The Lumpley Games PDF Library

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It's never been this accessible before.

$25 for PDFs of Apocalypse World, Dogs in the Vineyard, kill puppies for satan, In a Wicked Age, Mechaton, and Poison'd.  That's...$4.17 per game.

Stop what you are doing and buy Vincent Baker's games.

D&D 4th Edition - Character Creation + Hacks Part 2

Long ago, in ancient times, I posted about how I handled 4th Edition D&D character creation with my home group.  Since then, a fine gentleman created a document for the method that I described.  It is available for download here.

It's a good document and the method worked, for me at least.

CCT Journal 14: Winning

In the midst of my drive to continually challenge my players and create tension and drama by exacting costs out of their characters it is important not to forget a basic point: people like to win. No matter how dire things appear for the PC's underneath it all the odds of them actually losing are close to zero over the long haul. The miracle is that they manage to suspend their disbelief well enough that they actually fear losing given their near perfect batting average.

Once in a while it is important to throw in a little setback, to help them keep that enjoyable fear going, but it is equally crucial to serve up a big slice of victory now and again. I don't just mean the usual "we survived, the monsters didn't" sort of victory. I mean a genuine old-fashioned ass-handing destruction of a recurring antagonist. After all, this is why we went to the trouble of creating the antagonist in the first place - so it could be painfully dismantled.

When it is time for the PC's to have a meaningful victory it is time to tee it up for a nice homer. Now is not the time to throw some crazy curveball that confuses and frustrates them. The players should have seen the surprises and be able to anticipate them. They should, in fact, know how to counter the antagonist's strength and exploit their weaknesses to get the most joy out of winning in a convincing fashion. Lavish their successes with evocative description and pass over their failures with barely a comment to leave the impression that they're too cool for school. Create moments that scream for cheesy one-liners.

Like most aspects of storytelling there is a rhythm to this. Decisive victories can't happen too often or you rob them of their power. Nor are they really climactic material. At the climax everything is at stake and the cost is high. The kind of winning I am talking about here is good clean fun - nobody gets hurt that doesn't deserve it. Used correctly winning is one of the most addictive rewards in gaming. Who doesn't like kicking ass and taking names?

The Lich King is Dead

Gamescape Northerners finally got the bastard. Meet your new Kingslayers:


Adirah, Arianwen, Bellatrixa, Bellazune, Etspiritu, Hyphae, Letlia, Makat, Miko, Moradan

CCT Journal 13: Hating the Baddies

There are many ways to motivate players. Loot motivates some players. Experience and leveling motivates most players. Other kinds of rewards are plentiful - titles, acclaim, success, narrative focus, resolving story arcs - the list is endless. Punishment also works as motivation. You can punish players for making bad choices in the game by withholding rewards mentioned above, or more subtly boring them by not providing expected stimulus. The easiest way to keep players "on the rails" as it were is to make everywhere off the rails dreadfully dull.

One of the most rewarding ways, from a GM's perspective, for a player to find motivation is by hating the villains. When a nasty NPC you've created and run succeeds in earning the players everlasting enmity... it is pure joy.

It is easier said than done. Most villain schtick is so beyond-cliche that players hardly waste the energy yawning. Loot and experience are easy and quantifiable methods of motivation. Whereas a roleplaying motivation like this requires several steps.

#1 Make them care about themselves. This right here is the major reason attempts to motivate players by giving them a juicy bad-guy often short circuit. There is nothing the GM can do to force players to care about their own characters. You can encourage it. You can ask questions. You can provide gentle guidance and set a positive example in how to create fully-rounded interesting characters, but the player has to decide all on their lonesome at the end of the day to care. This isn't entirely true. The GM can also help lubricate this process by giving the players success. If they taste success they will become attached to the process of attaining that success to which their character is the vehicle. Time, familiarity, and positive reinforcement will eventually help a player come to care about their character even if they didn't at first.

#2 Make them care about others. If your player cares about their character this next step isn't so hard. The same process of time, familiarity, and positive reinforcement will work here. Want the players to care about an NPC - have the NPC make them laugh and provide them with rewards. The more subtly this is done the more effective it will be, but even a ham-fisted "this is the helpful NPC" approach will have some effect.

