It's the end of the week, which means random stuff too small for its own post.
- Got 12 minutes? Then you can hear about how DF1 Monster's Leaping Leeches aren't fiction, but fact.
Leaping Leeches!
- I've played 9 turns of Third World War: Persian Gulf. So far . . . I'm a little underwhelmed. I chose to randomize the diplomacy cards for the pre-war phase using an optional rule. The results were . . . interesting, for sure. The usual suspects went Pact - Syria, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Iranian Communist Party. The US got pretty much everyone else - the Saudis, Iraq, the Kurds, Jordan, Israel, the majority of the Iranian Army during a revolt. All fine. But because the diplomacy cards to alert the military forces (Alert the RDF for US/NATO, Mobilize the Southern Military Districts for the USSR) are held to the end, nothing much has happened. Some jockeying and movement, but no actual fighting, no air war, nothing. Everyone is just primed to go. And now that the end phase of diplomacy is coming, the US has the advantage. The RDF is small but powerful and arrives quickly. The Soviet reinforcements arrive slowly (6 weeks later!) and aren't as powerful. When I used to play face to face, generally as soon as someone could, they'd start the call up. Once things got along a bit soemone would intervene in Iran and the other side would invade, or vice-versa. You'd have fighting breaking out in Iran, followed by US/USSR conflict for a few weeks, and then you'd pull the trigger on general mobilization and war. Now . . . there is going to be 1-2 weeks of pre-war fighting before mobilization, and the Soviets will receive their main reservists before the ones called up by the special mobilization, which is both odd and kneecaps their ability to steamroll Iran (or in this case, the rebel army units in Iran.) They only have 8 weeks of war turns before the game automatically ends, so then what? It's really not that dynamic of an environment.
So I'm deciding between playing it out, and restarting, but allowing a free swap-in of the Alert/Mobilize cards as soon as they apply, and then go back to prewar diplomacy, allowing only for an Invade/Intervene swap-in as appropriate.
We'll see . . .
- Lots of grail history in the preface to this game discussion here - the Quest for the Holy Grail.
- This is me, explaining to my players why the tough monster placed to stop them isn't loaded with loot.
OOTS 1306 Out of Pocket
Friday, August 2, 2024
Thursday, August 1, 2024
Favoring humans in GURPS DF
I think there are a few reasons people play non-humans in GURPS DF.
One is just the interest factor - why play fantasy and not play an elf, dwarf, cat-folk, half-demon air-infused dark one, etc.?
The second is pure munchkin. I've had people ask for races outside the DF Felltower list basically because it fit a particular build. Not as in, "It would be cooler if my guy was a half-giant/cat-folk/sea elf/whatever," but as in, "the point costs work out to make a more optimized guy if it was a half-giant/cat-folk/sea elf/whatever."
I'm guilty of both - Handsome the half-orc scout is such because it makes him cooler and because it was a good point buy.
It might be worth balancing the scales a bit. Sure, in theory, a point buy system means it doesn't matter if you're a dwarf, you paid for all of that stuff as the same rate as a human would. But in practice, you have a hard disadvantage limit and a race that comes with -20 in disadvantages and -5 in secondary stat reductions and comes with 45 points of cool stuff costs 20. You get +45 in cool stuff and pay 20 to get it.
Looking at DFRPG Adventurers, disadvantages run from -5 (half-elf) up to -22 (Cat-Folk) without counting attribute reductions, for most NPCs.
One option: Allow humans an expanded pool of disads. Instead of -50 (plus -5 in quirks), allow them -65 (plus -5 in quirks.)
To avoid sameness, the additional -15 points can come from either secondary characteristic reductions, off-template disadvantages, or on-template disadvantages.
Net/net, nonhumans are still a good deal. But humans now have 15 points to play with.
You could even go 20 points, but I think that makes some racial choises - like half-elf and gnome - a net loss unless they exactly match what you need from them. -15 seems like a good go.
I haven't tried this, but I have players who make characters for a hobby so I expect they'd be willing to give this a try. It might go a ways towards making humans a good basic choice in a way that they aren't when point-efficient and useful packages like dwarf (the single most popular) are out there.
One is just the interest factor - why play fantasy and not play an elf, dwarf, cat-folk, half-demon air-infused dark one, etc.?
The second is pure munchkin. I've had people ask for races outside the DF Felltower list basically because it fit a particular build. Not as in, "It would be cooler if my guy was a half-giant/cat-folk/sea elf/whatever," but as in, "the point costs work out to make a more optimized guy if it was a half-giant/cat-folk/sea elf/whatever."
