Quick update, since I was out all day and it's late here:
- I have to provide a little more writing to my current GURPS writing project, which I'll get onto soon.
- I'm in a very interesting GURPS playtest. I don't have that much time, but I can get in comments here and there. It's been a while.
- I need to review some tactical options with a couple of the players. I don't like to actively kibitz during a game, but I did notice two of the newer players overlooked a chance to hit something. And I need to check the numbers - one PC missed a foe on a back shot, which leads me to think the player miscalculated because a standard character built on that template has over skill 16, so the only misses should be 17s and 18s in that case.
Maybe I'll even have time to get in the additional game notes that are swimming around in my brain.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Monday, April 29, 2019
GURPS DF Session 115, Felltower 87 - Flame Foes & New Stairs
April 28th, 2019
Weather: Cold, rainy.
Characters:
Bruce "the Mild" McTavish, Jr., human barbarian (259 points)
Crogar, human barbarian (254 points)
Dryst, halfling wizard (462 points)
Ulf Sigurdson, human cleric (250 points)
Gerald Tarrant, human necromancer (332 points)
5 Skeletons (~25 points)
Heyden the Ebon Page, human knight (301 points)
We started off in town, with Gerry having purchased five new skeletons and enchanted them up as his new buddies. Heyden, meanwhile, showed up with a 200 sp tattoo of the "ebony death goddess" and a new name, as he's dubbed himself the Ebon Page and a representative of the "ebony death goddess" in the world. (Mild Bruce would show up later with a 500 sp back tattoo.)
The group gathered rumors, and left some lightstones and notes for Mild Bruce, who was expected to join the expedition once he got back from a shift at work. They sought out Orcish Bob and Raggi and others, but found none of them.
The plan was to explore past the destroyed obsidian golems. They gathered up the group and headed to the "dragon cave" and made their way in.
Nothing molested them, all the way to the giant staircase. The dungeon was surprisingly quiet and empty, and no new barricades or construction was up - although, once again, the partly torn-down blockages had been filled back up.
Once at the stairs Heyden opened them up. They headed down, a Created Servant in the lead to "detect" traps. Luckily for all, there were none.
At the bottom, the PCs found nothing waiting for them. They did hear a sucking, oozing slopping noise to the right. They headed left. As they made their way to the obsidian golems just past Phase Snake Junction. As they did, they all managed to make their HT rolls and avoid the debilitating effects of the "close air" of this level.
The group made it to the obsidian golem hallway. They sent a scout ahead - Dryst, who used a Wizard Eye and Dark Vision to ensure the golems hadn't "respawned" or been replaced. They had not. Dryst put on Acute Vision 4 and See Secrets just to be really sure. They were not there.
The door at the end was a sturdy door, but not one of the side-sliding doors. It was marked with a red handprint. Heyden decided to give it a shoulder instead of a hand, and smashed it open. It yielded, but he was zapped with . . . something for 1 HP of injury. Beyond was a hex-shaped room with an identical door on the far side, also with a hand print.
The right wall appeared to be solid, but Dryst's magically enhanced senses revealed it was not. It actually was an illusion covering a hallway that appeared to be just like all of the others.
They went right for that, forcing their way through the illusion - and passing into the hallway required a Will roll. They all made it.
The hallway past the illusionary wall wasn't like the 12' tall arched ceiling hallways of this level. It was, instead, 10 x 10 x 10, smooth sided and unsupported by arches or pillars. As far as Dryst could see with his Dark Vision, it extended for hundreds of yards.
"Finally, we're back to exploring new stuff!" exclaimed Crogar, who never seemed interested in not-killing-stuff before.
They cautiously headed down, preceded by a servant. After a couple dozen yards, they came to a wide passage extending to the right that led to an open landing at the top of a giant spiral staircase winding down around a central open shaft. Another GFS! (Giant Fantastic Staircase). The short but wide hallway to it was covered, walls and ceiling alike, with depictions of six-fingered cone-hatted masked figures, done in excellent skill and unease-inducing style ("Let me be the judge of that!" said Heyden, who roll an 8 on his Artist skill and announced this was, in fact, true.) It was all colored in the colors of evil (according to Ulf) - black, red, and purple. Many sigils and marks and symbols were intertwined and around the figures, along with swirls of color and strange patterns. Not a one chose to examine them closely.
They approached the stairs with great caution, and sent Dryst's Wizard Eye down and around to examine them. It made its way around a few loops and found a landing, and then approached another past that - and down the central shaft it went very, very deep indeed. At this point, however, a yard-wide metal sphere with two bladed arms emerging from it zipped up at the eye. Dryst willed it to flee, but in a second it was overtaken and destroyed.
They party set up and waited for the sphere to come after them. They heard clicking and whirring below, but after a while it died off.
They decided to avoid the stairs.
They continued down the corridor. As they did, though, with the servant in the lead, a pit opened up below Crogar and Heyden in the second rank! Crogar rolled a 3 on his DX roll and leaped back to safety, but Heyden fell in and the pit lids snapped shut over him.
They tried to find a way out, with the usual "Have someone with Levitate on stand over the pit and push it" and other variations of that theme. After a lot of experimentation they realized the far side of the pit was a pressure trigger, designed to catch trailers, not leaders, in the pit. With that in mind they triggered it and put in a 2 x 4' that Dryst made with Create Object. That alone took two tries - the first one Crogar dropped, causing it to disappear. The second he put in and held onto long enough for Heyden to be brought back up with Levitate.
They made it past the pit by jumping over the trigger. Almost immediately, though, the servant in the lead walked into a wall. They examined the hallway and found it was actually a cunningly done piece of art, supernaturally well done - much like the "continuation" of the GFS landing on this level.
With the other way blocked, they turned and headed back through the (illusionary) wall.
"Finally, back to finding things to kill!" exclaimed Crogar.
Heyden tried to shoulder the other door open and failed, so he tried his hand and that opened the door. He was zapped in the process both times.
Beyond the door was a hallway that turned and was blocked with a tight portcullis. Beyond it was a short hallway with a pair of alcoves, with a brass brazier in each one filled with cold coals. Just past them was another portcullis. They couldn't scout past as the portcullises were too tight to allow a Wizard Eye. So Dryst used Create Servant to create a servant past the first gate. They he created a torch for him, on the theory that lighting the coal-filled braziers would open the portcullises. It lit them, and sure enough, the portcullises smoothly slide up into the ceiling!
A moment later, though, there was a woooosh of flame and two gigantic fire elementals appeared - ones that stood hunched over in the 12' corridors and filled several yards across. The servant burned to a crisp and died. The elementals attacked.
One rushed into melee while the other hurled 4d firebolts at the group. One hit Crogar and lit his loincloth and hair on fire, burning him badly. Dryst quickly got off Resist Fire on several of the PCs, and Gerry put Great Haste on Dryst to speed it up. Crogar was the first, rendering him immune to his own burning hair. Ulf healed him right away.
The group quickly melee'd the fire elementals, and struggled to hurt them because they were diffuse. But Dryst rolled a 3 on a Water Jet and ended up with a free 6d Water Jet. It didn't take long for him to blast the two elementals to "death" with it.
Crogar griped that the fight was boring, as no one was really in any danger and it wasn't tough. He's a hard to guy to please! No one was sympathetic.
Past the elementals they found a room with a high ceiling and a pair of gigantic doors, all frosted over and ice-cold to the touch. Crogar and Heyden forced the doors open with great effort. The doors groaned and shrieked and ice crackled and popped. Beyond it was a large room with a silver shimmering gate between two ice-clad pillars.
Shivering in the cold room, they had Dryst use Scry Gate. Beyond the gate was a snowy, icy landscape. The gate was clearly on a high point, as ahead the was a valley of some sort and beyond it a range of mountains. Ulf - and now Mild Bruce, who came wandering up late - saw a glinting. It was a tower or towers, seemingly of metal - perhaps a city or a fortress.
They decided to back off and come back once they had real cold-weather gear, so they could fight yetis, abominable snowmen, and wompas. Several people argued for going right now, but depending solely on one wizard to provide all cold resistance - magical and mundane - seemed foolish, so they decided to explore elsewhere.
With Dryst around, the plan was to go and scry all of the unknown gates. First up, the "dead gate" and the water gate.
They made their way to the "dead gate" but encountered a phase snake along the way. Hayden tossed a javelin at it and it phased, and then it ended up in melee with Heyeden and Crogar. Crogar was bitten by the snake, but unharmed by the poison. (Actually, I remembered his 1-second delay for being SM+1, and never remembered to make him roll against the virulent poison. So I guess he made the roll.)
They checked the dead gate, but couldn't scry it. So Dryst used History to scan 1000 years of its history. The gate has been closed for hundreds of years, with no clue what it was before.
Next, the "water gate." They made their way down the sigil-covered hallway. Their scholars - Dryst, Gerry, and Heyden - couldn't really discern anything of interest except that it's aspected to Water magic in the area, and against Fire. Also, the hundreds of symbols were all in different sizes, designs, etc. - no duplicates. They also found notes about the blue water ahead - a mix of warnings about being delicious, making someone fly, and killing a couple of drinkers. Those were graffiti in common done in paint, scratches, or chalk.
The pool turned out to not be a gate after all. Mild Bruce drank from it - and gained 4 points of ST (temporarily - a day, it eventually turned out.) All of them save Gerry drank from it. Even Dryst drank, and get 1 point of ST, raising him to a towering 8! Gerry couldn't be bothered.
Now much stronger, the group headed out to the "earth gate." They passed the corridor that led to the nymphs and reached the gate, squeezing up the tight stairs.
Dryst's spell revealed it wasn't an "earth gate" after all, but a gate to a sub-tropical jungle clearing, with a trail leading away from it. Probably less tropical than the towering canopied rainforest that surrounds the Lost City of D'Abo, so perhaps closer to Stericksburg yet still far. It was bright day so no stars could be discerned to determine where it was.
Determined to get some loot, Dryst cast Seek Earth on gold, and located some right where the nymphs should be.
So he put Improved Magic Resistance on himself, had folks tie a rope to himself, and used Walk on Air to go into the cave. When the nymphs inevitably appeared, his improved resistance let him shrug off the magical charms of the "leader." He zapped it with Dehydrate using Wild Talent. He rolled a crit and 19 HP of injury. The nymph disappeared. The other two ducked away as he concentrated on another casting.
Having scared them off, he scanned the water with Water Vision and saw some gold and silver below. So he proceeded to cast three large Destroy Water spells to drain the pool nearly dry, leaving only a little water trickling out a draining crack below and more water trickling in from above. Heyden came in and joined him, and looted the pool while Dryst buffed him with Magic Resistance just in case.
In the pool they found an elf-sized (and therefore Heyden-sized) shirt of elven heavy mail, 600 sp, and a gold necklace worth 2000. Eventually they'd find the armor was Fortify +2, once they returned to town.
The close air of the dungeon was getting to them, though, and several PCs suffered from it (including Mild Bruce, who critically failed his HT roll and went down -2 DX and HT).
That all done, they headed to the "jester gate." They encountered another phase snake on the way, close to where the other was killed. Heyden killed it outright with a critical javelin throw, and Gerry happily Zombied it.
They smelled sulfur as they approached, as they had before. They headed to the gate.
Waiting for them were seven flame-sheathed humanoids. Flame lords! They hurled fireballs at Crogar and Mild Bruce. The PCs backed off as the flame lords pelted the visible PCs. In a few seconds, though, the PCs were mostly under Resist Fire and moved in to engage. Mild Bruce quickly slew one with a greatsword swing, proving Dryst's warning that flame lords are tough to kill wrong. In a short but nasty fight, the PCs killed all seven, but at the cost of a lot of FP on resistance spells and FP lost to Great Haste.
As soon as the last was slain, though, seven slightly larger, darker red, and more brightly flaming flame lords stepped out. These turned out to be "normal" flame lords, not the lesser ones that the PCs had destroyed.
The PCs took care of them, but it took a long slog of a fight. Heyden charged two and engaged them, slowly whittling them down to -10xHP and killing them, but not without some mishaps - including slashing himself in the leg and (luckily for him) rolling abysmal damage and narrowly avoiding cutting his own leg off with his new-found ST 26 (thanks to the pool.) Crogar and Mild Bruce held the line, fighting surrounded most of the time. Their natural DR and Resist Fire kept them from taking more than occasional 1 HP hits. Heyden wandered around the fight, killing flame lord after flame lord as he was repeatedly Great Hasted.
Even Ulf got into the act, with his ST 16 from the pool and a lucky roll on his Diving Grace to give him DX 17 for 11 seconds.
