Saturday, November 30, 2013

Rolling Dice

In past campaigns I have used a GM screen to hide all of my dice rolls. I fudged the dice. This was done for a lot of different reasons; keeping the party alive, saving a PCs life, ensuring NPCs live long enough to share information, enhancing plot, minimizing poor player choices. Those days have come to an end.

When Spiderweb in the Corner finally gets kicked off next Thursday, the majority of rolls will be made in the open. No more hiding behind the GM screen. No more fudging. This will help keep the old school, adversarial feel that I am going for.

Flipping through GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2 Dungeons I found only a half a dozen places where rolls are suggested to be made in secret. I'm sure I missed some, but they will will be addressed when they come up.

  • Watches - Here the purpose of rolling in secret is so that the PCs don't know when an attack is coming. I think this roll can be made in the open with little or no difference. If the players start taking crazy actions because they know the result of the roll, then it may need to be made in secret. In my group,  the opportunity to blame another PC for allowing the attack to happen on a failed watch roll, will just add to the fun.
  • Cartography - This one may need to stay in secret. One aspect of this game that I am looking forward to is the player's mapping. I have never gone this route before, always providing at least a stick map of the areas they have been through. With SitC, I am going to make the players map everything on their own.
  • Hidden doors - This roll can be made in the open. If a player declares that he is searching for hidden doors, he will be able to roll for himself. I will not tell the players any of the penalties or bonuses, and my standard response is and has been "You are relatively certain that there are no hidden doors in this room." this gives no indication of whether the gamer failed, or that there really are no hidden doors. If a player rolls a critical failure, I usually say "you are very certain there are no hidden doors in this room." or "You are convinced there is a hidden door somewhere in the room." and encourage the person to role play that fact to the rest of the group.
  • Traps - While DF2 assumes that the party is always looking for traps, I generally do not. If the players do not either add it to the SOP of the group, or state that they are specifically looking for traps, they will go unnoticed until sprung. If the players do state that they are looking, then the situation will be handled in the same way as a hidden door.
  • Danger sense - This one can be rolled in the open. Better to let the player know it was his own fault that he fell in the pit, with spikes, and fire ants. The problem here is that by having the player roll, he has some clue that there is danger about. This has to be handled in character.  If the player starts making crazy changes in the way the character is acting, then I will have to start rolling this in secret.
  • Recognition - Used to identify monsters, etc. in a dungeon. I think this one also can be rolled in the open. With my group, knowing that they are being lied to about the monster won't change their actions. If it starts to make a difference, then I will take this roll back behind the GM screen.
I am looking forward to all of the open rolling. In the past, fudging dice rolls always felt like cheating.  It feels more honest to roll in the open.  As a bonus, I suspect will be feeling less guilt when I kill off characters. (Note I said when, not if)

Prep work update: more monsters are ready, and the random monster encounter chart is about half finished. The big push is to get more rooms done.  I have been stocking them in an order I think the players will go, and all GMs know the PCs never do what you expect them to do.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Another Monster

I present another monster conversion, The Reek.  Taken from GURPS third edition Fantasy Bestiary these piles of slime are often found in caverns.

I converted several different versions but my favorite is the Mana Enhancer. It increases the local Mana level by 2 to Very high, which makes all spell casting failures a critical failure.  And, it reduces IQ for spell casing by 10.

Reek, mundane
ST
-
HP
15
Speed
1 Class slime
DX:
-
Will:
-
Move:
1 Source Fantasy Bestiary p 58
IQ:
-
Per :
-
SM:
var

HT:
5
FP:
-
DR:
-

Dodge:
0
Parry:




Melee Level Damage
Contact - 1 point per turn in contact, DR protects for turns = to DR
Binding - Once in contact roll vs ST to break free.
Traits:
Homogeneous, diffuse, fragile (unnatural), chameleon 2,
Skill:
-
Notes:
Some reeks can climb and will fall onto victims from above.

Reek, confusion
ST
-
HP
15
Speed
1 Class slime
DX:
-
Will:
-
Move:
1 Source Fantasy Bestiary p 58
IQ:
-
Per :
-
SM:
var

HT:
5
FP:
-
DR:
-

Dodge:
0
Parry:




Melee Level Damage
Contact - 1 point per turn in contact, DR protects for turns = to DR
Binding - Once in contact roll vs ST to break free.
Confusion HT-2 Affliction, Hallucinating
Traits:
Homogeneous, diffuse, fragile (unnatural), chameleon 2,
Skill:
-
Notes:
Some reeks can climb and will fall onto victims from above.

