Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo
Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 6:35 am
Got mine last night. Where is the cleavage table?
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Wasn't that one of the things that was so, um, momentous it was moved to a later book...Karaptis wrote:Where is the cleavage table?
Yup. It's still alive and well. Just postponed.GnomeBoy wrote:Wasn't that one of the things that was so, um, momentous it was moved to a later book...Karaptis wrote:Where is the cleavage table?
Nice to hear the rule's still breathing.smathis wrote:Yup. It's still alive and well. Just postponed.GnomeBoy wrote:Wasn't that one of the things that was so, um, momentous it was moved to a later book...Karaptis wrote:Where is the cleavage table?
It was painful trying to figure out what was necessary/essential for the first book. The Cleavage Rule was a lot of fun.
Thanks.Ragingsystem wrote:Well I finished reading this bad boy and I must say I cannot wait for more
Consider yourself at two more sales when the next books come out, heck I might even get hard copies.
The investigation sub-system isn't too bad. Like the between adventures stuff, it pretty much runs itself. When we use it, we're fairly fast and loose with it. I always make sure to try and figure out what the player is intending their action to do and how they are trying to accomplish it. That way it's easier to tell whether they're staking a place out or carousing. Usually it's pretty easy to figure out though. And ultimately it just rolls along as long as benefits/clues are awarded or complications enter the game.Ragingsystem wrote:I am slightly intimidated by the investigation structure but that's just because the idea of it is really smart and new to me, so that is a good thing not a bad thing. Once I give it a few test runs with my more experienced players I'm sure I'll be pumping out adventures for my home group relatively quickly. On the awesome side you provide plenty of tools to help lessen the work which will be really helpful!
From what I can see the systems all work brilliantly together, I love the concepts of Ruin, and the Adversary die and how much they can effect things, it looks like a lot of fun, as do the between adventure charts.
Really looking forward to putting together the first test adventure that I'll run with TA.
Funny. In early drafts of TATG, I was using exploding damage. We dropped that in favor of the system in the book. One thing that the TATG firearms damage allows you to do is dramatically lower the damage for, say, Mummies or Swamp Monsters who aren't effected much by bullets. I guess if I were going back to exploding damage I'd have guns only do 1 point of damage against those types of creatures.Ragingsystem wrote:1: For fire arms, I will be changing amounts of damage and instead of squaring the damage dice can "explode" meaning a 4 on a d4 gets added to the total damage and then gets re-rolled. Not changing reload times, but may add an upgrade that allows the player to roll a D6 and on a 1 they reload in half the time or less. Not sure yet I'll play around with what feels awesome.
One of the rule enhancements that was pulled out and moved to a later book is in the spirit of Shields Shall Be Broken. It was called Objects Shall Be Misplaced. It's a very thematic hack and worked well in play when it came up. Look for it in upcoming books.Ragingsystem wrote:2: I use Shields will be Broken, so shields provide blocking instead of AC.
I might try something similar with Medium and Heavy armor in the form of Damage Reduction if the party finds it.
Good old Dutch Courage. Love it.Ragingsystem wrote:3: Drink for good Health, Any time a player drinks they gain 1HD of temp hit points, a -2 to ac, and a +2 to melee damage.
This ability is stack able but is only usable a number of times per adventure equal to level+Stamina mod. They have to be able to afford and carry this liquor though, and will probably have some other penalties after 1 stack though I'll run that on the fly.
Thanks!Ragingsystem wrote:That's all I've got for now, I'll post updates or even a mini-review when I have a chance to run a session or two
Cool. Happy you enjoyed it.grald_the_hunter wrote:Bought my PDF and have read it over. Doing the first session next weekend. I really enjoyed it (as I thought I would) but I have a few questions:
Ah. I see the confusion. A character is "trained" in any skill in which he has a bonus. Some skills this doesn't matter so much (like Climb). Others it matters a great deal (like "Pick Pocket"). It's unclear because we're very fast and loose with it. A lot of times if a character has an Occupation or a Hobby that kinda sorta matches with a skill check we'll go ahead and roll a d20. It's a little off the cuff but very much in the spirit of DCC.grald_the_hunter wrote:1) About skills, is a PC considered "trained" (i.e., roll d20 vs. d10) in all the skills in which he has bonuses? Since you write that the classes use their action dice (d20 only at 1st) for skill rolls as well as attacks and other rolls, are they considered "trained" (d20 roll) for any skill check regardless of whether they have bonuses or not?
