Loot-O-Matic: Coins Of Different Kinds

Following on from my previous post where I set out to "fix" the 7.5 random treasure generator issue of spitting wealth at you like a broken ATM, I have got as far as tweaking the coinage. Here's what I have so far:

Money Table (2D6, DARO)

2-9: Iron (Worth 0.01SP each)

10-16: Steel (Worth 0.1SP each)

17-22: Copper (Worth 0.1SP each)

23-27: Orichalum (Worth 0.2SP each)

28-31: Bronze (Worth 0.5SP each)

32-34: Silver (Worth 1SP each)

35-36: Gold (Worth 10SP each)

37+: Mithril (Worth 100SP each)

When rolling for the amount of coins, roll 3D6, TARO.
All coins weigh 1WU each.

Anyone with the original 7.5 rulebook will notice that I have made some considerable changes. I have altered the value of the coins, how many coins you get, as well as removing some completely.

I like the idea of the monsters in Trollworld running under a seperate currency, so I kept the Iron and Steel pieces but the idea of Elven Silver and Trollish Gold seemed a little too specific to me. I was also at a loss as to why they were worth so much on the original table. What can you actually do to silver to increase its value by a factor of 50!? I've also recast the role of Orichalum, which is now the new "2 Copper Piece" instead of the extremely rare mythical metal of Atlantis. I just figured that with Mithril being available, do I really need another thin on the ground resource? Mithril's cool enough. :0).

At this point I should probably point out that whilst the treasure may seem to have gone from one extreme to another (bountiful to pitiful), this table and the one in my previous post were created with a method of treasure generation slightly different from the norm in mind.

Players now roll 1D6 for every 10 MR that their opponent had (or fraction of 10) and, any D6 that rolls within the monsters "range" allows one roll on the random treasure generator. So a MR 40 beastie might allow up to 4 rolls on the generator! (Possibly 5 if that were 41).

The only problem with the "range" idea is that beyond Buffalo Castle, I can't think of any solo that uses the range mechanic. Of course I could be wrong. Either way it's not a problem for three reasons:

1 - I plan to work my way through every solo I can lay my hands on and assign ranges, posting them up here.

2 - I also plan to create a generic list of all monsters commonly found in Trollworld; adding ranges; which should cover most of what I miss with point one.

3 - A new feature I'm working on called the Wandering Monster Stable will give you themed wandering monster tables; including ranges; that you can insert into any solo you already happen to own that uses the wandering monster mechanic. The idea being that you can season your solo's to taste. :0).

Review: The Manor - Issue #1

Cover art by Jason Sholtis.

Trying my luck after my previous win over at Tenkar's Tavern, I decided to give Erik's latest contest a crack.

The name of the game was to design a mercurial magical effect (a magical effect triggered by the casting of a spell) for DCC. Now, whilst I have no actual experience of the DCC system there was no actual mechanical requirements within your entry, just creativity, so I certainly fancied my chances and, found that once I'd conjured up one idea, the creative juices just kept on flowing.

A long story short, I won! And, for my prize I had the choice of either The Manor - Issue #1 or, The Manor - Issue #2.

Possessing neither, I decided best to start at the start and, I chose Issue #1. I am not disappointed! In fact, I'm quite enthused!

Let me just start my actual review by saying that this zine is amazing! It arrived this morning and already I have read it cover-to-cover, twice! It was that good, I just had to read it again and, I'm not what you would call a big reader (normally a book a year, if that). Something tells me I'll be reading it again before the day's through too.

But what's got me hooked?

For a start, I'm really digging the format. The book is a sweet A5 size with card stock covers (reminiscent of great products such as Buffalo Castle and lending a real sense of overall quality) and, extremely well laid out. The art is beautiful throughout and, each article is written in a narrative style that is both easy to follow and also complimentary to the subject matter.

Then there is what you actually get wrapped up in these 24 pages. A short GM adventure, a random treasure table, poetry, adventure hooks, NPC's and, some excellent wilderness encounters. That's a lot of bang for $3.50.

I know I say it quite often but, this is a must own for almost any gamer. Even if you have no plan of running retro-clone anytime soon, it's a great read and, extremely entertaining.

