Posts
-
Let's Play Hell's Rebels: Rosalia Savory update 1
An update to Rosalia, one of the player characters for my [solo Hell’s Rebels game][2]. Her description and backstory remains the same as her [starting version][1], and we discuss what changed here.
I’ve played Rosalia in three different occasions so far. Once in another solo game, once in a D&D 4 Zeitgeist play-by-post, and now. In the first one she was a gunslinger and also psychic. In the second, she was pretty good with a sword. I started out trying to make her a gunslinger again, but as mentioned in a recent post I decided to rewrite her to be an archer because there’s not going to be a lot of advanced guns in this game.
Despite this, most of her contributions in combat have happened with her sword, and with her Song of Humiliation. Outside of that she and Jania make an excellent loot-selling team, and her interpersonal skills also make her an awesome rebellion official.
There’s a lot of cool utility in her spells that I have been lax in using, perhaps that will change later. Her new fancy bow-harp and cornucopia should make it easier for her to fulfill her new role, though I really should increase her Bow skill and get her Fast-Draw (Arrow) as well.
Character Sheet
ST 10 {0}; DX 13 {60}; IQ 14 {80}; HT 11 {10}
Damage 1d-2/1d; BL 10kg; HP 10; Will 14; Per 14; FP 13 {6}; Basic Speed 6.00; Basic Move 6;
Advantages
- Bardic Talent 3 {30}
- Charisma 2 {10}
- Danger Sense {15}
- Heroic Archer {20}
- Reputation (All the time, everyone but Thrune supporters): +1 {3}
- Song of Echoes {14}
- Song of Humiliation {4}
- Voice {10}
Disadvantages
- Chummy {-5}
- Code of Honor (Outlaw’s) {-5}
- Compulsive Carousing (12) {-5}
- Curious (12) {-5}
- Gluttony (12) {-5}
- Impulsiveness (12) {-10}
- Secret (Mysterious Satirist) {-10}
- Sense of Duty (Adventuring Companions) {-5}
Skils
- Acrobatics (H) DX-2 {1} - 11
- Acting (A) IQ {2} - 14
- Area Knowledge (Kintargo) (E) IQ+2 {4} - 16
- Bow (A) DX+3 {12} - 16
- Carousing (E) HT+1 {2} - 12
- Connoisseur (Art) (A) IQ-1 {1} - 13
- Current Affairs (E) IQ {1} - 14
- Dancing (A) DX-1 {1} - 12
- Detect Lies (H) Per-2 {1} - 12
- Diplomacy (H) IQ {1}1 - 14
- Disguise (A) IQ-1 {1} - 13
- Fast-Draw (Sword) (E) DX {1} - 13
- Fast-Talk (A) IQ+1 {1}1 - 15
- Fencing (A) DX+2 {8} - 15
- Heraldry (A) IQ-1 {1} - 13
- Interrogation (A) IQ-1 {1} - 13
- Intimidation (A) Will-1 {1} - 13
- Leadership (A) IQ+1 {1}2 - 15
- Merchant (A) IQ-1 {1} - 13
- Musical Composition (H) IQ+1 {1}3 - 15
- Musical Instrument (Guitar) (H) IQ+2 {2}3 - 16
- Performance (A) IQ+1 {1}1 - 15
- Poetry (A) IQ-1 {1} - 13
- Propaganda (A) IQ {2} - 14
- Public Speaking (A) IQ+3 {1}12 - 17
- Savoir-Faire (E) IQ {1} - 14
- Singing (E) HT+7 {4}13 - 18
- Sleight of Hand (H) DX-2 {1} - 11
- Stealth (A) DX-1 {1} - 12
- Streetwise (A) IQ-1 {1} - 13
- Writing (A) IQ-1 {1} - 13
Spells
All get a +3 from Bardic Talent. Page reference is from DF Spells.
- Bravery (p. 53) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Daze (p. 54) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Fascinate (p. 54) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Fear (p. 54) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Foolishness (p. 54) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Hush (p.56) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Loyalty (p. 55) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Sense Emotion (p. 26) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Sense Evil (p. 26) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Sense Foes (p. 26) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Silence (p. 67) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Sound (p. 67) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Thunderclap (p. 67) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Voices (p. 68) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Wall of Silence (p. 68) (H) IQ+1 {1} - 15
Loadout
Total $8394.00, 9.62kg. No Encumbrance.
- Clothing: $0, 1kg.
- Pouch: Holds 1.5kg. $10, 0.1kg.
- Healing Potion, Minor: Heals 1d HP. $120, 0.25kg.
