A few links for a Friday.
- A look at Kara-Tur. I agree it feels a little uneven. But the maps are gorgeous and looking at them makes me really want to play a game there. I own the "trail map" of it, too, which is pretty awesome unfolded.
- Joseph Bloch has a Kickstarter for the 2nd edition of his Adventurers Dark & Deep system.
- I love the idea of a rule that makes killing down foes requires a roll to overcome natural reluctance. You can see it featured here in a game of Twilight: 2000 run by Wayne.
- Maybe game on Sunday . . . so far only one definite yes and a lot more definite nos. I'll run game for 2 players but solo . . . just not as fun anymore.
- Reflections on Psi-Wars. The experience there with ST matches mine - even in very high tech situations, ST is just useful to have, and at 10/level people still want it and buy it.
Friday, April 26, 2024
Thursday, April 25, 2024
More thoughts on Only Heroes Get to Resist
I've never implemented this rule, but I keep thinking about running a game that would use it:
Only Heroes Get to Resist
I have a few more thoughts on it, nine years on.
- I think it should totally affect allied NPCs, too, with an exception made for any characters 125+ points, who'd get treated as worthy and get a roll.
- In a DF-style split, Fodder don't resist, Worthies may, Bosses do. Worthies with a base resistance below the effective skill of the caster don't get to resist; those with equal or better do get a chance. Don't apply the Rule of 16 until this comparison is made.
- If an effect has a chance for recovery, the same rules apply - Fodder stays down until the effect naturally ends, Worthy and up get to try and evade the effects.
- You still have to make the roll to put the resistable effect on the target.
I don't intend to use this in Felltower, but I do think it would make a good Heroic DF rule.
Only Heroes Get to Resist
I have a few more thoughts on it, nine years on.
- I think it should totally affect allied NPCs, too, with an exception made for any characters 125+ points, who'd get treated as worthy and get a roll.
- In a DF-style split, Fodder don't resist, Worthies may, Bosses do. Worthies with a base resistance below the effective skill of the caster don't get to resist; those with equal or better do get a chance. Don't apply the Rule of 16 until this comparison is made.
- If an effect has a chance for recovery, the same rules apply - Fodder stays down until the effect naturally ends, Worthy and up get to try and evade the effects.
- You still have to make the roll to put the resistable effect on the target.
I don't intend to use this in Felltower, but I do think it would make a good Heroic DF rule.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
DFRPG Companion 3 on the way!
I got a shipping notice for a copy of DFRPG Companion 3!
I'd kind of let this one slide out of my awareness. I'm excited to see it in person . . . it's always nice to get a physical copy of something you contributed to.
It's available here.
I'd kind of let this one slide out of my awareness. I'm excited to see it in person . . . it's always nice to get a physical copy of something you contributed to.
It's available here.
Monday, April 22, 2024
DF Felltower: What if all critical hits did max damage?
In Felltower, we use a little rule buried in the back of Basic Set: Characters (p. B326) that makes critical hits just bypass defenses, no table roll, and a "3" is max damage.
One way I thought of speeding combat - thanks to additional lethality - is to make all critical hits maximum damage. Roll a 3-4, or a 5 or a 6 with sufficient skill (or a 7 for some templates) and bang, max damage and bypass defenses.
This would add a lot of lethality to combat when the big boys roll a 3-6. Less so when others do . . . but make wizards really happy when they nail a crit on an Explosive spell thrown at an actual person.*
It wouldn't help fodder much, but at least sometimes they'd manage to hurt someone.
It would make boss monsters really, really scary. You can't get critically hit and luck out with a low damage roll against you. A giant doing 6d+12 or something would just flat out do 48 damage and that's that.
I don't think my players would go for this but part of me wants to try it. I think it would increase the bloodbath of combats and certainly erase a few foes here and there much more quickly.
* I joke. They all take the +4 for targeting the floor that I find totally bogus, but accept as a rule.
One way I thought of speeding combat - thanks to additional lethality - is to make all critical hits maximum damage. Roll a 3-4, or a 5 or a 6 with sufficient skill (or a 7 for some templates) and bang, max damage and bypass defenses.
This would add a lot of lethality to combat when the big boys roll a 3-6. Less so when others do . . . but make wizards really happy when they nail a crit on an Explosive spell thrown at an actual person.*
It wouldn't help fodder much, but at least sometimes they'd manage to hurt someone.
It would make boss monsters really, really scary. You can't get critically hit and luck out with a low damage roll against you. A giant doing 6d+12 or something would just flat out do 48 damage and that's that.
I don't think my players would go for this but part of me wants to try it. I think it would increase the bloodbath of combats and certainly erase a few foes here and there much more quickly.
* I joke. They all take the +4 for targeting the floor that I find totally bogus, but accept as a rule.
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Felltower Updates
Updates to Felltower in anticipation of next week's game.
Volunteers?
For quite a while, no one had delved into Felltower. Those that did, returned battered and usually no better off. But the last group came back talking about beating up some beetles and taking home a nice payoff. That's the kind of thing that makes volunteers show up.
As usual, volunteers tend to be the kind of guys you wouldn't pay for. Wizards who may or may not actually cast spells, like Ken Shabby. One-armed swordsmen. One-eyed archers. No-morals semi-human thugs. Folks as dangerous to you as they are to the enemy, and/or themselve.
But my players love them, so we'll see a few more of them if this keeps up.
Rumors
All rumors are true, even the false ones. Like a Nostradamus prediction, they get contorted around until they match what happened, or what happened gets contorted around until it matches the rumor.
Either way, I wrote a bunch of rumors.
Restocking
Very little. I think I'd benefit from a more systematic, roll-based approach. For now I eyeball it and do some randomizing, but I wonder if I could generate a system based on my stocking system that would tell me what moves into Felltower, and what moves out, and just modify the dungeon based on that each time? Hmm . . .
Volunteers?
For quite a while, no one had delved into Felltower. Those that did, returned battered and usually no better off. But the last group came back talking about beating up some beetles and taking home a nice payoff. That's the kind of thing that makes volunteers show up.
As usual, volunteers tend to be the kind of guys you wouldn't pay for. Wizards who may or may not actually cast spells, like Ken Shabby. One-armed swordsmen. One-eyed archers. No-morals semi-human thugs. Folks as dangerous to you as they are to the enemy, and/or themselve.
But my players love them, so we'll see a few more of them if this keeps up.
Rumors
All rumors are true, even the false ones. Like a Nostradamus prediction, they get contorted around until they match what happened, or what happened gets contorted around until it matches the rumor.
Either way, I wrote a bunch of rumors.
Restocking
Very little. I think I'd benefit from a more systematic, roll-based approach. For now I eyeball it and do some randomizing, but I wonder if I could generate a system based on my stocking system that would tell me what moves into Felltower, and what moves out, and just modify the dungeon based on that each time? Hmm . . .
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Limits on Targeting Hit Locations?
This post is thanks to Faodladh, who made a comment on my last post on this subject.
In GURPS, it's very common to target specific hit locations. For skilled fighters run by skilled players, they often target a very small handful of optimal locations. You get eye shot guy, neck slicer guy, I only shoot the vitals guy. It's not always that realistic - the vitals or eyes or neck are always targetable? You can go for them over and over again. So let's say you want to limit the options.
Option 1: Minimum Effective Skill 10.
Like Deceptive Attack, attacks aimed at a specific location must have a minimum effective skill of 10. Therefore, to target the vitals (-3), you need a minimum effective skill of 13. Skull? 17. Eyes? 19.
Pros: Easy to implement. Limits tricky shots to the skilled.
Cons: You can't try a Hail Mary eye shot to win a fight unless your skill is higher.
Option 2: Only What's Open
I think Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch suggested this or something somewhat like this, back in the day. Roll on the Hit Location Table. Whatever comes up is your best target, at a -0. Or you can choose anything else, but with an extra -2 on it.
Pros: Has a realistic feel to it.
Cons: Probably just imposes an extra roll and/or people buying 2 extra points of skill to eat the penalties.
Option 3: Saw it Coming
Use the rules as written, but give a +1 to defend against any targeted attack after the first one on the same target.
Pros: Can be used with the RAW or the rules above.
Cons: Still allows anyone who wants to hunt for specific areas to do so.
I have some more ideas, but it's late so they'll need to wait for another post.
In GURPS, it's very common to target specific hit locations. For skilled fighters run by skilled players, they often target a very small handful of optimal locations. You get eye shot guy, neck slicer guy, I only shoot the vitals guy. It's not always that realistic - the vitals or eyes or neck are always targetable? You can go for them over and over again. So let's say you want to limit the options.
Option 1: Minimum Effective Skill 10.
Like Deceptive Attack, attacks aimed at a specific location must have a minimum effective skill of 10. Therefore, to target the vitals (-3), you need a minimum effective skill of 13. Skull? 17. Eyes? 19.
Pros: Easy to implement. Limits tricky shots to the skilled.
Cons: You can't try a Hail Mary eye shot to win a fight unless your skill is higher.
Option 2: Only What's Open
I think Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch suggested this or something somewhat like this, back in the day. Roll on the Hit Location Table. Whatever comes up is your best target, at a -0. Or you can choose anything else, but with an extra -2 on it.
Pros: Has a realistic feel to it.
Cons: Probably just imposes an extra roll and/or people buying 2 extra points of skill to eat the penalties.
Option 3: Saw it Coming
Use the rules as written, but give a +1 to defend against any targeted attack after the first one on the same target.
Pros: Can be used with the RAW or the rules above.
Cons: Still allows anyone who wants to hunt for specific areas to do so.
I have some more ideas, but it's late so they'll need to wait for another post.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Multiple Defense penalty not automatically resetting?
I had a stray idea for a rough, gritty rule for cascading defenses.
Instead of resetting the penalty for multiple defenses on your turn, do not reset it unless:
- you spend a full second without using any defenses
or, optionally
- you spend a turn doing Evaluate
This is a simple, but very nasty rule. Being outnumbered and unable to take a breather - to step back and just reset - means your defenses will eventually be whittled down. Good ways to trigger the first is to use Move and clear the battle area, a classic swashbuckler move. Allowing Evaluate means you can stay in the fray, but not launch any offense, and it helps make Evaluate do something.
Why not reset when you do All-Out Defense? I think it just rewards taking a second being even more defense, which someone pressed is going to just do fairly often.
This would be a pain to deal with in a large fray, but it's probably a good way to make multiple foes - even weak ones - nasty in a realistic game with more detailed combat and/or smaller numbers of combatants. It also should have the emergent behavior of making outnumbered fighters either moving very defensively to try to limit their exposure, or very aggressively to take out a foe to cut down the odds. Right now, that's not always worth doing - the first might be useful, but with high defenses you can just ride out the attacks. The second is just standard behavior, but usually folks get a lot more tactical about which foe they choose to try to take out. Suddenly this would make "take out someone, anyone, even briefly so I can reset or even up" very attractive.
I haven't playtested this but it might be fun to try it out sometime.
Instead of resetting the penalty for multiple defenses on your turn, do not reset it unless:
- you spend a full second without using any defenses
or, optionally
- you spend a turn doing Evaluate
This is a simple, but very nasty rule. Being outnumbered and unable to take a breather - to step back and just reset - means your defenses will eventually be whittled down. Good ways to trigger the first is to use Move and clear the battle area, a classic swashbuckler move. Allowing Evaluate means you can stay in the fray, but not launch any offense, and it helps make Evaluate do something.
Why not reset when you do All-Out Defense? I think it just rewards taking a second being even more defense, which someone pressed is going to just do fairly often.
This would be a pain to deal with in a large fray, but it's probably a good way to make multiple foes - even weak ones - nasty in a realistic game with more detailed combat and/or smaller numbers of combatants. It also should have the emergent behavior of making outnumbered fighters either moving very defensively to try to limit their exposure, or very aggressively to take out a foe to cut down the odds. Right now, that's not always worth doing - the first might be useful, but with high defenses you can just ride out the attacks. The second is just standard behavior, but usually folks get a lot more tactical about which foe they choose to try to take out. Suddenly this would make "take out someone, anyone, even briefly so I can reset or even up" very attractive.
I haven't playtested this but it might be fun to try it out sometime.
Monday, April 15, 2024
More notes from Session 191
We played yesterday, Session 191, and I had a few more notes I'd forgotten yesterday.
- the PCs fought a bunch of slicer beetles. I found it easier to just do TOTM, as they call it, winged ranges, and tracking the monsters by hand. I didn't bother to put all 20 of them into the turn tracker, make sure each token was rotated properly, etc. I just did it on note paper. I may do that for true fodder encounters.
I was hopeful one of them would roll a 3 or something and lop off someone's hand or foot, but none of them did so. The PCs rattled off about a dozen criticals during the fight. You know, against fodder-level defenses, where it hardly mattered. You can't control the dice.
- The PCs gave Harold $120, a full 100% bonus on his asking rate, and asked him to be available in 2 weeks. We'll see - they get a nice bonus on their roll to find him again, and it does slightly increase his Loyalty, too.
Darkspire took a share, and we'll see if he's available again. He might be, if only because I have him in the system. Otherwise I've aked for at least one week before the play date for NPC requests because it's time consuming to make and upload the NPCs, ensure they have a token, name, quirks, etc. and all of that. I don't want to do a bunch "just in case" because I don't enjoy the process of making characters in GCS. My players love it, I find it really annoying.
- I find exploration without the "unlimited LOS view" of Dark Vision more fun to GM. It's a much shorter "you see this and that" and not a lot of "so-and-so sees" and "I tell them that" or what have you.
- the PCs found a broken set of orc ladders, and the thinking was Hjalmarr broke them. Could be. I describe PCs as being like wolverines, except that goal one is destroy anything you can to prevent the NPCs from using it, and goal two is get whatever they can use. So, so many doors, portcullises, ladders, entrances, exits, tools, puzzles, and re-useable items in the dungeon have been pillaged for loot (rarely) and destroyed so the (fill in name of group NPCs) can't use it/lock it/block it/come around behind us/come out of the dungeon/sell it/whatever. I once ran an arch villain in a campaign whose attitude was "don't break anything you might need later" so he didn't stomp the PCs just in case he needed them, tried to keep allies (and even useful enemies) alive, etc. That was a fun exercise, highly recommended.
- Oh, and it's tax day in the US, but not in Felltower, because everything looted under Felltower is tax-free. Because paying taxes in game is very, very old school AD&D, and also very, very annoying to deal with. So I made up a way to not do it.
Fun session.
- the PCs fought a bunch of slicer beetles. I found it easier to just do TOTM, as they call it, winged ranges, and tracking the monsters by hand. I didn't bother to put all 20 of them into the turn tracker, make sure each token was rotated properly, etc. I just did it on note paper. I may do that for true fodder encounters.
I was hopeful one of them would roll a 3 or something and lop off someone's hand or foot, but none of them did so. The PCs rattled off about a dozen criticals during the fight. You know, against fodder-level defenses, where it hardly mattered. You can't control the dice.
- The PCs gave Harold $120, a full 100% bonus on his asking rate, and asked him to be available in 2 weeks. We'll see - they get a nice bonus on their roll to find him again, and it does slightly increase his Loyalty, too.
Darkspire took a share, and we'll see if he's available again. He might be, if only because I have him in the system. Otherwise I've aked for at least one week before the play date for NPC requests because it's time consuming to make and upload the NPCs, ensure they have a token, name, quirks, etc. and all of that. I don't want to do a bunch "just in case" because I don't enjoy the process of making characters in GCS. My players love it, I find it really annoying.
- I find exploration without the "unlimited LOS view" of Dark Vision more fun to GM. It's a much shorter "you see this and that" and not a lot of "so-and-so sees" and "I tell them that" or what have you.
- the PCs found a broken set of orc ladders, and the thinking was Hjalmarr broke them. Could be. I describe PCs as being like wolverines, except that goal one is destroy anything you can to prevent the NPCs from using it, and goal two is get whatever they can use. So, so many doors, portcullises, ladders, entrances, exits, tools, puzzles, and re-useable items in the dungeon have been pillaged for loot (rarely) and destroyed so the (fill in name of group NPCs) can't use it/lock it/block it/come around behind us/come out of the dungeon/sell it/whatever. I once ran an arch villain in a campaign whose attitude was "don't break anything you might need later" so he didn't stomp the PCs just in case he needed them, tried to keep allies (and even useful enemies) alive, etc. That was a fun exercise, highly recommended.
- Oh, and it's tax day in the US, but not in Felltower, because everything looted under Felltower is tax-free. Because paying taxes in game is very, very old school AD&D, and also very, very annoying to deal with. So I made up a way to not do it.
Fun session.
Sunday, April 14, 2024
DF Session 191, Felltower 129 - Troll Treasure & Orc Holes
Date: April 14th, 2024
Weather: Sunny, warm.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (308 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (297 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (310 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf martial artist (255 points)
Darkspire the Inscrutable, human apprentice (125 points)
Harold, human guard (~80 points)
The PCs gathered in town, gathered rumors, and headed out to Felltower itself. The goal was simple - gain the loot from the trolls slain last time, and then . . . explore around. They managed to hire Harold, a low-rent fighter (asking $60 for the trip), and Darkspire, an Air College wizard, who came for a share. They noted he signed his agreement Marvin Darkspire, Esq. Hannari thinks he might work at Ragnarsson and Sons.
