Or at least what we now call Hardcore mode.
Mike Monard says in this post:
There were a couple of times where a wandering monster got surprise and achieved a TPK before the players could even react, and every time the referee said "Well that's not fun so it didn't happen."
Individual characters suffering bad luck happened all the time.
So bad luck to individual PCs? Fine.
Bad luck wipes out the group in a no-fun fashion? Restore from save, try again.
Interestingly, we played this way sometimes when we were younger, but as I got older I learned this was bad, bad, bad and I was "supposed" to have the TPK and have everyone start back up with new guys if they wanted to. Saying it didn't happen? Nah, bad idea. Except that apparently the Lake Geneva crew did that sometimes.
Interesting.
Thanks to Talysman for mentioning it, or I'd have missed the whole thread.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
GM vs. Computer - Versimilitude
I've been steadily playing through Skyrim, and I occasionally reflect on the oddness of a GM-less sandbox video game.
One advantage the GM has is verisimilitude of encounters and interactions.
NPCs can't answer basic, free-form questions. You can't find a store in town, you can ask a guard, right? No. Good thing you have a map but really, you can't ask. Your follower might kill someone in a sprawling outdoor combat and can't show you where the body is so you can search it. You can't ask a storekeeper when something will be in stock or special order it.
Thieves have no concept of target difficulty. Seriously, my guy runs around fully armored and kills dragons, and is trailed by a plate-armored character with glowing weaponry, and thieves will walk up to me outside of town and try to mug me. "Hand it over." Yeah, that's going to happen. But more importantly, they'll fight to the death one-on-two for the chance at some gold against a prepared foe. A GM would recognize this is crazy and have the thief try something more clever (or pick on easier foes).
Encounters scale oddly. Bandits start showing up with plate armor, and you have to wonder who they're robbing to get it. Actually, store contents in games tend to level-scale, so a rich but low level character can't buy stuff that a rich high level character can. While this can happen in a GMed game (and probably should), there isn't much explanation of why. Is my one guy driving the whole economy? I guess so.
These aren't criticism of Skyrim per se, just of the lack of a GM. There is a clear bit of "What the hell?" going on here, because the script doesn't match what's exactly going on.
Okay, got to go slay another dragon.
One advantage the GM has is verisimilitude of encounters and interactions.
NPCs can't answer basic, free-form questions. You can't find a store in town, you can ask a guard, right? No. Good thing you have a map but really, you can't ask. Your follower might kill someone in a sprawling outdoor combat and can't show you where the body is so you can search it. You can't ask a storekeeper when something will be in stock or special order it.
Thieves have no concept of target difficulty. Seriously, my guy runs around fully armored and kills dragons, and is trailed by a plate-armored character with glowing weaponry, and thieves will walk up to me outside of town and try to mug me. "Hand it over." Yeah, that's going to happen. But more importantly, they'll fight to the death one-on-two for the chance at some gold against a prepared foe. A GM would recognize this is crazy and have the thief try something more clever (or pick on easier foes).
Encounters scale oddly. Bandits start showing up with plate armor, and you have to wonder who they're robbing to get it. Actually, store contents in games tend to level-scale, so a rich but low level character can't buy stuff that a rich high level character can. While this can happen in a GMed game (and probably should), there isn't much explanation of why. Is my one guy driving the whole economy? I guess so.
These aren't criticism of Skyrim per se, just of the lack of a GM. There is a clear bit of "What the hell?" going on here, because the script doesn't match what's exactly going on.
Okay, got to go slay another dragon.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Free GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventures
Since the release of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventures 1, there have been some calls for more GURPS Dungeon Fantasy adventures. There are three that I know of off-hand.
Recently two posters over at the SJG forums wrote up (or started to write up) introductory/one-shot adventures for GURPS DF.
First (and not yet complete at the moment) is the beginner's adventure by Stripe:
[DF] Shadowyrm -- One-Shot Beginner Adventure
Default [DF] One shot- Crevan Brokenhands Last Rest by Ego Archive
And we can't forget Beneath Castle Everglory, the as-yet incomplete but quite useful free DF dungeon. It's discussed fairly extensively here if you prefer some designer's notes.
