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Old 01-03-2019, 01:30 AM   #1
Tom H.
 
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Default Tom's Demo Reports

I may collect different posts regarding my experiences demoing the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game here.

This initial post may serve as an index.

It is not necessary to preserve any format here meaning you are free to comment if so inclined.

1. Reflections on the Feb. 23, 2019 OwlCon convention game begin here.
2. Demonstration Combat Map
3. Dual-Scale Rules

Last edited by Tom H.; 03-31-2019 at 01:46 PM. Reason: Update Index
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Old 01-03-2019, 01:33 AM   #2
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Sample Character

I finally uploaded a PDF of one of my OwlCon 2018 demo characters to my google drive.
Human Cleric

This was intended for new players. It is three pages. I wanted to provide the information in a usable format that could actually be played with and marked.

I also provided some separate rules summaries. Unfortunately, we didn't get much combat in until the very end (that's another story), so it is hard to say how well everything was received.

It is difficult to know how your players are really absorbing everything. I wanted them to be able to answer some of their own questions with my cheat sheets after explanations, but I kind of got the impression that the players were a bit overwhelmed with all the info and just looked to me for guidance.

Details of the Character Sheet

Summary
As you can see I also tried my hand at providing an easy summary for each character that didn't get crunchy.

Skill Collections
I get overwhelmed with skill detail, so I provided several wildcard skills. These act almost at the level of D&D skills to focus on a relevant category.
All characters had: Perception Skill!, Athletics!, Persuasion!, Infiltration!, Survival!
The following were skill aggregations for special professions: Clerical Lore!, Wizardly Lore!
The first set were a bit more focused than true GURPS wildcard skills. I propose buying them at "2 x Very Hard" cost instead of the usual "3 x Very Hard" cost. (In the sheet, I used 3 x Very Hard, but my characters were expensive.)

[Edit] GURPS talents may be more appropriate for the use I intended, except that talents still require you to individually track all skills instead of just summarizing them into a single aggregate. Hence the odd suggestion for a focused Wildcard-Light at "2 x Very Hard" cost.

No Disadvantages
I didn't want to overwhelm my players, so I left these off making the characters more expensive.

Injury Tracking
I added this after the demo game. But I did have the energy use tracking.

Comments

I think players got confused correlating an attack skill to the weapon in different sections. It's probably best to list this all under an attack as many do.

This was my first time to present an RPG demo. I was hosting six players in at most a four hour session. Most had experience with RPGs with a couple having some familiarity with GURPS. It's a tall order to demo DFRPG.

For better or worse, a lot of time was spent in narrative exploration and decision making.

There's a funny story about how I was thrown off a bit. I left my Chessex combat mats in the car at the start of the game. My wife was going to bring them to me with lunch. I didn't want to rush into combat without the mats, but then we ended up getting to the main combat very late.

Last edited by Tom H.; 01-03-2019 at 01:42 AM. Reason: Clarity
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Old 03-03-2019, 09:56 PM   #3
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Reflections on the Feb. 23, 2019 OwlCon convention game

I continued the second installment of my "annual" Dungeon Fantasy RPG convention game at the recent OwlCon held in Houston Texas the past weekend of Feb. 22 - 24, 2019.

I have to say it was a bit of an ordeal for me.

I hosted six players on Saturday night Feb. 23 from 8 PM to midnight. I think they were all experienced role-players with only one being familiar with GURPS.

The trouble was that there seemed to be some immediate hostility from a player that may have infected the tone and some other players. There was sort of an ongoing struggle for me to keep the game on track and persevere.

Fortunately, my wife was present for some of the time. Afterward she provided good perspective on validating some of my perceptions of the experience. It's great to get an objective view sometimes because its easy to get lost in the moment.

In contrast, my first game at OwlCon 2018, had a different more cooperative dynamic.

I relied on much that I built for the 2018 game with a new dual scale innovation to highlight ranged combat more easily.

It is my plan to go into more detail forthcoming with some progressive posts here.

First, in the next post, I will provide a bit of the narrative theme for the adventure.

Last edited by Tom H.; 03-03-2019 at 10:47 PM. Reason: Heading
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Old 03-03-2019, 10:18 PM   #4
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I'll introduce the theme of the convention adventure by using the limited descriptions I wrote for the convention posts.

OwlCon 2018 Description

The frontier town of Coriolo is plagued by mysteries arising from the adjacent woods even though the witch of Fort Darkchill was vanquished over a generation ago.
Hook:
You have answered the town’s call to help secure the locale.
Style:
A few thematic encounters will serve to introduce the new Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game Powered by GURPS. There will be time to customize the characters and discover the game.
A Progressive Narrative:
The outcome will influence next year’s sequel.