Once in the dungeon, they crossed the pit, but not before Thor fell into the pit and took 22 damage (13 after armor). The perils of low (no) Climbing skill and 20+ HP. They made it across, picked up the trail of the trolls, and then decided it led into too many NMZs and pits. So they went around, checking the room they'd fought spiders in a while back (they'd forgotten that) along the way.
They tried to cut into the mosaic hallway by a disused route, and found it wasn't just a NMZ, but a No Sanctity Zone, either. That wiped out the scout's lightstone. Vlad opened a glow vial and checked the big double doors nearby and found signs of trolls.
They backed off and took the long way around, and into the gigantic room. Darkspire opined the burned wreckage in the room was once books. In any case, they found the troll's trash pile . . . and their loot. They found a 2000 or so silver, 10 gold, a broach, an ornate shield, a helmet, and a tome on constructs.
They took the loot and headed down to level 2 via a trapdoor in that room. In the room below, a curious Thor pressed a button in an alcove, and the floor opened. He snatched the lip of the pit and avoided a fatal fall onto spikes.
Then it was over to the altar. They told the new guys the altar could turn up to 30 sp into gold, so they handed each NPC a bag and had them touch it in turn. Harold got +1 to all of his stats for a day. Darkspire got the transmuting effect (it comes up a lot, actually) and I rolled . . . 3d30 and got 47. So all 30 sp he had turned to gold. Oops. (I'm not sure why they thought it was only 30, but whatever.)
Next, they headed to the orc hole, and in. Some falls (Chop, this time) later, they made it down. Long story short, they explored the caves at the bottom thoroughly, and found nothing except some pits. They made their way the 3+ miles down the tunnel to the exit in the valley north of Felltower. There they found a stockade fence, towers, and patrolling orcs, with a cleared kill zone in front with a bunch of wolf-like dogs laying about.
They saw the place was pretty busy - they called it Orcburg - and backed off.
After they eventually made it back to the dungeon proper, they headed down to the caves where Sterick had been imprisoned. They basically wandered around there for a time, killed 20 slicer beetles, and then headed back home after not finding anything else worth noting.
They did check the spherical room and find a nest of a probably goblin-sized individual, who'd used the broken sarcophagus and twigs and wattle and mud to build a nest. No loot, though.
With that, they headed home, profitable for a change.
Notes:
- Hey, wow, we played Felltower again.
- XP was 1 exploration (they actually went into part of the orc hole no one had bothered to before), 4 xp loot (~600 sp or so each), 1 xp MVP for Thor to learn Climbing. Also because he was very useful when he wasn't Sir Fallsalot.
- It was a fun session despite what on paper wasn't a lot done. The loot was good, the players were focused, and everything went smoothly besides me getting booted from the VTT 2x for no apparant reason. Whatever. At least we gamed and enjoyed it!
Weather: Sunny, warm.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (308 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (297 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (310 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf martial artist (255 points)
Darkspire the Inscrutable, human apprentice (125 points)
Harold, human guard (~80 points)
The PCs gathered in town, gathered rumors, and headed out to Felltower itself. The goal was simple - gain the loot from the trolls slain last time, and then . . . explore around. They managed to hire Harold, a low-rent fighter (asking $60 for the trip), and Darkspire, an Air College wizard, who came for a share. They noted he signed his agreement Marvin Darkspire, Esq. Hannari thinks he might work at Ragnarsson and Sons.
Once in the dungeon, they crossed the pit, but not before Thor fell into the pit and took 22 damage (13 after armor). The perils of low (no) Climbing skill and 20+ HP. They made it across, picked up the trail of the trolls, and then decided it led into too many NMZs and pits. So they went around, checking the room they'd fought spiders in a while back (they'd forgotten that) along the way.
They tried to cut into the mosaic hallway by a disused route, and found it wasn't just a NMZ, but a No Sanctity Zone, either. That wiped out the scout's lightstone. Vlad opened a glow vial and checked the big double doors nearby and found signs of trolls.
They backed off and took the long way around, and into the gigantic room. Darkspire opined the burned wreckage in the room was once books. In any case, they found the troll's trash pile . . . and their loot. They found a 2000 or so silver, 10 gold, a broach, an ornate shield, a helmet, and a tome on constructs.
They took the loot and headed down to level 2 via a trapdoor in that room. In the room below, a curious Thor pressed a button in an alcove, and the floor opened. He snatched the lip of the pit and avoided a fatal fall onto spikes.
Then it was over to the altar. They told the new guys the altar could turn up to 30 sp into gold, so they handed each NPC a bag and had them touch it in turn. Harold got +1 to all of his stats for a day. Darkspire got the transmuting effect (it comes up a lot, actually) and I rolled . . . 3d30 and got 47. So all 30 sp he had turned to gold. Oops. (I'm not sure why they thought it was only 30, but whatever.)
Next, they headed to the orc hole, and in. Some falls (Chop, this time) later, they made it down. Long story short, they explored the caves at the bottom thoroughly, and found nothing except some pits. They made their way the 3+ miles down the tunnel to the exit in the valley north of Felltower. There they found a stockade fence, towers, and patrolling orcs, with a cleared kill zone in front with a bunch of wolf-like dogs laying about.
They saw the place was pretty busy - they called it Orcburg - and backed off.
After they eventually made it back to the dungeon proper, they headed down to the caves where Sterick had been imprisoned. They basically wandered around there for a time, killed 20 slicer beetles, and then headed back home after not finding anything else worth noting.
They did check the spherical room and find a nest of a probably goblin-sized individual, who'd used the broken sarcophagus and twigs and wattle and mud to build a nest. No loot, though.
With that, they headed home, profitable for a change.
Notes:
- Hey, wow, we played Felltower again.
- XP was 1 exploration (they actually went into part of the orc hole no one had bothered to before), 4 xp loot (~600 sp or so each), 1 xp MVP for Thor to learn Climbing. Also because he was very useful when he wasn't Sir Fallsalot.
- It was a fun session despite what on paper wasn't a lot done. The loot was good, the players were focused, and everything went smoothly besides me getting booted from the VTT 2x for no apparant reason. Whatever. At least we gamed and enjoyed it!
Friday, April 12, 2024
Links for Friday 4/12/24
Links for Friday!
- This is the kind of playset I want to play on.
Gaming - D Day Gold Beach
- Love Holloway illustrations like this one from B5 Horror on the Hill.
- Game on Sunday, finally.
- This is the kind of playset I want to play on.
Gaming - D Day Gold Beach
- Love Holloway illustrations like this one from B5 Horror on the Hill.
- Game on Sunday, finally.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Black Company RPG in development
Thanks to Rob L for sending this one to me:
Black Company RPG in Development
The folks who did Delta Green are doing a Black Company RPG. Interesting. There was a D&D3.5 one done about 20 years back. I'd still play a BC game with GURPS myself. but I'm interested in seeing how it's done in another system. You need to have extremely powerful folks (Dominator, Lady, the Taken, various monsters), heroic above-the-norm types (Bomanz, say, probably Raven, definitely lots of the Rebel generals), and lots and lots of normal folks, many without the baggage of a conscience (most of the characters.) Yet those normal folks occasionally manage to stack things to go toe-to-toe with the extremely powerful folks and come out smiling. In other words, powerful doesn't mean invulnerable yet can still mean capable of leveling a company of enemies.
I'll take a look and I put in for the playtest, although it sounds like you'll need to be a Patreon subscriber to do so. If so, I'm likely out - I pay with my contribution, I don't like to pay to help you - but I'll keep people posted. After all, it's one of my favorite books by my favorite author.
And for those keeping track, I first heard of the book in a sidebar in 1st edition GURPS Special Ops. Thanks Mike Rose!
Black Company RPG in Development
The folks who did Delta Green are doing a Black Company RPG. Interesting. There was a D&D3.5 one done about 20 years back. I'd still play a BC game with GURPS myself. but I'm interested in seeing how it's done in another system. You need to have extremely powerful folks (Dominator, Lady, the Taken, various monsters), heroic above-the-norm types (Bomanz, say, probably Raven, definitely lots of the Rebel generals), and lots and lots of normal folks, many without the baggage of a conscience (most of the characters.) Yet those normal folks occasionally manage to stack things to go toe-to-toe with the extremely powerful folks and come out smiling. In other words, powerful doesn't mean invulnerable yet can still mean capable of leveling a company of enemies.
I'll take a look and I put in for the playtest, although it sounds like you'll need to be a Patreon subscriber to do so. If so, I'm likely out - I pay with my contribution, I don't like to pay to help you - but I'll keep people posted. After all, it's one of my favorite books by my favorite author.
And for those keeping track, I first heard of the book in a sidebar in 1st edition GURPS Special Ops. Thanks Mike Rose!
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Fantasy General: Grinding Out a Win
I have resumed playing Fantasy General as General Marcus.
I think I have two battles left. My current one should put me just outside the Shadowlord's fortress. There is a little side penninsula I ignored, which I'm hoping I can keep on ignoring. In video games, though, one never knows. In WWII the Allies just encircled those "fortress" cities the Nazis set up in France and left them until the war ended. In video games, you might have to clear them before you're allowed to attack the main fortress.
The battle before the last, then, is going on. It's nasty. Rough terrain, spread out objectives, and the enemy has lots of high-experience sky hunters (fighters) and seemingly endless numbers of mechanical infantry units (Mechanus) and cavalry (Rolling Thunder.) They're brutal to take out, and they're backed by Shadow Warriors and Monks of Meo in large numbers. It's been a slog and cost me a lot of pain and I'm not even a quarter done.
I'm enjoying it despite the title - it's a slog, it's a grind. But it's good. It shouldn't be easy. My tactics, though, still work - rush in mobs of Sky Hunters to take out all the units I can easily demolish, hound the wounded, and then let my combined follow-on forces mob the remainder. It's just slow.
I'm interested to see how this wraps up. I enjoy the game in spurts. This is one of those spurts. I hope to finish it this week!
I think I have two battles left. My current one should put me just outside the Shadowlord's fortress. There is a little side penninsula I ignored, which I'm hoping I can keep on ignoring. In video games, though, one never knows. In WWII the Allies just encircled those "fortress" cities the Nazis set up in France and left them until the war ended. In video games, you might have to clear them before you're allowed to attack the main fortress.
The battle before the last, then, is going on. It's nasty. Rough terrain, spread out objectives, and the enemy has lots of high-experience sky hunters (fighters) and seemingly endless numbers of mechanical infantry units (Mechanus) and cavalry (Rolling Thunder.) They're brutal to take out, and they're backed by Shadow Warriors and Monks of Meo in large numbers. It's been a slog and cost me a lot of pain and I'm not even a quarter done.
I'm enjoying it despite the title - it's a slog, it's a grind. But it's good. It shouldn't be easy. My tactics, though, still work - rush in mobs of Sky Hunters to take out all the units I can easily demolish, hound the wounded, and then let my combined follow-on forces mob the remainder. It's just slow.
I'm interested to see how this wraps up. I enjoy the game in spurts. This is one of those spurts. I hope to finish it this week!
Monday, April 8, 2024
Discworld RPG Bundle
There is a Bundle of Holding for the GURPS-based Discworld RPG:
It's $14.95 and nets you the Discworld RPG - normally $30 alone - plus Low-Tech and Fantasy Tech 1. I'm not sure why those two, except that they kinda fit. Whatever the reason, it's a good price for either DW or the two accompanying books, so if you're missing DW or missing those two or all three, it's a good way to fill out your collection.
If you're in, click here.
It's $14.95 and nets you the Discworld RPG - normally $30 alone - plus Low-Tech and Fantasy Tech 1. I'm not sure why those two, except that they kinda fit. Whatever the reason, it's a good price for either DW or the two accompanying books, so if you're missing DW or missing those two or all three, it's a good way to fill out your collection.
If you're in, click here.
Sunday, April 7, 2024
Minor Felltower Work
Sunday is about Felltower, and I think we're playing next week. So I spent it doing a little maintenance.
- I re-familiarized myself with some of the areas I think the PCs may go to.
- I updated a few modules on the VTT.
- I did a little work on the Felltower file itself, just cleaning up some junk that's crept in. Keeping the whole dungeon as one big file has lots of upsides but also some issues with notes that aren't important anymore. Unless something is blatantly wrong (spelling error, rules page reference error, etc.) I just use strikethrough text to indicate something changed.
That's about it . . . Felltower needs delving to live.
- I re-familiarized myself with some of the areas I think the PCs may go to.
- I updated a few modules on the VTT.
- I did a little work on the Felltower file itself, just cleaning up some junk that's crept in. Keeping the whole dungeon as one big file has lots of upsides but also some issues with notes that aren't important anymore. Unless something is blatantly wrong (spelling error, rules page reference error, etc.) I just use strikethrough text to indicate something changed.
That's about it . . . Felltower needs delving to live.
Friday, April 5, 2024
Random Thoughts and Links for 4/5/2024
- Wayne's Books has a post up about "The Game" - the way the designers at GDW resolved the shift from Twilight:2000 to Traveller: 2300 AD.
The Game
- The Defense Policy wonk-in-training that I was in college looks at this and thinks of the consequences of an invasion of Taiwan. The game in me - who's been around longer - see this and thinks, can I play?
Wargaming an Invasion of Taiwan
(BTW, the Wall Street Journal explainer videos are in general really excellent.)
- This Grognardia post made me realize that while I know a number of gamers at work, they're all female. My client's daughter plays. My department sub-group coordinater plays with (I think GMs for) for husband and son. One of my clients plays and GMs for her daughters and her family members. I'm not actually sure I know any male gamers through my work. The gamers I know outside of work are almost all male, but they're also almost all either my gaming friends, or friends I made through gaming. The people I know who just turned out to play RPGs - almost always D&D5 - are all female.
Just interesting to me, honestly. I don't talk to them about gaming much. I just say I play, it's GURPS not D&D, and that's about it. I just don't like to game with my co-workers . . . I did that once or twice in the past and it didn't work for me. These days I like to firewall my gaming from my work. Still, I enjoy the fact that gaming is just a casual hobby these days that doesn't require instant bonding between fellow outcasts. And all three of the people I mentioned are very cool folks. I just want to hack-and-slash with different folks.
- My spam is getting nasty. Not just spam links but the the occasional hostile attack on me as a person have popped up. But they've been from anonymous folks. In other words, cowards.
- Game day should be next Sunday. I honestly can't wait. I'm rusty as a GM at this point, and if we don't get a game in for April, I'm not sure it's worth trying to keep the campaign going over the slow months of the summer. So fingers crossed!
The Game
- The Defense Policy wonk-in-training that I was in college looks at this and thinks of the consequences of an invasion of Taiwan. The game in me - who's been around longer - see this and thinks, can I play?
Wargaming an Invasion of Taiwan
(BTW, the Wall Street Journal explainer videos are in general really excellent.)
- This Grognardia post made me realize that while I know a number of gamers at work, they're all female. My client's daughter plays. My department sub-group coordinater plays with (I think GMs for) for husband and son. One of my clients plays and GMs for her daughters and her family members. I'm not actually sure I know any male gamers through my work. The gamers I know outside of work are almost all male, but they're also almost all either my gaming friends, or friends I made through gaming. The people I know who just turned out to play RPGs - almost always D&D5 - are all female.
Just interesting to me, honestly. I don't talk to them about gaming much. I just say I play, it's GURPS not D&D, and that's about it. I just don't like to game with my co-workers . . . I did that once or twice in the past and it didn't work for me. These days I like to firewall my gaming from my work. Still, I enjoy the fact that gaming is just a casual hobby these days that doesn't require instant bonding between fellow outcasts. And all three of the people I mentioned are very cool folks. I just want to hack-and-slash with different folks.
- My spam is getting nasty. Not just spam links but the the occasional hostile attack on me as a person have popped up. But they've been from anonymous folks. In other words, cowards.
- Game day should be next Sunday. I honestly can't wait. I'm rusty as a GM at this point, and if we don't get a game in for April, I'm not sure it's worth trying to keep the campaign going over the slow months of the summer. So fingers crossed!
Thursday, April 4, 2024
A few thoughts on PCs Making Magic Items vs. Buying Magic Items
This post is almost entirely in the context of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. It's influenced by my current game's actual play, but also in light of the way my original game - AD&D - treated acquisition of magic items.
In standard DF and DFRPG, PCs cannot make magic items. That's exclusively something NPCs do. They can buy magic items in town - and quite a broad array of them, even using just DF1 or Adventurers for a list.
What are the implications of PCs being able to buy magic items?
PCs buying magic items:
- has a loot cost, primarily cash but also selling found items that don't match your preferences to fund the creation of one that does.
- no time cost; time to enchant is a delay on receiving but doesn't take the PCs out of play.
- limits on what you can buy can seem arbitrary but can be tied to in-game social abilities (Status, Wealth, Social Stigma, etc.)
- no template limit on purchases.
Cash found in a dungeon, and things exchanged for cash, can be swapped into magic items of whatever sort the PCs need unless the GM puts on specific limits or creates sale item lists. PCs just delve, spend, repeat. Time delays on purchased items can be imposed but the time limits are on the item, not the PC.
What about making items?
