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| The man loves his onion |
(Should be back to regular posting next week! Yay!)
Monday, June 3, 2013
NPCs do the craziest things
I love wacky NPC personalities, so when I find inspiration, I have to share it.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Dungeon Fantasy Thieves - a proposal
There's been a bit of buzz in the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy blogosphere about DF Thieves. Basically, it boils down to a sort of broad-spectrum agreement that they're a little anemic and could use some help to keep up with the other templates. I agree, and I think the point has been made fairly well, so I won't rehash it again.
So what's to be done? +Peter V. Dell'Orto has some good suggestions for template reform, but I don't think they go far enough. However, before I show you mine, I feel it needs a little justification.
One of the methods of accomodating the thief in the OSR (detailed here on pg. 44 - that's a PDF link) is to make it clear that anyone can try to do normal "thiefish" things, but the thief is so good he can do abnormally "thiefish" things. To quote, specifically from the first source:
Now, I realize claiming that this is the proper interpretation of a D&D thief is somewhat controversial. So instead I'm taking the dodge of borrowing this interpretation from Swords & Wizardry, a retroclone that, if you don't know about, you simply aren't paying attention to the OSR. (If you aren't, that's fine; not everyone's into it. Though I have to wonder if you came here from Peter's blog.) In Swords & Wizardry, this interpretation of the Thief is explicit.
Without further ado, how to turn the DF 1 Thief template into something more closely resembling the class abilities as explained above:
Advantages:
Drop Perfect Balance as a required advantage. Instead, put it in the list of discretionary advantages, and increase that point limit from 30 to 50 points.
In the discretionary advantages, include these:
Skills:
Drop Filch, Shadowing, and Smuggling entirely.
Drop Urban Survival to 1 point and make it a background skill, optional
Put another point into Escape and another two into Lockpicking.
Really, the above could use a little more polishing (like removing some dross from the optional advantages - should anyone really be taking Catfall at this point?), but I think this is a good basis for letting thieves reclaim some of their niche. For one, they're much better to send ahead in a dungeon than a Scout. Your thief could easily have effective Stealth 34 while moving with the right advantages - or higher than that, with the right (mundane) equipment. However, he doesn't steal the Scout's schtick, which is both putting lots of arrows in targets and being sneaky out-doors, where the Thief's limitations are apparent, since there aren't a lot of dimly-lit corridors outside.
So what's to be done? +Peter V. Dell'Orto has some good suggestions for template reform, but I don't think they go far enough. However, before I show you mine, I feel it needs a little justification.
One of the methods of accomodating the thief in the OSR (detailed here on pg. 44 - that's a PDF link) is to make it clear that anyone can try to do normal "thiefish" things, but the thief is so good he can do abnormally "thiefish" things. To quote, specifically from the first source:
When I allow Thieves, their class skills are treated as extraordinary capabilities. That is, anyone can hide, but a Thief can hide in shadows. Anyone can move quietly, but a Thief can move silently, without even making a sound. Anyone can climb, but a Thief can climb sheer walls. Et cetera. -Philotomy Jurament
Now, I realize claiming that this is the proper interpretation of a D&D thief is somewhat controversial. So instead I'm taking the dodge of borrowing this interpretation from Swords & Wizardry, a retroclone that, if you don't know about, you simply aren't paying attention to the OSR. (If you aren't, that's fine; not everyone's into it. Though I have to wonder if you came here from Peter's blog.) In Swords & Wizardry, this interpretation of the Thief is explicit.
Without further ado, how to turn the DF 1 Thief template into something more closely resembling the class abilities as explained above:
Advantages:
Drop Perfect Balance as a required advantage. Instead, put it in the list of discretionary advantages, and increase that point limit from 30 to 50 points.
In the discretionary advantages, include these:
- Chameleon (Shadows or other areas of at least -3 vision penalty and that are large enough to cover you only, -60%) [2/level, up to 10 levels]
- Clinging (Vertical surfaces only, -50%) [10]
- Detect (Traps, Occasional) (Precise, +100%, Short Range, -10%) [19]
- Discriminatory Hearing [15]
- Silence [5/level, up to 10 levels]
Skills:
Drop Filch, Shadowing, and Smuggling entirely.