#3 Threaten the object of their affection. This part is where the cliche kicks in. Everyone has seen the Green Goblin dangle Mary Jane a million times. Cliche's are popular because they work, but you have to be creative about dressing them up a bit to hide their predictable nature. Try not to go after the obvious target (girlfriends, parents, village where the hero grew up etc...). Go for something a little more personal and unexpected - the Paladin's honorable reputation, the thief's good-standing in the guild, the helpful magistrate who always looked the other way. Even better if you go for something that players will usually assume is off limits - make the Dwarven womanizer impotent, the cleric's deity suddenly doubt his faith.

#4 Set them up for success. Help the party develop a good plan and convince them they will thwart the baddie's intentions. Give them allies, and every reason to believe they will be successful. Ensure the plan goes smoothly. Give them the advantage in a combat. Make the villain express fear, doubt, or pain so the villain seems weak. Don't overdo it. This is not the time to be melodramatic or the players will catch on to the trick. Just give the normal signals you give when the players are about to win a combat.

#5 Drop the floor out from under them. Make the villain win in an agonizing irreversible way. At the last minute the bad guy completes the sacrifice and permanently destroys the soul of the helpful cohort. Then make the villain get away before the players can take revenge.

#6 Let them stew. It is important you do not reward them immediately with any opportunities for cathartic revenge. Their hatred of the baddie really blossoms in this step right here as they explore different ways to rectify their loss and find each avenue a dead end. It is possible to repeat steps 3 through 6 several times building up a bigger hatred, but it is inadvisable to do so too many times in succession. 2-3 times is probably a maximum. Eventually players catch on and either stop caring or just redirect their frustration at the GM.

#7 Threaten them directly. After proving that the villain is capable and willing to hurt the players indirectly and giving them time to build up a good hatecrush, let them know the villain is coming after them directly. If you've done your job well the threat will be believable and players will be cautious, but also excited about finally getting their cathartic confrontation.

#8 Reveal the flaw. As opposed to step #4 where you misled the players into believing they would triumph, in the final confrontation you should encourage them to believe that history is about to repeat itself and they will once more lose to the villain. Then, in a reversal of step #5 let the players in on a secret - the flaw in the villains plan, the blindspot, the achilles heal. Present it for them to take advantage of. Let them pounce and win.

They will never love hating an imaginary character so much.

CCT Journal 12: Organizations

One thing that I've noticed about this adventure module, possibly because it is an urban campaign, is that it is drenched in organizations and factions. Due to the characters my players have created we even ended up with a few that weren't written in by the designers. Here is a list:

Military Organizations
Korvosan City Guard
Sable Company Marines
Order of the Nail
Grey Maidens

Religious Organizations
Temple of Abadar
Temple of Asmodeus
Temple of Saranrae
Temple of Pharasma

Secret Evil Organizations
Cult of Urgathoa
Red Mantis
Followers of Zon Kuthon

Korvosa Specific Organizations
Queen's Physicians
Cerulean Society
Arkona Family
The Acadamae
Eel's End
Orisini Academy of Fencing
Gaedren Lamm's Gang
Cow Hammer Boys
Girrigz' Wererat Army

Varisian & Shoanti Groups
Sczarni Thugs
Kasanda Foxglove's Family
Skoan Quah
Sklar Quah
Lyrune Quah

Others
Steelheart Dwarven Clan
Various Orc Tribes

I'm sure that list is incomplete. It's a lot of different groups for the players to keep track of and try to figure out how they are related. The good aspect of this is that the world definitely feels multi-layered and complex. They have been drawn into quite a bit of intrigue. On the down side they also seem to get pulled in so many directions at once it is distracting. I have tried to mitigate this by closely aligning certain NPC's and organizations with each other so that they are essentially interchangeable in terms of their plot function. You lose a little of the distinctiveness of the different groups, but for sanity's sake it is necessary. The best thing about this huge array of organizations is that the players really feel like they are having an impact on the world, when their actions shift the power-structure or even bring an end to a particular organization. When an entire criminal ring collapses or a whole tribe changes their attitude toward you it feels epic.