PCs making magic items:
- has a loot cost, some cash but also finding the "right" ingredients, if required (either as baseline rules or color.)
- has a time cost, because time spent enchanting is time not spent delving.
- if the loot cost is primarily finding ingredients, this can have a neutral effect on selling found items.
- limits on what you can make can seem arbitrary but are more easily tied to in-game magic/knowledge abilities.
- template limits.
If you take an AD&D-style enchantment approach, you're going to need a lot of monster bits and specific gems to make things go. Even a GURPS Magic approach will have some specific requirements on design and ingredients. Cash alone will usually suffice but may not for all things. There will also likely be time costs - if it takes 100 days to make a magic items, you're out of play for 100 days. What templates and abilities you need to enchant are likely to limit item access. Bards and wizards may be able to make items, clerics some other items, but most other templates might be out of luck. Or maybe not, if you allow shamanistic barbarina practices, fighters to hone steel so well that it becomes enchanted, or thieves to go through certain rituals to make magic keys and dead man's candles and so on.
All of them come with time out of play, definite needs to find ingredients before you can just go get the custom magic widget of your dreams, and in-game advantgae or skill acquisition.
It might be that to make money less of a way to get custom magic items, and make found items more important, you might benefit from letting PCs make the items. It seems a little counterintuitive but the thoughts above point that way.
I need to spend a bit more time noodling this over. Maybe the future of magic items in Felltower is PC made?
In standard DF and DFRPG, PCs cannot make magic items. That's exclusively something NPCs do. They can buy magic items in town - and quite a broad array of them, even using just DF1 or Adventurers for a list.
What are the implications of PCs being able to buy magic items?
PCs buying magic items:
- has a loot cost, primarily cash but also selling found items that don't match your preferences to fund the creation of one that does.
- no time cost; time to enchant is a delay on receiving but doesn't take the PCs out of play.
- limits on what you can buy can seem arbitrary but can be tied to in-game social abilities (Status, Wealth, Social Stigma, etc.)
- no template limit on purchases.
Cash found in a dungeon, and things exchanged for cash, can be swapped into magic items of whatever sort the PCs need unless the GM puts on specific limits or creates sale item lists. PCs just delve, spend, repeat. Time delays on purchased items can be imposed but the time limits are on the item, not the PC.
What about making items?
PCs making magic items:
- has a loot cost, some cash but also finding the "right" ingredients, if required (either as baseline rules or color.)
- has a time cost, because time spent enchanting is time not spent delving.
- if the loot cost is primarily finding ingredients, this can have a neutral effect on selling found items.
- limits on what you can make can seem arbitrary but are more easily tied to in-game magic/knowledge abilities.
- template limits.
If you take an AD&D-style enchantment approach, you're going to need a lot of monster bits and specific gems to make things go. Even a GURPS Magic approach will have some specific requirements on design and ingredients. Cash alone will usually suffice but may not for all things. There will also likely be time costs - if it takes 100 days to make a magic items, you're out of play for 100 days. What templates and abilities you need to enchant are likely to limit item access. Bards and wizards may be able to make items, clerics some other items, but most other templates might be out of luck. Or maybe not, if you allow shamanistic barbarina practices, fighters to hone steel so well that it becomes enchanted, or thieves to go through certain rituals to make magic keys and dead man's candles and so on.
All of them come with time out of play, definite needs to find ingredients before you can just go get the custom magic widget of your dreams, and in-game advantgae or skill acquisition.
It might be that to make money less of a way to get custom magic items, and make found items more important, you might benefit from letting PCs make the items. It seems a little counterintuitive but the thoughts above point that way.
I need to spend a bit more time noodling this over. Maybe the future of magic items in Felltower is PC made?
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Impressive 4th Doctor Who minis range
The weekly sale over at Black Tree Designs has a really impressively complete list of figures for the 4th Doctor Who era.
Ahem:
4TH DOCTOR - 4TH DOCTOR IN SHERLOCK HOLMES HAT - 4TH DOCTOR III
ROMANA - ROMANA II – K-9 – LEELA - HARRY SULLIVAN
DECAYING MASTER – MASTER UNIT SLR - 1975 UNIT SOLDIER W GRENADE - UNIT TROOPER W SMG – ZYGON - ZYGON ADVANCING – DAVROS - MARCUS SCARMAN – NAMIN – NIMON - ROBOT MUMMY - ROBOT MUMMY ATTACKING – ROBOT - ROBOT OF DEATH - ROBOT OF DEATH ATTACKING – SUTEKH - WENG CHI - LIH, SEN CHANG - MR SINN - VICTORIAN POLICEMAN - SUICIDE DALEK - PROFESSOR KETTLEWELL - PROFESSOR CHRONITIS - COMMANDER ANDRED - SCARGOTH THE JAGEROTH - MORBIUS MONSTER – MANDREL - MANDREL ATTACKING - VORUS VOGON LEADER - VOGON WARRIOR - PRESIDENT OF GALLIFREY – KELLMAN – FOAMASI – WIRRN – ELDRAD – MOVELLAN - MOVELLAN WARRIOR - WOOD BEAST OF TARA – CAILLEACH - VIVIAN FAY – SHRIEVENZALE - SWAMPIE WARRIOR – SWAMPIE LEADER – GARRON – THARIL - COUNT GRENDEL - THE CAPTAIN - PIRATE GUARD - THE MARSHALL – MELKUR – FENDHALEEN - ROHM DUTT - SERVANT OF SUTEK – HEIRONYMOUS – NUCLEUS – RUTAN - THE MONITOR - STYGRON THE KREULL - SONTARAN WARRIOR
Well okay then. I'm not seeing a lot of people left out. And as a former subscriber to the newsletter from The Jersey Jagaroth, I like the inclusion of Scaroth!
Ahem:
4TH DOCTOR - 4TH DOCTOR IN SHERLOCK HOLMES HAT - 4TH DOCTOR III
ROMANA - ROMANA II – K-9 – LEELA - HARRY SULLIVAN
DECAYING MASTER – MASTER UNIT SLR - 1975 UNIT SOLDIER W GRENADE - UNIT TROOPER W SMG – ZYGON - ZYGON ADVANCING – DAVROS - MARCUS SCARMAN – NAMIN – NIMON - ROBOT MUMMY - ROBOT MUMMY ATTACKING – ROBOT - ROBOT OF DEATH - ROBOT OF DEATH ATTACKING – SUTEKH - WENG CHI - LIH, SEN CHANG - MR SINN - VICTORIAN POLICEMAN - SUICIDE DALEK - PROFESSOR KETTLEWELL - PROFESSOR CHRONITIS - COMMANDER ANDRED - SCARGOTH THE JAGEROTH - MORBIUS MONSTER – MANDREL - MANDREL ATTACKING - VORUS VOGON LEADER - VOGON WARRIOR - PRESIDENT OF GALLIFREY – KELLMAN – FOAMASI – WIRRN – ELDRAD – MOVELLAN - MOVELLAN WARRIOR - WOOD BEAST OF TARA – CAILLEACH - VIVIAN FAY – SHRIEVENZALE - SWAMPIE WARRIOR – SWAMPIE LEADER – GARRON – THARIL - COUNT GRENDEL - THE CAPTAIN - PIRATE GUARD - THE MARSHALL – MELKUR – FENDHALEEN - ROHM DUTT - SERVANT OF SUTEK – HEIRONYMOUS – NUCLEUS – RUTAN - THE MONITOR - STYGRON THE KREULL - SONTARAN WARRIOR
Well okay then. I'm not seeing a lot of people left out. And as a former subscriber to the newsletter from The Jersey Jagaroth, I like the inclusion of Scaroth!
Monday, April 1, 2024
New Felltower Magic Items
Here are a couple of new magic items for Felltower!
Al-Jaffee's Book of Quips and Comebacks
This convenient pocket-sized book is made with a soft cover, and weighs only 0.5 lbs. Using it requires holding it open with one hand (a Ready maneuver.) Using the Book allows for multiple uses of Rapier Wit on the same foe as long as the user succeeds. If the victim successfully resists, they are no longer vulnerable to Rapier Wit for 24 hours.
Attempts to use Rapier Wit against the holder of this book are risky, too. When held ready, if an opponent tries Rapier Wit on the holder, roll a quick contest of Will - and the loser suffers stunning normally.
Price: $1000
Dwarven Hammer, Loyal Thrower
Power Item: 4 FP
The Dwarven Hammer, Loyal Thrower can be thrown with these stats: Acc 1, ST x 2 / x3, sw+3/crushing. One second after impact, it summons the bearer to wherever the hammer hits, pulling the thrower along at Move 12 as if under Flight spell. The bearer travels by the most direct route possible for the hammer to pass; be careful throwing it through narrow gaps! If the thrower's path intersects a barrier, foe, or ally, treat like a slam at the thrower's ST and Move 12 (so, +5 per die.) The bearer will keep being pulled to the hammer until they meet. When the bearer arrives at the hammer, the thrower immediately falls down and takes damage as if from a fall from the height the hammer hit or 2 yards, whichever is higher.
This can be used to travel. Simply throw it to whereever you'd like to go and brace yourself for impact! The pull of the hammer is equal to the ST of the thrower, if that becomes relevant.
In melee the hammer is sw+3/crushing, Parry 0, Reach 1.
Price: $25000, 5 lbs.
Al-Jaffee's Book of Quips and Comebacks
This convenient pocket-sized book is made with a soft cover, and weighs only 0.5 lbs. Using it requires holding it open with one hand (a Ready maneuver.) Using the Book allows for multiple uses of Rapier Wit on the same foe as long as the user succeeds. If the victim successfully resists, they are no longer vulnerable to Rapier Wit for 24 hours.
Attempts to use Rapier Wit against the holder of this book are risky, too. When held ready, if an opponent tries Rapier Wit on the holder, roll a quick contest of Will - and the loser suffers stunning normally.
Price: $1000
Dwarven Hammer, Loyal Thrower
Power Item: 4 FP
The Dwarven Hammer, Loyal Thrower can be thrown with these stats: Acc 1, ST x 2 / x3, sw+3/crushing. One second after impact, it summons the bearer to wherever the hammer hits, pulling the thrower along at Move 12 as if under Flight spell. The bearer travels by the most direct route possible for the hammer to pass; be careful throwing it through narrow gaps! If the thrower's path intersects a barrier, foe, or ally, treat like a slam at the thrower's ST and Move 12 (so, +5 per die.) The bearer will keep being pulled to the hammer until they meet. When the bearer arrives at the hammer, the thrower immediately falls down and takes damage as if from a fall from the height the hammer hit or 2 yards, whichever is higher.
This can be used to travel. Simply throw it to whereever you'd like to go and brace yourself for impact! The pull of the hammer is equal to the ST of the thrower, if that becomes relevant.
In melee the hammer is sw+3/crushing, Parry 0, Reach 1.
Price: $25000, 5 lbs.
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Felltower Status Update
Not much to update on Felltower.
- Next game is tentatively 4/14. We have a couple of people who can play but we don't have a quorum of players willing to commit to the day yet.
- I've done a little bit of writing to Felltower, but not too much. Not until we're playing again am I willing to put in a lot of time into development ahead of where they are now.
- I did update some of my notes and maps, however. I still have the struggle of the maps being too damn big for the VTT . . . not sure how I'll ever deal with this problem.
- Next game is tentatively 4/14. We have a couple of people who can play but we don't have a quorum of players willing to commit to the day yet.
- I've done a little bit of writing to Felltower, but not too much. Not until we're playing again am I willing to put in a lot of time into development ahead of where they are now.
- I did update some of my notes and maps, however. I still have the struggle of the maps being too damn big for the VTT . . . not sure how I'll ever deal with this problem.
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Mapping Lessons from Ancient Ruins
I toured around Pompeii on my trip to Italy. Naturally, noted a lot of things from a mapping perspective.
- rooms are pretty small. A lot of the rooms in buildings - and solo residences - were not much bigger than 10 x 10 or 15 x 20-ish. Not a lot of the giant rooms I like to stick in dungeons.
- lots of doorways in corners.
- lots of small, narrow doorways. Couple that with the door in the corner, it's enough that "face the doorway and choke the enemy off in the doorway" will be difficult. There wasn't much room for 2 people, nevermind 3, to face the doorway. On top of that, the portals were pretty tight, and it would be hard to engage someone in the doorway with a swinging weapon - the sides and top of the doorway would severely restrict that.
- ceilings were quite high, where there were ceilings. So 10 x 10 rooms were a thing, but not 10 x 10 x 10 rooms. Ceilings were way above my head and I'm over 6'.
- raised sidewalks would give a real height advantage in a street fight. Enough to justify a 45 degree angle bonus in DFRPG rules.
Given all of that, I'm a bit more likely in the future to do smaller rooms, corner portals, and high ceilings in an ancient style setting. I might also, in a realistic game, put in rules prohibiting - or limiting - cutting attacks launched into doorway hexes in a small doorway. You'd need a clever angle to get one in, and that would also limit your path of attack and logically make it easier to predict. Stabbing away would be a solid tactic in those cases.
And maybe I shouldn't make so many rooms 50 x 50 or 60 x 80 and things like that. I could be going a bit overboard.
- rooms are pretty small. A lot of the rooms in buildings - and solo residences - were not much bigger than 10 x 10 or 15 x 20-ish. Not a lot of the giant rooms I like to stick in dungeons.
- lots of doorways in corners.
- lots of small, narrow doorways. Couple that with the door in the corner, it's enough that "face the doorway and choke the enemy off in the doorway" will be difficult. There wasn't much room for 2 people, nevermind 3, to face the doorway. On top of that, the portals were pretty tight, and it would be hard to engage someone in the doorway with a swinging weapon - the sides and top of the doorway would severely restrict that.
- ceilings were quite high, where there were ceilings. So 10 x 10 rooms were a thing, but not 10 x 10 x 10 rooms. Ceilings were way above my head and I'm over 6'.
- raised sidewalks would give a real height advantage in a street fight. Enough to justify a 45 degree angle bonus in DFRPG rules.
Given all of that, I'm a bit more likely in the future to do smaller rooms, corner portals, and high ceilings in an ancient style setting. I might also, in a realistic game, put in rules prohibiting - or limiting - cutting attacks launched into doorway hexes in a small doorway. You'd need a clever angle to get one in, and that would also limit your path of attack and logically make it easier to predict. Stabbing away would be a solid tactic in those cases.
And maybe I shouldn't make so many rooms 50 x 50 or 60 x 80 and things like that. I could be going a bit overboard.
Friday, March 29, 2024
Random Links for 3/29/2024
And I'm back.
- I got what might be an AI comment on my blog. Or maybe not. It's actually well written comment that reflects the contents of the post well, and expresses an opinion on it that makes sense in a way spam comments don't . . . except the profile of the commenter is a sales redirect. Weird. If it was just anonymous I'd have let it through.
- I took a short trip to Italy. I don't normally discuss my non-gaming life here, but it's relevant to gaming.
First, I have a post coming about mapping and room layouts after cruising around Pompeii for a few hours.
Second, I met up with one of the playtesters for GURPS Martial Arts, who I've known online for decades but finally met in person. If anyone remembers Peppe, aka Luther, that's who I met up with.
And third, this door in Roma very close to the Spanish Steps is more Trampier than anything except actual Trampier.
- We're potentially looking at 2 sessions of Felltower in April. Crazy, I know.
- I got what might be an AI comment on my blog. Or maybe not. It's actually well written comment that reflects the contents of the post well, and expresses an opinion on it that makes sense in a way spam comments don't . . . except the profile of the commenter is a sales redirect. Weird. If it was just anonymous I'd have let it through.
- I took a short trip to Italy. I don't normally discuss my non-gaming life here, but it's relevant to gaming.
First, I have a post coming about mapping and room layouts after cruising around Pompeii for a few hours.
Second, I met up with one of the playtesters for GURPS Martial Arts, who I've known online for decades but finally met in person. If anyone remembers Peppe, aka Luther, that's who I met up with.
And third, this door in Roma very close to the Spanish Steps is more Trampier than anything except actual Trampier.
- We're potentially looking at 2 sessions of Felltower in April. Crazy, I know.
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
James Ward - thanks for the games
I just heard from Tenkar that Jim Ward passed away.
My second post here, back in August 2011, was a repost from my non-gaming blog, talking about Jim Ward and his games. I never got to play with him, but things he wrote and games he helped develop gave me a lot of joy.
I've posted about him enough that he had his own label - in case you want to traipse through the posts I put up with his name on them.
My second post here, back in August 2011, was a repost from my non-gaming blog, talking about Jim Ward and his games. I never got to play with him, but things he wrote and games he helped develop gave me a lot of joy.
I've posted about him enough that he had his own label - in case you want to traipse through the posts I put up with his name on them.
Monday, March 18, 2024
The frustrations of spells vs. effects in Pathfinder: Kingmaker
One real frustration I have with Pathfinder: Kingmaker is when descriptions and effects don't really match.
Many, many debuffs have very specific counters. You can get stats drained, paralyzed, petrified, frightened, stunned, level drained, blinded, sickened, exhausted . . . all good. But then how do you fix it? It depends. You have spells like Lesser Restoration, Restoration, Greater Restoration, Remove Curse, Inspiring Recovery, Heal . . . which one fixes what? It's not always clear.
