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Author Topic: The Grumpy Gnome‘s Fantasy Projects Blog (latest update on page 61)  (Read 102862 times)

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
The trees look great!

On early D&D: I'd agree with MisterFrauBlucher that the original game encouraged non-combat solutions specifically through the gold-for-XP system. But there's something else too: combat in early D&D was so deadly for low-level characters that the combat system itself was a disincentive to avoid it - at least directly or without overwhelming odds.

I've been running a sporadic side-campaign for my kids and their friends (for when not all the group can make it), using Swords and Wizardry, which is a cleaned-up retroclone of the first (1974) edition. And the single-hit-die/death-at-negative-HP mechanic makes combat extraordinarily risky if played by the book. So the players are learning to avoid it at all costs. We've only had one session so far without PC deaths, but the players are now becoming much more cautious and canny.

Of course, being murderhobos to their hearts, they're trying to come up with fiendish schemes to denude dungeons and their denizens of their treasure. But the fragility of the characters is certainly a disincentive to fighting their way through.

Thanks mate!

I do not remember our adventures being so deadly but in hindsight I wonder why because the game mechanics certain do look deadly for low level pc’s.

As for my perception of D&D focusing purely on combat over non-combat, all I can say is that our experiences differ. That does not make anyone wrong, just that our perceptions and experiences of the game differ.
Home of the Grumpy Gnome

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/

Offline mirjeki

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 98
Thanks mate!

I do not remember our adventures being so deadly but in hindsight I wonder why because the game mechanics certain do look deadly for low level pc’s.

As for my perception of D&D focusing purely on combat over non-combat, all I can say is that our experiences differ. That does not make anyone wrong, just that our perceptions and experiences of the game differ.

To throw in my two pence: My early experiences of D&D as a player and as a DM often involved a lot of combat. Mostly because when we were young it was the fight scenes in films that stood out the most (now it's clever interactions that I prefer. Fight scenes are often a bit dull to me now, with a few exceptions), so I guess we wanted to reenact those thrilling moments.

However, even now my RPG sessions often involve more combat than I'm expecting, as there's a tendency for players for resort to violence a lot faster than they probably would if they were actually in the situation. In a recent (well, pre-covid) Star Wars adventure the players got in a taxi, and the taxi driver tried to charge them a ridiculous fee - one of the players was a Hutt, and the taxi driver's bigoted views of Hutts assumed that they'd be rich. As a GM I figured this would be a chance for a little roleplay, either with them grumbling and paying the fee, or trying to reason with the taxi driver, or simply refusing to board that taxi and finding another way across town. Of course one of them decided to pull a blaster and point it to the head of the taxi driver. The taxi driver panicked and the player fumbled some checks and they ended up killing the taxi driver accidentally, all for the sake of a few hundred credits.

This sort of ultra-violent behaviour is pretty common in my RPGs, and isn't just restricted to that one group of players. Every group ends up displaying hyper-aggressive behaviour at some point, and I do wonder where it comes from. Is it an expectation of the fantasy genre that encounters should end in violent resolution (or at least that violent resolution is acceptable)? I tend to think of there being a big difference between killing a zombie to killing an NPC, but maybe my players just don't empathise with imaginary characters as much as I do?

I often to try to apply more grounded consequences to their actions, and they often don't get away with their crimes without feeling a sense of remorse at least, but it is interesting how often it happens.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2021, 01:07:55 PM by mirjeki »

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
A fascinating example.

And it matches my experiences of pen&paper rping, online rping, and larping.

I have never really understood why it happens or why role playing evil is so fascinating for so many people. I find it exhausting emotionally.

Offline CookAndrewB

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1734
    • 3d designs can be found at Thingiverse
Rick, I wish it was "my system" but I picked it up out of Mythic solo RPG system (?) I think. Still, it is very elegant, and probably better describes life than a series of successes and failures.

I play a lot of post-apocalypse gaming, and it occurs to me that one reason I like limiting ammo, or making it a scarce resource, is that it makes shooting it out in combat a strategic decision. Do you need to shoot that rat and waste one of your last five bullets? Do you need to get close and try to brain it with a shovel? It looks rather rabid and it could bite you, and you only have one medkit left... Yeah, maybe there is another way.

I wonder if you couldn't take the same approach with fantasy gameplay. Arrows, once shot, may not be recovered. They snap or get forever stuck in the enemy. Swords and axes get stuck and can't be easily pulled out of an enemy. So maybe you get one swing and then that ogre now has your axe in its ribcage. It is wounded and pissed off and you don't have a good way to defend yourself at this point. Or perhaps weapon wear would be an easy enough element to incorporate. That sword doing d10 damage now has a chance to do d8 damage next turn through dulling and nicking the blade. The turn after that, d6, finally it is little better than a thin club and ends up at a d4 until a character can pay a handsome sum of money (in town) to have a blacksmith sharpen a blade. blunt weapons could have the haft snap, like a baseball bat. Might not render it 100% useless, but it would limit the effectiveness if you have a shorter arc of the swing. Potentially these rules would be annoying to players who want to solve every issue with a gun or blade, but you could change the way they consider their approach at least. Everyone gets the opportunity to start out as a murderer, but quickly the tables would turn against them if EVERY situation was solved with killing.

