Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3: The Speculation Thread

[tbone]

So, there's a Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 on the way.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects.../posts/3265994

"We are not yet ready to share the details," we're told, so I suggest we not pester The Powers That Be for details. But said Powers did divulge the "Heroic Background Generator" by David Pulver as a part of the book, and I'll welcome that. (Do I recognize this from an old Pyramid issue? Well, brand new content or not, I'll happily take one Generator, thank you.)

Anyone with Divine Omens want to prognosticate on what else will be in there? More monsters and magic items? More villains? Mini dungeons? New spells?

Me, here's something I'd really welcome: More Delvers to Go. That includes the "freebie download" characters Amira Tiro, Emily Elms, Glint, and Lyndon Glibtongue. And even some of the PCs Kromm has posted in the forums. I don't mind that they're old content now; I'd welcome them all nicely published in a book, along with (I'd hope!) several entirely new entries.

That. And more Animal Companions, mebbe more professions and races brought over from DF, some ready-made hirelings, more natural preparations for druids to craft...

Who else has a pet wish for Companion 3?

[Rasputin]

I could care less about pregens, and honestly don't understand their appeal beyond having them ready for con games and the like.

I'd like to see more items that enable rapid adventure design, like the two-page dungeon. Monsters, sure, though I'd rather see more monster development for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy there instead, given the choice; DFRPG is alright with this, given its narrower, slightly simpler scope. Maybe one monster from each class or something. Baseline humanoid foes and NPCs that you can build up through quick choices, much like Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons 5e, or Delvers to Grow have. It helps when making adventures, especially for others, to just say "twelve goblin bandits, with one spellcaster and one leader" and have that be a shorthand that anyone familiar with the system will get right away. Maybe a little bit more of this with traps as well, though the Traps supplement from the original Kickstarter does this well other than the basics.

Some branching out of the dungeon is warranted. Add the Lords and Ladies section of Dungeon Fantasy 23: Twists and enough of Caverntown to make a basic urban supplement (I tried stripping Caverntown of its Caverntown-specific stuff and focused on rules, and came to about 8,650 words), and a stripped-down version of Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness Adventures to handle those as well (pages 20-34, plus 38-44, which could be reduced as well).

Crawling anywhere is a good idea. Obviously, wilderness adventures would mean a hexcrawl, but Kromm's Tactical Looting article in Pyramid #4/1 Fantasy/Magic I would serve as a basis for dungeoncrawling, which is largely absent from DFRPG. The hobby has been moving towards linear adventures for far too long, so moving away from that is desirable, especially to give a niche.

Low-level adventures, though Doug seems to have that covered. I'd still like a little advice in scaling, however.

[Dammann]

I agree that animal companion rules (as well as a simple Alternate Forms section) would be nice. Psionics might be cool to add in, but given that Heroic Backgrounds are included, my guess is that there will be more material to support story and motivation for all heroes.

I like things for particular player races, like dwarf templates such as the demolished and “Dwarf” from pyramid. Some sort of size scaling for armor and weapons might be good to have, but maybe it’s just too fiddly?

I’d like to see rules for town, with a little higher resolution than what has been the default. I think it’s the environment that thieves and bards have the most spot light, but hasn’t received as much coverage as wilderness for druids, scouts, and barbarians. The DF line has the guilds and Caverntown books, but something distilled for DFRPG could be cool.

Finally, mounted combat and travel haven’t gotten too much attention. Jousting, horseback archery, dragon or griffon riders, and giant eagles are all at home in dungeon fantasy settings.

[DarkPumpkin]

Templates and tables for quick setting generation at different resolutions - town, locale, kingdom, etc.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I could care less about pregens, and honestly don't understand their appeal beyond having them ready for con games and the like.

Pregens are great. They're the quickest way to the table by a mile: grab a sheet, swap a few skills or other bits, and play. Or don't even swap stuff; just give the pregen a new name. Or not even that, if "Yvor" or whatever sounds fine. From book to table in less than a minute, if you're quick at choosing.

Kromm's pregen design notes are great, too, showing optimizations that players can learn from. And every pregen comes with a fully worked-out load of gear, ready to be nicked by any player. And, needless to say, every pregen provides a ready-to-go NPC for the GM.

So I'm up for more. All that said, though, I wouldn't make 250-point pregens a priority, for the simple reason that we already have a book of 'em (and a few floating around outside the book).

125- and 62-point characters would be way more welcome. As far as templates go, I don't know what DFRPG might offer that isn't just repeating DF: Henchmen and Delvers to Grow. Adding some new templates would be a start: say, general-purpose town professional (easily adaptable to merchant, craftsman, physician...), general-purpose outdoor worker (adaptable to hunter, fisher, farmer...), etc.

Another way to add value would be, yep, low-powered pregens. Those aren't in Henchmen, so it'd be all new content. And the pregens would be instantly useful as hirelings, bandits, city watchmen, background townies, etc.

Re monsters: Baseline foes to build up? I think the game already offers plenty of monsters with variants and options. But if you're suggesting something systematic like a baseline orc with a half-dozen add-on packages (leader, grunt, shaman, etc.) and a handful of load-outs, yeah, that sounds good for mix-and-match "monsters to go".

