A few bits for the week:
- My sources say that Mission X is coming in 2025.
- Grognardia looks at Marc Miller's comments on order vs. chaos. My experience is that players want autonomy and the ability to fix things the way they want. I don't think that's contrary to the need for disorder and chaos in the setting. Players like rank, as long as they have it and can make decisions for themselves. They like order as long as they've got some control over the order. It's not a bad thing - we're playing games to amuse ourselves and to enjoy some freedoms and abilities we might lack in our lives. It's fun to tear things down and to build things up. It's less fun to just keep them as-is. Especially in a game!
- If you want to contribute to OSR Christmas, Tenkar is asking for gifts to give.
Friday, November 22, 2024
Thursday, November 21, 2024
GURPS House Rule: You're A Natural
I've been using this rule, or close to it, since my 3rd edition GURPS games. I remember my friend Fred's brother Dave benefiting from this in his very first session, which would have been 1992-3, maybe?
It came up in our most recent DF session, Session 200. It also came up in Total Party Teleport II, as well. Here is the proper writeup for 4th edition GURPS.
You're A Natural! The first time you default a skill, if you roll a 3 or a 4, you may instantly buy the skill. You may invest any number of saved points in it at that time, or, if you lack any saved points, spend 1 point from future XP earnings. If margin of success matters, calculate it from final skill after points are spent. This represents a natural talent, previously undisclosed learning, or just an aptitude for a particular skill. If the 3 or 4 was achieved as the result of a Wish or Lesser Wish spell, or any form of the Luck advantage, this does not apply - you're just lucky, not gifted.
Optionally, this can apply on any default roll, even if it's not the first time. In this case, you must have a point in hand to spend, and the maximum point investment is one point. You've just learned as you go, but you don't know much more than a beginner at the skill would have.
I can attest to this rule being popular, a source of a lot of fun, and a really satisfying way to get rewarded for a lucky 3 or 4.
It came up in our most recent DF session, Session 200. It also came up in Total Party Teleport II, as well. Here is the proper writeup for 4th edition GURPS.
You're A Natural! The first time you default a skill, if you roll a 3 or a 4, you may instantly buy the skill. You may invest any number of saved points in it at that time, or, if you lack any saved points, spend 1 point from future XP earnings. If margin of success matters, calculate it from final skill after points are spent. This represents a natural talent, previously undisclosed learning, or just an aptitude for a particular skill. If the 3 or 4 was achieved as the result of a Wish or Lesser Wish spell, or any form of the Luck advantage, this does not apply - you're just lucky, not gifted.
Optionally, this can apply on any default roll, even if it's not the first time. In this case, you must have a point in hand to spend, and the maximum point investment is one point. You've just learned as you go, but you don't know much more than a beginner at the skill would have.
I can attest to this rule being popular, a source of a lot of fun, and a really satisfying way to get rewarded for a lucky 3 or 4.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
More DF Felltower Rules Questions - 11+ Move
One of the PCs is on the verge of Move 9, which is a Haste spellstone away from Move 11. Per DFRPG Exploits, p. 33, this means he can get a two-hex step.
A few questions arose related to it and indirectly connected to it.
Does this net a two-hex Retreat?
No. My ruling is no. Although Retreat says "one step (p. 33)" and "normally one hex," I don't agree that it therefore gives you two hexes when you have Move 11+, nor that it gives you two, one-hex Retreat options. I understand the logic and the reading there, but I think allowing a 2-hex retreat (or worse, two one-hex retreats) doesn't play nice with Felltower's approach or the pricing of Great Void (DF Denizens: Swashbucklers, p. 27), which costs 10 points to get +1 hex on a single retreat. Also, there is precedent - the PCs have fought a number of monsters with Move 11-20 which did only a one-hex Retreat but had a two-hex Step, and for a brief while Galen was running around with Move 11 (thanks to Haste spells) and didn't get a two-hex retreat. It's just how we've played it and will continue to play it.
Can I buy Great Void?
No, not unless you're a swashbuckler. I agree it might make a really nice advantage for some Martial Artist types, but I'm not willing to just put it out there at this point.
So can I (list a million things here not described in the box)?
No, not unless it explictly says so in the box on p. 33 of Exploits. No, you don't double the size of all of your steps and get 4 with Committed Attack. No, you don't get to save steps between turns. No, you can't turn some of your steps into Retreat. No, no, no. Only what it says there in that box.
DF Felltower is a weird blend of DFRPG and DF, with its own flavor, so the above might be "wrong" by official standards, but I'm happier with that result.
A few questions arose related to it and indirectly connected to it.
