Fire in the Lake-sized table acquired. Kinda.

Good news - I have a table space enough the size of South Vietnam . . . in Fire in the Lake!

Bad news - it's not actually my table. I may have to negotiate for use.

But it's a step forward. Onward to victory!

Fixed Feint modification?

I was thinking about my "Fixed Feint" option for Felltower.

I know at least one player likes the idea of a fixed feint outcome, but also likes the idea of being able to get a -8, not -4, to defend.

But said player described that as "-8 if you make the feint by 10 or more" . . . but the suggested rule is actually "Winning the Quick Contest by 10+".

My main concern with this is that we still need to do the math. I don't need to eyeball the results, but instead calculate a margin so I can then decide if it is -4 or -8. It means people wanting to check and see if they had just 1 or 2 more points they should have gotten, or the opponent shouldn't have gotten, so they can eke out a -8 instead of a -4.

So here is an idea I had.

If you attempt a Feint and roll a 4 or less, and win the contest, you inflict a -8 penalty on your opponent instead of a -4. If your opponent also rolls 4 or less, you inflict a -4 penalty if despite this you win the contest.

It doesn't matter if you roll a 3 and your target rolls a 4. 3-4 are equally weighted on the roll. That's why I worded it as "a 4 or less." That should forstall any questions about is a 3 better than a 4 and shouldn't it be.

Note this is not a critical success - it's a contest of skills, not a Success Roll, which are not the same things (except for spells, somewhat problematically.)

I don't know if I'll use this, but it's an idea to preserve the possibility of a -8 without needing to worry about most contest results. And you'll know if you rolled a 3 or 4, and I'll know if the foe rolled a 3 or 4, instantly.

10x Loot & 10x Magic Prices in Felltower - Full Proposal

This is the final proposal for 10x loot and 10x magic prices in Felltower.

My players will be voting on this privately.

Effects on Play & Rules

- Starting Wealth and Trading Points for Money are unchanged.

- Findable loot will be approximately 10x as much as before.

- Jewelry, gem, luxury good, and coin values will not change unless they are permanent or temporary magic items.

- Permanent and temporary magic items, items that convey spells (scrolls), spellstones, potions, etc. cost, and are worth, 10x listed or $200/point of energy.

- Potions sold in town are sold at $1,000 per as their base value (subject to Wealth sale percentages) regardless of the potion.

- Power Item recharging is $50/point.

- Spells cast by NPCs cost $200 per point, or 10x list cost (so $150,000 for Resurrection, or $10,000 for Remove Curse, $1,600 for Analyze Magic).

- Loot Thresholds for XP are 10x higher.

- Upkeep costs are unchanged.

Notes:

This should make magic items more scarce, since comparable (or nearly so) mundane items are cheaper.

Orichalcum is still restricted for purchase. You can't just order any. That's a Felltower feature.

This should also explain delving better - even a cruddy delve that nets you just enough for full loot XP for a brand-new delver - $2000 each - is far more than you could earn at a real job. You're risking death - probably courting certain death, eventually - but the payoffs can be staggering.

I'll add any future player comments or requested clarifications here.

Questions!

Will the weight of loot change, per this older post?

No, that's not listed above. We're voting based on the post above and not on any other discussions, ideas, floated rules changes, or other details disucussed elsewhere.

What would the Loot Threshold Tables look like?

Modified Method 2 (aka the rules that made it into DF21)

Up to 249 Points: $1,000 each (1x Average)
250-299 Points: $2,000 each (1x Comfortable)
300-349 Points: $4,000 each (2x Comfortable)
350-399 Points: $10,000 each (2x Wealthy)
400-449 Points: $40,000 (2x Very Wealthy)
450+ Points: $200,000 each (2x Filthy Rich)
Every additional 50 points: x10

Yes, that's a lot. A 500 point guy needs $2,000,000 to get 4 xp! No wonder they stay home and send weaker delvers to fight orcs and slimes!

Goodbye to two perks in Felltower

Upon reflection, I'm definitely getting rid of Signature Gear on top of getting rid of Trademark Move. I just find that neither of them adds more than they take away from the campaign.

We'll see about other changes, but those are gone!

Google forms question

Does anyone know how to create a nested question in Google Forms?

One of those where, if the person chooses YES, it opens a followup?

I've looked but the answer I've found just confused me a bit.

And yes, we're going to use a Google Form to figure out who wants to do what rules-wise.

If I get sufficienty skilled at framing questions I'll probably do that for a future delving area, too.

Links & Thoughts for 12/2/2022

A few things:

- I have some replies to comments from the last few days, but I don't have the time to make them at the moment. They're coming!

- I have to write out my 10x loot proposal again in a final form. We may not use them, but I answered three questions by email that are answered in the general post on the subject. So that's not a good sign for comprehension. I'll be explicit what would be what way.

It might actually be easier to cut the price of mundane items by 1/10th, actually, and it would have the same effect.

I'll only put it into practice this campaign if we get 100% of the current players to agree on it.

- I'll give these a go. The library had them both:




I need to finish this, first:



Hey, be careful of spoilers! Don't tell me how it turns out! It's looking good for the Americans at the moment!

Just kidding. It looks terrible the whole time, just like Hell in a Very Small Place. Not inevitable or inexorable, but you can see what came coming. I just need to find a copy, somehow, of The Short-Timers. I read a friend's copy but it's overpriced on the secondary market.

- Ah, AD&D. I love your ridiculous complexity. I think of it every time someone tells me GURPS is hard. Hah. I started with AD&D. I laugh at your concept of complexity! Heh.

- Jeff looks at some really old orc minis. I like them.

DF Rules Tweak - Should Higher Purpose give per-die bonuses?

One issue with Holy Warriors in DF is that the other fighter-types, generally, do better against undead or demons than they do. A Knight or Swashbuckler with Weapon Master exceeds them in skill and damage, even against those the who the Higher Purpose applies. Barbarians do so much raw damage that they exceed the Holy Warriors as well.

One solution is to allow Holy Warriors to have Weapon Master. Sure that'll work.

But another idea I had is to make Higher Purpose do per-die damage bonuses. So a Holy Warrior with Higher Purpose 3 vs. undead would have +3 to hit, +3 to defend, and +3 per die to damage. A ST 13 Holy Warrior with a Fine Broadsword would do 2d+7 to undead.

You could allow this to stack with Weapon Master if you are a glutton for such things. Or just allow this instead.

I haven't tried this but I like how it plays out in my head, so far.