01-09-2018, 11:53 PM | #241 | ||
Join Date: May 2015
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Re: The Fantasy Trip
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Yeah, we also added a Magic Item Breakdown system and table which we really liked (versions of which I still use in GURPS), particularly because we had reached a balance crisis where the challenge of fighting lesser foes without magic was vanishing. But it mainly felt needed/wanted later on. I'd have such things as options rather than core rules (also because some people dislike unreliable magic). |
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01-10-2018, 02:36 AM | #242 | |
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Arizona
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Re: The Fantasy Trip
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01-10-2018, 03:39 AM | #243 | |
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: London Uk, but originally from Scotland
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Re: The Fantasy Trip
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I also had two levels of Clerical Magic: A "Devotee" could cast blessings and call on some minor God powers. The higher level, "Priest" allowed the performance of higher level stuff like performing religious services, consecrating shrines, curses, etc. |
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01-10-2018, 03:54 AM | #244 | |
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
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Re: The Fantasy Trip
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I had played melee, but couldn't find wizard, nor ITL. I got AM, AW, and the 1981 FMC because I found Dragons of Underearth, and saw it as an RPG You're angry that it covered the same material - but for me, it was the gateway to the rest of the game, and the only RPG rules chunk I had access to. See, I found TFT in fall of 1983, courtesy of a friend, and then went looking. The Book Cache (Anchorage, AK) had Melee, Dragons, and several solos; later they got wizard. But none of the "full sized books" - for those, I had to make my way (3 busses) to Spenard Hobby, but first I had to know they existed. I didn't find ITL until about Spring 1987. |
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01-10-2018, 06:43 AM | #245 |
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
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Re: The Fantasy Trip
Regarding classes and classless systems, I’d add that I consider TFT to be functionally classless. The Hero vs. Wizards distinction could be replaced by making a Wizard talent that would let wizards buy spells a lot cheaper, but it’s a much easier and cleaner solution to have the Wizard and Hero distinction.
This is a good thing in my opinion. I think that mechanics and systems should be selected because they work. I don’t mind harmonized systems, but I don’t think there’s that much virtue in harmonization in and of itself. That’s why I don’t object to 5 levels of Unarmed Combat, when most other weapon talents have 1 or 2 levels. Yes, it’s inconsistent with the treatment of other weapon talents. Yes, it works (in my opinion). And no, I don’t care about the inconsistency. (Not trying to reignite the debate on Unarmed Combat; just using it as an example). That may be one of the qualities of Old School gaming - use whatever it takes to get it done. And yes, needless inconsistency can, at some point, be a bad thing. |
01-10-2018, 08:01 AM | #246 | |
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: London Uk, but originally from Scotland
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Re: The Fantasy Trip
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Whether it's simpler to distinguish between characters beyond Attributes and Talents, as presently happens, is debatable. I also don't agree with your idea that "whatever it takes to get the job done" is acceptable. That's what happened with Dungeons and Dragons - a huge morass of inconsistent rules, and why I moved on to something much more logical like TFT. I do agree however, that the unarmed combat talents always worked for us, and I see no reason to change them. I don't think anyone got beyond UCIII in any case. |
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01-10-2018, 11:22 AM | #247 | |
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
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Re: The Fantasy Trip
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I think you also agreed that it might be acceptable to add expert and master level weapon talents in lieu of nerfing Unarmed Combat. That would be my preference. As an alternative, perhaps an explicit comment that GMs should feel free to eliminate Unarmed Combat 3+ talents if they don't want Bruce Lee style characters. UC 1 and 2 make decent general purpose brawling talents. I would, however, either reduce them to IQ 8 talents or provide IQ 8 Fisticuff or Brawling talent(s) that would allow a figure to do 1-2 extra points of damage. |
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01-10-2018, 12:07 PM | #248 | |
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Arizona
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Re: The Fantasy Trip
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01-10-2018, 12:24 PM | #249 |
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
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TFT - Highly skilled characters.
Hi all,
I am totally charmed that TFT is coming back! Great work Steve! When I was playing TFT long ago I was reading the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories by Fritz Lieber, and they had two swords, "Grey Wand" and "Scalpel". I assumed that they were awesome weapons. Fine +2 Damage, & + 1 DX. Super magics too! +2 Charm for sure. Then I read that the blades were broken several times and the heroes always replaced them with similar blades. This blew my mind! F. & the G.M. were awesome not because they had kick ass blades, but because THEY were good. I tried to think how TFT would handle that and nothing really came to mind. Other than just getting more and more DX, how did great swordsmen distinguish themselves from OK ones? I decided then that I would add a bunch more talents to TFT, which would allow more specialization for heroes. More thief talents so great thieves could distinguish themselves from OK ones. More fighting talents. More ranger type talents. etc. This also had the added benefit that high attribute heroes were better balanced with high attribute wizards. So #1 on my wish list for new TFT, is more talents - especially some awesome ones which are hard to get. Warm regards, Rick. Last edited by Rick_Smith; 01-10-2018 at 12:40 PM. Reason: Fixed Grammar |
01-10-2018, 12:27 PM | #250 | |
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Arizona
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Re: The Fantasy Trip
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You'll note a couple of things here -- one, I moved to what was essentially the GURPS advantages/disadvantages system, except I only provided a very limited number of "advantages" (the Talents) that players could take, and no disadvantages. You had to pick and choose. And they didn't change for the rest of the character's life. One of those talents was what GURPS called "Magery" (and what I, in a spurt of sheer poetic imagination, called "magic using ability"), which meant that fighters could take two "useful" talents, but Wizards only got one -- and the ability to use magic, which might be the best one of all. And anyone could learn skills, but Wizards were at the usual disadvantages (the talent of magery forced their minds into different channels and it was hard to cross-over and learn things that other people found relatively easy to learn). And I did all of this before I found GURPS (I was out of the gaming world at large for a number of years, thanks to being stationed in Berlin doing shift-work during the Cold War, followed almost immediately by numerous multi-month deployments to vacation spots like Panama, Saudi Arabia, and the jungles of Honduras, for various wars and other assorted foolishness -- which really limited my ability and time available for gaming of any kind; so I kind of missed GURPS, and most other new games, until about 1993 or so). Last edited by JLV; 01-10-2018 at 01:59 PM. |
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Tags |
in the labyrinth, melee, roleplaying, the fantasy trip, wizard |
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