Topic: Playtest notes -next ed LotFP
I have seen something about a future edition of LotFP on the internet. But with Eldritch Cock, I finally see it in actual print. So I thought I would give my feedback. The various editions of D&D produced by WoC are very different from each other and very different from anything TSR produced. In comparison to anything WoC produced, the various versions of D&D and AD&D that TSR produced are near Identical. Sure there are some differences. That’s why we prefer one edition over another. But they are all so much alike that you can use modules made for one edition and use them for another with little or no modification needed. In some versions no armor is AC10, in others, it’s AC 9. But in all TSR versions chainmail is AC 5 and Platemail + Shield is AC 2. The same goes for the various retro-clones of TSR games. They are all basically the same game.
So when I first looked at the current rules of LotFP I saw the same game I had been playing for decades, with a few minor, but important, rule changes. The familiarity of LotFP is what made me willing to give the system a try, rather than play lotFP modules using (1st ed) AD&D rules, which is totally doable.
So in the front cover of EC is the weird magic system that had already been using for a year ever since VAM came out. One of my complains about most games is that Magic Users never reach high enough level to use the really cool spells. This fixes that. I only have a couple of quibbles with it. First of all, I don’t like all the spells being the same level for research costs. Players should have to make that choice about which spells they can afford to research. Are they going to spend all their money on Time Stop? Or will they instead, research: Detect Magic, Identify, Magic Missile, Sleep, Invisibility and Haste for the same cost? Also, when I play with New School players, they gripe a lot about not getting to pick their spells, even if the randomly rolled spells are high level.
So, on to the back cover . . .
In the introduction, you make a point about LotFP being a game where characters rarely progress beyond 1st level. And these new rules appear to be built on that assumption. They appear to be making a game like Holmes Basic where characters never progress beyond 3rd level. My experience with OSR games and LotFP is that 1st level characters do have a high death rate. For that reason, players, especially New School players don’t like to start at first level. Also, when sitting around a table, rolling up an OSR character is quick and easy. When playing online, rolling up a character is more complicated and can take an hour of referee time. (though the roll time for the player is much shorter) For this reason, when playing online, I start all new characters at 12,003 XP which is 4th level for most classes. At this level, the death rate is not so high, characters don’t die on the first encounter very often and often they live to progress in level. Still, I can’t see 1st level characters surviving for very long in a Red and Pleasant Land or Frostbitten and Mutilated or Broodmother Skyfortress.
Ability Scores
New School players like a point buy system for choosing Ability Scores. And they tend to make the same choices over and over, so all characters of a particular class tend to be pretty much the same. Everyone makes a Hercules. No one makes an Odyseus. For this reason, I prefer some variation of “roll in order” and LotFP uses a modified “roll in order” as it’s standard. Six attributes are the standard that LotFP inherited from older game systems. But my time playing Mazes & Minotaurs has made me question why there needs to be 6 attributes and why Strength and Constitution need to be separate attributes.
So now you are making Charisma affect Magic Saving Throws. I certain that this makes sense to New School players who are used to playing Sorcerers and Bards. But LotFP does not have either of those classes. Why do Chr and Int even need to be separate Attributes?
Hit Dice size is now based on Con and not class? I Predict we will see a lot of Magi with high Constitutions with this rule, and Fighters with d4 HD.
Dex Increases initiative roll size? I already use individual Initiative. This rule will prevent certain characters from always being first because they are +3 on initiative. I predict Magi will pick this ability often.
Intelligence increasing skill points? This was already true for Languages. It makes sense for extending it to all skills.
Strength now helps encumbrance. The simplified encumbrance system was one of the strengths of LotFP. This makes it more complicated.
Wisdom. . . . with no Clerics, why even have separate saves for Magic and Other? Why not merge Wis, Chr and Int?
Character Classes
The classes have been reduced to Fighter, Magic User and Specialist. I like that in LotFP each class is unique. But in making this transition Elves and Clerics have been hurt the worse. Elves have lost too much of their fighting ability in LotFP and their XP per level has been lowered too much. Many players who try to game the system chose to play Elves instead of Magi. So I am not sorry to see elves go.
Clerics, on the other hand have been the biggest losers of the conversion to LotFP. When the spells were divided between Magic and Clerics, the Clerics got fewer and weaker spells. They also lost their almost-fighter combat abilities. Still, I can’t see running a game without Clerics. England Upturned devotes a lot of space to Clerics of various religions. And World of the Lost has that Cleric Spell generator.
But I really, really like the LotFP rules for Dwarfs and Halflings! I would like to see those classes survive, even if not as little non-human people. Replace Architecture with Leadership and Dwarfs would make a good Pikeman Class. And Halflings as Humans could make good Explorers/Rangers/Poachers/Savages.
Also, there are certain players that are very attached to Elves, Dwarves and Halflings. (And New School Players who are very attached to Dragonborn and Teiflings)
Attack Bonuses
I don’t understand why Firearms and Ranged attack are different. Or, if there are no to-hit bonuses for Str and Dex, why there needs to be more than one kind of Attack Bonus.
Weapon Damage
The old system of variable weapon damage is fast and easy. You just roll the die. With LotFP, I can easily negate 5 AC for firearms. But I have trouble remembering to do it for crossbows. The new system of variable armor seems like a nightmare to implement unless you were playing online and someone had already made you a character sheet with imbedded macros.
Skills
Not rolling a 1d100% roll for skills was the biggest change for me. But I quickly grew to love the LotFP method of rolling on a d6.
I don’t like this new way of rolling skills. Having a 1 in 4 chance and rolling seemed quick and easy. Filling in the dots on the character sheet made it easy to see how much of a chance you had to succeed. I’m pretty sure this new method was come up with because New School players were complaining about not being able to roll high for skills. If I make this change, it will take some getting used to. And it is not backwards compatible. Large sections of Veins of the Earth will have to be re-written.
Giving some skills to the non-specialists undercuts the whole idea that only Specialists are good at skills. Also, I think that Specialists start with too few skills. They should have a decent chance to succeed with dangerous skills like Climbing, disarming traps (that will go off if you fail) or stealth (against someone who will attack you if you fail) If you don’t have at least a 50/50 chance of success, the skill is too dangerous to attempt. For this reason in my game I start Specialists with 12 points, and have them progress 2/level after 1st.
Looking at the list of skills . . . I see Sneak attack has been removed. Even though I enforce the rule that the victim must be unaware of the Specialist and Surprised, I disagree with this removing this Skill. My Players don’t use it a lot. But it is satisfying when they succeed. (Also, have this skill makes them attempt Stealth more often)
Leadership is a good idea for a skill for warrior or priestly types. It does not seem a good fit for Specialists to be the best at.
Luck - This seems like a good new skill.
Medicine - This also seems like a good skill. I have already been using something similar I got from a website. This makes the Specialist, not the Cleric the go-to guy for healing. And when they have to look outside the party for healing, my party trusts the swamp-witch more than any Clerics they meet.
Seamanship - Thus far LotFP has not done much with seaborne adventures. The Underdark Swimming skill from Veins of the Earth should be folded into this.
Saving Throws
I don’t at all like this new method of rolling Saving Throws! Although it is more advantageous than the existing system for 1st level characters. You get stuck with the same Saving Throws forever, never improving. Besides, I have spent decades rolling a d20 for Saves. If you insist with going with this, perhaps you could make ability score increases one of the perks of leveling up?
And speaking of Saves, There is no reason to stick with the 5 different kinds of saves. One of the few things I like about WoC is their division of Saves into 3 categories. You could easily pare that down to two.