Thursday, October 12, 2017

List: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Articles usable by Dungeon Fantasy RPG

On the forums, someone asked for a post similar to the one I did previously guiding Dungeon Fantasy RPG users through the Pyramid supplements written just for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. Pyramid is a monthly "magazine," which often has a lot of GURPS specific content, like new equipment, adventures, rules, etc, and more than a handful have been in support of Dungeon Fantasy. So let's take a look.
If a title has an asterisk (*) next to it, it means that you can find it in the handy Dungeon Fantasy Collected compilation, a list of one-off articles that appeared in more general purpose issues that were not especially dedicated to Dungeon Fantasy.

The Table



IssueTitleDependenciesComments
#3/10The Justiciar*NoneA template specializing in law and non-lethal takedowns. 
#3/13The Mystic Knight*Power-Ups 1 ImbuementsA template specializing in "imbuements," a type of magic that grants mundane weapons supernatural powers. Pyramid #3/4 is also strongly recommended, it adds a bunch of extra imbuements. 
#3/36The DemolisherNoneAn occupational template exclusive to dwarves that uses boomsticks and bombs. One weapon uses the shrapnel mechanic which is glossed over in Dungeon Fantasy RPG, so either get Basic Set to know what they mean, or if you read damage like 1d[1d-4] cr ex, ignore the bit inside the square brackets.
#3/36Dungeon SaintsPowers: Divine FavorThis is a custom version of the cleric and holy warrior that uses "powers" instead of "magic," specifically those from Divine Favor. This probably works best for players that also have the Basic Set and Powers as well to design new abilities. Also makes a callback to issue #3/19 for a lot more abilities.
#3/36The MusketeerNoneA template for a character that relies heavily on guns. The Guns family of skills don't exist in Dungeon Fantasy, but work pretty much like Bow or Crossbow. Having Gun-
Fu for cool abilities, and Basic Set for equipment are not required, but very highly recommended.
#3/36The Horrific DungeonNoneCompletely system agnostic guidance for GMs for making a dungeon more tense or horrific.
#3/36Powering Up: ImbuementsPower-Ups 1: ImbuementsA general purpose application of Imbuements to Dungeon Fantasy. It does build a tiny bit on the Mystic Knight spoken of earlier. It also makes use of limitations and power modifiers, but in a mostly straight-forward way (basically, point discounts for an advantage in exchange for a few drawbacks)
#3/36Historically Rich DungeonsNoneSystem agnostic guidance for trying to build background history for dungeons.
#3/36All Charged up Over Magic ItemsNoneThis is mostly redundant with Dungeon Fantasy: Magic Items.
#3/36The Joy of HexNoneSystem agnostic editorial on the fun of hex crawl games.
#3/38Seven Mythical Artifacts for Dungeon Fantasy*NoneSimply a list of treasures based on real world mythologies.
#3/38The Golden Geniza of Ezkali*NoneAlthough a lot of page references are made to content in other books, most of it can be found in Dungeon Fantasy RPG as well.
#3/43Cultists of the Elder Gods*Dungeon Fantasy 7, 14, MagicThis article has a neat aside on servitors of elder attributes, which also uses Dungeon Fantasy 5.
#3/47Monster Slavers*NoneThis is another template that specializes in non-lethal capturing and selling of non-humans. It uses the GURPS mechanic of optional specialties, but you can just remove Merchant (slaves) and change it to regular Merchant, and change the skill level to 13. It also includes some thoughts on running a campaign based around being a slaver.
#3/56Caverns of the Chronomancer*NoneThis dungeon is mostly ready to use as is, a few traits for included monsters are exclusive to GURPS Basic Set but the important bits of their usage are easily inferred.
#3/50Races as ProfessionsBasic Set, Dungeon Fantasy 4Two special templates that make the Dwarf and the Elf a full fledged 250 point character. There are a few rare abilities that require the prerequisites, but they could also be easily substituted or ignored.
#3/50Dark SummoningsDungeon Fantasy 9, MagicNew "lenses" for the templates in Dungeon Fantasy 9. A lens is like a mini-template you apply on top of a template. This article absolutely requires Dungeon Fantasy 9, which in turn absolutely requires GURPS Magic. There are a handful of usable elements at the end that don't require these prerequisites.
#3/50Saintly Power-UpsPowers: Divine Favor, Pyramid #3/36A handful of new abilities for the Saint template introduced in an earlier pyramid.
#3/50Super DungeonsNoneGuidance for building a macro sized dungeon, followed by an example mini-adventure applying the ideas presented.
