot of injury, and you need to put a lot of hurt on.
(Designer's Note - this is one reason the Gladiator Ape in DFM1 has a helmet - it helps head butts and gives it some DR versus the old "I just chop its head in half!" move. Every little bit helps when you're berserk.)
Vitals is the target of choice for impaling attacks if Eyes are too hard. It's only -3, or a net +1 with Telegraphic Attack (and a miss by 1 hits the body, anyway!) The x3 injury multiplier and no cap on damage means a good stab to the vitals can finish a lightly-armored beserker. It's a great choice for piercing attacks, too.
Torso may seem odd as a prime location, but it's less odd than it seems. For a high-damage attack or a lightly-armored defender, or a low-skilled attacker, it's a great choice of locations. -0 to hit plus a Telegraphic Attack is a net +4 to hit, which can go a long way toward negating a lot of penalties for lighting, shock, or bad footing. Plus, no damage is wasted. If you meet the right criteria (can't hit something better and can inflict a lot of damage), it's a very solid choice.
Neck is a pretty good choice for a cutting attack. It's -5 to hit, net -1 with Telegraphic Attack, and cutting gets a x2 injury multiplier. However, it's often well-protected, so it's not quite as good as Skull or Eye, but nearly as hard to hit as skull. Still, you might be able to get in a solid hit at -1 but not at -3 for skull, or he might have armored the hell out of his skull but not his neck.
Veins and Arteries are a good choice as well - only -5 (net -1) and -8 (net -4) for limbs or neck, and they ignore HP limits! This is excellent as you don't want to waste any damage to a berserker. Remember, a good berserker, for you, is one at -5xHP and not getting any more rolls to stay up.
Second-tier Attacks
If those don't work for you for some reason, here is where I'd look next. They've good but they can't (generally) kill the berserker outright. They are also useful if you're dead certain you can't finish him in one blow and at least need a shot at reducing his combat viability. These generally won't finish the job but they'll make it harder for him to kill you after you're done hitting him.
Spine is -8 to hit (net -4), but it's got an extra DR 3 under that for the torso, which generally isn't so bad. And while a berserker who takes more than HP in damage to it can ignore the automatic stunning, he can't ignore Bad Back and Paraplegic. If you've got a very high damage attack and want to cripple both legs in one go and you're behind him, take a look at this one. This one can kill outright, but it's tough to do enough damage in one blow to do so.
Legs - Cripple him! One suggestion is to go for the legs. It's only -2 to hit, and if you inflict over HP/2 he goes down in a heap.
I think this is a good but second-rate choice because the berserker isn't out of the fight, but merely fighting prone. This will severely limit him (see Python, M., "I'll bite your legs off!"), but your work isn't done yet. For some berserkers (Gladiator Apes, I'm looking at you again) merely putting them to the floor doesn't do much besides change their movement mode from "run" to "crawl" and they're still dangerous. They still deny an area of the battlefield where you're worried about something grabbing your legs, chopping at your from below, and otherwise keeping up some offense from what otherwise seems like a weak position.
Arms Crippling the arms is a good idea, if this will also disarm the berserker (or partly disarm him, either way). Again, you're reducing his ability to deal damage out but he's still a factor in the fight. This is more useful against a berserker with a two-handed weapon than a one-handed weapon or two weapons (or more than two, in the right sort of game). Taking out one limb makes the weapon that much less useful and might force a default roll to try using it one-handed, probably with additional penalties for being below the weapon's ST score.
Extremities If you can hit him with straight-up skill, this is a pretty good option for either knocking the berserker down or disarming his attacks. It's -4 to hit but a net -0 with Telegraphic Attack. It's got the same downsides as the limbs, and in fact the lower crippling threshold means more damage gets wasted. A berserk humanoid with a pair of crippled hands can still elbow strike, head butt, and kick, and isn't going to be close to death from accumulated HP. He won't even be making consciousness rolls.
Special Location
Chinks in Armor lets you target weapon points at -8 or -10, depending on where. Use this if your berserker type is extremely heavily armored, but otherwise, it's usually more important not to miss (and get in some damage) than to hit something a little less armored with this. But if it's the difference between causing damage or not, or if you're so skilled you have skill to waste, you might want to get some "free" DR reduction this way.
Other options: If you can't take him in one blow, or you have more than one blow (Rapid Strike, Dual-Weapon Attack, and Extra Attack), you've got a few options. I mentioned one in Eye Shots, above. Another good option - again, in combination with Telegraphic Attack - is to aim for one second-tier target and then one first tier. Limb/Skull or Extremity/Vitals are both good choices. Chop off a foot and then stab his heart, or break an arm so his greataxe is useless and then split his skull.
This holds true if you've got a friend nearby. If there are a few of you and you have local superiority of numbers (bearing in mind how fast a berserker can move using AOA), you can split up the targets - you go leg, say, and your friend hits his skull while he's down. Or you each take a leg and he also gets the skull or vitals.
Now, these aren't your only ways to go. This isn't exhaustive and it leaves off a lot of special "yeah but" kind of cases.
But in general, I find the best way to deal with a berserker is, again, to put him to -5xHP as fast as possible. Barring that, you want to limit the damage he causes. Some players prefer to cripple first and finish off later, but in my experience it's possible to get too cute and end up dealing a death by 1000 cuts and having to cede important sections of the battlefield while you do it. A straight shot to automatic death is better, if you can do it.
And that's how I like to deal with berserkers.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
No-contest "Muscling Through" rolls in DF
I hate rolling when it's not necessary.
Good example of this? Rolling for the door when people are Muscling Through (DF2, p. 8).
I don't roll for doors anymore.
Instead of rolling for the door, I just assume I rolled a 10. This allows me to pre-calculate the margin of success the PCs need to force the door. I apply that as penalty, usually in secret, if they don't/can't examine the hinges. They roll, tell me how much they made it by, and I announce success or failure.
Optionally, you can smooth these to 0, 10, 15, 25, 60, as shown in the third column. This just makes them a little easier to remember.
Obviously, you won't force a vault door easily. Maybe ever. Those are better dealt with magically or by bashing (IOW attacking the door.) This is true with the original rules - it's not likely for the door to roll an 18, and you'd still need to beat your own roll by more than 52 to pull it off.
