tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45207120155354087732024-03-18T00:43:45.901-07:00Let's GURPSI make some GURPS content from time to time, and it takes me a long time to make it. So, since it takes me a long time to do that, I thought I'd start a blog so that my GURPS stuff would exist for all eternity. I plan on posting assets, conversations about complicated rules, session recaps, etc. I dunno if this will be useful to anyone, or only useful to myself, but here we go.Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.comBlogger622125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-10818855815018707032021-03-28T22:05:00.002-07:002021-03-28T22:05:10.277-07:00Review: GURPS Realm Management<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nSYISuAEr4o/YGFMrLxcxfI/AAAAAAAAK-c/W1AjBcuvaIgEILQxhhOk5y9SQ94cCx_TACLcBGAsYHQ/s650/realmmanagement_cvr_1000%255B1%255D.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="501" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nSYISuAEr4o/YGFMrLxcxfI/AAAAAAAAK-c/W1AjBcuvaIgEILQxhhOk5y9SQ94cCx_TACLcBGAsYHQ/w154-h200/realmmanagement_cvr_1000%255B1%255D.jpg" width="154" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-realm-management">I liked it.</a> More space<br />is dedicated to the title<br />of the book than to the<br />art on the cover.</td></tr></tbody></table><i>Boardroom and Curia</i> introduced metrics for objectively measuring an organization, but one shortcoming that occurred to me when looking at that book is there wasn't a lot of advice of how to bring to bear the power that an organization might provide for or against a party of PCs. It included ideas on how to administer it, but to what ends was not very well defined and required a lot of legwork from the GM to make executive calls. <i>Realm Management</i>, though focusing specifically on polities specifically, does a lot to address these shortcomings (and even mentions advice for leveraging the introduced mechanics in this book with the content of <i>Boardroom and Curia</i>.) Overall, it's an exciting long awaited book, very mechanically dense to the point where just reading it straight through is a bit of a slog, but if you, like me, were itching for some more rigorous administration mechanics, I'm sure you'll be satisfied. Below the fold is a more detailed review.<span><a name='more'></a></span><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span>Overview</span></h1><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hqZJKaGgLn0/YGFPui01pNI/AAAAAAAAK-k/iXs4hm9KtdUftPFVlLycl369TNaalJ0pwCLcBGAsYHQ/s786/cnPmWba%255B1%255D.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="676" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hqZJKaGgLn0/YGFPui01pNI/AAAAAAAAK-k/iXs4hm9KtdUftPFVlLycl369TNaalJ0pwCLcBGAsYHQ/w172-h200/cnPmWba%255B1%255D.png" width="172" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Healthy Table of Contents</td></tr></tbody></table>As of this time, this is a $10, 52 page PDF, Subtracting front and back matter, 45 pages, one of the bigger GURPS supplements in a minute. This book is divided into two long chapters; one is devoted to objectively statting out a gameable 'realm,' the other is devoted to the in-play leveraging of this government, and all the resources it has at it's disposal. Besides these two chapters, there is a very useful three page index, and a worksheet for statting out a realm. While like most GURPS worksheets, it's not especially useful in its default form, with several fields having far too little space available, and some having too much, it is useful in that it contains in one place all the important questions you might need to answer when thinking about what makes up a realm. Throughout the book, as an example, "The Necro-Kingdom of Zarthus" is statted, a useful example because of how unconventional it is, showing how the system designers play with, bend, and break rules as appropriate to make the system serve the game, and not the other way around. This necromancer kingdom, along with a few more examples are displayed completed in the appendix with some annotations to help further parse the mechanisms behind the system. The book doesn't explicitly require other books besides the <i>GURPS Basic Set</i>, but a lot of metrics do leverage <i>Mass Combat</i>, not explicitly necessary, but might otherwise make a few of the metrics dedicated to military logistics less useful. Besides that, it does leverage a lot of the foundation built up by <i>City Stats</i> and <i>Boardroom and Curia</i>.<br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Building A Realm</h1><div>The first chapter talks about all the bits necessary for putting together a stat block for a realm. This is extremely dense, and covers parameters such as the physical size, population density, education levels, corruption, productivity, governance, economy, and so forth. Even though a lot of laying out the stats for a given polity is based on hard usable numbers, sometimes the method by which they are ascertained does require the application of a more fuzzy wuzzy rubric. Admittedly, I think in these cases it makes the most sense, but I do feel a bit uneasy that maybe a number is chosen by looking at a description of some abstract level of an abstract value and picking what sounds best instead of using a formula; but that's the shape of the problem some times. As mentioned earlier, some of the metrics are very similar to some of the previous releases, but tuned in a way to be more mechanically useful, and a little easier to rate for the more subjective metrics. Most importantly, a few metrics are really only useful if you have and are planning to use <i>Mass Combat.</i> Otherwise, a large majority of this chapter is new or improved and stands on its own without reliance on other expensive supplements.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Wheel</h1><div>This is the system of actually using the stats that are put together in chapter one. "The Wheel" is a turn based system of executing government orders to take care of subjects, levy troops, complete large scale civil projects, and so forth. Turns nominally last one month and usually you can execute one action per "turn," but taking certain risks or having certain modifications ascribed to a realm can make this more or less difficult. After this maneuvers are explained, there are two tables of random calamities or boons that can occur occasionally to make running a state a little less predictable. Following this, helpful mechanics explaining how to actually improve a realm, from technological achievement, expansion and conquest. The chapter ends with some ideas about dealing with revolutionaries, coups, or similar tumultuous unrests. This chapter explains that Realm Management is meant to be a mini-game alongside the adventuring a party of PCs would normally be involved in, and not the whole enchilada innate of itself. Similar to the idea of <i>Mass Combat </i>not being a replacement for all adventuring of a party, <i>Realm Management</i> is meant to be a tool to make governing a realm useful for the PCs, have some strings to pull to utilize it to their ends, and then get out of the way as they go do other stuff, hopefully both these adventurers and the administration of the government have meaningful and interesting impacts upon each other.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Other Thoughts</h1><div>This is basically something that I've been wanting for a long time, so it's hard for me to even think objectively about this book. I feel like it does a great deal to assuaging a hitherto under-addressed issue, but it also inspires a lot of new questions, and makes me look forward to authors adding on and refining an already great foundation.</div>Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-52469843110738258212021-02-27T22:28:00.001-07:002021-02-27T22:28:26.405-07:00Review: GURPS Furries<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6WgOIaJ7MBQ/YDscgATomYI/AAAAAAAAKUk/zkdE1OmndYIknTV8eSqbb7BI1aYqsh9GACLcBGAsYHQ/s649/EE2Qkwq%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6WgOIaJ7MBQ/YDscgATomYI/AAAAAAAAKUk/zkdE1OmndYIknTV8eSqbb7BI1aYqsh9GACLcBGAsYHQ/w154-h200/EE2Qkwq%255B1%255D.png" width="154" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-furries">Yiff</a></td></tr></tbody></table> Skipping just a smidgen away from regularly scheduled micro-book reviewing, I've decided to look at a book that is a bit more substantive and a bit more recent. This book, on the face of things is about running a game with anthros. I feel like it does an ok job, but also <i>GURPS Template Toolkit 2</i> does more for exotic types. So, in brief, if you need help designing exotic races, I'd recommend <i>Template Toolkit 2</i>, and if that doesn't completely satisfy you, then you might want <i>GURPS Furries</i> to fill in a few of the blanks that the previously released book does not address, or that are further extended. A bit more detail after the jump.</p><h1><span><a name='more'></a>Introduction</span></h1><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3__oZq-1EWA/YDsiVCBC4EI/AAAAAAAAKUs/zU3juqCmUlE1_Eo8upNT7If3NcU0TH8WwCLcBGAsYHQ/s884/2sPYA9Z%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="681" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3__oZq-1EWA/YDsiVCBC4EI/AAAAAAAAKUs/zU3juqCmUlE1_Eo8upNT7If3NcU0TH8WwCLcBGAsYHQ/w154-h200/2sPYA9Z%255B1%255D.png" width="154" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big table of contents</td></tr></tbody></table>First off, this book is written by <i>William H. Stoddard</i>, a well established GURPS writer, it is on sale now at Warehouse 23, and I was part of the playtest, so I got a copy for free; my new legal name is on the cover, and even though my role was small, it elates me to see it there. This is an $8 pdf, with 39 pages (subtracting title page, back matter, introduction, and table of contents, 31 pages) split across three chapters. Chapter one talking about the idea of genres, and how furries might typically interact with any of the conventional or specially focused genres. Chapter two details new mechanical traits for Furries, and slightly more detailed rules expansions for how different morphologies might interact with different fighting skills or example. The last chapter is a plethora of example racial templates prescribed to different settings and genres. Largely, the book accomplishes what it sets out to do: equips GMs and players to run or play in games with anthropomorphic characters, but if I had to point out one major criticism, it's that the book feels overly narrow in scope. I wonder if this is a case of "what the author knows," it could be a case of the furry fandom being absolutely bonkers huge, and only having 31 pages to work in, but even forgiving these conditions, the large majority of focus is on vertebrates, and even more specifically, heavily focused on mammals. The primary morphology assumed is bipedal and two-armed. These critiques might be brushed away with, "well, the majority of anthro characters are bipedal morphs of mammals, and usually if not mammals, almost always vertebrates," but I contend that throughout the long life of GURPS, the standard faire "vanilla" archetypes have been exercised several times, so I still would have like a look at something a little more exotic. Anyway, it's good, but I feel like it could have been a lot better.</div><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Genres</h1><div>This chapter starts with a clarification of how it defines the word genre, and how it defines the word furry (as the anthro character, not the fan of said anthro character) It then talks about historically popular media that includes anthropomorphic animal characters, including various myths and fables, going through to examples from contemporary times, giving details that might be good to keep in mind if one would be interested in emulating such fiction. Overall, brief, but an interesting read nonetheless. It's a little more brief than I'd like, and there is a very helpful table embedded in this chapter that is an index of racial templates by species they are inspired by, but it feels extremely out of place and maybe two chapters too early? Oh well, that critique is a reach.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Furries in Play</h1><div>This chapter contains the most novel mechanical content of the book. Some parts of it exercise content from <i>Enhanced Senses</i>, <i>Template Toolkit 2</i>, and <i>Bio-Tech</i> among the more esoteric books, but also uses information from <i>Powers</i> and <i>Martial Arts</i> which almost anyone that is a fan of GURPS is likely to already have. This chapter has lots of useful examples of modified abilities and explanations to common questions about such. There are suggestions for a "cinematic" scaling of characters and their equipment at the beginning and the end of the chapter respectively (seems kinda weird that they are used as bookends instead of being in one place?) The chapter also has an enjoyable section on fictional martial arts styles that take advantage of species that have horns, tails, or sprays. This chapter is the jewel of the book.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Zoological Garden</h1><div>This chapter is kind of like "Chapter 2 applied," and is a long list of racial templates for different popular furry species. They are mostly grouped by different genres, and really, I don't have a lot to say about them. They are all written well and cover a large range of power levels, and "realistic" and "cinematic" scenarios. A detailed list of templates can be gleaned from the screenshot of the table of contents from earlier.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Other Thoughts and Conclusion</h1><div>I've already said before that this is mostly a good book. I'd call it a more detailed, more focused sequel to <i>Template Toolkit</i> <i>2</i>. That book is probably more useful if you are interested in more exotic morphologies, but if you are fine with bread-and-butter-almost-human furries, <i>GURPS Furries</i> is good enough.</div><div>Getting really close to the year anniversary of battening down the hatches forever, hoping I can get a vaccine soon.