OwlCon 2019 Description


Having survived the monstrous spiders’ ambush, your party recovers at the Monastery of Sir Rungarth. Tomorrow you return the body of the elite ranger Demsey to Coriolo.
This annual progressive narrative welcoming new players continues the drama begun last year. The characters are yours to play, but they now have history.
System: The recent Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game powered by GURPS.
Style: An interactive background accentuated by an engaging combat encounter.
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Old 03-03-2019, 10:37 PM   #5
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Motivation

I adapted the adventure and setting from a game that I had been playing periodically with my two nephews switching variously between D&D and Dungeon Fantasy.

Ideally, I think a great convention adventure would be tailored to the format by providing a contained, event-driven narrative with some possible success or failure conclusions.

Initially intimidated by the extra work required for that, I decided to present my game almost as dropping into an ongoing campaign where the players would experience a bit of combat surrounded by an immersive thematic setting they had some potential to explore.

The 2018 game was heavy on this theme and exploration as I was thrown off by not having my combat mats at the outset (my wife was able to bring them to me mid game.)

In fact, by respecting player agency during the exploration, they circumvented the major, intended climatic combat for a shortcut through the woods right into a nest of Humongous Spiders. We ran out of time to complete the combat. However, I decided to try to recreate and finish it at home and the party survived intact.

The 2019 game then was a bit of a redux in which the intended threat returned: namely a matched encounter with ambushing goblinoids. Call me a masochist. It would have been much easier to GM a few monstrous bosses than the 20 orcs required to even the odds. But that's what the setting called for and I wanted the system to accommodate the game rather than vice versa.

To alleviate some of the anticipation, this most recent party was able to fully dispose of 8 of the orcs in the end battle before we ran out of time.

That's all for now. Next time, I may want to shift gears and cover my dual-scale ranged technique.
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Old 03-10-2019, 11:05 PM   #6
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Combat Background and Context

I plan to reveal my dual-scale combat technique, but I want to present it with pictures and context.

