As a philosophical point, I'm curious - do GURPS GMs, especially GURPS Dungeon Fantasy GMs, prefer to place magical treasures that enhance PC defense, or enhance PC offense?
I personally lean towards offense.
PCs with a good offense can deal with more and bigger and deadlier monsters. Increased offense allows them to threaten foes they couldn't otherwise easily threaten. Or maybe threaten at all, given appropriate immunities or powers. Even if only one or two PCs can threaten a foe, they can - as a group - confront such a foe.
PCs with a good defense, however, can neutralize monster's attacks. They increase the whiff factor (if literally improve defense) or reduce the effect of hits (if DR). In order to get such PCs to feel some concern in combat, monsters have to get tougher. Every increase in defense on one PC means more, stronger monsters are needed to threaten that PC. And thus all of the other PCs need to keep up . . . or the GM has to keep up, or both.
So I tend to think it's better to give out artifact-level offensive items over letting out even moderately-powerful defense-enhancing items. You'll see some magical defenses in GURPS DF Felltower, but a lot more power offensive weapons. For every suit of awesome plate or mage-scale, or protective ring, or set of armor-providing bracers, you'll see 2-3 magical weapons or offense-enhancing items of equal or greater potency.
How about in your games?
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Fire in the Lake Tutorial setup
I'm starting to work on playing Fire in the Lake.
The issue is logistics. Amateur wargamers talk about tactics, grognard wargamers talk about logistics. Like, as in . . . how do I do this?
The map is 34" x 22" and shows all of South Vietnam and the bordering provinces of Laos and Cambodia, too. It leaves me a bit of an issue - I need some room to play. I don't intend to leave this on the floor, but I don't have a table quite big enough that isn't already in use for something else. The others are a bit small. The card table is a no-go.
Learning how to play involves a move-by-move tutorial. The rules themselves are very slender, but learning how to apply them will take some time. It's easier to follow along on the tutorial. It's just a matter of space.
So tonight is all game prep - punching the counters, sorting them, arranging the cards per the tutorial. I'm hoping to figure out space this week to start playing solo. The game is gorgeous, the topic interesting, and the concept behind the COIN series is fascinating.
Hmmm . . . maybe those two little end tables with some tape to make sure they don't slide apart . . .
The issue is logistics. Amateur wargamers talk about tactics, grognard wargamers talk about logistics. Like, as in . . . how do I do this?
The map is 34" x 22" and shows all of South Vietnam and the bordering provinces of Laos and Cambodia, too. It leaves me a bit of an issue - I need some room to play. I don't intend to leave this on the floor, but I don't have a table quite big enough that isn't already in use for something else. The others are a bit small. The card table is a no-go.
Learning how to play involves a move-by-move tutorial. The rules themselves are very slender, but learning how to apply them will take some time. It's easier to follow along on the tutorial. It's just a matter of space.
So tonight is all game prep - punching the counters, sorting them, arranging the cards per the tutorial. I'm hoping to figure out space this week to start playing solo. The game is gorgeous, the topic interesting, and the concept behind the COIN series is fascinating.
Hmmm . . . maybe those two little end tables with some tape to make sure they don't slide apart . . .
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Monty Python Holy Grail RPG - I mean, Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme
This would just be a shelf-space filler for me, but still, this might be just the RPG you need!
It's funded, so you're just deciding if you're in or out at this point.
The coconut dice-roller is amusing. I have two actual coconut shell halves I repurposed for horses back in the day still on my shelf. They'll do nicely as a dice-roller, I think.
It's funded, so you're just deciding if you're in or out at this point.
The coconut dice-roller is amusing. I have two actual coconut shell halves I repurposed for horses back in the day still on my shelf. They'll do nicely as a dice-roller, I think.
Monday, November 14, 2022
Further Notes on Session 174, Felltower 124
Some more notes on Sunday's game session.
