Some first reactions to DT&T

At last it is here! The DT&T pdf has been sent to Kickstarter backers. It is huge, over three hundred pages. Much larger than I had anticipated. The rules are mostly the same familiar T&T rules that have been with us for decades now. There have been a few changes and updates and lots of expanded options. The three main character types are now even more distinct to each other. Each has strong specialties and unique abilities. Rogues perhaps get the biggest changes becoming more than just the sort-of warrior, sort-of wizards they used to be. Rogues now are the skill specialists. They have the option to gain bonus Talents in Roguish abilities as they advance in experience. In true T&T style there is not a definitive list of "Roguish" Talents, but there is a note that combat tricks are not particularly Rougish, while trickery and stealth might be. The available Kindred get expanded notes on culture and in the elaborations section are thoughts on playing Kindred as their own Types. The monstrous kindred or "Ilkin" are notforgotten either. Also noteworthy is an in depth coverage of Trollworld. This includes colour maps of the continents, including a fun "who live where?" map and a map of the locations of FBI's solo adventures. A number of Kickstarter backers have left their mark in this section.Several pledge leves offered the opportunity to add a location to the map. H'rrrothgarrr's Hovel now has a brief write up in the rulebook by yours truly. There have been substantial changes to the weapon and armour lists. Gone are the pages of weapons with slight variations in damage. Instead weapons are grouped into broad classes of similar weapons and optional rules are given for personalizing individual weapons. Thus a particular style of sword could be given +2 adds for a heavy blade while another is given +3 for keen edges and sophisticated metalurgy. There are two major lacks in the rulebook in my opinion. One is the lack of a comprehensive bestiary. There is not even the table of Monster Ratings by level for common monsters that used to offer a guideline. Hopefully an expanded bestiary will be offered in future. It is a simple thing to assign MRs, but examples are always nice. Related to this is the dropping of Spite Damage as a trigger for monsters' special abilities and attacks. This was a rule that originated with Fiery Dragon and the 7e rules. I liked this rule and will quite likely house rule it back into my games. I should also mention the art. It is fantastic! Many old favourites are here, as well as new pieces and the colour section. So over all DT&T is a solid effort, although some bits I would have done differently. Look for more detailed notes to come.

Elves and Dwarves

There are several kindred of Elves, but all share several traits in common. Physically they are more slightly built than humans, with long fingers and toes. Their eyes tend to be almond shaped and their ears grow to points. Elves continue to grow in height and their ears continue to lengthen, although as they age they grow more and more slowly.

Despite appearances Elves are not completely mammalian, but are in part vegetal in nature. After fertilization and a short gestation a female Elf gives birth to a seed pod about the size of an avocado or mango. This is planted and carefully tended. It soon gives rise to a single fruiting pod within which the embryonic Elf develops. During childhood Elves grow rapidly. They reach a height of five feet and young adulthood within their first half-decade or so of life. This coupled with a slow reproduction rate gives rise to the absence of visible children in many Elf villages.

Elves are generally skilled in magic and often fine archers as well.

There are numerous and varied subpopulations of Elves. Some of the most common include the blue-skinned, gilled Sea-Elves who have webbed fingers and toes, the Wild Elves of the forests who craft weapons of bone and flint, and the noble High Elves who are the Elves most familiar.


Dwarves are another Kindred who despite appearances are not entirely mammalian. In the case of Dwarves they are actually creatures of living stone. Dwarves are not born but are rather hewn from the living rock and animated by means of engraving the life rune somewhere upon their bodies. It is not uncommon for those areas of a Dwarf's body that will normally covered by clothing and armour to be less finely carved and polished than those areas that will be on common view. As a result many Dwarves do not have toes or genitals. Dwarves can be carved in the likeness of male or female and both "sexes" may have long hair and beards, short hair and beards, or be hairless.

Dwarves are possessed of a truly cast-iron stomach. If they can sink their teeth into something they can eat it. Dwarves can even chew and digest metals and stones, indeed they snack on gravel the way humans do on popcorn and nuts. Dwarves are known as prodigious drinkers. They can consume vast quantities of ale and liquor without ill effect because their rocky metabolisms are not affected by alcohol.

Dwarves have an unerring ability to retrace their steps. If a Dwarf has walked a path once he will always be able to walk it again, even blindfolded. Dwarves can also mentally determine the distance and direction from where they are to any place they have been. This does not mean that they know the best path, or indeed any path, just that they know the straight line direction and distance. Dwarves can also smell gold and gems, as well as mineral and metallic ores in ten earth and rocks. This makes them superb miners and treasure hunters.

Gakks Reflux Redux

In his novel "Rose of Stormgaard", certain to be a major motion picture if I ever get locked alone in a small room with, Peter Jackson, and which I compared favorably with JRR Tolkien's magnum opus "The Lord of the Rings", saying that Rose is "shorter and has considerably less poetry, as well as more sex and better fight scenes", the ever creative TrollGod gave us a look at his version of the Gakk.

According to Ken St Andre, the Gakk, specifically the giant purple Gakk, "looks something like a sixteen-legged spider crossed with a lizard and a centaur" there is more to it than just that, but read the book to find out what.

This just goes to show that a simple name and MR can create two very different creatures.

Rose of Stormgaard also gives us some insight into a few other creatures of Trollworld . Living Skelletons are confirmed as a race of men with transparent flesh, and thus are turned to stone if they look at a Gorgon's head. Dwarves and Rock Trolls, being creatures of stone, and Living Statues being creatures of metal are immune to the stoning effect of Gorgons. Also there are the black skinned "Death Dwarves" who are different to Gristlegrimm Dwarves, having more wizards for one thing and speaking a different language for another.

We also get a nice dT&T character sheet in the back of the book and notes on how to run the story setting as a GM adventure.

The Goblyns 'll getcha if you don't watch out

The goblins are one of the most physically diverse Kindreds of the Dragon's Dream. In form they are small humanoids, usually standing between knee and waist high on a man. Larger goblins, usually standing waist to shoulder high on a man are usually called hobgoblins. They may be thin and wizened or grotesquely obese and blubbery. Their skin varies from scabrous, furred, bristled, scaled, slimy, even feathered. Some goblins have tails, horns, claws, fangs, antlers, crests, wattles or other adornments.

