It was with considerable sadness that I today read on one the game's great characters, Mensa the Dwarf, getting smarter. Mensa has always been lovably dumb.
Charlie has a warrior whose INT once fell to 3. That was fun. He once went to the bathroom and tried to clean his teeth with his sword. There was a joke too: why did Grawp walk through the window? A: Because he didn't understand doors. Then he got an INT boost and has never looked back. Bit of a shame though...
Be true to thyself, Mensa!
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Good Old Luck
As the game has developed over many years - and how fortunate we all are that there have been decades of considered development, always presented as options for GMs and players, via the 'house rule' admonition - the once ubiquitous luck saving roll has been replaced more and more with the precision saving roll: strength for this, dexterity for that, speed for some stunt, intelligence to demonstrate awareness, charisma to persuade or resist persuasion.
All very good but don't forget luck. Many situations may not result in a clear cut outcome even when one party makes a particular saving roll. Adding a luck roll into the mix - not always, use it judiciously with an eye to fun and quick-fired play - keeps things fresh and players on their toes.
Maybe the npc might get a lucky break, maybe the monster might do the unexpected or maybe there is a chance of lightning striking twice.
As the Trollgod is so fond of saying, it is better to be lucky than to be good!
All very good but don't forget luck. Many situations may not result in a clear cut outcome even when one party makes a particular saving roll. Adding a luck roll into the mix - not always, use it judiciously with an eye to fun and quick-fired play - keeps things fresh and players on their toes.
Maybe the npc might get a lucky break, maybe the monster might do the unexpected or maybe there is a chance of lightning striking twice.
As the Trollgod is so fond of saying, it is better to be lucky than to be good!
Friday, March 8, 2013
Making a Book
I have had a very demanding week but I have survived and I'm not going to tell you about it because I have no wish to re-live again so soon and I am sure you have your won busy lives to lead...
However!
When I got home last night, there was a Lulu parcel waiting for me. Inside was Andy Holme's Liche-Lord GM adventure (another post about that soon!) and...
My first ever printed book :)
It looks soooo good. The awesome Jeff Freels' cover is a delight and the internal art shows up well.
It took a lot of work, not least because I had no idea of anything other than the writing when I started out on the project as a 5.5 T&T solo back in 2011 and made the mistake of writing it as an Excel spreadsheet.
It got ground out as 7.5, it had a second (evil) way of playing it added with 28 champions to take on in single combat (a combination for each pairing of the 8 attributes) and then I added a GM section.
I got help with play-testing, I got help with formatting, I got given art and still it was so hard to turn in to a book that I gave up on Drive Thru (easy for pdfs so you'll find it there in that form).
But now I know how to do it!!!
I have 2 more books I am ready to release now (if only there was the demand) and a Trollworld novel I will turn from first draft to final come July.
I also have a children's novel which introduces T&T magic finished and just waiting for the illustrtor to do her bit (nudge...).
It would be nice if people bought these books when they come out and read them but I accept there are already too many books in the world so that part doesn't really matter.
What matters for me is that I got it done and will do so again and because it is print-on-demand it cost me just about no money.
So here's what I recommend - don't just think about it, do it!!
However!
When I got home last night, there was a Lulu parcel waiting for me. Inside was Andy Holme's Liche-Lord GM adventure (another post about that soon!) and...
My first ever printed book :)
It looks soooo good. The awesome Jeff Freels' cover is a delight and the internal art shows up well.
It took a lot of work, not least because I had no idea of anything other than the writing when I started out on the project as a 5.5 T&T solo back in 2011 and made the mistake of writing it as an Excel spreadsheet.
It got ground out as 7.5, it had a second (evil) way of playing it added with 28 champions to take on in single combat (a combination for each pairing of the 8 attributes) and then I added a GM section.
I got help with play-testing, I got help with formatting, I got given art and still it was so hard to turn in to a book that I gave up on Drive Thru (easy for pdfs so you'll find it there in that form).
But now I know how to do it!!!
I have 2 more books I am ready to release now (if only there was the demand) and a Trollworld novel I will turn from first draft to final come July.
I also have a children's novel which introduces T&T magic finished and just waiting for the illustrtor to do her bit (nudge...).
It would be nice if people bought these books when they come out and read them but I accept there are already too many books in the world so that part doesn't really matter.
