Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Any interest in porting other settings to the TfT engine? I saw Glorantha is now available for Runequest and 13th Age. Would a Glorantah TfT game be fun? Or an Empire of the Petal Throne TfT game. I would enjoy seeing a game with the base TfT rules and either setting in one self contained game book.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I've used TFT to good effect in the following non-Cidri settings:

Middle Earth
Hyborian age (i.e., Conan)
Renaissance Europe

I think it would be well suited to other settings that have worked well with BRP (e.g., Glorantha or the Young Kingdoms) simply because the deadliness and mix of character types are pretty similar in the two systems. I also suspect TFT would be well suited for a classical age historical or historical fantasy campaign (Greece, Rome, Egypt, etc.).

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Over on the G+ TFT group someone posted his TFT Tekumel conversion.

I might like to see something very contemporary like TFT The Witcher

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I will be starting a TFT campaign set in HPLs Dreamlands. I plan to tweak the setting a bit doing away with sanity blasting monsters and will probably limit the gods to the likes of Nodens, Hastur and Nyaralthotep in the form of the Black Pharaoh. Will include the Men of Leng (spiders too), ghouls, zoogs, and moon beasts. I am not sure about Gugs and other Dreamlands creatures.

My intention is to make it a high fantasy world not a sanity blasting survival slog.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Hi Todd,
That sounds really interesting. Are the players spending all the time in the Dreamlands, or is it a dual campaign where they have real lives and dream lives?

Warm regards, Rick.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I believe I had answered this before on another thread about using MicroQuests as a product vehicle to specifically introduce new settings for TFT, complete with counters and maps. Here were my suggestions:

• Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age (Conan series) Low-Fantasy
• J.R.R.Tolkien's Middle Earth (LoTR trilogy) High-Fantasy
• Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom (John Carter of Mars series) Science-Fantasy
• Edgar Rice Burroughs' Hollow Earth (Pellucidar series) Prehistoric Science-Fantasy
• Lin Carter's Lemuria (Thongor series) Low-Fantasy/Sci-Fi

JK

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I once played through a TFT adaptation of LotR. It worked great, but only because the GM added a "Will" attribute (used to resist the lure of the Ring). I think any Middle-Earth campaign would almost have to adopt that, given Tolkien's constant emphasis on temptation and corruption (and it's not just the Ring...look at the downfall of Númenor, or basically the entire story of the Silmarillion). IQ just can't be used to serve the same purpose, q.v. Saruman.

(If it was just a military campaign centered around some Gondorian scouts in Ithilien or some such, you might not need the Will attribute...but since Tolkien is so much about fighting *evil* as opposed to fighting "those other guys", I think I'd include it anyway, and have the scouts face moral dangers in addition to physical ones.)

To broaden the point, I think that TFT could quite handily be adapted to serve a lot of settings – but might require significant modification to accurately capture the "flavor" of many of them. I'd like to have a campaign set in Earthsea, for example, but the magic system is pretty different from vanilla TFT - and likewise the world of the Kingkiller Chronicles.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

*This* is an amazingly insightful and cogent post - a true pleasure to read.

JK

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

That sounds fantastic.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Jim beat me to it. I immediately thought of both John Carter of Mars and Conan when I read the original post.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I've always thought that the old Judges' Guild Wilderlands of High Fantasy would be a good campaign world for TFT.

You already have your "ancient race" of high-tech beings (Markab as opposed to Mnoren - or perhaps they are Mnoren), artifacts laying around waiting to be discovered, and of course, an "invincible overlord" who hires mercenaries, and would probably want to test them, so it seems like a good fit.

And I agree with Todd - a high fantasy/swords & sorcery campaign in the Dreamlands would rock. At one point, I was running a similar idea through my head - the player characters wake up with no memory of who they are, at the 70 steps of light slumber.... and are pursued by un-nameable foes.... The basic premise is that they were assassinated, and the campaign takes place in the last moments of their life. Over the course of the campaign, they gain clues to this, and can look for ways to either stay in the Dreamlands or return to life to gain revenge.

I figured my players wouldn't enjoy the plot twist, so I never really pursued it.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

This is going to sound bug wild, but

My dream campaign to run would be a sort of 70s-era dark urban fantasy/psychic horror deal. Draw from stuff like Phenomenon, Carrie, Firestarter, Beyond the Black Rainbow, Scanners, Trancers. Bikers, hippies, occultists, and witches straight out of The Wicker Man or Rosemary's Baby. No cell phones, but muscle cars and pay phones. Probably some alien invaders from space and other dimensions. Some kung fu drama, all that good stuff. Because it's me, I'd draw from a lot of random horror movies. The balance would change somewhat because of the lack of common medium-to-heavy armor, but a leather motorcycle jacket is a decent substitute for leather armor. Not quite realistic in terms of it slowing down bullets, but whatever, I'd let it pass.

