Announcing: Delvers to Grow for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG

[DouglasCole]

Even the mightiest delver started somewhere. An apprentice, a squire or man-at-arms, a backup singer with The Backstreet Bards.

Delvers to Grow allows you to take the part of those starting characters, supporting starting play as low as 62 points.

Further, it provides pre-built modules and packages enabling a player to create a capable, playable character in minutes.

Get gaming. Fast.

Fully compatible with the professional template system in Dungeon Fantasy Adventurers, Delvers to Grow lets you start much earlier in the hero’s journey, letting both players and GMs ease into the full breadth of capability that the professional delvers of the Dungeon Fantasy RPG bring to the table.

Explore different challenges or use the modules to effortlessly assemble henchmen…or create a starting character to replace the dearly departed.

Roll and Shout with Delvers to Grow.

Gaming Ballistic is pleased to announce the next set of products in support of Steve Jackson Games’ Dungeon Fantasy RPG.

Additional volumes which will release simultaneously with the primary Delvers-to-Grow book include worked examples at around 65, 125, and 185 points for multiple archetypes of delver.

Each volume tackles one archetype:

• The Strong Heroes that are barbarians, holy warriors, knights, and wrestlers
• The Fast Heroes that are martial artists, scouts, swashbucklers, and thieves
• The Smart Heroes that are bards, clerics, druids, and wizards

These books feature pre-built and easy-to-assemble “modules” of abilities that can be used to quickly – very quickly – create characters from as little as 37 points (the base 62-point template and a 25-point disadvantage module) to the stock 250-point templates…or beyond.

Perfect for new players and GMs for whom challenging the full range of capabilities of a 250-point “starting” delver seems overwhelming, or a group that wants to see their characters grow from humble beginnings.

Future work from GB will support encounters, adventures, and other playable material at this point level, but that hasn’t been developed or contracted yet.

Look for Delvers to Grow to enter a crowdfunding phase somewhere between late April and mid-May.

[Pragmatic]

Will there be a placeholder soon, so we can be notified when it launches?

I've bought a couple campaigns' ebooks, so I'm betting there will be announcements through those campaigns. But for other people who haven't bought yet?

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

Will there be a placeholder soon, so we can be notified when it launches?

I've bought a couple campaigns' ebooks, so I'm betting there will be announcements through those campaigns. But for other people who haven't bought yet?

There will probably be a placeholder in a few weeks. I'm closing out the Character Collections effort this week for TFT, and it's going to be full-court press to get that finalized and the Backerkit/shipping sorted out.

After that, I should be able to bulk out the current effort. I can't offer up a placeholder until the thing is submitted for review, and that takes some planning, as pledge levels, page counts and pricing all have to be in place to get that right.

[corwyn]

Yeah, can't wait for you to take my money.

[Anders]

I can only hope that the "Smart Heroes" will be subtitled "Heroes Who Know."

[b-dog]

This book might work well with GURPS Magical Styles Horror Magic because there can be a lot of cultists with Ceremonial magic in a dark temple that can only work magic collectively and slowly so that the lower point PCs won’t have to fight hoards of evil clerics with full lists of spells. The cultists with Ceremonial magic might only have regular fighting abilities or thieving abilities to fight against the lower point PCs. Plus cults and dark temples are perfect for PCs who need to find clues and sneak around instead of fighting directly against the temple.

[JMason]

This sounds great. I've been really burned out from fantasy for awhile, but might be starting to get back into it... and have always preferred the "zero to hero" style of play over the starting out powerful.

[mehrkat]

I've grabbed most of your stuff but I have to admit this is the most exciting project put out for Dungeon Fantasy and of your stuff I've seen.

I'm not at all crazy about the power level of DF so I'm sure its just a me thing but I've been hopping up and down with excitement. I've been wishing for this since opening the first DF book and realizing the starting power level.

See you on kickstarter in a few weeks.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by mehrkat

I've grabbed most of your stuff but I have to admit this is the most exciting project put out for Dungeon Fantasy and of your stuff I've seen.

I'm pretty stoked about it too, and every time I see a new bit of material from Kevin, I get more so.

I'm not at all crazy about the power level of DF so I'm sure its just a me thing but I've been hopping up and down with excitement.

I think based on the acclaim for the Henchmen book, Eric's DF on the Cheap templates, etc, you're not alone. The ability to start small(er) is important, and for a game with a rep for drowning one in capability to the point of inducing analysis paralysis, it will let gamers new to GURPS and the DFRPG start small, and then go big. This helps the first experiences be most excellent ones.

Now I want to watch Bill and Ted.

I've been wishing for this since opening the first DF book and realizing the starting power level.

See you on kickstarter in a few weeks.

Awesome. See you there.

[InexplicableVic]

Yeah, I really like DF 15: Henchmen, but it would be good to have a DFRPG styled book. The improvements made to the DFRPG series (to get rid of so much of the point calculations, etc.), the way that lists in templates are ordered (instead of in a long paragraph), and such, are all helpful.

DFRPG's 250 point templates are a lot of fun, but I do like the idea of starting at lower levels. Dinomen, goblins, etc., are just so much fodder for 250 point delvers that you can only worry them with sheer numbers. Not to say that they cannot challenge them: it can look worrisome in the beginning when a group of five 300-350 point delvers are attacked by 15 goblins and hobgoblins (including a spellcaster), the delvers have a few critical failures and fumble things away, yeah, it can get hairy. But generally speaking, within 5-10 rounds, those delvers are going to mop them up (although with enough terrain advantages and other factors, you can make even goblins fearsome). But one on one, a goblin just can't really stand up to hard hitting delvers.

Having delvers start at 100 points, 150, etc., can be a lot of fun, too. So you can really have the zero to hero progression. This will be a really welcome addition to the DFRPG line.