1

(3 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

BTW, James, why did you keep strength bonus to attacks ?

Why not playing your TMFOS as a dwarf with "tinker" replacing "architecture" ?

The tinker skill would get a bonus (or automatic success) with high level technology. Normal level (ie 3 in 6 at 1st level) would be used for low technology and would increase as the TMFOS get used to this new world (ie levels up).

As men from the far future have bodies nurtured and protected by fantastic medicine, they are highly resilient and so have very good hit points and saves (good saves againt magics can be explained by their rationalism as suggested).

I suggest dwarf instead of specialist as most of the TMFOS' skills are useless in this new world and most of LotFP's skills are very general and not representative of what an highly advanced society would teach.

But, imho and to be honest, you could give your TMFOS different classes depending on what his role in the ship's crew was : soldier, explorer, technician, pilot ?

3

(2 replies, posted in LotFP Webstore Forum)

And what about shipping to France ?

This sport - or a slight variant - would perfectly fit in Vornheim or in a LotFP setting, wouldn't it ?

Why not : "After that everyone gains 1/2/3HP per levels, with or without bonuses (depending on clas)." ?

This way, you let classes with better hp progression being, well, better.

[EDIT] truncated post...

Why not :

One post truncated (my last one about 0-level professionals).

3 questions answered.

8

(6 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Thanks, Kobayashi and Jim, for your answer !

9

(6 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Disclaimers : I'm no game designer. I just want to understand.

As we all know, LotFP is not about combat and killing monsters for xp's sake. The rules make it clear.

I nevertheless have a question with hit points : is their fast increase, when PCs level up, the best way to handle this low combat ambiance ?

I know there may be other things to consider : likeness with OD&D or with similar games but let's just focus on inner consistency. Would not LotFP be more consistent if, for example, hit points still increased as characters level up but at a much slower rate than said in the rules.

You could say : "everyone rolls a die at first level and, thereafter, you just get +1, +2, +3 or +3+Constitution modifier at each or every other level". As hit points are an abstract measure of combat capability, you keep the normal increase in combat capability as level increase but you reduce the HP gain. With this solution, there are issues with monsters hit points and spells (curative or destructive) but, as I see it, they could be fixed. Secondary gain : combat lasts less.

Final questions :
- is this consistency problem a real one ?
- if it is, then is "playing with hit points increase" the best way to handle it ?
- when tweaking hit points, are there other issues than monsters HP and spells  ?

10

(6 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

More or less like Kobayashi :
    * CHA 16
    * CON 15
    * DEX 18
    * INT 17
    * STR 17
    * WIS 4

Frenchman's luck or too-generous-programming ?

Permanently as the items are instantaneously created I would say.

12

(4 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Maybe a stupid question (my English being far from perfect) :

I bought the Weird New World pdf and I think something's missing as p40 the following is written : "Pushing the buttons in certain orders activates specific functions:" and then nothing, the text goes on with the following area description, without explaining what happens when one pushes the buttons.

Am I right ? May I get the text then ?

13

(2 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Thanks for your answer and sayng that no supernatural exlplanation is needed. You're right of course and allowed me to think otherwise : tanks.

By the way, M Raggi said on his blog he would soon play that which interestingly lets you play human "demi humans" !

LotFP without demi-humans but still with the cool corresponding classes :

I was thinking about the 3 non human classes and went to the non original conclusion that each one corresponded to a typical stereotype : the tough, resilient worker/slave, the magic-born/strange person and the small and lucky guy.

I was wondering, then, if one could not use those classes as such - without changing any rules - to emulate other human adventurous types than the magical erudite, the professional soldier, the explorer or the god-touched. You could then have a game without demi-human at all if you so wish : for example, to play in a Conan-like setting.

The easy part is to take the classes as they are and change the description. The hard one is to find a cool description which could match the tone of one's setting.

