PBF Shaggradd's Hives of Peril

I just solicited adventurers for a PBF of Fighting Fantasy over on Rpggeek.  I'm looking forward to playing.  I'm posting the list of my rules mods here for easy reference.

All dice rolls are Roll High + Stat.

Luck can be used in place of Skill if the character has low Skill.  This will let weak characters get a few lucky breaks, if they want to blow their luck on fights, jumping pits, etc.

1 Handed Weapons do 2 damage.
2 Handed  heavy weapons like Claymores, Battle Axes, heavy flails, scythes, etc. do 3.
Any armor gives a per-encounter damage soak.

Characters start with:

backpack
weapon of choice
lantern or torches
5 provisions

Bryce, The Spirit of Plenty and Good Cheer

"I awoke to a commotion outside. As I rubbed my eyes, wondering the time, I could swear I heard the animals in the barn in an uproar. Dozens of voices, from cows, horses, ducks and geese, all babbling at the same time. Assuming there was a wolf or fox harassing the barn animals, I grabbed my pitch fork and lantern and went to investigate. As I left the house, I became aware that there was a rhythm to the noise, as though they all were singing. Was that a harmonica I heard? Was someone in my barn? I saw a dim, flickering from between the planks walling the barn. Approaching cautiously, I peered in the crack between the two, weathered doors to see a most amazing sight.

Suspended in the air about the barn were several will-o-the-wisps. The animals were gathered around a short, round bellied fellow that dipped a ladle into a cauldron, from which he produced a variety of victuals. For the horses and cows, what appeared to be cabbage or lettuces. For the ducks and geese, each a ladle-full of corn. He then retrieved from the cauldron what seemed a small bit of steak or ham, which an owl fluttered down and took from his fingers. A loaf of bread for a family of mice perched on a hay bail. A rat climbed up his leggings to his shoulder, and for it the fellow produced a bit of cheese which it carried down and ate next to the barn cat, who paid it no heed she sat, patiently awaiting her meal.

After giving out foodstuffs, the fat man set the ladle in the cauldron pulled a harmonica out of his pocket. He reclined against a bail of hay, and began to toot out a lively tune, to which the animals began to sway and stamp their feet. Was he bewitching my animals? My livelyhood? Was he going to steal my livestock? In a few moments the mice, having finished their meal, climbed aboard his paunch and--I could not believe it--stood on their hind legs, dancing in a circle. Joining forepaws they circled to the left, then the right, hopping to the jolly tune. I found myself bobbing my head, almost unable to resist joining in the catchy rhythm. And then I sneezed.

Abruptly, the music stopped, the animals were still, and the fat fellow removed the harmonica from his lips, and turned toward me, looking at me through the gap in the doors. He extended a pudgy finger and beckoned to me. I couldn't help myself. I let my pitchfork thump to the ground, and entered, seeing all the animals of the farm gathered around this fat man and his cauldron.

At once the bouncy tune began again, and the larger animals bobbed their heads, and the mice danced. From behind the milking stall came a raccoon rolling the milking pail, which he flipped over, and began to drum on the underside to the rhythm of the song. Enchanted, I too found myself hopping in gaiety about the room, round and round the fat man as he tooted on his harmonica, the will-o-wisps pulsing to the music...."

In the woodlands, there is rumor of a short, round bellied fellow with a gray beard known as Bryce. Descriptions vary from person to person, as indeed few get a chance to have a look at this creature. He's said to carry a magical iron cauldron, from which he can produce all kinds of edible goodness. Sometimes he is seen off the woodland trails, other times in barns, in orchards, in the fields. This person was Bryce, the spirit of plenty and celebration. Animals that normally would not get along, hunter and hunted, put aside their differences for the festivities.

PCs approaching with goodwill or gentle caution are spelled, and join in the festivities. It is said that even rampaging ogres and trolls are stilled, some even joining the meal. PCs may test luck if they desire to not join. Any approaching with violent intent must pass a Test of Luck or be entranced by his magic. During this time he will gather his cauldron and attempt escape from the aggressor. From his pot, Bryce will get for them their favorite meats, breads, soups, vegetables, anything their hearts (and their stomachs) desire. After food, drink and dancing the night away, the fat fellow will take his cauldron and disappear, in search of the next site to celebrate.

Anyone passing a test of luck and aggressively disturbing the party will find Bryce a fierce opponent. While not evil in nature, he will defend himself and those invited to his parties. In one hand his ladle serves as a club, and in the other he will grip the handle of his cauldron and thump enemies with it for 4 points of damage per hit. In addition, any creature at the celebration has a 2 in 6 chance to join in Bryce's defense, the rest have the spell of joy broken and returning to their normal proclivities. Bryce can summon magical flying lights for illumination as well as control them to confuse and blind his adversaries, allowing his escape.

Should his cauldron be taken, the thief will find it filled with 1d6 worth of provisions of his favorite food. The ladle can be used to draw 1 provision per day, per person using it, from the cauldron. Bryce will do everything in his power to get his cauldron back.

Bryce, The Spirit of Plenty and Good Cheer
SKILL: 10
STAMINA: 14
ATTACKS: 2

Magical Light
SKILL 8
STAMINA: 1
ATTACKS: 1 (special)
A successful attack will bewilder or confuse a sighted adversary, giving a -1 penalty to SKILL the following round.

Holiday Themed NPCs

Originally posted to Rpggeek.

Frost the Snow Demon

SKILL 10
STAMINA 20 (varies, see below)
ATTACKS 2
Intelligence: High
Reaction: Friendly at first, then Hostile
Armor: varies with size and thickness of figure
Weapon: Any

Frost is a demon attached to an enchanted hat which will animate any figure built of snow. He likes to inflict cold, frosty doom upon anyone he can get his hands on, especially children. He's been known to bury victims in snow, or throwing them into frozen lakes, or impaling them with icicles. Anyone who tries on his hat will become obsessed with building a snowman at the first opportunity (with all the typical accouterments) and placing the hat upon it. It will not be obvious to anyone but the wisest that there's something wrong with the hat.

