Not a lot of rulings from yesterday's session, but here they are.
- Orders are from the Monday after session, unless the party returns Monday or later. In those cases it's +1 day after. The group always arrives late to town, and you can't run directly into town, sell everything on Sunday night at maximum available price, and then place orders for gear. That's a Monday thing.
- We rolling stunning and knockdown seperately, because I think that's more realistic and way cooler at the same time. We roll them in that order - stunning, knockdown. Does that matter? No. But sometimes people click the rolls twice and aren't sure which was for which roll. Stunning, knockdown.
- You can dodge the blast radius of an explosion when it's behind you, but only if you saw the shot pass . . . and are willing to dodge and retreat regardless of where it actually hits. You might guess wrong and dodge something that isn't a threat.
I ruled something else but I forget now what it was. I was pre-ruling on something before Vic asks when Jon tries it, but I forget what it was. Heh.
Related, what about bringing a not-fully-dead foe into town?
Town is safe, but only if the players also treat it as safe for everyone and everything else. So, bringing a weird creature to town to get help from in-town people to look at it? Borderline. Getting help killing it, or killing it, or potentially questioning it if it's able to be questioned? No. That makes town not safe across the board and thus not safe for the PCs, either. If the PCs rob NPCs in town, NPCs will rob the PCs in town. Kill NPCs? Kill PCs. It's all equal-ish, but determined by the GM not by anyone else. Rules-edging or boundry-edging by the players could result in disaster.
So nothing in town will do for killing this Gith they brought home. They could do it and did it, but there is going to be a bit of unpleasant association for the PCs for a while. I didn't warn them directly, but I don't think I needed to have to - town is safe unless you violate that, and this is pushing a boundary a bit.
They're looking to do some research, but because this is a special circumstance, I need explanation on what they're exactly doing, what they're hiring someone for, and then we'll make the rolls and pay the funds to deal with it. This isn't routine.
Monday, September 21, 2026
Sunday, September 20, 2026
GURPS DF Session 226, Felltower 142 - Vat room battle - Part II
Date: 9/20/2026
Game Date: 9/6/2026
Weather: Warm and partly cloudy.
Characters
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (382 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Persistance Montgomery, human knight (367 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (391 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (343 points)
Later:
Chop, human cleric (367 points)
We picked up mid fight.
The fight was brief but nasty. Percy, Hannari, and Duncan faced the solitary Master Gith, while Thor faced a half-dozen ratmen.
The Master Gith zipped back and forth, using his air move and good speed (though less than Great Hasted Hannari and Percy) to do a Move and Attack on Duncan, attacking with a runaround and Run and Hit to stun him with a pair of cuts to the neck. Duncan used Blink but blew his Body Sense roll and then his stunning check and his death check, and was Mortally Wounded. Hannari desperately slammed the Gith, doing 11 or 12 crushing with an 18-yard Move, but took 19 in return and bounced off. A second later the Gith cut Duncan down with a second cut to the neck and a blow to the skull. Duncan dropped, dead.
Percy clipped the Gith with a skull blow but didn't put him down. Hannari tried resorting to thrown weapons, pump-faking with ranged feints and then throwing some of his collection of bespoke meteoric all-metal kama to some effect, wounding the Gith twice. Percy moved up slowly, using Wait to threaten a zone of destruction without getting out ahead of Agar's Wand so he was maximally protected.
Thor cut down all of the remaining ratmen while this was happening, although one briefly menaced Percy and phased and dodged his blows before going berserk. Once that last one went down, Thor joined the boss fray. The Gith built up and threw a 12d Explosive Lighting at the ground in Percy's hex, hurting him (22 damage) and Thor (11 damage). Then he run away and back in. As he zipped past Hannari, he knocked him cold with a skull shot but dropped his sword on a lucky critical defense by Hannari (we run multiple blows against one foe as a cascading simultaneous sequence.) Thor tried a slam and missed, travelling a few yards past the dodging Gith. Percy rushed up but couldn't reach him. The Gith drew his small mace and lowered down to recover his sword.