</div><p></p>Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-39892481138814520222021-01-29T22:48:00.001-07:002021-01-29T22:48:10.268-07:00Review: Reign of Steel - Read the Sky<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-STYwrwqMNT4/YBTypDSb6jI/AAAAAAAAKAQ/ucd48y7kmmUVZ7QB0HipiNZnQa-0yKdsACLcBGAsYHQ/s967/YMVlBw0%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="967" data-original-width="733" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-STYwrwqMNT4/YBTypDSb6jI/AAAAAAAAKAQ/ucd48y7kmmUVZ7QB0HipiNZnQa-0yKdsACLcBGAsYHQ/w152-h200/YMVlBw0%255B1%255D.png" width="152" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As of this time, it<br />seems unavailable<br />for purchase but can<br /><a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-1191">be found on w23</a>?</td></tr></tbody></table><i> Reign of Steel</i> is one of the interesting lines of GURPS settings, which to summarize, is a post-apocalyptic nightmare where each continent has one A.I. that has decided, for whatever reason that humanity must be destroyed. All of these AIs work together with this common theme, but each area is it's own unique Hell on Earth. <i>Read the Sky</i> is a short adventure scenario inside this backdrop, built for 200 point characters from the <i>Will to Live</i> book, or with modifications, characters built from <i>Action 1</i>. All told, the book is 11 pages, with a title page, an intro page, one page of back matter, leaving 8 pages of content, almost 4 of those are devoted to simple, but helpful maps. The main stab of the thing is explained in very straightforward, and mechanically helpful terms, though I feel it's a little skimpy; that's what you get from a roughly four and a half page adventure. Besides the maps, the illustrations are good, but in my opinion, the adventure feels a little mundane to me, and to repeat myself, a little sparse. This might be a good book to buy if you are already a big fan of the <i>Reign of Steel</i> line, otherwise, easily missable.<br /></p>Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-69731503897743730122020-12-22T21:58:00.004-07:002020-12-22T21:58:55.495-07:00Review: Hotspots - The Incense Trail<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lA_UFJIXJXk/X-LMMrTsOmI/AAAAAAAAJaE/_pPtMGe2wvQDTBbS7U03Ng85gwMBmquXgCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="982" data-original-width="732" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lA_UFJIXJXk/X-LMMrTsOmI/AAAAAAAAJaE/_pPtMGe2wvQDTBbS7U03Ng85gwMBmquXgCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="179" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title Page</td></tr></tbody></table>This is challenging for me because the Hotspots series is not exactly my favorite. This one is written by Matt Riggsby (and several others in the series are as well.) And I do like his work. This book is very dense with historical information about the Incense Trail, going several millennia BCE to almost the Common Era. It is 11 pages long, and subtracting the title page, contents, intro, and back matter, 8 pages.<br />The book is extremely informative, or at least, feels that way, but it has next to nothing mechanically useful for GURPS specifically; take that as you will, if you want some reading material about a prehistoric to iron age middle eastern trade center, it might be useful to you regardless if you are reading for pleasure or a campaign in any other system; if you specifically want help with stats for things like caravaners, or the tools and finances of the trade in GURPS terms, you're served better by other books, like many of the Low-Tech supplements. This supplement does cross reference several other GURPS books for ideas and recommendations though, several belonging to the third edition of GURPS, which doesn't necessarily preclude them from being useful in GURPS 4e, what the majority of games are run in nowadays, but it might require a simulacrum of elbow grease to do some simple rote conversions if you want to use anything from these books as written in the fourth edition.</p><p>Overall, this book might be useful if you are running in a setting based on the given time period and geography, which could be really interesting. I might want to run something in that backdrop one day, so if nothing else, this short, inexpensive book impressed the inspiration upon me.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xPfEHWqC7lo/X-LL5f0vBQI/AAAAAAAAJZ8/iK6yvlTrzykYyG64NaMLGMhic4i_WN6MQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="247" data-original-width="694" height="114" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xPfEHWqC7lo/X-LL5f0vBQI/AAAAAAAAJZ8/iK6yvlTrzykYyG64NaMLGMhic4i_WN6MQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table of Contents</td></tr></tbody></table></p>Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-82387685125309112552020-11-03T21:32:00.002-07:002020-11-03T21:32:21.130-07:00Review: Action 6 - Tricked Out Rides<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mAqUjwbmtHA/X6IoLIHc_mI/AAAAAAAAIUc/95l2EO5ZBxQJjtHY6nCj0hRGlpwpOF-rACLcBGAsYHQ/s926/Y9KfZCU%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="926" data-original-width="698" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mAqUjwbmtHA/X6IoLIHc_mI/AAAAAAAAIUc/95l2EO5ZBxQJjtHY6nCj0hRGlpwpOF-rACLcBGAsYHQ/w151-h200/Y9KfZCU%255B1%255D.png" width="151" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover page<br /></td></tr></tbody></table> I don't recollect if I reviewed Action 5 even while I was taking a break from blogging, but I thought it might make more sense to tackle this one because it isn't exactly out yet, so maybe the decision making content will be more helpful for a consumer. I dunno when it might be out, and it's not very long, but I think it's a fantastic resource for being so short. Let's take a closer look.<p></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Overview</h1><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xg80tYb4gQA/X6Iq1U-IzeI/AAAAAAAAIUo/C2Ysf_HWTOEMBVa7ipUwH7QJk9NhhxD9ACLcBGAsYHQ/s702/kXxjaA9%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="702" height="71" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xg80tYb4gQA/X6Iq1U-IzeI/AAAAAAAAIUo/C2Ysf_HWTOEMBVa7ipUwH7QJk9NhhxD9ACLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h71/kXxjaA9%255B1%255D.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table of Contents<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i>Action 6 - Tricked Out Rides</i> is a guide for customizing motor vehicles in a way that adventurers will probably care about.It starts with several very generic cars, and gives a bunch of modifiers for upgrading the stats for them. Action being a series about getting to the table and playing and less about logistical minutiae, this is not a replacement for the <i>Vehicle Design System</i>, but it is a "good enough" tool for most groups that makes customization, and the math behind it into simple arithmetic. Also, the book works fine with only the basic set if you want to add a bigger selection of cars and options to any contemporary style game.</div><div>The PDF is 11 pages long. Subtracting three pages for Title, table of contents, introduction, and a ad for Warehouse 23 (The online store to buy GURPS books,) there are 8 pages of content. Let's dive into that.<br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Body Shop</h1><div>This chapter covers the macro elements, descriptions of the 11 different generic types of cars (various coupes, sedans, SUVs, pickups, and vans) followed by several dials to increase (and sometimes, decrease) particular attributes of a car. The chapter continues with around 2 and a half pages of extra features you can add to a car (Most realistic, and even mundane; some less so.) Then ends with heavy vehicle mounted guns. Overall, fun chapter to look over just to amuse oneself with all the flexibility. I feel like it's a pain that the table showing what gun weights are allowed on each vehicle is different than the table for either the vehicles or the actual guns, but the rest of the chapter is straightforward and makes total sense.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Examples</h1><div>This chapter gives a handful (five) pre-customized vehicles generated from following the rules in the book. Some feel like obvious nods to popular in-genre fixtures, but the chapter is very helpful for giving a bunch of immediately useful vehicles that are, on the face of things, immediately useful for most games (with the caveat that after all those enhancements are tallied up, the majority of these vehicles cost more than my first house did?) There's a little bit of guidance on how to get around that problem, but starting with any of these vehicles seems pretty daunting... maybe it's something to work towards?</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h1><div>I'd recommend this book if you are running a game that will use cars and you are not satisfied with the options in Basic Set. Even outside of basic set, finding good car options is pretty difficult. The book is decidedly not based in reality, so if that is a concern, maybe you won't like it, but for me, it was one of the books in the kickstarter bundle for which I was most excited.</div>Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-32446129050155550052020-10-18T11:41:00.002-07:002020-10-18T11:41:26.902-07:00Review: How to Be A GURPS GM - Ritual Path Magic<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-0357" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="713" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mfsz5MWZ87U/X4yAhBq7OhI/AAAAAAAAIBg/ECDY3HrzZzkRixGgwVCd_6bdnNXzxA3TACLcBGAsYHQ/w149-h200/t1rDwKj%255B1%255D.png" width="149" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently it's not<br />for sale yet, so the<br />link 404s.</td></tr></tbody></table> So, a while back, Steve Jackson Games <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/warehouse23/steve-jackson-games-gurps-2020-pdf-challenge?ref=user_menu">did an experiment on Kickstarter</a> that involved trying to get enough people to buy in to "unlock" finished products as a stretch goal. If enough people pledged enough money, you could potentially get several short books for a very small amount of money. <i>How to Be a GURPS GM - Ritual Path Magic</i> was among them (when you italicize a title that has an italicized word, do you reverse the italicization of that one word?) Bottom line, I think it's helpful. Coming from an angle that I already have a decent system mastery of RPM, it isn't vital for me, and frankly, I'm neither here nor there on the system for reasons outlined in <a href="http://mailanka.blogspot.com/2019/04/rant-my-problem-with-flexible-magic.html">this post from Mailanka</a>. To be fair, it can be a good system, in my opinion if it's used for the right type of game and setting. However, this isn't supposed to be a post editorializing whether Ritual Path Magic is a good system or not (I hate to say it, but, "it depends.") but whether or not this writing is worth your time. To summarize, I think it can be helpful if you need to get up to speed quickly with the system or if you get hung up on the vagaries of the system; if you are a master though, there is little of value (though "little" is more than "none.") Let's take a closer look.<br /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><h1 style="text-align: left;">Overview</h1><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-27N5lSsu-Z8/X4yDswZLAzI/AAAAAAAAIBs/IfBQzFG7elg93u2y7k2ilhQipYCIIslrwCLcBGAsYHQ/s737/hp1WkRY%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="737" height="111" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-27N5lSsu-Z8/X4yDswZLAzI/AAAAAAAAIBs/IfBQzFG7elg93u2y7k2ilhQipYCIIslrwCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h111/hp1WkRY%255B1%255D.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ten Pages!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>This is a short, but very inexpensive book. The PDF is 11 pages long, subtracting the "cover," intro, and back matter, that is 8 pages split into 3 chapters. The first chapter covers advice for GMs that can get kinda confused about the ambiguities of the system, and introduces a few refinements of mechanics. These are the bits that a veteran might find useful. The next "chapter" is guidelines for doing ritual path magic in "roll and shout mode" when you don't feel like calculating weights and distances and all the minutiae that can make RPM seem like a slog at the table. The final chapter are formulas for 7 spells created in the system, especially useful for demonstrating some of the content covered in chapter 1.<br /></div><div>In terms of publishing quality, Christopher Rice and Sean Punch are well known good qualities, and the art is definitely a few magnitudes better than it has been for a while. There's even coloring and some asides have a gradient! La dee da. It almost goes without saying, but in case it isn't obvious, the book absolutely depends on having a copy of <i><a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-thaumatology-ritual-path-magic">Thaumatology - Ritual Path Magic</a></i>. Whether or not you should get this one depends on the following:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Are you a big fan of Ritual Path Magic? Then go ahead.</li><li>Do you ask yourself questions about balance, or what is the difference between lesser and greater? Then go ahead.</li><li>Can you think of anything you'd rather spend a couple of bucks on? Probably do that instead then.</li></ul><h1 style="text-align: left;">Tips, Tricks, and More</h1></div><div>The first chapter, and the great majority of the text walks one through a handful of stumbling blocks. A lot of the mentioned issues are definitely familiar if you've ever played with newer players trying to get a grip on things. The <i>Tricks</i> section has a couple of neat ideas for spell design that is more interesting than just "make the bigger numbers faster and better," so is helpful for even veterans. The <i>Pitfalls</i> section does touch on a few of the issues I have with flexible magic systems (press any key to make the problem go away.) Some of the content seems to be restating of stuff mentioned in <i><a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-66-the-laws-of-magic">Pyramid #3/66</a></i> or in <i><a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-dungeon-fantasy-19-incantation-magic">Dungeon Fantasy 19</a></i>, but there is a lot of unique material as well.