Goblins are tricksters and pranksters with twisted and mean humor. They are also acquisitive thieves especially given to appropriating small, bright and shiny objects. They take great delight in the pain and suffering of others, but are themselves cowardly.

Goblins are magically gifted creatures. They lack the discipline and focus to become true Wizards, even if the Wizards' Guild would accept them. But frequently become accomplished Rogues. Many goblins know at least a handful of spells. These spells tend to include those useful for pranks and mischief. Direct combat spells such as "Take That You Fiend" are uncommon amongst goblin spell casters. Most goblins also have the ability to stretch and squeeze themselves through even tiny openings. If a mouse could squeeze through, then so can a goblin!

Goblins are fond of cleverness taking great delight in riddles, puzzles, intricate mechanical devices and the like. Although they are often scatterbrained and easily distracted, goblins are not stupid and many are quite clever. They are lacking in common sense and tend to get caught up in their own enthusiasms which often leads other Kindreds to view them as being stupid.

Goblin society is a vast pyramidal pecking order. The strong, clever or lucky bully or trick others to gain status. A lower status goblin can challenge a higher status goblin at any time, winner gets the higher status. The constant sorting of rank can be quite puzzling to outsiders as goblins constantly poke, bash and trick each other, even while conducting "serious" business.

The various goblin bands and towns present a widely varied character. Some are elaborate and baroque courts ruled over by a king and nobility. Others are small roving bands of warriors and bandits dressed in rags and tatters of armour. There are relatively homogenous tribes of amphibious swamp goblins who resemble frogs and toads. There are forest goblins decked out in colorful feathers, furs, bones, and body paint, often with animal like features. Other groups present a motley collection of individuals with little in common.

Individual goblins may take up a life of adventure joining parties of Delvers. In some cities goblins can be found working in trade or as part of eh underworld.

So That's what that is!

Here are seven new creatures for T&T. Most expanded from a mention in the T&T rulebook, usually appearing only as an MR rating on the monster list. I have let the names and MRs inspire me as to what these creatures might be like. In no way should these be considered the definitive versions of these beasties. They are presented as examples and inspiration.


Lightning Bug
MR: 8
Combat Dice: 1+4
Special Damage: 1/1 individuals do normal spite damage. Take That You Fiend!
Special Abilities: Fly Me, Will-o-Wisp

Small bugs that seem to be made of sparkling, flashing light. Each provides light equal to a candle flame, They flit around in small swarms producing an effect similar to a Will-o-Wisp spell. Touching one will give a small but harmless electric shock. If a swarm is provoked the bugs will collectively produce a lightning strike taking effect as a TTYF! Cast with a WIZ of 1/ 10 the swarm's total MR.

Boojum
MR: 60
Combat Dice: 7D6+30
Special Damage: 1/1
Special Abilities: Imafrawg, Yerafrawg

Boojums are thought to be larger and more powerful cousins of Snarks.
They are also natural shape shifters, but can change the shapes of others as well. They will use this ability to change large, dangerous prey into something small and inoffensive before eating it.

Balruukh
MR: 300
Combat Dice: 31D6+150
Special Damage: 1/2 flaming weapons do extra damage, 6/Glue You opponent becomes entangled
Special Abilities: Fly Me, immune to fire and flame

Balruukhs are large demons of smoke, flame and shadow. They appear as shadowy humanoid figures with great bat-wings and streaming manes of fire. They often wield a weapon in each hand. One is usually an offensive weapon like a sword, mace or axe, the other an entangling weapon like a whip, chain, or net.

Nasty customers indeed, some Balruukhs are also accomplished wizards.

Gurkk
MR: 343
Combat Dice: 35D6+180
Special Damage: 6/Swallow Whole
Special Abilities: None

The gurkk is basically a huge jaw and stomach on legs. They slowly drag themselves about and when they find a place that is likely to yield passing prey they open their cavernous jaws wide and hunker down to wait. When the unfortunate prey steps into the mouth of the creature the jaws snap shut and the prey is often swallowed both whole and alive.

The jaws of a gurkk open a full 180 degrees and the monster will sink down as low to the ground as possible, burrowing into soft soil, leaves, mud, or lurking on the bottom of ponds and rivers.

Any unfortunate that has been swallowed alive by a Gurkk may continue to fight from inside the creature. Add the swallowed creatures hits to the HPT scored against the gurkk. Damage taken may be considered to be the result of digestive juices slowly consuming the unfortunate.

Snark
MR: 39
Combat Dice: 4D6+19
Special Damage: 1/1
Special Abilities: Imafrawg

The true appearance of the Snark remains something of a mystery, indeed many sages and scholars doubt its very existence. This is due to the Snark's innate shape shifting abilities. It is able to take on the shape of any creature. In their natural shape they are small humanoids, about the size of a Hobb or Leprechaun, with horns and a tail. They are mischievous tricksters and love to use their shape shifting to help pull off pranks and to escape from the consequences after.

All Snarks know and can cast the Imafrawg spell.
They may be of any character type. Kindred ability modifiers are as follows.

STR: x0.5 CON: x0.75 DEX: x1 INT: x1.5 LK: x2 CHR: x1 WIZ: x1.5 HT: x0.5 WT: x0.5

Gakk
MR: 13
Combat Dice: 2D6+7
Special Damage: 1/1
Special Abilities: None
The slimy and disgusting Gakk is a sort of cross between a banana slug and a leech, with a mouth full of raspy teeth. It grows to about the size of a man's leg, although specimens as large as a man is tall and even bigger have been rumored. They live in swamps, sewers and other damp slimy places.

Balloonimal
MR: 1
Combat Dice: 0D6+1
Special Damage: Explosive Burst
Special Abilities: Fly Me
These creatures are life sized and very life-like balloon animals. They are dangerous only if popped. They will burst immediately if they take any hits from a cutting, slashing or piercing weapon. When this happens they explode doing damage as a monster with an MR equal to the HPT the balloonimal received. Thus, the harder you hit them, the bigger the pop!

Although they look exactly like a normal creature balloonimals are silent and move by drifting along slightly above the ground not walking on it. A careful observer can spot the difference easily with a Level One SR.