That was the only mistake he made, and it cost him. Staying put to gather his dropped sword left him facing away from Thor, who cut him twice to the neck and dropped him, "dead."
Thor approached with his meteoric long knife, took the Gith's helmet off, and saw him staring blankly and white-eyed into nothing. He tried to cut its head off but couldn't. So he tried his flaming sword. Nope. They tried a silver blade, nope. So they used an Awaken spellstone - luckily Percy could remember where hyper-organized Hannari keeps them - and got Vlad and Hannari awake. Then Thor cut off the tip of Duncan's wooden sword (his Staff) and rammed it into the heart of the Gith. Then they did the same with a silver knife of Hannari's. They left them in going forward.
As this went on Chop caught up to the group (in other words, the player was waiting to join in the session.)
Nothing they could do would harm the fallen Gith.
They stripped the Gith of gear, checked the room with See Secrets and took a quick look at the vats (eww, fleshy sweaty embalming fluidy stinking white good that mvoed around and seemed to be forming body parts briefly) and walls (pictographs and weird runes.) They couldn't figure out what to do. So they took the Gith and the gear and left. Using See Secrets they spotted a large secret door with no way to open it and made a note where to find it next time.
It took some work but they made it out of the dungeon and into town.
They got Duncan Resurrection for 15,000, and found the church doesn't have any idea what to do with, or interest in dealing with, the Gith. Duncan claimed it was an Elder Thing after examining it with Hidden Lore, but it's Good vs. Evil, Bunny vs. Squid, and Holy doesn't have any special effect on the Squid axis. They know they regenerate, but something is keeping it from regenerating. In the end, they left the church, checked out their loot, and decided what to do next time. A check of the loot from the Gith, however, turned up a necklace with a vial on it . . . with the last remant of some human blood in it.
Notes:
- the PCs now have a dead Gith. The church won't fix this for them. They can't just leave it in town, or cast Entombment on it in town (illegal), or have it dumped into cement and bricked up in a wall. Oh no. They'll need to do this in the dungeon. So the will figure out how, but the plan is now to gag him, chain him up, carry him into the dungeon, and brick him up in a room with earth and turn it to solid stone. Which probably means a few wheelbarrow loads of dirt since Create Earth will end in 24 hours. They'll probaby add warnings and a cryptic note. Maybe some other delve in another day with another group will turn up the area and they'll break in, and steal the silver knife and sharped stake as loot . . .
- the loot was something obsecene, like $35,000 each. I forget offhand. They sold four suits of magescale, two without helmets (thanks Percy), two greataxes, a four sets of cloaks and boots that provide camo and silence, a few magical fencing swords and a mace, and a few other bits taken a previous delve and never identified. They kept a magical Gith longsword, a Salamander amulet, and not much else. Vlad took a bunch of jewelry in lieu of cash. They're wondering just how many more sets of magescale are out there . . .
- XP was 6 each for everyone but Chop - 4 xp loot, 1 xp new area explored. +1 for a split session delve. Chop got 5, since he wasn't there for part I. Generous, but I think fair - they gave him the loot, and snatching the 1 xp for new area explored felt silly. MVP was Thor for the killing blow and dropping 5-6 ratmen.
Game Date: 9/6/2026
Weather: Warm and partly cloudy.
Characters
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (382 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Persistance Montgomery, human knight (367 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (391 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (343 points)
Later:
Chop, human cleric (367 points)
We picked up mid fight.
The fight was brief but nasty. Percy, Hannari, and Duncan faced the solitary Master Gith, while Thor faced a half-dozen ratmen.
The Master Gith zipped back and forth, using his air move and good speed (though less than Great Hasted Hannari and Percy) to do a Move and Attack on Duncan, attacking with a runaround and Run and Hit to stun him with a pair of cuts to the neck. Duncan used Blink but blew his Body Sense roll and then his stunning check and his death check, and was Mortally Wounded. Hannari desperately slammed the Gith, doing 11 or 12 crushing with an 18-yard Move, but took 19 in return and bounced off. A second later the Gith cut Duncan down with a second cut to the neck and a blow to the skull. Duncan dropped, dead.
