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Old 05-04-2021, 11:02 AM   #21
larsdangly
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Default Re: New to The Fantasy Trip. Got questions.

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Originally Posted by Skarg View Post
Quite so.

It's a different sort of game. Effective tactics can also multiply one side's effectiveness and odds of survival.

I've often seen well-played PCs survive for years of combat-heavy play in TFT, but they don't do manage that by just charging up equal foes and trading blows with them one on one. They do it mostly by arranging combat situations (and sometimes avoiding them) so that they get hurt as little as possible. Using terrain, flanking, ganging up, striking first, jabbing, using ranged attacks, pole weapons, magic, etc., and avoiding having those things done to them.
Agreed. The first thing for a new GM to focus on in TFT is the wonderful selection of 'nuisance' creatures, plants, swarms, etc. And then get creative with traps and natural hazards and obstacles, which can be presented as very fun mini-encounters, given TFT's very detailed treatment of movement, jumping, climbing, etc. Get used to the idea that a proper dust-up is an unusual thing.
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Old 05-04-2021, 01:05 PM   #22
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Default Re: New to The Fantasy Trip. Got questions.

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Originally Posted by Anaraxes
The houserule I suggested, for those that find the RAW overly lethal even considering Immediate Action, is simply to lower the threshold for converting death-reversible-by-Immediate-Action to death-requiring-Revival from 0 to some lower number. If that threshold were -ST (say), then it becomes very much harder to kill someone, though it's just as easy to put them out of action. So, Out of Action is no longer exactly and only ST 0, but ST <= 0 and > threshold. Dying becomes ST < threshold, not ST < 0.
I just realized I completely mis-read your original post. I thought you meant TFT had a rule to allow variation on the Death threshold, not that you were suggesting a house rule.

Carry, on. Good stuff anyway.
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Old 05-04-2021, 01:38 PM   #23
larsdangly
 
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My personal take on Death Test is that it is interesting only in as much as it is a tough test of player skill. There is nothing terribly interesting about the layout, the nature of the challenges, the goal, etc. It is all about whether you can not only win tricky team skirmish combats, but win them so decisively and with so little expenditure of resources that you are in decent shape for the next one. In a sense, it is the only part of the TFT Canon that presents the player with a resource management problem comparable to that posed by classic D&D style adventures. So, I like to keep it as a difficult challenge that I'll often (usually?) fail to master. The purest way to do that is to follow all of the guidelines that were in place when DT1 and 2 were written: RAW; 4, 32 point characters; no items beyond a staff; no talents; and good F'ing luck.
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Old 05-04-2021, 06:04 PM   #24
Axly Suregrip
 
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Default Re: New to The Fantasy Trip. Got questions.

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Originally Posted by larsdangly View Post
My personal take on Death Test is .... The purest way to do that is to follow all of the guidelines that were in place when DT1 and 2 were written: RAW; 4, 32 point characters; no items beyond a staff; no talents; and good F'ing luck.
True! I love it.
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Old 05-05-2021, 03:32 AM   #25
RobW
 
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Default Re: New to The Fantasy Trip. Got questions.

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Originally Posted by Skarg View Post
I've often seen well-played PCs survive for years of combat-heavy play in TFT, but they don't do manage that by just charging up equal foes and trading blows with them one on one. They do it mostly by arranging combat situations (and sometimes avoiding them) so that they get hurt as little as possible. Using terrain, flanking, ganging up, striking first, jabbing, using ranged attacks, pole weapons, magic, etc., and avoiding having those things done to them.
Completely agree, our experience is the same.

One thing for new players to be aware of is that this means even our illiterate IQ 9 tanks, although might be idiotic in other ways, on the battlefield turn into calculating savants. The players running tanks need to reconcile these aspects of their character.
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Old 05-05-2021, 03:51 AM   #26
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Default Re: New to The Fantasy Trip. Got questions.

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One way to reduce lethality in TFT is the same way we used for AD&D 1e, back in the day: don't take <0 HP as "dead", just "unconscious" -- out of the fight, but not irretrievably dead. This is already a rule in TFT, but you can move the death threshold down further (say, -10, or -ST) to provide a comfortable window of being likely to survive even without Immediate Action - yet sufficiently big hits or sufficiently cruel enemies are still an immediate threat.
This is so simple but great! It doesn't affect the outcome of battles, but gives the characters better longevity. And side effect, makes it easier to subdue interesting opponents without killing them. Will do next campaign :)

"Sufficiently cruel" -- another great one! An NPC that is known to slaughter even incapacitated enemies will now be even scarier than without this rule.
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Old 05-05-2021, 04:09 AM   #27
ParadoxGames
 
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Default Re: New to The Fantasy Trip. Got questions.

To find videos of gameplay of a TFT programmed adventure, in YouTube the keywords are "The Fantasy Trip live in the Labyrinth". You can watch live play-by-text game play in the Discord server (a link is in my signature). Current games are being played on ADVENTURE 1 and ADVENTURE 4.
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Old 05-05-2021, 11:55 AM   #28
Aleph
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You can find a direct link to our Live in the Labyrinth show here: https://thefantasytrip.game/resource...the-labyrinth/
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Old 06-21-2021, 11:54 PM   #29
PBarone714
 
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Default Re: New to The Fantasy Trip. Got questions.

Make sure the characters buy Healing Potions ($150, 0.2 lbs). They heal 1 ST of injury or fatigue.

There is a new Healing Spell in the Kickstarter or Backerkit zine called The Fanzine Trip. It is worth having your players Wizards to learn the Healing Spell!!!
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Old 06-22-2021, 06:21 AM   #30
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Default Re: New to The Fantasy Trip. Got questions.

Somebody swiped the best ideas from here and bundled them up in a Mortality Options article for Hexagram #7. They (whoever they are) show you some of the gauges and dials to adjust the deadliness of your game.
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