TFT First Session Summary – Our first game of TFT was going to be a one-shot. Bruce ran and four of us played:
Chris – Harbben, Tough Warrior Ernest – Karla Dawn Spark, Feisty Mage Patrick – Taetzelwisp, Elf Archer Tim – Agbor Ironfoot, Dwarf Axeman
The setup was pretty simple, there’s a tower nearby that housed the priesthood of the moon goddess Lukariel until some crazed necromancer invaded, and now it’s a ruin. But a local noble’s daughter has ventured there to find goodies and hasn’t returned, so they want someone to go find her.
Taetzelwisp has taken the “Sex Appeal” talent, which makes him popular while we are in town. After some silver gearing up, as we hear there’s werewolves galore (or at least there used to be), we head to the place we can get a ferry across the lake.
The icon on the map looks like a bunch of teepees, which leads us inevitably to a reenactment of the classic Cannibal: The Musical (Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s pre-South Park movie) scene where a bunch of Japanese folks try to convince the settlers they are Indians. https://youtu.be/YEjpKBDMk8I?si=XhmTLMaDvcsvn3Oz
When we get to the tower, Karla casts her first spell, Summon Scout, to summon a rat to go look inside. She critically fails and the rat drops over dead immediately after arriving. This bodes ill, and we mill around a little until we go inside. We are immediately bearded by another batch of ruthless adventurers and a fight begins.
Karla uses “3-hex fire” for crowd control and that works pretty well, we work them down one by one in relative safety. After looting them, we get attacked by rats, to reinforce the fact we’re “first level” (there’s no levels in TFT, but you get the vibe).
Then it gets weird. We come across a ballroom with zombie musicians and dancing ghosts – they grab Agbor and drag him off dancing, which causes him to keep taking fatigue damage. A complex fight ensues where we have to pull the zombies off the balcony and outside the room so we don’t get danced to death by ghosts. We manage to finish them off before Agbor dances himself to death Lady Gaga style.
We find an obviously turned-to-stone elf woman, and sure enough there’s a cockatrice hiding behind a barrel in the room – we thought it would be in the barrel, so Karla set it on fire with her magic, but alas it was not singed. After a quick scuffle we emerge with the statue, and we set the menfolk to wrestling it up the stairs for later carting to civilization to see if anyone wanted to stone to flesh her.
Well, the good news is we find a shrine to Lukariel with a well that can undo enchantments, the bad news is we have to fight a werewolf and then Harbben gets turned into a werewolf compelled to protect the shrine until the next full moon. Luckily, a random 1d30 roll indicates that’s in a day.
The party hangs out. Taetzelwisp canoodles with the now-fleshy Sharilyn the elven huntress. Karla spends the time praying at the shrine – she finds the faith of Lukariel compelling. “Lukariel Sherikira, The Howling Huntress. Her portfolio included love, hunting, dance and wolves.” Pretty standard moon goddess kind of stuff. Plus, she develops a bit of a werewolf fetish.
We end up going back to get water from the well to disenchant things a bunch. You just have to put in a silver piece first to not get cursed. We also find a sexy werewolf.
Long story short we find and free the girl but discover there’s really no way for us to kill the ghost of the necromancer as being incorporeal is basically a TFT “win button” so we skedaddle with the girl, some loot, and our lives! Success.
Karla decides to bring back the cult of Lukariel, and dudes herself up in the priestess robes and holy symbols and magic staff and such found in the tower. This is the way old school games go – your character’s rules chassis isn’t very different from another’s, but adventuring gives you weird abilities and goals and such. So she gets a little cash and XP but comes out of the adventure pretty significantly transformed.
Before:
After:
We thought this was just a one-shot, but turns out our adventures were continued shortly – I’ll share that soon!
Our gaming group has been playing all kinds of games over the last 20 years. Well, this one’s a blast from the past – there’s a gap between long term campaigns as Paul winds up his Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign and Tim gets his WH40K campaign started, so Bruce decided to run The Fantasy Trip!