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Ritual Path Magic Ultra-Lite</h1><div>A one page guide on how to eyeball spells instead of doing all the algebra to get things exact. I am not sure what to think about it though; on the one hand, it sounds really helpful if your table has a lotta holdups while the magician is counting beans; on the other, mechanically speaking, at normal power levels, even a difference of a few energy points can often have a big impact on magic success rates. For example, an RPM user with skill 14 trying to cast a 30 energy spell has approximately an 80% chance of success with an average of 2 quirks and taking around 50 minutes; trying to cast a 40 energy spell has a 75% chance of success with an average of 5 quirks, and taking around 80 minutes. This kinda thing is upsetting to the little statistics obsessed piece of my brain that screams that eyeballing the numbers has a 1/20 chance of creating a drastically different results. Maybe that's on me, and I just need to let go.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Examples</h1><div>Nothing particularly outstanding here. The spells are purposefully pedagogical and illuminating, and to that end, are completely effective. Usefulness in an actual game is neither here nor there though; with a little clever thinking, there's probably more efficient ways to do anything here, if not as mechanically interesting.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Other Thoughts and Conclusion</h1><div>It's fine. I just wanted to write something, you know, to kinda put my money where my mouth is. Make myself commit at least a little bit to the goal of writing one or two times a month. This book was extremely short, and very recently read, so it was no problem to review it. I hope I can keep up the writing.</div>Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-40303063591563125472020-10-17T20:28:00.000-07:002020-10-17T20:28:02.475-07:00Not GURPS: I'm Interested in Blogging againI've been updating PseudoBot regularly still, but haven't blogged for a while. I'm kinda interested in doing so again. This is just a metapost with a few details of what has happened in my real life recently, and if that kinda boring minutiae is not your cup of tea, then there is no reason to see what is beyond the break. One important thing to note: from now on, my pronouns are she/her.<span><a name='more'></a></span><h1 style="text-align: left;">What happened in near two years?</h1><div>What has happened since late 2018? In 2019, I largely took it easy with RPGs, as far as I remember, to work on myself. I met a lot of interesting people around the turn of 2019, and they inspired me to introspect a bit. The Sonoran desert and Phoenix were rough for my health, and my job was starting to cause me anxiety that was severe enough to have physiological effects. Basically, this lead to me to start seeing some doctors around Summer, and by late Autumn, it seemed that everything that was going on was not the problem itself, but the symptom of a problem, the previously mentioned stress. So going away from MDs and specialists, I was recommended therapy.</div><div>On the very first session, I believe, it was October, or November, I mentioned I had two reasons I was interested in therapy: #1, because of the anxiety, and #2, something that was a long time coming, that I wanted to transition.</div><div>It seems weird that it was easy to say when it was a big secret, and anyone that knew me might have thought it was a big surprise, but somehow, when I was finally in that office, it came out with no provocation.</div><div>I'd been talking about it on and off with my wife for years, and for whatever reason, the time seemed right. Going into Winter, I started HRT, and a job search for some place healthier, both physically, and mentally, besides Phoenix, AZ.</div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JrzUwFbFL5Q/X4u1Yo8FONI/AAAAAAAAH8w/VHsSL1Ct5A8m_afQqwxtC80Rup-OSfEpwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IEaSwTMh_400x400%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JrzUwFbFL5Q/X4u1Yo8FONI/AAAAAAAAH8w/VHsSL1Ct5A8m_afQqwxtC80Rup-OSfEpwCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h200/IEaSwTMh_400x400%255B1%255D.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ten months of hormones, <br />Eleven months of makeup<br />practice, Two months of laser<br />hair removal, Eight months of<br />PRP.</td></tr></tbody></table>Nothing really interesting happens around the turn of the year, a GURPS game that I was running for a while totally ran out of steam, my wife and I adjusted, a worldwide plague made it so I had to work from home (I don't know the best way to say this, but in a weird way, there could not have been a better time for a years long shelter at home order. I do understand the gravity of the situation.) And I finally get a job (I'm developing medical web apps to help patients and caregivers track medication dosages and metric readings) in California, with a start date of 4/20 (<b>c:</b>) but, again, with the shelter at home orders, they didn't mind that it took until nearly the beginning of August to move.</div><div>In the end, I feel like all my ducks are now in a row, and my life is moving in a much better direction. I'm less stressed, I'm becoming who I've wanted to be (or who I've always secretly been) for decades, and I'm madly happy for the first time in over a decade, if not two.</div><div>So my new name is Patricia and my pronouns are she/her. I have received the official decree that my legal name and gender change are hereby effective. I think I've scrubbed my old name from as many posts as I can remember, but if you see it anywhere, I'd appreciate being let known in confidence.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">What is there to Blog?</h1><div>A ton of GURPS books have come out since last I wrote, and my reviews seemed to have always been especially popular among all my other post types, so there's that. I plan to take it easy, but at least one post a month. I'm also starting to think I might be ready for a new big project besides PseudoBot. I feel like I am ready to refactor PseudoBot a bit to make it open source on GitHub, but there's a lot of kludgey stuff all over, and I'd like to reuse a big chunk of the code, so I'd like to factor out something of a library from the bot logic that I could take into "that next big thing."</div>Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-64503957894587314432019-05-30T12:36:00.003-07:002020-10-17T19:14:50.498-07:00Cheat Sheet - Conditional Injury<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pe54aW3POHM/XPAvkBv9iDI/AAAAAAAADkI/7pZENFjSkkgXKeSctyGJSDmYo-ikKZb3wCLcBGAs/s1600/pyramid120-final_1000%255B1%255D.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="501" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pe54aW3POHM/XPAvkBv9iDI/AAAAAAAADkI/7pZENFjSkkgXKeSctyGJSDmYo-ikKZb3wCLcBGAs/s200/pyramid120-final_1000%255B1%255D.jpg" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you are interested,<br /><a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-2720">check it out.</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Conditional Injury is a wound based system to replace the hit points in GURPS. I don't necessarily prefer one or the other, but it's a fun alternative that gives a different flavor to dealing with wounds; some might argue it is more realistic than hit points, I dunno, haven't watched enough people die in real life to make an authoritative statement one way or another. <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FWO2bI1nOt3b2X3Xa2hDptEg53hdD86R">Get the cheat sheet here</a>, if you like it.Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-71119544117147086792018-12-05T20:50:00.000-07:002018-12-05T20:50:03.013-07:00Pseudobot - Math and Graphs; How Fair is the Random Stat Generator?So, last week, and the week before I worked on a tool to randomly generate character attributes in a way that the results would all have the same point values. At first, the algorithm assumed a character would have no decreased attributes and secondary characteristics, which was not satisfying to me, so I adjusted it so that the character could have minimum values based on some numbers I extrapolated from various GURPS sources as the bare minimum ok amount for a character. I think this was a good improvement. However, after making a naive implementation of the algorithm that gave each attribute or secondary characteristic an equal chance of occurring, on a whim, I decided to generate several thousand characters to see what the expected outcomes would be like. The result was that certain things apparently had certain unfair advantages in selecting them that made it so that certain attributes had noticeably lower or higher averages, thus began a complicated process of trying to make the algorithm as balanced as possible.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><h2>
Basic Algorithm</h2>
<div>
To give some context, here is the simple naive algorithm, somewhat analogized to make it easier to understand and less technical:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Take a character with attributes and secondary characteristics lowered to the bare "viable" minimum, give them back points for doing this.</li>
<li>In a loop, spend points until we run out doing the following</li>
<ol>
<li>Taking the ratios of current traits into account, put all the traits that are valid for purchase into a hat.</li>
<li>Choose one from the bag at random.</li>
<li>Give +1 (or +0.25 for basic speed) to that trait, and subtract the point cost from our budget</li>
</ol>
<li>Return the character</li>
</ol>
</div>
<h2>
Weighing Results</h2>
<div>
A few things gave some results different advantages and disadvantages that made them easier to select.</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Some characteristics have a lower "allowed" minimum than others.</li>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tcr8GKo36PQ/XAicGvgKuAI/AAAAAAAADhU/Jtc1UwwFsKgAHgJNauNCigxQr6x1WkWlACLcBGAs/s1600/4MqoAJZ%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="801" height="160" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tcr8GKo36PQ/XAicGvgKuAI/AAAAAAAADhU/Jtc1UwwFsKgAHgJNauNCigxQr6x1WkWlACLcBGAs/s200/4MqoAJZ%255B1%255D.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Probability of incrementing any<br />particular characteristic.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ul>
<li>For example, Strength can be as low as 10-3; that's 3 decrements; but Basic Speed can go as low as (HT+DX/4)-2.00; that's 8 decrements.</li>
</ul>
<li>Some characteristics are bounded by one or more dependent characteristics.</li>
<ul>
<li>HP should be between 0.7x and 1.3x of ST</li>
<li>Will and Per have a lower bound of 70% of IQ</li>
<li>Basic Move can be ⌊Basic Speed⌋±3</li>
</ul>
<li>Some characteristics have very different costs. </li>
<ul>
<li>This causes a problem because traits that have a lower cost, when the remaining point budget gets low enough, get "extra rolls" that the more expensive traits don't get. For example, If there are 10 points left to spend, there is a chance to acquire more increments of Basic Speed, but zero chance to acquire more increments of DX.</li>
<li>This also means the range of possible values for cheaper attributes can be potentially higher than for more expensive values.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
Reducing Components</h3>
</div>
<div>
After doing some testing, it seemed that having attributes and secondary characteristics reduced as much as possible helped to keep secondary characteristics from hitting the allowed ceiling. By this, I mean that, one can think of a level of HT, for example as also including a free level of FP and Basic Speed. If I added these traits when buying a level of HT, that's like giving FP and Basic Speed a bunch of extra chances of being rolled, which meant that changing the weighted odds of getting higher HT could cause a "butterfly effect" that could cause FP and Basic Speed to increase by a lot, which took away opportunities to buy other things, causing a lot of other attributes and secondary characteristics to lose out, relatively speaking.</div>
<div>
The one slightly complicated secondary attribute in the bunch because of all of this was Basic Move, which normally gets a free increment every time Basic Speed x 4 % 4 = 0. I had to hack the algorithm slightly because I couldn't subtract 1/4 of the cost of Basic Move from each level of Basic Speed; I just made it so that every time Basic Speed did hit an even number, it would give back 5 points and decrement Basic Move by 1.</div>
<h3>
Isn't Weighing Results Cheating?</h3>
<div>
I got this question while thinking out loud about the problem. If you give favor to one result, is it still really fair or random? Well, obviously, yes, it's still random. The fact of the matter is that some traits have certain properties that give them more opportunities for rolls. By giving the attributes and secondary characteristics a higher probability of being rolled when the opportunity lines up, it makes up for the times when they have absolutely zero opportunity for incrementing.<br />
<h2>
The "Bare Minimum Viable Character"</h2>
</div>
<div>
The bare minimum viable 0 point character has the following stats:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>All 4 Attributes are at 7; this gives 180 points worth of disadvantages.</li>
<li>Secondary Characteristics</li>
<ul>
<li>HP, FP, Will, and Per are allowed to be 70% of their primary attribute; this means an effective 5 when the controlling attribute is at 7; two decrements each gives 30 points worth of disadvantages.</li>
<li>Basic Speed has a minimum adjustment of -2.00; this is 8 decrements for 40 points.</li>
<li>Basic Move is already at the floor; HT, DX, and Basic Speed are so low, Basic Move is already 1, so we make no changes for 0 points.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div>
Summing all of this up, a zero point character has 250 points floating to reallocate. In any case, Let's take a look at the results in more detail.</div>
</div>
<h2>
The Results</h2>
<div>
I generated 20,000 random characters with 0 points, assuming that a balanced generator would have all the attributes balanced around 10, and all the secondary characteristics balanced around 5. </div>
<h3>
