1

(17 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Yuritau wrote:

The crossbow, mule, and gem prices of course carry over directly (the crossbow and mule are even listed in the Rules & Magic book at those prices). But that has nothing at all to do with the worth of the gold crown, not even by comparison.

If converting value-X from value-system-A to value-system-B result in value-Y, then value-100X should yield us value-100Y.


Yuritau wrote:

In the gold standard system, you can easily say that a gold crown is worth 500gp (despite the fact that there's almost certainly nowhere near 500 coins worth of gold in the crown, by weight*) simply by saying it has good/decent craftsmanship or other adornments etc.

*For reference, I base my estimations of coin size/weight roughly on roman coins, or approx 3-4cm in diameter, and approx 2-3mm thick

Assume the crown's value were given in how many crossbows it is worth - say, 20 crossbows. To get how many gold pieces or silver pieces the crown is worth we only have to multiply 20 by the individual price of crossbows: 500gp in gold standard and 500sp in silver standard.

Conversion can only be done successfully, if the individual items converted have the same ratio of value compared to each other; otherwise, it is not really conversion but revaluation.

At least, that's my opinion. I must add that my approach is based on gameability and has absolutely nothing to do with historic reality whatsoever (just as RPGs themselves).

2

(17 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Yuritau wrote:
YnasMidgard wrote:

I see Yuritau's point. Note, however, that the 25gp jewel (gold standard) equals to a 25sp jewel (silver standard); they are, for all purposes, the same (except, as you mentioned, copper pieces are back).

All in all, it really is a fashion choice.

Yeah, for things where the GM gets to set the value as arbitrarily as he likes, the numbers can carry over as directly as you want them to. It's the specific case of items MADE of gold where things are much more interesting in the Silver Standard. big_smile

Is that so? Let's say, how much silver pieces do you think the following items are worth in a silver standard setting (I give their price in gold pieces in a gold standard setting):
- a light crossbow (25 gp)
- a mule (50 gp)
- a mediocre gem (150 gp)
- a golden crown (500 gp)

Given that there is evidence - the LotFP rulebook's chapter on equipment and the starting wealth of characters - suggesting that there is a 1:1 ratio of LotFP's silver pieces to other D&D-esque games' gold pieces, I can only come to the conclusion that the LotFP prices of the aforementioned items are 25sp, 50sp, 150sp, and 500sp, respectively. Assigning prices otherwise would actually change their value compared to each other.

Note, that there IS a change of value in LotFP, but that has nothing to do with the silver standard: (1) it is due to legal reasons and (2) personal taste (James apparently doesn't like Fighters starting with Plate + Shield).

Yeah, I deal with it the same way Jim does.

4

(17 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I see Yuritau's point. Note, however, that the 25gp jewel (gold standard) equals to a 25sp jewel (silver standard); they are, for all purposes, the same (except, as you mentioned, copper pieces are back).

All in all, it really is a fashion choice.

5

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

What healing rules do you use? First, I would trim those down to minimum; by-the-book, healing is a slow process. Second, I would definitely not add another element to the game (be it sanity points or madness meter or else); if you really want to have rules governing that aspect of the game, go with your original proposal and expand the use of HP to cover such actions (since HP covers everything from fatigue to morale to wounds, not much damage is done to the concept, I guess).

6

(6 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

BillionSix, your post made my day smile Cheers!

7

(16 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Is it going to be a detailed description of what happened or rather an informative one, highlighting DM decisions, techniques, explanations why you judged things like you did, and what you changed in the module and why?

8

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

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

9

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

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?

Modifiers can be found on the character sheet (so that's why I have never had problem with that); however, a list of spells that work differently on Elves and a revised price list would be nice.

As for the 10' pole, in our games it works only 2 in 6 (because of the weight-thing mentioned above).

Also, the improvement of saving throws is such because they are derived from B/X D&D. I personally have no problem with that except that it would be much easier if they always improved by two.

11

(52 replies, posted in Crowdfunding Forum)

I adore the works of Mr. Crawford, so I'm definitely in!

12

(22 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Unfortunately, it appears I can only afford the pdf bundle... I hope life would prove me wrong soon.

Having a chart including "nothing" entries makes us skip one roll (check for encounter AND check for details is how it's usually done).

14

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I am currently designing an adventure to be run on a local Hungarian mini-con, using Carcosa and Swords and Wizardry. I actually have something very similar in my mind, i.e. every human race has some little specialty (also reflected in game mechanics).

15

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

These are all good ideas, thank you very much!

As I was thinking about what kind of starting adventure I would like run in my - yet upcoming - Carcosa campaign, I realized there is no real "base of operations" kind of place, partly because different coloured people distrust each other, partly because there are only small villages scattered throughout the landscape, trying to survive (merely living is hard enough on Carcosa).

The other thing I came to know is that Carcosa is more than a weird setting as there is no normal (normal in our IRL terms) part of it to create a normal-weird opposition but a completely different, alien place. As in planetic romance, it might be easier to introduce newcomers to the setting letting them play outsiders, who are new to this world themselves.