Bending bars is the same (not lifting portcullises, though, that's a straight-up comparison of BL to weight to see if you can lift it or not.) For bars:
Optionally, you can smooth these to 10, 15, 25, 45, 60, as shown in the third column.
What about barred/wedged doors? Bars make it tricky, because they replace one or both of the numbers for DR or HP of the hinge or lock. A complex solution is to figure out the net score for the barred door using the better of the DR and better of HP of each of them. A simpler one is to use the bar's number if it's higher.
Simple approach: Use the door's force number or the bar's, whichever is higher. If the door is higher, give it a +2 for the bar. For example, an average door (8) with a light bar (5) would get a +2 for a net 10; with an average bar (10) it would use the bar's number instead. You can also use this for improvised bars and wedges even if you use the next method - this avoids calculation in play.
Complex approach: Figure a combined number for both, using the higher of the two DRs plus the higher of the two HPs. The average door with the light bar would get a 10, with an average bar it would get a (20). This is best done ahead of time.
Actual Play Feedback: This speeds up play a surprising amount, since only one margin of success matters. I don't need to roll or do any secret calculation. It's just a matter of looking at the door's number and what the MOS of the PC is. It's been pretty good.
It also feels better. No longer do you try a door once, roll a 9 and have it fail (because I rolled well) and then try again, roll a 9 (or even higher), and this time it works (because I rolled poorly). It takes an active chance out of what feels like it should always be a passive trait of the barrier.
So yes, in actual play, it works as intended!
There, one less die roll per door.
Good example of this? Rolling for the door when people are Muscling Through (DF2, p. 8).
I don't roll for doors anymore.
Instead of rolling for the door, I just assume I rolled a 10. This allows me to pre-calculate the margin of success the PCs need to force the door. I apply that as penalty, usually in secret, if they don't/can't examine the hinges. They roll, tell me how much they made it by, and I announce success or failure.
| Lock/Hinge | Penalty | Smoothed Penalties |
| Light | +1 | 0 |
| Average | -8 | -10 |
| Heavy | -17 | -15 |
| X-Heavy | -25 | -25 |
| Vault | -60 | -60 |
Optionally, you can smooth these to 0, 10, 15, 25, 60, as shown in the third column. This just makes them a little easier to remember.
Obviously, you won't force a vault door easily. Maybe ever. Those are better dealt with magically or by bashing (IOW attacking the door.) This is true with the original rules - it's not likely for the door to roll an 18, and you'd still need to beat your own roll by more than 52 to pull it off.
Bending bars is the same (not lifting portcullises, though, that's a straight-up comparison of BL to weight to see if you can lift it or not.) For bars:
| Bar | Penalty | Smoothed Penalties |
| Light | -8 | -10 |
| Average | -17 | -15 |
| Heavy | -25 | -25 |
| X-Heavy | -43 | -45 |
| Vault | -60 | -60 |
Optionally, you can smooth these to 10, 15, 25, 45, 60, as shown in the third column.
What about barred/wedged doors? Bars make it tricky, because they replace one or both of the numbers for DR or HP of the hinge or lock. A complex solution is to figure out the net score for the barred door using the better of the DR and better of HP of each of them. A simpler one is to use the bar's number if it's higher.
Simple approach: Use the door's force number or the bar's, whichever is higher. If the door is higher, give it a +2 for the bar. For example, an average door (8) with a light bar (5) would get a +2 for a net 10; with an average bar (10) it would use the bar's number instead. You can also use this for improvised bars and wedges even if you use the next method - this avoids calculation in play.
Complex approach: Figure a combined number for both, using the higher of the two DRs plus the higher of the two HPs. The average door with the light bar would get a 10, with an average bar it would get a (20). This is best done ahead of time.
Actual Play Feedback: This speeds up play a surprising amount, since only one margin of success matters. I don't need to roll or do any secret calculation. It's just a matter of looking at the door's number and what the MOS of the PC is. It's been pretty good.
It also feels better. No longer do you try a door once, roll a 9 and have it fail (because I rolled well) and then try again, roll a 9 (or even higher), and this time it works (because I rolled poorly). It takes an active chance out of what feels like it should always be a passive trait of the barrier.
So yes, in actual play, it works as intended!
There, one less die roll per door.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Traps & Trap Lethality in DF
Traps are an important part of dungeon fantasy gaming.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons, p. 19-20 outlines clearly how DF handles traps. It's the usual stuff you need to know (or just end up needing to know):
- Detect - how hard to detect?
- Disarm - how hard to disarm?
- Circumvent - how hard to get around?
- Evade - how hard to evade it after it goes off?
- Effects - what happens?
- Shots, Rearm, Steal - How many shots, can it be rearmed, can you steal some or all of it?
Here is roughly how I handle the first five.
Task Difficulty
Douglas Cole has often said, "If the answer isn't the Speed/Range Table, you're not asking the right question." For me, though, I often think the Task Difficulty rules are the way to go. They're on p. 345-346 of GURPS Basic Set, and then range from +10 to -10, centered on a normal use at 0.
+10 is for a task so trivial you probably shouldn't require a roll unless there are other circumstances involved.
0 if for average adventuring tasks - the example is a Driving roll in a car chase (and a high speed car chase is only -1).
-10 is impossible, or nearly so.
You can run a whole game with nothing but this kind of range in hand - in fact, one of my favorites, Yaquinto's Pirates & Plunder, did just that.
I'm also a big fan of the ". . . With Spikes" ruling in DF that says that every horrible qualifier attached to a situation is a further -1 (or potentially, a +1). Extending that means walking on a slick, narrow ledge is -2, but walking on a wide, coarse ledge is +2. I extend that right into traps in at least one place.
So with that ruling and the Task Difficulty rules in mind, here is what I do.
Detection
Ask, how hard is it to detect?
Will the normal Per-based Traps roll to spot it find it easily (as much as +10 to see it for being in plain sight) all the way down to nearly impossible to spot (-10 for fiendishly well hidden). In the middle is are ones you expect a fairly average skill to have a reasonable shot of detecting.
Is it invisible and requires special detection? If the trigger is magical and you can't detect magic (no Magery or Mage Sight or Mage Sense), or invisible and you lack See Invisible, you might not even get a roll. Magical traps especially can call for Per-based Thaumatology or Per+Magery, because there is no non-magical component to see. These are trivial for wizards to detect and are just Wandering Damage for those lacking Magery. Moral of the story: have a Scout with Magery or throw the right spells on him.