Frost takes double damage from heat based attacks and spells but is resistant to cold. Frost can use additional snow to repair injuries. Removing the magic hat from his head will de-animate the snowy figure.

Frost's Stamina and Armor will vary with the size of the snow creature. If Frost will inevitably melt in the spring weather, he'll pick a place where his magical hat is likely to be found by some child to be used the following year.

Santa Claus
SKILL 9
MAGIC 9
STAMINA 20
ATTACKS 4
Armor: Light Monster Armor (Heavy coat and fat belly)
Intelligence: High
Reaction: Friendly

Santa Claus can gain Stamina from any number of provisions in a day. He knows Sorcery spells. Santa Claus carries a magic sack of gifts. He will give a gift to any well behaved character. He will not give a gift to any character who has behaved badly in this or the previous game session. Such as: Killing a surrendered or defenseless creature, stealing, telling lies to cover up evil. To such persons he will give a small pouch of coal.

Santa will attempt to strike any attacker with a large chunk of coal. Anyone hit by the coal will be cursed with intense shame and take -2 Penalty to all actions. May test Luck each hour to remove the curse or wait 24 hours for the curse to be lifted.

Santa is loathe to hurt anyone and will use his knowledge of sorcery for defense, escape, and to help deliver gifts. Santa can use the spell GOB to summon a small elfish servant (rather than a goblin).

If Santa's Sack is stolen, it will contain 1d6 random items (spoons, socks,chalk and slate, wooden toys, etc), 1d6 items useful for adventurers, 1d6 magical items, and luxury gifts worth 1d6 x 100 gold pieces.

A Sci fi adventure done with FF

Session report submitted originally to Rpggeek.com

An improvised adventure while my wife and I barbecued some turkey on a sunny Sunday afternoon. This was almost completely improvised based on a mere nugget of an adventure I had planned for a larger group.

Troy (of no relation to a particular Troi from Starfleet), a half-Betazoid Starfleet scientist (honestly, not related, see another Troy here) was en route to Vega Beta Omicron Delta Poop 2 for a geological terraforming survey when her shuttle she was waylaid by an unknown vessel. Troy was knocked unconscious after her shuttle was hit by a beam weapon and she was thrown from the console.

Waking, shackled at the wrists, she looked about to see an ancient looking cargo bay on an unknown ship, dimly lit, filled with assorted containers and a transporter pad.

Not wanting to mess with the Ferengi, Troi decided to first unshackle herself if she could. She began opening cargo containers. The first contained tins of Federation field rations. She pulled the tab on one, finding it fresh, and ate it to recover her strength. Then she broke the tab off and picked the lock on her shackles with it. The next container contained assorted rods and plates commonly used for ship hull repairs, and armed herself with a duranium rod.

Next she tried the transporter controls, but finding the computer locked out with a passcode, Troy attempted to open the cargobay door to explore deeper in the ship. The door too was locked with a passcode. So Troy woke the Ferengi, cautiously, and asked him if he knew where they were. Blarg, his name was, said it looked like a Pakled ship. He demanded to be unlocked from his shackles.

Troy made a deal with the Ferengi. He crack the code on the door, she'll unlock him. Agreeing to the deal, he first checked his pockets, finding everything missing. Except, under his waistband, his secret stash of 5 strips of latinum, which raised his spirits. Watchful of the Ferengi, whose emotional state was not entirely one of cooperation, he popped the lid of the last container, containing scrap electrical equipment. Using some bits he found, he jury rigged the door, which slid open, then shut, open then shut, stuttering. When it opened, Troy put her duranium rod in the doorway to hold it open.

Briefly, the two debated their options: take over the ship, or escape.

The two armed themselves with more rods and explored the hallway, ignoring several doors and instead using a turbolift at the end of the hall. Up one level, onto the engineering deck where two Pakleds were attending to computers that monitored the warp core. Blarg crept up on one, clonking him on the head with the rod and sending him to dreamland. The other spun about, fumbling for his pocket phaser.

Troy ran up and restrained him, using a set of shackles that Blarg had saved, but not before he could shout for help. Two more Pakleds came through the door at the far end of engineering. Troy threatened to kill her prisoner if they didn't back off, so they stayed back. Blarg took a tiny pocket phaser from the prisoner's pocket.

Troy demanded to know where they were going. One of the Pakleds said they were en route to an Orion slave auction where the Troy and Blarg would be sold. Then the Pakled prisoner tried to make a run for an alarm switch to whack it with his elbow, but Blarg shot him just as he hit the button. There was a short firefight, Blarg hit one Pakled, rendering him unconscious. The second Pakled missed, and Blarg only grazed him, and he fled out the door. Then another, responding to the alarm, arrived via the turbolift, and fired at Troy. Troy made a brave charge, dodging the shots and smacking him in the wrists with her rod, disarming him. He fell back into the turbolift and the doors shut. Troy took his phaser.

Meanwhile, Blarg hacked into the computer system to transmit a Federation distress signal, for which Troy provided the frequency. He then found a map of the ship, revealing two escape pods and the layout of the rest of the ship. Deciding to run for the pods, Blarg set his phaser on overload and put it next to the warp core. 2 minutes to disaster.

They found the grazed Pakled through the doorway, which Troy stunned with her phaser. Through the next doorway they found the escape pod, which was sealed with a keypad. Up the hallway was the apparent captain who ordered two of his men to fire with primitive (but deadly) projectile weapons. Blarg dived back toward engineering, but Troy shot one, who dropped his weapon. The next round, Blarg tried the keypad but failed to open it. Troy shot the other, knocking him unconscious. The captain reached for his guard's weapon, while the two heroes fled through a door to the other side of the ship to the other pod. There they both tried the keypad, and Blarg succeeded to hack the code.

Launching into space, they looked through the window to see the warp nacelles pop and leak gasses from the reactor damage caused by the overloaded phaser. With her piloting prowess, Troy dodged a parting shot from the aft cannon of the now nearly crippled Pakled ship, which was slowly, ever slowly, turning about to pursue them.

