Monday, March 10, 2025

Rules & Rulings from DF Session 206

Two quick notes from last session.

How does healing, etc. work with the odd downtime?

The PCs didn't go through a gate, but a lot of time elapsed. In game, the PCs finished their delve December 12th/13th, and we finished the session March 9th. Healing - and weapon and armor repair - dates from that time. No one sits around not healing. Fixing gear is the same to me as healing.

Enchantments and special orders, though, happen from 3/9/25. It's a sanity-saving device where I can date from my actual emails and notes when something was ordered. Letting people back-order means I have to be stricter with travel time, rest time, etc. and it rewards people who count the days and buy accordingly. I just don't love that aspect of the game in the first place enough to add more of it on top.

Re-assembling armor

I ruled that re-assembling the suit of mail they'd found was a simple task of lots of time, and the Armoury (Body Armor) skill. Thor will learn it and assemble the suit. Costs are minimal - it probably should be 5%-ish of the cost of a suit - but the container did say it contained everyone for a suit.

The players wanted to know if they could re-assemble the suit into a dwarf-sized suit of mail instead of human, since both are SM 0. No. The armor is fine, and thus exactly tailored to a specific build. You can't just swap pieces. This is mail, so I get the idea that you can just move rings from here to there, and here to there, and so on, but a) I'm not sure that would actually realistically work, b) fine says no, and c) it seems iffy to claim that mail armor is just a square footage that is totally fungible into new shapes. Same with making "adjustments" to a different size - at that point, you're paying a substantial premium to have the armor rebuilt and extra, matching quality/enchantment pieces need to be made. In this case, that's Fine, Elven, and Fortify 3. Not cheap, not by a long shot. Better to just put it on one of the humans that it will already fit.

Sunday, March 9, 2025

GURPS DF Session 206, Brotherhood Complex 8 - Raid, Part VI - Exploring & Looting

Actual Date: 3/9/2025
Game Date: 12/12/2024
Weather: Cold, clear, dry.

Characters
Chop, human cleric (301 points)
      Brother Quinn, human initiate (125 points)
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (335 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (316 points)
      Amlaric, human squire (125 points)
Persistance Montgomery (303 point knight)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (306 points)
      Leon the Eye, human archer (125 points)
      Aaron, Brandon, Cedric, Dortmund, Ernie, Ferd, Grunlark, and Hansel, human guards (62 points)
      Bullworth and Oxford, human laborers (62 points)
      Honest Charles LeGrand, human squire (125 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (298 points)

We picked up where we left off last time.

The PCs carefully moved through the Iron Witch's room, finding a series of rough tunnels behind one door. They eventually found they all were dead ends each to a covered spyhole out into the hallway. They tossed the main room, taking a framed picture they believed was of the King of Cornwood (it wasn't), moved furniture, etc. All they found of interest was a book stand with a snapped-off chain on it - whatever book was there had been very recently torn off the podium and removed.

They went where the Iron Witch had to have gone - another side door they'd briefly explored past and then returned from. That turned out to lead to a "treasury" - an alchmical lab, a workbench oilstained and scarred up from metalworking on the top, some food, and coffers and urns. They found a big haul of gems, some gold, silver, and copper coins, some rings, a suit of unassembled magical mail, and sone food. Oh, and some purple lotus flower dust - a hallucinogenic that also makes the taker very susceptible to suggestion.

They organized it up, sealed the clay urn with candle wax to keep the drugs in, and carried it out to their wounded compariots. They also found a second set of stairs down, right near the Iron Witch's room, behind a secret door revealed by See Secrets. They went to their wounded friends and spent a bit of time healing them up. That done, they carried their loot, their fallen friends, and what they could pull off the cultist wizards (paut and a few Hooded Robes of Protection) and headed ot the surface.

There, they set a few of their men guarding the camp, took two guards - Ferd and Aaron - and Brother Quinn, and headed back in.

They spent the rest of the delve exploring the third level underground. Most notably, they found the "junk room" where a previous group had struggled with some demon grunts, the torture chamber where a previous group had fought some torturers, a couple of rooms redolent with the smell of the incense they'd found above, and a demonic temple.

The temple was incomplete. The altar had a blood-caked obsidian knife and silver (or silvered) cup, and showed some heavy use . . . but nothing recent. Some statues nearby showed signs of having held . . . something . . . that was missing. None of it was magical - it was the tools needed to make a summoning easier, but not enough to summon without just flat-out casting Summon Demon. It was Low Sanctity, as well. Chop surmised (correctly, in the end) that there was an older cult of demon-worshippers or demonic servants, and the Brotherhood had moved in long after and used the temple area and the hallucinogenic drugs to condition their recruits until they were solid believers.