What matters for me is that I got it done and will do so again and because it is print-on-demand it cost me just about no money.
So here's what I recommend - don't just think about it, do it!!
Monday, March 4, 2013
Trollbridge
Now I had not been over to the Trollbridge for a while and, to celebrate finally shaking the 'flu, I decided to mosey on over.
Interesting! A controversy has 'raged'! Quite rightly, the offensive sexist nonsense has been put in it's subterranean place. But was it ever meant seriously? Was it only ever a (mean-spirited) attempt to take a rise out of innocent readers?
Of equal interest, who is Gufnork? Time for unmasking. I do not know but a hypothesis formed all by itself immediately. What do you guys think?
Not that I'm necessarily expecting to hear the result of the thinking...
Interesting! A controversy has 'raged'! Quite rightly, the offensive sexist nonsense has been put in it's subterranean place. But was it ever meant seriously? Was it only ever a (mean-spirited) attempt to take a rise out of innocent readers?
Of equal interest, who is Gufnork? Time for unmasking. I do not know but a hypothesis formed all by itself immediately. What do you guys think?
Not that I'm necessarily expecting to hear the result of the thinking...
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Theatre of Dreams
These are happy days indeed at Old Trafford. The visit of Real could change that or double the joy but...
There was something about losing the title to City at the stroke of midnight last year that has stepped up my appreciation of what an incredible job Sir Alex has done and just keeps on doing.
When I look at what a titan Johny Evans has developed into, how well Evra and Carrick are performing week in, week out, the excitement the arrival on centre stage of Kawaga brings, the protective arm about de Gea...
Then the way Roonie and van Persie are so committed to the cause.
The only parallel in the modern world is, I think it fair to say, Ken's time at the helm of the other beautiful game.
We may yet see the mighty Reds playing on the hallowed turf of Trollhalla :)
There was something about losing the title to City at the stroke of midnight last year that has stepped up my appreciation of what an incredible job Sir Alex has done and just keeps on doing.
When I look at what a titan Johny Evans has developed into, how well Evra and Carrick are performing week in, week out, the excitement the arrival on centre stage of Kawaga brings, the protective arm about de Gea...
Then the way Roonie and van Persie are so committed to the cause.
The only parallel in the modern world is, I think it fair to say, Ken's time at the helm of the other beautiful game.
We may yet see the mighty Reds playing on the hallowed turf of Trollhalla :)
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Creating Characters
I read a little discussion on creating new characters today at Trollhalla. There are, of course, many, many ways of going about this.
When I first played Tunnels & Trolls, I always rolled 3d6, first for STR, then for IQ - I worked my way through the attributes in strict order. If you rolled a weak character, well - you made it a dwarf or an elf!
It was, for a short time, a delving landscape devoid of humans. Oh well, never mind! I wanted to play a Lord of the Rings-Norse Myths game, not a real world with magic version. Then I remembered Conan and needed a change so...
I introduced a table so you rolled for kindred on 2d6 and it was weighted towards humans. We played lots of weak human and lots of the died - quickly.
In more recent times, although I very much enjoy games with low level characters, I have often wanted to begin with stronger characters so that I can dip into more of the magic of the game. So, we have used different methods of character creation.
The point here is the plural - not just one - horses for courses. Some won't allow for TARO and specialists - fine, we won't always use them.
First cab off the rank was letting players roll eight sets of numbers with 3d6 and then let them assign them to an attribute as they saw fit. Players tend to enjoy that one.
Then there is the method of setting a point total and letting players distribute them as they see fit (NO TARO here). Ken did this in the 'Seven Challenges' of 2012 (his limit of 80 was rather stingy but suited the adventure). I have found this to be less popular with players because there is no dice rolling. It is easy using this method to generate a party of a particular level by putting an upper level on any one attribute. This irons out the dwarf/elf superiority effect because the selected attribute numbers are not modified.
Another method I have used is to assign particular numbers of d6 to particular attributes. You don't get any TARO but you do get dice rolling and players seem to get a buzz from the 'advantage' of rolling say 5d6 for STR or whatever.