GURPS Midnight - Sample Foes

Having worked up racial templates, I applied them to sample foes in order to get an idea of how they played out, and to provide me with go-to baddies to throw at the PCs.  Again, I've tweaked all of these a great deal, and am open to changing them further, but the game is tomorrow, so I'm posting what I'm going with in case it is of interest (I've had a couple tell me it is) and I'm happy to get comments, questions and that sort of thing.

You'll notice a few notes to myself here and there, and the fact that the Asterax is blank - just haven't gotten that far yet.

I'm not too worried about players reading this - I'm pretty sure only a couple of my players might even read this blog, and I also think they're the kinds of players who wouldn't abuse the knowledge.  Also, I guess the advantage with GURPS is that everything is pretty logical - there aren't really surprise weaknesses or strengths here.  If you're facing a Goblin or an Uruk, you're pretty much facing what you'd expect - at least, that's the idea.

Samples

Recent Villager Ungral [5pts]

ST 13, DX 9, IQ 6, HT 11

-40 Ungral

Hard to Kill +5

Hard to Subdue +5

Injury Tolerance: Unliving (no extra from cutting and piercing)

Unfazeable

Brawling 9; 1dcr

All-out attack: Brawling 13 1dcr; Brawling 9 + 9 1dcr; Brawling 9 1d+2cr

Move 5; Parry (unarmed) 7

They have a Perception of 6 on average, meaning there can be lots of tense scenes where the PCs are sneaking amongst the Ungrals, hoping they aren't spotted

Recent Soldier Ungral [30pts]

ST 14, DX 10, IQ 5, HT 12

-40 Ungral

Hard to Kill +5

Hard to Subdue +5

Injury Tolerance: Unliving (no extra from cutting and piercing)

Unfazeable

Brawling 10; 1dcr

All-out attack: Brawling 14 1dcr; Brawling 10 + 10 1dcr; Brawling 10 1d+2cr

Move 5; Parry (unarmed) 8

Orc Grunt [24pts]

10 ST 12, DX 10, IQ 9, HT 11

17 Orc

-5 Duty

-15 Psychological disadvantage

Move 4.25, Parry 8, Dodge 7; DR 2

21 Axe/Mace 11, Running 11, Scrounging 11, Spear 11, Survival 10, Throwing 10

Axe 11 2d cut (unbalanced) OR Spear 11 1d+2 imp, Javelin 1d+1 imp, Leather armor

Light encumbrance

Orc Veteran [50pts]

10 ST 13, DX 10, IQ 9, HT 11

17 Orc

15 Combat Reflexes

5 Status +1

-10 Duty

-15 Psychological disadvantage

Move 3.25, Block 12, Dodge 7, Parry 10; DR 3/5

28 Axe/Mace 11, Running 11, Scrounging 11, Shield 12, Spear 11, Survival 10, Sword 11

Vardatch 11 2d+1 cut, Medium Shield, Chainmail armor

Medium encumbrance

Orc Champion [77pts]

20 ST 13, DX 10, IQ 9, HT 12

17 Orc

15 Combat Reflexes

10 Status +2

-10 Duty

-15 Psychological disadvantage

Move 3.5, Block 12, Dodge 7, Parry 10; DR 3/5

30 Axe/Mace 11, Intimidation 9, Leadership 9, Running 11, Scrounging 11, Shield 12, Spear 11, Survival 10, Sword 11

Vardatch 11 2d+1 cut, Medium Shield, Chainmail armor

Medium encumbrance

Orc Warband Leader [102pts]

40 ST 13, DX 10, IQ 10, HT 12

17 Orc

15 Combat Reflexes

5 DR +1

15 Status +3

10 Comfortable

-15 Duty

-15 Psychological disadvantage

Move 3.5, Block 12, Dodge 7, Parry 10; DR 7

30 Axe/Mace 11, Intimidation 10, Leadership 10, Running 11, Scrounging 12, Shield 12, Spear 11, Survival 11, Sword 11

Vardatch 11 2d+2 cut, Medium Shield, Plate armor

Medium encumbrance

Orc Mother/Lesser Priestess [74pts]