- I'm really frustrated with my current battlemap. No matter what I do, all PC tokens can see everything within 360 degrees not blocked by line of sight, even if their light source can't reach it. And even if I turn off Fog of War Exploration, which keeps stuff they explored showing but dimly lit. It's literally showing everything they could see if they had unlimited sight, not what they can actually see with their light sources. I figured there was a mild chance they'd attack the golden swordsmen on the spot. Not a big chance, because with Crogar and Ulf down they didn't have great odds. Plus Mild Bruce takes Sense of Duty pretty seriously and expansively. But I thought it might happen. I've tried resetting Fog of War, turning on and off lighting settings, and more. Nothing works. It's maddening. They can't see into the hallway they entered from anymore, but can see all the way to the far walls. I've got to figure it out but it sucks that I have to spend the time on that.
I'm open to ideas.
- I'll share that trap that almost snagged Gerry, because the mechanism is pretty obvious to the players. Plus when I announced the second roll, Gerry's player laughed.
The walls had a bunch of Elder Tongue writing on them. Any comprehension level is sufficient to read them. The reader must make an Occultism roll; the margin of success is then applied as a penalty to a second roll - Will. Failure on the Will roll means you're stuck reading the runes for hours equal to the margin of failure. After that time, roll against Will at the same penalty. Success breaks the effect.
It's kind of an Evil GM move, penalizing a success. But the concept doesn't work on a failed roll. You end up trapping idiots with just enough literacy in the language. This is aimed at high-Will high-IQ educated types. And thus the more they know, the more likely they are to fall for the trap and get stuck in it. You could always say a critical success shows you there is NO meaning and never will be. A critical failure, conversly, convinces you that you there is deep meaning, and your Will roll is at -10. Play around with it as you will.
- As the PCs left the mindwarper area in the tow of the golden swordsmen, I thought a few things might happen.
I thought there was a high chance of them trying to nudge the golden swordsmen in a different direction to see what happens.
I thought there was a medium chance of them trying to provoke a fight with the golden swordsmen or push them into another fight with . . . something . . . and then taking advantage of the chaos to attack.
I thought there was a similar chance of them just trying to run for it.
I figured there was a small chance they'd attack the golden swordsmen on the spot. Not a big chance, because with Crogar and Ulf down they didn't have great odds. Plus Mild Bruce takes Sense of Duty pretty seriously and expansively. But I thought it might happen. It might have been the best option, but again, casualties and disadvantages tell.
I didn't really think they'd go back. They did.
I'm not sure if they felt like they had to or were compelled to. At no time did I say so. I was also a little curious that they didn't take advantage of their opportunity to get seperation from the golden swordsmen to think about what they wanted to do next. Admittedly they are lost in the dungeon, so that might have been a big factor . . . and maybe they gamed this all out by email and text or Discord and I missed it (I ask not to be included in such . . . it drags on my time and tends to end up being questions to me about what-ifs.) But we'll see. Now they're back with the Masters and on a new mission. We'll see how that goes and what happens from there. It might be that they prefer the fixed nature of working for an eventual promised reward. But with PCs, you can never tell. I'll have to get ready for anything and everything, which with a VTT is a hell of a lot of work.
- I admire the people who put weird monsters with weird effects into VTTs. I can't even. I put in their HP and then try to backhand in a damage mode that matches theirs and then see if I can attach a skill. I haven't a clue how to do maledictions and such . . . just no idea at all.
- I'm really frustrated with my current battlemap. No matter what I do, all PC tokens can see everything within 360 degrees not blocked by line of sight, even if their light source can't reach it. And even if I turn off Fog of War Exploration, which keeps stuff they explored showing but dimly lit. It's literally showing everything they could see if they had unlimited sight, not what they can actually see with their light sources. I figured there was a mild chance they'd attack the golden swordsmen on the spot. Not a big chance, because with Crogar and Ulf down they didn't have great odds. Plus Mild Bruce takes Sense of Duty pretty seriously and expansively. But I thought it might happen. I've tried resetting Fog of War, turning on and off lighting settings, and more. Nothing works. It's maddening. They can't see into the hallway they entered from anymore, but can see all the way to the far walls. I've got to figure it out but it sucks that I have to spend the time on that.