This week, where I wanted a bunch of wizards of particular levels created, I decided on a total number of d6 rolls for each level - to create a Level 13 wizard, I gave 120d6 for players to distribute amongst the eight attributes as they saw fit. You need to allocate 3d6 for the laws of probability to get you up to each level - 3d6 should get you 10.5 and that's is Level 1 on a relevant attribute for the class; 6d6 would get you 21 and give a L2 attribute so for L13 you would need to assign 3d6 x 13 = 39d6 of your total of 120d6 to be statistically likely to have the relevant attribute bringing you L13 status - leaving 81d6 for the other attributes (suddenly doesn't seem such a generous award). If you don't like rolling dice that much (saddo!), no problem! Just substitute 3d6 for each d6 you don't want to roll. For your L13 wizard, you could allocate 39d6 to INT and decide to roll just 2d6! The first 37 give you 3.5 times 37 = 129.5 so you only need 0.5 (half!) on those 2d6 you actually roll to reach your target of 130. Or you could roll 39d6.
There is no method I would always use and that, quite simply, is what I would recommend to you, dear reader.
Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls: dynamic, flexible, whatever...
or
Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls: whatever you need to make it fizz!
When I first played Tunnels & Trolls, I always rolled 3d6, first for STR, then for IQ - I worked my way through the attributes in strict order. If you rolled a weak character, well - you made it a dwarf or an elf!
It was, for a short time, a delving landscape devoid of humans. Oh well, never mind! I wanted to play a Lord of the Rings-Norse Myths game, not a real world with magic version. Then I remembered Conan and needed a change so...
I introduced a table so you rolled for kindred on 2d6 and it was weighted towards humans. We played lots of weak human and lots of the died - quickly.
In more recent times, although I very much enjoy games with low level characters, I have often wanted to begin with stronger characters so that I can dip into more of the magic of the game. So, we have used different methods of character creation.
The point here is the plural - not just one - horses for courses. Some won't allow for TARO and specialists - fine, we won't always use them.
First cab off the rank was letting players roll eight sets of numbers with 3d6 and then let them assign them to an attribute as they saw fit. Players tend to enjoy that one.
Then there is the method of setting a point total and letting players distribute them as they see fit (NO TARO here). Ken did this in the 'Seven Challenges' of 2012 (his limit of 80 was rather stingy but suited the adventure). I have found this to be less popular with players because there is no dice rolling. It is easy using this method to generate a party of a particular level by putting an upper level on any one attribute. This irons out the dwarf/elf superiority effect because the selected attribute numbers are not modified.
Another method I have used is to assign particular numbers of d6 to particular attributes. You don't get any TARO but you do get dice rolling and players seem to get a buzz from the 'advantage' of rolling say 5d6 for STR or whatever.
This week, where I wanted a bunch of wizards of particular levels created, I decided on a total number of d6 rolls for each level - to create a Level 13 wizard, I gave 120d6 for players to distribute amongst the eight attributes as they saw fit. You need to allocate 3d6 for the laws of probability to get you up to each level - 3d6 should get you 10.5 and that's is Level 1 on a relevant attribute for the class; 6d6 would get you 21 and give a L2 attribute so for L13 you would need to assign 3d6 x 13 = 39d6 of your total of 120d6 to be statistically likely to have the relevant attribute bringing you L13 status - leaving 81d6 for the other attributes (suddenly doesn't seem such a generous award). If you don't like rolling dice that much (saddo!), no problem! Just substitute 3d6 for each d6 you don't want to roll. For your L13 wizard, you could allocate 39d6 to INT and decide to roll just 2d6! The first 37 give you 3.5 times 37 = 129.5 so you only need 0.5 (half!) on those 2d6 you actually roll to reach your target of 130. Or you could roll 39d6.
There is no method I would always use and that, quite simply, is what I would recommend to you, dear reader.
Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls: dynamic, flexible, whatever...
or
Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls: whatever you need to make it fizz!
Friday, March 1, 2013
Wow - there on the Trollhalla sidebar!
I've neglected this poor blog since the end of this year, when I was happily writing about my adventures in one of Andy Holmes' solos.
Then, out of the blue, Andy James emailed me and asked if this was my current blog address as he was going to add it and my new solo, Deception: Strangebrew's Chambers of the Unknown, to the Trollhalla sidebar. That feels like becoming a 13th Level Wizard and having some standing in the Guild!
So, my resolution is to post on here much more regularly.
Thanks to Andy and to all those who helped with getting Deception' to it's launch pad. The hardest part has been making a printed book. In the end, I just had to give up with Drive Thru and the Lightning Source template as I just kept getting it wrong time and time again.