It's not always clear what effects are countered by what countermeasure. I've had plenty of my companions made to flee by a fae's Frightful Moan . . . despite being accompanied by a Paladin who cast a spell to render them immune to fear effects. Cast Delay Poison, Communal to be immune to spider's venom . . . but not the stat-drain poison of other monsters or the save-or-die poison effect from a Prismatic Spray.
Countermeasures seem very idiosyncratic, specific, and arbitrary. From a person versed in the game Pathfinder only from the video game, it's tough. I often struggle to figure out what exactly would help me counter foes who spam Slay Living or Prismatic Spray. I have to dig, dig, and dig in the rules to figure out what does what.
It's really annoying. Mostly I deal with my issues with Mass Heal, rest, and lots of healing spells. But even several playthroughs through the game, and late in the game, I just have a vague idea of how to deal with certain issues. It's not really ideal.
When it comes to magic, I really like when effect-based counters just work based on the effect. If you are immune to fire, fire damage should just fail. Poison immunity? Then "save vs. poison or die" should just be something that garners a chuckle from you. And so on. It's useful food for thought as I continually revise my version of GURPS Magic for Felltower . . . I want it to seem clear why something works or does not work; strange exceptions should be rare and should allow for an "ah-hah!" moment as you figure out why. I'm not getting it from this game, but it is making me think about how not to do things the way Pathfinder seems to do them.
Many, many debuffs have very specific counters. You can get stats drained, paralyzed, petrified, frightened, stunned, level drained, blinded, sickened, exhausted . . . all good. But then how do you fix it? It depends. You have spells like Lesser Restoration, Restoration, Greater Restoration, Remove Curse, Inspiring Recovery, Heal . . . which one fixes what? It's not always clear.
It's not always clear what effects are countered by what countermeasure. I've had plenty of my companions made to flee by a fae's Frightful Moan . . . despite being accompanied by a Paladin who cast a spell to render them immune to fear effects. Cast Delay Poison, Communal to be immune to spider's venom . . . but not the stat-drain poison of other monsters or the save-or-die poison effect from a Prismatic Spray.
Countermeasures seem very idiosyncratic, specific, and arbitrary. From a person versed in the game Pathfinder only from the video game, it's tough. I often struggle to figure out what exactly would help me counter foes who spam Slay Living or Prismatic Spray. I have to dig, dig, and dig in the rules to figure out what does what.
It's really annoying. Mostly I deal with my issues with Mass Heal, rest, and lots of healing spells. But even several playthroughs through the game, and late in the game, I just have a vague idea of how to deal with certain issues. It's not really ideal.
When it comes to magic, I really like when effect-based counters just work based on the effect. If you are immune to fire, fire damage should just fail. Poison immunity? Then "save vs. poison or die" should just be something that garners a chuckle from you. And so on. It's useful food for thought as I continually revise my version of GURPS Magic for Felltower . . . I want it to seem clear why something works or does not work; strange exceptions should be rare and should allow for an "ah-hah!" moment as you figure out why. I'm not getting it from this game, but it is making me think about how not to do things the way Pathfinder seems to do them.
Sunday, March 17, 2024
No Felltower today
Nothing for Felltower today - we're pretty much unable to schedule a game at least until April. Admittedly that's only 3 weeks away . . . but we don't anything like a firm commitment from anyone, just a few firm "no"s from players.
I'm more than a bit disappointed . . . I like to run the game, I write more and better when I play more, and I also rent the server so it's painful to rent it for nothing.
But here we are - no game until April at least. Let's hope we get a game in then!
I'm more than a bit disappointed . . . I like to run the game, I write more and better when I play more, and I also rent the server so it's painful to rent it for nothing.
But here we are - no game until April at least. Let's hope we get a game in then!
Friday, March 15, 2024
Friday 3/15/24 Roundup
Friday means links and thoughts!
- Still no sign of game. Some of the core players are busy and I haven't heard from the rest. I may just have to put the whole thing on hold so I can open up my Sundays for something else until I see some light at the end of the tunnel.
- Very old Blackmoor memories - thanks Havard's Blackmoor Blog.
- Erol Otus book cover for Playing at the World 2.
- Still messing around with my Paladin playthrough of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. As always, it's the puzzle-like endgame that is slowing me down.
- I don't know that I ever explicitly connected Traveller: 2300 with Twilight: 2000. It fits, but I didn't really think of them as a sequel and a prequel. But there it is.
- Still no sign of game. Some of the core players are busy and I haven't heard from the rest. I may just have to put the whole thing on hold so I can open up my Sundays for something else until I see some light at the end of the tunnel.
- Very old Blackmoor memories - thanks Havard's Blackmoor Blog.
- Erol Otus book cover for Playing at the World 2.
- Still messing around with my Paladin playthrough of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. As always, it's the puzzle-like endgame that is slowing me down.
- I don't know that I ever explicitly connected Traveller: 2300 with Twilight: 2000. It fits, but I didn't really think of them as a sequel and a prequel. But there it is.
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Another shot at Saethor's Bane for DFRPG
Doug is beginning the "smoke test" of surveys for DFRPG . . . and is accepting late pledges. If you want to play some solo DFRPG this is for you.
Saethor's Bane Update
Saethor's Bane Update
Monday, March 11, 2024
Felltower: Fun Should Drive the Game
I mentioned yesterday that Felltower is just a dumb game designed to give the players a chance to have fun.
But the XP system doesn't reward meta-fun, but in-game loot. Treasure, followed by exploration (which largely is intended to lead to treasure) drive XP. XP drives PC improvement. But PC improvement is not intended to drive the game.
PC improvement is just there to provide an in-game reward for in-game actions. It's meant to drive what decisions people generally make in game. The players know they need loot to gain XP, so they tend to aim for loot. But if we have a session where people laughed, and chatted about stupid non-game things during break, and made silly jokes and had fun comments . . . I'm sure I don't care if their was a lot of looting and experience.
The actual doing of the thing is the fun part. The rules just drive what thing we generally do. I don't care if success or failure in the game occurs so long as we enjoy ourselves. Generally it's more fun to succeed, but not always. And we've had sessions where PCs got lots of loot but it wasn't an especially fun session. Still good, but not, "THIS is why I game!" fun.
It's all subjective, which is fine with me. I only want objective measures for in-game objective rewards. But they're not why I game.
But the XP system doesn't reward meta-fun, but in-game loot. Treasure, followed by exploration (which largely is intended to lead to treasure) drive XP. XP drives PC improvement. But PC improvement is not intended to drive the game.
PC improvement is just there to provide an in-game reward for in-game actions. It's meant to drive what decisions people generally make in game. The players know they need loot to gain XP, so they tend to aim for loot. But if we have a session where people laughed, and chatted about stupid non-game things during break, and made silly jokes and had fun comments . . . I'm sure I don't care if their was a lot of looting and experience.
The actual doing of the thing is the fun part. The rules just drive what thing we generally do. I don't care if success or failure in the game occurs so long as we enjoy ourselves. Generally it's more fun to succeed, but not always. And we've had sessions where PCs got lots of loot but it wasn't an especially fun session. Still good, but not, "THIS is why I game!" fun.
It's all subjective, which is fine with me. I only want objective measures for in-game objective rewards. But they're not why I game.
Sunday, March 10, 2024
What it takes to live & thrive in Felltower, Part II: Players
This is part II of my series on what it takes - from the ref's point of view - to succeed in Felltower.
Here is Part I.
What does it take to be a successful player in Felltower?
This is what I think, looking from the GM's side of the screen. I think two things are critical for success, and one, for enjoying the game.
Creative Thinking
Felltower rewards flexibility and creative thinking. It's a simple framework - monsters in rooms with treasure. But it's not a simple game. You need to be able to look past the easy answers. If you solve your problems by looking at your character sheet to see what you character can roll against, you're likely limiting your own options. You really need to look at the situation in the totality of what a being could do in that situation, and then narrow it down from there by what you can accomplish given your tools and skills. Too often people get hypnotised by the stats and skills on their streets. And this isn't a GURPS thing. Any time you have things to use or roll against, you look to use them or roll against them. If you have a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail. In Felltower, this can sometimes be, "If I didn't bring the tool or the spell or the skill, it can't be done until next time when we do." It's a self-imposed creativity constraint.*
You need the ability to simplify. A lot of the problems of Felltower - puzzles, monster issues, factional conflicts, character limitations, whatever - seem complex. Some of them actual are. Most are not. Felltower rewards players who can identify a way to get simply to the heart of the matter. What is your goal, and how can you get to that goal?
This isn't to say you have to play a simple game. You can't just, say, exterminate everything you face and expect it to go well. But overthinking can lead to issues - wether it is causing yourself a long, drawn out journey to avoid facing a problem head on, to talking yourself into truly bizarre solution attempts - like throwing a key at a door to try to open it.
You do have to think . . . and be clever . . . but avoid overthinking. You have to avoid the dangerous either extreme of oversimplifying and overthinking. Keep in mind here that when I write for Felltower, I really don't put a lot of thought into how a problem will be solved. I put them out there and see what happens. There might be a key for that door, or not. There might be a clever way around a situation, or not. I often don't know . . . some trying to discern the solution isn't helpful; trying to create a solution is. Sometimes that solution is very simple - break down the door, kill the monster, disarm the trap, grab the treasure. Other times, it is not.
An aside on engineering: All of that said, it's a dungeon exploration game, not a construction game - I've seen a lot of "creative solutions" that were just using magic and brute force to dig through obstacles. The game is designed to make that difficult and to generally punish the attempt; if Felltower is like a video game, it's Diablo, not Dig Dug.
Boldness
Caution is certainly important. But there are huge opportunity costs to not taking risks in Felltower. All success in Felltower comes from taking risks, not from playing it safe. Let me put it another way - in the long run, anyone who delves in Felltower eventually dies, unless the player just quits or retires the character.
Given this, it's understandable that players might play with great caution - this is a very risky environment. But it's a false choice, really. If your paper man is going to die eventually, no matter how cautiously you play, you aren't gaining your desired end - longevity of your paper man - by being maximally cautious. You might even be shortening it, by playing a succession of sessions that each pull in very little XP, very little treasure, and don't pave the way for future gains. Starved of XP, the PC doesn't improve. Starved of funds, equipment can't be easily replaced or upgraded. And starved of success in the dungeon, it's less and less likely you'll want to play.
You have to be willing to bet the "life" of your paper man. I've long argued that from my side of the screen, I see a lot of strategic caution and a lot of tactical risk. Felltower is built to reward strategic boldness and tactical caution. That's not just fighting in hallways and bottlenecking foes into doorways. My players over the years have turned to tactical caution, but strategic caution + tactical caution doesn't work any better. It's what leads to resting in the dungeon in a dead end so no one can sneak up on you, when neither resting nor cornering yourself lead anywhere good.
Being unwilling to fully commit is a related issue. You have to be willing to push your chips in when it matters. You can't wait for the perfect time because it's never the perfect time. There are bad times to do things, but no perfect times to do things. A delve or two from now, you'll wish you did the thing this time.
Felltower is designed as a pick-up game, lethal, on "hard mode," and generally a erring on the less-serious side of the serious-silly spectrum. It's not above being meta, having the world designed to support the play style, and otherwise being a construct for a style of play. It's not a long term, serious fantasy campaign with long-lasting characters. You can try to play it that way, but ultimately, it's going to fail. There is way too much baked in to the premise to undo with roleplaying and heroic characters intended for long-term play. The adventure in Felltower - the intended source of fun - is the experience of the good and bad happening to PCs. It's a meta kind of fun. You, the player, should enjoy the discoveries, the riches, the wins, and the losses. The PC is a tool to do that job. You don't have to play it that way . . . but the game will revert to form.
Finally, you need a Sense of Humor. It's a dumb game, deliberately. You have to be willing to have you, or the dice, or your friend, do something mind-bogglingly frustratingly stupid to your guy . . . and laugh. Straight-up enjoy it. If you can't, this isn't the game for you. It's just a way for those of us who are already friends to do some activity together that's entertaining for a few hours. It's satisfying when you win. It's annoying when you lose. But it better be fun the whole time. Taking it all too seriously is a bad idea.
* I'm a big believer in the ability of constraints to help teach physical skills, though - but that's not the same thing as you get in a TTRPG.
Here is Part I.
What does it take to be a successful player in Felltower?
This is what I think, looking from the GM's side of the screen. I think two things are critical for success, and one, for enjoying the game.
Creative Thinking
Felltower rewards flexibility and creative thinking. It's a simple framework - monsters in rooms with treasure. But it's not a simple game. You need to be able to look past the easy answers. If you solve your problems by looking at your character sheet to see what you character can roll against, you're likely limiting your own options. You really need to look at the situation in the totality of what a being could do in that situation, and then narrow it down from there by what you can accomplish given your tools and skills. Too often people get hypnotised by the stats and skills on their streets. And this isn't a GURPS thing. Any time you have things to use or roll against, you look to use them or roll against them. If you have a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail. In Felltower, this can sometimes be, "If I didn't bring the tool or the spell or the skill, it can't be done until next time when we do." It's a self-imposed creativity constraint.*
You need the ability to simplify. A lot of the problems of Felltower - puzzles, monster issues, factional conflicts, character limitations, whatever - seem complex. Some of them actual are. Most are not. Felltower rewards players who can identify a way to get simply to the heart of the matter. What is your goal, and how can you get to that goal?
This isn't to say you have to play a simple game. You can't just, say, exterminate everything you face and expect it to go well. But overthinking can lead to issues - wether it is causing yourself a long, drawn out journey to avoid facing a problem head on, to talking yourself into truly bizarre solution attempts - like throwing a key at a door to try to open it.
You do have to think . . . and be clever . . . but avoid overthinking. You have to avoid the dangerous either extreme of oversimplifying and overthinking. Keep in mind here that when I write for Felltower, I really don't put a lot of thought into how a problem will be solved. I put them out there and see what happens. There might be a key for that door, or not. There might be a clever way around a situation, or not. I often don't know . . . some trying to discern the solution isn't helpful; trying to create a solution is. Sometimes that solution is very simple - break down the door, kill the monster, disarm the trap, grab the treasure. Other times, it is not.
An aside on engineering: All of that said, it's a dungeon exploration game, not a construction game - I've seen a lot of "creative solutions" that were just using magic and brute force to dig through obstacles. The game is designed to make that difficult and to generally punish the attempt; if Felltower is like a video game, it's Diablo, not Dig Dug.
Boldness
Caution is certainly important. But there are huge opportunity costs to not taking risks in Felltower. All success in Felltower comes from taking risks, not from playing it safe. Let me put it another way - in the long run, anyone who delves in Felltower eventually dies, unless the player just quits or retires the character.
Given this, it's understandable that players might play with great caution - this is a very risky environment. But it's a false choice, really. If your paper man is going to die eventually, no matter how cautiously you play, you aren't gaining your desired end - longevity of your paper man - by being maximally cautious. You might even be shortening it, by playing a succession of sessions that each pull in very little XP, very little treasure, and don't pave the way for future gains. Starved of XP, the PC doesn't improve. Starved of funds, equipment can't be easily replaced or upgraded. And starved of success in the dungeon, it's less and less likely you'll want to play.
You have to be willing to bet the "life" of your paper man. I've long argued that from my side of the screen, I see a lot of strategic caution and a lot of tactical risk. Felltower is built to reward strategic boldness and tactical caution. That's not just fighting in hallways and bottlenecking foes into doorways. My players over the years have turned to tactical caution, but strategic caution + tactical caution doesn't work any better. It's what leads to resting in the dungeon in a dead end so no one can sneak up on you, when neither resting nor cornering yourself lead anywhere good.
Being unwilling to fully commit is a related issue. You have to be willing to push your chips in when it matters. You can't wait for the perfect time because it's never the perfect time. There are bad times to do things, but no perfect times to do things. A delve or two from now, you'll wish you did the thing this time.
Felltower is designed as a pick-up game, lethal, on "hard mode," and generally a erring on the less-serious side of the serious-silly spectrum. It's not above being meta, having the world designed to support the play style, and otherwise being a construct for a style of play. It's not a long term, serious fantasy campaign with long-lasting characters. You can try to play it that way, but ultimately, it's going to fail. There is way too much baked in to the premise to undo with roleplaying and heroic characters intended for long-term play. The adventure in Felltower - the intended source of fun - is the experience of the good and bad happening to PCs. It's a meta kind of fun. You, the player, should enjoy the discoveries, the riches, the wins, and the losses. The PC is a tool to do that job. You don't have to play it that way . . . but the game will revert to form.
Finally, you need a Sense of Humor. It's a dumb game, deliberately. You have to be willing to have you, or the dice, or your friend, do something mind-bogglingly frustratingly stupid to your guy . . . and laugh. Straight-up enjoy it. If you can't, this isn't the game for you. It's just a way for those of us who are already friends to do some activity together that's entertaining for a few hours. It's satisfying when you win. It's annoying when you lose. But it better be fun the whole time. Taking it all too seriously is a bad idea.
* I'm a big believer in the ability of constraints to help teach physical skills, though - but that's not the same thing as you get in a TTRPG.
