Nentir Vale Setting using modified 'The Fantasy Trip' Rules

[wulfnor]

I'm going to throw this up against the wall and see what sticks. To find out what interest there might be for game. I've been tinkering with, off and on for quite awhile. If there is enough interest, I'm hoping it will give me the emphasis to buckle down and get it ready to play all the sooner.

The game will use the basic concepts and maps of D&D 4th edition default Nentir Vale 'Points of Light' setting. Where, due to a great disaster in the distant past that brought low a once mighty empire. Civilization exists only in isolated outposts. Small city-states or groups of villages that have banded together for mutual support and protection. Between lies only monster–haunted wilderness dotted with the ruins of a once glorious past and darkened by the ever-present threatening shadow of the unknown. Only the relatively small remaining numbers of 'The Four Fair Folk'. That being the Elves, Dwarves, Halflings and Humans who dwell there. Keeping the darkness at bay the best that they can

On Torvyl, a fantasy world of my own design. The Nentir Vale lies in the northwest region of the northern hemispheric continent of Alaytheon. Which the majority of which, once made up the great Empire of Nerath. That fell into ruin nearly four hundred years before the current time. Due to a mysterious devastating plague that caused the collapse. Back then it mattered not, what ones station was. Be it high or low. Of the Four Fair Folk. Maybe twenty in a hundred among the stout but slow breeding Dwarven Folk did survive. It was around fifteen in a hundred among the Elves, ten in a hundred among the Halflings. An being ravaged the worst were the humans, that may have had as few as five in a hundred of Humankind, surviving it.

Map of Nentir Vale:
nentirvale.wdfiles.com/local--files/setting/nentir_vale.png

Map of the continent of Alaytheon:
s1200.photobucket.com/user/wulfnor/media/Harkon%20Continent%20of%20Alaytheon%20Rough_zpsryluze53.jpg.html

This game will have you getting back to basics. Start out small in scope. There will be no great world saving quest. Someone likely failed that kind of thing there, long ago. Thus the world is the way it is now. Players will start out selecting from six just coming of age pre-generated PCs. That know each other from growing up together in and around one athe small town of Harken. The Baronial seat of the Barony of Harkenwold (See the Nentir Vale Map above.) Harken is located where the dot just to the left and below 'Harkenwold.')

Harken:
s1200.photobucket.com/user/wulfnor/media/Harken_zps0sss4cyj.jpg.html

I'm using the pre-generated PCs so as to get a quick start to the game. Once Players select there PC's, on a first come, first serve basis. Then the game will get started in IC right away. I'm looking for ROLEplayers rather then ROLLplayers. This will be a comparatively low level magical game as far as magical treasure and the like goes. I want players that are interested in creating a interesting and thrilling collaborative story. Rather then making sure their PC is maximized as much as possible and has a magic item to help them get out of every situation.

Why pre-generated PCs. Well I've played in far to many games online. An I'm sure you have too. That took one or even two months for character creation. Only to have had half or more of the Players lose interest before the first IC Post is even made. Or before the first combat situation is over with. For some reason it often happens then. But it's the GM who flacks and disappears around that time. Thus I hope to avoid all that.

Below is one of the Pre-generated PCs, Thorvald 'Shortbeard' Thorgrimson. For him to successful hit a foe with his heavy hammer, he would need to roll his adjusted DX of 10 on 3d6. If he does that, he rolls 2d6 +1 and a additional +1 for his racial advantage with axes, hammers and maces. To see what damage is caused. That total is deducted by the targeted foe's Toughness/Armor/Shield total.

We'll be using the Pyromancer Battle Mat program for combat. In the example below. Thorvald has stopped by the Inn to slack his thirst from working at the forage all day. Striking up a conversation with the Innkeeper as he partakes of his drink. At his point all the NPCs are neutral or better towards the Dwarf. An thus the yellow color around their icon's edge.
pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=135338

Then one of the Ruffians who are on their fourth round of drinks. Get's fresh with the serving wench. She slaps him. Which he responds by drunkenly grabbing her. The Innkeeper tells the Ruffians to let the serving wench go. But he doesn't. Now
seeking to help the serving wench. The Ruffians now have become foes, with their icons now has red around there edge. As the Innkeeper moves to get a clear shot with his crossbow that he keeps under the bar. Thorvald moves to come to her aid, readying his heavy hammer that had been hanging from his belt.
pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=135339

Well that's all for now, let me know if you would be interested in playing. The more interest I get, the more I will keep my noise to the grindstone to get it up and running.

============================================================================
Name:Thorvald 'Shortbeard' Thorgrimson
Race:Dwarf Sex:M Age:19
Height: 4'6" Weight: 210
Hair Color: BROWN Eye Color: BLUE
Languages:: Common, Dwarven

Racial Abilities:
Dwarves fight well with axes, hammers and maces, doing an extra +1 damage
The maximum load for a Dwarf is DOUBLE that for a man of equal strength.
Has Dark Vision and can see for 20 ft in total darkness, up to 50 feet in low light.
Natural Toughness (Armor +1) Movement is -2 due to their shorter stature.

