Critical hits. There are lots of different mechanics from different systems, but the ol' default always seems to be 20 always hits + critical effect, and a 1 always spectacularly fails.
Statistically this seems to be stacked against the players. They are usually the few that fight the horde. So if every roll has a 5% chance of not only hitting no matter what but doing extra damage on top of it that horde of goblins is suddenly a bit scarier (not really, but mathematically they are fearsome!) That 5% comes up a lot more too but no one really cares if a goblin drops his sword. There are too many to deal with anyway.
Yet players love Critical hits. As a player I love critical hits. I think the first rule we tossed in 3rd edition D&D was the confirming a critical nonsense. Don't deny me my criticals!
After all this is the stuff those great gaming stories are made from. In one game the DM introduced us to the big bad (a vampire). We weren't supposed to beat him, weren't really supposed to get into a fight at all, but we did. The plan was we were to be defeated, learn a bit of his plan, level up for a while and then climatically defeat him at the end of the campaign.
What really happened though....
We descended into the cave and started to battle the big bad. A few rounds in we realized what we were fighting. We didn't have magical weapons, not a lot of magic, and realized we were outclassed, we didn't even realize how badly we were outclassed. My wife who didn't have a lot of D&D experience at the time, said she was making a called shot with her crossbow at his heart, because stake through the heart works on vampires right? I cast true strike on her because it seemed like the best option at the time and then she rolled and got a natural 20. The DM decided it didn't matter if undead "couldn't get critical hits on them" The bolt few true, pierced his heart and killed him. High fives went all around and the tale is still told to this day (outside this blog as well!) The GM let us kill the big bad early, because it was just too cool an opportunity and the dice were on our side along with a good plan, who was he to let a little rule get in the way of a good time and sharing in player success. He just pencil whipped in that the real big bad was a deamon or some such, and we fought it later.
So on the other side of the screen now I keep critical hits around for just that very reason. I've expanded a bit on the critical fails as well.
I ran a group through Keep on the Boarderlands. It was the one time I was planning on having them encounter orcs and goblins and such so I put in a bit more thought than normal to the cannon fodder.
I did this by expanding the critical fails. Whenever the goblins rolled a 2-5 I aborted their attack and had them do something rather goblinish. They would loose interest in the battle and take a nap, stop and pick their nose, get confused and think that they were retreating only to realize that they were wrong and come back next round. I saved the dreaded 1 roll for them getting some revenge on another goblin and taking the thick of melee to stab the other one in the back while no one was noticing.
I played it for laughs and the players seemed to really like it. Looking back I think it added more personality to the monsters they fought rather than the normal swing and miss, swing and hit results from the dice.
I liked this so much I expanded this to other monsters, though I ended up reducing the numbers to 1-3. So whenever this came up I use the opportunity to have the monster do something to show its personality (after all the players aren't going to sit down and have a tankard of ale and get to know them anyway). They may boast, or gloat. I'll have the monster give a "tell" in a round as a precursor to using a special ability, like a dragon taking a deep breath as the round action prior to using its breath weapon.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Magical mishaps
I like the idea of magic being a glass cannon in games. Really powerful, but fickle.
The trick is making it incentivized for players enough to be worthwhile, while also actually posing some risk. Of course the trade off is that this would apply to villains as well. While probably anti-climactic to have Vecna melt his own skull off, it just might help out mid fight.
A big chunk of the inspiration for this was the book of the dead from Evil Dead. Where just reading the book (or playing the audio recording of it being read…) was enough to invoke the ancient evil, even if the actual speaker had no idea what they were doing.
-Anyone can cast a spell of any level they have encountered. Most are written in some esoteric tongue (i.e. latin, etc. ) but other than that they are accessible. No one wants to actually use a book that was written in code that they’ll have to decipher every time they want to use it. Magic has its drawbacks though. Every time you cast a spell there is a chance of something bad* happening. The very act of learning magic also corrupts the mind and soul distancing you from the people around you. Every spellbook you read will pervert your sense of reality in some way (this is the true reason why wizards are running around wearing pointy hats with stars on them or live as unwashed hermits and so forth) [mechanic effect: for every 6 spells learned, a quirk is developed. It may be assigned from a spellbook (GM) or if you pick up 6 spells a la carte from scrolls, self study or what have you, you get to make one up!]