It's in a box (that oddly starts on p. 79) titled "But I Want a Hunter Who Can Use That!". That pretty much spells it all out. Multiclassing in a 3-paragraph sidebar. Believe it or not, it works really well. I had characters at gencon that were wildly "multiclassed" (Hunters with kung fu and Exotic weapons, Exotics with an Polymath ability) and no one blinked.grald_the_hunter wrote:2) I see multiclassing in the index on page 80 but . . . no multiclassing rules there. Am I missing something?
That's what I'm hoping. I'm still working out the details through Lulu. It's looking like $11 or $12 is the most I can discount though.grald_the_hunter wrote:3) Since I bought the PDF, what would the discount for the POD be? Equal to the value of the PDF (i.e., $12.99) or something else?
It depends on the game, the player, and the character. I'd say most of the time players are upgrading their class abilities. General upgrades aren't used too much at all (even the AC bump). I've seen Penniless characters upgrade their way out of poverty. Then again, once in a while there will be a player who isn't interested in a combat monster and will just buy up skills like crazy. I mean, a a TATG character could be only 4th level and have like a +14 in Pick Pocket or Disguise. That's as good as a 10th level DCC character. Sometimes players figure they really want a character that does this-one-thing and they go for it.grald_the_hunter wrote:4) Why would a PC get a hobby or skill when using upgrades instead of a combat upgrade (I guess if his combat abilities are upgraded to the max)? I don't know any of my players who would get a hobby or skill instead of a combat-related upgrade like increased AC. Languages are something different as my players tend to realize the utility in them, but not many other skills. Yeah, they could be munchkins, but I'm just not seeing the same value in a single hobby vs. an AC upgrade.
A 1st level class gets all the combat tactics listed with his class at 1st level. These are really just little add-ons that make things more fun for the combat-focused characters. They allow combat to be more than roll-hit-miss for them. A character can get any combat tactic (for which he or she qualifies) with an upgrade.grald_the_hunter wrote:5) About combat tactics, does a class gain all those listed in its description automatically at 1st level, or are those the only ones he can buy when upgrading (I assume the former, although you never know) and it doesn't get any automatically?
Off the top of my head, Doom of the Savage Kings is awesome with DCC RPG. The Black Manse (due out soon?) is as well. Pretty much any DCC RPG adventure fits with TATG. For example, Tower Out of Time becomes a Lost World adventure. Or Portal Under the Stars becomes an archaeological expedition.grald_the_hunter wrote:6) In addition to the two official TATG adventures that have been released so far, which DCCRPG adventures could easily be reskinned as TATG adventures?
grald_the_hunter wrote:And would they be for the same level of characters?
If you wanted to use elves, dwarves, and halflings a few things stand out that might be issues.grald_the_hunter wrote:What would happen if I mixed the elf, dwarf, and halfling classes in with all the TA classes? Would they be too powerful?
I wrote up a mini level 0 adventure using it just to test some of the tables and things. I really can't wait to see my players go through it and test TA outsmathis wrote: The investigation sub-system isn't too bad. Like the between adventures stuff, it pretty much runs itself. When we use it, we're fairly fast and loose with it. I always make sure to try and figure out what the player is intending their action to do and how they are trying to accomplish it. That way it's easier to tell whether they're staking a place out or carousing. Usually it's pretty easy to figure out though. And ultimately it just rolls along as long as benefits/clues are awarded or complications enter the game.
Care to elaborate on why this was done? Just curious as I might just use rules as written, I don't want to confuse my players though.smathis wrote: Funny. In early drafts of TATG, I was using exploding damage. We dropped that in favor of the system in the book. One thing that the TATG firearms damage allows you to do is dramatically lower the damage for, say, Mummies or Swamp Monsters who aren't effected much by bullets. I guess if I were going back to exploding damage I'd have guns only do 1 point of damage against those types of creatures.
Curious about this and can't wait to see it and other rulessmathis wrote: One of the rule enhancements that was pulled out and moved to a later book is in the spirit of Shields Shall Be Broken. It was called Objects Shall Be Misplaced. It's a very thematic hack and worked well in play when it came up. Look for it in upcoming books.
Cool. Let me know how it goes. I hope you all have a great time.Ragingsystem wrote: I wrote up a mini level 0 adventure using it just to test some of the tables and things. I really can't wait to see my players go through it and test TA out
When I was going through the playtesting of firearms, it sparked a long debate and brainstorm over firearms with my primary playtest group. There are a lot of really smart guys (and gals) in that group. History buffs, engineers, programmers, architects, teachers, etc. I learned way more than I contributed. But my part in the debate was to uphold what would be fun and useful to gameplay. Their part was striving for something that was historically accurate.Ragingsystem wrote: Care to elaborate on why this was done? Just curious as I might just use rules as written, I don't want to confuse my players though.