The World of the Dragon's Dream

The confluence of two events has spurred me to begin writing down an exercise in world building for T&T. The first is the impending release of the Deluxe T&T rules. Nothing like a new game to get the creative juices fired up.n the second is my discovery of a pool of local gamers who I hope to lure into playing T&T.

The Dragon's Dream is partly a response to Ken St. Andre's "Trollworld" setting. I have nothing against his world, but it is his, not mine. Part of the attraction of RPGs for me has always been the freedom to create your own worlds and adventures. This is not the first world I have created for gaming. I created my own version of the Starship Warden for Metamorphosis Alpha, including some changes to the backstory explaining how the ship came to be filled with strange mutants and berserk robots. For ten years I ran a home brewed variant of D&D in the world of Archen, a disc shaped world on a pillar of adamant in the void. There have been others not as fully detailed, and I have run in many other people's worlds.

For me different game systems require different worlds. The game mechanics help to define the "physics" of the world. They delineate how "reality" operates in that setting. Magic systems, psionic powers, what races or species are available as player characters, how Faster-Than-Light travel works (if at all) in a Sci-Fi setting, cosmic alignments of good and evil and law and chaos, the existence or absence of "real" gods and supernatural entities. All of these can have a profound impact on the shape of a game world and the games played within it.

To begin, it is important to know that the Dragon's Dream is explicitly a fantasy world. This is actually part of the existential make up of the world. It is not "real". Not even an alternate reality or different dimension. This world is purely a fantasy. The existential cosmic reality of the world is that it is a dream. It is the dream of a great sleeping dragon. The question of the existential nature of the Dragon, whether it has itself any "reality", what world if any it exists in is a separate question, one I have not really explored. For purposes of this world it is enough to say that the Dragon dreams, and that Dream is the world.

The fact that the world is a dream, a fantasy, with no intrinsic or extrinsic objective reality is known only to a very few of its inhabitants. A few philosophers and sages speculate about the nature of the dream and what happens to the world when the dreamer wakes. To most of the inhabitants though the world is just as solid and real as our world is to us.

Being a dream world and a fantasy does have some profound effects on the nature of "reality" within the world. Reality is not a fixed, constant and stable objective thing the way it is in our world. Instead, reality is mutable. The world can change and remake itself. The inhabitants usually are quite unaware when this happens. The way the world is to them is the way it has always been. Magic exists. Magic is raw dream energy, the stuff of which reality is made, called "Kremm" in the T&T rules. The ability to work magic is the ability to reshape reality. Magical energy is gathered and shaped causing the Dream to be reshaped. For some this reshaping is very subtle and almost unnoticed in its effects. Warriors reshape the Dream very subtly and gain increased benefits from weapons and armour in combat by doing so. Dragons reshape the Dream and gain the ability to fly in apparent defiance of natural laws. The world is populated by Elves, Dwarves, Men, Trolls, Urooks, Hobbs, and a thousand other Kindred.

The world of the Dream is as big as it needs to be. No complete map of it exists or is possible. Reality and the world with it are defined in broader and broader loose sketchy strokes the farther from any particular observer one moves. It is entirely possible that one part of the Dream contains worlds that are planets orbiting stars while in another part the world is an endless plate floating in an endless ocean. The world is slightly surreal and phantasmal because it is fundamentally a dream or fantasy.

This is the skeletal framework on which my T&T fantasies are hung. Come with me and let us explore the Dream together.

Here There Be Dragons!

Dragon! Perhaps the most evocative word in all of fantasy. Dragon, great, scaly, winged, fire-breathing, behemoth. Ancient, wise, treasure hoarding, mentor or nemesis. Big, overgrown lizard; kill it, take its treasure and move on. Wait! What was that last bit?

Sadly, dragons in T&T just don't quite seem to measure up. In J R R Tolkien's "The Hobbit" Smaug the great and terrible described himself thusly "My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!" Compare this to a dragon (with flame) from T&T "MR 1760" at level 5. I will grant that 177d6+880 (an average of 1500 hits including 30 spite) on the first round is nothing to sneeze at, but it lacks a certain gravitas.

Traditionally in fantasy RPGs a dragon attacks with the standard Claw/Claw/Bite routine of so many monsters plus a breath weapon up to three times a day. Still rather plain vanilla for my tastes.

My dragons attack with claw/claw/bite/wing buffet/rear foot kick-stomp/tail slap if on the ground and fighting to all sides, bite/snatch/rend/drop if flying, or can opt to breathe/spit or cast spells if they know any. Breath type weapons may include fire, poison gas, cold or frost, lightning bolts, acid spittle, venomous fangs, paralyzing or petrifying gas, and more. Especially clever dragons may also employ magical items such as rings, amulets, wands, staves, potions, even weapons if the weapon is large enough or the dragon small enough. Stooping on a delver like a hawk on a mouse, carrying him to a great height and releasing him to plummet onto rocks below is a great way to crack even the toughest armour.

Speaking of armoured delvers, let us consider the typical dragon-slaying as portrayed in song and legend. The evil wyrm is threatening to devour a fair maiden, usually a princess, and the best and bravest knights in the land decide to rescue her. The first order of business is to hold a tournament to determine who is the strongest and most valorous knight among them. This important question having been decided, the champion polishes his armour until it is mirror bright, mounts his noble steed, usually a snow white stallion and rides off to confront the beast in its lair. Arriving at the mouth of the cave the knight reigns in and issues his challenge to the dragon to come out and face him. In due course the dragon emerges, it and the knight square off, they charge together with great force and the dragon is impaled on the knights lance. Should he lance blow not prove fatal, the knight dismounts and finishes off he wounded monster with his sword. Knight, Lady, and suitable dragon trophies then ride back to feast at the castle.

A pretty story, but what really happens?