Drop Urban Survival to 1 point and make it a background skill, optional
Put another point into Escape and another two into Lockpicking.
Equipment
All "Thieves'" whatever - Thieves' mail, etc - should allow the use of the Silence and Chameleon standing-still bonus while moving if it covers most of the body and isn't obviated by some other equipment - for example, a thief trying to sneak with soda cans tied to his ankles is going to have a hard time even with Thieves' Boots - but he'd find it easier to get over a nightingaled floor.Really, the above could use a little more polishing (like removing some dross from the optional advantages - should anyone really be taking Catfall at this point?), but I think this is a good basis for letting thieves reclaim some of their niche. For one, they're much better to send ahead in a dungeon than a Scout. Your thief could easily have effective Stealth 34 while moving with the right advantages - or higher than that, with the right (mundane) equipment. However, he doesn't steal the Scout's schtick, which is both putting lots of arrows in targets and being sneaky out-doors, where the Thief's limitations are apparent, since there aren't a lot of dimly-lit corridors outside.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Bandit Template
One of the things the Temple of Elemental Evil has in spades is human "monsters." Bandits, brigands, pirates, burglars, highwaymen, robbers, thugs - if it's a synonym for "group of men who try to rob you", they've got it. Heck, there's a whole town full of 'em.
That being the case, I thought it'd be useful to me (and perhaps to others) to have a baseline template the work off of. Yes, it's not hard to come up with, but having it done and in one place is still something. I give you:
The Bandit
thr 1d-1, sw 1d+2
Weapon (14): Damage is by weapon. Other important things to consider are reach, number of hands, and weight (for breakage). Weapons are almost always cheap. Usually, if this is a ranged weapon, they'll have a Secondary Weapon; otherwise, it's a block.
Popular weapons include shortswords, maces, axes, spears, and polearms. Popular ranged weapons are crossbows, shortbows, and regular bows.
Secondary Weapon or Shield (12): If a shield, probably a small shield with DB 2 giving Block 11 and +2 to other defenses.
Skills: Weapon - 14, Secondary weapon or Shield - 12, Riding - 12, Stealth - 12, Survival (Terrain type) - 12
Traits: None, really. Maybe Social Stigma (Bandit). Many have Addiction, Cowardice, Bad Temper, and other such disadvantages.
Class: Mundane (Humanoid)
Notes: Just out to make a buck. Usually won't attack unless they think they can win (comes in numbers) or unless truly desperate. Also, usually won't fight to the death, either trying to parley or run away if the battle goes against them.
Gear: Weapons are almost exclusively Cheap. Most bandits will be in heavy leather, with some especially fortunate bandits getting chain shirts or hauberks, and a few having pot helms. Your average bandit will also have 1d copper in pocket change, and maybe 1d-2 silver.
Usually at least a few will also come with horses, so as to be able to actually chase down travellers. These will mostly be outriders, unless the bandit troupe is well-prepared
That being the case, I thought it'd be useful to me (and perhaps to others) to have a baseline template the work off of. Yes, it's not hard to come up with, but having it done and in one place is still something. I give you:
The Bandit
| ST: 12 | HP: 12 | Speed: 5.25 |
| DX: 11 | Will: 10 | Move: 5, possibly down to 3 with encumbrance |
| IQ: 10 | Per: 10 | |
| HT: 11 | FP: 11 | SM: 0 |
| Dodge: 8 | Parry: 10, but see below | DR: 2-4, see below |
Weapon (14): Damage is by weapon. Other important things to consider are reach, number of hands, and weight (for breakage). Weapons are almost always cheap. Usually, if this is a ranged weapon, they'll have a Secondary Weapon; otherwise, it's a block.
Popular weapons include shortswords, maces, axes, spears, and polearms. Popular ranged weapons are crossbows, shortbows, and regular bows.
Secondary Weapon or Shield (12): If a shield, probably a small shield with DB 2 giving Block 11 and +2 to other defenses.