Think about both the trigger, and the trap. They might end up with separate numbers in a complex trap. It might be very easy to see the trap, but fiendishly hard to see what triggers it.
You want to keep in mind that by default GURPS DF parties are looking for traps, and get a Vision-based Per-based Traps roll to see a trap. The base Thief and base Scout both have a 15 or less to spot a trap. So they spot easy traps on a 25 or less (i.e. automatically) all the way down to a 5 or less to spot a really well-concealed trap (the example crossbow trap in DF2 is -9 to spot). The others, no so much. A Knight with Per 10 and default traps has a 5, so he'll spot a pit on a 15 or less, while his Wizard and Barbarian buddies have a default of 7 and spot one on a 17 or less.
In any case, they don't even need to ask for these rolls, because the default movement mode is slow enough to allow this roll and assumes you're on the lookout for danger. Remember, though is is -5 when rushed, so only trivially detectable traps are going to be automatically spotted by them, and what's "average" difficulty to spot is going to be missed half the time! Moral is, don't run through the trapped dungeon.
Disarm
How hard is it to disarm? I use the same range of penalties as above, from "trivial" and +10 up to nearly impossible and -10.
I consider two parts of the trap for disarming:
Trap
How had is it to disarm the trap itself? Does it require some trivial expenditure of resources (break a poisoned needle, stuff up the dart launcher holes, erase the magic runes? Does it require some complex skill to disarm?
If the process is complex, give it a high penalty, up to a -10. If it's easy, up to +10.
In any case, you need to know if a failed disarm sets it off.
Some of the issue with disarming might be purely mechanical. It might be impossible to disarm a big rolling boulder or a deadfall - you can't just spike them in place or bend them back with a dagger. Disarm on the trap itself might be "N/A." The best way to deal with such traps is to avoid them entirely, set them off safely (think of a bomb squad here), or disarm the trigger.
Trigger
If stopping the trap from going off is all that's important, disarm the trigger.
One thing to consider is, how does the trigger work? If the trigger is your basic deadman switch, it's hard to render it harmless without potentially setting off the trap. If it's a tripwire or pressure plate that depends on mechanical pressure to set it off, cutting it/lodging it in place might be enough to stop it from working. This is largely going to be a straight-up DX-based Traps roll, or, if the fix is merely go all Alexander-and-the-Gordion-Knot on it, just smacking it and seeing if it goes off.
In any case, you need to know if a failed disarm here too sets it off.
For a whole series on trap and triggers, take a look at The Nine and Thirty Kingdoms, especially down a few posts.
Circumvent / Evade
Or as I put it, Avoid. How hard is this to avoid? Both Circumvent and Evade have related questions - how do I get past it without setting it off, and how do I avoid getting hurt if I do set it off?
The first is best deal with using the Task Difficulty modifiers or the ". . . With Spikes" ruling, by treating it as an obstacle. You need to know how hard it is to pick your way around the trap triggers (think Raiders of the Lost Ark, avoiding the blowgun dart triggers). In many cases traps will be combined with channeled movement to make it harder to avoid even if you know it's there.
The second is where Resistance Rolls, Dodge, etc. comes in. It's an attack and it's incoming, how do you avoid it? Penalties should be applied like any other attack. Magic effects should get a resistance roll (if appropriate), weapon-like effects a Dodge or Block or even Parry, poisons a resistance or avoidance roll, etc. I don't use the Task Difficulty numbers here because a -10 to resist or -5 to Dodge means a whole different thing that -10 to detect or -5 to disarm.
Effects
How much damage does this do?
Here I skip the Task Difficulty rules because they don't apply.
What I do instead is consider the range of damage as a minimum, average or mean, and maximum. That helps determine its lethality. I put them in three ranges, which roughly correspond to "Fodder, Worthy, or Boss."
Mostly Harmless: If the maximum damage of a trap is going to put 0 damage past most of the DR of the group as a max, it's mostly harmless. For example, a shuriken launcher that sprays a dozen shuriken doing 1d-2 cutting is mostly harmless against a group sporting mostly DR 4+. It's possible a high damage roll or two against a low DR hit location might happen, but the odds are it'll do 0 damage. If it can inflict actual damage, like say a 6' pit (2 yards, 1d+1), but not enough to threaten a major wound, it's still Mostly Harmless. Unless you fall on your hand or foot and roll maximum damage, it's not going to slow you down.
Non-damaging effects with a high resistance bonus, low skill, or minimally disruptive effects (you're sprayed with paint, you're at a -1 at most on some or all stats, etc.) are Mostly Harmless.
Dangerous: If the average/mean damage of a trap is going to put some significant damage past the average DR of the group, the trap is dangerous. Now it matters. A 15' pit (5 yards, 2d) with spikes does 2-12 impaling damage, average 7. Against that same DR 4 average, that's 6 damage to whoever falls in. Not a lot, but it's the same as getting hit with a good whack in combat and it'll require a potion or spell to get rid of. On a normal person (HP 10), it's a major wound. A crossbow trap doing 1d+5 impaling (6-11, average 10.5) is similarly dangerous. Basically, if there is a threat of a major wound or crippled limb or extremity, it's dangerous.
Non-damaging effects that can potentially kill, or inflict a non-lethal but annoying effect, and/or which have a normal resistance (spell roll of 15, straight-up HT rolls, etc.) are Dangerous.
Lethal: If the minimum damage of a trap is going to inflict a crippled limb or major wound, the trap potentially lethal. If the maximum damage can kill outright (or at least force 1+ death checks), it's potentially lethal.
Something that's causing 10+ net damage is very serious; 20+ is potentially lethal. 50-60+ is a serious threat of lethality. The upper end of lethality in DF2 is a 100 yard pit doing 9d+1 (10-73, average 32.5) or lava at 8d+2 burning damage per second. You might not die immediately, but dying is coming at you quickly.
Non-damage effects that can easily kill belong in this category. Drowning, suffocation, the incapacitating afflictions, etc. are all potentially lethal.