The escape pod was old and the electronics in a really bad state of repair. Troy tried to send a distress call, but failed to wire it correctly. Blarg tried his hand at it, and failed as well. The Pakled ship began to come about and pursue, beams streaking from its cannons but just out of range. However, the initial distress call sent paid off, as a federation ship arrived, blasting holes in the Pakled ship with its phasers and locking a tractor beam on the pod.

Rescued!

Review of Out of the Pit

I just received a copy of Out Of the Pit (1985 edition) from a UK books distributor. Its a delightful 128 page bestiary of Fighting Fantasy creatures with stats, descriptions and lovely black and white illustrations for each creature. There's maps of Allansia and Kakhabad. And there are a few full color fantasy illustrations in the middle of the book. There are random encounter tables, and there's a simple treasure generation table near the back of the book which may be sufficient in a pinch, but I suggest creating your own.

Statistics in Fighting Fantasy are quite simple: Skill and Stamina are the primary values. Also listed are the habitat they're typically found, the number encountered, Type (undead, humanoid, animal, other), Reaction (ranging from friendly to hostile) and Intelligence (high, average, low, none). All these are guidelines and the GM is encouraged to vary the statistics as needed.

What truly gives substance to the creatures are the descriptions of the creatures' various habits, abilities and tactics. When GMing a campaign, as opposed to playing a game book, the encounters need to be dynamic or they'll be a boring slugfest, and this book delivers on that need. Little creatures like Grannits (SK 4 ST 3) that one might easily crush in simple combat become menacing because their hides are indistinguishable (that word exactly) from the rocks in their environment and get a free first hit when they choose to attack. Imaging getting bit, falling back and landing in more that crawl all over you. Nip nip nip, the wizard panics and throws a fireball, blasting everyone. The goblin in the party dines on roasted Grannit.

The creatures are written for Fighting Fantasy: The Introductory Role Playing Game. As such, creature abilities are narrative (such as the aforementioned Grannit), involve tests of Luck or Skill by the Player Characters, or are an odds in 6 chance of succeeding. For example, Black Elves will hit with their bows 4/6 of the time, a test of Luck is required to dodge Gold Dragon breath, and a bite by a Cockatrice calls for a 2d6 roll on a table for the fate of the victim (Death, partial paralysis and skill loss, or nothing).

Not all the rules for different creatures can be readily plugged into your current FF or AFF campaign. For example, an Iron-Eater, a blob that drops from the ceiling and eats your metal armor, will causes a 1 Skill point loss for each item eaten. If you assume the players are equipped with armor from the beginning, then this diminished combat Skill may make sense. However if you don't have armor function as a boost to combat Skill, then you need to remember to rule a different consequence for the loss of a piece of armor.

This book is an excellent source of creatures for your FF or AFF campaign or to be adapted to use in any other game system. I recommend picking up a copy if you're a FF enthusiast or want a bestiary for your game system.

More Rules Revisions and Simplifying Battle

I've finished my tinkering with the AFF combat system.  Here's what I'm going with at my next game:

All 1 handed weapons do 2 damage.  Two-handed heavy weapons do 4.   If non-weapons are used as weapons, I'll improvise their damage as needed.  Monster attacks, if they're basic FF monsters from the old version of Out of the Pit, will do the damage described.  

Armor has a per-encounter damage soak.  Light armor soaks 2, Medium soaks 4, Heavy soaks 6.

A shield will soak 2 per encounter.  This is when the shield is used passively.  If the character decides to take a purely defensive action, it will give a bonus to the contested die roll.  Not sure about other gear like helms, gauntlets, etc.

Armor skill will be similar to AFF.  Leather needs 1, Chain 2, Plate 3 (maybe 4).  Any deficiency in Armor Skill will penalize actions taken while wearing it.

For extended encounters, I will "reset" armor from time to time so they can take more hits. 

Players can burn their Luck without rolling to boost damage or die rolls. 

I'm still torn about character generation.  If they want to port their characters from Dungeon World, then that's ready to go.   

If they want new characters, I'm not sure whether to use the die roll system near the back of the AFF2 book:  Start with: SK 3 ST 3 LK 5 MG 0 and roll 4 dice, adding one die to any stat, and up to 2 dice to Stamina.  

Or do I use the old system from AFF1: D6+6 for SK and LK, 2D6+12 for Stamina.  If I use the old system, then Special Skill points will be given inversely to the quality of the Skill stat.  ((12 - SKILL) * 2)  + 6.  And then for each Special Skill you put into Magic, it deducts one point from base Skill.  Your total Magic Stat then is SKILL + Magic Special Skill.  

I don't like making hugely powerful characters at level 1.  12 Skill in the FF books was fine, because the vast majority of the time it was combat skill.  A 12 Skill now means you're a superhero.  If you're a superhero, why are you adventuring?

Encounter: Swamp Witch

The Swamp Witch

In a hot, thick, foggy swamp resides this witch to whom the local swamp dwellers come for favors, medicinal aid, to get their fortunes told.  Moss grows on all sides of the exterior of her shack, and from the eaves hangs two hornet's nests with insects busily buzzing around.

Inside of this shack is the usual assortment of witch's equipment.  Through the smoke from the fireplace  or incense one can see flasks of potions and powders, a few books on a shelf, assorted dried ingredients for spells.

The witch will cast one of many beneficial spells or cantrips, or produce potions, for a price. Perhaps she needs the party to fetch some spell components from a dangerous area, such blood-flowers that grow in a cemetery haunted by ghouls and zombies or even worse things.  

Anyone attacking the witch will be set upon by the hornets in the two nests outside.  The hornets will cause 1 stamina damage per round and put the offender at -2 to all actions until he escapes.  The witch will use her spells to help her escape, as she is not a strong fighter.

