Joy Ride - Let's All Play

I think this is worth adding here:-

Greetings, Great Ones!

And a happy shortest day to you all!

I'm bored. Not getting enough email to keep me entertained. So let's start another game on Trollhalla. :)

I recently received Khaghbbooomm's mega-solo adventure: JOY RIDE. It's a hoot, and very funny. IMHO, Khagh has done a better job on this adventure than he did with A WIZARD WENT A WOONG, and that is quite a feat.

So, let's play through it together. Here's how it's going to work. Our hero is going to make all the saving rolls and win all the fights, and you players are going to make all the choices by plurality vote. And we're gonna play as quickly as I can manage to write up each segment and send it out. I check my email frequently. If I have more than 7 votes received when I check it, I will tally the result, write up the next segment, and post it for the next vote. If your vote doesn't arrive in time to be counted, then it doesn't count, and you get no tvp--you missed the boat. The amount of tvp awarded each time will depend on the number of votes received. For example: if I get 9 votes on the first segment, then the first vote will be worth 9000 tvp and the last will be worth 1000 tvp. In addition, each player who votes with the winning section will get 1 Correctness Point, and the player who gets the most Correctness points for the whole game will be declared the actual winner, and may get a special prize from me when it's over.

I'll also write up the whole thing and post it in a blog for the world to marvel at when we're done.

In case of ties, I will vote to break the tie. Otherwise I will not vote, thus, I will get a Correctness point each time I vote. Another challenge to you will be to get more correctness points than the Trollgod.

For your vote to count, you must, Must, MUST sign your trollish name in the letter. If Mark Thornton votes, and signs as Mark, I will ignore it. I won't even remind him. I'll just ignore that vote.

So, this is as easy a way to get tvp as there is. Simply answer these letters when you get them and choose one of the alternatives offered. As a cooperative game, the more people who participate, the better everyone will do.

Got it? Good!
I'm eager to get started, so here we go:

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Chapter One: A Night in the Town

Our hero (name yet to be determined) has entered Caerthaeph't, a city of cruel watchmen, cutthroats, and small-minded bullies. There are some good folk there but they tend to keep to themselves and stay behind locked doors, certainly after dark. (Let us consider our hero's mode of transport. (1) Did he/she arrive in a flash carriage pulled by a team of white purebred stallions, driven by a stylishly tailored coachman? or (2) did he/she plod along on a sledge on runners pulled by a faithful old donkey? or (3) did he/she come through the city gates carried piggyback by a Spirit-Mastered peasant, wheezing along on crutches, and close to cardiac arrest under the weight?

(Please choose option 1, 2, or 3. Remember speed counts. For extra credit: I'm inclined to let one of the first responders in this game be the titular character, so for even more extra credit, pick a number between 1 and 10, the number that gets the most votes will determine which of you gets to be the title character. If you think that's a bad idea, say so. If you don't want to be the title character, also say so.

Okay, get those votes in. I'll be checking my email again in a couple of hours.) My guess is we can do 3 or 4 turns per day this way, and keep the narrative moving right along.

H'aaarrrggghhh!
Khenn Arrth

My Map of Sukandar (for Stefan Jones' not-yet-published solo, "Down and Out"

Wizard Went A-Wooing

I wanted to tell you more about this none-too-small solo but my friend Chet had already done the job:

A Wizard Wuns Thwough It

 A Wizard Went a-Wooing 

by Mark Thornton, a volume of adventure, solitaire and otherwise, for Tunnels & Trolls.

This isn't just a book. This isn't even just a solo adventure! No - THIS is the beginning of a hernia. Your mail person will hate you.

It's huge not only in size and weight, but in scope. The adventure is actually multiple adventures, which can - oddly enough - be played simultaneously or in sequence -- and with one or more characters each time.

You've read the synopsis, so you know the basic plot. It's right there in the title. We never really know why your character decides to risk his or her life to become the mate of one of the queens of various "levels" of a human/bee hybrid species. (I'd love to see the best backstories that players/readers will undoubtedly invent!)

