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Old 12-21-2018, 02:04 PM   #21
larsdangly
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Default Re: How do you play TFT?

Cheating to help the players is not something I'd recommend in any game, but perhaps least of all in TFT, which has a combat engine build around a competitive board game. When one side isn't really trying, competitive board games get stupid really fast.

But of course it is a real problem that PC's in any game will quickly die if they usually face foes close to their own power level. The solution to this in TFT is the same as that in other games: rarely confront them with a foe as strong as or stronger than themselves with no avenue of escape. This can mean having dungeons full of rats and slimes and goblins and so forth, or usually providing enough information about stronger foes that they can make an educated choice as to whether this is a fight they want to take on.
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Old 12-21-2018, 02:59 PM   #22
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Default Re: How do you play TFT?

If a party of four puts half their initial $4k into healing potions they'll be able to buy a baker's dozen. Since very few attacks average more than 11 hits you'll be able to recover one killed party member as long as you pour all of these down their throat within the hour. Combine with a Master Physicker and you'll do fine.

A good starting point is "A wealthy eccentric" on page 64.
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Old 12-21-2018, 05:57 PM   #23
Barliman
 
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Default Re: How do you play TFT?

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Originally Posted by shippert View Post
So, I have a slightly different question for those who use TFT as an RPG - how do you keep your players alive?
(snip!)

With the caveat that I have not run a game yet, one way would be to borrow the medieval system of ransom: the victor has an incentive to take his opponent alive, since there is someone somewhere willing to pay good money for his release. PCs could bank money with a trusted relative or friend, who would then provide it upon proof that the PC lived, in return for the PCs release.

Obviously this wouldn't work with ravening monsters, but with more "civilized" opponents, it could be an option. Even orcs might get into the act.
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Old 12-22-2018, 01:36 AM   #24
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Default Re: How do you play TFT?

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Originally Posted by XRaysVision View Post
Having played “deep” roleplaying adventures in Feng Shui, GURPS and D&D, I think I’m over that type of gaming. To be sure, it was fun while I was doing it, but I find I have no desire to re-enter that hobby.

I’ve been a miniatures and board gamer for decades and i don’t find that interest waning. But I do find that my favored types of game has changed. I have certainly gravitated towards simpler, quickly resolved, games.

Speaking only for myself, one of the attractions that TFT holds for me, is exactly that. To me it’s a simple (relatively) game that I can play as a one shot “Melee” and be done is a few minutes. It can be ITL lite RPG with just enough “role playing” to give the combat some context. That’s what I’m looking for. I think that’s what I found.
Oddly enough, I'm totally with you on every aspect of this. When I was a teenager and in college, I LOVED me some monster games -- Europa, War in Europe, Terrible Swift Sword, Wellington's Victory, War in the Pacific...had 'em all and played them all -- even the dreaded Campaign for North Africa. Nowadays, I find myself enjoying Frederick the Great or Hitler's War, or the SPI edition of World War I (half-sized map and 100 counters) much more. For one thing, the fact that they are simple with low counter density doesn't mean they are uninteresting; the situations and the skills required to master them are fascinating. Turns out good things CAN come in small packages! ;-)

And while I've always been an enormous fan of TFT for various reasons, I think the reason I still am is because of it's fundamental simplicity and ease of play (and ease of teaching, too!).
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Old 12-22-2018, 12:42 PM   #25
XRaysVision
 
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Default Re: How do you play TFT?

[QUOTE]=larsdangly;2230189]Cheating to help the players is not something I'd recommend in any game[\QUOTE]

Umm...I don’t think I’ve ever seen a DMG that didn’t recommend “bending” rules, i.e. cheating, to make a session more interesting or playable. Of course wholesale ignoring of rules would make make a game unplayable and frustrating for everyone. There is a reason that the GM rolls dice behind a blind. Fudging an NPC’s roll has saved many a player without them knowing it.

Last edited by XRaysVision; 12-28-2018 at 06:11 AM.
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Old 12-22-2018, 06:52 PM   #26
larsdangly
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Default Re: How do you play TFT?

To me, cheating means forcing an outcome for a die roll in some rules-bound part of the game, like combat or a perception roll for a guard. Being loosey-goosey with encounter rolls and other 'softer' parts of the game is different; I think of that as just a GM turning the pace of the game up or down to keep it chugging along in a satisfying way. I understand that many GM's think it is a normal part of the job to cheat in combat but I disagree.
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Old 12-22-2018, 08:16 PM   #27
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Default Re: How do you play TFT?

How about a Life Test adventure with built in mentors to show a novice GM how to keep the party alive?
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Old 12-27-2018, 08:32 PM   #28
JLV
 
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Default Re: How do you play TFT?

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How about a Life Test adventure with built in mentors to show a novice GM how to keep the party alive?
I think this is actually a pretty brilliant idea! It doesn't have to be anything too massive, and could be included as an intro game to future editions of the big package (TFT 2.0, or whatever it becomes in the future). Something like that might also go a long way to mitigating the perceived need for "challenge ratings" and the like that a lot of players seem to have these days...
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Old 12-28-2018, 06:44 AM   #29
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Default Re: How do you play TFT?

My concept for the life Test Coach is the "wealthy eccentric" quest on the bottom right of page 64. The novice players are all a bunch of combat wombats and if they listen to the coach they'll most likely stay alive.
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