Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Fantasy Trip Glitches, Contradictions, Ambiguities

Some Guy From Mars · 06-10-2018, 08:23 PM

I always have felt TFT is a great game in and of itself and would have no cause for complaint if SJG re-releases ‘as is’ without any significant changes or revisions. That said, TFT is by no means perfect, and similar to many here, I helped develop ‘house rules’ to help address any issues that potentially found wanting, including but not limited to:

1. Death
I cannot think of a RPG in which death has such a feeling of finality than TFT. Once its strength reaches -0-, your character is dead. There are two ways to look at things here. On one hand, I always enjoyed going on a campaign with beginning 32-point characters because it forces everyone involved to exercise a certain element of strategic caution and work together in the process- despite an attrition rate often approaching 50%. On the other hand, it can be disconcerting to lose a character in which you have invested several years to a random max damage roll or ill-timed triple damage roll of the dice.

In my opinion, the current rules are a bit unforgiving in this regard and recommend minor tweaks in the form of breaking off Hit Points from Strength. How do the two differ? Hit Points would represent Strength + Strength divided by two and rounded down. A 13 Strength character, for example, would have Hit Points totaling 19. If said character takes anywhere from 13 to 19 points of damage it is unconscious. Death is at 20.

To avoid potentially abusing the rules I would cap out the number of Hit Points in excess of Strength at 10. In the unlikely event someone gets a character up to Strength 30, Hit Points would be 40 and not 45.

2. Defense
Modern day boxing reveals some fighters to be more difficult to hit than others, noting defensive specialist Floyd Mayweather Jr. Others such as Rocky Marciano, for instance, would eschew defense in order to absorb 3 or 4 blows from an opponent to land one telling blow of his own. It worked either way in that both fighters retired undefeated.

One of the few minor issues I have with TFT is how it has no rule provisions to account for defense. A character with an adjusted Dexterity of 16, for instance, is no more difficult to hit that one with DX of 8. Wouldn’t a higher DX character, similar to the as noted Mayweather, have the agility and quickness to fight defensively if it so wished?

The issue of defense in TFT is problematic in that you do not want to break the spirit of the game by including a Parry role, which can extend combat indefinitely. An old issue of ‘Interplay’ included an article about a series of Talents called Defensive Quickness. In terms of specifics, a character with DQ 1 would require a 4 die roll against DX to hit; 5 dice for DQ 2, etc. Our gaming group tested the rules and they did not prove playable due to the fact they also slowed the game down with too many roles of the dice.

So how do you add an element of defense to TFT without breaking the spirit of the game? My thought is to utilizes Defensive Quickness but in a significantly altered form. Following are how the talents breakdown:

IQ 8
Defensive Quickness 1 (1). This is the ability to fight defensively. When attacking a character with DQ 1, an automatic miss is rolled on a 15 and 16. Prerequisite is an adjusted DX of 14 or greater.

IQ 9
Defensive Quickness 2 (1). This is a greater ability to fight defensively. When attacking a character with DQ 2, an automatic miss is rolled on a 14, 15 and 16. Prerequisite is an adjusted DX of 15 or greater.

IQ 10
Defensive Quickness 3 (1). An even greater ability to fight defensively. When attacking a character with DQ 3, an automatic miss is rolled on 13, 14, 15 and 16. Prerequisite is an adjusted DX of 17 or greater.

One caveat: A character using a tower shield or wearing any form of plate armor (half plate, plate, fine plate) is unable to use Defensive Quickness. My thought is to avoid situations in which we have near invulnerable characters with fine plate + Warrior/Veteran + DQ 1, 2 & 3.

Restrict DQ to unarmed combat in addition to leather and chainmail. The following character, for instance, is potentially very formidable but also very fun to play: fine hand and a half sword (one handed) + fencing + chainmail + large shield + DQ 1, 2 & 3.

06-10-2018, 08:23 PM	#91
Some Guy From Mars Join Date: Jun 2018 Location: Phoenix, Arizona	Re: Fantasy Trip Glitches, Contradictions, Ambiguities I always have felt TFT is a great game in and of itself and would have no cause for complaint if SJG re-releases ‘as is’ without any significant changes or revisions. That said, TFT is by no means perfect, and similar to many here, I helped develop ‘house rules’ to help address any issues that potentially found wanting, including but not limited to: 1. Death I cannot think of a RPG in which death has such a feeling of finality than TFT. Once its strength reaches -0-, your character is dead. There are two ways to look at things here. On one hand, I always enjoyed going on a campaign with beginning 32-point characters because it forces everyone involved to exercise a certain element of strategic caution and work together in the process- despite an attrition rate often approaching 50%. On the other hand, it can be disconcerting to lose a character in which you have invested several years to a random max damage roll or ill-timed triple damage roll of the dice. In my opinion, the current rules are a bit unforgiving in this regard and recommend minor tweaks in the form of breaking off Hit Points from Strength. How do the two differ? Hit Points would represent Strength + Strength divided by two and rounded down. A 13 Strength character, for example, would have Hit Points totaling 19. If said character takes anywhere from 13 to 19 points of damage it is unconscious. Death is at 20. To avoid potentially abusing the rules I would cap out the number of Hit Points in excess of Strength at 10. In the unlikely event someone gets a character up to Strength 30, Hit Points would be 40 and not 45. 2. Defense Modern day boxing reveals some fighters to be more difficult to hit than others, noting defensive specialist Floyd Mayweather Jr. Others such as Rocky Marciano, for instance, would eschew defense in order to absorb 3 or 4 blows from an opponent to land one telling blow of his own. It worked either way in that both fighters retired undefeated. One of the few minor issues I have with TFT is how it has no rule provisions to account for defense. A character with an adjusted Dexterity of 16, for instance, is no more difficult to hit that one with DX of 8. Wouldn’t a higher DX character, similar to the as noted Mayweather, have the agility and quickness to fight defensively if it so wished? The issue of defense in TFT is problematic in that you do not want to break the spirit of the game by including a Parry role, which can extend combat indefinitely. An old issue of ‘Interplay’ included an article about a series of Talents called Defensive Quickness. In terms of specifics, a character with DQ 1 would require a 4 die roll against DX to hit; 5 dice for DQ 2, etc. Our gaming group tested the rules and they did not prove playable due to the fact they also slowed the game down with too many roles of the dice. So how do you add an element of defense to TFT without breaking the spirit of the game? My thought is to utilizes Defensive Quickness but in a significantly altered form. Following are how the talents breakdown: IQ 8 Defensive Quickness 1 (1). This is the ability to fight defensively. When attacking a character with DQ 1, an automatic miss is rolled on a 15 and 16. Prerequisite is an adjusted DX of 14 or greater. IQ 9 Defensive Quickness 2 (1). This is a greater ability to fight defensively. When attacking a character with DQ 2, an automatic miss is rolled on a 14, 15 and 16. Prerequisite is an adjusted DX of 15 or greater. IQ 10 Defensive Quickness 3 (1). An even greater ability to fight defensively. When attacking a character with DQ 3, an automatic miss is rolled on 13, 14, 15 and 16. Prerequisite is an adjusted DX of 17 or greater. One caveat: A character using a tower shield or wearing any form of plate armor (half plate, plate, fine plate) is unable to use Defensive Quickness. My thought is to avoid situations in which we have near invulnerable characters with fine plate + Warrior/Veteran + DQ 1, 2 & 3. Restrict DQ to unarmed combat in addition to leather and chainmail. The following character, for instance, is potentially very formidable but also very fun to play: fine hand and a half sword (one handed) + fencing + chainmail + large shield + DQ 1, 2 & 3.