Percy clipped the Gith with a skull blow but didn't put him down. Hannari tried resorting to thrown weapons, pump-faking with ranged feints and then throwing some of his collection of bespoke meteoric all-metal kama to some effect, wounding the Gith twice. Percy moved up slowly, using Wait to threaten a zone of destruction without getting out ahead of Agar's Wand so he was maximally protected.
Thor cut down all of the remaining ratmen while this was happening, although one briefly menaced Percy and phased and dodged his blows before going berserk. Once that last one went down, Thor joined the boss fray. The Gith built up and threw a 12d Explosive Lighting at the ground in Percy's hex, hurting him (22 damage) and Thor (11 damage). Then he run away and back in. As he zipped past Hannari, he knocked him cold with a skull shot but dropped his sword on a lucky critical defense by Hannari (we run multiple blows against one foe as a cascading simultaneous sequence.) Thor tried a slam and missed, travelling a few yards past the dodging Gith. Percy rushed up but couldn't reach him. The Gith drew his small mace and lowered down to recover his sword.
That was the only mistake he made, and it cost him. Staying put to gather his dropped sword left him facing away from Thor, who cut him twice to the neck and dropped him, "dead."
Thor approached with his meteoric long knife, took the Gith's helmet off, and saw him staring blankly and white-eyed into nothing. He tried to cut its head off but couldn't. So he tried his flaming sword. Nope. They tried a silver blade, nope. So they used an Awaken spellstone - luckily Percy could remember where hyper-organized Hannari keeps them - and got Vlad and Hannari awake. Then Thor cut off the tip of Duncan's wooden sword (his Staff) and rammed it into the heart of the Gith. Then they did the same with a silver knife of Hannari's. They left them in going forward.
As this went on Chop caught up to the group (in other words, the player was waiting to join in the session.)
Nothing they could do would harm the fallen Gith.
They stripped the Gith of gear, checked the room with See Secrets and took a quick look at the vats (eww, fleshy sweaty embalming fluidy stinking white good that mvoed around and seemed to be forming body parts briefly) and walls (pictographs and weird runes.) They couldn't figure out what to do. So they took the Gith and the gear and left. Using See Secrets they spotted a large secret door with no way to open it and made a note where to find it next time.
It took some work but they made it out of the dungeon and into town.
They got Duncan Resurrection for 15,000, and found the church doesn't have any idea what to do with, or interest in dealing with, the Gith. Duncan claimed it was an Elder Thing after examining it with Hidden Lore, but it's Good vs. Evil, Bunny vs. Squid, and Holy doesn't have any special effect on the Squid axis. They know they regenerate, but something is keeping it from regenerating. In the end, they left the church, checked out their loot, and decided what to do next time. A check of the loot from the Gith, however, turned up a necklace with a vial on it . . . with the last remant of some human blood in it.
Notes:
- the PCs now have a dead Gith. The church won't fix this for them. They can't just leave it in town, or cast Entombment on it in town (illegal), or have it dumped into cement and bricked up in a wall. Oh no. They'll need to do this in the dungeon. So the will figure out how, but the plan is now to gag him, chain him up, carry him into the dungeon, and brick him up in a room with earth and turn it to solid stone. Which probably means a few wheelbarrow loads of dirt since Create Earth will end in 24 hours. They'll probaby add warnings and a cryptic note. Maybe some other delve in another day with another group will turn up the area and they'll break in, and steal the silver knife and sharped stake as loot . . .
- the loot was something obsecene, like $35,000 each. I forget offhand. They sold four suits of magescale, two without helmets (thanks Percy), two greataxes, a four sets of cloaks and boots that provide camo and silence, a few magical fencing swords and a mace, and a few other bits taken a previous delve and never identified. They kept a magical Gith longsword, a Salamander amulet, and not much else. Vlad took a bunch of jewelry in lieu of cash. They're wondering just how many more sets of magescale are out there . . .