It would help a lot if you have the Tunnels & Trolls rules (cheap at any price, but usually Darned Inexpensive) any edition. And it would help you a bit further if you hung around in Trollhalla http://www.trollhalla.com/ where players, writers, and artists of TnT (as we like to call it) have far too much fun and spend far too much time to have a real life. There, you would pick up on hints and tropes which can save your character's life or dignity. But probably not both.

This is so adaptable that Khenn himself (the creator and ever-trollish Trollgod of Tunnels & Trolls as well as Monsters! Monsters!) ran this as a play-by-post game with a dozen or so players.

Let us not neglect the useful, delightful, and rather fun/goofy illustrations by Stanley Ditko, who is rapidly becoming a pillar of art in the fantasy culture. (He MUST get lots of jokes about being the cloned child of Spider-Man's two fathers!) Some of his art in this book is better than other pieces, but you'll enjoy watching his work grow in maturity and expression. Soon, we'll be saying we knew him when.

For twenty bucks, you get probably months of adventure for yourself, scenarios you can use on your players (heh heh heh!) and a chance to give your mailman a heart attack. Do not believe Lulu's claim that the book is only 2.06 pounds! I'm pretty sure that Mark translated incorrectly from that fantasy metric stuff.

And beware the snot monster!

*jeep! & God Bless!
 ----Grandpa Chet

A Wizard Went a-Wooing by Mark Thornton is $20 + much postage from  LuLu, the Other Tunnel & Trolls printer

Sneak Preview

Here's the cover of the solo I'm working on now....

The End Of Noah

Noah wasn't very interested in his sons but he did offer them a place on his ark if they helped out. As the great ship grew near to readiness, he had the boys either help him with the last few refinements to the ark of to look after the cooking and the animals on the farm. Shem and Jaepeth preferred house and farm work but Ham wanted to try his hand helping out his irrascible old dad.

Trouble was, he was such a clutz... Noah got pretty riled by the things Ham broke and cursed and cuffed him. The climax came that night at supper when Ham dropped a bowl of hot broth in Noah's lap. The old man was tired after a day's hammering and screwing and he leaped upon Ham.

Ham fought back and in the stress of the battle, he went 'were'. So did his brothers. Suddenly a were-pig, a were-wolf and a were-lion were laying into the boat builder and patricide descended into were-cannibalism as the brothers gave way to rage, hunger and cleared away the evidence.

They were nearly finished when there was  a knock at the door...

The Sons of Noah

While in Spain, we developed a campaign involving the three sons of Noah (Ham, Shem and Jaepeth). The starting point was Noah needing help finishing the ark because he knew a flood was coming. The twist was that the three boys were were-creatures: a pig, a wolf and a lion respectively).

We rolled for attributes as they were needed - Ham was very clumsy, Shem was stupid and totally devoid of charisma and Jaepeth was very slow. They turned out to have complementary skills and could make up for each others' weaknesses if they worked together but none of them were very lucky (it was tough to make a L1 SR). Swimming would come into it a lot predictably.

I shall write a little on how the game evolved tomorrow...

Joy Ride at Lulu

Here it is - in time for Christmas!

330 game paragraphs, I think, and a cast of dodgy characters borrowed from peculiar points of fiction... Watch out for those passing Wizard-Gods!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-thornton/joy-ride/paperback/product-21325772.html

Those Dice, Those Damned Dice

OK, probability. Or improbability more like.

Let's start with the odds of rolling a critical fumble - one in eighteen.

Charlie sent a fresh character into a solo and got turned into a vampire (well, got bitten by a vampire and decided this would be the consequence rather than death).

The new character, a woman named Glestregal, somehow got hooked up with a serious bunch set on taking out Andy Holmers' Liche Lord.

This vampire got sent out on patrol, rolled 1 on the encounter dice to get an encounter, then a 6 which determined the size (big: an ogre). 