Does this net a two-hex Retreat?
No. My ruling is no. Although Retreat says "one step (p. 33)" and "normally one hex," I don't agree that it therefore gives you two hexes when you have Move 11+, nor that it gives you two, one-hex Retreat options. I understand the logic and the reading there, but I think allowing a 2-hex retreat (or worse, two one-hex retreats) doesn't play nice with Felltower's approach or the pricing of Great Void (DF Denizens: Swashbucklers, p. 27), which costs 10 points to get +1 hex on a single retreat. Also, there is precedent - the PCs have fought a number of monsters with Move 11-20 which did only a one-hex Retreat but had a two-hex Step, and for a brief while Galen was running around with Move 11 (thanks to Haste spells) and didn't get a two-hex retreat. It's just how we've played it and will continue to play it.
Can I buy Great Void?
No, not unless you're a swashbuckler. I agree it might make a really nice advantage for some Martial Artist types, but I'm not willing to just put it out there at this point.
So can I (list a million things here not described in the box)?
No, not unless it explictly says so in the box on p. 33 of Exploits. No, you don't double the size of all of your steps and get 4 with Committed Attack. No, you don't get to save steps between turns. No, you can't turn some of your steps into Retreat. No, no, no. Only what it says there in that box.
DF Felltower is a weird blend of DFRPG and DF, with its own flavor, so the above might be "wrong" by official standards, but I'm happier with that result.
Monday, November 18, 2024
A quick look back - 200 sessions of the DF Felltower campaign
We played in our 200th game of our campaign yesterday.
Game 1 was September 29th, 2011.
Game 200 was November 17th, 2024. 13 years and two months later, with a largely new group of players. One player - who ran Vryce - is still currently active in the campaign.
It's been a long campaign. We've averaged only 15 sessions a year, below my goal of 20, but we keep on going.
I'm curious how many people have been reading along for the whole time . . . probably not even all of my current players!
Game 1 was September 29th, 2011.
Game 200 was November 17th, 2024. 13 years and two months later, with a largely new group of players. One player - who ran Vryce - is still currently active in the campaign.
It's been a long campaign. We've averaged only 15 sessions a year, below my goal of 20, but we keep on going.
I'm curious how many people have been reading along for the whole time . . . probably not even all of my current players!
Sunday, November 17, 2024
GURPS DF Session 200, Brotherhood Complex 7
Game Date: 11/17/2024
Weather: Cool, 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)
Leon the Eye, human archer (125 points)
Aaron, Brandon, Cedric, and Dortmund, human guards (62 points)
Bullworth and Oxford, human laborers (62 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (306 points)
Honest Charles LeGrand, human squire (125 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf martial artist (298 points)
The PCs hired up a bunch of able-bodied men, purchased sacks and backpacks and rations, and headed off to the Brotherhood Complex. They reached it in due course, and headed in.
Inside, they found no guards. It was curiously quiet. They found a secret door they couldn't open, right where foes had emerged to attack their flank last time. They marked it with chalk and headed on.
From there, they headed south, and Vlad blundered into an evil runes trap. They healed him with a potion and Minor Healing and headed on, around it. They were seeking the stairs, or foes to destroy to ensure they could loot afterwards. So naturally they stopped, cast Seek Earth, found some gold back the way they came, and changed course.
They forced their way into an odd-shaped room with a six-fingered hand print on the floor, some 6' x 3'. Naturally, Thor touched it. A voice spoke into his head and told him he dared much coming here, but if he concentrated, he could find the voice's origin, and it would help him. He was all for it, so everyone overuled him and say they could do that on the way home.
They kept after the gold, forcing a few more doors - and as they forced one, they were rushed from the other direction by some guards headed by two guy they thought they'd killed last time - Brother Gobin and Brother Dortmund.
In a short, sharp fight - all of 10 seconds - they mauled the lot of them. Their NPCs held down the flanks and rear while Thor, Percy (and Agar's Wand), and Hannari tore them apart, with Vlad killing foe after foe, one after Chop used Command to get him to turn around. Duncan contributed to the chaos with an Explosive Lightning spell. It was pretty lopsided, although one managed to hit Thor in the face and wound him slightly. They killed them all except one (Vlad, as always, called for taking prisoners while he shot to kill.)
They captured one, and healed him enough to stabilize his wounds, then had Duncan question him. He defaulted Interrogation for the first time, and rolled a 3. My house rule since the early 90s has been, roll a 3, get the skill - these days I let you buy it on the spot. He did. He asked a few questions about the complex, and found they are allowed downstairs only blindfolded, and taken to an altar to pray. What happens there, he asked? And rolled a 17. The guard got hysterical, and started screaming, "You want to know what happens when we pray? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" and he died on the spot, clearly of fright.