These are pretty broad categories, but that's because so many factors impinge on them. DR of the party members, HP of the person hit, resistance rolls, effects, special circumstances, etc. Even a Mostly Harmless trap can turn out to be lethal if it's combined with a monster encounter that takes advantage of the trap (you're dealing with avoiding falling in dozens of little pits that slow you down while the monster kills from afar, say). A trap that is Mostly Harmless to the 20 HP DR 10 knight might be Lethal to the 10 HP 2 DR Wizard. "Only 12 impaling? Okay, 2 gets through and I take 4 injury, I'm down to 16 but bandaging will get me back to 18." vs. "12 impaling? I'm at -20 and I need to make a death check." The net effect of the circumstances matter.
Putting it together
You need to look at the sum of the parts. The teleport over water full of razor fish in my game was easy to detect (but not blatantly trap), hard to disarm, and potentially lethal = very dangerous. The water itself was easy to detect, easy to avoid, and potentially lethal. So all in all it was dangerous but unlikely to TPK the group - yet it almost did because they pushed their luck too far. All in all, that was a potentially lethal trap.
Some other traps have been trivially dealt with, because for all of their damage they were easy to detect, easy to disarm, or easy to set off with no harm to the PCs. Most of the ones set off recently in my game with Create Servant were like that - a more recent linked "bear trap on a deadman switch for a deadfall" one was potentially dangerous (category 2, above) but easy to deal with.
Consider the parts and then the sum of the parts, and see how dangerous that looks to be. How likely are they to blunder into it, get out of it, and/or survive it? Remember DF delvers aren't fragile, but aren't supermen either. You don't need traps to be hard to detect, hard to disarm, impossible to circumvent, difficult to resist, and highly damaging all at once.
Trap Notation
Finally, I like stat lines, so I'll boil it down in my adventure descriptions to things like this:
10 x 10 x 10' Spiked Pit (Detect +10, Disarm N/A, Avoid -2 (precarious narrow ledges), 1d+2 imp)
Poisoned Needle (Detect -3, Disarm -1, Avoid HT-2, 4d/2d toxic no delay no cycles)
Lightning Runes (Detect Per+Magery or Per-based Thaumotology, Disarm N/A, Avoid DX-5 to walk around and Resist vs. 15, 3d burning w/surge, metal is DR 1)
Further trap resources:
Steve Winter's 36 Trap Triggers
Steve Winter's 36 Trap Effects
C's Traps and Tricks Index
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons, p. 19-20 outlines clearly how DF handles traps. It's the usual stuff you need to know (or just end up needing to know):
- Detect - how hard to detect?
- Disarm - how hard to disarm?
- Circumvent - how hard to get around?
- Evade - how hard to evade it after it goes off?
- Effects - what happens?
- Shots, Rearm, Steal - How many shots, can it be rearmed, can you steal some or all of it?
Here is roughly how I handle the first five.
Task Difficulty
Douglas Cole has often said, "If the answer isn't the Speed/Range Table, you're not asking the right question." For me, though, I often think the Task Difficulty rules are the way to go. They're on p. 345-346 of GURPS Basic Set, and then range from +10 to -10, centered on a normal use at 0.
+10 is for a task so trivial you probably shouldn't require a roll unless there are other circumstances involved.
0 if for average adventuring tasks - the example is a Driving roll in a car chase (and a high speed car chase is only -1).
-10 is impossible, or nearly so.
You can run a whole game with nothing but this kind of range in hand - in fact, one of my favorites, Yaquinto's Pirates & Plunder, did just that.
I'm also a big fan of the ". . . With Spikes" ruling in DF that says that every horrible qualifier attached to a situation is a further -1 (or potentially, a +1). Extending that means walking on a slick, narrow ledge is -2, but walking on a wide, coarse ledge is +2. I extend that right into traps in at least one place.
So with that ruling and the Task Difficulty rules in mind, here is what I do.
Detection
Ask, how hard is it to detect?
Will the normal Per-based Traps roll to spot it find it easily (as much as +10 to see it for being in plain sight) all the way down to nearly impossible to spot (-10 for fiendishly well hidden). In the middle is are ones you expect a fairly average skill to have a reasonable shot of detecting.
Is it invisible and requires special detection? If the trigger is magical and you can't detect magic (no Magery or Mage Sight or Mage Sense), or invisible and you lack See Invisible, you might not even get a roll. Magical traps especially can call for Per-based Thaumatology or Per+Magery, because there is no non-magical component to see. These are trivial for wizards to detect and are just Wandering Damage for those lacking Magery. Moral of the story: have a Scout with Magery or throw the right spells on him.
Think about both the trigger, and the trap. They might end up with separate numbers in a complex trap. It might be very easy to see the trap, but fiendishly hard to see what triggers it.
You want to keep in mind that by default GURPS DF parties are looking for traps, and get a Vision-based Per-based Traps roll to see a trap. The base Thief and base Scout both have a 15 or less to spot a trap. So they spot easy traps on a 25 or less (i.e. automatically) all the way down to a 5 or less to spot a really well-concealed trap (the example crossbow trap in DF2 is -9 to spot). The others, no so much. A Knight with Per 10 and default traps has a 5, so he'll spot a pit on a 15 or less, while his Wizard and Barbarian buddies have a default of 7 and spot one on a 17 or less.
In any case, they don't even need to ask for these rolls, because the default movement mode is slow enough to allow this roll and assumes you're on the lookout for danger. Remember, though is is -5 when rushed, so only trivially detectable traps are going to be automatically spotted by them, and what's "average" difficulty to spot is going to be missed half the time! Moral is, don't run through the trapped dungeon.
Disarm
How hard is it to disarm? I use the same range of penalties as above, from "trivial" and +10 up to nearly impossible and -10.
I consider two parts of the trap for disarming:
Trap
How had is it to disarm the trap itself? Does it require some trivial expenditure of resources (break a poisoned needle, stuff up the dart launcher holes, erase the magic runes? Does it require some complex skill to disarm?
If the process is complex, give it a high penalty, up to a -10. If it's easy, up to +10.
In any case, you need to know if a failed disarm sets it off.
Some of the issue with disarming might be purely mechanical. It might be impossible to disarm a big rolling boulder or a deadfall - you can't just spike them in place or bend them back with a dagger. Disarm on the trap itself might be "N/A." The best way to deal with such traps is to avoid them entirely, set them off safely (think of a bomb squad here), or disarm the trigger.
Trigger
If stopping the trap from going off is all that's important, disarm the trigger.