Skills: Weapon - 14, Secondary weapon or Shield - 12, Riding - 12, Stealth - 12, Survival (Terrain type) - 12
Traits: None, really. Maybe Social Stigma (Bandit). Many have Addiction, Cowardice, Bad Temper, and other such disadvantages.
Class: Mundane (Humanoid)
Notes: Just out to make a buck. Usually won't attack unless they think they can win (comes in numbers) or unless truly desperate. Also, usually won't fight to the death, either trying to parley or run away if the battle goes against them.
Gear: Weapons are almost exclusively Cheap. Most bandits will be in heavy leather, with some especially fortunate bandits getting chain shirts or hauberks, and a few having pot helms. Your average bandit will also have 1d copper in pocket change, and maybe 1d-2 silver.
Usually at least a few will also come with horses, so as to be able to actually chase down travellers. These will mostly be outriders, unless the bandit troupe is well-prepared
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Nulb set pieces: Cugel the Sage
Down the main way along the river a bit from the Boatmen's Tavern is an old ramshackle hovel hung with crude trinkets that glitter and jingle in the wind and rudely scrawled over in faded red paint with "Cugel the Wise". It's not much to look at, and neither is the proprietor.
Cugel is usually clean, but he smells and looks of poverty, his clothes mostly rags except for his hat, which is a nearly ridiculously large and floppy thing with a very gaudy hatband ornament that looks like a piece of cheap mother-of-pearl. His wares are almost without exception trash, though he swears up and down they're potent magical charms of all sorts - against illness and scrying and for love and against magics, etc. etc. If someone were to actually take the time to poke through all of it, and had an eye for such things, he just might (5 or less on 3d6) find something of actual value, though Cugel is unlikely to part with it without charging far more than its worth.
Cugel is a rat and a scoundrel who spends most of his time and money at the Boatmen's tavern cheating at cards and shilling his useless trinkets to the gullible. However, one thing he does have is information, and pretty much all the natives will vouch that, in this particular, he is both accurate and honest.
Given a day and $100, he will answer any question about the Temple and its surrounds. His answers won't always be complete, and very seldom they will be, "I don't know," but they will always be accurate.
Cugel's relevant skills, if they need to be rolled for some reason instead of just giving the information, include:
Area Knowledge (Temple of Elemental Evil) - 18
Hidden Lore (Temple of Elemental Evil) - 14
Hidden Lore (All other specialties) - 16
History (Temple of Elemental Evil) - 18
A note on price: I'm trying to set a price that's low enough Cugel might be approached, but high enough the PC's won't just dump cash on all their problems. It's open to adjustment, especially based on the local economy.
Cugel is usually clean, but he smells and looks of poverty, his clothes mostly rags except for his hat, which is a nearly ridiculously large and floppy thing with a very gaudy hatband ornament that looks like a piece of cheap mother-of-pearl. His wares are almost without exception trash, though he swears up and down they're potent magical charms of all sorts - against illness and scrying and for love and against magics, etc. etc. If someone were to actually take the time to poke through all of it, and had an eye for such things, he just might (5 or less on 3d6) find something of actual value, though Cugel is unlikely to part with it without charging far more than its worth.
Cugel is a rat and a scoundrel who spends most of his time and money at the Boatmen's tavern cheating at cards and shilling his useless trinkets to the gullible. However, one thing he does have is information, and pretty much all the natives will vouch that, in this particular, he is both accurate and honest.
Given a day and $100, he will answer any question about the Temple and its surrounds. His answers won't always be complete, and very seldom they will be, "I don't know," but they will always be accurate.
Cugel's relevant skills, if they need to be rolled for some reason instead of just giving the information, include:
Area Knowledge (Temple of Elemental Evil) - 18
Hidden Lore (Temple of Elemental Evil) - 14
Hidden Lore (All other specialties) - 16
History (Temple of Elemental Evil) - 18
A note on price: I'm trying to set a price that's low enough Cugel might be approached, but high enough the PC's won't just dump cash on all their problems. It's open to adjustment, especially based on the local economy.