The Swamp Witch Stats

SKILL 5   STAMINA 14   MAGIC 10  MP 20

Suggested Spells

Cantrips: Attraction, Burn, Cool, Dry, Enhance, Inebriate, Instil, Mistake, Repulsion

Wizardry Spells: Befuddle, Flash!, Thunder, Weakness, Fog, Find, Weather Control

NPC Encounter

I've been obsessing over "filler" encounters for some time and figured I'd start sharing them to get them off my mind. I hope you find them useful.

Wood Cutters

A logging crew working just off the road, felling trees. Roll 2d6 for their temperament. Low rolls are hostile or fearful, high rolls are especially helpful, near 7 are neutral.

The logging crews could be working for a sawmill, or felling trees for ship masts, firewood or getting logs for log houses. If undecided, roll d6:

1-2 Sawmill 3-4 Masts 5 firewood 6 building a log house

The crew consists of 6+2d6 men equipped with typical logging implements: axes, hatchets and huge two-man saws. The crew will have one or more teams of draft horses nearby to haul away the logs or will be awaiting a team to arrive to take the logs away. There also may be tents or pavilions and a pot of stew on a fire. There will be someone working a grinding wheel to sharpen implements, someone tending to the animals, someone on watch if the region is dangerous.

These men are hardy, used to working long hours and hauling heavy loads, but are not warriors. Some suggested stats: SKILL 6 STAMINA 8.

If you use minions in your campaign, then make most of them 1 hit minions.

Neutral or friendly loggers may be willing to trade food or services with the party. They may welcome a good bard or story teller in the evening in exchange for a meal and a bed.

Fearful or hostile loggers will encourage the party to move on. They may act violently if they feel threatened.

Plot hooks

The loggers may be harassed by some beast that picks off their horses or their workers.
They may be slaves to an evil baron or other power.
They may want to hire the PCs to escort the shipment of logs to their destination.

Using Flat Damage with AFF

"Say what?"

(My first blog post where I actually practice some HTML. Oh boy)

Advanced Fighting Fantasy is already a simple game system compared to others out there. However, in the circle of folks I have to game with at the moment, I want to ensure that any future gaming goes smoothly and simply. So the question remains what do I keep and what do I discard?

As much as I like the variety of weapons and weapon damages, as well as varieties of armor, I think that can go. The weapons don't vary much in damage output, and it would save a die roll. While I know of the strongly recommended variant rule that you role the weapon/armor die, I think it's unnecessary. That and I would prefer characters choose weapons mostly by what feels right for their characters. Our Paladin likes a heavy maul and our Ranger likes bows and spears. Nice.

To that end, I have a few choices to make. Either one type of flat damage (2 points, as in FF) or something slightly graduated. On the arion-games forum I found a post that suggested 3 points for light weapons, 4 for medium, 5 for two-handed heavies. Flat damage has much to recommend it. You just succeeded in an attack, it shouldn't be undermined by a cruddy damage roll. There are other game systems like Old school Hack that use a "wounds" system. Each player gets 6. Heavy weapons do 2 wounds and a critical strike gets you an extra wound. Not a bad idea. Who cares about scratches and near misses in lethal combat? That can be narrated. I'll still use Stamina, of course. But quite obviously 2 or 3 whacks with a battle axe and you're dead, like you should be.

The flat damage happens to coincide with approximate average die rolls (when rounded) for d4,d6 and d8 weapons respectively, when using the OSR game systems. I'll gladly use the Dungeon World armor soak of 1 point for leather, 2 for chain and 3 for plate. Good enough. A shield, if usable, will negate another point if used casually or block a hit outright if used actively.

What do I mean by that? Well if you back down a little 3 foot high goblin corridor with your round shield plugging up the hole, I doubt any arrows will hit you. I don't care that it's only -1 damage, it's plugging up the hole. Unless they shatter the shield with something heavy or wrestle it away, nothing will hit you. I may borrow "shields will be splintered" from OSR and let the player save himself by sacrificing a shield (or a backpack, or some other valuable sturdy item.

While on the subject of combat, I will use 1 and 2 hit minions for minor foes and give Stamina only to major creatures. It will make record-keeping simple. Swarm creatures are meant to be popped. I'll let the players pop them. Getting ganged up on by minions can still be dangerous as most heroes will attack just one at a time.

On the subject of ganging up, in the Dungeon World game I allowed the Paladin to attack multiple enemies, and just divided their HP into the damage dealt. That was a game with a high potential damage output (but anyone could try it, of course). In AFF, I intend to implement multiple attacks by PCs as follows:

Divide total SKILL + Weapon Skill by the number of targets. Add that to the die roll. If higher than the roll for any enemies, it's a hit.

What else can go? It may be practical to group the thieving skills (traps, sneaking, slight of hand, locks) into one skill. I understand that a skilled cave explorer might be good at finding traps but not very good at sneaking. I'll have to think about that one. There might be other similar skills that can be grouped.

So what this experiment boils down to is finding a half-way point between the basic Fighting Fantasy and AFF. I want the AFF magic systems and ability to pick special skills, but with a simple battle resolution system.

Converting NPC races to PC characters: First Attempt

The AFF manual includes guidelines for converting any NPC to a playable race. A few days ago, I converted Orcs. I do not have the "Out Of the Pit" suppliment, so I'm doing this based on the basic entry in the AFF Manual for Orcs and my general understanding of orcs based on fantasy literature and my experience with Role Playing Games in general.

So I began with the entry for Orc. Skill 6, Stamina 5. subtract 3 points from Skill. That is the base skill for this race. Then divide the stamina by two, and add that to the base skill. This becomes a base value for the race.

So we get Skill 3 + Stamina 2 = 5. If this total is less than 8 (and it is, obviously), note the difference and add it as points in the next phase. If the total exceeds 8, then deduct the difference from the default Luck value of 8.

The next phase I determine any racial stats that apply to Orcs. You normally get 6 points to buy talents, stat bonuses, or skills. Here is where it gets tricky. Each race should have a bonus to one characteristic or another. So thats Skill, Luck, Stamina or Magic.

I picked Stamina, because Orcs are hardy. So I spend 2 points from the (6+3=9) 9 points to give +2 to to Stamina (2 points to get +1 to a characteristic, and +1 to Stamina gives 2 points).

