Continuing from the previous session.
Date: 11/9/2025
Game Date: 10/5/2025
Weather: Warm and mild.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (362 points)
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (346 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Persistance Montgomery, human knight (347 points)
Rogar Thane-Blood, human barbarian (250 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (368 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (333 points)
Bullet points to cover the action in the continuing big brawl:
- the enemy continued to pull back into a large "C" facing the PCs, and laid down three smoke nageteppo after Vlad shot one of the "Gith" axemen.
- Chop cleared the smoke with Purify Air and the PCs charged.
- Rogar fought his own little war with a couple of Norker Brutes and a quartet of axemen, eventually felling the two norkers and wounding one axeman.
- Thor rushed the main core of the enemy and got hit with Slow by a Gith they supposedly hit with Magebane, so that wasn't as effective as it might have been.
- Percy bashed down a few thorkers.
- A few fallen thorkers got back up, after having been put down rather harshly earlier.
- Vlad landed a few eye shots on Gith Lichtors and put them down.
- Hannari crippled the foot of a Gith Lichtor and found the guy have Levitation on and didn't fall. They decided that's probably why they don't worry about the Deathtouch floor.
We ended it at second 31 of the fight, havign resolved a good 10 seconds or so of combat. Slow, yes, but people kept a move on. It's a big fight and the VTT helps a lot but also slows things down a bunch, too, when we hit issues that it doesn't do well.
Notes:
- MVP was Vlad for the nice eye shot criticals.
- I really need token statuses for - "off balance," "unready weapon," "Slowed," "Hasted," Crippled Limb, and a few more. Oh, and different ones for Blur, Shield, Armor, and other buff spells.
Sunday, November 9, 2025
Sunday, November 2, 2025
Norkers & Thorkers
Norker (n). 1. One who norks.
2. A Fiend Folio monster I use a lot.
(Warning - stats are AD&D, and I've made them different for GURPS.)
One thing I love about norkers is that they're great fodder. They're intrinsically armoured, so they don't need to provide $5K in loot each just to be able to absorb some hits. They are cheaply armed with axes, so killing a few of them doesn't provide a realistic amount of loot. They fulfill the value of monsters to a GM - they're a threat - without that implicit promise that games have made to PCs - fighting is good because fighting means loot.
The "Gith," aka the Masters, the six-fingered elven vampires, etc. - seem to have a number especially tough norkers. So the PCs are enaged in a brawl with them as I write this.
They also have some other guys - Thorkers.
Thorkers
The PCs aren't exactly sure what thorkers are, exactly. They're very quiet, eeriely silent. They don't readily bleed - or maybe don't bleed. They take enourmous punishment to put down, regardless of magical or non-magical weapons. Their best effect on them has been putting them to sleep with sleep elixirs - clearly they're not immune to that - and repeatedly bashing them in the head with a flail - which takes far too many hits of far too much damage to make anyone feel like it's a really vulnerable spot.
They attack with claws or a bite - generally claws, since GURPS (unlike AD&D) tends to make biting suck unless biting is your main or only thing. They don't use weapons, unlike "regular" norkers.
They're a new monster for Felltower, although with an old inspiration. And the PCs are the first to encounter them, so research isn't going to turn up much. Their best bet is to take a live or dead one home - in that order of utility. They've hit upon that plan.*
I may update this post - or just link back to it - when they find out more.
* And I expect either way, they'll try to explain why someone in town should pay them for the prisoner or the corpse, and then tell them everything they want to know on top of that. No, NPCs don't pay you to find out what you want to know from them. No one has that level of social skills in game to pull that off. And it's probably less fun as a game if they do and regularly do so.
2. A Fiend Folio monster I use a lot.
(Warning - stats are AD&D, and I've made them different for GURPS.)
One thing I love about norkers is that they're great fodder. They're intrinsically armoured, so they don't need to provide $5K in loot each just to be able to absorb some hits. They are cheaply armed with axes, so killing a few of them doesn't provide a realistic amount of loot. They fulfill the value of monsters to a GM - they're a threat - without that implicit promise that games have made to PCs - fighting is good because fighting means loot.
The "Gith," aka the Masters, the six-fingered elven vampires, etc. - seem to have a number especially tough norkers. So the PCs are enaged in a brawl with them as I write this.
They also have some other guys - Thorkers.