I've been kicking around some ideas about an IQ-affecting equivalent of Fatigue for horror/sanity damage, but I actually dislike the way Call of Cthulhu does things, so I'd want to make sure it doesn't resemble that in any way.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Hey Rick,

My intention is for the players to be denizens of the Dreamlands. My plan is to have some gates that will lead to the waking world, in the Enchanted Woods (when you say the proper phrase an archway will appear with the steps of deeper slumber leading up to the waking world), the Plateau of Leng and somewhere in the Underworld. My players won't know this but I plan to have some folks from the waking world visiting the Dreamlands.

I am excited to start this game, probably the second week of September. I just love the Dreamlands and have wanted to run this campaign for a while. I can't wait to npc some of the cats from Ulthar. I may use my own cat as a prop for that.

Cheers,
Todd

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Oh.. that sounds so incredibly cool! Might I suggest looking at the film The Legend of Hell House as well? Maybe Kolchak: The Night Stalker or The Norliss Tapes. Now I want to run a game like this as well.

Cheers,
Todd

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

That is a very interesting idea. I agree that you would need the right type of players for the game as some might be miffed if they were expecting a traditional fantasy game setting.

Come to think of it, would you mind if I ripped that idea off? It may just work for one of the characters a player has pitched to me.

Cheers,
Todd

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I've seen Hell House. Night Stalker I haven't. Norliss Tapes I've never heard of.

I'm really looking at Mandy, but it isn't out yet.

(Seriously, everyone should look at the trailer for Mandy. It looks to be an extremely gamer movie.)

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I liked the suggestion that someone made of updating Orcslayer to TFT.

http://www.warehouse23.com/products/...ssic-orcslayer

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Converting Orcslayer for TFT was discussed HERE. I feel this would be an important part of the TFT Canon, as beyond Orcslayer's merits as an adventure, is it's larger value as an *Instruction Manual and Methodology* for creating interesting and dynamic adventures - *especially* for the new TFT GM, who does not have decades of adventure design theory and philosophy behind them; and as a bonus, would enter the Caustigus (one of my favorite SJ creations) into the canon of TFT creatures.

I hope the team will give the merits of converting Orcslayer to TFT the serious consideration it deserves; as I only wish we had something like Orcslayer for TFT back in 1980 to learn cohesive adventure design from.

JK

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Go for it!

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

HARN -- gorgeous hex-based maps, lots of ENCYCLOPEDIA HARNICA and other background material. Plenty of adventure hooks to develop into full campaigns. My brothers and I had fun using TFT with this for a few years, back in the day.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

A couple of points.

First, not to throw a wet blanket on the exchange of ideas, but...beware of copyright and trademark infringement. Now, I'm not saying that you can't do a Middle Earth, Conan, or other well known setting adaptation for your own/group use. Just be careful what you push out online. This is especially true when you talk about adapting material from other games. If you want to use material directly from, say, Tunnels & Trolls, you might want to drop a line to Flying Buffalo before you share it with the world.

So, the discussion of *what* and *how* other materials and sources can be used is fair game. Specifics, though, might get you and, if you put it on this forum, SJG, a "cease and desist" order.

I don't think the discussion has even come close to any intellectual property issues thus far. For instance, I will tell you that I love the LotR and fully intend to use that setting in my gaming. However, I also know that the JRRT estate has sold the rights to RPG, miniatures, and board games to specific companies. Knowing this, I cannot publish my adaptions.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Girl Genius?
Steam Punkish (gaslamp) fantasy by Phil Foglio (artist for GURPs IOU). Steve knows him.

But probably this is better suited to GURPS. When will GURPS Girl Genius be coming out?

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I liked Midkemia Press's Midkemia North Western Triaga continent setting books: Carse, Jonril, Sunken Lands, Tulan, etc.

http://www.midkemia.com/

These books were going to have their own rule system, but that was never published. MP made the books in such a way that other game systems could use them.

Midkemia may be familiar to most of you as the planet that Magician and the Rift Wars took place. These were authored by Raymond Feist, who also helped create MP lands. These lands are set 500 years after Magician starts and after The Great Cataclysm happens.

Is it possible that with the relaunch of TFT (a system that came out when Midkemia Press started), Steve Abrams' might allow sharing of this land?

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Hi John,
I bought a couple of the Midkemia press adventures and thought they were very well written. However, I found that they worked best if the 'other game systems' were very close to D&D. :-(

Warm regards, Rick.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Well, I am revising my TFT Traveller article now, for my own use. I'm also completely redoing the high-tech combat system. 30 additional years of gaming experience allows me to envision (I think) a better system.

