Not much to update on Felltower.
- Next game is tentatively 4/14. We have a couple of people who can play but we don't have a quorum of players willing to commit to the day yet.
- I've done a little bit of writing to Felltower, but not too much. Not until we're playing again am I willing to put in a lot of time into development ahead of where they are now.
- I did update some of my notes and maps, however. I still have the struggle of the maps being too damn big for the VTT . . . not sure how I'll ever deal with this problem.
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Mapping Lessons from Ancient Ruins
I toured around Pompeii on my trip to Italy. Naturally, noted a lot of things from a mapping perspective.
- rooms are pretty small. A lot of the rooms in buildings - and solo residences - were not much bigger than 10 x 10 or 15 x 20-ish. Not a lot of the giant rooms I like to stick in dungeons.
- lots of doorways in corners.
- lots of small, narrow doorways. Couple that with the door in the corner, it's enough that "face the doorway and choke the enemy off in the doorway" will be difficult. There wasn't much room for 2 people, nevermind 3, to face the doorway. On top of that, the portals were pretty tight, and it would be hard to engage someone in the doorway with a swinging weapon - the sides and top of the doorway would severely restrict that.
- ceilings were quite high, where there were ceilings. So 10 x 10 rooms were a thing, but not 10 x 10 x 10 rooms. Ceilings were way above my head and I'm over 6'.
- raised sidewalks would give a real height advantage in a street fight. Enough to justify a 45 degree angle bonus in DFRPG rules.
Given all of that, I'm a bit more likely in the future to do smaller rooms, corner portals, and high ceilings in an ancient style setting. I might also, in a realistic game, put in rules prohibiting - or limiting - cutting attacks launched into doorway hexes in a small doorway. You'd need a clever angle to get one in, and that would also limit your path of attack and logically make it easier to predict. Stabbing away would be a solid tactic in those cases.
And maybe I shouldn't make so many rooms 50 x 50 or 60 x 80 and things like that. I could be going a bit overboard.
- rooms are pretty small. A lot of the rooms in buildings - and solo residences - were not much bigger than 10 x 10 or 15 x 20-ish. Not a lot of the giant rooms I like to stick in dungeons.
- lots of doorways in corners.
- lots of small, narrow doorways. Couple that with the door in the corner, it's enough that "face the doorway and choke the enemy off in the doorway" will be difficult. There wasn't much room for 2 people, nevermind 3, to face the doorway. On top of that, the portals were pretty tight, and it would be hard to engage someone in the doorway with a swinging weapon - the sides and top of the doorway would severely restrict that.
- ceilings were quite high, where there were ceilings. So 10 x 10 rooms were a thing, but not 10 x 10 x 10 rooms. Ceilings were way above my head and I'm over 6'.
- raised sidewalks would give a real height advantage in a street fight. Enough to justify a 45 degree angle bonus in DFRPG rules.
Given all of that, I'm a bit more likely in the future to do smaller rooms, corner portals, and high ceilings in an ancient style setting. I might also, in a realistic game, put in rules prohibiting - or limiting - cutting attacks launched into doorway hexes in a small doorway. You'd need a clever angle to get one in, and that would also limit your path of attack and logically make it easier to predict. Stabbing away would be a solid tactic in those cases.
And maybe I shouldn't make so many rooms 50 x 50 or 60 x 80 and things like that. I could be going a bit overboard.
Friday, March 29, 2024
Random Links for 3/29/2024
And I'm back.
- I got what might be an AI comment on my blog. Or maybe not. It's actually well written comment that reflects the contents of the post well, and expresses an opinion on it that makes sense in a way spam comments don't . . . except the profile of the commenter is a sales redirect. Weird. If it was just anonymous I'd have let it through.
- I took a short trip to Italy. I don't normally discuss my non-gaming life here, but it's relevant to gaming.
First, I have a post coming about mapping and room layouts after cruising around Pompeii for a few hours.
Second, I met up with one of the playtesters for GURPS Martial Arts, who I've known online for decades but finally met in person. If anyone remembers Peppe, aka Luther, that's who I met up with.
And third, this door in Roma very close to the Spanish Steps is more Trampier than anything except actual Trampier.
- We're potentially looking at 2 sessions of Felltower in April. Crazy, I know.
- I got what might be an AI comment on my blog. Or maybe not. It's actually well written comment that reflects the contents of the post well, and expresses an opinion on it that makes sense in a way spam comments don't . . . except the profile of the commenter is a sales redirect. Weird. If it was just anonymous I'd have let it through.
- I took a short trip to Italy. I don't normally discuss my non-gaming life here, but it's relevant to gaming.
First, I have a post coming about mapping and room layouts after cruising around Pompeii for a few hours.
Second, I met up with one of the playtesters for GURPS Martial Arts, who I've known online for decades but finally met in person. If anyone remembers Peppe, aka Luther, that's who I met up with.
And third, this door in Roma very close to the Spanish Steps is more Trampier than anything except actual Trampier.
