Looks good!

My players laughed out loud when they finally found the halfling.

Got it - rereading the main text explains that the PDF is coming free a week after Free RPG day, so the contributor reward is just access to the alternate art cover in electronic form.

Last year I skipped out on free RPG day, I can see I'll be driving somewhere this year.

Here's a point that isn't clear to me... at what backer level do you get a printed version of "Better Than Any Man"?  I see that you get the contributor version cover at the $25 level, but it's ambiguous if that's PDF or print.  That's one thing to clarify before the campaign goes live.

The picture on the kickstarter is creepy and amazing.  So good.

5

(4 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

The grindhouse edition Bless is pretty awesome - I find the players taking it quite a bit to give themselves an edge.  Always trying to abuse the written word, one of the players asked if a Bless recipient can spend their bless points to reduce someone else's roll instead of modifying their own.

The text is open to interpretation - the subject gains points to allocate "to any future rolls", not limiting it to the recipient's rolls, though I'd argue that's implied.

What say the wise LOTFP forum dwellers?

6

(16 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

My players use the LOTFP maneuvers all the time, but none of them noticed that you can declare a parry at any time.  This would really help the front liners survivability in a tough dungeon crawl fight.

So the proposed procedures:

Monster swings
DM declares a hit or miss
Player declares a parry
DM determines if parry cancels the hit or not

( OR )

Monster swings
Player declares a parry
DM makes the roll against the new AC

Sounds like Jim LOTFP is also saying option 1 is countenanced by the current rule phrasing.  That is strong.

We use a bind wounds house rule of 0-3 HP back after a battle (d4 -1), and all characters can do a bit of first aid.  It captures a touch of "second wind" from the 4E days.  I like it for a dungeon crawl game, when using LOTFP for a combat heavy game, but would yank it out for playing a purer horror-themed LOTFP game.

We just do max damage on a "20" as well; double damage has been just too rough.

I really liked the siren from Weird New World as an example of a traditional type of monster that might show up in a regular bestiary, but the interpretation in WNW was inspired.  Of course, I'd hope most DM's  could do that themselves.

I could get behind a collection of weird-inspired magic items, I always struggle a bit with those myself.

Realms of Crawling Chaos, the LL Lovecraftian supplement, is excellent supporting material for a LOTFP game.  The other things I tend to reference are the Moldvay BX editions for common critters.

11

(16 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

5 minute work day is a 3E phenomenon, where a group would enter the first room of the dungeon, blow all their powerful spells to destroy the encounter, and then leave.  It's only a problem when the dungeons are focused on combat, not exploration, but also got rid of things like wandering encounters.

Today Finland, tomorrow the world - or at least, the USA.

I heartily endorse LOTFP domination of North American game shops.  Commence product beatdown.

Crowdfunding is tough during the Xmas season, so I'm glad this is shaping up for Jan-Feb for the campaign.

13

(20 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Jim - remind me, is the supplement on guns also covering cannons and naval combat?  I remember at one point you were interested in expanding the LOTFP maritime section.

14

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

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.

Yes, keeping the existing tables on the back cover is immensely useful - another vote for keeping them in place.  I pretty much play off the back cover most of the game.

Putting the characteristics and settlements inside the cover sounds good.

Congrats, I'm looking forward to your piece, and it's good to have friends out here!

17

(16 replies, posted in Crowdfunding Forum)

I've got a blurb up today encouraging Broodmother Sky Fortress.  It's the front runner, and I figure if it gets funded, we'll see a few close runners up follow quickly behind.  Got to get the first one over the hump.  30 days is a short campaign for this volume.

18

(32 replies, posted in Crowdfunding Forum)

Why is the $100 grab bag level random?  I'd do that one in a heartbeat if, when the campaigns are over, you asked the grab baggers to help pick instead of five at random.  I'd much rather see some other stuff get funded that's close than some random thing that didn't get anywhere near the goal.

p 48, 3rd paragraph just ends with a colon and never provides the types of retainer stats.  That whole sentence could probably be removed.