ATTRIBUTES
ST:12 Wounds/Taken:12/0
DX:12 AdjDX:10
IQ: 9 AdjIQ: 9
MV:10-2R AdjMV: 8

Skills, and Languages
Name Cost AdjAttr.vs Successful rolls needed to gain +1 to skill.
KNIFE (1) DX / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
AX/MACE (2) DX / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / Does +1R damage
JAVELIN (1) DX / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
SHIELD (1) DX / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
BLACKSMITH (2) IQ / / / / / / / / / /
RECOG. VALUE (1) IQ / / / / / / / / / /
LITERACY (1) IQ N/A
& KNOW SUMS

Language:
Common (1) N/A
Dwarven (0)

Name IQ level Training Skills Successes
ARMOURER 10 / / / / / / -1 to IQ to attempt
THROWN WPNS 7 / / / / / / / /-2 to DX to attempt
WARRIOR 9 / / / / / / -3 to IQ to attempt

Weapon Damage ST $ Wt.(lbs)(N)otes
Dagger* 1 - 1 - 10 .5 1 + 1 in HTH combat.
Heavy Hammer 2 + 1 12 45 3 RA +1 to Damage
Javelin* 2 1 + 1 9 40 3 1.5YD, jabbed at -1 Damage.+1D due to ST

Type Protection $ Wt.(lbs) DX Pen. MV Pen. Notes
Armor: Leather 2 80 7 1 0
Shield: Spiked 1 40 5 1 0 1-2D 2nd Attack Dx-4
Other: RA Toughness 1 N/A N/A
Total: 4 W&A215 18.5 2 0

ITEM $ Wt(lbs) Notes
Backpack, holds 80 lbs. 40 2 @: Item is carried in or attached to.
Bedroll 20 2 @
Flint & Steel 5 .2 Carried in Belt P. w/ Whetstone
Day's Trail Rations, 4 20 6 @good for 2 weeks
Cooking Basics 10 3 @sm.Pot, lg. wooden+ spoon, bowl+, mug+
Ale, 1/4 gallon 3 2 Carried in Ale/Wineskin
Ale/Wineskin 1/4 gallon 5 .5 @2.5 lbs. when full
Waterskin - 1/2 gallon 8 1 @5 lbs. when full
Hygiene Basics kit 10 2 @comb, Razor, Soap w.cloth, towel
50 ft.5/8" rope 15 3 @support 400 lbs.
Folding Grapnel Hook> 25 2 @throw to 1/2 ST in squares hold400 lbs.
Belt pouch x 2 10 .4 looped on belt, hold up to 3 lbs.
Whetstone 3 .5 Carried in Belt P. w/Flint & Steel
Fishhooks and Line 10 1 @just needs pole and bait
Folding Shovel 30 3 @>: Fairly recent Dwarven Invention>
Traveling Clothing 35 2 Suitable for a Adventurer or Woodsman
Total 474 49.1

MV pen. 0
DX pen. 0

[wulfnor]

Concerning Magic. I'm going to do something somewhat different. Fatigue based on ST is no longer used. Instead Wizards have Personal Power. An can access a small randomized amount of other Power each turn. I would be interested in hearing what you have to think of it. It's been quite a while since I have played. So I may have overlooked certain aspects of the original rules when coming up with these. So here goes.

<b>Magic</b>
The technique Wizards have learned to use magic. That allows them to be able to cast the spells. they have learned. Using their own Personal Power, (PP) which at the beginning of the day, after getting roughly 8 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. Is based on the PC's adj IQ. In addition, each Combat Turn, which lasts roughly five seconds. An additional 0-4 points of Power created by the Winds of Magic is available for the Wizard to tap into and utilize. Which is the remnant energies left over from when Torvyl was first created by the Sacred Seven, who are now Six. It is ever ebbing and flowing around and through the world in no apparent pattern. Like a ever changing fickle wind. Raging one moment and be at nothing the next. Thus, due to this, these energies have come to be know as the Winds of Magic. Invisible and not noticed to those without the nurtured and trained innate ability to use magic. That perhaps number one out of a thousand of those of races if the Four Folk. that are born. With it being closer to one in five thousand for halflings and one in 200 for Elves. Of course not all those who have been born with the ability are recognized and properly trained. Those few that are not usually die young. Killing themselves or others with wild magic, as well as sometimes going mad. As they go through all of their life without realizing what is happening to them. Unless one who has been trained recognizes it in them and helps them gain the training to control their abilities.

