176

(2 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Wow, thankfully I haven't experienced this while running LotFP.  My group has come to enjoy the abuse and fuckery, and I think each sees it as a personal challenge to try and get a "one up" on the game world to come out ahead for once.

That said, I have loosened up some of my "That's the way it is!" attitude in the interest of people having a good time.  In your above examples, I would have let the PC who was captured roll up a new character, at the very least controlling a 0-level henchman who has taken an interest in the scheme or some such matter, and then they could help plan their own rescue. (In the Referee book, Raggi says to get the player back in the game asap, and even though he's referring to death, I would assume this for anytime a player is unable to participate in the game.

I'm assuming that for the infinite staircase, all the PCs looked at the eye and there was nobody left to complete the ritual?  At this point, I'd just say, "Your characters walk until they die of thirst.  Roll up new ones."  If there are still PCs left who can do the ritual, just keep repeating the important parts in the room.  Sometimes they need to be hit over the head with things.

One last thing, I do let my players read the modules after a TPK, if there is no chance they'll interact with it again.  For example, they explored a lot in Better Than Any Man, and when they all died, we decided to restart in England.  Reading BTAM gave my players a much clearer idea of what LotFP was all about and got them more invested in the setting/system/world.

177

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Webstore Forum)

I think when the print copies sell out?

178

(2 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Welcome!  I recently created an unofficial FAQ for LotFP at my blog.  The first couple of links take you to free PDFs of the Rules & Magic book and the Referee Book.

Unfortunately, the Tutorial is only available in the Grindhouse set and I don't think you can get it as a PDF right now.  So, in lieu of that, I have two suggestions:

1) find a local D&D (or other RPG) game and see if you can join, just to see what it's all about.  Most local groups, meetups, conventions, etc., are willing to take on new players.

2) if you know for sure that number 1 is a no go (like you live in a rural area and you'll be the one getting the people together to play) then I recommend watching the Dragon Age playthrough by Wil Wheaton.  Personally, it's not my favorite style of play, but it does show you what a tabletop game is like if you've never played in one before.

http://geekandsundry.com/dragon-age-chr … r-join-wi/

Good luck and have fun!

179

(14 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I think Cursed Chateau and England Upturn'd are the next two books (well, and Slugs for Free RPG Day).  There hasn't been any recent mention of a release date for the Referee Book.

In general, skills are not modified by ability scores, except for those specifically called out (as you mentioned).  The first two pages in the R&M book spell out exactly what each ability score provides.  Beyond that, they are occasionally used in modules, depending on the author, like, "Roll under Strength to break the chest" or some such thing.

Just today I posted an unofficial FAQ on my blog, which you might find useful. 

http://thegruenextdoor.blogspot.com/201 … ncess.html

181

(18 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

My maiming system is similar to Akcos.  When players crit or fumble, they roll off the charts provided in GDF (5 I think?)

When monsters crit, I roll on my d30 hit location chart.  If that part's armored, the armor is destroyed, if not, that body part is.

When monsters fumble, players get to draw from a deck of cards that they can use later (these are like one time use powerful effects with either a catch, or a chance for things to go great or bad).

182

(3 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I used to work at a copy shop. 

I remember we were not allowed to make multiple copies of stuff from published books.  You are totally allowed to copy whatever you want yourself if you use the "public" copier. (It's not monitored, you just pay the fee - but I'm not sure if you'll be able to do anything but 8.5x11 on these...)

I think we did make single copies for people from published work for personal use.  (I just can't remember if this was a "fuck it, not a big deal" mentality or legal policy.)

183

(7 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Nice haul!

I recommend starting with reading Better Than Any Man cover to cover.  It's a fun read and gives you a great sense for what LotFP is all about.  Then read the Rules and Magic book and the Ref book.

I started my now three year long campaign with Stranger Storm being set near the SW corner of the map in Better Than Any Man.  I had also placed Tower of the Stargazer nearby, but you could throw the Monolith there instead.  Thrust the players into the campaign with Stranger Storm, and feed them some rumors about the happenings in the area to get them involved with Better Than Any Man.

I had also started with 2E and have played various iterations of D&D, but when I first started with LotFP I wasn't really clued into what OSR (Old School Renaissance) was.  So, I also recommend the FREE Old School Primer:

http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/matthew- … 59558.html

Hack & Slash is filled with great theory and info about not just old school gaming, but great gaming in general:

http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/

Finally, if you're on Facebook, there's a LotFP community there, and if you're on G+ there's a great LotFP and OSR community there too! 

