The Trollish Taproom - You Might Have Skill, But I Got Talent

Tunnels & Trolls 5.5e introduces skills as an optional system.  It's originally from a Sorcerer's Apprentice Issue #15 (which included the mention a yet to be published sci-fi rpg called WEB, but I digress).  In turn, the skill system itself has it's roots in Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes and apparently Monsters! Monsters!)

The list in 5.5e is fairly small, as it was initially meant to show what one could do with skill in T&T, and the GM and players were to flesh it out.  Skill level is added to the appropriate stat for saving rolls that relate to his / her skill.

Skills earn expo and increase by level independent of the character's level.  So you need to track a skill's expo and level.  Successful level with the same chart as the character's level, so it requires 20 uses of a skill to level it up.  I don't think PCs will be leveling many skills during most gameplay.  As most skills will remain at Level 1, they will be giving a boost to relevant SRs of 1... not worth the bookkeeping involved if you ask me.

Talent is found Tunnels & Trolls 7.xe, and is what skills morphed into.  Players start with one talent at 1st level, and gain one with each additional level.  Basically, the player defines the talent, and the talent adds 1d6 to the relevant stats SRs when the talent is called into play.

Personally, I don't like the randomness of the talent bonus.  I would probably set it at a set bonus of 4.  Additional levels in the same talent could be chosen, with diminishing returns (3 additional pts for the 2nd level chose, 2 pts for the 3rd level and 1 pt for the 4th and later levels).  New talents always start with a bonus of 4 pts.

The skills in 5.5e still make a good source for ideas for talents in 7xe.

Buyback of the Week - The Artifact RPG

There is a rich resource of free RPGs to be found in the wilds on the internet.  I'll try and identify one a week or so.  Preferably ones that haven't had much exposure.

The Artifact RPG is the sci-fi pick this week.  The Free RPG Blog did a very nice write up of it, much better then I can (and at over 200 pages I don't think I can read this thru for a while).  Suffice to say, and the price of free it's hard y pass up.

From the blurb:

The Artifact is an epic science fiction RPG. The full game is available for free as a download or for sale as a printed book. Get a feel for the story in the introduction page or download the book to get started! Check out the review of The Artifact from The Free RPG Blog

The Year is 2085 and long range teleportation technology has made faster than light travel possible, In an attempt to find habitable planets earth’s governments send out probes into deep space.

They found something. . .

Welcome to the Artifact, a world foreign to our own Earth in many ways. A world that was manufactured for some as yet unknown purpose. Here you will encounter hostile aliens like the Kelrath and the Chezbah, and those that will seek your aid, like the Scimrahn. Races that appear human but are different from us in many ways. Then there are those that hide in the shadows, like the giant Tanroc Fredar, and the thing called Loc, revered as a god by some, despised as a demon by others.

A small group of explorers from Earth are the first to venture into this vast world. Some looking for a better life, some for the adventure, and some looking to strike it rich in the amazing resources that are available.

Anyone Building a "Frankendragon"?

As I start putting together the rules I want to use in my upcoming Tunnels & Trolls campaign, I find I'm not using as many house rules as I expected. Instead, I'm grabbing rules from different editions of T&T. I'm starting with the 5.5e rules as a base, then adding from 6e, 7.5e and adjusting to taste. I've been referring to this as my Frankentroll Ruleset.

Anyone doing this with D&D? What are you building off of, and what are you adding? Are you going so far as to grab from outside one of the D&D iterations? What is your Frankendragon?

Free Issue of Kobold Quarterly Issue #11 (PDF)

I got this offer in an email from Open Design / Kobold Quarterly.  KQ is not an OSR style magazine, but it feels an awful lot like the Dragon Magazine of old.  I find a lot of the 3.5 / Pathfinder stuff good for mining ideas.  Offer is good thru February 9, 2011.