#3/50More Dungeon Fantasy LoadoutsSee commentsSome of the equipment in the original version of Dungeon Fantasy has slightly different stats with slightly different prices, so using these as written requires Basic Set, but substituting the new equipment stats and prices might not take too much work. Each set of loadouts corresponds to a template that was introduced after Dungeon Fantasy 13, so it's value is proportional to how many of Dungeon Fantasy 14, and Pyramid's #3/10, #3/36, #3/47 you own.
#3/50Power-Ups for AssassinsDungeon Fantasy 11, 12A bunch of special abilities for the assassin template introduced in Dungeon Fantasy 12, with a lot of references to 11. Technically, you can still use it without 12, but it was made specifically to synergize with it.
#3/50On Plato and PowerNoneEditorial on a bunch of different thoughts, Chekhov's Gun, and character point rewards.
#3/50SnowmenNoneTwo extra winter themed monsters.
#3/58Traits for Town*GURPS Basic SetThis book repurposes several social traits that exists in GURPS, but are downplayed to non-existent in Dungeon Fantasy. I'd recommend getting Dungeon Fantasy 17 before (or instead) of getting this if you want to include features like climbing the social ladder in Dungeon Fantasy.
#3/60Wizardry RefinedNoMost of this is captured in Dungeon Fantasy Spells, but it might be useful if you want to reincorporate more spells from GURPS Magic.
#3/60High-Tech Dungeon CrawlBasic SetAn editorial about having a dungeon dive in modern or newer times, greatly benefits from having the GURPS Basic Set and probably GURPS High Tech as well.
#3/60It's a Trap!NoSimilar to the Dungeon Fantasy Traps book, but with a different assortment of traps.
#3/60Mystic Power-UpsPyramid #3/13A list of new special abilities for the Mystic Knight, which also requires Power-Ups 1 - Imbuements.
#3/60In All Series-nessGURPS MagicA retrospective on Dungeon Fantasy up until now, and a template that was originally scrapped, but has been cleaned up and revamped.
#3/60The Decagoblin DungeonNoAn abstract dungeon that plays on a variation of a theme.
#3/61More Power to Dungeon Warriors*NoA bunch of cool abilities for melee fighters and some exotic weapons. A "perk" is, for all intents and purposes, a 1 point advantage. It includes some math as a bonus at the end of each ability that shows how to reverse engineer the abilities using the GURPS system, but you can ignore that.
#3/64Swords Against Evil*NoThis includes a bunch of options for the Swashbuckler template. I'd highly recommend instead looking at Dungeon Fantasy Denizens - Swashbucklers if interested. It includes most of this content and more.
#3/68Dark of the Woods*NoneTechnically, this is an abstract systemless dungeon, so yes, it is usable as is.
#3/68Wilderness Adventures*Dungeon Fantasy 16, MagicThis article is a Designer's Notes feature, a recurring bit that talks about the author's thoughts or things that had to be cut. This adds a few more details to Dungeon Fantasy 16, a really good book if you want to make outdoor exploration its own adventure instead of an abstract blip between town and dungeon.
#3/70Horde Ninja*NoneIt applies a bunch of rules from a bunch of different locations, but it is mostly usable as is. Dungeon Fantasy 12 is a little helpful though.
#3/70Into the Wilderness*Dungeon Fantasy 16, Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 1This article touches up The Mirror of the Fire Demon with some improvements from Dungeon Fantasy 16, a big deal since a large part of the adventure is wandering a desert instead of crawling a dungeon.
#3/72Pointless Slaying and LootingBasic SetA very flexible system for building characters with unique abilities. It leverages the Wildcard Skill mechanic that is not covered in Dungeon Fantasy RPG, so having the Basic Set might help.
#3/72Dungeons of MarsBasic SetAn editorial on building a dungeon delving game in Pulp Science Fantasy world. Makes reference of several 3rd edition books, which are optional but helpful, and there are guides to update stats from there.
#3/72From the Bottom UpBasic SetThis article is about playing as monsters in a dungeon instead of delvers, it uses a lot of exotic traits that were scrapped from Dungeon Fantasy RPG (Most are talked about in Dungeon Fantasy Monsters without the point values though, so you might be able to scoot by without the Basic Set.)
#3/72Good DungeonsNoneAn editorial about designing a "dungeon" that would typically be home to the "good races" like humans, dwarves, and elves, as opposed to goblins, dragons, and monsters.
#3/72Dungeon Fantasy Video GamingBasic SetTalks about adding abilities that incorporate mechanics from video games. A lot of the abilities depend on more of the complex mechanics from Basic Set that were not included in Dungeon Fantasy RPG.