So why be a magic user then?
Magic users don’t suffer the chance of something bad happening when they cast spells within their class/level restrictions.
Magic users can also create spells through independent research. Non-magic users can only cast spells they come across in books, scrolls, or are taught by other means.
*So what do I mean by bad stuff.
For any spell cast above the normal class level ability for spell per day / level make a saving throw vs. Magic. Upon failure roll on the following table.
If you fail the saving throw here is the spell fail effect. (roll 1d20)
1 Overcome by otherworldly visions collapse for 20+d20 hour coma. When you wake up you understand more of the deeper functions of the universe. Ask the DM one Yes / No question.
2 1d10 wiz damage 1d10 int damage. Heals at the rate of 1 point an hour
3 cast random other spell of the same level 1-3 cleric spell 4-6 magic-user spell
4 spell failure, no other effect
5 Reverse the spells effect (heal causes damage etc)
6 Mana burn: take 10% max HP (round up) as damage. Spell fails. If this kills the caster they burn up from the inside leaving nothing but ash behind.
7 Spell fails. It was another magic user that made you fail, you are sure of it. Probably that friend of yours. They’re jealous of you and your power, best keep you eye on them-the probably want to steal all your stuff for themselves.
8 Cast Summon (See LotFP Rules and Magic, its free - google it)
9 spell goes horribly wrong (like the transporter incident from Star Trek 1, let your imagination go wild)
10 Illusionary spell: Caster thinks it cast successfully, no-one else sees anything
11 Change target randomly (spell caster included)
12 Area of effect targets single target (closest to center) single target spell affects 1d6 1-2 sphere 3-4 cone 5-6 line (centered on original target)
13 magic drain, suffer -1 int or wiz for # turns = spell level, spell cast as normal
14 stunned -1 to all rolls for # of rounds = spell level, spell cast as normal
15 spell cast with minimum effect, all dice are 1s
16 spell cast with altered cosmetic effect, mechanical effects are the same. Lighting damage is instead giant balls of hail, or thorny vines that whip out and attack victim. Sleep is extreme apathy that makes someone completely unresponsive, prismatic spray shoots bubbles, or butterflys, etc.
17 spell cast as normal
18 spell cast as normal
19 spell cast as normal
20 Spell cast successfully with overpowering effect (max range, have damage dice explode, etc. etc. sleep causes coma, charm creates obsessive sycophant, etc. )
For: OSR/DND 1-2nd ed
Saving throws favor wizards and give ¼ chance of success at 1st level and get to roughly ¾ chance of success at 20th level. I like this margin because it isn’t horrible at 1st level, but there is still risk even at 20th level. Other classes don’t have quite such good odds, but that’s ok, they aren’t magic users, so I don’t mind there being more risk for them.
For 3rd ed/Pathfinder I think a DC 20 save. It makes the base difficulty a bit higher, but with attribute bonuses and feats I can see it also being possibly abused.
The 15-20 results are so when a spell is cast- given a ¼ chance of success on the save. There is a ~7/16 chance of the spell being cast successfully and a 9/16 chance of something going wrong. Risky but not unreasonable odds I think.
I was tempted to include hp damage to the list, but realized this just unfairly punished magic users compared to fighters etc.
A future project, may be to revise the list to include spell specific side effects. But that is a project for another day.
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Reoccurring NPCs
It is always great to have a campaign that spans for years. On the other hand as life so often gets in the way a campaign may sputter and fall flat well before you want it to. So you can spin up a new game in the same setting, or completely change games for a new feel.
Either way you probably don't want to run the same adventure that you just ran over again, even if the players have changed. But that means a lot more work on your part as the GM.
I've seen players keep a favorite PC from and transplant them from one game to the next, in fact that is a core concept behind the organized play of the RPGA and such.
But why should the players get all the fun?
I hold to the ideal that I don't need to make an extensive background for every NPC the players meet. Generally a few notes on how the act, and if the players interact with them more then I might flesh them out to give them a stats and so forth.
But sometimes I know an NPC is going to stick with the group either to shore up a party shortfall or as a story hook or something. But then I have to build a whole new character for the party each time... more work.