Monday, April 29, 2013
In which elves steal, dwarves are hairless and I'm sorely tempted to use horde pygmies: After play 4
I have some catching up to do due to my hiatus. Fortunately, today at work everyone left me alone so I could get my actual work done. And now I'm home at a reasonable hour. Yay!
Cast:
Amalia - High Elf Cleric (Paraj)
Volbak - Dwarf Knight (Jim)
Lamaevhun - Wood Elf Scout (Tim)
Ilsildel - High Elf Wizard (Martin)
Chief - Wood Elf Barbarian (Catherine)
Calowas' player couldn't make it tonight. Since I don't have the luxury of having each session be a different trip into the dungeon, but I don't want hangers-on, the first thing that happened during the session was that an urchin-boy came running into the moathouse, exhausted and dirty, and handed Calowas a card. "Oh no!" Calowas moaned, "I"m late for the Thieves' Union meeting!" and he ran off into the wilderness, putatively back to Hommlet to attend at the local chapterhouse. (Obviously, they're an outpost from Nulb.)
Anyway, the party was nearly done with the top floor of the moathouse; there was some discussion as to whether it was worth finishing the place off, or if they should just try the door they found earlier that led downstairs. After not too much discussion, Volbak took the lead and opened the last door...onto a very moldy kitchen. It was obvious that this place hadn't been cared for for ages.
There was some interest in the mold from the usual suspect, but it turned out both to be not magical nor particularly hallucinogenic, so interest was quickly lost after Volbak took a salutary essay into the kitchen to look for something of value - old cutlery, pots, or something. No luck, but then, they didn't want to stick around to search. I can't say I blame them; the place reeked something awful.
That accomplished, they headed down the stairs, where it quickly became clear that the door had swollen shut due to long exposure to moisture. (The moathouse is in a swamp, after all.) With much banging (and a little hinge-oiling) they finally managed to slam the door open, whereupon Volbak stumbled through the arch...and some green goop fell on him.
Let me say here that I run green slime nasty. The AD&D Monster Manual states that in 1-4 melee rounds you're basically screwed, sorry, that's it. I ran this as 4d cor per turn until you die, and non-sealed armor protects for two turns as it seeps in. (I think in future, if there is future, I'll run it as 2d, but after 1d6 rounds the only way to make it stop is with a Cure Disease and Remove Curse.)
Volbak quickly went down while the party tried to figure out what to do. Isildel tried apporting it off, and got some, but it quickly grew to replace the lost mass. A quick Naturalist roll told them this stuff is vulnerable to fire, and they had ten gallons of lamp oil, but they were using Continual Light for a light source, and the wizard didn't have Ignite Fire...
Turns out, though, that he did have a lit rope. (It's his Signature Item; we discussed this beforehand and I okayed him having a 'comestible' Signature Item, simulating the fact that he always has some around.) So, with a splash of lamp oil (taking 1d6 seconds) and the application of an open flame (taking 2 seconds), the slime-covered dwarf went up like an effigy of Guy Fawkes, still making his various HT rolls to stay alive while the cleric, Amalia, poured holy energy into him as fast as she could.
After the slime was gone, the barbarian tackled him to the ground to put out the fire - and discovered the second dollop of green slime over the archway. Fortunately, the party was prepared, and Chief just lost her hauberk and gained a few scorchmarks.
That was enough of that. The party decided discretion was the better part of valor and carted off their severely wounded comrades back to Hommlet, where Canon Terjon (standing in for the absent Canoness Ydey) agreed to care for the wounded dwarf for a suitable donation to the Church.
The party spent the week in town. Unfortunately they didn't hear much they didn't already know, mostly because Hommlet is not the place to go if you want news. However, they did contact their debtors in Verbobonc, the local Wizard's Society, and they learned that they could erase their debts from underwriting the expedition by returning the book they had found. After their comrade was recovered, they returned to the Moathouse, determined to get at least something out of this debacle by claiming the Manual of the Sea. So, they rented a draft horse and a wagon, and they apported the huge chunk of valuable stone out of the Moathouse and onto the wagon.