One thing to consider is, how does the trigger work? If the trigger is your basic deadman switch, it's hard to render it harmless without potentially setting off the trap. If it's a tripwire or pressure plate that depends on mechanical pressure to set it off, cutting it/lodging it in place might be enough to stop it from working. This is largely going to be a straight-up DX-based Traps roll, or, if the fix is merely go all Alexander-and-the-Gordion-Knot on it, just smacking it and seeing if it goes off.
In any case, you need to know if a failed disarm here too sets it off.
For a whole series on trap and triggers, take a look at The Nine and Thirty Kingdoms, especially down a few posts.
Circumvent / Evade
Or as I put it, Avoid. How hard is this to avoid? Both Circumvent and Evade have related questions - how do I get past it without setting it off, and how do I avoid getting hurt if I do set it off?
The first is best deal with using the Task Difficulty modifiers or the ". . . With Spikes" ruling, by treating it as an obstacle. You need to know how hard it is to pick your way around the trap triggers (think Raiders of the Lost Ark, avoiding the blowgun dart triggers). In many cases traps will be combined with channeled movement to make it harder to avoid even if you know it's there.
The second is where Resistance Rolls, Dodge, etc. comes in. It's an attack and it's incoming, how do you avoid it? Penalties should be applied like any other attack. Magic effects should get a resistance roll (if appropriate), weapon-like effects a Dodge or Block or even Parry, poisons a resistance or avoidance roll, etc. I don't use the Task Difficulty numbers here because a -10 to resist or -5 to Dodge means a whole different thing that -10 to detect or -5 to disarm.
Effects
How much damage does this do?
Here I skip the Task Difficulty rules because they don't apply.
What I do instead is consider the range of damage as a minimum, average or mean, and maximum. That helps determine its lethality. I put them in three ranges, which roughly correspond to "Fodder, Worthy, or Boss."
Mostly Harmless: If the maximum damage of a trap is going to put 0 damage past most of the DR of the group as a max, it's mostly harmless. For example, a shuriken launcher that sprays a dozen shuriken doing 1d-2 cutting is mostly harmless against a group sporting mostly DR 4+. It's possible a high damage roll or two against a low DR hit location might happen, but the odds are it'll do 0 damage. If it can inflict actual damage, like say a 6' pit (2 yards, 1d+1), but not enough to threaten a major wound, it's still Mostly Harmless. Unless you fall on your hand or foot and roll maximum damage, it's not going to slow you down.
Non-damaging effects with a high resistance bonus, low skill, or minimally disruptive effects (you're sprayed with paint, you're at a -1 at most on some or all stats, etc.) are Mostly Harmless.
Dangerous: If the average/mean damage of a trap is going to put some significant damage past the average DR of the group, the trap is dangerous. Now it matters. A 15' pit (5 yards, 2d) with spikes does 2-12 impaling damage, average 7. Against that same DR 4 average, that's 6 damage to whoever falls in. Not a lot, but it's the same as getting hit with a good whack in combat and it'll require a potion or spell to get rid of. On a normal person (HP 10), it's a major wound. A crossbow trap doing 1d+5 impaling (6-11, average 10.5) is similarly dangerous. Basically, if there is a threat of a major wound or crippled limb or extremity, it's dangerous.
Non-damaging effects that can potentially kill, or inflict a non-lethal but annoying effect, and/or which have a normal resistance (spell roll of 15, straight-up HT rolls, etc.) are Dangerous.
Lethal: If the minimum damage of a trap is going to inflict a crippled limb or major wound, the trap potentially lethal. If the maximum damage can kill outright (or at least force 1+ death checks), it's potentially lethal.
Something that's causing 10+ net damage is very serious; 20+ is potentially lethal. 50-60+ is a serious threat of lethality. The upper end of lethality in DF2 is a 100 yard pit doing 9d+1 (10-73, average 32.5) or lava at 8d+2 burning damage per second. You might not die immediately, but dying is coming at you quickly.
Non-damage effects that can easily kill belong in this category. Drowning, suffocation, the incapacitating afflictions, etc. are all potentially lethal.
These are pretty broad categories, but that's because so many factors impinge on them. DR of the party members, HP of the person hit, resistance rolls, effects, special circumstances, etc. Even a Mostly Harmless trap can turn out to be lethal if it's combined with a monster encounter that takes advantage of the trap (you're dealing with avoiding falling in dozens of little pits that slow you down while the monster kills from afar, say). A trap that is Mostly Harmless to the 20 HP DR 10 knight might be Lethal to the 10 HP 2 DR Wizard. "Only 12 impaling? Okay, 2 gets through and I take 4 injury, I'm down to 16 but bandaging will get me back to 18." vs. "12 impaling? I'm at -20 and I need to make a death check." The net effect of the circumstances matter.
Putting it together
You need to look at the sum of the parts. The teleport over water full of razor fish in my game was easy to detect (but not blatantly trap), hard to disarm, and potentially lethal = very dangerous. The water itself was easy to detect, easy to avoid, and potentially lethal. So all in all it was dangerous but unlikely to TPK the group - yet it almost did because they pushed their luck too far. All in all, that was a potentially lethal trap.
Some other traps have been trivially dealt with, because for all of their damage they were easy to detect, easy to disarm, or easy to set off with no harm to the PCs. Most of the ones set off recently in my game with Create Servant were like that - a more recent linked "bear trap on a deadman switch for a deadfall" one was potentially dangerous (category 2, above) but easy to deal with.
Consider the parts and then the sum of the parts, and see how dangerous that looks to be. How likely are they to blunder into it, get out of it, and/or survive it? Remember DF delvers aren't fragile, but aren't supermen either. You don't need traps to be hard to detect, hard to disarm, impossible to circumvent, difficult to resist, and highly damaging all at once.
Trap Notation
Finally, I like stat lines, so I'll boil it down in my adventure descriptions to things like this:
10 x 10 x 10' Spiked Pit (Detect +10, Disarm N/A, Avoid -2 (precarious narrow ledges), 1d+2 imp)
Poisoned Needle (Detect -3, Disarm -1, Avoid HT-2, 4d/2d toxic no delay no cycles)
Lightning Runes (Detect Per+Magery or Per-based Thaumotology, Disarm N/A, Avoid DX-5 to walk around and Resist vs. 15, 3d burning w/surge, metal is DR 1)
Further trap resources:
Steve Winter's 36 Trap Triggers
Steve Winter's 36 Trap Effects
C's Traps and Tricks Index
Saturday, May 18, 2013
How I run skills in a skill-based game
How I play skills in my GURPS game.