- XP was 6 each for everyone but Chop - 4 xp loot, 1 xp new area explored. +1 for a split session delve. Chop got 5, since he wasn't there for part I. Generous, but I think fair - they gave him the loot, and snatching the 1 xp for new area explored felt silly. MVP was Thor for the killing blow and dropping 5-6 ratmen.
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Preliminary Felltower Flight rulings
Answwering my own questions from last week:
What happens when you fall?
You suffer a two yard fall - as if a standing person's head (up in hex 2 from the ground) went to the floor (up in hex 0 from the ground.)
What happens when you lose consciousness?
You fall. See above. If the spell is still on when you wake up, you're still capable of flight. Otherwise, you fall at 11 yards per second - aka 32 fpsps - and normally after that.
What movement effects actually change your Air Move?
Magical effects will work normally - Haste, Slow, Great Haste, Speed potions. I can't think of much else.
What happens when you're stunned and knocked down?
You fall. See above.
How does posture affect Air Move?
No posture matters, but if you want to change posture you must use Change Posture normally, and combat effects are as normal.
What happens when you fall?
You suffer a two yard fall - as if a standing person's head (up in hex 2 from the ground) went to the floor (up in hex 0 from the ground.)
What happens when you lose consciousness?
You fall. See above. If the spell is still on when you wake up, you're still capable of flight. Otherwise, you fall at 11 yards per second - aka 32 fpsps - and normally after that.
What movement effects actually change your Air Move?
Magical effects will work normally - Haste, Slow, Great Haste, Speed potions. I can't think of much else.
What happens when you're stunned and knocked down?
You fall. See above.
How does posture affect Air Move?
No posture matters, but if you want to change posture you must use Change Posture normally, and combat effects are as normal.
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Flight questions to be answered
I haven't made rulings on all of these, but with 0 to maintain Flight on the way, I will need to.
What happens when you fall?
What happens when you lose consciousness?
What movement effects actually change your Air Move?
What happens when you're stunned and knocked down?
How does posture affect Air Move?
My players especially - any others I'm missing?
What happens when you fall?
What happens when you lose consciousness?
What movement effects actually change your Air Move?
What happens when you're stunned and knocked down?
How does posture affect Air Move?
My players especially - any others I'm missing?
Monday, September 7, 2026
GURPS DF Session 225, Felltower 142 - Vat room battle - Part I
Game Date: 9/6/2026
Weather: Warm and partly cloudy.
Characters
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (382 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Persistance Montgomery, human knight (367 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (391 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (343 points)
We started off in town, with the PCs buying some potions and Strengthen Will spellstones.
The PCs headed into the dungeon via the well entrance, and down to the first GFS (giant fantastic staircase), and into the so-called Gate Level. The air was close and stale. Vlad tried to push for going to burn off the gas they'd discovered in one area of caves on this level a few sessions back, but Hannari wanted to "stay on target."
They made it to the room with the "Will Wall." Hannari touched one of the mummified six-fingered "Gith" hands to the door, as he had with the GFS. It opened the door, but also got a bit ratty - the 1 injury inflicted when anything touches the door still seemed to apply. He wasn't hurt but it's not clear how much these hands can take - maybe a few more touches?
The Will Wall was more trouble, and in the end several of the PCs had to use Strengthen Will spellstones to get in. From there, it was down to the first landing of the second GFS. Hannari touched the door, it opened, and they went in, all using Walk on Air from Duncan. The chime went off as they advanced - a low gong-like ringing. It kept going, every five or six seconds, continuously. A Dispel Magic on the area did nothing.
They moved in "map south" and crossed the room, using Walk on Air. Thor cut down a whispy curtain of shadowy material and burned it away, and they headed down through a rectangular room and into a circular room with a passage out to their upper right. It had a whispy curtain partway down its length. They had Vlad mapping, the chime going low in the background, and then they had Hannari try to cut down the curtain with his best kama. It worked, but it took some cutting - the stuff cut like paper using bad scissors, but when cut away it whisped into nothing, defying Hannari's goal of keeping some for testing or use.