Dryst hit a couple with Lightning from his Wand of Electricity, and from his own power. His wand belted one with an 18d spell that did - seriously - only about 20 damage. He did manage to stun several of them, which Ulf and Gerry attempted to engage.
Gerry got into the act, using Deathtouch on one, which nearly incinerated his staff. Oops. Dryst was forced to cast Resist Fire on him to bail him out, warning him that true wizards don't touch things with their staves. Gerry did it again anyway.
Eventually they whittled them all down, with Crogar destroying one, Ulf another (with a kick!), and Heyden most of the rest.
The flame lords destroyed, they policed up the valuable ashes while Dryst scryed the gate.
Beyond it was a flame-licked cave with a terrace with a empty stone throne on it. There was no sign of anything else, or a clear clue of what this place was.
With that, they carefully backtracked their way out of the dungeon and headed up once more into the light.
Notes:
This was a productive session. The loot wasn't what could be hoped for, but there was enough to take care of expenses, and a lot of new and interesting places were discovered.
The "earth gate" turned out to be a "jungle gate," the "water gate" turned out to be a magical pool, not a gate, they found a gate to a frosty world ("cold gate"?), and they managed to finally scry the "jester gate." Perhaps more significantly than that - and worth +1 xp to the PCs who were there at the time - they discovered another giant staircase down. How far down? At least a couple of levels.
On top of that, they had a few interesting fights - a brief encounter with some metal flying spheres, gigantic fire elementals, lesser flame lords, and regular flame lords. As usual with fire creatures, their weakness is obvious (water or cold, sometimes both) and the counter is obvious and perfectly effective. The total lack of cold attacks for the PCs meant the flame lords were a bit of a slog. The phase snakes weren't new, though, but do seem to come up right around the well-named Phase Snake Junction, causing that corridor to be named Phase Snake Way.
Heyden is basically a heretic at this point, as is Mild Bruce. We'll see how that plays out - they're worshipping a magic item.
What next? That depends on the group, but they have a number of gates to investigate and a way down to another level or two. That's guarded, clearly, but eventually they'll need to overcome the guards and proceed down.
XP was 4 xp for loot and 1 xp for exploration and 1 xp for the staircase for all except Dryst and Mild Bruce. Dryst received 0 for loot but 3 xp total for exploration, the staircase, and being MVP; Mild Bruce received 5 total for loot and exploration. He wasn't there to discover the staircase, so no bonus.
Weather: Cold, rainy.
Characters:
Bruce "the Mild" McTavish, Jr., human barbarian (259 points)
Crogar, human barbarian (254 points)
Dryst, halfling wizard (462 points)
Ulf Sigurdson, human cleric (250 points)
Gerald Tarrant, human necromancer (332 points)
5 Skeletons (~25 points)
Heyden the Ebon Page, human knight (301 points)
We started off in town, with Gerry having purchased five new skeletons and enchanted them up as his new buddies. Heyden, meanwhile, showed up with a 200 sp tattoo of the "ebony death goddess" and a new name, as he's dubbed himself the Ebon Page and a representative of the "ebony death goddess" in the world. (Mild Bruce would show up later with a 500 sp back tattoo.)
The group gathered rumors, and left some lightstones and notes for Mild Bruce, who was expected to join the expedition once he got back from a shift at work. They sought out Orcish Bob and Raggi and others, but found none of them.
The plan was to explore past the destroyed obsidian golems. They gathered up the group and headed to the "dragon cave" and made their way in.
Nothing molested them, all the way to the giant staircase. The dungeon was surprisingly quiet and empty, and no new barricades or construction was up - although, once again, the partly torn-down blockages had been filled back up.
Once at the stairs Heyden opened them up. They headed down, a Created Servant in the lead to "detect" traps. Luckily for all, there were none.
At the bottom, the PCs found nothing waiting for them. They did hear a sucking, oozing slopping noise to the right. They headed left. As they made their way to the obsidian golems just past Phase Snake Junction. As they did, they all managed to make their HT rolls and avoid the debilitating effects of the "close air" of this level.
The group made it to the obsidian golem hallway. They sent a scout ahead - Dryst, who used a Wizard Eye and Dark Vision to ensure the golems hadn't "respawned" or been replaced. They had not. Dryst put on Acute Vision 4 and See Secrets just to be really sure. They were not there.
The door at the end was a sturdy door, but not one of the side-sliding doors. It was marked with a red handprint. Heyden decided to give it a shoulder instead of a hand, and smashed it open. It yielded, but he was zapped with . . . something for 1 HP of injury. Beyond was a hex-shaped room with an identical door on the far side, also with a hand print.
The right wall appeared to be solid, but Dryst's magically enhanced senses revealed it was not. It actually was an illusion covering a hallway that appeared to be just like all of the others.
They went right for that, forcing their way through the illusion - and passing into the hallway required a Will roll. They all made it.
The hallway past the illusionary wall wasn't like the 12' tall arched ceiling hallways of this level. It was, instead, 10 x 10 x 10, smooth sided and unsupported by arches or pillars. As far as Dryst could see with his Dark Vision, it extended for hundreds of yards.
"Finally, we're back to exploring new stuff!" exclaimed Crogar, who never seemed interested in not-killing-stuff before.
They cautiously headed down, preceded by a servant. After a couple dozen yards, they came to a wide passage extending to the right that led to an open landing at the top of a giant spiral staircase winding down around a central open shaft. Another GFS! (Giant Fantastic Staircase). The short but wide hallway to it was covered, walls and ceiling alike, with depictions of six-fingered cone-hatted masked figures, done in excellent skill and unease-inducing style ("Let me be the judge of that!" said Heyden, who roll an 8 on his Artist skill and announced this was, in fact, true.) It was all colored in the colors of evil (according to Ulf) - black, red, and purple. Many sigils and marks and symbols were intertwined and around the figures, along with swirls of color and strange patterns. Not a one chose to examine them closely.
They approached the stairs with great caution, and sent Dryst's Wizard Eye down and around to examine them. It made its way around a few loops and found a landing, and then approached another past that - and down the central shaft it went very, very deep indeed. At this point, however, a yard-wide metal sphere with two bladed arms emerging from it zipped up at the eye. Dryst willed it to flee, but in a second it was overtaken and destroyed.
They party set up and waited for the sphere to come after them. They heard clicking and whirring below, but after a while it died off.
They decided to avoid the stairs.
They continued down the corridor. As they did, though, with the servant in the lead, a pit opened up below Crogar and Heyden in the second rank! Crogar rolled a 3 on his DX roll and leaped back to safety, but Heyden fell in and the pit lids snapped shut over him.
They tried to find a way out, with the usual "Have someone with Levitate on stand over the pit and push it" and other variations of that theme. After a lot of experimentation they realized the far side of the pit was a pressure trigger, designed to catch trailers, not leaders, in the pit. With that in mind they triggered it and put in a 2 x 4' that Dryst made with Create Object. That alone took two tries - the first one Crogar dropped, causing it to disappear. The second he put in and held onto long enough for Heyden to be brought back up with Levitate.
They made it past the pit by jumping over the trigger. Almost immediately, though, the servant in the lead walked into a wall. They examined the hallway and found it was actually a cunningly done piece of art, supernaturally well done - much like the "continuation" of the GFS landing on this level.
With the other way blocked, they turned and headed back through the (illusionary) wall.
"Finally, back to finding things to kill!" exclaimed Crogar.
Heyden tried to shoulder the other door open and failed, so he tried his hand and that opened the door. He was zapped in the process both times.
Beyond the door was a hallway that turned and was blocked with a tight portcullis. Beyond it was a short hallway with a pair of alcoves, with a brass brazier in each one filled with cold coals. Just past them was another portcullis. They couldn't scout past as the portcullises were too tight to allow a Wizard Eye. So Dryst used Create Servant to create a servant past the first gate. They he created a torch for him, on the theory that lighting the coal-filled braziers would open the portcullises. It lit them, and sure enough, the portcullises smoothly slide up into the ceiling!
A moment later, though, there was a woooosh of flame and two gigantic fire elementals appeared - ones that stood hunched over in the 12' corridors and filled several yards across. The servant burned to a crisp and died. The elementals attacked.
One rushed into melee while the other hurled 4d firebolts at the group. One hit Crogar and lit his loincloth and hair on fire, burning him badly. Dryst quickly got off Resist Fire on several of the PCs, and Gerry put Great Haste on Dryst to speed it up. Crogar was the first, rendering him immune to his own burning hair. Ulf healed him right away.
The group quickly melee'd the fire elementals, and struggled to hurt them because they were diffuse. But Dryst rolled a 3 on a Water Jet and ended up with a free 6d Water Jet. It didn't take long for him to blast the two elementals to "death" with it.
Crogar griped that the fight was boring, as no one was really in any danger and it wasn't tough. He's a hard to guy to please! No one was sympathetic.
Past the elementals they found a room with a high ceiling and a pair of gigantic doors, all frosted over and ice-cold to the touch. Crogar and Heyden forced the doors open with great effort. The doors groaned and shrieked and ice crackled and popped. Beyond it was a large room with a silver shimmering gate between two ice-clad pillars.
Shivering in the cold room, they had Dryst use Scry Gate. Beyond the gate was a snowy, icy landscape. The gate was clearly on a high point, as ahead the was a valley of some sort and beyond it a range of mountains. Ulf - and now Mild Bruce, who came wandering up late - saw a glinting. It was a tower or towers, seemingly of metal - perhaps a city or a fortress.
They decided to back off and come back once they had real cold-weather gear, so they could fight yetis, abominable snowmen, and wompas. Several people argued for going right now, but depending solely on one wizard to provide all cold resistance - magical and mundane - seemed foolish, so they decided to explore elsewhere.
With Dryst around, the plan was to go and scry all of the unknown gates. First up, the "dead gate" and the water gate.
They made their way to the "dead gate" but encountered a phase snake along the way. Hayden tossed a javelin at it and it phased, and then it ended up in melee with Heyeden and Crogar. Crogar was bitten by the snake, but unharmed by the poison. (Actually, I remembered his 1-second delay for being SM+1, and never remembered to make him roll against the virulent poison. So I guess he made the roll.)
They checked the dead gate, but couldn't scry it. So Dryst used History to scan 1000 years of its history. The gate has been closed for hundreds of years, with no clue what it was before.
Next, the "water gate." They made their way down the sigil-covered hallway. Their scholars - Dryst, Gerry, and Heyden - couldn't really discern anything of interest except that it's aspected to Water magic in the area, and against Fire. Also, the hundreds of symbols were all in different sizes, designs, etc. - no duplicates. They also found notes about the blue water ahead - a mix of warnings about being delicious, making someone fly, and killing a couple of drinkers. Those were graffiti in common done in paint, scratches, or chalk.
The pool turned out to not be a gate after all. Mild Bruce drank from it - and gained 4 points of ST (temporarily - a day, it eventually turned out.) All of them save Gerry drank from it. Even Dryst drank, and get 1 point of ST, raising him to a towering 8! Gerry couldn't be bothered.
Now much stronger, the group headed out to the "earth gate." They passed the corridor that led to the nymphs and reached the gate, squeezing up the tight stairs.
Dryst's spell revealed it wasn't an "earth gate" after all, but a gate to a sub-tropical jungle clearing, with a trail leading away from it. Probably less tropical than the towering canopied rainforest that surrounds the Lost City of D'Abo, so perhaps closer to Stericksburg yet still far. It was bright day so no stars could be discerned to determine where it was.
Determined to get some loot, Dryst cast Seek Earth on gold, and located some right where the nymphs should be.
So he put Improved Magic Resistance on himself, had folks tie a rope to himself, and used Walk on Air to go into the cave. When the nymphs inevitably appeared, his improved resistance let him shrug off the magical charms of the "leader." He zapped it with Dehydrate using Wild Talent. He rolled a crit and 19 HP of injury. The nymph disappeared. The other two ducked away as he concentrated on another casting.
Having scared them off, he scanned the water with Water Vision and saw some gold and silver below. So he proceeded to cast three large Destroy Water spells to drain the pool nearly dry, leaving only a little water trickling out a draining crack below and more water trickling in from above. Heyden came in and joined him, and looted the pool while Dryst buffed him with Magic Resistance just in case.
In the pool they found an elf-sized (and therefore Heyden-sized) shirt of elven heavy mail, 600 sp, and a gold necklace worth 2000. Eventually they'd find the armor was Fortify +2, once they returned to town.
The close air of the dungeon was getting to them, though, and several PCs suffered from it (including Mild Bruce, who critically failed his HT roll and went down -2 DX and HT).