Thorkers
The PCs aren't exactly sure what thorkers are, exactly. They're very quiet, eeriely silent. They don't readily bleed - or maybe don't bleed. They take enourmous punishment to put down, regardless of magical or non-magical weapons. Their best effect on them has been putting them to sleep with sleep elixirs - clearly they're not immune to that - and repeatedly bashing them in the head with a flail - which takes far too many hits of far too much damage to make anyone feel like it's a really vulnerable spot.
They attack with claws or a bite - generally claws, since GURPS (unlike AD&D) tends to make biting suck unless biting is your main or only thing. They don't use weapons, unlike "regular" norkers.
They're a new monster for Felltower, although with an old inspiration. And the PCs are the first to encounter them, so research isn't going to turn up much. Their best bet is to take a live or dead one home - in that order of utility. They've hit upon that plan.*
I may update this post - or just link back to it - when they find out more.
* And I expect either way, they'll try to explain why someone in town should pay them for the prisoner or the corpse, and then tell them everything they want to know on top of that. No, NPCs don't pay you to find out what you want to know from them. No one has that level of social skills in game to pull that off. And it's probably less fun as a game if they do and regularly do so.
Sunday, October 26, 2025
GURPS DF Session 215, Felltower 138 - Into the second GFS Part II
Continuing from the previous session.
Date: 10/26/2025
Game Date: 10/5/2025
Weather: Warm and mild.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (362 points)
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (346 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Persistance Montgomery, human knight (347 points)
Rogar Thane-Blood, human barbarian (250 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (333 points)
Reinforcements:
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (368 points)
We picked up where we left off. Not a lot to add for the fight, except that:
- Thor came running up, a few seconds into the battle.
- More foes came up - a dozen or so norker brutes led by a pair of "Gith" Licthors, as the PCs call them.
- Percy put down a few thorkers, but it took a lot of hits to do so.
- Vlad's arrows were largely ignored - he hit a couple of norker brutes but Missile Shield kept the Gith safe.
- More Gith showed up - axemen, more lichtors, and a taller, more slender Gith. Assuming he was a mage, Hannari used a pair of Magebane grenades to take away their Magery. It didn't stop one from using one of Wyatt's long-lost spellstones to Awaken a good number of thorkers asleep from Hannari's grenades last session.
- Thor bashed down two obsidian golems and the iron spectre, allowing Rogar to concentrate on the norker brutes.
- Gith threw lightning - even after being hit with Magebane - and demon's brew grenades at the PCs.
- Chop found out that while norkers can be hit with Command to attack their allies, they won't follow through.
We left it mid-fight, with the awakened thorkers getting to their feet and the Gith and norkers forming a semi-circular position away from the PCs.
Notes:
- I really need a way to display multiple icons in one hex in Foundry.
- Thor was MVP for smashing up three constructs pretty quickly, freeing up Duncan from a threat and Rogar to fight foes he is better able to deal with as a brand-new 250 point PC.
Date: 10/26/2025
Game Date: 10/5/2025
Weather: Warm and mild.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (362 points)
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (346 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Persistance Montgomery, human knight (347 points)
Rogar Thane-Blood, human barbarian (250 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (333 points)
Reinforcements:
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (368 points)
We picked up where we left off. Not a lot to add for the fight, except that:
- Thor came running up, a few seconds into the battle.
- More foes came up - a dozen or so norker brutes led by a pair of "Gith" Licthors, as the PCs call them.
- Percy put down a few thorkers, but it took a lot of hits to do so.
- Vlad's arrows were largely ignored - he hit a couple of norker brutes but Missile Shield kept the Gith safe.
- More Gith showed up - axemen, more lichtors, and a taller, more slender Gith. Assuming he was a mage, Hannari used a pair of Magebane grenades to take away their Magery. It didn't stop one from using one of Wyatt's long-lost spellstones to Awaken a good number of thorkers asleep from Hannari's grenades last session.
- Thor bashed down two obsidian golems and the iron spectre, allowing Rogar to concentrate on the norker brutes.
- Gith threw lightning - even after being hit with Magebane - and demon's brew grenades at the PCs.
- Chop found out that while norkers can be hit with Command to attack their allies, they won't follow through.
We left it mid-fight, with the awakened thorkers getting to their feet and the Gith and norkers forming a semi-circular position away from the PCs.
Notes:
- I really need a way to display multiple icons in one hex in Foundry.
- Thor was MVP for smashing up three constructs pretty quickly, freeing up Duncan from a threat and Rogar to fight foes he is better able to deal with as a brand-new 250 point PC.
