Breaking shields [LotFP, LL, etc.]

Shields might be handy AC boosters. But as armors are almost unbreakable what about shields? They might break.

When character or a creature with a shield is hit with natural 20 result, there's a change that the shield breaks.

4 in 6 change for small shields and bucklers
3 in 6 change for medium and wooden shields
2 in 6 change for large and enforced shields
1 in 6 change for tower and metal shields

If there are no different types of shields in game use fifty-fifty (3-in-6) or what is most logical.

Also for flavor if an enemy attack is strong enough (lots of damage with a single blow or several attacks in a row for example) the shield might break. Use shield's change to break or x-in-6 change what suits best.

Sometimes natural 20 isn't necessarily needed at all. If a dragon stomps the character with a shield rolling well but not well enough to hit or rolls ridiculously bad damage, maybe it was the shield what saved character this time breaking into splinters in process!

In my opinion shields can be much more flavor and even character's trademark than just a static AC bonus.

Hit Points explained really well (not by me)

xaxers said in comments here this:

AH! Let me explain to you what HP really represent, rather than just how many hits from a sword you can take:

Really, they're about how well you can avoid critical damage. The fighter with 200 hp? Look, that d8 damage from a sword isn't about him just being so tough and manly that he just ignores the stab wound, it's that he's so tough, manly, and good at not getting stabbed in the face that he moves out of the way of most of the blow, so that you just cut him a little bit. A peasant who has never held a sword? Yeah, you're going to stick him real good, right in his liver. Dead and gone, real quick like.

That is what having a high HP count does--you, without need for additional rolling, basically avoid most of the blow that otherwise did connect with your armor. You get a bruise or scrape instead of a broken skull or pierced lung because you moved at the last instant, or gave with the blow and reduced the impact, or whatever. The point is, your skill at combat is what saved your life from that blow.

In my opinion that explanation is one of the best for HP I've read this far. What do you think?

Let's look back at the year 2012

This is the post about my gaming year of 2012. I'll write here about things that affected my gaming the most.

Old School Reneissance And Clones

Old Dunegons & Dragons never was the game I enjoyed when I was a kid. I already played RuneQuest and Warhammer 1e so when testing some red box D&D and AD&D 2e those didn't feel fun for me. The main reason propably is that I didn't start gaming with d20 (well, my first game was ANKH what is inspired by D&D) so D&D just didn't feel special anymore.

Last year I started to get really interested in OSR thanks to several blogs. At that time I enjoyed mostly Vampire: the Masquerade and was totally bored in fantasy because it was almost exclusively fantasy that I gamed when I was a kid (some scifi and cyberpunk too, but less of those).

But reading all neat OSR stuff I realized that fantasy can actually be cool if you do it right. Also I found out that actually some old-school games are rules simple and you can focus on the adventure instead of hundreds of pages of different rules.

I do enjoy storytelling games where characters are in the center but I also found out that games where the adventure is the main thing are awesome. Also the fact that it is so easy to write universal material for old-school games is awesome!

Lamentations of the Flame Princess

It was late 2011 when I bought the Grindhouse Edition box but I started to read and like it in early 2012. The rules are simple and I like the weird/horror themes of the game as I am a horror fan. It was easy step to start digging OSR with LotFP because it did hit the spot where my interests are. Also the Referee book is good read.

I liked the rules how they played like 3.0 but still old-school. That's ascending AC there. When I played D&D 3.0 I stripped the rules and when got into LotFP I realized that its rules are what I wanted 3.0 to be.

I never was that interested in pre-made adventures because I wanted to create and control my own games. LotFP adventures are so good that they actually made me appreciate pre-made adventures for the first time.

Of the 2012 games for me LotFP must be one of the most influencing game. It was the final hit for my OSR interest and it is a great game with great adventure and sourcebooks.

Also whole year 2012 LotFP products (Vornheim, adventures, Isle of the Unknown) were only gamebooks I wanted to buy new. That's something.

Labyrinth Lord

When searching for a real retro-clone (LotFP is like house-ruled version of traditional D&D-esque fantasy games) there were several game PDFs I checked out but none of those felt right for me. Then I found Labyrinth Lord and with some background research I realized that this is the real retro-clone for me.

I love how simple the rules are even though I am not a fan of Thac0 type combat (it fits LL perfectly though).

Labyrinth Lord is like old D&D for me now.

Most of the year I only owned the no-art PDF of Labyrinth Lord but in the autumn I won the softcover book in one competition. That was super awesome!

Creating Material

Now with OSR it is super easy to write fantasy (and other genre) material for roleplaying games. I don't have to worry what system to use, because OSR is universal system. Raggi in LotFP showed how to easily write stats for monsters and NPC compatible for both ascending and descending AC (armor as leather). And it's pretty fun to write little fantasy stuffs in the blog (and easy as I said).

Mutant Future

Interested in OSR and liking Fallout 3 videogame a lot and hearing about Gamma World I started to find out about that game more. Soon I found that Gamma World 1st and 2nd edition would be most interesting for me but unfortunately those are out of print now. Then I found Mutant Future and I was happy!

With Mutant Future you can play totally gonzo or more realistic Mad Max style. Or Fallout game with black humor including mutants. Mutant Future easily found its way to my favorite games. Rules are simple, mutations are whacky and post-apocalyptic setting is neat. I love playing this game and I am looking forward to buy the book.

Netflix

This is not roleplaying game, but I have enjoyed watching movies when I go to sleep (some movies might take even 5 days to finish). TV series I haven't watched that much but with Netflix coming to Finland and being compatible with Xbox 360 I've watched also several series.

When I watch movies I always thing roleplaying. How this scene, background story, character, gadget and so on could be awesome in a rpg.

Netflix is not only an awesome passtime but also great resource for endless inspiration for roleplayer.

[LotFP] Alternative skill system with DC

I am perfectly happy with the skill system in Lamentations of the Flame Princess but I cannot help myself when I think alternative rules. I don't necessarily use those myself but I like to create. Here's an alternative skill system for LotFP what is similar to newer Dungeons & Dragons editions.

Difficulty Class

Difficulty Class (DC) is a target number minimum needed for the skill test for a success. DC is determined by the Referee according to the situation. DCs are:

10 - Routine
15 - Challenging
20 - Tough
25 - Hard
30+ - Extreme

Skill Test

Roll d20 and add skill score (1 to 6) and ability modifier. If the task is something character class is supposed to be good at add also ½ of the level (round down).

Formula: d20 + skill + ability modifier (+ ½ character's class)

If the result is higher than the DC the task is a success.