#3/72To Conjure the UnknownNoneAn editorial about how adding or removing fixtures can have a big impact and make a campaign unique.
#3/75Just Rewards*See CommentsAn article that talks about cool boons a GM can give to the heroes after a successful adventure instead of/in addition to character points. A handful of them reference GURPS Dungeon Fantasy installments for more information, but the majority are explained in the article.
#3/76Psychic SlayerDungeon Fantasy 14A spin-off template that uses the rules from Dungeon Fantasy 14 extensively. Some skills from GURPS Basic Set show up, but they should be fairly intuitive what they mean (eg: Force Sword and Shield (Force) ) Some monsters are included but they also use a lot of mechanics from Dungeon Fantasy 14.
#3/76Hidden KnowledgeNoneAn article about guidance on creating new Spells for players to learn, with a handful of new spells as examples. Lots of optional references here and there.
#3/76Living RoomsNoneSome guidance on the squicky trope of having dungeon romps inside giant organisms. Includes a few monsters beside.
#3/76The Magic TouchNoneSome magic items specifically tailored to Martial Artists.
#3/76Dire and Terrible MonstersNoneThis technically uses the prefix mechanic from Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 1, but that is simply putting an adjective in front of a monster's name and then giving it a bunch of thematic power-ups. It includes a few new monsters to illustrate the dire and terrible prefixes.
#3/76Complications Made SimpleNoneAn editorial about adding big quirks or plot twists to a fantasy world in a manageable way.
#3/77It's a Threat*Basic SetA ranking system for monster difficulty. Using it requires Basic Set to get point values for several traits that are only found in Dungeon Fantasy Monsters otherwise.
#3/78Clerics of Order and Chaos*Basic Set,
Magic, Dungeon Fantasy 7
This article talks about special clerics to gods of specific realms. Some of it is useful immediately, but it will be much more useful with the aforementioned books. It also has an optional dependency on the Justiciar, mentioned earlier, with some modifications.
#3/80Gog and Magog*NoneThis small adventure is basically usable as is.
#3/80More Psionic Threats*NoneIt is mostly usable by itself, but it helps to have and is meant to be used in conjunction with Dungeon Fantasy 14.
#3/82Dungeon Brewmasters*None, but see commentsThis article introduces a new system to allow players to create potions. The important half doesn't require anything, but the other half has a lot of content that is only usable with Dungeon Fantasy 4 and in turn, the Basic Set.
#3/82The Sorcerer*Thaumatology: SorcerySorcery is an alternative to Wizardry, the type of magic normally used in Dungeon Fantasy RPG,  spells cost a lot less energy and can get more powerful, but they require more character points to learn. It's a lot easier to customize and balance for experienced GURPS players and GMs, but requires the Basic set and Powers to get the best use out of it. Note, it also makes reference to an earlier version of the system in Pyramid #3/63 with some notes for updating some of the content.
#3/82Appendix Z More Charms*NoneThis is simply a worked example of all or most of the amulets and talismans priced according to the rules in Magic and Dungeon Fantasy 1. Prices are commensurate with Dungeon Fantasy RPG.
#3/89Havens and HellsNoneA description of a desolate setting where players are cursed to never die.
#3/89Eastern AdventuresSee CommentsThis article has a lot of elements that works independently, and a lot that cannot. Magic might be important for the new spell lists for Clerics and Druids, Martial Arts is useful for a lot of Martial Artist power-ups, and a racial template is meant to use Dungeon Fantasy 5's list of familiars.
#3/89The Titan's HouseNoneA Dungeon.
#3/89The Secret of the ExplorersNoneAn editorial article on a hypothetical setting where dungeon delving is illegal.


Other Thoughts and Conclusion

I'm surprised at how many articles are dedicated to Dungeon Fantasy. I planned on just pumping this out, but it took a real long time. Ah well, it's done, I hope it's useful. Maybe I should try to make a list in a later post about what Dungeon Fantasy RPG articles are easily used by GURPS Dungeon Fantasy.

6 comments:

  1. "Clerics of Order and Chaos" also has a dependency on "The Justiciar" if you want to use the Holy Warrior of Order variant based on it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Thanks, it was a deceptively time consuming project.

      Delete
  3. As usual, an attractive and thoughrough analysis.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...