For the previous session, click this link.
Rules Explanations
None today.
Recap
I did the short recap again. It felt like it got the ball rolling properly.
Play
When we last left the Unknown Soldier, he had barred a tower door behind him. He spun, and saw a spiral staircase going down, a ladder going up to a trap door, and in the corner was a chained-up cross between a hyena and a dog. The hyena-dog lunged at him, and its chain was just long enough to grab someone on the stairs or the bottom of the ladder.
He wanted to go up or down, and heard banging at the doors to the tower. So he threw his torch at the hyena-dog, missing it. But it flinched away, so he took a running jump and grabbed the ladder! He shimmied up to the top, sheathed his sword, and opened the trap door. He went right up - lucky for him no one was waiting.
At the top was a crenelated set of tower battlements, a tripod-mounted heavy crossbow with stubby bolts, and no much else. He saw orcs and men trying to get into the tower from both doors. (This was important, as he forgot I'd said both doors.)
He saw he was about 40' or so up off the ground, and climbing would be a little tough.
So he climbed back down halfway and jumped to the other door. The hyena-dog lunged at him and missed. But the doors were being battered, and the alarms were going crazy. He realized he couldn't leave that way.
So he ran to the stairs to go back down, deeper into the now-alert fortress. The hyena-dog lunged at him and bit him, failing to penetrate his armor but getting a grapple on him for 2 CP. He tried to hit it with his sword and missed. It tried to haul him down and failed - his Wrestling skill is solid. So he hit it for a lot of damage - 9 cutting against its 1 DR. It was wounded but still up. It tried to bite him but missed, and he hit it again for 9 cutting. It staggered and fell. He quickly ran down the stairs.
We stopped there.
Notes
So my 2-3 session "escape the fort" is turning into 7+ "explore the alert fort at a full run." Players will do that.
What starts as: "You are at point A. Point B is there. You need to get there at all costs as fast as possible."
Becomes: "Okay, I'll explore point A for a while. Hey, it's harder to get to point B now. Uhm, I'll look for some totally unrelated point. Perhaps someday, I can come back to point B, maybe when I'm better equipped. Maybe not."
Heh.
Honestly I'm not sure what I'll do. It's getting more and more likely he'll be surrounded, cut off, and captured again. Which means I need to think of another "escape" scenario to run. I won't kill off his guy unless he kills off his guy (or the dice randomly dictate he's totally dead.) It's English practice, and he'll get more by surviving than by making up a new guy.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Orcs Based
Just a quick pre-work post on those orcs I've just gotten.
I based them yesterday in the usual style:
- cleaned, filed, and prepped them.
- mounted shields w/epoxy.
- embedded them in an inverted slotted base with Kneadtite.
- filled in the open spaces with Golden Gel Medium Coarse Pumice Gel.
Now they're drying. Later today, if the heat keeps up and the humidity keeps low, they'll get black primered. They should be fully painted by the end of the week and in the box for Felltower deployment in no time.
I really should do a step-by-step demo of how I do the cup bases like this. It's simple but people keep asking, and text alone isn't cutting it.
I based them yesterday in the usual style:
- cleaned, filed, and prepped them.
- mounted shields w/epoxy.
- embedded them in an inverted slotted base with Kneadtite.
- filled in the open spaces with Golden Gel Medium Coarse Pumice Gel.
Now they're drying. Later today, if the heat keeps up and the humidity keeps low, they'll get black primered. They should be fully painted by the end of the week and in the box for Felltower deployment in no time.
I really should do a step-by-step demo of how I do the cup bases like this. It's simple but people keep asking, and text alone isn't cutting it.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
More Orcs
I'm not sure why I needed more orcs, but I have three more - specifically, these guys:
They were on overstock clearance and cheap. They're in the same style as the shaman orcs I have, so maybe these are armored shaman?
They were on overstock clearance and cheap. They're in the same style as the shaman orcs I have, so maybe these are armored shaman?
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Four Truths about My Gaming
Here are four things I find are true about, and define, my gaming.
Why four? I like the number four.
1) I don't play as much as I'd like.
A function of being an adult, playing with adults, plus having a split-shift career, means there isn't a lot of time to game. So I don't play half as much as I'd like to play.
I'd like to play my video games, war games, and RPG after RPG.
It just isn't going to happen.