Combat Talents cost 4 points, non-combat cost 2.

Orcs have Darkvision in OSR games, so I gave them Darkvisions here. A 2 point Talent. I have 5 points left to spend. They're divided as follows:

Any Weapon 1
Brawling 1
Strength 1
Underground Lore 1
Any Movement 1

Language skills are not included. So I gave the Orc:

Orcish 4
Common 2

The player then has 8 Characteristic points to spend on Skill, Luck, Magic and Stamina per the standard character building rules, and 12 points to customize the character's Special Skills. Lastly, pick one additional Talent at no extra charge.

I am not entirely happy with this build, because the default starting Stamina exceeds the stamina of the NPC Orc. So I must either conclude that I should put the bonus in another stat (like Luck), or that a PC adventurer will tend to have a little more Stamina than your run-of-the-mill Orc.

So my final Orc (for now):

SK 3, LK 8, ST 7, MG 0, Darkvision, Weapon 1, Brawling 1, Strength 1, Underground Lore 1, Any Movement skill 1, Orcish 4, Common 2


After finish the Orc, I picked something a little more challenging. Here is my Ogre PC.

Ogres NPCs have SKILL 8 and STAMINA 10.

Subtract 3 from SKILL (SK = 5).

Add half of Stamina (5) to SKILL to get base value (10).

10 Exceeds default LUCK of 8 by 2 points, so LUCK is reduced to 6.

The NPC Ogre gets 2 attacks per round, and +1 to damage rolls. I see no reason to deny this to a PC Ogre. So these are two combat talents. Only 6 points are allowed at this phase, so 4 points are spent on 2-attacks and 4 points are spent on +1 to damage, resulting in a balance of -2. If you're going to give the Ogre a bonus to a Characteristic, then that's another 2 points. Let's say they get 2 extra points to stamina (2 points, Resulting in a balance of -4. If you skip buying a Characteristic bonus to SK, LK, or ST, then the balance is -2. I'm going to skip the Stamina bonus.

This negative balance is deducted from the special skill points allowed for the player to customize the Ogre. So the Ogre gets 8 (or 10) points for Special Skills instead of 12.

I'll give it language skills of:
Ogreish (if it exists) 4
Common 2

Would there even be such thing as Ogreish language skill of 4? It all depends on what AFF Ogres are supposed to be like. I imagine their tongue to be crude, so even the most eloquent speakers might be a skill of 3. But I will, for now, assume a possible fluency rating of 4.

So we're left with base Ogre PC stats of:

SK 5, LK 6, STA 10, MG 0, 2 Attacks/Round, +1 Damage rolls, 8 (or 10) build points for Special Skills

The manual gives the Ogre Light Monster Armor. I don't know if this is due to tough skin or just the scraps of animal hide that it might wear for armor. Without "Out of the Pit", I can't say whether a proper ogre should have naturally tough skin and what the cost would be.

The reason I'm unsure about the cost of Light Monster Armor, is that the sample Rhinoman has medium Monster Armor because of it's Rhinoceros skin, and the cost is 4 points for that. So would Light Monster Armor also cost 4 because it's a combat Talent? Or would it cost 3, perhaps, and Heavy Monster Armor would be 5 or 6, or even 8?

The Ogres I'm familiar with aren't especially bright or talented, so going into the player build phase with only 10 points makes sense to me. There's no generic racial special skills because it was all blown on fighting talents. I don't think they need tough skin, so I'm going to assume their armor is just leather hides or scraps of metal sewn together.

After I acquire Out Of the Pit, I look forward to creating more playable races.

AFF Armor Soak Statistics

	Average Damage Soak of Armor Types
	In Advanced Fighting Fantasy
	This data compilation is public domain
			Odds of armor
Armor	Avg 1-6	Avg 1-7	soaking any dmg X/6
Leather Cuirass	0.33	0.57	2
Leather Hauberk	0.83	1.00	5
Chain Cuirass	0.83	1.14	3
Chain Hauberk	1.50	1.71	5
Breast Plate	1.00	1.43	3
Plate Armor	2.00	2.29	6
Monster Light	0.50	0.71	3
Monster Med	1.00	1.29	4
Monster Hvy	1.83	2.14	5
Sm Shield	Special: +1 to total soak		2
Lg Shield	Special: +1 to total soak		3
Dodge 1	0.17	0.43	1
Dodge 2	0.33	0.57	2
Dodge 3	0.67	1.00	3
Dodge 4	1.00	1.29	4
Dodge 5	1.50	1.86	5
Dodge 6	2.00	2.43	5

AFF Weapon Damage Statistics

	AFF Weapon Statistics
	This Compilation of Data is public domain
Weapon	Avg Dmg 1-6	Avg Dmg 7+	Most	Weapon Notes
			Common
Great Sword	3.50	3.86	3,4	2h
Battle Axe	3.33	3.57	3	2h
Pole Arm	3.17	3.43	3	2h
Crossbow	3.00	3.29	2,3,4	2h missile
Long Bow	3.00	3.29	3	2h missile
Javelin	3.00	3.29	3	missile
Lance	3.00	3.29	3,4
Sword	3.00	3.29	3
Spear	2.83	3.14	3
Mace	2.83	3.00	3
War Hammer	2.83	3.00	3
Morning Star	2.67	3.00	2,4	-2 Attack total
Hand Axe	2.50	2.71	2,3
Quarter Staff	2.50	2.71	3	2h
Short Bow	2.33	2.57	3	2h missile
Short Sword	2.33	2.57	3
Club	2.17	2.43	2
Sling	1.83	2.14	2	missile
Dagger	1.67	1.86	2
Throwing Dagger	1.50	1.71	1,2	missile
Improvised	1.50	1.71	1,2
Unarmed Human	1.17	1.43	1
Unarmed Large	2.50	2.86	2
Bite/Claw Small	2.67	2.86	3
Bite/Class Med	3.17	3.43	3
Bite/Claw Large	4.17	4.57	3,4

Converting Dungeon World To Advanced Fighting Fantasy

This is a conversion of Dungeon World characters to Advanced Fighting Fantasy.