In my dcc home game they acquired a gun or two and I just rolled with exploding dice due to the exciting feel of them. Heck I'd even let them pay 1 luck to force 1 explosion with a roll on the fumble chart or something. I like quirky swingy rules like that though.
Yup. I'd say it's even moreso in TATG. With the Adversary Die and the options available to help the players survive, there's very little need for a Judge/DM to mind what he's doing to the players. Open the floodgates. Things go very haywire.Ragingsystem wrote:In our DCC campaign people fight by the skin of their teeth and just barely escape death. I imagine TA will be the same.
The setting and hexmap are coming along well. Transylvania has a very rich history and some intriguing myths/creatures of its own. I'm hoping to mix in some of the real Transylvania alongside the Transylvania we know from pop culture. No doubt that's one of the most heavily researched portions of all three books.Ragingsystem wrote: Very much so excited for the setting book as well! Transylvania is an amazing place and setting.
Cool. I'd start with Horror of Dracula and Brides of Dracula. Then maybe Brotherhood of the Wolf (minus the last 15-20 minutes). And then Curse of Frankenstein.Ragingsystem wrote: I'm also planning on watching some of the recommended movies to get a better idea of your inspiration.
Still heaving.GnomeBoy wrote:Nice to hear the rule's still breathing.smathis wrote: The Cleavage Rule was a lot of fun.
Not yet. But I'm trying to get together a deal for those who've already bought the PDF to get the hardcover for much cheaper. The end result is likely that those who buy the pdf now will wind up paying maybe a $1 more than a PDF/Print bundle. PDF + Print bundle won't be available at RPGNow for at least a few weeks more. Once Lulu has its print versions figured out, I can offer free PDFs to those who buy a hardcover through Lulu.Rick wrote:Scott, I'm one of many (I'd imagine) waiting for the print-on-demand w/ free pdf offer. Any way we can pay for it now so we can dive right into the pdf?
I will make one available soon. I don't know what's happening with the character sheet in the PDF. It's the same one I used for GenCon and those turned out well. I think it has something to do with the "optimization" and watermarking RPGNow does with the PDF.Bonemouse wrote:Is there a higher resolution blank character sheet available for download? The one at the back of the PDF doesn't print very well. Thanks!
Thanks for the Reaver name.grald_the_hunter wrote:Thanks for the answers! Also, I love how my name for the Reaver class saw print!
There was one more thing I meant to ask that I forgot: is there a reason why PCs reroll max hit points at the beginning of every adventure? Seems like a lot of unnecessary rolling for little payback. I can see some interesting emergent gameplay coming from it ("our hardiest guy is sick this week, gotta protect him this time instead of that neurasthenic academician like usual") but it doesn't seem like the extra time spent (and damage to the character sheets) would be worth it.
Also, I want to echo that the character sheet prints poorly - the smaller words are very blurry.
The second builds off that and can be found in the In-Between Adventures Tables and the effects of threatened Relationships. So your hardy fighter-type might not just be sick but may be hungover or may have had his heart broken or just had a terrible fight with his wife or girlfriend. Or maybe his kid is sick and he's worried.I can see some interesting emergent gameplay coming from it ("our hardiest guy is sick this week, gotta protect him this time instead of that neurasthenic academician like usual")
Hi Ashkaider. Sorry for the confusion. "Likeable Fellow" is an ability from an earlier draft that got dropped. It became redundant when Socialize was added to the skill list. That's basically what it was.Ashikaider wrote:I just got the pdf last night, and I found that on the first page for the Valiant Class, it lists an ability called "Likeable Fellow", yet on the page that describes the abilities, there is no mention of said ability. Is this a real ability, or was it a leftover from a previous version of the class that got dropped?
Gah! I'd done so much to eliminate stuff like this. Sad to see this one made it through. Ugh. The correct numbers are 12-18 then 19-24. My bad.Hoplitenomad wrote:Typo in Circle of Refuge section. The 2nd tier is 6-11. The third tier is 12-21. But, the fourth tier says 15-24, so there is an overlap
There's a 0-level funnel featuring a few of Dr. Frankenstein's creations. As far as setting, that comes in the second book. A full hex map of Transylvania set up for play at maximum volume and more campaign and setting info than you can shake a stick at.sheriffharry wrote:Ordered on Lulu.
Is there a mini-adventure/setting in the main book ? (I already have The Winter Home)