What about fanzine topics?
 

Is it bad form to post comments or critiques of fanzine contents here?

Re: What about fanzine topics?
 

Let's do it!

Re: What about fanzine topics?
 

OK Heroic Expeditions V1 just came out and I found it to be a great "love Letter" of sorts to TFT.
I think what made this so appealing to me was the tone it sets from the very start with the "round up of favorite house rules from readers". From "healings per hit" to "common core" talent costs I found myself realizing that yes I have been using 5 out the 7 for decades and will easily adopt the other 2 for future play.
So does anyone not use these? Any major why fors?

Re: What about fanzine topics?
 

Of the house rules discussed in that article, I use a few: doing more damage with a weapon if ST is greater than that required, the missile range rule of thumb, a academic talents costing list price for wizards (actually, I'm even more liberal; I let all characters learn all spells and talents at the same cost).

A Physicker healing per hit is too cinematic for my taste, though if it took five minutes per point healed, that might make it more palatable.

I like the idea that weapons do a minimum of 1 damage, even if they are listed as subtracting an amount from the die result. I'll probably adopt this.

I'd might be happy with Shield Expertise offering side protection to only the shield-arm side, but I'm not convinced it is a good idea yet.

The RAW thrown weapon and spell penalty seems fine to me, especially considering Thrown Weapons talent for those who want to shine in this area. I like a Thrown Spell talent that offsets the range penalty by 1 for each level of the talent (max 3), but never giving a bonus. I have sometimes only allowed this to be spell specific.

Re: What about fanzine topics?
 

Are we reading this the same way? The (what I have thought was almost universally accepted) method is "per wound" healing. Meaning the 6 hit gash from the battleaxe and the 2 hit fire burn on Bernie the unlucky can be individually treated by a physiker. So the axe gash goes down to 4 hits and the blistered leg is completely salved and wrapped to 0 hits ie the doc cures 2 hits on each wound = 4 hits, as opposed to RAW of just 2 hits total. I always felt (even back in the 80s) this was just as logical as any other simulation of health care + it reduces the (illogical for me at least) cases of healing potion purchased and carried on every trip. A little more book work but it helps with the deadly nature of TFT, smooths the pace of adventuring (still have major single strike wounds that need true magical aid) and makes the physiker talent shine all the more.

For sure on min 1 hit damage. Even two unarmored and barehanded old women having a slap fight should do 1 hit minimums. Even the smallest amount of armor or toughness will negate the effect so only wizards and people getting out of the bath need fear this change. (also I want to point out that adopting the "per wound" physiking means even the handful of sha-ken landing at 1 hit each would leave no lasting damage if treated by the doctor)

The shield expert extra coverage is new to me. However I know plenty of people chaff at the whole armor mechanics anyway, and especially the use of shields, so I can see the merit. This is one of my 2 unsure as well, but covering 1 or 2 more hex sides seems fairly inconsequential.

This one I think we agree on. Not broke, no fix needed. The thrown spell talent would be great as a fill in for flavor and those needing this bump for distance accuracy.

Re: What about fanzine topics?
 

Yes, that's how I understood it. But I just think that 5 minutes to physick someone is too little if you can heal more than 2 points (or 3 w/Master).

Re: What about fanzine topics?
 

Valid! I always thought the physic time was 15 minutes. But since this occurs out of combat the simulated time was/is mostly narrative and inconsequential to me.

OK onto the 1st article?

IQ and XP Advancement by Nils Linderberg
Had 5 points dealing with PC creation and advancement.
I find myself falling into writing some form of review which is not my intent (the article is great imho, 4.5 stars) so I am just going to stick with my questions on two of the topics he addressed.

Point 1 was the inclusion of a mod that again I feel most veterans insert into their games which is the old classic method of gaining talent points when increasing your IQ attribute. I am not sure why this change occurred for the new edition. I would love to hear if anyone ever read or know of commentary of the reason behind this choice.

Point 3 is the "Fibonacci" scale attribute chart. A very modest change in the points progression needed to level up but the big thing is the 1300 xp cap needed for 39 and later. This makes a difference of 3,400 xp to go from 38 to lvl 40 (2600 for ole Fibonacci or 6k for new edition), then of course we have the exponential doubling from 41 on and the difference become astronomical.
It is well documented that Mr. Jackson specifically did this to discourage "super heroes" of high level. This is something I can appreciate; however I find the older I get the more I realize I don't have time to worry about this. The reality is I have played since the 80s (very heavily) slacked off greatly as we reached the turn of the century and have jumped back into regular play since the new edition came out and I don't think I ever achieved a 40 point character in all this time let alone worried about something bigger.

Some one should tell me what to think regarding this whole wizardly duel of arithmetic between Fibonacci and Jackson?

Re: What about fanzine topics?
 

Well I've rewritten the conversion table six times since Legacy appeared, and still find something wrong with each version. Since the topic came up again where this article was discussed on Discord, I've all but decided to scrap them all and go with the actual Fibonacci sequence, applying the increment for every other increase. (So 100 four times, then 200, 200, 300, 300...)

Except I'll cap the maximum cost at 800, even after TAP exceeds 44. Bring on the 45 point wizard, I'll fight her!

I played and GMed in a 20 year campaign (all day play once a month) under the classic rules, and not a single one of us ever got a character passed 38 points. Not in 20 years. And we weren't stingy with the EP!

I think attribute bloat is the very last thing we have to worry about, whereas losing players to boredom is always a main concern.

Re: What about fanzine topics?
 

My philosophy of experience:

• Characters start at some attribute total, call it S.
• There is probably a level, call it C, at which further progress becomes ridiculous and a cap, which may as well be soft, needs to be applied. The hardness of the cap is defined by a factor H, see below.
• In between players get to experience the different attribute totals of their character. At each level they should get to play long enough to enjoy the experience, but not so long as to get bored and wish the next level should hurry up and happen. This will correspond to some number of XPs, call it A.
• Similarly there should be a price to acquire a memory point's worth of talent or spell, call it M.
• Contrary to ITL 45 paragraph 6 there is no reason why characters should spend more time at, say, 33 points than they do at 38. Approximately exponential increase, including Fibonacci increase, is therefore a bad idea. Progress should be linear until the cap is reached.
• A*(C-S) needs to be of the order of and at least a bit less than the expected XPs to be awarded in the whole campaign.
• All these numbers (S, C, A, M, H) should depend on the feel of the campaign. The rules should suggest values for different kinds of campaign.

I therefore suggest:

• Characters start at S attribute points.
• Cost to acquire spell or talent per point is M.
• Cost to acquire attribute point is A until the attribute total t reaches C, and thereafter is A*H^(t-C), rounded off to something nice for a table.

Suggested values for the parameters could be:

• Classic: S = 32, C = 33, A = 125, M = ∞, H = 1.25
• Legacy: S = 32, C = 33, A = 100, M = 500, H = 1.8
• Zero to Hero: S = 29, C = 40, A = 100, M = 50, H = 1.25
• Epic: S = 44, C = 48, A = 400, M = 200, H = 1.5
• Gritty: S = 32, C = 36, A = 200, M = 50, H = 1.5

Re: What about fanzine topics?
 

Should the Classic and Legacy C value be 43 instead of 33?