JabbaJeff - Unfit, Very Fat Scavenger
Jack Jackson - Cowboy Hunter
Lan Williams - Mechanic Trader
On the Road Again
Lan patched up Jabba's rat wounds as best he could, while Jack repaired his gun, and Jabba lay down in the back seat of the car because his foot was still crippled. Once that was done, they drained rat blood through some tubing they'd picked up at Home Depot, and Lan started up the engine. Lan was a capable navigator, and was able to easily find a way through the ruined city.
They had to detour around a large horde of zombies, and later shot at a gasplant in their way until it exploded, but made it back onto Highway 91 with little actual trouble. Eventually, they arrived back at the place where they had fought the Hunters, and Lan decided against driving off-road, as he would have to take the car into a shallow ravine and he wasn't confident in his skills. As he and Jack got out to see what they could do about the ruined cars, however, Jack took an arrow to the chest and again, a group of Hunters charged down the hill.
Jack and Lan took up positions behind their car and gunned down one of the Hunters, while Jabba tried to take aim from the backseat of the car. A pair of Hunters, one with a length of chain, the other a 2x4 with a bunch of nails pounded through it, rushed Jack and Lan, who dropped their guns and switched to melee, only for Jabba to kill both with his sawed-off, just before taking an arrow intended for Jack.
Again, the Hunters retreated, and Lan healed the wounded, while Jack was able to move the ruined cars out of the way without too much trouble, and the party set off down the highway, and towards the safe zone.
Sunday, 11 March 2018
Friday, 2 March 2018
Fixing the DF Thief
The Thief Template from Dungeon Fantasy 1 (and DFRPG) is one of the worst available options. In a game that's largely about getting into big fights, the Thief gets only 1 point for their primary melee weapon (2 if they don't want a shield), which puts them at the same skill level as Templates like the Bard, Cleric, and Druid. The Thief also gets one point in a ranged weapon, and that's it. Considering that most Bards/Clerics/Druids use melee only as a last resort, this makes the Thief essentially worthless in combat.
The main issue with the Thief is, to quote DF1, that "they're broad-based experts at mundane skills". They're the only class with nothing to do in combat, by design, which is a huge misstep. Well, before we get started, lets take a brief look at what roles the various Templates fill:
Barbarian: Melee Combat, Nature Knowledge
Bard: Face, Utility/Support Magic
Cleric: Healing/Support Magic, Holy Knowledge
Druid: Utility/Support Magic, Nature Knowledge
Holy Warrior: Melee Combat, Holy Knowledge, Healing/Support Magic
Knight: Melee Combat
Martial Artist: Light Melee Combat, Parkour/Climbing, Chi
Scout: Ranged Combat, Nature Knowledge
Swashbuckler: Light Melee Combat, Parkour/Climbing
Thief: Parkour/Climbing, Thief Skills
Wizard: All Non-Healing Magic, Magic Knowledge
Notably, the Thief is the only Template with an emphasis on Thief Skills (mainly Stealth, Lockpicking, and Traps). This leads to an in-game problem where, depending on the game/GM, either you need to take a Thief (eg because there are locked doors or traps), or you would never bother (eg because you can smash down locked doors and run through traps). This can be sort of solved by giving the Scout access to Thief Skills as an alternative to their Nature Knowledge, or the Bard in exchange for some Face skills.
The main issue with the Thief is, to quote DF1, that "they're broad-based experts at mundane skills". They're the only class with nothing to do in combat, by design, which is a huge misstep. Well, before we get started, lets take a brief look at what roles the various Templates fill:
Barbarian: Melee Combat, Nature Knowledge
Bard: Face, Utility/Support Magic
Cleric: Healing/Support Magic, Holy Knowledge
Druid: Utility/Support Magic, Nature Knowledge
Holy Warrior: Melee Combat, Holy Knowledge, Healing/Support Magic
Knight: Melee Combat
Martial Artist: Light Melee Combat, Parkour/Climbing, Chi
Scout: Ranged Combat, Nature Knowledge
Swashbuckler: Light Melee Combat, Parkour/Climbing
Thief: Parkour/Climbing, Thief Skills
Wizard: All Non-Healing Magic, Magic Knowledge
Notably, the Thief is the only Template with an emphasis on Thief Skills (mainly Stealth, Lockpicking, and Traps). This leads to an in-game problem where, depending on the game/GM, either you need to take a Thief (eg because there are locked doors or traps), or you would never bother (eg because you can smash down locked doors and run through traps). This can be sort of solved by giving the Scout access to Thief Skills as an alternative to their Nature Knowledge, or the Bard in exchange for some Face skills.
