Like the subject says, Boric is giving away free copies of the Stronghold's first three issues to veterans.
If you are one, contact Boric. If you know one, pass it on.
Veteran's Day Free Offer--EXTENDED
It lasts until midnight tomorrow.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Dungeon Grappling in hardcopy
Just a quick note - Doug's Dungeon Grappling Kickstarter is now offering a softcover hardcopy as one of the pledge levels (along with the PDF). That's in addition to PDF-only and art sponsor levels.
So if you want a physical book, it's now available.
So if you want a physical book, it's now available.
Friday, November 11, 2016
Dork Tower on Quests and Taverns
This explains a lot.
It also explains why most of the rumors about Felltower come from tavern drunks, second-hand stories, and so on - not so much from considered research.
And why the PCs follow them. Carousing rolls might succeed without booze, but they're nowhere near as fun . . .
It also explains why most of the rumors about Felltower come from tavern drunks, second-hand stories, and so on - not so much from considered research.
And why the PCs follow them. Carousing rolls might succeed without booze, but they're nowhere near as fun . . .
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Musing on an Alternate Path perk, Magic, and DF
The GURPS Magic prerequisite system has its advantages. Just a couple off the top of my heard are that you need basic abilities before complex ones, so you don't get guys casting Explosive Fireball who can't Ignite Fire, and encouraging breadth (learn lots of spells) over depth (pick one, maximize it.) Oh, and the fact that "no prerequisites except a minimum talent level" is a cleric and druid tradeoff for a limited spell list.
But the need for some spells drives a repetitive sameness into PCs. My players adore Great Haste, but one player actively avoided it for his PC . . . until it was just a point or two away from purchase thanks to another spell he needed. Still more find that basically every wizard has certain spells and lacks certain other ones, because the path of prereqs is either on the way to something, or is littered with limited-use spells or spells they'll prefer their character was not possessed of or using.
In other words, people want to short-circuit the prerequisite system in my games not to get power on the cheap but to allow a greater diversity of approaches and spell combinations.
Lucky for everyone, GURPS has a solution to this: Shortcut to Power, from GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles.
Here is an idea of how to adapt this to GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, under a variant name.
Alternate Prerequisite
You've learned a spell without going the "usual" route. Replace the spell prerequisites for a specific spell with this perk. It must be purchased simultaneously with learning the spell - notably wizards with Wild Talent cannot use this retroactively (or preemptively) to remove the prerequisites for a spell cast with the talent and then Retained.
If you later learn the original prerequisites, this perk is wasted! This can safeguard you from spells such as Forgetfulness, however.
Gerry wants to learn Ethereal Body without learning a number of Air or Movement spells. Normally, he would need Magery 3 and either Body of Air or six Movement spells. Instead he spends two character points and learns Ethereal Body and takes Alternate Prerequisite (Ethereal Body). He already has Magery 3, satisfying the talent requirement for the spell. Ethereal Body will act as a prerequisite for any later spells, including Phase, despite the change in prerequisite.
Notes: I haven't tried this yet. I'm not sure if I will - or people will take it. It does save points, generally, but it also costs a very valuable perk slot. Ironically, perhaps, by saving points in spells to skip ahead or get a different prerequisite setup you reduce the number of points in spells and thus the number of perks you can have. But it's a nice way to get to particularly choice spells (Phase, Invisibility, Force Dome) without needing prerequisites that don't really fit your character concept. In other words, as much as it's a shortcut, it's one that generally fits a concept not a workaround. I'll see how my players thing about this before I make a decision, but on paper, it looks workable in a game that lacks magical styles as a limiting factor.
But the need for some spells drives a repetitive sameness into PCs. My players adore Great Haste, but one player actively avoided it for his PC . . . until it was just a point or two away from purchase thanks to another spell he needed. Still more find that basically every wizard has certain spells and lacks certain other ones, because the path of prereqs is either on the way to something, or is littered with limited-use spells or spells they'll prefer their character was not possessed of or using.
In other words, people want to short-circuit the prerequisite system in my games not to get power on the cheap but to allow a greater diversity of approaches and spell combinations.