I'm open to ideas.
- I'll share that trap that almost snagged Gerry, because the mechanism is pretty obvious to the players. Plus when I announced the second roll, Gerry's player laughed.
The walls had a bunch of Elder Tongue writing on them. Any comprehension level is sufficient to read them. The reader must make an Occultism roll; the margin of success is then applied as a penalty to a second roll - Will. Failure on the Will roll means you're stuck reading the runes for hours equal to the margin of failure. After that time, roll against Will at the same penalty. Success breaks the effect.
It's kind of an Evil GM move, penalizing a success. But the concept doesn't work on a failed roll. You end up trapping idiots with just enough literacy in the language. This is aimed at high-Will high-IQ educated types. And thus the more they know, the more likely they are to fall for the trap and get stuck in it. You could always say a critical success shows you there is NO meaning and never will be. A critical failure, conversly, convinces you that you there is deep meaning, and your Will roll is at -10. Play around with it as you will.
- As the PCs left the mindwarper area in the tow of the golden swordsmen, I thought a few things might happen.
I thought there was a high chance of them trying to nudge the golden swordsmen in a different direction to see what happens.
I thought there was a medium chance of them trying to provoke a fight with the golden swordsmen or push them into another fight with . . . something . . . and then taking advantage of the chaos to attack.
I thought there was a similar chance of them just trying to run for it.
I figured there was a small chance they'd attack the golden swordsmen on the spot. Not a big chance, because with Crogar and Ulf down they didn't have great odds. Plus Mild Bruce takes Sense of Duty pretty seriously and expansively. But I thought it might happen. It might have been the best option, but again, casualties and disadvantages tell.
I didn't really think they'd go back. They did.
I'm not sure if they felt like they had to or were compelled to. At no time did I say so. I was also a little curious that they didn't take advantage of their opportunity to get seperation from the golden swordsmen to think about what they wanted to do next. Admittedly they are lost in the dungeon, so that might have been a big factor . . . and maybe they gamed this all out by email and text or Discord and I missed it (I ask not to be included in such . . . it drags on my time and tends to end up being questions to me about what-ifs.) But we'll see. Now they're back with the Masters and on a new mission. We'll see how that goes and what happens from there. It might be that they prefer the fixed nature of working for an eventual promised reward. But with PCs, you can never tell. I'll have to get ready for anything and everything, which with a VTT is a hell of a lot of work.
- I admire the people who put weird monsters with weird effects into VTTs. I can't even. I put in their HP and then try to backhand in a damage mode that matches theirs and then see if I can attach a skill. I haven't a clue how to do maledictions and such . . . just no idea at all.
Sunday, November 13, 2022
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Session 175, Felltower 124 - Mission for the Masters II
Date: 11/13/2022
Game Date: 10/24/2022 and 11/13/2022
Characters:
Crogar, human barbarian (375 points)
"Mild" Bruce McTavish, human barbarian (349 points)
Gerrald Tarrant, human wizard (420 points)
Ulf Sigurdson, human cleric (366 points)
Varmus the Hanged, human apprentice (180 points)
Wyatt Sorrel, human swashbuckler (382 points)
We picked up in combat. The combat didn't go too long.
Wyatt scrambled over to his fallen swords and knives and frittered away a couple of seconds trying to retrieve them quickly and rolling poorly. Meanwhile, Gerry harassed the death brain, which kept attacking him and stunning him in return. Wyatt got his sword and chucked it and hit the brain, knocking it from the ceiling. It was hurt more by the fall, and then Wyatt kicked it twice, both times for max damage. Gerry floated down and swiped at it twice, and hit it the second time for 3 damage with the staff (minimum) and 18 damage with a 6d Deathtouch. That did for it.
Meanwhile, the mindwarper kept lashing away at the advancing PCs. It hit Varmus five times, and wounded him badly. Varmus faked unconsciousness, poorly, but then fell unconscious for real a second later.
