Most of the PCs available to play in Felltower and the Brotherhood Complex are dead. The most recent guys are largely burned to cinders, acid'd to jelly, and the remainder eaten by gnolls.
We've got a handful of guys - Galen and Low-Key, run by the same guy, Kel, run by Kaylee's player, and Belmek. That's about it for currently participating players.
So what next?
Vic and I have been discussing some options. One of them is a side campaign, run by Vic, which may have a connection to Felltower. Essentially he'd run a campaign for new PCs, and we'd port them over to Felltower via a gate and go from there. Or just set it in some corner of the same world and have them come to Felltower. PCs would need to be compatible with Felltower during the switchover. There is a lot of work to do on something like this, but it would give me a chance to play, give the PCs a chance to level up a bit, and might be a good change of pace. More on this if we choose to do it.
Another is an entirely unrelated campaign until I have the spare time to get Felltower ready, and for the dungeon to have lain fallow long enough to plausibly gotten some monsters and treasures back. We could alternate over to the other game whenever it's a better match for our player mix and my busy-ness level.
The first is more likely at the moment. But we're considering them both.
And for Memorial Day, I've updated the graveyard. RIP guys.
Sunday, May 28, 2023
Saturday, May 27, 2023
Friday, May 26, 2023
Random Thoughts & Links for 5/26/2023
Random stuff for a Friday.
- I'm going to be randomly crushingly busy for a month or so. I should keep up a reasonable posting frequency, but I may miss a day here or there with no warning. Aside from this warning.
- Zenopus Archives has an excellent look at Russ Nicholson's artwork.
- Grognardia talks Space: 1889. I love this setting, and I'd happily run a game in it.
I had a lot of Space:1889 minis, actually, but I think I sold off those boxed sets when I realized I'd probably never get to play a game with them.
- Spelljammer happened after I stopped playing AD&D, but I'll admit it is an interesting idea. Here is a look at the tactical considerations that the setting brings up.
- I backed Doug's Kickstarter.
I went print and PDF, even though I really only need PDF. I like to browse magic items and monsters in print even if I don't need to do so.
- Still playing Planescape: Tormemt (Enhanced Edition). Still fun. Still evil. I'm choosing most of the wreck the world options when given them, but basically I just get evil by asking to get paid to do things and talking about chaos. I get the talking thing - it's Planescape, and belief shapes reality - but being mercenary and greedy doesn't seem that evil. At least there is no squick factor here!
- Dreams in the Lichhouse is posting again. His Black City campaign was awesome, so let's see how his Greyhawk game goes.
- I'm going to be randomly crushingly busy for a month or so. I should keep up a reasonable posting frequency, but I may miss a day here or there with no warning. Aside from this warning.
- Zenopus Archives has an excellent look at Russ Nicholson's artwork.
- Grognardia talks Space: 1889. I love this setting, and I'd happily run a game in it.
I had a lot of Space:1889 minis, actually, but I think I sold off those boxed sets when I realized I'd probably never get to play a game with them.
- Spelljammer happened after I stopped playing AD&D, but I'll admit it is an interesting idea. Here is a look at the tactical considerations that the setting brings up.
- I backed Doug's Kickstarter.
I went print and PDF, even though I really only need PDF. I like to browse magic items and monsters in print even if I don't need to do so.
- Still playing Planescape: Tormemt (Enhanced Edition). Still fun. Still evil. I'm choosing most of the wreck the world options when given them, but basically I just get evil by asking to get paid to do things and talking about chaos. I get the talking thing - it's Planescape, and belief shapes reality - but being mercenary and greedy doesn't seem that evil. At least there is no squick factor here!
- Dreams in the Lichhouse is posting again. His Black City campaign was awesome, so let's see how his Greyhawk game goes.
Thursday, May 25, 2023
GURPS Hint?
Take this as you will.
