Getting started off on 2025's weekly comments and links.
- Rob has been up to a lot at Bat in the Attic Games.
- I don't include enough corrupt law enforcers in my fantasy games. Not by half. Not after reading this post about some.
- An Acoup post about gold coins? Hell yes. I tend to over-think my coins in fantasy games.
- The first RPG published in 2025? Periapt Games seems to have a good claim on that.
And I posted a fair bit this week, in the lulls around the holiday.
Friday, January 3, 2025
Thursday, January 2, 2025
GURPS & the clunkiness of Chinks in Armor
First off, I think the name is clunky. "Chinks in Armor?" We don't say "Eyeslits of Helm" or "Vital Parts of Torso." I'd go with Armor Gaps. Sure, that implies a lack of armor, not reduced armor, but chinks doesn't imply reduced armor, either. So, Armor Gaps for me.
Second, while I can appreciate the symmetry of -8 for Torso, -10 for elsewhere, my players generally stumble over the lack of penalties for a hit location. One idea I've toyed with is -8 plus half the location penalty rounded down. So torso -8, neck -10, arms and legs -9, hands and feet -10 . . of course, that makes eyeslits of a helm -12, not -10 . . . but hey, it's DF, I don't care, people start with a 20 in combat skills.
Third, I think there needs to be additional specific exemptions:
- doesn't affect Fine armor
- some locations/armors may lack gaps (I'm thinking invisible bucket helms, say, or the vitals in general)
- I don't allow this on eyeslits or vitals at all with swing/impaling or swing/piercing weapons. I just don't buy it due to the angles involved.
Second, while I can appreciate the symmetry of -8 for Torso, -10 for elsewhere, my players generally stumble over the lack of penalties for a hit location. One idea I've toyed with is -8 plus half the location penalty rounded down. So torso -8, neck -10, arms and legs -9, hands and feet -10 . . of course, that makes eyeslits of a helm -12, not -10 . . . but hey, it's DF, I don't care, people start with a 20 in combat skills.
Third, I think there needs to be additional specific exemptions:
- doesn't affect Fine armor
- some locations/armors may lack gaps (I'm thinking invisible bucket helms, say, or the vitals in general)
- I don't allow this on eyeslits or vitals at all with swing/impaling or swing/piercing weapons. I just don't buy it due to the angles involved.
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Images from Session 202
Here are the two enemies the PCs are facing in the Brotherhood Complex.
Mechanical Knight of Cornwood - a somewhat unreliable but formidable construct. Cheaper to make than most golems for this level of ability, but their speedy contruction has a cost in reliability.
These are straight-up statting up of a favorite mini of mine - a Tom Meier-scultped Ral Partha Mechanical Knight. I have a mounted one, as well, so beware, PCs!
Iron Witch of Cornwood - the inventor of the Mechanical Knight, one of the fractious Cornwoodian nobles who chafe at the iron-handed rule of King Titanius Anglesmith.
The Iron Witch is actually a mini painted by my sister. I had an enamel paint set from some model set, and she proceeded to use those to paint one of my TSR minis from set 5303 Magic Users and Illusionists. But we didn't have anything resembling flesh color - it was a set of vehicle colors. So she just didn't paint that. I kept the mini as-is, spray-sealed it, and put an "Iron Witch" in my GURPS campaign when I started to use minis again. She was a distant figure in that game - and was possibly responsible for giving the rapier Malice (see DFT3) to a swashbuckler type PC. I made her a bad guy in the Felltower world because she was an ideal match for the Ral Partha mini.
I loved the idea of an iron golem wizard, especially one that either a) was human, and made herself into an iron golem, or b) was always a golem. In the previous game, it was option a. In this one, it's likely that she's just a willful golem who has improved herself into a master wizard. A true self-made woman!
And why do we call them robots, and pronounce it robut? Here is Chop demonstrating his expertise in First Aid (Human) vs. Hidden Lore (Construct) . . .
Mechanical Knight of Cornwood - a somewhat unreliable but formidable construct. Cheaper to make than most golems for this level of ability, but their speedy contruction has a cost in reliability.
These are straight-up statting up of a favorite mini of mine - a Tom Meier-scultped Ral Partha Mechanical Knight. I have a mounted one, as well, so beware, PCs!
Iron Witch of Cornwood - the inventor of the Mechanical Knight, one of the fractious Cornwoodian nobles who chafe at the iron-handed rule of King Titanius Anglesmith.
The Iron Witch is actually a mini painted by my sister. I had an enamel paint set from some model set, and she proceeded to use those to paint one of my TSR minis from set 5303 Magic Users and Illusionists. But we didn't have anything resembling flesh color - it was a set of vehicle colors. So she just didn't paint that. I kept the mini as-is, spray-sealed it, and put an "Iron Witch" in my GURPS campaign when I started to use minis again. She was a distant figure in that game - and was possibly responsible for giving the rapier Malice (see DFT3) to a swashbuckler type PC. I made her a bad guy in the Felltower world because she was an ideal match for the Ral Partha mini.
I loved the idea of an iron golem wizard, especially one that either a) was human, and made herself into an iron golem, or b) was always a golem. In the previous game, it was option a. In this one, it's likely that she's just a willful golem who has improved herself into a master wizard. A true self-made woman!
And why do we call them robots, and pronounce it robut? Here is Chop demonstrating his expertise in First Aid (Human) vs. Hidden Lore (Construct) . . .
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