I use the male pronoun throughout this document for simplicity.  I use the abbreviations DW for Dungeon World, FF for Fighting Fantasy, and AFF for Advanced Fighting Fantasy.  I use shorthand SK for SKILL, LK for LUCK, MG for MAGIC and STA for STAMINA, MP for Magic Points.

I encourage you to think for yourself and disregard anything that doesn't suit your tastes.

The purpose of this document is to convert existing DW characters to AFF.  Once that characters die or retire, build characters according to the basic AFF rules.  I created this document in case anyone else felt like changing game systems while retaining their characters.  I've never heard of anyone quitting Dungeon World for Fighting Fantasy.  I suspect I'm the only one.  In any case, I hope you find this document interesting, even if it is not useful to you.

A bit on dice probability (for the uninitiated):  Rolling 2d6 results in a bell curve of results.  7 being the most common, then 6 and 8 together, then 5 and 9 together, 4 and 10, 3 and 11, 2 and 12.  In the game Dungeon World, success is achieved on a 2d6 roll by rolling 7 or higher (58% probability).  This means most attempts by the characters to do anything tend to succeed.  I tried to emulate that as much as possible here.

In Dungeon World, there are 6 stats that affected the ability to do any task.  The pregenerated stats gave a +2, two +1's, two Zeroes, and one -1 assigned to Strength, Dexterity, Consitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.  Many (but not all) players would put the +2 in the stat that affects the character's primary function.  For example, a fighter would put +2 in Strength because it affects Melee and Bend Bars/Lift Gates.  Thus a fighter with +2 to strenth, rolling a 5, would get a 7, a success.

Keeping with the spirit of that game, I did my best to ensure that each class below has the same probability of success with that class's primary function.  so the Fighter has a SKILL of 7 and two points in Weapon and Strength.  The Wizard has MAGIC 7 and 2 points in Magic-Wizardry.  The odds of success parallel that of Dungeon World.  A dice roll of 9 occurs as often as a 5, and so the odds of success with the two point bonus are the same. The only difference is that DW is a roll-over system and Fighting Fantasy is a roll-under system.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of character building in AFF, the Wizard will have low SKILL, so playing an eccentric Wizard that likes to fight and do physical stunts is less practical.  With 2 points added to a few chosen skills, his total SKILL + special skills would be a 6, which isn't horrible.

Deviating from normal starting AFF characters, I gave each converted class multiple starting Talents to further emphasize their specialization.

On Hitpoints:  In Dungeon World, hitpoints varied based on class and the Constitution Score.  Generally speaking, the Fighter and Paladin usually had the highest; followed by Ranger; then Druid, Cleric, Bard and Thief; and lastly the Wizard.  If we translate that hierarchy to this game.  The Wizard would have 8 or 10.  Druid, Cleric, Bard and Thief 10 or 12, Ranger 12 or 14, and Fighter and Paladin 14 or 16.

The only characters I broke the special skill point cap for are the Fighter and Paladin so they can wear any armor without penality as in Dungeon World.

*Fighter*

SK 7, LK 9, MG 0, STA 16
Talents:
 Armor Training
 Weapon Master
 StrongArm

Skills:
 Primary Weapon: 2
 Armor: 4
 Strength: 2
 4 points left for any other skills

Other:
 Starts with a Magic Weapon giving +1 to Attack, Damage, or Other special effect.

Comments:
 Armor maxed out to give full flexibility in choosing armor as in DW.

*Paladin*

SK 7, LK 8, MG 2, ST 14
Talents:
 Armor Training
 Strongarm
 Holy or Blessed

Deity: Any. I Suggest Libra, Goddess of Justice and Truth

Skills:
 Armor: 4
 Primary Weapon: 2
 Magic, Priestly: 2
 Healing: 1
 Law: 1
 2 points left

Other:
 None.

Comments:
 Basically a fighter with a deity.  Very customizable.
 Armor maxed out to give full flexiblity in choosing armor as in DW.
 Suggest two points for Etiquette or Con to use the "I Am the Law" skill from Dungeon World or just role-play the moral and political influence of the Paladin.  In my game, the player character is part of a ruthless Paladin order that is either feared, or hated, and only occasionally appreciated.  So the role-play option will work well.  On a successful roll, anyone that recognizes his Order will attack, flee, or submit.

*Cleric*

SK 7 LK 8 MG 4 STA 10
Talents:
 Holy
 Blessed
 Natural Physician

Any Deity, but only Usrel has the Banish spell.

Skills:
 Magic, Priestly: 2
 10 points left

Other:
 none.

Comments:
 I suggest putting 2 points into healing special skill if you want your cleric to be a medic.  Most deities give a Heal spell, but it's usable only 2x per day with the Blessed talent or 3x if you want to burn a luck point.

 To Turn Undead, you either need to choose Usrel as this Cleric's deity to get the Banish spell, or create a new deity that has Heal, Banish, and any two other priest spells that are similar to Dungeon World cleric spells.

 The DW Cleric has cantrips, so I also suggest putting points into Minor Magic to give the priest some cantrips such as Ripen or Glimmer, and treat them as priest spells usable once per day.

*Bard*

SK 7 LK 8 MG 4 STA 10 MP 12

Talents:
 Focus (see comments)
 Silvertongued
 Natural Linguist

Skills:
 Magic, Wizardry: 2
 Magic, Minor: 1
 Etiquette: 2
 Weapon of choice: 1
 World Lore: 2
 4 points remaining
Other:
 Cantrips: Entertain, Noise, any other (perhaps Weather Protection or Pied Piper)
 Spells: Whatever you want.
Comments:

 The Focus talent is meant for his instrument.  You can just role play the fact that the Bard sings his spells.  The fact that his MAGIC score is lower than your typical Wizard means his songs can serve (in role playing terms) as Spell Prep and give +1 per round of prep per the standard spell prep rules.