Wednesday, 28 February 2018
GURPS Blood Drive Session 1: "Death" of a Hero
JabbaJeff - Very Fat, Unfit Scavenger
Jack Jackson - Cowboy Hunter
Lan Williams - Mechanic Trader
Having heard of the Safe Zone on the east coast, the party has decided to leave the small village of Rona, on the outskirts of the ruins of LA. First things first they'll need to get a car, and the only place where everything hasn't already been looted, is the radioactive ruins...
On the Road
The party set off down Highway 91 and started the half-day trek towards the ruins, proceeding without note until they arrived at a cluster of scorched and wrecked cars that had been trying to leave the city, but hadn't made it out of range before the nukes hit. Lan's Danger Sense went off, and JabbaJeff spotted a bunch of bear traps. As they made their way through the wreckage while avoiding the bear traps, a pair of arrows flew from the southern hill, and one hit Jack in the chest.
Six men in rags, howling and screaming nonsense, charged down the hill from their hiding places in the tall grass, and the party returned fire, downing two before they made it to the highway. As the men got closer, they realized that the raiders' brown clothes were actually made of human skin, and that their teeth were filed to points. Jack yelled out to the party that they were the Hunters, a group of insane mutants, just before he took a second arrow and fell down.
Jabba's sawed-off shotgun made quick work of another two, and, after bashing Lan with a length of chain, the Hunters ran off screaming. The party decided to save ammo and let them go, and Lan removed the barbed arrows from Jack and closed the cowboy's wounds good enough to get him walking again.
Jack Jackson - Cowboy Hunter
Lan Williams - Mechanic Trader
Having heard of the Safe Zone on the east coast, the party has decided to leave the small village of Rona, on the outskirts of the ruins of LA. First things first they'll need to get a car, and the only place where everything hasn't already been looted, is the radioactive ruins...
On the Road
The party set off down Highway 91 and started the half-day trek towards the ruins, proceeding without note until they arrived at a cluster of scorched and wrecked cars that had been trying to leave the city, but hadn't made it out of range before the nukes hit. Lan's Danger Sense went off, and JabbaJeff spotted a bunch of bear traps. As they made their way through the wreckage while avoiding the bear traps, a pair of arrows flew from the southern hill, and one hit Jack in the chest.
Six men in rags, howling and screaming nonsense, charged down the hill from their hiding places in the tall grass, and the party returned fire, downing two before they made it to the highway. As the men got closer, they realized that the raiders' brown clothes were actually made of human skin, and that their teeth were filed to points. Jack yelled out to the party that they were the Hunters, a group of insane mutants, just before he took a second arrow and fell down.
Jabba's sawed-off shotgun made quick work of another two, and, after bashing Lan with a length of chain, the Hunters ran off screaming. The party decided to save ammo and let them go, and Lan removed the barbed arrows from Jack and closed the cowboy's wounds good enough to get him walking again.
Monday, 12 February 2018
GURPS Waterworld Session 10: The Takahashi Machine
Ai - Experienced Tech
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper
Day 98:
In the morning, the Wizard gave Chang a panic button which would summon him in an emergency, and then disappeared. The party asked around the village to find out about who was in charge of the Takahashi Machine and were directed to a small hut. Nobody answered their knocking, so the party barged in to find an old man sleeping under a blanket on a chair.
He was woken up, and informed by Ai (via the hacked nannybot which could translate) that the "County Inspectors" were here to "transfer the Takahashi Machine to another facility", and he offered to lead them to it. The old man stood up to a surprising height of 7' as the blanket fell away to reveal massive cybernetic limbs, before heading off to the factory with the "inspectors" in tow.