Question1: Did she spot the ogre? Required: L1 SR on INT/LK. Result: Critical fumble. Consequence:: Grabbed by ogre and carried off.

Decides to bide time and bite ogre....

Question 2: Could she pull it off (the ogre was no dummy and alert to escape tricks - he rolled 14 for INT). Required: L2 SR on INT/DEX. Result: Critical fumble. Consequence: Ogre whacks her to knock her out.

Question 3: How much damage did the ogre do? Required: L1 SR on LK. Result: Critical fumble. Consequence:: Neck broken by ogre, body dumped in bushes (good news as vampires regenerate).

Question 4: Will other patrol members find her body? Required: L1 SR on LK. Result: Critical fumble. Consequence: Body will not be found for a number of days.

How long will this take? 6 on 1d6 indicates 3 days; how big will creatures finding the corpse be? - roll of 3 indicates not big: foxes. Outcome - body consumed, bones picked clean.

Now that woman rolled four (FOUR) critical fumbles in succession - the odds of that happening, you ask?

1 in 104,976.

Don't wait up to see that again!

PS The next time she went out on patrol she again rolled 1,2 and got set upon by 5 goblins who captured and ransomed her....

Youth attributes

I'm thinking that WIZ/INT, LK, CON and CHR could be 3d6 but STR, DEX and SPD?

There must be an advantage to reaching maturity...

Seems like a cap would be worth considering or maybe d4 instead of d6?

Cherries

I'm currently working on a solo 'Two Bites at the Cherries'. The basic concept is that a mean old man has a big old cherry tree behind a walled garden and a new boy in the neighbourhood is egged on by his peers to go for the cherries. I'll put the cover up soon.

I'm having a go at writing this solo without a flowchart - it is already up to 300 paragraphs and I think I'm getting all the links right first time...

What would you use as attribute modifiers for a human boy, aged about 12?

Judging Books By Their Covers

I love Lulu!

A Wizard Went A-Wooing released at Lulu

A Wizard Went A -Wooing

By Mark Thornton

Paperback, 572 Pages

Preview

Price: $20.00

Ships in 3-5 business days

An epic novel/game in which you can either play different wizards adventuring in the mythical Jungles of Phantog, seeking a bride or advance the same character through all six adventures. Learn about the mysterious Kraken Continent, Khaghtch'an, and experience a vast range of challenges and spells. Filled with new artwork and much humour as well as intense gaming. 

 

 

 http://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-thornton/a-wizard-went-a-wooing/paperback/product-21271227.html

 

Over 550 pages, 700 adventure paragraphs, more than 100,00 words, pre-generated characters, 6 epics to play - or try to go all the way from L2 mastery to L13.

 

The work for a lunchtime :)

How Long Does It Take To cast A Spell?

Just been reading an old UK T&T publication (by Chris Harvey) cataloguing lots of house rules - very interesting. I got temporarily hooked on his idea of spells taking a certain number of seconds to cast (in line with the WIZ expended). He was using 15 second combat rounds.

Didn't much like the idea of a L3 wizard with a focus casting 15 TTYFs in one round though!

Thought about each spell having its own casting time with reductions for higher level wizards casting lower level spells then remembered a) it's T&T and it's meant to be simple and b0 there's a universal GM fiat.

Curses - Time for Some New Magic

I'm developing a curse magic for a new solo, based on the Caves of Nerja I recently visited and photographed. There will be curses, jinxes and hexes being bad and hoodoos being good. They work in different ways and are based on the average of WIZ, LK and CHR with a character needing to roll 15 or better at creation on all three to be able to practise curse magic (maybe WIcka or WIC).

Pub Dominance

This is a very easy game to play. All you need is a bar, money for drinks, 2d6 and some friends.

All players tap their palms down on the table three times in an agreed rhythm then they immediately thrust out a finger, thumb or fist. Anyone who is not 'there' with the others is deemed to be asleep and takes no action that round.