While they were dragging the book back, when they passed Burne's castle-in-progress, they were summoned to meet him by a page. Turns out, unsurprisingly, the local wizard is also interested in magical artifacts. While they couldn't come to an agreement (Burne was willing to offer a goodly amount of coin, but not quite enough to rid them of their debts), they did pawn off a few things they'd found in the Moathouse thus far, including a vial of pacified green slime.
======
From judging how things looked and sounded at the table, pretty much everyone had a good time. I do badly need to work on my treasure document. At the moment I have it interspersed with the pages of the module, which works fairly well for linear treasure procurement, but doesn't work if someone has questions as to value or weight. I think instead I'm just going to have two folders - one with the module and monster/trap stats interleaved, and the other with treasure, for easy reference.
Also, I need to put together an Excel doc to keep track of treasure weight, so I can watch that appropriately. Best of all would be if each of the players had one, so they could track weight in real-time, but that might be asking for too much accounting at the table. I'm not sure how fun that would be for them.
Finally, I was glad that my post on portage for Dungeon Fantasy got some play. They needed to rent a horse and wagon. I knew how much that would cost, and I knew how much horse they would need, with a simple lookup.
Cast:
Amalia - High Elf Cleric (Paraj)
Volbak - Dwarf Knight (Jim)
Lamaevhun - Wood Elf Scout (Tim)
Ilsildel - High Elf Wizard (Martin)
Chief - Wood Elf Barbarian (Catherine)
Calowas' player couldn't make it tonight. Since I don't have the luxury of having each session be a different trip into the dungeon, but I don't want hangers-on, the first thing that happened during the session was that an urchin-boy came running into the moathouse, exhausted and dirty, and handed Calowas a card. "Oh no!" Calowas moaned, "I"m late for the Thieves' Union meeting!" and he ran off into the wilderness, putatively back to Hommlet to attend at the local chapterhouse. (Obviously, they're an outpost from Nulb.)
Anyway, the party was nearly done with the top floor of the moathouse; there was some discussion as to whether it was worth finishing the place off, or if they should just try the door they found earlier that led downstairs. After not too much discussion, Volbak took the lead and opened the last door...onto a very moldy kitchen. It was obvious that this place hadn't been cared for for ages.
There was some interest in the mold from the usual suspect, but it turned out both to be not magical nor particularly hallucinogenic, so interest was quickly lost after Volbak took a salutary essay into the kitchen to look for something of value - old cutlery, pots, or something. No luck, but then, they didn't want to stick around to search. I can't say I blame them; the place reeked something awful.
That accomplished, they headed down the stairs, where it quickly became clear that the door had swollen shut due to long exposure to moisture. (The moathouse is in a swamp, after all.) With much banging (and a little hinge-oiling) they finally managed to slam the door open, whereupon Volbak stumbled through the arch...and some green goop fell on him.
Let me say here that I run green slime nasty. The AD&D Monster Manual states that in 1-4 melee rounds you're basically screwed, sorry, that's it. I ran this as 4d cor per turn until you die, and non-sealed armor protects for two turns as it seeps in. (I think in future, if there is future, I'll run it as 2d, but after 1d6 rounds the only way to make it stop is with a Cure Disease and Remove Curse.)
Volbak quickly went down while the party tried to figure out what to do. Isildel tried apporting it off, and got some, but it quickly grew to replace the lost mass. A quick Naturalist roll told them this stuff is vulnerable to fire, and they had ten gallons of lamp oil, but they were using Continual Light for a light source, and the wizard didn't have Ignite Fire...
Turns out, though, that he did have a lit rope. (It's his Signature Item; we discussed this beforehand and I okayed him having a 'comestible' Signature Item, simulating the fact that he always has some around.) So, with a splash of lamp oil (taking 1d6 seconds) and the application of an open flame (taking 2 seconds), the slime-covered dwarf went up like an effigy of Guy Fawkes, still making his various HT rolls to stay alive while the cleric, Amalia, poured holy energy into him as fast as she could.