I'm guilty of both - Handsome the half-orc scout is such because it makes him cooler and because it was a good point buy.
It might be worth balancing the scales a bit. Sure, in theory, a point buy system means it doesn't matter if you're a dwarf, you paid for all of that stuff as the same rate as a human would. But in practice, you have a hard disadvantage limit and a race that comes with -20 in disadvantages and -5 in secondary stat reductions and comes with 45 points of cool stuff costs 20. You get +45 in cool stuff and pay 20 to get it.
Looking at DFRPG Adventurers, disadvantages run from -5 (half-elf) up to -22 (Cat-Folk) without counting attribute reductions, for most NPCs.
One option: Allow humans an expanded pool of disads. Instead of -50 (plus -5 in quirks), allow them -65 (plus -5 in quirks.)
To avoid sameness, the additional -15 points can come from either secondary characteristic reductions, off-template disadvantages, or on-template disadvantages.
Net/net, nonhumans are still a good deal. But humans now have 15 points to play with.
You could even go 20 points, but I think that makes some racial choises - like half-elf and gnome - a net loss unless they exactly match what you need from them. -15 seems like a good go.
I haven't tried this, but I have players who make characters for a hobby so I expect they'd be willing to give this a try. It might go a ways towards making humans a good basic choice in a way that they aren't when point-efficient and useful packages like dwarf (the single most popular) are out there.
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Playing at the World 2e: Part I arrived
My pre-order of PATW 2nd edition arrived today. I learned a lot from the 1st edition book; I look forward to seeing what there is to learn from the updated version.
Here is the link to Amazon if you want a copy, too, and don't mind an affiliate link.
Here is the link to Amazon if you want a copy, too, and don't mind an affiliate link.
Monday, July 29, 2024
DF Session 196, Felltower 132 - Wells, Pools, and Cultists of the Good God
Date: July 28th, 2024
Game Dates: July 28th and 29th, 2024
Weather: Sunny, hot.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (~320 points)
Harald, human guard
Samuel, human guard
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (~310 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (~330 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf martial artist (~280 points)
We started off in town, with the party discussing their rumors and looking for hirelings. They found Harald and Samuel, and Darkspire, but only chose to take the two ("we say this quietly," said Vlad) "meatshields." They had a few goals:
- clear the well entrance
- investigate the pools for a possible gate to a lower level (an old, old rumor)
- find some loot
For the first, they made some Scrounging rolls (Duncan) and found someone to sell them a saw, block and tackle, crowbar, and a wheelbarrow, and Duncan has Earth to Air now. The second, just a list of appropriate rumors. For the third, they planned on Seek Earth.
They spend Sunday the 28th on the surface, getting rid of the earth in the well yard by yard, while the stronger sorts used the tools to haul out chunks of magic resistant stone, lumber, bushes, some animal carcasses and bones, etc. and toss them clear. It took about 8 hours, so they finished as it was getting fully dark and slept overnight in the outbuildings. Nothing bothered them in the night.
The next morning, they resumed, finishing the last 10' block of corridor between the two broken secret doors. They had a new - old - dungeon entrance.
From there, Seek Earth for gold, silver, and orichalcum turned up the first two nearby-ish (they figured the otyugh pit) and the last failed.
They made their way towards the pit, but found a bell set up in the "noisy room" on the door to the main entrance. They disarmed it by putting Walk on Air on Hannari and having him take it down. They'd made plenty of noise already forcing the other door to the room, but they didn't want to additional alarm. They continued on, hoping to investigate this later.
After lots of getting stuck on the bent portcullis, they made to the otyugh's pit and cast their spells again. Now it was close, but a ways back to their upper left. They'd overshot.
They found a secret door marked on their maps and went into the "apartments" near were the Choke brothers were fought so far back when, and where "Brother Mo!" screwed up the password. They easily opened a secret door in. Expecting trouble - the bell, and detected gold - Duncan put a Resist Lightning spell on Hannari . . . and rolled a 3. A second roll determined it was normal cost to maintain but affected everyone! Huzzah. Duncan readed a 6d Explosive Lightning spell.
Beyond it they found a looted wardrobe, with three black robe outfits, and beyond that the looted remants of a once-richly appointed bedroom. Beyond that . . . they found trouble. They guarded one door out of the bedroom (Harald) and the others forced the door. Hanari had to Dodge two crossbow bolts as they crisscrossed the doorway. He did, and Samuel blocked the one that reached him (Hitting the Wrong Target).