The fair maiden in peril is usually just a symbolic stand-in for the economic dangers of having a dragon as a neighbor. Ruined crops, burned villages and devoured caravans are all very bad for business. The younger and brasher warriors likely do have a tournament of sorts, which mostly serves to dull swords, splinter lances, and tenderize, err, bruise bodies. The older and wiser warriors watch as the young hotheads boldly ride forth, sound the challenge and are invited to a barbecue dinner with the dragon. Eventually the older and wiser warriors, together with some wizard friends if they can manage them, get together an assortment of nets, pole axes, poisons and balistae. With these they set out to butcher the dragon. Heavy nets are strung across the entrance of the lair to entangle the emerging beast. Barbed spears and stakes are driven into the ground to curtail the creature's movements. Men are placed above and to the sides of the entrance with pole axes and harpoons, liberally smeared with poison, their job is to hack and pinion the wings, stab eyes, mount and any vulnerable parts they can and get as much toxin into the beast as possible. Spells like Slush-Yuck will be targeted on the stone around the dragon, again to impair its mobility and possible trap it. Take-That-You-Fiend! and other direct combat spells are likely to be of little use initially due to the resistance of the dragon's phenomenally high Kremm. Better to target the environment around the beast.

It as this point that everyone gasps and says "But! That's not a fair fight!" No, it isn't. But in a fair fight the dragon almost always wins, not much of an incentive for the dragonslayers to fight fair, is it?

It is usually a better option to try to talk to and negotiate with the dragon instead. Dragons are well known for their vanity and their love of riddles. Either or both of these can provide a conversational in. Bribery is not generally a recommended tactic. Most of what a dragon wants they are quite capable of taking by force. As for the rest, what king is going to be happy giving away his crown to a lizard?

Having a dragon as a peaceable neighbor or sovereign is not without its advantages. For one thing many of them prefer to spend the bulk of their time sleeping or contemplating weighty philosophical questions (like which weighs more good coins or gold bars?). When they are awake their chief concerns are likely to be eating, defending what is theirs, and increasing the size of their hoard. The first is likely to produce a large but happily infrequent burden for farmers and ranchers. The second coincides nicely with the desire of the people of the realm to live their lives in peace. The third is likely to result in annual taxes and tributes. Some portion of the taxes and tributes can doubtless be raised from tariffs and tolls imposed on foreigners. Another good source of ample gold and riches is taxing delvers. Dragons frequently lair in caverns or mines full of forgotten tunnels and passageways many of which attract undesirable tenants. A resident dragon will often quite happily allow parties of delvers to venture into these spaces as exterminators. To be certain, the delvers will have to pay a large portion of their recovered wealth to the dragon, but may be able to strike a deal for provision of healing magics or other aid in return for their services.

Dragons are more than just a combat encounter or potential ruler however. Lesser dragons are a preferred mount of wizards, sorcerers and powerful warriors. Greater dragons may serve as councilors, mentors to wizards or sages of great knowledge. Dragons are often in possession of spells known only to dragonkind and can work powerful magics when they choose.

Dragons cannot properly be numbered amongst either the "good" kindreds or the "monsters". The majority are neutral, concerned only with their own ends and affairs. Individuals may ally themselves with good or evil causes, sometimes both over their tremendously long lifespans.

Dragons have a tremendous variety of appearance. They may be large or small, serpentine or stocky. Most possess wings, commonly similar to those of a bat although fan-like or feathered wings are not unknown, some dragons fly without the use of wings. Dragons may have two legs or four, rarely six, in addition to wings. Their tails may be hooked, barbed, stinger-tipped, spade-ended or even prehensile. They may be decked with a variety of horns, frills, spines, crests, tendrils, manes, etc. Most are scaled. Scales may vary in texture from fine to coarse. They may be ridged, rough or polished. Some dragons have flat scutes on their bellies like snakes, others sport dermal denticals like sharks, or plates like crocodiles, some even have shelled carapace a like turtles. Occasional dragons will have fur or feathers either instead of or in addition to scales. They are found in a rainbow of colours and patterns. Most seem to be of a single predominant colour with a lighter colour on their underparts. Metallic scales and colours are not unknown. There are reports that the colour of a dragon's scales is determined by the type of breath weapon it employs, but these are not always accurate.

One last point about dragons ought to be touched on here. That is the subject of dragon curses. The treasure hoards of dragons are often protected by powerful curses, the severity of which tend to increase with the age and power of the dragon.

Every dragon seems to know the contents of its horde down to the last cup and coin. Taking so much as a single brass farthing may be enough to alert the beast that someone has been there. The response is often to seek vengeance far beyond the value of what was taken. Whole villages have been laid waste for the sake of a single cup.

Dragon-greed or "gold fever" is a common sickness contracted by those who pilfer a dragon's den. This is an unquenchable thirst for ever increasing amounts of gold. Eventually those stricken become so miserly that they will not part with a single copper and so greedy that they will stop at nothing to obtain more coin, even robbing beggars and stealing from the poor box.

The most terrible curse is that which befalls those who sleep on a bed of dragon's gold. They are transformed into dragons themselves. The transformation may be abrupt and sudden or gradual and subtle, but in the end the result is the same. The new dragon retains the knowledge and much the same personality it possessed before. It must learn to adapt to life in its new form, initially being even unable to speak or use draconic abilities such as flying or breath weapons. Although initially the personality is much he same as it was before the transformation over time it becomes more dragon-like. Desiring solitude, covetous of gold and wealth, arrogant and predatory.

I hope that this will allow for more depth in the presentation of dragons in the game. All of the above can be applied without a single change to the rules. Breath weapon and special attacks can be assumed to count as part of the dragon's MR and described narratively. Spite damage if used can occur in the normal way. If the GM prefers more rules crunch special damage effects, breath weapons, and spells can be triggered by spite damage thresholds as is standard under 7e rules.

Kickstarter and getting on the Map!

Tunnels and Trolls now has a Kickstarter for a deluxe edition! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/994700393/deluxe-tunnels-and-trolls

In thirty-six and a half hours it reached funded status. T&T has some great fandom.

As part of my pledge I am getting H'rrrothgarrr's Hovel officially added to the map of Trollworld for the new edition. A vanity perk really, but it's very nice to become an official part of the game that I enjoy so much.

The crew have done a great job on this project so far and promise more to come. New art, new rules, new adventures, and the return of old favorites.

Watch the video to see Ken St Andre and Liz Danforth commenting on the project and what it means to them.

I think I'm turning Japanese!