For a TFT setting post (say) 1600 AD, a few - but remarkably few - changes need to be made to the combat system. The most important is some kind of overwatch option that allows a figure to shoot an enemy during the enemy movement phase. This is necessary to resolve the age-old wargaming problem of "panzerbushing".

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I understand a Girl Genius Munchkin expansion is on the way.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

The current run of 70s nostalgia might make this a real seller.

We discussed this a bit here: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...ghlight=sanity

My thoughts at the time:

"Since there’s no attribute that really covers courage, maybe a fear mechanic should simply be to roll 3d6 on a fear effects chart. The range might be “you laugh at it” to “you run away in blind terror”. In TFT fashion, low is good for the figure, high is bad. More frightening things might roll 4d or get a positive modifier. Less frightening things might get a negative modifier or roll 1 less dice. There could be a “courage” talent, which would let you roll 1d less."

Perhaps a cheap "foolhardy" talent that lets you roll 2 dice less, but requires an IQ roll to voluntarily retreat (unless outnumbered at least 2 to 1).

I never had time to put together a "fear chart".

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Sounds like you want a Kung Fury setting!

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I used the Cities supplement constantly in my early days of GMing (1981-83). I still do when I create a city.

I also used Carse, Tulan and Jonril as sourcebooks. And a supplement with 6 or so small towns (the title escapes me). I lost that one many years ago.

They were very well written products and haven't been exceeded in sophistication (of the content; obviously presentation has improved a lot).

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Simple Runequest adaptation: use ST as is , IQ as is, DX as AdjDX. Drop all other Attributes. Ignore the magic system for anyone not a Rune priest or lord. Turn them into wizards. Apply appropriate talents ignoring the percentile characteristics.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Empire of the Petal Throne would be near the top pf my list, as would Metamorphosis Alpha and Traveller's Third Imperium.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Here are my TFT Tekumel rules.

http://joyfulsitting.blogspot.com/p/...les_4.html?m=1

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

If you are a Tekumel fan and have not read Brett's rules, you should do so. If you are not a Tekumel fan, you should become a Tekumel fan at the next opportunity and then read Brett's rules.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I would definitely play a post apocalypse TFT conversion.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Thanks, Steve.

Two URLs for those interested in Tekumel: tekumel.com is the official Tekumel website. Lots of great content here, setting, adventures, zines, etc.

The Eye of Joyful Sitting Amongst Friends is my gaming blog. On the left navbar is a Tekumel Collection link.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I just downloaded Brett’s rules. I was an early Tekumel fan, and even got to play in one of Prof. Barker’s games at Gen Con years ago. EPT was the second or third RPG I bought back when I was in grad school. (I can’t remember if I bought that or T&T first.)

I class Prof. Barker with Tolkien as a world-builder and I’m not sure if I’m underestimating him when I say that.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

You are playing post-apocalypse TFT, in a setting called Cidri. All the Mnoren are gone and things have turned to poo.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

We have a conversion table we used between TFT and AD&D. We played a few modules from AD&D in our home brew campaign based on Blackmoor.

- Arneson

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I really like Brett's critters and items; this is a great setting resource.

A related point: Dyson Logos' web site includes maps titled 'My Private Jakalla' - his treatment of the massive complex of sewers and associated dungeons under the main city in the Tekumel setting. I've repurposed and modified these maps for my Cidri campaign (something I've done a lot of with Dyson's materials), but it is obviously also just waiting to be dropped into your Tekumel game. It is really impressive - probably something like 500+ 'rooms', and enough other complexities that you could easily key 1000 locations to it. A true megadungeon. And there are dozens of spots that are obvious launching off places for your additions.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I think that the Taarna sequence in the animated movie Heavy Metal (1981) would be wonderful.

Sort of Post-Apocalypse, but heavily Fantasy.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Excellent work, Brett. A tour d'force on how to seamlessly adapt TFT to a different setting.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

The Lost City of Arumur

Several centuries ago, there was a fabled city of remarkable prosperity. It lay in a narrow valley, with great buildings of stone and thick timbers made from trees said to be dozens of feet in diameter that sprawled up the sides of the mountains. This city was said to have a cable system of carts that ran across the skies from one mountain side to another allowing its citizens to travel from places of vast multi-family dwellings to centers of commerce, art, and labor. The city was called Arumur, and it was on the great road between the nations of Garonn and Harum, in the mountains called Karrum Duth.

History says that the people of Arumur were wise and skilled in all manner of arts and crafts, science and industry, but they lacked one thing that angered the mountain goddess, humility.

They decorated their buildings with frescoes of their great heroes and scholars, and everywhere that they carved into the mountain they left great seals and signs announcing their accomplishments, but not once did they erect a monument to Dorappaline the goddess of the deep places and mountains shrouded in the mists beyond reach.

