PYRAMID Special TFT Section

[guymc]

The new Pyramid #3/119 is out with a big Special TFT Section. Let me commend it to your attention, including a couple of in-character pieces by Your Humble Narrator with some labyrinth design tips concealed inside. If you like this sort of story-based material, please let me know and maybe we can try more on http://TheFantasyTrip.game.

I also recommend a truly fascinating article on TFT coinage and a very different take on campaign character creation that is as much fun as campaign play itself.

More TFT stuff in the works. And you backers may get a surprise soon that I hope will please you. (See today’s Daily Illuminator for more.)

http://www.warehouse23.com/products/...ter-the-end-ii

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by guymc

I also recommend a truly fascinating article on TFT coinage and a very different take on campaign character creation that is as much fun as campaign play itself.

That's a hell of a way to find out you've signed off on it. ;)

[Dominator]

Originally Posted by guymc

The new Pyramid #3/119 is out with a big Special TFT Section. Let me commend it to your attention, including a couple of in-character pieces by Your Humble Narrator with some labyrinth design tips concealed inside. If you like this sort of story-based material, please let me know...

Yes! I enjoy articles like this. Allows for a sense of humor, etc that may not always seem right in a more technical/rules-based type of article - I would be happy to hear more from Darbo.

[larsdangly]

I really liked the article on the idea of a 'funnel', though I have to say I think 24 points is such a low starting point that it is hard to see how it would even work. A low DX is just a low chance at success, so that is easy enough to grasp, but a low ST means you can't fight with even light weapons like javelins or hand axes, and an IQ under 7 means you are basically an average dog and will roll 4d to do even low-IQ talents (like fighting...). These aren't 'normal' people, they are severely infirm. The idea seems really fun, but I think it kind of needs to start people out with something like 28 or 30 points, which is more in line with suggested point totals for 'normals'.

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I really liked the article on the idea of a 'funnel', though I have to say I think 24 points is such a low starting point that it is hard to see how it would even work. A low DX is just a low chance at success, so that is easy enough to grasp, but a low ST means you can't fight with even light weapons like javelins or hand axes, and an IQ under 7 means you are basically an average dog and will roll 4d to do even low-IQ talents (like fighting...). These aren't 'normal' people, they are severely infirm. The idea seems really fun, but I think it kind of needs to start people out with something like 28 or 30 points, which is more in line with suggested point totals for 'normals'.

Yeah that is bizarre. Maybe they meant basic Melee characters without IQ, or it's a typo no one caught and they meant 32 point characters with IQ?

[larsdangly]

It's no typo; it is repeated throughout the piece. And you can tell they are aware it will result in inconsistencies with the rules for talents. But I wonder if it was really play tested as written. I guess you could function at ST 9, DX 8, IQ 7. But I'm not crazy about the suggestion that you get to start with talents that actually require IQ 12 or something and then grow into them. To me, this is an excellent general idea that should be executed with PC's who are more like the suggested typical human adult (say, 28 character points, which would permit quite a large range of basic functions, yet still leave you feeling far short of the standard starting character).

[guymc]

This is a pretty radical concept for TFT, but I found it very interesting. The idea is that you are intended to start this process with a weaker character and discover things about the PC and build the character up in the crucible of play.

You bet you are going to lose characters like this, which is why you are playing more than one. You will find out the strengths and weaknesses the hard way, and end up with more diverse characters than you would by completely modeling them from the start.

It isn't strictly "by the book" but as I think we've discussed here a whole lot -- nothing HAS to be by the book in your own campaign. As a designer/editor I tend to be conservative and don't want to load down TFT with a lot of rules detail it doesn't need. (I think y'all have figured that out by now, right?) But as a GM, I love being experimental and I value the gaming experience over rules adherence every time.

TFT is the perfect system for this. (Again, something I don't have to tell you folks, right?) That's why Steve and I are going to keep it lean and mean in the books so that you GMs and players - the important people - have a clean sandbox to play in.

I'm going to have to give this method a try at some point, just for the pure outrageous novelty of it.

[Skarg]

I get the funnel concept and the "discover your abilities during play" concept, but I haven't read the article yet, so larsdangly's description sounds rather more unusual in that it sounds like you start with sub-hobgoblins, but I'm sure I'm missing several details.

[malchidael]

The Fantasy Trip already has a funnel. It's called "Death Test" :)

The whole funnel concept has never grabbed me. But, it was a good article describing an interesting method of character generation, and I'm glad I picked up the issue.

My only issue with the article was the use of the word "toon" to describe a player character. But, that's just a personal pet peeve of mine.

[fisherro]

I’ve run three level zero DCC adventures (and played in a zero-level DCC “tournament”), and they’ve been a lot of fun. I think it is a great way, when introducing players new to a system, to start playing the game with (even more) minimal character generation up-front. And learning the rules is, I think, more fun when you’re expecting three of your four characters to die.

I’m looking forward to trying these funnel rules for DCC with Death Test.