Fighting The Power Creep: Part The Second

Carrying on from my last Tunnels & Trolls post, where I set out to slay the power creep; an evil creature from the Mountains of Dice, and with attributes running into the thousands; I have created a couple of more house rules that can significantly help alter the tempo of game play..

I have also come to notice that what initially started out as a series of quick fixes is fast becoming / may well become its own rulebook!

AP scaling and the "Goldilocks Zone"

One of the biggest problems with the 7.x rules as they are written is the amount of AP it takes to raise any one attribute, a mere 10 times the current value of the attribute. This seems way too generous to me and, takes a lot of challenge out of the delving experience. Especially when you compare this to older editions, for example 5.5.

Example: A truly average character, Generic Erik has a score of 10 in each and every attribute. The 1000 AP that it would ordinarily take to raise one attribute under 5.x by at best two could equally raise five separate attributes by one point a piece using 7.x.

The other end of the scale that I have seen amongst the rulebooks (7.0 I believe), costs increasing any attribute at 100 times its current value in AP. This seems way too harsh to me. It bogs down character development, and can detract from fun and spontaneous play. Players need a measure of their progress and, their characters are it.

My solution would be to set the AP cost of increasing any given attribute by one at 50 times the current attribute value. You can of course set the value to whatever you wish but, I find that 50 works best for me. It keeps play moving, but doesn't remove the element of challenge from the game.

Whatever value decide to elect though should be carefully considered, as it will have a HUGE impact on your game.

Modified Modifiers
Not a big problem but, a common criticism of Tunnels & Trolls is how the modifiers massively effect play and, player choice. Let's face it, you'd have to be mad to play as a Human off the bat, especially in solo land where survival is the name of the game.

 

It's not that Humans are a bad choice (an extra Talent is nothing to be sneezed at) but, when the modifiers given to a Dwarf make them excellent Warriors, and Warriors are the only character Type that can play through most solo's, it's clear to see why most players pick them.

This also creates a problem with the way that level is measured in 7.x. Whilst it makes more sense to me to have level measured against your actual ability (your attributes), the scale used to measure your level is set to a "Human Average". So starting play as a Dwarf in 7.x can often mean that you roll up a second level character, which just doesn't "feel" right.

 

My solution, convert the multipliers in the rulebook into more manageable modifiers, akin to those in the "other game". Here's what I have for the Common Kindreds so far:

New Common Kindred Modifiers

Dwarf

CON: +3, LK: -1, STR: +3

Elf

CON: -1, CHR: +3, INT: +2, LK: +2, WIZ: +3

Fairy

CON: -3, CHR: +3, DEX: +3, LK: +3, STR: -3, WIZ: +3

Hobbit

CON: +3, DEX: +2, LK: +2, STR: -2

Leprechaun

DEX: +2, INT: +2, LK: +2, STR: -2

I'm still working on few further house rules to accompany the new system but  my current thoughts are that no attribute should ever drop below three at creation. If it does, it's value becomes three. The alternative to this is to say that if the modifier would drop an attribute to below three, that character cannot become that Kindred. Favoring freedom though, I much prefer the former.

I'm also considering a number of other options related to Kindred, including inherent powers, where for example a Minotaur may be better at charging his foe, whilst Skeletons take less damage from slashing weapons (but more from smashing ones). There's also the matter of drawing a line between "natural" and "created" Kindreds, along with any number of other loose ends..

Yup, there's a lot more in the power creep yet but, that's all for now folks.

Alchemy's Workbench #11: Putting Meat On The Bones

In my last post, I made comment that I would be looking to tweak the new release of Dungeon!, the classic board game of dungeon crawling. Despite a couple of questionable choices with the revamp, this was nothing to do with Dungeon! being a bad game. I just think that it could be more.

So here's what I have brewing so far:

Leveling up: Whenever you roll a double that is greater than your current level (you start at level 1), you go up one level. This should give a nice curve to progression, making it harder to achieve higher levels, which I feel is truly representative of early role playing games (and more modern ones come to think of it). I intend to introduce bonuses based on class and race that will be gained at various levels but those are still very much on the drawing board.

Character Generation: Instead of going with the box standard Halfling Rogue, Elven Wizard etc, players will be able to mix and match race and class as they wish. The treasure target will depend upon the combination selected, so whilst certain races may offer bigger benefits to the player, they will need to earn more treasure in order to win.

