This morning as I was eating breakfast, I wasn't reading the morning paper. For some reason I had totally forgot that I have a morning paper for a while, and instead did what a gamer does and read a game book. My four year old stopped her hour long monologue about the adventures of her favourite kiddie show and comic book heroes, and she peeked at the loose cover of the Tomb. She saw the illustration on the inside front cover, and pointed to it and asked me "What kind of happy face is that?"
For those of you who don't have the whole of Tomb of Horrors memorized, that is the picture of the outside of the tomb. It's a mound or hill, and there are stones places on the slope to resemble a skull, with gaping eye sockets and a row of teeth. It looks like a giant smiley. The terrible tomb of the Demi-Lich Acererak!
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I have read about many classic adventures, and some of them I've longed to play. Some, like The Enemy Within, I bought because I wanted to run it myself. Others like Horror on the Orient Express, I've resisted since I've had vague hopes of somebody inviting me to play them, and I don't wanted to spoil the fun. Years go buy and I still haven't gotten many opportunities to play the classics. I don't know if it will become a classic, but I'm very thankful to my friend Chris who took us through Beyond the Mountains of Madness. Finally I got to play one of those talked about campaigns!
Last year I actually started to play ToH, but we only did one session before the launch of 4th ed D&D and our DM suddenly lost interest in favour of the new game. I have long wanted to test my mettle against the Tomb, since it is rightly famous. After that game tanked I resigned myself to the fact that I probably never will get the opportunity, and since I own the module I started to read it for fun and enlightenment instead.
Some parts of the adventure is just plain stupid, and some are kind of clever. Having read everything except the last room, I'm not that impressed. Necromancer Games published one book called Demons & Devils, inspired by the Tomb, and I think it's better. ToH will from now on forever be the Happy Face Dungeon.
Don't Worry, Be Happy.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
A Swords & Wizardry campaign on the horizon!
For some time now I have been feeling seriously deprived of my gaming fix. While I think role playing a hobby that can be enjoyed by playing solos, generating characters for fun, drawing maps and inventing new spells or building starships and other gear, I still miss playing.
My friends on this side of the pond all seem to be so very occupied it's almost silly! We played one session of a game, and the time for the next session had to be a date four weeks later, because everyone was doing so much else! Four? What the heck are people doing with their "free" time? Sometimes I think those cardiovascular diseases that kills us in the western world have more to do with stress than anything else. How much can you try to cram into your life anyway? It's kind of ironic as well that one things people do which stop them from gaming is probably playing World of Warcraft or something like that.
Anyway. Today I got a phone call from a friend who recently discovered Swords & Wizardry and immediately caught the bug. Like me, he is a big fan of Fritz Leiber, and he felt this was a game where that kind of fantasy stories could be gamed. Imagine my happiness when he told me he has been writing stuff and wanted to send me a inspirational recruitment flyer for the campaign! Wohoo! Maybe I will get the opportunity for some S&W gaming in the future after all!
Wish me luck, considering how it's been lately one of us or our friends will get swine flu and get quarantined from gaming...
My friends on this side of the pond all seem to be so very occupied it's almost silly! We played one session of a game, and the time for the next session had to be a date four weeks later, because everyone was doing so much else! Four? What the heck are people doing with their "free" time? Sometimes I think those cardiovascular diseases that kills us in the western world have more to do with stress than anything else. How much can you try to cram into your life anyway? It's kind of ironic as well that one things people do which stop them from gaming is probably playing World of Warcraft or something like that.
Anyway. Today I got a phone call from a friend who recently discovered Swords & Wizardry and immediately caught the bug. Like me, he is a big fan of Fritz Leiber, and he felt this was a game where that kind of fantasy stories could be gamed. Imagine my happiness when he told me he has been writing stuff and wanted to send me a inspirational recruitment flyer for the campaign! Wohoo! Maybe I will get the opportunity for some S&W gaming in the future after all!
Wish me luck, considering how it's been lately one of us or our friends will get swine flu and get quarantined from gaming...
Friday, November 27, 2009
Reading T&T 7.5 - Magic p.126-132
We have almost reached the end of the rulebook by now, but there are a lot quirks in the pages ahead. Let's dive in the deep end!
To start off with, we are treated to some description of how magic shapes everything on Trollworld. Here we get a few snippets of information about that ellusive place, and the fact that dwarves can smell metals makes me yearn for more information on this wondrous place. At the same time my brain is filling in the blanks all by itself, because the ideas are so evocative.
Spells, we learn, are categorized in four schools. I'm not sure I know why, but that's how it is. Then it starts for real. Now on page 127 and forward we get the rules for actually casting spells, and some examples and metaphysics of magic mixed in. It's made clear that spells are a psychic phenomena, and that spellbooks thus don't exists. I found that, and the then natural lack of scrolls, to be a stumbling block for me when trying to find treasure to reward magic using characters in my campaign. Think about how you want to handle that in your campaign.