The golden swordsmen - two, anyway, still at full HP - ran at the mindwarper. So did Bruce. It lashed away at Bruce over and over, inflicting quite a lot of damage and cutting him to half move and dodge. They still managed to run it down to a far wall. Bruce reached it and swung his sword and hit, but it deflected it with a lash of some color-that-wasn't-a-color force. A second later it turns and touched a few spots on the wall with its tentacle-like . . . fingers . . . and it disappeared with a psychic scream that rose and then fell off sharply (although only Bruce heard it, the others not being close by.)
They carefully moved around for a bit, ensuring the combat was over. They fed potions out and managed to revive all of the fallen except Ulf. The golden swordsmen huddled up and did something - no one noticed in the confusion - and got their wounded up again, too. Only one lay fallen forever. They stripped him of gear (before the PCs could - yes, someone asked) and layed him out with his arms across his chest and eyes closed.
They explored the area at the gestures of one of the swordsmen. They found one area seemed unstable (they didn't check it further, on caution from Bruce), another gave Bruce weird distractions (and -2 IQ rolls for a while), another was where the void brutes lived (there was almost nothing at all there), and a room with strange writing. Gerry read the runes as best he could (he has 1 point in Elder Tongue), and found them interesting . . . so interesting . . . he could puzzle them out . . . but he managed to snap out of the trap. It was nonsense, at least to him, but designed to seem compelling.
They eventually gathered everyone up, the golden swordsmen pulled them out of the barrier, and they headed back. The golden swordsmen had one lead and the other four follow - one carrying the fallen sixth. The PCs went along and returned to the Masters. They were brought back to the balcony, Levitated up, and questioned by the talkative tall one. It demanded a report. Varmus explained.
It wasn't satisfied that the mindwarper escaped. Varmus said, "to my credit, I was unconscious." They were ordered to disarm. They found themselves compelled to do so. Once stripped nude, things went fuzzy. They found themselves back in their cells. No one tortured them this time around, they were just fed and guarded.
Time passed.
And they came to their senses in a square room with three passages out. One was blocked with caltrops (with a very narrow, straight path through the middle) and a weird crab-shaped urn on the ceiling. There six Gith aka Masters and a few norkers stood, and told them to arm up and to go out that right passage, take another right, and kill everything they found. Wyatt asked again for Aldwyn's weapons, saying he could have completed the previous mission if he'd been given the extra weapons. The Masters seemed unimpressed.
They walked out the narrow, straight, caltrop path ("tactically unsound," sniffed Wyatt) and into the next chamber, an octogan-shaped one. It held four obsidian golems and an iron spectre, which watched them as they went past. They cast a few light spells and moved into the caves where they were told to go and kill everything.
They began to move through the cave, exploring the right-hand side. As they moved left . . . suddenly Wyatt cried out in pain. They began to move forward . . . unknown to them (but known to the PCs, because of the turn tracker and a f-ing map lighting issue I can't figure out), towards a half-dozen Eyes of Death!
We stopped there, and we'll pick up in two weeks.
Notes:
- In my next campaign, I won't allow Fit. Because every single session - every - single - session - someone has asked, "Does Fit count?" on a HT roll. I could write a whole blog hosted on fitcountsonallheathrollsingurps.com and write nothing but posts about how all HT rolls means all HT rolls and I'd still get this question. I'll get it again, even after this. Because, you know, maybe this HT roll doesn't count it. So mark my words - it's gone.
- I love the death brains. Lots of fun. They're really glass cannons . . . assuming you can get close to them. Had Galen been around, they wouldn't have been for long. Missile weapons are relative weak except when they're not.
- We updated the GURPS package and Foundry . . . and while the fight we had worked, we had status effects we couldn't remove, weird issues with lighting, and the like. It's a learning curve. I'd be angrier if I wasn't running a VTT on a third-party host with a different third-party unofficial rules module not planned for in the base VTT.
- I was a little unprepared for the PCs to actually just return to the Masters. But they did. And so, for their sins, they got another mission. Everyone gets everything he wants. So I had to quick-upload the map and icons I needed for the next fight. One of my players said he hadn't seen any real decision points up to now. Well, no, not after they returned to the Masters. I just wasn't really honestly expecting them to go back, but players will do that to you.