Thanks to Doug to pointing this out to me. The interview is fine overall, and I played and liked Groo (they talk about it a bit) before I sold it for a lot on eBay. But that's obviously not what perked my ears up.
Thanks to Doug to pointing this out to me. The interview is fine overall, and I played and liked Groo (they talk about it a bit) before I sold it for a lot on eBay. But that's obviously not what perked my ears up.
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
My GURPS Module / Foundry Wish List
I'm going to use this post to keep track of the things I see in Foundry with the GURPS modules that I'd like to be able to fix.
- Currently, any status markers float on top of the hex, not on top of the token. If you put two tokens in one hex or square, all status markers show on top. So a healthy, dangerous foe standing over his fallen, stunned, disarmed, and reeling buddy appear for all the world to be a single fallen, stunned, disarmed, and reeling foe.
This means it's hard for anyone to tell who or what is in front of them. It's weirdly reverse situational blindness, where the one thing you don't know is if the guy in front of you is up or down, armed or unarmed, a threat or a footing issue.
Status markers need to stick to the token, and a token on top should obscure the status of the token(s) underneath.
- Currently, any status markers float on top of the hex, not on top of the token. If you put two tokens in one hex or square, all status markers show on top. So a healthy, dangerous foe standing over his fallen, stunned, disarmed, and reeling buddy appear for all the world to be a single fallen, stunned, disarmed, and reeling foe.
This means it's hard for anyone to tell who or what is in front of them. It's weirdly reverse situational blindness, where the one thing you don't know is if the guy in front of you is up or down, armed or unarmed, a threat or a footing issue.
Status markers need to stick to the token, and a token on top should obscure the status of the token(s) underneath.
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Monday, May 22, 2023
Usual Monday game notes
Here are a few more notes on our game session yesterday.
- The gnolls were somewhat tough, between fodder and worthy. In my parlance, they were "tough fodder." Their offensive was potentially potent, as they're strong, and they have a solid amount of HP and a typical HT score for a combatant foe (11-13.) They weren't skilled, but their shields helped them reach defenses that were above the typical fodder mark of 10 or less. Overall, they'd take a few blows to put down, but not too many, and they couldn't deal with PCs one-on-one.
Of course, there were a lot of them. More than a dozen is a lot, especially for a group of five. They didn't have great morale, except when they were winning. Even then, they were too chaotic and disorganized to press the attack properly. Without the wizards, they have been toast.
But then the wizards came.
- Doug put it the best. The PCs forted up when they needed to move out. They boxed themselves into a known dead end, in an occupied complex, after intelligent foes had escaped them. They stayed there a good 10-15 minutes or so.
The reliance of PCs on post-fight healing and rest - or let's say the expectation of post-fight healing and rest - has doomed a few parties now. "It's okay, monsters will show up and we'll kill and loot them" has been voiced a few times. This generally doesn't work out. I understand the drive. After a solid fight, you might have a few people who need to rest to recover from crippling injuries from critical failures, or your wizard or cleric might be down to a handful of FP, and you might have injuries to your fighters. But rest time is not guaranteed to be uninterupted. It's rarely a good time to rest, right after a big fight.
Still, the siren call of loot - "there must be some hidden here" - and healing - "we need to heal and recover FP" - means people take that risk very often. Most of the time, it works out okay. The times it doesn't are not always fatal . . . but this time they were. No one voiced a, "what else besides gnolls might come?" on this one. All I heard was concern about getting the line overrun by slams and dealing with gnolls in close combat. Those were legitmate concerns. But so was the idea that they'd have some ranged foes, too, and not ones you could ignore thanks to shields and Missile Shield.
- Those missile spells the cultist wizards threw cost a lot - 9d = 18 FP. Even with my generous per-second skill deduction a skill-15 guy needs 15 FP to throw one. It's why the next ones were still big, but noticeably smaller - 6d is only 12, or 9 FP for skill-15. 24 FP! It's not likely there was much, if anything, left in the tank after that. But it worked out - a PC line in a small hallway, tightly packed to ensure they can't be flanked or outnumbered, is a perfect target for explosive spells.