Notable is that when the rules say that your stats will limit your ability to cast spells, it never say anything about your level, except for an example on p.127-128 where Khenn the Wizard casts a spell of a higher level than himself. In 5th ed this is limited by the fact that the Wizard's Guild wont teach those,
and that they cost more energy to cast if you get hold of them anyway. I think I like the new freedom better.
You cast spells by making a SR and you pay for them with the new stat, WIZ. Welcome to the classic weakling wizards! I can't resist thinking of Ars Magica, where all our Magi had maxed out their Stamina. Yes, a physical stat. I think it makes sense to have magic powered by a separate stat.
In the section called Casting Cost we see some slightly confusing things. In the first paragraph we see a mention of tools to assist casting, like a wand. Later in the next column on the same page there's an example of a Wizard casting a TTYF and it's mentioned that he don't have a staff. So, you say, what difference does that make? The thing is that using these tools and how the reduce the cost of a spell isn't explained until yet another three paragraphs, the middle of page 129! Also, in the second paragraph of this section there's a page reference to page 36. This is regarding how the level of the caster also makes it cheaper to cast a spell. Looking at page 36 we see that is indeed where the definition of a level is, but the benefit of levels is on page 39! Just to make it even a bit more confusing nowhere on page 39 is it mentioned that one benefit of gaining a level is that it's cheaper to cast spells! This is very confusing, and should have been edited. It feels sloppy and a bit disorganized. Since I started this project Ken have told me that everything is basically printed in the order he wrote it. It shows, sadly. The most odd thing of all, though, is that the actual rules for the different kind of spell casting foci are in another booklet! At least there are a very clear mention of this in the middle of page 129, pointing out that you have to read Special Edition Monsters & Magic Book.
One important thing is mentioned here, though, that Rogues can't power up spells. Considering all other limitations on their spell casting is mentioned in the Type description on page 12, I'd love to have seen that added there as well.
The rest of the magic rules consists of the most talked about and least liked part of 7th ed, according to my experience. Some metaphysical reasoning is given, and then it's proclaimed that there's a "barrier" you have to overcome to affect a stronger magical force, Kremm, than your own. The end result is that you, and your target both loose WIZ, but you can't get your spell to affect anyone stronger than yourself. This brings out a boatload of problems.
Sure, you can have a team of Wizards casting spells to drain their target while one of their pals is withholding his WIZ (otherwise you will all just decrease in step and never bring down your target below you) until it can be brought to bear. But, frankly. Can you imagine a party of multiple Wizards doing that, when they can just boost a Warrior with something like a Vorpal or Whammy so much easier?
Also, imagine a Target with WIZ 100 and two player Wizards with WIZ 88 at level 7 and another with WIZ 30 at level 2. The latter are going to cast a spell on the Target. They will both loose some WIZ, right? Now the Level 7 Wizard cast the same spell. But, since he is higher level he will use less magic energy and thus affect the Target less! If he uses a focus it's even worse. It feels distinctly wrong that somebody with more magical power will make the enemy hurt less. Can you ignore the level benefit or "exert yourself" in order to hurt the enemy more? Nah, this just is not working.
I like the idea of Spell Resistance, but this is not a good way to do it. It will involve more dice rolling, and thus more chance, but I think some SR based on the difference in power makes more sense. The idea is good, but I don't like it this way. I'd hesitate to add in more dice rolling since it will both slow down play and make Wizards potentially weaker. Considering you didn't have to roll a INT SR to cast a spell in 5th (now you do) I would hazard the guess that for someone coming from 5th ed it would look even less good. Maybe ditch the INT SR and just have a SR when casting on someone with higher WIZ? Don't feel that good either.
Personally I never liked the "auto pilot" system where you just said "I cast a spell", while a Warrior had to roll to hit. Magic should be fickle and chancy. At least as much as the martial skills are. Taking a tenth of the overpowering WIZ as CON hits instead? Heck, I have no idea how to make it work! Can you tell I'm grasping for ideas? I like the INT SR to cast, but the Resistance rules will go next time I play T&T.
Most of the rules in the Magic section are just as easy going and wonderful as tools as the rest of the system, but the new additions above need to mature a bit. The system if fun, and it works. I do like that you gain AP for making a SR to cast, spending WIZ to cast, and for defeating a monster with that same spell! Wizards can be powerhouses for Adventure Points.
Next week: I'll talk about some of the specific spells, and that extra booklet mentioned above, Special Edition Monsters & Magic Book
To start off with, we are treated to some description of how magic shapes everything on Trollworld. Here we get a few snippets of information about that ellusive place, and the fact that dwarves can smell metals makes me yearn for more information on this wondrous place. At the same time my brain is filling in the blanks all by itself, because the ideas are so evocative.
Spells, we learn, are categorized in four schools. I'm not sure I know why, but that's how it is. Then it starts for real. Now on page 127 and forward we get the rules for actually casting spells, and some examples and metaphysics of magic mixed in. It's made clear that spells are a psychic phenomena, and that spellbooks thus don't exists. I found that, and the then natural lack of scrolls, to be a stumbling block for me when trying to find treasure to reward magic using characters in my campaign. Think about how you want to handle that in your campaign.