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Friday, March 8, 2024
Random links for 3/8/2024
- I played a bit of Pathfinder: Kingmaker with my paladin. Probably because I've done it before, my kingdom management was more efficient this time . . . I basically completed everything of worth to me with time to spare, and now I'm waiting on endgame stuff. That's trickier because so much of it is multi-phased locations you have to, essentially, clear multiple times in a proper sequence. Cool, but I rarely feel motivated to do puzzles.
I get how my players feel about them, which is why I make mine simple (and no, the orichalcum door isn't a puzzle) and infrequent.
- One of the Felltower regulars guest hosted Sandwiches of History today:
Vic LaPira on Sandwiches of History
- ~30 hours left in Saethor's Bane.
- And not much else this week. Busy work week = slow gaming week.
I get how my players feel about them, which is why I make mine simple (and no, the orichalcum door isn't a puzzle) and infrequent.
- One of the Felltower regulars guest hosted Sandwiches of History today:
Vic LaPira on Sandwiches of History
- ~30 hours left in Saethor's Bane.
- And not much else this week. Busy work week = slow gaming week.
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Last Day for Saethor's Bane DFRPG Solo Adventure
The campaign link is here.
It's about $500 from being full color . . . I am posting this in the hopes that more people see the project and decide to jump in. $10 will get you the PDF for an already-funded book . . . nothing really to wait on or guess about.
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
What I Got on Sale
Here is what I picked up on sale - well, two thing at 10% off and one at full price.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 2: The Room
Dungeon Fantasy: The Devil's Workshop
https://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/locations/hellsgate/" target="_blank">GURPS Locations: Hellsgate
I think those should give me some value I can turn into Felltower goodness, don't you?
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 2: The Room
Dungeon Fantasy: The Devil's Workshop
https://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/locations/hellsgate/" target="_blank">GURPS Locations: Hellsgate
I think those should give me some value I can turn into Felltower goodness, don't you?
Monday, March 4, 2024
SJG GM's Day Sale
SJG is having an GM's Day sale from 3/4 to 3/7.
It's 15% off on select items, and as far as I can tell 10% off on pretty much all the rest of the GURPS and DF books I've written, such as GURPS Martial Arts, DF Monsters 3, and so on.
A full list of my books and Pyramid issues on sale is here:
Peter Dell'Orto's books
I'm taking advantage to pick up a few items I just never got around to getting. Hey, 10% off is 10% off, to paragraph Geddy Lee. Enjoy!
It's 15% off on select items, and as far as I can tell 10% off on pretty much all the rest of the GURPS and DF books I've written, such as GURPS Martial Arts, DF Monsters 3, and so on.
A full list of my books and Pyramid issues on sale is here:
Peter Dell'Orto's books
I'm taking advantage to pick up a few items I just never got around to getting. Hey, 10% off is 10% off, to paragraph Geddy Lee. Enjoy!
Sunday, March 3, 2024
What it takes to live & thrive in Felltower, Part I: Characters
Felltower is a tough, tough place. It has a graveyard list that dwarfs the pool of available, current PCs. The only real-world Felltower swag I know of is a I Died in Felltower sweatshirt someone had made. Eventually, everyone seems to end up on the graveyard list at least once . . . and the lucky few don't end their careers as an entry on it. Most do.
The environment is proudly DF on hard mode. It's old school in some of the worst ways. A neutral referee, a hostile environment, and cruel rulings. It plays fair in the sense that the rules aren't broken for the environment, but it's set to harsh.
But what would help you gain success in Felltower, besides quitting while you're ahead or just not entering the place at all?
For characters, here is the referee's view of the situation.
Statistics
Really, any level of stats are fine . . . as long as they are at least a 10+. That said:
ST is really helpful. High ST delivers damage. Importantly, it also helps open doors (see Forced Entry in skills, below) and carry your dead friends and your loot.
HT is a double-edged sword. It's mostly good, but the longer you stay standing in a fight going bad for you, the more you get shredded down towards instant death. Still, you're better off with it, and it's worth the 10/level it costs you. Templates don't come with HT under 12, and you shouldn't, either.
Secondary Characteristics
Perception is key. Noticing danger is critical, and finding hidden loot isn't always as simple as just casting See Secrets. You want 10+, preferably 12+, and 14+ is necessary for a group. Combat Reflexes will negate some of the issues with getting attacked by surprise, but won't help you spot an attack coming out of the darkness or from a blind spot. And there are some amusing treasures people have literally walked past since 2012 without noticing because they're dependent on insufficiently high Perception and magical support that doesn't always work.
Will is vital. There aren't a huge amount of Will-affecting abilities and spells deployed against your paper man in Felltower, but they're all save-or-suck. You can coast on your Knight's 10 for a while, but in the end it will limit where you can go and how much your friends have to plan to do to you when the bad guys make you change sides. You won't get out of mental domination by evil with Sense of Duty as a get out of jail free card. It's not that kind of game.
Hit Points aren't as critical as you think. From a breakpoint perspective, you want 20+ for any fighter type for the doubling of healing effects . . . although this does double your damage from falls (see The Bigger They Are . . ., Exploits, p. 67)
That said, while being fragile doesn't help any, you'll find a lot of high-HP guys in the graveyard alongside low-HP guys. It provides a buffer but errors that cost HP will get you even with 40+ HP. IIRC Bruce was closing in on 50 HP and he's dead . . . he would have died if he'd had 100 HP in that situation. High HP, like high DR or HT, can fool you into thinking you're invulnerable. Bring all the HP you can but they're not enough on their own.
Move is critical. Oh, I mean Speed, right? Or Basic Move? No, Move. Your actual Move will determine your ability to exploit tactical advantages, or escape fights you don't want, or don't want anymore. It's a combination of encumbrance (see, ST) and Speed. Being slow will always be a liability. The PCs with the most mobility tend to last the longest and have the most impact.
Skills
PCs will get further with everyone having all - or at least most - of these skills. Magic can sometimes substitute, but you really need:
Climbing comes up so often that it has halted play as people try to magic their way around poor or lacking Climbing skill. This leads to less actual time spent killing and looting, has forced extra rest times in the dungeon because of FP expended to make up for the poor or lacking skill, and fights with treasure-free wandering monsters that occured because of extra time in the dungeon. We've made Levitation much easier to do but it's not always the answer.
Swimming - PCs have died without it, and arguments that it's not worth it are really funny when your paper man dies because you wouldn't spend 1 point out of the 305 you start with.
Forced Entry is important for a party. At least one person will need a solid skill, here. It's effectively ST-based, and until you put enough points to be ST+1 it's the same as just rolling ST . . . but it's cheaper than extra ST for a few bonus points on those rolls and a lot of extra damage when breaking things. I've had players disagree with me, here, and agree but not spend the points . . . but I've seen plenty of doors hacked or plans changed because they couldn't force the door. That works, too, but again, Wandering Monsters bring damage but not treasure.
Search is more useful than most people suspect; you can't depend on pure Perception to find hidden things. And "real quick we check the bodies" is a gaming and video gaming thing; it takes a while to find pea-sized gems or hidden coins or other small bits and doodads on a person.
Fast-Draw (Potion) will literally save your life. You need this if you expect to get hit while carrying healing potions. Do that and have this skill.
Diplomacy isn't critical unless you want to negotiate; since most players seem to default this it's not helpful if your PC does, too. Don't make these mistakes, especially without any skill to back it up. Intimidation won't always get you what you want.
Those aren't the only skills you need, but they're standout ones that don't get enough attention in my experience, and which aren't always required on the templates.
Hopefully this will help my players, any readers who in the future become players (okay, that basically only happened with Doug and Vic), or spark your own ideas and comments for your own games.
Part II will be next week, on the next Felltower Sunday.
The environment is proudly DF on hard mode. It's old school in some of the worst ways. A neutral referee, a hostile environment, and cruel rulings. It plays fair in the sense that the rules aren't broken for the environment, but it's set to harsh.
But what would help you gain success in Felltower, besides quitting while you're ahead or just not entering the place at all?
For characters, here is the referee's view of the situation.
Statistics
Really, any level of stats are fine . . . as long as they are at least a 10+. That said:
ST is really helpful. High ST delivers damage. Importantly, it also helps open doors (see Forced Entry in skills, below) and carry your dead friends and your loot.
HT is a double-edged sword. It's mostly good, but the longer you stay standing in a fight going bad for you, the more you get shredded down towards instant death. Still, you're better off with it, and it's worth the 10/level it costs you. Templates don't come with HT under 12, and you shouldn't, either.
Secondary Characteristics
Perception is key. Noticing danger is critical, and finding hidden loot isn't always as simple as just casting See Secrets. You want 10+, preferably 12+, and 14+ is necessary for a group. Combat Reflexes will negate some of the issues with getting attacked by surprise, but won't help you spot an attack coming out of the darkness or from a blind spot. And there are some amusing treasures people have literally walked past since 2012 without noticing because they're dependent on insufficiently high Perception and magical support that doesn't always work.
Will is vital. There aren't a huge amount of Will-affecting abilities and spells deployed against your paper man in Felltower, but they're all save-or-suck. You can coast on your Knight's 10 for a while, but in the end it will limit where you can go and how much your friends have to plan to do to you when the bad guys make you change sides. You won't get out of mental domination by evil with Sense of Duty as a get out of jail free card. It's not that kind of game.
Hit Points aren't as critical as you think. From a breakpoint perspective, you want 20+ for any fighter type for the doubling of healing effects . . . although this does double your damage from falls (see The Bigger They Are . . ., Exploits, p. 67)
That said, while being fragile doesn't help any, you'll find a lot of high-HP guys in the graveyard alongside low-HP guys. It provides a buffer but errors that cost HP will get you even with 40+ HP. IIRC Bruce was closing in on 50 HP and he's dead . . . he would have died if he'd had 100 HP in that situation. High HP, like high DR or HT, can fool you into thinking you're invulnerable. Bring all the HP you can but they're not enough on their own.
Move is critical. Oh, I mean Speed, right? Or Basic Move? No, Move. Your actual Move will determine your ability to exploit tactical advantages, or escape fights you don't want, or don't want anymore. It's a combination of encumbrance (see, ST) and Speed. Being slow will always be a liability. The PCs with the most mobility tend to last the longest and have the most impact.
Skills
PCs will get further with everyone having all - or at least most - of these skills. Magic can sometimes substitute, but you really need:
Climbing comes up so often that it has halted play as people try to magic their way around poor or lacking Climbing skill. This leads to less actual time spent killing and looting, has forced extra rest times in the dungeon because of FP expended to make up for the poor or lacking skill, and fights with treasure-free wandering monsters that occured because of extra time in the dungeon. We've made Levitation much easier to do but it's not always the answer.
Swimming - PCs have died without it, and arguments that it's not worth it are really funny when your paper man dies because you wouldn't spend 1 point out of the 305 you start with.
Forced Entry is important for a party. At least one person will need a solid skill, here. It's effectively ST-based, and until you put enough points to be ST+1 it's the same as just rolling ST . . . but it's cheaper than extra ST for a few bonus points on those rolls and a lot of extra damage when breaking things. I've had players disagree with me, here, and agree but not spend the points . . . but I've seen plenty of doors hacked or plans changed because they couldn't force the door. That works, too, but again, Wandering Monsters bring damage but not treasure.
Search is more useful than most people suspect; you can't depend on pure Perception to find hidden things. And "real quick we check the bodies" is a gaming and video gaming thing; it takes a while to find pea-sized gems or hidden coins or other small bits and doodads on a person.
Fast-Draw (Potion) will literally save your life. You need this if you expect to get hit while carrying healing potions. Do that and have this skill.
Diplomacy isn't critical unless you want to negotiate; since most players seem to default this it's not helpful if your PC does, too. Don't make these mistakes, especially without any skill to back it up. Intimidation won't always get you what you want.
Those aren't the only skills you need, but they're standout ones that don't get enough attention in my experience, and which aren't always required on the templates.
Hopefully this will help my players, any readers who in the future become players (okay, that basically only happened with Doug and Vic), or spark your own ideas and comments for your own games.
Part II will be next week, on the next Felltower Sunday.
Friday, March 1, 2024
Weekly Roundup for 3/1/24
It's Friday, so my work week is almost over!
- Real-world issues derailed a lot of posting . . . and what little time I had to game I spent on my latest playthrough of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. My LG Paladin is pretty good, but the heavy lifting of everything except Persuasion rolls are carried by the rest of the team.
- A look at DragonQuest, one of those games I only ever saw in ads, never with my own eyes that I can recall.
- Thanks to 3 Toadstools for reposting this - it's an interesting take on what D&D isn't anymore:
This isn't D&D Anymore
- Possibly accurate facts about medieval stairs from Gothridge Manor.
- Real-world issues derailed a lot of posting . . . and what little time I had to game I spent on my latest playthrough of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. My LG Paladin is pretty good, but the heavy lifting of everything except Persuasion rolls are carried by the rest of the team.
- A look at DragonQuest, one of those games I only ever saw in ads, never with my own eyes that I can recall.
- Thanks to 3 Toadstools for reposting this - it's an interesting take on what D&D isn't anymore:
This isn't D&D Anymore
- Possibly accurate facts about medieval stairs from Gothridge Manor.
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Barrier Peaks!
Over on Wayne's Books there is the first post on a playthrough of S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.
I played it, in parts, in elementary school . . . and I want to see how someone gives it justice in a modern playthrough. We certainly didn't back then, although I did a pretty good job coloring in some of the black and white pictures in the module on my original copy. Heh.
I played it, in parts, in elementary school . . . and I want to see how someone gives it justice in a modern playthrough. We certainly didn't back then, although I did a pretty good job coloring in some of the black and white pictures in the module on my original copy. Heh.
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
How is Saethor's Bane doing?
Doug's Kickstarter for a DFRPG solo play adventure is going well. At the moment, it's at $18,169. It's stretch goal is $21,000 for full color. I don't think that will be a real obstacle - even at $10 for a basic pledge, adding another $2900 doesn't seem out of line.
Doug can probably speak better to how the curve of funding goes. But I'm thinking I'll be getting a full color PDF when it comes out.
I am debating upgrading to print . . . but I have 10 days to consider that. Maybe if a little more funding is needed at the end - I'm just trying to avoid shipping costs these days, as beautiful as the book that Doug releases are in physical form.
Please take a look at the Saethor's Bane campaign and consider backing it.
Doug can probably speak better to how the curve of funding goes. But I'm thinking I'll be getting a full color PDF when it comes out.
I am debating upgrading to print . . . but I have 10 days to consider that. Maybe if a little more funding is needed at the end - I'm just trying to avoid shipping costs these days, as beautiful as the book that Doug releases are in physical form.
Please take a look at the Saethor's Bane campaign and consider backing it.
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Available Henchmen for Felltower?
For a while, the PCs hired a lot of henchmen. A good number have been killed. But some are still around . . . given that we've had some sessions get nixed because people lacked the firepower and players to want to risk their paper men, I figured I'd take a roll call.
Still around for hire, so many years on:
Basher the Thug (who is 11 years older than he was his last delve!)
Larry the Crossbowman (who won't lightly trust a wizard again, let me tell you.)
Norman the Axe (who won't accept a contract without some written guarantees for replacement of losses)
Deadeye Slim
And not many others . . . Lew McTorchy and Marc Strawngmussel are still alive as far as I can determine.
Red Raggi is the big one, of course, but after two consecutive maulings (in other words, deaths) and the PCs selling his prized axe, he basically hung up his armor and went back to his law practice. Ragnarson and Sons Legal Services still has an office in Stericksburg, run by a partner, but he's not making a lot of delves.
I do need to generate some more henchmen when I get a chance . . . they might provide some help when hired. The players do tend to want them to stay around forever and ever, though, which tends to grind them down and kill them eventually. A few more volunteers might show, too, if the PCs start bringing home some real loot . . .
Still around for hire, so many years on:
Basher the Thug (who is 11 years older than he was his last delve!)
Larry the Crossbowman (who won't lightly trust a wizard again, let me tell you.)
Norman the Axe (who won't accept a contract without some written guarantees for replacement of losses)
Deadeye Slim
And not many others . . . Lew McTorchy and Marc Strawngmussel are still alive as far as I can determine.
Red Raggi is the big one, of course, but after two consecutive maulings (in other words, deaths) and the PCs selling his prized axe, he basically hung up his armor and went back to his law practice. Ragnarson and Sons Legal Services still has an office in Stericksburg, run by a partner, but he's not making a lot of delves.
I do need to generate some more henchmen when I get a chance . . . they might provide some help when hired. The players do tend to want them to stay around forever and ever, though, which tends to grind them down and kill them eventually. A few more volunteers might show, too, if the PCs start bringing home some real loot . . .
Friday, February 23, 2024
Friday thoughts & links
Links and thoughts for today.
- Still no time to write this week. Lots of prep work for work, basically. I enjoy my job but when I'm working and not gaming, I write less about gaming.
- Starting HP in D&D-based games is always a thing. We rolled when I first played back in the day. We may have re-rolled 1s, because I don't ever remember anyone with a 1. We switched to max HP at 1st level somewhere along the line. I've similar ideas to this one from Aeons & Augauris before,but instead of on your Prime Requisite it's usually based on CON, but that just makes a good CON score critical for all classes. I prefer to play a game with fixed HP per level, or peferably, no levels and just fixed or purchased HP.
