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Old 08-19-2017, 08:23 AM   #5
Dragondog
Never Been Pretty
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Default Re: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game Discussion Thread

{Original Post: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?p=2117834}

Here's my review

Delvers To Go: Interesting starting with some quick rules explanations. An overview of how to read the character sheets of the delvers, and then the delvers. Showing us all professions, cat-folk, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, half-ogre, halfling, human. The only race they didn’t include a delver for was half-orc. Characters that go against type and give us some interesting examples of quirks. The elf, Llandor, whose full name we cannot pronounce, apparently can’t pronounce it either as he doesn’t know elven. They also have a variety of genders and ethnicities. And ending with an ad.

Adventurers: They start with a list of skills divided by their governing attribute and how success rolls work, which is a good and useful summary. Some normal introductory stuff to RPGs, DF, and the like; useful for any newcomers. Character creation is pretty much what we are used to, but condensed and better laid out than the Basic Set.

The templates have more space. And though I had no problem reading them, the division into sections can give a quicker overview of its constituent parts. And it seems to me that template specific rules, like Chi and Holiness, to a greater extent is located with the template rather in its own chapter, which will decrease the need to flip back and forth. There are some interesting new traits, especially for Knights.

They explicitly divide weapons into types, though fairly straight forward, still can be very useful. If for no other reason than removing any guesswork. I like the new armor tables, sorted by the type of armor and you don’t have to go to different tables based on hit location to get all the pieces! There’s even an entry for a complete suit so you don’t have to do the math yourself. And letting the player define the look of their armor is just awesome!

There are two more delvers in this volume, a half-orc knight and a human cleric.

Exploits: It starts with some rules reminders. See a pattern here? You find pretty much what you expect. How to use your traits mechanically. What to do in town. How to get to the dungeon. What to do when you get there. What to bring home. And what can happen to you when things go bad. Ending with a number of tables and an example to play.

GM Screen: I haven’t really used a GM’s screen before, so I can’t say much about it. After a quick look through, it seemed to be fairly thorough. I discovered the new Fright Checks rule. And that Complementary Skill rolls have been included from the get go.

Monsters: I made a fairly quick look through of this volume too. Starting with a reminder of some space/map related rules. It gives some good information on how to use monsters and what the traits you can find on the character sheet means. Monsters have been classified and those classes are explained. There is a variety of monsters and though I haven’t looked at the monsters from GURPS DF much, I recognized some of the monsters from those volumes. And I like these dragons more than the dragons in GURPS Dragons! Those dragons were weak. Unfortunately, there was very little art for a bestiary. And I like how they use quotes from the Delvers to illustrate the volume. They end with some 3 x 5 cards for monsters, traps, and diseases/poisons that can be very useful in a paper game (I mostly play digital, so not so much for me).

Cardboard Heroes: Appears to be a nice selection of monsters and heroes.

Traps: A quick look through showed a variety of traps, including a few riddles. This one is black and white.

Magic Items: A nice set of enchantments and expanded tables covering more than what was shown in DF1. Another black and white volume.

Last edited by PK; 08-20-2017 at 02:49 AM.
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