Welcome!

184

(7 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

What books did you get?

Have you downloaded all the free stuff from the main page yet?

-Referee Book (including an adventure: Stranger Storm)
-Better Than Any Man
-Doom-Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children

What's your previous RPG experience?

185

(23 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Monsters save the same as a fighter with levels = to the monsters hit dice.

Page 49, Grindhouse Ref book, under the section titled "Hit Dice."

"This determines how many hit
points a monster has (1d8 per Hit Die), how
well the monster fights (Attack Bonus +1 per
Hit Die), what their saving throw values are
(as a Fighter of the same level), and how
much experience is gained for defeating it,
so this is possibly the most important of the
monster’s stats."

186

(4 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

5?

187

(18 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

When monsters crit against characters, I roll a d30, which is a list of areas of the body (weighted toward arms/hands wielding weapons and torso area).  If there's no armor or protection in that area, then that body part is maimed (and healing won't bring it back). 

It's pretty brutal, and happens frequently enough that characters are being carried out of dungeons by their party, but I'm also "nice" about letting them get prosthetics or developing creative ways of dealing with the injury.

It's fun - the player is happy when a piece of armor saves a body part, me and the other players are happy when it doesn't and an eye or buttock gets eaten, and the attacked player is happy again when they figure out a clever way to deal with it.

(When a monster fumbles against a character, I use those Savage World adventure cards and the players get to draw from the deck.  These are special one shot uses they can use later on.)

I've been running it a couple of years and my players have only ever reached level 4.  They've had a couple TPKs that reset them all.  They're on a good run now though, so there's some potential to reach higher levels...

Wow, well played!

190

(4 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

And I think, as it's written, it's impossible for a Time Paradox to happen unless the Referee made the choice to allow it.  In which, case, they must never run another game.  I think that's perfectly fair.

(This was our first LotFP adventure, so it was a bit of an "ah ha" for my players that you could detect chaotic/magical beings by casting detect evil on them.  Also, if nobody is a cleric, then Father Naylor could cast his own detect evil and say, "Yup, that feller there is a changeling...")

I just assumed it was detect evil?

Goblinshenchman: LotFP is very much about eschewing the traditional fantasy tropes.  The idea is to recreate the sense of mystery and excitement one might experience when playing for the very first time (like, before you even really knew what it was like to fight an orc or a dragon).

Your monsters are good in this respect, and I wouldn't have been surprised to find them in a LotFP module.  Even so, not every monster in every module is mind-blowingly weird and unimaginable.  Death Frost Doom has a giant, albino tarantula, and Better Than Any Man features lots of large insects, etc.  But you won't find any goblins, orcs, dragons, etc.

My understanding is that the Referee book needed to be above and beyond what could even be found in the modules.  It's supposed to be the prime example of weird and unusual and unthinkably crazy.

194

(4 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I found that there were a lot more character deaths earlier on.  In Pathfinder, almost every encounter is balanced, and my players went into every LotFP fight thinking they would win eventually.  Now they've learned to run when they don't think they can take something down, or when they've just watched it dispatch a character.  There have been two TPKs, but those were extreme situations where they couldn't escape.  Also, realizing that many traps, poisons, and other effects can be "save or die" or "save or your head is being replaced with a rock" makes them a bit more cautious.

Fortunately, character creation is super quick - it should take only about 5 minutes or so, especially if you don't let them equip - just have them come in and pick up the gear their old character had (except, of course, whatever's absolutely necessary for their class - spellbook, holy symbol, etc.)

There is a rule in LotFP where if you roll up an "unsuitable" character (one that has less than 0 for total ability score modifiers) you re-roll.  One option to increase longevity is to let them keep that unsuitable character as a henchman (roll a straight up d6 for their hp) and they can toss this guy in the way of some of the traps.  (It also makes that rolling and re-rolling not feel like a waste of time).

If you like the art, and enjoy horror/sci-fi/weird fantasy in general, then LotFP's a good fit!  I'm interested to hear what you think of those modules after you've read through them!

195

(4 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I started out playing 2nd edition, and have since played all editions of D&D (some, like 4th, for only a single session, others like 3.5/Pathfinder for a couple of years), and Lamentations is my favorite of them all.