- Coins:
- 6 x silver $20, 0.01kg
- 6 x copper $1, 0.01kg
- Visibility Dust: $50, 0.5kg.
- Armor:
- Light Cloth Body Armor: $53, 3.15kg.
- Light Cloth Sleeves: $25, 1.5kg.
- Saber: $700, 1kg.
- Allegretto: Balanced Elven Short Bow-Harp. thr imp, Acc 2, Range x10/x15. ST 10 but user fires as ST 12. 9 FP as a power item. $1300, 1.5kg.
- Fine Cornucopia Quiver: Produces Fine arrows. $6010, 0.5kg.
Other Gear
Stored back at base.
- Guitar: Two-handed instrument. $150, 2.5kg.
Combat
- Defenses
- Dodge: 9
- Parry (Saber): 10F
- DR: 1 (torso and arms)
- HP: 10
- Control Maximum: 10
- 1 to 5: -2
- 6 to 10: -4
- 11 to 15: -6
- 16 to 20: -8
- 21 or more: -12
-
Attacks
- Saber (15): 1d-1 cut or imp, Reach 1.
- Allegretto (16): 1d-1 imp, Acc 2, Range 120/180, Shots 1(3).
Unspent Points: 3
-
Let's Play Hell's Rebels: Jania Moonshadow update 1
I’ve been stressing out about real-life fascists these past few days, so I thought I’d destress a bit by publishing another post about people fighting fantasy fascists in my solo Hell’s Rebels campaign
This is an update to Jania. Her description and backstory remain the same and can be see in the post for her starting version.
After playing through Adventure 1 I can say Jania has been working pretty much as expected. A thiefy wizard, and a wizard thief. She has handled all the trap-finding and lock-opening that she needed to, and her spells have been occasionally useful as well. The standout here were the repeated uses of Glass Wall to help with the breaching-and-clearing of Hocum’s Phantasmagorium at the end of the adventure.
I didn’t expect a lot out of her in combat since she’s a Thief-type, but she was surprisingly useful when she got to hit people in the skull with her cane while Art held them down. She’s switching to a smallsword now, so I wonder how that will change things. Her ranged combat on the other hand has been as disappointing as expected, since it takes a while to charge up an Ice Dagger and it often misses or gets dodged.
Her advancement has been focusing more on utility spells and skills, particularly the ones needed to help run the rebellion. Like the rest of her companions, she started out with 250 points and currently sits at 289 with 0 unspent points. The biggest expenditure here was a much-needed improvement of Spell-Thief Expertise from 2 to 3.
Character Sheet
ST 10 {0}; DX 14 {80}; IQ 14 {80}; HT 11 {10};
Damage 1d/1d-2; Basic Lift 10kg.; Will 14; Per 14; HP 10 FP 11; Basic Speed 6.25; Basic Move 6.
Advantages
- Flexibility {5}
- High Manual Dexterity 1 {5}
- Open Locks 2 {5}
- Reputation (All the time, everyone but Thrune supporters): +1 {3}
- Spell-Thief Experdise 3 {38}
- Unusual Background (Spell-Thief) {5}
Disadvantages
- Bad Temper {-10}
- Code of Honor (Outlaw’s) {-5}
- Laziness {-10}
- Overconfidence (12) {-5}
- Sense of Duty (Adventuring Companions) {-5}
- Weirdness Magnet {-15}
Skills
- Acrobatics DX-2 {1}-12
- Admininstration (A) IQ+1 {4} - 15
- Alchemy IQ-3 {1}-11
- Brawling DX+0 {1}-14
- Carousing HT+0 {1}-11
- Climbing DX+2 {1}-16
- Disguise IQ-1 {1}-13
- Escape DX+3 {4}-17
- Fast-Draw (Sword) DX+0 {1}-14
- Fast-Talk IQ+0 {2}-14
- Fencing DX+3 {12}-17
- Filch DX+0 {2}-14
- Hazardous Materials IQ-1 {1}-13
- Hidden Lore (Magic Items) IQ+0 {2}-14
- Holdout IQ+0 {2}-14
- Innate Attack (Projectile) DX+1 {2}-15
- Intelligence Analysis IQ+0 {4} - 14
- Leadership IQ-1 {1} - 13
- Lockpicking DX+2 {4}-16
- Merchant (A) IQ-1 {1}-13
- Observation (A) Per+1 {4} - 15
- Occultism IQ+0 {2}-14
- Pickpocket DX+0 {2}-14
- Savoir-Faire IQ+0 {1}-14
- Sleight of Hand DX-1 {1}-13
- Stealth DX+1 {4}-15
- Streetwise IQ+0 {2}-14
- Thaumatology IQ-1 {1}-13
- Traps IQ+1 {4}-15
- Urban Survival Per+0 {2}-14
Spells
- Apportation IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Aura IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Blur IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Climbing IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Continual Light IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Create Water IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Darkness IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Detect Magic IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Freeze IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Glass Wall IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Grease IQ+2 {2} - 16
- Great Haste IQ {2} - 15
- Haste IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Ice Dagger IQ+2 {2} - 16
- Ice Sphere IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Icy Weapon IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Infravision IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Invisibility IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Levitation IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Light IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Lockmaster IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Locksmith IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Magelock IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Mage Sight IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Night Vision IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Purify Water IQ+1 {1} - 15
- See Invisible IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Seeker IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Seek Food IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Seek Water IQ+1 {1} - 15
- See Secrets IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Shape Water IQ+1 {1} - 15
- Trace IQ+1 {1} - 15
Loadout
Total: $9984.00, 9.5825kg. No Encumbrance.