So, I came to the conclusion I should use one of the spacefaring OSR books to create the PCs, namely: Terminal Space, Stars Without Number or Humanspace Empires (I think I will use HE, with only human characters and maybe some other small changes).

What do you think? How would YOU start a Carcosa campaign?

17

(6 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Wow, your interpretation rocks, Geoffrey! Should this result come up, I will definitely use it.

18

(218 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Hello, I am Sándor, a 20-year-old Hungarian gamer. I started role-playing with D&D 3.0 about seven years ago. After a longer campaign and a couple of short adventures, I switched to Vampire: the Masquarade, then - having acquired a corebook in London - to New World of Darkness (frankly, that one-and-a-half-year-long nWoD mortal campaign we had was the best game I have ever participated in).

After toying with a couple of games (including but not limited to Rifts, Werewolf and 7th Sea), in 2009 I came across Melan's Sword and Magic rules, and while playing in a homebrew setting with it, I could play in Urban's outstanding Pnakotik Ruins campaign for a single session. I am interested in old school gaming since then - currently in LotFP and Carcosa (also toying with Vikings & Valkyries ideas).

I would also consider Pars Fortuna a twist on all these standard monsters, spells and items, too.

And what about settings completely different from the standard medieval assumptions (Victorian steampunk-horror; late medieval era invaded by Nazis because of an unsuccessful time travel experiment; neanderthal men, crashed alien spaceship, dinosaurs and dire animals), yet without much alteration to the "flavour"?

These "flavours" surely help setting a different feel and tone, but I doubt it is that important, as other factors might also differentiate one campaign setting or game from another (consider Mazes and Minotaurs or Melan's Sword and Magic, especially used with Fomalhaut, for instance). Anyway, I guess you are right that at publishing level and regarding "flavours", only those two publishers have showed up and given us innovative content.

20

(54 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I am considering the following house rules:
- Players roll two rows of ability scores, choose one row, and may switch two scores within.
- Clerics, Specialists, Elves and Halflings get an attack bonus at 1st, 4th, 8th and 12th level, MUs at 1st, 6th and 12th level, and Dwarves at 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th level. Fighters are unchanged.
- MUs can prepare one more spell of each spell level, but can still cast the usual number of spells [credit goes to Lord Inar, right?].
- Shields can be sacrificed to reduce damage to 1 (maybe 2 or 3 for really big monsters).
- XP is awarded for killing/capturing/incapacitating monsters and classed NPCs (they may receive a nominal XP for killing bandits, soldiers and similar opponents), for money and treasure looted from dungeons and remote wilderness areas, and for accomplishing their goals (they may set a couple of goals for their characters, I [secretly?] and give all of them an XP value.

21

(1 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I hope I can kick off a LotFP campaign in September, so I have been thinking about the demi-human issue. First, I was to replace them with special human classes (something like the ones described here in an other topic), but then realized that twisted demi-humans are much more weird than simple variant human classes. Here is what I have so far:

Dwarves are paragons of a past age, chosen warriors who are summoned by the desperate call of their descendants to revenge their offences (often shortly before their inevitable death). They come from an otherworld unreachable for us [I envision it as something like Valhalla], and do not rest until their vengeance is complete. [I am still not sure if it is unknown what happens to them thereafter, they might simply be stuck here in our mortal world - until they gloriously die again in battle].

It is common knowledge that Fae occasionally abduct infants and take them to their land called Arcadia, and that these infants are usually replaced by one of their own creations: an Elf. These utterly otherworldly beings are made of strange dreams and (natural) materials like wood, stone or leaves [and when they are killed they spectacularly turn into whatever base material they were made of - and their strong emotions and surreal nightmares burst out and infect bystanders' thoughts]. Raised in our mortal world where they obviously do not belong, their unpredictable alien nature drives them away from human civilization, deep into the wilderness where they are close to the magnificence of the wild, and free to practice magic, gift of their fae heritage.

Halflings, living in harsh environments, have learnt how to survive in the wild. They are very suspicious towards outlanders, and usually try to drive them away. They dwell in labyrinthine tunnels under remote hills, and are known to defend their homes ferociously. In their society, power is measured by one's hunting skills - the one who has taken the biggest tooth of a beast shall rule among them [an alternative that occurred to me was "widest variety of foreign coins", but I would rather emphasize their uncivilized, barbaric nature, as I think it is less "halflingish"].

Mechanically none of them requires different treatment than in the rules book; maybe dwarves do not age either. An other important thing is that no more than one-third of the party may play demi-humans, and each of a different race - partly because they are much fewer in numbers than humans, partly because I would like to keep their strangeness and unfamiliarity.

What do you think?

22

(19 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Not really input, but I felt I must speak this outloud: I really like the background, especially the revisioned Elves and the opposing Old and New Faiths.