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Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 9:09 am
by Raven_Crowking
Investigating, research, and downtime are fine in the players' book. I don't think that the game would suffer, at all, from players having access to these rules.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 9:26 am
by smathis
Raven_Crowking wrote:Investigating, research, and downtime are fine in the players' book. I don't think that the game would suffer, at all, from players having access to these rules.
Cool. I think they help differentiate the game from other rpgs. I find a way to work them in. It may add a few weeks to the editing and such. But a delay of a month would probably be worth it.

That will also give each book its own stake in the ground in terms of differentiators.

Transylvanian Adventures will have the charts and mechanics for emergent play during a game of TATG. I think once a group gives these a spin, they will want them for every game they play.

The Hanging Judge's Guide (thanks again for the title RCK) will have monsters and adversaries. A small taste of what makes adversaries so different is in the first book. But these monsters are way, way different from a lot of games out there. "The Demon" I posted on the blog is the tip of the iceberg.

The Transylvanian Grimoire will have an entirely new spin on spells. I'm reworking some bits of the Rituals right now. But this book will be the book to have in order to Mr. Norrell your fantasy games.

I like that balance. And thanks to Deadstop for the feedback and giving me something to think about over the holidays.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 10:34 am
by Raven_Crowking
smathis wrote:
Raven_Crowking wrote:Investigating, research, and downtime are fine in the players' book. I don't think that the game would suffer, at all, from players having access to these rules.
Cool. I think they help differentiate the game from other rpgs. I find a way to work them in. It may add a few weeks to the editing and such. But a delay of a month would probably be worth it.

That will also give each book its own stake in the ground in terms of differentiators.

Transylvanian Adventures will have the charts and mechanics for emergent play during a game of TATG. I think once a group gives these a spin, they will want them for every game they play.

The Hanging Judge's Guide (thanks again for the title RCK) will have monsters and adversaries. A small taste of what makes adversaries so different is in the first book. But these monsters are way, way different from a lot of games out there. "The Demon" I posted on the blog is the tip of the iceberg.

The Transylvanian Grimoire will have an entirely new spin on spells. I'm reworking some bits of the Rituals right now. But this book will be the book to have in order to Mr. Norrell your fantasy games.

I like that balance. And thanks to Deadstop for the feedback and giving me something to think about over the holidays.
This sounds great. You are very welcome for the title. Thanks for providing an excellent body of work.

Please include guidelines for how to submit adventures for the TA line. I think it'd be a good idea to open TA adventures to 3pp working with GG's DCC (i.e., some form of licensing that allows you to indicate TA compatibility on products that use the GG DCC license. I am thinking a similar deal, where the work is sent both the JG and you for approval.) That way, more TA adventures for me!

RC

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:52 pm
by GnomeBoy
smathis wrote:But this book will be the book to have in order to Mr. Norrell your fantasy games.
Gadzooks -- I just recently finished that massive book. It's having more than a little impact on my work-up for a convention scenario for February... Can you say "stark mad Faerie Patron", boys and girls?

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:44 pm
by smathis
Raven_Crowking wrote:
smathis wrote:
Raven_Crowking wrote:Investigating, research, and downtime are fine in the players' book. I don't think that the game would suffer, at all, from players having access to these rules.
Cool. I think they help differentiate the game from other rpgs. I find a way to work them in. It may add a few weeks to the editing and such. But a delay of a month would probably be worth it.

That will also give each book its own stake in the ground in terms of differentiators.

Transylvanian Adventures will have the charts and mechanics for emergent play during a game of TATG. I think once a group gives these a spin, they will want them for every game they play.

The Hanging Judge's Guide (thanks again for the title RCK) will have monsters and adversaries. A small taste of what makes adversaries so different is in the first book. But these monsters are way, way different from a lot of games out there. "The Demon" I posted on the blog is the tip of the iceberg.

The Transylvanian Grimoire will have an entirely new spin on spells. I'm reworking some bits of the Rituals right now. But this book will be the book to have in order to Mr. Norrell your fantasy games.

I like that balance. And thanks to Deadstop for the feedback and giving me something to think about over the holidays.
This sounds great. You are very welcome for the title. Thanks for providing an excellent body of work.

Please include guidelines for how to submit adventures for the TA line. I think it'd be a good idea to open TA adventures to 3pp working with GG's DCC (i.e., some form of licensing that allows you to indicate TA compatibility on products that use the GG DCC license. I am thinking a similar deal, where the work is sent both the JG and you for approval.) That way, more TA adventures for me!