That all done, they headed to the "jester gate." They encountered another phase snake on the way, close to where the other was killed. Heyden killed it outright with a critical javelin throw, and Gerry happily Zombied it.
They smelled sulfur as they approached, as they had before. They headed to the gate.
Waiting for them were seven flame-sheathed humanoids. Flame lords! They hurled fireballs at Crogar and Mild Bruce. The PCs backed off as the flame lords pelted the visible PCs. In a few seconds, though, the PCs were mostly under Resist Fire and moved in to engage. Mild Bruce quickly slew one with a greatsword swing, proving Dryst's warning that flame lords are tough to kill wrong. In a short but nasty fight, the PCs killed all seven, but at the cost of a lot of FP on resistance spells and FP lost to Great Haste.
As soon as the last was slain, though, seven slightly larger, darker red, and more brightly flaming flame lords stepped out. These turned out to be "normal" flame lords, not the lesser ones that the PCs had destroyed.
The PCs took care of them, but it took a long slog of a fight. Heyden charged two and engaged them, slowly whittling them down to -10xHP and killing them, but not without some mishaps - including slashing himself in the leg and (luckily for him) rolling abysmal damage and narrowly avoiding cutting his own leg off with his new-found ST 26 (thanks to the pool.) Crogar and Mild Bruce held the line, fighting surrounded most of the time. Their natural DR and Resist Fire kept them from taking more than occasional 1 HP hits. Heyden wandered around the fight, killing flame lord after flame lord as he was repeatedly Great Hasted.
Even Ulf got into the act, with his ST 16 from the pool and a lucky roll on his Diving Grace to give him DX 17 for 11 seconds.
Dryst hit a couple with Lightning from his Wand of Electricity, and from his own power. His wand belted one with an 18d spell that did - seriously - only about 20 damage. He did manage to stun several of them, which Ulf and Gerry attempted to engage.
Gerry got into the act, using Deathtouch on one, which nearly incinerated his staff. Oops. Dryst was forced to cast Resist Fire on him to bail him out, warning him that true wizards don't touch things with their staves. Gerry did it again anyway.
Eventually they whittled them all down, with Crogar destroying one, Ulf another (with a kick!), and Heyden most of the rest.
The flame lords destroyed, they policed up the valuable ashes while Dryst scryed the gate.
Beyond it was a flame-licked cave with a terrace with a empty stone throne on it. There was no sign of anything else, or a clear clue of what this place was.
With that, they carefully backtracked their way out of the dungeon and headed up once more into the light.
Notes:
This was a productive session. The loot wasn't what could be hoped for, but there was enough to take care of expenses, and a lot of new and interesting places were discovered.
The "earth gate" turned out to be a "jungle gate," the "water gate" turned out to be a magical pool, not a gate, they found a gate to a frosty world ("cold gate"?), and they managed to finally scry the "jester gate." Perhaps more significantly than that - and worth +1 xp to the PCs who were there at the time - they discovered another giant staircase down. How far down? At least a couple of levels.
On top of that, they had a few interesting fights - a brief encounter with some metal flying spheres, gigantic fire elementals, lesser flame lords, and regular flame lords. As usual with fire creatures, their weakness is obvious (water or cold, sometimes both) and the counter is obvious and perfectly effective. The total lack of cold attacks for the PCs meant the flame lords were a bit of a slog. The phase snakes weren't new, though, but do seem to come up right around the well-named Phase Snake Junction, causing that corridor to be named Phase Snake Way.
Heyden is basically a heretic at this point, as is Mild Bruce. We'll see how that plays out - they're worshipping a magic item.
What next? That depends on the group, but they have a number of gates to investigate and a way down to another level or two. That's guarded, clearly, but eventually they'll need to overcome the guards and proceed down.
XP was 4 xp for loot and 1 xp for exploration and 1 xp for the staircase for all except Dryst and Mild Bruce. Dryst received 0 for loot but 3 xp total for exploration, the staircase, and being MVP; Mild Bruce received 5 total for loot and exploration. He wasn't there to discover the staircase, so no bonus.
Sunday, April 28, 2019
Felltower pre-summary for 4/28/19
We played Felltower today. I'll write the summary tomorrow when I have some time.
The PCs did a lot.
It featured:
- six players (five and then a later add-on)
- delving past the obsidian golems
- a hidden hallway
- another giant staircase
- fire elementals
- an icy gate
- scrying the "earth gate"
- confronting the nymphs
- battling lesser flame lords and flame lords
- scrying the "jester gate."
It was an excellent session.
The PCs did a lot.
It featured:
- six players (five and then a later add-on)
- delving past the obsidian golems
- a hidden hallway
- another giant staircase
- fire elementals
- an icy gate
- scrying the "earth gate"
- confronting the nymphs
- battling lesser flame lords and flame lords
- scrying the "jester gate."
It was an excellent session.
Saturday, April 27, 2019
Random Notes for 4/27
Oddly, I wrote this post yesterday, but I guess I never hit "Publish." Weird. Well, I changed the title, added a little more, and here it is now, one day late.
- I applied for (check that - was accepted to) the playtest for GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact. It's been a while since I had time to playtest, as I've generally been way too busy with work. I've changed my hours and I have a bit of free time, so why not?
- I'm working on some more material for my submitted GURPS book. I need to run some things past my players before I submit them. The long story short is layout dictates a change, and I may have additional material for the book. Or I may not. We'll see.
- Sunday is Felltower, and we've got a mid-sized crew. A few players are taking a break from the game for a variety of reasons, but even a short crew is the size of a "normal" gaming group at this point. Our "short crew" is probably six players. I expect, mostly, to see the crew try to delve past the obsidian golems they wiped out last time at the cost of a foolish cleric who thought he'd beat the odds. Spoiler alert! He didn't.
- I've started painting the "easy" minis from my Bones IV set. I'll post a sale/trade list this week, I promise. I kept a lot more than I thought I would based on perusing the images from the Kickstarter.
- I applied for (check that - was accepted to) the playtest for GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact. It's been a while since I had time to playtest, as I've generally been way too busy with work. I've changed my hours and I have a bit of free time, so why not?
- I'm working on some more material for my submitted GURPS book. I need to run some things past my players before I submit them. The long story short is layout dictates a change, and I may have additional material for the book. Or I may not. We'll see.
- Sunday is Felltower, and we've got a mid-sized crew. A few players are taking a break from the game for a variety of reasons, but even a short crew is the size of a "normal" gaming group at this point. Our "short crew" is probably six players. I expect, mostly, to see the crew try to delve past the obsidian golems they wiped out last time at the cost of a foolish cleric who thought he'd beat the odds. Spoiler alert! He didn't.
- I've started painting the "easy" minis from my Bones IV set. I'll post a sale/trade list this week, I promise. I kept a lot more than I thought I would based on perusing the images from the Kickstarter.
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Leiber in GURPS DF
It's probably not a big secret that I really like the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser books by Fritz Leiber. I didn't initially like them very much, but I grew to like them over the years. They've influenced my games and my approach to gaming.
And thus, they've influenced Dungeon Fantasy. Here are a couple of things I helped get inserted into DF as homages to Fritz Leiber's duo.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians contains a Leiber quote. But it also features the Civilized Savage lens. Want to make a smarter barbarian smitten with the charms of civlization? Perhaps a tall, red-headed one with a long sword, a large knife, and a rougish companion? The Civilized Savage was created to allow for a better modeling of Fafhrd using DF Templates.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Swashbucklers is one of Sean Punch's excellent books. I was allowed to review it. The expanded versions of Weapon Bond were there . . . but what about rougish types who steal replacement blades and then wield them like extensions of their own arms? The duo do exactly that - they always steal replacements for their weapons. Weapon Bond (Rougish) is meant to model that, but with a "found as loot" twist to make it better fit to dungeon delving and the slay-and-loot style of play that DF explicitly espouses.
So not only my games, but also those of people who use those books, have a Leiber influence on them.
And thus, they've influenced Dungeon Fantasy. Here are a couple of things I helped get inserted into DF as homages to Fritz Leiber's duo.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians contains a Leiber quote. But it also features the Civilized Savage lens. Want to make a smarter barbarian smitten with the charms of civlization? Perhaps a tall, red-headed one with a long sword, a large knife, and a rougish companion? The Civilized Savage was created to allow for a better modeling of Fafhrd using DF Templates.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Swashbucklers is one of Sean Punch's excellent books. I was allowed to review it. The expanded versions of Weapon Bond were there . . . but what about rougish types who steal replacement blades and then wield them like extensions of their own arms? The duo do exactly that - they always steal replacements for their weapons. Weapon Bond (Rougish) is meant to model that, but with a "found as loot" twist to make it better fit to dungeon delving and the slay-and-loot style of play that DF explicitly espouses.
So not only my games, but also those of people who use those books, have a Leiber influence on them.
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
DCC Lankhmar Poster Map
This is the Lankhmar wall map I always wanted:
So when this comes out, I may have to see about getting a copy of that map somehow. I don't need a cloth one, really, paper will do.
So when this comes out, I may have to see about getting a copy of that map somehow. I don't need a cloth one, really, paper will do.
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Rescued from Recycling: Military History Magazines
Lucky find, here:
Someone asked my mom to recycle those, but she pulled them from the pile and gave them to me. There is a nice article on armor "clumsiness" (or lack thereof) by John Clements. I'll read these and then, likely, recycle them, but a few articles might get pulled out or scanned for keeping.
Someone asked my mom to recycle those, but she pulled them from the pile and gave them to me. There is a nice article on armor "clumsiness" (or lack thereof) by John Clements. I'll read these and then, likely, recycle them, but a few articles might get pulled out or scanned for keeping.
Monday, April 22, 2019
David Trampier's birthday
Today would have been David Trampier's birthday.
Here is one of many images of his that I particularly like - the manticore and its treasure from the Monster & Treasure Assortment:
I've also added the Wormy Archive to my non-GURPS game resources list on the side of the blog, too.
Here is one of many images of his that I particularly like - the manticore and its treasure from the Monster & Treasure Assortment:
I've also added the Wormy Archive to my non-GURPS game resources list on the side of the blog, too.
Sunday, April 21, 2019
What I'm Prepping for Felltower
These days, I don't have the free time to spend working on Felltower that I did before.
So when the players approach new areas, if they're merely tag-ends left for future development, or planned areas that require a lot of game prep (assembling minis, possibly painting the same, planning, reviewing, etc.) I ask for word ahead.
Much like in our Gamma Terra game, where we can't just hop in our Warbot, Softie, and fly off to Ottawa or over to Boomtown to see things are going or go fly up and strafe some Purist encampment. It's not possible for the GM to keep everything ready to go at once.
With that in mind, here are some things I'm prepping for Felltower:
- the Forest Gate area. Eventually, they'll go in. Right now Quenton Mudborne's player wants to run his other PC, so without a druid the PCs don't wish to try a "forest" area. They'll need to scry it, first, or Quenton won't even try to go. Still, this keeps coming up on the list.
- the "area beyond the golems." Now that the obsidian golems up near Phase Snake Junction have been destroyed, there is at least one door the PCs haven't been past. That's high up on the to-do list, so it's high on my list of places to be ready for.
- the area past the other golems, in case the PCs dare them again.
- and I'm doing general detailing on areas much deeper, since eventually they'll get there.
All of this takes time, but I may have more of that in the future thanks to some schedule re-arrangement. My goal each game is to prep enough for the game, plus some extra so Felltower keeps getting filled ahead.
So when the players approach new areas, if they're merely tag-ends left for future development, or planned areas that require a lot of game prep (assembling minis, possibly painting the same, planning, reviewing, etc.) I ask for word ahead.
Much like in our Gamma Terra game, where we can't just hop in our Warbot, Softie, and fly off to Ottawa or over to Boomtown to see things are going or go fly up and strafe some Purist encampment. It's not possible for the GM to keep everything ready to go at once.
With that in mind, here are some things I'm prepping for Felltower:
- the Forest Gate area. Eventually, they'll go in. Right now Quenton Mudborne's player wants to run his other PC, so without a druid the PCs don't wish to try a "forest" area. They'll need to scry it, first, or Quenton won't even try to go. Still, this keeps coming up on the list.
- the "area beyond the golems." Now that the obsidian golems up near Phase Snake Junction have been destroyed, there is at least one door the PCs haven't been past. That's high up on the to-do list, so it's high on my list of places to be ready for.
- the area past the other golems, in case the PCs dare them again.
- and I'm doing general detailing on areas much deeper, since eventually they'll get there.
