I ran ROTRL last winter but when my twins were born I just couldn't keep going...I think my players left happy though:)
I've got some time now though, for a rules lite version of Fighting Fantasy. If you don't know what that is, here is a link to an awesome short adventure called 'the love cure'. This is the same gamebooks series that birthed the amazing 'house of hell' by Steve Jackson, the book the scared me half to death when I was about 13.
The rules are basically 1 page long. Any and all character concepts are fine.
The game will be heavy on Role-Playing. Lite rules should make it a fun fill-in between your more serious games. Players will basically resolve combat themselves as described in 'the love cure' and I'll referee, bumping up or toning down challenges via story intjection, ect. We'll throw out lots of cool artifacts to make your characters more powerful as you go, instead of the standard 'leveling' concepts.
We can run any kind of game you want: horror, fantasy, gritty, sci-fi...players decide! Dot in if this sounds like your bag.
I ran ROTRL last winter but when my twins were born I just couldn't keep going...I think my players left happy though:)
I've got some time now though, for a rules lite version of Fighting Fantasy. If you don't know what that is, here is a link to an awesome short adventure called 'the love cure'. This is the same gamebooks series that birthed the amazing 'house of hell' by Steve Jackson, the book the scared me half to death when I was about 13.
The rules are basically 1 page long. Any and all character concepts are fine.
The game will be heavy on Role-Playing. Lite rules should make it a fun fill-in between your more serious games. Players will basically resolve combat themselves as described in 'the love cure' and I'll referee, bumping up or toning down challenges via story intjection, ect. We'll throw out lots of cool artifacts to make your characters more powerful as you go, instead of the standard 'leveling' concepts.
We can run any kind of game you want: horror, fantasy, gritty, sci-fi...players decide! Dot in if this sounds like your bag.
This sounds awesome! I'd be very interested in a fantasy/ high fantasy horror . That would be excellent
doesn't look like we are getting any bites Golard. I think folks want to play full pathfinder. I need rules lite though or I won't have the steam. I really want to be sure I can be a good DM and stick with it...
id like to play, no clue how to, but a page of rules cant be that hard to learn :P
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I am interested :) I grew up playing the "Vault of the Vampire," which is fun and with lots of tension. These games had lots of unavoidable deaths, and part of the fun would be to figure out a path to the end (there could me multiple), which does not quite apply to more humanized games, how are you planning do deal with failures in the tests?
The Vault of the Vampire was quite nicely illustrated, I must say.
Yes they all the FF versions had great artwork!...
@DragonRider: rules are super ease cheeze. I will post an example combat tonight for you, but go ahead and check out 'the love cure' link i posted earlier!
As for death traps and how I will handle them: Yes they would be handled in a more table top manner, but they would exist for sure. I don't know if you ever read "Night of the Necromancer?" It was one of the better FF books in my opinion. You played a ghost and half way through you were told you gained a new ability; you could add up the letters of the names of any character you'd met thus far and go to that page and VWALA! You could posses their bodies! It was gritty good fun. But to the point, in Night of the Necromancer if you died from a death trap you would find yourself in the after-life and have the chance to fight your way through a few challenges, earning the right to come back from the grave...either as yourself if you fought well, or as something else if you didn't.
I would have tricks up my sleeves for the unsuspecting victims of FF deathtraps!
Check back tonight for an example of how i envision a FF combat going...
and hopefully we can drum up a few more players too:)
I'm going to dot for interest. While I AM a huge pathfinder fan, what with rules and formulas and quantum mechanics, I am mostly in all of it for the role-playing. I'd love to see your example and possibly go from there.
I'd be in for something light.
FF example combat, pbp:
DM: suddenly the skeleton comes to life and totters toward you brandishing an ax! You must resolve combat with the skeleton before you can proceed:
skeleton SKILL 13 STAMINA 9
Maltheus the wise SKILL 9 STAMINA 12 LUCK 11: I take it head on! Here we go!
17s, looks like we cross swords
ouch! that hurt...-2 for me, Stamina now 7...your turn Corona!