A fellow GM of mine introduced me to the idea of recycling main NPCs. He has a handful of NPCs where there is a personality that he has developed. Those same couple of characters who he has developed over the course of a game, rather than be thrown away, are lovingly kept and re-cycled into the next game he plays, re-imagined in the context of the new game, but still having the same general motives and personality. This way he already knows how the character is going to act and react to situations well before hand, because the character is already well defined in his head. To keep it easy he doesn't even change the NPCs name so it is super easy to keep track of.
But what if the players catch on?
The will, they do, and they have.
I was surprised at first, but then found that I related well to the NPC as the "feeling out" period was significantly reduced. Sure, it was a bit meta, but because we generally knew how the NPC would fit into the story the game moved smoothly along.
Of course you can always steal a beloved concept from one of your players have and make it your own as a reoccurring NPC.
An example:
I ran a game of shadowrun and one of the players ran a physical adept, with a lot of points dumped into temporary physical boosts (so yeah, he was a bezerker) troll with short term memory loss. He was smart (for a troll) so just above average mental facilities minus the amnesia, and of course plenty of physical ability and a nifty enchanted sword.
Stealing that idea an re-imagining it as an NPC I can have a bruiser type character who doesn't fall into the strong and stupid trope, and has the fun quirk of amnesia instead, so he's fine as long as he it with someone else but if left alone can completely forget the task at hand.
Either way you probably don't want to run the same adventure that you just ran over again, even if the players have changed. But that means a lot more work on your part as the GM.
I've seen players keep a favorite PC from and transplant them from one game to the next, in fact that is a core concept behind the organized play of the RPGA and such.
But why should the players get all the fun?
I hold to the ideal that I don't need to make an extensive background for every NPC the players meet. Generally a few notes on how the act, and if the players interact with them more then I might flesh them out to give them a stats and so forth.
But sometimes I know an NPC is going to stick with the group either to shore up a party shortfall or as a story hook or something. But then I have to build a whole new character for the party each time... more work.
A fellow GM of mine introduced me to the idea of recycling main NPCs. He has a handful of NPCs where there is a personality that he has developed. Those same couple of characters who he has developed over the course of a game, rather than be thrown away, are lovingly kept and re-cycled into the next game he plays, re-imagined in the context of the new game, but still having the same general motives and personality. This way he already knows how the character is going to act and react to situations well before hand, because the character is already well defined in his head. To keep it easy he doesn't even change the NPCs name so it is super easy to keep track of.
But what if the players catch on?
The will, they do, and they have.
I was surprised at first, but then found that I related well to the NPC as the "feeling out" period was significantly reduced. Sure, it was a bit meta, but because we generally knew how the NPC would fit into the story the game moved smoothly along.
Of course you can always steal a beloved concept from one of your players have and make it your own as a reoccurring NPC.
An example:
I ran a game of shadowrun and one of the players ran a physical adept, with a lot of points dumped into temporary physical boosts (so yeah, he was a bezerker) troll with short term memory loss. He was smart (for a troll) so just above average mental facilities minus the amnesia, and of course plenty of physical ability and a nifty enchanted sword.
Stealing that idea an re-imagining it as an NPC I can have a bruiser type character who doesn't fall into the strong and stupid trope, and has the fun quirk of amnesia instead, so he's fine as long as he it with someone else but if left alone can completely forget the task at hand.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Learning to play
Learning a new game, especially a roleplaying game can be daunting with a bunch of new rules, and a world that is all fleshed out. It can take the wind out of the sails pretty easy to think you have to read 400 pages to play a game.
So sure, I have 30 extra sourcebooks for extra equipment and character options, but that is probably worth keeping on the shelf until the new player is hooked and wants to dig in deeper.
Sometimes it is best to just get the game going and go from there. In one such case it turned into a fairly funny anecdote.
I had a group that was all new to playing Deadlands. I tried to contain my excitement that they were willing to play something other than Dungeons and Dragons so I kept the tagline simple by telling them that it is the Wild West with zombies and other monsters and weirdness, and that we'll learn as we play.
To keep things simple I had everyone just pick an archetype character that we could either modify or toss after the first session and started playing.