Notable is that when the rules say that your stats will limit your ability to cast spells, it never say anything about your level, except for an example on p.127-128 where Khenn the Wizard casts a spell of a higher level than himself. In 5th ed this is limited by the fact that the Wizard's Guild wont teach those,
and that they cost more energy to cast if you get hold of them anyway. I think I like the new freedom better.
You cast spells by making a SR and you pay for them with the new stat, WIZ. Welcome to the classic weakling wizards! I can't resist thinking of Ars Magica, where all our Magi had maxed out their Stamina. Yes, a physical stat. I think it makes sense to have magic powered by a separate stat.
In the section called Casting Cost we see some slightly confusing things. In the first paragraph we see a mention of tools to assist casting, like a wand. Later in the next column on the same page there's an example of a Wizard casting a TTYF and it's mentioned that he don't have a staff. So, you say, what difference does that make? The thing is that using these tools and how the reduce the cost of a spell isn't explained until yet another three paragraphs, the middle of page 129! Also, in the second paragraph of this section there's a page reference to page 36. This is regarding how the level of the caster also makes it cheaper to cast a spell. Looking at page 36 we see that is indeed where the definition of a level is, but the benefit of levels is on page 39! Just to make it even a bit more confusing nowhere on page 39 is it mentioned that one benefit of gaining a level is that it's cheaper to cast spells! This is very confusing, and should have been edited. It feels sloppy and a bit disorganized. Since I started this project Ken have told me that everything is basically printed in the order he wrote it. It shows, sadly. The most odd thing of all, though, is that the actual rules for the different kind of spell casting foci are in another booklet! At least there are a very clear mention of this in the middle of page 129, pointing out that you have to read Special Edition Monsters & Magic Book.
One important thing is mentioned here, though, that Rogues can't power up spells. Considering all other limitations on their spell casting is mentioned in the Type description on page 12, I'd love to have seen that added there as well.
The rest of the magic rules consists of the most talked about and least liked part of 7th ed, according to my experience. Some metaphysical reasoning is given, and then it's proclaimed that there's a "barrier" you have to overcome to affect a stronger magical force, Kremm, than your own. The end result is that you, and your target both loose WIZ, but you can't get your spell to affect anyone stronger than yourself. This brings out a boatload of problems.
Sure, you can have a team of Wizards casting spells to drain their target while one of their pals is withholding his WIZ (otherwise you will all just decrease in step and never bring down your target below you) until it can be brought to bear. But, frankly. Can you imagine a party of multiple Wizards doing that, when they can just boost a Warrior with something like a Vorpal or Whammy so much easier?
Also, imagine a Target with WIZ 100 and two player Wizards with WIZ 88 at level 7 and another with WIZ 30 at level 2. The latter are going to cast a spell on the Target. They will both loose some WIZ, right? Now the Level 7 Wizard cast the same spell. But, since he is higher level he will use less magic energy and thus affect the Target less! If he uses a focus it's even worse. It feels distinctly wrong that somebody with more magical power will make the enemy hurt less. Can you ignore the level benefit or "exert yourself" in order to hurt the enemy more? Nah, this just is not working.
I like the idea of Spell Resistance, but this is not a good way to do it. It will involve more dice rolling, and thus more chance, but I think some SR based on the difference in power makes more sense. The idea is good, but I don't like it this way. I'd hesitate to add in more dice rolling since it will both slow down play and make Wizards potentially weaker. Considering you didn't have to roll a INT SR to cast a spell in 5th (now you do) I would hazard the guess that for someone coming from 5th ed it would look even less good. Maybe ditch the INT SR and just have a SR when casting on someone with higher WIZ? Don't feel that good either.
Personally I never liked the "auto pilot" system where you just said "I cast a spell", while a Warrior had to roll to hit. Magic should be fickle and chancy. At least as much as the martial skills are. Taking a tenth of the overpowering WIZ as CON hits instead? Heck, I have no idea how to make it work! Can you tell I'm grasping for ideas? I like the INT SR to cast, but the Resistance rules will go next time I play T&T.
Most of the rules in the Magic section are just as easy going and wonderful as tools as the rest of the system, but the new additions above need to mature a bit. The system if fun, and it works. I do like that you gain AP for making a SR to cast, spending WIZ to cast, and for defeating a monster with that same spell! Wizards can be powerhouses for Adventure Points.
Next week: I'll talk about some of the specific spells, and that extra booklet mentioned above, Special Edition Monsters & Magic Book
Thursday, November 26, 2009
On a mission from God - playing Dogs in the Vineyard
Yesterday was a good day. Well, it was one of those days when I was running back and forth and felt like I didn't accomplish much, but I managed to experience a real live game session! I have had a drought since leaving Canada, but hopefully there will be some more precipitation from now on.
We made characters for Dogs in the Vineyard, and all three are interesting. Maybe the young female convert from the East is most flamboyant, but the others have interesting aspects. I like the intellectual sharpshooter, and the doubting theologian as well.