Then I looked at Lulu and saw the rosy light of a new dawn! So, for me, it's Drive Thru for pdfs and Lulu for books. I now know that I could have uploaded a much bigger cover jpeg to Lulu so I will replace the one I hit the jackpot with. The two copies I ordered might not be perfect resolution but they will take a while to reach New Zealand.
While I ordered 'Deception'. I was spurred into buying Andy H's 'Liche-Lord' GM adventure, which Ken gave high praise to. I'm lucky, unlike many, because I will have a group to GM it for. We all loved 'Goblin Crag' so much that it will be a priority to play when it arrives in the mailbox.
I hope, once the dT&T workload lightens, to have Steve Crompton draw up Khaghtch'an, the Kraken Continent, into a beautiful colour map, in the style of the Eagle and Dragon Continents. That will be amazing - our games have really taken on new life since the setting was resolved (and keeps getting bigger and more complex).
At the moment, I'm stuck into writing a solo for wizards who can win an alien bride, set in the foul Jungles of Phantog.
We are play-testing my giga-solo, 'The Poisoned Chalice' this weekend. It just didn't work well for one character so I switched it over to being for a group of six and now we are flying!
I think my next book release will be a six-pack omnibus edition of 2012 work, all currently available as pdfs. This will be 5 solos of varying length and one GM adventure. I think an experienced gamer can 'solo' a GM adventure just as it is easy to 'GM' solos. I have written a 'dirty tricks' option for Rotten Borough - Election Special in which you vie to become the new Mayor of Stoneydaze (those citizens are a tad idealistic, I admit!). I think that should give a good shot of re-playability.
It makes me realise how easy it is to write an add-on for any adventure. Maybe I'll have a think about the great 'Arena of Khazan' which after so many years is really just an opportunity for experienced players to make characters rich quick.
Enough already. Thanks again, Andy :)
Then, out of the blue, Andy James emailed me and asked if this was my current blog address as he was going to add it and my new solo, Deception: Strangebrew's Chambers of the Unknown, to the Trollhalla sidebar. That feels like becoming a 13th Level Wizard and having some standing in the Guild!
So, my resolution is to post on here much more regularly.
Thanks to Andy and to all those who helped with getting Deception' to it's launch pad. The hardest part has been making a printed book. In the end, I just had to give up with Drive Thru and the Lightning Source template as I just kept getting it wrong time and time again.
Then I looked at Lulu and saw the rosy light of a new dawn! So, for me, it's Drive Thru for pdfs and Lulu for books. I now know that I could have uploaded a much bigger cover jpeg to Lulu so I will replace the one I hit the jackpot with. The two copies I ordered might not be perfect resolution but they will take a while to reach New Zealand.
While I ordered 'Deception'. I was spurred into buying Andy H's 'Liche-Lord' GM adventure, which Ken gave high praise to. I'm lucky, unlike many, because I will have a group to GM it for. We all loved 'Goblin Crag' so much that it will be a priority to play when it arrives in the mailbox.
I hope, once the dT&T workload lightens, to have Steve Crompton draw up Khaghtch'an, the Kraken Continent, into a beautiful colour map, in the style of the Eagle and Dragon Continents. That will be amazing - our games have really taken on new life since the setting was resolved (and keeps getting bigger and more complex).
At the moment, I'm stuck into writing a solo for wizards who can win an alien bride, set in the foul Jungles of Phantog.
We are play-testing my giga-solo, 'The Poisoned Chalice' this weekend. It just didn't work well for one character so I switched it over to being for a group of six and now we are flying!
I think my next book release will be a six-pack omnibus edition of 2012 work, all currently available as pdfs. This will be 5 solos of varying length and one GM adventure. I think an experienced gamer can 'solo' a GM adventure just as it is easy to 'GM' solos. I have written a 'dirty tricks' option for Rotten Borough - Election Special in which you vie to become the new Mayor of Stoneydaze (those citizens are a tad idealistic, I admit!). I think that should give a good shot of re-playability.
It makes me realise how easy it is to write an add-on for any adventure. Maybe I'll have a think about the great 'Arena of Khazan' which after so many years is really just an opportunity for experienced players to make characters rich quick.
Enough already. Thanks again, Andy :)
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