Is it possible that you have friends who still don't know how much fun Kobold Quarterly is, and what a valuable resource it can be for their games? Well, tell them that from now through February 9, they can go to the KQ Store and download a FREE pdf copy of issue #11 by entering the coupon code KQ11Gift at checkout after putting KQ 11 in their cart. If you've been with us for a while, you'll definitely remember #11 --  it had the creepy Ecology of the Vampire, John Wick's amazing take on dwarves, DM Advice from a bunch of game industry all-stars, the Wish spell in 4th Edition, the Spell-less Ranger Pathfinder core class, 4E Paragon Paths for Minotaur, Kobold, Hobgoblin and Bugbear PCs,  and more. Your friends will love it, and love you for telling them. And if you're a newcomer to Kobold, you can add KQ 11 to your own collection.

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (Not Quite What I Expected)

I thought, perchance, I would be watching something other then soft porn.  It did have some nice fight scenes, sex, drugs, booze, full frontal nudity... sigh.


Kinda caught me off guard with my son in the next room.


Not what I expected.  Not saying it was bad, just not sure what it was supposed to be.


Ah well, killed time before the Super Bowl ;)

Trollish Fodder - The Bully Toad

My first entry in the Trollish Fodder tag, adding new monsters for use in Tunnels & Trolls.

Bully Toad

MR: 35 (usually found in groups of 1-3 or 3-18)

Special Damage: 3/ Hold That Pose (1st Level)

Special Abilities: DR=2 (leather skin)

Bully Toads are large, bipedal toads known to inhabit dungeons, forests and the occasional magical wasteland.  Usually found alone or with 1 to 2 others (1D3) underground or in tribes of 3-18 above ground, they have been known to spit a vile, phlegmy liquid at their prey (see Special Damage) that is used to distract, at which point it moves in for the killing blow.

The average Bully Toad stands approximately 4' tall when upright, although when charging or fleeing they use all 4 appendages to move.  They have their own language of grunts and gribbits that has yet to be learned by any other species.

Bully Toads tend to be more aggressive in dungeons then outdoors due to the lack of adequate foraging opportunities down below.

The artist for this piece is Rene Walk, used with permission.

The Trollish Taproom - Latest Auction Win - Sword For Hire (1st Edition)

It is very interesting to watch the increase in quality in the presentation of the Tunnels & Trolls solo as they were released.

Below is Deathtrap Equalizer - Solo #2 (1st Printing) released in January, 1977.  It should be noted that the module is stapled and single sided throughout.

And here is Sword For Hire - Solo #11(1st Printing) released in May, 1979.  Binding change and double sided pages.

Less then 2 1/2 years between the two and a huge difference in presentation.  Will have to check some dates on my collection and see if I can get a fuller timeline of changes in printing / presetnation of the T&T solos line.

Quick Peek - Skyward Steel: Naval Campaigns for Stars Without Number

No review here for Skyward Steel.  Heck, I've barely had a chance to look at the free peek on the rpgnow site.  Still, Sine Nomine puts out good stuff and I expect the same from this.

From the blurb:

Worlds Burn Beneath Your Guns.

The captain standing on the bridge, wreathed in smoke and the cries of the dying. The chief engineer, struggling to force that last precious burst of power from the fusion plant. The Marine sergeant holding fast in the hatchway, death to the alien boarders. The cold-eyed admiral, choosing the slain by the turn of a word and her orders to her bait.

Join the Thousand Lights of the Stellar Navy in this supplement to the FREE Stars Without Number roleplaying game. Take on the roles of the men and women of the Fleet, the sky-bourne protectors of the homeworld and its shield against the outer night. Whether a grizzled rating, dauntless officer, or elite Deep Black espionage operative, Skyward Steel offers both GMs and players the tools to embrace both the duties and the terrible freedom of these guardians among the stars.

Skyward Steel includes a host of useful tools and information for both GMs and players:

• The history and roles of stellar navies in the Stars Without Number universe, including details on planetary invasions and military space stations.

• Details on the ranks, pay, and organization of stellar navies.

• Guidelines on running sandbox naval campaigns, and how to give the players freedom without compromising the military theme of the campaign.

• Rules for recreating the climactic naval battles beloved of military sci-fi, with every PC involved in the desperate struggle to overcome the overwhelming foe.

• Sixty adventure seeds, two for every world tag in the Stars Without Number core book.