What's the story?  Or is it only a matter of time?  I tend to follow a bunch of OSR blogs and haven't seen any recent muckraking.

21

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Ed Dove wrote:
Beedo wrote:

Is there a lot of synergy between LOTFP and WHFRP?

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhammer_Fantasy_Roleplay:

"...doom-laden background...grim and perilous game..."

"While the setting of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay shares traits, such as the existence of elves and goblins, with other popular fantasy settings, it is chronologically slightly later than that of most fantasy games – close to the early Renaissance era in terms of technology and society. Firearms are readily available, though expensive and unreliable, and a growing mercantile middle class challenges the supremacy of the nobility."

"One of the most identifiable features of the Warhammer setting is Chaos...an insidious force gnawing at the fabric of society. Secret cults abound among all strata of society, seeking to overthrow the social order or to further their own power. Mutants lurk in the forests outside the great cities, while the Skaven (a race of rats) tunnel beneath them."

"Magic is widely feared and reviled, and not without reason. Magic is derived from – and thus corrupted by – Chaos, and its practitioners tread a fine line between death or corruption and relative safety."

Sounds like a lot of synergy to me.

Hell yeah - sounds awesome.  Is there a good setting book someone would recommend?  I may need to finally check it out.

22

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

As a Cthulhu gamer, I'd be picking Ken Hite followed by Jason Morningstar.  There's a good chance Ken's thing gets funded.  Is there a lot of synergy between LOTFP and WHFRP?  Not that familiar with it.

Thanks for the heads up - I need to check that one out!

What Is That Thing?

It's the Icon of Mormo, of course, the vampiric companion of Hecate, goddess of magic.  The icon is an intermediary with the goddess and grants special magical knowledge to those that revere the goddess and keep the icon sated and fed.

Once per month, the icon animates in the dead of night and creeps to the bosom of its owner, suckling blood like a vampire bat.  The owner loses a temporary point of constitution, and the icon returns to an inanimate state.  While it's active, the owner dreams of the will of Hecate and learns the ancient rituals of obeisance and worship.

Gaining any benefit from the icon requires the caster to perform rituals on the night of the dark moon in honor of Hecate, triple-aspect goddess of magic, at a rural crossroads.  These rituals require the sacrifice of animals, honey, and grains, in the Greek style.  (1 HD of black sheep must be sacrificed per spell level being researched or transcribed - see below).

When the caster performs these acts of obeisance to Hecate, the next piece of magical research they perform is treated as if the spell involved is of the next lowest level (using the Grindhouse Edition durations for spell research).  Researching a new spell normally takes Spell Level x 4d6 days; a caster being guided by Hecate and Mormo would complete the spell in (Level -1) x 4d6 days.  Example:  A new level 3 spell takes an average of 42 days to research; with Mormo's subconscious help, it would be done in 28 days (treating the level 3 spell as a level 2 spell).  Level 1 spells are reduced by 1/2.  The caster must be under the watchful gaze of the triple-eyed icon throughout the work to get the benefit.

If the caster doesn't know it already, the first piece of spell research must always be to learn the Summoning spell.

It's rumored the icon will teach a higher level caster, darker, profane rituals, to gain similar insight into the creation of potions, wands and staffs.

================================

What's going on in the picture?

The three of them are in Venice, after recently returning from the mountains  near Udine where they killed a Strega on behalf of their patron, the magician Brachetti.  Unfortunately, the icon animated last night and supped at the breast of the female magician.  She's beginning to realize that the icon is more than a statuette, it's the physical body of the demonic little familiar Mormo itself!


Alice thought she glimpsed the statuette slithering around the bedchamber, and is now convinced it's an evil thing that needs to be destroyed.  The Flame Princess sees an opportunity to hold out for more money from Brachetti, who lied to them about the nature of the artifact.  The Flame Princess has put Alice's share on the table and is trying to buy her out so she's free to extort Brachetti.

@Evan - I definitely must have seen that post at one time, the idea of an island with Roman ruins discovered during a Medieval period was kind of knocking around in the cranium.  Either way, I'm looking forward to this one quite a bit.