What do the fingers, etc signify? You must agree that in advance. We started with index finger = attack, middle = build, ring = defend someone, pinkie = party. Then we added thumb = hunt, fist = earthquake stamp, palm up = make love not war.

What do you do? An attacker attacks a builder - 2d6 DARO each, winner takes a point; if there's a defender, the defender steps in and if the attacker wins the building is trashed. We decided a hunter has to roll doubles to catch something with 1d6 indicating the size - no one could attack a hunter.

We awarded 2 points for a successful hunt or party and 1 point for a successful attack, defend or build. If you beat someone with the peace tactic you got their points next time they scored as well as your own.

As soon as we got bored, we either replaced or added. If something wasn't being used or was too effective we replaced.

Someone has to keep score so you need a sober, responsible member of the group.

When does the game end? When someone buys a round - either because all glasses are empty and it's someone's turn or when someone is losing, gives up and chooses to buy a round to start a new game. Or whatever...

If people at other tables want to join in, they must buy a round.

Salut!

One More for the Road

Obvious but -

INT and SPD - quick-wittedness, speed of thought

Another Attribute Combination

Here's one I used ina game yesterday when a doctor needed to assess a disease he hadn't encountered before - intuition, a combination of INT and LK.

The good doctor Eddiwood Banana-Quicksand rolled a critical fumble and when he asked his colleague, Dr. Besson Killso, to take  a look at his notes to see if he could figure it out Dr. Killso also rolled the dreaded 1-2 combination. The village of Wiplow had no reason for hop e now...

Combined Atributes = Other Abilities Table

ATTRIBUTES	ABILITY
STR and CON	Speed of recovery; endurance
INT and DEX	Stealth
INT and CHR	Leadership; persuasion
DEX and SPD	Attacking stunts; martial arts
STR and SPD	Sprinting
INT, CON and CHR	Willpower/determination
STR, DEX and SPD	Wrestling

Got any suggestions?

The Kraken is a Rum Beast

Another Winning Combination

I got some good feedback yesterday on multi-combinations but that can come later.

Today sees INT spliced with DEX. And what comes out of the hat? Stealth...could still be a talent but base it on the average of INT and DEX.

The reasoning goes like this: just because your smart doesn't mean you'll make a good sneak; just because you're a good archer doesn't mean you can slip past the guards. You are more likely to do the stealthy, sneaky undetectable stuff if you use your head and you do it without physical mishap.

No need for a separate attribute.

Back to Weebo and Whacker.

They need to see who will recover most quickly - Weebo from casting his TTYF, Whacker from geeting fried by it.

Now it's dice time. Weebo's STR and CON average is 10; Whacker's average based on his current CON is 9. Weebo rolls 2,6, Whacker rolls 1,1,1,4 (both fail so we roll again). Weebo fails again but this time Whacker rolls 1,2 - critical fumble! The effort of trying to recover from being blasted with the threat of a wizard with a knife on his way to finish the job is just too much - the unfortunate Whacker Warner passes out with barely a whimper. Weebo teeters over on unsteady feet and his blade completes the job his spell-casting started.

Chalk one up to the wizard fraternity.

The Wizard versus the Warrior

So, back to the arena after a brief encounter with a Portrait of the Writer as a Young Man (always employ an artist who will shave off years and is blind to defects).

The wizard easily has enough WIZ to TTYF the warrior but not enough INT for the spell to take him out - Weebo has INT 14 while Whacker Warner has CON 17.

Whacker is hurled backwards and sinks to his knees, barely conscious. Maybe he needs to make a SR on STR to stay with the plot? If so his STR of 15 will probably pull his fat from the fire.

What will Weebo do now? Not enough WIZ left for another TTYF and he knows Hold That Pose and Oh Go Away are banned by the Arena on pain of painful death...anyhow, he's just exerted himself mentally and can't do much until he recovers...rushing up to Whacker and running his ponard across his throat would seem a good move but can he do that?