Further exploration found many sets of robes for the brotherhood, but also a study area, and a long-disused set of cult paraphenalia - a silver mask, an onyx ring, an ebony staff with an onyx head, and iron knife, and a black robe unlike that of the Brotherhood. The mask, looked at from the front, was an odd mix of demon and babboon. From the left, it appeared more babboon-like. From the right, more wolf-like. "Demogorgon!" they agreed, but luckily only a couple times out loud . . . and nothing came of it.

They took the ring, shredded the robe, broke the knife, and snapped the skull off the staff. Thor rolled up the solid silver mask like a frying pan in a strongman show, and Percy helped pound it into a lump they could sell for its weight in silver. Beyond this area were "natural" caves . . . with many bones of animals and some humans and human-like bones as well. Nothing complete . . . but a lot. Vlad decided things came in here to die. Yeah, no one else saw it that way. They wanted out before whatever was killing things made an appearance. They headed out.

What followed was a lot of exploration. Just going around looking for the wizard's room - they didn't find it - and anything else. They found stairs up that led eventually to an illusionary wall right near the entrance. They also found an armory/storage room. They took some weapons, but left the old construction materials they found that matched those used for the temple area.

In the end, that's about all they found - they never found the gnoll's rest area, where the two plate-armored cultist leaders stayed, or where the wizard's stayed. They jsut got tired of going round and round and headed out.

In the end they did take some serious loot - it worked out to almost $10K each - and put down the Brotherhood in this place. The Iron Witch, though, and that one wizard cultist got away, and they never figured out exactly how. They're currently in Stericksburg, recovering and plotting their next moves.

Notes:

A rare no-combat session. Not a single blow aimed in the session. We spent a good chunk of time in combat time, though - maybe 2 1/2 hours? - as the PCs were stalking what they thought was a carefully hiding Iron Witch. They weren't willing to break off pursuit until it became clear they could not and would not find her.

MVP was Chop for caring for the NPCs and his very helpful See Secrets spell.

The PCs are already talking about going back and mapping the complex to ensure they found everything. We'll see if that's the plan for next session or not. It'll be a few weeks from now, and many weeks from the delve they just completed.

Friday, March 7, 2025

Friday Night Fun - 3/7/2025

The usual fun for Friday!

- I stumbled on this video on YouTube of a military vet on the Warlord demo team showing off a setup for Bolt Action. Looks beautiful.

- I purchased Skald: Against the Black Priory. It was on sale for like $9 all in, so I got it. I figured if I disliked it, I'd return it. The videos of gameplay I saw seemed okay. It's actually a lot more fun than it looks, although it can be hard to read the text. Worth the money for a deeper game than Diablo 1, but not so deep that I can't just learn to play as I play.

- Game is Sunday. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I hope it's the last session in this delve, but that's partly up to the players and partly up to the dungeon's environment. DF Felltower isn't a "fast forward" kind of game, so the more time spent in combat, the less time to explore - and neither gets handwaved. I think we'll have time, despite that. Fingers crossed!

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Attacking where I think the Vitals should be

One of the many banes of my GMing life is, "I attack where I think the Vitals should be."

Vitals has a lot of upsides for impaling and piercing attacks. A number of PCs in my campaigns - rather a lot of them - have taken Slayer Training for attacks to the vitals. So they have a mere -1 instead of the usual -3 to hit the Vitals.

The problems with "I attack where I think the Vitals should be" are plentiful.

First, it implies that your PC just knows where these things are on beings that they haven't encountered before. Knowing these things is exactly what the rarely-taken, rarely-used Physiology skill is actually for in a Dungeon Fantasy game. DFRPG Adventures, p. 85, says this outright. It's IQ-6 for a default. People don't want to roll that, generally, but just know because their guy is some kind of expert in killing humans in the Vitals. Better aim doesn't imply better knowledge - they're seperately purchased.

You can't easily just tell everyone if you do make the roll, either. If the Wizard has IQ 16 and rolls a 10, hurrah, the Wizard remembers where the Vitals are. Talking is a free action on your turn, but can you explain where to attack in a clear, concise, and easily understood fashion? Maybe. That's a Complimentary Skill roll to give the person you're telling a +1 to their own Physiology roll, in my opinion. Harsh? Maybe. But we are discussing 250 point characters who didn't bother to take a skill that enhances their ability to do the thing they want to do. I don't mind harsh. I'd allow a bonus or even automatic success if there is a clear target - "The horn is its life!" - but that's an exception, not the basic assumption.

"Wouldn't my PC just know?" No, see above. There is a skill that does this.