Attributes</h3>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cSq-6KafBk8/XAiZOGN4VzI/AAAAAAAADhI/-__va8dvw-QuXvygAfZkeFUfkPCtO07uwCLcBGAs/s1600/JOR4QNo%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="1124" height="122" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cSq-6KafBk8/XAiZOGN4VzI/AAAAAAAADhI/-__va8dvw-QuXvygAfZkeFUfkPCtO07uwCLcBGAs/s200/JOR4QNo%255B1%255D.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boxplot of 20,000 zero point<br />characters</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The attributes all have similar patterns, so I've only included the histogram for IQ. I never did really well at statistics, but after looking through Wikipedia, I think the histograms conform to a stochastic model referred to as a "counting process." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counting_process">A counting process</a> is where a random number is generated from counting the number of "successes" produced by generating a different random number. To use the IQ histogram as an example, we have 3.7k examples where we counted 0 successes (7 IQ). 4.7k examples with 1 success (8 IQ) 4.8k where we have 2 successes (9 IQ); and 3.6k where we have 3 successes (10 IQ.) An interesting property of this is that even though the median is close to 10 (9.9435 to be exact) the mode is 9. I think the distribution is similar to a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisson_distribution">Poisson distribution</a>, but slightly different. Looking at the conditions to be considered a poisson distribution, these conditions are met:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>The values are discrete counts</li>
<li>Events occur independently</li>
<li>The event can't occur simultaneously</li>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7ECuYRHZoI/XAgYp5BGbEI/AAAAAAAADgQ/idWejYJPls0X0U7RKPLnyPGKikjH9FqYwCLcBGAs/s1600/arjCnvU%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="638" height="155" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7ECuYRHZoI/XAgYp5BGbEI/AAAAAAAADgQ/idWejYJPls0X0U7RKPLnyPGKikjH9FqYwCLcBGAs/s200/arjCnvU%255B1%255D.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Histogram of IQ Values</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<li>The probability of a success is determined by a binomial distribution</li>
</ul>
<div>
The one typical property of a poisson distribution that is violated is that the rate is not necessarily constant. If, for example, Will and Per are too low, the occurrence of IQ increments drops to 0. If Basic Speed is low enough, the odds of DX or HT incrementing is 0, and this increases the odds of IQ incrementing. Also, I am not sure if this is absolutely required, but I think the counting process needs to occur over a continuous interval; the interval is a discrete set of loops where something increases or it doesn't. Correct me if I'm wrong here though.</div>
</div>
<h3>
Perception</h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sHxCKU13lBo/XAgoDFm508I/AAAAAAAADgk/D_cxfql6ie87LL-RWI46Mz13G98_2aztwCLcBGAs/s1600/vof107W%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="757" height="141" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sHxCKU13lBo/XAgoDFm508I/AAAAAAAADgk/D_cxfql6ie87LL-RWI46Mz13G98_2aztwCLcBGAs/s200/vof107W%255B1%255D.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perception Histogram</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Perception and Will have the interesting designation that they have no cap in proportion to any other attribute or characteristic, and their histograms are similar. Highly unlikely, but because they have no maximum capping, this means that a random character could potentially spend all the points on either or both without any other limits. This gives them a longer tail than any other characteristic in the generator. As a secondary attribute that starts relatively low, it also has a higher variance and standard distribution, which you can see by the way it takes much longer to reach the "peak" of the distribution than it did for IQ above.</div>
<h3>
Hit Points</h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d7P-G8OH5mw/XAgp2je8oeI/AAAAAAAADgw/vaAd2o14idQ8riwZNsVhrr45Qk3NqpHhgCLcBGAs/s1600/0boaFA4%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="814" height="138" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d7P-G8OH5mw/XAgp2je8oeI/AAAAAAAADgw/vaAd2o14idQ8riwZNsVhrr45Qk3NqpHhgCLcBGAs/s200/0boaFA4%255B1%255D.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HP Histogram</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Hit points have a relative upper and lower bound compared to ST. HP must be in the range of ST ±30%. Fatigue has a similar but different shape because it is bound by HT, but decomposed HT! very cheap and also depends on Basic Speed, which depends on Basic Move. These interact subtly with the entire graph, but give an overall similar shape. If we don't look at the graph very carefully, it might seem like this is almost a normal or binomial distribution, but it does have a very heavy tail at the end again.</div>
<h3>
Basic Speed</h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--U6fmFI9sfU/XAgsWyzEABI/AAAAAAAADg8/qWoeDMlZo0gt3TEta3md2-7eVmwjGVS_ACLcBGAs/s1600/9O5WWKh%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="1259" height="103" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--U6fmFI9sfU/XAgsWyzEABI/AAAAAAAADg8/qWoeDMlZo0gt3TEta3md2-7eVmwjGVS_ACLcBGAs/s200/9O5WWKh%255B1%255D.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Basic Speed Histogram</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
This is the last "interesting" graph in my opinion because of the high relative variance and the extremely low initial value, and the dependence on all of HT, DX, and Basic Move. It is deceptively similar to a bell curve at this point, but there is no mistaking that the right half of the graph is "heavier" than the left side of the graph.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
Other Thoughts and Conclusion</h2>
<div>
I got permission from the guy who wrote <a href="https://www.librerpg.com/">Libre Solo Role Playing</a> to write an app that is similar to the GM emulator in the book. I think I'll use this as a stepping stone to produce the framework for an MVC website that I can eventually add the Pseudobot functionality to. I think I'll also be keeping this project mostly open source because Brian seemed a little more forgiving in what I can and can't do with the app than Steve Jackson Games. Basically, as long as I don't wholesale copy text from the book, and don't say that my implementation is literally equal to his book, I'm free to do whatever, so hooray.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com60tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-19642665418119411952018-11-29T22:31:00.003-07:002020-10-18T10:43:06.889-07:00Pseudobot - More Balanced Random Stat Rolling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TJiPKZZIDqc/X4x-o_O6n9I/AAAAAAAAIBQ/D6uVTD1AqecBkdv_2WyMsesRuY6B4FieACLcBGAsYHQ/s1350/p7SOALF%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="1350" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TJiPKZZIDqc/X4x-o_O6n9I/AAAAAAAAIBQ/D6uVTD1AqecBkdv_2WyMsesRuY6B4FieACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/p7SOALF%255B1%255D.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
This took a really long time to get right, but I have arrived. This is the stats of 20,000 randomly generated characters with 0 points.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Average DX - 10.04</li>
<li>Average HT - 10.09</li>
<li>Average IQ - 10.17</li>
<li>Average ST - 10.07</li>
<li>Average Basic Move - 4.68 (This seems pretty low for the average 0 point character, but it is actually pretty ok for behind the scenes reasons)</li>
<li>Average Basic Speed - 5.03</li>
<li>Average FP - 9.98</li>
<li>Average HP - 10.26 (Weirdly high, but still ok.)</li>
<li>Average Per - 10.02</li>
<li>Average Will - 10.04</li>
</ul>
<div>
The goal was to make it hit close to what a 0 point character would be. The tricky part is that there is bounding logic which means that the difference between HP and ST isn't allowed to get too far off track, so, for example, if HP is currently at the minimum relative threshold to ST, more ST can't be added until more HP is added. This causes a complicated chain reaction where slightly nudging the balance one way or the other suddenly makes a different result much more likely. I had some weird problems with average IQ suddenly jumping 1 or 2 whole points - not 10.2, <b>12</b> - trying to balance the probability of FP versus HT, HP versus ST, Perception and Will versus IQ, but after holding it up to a very shoddy standard of scrutiny, it looks "good enough for me." I might analyze the math and source code in an upcoming post, maybe someone can point out an obvious flaw.</div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-55217486778480890842018-11-22T21:06:00.001-07:002018-11-22T21:06:23.874-07:00Pseudobot - Jump Command<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I added this to pseudobot; I think it's pretty simple, but ah well. It calculates jump height and distance and optionally includes enhanced move and super jump. Wow.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OZ9p-bRGYVI/W_d8WAHBvJI/AAAAAAAADfk/XHa8AZa2m6QbzfNRp0NbCezNS30QfPIDwCLcBGAs/s1600/4ViBP2r%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="653" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OZ9p-bRGYVI/W_d8WAHBvJI/AAAAAAAADfk/XHa8AZa2m6QbzfNRp0NbCezNS30QfPIDwCLcBGAs/s320/4ViBP2r%255B1%255D.png" width="246" /></a></div>
<br />Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-79483129500505454732018-11-15T13:26:00.001-07:002018-11-15T13:26:55.414-07:00Pseudobot - Random Stats RollerSimilar to my pointless slaying and looting random character generator, but this one just randomly spends a given amount of points on attributes and secondary characteristics. Now you can have "balanced" random stats if that is your thing. I dunno why I made this, but I did.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vLHeATgrm5U/W-3WhqT9U6I/AAAAAAAADfU/7vo40Z9jLY0LlwDxmDSI41h_41XxuA3ZgCLcBGAs/s1600/gJl61Gg%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="608" height="222" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vLHeATgrm5U/W-3WhqT9U6I/AAAAAAAADfU/7vo40Z9jLY0LlwDxmDSI41h_41XxuA3ZgCLcBGAs/s320/gJl61Gg%255B1%255D.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-74373520129681786082018-11-08T14:13:00.000-07:002018-11-08T14:13:04.844-07:00Pseudobot - Infinite World Universe Generator<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It does what I say it does. It rolls random tables and comes up with a lot of stuff for a parallel world. Use it if you like, don't if you don't.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TXtIp9aPA2M/W-SmbjABrpI/AAAAAAAADfI/hU24YVeJbhEpNbN5MVSPLMclLEjdVENUgCLcBGAs/s1600/24jxV30%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="639" height="284" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TXtIp9aPA2M/W-SmbjABrpI/AAAAAAAADfI/hU24YVeJbhEpNbN5MVSPLMclLEjdVENUgCLcBGAs/s320/24jxV30%255B1%255D.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-45657641635347458532018-11-01T15:54:00.000-07:002018-11-01T15:54:32.670-07:00Perk: Quick (Action)This is a short post, because I need to post something, but today is busy. Basically, extrapolating from the <i>Fast-Draw</i> skill and the <i>Quick Reload</i> perk, perhaps anything that is only almost too long for combat that is represented as a series of ready maneuvers can be reduced in time.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Determine the series of ready actions that needs to be done quickly, this needs to be somewhat specific, similar in scope to an instance of <i>Fast-Draw†</i>. Make a DX/E skill based off of that. </li>
<li>After this, take <i>Quick Action†</i> perks as per the application of <i>Quick Draw (Muzzleloader)</i>, which is described probably in many places, but for reference, check out Gun-Fu p. 21.</li>
</ol>
<div>
I think this is a pretty simple cinematic stop gap for a weird question I've seen come up a lot, "how can my character do this annoyingly slow thing that is performed as a series of ready maneuvers without a controlling skill in a fast way?" It might be a little powerful if unchecked, but there are rules for controlling how many perks a character can have if that is a concern for a GM.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-36355812792038216422018-10-25T17:42:00.003-07:002018-10-25T17:42:45.788-07:00Review: Pyramid #3/120 - Alternate GURPS V<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gvg7HZlWxAs/W9Ji1czN3II/AAAAAAAADes/IRW1Zu3zE38n6St9oQZn6UgO8cQab5jxACLcBGAs/s1600/pyramid120-final_1000%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="501" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gvg7HZlWxAs/W9Ji1czN3II/AAAAAAAADes/IRW1Zu3zE38n6St9oQZn6UgO8cQab5jxACLcBGAs/s200/pyramid120-final_1000%255B1%255D.jpg" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-120-alternate-gurps-v">It's good enough!</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The alternate GURPS issues of Pyramid have generally been the better ones, and this one is pretty good as that goes. I forget whether it's the odd numbered ones or the even ones I liked more from the first four, but this one feels like third place of the whole group; neat thing is, whether or no<br />
t the odd or the evens were my two favorite, the placement of this issue doesn't break the pattern. Hooray for that, I think! Let's take a closer look then.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><h2>
Overview</h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g2WSPVQm1BY/W9JikwGwd3I/AAAAAAAADek/rIOB6PwZK1gSOWAMVjBaJsF7N1skKpk8gCLcBGAs/s1600/nCNAab9%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g2WSPVQm1BY/W9JikwGwd3I/AAAAAAAADek/rIOB6PwZK1gSOWAMVjBaJsF7N1skKpk8gCLcBGAs/s200/nCNAab9%255B1%255D.png" width="174" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table of Contents</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
This is a 38 page PDF with a lot of the regular authors, there's no particular running theme behind these articles; I just tried for a whole five seconds to name one, but one article is an exception to each of the million I thought up. All of the articles work without anything outside the Basic Set, though some have references, like <i>The Fifth Attribute</i> having advice to massage it into existing GURPS lines, or <i>Opus Long, Pugna Brevis</i> referencing some ideas from <i>Action</i>. The long and short of things is that this is an all around pretty good issue, with all the articles being in kind of a B+ to B- range, and when you compare that to the rest of 2018 thus far, that puts it pretty far out in front with one or two others. If you feel like buying it after reading this, I'd not hesitate to recommend that you do.</div>
<h2>
Opus Longa, Pugna Brevis</h2>
<div>