All of this takes time, but I may have more of that in the future thanks to some schedule re-arrangement. My goal each game is to prep enough for the game, plus some extra so Felltower keeps getting filled ahead.
Saturday, April 20, 2019
New Release: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 20: Slayers
I missed this until late last night:
This is the newest addition to the DF line. It adds templates for Demon-slayers, Mage-slayers, and Undead-slayers to DF.
I'm intrigued although unlikely to just add them to Felltower. It's a very specific type of campaign, really, and I'm wary of disrupting its, ahem, "balance." But I will get this and read this because Sean Punch.
This is the newest addition to the DF line. It adds templates for Demon-slayers, Mage-slayers, and Undead-slayers to DF.
I'm intrigued although unlikely to just add them to Felltower. It's a very specific type of campaign, really, and I'm wary of disrupting its, ahem, "balance." But I will get this and read this because Sean Punch.
Friday, April 19, 2019
Some Bones IV I already don't need
I'm just beginning my sort of my Bones IV Core Set.
Minis are in bags within bags, so it's slow going - I don't want to open up the ones I won't ever use, but I don't want to miss any either. Lots of staring through plastic to decide to slit it or not is going on right now.
But I'm sure I don't need a few:
- the kobolds are going to go.
- the Chibi adventurers, too. I hate that stuff.
- some or most of the peasants
A few things are on the maybe list:
- Gauth, the giant dragon. I had Gauth in metal, and sold it because I eventually realized I didn't want it. I've got a big dragon mini already, do I need another in a pose I don't love? I'm not sure. Being made of bonsium it's probably a handy mini to have. But . . . I'm not sure.
- the ghost pirates. I like ghosts, I like pirates, I'm not sure I need ghost pirates.
- the goblins. I love them, I really do. But there are a lot of them - lots of painting, for something I have in spades already (painted goblins!) and use so rarely.
Pretty much all of the monsters - giants, ogres, killer animals, apes, snake-people, etc. - are going to stay. I can always find a use for them.
But the sorting continues!
Minis are in bags within bags, so it's slow going - I don't want to open up the ones I won't ever use, but I don't want to miss any either. Lots of staring through plastic to decide to slit it or not is going on right now.
But I'm sure I don't need a few:
- the kobolds are going to go.
- the Chibi adventurers, too. I hate that stuff.
- some or most of the peasants
A few things are on the maybe list:
- Gauth, the giant dragon. I had Gauth in metal, and sold it because I eventually realized I didn't want it. I've got a big dragon mini already, do I need another in a pose I don't love? I'm not sure. Being made of bonsium it's probably a handy mini to have. But . . . I'm not sure.
- the ghost pirates. I like ghosts, I like pirates, I'm not sure I need ghost pirates.
- the goblins. I love them, I really do. But there are a lot of them - lots of painting, for something I have in spades already (painted goblins!) and use so rarely.
Pretty much all of the monsters - giants, ogres, killer animals, apes, snake-people, etc. - are going to stay. I can always find a use for them.
But the sorting continues!
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Tentative Cleric Variation List for DFD
So, in a putative DFD Clerics, what kind of things would you need?
Fighting Cleric - essentially, a bridge between the spellcasting of the Cleric and the fighting of the Holy Warrior. Not quite so dedicated to fighting a single type of creature - save that for Holy Warriors and a spellcasting-oriented Holy Warrior - but still more dedicated to combat. You'd want to give them access to more of the advantages that really cause the have/have not split of DF - Extra Attack, possibly Weapon Master (I'd lean to no, but still, it's possible), Combat Reflexes, Enhanced Block, Enhanced Dodge, and Enhanced Parry.
You'd still want significant spellcasting, or you're just a Holy Warrior.
Holy Caster - a cleric that even further de-emphasizes physical combat. Lower ST, DX and HT unchanged, and higher IQ, with extra points available for spells and holy abilities.
Holy Might Cleric - not every cleric needs a lot of spells. This variant would reduce the points in spells and increase those in Holy Might. A minimum investment in Holy Might skills - probably 20 points - would go a long way to making them distinctive.
A lens wouldn't be out of place, either:
Hammer of God - add Higher Purpose and foe-specific skills to a cleric lens, allowing for anti-undead, anti-demon, and anti-evil cleric focused clerics.
I think this might be a hard sell, given DF7. But still, there is a lot that DF7 did not cover that the DFD series did. Lessons learned and all of that - it's why DFD: Swashbucklers covers more ground than DFD: Barbarians. Sean leaned from what I did well and what in retrospect I could have included but did not. So it's possible a DFD: Clerics could work. If Pyramid was still around, it would be a fun article.
Fighting Cleric - essentially, a bridge between the spellcasting of the Cleric and the fighting of the Holy Warrior. Not quite so dedicated to fighting a single type of creature - save that for Holy Warriors and a spellcasting-oriented Holy Warrior - but still more dedicated to combat. You'd want to give them access to more of the advantages that really cause the have/have not split of DF - Extra Attack, possibly Weapon Master (I'd lean to no, but still, it's possible), Combat Reflexes, Enhanced Block, Enhanced Dodge, and Enhanced Parry.
You'd still want significant spellcasting, or you're just a Holy Warrior.
Holy Caster - a cleric that even further de-emphasizes physical combat. Lower ST, DX and HT unchanged, and higher IQ, with extra points available for spells and holy abilities.
Holy Might Cleric - not every cleric needs a lot of spells. This variant would reduce the points in spells and increase those in Holy Might. A minimum investment in Holy Might skills - probably 20 points - would go a long way to making them distinctive.
A lens wouldn't be out of place, either:
Hammer of God - add Higher Purpose and foe-specific skills to a cleric lens, allowing for anti-undead, anti-demon, and anti-evil cleric focused clerics.
I think this might be a hard sell, given DF7. But still, there is a lot that DF7 did not cover that the DFD series did. Lessons learned and all of that - it's why DFD: Swashbucklers covers more ground than DFD: Barbarians. Sean leaned from what I did well and what in retrospect I could have included but did not. So it's possible a DFD: Clerics could work. If Pyramid was still around, it would be a fun article.
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Reaper Bones IV
So this arrived last night:
I'll spend a bit of time looking at them later, and figure out what I need to keep and what goes up for sale & trade.
I'll spend a bit of time looking at them later, and figure out what I need to keep and what goes up for sale & trade.
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Helping Clerics Survive Felltower
Given that Felltower is a grave of clerics, how do you improve their ability to survive?
With the caveat that this is conjecture, given that I don't personally play any clerics and all the ones I've GMed for have died (or played but once), here are some ideas:
For the Good God's Sake, Buy Luck. It's on the template. Buy it. Use it when you need it.
Avoid Combat. It's hard to avoid combat entirely as a group. But as a cleric, stay as far away from combat as possible. Yes, yes, I know. You need to stay close. You're guarding a flank. You really need to get just a bit closer to cast that buff.
In my experience, that's where clerics get killed. It's better to fail at the spell or not be there to fill in the gap then to be dead. You just aren't survivable against threats that can kill knights, barbarians, etc. of equal point value to you.
Extra HP - to be fair, Extra HP are not listed in DF or the DFRPG on the Cleric template. But generally characters can purchase up to 30% of their ST in extra HP. Clerics start with ST 12, which means 12 x .3 = 3.6 = 3 extra HP. That's 6 points, and leaves you with 15 HP. If you go for ST 13 (see below), this means 16 total HP. 3-4 extra HP might not seem like much but it means 18-24 extra HP needed to automatically kill your PC.
Resistances - A DF cleric can spend 5 on Resistance to Evil Supernatural Powers (+3) or 7 or (+5). Give that a hard think. Up your Will. Up your HT. Be able to resist non-combat supernatural effects. Your goal is to stay up and use your spells and holy might.
Get a shield - Use a shield and a weapon that will let you parry. Get the biggest shield you can carry. DB is your friend, and no amount of DR you can reasonably expect to purchase and wear is enough so maximize not getting hit.
Buff Yourself - If you do expect to get into a fight, or close to one, buff yourself. Shield is critical - learn it and use it. But still, your best bet is to be further than an All-Out-Attack away from the nearest foe.
Get Stronger - If you do intend to use physical attacks, get ST 13. That puts you from 1d+2 swing to 2d-1 swing, which is a major difference in damage. It's +1 average damage for swing, but it increases your max. A small mace is 1d+4 (5/7.5/9) with ST 12, 2d (2/7/12) with ST 13. You'll do less on average, but fight a foe with DR 9 and you'll be happier. Plus, +1 HP and more carrying capacity.
Those are my suggestions - what are your additions based on what you're read (or played, for my players) of Felltower?
With the caveat that this is conjecture, given that I don't personally play any clerics and all the ones I've GMed for have died (or played but once), here are some ideas:
For the Good God's Sake, Buy Luck. It's on the template. Buy it. Use it when you need it.
Avoid Combat. It's hard to avoid combat entirely as a group. But as a cleric, stay as far away from combat as possible. Yes, yes, I know. You need to stay close. You're guarding a flank. You really need to get just a bit closer to cast that buff.
In my experience, that's where clerics get killed. It's better to fail at the spell or not be there to fill in the gap then to be dead. You just aren't survivable against threats that can kill knights, barbarians, etc. of equal point value to you.
Extra HP - to be fair, Extra HP are not listed in DF or the DFRPG on the Cleric template. But generally characters can purchase up to 30% of their ST in extra HP. Clerics start with ST 12, which means 12 x .3 = 3.6 = 3 extra HP. That's 6 points, and leaves you with 15 HP. If you go for ST 13 (see below), this means 16 total HP. 3-4 extra HP might not seem like much but it means 18-24 extra HP needed to automatically kill your PC.
Resistances - A DF cleric can spend 5 on Resistance to Evil Supernatural Powers (+3) or 7 or (+5). Give that a hard think. Up your Will. Up your HT. Be able to resist non-combat supernatural effects. Your goal is to stay up and use your spells and holy might.
Get a shield - Use a shield and a weapon that will let you parry. Get the biggest shield you can carry. DB is your friend, and no amount of DR you can reasonably expect to purchase and wear is enough so maximize not getting hit.
Buff Yourself - If you do expect to get into a fight, or close to one, buff yourself. Shield is critical - learn it and use it. But still, your best bet is to be further than an All-Out-Attack away from the nearest foe.
Get Stronger - If you do intend to use physical attacks, get ST 13. That puts you from 1d+2 swing to 2d-1 swing, which is a major difference in damage. It's +1 average damage for swing, but it increases your max. A small mace is 1d+4 (5/7.5/9) with ST 12, 2d (2/7/12) with ST 13. You'll do less on average, but fight a foe with DR 9 and you'll be happier. Plus, +1 HP and more carrying capacity.
Those are my suggestions - what are your additions based on what you're read (or played, for my players) of Felltower?
Monday, April 15, 2019
Gene Wolfe, Thanks for the Writing
We lost an amazing author yesterday - someone whose work I discovered thanks to GURPS.
Gene Wolfe
- Gene Wolfe, Latro in the Mist
I recommend Latro in the Mist and Soldier of Sidon, and the New Sun books. They're not easy to read, but they're a delight to read at the same time. I'm sad there won't be more.
Gene Wolfe
"Read This Each Day
I write of what has just occurred. The healer came into the this tent at dawn and asked whether I recalled him. When I said that I did not, he explained. He gave me this scroll, with this stylus of the slingstone metal, which marks it as though it was wax.
My name is Latro. I must not forget. The healer said that I forget very quickly, and this is because of a wound I suffered in a battle. [. . . ] He said I must learn to write down as much as I can, so I can read it when I have forgotten."
- Gene Wolfe, Latro in the Mist
I recommend Latro in the Mist and Soldier of Sidon, and the New Sun books. They're not easy to read, but they're a delight to read at the same time. I'm sad there won't be more.
Sunday, April 14, 2019
The Appalling Survival Rate of Clerics in Felltower
It's no secret that Felltower is a meatgrinder. It's a tough megadungeon, it gets more and more lethal as you delve deeper, and all too often PCs have delved too deeply or chosen poorly while doing so and suffered casualties for it.
The fatality rate of clerics - and acolytes - has been especially so. From Inquisitor Marco early on to Felix Aurelius most recently, clerics and acolytes have rarely survived long in Felltower.
Why?
Here are what I think are some possible reasons.
Acolytes aren't full-fledged delvers. Let's just get that out of the way right way. An acolyte is a 125-point character. Felltower is routinely lethal to 250 point characters. So NPC "clerics" hired or brought on as Allies are likely to die much more quickly when bad things happen. They can't survive as much as a cleric can.