I would suggest not going along the mutant line, but that would make interesting characters. I had instead in mind :
- "dwarves" as former servitors of mages/clerics/supernatural beings (escaped or "fired" ?) : subject to strange energies and backbreaking work (think Igor), they developed an almost supernatural toughness which serve them well in this strange new world other men consider normal. Knowing almost nothing about customs, laws or normal human relationships, they're perfect candidates for adventuring. This "explanation" seems to fit the dwarf stereotype : has worked with "top technologies", worked day and night, acquired without any doubt a gruff personality, became used to odd constructions and old ruins and very resilient.
- "elves", that's the easier part for me, as beings touched by the supernatural, the devil, ancient gods or whatever (through chance, stars being right, orgy with otherworldly entities or exposure to strong magics during pregnancy). They're born different and theirs is the life of forever strangers : they are "the changed" and may be, if you wish so, either very attractive or very ugly (by human standards). They live as nomads, freaks, loners, witch hunters, madmen or warlocks/witches. They're the natural side of magic-using "humans". They still have to study as normal magic-users but, unlike them, they have made no choice : they're doomed to go this way. Their life, their struggles and the natural link they have to magic enables them to cast spells even when lightly encumbered. They are born with keen senses and are very wary of their surroundings.
- "halflings", as, thats' the hard part, small and lucky guy. Maybe acrobats part of a circus whose life of hard work and constant travelling from poor village to poor village annoyed them. I have no cool idea which pleases me but the circus guy fits well the halfling stereotype : good at throwing knives, dodging things, fit, quick and agile.

So here you are : no more demi humans classes but strenghts of nature, strange ones, and acrobats. Or you could go along the fairy line (pun not intended), making dwarves, elves and halflings 3 forms of humanity touched by fairies and their affinity with earth, forests and small animals. Or you could choose to make them mutants which, in a world touched by chaos would not be uninteresting.

I think demi-humans can be seen as interesting templates and a source of "new" human classes. The main point is to give them non-bland descriptions to make them instantly identifiable like demi human are without changing the rules a bit.

What do you think or suggest ?

In the free pdf rules, one finds details about being helpless 3 times. The first, when describing the effect of a mancatcher ; the second, when detailing the conditions of spell casting ; and the third, when speaking about different combat issues ("helpless opponents").

The 3 descriptions seem coherent : when you're helpless, any attack automatically hits for maximum damage. In such a harsh world, it sounds logical because casting a spell requires you to be motionless (as you are when caught by a mancatcher ou being simply helpless). So far, so good but then, I read the description of what being helpless amounts to in the combat issues section and I don't get it anymore. I'll explain why after having said that, as a French man, my English is far from perfect and my problem may simply come from this simple fact.

So, here I go, the text states that being helpless means being unable to avoid blows because you're not aware of them (sleeping) or because you can't significantly move (being bound or frozen). If all descriptions are coherent, it means that being caught by a mancatcher, casting a spell or being magically frozen makes you automatically hit for maximum damage.

Should that mean that helpless opponents can't have their throats slit, ie that there's no coup de grâce, killing automatically monsters or characters ?

16

(218 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I'm a 37 years old Frenchman with wife and kids. I currently live in Alsace (not far from Strasbourg).

I did not start playing again "these traditional fantasy RPGs" but I wish I could. What I will try is introduce my current gaming group to a "sandbox" style game with the free LotFP rules I downloaded (and with Weird New World I just bought !).

I'm looking forward to the new LotFP edition and Carcosa (whose pdf I bought some time ago), because I like the grim ambiance present in both games. Although I did start playing rpgs with d&d basic and ad&d, I seek less to emulate those old feelings I had then than to play fast, easy and, so to say, hard (grim and simple rules for a grim world).

I really appreciate the LotFP rules : more so since I saw, in a French forum named Casus no,  what a fellow forumist did with it when applying its rules to Dark Heresy. By the way,  a thread from this forum - about retroclones - made me discover LotFP.