Legends tell of a great holiday proclaimed to announce the birth of twin daughters to the Lord and Lady of Arumur. This holiday was meant to be celebrated for seven days every spring, in honor of the girl’s birthday.

On the twentieth celebration of this holiday the sisters were surprised with a gift. Two towering statues made from the purest marble from the sacred mountain called Iudor were unveiled as the guardians of a gate into a new citadel in the heart of the mountain city.

Many gifts were placed at the feet of the statues, and many songs were sung in honor of the sisters, but on that day the goddess of the mountain took out her anger on the ungrateful people of Arumur for neglecting her gifts for so long.

The two sides of the valley came together in a catastrophic upheaval, burying the city under millions of tons of rock and earth. The city of Arumur was hidden away from the rest of the world.

Some people believe, to this day, that there are portals, magic gates, that lead to the buried city scattered all over the world in hidden, dark and dangerous places, and it was by these portals that the people of Arumur were able to draw such wealth and talent to them. Naturally, no one knows where any of the portals actual could be found, but they remain a popular quest for those searching for the riches and great history of the Lost City of Arumur.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

The Mysterious Dungeon

East of the country of Kalinn, there is a great gorge that runs north and south.

This gorge is nearly three hundred feet deep at its deepest point and averages 175 feet below the surface of the surrounding countryside. To the west of the gorge lies the fertile fields and plains of the frontier lands east of Kalinn, while to the west of the gorge are the Gnomelands, a hilly and forested place where many wild animals and strange beast run free, but it is the gorge that attracts the adventurers.

The gorge is the home of many, mostly friendly goblin tribes living in villages carved into the western wall, near a place known by the three goblin tribes as “The Tumble of the White.” Here, a small, but powerful waterfall carries the runoff from Crystal Lake, in the human settled farmland to the west, over the western rim of the gorge and down to a small lake at the bottom. The waterfall is only a dozen feet wide, but the amount of water spilling over the rim of the gorge is significant and as it strikes the rock wall on its way down it is churned and foamed to a bright white, reflecting the setting sun in the late afternoons with a dazzling display. Water flows from the small lake at the bottom of the falls northward along the bottom of the gorge in a fast flowing river over rocks and courses which make it dangerous to cross or navigate until it reaches a long narrow lake at the northern most point of the great gorge where the land to the east and west slowly descend to the same level as the bottom of the great gorge.

The most intriguing aspect of the gorge is a mysterious tomb, located south of the Tumble of the White, and on the eastern wall of the gorge. This tomb, built for a great goblin queen many centuries ago, is affectionately known as “The Mysterious Dungeon.” The Mysterious Dungeon is said to be filled with traps and puzzles, and is guarded by elemental creatures of Earth, Fire, and Water. There is a guardian guide of the Mysterious Dungeon as well, known in tales and legends as Gloomspath the Contemplative, a goblin lich who is said to be harmless, talkative, often less than helpful, and cursed with tremendous knowledge of the strange places that are connected to magic portals within The Mysterious Dungeon.

You see they say that there are two gates within The Mysterious Dungeon. One, the goblins say, leads to a bizarre alternative reality called the “Here,” where strange humanoids compete for fame and glory in complex games of Lazer-Skazer-Tag, a game played with magic light emitting wands while wearing wheels on your shoes, in a darkened maze of uneven floors, ramps, and tubes. The other gate is said to lead to a place called the “After,” a dystopian future where goblins have been tortured and imprisoned, their twisted bodies combined with strange machines. These Necromechadons, part zombified goblin, part mechanical nightmare, can tower as high as twenty feet above the ground on spindly legs, firing nets from cannons mounted in their bodies, or emitting beams of red light that can burn flesh.

The goblin tribes, led by Good Chief Marion, Good Chief Darien, and Good Chief Woode, will be happy to tell adventurers where to find the entrance to The Mysterious Dungeon, but they know little about what dangers await those who are smart enough to unlock the front doors.

Oh, and beware of the Krockodons, and the dwarf hippos, which are always hungry, which live along the river at the bottom of the gorge.

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

I could probably keep doing one or two of these "setting" pieces each week

Re: Other Settings to TfT - Any Interest?
 

Oh, man. This is the main reason I backed the Kickstarter. My first campaign back in 1980 only ran three or four sessions. I used the Melee and Wizard Microgames with some homebrewed rules for modern weapons -- actually, just a shotgun. It started with a flock of nightgaunts invading my hometown and my friends functioning as the resistance. (That's where using TFT for this kind of nonsense beats V&V -- your friends don't argue about each other's stats.)

When they chased the nightgaunts to their source, I basically ran them through my memory of Dream Quest of the Unknown Kadath. I used the Giant stats for Gugs and so on. I just pulled it out of my hat. We had fun but your concept gives me a great sword and sorcery feel.