Natural 20 is always a successful result except in Extreme difficulty class

Natural 1 is always a botch. Character doesn't only fail but something unexpected and negative happens.

Hands Of Death - Spell

Spell for Lamentation of the Flame Princess, d20, OSR and other fantasy roleplaying games.

Overview

Hands of Death is a powerful spell where caster can literally kill by touch. There is a small change for huge advantage but similarly a small change for disadvantage.

Spell

Image by: http://www.pusfan.com/port3.htm - Pushead

LVL 8 Cleric spell
Caster must learn the spell from the Order of the Death.
When casting the spell caster must touch the target with both hands without interruption for 5 turns.
Target rolls save versus death (what saving roll is best for this) or dies immediately.
There is 5% change (20 on d20) that caster will absorb the victims soul and immediately gains new level. His experience points remain the same though.
There is also 5% change (1 on d20) that when stealing other's life is so exhausting that caster looses one level. His experience is downgraded to minimum of his new level.

The Order Of The Death

To join the order following requirements must be met:

• Character must be of Cleric class (or similar)
• Character must worship a god dealing with death
• Character must be evil
• Minimum level to join the order is 7

Before membership character must run initiative quests. The quests are related to death. There are 5 steps of quests what Referee should decide.

In babtism to The Order of the Death character makes a vow that he will only serve death and nothing else. If character breaks this vow he dies. If character violates the vow he must make a will save (or what suits best) not to be outcast by his new god.

The order worships god of death and they practice taking lives for their god and for the balance of life.

God who answers

In some devastating situations or long periods of misery one might fall apart and yell: "God, why me!" But does he know what god does that for him? The one he worships or one of the other gods? And what the God who has caused all the agony wants in exchange for things to turn change better?

This random table tells who is the god who answers.

Roll d20 For The God Who Answers

1 - Krockquar, the Frog God of gluttony and greed. Krockquar looks like a giant bloated frog with greasy foodstains all over its chin. In the other small hand he has golden trident and in the other hand a roast. It does speak with croaking voice. Krockquar wants sacrifice of 200 lbs of food of great quality (something Emperors would enjoy).

2 - Emerald King, the God of prisoners and lost hope. Emerald King is wearing ragged clothes under his many chains. His skin is pale and bald head faceless. Numerous scars cross his body. Emerald King wants ten slaves for character to enslave to his temple to serve.

3 - Lady of the Leaf, the Natural God of trees, grass and joy. She is nymph-like beautiful creature covered in green fresh leaves. Lady of the Leaf wants character to stop orcs (or orc like barbarian humans) from hacking his sacred forest.

4 - Aethateinos, the God of hidden secrets and forbidden knowledge. Aethateinos manifests as a huge silver key surrounded by a black hole. Aethateinos wants 10 unique books of knowledge to be added into his library-temple.

5 - Daron Morden, the God of forsaken Elves. Daron is twisted chaos tainted elf staning 10 feet long wearing purple rope with black laces. He holds scythe of eternal hate. Daron Morden wants character to help forsaken Elves to revenge those who forsake them.

6 - Harshow, the God of those fallen in a battle. Harshow manifests as a crow with bright red eyes. Hahrshow wants character to build a shrine to an ancient battlefield.

7 - Todd Silverstring, the God of laughs and music. Todd looks like a jester with four faces in each direction of head. Every face has it's own permanent expression of different moods. Tod Silverstring wants character to arrange a great festival in honor of him.

8 - Mara Shar, the God of sharks and mantis'. Mara Shar manifests in a dream where character feels like drowning but before death a great shark appears speaking. Mara Shar wants character to feed predators of the sea with 10 people.

9 - Duruk the Dark One, God of darkness and secrets. Duruk manifests as a darkness surrounding character. Duruk the Dark One wants one great and dangerous secrets to be revealed and a big city to be darkened for one night.

10 - Grey Hare, the God of quarry. Grey Hare looks like big grey hare with intelligent blue eyes. Grey Hare wants character to catch 10 different spieces of game and sacrifice them ritualistically in the honor of him.

11 - Elzara, the God of paintings and memories. Elzara is a beautiful lady in light blue nightgown. Elzara wants character to paint 10 paintings in honor of her.

12 - Termereas, the God of sleepless nights and sunrises. Termereas manifests as a black horse with hooves and mane in blue fire. Termereas wants character to stay awake for 7 nights in a row.

13 - Magaro, the God of worms and maggots. Magaro is humanoid shape of squirming worms and maggots. Magaro wants 10 fresh corpses for flies to lay eggs.

14 - Shilieth, the God of great sacrifices. Shilieth is old one-handed man with ragged clothes and sad looking face. Shilieth wants character to sacrifice something of his body; an eye, nose, ear, hand what ever character sacrifices.

15 - God of No Gods. The God of no Gods is God who doesn't believe in gods. He has no physical appearance and he communicates as a voice in head. Character must destroy 3 shrines, temples or other similar of three different gods.

16 - Lord Barakkus, the God of wealth and betrayal. Lord Barakkus is bearded comely man with a decorated armor and jewelry. He has dagger in his belt dripping blood eternally. Lord Barakkus wants character to gain 1000 GP by betrayal, fraud and by cheating.

17 - Tserappio, the God of traps and snares. Tserappio looks like craftman with twinkle in his eye. His fingers are like different tools. Tserappio want character to build traps where 10 different people step.

18 - Alcros, the God of bloodsuckers and parasites. Alcros is a pale gentleman with dark clothing and a marble walking cane. Alcros wants character to feed himself to near death for various bloodsuckers (vampires, vampire bats, leeches, mosquito etc.)

19 - Lay Ilsa, the God of good deeds and compassion. Lady Ilsa wears white gown and her face is friendly even though she constantly cries small tears of pearl. Lady Ilsa wants character to show ultimate compassion for 10 people.

20 - Ogrimac the Slayer, Dwarven God of giant slaying. Ogrimarc looks like dwarven warrior with silver armor and huge two-handed warhammer. Ogrimac wants character to slay a giant in his name.

Fallen, Forsaken and Foul - Addition to creatures

Definitions:

Fallen: degraded or immoral
Forsaken: deserted; abandoned
Foul: grossly offensive to the senses; disgustingly loathsome


To make normal creatures more vile and dangerous, just simply add adjective fallen, forsaken or foul in it. These creatures are more dangerous than normally would. You can add some HD or other powers to this type of creatures to make them different. But remember, if every creature characters encounter are fallen, forsaken or foul they become normal. Fallen, forsaken or foul creatures should be beyond normal and really nasty. Here are few examples to use with your fantasy game. Be free to create your own fallen, forsaken and foul variations of normal monsters.

