GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting: Caverntown

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Evil Roy Slade

My congratulations to Kromm for getting the rarefied vocab of monadnock and inselberg into a gaming product, a trick that not even the polysllabic EGG ever managed*.

*C'mon, where did most of us learn dweomer, weal, demiurge, geas, and milieu?

Dragging out obscure vocabulary in the tradition of the early days of the hobby is just part of the Dungeon Fantasy experience. ;)

Originally Posted by Joe

The whole first chapter is quietly hilarious, in my humble opinion, partly because (rightly or wrongly) it gave me a strong sense that the author had had fun writing it [...] the writing itself is quite funny, IMHO.

I had a lot of fun writing this one. Setting admits a lot more creativity than rules. It isn't my strength, but it's definitely a welcome break from checking the math on templates, complicated ability builds, etc.

I think "The Adventures of Mr. Azure Blue" would make for a great campaign premise! The party would be assembled not in response to rumors of treasure or a call for adventurers to undertake a quest, nor to battle Evil, nor to escort a caravan, nor for any other reason that has become "traditional" in hack 'n slash. Rather, it would be hired by a wealthy incompetent whose idea of fun is to see real dragons and run around with a loaded crossbow, pretending to be the great hunter.

This would make every encounter, however harmless to 250-point heroes, a little trickier – especially if Mr. Blue's only talents aside from being extraordinarily rich and well-connected in town were being Indomitable and Unfazeable. He would insist on being in charge, and his survival would be essential to mission success. The delvers would require an unusual set of abilities, and the players would have to develop unorthodox operating procedures.

It would also be fun to motivate players not with loot but with large, guaranteed payoffs in town after each quest ("Exhilarating, hey, wot? Bonuses, I say – bonuses for all, paid in gold! Now this next quest involves something called a lick or lech or some such thing – a dry old skeleton, anyway, so how hard could it be? But this Forbidden Tome thingy . . . well, I want it as a centerpiece for my library."). Their patron could even loan them powerful gear ("Before we head to the Tombs of the Restless Horde, does anyone want the Holy Sword of Ultimate Undead Slaying. 'Twas my great-grand uncle's, but I find it ugly and far too clumsy for me."). It would be an amusing change of pace.