For quite a while I have wanted to game in the worlds of Hideyuki Kikuchi. His blend of wscience fiction, horror, supernatural, action, and Japanese culture seems tailor made for great RPG action. The question of course is what sort of rules engine to use. I have looked at several of the anime RPGs available, as well as horror, sci-fi and fantasy. Palladium Books' Rifts certainly provides all the needed tools, magic, mecha, demons, supernatural beasties etc. The problem with it is that I really have drifted away from the power gamer style and find the rules overly complex. There are just too many options. The same pertains to the various d20 rules sets. These are fine if you like crunchy detailed rules sets. Indeed I could see the various stunts and prestige classes of D&D working very well to model Demon City or Vampire Hunter D. However, I vastly prefer playing looser, more freeform games. So, my thought is that there is another game whose rules mechanics very well suit the style of game I want. That is Tunnels and Trolls. T&T? I hear you ask, isn't that just a fantasy dungeon delving game? Well, yes and no. It works well for that, but it has been adapted to sci-fi quite succesfully. Far more than most people realize the differences between sci-fi and fantasy are often just special effects. A "light saber" and a "vorpal sword" are pretty much functionally the same. A blaster and a crossbow both do missile damage at range. Armour is armour. A "force field" at it's simplest can just be given an armor rating. Psychic powers? What about wizard's spells? A space demon and a balruck are both large, evil nasties bent on your destruction. For the ultimate low crunch version of this grab T&T5, M!M! or BEAN! and assign dice ratings. For a slightly chrunchier version use 7.5 with special spite damage effects, specialists, etc for more solidly defined mechanics. In future entries I will stat up some of the creatures and characters from these stories, just for fun. I may even throw in an illustration or two.

The best things in life are free!

Some of my current favorite RPGs are available free. T&T fans will instantly think of the quick start rules, the same ones from the double solo books, widely posted on the web and at RPGnow.com . This is however not the only great game out there for free.

Many of the TSR classics have been cloned and offered free. My favorite of these is Swords and Wizardry which clones the original edition of D&D. It goes farther than this though, offering supplements with new Classes, new magics and more.

Mutant Future also gets a nod. I love Post Apocalyptic gaming and MF does it very well. Fans of Gamma World will recognize the inspiration behind this one.

Great though these cloned games are, and there are many others as part of the Old School Renaissance, there are also some original designs that are well worth looking at and playing.

For Sword and Planet fans who grew up as I did on Edgar Rice Burroughs, H P Lovecraft, etc, there is the simply brilliant Under the Moons of Zoon. This game is set on a post apocalyptic world and features flying boats, psionics, weird science, mutants, swashbuckling, creatures from Beyond, and more. It has a simple d6 based system of game mechanics and just enough setting material to provide a spark to GM's creativity without shackling you to someone else's world. I love it. It has serpent-men as the main villains, one of my favorite pulp fantasy tropes.

The other great free game I want to call attention to is Olivier Legrand's Mazes&Minotaurs. M&M is a game from an alternate history of the RPG hobby. It posits that Gygax and Arneson based their first RPG not on medieval Europe but rather on mythic Greece. The result is two editions, four core rule books. Ten magazine supplements, plus adventure modules. All offered for free. The game is quite playable and a has a very enthusiastic following. I discovered it after I had written most of my Mythic Greek sourcebook for T&T (currently in preparation for publication by Peryton Publishing). Had I known about M&M I might never have written Sailing the Wine Dark Sea. M&M covers not only ancient Greece, but also analogues to Africa, the Middle and Near East, Europe, and the realms of the gods and monsters. It is not a strict recreation of Classical Mythology, but rather a fantasy game that draws its inspiration from myth and legend.

The Cleric Conundrum

In prowling the message boards relating to Old School gaming and D&D I have encountered the question of he Cleric class. People ask "What character or type in fantasy fiction is this supposed to emulate?". My guess is that the origins of the Cleric as a class come from he other half of D&D's heritage. The original game was billed as rules for "fantastic medieval" wargames. The Cleric class come from the medieval half of this, not the fantastic.

The Cleric is based on medieval stories of holy warriors, saints and miracle workers. Early D&D had a definite Christian gloss on much of the game world. Devils, demons, holy water, crosses (holy symbols came later), St. Cuthbert, etc. Clerical healing spells come from this tradition, as do spells such as Bless, Protection from Evil, Purify Food and Drink, et al. The Cleric's ability to turn and even destroy undead by presenting a holy symbol and exercising faith also comes from this. So to does the prohibition on shedding blood and therefor the restriction on using any but non-edged weapons. This was a Papal decree.

In non-Christian mythology, and also in most fantasy written before D&D, priests do not necessarily gain spell casting or other magical abilities from their worship of gods as marks of divine favor. Instead a priest may become a wizard or sorcerer like anybody else by study or making the appropriate pacts, but this is separate from their role as a priest. Priests may also freely wield sacrificial daggers and such. Indeed for many non-Christian priests the ban on edged weapons makes no sense. A priest of Apollo or Diana should favor the bow as this is the preferred weapon of their deity. Likewise priests following the Norse or Germanic gods might well be expected to favor the spear. Priests of Thor being an exception as they would likely use the hammer.

The forgoing is mostly an historical gloss on the Cleric class in RPGs.

In T&T a "priest" or "cleric" is a social status and profession, not a character Type or Class. You are a priest if you lead the worship of one or more deities. A holy warrior is a warrior (of any character type) in service of a deity or religious sect.

For those who want to construct a "Cleric" character in T&T I suggest the following. A Rogue Type (remembering that Rogue is short for Rogue Wizard, that is to say not trained by the Wizard's Guild), with a Talent for "Turning Undead". Being a Rogue he character is allowed to use any weapons and armor. The weapons chosen should be appropriate to the deity or religion the character is a follower of.nSpells would be those taught by the temple, again suited to the cult. The. talent for turning undead might be based on Charisma with the SR difficulty based on how high the MR of the undead in question is.

For those emulating the traditional D&D type Cleric weapons chosen would be blunt, and spells would focus on healing and protection.

I selected Charisma rather than Wizardry as the base attribute for turning undead as it is the character's force of personality and strength of Faith more than inherent magical power that is driving off the foe.

Trollworld's Got Talent

One of the nice ideas in T&T is Talents. Those little things that your character has a knack for. These can be quite broad reaching such as a talent for wilderness survival, or very narrow and focused, a talent for Five Card Stud Poker.