*Wizard*

SK 4 LK 9 MG 7 ST 8

Talents:
 Natural Mage
 Learned
 Arcane

Skills:
 Magic, Wizardry: 2
 Magic, Minor: 1
 *Magic, Arcane: 1 or 2
 7 to 9 points left

Other:

Comments:
 I suggest putting skill points into knowledge skills as the DW Wizard would often use his superior Intelligence to "Spout Lore" on the world about him to help the party.  However there's nothing that says you can't put some points into weapons if you really want to be a fighting wizard.
 The DW Wizard has three cantrips, so I suggest picking at least three cantrips.

 *There are rules for ritual magic in AFF but they're for very high level casters.  To make rituals available to lower level characters,  I suggest allowing the character to buy the Magic-Arcane special skill at any time.

*Druid*
SK 7, LK 8, MG 4, STA 10
Talents:
 Survivor
 Animalfriend
 Blessed

Beast Lords deity, with associated priest spells

Skills:
 Magic, Priestly: 2
 Animal Lore: 2
 Wilderness Lore (choose forest, mountain, swamp, etc):2
 Secret Signs, Ranger: 1
 Awareness: 2
 3 points left

Other:
 none

 His special priest power is to talk freely to creatures of the type he serves (akin to DW Spirit Tongue).

 The DW Trait "Born of the Soil" has no equivalent in AFF.  Just roleplay that the druid has to bear a physical mark of the land he's attuned to (antlers, leopard spots, cat whiskers, leafy hair, etc)

 The only priest spell for this class affected by the MAGIC stat is Heal.  If you don't want a healing druid, reduce MAGIC to 1, and put the points into SKILL, LUCK and STAMINA.  Then reduce the special skill Magic-Priestly to 1.  So your final base build could be SK 7, LK 10, MG 1, STA 12.  Your Heal will be worth 2, but you'll have more flexibility in doing other things.  Don't overlook the possible benefits however of healing a wounded animal in distress.

 This druid is more limited in shape shifting than the Dungeon World druid: only 2x per day without burning luck.  However, there's no time limit for shifting back.

 The Survivor talent is close enough never having to eat, which I thought was a a bit ridiculous in DW anyways.

*Thief*

SK 7 LK 11 MG 0 STA 12
Talents:
 Trapmaster
 Lucky
 Light Sleeper or Ambidextrous

Skills:
 12 points remaining (see comments)

Other:
 none

Comments:
 The Ambidextrous talent would be useful for ambush/backstab attacks.  As for special skills, Put 2 points each into your favorite thief skills and go from there.
 Suggested rules for new skill "Crafting-Poison":  A poisoner can craft a dose of any poison he's familiar with, provided he has the materials and equipment.  Time depends on the nature of the poison.  Simple poisons that do not kill outright, such as sleepiness, clumsiness, minor damage, minor hallucinations, etc: One dose per one hour of work.  Instant death: 12 hours per dose.  A skill check failure ruins the dose of poison.  A critical success creates two doses, a twice potent dose, or half the creation time.

*Ranger*

SK 7 LK 9 MG 0 STA 14

Talents:
 Familiar
 Survivor
 Crack Shot

Skills:
Bows: 2
Forest Lore: 2
Animal Lore: 2
Awareness: 2
4 points remaining

Other:
 none

Comments:
 There are many ways to build this one.  I don't know whether Awareness or Hunting is the appropriate skill for tracking.
 You could also lower STAMINA and boost LUCK, if you wanted to.  What really defines the Ranger is the Tracking, Archery, and the Familiar.
 To do a Called Shot on an unaware target, test SKILL + Bows.

Review of Advanced Fighting Fantasy The Role Playing Game

Bibliography
I'll cite pages and quote passages in part of review.  This review is for the 2011 edition of the game: "Advanced Fighting Fantasy The Role Playing Game.  Copyright 2011 Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone."

I acquired a copy of Advanced Fighting Fantasy last week and have been soaking up the manual as best as I can.  My purpose in buying it was hopefully to expand the Fighting Fantasy game I'm playing with my wife with a skill and magic system that's easy to handle.  Also, I'd like to convert my current Dungeon World game to Fighting Fantasy as I prefer the FF system.

This game system expands on the basic features of Fighting Fantasy by adding a skill based character build, as well as more detailed combat rules, three magic systems, a small beastiary and campaign setting, and a GM guide.

To summarize Fighting Fantasy for the uninitiated, I suggest this review here: http://rpggeek.com/thread/579545/the-3-characteristic-introductory-rpg

BUILDING CHARACTERS

There characters have the basic stats of Skill, Luck, Stamina and Magic.  Instead of rolling 6+d6 for Skill and Luck and 2d6+6 for Stamina (as in the original FF), you get a base character of 4 Skill, 8 Stamina, 8 Luck, 0 Magic.  You get 8 points to allocate to these stats.  There are limits.  For example, you can only allocate 3 to skill and luck, 7 to magic, 4 to Stamina (giving 2 times the points given in Stamina).  If you want higher powered characters you can give more points for the characters.

Characters then get points to allocate to special skills, and pick a talent.

Special skills are just specializations that add to your base Skill when you attempt that task.  So if you put a point into Lock Picking, you add 1 to your Skill before doing a Skill test.  There are special skills that cover a wide variety of adventuring skills such as weapons, armor, climbing, swimming, thief skills, magical skills, knowledge skills, etc.  So specializing in something lets you become an expert in minimal time, while increasing the base Skill score makes you better at everything, just at a slower pace.  Characters with a higher Magic than Skill can do all knowledge tests with their Magic score.

Your character gets to pick one Talent as well that helps distinguish him.  He might be able to cast low level spells with ease, befriend animals, shoot a bow with extra accuracy, heal more quickly, etc.  Elves and Dwarfs also get Dark Vision in addition to anything else picked for the character.

COMBAT

The combat system uses the same method as FF, adding your skill plus 2d6 and the highest total wins.  You also add any special skill in the weapon you're using.  So if you wield a club with club skill 2, then you add 2 to your combat total.