Reek, Decay
ST
-
HP
15
Speed
1 Class slime
DX:
-
Will:
-
Move:
1 Source Fantasy Bestiary p 58
IQ:
-
Per :
10 (detect)
SM:
var

HT:
5
FP:
15
DR:
-

Dodge:
0
Parry:




Melee Level Damage
Contact - 1 point per turn in contact, DR protects for turns = to DR
Binding - Once in contact roll vs ST to break free.
Traits:
Homogeneous, diffuse, fragile (unnatural), chameleon 2, detect (food)
Skill:
Cast Decay food at 15 magic p 77
Notes:
Some reeks can climb and will fall onto victims from above.

Reek, Glue
ST
-
HP
15
Speed
1 Class slime
DX:
-
Will:
-
Move:
1 Source Fantasy Bestiary p 58
IQ:
-
Per :
-
SM:
var

HT:
5
FP:
-
DR:
-

Dodge:
0
Parry:




Melee Level Damage
Contact - 1 point per turn in contact, DR protects for turns = to DR
Binding - Once in contact roll vs ST to break free.
Glue - Emanation, area of effect, sticky, limited area (only a trail behind it. 12 hexes long)
Traits:
Homogeneous, diffuse, fragile (unnatural), chameleon 2, vibration sense ( only glued hexes)
Skill:
-
Notes:
Some reeks can climb and will fall onto victims from above.

Reek, Daze
ST
-
HP
15
Speed
1 Class slime
DX:
-
Will:
-
Move:
1 Source Fantasy Bestiary p 58
IQ:
-
Per :
-
SM:
var

HT:
5
FP:
-
DR:
-

Dodge:
0
Parry:




Melee Level Damage
Contact - 1 point per turn in contact, DR protects for turns = to DR
Binding - Once in contact roll vs ST to break free.
Daze ht-6 Affliction , contact agent
Traits:
Homogeneous, diffuse, fragile (unnatural), chameleon 2,
Skill:
-
Notes:
Some reeks can climb and will fall onto victims from above.

Reek, Pleasure
ST
-
HP
15
Speed
1 Class slime
DX:
-
Will:
-
Move:
1 Source Fantasy Bestiary p 58
IQ:
-
Per :
-
SM:
var

HT:
5
FP:


DR:
-

Dodge:
0
Parry:




Melee Level Damage
Contact - 1 point per turn in contact, DR protects for turns = to DR
Binding - Once in contact roll vs ST to break free.
Love ht-3 Affliction, delusion (I love this reek), irritant (euphoria)
Traits:
Homogeneous, diffuse, fragile (unnatural), chameleon 2,
Skill:
-
Notes:
Some reeks can climb and will fall onto victims from above.

Reek, Rust
ST
-
HP
15
Speed
1 Class slime
DX:
-
Will:
-
Move:
1 Source Fantasy Bestiary p 58
IQ:
-
Per :


SM:
var

HT:
5
FP:


DR:
-

Dodge:
0
Parry:




Melee Level Damage
Contact - 1 point per turn in contact, DR protects for turns = to DR
Binding - Once in contact roll vs ST to break free.
Rust - Contact agent, Metal only, 1d against the objects HP. Every 5 points reduces metal DR by 1
Traits:
Homogeneous, diffuse, fragile (unnatural), chameleon 2, detect metal
Skill:

Notes:
Some reeks can climb and will fall onto victims from above.


Reek, trip
ST
-
HP
15
Speed
1 Class slime
DX:
-
Will:
-
Move:
1 Source Fantasy Bestiary p 58
IQ:
-
Per :


SM:
var

HT:
5
FP:


DR:
-

Dodge:
0
Parry:




Melee Level Damage
Contact - 1 point per turn in contact, DR protects for turns = to DR
Binding - Once in contact roll vs ST to break free.
Slime

ht-3 Affliction DX-1, Area of effect 4 yards, disadvantage total Klutz, only when victim is touching ground, persistent
Traits:
Homogeneous, diffuse, fragile (unnatural), chameleon 2,
Skill:

Notes:
Some reeks can climb and will fall onto victims from above.


Reek, Manna damper
ST
-
HP
15
Speed
1 Class slime
DX:
-
Will:
-
Move:
1 Source Fantasy Bestiary p 58
IQ:
-
Per :


SM:
var

HT:
5
FP:


DR:
-

Dodge:
0
Parry:




Melee Level Damage
Contact - 1 point per turn in contact, DR protects for turns = to DR
Binding - Once in contact roll vs ST to break free.
Traits:
Homogeneous, diffuse, fragile (unnatural), chameleon 2, Mana damper 3, area of effect 4 hexes, emanation
Skill:

Notes:
Some reeks can climb and will fall onto victims from above.