After the slime was gone, the barbarian tackled him to the ground to put out the fire - and discovered the second dollop of green slime over the archway. Fortunately, the party was prepared, and Chief just lost her hauberk and gained a few scorchmarks.
That was enough of that. The party decided discretion was the better part of valor and carted off their severely wounded comrades back to Hommlet, where Canon Terjon (standing in for the absent Canoness Ydey) agreed to care for the wounded dwarf for a suitable donation to the Church.
The party spent the week in town. Unfortunately they didn't hear much they didn't already know, mostly because Hommlet is not the place to go if you want news. However, they did contact their debtors in Verbobonc, the local Wizard's Society, and they learned that they could erase their debts from underwriting the expedition by returning the book they had found. After their comrade was recovered, they returned to the Moathouse, determined to get at least something out of this debacle by claiming the Manual of the Sea. So, they rented a draft horse and a wagon, and they apported the huge chunk of valuable stone out of the Moathouse and onto the wagon.
While they were dragging the book back, when they passed Burne's castle-in-progress, they were summoned to meet him by a page. Turns out, unsurprisingly, the local wizard is also interested in magical artifacts. While they couldn't come to an agreement (Burne was willing to offer a goodly amount of coin, but not quite enough to rid them of their debts), they did pawn off a few things they'd found in the Moathouse thus far, including a vial of pacified green slime.
======
From judging how things looked and sounded at the table, pretty much everyone had a good time. I do badly need to work on my treasure document. At the moment I have it interspersed with the pages of the module, which works fairly well for linear treasure procurement, but doesn't work if someone has questions as to value or weight. I think instead I'm just going to have two folders - one with the module and monster/trap stats interleaved, and the other with treasure, for easy reference.
Also, I need to put together an Excel doc to keep track of treasure weight, so I can watch that appropriately. Best of all would be if each of the players had one, so they could track weight in real-time, but that might be asking for too much accounting at the table. I'm not sure how fun that would be for them.
Finally, I was glad that my post on portage for Dungeon Fantasy got some play. They needed to rent a horse and wagon. I knew how much that would cost, and I knew how much horse they would need, with a simple lookup.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Noodling around with DR in Dungeon Fantasy
There was a thread on the SJGames forums a while back by +Douglas Cole about rectifying melee weapons so that the damage doesn't scale up so quickly. It quickly spiraled out into one of those mega-discussions that frequently happen there in core topics, so unfortunately, I can't recommend reading it. However, his core points were, as I take it:
(If you're talking about a ST 20 barbarian with a maul, he laughs at your puny heavy plate layered with a double-mail hauberk. But maybe that's how it should be, at least for Dungeon Fantasy.)
Basic plate armor is fairly egregious if this sort of thing tickles your paideuometer. It's DR 7, which ST 14 will penetrate roughly half the time, depending on the weapon. Looking on B558, this lines up with 1/8" of mild steel. I'm no armorer by a long shot, but I don't think mild steel is used in plate mail. (If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will be along to correct me shortly.) Plus, I have the most convincing of all possible arguments: sketchy anecdotal evidence from the biomed play-tester to Low-Tech who says that when the playtesters brought up that plate mail should actually have a much higher DR, they were told that it didn't for playability and legacy reasons.
The thread was inconclusive about a fix, and for good reason. The real fix would be to fiddle with ST-sw and weapon mods values until they lined up with real-world quantities on penetration and wounding with regard to various weapons. Unfortunately, that data doesn't exist and probably can't exist, and even if it did that's a huge amount of work, much more so than for firearms given the relatively orderly nature of firearm wounding compared to being hit with a baseball bat.
However, one of the easy quick-fixes put forward in the thread is doubling DR values and giving firearms a (2) DR divisor. This strikes me as simple enough to play and remember to maybe be worthwhile. It was pointed out that this just shifts the point where the system breaks upward, but I think I'm okay with that for Dungeon Fantasy; characters and monsters with high-ST should be pulling off scary, fantastic wounding shots. You should be afraid of that ogre even if you have plate mail.
