Posts
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Whoops!
Unfortunately, there’s no post today, as the article on magic took me longer to write than I thought it would. We will still have our next Pathfinder Iconic out on the weekend, and continue the Dragon’s Dogma series starting on Monday.
Next week will also bring us a Halloween surprise, so stay tuned!
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Dragon's Dogma: Characters, Part 1
Copyright 2013 Capcom While all those posts about the setting of Dragon’s Dogma were a blast to write and gave me an excellent excuse to exercise the GURPS City Stats rules, I have to be honest and admit that they were not the first thing I thought about when I decided to do a Dragon’s Dogma adaptation. No, the first thing I always think about converting in these cases are always the characters. Judging from other efforts I’ve seen elsewhere, and from the fact that my post about Amiri seems to be the most popular individual post in this blog, I’m not the only one. And now I get to do exactly that!
The process is quite similar to what Mailanka has done in his Psi Wars project, but a bit more accelerated since I’ve already settled on using Dungeon Fantasy as a base. In this article, I’ll look at the basic concepts behind the class system in Dragon’s Dogma, and then look at how the templates from Dungeon Fantasy relate to the broad categories defined by the original game. The focus is on the DF 1 templates and their direct derivatives when those exist. Future posts in this sub-series will deal with the more exotic templates and with racial options specific to the setting.
Dragon’s Dogma Vocations and Dungeon Fantasy’s Templates
In the original game, the player character belongs to one of nine different vocations, each with its own set of special moves. While a lot can be said to describe each of them and their abilities, most of it is actually irrelevant for our purposes!
Most of the particulars of how vocations work in Dragon’s Dogma are either too fiddly for a literal conversion (such as the numerous individual abilities), or make no sense when removed from its original context and medium (like the fact that you can switch vocations by going into an inn). Even most of the specific vocations themselves don’t merit a detailed treatment, as they simply implement traditional fantasy archetypes in the context of those mechanics we’re not using anyway.
A better approach is to roll this specific implementation back to its basic concepts, and look at it from the point of view of a character in the setting. Never mind how much HP a fighter has or what their list of abilities is. How would someone witnessing this character fight describe their style?
At its base, Dragon’s Dogma is a class-based game. And the way GURPS Dungeon Fantasy implements “classes” is through its templates. One thing from the original games that I’ll keep using in this article is the color-coding of vocations, because it’s more of a sylistic tool than a pure mechanic, and it will help organize our discussion of how the DF templates fit into the setting.
Red Templates
In the original game, red vocations are based on strength. Their practitioners are heavily armored and carry hefty weapons. Their abilities consist of creative ways of bringing those weapons into contact with enemy skulls in melee combat. Though they might achieve superhuman feats, these are the product of mundane skill and prowess.
The Knight template from Dungeon Fantasy fits this pretty much exactly, and requires basically no change to fit into Gransys. Most actual knights should use this template, and so Status 1 {5} or 2 {10} become discretionary advantages for it in campaigns where that matters. It can also be used to describe common-born soldiers trained in the fighting styles popular in Gransys.
Barbarians also fit into this category, though they would most often be wilderness-savvy melee combatants rather than enormous foreign savages. To play such a character, do the following: Remove the discount for ST and HP, and reduce discretionary advantage points to 22 to compensate. Reduce Basic Move to 6 and SM to 0. Disregard the list of disadvantages and instead choose 40 points in disadvantages from the Scout list. A Barbarian with these modifications and the more “nautical” outdoors skill picks could represent one of the toughest fishermen in Cassardis.
A simpler, less angry alternative might be to use the Knight template with the 15-point Wilderness Training lens from DF 16, and add Outdoorsman 1-4 {10/level} to its list of discretionary advantages.
A lot of what the original game models as special abilities are standard options for anyone skilled in melee combat in GURPS. All of the general and template-specific martial power-ups from DF 3 and DF 11 should be allowed, and liberal use of Extra Effort in Combat should be encouraged.