For those of you who have managed to miss it, DitV is a game about "Mormon gunslingers in a West that never was". It's not really about Mormons, and not really about the Old West as it was in our world, but something like it. What it is, is a game where actions have consequences and your morals force you to act and think about it. Everything that's causing brain damage about alignment just works out like it should in real life in this game, it feels real and meaningful. Also, it will blow your mind that you can have that much freedom of action as a player, and learn to feel serious feelings of regret about the consequences of that freedom.
The session was a bit short, but to my surprise we managed to get all three characters done, and initiate two of them. The latter is kind of like the Prelude in Vampire. You play out a scene or passage of scenes which happened before starting play and it will help you learn the game system, and kick start your brain into your newly designed persona.
My favourite scene was probably when one of the characters, who had a illicit sexual relation in his backstory, suddenly chanced upon a couple doing the nasty thing. He started berating them, and when the girl saw his hesitation she yelled "You would do it if you had the chance!" The look on the player's face was glorious to behold. It just became better when she then with a intuitive strike accused him of not being so innocent himself. Never have self doubt been so fun to act out at the game table. You know you have succeeded when a player is squirming on his chair and trying to get out of the mess, while at the same having a smile plastered on his face.
I just love Dogs. Thanks Vincent!
We made characters for Dogs in the Vineyard, and all three are interesting. Maybe the young female convert from the East is most flamboyant, but the others have interesting aspects. I like the intellectual sharpshooter, and the doubting theologian as well.
For those of you who have managed to miss it, DitV is a game about "Mormon gunslingers in a West that never was". It's not really about Mormons, and not really about the Old West as it was in our world, but something like it. What it is, is a game where actions have consequences and your morals force you to act and think about it. Everything that's causing brain damage about alignment just works out like it should in real life in this game, it feels real and meaningful. Also, it will blow your mind that you can have that much freedom of action as a player, and learn to feel serious feelings of regret about the consequences of that freedom.
The session was a bit short, but to my surprise we managed to get all three characters done, and initiate two of them. The latter is kind of like the Prelude in Vampire. You play out a scene or passage of scenes which happened before starting play and it will help you learn the game system, and kick start your brain into your newly designed persona.
My favourite scene was probably when one of the characters, who had a illicit sexual relation in his backstory, suddenly chanced upon a couple doing the nasty thing. He started berating them, and when the girl saw his hesitation she yelled "You would do it if you had the chance!" The look on the player's face was glorious to behold. It just became better when she then with a intuitive strike accused him of not being so innocent himself. Never have self doubt been so fun to act out at the game table. You know you have succeeded when a player is squirming on his chair and trying to get out of the mess, while at the same having a smile plastered on his face.
I just love Dogs. Thanks Vincent!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Metalheads, and old school gamers?
I have begun to see admissions and revelations from more than one blogger, last from Nerzenjäger's Take That You Fiend! and Scott Malthouse at Trollish Delver as being metalheads. I think you all know James Raggi likes metal, eh?
As I was sitting on the bus yesterday I was fooling around with my mp3 player. I'm not an early adopter and this is my first music playing gadget ever. I have loaded a bunch of stuff into the thing, since I still don't know much about my listening habits. After settling upon an album and starting to listen I almost burst into laughter when the observation above came to me like a flash of lightning. Need I tell you what kind of music I was listening to? Go take a peek at Sirenia's official web page if you like. There's more in that small piece of electronics. I need to get my Judas Priest converted to mp3 soon.
So, bringing this back to gaming, I wonder if we four bloggers with a interest in older styles of gaming perchance have a similar taste in music because of that. As soon as I write that somebody will probably tell me I'm talking out of my butt and say that they have been playing the white box since day one and only listens to jazz.
Whatever. I still think some games just feel energetic, powerful and plain out tastlessly over the top in a way that makes me think metal. I have some of those associations and feelings. My old love affair Chaosium's Stormbringer, is the game to play with Hawkwind on the turntable. Rock on, Elric!
Yeah, you noticed that this is not one of my brainy posts.
I just can imagine what kind of game would make me think of jazz. Sorry, jazz lovers...
As I was sitting on the bus yesterday I was fooling around with my mp3 player. I'm not an early adopter and this is my first music playing gadget ever. I have loaded a bunch of stuff into the thing, since I still don't know much about my listening habits. After settling upon an album and starting to listen I almost burst into laughter when the observation above came to me like a flash of lightning. Need I tell you what kind of music I was listening to? Go take a peek at Sirenia's official web page if you like. There's more in that small piece of electronics. I need to get my Judas Priest converted to mp3 soon.
So, bringing this back to gaming, I wonder if we four bloggers with a interest in older styles of gaming perchance have a similar taste in music because of that. As soon as I write that somebody will probably tell me I'm talking out of my butt and say that they have been playing the white box since day one and only listens to jazz.
Whatever. I still think some games just feel energetic, powerful and plain out tastlessly over the top in a way that makes me think metal. I have some of those associations and feelings. My old love affair Chaosium's Stormbringer, is the game to play with Hawkwind on the turntable. Rock on, Elric!
Yeah, you noticed that this is not one of my brainy posts.
I just can imagine what kind of game would make me think of jazz. Sorry, jazz lovers...