Beyond was a clearly large room. Only Vlad and Duncan could see - a giant vat, a dozen or so yards across, about 4' high, with a semi-circle of two-yard wide vats with equally tall sides. In the biggest of them was an off-white goo that moved and rippled a little without anything clearly stirring it. The room smelled of flesh and sweat, mixed with a bit of a formaldehyde smell as well. The other six couldn't be seen into from anyone's starting vantage point.
Beyond the vat were four Masters - two with greataxes, one taller one armed as a Lichtor, and one very tall one armed similarly.
Hannari opened by his usual routine by now - fast-sheath his weapon, fast-draw a spellstone from a potion slot, throw it to the limit of his sight, fast-draw his weapon back out (at a -0, -4, -0 to the throw, -8). He'd throw another to the limit of that one's light radius, too, a second later.
The other PCs moved in, Vlad launching arrows at the Masters in succession, only to have them all just miss - clearly Missile Shield. The PCs advanced, going towards and around the left side of the big vat. As they closed with the smallest vat, Thor went to engage an axeman . . . and up popped a ratman, hidden until the moment behind the vat and under some whispy shadowy material. It bit Thor, who didn't see it until it hit him, but a terrible damage roll meant even its armor-piercing phase bite didn't do anything. The ratman flicked and snapped and jolted around, and one of Vlad's two arrows just passed through it harmlessly, but it twitched into the path of the other and took an arrow to the face. Thor's counter swing a moment later - as he backed out of close combat - cut the ratman nearly in half and dropped him. Others popped up, one throwing corrosive slime at Percy, who dodged, but it left a nasty goo pile in the hex he'd been in.
The PCs moved up. Percy quickly became a terror to the skull-owning ratmen and axemen. He killed one axeman in a brief exchange, then a ratman, and then the licthor - all three knocked straight to -10xHP from skull smashes, not incidentally destroying the Mage Scale helmets from those two suits. In each of his three strikes he'd get one critical hit, which usually was enough to finish off his foes. Thor backed up slightly and cut off the leg of another axeman. But then, the Master leader they'd been ignoring had circled wide of the melee going on. For whatever reason, they didn't pay attention to him until he was just withing rushing distance of Duncan. He zipped up, running 8 yards on the air (they use magical flight abilities, too) to stab Duncan twice in the eyes. Duncan used Blink (we forgot to make him roll Body Sense, didn't we?) and blocked, barely fending off the two strikes. Hannari rushed the melee, trying to slam the Master but missing. Duncan retreated. The Master rushed Vlad, next, and stabbed him in the eye (after a blisteringly good Feint - IIRC Vlad was at -14 or so from the Feint), knocking him unconscious. He dropped a few yards and lay still. Meanwhile, the axeman crippled by Thor had levitated himself back up and into the fray, so Percy killed him.
Thor and Hannari pressed the Master, who stabbed at both of them. Thor barely blocked his attack (he had a 5!), and Hannari more easily delt with his attack. They Feinted back, but even with a +5 DX from the usual potion quaffed at the beginning of the fight, Hannari couldn't overmatch the Master. They don't know his skill, but for comparison, Thor is at 22 and Hannari 28 (I think.) Duncan helped out by putting Great Haste on Hannari and Percy.
Meanwhile, a half-dozen more ratmen joined the six who'd popped up near the PCs and rushed into the fray, closing in on the Master. Some threw crystals, to no effect as the PCs blocked or Dodged them.
Then Percy stepped up and took two swings at the Master, who dodged one and took the other to the skull thanks to a Critical Hit. He knocked his head back and wounded him, but he was still up.
He ended it there for time.