I recognized this a while back and we've built gaming schedules around this fact. That allows me to play as much as I reasonably can, to maximize the enjoyment I get out of gaming.
2) I think about gaming too much.
Some of my best gaming ideas come to me when I really should be doing other things. Or while I'm doing other things. Names for NPCs, places the PCs should be able to visit, odd ways to use previous ideas, etc. They just pop into my head. I write them down on note paper I keep handy (because electronic notes won't get looked at).
I say too much because sometimes this happens when I need to concentrate on other things. Like how I'm blogging about gaming right now instead of doing extra Japanese or Spanish practice or reading this nice book on back injury rehabilitation. It's something I enjoy, but I do tend to let it get carried away a little bit.
3) I already own more gaming material than I need.
I don't need-need most of what I own. I could get by on a fraction. Given nothing except dice, I could re-create what I need. Lacking even dice, I could come up with a fair system of random adjudication in its place.
This affects what I buy. I often see something neat, sometimes by people I'd like to support. But I don't always jump in on it. Partly it's a function of concern with money, partly a function of my approach of keeping my hobby at an overall net zero or even a profit (I write for gaming for more money than I spend on gaming), and partly it's a realization of this truth. I don't really need most of what I have now. I've made decisions about what I find makes my life better by having, and gotten rid of that which did not make the cut.
I still support my hobby, but I give everything a hard look and think, "Will I actually use this, in play, in the short or medium term? Will this make my gaming better by owning it?" If the answer isn't "hell yes!" it's generally "no."
4) I like the ancillary parts of gaming as much as the main.
Gaming isn't painting minis, reading game books, or blogging about gaming. It's the game you're actually engaged in.
But I like those three elements as well. I like to paint minis - I get a lot of enjoyment out of knowing how it'll hit the table. If I'm not gaming, I'm not as excited about painting minis. They feed into each other in a virtuous circle. The better I paint, the better the reaction, and the more I look forward to the games. So I paint better and I game better.
Reading game books? The same. I get a kick out of reading things that might feed my gaming itself. The gaming itself pushes me to read those things that will feed my gaming. Again, virtuous circle.
Blogging is the same. My blog provides a useful resource for our games. It also provides an outlet that lets me develop ideas for my games publicly and therefore with comment. Again, they feed each other.
They cross-feed as well. I'll finish a painted figure so I can post a picture. I'll blog about something and then go try it in game. I'll read game books to review them, which makes me examine them more carefully than if I'd just read it. Like how I read books where I expect I'll have to pass the information to others (like that back rehab book), I read them more than just lightly and casually because I might have to discuss them.
I don't actually run games because of the blog, though - games are self-sustaining in their nature for me. It's fun I have with my friends. It's made me new friends, developed acquaintances into friends, and reinforced old friendships. That's first and foremost why I do it. But I like all the stuff I've attached to it. I like it as much, even if they don't really self-sustain without the core.
I think those are the four truths about my gaming.
Why four? I like the number four.
1) I don't play as much as I'd like.
A function of being an adult, playing with adults, plus having a split-shift career, means there isn't a lot of time to game. So I don't play half as much as I'd like to play.
I'd like to play my video games, war games, and RPG after RPG.
It just isn't going to happen.
I recognized this a while back and we've built gaming schedules around this fact. That allows me to play as much as I reasonably can, to maximize the enjoyment I get out of gaming.
2) I think about gaming too much.
Some of my best gaming ideas come to me when I really should be doing other things. Or while I'm doing other things. Names for NPCs, places the PCs should be able to visit, odd ways to use previous ideas, etc. They just pop into my head. I write them down on note paper I keep handy (because electronic notes won't get looked at).
I say too much because sometimes this happens when I need to concentrate on other things. Like how I'm blogging about gaming right now instead of doing extra Japanese or Spanish practice or reading this nice book on back injury rehabilitation. It's something I enjoy, but I do tend to let it get carried away a little bit.
3) I already own more gaming material than I need.
I don't need-need most of what I own. I could get by on a fraction. Given nothing except dice, I could re-create what I need. Lacking even dice, I could come up with a fair system of random adjudication in its place.
This affects what I buy. I often see something neat, sometimes by people I'd like to support. But I don't always jump in on it. Partly it's a function of concern with money, partly a function of my approach of keeping my hobby at an overall net zero or even a profit (I write for gaming for more money than I spend on gaming), and partly it's a realization of this truth. I don't really need most of what I have now. I've made decisions about what I find makes my life better by having, and gotten rid of that which did not make the cut.