Yellow Templates
Yellow vocations are based on agility. They wear light armor, and carry weapons such as daggers and bows. Their abilities rely on acrobatic movement, high-precision strikes or shots, and sometimes on dirty tricks such as flash bombs or entangling snares. Fantastic though they may be, their feats are also the product of mundane skill and prowess.
Scouts are the best-fitting template in this category, as they play pretty much exactly like an archery-focused Dragon’s Dogma character, and their wilderness survival skills are a welcome addition. Such a character might be a scout for a military unit, a bandit (reformed or not), a solitary hunter, or even a rural lordling with the addition of some Status and basic social skills.
The description above applies to Swashbucklers as well. Fencing weapons do exist in this world, but they’re not popular in Gransys where combatants prefer heavy armor and weapons that can defeat it. Interesting alternatives to them include paired long knives or shortswords, which would play like a melee focused strider from the original game. Broadswords and longswords also suit a non-fencing duelist and provide a bit more damage in exchange for giving up fencing parries. And there’s always the option to play someone from a region where fencing weapons and styles are common, like Ser Mercedes. In all cases, add Status 1 {5} or 2 {10} to the list of discretionary advantages for the template, like for Knights.
If you have access to the Swords Against Evil article from Pyramid #3/64, then the Aristocrat, Duelist and Rogue templates are also appropriate for the setting, with the same observations on weapons as the base Swashbuckler. For the Aristocrat, replace Higher Purpose (Blood Will Tell) {5} with Status 1 {5} in campaigns where this matters, and add Status 2 {10} to the list of discretionary advantages. Swashbucklers and Aristocrats could be foreign dignitaries, or local nobility who spent time abroad and learned a foreign fighting style. And when trained in local weapons any of the four templates could represent anyone who relies more on skill and precision than raw strength when fighting.
Thieves certainly exist in Gransys, and though they’re not as adept in a fight as the other “yellow” templates their movement and, well, thief skills are still as valuable as ever. They would be particularly likely to make use of those dirty tricks mentioned earlier.
As is the case for the Red templates, all applicable power-ups from DF 3 and DF 11 are allowed, and the use of Extra Effort in Combat is encouraged.
Blue Templates
Blue vocations are based on magic. They wear robes or similar clothing, and wield staffs more as spell-casting implements than as weapons. Their special abilities are spells!
Normally, adapting the magic described in the original source would involve careful research in an attempt to match the source’s magic system with one of the many offered by GURPS. In the case of Dragon’s Dogma, though, most of the work has already been done for us by a helpful NPC in the game itself.
According to wannabe mage Steffen, to work magic one must draw ambient energy from their surroundings and channel it into the spell they wish to cast. This is a difficult task that places great strain on the caster, particularly on their cardiovascular and nervous systems. Therefore, despite the popular view of mages as frail sorts, they need as much vigor and stamina as any warrior.
Other facts that can be glimpsed from the original’s story and gameplay are that casting a spell takes a few seconds at most, and that a magician has potential access to several dozen spells, some of which are prerequisites for others. Also, magic is commonly learned from books.
This just happens to be a perfect summary of GURPS’ default Spell Magic system, as detailed on the Basic Set and expanded in GURPS Magic. So that’s what we’ll use!
Wizards fit the description in the first paragraph perfectly. In fact, they are the only type of spellcaster in the setting! This means that they have access to the Plant, Animal, and Healing colleges of magic. They still have to follow the prerequisite trees for those colleges.
The Druid template can still be used to represent a wizard trained in herbalism and wilderness survival. Replace Green Thumb 1 {5} and Power Investiture (Druidic) 3 {30} with Magery 3 {35}. Green Thumb may still be taken as a discretionary advantage, but switch the extra levels of Power Investiture from that list with extra levels of Magery.
The Cleric template can still represent a priest of the Faith who also trained in magic. Replace Power Investiture 3 {30} with Magery 3 {35}, and reduce the points dedicated to Divine abilities or spells from 25 to 20. Switch extra levels of Power Investiture in the discretionary advantages to extra levels of Magery.
We’ll take a more detailed look at the magic system in the next post in this series. Among other things, discuss what to do about those Druidic and Divine abilities.