Would Whacker really just sprawl there helplessly?

Seems to be we need a Recovery Time attribute to sort this fine mess out...

Not another attribute, surely? If you stop calling me Shirley, I will agree with you.

So - we combine STR and CON, taking the average and get to make SR on recovery time for them both.

Whacker would normally win but his CON is down to 3 - his average is 9 and it's not going to be easy to recover quickly enough now...but not impossible with DARO in play.

As for Weebo, STR and CON are not things he's nourished as a wizard. He has a reasonable 10 for both. A slight advantage (not that he can calculate this) and so he might get in with the knife before Whacker can clunk him with his studded bludgeon.

Tomorrow, I shall roll the dice to resolve this little spat and consider the combination of other attributes.

Hard at Work

The blind leading the blind might be appropriate....

Blended Attributes

Long time no post! I´ve been enyoying the Mission in San Francisco and now Madrid in Spain.

We´ve been playing an arena game where you get 50GPs and 100APs for a win plus a boost on either STR, CON, DEX or SPD (found at random then 1-4 means plus 1 5-6 means plus 2). The arena gives the potions to boost these attributes because the fights get tougher and they want good action. No more potions after 10 wins. You can buy a 1d6 healing potion for 10GPs.

More of that later.

(Pause for Madrid demonstration against bank fraud passing by window of hotel.)

We were considering adding wizards and thought wizard v wizard would be too dull(quick). Warrior v wizard? We decided that would come down to recovery time if a well matched wizard zapped a tough warrior and didn´t kill him. Say, INT 14 zap on CON 18 with insufficent WIZ for a second TTYF.

Could the wizard step forward and slit the warriors throat with his poniard?

Thoughts posted here welcome....

More tomorrow.

Offensive Material

I got a depressing sense of deja vu at the thought of the US bombing Syria. My Republican in-laws say 'Someone's got to do it.' I don't agree - not that I think the plight of people in Syria is acceptable and not that I have a clever solution to offer.

Anyhow, the thought of another occupation had my scribbling out a T&T style satire on the subject. It was fun and therapeutic to write but after publishing it here yesterday it occurred that some I would rather not offend might be offended by it. Would I if I were American? I don't think so. Would I if I were an American Republican? Quite possibly.

I suppose I'm too old now to wish to gratuitously offend and I no longer think I can or have the right to change someone else's mind.

So I deleted the thing.

Thoughts welcomed...

Fang's Marching Song

Fang the Delectable is with the Fellowship of the Vine (see the Outer Sanctum) deep within a swamp on the trail of child kidnappers and murderers. He has just survived an encounter with a very large snapping turtle and his companions have found out that he has a sensitive nose and is prone to fainting at the sight of his own blood!

Here is his marching song:

Fang started muttering under his breath and the muttering grew louder until it became a chant as he ploughed on towards the meeting with the kidnappers. He chanted rhythmically, feet moving in time with the beat:

Marching's never fun
(Yomp, yomp, yomp)
Under Trollworld's sun
(Yomp, yomp, yomp)
Dangers lie in wait
(All about the swamp)
Dice control our fate
(All about the swamp)
Head towards foe
(Big Chomp's let us go)
Heroes onwards go!
(Big Chomp's let us go!)

Joy Ride - Work in Progress

Takes a fair bit of organisation not to lose the plot -

Jailbait - Hero For Hire Released

Here is the link to Drive Thru:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/118336/Jailbait---Hero-For-Hire

And here is the cover:

The Clue Has Been Solved! Carthage Is The Answer

My reply to Grandmaster Branderwydd:

 

 

Brilliant! I have chosen to spell it 'Caerthaeph't but you are spot on!

I am happy to give you a copy as soon as it is finished plus any one other Khaghbboommm Press pdf (either from what is available at DriveThru or from the up and coming list I can send you).

I am maybe 2/3 through writing 'Joy Ride' and if you like I am happy to write into it one, two or even three ideas of yours for NPCs.