Skill rolls tell you how well your character executes your actions, not what actions your character takes.
The player tells me what the character is doing, the skills and skill rolls tell me how well you do it.
The player announces an action, the character executes it
An action must be a discrete thing you're doing, stated in a way that describes what you do. It can't be a goal or aspiration. It can't be a simple statement of rolls made.
So "I roll Perception!" isn't allowed, any more than "I roll Broadsword!" or "I roll 'to hit'!" - none of those tell me anything about what you are doing. It's not an action, it's a description of the mechanics.
So how to state an action?
Bad:
"I disarm the trap" or "I look for secret doors" or "I use Physician" are about as valid of an action as "I slay the monster" or "I kill the bad guy" is. That tells me nothing, really, about what you're doing. That's a statement of intent or a goal; a mission statement not a description of how you're getting there. This is especially true in GURPS, in my games, where "I slay the monster" doesn't tell me what weapon, what hit location, what attack mode (thrusting? swinging? Swinging the head or the peen? Doing something else?), and any other positioning, movement, or options you're taking.
Good:
"I step up and swing at the guy in front of me, at his neck" is better. Same with "I'm trying to bend back or otherwise break the poison needle in the lock" or "I tap along the walls to hear if they sound thinner in one spot" or "I'll bandages up his arm wound with my Physician skill and try to clean it out." Even something basics like "I look at the ceiling" is okay. All of those can end with "and I have a XX in skill Y." The mechanics come in once I know what you're doing. They'll end with rolling Broadsword, or Traps, or Search, or First Aid, or Perception, but they start with a statement of action.
You describe the action in real-world terms as well as game terms, to let me know what you're doing and how. Then we let the dice (or GM judgement, sometimes) decide how that all works out.
Why this way?
- it preserves the importance of "being there" and playing the character. Your decisions matter, and your ideas help or hinder you.
- it preserves the value of skills. They let you play someone better or worse than you at the action. The character's ability to execute means that there is a real benefit to being an agile, light-fingered thief or a frighteningly skilled brute of a warrior. And a cost to being bad at things. Just because you say "I bend back the poison needle" doesn't mean you succeed. Just because you say "I swing my sword at his neck" doesn't mean you hit.
- it preserves the differentiation of "player" from "character." Just because you, the player, know what you want to do doesn't mean this particular character/playing piece/paper man can do it. It makes the character on the paper both more and less than what you're capable of.
What about what my guy knows?
It's harder to do this.
Knowledge skills are a little trickier, because it's often a valid question, "What does my character know about this?" Maybe having Hidden Lord (Elementals) means you know something about fighting elementals. Maybe have Physician tells you stuff about doctoring that you don't know but your character might - "Is it normal for that to happen, does my guy know that?" Even knowledge-based used of a non-knowledge skill (say, Boating or Swimming) might be valid - you want to know what kind of make the boat is, or how swimmable the water looks.
In those cases, you still need to specify what you're after, not just say "I roll Swimming to see if the water is okay." It's too vague and hands over the real fun of roleplaying - being someone else in a shitty situation you wouldn't want to be in - to a simple roll.
Generally, though, if your question boils down to "Hey GM, tell me what to do!" or "Hey GM, tell me the answer!" it's not going to work.
If it boils down to "Hey GM, does my guy know the answer to my question?" or "Hey GM, do I know this is really stupid and shouldn't do it?", it's okay.
And of course, so is any question of "I try [some action], how well do I do it?" like "I go to the library and read up on elementals, can I roll Research?"
And that's basically how I run skills.
Skill rolls tell you how well your character executes your actions, not what actions your character takes.
The player tells me what the character is doing, the skills and skill rolls tell me how well you do it.
The player announces an action, the character executes it
An action must be a discrete thing you're doing, stated in a way that describes what you do. It can't be a goal or aspiration. It can't be a simple statement of rolls made.
So "I roll Perception!" isn't allowed, any more than "I roll Broadsword!" or "I roll 'to hit'!" - none of those tell me anything about what you are doing. It's not an action, it's a description of the mechanics.
So how to state an action?
Bad:
"I disarm the trap" or "I look for secret doors" or "I use Physician" are about as valid of an action as "I slay the monster" or "I kill the bad guy" is. That tells me nothing, really, about what you're doing. That's a statement of intent or a goal; a mission statement not a description of how you're getting there. This is especially true in GURPS, in my games, where "I slay the monster" doesn't tell me what weapon, what hit location, what attack mode (thrusting? swinging? Swinging the head or the peen? Doing something else?), and any other positioning, movement, or options you're taking.
Good:
"I step up and swing at the guy in front of me, at his neck" is better. Same with "I'm trying to bend back or otherwise break the poison needle in the lock" or "I tap along the walls to hear if they sound thinner in one spot" or "I'll bandages up his arm wound with my Physician skill and try to clean it out." Even something basics like "I look at the ceiling" is okay. All of those can end with "and I have a XX in skill Y." The mechanics come in once I know what you're doing. They'll end with rolling Broadsword, or Traps, or Search, or First Aid, or Perception, but they start with a statement of action.
You describe the action in real-world terms as well as game terms, to let me know what you're doing and how. Then we let the dice (or GM judgement, sometimes) decide how that all works out.
Why this way?
- it preserves the importance of "being there" and playing the character. Your decisions matter, and your ideas help or hinder you.
- it preserves the value of skills. They let you play someone better or worse than you at the action. The character's ability to execute means that there is a real benefit to being an agile, light-fingered thief or a frighteningly skilled brute of a warrior. And a cost to being bad at things. Just because you say "I bend back the poison needle" doesn't mean you succeed. Just because you say "I swing my sword at his neck" doesn't mean you hit.
- it preserves the differentiation of "player" from "character." Just because you, the player, know what you want to do doesn't mean this particular character/playing piece/paper man can do it. It makes the character on the paper both more and less than what you're capable of.
What about what my guy knows?
It's harder to do this.