First off, from a rules standpoint, I would say 3.5 and LotFP are at two ends of a spectrum:

3.5/Pathfinder really encourages min/maxing, rules for everything, lots of skills, lots of tinkering and options around character creation, big stat blocks for creatures, as well as tactical, detailed combat and the idea that the PCs are heroes that should only die in the most extreme situations (and often have a chance to be resurrected).  Some people are really into this.

Personally, I get bored during the lengthy combats, I don't care about customizing every one of the hundreds of digits on my character sheet, and I really dislike bloated skill systems.  (Also, I hate rules lawyering - when a player is trying to teach the GM how to handle a situation, I consider that a problem with the ruleset.)

LotFP has little in the way of character options mechanically speaking.  What's important here is how the player feels like playing the character.  You could have a party of fighters and each player would be encouraged to come up with their own idea about what's up with their character.  That said, what's most important is player agency - if your character has a low intelligence, it doesn't mean you can't solve the mystery or the puzzles presented in the adventure - all players should be working hard to figure everything out, or else they will all surely die!

The rules are very streamlined and easy to learn, run and riff on.  Rather than checking every rule you don't know, just make something up (maybe a chance of success on a die roll) and keep going.

The PCs are not necessarily heroes, but greedy transients, willing to risk body and soul for a bit of coin.  They have a high chance of dying or worse while going about this business.

Again, I'm not trying to bash Pathfinder here (I'm still playing in a 2 year campaign myself), but frequently I feel like the rules of that game get in the way of the fun or what we're trying to do, whereas in LotFP, the rules get out of the way and let us play efficiently and have a lot of fun.

That said, I believe 5th edition is a solid set of rules and you could easily adapt LotFP modules to that ruleset if you prefer that (I mean, you could to 3.5 as well, honestly, but that'd be even more work). 

The modules are the most important element of LotFP, and I agree Ed's post above - read Better Than Any Man and/or The Doom-Cave.  If you like the possibilities you find within those modules, then LotFP may be a good fit for you!

Agreed, especially compared to last year: I went to two different shops where they were basically like, "Yeah, take whatever you want," which was pretty damn awesome (and I went to the second shop b/c the guy in front of me got the only copy of Godfall at the first place...)

This year, neither of those places were participating, so I had to drive to a different place where I could choose "two things."  (Luckily my wife happened to be with me, so I got the DCC screen, the We Be Goblins Free, and Through the Breach, plus a DCC screen for my friend).  I think the sad thing was that I didn't care that much about not getting a whole bunch of stuff...because it wasn't too exciting.

Also, last year I knew I was getting the Kickstarter version of Doom-Cave, which actually was enough to make Free RPG an awesome thing even if hadn't gotten all that other stuff! smile

197

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

The new Referee book is not out yet, but it's creeping closer and closer...

198

(3 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I think my players spent 3-4 sessions in there.  They never even found the area with all the artifacts, needed a bit of gentle (actually, more like snide mocking) from their Referee to utilize "comprehend languages spell" (the spell the M-U bitched about getting and then forgot to use when he came across some words he didn't know) and "You guys know you can look around for secret doors right?"

They ended up escaping, sneaking out in the quiet of night, and never going back.

It sounds like you guys had a great intro to LotFP!  Are you going to have them try to escape?  Or fast forward like they want?  Maybe this is a chance for them to figure out some mapping?  (Also, I'd love to see a group actually get that chariot axle and try it out!)

199

(23 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Solon wrote:

Rules & Magic book, P. 6         

It seems the Intelligence mod helps "against Magic-user spells" but does it also help with Device saving throws since that would be magical devices like wands? Should it also apply to Paralyze saving throws since that includes certain spells?

Wisdom mod gives a bonus to "non-spell related saving throw rolls" so a little clarification would be good.

Basically, if it's magic, Intelligence mod will give you a bonus to the throw, and if it's not, wisdom will.

Also, you can get a PDF copy of the Lamentations Referee book for free right now:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/148012/Lo … se-Edition

And, since you seem relatively new to the OSR scene (I was in your spot about 2 years ago!) I always recommend this Old School Primer to people (also a free download):

http://www.lulu.com/shop/matthew-finch/ … 59558.html

200

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Death Love Doom, for sure.

I know it's in at least a couple others, but maybe only as a minor mention (like an item was made by them, or something) but I can't remember the specific modules.

Also, pretty sure the new Referee book will have some mention of them! smile