I still support my hobby, but I give everything a hard look and think, "Will I actually use this, in play, in the short or medium term? Will this make my gaming better by owning it?" If the answer isn't "hell yes!" it's generally "no."
4) I like the ancillary parts of gaming as much as the main.
Gaming isn't painting minis, reading game books, or blogging about gaming. It's the game you're actually engaged in.
But I like those three elements as well. I like to paint minis - I get a lot of enjoyment out of knowing how it'll hit the table. If I'm not gaming, I'm not as excited about painting minis. They feed into each other in a virtuous circle. The better I paint, the better the reaction, and the more I look forward to the games. So I paint better and I game better.
Reading game books? The same. I get a kick out of reading things that might feed my gaming itself. The gaming itself pushes me to read those things that will feed my gaming. Again, virtuous circle.
Blogging is the same. My blog provides a useful resource for our games. It also provides an outlet that lets me develop ideas for my games publicly and therefore with comment. Again, they feed each other.
They cross-feed as well. I'll finish a painted figure so I can post a picture. I'll blog about something and then go try it in game. I'll read game books to review them, which makes me examine them more carefully than if I'd just read it. Like how I read books where I expect I'll have to pass the information to others (like that back rehab book), I read them more than just lightly and casually because I might have to discuss them.
I don't actually run games because of the blog, though - games are self-sustaining in their nature for me. It's fun I have with my friends. It's made me new friends, developed acquaintances into friends, and reinforced old friendships. That's first and foremost why I do it. But I like all the stuff I've attached to it. I like it as much, even if they don't really self-sustain without the core.
I think those are the four truths about my gaming.
Monday, May 15, 2017
Gamma Terra GM posts
andi, our Gamma Terra GM, posted up a lot of maps, details, description, pictures, and explanations of his Gamma World / Tomorrow Men / 20th Homeland campaign.
The Gamma World of the Tomorrow Men
Like this expanded map:
or this elevation map, which I'm finding is really helping me visualize the world better:
Nice stuff. For the game summaries, click here and look for GURPS Gamma World.
The Gamma World of the Tomorrow Men
Like this expanded map:
or this elevation map, which I'm finding is really helping me visualize the world better:
Nice stuff. For the game summaries, click here and look for GURPS Gamma World.
Sunday, May 14, 2017
DF Felltower: How much profit do you need?
My XP award house rules have worked out pretty well in my GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game. It drives profit as the main goal, exploration as a secondary goal, and monster killing as a means to an end. It punishes treating (non-volunteer) hirelings nicely and avoiding character death at all possible costs.
However, I think the "profitable trip" requirement also rewards bottom-feeding to a degree that gets larger as you go on. Since a profitable trip is such a low bar - $150 for upkeep, recharge all power items ($0 - $100+, divided by the number of PCs). Less than $200 in most cases, although folks like Martial Artists (with their doubled upkeep costs!) need a lot more. I hadvbasically set it at $200 each and if the PCs exceeded that, they count the trip as profitable. Higher-value PCs (in excess of 350 points) have needed $400 each to profit.
In most GURPS games, point value of the PCs is not a good meter of ability. It's a meter of options they had during chargen, but not a true ranking of power.
In GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, though, point value is a pretty good meter of ability. Very little you can buy does anything except make you a much more lethal fighter, cunning delver, and capable adventurer.
So why not tie the amount of loot you need to your point value? And why not leverage the multipliers for Wealth to provide a set of numbers that mirrors an existing set of numbers in GURPS? Starting wealth in Dungeon Fantasy is Average, and gives you $1000 in starting cash. If it's about $200 for a profitable trip, then you need 1/5 of the starting wealth each trip to be profitable.
Method 1
Required Profit
Up to 249 Points: $100 each (1/5 Struggling)
250-349 Points: $200 each (1/5 Average)
350-449 Points: $400 each (1/5 Comfortable)
450-549 Points: $1000 each (1/5 Wealthy)
550-649 Points: $4000 (1/5 Very Wealthy)
650+ Points: $20,000 each (1/5 of Filthy Rich)
Optionally, every 100 additional points multiplies the need by 10; an 850-point delver would need to take home $2,000,000 to count it as a profitable trip and get full XP.