Fallen Villagers


The villagers were in desperate need in their poorness what has lasted over an decade so they decided to make a pack with a demon. Demon gave them their normal living conditions back in the exchange of worship. Human sacrifices, eldrich rites and other horrible customs are practiced in the name of the demon. Usually villagers try to use cunning to get travelers sacrificed to their demon lord.

Fallen Angel


When an angel looses his faith he is cast away from good and thus will be fallen. He might be alone, try to become a demon to be worshipped or might join legions of evil. Fallen angel replaces divine powers with evil powers equal - or worse.

Forsaken Paladin


Paladin committed a crime against his faith so bad he was cast away by his god. But he was not left again as evil god saw a possibility. Forsaken by good became cherished by evil. The paladin's armor became one with him growing chaotic forms like spikes and faces of tortured spirits on. Now the paladin is one with his armor and his quest is to do what ever his new lord needs.
HD+2, AC+5, Turn Undead replaced with similar power Turn Good. Causes fear.

Forsaken Orc Tribe Of Bloodbrothers


Bloodbrothers is a warrior tribe of orcs. They are really strict in their customs and organized fierce warriors. In their last big battle some didn't perform as expected thus were forsaken from the tribe. Worse destiny than death for Bloodbrothers. Forsaken bloodbrothers became their own pack to survive. The tribe was everything they knew so they had to learn ways to survive without their tribe. They are more aggressive, fierce and strong than other orcs.
+2 HD, +1 AB and AC. Special power: Rage of the forsaken: When rolling results 19 or 20 with d20 in to-hit gain additional attack. When HP reach 0 or below regain 2d6 HP.


Foul Skeletons Of Necromantic Death Worshippers


Necromantic Death Worhsippers are a cult who worship god of death by mass sacrifices. Their guardians are skeletons made of the remainings of their victims. There are still parts of flesh and other tissue hanging on the bones.
Cause Fear. -1 AB to attackers.

Foul Dragon


Sometimes dragons when age start to die physically and become half rotten. These dragons are insane for their physical change. But because there is so much dead tissue they are harder to wound.
All damage taken is halved. AC +4.

[OSR/D&D/Fantasy] Finder's keeper - table for chest

Sometimes when travelling roads your party might find a chest fallen from a cart. But what is inside this chest?

Locked Or Not?


Roll d6 to see if chest is locked.
1 - No lock, easy to open
2 - No lock but stuck, needs to be forced to open (25% chest will break and cannot be used any more.)
3 - Really simple lock. Easy to lockpick with some tools.
4 - Normal lock. Lockpick as normal.
5 - Hard lock. Lockpicking is 50% harder than normally.
6 - Extremely complicated to lockpick. Other means than lockpicking is needed.



What's Inside


Roll d20 to see what is inside the chest.
1 - Small random items with no value
2 - 2d10 x 10 goldpieces
3 - Mummified familiar (roll randomly). Revived if sprinked with holy water and will follow who revived
4 - 2d6 portitions of random mushrooms (roll Random mushroom table to see what kind of mushrooms)
5 - 1d6 Healing potions healing 1d6 HP per potion. 25% change when drinking potion is poisoned and deals 1d6 damage instead
6 - Treasure map for dungeon/crypt/deserted castle or other similar location
7 - Denture with nametag of eminent person in area. Reward 1d10 x 100 goldpieces
8 - Fertilizers. Growth 200% faster
9 - Portable alchemist's laboratory
10 - Valuable and really fine clothing (50% for men or women)
11 - Skeletal remainings of a halfling
12 - 2d6 fake diamonds. Roll needed to notice (by rules or for example roll under INT with d20)
13 - Secondary crown of a king. Extremely valuable (1000 GP) but also extremely hard to sell. Also if someone finds out possibility to be in danger of being accused of royal thievery
14 - 1d6 random spell scrolls
15 - 2d6 illustrated children's books (worth 1d10 GP per book)
16 - Empty but with successful appropriate roll under fake base there is map to king's treasury
17 - Smellbomb triggers when opened. Save versus or CHA -10 for 2d6 hours. Also a diamond worth of 100 GP. It is smelly and extremely hard to sell
18 - Spare parts for some mechanical thing
19 - Ghost in a bottle
20 - Roll again two times.

D - Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale review

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Daggerdale

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale is game for both PC and Xbox 360. I got it from XBLA. The premise was good. D&D adventure game where you hack monsters, loot treasures, advance your character and so on but the gameplay was a big disappointment.

The cover art shows you heroes but doesn't tell
that they just keep running endless brown dungeons
killing thousands of monsters all over again.

The game takes place in Daggerdale dungeons and there it happens. The surroundings are all brown and boring. You run endless corridors and caves killing few different monsters. Lots of them. Luckily combat is fast but it gets dull after a while. Basically you just hack your way around. There were only a couple of exceptions to this so it didn't feel different to general gameplay. Fortunately the gameplay and controls are smooth and easy to use.

There are only four characters to choose from and all are pre-made race-class combinations and the variety of feats, powers and spells are narrow so there are not many choices to customize your character. I found out that playing solo Dwarven Cleric was best option. He doesn't need healing potions that much as he can spam healing almost all the time. It was easiest character to solo the game.

Loot is gold and items. You get gold usually from barrels scattered everywhere. It was stupid bursting all those barrels for few gold pieces. Who leaves gold in random barrels in random locations anyways? There are also treasure chests with items. I didn't use gold to buy items from vendors as you usually get enough new equipment from chests and drops from enemies. And for lazy people who don't want to turn items to vendors you can directly convert them to gold in your inventory. There's at least two achievements related to loot. Carry 100.000 gold at a time and collect one of every item in game. Every item achievement I got well before finishing the game. I suppose it is type of item. After first playthrough my Dwarven Cleric had over 50.000 gp. Most of the equipment are boring randomly generated generic magic items and most of the new items are worse than what you are carrying... so to gold you convert them quickly.

The adventure was mostly boring. Main plot was a little silly and all the additional quests were like go there do that come back. And kill tons of monsters in the way.

There are always more monsters than your party size (about multiplayer next). So most of the time you kill them. Unfortunately there are only few different types of enemies so it becomes a little dull seeing same or similar faces all over again. With healing power it was also easy. Without - more challenging and slower to advance, duller.