A Note on Hybrid Templates
Hybrid vocations are those that combine the attributes of two of the previously listed categories. They’re one of the most distinctive aspects of the Dragon’s Dogma class system, so I’ll dedicate an article to them right after I’m done nailing down the last details of the magic system.
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Dragon's Dogma: The City of Gran Soren
Copyright 2012 Capcom In this article we finish our tour of Gransys by examining its capital of Gran Soren, which is also its only settlement worthy of the name “city”. As there is only one very specific place to deal with this time, you’ll get more details on its history and layout, as well as important NPCs and a GURPS City Stats writeup. This is the last post on the setting of Gransys. Next we’ll move on to characters!
A Tour of Gran Soren
Gran Soren became the capital of Gransys around the time Edmun Dragonsbane became Duke, fifty years ago. Since then the fledgling town has grown into the beating heart of all Gransys, as the pawns in the original game are fond of saying whenever you approach its walls.
The city was built at the mouth of a river near the site of an ancient castle that predates Gransys itself. Some of its walls still stand, and the roads in the surrounding countryside weave through them. The city’s own walls are much newer, and as sturdy as their builders could make them. The space inside them is further divided into quarters.
Craftsman’s Quarter
This is where most of the city’s many workshops and guild halls stand. Blacksmiths, builders, and other artisans work here. There’s even a small field worked by tenant farmers. This quarter is also where the Pawn Guild is located. Its leader is a pawn named Barnaby, who is more articulate than most of his alien brethren. In addition to hiring out as mercenaries, they also guard a secret in the guild’s basement: the entrance to a mysterious underground ruin known to them as the Everfall.
Most weapon and item stores likely to cater to adventurers are in the Urban Quarter (below), but this is where PCs would come to make large orders or to hire a large workforce to build a manor or a boat. The Pawn Guild would also be a frequent destination for groups that include Pawn PCs or that make use of NPC Pawns.
Urban Quarter
This is the city’s largest residential and commercial area. Many of the artisans who work in the Craftsman’s Quarter have homes in this one, and it also hosts a large permanent market that sees movement at all hours of the day.
This is where all the “adventurer-friendly” establishments are: inns, taverns, and stores with large and varied inventories. Any non-magical item that doesn’t need to be custom-made can be found on sale here, and the stuff that does can be ordered easily. Fine-quality equipment and even minor magic items are often found on display, too. Basic necessities such as food or clothes are considerably more expensive in Gran Soren than in smaller towns or villages, but their quality and variety is often higher than can be found in those smaller locations.
The Venery
This is technically part of the Urban Quarter, but you’ll definitely notice when you’ve wandered into it. It’s the bad part of town, comprised of shabbier houses and shadier businesses. It’s also where the river meets both the sea and the city’s sewers. A slum has grown on its margins, and the city’s poorest inhabitants dredge the mud looking for stray valuables.
There are few guards here, and those are the type that can be bribed to look the other way. This makes the Venery the perfect meeting spot for criminals and malcontents. Rumor has it that a skilled forger does business from here, and it’s also the best place to buy illegal tools.
Noble Quarter
This is where the other end of society lives. Somewhat smaller than the other quarters, its area is mostly occupied by large mansions, an ornate cathedral, the mint, and the Duke’s palace. Politically, the noble quarter is where all the real action is at. Duke Edmun’s centralizing efforts mean that to gain favor with him is to gain power, and the nobles and merchants who make their home here engage in constant intrigue to do just that.
Others take alternate routes, brokering illicit deals right under the nose of the Duke’s most loyal agents. Either way, the deals made here affect the entire duchy.
The Duke holds court from his palace, and is always surrounded by a rotating set of nobles and merchants. Aside from Edmun himself, other fixtures of the court are his nephew Fedel and his chamberlain Aldous. Fedel holds the title of Count of Aernst, but that is a mere formality, as Aernst Castle was attacked and razed decades ago. Though Fedel is wealthy, he lacks the resources (and, some say, the will) needed to retake and rebuild the castle. He currently lives in a mansion in the noble quarter, and makes a living from trade.