Monday, November 23, 2009
Gaming Library: DragonQuest
I no longer remember when I first heard of DragonQuest. Did I even then balk at the ugle practice of capitalizing that Q in the middle of the name? I don't remember. I do remember the cover illustration, though. It's one of those that linger, like the one from the AD&D DMG with those big doors being opened (yes, the orange spine printing. I never much cared for the earlier printings). It somehow spells adventure to me.
The first thing you notice when you open up the DQ rulebook is how it's written. Anyone who have ever read a wargame from SPI or Avalon Hill know how it looks. First there are definitions of terms, then there are definitions of procedures. The latter are numbered, and there are more often than not sub cases to the general rule.
In DQ a rule is numbered, and then in bold is stated the main issue, which is then expanded upon in more text not in bold. After that there's usually another sub case, like 3.4 Using Skills or something like that. This makes for very precise, but slow reading. Everything counts and is accounted for. Oddly enough the have managed to make this kind of confusing, since already in character generation you have references to rules in the other end of the book. Sure, they are all numbered nicely, but it makes for slow reading. Add to that the level of detail and it becomes very slow indeed. Written in a more conversational tone, the rules could probably be much shorter. It kind of feels like AD&D. Presentation and organization of rpg rules have become much better the last 20 years.
I have already touched upon the quaint mix of classes and skills. There are more odd things, like the fact that your character have an aspect, which is an astrological influence upon the life of the character. When you get +20% to all rolls at, say, spring equinox it kind of matters! I guess you figured out from that statement that it's percentile based system. Roll d100 and compare to your stat, multiplied with a difficulty number, is the general way to resolve things. Unless you have a skill.
This leads us to the next thing that I get as a general impression from this game. There are quite a few calculations done. There are even a equation reference on the GM screen! Most of it is done before play, but that all and every procedure involve a stat or two, multiplied by different values every time feels a bit jumbled. It makes sense in the end, but sometimes e.g. I wish a rank would give a consistent bonus every time invoked.
Ranks are important. They are basically the level at which you have bought skills, abilities and weapon training. Almost everything you do gets a bonus depending on how many ranks you have. You can even raise your stats that way, even though it's expensive.
Combat is something I've heard was complex, but apart from the initiative rules (does this sound familiar?) which demand that you know which characters are standing in adjacent hexes, it's not that fiddly as long as every value is pre calculated. It's even probably usable without minis if you drop the weird initiative rules. Roll attack (with modifiers) subtract defence (with modifiers) and if you hit you roll damage, and subtract how much armor absorbs. Yes, armor absorbs hits, that's how it work.
Magic is also fairly straight forward. You spend fatigue points and roll dice to activate, just like skills and stat rolls. Interestingly enough, you can buy ranks in spells and rituals as like any other field of knowledge. The list of rituals are well known, especially the summoners which can browse a long list of diabolic entities they might want to summon. Very 1980-ies. Like I discovered, and posted about, there are no lists of magic items in this game. I applaud that, and the fact that the aspect system could be used to creatively add adventures, and journeys to magically charges places, to better enchant your items.
All in all I think the game looks quirky but strangely inviting. If I had a bunch of somewhat more curious gamers around than I presently have, I'd love to take this baby out for a spin. It says something that I had the hex paper out and started to sketch out some wilderness as I was reading the rules. Something about this game demands it to be played.
The first thing you notice when you open up the DQ rulebook is how it's written. Anyone who have ever read a wargame from SPI or Avalon Hill know how it looks. First there are definitions of terms, then there are definitions of procedures. The latter are numbered, and there are more often than not sub cases to the general rule.
In DQ a rule is numbered, and then in bold is stated the main issue, which is then expanded upon in more text not in bold. After that there's usually another sub case, like 3.4 Using Skills or something like that. This makes for very precise, but slow reading. Everything counts and is accounted for. Oddly enough the have managed to make this kind of confusing, since already in character generation you have references to rules in the other end of the book. Sure, they are all numbered nicely, but it makes for slow reading. Add to that the level of detail and it becomes very slow indeed. Written in a more conversational tone, the rules could probably be much shorter. It kind of feels like AD&D. Presentation and organization of rpg rules have become much better the last 20 years.
I have already touched upon the quaint mix of classes and skills. There are more odd things, like the fact that your character have an aspect, which is an astrological influence upon the life of the character. When you get +20% to all rolls at, say, spring equinox it kind of matters! I guess you figured out from that statement that it's percentile based system. Roll d100 and compare to your stat, multiplied with a difficulty number, is the general way to resolve things. Unless you have a skill.
This leads us to the next thing that I get as a general impression from this game. There are quite a few calculations done. There are even a equation reference on the GM screen! Most of it is done before play, but that all and every procedure involve a stat or two, multiplied by different values every time feels a bit jumbled. It makes sense in the end, but sometimes e.g. I wish a rank would give a consistent bonus every time invoked.
Ranks are important. They are basically the level at which you have bought skills, abilities and weapon training. Almost everything you do gets a bonus depending on how many ranks you have. You can even raise your stats that way, even though it's expensive.