What would the effects of this be, I wonder? The easiest way to visualize it for me is to separate the advantages from the disadvantages.
- Gun damages are based on real studies of kinetic effect
- Our wonderful previously-mentioned author has done the same thing with bows, which dramatically changes their damage
- Melee sw weapons are not thus rectified, which means they get way too much damage way too quickly
- Rectifying melee weapon damage with real-world quantifiables is difficult or impossible due to lots and lots of factors
- As a side point, it's far too easy to penetrate DR with a melee weapon.
(If you're talking about a ST 20 barbarian with a maul, he laughs at your puny heavy plate layered with a double-mail hauberk. But maybe that's how it should be, at least for Dungeon Fantasy.)
Basic plate armor is fairly egregious if this sort of thing tickles your paideuometer. It's DR 7, which ST 14 will penetrate roughly half the time, depending on the weapon. Looking on B558, this lines up with 1/8" of mild steel. I'm no armorer by a long shot, but I don't think mild steel is used in plate mail. (If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will be along to correct me shortly.) Plus, I have the most convincing of all possible arguments: sketchy anecdotal evidence from the biomed play-tester to Low-Tech who says that when the playtesters brought up that plate mail should actually have a much higher DR, they were told that it didn't for playability and legacy reasons.
The thread was inconclusive about a fix, and for good reason. The real fix would be to fiddle with ST-sw and weapon mods values until they lined up with real-world quantities on penetration and wounding with regard to various weapons. Unfortunately, that data doesn't exist and probably can't exist, and even if it did that's a huge amount of work, much more so than for firearms given the relatively orderly nature of firearm wounding compared to being hit with a baseball bat.
However, one of the easy quick-fixes put forward in the thread is doubling DR values and giving firearms a (2) DR divisor. This strikes me as simple enough to play and remember to maybe be worthwhile. It was pointed out that this just shifts the point where the system breaks upward, but I think I'm okay with that for Dungeon Fantasy; characters and monsters with high-ST should be pulling off scary, fantastic wounding shots. You should be afraid of that ogre even if you have plate mail.
What would the effects of this be, I wonder? The easiest way to visualize it for me is to separate the advantages from the disadvantages.
Pros
- My sense of plausibility will be less tickled, as will that of several other players at my table.
- Knights and barbarians get even more awesome - the first because they can become tin cans that much more easily, and the second because they're the only ones who can still crush those tin cans with brute force.
- It forces the use of tactical options, like striking at limbs or other places that are less armored, chinks in armor, and picking weapons based on armor penetration vs. damage (e.g. bodkin arrows).
- Specifically, the All-Out Attack (Strong) option might get used once in a while.
- It helps with the survivability of the PCs. I'm not actually sure this is a plus, but I'll list it here anyway. It also helps with the survivability of the monsters.
It makes the invasion force from the Barrier Peaks that are coming down to take over all of Oerth even scarier
Cons
- It marginalizes people in combat who aren't primarily combat oriented, or some of their options. That puny bard or thief just can't do much to the lucky goblin who has a mail hauberk.
- Most of them have other options in combat, like the Wizard or Cleric can use magic
- Specifically, it might be worth giving Missile Spells the (2) armor divisor, 'cause they're magical and fast.
- It could lead to long combats without either side being able to accomplish much by strength-of-arms. This is a big potential failure, though I imagine it's more likely in a low-powered non-heroic game than Dungeon Fantasy.
- It makes thrusting weapons even less attractive. Who wants to use a spear when an axe won't even get through? Where's the point?
- Maybe targeting Chinks in Armor should be easier with thr/imp weapons? Maybe it should give a (4) armor divisor instead of (2), bringing it back down to the level already given in the Basic Set (and making it very attractive).
- It lowers the utility of Fortify enchantments. Oooh, +1 DR! Great! I already have 8!
- I'm hesitant to also double the DR granted by Fortification, but maybe I shouldn't be. Or maybe it should grant other benefits somehow - being cheaper or more effective on lower-DR armor, or not taking the (2) divisor from various attacks that normally have it, like Missile Spells and that monster on level 3.
