A Thread For Random RPG Musings

[tkdguy]

I'm going to stat out some LOTRO NPCs for a BFRPG game. These will be Bregdal (Human fighter), Brethilor (Elf healer), Bori (Dwarf fighter) and Bingo Boffin (Hobbit rogue). Since their names all begin with the letter B, they shall be known as The B-listers.

 

On a different note:

 

 

[Ninja-Bear]

On 5/28/2024 at 8:47 AM, Cygnia said:

*chooses the horse*

No, horses are more expensive than Warhammer 40k!

[Cygnia]

1 hour ago, Ninja-Bear said:

No, horses are more expensive than Warhammer 40k!

*chooses the whisky*

[Old Man]

2 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

No, horses are more expensive than Warhammer 40k!

 

Are they, though?

[Ninja-Bear]

10 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

Are they, though?

I don’t want to find out! 😂

[Ninja-Bear]

Who knew that kobolds became nasty in DnD 5e? Pack Tactics are powerful!

[Cygnia]

If I recall correctly, Tucker's Kobolds were a Thing even before 5e

[Doc Democracy]

On 6/3/2024 at 2:38 AM, Ninja-Bear said:

Who knew that kobolds became nasty in DnD 5e? Pack Tactics are powerful!

 

One of my friends in our 2nd Edition AD&D game had achieved a 12th level Lord (fighter) and decided to go adventuring on his own.  He was arrogant in his abilities and went into the badlands where he was lured into a prepared ambush where is warhorse was a liability and his movement restricted.  Many kobolds died as they shot and grappled with him to the point that he was eventually hogtied and unable to move.  The last thing he saw was a kobold chieftain who took off his helmet and brought a club down on his head.

 

He woke up in the badlands with few hitpoints and all his magic stripped from him. 

 

The next six months of gaming was about him getting the old team together to go dig out an emboldened kobold tribe that had traded his VERY fancy magic items for low level magic daggers and arrows with some bought-in magical defences. being outnumbered and swarmed by kobolds willing to grapple and die to create advantage for their fellows was there even in 2nd edition.  I will bet it is much easier to do in 5th but I gave my players a healthy fear of going anywhere they were outnumbered unless they had properly planned an escape route.

[tkdguy]

Need adventure hooks? Look at historical events for inspiration.

 

 

[Ninja-Bear]

On 6/3/2024 at 10:55 AM, Cygnia said:

If I recall correctly, Tucker's Kobolds were a Thing even before 5e

Yeah but it’s the rolling with Advantage now that was the killer! I was rolling and hitting AC 19 several times. Here too Finesse weapons are nasty. short sword you have a +4 to hit and+2 to Damage due to DEX whereas a Mace has a -2 to Damage due to STR.

[Ragitsu]

If a village has a cemetery, it has a dungeon.

If a village doesn't have a cemetery, there is an adventure.

[Cygnia]

 

[GDShore]

SO, Kobolds in extremis aren't so bad so long as you have the staff of "Kobldic Overkill" a staff that delivers 5000 points of damage to any Kobo;d it hits, can be used in a sweep (more than one kobold hit) and only delivers 1 point of damage to any other creature, being or automaton struk by it and once claimed can not be dropped, given away, sold or lost. Also will not let you use any other melee weapon, or any ranged weapon once in melee range no matter what you are facing or how many.

[Ragitsu]

This dwarven mineral water is the finest in the kingdom; you will be hard-pressed to find a natural tonic so fortifying. Be wary, however: most other races say the experience is nearly akin to imbibing watery sediment.

[tkdguy]

 

[Ragitsu]

"Bilbo found his courage in that cave."

 

"...but he couldn't gain a level in Fighter until the Company reached Lake-Town. Come now: we have standards."

[tkdguy]

A couple of YouTubers are doing a solo rpg challenge without a game system; only an oracle is used. I remembered an old "fortune telling" game I played in school and adapted it for solo rpg. It's still a work in progress and has a few limitations, but it's pretty flexible overall.

 

Oracle: Standard 52-card deck

Choose 2 suits to represent a positive answer, while the other 2 represent a negative answer. The value of the card doesn't matter.

 

Determine a scenario and ask a series of questions. Word the question in a way that you want a favorable outcome.

 

Draw 3 cards to determine the outcome. Interpret the cards.

3 negatives: extreme no (added complication)

2 negatives, 1 positive: simple no; may have a mitigating factor

2 positives, 1 negative: simple yes (may be a partial success)

3 positives: extreme yes (full success and/or added benefit)

 

Example: You're driving down the freeway to the office. Do you get there in time?

Extreme No: You're late and still stuck in traffic.