The first session was meant to be pretty simple and introduce the mechanics to them. They were on a train from Missouri to points out west. At one point the train was going to be robbed by some steam-car bandits so they could get a feel for combat, the train would be damaged and have to make an unscheduled stop which would introduce the hook for the adventure next session, but first I wanted them to get the idea of non-combat skill rolls while they got to know each other. There was the dark mysterious gunslinger, the Chinese martial artist/laundry worker, the reporter, and the saloon dancer. The saloon dancer quickly got a reputation for having a very large chest because every time her player mentioned an item she needed she pulled it out from between her breasts.
On the train there was a kid who was playing with a tin horse. He was an irritating little scamp who was more than his mom could handle and was running around the whole train asking questions and generally getting in the way. When the player conversation slowed, I notified the group that the boy was now crying, wailing, bereft of all hope that joy would ever enter his life again. He had lost his horse.
So the ever helpful players started looking for it. I explained how the skill rolls worked, and asked each player where they were looking. I had settled on a easy to moderate difficulty as the point was to show how the dice rolls worked. It didn't really matter WHERE they searched, just that they did it, and when one of them hit the target number they would be the one to find it.
Everyone picked a location, under a chair, in the baggage rack, the sleeper cabin, etc. and rolled the dice. Fail, fail, critical fail, fail. Any one of them should have easily accomplished the task but the dice were against them. So we tried again, the players stretched their brains a little thinking of other places to look and we rolled again. Again the dice were only coming up with 1s and 2s, and no one could find the blasted tin horse. Finally, the player the rather busty dancer in frustration said that she was checking her cleavage. Roll the dice and success! No one could figure out how it got there, but the roll had it.
We all had a good laugh and the gal playing made it part of a running joke for the rest of the adventure.
So sure, I have 30 extra sourcebooks for extra equipment and character options, but that is probably worth keeping on the shelf until the new player is hooked and wants to dig in deeper.
Sometimes it is best to just get the game going and go from there. In one such case it turned into a fairly funny anecdote.
I had a group that was all new to playing Deadlands. I tried to contain my excitement that they were willing to play something other than Dungeons and Dragons so I kept the tagline simple by telling them that it is the Wild West with zombies and other monsters and weirdness, and that we'll learn as we play.
To keep things simple I had everyone just pick an archetype character that we could either modify or toss after the first session and started playing.
The first session was meant to be pretty simple and introduce the mechanics to them. They were on a train from Missouri to points out west. At one point the train was going to be robbed by some steam-car bandits so they could get a feel for combat, the train would be damaged and have to make an unscheduled stop which would introduce the hook for the adventure next session, but first I wanted them to get the idea of non-combat skill rolls while they got to know each other. There was the dark mysterious gunslinger, the Chinese martial artist/laundry worker, the reporter, and the saloon dancer. The saloon dancer quickly got a reputation for having a very large chest because every time her player mentioned an item she needed she pulled it out from between her breasts.
On the train there was a kid who was playing with a tin horse. He was an irritating little scamp who was more than his mom could handle and was running around the whole train asking questions and generally getting in the way. When the player conversation slowed, I notified the group that the boy was now crying, wailing, bereft of all hope that joy would ever enter his life again. He had lost his horse.
So the ever helpful players started looking for it. I explained how the skill rolls worked, and asked each player where they were looking. I had settled on a easy to moderate difficulty as the point was to show how the dice rolls worked. It didn't really matter WHERE they searched, just that they did it, and when one of them hit the target number they would be the one to find it.
Everyone picked a location, under a chair, in the baggage rack, the sleeper cabin, etc. and rolled the dice. Fail, fail, critical fail, fail. Any one of them should have easily accomplished the task but the dice were against them. So we tried again, the players stretched their brains a little thinking of other places to look and we rolled again. Again the dice were only coming up with 1s and 2s, and no one could find the blasted tin horse. Finally, the player the rather busty dancer in frustration said that she was checking her cleavage. Roll the dice and success! No one could figure out how it got there, but the roll had it.
We all had a good laugh and the gal playing made it part of a running joke for the rest of the adventure.