This has spelled doom for all of the acolytes - eventually, they get into combat and die, or caught in an area effect and die, or breathe something and die, etc.
Inherent weakness of the cleric template to damage. Clerics have only ST 12, and HP 12, and HT 12, to start with. That limits their ability to rack up a lot of high-DR armor or take punishment that's routine for knights and barbarians (HP 14 and 22, respectively, and both are usually higher - HP 20 is all but standard on knights in my game.) They end up slow (lower Move, lower Dodge), relatively fragile, and
People think of wizards are fragile - and they are, once you actually can hit them. They don't have as low of a Dodge score, add a shield and their defenses are pretty good, and it's unusual to have a wizard without an effective broad-use Blocking spell like Phase or Blink. They're at first glance more vulnerable than clerics but in practical terms they're harder to just clip with a good attack and take out of the fight.
A number of clerics have died because they just couldn't handle a single hit.
They aren't backup fighters. Clerics start with a 14 or 15 in weapon skills. This is just enough to get in the door as a potential combatant. But fodder monsters often have skill 14-15 - even the "attack in swarms and die in batches" dinomen have 14s. ST is 12, which is good for 1d damage. They can't do much more than usually hit and maybe cause damage. With ST 12 and a mace (sw+3) damage is 1d+5. That's 6-11 damage, average 8.5. A broadsword would be 1d+3 - 4-9, average 6.5). That means 2-3 blows in most cases to take out a HP 12, DR 3-4 foe. Compare this to, say, a Knight with skill 18+, ST 14 (so 2d+1 with that sword, doing 3-13 av. 8) without even dipping into more ST, Weapon Master (both are common), and who may have higher skill and Extra Attack.
In a pinch, yes, a cleric can fight. But they don't do it well. Buff spells and Heroic Feats (allowed in DF, not in DFRPG for what it's worth) are a good way to briefly allow a cleric to bring himself up to fighting spec . . . but they rely on time, random rolls (for effect or to cast), last a brief time, and cost points that draw away from other priestly roles. They're probably better for emergencies than for making your cleric into a combatant.
They just lack the skill, ST, DX, and HT of a front-line fighter, plus lack the special abilities (Extra Attack, Weapon Master, Trained By A Master, Enhanced Defenses, Combat Reflexes) that augment and multiply the effect of those stats.
I think D&D and AD&D rather permanently ingrained the idea of the "fighting cleric" or of the cleric as a "get in there and mix it up" class. You're a cleric, you cast some healing here or there, smite some things with your holy powers, and turn undead - and when you're not doing those everyone should fear your mace or hammer.
In GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, you can do all that . . . if you're around 400 points. And you won't do the fighting nearly as well as a 250-point dedicated fighter-type. You just won't.
In Felltower, this "not a backup fighter" reality has clashed with "clerics mix it up with Evil!" feeling. In our very first play of DF, playtesting Mirror of the Fire Demon, a cleric was killed by an ogre when he thought he was good enough for front-line combat. The clerics who have fought have found that their contribution is helpful but relatively paltry, or that they can't hang and die. Sometimes both.
I think those are some of the reasons why clerics, especially, have ended up dead all over the place in Felltower.
The fatality rate of clerics - and acolytes - has been especially so. From Inquisitor Marco early on to Felix Aurelius most recently, clerics and acolytes have rarely survived long in Felltower.
Why?
Here are what I think are some possible reasons.
Acolytes aren't full-fledged delvers. Let's just get that out of the way right way. An acolyte is a 125-point character. Felltower is routinely lethal to 250 point characters. So NPC "clerics" hired or brought on as Allies are likely to die much more quickly when bad things happen. They can't survive as much as a cleric can.
This has spelled doom for all of the acolytes - eventually, they get into combat and die, or caught in an area effect and die, or breathe something and die, etc.
Inherent weakness of the cleric template to damage. Clerics have only ST 12, and HP 12, and HT 12, to start with. That limits their ability to rack up a lot of high-DR armor or take punishment that's routine for knights and barbarians (HP 14 and 22, respectively, and both are usually higher - HP 20 is all but standard on knights in my game.) They end up slow (lower Move, lower Dodge), relatively fragile, and
People think of wizards are fragile - and they are, once you actually can hit them. They don't have as low of a Dodge score, add a shield and their defenses are pretty good, and it's unusual to have a wizard without an effective broad-use Blocking spell like Phase or Blink. They're at first glance more vulnerable than clerics but in practical terms they're harder to just clip with a good attack and take out of the fight.
A number of clerics have died because they just couldn't handle a single hit.
They aren't backup fighters. Clerics start with a 14 or 15 in weapon skills. This is just enough to get in the door as a potential combatant. But fodder monsters often have skill 14-15 - even the "attack in swarms and die in batches" dinomen have 14s. ST is 12, which is good for 1d damage. They can't do much more than usually hit and maybe cause damage. With ST 12 and a mace (sw+3) damage is 1d+5. That's 6-11 damage, average 8.5. A broadsword would be 1d+3 - 4-9, average 6.5). That means 2-3 blows in most cases to take out a HP 12, DR 3-4 foe. Compare this to, say, a Knight with skill 18+, ST 14 (so 2d+1 with that sword, doing 3-13 av. 8) without even dipping into more ST, Weapon Master (both are common), and who may have higher skill and Extra Attack.
In a pinch, yes, a cleric can fight. But they don't do it well. Buff spells and Heroic Feats (allowed in DF, not in DFRPG for what it's worth) are a good way to briefly allow a cleric to bring himself up to fighting spec . . . but they rely on time, random rolls (for effect or to cast), last a brief time, and cost points that draw away from other priestly roles. They're probably better for emergencies than for making your cleric into a combatant.
They just lack the skill, ST, DX, and HT of a front-line fighter, plus lack the special abilities (Extra Attack, Weapon Master, Trained By A Master, Enhanced Defenses, Combat Reflexes) that augment and multiply the effect of those stats.
I think D&D and AD&D rather permanently ingrained the idea of the "fighting cleric" or of the cleric as a "get in there and mix it up" class. You're a cleric, you cast some healing here or there, smite some things with your holy powers, and turn undead - and when you're not doing those everyone should fear your mace or hammer.
In GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, you can do all that . . . if you're around 400 points. And you won't do the fighting nearly as well as a 250-point dedicated fighter-type. You just won't.
In Felltower, this "not a backup fighter" reality has clashed with "clerics mix it up with Evil!" feeling. In our very first play of DF, playtesting Mirror of the Fire Demon, a cleric was killed by an ogre when he thought he was good enough for front-line combat. The clerics who have fought have found that their contribution is helpful but relatively paltry, or that they can't hang and die. Sometimes both.
I think those are some of the reasons why clerics, especially, have ended up dead all over the place in Felltower.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
The long, slow learning process of War in the East
As I mentioned, I picked up War in the East (and War in the West).
Learning to play is . . . a process.
The manual for WitE is very clearly written. But it's almost 300 pages. It's dense. The detail is immense.
A quick trial of the Minsk scenario quickly put me in my place - the manual must be read before I get anywhere. Got it.
WitW isn't any easier. I fired up Operation Husky - the invasion of Sicily - and it was even harder to get started on.
Both of the games are beautiful. The detail is excellent. The music is good (although I turn it off ASAP - a personal preference.) The graphics are clear. I feel like I need a gigantic monitor just so I can step back and see the frontage more clearly and get a feel for the whole battle area. I probably don't, but it gives that feeling.
My plan is to go back to War in the East after I finished reading this manual, watch a video or two of gameplay, and then try again. It doesn't matter how well I do, just that I learn to play. From there I can try to win the game, and try bigger and bigger scenarios. This is probably time I don't have a lot of, but I can do it in chunks and don't have to worry about jostling the map.
Still, having this game project to work on makes me happy. This is the detailed game I always wanted, on the massive scale I'd always dreamed of. I just can't say no.
Learning to play is . . . a process.
The manual for WitE is very clearly written. But it's almost 300 pages. It's dense. The detail is immense.
A quick trial of the Minsk scenario quickly put me in my place - the manual must be read before I get anywhere. Got it.
WitW isn't any easier. I fired up Operation Husky - the invasion of Sicily - and it was even harder to get started on.
Both of the games are beautiful. The detail is excellent. The music is good (although I turn it off ASAP - a personal preference.) The graphics are clear. I feel like I need a gigantic monitor just so I can step back and see the frontage more clearly and get a feel for the whole battle area. I probably don't, but it gives that feeling.
My plan is to go back to War in the East after I finished reading this manual, watch a video or two of gameplay, and then try again. It doesn't matter how well I do, just that I learn to play. From there I can try to win the game, and try bigger and bigger scenarios. This is probably time I don't have a lot of, but I can do it in chunks and don't have to worry about jostling the map.
Still, having this game project to work on makes me happy. This is the detailed game I always wanted, on the massive scale I'd always dreamed of. I just can't say no.
Friday, April 12, 2019
Friday Random Notes 4/12 - James Smith memorial edition
First off, I just want to note the passing of James Smith of Dreams of Mythic Fantasy. His blog was a great source of news about retro-clone materials and was long a reader of it. I'm sorry to hear he died, especially so young.
On to happier things:
- Oh what a giveaway, Take 2.
- I love this post with Trampier's Tomb of Horrors and a modern recreation that both honors and adds onto the original.
- I had a nice talk about D&D monsters with a massage therapist at a PT clinic this week. Her favorite? Gibbering Mouther. She thought I was evil when I mentioned I have mine explode with razor-sharp armor-piercing tooth as shrapnel. What? Hard mode.
On to happier things:
- Oh what a giveaway, Take 2.
- I love this post with Trampier's Tomb of Horrors and a modern recreation that both honors and adds onto the original.
- I had a nice talk about D&D monsters with a massage therapist at a PT clinic this week. Her favorite? Gibbering Mouther. She thought I was evil when I mentioned I have mine explode with razor-sharp armor-piercing tooth as shrapnel. What? Hard mode.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Writing Update
Quick update today on my book:
- I turned in the draft last week.
- SJG turned around comments on the draft very quickly; I've read them over in a preliminary fashion.
- Next step is to read those comments again in-depth.
- Final step in the current turnaround is to apply those comments for a revised draft and re-submit.
Once that's done, I wait on the next portion. I should have time this weekend to make this all happen, which will mean writing instead of running Felltower. But it was a scheduled off-week in any case.
- I turned in the draft last week.
- SJG turned around comments on the draft very quickly; I've read them over in a preliminary fashion.
- Next step is to read those comments again in-depth.
- Final step in the current turnaround is to apply those comments for a revised draft and re-submit.
Once that's done, I wait on the next portion. I should have time this weekend to make this all happen, which will mean writing instead of running Felltower. But it was a scheduled off-week in any case.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Bones IV shipped!
I received my shipping notice . . . my Bones IV minis should arrive next Tuesday.
Hurrah!
I'm not sure which ones I want yet . . . I'll decide quickly and put up a sale/trade list.
Hurrah!
I'm not sure which ones I want yet . . . I'll decide quickly and put up a sale/trade list.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Jocks & Dragons - it all turns around eventually.
When I was in school, gaming, fantasy books, and anything related was not a hobby that got any respect. It generally got you looked down upon.
That figures into this story.
So Monday I was at the gym, doing my program with my trainer, Mike. It's a small group setting, so each person has their own workout and we do our own thing. Who else trains mid-morning on a Monday? Mostly pro athletes, and this time of year it's the football guys. So most Mondays it's me and anywhere from 3-5 pro football guys plus a couple of other athletes - and an older amateur athlete similar to myself as well, to be fair.
The conversation go around to reading, and then to ragging on Harry Potter books, and then suddenly it was all "Game of Thrones." A couple of the guys really love it. They binge watch it, they read up on it, they're all about it. I just sat there listening for a while. One of them especially was so into it. He was so excited to be talking about dragons and who killed this other guy and how awesome is this other guys and then more about the dragons.
Then I finished my set, and I walked over and told him that when I was in high school, playing role-playing games and reading books about dragons, the jocks - really mostly the football guys - would make fun of people who did those things. So I said it was very gratifying to me that here is this Super Bowl champion getting all excited and saying, "Hey, do you guys watch that show with the dragons?"
I said, "Give it enough time" and we said together "it all turns around eventually."
Funny stuff.
I mean seriously. The guys who peaked in high school football decades back held me in contempt because, hey, I like stories with swords and dragons. And now here's a guy with a championship ring or two all into the same stuff.
Heh.
That made me really happy. You just have to be patient sometimes.