Hannari moved into the hallway beyond and engaged a number of humans. There were eight - two with crossbows, four with sword and shield (one right behind the doorway, waiting in ambush), and a pair of spellcasters - one with a staff and robes, the other with a holy symbol and nothing else. The groups engaged.
It wasn't much of a fight. Vlad put two arrows into one guy and then two more after he fell. Hannari put axes in to 3-4 others and a meteroic kama into the wizard after Vlad's arrows missed (Missile Shield). The wounded swordsmen tried to get aid, and did get some healing from their holy symbol carrying friend, but it didn't matter much. Duncan put two 6d Explosive Lightning spells into the group of them. Vlad - after murdering a couple of guys with four vitals shots each - told Hannari to "wrestle the wizard!" and everyone to "leave them alive." Immediately after he shot the last upright, fleeing guy in the vitals from behind and killed him. All were dead.
They found some minor coins, some good swords and crossbows, a magic staff, and a holy symbol of the good god. "They must have been cultists of the good god" said Chop, himself a Cultist of the Good God. Vlad disagreed, and say they were clearly evildoers who had stolen a holy symbol. Despite that, Chop gave them all last rights and inisted they leave the hold symbol with its wielder.
They found a key to a chest, and then the chest. It had 200 sp and 24 elven rations ("23!" said Vlad, stuffing his face), and a map showing a rough sketch of the surface and the two known entrances still open.
That all done, they headed to the pool room.
They basically systemically checked all of the pools, using Analyze Magic on the magic ones, resist spells and feeling around on the others. Vlad figured out the healing one was a healing one by cutting himself and then drinking; no one else got the chance as sometime later it was empty - when no one was looking. Vlad then got wasted on the alchohol pool.
Worried about the magical effects of a few pools, they put Magic Resistance 12 (6 levels, 2 per level) on Hannari. He rummaged around in the "dreams" pool but it lost all of its color. The silver-flecked Mage Sight pool also losts its silver flecks. Decided they were "killing the pools," they stopped.
The only thing of real note was that Hannari, with Resist Fire 3 on felt . . . something . . . at the bottom of the fire pool, and then it was gone. It felt like a palm-sized hemisphere of something solid but not hard, and then it was gone.
Finding nothing else of interest, they gathered up 4 vials of acid from the acid pool (losing one jar to an 18 on Hazardous Materials, safe only because of Resist Acid on Duncun. They took them over to the portcullist and used 3 of those plus the crowbar and some muscle to rip out a few bars, getting rid of the penalty to pass through.
Having gotten some nice loot and checked off some rumors and cleared two ways in, they headed home.
Notes:
- I'd forgotten how comically short DF dwarves are. Hannari is 4'0" and Vlad is a towering 4'6". All SM 0. Hah.
- Those who will most benefit from today would least likely have put up with doing it - Vic's assessment of the checking of the pools and clearing the well. Clearing the well wasn't as much of a project anymore since Duncan now has Earth to Air. Using Shape Earth, with its 1-second duration in DF Felltower, is a huge problem. Just making the dirt go away forever? Not an issue. We could handwave moving the debris because they had four relatively strong guys (ST 11, 12, 12, and 13, aka 13, 12, 12, 15 with Lifting ST) and rope, an anchor point, a wheelbarrow, a saw, and a block and tackle. Plus no one was in a rush because it was on the surface.
- the apartment area secret door was, no one noticed, extremely easy to breach. This is because someone - not the PCs - "broke" it. Prior to that, they couldn't be opened from the outside with special access methods.
- Vlad sends mixed messages.
- The PCs paid for a sage for a week to research the burning pool of everburning patroleum and whatever that hemispheric (maybe) thing that Hannari touched.
- XP was 4 each. Hannari was MVP for being willing to feel around in the blood-filled pool. He was blood-soaked but didn't learn anything.
Game Dates: July 28th and 29th, 2024
Weather: Sunny, hot.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (~320 points)
Harald, human guard
Samuel, human guard
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (~310 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (~330 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf martial artist (~280 points)
We started off in town, with the party discussing their rumors and looking for hirelings. They found Harald and Samuel, and Darkspire, but only chose to take the two ("we say this quietly," said Vlad) "meatshields." They had a few goals:
- clear the well entrance
- investigate the pools for a possible gate to a lower level (an old, old rumor)
- find some loot
For the first, they made some Scrounging rolls (Duncan) and found someone to sell them a saw, block and tackle, crowbar, and a wheelbarrow, and Duncan has Earth to Air now. The second, just a list of appropriate rumors. For the third, they planned on Seek Earth.