Enjoy.
Recently two posters over at the SJG forums wrote up (or started to write up) introductory/one-shot adventures for GURPS DF.
First (and not yet complete at the moment) is the beginner's adventure by Stripe:
[DF] Shadowyrm -- One-Shot Beginner Adventure
Default [DF] One shot- Crevan Brokenhands Last Rest by Ego Archive
And we can't forget Beneath Castle Everglory, the as-yet incomplete but quite useful free DF dungeon. It's discussed fairly extensively here if you prefer some designer's notes.
Enjoy.
Missing comments
If you recently commented on one of my posts and it's gone missing, my apologies. I had to prune out a spam comment or two. After I did so, Blogger seems to have deleted the comments that were more recent than those spammy ones I deleted. Why, I don't know. I just know I briefly saw a couple, thought I'd get back to them after deleting spam, and then they were gone.
My apologies, I don't know how that happened.
My apologies, I don't know how that happened.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Darts as a weapon
Here's a quote I wish I had handy when I was writing one of my books:
"He discarded the darts, needle-sharp iron bolts eight inches long with a leather tail [. . . ]" - Jack Vance, Planet of Adventure, pg. 474.
The Khors and their throwing darts must have been inspiration for D&D's darts at some level. They are oddly omitted from the weapon list of GURPS Planet of Adventure, but stats for a throwing knife or paku would do well enough.
"He discarded the darts, needle-sharp iron bolts eight inches long with a leather tail [. . . ]" - Jack Vance, Planet of Adventure, pg. 474.
The Khors and their throwing darts must have been inspiration for D&D's darts at some level. They are oddly omitted from the weapon list of GURPS Planet of Adventure, but stats for a throwing knife or paku would do well enough.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Review: Feldherr Hard Case XL Miniatures case
I recently received two Feldherr Hard Case XL miniatures cases. I'd gotten some gift money I didn't know what to do with, and I'd been looking for something to augment or replace my three Warhammer Army Cases and the assorted other singles/home made cases I'd collected. It also needed to be big enough that bringing one or at most two boxes would be good enough for game.
Here the shots of me getting it ready:
The unpunched, un-stuck self-adhesive foam:
Punching the foam out:
Peeling the adhesive cover:
Overall, I like the cases.
Pros
GW Case trays fit. A real plus, because it means I can mix-and-match trays into a single box for transport. They're a little shorter and narrower but they fit well.
It's sturdy. It's a big solid box. You could (but probably shouldn't) sit on it, like it's a Coleman cooler. It's got good, solid clasps and a strong exterior.
Cons
They're big. Yeah, a plus and a minus. A 252-mini case isn't going to be small, but these aren't light-and-easy to transport. They are pretty sturdy, though, and I'm more likely to bring one big box than to bring many little boxes. Or to remember to pack and bring one big box.
Trays fit loosely. There is a little bit of play on each side of the trays, as well as on top. It really seems like you could fit an 8th tray in there, or should put a cover on top to keep minis from bouncing out on a speed bump or pothole during transport. I don't know if it will or not, but I'll try putting pre-painted plastics in my case for the first experimental trip to my gaming location of choice.
Overall these weren't cheap, but they are really nice and they are the new home and transportation for my minis when I go to game.
Here the shots of me getting it ready:
The unpunched, un-stuck self-adhesive foam:
Punching the foam out:
Peeling the adhesive cover:
Overall, I like the cases.
Pros
GW Case trays fit. A real plus, because it means I can mix-and-match trays into a single box for transport. They're a little shorter and narrower but they fit well.
It's sturdy. It's a big solid box. You could (but probably shouldn't) sit on it, like it's a Coleman cooler. It's got good, solid clasps and a strong exterior.
Cons
They're big. Yeah, a plus and a minus. A 252-mini case isn't going to be small, but these aren't light-and-easy to transport. They are pretty sturdy, though, and I'm more likely to bring one big box than to bring many little boxes. Or to remember to pack and bring one big box.