RC
Guidelines are keeping the adventure in the spirit of TATG. I'd like a looksee, of course. It might help if the adventure gave monsters, adversaries and magic a similar treatment to TATG. So, it might help to wait until at least the second book is out. But I would be more than willing to share some docs to expedite adventures.

I'd love to see more adventures for TATG. Double benefit that most adventures can be used with DCC with very little modification.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:52 pm
by smathis
Here's a status update for TATG. Most of it is ready for layout with only a few sections awaiting draft. I hope that is good news.

I: Introduction (Ready for Layout)

Players and Judges
II: Rule Enhancements (Ready for Layout)
III: 0-Level Adventurers (Ready for Layout)
IV: Character Classes (Ready for Layout)
V: A Brief Chapter on Magic (Ready for Layout)
VI: Equipment and Wealth (Ready for Layout)
VII: Skills Chapter (Needs Proofread)

Judges
VIII: Overview of the Flow of a game of TATG (Needs Draft)
IX: Research & Investigation (Needs Proofread)
X: In Between Adventures Charts (Needs Proofread)
XI: Combat Events Tables (Needs Proofread)

Extras
XII: Sample Adventure - “Horror on Starkweather Mountain” (Ready for Layout)
XIII: Inspirations (Needs Draft)
XIV: Illustrator & Playtester Credits (Needs Draft)
XV: Character Sheets: Both 0-Level and 1+ Level (Done)

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 11:19 am
by Ogrepuppy
I still have my digital stripper dollars ready to rain down on you. Looking good!!!

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:33 pm
by Ogrepuppy
Innistrad is pretty sexy.

Obviously not the M:tG parts. I mean....bleeeeeeeeech. But the setting? Pure win.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:48 pm
by Liu Jen Hao
Just a quick thought:

Remember how the old "Red Box" Dungeons And Dragons Beginner's Set had a short Solo Adventure? It was a short and sweet Choose Your Own Adventure / Fighting Fantasy style romp through a cave to fight Bargle the Sorcerer. To show you the ropes of how to play an RPG (specifically Dungeons and Dragons).

Heck, even more recent editions of Paranoia do it, if nothing more than to set the tone of the story.

Since TA and TG IS "Old School DnD", if time/money permits, a short little solo-adventure/investigation perhaps? Of "Who is the Doppleganger/Werewolf" that ends a battle that results in the werewolf/doppleganger escaping, the mansion burning down and you having to escape from it? Besides teaching the game to beginners, it will set the cinematic yet absolutely LETHAL tone of TA and TG, will it not? ;)

And much like Bargle the Sorcerer for Mystara of DnD, this werewolf could become a recurring enemy for the Campaigns of TA and TG that every player will want to hunt down too!!

Just wanted to suggest this before I forget. Got a busy day ahead and all. :)

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:44 am
by smathis
Ogrepuppy wrote:Innistrad is pretty sexy.

Obviously not the M:tG parts. I mean....bleeeeeeeeech. But the setting? Pure win.
No doubt. And the art they get is just amazing. (Gazes longingly like a street urchin through a restaurant window before being ushered off.)

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:46 am
by smathis
Liu Jen Hao wrote:Just a quick thought:

Remember how the old "Red Box" Dungeons And Dragons Beginner's Set had a short Solo Adventure? It was a short and sweet Choose Your Own Adventure / Fighting Fantasy style romp through a cave to fight Bargle the Sorcerer. To show you the ropes of how to play an RPG (specifically Dungeons and Dragons).

Heck, even more recent editions of Paranoia do it, if nothing more than to set the tone of the story.

Since TA and TG IS "Old School DnD", if time/money permits, a short little solo-adventure/investigation perhaps? Of "Who is the Doppleganger/Werewolf" that ends a battle that results in the werewolf/doppleganger escaping, the mansion burning down and you having to escape from it? Besides teaching the game to beginners, it will set the cinematic yet absolutely LETHAL tone of TA and TG, will it not? ;)

And much like Bargle the Sorcerer for Mystara of DnD, this werewolf could become a recurring enemy for the Campaigns of TA and TG that every player will want to hunt down too!!

Just wanted to suggest this before I forget. Got a busy day ahead and all. :)
This is a great idea Liu Jen. I'll see what I can do.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 7:11 am
by smathis
Last night we just went through the second session of "Transylvanian Adventures Does Castle Ravenloft". The group made it to the castle towards the end, after deciding to just go for it. This was a great chance to kick around a few last minute tweaks. Most of them worked out quite well. The big things seem to have a decent amount of polish to them. It's going over and discovering where I "missed a spot" here and there at this point.