Pick up your copy of Issue #1 and, Issue #2 here ($3.50 each) or, as a PDF here ($2.50 each).

Borador: "It's Worth How Much!"

Buffalo Castle has always been a go to solitaire adventure for me.

In the early days this was largely due to the fact that it was one of the only adventures that I happened to own. I had picked it up at the same time as the 5.5 rulebook from a second-hand book stall, Tunnels and Trolls products where hard to come by back then and, this was long before the days of DriveThruRPG.

I still love coming back to Buffalo Castle though. It's my training ground for new delvers and, an absolute classic of a dungeon hack. So with the creation of Borador in my last post, there was only one place I could send him. :0).

What follows is a play report of what I can only describe as being my most memorable experience among my many journeys here over the years yet. I didn't delve far (for reasons that will become quite apparent, pretty quickly) but, I'm pretty sure with what I managed to achieved in those few encounters I broke some kind of record. A personal record if nothing else.

The first paragraph of Buffalo Castle places you in front of the castle itself, with the option of picking up some useful items at a knock-down price. Admittedly, this was no use to me as I was flat broke but, hey, the offer was a nice touch. So with shopping out of the question, it came down to a straight choice between three doors and nothing to pick between them. So I chose left. What's the worst that could happen?

Well considering that in the very next chamber I entered after walking along a short corridor sat a troll on a treasure chest things weren't looking great. This is by all accounts the same troll that splattered the last Dwarf to come this way.

As I saw it negotiation wasn't really an option here and, given the animosity between the two kindreds it seemed unrealistic to hope for anything other than a bloody out come, so I figured, attack! Attack!! ATTACK!! Crossbow out in a flash, I took aim and unleashed hell.

Making the L2SR on DEX seemed like a sure thing with such a high value in DEX and 4+26 was certainly going to make a dent in the troll if not kill it outright. So I rolled. I rolled a 1 and a 2! Disaster! My bow string broke and the troll looked less than impressed. Crap!

Predictably the troll spent the next few rounds bashing Borador from wall to wall, all of which thankfully got soaked up by his armor. The spite damage was beginning to add up though and 4 rounds in he had lost 1/4 of his CON while the troll had only taken one pitiful flesh wound.

Enough was enough and Borador had taken more than his fill. Considering that I had little to lose in the way of defense, I opted for all out attack, throwing myself at the troll screaming, bleeding and, yelling general abuse the trolls way that brought into question its parentage.

Boy did that ever work!! In a complete reversal of fate, the troll only managed a measly CBT of 25 (after rolling 4 1's and a 2) compared to Borador's mighty 48.

BLAMM!!

After this point it was only a matter of a couple of rounds before the troll was mince meat.. Much like my crossbow (which I had pinned a lot of hopes on). Still, it could be repaired, so I decided to I would take it with me. Certain that the troll had to be guarding something of value, I opted to loot the chest, finding a jewel worth 300GP and, my successful ransack roll revealing a small pouch of rough cut crystals worth in the region of 120GP.

So, my first encounter hadn't been the walk in the park I had been expecting but it was at least worthwhile.

From here it was another straight up choice between two doors with nothing to pick between them. One to the north and one to the west. I figured that the heart of the castle probably lay ahead... So I decided to head west. After all, I didn't want to venture straight into the maws of something nastier than a troll just yet and, there could well be more treasure to be had around the outer walls.

The door here lead straight into another chamber and, straight into another fight! This time with a giant snake. Well, it was certainly no troll, combat was swift and brutal in the favor of our hero but, he took one nasty nick and that was all it took. This giant serpent was of the venomous variety and that one small wound was more than enough to get its poison cursing through Borador's veins.

The effects of the venom caused Borador to lose half of his STR for the rest of this adventure, which also translated to him losing half of his Combat Adds. So now I had lost more than a 1/4 of my CON, Half my STR, Half of my Combat Adds and, my Crossbow was little more than fancy firewood. Only two rooms in I decided it was time to retreat. Not before i ransacked the room however, which turned up a silver ring set with a cluster of small polished stones and a solid silver crown adorned with rubies.

Nice! with a combined value of 2,480GP the hell that Borador was being put through almost seemed worthwhile. It did lead me to question just where all these gems and pieces of jewelery where coming from but, being in such bad shape I figured I would look for answers when I was safely rested up at an inn or tavern somewhere, which hopefully wouldn't be too far away as the exit was within sight. Only a few more feet...