Saturday, January 21, 2017
The city that never sleeps
I'm playing a game of Exalted currently and one thing that has been really fun is that the GM leaves a lot of room open for the players to provide input. In this specific case he had requested several citystates as background. Here is one that I came up with.
Fu Tien, The kingdom that never sleeps.
Fu Tien's most valuable asset is that it is a breadbasket kingdom. It controls many hectares of fertile farmland that produce rice, and many other staple grains. Large irrigation ditches mesh the fields together and serve as a water way for transportation of goods. A few sleepy hamlets provide gathering spots out in the fields and paddies. With the majority of the land flooded for rice the area has an overall swampy feel. Waterfowl (duck & Geese) being the primary game to be found (as well as frogs and other swamp creatures to be found amongst the flooded rice paddies). It is most known for its one large city, Shen-Fan the capital. It is here that the kingdom receives its nickname.
Any public building, be it government, or commercial never closes. Availability is... the number one priority within the city. Needless to say the city is a place of constant trade, business, and entertainment.
A position within the city, be it store owner or government official is not attributed to a person, it is attributed to a mask of office. The dynamic this causes is that an important position is usually filled by two or three people who share a mask of the position. However, this causes several interesting effects.
The first: Social status is determined by mask. Higher positions, and the wealthy have ornate masks. These are passed down as heirlooms, and a reputations cling to masks across generations.
The Second: One person may have several masks. It is not uncommon for a ruler to don another mask and conduct intrigue, or slum to either find out first hand the thoughts of the commoner, or to seek vice with impunity.
The third: Duel relationships develop between people and the masks, with sometimes even best friends turning to bitter rivals and vice versa depending upon the mask they wear.
The fourth: Not everyone wears a mask. The farming villages generally have one mask that is communally owned and is only used when a villager travels to the city to conduct business. The assumption in the city that a person without is that this person is a foreigner or a poor peasant. A person is generally treated as not even existing unless they are actively spending money, but they can expect to be ignored if any mask wearers are there for service.
Fu Tien's most valuable asset is that it is a breadbasket kingdom. It controls many hectares of fertile farmland that produce rice, and many other staple grains. Large irrigation ditches mesh the fields together and serve as a water way for transportation of goods. A few sleepy hamlets provide gathering spots out in the fields and paddies. With the majority of the land flooded for rice the area has an overall swampy feel. Waterfowl (duck & Geese) being the primary game to be found (as well as frogs and other swamp creatures to be found amongst the flooded rice paddies). It is most known for its one large city, Shen-Fan the capital. It is here that the kingdom receives its nickname.
Any public building, be it government, or commercial never closes. Availability is... the number one priority within the city. Needless to say the city is a place of constant trade, business, and entertainment.
A position within the city, be it store owner or government official is not attributed to a person, it is attributed to a mask of office. The dynamic this causes is that an important position is usually filled by two or three people who share a mask of the position. However, this causes several interesting effects.
The first: Social status is determined by mask. Higher positions, and the wealthy have ornate masks. These are passed down as heirlooms, and a reputations cling to masks across generations.
The Second: One person may have several masks. It is not uncommon for a ruler to don another mask and conduct intrigue, or slum to either find out first hand the thoughts of the commoner, or to seek vice with impunity.
The third: Duel relationships develop between people and the masks, with sometimes even best friends turning to bitter rivals and vice versa depending upon the mask they wear.
The fourth: Not everyone wears a mask. The farming villages generally have one mask that is communally owned and is only used when a villager travels to the city to conduct business. The assumption in the city that a person without is that this person is a foreigner or a poor peasant. A person is generally treated as not even existing unless they are actively spending money, but they can expect to be ignored if any mask wearers are there for service.
The most common type of mask is the full face mask.
Masks come in many other types though, ones that cover just the eyes/upper face, those that cover just the lower, ½ masks like the phantom of the opera or ones with just he chin exposes like greek theater masks. These partial masks may serve a practical purpose (like exposed eyes for archers) though often they are for fashion purposes and are treated similar to a low cut blouse or high cut skirt as different parts are revealed to show of certain assets.
Names:
People have two names in the city.
A birth name, which is a single Chinese first/last name: Chen, Chin, Wong, Fai, Wing, Long, Pak, Tau, Hung, Kok, Yahn, Loung, etc.