On top of that, asking - or describing a location and then hoping it just works - is offloading this all onto the GM. I get to decide if you know, if "vitals" on a Distorted Death Brain are in the spot you're describing, and then if it works I need to remember it. All the time there is a skill to do it.

"Can I guess?" Sure. Blind Physiology roll. Go for it.

So that's why I get grumpy when people want to "shoot where I think the vitals should be." There is an in-game, in-rules, easy way to deal with it, and saying that isn't it.

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

New DFRPG megadungeon game - Ardun Vul

Amplifying the signal:

DFRPG Ardun Vul

I can't reliably make the time . . . bummer. But maybe some of you can!

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

GM's Day GURPS Sale

March 4th is GM's Day, and SJG is having a GURPS sale:

GURPS GM's Day Sale

I'll have to see what I'm missing and fill out the collection while there is a sale. As always, I appreciate any purchases of my books!

Monday, March 3, 2025

Diablo update

Last time I left my Diablo game, I was stuck. I had a pile of goatmen archers (mostly Fire Clan) that killed my guy outright in seconds, no matter the tactics I tried.

I "solved" this problem the old fashioned way - I ran away. I piled up 8 full healing potions, and made a run for it through the goatmen and through a door. It cost me about 6 of those potions, but I made it through that door and past another and, eventually, down a level deeper.

I cleared out a few levels below. I still can't take out the fire clan goatmen, but I'm steadily killing off the stuff on the levels below. We'll see if I can get back up and clear them out eventually.

I may take out Nightmare-mode Diablo before I can handle those goatmen. Hah.

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Intelligent Items of DF Felltower

DF Felltower features some intelligent items. Not a lot.

There are several items people have ascribed intelligence to, but which totally lack it - they're merely magical effects. One example is the Targe of the Tiger (a variant Ward of the Wolf). It does something on its own, kind of, but it's just an effect of magic that makes it appear to be a living thing in some ways.

A couple of items and spells summon intelligent-ish beings - temporary magical effects in the form of an animal or humanoid form. The Statuette of the Death Goddess and Dragon's Teeth do that, as do Create Servant and Create Warrior and Zombie. They have some intelligence, but they're not sapient or independently thinking. They're more akin to a pre-programmed thing that can handle limited if-then situations.

There are all of three known intelligent weapons in Felltower. Agar's Wand, Malice, and Sigurd's Sword (aka Gram, Balmung). That's it.

Sigurd's Sword is intelligent, and communicates in feelings to its owner. It has its own goal - dragonslaying* - and imparts some of that onto the bearer directly, and the rest by projecting feelings the bearer can sense. Sigurd's Sword can't do much of anything on its own, it needs a bearer it can push and steer.

Malice is semi-intelligent. Possibly more, but there isn't anything to support that. Malice can only be malicious, and remember slights and force the bearer to strike first, strike hard, and show no mercy. It also can't do much directly to affect the world around it without a bearer.

Agar's Wand is intelligent. It is self-willed and able to act on its own. It sometimes will. Its goals are broadly clear (fight evil) but vague in implementation and in what "counts" towards that goal. You can count on it to defend a good bearer, and fight effectively when it has something to fight for, but you can't direct it around. It won't direct its bearer, either - you're either allies or it's not working with you. It's also, incidently, the only Weirdness Magnet in the campaign, given that I do not allow it as a disadvantage on PCs.

That is a complete list of known intelligent items. There may be more, but I wouldn't bet a PC's life on it.

Intelligent items are an interesting plot device and Deus Ex Machina in books. They're a bit more of a problem in games, in my experience. I don't use them heavily because I don't want to either hand out an Ally or have another NPC to run. I have one - Agar's Wand - and that's plenty. My players tend to ascribe intelligence and will to things that lack them, which is interesting, but doesn't add an IQ stat to anything.

The intelligence on those items serves a purpose. If they weren't intelligent, they wouldn't work as effectively. Sigurd's Sword without intelligence just has a negative effect ("Go fight that dragon, NOW!") that people would want to resist because, well, rationally, fighting the dragon later is a better choice. With intelligence you're angering your magic item and might not get to keep using it. Agar's Wand without intelligence has nothing except a PC to direct it, just making it a weapon that fights for you, and, thanks to conflicting enchanments, doesn't do it very well at all. Malice without intelligence is just a cursed sword with some upsides, and sparks questions about Remove Enchantment and Remove Curse as way to keep the upsides and remove the downsides. Intelligence binds their properties together into one thing - you can't see removing one without the other, or ignoring part and keeping the rest.

But the meta-game cost of it is high - lots of work for the GM, another NPC to run or to hand off to the players to min-max value out of. And therefore intelligent items are going to remain rare in DF Felltower.



* And presumably, saving Bwunhilda, she's so wovwy.
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