It occurred to me today that the Oonai, that'd I'd mentioned yesterday, probably had stats in Elric! Dark Fantasy Roleplaying.* And that in fact, I did own a copy of that game.
Given that I have a Chaosium-to-GURPS 3e conversion chart (from GURPS Cthulhupunk) and a GURPS 3e-to-4e conversion chart (from SJG and my own experience), statting up any of the Elric! creatures is easy enough.
Unfortunately, their stats are pretty mundane - they're kinda big, kinda strong, not too bright but not too dumb. Their real power is shapeshifting - they gain the attacks and defenses of whatever they mimic. So much so that it's easier to just whip up a set of stats for something like this and then set it loose than to "loyally" follow the stats in Elric!
On the bright side, though, I do have some easy stats to convert over for DF, such as, oh, Quaolnargn, the Mist Giant, the Grahluk and Elenoin, Prince Yrkoon . . .
*Yes, the game's title has an exclamation point.
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Flying Shapeshifting Pigs
Here is a monster I'd forgotten about until I grabbed "The Vanishing Tower" by Michael Moorcock as a quick in-between-non-fiction book read - the Oonai.
"Creatures of Chaos. In Melnibone they are called the Oonai. They can change shape at will. A sorcerer of great mental discipline, of superlative powers, who knows the apposite spells can master them and determine their appearance."
Nice.
These creatures shapeshift into the form of - and gain the powers of - things up to and including Melnibonean dragons with their napalm-like venom. They attack individually even though they appear in groups, and can only be banished by a Lord of Chaos.
But, when slain - which they can be with normal swords - they turn back into "heavy, black, pig-like creature[s]" with ugly, lumpen bodies.
I'm a big fan of shapeshifters, but it's amusing they're just ugly lumpy black pigs when they're not anything else. It beats the usual "formless mass" that I've seen before (and used myself.)
Now just to stat them up secretly and use them in DF . . .
"Creatures of Chaos. In Melnibone they are called the Oonai. They can change shape at will. A sorcerer of great mental discipline, of superlative powers, who knows the apposite spells can master them and determine their appearance."
Nice.
These creatures shapeshift into the form of - and gain the powers of - things up to and including Melnibonean dragons with their napalm-like venom. They attack individually even though they appear in groups, and can only be banished by a Lord of Chaos.
But, when slain - which they can be with normal swords - they turn back into "heavy, black, pig-like creature[s]" with ugly, lumpen bodies.
I'm a big fan of shapeshifters, but it's amusing they're just ugly lumpy black pigs when they're not anything else. It beats the usual "formless mass" that I've seen before (and used myself.)
Now just to stat them up secretly and use them in DF . . .
Monday, August 5, 2019
2019 AD&D schedule?
For the past couple of years, we're thrown in some 1st edition AD&D here and there. We played two adventures so far:
S2 White Plume Mountain
and
C2 Ghost Tower of Inverness
A year back, after C2, I mentioned that the A-series was in the lead.
I think it still is in the lead. G1-3 (in this case, just G1 this year) would be fun but the pre-gens are a bit overpowered for G1 in my experience. So I'd either need to accept that, or allow the players to roll up their own higher-level guys.
G1 also has the issue of being extremely high-combat. This is a disadvantage for my GURPS players because it's hard to adjust to AD&D with combat - in GURPS, a well-executed combat can have no consequences for you besides some consumables expenditure and fatigue. That's almost never the case in AD&D, where every fight wears you down and a bad one can end your ability to progress in an adventure. So I'm not sure that's as fun as it could be, not just yet anyway.
The A-series is a bit of a mix of combat, puzzle-solving, and careful play. I think that's a good match for my players.
I'm not sure if this will happen soon, although I could literally pull A2 off the wall right now and run it tonight if I had to. But I'd like to get the ball rolling so we don't miss out on 2019's AD&D!
S2 White Plume Mountain
and
C2 Ghost Tower of Inverness
A year back, after C2, I mentioned that the A-series was in the lead.
I think it still is in the lead. G1-3 (in this case, just G1 this year) would be fun but the pre-gens are a bit overpowered for G1 in my experience. So I'd either need to accept that, or allow the players to roll up their own higher-level guys.