The race / class build list looks like this so far, using those in the base game:

Class

Rogue: +5,000 GP

Cleric: +5,000 GP

Fighter: +10,000 GP

Wizard: +15,000 GP

Race

Halfling: +5,000 GP

Dwarf: +5,000 GP

Human: +10,000 GP

Elf: +15,000 GP

So a Human Rogue would need to collect 15,000 GP worth of treasure and return to the Great Hall to win the game and, would have access to the Rogues and Humans bonuses as they leveled up.

That's all that I have so far but I also have a few ideas for the bonuses that certain classes / races might grant the player as well as a few other modifications that I would like to add to the game, including different "Monster Attacks" tables for different classes, maybe introducing puzzles in addition to monsters and traps that simply cause a player to lose turns instead of inflicting damage upon failure to overcome them. The actual monsters, their levels and, their values also seriously need tweaking.

Dungeon! (2012): Huh?

I finally picked up a copy of the Wizards of the Coast re-release of the dungeon crawling classic, Dungeon! and, on closer inspection I have been left wondering, well, huh?

As much as I appreciate Wizards breathing new life into this game and opening it up to a new generation of gamers, without forcing them to trawl E-Bay, a number of the changes that they have made have left me puzzled. Some of which just defy logic.

For example, one of the cosmetic changes that they have made is to include a minotaur, which is great. Minotaurs are a firm favorite of mine. But as a level 1 monster? Really? A minotaur on the same level as goblins and kobolds. Level 2 is only orcs and hobgoblins and, you're telling me they're tougher than minotaurs!? The values that they have assigned to defeat these monsters seems more than a little arbitrary as well.

The other major change (other than a tweak to the way magic swords work) is to the characters. This change is purely cosmetic, meaning that instead of Elves, Heroes, Super Heroes and, Wizards you now have Halfling Rogues (instead of the Elf), Dwarven Clerics (instead of the Hero), Human Fighters (instead of the Super Hero) and, Elven Wizards (instead of the Wizard).

Despite being purely a re-branding of the old characters, I did find it interesting that the introduction of Dwarves, Clerics and, Halflings didn't draw upon the expansions for those very classes released for earlier versions of Dungeon!

So all in all, the new release has raised a lot of questions, for me at least, but I am sure as with the previous versions the fans will set it straight in the long run. I may even have a crack myself. As a start though, some veteran players have released some interesting variants on the Wizards website that are worth a look.

Dungeon Masters Series #14: Stamm Bladecaster

Name: Stamm Bladecaster.
Kindred: Dwarf.
Type: Warrior.
Level:  5.

Strength: 52
Constitution: 54
Dexterity: 24
Speed: 8
Intelligence: 22
Wizardry: 8
Luck: 15
Charisma: 17

Combat Adds:  +54
Missile Adds:  +66

Languages:
Common, Dwarven

Weapon:
Dwarven War Axe (6+2, STR: 25, DEX: 8, 240 WU).

Armor:
Leather Trouser (1 hit, 40 WU).

Other Items:
Ankle-High Soft Leather Boots (15 WU), Cotton Tunic (15 WU).

Talents:
At One With The Earth (INT+4): A life spent largely underground grants you a bonus when trying to navigate your way through environments made primarily of stone (Tunnels, Caves, Dungeons etc).

Barter (CHR+6): Dwarves love a bargain and, Stamm is stingier than most.

When selling goods Stamm can get his level x5% more for items and, when buying goods Stamm pays his level x5% less. This cannot reduce or increase the value of items by more than 50%.

Brute Strength (STR+5): You may add 5 to your combat total every round due to your innate Dwarvish strength.

Resist Intoxication (CON+1): This bonus applies to any substance that would normally debilitate an individual (Ale, Wine, Poisons that cause paralysis etc). 

Stonecutter (INT+3): Grants you a bonus in detecting changes in stonework and naturally formed stone (changes in elevation, secret walls, stonework traps etc).

DMotivational #33: Earning XP, 4th Edition Style.

Dungeon! Variants #1

Not long now before I can lay my hands on the re-release of Dungeon! Which has got me working away, digging up all the old material I had lying around for my original copy.

Material that thankfully I wont need to re-type thanks to this gentleman here. That said though, I have had to edit parts of the document (mostly to make better sense of it myself), which you can read below.

Dwarves and Clerics in Dungeon! And a Pair of New Treasures and Some New Monsters to Make the Pot Sweeter by Gary Gygax.  