This approach might really work for someone reading so I wanted to make sure it was seen.
- Doug's crowdfunded DFRPG solo adventure continues to fund.
Back in the day, we only used the term "solo adventure" for one player with one PC, actually. It wasn't even considered totally solo if you were bringing henchmen (which didn't see much use, honestly, until we were older). But that said, "one player, multiple characters solo" was a thing - UK5 Eye of the Serpent was one of those. Just an aside . . . so when people would brag that they "solo'd" some module - S1, S2, T1-4, etc. I'd always stick a mental caveat that, well, if "solo" was one PC but a pile of leveled NPCs and fodder you could expend . . . it was much like how the Sheriff of Rottingham fights a duel. "So, it's come down to this, has it? A fight to the death. Mano a mano, man to man. Just you and me and my GUARDS!"
- This is amusing. Rust monster pets are a thing waiting to happen.
- Still no time to write this week. Lots of prep work for work, basically. I enjoy my job but when I'm working and not gaming, I write less about gaming.
- Starting HP in D&D-based games is always a thing. We rolled when I first played back in the day. We may have re-rolled 1s, because I don't ever remember anyone with a 1. We switched to max HP at 1st level somewhere along the line. I've similar ideas to this one from Aeons & Augauris before,but instead of on your Prime Requisite it's usually based on CON, but that just makes a good CON score critical for all classes. I prefer to play a game with fixed HP per level, or peferably, no levels and just fixed or purchased HP.
This approach might really work for someone reading so I wanted to make sure it was seen.
- Doug's crowdfunded DFRPG solo adventure continues to fund.
Back in the day, we only used the term "solo adventure" for one player with one PC, actually. It wasn't even considered totally solo if you were bringing henchmen (which didn't see much use, honestly, until we were older). But that said, "one player, multiple characters solo" was a thing - UK5 Eye of the Serpent was one of those. Just an aside . . . so when people would brag that they "solo'd" some module - S1, S2, T1-4, etc. I'd always stick a mental caveat that, well, if "solo" was one PC but a pile of leveled NPCs and fodder you could expend . . . it was much like how the Sheriff of Rottingham fights a duel. "So, it's come down to this, has it? A fight to the death. Mano a mano, man to man. Just you and me and my GUARDS!"
- This is amusing. Rust monster pets are a thing waiting to happen.
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
DFRPG Solo Adventure on BackerKit - Funded!
Doug's new DFRPG item, written by David Pulver, has funded on BackerKit:
The campaign link is here.
It's $10 PDF only, $20 (+ S&H) for PDF + Print, and $15 for PDF + VTT pack for Forge. I'm going for that last pack, because WTH I like Forge VTT.
The campaign link is here.
It's $10 PDF only, $20 (+ S&H) for PDF + Print, and $15 for PDF + VTT pack for Forge. I'm going for that last pack, because WTH I like Forge VTT.
Sunday, February 18, 2024
No Felltower Today
No Felltower today - we had two players, and two maybes, and it dropped to one yes and two maybes. We did not play.
2024 has not been good for gaming for me so far! We've played only one game session in the first two months . . . and our next one might not be until sometime in mid-March unless we get lucky on the next weekend I'm open to play.
2024 has not been good for gaming for me so far! We've played only one game session in the first two months . . . and our next one might not be until sometime in mid-March unless we get lucky on the next weekend I'm open to play.
Friday, February 16, 2024
Friday Roundup
Some posts I enjoyed this week, and other things.
- Doors, Our Greatest Nemesis? My players would probably agree.
- So an expensive book is on the way containing very early D&D stuff? Hmm.
- Free Traveller? Tenkar says there is. I think I have those books already, but free is free.
- Not a lot otherwise this week . . . in theory, game is on Sunday! Let's hope so.
- Doors, Our Greatest Nemesis? My players would probably agree.
- So an expensive book is on the way containing very early D&D stuff? Hmm.
- Free Traveller? Tenkar says there is. I think I have those books already, but free is free.
- Not a lot otherwise this week . . . in theory, game is on Sunday! Let's hope so.
Thursday, February 15, 2024
What kind of GURPS posts would you like to see from me?
I haven't been posting as frequently, because we haven't been playing very frequently. That cuts down on my Felltower posts and I end up doing other things - like playing video games - or non-gaming things, which don't get posts here.
I do have an idea for a series of posts, but before I get started, I figured I'd ask the people who read my blog - what kind of GURPS posts do you want to see from me? More Melee Academy style posts? Rules discussions? Potential house rules? Spell modifications? NPCs? Something else?
I feel like I need a theme of material I know is of value to get posting about while I wait for our next session.
So what do you GURPS fans want to see from me here?
I do have an idea for a series of posts, but before I get started, I figured I'd ask the people who read my blog - what kind of GURPS posts do you want to see from me? More Melee Academy style posts? Rules discussions? Potential house rules? Spell modifications? NPCs? Something else?
I feel like I need a theme of material I know is of value to get posting about while I wait for our next session.
So what do you GURPS fans want to see from me here?
Monday, February 12, 2024
Pathfinder: Kingmaker video game silliness
I spent a little time yesterday and today goofing off with Pathfinder: Kingmaker, with my LG Paladin (Holgar Carlson, of course.)
It's a fun game, but it has a few really amusing things that come along with being a video game.
- One NPC gives you a quest to help track down some poachers. You see, he needs evidence that someone is poaching . . . and proof to give to the guards. So you know, I, the BARON, go find the proof for him to give to the guards. Okay, I'm Lawful Good, so it vaguely makes sense . . . although I'm empowered as Baron to pass judgment without "the guards" helping. It was even funnier when Molly, my LE Monk, was my PC. Why would a Lawful Evil Baron not just exercise her right to believe this guy and execute the criminal if I wanted to?
- We stumbled across a few bandits while travelling. I wanted to try using a Fireball scroll with a character who needed a skill check to use it. We stood in plain sight of them, a short distance away, as she read the scroll over and over until finally it worked. We somehow achieved surprise and got a surprise round on them.
No, I'm not kidding.
- there are all sorts of cool magic items with cool powers. I have to look them up in an online guide, because in-game I can't find out what they do. So I Alt-Tab to my browser and look them up. It's just annoying. And it means you can't just stay fully immersed in the game.
- We fought a really nasty group of organized foes, and one of my characters got mauled. We needed to rest up before the final fight. So I left, rested, did a side quest, and then came back . . . and the organized foes ignored the fact that someone had massacred their gate guards and half their garrison and just waited for us to come back days later to finish them off.
They clearly hadn't read How to Defend Your Lair.
Still fun. But video games aren't TTRPGs.
It's a fun game, but it has a few really amusing things that come along with being a video game.
- One NPC gives you a quest to help track down some poachers. You see, he needs evidence that someone is poaching . . . and proof to give to the guards. So you know, I, the BARON, go find the proof for him to give to the guards. Okay, I'm Lawful Good, so it vaguely makes sense . . . although I'm empowered as Baron to pass judgment without "the guards" helping. It was even funnier when Molly, my LE Monk, was my PC. Why would a Lawful Evil Baron not just exercise her right to believe this guy and execute the criminal if I wanted to?
- We stumbled across a few bandits while travelling. I wanted to try using a Fireball scroll with a character who needed a skill check to use it. We stood in plain sight of them, a short distance away, as she read the scroll over and over until finally it worked. We somehow achieved surprise and got a surprise round on them.
No, I'm not kidding.
- there are all sorts of cool magic items with cool powers. I have to look them up in an online guide, because in-game I can't find out what they do. So I Alt-Tab to my browser and look them up. It's just annoying. And it means you can't just stay fully immersed in the game.
- We fought a really nasty group of organized foes, and one of my characters got mauled. We needed to rest up before the final fight. So I left, rested, did a side quest, and then came back . . . and the organized foes ignored the fact that someone had massacred their gate guards and half their garrison and just waited for us to come back days later to finish them off.
They clearly hadn't read How to Defend Your Lair.
Still fun. But video games aren't TTRPGs.
Sunday, February 11, 2024
Felltower & the Rules for Monsters
When I run Felltower, I generally play using the DFRPG rules set, with some additions from GURPS Magic, GURPS Martial Arts, and GURPS Basic Set.
But I don't strictly follow the rules, even when I have not house ruled a particular rule to work differently.
Monsters are a great example.
I do monster writeups for myself first, and basically note whatever I think in important and useful in case I can publish it. In actual play, I'm bound by my intentions for what the monster does and what makes sense, rather than the letter of the abilities I put down on paper. If they clash, my intentions win. I'll edit the stats later to reflect what I think should actually better reflect how they play. Ultimately, it's about how I intend them to work.
It's not like the players get to read the monster writeups I use, so they won't be led astray. They will if they depend on a letter-of-the-rules interpretation to make something work, though, and meta-knowledge of the system to base it on. If they use in-game experience and some real-world guessing they'll likely be better off.
Rest assured the ones I wrote up for publication are supposed to work as written. But in my games, they're not always finished writeups . . . and I'm reluctant to share my notes until I know how they should work.
But I don't strictly follow the rules, even when I have not house ruled a particular rule to work differently.
Monsters are a great example.
I do monster writeups for myself first, and basically note whatever I think in important and useful in case I can publish it. In actual play, I'm bound by my intentions for what the monster does and what makes sense, rather than the letter of the abilities I put down on paper. If they clash, my intentions win. I'll edit the stats later to reflect what I think should actually better reflect how they play. Ultimately, it's about how I intend them to work.
It's not like the players get to read the monster writeups I use, so they won't be led astray. They will if they depend on a letter-of-the-rules interpretation to make something work, though, and meta-knowledge of the system to base it on. If they use in-game experience and some real-world guessing they'll likely be better off.
Rest assured the ones I wrote up for publication are supposed to work as written. But in my games, they're not always finished writeups . . . and I'm reluctant to share my notes until I know how they should work.
Friday, February 9, 2024
Links for 2/9/2024
Here a few things you might not want to miss this week:
- Trollsmyth is thinking about one-roll combat. Not one-roll attacks, but one-roll combat. Like a wargame, in a way, where you settle an enagement for both sides with one roll.
- A review of N4 Treasure Hunt, which features 0-level characters who achieve 1st level as they adventure. I enjoyed this one a lot, and we used it for AD&D and for GURPS a few times.
I stole one of the idea from it - the twisted wish - in Felltower.
- Here is a look about an alternative to Battlesystem for 1st edition AD&D mass combat. The article he mentions, "One Roll, To Go" was extremely helpful in semi-mass combat in my campaign back in the day.
- Trollsmyth is thinking about one-roll combat. Not one-roll attacks, but one-roll combat. Like a wargame, in a way, where you settle an enagement for both sides with one roll.
- A review of N4 Treasure Hunt, which features 0-level characters who achieve 1st level as they adventure. I enjoyed this one a lot, and we used it for AD&D and for GURPS a few times.
I stole one of the idea from it - the twisted wish - in Felltower.
- Here is a look about an alternative to Battlesystem for 1st edition AD&D mass combat. The article he mentions, "One Roll, To Go" was extremely helpful in semi-mass combat in my campaign back in the day.
Thursday, February 8, 2024
Assorted GURPS Magic / DFRPG Spells questions and answers
I'll use this post to track all of the weird spell rulings I make that don't otherwise have a home.
Does Wizard Eye have 360 degree vision?
No. It has a facing just like any other character would; if you want 360 degree vision cast the appropriate spells on someone.
How much concealment does See Secrets eliminate?
I cap concealment penalties at -10, so it cancels -10. As always, you must be able to see to take advantage of this spell; a secret door will stand out clearly, but if it's behind a curtain it will not, because the curtain breaks your line of sight.
What temperature do Fireball spells burn at?
It doesn't matter - we resolve it all by HP of damage vs. DR/HP of the targets, and the usual rules for setting things on fire (Exploits, p. 68)
Does Wizard Eye have 360 degree vision?
No. It has a facing just like any other character would; if you want 360 degree vision cast the appropriate spells on someone.
How much concealment does See Secrets eliminate?
I cap concealment penalties at -10, so it cancels -10. As always, you must be able to see to take advantage of this spell; a secret door will stand out clearly, but if it's behind a curtain it will not, because the curtain breaks your line of sight.
What temperature do Fireball spells burn at?
It doesn't matter - we resolve it all by HP of damage vs. DR/HP of the targets, and the usual rules for setting things on fire (Exploits, p. 68)
Monday, February 5, 2024
Early Champions Bundle
There is an early - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd edition - Champions Bundle over on Bundle of Holding.
I'm considering getting this. The regular, not expanded version.
I own almost all of the Champions books in the original mix - maybe all of them, I'm not certain about one enemies book. I don't own the screen. All of them are paper, not PDF. I own almost all of the adventures - I'm only missing Stronghold, that I know of.
I didn't get the play very much Champions back in the day . . . but getting the 1st edition boxed set was extremely formative in my gaming experience. I just loved making up super heroes and super villians, and plotting a potential game. I just couldn't get people on board . . . they either wanted to play Marvel or DC superheroes, but not both, and usually not their own made up ones. Plus I'm not as good at plot and story and character as I am at mechanics and open settings and game balance, so I don't think I'd be a great GM. But I loved the system and deeply enjoyed making up NPCs. I liked the adventures, and read them several times. So this is very much in my nostalgia wheelhouse. The question is, do I need them on PDF?
I'm considering getting this. The regular, not expanded version.
I own almost all of the Champions books in the original mix - maybe all of them, I'm not certain about one enemies book. I don't own the screen. All of them are paper, not PDF. I own almost all of the adventures - I'm only missing Stronghold, that I know of.
I didn't get the play very much Champions back in the day . . . but getting the 1st edition boxed set was extremely formative in my gaming experience. I just loved making up super heroes and super villians, and plotting a potential game. I just couldn't get people on board . . . they either wanted to play Marvel or DC superheroes, but not both, and usually not their own made up ones. Plus I'm not as good at plot and story and character as I am at mechanics and open settings and game balance, so I don't think I'd be a great GM. But I loved the system and deeply enjoyed making up NPCs. I liked the adventures, and read them several times. So this is very much in my nostalgia wheelhouse. The question is, do I need them on PDF?
Sunday, February 4, 2024
Felltower - a little work
I did a very small bit of Felltower work today:
- I updated the VTT.
- I updated the rumors. There are only 8; the PCs just haven't done very much so I don't have a lot to comment on. Plus I think we're getting to the point where people accumulate them but don't really act on them, so they're almost a distraction more than a valuable way to feed information (not always clearly or accurately) to the players.
- I made sure my maps and notes are in order.
Next game is - tentatively - 2 weeks from today. We haven't confirmed it yet.
- I updated the VTT.
- I updated the rumors. There are only 8; the PCs just haven't done very much so I don't have a lot to comment on. Plus I think we're getting to the point where people accumulate them but don't really act on them, so they're almost a distraction more than a valuable way to feed information (not always clearly or accurately) to the players.
- I made sure my maps and notes are in order.
Next game is - tentatively - 2 weeks from today. We haven't confirmed it yet.
Saturday, February 3, 2024
Saturday Long Read: Lich Van Winkle on Story
If you've got a chunk of time (like, ACOUP blog post chunk of time), this is a worthy read:
Yes, you ARE telling a story.
But you aren't composing a novel or reading a script. (Not during an RPG session, anyway.)
As someone who lived through a lot of this - with "hack and slash" becoming pejorative, then back to "story" becoming pejorative, and numerous ricochets between, I was interested. It's a long read but worth the time.
These days I play loosely plotted, hack-and-slash games, but I'm okay with it being a story. Most of the dumb and fun setting details we have - Cornwood, the Iron Church, Dwarven as a dead language, etc. - emerged in play but provide the details to the story of the sack of Felltower that helps make it interesting. I don't go for backstory beyond a sentence, maybe two, but front story? Sure, it's not great literature or a prize-winning novel, but it's a story nonetheless. And my "war stories" posts tend to get a lot of hits and comments. Go figure. People want to follow along with the story of my minimally-plotted game. So this resonated with me.
Yes, you ARE telling a story.
But you aren't composing a novel or reading a script. (Not during an RPG session, anyway.)
As someone who lived through a lot of this - with "hack and slash" becoming pejorative, then back to "story" becoming pejorative, and numerous ricochets between, I was interested. It's a long read but worth the time.
These days I play loosely plotted, hack-and-slash games, but I'm okay with it being a story. Most of the dumb and fun setting details we have - Cornwood, the Iron Church, Dwarven as a dead language, etc. - emerged in play but provide the details to the story of the sack of Felltower that helps make it interesting. I don't go for backstory beyond a sentence, maybe two, but front story? Sure, it's not great literature or a prize-winning novel, but it's a story nonetheless. And my "war stories" posts tend to get a lot of hits and comments. Go figure. People want to follow along with the story of my minimally-plotted game. So this resonated with me.
Friday, February 2, 2024
Random Links for Friday 2/2/2024
Fun stuff from around the net and blogs. YMMV.
- This Jon Petersen post is fascinating - D&D turns 50, and hit points and to hit rolls turned 200.
- Nice Swordfish II model!
- I put an update in this Hasbro D&D IP post - basically, Hasbro denies this, according to PC Gamer. We'll see where it all ends up eventually.