- Clothing; $0, 1kg.
- Armor:
- Body: Enchanted Silk Undershirt. Forfity 1, DR 1. $470, 0.2kg.
- Ninja Slippers: +1 to Stealth. $100, 0.25 kg.
- The Needle: Fine, Balanced smallsword enchanted with Puissance 1. 14 FP as a Power Item. $8200, 0.75kg.
- Backpack, Small; $60, 1.5 kg.
- Personal Basics; $5, 0.5 kg.
- Trap-Finder’s Kit, Good; $250, 1 kg.
- Spy’s Horn; $100, 1 kg.
- Canteen; $10, 0.5kg.
- Water (1 Quart); $0, 1 kg.
- Scroll Belt: 10 waterproof compartments for scrolls. $60, 0.5kg.
- Pouch; $10, 0.1 kg.
- Hand Mirror: $15, 0.5kg.
- Lockpicks; $50, 0.05 kg.
- 2 x Nageteppo, Flash; $40, 0.1 kg.
- 2 x Nageteppo, Smoke; $40, 0.1 kg.
- Coins:
- 1 x Gold Coin, Quartered. $100, 0.0025kg.
- 19 x silver coin: $20, 0.01kg.
- 14 x copper coin: $1, 0.01kg.
Combat
- Defenses
- Dodge: 9
- Parry: 11F
- DR: 1 (torso), 0 (elsewhere)
- Control Maximum: 10
- 1 to 5: -2
- 6 to 10: -4
- 11 to 15: -6
- 16 to 20: -8
- 21 or more: -12
- FP: 7/11
- HP: 10/10
- Attacks
- The Needle (17): 1d+1 imp (thrust). Reach 1.
- Ice Dagger (15): 1d-1 imp/point, Acc 3, Range 30/60. -1 to final cost.
- Ice Sphere (15): 1d cr/point, Acc 2, Range 40/80.
-
Let's Read DFRPG Adventurers: Appendices
Chapter 7 was the last proper chapter in the book but we still have a bit to go through. The first thing here are a pair of sample characters, each taking up a page.
We have Grükuk Kzaash, a Half-Orc Knight. Personality-wise, she’s a honorable mercenary, if more than a bit short-tempered. Mechanically, she goes for breadth over depth, taking Extra Attack 1 instead of Weapon Master and carrying both a shield and a brace of weapons fit for all occasions. She has a Dwarven flail, a kukri for enemies who are resistant to crushing damage, and a pair of silver-coated brass knuckles for enemies who are vulnerable to that. No swords, though, as she thinks they’re overrated.
The other one is Francesco Zombani, who already knows all the zombie jokes related to his name and asks that you don’t make any. He’s a former cloistered monk who decided to travel the world on a quest to atone for a grave sin. What sin is that? He’s not actually sure. He’s the robe-and-staff kind of cleric, a poor combatant but an excellent spellcaster.
After these two we get to the book’s Index, and if you never beheld the index of a GURPS book you don’t know what joy is. This is a match for any textbook index, and leaps and bounds above almost anything else you might find in RPG books. There are also separate indexes for Advantages, Disadvantages, and Skills.
We end the book with a one-page ad for Ogre 6th Edition, and a four-page character sheet that has enough space to hold almost everything you need in play. Including that price list for magical healing in town I mentioned in the gear chapter.
-
Let's Read DFRPG Adventuers: Magic Items
This is what everyone’s been waiting for, right? In the implied setting of DFRPG, “low-level” magic items are common enough that they can often be found in “magic shops” in cities or larger towns. The selection presented here represents those. There are many more, and more powerful items, but those are not for sale and are usually found in dungeons.