Notes:
- Duncan is a few points away from getting Flight 25. That's 0 to maintain. Essentially, I expect most fights to involve multiple flying PCs. People treat it as unlimited air move; I wish it specified "cannot hover" so Levitation still made some sense as a seperate spell once you have a high level of Flight. Also, I like how it expands out adventure possibilities, but I'm not looking forward to how it completely eliminates entire swathes of adventure challenges. The PCs will never need to worry more than a modicum about cliffs, floor traps, difficult to reach foes, ledges, etc. Open spaces become PCs killing zones and closed areas funnels for NPCs to be forced to fight one on one vs. PCs. Free to maintain flight is a significant game changer. I'm ready for the challenge but it does mean we're going to need to do 3-D range estimation and reach rulings and "how far can I fly and are level changes free while I move?" every single combat and time-based challenge around. I should start to make rulings about falling while flying, stunning while flying, etc. I expected the arguments will be made that it's like walking, only much, much better. Heh. Only NMZs are going to force some care and caution, here. You'd think, maybe, that Walk on Air already does this - but Flight is substantially better in most respects, and dramatically reduces the concerns that keep people from using it for flight-based adventuring. I do plan to put paid to the whole 1" off the ground b.s. that people do all the time. With flight, it'll be limited to whole yards.
This is why, by the way, one of my proposed rules for a future game using GURPS Magic is a minimum cost to cast and maintain of 1. No free spells on all the time for anyone. Most of my old hands don't like it, which tells me it's a good, workable rule.
- We had a bit of miscommunication. I always give directions relative to facing. They often had a predisposed idea of "map north" based on battle maps or whatever, and so it skewed a little bit of mapping until I put up a battle map. This kind of issue goes way back. I said "upper right" and the heard it as "over our right shoulders."
- I love the ratmen. Matt Riggsby thinks DF like I think DF, sometimes. I don't use the plain ones anymore . . . phase, crystal, slime, and electric ones for me, thank you.
- We would could have finished this fight in one go, but we had the usual VTT issues (especially because some modules I used to use for management were superceded by native changes to either GURPS Game Aid or Foundry), and everyone was slow. It's hard to be on the ball after a three month layoff. We'll pick up the battle next session in a couple of weeks and go from there. I don't blame anyone, we were just slow, and Hannari is complicated and his player had to be in and out due to a real world problem, which also slowed us down. Oh well.
- Quote of the session was Doug, who said, "I don't play games to do bookkeeping." Agreed. My current campaign is probably above the upper limit I'd set if we weren't already there.
- MVP was Percy for piles of foe-ending criticals, and a nasty one on the Master right at the end.
Weather: Warm and partly cloudy.
Characters
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (382 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Persistance Montgomery, human knight (367 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (391 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (343 points)
We started off in town, with the PCs buying some potions and Strengthen Will spellstones.
The PCs headed into the dungeon via the well entrance, and down to the first GFS (giant fantastic staircase), and into the so-called Gate Level. The air was close and stale. Vlad tried to push for going to burn off the gas they'd discovered in one area of caves on this level a few sessions back, but Hannari wanted to "stay on target."
They made it to the room with the "Will Wall." Hannari touched one of the mummified six-fingered "Gith" hands to the door, as he had with the GFS. It opened the door, but also got a bit ratty - the 1 injury inflicted when anything touches the door still seemed to apply. He wasn't hurt but it's not clear how much these hands can take - maybe a few more touches?
The Will Wall was more trouble, and in the end several of the PCs had to use Strengthen Will spellstones to get in. From there, it was down to the first landing of the second GFS. Hannari touched the door, it opened, and they went in, all using Walk on Air from Duncan. The chime went off as they advanced - a low gong-like ringing. It kept going, every five or six seconds, continuously. A Dispel Magic on the area did nothing.
They moved in "map south" and crossed the room, using Walk on Air. Thor cut down a whispy curtain of shadowy material and burned it away, and they headed down through a rectangular room and into a circular room with a passage out to their upper right. It had a whispy curtain partway down its length. They had Vlad mapping, the chime going low in the background, and then they had Hannari try to cut down the curtain with his best kama. It worked, but it took some cutting - the stuff cut like paper using bad scissors, but when cut away it whisped into nothing, defying Hannari's goal of keeping some for testing or use.