First I want to provide a bit of setting and adventure background leading to the example combat.

~~~

Coriolo is a northern frontier town of the land. It lies at the foot of a broad mountain range that divides the civilization from the wild and mysterious northern regions.

The town hosts around 2000 farmers, trappers, and craftsmen. It can be a last refuge for explorers and adventurers traveling into the more desolate regions beyond.

The Crystal River runs out of the foothills and the preserve just north of Coriolo sustaining the town on its journey to the more populated south.

Not without its troubled past, the mysteries of Coriolo's preserve have recently surged as wayward civilians have been waylaid by an unexpected goblinoid presence.

Coming to a head with the death of a town elder's nephew, town guards have established a camp within the woods, an elite ranger team has been dispatched deep into the mountains, and a call for hardy adventurers has been pronounced.

Upon arrival and vetting, the chosen adventurers have been first gathered for an incidental mission: journey to the nearby monastery of the mountains to return the body of a fallen ranger to Coriolo and his widow.

The Crystal River provides a natural path to navigate to the self-sufficient monastery that also serves as a shrine to a legendary hero of the land's past.

Upon the party's return journey to Coriolo from the monastery, now transporting the deceased ranger, an unsettling disquiet followed by a hail of arrows ushered in the ambush upon the river route.

Last edited by Tom H.; 03-10-2019 at 11:16 PM.
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Old 03-10-2019, 11:11 PM   #7
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Expectations

I have several posts planned as part of my review. It is my hope and intent that I can add posts at least once a week if not sooner for the immediate material. Stay tuned.
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Old 03-24-2019, 10:25 PM   #8
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Combat Map

(I was away from posting here longer than I had wanted; sometimes life gets more eventful than is always welcomed. ;-))

The purpose now is to describe the battle map of the river ambush. This will provide a concrete context when presenting my dual-scale ranged combat rules in the next post.

Marked, Chessex, area combat map with labeled features
(This is a link to an image in my Google Drive.)

I drew the river and other terrain features on this Chessex mat with wet erase markers.

The party is entering from the bottom (northern edge). Separate groups of orcs are concealed within the terrain to the south (toward the middle and top). Most of the encounter is occurring to the east (left) of the river.

Important: The Chessex mat scale is in my area units of 5 yards per hex.

Orc Tactical Teams
There are 20 DFRPG Orcs ambushing the party. I have grouped them into teams of 4 each in order to manage and move them together.
(I wanted a mix of Goblinoids, but decided to use all Orcs to simplify my administration.)

Adversary Tokens
I also decided to use 8-sided dice (mounted on pennies) to represent numbered foes to help me track each enemy. The dice have the added benefit of indicating front facing with the top triangle face. I used a different color to represent each team.

Composite Hexes
I made my own composite hexes (mega hexes) using hex paper and foam board.
Each composite hex is 5 individual hexes across. The scale of each individual hex within is standard 1 yard.
Therefore, a single composite hex represents one hex on the combat mat.

You can see the relationship in the photo. For example, the red 8-sided die hiding behind the little hill on the battle map really represents the 4 orcs numbered 1 - 4 on the nearby composite hex.

I was experimenting with playing out ranged combat on the combat mat. When adversaries got close enough, I could connect composite hexes to switch to standard DFRPG/GURPS distance and time scale (more on that forthcoming.)

Three Orc tactical teams are hiding in the contour of hills (purple, red, and yellow teams.) White team is hiding below the bank of the river. The pink team of archers across the river is hiding within some tree cover.

The Party
There are six members and a pack horse.
Black miniatures from left to right:
1. Thief
2. Ranger
3. Composite:
a. Knight
b. Barbarian
c. Cleric
d. Wizard
These are all based on DFRPG professions but use my simplifications demonstrated in a post above with the Cleric: namely simplified standard skills using GURPS wildcard groupings.

Terrain Notes
  • River: Typically waist-high water, depth may vary. Less than 10 yards wide. Slow movement. More easily forded at points with projecting debris.
  • Bank: Typically 7 yards wide sloping near a 45 degree angle. I may vary this up or down to alternate bad footing between gentle and steep slope (see Exploits, p. 35).
  • Hills: Not severe; tall enough to block line of sight.
  • Trees: Represented by pennies. Not to scale on the combat mat. May represent a few trees together.
  • Mud: Soggy. Use treacherous ground rules (see Exploits, p. 35) to slow movement.
Geology query
I wanted to constrict the party's movement along the left edge of the map. I inserted a long stretch of treacherous ground representing swampy or waterlogged terrain.
For geology majors or those in-the-know, how rational is this?
Obviously, there will be much water drainage into the lower (over 5 yards down) river basin. I still assume you can get localized areas of water retention even on the higher ground. Any thoughts?

That's it for now. The context is set, more to come.
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Old 03-27-2019, 03:22 PM   #9
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Thanks for sharing all of this in such detail. I'm enjoying it and getting plenty of ideas for my own games.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom H. View Post
Marked, Chessex, area combat map with labeled features
. . . Important: The Chessex mat scale is in my area units of 5 yards per hex.
I've never tried changing map scales. Seems like a great way to handle larger outdoor encounters. I'm curious to hear how it worked in play.

Have you seen the Dry-Erase Hexagon Game Tiles by Role 4 Initiative? I picked up a box last year and my groups have loved them. I like working with dry erase because cleanup is so easy, but they work with wet erase too (which works better for pre-drawing the map). We especially like them for dungeon delves because we just pull out as many as we need and the map grows on the table organically.

Quote:
Geology query
I wanted to constrict the party's movement along the left edge of the map. I inserted a long stretch of treacherous ground representing swampy or waterlogged terrain.
For geology majors or those in-the-know, how rational is this?
Obviously, there will be much water drainage into the lower (over 5 yards down) river basin. I still assume you can get localized areas of water retention even on the higher ground. Any thoughts?
I'm not a geology major, but I've certainly spent a lot of time hiking and camping in terrain similar to this. I have encountered plenty of swampy patches located above a stream or pond. I can think of a half dozen similar spots along the Mississippi within walking distance from my house. Typically there is a slight depression filled with spongy soil. The rim above the body of water is less permeable, whether because of rocks, denser clay, or a fallen tree. The moisture collects and slowly percolates down to the lower level. These spots may dry out after a period of little rain, but that's just part of the normal variation of terrain across the seasons. Your map definitely passes the sniff test for me!
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Old 03-28-2019, 06:22 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalin View Post
Have you seen the Dry-Erase Hexagon Game Tiles by Role 4 Initiative?
I have similar tiles in squares, from when we were playing D&D regularly. I can testify it's a great concept. I can't speak to the quality of this particular product, but I can totally testify that those kinds of things are awesome for gaming. Potentially heavy though, depending on how many you drag around. We had a briefcase full :P
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