Dungeon Fantasy Players and GMs: What Tips You Would Give to a New Player?

[Nymdok]

Originally Posted by TJA

I tried to understand, but could not.
Penalities for low HP? Lower Parts? Spectrum?

Could you explain a bit more?`
Thank you very much

Originally Posted by corwyn

He means the penalties you take (half move/dodge) for being below 1/3 HP and lowering the threshold to 0 (or even negative) HP.

Sorry for the delay in response.

Yes TJA, thats exactly what I meant. I experimented successfully with shifting everything down a full HP.

Reeling happens at -2/3 HP instead of 1/3 (FREX : for HP 10, reeling at -7 HP)
No Conciousness checks untill HP -1
No death checks untill -2xHP etc.

-5xHP = Death and -10xHP = hamburger rules were unchanged.

It gave the players a much bigger pool of HP to work in and made them bolder so its suitable for DF and, also, ACTION! and likely any other game you're running where dramatic Derring-Do can get 'ouchie' quickly.

Nymdok
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=67262

[Carnwennan]

Pay attention and try to have a general idea of what you want to accomplish. Have a cheat sheet open in another window to reduce the book-flipping and draw up a few basic attacks to reference in case you have no idea. If you get it wrong sometimes don't sweat it, just try to fix it for next time -- getting it a bit wrong in a sub-1 minute turn is better than flipping through the book for 5 to make sure that everything is correct. Don't be afraid to spend turns repositioning or performing other set-ups (feints, AoD(Parry) for a riposte etc.) either. Those are quick and effective.

I got blasted by a gargolyle's fire breath a few weeks back, completely forgot that you could use retreating dodges for jets and would have saved my arm from crippling if I had. That said, I was also ballsing up the Quick-Shooting Bows rules and getting +3 skill for free that entire session so it all balances out.

Replace 'wrong' with 'sub-optimal' in the paragraph above and you have a second point of advice.

For the love of god don't pull never-before-seen maneouvres from the book out of your ass to do something fancy mid-session. Always bring it up before the session if you can so that the GM at least knows what you're trying to do (leaned that one first-hand)

TL;DR: The true Munchkin optimizes his actions for SPEED first. He recognises that you only have three to four hours to get to the dungeon boss and end it rightly if he wants to earn the maximum amount of CP for the session.

Make sure to read DF 13 if you have it and bring the essentials -- rope, light and a long stick for poking.

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by Nymdok

It gave the players a much bigger pool of HP to work in and made them bolder so its suitable for DF and, also, ACTION! and likely any other game you're running where dramatic Derring-Do can get 'ouchie' quickly.

Nymdok
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=67262

What I did that gave a similar result is added another option to Extra Effort to cut damage in half from one attack. That allows me to still nickel and dime PCs but reduces the chance that anyone will be one-shot. Tying it to fatigue also means it costs a resource so they can't do it forever.

[Nymdok]

Originally Posted by corwyn

What I did that gave a similar result is added another option to Extra Effort to cut damage in half from one attack. That allows me to still nickel and dime PCs but reduces the chance that anyone will be one-shot. Tying it to fatigue also means it costs a resource so they can't do it forever.

Thats actually a really good idea! Did it work well? Is there somehting already called 'Roll With The Punches?' if not, this should be that thing.

Nymdok

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by Nymdok

Thats actually a really good idea! Did it work well? Is there somehting already called 'Roll With The Punches?' if not, this should be that thing.

Nymdok

There's roll with the blow but it doesn't do what I want for a few reasons:

1) It's cinematic so you can't increase it without TbaM or Weapon Master
2) It requires a skill roll at -2 which requires all characters to either have that skill at a fairly high level or have one of the above advantages
3) It only works against crushing

I wanted it to be available to all characters, regardless of their concept, and be reliable. I also did not want it available ad infinitum, hence the fatigue cost.

I would say, for what I wanted, it went perfectly. I originally used it for my Deadlands game. It allowed me to mix guns and 20+ ST monsters in a genre that typically has little or no access to DR while still making smaller amounts of damage meaningful (I applied the half damage after DR). I should add that in that game I also used Last Gasp so that fatigue cost was huge. In later games, the other GM from our group used it as well (a Victorian MH game and a time-travel game where we encountered a T-Rex and a mecha-Kraken, also with PC's not particularly armoured) and worked fine as well.

I wouldn't necessarily use it for every game (I probably won't use it for DF since there is buckets of healing, though I might allow it as an alternative if no one plays a healer) but for anything cinematic or games with guns and little DR it allows PCs to keep going after being shot. Once.

[scc]

Realize that Artificers and Scholars are prep classes, they do stuff before heading off. Also Artificers are basically Tony Stark, work out the boundaries are for that character type before creating your character.

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by scc

Realize that Artificers and Scholars are prep classes, they do stuff before heading off. Also Artificers are basically Tony Stark, work out the boundaries are for that character type before creating your character.

I would probably steer new players/GMs towards DF 1 professions and avoid things like the above entirely. No need to swamp them with templates from a dozen different sources. There are over 30 templates, even if we just count the 250pt ones.

[Greg 1]

Originally Posted by Stripe

3. What are some other important pieces of advice you would give an experienced GURPS GM about running DF games?

If your players are already familiar with the genre of dungeon fantasy, invite them to come up with character concepts before looking at the class lists. If there is something they enjoyed playing in another game, or wanted to play in another game, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy should allow them to do it using the best set of rules for the DF genre.

When I first fell in love with the DF genre, it was through D&D. What first attracted me to GURPS DF was that it seemed like my good old game done right.

[corwyn]

[QUOTE=Greg 1;2087150]

Originally Posted by Stripe

3. What are some other important pieces of advice you would give an experienced GURPS GM about running DF games?

If your players are already familiar with the genre of dungeon fantasy, invite them to come up with character concepts before looking at the class lists. If there is something they enjoyed playing in another game, or wanted to play in another game, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy should allow them to do it using the best set of rules for the DF genre.

When I first fell in love with the DF genre, it was through D&D. What first attracted me to GURPS DF was that it seemed like my good old game done right.

This is true but unfortunately some adaptations may turn off new players with their complexity. Sorcerers and Warlocks in particular come to mind. Monks can as well currently, but I'll reserve judgement for the boxed set.

[dripton]

My new DF GM tip is to use fewer rules, preferably few enough that you never need to look up rules in play. It seems fun to add a bunch of optional stuff, but it really slows the game down, especially if you don't already know the rules well. Try to stick to just the basics at first, and only add more rules if you really need them. For example, the templates in DF1 should be plenty for a first game; no need for Imbuements and Sorcery and whatnot. You probably don't need anything from Martial Arts. The equipment in Low Tech is "better" but the equipment in Basic is good enough and saves you a book.