What is The Fantasy Trip, you may ask? You’d be justified in asking because it comes from the 1970s. It was a game Steve Jackson worked on before he made his own game company, and is a progenitor to GURPS. It fell out of print in 1983 and languished until Steve managed to get the rights in 2017. Now it’s back in print! https://thefantasytrip.game/
He’s always wanted to run it so we are in! He did a one-shot initially, but since Tim is not always available we now have it as a side campaign.
It’s an old school brutal game, but “GURPS-ey” instead of “D&D-ey”. In play it’s pretty simple – 3 stats (Strength, Dexterity, IQ), 3d6 vs stat roll under, deal damage soaked by armor, Strength is hit points, spend hit points to cast spells. Pretty fast and deadly.
Preapring for play is a different story. I’ll be honest, it’s not organized as well as you would hope… I have done a couple rounds of trying to figure out the rules; even though he provided pregenerated characters, thank God, as it’s a point build system and if you don’t already know the system there’s a lot of traps. I tried loading the PDF into ChatGPT and it’s forever missing the little rule nuances as well. The rules are 178 pages and you really have to dig deep into them. The character generation is full of “you can’t do that” gotchas.
For example, the pregenerated character I picked up was Karla Dawn Spark, the feisty mage. She has a quarterstaff. But then it turns out I don’t have the strength to use a quarterstaff. Nor do I have the ‘talent’ required to do it so there’s a die penalty. I do have a spell called Staff III that lets it do occult strikes, so I can use it even so. But those strikes drain one of my 9 hit points whenever I do it. None of this was clear to me and was discovered over the course of 2 game sessions. (Bruce decided I could use the occult strikes without spending ST since apparently that was a new rule not in his old grognard version from the 1980s, which meant I can spend most of my time not cowering). Well, since I have a hand free maybe I can use a shield… No, I don’t have the talent for that. Can I buy it? Talents cost double for wizards. Except for Literacy, which has a special exception. It all kinda goes on like that.
I spent 2-3 hours last night trying to figure out if I could buy a magic item with the $1000 I got from the first adventure, and, if so, what it would do, and if when I did it if it would cost me ST or not. Heaven forfend we do much with “hand-to-hand” combat (like grappling) or illusions, there are pages and pages of rules on each.
But, once you manage to figure it out, it’s fun in play. And the characters are simple once created – here’s the list of pregens Bruce gave us for the first game. Built on 34 points, with an option to move to 35, and an equipment budget of about $1000 (average).
Leilika Vecky: Quick Fencer ST 10 DX 13 (12) IQ 11 MA 10 Talents: Fencer (3), Sword (2), Detect Lies (2), Detect Traps (2), Bow (2) Equipment: Fine Saber (2d), Cloth armor (1 hits, -1 DX), Horse Bow (1d), Fine Dagger (1d-1), 20 quarrels, Labyrinth Kit, 4 days rations, 3 healing potions Note: -1 DX to attacks against her; parrying allows an extra die; -4 DX to do +1d damage
Agbor Ironfoot: Dwarf Axeman ST 14 DX 11 (8) (9) IQ 9 MA 10 (6) Talents: Ax/Mace (2), Shield, Toughness 2 (4), Recognize Value, Literacy Equipment: Magic Great hammer (2d+2, 2-hand, +1 DX), Chainmail (3 hits, -3 DX), Toughness (2 hits), Labyrinth kit, 4 days Rations, 1 Healing potion
Delbin Truemoon: Scholarly Aristocrat ST 12 DX 11 (9) IQ 13 MA 10 Talents: Literacy, Pole Weapons (2), Knife, Physicker (2), Courtly Graces, Locksmith, Tactics, Scholar (3), Crossbow Equipment: Spear (1d, 1d+1 with 2 hands), Leather armor (2 hits), Physicker’s kit, Fine Dagger (1d-1, +1 DX), Light Crossbow (2d), 20 quarrels, Labyrinth kit, 4 days Rations, Lantern, 2 bottles oil, 3 Healing Potions