Friday, October 10, 2025
Random Links for 10/10/2025
- AD&D Asassination. Seems straightforward in the PHB, and then the DMG comes and takes it away. Thanks, Gary.
- Next game is in 3 weeks.
- Next game is in 3 weeks.
Monday, October 6, 2025
More notes on Session 214
More notes on Session 214, which we played on Sunday, 10/6/2025.
- It was interesting watching the players talk themselves into going into a big fight on the "first landing on the second GFS." It's always been a big fight on this level, against a mixed lot of enemies who are always (somehow) alert to the invasion. But somehow there is always some at least mild surprise that, hey, those guys we never defeated are still there and still ready to fight. They did make it past before, but it always involves a nasty battle.
Maybe this time they'll be able to either win out or make a permanent dent in the forces here. They have a lot more tools for the job - witness the sleep grenades and nageteppo - and better supporting tactics. But the "Gith," as the players call them, are tough and have a lot of seemingly loyal minions.
- I have a "no helping" rule but waived it for helping our new guy. He's an old hand at gaming and a quick study. Still, we really need the GURPS module for Foundry to include Committed Attack as his barbarian has Berserk (Enraged, Battle Fury) and will use it extensively.
He also has Bad Temper and Bloodlust. But I know that's how he plays, so he may as well gets points for them.
- I love that they visited the mysterious blue pool when their PC with Curiosity and Impulsive isn't around. Oh, and jumped into a big fight when the same player - who is all for heavy combat - isn't around.
I can't wait for next session . . . in 3 weeks. Oh well. If this goes well enough for the PCs I suspect it'll strongly opened up a lot of adventuring possibilities. If not . . . I hope there will be sufficient survivors.
- It was interesting watching the players talk themselves into going into a big fight on the "first landing on the second GFS." It's always been a big fight on this level, against a mixed lot of enemies who are always (somehow) alert to the invasion. But somehow there is always some at least mild surprise that, hey, those guys we never defeated are still there and still ready to fight. They did make it past before, but it always involves a nasty battle.
Maybe this time they'll be able to either win out or make a permanent dent in the forces here. They have a lot more tools for the job - witness the sleep grenades and nageteppo - and better supporting tactics. But the "Gith," as the players call them, are tough and have a lot of seemingly loyal minions.
- I have a "no helping" rule but waived it for helping our new guy. He's an old hand at gaming and a quick study. Still, we really need the GURPS module for Foundry to include Committed Attack as his barbarian has Berserk (Enraged, Battle Fury) and will use it extensively.
He also has Bad Temper and Bloodlust. But I know that's how he plays, so he may as well gets points for them.
- I love that they visited the mysterious blue pool when their PC with Curiosity and Impulsive isn't around. Oh, and jumped into a big fight when the same player - who is all for heavy combat - isn't around.
I can't wait for next session . . . in 3 weeks. Oh well. If this goes well enough for the PCs I suspect it'll strongly opened up a lot of adventuring possibilities. If not . . . I hope there will be sufficient survivors.
Sunday, October 5, 2025
GURPS DF Session 214, Felltower 138 - Into the second GFS
Date: 10/5/2025
Weather: Warm and mild.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (362 points)
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (346 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Persistance Montgomery, human knight (347 points)
Rogar Thane-Blood, human barbarian (250 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (333 points)
We started off in town, and the PCs gathered rumors and set off. The plan was simple - take the new guy to the altar, and hope for the best, and then go down the second GFS.
The group went in the well and made their way to the altar. Hannari handed a big bag of silver coins to Rogar and he touched the altar - and 45 of those coins turned to gold.
That done, they made it to the GFS and went down. At the bottom, Hannari used Autohypnosis to put himself in a meditative state and then tried to keep climbing down the steps by following the pattern on the floor. It faiiled, and left him dizzy.
Out into the level itself, they found the air very stale indeed, and Rogar felt dizzy and nausea (he rolled a 17 on his HT roll, his first in-game roll.)
They headed towards the second GFS. Along the way, they forced open the door to a room near the "Ape Gate." They felt a refreshing sense of good, clean air . . . but inside was an intact black hemisphere, and two bronze spiders that seemed to be repairing or having just repaired it. The spiders attacked. One jump-slammed Vlad but he dodged. They quickly pounded them into junk. Then Vlad shot the hemisphere to pieces with a few dozen shots from his Cornucopia Quivers.
