Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game Discussion Thread

[dbm]

Originally Posted by Dragondog

Exploits: It starts with some rules reminders. See a pattern here?

In the physical product that will be the back cover. They all have rules reminders on them, which is a pretty cool use of available space.

[dbm]

Erm... Dogging (Exploits p 20) has a very specific meaning in the UK...

Do not Google this in work...

[MIB.6361]

I'm working at converting my PCs from my long running DF game. So far the only real complication in doing so is cost and weight of armor.
Those with negative SMs are taking a huge hit in weight to keep the same armor but they get that lost point of DR back. Will probably motivate them to get slightly lighter armor.
Those with positive SMs are getting a huge break in cost and weight with no drawback. I'm going to have some happy barbarians.

Also, since they are so cheap in regular GURPS, everyone has Fortify +2 and Lighten .75 on all of their armor. I REALLY appreciate that armor enchantments are listed with the percentages of how to break them down by piece (and it's a bit different than listed in Magic) however, they are significantly more expensive now. This will mostly prevent starting characters from starting with enchanted armor.

[Joe]

Originally Posted by MIB.6361

I REALLY appreciate that armor enchantments are listed with the percentages of how to break them down by piece (and it's a bit different than listed in Magic) however, they are significantly more expensive now. This will mostly prevent starting characters from starting with enchanted armor.

I'm so happy about the latter - for flavor, it always seemed best to me if the PCs start with unenchanted goods, for the most part, and then earn the magic items later. So this change (like so many in the new DFRPG!) pleases me!

In passing, I'll just say that on my first read-through, I'm loving the whole thing.

[Harald387]

Originally Posted by MIB.6361

Those with positive SMs are getting a huge break in cost and weight with no drawback. I'm going to have some happy barbarians.

Note that the Barbarian template no longer has Gigantism - your Barbarians might, but if they do, you'll probably want to use scaling rules from another source. Even Half-Ogres are still SM 0 in DFRPG.

Halflings and Gnomes kind of get the short (ha) end, tho.

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by MIB.6361

I'm working at converting my PCs from my long running DF game. So far the only real complication in doing so is cost and weight of armor.
Those with negative SMs are taking a huge hit in weight to keep the same armor but they get that lost point of DR back. Will probably motivate them to get slightly lighter armor.
Those with positive SMs are getting a huge break in cost and weight with no drawback. I'm going to have some happy barbarians.

Also, since they are so cheap in regular GURPS, everyone has Fortify +2 and Lighten .75 on all of their armor. I REALLY appreciate that armor enchantments are listed with the percentages of how to break them down by piece (and it's a bit different than listed in Magic) however, they are significantly more expensive now. This will mostly prevent starting characters from starting with enchanted armor.

I'm a little concerned, balance-wise, that there is no longer any reason for the Barbarian not to wear the heaviest armour he can carry now that cash is no longer an issue (any more than any other character). He'll now be significantly more DR'd than the Knight, as well as having many more HP and not that far behind in skill.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by corwyn

I'm a little concerned, balance-wise, that there is no longer any reason for the Barbarian not to wear the heaviest armour he can carry now that cash is no longer an issue (any more than any other character).

Same thought here. The DFRPG barbarian is now the PC best-equipped to wear the most armor.

I like DF's use of SM 1 for the (standard) Barbarian. It's not really right (IMO) for the typical, Conan-like barbarian concept, which calls for big but not 7 or 8 feet tall! But I always read/imagined the DF write-up as saying, "Sure, calling your underground Schwarzenegger a full SM 1 is probably exaggerating. But the idea is to make his size a thing, with real game effects, not just descriptive effects. So to have a bit of fun with this barbarian concept, let's round that size up!"

I'm good with that. And it has a couple of nice side-effects: a little discount on that ridiculous ST, which the players will appreciate, and the big jump in armor weight and cost, which nicely supports the "shirtless meat-pile" trope.

DFRPG drops the SM 1 – and that's cool, as a way to make things simpler. It also lets the barbarian wear lots of armor. Which, if a player wants that, is fine! This is a GURPS strength: If players want heavily armored barbarians, they should build and play them, not be told "you just can't wear armor". (See also "wizards with swords" and all that.)

But, yeah, I think this DFRPG change will take some thunder away from other professions, especially the knight. (Though I wouldn't be surprised if Dr K already considered that, and took steps in the rules to keep knights happy. I still haven't read everything closely...)

[Joe]

I'll be interested to see how this "Now Barbarians will be armored!" discussion shapes up.

Originally Posted by tbone

DFRPG drops the SM 1 – and that's cool, as a way to make things simpler.

A side note: I'm really happy about the decision to drop the SM+1 for Barbarians, for just this reason (i.e simplicity). In my experience, many players who choose to play a Barbarian are effectively saying to the GM "I don't want to think too much; I just want to smash!" But vanilla Dungeon Fantasy then confronts them with the whole Size Modifier issue, which is pretty fiddly.

Removing that, and thereby further simplifying play for Barbarians, seems to me a great thing.

[sir_pudding]

I noticed coins are now 1/20/400 instead of 1/4/80.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Joe

Removing that, and thereby further simplifying play for Barbarians, seems to me a great thing.

As the default for barbarians, I agree.

About all I could ask for is the option in DFRPG to build an SM +1 barbarian (or half-Ogre, or whatever). That's not in the game, though; not even Gigantism (or Dwarfism). Overall, DFRPG seems to want to avoid any fiddly size-related issues, even to the point of ruling that Gnome and Halfling armor weighs the same as any other armor. (Can't say I like that particular rule...)

Well, there's a whole other thread about how GURPS has to be simpler for newcomers, so here's a live example of it doing so. Fair enough; I'm more than happy to let this simpler GURPS take a shot at convincing new players. Time will tell whether this particular overlooking of size in DFRPG will lead to invincibly over-armored barbarians, haplessly under-armored Halflings, and perhaps a bit of grumbling from players. Or not. (In the meantime, those of us who want oversized barbarians, and armor weights that vary with character size, know what DF is and how to use it. : )