This name is used with a personal mask (always worn out in public. As much of a requirement as pants in other cultures)
Non-personal masks have names too (the 2nd name) and this is the name of the position the mask holds in society. Names can be titled etc, as a mask becomes more famous (masks hold more historical personality and status than individuals – as a result people will “live up to” the reputation of the mask. A mask can give certain bonuses to skills related to it due to confidence of the wearer, though there is no reason a mask can't be enchanted as well to give magic bonuses
Mask name examples:
Head butcher of the eastern market
Mistress of 100 delights
Brutish Robber
2nd Magistrate of the traders quarter
Etc.
Birth and death of a mask. If a mask is broken it is dead. The offense is as grievous as murder of a person (possibly more so) They have their own funeral ritual and everything.
If a person accomplishes something of renown (or circumstance dictates a new mask is needed in society ) their mask may be entitled. On these rare occasions both names are used as well as the title when worn by the originator of the mask.
Example:
Chen had been a bus boy but saved up enough money to open his own restaurant (the drunken monkey). He turns in his bus boy mask when he quits his job and makes a new mask is to open the restaurant. He is now known as:
Chen Manager of the Drunken Monkey. When he goes off shift and has another person manage the restaurant, they take the mask and are known only as: Manager of the Drunken Monkey.
The things the city are known for are trade, and entertainment. There is a large red light district that appeals to all tastes and types (think the Vegas strip mixed with Amsterdam).
The culture if very blunt and up front. Although anotimity doesn’t really exist as a mask has as much reputation as a person anywhere else, the constant migration of traders etc that feel they have anotimity because of the masks have affected the culture (much like people feel like they can say whatever they want due to internet handles).
As a result people will be very blunt and often only really have respect for and when wearing a position mask.
(ex. The manager of an establishment has to be polite because the manager of the establishment is connected, and will treat all guests cordially. The same person with their personal mask on, may tell the same person: “nice outfit, do you look as good out of it?” out of the blue
Friday, January 6, 2017
A son is born and a kingdom dies
So I took a couple of weeks off, because well Christmas and New Years, and my wife and I had our first son. So a busy time.
So what have I been doing over a holiday of my wife being away in hospital? Playing Kingdom Death:Monster.
KD:M has a reputation for being a brutal game, and in my case this was no different. In fact I don't think I've played anything so harsh since I rolled dice to "B-17 Queen of the Skies"
The game is supposed to span about 25 game years. My little civilization lasted 9 years. The small settlement I had ventured into the darkness to hunt the monsters that lurked just beyond the lantern's light.
We lost a hunter on each trip, but the settlement slowly grew and developed despite the loss. The remaining hunters got stronger, and I got better as a player hunting the white lions. Then I made the mistake of hunting the screaming antelope. The problem with this was that on both counts while hunting the antelope we found the half eaten remains of the antelope and were ambushed by a mighty great white lion that was well beyond the hunters ability. While I avoided any TPKs, my most experienced hunters got killed off, sometimes three at a time. I could probably bare all this if I could replace my lost survivors. Nope. Instead my survivors caught a case of ennui and wandered off into the darkness rather than breeding, or died in childbirth. Finally the civilization got the boon of twins being born only to have a strange knight appear and kill off almost all the remaining survivors, which included the only remaining female. So now, only two hunters remained against the inevitable darkness went off on their last hunt together never to return.
So a horrible sad tale was woven by the game, and I can't wait to play it again now that my wife is back to play with me, and we'll see if we can adventure further into the twisted darkness that is KD:M
So what have I been doing over a holiday of my wife being away in hospital? Playing Kingdom Death:Monster.
KD:M has a reputation for being a brutal game, and in my case this was no different. In fact I don't think I've played anything so harsh since I rolled dice to "B-17 Queen of the Skies"
The game is supposed to span about 25 game years. My little civilization lasted 9 years. The small settlement I had ventured into the darkness to hunt the monsters that lurked just beyond the lantern's light.