- It raises the bar for fodder monsters. A bunch of puny goblins just aren't scary unless they're truly a bunch of puny goblins, because they just can't get through your armor. Unless you're the Wizard. Oops.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Temple History and Hazards
One of the things I like about the backstory of the Temple of Elemental Evil is that it has been sacked before. This has several advantages, and a few quirks to it:
This is a formerly-sacked temple. Furthermore, it hasn't had any serious upkeep since after its desolation, nigh around fifty years ago. It's an imposing and impressive artifice, but it should still probably be falling apart. This fact isn't well-represented in the materials, though it's certainly available to inference. So what should we do with it?
First, the Temple should be dirty. Old leaves, vines, encroaching roots, rats, and just general grime and dirt, as well as old bloodstains and in some under-travelled portions even old, old corpses either dehydrated or mostly collapsed and scattered. This isn't just atmospheric; this can attract vermin (like rats...hordes of rats) as well as obscure signs of traps or other important dungeon features. It's not all one-sided either; the occasional body may contain valuables, or a rubbish pile might have accumulated some interesting detritus over the years.
I don't want to go so far as to have players digging through trash to find valuables in the same way they might in a first-person-shooter, though. Video game memes should stay in the video games. Anything that is valuable will be pretty obvious to the most cursory inspection, I think, and just have been not encountered by the intelligent denizens.
The other part of making the Temple old involves architecture. Specifically, portions of it should be falling apart, or dangerously unsound. The easiest way to model this in the game is with descriptions and with 'traps' - that is, pits and deadfalls and broken flooring and whatnot. These should be fairly obvious, since they aren't set specifically to trap adventurers, but should nevertheless present an obstacle, especially to a party not able to take its time due to being chased by monsters or whatnot. Possible other nuisances include unintelligent denizens, like black puddings and cubes and the like, mostly cleared out but still attracted to the edges of humanoid activity and the detritus of old battles.
- This explains why the Temple, despite being the seat of serious Evil, is fair game for a set of character ~ 4th level by removing organized resistance
- This allows really cool faction play by removing a central power structure
- This allows really strong foes to be present for the 'oops' factor, but gives a good explanation of why they don't just stomp on the PCs posthaste
- It gives the Temple some cool history that can be discovered in the game, through PC events (rather than through narration)
- It gives hints about archaeology in gaming for those interested - that is, Gary's group (and Chainmail before) was involved in the sacking of the temple.
This is a formerly-sacked temple. Furthermore, it hasn't had any serious upkeep since after its desolation, nigh around fifty years ago. It's an imposing and impressive artifice, but it should still probably be falling apart. This fact isn't well-represented in the materials, though it's certainly available to inference. So what should we do with it?
First, the Temple should be dirty. Old leaves, vines, encroaching roots, rats, and just general grime and dirt, as well as old bloodstains and in some under-travelled portions even old, old corpses either dehydrated or mostly collapsed and scattered. This isn't just atmospheric; this can attract vermin (like rats...hordes of rats) as well as obscure signs of traps or other important dungeon features. It's not all one-sided either; the occasional body may contain valuables, or a rubbish pile might have accumulated some interesting detritus over the years.
I don't want to go so far as to have players digging through trash to find valuables in the same way they might in a first-person-shooter, though. Video game memes should stay in the video games. Anything that is valuable will be pretty obvious to the most cursory inspection, I think, and just have been not encountered by the intelligent denizens.
The other part of making the Temple old involves architecture. Specifically, portions of it should be falling apart, or dangerously unsound. The easiest way to model this in the game is with descriptions and with 'traps' - that is, pits and deadfalls and broken flooring and whatnot. These should be fairly obvious, since they aren't set specifically to trap adventurers, but should nevertheless present an obstacle, especially to a party not able to take its time due to being chased by monsters or whatnot. Possible other nuisances include unintelligent denizens, like black puddings and cubes and the like, mostly cleared out but still attracted to the edges of humanoid activity and the detritus of old battles.
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