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Old 10-26-2018, 02:56 PM   #31
JLV
 
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Default Re: TFT Beastiary Suggestion

Regarding "challenge ratings," I'm generally against them. They are a mechanism that is purely meta and should be avoided as much as possible. In general terms, a GM can "balance" scenarios somewhat by simply comparing stat totals and that will get him in the ball-park for most things; but I much prefer to let the chips fall where they may, and for the players to actually evaluate their situation when confronting some horror or monster and decide proactively based on their initial impressions whether running away is the better part of valor in this particular case than staying and slugging it out would be. It makes for a much more "organic" game than ones where the players either assume the GM is always balancing things for them, or worse, debate the "challenge rating" of the monster before deciding to engage or not.
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Old 10-26-2018, 03:01 PM   #32
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Regarding "challenge ratings," I'm generally against them. They are a mechanism that is purely meta and should be avoided as much as possible. In general terms, a GM can "balance" scenarios somewhat by simply comparing stat totals and that will get him in the ball-park for most things; but I much prefer to let the chips fall where they may, and for the players to actually evaluate their situation when confronting some horror or monster and decide proactively based on their initial impressions whether running away is the better part of valor in this particular case than staying and slugging it out would be. It makes for a much more "organic" game than ones where the players either assume the GM is always balancing things for them, or worse, debate the "challenge rating" of the monster before deciding to engage or not.
I am in complete agreement with this.
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Old 10-26-2018, 03:07 PM   #33
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Default Re: TFT Beastiary Suggestion

The best way to check the challenge rating of a TFT monster is to go through its trash and count how many PC's it has dismembered.
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Old 10-26-2018, 03:14 PM   #34
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Default Re: TFT Beastiary Suggestion

Question for the masses: as I get my huge piles of house materials converted and organized for distribution/e-publishing, I keep stumbling across creatures and spells that are drawn from or inspired by what I assume are licensed properties, such as Lovecraft's or Michael Moorecock's writings. I don't really know what best practices are for handling this sort of stuff. Do you re-name everything and figure your audience will recognize a shoggoth when it sees one? Or are some of these properties legally presentable using their real names? E.g., it is noticeable that every fantasy game has orcs, which are obviously taken from Tolkien (I would say the hair splitting about which old english text he looked at for inspiration is beside the point: the orcs we know and talk about are the ones he created).
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Old 10-26-2018, 03:14 PM   #35
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Regarding "challenge ratings," I'm generally against them. They are a mechanism that is purely meta and should be avoided as much as possible...
I'm on the fence about it. CR can be a useful tool for new GMs, but it can also become a 'crutch' and eventually lead to meta-player abuse as you've outlined. That said, however, the same rules that help define 'challenge rating' can also be used to help GMs create brand new creatures and encounters for their campaign. Stat totals alone are insufficient to do this in a consistent manner IMO.
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Old 10-26-2018, 03:49 PM   #36
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I'm on the fence about it. CR can be a useful tool for new GMs, but it can also become a 'crutch' and eventually lead to meta-player abuse as you've outlined. That said, however, the same rules that help define 'challenge rating' can also be used to help GMs create brand new creatures and encounters for their campaign. Stat totals alone are insufficient to do this in a consistent manner IMO.
Fortunately, TFT is so simple that it's usually very easy to design a new monster. If all other inspiration fails, just find an old one that is reasonably close, tweak it a bit (or even just re-skin it), add in whatever special effect you want to showcase, and voila, you are done. It's not nearly as hard as it is with D&D or some of the other systems that have accreted enormous complexity simply because they started out with a goofy combat system in the very beginning and haven't ever redesigned it for greater simplicity and elegance. No special rules required. And the stat block will still get you in the ball-park generally, in terms of "challenge" to your players.
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Old 10-26-2018, 03:52 PM   #37
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Default Re: TFT Beastiary Suggestion

For example giant toads with whip tongues are a snap (and flick).

Giant Toad (3-hex) ST 22, DX 12, IQ 4, MA 4 or jump
Tongue attack: 1d+2

The tongue attack works like a whip except that the minimum range is one hex. If it hits the tongue will choke the victim for 1d+2 damage each turn. Also roll a contest of ST between the toad and the victim each turn. If the toad wins the victim is dragged one hex closer to the toad. If the victim is dragged into the toad's head hex it is smothered for another 2d per turn until it dies, escapes, or the toad dies.

If the toad's tongue is cut (six hits of cutting damage should do the trick) it will attempt to jump away, rolling only 1 die against combined ST + DX for each megahex of distance attempted.
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Old 10-26-2018, 04:03 PM   #38
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It's not nearly as hard as it is with D&D or some of the other systems...
THAT is certainly true.
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Old 10-26-2018, 04:40 PM   #39
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Default Re: TFT Beastiary Suggestion

In my opinion, this is because The Fantasy Trip places emphasis on a list of options available to every figure in any encounter, while D&D and other games like it often end up with , "The monster can do this, but no character can do the same" or "the character can do this, but no monster can do the same."

I hope this isn't taken as a put down of D&D. I love D&D, started playing at age 12, but this is just how I think the difference is shown.
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Old 10-26-2018, 05:11 PM   #40
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In my opinion, this is because The Fantasy Trip places emphasis on a list of options available to every figure in any encounter, while D&D and other games like it often end up with , "The monster can do this, but no character can do the same" or "the character can do this, but no monster can do the same."

I hope this isn't taken as a put down of D&D. I love D&D, started playing at age 12, but this is just how I think the difference is shown.
That's pretty much true -- partly because the original combat system was so weirdly built in the first place, and then they just piled exceptions upon special cases upon unique capabilities until it got to the point that it takes a PhD and a Cray supercomputer to solve the combat equation -- either that or you just drop it and move on. TFT was a gift from the gods in that respect -- simple, clearly delineated rules that provided a satisfying combat experience without bogging players down in multiple calculations of reverse stacking benefits and penalties with special cases thrown in just to keep everyone on their toes.

I stopped playing D&D when 3.5 hit the streets because of this sort of thing, and I honestly haven't seen anything that puts me in a huge rush to go back to it, even with 5E. I love me some OD&D and even AD&D and 2nd Edition, but after that it just got too bewildering for me to keep up with. Which is kind of sad, because let's face it, D&D started a hobby that's been a HUGE part of my life for the past almost 45 years...
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