Pyramid #3/113: Dungeon Fantasies

[Kromm]

Knowledge and courage
Versus monsters, tricks, and traps
A timeless contest

— Uncle Seamus, Wizard

The dungeon-crawling genre is all about more. The heroes quest for more power and more treasure, while the forces that oppose them – embodied by the GM – are always on the lookout for more monsters and more traps. Like any good fantasy merchant, Pyramid #3/113: Dungeon Fantasies arms both sides, and does so in two realms: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game.

More professions!
▶ Five Easy Pieces, by Sean Punch, looks at the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game through the sights of GURPS Action 4: Specialists, showing how to create custom professions when you don't feel like going freeform, never mind "full GURPS."

More plusses!
▶ Simple Spell Components, by Peter V. Dell'Orto, shows that spellcasters can be bigger materialists than the most arms-and-armor-obsessed warrior with this simple-but-flavorful system for turning strange ingredients into magical bonuses.

More monsters and treasures!
▶ Eidetic Memory: Monsters as Treasures, by David Pulver, describes seven new monsters that aren't just combat challenges but also treasures in their own right.

Even more monsters!
▶ All Wet, by Charles Saeger, introduces another 10 monsters, these ones designed to make aquatic adventures a whole lot more challenging.

More traps!
▶ Designer's Notes: Dungeon Fantasy Traps, by Christopher R. Rice with Jason "PK" Levine, talks about the creation of, well, Dungeon Fantasy Traps. It also shares five new traps, a further monster, and a new spell.

More Pyramid!
▶ And Steven Marsh bookends it all with In This Issue and From the Editor at one end, and a Random Thought Table about climactic battles and an Odds and Ends about interesting ones at the other.

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[Sam Baughn]

Might as well give my thoughts...

Not super-enthusiastic about yet more Dungeon Fantasy stuff, but overall it's a decent issue.

I love Action 4, but Five Easy Pieces doesn't quite work as well for me. I think the blocks are a bit too broad and have too many options, plus they seem kind of redundant with the sheer number of lenses available in the DF books. I think maybe something which adapted Action to Fantasy would be a good idea; the caper framework works well for sword & sorcery stories and about half the skill sets from Action 4 seem usable as they are. This wasn't what I was hoping for though.

Simple Spell Components suffers from being a bit too short and simple. The half page of example components is inspirational, but not quite enough to 'get my teeth into'.

Monsters as Treasures is excellent. Fun to read and they look like they will be useful for a lot of fantasy games.

All Wet wasn't as interesting, but it's probably even more useful. Many of the creatures would work well as Monster Hunters enemies, for example.

DF Traps Designers Notes really isn't my kind of thing. I've never been a fan of magical and absurd traps, preferring to keep them realistic. Not sure how I feel about the insight into the design process... I enjoyed Mr. Levine's section, but not Mr. Rice's.

The Random Thought Table was actually very helpful to me. Getting a satisfying climax to my games is something I have been struggling with.

Odds & Ends seemed kind of like 'filler' this month. Can't all be winners, I guess.

Still, seventeen new monsters, some cool ideas for spicing up magic and a workable character-creation system was enough to make it all worthwhile for me.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Sam Baughn

All Wet wasn't as interesting, but it's probably even more useful. Many of the creatures would work well as Monster Hunters enemies, for example.

I'll take that as a compliment, as I was going for usefulness.

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I'll take that as a compliment, as I was going for usefulness.

I will say your article was my favorite. The deep ones were Lovecraftian, the hydra was mythical and the nixie and sea hag seemed like fairy. I thought it was great and I hope you write more.

[Pseudonym]

Here's a review I wrote.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by b-dog

The deep ones were Lovecraftian, the hydra was mythical and the nixie and sea hag seemed like fairy.

Thank you. With that in mind, I had the idea of extending a few recent blog posts to existing monsters, so I wrote up a Designer's Note to start with my own.

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Thank you. With that in mind, I had the idea of extending a few recent blog posts to existing monsters, so I wrote up a Designer's Note to start with my own.

Nice work. I really like the Lovecraft style Elder Things because they fit well with my game world forces where material is divided into order and chaos where Elder Things represent chaos and the spiritual which is divided into good and evil represented by the Divine and Infernal. My Elder Things come from the goods of space in pockets of chaos which differentiates them from demons and devil which are from spiritual planes of Hell and the Abyss.