That done, they headed to the second GFS, but sidetracked to a magical pool nearby. The hallway was lined with runes, sigils, and symbols powerful for water magic. At the end of it was a opaque blue pond. Vlad drank some - their notes said it made the drinkers strong. Instead, it nearly killed him - HT-5, which he barely passed. He spewed out the water - which had tasted wonderfully clear until he had a full mouthful - and stood back. They didn't stop there - they put Resist Poison on Vlad and he stuck his head in and looked around, to no avail. Hanari tried some, since he has a Serpent's Amulet and is immune to poison. Nothing happened but it tasted bad.
They moved on to the other GFS. It took Strengthen Will and a few tries to get everyone through.
They wound down the stairs a few turns and opened the first door - they planned to bypass the "Deathtouch floor" and find something to kill and loot. But as they moved in, Chop and Vlad heard a faint five-note chime. They let everyone know the enemy was alerted. They stacked up on the left wall to give Hannari running room for a jump across the room, and Vlad began to shoot the black hemisphere in the room.
From a side passage, four Obsidian Golems and an Iron Spectre emerged. They waited at the edge of the floor for the golems. Vlad shot at the eyes but didn't make any real progress on them. Rogar threw a hatchet, missed his target, but rolled a 4 on the next golem in line and knocked its left hand off. The golems moved up and bathed Hannari and Rogar with their paralytic eye-rays. Hannari was paralyzed but Rogar was not. Relieve Paralysis from Chop took care of that.
Hannari threw a smoke nageteppo to block their line of sight, which forced the golems a little forward. They managed to beat one down with a combination of Percy's flail and Vlad's arrows. But soon after a big mob of humanoids rolled in from the far hallway - a dozen or so norkers . . . but unarmed ones. Stories from previous groups talked about "thorkers," and these were they. Vlad shot one in both eyes, and it basically shrugged it off. Hannari blinded a few with a flash nageteppo thrown behind his own smoke. A few were blinded, and complaints were heard. The "thorkers" were otherwise silent while they fought.
They mobbed up against the PCs. Percy knocked a few out with skull hits, but clearly hadn't killed them even with 2-3 clean, hard hits. They were vulnerable to Sleep Potions, though, and Hannari had a lot and kept them coming. Two of the golems were down, but two are meleeing Rogar who is slightly battered but holding firm and dealing damage back.
We left with the PCs getting swamped with thorkers, but most of those who got too close were asleep and a few knocked out.
We called it there for time.
Notes:
Rogar Thane-Blood is the first DF PC for a new player. Actually, one of my old players, from my 1st edition GURPS game back in the day set in the then-new Forgotten Realms. He happened to be visting, and asked if he could drop in on game. I did him one better and let him join ongoing. He knows some of my guys from back in the day since we all grew up in the same town.
There is a random effect from the beneficial altar, but the silver-to-gold has come up quite often. It feels like more than it should, but maybe just because that's the one people get excited about?
MVP was Hannari for his timely and effective grenade and nageteppo use.
Weather: Warm and mild.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (362 points)
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (346 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Persistance Montgomery, human knight (347 points)
Rogar Thane-Blood, human barbarian (250 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (333 points)
We started off in town, and the PCs gathered rumors and set off. The plan was simple - take the new guy to the altar, and hope for the best, and then go down the second GFS.
The group went in the well and made their way to the altar. Hannari handed a big bag of silver coins to Rogar and he touched the altar - and 45 of those coins turned to gold.
That done, they made it to the GFS and went down. At the bottom, Hannari used Autohypnosis to put himself in a meditative state and then tried to keep climbing down the steps by following the pattern on the floor. It faiiled, and left him dizzy.
Out into the level itself, they found the air very stale indeed, and Rogar felt dizzy and nausea (he rolled a 17 on his HT roll, his first in-game roll.)
They headed towards the second GFS. Along the way, they forced open the door to a room near the "Ape Gate." They felt a refreshing sense of good, clean air . . . but inside was an intact black hemisphere, and two bronze spiders that seemed to be repairing or having just repaired it. The spiders attacked. One jump-slammed Vlad but he dodged. They quickly pounded them into junk. Then Vlad shot the hemisphere to pieces with a few dozen shots from his Cornucopia Quivers.
That done, they headed to the second GFS, but sidetracked to a magical pool nearby. The hallway was lined with runes, sigils, and symbols powerful for water magic. At the end of it was a opaque blue pond. Vlad drank some - their notes said it made the drinkers strong. Instead, it nearly killed him - HT-5, which he barely passed. He spewed out the water - which had tasted wonderfully clear until he had a full mouthful - and stood back. They didn't stop there - they put Resist Poison on Vlad and he stuck his head in and looked around, to no avail. Hanari tried some, since he has a Serpent's Amulet and is immune to poison. Nothing happened but it tasted bad.