Mary Nettles: Forest Witch ST 10 DX 11 (10) IQ 12 MA 10 Talents: Naturalist (2), Physicker (2), Bow (2), Silent Movement (2), Pickpocket, Priest, Sword (2) Equipment: Saber (2d-2), Cloth armor (1 hit), Physicker’s kit, Horse bow (1d), 20 arrows, Labyrinth kit, 4 days Rations, 5 Healing potions Advance: +1 DX, Leather armor (2 hits), MA 8
Karla Dawn Spark: Feisty Mage ST 9 DX 12 IQ 13 MA 10 Spells: Fireball, Staff III, Freeze, Repair, Break Weapon, 3-Hex Fire, Shock Shield, Blur, Speed Movement, Trip, Summon Scout Talents: Literacy Equipment: Striking Staff (1d, 2-hex range, +3 DX, 2 Mana), Labyrinth kit, 4 days Rations, 4 Healing potions, Reverse Missiles scroll
Charles Mux: Creator Mage ST 12 DX 11 IQ 11 MA 10 Spells: Staff II, Silent Movement, Create Wall, Rope, Illusion, Summon Wolf, Blur, Aid, Reveal Magic, Dark Vision Talents: Literacy Equipment: Manastaff (1d, 4 Mana), Labyrinth kit, 4 days Rations, 4 Healing Potions, Lock/ Knock Scroll
Like I said I was Karla Dawn Spark, so between me and ChatGPT I made an annotated character sheet to make sense out of what was going on – that’s much longer:
KARLA DAWN SPARK — FEISTY MAGE ST 9 (HP + spell fuel) DX 12 / 15 w/ staff IQ 13 MA 10
Attack (staff): 3d6 ≤ 15 → 1d occult damage which bypasses armor and natural defenses, 2-hex reach (stay at 2 hexes whenever possible)
Spellcasting: 3d6 ≤ 12 → pay ST cost even on failure (don’t spam)
Staff III: +3 DX (included), 2-hex reach, 1d damage, counts as staff focus (you are a reliable melee threat, not backline only)
Turn flow: threatened → Blur or reposition; good control target → Trip or Freeze; safe → staff attack; clustered → 3-hex fire
Positioning rules: end where ≤1 enemy can hit you; prefer 2-hex distance; avoid adjacency to multiple enemies; movement > bad attack
Items: Staff of Striking (1d, 2-hex range, +3 DX, 2 Mana) see p.148. Immune to drop weapon, break weapon, critical failures. 4 Healing potions – use at ≤4 ST (don’t die holding them) Labyrinth kit 4 days rations Reverse Missiles (2 S + 1/T, IQ 11, T, p.23) scroll – missiles or missile spells go back and hit their sender. use vs archers/ambush (hard counter ranged)
SPELLS (roll 3d ≤ 12 to cast, all costs in ST) Attack
Fireball (1–3 ST, IQ 12, M) p.24, 135 ranged attack spell; 1d-1 per ST, will set things on fire; use before melee engagement (good opener)
3-Hex Fire (2 ST, IQ 12, C) p.19, 23 creates fire covering 3 adjacent hexes; damages 4 hits and -2 DX anyone in area or 2 hits to anyone starting there/passing through it (though armor and protective spells work), IQ<8 won’t go through it; great vs clustered enemies (only cast when you can hit multiple targets)
Debuff
Trip (2 ST, IQ 10, T) p.21 target within range falls prone immediately (DX roll to hit target as normal for spells); prone targets are hit easily and lose actions getting up and must make a 4-die DX save to not fall into something adjacent (best default control)
Break Weapon (3 ST, IQ 12, T) p. 24 destroys or disables one weapon, shield, or staff halving damage; extremely strong vs heavy hitters (removes most of their damage output)
Freeze (4 ST, IQ 12, T) p.24 target is completely unable to act for 2d6 turns (no movement, no attacks, only spells 5 under IQ) (use on strongest enemy to remove from fight)
Defense
Blur (1 ST + 1 ST/turn, IQ 8, T) p.18 cast on yourself; attackers suffer -4 DX penalty to hit you; lasts till turned off; cast when you expect to be attacked (turns you from fragile to survivable)
Shock Shield (2 ST + 1 ST/turn, IQ 10, T) p.21 Does 1 die of damage to any other creature in the subject’s hex at the end of each turn the spell is on. Armor and shields don’t protect; lasts multiple turns; use if you’re forced into HTH with enemies (punishes swarmers).