G1 also has the issue of being extremely high-combat. This is a disadvantage for my GURPS players because it's hard to adjust to AD&D with combat - in GURPS, a well-executed combat can have no consequences for you besides some consumables expenditure and fatigue. That's almost never the case in AD&D, where every fight wears you down and a bad one can end your ability to progress in an adventure. So I'm not sure that's as fun as it could be, not just yet anyway.
The A-series is a bit of a mix of combat, puzzle-solving, and careful play. I think that's a good match for my players.
I'm not sure if this will happen soon, although I could literally pull A2 off the wall right now and run it tonight if I had to. But I'd like to get the ball rolling so we don't miss out on 2019's AD&D!
Sunday, August 4, 2019
Felltower Update for 8/4
It's been a sparse few weeks in terms of work on Felltower, but it hasn't lain completely quiet in that time.
We're going to pick back up gaming in the next weeks, possibly with Felltower.
Since time passes one-for-one in the game world with the real world, weeks have passed since the last delve of the PCs into Felltower. I've had to go through and make sure the dungeon reflects those weeks.
One area I'm thinking of working on again are the rumors. Since relatively little exploration has been happening, and relatively few new areas have been uncovered, there isn't really very much to plausibly say about the megadungeon. Because of that I'm concerned that rumors - always subject to some variation in value - are becoming too thin in terms of value. I have to make up 8-10 of them per session, pretty routinely, and since new areas aren't found they're often re-hashing information the PCs have heard before. That gives them the weight of truth, even though they're not any more or less true than things mentioned only once in the rumors.
Plus, they do take time to write - and I often spend my last minutes of game prep on the rumors even when other stuff needs tending to, simply because they're expected and I can't have too few.
I'm not sure - perhaps I'll give fewer rumors (one automatic and one for a success on Carousing, an additional one with a critical) so I'm not always racing to get more generated.
We'll see. That's what I'm thinking of at the moment. Hopefully with the orc menace rolled back a bit, the PCs will delve a bit deeper? The terror of the beholder is holding them back a bit, though, which is fair . . . but they'll eventually need to go down to where there are dragons and beholders again.
We're going to pick back up gaming in the next weeks, possibly with Felltower.
Since time passes one-for-one in the game world with the real world, weeks have passed since the last delve of the PCs into Felltower. I've had to go through and make sure the dungeon reflects those weeks.
One area I'm thinking of working on again are the rumors. Since relatively little exploration has been happening, and relatively few new areas have been uncovered, there isn't really very much to plausibly say about the megadungeon. Because of that I'm concerned that rumors - always subject to some variation in value - are becoming too thin in terms of value. I have to make up 8-10 of them per session, pretty routinely, and since new areas aren't found they're often re-hashing information the PCs have heard before. That gives them the weight of truth, even though they're not any more or less true than things mentioned only once in the rumors.
Plus, they do take time to write - and I often spend my last minutes of game prep on the rumors even when other stuff needs tending to, simply because they're expected and I can't have too few.
I'm not sure - perhaps I'll give fewer rumors (one automatic and one for a success on Carousing, an additional one with a critical) so I'm not always racing to get more generated.
We'll see. That's what I'm thinking of at the moment. Hopefully with the orc menace rolled back a bit, the PCs will delve a bit deeper? The terror of the beholder is holding them back a bit, though, which is fair . . . but they'll eventually need to go down to where there are dragons and beholders again.
Saturday, August 3, 2019
DFRPG Magic Items 2 in September
It was announced a few days back, but in case you missed it (like I did):
Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items 2 Coming To Kickstarter In September!
It'll be a one-week Kickstarter so the books can be released in December. I'll keep everyone posted - and hopefully I don't miss it, either.
Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items 2 Coming To Kickstarter In September!
It'll be a one-week Kickstarter so the books can be released in December. I'll keep everyone posted - and hopefully I don't miss it, either.
Friday, August 2, 2019
War in the East Supply notes
So I did take advantage of my break to really put some time into learning Gary Grigsby's War in the East.
What really killed me was supply - I'd regularly outrun supply, especially with my panzer and motorized divisions - and have my offensive grind to a halt while I found ways to force fuel back up to the front.