A character gains a new talent with each advance in level. This helps to make character levels meaningful in the game. However existing Talents do not automatically improve when a character improves in level. Currently the only way to improve a Talent is to improve he base attribute for that Talent. This doesn't really change the effectiveness of the talent, it remains fixed at the same. Bonus rolled when the character first gained the talent.

My proposal is to allow characters to purchase improvements to Talents in e exact same way they purchase improvements to Attributes. Thus for a cost of 10 AP times the current level of the Talent they can improve it by +1. Talents are recorded as Attribute+Talent, for example Climbing DEX+3. For 30 AP a character could improve this to Climbing DEX+4.

This allows talents to improve over time independent of their base attributes. It is for the player to judge whether it is cost effective to improve talents or if the AP would be better spent improving attributes. If a character has several talents tied to the same attribute it will probably be better to raise the attribute, thus raising the chance of success for SRs applicable to ALL the talents. This is especially so if the attribute is a prime attribute for the character as passing a level threshold allows he character to add their increased level to SRs as well.

This change does make Talents a bit more like skills and increases their effect on the game.

It's Alive! or at least undead.

This morning I was thinking about the Undead. Not Vampires, Liches, and Wraiths, or even Ghosts, but rather zombies and ghouls and skeletons, oh my!

With the exception of Dennis Hopper in Land of the Dead "Zombies man, they creep me out." no one seems to be much fazed by these lowly undead. They are common minions of necromancers, haunters of graveyards, and guardians of dungeons, but the seem so blah and boring.

I know that if I saw a corpse get up and start walking I would be running in the other direction. Dry bones with no flesh would make me run all the faster. Even these minor undead should be scary if not terrifying. I think most people would face a dozen orcs more calmly that even one walking corpse.

Part of the problem may lie in the mechanics of role playing games. These lesser undead are usually push overs in a fight. Low hit points, low damage,often slow, unintelligent, why fear them when a quick oil&torch or splash of Holy Water takes care of them?

I have tried to ease this problem by such means as having skeletons that take only a fraction of normal damage from cutting and piercing weapons, zombies that must be hacked to pieces before they stop and the like. These work for about the first encounter. Undead that slowly pull themselves back together if not burned can be effective. Hours later when the party stops to rest the relentless undead pursuers they thought they had put paid to show up again. RoleMaster made the undead scarier by giving all of them a draining effect on Constitution and hit points. Spending time around the undead literally sucked the life out of you. Of course any GM can also just make the undead tougher. More hit points, better armour, more damging attacks...

The terror can aslo be ramped up by non-mechanical means. Compare these two descriptions: "As you enter the room three skeletons in chain mail leap to attack with broadswords." "As you swing the door open and enter the chamber the scattered bones and rusted armour of fallen warriors lie before you on the floor. You hear a rustle and scrape, as of dry twigs on stone. With clicks and creaks the bones re-assemble themselves into the shapes they took in life. Three ancient warriors rise from the dust to confront you. Their tattered chainmail jingles, the rusty broadswords in their hands again raise to guard. Slowly at first they stagger towards you..." The second is much more evocative isn't it? Instead of simply saying "You hit the zombie with your spear for 5 hit points" try "Your spear sinks deep into the spongey side of your foe. No flicker or grimace of pain crosses it's face. It simply staggers forward, black ichor dripping from the wound."

The old Fiend Folio for AD&D offered yet another option for making the undead scary again. A vast horde of monstrous foes all shared the general description of "a skeletal figure in a cloak". This could be a mere skeleton, a crypt thing, a wight, a liche, or any of a number of other horrors. Each monster had different strengths and weaknesses, different motivations and would provide a very different encounter. the only way to know which you were facing was to get closer, and by then it might be too late...

Much of this is true for other monsters as well. One of the first lessons of effective gamemastering being to describe not name what the players see. It is in the case of the weaker undead however that the difference between what the players know and what the characters are experiencing becomes a vast gulf.

Flying Buffalo call for new material!

Flying Buffalo have issued new submission guidelines for aspiring T&T authors. http://www.tunnelsandtrolls.com/articles/modulesubmissionguidelines.shtml

This is good news not only for T&T writers, but also for T&T players.

I will be polishing up my "Sailing the Wine Dark Sea" module and submitting it.

Wizard Duels

Ah, the crackle of arcane energies. Two wizards of great power face off against each other, wands and staves at the ready. Then...Check your WIZ and "You've Got a Bad Feeling."? Seems a bit anti-climactic doesn't it?

That is the view of Wizards' duels under T&T 7.5 that seem sto have become wide spread. I think it is wrong. We may not see battles like Gandalf putting the smackdown on Saruman in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy shouting "Expelliamous!" while wands go flying, but 7.5e Wiazards' duels need not be boring either.

Single combat duels, especially between evenly matched oponents, are often actually quite boring to play out in RPGs. They consist of both opponents rolling to strike, calculating damage inflicted (if any), adjusting character sheets, lather, rinse, repeat. Rules to add stunts, tricks and detail to combat often get complex and slow down play. The result is that duels are either fairly quick, but bland and devoid of detail, or detailed but slow. T&T's Saving Roll rules and freeform combat system strike a middle ground. Either combatant can at any time declare a special tactic, and make an apropriate SR to see if they succeed or fail. Works great for armed combat. But what about Wizards?

According to many Wizards are completely nerfed by the 7th edition magic rules. They have to maka an INT SR equal to the level of the spell just to cast it properly, and they can't directly affect anyone with a higher current WIZ.

Let's look at these two points in detail.

First the INT SR. Looking at the maths, and don't worry I am not going to post lots of formulae here, after the INT and DEX to cast 9th level spells is aquired the Wizard will always fail his INT SR only on a roll of 3. For lower level mages the required INT to cast successfuly except on a 3 is higher, but still well within reach, starting at 15 for 1st level spells, and progressing up to 47 for 8th level spells. Considering that a minimum INT of 45 is required to cast those 8th level spells it is hardly burdensome. A Wizard with an INT of 30 will fail only on a roll of 3 to cast any spell of 4th level and below. To cast spells of level 6, the highest he can cast, he will need to roll a 12. So a Wizard should be fairly confident of getting his spells off.