Combat is something I've heard was complex, but apart from the initiative rules (does this sound familiar?) which demand that you know which characters are standing in adjacent hexes, it's not that fiddly as long as every value is pre calculated. It's even probably usable without minis if you drop the weird initiative rules. Roll attack (with modifiers) subtract defence (with modifiers) and if you hit you roll damage, and subtract how much armor absorbs. Yes, armor absorbs hits, that's how it work.
Magic is also fairly straight forward. You spend fatigue points and roll dice to activate, just like skills and stat rolls. Interestingly enough, you can buy ranks in spells and rituals as like any other field of knowledge. The list of rituals are well known, especially the summoners which can browse a long list of diabolic entities they might want to summon. Very 1980-ies. Like I discovered, and posted about, there are no lists of magic items in this game. I applaud that, and the fact that the aspect system could be used to creatively add adventures, and journeys to magically charges places, to better enchant your items.
All in all I think the game looks quirky but strangely inviting. If I had a bunch of somewhat more curious gamers around than I presently have, I'd love to take this baby out for a spin. It says something that I had the hex paper out and started to sketch out some wilderness as I was reading the rules. Something about this game demands it to be played.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
New projects starting to brew
I have been on an emotional roller coaster the last few days. There have been happy event with my family, depressing news on the web about misconduct and deception in rpg publishing, and sad news like the death of old guard Blackmoor player Richard L. Snider. The usual ups and downs.
Many times I don't feel like a very creative individual. Starting this blog and posting once every other day is one way to force myself to be creative. Now I have gotten some ideas, though. For the first time since I started to run my T&T campaign have I really felt like creating something new. I have a pad of graph paper by my bed, so when I get one of those ideas as I fall asleep I can grab the pad and sketch some dungeon rooms. I'm thinking that some of the sad things might have spurred me into action.
I know that since Knockspell magazine and Fight On! magazine started publishing, and many old school D&D bloggers started to sell their creations, there have been mumblings to the effect that it seems like those venues suck up all the good stuff. The result would be that there are no longer so that people put stuff up for free.
Do you think this is a correct picture of reality? I have no idea, myself. But, it makes me think. I have been saying that I am considering publishing on a more serious scale myself if the conditions can be met. But, at the same time I'm wondering about who would care about my dungeon scribblings?
So, I'm probably going to put some of it up here, and then we'll see what comes of it. Hopefully it will give me some hints on how to proceed.
Many times I don't feel like a very creative individual. Starting this blog and posting once every other day is one way to force myself to be creative. Now I have gotten some ideas, though. For the first time since I started to run my T&T campaign have I really felt like creating something new. I have a pad of graph paper by my bed, so when I get one of those ideas as I fall asleep I can grab the pad and sketch some dungeon rooms. I'm thinking that some of the sad things might have spurred me into action.
I know that since Knockspell magazine and Fight On! magazine started publishing, and many old school D&D bloggers started to sell their creations, there have been mumblings to the effect that it seems like those venues suck up all the good stuff. The result would be that there are no longer so that people put stuff up for free.
Do you think this is a correct picture of reality? I have no idea, myself. But, it makes me think. I have been saying that I am considering publishing on a more serious scale myself if the conditions can be met. But, at the same time I'm wondering about who would care about my dungeon scribblings?
So, I'm probably going to put some of it up here, and then we'll see what comes of it. Hopefully it will give me some hints on how to proceed.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The latest bad news
For those who have missed it, it seems like the Tunnels & Trolls world have been experiencing a landslide the last few day. The dirt just keep piling up.
It started as some dubious use of art on RPGNow, and now it seems like the main fan publisher for T&T stand accused of having used stolen art in products sold for profit. As if that wasn't enough, there are also indications a scenario for D&D have been "converted" to T&T and sold without permission, and also that the free retro game Mazes & Minotaurs once was for sale from Outlaw Press until the writer complained. It's a maze indeed.
How much of all this is true and how far does it go into the abyss?
From what I've gathered from my contacts it's now totally out of the reach of anyone pontificating on the web, and the lawyers have been set in motion. It's a sad day for us all.
Extra sad is the fact that even if it's get all sorted out, James Shipman at Outlaw Press have been seen one time to often in extremely dubious circumstances for me to want to have anything to do with him. Running a business can't be done by playing loose and fast, that's just not the way to do it. Even if you manage to keep your balancing act on the right side of the thin line there are some things you just don't do, like revise somebody's text without telling them, and then going to print.
In the D&D end of the OSR we have seen a bunch of people starting publishing themself, based on the OGL and their imagination. My reaction to all this is that I feel sombody should step up, and bring more fan publishing to T&T. Do you have anything lying around, like new monsters? Spells? Adventures? I'm looking into options and want to get the wheels turning. Feel free to contact me if you want to join in!
If we are lucky, this mess might still have some positive effect in the end. Let's hope so.