I suppose I could invite him to game, but he works on Sundays.
That figures into this story.
So Monday I was at the gym, doing my program with my trainer, Mike. It's a small group setting, so each person has their own workout and we do our own thing. Who else trains mid-morning on a Monday? Mostly pro athletes, and this time of year it's the football guys. So most Mondays it's me and anywhere from 3-5 pro football guys plus a couple of other athletes - and an older amateur athlete similar to myself as well, to be fair.
The conversation go around to reading, and then to ragging on Harry Potter books, and then suddenly it was all "Game of Thrones." A couple of the guys really love it. They binge watch it, they read up on it, they're all about it. I just sat there listening for a while. One of them especially was so into it. He was so excited to be talking about dragons and who killed this other guy and how awesome is this other guys and then more about the dragons.
Then I finished my set, and I walked over and told him that when I was in high school, playing role-playing games and reading books about dragons, the jocks - really mostly the football guys - would make fun of people who did those things. So I said it was very gratifying to me that here is this Super Bowl champion getting all excited and saying, "Hey, do you guys watch that show with the dragons?"
I said, "Give it enough time" and we said together "it all turns around eventually."
Funny stuff.
I mean seriously. The guys who peaked in high school football decades back held me in contempt because, hey, I like stories with swords and dragons. And now here's a guy with a championship ring or two all into the same stuff.
Heh.
That made me really happy. You just have to be patient sometimes.
I suppose I could invite him to game, but he works on Sundays.
Monday, April 8, 2019
GURPS DF Session 114, Felltower 86 - Ebony Death Goddess & Obsidian Golems
April 7th, 2019
Weather: Warm, sunny, windy.
Characters:
Aldwyn, human knight (264 points)
Bruce "the Mild" McTavish, Jr., human barbarian (250 points)
Crogar, human barbarian (254 points)
Dryst, halfling wizard (462 points)
Felix Aurelius, human cleric (250 points)
Galen Longtread, human scout (389 points)
Gerald Tarrant, human necromancer (332 points)
5 Skeletons (~25 points)
Hayden the Unnamed, human knight (295 points)
We started off in town, with Gerry having purchased a new skeleton and enchanted up as his new buddy. They gathered rumors, mostly about the evil of eye monsters and occasional flashes of something on the moon during certain times of the year, and headed off to the dungeon.
The plan was to get up into the "crystal ball room" and scry around the dungeon using Dryst's Crystal Gazing spell. With that in mind they climbed up Felltower's mountain and went around to the "dragon cave." They paused while Gerry used one of the many skulls of intelligent beings he has collected to make a Skull Spirit. Then they went in.
Nothing molested them in the caves, although at Felix Aurelius's insistence they checked out the pool-and-mushroom room that he'd heard about. He found it very restful and peaceful. They ate some of the brown mushrooms for food, drank some of the Essential Water, and moved on - collecting the Skull Spirit on the way out.
They climbed the stairs up, dismayed that there was harmless phosphorescent slime on the walls and floors - and Aldwyn took the time to bother Bruce with descriptions of yellow slime learning to navigate mazes.
At the top of the stairs they moved quickly to the staircase up and checked it - not blocked, no guards.
So they found and opened the crystal ball room and set to work.
Dryst's first scry was how to open the repelling doors on level 2. He got a vision of the doors, but only of four of the crystals and they didn't seem to be in a pattern. The vision held there for a minute and then stopped.
He tried to scry the location of one of the statue heads - and got nothing, just a failed attempt.
An attempt at the giant orichalcum doors had the same effect - just failure.
Finally he scryed the door that won't open on the middle level, asking to see what hand they had to touch to open it. It showed the red hand in the mummy's room. Questioning the spirit of one of the Brotherhood members told them they needed to touch only one hand, and swear an oath to the Brotherhood in some way.
They decided to go there and have some people who had touched no hands touch that hand.
On the way, the did some map-updating exploration around the level with the crystal ball, finding nothing of interest except some dead scorpions in cages that had been shot to death with arrows. Possibly by Galen - he couldn't recall, he's killed a lot of things.
Next, the group did a quick tour of the level above. Galen moved ahead and scouted, and didn't find much of anything - the orcs clearly aren't contesting the way up to the level. Several blockages and blockades still clog the halls. The PCs moved to the first blockage and dug a path through it with picks and shovels, with a Silence spell to keep the noise to zero. Crogar wasn't happy with all of this stealth, he wanted to fight something so he wanted noise to attract monsters. But he wasn't able to sway anyone.
There was a short side-trip to the "stone bird room." There was discussion of if it was a statue that killed things, or an actual cockatrice. But the map said there were two secret doors in the room. They checked it thoroughly and found nothing. So they brought Galen off of rear guard and had him check, and he was sure there weren't any secret doors. Why are they on the map? They're not sure.
From there they headed to the altar, and had the new guys touch it. Felix gained some unknown effect (which never actually came up in the game, anyway), Bruce had some of his silver turned to gold, and Hayden gained +1 to all stats for the day. Gerry touched it, and received a magical boon that would mean all hostile magic had minimum rolled effects on him, all beneficial maximal. That, sadly, also didn't come up.
From there they investigated the black hand print on the floor - and found there map misplaced that in another room. Oh well. Felix using Walk on Air triggered the trap, and the floor disappeared. Below was a cylindrical chamber with a coating of some stinking, rotting soup of stuff. They tried Seek Earth to look for gold (nothing turned up) and silver - and detected silver off to the left somewhere. They decided to investigate that - and for good measure, see what was in a room labeled with a $ on the map, and possibly pry off a meteoric iron door they'd seen listed on the map notes as well.
They went down the spiral staircase and found they couldn't force open the door to the big temple, it was swollen shut. A crowbar was created and used, but still, no effect. Crogar stepped up and smashed the door with his axe, but couldn't make a scratch in the iron-bound heavy wooden door. So Dryst used Destroy Water to dry the door out, and then it was forced by Hayden.
In the temple they found some offerings to the desecrated statue - some lizardman-made fetishes of bone and leather (that Felix ground under his heel), some silver and copper coins (11 and 22, respectively), a silver ring (ultimately worth 100 sp), and some colored glass "gems." They took the valuable bits and left the rest.
Meanwhile Aldwyn investigated the "meteoric iron door." That turned out to be a small stone cabinet door for some kind of religious relic, that had meteoric lock pins in it. It wasn't clear if the pins had been removed but he was no expert on locks. Disappointed, they moved out.
They checked the whetstone found all the way back in Total Party Teleport II, and determined it wasn't any better than a normal dwarven whetstone, so they sharpened a pair of blades and then moved on.
By this point they'd spent hours in the dungeon, so they took an extra rest.
Then they headed to the mummy's crypt. They went back to digging and cleared the blockage, only to find that the tough, brown mold had infiltrated the blockage, as well. Bruce was sickened by it, but Felix was able to heal him with Cure Disease.
Getting to the mummy was simple from there, but risky - so they boosted up with HT of Bruce and Aldwyn and sent them in, backed by Dryst. They found the crypt, bypassed the bas relief faces that didn't fire at anyone, and went into the mummy's chamber. They found the detritus of the previous fight, but no mummy (and no one could recall if they'd closed the doors, or destroyed the mummy's corpse.) Bruce and Aldwyn touched the hand and lost 5 FP each (ouch) and suffered 5 hours of reduced stats. Both swore oaths while they did so.
They moved back to the group, using Cure Disease to clean up the spores that they picked up on their trip. One thing they did note, though, was the mold stopped at the edge of the statue room with knife-edge sharpness.
All of the upper floor exploration done, they headed to the GFS and down.
They reached the middle landing, and tried the new "only touch one hand" approach. It didn't have any real effect. They tried it while saying an oath, while saying various Brotherhood related phrases, while having both touch it with a total of six fingers (five and one), and even tried it while pushing it. Only the last revealed anything - it seems to be blocked from the other side. So they gave up and headed down.
At the bottom of the stairs Galen went ahead first - and unfortunately failed to spot the incoming danger - a pair of bronze spiders jumped in from the ceiling down the hallway. One landed nearby, and one landed on Galen, smashing him to the ground, breaking his right arm and biting him. The second spider then leaped at Crogar and hung on him, biting him. They managed to smash the spiders in only a few seconds, especially thanks to a hellacious smash by Hayden, but they did their damage - Galen could scout, but couldn't use his bow. Also before his smash, Hayden had thrown a javelin and missed his target, hitting Crogar in the groin. Oops. They carried the spiders back a few yards to the staircase and left them there, healed Galen, and moved on - now with Galen armed with a sword.
They made their way toward "Phase Snake Junction," intent on dealing with the obsidian golems they'd encountered there. On the way they found that one of the black crystal hemispheres they'd smashed was intact - so they quickly backed off, and destroyed it with a Stone Missile.
At the "golem hallway" they investigated, first by sending servants down a little bit, but it didn't trigger the golems. So they sent a servant and a Wizard Eye down a bit, and then Dryst used magic to create an earth wall and then turn it to stone. The servant proceeded as previously ordered to the end of the hallway and found a door with a handprint on it. It passed a total of four pairs of alcoves, and thus eight golems.
Dryst couldn't order it around, so he shaped a hole in the wall and called through it. The servant touched the door and was destroyed.
He made another servant, and they gave it one of Alaric's preserved hands, which Galen carries around with him. That one made it to the door. It touched the hand to the door, which opened, but the servant was destroyed. Dryst hurried his Wizard Eye in and found an octagonal room with another door on the far side. Eventually, the door closed.
They shaped a hole in the wall and moved past it, deciding to set off the trap and fight the golems in the middle, with two cut off and slowed by the wall. They set up with Bruce and Hayden in the back - Bruce with the Ebony Death Goddess statuette ready - and Crogar and Aldwyn in the front, the skeletons, spellcasters, and Galen in the middle. All of the spellcasters were invisible.
The golems did indeed trigger when they passed, but past the third pair, not the second. They stepped out, attacking immediately. The two in the front used their paralysis rays on Crogar and Aldwyn at short range, paralyzing them both after a waiting Aldwyn got in some slightly-effect stabs. Hayden and Bruce suffered the same a second later, but Bruce managed to toss down the Ebony Death Goddess statuette and tell it to protect the party members. The middle golems smashed a skeleton each.
The EDG quickly enagaged, and in short order destroyed, one of the golems. The other dodged back into the force wall and then came back out, destroying another skeleton, and then another, after the EDG attacked the golems in the back. Gerry put Great Haste on himself and then the EDG, while telling his skull-spirit to attack the golems. It did, harmlessly. It couldn't even usefully run interference.
The skeletons were quickly destroyed, and Galen was smashed down with a broken leg after whacking a golem and injuring it. Felix meanwhile moved up and tried Stop Paralysis, a central part of the plan. But it didn't work - the (very strong) paralytic ray effect resisted and nullified his casting. Meanwhile, the golems on the front end both grappled their opponents - Aldwyn and Crogar - around the neck, preparatory to Neck Snapping them.
It was quickly obvious that the golems couldn't see the invisible spellcasters. But a new threat could - as invisible Felix backed up, he was menaced by a floating metal robed figure - an iron spectre. It could see, and launched paralytic and fear rays at the spellcasters. Somehow Felix managed to un-paralyze Crogar, but in short order Crogar and Aldwyn had their heads twists badly, suffered severe neck damage, and dropped unconscious. They managed to survived two additional seconds of attempted neck snaps before the golems dropped them to move on to new foes.
The melee degenerated a bit, here. Galen fought from seated, keeping an Obsidian Golem off-balance most of the fight - yes, a scout fighting left-handed from seated. Galen's good.
Meanwhile the EDG chopped off the limbs of several of the incoming golems, eventually facing four of them at once. Gerry put Shield on it to maximize its defenses, which helped. Its armor-slicing swords did good work against the golems. (As a GM note, I let Felix's player control it as he had the stats handy. He kept having it slice for limbs, which often resulted in damaged but functional golems - when he finally chose to just hit body, its many attacks just chopped them into chunks and destroyed them. Don't waste damage when fighting constructs.) Felix zapped the Iron Spectre with a small Sunbolt and damaged it, but not seriously. Then, one of the golems let got of (presumably sufficiently demolished) Aldwyn and grabbed Felix. It neck-snapped him and wounded him badly, and he passed out. It went for one more and put him to -59 HP, 1 less than automatic death. Then Felix failed a death check, badly, and expired.