We lost a hunter on each trip, but the settlement slowly grew and developed despite the loss. The remaining hunters got stronger, and I got better as a player hunting the white lions. Then I made the mistake of hunting the screaming antelope. The problem with this was that on both counts while hunting the antelope we found the half eaten remains of the antelope and were ambushed by a mighty great white lion that was well beyond the hunters ability. While I avoided any TPKs, my most experienced hunters got killed off, sometimes three at a time. I could probably bare all this if I could replace my lost survivors. Nope. Instead my survivors caught a case of ennui and wandered off into the darkness rather than breeding, or died in childbirth. Finally the civilization got the boon of twins being born only to have a strange knight appear and kill off almost all the remaining survivors, which included the only remaining female. So now, only two hunters remained against the inevitable darkness went off on their last hunt together never to return.
So a horrible sad tale was woven by the game, and I can't wait to play it again now that my wife is back to play with me, and we'll see if we can adventure further into the twisted darkness that is KD:M
Friday, December 16, 2016
Product Review: Blood in the Chocolate
For: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
By: Kiel Chenier
Cost: 19.25 Euro
print+pdf
$7.99 pdf
Sometimes the stars align just right. In this case it was that my daughters
discovered Willy Wanka and the Chocolate Factory and in that wonderful way kids
do have been wanting to watch it again and again, just about this time LotFP
released Blood in the Chocolate. As I’m
a glutton for punishment the local market has been having a sale on Milka bars-
so my life has been awash in chocolate as of late.
First and foremost Blood in the Chocolate is “inspired by”
the work of Roald Dahl (or perhaps more accurately the film my kids have been
watching). The quotes are because it IS
NOT a D&D adventure that apes the story you know. It is far far darker.
The Chocolate factory deals very little with the production
of chocolate. We see the river where it
is mixed, and plenty of experimental rooms of whimsy, and find that despite
being a chocolate factory Wonka is in fact very diverse in the realm of candy
and confection production.
Blood in the chocolate on the other hand pays a slightly
more realistic approach to chocolate production. Other confections are ignored, however much
of the factory is just that- a factory.
Although a pre-industrial age setting, it brings all the fun of “The
Jungle” to the table top. Grinding
gears and molten chocolate are a subtle danger at nearly every turn (well,
subtle until your scarf is pulling you closer to the gears, or 3rd
degree burns on your hand and face from trying to drink the stuff like the kid
in the movie did…)
The best part of the whole thing is that as weird and
twisted as the adventure can be, it is all done with subtlety. There isn’t any obvious encounter- no monster
to fight when you kick down the door.
You do have a villain and a mob of fanatical followers though, so things
can go south very quickly. Of course
they can also go south if you are nice too.
If for some reason the players completely ignore the adventure it can
still have it subtly affect the game as others are affected by the rare side
effect of the chocolate.
Unlike Wonka where punishments were doled out to children
who needed to learn a lesson, here you almost root for Slugworth to win. The punishments are doled out
indiscriminately (i.e. the players, but hey, the probably broke and entered,
and are at least contemplating theft if not murder). And the factory owner of
this place, is not spritely or clever, she is mean, vain, and evil. So then again, perhaps everyone gets what is
coming to them after all.
They layout of the book makes it easy to read, the art is
fantastic; complete with a walkthrough of a possible outcome in the .pdf
version.
And yet… it feels like there is a little something
missing.
With the sheer number of mini-minions in the factory, it
would have been nice to have some non-combat encounters included with the
little guys. As is they occupy the
entire factory and they just seem a bit dry, sure goblins don’t get exposition
in adventures either, but these guys are at least pretty benign and possibly
helpful as long as the factory owner isn’t directing her wrath at you (then be
warned, you could easily end up the victim of blueberry gang bang rape).
This can easily be solved by a bit of planning on the
storytellers part (and really how often do goblins get exposition?)
This adventure is a definite module to pick up though, the
familiarity that probably every player has with Willy Wanka makes the changes
off putting enough to instill a good sense of creepiness (even without the ferryboat
ride) for your players and still be entertaining.
Like Most LotFP adventures the setting is pretty harsh, and
even a party that gets through with no casualties will more than likely come
away with several scars (mental and physical).
1/26/17 update
I came across this and it pretty much captures everything I imagine this module to be:
1/26/17 update
I came across this and it pretty much captures everything I imagine this module to be:
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