It started as some dubious use of art on RPGNow, and now it seems like the main fan publisher for T&T stand accused of having used stolen art in products sold for profit. As if that wasn't enough, there are also indications a scenario for D&D have been "converted" to T&T and sold without permission, and also that the free retro game Mazes & Minotaurs once was for sale from Outlaw Press until the writer complained. It's a maze indeed.
How much of all this is true and how far does it go into the abyss?
From what I've gathered from my contacts it's now totally out of the reach of anyone pontificating on the web, and the lawyers have been set in motion. It's a sad day for us all.
Extra sad is the fact that even if it's get all sorted out, James Shipman at Outlaw Press have been seen one time to often in extremely dubious circumstances for me to want to have anything to do with him. Running a business can't be done by playing loose and fast, that's just not the way to do it. Even if you manage to keep your balancing act on the right side of the thin line there are some things you just don't do, like revise somebody's text without telling them, and then going to print.
In the D&D end of the OSR we have seen a bunch of people starting publishing themself, based on the OGL and their imagination. My reaction to all this is that I feel sombody should step up, and bring more fan publishing to T&T. Do you have anything lying around, like new monsters? Spells? Adventures? I'm looking into options and want to get the wheels turning. Feel free to contact me if you want to join in!
If we are lucky, this mess might still have some positive effect in the end. Let's hope so.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Reading T&T 7.5 - Saving Rolls p.99-126
So, now we have come to that mechanic which makes us T&T fans rave so much about the game. Usually I don't talk that directly about rules here. I think you should buy the rules to find out. Today I think I will, though.
What's the fuss all about then? Nothing much, but it has implications. Starting the section on Saving Rolls, we read that sometimes only luck can save a delver. That's when you roll a SR. Rolling a SR is done with two dice, and then you add a relevant stat, like LK och STR. If you meet a target number, depending on difficulty, you succeed. Easy ones, level 1, is TN 20 and then it increase by five per level.
Nothing special, eh? Well. One nice feature is that when you roll doubles, you add and roll again! I love exploding dice, and ever since I encountered it in MERP during the 1980-ies I have loved that mechanic. The feeling when you really need to succeed and you get those two 5 staring back at you, roll again and get two 4 and roll again and get more, is priceless! That's why I couldn't play diceless. Random chance is just to much fun.
Now imagine doing this for anything, at any time, to resolve any crazy idea you get. Why would you? Because of AP.
Just after the section on Saving Rolls, with two very good examples of different SRs, we start to read on Adventure Points. These are used to raise your stats, and you gain them from, among other activities, rolling SRs. Note, you get it for rolling, not for suceeding! There's no reason not to try to do something cool, because you will get a reward in the form of AP, just for trying. This is a game where being active counts. The rules in this section is very well written with many examples sprinkled throughout, this is also true for the section on Adventure Points.
I remember when I first heard of Feng Shui, by Robin Laws. Chinese action movies are something I enjoy a lot, and that game seemed very fun. But, when I read it I didn't feel the love like I expected. I didn't feel the game mechanic inspired me to do over the top action stunts. Removing obstacles is one thing, but providing wires for the wire-fu and bullets for my gun was something else. Then I encountered Wushu - the ancient art of action role-playing. This was a game that gave me what I wanted! For every weird stunt you try, the easier it is to succeed. That, is a stroke of design genius. That is how I feel about the interplay of Saving Rolls and Adventure Points.
Adventure points you can get for slaying monsters, outwitting them, casting spells and any thing the GM feel is worth rewarding. How they are used, and how fast a progression the game will have is discussed in the rules, and more than one way presented for quicker and slower games. In my games my played by the book, and I let my players raise their stats as soon as they could. In the middle of a fight someone would take a look at their stats, ask for a SR and I would gladly allow it and then see them raise the stat and continue the fight. Entertainment was guaranteed when they scrambled for that SR and a few more points.
I will close with one thing our game designer feel is worthy of Adventure Points is Daring. Daring is described as the difficulty and danger of the tunnels and encounters for a session. Exposing your character to danger is worthy of reward if you survive. Think about this quote: "A general guideline is to reward 100 AP for each level of dungeon or difficulty that is overcome".
How do you handle that? If the delvers go down to level 3, do you give them 300 as they set foot on level 2? Going down a chute and at once going up again using an elevator from level 9, is that worth 900? You get no strict advice from the rules. I found this to be a very charming and very old school so I rewarded 100 times the deepest level visited and encountered something, when my players was back in town alive. Combine this with the stable rule, and there are interesting strategic options of resource management available to the game.
Next week it's time for Magic
What's the fuss all about then? Nothing much, but it has implications. Starting the section on Saving Rolls, we read that sometimes only luck can save a delver. That's when you roll a SR. Rolling a SR is done with two dice, and then you add a relevant stat, like LK och STR. If you meet a target number, depending on difficulty, you succeed. Easy ones, level 1, is TN 20 and then it increase by five per level.
Nothing special, eh? Well. One nice feature is that when you roll doubles, you add and roll again! I love exploding dice, and ever since I encountered it in MERP during the 1980-ies I have loved that mechanic. The feeling when you really need to succeed and you get those two 5 staring back at you, roll again and get two 4 and roll again and get more, is priceless! That's why I couldn't play diceless. Random chance is just to much fun.