Aldous also holds an honorary title (Count of Windbluff), and also has no interest in claiming its associated land. He is the Duke’s Chamberlain, and the one who actually conducts most of the day-to-day work of running the duchy. Most who seek audience with Edmun will find themselves dealing with him instead.
The Noble Quarter is also where Fournival Frescobaldi, Gransys’ wealthiest merchant, makes his home. He owns a lot of real estate in Gransys and smaller towns, and his organization moves a lot of goods between these settlements. He also deals in goods imported from foreign lands, both legally and illegally.
Stats
Population: 11,000 (Search +1)
Physical and Magical Environment
Terrain: Plains; Appearance: Average (0); Hygiene: -1; Normal Mana (Common Enchantment)
Culture and Economy
Literacy: Accented; TL: 4; Wealth: Comfortable; Status: -2 to 7
Political Environment
Government: Dictatorship, Municipality; CR: 4 (Corruption -2); Military Resources: $1.1M; Defense Bonus: +8
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Dragon's Dogma: Castles
Introduction
First of all, a warning: this post mentions plot events that happen pretty far into the story of the original game. With that out of the way, let us proceed!
If you know even a little bit about feudal societies, that bit about margraves and castles in the overview of Gransys might have sounded a bit strange or even nonsensical to you. What’s this about isolated castles who have to receive their supplies and personnel from the capital instead of drawing them from the surrounding lands? Isn’t that counter-intuitive, inefficient and prone to all sorts of problems when done in a feudal society?
Yes, it is! Some of those problems are in fact a key plot element in the original game, where poor logistical support causes a revolt against the Duke in one of these castles. The game mentions a few other consequences of this arrangement when they affect its story, but says little else about it. Here I have a bit more space to explore why things work like this in this particular setting. And once that’s done, we’ll show a couple of example castles drawn from the game. No City Stats this time, but I hope the included plot hooks suffice.
The Border Marches of Gransys
As mentioned in the post about towns, the society of Gransys is in a state of transition between TL 3 feudalism and TL 4 absolute monarchy. This means that Duke Edmun is taking steps to centralize political power in the capital (and thus, in his own hands), while facing resistance from the feudal lords under him. The way the border castles are set up is a big component of that.
Unlike what happens with towns and villages, here it’s entirely appropriate to assume that the castles we see in the map are all of them. There’s the Greatwall and the Shadow Fort over in the west, and Windbluff Tower to the east. They’re all located near some pretty dangerous terrain! The first two are literally on top of underground entrances leading to the monster-infested mountain range to the west, and the last one is close to the mouth of a similarly dangerous valley leading to Bluemoon Tower. They define the borders of Gransys as much as the natural landmarks do.
Now, the way this would work in a purely feudal setting is that the dangerous and important task of maintaining these bulwarks would come with the title of margrave, which is pretty high up in the feudal hierarchy. The margrave gains control of the castle itself and its surrounding lands, and the right to demand tribute and service from their inhabitants. They are expected to use that right to protect and tame those lands, which means they see more fighting than your typical feudal lord. It also means they have more bargaining power than usual when it comes to dealing with their liege.
The Duke has changed that traditional arrangement in this setting. Rather than delegating this border protection duty to his vassals, he’s had the castles built with his own resources and staffed with soldiers answering to him directly. In our adaptation, the commanders of these forts are still called margraves, but they get none of the traditional perks of the job. Instead, the supplies for these forces come from the central government in a way similar to how a modern military base works. This takes the form of a mix of material resources, new recruits, and money for salaries and additional expenses. The idea is that this gives him more direct control over the duchy, and limits the number of uppity nobles threatening to secede if they don’t get special privileges.
It works, up to a point. Gransys doesn’t enjoy the efficient logistics network that a truly centralized state would have, and its transportation technology is lagging behind other areas. This combined with the presence of monsters and bandits within the duchy means that the forts are suffering from a chronic resource shortage, which causes all sorts of morale problems. Each of the castles have found a different way of dealing with this, but they don’t quite cut it.