Trays fit loosely. There is a little bit of play on each side of the trays, as well as on top. It really seems like you could fit an 8th tray in there, or should put a cover on top to keep minis from bouncing out on a speed bump or pothole during transport. I don't know if it will or not, but I'll try putting pre-painted plastics in my case for the first experimental trip to my gaming location of choice.
Overall these weren't cheap, but they are really nice and they are the new home and transportation for my minis when I go to game.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Why I like GURPS
I've been thinking about why I enjoy playing and running GURPS so much. I started out playing D&D and it's still a native language to me, but I don't run it or play it. I switched the Rolemaster and I enjoyed that, but I don't play it anyway, either. Why not? Well, here's why I enjoy GURPS so much.
Combat is potentially lethal. One good hit, or one lucky hit, can kill most PCs in most situations. While high character skill and clever PC tactics can ameliorate the risk to some extent, it doesn't eliminate this. Supernatural traits can eliminate risks to an extent, but only a very few expensive ones can remove the downsides to combat.
Low-level D&D was lethal, too, but your HP score would rise and make it less and less lethal. You need save-or-die to make up for this, and increased monster damage. GURPS pretty much stays lethal the whole time. This really pushes the importance of clever tactics and player skill (see below) to minimize the times you'd playing chicken with the law of averages.
You can design what you want. The key aspects to point-buy systems in general are that you have equality of choice, and can choose.
While rolling up a random guy is fun for me, the fun wears off a lot. Plus as amusing as 3d6-in-order can be I like to decide what kind of guy I want to run and give him a whirl. It's jarring to me to have a character concept in my head and then roll up something different. Traveller might kill you in chargen, even, and your concept of "Luke Skywalker" might turn into "40 year old ex-Marine" in no time.
You can start at any power level your want. While D&D has been described as being a system where you can be Elric or Conan or Gandalf or Fafhrd or the Grey Mouser, you can't. You can aspire to be them deep into the campaign, and then only if you roll up the right stats and roll well on your saving throws. GURPS lets you choose where to start. My current Dungeon Fantasy game is 250 points plus 50 in disadvantages plus 5 points in quirks. My old pirate game was scads of 50 point guys plus a few choice 75 and 100 pointers. I've played power levels in between often. You really can stat up Conan if you like, and just run adventures with him, no waiting or build up.
Player skill matters. Don't let the skill system and Perception checks fool you, player skill matters greatly in a lethal system. I like this a lot. Combat is lethal, damage can last a while and impair you greatly. Consequences for failure are realistic, which means falling 10' can be really bad, burns suck, and mishandling a grenade unpleasant at best. But a good player can use this to his or her advantage. GURPS is a game system where slicing the pie is a valid and useful tactic, throwing flaming oil can be a fight ender if you do it right, and using your head is rewarded. That lethality goes both ways, so your brains can maket a fight totally unfair in your favor, or kill you if you get overconfident.
One system to rule them all. Or at least flexibility to cover most things I want to do in gaming. We can keep rolling 3d6 whether it's pistols or swords, fists or social repartee. We don't need a new system and we don't need more rules. This is why I've run a fair cross-section of games, including low-power high-lethality pirates, fantasy games from low to high power, and post-apocalyptic madness.
The really fun bonus part to that flexibility is that my players know that deep down, I really could have aliens attack my Dungeon Fantasy game without any extra work - I'd just grab GURPS Ultra Tech and pick out blasters for the UFOs.
It's simple. It really is. There are a lot of rules for special cases, but the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide is rightfully infamous for being full of tiny special case rules and stuff you didn't notice you did wrong until years of read-throughs later. GURPS is a toolbox, and you can pick and choose tools when you want them and need them. You can drill down to extreme details in a critical one-on-one duel or fuzz out the details for fast resolution of a big fight. Yes, I'm unashamedly responsible for some of these rules, too, so I'm biased in their favor. But even I don't use all the rules I co-created all the time. You don't need to. People can be intimidated by the sheer amount of rules, but there aren't really a lot in play at any one time. And you can freely ignore most of them most of the time. But you've got a whole system of consistent and reasonable rulings to answer questions that you as the players of the game might not know the answers to. How long to climb a ladder, how high can I jump, does the king believe me, how much does my guy know about liches? It's easy enough to dig deep or you can just wing it.