The EDG finished off seven of the golems, eventually, including kill-stealing from Galen the one he'd been whittling down from his seated position. The Iron Spectre managed to put fear into Dryst, putting him at -8 (!) for anything not fleeing - and his terrified charge and attack on it did little. An obsidian golem, though, punched him in the hand and mildly wounded him. Thanks to all of the HP spent on casting spells, Dryst went negative, rolled an 18, and passed out. The Iron Spectre tried to slice up Felix but failed, and then as it turned to deal with another threat Gerry hit it from behind with a fully-charged Skull Missile and destroyed it. He also did the same for a golem, turning himself invisible before charging up another and destroying the remaining golem.
The party was a mess - paralyzed fighters, a dead cleric, unconscious wizard, etc. But they had a buffed EDG to guard them and Gerry still up.
It was late, so I ruled that if they could get people mobile and get enough people to carry loot, I'd handwave it all home. They managed to wake people up with a single Awaken spellstone, wait out some paralysis, and Dryst used Create Servant to make enough brutes to carry things. Guarded by the Ebony Death Goddess.
Their loot worked out to be ~1000 sp or so each.
Notes:
Poor Crogar - there were two big fights, and he was basically taken out in both of them. A lot of it was unavoidable - he's a 254 point guy delving well below where the dungeon was stocked with, say, 250 point guys in mind. Also, he's a shirtless savage barbarian, which is a great template but also maximized around combat, not Perception and resistance . . . and it was Perception and resistance that really mattered.
Once again, the Skull Spirit proved mostly useless. It's a nice addition in certain circumstances, but the PCs encountered not one living foe this session. Toxic damage isn't helpful against non-living constructs. It's certain, though, that there will come a delve when one matters.
It's amusing to me when the PCs visit places that they've been to years ago, especially on faulty information - witness the attempt to salvage the "meteoric iron door" in the demonic temple, the "black hand" on the floor, etc. Some of the group is new, but half-understand shorthand leads to a lot of repeat visits.
The obsidian golems remain a challenge. I designed those well. The Iron Spectre is not quite as lethal, but it's a tough foe combined with the right allies. I wasn't sure the Ebony Death Goddess would be that useful, but in fact it was decisive. The lack of serious magic resistance by the front-line fighters is why; you can't be strong against everything and it's especially tough to be strong against magic. And yes, the Ebony Death Goddess will see print at some point.
Since Gerry's skeletons are all destroyed, it's probably worth taking the time to see what kind of improved undead servitors he is due.
Bruce and Hayden were very impressed by the Ebony Death Goddess. They now worship her and want to get tattoos of her. Thus are heresies launched.
XP was 5 for everyone except Dryst, who received 3 xp. Galen was MVP because of his left-handed casually badassery. Gerry probably earned it, but Galen was just being awesome. That's worth a point.
Weather: Warm, sunny, windy.
Characters:
Aldwyn, human knight (264 points)
Bruce "the Mild" McTavish, Jr., human barbarian (250 points)
Crogar, human barbarian (254 points)
Dryst, halfling wizard (462 points)
Felix Aurelius, human cleric (250 points)
Galen Longtread, human scout (389 points)
Gerald Tarrant, human necromancer (332 points)
5 Skeletons (~25 points)
Hayden the Unnamed, human knight (295 points)
We started off in town, with Gerry having purchased a new skeleton and enchanted up as his new buddy. They gathered rumors, mostly about the evil of eye monsters and occasional flashes of something on the moon during certain times of the year, and headed off to the dungeon.
The plan was to get up into the "crystal ball room" and scry around the dungeon using Dryst's Crystal Gazing spell. With that in mind they climbed up Felltower's mountain and went around to the "dragon cave." They paused while Gerry used one of the many skulls of intelligent beings he has collected to make a Skull Spirit. Then they went in.
Nothing molested them in the caves, although at Felix Aurelius's insistence they checked out the pool-and-mushroom room that he'd heard about. He found it very restful and peaceful. They ate some of the brown mushrooms for food, drank some of the Essential Water, and moved on - collecting the Skull Spirit on the way out.
They climbed the stairs up, dismayed that there was harmless phosphorescent slime on the walls and floors - and Aldwyn took the time to bother Bruce with descriptions of yellow slime learning to navigate mazes.
At the top of the stairs they moved quickly to the staircase up and checked it - not blocked, no guards.
So they found and opened the crystal ball room and set to work.
Dryst's first scry was how to open the repelling doors on level 2. He got a vision of the doors, but only of four of the crystals and they didn't seem to be in a pattern. The vision held there for a minute and then stopped.
He tried to scry the location of one of the statue heads - and got nothing, just a failed attempt.
An attempt at the giant orichalcum doors had the same effect - just failure.
Finally he scryed the door that won't open on the middle level, asking to see what hand they had to touch to open it. It showed the red hand in the mummy's room. Questioning the spirit of one of the Brotherhood members told them they needed to touch only one hand, and swear an oath to the Brotherhood in some way.
They decided to go there and have some people who had touched no hands touch that hand.
On the way, the did some map-updating exploration around the level with the crystal ball, finding nothing of interest except some dead scorpions in cages that had been shot to death with arrows. Possibly by Galen - he couldn't recall, he's killed a lot of things.
Next, the group did a quick tour of the level above. Galen moved ahead and scouted, and didn't find much of anything - the orcs clearly aren't contesting the way up to the level. Several blockages and blockades still clog the halls. The PCs moved to the first blockage and dug a path through it with picks and shovels, with a Silence spell to keep the noise to zero. Crogar wasn't happy with all of this stealth, he wanted to fight something so he wanted noise to attract monsters. But he wasn't able to sway anyone.
There was a short side-trip to the "stone bird room." There was discussion of if it was a statue that killed things, or an actual cockatrice. But the map said there were two secret doors in the room. They checked it thoroughly and found nothing. So they brought Galen off of rear guard and had him check, and he was sure there weren't any secret doors. Why are they on the map? They're not sure.
From there they headed to the altar, and had the new guys touch it. Felix gained some unknown effect (which never actually came up in the game, anyway), Bruce had some of his silver turned to gold, and Hayden gained +1 to all stats for the day. Gerry touched it, and received a magical boon that would mean all hostile magic had minimum rolled effects on him, all beneficial maximal. That, sadly, also didn't come up.
From there they investigated the black hand print on the floor - and found there map misplaced that in another room. Oh well. Felix using Walk on Air triggered the trap, and the floor disappeared. Below was a cylindrical chamber with a coating of some stinking, rotting soup of stuff. They tried Seek Earth to look for gold (nothing turned up) and silver - and detected silver off to the left somewhere. They decided to investigate that - and for good measure, see what was in a room labeled with a $ on the map, and possibly pry off a meteoric iron door they'd seen listed on the map notes as well.
They went down the spiral staircase and found they couldn't force open the door to the big temple, it was swollen shut. A crowbar was created and used, but still, no effect. Crogar stepped up and smashed the door with his axe, but couldn't make a scratch in the iron-bound heavy wooden door. So Dryst used Destroy Water to dry the door out, and then it was forced by Hayden.
In the temple they found some offerings to the desecrated statue - some lizardman-made fetishes of bone and leather (that Felix ground under his heel), some silver and copper coins (11 and 22, respectively), a silver ring (ultimately worth 100 sp), and some colored glass "gems." They took the valuable bits and left the rest.
Meanwhile Aldwyn investigated the "meteoric iron door." That turned out to be a small stone cabinet door for some kind of religious relic, that had meteoric lock pins in it. It wasn't clear if the pins had been removed but he was no expert on locks. Disappointed, they moved out.
They checked the whetstone found all the way back in Total Party Teleport II, and determined it wasn't any better than a normal dwarven whetstone, so they sharpened a pair of blades and then moved on.
By this point they'd spent hours in the dungeon, so they took an extra rest.
Then they headed to the mummy's crypt. They went back to digging and cleared the blockage, only to find that the tough, brown mold had infiltrated the blockage, as well. Bruce was sickened by it, but Felix was able to heal him with Cure Disease.
Getting to the mummy was simple from there, but risky - so they boosted up with HT of Bruce and Aldwyn and sent them in, backed by Dryst. They found the crypt, bypassed the bas relief faces that didn't fire at anyone, and went into the mummy's chamber. They found the detritus of the previous fight, but no mummy (and no one could recall if they'd closed the doors, or destroyed the mummy's corpse.) Bruce and Aldwyn touched the hand and lost 5 FP each (ouch) and suffered 5 hours of reduced stats. Both swore oaths while they did so.
They moved back to the group, using Cure Disease to clean up the spores that they picked up on their trip. One thing they did note, though, was the mold stopped at the edge of the statue room with knife-edge sharpness.
All of the upper floor exploration done, they headed to the GFS and down.
They reached the middle landing, and tried the new "only touch one hand" approach. It didn't have any real effect. They tried it while saying an oath, while saying various Brotherhood related phrases, while having both touch it with a total of six fingers (five and one), and even tried it while pushing it. Only the last revealed anything - it seems to be blocked from the other side. So they gave up and headed down.
At the bottom of the stairs Galen went ahead first - and unfortunately failed to spot the incoming danger - a pair of bronze spiders jumped in from the ceiling down the hallway. One landed nearby, and one landed on Galen, smashing him to the ground, breaking his right arm and biting him. The second spider then leaped at Crogar and hung on him, biting him. They managed to smash the spiders in only a few seconds, especially thanks to a hellacious smash by Hayden, but they did their damage - Galen could scout, but couldn't use his bow. Also before his smash, Hayden had thrown a javelin and missed his target, hitting Crogar in the groin. Oops. They carried the spiders back a few yards to the staircase and left them there, healed Galen, and moved on - now with Galen armed with a sword.
They made their way toward "Phase Snake Junction," intent on dealing with the obsidian golems they'd encountered there. On the way they found that one of the black crystal hemispheres they'd smashed was intact - so they quickly backed off, and destroyed it with a Stone Missile.
At the "golem hallway" they investigated, first by sending servants down a little bit, but it didn't trigger the golems. So they sent a servant and a Wizard Eye down a bit, and then Dryst used magic to create an earth wall and then turn it to stone. The servant proceeded as previously ordered to the end of the hallway and found a door with a handprint on it. It passed a total of four pairs of alcoves, and thus eight golems.
Dryst couldn't order it around, so he shaped a hole in the wall and called through it. The servant touched the door and was destroyed.
He made another servant, and they gave it one of Alaric's preserved hands, which Galen carries around with him. That one made it to the door. It touched the hand to the door, which opened, but the servant was destroyed. Dryst hurried his Wizard Eye in and found an octagonal room with another door on the far side. Eventually, the door closed.
They shaped a hole in the wall and moved past it, deciding to set off the trap and fight the golems in the middle, with two cut off and slowed by the wall. They set up with Bruce and Hayden in the back - Bruce with the Ebony Death Goddess statuette ready - and Crogar and Aldwyn in the front, the skeletons, spellcasters, and Galen in the middle. All of the spellcasters were invisible.
The golems did indeed trigger when they passed, but past the third pair, not the second. They stepped out, attacking immediately. The two in the front used their paralysis rays on Crogar and Aldwyn at short range, paralyzing them both after a waiting Aldwyn got in some slightly-effect stabs. Hayden and Bruce suffered the same a second later, but Bruce managed to toss down the Ebony Death Goddess statuette and tell it to protect the party members. The middle golems smashed a skeleton each.
The EDG quickly enagaged, and in short order destroyed, one of the golems. The other dodged back into the force wall and then came back out, destroying another skeleton, and then another, after the EDG attacked the golems in the back. Gerry put Great Haste on himself and then the EDG, while telling his skull-spirit to attack the golems. It did, harmlessly. It couldn't even usefully run interference.
The skeletons were quickly destroyed, and Galen was smashed down with a broken leg after whacking a golem and injuring it. Felix meanwhile moved up and tried Stop Paralysis, a central part of the plan. But it didn't work - the (very strong) paralytic ray effect resisted and nullified his casting. Meanwhile, the golems on the front end both grappled their opponents - Aldwyn and Crogar - around the neck, preparatory to Neck Snapping them.
It was quickly obvious that the golems couldn't see the invisible spellcasters. But a new threat could - as invisible Felix backed up, he was menaced by a floating metal robed figure - an iron spectre. It could see, and launched paralytic and fear rays at the spellcasters. Somehow Felix managed to un-paralyze Crogar, but in short order Crogar and Aldwyn had their heads twists badly, suffered severe neck damage, and dropped unconscious. They managed to survived two additional seconds of attempted neck snaps before the golems dropped them to move on to new foes.
The melee degenerated a bit, here. Galen fought from seated, keeping an Obsidian Golem off-balance most of the fight - yes, a scout fighting left-handed from seated. Galen's good.