Beyond was a clearly large room. Only Vlad and Duncan could see - a giant vat, a dozen or so yards across, about 4' high, with a semi-circle of two-yard wide vats with equally tall sides. In the biggest of them was an off-white goo that moved and rippled a little without anything clearly stirring it. The room smelled of flesh and sweat, mixed with a bit of a formaldehyde smell as well. The other six couldn't be seen into from anyone's starting vantage point.
Beyond the vat were four Masters - two with greataxes, one taller one armed as a Lichtor, and one very tall one armed similarly.
Hannari opened by his usual routine by now - fast-sheath his weapon, fast-draw a spellstone from a potion slot, throw it to the limit of his sight, fast-draw his weapon back out (at a -0, -4, -0 to the throw, -8). He'd throw another to the limit of that one's light radius, too, a second later.
The other PCs moved in, Vlad launching arrows at the Masters in succession, only to have them all just miss - clearly Missile Shield. The PCs advanced, going towards and around the left side of the big vat. As they closed with the smallest vat, Thor went to engage an axeman . . . and up popped a ratman, hidden until the moment behind the vat and under some whispy shadowy material. It bit Thor, who didn't see it until it hit him, but a terrible damage roll meant even its armor-piercing phase bite didn't do anything. The ratman flicked and snapped and jolted around, and one of Vlad's two arrows just passed through it harmlessly, but it twitched into the path of the other and took an arrow to the face. Thor's counter swing a moment later - as he backed out of close combat - cut the ratman nearly in half and dropped him. Others popped up, one throwing corrosive slime at Percy, who dodged, but it left a nasty goo pile in the hex he'd been in.
The PCs moved up. Percy quickly became a terror to the skull-owning ratmen and axemen. He killed one axeman in a brief exchange, then a ratman, and then the licthor - all three knocked straight to -10xHP from skull smashes, not incidentally destroying the Mage Scale helmets from those two suits. In each of his three strikes he'd get one critical hit, which usually was enough to finish off his foes. Thor backed up slightly and cut off the leg of another axeman. But then, the Master leader they'd been ignoring had circled wide of the melee going on. For whatever reason, they didn't pay attention to him until he was just withing rushing distance of Duncan. He zipped up, running 8 yards on the air (they use magical flight abilities, too) to stab Duncan twice in the eyes. Duncan used Blink (we forgot to make him roll Body Sense, didn't we?) and blocked, barely fending off the two strikes. Hannari rushed the melee, trying to slam the Master but missing. Duncan retreated. The Master rushed Vlad, next, and stabbed him in the eye (after a blisteringly good Feint - IIRC Vlad was at -14 or so from the Feint), knocking him unconscious. He dropped a few yards and lay still. Meanwhile, the axeman crippled by Thor had levitated himself back up and into the fray, so Percy killed him.
Thor and Hannari pressed the Master, who stabbed at both of them. Thor barely blocked his attack (he had a 5!), and Hannari more easily delt with his attack. They Feinted back, but even with a +5 DX from the usual potion quaffed at the beginning of the fight, Hannari couldn't overmatch the Master. They don't know his skill, but for comparison, Thor is at 22 and Hannari 28 (I think.) Duncan helped out by putting Great Haste on Hannari and Percy.
Meanwhile, a half-dozen more ratmen joined the six who'd popped up near the PCs and rushed into the fray, closing in on the Master. Some threw crystals, to no effect as the PCs blocked or Dodged them.
Then Percy stepped up and took two swings at the Master, who dodged one and took the other to the skull thanks to a Critical Hit. He knocked his head back and wounded him, but he was still up.
He ended it there for time.