Second the Kremm Resistance. The rules state that "a character with a lower Wizardry score can’t normally cast spells directly upon beings with higher Wizardry scores." That is the rule. Not, as many seem to think, "cannot effect beings with higher Kremm with a spell". This is the key to Wizard Dueling. If your target has a higher WIZ do not target him directly.

How do I use indirect targeting? Don't use Call Flame in an attempt to sear your enemy, use it to set his robes on fire instead. Cast Slush-Yuck on the ground beneeth his feet. Followed up with Hard Stuff this is particularly debilitating. Upsidaisy can be used to levitate a large, heavy object, say a boulder and whack your opponent with it for damage.

There are a few tricks to give better odds in all out assault as well. Cast Doublke Double on your self and boost your WIZ score... Then let fly with TTYF or Death Spell #9.

Any of the defensive spells will protect in magical as well as mundane combat.

Summonings can be effective.

In short unless you are very high level, think subtltey instead of force in spell combat.

I will be writing up a longer and more detailed version of this article, including a blow-by-blow, or should that be Spell-by-Spell account of a Wizards' Duel for Trollzine.

"Tunnels&Trolls Specialist Classes"

The title of this entry is in quotes because I am not talking much about specialist classes in general, but rather about the new T&T supplement from Postmortem Studios.

"Specialist Classes" is a 13 page pdf available from RPGnow.com, DrivethruRPG.com, etc. It is light on text, one page is the cover, one the publishing information, and the remaining pages have large illustrations and copious white space. It is however well worth the price of admission.

Included are 5 new specialist types, one each for the attributes of Strength, Intelligence, Constitution, Luck, and Speed. These are respectively the Brute, Tinker, Defender, Trickster, and Swashbuckler. Each has a different style and provides a nice expansion to character options. None of them seem to be so powerful or so weak that they will unbalance the game. With the partial exception of the Tinker all could be fit into almost any campaign background with little or no trouble.

The Brute, Defender, and Swashbuckler are the most combat oriented of the new types. Each takes a different approach, and along with the Ranger provide for fighting characters of many different styles. The "Warrior" remains the best overall Jack-of-all-Trades.

The Trickster has some very clever mechanics for using their Luck to influence the world around them. These are card-sharps, gamblers, but also confidence men and smooth talkers.

Tinkers are characters who rely on technology instead of magic. They are able construct gadgets that produce effects similar to spells. The Tinker is perhaps the most weakly developed. The weakness comes from the lack of rules for developing new constructs and devices. Several pages of clever examples are given and it should be easy to create new ones following their example, but a few guidelines would have been useful. Obviously Tinkers will be a poor fit in worlds with lower than a late medieval technology level. Not impossible though as the example of Archimedes demonstrates.

Overall this is a usefull addition to T&T games. I hope that we see more specialist types in future.

Lycanthropy or werewolf? There wolf!

I was reading the thoughts on weretypes as characters in T&T at the Lone Delver and this caused my to think about it for my self.



I have had one player opt to play a werebear in a long ago campaign and have played a werewolf myself. These characters were both simple shapechangers and so did not require much thought about rules. I have also used traditional weres as villains.

In thinking about were-types one thing to decide early on is what do they change into. It could be a normal animal, a man with animal features (like the Wolfman), or a giant man-animal hybrid. In White Wolf's World of Darkness werewolves pass through no fewer than 5 stages beween amn and giant wolf.

Having decided that, give some thought to vulnerabilities. Are they hurt by normal weapons? Silver, magic, wolvesbane? Does it depend what form they are in?

Do they retain memory and conciousness when they switch forms? In some versions the two forms do not share any memories or knowledge.

How is the change effected? Is it a curse, a disease, as spell, or a Kindred type ability? In some versions of folklore the change is effected by litterally changing skins.

Are these "rules" the same for all were-types? Are there other types of shape-changer in the world?

One of my were-wolf villains was ripped straight from Stephen King's "Cycle of the Werewolf". Luckilly my players had not read it. He was a deranged priest who changed when the moon was full. He shifted into a giant man-wolf hybrid. He could only be hurt by silver or magic when in werewolf form. His index finger was the same length as his middle finger, hair grew on his palms and his eyebrows met in the middle. In his home was a complete abscence of anything made of silver. (I gave lots of clues).

I have also had fun with Selkies who shed their seal skins to walk on land as humans. Anyone finding them could put the skins on and dive in to the ocean as a seal.

Making Dragons Fly

Of all the iconic creatures of High Fantasy the Dragon is probably the least likely.

A fearsome flying, fire-breathing, often speaking, some times spell casting, giant lizard with near unpiercable hide and a seemingly insatiable appetite for princesses.

Such a creature is so unlikely that it has become my standard response to players who insist on questioning the "realism" of a fantasy world. "You have no trouble with flying, fire-breathing dragons but you have a problem with X?"

What's wrong with dragons? Well let's start with what's right. Size, we know from dinosaurs etc that reptiles can grow to enormous size. Sleeping for years after eating, again reptiles eat infrequently and many species undergo periods of prolonged hybernation. Intelligence, well...if you have a brain as large as a dragon's, why not? Armoured hide, the Romans made armour of crocodile hide, and scales and bony plates can be quite an effective defense. Fangs and claws, just look at nature red in tooth and claw. Even the bed of gold has its parallels in jackdaws and packrats stashing away interesting and shiny trinkets. And spell casting is no problem, after all this is Fantasy and magic is de riguer.

So what about the rest?

First, flight. How do dragon's fly? Most illustrations of drgons have wings that are too small for flight, and some have wings of almost impossible anatomy. Then there is the weight of the creature. Dragons are going to be very heavy... If we give them hollow bones and internal airsacs like birds to reduce weight they can fly (maybe) but become extremely fragile. Look at the Pterosaurs that grew to enormous size, they were spindly creatures.

Second, firey breath. How on earth do you make this one work? Do dragons have respiratory tracts lined with asbestos? Terminal GERD? The most sensible explanation I have seen is highly inflamable venom that the dragon spits or sprays. Belching hydrogen gas or similar might also work. Belching hydrogen would also help with flight as those airsacs I mentioned above could be filled with it.