The group was over double the size of the group that started out the adventure. And the theme of high camp and good-natured fun continued. Lots of laughs all around. Not saying TATG can't do a more serious sort of game. But this group just rolls that way, which is cool too.

Notes
  • The high level characters were still challenged but they handled combat threats fairly easily -- dispatching a giant spider in one round. Dispatching a skeleton in one round. The Strahd Zombies took a little more effort. But it was a battle of attrition that the zombies simply weren't winning.
  • New approach to Fear mechanics are far and away a better fit.
  • Lowering DCs and amping up bonuses from class abilities had the expected effect without making the high-level characters demigods. Ability scores are low across the board.
  • There are some class abilities that could be problematic in the wrong hands -- assuming the right confluence of upgrades. But it wasn't game breaking.
  • The Valiant held his own.
  • The Reaver needs lots of mooks to mow down. Much like a traditional Fighter.
  • The group made use of Mighty Deeds a lot more this time around. They also got more comfortable with Two-Weapon Fighting and used that quite a bit.
  • The changes to how Action Dice are used at higher-level worked out very well.
  • The overhaul of how Rituals work out turned out a little better. I did forget one thing about it. But overall it turned out pretty well. That's for the third book though.
  • Tweaks I was considering for Monsters in the second book worked out nicely. These included new rules for swarms as well as a mechanic for creepy abilities the Judge can introduce on the fly. These sort of things can give the Judge more leeway to focus on atmosphere but still carry a limiting factor that makes it more than totally on the fly. As an example, a vampire bride mesmerized one of the PCs. She would not have been able to do it if the PC wasn't all alone.
  • I think the party has a healthy fear/respect for vampire drain.
  • The Combat Events table is gold for changing up (even ending) a combat that starts to drag. That helped out a bit.
  • The Skills chapter worked out well too.
Those are the high points. I have a few edits to make. But things are still looking up.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:25 am
by Liu Jen Hao
Thank You!!

And oh darn, now that I think about it:

Since The Exotic is stated to be inspire by Cinematic "Wuxia" Martial Artists.

Would he or she be able to infuse his/her weapons or unarmed attack with Chi/Ki/Mana/Life-Force, the better to harm "Only Be Hurt By Magical Weapons/Silver Monsters With.

I do realize that empty-handed attacks are quite jarring to the relatively-gritty tone of TA and TG's combat,

But do note that Taoist Sorcerers infusing their Plum-Wood Swords with Chi (Coupled with Chanted Prayers of Taoist Faith) to fight Vampires (Think "A Chinese Ghost Story" and "Mister Vampire") is a time-honored staple of the genre from which The Exotic is inspired by.

Just thought should point this out before I sleep and forget about it.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 7:32 pm
by smathis
Liu Jen Hao wrote:Thank You!!

And oh darn, now that I think about it:

Since The Exotic is stated to be inspire by Cinematic "Wuxia" Martial Artists.

Would he or she be able to infuse his/her weapons or unarmed attack with Chi/Ki/Mana/Life-Force, the better to harm "Only Be Hurt By Magical Weapons/Silver Monsters With.

I do realize that empty-handed attacks are quite jarring to the relatively-gritty tone of TA and TG's combat,

But do note that Taoist Sorcerers infusing their Plum-Wood Swords with Chi (Coupled with Chanted Prayers of Taoist Faith) to fight Vampires (Think "A Chinese Ghost Story" and "Mister Vampire") is a time-honored staple of the genre from which The Exotic is inspired by.

Just thought should point this out before I sleep and forget about it.
Exotics don't have Weapon Training Upgrades. They have Exotic Weapon Upgrades. Basically, they have a set of simple weapons that they then can use in unique ways. One of those upgrades is giving a +1 enhancement bonus to the weapon.

So, yeah, the TATG Exotic has something similar to what you're speaking of.

TATG Exotic's have no problem fighting with fists and feet either. They're good at it. How good depends on what the player wants to focus the character on. They also have a slightly altered version of Mighty Deeds.

Thanks again for the feedback. I think this one is covered, though.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:12 pm
by smathis
I was over on this thread. Which seems like a nice thought experiment. I've got no major opinion one way or the other outside of DCC Warriors hitting Hero status at some indeterminate point between 3rd and 5th level with variance based primarily on their ability scores.