This 5 page article by <i>Sean Punch</i>, is a little bit of a thought experiment on some of the problems for "support classes" in GURPS. Yeah, GURPS doesn't have "classes," but, you know, you get a party of a cool sword guy, a cool gun guy, a cool brawler guy, and the one that is good with computers, and that's fine, except maybe, the first three have a whole mini-game called combat that is going to require all sorts of tactical thinking and risk taking, and the last guy is going to have a roll against computer programming for his "spotlight scene." This article examines a bunch of ways to make these "roll to do the one thing you do well" moments a little bit more interesting, and make it seem awesome when the computer guy does his thing instead of a kinda inevitable thing that happens between two fights for the other guys. I like that it has a bunch of ideas ranging from pretty simple, to some that actually sound pretty good, albeit, maybe a bit too mechanically detailed. Ah well, maybe I gotta try it out first to be sure.</div>
<h2>
Eidetic Memory - Describing Vehicles</h2>
<div>
A pretty neat 11 page guide to making decent stats based off real world vehicles, by <i>David L. Pulver</i>. It explains how you go from the spec sheet of a real vehicle to GURPS stats, while doing a side by side demonstration of applying the article to the SR-71 Blackbird. It's not a fully fledged design system to make a vehicle whole cloth, and a few bits are winged, like, for example, Stability Rating, where there is no simple equation, and instead, you are given a table with values of 1 to 6 and asked to choose the one that sounds the closest to the real world stability of the subject. Overall, provided you can get the raw numbers on some real world vehicle, it looks like a pretty straightforward and useful tool.</div>
<h2>
The Fifth Attribute</h2>
<div>
A six page article by <i>Christopher R. Rice</i> on introducing a magic/special attribute called "quintessence" or QN. Interestingly, I had a GM run a game with a similar idea, so the article isn't exactly world changing for me, but it thoughtfully explains a lot of the edge cases and gotchas, some were sticking points in the system that we used. Although the idea is, I can't think of the right word, so let's go with "unsurprising," there are a few neat ideas in asides here and there that are pretty good, and there's a helpful integration guide in the last few pages for some of the popular existent power and magic systems. My one smallish gripe is it seems a bit like it homogenizes special abilities a little bit; someone good at Chi-ish stuff is now good at resisting a Mage; and a Divine based priest likewise resists a martial artist, but I can't think of a good way to go for that either, and a quick brainstorm, all my ideas seem either uncomfortably convoluted, or even more homogenized, so at least I can't think of a better way right now.</div>
<h2>
Conditional Injury</h2>
<div>
This is a seven page article by <i>Douglas Cole</i> on replacing the HP system with the wounding system that you might see in some other games. I've seen something similar in <i>Burning Wheel</i>. This can help make a tabletop feel a little less gamey and a little more narrative if that's up your alley. The article goes into some really detailed mechanics, some of them come off feeling a bit laborious from a first glance, but these are at least organized well so that at least the important bits are more up front and the edgey bits are more at the back. It feels like there is a lot of math to do, and a lot of new equations to internalize, but I'll chalk that up as what happens when you take a fundamental mechanic like HP out of a game that that used it as a cornerstone, and have to figure out balanced applications for all the subsystems that interacted with such a fundamental building block. Regardless of my wary impressions, I'm kinda interested to see how it would work out in play. Perhaps after a short amount of playtime, the mechanics are easily enough internalized . I'll find out one day, maybe.</div>
<h2>
Random Thought Table - Fluid Skills</h2>
<div>
A three page, unusually long installment from <i>Steven Marsh</i>, speaking to how some characters have good and bad days, and though I usually like Random Thought Table, and I really like this issue, this is probably the one article furthest in the realm of "huh" and "why?" for me. The idea is that some heroes in popular fiction can be really awesome at some things sometimes, and then flub it at other times, and sometimes flip flopping as the plot demands it. I don't have any problems with the premise, but the mechanical execution however seems a bit... out of control? There's very little input into these fluctuations from the player or the GM than whether the skill was applied or not, and the degree of variability seems a bit too constrained, it seems like at most, in the power level of the campaigns I run, a character would get a very occasional small bonus to a skill, and probably lose said bonus pretty quickly. I think it needs a lot more careful thought to be more than a bookkeeping slog that rarely gives and takes + or - ones.</div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-10323644679640905412018-10-18T17:45:00.001-07:002018-10-18T17:45:22.321-07:00Magic - Dungeon Fantasy Martial Artist Spell List<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-If6cfHUEVic/W8kULP_io3I/AAAAAAAADeU/wqpjMM74kOQ6fVBu5w29I74i0YEQJuCBQCLcBGAs/s1600/Ryu-hadoken-artwork%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="574" height="143" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-If6cfHUEVic/W8kULP_io3I/AAAAAAAADeU/wqpjMM74kOQ6fVBu5w29I74i0YEQJuCBQCLcBGAs/s200/Ryu-hadoken-artwork%255B1%255D.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I mean, <a href="http://streetfighter.wikia.com/wiki/Hadoken">this is basically unarmed</a><br />
combat, right?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Someone on a forum was discussing the possibility of a small buff to martial artists in Dungeon Fantasy. The suggestion was to allow them access to the body control magic college and base it off of their Chi power. I think that's an interesting start, but because I can't think of anything interesting to write this week, let's go with a slight refinement of that concept.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><h2>
Basics</h2>
<div>
So, maybe we start by saying that casting is based on the Chi Talent, and Chi Talent is already pretty expensive so let's not make any adjustments. The most chi-ish stat for magic-ish abilities is either Will or HT, but since Barbarians in Dungeon Fantasy Denizens already use HT as a casting stat, let's just go with Will for differentiation's sake. Someone might complain that Will is too cheap for a casting attribute, but on the other hand, Chi Talent is too expensive for a pretty limited casting talent, so I'm not worried about it; if you are, change it to any attribute you want; almost any of them might seem appropriate depending on how you justify the exercise of chi. I've included suggested alternate attributes by each spell as appropriate. The seeming most appropriate type of "magic" would be buff spells or special attacks. Buff spells should probably only be able to affect the self, and special attacks can use Karate instead of innate attack to simulate projected blows, a la something similar to Hadoken.</div>
<div>
Talents in Dungeon Fantasy go up to 6 levels for the nominal profession critical talents, and eyeballing an appropriate spell count from DF9 for some light caster classes, I figure 12 is a pretty good ceiling for a totally non-caster occupation that also happens to be easily divisible by 6. So unlocking access to two spells per level of talent. Let's take a look at a suggested list:</div>
<h3>
Level 1:</h3>
<div>
Might (HT) and Grace (HT) (both M37); these are simple straightforward buffs for attributes Martial Artist get a lot of mileage out of; these spells are nearly mundane; I mean, becoming suddenly stronger isn't mundane, but it's not a lot of razzle dazzle, so it feels appropriate for an entry level.</div>
<h3>
Level 2:</h3>
<div>
Haste (HT) (M114), Resist Pain (Will) (M38) still relatively mundane, but getting into cooler special effect and cinematic ability territory.<br />
<h3>
Level 3:</h3>
</div>
<div>
Resist Poison (HT)(M91) Cure Disease (HT) (M91) Being extraordinarily healthy defeats ailments by strength of mind and body.</div>
<h3>
Level 4:</h3>
<div>
Paralyze Limb (DX) (M40), Monk's Banquet (Will) (M79) at this point, the abilities are becoming more esoteric and special.<br />
<h3>
Level 5:</h3>
</div>
<div>
Hide (Will) (M113) is kind of a ninja-y ability, but extinguishing one's aura so they can be nearly invisible in plain sight seems good. Death Touch (Will) (M41) is a kind of cool way to make an unarmed martial artist do some very big damage. Hardiness (Will) (M167) Is the ability to concentrate so hard, one is able to safely absorb more damage for a single attack.</div>
<h3>
Level 6:</h3>
<div>
Fireball (Will) (M74) is the typical awesome "magic" attack for a martial artist, and Wallwalker (M144) is an improvement over Lizard Climb or the like.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Other Thoughts and Conclusion</h2>
</div>
<div>
It was harder to come up with a list than I thought at first. I wanted to make sure I wasn't simply copying the list for Barbarians, and I didn't want to overlap the existing esoteric skills if I could help it. I don't mind if anyone has any constructive criticism on this list though.</div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-43367028074284957842018-10-11T18:04:00.000-07:002018-10-11T18:04:19.658-07:00Campaign Planning - Dungeon Fantasy War<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WrEse-OVgjw/W7_y2zDI_xI/AAAAAAAADeA/KDYr265fqVI3F6MrTCG0pN3dL-UJ1DDRgCLcBGAs/s1600/cover_lg%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="550" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WrEse-OVgjw/W7_y2zDI_xI/AAAAAAAADeA/KDYr265fqVI3F6MrTCG0pN3dL-UJ1DDRgCLcBGAs/s200/cover_lg%255B1%255D.jpg" width="151" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/masscombat/">Probably using this?</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My other campaign did not get off the runway after a few weeks. That's fine. I can put it in my back pocket for later, maybe polish it up a bit more and recycle it. So let's try something a bit less niche. A combination of <i>Dungeon Fantasy</i> sensitivities and <i>Mass Combat</i> experimentation. I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be a flop as well, but ah well.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2>
Outline Version 1</h2>
<ul>
<li>Campaign Prospectus</li>
<ul>
<li>Campaign Name - Dungeons and Unification</li>
<li>GM - Myself</li>
<li>Creation Date - 10/11/2018</li>
<li>Genre - 2 parts Dungeon Fantasy, 1 part Empire Building</li>
<li>Tech Level - Dungeon Fantasy Pseudo TL3/4^</li>
<li>TL Exceptions - None in particular</li>
<li>Power Level - Cinematic and some supernatural powers.</li>
<li>Campaign Synopsis and Recent Events</li>
<ul>
<li>Players will decide a single mutual culture to belong to in a session 0 of sorts; this will be a fantasy race monoculture and all players (Unless a good case is made and an unusual background is paid for) will take a racial template from a similar theme. Examples might be all undead; all beastmen; all amphibious maritime types; all fey; the notable exclusions for story purposes are humanity and devils.</li>
<li>Recently, as in, a few hundred years ago, humanity has succeeded at a full scale genocidal war against Hell, and eradicated demonkind from the face of existence. The next century or two has been relatively peaceful until even more recent times, let's say decades, when overpopulation and dwindling resources has set some of the ruling families on the continent on edge. This uneasiness is exacerbated by Humanity's recent nationalism and heralding of Manifest Destiny; that it is their duty to manage the entire continent for the sake of everyone's lives.</li>
<li>Players now have a few obvious choices on how to proceed. They might try to engage in a large scale military conflict to protect the homestead; they might attempt to immigrate and start a new colony away from threats of war, but surrounded by brutal wilderness. Maybe they will think of a third option. If I can get a grasp of what the players think would be the most interesting approach, I can better prepare for those eventualities.</li>
</ul>
<li>Timeline of Significant Historical Events</li>
<ul>
<li>This will be fleshed out a bit after session 0. After a few fundamentals are determined, I'll see to putting together a coherent history that will best facilitate fun having in my opinion</li>
</ul>
<li>Currency - I don't like dealing with currency, but if necessary, I'll stick with the default DF/DFRPG weights, values, and denominations. If it occurs that it can actually make the game any more interesting, at a later time, I might establish foreign currencies.</li>
<li>Precious Metals - At this tech level, most money is coinage and made of metal.</li>
<li>Paper Money/E-Money - Probably not/Absolutely not.</li>
<li>Slavery Legal - Probably, in the form of indentured servitude, or in penitence for crime.</li>
</ul>
<li>Major Nations</li>
<ul>
<li>This will need to be developed further after session 0. The only obvious nation is the one belonging to Humanity; if I get some players rounded up, I'll start figuring out the nitty gritty.</li>
</ul>
<li>Other Planes of Existence -</li>
<ul>
<li>Heaven, a pleasant place presumably full of good deities and their servitors. The ultimate reward of good people and heroes probably.</li>
<li>Hell, a dreadful place presumably full of demons and their servitors. The ultimate reward of wicked people and villains probably.</li>
</ul>
<li>Rules</li>
<ul>
<li>Books</li>
<ul>
<li>Dungeon Fantasy - Pretty much all are on the table, except Dungeon Fantasy 19.</li>
<li>City Stats, Boardroom and Curia - Good for giving mechanical teeth to governmental bodies. Probably not important for players.</li>
<li>Mass Combat - To help resolve large conflicts between large armies. Players interested in putzing around with logistics or achieving high political rank might find it useful. For other players, it might be out of the relevant scope.</li>
<li>Low-Tech for appropriate mundane equipment</li>
<li>Fantasy-Tech 1 and 2 for fantastic equipment</li>
<li>Low Tech Companion 2 - Rules for armor damage</li>
</ul>
<li>Optional Rules</li>
<ul>
<li>The Broken Blade, Pyramid #3/87, p.4</li>
<li>Basic Set</li>
<ul>
<li>Bleeding, Accumulated Wounds, Last Wounds, B420</li>