Multiplayer is always fun but it isn't that fun in this game. I didn't own headphones at the time I finished game also in multiplayer mode so I don't know how you can communicate with other players. There are no buttons to give simple orders (HALP, come here, follow, thanks) so it was sometimes a chaos trying to get people to follow the right direction, come to help you and find guys who needed healing and so on. It was just like four individual players running around and trying to conclude what other players are doing or want to do next. Also I found that if someone joins the game at some points the quest resets. It was annoying as hell. Doing 90% of the quest, see text KillMasta123 joined the game, then get reseted to the beginning, someone leaves, another takes his place, start again etc. When I played my quest I sometimes had to kick everyone out, quit multiplayer and do the quest myself to make advancement in my game.
Basically the one who is host is the one who's quest others join to help. It sucked that most of the players just took all the loot. Also those items they cannot use. I as a host kill monsters when some idiot goes and opens the treasure chest and finds dwarf only item and naturally takes it. Fastest player got the loot. Fortunately the gold gets shared but the item system was just shit. In many mmorpg loot is well done, like loot is "rolled" who gets it nevertheless who picks it up.
Also I didn't find any feature to see what level characters I join. Joining game with lvl 1 character where others are lvl 10 is pain in the ass. Get ready to be killed and standing in distance looking how others do everything. Fortunately when you die others can resurrect you standing near and pushing a button and you come back with few HP to continue. If everyone dies the quest ends. If players in multiplayer game have any common sense it is really easy.

The ending was cool though. Final battle was kind of epic and I liked the grande finale (won't spoil it but it was cool). I was just wondering how much I liked the final part of the game why the whole game couldn't be as good? It's like you run endless caves and corridors killing endless swarms of monsters doing mostly stupid quests and when you get to the good part it all ends.

Oh, and the level gap is 10 you can get with one walkthrough and a little extra effort in multiplayer. The trick is that you get an achievement getting all four characters to level 10. That is one boring task to finish the game four times or farm endlessly xp from random multiplayer games.

Don't remember how much this cost. 800 points maybe when I got it. Is it worth it? Hell no! It was okay the first game finishing the game but there is not much value getting back to it unless you are after achievements. There are also annoying graphic bugs in top of the fact that graphics are boring and location-wise the whole game is boring. Also there are no voice actors. You read by text what NPC's talk and get a grunt (hrhm, umh, urh) in the beginning of each text box. That is so lazy. And sounds? It doesn't matter if you play this game mute or not.

Could you get anything to your roleplaying from this? Nope. Too simple story, Daggerdale is presented shallow, quests are the kind you invent 5 minutes before the session starts etc. There is no value to improve or inspire your roleplaying gaming.

Gameplay: 4 stars because controls work and suit well for action.
Graphics: 1 star because they are dull and boring and there are glitches.
Story: 2 stars because not interesting enough and most of the quests seem too random and even 10 years old DM could write similar.
Overall: 2 stars because this game is boring, short, ugly and it doesn't offer enough variation for playing it again when you have already finished it. I finished the game and it had it's moments and turning brains to "kill-all-the-monsters" mode can be fun sometimes. Unfortunately there are dozens of games what do this kind of playing ten times better. Except achievements if you are after those.

When you don't want to roll HD

Don't want to roll HD for enemies? There is a simple way to handle HD. Usually in monster statistics there is average of hit points for HD marked. Or you can simply calculate it.

Without rolling HD you can easily assign them.
25% of maximum hit points for weak enemies
50% of maximum for normal enemies
75% of maximum to strong enemies
100% of maximum for bosses and really powerful enemies.

Weakling orcs (1HD) would have 2 hp, when normal orcs have 4. Seasoned warrior orcs would have 6 hp and orc chief would have 8.

Simple and fast.

LotFP excitement and yet again OSR

Because I just bought Lamentations of the Flame Princess Grindhouse edition (not delivered yet, check out my last post HERE for more details) I started to try to find out more what it all is about. And what would be better place to do investigation than the authors own blog?

You can find the blog here: http://lotfp.blogspot.com and should check it out. There are interesting posts what keep me entertained.

By reading the blog I have already had some good hints about (oldshool) gaming. Also other tips on gaming and even arranging games. There are also material for games to use or introductions on what kind of material you can buy in very affordable price from LotFP store.

Lamentations and Raggi are both liked and criticized. For some reason Raggi's stuff is what I find easy and entertaining to read and from games what make old games modern without loosing the essence LotFP is the most interesting for me. But as LotFP and all this OD&D and OSR and amazing adventures gaming is unfamiliar for me I kinda need more support for it. Forums aren't good to learn in my opinion but blogs give this one individuals views to observe. Of course this one individual might be wrong but it is for reader to decide if the blog is good or not.
I have read other OSR blogs also and found them great (you might find one or two from my blog roll, but I have read different posts about OSR bloggers from RPG Bloggers). But somehow as I am now waiting for my LotFP order to deliver I find LotFP blog more influental for that reason. Not to dismiss other blogs of course, but to start by focusing on one.

Different Games For Different Needs

I am so excited now and I think that my future of gaming will be in different kind of categories balancing itself with enough variation to keep gaming new and interesting. I think I am a drama player. It's my cup of tea most definately but sometimes it gets a bit boring. When you want more action. You can put action in drama focused games of course. One session is not about Vampires drinking (blood)tea but vampires getting attacked by [add thread here]. It works naturally (same rules, but Werewolf is all about kicking litterers' arse) but still it is not the same. Naturally you can also make combat oriented campaign for drama game (warring city in Vampire, Sabbat shovelhead gang, Werewolf pack against toxic stuff) but it is not same as picking up a game and showing it to your player(s) and tell: "now we play this one."

But sure you can use one game to run all these different types and genres of adventures? Sure. But I like variety. I like playing different games and sometimes make the adventure inspired by the game and its setting. But sometimes breaking the genre can be entertaining. Mix genres to get something new. It gets boring if every time you take your D&D players know what to expect. To keep things surprising and interesting you should do a little experiments every now and then. Maybe not too often if you don't want to go gonzo with it.

You might also want to try this little trick. Take adventure/module/campaign but prepare it for different game it was originally written. You might need to re-write some parts or make big adjustments to make it work, but you might make an unique adventure what is totally different than usually adventures and campaigns in that game. Vampire campaign in D&D Forgotten Realms or dungeon crawl for Vampire?

Cover Art Is Important

In my opinion game title and game front cover - or box if boxed set - has a lot of influence. You take AD&D 2nd edition Player's (warrior riding a horse) and DM's books (wizard battling a dragon) and I bet players have a way different idea what game will be about if you took 2300AD box (dude and chick posing with 80's hair-do and weapons in scifi desert). Same with more stylished games. Vampire: the Masquerade's  green marble with red rose tells different story than D&D 3.0 old magical tome type cover.

And what I said above I come to this. Lamentations of the Flame Princess cover is so neat! Just look at it. (That picture is from Deluxe version and the difference to Grindhouse cover I think is that Grindhouse has mild topless nudity).