Well done,

Mark/Khaghbboommm

What's In a Name

This knee jerk reaction solo arising from the theft of my car is growing up fast - I suppose it will be 200 or so paragraphs.

The perfect name came to me - a pun on an ancient city, now a ruin.

There is a prize for the first person to name that city.

(Not saying what yet!)

New Releases

Just to say -

- Charlie's Jailbait will be ready for release in the next few days 

and

- my mini solo 'Joy Ride', inspired by the theft of my car last Friday, will be out at the same time as a free offering

and

- we have a 3d6, 9 attribute game 'Robo Wars' coming out soon - you design a robot and battle someone else's design with the possibility of taking on the house robots if you gain enough scalps and don't get swept into the robo-trash

We are play-testing Trrrommm's Little Red and Big Red and also playing Saving Fang.

Hope the sun is shining down your way, folks.

What's Next?

I have finished my trilogy - 2 solos and a novel. all about 100,000 words; Charlie has finished Jailbait.

I have another solo in mind, this one called 'Five Card Frank and the Fairy', based around rescuing sacrifice victims and not getting sacrificed yourself but I only want to write that as a 'distraction'.

What I want to do next is write a novel retelling the various Oedipus myths. I have a clearing view of the 20 main characters, I have the beginning and the end in view so all I need is a rough map of how you get from A-Z and I shall be away.

'The Labours of Herakles' GM adventure I released on DriveThru at the start of this month must have sparked this next project. I did Ancient Greek at school and one of our 'A' Level set books was Sophocles' 'Oedipus Tyrannus' - A nostalgia trip down Memory Lane then without detentions looming for not doing homework!

Ah, if Mr Bird, Mr Hargreaves and Mr Chambers could see me now...

Obscured By Clouds

The editing slog is over! I have completed my second trawl through the text and think it is cohesive. Pulling together the random posts of the the players was a challenge but I can see it is all so much richer for having others' voices for a number of characters.

Anyhow, the release is a little way of but here is the cover of the novel:

The Outer Sanctum

Fang is in the thick of it, fighting zombies it a house where atrocities have been committed.

Take a look over at http://trollhalla.com/outer-sanctum/members/forum/#cid=4,tid=4809 - why not take a character and join in? It's not a big commitment as the GMs are adept at keeping things moving - it's not every day you get the chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with an original hero!

Fang the Delectable and the Fellowship of the Vine

I don't think Fang ever became a superstar but he's a solid adventurer.

STR - 19

WIZ - 15

INT - 16

LK - 25

CON - 20

DEX - 18

CHR - 27

SPD - 14

ADDS - +28

He is L2 and his talents are: 1) winning people over (+6 on CHR) and 2) getting out of scrapes deus ex machina +6 on LK

He has, over the years, had many magic items but has lost them all or given them away and is down to mail armour, a sabre, a kukri and a set of shurikins.

He never married - he never had time.

First Aid Talent - Healing Costs WIZ

We are experimenting with a healing talent at the moment. It grew out of so many pcs taking a first aid talent, with the question of what that actually brings with it.

The way we are playing it is as follows –

1.       It is magical and powered by WIZ  
2.       It is not available to wizards or magic-using rogues 
3.       It heals 1 point of CON per level of saving roll made 
4.       APs on the saving roll are limited to twice dice roll (to keep on a par with Poor Baby) 
5.       The healer expends I point of WIZ for each point of Con restored 
6.       WIZ is recovered just as for magic users 
7.       The pc must specify the limit to the healing he/she will do before they attempt the healing or they     risk death if WIZ goes to zero or below (INT or LK SR could be given at GM’s discretion)
 8.       To take the talent, at the time of asking the pc must make a L1 SR on WIZ 
9.       The talent can only be based on the WIZ attribute
10   The talent will not be bestowed on a pc above L1 ( so the pc can elect not to take a talent at the outset and wait to increase WIZ after gaining and spending APs so long as no relevant attribute passes 19)