They spend Sunday the 28th on the surface, getting rid of the earth in the well yard by yard, while the stronger sorts used the tools to haul out chunks of magic resistant stone, lumber, bushes, some animal carcasses and bones, etc. and toss them clear. It took about 8 hours, so they finished as it was getting fully dark and slept overnight in the outbuildings. Nothing bothered them in the night.
The next morning, they resumed, finishing the last 10' block of corridor between the two broken secret doors. They had a new - old - dungeon entrance.
From there, Seek Earth for gold, silver, and orichalcum turned up the first two nearby-ish (they figured the otyugh pit) and the last failed.
They made their way towards the pit, but found a bell set up in the "noisy room" on the door to the main entrance. They disarmed it by putting Walk on Air on Hannari and having him take it down. They'd made plenty of noise already forcing the other door to the room, but they didn't want to additional alarm. They continued on, hoping to investigate this later.
After lots of getting stuck on the bent portcullis, they made to the otyugh's pit and cast their spells again. Now it was close, but a ways back to their upper left. They'd overshot.
They found a secret door marked on their maps and went into the "apartments" near were the Choke brothers were fought so far back when, and where "Brother Mo!" screwed up the password. They easily opened a secret door in. Expecting trouble - the bell, and detected gold - Duncan put a Resist Lightning spell on Hannari . . . and rolled a 3. A second roll determined it was normal cost to maintain but affected everyone! Huzzah. Duncan readed a 6d Explosive Lightning spell.
Beyond it they found a looted wardrobe, with three black robe outfits, and beyond that the looted remants of a once-richly appointed bedroom. Beyond that . . . they found trouble. They guarded one door out of the bedroom (Harald) and the others forced the door. Hanari had to Dodge two crossbow bolts as they crisscrossed the doorway. He did, and Samuel blocked the one that reached him (Hitting the Wrong Target).
Hannari moved into the hallway beyond and engaged a number of humans. There were eight - two with crossbows, four with sword and shield (one right behind the doorway, waiting in ambush), and a pair of spellcasters - one with a staff and robes, the other with a holy symbol and nothing else. The groups engaged.
It wasn't much of a fight. Vlad put two arrows into one guy and then two more after he fell. Hannari put axes in to 3-4 others and a meteroic kama into the wizard after Vlad's arrows missed (Missile Shield). The wounded swordsmen tried to get aid, and did get some healing from their holy symbol carrying friend, but it didn't matter much. Duncan put two 6d Explosive Lightning spells into the group of them. Vlad - after murdering a couple of guys with four vitals shots each - told Hannari to "wrestle the wizard!" and everyone to "leave them alive." Immediately after he shot the last upright, fleeing guy in the vitals from behind and killed him. All were dead.
They found some minor coins, some good swords and crossbows, a magic staff, and a holy symbol of the good god. "They must have been cultists of the good god" said Chop, himself a Cultist of the Good God. Vlad disagreed, and say they were clearly evildoers who had stolen a holy symbol. Despite that, Chop gave them all last rights and inisted they leave the hold symbol with its wielder.
They found a key to a chest, and then the chest. It had 200 sp and 24 elven rations ("23!" said Vlad, stuffing his face), and a map showing a rough sketch of the surface and the two known entrances still open.
That all done, they headed to the pool room.
They basically systemically checked all of the pools, using Analyze Magic on the magic ones, resist spells and feeling around on the others. Vlad figured out the healing one was a healing one by cutting himself and then drinking; no one else got the chance as sometime later it was empty - when no one was looking. Vlad then got wasted on the alchohol pool.
Worried about the magical effects of a few pools, they put Magic Resistance 12 (6 levels, 2 per level) on Hannari. He rummaged around in the "dreams" pool but it lost all of its color. The silver-flecked Mage Sight pool also losts its silver flecks. Decided they were "killing the pools," they stopped.
The only thing of real note was that Hannari, with Resist Fire 3 on felt . . . something . . . at the bottom of the fire pool, and then it was gone. It felt like a palm-sized hemisphere of something solid but not hard, and then it was gone.
Finding nothing else of interest, they gathered up 4 vials of acid from the acid pool (losing one jar to an 18 on Hazardous Materials, safe only because of Resist Acid on Duncun. They took them over to the portcullist and used 3 of those plus the crowbar and some muscle to rip out a few bars, getting rid of the penalty to pass through.
Having gotten some nice loot and checked off some rumors and cleared two ways in, they headed home.
Notes:
- I'd forgotten how comically short DF dwarves are. Hannari is 4'0" and Vlad is a towering 4'6". All SM 0. Hah.