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Corona Starfreya SKILL 15 STAMINA 10 LUCK 13: i got this! die foo!
i hit! skeleton now down to 7
ouch...your turn Bruzion!
Bruzion the Magical SKILL 4 STAMINA 8 LUCK 31 I'm going to cast a lightning bolt at this beeezoch! That costs 8 luck so now i'm down to 31-8=23, but it shocks him for
. that leaves him with No STAMINA left.
What now DM?
DM: Nice work everyone. The skeleton does crumple to the ground. And that's when you notice the chest in the back of the room. Book options for you:
1. open the chest
2. search the skeleton's body
3. continue looking for the lost princess
Maltheus: I stride over and boldly swing open the chest...what treasure do i find?
DM Book: you hear a click and find yourself engulfed in a diablo style frost nova I guess...everyone test your luck!
Maltheus that's less than 11...I think i'm safe. Now my luck drops to 10
Bruzion I'm luck too. 12 < 23, so I make the roll. Now i'm down to 22 luck. Casting spells is going to be harder now!
Corona Starfreya I drink my LUCK POTION before the lightening hits me so i'm back to full Luck: 18 AND I MAKE THE ROLL TOO! Luck now 17!
DM OKAY, everyone update your status bars to show your current SKILL STAMINA LUCK. This isn't a complicated game but that sure makes it easier!
I'm intrigued. I'd be cool with just about any setting. I just wouldn't be sure how to throw a character together.
Ah shoot, the dice rolls all got recast when I posted. I'm really sorry, the example may not make perfect sense.
I will post the one page rules later tonight and that should clear some things up.
Again, check out the link in my first post for 'the love cure' for the one page rules and a short 18 page FF adventure to get a feel for things.
THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST EVERYONE!
FIGHTING FANTASY PBP RULES -by DM Owlbeard
CHARACTER CREATION
1. Roll 1d6+4, this is your SKILL
2. Roll 1d6+10, this is your STAMINA
3. Roll 1d6+6, this is your LUCK
keep track of these scores like this: SKILL 11/11 STAMINA 9/9 LUCK 5/12.
4. You may accept these scores or choose a focus.
If you decide to focus on magic user style, add 5 to your LUCK, subtract 2 from both your SKILL and STAMINA.
If you decide to focus on fighting style, add 2 to your STAMINA, subtract 2 from your LUCK.
If you decide to focus on theif style, add 2 to your SKILL, subtract 2 from your STAMINA.
5. You are assumed to already have basic equipment suitable to your chosen character. DM reserves rights of course. Also, you may Select one of the following potions to start with:
potion of SKILL, which restores your skill to it's initial score
potion of STAMINA, which restores you to full health
potion of FORTUNE, which restores all your luck points
6. Write a compelling backstory in the high fantasy, gothic horror genre. You will fend off foul creatures of the night, meet sumptuous ladies in waiting, explore twisted castle towers tottering on the cliffs which overhang the violent waves of the Pearl Sea. Make your character accordingly. Anything goes: werewolf is even fine.
COMBAT
You will be told what your challenge is, and give it's SKILL and STAMINA. Then resolve the situation yourself as follows.
First person to post rolls until they get a loss, then the next person rolls. OR you may cast a spell or perform some other feat your character has learned.
1. Roll two dice for your opponent. Add its SKILL score. This total is the opponents Attack Strength.
2. Roll two dice for yourself. Add the number rolled to your current SKILL score. This total is your Attack Strength.
3. If your Attack Strength is higher than your opponent’s is, you have wounded it. Proceed to step 4. If your opponent’s Attack Strength is higher than yours is, it has wounded you. Proceed to step
5. If both Attack Strength totals are the same, you have avoided each other’s blows – start the next Attack Round from steps 1 above.
4. You have wounded your opponent; so subtract 2 points from its STAMINA score. You may use LUCK here to do additional damage (see below). Proceed to step 6.
5. Your opponent has wounded you; so subtract 2 points from your STAMINA score. You may use LUCK to reduce the loss of STAMINA (see below). Proceed to step 6.
6. Make the appropriate adjustments to either your opponents or your own STAMINA scores (and your LUCK score if you used LUCK – see over).