Reek, Mana Enhancer
ST
-
HP
15
Speed
1 Class slime
DX:
-
Will:
-
Move:
1 Source Fantasy Bestiary p 58
IQ:
-
Per :


SM:
var

HT:
5
FP:


DR:
-

Dodge:
0
Parry:




Melee Level Damage
Contact - 1 point per turn in contact, DR protects for turns = to DR
Binding - Once in contact roll vs ST to break free.
Wild magic HT-6 Affliction, reduced IQ -10 only for spell casting.
Traits:
Homogeneous, diffuse, fragile (unnatural), chameleon 2, Mana enhancer 2 levels
Skill:

Notes:
Some reeks can climb and will fall onto victims from above

Monday, November 25, 2013

Rumor mill

One aspect of +Peter V. Dell'Orto's Dungeon Fantastic game that intrigued me was the rumors that characters could get in town before heading off to the dungeon.  I contacted Peter about how he built his rumor chart, and then took the idea and made it my own.

Characters wanting to check for rumors will have to make a skill check against Streetwise, or Savoir-Faire. For bonuses (or penalties) to this roll players my also first opt to roll vs Carousing, sex appeal, intimidation or other applicable social skills. The margin of success or failure will determine the penalty or bonus to the Streetwise or Savoir-Faire check.

My rumor chart has 36 entries.  Players will roll a d6,d6. Which in GURPS parlance will be to roll one d6 and use it for the first digit, then roll a second d6 and use it for the second digit.

Filling in the chart was a lot of fun. There were several things I knew I wanted to be on the chart. This filled up about a third of the grid. For a bit of help filling in the rest, I went to donjon. Using the random Inn generator, I was able to get some pretty neat ideas. Not all of the rumors on the chart are true. Many of them are false, some have a grain of truth in them, and others are mostly true.
.
Once a rumor has been shared, it will be crossed off the chart and a new entry made. I will restock the chart between sessions. Some of the rumors will be completely new, others will build off of things that the players latch on to in game play.

I am looking forward to the players hearing the rumors, and seeing how it will affect the dungeon once everything is in motion.

Prep up date: Not much got done over the weekend. I didn't have time to get anything down on paper, but was able to mull some things over in my head. Hopefully that will allow me to get more done over the next couple of days.



Thursday, November 21, 2013

Sharing a Monster and a Trap

Today I am sharing some of the fruits of my prep work labors.  First is a creature I converted from 3rd Edition GURPS Fantasy Bestiary.  Second is a trap I created using the generator published in Pyramid Magazine 3/60 Oct '13.

My version of the:
Cerastes (Horned Serpent)
ST
16
HP
16
Speed
7
Class
Animal
DX:
14
Will:
10
Move:
7
Source
Fantasy Bestiary p. 16
IQ:
4
Per :
14
SM:
1

HT:
14
FP:
14
DR:
2

Dodge:
12
Parry:
10

Melee
Level
Damage
Blunt Horns
14
1d+2 cr
Bite
14
1d-3 imp, Armor piercing (5)
Poison
HT-6
2d tox, irritant (Nauseated), Follow up to Bite
Traits:
360 vision, Double-jointed, Combat Reflexes, Legless(slithers), terrain adaptation (sand), Vibration sense,
Skill:
Stealth 14, Brawling 14
Notes:
Cerastes are skilled ambushers, hiding in loose soil, they attract prey with horns shaped like edible morsels to small animals (Familiars) that are displayed above the soil.



I rolled up this trap randomly, but it came out very useful.
Sleep Gas
Type: Alchemical
Detect: PER based Alchemy, HAZMAT (magical) -0
Disarm: Alchemy, HAZMAT (magical) -0
Circumvent: Avoid area, hold breath in area
Evade: Vision-2 to avoid area (modified by light levels)
Effects: Sleep, Causes living beings to roll HT-4 or sleep for 16-HR hours
Shots: 11 shots , fumes (2 yrd radius)
Rearm: No, the trap automatically resets
Steal: Fumes may be gathered in an air tight container, creating a Sleep grenade if the container is broken.

I already have a place for each of these in the dungeon. I will refrain from warning my players where each of them will be located.

I may make this into an ongoing series if it is well received.