So I was wondering what a TATG 3rd Level Reaver might do against 10 men-at-arms. For the record, here's the men-at-arms stats from that thread.
14 AC, 4 HP, 1d20+1 attack for 16 damage, Saves of +1, +0 initiative
I feel compelled not to divulge too much of the Reaver's stats. But mechanically a 3rd Level Reaver would look like this...
13 AC, 23 HP, 1d20 + 4 to attack with a Handaxe (1d6 + 1 damage), Crits on a 19-20. With his two upgrades spent on Minionizer and Aura of Badass. Yes, those are class abilities. We'll make him Chaotic just because we can.
Combat setup: The Reaver doesn't start out engaged with the men-at-arms. So they all have to close. The men-at-arms roll a 13 for Initiative and the Reaver rolls a 3. Basically, he smiles and waves for them to come and get it. Note the Reaver also sent the party on ahead saying he'd be happy to take care of this little problem.

Round 1a: The men-at-arms close, surrounding the Reaver. There's 8 of them surrounding him and 2 readying crossbows in case they get a clear shot. Three men-at-arms hit. One for a crit. The Reaver burns a Luck point and his shield goes flying across the room. He rolls a Luck check. Ugh. Likely that shield is gone. Okay, Reaver's AC is now 12. Which means another shot actually got through. So three hits, no crits. The three hits did 15 points of damage. Ouch. Reaver is down to 8 HP.

Round 1b: Not a bad showing from the tin soldiers. Now it's the Reaver's turn. First off, the Reaver isn't going anywhere and he knows it. So he's going to burn a special something to get back one HD of hit points. Sweet. He got max. Which puts him back up to 20 HP. What did he do? You'll have to find out. Next, the Reaver is going to use his Aura of Badass. That puts 2 of these chumps at a -1 die shift for everything. He's got six others encircling him though. Did we say he was Chaotic? Good. The Reaver rolls seriously craptastic on his Minionizer and has to burn a Luck point to even get one hit in. So one man-at-arms down. This doesn't look so good for the Reaver.

Round 2 Setup: This time the Reaver gets Initiative. Ironically, the two freaked out men-at-arms got the highest Initiative though.

Round 2a: Both freaked out men-at-arms score a hit. Only 4 points of damage though. The Reaver is down to 16 HP.

Round 2b: It's the Reaver's turn again. He's rolling like crap tonight and only hit once. But the Judge did this other thing that is related to the thing he did to heal up and (ugh) he winds up missing. But gets a Luck point on that. Which he promptly spends to hit another man-at-arms. Only 6 remain on his grill, with two hanging back ready to engage.

Round 2c: The rest of the men-at-arms get ready to go. Three hit and one fumbles. Amazing damage rolls do 17 HP total. The Reaver is down to -1 HP. The man-at-arms that fumbles drops his weapon. If the Reaver had made it another round, that man-at-arms would be dead. Mark my words.

Round 3: The Reaver is ineffectual for this round and is easily detained by the men-at-arms. Had he rolled above, say, an 11 on any d20, the Reaver would've had a better time of it. He's not dead though. Why you might ask? That's something else locked away in the crypt for y'all.

The Reaver is made for these sorts of fights though. It appeared to be a numbers mismatch, however. And the men-at-arms were consistently rolling much higher. Tough luck, Reaver. Maybe next time.

That's kind of how it goes, though. Another player might've had the Reaver take another tactic against the men-at-arms. He's got more than one trick up his sleeve. But if he would've come out of the gate with some better rolls, the men-at-arms would've been hard pressed to keep up the attrition.

But now it's time for the party to mount a rescue mission. The Scoundrel is going to love rubbing this one in.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:34 pm
by GnomeBoy
I want to go to there.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:39 pm
by smathis
GnomeBoy wrote:I want to go to there.
I should probably qualify the above run-through by pointing out the Reaver only had a Shield for armor. Most Reavers at 3rd Level would've found someone to make them some Leather armor or something.

That wouldn't have helped that guy, though. Sample rolls from the men-at-arms: 2, 7, 9, 17, 18, 20, 11, 13. Sample roll for Reaver: 2, 2, 7, 12.

:shock:

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:58 pm
by smathis
And one last thing for the evening...

Latest update on TA Book 1.