Buff
Speed Movement (2 ST, IQ 10, T) p.21 doubles MA for 4 turns; lets you reposition, escape, or maintain 2-hex spacing (use to avoid being pinned)
Utility
Summon Scout (1 ST + 1 ST/minute) p.20 creates small weak creature like a rat or bat under your control; can see through its eyes to scout, trigger traps, or occupy enemies (use for utility/distraction, not damage)
Repair (6 ST, IQ 12, T) p.25 restores damaged item; non-combat utility (ignore during fights)
Staff III (5 ST, IQ 8, S) p. 18, 23, 26 makes a cool staff
SPELL NOTES
Missile spells are complicated (p.135)
Thrown spells are -1 DX per hex away (p.136)
DEFAULT PLAY PATTERN
Turn 1: Fireball at range or Fire for battlefield control
Turn 2: Trip or Freeze key target (control > damage)
Turn 3+: hold 2-hex range, staff attack, use Trip opportunistically, Blur if threatened
So far the world feels a lot like Dungeon Crawl Classics, but wizards aren’t quite as overwhelming. Dungeons have arbitrary super-magic stuff going on in good old fashion. I’ll share our adventures next!
Recently, I came across Dizzy Dragon Games’ online random dungeon generation tool. I’m not a big old schooler, so at first I considered it a novelty. But I watched it roll up a cute little map and it got me thinking.
On the one hand, a purely random dungeon is lame. No rhyme or reason to rooms or monsters. Piles of treasure sitting out loose.
But on the other hand, it has done a lot of the work for you. It’s easier to edit than to create from scratch. And in the real world, not everything always has obvious reasons and is tied up in a nice coherent little package. (Hell, there’s rooms in our office building at work that we puzzle over “what in the world was this supposed to be for?”) Also, a lot of modern dungeons are too “full.” They have something in every damn room. With this autogeneration, you get a more realistic largely-empty abandoned complex with some knots of critters in it. Bonus.
I was going to run an adventure (Showdown with the Arm-Ripper) that had a pretty small dungeon – some very cursory work, mainly about one big awesome room and setpiece battle. I needed more time to work on the next leg of my adventure. So I thought, let’s see what this random dungeon can do for me!
Here’s the one I generated. The format’s pretty rough, but the map is nice, and there’s loads of dungeon dressing and stuff. I think he’s doing something clever with the monster generation – it tends to add more of the same monster, so my dungeon had repeats of hell hounds and owlbears and stuff.
I wish I could show you my edited version – but because of the site’s output format, I pretty much had to print it and mark it up with pencil – I would love it if they added a more editable format. But I can walk you through what I did – and in the end, the PCs enjoyed the dungeon and it seemed organic and not thrown-together. The session summary detailing the first half of the dungeon crawl is up, the other one will be up within a week or two.