20 ST 11, DX 10, IQ 10, HT 11

17 Orc

10 Comfortable

5 DR +1

10 Power Investiture +1

10 Status +2

-5 Disciplines of Faith

-15 Duty

-15 Psychological disadvantage

18 Leadership 10, Religious Ritual 11, Staff 10, Theology 10

24 Detect Magic 11, Fear 11, Lend Energy 11, Lend Vitality 11, Minor Healing 11, Sense Emotion 11

Move 4.5, Dodge 7, Parry 10; DR 1

Staff 10 1d+3cr

Light encumbrance

Orc Mother/Priestess [107pts]

20 ST 11, DX 9, IQ 10, HT 11

17 Orc

20 Wealthy

5 DR +1

20 Power Investiture +2

15 Status +3

-5 Disciplines of Faith

-15 Duty

-15 Psychological disadvantage

18 Leadership 10, Religious Ritual 11, Staff 9, Theology 10

48 Death Vision 12, Fear 12, Final Rest 12, Lend Energy 12, Lend Vitality 12, Minor Healing 12, Major Healing 11, Sense Emotion 12, Sense Spirit 12, Steal Energy 12, Steal Vitality 12, Turn Zombie 12, Zombie 12

Move 4, Dodge 7, Parry 9; DR 3

Staff 10 1d+3cr; Leather armor

Light encumbrance

Uruk/Ogre/Troll Shock Trooper [74pts]

40 ST 18, DX 9, IQ 8, HT 14

27 Uruk (Size +1)

5 DR +1

10 High Pain Threshold

5 Status +1

12 Intimidation 9, Survival 9, Two-handed Axe/Mace 10

Move 4.75, Dodge 5, Parry 8; DR 4/6

War club 10 3d+2cr; Chainmail armor

Medium encumberance

-10 Duty

-15 Psychological disadvantage

Goblin Worker [21pts]

10 ST 9, DX 11, IQ 10, HT 11

20 Goblin

16 Animal Handling 11, Knife 12, Laborer 11, Scrounging 12

Move 4.25, Dodge 9, Parry 7

Knife 1d-1 cut

-10 Duty

-15 Psychological Disadvantage

Goblin Scout/Archer [43pts]

30 ST 9, DX 12, IQ 10, HT 10

20 Goblin

18 Bow 12, Knife 13, Scrounging 12, Survival 11, Tracking 10

Move 3.5, Dodge 8, Parry 7, DR 2

Regular Bow 12 1d imp, Knife 13 1d-1 cut; Leather armor

Light Encumbrance

-10 Duty

-15 Psychological Disadvantage

Goblin Slaver [50pts]

20 ST 10, DX 11, IQ 10, HT 10

20 Goblin

5 Status +1

20 Axe/mace 12, Crossbow 12, Knife 12, Haggling 11, Intimidation 11, Merchant 11

Move 3.25, Dodge 8, Parry 9, DR 2

Bludgeon 12 1d+2cr, Crossbow 12 1d+2imp, Leather armor

Light Encumberance

-15 Psychological Disadvantage

Lesser Legate [49pts]

10 ST 9, DX 10, IQ 11, HT 10

5 Clerical Investment +1

10 Comfortable

10 Power Investiture +1

5 Status +1

-5 Disciplines of faith

-10 Duty

-15 Psychological Disadvantage

21 Axe/Mace 10, Intimidation 11, Leadership 11, Religious Ritual 11, Shield 11, Theology 11

Detect Magic 11, Fear 11, Identify Spell 11, Light 11, Seek Magic 11, Sense Emotion 11, Sense Foes 11, Sense Mana 11, Sense Spirit 11, 

Move 3.75, Block 12, Dodge 7, Parry 9; DR 3/5

Mace 10 1d+1cr, Light Shield 11, Chainmail

Medium Encumbrance

Soldier Legate [79pts]

20 ST 11, DX 10, IQ 10, HT 11

5 Clerical Investment +2

10 Comfortable

20 Power Investiture +2

10 Status +2

-5 Disciplines of faith

-10 Duty

-15 Psychological Disadvantage

23 Axe/Mace 11, Intimidation 10, Leadership 10, Religious Ritual 10, Shield 11, Theology 10

16 Detect Magic 11, Fear 11, Identify Spell 11, Lend Energy 11, Lend Vitality 11, Lesser Healing 11, Light 11, Seek Magic 11, 