Meanwhile the EDG chopped off the limbs of several of the incoming golems, eventually facing four of them at once. Gerry put Shield on it to maximize its defenses, which helped. Its armor-slicing swords did good work against the golems. (As a GM note, I let Felix's player control it as he had the stats handy. He kept having it slice for limbs, which often resulted in damaged but functional golems - when he finally chose to just hit body, its many attacks just chopped them into chunks and destroyed them. Don't waste damage when fighting constructs.) Felix zapped the Iron Spectre with a small Sunbolt and damaged it, but not seriously. Then, one of the golems let got of (presumably sufficiently demolished) Aldwyn and grabbed Felix. It neck-snapped him and wounded him badly, and he passed out. It went for one more and put him to -59 HP, 1 less than automatic death. Then Felix failed a death check, badly, and expired.
The EDG finished off seven of the golems, eventually, including kill-stealing from Galen the one he'd been whittling down from his seated position. The Iron Spectre managed to put fear into Dryst, putting him at -8 (!) for anything not fleeing - and his terrified charge and attack on it did little. An obsidian golem, though, punched him in the hand and mildly wounded him. Thanks to all of the HP spent on casting spells, Dryst went negative, rolled an 18, and passed out. The Iron Spectre tried to slice up Felix but failed, and then as it turned to deal with another threat Gerry hit it from behind with a fully-charged Skull Missile and destroyed it. He also did the same for a golem, turning himself invisible before charging up another and destroying the remaining golem.
The party was a mess - paralyzed fighters, a dead cleric, unconscious wizard, etc. But they had a buffed EDG to guard them and Gerry still up.
It was late, so I ruled that if they could get people mobile and get enough people to carry loot, I'd handwave it all home. They managed to wake people up with a single Awaken spellstone, wait out some paralysis, and Dryst used Create Servant to make enough brutes to carry things. Guarded by the Ebony Death Goddess.
Their loot worked out to be ~1000 sp or so each.
Notes:
Poor Crogar - there were two big fights, and he was basically taken out in both of them. A lot of it was unavoidable - he's a 254 point guy delving well below where the dungeon was stocked with, say, 250 point guys in mind. Also, he's a shirtless savage barbarian, which is a great template but also maximized around combat, not Perception and resistance . . . and it was Perception and resistance that really mattered.
Once again, the Skull Spirit proved mostly useless. It's a nice addition in certain circumstances, but the PCs encountered not one living foe this session. Toxic damage isn't helpful against non-living constructs. It's certain, though, that there will come a delve when one matters.
It's amusing to me when the PCs visit places that they've been to years ago, especially on faulty information - witness the attempt to salvage the "meteoric iron door" in the demonic temple, the "black hand" on the floor, etc. Some of the group is new, but half-understand shorthand leads to a lot of repeat visits.
The obsidian golems remain a challenge. I designed those well. The Iron Spectre is not quite as lethal, but it's a tough foe combined with the right allies. I wasn't sure the Ebony Death Goddess would be that useful, but in fact it was decisive. The lack of serious magic resistance by the front-line fighters is why; you can't be strong against everything and it's especially tough to be strong against magic. And yes, the Ebony Death Goddess will see print at some point.
Since Gerry's skeletons are all destroyed, it's probably worth taking the time to see what kind of improved undead servitors he is due.
Bruce and Hayden were very impressed by the Ebony Death Goddess. They now worship her and want to get tattoos of her. Thus are heresies launched.
XP was 5 for everyone except Dryst, who received 3 xp. Galen was MVP because of his left-handed casually badassery. Gerry probably earned it, but Galen was just being awesome. That's worth a point.
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Felltower pre-summary
We played Felltower today after a long layoff.
- we had 7 players
- some divinations were attempted
- mold infected delvers
- a red six-fingered hand was touched
- the altar was touched by the new guys
- some stray loot was found
- and a nasty, dangerous, and nearly fatal battle was fought against obsidian golems and a surprise special guest that didn't make it any better for the PCs.
- we had 7 players
- some divinations were attempted
- mold infected delvers
- a red six-fingered hand was touched
- the altar was touched by the new guys
- some stray loot was found
- and a nasty, dangerous, and nearly fatal battle was fought against obsidian golems and a surprise special guest that didn't make it any better for the PCs.
Saturday, April 6, 2019
A day of last-minute game prep
Tomorrow we're playing Felltower, for the first time in a while.
So tonight I'm frantically trying to make sure everything is up to date - rumors written, maps and minis are together for play, the Felltower document is up to date, etc.
I knew the game day was coming, of course, but I didn't really have a lot of free time until late in the week - and very little of that.
Because of that I had to shoot down one idea was in flux for the past few days - travel through a specific gate. I simply don't have the time to get familiar with all of my notes, update my maps and notes further, find all of the minis for the monsters they might encounter and ensure they're packed, etc. I might have been able to do that yesterday, but as of only a few hours ago it still wasn't clear if this was going to be the destination of choice or not. And I had non-game, non-prep stuff to do as well.
We'll see what the backup plan is. I've got the main bits of Felltower all ready to go.
So tonight I'm frantically trying to make sure everything is up to date - rumors written, maps and minis are together for play, the Felltower document is up to date, etc.
I knew the game day was coming, of course, but I didn't really have a lot of free time until late in the week - and very little of that.
Because of that I had to shoot down one idea was in flux for the past few days - travel through a specific gate. I simply don't have the time to get familiar with all of my notes, update my maps and notes further, find all of the minis for the monsters they might encounter and ensure they're packed, etc. I might have been able to do that yesterday, but as of only a few hours ago it still wasn't clear if this was going to be the destination of choice or not. And I had non-game, non-prep stuff to do as well.
We'll see what the backup plan is. I've got the main bits of Felltower all ready to go.
Friday, April 5, 2019
Random Notes for 4/5
A few random bits for 4/5:
- Ask, and you shall receive. So I mentioned Gary Grigsby's War in the East. Despite my lack of time to devote to playing it, I'd really like to give it (and War in the West) a go. I figured I'd get them when and if they ever went on sale. And lo and behold, GOG suddenly starts selling it (not just Steam) and put them on sale this weekend. I'll pick up War in the East after I do all of my game prep and work, see how it goes, and if I like it I'll pick up War in the West and the various DLC. Just in case, like Tides of Numenara, it won't freaking run on my computer.
- Let's file this under "Oh What a Giveaway!"
- We're gaming on Sunday, DF Felltower. No, I haven't the slightest idea what the players will do. Nor, I suspect, do the players. Hopefully I can game prep for it in time tomorrow!
- Ask, and you shall receive. So I mentioned Gary Grigsby's War in the East. Despite my lack of time to devote to playing it, I'd really like to give it (and War in the West) a go. I figured I'd get them when and if they ever went on sale. And lo and behold, GOG suddenly starts selling it (not just Steam) and put them on sale this weekend. I'll pick up War in the East after I do all of my game prep and work, see how it goes, and if I like it I'll pick up War in the West and the various DLC. Just in case, like Tides of Numenara, it won't freaking run on my computer.
- Let's file this under "Oh What a Giveaway!"
- We're gaming on Sunday, DF Felltower. No, I haven't the slightest idea what the players will do. Nor, I suspect, do the players. Hopefully I can game prep for it in time tomorrow!
Thursday, April 4, 2019
GURPS and the Unminded Trap
Over in Castle Whiterock, the PCs hit into a fairly dangerous trap.
It's a good illustration of something I noticed in using D&D-style adventure approaches to GURPS - traps, unattended and unminded by active, intelligent, and hostile forces, are not as lethal as in D&D.
One thing about D&D that GURPS doesn't have is the attritional aspect of most resouces. In D&D, especially AD&D as I've played it, resources bleed away from a finite pool. You only have so many HP, so many spells, so much healing. Extra time doesn't help much - you can lose more HP in a 20' pit than you can heal back by rest in a week.
Because of this, traps left unminded generally just cost replaceable resources - you lose HP, but that can be healed with magic that costs FP that come back in minutes. Repeated healing penalties mean this spigot isn't endless, but it's not nearly as limited as in D&D.
For a trap to have a solid, lasting impact in GURPS, it needs to be lethal, crippling, destructive (to equipment or resources), or all three - and a good way to make it so is to connect it with active threats.
A reverse gravity trap with a force wall is nice, but if there are foes who can take advantage (perhaps fighting on the ceiling, and you can only reach them by "falling" up to them), or who have effective ranged weapons unimpeded by magic, or area effect attacks - then it's a real threat. A pit is good, but a pit that drops a few PCs in and covers them up as foes swarm in to attack the rest - that's a winner.
Such traps have a real threat, not just a sigh, puzzling out of the most efficient way to solve them, and then a solution followed by a short rest - perhaps even no rest if your spellcasters rely mostly on Energy Reserve.
For GMs prepping old-school style traps for GURPS, my advice is to keep in mind that they don't really act like much of a resource attrition as they do in D&D-based games. They're much more of a threat coupled with actual active threats. Because of this, it's worth mixing in both unattended traps and attended ones. This way PCs have to treat all of them like a combined-arms attack by foes with a dangerously slanted battlefield, which adds to the fun of dealing with them. If they don't, they'll get caught out by foes waiting for the trap to spring - which also adds to the fun of dealing with them.
It's a good illustration of something I noticed in using D&D-style adventure approaches to GURPS - traps, unattended and unminded by active, intelligent, and hostile forces, are not as lethal as in D&D.
One thing about D&D that GURPS doesn't have is the attritional aspect of most resouces. In D&D, especially AD&D as I've played it, resources bleed away from a finite pool. You only have so many HP, so many spells, so much healing. Extra time doesn't help much - you can lose more HP in a 20' pit than you can heal back by rest in a week.
Because of this, traps left unminded generally just cost replaceable resources - you lose HP, but that can be healed with magic that costs FP that come back in minutes. Repeated healing penalties mean this spigot isn't endless, but it's not nearly as limited as in D&D.
For a trap to have a solid, lasting impact in GURPS, it needs to be lethal, crippling, destructive (to equipment or resources), or all three - and a good way to make it so is to connect it with active threats.
A reverse gravity trap with a force wall is nice, but if there are foes who can take advantage (perhaps fighting on the ceiling, and you can only reach them by "falling" up to them), or who have effective ranged weapons unimpeded by magic, or area effect attacks - then it's a real threat. A pit is good, but a pit that drops a few PCs in and covers them up as foes swarm in to attack the rest - that's a winner.
Such traps have a real threat, not just a sigh, puzzling out of the most efficient way to solve them, and then a solution followed by a short rest - perhaps even no rest if your spellcasters rely mostly on Energy Reserve.
For GMs prepping old-school style traps for GURPS, my advice is to keep in mind that they don't really act like much of a resource attrition as they do in D&D-based games. They're much more of a threat coupled with actual active threats. Because of this, it's worth mixing in both unattended traps and attended ones. This way PCs have to treat all of them like a combined-arms attack by foes with a dangerously slanted battlefield, which adds to the fun of dealing with them. If they don't, they'll get caught out by foes waiting for the trap to spring - which also adds to the fun of dealing with them.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Delta's post on Adversary Players
Delta's D&D had an excellent post about being a co-GM - or more specifically, an Adversary player - running a huge, ancient red dragon in the excellent adventure "Into the Fire" from Dungeon Magazine #1.
I posted in the comments links to two of my own posts on the subject.
I didn't want to lose Delta's post, and I may as well connect up mine here, too, so I can find them all when I need them:
A Tale of Two Adversary Players
Lessons of Adversary Players
I posted in the comments links to two of my own posts on the subject.
I didn't want to lose Delta's post, and I may as well connect up mine here, too, so I can find them all when I need them:
A Tale of Two Adversary Players
Lessons of Adversary Players
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Submitted!
I finished my draft last night, and sent in my first draft.
I've gone over it with a fine-toothed comb, which means I've probably reduced it from "consisting entirely of formatting errors" into "consisting mostly of formatting errors." But I tried.
So be on the lookout for the correctly guessed Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Halflings. The pint sized furry-footed delvers you love to hate!
Okay, so it's not that. But it is done, and hopefully you'll find out more soon.
I've gone over it with a fine-toothed comb, which means I've probably reduced it from "consisting entirely of formatting errors" into "consisting mostly of formatting errors." But I tried.
So be on the lookout for the correctly guessed Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Halflings. The pint sized furry-footed delvers you love to hate!
Okay, so it's not that. But it is done, and hopefully you'll find out more soon.
Monday, April 1, 2019
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