Failure to meet these numbers for that particular PC reduces their XP This explains why staggeringly powerful delvers prefer to farm out small tasks to lesser delvers and save their efforts for epic adventures against ancient dragons, evil empires, or giant armies.
You could make this a tighter spread, too - instead of every 100 points, make it every 50.
Method 2
Required Profit (50 point spread)
Up to 249 Points: $100 each (1/5 Struggling)
250-299 Points: $200 each (1/5 Average)
300-349 Points: $400 each (1/5 Comfortable)
350-399 Points: $1000 each (1/5 Wealthy)
400-449 Points: $4000 (1/5 Very Wealthy)
450+ Points: $20,000 each (1/5 of Filthy Rich)
Every additional 50 points: x10
You can opt for a mixed spread, too . At first it's every 50 points, but as the jumps get higher so does the amount of power needed to require the jump.
Method 3
Required Profit (Tiered, 100, then 50 point spread)
Up to 249 Points: $100 each (1/5 Struggling)
250-349 Points: $200 each (1/5 Average)
350-399 Points: $400 each (1/5 Comfortable)
400-449 Points: $1000 each (1/5 Wealthy)
450-499 Points: $4000 (1/5 Very Wealthy)
500+ Points: $20,000 each (1/5 of Filthy Rich)
Every Additional 100 Points: x10
In either case, there is no bonus for a massive haul - excessive riches are reward enough!
You can reach your required wealth by unfairly diving the wealth. This is totally fair, and encourages higher-powered delvers to either demand a bigger share or push to seek much richer (and better guarded) sources of wealth. i really prefer when people do this in round in-game numbers ("So-and-so gets a quadruple share, his buddy gets a double share, everyone else gets single shares!") than utterly munchkinly min-maxed divisions ("So-and-so gets $4000 on the nose, his buddy gets $1000, this other guy gets $400, and the rest of us divide up the money evenly netting us all $200.50 each so we all just barely make full XP!") Which is odd when they pool the money again to buy people stuff. But if the players enjoy min-maxing their loot to maximize XP, that's fine. I can be hands-off and let them do as they please and we're all happy. They get maximum XP, I don't have to deal with it, and the best way to benefit from the system is to take immense risks for high rewards so you don't have game the system.
What are you using?
After a bit of waffling, we settled on Method 3. It's been working quite well. Aside from my nit-picks on dividing loot it's been a good system. This does drive powerful delvers to go deeper because it's not enough to just cover costs to get full XP. It also means you don't need to pull in extraordinary loot for a while, but by the end you're forced to rack in fortunes.
However, I think the "profitable trip" requirement also rewards bottom-feeding to a degree that gets larger as you go on. Since a profitable trip is such a low bar - $150 for upkeep, recharge all power items ($0 - $100+, divided by the number of PCs). Less than $200 in most cases, although folks like Martial Artists (with their doubled upkeep costs!) need a lot more. I hadvbasically set it at $200 each and if the PCs exceeded that, they count the trip as profitable. Higher-value PCs (in excess of 350 points) have needed $400 each to profit.
In most GURPS games, point value of the PCs is not a good meter of ability. It's a meter of options they had during chargen, but not a true ranking of power.
In GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, though, point value is a pretty good meter of ability. Very little you can buy does anything except make you a much more lethal fighter, cunning delver, and capable adventurer.
So why not tie the amount of loot you need to your point value? And why not leverage the multipliers for Wealth to provide a set of numbers that mirrors an existing set of numbers in GURPS? Starting wealth in Dungeon Fantasy is Average, and gives you $1000 in starting cash. If it's about $200 for a profitable trip, then you need 1/5 of the starting wealth each trip to be profitable.
Method 1
Required Profit
Up to 249 Points: $100 each (1/5 Struggling)
250-349 Points: $200 each (1/5 Average)
350-449 Points: $400 each (1/5 Comfortable)
450-549 Points: $1000 each (1/5 Wealthy)
550-649 Points: $4000 (1/5 Very Wealthy)
650+ Points: $20,000 each (1/5 of Filthy Rich)
Optionally, every 100 additional points multiplies the need by 10; an 850-point delver would need to take home $2,000,000 to count it as a profitable trip and get full XP.
Failure to meet these numbers for that particular PC reduces their XP This explains why staggeringly powerful delvers prefer to farm out small tasks to lesser delvers and save their efforts for epic adventures against ancient dragons, evil empires, or giant armies.