They moved on to the other GFS. It took Strengthen Will and a few tries to get everyone through.
They wound down the stairs a few turns and opened the first door - they planned to bypass the "Deathtouch floor" and find something to kill and loot. But as they moved in, Chop and Vlad heard a faint five-note chime. They let everyone know the enemy was alerted. They stacked up on the left wall to give Hannari running room for a jump across the room, and Vlad began to shoot the black hemisphere in the room.
From a side passage, four Obsidian Golems and an Iron Spectre emerged. They waited at the edge of the floor for the golems. Vlad shot at the eyes but didn't make any real progress on them. Rogar threw a hatchet, missed his target, but rolled a 4 on the next golem in line and knocked its left hand off. The golems moved up and bathed Hannari and Rogar with their paralytic eye-rays. Hannari was paralyzed but Rogar was not. Relieve Paralysis from Chop took care of that.
Hannari threw a smoke nageteppo to block their line of sight, which forced the golems a little forward. They managed to beat one down with a combination of Percy's flail and Vlad's arrows. But soon after a big mob of humanoids rolled in from the far hallway - a dozen or so norkers . . . but unarmed ones. Stories from previous groups talked about "thorkers," and these were they. Vlad shot one in both eyes, and it basically shrugged it off. Hannari blinded a few with a flash nageteppo thrown behind his own smoke. A few were blinded, and complaints were heard. The "thorkers" were otherwise silent while they fought.
They mobbed up against the PCs. Percy knocked a few out with skull hits, but clearly hadn't killed them even with 2-3 clean, hard hits. They were vulnerable to Sleep Potions, though, and Hannari had a lot and kept them coming. Two of the golems were down, but two are meleeing Rogar who is slightly battered but holding firm and dealing damage back.
We left with the PCs getting swamped with thorkers, but most of those who got too close were asleep and a few knocked out.
We called it there for time.
Notes:
Rogar Thane-Blood is the first DF PC for a new player. Actually, one of my old players, from my 1st edition GURPS game back in the day set in the then-new Forgotten Realms. He happened to be visting, and asked if he could drop in on game. I did him one better and let him join ongoing. He knows some of my guys from back in the day since we all grew up in the same town.
There is a random effect from the beneficial altar, but the silver-to-gold has come up quite often. It feels like more than it should, but maybe just because that's the one people get excited about?
MVP was Hannari for his timely and effective grenade and nageteppo use.
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Felltower: The Crystal Ball room
The crystal ball room has been used a number of times in DF Felltower. A quick search shows it being used in at least these sessions.
DF Session 45
DF Session 114
DF Session 188
DF Session 213
I'm sure having linked them all I'll now need to field a lot of clarification questions. But it comes down a few things:
- Crystalmancy will help, but it's not necessary.
- Some areas of the dungeon just cannot be scryed with this device.
- Some areas of the dungeon can be scryed easily with this device, even if you aren't that familiar with them.
- Some areas of the dungeon can be scryed with difficulty if you are familiar with them.
- The surface area around the dungeon is probably in the second or third category.
- It's location-dependent and cannot effectively be used for finding things. Think of it more like a series of cameras on a facility and less like a magic ball of answers and you'll do better with it - and the use in the sessions above will bear that out. There is one exception to that in there . . . but was that a true vision or someone messing up badly and misunderstanding what they saw? It's unclear . . . divination is like that.
DF Session 45
DF Session 114
DF Session 188
DF Session 213
I'm sure having linked them all I'll now need to field a lot of clarification questions. But it comes down a few things:
- Crystalmancy will help, but it's not necessary.
- Some areas of the dungeon just cannot be scryed with this device.
- Some areas of the dungeon can be scryed easily with this device, even if you aren't that familiar with them.
- Some areas of the dungeon can be scryed with difficulty if you are familiar with them.
- The surface area around the dungeon is probably in the second or third category.
- It's location-dependent and cannot effectively be used for finding things. Think of it more like a series of cameras on a facility and less like a magic ball of answers and you'll do better with it - and the use in the sessions above will bear that out. There is one exception to that in there . . . but was that a true vision or someone messing up badly and misunderstanding what they saw? It's unclear . . . divination is like that.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