They made it with no problems, and arrived in an empty, dusty room on the ground floor of the factory, with the machine set into a wall, from which Ai and the old man, Wang Chun, removed the 30lb main chip. As they finished and the old man turned to leave, Axe, Chang, and Vaolt smashed his head into a pulp from behind, and an alarm sounded.
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper
Day 98:
In the morning, the Wizard gave Chang a panic button which would summon him in an emergency, and then disappeared. The party asked around the village to find out about who was in charge of the Takahashi Machine and were directed to a small hut. Nobody answered their knocking, so the party barged in to find an old man sleeping under a blanket on a chair.
He was woken up, and informed by Ai (via the hacked nannybot which could translate) that the "County Inspectors" were here to "transfer the Takahashi Machine to another facility", and he offered to lead them to it. The old man stood up to a surprising height of 7' as the blanket fell away to reveal massive cybernetic limbs, before heading off to the factory with the "inspectors" in tow.
They made it with no problems, and arrived in an empty, dusty room on the ground floor of the factory, with the machine set into a wall, from which Ai and the old man, Wang Chun, removed the 30lb main chip. As they finished and the old man turned to leave, Axe, Chang, and Vaolt smashed his head into a pulp from behind, and an alarm sounded.
Monday, 5 February 2018
GURPS Waterworld Session 9: The Factory
Ai - Experienced Tech
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper
Day 96:
In the morning, Axe discovered that all of his wounds had regenerated far faster than he had expected, which Ai chalked up to the berserker nanobots in his system. The party got back on the road early, and came across 4 chrome, skeletal humanoid robots, still a long ways away. Ai noticed that they seemed to have nozzles in their hands, and tanks in their lower torsos. Axe advanced while Chang fired a slug at the lead robot's tank, which exploded and lit the robot on fire.
The flaming bot ran at Axe while the others used their flamethrowers as best they could; one was out of fuel, and another's pilot flame was out, but even the working flamethrower and flaming robot had little effect, and they were soon cut to bits. Again, the Wizard noted that a signal had been sent to bombard the area, and the party ran down the road.
A few hours later, they saw a large cart holding a giant steel sumo robot, being towed by 4 small gnomes. The party tried to pass without conflict, but the sumo shoved Ai backwards 10' and into a tree. Axe cut it with his axe, but seemed to barely scratch its thick armour, while Chang ran around behind it, somehow turned on the oversized laser sword he had stolen from the steel samurai, and even managed to cut a deep gouge in the sumobot without disembowelling himself.
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper
Day 96:
In the morning, Axe discovered that all of his wounds had regenerated far faster than he had expected, which Ai chalked up to the berserker nanobots in his system. The party got back on the road early, and came across 4 chrome, skeletal humanoid robots, still a long ways away. Ai noticed that they seemed to have nozzles in their hands, and tanks in their lower torsos. Axe advanced while Chang fired a slug at the lead robot's tank, which exploded and lit the robot on fire.
The flaming bot ran at Axe while the others used their flamethrowers as best they could; one was out of fuel, and another's pilot flame was out, but even the working flamethrower and flaming robot had little effect, and they were soon cut to bits. Again, the Wizard noted that a signal had been sent to bombard the area, and the party ran down the road.
A few hours later, they saw a large cart holding a giant steel sumo robot, being towed by 4 small gnomes. The party tried to pass without conflict, but the sumo shoved Ai backwards 10' and into a tree. Axe cut it with his axe, but seemed to barely scratch its thick armour, while Chang ran around behind it, somehow turned on the oversized laser sword he had stolen from the steel samurai, and even managed to cut a deep gouge in the sumobot without disembowelling himself.
Friday, 26 January 2018
GURPS Waterworld Session 8: Japan
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper
Player Absent:
Ai - Experienced Tech
Day 81:
The party waited four days while the Wizard constructed their gifts: anti-grav jump boots with a 50m range for Axe, hypervision goggles for Chang, and a backpack-mounted water cannon for Vaolt. He also gave them back the demoleculizer, though had apparently done something incomprehensible to the battery. After much conversation and long-winded explanations, the Wizard was convinced to transport them to Japan using a hovercraft, which he trained Chang to pilot.