Move 3.75, Block 12, Dodge 7, Parry 9; DR 3/5

Mace 10 1d+3cr, Light Shield 12, Chainmail

Medium Encumbrance

Greater Legate [117pts]

20 ST 10, DX 10, IQ 11, HT 10

15 Clerical Investment +3

20 Wealthy

30 Power Investiture +3

15 Status +3

-5 Disciplines of faith

-10 Duty

-15 Psychological Disadvantage

21 Axe/Mace 10, Intimidation 11, Leadership 11, Religious Ritual 11, Shield 11, Theology 11

26 Detect Magic 13, Fear 13, Identify Spell 13, Lesser Healing 13, Lend Energy 13, Lend Vitality 13, Light 13, Panic 13, Seek Magic 13, Sense Emotion 13, Sense Foes 13, Sense Mana 13, Sense Spirit 13, 

Move 3.75, Block 12, Dodge 7, Parry 9; DR 3/5

Mace 10 1d+1cr, Light Shield 11, Chainmail

Medium Encumbrance

Astirax [ ]

GURPS Midnight - Racial Templates

These are the racial and creature templates that I'm using going into running the GURPS Midnight game.  I'm not against changing any of it, but this is where I am in the work thus far.  This post will be something of an information dump, and if you aren't interested in GURPS or the Midnight setting from Fantasy Flight Games, this may  not be the post for you.  To keep this from being overwhelming, I'm going to break it up into a couple posts.

First, we have the player-character races.  A note of explanation: the Dwarves and Elves have three costs associated with them.  The first, lowest cost is assuming that the character is not in Dwarven or Elven lands, and has to deal with being kill-on-sight anywhere near civilization.  The second, middle cost assumes that the game will be a mix of inside and outside the Dwarf or Elf's homeland, meaning they won't always have to deal with being kill-on-sight.  The third cost is the full cost, with no Enemy Disadvantage for being kill-on-sight - this highest costs assumes a game set in the Dwarven or Elven homelands, where everyone is kill-on-sight, and it doesn't really count as a Disadvantage anymore because of that (in my view).

Racial Templates

Dwarves [26pts or 46pts or 66pts]

30  ST +1, HT +2

Size -1

25 Dark Vision

6 Improved Magic Resistance +2

10 Talent: Artificer (Armory, Carpentry, Engineer, Masonry, Smith) (TL3) +2

Can Buy DR +1

0 Native Clan Dialect, (Broken Old Dwarven, Broken Orcish)

-40 or -20 Enemy: Hunted by Izrador, all the time, 9 or less OR rarely, 6 or less

-5 Reduced Move -1

Erunsil (Snow Elves) [20pts or 40pts or 60pts]

30 DX +1, HT +1

15 Magery +1

5 Night Vision +5

10 Perception +2

0 Native High Elven, (Broken Orcish, Native Patrol Sign)

-40 or -20 Enemy: Hunted by Izrador, all the time, 9 or less OR rarely, 6 or less

Caransil (Wood Elves) or Miransil (Sea Elves) [26pts or 46pts or 66pts]

30 ST -1, DX +1, IQ +1

6 Extra Fatigue +2

15 Magery +1

5 Night Vision +5

10 Perception +2

0 Native High Elven, (Broken Orcish, Native Patrol Sign)

-40 or -20 Enemy: Hunted by Izrador, all the time, 9 or less OR rarely, 6 or less

Danisil (Jungle Elves) [25pts or 45pts or 65pts]

10 ST -1, DX +1

10 Ambidexterous

10 Druidic Magery: Animal, Healing and Plant +1

5 Night Vision +5

15 Perception +3

15 Perfect Balance

0 Native Jungle Mouth

-40 or -20 Enemy: Izrador 9 or less OR rarely, 6 or less

Mirasil (Sea Elves) [15pts or 35pts or 55pts]

10 ST -1, DX +1

15 Magery +1

5 Night Vision +5

10 Perception +2

15 Talent: Seacraft +1

0 Native Elven

-40 or -20 Enemy: Izrador 9 or less OR 6 or less

Elf-Raised Luiniel (Elflings) [30pts]

