• Registered: 2012-10-03
  • Posts: 4

Topic: Something More Traditional

Apologies if I missed this in another topic. Also, apologies for bucking the weirdness.

I am curious if anyone has used the rules for a more traditional, dungeoncrawl type campaign. I ask this because I'm thinking that if there are elves, dwarves, and halflings, why <i>couldn't</i> there be orcs, goblins, and/or giants. Or anything else that could be considered a "race". Not that I want to include them as PC races.

I just wonder about the mechanics getting a little rough. If the players stumbled upon an orc raiding party and the fighter is the only one with a combat bonus and the magic-user only has magic missile for direct offense, and the cleric has no direct damage spells, well, would the party get wiped out? Don't get me wrong, I love the mods Mr Raggi made to BD&D. I would just like to merge them with my normal playstyle.

  • JimLotFP
  • Lord of All Fevers and Plagues
  • Offline
  • From: Helsinki, Finland
  • Registered: 2009-10-07
  • Posts: 613

Re: Something More Traditional

I personally don't use elves, dwarves, and halflings in my home campaign anymore. smile

And the system is specifically designed to flatten out the power levels of the characters."We're outnumbered by decent fighters? Trouble!" at any level. smile

JimLotFP's Website

  • Registered: 2009-10-09
  • Posts: 77

Re: Something More Traditional

JimLotFP wrote:

I personally don't use elves, dwarves, and halflings in my home campaign anymore. smile

James, do you exclude only NPC demi-humans, or do you exclude PC demi-humans as well?

  • JimLotFP
  • Lord of All Fevers and Plagues
  • Offline
  • From: Helsinki, Finland
  • Registered: 2009-10-07
  • Posts: 613

Re: Something More Traditional

Geoffrey wrote:
JimLotFP wrote:

I personally don't use elves, dwarves, and halflings in my home campaign anymore. smile

James, do you exclude only NPC demi-humans, or do you exclude PC demi-humans as well?


The demi-human classes have been replaced by human equivalents. No elves, dwarves, halflings in my campaign world at all.

JimLotFP's Website

  • From: Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
  • Registered: 2011-08-09
  • Posts: 79

Re: Something More Traditional

Whether it's "orcs" or human bandits/cultists/etc an encounter will go the same. James killed the power creep with the changes to Attack Bonus so Orcs and Goblins become viable foes at any level.

The improvements work great with "traditional" dungeon crawls and emphasize a certain style of play. Casualties will teach your players to adjust.

  • From: Hungary
  • Registered: 2011-08-04
  • Posts: 23

Re: Something More Traditional

It's been a while since I posted here... Anyway, the idea has occurred to me, too, that I could use the rules set to run, say, Barrowmaze or Demonspore. However, to not turn them into quick TPK (well, quicker than usual, in some cases), I think some changes need to be made - this obviously follows from the modules' and the rules' being based on different assumptions.

It may be worth a topic of its own, but are there other modules, not written for LotFP specifically, that would fit the assumptions of LotFP, setting- and/or power-wise?

ynasmidgard.blogspot.com
  • Registered: 2009-12-30
  • Posts: 64

Re: Something More Traditional

I've used LOTFP for traditional D&D style games across multiples campaigns, and it's worked fine; I ran a Stonehell campaign using LOTFP and Gothic Greyhawk used it.  Our current game, the Black City, is a large mega dungeon using LOTFP (plenty of game reports on my blog).

While the Black City isn't in James' horror style, it does use a mostly custom bestiary, blending Norse myth, aliens, and plenty of shambling undead.

The biggest adjustment is heavier reliance on fighters or mercenaries - folks actually want to play fighters.  Undead are scarier as there is no every round "I win" ability, but when turn goes off, it's more impressive.

Dreams in the Lich House
  • From: Hungary
  • Registered: 2011-08-04
  • Posts: 23

Re: Something More Traditional

Beedo:
Sorry for the delay: thanks for your post!

ynasmidgard.blogspot.com
  • Registered: 2012-06-04
  • Posts: 54

Re: Something More Traditional

I've used LotFP for Barrowmaze, specifically, just complementing with the monster section from Labyrinth Lord and making any other necessary conversions on the fly. For me, it works beautifully. The players are a bit more scared than usual, as well... another bonus!

You CAN include bonused items, you CAN include most things other "old school" games use. These games are robust, to my mind, and they bend well and don't break easily. I make changes, personally - especially to magic items that are not one-use, but I think that's more of a matter of personal taste.

Blogging about OSR at Deep Delving