Lucky for everyone, GURPS has a solution to this: Shortcut to Power, from GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles.
Here is an idea of how to adapt this to GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, under a variant name.
Alternate Prerequisite
You've learned a spell without going the "usual" route. Replace the spell prerequisites for a specific spell with this perk. It must be purchased simultaneously with learning the spell - notably wizards with Wild Talent cannot use this retroactively (or preemptively) to remove the prerequisites for a spell cast with the talent and then Retained.
If you later learn the original prerequisites, this perk is wasted! This can safeguard you from spells such as Forgetfulness, however.
Gerry wants to learn Ethereal Body without learning a number of Air or Movement spells. Normally, he would need Magery 3 and either Body of Air or six Movement spells. Instead he spends two character points and learns Ethereal Body and takes Alternate Prerequisite (Ethereal Body). He already has Magery 3, satisfying the talent requirement for the spell. Ethereal Body will act as a prerequisite for any later spells, including Phase, despite the change in prerequisite.
Notes: I haven't tried this yet. I'm not sure if I will - or people will take it. It does save points, generally, but it also costs a very valuable perk slot. Ironically, perhaps, by saving points in spells to skip ahead or get a different prerequisite setup you reduce the number of points in spells and thus the number of perks you can have. But it's a nice way to get to particularly choice spells (Phase, Invisibility, Force Dome) without needing prerequisites that don't really fit your character concept. In other words, as much as it's a shortcut, it's one that generally fits a concept not a workaround. I'll see how my players thing about this before I make a decision, but on paper, it looks workable in a game that lacks magical styles as a limiting factor.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Painting Table results
I had some time where I couldn't write but I could get some painting done. Translation: Watching one hockey game while listening to another. I had writing to do but that's too difficult in those circumstances so I painted instead.
Most of what I did was base-coat Bones minis with something paint will actually stick to. But I did finish and seal a few minis.
Most of what I did was base-coat Bones minis with something paint will actually stick to. But I did finish and seal a few minis.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Dungeon Grappling Kickstarter
You've probably already noticed the Dungeon Grappling Kickstarter widget on the side of my blog.
A while back, Douglas Cole and I were playing in Erik Tenkar's Swords & Wizardry game, the Southern Reaches B-Team. We took some off-hand chatter about grappling rules that were as intuitive and fun as striking in old-style D&D-based games, riffing off of his excellent GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling book. From that sprang the article we wrote for The Manor #8. That led to a variation of the rules getting used in the Guardians RPG. And Doug merged the concepts from the same article into his Dragon Heresy RPG development.
Well, Doug's taken those grappling rules and spun them out into their own Kickstarted book. It's written, it's a question of art at this point.
$1 gets you in the door, and a thank you.
$5 gets you a copy of the PDF
$20 gets you five copies of the PDF, suitable for distributing to a group of players.
I'd urge you to check out this Kickstarter. Doug's got a solid product here - I've seen it (I mean, its origin was a co-authored article and I'm the co-author) and it is good. It's really superior to most of the clunky, ineffective, or downright risky grappling rules that come with so many games. Take a look and give it a chance. I'd really like to see him succeed at this.
A while back, Douglas Cole and I were playing in Erik Tenkar's Swords & Wizardry game, the Southern Reaches B-Team. We took some off-hand chatter about grappling rules that were as intuitive and fun as striking in old-style D&D-based games, riffing off of his excellent GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling book. From that sprang the article we wrote for The Manor #8. That led to a variation of the rules getting used in the Guardians RPG. And Doug merged the concepts from the same article into his Dragon Heresy RPG development.
Well, Doug's taken those grappling rules and spun them out into their own Kickstarted book. It's written, it's a question of art at this point.
$1 gets you in the door, and a thank you.
$5 gets you a copy of the PDF
$20 gets you five copies of the PDF, suitable for distributing to a group of players.
I'd urge you to check out this Kickstarter. Doug's got a solid product here - I've seen it (I mean, its origin was a co-authored article and I'm the co-author) and it is good. It's really superior to most of the clunky, ineffective, or downright risky grappling rules that come with so many games. Take a look and give it a chance. I'd really like to see him succeed at this.
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