Simple No: You were late to work.

Simple Yes: You made it in time.

Extreme Yes: You got there ahead of schedule.

 

Interpret the outcome. Why are you stuck in traffic? Was there an accident, or is traffic particularly bad today? You decide.

 

One outcome can lead to a different scenario. Maybe you decide to take a detour to avoid traffic. Are you familiar with the area? Do you avoid getting lost? Is the area you're in safe?

 

You can also use partial results or some complication for more granularity, especially if extreme results are not applicable. Let's say a group of pixies have invaded your home and are constantly playing pranks on you. You try to get them to return to their dimension. Will they cooperate?

 

Extreme No: The pixies will stay and continue to bother you.

Simple No: The pixies won't leave, but they'll stop playing pranks on you.

Simple Yes: The pixies will leave, but only if you give them something valuable.

Extreme Yes: The pixies return to their dimension.

[tkdguy]

I've been playtesting my oracle system in a series of solo games. While I set a couple of games in the real world, I'm currently playing a portal fantasy (basically Stargate without the military trappings). Reducing the game to a series of yes/no questions makes for a quick game, but there's not a lot of flavor. It's very flexible, but I am struggling to figure out how to personalize characters. If there are two or more characters, how do I differentiate them? How can I make their skills relevant? I'm still working out the details.

 

My plot generator comes from a Castle Falkenstein supplement (Comme Il Faut). It provides the skeleton for the adventure, but I have to flesh out the details myself.

Edited June 28 by tkdguy

[Doc Democracy]

Well, the card system is fine.  Like you say, it can result in difficulties of making skills relevant.  However a deck of cards has several elements you can lean on beyond red and black, your skill system might lean on the other things.

 

If you have a speciality, you might critical on diamonds, or hearts.  If you have skills then black face cards might also be successes for you.

 

Something like that?

[tkdguy]

That works. I was also considering that a character with a skill/specialty could either redraw one card or mitigate the result by one. So someone with a diplomacy skill could use one of those options when interacting with NPCs.

 

This is how a fight would work in the system I'm using. I ask if I win the fight then draw 3 cards.

Extreme no: I lost and am badly hurt.

Simple no: I lost but only have a few bruises.

Simple yes: I managed to fight off my attacker.

Extreme yes: I beat my opponent to a pulp.

 

It's a quick resolution that works well for games that are not focused on combat. But I see how it can can leave players unsatisfied if they like detailed combat. So I looked for other options.

 

I was playing a modified version of the Castle Falkenstein Duelling System earlier. Instead of each side choosing 2 cards, I just drew them randomly for each combatant. If I had run the combat normally, one character would have died after a few passes. But since I was playing a Highlander scenario, I included regeneration, so the fight took a long time. Having only 6 cards per side meant constant reshuffling, which added to the play time. So I just modified the rules.

 

Use 2 full decks of cards (jokers optional, but both decks must have them if used). This will speed things up just a little bit by having to avoid reshuffling your cards every round.

 

Each duellist draws 2 cards. Red cards are attacks. Black cards are defenses. Face cards (and jokers) are feints/rests. A defense cancels an opposing attack, but a feint/rest does not. If both parties draw 2 attack cards, both are wounded.

 

If one attack gets through, the defender suffers a light wound.

If two attacks get through, the defender suffers a moderate wound.

 

Wounds are cumulative. If a character already having a moderate wound gets another injury, he is severely injured. Taking any more injuries result in death.

 

Highlander Option: Immortals can regenerate one wound level at the end of the following round. An immortal who has a light wound can be fully healed at the end of the next round if he avoids injury altogether. Otherwise he keeps the light wound if he receives another blow or gets a moderate wound if he receives two blows (a mortal would have a severe wound at this time). However, regeneration does not take effect until the end of the round, so a moderately wounder Immortal will be killed if he takes another two wounds the next round.

[Ragitsu]

If I hear "realism", I cock an eyebrow; if I hear "relatability", I run for the hills.

[dmjalund]

i prefer "verisimilitude"

[L. Marcus]

With us, it's more very-silly-mitude, what with all the Monty Python quotes.

[Ragitsu]

1 hour ago, dmjalund said:

i prefer "verisimilitude"

 

"Realism" is - in my experience - either an excuse to justify excessive bookkeeping or characters inordinately focused on petty drama. "Relatability" in a fantasy context results in characters who look, sound and/or feel very contemporary....or they may simply be utter jackasses.

[Ragitsu]

I recently picked up another window into the past...

 

Spoiler

 

Have any of you used this supplement? Even if you never play Basic D&D, it is still worth a look; the sheer density of detail between its covers is incredible.