You show that to players and say:
"Let's play this." Yeah. It's badass in totally different way that Dungeons & Dragons is.

Unfortunately I don't have much to say about the content yet. But when I get the box (and I got time) I will most definately do the "unwrapping it" post.

And about LotFP art, Something Awful has a WTF moment for it: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/dungeons-and-dragons/lamentations-flame-princess.php (partially not work-safe, as there is lot's of gore and partial nudity from LotFP rpg viewed).

Any ways, I want my RPG cover art to show what the game is about. When I am choosing a game I will run next I look at the books what looks like I could use if I don't have clear vision what I want to do next. If I have a clear vision what I want to run I of course pick up the setting or rules to suit my needs best. As we talk mostly about Flame Princess here, that cover is different from Dungeons & Dragons 3 (we already talk here). It gives different vibes. By cover D&D 3.0 (well, also 3.X) is about making characters better and using characters to do quests. It's all about characters, what they can do. But LotFP looks like badass action. Not action in game mechanical way, but badass "this is cool" way.

I can run D&D how I like (when I started playing 3.0 I didn't focus and I didn't DM it I did Storytell it) from tactical minis combat to conversation filled drama. But still, the cover has a huge impact on what kind of game I want to use the game in.

Well, of course there are the rules and settings. What matter also. But... And if I want to run drama I pick up the book with possibly lighter rules. But in the other hand rules don't matter me that much. I can play several sessions without rolling a single die. Or I house-rule. Make over complicated rules easier or strip rules. Or make too light rules a bit more comprehensive.

Why LotFP Suddenly?


So, why I post about LotFP so much? Because I am OVER EXCITED about it. To be frank even V20 Masquerade didn't make me this excited. I don't know much about LotFP and best information is the actual product.

Would I have bought LotFP if it wasn't so good deal past weekend? Yes. Some day but not now. Even though I have considered getting a copy of LotFP this was an impulse purchase. Saw email with cupon code and other great deals. Immediately made an order. Forgot to ask my gf about it and hoping she doesn't be mad about it (gotta go buy some horse stuff for her today to make hobbies even).

I do have free Grindhouse PDF's somewhere in my harddrive though. But I don't like to read PDF's that much and because LotFP is a boxed set it is not the same thing.

So, this ranting is useless and repeating as long as I don't have the actual product in my hand. So, next post about LotFP will be unwrapping.

LotFP- Had to get mine & Thoughts about OSR

First product I bought from LotFP store was Zak Sabbat's Vornheim: the Complete City Kit (buy it HERE, it's cheap and cool). Then this weekend when I checked my email inbox I had this email from LotFP...

Code which provides -20% for list price (LotFP grind house 20€ with this offer).
Free shipping.

What did I do? Ordered immediately!

The offer is no more, but hey, go buy it anyways! With (currently) only 32,50€ you get:

Contents:
• Tutorial Book (96 A5 pages) Introducing the Basics of Role-Playing
• Rules and Magic Book (168 A5 pages) A comprehensive reference for playing the game
• Referee Book (96 A5 pages) Tools for campaigns and adventure
• 7-piece Dice Set
• Character Sheets


http://www.lotfp.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=69

See, I do like OSR stuff. I didn't play D&D or other games now concidered as OSR. It was not my thing. But now as I am growing older both in physical age and how long I have roleplayed I've become more and more curious about OSR.

I do have my own "oldschool" period of gaming. But I don't find it that nostalgic. Basically it was just learning to play and it is just a base for how I play now. If I'd go back to my oldschool gaming it would be just not as advanced how I play now. But still similar (if we forget really early days with random encounters character's die before they get first level).

I have played AD&D 2nd edition when it started to be old-ish because I wanted to play something older and that was a game I had*. I think I've mentioned it dozens of times that in the first session we continued the adventure but switched the rules (to Praedor).
*Actually, I've played Runequest, Stormbringer, Rolemaster, MERP etc. old games but in my opinion AD&D 2nd was still the old fashioned one!

Anyways, then way much later I wanted again try out something more basic what our games usually are not. D&D 3.0 was our choice (not that long ago). It was fun. But I had to strip rules to keep it relatively quick and fun. And we didn't use miniatures so there were plenty of rules what weren't necessary anymore. It was fun, but not oldschool enough. It was just like playing this time fantasy instead of horror or scifi. Fun, but not what I wanted.

What about dozens of free-to-download OSR PDF games? I have plenty of those but haven't found the one I'd like to use. There are actually really cool ones. Some fast and simple, some really detailed with thick rulebooks. But still, something was missing from those. Maybe the fact I am not OSR gamer because I don't have history so from these D&D/AD&D/T&T clones I cannot find the one that ticks.

But Lamentations of the Flame Princess has been one game I've been really curious about. I think it is oldschool but with a little different touch. Also I like how monsters are. They aren't stats you try to remember to be better next time you encounter one or dozen of them. No, in Lamentations of the Flame Princess monsters are unique and that way more horrific. I do like that. Also, I like horror - a lot. And LotFP is bent in the horror direction.

LotFP has it's small unique touch as I am not a fan of generic fantasy with elven and dwarven and heroes and bad guys. It was fun when a kid, but today I want more. Actually I went and bought Ravenloft Campaign Setting for D&D 3.0 to make D&D more interesting. I also got Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (have read novels earlier) but didn't even open it. Too boring.

I am not sure what kind of setting LotFP has, or does it have any. But I already have some ideas how to use it. I'll use some ideas from Ravenloft and will also use Vornheim tool kit.

Maybe coming dark winter gets some dark weird fantasy.

Things I like in pop-culture relating to rpg's

Started my work day and while working I started to think about different things I like in pop-culture what are related into roleplaying games or my roleplaying hobby. Now I am sitting down taking my coffee break and thought: Why only entertain myself, why don't blog about it. So, here are things I like in popular culture what are related into roleplaying games or my roleplaying hobby.

Vampires


Yeah, I had to take this one first, because Vampire: the Masquerade is my favourite and most played roleplaying game ever. Vampires in it can be almost anything: monstrous, animalistic, sophisticated, artistic, warriors, gang members, business men, devil worshippers, traveling gypsies, arrogant, repulsive, repenting, embracing the darkness...
If you are new to Vampire you can easily pick up a clan with its stereotype to determine your character (businessman Ventrue, biker Brujah, artist Toreador) and if more experienced can do characters thinking out of the box with unlimited possibilities. You can play political game or territorial war game. That makes both Vampire game and Vampire characters awesome.