In order to add a new dimension to the character types in Dungeon! we have added the Dwarf and the Cleric.

The former is in the strength category of the Elf and Hero; the latter is designed to compete with the Superhero and Wizard. In playing we have found that both new types are viable and have about the same chance as the others to win if they are played properly.

For the six-player game of Dungeon! it is highly recommended that each player operate as one of the six types, allowing no two of the same type on the board.

THE DWARF: The Dwarf fights as an Elf, so simply use that score on each monster card which applies to the Elf when combatting monsters. Likewise, the Dwarf needs 10,000 gold pieces to win.

Although the Dwarf does not open secret door any better than a Hero (1 or 2 on 1D6), he does detect and remove Traps easily. Therefore, whever a Dwarf enters a space containing a trap, he simply puts it in the discard pile, ignoring the results of the trap, and freely picking up any treasure thereunder.

THE CLERIC: It will be necessary to add two types of spells for Clerical use:

• Hold: This spell causes the monster it is thrown upon to defend at -2 (ad +2 to the dice roll of the Cleric), and in addition, the monster does not get a dice roll in the event that the Cleric fails to kill the monster when he combats it.
• Transference: Simply use the Wizard's Teleport spell. If there are several Wizard's playing in the game, additional cards may have to be made up.

The Cleric fights as a Hero against all monsters except Undead (Skeletons, Wights, Wraiths, Mummies, Spectres and, Vampires) and, Evil Heroes, Evil Superheroes, Witches and Evil Wizards. In these cases, he fights as a Superhero.

Also, although the Cleric cannot ambush others, he may be ambushed, but if he is ambushed he fights as a Superhero.

The Cleric may take a maximum of four spells at any time (Hold and/or Transference in any combination). He may replenish spells just as a Wizard does.

When rolling on the PLT, the Cleric treats "Seriously Wounded" as a "Retreat 1 space, lose 1 prize, lose 1 turn". In all other cases, he cannot be wounded or lose a turn, but he can be killed or lose prizes. The Cleric needs 20,000 gold pieces to win.

New Prize Cards: With the new characters, it is suggested that the following new prizes be added:

• Boots of Speed: Amend the lowest value Third Level Prize Card to read: "Boots of Speed: Increase movement by 1 space per turn"
• Magic Armor: Amend the lowest value Fifth Level Prize Card to read: "Magic Armor: When rolling on the PLT, add +1 on rolls of 2-6, -1 on rolls of 8-10 and 12. Rolls of 7 or 11 are not affected. Additional value: 1,500 Gold Pieces."

New Monsters: Simply amend existing monsters as indicated below in order to make the game more interesting. The numbers following the name of the new monster correspond to the numbers shown on the card for Lightning, Fire Ball, Wizard, Superhero, Hero and Elf.

• First Level --
  • On Skeleton card: Zombie 3,3,7,4,5,6
  • On Hobgoblin card: Orcs 5,2,6,4,6,4
  • On Giant Lizard card: Anti-Magic Trap! "All magic and spells. Gone!"
• Second Level --
  • On Hobgoblin card: Gnolls 4,4,7,5,8,6
  • On Hobgoblin card: Harpy 3,3,5,6,7,7
  • On Giant Spider card: Owl Bear 4,4,9,4,6,7
• Third Level --
  • On Ogre card: Fireball Trap! "Roll on PLT,7=8, 11=10. Prizes lost are destroyed!"
  • On Werewolf card: Evil Priest 7,7,8,6,7,8
  • On Mummy card: Wight 10,5,7,6,8,9
• Fourth Level --
  • On Evil Superhero card: Manticore 6,6,11,9,10,11
  • On Troll card: Wyvern 8,8,9,8,10,10
  • On Mummy card: Wraith 6,6,8,8,9,10
• Fifth Level --
  • On Green Slime card: Fire Elemental 5,--,12,9,10,12
  • On Troll card: White Dragon 10,5,12,9,11,12
  • On Giant card: Spectre 8,8,9,7,9,11
• Sixth Level --
  • On Vampire card: Demon 9,--,11,10,12,--
  • On Purple Worm card: Basilisk 10,8,12,10,12,12
  • On Blue Dragon card: Earth Elemental --,6,--,9,11,--

If you do not wish to actually mark up the monster cards, simply put an "X" on a corner of the face and the a code number to indicate which new monster it is. Have fun!