</ul>
<li>Martial Arts</li>
<ul>
<li>Committed Attack, p.99</li>
<li>Defensive Attack, p.100</li>
<li>Extra Effort Options, p.131</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Starting Points - Players should have enough points to buy a professional template from the Dungeon Fantasy line, and a racial template. Some discretionary points will be given besides. I am thinking this will put entry level characters around 300 to 350.</li>
<li>Disadvantage Limit - Unlimited, but of course, your disadvantage selection must go through me. Buying the requisite -50 in disadvantages on the professional template is a must, but disadvantages can come from any source, and disadvantages can be bought off with discretionary points.</li>
<li>Suggested Character Concepts - Anyone that would be useful in regimented combat against and alongside several supernatural elements. Dungeon Delving is probably a slightly downplayed skill set, but being able to perform clandestine operations might be important. Social skills might be useful.</li>
<li>Racial Templates - Racial templates will be decided after or during session 0. Those in <i>Banestorm</i> or <i>Dungeon Fantasy 3</i> might be helpful baselines to understand what might be appropriate. Using a slightly out of alignment race requires a 20 point unusual background. A typically inappropriate racial template requires a 50 point unusual background. All Unusual backgrounds require a very good justification in writing approved by me.</li>
<li>Attribute Maxima/Minima</li>
<ul>
<li>This will also be determined later. Typical ranges of attributes are 60% to 200% of racial average.</li>
</ul>
<li>Secondary Characteristic Maxima/Minima</li>
<ul>
<li>To be determined later. Typical ranges for HP and FP are 70%-130% of ST or HT respectively. Basic speed is typically +/- 2.00. Basic Move is +/- 3.</li>
</ul>
<li>Social Traits</li>
<ul>
<li>Low TL - Possibly depending on racial template</li>
<li>High TL - Probably not.</li>
<li>Status Levels - Typically, at a minimum status -1 to 3 will be possible. Much larger and much smaller nations might facilitate different bands.</li>
<li>Cultures - Not completely determined, but one culture typically encompasses a few nations with similar customs and ways of life. Some examples of what might be available include:</li>
<ul>
<li>Civil - People that build large cities with tremendous social and political infrastructures. Typically look at other cultures as savage or undignified. Examples would be Humans, Dwarves, and Halflings</li>
<li>Nomadic - Those tribes that don't put down roots in any one specific location, they are in touch with the ebb and flow of natural patterns like migrations and the changing of seasons. Typically think of other cultures as out of touch with reality due to the abstractions of big cities or myopic view of the world squatting in caves. Examples might include beast men and goblins.</li>
</ul>
<li>Languages - As per culture</li>
<li>PC Starting Wealth - Players start with normal wealth for Dungeon Fantasy, but the 20/80 rule is probably in effect because most PCs will not be free agent dungeon delvers for hire going any which way the wind blows. This means an average wealth PC will have $200 available, but all sundries and accoutrements are taken care of for them. </li>
</ul>
<li>Advantages/Disadvantages as would be appropriate in a Dungeon Fantasy campaign and a Mass Combat campaign.</li>
<li>Appropriate Contacts/Contact Groups/Patrons/Enemies - These need to be determined, but for the most part, sensible compelling social advantages are permitted.</li>
<li>Special Skills/Magic/Psionics - The default magic system from <i>GURPS Magic</i> is allowed through the standard <i>Dungeon Fantasy</i> templates that allow them. Power based abilities are allowed also through appropriate professional templates; this includes templates from Pyramid issues like the <i>Saint</i> and <i>Sorcerer</i>.</li>
<li>Jobs - most players will belong to the military, but other jobs, provided a compelling reason is given, might be available.</li>
<li>Common Equipment</li>
<ul>
<li>Low-Tech is the preferred first stop for equipment</li>
<li>Fighting equipment is provided to members of the military. At status 0, the standard issue is cheap body armor (not sure how much DR) that covers the entire body below the neck and a cheap weapon of all your relevant skills. Players may buy better quality equipment at their discretion.</li>
<li>The party will get, as per Dungeon Fantasy 15, 1 regular quality personal kit per each member, and 1 group kit (or more for an appropriately large party) for the entire group.</li>
<li>These tools for your job will be replaced if damaged, provided they were not being misused.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h2>
Conclusion?</h2>
<div>
No, there is none yet, I don't think. The conclusion will not be ready for a long time. Will this document leave me prepared, and guide prospective players to ask the right questions? That's when I'll have a conclusion.</div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-53667884956220318942018-10-04T16:10:00.000-07:002018-10-04T16:10:22.563-07:00Review: Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 4<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0wGCEXzGRig/W7aOoRg4HDI/AAAAAAAADdc/ECrqDkpyXJcDF2Q8WKncONxcaS6VFDwDQCLcBGAs/s1600/cover_lg%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0wGCEXzGRig/W7aOoRg4HDI/AAAAAAAADdc/ECrqDkpyXJcDF2Q8WKncONxcaS6VFDwDQCLcBGAs/s200/cover_lg%255B1%255D.jpg" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/dungeonfantasymonsters4/">15% cover art.</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For better or for worse, the <i>Dungeon Fantasy Monsters</i> line has been a little bit inconsistent in what to expect from the titles. Better because sometimes you get cool surprises; DFM2 had some really neat stuff. Worse because sometimes you don't know that there is cool stuff under the covers; I didn't get DFM2 for forever because it sounded pretty boring from the title alone. This book though, <i>Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 4 - Dragons</i> is everything it says in the title; it's monster dragons 4 (for) Dungeon Fantasy. Ok, let's take a closer look.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XPtDpid96MI/W7aPpG0wjRI/AAAAAAAADdk/M_-2WAmKXGYng8iy6FZKMDC1XMpW-vV-wCLcBGAs/s1600/f6vhKT4%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="690" height="209" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XPtDpid96MI/W7aPpG0wjRI/AAAAAAAADdk/M_-2WAmKXGYng8iy6FZKMDC1XMpW-vV-wCLcBGAs/s320/f6vhKT4%255B1%255D.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><h2>
Overview</h2>
<div>
This is a 23 page pdf split into 4 chapters and an appendix. Subtracting 3 pages of front matter, table of contents, and the intro; subtracting 2 pages of backmatter including the index, we have 18 pages of stuff. Chapter 1, 3 pages is four basic dragons of various size; chapter 2, 4 pages, has options for customizing breath attacks; chapter 3, 4 pages, is about adding cool things besides to a dragon; chapter 4, 3 pages, is about how to make combat with a dragon interesting; finally, the appendix, 4 pages, is 4 worked examples of following the rules to produce some memorable NPC encounters, and are interesting characters in their own right. If you already have DFRPG, you already have the "template dragons" from the first chapter, but the rest of the information is pretty new. This book is a tool to help GMs create interesting dragon NPC most suited for combat, and doesn't contain many surprises like other books. I enjoy this book though because it is in the vein of teaching how to fish instead of just throwing fish at me until I'm bloated like some of the other catalogs in the <i>Dungeon Fantasy Monsters</i> series. Let's take a closer look at the chapters now.</div>
<h2>
Yer Basic Dragons</h2>
<div>
This chapter describes 4 archetypical quadrupedal winged dragons ranging from small (SM+3) to "gargantuan" (SM+6.) with an aside on some rules of thumb for creating even bigger dragons. There's nothing good or bad to say about this chapter really. The monsters are straightforward and make sense, but they are simply primed canvases ready for a real coat of paint as described in the next two chapters.</div>
<h2>
Dragon's Breath</h2>
<div>
Primary weapon of a lot of dragons is an elemental breath weapon, and this chapter goes into a lot of detail on appropriate means of customizing it, perhaps as an area effect attack, cone, or a beam; perhaps with some elements. Each of these customization options, meant for the dragons in the previous chapter, has a thoughtful slew of extra options to make a holistically styled dragon that fits the image evoked by the chosen element and attack style. It's a pretty interesting way to stretch 4 dragons into innumerable iterations.</div>
<h2>
Distinguishing Your Dragon</h2>
<div>
This chapter goes a step further than developing a signature attack and gives a whole lot of options for really making a dragon in progress something that will really stand out; combat traits, social traits, special abilities, and magic among others for example. There's bits of soft advice too to make the dragon more than a page of numbers and traits. It's hard to describe why, but this chapter was really enjoyable, and even if some of the options in the book are a little basic, I was simply inspired just reading it and thinking, "eh, more ST isn't that great of a thing, I'd rather a dragon that could do..." and before I knew it, I found myself coming up with bunches of neat ideas.</div>
<h2>
Dragons in Action</h2>
<div>
Probably the most valuable chapter in the book, this one talks about how to use the physiology, smarts, and powers of a dragon in a way that will make the fight more than your bog-standard "I slug you, you slug me" combats that you should never see in a "boss encounter." I think I'll be applying some of this advice in fact in a few of my games involving super-fauna in fact, so the timing of this supplement is a really fortuitous coincidence.</div>
<h2>
Not Your Average Dragons</h2>
<div>
This appendix includes four well rounded, well thought out dragons that are more than a really big token on the map. They all include a short backstory and a detailed stat block. I don't have much critical to say about this, but on a subjective level, I found each of them to be evocative and unique, and they would probably be good major NPCs for an entire arc just as written.</div>
<h2>
Other Thoughts and Conclusions</h2>
<div>
There isn't much for players that want dragon stuff, but frankly, most of the stuff is easy to reverse engineer if you really wanted to do so, and really expensive pointwise beside. If you want to be a dragon you can use Pyramid #3/72 which has a playable dragon template, or you can use Dungeon Fantasy 3 for the Dragon-Blooded racial template, so those options exist. Perhaps this book can inspire some power-ups for those templates? Dunno! Overall, I think this is a decent buy. I'd say it's a good impulse buy, but you might skip it if you were missing some of the more important Dungeon Fantasy volumes like Wilderness Adventures or The Next Level; especially if you already have Dungeon Fantasy RPG making a good portion (but not all) of the book redundant.</div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-40538380910104688182018-09-27T13:49:00.003-07:002018-09-27T19:28:37.393-07:00Encounter: Lagiacrus<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rFegW56-GtI/W60rFa4SubI/AAAAAAAADcg/X0e3Y9cMFWAYYFiMP3pUTDMK1_SZHeJoACLcBGAs/s1600/MHRoC-Lagiacrus_Art_001%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1334" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rFegW56-GtI/W60rFa4SubI/AAAAAAAADcg/X0e3Y9cMFWAYYFiMP3pUTDMK1_SZHeJoACLcBGAs/s200/MHRoC-Lagiacrus_Art_001%255B1%255D.jpg" width="166" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Something Like this.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm playing a lot of Monster Hunter World, and I dunno what to write this week, so as a thought exercise, let's stat up a Lagiacrus. Using data from one of the <a href="http://monsterhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Lagiacrus#General">Monster Hunter Wikis</a>, <a href="http://www.gamesdiner.com/gulliver">Gulliver Mini from T-Bone's Diner</a>, the 3e stats of a Liopleurodon from <a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/dinosaurs/">GURPS Dinosaurs</a>, and the <a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-update-1">3e to 4e conversion guide</a>, let's see what happens.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><h2>
Sizing Up And Converting</h2>
<div>
Stats in 3e are a little different than stats in 4e, and the Lagiacrus is about 1.29x times longer than a Liopleurodon, on average. I wrote up a spreadsheet to take all the 3e attributes of a slightly smaller dinosaur and size them up a bit for a slightly bigger "dragon." Without any modification, these are the stats:</div>
<div>
<table><tbody>
<tr><td><b>ST:</b> 34</td><td><b>HP:</b> 71</td><td><b>Speed:</b> 8</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>DX:</b> 9</td><td><b>Will:</b> 10</td><td><b>Move:</b> 15</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>IQ:</b> 3</td><td><b>Per:</b> 12</td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td><b>HT:</b> 15</td><td><b>FP:</b> 15</td><td><b>SM:</b> +7</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Dodge:</b> 11</td><td><b>Parry:</b> 7</td><td><b>DR:</b> 3</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's nominal melee attacks have a reach of 10, and it is about 29 yards long. The 10 is meant to start from the middle of the footprint, but it doesn't extend far enough to give bites more than the minimum reach c. I think that the "sleek" profile almost matches, but I'll say that the body is about 3 yards wide towards the middle. Swipes to the side or swings of the tail can have a reach of about 2 yards out.</div>
<h2>
Extrapolating Further</h2>
<div>