When another snake decided to rear it's scaly head. Sword still in hand, combat was a quick affair and it was then that Borador noticed something odd. This snake had swallowed something or, at least someone wearing it. There it was, a cheap brass brooch set with a kings ransom of turquoise stones worth something close to 13,505GP.

Amazing! This has to be far my biggest find in any random treasure haul, in any solo adventure that I have played to date. I still had the room to ransack too! Which not wanting to hang around to be attacked again, I cracked on with. This search turned up another small pouch, this time containing assorted variety of studs with a combined value of 3,520GP. Another great find!

So securing all of his loot Borador stepped back out into the daylight and prepared to begin the journey into town. He would now have to broker all of the gems for coin to help repay his clans debt, seek the help of an apothecary, find a place to rest and, of course replace that bow string. ;0).

Totting this up Borador managed to walk away with 104AP and the following:

4 Mithril Studs, each set with a medium piece of rough cut Onyx (520GP, 6WU Each).
6 Copper Studs, each set with 11 medium sized pieces of rough cut crystal (440GP, 56WU Each).
Brass Brooch set with 60 big rough cut Turquoise Stones (13,505GP, 605WU).
Jewel (300GP, 1WU).
Silver Crown set with 7 medium sized polished Rubies (2,110GP, 45WU).
Silver Ring set with 40 small polished Turquoise Stones (370GP, 42WU).
Small pouch of 60 small rough cut pieces of Crystal (120GP, 62WU).

Total value: 21,125GP

Not bad for a second level Dwarf eh?

Solo Adventures: You Are The GM.

One of the biggest faltering points that I have found as a solo gamer is a tendency to adhere without question to the rules. Sure, you need rules but, there is more than enough room for "flexibility" in some areas of play. Namely for the purposes of this post, character design.

I will be honest and say that this hasn't always been the case for me and growing up on a steady diet of structure and order often left me clinging to the letter of the text when it came to rulebooks.

Tunnels and Trolls has helped me shake this off this bad habit though and, now I play the character that I want to play. Which is the point isn't it?

When I sit down for a solo adventure I want to have fun and, what fun is it to play a as a character that is little more than a collection of numbers? Playing a character for me doesn't mean just rolling a few dice and, picking the best weapon and armor my rolls will allow. It's about fleshing those dice rolls out and breathing some life into them.

So, whilst you may not be too happy with your dice rolls, you should still always be happy with your character. If you've done it right anyhow. A prime example of getting it wrong can be found here.

This guy followed the letter of the rules, felt down trodden by poor dice rolls that didn't allow him a sporting chance and as a result got splattered in his first combat encounter... But what could he have done different?

Well, with Tunnels and Trolls there are ALWAYS saving rolls! About to be crushed to death by a giant? Have a saving roll. Want to grab for that loose root on the cliff face as you are plunging to your death? That's a saving roll too and, combat is no exception. In fact there is a fine post on just that subject right here.

So, the Dwarf may not be quite as doomed to a quick and messy death as it would first seem but with attributes like that, it's only a matter of time.

As a rule of thumb if you have three or more attributes below 10 at generation, you may as well roll over. Don't get me wrong, playing the underdog can be fun but, with rolls like that, you won't be playing them for long!

The next thing I would have suggested doing do is ditching the concept of starting gold. After all, if your character had money to their name they'd probably be spending their time in the tavern seeking wine and song instead of opportunities to risk life and limb.

This is where my method of character generation comes in.

Once I have rolled up a characters attributes, I skip the gold roll and instead try to picture my alter ego mentally. What are they wearing? What are they carrying? What makes sense? Two daggers make a great combination for any starting character with sufficient DEX but, just how many knife fighters can you play without it becoming a tad unrealistic, even for fantasy fiction?

Instead, if I imagine my character as an archetypal knight, why can't they start play with a full suit of plate armor, shield and, broadsword? Maybe even a warhorse for a steed. The only real limitations I should be looking at here are, my characters attributes and common sense. If my character for example only had a STR of 10, then there in no way in hell that they could possibly stand up in that armor, let alone move. 