7. Begin the next Attack Round, starting again at step 1 with your current SKILL score. This sequence continues until the STAMINA score of either you or your opponent reaches zero (death). If your
opponent dies, you are free to continue with your adventure. If you die, your adventure ends and you must start all over again by creating a new character.
Luck - at any time during combat you may test your luck by rolling 2d6. If the result is less than your current LUCK you deal an EXTRA 2 points damage on that hit. Or, you may reduce the amount of damage you take on that hit from 2 to 1. In either case, whether you succeed or fail at the test, you must immediately reduce your LUCK by 1 point. So as you can see if you rely on it too much your LUCK will eventually run out!
TESTS
Situations that don't call for full combat will be resolved by testing your SKILL, STAMINA or LUCK similarly to that described above. Roll 2d6 and see if the result is less than your current score. Success or failure will be narrated accordingly. Luck, however, is the only score that get's reduced with use.
Magic is available to anyone. You can select 2 initial spells, subject to DM approval. The rest of your Spells will be found during the game. Casting a spell costs LUCK points. Your initial spells should each cost 2 luck points and be about as powerful as a normal level 1 Pathfinder Character, but you pick the effect. If you choose to permanently FORGO ALL MAGIC you may add 2 to either your SKILL or STAMINA score.
pets No pets to start with. You can find them in the game.[/b]
TREASURE AND ADVANCEMENT
While there is no 'leveling' in FF, you character will grow and find all manner of equipment and special abilities that allow him/her to modify rolls, do extra damage, make 'get outta jail free' type privelges, ect. You may find a genie to grant you wishes, or a black powder pistol good for one free shot per encounter, who knows!
I'll make up a character shortly. For now:
Sounds like this system was made for pbp. Ill play if i can come up with a cool character.
Here's Antoni Kettler, protector of the innocent, destroyer of evil and lover of ladies and ale. I gave up magic to buff up his skill. I'll try and iron out a back story tomorrow.
How in-depth do we need to be about equipment? Is sword and chainmail fine or should we list the tent and such as well? I'll probably take a potion of Stamina to start with.
How horror fantasy can we go?
What do you think of a skeletal knight cursed to undeath for past deeds? Play him melancholy and lamenting for his deeds. He would be quick to sacrafice himself for others. Im not sure what direction to go in the way of spells is all.
@Antoni - just 'sword and chain mail' is fine for now...you will find/buy/choose better gear alot during the game.
@the Dwarf - undead knight should be fine for rules lite like this...especially if it's role played well!
I'm glad we've found a few interested players. I was getting worried!
I'm very glad too this sounds awesome should I pm you my character ?
Yea it's an idea but i'm not real excited about it... What is everyone else doing?
I'm interested in possibly playing a ratfolk gunslinger or a ratfolk sorcerer Although I'm not sure if gunslinger would be allowed I just think it would be fun to role-play Especially in a horror fantasy setting
Ok here is my idea its a little generic but let me know what you think.
Story in the profile.
I would play him in a funny depressing manner with old sensibilities of chivalry. He would constantly lament the loss of his body and such. Kinda Marvin the robot from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
If I'm going too far over the top I have also been wanting to do a dwarven bard. Thats more a concept for pathfinder though.
This is Dave the Dwarf btw
Spells I would like:
Focus-2 luck: Focus will increase you skill rating by 2 until?
Speak with Undead-2 luck: Being undead I think I could have learned to speak to them.
Stamina Potion
Heavy armor (can be in bad condition) and a sword.
Even though the armor is his body Grim can change out the pieces. Its all for flavor not any benefit anyway.
How does that sound?
awesome!
We'll do Vault of the Vampire, the old classic. I've got the book in PDF and I'll doctor it up as we go if needed.
Golard post your character like the others have. Looks like we've got 3 players:
GRIM
Antoni Kettler
Golard's yet to be named character.
Recruitment is still open, we can probably take 5, but if we can't find two more we'll just go with 3...
I''m excited to see how spells and equipment work. How do you determine damage or duration on spells?