I also like monstrous vampires (30 Days of Night, Against the Dark). They can also be easily used in Vampire games but also make good villains in other games. I do also like Count Dracula styled vampires.

But I don't like all these now so popular vampires. Good example is Twilight. Hate them. I also don't think all those gothic vampire pictures what I found really lame. You know, every Youtube Evanescence fan video has those gothic vampire chick pictures.

Giant Robots


Every boy loves giant robots what fight. I had Battletech strategy board game and liked it. I am not sure did me and my friends ever understood the rules as they were a bit complicated, but it was fun. Also Mechwarrior PC games are cool with those big destroying war machines.

Japanese robots are also cool. They are usually more sophisticated and fast than their American warmachine brothers. For example old PS2 game Zone of the Enders is really cool. You fly and duel in the air in fast based combats.

Also Transformers are cool. I did have those cool toys and comics. Also at least first of the new movies is really great. Others are cool but not that good.

I like heavy and clumsy machines of destruction, sophisticated and fast mechas and robots changing from vehicles to battling bots.

I don't remember playing any roleplaying game with giant robots nor owning one. I have to correct that. Heavy Gear is really interesting one.

Solo Tough Guys


Guys who do all neat stuff basically solo are awesome. Steven Seagal movies are awesome and I own bunch of them. Basically Steven plays same character with minor changes all over again but that makes his movies safe. You know what to expect and you get it. Also for example Machete is awesome. I remember having both Grindhouse movies (Death Proof and Planet Terror) and in one of them was this Machete trailer. I didn't expect to actually see Machete the Movie in real but I thought the "fake" trailer was really neat. When I found out that there actually will be Machete movie I was thrilled. Well, the movie could have been a bit better, but it is Machete!

That kind of things I do like and also use in roleplaying games.

Zombies


Zombies are probably the best monsters ever. They are really versatile and can be used in every possible setting and campaign. Post-apocalypse, Caribean seas, space, fantasy dungeons, your backyard. Also because there are different kinds of zombies from slow idling corpses (original Resident Evil video game zombies) to fast running zombies (newer zombie movies). You cannot forget also different zombies with special qualities to huge monstrous size (Left 4 Dead video game).

All Flesh Must Be Eaten is the roleplaying game you have to mention when you talk about zombies and roleplaying games. Infinite Deadworlds and several possibilities to custom make zombies from cows to nearly intelligent hunters.

Even though mutants are different from zombies I find some similarities with the most advanced zombies. For example Hills Have Eyes clan could be easily done with AFMBE to give a different approach to a similar game campaign.

Cars


I love cars. From powerful muscle cars to exotic tuning cars. My enthusiasm to cars started with Need For Speed Underground and continued to a point where I started to build my own car. I had to buy second car so I could build the first one. I also have used tuning cars and culture as one of the main themes in Vampire: the Masquerade chronicle.

Movies here would be for example Fast and the Furious series. Also tuning culture with street cars from garages, shows and magazines are to be checked out.

Unique Monsters


Monsters just being statistics you can beat to gain experience (looking at you D&D) is nothing wrong. It's one genre. But I am more fascinated in unique monsters what are truly monsters because you cannot find them around every corner. That makes them more terrifying because after you killed it and learned it's weakness you cannot use same tactics again because every monster you encounter is different one.

Even though in Call of Cthulhu there are several monsters what are not unique (deep ones and Mi-Go for example) they have a certain feel, as you don't just run through every campaign killing same monsters all over again. Of course the fact characters are near helpless against them makes a big difference. And there are many "monster of the campaign" entities you can build your whole campaign around.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess also is great example here. I have read the free version and like everyone knows there are no monsters listed as every monster player characters encounter should be an individual. That's cool. Similar thing is with Praedor. There are basic stats for different sizes of monsters but every single one of them are individuals.

I love monsters in movies also. In horror movie if there is a monster, it's way cooler than the guy from school who stabs others. World of Darkness sourcebook Slayers should be mentioned here.

Why is it so hard to end a campaign?

Still running V:tM and other plans are naturally delayed because of that. It's just so hard for me to end an open ended campaign what is a bit of sandboxed also. I have succesfully ran like one campaign with clear ending and it was Call of Cthulhu set in modern age. There was clear goal and a story. Of course actual playing did change it and affect it but still I knew exactly when to end it.

Different it is with Vampire: the Masquerade. I enjoy playing it so much I cannot end it when it could story wise end. I just continue, open new hooks and so on. I planned, that it would be around 20-30 sessions total to end this story. But currently we are at around 70th session. Way too much.
Really, the problem is I don't want to quit. But actually, why I should quit if I like the game and the campaign? Because I do want to play also other interesting games and also when I over continue the campaign just because I like playing the game they loose the focus and start to feel a bit bland. And the problem is that last time we played Vampire: the Masquerade a lot I got serious roleplaying game burnout. I basically used all my ideas in that time. I ended the campaign successfully, but it was way too long. After that I felt empty and couldn't start a new game or a new campaign for V:tM.

Break from gaming helped and switching to other game. Other game, what is also horrible for ending it. Fading Suns. Fading Suns games also always stretch to horrible long because I like playing it so much. Last one, over 160 sessions. Before it, well over 100 sessions. And after that and before it Vampire: the Masquerade.

When I get this Vampire: the Masquerade campaign to end I totally will play other games. I write down an adventure frames I want to play and maybe write down some scenarios that adventure will contain. I will leave of course space enough so actual situations in game can affect it but still I will narrow sandbox to more focused scale. I try to keep those other games in 10 to 20 sessions long so I don't get stuck and bored to them...

...And I can try out other games. Or again get stuck to Vampire: the Masquerade and Fading Suns.

One problem is, that I do have already games I have never played and I want to play. And now I am having these all new four titles which three are ones I do want to try out. The fourth is more for collecting purpose. I have tried to keep a pace of Vampire -> something else -> Vampire -> something else for a couple of reasons:

1. I don't get overdose from Vampire: the Masquerade
2. I can try also other games I own and am interested in
3. I get variety from just running personal-gothic-punk-horror
4. Other games are also fun, it doesn't need to be personal-gothic-punk-horror all the way

And can I say that I am a roleplaying enthusiast if I play like only a couple of games? Also I think that it is also relaxing and fun to play other games and genres it also developes gamemastering skills. I remember when I ran Vampire for a couple of years almost non stop and after it tried another game, I did bring that personal-gothic-punk-horror feel into that other game even though the genre and possibilities were totally different.

I don't want to get stuck into a box or manouvers as a gamemaster. Good example was Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. It totally is something I don't play. Or it was. I did buy three core books and Forgotten Realms Campaign setting just to add into my collection but never planned to play it. Then I decided to try out something totally strange from Vampire and I did enjoy it. It was lighter to run and adventure and location or situation based. Encounters you could say with more talking with NPC's though.