- Those who will most benefit from today would least likely have put up with doing it - Vic's assessment of the checking of the pools and clearing the well. Clearing the well wasn't as much of a project anymore since Duncan now has Earth to Air. Using Shape Earth, with its 1-second duration in DF Felltower, is a huge problem. Just making the dirt go away forever? Not an issue. We could handwave moving the debris because they had four relatively strong guys (ST 11, 12, 12, and 13, aka 13, 12, 12, 15 with Lifting ST) and rope, an anchor point, a wheelbarrow, a saw, and a block and tackle. Plus no one was in a rush because it was on the surface.
- the apartment area secret door was, no one noticed, extremely easy to breach. This is because someone - not the PCs - "broke" it. Prior to that, they couldn't be opened from the outside with special access methods.
- Vlad sends mixed messages.
- The PCs paid for a sage for a week to research the burning pool of everburning patroleum and whatever that hemispheric (maybe) thing that Hannari touched.
- XP was 4 each. Hannari was MVP for being willing to feel around in the blood-filled pool. He was blood-soaked but didn't learn anything.
Sunday, July 28, 2024
Felltower pre-summary
Just finished a game of Felltower. Small crew today, but they:
- dug out the old well entrance
- murdered some humans in the dungeon - evildoers, or "cultists of the good god," depending on who you ask
- found some loot
- very thoroughly messed with the pools in the pool room
- and paid for research on one of the pools in particular for next time.
Summary tomorrow in all likelihood.
- dug out the old well entrance
- murdered some humans in the dungeon - evildoers, or "cultists of the good god," depending on who you ask
- found some loot
- very thoroughly messed with the pools in the pool room
- and paid for research on one of the pools in particular for next time.
Summary tomorrow in all likelihood.
Friday, July 26, 2024
Random Thoughts & Links for 7/26/24
So, I'm back from my summer travels.
- I have a bit of time and space to play a wargame. I'm 99% sure it'll be Third World War: Persian Gulf by Frank Chadwick. It takes a lot of space, though, and my table might be a little small. Iran and Iraq are really big . . .
- I don't need this, but a complete set of all four Third World War games as one monster game would have been exactly what I needed when I was replacing my original worn-out four game set.
The Third World War
Just this map alone is worth it, since Arctic Front's map doesn't mesh well with the others.
- Game is Sunday. A reduced group, but enough gamers to play, I think.
- Oh, and while fiction isn't something I usually talk about, yet another of my former gamers is an author. andi lai jones, known for his little fish logo on illustrations (like Sid!) - wrote a book, The Surreal Estate Agent. I finally had a chance to read it. It's pretty entertaining, especially if you like explicit gaming and comic references. So I think we've got two fiction writers and like 6 or 7 game book authors in my (loosely defined) gaming group. Maybe more if you count Ryan.
- I have a bit of time and space to play a wargame. I'm 99% sure it'll be Third World War: Persian Gulf by Frank Chadwick. It takes a lot of space, though, and my table might be a little small. Iran and Iraq are really big . . .
- I don't need this, but a complete set of all four Third World War games as one monster game would have been exactly what I needed when I was replacing my original worn-out four game set.
The Third World War
Just this map alone is worth it, since Arctic Front's map doesn't mesh well with the others.
- Game is Sunday. A reduced group, but enough gamers to play, I think.
- Oh, and while fiction isn't something I usually talk about, yet another of my former gamers is an author. andi lai jones, known for his little fish logo on illustrations (like Sid!) - wrote a book, The Surreal Estate Agent. I finally had a chance to read it. It's pretty entertaining, especially if you like explicit gaming and comic references. So I think we've got two fiction writers and like 6 or 7 game book authors in my (loosely defined) gaming group. Maybe more if you count Ryan.
Friday, July 12, 2024
Random Links for 7/12/2024
Happy Friday.
- Grognardia has a post on one of my favorite monsters of all time, the troll. At least D&D/AD&D trolls.
- These Roman Civil War minis are outstandingly attractive.
- Trampier and Terry K. Amthor are in the hall of fame. I love the work of both, like this one by Amthor.
- I liked reading this look at Delta's Book of War.
I'll post again when I have a moment.
- Grognardia has a post on one of my favorite monsters of all time, the troll. At least D&D/AD&D trolls.
- These Roman Civil War minis are outstandingly attractive.
- Trampier and Terry K. Amthor are in the hall of fame. I love the work of both, like this one by Amthor.
- I liked reading this look at Delta's Book of War.
I'll post again when I have a moment.
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