A very particular set of (sub-) skills This article offers a rather unnecessary thing: a number of skill techniques bought to their maximum level and given new names as quick-pick advantages. These came about when I concocted a technique-based bunch of parkour- and thievery-related power-ups during the playtest for Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves. They didn’t appear in the book, so in the spirit of waste not, want not, I leave you with those power-ups here, along with more that I created later. Such technique-based advantages – I’ll call them “TBAs” – aren’t a new thing. Dungeon Fantasy 11: Power-Ups (p. 7) gives them a thumbs-up for simplicity, and offers examples…
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GURPS resource: ST Monster Table
What monstrosity lumbers forth? The ST Monster Table for GURPS! Why has it risen? None can say – or perhaps none dare. Born of a mad notion that the Damage Table and the Basic Lift and Encumbrance Table could be fused into a single heaving entity, this Qabalic construct reveals even damage scores expunged from the Damage Table. For while summoning new tables for STROLL of late, it was discerned that the stars are aligned and the portals are open; now is the time. The time for what? To create that hybrid beast of a table – and to cram it full of everything! What lies within? Madness, that’s what!…
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DFRPG resource: Wizardly Spell List
In Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (DFRPG), what spells can a cleric or druid access with a given level of Power Investiture? We’ve got handy lists for that! And what spells can a wizard learn with a given level of Magery? We’ve got… well, not a handy list. Because it’s a little complex for the wizards. Learning a given spell requires a given level of Magery and, often, one or more prerequisites (which aren’t always even spells). So a list of spells by Magery level still wouldn’t let wizards just pick out spells like clerics and druids do. On top of that, such a list would be long, as wizards blow…
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GURPS resource: New techniques
Getting technique-al The skill sub-sets called techniques (pp. B229-233) are a fun part of GURPS. This page lists new techniques of my own invention. I’m no guru at technique design. My new techniques here are all simple creations, built without complication as a bonus to some existing use of a prerequisite skill, or a reduction of some existing penalty. Easy stuff. The only parts calling for a little thought are setting the maximum number of levels, and deciding whether the technique is Average or Hard. I’m still winging it, so feel free to modify my ideas, especially my arbitrary maximum levels. And please comment if you see flaws in my…
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GURPS/DFRPG resource: New weapons
Minding the gaps This page concocts a handful of new weapons for GURPS and Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (DFRPG). These aren’t built from any fancy “design system” (including GLAIVE), nor are they conjured out of thin air; they’re simply extrapolated from the games’ weapon tables to fill in “gaps” among existing models. Wherever possible, data from the newer Low-Tech, Martial Arts, and DFRPG is used as reference, superseding information in Basic Set. (Some of the existing weapons discussed don’t appear at all in Basic Set.) In short, these serve no great need, and are some of the most mundane weapons you can find. But hey, what adventurer doesn’t appreciate more…
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GURPS/DFRPG resource: New perks
Looking to ply your PC with new powers but can’t pay the points? Perk up! Whether you call them perks (GURPS) or just 1-point advantages (DFRPG), single-point purchases make for interesting differentiators and even snack-sized superpowers. Below are some perks of my own invention, for your consideration and use. Leave a comment if any seem particularly interesting! Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), introduced in GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks, specifies some task or action that a character performs as a matter of course, even off-screen – reloading weapons (good for action heroes), sitting with your back to a wall (good for paranoid heroes), and many more. This lets the…
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A questionable resource: Names for things in fantasy games
A clump of collective nouns So we have collective nouns for animals, from the mundane “herd of cattle” and “flock of birds” to the twee “pounce of cats” and “cackle of hyenas”. Gamers have taken up the baton to suggest similar words for fantasy beings: “a band of bards”, “a convocation of clerics”, and what not. I hereby suggest a few of my own, with GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game foremost in mind. Below is my beginning (and not-too-serious) mess of monikers for your collective consideration. (You can expect – if not exactly look forward to – updates as more names come to mind.) Characters Creatures Cockatrice,…
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DFRPG resource: Questions and answers!
I read and play the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game… and I have questions! Riddles in the dark! (Fine, “riddles of the dork”, if you must.) DFRPG dishes up its rules with admirable clarity and completeness. Still, its text covers a lot of exploits, powers, monsters, and more, and the inevitable uncertainties arise. This page is an ongoing record of questions I’ve posed (generally on the DFRPG forum) and the answers I’ve received. The focus is on official rulings and clarifications (i.e., answers from line manager Kromm), but I’ll also be listing answers from other sources, as well as questions that remain unanswered. This will be a slowly growing resource. Visit…
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GURPS/DFRPG resource: New Talents
Talents in GURPS are advantages that boost skills and typically offer some additional benefit. Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (DFRPG) has Talents too (even if that game just calls them “advantages”). This page will hold any Talents that I’ve created or revised. In addition to the expected information, I note where the Talents have been introduced earlier on other pages. Reading those may offer additional background on the thinking behind the Talents. This page may be updated with new offerings at any time, so check back now and then. The Talent show Assassin’s Gift 5 points/level (GURPS, DFRPG) Killing comes unnaturally easy to you – just not the straight-up, face-to-face kind…