20 ST -2, DX +2

Size -1

10 Druidic Magery: Animal, Healing and Plant +1

5 Night Vision +5

5 Perception +1

0 Native Jungle Mouth, Erenlander, Trader's Tongue or High Elven

-10 Secret: Raised by Elves

Halfling-Raised Elflings [15pts]

10 ST -1, DX +1

Size -1

5 Night Vision +5

5 Perception  +1

0 Native Junglemouth

Can take a Worgen mount

-5 Move -1

Halflings [24pts]

ST -2, DX +1

Size -2

4 Fearless +2

15 Luck

5 Night Vision +5

5 Perception +1

0 Native Jungle Mouth, Erenlander or Trader's Tongue

Can take a Worgen mount

-5 Move -1

Gnomes [15pts]

ST -2, HT +1, Charisma +2

Size -1

10 Night Vision +5

10 Talent: Business Acumen (Accounting, Gambling, Merchant, Smuggling, etc.) (TL 3) +2

0 Native Trader’s Tongue

-5 Move -1

Gnome-Raised Dwarrow [20pts]

Charisma +2, ST -1

Size -1

25 Dark Vision

Can buy DR +1

0 Native Trader’s Tongue (Clan Dialect, Old Dwarven, Erenlander)

-5 Move -1

Dwarf-Raised Dwarrow [30pts]

20 Charisma +2, HT +1

Size -1

25 Dark Vision

Can buy DR +1

0 Native Clan Dialect, (Broken Trader's Tongue, Broken Orcish, one more Broken language)

-5 Move -1

-10 Secret: Raised by Dwarves

Dwarf-Raised Dworgs [21pts]

20 ST +2, IQ -1, HT +2

25 Dark Vision

5 DR +1

0 Native Dwarven

-10 Secret: Raised by Dwarves

-5 Social Stigma -1

-5 Status -1

-4 Ugly -1

-5 Vulnerable: Bright Light, -1 to rolls

(-3 total social penalty at all times)

Orc-Raised Dworgs [16pts]

10 +2 St, -1 IQ, +1 HT

25 Dark Vision

Can buy DR +1

0 Native Orcish

-5 Social Stigma -1

-5 Status -1

-4 Ugly -1

-5 Vulnerable to bright light; -1 to rolls

Orcs [17pts]

+2 ST, -1 IQ

25 Dark Vision

10 Fearless +5

0 Native Orcish

Can buy DR +1

-5 Light Sensitive (-1 to everything in bright light)

-5 Odious Personal Habits -1

-8 Ugly -2

Goblins [15pts]

ST -2, DX +1

Size -1

25 Dark Vision

-5 Move -1

-5 Odious Personal Habits

Hobgoblins [55pts]

30 DX +1, HT +1

25 Dark Vision

Oruks [47pts]

20 ST +6, DX -1, IQ -1, HT +2

10 Fearless +5

25 Dark Vision

0 Native Orcish, 1 Broken Black Tongue

Can buy DR +1

Size +1 (3 meters)

-5 Light Sensitive (-1 to everything in bright light)

-5 Odious Personal Habits -1
-8 Ugly

Recent Ungral/Fell (Applied after death) [-20pts]

-800 ST +2, DX -1 per week dead; IQ -4

20 Doesn't Breathe

10 Doesn't Eat or Drink

20 Doesn't Sleep

10 Hard to Kill +5

10 Hard to Subdue +5

20 Injury Tolerance: Unliving

15 Unfazeable

-20 Appearance: Monstrous -5

-15 Uncontrollable Appetite

-20 Unhealing: Partial

Elder Ungral/Fell [50pts]

ST +2, DX -2, IQ -6

10 Damage Resistance +2

20 Doesn't Breathe

10 Doesn't Eat or Drink

20 Doesn't Sleep

20 Hard to Kill +10

20 Hard to Subdue +10

20 Injury Tolerance: Unliving

40 Strong Will +8

15 Unfazeable

-20 Appearance: Monstrous -5

-15 Uncontrollable Appetite

-20 Unhealing: Partial