- I have no idea how to do lighting. I just don't. I did my best, with lights on PCs and Fog of War on, and they can still see large swaths of the map that are outside the reach of their light. I'm trying to fix it, but it's painful. And it - plus the turn tracker - reveal all that would stay hidden on an actual tabletop.
- MVP was Varmus's player, who was running Wyatt when he threw the sword into the death brain and then kicked it twice for max damage when it fell. It's MVP, not MVC, so the player gets the point, not Wyatt.
- We'll pick up in two weeks, on 11/27/22.
Game Date: 10/24/2022 and 11/13/2022
Characters:
Crogar, human barbarian (375 points)
"Mild" Bruce McTavish, human barbarian (349 points)
Gerrald Tarrant, human wizard (420 points)
Ulf Sigurdson, human cleric (366 points)
Varmus the Hanged, human apprentice (180 points)
Wyatt Sorrel, human swashbuckler (382 points)
We picked up in combat. The combat didn't go too long.
Wyatt scrambled over to his fallen swords and knives and frittered away a couple of seconds trying to retrieve them quickly and rolling poorly. Meanwhile, Gerry harassed the death brain, which kept attacking him and stunning him in return. Wyatt got his sword and chucked it and hit the brain, knocking it from the ceiling. It was hurt more by the fall, and then Wyatt kicked it twice, both times for max damage. Gerry floated down and swiped at it twice, and hit it the second time for 3 damage with the staff (minimum) and 18 damage with a 6d Deathtouch. That did for it.
Meanwhile, the mindwarper kept lashing away at the advancing PCs. It hit Varmus five times, and wounded him badly. Varmus faked unconsciousness, poorly, but then fell unconscious for real a second later.
The golden swordsmen - two, anyway, still at full HP - ran at the mindwarper. So did Bruce. It lashed away at Bruce over and over, inflicting quite a lot of damage and cutting him to half move and dodge. They still managed to run it down to a far wall. Bruce reached it and swung his sword and hit, but it deflected it with a lash of some color-that-wasn't-a-color force. A second later it turns and touched a few spots on the wall with its tentacle-like . . . fingers . . . and it disappeared with a psychic scream that rose and then fell off sharply (although only Bruce heard it, the others not being close by.)
They carefully moved around for a bit, ensuring the combat was over. They fed potions out and managed to revive all of the fallen except Ulf. The golden swordsmen huddled up and did something - no one noticed in the confusion - and got their wounded up again, too. Only one lay fallen forever. They stripped him of gear (before the PCs could - yes, someone asked) and layed him out with his arms across his chest and eyes closed.
They explored the area at the gestures of one of the swordsmen. They found one area seemed unstable (they didn't check it further, on caution from Bruce), another gave Bruce weird distractions (and -2 IQ rolls for a while), another was where the void brutes lived (there was almost nothing at all there), and a room with strange writing. Gerry read the runes as best he could (he has 1 point in Elder Tongue), and found them interesting . . . so interesting . . . he could puzzle them out . . . but he managed to snap out of the trap. It was nonsense, at least to him, but designed to seem compelling.
They eventually gathered everyone up, the golden swordsmen pulled them out of the barrier, and they headed back. The golden swordsmen had one lead and the other four follow - one carrying the fallen sixth. The PCs went along and returned to the Masters. They were brought back to the balcony, Levitated up, and questioned by the talkative tall one. It demanded a report. Varmus explained.
It wasn't satisfied that the mindwarper escaped. Varmus said, "to my credit, I was unconscious." They were ordered to disarm. They found themselves compelled to do so. Once stripped nude, things went fuzzy. They found themselves back in their cells. No one tortured them this time around, they were just fed and guarded.
Time passed.
And they came to their senses in a square room with three passages out. One was blocked with caltrops (with a very narrow, straight path through the middle) and a weird crab-shaped urn on the ceiling. There six Gith aka Masters and a few norkers stood, and told them to arm up and to go out that right passage, take another right, and kill everything they found. Wyatt asked again for Aldwyn's weapons, saying he could have completed the previous mission if he'd been given the extra weapons. The Masters seemed unimpressed.