- Modified Great Haste seemed pretty good. It needs some notes on Ready and Change Position. It's still not smooth. Smoother might just be saying you get two of the same Maneuver in a row, but I do like the defensive bonus and reduced attacks (+1 attack instead of two turns worth of attacks from guys who might generate 3-5 attacks already.) It was hard to get used to at first, but I did like how it worked overall.
- Where next?
Up to the players. Their next crew can go for the complex again, or they can go for Felltower. It's been quite a while and Felltower will have some lesser things in the upper levels again. But I'm lacking the time for a new location so it's that.
Or we can take a slight detour from Felltower for a bit and play something else, but that'll take some consideration and agreement across the board.
DF on hard mode rolls on.
- The gnolls were somewhat tough, between fodder and worthy. In my parlance, they were "tough fodder." Their offensive was potentially potent, as they're strong, and they have a solid amount of HP and a typical HT score for a combatant foe (11-13.) They weren't skilled, but their shields helped them reach defenses that were above the typical fodder mark of 10 or less. Overall, they'd take a few blows to put down, but not too many, and they couldn't deal with PCs one-on-one.
Of course, there were a lot of them. More than a dozen is a lot, especially for a group of five. They didn't have great morale, except when they were winning. Even then, they were too chaotic and disorganized to press the attack properly. Without the wizards, they have been toast.
But then the wizards came.
- Doug put it the best. The PCs forted up when they needed to move out. They boxed themselves into a known dead end, in an occupied complex, after intelligent foes had escaped them. They stayed there a good 10-15 minutes or so.
The reliance of PCs on post-fight healing and rest - or let's say the expectation of post-fight healing and rest - has doomed a few parties now. "It's okay, monsters will show up and we'll kill and loot them" has been voiced a few times. This generally doesn't work out. I understand the drive. After a solid fight, you might have a few people who need to rest to recover from crippling injuries from critical failures, or your wizard or cleric might be down to a handful of FP, and you might have injuries to your fighters. But rest time is not guaranteed to be uninterupted. It's rarely a good time to rest, right after a big fight.
Still, the siren call of loot - "there must be some hidden here" - and healing - "we need to heal and recover FP" - means people take that risk very often. Most of the time, it works out okay. The times it doesn't are not always fatal . . . but this time they were. No one voiced a, "what else besides gnolls might come?" on this one. All I heard was concern about getting the line overrun by slams and dealing with gnolls in close combat. Those were legitmate concerns. But so was the idea that they'd have some ranged foes, too, and not ones you could ignore thanks to shields and Missile Shield.
- Those missile spells the cultist wizards threw cost a lot - 9d = 18 FP. Even with my generous per-second skill deduction a skill-15 guy needs 15 FP to throw one. It's why the next ones were still big, but noticeably smaller - 6d is only 12, or 9 FP for skill-15. 24 FP! It's not likely there was much, if anything, left in the tank after that. But it worked out - a PC line in a small hallway, tightly packed to ensure they can't be flanked or outnumbered, is a perfect target for explosive spells.
- Modified Great Haste seemed pretty good. It needs some notes on Ready and Change Position. It's still not smooth. Smoother might just be saying you get two of the same Maneuver in a row, but I do like the defensive bonus and reduced attacks (+1 attack instead of two turns worth of attacks from guys who might generate 3-5 attacks already.) It was hard to get used to at first, but I did like how it worked overall.
- Where next?
Up to the players. Their next crew can go for the complex again, or they can go for Felltower. It's been quite a while and Felltower will have some lesser things in the upper levels again. But I'm lacking the time for a new location so it's that.
Or we can take a slight detour from Felltower for a bit and play something else, but that'll take some consideration and agreement across the board.
DF on hard mode rolls on.
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