02-06-2017, 09:50 AM | #31 | ||
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Discworld, Dungeonworld
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02-06-2017, 11:06 AM | #32 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: Discworld, Dungeonworld
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That's one of the later additions with which I have not yet familiarised myself.
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02-10-2017, 11:34 AM | #33 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: Discworld, Dungeonworld
Characters, Cont.
Clerics, Druids, and to a lesser extent Holy Warriors present a problem for Dungeon Fantasy games which aim to preserve a definite Discworld feel. Individuals who fit in at least the first two categories definitely appear in the novels, but they don't display some of the crucial features of the Dungeon Fantasy types; in particular, they don't do much in the way of spell casting. (Although Discworld druids do prove capable of some large-scale magical engineering, including flying giant lumps of rock around the scenery.) Any supernatural powers which Discworld priests do employ are mostly provided directly by their deities, who treat them as sometimes-valued employees meriting some fire support, but who are notoriously casual and unreliable, and often motivated by vanity. Unfortunately, though, clerics really are a crucial element in dungeon fantasy, because they provide healing effects, which are often needed to keep reckless dungeon delvers alive. Moreover, granting wizards access to healing spells seems inappropriate, because Discworld magic has a worrying, eldritch aspect that means that you don't really want it inside your body; see the Discworld RPG, p. 207. So Discworld dungeoneering priests (and their kin) need powers that look like direct divine aid rather than "granted spells". (This is still more than is often seen in the novels, but greater divine interventionism might well be be plausible in the Disc's sword and sorcery era.) The Holy Abilities granted to Dungeon Fantasy Clerics and Holy Warriors go some way to covering this, but are somewhat limited; still, Holy Warriors built around those powers might well be very useful. (Few warriors seen in the novels are terribly devout or saintly, but maybe there used to be a few around.) They can even gain healing abilities if they can scrabble together 33 points, though Faith Healing is a bit restricted. Fortunately, a working solution to this problem appears in Pyramid issue 3/36, with the idea of "Dungeon Saints", which in turn builds on GURPS Powers: Divine Favor. For a Discworld-appropriate dungeoneering cleric, use the Cleric template with the Saint lens; this gives you a priest who gets direct divine aid, from an immanent deity, with a wide variety of options. The healing abilities involved still have the restrictions built into Faith Healing, but this may encourage roleplaying and a bit of careful resource management. Holy Warriors with the Warrior-Saint lens might also be plausible, though a Discworld warrior who spends too much time talking to his gods is going to look a little odd; sticking with the Holy Abilities option may work just as well. Druids are more of a problem, but aren't really so much of a necessity; if you want one anyway, build a Cleric with the Saint lens and some appropriate choices of Learned Prayers, switch weapon skills to something appropriate for sickle swords and daggers, juggle some other skills around to more closely match those in the Druid template, and call them a druid. It might also be worth taking the time to build some new druid-style blessings such as "Flying Obelisk", "Friendly Wolf Pack", or "Entangling Vegetation". To Be Continued...
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02-10-2017, 02:48 PM | #34 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Discworld, Dungeonworld
If someone wanted to go all-out on this, the Mage Wars period (p13) lets them get spectacular.
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02-10-2017, 02:53 PM | #35 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Discworld, Dungeonworld
Incidentally, someone wanted to play a Brutha expy in a DF game and I suggested a dungeon saint, unfortunately the GM didn't want to use those rules, but I still think it would have been exactly what she wanted.
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02-10-2017, 04:02 PM | #36 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: Discworld, Dungeonworld
Yeah, but that gets into "Start using Nobilis for the rules" territory...
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02-11-2017, 07:56 AM | #37 | |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Discworld, Dungeonworld
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Or maybe the Gods only get involved when the Heroes venture out of civilization and into the wild lands and deep dungeons. |
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02-11-2017, 08:45 AM | #38 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: Discworld, Dungeonworld
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Except that they do get all interventionist sometimes. So yes, a bit of divine interventionism is never actually prohibited. There's just, you know, checks and balances (i.e. the prospect of your fellow divinities dog-piling you).
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-- Phil Masters My Home Page. My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG. |
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02-11-2017, 04:25 PM | #39 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: Discworld, Dungeonworld
One scenario I was imagining for a Discworld Dungeon Fantasy setting was the Gods starting up a "Wargames of the Gods" thing where they pick sides (Light vs Dark, Order vs Chaos, Stripes vs Polka-Dots, etc), with one side starting to create monsters, and the other empowering champions to slay them. ...With the twist that both sides were empowering monsters and champions against the other side.
Another scenario I envisioned was the Disc being actively invaded by an outside force, with the Disc Gods having to empower champions to fight off the invaders. Maybe the invasion is triggered by a massive asteroid crashing onto the Disc, which turns out to be a planetoid inhabited by a Burning Legion-style army of demons and monsters, and the whole scenario plays out like a War of the Worlds type conflict? |
02-11-2017, 04:32 PM | #40 | |
Join Date: Nov 2004
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Re: Discworld, Dungeonworld
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Tags |
discworld, discworld dungeons, dungeon fantasy, dungeonworld |
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