Anyway, that's pretty much why I like GURPS so much.
Combat is potentially lethal. One good hit, or one lucky hit, can kill most PCs in most situations. While high character skill and clever PC tactics can ameliorate the risk to some extent, it doesn't eliminate this. Supernatural traits can eliminate risks to an extent, but only a very few expensive ones can remove the downsides to combat.
Low-level D&D was lethal, too, but your HP score would rise and make it less and less lethal. You need save-or-die to make up for this, and increased monster damage. GURPS pretty much stays lethal the whole time. This really pushes the importance of clever tactics and player skill (see below) to minimize the times you'd playing chicken with the law of averages.
You can design what you want. The key aspects to point-buy systems in general are that you have equality of choice, and can choose.
While rolling up a random guy is fun for me, the fun wears off a lot. Plus as amusing as 3d6-in-order can be I like to decide what kind of guy I want to run and give him a whirl. It's jarring to me to have a character concept in my head and then roll up something different. Traveller might kill you in chargen, even, and your concept of "Luke Skywalker" might turn into "40 year old ex-Marine" in no time.
You can start at any power level your want. While D&D has been described as being a system where you can be Elric or Conan or Gandalf or Fafhrd or the Grey Mouser, you can't. You can aspire to be them deep into the campaign, and then only if you roll up the right stats and roll well on your saving throws. GURPS lets you choose where to start. My current Dungeon Fantasy game is 250 points plus 50 in disadvantages plus 5 points in quirks. My old pirate game was scads of 50 point guys plus a few choice 75 and 100 pointers. I've played power levels in between often. You really can stat up Conan if you like, and just run adventures with him, no waiting or build up.
Player skill matters. Don't let the skill system and Perception checks fool you, player skill matters greatly in a lethal system. I like this a lot. Combat is lethal, damage can last a while and impair you greatly. Consequences for failure are realistic, which means falling 10' can be really bad, burns suck, and mishandling a grenade unpleasant at best. But a good player can use this to his or her advantage. GURPS is a game system where slicing the pie is a valid and useful tactic, throwing flaming oil can be a fight ender if you do it right, and using your head is rewarded. That lethality goes both ways, so your brains can maket a fight totally unfair in your favor, or kill you if you get overconfident.
One system to rule them all. Or at least flexibility to cover most things I want to do in gaming. We can keep rolling 3d6 whether it's pistols or swords, fists or social repartee. We don't need a new system and we don't need more rules. This is why I've run a fair cross-section of games, including low-power high-lethality pirates, fantasy games from low to high power, and post-apocalyptic madness.
The really fun bonus part to that flexibility is that my players know that deep down, I really could have aliens attack my Dungeon Fantasy game without any extra work - I'd just grab GURPS Ultra Tech and pick out blasters for the UFOs.
It's simple. It really is. There are a lot of rules for special cases, but the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide is rightfully infamous for being full of tiny special case rules and stuff you didn't notice you did wrong until years of read-throughs later. GURPS is a toolbox, and you can pick and choose tools when you want them and need them. You can drill down to extreme details in a critical one-on-one duel or fuzz out the details for fast resolution of a big fight. Yes, I'm unashamedly responsible for some of these rules, too, so I'm biased in their favor. But even I don't use all the rules I co-created all the time. You don't need to. People can be intimidated by the sheer amount of rules, but there aren't really a lot in play at any one time. And you can freely ignore most of them most of the time. But you've got a whole system of consistent and reasonable rulings to answer questions that you as the players of the game might not know the answers to. How long to climb a ladder, how high can I jump, does the king believe me, how much does my guy know about liches? It's easy enough to dig deep or you can just wing it.
Anyway, that's pretty much why I like GURPS so much.
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