Knowledge skills are a little trickier, because it's often a valid question, "What does my character know about this?" Maybe having Hidden Lord (Elementals) means you know something about fighting elementals. Maybe have Physician tells you stuff about doctoring that you don't know but your character might - "Is it normal for that to happen, does my guy know that?" Even knowledge-based used of a non-knowledge skill (say, Boating or Swimming) might be valid - you want to know what kind of make the boat is, or how swimmable the water looks.
In those cases, you still need to specify what you're after, not just say "I roll Swimming to see if the water is okay." It's too vague and hands over the real fun of roleplaying - being someone else in a shitty situation you wouldn't want to be in - to a simple roll.
Generally, though, if your question boils down to "Hey GM, tell me what to do!" or "Hey GM, tell me the answer!" it's not going to work.
If it boils down to "Hey GM, does my guy know the answer to my question?" or "Hey GM, do I know this is really stupid and shouldn't do it?", it's okay.
And of course, so is any question of "I try [some action], how well do I do it?" like "I go to the library and read up on elementals, can I roll Research?"
And that's basically how I run skills.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Sneaky the Thief (DF Thief, Modified)
A number* of GURPS bloggers have been talking about the Dungeon Fantasy Thief template recently. In a couple cases, trying to make it a little bit more useful and less replaceable. The issue really is that, in GURPS, anyone can try the thief's skills, many of them are easily replaced with other means, and some professions do much of the same things almost as well as the thief and many things better. Making them a bit better would make them a bit more fun, which is the real thing I'm after.
After reading Patrick Halter's latest proposal, I decided I'd try to make one up using a mix of my suggestions and his. Here is my result.
The Changes
I went with Patrick Halter's suggestion to simply cut the skills I wasn't using anyway - Filch, Shadowing, and Smuggling - instead of merging the points spent.
I also went with dropping Urban Survival down a point, from 2 to 1. I think that's fine, but I'd rather not make it optional.
I left Sleight of Hand alone for now.
Together those net back 7 points, of which I'm putting 5 into discretionary advantages and 2 into Background skills. I didn't put more into Lockpicking, since putting them into Background still allows for that but doesn't lock me in to improving something that's already good.
I'm also allowing free purchase of any Power-Ups right from the start.
Just for grins, even though I personally think Perfect Balance is really useful, I've made a thief without it.
I didn't buy any gear for this guy, or write up his quirks. I'd play him though, he seems like a fun guy. I went with "make him good but fun" so if he seems like he's less than utterly munchkinned or min-maxed, well, I find that usually reduces the fun of the guy.
Sneaky the Thief II
Race: Human
Attributes [180]
ST 11 [10]
DX 15 [100]
IQ 13 [60]
HT 11 [10]
HP 11
Will 13
Per 14 [5]
FP 11
Basic Lift 24
Damage 1d-1/1d+1
Basic Speed 6 [-10]
Basic Move 7 [5]
Ground Move 7
Water Move 1
Social Background
TL: 3 [0]
Cultural Familiarities:
Languages: Common (Native) [0].
Advantages [59]
Flexibility [5]
High Manual Dexterity (2) [10]
Luck [15]
Night Vision (9) [9]
Sensitive Touch [10]
Silence (2) [10]
Perks [1]
Honest Face [1]
Disadvantages [-40]
Code of Honor (Pirate's) [-5]
Compulsive Gambling (12 or less) [-5]
Cowardice (12 or less) [-10]
Greed (12 or less) [-15]
Sense of Duty (Adventuring companions) [-5]
Quirks [-5]
_Unused Quirk 1 [-1]
_Unused Quirk 2 [-1]
_Unused Quirk 3 [-1]
_Unused Quirk 4 [-1]
_Unused Quirk 5 [-1]
Packages [0]
Thief (Dungeon Fantasy) [0]
Skills [55]
Acrobatics DX/H - DX-2 13 [1]
Brawling DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Carousing HT/E - HT+0 11 [1]
Cartography/TL3 IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Climbing DX/A - DX+2 17 [1]
includes: +3 from 'Flexibility'
Connoisseur (Wine) IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Crossbow DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Escape DX/H - DX+1 16 [1]
includes: +3 from 'Flexibility'
Fast-Draw (Knife) DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Fast-Draw (Sword) DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Forced Entry DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Gambling IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Gesture IQ/E - IQ+0 13 [1]
Holdout IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Knife DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Lockpicking/TL3 IQ/A - IQ+1 14 [4]
DX-based roll is 18 (including +2 from High Manual Dexterity)
Merchant IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Observation Per/A - Per-1 13 [1]
Pickpocket DX/H - DX-1 14 [2]
Poisons/TL3 IQ/H - IQ+0 13 [4]
Saber DX/A - DX-1 14 [1]
Search Per/A - Per+0 14 [2]
18 by touch including +4 from Sensitive Touch
Sleight of Hand DX/H - DX-2 13 [1]
Stealth DX/A - DX+3 18 [12]
20 vs. hearing, 22 vs. hearing when motionless
Streetwise IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Swimming HT/A - HT-1 11 [1]
Traps/TL3 IQ/A - IQ+2 15 [8]
DX-based roll is 19 (including +2 from High Manual Dexterity)
Per-based roll is 16 (20 by touch with +4 from Sensitive Touch)
Urban Survival Per/A - Per-1 13 [1]
Stats [180] Ads [59] Disads [-40] Quirks [-5] Skills [55] = Total [250]
As you can see:
- Why II? Because Sneaky the Thief was the NPC thief I had accompany the party in our playtest of DFA1. He was meant as a PC, but no one picked him. In any case, I already had a file for "Sneaky the Thief."
- I upped Traps a little with my discretionary points. He's one level away from qualifying for Trap Sense.
- Made him capable of mapping.
- I put 4 points in Poisons, because that'll let him quadruple up on cheap poisons for backstabs, and I make people roll Poisons sometimes in conjunction with trap disarmament.
- Those 9 points in Night Vision? Yeah, I'm still not sure that is a good idea, since it's not enough to see in the dark. I might have gone for 3 points in Night Vision (enough to eliminate the penalties out to the limits of torchlight) and used the other 6 points for another level of Perception with change left over, or perhaps a third level of High Manual Dexterity.
- Luck is something all my guys have. Face it. I don't like to play without a do-over and I'm willing to pay for the privilege.
- Honest Face? I love that one. I had to take it.
- I made him able to swim, because I don't like falling for my own pranks.