The dungeon I needed was an old overgrown ruined shrine. This made it easier to have an incoherent dungeon – this place was all jacked up. Original furnishings, most of the doors, any decorations or murals or whatnot – all gone. They’ve had plenty of other dungeons where the purpose of every room was writ large, so I figured this would help mix it up. Also, part of the plot was that the pirate Black Dog had used the place for caching treasure, which explains the unguarded loot bundles (each one got hidden and trapped by me.) In fact, the dungeon’s randomly generated “Baneful Depths of Demons” name was just a colorful sobriquet he used on his maps to scare off the rubes.
The first thing I did was break it up into zones. There are natural choke points that largely divide the complex up into coherent areas.
First, the northwest zone. I moved the minotaurs from room 38 into the all-secret-doors room 7. They consider the whole NW zone theirs – they don’t like the trolls in room 15 but have trouble killing them, and besides they’re a good buffer against intruders from the entrance. Sure enough, the party went there first but the fake poison gas in room 5 scared them off. You will note by careful observation that the entire western edge of the map is only accessible via secret doors (layers of them, in some cases).
Next, the central zone. From the natural-cave entrance all the way down to room 65, it’s pretty much one big open area. The “dungeon dressing” of breezes and air movement made sense through this zone. The rust monsters in rooms 42 and 34 I kept – I made the central area of rooms 33-63 there their nest. All the doors were rotted out and long gone from age, and I added a doorway between 32 and 62. The PCs were dicking around in room 37 and that attracted the ones in area 42, an d then later they were trying to ambush some hell hounds and the rest in 34 swarmed them. (Since the party’s heavy hitters are a monk and a druid, they were not as terrified of the rust monsters as you might think.) The dopplegangers in area 72 became “Celia” and “Rhody” (named after the rhagodessas and caecelias that were in the dungeon…) , hapless women adventurers. The illusion of 9 adventurers in area 65 became all the Pathfinder iconics, which was entertaining.
Then I did the southwest zone. The hellhounds in 59 were actually in the midst of ravaging that area – they don’t lair there, they got sent in to hunt down a pesky paladin. Several treasure caches got converted into Black Dog-trapped chests.
Next came the southeast zone. The most important thing was eliminating the door between are 36 and 47, meaning you have to traverse the whole SE section to get up into the northeast, and that only via the secret door in area 73. There were a number of owlbears here, so I decided the whole area 70/80/73 area is a big owlbear lair. In fact, that’s what the locals think the cave is, just an owlbear lair, not a big ass dungeon. The PCs got guided in here by the “girls,” and most of the owlbears had already been slaughtered by the principals of “Arm-Ripper”, except for ones in 70 and 73. An owlbear fight later and they looked for and found the secret door into area 74.
Finally, the east/northeast zone. From area 74 on most of the doors were still in good repair. The PCs went right by the NPC adventuring party in room 79 – I decided they were in there on a quest (looking for Gilmy the ettin actually, long story) and had blocked themselves in there to rest and regain spells. I added some doors to the block of rooms in the middle east section and moved the dire bear to comfier quarters in room 50 – three of the PCs snuck in and coup de graced it! That was fair enough, because if it had heard them it would have torn them a new one. They all rolled really high on their Stealth checks, and then the bear made two natural 20s on its saves vs the coup de graces – but sadly failed its third one.
I turned the doors between areas 43 and 44 into huge barred doors, and those curtain walls were all arrow slitted. It was a very obvious hard point and the PCs didn’t chance it. They just went north, and I basically cut out the random dungeon at room 19 and segued it into the druid shrine from Arm-Ripper.
In the end, I just scooted some doors, monsters, and treasure around, and came up with reasons and motives for the critters that were there, and voila – a randomly generated dungeon that suddenly makes some sense! It’s a big ruined sprawling place, lightly populated with coherent sets of critters that all have some kind of reason to be there.
So thanks to Dizzy Dragon. I won’t use random dungeons a lot, but with some care and feeding they can be judiciously used even in a campaign that values realism. If the tool got changed to have better, more easily editable output- just the rooms and stuff would have been nice, but even better the map… It’d be hell on wheels!
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