I: Introduction (Ready for Layout)

Players and Judges
II: Rule Enhancements (Ready for Layout)
III: 0-Level Adventurers (Ready for Layout)
IV: Character Classes (Ready for Layout)
V: A Brief Chapter on Magic (Ready for Layout)
VI: Equipment and Wealth (Ready for Layout)
VII: Skills Chapter (Ready for Layout)

Judges
VIII: Overview of the Flow of a game of TATG (Needs Draft)
IX: Research & Investigation (Ready for Layout)
X: In Between Adventures Charts (Needs Proofread)
XI: Combat Events Tables (Moved to Book 2)

Extras
XI: Sample Adventure - “Horror on Starkweather Mountain” (Ready for Layout)
XII: Inspirations (Drafting...)
XIII: Illustrator & Playtester Credits (Needs Draft)

XIV: Character Sheets: Both 0-Level and 1+ Level (Needs some tweaking based on playtest feedback)

XV?: Sample Solo Adventure? (Under consideration, depends on how long layout and art will take to get together)

Getting closer...

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:10 pm
by daddystabz
I had thought about doing Ravenloft with DCC till I found TA. How can I sign up to play test it to lend a hand any way I can?

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 12:32 pm
by smathis
daddystabz wrote:I had thought about doing Ravenloft with DCC till I found TA. How can I sign up to play test it to lend a hand any way I can?
I'll send you a PM. I'm working hard on finishing up what I can. It's about time for a status update. Summary: Things are getting ready for layout. My hope was the book would be out by the end of March. But everything with this project has seemed to take about 4 times as long as I think. So it might be a little later than that.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 2:37 pm
by smathis
New update on the blog. Basically things are progressing. But not at a lightning pace.

P.S. I'll also be adding a blog on some of the changes I've implemented recently. One of the reasons for both the lack of updates and the slow progress on the areas that still need work.

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 1:29 pm
by smathis

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 9:22 pm
by smathis
Wanted to note that some interesting things are happening with TATG right now. Tonight, I finished drafting the inspirations chapter. Finished the new character sheet late last week.

Layout should be commencing soon-ish? It's the one thing I'm not doing in this so it's a little out of my hands.

I'm going to start drafting the sample of play chapter. Been working on some concepts for making it choose-your-own-adventure style. Thanks again, Liu Jen Hao, for that idea. Pretty much the last chapter in the first book that needs to be written.

Inspirations chapter = 10,000 words.

:cry:

And thanks everyone for the continued support. When this thing hits 20,000 views, I'm going to post a low-res image of the new Transylvanian Adventures' character sheet.

EDIT: I was looking at the wrong thing in the word count display. Ugh. It's actually 1851 words. 10,000 characters, though. :oops:

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 6:56 pm
by smathis
Hi everyone:
I am PRO-crastinating. And when my SO threatened to shove me head first into the woodchipper when I said the "Recommended Reading" chapter was 10,000 words long (my bad, see above), I got a wild hair and went and got the real word count for all the chapters.

Like I said, I'm procrastinating.
I: Introduction (Ready for Layout) - 3861

Players and Judges
II: Rule Enhancements (Ready for Layout) - 5264
III: 0-Level Adventurers (Ready for Layout) - 9640
IV: Character Classes (Ready for Layout) - 22,911
V: A Brief Chapter on Magic (Ready for Layout) - 5515
VI: Equipment and Wealth (Ready for Layout) - 4450
VII: Skills Chapter (Ready for Layout) - 4475

Judges
VIII: Overview of the Flow of a game of TATG (Needs Draft)
IX: Research & Investigation (Ready for Layout) - 5059
X: In Between Adventures Charts (Needs Proofread) - 7643

Extras
XI: Sample Adventure - “Horror on Starkweather Mountain” (Ready for Layout) - 10,418
XII: Inspirations (Needs Proofread) - 1851
XIII: Illustrator & Playtester Credits (Needs Draft)
XIV: Character Sheet (Done)

Total: 79,236
I was surprised the adventure was that big. It doesn't seem that big. I was also surprised the 0-Level chapter was so big. The Character Classes form the biggest chunk of the book. Probably no surprise there.

Looks like the book will come in at about the 200 page range. One more chapter to go...

Re: 2012: Transylvanian Adventures & The Transylvanian Grimo

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2013 11:38 am
by smathis
20,000 views!

Holy moly. Thanks for the continued interest. As promised, here is a TATG character sheet. Filled out with one of the playtest characters.

Image

A post is up over at the blog. Doesn't elaborate much. But it's there.