Someone intent on destabilizing the duchy would surely target these castles. And that’s just what happens in the original game.
The Shadow Fort
The Shadow Fort was built over an entrance to the Frontier Caverns, a vast network of underground goblin warrens leading into the mountains to the west beyond Gransys. Its commander has come to an arrangement with the mayor of the nearby town of Hardship, lending detachments of its soldiers to police the lands around the town in exchange for extra supplies.
The Fort’s main problem is a shortage of personnel. Its current complement is adequate for routine operation in relatively peaceful times, but the greatly increased monster activity pressaging the next coming of the Dragon has greatly increased the pressure on its soldiers. Reinforcements have been requested, but it doesn’t look like they’ll arrive in time, if ever.
Windbluff Tower
Windbluff tower was built over the ruins of a castle that was the seat of power for Gransys’ northern county. It guards the entrance of the Windworn Valley, whose crags are home to a large number of bandits and smugglers. It’s been particularly affected by the duchy’s logistics issues, with much of its actual support coming from backroom deals with wealthy merchant Fournival Frescobaldi, who supplies them in exchange for money and for access to those smugglers.
Since the money often comes from that reserved for the soldiers’ pay and enabling smuggling goes directly against their mandate, morale here is particularly bad. It wouldn’t take much to push them into open rebellion.
The Greatwall
The largest of Gransys’ border fortresses, the Greatwall guards the approach to the Tainted Mountain. The mountain and its environs are the site of a previous draconic invasion, and the ruins located there are still home to some of the peninsula’s most dangerous monsters.
The Greatwall doesn’t actually have many logistic issues, despite being in the most inhospitable location of the three castles. In fact, the upsurge in monster activity has caused resources meant for the other two castles to be diverted here instead.
The Duke’s Manse
Unlike the other three, the Duke’s Manse is a castle built and operated along feudal lines! It controls the surrounding lands, which are the Duke’s personal fief, and draws resources from them. Since the Duke already controls this area directly, he is in no rush to change any of this. It’s usually administered by a castellan, as the Duke spends most of his days in the capital.
Located north of Windbluff Tower, this place is self-sufficient and quite isolated from the rest of Gransys. Few know what goes on in here. As we see in the original game, there’s a reason why it’s labeled the “Blighted Manse” in the map.
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Dragon's Dogma: Towns
Introduction
In this article, we’ll discuss towns in Gransys. Unlike the villages and baronies we discussed in this series’ last post, we actually do have an in-game example in the town of Cassardis. After talking about what towns look like and what narrative themes they enable, we examine a few possible sites for new towns in the map, and finish with two example towns written using GURPS City Stats. One is new, and the other is Cassardis.
Towns in Gransys
Towns are not just larger than villages, they’re also made up of more permanent structures and generally less isolated. They see enough traffic and trade from nearby settlements that they can host a perpetual market. They’re also more likely to have walls, which will be either wooden palisades or stone structures.
While some of a town’s inhabitants are still farmers, they make up a smaller portion of the population. The rest take up the kind of job that requires a higher population to support - builders, professional traders, more specialized artisans. A lot of villages have a blacksmith, but this is the smallest type of settlement where you might find an armorer.
That’s usually enough for Dungeon Fantasy, but those who want to go deeper into the social aspects of the setting can add some interesting hooks here. This is a world transitioning between TL 3 and 4, and we can extend that to say that it’s transitioning between a feudal, medieval economy and a monetary, Renaissance one. The original game offers some support for this notion during the quests related to Fournival, a merchant who holds no title but has quite a lot of pull with the Court due to his fortune and business deals.
Towns, then, are where you begin to see the tension between these two economic models. They don’t control a lot of farmland directly, but are the center of a trade network that links all nearby villages, and part of a bigger network connecting other towns further away. It’s quite possible for an enterprising merchant or artisan to make their fortune in this system without ever holding a formal title. Historically, these people were the original burgeoisie, a term which means literally “those who live in cities”.