- We're potentially looking at 2 sessions of Felltower in April. Crazy, I know.
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
James Ward - thanks for the games
I just heard from Tenkar that Jim Ward passed away.
My second post here, back in August 2011, was a repost from my non-gaming blog, talking about Jim Ward and his games. I never got to play with him, but things he wrote and games he helped develop gave me a lot of joy.
I've posted about him enough that he had his own label - in case you want to traipse through the posts I put up with his name on them.
My second post here, back in August 2011, was a repost from my non-gaming blog, talking about Jim Ward and his games. I never got to play with him, but things he wrote and games he helped develop gave me a lot of joy.
I've posted about him enough that he had his own label - in case you want to traipse through the posts I put up with his name on them.
Monday, March 18, 2024
The frustrations of spells vs. effects in Pathfinder: Kingmaker
One real frustration I have with Pathfinder: Kingmaker is when descriptions and effects don't really match.
Many, many debuffs have very specific counters. You can get stats drained, paralyzed, petrified, frightened, stunned, level drained, blinded, sickened, exhausted . . . all good. But then how do you fix it? It depends. You have spells like Lesser Restoration, Restoration, Greater Restoration, Remove Curse, Inspiring Recovery, Heal . . . which one fixes what? It's not always clear.
It's not always clear what effects are countered by what countermeasure. I've had plenty of my companions made to flee by a fae's Frightful Moan . . . despite being accompanied by a Paladin who cast a spell to render them immune to fear effects. Cast Delay Poison, Communal to be immune to spider's venom . . . but not the stat-drain poison of other monsters or the save-or-die poison effect from a Prismatic Spray.
Countermeasures seem very idiosyncratic, specific, and arbitrary. From a person versed in the game Pathfinder only from the video game, it's tough. I often struggle to figure out what exactly would help me counter foes who spam Slay Living or Prismatic Spray. I have to dig, dig, and dig in the rules to figure out what does what.
It's really annoying. Mostly I deal with my issues with Mass Heal, rest, and lots of healing spells. But even several playthroughs through the game, and late in the game, I just have a vague idea of how to deal with certain issues. It's not really ideal.
When it comes to magic, I really like when effect-based counters just work based on the effect. If you are immune to fire, fire damage should just fail. Poison immunity? Then "save vs. poison or die" should just be something that garners a chuckle from you. And so on. It's useful food for thought as I continually revise my version of GURPS Magic for Felltower . . . I want it to seem clear why something works or does not work; strange exceptions should be rare and should allow for an "ah-hah!" moment as you figure out why. I'm not getting it from this game, but it is making me think about how not to do things the way Pathfinder seems to do them.
Many, many debuffs have very specific counters. You can get stats drained, paralyzed, petrified, frightened, stunned, level drained, blinded, sickened, exhausted . . . all good. But then how do you fix it? It depends. You have spells like Lesser Restoration, Restoration, Greater Restoration, Remove Curse, Inspiring Recovery, Heal . . . which one fixes what? It's not always clear.
It's not always clear what effects are countered by what countermeasure. I've had plenty of my companions made to flee by a fae's Frightful Moan . . . despite being accompanied by a Paladin who cast a spell to render them immune to fear effects. Cast Delay Poison, Communal to be immune to spider's venom . . . but not the stat-drain poison of other monsters or the save-or-die poison effect from a Prismatic Spray.
Countermeasures seem very idiosyncratic, specific, and arbitrary. From a person versed in the game Pathfinder only from the video game, it's tough. I often struggle to figure out what exactly would help me counter foes who spam Slay Living or Prismatic Spray. I have to dig, dig, and dig in the rules to figure out what does what.
It's really annoying. Mostly I deal with my issues with Mass Heal, rest, and lots of healing spells. But even several playthroughs through the game, and late in the game, I just have a vague idea of how to deal with certain issues. It's not really ideal.
When it comes to magic, I really like when effect-based counters just work based on the effect. If you are immune to fire, fire damage should just fail. Poison immunity? Then "save vs. poison or die" should just be something that garners a chuckle from you. And so on. It's useful food for thought as I continually revise my version of GURPS Magic for Felltower . . . I want it to seem clear why something works or does not work; strange exceptions should be rare and should allow for an "ah-hah!" moment as you figure out why. I'm not getting it from this game, but it is making me think about how not to do things the way Pathfinder seems to do them.
Sunday, March 17, 2024
No Felltower today
Nothing for Felltower today - we're pretty much unable to schedule a game at least until April. Admittedly that's only 3 weeks away . . . but we don't anything like a firm commitment from anyone, just a few firm "no"s from players.
I'm more than a bit disappointed . . . I like to run the game, I write more and better when I play more, and I also rent the server so it's painful to rent it for nothing.
But here we are - no game until April at least. Let's hope we get a game in then!
I'm more than a bit disappointed . . . I like to run the game, I write more and better when I play more, and I also rent the server so it's painful to rent it for nothing.
But here we are - no game until April at least. Let's hope we get a game in then!
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