So, next will still be Mutants & Masterminds. Maybe after it I won't go directly back to Vampire: the Masquerade, but will also GM other games I have. Maybe I will wait for some special day to start Vampire, so it feels special. Christmas Holidays are too long away though, otherwise would be great Christmas to get back to Vampire!

Why Warcraft could be good setting for me (W for A-Z)

At the moment my high fantasy rpg choice is D&D. I got Forgotten Realms campaign setting as it was in good price. Although I am not that interested in it for some reason. Maybe as I am not that into fantasy gaming the size of FR campaign setting book is intimidating.

Months back at one rpg forum there were few Warcraft sourcebooks for D&D3 for sale. I considered for some time if I'd buy them, but decided not to because of current financial status. I could have afforded them easily, but thought do I really need them.

I decided, that I don't need them at that moment. As playing D&D in homebrew setting was easy enough. Still, I think that for me Warcraft supplement for D&D could be the official setting I'd enjoy Dungeon Mastering.

Why WoW Over Everything Else?


Well, not sure if over everything else in setting selection, but it would rank high. Reason is, that Warcraft universe is familiar enough thanks to Warcraft RTS games. Also, I have played World of Warcraft MMORPG and liked it. That's enough familiar to adapt the feel of Warcraft universe to rpg campaigns. And I like that Warcraft is not whacky and totally different fantasy setting, even though it has its own flavor in it.

I have many rpg books to read and Forgotten Realms campaign setting as not being interesting enough and being large feels a bit too much time consuming just for adapting a fantasy setting to run. I think that Warcraft would be more easy to learn and read as I find it interesting overall.

Why Not Buy Then?


I have several other books I want, and I'd rather buy those than expand my D&D collection what I don't use regularly. But if I had good enough great deal, yeah, why not. But still, there are maybe even more interesting settings for D&D like Dark Sun and Planescape.

At Amazon.com (link to the right) it's not that bad price at the moment.

Link to Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game wiki: http://www.wowwiki.com/Warcraft:_The_Roleplaying_Game

Touch attack in D&D (A-Z letter T)

How can a simple thing be so hard to figure out? When we started to play D&D3 the first time, my player wante to create a sorcerer character. I knew it would be more challenging with spells and everything, but if player wants to be a magic-user, then let her be.

First combat when she started to use her spells I did have no clue how they worked. I tried to read the rules all over again, but didn't find somehow what to roll to attack with a spell.

Most puzzling was the touch attack. What do you roll? There is no "to touch attack" value in character sheet. What do you roll to "touch"? Is it that hard to touch your opponent etc. Then when I was puzzled enough and totally out of any clues how it works, I had to turn into internet forums to get help. Luckily I got answer relatively quick and game could go on.

If I remember correctly, touch attack is melee attack but it ignores AC. I am not totally sure about this and I might remember wrong, but the answer was really logical. Only question remains, how couldn't I find the answer in rulebook? Were I just too blind to see it, or was it too obvious rule? Or didn't I read D&D manuals like they should have been read?

But from now on, when sorcerer character does a touch attack, I know how to handle it. Now I am wondering when we next time play D&D what will be new rules challenge for me to comprehend.

N for Noob in D&D and could I survive in REAL D&D group? (A-Z)

Still going with A-Z challenge. May is over, but I entertain myself to the end of alphabets. Now it is turn for letter N, what stands for noob in D&D.

I never actually played any of D&D editions. When I was a kid, one of my friends had D&D Red Box Finnish version with a dungeon battle map, cardboard figures etc. We did play it once or twice, but never actually found it enough fun to play more. Maybe because we already had Warhammer, MERP, Rune Quest and other fantasy roleplaying games we were used to play already.

One of my friends even got himself second hand AD&D 2nd Edition Dungeon Master's Manual and Player's Handbook with Psionics Handbook, but I don't really remember us playing AD&D even once. As AD&D2 was left unplayed, I got it from my friend for free.

Later I got this Lankhmar boxed set really cheap from my local gaming store. Liked the map and the fact that whole boxed set was focused on this one particular city. And the map was gorgeus. Big, four color map with details of every building and street. I wanted to give it a try and we started a game with AD&D2 rules which Lankhmar boxed set was meant to use with. After first fight we ditched AD&D2 rules and started to use Praedor (Burger Games Praedor site) instead.

I got myself Dungeons & Dragons 3 core books, because I got them cheap. Otherwise I wouldn't have bought them, but the price was only 10€ total for three of them and it was a nice addition for my collection. Later I got myself Forgotten Realms book for D&D3, also cheap. I did not play it until my player-girlfriend agreed to try D&D3 out just to see what's the fuzz about the game.

We had earlier played Blue Rose, what uses True20 system. Simplified version of D&D3. I think it helped us to understand D&D system before we grabbed the real D&D system. Blue Rose setting I dislike and probably will never play it again. D&D was fun to play, but we used kind of ripped version of it. All attack of opportunities, flat footed, minis etc. we did not use at all. But it was fun and different what we were used to play.

So, Why Would I Be Noob In Real D&D Group?


That was introduction to my relationship of D&D. And the main reason why I would be a noob and weakest link of the more experienced party is that I think I am not that good in optimizing my character for the needs of party. I know how to do a character, I know how most basic rules work, but I don't know how to abuse character creation and advancement system to make an efficient character.

I'd probably create a character what I find interesting and what I think is fun to play. I might buy feats and skills I find suitable for character in cost of efficiency. If the game was challenge oriented, I guess my character would suck. This is if the group is power gamers, who optimize their characters to meet all the tough  challenges DM creates for them.

If game was more story oriented, well, it would be obviously easier to play when all these nifty rules and combat grids weren't involved. But if game was for example a tough dungeon crawl, my character would be first to die or first to cause trouble for rest of the player party for bad character build or bad combat decisions.

It would be fun though to try out more tactical rpg with minis and tactical combat. It's not my style of play as I consider story and inner character development more important than combat achievements.

I could kill orcs to get to play D&D as player

Well, IF I got to play D&D as player, I could kill orcs.

Problem is, I only have one player available. And she is player. She has gamemastered for me, mainly Vampire though.

And she likes playing the most. She's okay with gamemastering though, but prefers the player's side on the table.

So, if I was cunning enough, I could get her to GM for me, but the problem is, that she is more story oriented than rules lawyer. She often asks me how the rules work or what should I throw in this and that situation, as she is not that aware about the rules.