Therefore, it will be quite common for a town to be the stage of a conflict between these wealthy merchants or artisans and the nobles that are supposed to rule over them. Nobles that live away from the town in a rural manor will soon find their townie subjects doing things behind their backs. Those who live in town will face more direct resentment if they try to exert direct control over its affairs. And, of course, there’s always the possibility that the nobles and merchants collude to hoodwink the Duke.
Placing Towns
Cassardis is right there on the map, but it’s not the only town in Gransys. Where should an enterprising GM place their own made-up towns? They would make interesting replacements for the “rest encampments” present in the original game. Those consist of a handful of tents inhabited by a guard who performs the same functions as an innkeeper and by a peddler who can also enhance weapons.
In an expanded world it would make logical sense for those spots to contain actual towns, since these are the kinds of services one would be able to find in them. Aside from the possible political conflict outlined above, the GM can take a cue from the neighborhood monsters to determine what other problems would plague each place.
Example Town: Hardship
The town of Hardship grew out of a logging camp, and took its name from the lake on whose shores it was built1. Now it’s a trade hub for the villages around the lake, and a rallying point for the caravans bearing tribute to Gran Soren and supplies to the Shadow Fort. Since the latter are few and far between during the best of times, Hardship’s mayor has long had an arrangement with the Shadow Fort’s commander.
However, he’s had no luck in calling in those favors recently, as the fort’s garrison has been too busy worrying about the goblins massing in the mountains beyond Gransys to do something about the rumors of a dragon sighted in the nearby forest. And it’s unlikely they could do anything to the ghosts that rise from the lake at night. As if the biting, disease-carrying insects that rise from it by day weren’t enough.
Population: 1,500 (Search -1)
Physical and Magical Environment
Terrain: Swampland; Appearance: Unattractive (-1); Hygiene: -2; Normal Mana (Common Enchantment)
Culture and Economy
Literacy: Accented; TL: 4; Wealth: Average; Status: -2 to 3
Political Environment
Government: Dictatorship, Feudal, Municipality; CR: 4 (Corruption -2); Military Resources: $75K; Defense Bonus: +5
Example Town: Cassardis
The coastal town Cassardis was settled hundreds of years ago by people from a different culture than the one dominant in Gransys. Their dress and architecture resembles that of our Mediterranean cultures. Until recently, it was completely independent from the duchy.
Most of its hardy inhabitants are fishermen rather than farmers. Many actually sail out in boats to harvest the bounty of the sea, which would sound downright suicidal to an outsider. This fish-based diet is complemented by vegetables grown in domestic gardens or in fields outside the town’s sturdy stone walls. Cassardis fishermen also sell plenty of dried fish to the rest of Gransys.
The people of Cassardis are long used to repelling monster attacks by themselves, and a lot of them receive at least some combat training from an early age. They are well-acquainted with the goblins plaguing the lightly forested hills beyond the town’s fields. These attacks greatly increased in frequency and intensity a while ago, which has prompted a drastic and unprecedented decision from Adaro the village chief. He has requested help from the Duke in exchange for allowing Cassardis to be annexed into Gransys.
Now Cassardis hosts a garrison of the Duke’s Men, and has to pay taxes and tribute in exchange. Adaro is still chief, and though there is some ressentment against him for the annexation no one can deny the soldiers help keep the town safe.
In a Dragon’s Dogma campaign, as in the game, this town of badasses is the perfect place for PCs to come from. Its self-reliant nature can help explain where the PC’s adventuring skills come from, and its isolation from the rest of Gransys is a perfect excuse for why they’re initially ignorant of the duchy’s situation. It also has its share of problems that can be looked into, although it’s generally a lot better off than places like the appropriately named Hardship.
Population: 2,000 (Search -1)
Physical and Magical Environment
Terrain: Island/Beach; Appearance: Average (0); Hygiene: 0; Normal Mana (Common Enchantment)
Culture and Economy
Literacy: Accented; TL: 4; Wealth: Average; Status: -1 to 3
Political Environment
Government: Dictatorship, Municipality; CR: 4 (Corruption -1) Military Resources: $100K; Defense Bonus: +7
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The origin of Lake Hardship’s name is lost to history. ↩
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