I do however have an answer to all the issues with dragons. It is admitedly a bit of a cop out, but... MAGIC. Dragons fly because they are magic. Same reason they breathe fire, elves have pointed ears, wizards cast spells, orcs are ugly, etc. Magic. Also known as the Walter Cronkite rationale "And that's the way it is."

I do find suspension of disbelief easier if things are kept semi-plausable, but in a fantasy world you have freedom to break the rules occasionally.

A world with realistic dragons would be a less magical place.

Solitaire

I am in the midst of writing a solo adventure as part of my "Sailing the Wine Dark Sea" T&T sourcebook. I wanted to share some of my experiences with solo adventures.

Let me start by saying it is hard work. A lot harder than writing a GM adventure. In writing a solo you must include everything needed to run the adventure. This includes all the GM rulings as to what is anis not possible when the player wants to try something creative. It you don't write it in to the solo, it simply is not there. In a GM adventure if a player asks to dive for cover behind some rocks, the GM can quickly decide if there are suitible rocks at hand and how easy or difficult it is to dive behind them. In a solo if you do not write in a "duck behind the rocks" option it simply isn't possible. There is no fall back on the give and take of roleplaying. This give ant take allows a GM in face to face play to seemlessly work suggestions and ideas from the players into the adventure. As if it wasn't enough to have to think of every possible action and write up results, you also need to write a story that is interesting and entertaining enough to keep the player reading. The adventure also must be balanced to be neither too difficult nor too easy.

Unless it is being written as part of a series you do have the advantage that a solo does not need to maintain any external continuity. This can be a great venue for epic quests with the fate of the world at stake. It is rather daunting to introduce a quest like the Lord of the Rings, destroy this powerful artefact or the world is doomed, into a long running campaign world. If the quest fails you need to start over from scratch. In a solo if the quest fails just flip back to the beging and try again or pick up a different solo.

One popular gimmick in solo adventures that I feel is best used extremely sparingly is the "Sudden Death" paragraph. This a paragraph that without warning kills your character in the middle of the adventure. The set up may be something like this "If you want to search the desk go to Paragraph AA," followed by paragraph AA which reads "You beging riffling through the papers on the desk, saddly the desk is home to a colony of fire ants who devour you alive. The End" Not much fun is that? Better to give at least some clue that the desk might house a danger. This could include giving an option to examine the desk before searching it, thus revealing tiny holes all over the surface of the desk; a description of mouse skeletons on the floor beneath the desk; or a warning given at some other point in the adventure. The player then feels less railroaded. "I didn't recognize the signs" is a lot easier to swallow than "There were no signs." I do have several death pargraphs, but each comes after at least one chance to avoid this fate.

Special bonuses and penalties that apply during the adventure can be fun. Some may apply for the entire adventure: There is a terrible storm raging so missile fire of any kind is impossible. Others may only apply to part of the adventure: After you eat the Red Mushroom you are immune to the first 5 attacks from flame dragons. A unique magical item can make a nice reward for completing a solo. If the character is going to be able to take it with them be sure to limmit it in some way. A "Sword of Victory" which allows the character to always win every combat is not a good reward for a solo. In a long running campaign such an item could easily be stolen, but going from one solo to the next this is not so readilly available an option. An advenure that ends with the character stripped of all their gear will likely prove unpopular, although this can make an effective begining.

Other difficulties of writing a solo include balancing combat encounters, T&T's MR rating can give you an idea of how tough the opposition is. Non-combat encounters based either on the player's thinking and puzzlesolving abilities or SRs on the character's attributes can make a solo more enjoyable for cerebral type characters.

For Sailing the Wind Dark Sea I have several encounters with very tough opposition for single characters, however most of these encounters provide an option to opt out of fighting. A character who doesn't fight will not recieve the rewards of victory, but they will not die either.

As it is quite possible that character's entering the adventure will have a range of equipment (or lack there of) I have provided several oportunities for equipment. In some cases this is specific to a sub-adventure, in other cases it is access to a general market.

In writing this solo I have written each sub-adventure in fairly linear order, and have numbered the esections A, B, C etc with A1, A2 being sub paragraphs of strand A. This makes it easier to keep track of how paragraphs relate to one another. Only after the adventure is complete and thoroughly playtest will I scramble the oder of the paragraphs. I have already found several sections that lack a connection at either the begining or the end, these would be much harder to trace in scrambled paragraphs.

Give some thought to the overall story and what you want to accomplish in the solo. I may yet decide to cut out some of the options have created and use them in other solos. I have a hunt that currently includes 6 different quarry animals plus two additional sub-encounters. This is a huge number of paragraphs, it does however allow for a good replay value. My purpose in writing the solo for Wind Dark Sea is to showcase a number of possible encounters, adventure seeds, bits of the setting, etc for Mythic Greece. Subsequent solos in this same setting will likely be more linear in story.

Arms make the man

A brief description of the common classes of warrior and their arms and equipment.

The ruler of the battlefield in the Classical Age was the Hoplite in full panoply. These men were armoured nearly head to foot, a linen arming coat covered by a back and breast plate, vambraces, greaves, an armoured skirt and an open face helm. In addition they bore the mighty hoplon shield from which they took their name. They were armed with two throwing javelins, a long thrusting spear, a short sword and a dagger.

Peltasts were medium weight infantry fighting in looser order than teh dense phalanx of hoplites. They carried a half-moon shaped shield, often with a leather drape to protect the legs. Greaves and vambraces might be worn, as could helmets or skull caps. Most wore only a linen arming doublet rather than a breast plate. They were armed with javelins and short swords.

Psiloi were light skirmishers. Often they were unarmoured, sometimes even naked. They fought with bow and arrow, javelin, rocks, or other light missile weapons.

The knights of the day were the chariot warriors who wore full suits of plate and bore large shields and long lances.

One common type of helmet was constructed of slices of boar's teeth. It could take the tusks of as amany as 32 boars to craft a single helmet.

Shields ranged from small bucklers used by psiloi, through the peltast's shield, the hoplon and the great figure-of-eight and tower shields that could shelter a man from crown to ankle.

Warriors often fought in light armour to prove their valour and avoid the heat and cumbersomeness of armour. Arms and armour of a fallen foe were highly sought after trophies.