Now imagine doing this for anything, at any time, to resolve any crazy idea you get. Why would you? Because of AP.
Just after the section on Saving Rolls, with two very good examples of different SRs, we start to read on Adventure Points. These are used to raise your stats, and you gain them from, among other activities, rolling SRs. Note, you get it for rolling, not for suceeding! There's no reason not to try to do something cool, because you will get a reward in the form of AP, just for trying. This is a game where being active counts. The rules in this section is very well written with many examples sprinkled throughout, this is also true for the section on Adventure Points.
I remember when I first heard of Feng Shui, by Robin Laws. Chinese action movies are something I enjoy a lot, and that game seemed very fun. But, when I read it I didn't feel the love like I expected. I didn't feel the game mechanic inspired me to do over the top action stunts. Removing obstacles is one thing, but providing wires for the wire-fu and bullets for my gun was something else. Then I encountered Wushu - the ancient art of action role-playing. This was a game that gave me what I wanted! For every weird stunt you try, the easier it is to succeed. That, is a stroke of design genius. That is how I feel about the interplay of Saving Rolls and Adventure Points.
Adventure points you can get for slaying monsters, outwitting them, casting spells and any thing the GM feel is worth rewarding. How they are used, and how fast a progression the game will have is discussed in the rules, and more than one way presented for quicker and slower games. In my games my played by the book, and I let my players raise their stats as soon as they could. In the middle of a fight someone would take a look at their stats, ask for a SR and I would gladly allow it and then see them raise the stat and continue the fight. Entertainment was guaranteed when they scrambled for that SR and a few more points.
I will close with one thing our game designer feel is worthy of Adventure Points is Daring. Daring is described as the difficulty and danger of the tunnels and encounters for a session. Exposing your character to danger is worthy of reward if you survive. Think about this quote: "A general guideline is to reward 100 AP for each level of dungeon or difficulty that is overcome".
How do you handle that? If the delvers go down to level 3, do you give them 300 as they set foot on level 2? Going down a chute and at once going up again using an elevator from level 9, is that worth 900? You get no strict advice from the rules. I found this to be a very charming and very old school so I rewarded 100 times the deepest level visited and encountered something, when my players was back in town alive. Combine this with the stable rule, and there are interesting strategic options of resource management available to the game.
Next week it's time for Magic
Thursday, November 19, 2009
How to design and populate your dungeon
I have been thinking of starting a new dungeon. Still I am missing an important thing to get my campaign going again, players. But, just for fun and in order to keep some of the creativity flowing I'm thinking of putting pen to graph paper and digging a new dungeon.
Most of you have probably read some hints on how to write an adventure. You should have a plot, a setting, antagonists maybe a McGuffin and some nice scenery. When designing dungeon adventures it's fairly common to start with the location, the windling tunnels. It makes sense. Without somewhere to explore, there will be no place to put the monsters, treasure, traps and wonders. Right?
Since a couple of days I've had my copy of Dangerous Denizens out of the shelf, thumbing trough it. For those of you who don't know of it, it's the Tellene specific monster manual for 3rd ed Kingdoms of Kalamar. I'm a fan of KoK and have many times felt it would be cool to have a game there, but it haven't happened yet. For some other reasons I've also had my copy of 1st ed Monster Manual out of the shelf a few times to look up monsters other bloggers have been writing about. There are quite a few fairly weird monsters out there for D&D, I tell you.
All of this have gotten me to think of a new way to design a dungeon! Some of these monsters just scream out to be used, or at least some of them makes you wonder "how the hell could I use that one to make sense, at all?" Could be a nice creative exercise, right? It would be fun to hear if somebody tried it out?
So, take out a monster book, pick some really odd stuff and try to figure out how to make that monster fit somewhere, or where it would look cool. I'm going to try it out myself.
Most of you have probably read some hints on how to write an adventure. You should have a plot, a setting, antagonists maybe a McGuffin and some nice scenery. When designing dungeon adventures it's fairly common to start with the location, the windling tunnels. It makes sense. Without somewhere to explore, there will be no place to put the monsters, treasure, traps and wonders. Right?
Since a couple of days I've had my copy of Dangerous Denizens out of the shelf, thumbing trough it. For those of you who don't know of it, it's the Tellene specific monster manual for 3rd ed Kingdoms of Kalamar. I'm a fan of KoK and have many times felt it would be cool to have a game there, but it haven't happened yet. For some other reasons I've also had my copy of 1st ed Monster Manual out of the shelf a few times to look up monsters other bloggers have been writing about. There are quite a few fairly weird monsters out there for D&D, I tell you.
All of this have gotten me to think of a new way to design a dungeon! Some of these monsters just scream out to be used, or at least some of them makes you wonder "how the hell could I use that one to make sense, at all?" Could be a nice creative exercise, right? It would be fun to hear if somebody tried it out?
So, take out a monster book, pick some really odd stuff and try to figure out how to make that monster fit somewhere, or where it would look cool. I'm going to try it out myself.
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