Looking at some AARs helped, but so often they were in Beginner mode and I started in Intermediate, so they'd manage to break through the Soviets much more easily and supply much more effectively.
But I did find a simple but useful guide to supply here:
War in the East Supply Basics
It's very basic, but that's what I needed - something that just told me what to do and where to look.
Armed with that, I fired up a scenario I'd been playing - Road to Leningrad - and tried what I knew. I started with my panzers already out of fuel, and did what I could to rescue the situation. I managed, but the loss of momentum (and some other mistakes later on with support and unit distribution) kept me from taking more than half of Leningrad itself and left with an Axis Minor Victory instead of the Major Victory I'd hoped for. Well, that and not being able to cut off supply to the Soviets in the city, which I'd thought I'd done enough to effect but apparently had not.
The next time I played a bit, I was able to keep my fuel-sucking panzers in fuel the entire time. What a difference that made - I haven't finished that playthrough, but I'm much more solid.
Now to learn administrative tasks, like creating units (support and otherwise), replacing officers, creating new formations, and reassigning units to new HQs. Some of that I've done in play, but mostly ad hoc.
Fun game. Hard, but fun.
What really killed me was supply - I'd regularly outrun supply, especially with my panzer and motorized divisions - and have my offensive grind to a halt while I found ways to force fuel back up to the front.
Looking at some AARs helped, but so often they were in Beginner mode and I started in Intermediate, so they'd manage to break through the Soviets much more easily and supply much more effectively.
But I did find a simple but useful guide to supply here:
War in the East Supply Basics
It's very basic, but that's what I needed - something that just told me what to do and where to look.
Armed with that, I fired up a scenario I'd been playing - Road to Leningrad - and tried what I knew. I started with my panzers already out of fuel, and did what I could to rescue the situation. I managed, but the loss of momentum (and some other mistakes later on with support and unit distribution) kept me from taking more than half of Leningrad itself and left with an Axis Minor Victory instead of the Major Victory I'd hoped for. Well, that and not being able to cut off supply to the Soviets in the city, which I'd thought I'd done enough to effect but apparently had not.
The next time I played a bit, I was able to keep my fuel-sucking panzers in fuel the entire time. What a difference that made - I haven't finished that playthrough, but I'm much more solid.
Now to learn administrative tasks, like creating units (support and otherwise), replacing officers, creating new formations, and reassigning units to new HQs. Some of that I've done in play, but mostly ad hoc.
Fun game. Hard, but fun.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
GURPS I Did Wrong: Man-to-Man Edition
Just as a fun followup to yesterday's post, what did I do wrong in Man-to-Man, the original combat system-only release of GURPS?
Heh. I didn't do this wrong long. But I remember it distinctly.
Shock Penalties Are Forever - back before 4th edition GURPS, stretching back to Man-to-Man, shock was unlimited. You could suffer any amount of it, not just the -4 cap you can suffer now.
And in my first Man-to-Man game, I didn't think it wore off in 1 second. Oh no. You just kept it.
In very short order, Rogan the Reaver and Fiendish Frederick were limping around at 3-4 HP but with -8+ on all of their attacks. They couldn't hit each other until one or the other of us eventually got a good shot in and finished the job.
But woo, that was tough. Injuries were debilitating, and ever since the "Death Spiral" of GURPS hasn't seemed that bad. I had made it much, much worse. Getting hit wasn't just a sign you were losing, it was pretty certain you weren't an effective combatant anymore, either.
Heh. I didn't do this wrong long. But I remember it distinctly.
Shock Penalties Are Forever - back before 4th edition GURPS, stretching back to Man-to-Man, shock was unlimited. You could suffer any amount of it, not just the -4 cap you can suffer now.
And in my first Man-to-Man game, I didn't think it wore off in 1 second. Oh no. You just kept it.
In very short order, Rogan the Reaver and Fiendish Frederick were limping around at 3-4 HP but with -8+ on all of their attacks. They couldn't hit each other until one or the other of us eventually got a good shot in and finished the job.
But woo, that was tough. Injuries were debilitating, and ever since the "Death Spiral" of GURPS hasn't seemed that bad. I had made it much, much worse. Getting hit wasn't just a sign you were losing, it was pretty certain you weren't an effective combatant anymore, either.
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