To determine what the level the Winds of Magic are for each combat turn. The Wizard with the highest initiative. Be it friend or foe. Rolls one 1D6, if the result is a 1. The result of the actual 1D3 Winds of Magic roll will be at -1. On the result of a 6, it is +1. With a roll of 2-5 on this first roll having no effect. So the actual 1D3 Winds of Magic roll can generate a result between 0-4 Power. Even with the addition of aspects of the Winds of Magic. Normally, no matter how high the Winds of Magic are blowing during a turn. A Wizard expends at least 1 point of there own PP to cast a new spell or to renew one previously cast. Unless they rolled a 3, 4 or 5 when casting a spell. (See below}

CASTING SPELLS
A wizard may cast one spell per turn, as long as he knows the spell or is one of the spells he is training with. An has enough PP and from the Wind of Magic to pay the cost, and selects an option allowing a spell to be cast. If he cast continuing type spells during any previous turn, he must energize them before the movement phase, or they will cease to operate. A wizard may energize any number of spells at once, provided he has enough PP and from the Winds of Magic that turn. But may cast only one new spell per turn. If he fails to energize any continuing type spell, it goes away and (if he wants to use it again) he must cast it all over again on some later turn.

To successfull cast a spell, a 3D6 roll is made to determine whether the PC is successful that is, whether its spell worked, its staff or sword struck, etc.
In order to succeed, a wizard must roll its adjusted DX or LESS on 3 dice. All DX adjustments should be taken into account and are cumulative.

A wizard must be able speak the certain syllables of power. As well as make certain mystic hand gestures, with at least one free hand. Unless the wizard's IQ is at least 2 levels higher then the IQ level needed to learn and cast the spell.
If that is the case, then if the IQ level needed to learn and cast the spell is IQ level 12 or below. They only need only to think those certain syllables and gestures in their mind.
On a failed roll, most spells produce no effect and cost the wizard only 1 personal power. No matter how much of their own PP was invested. Except on a roll of 16, 17 and 18. See below.

Some rolls have special significance. When you roll to hit, a 3, 4, or 5 is an AUTOMATIC success and cost no PP, as spell has been cast so perfectly. Roll of 16, 17, or 18 is an automatic miss, regardless of DX. An comes with additional penalties. See below

• A roll of “3” produces triple effect – missile spells do three times as much damage. Creation spells produce three times as much or as many of whatever they create, and other spells have one aspect chosen by the player (and approved by the GM) tripled. An at the cost of no personal power.
• A roll of “4” produces double effect – as above, but only doubled. An at the cost
of no personal power.
• A roll of “5” is an automatic success. Note, however, that most spells cannot be
cast at all if the wizard’s adjDX is 6 or below. An at the cost of no personal power.

• A roll of “16” is an automatic failure loses half the personal power invested, rounding up.
• A roll of “17” is a fizzle – the wizard pays all the personal power cost, but the spell produces nothing beyond a few trivial “special effects”
• A roll of “18” is a backblast – the wizard pays all the personal power cost plus 1d3, and produces a backblast that knocks him down causing 1D3 wounds of damage. No deduction for armour, toughness or possible magical protection.

All rules concerning different kinds of spells, Missile Spells, Thrown Spells, Creation Spells, and Special Spells. Will be handed much as they are in the original 'Wizard' Rulebook here: bluwiki.com/go/Tft-wizard
With all mention of ST should be translated to Power, whatever the source. Keeping in mind the rule that Wizard expends at least 1 point of there own PP to cast a new spell or to renew one previously cast. Unless they rolled a 3, 4 or 5 when casting a spell.

[mister frau blucher]

Hey, Wulnor,

Welcome to our boards!

This does sound pretty cool. I hope you get some interest. The technology is above my current computer, and my time is pretty taken up right now.

Good luck!

Bret

[wulfnor]

Greetings Bret,

Thank's for the warm welcome. I first started with 'Melee' when it first came out in 1977, when I was a teenager. I had of bought the original D&D woodgrain D&D set when it had come out a few years earlier. An could not make hide nor hair of those rules, as they were written for wargamers. I had resorted to playing Tunnel & Trolls mostly solo scenarios. As I lived out in the country and it was hard to find anyone to play with. Melee being such a basic combat game. It was easier to get a several people I knew to play it as a basic gladiatorial arena combat setting. They having grown up on Spartacus, and the other B rated movies of that genre in the 60's and early 70's. In time a few were interested enough to expand to having small skirmish style combats in forest terrain and the like. Which graduated with the all players working together to kill monsters that I controlled. First in outdoor settings, then inside small structures and finally moving underground into mines and caverns. Of course when 'Wizard' came out the next year. The idea of using magic in combat didn't seem so strange, as it might have. To the 3 players that I regularly played with. I never got a chance to use the 'In the Labyrinth' rules with them. As I had joined the U.S. Navy before the rules were released in 1980. I had one long running campaign of TFT, during my years in the Navy, it was hard to get people to play. As everyone I knew who played Fantasy RPGs, only wanted to play one form or another of D&D. I of course moved on to playing RPGs using GURPS, etc. But I've been feeling a little nostalgic lately. An thought I would give this a whirl. This will be my first attempt to GM a TFT game in close to 30 years.

[araman]

Wulf, I got nostalgic a couple of months ago. How much interest have you had for your campaign?

[wulfnor]

I've had three others show interest at another rpg site that I have also posted the above at. Thank's for asking.