They gathered up the useful loot, including two pairs of magical gloves, a bit of cash (~500 sp or so and ~200 gp or so) and some gems, a treasure map (the X said "Treasure" on it), and some plate armor. They headed to where they thought the stairs were.
They found them, but nearby were ~11 mechanical knights - those robot knights they fought before. They decided not to provoke a fight, and backed off.
Exploring nearby rooms, they found a silver chest - Vlad rushed in, greedily, and set off a greenish gas trap. So they used Purify Air to clear it out, and Vlad ran in and dragged the very heavy chest out. They slammed the door shut on the gas.
The chest, sadly, turned out to be a silver-painted stone chest.
They spent their last bit of time ensuring they'd located the stairs doww, and then headed back to try to find where the two plate-armored brothers lived. Despite See Secrets, they could not, and left the complex.
The gloves turned out to be a pair of Graceful Gloves and a pair of Gorilla Gloves.
Notes:
- Robots? Yes, the proper term in Cornwood for "golem" is "robot." Some of the non-Cornwoodian types picked up use of that word.
- There was a big debate at the end what to do - stay in the dungeon, stay in the dungeon and start a fight with the mechanical knights, or leave with their XP and substantial loot?
In the end they left, but there were really good weighing of the pros and cons.
- Not a lot of rules issues today. It was all pretty straightforward.
- I did realize a weight error made it into DFT3. I'll submit it for errata - not sure how I didn't notice it before. The Graceful Gloves are 0.5 lbs, the Gorilla Gloves 3 lbs, which is opposite of how they're in the book. Sorry, that's the opposite of my actual writeup notes. If you're using DFRPG, make that 0.6 and 1.2, respectively.
- MVP was Duncan for his Interrogation criticals and amusing results. Otherwise, 5 xp and lots of cash each. Oh, and a suit of plate armor for Thor to keep as a backup for the next time his armor is corroded into disrepair. No word on who will keeps the gloves.
Weather: Cool, 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)
Leon the Eye, human archer (125 points)
Aaron, Brandon, Cedric, and Dortmund, human guards (62 points)
Bullworth and Oxford, human laborers (62 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (306 points)
Honest Charles LeGrand, human squire (125 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf martial artist (298 points)
The PCs hired up a bunch of able-bodied men, purchased sacks and backpacks and rations, and headed off to the Brotherhood Complex. They reached it in due course, and headed in.
Inside, they found no guards. It was curiously quiet. They found a secret door they couldn't open, right where foes had emerged to attack their flank last time. They marked it with chalk and headed on.
From there, they headed south, and Vlad blundered into an evil runes trap. They healed him with a potion and Minor Healing and headed on, around it. They were seeking the stairs, or foes to destroy to ensure they could loot afterwards. So naturally they stopped, cast Seek Earth, found some gold back the way they came, and changed course.
They forced their way into an odd-shaped room with a six-fingered hand print on the floor, some 6' x 3'. Naturally, Thor touched it. A voice spoke into his head and told him he dared much coming here, but if he concentrated, he could find the voice's origin, and it would help him. He was all for it, so everyone overuled him and say they could do that on the way home.
They kept after the gold, forcing a few more doors - and as they forced one, they were rushed from the other direction by some guards headed by two guy they thought they'd killed last time - Brother Gobin and Brother Dortmund.
In a short, sharp fight - all of 10 seconds - they mauled the lot of them. Their NPCs held down the flanks and rear while Thor, Percy (and Agar's Wand), and Hannari tore them apart, with Vlad killing foe after foe, one after Chop used Command to get him to turn around. Duncan contributed to the chaos with an Explosive Lightning spell. It was pretty lopsided, although one managed to hit Thor in the face and wound him slightly. They killed them all except one (Vlad, as always, called for taking prisoners while he shot to kill.)
They captured one, and healed him enough to stabilize his wounds, then had Duncan question him. He defaulted Interrogation for the first time, and rolled a 3. My house rule since the early 90s has been, roll a 3, get the skill - these days I let you buy it on the spot. He did. He asked a few questions about the complex, and found they are allowed downstairs only blindfolded, and taken to an altar to pray. What happens there, he asked? And rolled a 17. The guard got hysterical, and started screaming, "You want to know what happens when we pray? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" and he died on the spot, clearly of fright.
They gathered up the useful loot, including two pairs of magical gloves, a bit of cash (~500 sp or so and ~200 gp or so) and some gems, a treasure map (the X said "Treasure" on it), and some plate armor. They headed to where they thought the stairs were.