Now I know that this sounds simplistic but remember that imagination is the life blood of roleplaying, not dice rolling and, not look up tables. So as a result, the freedom of playing the character "as you see them" (as opposed to what your gold roll would have allowed), will give you a far more satisfactory experience.

Lets give it a try and see if we can create a Dwarf that has both a fighting chance and, that would be fun to play.

As I can't show you the image that I have in my mind however, lets take Borador of Baldur's Gate fame as an example.

Borador, Dwarven Rogue

Name: Borador.
Kindred: Dwarf.
Type: Rogue.
Level:  2.

Strength: (11) 22
Constitution: (12) 24
Dexterity: (12 TARO, 14) 26
Speed: 12
Intelligence: 14
Wizardry: 8
Luck: (16) 11
Charisma: 11

Combat Adds: +24
Missile Adds:  +36

Languages:
Common, Dwarf, Dark Elf

Weapon:
Short Sword (3+0, 30WU)
Light Crossbow (4+0, 120WU)

Armor:
A Suit of Soft Leather (5 hits, full body, 75WU).

Other Items:
A Small Pack (as a belt pouch but with a secure fastener, 5WU), a Set of 3 Lock Picks (on belt, 6WU), Concealed picks (one in his boot, one inside his glove, 4WU), 10 Quarrels (in a separate bespoke belt holster, 10WU), Clean clothes (100WU), Eye Patch (1WU).

Talents:
Roguery (CHR/ INT/ LK+6): As per the 7.5 rule book.
Ransack (INT / LK+2): When searching an object or location for loot Borador may make an open ended SR on his Ransack Talent (adding his Roguery bonus). Every level of success allows him one roll on the Random Treasure Generator as well as the possibility of finding key items (such as clues, keys etc) as appropriate.

Borador may only use this ability once per object or location.

Goal:
To repay the debt that his clan owes to the Dark Elves (65,000 GP), which will in turn restore both their honor and standing within the Dwarven community.

So there we have it and, what a transformation it is!

Borador is a Rogue, not a Warrior... Which is fine! Although the text in the adventure specifies that no magic users are allowed and, Borador is indeed capable of casting spells, he knows none. So, what's the harm?

Even if he could cast a spell there is no real reason why you couldn't use him in this adventure as the limitation is purely mechanical and nothing to do with the story. It has to be remembered Buffalo Castle was the first solitaire adventure, EVER, and it was sometime before the idea of the Magic Matrix was thought up.

So it is less a case of an anti-kremm field surrounding the castle itself and, more a case of that if you do want to use magic, you'll also to use your own judgment when determining it's effects. Combat magic is fairly straight forward though, so I see no reason that you can't throw a TTYF! or two about if you so desire.

Borador as we said though has no magic. Which is unusual as all Rogues in 7.5 begin play with one. So where did it go?

I swapped it! I have always hated the idea of Dwarves being able to use magic, no matter how high the fantasy and, the concept character from Baldur's Gate had certainly never shot off a Magic Missile in his life. He sure did love to ransack stuff though and, in fact begins the game with that very ability. So swapping his spell for a Talent that I essentially turned into a spell like ability was pretty much a no-brainer for me.

The ability had to be tweaked though. The original ran on a D% and Tunnels and Trolls is D6 all the way. That said the dice involved wasn't anywhere near as important as the function of the ability in my opinion, which was to loot extra treasure. Understandable considering the HUGE debt that Borador and his clan owes to less than savory folk. He needs it!

Lastly, I should give a mention to level. The adventure states clearly that it is for first level characters and Borador, even before his first delve is a level 2 Rogue. Not to worry though as this is again simply a matter of the old rules saying one thing and the new rules saying something else.

In older versions of the rules all characters began at first level regardless of their attributes. A character could TARO to the Nth degree at generation and they would still only begin play at the first level of experience.

This was amended in later editions however and, now a character's level of experience is based purely on their attributes (so it is actually possible to lose levels as well as gain them!) Borador was designed using these rules, so is really no different than a 1st level Dwarf from those earlier editions.

So, there we have it. A new way of looking at things and a new player character just bursting with potential. Next stop, Buffalo Castle. There's a troll he wants words with and rooms to be ransacked. ;0).