You could make this a tighter spread, too - instead of every 100 points, make it every 50.
Method 2
Required Profit (50 point spread)
Up to 249 Points: $100 each (1/5 Struggling)
250-299 Points: $200 each (1/5 Average)
300-349 Points: $400 each (1/5 Comfortable)
350-399 Points: $1000 each (1/5 Wealthy)
400-449 Points: $4000 (1/5 Very Wealthy)
450+ Points: $20,000 each (1/5 of Filthy Rich)
Every additional 50 points: x10
You can opt for a mixed spread, too . At first it's every 50 points, but as the jumps get higher so does the amount of power needed to require the jump.
Method 3
Required Profit (Tiered, 100, then 50 point spread)
Up to 249 Points: $100 each (1/5 Struggling)
250-349 Points: $200 each (1/5 Average)
350-399 Points: $400 each (1/5 Comfortable)
400-449 Points: $1000 each (1/5 Wealthy)
450-499 Points: $4000 (1/5 Very Wealthy)
500+ Points: $20,000 each (1/5 of Filthy Rich)
Every Additional 100 Points: x10
In either case, there is no bonus for a massive haul - excessive riches are reward enough!
You can reach your required wealth by unfairly diving the wealth. This is totally fair, and encourages higher-powered delvers to either demand a bigger share or push to seek much richer (and better guarded) sources of wealth. i really prefer when people do this in round in-game numbers ("So-and-so gets a quadruple share, his buddy gets a double share, everyone else gets single shares!") than utterly munchkinly min-maxed divisions ("So-and-so gets $4000 on the nose, his buddy gets $1000, this other guy gets $400, and the rest of us divide up the money evenly netting us all $200.50 each so we all just barely make full XP!") Which is odd when they pool the money again to buy people stuff. But if the players enjoy min-maxing their loot to maximize XP, that's fine. I can be hands-off and let them do as they please and we're all happy. They get maximum XP, I don't have to deal with it, and the best way to benefit from the system is to take immense risks for high rewards so you don't have game the system.
What are you using?
After a bit of waffling, we settled on Method 3. It's been working quite well. Aside from my nit-picks on dividing loot it's been a good system. This does drive powerful delvers to go deeper because it's not enough to just cover costs to get full XP. It also means you don't need to pull in extraordinary loot for a while, but by the end you're forced to rack in fortunes.
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Random Notes for 5/13
Just some random gaming notes today:
- There is another Black Tree sale going on, and up until Sunday if you put in the code EOE20 you'll get an extra 20% off.
- Speaking of minis, the Bones 3 Kickstarter is finally starting to ship! It seems like the containers took the maximum possible time to clear customs. Once they arrive I'll update my sale/trade list with the ones I don't want.
- Also speaking of minis and Kickstarters, Mantic has a huge collection of unpainted terrain bits up. I need more terrain to carry like Egon needed that extra hole in his head, but in the interests of passing on news, here is the link:
Terrain Crate
- the lack of painting posts does, indeed, indicate just how busy work and studies have left me. I haven't painted much. I'll fix that soon.
- I've got another GURPS DF article cooking, hopefully you'll get to see that soon-ish. Not a blog article, rather a Pyramid one.
- There is a playtest call for HANS's new book, Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions. I'm more of a range-bands-and-TDM-penalties guy when I play with guns, but if you crave detail HANS has you covered.
- There is another Black Tree sale going on, and up until Sunday if you put in the code EOE20 you'll get an extra 20% off.
- Speaking of minis, the Bones 3 Kickstarter is finally starting to ship! It seems like the containers took the maximum possible time to clear customs. Once they arrive I'll update my sale/trade list with the ones I don't want.
- Also speaking of minis and Kickstarters, Mantic has a huge collection of unpainted terrain bits up. I need more terrain to carry like Egon needed that extra hole in his head, but in the interests of passing on news, here is the link:
Terrain Crate
- the lack of painting posts does, indeed, indicate just how busy work and studies have left me. I haven't painted much. I'll fix that soon.
- I've got another GURPS DF article cooking, hopefully you'll get to see that soon-ish. Not a blog article, rather a Pyramid one.
- There is a playtest call for HANS's new book, Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions. I'm more of a range-bands-and-TDM-penalties guy when I play with guns, but if you crave detail HANS has you covered.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