Lagiacrus has a large crystal "dynamo" on its back which it uses to store electricity for electrical attacks. Extrapolating from game mechanical data, the DR of this Dynamo is about double the average DR of the entire body or 6. While this exists unharmed, it can do electrical attacks that are about commensurate with its melee attacks, which 34 ST, with +1/die per tolerable brawling, gives us around 4d damage. Interestingly, if we take the square-cube law seriously, this creature is about 5 and a half tons, but can barely lift anywhere near that. Oh well, it's amphibious, it doesn't need to bear it's entire weight all the time.Using some funny math involving the low tech armor table, the figure that the skin is about 16% of the weight (of the average human body) and yadda yadda, who cares, I estimate the crystals to weigh about 300 lbs, and using the formula for the homogeneous HP, this 6 DR armor that only protects the back has 54 HP. I rounded that to make it a nice even factor of 3. If this is reduced to 18 HP, the power of this ability is cut in half, and hurts Lagiacrus as well. Limbs or extremities are disabled at normal GURPS cutoff points, but damage goes from cutting to crushing at half of that. For example, a claw that is dealt <i>more</i> <i>than</i> 1/6 of the max HP (12), is blunted and loses 1.5x damage. The Tail, for "breakage" purposes, I will consider an appendage that may be severed, that is, if it loses more than 71 HP. For damage and parrying purposes, it is a striker. Let's put all of this together now.<br />
Note that at SM+7, against the typical SM+0 hunter, a melee attack can be made at an area, so this gives a net +4 with no penalty to attack for SM differences for most melee attacks. These are also mostly wide area injury.<br />
Due to an interesting look at some comment, I have also adjusted ST up to match HP. I'm not why, but it seems like the ST is unusually low. Perhaps the 3e to 4e conversion formula was weird, or maybe I goofed my math.</div>
<h2>
Final Stat Block</h2>
<div>
<table><tbody>
<tr><td><b>ST:</b> 71</td><td><b>HP:</b> 71</td><td><b>Speed:</b> 8</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>DX:</b> 9</td><td><b>Will:</b> 10</td><td><b>Move:</b> 8L/15A</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>IQ:</b> 3</td><td><b>Per:</b> 12</td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td><b>HT:</b> 15</td><td><b>FP:</b> 15</td><td><b>SM:</b> +7</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Dodge:</b> 11</td><td><b>Parry:</b> 7</td><td><b>DR:</b> 3</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Attack With Claws or Teeth(15):</b> C front and back; C-2 on the sides, 10d+2 cutting. If the face or extremity is dealt 12 HP or more total, or the appendage is dealt 18 HP or more, damage becomes crushing.<br />
<b>Tail(15):</b> C-10 for the back half starting at the mid point of the figure's base. Minimum of C no matter what. 13d crushing. The tail can be removed if it is dealt at least 71 HP.<br />
<b>Lightning Breath(15):</b> Range 50/100, Acc 3. 10d burning surging explosion damage. Metal Armor DR is reduced to 1. This is often an attack on an area, giving a net skill of 19.<br />
<b>Lightning Emanation:</b> Everywhere within 2 yards the body. 10d burning surging damage, to defend, someone must retreat, or dodge and drop entirely out of range. Metal Armor DR is reduced to 1.<br />
<b>Note:</b> Lightning attacks can be used once per minute. If the dynamo on Lagiacrus's back is broken, this attack does half damage. This requires doing 36 HP of damage to the DR 6 "Armor" on its back.<br />
<b>Traits:</b> Amphibious, Berserk(12), Claws, Damage Resistance, 3 Tough Skin everywhere except the back which is 6. No Fine Manipulators, Quadruped, Sharp Teeth, Wild Animal.<br />
<b>Skills:</b> Brawling-11, Innate Attack (Breath)-15, Survival (Beach)-14, Survival (Ocean)-14<br />
<b>Notes:</b> Prefers to quickly maim targets and run away if they give any considerable resistance (rule of thumb, losing 10 hit points, or being injured enough that a body part is disabled, and certainly if its HP is below 24) It will not typically fight to the last hit point, and if fighting on land, will almost certainly be close to a body of water for a quick escape, and likely will not return to fight until it has spent some days recuperating. To put one down will take some manner of dedicated pursuit, trapping, or poisons.<br />
At this SM, subtract 1x from all of the multipliers for Impaling and piercing attacks to a minimum of 0.5x. E.g. Pi++ and Imp do 1x damage, Pi+ and lesser do 0.5x.<br />
<h2>
Other Thoughts</h2>
</div>
<div>
I feel like I forgot to mention something, but oh well. I'm trying to think, with these "realistic" type figures, what kind of characters this would be a challenge for, and what kind of characters it would overwhelm. I have some thoughts on a "loot system" that might approximate some of what I like about Monster Hunter without getting too deep in the weeds of converting game mechanics instead of taking inspiration for them, but I'm tired of typing, and don't know how interesting those would be to other people.</div>
<div>
Monsters like to slam and trample a lot in Monster Hunter, but slamming is a kind of complicated calculation to put on a character sheet. Trampling is simply the thrust damage if someone is underneath it when it moves.</div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-15495943852615856622018-09-20T16:01:00.000-07:002018-09-20T16:01:02.352-07:00Pseudobot - Updated Some IndicesWas slacking on the Pyramid issue index. It's updated for the last two months now. Can't think of anything interesting to write this week, but that counts as doing something, I think. Pseudobot is now used on 154 Guilds, or what most people call "servers." Sounds kinda cool.Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-37757622751848036372018-09-12T14:55:00.002-07:002018-09-12T15:23:37.439-07:00Review - Hall of Judgement<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--Q5ImFWgg00/W5ltx_OaiHI/AAAAAAAADb8/qj0PBM1_yjUycZV4CV0WgdB2VHWMBO63QCLcBGAs/s1600/Hall_of_Judgment_u20180814_1000%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="520" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--Q5ImFWgg00/W5ltx_OaiHI/AAAAAAAADb8/qj0PBM1_yjUycZV4CV0WgdB2VHWMBO63QCLcBGAs/s200/Hall_of_Judgment_u20180814_1000%255B1%255D.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/dungeon-fantasy-hall-of-judgment">Store Link</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In a meta-GURPS way, this is kind of a special, potentially paradigm changing book; it might be the first major third party GURPS (technically, Dungeon Fantasy RPG) supplements completely endorsed by Steve Jackson Games. Its potential success or lack thereof could have an impact on future third-party supplements, so in that particular vein, it's a pretty exciting book. I backed the kickstarter at some level, forget which, but the one that gets the hard copy and the digital copies; I'm informed that my hard copy is in the mail, so this review is mostly based on the contents of the digital media. I doubt the physical media will have a world changing effect on my opinion, but if it does, I certainly will revise this review.<br />
With that segue complete, I'd like to say now that despite the book not looking like something I wanted, I bought the book, and I was not surprised; it was very much what I expected anyway: a pretty down-to-earth dungeon delve with some Norsey trappings. I knew I am not particularly fond of most of those things and I still bought it hoping that maybe it would defy my expectations; it didn't. It was exactly what was advertised. So if you read the blurb on warehouse 23 and you like what you read, you might like this; if you read the blurb and you don't like what you are seeing, there is a good chance you won't like it. In any case, let's take a closer, more detailed look; let's see what I liked and didn't like, and paint a clearer picture of my conclusion.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><h2>
Overview</h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YG8XO9wBYsA/W5lxH0kl2qI/AAAAAAAADcI/vrZpN8aLE2sg33FutMl6ByLE5HMo8W-NwCLcBGAs/s1600/7Ex0k2i%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1096" data-original-width="879" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YG8XO9wBYsA/W5lxH0kl2qI/AAAAAAAADcI/vrZpN8aLE2sg33FutMl6ByLE5HMo8W-NwCLcBGAs/s200/7Ex0k2i%255B1%255D.png" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First page of Table of Contents</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
The PDF is a 132 page document which includes all the front and back matter: Two pages of cover, two intentionally blank pages, title page, two pages of contents, a Kickstarter acknowledgement page, glossary page, one page foreword by Sean Punch, GURPS Line Editor, a two page preface, and a one page index. This leaves us with 119 page of book.</div>
<div>
Organizationally, the book makes sense mostly. As you can see from the screenshots of the table of contents, those entries are hyperlinked, and various places throughout the book are also hyperlinked for browsing convenience. Including the index and some cross references. Sometimes the contrasting and anti-aliasing of background textures and font colors is just a little difficult to read, this is compounded in some places with very small fonts, but I'm told this looks much better in print. I guess I'll find out for myself soon. Illustrations are all over the place with some very good ones here and there, a lot of passable ones, and some that aren't great. The clashing of style isn't usually a distraction unless you are flipping through the book quickly like I do after reading a book a while ago and trying to remember everything for a review you are writing.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-igljJ7nRSCo/W5lxeMRLi_I/AAAAAAAADcQ/p6Ck2zNAjwswhiUPuoF4BXaVHIG6xVWfACLcBGAs/s1600/9N7YdU7%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1093" data-original-width="872" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-igljJ7nRSCo/W5lxeMRLi_I/AAAAAAAADcQ/p6Ck2zNAjwswhiUPuoF4BXaVHIG6xVWfACLcBGAs/s200/9N7YdU7%255B1%255D.png" width="159" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The other page of contents</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
One example I would like to bring attention to though are the maps. Some of the high level hand drawn "macro" scale maps are a pleasure to look at. On the other hand, some of the battlemaps look like cookie cutter CGI; they do the job they need to do, but I think they are almost the bare minimum of what is needed for the sake of functionality.</div>
<div>
The first chapter, 18 pages, describes the starting town of the adventure. The next chapter, 12 pages, has some wilderness survival mechanics. The next three chapters, 31 pages, describe the three main "dungeons" of this adventure. After that is an abbreviated 4 page chapter describing the "Fantastic Dungeon Grappling" system, a derivation of <i>Technical Grappling</i> for GURPS, reorganized and streamlined to fit the genre better. Next is a 34 page bestiary, and the last chapter is a 20 page list of sample characters. Eight of the 16 characters are submitted by kickstarter backers.</div>
<div>
One last note on style. A lot of the book is consistent and well written, but there are a few groan inducing pop-culture bits or nods to memes here and there that didn't sit well with me. But those aside, I didn't have much problem reading the book.</div>
<div>
The dry stuff out of the way, let's start dissecting the rest of the book.</div>
<h2>
Isfjall</h2>
<div>
This chapter discusses the hub town of the adventures described in this book; a Norsey mountain village with Viking-ish NPCs and sensitivities. As mentioned earlier, this is a very long 19 page chapter with a lot of detail; local customs, religion, businesses, things to do for the party. The detail is good especially when it comes to the interesting bits on shopping, but I feel like it somewhat lacks in terms of interesting NPCs. A scant few names are dropped, but very little description is given for the names we get. I guess populating the town is a DIY.</div>
<h2>
The Journey</h2>
<div>
Part of this chapter describes important outdoor encounters, and part includes some unique mechanics. I'm going to set aside the adventure content until I speak to them in the next little section, and focus mostly on the mechanics.</div>
<div>
The chapter includes 4 pages of rules for outdoor survival, mostly along the lines of how to turn animals into food, how to find water, and what extreme temperatures can do to one's health. Hiking times seem like a simplified derivation from Dungeon Fantasy 16, and one could probably reasonably sub that book in for more detail in those respects if they like. Altogether, these rules seem like things we've seen before with nothing especially groundbreaking, but it is simpler and in one place.</div>
<h2>
The Journey, Logheimli Ruins, Dómstóllinn, and Nordalf Warrens</h2>
<div>
These chapters describe the adventure parts of the adventure, and I don't like getting to the nitty gritty on this during reviews for fear of spoilers. In the abstract, the adventure is well written and gives a decent amount of freedom in how it is approached, but seems to, by default, make some demands of party composition (namely, the big quest, as written, might be next to impossible to brute force if the party is without some types of magic; and interestingly, a lot of games I have run, players shy away from the casters.) A lot of the encounters are pretty mundane or undead, and I don't find those things exciting, so it was a bit humdrum to me, but it does help accentuate some of the interesting strengths of "Dungeon Grappling" while hiding some of the more complicated/troubling bits that might occur with a more "interesting" bestiary. Combat maps, functionally speaking (I've already critiqued them aesthetically) are more on the "featureless rectangle" part of the combat map spectrum, without a lot of interesting obstacles or traps. I say mostly, but three of the seven maps have at least a modest array of distracting and complicating terrain to mix things up.</div>
<h2>
Fantastic Dungeon Grappling</h2>
<div>
This 4 page chapter is a miniature <i>Technical Grappling</i> for DFRPG. The chapter is overall mostly easier to read than the original book, and next to nothing important is missing. Altogether, very well written and organized.</div>
<h2>
Bestiary</h2>
<div>
The bestiary adds 35 "monsters" for players to fight, but a lot of them are naturally occurring wild (and domesticated) animals or humanoids, which I find kinda boring, but that's the kind of setting this is. To be exact, 29 of them fit into this category, leaving 6 monsters that feel fresh and exotic. Ah well, for some, that's absolutely fine.</div>
<h2>
Sample Characters</h2>
<div>