Day 87:
Before going to Japan, the party headed back to their ship to grab Chung, who was still apparently fine thanks to Pandaborg putting him into a coma, their food, and the rest of their gear.
Day 95:
As they approached the Japanese coast, the party and the Wizard came up with a plan. Apparently, any land vehicles would be bombarded and destroyed the second they touched land, as many of Japan's pre-war automated defenses were still functioning, so they resolved to leave the hovercraft slightly off-shore and wade in the rest of the way. The Wizard was able to walk on the water thanks to hoverboots, and turned invisible once they were ashore.
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper
Player Absent:
Ai - Experienced Tech
Day 81:
The party waited four days while the Wizard constructed their gifts: anti-grav jump boots with a 50m range for Axe, hypervision goggles for Chang, and a backpack-mounted water cannon for Vaolt. He also gave them back the demoleculizer, though had apparently done something incomprehensible to the battery. After much conversation and long-winded explanations, the Wizard was convinced to transport them to Japan using a hovercraft, which he trained Chang to pilot.
Day 87:
Before going to Japan, the party headed back to their ship to grab Chung, who was still apparently fine thanks to Pandaborg putting him into a coma, their food, and the rest of their gear.
Day 95:
As they approached the Japanese coast, the party and the Wizard came up with a plan. Apparently, any land vehicles would be bombarded and destroyed the second they touched land, as many of Japan's pre-war automated defenses were still functioning, so they resolved to leave the hovercraft slightly off-shore and wade in the rest of the way. The Wizard was able to walk on the water thanks to hoverboots, and turned invisible once they were ashore.
Thursday, 18 January 2018
GURPS Waterworld Session 7: The Satellite Array
Ai - Experienced Tech
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper
Day ??? (Cont.):
Now that they had re-equipped, the party took a look around and noticed that the room they were in had several tables and shelves lining the walls, all practically overflowing with strange and incomprehensible devices. There was a man in a white lab coat working on something in the corner, a cybernetic panda in the corner opposite, two normal doors, and one steel blast door. Beside one of the normal doors was a coat rack, which held a robe and wizard hat.
Chang asked the "scientist" what was going on and, as he turned around, the party realized that this was the Wizard. He explained over the next twenty-or-so minutes exactly what he had done, down to the smallest detail, to transport the party here, his speech so thick with technical jargon that only Ai had a remote hope of understanding him. He gave similar exposition when asked where the experimental gun was, how the chalice had knocked them out, and why he was so interested in Ai's assistance (in order: scrapped for parts, nanobots, she was really smart).
The Wizard was apparently rather socially incapable, as he kept slipping up and mentioning things like how his former "helpers" who had been mind-controlled by nanobots were "no longer viable", and that Ai was the third smartest person he'd met, but "would do, as the other two hadn't worked out"
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper
Day ??? (Cont.):
Now that they had re-equipped, the party took a look around and noticed that the room they were in had several tables and shelves lining the walls, all practically overflowing with strange and incomprehensible devices. There was a man in a white lab coat working on something in the corner, a cybernetic panda in the corner opposite, two normal doors, and one steel blast door. Beside one of the normal doors was a coat rack, which held a robe and wizard hat.
Chang asked the "scientist" what was going on and, as he turned around, the party realized that this was the Wizard. He explained over the next twenty-or-so minutes exactly what he had done, down to the smallest detail, to transport the party here, his speech so thick with technical jargon that only Ai had a remote hope of understanding him. He gave similar exposition when asked where the experimental gun was, how the chalice had knocked them out, and why he was so interested in Ai's assistance (in order: scrapped for parts, nanobots, she was really smart).
The Wizard was apparently rather socially incapable, as he kept slipping up and mentioning things like how his former "helpers" who had been mind-controlled by nanobots were "no longer viable", and that Ai was the third smartest person he'd met, but "would do, as the other two hadn't worked out"
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