She has read my rpg books, yes. But she is not interested in rules, numbers and that sort of things. Usually she learns rules by playing and me explaining them during the play, and repeating same rolls over and over again untill I don't have to tell what to roll and why anymore.

So, she learns rules by playing and using them, not reading.

That works with Vampire really well. We have played it so much, she knows the rules, or at least most of them.

But with D&D? Yes, she knows what is DC, what those +/- mean and where to use them. That she rolls D20 when tries to do something etc. Basics. But her to DM for me? Don't know. She might make some plot or adventure for me, but not sure how well she'd handle the rules. I mean, there are a couple of books full of them.

I personally don't use all D&D rules, only the most obvious and the most important. Other's I make up in my mind, if they are needed. Still not sure, could my gf run me D&D just the knowledge how to roll D20 and see did you success or not.

I quess, if she made adventure for me, it would me tailored that way, it doesn't need special rules. And if it did, she would just write down "poison here" and when I get the poison then ask me how it actually works.
That's the way she started doing Vampire adventures. Writed an adventure, and during game asked rules details.

That could work.

Another problem is, that she is not a big fantasy fan. Kind of. She prefers fantasy games on PC over modern or scifi-games, but in roleplaying games she prefers horror and scifi over fantasy.

RPG - Fantasy yuck
PC - Fantasy yeah

Is that the famous woman mind we men cannot understand? Because it feels like it.

So, how to get my girlfriend player, who isn't that much into GM'ing anyways to run me D&D when she isn't interested in rules and doesn't like fantasy except in PC-games?

That, is the question I am puzzled about.

But why would I want to play D&D then? Sure I've enjoyed her Vampire games. They are full of detail with rich plots and interesting NPC's.
But is it wrong for a man to ask to kill some orcs for experience points? Is it?

I could tell her, no Vampire untill I am level 10 fighter! Just started new Vampire chronicle, so that could actually work.

Or she might say back: "No sleeping in bed before you run me Vampire!"

So, no roleplaying, definately no D&D and sleeping on couch.

Women are so difficult.

How do I see halflings in D&D?

Image of halfling in Player's book isn't like Tolkien's hobbit. D&D halfling are small and thin, not small and clumsy looking. I know how kender are in Dragonlance, so I thought that my halflings would be like kender. They actually look alike. Halflings also got mildly pointed ears.

So, my halflings are not pipe smoking lazy mega-eaters, but sly and cunning, talkative and funloving adventurous persons. But hey, isn't that their description already?

I know that hobbit is different "race" than halfling are, but I have always imagined, that halfling are non-copyright-violating version of hobbits. Gotta have those small idiots around eh? Well, I see that halfling are less annoying and stupid than hobbits.

1 points for halflings, 0 points for hobbits. Kill hobbits with fire!

Dungeon Master's Desktop + First (second but reseted) gaming session

So, here is basically what DM needs. I don't have combat grid and minis, so they don't count.

1. Rulebooks. As you can see, my D&D books are for third edition. I also own Forgotten Realms Campaign setting, but thought that as we play we develope our own sandbox world (too lazy to read yet another book as I gotta finish reading Player's Handbook and DM's Guide).
2. Some dice. I got D3, several of D4, D6, D8, D10, D12 and D20. I got also lots of D10s for World of Darkness games, but they are separated. Watching my dice cup I realized that I most definately need more dice!
3. Paper, pens, ruler for notes.
4. Laptop. Can find pictures with google to show player who is a bit D&D and fantasy noob (she is a vampire afterall) and we play via msn to record every. single. word. to describe the situation, mood or character conversations.
5. Cola drink.

About session

Everything started when LuvMina (yes, that's the way how her sorceress' name is spelled) walked towards the great city of Lankhemaar. Walking towards it she noticed a farmer in trouble. His cartwheel was busted by a rock and all his pumpkins all over. And his ass (animal, not butt) was eating grass smirking. LuvMina decided to help him (non-combat encounter + quest).
LuvMina got to city, but found it big and confusing. Luckily halfling* decided to help her find the way to carpenter... for 2 sp. I rolled opposite (or competive or something) check for halflings thieving and LuvMina's spot.

- This is the part I am not sure how rules work, but I figured it out that if:
 -LuvMina successes but halfling fails LuvMina detects that attempt of thievery
 -Halfling successes but LuvMina fails halfling can snatch her purse/money pouch
 -Both success, then highest number wins (no tie in this situation that halfling can get her pouch but  - - - LuvMina spots it. That would be if LuvMina won the contest)
- Both fail and nothing happens, but halfling could try later again. 

Halfling (now named Francis Fanfingers) succeeded to snatch her purse (with result 20). So halfling got 2sp for taking LuvMina to carpenter and also got her purse. Nice deal! When they got to carpenter, LuvMina asked Francis to wait for her outside, but Francis insisted that he has something to do quickly, but he will be back. Detect motive roll for LuvMina wich she succeeded so LuvMina found that really, really, extremely suspicious. Still, she left Francis and went inside to do some cartwheel buying.
When paying, she noticed that her purse is lost! Damn you halfling! She asked from carpenter, does he know that halfling named Francis Fanfingers and I rolled D20 to determine, has carpenter heard rumours or knows him. 20! Yep, he is not allowed in carpenter's shop because he is a thief. Carpenter also knew two possible places Francis could be hanging out. So there LuvMina goes.
Tavern called Two Cocks Tavern (Kahden Kukon Kievari in finnish) was the place she first checked out and she could hear the noises of laughter and fun-having behind the door already. There halfling was ordering rounds for everyone with LuvMina's money.
LuvMina takes halfling to address him and even present town guard asks what's that all about. Halfling doesn't want to deal with guards (well, he is a thief) so she whispers to LuvMina that if they could sort it out somehow. LuvMina agrees.

That was our first session. No combat, little quest helping farmer with his broken cart (totally optional, he was there with his pumpkins and trouble just for mood. Idea was that everyone was ignoring that poor sod. But character's, they are opportunists and try to do everything you describe). Few dice rolling and LOTS of fun.

As much as I have hated D&D/D20 (previous rants here) I have to admit I loved it! It was fun. No vampires with plans and angst, no spacetravel from trouble to trouble. A bit more computer gamish adventuring what is not so serious still being genre realistic.

And big inspiration for D&D is now blog Playing D&D with Porn Stars. Great read, and Zak has so many good ideas. Very creative DM he is.

Also I am going to try out his city creation idea with writing down numbers as streets and areas and stuff. That sounds fun.

So, today second session of D&D! What kind of deal halfling has for LuvMina to pay his dept of lost money he spent in tavern? Does farmer get his cartwheel before he dies in old age waiting? What happens next?