Potions
Potions follow the same basic rules as the non-magical concoctions from the previous post, but they’re magic items. This means they can be detected as such by someone with Magery, and their ongoing effects can be ended by Dispel Magic against the skill of the maker. That’s 15 for potions bought in town, but it could be higher or lower for found potions.
Multiple doses of the same potion usually aren’t cumulative, but different potions can affect someone at the same time.
This is where you have grenades that are more damaging versions of the alchemical ones, as well as one that puts people to sleep and another one that prevents wizardly casters from using magic for a while. Drinkable potions include a whole range of healing potions, attribute boosters for ST, DX, Basic Speed and Perception, stuff that gives you flight, invisibility or extra DR for a while, and Thieves’ Oil which makes you extra-slippery.
Scrolls
Each scroll contains a single use spell. There’s some rules about how long it takes to draw and unroll them in combat, and after that you take twice as long as normal to cast the spell.
To create a scroll, you decide what spell is inside (pick from any list!) and then whether the scroll is wizardly, clerical, druidic or universal. Universal scrolls can be used by anyone, even a “mundane”. The others can only be used by characters with the appropriate power trait.
Finally, a scroll can be charged or not. A charged scroll contains all the energy necessary to power the spell, and costs nothing from the reader. An uncharged one drains the reader’s FP. In any case the scroll’s monetary cost scales with its energy cost.
Delvers prefer universal charged scrolls, of course, but as you might imagine those are the most expensive of all. Further restrictions decrease the cost. Scrolls bought in town have a skill level of 15 both for casting the spell and for resisting dispelling attempts. Found scrolls will often have higher skill.
Magic Weapons and Armor
The stars of the show! Weapons and armor most often contain permanent, always-on enchantments, and this is the list of enchantments purchasable by PCs. To create a magic item, you first buy the base “mundane” weapon or armor with all its modifiers, and then apply the enchantments you want to it. These add directly to the final price.
When a PC buys a magic item in town, they get to decide whether the enchantment is wizardly, clerical, or druidic (which will matter for rules described in DF: Exploits). These purchases can happen either in play or as part of character creation, though few delvers will have the money to spare at that time.
Visits to Ye Olde Magic Shoppe are abstracted by default, just like all other shopping in the game, and the GM decides what’s available every time the PCs return to Town from adventuring.
The most noticeable class of enchantments here are your standard “plusses”: to-hit, damage and Parry for weapons, Defense Bonus and Block for shields, Defense Bonus and DR for armor. Each of these is a separate enchantment and has one or two levels available in the table.
Weapons can also benefit from one of a set of elemental damage adders (flaming, lightning, freezing), from a Penetrating enchantment that helps get past DR, and from being made magically unbreakable. Armor and shields can have their weight reduced, and anything can be made glowy so that it illuminates like a torch on command.
That’s it for purchasable magic gear. Want something more powerful or with a different effect? Go delve a dungeon and find something from the expanded GM-only list from Exploits.
Magic As a Service
The typical delver party arrives in town after a delve carrying a cartload of precious loot, and also a bevy of wounds, curses, severed limbs or even the dead bodies of their companions who didn’t make it. Fortunately, they can “generously donate” some of that treasure to the local temple in order to solve their other problems.
HP is super cheap to recover at $2/point. Mundane and supernatural afflictions cost $50 and $100 respectively, which is also pretty cheap assuming you managed to find any loot at all. Things get more expensive when it comes to repairing permanent crippled body parts ($750) or outright dismemberment ($1600). And bringing someone back from the dead costs $15000.
PC clerics who know the right spells can do almost all of these in the field, but the possibility of paying to have it done automatically in town is still nice. Presumably restoring or regrowing limbs and eyes can still be done this way even if the PC cleric tried and failed, which is nice.
The one exception here is resurrecting the dead, which only the town priest can do. I bet that’s why it costs so much more. No competition from PCs!
This is actually present as a very small text box in the character sheet at the very end of the book, and I couldn’t find it anywhere else. It’s quite possible I’ll run into the official explanation in some other book as I go through them.
Coming up Next
Sample characters!
-
Let's Play Hell's Rebels: Jade Irinka update 1
An update to one of the player characters for my solo Hell’s Rebels campaign. This is Jade after the end of Adventure 01, with all advancements in stats and gear factored in.
Her description and backstory remain the same and can be see in the post for her starting version.
Jade is more or less the backbone of the party’s combat capability, and her fencing prowes so far could only be matched by Adventure 01’s final boss, which went down to a lucky critical anyway. She’s also one of the PCs most motivated by an ideological opposition to fascism, tied perhaps with Rosalia. That’s not to say she doesn’t have personal reasons to oppose Thrune. They did a number on her found family back in the days of the original Ravens.