• Details on the workings of the Deep Black interstellar operations teams and their perilous covert ops missions.

• New Background Packages for naval characters, and a selection of Training Packages available to every class.

• New ship hulls, weapons, fittings, and personal equipment for naval and covert ops characters.

• Details on building planetary navies for a world and determining naval budgets and operations costs.

The Trollish Taproom - Dungeons on the Quick

Sometimes you don't have a dungeon ready for your party of delvers.

Sometimes you don't have the ideas or the energy to design your dungeon of delver death.

What to do?  Where to go?  Go to The Tunnels & Trolls Random Dungeon Generator.

Using the 5e Rules?  No problem.  7e?  They got you covered.  Heck, wanna go old school and 4e?  No worries, it's all there.

It's a really nice way to quickly generate a usable dungeon, complete with multiple levels and connecting staircases.  It might not have a workable dungeon ecosystem, but do your delvers really care?

Heck, there is even a version available for Labyrinth Lord.  Go figure ;)

Mini Review - InvaderZ (Pocket Edition)

Let me preface this with stating I LOVED the first edition of the Paranoia RPG. I GM'ed it many a time, dragging my group through note passing slugfests, numerous clone deaths, general mayhem and lots of laughs. Even more then that, I enjoyed reading the material. Most of it was just damn fun to read.

InvaderZ reminds me of Paranoia in many ways, and not just the use of clones. It most certainly is made to be played for laughs, sorta a "beer & pretzels" RPG. Reading it has been a blast, and I expect running it would be too, but I have some quibbles.

I'm not going to complain that the PDF wasn't spruced up with hyper-texting or such, as it's only $1.99 for 118 pages. It would, however, been nice to have a table of contents. It's a pain to flip thru a PDF, especially when you don't know where you are trying to flip to. The character generation rules are tucked somewhere in the middle, and it took me a bit to find the task resolution bits and pieces. I like to jump around as a reader, even my first read thru, and this was made difficult without a table ot contents or an index.

All that aside, if it plays have as well as it read, this would be a blast to run at a convention or a Game Day (one off) type of real life setting. Fast paced and funny. Just isn't so fast to navigate the PDF.

Mini Review - Classes of the Far East (for Labyrinth Lord)

This isn't the first time the Far East has been slipped into the D&D / AD&D systems.  Oriental Adventures for AD&D did an admirable job of it.  Now we have a nice conversion for Labyrinth Lord which appears to take it's own path.

Classes of the Far East from Sacrosanct Games four classes and one racial class, so that really makes five classes.

Interestingly enough, three of those classes get the ability to cast clerical spells.  The Monk (who gets to cast clerical spells) is much simplified from previous versions I've seem.  None of the 5 attacks per 4 rounds BS.

The Ninja is a thief with some classic move ninja powers thrown in (and no trap finding / removing ability), Mahoutsukai are a cleric / magic-user multi-class sorta class, Yokai are anthropomorphic cat people (with cleric spells) and Samurai.

Not a bad collection of classes if you want to add some eastern flavor to your campaign, although I do have to wonder why 3 outa 5 get access to cleric spells.  Not saying I have a problem with that, just curious.

From the blurb:

Love the Labyrinth Lord, B/X, BECMI, or similar game system but always had the itch to play your favorite ninja class and couldn't find one anywhere?  Well, itch no further.  Sacrosanct Games is proud to present you will full color illustrated write-ups for Labyrinth Lord compatible samurai, ninja, mahoutsukai, monk, and demi-human yokai classes. 

So dive right in, and create characters born to be legends!

What is the Ideal Party Size?

I know this question is as much about circumstances as it is gameplay, but what is the ideal player party size?

When I was in college, it was the more the merrier, but gameplay bogged down when I went above 5 or 6 players. I used to run AD&D 2e sessions on Friday mornings back in those days, and I could have up to 10 players to juggle. As a DM I felt I was giving less then my best performance.

My old gaming group ranged from 3-6 players for the most part... although there were times that got huge too.

Or does it depend upon game system? D&D thru 3.5e has 4 core classes, and with multi-classing, more then one role could be fulfilled per PC. So, you didn't need 4 PCs, but it did help for balance.