- He's only a short 8 point hop away from Nondectection, if magic detection is common, and 1 point away from Sure Grasp, if it turns out climbing is important.
All in all, he looks pretty fun. He's still no fighter, but he's not pretending to be. I do think he's a pretty good sneak-ahead-and-look guy this way. He won't sneak-and-kill, just sneak-and-report or sneak-and-steal. Given actual need in play for non-magical, quiet lockpicking and trap removal (not just "Dispel Magic or the barbarian just sets it off"), he's going to be handy at those, too. I'd give him a spin in play to see how he does.
In any case, this is one way a thief from such a modified template might look.
* Which would be three. Mark Langsdorf, Patrick Halter, and myself.
After reading Patrick Halter's latest proposal, I decided I'd try to make one up using a mix of my suggestions and his. Here is my result.
The Changes
I went with Patrick Halter's suggestion to simply cut the skills I wasn't using anyway - Filch, Shadowing, and Smuggling - instead of merging the points spent.
I also went with dropping Urban Survival down a point, from 2 to 1. I think that's fine, but I'd rather not make it optional.
I left Sleight of Hand alone for now.
Together those net back 7 points, of which I'm putting 5 into discretionary advantages and 2 into Background skills. I didn't put more into Lockpicking, since putting them into Background still allows for that but doesn't lock me in to improving something that's already good.
I'm also allowing free purchase of any Power-Ups right from the start.
Just for grins, even though I personally think Perfect Balance is really useful, I've made a thief without it.
I didn't buy any gear for this guy, or write up his quirks. I'd play him though, he seems like a fun guy. I went with "make him good but fun" so if he seems like he's less than utterly munchkinned or min-maxed, well, I find that usually reduces the fun of the guy.
Sneaky the Thief II
Race: Human
Attributes [180]
ST 11 [10]
DX 15 [100]
IQ 13 [60]
HT 11 [10]
HP 11
Will 13
Per 14 [5]
FP 11
Basic Lift 24
Damage 1d-1/1d+1
Basic Speed 6 [-10]
Basic Move 7 [5]
Ground Move 7
Water Move 1
Social Background
TL: 3 [0]
Cultural Familiarities:
Languages: Common (Native) [0].
Advantages [59]
Flexibility [5]
High Manual Dexterity (2) [10]
Luck [15]
Night Vision (9) [9]
Sensitive Touch [10]
Silence (2) [10]
Perks [1]
Honest Face [1]
Disadvantages [-40]
Code of Honor (Pirate's) [-5]
Compulsive Gambling (12 or less) [-5]
Cowardice (12 or less) [-10]
Greed (12 or less) [-15]
Sense of Duty (Adventuring companions) [-5]
Quirks [-5]
_Unused Quirk 1 [-1]
_Unused Quirk 2 [-1]
_Unused Quirk 3 [-1]
_Unused Quirk 4 [-1]
_Unused Quirk 5 [-1]
Packages [0]
Thief (Dungeon Fantasy) [0]
Skills [55]
Acrobatics DX/H - DX-2 13 [1]
Brawling DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Carousing HT/E - HT+0 11 [1]
Cartography/TL3 IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Climbing DX/A - DX+2 17 [1]
includes: +3 from 'Flexibility'
Connoisseur (Wine) IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Crossbow DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Escape DX/H - DX+1 16 [1]
includes: +3 from 'Flexibility'
Fast-Draw (Knife) DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Fast-Draw (Sword) DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Forced Entry DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Gambling IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Gesture IQ/E - IQ+0 13 [1]
Holdout IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Knife DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Lockpicking/TL3 IQ/A - IQ+1 14 [4]
DX-based roll is 18 (including +2 from High Manual Dexterity)
Merchant IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Observation Per/A - Per-1 13 [1]
Pickpocket DX/H - DX-1 14 [2]
Poisons/TL3 IQ/H - IQ+0 13 [4]
Saber DX/A - DX-1 14 [1]
Search Per/A - Per+0 14 [2]
18 by touch including +4 from Sensitive Touch
Sleight of Hand DX/H - DX-2 13 [1]
Stealth DX/A - DX+3 18 [12]
20 vs. hearing, 22 vs. hearing when motionless
Streetwise IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Swimming HT/A - HT-1 11 [1]
Traps/TL3 IQ/A - IQ+2 15 [8]
DX-based roll is 19 (including +2 from High Manual Dexterity)
Per-based roll is 16 (20 by touch with +4 from Sensitive Touch)
Urban Survival Per/A - Per-1 13 [1]
Stats [180] Ads [59] Disads [-40] Quirks [-5] Skills [55] = Total [250]
As you can see:
- Why II? Because Sneaky the Thief was the NPC thief I had accompany the party in our playtest of DFA1. He was meant as a PC, but no one picked him. In any case, I already had a file for "Sneaky the Thief."
- I upped Traps a little with my discretionary points. He's one level away from qualifying for Trap Sense.
- Made him capable of mapping.
- I put 4 points in Poisons, because that'll let him quadruple up on cheap poisons for backstabs, and I make people roll Poisons sometimes in conjunction with trap disarmament.
- Those 9 points in Night Vision? Yeah, I'm still not sure that is a good idea, since it's not enough to see in the dark. I might have gone for 3 points in Night Vision (enough to eliminate the penalties out to the limits of torchlight) and used the other 6 points for another level of Perception with change left over, or perhaps a third level of High Manual Dexterity.
- Luck is something all my guys have. Face it. I don't like to play without a do-over and I'm willing to pay for the privilege.
- Honest Face? I love that one. I had to take it.
- I made him able to swim, because I don't like falling for my own pranks.
- He's only a short 8 point hop away from Nondectection, if magic detection is common, and 1 point away from Sure Grasp, if it turns out climbing is important.
All in all, he looks pretty fun. He's still no fighter, but he's not pretending to be. I do think he's a pretty good sneak-ahead-and-look guy this way. He won't sneak-and-kill, just sneak-and-report or sneak-and-steal. Given actual need in play for non-magical, quiet lockpicking and trap removal (not just "Dispel Magic or the barbarian just sets it off"), he's going to be handy at those, too. I'd give him a spin in play to see how he does.
In any case, this is one way a thief from such a modified template might look.
* Which would be three. Mark Langsdorf, Patrick Halter, and myself.
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