- The Giant Groundhog of Felltower saw its Animated Shadow and it says early spring. I'm hoping we'll get some games in before the frost drops off.
- This Jon Petersen post is fascinating - D&D turns 50, and hit points and to hit rolls turned 200.
- Nice Swordfish II model!
- I put an update in this Hasbro D&D IP post - basically, Hasbro denies this, according to PC Gamer. We'll see where it all ends up eventually.
- The Giant Groundhog of Felltower saw its Animated Shadow and it says early spring. I'm hoping we'll get some games in before the frost drops off.
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Hasbro selling D&D IP?
This came up on my news feed:
Hasbro Seeks to Sell IP “DND” and Has Had Preliminary Contact with Tencent
Short version? Hasbro is trying to sell the D&D IP, and Tencent has a line on buying it.
I'm not sure what this would mean for WOTC, the 50th anniversary of D&D, and all of that, if true.
(Editing later: Tenkar has a take on it.)
(Editing on 2/1/2024: PCGamer says that Hasbro says they aren't selling.)
Hasbro Seeks to Sell IP “DND” and Has Had Preliminary Contact with Tencent
Short version? Hasbro is trying to sell the D&D IP, and Tencent has a line on buying it.
I'm not sure what this would mean for WOTC, the 50th anniversary of D&D, and all of that, if true.
(Editing later: Tenkar has a take on it.)
(Editing on 2/1/2024: PCGamer says that Hasbro says they aren't selling.)
Monday, January 29, 2024
Wayne's S2/S4/WG4 Playthroughs
I follow Wayne's Book's T2K blog . . . but I totally missed him doing playthroughs of three of my favorite old-school AD&D modules using D&D5.
Here is the first post for each of them:
S2 White Plume Mountain
WG4 Lost Temple of Tharizdun
S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
Each of of those three modules was hugely influential on me. How I run the bad guys in a coordinated fashion, and have real buried weirdness in hidden spots? WG4. How I make crazy magic items? S2, which I've also run for some of my current group. And for a direct lift of one level for my own game? S4.
Great stuff. I spent my free time reading through these today.
Here is the first post for each of them:
S2 White Plume Mountain
WG4 Lost Temple of Tharizdun
S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
Each of of those three modules was hugely influential on me. How I run the bad guys in a coordinated fashion, and have real buried weirdness in hidden spots? WG4. How I make crazy magic items? S2, which I've also run for some of my current group. And for a direct lift of one level for my own game? S4.
Great stuff. I spent my free time reading through these today.
Sunday, January 28, 2024
No Felltower Update
Sunday is my usual Felltower update day . . . but I'm fully ready for the next game, which was originally scheduled for today. It looks like it'll be more like 3 weeks from now thanks to Super Bowl Sunday, so no Felltower until then.
I'm still pondering the future of Felltower. There is a lot to do, but I'm not sure how much will get done. I've tried to put in some smaller encounters with sufficient loot that we don't need 7-8 players with 300 point characters to clear them . . . yet that's what the group wants in order to attempt them. If I cut down the danger level a bit, I expect they'll just sweep up multiples of them - ye olde bottom feeding problem, which comes with a loot-based XP system. I'm still pondering how to make sure this keeps working without, basically, providing assured loot for assured low risk, which isn't very Felltower. Hmm.
Anyway, thoughts don't translate into doing actual work on the dungeon, or a worthwhile update besides this.
I'm still pondering the future of Felltower. There is a lot to do, but I'm not sure how much will get done. I've tried to put in some smaller encounters with sufficient loot that we don't need 7-8 players with 300 point characters to clear them . . . yet that's what the group wants in order to attempt them. If I cut down the danger level a bit, I expect they'll just sweep up multiples of them - ye olde bottom feeding problem, which comes with a loot-based XP system. I'm still pondering how to make sure this keeps working without, basically, providing assured loot for assured low risk, which isn't very Felltower. Hmm.
Anyway, thoughts don't translate into doing actual work on the dungeon, or a worthwhile update besides this.
Saturday, January 27, 2024
Pathfinder: Kingmaker random notes
I'm still playing my LG playthrough of Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
How's it going?
- I cranked up the difficulty of the monsters a bit. I didn't increase the damage they do.
- Owlbears are pretty horrific foes. I've seen them knock down a 100 HP PC with a high AC in one turn. As in, straight from "fine" to "dead." And that's against a heavily buffed and maximally equipped PC.
- My favorite weirdness? I can show up tired to my capital, select "Support the (whichever advisor)'s Endeavors" and spend 14 days on that . . . and finish the task exactly the same amount of tired. Not more tired, not rested. Hah.
- Blindness spells are permanent. So if you fail to resist one, you need to have a cleric ready to cast a Remove Blindness. If you don't, you have to clear spells, rest, then go out in the wilderness and cast, and hope it works, and so on. I honestly checked off the rules option to make the game easier by removing such things on rest. It's cheap, in a way, but it's an annoying way to spend time memorizing spells and casting them over a few days of game time because some random bandit cast Blindness and my guy rolled a 1.
- Speaking of 1s, they come in runs. My hasted archer attacked 4x last fight and needed a 2 to hit on each one. He rolled four 1s. Okay. So that's like 1 in 16,000, right? It's happened multiple times. Also, critical hits do more damage but critical misses don't seem to do anything.
- Leveling up is cool, but man, it takes a lot of time to go through everyone's level up process, then pick spells to memorize, then rest so they can get those spells . . . I've leveled up and then said, screw this, I'll do it tomorrow and stopped playing for the day.
- I had an aritsan come to me and ask for 3 books. I had them all, because I always keep all books. I mean, I had them in my backpack. He asks for them, and leaves, and then I need to travel 22 hours to where he lives to bring them to him. Have to love scripted processes.
Still fun, especially now that I'm around level 8 so I don't spent so much time sucking against high-AC foes. Good time killer.
How's it going?
- I cranked up the difficulty of the monsters a bit. I didn't increase the damage they do.
- Owlbears are pretty horrific foes. I've seen them knock down a 100 HP PC with a high AC in one turn. As in, straight from "fine" to "dead." And that's against a heavily buffed and maximally equipped PC.
- My favorite weirdness? I can show up tired to my capital, select "Support the (whichever advisor)'s Endeavors" and spend 14 days on that . . . and finish the task exactly the same amount of tired. Not more tired, not rested. Hah.
- Blindness spells are permanent. So if you fail to resist one, you need to have a cleric ready to cast a Remove Blindness. If you don't, you have to clear spells, rest, then go out in the wilderness and cast, and hope it works, and so on. I honestly checked off the rules option to make the game easier by removing such things on rest. It's cheap, in a way, but it's an annoying way to spend time memorizing spells and casting them over a few days of game time because some random bandit cast Blindness and my guy rolled a 1.
- Speaking of 1s, they come in runs. My hasted archer attacked 4x last fight and needed a 2 to hit on each one. He rolled four 1s. Okay. So that's like 1 in 16,000, right? It's happened multiple times. Also, critical hits do more damage but critical misses don't seem to do anything.
- Leveling up is cool, but man, it takes a lot of time to go through everyone's level up process, then pick spells to memorize, then rest so they can get those spells . . . I've leveled up and then said, screw this, I'll do it tomorrow and stopped playing for the day.
- I had an aritsan come to me and ask for 3 books. I had them all, because I always keep all books. I mean, I had them in my backpack. He asks for them, and leaves, and then I need to travel 22 hours to where he lives to bring them to him. Have to love scripted processes.
Still fun, especially now that I'm around level 8 so I don't spent so much time sucking against high-AC foes. Good time killer.
Friday, January 26, 2024
Random Links for Friday 1/26/2024
So what don't you want to miss, in my opinion, for this week?
- CRPGs aren't a replacement for tabletop. Yeah, tell me about it. The number of times I've cleared a fort protected by intelligent, organized foes one encounter at a time with 8-10 hour rests in the middle in CRPGs is >0, in TTRPGs 0.
Computer RPGs Just Aren't . . .
- A blog on writing a fantasy gamebook? Interesting.
- This caught my eye mostly due to the tables . . . the dragon concept is suitably meta-weird.
- OD&D debuted, and effectively changed games, 50 years ago today.
You can get OD&D for all of $10 in PDF. It's an interesting read . . . worth plunking down the money and the time. I'm so glad I sprang for a physical copy way back when from Mail Order Hobby House.
- Goodman Games is launching a sequel to the very excellent DCC #67 Sailors on the Starless Sea.
- You can get Mordheim (the computer game) free on GOG for a little bit. I grabbed it, but I haven't played it yet, as I'm wrapped up in two other video games at the moment.
- No game Sunday after all. Next game is in maybe 3 weeks or so? We'll see.
- CRPGs aren't a replacement for tabletop. Yeah, tell me about it. The number of times I've cleared a fort protected by intelligent, organized foes one encounter at a time with 8-10 hour rests in the middle in CRPGs is >0, in TTRPGs 0.
Computer RPGs Just Aren't . . .
- A blog on writing a fantasy gamebook? Interesting.
- This caught my eye mostly due to the tables . . . the dragon concept is suitably meta-weird.
- OD&D debuted, and effectively changed games, 50 years ago today.
You can get OD&D for all of $10 in PDF. It's an interesting read . . . worth plunking down the money and the time. I'm so glad I sprang for a physical copy way back when from Mail Order Hobby House.
- Goodman Games is launching a sequel to the very excellent DCC #67 Sailors on the Starless Sea.
- You can get Mordheim (the computer game) free on GOG for a little bit. I grabbed it, but I haven't played it yet, as I'm wrapped up in two other video games at the moment.
- No game Sunday after all. Next game is in maybe 3 weeks or so? We'll see.
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Felltower Files Updates
Today, I did a few updates:
- I updated the Gazeteer
- I updated the monsters encountered list. It should be up to date.
- Next game is scheduled for Sunday but we have a few people out . . . we'll see if the others want to delve.
- I updated the Gazeteer
- I updated the monsters encountered list. It should be up to date.
- Next game is scheduled for Sunday but we have a few people out . . . we'll see if the others want to delve.
Monday, January 22, 2024
Sunday, January 21, 2024
Magic Loot of Felltower, the Cold Fens, Lost City, and the Caves of Chaos
Out of curiousity, I decided to pull a list of all of the magic items I have marked down as being taken out. I removed common consumables from the list. Many of these were sold, others lost in the dungeons, some taken by PCs that have since retired, and still more are just . . . gone . . . because no one kept track of them.
A few notes:
- This might be missing a few items I overlooked as I passed through looking for bolded, strikethrough items.
- This is just for information purposes. I won't answer to the current location or disposition of these. A good number of them were sold, though, and more are back in the dungeon thanks to people dying there.
- I do expect some of my players to read this and want more information. This is it.
- I left on the oddball potions and the best of the healing potions, and the scrolls. I don't really put in many scrolls.
All that said, what's been pulled from the dungeons?
11 thonged spears, SM-1 - Penetrating Weapon (3), Puissance +1 (both only when thrown, one shot)
Black-painted star-motif Light Shield - Deflect +1, Lighten 25%, Fine
14 Arrows +1/+1
Fine Brass Knuckles, +1 Puissance
Fine Balanced Dwarven Mace, Puissance +1
3 Undead Hunting Talismans (see Demon Hunter's Tassals)
Bat-winged fine greathelm (Fortify +2) (treat as Ornate +2)
Long Bow (ST 17, Elven, Accuracy +1)
Two vials of Thieves’ Oil
Meteoric small falchion
Scroll (Wizardly; Charged, skill 18, Jump 5, Heat 5 cycles)
Hooded Robe of Protection (blue, with silver and gold stars on it) enchanted with Fortify +2 (DR 4) and Clean (easily cleaned).
Fine staff w/Staff
8 blocks of Incense of Meditation
1 Fire Fountain
Potion of Great Heal
Potion of Gaseous Form
Wand of ice daggers (21 charges, no recharge)
Fine Dwarven greataxe (Accuracy +2, Puissance +2)
Minor Ring of Wishing (appears to be a gold ring with three diamonds. As a Great Wish, but only about 1/3 power - equal to a 300-point spell casting, diamonds disappear as wishes are used, last wish turns ring to lead)
Deadly Ring (special, see file - appears to be a gold ring worth 800 sp) (Also in DFT3)
Iron Ring of Endurance (DF8, pg. 38 - 1750 sp, holds 6 FP)
Amulet of Fireballs (DF1, 10 uses, 7200 sp, 0.25 lbs.)
Gem of True Healing
Clerical Scroll (charged, skill 15) of Restoration
Cleric Scroll (charged, skill 15) of Great Heal
1 Hero’s Brew
Dwarf-sized Scale Armor (Lighten 50%, Fortify +3)
Four blocks Incense of Choking
A beaker of potions (Healing - dispenses 1 major healing potion per day, until 15 potions have been dispensed)
Shortsword (Fine, Accuracy +1, Puissance +1)
Wand of Electricity (5 charges left)
Flying carpet (one man size, Move 15, max 200 lbs)
Potion of plant control
Sterick's Armor
Magebane
Shieldslayer
Boots of Walk on Air
Scroll of Protection from Weapons
Potion of Giant’s Strength
Potion of Treasure Finding
Ring of Animal Friendship +2
Sigurd’s Sword (aka Balmung, aka Gram)
Dueling Halberd (Dwarven, Balanced, Accuracy +1, Puissance +1)
Lightning glove
Wand of Fireballs
Transparency Potion
Amulet of Shapeshift Other (Fish)
Fine Thrusting Greatsword Puissance +1
Belt of Might +3
Staff of Healing
Sling (Made out of fine leather, Accuracy +1)
Headband of Mind Shielding
Salamander Amulet
Fine SM+1 Mail with Fortify +3 and Lighten 50%
SM+1 Axe Accuracy +1 and Puissance +1
SM+1 Broadsword Accuracy +1 and Puissance +1
Valmar's Sword (Fine Balanced Longsword with Puissance +2, Continual Light,)
Laccodel’s Rune
Elf-sized heavy elven mail Fortify +2
Bronze Corselet Fortify +1
Cornucopia Quiver of Arrows
Bottomless Purse
Mythic Corselet (Spiritual)
Fine Thrusting Broadsword w/Puissance+1
Necklace of the serpent (a silver necklace with a green jade symbol of two snakes facing each other over a rising sun.)
Crystal Ball (+2, 20,000 sp 4” ball, $40,000 with enchantment)
6 Javelins of Shock
5 Javelins of Penetration
7 Javelins of Fire
Scroll (Cursed, inflicts a fatal fungal disease, die in 0+HT days, resists healing with skill 20)
Scroll (4 wizard spells, charged, skill 15 – Aura, x 4)
Iron Lamp
Fine Thrusting Broadsword, Puissance +1, Flaming Weapon
Scroll of explosive fireball 6d6 (charged!)
6 arrows +1/+1
Protection from Good Supernatural Powers amulet +3
Balanced Fine Spear (Puissance +1)
Light Plate (+1 Fortify, 75% Lighten, Ornate +1)
Medium Iron Shield (+1 Deflect, 50% Lighten, Ornate +1) (with big demon face carved into it)
Gold and Silver Amulet of Evil: 10 FP power item, gives wearer +3 vs. Good Supernatural Powers and Deflect +1 vs. Holy attacks and acts as +2 Holy Symbol.
In it are a suit of Vineshield, two Clouds of Fire Potion of Puissance
Luck Charm (One shot Luck, then it becomes dust)
Potion of Great Healing
Mana Gout potion
Hero’s Brew potion
Bracers of Shock
Clerical Scroll of Resist Disease-20, Stop Paralysis-20, and Banish-20
Ring of Strong Will
Fine Silvered Huge Machete w/Demonhunter Talisman on hilt (3750 sp, 4.5 lns)
4 vials of Oil of Puissance
Ebony Death Goddess Statuette
Necros’s Finger
Hooded Robe of Protection w/Fortify +3
Helm of Command
Targe of the Tiger
Black Knife is Fine, non-metallic (it’s obsidian), Shatterproofed, Puissance +1
Hooded Robes of Protection with Fortify +1
Several suits of Magescale
Universal Sword
Ring of Protection
Staff of Nature
A few notes:
- This might be missing a few items I overlooked as I passed through looking for bolded, strikethrough items.
- This is just for information purposes. I won't answer to the current location or disposition of these. A good number of them were sold, though, and more are back in the dungeon thanks to people dying there.
- I do expect some of my players to read this and want more information. This is it.
- I left on the oddball potions and the best of the healing potions, and the scrolls. I don't really put in many scrolls.
All that said, what's been pulled from the dungeons?
11 thonged spears, SM-1 - Penetrating Weapon (3), Puissance +1 (both only when thrown, one shot)
Black-painted star-motif Light Shield - Deflect +1, Lighten 25%, Fine
14 Arrows +1/+1
Fine Brass Knuckles, +1 Puissance
Fine Balanced Dwarven Mace, Puissance +1
3 Undead Hunting Talismans (see Demon Hunter's Tassals)
Bat-winged fine greathelm (Fortify +2) (treat as Ornate +2)
Long Bow (ST 17, Elven, Accuracy +1)
Two vials of Thieves’ Oil
Meteoric small falchion
Scroll (Wizardly; Charged, skill 18, Jump 5, Heat 5 cycles)
Hooded Robe of Protection (blue, with silver and gold stars on it) enchanted with Fortify +2 (DR 4) and Clean (easily cleaned).