Other things you mention - namely more detailing of town and wilderness - would certainly be welcome. (And if DFRPG veers away from DF in these areas, probably in the direction of keeping things even simpler than DF does, that'd be fine too.)

Well. I don't imagine that Companion 3 as of today consists mostly of blank pages looking for content ideas, so it'll contain whatever it contains. But maybe someone's ideas here will spur directions for Companion 4.

(FWIW, my long wish list for future GURPS/DFRPG releases is here. It's a casual list, just for fun; I don't claim that its ideas are necessarily good ones!)

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by tbone

(FWIW, my long wish list for future GURPS/DFRPG releases is here. It's a casual list, just for fun; I don't claim that its ideas are necessarily good ones!)

With the publication of "Two Page Adventures" in the recent kickstarter, you might want to tick off "Adventures to go" as done.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by tbone

Pregens are great. They're the quickest way to the table by a mile: grab a sheet, swap a few skills or other bits, and play. Or don't even swap stuff; just give the pregen a new name. Or not even that, if "Yvor" or whatever sounds fine. From book to table in less than a minute, if you're quick at choosing.

They're also something any GM can cook up for someone else. There's already 13 in Delvers to Go, as well as two more in Adventurers. Doug put a bunch in Hall of Justice and many are scattered in Delvers to Grow. I don't see why I should throw my money at more.

[b-dog]

I hope there is psionics and Elder Things added especially if the Elder Things are aliens that live in outer space or in other dimensions of it.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I don't see why I should throw my money at more.

Fortunately, you'll never have to! Even if Companion 3 included a PC pregen section (and I don't think it will), my own omens tell me that the book will be offered on a non-coerced, voluntary purchase basis.

As for me, if I were to name something I don't particularly wish for in the book ... hmm, I think it'd be an adventure. Not that I don't want to see more published dungeons - I do, of course - but more than any other content, adventures seem to me to demand standalone books, not pages in a compilation. (Just preference. Probably comes from a conventional mindset informed by "modules" and such.)

Originally Posted by Dammann

I agree that animal companion rules (as well as a simple Alternate Forms section) would be nice ... Some sort of size scaling for armor and weapons might be good to have, but maybe it’s just too fiddly?... I’d like to see rules for town, with a little higher resolution than what has been the default. ... Finally, mounted combat and travel haven’t gotten too much attention.

We've got Animal Companions and some powerful shapeshifter forms thanks to Companion 2, but more of both would of course be fun. The only problem with the latter forms is their giant point cost price tags – point costs appropriate to their power, sure, but it's hard to imagine a druid player saving up 100+ points over dozens of adventures to make one huge purchase. (Still, the forms are great for NPC use, or even limited PC use via a magic item or something.)

Maybe the Alternate Forms that'd be most fun would be additions to the form we have in Adventurers: Beast Flight. Forms that aren't powerful but are useful and, most importantly, affordable. (That'd be a good place to implement the rule about paying full cost for the most powerful ability, 1/5 cost for alternate abilities.) A druid (or other shapeshifter) who can become a bird to gain flight, a rabbit for quick escapes, a cat for sneaking, even a wolf for light combat, would fit right in with the setting.

Re scaling weapons/armor: I'd welcome it as an option, sure; just some simple version of the rules that pop up here and there in GURPS. But for good or bad, DFRPG made the interesting decision to ignore size-based differences in armor, so I expect it'll stick with that.

Re town stuff: I appreciate DFRPG's decision to initially go all-in on dungeons, dungeons, dungeons. But with its inclusion of a couple of town-favoring professions, and plenty of abstract town-based exploits, I agree that detailing of town adventures would be nice. (And I expect it'll come along sooner or later. There's lots of great town-centered stuff in DF to select from and condense for DFRPG.)

Re mounted action: I agree, this is a beloved part of fantasy fiction and an area ready for expansion. It'd go well with any sort of expansion of wilderness topics.

Originally Posted by Turhan's bey Company

With the publication of "Two Page Adventures" in the recent kickstarter, you might want to tick off "Adventures to go" as done.

Done! I expect I'll be making lots of updates to that page as wish list items get granted.

Originally Posted by b-dog

I hope there is psionics and Elder Things added especially if the Elder Things are aliens that live in outer space or in other dimensions of it.

I really don't know if psi is a great fit for DFRPG, or the kind of too-extraneous thing best left out. It's not something I'm clamoring for, but I'd be happy to see and consider a DFRPG treatment. The connection to Elder Things is a plus. And psi is also a part of the old-school gaming that DFRPG (partially) emulates.

(I've even GMed psi PCs in AD&D, if to mixed response. Favorite quote by a player, after an encounter with some psi-targeting monster: "I don't want my character to be psi any more." "Huh? Why not?" "Because it's just another way to die.")

[Kristoffer]

I hope town stuff gets expanded, options for higher status, hirelings/allies and housing, as well as wilderness travel, maybe with more wild animals, that also can be used by the Druid as animal allies/companions. I generally believe the Druid is one of the least powerful and viable adventurers in the games current form.

I also hope we get more mundane equipment, such as low-tech guns.

New races such as Dog-folk and the like could be fun as well.