They found them, but nearby were ~11 mechanical knights - those robot knights they fought before. They decided not to provoke a fight, and backed off.
Exploring nearby rooms, they found a silver chest - Vlad rushed in, greedily, and set off a greenish gas trap. So they used Purify Air to clear it out, and Vlad ran in and dragged the very heavy chest out. They slammed the door shut on the gas.
The chest, sadly, turned out to be a silver-painted stone chest.
They spent their last bit of time ensuring they'd located the stairs doww, and then headed back to try to find where the two plate-armored brothers lived. Despite See Secrets, they could not, and left the complex.
The gloves turned out to be a pair of Graceful Gloves and a pair of Gorilla Gloves.
Notes:
- Robots? Yes, the proper term in Cornwood for "golem" is "robot." Some of the non-Cornwoodian types picked up use of that word.
- There was a big debate at the end what to do - stay in the dungeon, stay in the dungeon and start a fight with the mechanical knights, or leave with their XP and substantial loot?
In the end they left, but there were really good weighing of the pros and cons.
- Not a lot of rules issues today. It was all pretty straightforward.
- I did realize a weight error made it into DFT3. I'll submit it for errata - not sure how I didn't notice it before. The Graceful Gloves are 0.5 lbs, the Gorilla Gloves 3 lbs, which is opposite of how they're in the book. Sorry, that's the opposite of my actual writeup notes. If you're using DFRPG, make that 0.6 and 1.2, respectively.
- MVP was Duncan for his Interrogation criticals and amusing results. Otherwise, 5 xp and lots of cash each. Oh, and a suit of plate armor for Thor to keep as a backup for the next time his armor is corroded into disrepair. No word on who will keeps the gloves.
Friday, November 15, 2024
Friday Roundup
Just a few notes.
- I've finished up the NPCs for Felltower, mostly due to a lot of help from Vic. Making the guys was easy; putting them on paper was fast. Getting them into GCS is harder for me, and Vic stepped up to deal with that. I'll just lightly modify them according to the Hidden Traits table rolls.
- I made it halfway through the 2nd edition of Jon Peterson's Playing at the World before I stopped a few months ago. I picked it back up and I'll finish it soon. It's a good book. I was genuinely more interested in my reading of the 1st edition, but this volume is probably more readable. Sometimes I just like a big, hefty, extremely detailed book.
- I still need to finishing prepping the dungeon for Sunday. I put the final work off, and now it's time to get to that.
- I've finished up the NPCs for Felltower, mostly due to a lot of help from Vic. Making the guys was easy; putting them on paper was fast. Getting them into GCS is harder for me, and Vic stepped up to deal with that. I'll just lightly modify them according to the Hidden Traits table rolls.
- I made it halfway through the 2nd edition of Jon Peterson's Playing at the World before I stopped a few months ago. I picked it back up and I'll finish it soon. It's a good book. I was genuinely more interested in my reading of the 1st edition, but this volume is probably more readable. Sometimes I just like a big, hefty, extremely detailed book.
- I still need to finishing prepping the dungeon for Sunday. I put the final work off, and now it's time to get to that.
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Felltower: Making Hirelings
My players decided to hire a lot of hirelings for their next delve - a handful of 125-pointers, and a few guards and laborers.
So my free time for the next few days will go to wrestling with the absolute madness that is GCS, since I don't have GCA5 mastered or tuned to Felltower, then importing the characters into the VTT, then making icons for them.
I miss playing on paper, because I could have done all of the NPCs by hand by the time I finished the first one, mostly, as he still lacks equipment. And then had the fun of finding a mini for it, rather than the chore of making an icon. This could just be old gamer griping, except that additional layers of work isn't really much fun for anyone that I know of.
I could allow the players to make their own guys, but I generally do not, because then they end up as min-maxed guys exactly as their employer would like (especially when it comes to disadvantages), and because they also end up less interesting to me as NPCs.
So my free time for the next few days will go to wrestling with the absolute madness that is GCS, since I don't have GCA5 mastered or tuned to Felltower, then importing the characters into the VTT, then making icons for them.
I miss playing on paper, because I could have done all of the NPCs by hand by the time I finished the first one, mostly, as he still lacks equipment. And then had the fun of finding a mini for it, rather than the chore of making an icon. This could just be old gamer griping, except that additional layers of work isn't really much fun for anyone that I know of.
I could allow the players to make their own guys, but I generally do not, because then they end up as min-maxed guys exactly as their employer would like (especially when it comes to disadvantages), and because they also end up less interesting to me as NPCs.
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