Gotta be honest, I just scanned this chapter because pre-made characters aren't really exciting to me. The first page has some really good advice on party composition though, in general, and definitely specifically for the adventures in this book. I also really like the Designer's Notes attached to each character that give some tips that are pretty good to consider for beginner players who might make their own characters. Notable is the inclusion of the Eldhuð racial template, something like a diet Infernal; only 20 points, not nearly as powerful, but maybe even slightly less interesting than the already dull infernals, with less outstanding boons and flaws. That said, if a GM is limiting races to only this and those that appear in <i>Dungeon Fantasy - Adventurers</i> tome, it's still probably (disappointingly) one of the more interesting ones.</div>
<h2>
Other Thoughts and Conclusion</h2>
<div>
It is apparent when reading my review that this book isn't up my alley. I think if we set aside that it clashes with several of the things I look for in interesting fantasy settings and game scenarios, it is mostly well put together, but a few standout grievances I can't completely discount as "it isn't my thing" like the sudden transitions from good writing to "hey, you kids like the memes, right?" or the uninspiring battle maps. As for value, the pdf is only $12.50 on Warehouse 23, and I think what you get for that is fair. Finally, in the grand scheme of things, I hope this partnership bears some fruit, and that if it does, perhaps more books tailored to my expectations and wants might come out of it.</div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-23188480317410762112018-09-06T15:58:00.000-07:002018-09-18T11:29:00.784-07:00Campaign Planning - Lands out of Time<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8OBoxT1pn4/W5GwecyX3RI/AAAAAAAADbg/vXzPXutq1BgXJBx7O50cs0aeC8Q1lJvswCLcBGAs/s1600/cover_lg%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="874" data-original-width="671" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8OBoxT1pn4/W5GwecyX3RI/AAAAAAAADbg/vXzPXutq1BgXJBx7O50cs0aeC8Q1lJvswCLcBGAs/s200/cover_lg%255B1%255D.jpg" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/landsoutoftime/">A large amount of the work</a><br />
is already done for me.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Let's use the campaign planning form from the back of <i>How to Be a GURPS GM</i> and see how much it helps in planning. I'm going to be using <i>Lands Out of Time</i> as a basis, so some of the questions are answered for me; others are not. Let's see if this helps, and let's see if it has any holes that need to be shored up.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2>
Revisions</h2>
<div>
Rather than touching up the original document, I'd like to keep that in place, and put my big changes up here. I guess if I posted this somewhere like a Wiki or Github, I could have revision tracking, but I didn't, so oh well. Maybe this is a lesson learned for my next campaign planning.</div>
<div>
<br />
<ul>
<li>I am removing the stricture that the campaign is combat focused; I think this confused potential applicants that saw "combat focused" and interpreted at "combat exclusive." Instead the theme will be homesteading. Combat is still extremely important, but establishing intra and inter settlement infrastructure and taking care of the unit is also important.</li>
<li>Point silos are removed and budget is changed to 100/-infinity. Players are still expected to create a character that can survive a dangerous frontier where combat is important.</li>
<li>Supernatural abilities are allowed with a 20 point unusual background. They need to use the power modifier described in <i>Lands out of Time</i> on page 41. A ten point psionic talent is allowed, up to 4 levels.</li>
<li>Racial Templates</li>
<ul>
<li>Cro-Magnon is the default racial template. Players may also choose "Primitive" Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal instead with no special mechanical considerations.</li>
<li>Protohumans and Saurians are allowed with a 20 point unusual background, and a very compelling reason why that should be allowed in the first place.</li>
</ul>
<li>Character backgrounds</li>
<ul>
<li>Cro-Magnon man has a tribe among the folk of the scaled spirits, The Sky-Shadow Tribe is off limits. They are a universal antagonist. </li>
<li>Neanderthals belong to the blacksand tribe.</li>
<li>A character that belongs to the people of liquid rock tribe requires a cro-magnon racial template, increased tech level, a 20 point unusual background, and a good reason why they are out in the boonies with the party.</li>
<li>Saurians have a loosely defined culture, a player that selects a saurian racial template is expected to define it.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>
<h2>
Original Outline</h2>
<ul>
<li>Campaign Prospectus</li>
<ul>
<li>Campaign Name - Let's kill some dinosaurs</li>
<li>GM - Myself</li>
<li>Creation Date - 09/06/2018</li>
<li>Genre - Hmm, let's call it very very light fantasy</li>
<li>Tech Level - Late TL 0</li>
<li>TL Exceptions - As described in <i>Lands Out of Time</i></li>
<li>Power Level - Mundane, but high end. I estimate 100 to 200 points starting.</li>
<li>Campaign Synopsis and Recent Events</li>
<ul>
<li>Players are members of a tribe of Cro-Magnon cavemen in a world populated by dinosaurs. Against such a harsh backdrop, the players must help their fellows settle an area conducive to the survival of their species.</li>
<li>The campaign is meant to focus more on combat (and in that vein, mostly versus dinosaurs and other prehistoric megafauna) than other aspects, but if a compelling turn of events occurs, it might behoove to pursue other types of plots. A type of warrior or survivalist would be an appropriate character choice. A story telling elder or a hands-off royal would not be appropriate.</li>
</ul>
<li>Timeline of Significant Historical Events</li>
<ul>
<li>Two generations ago, this clan formed by the marrying of a son from the Walking Thorns tribe and a daughter from the Flat-Back tribe, along with a handful of allied friends and families, migrated away from the valley of Morning Mist and the fledgling city of Tarn-Ul. In isolation, this tribe has developed a similar, but slightly different culture from the other tribes, being freed from the traditional customs of the others, but having to live day to day on the edge of possible calamity with no allies and support outside the clan in case of emergency.</li>
</ul>
<li>Currency - Potentially irrelevant. If it turns out a fiat currency is necessary, the players might need to invent it.</li>
<li>Precious Metals - Probably, but the TL0 tribespeople have no financial appreciation of it.</li>
<li>Paper Money/E-Money - Absolutely not</li>
<li>Slavery Legal - Probably, in the form of indentured servitude, or in penitence for crime.</li>
</ul>
<li>Major Nations</li>
<ul>
<li>Largely Irrelevant, and the parts that might one day be relevant are mostly described in the source material already.</li>
</ul>
<li>Other Planes of Existence - No</li>
<li>Rules</li>
<ul>
<li>Books</li>
<ul>
<li>Lands out of Time</li>
<li>Low-Tech</li>
<li>Low-Tech Companion 1-3, but mostly 2, some of 3, and 1 only as reference.</li>
<li>Low-Tech Instant Armor, Though I'd prefer none of the special sub-hit locations introduced in Low-Tech. Armor must cover all or none of a hit location. Front only is permissible.</li>
<li>3e Dinosaurs - The players don't really need this, but it is a good source of additional dinosaur encounters.</li>
</ul>
<li>Optional Rules</li>
<ul>
<li>The Last Gasp, Pyramid #3/44, p.4</li>
<ul>
<li>Extra Effort in combat uses either 10 AP or 1 FP; preference up to the player</li>
</ul>
<li>Combat Writ Large, Pyramid #3/77, p.4</li>
<li>The Broken Blade, Pyramid #3/87, p.4</li>
<li>Basic Set</li>
<ul>
<li>Bleeding, Accumulated Wounds, Last Wounds, B420</li>
</ul>
<li>Martial Arts</li>
<ul>
<li>Committed Attack, p.99</li>
<li>Defensive Attack, p.100</li>
<li>Extra Effort Options, p.131</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Starting Points - Undecided, it depends on the character concepts that are suggested.</li>
<li>Disadvantage Limit - Unlimited, but of course, your disadvantage selection must go through me.</li>
<li>Suggested Character Concepts - Anything suited to fighting or supporting combat in a prehistoric wilderness. Warriors, trapping experts, medical professionals. The <i>Tribal Warrior</i> and <i>Tribal Wanderer</i> occupational templates on pp.16,17 of <i>Lands out of Time</i> might be good inspiration, ignoring for now any supernatural or exotic abilities listed. A template is not necessarily required, but it can help color in the lines.</li>
<li>Racial Templates - All players will be Cro-Magnon man, the template of which is on p. 12 of <i>Lands out of Time</i> as <i>Caveman</i>.</li>
<li>Attribute Maxima/Minima</li>
<ul>
<li>ST - 10:20</li>
<li>DX - 8:16</li>
<li>IQ - 8:16</li>
<li>HT - 9:17</li>
</ul>
<li>Secondary Characteristic Maxima/Minima</li>
<ul>
<li>HP - ST +/- 30%</li>
<li>Will - IQ +/- 30%</li>
<li>Per - IQ +/- 30%</li>
<li>FP - HT +/-30%</li>
<li>AP - Minimum HT, Maximum HTx2</li>
<li>Basic Speed - [(DX+HT)/4]+/- 2.75</li>
<li>Basic Move - Basic Speed +/- 3</li>
</ul>
<li>Social Traits</li>
<ul>
<li>Low TL - No right now</li>
<li>High TL - No right now</li>
<li>Status Levels - as per p.7 of <i>Lands out of Time</i> under Neanderthals, Cro-Magnon, Advanced Saurians</li>
<li>Cultures - Irrelevant, but the players are familiar with the The Folk of the Scaled Spirits. NPCs of other cultures might appear later, but no PC (as of now) would be able to start with those cultural familiarities.</li>
<li>Languages - As per culture</li>
<li>PC Starting Wealth - Players have all $625 starting cash, whatever is not "spent" is lost. "Money" exists as raw goods. If players find themselves in a situation where they have a "job" cash must be paid out in goods or favors, and cover cost of living as per status level. $300 buys 1 point of favors. These rules are irrelevant if the party is in "adventuring mode" instead of calculating wages earned on the time spent worksheets.</li>
</ul>
<li>Advantages/Disadvantages As per pages 5-9 of <i>Lands out of Time</i> as indicated appropriate for Cro-Magnon characters and not obviously supernatural or exotic. Almost all mundane traits not specifically spoken to that exist in <i>Basic Set</i> are probably allowed.</li>
<li>Appropriate Contacts/Contact Groups/Patrons/Enemies - The book says these are off limits, but if you can make a good case for it, I'm not opposed.</li>
<li>Special Skills/Magic/Psionics - Irrelevant.</li>
<li>Jobs - As per p.45 of <i>Low-Tech Companion 3</i>. Prerequisites must be met.</li>
<li>Common Equipment</li>
<ul>
<li>Most weapons will be made of stone, bones, teeth, and shells.</li>
<li>Only one civilization in the known world has metal working technology, but this is most likely irrelevant because it is in a part of the known world your tribe doesn't remember.</li>
<li>Special material rules can be found on p.71 of <i>Low-Tech</i>.</li>
<ul>
<li>Because I am using Broken Blade rules, instead of rolling 1d to see if a horn/tooth or bone weapon break, horn/tooth weapons have an additional -2 HT for their blade when checking for sharpness damage, and bone have an additional -4 HT penalty.</li>
<li>The bone sharpening rule from p,20 of <i>Lands out of Time</i> is in effect.</li>
</ul>
<li>Equipment from <i>Lands out of Time</i> or <i>Low-Tech</i> is preferred over equipment from the <i>Basic Set</i>.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h2>
Conclusion?</h2>
<div>
No, there is none yet, I don't think. The conclusion will not be ready for a long time. Will this document leave me prepared, and guide prospective players to ask the right questions? That's when I'll have a conclusion.</div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-8884065668825161192018-08-30T15:51:00.001-07:002018-08-30T15:51:22.624-07:00Pseudobot - Broken Blade Calculator EnhancedThis week, I added repair calculations to the Broken Blade command. Those were more complicated than the rest of the functions. I had to extrapolate out some of the costs for big weapon damage because the pyramid article only goes out to HT - 10. I found a trendline with a pretty good fit though, so I like the numbers. If you don't like them though, just don't use the calculator for any damage values that exceed -10 I guess.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GPu6raVlEbE/W4h0zxOZ64I/AAAAAAAADbQ/qNE4L4ChxzceJsMplbdelYLciqIlWy9FwCLcBGAs/s1600/2mlk0aT%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="621" height="294" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GPu6raVlEbE/W4h0zxOZ64I/AAAAAAAADbQ/qNE4L4ChxzceJsMplbdelYLciqIlWy9FwCLcBGAs/s320/2mlk0aT%255B1%255D.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-80168737626318571532018-08-23T15:42:00.000-07:002018-08-23T15:42:02.114-07:00Pseudobot - Broken Blade Calculator<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Made a calculator for the broken blade that calculates a lot of the boring stuff for you so you can get to the cool part faster. Thinking I'll add a feature next week to help calculate repair costs as well. Might see if I can format the data a bit better.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WOT_2azDfCs/W383zpgLl2I/AAAAAAAADbE/q5DR1i3tW_oHM_vrIfXM5sU8Uj79I3DBgCLcBGAs/s1600/Pzhx1rC%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="510" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WOT_2azDfCs/W383zpgLl2I/AAAAAAAADbE/q5DR1i3tW_oHM_vrIfXM5sU8Uj79I3DBgCLcBGAs/s320/Pzhx1rC%255B1%255D.png" width="246" /></a></div>
<br />Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520712015535408773.post-62348948124503181892018-08-16T15:12:00.002-07:002018-08-16T15:12:26.094-07:00Pseudobot - Despair Fright Check TableIt's slightly different from the other ones. It has a lot of crying.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yz1x46C6ZWs/W3X2dWkwoJI/AAAAAAAADaw/MnXy4f1dCWsCB6thhKpE-Lk2rn0igucwQCLcBGAs/s1600/flandre_scarlet_touhou_drawn_by_monrooru__sample-0c3eaff84e2ac147cb1fe4d6bf68ae78%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="850" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yz1x46C6ZWs/W3X2dWkwoJI/AAAAAAAADaw/MnXy4f1dCWsCB6thhKpE-Lk2rn0igucwQCLcBGAs/s200/flandre_scarlet_touhou_drawn_by_monrooru__sample-0c3eaff84e2ac147cb1fe4d6bf68ae78%255B1%255D.png" width="141" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://seiga.nicovideo.jp/seiga/im2733608">Like that, maybe</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Pseudonymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03985169732528456457noreply@blogger.com0