Tunnels & Trolls has 3 core classes: Warrior, Rogue and Wizard. Rogue isn't a D&D Rogue, but more of a D&D Fighter / Magic-User with possibly some thief thrown in. I'm not sure what the ideal party size would be for a T&T game, but I suspect one of each core would fill the rolls nicely.

What is your ideal player party size when you GM a game?

Tech Tip Time - Blogging From Your iPad

Short and sweet. I've tried many different apps to find the perfect one for blogging with from my iPad. There isn't one apparently.

That being said, Glogr is actually pretty decent. I haven't tried to use it to insert pictures, but for hyperlinking and basic blogging it does the job well.

It also allows for labels or tagging of the blog post, which other blogging apps that I tried didn't (or didn't do it well).

All in all, a decent app for blogging from your iPad.

Last Nite - A Retrospective of Things That You Bump in the Nite

So, last nite I hit the mother of all potholes while approaching the Triboro Bridge (it will never be the JFK in my mind, but anyhow).  Blew out my front passenger side tire.  It took me and the Bridge Tow Truck Operator over 20 minutes to figure out how to get the spare out of my trunk - it was screwed in damn tight!

After we put on the donut, and all was right in the world, I went to pay my $6.50 cash for the privilege of driving from one part of the city to another, when the spare went flat.  Same worker inflated my spare and escorted me off the bridge (god bless him),

$200 bucks later (as I apparently also "bubbled" the driver side front tire - so 2 tires had to be replaced) my car is now back in working order - wheel alignment seems okay so far too... knock on wood.

What does this have to do with gaming?  It's Simple.  The use of unexpected but needed expenses keep your campaign's players looking to earn more cash, or removes the extra cash from their pockets.  I've had unexpected but necessary expenses at the same time this year and last - both coincided with my "holiday" check (we dont automatically get off holidays on my job - but we get paid for them in bulk twice a year).  At least this time the DM above didn't take the whole check from me this year ;)

Poll: Pick Your Favorite WTF Were They Thinking?

The contest is closed to new entires.  The poll to pick the winner is now active.  Click here to view actual covers of the entires.

Have fun ;)

Delving Deeper =/ Original Edition Characters, But Both = Labyrinth Lord

Apparently Brave Halfing's Delving Deeper is going to be directly compatible with the Labyrinth Lord rules (much like their edition of the S&W White Box rules were with Swords & Wizardry).  Which is a very interesting development.

And finally, with the blessing of Dan Proctor, Delving Deeper RPG will be extremely compatible with Labyrinth Lord. Apart from obviously emulating the rules of the same games-of-origin, we are intentionally using Labyrinth Lord mechanics and terminology so that Delving Deeper will be part of the Labyrinth Lord extended family. This means that modules and supplements produced for Delving Deeper will be easily compatible with Labyrinth Lord and vice versa. (From Brave Halfing Publishing's Site)

My question is this: What is up now with LL's Original Edition Characters supplement?  Obviously Delving Deeper is going for a different approach then OEC, but does Delving Deeper really make Labyrinth Lord the Rosetta Clone?  Dan Proctor says so, but if that's the case, what was Labyrinth Lord with OEC and the AEC?  Wasn't that the clone that covered the major editions?

Look, I'm ready to put my cash down for DD, as I know Brave Halfling does top notch stuff, but I thought the break from S&W was to allow then to take their own direction.  This seems like they are hooking their train car to the LL engine... not a bad thing, but not what I expected either.

Still, like I said earlier... a very interesting development.

The Trollish Taproom - Delving on the Cheap

You can get pretty far with Tunnels & Trolls without spending a cent. Between the free abridged T&T rules and the free solo (both linked to the left) one can get a lot of gaming in. There comes a time when you want to go further, but popping down cash for the full rules, let alone on of the boxed sets, might not fit your wallet. What to do?

Head over to the Flying Buffalo site and check out the Corgi Editions of some of the classic Tunnels & Trolls solos. There are 5 Corgi books for sale at Flying Buffalo, 4 of which are double solos (the 5th is City of Terrors, a very large solo). Each book is $5.95, which is a bargain for 2 solo adventures. But wait, there's more!