Good question Grim. So most of the spells and special attacks your character gets will be the result of equipment you either find or buy. Since you can only have what you can reasonably carry, lots of the game's strategy will be based on the decisions you make in equipment as we go along. I'll just make up a few example effects to give you the idea...
Welcome to Damion the Dwarf's Adventuring Outfitters! For sale today:
1. Boots of the Avenging Spirit if you wear these boots, upon getting hit you take your -2 STAMINA, but you can instantly spend 2 luck points to call upon this familiar spirit, which screaming like the banshee, reflects -2 STAMINA damage back upon your foe. 700 gp
2. Scroll of Backfire this is a magic spell. It can be used once per combat by receiting the magic words written upon it. Spend 2 luck points to roll 2d6. You enemy instantly takes that much STAMINA damage, but your hero also takes STAMINA damage equal to the lower of the two dice.450 gp
3. Blood Rage while wearing this amulet whenever you score two consecutive hits during your turn you go into a blood rage: temporarily increase your SKILL by 2 and decrease your STAMINA by 2 for the remainder of the combat. 350 gp
4. Magician's Gloves of the Last laugh while wearing these white gloves You may force your opponent to re-roll their dice one time during combat. You must accept the re-rolled results.200 gp
5. midas' ring while wearing this ring, automatically double the amount of gold that the text (DM) says you find!5000 gp
A general rule I go by as DM is that in every case, a condition of the effect is that it must be adequately role played!!!
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This type of rules opens up many, many possibilities. The nice thing is that role-playing is highly decoupled from combat, so I can create the character whichever way I want, and when combat mechanics are rolled out, the attributes decide what happens.
Background
The evil emanating from the Castle has been withering the woods around it. With the passing of the last few months, more and more trees have dried out and the animals are being driven away.
The black bear decided to venture into the Castle and destroy the evil that lies inside.
Abilities
SKILL 8, STAMINA 15, LUCK 9.
Items
Wild spirit: the bear invokes the spirits of nature for an effect that acts exactly as a potion of STAMINA; (for consistency purposes, to cover for scenarios in which all equipment can be lost, e.g. in a running river, the spirits may withdraw or deny assistance to the bear).
Spells
Spirits of fire: causes combustion.
Spirits of light: creates light.
now THAT is how you make a character. This bear is awesome...nice work obernardo.
Background & Stats:
Background
Once a lab rat of a deranged alchemist, Rattus was given a soul and consciousness though sadly few morals. Now grown, he's a blunderbuss for hire after nightfall and a social pariah when the sun comes up.
With his creator long passed, Rattus has few loyalties. His one constant in life is his devotion to money.
Stats
Items
His creator's blunderbuss, it's old, prone to misfiring. A run down model, hand made and infused with a beautifully ancient patina... And some of his dead masters insanity.
Okay, i need one more roll from everyone: FAITH 1d6+3. This will be put to the test!
Go ahead and post 'ready' when you are ready to start. Once i see everyone ready we can move to the gameplay thread. I chould be able to submit the first post tonight!
would there still be room for me?
YES. Roll one up!
Gruk-Gruk, the Great Firestarter
- 2 = 10
+ 5 = 15
+ 0 = 5
Let It Burn: Gruk Gruks staff starts on fire, then he hits someone with it, making them start on fire.
gruk gruk is great. Casting either of those fire spells costs 2 luck points. Once on fire the creature takes 1d4 damage and your turn is over.
Nice. nice...
oh, and his one item will be a small tub of blood red chew that acts as a Potion of Fortune
i was thinking that the throw fire spell would do x damage, and the light on fire would do like half, but do it every turn on my turn, or something like that
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...ready.
The last time I played Vault of the Vampire was this January, and I died soon and did not play again. It has been about 17 years since the last time I completed the adventure (if ever), or at least played it intensely, so at decision points about whose possible outcome I know something, I will refrain from participating the decision, so as to avoid any "supernatural knowledge".
Equipment Expanded
Blunderbuss + bullet pouch
Leather jerkin and trousers
A faded and torn cape with hood
Reeeeady!
Yeah, that can work...'light of fire' will do 1d2 damage each roll on your turn until the end of your turn. But it can't do more than 4 damage in a given turn.
one player is ready!