In terms of swashbuckling, I imagine the reality of a black powder weapon is that it probably gets used once per combat. While reloading may be achievable in ACW-style skirmish lines with some distance between combatants, I imagine that it would be quite the feat to reload a black powder pistol while there is a skirmish all around you. At that point, it becomes like a single-use spell scroll, perhaps. You just have to time its use for the greatest impact.

The terrain looks good. It looks like you darkened the tree up a bit. I think you might like the look of it if you picked out a few leaves and varied the greens a bit. Doesn't need to have any bright spring green in it, but even a brown-green, brown, orange, or slightly lighter green here and there helps. The leaves are pretty well defined, so it isn't hard to pick out a little detail here and there. I think it would actually match your HH and DF terrain better that way too.


Offline CookAndrewB

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1734
    • 3d designs can be found at Thingiverse
Also, the table with all the terrain bits looks good. I particularly liked the D&L cobblestone with the DF terrain stacked on top. I thought that looked much better than the DF stuff next to the D&L. I think it is because my yard tends to grow over top of the sidewalks, and not sit nicely next to them lol

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
Some excellent points there mate. Tension and having to make difficult choices are important parts  of good narrative gaming in my opinion.

It may be too subtle now, after the washes. But I did pick out random leaves with two other, lighter greens. I experimented with darker as well as lighter greens but did not like the darker green ones. Before I put the two coats of Army Painter military green wash on, the lighter green leaves jumped out in a little cartoony look.

Sitting it next to my wife’s GW trees and the Dwarven Forge trees, the DF trees have much heavier drybrushing. Up close the drybrushing looks too heavy but from a distance our trees look much “flatter” or “dull” compared to the DF trees. Mrs. GG compared it to Theater make up that looks far too heavy up close but works at a distance.

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
And the latest projects update…

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2021/05/17/more-terrain/

As always, feedback welcome!

Offline Little Odo

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1810
    • Little Odo's Grand Days Out
I really like those dry stone walls.
Little Odo's Grand Days Out
http://littleodo.blogspot.co.uk/

Offline CookAndrewB

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1734
    • 3d designs can be found at Thingiverse
I'll be interested to see if you decide to glue buildings together with your D&L stuff. I've been considering something similar with my 3d printed terrain tiles. In my case, I have the ability to almost infinitely print and glue rooms together at a mere fraction of retail prices, where you are somewhat limited by what you have on hand or the cost. While this would allow me to decorate particular rooms in a certain way (berthing, dining, armory, etc) it does also complicate storage and reduces flexibility as I would need to wait and print more and more tiles to create a new room.

Lots of pros and cons there.

I think the HH rework looked good. I could tell the difference.

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
Thanks, always nice to hear positive replies.

We are pretty committed to gluing the D&L surface building pieces together at this point but we will need to wait until the other bits are delivered next year… so things may change!

I am not sure yet on the underground Dwarven Mine pieces.

We may turn the Hall of Heroes pieces into an above ground Dwarven tavern. Dwarves do not need windows I suppose. Hmm. Maybe I need to look at World of Warcraft Dwarven surface buildings.

Offline mirjeki

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 98
The Hagglethorn Hollow improvements are working. The details stand out a lot more now. Colouring in those rocks has made a big difference too - I never even noticed them when they weren't coloured in, it just kind of blended into the thatching and I wasn't aware of what they were. Good job!

That little Dwarven Forge tower you've put together looks pretty great. Is it fairly stable for wargaming with or are the crenelated roof pieces in danger of collapsing if it gets nudged?

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
The tower itself is stable enough, but yeah those four crenellation pieces are a bit fiddly. Not as bad as I was led to expect but not something you want your sleeve to brush against…. rather like some of the Hagglethorn Hollow tower tops.

Offline mirjeki

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 98
Perhaps some drilling & some magnets could do the trick? I quite like the look of the DF stone houses for making toll-houses and roadside fortifications, but have concerns about the stability of them.

I might get a few crenellation pieces and try modding them a bit with rare earth magnets, see if I can make a stable roof which is still modular.

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
This conversation may be of interest to you mate.

https://www.dwarvenforge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=12164

Offline Grumpy Gnome

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5333
    • The Grumpy Gnome
Feedback on my new blog format is most welcome!

 

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