More Bite Size Backstory

I've said before that rumors are bite-sized backstory.

We've had more of that come up in Felltower.

"Frenzy’s wielder was a woman named Asif Kinslayer. Heed that name, boy, and don’t touch that axe."

I not only use rumors as bite-sized backstory, though. I also try to include some in the short histories of magic items. Frenzy's history is a good example. That axe is somewhere in Felltower . . . or somewhere you can get from Felltower. Its history is related in short form in its description in Artifacts of Felltower. PCs have heard rumors about Asif Kinslayer and the axe she owned at one point. They've yet to encounter anything associated with Atrugex, but they've heard his name dropped. As the PCs pick up items, and find out their story, they get more involved with the world.

Basically I'm using rumors to set up backstory on items, further information on items to set up more backstory, and the combination of both drives adventuring. Adventuring drives rumors.

My best practice recommendation here is to always include some throwaway-sounding details for your magic item. The PCs don't want the novel version of who used it. They just want enough to have a connection. Three paragraphs about all of the owners of that ring or sword or shield or wand isn't necessary. A punchy sentence or two will do you better. Players will stop listening as they encounter a block of read-through text or close their eyes to a wall of text. But tell them that wand was created by the Dark Prince of Arras, legendary enchanter, and later used (and lost) during the Troll Wars . . . and they're paying attention. The more you imply and the less you explain the better. Let their imagination fill them with wonder and don't smash them down with bite-sized backstory expanded to a seven-course meal.

At least, that's my best advice.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker - endgame?

I played a bit of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. I think I'm nearing the end of the game.

- I've suddenly gotten some very powerful weapons from some of my craftspeople. Not everything - one guy keeps talking about a special weapon but hasn't delivered it, and another about some heavy armor and hasn't brought it. But it's been a noticeable increase.

- I maxed out my kingdom stats and my towns . . . all save one stat, which seems to get the chance to rank up very infrequently (Espionage, FWIW.)

- Events seem to be getting repetitive. I've solved the same problem months in a row, it feels like, and none of them really advance any plot.

- I only have one main quest left active, and one side quest. That side quest is looking like a "completionist" quest after I win the game.

So I'm kind of frittering away some time, waiting for a wave of bad stuff to come that I can solve and win the game.

It's still fun, but it's starting to feel like I've checked off all of the boxes and certain improvements, developments, and tasks have no real relevance to the game. Yet I still occasionally get jumped by bandits or masses of elementals.

When I eventually play it again, I think being Lawful is too damn useful . . . but I'll definitely go evil and see how that works out. Why not? Maybe I'll run a caster, although it's a simpler game as a fighter-type.

Fire in the Lake Update

I'm not sure when this happened, but Fire in the Lake shifted status.

It's at 721 preorders, and went from "Made the Cut" to "In Art and Final Development."

Next category seems to be "At the Printer," then "Charging - In Final Production," then "Shipping Now."

I'm not sure how long this status has been here, or how long to the next bit . . . but I'm excited. I'm very interested in getting to finally play this game!

Games Diner Rations for DF

I found this post pretty amusing, and I didn't want to wait until Friday to post it:

For my Felltower players, no, none of that is in play. Read it and enjoy it, but I'm not entertaining using it in our game.

Dungeon Dining: Exotic Eats and Remarkable Rations for Fantasy Travelers



It's an old post - 2018. But I don't seem to have noticed it before. Or I did and it's lost to my memory and I can't find it on my blog to confirm that I'd seen it.

King(maker) for a day

I ended up with a day without gaming yesterday. I spent it on non-gaming things, but also took a couple hours to play some Pathfinder Kingmaker, too.

- Like wargs and knockdown, little is less fun than Permanent effects. At 17th-18th level, nothing seems more common than fights ending with Permanant level drain and stat drains and Baleful Polymorph. Fixing them takes a cleric with Restoration (Lesser doesn't do it, and seems largely worthless overall) or Remove Curse. The latter doesn't always work, so I usually save scum until it does, because I can't memorize only Restoration and Remove Curse and cast them until they work. It's just not fun to use the former six times every fight and the latter 4-5 times before it works. It's just not fun. Don't get me started on effects like Insanity or Confusion which don't seem to be fixed by Dispel Magic, Remove Curse, Heal, or spells specifically noted to remove emotional effects. I just don't get the the rock-paper-scissors relationship of spells to effects and I've been playing for dozens of hours per week for dozens of weeks.

- Longsword is a terrible, terrible choice for your main guy. I passed up a lot of magic weapons to use:

a longsword +1
a longsword +2
a longsword +2, flaming
a longsword +2, speed necrotic

and that's it.

Considering that I passed up numerous high-powered maces, polearms, bastard swords, greatswords, two-handed axes, and spears . . . I am pretty disappointed that I chose the longsword. Almost anything else would have been a better choice. I'm 18th level, out of max 20, and I'm still hoping I get a good unique weapon. Everyone else in my party has two (2) unique weapons equipped and I'm using a longsword +2, speed necrotic that I bought from a vendor. Come on, man!

- Fights at 18th level are so confusing that I never have a real idea of what's happening. Spells are cast, saves made (or failed), damage done . . . and I just cycle through my guys. Sometimes they go, sometimes they can't.

- I'd still play it again, but clearly you need to know what will happen in the end to make better choices in the beginning. I don't love that. I replayed Planescape: Torment twice more - a total of three plays through - and each was better. But I still felt like I did well the first two times. This playthrough I feel like I either chose a good path through luck or made a bad choice. That's not a great feeling.

Nevermind . . .

Due to some communication issues, we weren't able to assemble sufficient players for Felltower today. We had 1 definite and 1 maybe plus 1 GM. So we bailed. We'll play again in 2 weeks.

Oh well.

Tiny crew Felltower tomorrow?

At the moment . . . we have about 2-3 people for tomorrow. Maybe a couple more, since not everyone commits sooner than the day of.

It's not clear what we can do with that small of a group. We may need to shelve Felltower and play something else - I have an idea in case that does happen. But I'm leaning towards "game anyway."

A short group spending the day gaming is better than a day spent not, right?

But hopefully we'll get just enough people for a delve into Felltower. Plenty of places to go, even with Ulf crossing off most of them as bad.