Fine staff w/Staff
8 blocks of Incense of Meditation
1 Fire Fountain
Potion of Great Heal
Potion of Gaseous Form
Wand of ice daggers (21 charges, no recharge)
Fine Dwarven greataxe (Accuracy +2, Puissance +2)
Minor Ring of Wishing (appears to be a gold ring with three diamonds. As a Great Wish, but only about 1/3 power - equal to a 300-point spell casting, diamonds disappear as wishes are used, last wish turns ring to lead)
Deadly Ring (special, see file - appears to be a gold ring worth 800 sp) (Also in DFT3)
Iron Ring of Endurance (DF8, pg. 38 - 1750 sp, holds 6 FP)
Amulet of Fireballs (DF1, 10 uses, 7200 sp, 0.25 lbs.)
Gem of True Healing
Clerical Scroll (charged, skill 15) of Restoration
Cleric Scroll (charged, skill 15) of Great Heal
1 Hero’s Brew
Dwarf-sized Scale Armor (Lighten 50%, Fortify +3)
Four blocks Incense of Choking
A beaker of potions (Healing - dispenses 1 major healing potion per day, until 15 potions have been dispensed)
Shortsword (Fine, Accuracy +1, Puissance +1)
Wand of Electricity (5 charges left)
Flying carpet (one man size, Move 15, max 200 lbs)
Potion of plant control
Sterick's Armor
Magebane
Shieldslayer
Boots of Walk on Air
Scroll of Protection from Weapons
Potion of Giant’s Strength
Potion of Treasure Finding
Ring of Animal Friendship +2
Sigurd’s Sword (aka Balmung, aka Gram)
Dueling Halberd (Dwarven, Balanced, Accuracy +1, Puissance +1)
Lightning glove
Wand of Fireballs
Transparency Potion
Amulet of Shapeshift Other (Fish)
Fine Thrusting Greatsword Puissance +1
Belt of Might +3
Staff of Healing
Sling (Made out of fine leather, Accuracy +1)
Headband of Mind Shielding
Salamander Amulet
Fine SM+1 Mail with Fortify +3 and Lighten 50%
SM+1 Axe Accuracy +1 and Puissance +1
SM+1 Broadsword Accuracy +1 and Puissance +1
Valmar's Sword (Fine Balanced Longsword with Puissance +2, Continual Light,)
Laccodel’s Rune
Elf-sized heavy elven mail Fortify +2
Bronze Corselet Fortify +1
Cornucopia Quiver of Arrows
Bottomless Purse
Mythic Corselet (Spiritual)
Fine Thrusting Broadsword w/Puissance+1
Necklace of the serpent (a silver necklace with a green jade symbol of two snakes facing each other over a rising sun.)
Crystal Ball (+2, 20,000 sp 4” ball, $40,000 with enchantment)
6 Javelins of Shock
5 Javelins of Penetration
7 Javelins of Fire
Scroll (Cursed, inflicts a fatal fungal disease, die in 0+HT days, resists healing with skill 20)
Scroll (4 wizard spells, charged, skill 15 – Aura, x 4)
Iron Lamp
Fine Thrusting Broadsword, Puissance +1, Flaming Weapon
Scroll of explosive fireball 6d6 (charged!)
6 arrows +1/+1
Protection from Good Supernatural Powers amulet +3
Balanced Fine Spear (Puissance +1)
Light Plate (+1 Fortify, 75% Lighten, Ornate +1)
Medium Iron Shield (+1 Deflect, 50% Lighten, Ornate +1) (with big demon face carved into it)
Gold and Silver Amulet of Evil: 10 FP power item, gives wearer +3 vs. Good Supernatural Powers and Deflect +1 vs. Holy attacks and acts as +2 Holy Symbol.
In it are a suit of Vineshield, two Clouds of Fire Potion of Puissance
Luck Charm (One shot Luck, then it becomes dust)
Potion of Great Healing
Mana Gout potion
Hero’s Brew potion
Bracers of Shock
Clerical Scroll of Resist Disease-20, Stop Paralysis-20, and Banish-20
Ring of Strong Will
Fine Silvered Huge Machete w/Demonhunter Talisman on hilt (3750 sp, 4.5 lns)
4 vials of Oil of Puissance
Ebony Death Goddess Statuette
Necros’s Finger
Hooded Robe of Protection w/Fortify +3
Helm of Command
Targe of the Tiger
Black Knife is Fine, non-metallic (it’s obsidian), Shatterproofed, Puissance +1
Hooded Robes of Protection with Fortify +1
Several suits of Magescale
Universal Sword
Ring of Protection
Staff of Nature
Friday, January 19, 2024
Links for Friday 1/19/2024
Just a few links today.
- Low-powered GURPS magic for a new campaign.
- OD&D as the Fountainhead.
- Sleeping dragons
Have to love the assumption that dragons have epic hoards, but often are sound freaking asleep on them.
- Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Comes to Devastating End After 30 Years
Okay, so a campaign reset off a "tpk." Interesting reset in any case. I've heard of similar, before - one of my friends played in a Rolemaster campaign set in the world after the previous players lost vs. the BBEG. Seemed pretty cool.
- Low-powered GURPS magic for a new campaign.
- OD&D as the Fountainhead.
- Sleeping dragons
Have to love the assumption that dragons have epic hoards, but often are sound freaking asleep on them.
- Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Comes to Devastating End After 30 Years
Okay, so a campaign reset off a "tpk." Interesting reset in any case. I've heard of similar, before - one of my friends played in a Rolemaster campaign set in the world after the previous players lost vs. the BBEG. Seemed pretty cool.
Thursday, January 18, 2024
A Portable Bridge for DF Felltower
My players, like the original group back in the days of Raggi's Roughnecks, want to build a bridge.
Sadly, the notes about the cost and weight of that bridge are gone - they're not on the blog that I can find, and I can't find any notes in my email that details the cost. I know it was based on a GURPS Low-Tech ladder, but more costly. One of my players started there.
A wooden ladder costs $10 and 2.5 lbs x the square of the length in yards. So a 24' ladder is $640 and 160 lbs. By my figuring, a ladder isn't quite the tool for the job . . . and isn't designed to lay flat with a potentially heavy weight (say, a knight or barbarian carrying a fallen friend, or a pair of delvers with a heavy chest or stretcher between them) right in the middle.
So I just double the numbers to $20 and 5 lbs, ending up with $1280 and 320 lbs for a 24' portable bridge, with minimal spacing between planks, side rails, carrying handles, and loops on the ends to fit over iron spikes to keep it from shifting. It's a two-person job at least to carry it, four is better, and it's potentially looped for six to carry it.
Those are the stats I'm going with unless someone can provide me with specs that make sense and an explanation of why that is so. "That seems expensive and heavy" isn't convincing. It's a custom job, since there isn't much call for man-portable 24' briges in general situations, and the weigh doesn't seem crazy for a reinforced bridge designed for heavy loads. If someone else knows better I'm all ears, but I'll need something to back up the numbers.
Sadly, the notes about the cost and weight of that bridge are gone - they're not on the blog that I can find, and I can't find any notes in my email that details the cost. I know it was based on a GURPS Low-Tech ladder, but more costly. One of my players started there.
A wooden ladder costs $10 and 2.5 lbs x the square of the length in yards. So a 24' ladder is $640 and 160 lbs. By my figuring, a ladder isn't quite the tool for the job . . . and isn't designed to lay flat with a potentially heavy weight (say, a knight or barbarian carrying a fallen friend, or a pair of delvers with a heavy chest or stretcher between them) right in the middle.
So I just double the numbers to $20 and 5 lbs, ending up with $1280 and 320 lbs for a 24' portable bridge, with minimal spacing between planks, side rails, carrying handles, and loops on the ends to fit over iron spikes to keep it from shifting. It's a two-person job at least to carry it, four is better, and it's potentially looped for six to carry it.
Those are the stats I'm going with unless someone can provide me with specs that make sense and an explanation of why that is so. "That seems expensive and heavy" isn't convincing. It's a custom job, since there isn't much call for man-portable 24' briges in general situations, and the weigh doesn't seem crazy for a reinforced bridge designed for heavy loads. If someone else knows better I'm all ears, but I'll need something to back up the numbers.
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Pathfinder: Kingmaker again
I'm not sure why . . . but I got sucked back into Pathfinder: Kingmaker yesterday. I had a little time, decided to see where I was with my last LG Paladin save game . . . and spent a few hours playing through it.
Even with the repeated playthroughs (this is #3, if you count my LE Monk who's on the last stage but not complete as a full playthrough), the game is still fun. I'm not masochistic enough to play it as a chaotic character, choose bad advisors and inflict random harm, mostly because that gives so many sub-optimal results. But it's interesting to go for the "best" ending with regards to one of the big NPC interactions in the game.
I need a little distraction from other work . . . and this fit the bill. I'd be at Vice City except I needed something I could pause a lot while doing other things, or I'd be going all Vercetti during my spare time.
Even with the repeated playthroughs (this is #3, if you count my LE Monk who's on the last stage but not complete as a full playthrough), the game is still fun. I'm not masochistic enough to play it as a chaotic character, choose bad advisors and inflict random harm, mostly because that gives so many sub-optimal results. But it's interesting to go for the "best" ending with regards to one of the big NPC interactions in the game.
I need a little distraction from other work . . . and this fit the bill. I'd be at Vice City except I needed something I could pause a lot while doing other things, or I'd be going all Vercetti during my spare time.
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
More notes on Session 190 - and Felltower in General
More notes on Session 190.
- I'm not saying this very old rumor is true, but I'm not saying it's not true, either. I'm just saying that, it's been said that "If you kill a troll with fire, it’ll come back as a ghost troll. You need to kill them with acid."
- The PCs pretty much mauled, probably killed, a pudding thorugh a lot of melee damage and some fire damage. The tough bit with oozes, slimes, puddings, and jellies in my experience is that in D&D there are special ways to kill them . . . and in GURPS, most of those ways suck against oozes, slimes, puddings, and jellies. Also, they tend to have other resistances on top of that. I don't blame the players for trying, but Sean Punch didn't program in a lot of easy ways to deal with his monsters.
Ultimately, they're a mix of predators and scavengers, and Felltower has plenty of places for both.
- The PCs had to deal with several entrances that have suffered from prior play.
The bugbear caves? My notes say Dryst collapsed that.
The well? The PCs used it to raid the orcs and helped damage it, and the orcs took care to block it off from there.
The main entrance? A mix of PCs, hobgoblins, orcs, PCs, other monsters, and PCs have mauled, mangled, and damaged the entrance until it's like it is. They narrowly voted against breaking the locks on the remaining intact door to make it easier to get in. That might be true, or it might not. Time will tell.
The spiral stairs down? It was locked by no fault of the PCs, honestly, although careful reading of the rumors, the game logs, and checking the dungeon might explain what happened. I'll admit I know the answer and the clues are quite weak - they weren't meant to be such. Anyway, there is a clue in an earlier delve how this ended up all rusted up and destroyed.
The cave mouth? The PCs don't want to go for the chimera and stone bull without a couple specific additional characters.
The river entrance? Rarely spoken of, probably because it goes so deep into Felltower that no one is sure what "level" that is.
Tough go, getting into Felltower these days. I've said that I should have made it more accessible but the PCs closed half of the entrances through their own intentions of making it easier to get in. Ironic.
- Nothing like a pointless fight to discourage exploration. In a way, that's what Wandering Monsters are for. I'm sure some of my players see them as a Fun Tax. They're mostly intended as a Don't Mess Around and Don't Brute Force Through Doors and Walls Tax. And a dose of logical consequence. The game is on Hard Mode after all. Still . . . I get the frustration of fruitless encounters. But I'm not sure from my side of the screen how to deal with frustration causing the PCs to derail their plans. Fruitless fights cost game time, and naturally the goal should be to avoid them rather than engage in them. Not always possible - the trolls came after the PCs, not the other way around - but it can be. Even if I took wandering monsters out, well, the PCs literally walked into the pudding and crushroom "lairs." It's tough to make fights appropriately difficult but always enjoyable to engage in and yet not all just be loot pinatas that reward fighting everything and anything.
I tried just giving extra XP for deeper exploration but the PCs speed-ran all the levels they can easily access to get them all in one session. I don't think there is another good way to encourage exploration of deeper levels or genuinely new areas beyond just giving XP for doing so.
The start-and-end in town thing also eats up time . . . but we've played that way for years and still had significant exploration of levels deeper than 1-3, and some gate transits that forced extensions.
- More than once, I've been asked, "Are we really going to sit here and ______ or can we fast-forward it?" Usually this is, "and roll to bash this door down" or "calculate how long it takes to dig out this well/through this wall/down to another level/shift earth into the dungeon/shift earth out of the dungeon" or something like that.
The default answer is YES. Yes, 100%. Especially if it's time spent digging, building, shaping, bashing, or otherwise dealing with obstacles with brute force and FP powered by casters using Lend Energy to keep laborers going or laborers getting energy siphoned off to keep casters going. I'm not fast forwarding things meant to avoid exploring dungeons and fighting monsters. I will always, always, always volunteer to speed things up that need to be sped up, or which will have no interruptions or consequences for failure. I'll just do it. No need to ask - the answer will be no, we're not speeding it up.
- All in all, this seemed like a fun session to me, but then it ended with an unhappy group after blundering into the pudding.
- I'm not saying this very old rumor is true, but I'm not saying it's not true, either. I'm just saying that, it's been said that "If you kill a troll with fire, it’ll come back as a ghost troll. You need to kill them with acid."
- The PCs pretty much mauled, probably killed, a pudding thorugh a lot of melee damage and some fire damage. The tough bit with oozes, slimes, puddings, and jellies in my experience is that in D&D there are special ways to kill them . . . and in GURPS, most of those ways suck against oozes, slimes, puddings, and jellies. Also, they tend to have other resistances on top of that. I don't blame the players for trying, but Sean Punch didn't program in a lot of easy ways to deal with his monsters.
Ultimately, they're a mix of predators and scavengers, and Felltower has plenty of places for both.
- The PCs had to deal with several entrances that have suffered from prior play.
The bugbear caves? My notes say Dryst collapsed that.
The well? The PCs used it to raid the orcs and helped damage it, and the orcs took care to block it off from there.
The main entrance? A mix of PCs, hobgoblins, orcs, PCs, other monsters, and PCs have mauled, mangled, and damaged the entrance until it's like it is. They narrowly voted against breaking the locks on the remaining intact door to make it easier to get in. That might be true, or it might not. Time will tell.
The spiral stairs down? It was locked by no fault of the PCs, honestly, although careful reading of the rumors, the game logs, and checking the dungeon might explain what happened. I'll admit I know the answer and the clues are quite weak - they weren't meant to be such. Anyway, there is a clue in an earlier delve how this ended up all rusted up and destroyed.
The cave mouth? The PCs don't want to go for the chimera and stone bull without a couple specific additional characters.
The river entrance? Rarely spoken of, probably because it goes so deep into Felltower that no one is sure what "level" that is.
Tough go, getting into Felltower these days. I've said that I should have made it more accessible but the PCs closed half of the entrances through their own intentions of making it easier to get in. Ironic.
- Nothing like a pointless fight to discourage exploration. In a way, that's what Wandering Monsters are for. I'm sure some of my players see them as a Fun Tax. They're mostly intended as a Don't Mess Around and Don't Brute Force Through Doors and Walls Tax. And a dose of logical consequence. The game is on Hard Mode after all. Still . . . I get the frustration of fruitless encounters. But I'm not sure from my side of the screen how to deal with frustration causing the PCs to derail their plans. Fruitless fights cost game time, and naturally the goal should be to avoid them rather than engage in them. Not always possible - the trolls came after the PCs, not the other way around - but it can be. Even if I took wandering monsters out, well, the PCs literally walked into the pudding and crushroom "lairs." It's tough to make fights appropriately difficult but always enjoyable to engage in and yet not all just be loot pinatas that reward fighting everything and anything.
I tried just giving extra XP for deeper exploration but the PCs speed-ran all the levels they can easily access to get them all in one session. I don't think there is another good way to encourage exploration of deeper levels or genuinely new areas beyond just giving XP for doing so.
The start-and-end in town thing also eats up time . . . but we've played that way for years and still had significant exploration of levels deeper than 1-3, and some gate transits that forced extensions.
- More than once, I've been asked, "Are we really going to sit here and ______ or can we fast-forward it?" Usually this is, "and roll to bash this door down" or "calculate how long it takes to dig out this well/through this wall/down to another level/shift earth into the dungeon/shift earth out of the dungeon" or something like that.
The default answer is YES. Yes, 100%. Especially if it's time spent digging, building, shaping, bashing, or otherwise dealing with obstacles with brute force and FP powered by casters using Lend Energy to keep laborers going or laborers getting energy siphoned off to keep casters going. I'm not fast forwarding things meant to avoid exploring dungeons and fighting monsters. I will always, always, always volunteer to speed things up that need to be sped up, or which will have no interruptions or consequences for failure. I'll just do it. No need to ask - the answer will be no, we're not speeding it up.
- All in all, this seemed like a fun session to me, but then it ended with an unhappy group after blundering into the pudding.
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