Pyramid #3/60: Dungeon Fantasy III

[Kromm]

Heroic bow-shots
Whitest magic, silver blades
Selflessly, we delve

— Ancient elvish haiku

Is it possible to get enough GURPS Dungeon Fantasy? Pfff . . . can a dwarf have too much gold? Can a munchkin have too much power? I think not! That's why e23 brings you Pyramid #3/60: Dungeon Fantasy III. Let's look at what's in the chest this time:

• Dungeon Fantasy began as a pair of short, sweet PDFs, so we couldn't justify devoting nine pages to revamped spell lists. Since then, this whole dungeon-crawl thing seems to have caught on with GURPS players, and the clerics and druids have asked us to rein in those munchkin mages who learn half the Animal and Healing colleges on a technicality. In Wizardry Refined, Dr. Kromm sets things right at long last.
  
  
• Ever been in the mood for an old-fashioned, hack 'n' slash delve, but your players were burned out on fantasy? Maybe it's time for a High-Tech Dungeon Crawl. In this issue's Eidetic Memory, David Pulver recounts his experience sending TL8 heroes through a portal to a TL3^ dungeon. Learn how bullets and monsters mix, why the golf cart is the new mule (with stats!), and the surprising social ramifications of doing this.
  
  
• Dungeon Fantasy players quickly learn that "GM" and "evil GM" are synonyms – usually after the umpteenth instance of It's a Trap! Pick from the many prebuilt traps, use the step-by-step rules to build your own, or roll randomly on some combination of the 21 different tables and let Fate stick it to the heroes. With everything from bladeblack-poisoned shuriken launchers to death-pits covered in Fascinate runes, you've got infinite options for pain.
  
  
• Gamers looking for a "spellsword" love the mystic knight (from Pyramid #3/13: Thaumatology), who invokes the might of GURPS Power-Ups 1: Imbuements to give his attacks an edge. Now Mystic Power-Ups offers long-term support for those players in the form of dozens of character improvements, four new Imbuement Skills, and rules for "Imbuement-resonant" gear. Game Masters will appreciate the ready-to-use weapon table, rules clarifications, and suggestions for limiting Imbuements without ruining the fun. Everything mystical, all in one place!
  
  
• Ever wonder what possessed Dr. Kromm to launch Dungeon Fantasy in the first place? After letting everyone stew for almost six years, he offers In All Series-Ness to provide some insight into the madness. Those who aren't fans of Designer's Notes articles take heart! Kromm also includes an "outtake" from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers: the beastmaster.
  
  
• And the chest also contains all the usual goodies, including a Random Thought Table that turns repetition into variety, plus some extremely crunchy Odds and Ends: an unusual trap, a new wildcard skill, and a lens to turn Dungeon Fantasy 15: Henchmen templates into Imbuement-slinging warriors.

— PK & Kromm

[Kuroshima]

I believe I was channeling the collective consciousness when I wrote the Mystic Knight. I really didn't want to beat you to it, Kromm. Then again, I suppose it was a surprise when you saw my (horrid) first draft with something similar to what you had in mind.

Did you know, when you wrote the designer notes, that I was going to publish Mystic Power-Ups in this issue?

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

I believe I was channeling the collective consciousness when I wrote the Mystic Knight. I really didn't want to beat you to it, Kromm. Then again, I suppose it was a surprise when you saw my (horrid) first draft with something similar to what you had in mind.

I think that suggests we have a similar set of influences on our fantasy gaming. ;)

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

Did you know, when you wrote the designer notes, that I was going to publish Mystic Power-Ups in this issue?

Nope. Steven rarely tells me what else is in each issue . . . probably because he's still putting it together at the eleventh hour, in many cases.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I think that suggests we have a similar set of influences on our fantasy gaming. ;)

You think so? just because, other than rogue-likes (that I played, but that caught me a little late and that I only played to see what it was about) and T&T (that AFAIK, was never released locally), I could cite the same influences as you did in your designer notes?

I wonder how the spellsword would have ended up had you written it though...

Oh, and the beast master looks awesome, but I find the spell list a little sparse for my tastes, especially as the talent is a 15 point one (I know, it's a 5 point skill talent plus a 10 point power investiture). I like how he fills the holy warrior for druids niche though.

Nope. Steven rarely tells me what else is in each issue . . . probably because he's still putting it together at the eleventh hour, in many cases.