They walked out the narrow, straight, caltrop path ("tactically unsound," sniffed Wyatt) and into the next chamber, an octogan-shaped one. It held four obsidian golems and an iron spectre, which watched them as they went past. They cast a few light spells and moved into the caves where they were told to go and kill everything.
They began to move through the cave, exploring the right-hand side. As they moved left . . . suddenly Wyatt cried out in pain. They began to move forward . . . unknown to them (but known to the PCs, because of the turn tracker and a f-ing map lighting issue I can't figure out), towards a half-dozen Eyes of Death!
We stopped there, and we'll pick up in two weeks.
Notes:
- In my next campaign, I won't allow Fit. Because every single session - every - single - session - someone has asked, "Does Fit count?" on a HT roll. I could write a whole blog hosted on fitcountsonallheathrollsingurps.com and write nothing but posts about how all HT rolls means all HT rolls and I'd still get this question. I'll get it again, even after this. Because, you know, maybe this HT roll doesn't count it. So mark my words - it's gone.
- I love the death brains. Lots of fun. They're really glass cannons . . . assuming you can get close to them. Had Galen been around, they wouldn't have been for long. Missile weapons are relative weak except when they're not.
- We updated the GURPS package and Foundry . . . and while the fight we had worked, we had status effects we couldn't remove, weird issues with lighting, and the like. It's a learning curve. I'd be angrier if I wasn't running a VTT on a third-party host with a different third-party unofficial rules module not planned for in the base VTT.
- I was a little unprepared for the PCs to actually just return to the Masters. But they did. And so, for their sins, they got another mission. Everyone gets everything he wants. So I had to quick-upload the map and icons I needed for the next fight. One of my players said he hadn't seen any real decision points up to now. Well, no, not after they returned to the Masters. I just wasn't really honestly expecting them to go back, but players will do that to you.
- I have no idea how to do lighting. I just don't. I did my best, with lights on PCs and Fog of War on, and they can still see large swaths of the map that are outside the reach of their light. I'm trying to fix it, but it's painful. And it - plus the turn tracker - reveal all that would stay hidden on an actual tabletop.
- MVP was Varmus's player, who was running Wyatt when he threw the sword into the death brain and then kicked it twice for max damage when it fell. It's MVP, not MVC, so the player gets the point, not Wyatt.
- We'll pick up in two weeks, on 11/27/22.
Saturday, November 12, 2022
Skeleton Weapons comic
This also describes my game. Thanks to the player of Ahenobarbus and all of the Barcas for sending this exact description of how I arm my skeletons. And how I feel about it.
Credit to slaughterkeys.tumblr.com.
Credit to slaughterkeys.tumblr.com.
Friday, November 11, 2022
Links & Thoughts for 11/11/2022
- It's Veteran's Day here in the US, so consider Combat Veteran for your GURPS PCs.
- It's Veteran's Day here in the US, so I should eat this years-old MRE someone gave me. Or maybe not. On my current eating plan, it's like two days worth of food. And nothing really appetizing sounding.
- Also it's Veteran's Day here in the US, so let's give a hand to my players who are veterans. And a hand to the PCs who are veterans of Felltower who've survived since the early days! Oh wait, those guys are dead almost to a man. Only Galen and Borriz are the first characters of the players who run them, and Borriz's player hasn't been active in gaming for closing in on 10 years.
- It's Veteran's Day here in the US, so I should eat this years-old MRE someone gave me. Or maybe not. On my current eating plan, it's like two days worth of food. And nothing really appetizing sounding.
- Also it's Veteran's Day here in the US, so let's give a hand to my players who are veterans. And a hand to the PCs who are veterans of Felltower who've survived since the early days! Oh wait, those guys are dead almost to a man. Only Galen and Borriz are the first characters of the players who run them, and Borriz's player hasn't been active in gaming for closing in on 10 years.
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