Notes:
- Duncan is a few points away from getting Flight 25. That's 0 to maintain. Essentially, I expect most fights to involve multiple flying PCs. People treat it as unlimited air move; I wish it specified "cannot hover" so Levitation still made some sense as a seperate spell once you have a high level of Flight. Also, I like how it expands out adventure possibilities, but I'm not looking forward to how it completely eliminates entire swathes of adventure challenges. The PCs will never need to worry more than a modicum about cliffs, floor traps, difficult to reach foes, ledges, etc. Open spaces become PCs killing zones and closed areas funnels for NPCs to be forced to fight one on one vs. PCs. Free to maintain flight is a significant game changer. I'm ready for the challenge but it does mean we're going to need to do 3-D range estimation and reach rulings and "how far can I fly and are level changes free while I move?" every single combat and time-based challenge around. I should start to make rulings about falling while flying, stunning while flying, etc. I expected the arguments will be made that it's like walking, only much, much better. Heh. Only NMZs are going to force some care and caution, here. You'd think, maybe, that Walk on Air already does this - but Flight is substantially better in most respects, and dramatically reduces the concerns that keep people from using it for flight-based adventuring. I do plan to put paid to the whole 1" off the ground b.s. that people do all the time. With flight, it'll be limited to whole yards.
This is why, by the way, one of my proposed rules for a future game using GURPS Magic is a minimum cost to cast and maintain of 1. No free spells on all the time for anyone. Most of my old hands don't like it, which tells me it's a good, workable rule.
- We had a bit of miscommunication. I always give directions relative to facing. They often had a predisposed idea of "map north" based on battle maps or whatever, and so it skewed a little bit of mapping until I put up a battle map. This kind of issue goes way back. I said "upper right" and the heard it as "over our right shoulders."
- I love the ratmen. Matt Riggsby thinks DF like I think DF, sometimes. I don't use the plain ones anymore . . . phase, crystal, slime, and electric ones for me, thank you.
- We would could have finished this fight in one go, but we had the usual VTT issues (especially because some modules I used to use for management were superceded by native changes to either GURPS Game Aid or Foundry), and everyone was slow. It's hard to be on the ball after a three month layoff. We'll pick up the battle next session in a couple of weeks and go from there. I don't blame anyone, we were just slow, and Hannari is complicated and his player had to be in and out due to a real world problem, which also slowed us down. Oh well.
- Quote of the session was Doug, who said, "I don't play games to do bookkeeping." Agreed. My current campaign is probably above the upper limit I'd set if we weren't already there.
- MVP was Percy for piles of foe-ending criticals, and a nasty one on the Master right at the end.
Sunday, September 6, 2026
Felltower preview
We played a partial delve today in Felltower.
Pretty much, the PCs went down to the second GFS, down that giant staircase to the first level, moved in deeper, and ran into Masters.
And a big vat of smelly off-white goo.
They're in a big fight with ratmen of various kinds (phase, crystal, and slime) and masters, and it's going okay, unless you have a skull (the NPCs) or your name is spelled "v-l-a-d."
Details tomorrow.
Pretty much, the PCs went down to the second GFS, down that giant staircase to the first level, moved in deeper, and ran into Masters.
And a big vat of smelly off-white goo.
They're in a big fight with ratmen of various kinds (phase, crystal, and slime) and masters, and it's going okay, unless you have a skull (the NPCs) or your name is spelled "v-l-a-d."
Details tomorrow.
Monday, August 31, 2026
DF Felltower - Rumors running dry
We're scheduled for Felltower on Sunday. But I've hit a bit of a wall for rumors. The PCs have repeatedly hit the same area over and over. There isn't much more to say about it, nothing new discovered to prompt new rumors.
Therefore I'm simply going to either skip them entirely, or if I get an idea or so, I'll put them down and give them out if enough accumulate to allow for a die roll. Or I might just skip - if they're nothing to say, and the PCs already have a plan, what's the point of derailing them?
Therefore I'm simply going to either skip them entirely, or if I get an idea or so, I'll put them down and give them out if enough accumulate to allow for a die roll. Or I might just skip - if they're nothing to say, and the PCs already have a plan, what's the point of derailing them?
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