Her knowledge as the Sixth Raven has come in handy in a couple of spots in Adventure 1, but her Monster of the Week disadvantage hasn’t really come up yet. I’ll roll for it and prepare a suitable opponent during the early preparation stages for Adventure 02.
She started with the standard 250 points, and here at the end of Adventure 01, stands at 289. Yes, my point distribution policy is somewhat generous. I removed the “pick your own” quirk entries as I’ve never ended up using them. We’re also using some new house rules for skills, which are listed here.
Over the course of the adventure she found a slightly upgraded suit of armor and a couple of expensive utility items, but her weapon and general approach to adventuring stay mostly the same.
Character Sheet
ST 13 {30}; DX 15 {100}; IQ 12 {40}; HT 12 {20};
Damage 1d/2d-1; Basic Lift 16.9kg; HP 13; Will 12; Per 12; FP 12; Basic Speed 7 {5}; Basic Move 7;
Advantages
- Ambidexterity {5}
- Appearance (Impressive) {12}
- Born War Leader 3 {15}
- Charisma 3 {15}
- Combat Reflexes {15}
- Luck {15}
- Reputation (All the time, everyone but Thrune supporters): +1 {3}
- Weapon Adaptation (Broadsword to Fencing) {1}
- Weapon Master (Backsword) {20}
Disadvantages
- Code of Honor (Soldier’s) {-10}
- Compulsive Generosity (12) {-5}
- Enemy (Monster of the Week, 9 or less) {-15}
- Pacifism (Cannot Harm Innocents) {-10}
- Selfless {-5}
- Sense of Duty (Adventuring Companions) {-5}
Skills
- Acrobatics (H) DX-1 {2} - 14
- Administration (A) IQ {2} - 12
- Diplomacy (H) IQ-2 {1} - 10
- Fast-Draw (Sword) (E) DX+1 {1}1 - 16
- Fencing (A) DX+5 {20} - 20
- Gesture (E) IQ {1} - 12
- Grappling (A) DX-1 {1} - 14
- Guns (Pistol) (E) DX+1 {2} - 16
- Intelligence Analysis (H) IQ+3 {4}2 - 15
- Jumping (E) DX {1} - 15
- Leadership (A) IQ+5 {2}32 - 17
- Public Speaking (A) IQ+1 {1}3 - 13
- Savoir-Faire (High Society) (E) IQ {1} - 12
- Stealth (A) DX-1 {1} - 14
- Strategy (H) IQ+2 {2}3 - 14
- Tactics (H) IQ+2 {2}3 - 14
Loadout
$47482.00, 12.4412kg. No Encumbrance.
- Backsword: sw+1 cut or thr+1 imp. Basket hilt gives DR4 to the hand and allows a Hilt Punch. $550, 1.5kg
- Pouch: Carries 1.5kg of small items. $10, 0.1kg.
- Coins:
- 1 x Piece of Eight $50, 0.0012kg.
- 2 x Silver Coin $20, 0.01kg.
- 7 x Copper Coin $1, 0.01kg.
- 1 x Blessed Paper $400, 0kg.
- 2 x Healing Potion, Minor: Heals 1d HP. $120, 0.25kg
- Coins:
- Clothing: $0, 1kg.
- Armor: Suit of armor enchanted with Fortify 1.
- Head : Light Leather, DR 2. $113, 0.75kg.
- Body: Light Leather, DR 2. $403, 3.15kg.
- Arms: Light Leather, DR 2. $175, 1.5kg.
- Hands: Light Leather, DR 2. $55, 0.3kg.
- Legs: Light Cloth, DR 2. $287, 2.25kg.
- Feet: Light Leather, DR 2. $117, 1.05kg.
- Headband of Strengthening Will +1 : Bronze circlet that grants +1 Will when worn $20035, 0.25kg.
- Ring of Swimming: Grants Amphibious but not Gills while worn. $25000, 0kg.
Combat
Assumes no encumbrance.
- Defenses
- Dodge: 11
- Parry (Backsword): 14F
- Parry (Grappling): 11F
- DR: 4 on skull, 0 on eyes, 6 in sword hand, 2 everywhere else.
- Control Maximum: 13
- 1 to 6: -2
- 7 to 12: -4
- 13 to 18: -6
- 19 to 25: -8
- 26 or more: -12
- Attacks
- Backsword (20): 2d+5 cut or 1d+3 imp, Reach 1.
- Hilt Punch (15): 1d cr, Reach C.
- Grappling (14): 1d ctrl, Reach C.
- One-handed grab (14): 1d-2 ctrl, Reach C.
subscribe via RSS