On The Cards: Loot-O-Matic, But First An Intermission

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Well it looks like I have a new project on my hands with the Loot-O-Matic
series of posts, but before I get ahead of myself (as the weapons and armor tables promise to be a bit wee beasties) I thought I would stop and update you all on what I have in the pipeline for the blog.

Digital Dungeons: This feature will look at how dungeons in video-games stack up when you bring them to the tabletop. I'm still ironing out the details out on this one but I may go as far as converting several notable (to me at least) dungeons, getting them ready to run, before unleashing them upon my unsuspecting fellow gamers. ;0).

Geeks Do It Better: This one's already kicked off and the natural predecessor to DMotivational that has officially been retired (well, for now).

Going Solo: This is something that I have talked about more than once, as a lot of the gaming that I used to do used to be solitaire (it took a long time to find a local group and I was an only child). As a result of having time on my hands and solitaire / Co-Op games not being readily available, I got creative. I found ways of playing the games that I had and loved without another player. So taking the lessons and tricks that I learned as a child and teen I hope to make some of the other great games in my collection more accessible to other player that find themselves in the same boat as I was. 

Wandering Monster Stable: I gave a quick mention to this on the back end of my last Loot-O-Matic post. What I plan to do here is create a series of wandering monster tables that you can plug into any existing solitaire adventure that you happen to own, giving it a new lease of life. Each table will be themed to bring a different flavor to your adventure depending upon your particular tastes, with the first favoring one of my personal favorite classes of monster, the Undead!

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).