Game pre-summary

I'll put up a better, but not much better, summary tomorrow.

- we headed deeper into the dungeon they explored last time. We destroyed a bunch of skeletons and zombies.

- we found a bunch of loot, and answered a pop quiz. Handsome answered correctly, which is good because Handsome didn't start listening until halfway through the riddle because his player's spouse was walking by and communicating with Gesture.

- Handsome helped find some gold

- we talked our way out of a fight and into some help. I credit the bard. We ended up with a quest from someone who committed worse crimes that even Handsome has been legally convicted of. Impressive.

- next session we'll hopefully complete this quest we've managed to take on.

Friday Random Thoughts & Links 9/8/2023

- I'd only heard a few bits about Yggsburg, a later Gary Gygax publication. I'm curious, for sure.

- I love Grimtooth's Traps, but I sure don't need stats for them as in this upcoming product. They're all comically overengineered and lethal. Stats seem superfluous, if only because that implies you could survive the traps. Dude, if you fall for the Closet of Caltrops or fall down the Amazing Ginzu Chute, just make a new guy and move on. It's that kind of game. But your interest may vary, and you have over 53 days to think about it from today's post.

- Ah, stupid Hit Point Jokes and a great spin on healing - The Order of the Stick at its finest. "So . . . healing just allows for more violence?" That's the basis of dungeon delving!

- Sunday we are playing in Vic's Felltower Adjacent game. Apparantly we've picked up an NPC ally . . . huh. Handsome already covers the "savage violent outsider with a tendency to kill" niche, do we really need another?

- I'm not around Saturday, and we game Sunday, so I can't promise a post until Monday.

Simpler Language Costs for DF

GURPS splits languages into 2, 3-point advantage levels. Broken, Accented, and Fluent in Writing and Speaking.

For DF Felltower, I've considered cutting down the levels. I've mulled over two options:

Option 1:
1 point Broken, either written or spoken
2 points Fluent, either written or spoken

Or

Option 2:
1 point Broken written and spoken
2 points Accented written and spoken
3 points Fluent written and spoken

Option 1 basically cuts out Accented and cuts the cost of languages by 1/3. A mere 2 points will get you spoken fluency or written fluency.

Option 2 keeps the costs identical, but folds written into spoken ability. This would be unchanged for a spoken-only language, or a written-only language. It's very rare - I can't think of any examples yet - for people to take illiteracy in their native language in DF Felltower. It's more common for people to take spoken-only for other languages. Gift of Letters and Gift of Tongues are a replacement for serious investment in languages.

I haven't decided if I'll do this, but it's been rattling around my head for a while now to make languages more useful and likely purchases.

D&D on Death Row

My friend Tom shared this with our gaming group. It's an article about men on death row, playing D&D as best they can while locked up and waiting for execution.

It's grim. But it's good. Any they have better handouts and maps than I've made in years. I make no comment here on the justice system or on the death penalty . . . just on the gaming. It's about the only time I've been interested in reading someone's character background.

When Wizards and Orcs Came to Death Row

I love the spinners to replace dice, the game length (9 a.m. until bed time), and the dedication it takes to keep generating material to play with.

Thanks for sharing, Tom.

OD&D Solo Play link

I have to admit, I have a soft spot for random dungeons with old school delving. Here is an OD&D solo play with both:

Random OD&D Dungeon Solo Play
It's kind of Dungeon Robber but done with dice and pencils instead of a mouse.

Seems fun.

Random Encounters

Lich Van Winkle posted about random encounters pre-D&D:

Hexmaps and Random Encounters before D&D

I have a love-hate relationship with random encounters. On one hand, they do add spice and a cost for dilly-dallying. On the other hand, it's a lot of encounters to prepare and not necessarily use. They've provided great fun in my Cold Fens and Lost City of D'Abo sub-locations and occasional fun in Felltower, too.

I'm very interested in how they may have come about.

Random Links for 9/1/2023

A few links for today:

- A look at the Combat Results Table.

Oh, and the Panzer Blitz CRT.

- Greyhawk Demons in alphabetical order.

- Yet another person bought me something on DriveThruRPG that I don't want. This wasn't a free thing, but at this point, I'm tired all over. I'll just not read it or download it. Seriously, I don't want unasked for gifts. Consider it wasted money.

- Skill level - experience - matters. Had a door lock failure on a car today - had the keys, but they wouldn't work. AAA sent out a truck but after 30 minutes . . . nothing worked. A local locksmith offered to come by on his way home and got the doors open in about 3 or 4 minutes and showed me the workaround if it happens again. It made me realize how much I like margin-of-success affecting time spent. Not only that, but failure can take extra time all the while seeming like it's fixing the problem.