Each Corgi Edition includes and abridged edition of the Tunnels & Trolls 5e rules, but they are more complete then the downloadable version you were previously using. These rules go to 11! (Think Spinal Tap). Experience Tables and the Wizard Spell List both go to level 11. With a little work, a GM could run a campaign (or at least the start of one) with one of these books.

Give them a look. They are definitely worth the price.

I Had a Dream...

Well, maybe not a dream, but those thoughts that go thru your head as your lying in bed waiting for sweet sleep to steal you away. It was a really good idea for a blog post. One of those golden ones that drive discussion and the exchange of ideas.

No idea what it was. The thought is gone, but enough of it remains to let me know my loss is huge. Ah well, maybe next time I'll write the thought down. Probably not tho'... sleep is very seeet.

Who Cast The Friggin' Ice Storm Spell?

More Beans! First Edition Errata

I know they refer to it as errata, but it's more optional rules.  They're good, and probably should have been in the initial release, but they aren't make or brake.  They are free, so for all of you that bought (or won a copy here) Bean!, grab your free update to the rules.

The Blurb:

The BEAN! The D2 Role-Playing Game First Edition rules introduced a rules lite super easy fantasy gaming mechanic with a fun alternative to dice, yep, you guessed it: beans! While these rules could have stood on their own, Fabled Worlds Games is offering this free errata to introduce a few alternate rules that open up the game so that it works with any genre while still keeping the speed and simplicity of the game. This errata includes the addition of Health Points, Skills, and ideas to create your own Character Archetypes. Now you can go anywhere -with BEAN!

Coming in at Number 100 is...

R.W. Chandler.  He puts the Tavern's count at 100 followers.  Thanks lad (or lass), the next round is on me ;)

Knocking on the Centurion's Door

I can't believe the Tavern has 99 followers.  I'm overwhelmed by the whole idea that folks out there find the crap I spew worthwhile on occasions ;)

In any case, thanks to everyone that reads this blog and will read it in the future.  It's constantly evolving, which may at some point mean it isn't what you signed up for initially, but I hope it remains interesting for everyone none the less.

Tomorrow will be the last day for entries to the WTF Where They Thinking!?! Contest.  Thursday I'll put a poll up so all can vote on their favorite.  Just 3 entries so far, and if we hit 5 or more, I'll award prize packages to the top two voted entries (1 prize package in the mix now).   Come on, you know you have something to add ;)

The Trollish Taproom - Levels in Tunnels & Trolls

Levels in Tunnels & Trolls don't have the same meaning in Tunnels & Trolls as they do in Dungeons & Dragons. In all of D&D's various incarnations, level gain means an increase in Hit Points, additional spells memorized for the spell casters, possibly a new level of spells to cast, possible increases in THACO and Saving Throws, turning undead increases for clerics, increase in thief abilities and the rest of the cornucopia of abilities that D&D characters posses.

In Tunnels & Trolls, gaining a level has much fewer benefits for most characters. In 5.5e and earlier, gaining a level results in a stat increase (in 7.x, stats are increased with AP earned, and stats decide character level). For Rogues and Wizards, it gives access to higher level spells. For Wizards, it can decrease the cost of casting lower level spells. Oh, and 7.x also gives Warriors a +1 bump per level to their Combat Adds.

I personally don't like deriving character level from stat number. I do, however, like the idea of spending 10x current stat to increase the stat by one.

So, I figure I'll use the stat increase method from 7.5e (7e is 100x stat... way too harsh), while keeping the total AP earned to determine character level.

Not a bad compromise IMHO.

Someone Rolled a "00" on the Weather Table

This week NYC is waiting to see how much of an Ice Storm this latest bout of winter weather brings. Which still doesn't compare to the beating Northern Australia is in for with rain and winds.

I'm beginning to think those weather table from the old Dragon Magazine were more accurate they I even gave them credit for. I'll need to dig it out and "DM Roll" us some milder weather ;)

At least I now know the difference between "sleet" and "freezing rain".