And it's PK who handles the editorial oversight of the issue anyway...

[Christopher R. Rice]

Any reactions on this would be highly appreciated by the authors, my fellow forumites. Did you hate a article? Love it? Something in between. We Authors want to know! ^_^

[zoncxs]

Bought and going over it, I will buy anything that has to do with imbuements.

[Refplace]

My feedback..
Alternative spellings under Wizardry refined is great even for those not using DF.
Most of the changes address objections made over the years to so called "Broken" spells. In particular Enlarge versions and Reverse Missiles and the other spells get a nice clearing up like See Secrets.
Changes under the Laws of Magic also deal with many of the complaints nd should be red by any who object to things like create earth.

High Tech Dungeon Crawl wasnt anything really new exactly but was very fun reading. And the dungeonmobile was cool.

Its a Trap! was a lot more interesting then I would have thought.
A good list and set of tables to work with but even better was the explanations and lists of examples.

Mystic Power Ups I liked mostly.
Stabilized shot doesnt seem to fit the description, instead it sounds more suitable for Far Shot or Guided Weapon.
The rest of the article I liked, especially Resonant gear which gives us a new class of magic items. Weapons of Magic are nice, especially since they include how they were built.
The new Techniques are nice, though it took me a bit to figure out there probably buying off a penalty so you dont have an additional roll, instead I think they use the starting skill.

In All Serious-ness was a fun read and I like the Beast Master. I disagree with the comment above and think the 15 points is a good price. Its Power Investure, reaction bonus and talent all rolled into one.

The first line in the Random Thought table had me befuddled and laughing. I would think its HARD to fight a large room with goblins.
The rest of the article was funny but a special call out to the last line in the Barracks section. On the other hand the last line in the article deserves a good poke with a spear!

[Pragmatic]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Gamers looking for a "spellsword" love the mystic knight (from Pyramid #3/13: Thaumatology), who invokes the might of GURPS Power-Ups 1: Imbuements to give his attacks an edge. Now Mystic Power-Ups offers long-term support for those players in the form of dozens of character improvements, four new Imbuement Skills, and rules for "Imbuement-resonant" gear. Game Masters will appreciate the ready-to-use weapon table, rules clarifications, and suggestions for limiting Imbuements without ruining the fun. Everything mystical, all in one place!

Okay, that description is making me think of elven bladesingers...

[Greg 1]

This Pyramid is superb. I pretty much read it in one go. Everything was either crunchy and useful or thought-provoking and interesting.

A lot of the crunchier stuff deserves to be in DF books. Who couldn't use a Trap Tables book to generate useful ideas? (See also, Monster Tables!)

[SCAR]

I really loved the Mysic Power-Ups.
The Mystic Knight was nice application of Imbuements (from PU1) to Dungeon Fantasy, basically a magic-Knight - but it never really grabbed my interest. These Power-Ups bring it alive, and give the whole archetype some real character.
The Soul Imbuements are great, and the concept could be ported as a Power-Up for Elementalists, and maybe other; Imbuement-Resonant is a really cool way to make the MK's gear a personal part of the character; and Weapons/Armour of Pure Magic are cool. Separating those from Imbue would make a great Power-Up for others too.

It's a Trap! is very crunch with so many tables. More ways to maim or kill delvers than Grimtooth! It could really use a random generator spreadsheet or app.

In another short but sweet Eidetic Memory, Mr Pulver manages to supply a whole load of ideas in just a couple of pages. I wasn't really convinced of the idea, but now I can really see some mileage in the concept.

Wizardry Refined tidies up the Wizards spell list, and fixes a whole variety of bits and pieces. The 8+ pages of basic spell lists didn't do anything for me, and I'm not sure how much it would help a player choose their spells. There really must be a better way to organise the spells, I can't help be feel that Magical Styles could do some really good here.

Having read and enjoyed all the session write-ups for Sean Punch's Dawn of Magic campaign (from before DF was released), I can see where a whole load of DF stuff came from. More templates are always fun, the Beastmaster seems too close to being one side of the Druid template - and not quite Fighty enough to be the Druids 'Holy' Warrior.

This months Random Thought Table was fun. Take something simple, change it just a little and get something quite different, repeatedly. I really like number 6!

Odds and Ends Bonus Trap was fun (for similar reasons to why I liked Random Though Table No.6), and the Eldritch Initiate lens is an excellent addition for Henchmen.