The weapons also do variable damage, and armor soaks damage at a variable rate as well.

The weapon damage is interesting because it's not just a die roll (d4, d6, d8, etc) for damage total, but rather each weapon has a small chart for a D6 roll that indicates the damage done and this data has a space on the character sheets.  A dagger will do 1 to 2 points of damage, and occasionally 3.  Whereas a Great Sword will do 2 to 5 points of damage, and occasionally 6.  AFF is not a high damage system.  Most weapons average 2 to 3 points of damage, so it's more important to have the highest Skill + modifiers + 2d6 than to do a lot of damage.

For armor, a Cuirass (basically a shirt of Leather, Chain or Plate) will soak damage 50% of the time.  A leather or chain hauberk will soak damage 5/6 of the time and full plate armor will always soak some damage.  The best defense is to have the higher combat total.

There's plenty of situation modifiers for battles.  Fighting in darkness, up stairs, down stairs, swimming, larger than opponent, smaller than opponent  ganging up on a single target, attacking from behind, etc.  The list was intimidating for me at first.  Then I realized that combat Skill totals are important, so it's good to give the players as many options as possible to fight tactically.

A nice part of the battle system is you can throw 3 dice, and the third die will either give you the damage done if you won the round, or the armor soak if you lost the round.  All you need to do is color the third die or otherwise indicate it as different.

The magic systems are Wizardry, Sorcery, Priest, and Minor magic.  Wizardry and Sorcery spells are cast via a 2d6 roll under check, just as with Skill or Luck.  The target number is Magic + Wizardry or Magic + Sorcery.   The Wizardry is powered by spell points derived from your Magic Skill plus your Wizardry special skill.  Magic points are restored with a night's rest.  Sorcery is very similar to the Sorcery! series of books and the "Sorcery! Spell book", and is powered by Stamina rather than magic points.  Many of the spells require components to function.  So there's a spell to listen to an unknown language, but requires that the caster wear a green wig, whereas a spell to make a target dance requires a bamboo flute.

The priest spells come from a deity and each priest gets only 4.  There's a common pool of priest spells that many deities share, and there's a special spell for each deity.  For example, Telak the God of Courage and Combat gives a spell to let the priest boost his Skill and Damage for one encounter.  Each spell can be used once a day, and a single spell can be used twice a day for the cost of a Luck point.  While most deities give a healing spell, the limit to once or twice a day makes the Priest less of a medic than in other RPGs.  The priest also has one final spell called "Salvation" that he can cast once in his lifetime to rescue himself and his party from danger.  The nature of the rescue narrated by the GM.

The priest need not roll to cast his spells, they happen automatically.  The intensity of a spell, such as the amount of Stamina restored by Heal, or the number of meals made by Create Food, is determined by the Magic skill + Priest magic special skill.

Lastly there's Minor Magic, which are known as cantrips.  They are very basic spells that perform simple utility such as drying a soaked object, making somebody drunk, freshening food, minor illusions, causing mischief, etc.  The spells are powered by magic points, and only if the spell fails.  It's not clear to me whether priests and sorcerers are allowed to take this skill as they don't use magic points for their spells.  Perhaps the sorcerer could power cantrips with stamina and the Priest gets them as daily freebies like his other spells.

WORLD SYSTEM

The campaign setting is the world of Titan and the book gives a map of the world plus descriptions of the cultures and peoples of the various regions and cities.  There's small a bestiary of common monsters.  If you want more you can get the Out of the Pit supplement  import beasts from other game systems, or create your own.  There are even guidelines to walk you through creature creation.

GM Guide

There's a chapter devoted to creating new adventures with advice on plot hooks and adventure settings.

There's also nice random dungeon generator for creating quick adventures on the fly or even long adventures.  Toss a number of dice onto the table for the number of rooms.  The landing places of the dice give clues to where the rooms go, and the number on the die indicate how many exits.  Then you draw the map, stock it with monsters, traps and treasure, and you're ready to go.  You can theme the dungeon or just make it eclectic like The Wishing Well adventure.  The generator is not exhaustive, but you can easily modify it to suit your needs.  The same concept can be applied to above ground adventures, generating cities with different districts, rooms in a castle, etc.  I'm psyched about this because I personally love old school dungeon crawls and it's nice to have a tool to get things rolling when my creative juices aren't flowing.

PROOF READING

My one complaint is some proof reading errors that confused me.  I struggle with proof reading (my own recent Dungeon World session had a few errors), so I'm not being condescending.  Three examples:  A sample boss monster character sheet has skill of 31 in Leadership (Page 121).  Later in the text it's actually described it as 3, not 31.

The sample character Manath the Rogue (P.21) has a dagger skill and a brawling skill, but there is no dagger skill in the list of combat skills.  Rather, there is a brawling skill that is for fist fighting as well as small weapons, including daggers.  Does the rogue apply both when using the dagger?  Was there even supposed to be a dagger skill?

The last example involves the use of luck in combat.  The text mentions a first and second method, and then refers to a third but not describing it:  The first option is to reduce the damage done by the enemy with a Luck test.  If successful, the enemy does minimum damage.  "...Secondly, LUCK can also be used to increase the damage caused by a successful attack.  This option may not be chosen if LUCK was used to win the combat round." (Page 59) The rules for using Luck to win the combat round were either accidentally omitted, or maybe the author meant to delete them but failed to delete all references to that method.  I'm going to guess that the player can test Luck to win a round of combat.  Faced with a Skill 18 Earth Elemental, I'd say burning your Luck to hurt the thing is a fair trade.  If your luck runs out it'll smash you to pudding.

All in all I look forward to giving Advanced Fighting Fantasy a try.  It's a good all-in-one fantasy role playing game with simple rules, a fantasy world ready to run, and a decent GM guide to creating adventures.  If you like to create custom characters, or if you were a fan of the Fighting Fantasy game books, then this game or the original Fighting Fantasy are for you.

I shall attempt to convert the basic Dungeon World classes to this system.  I'll post a message at a later date with the results of that experiment.

Commentary on my first game of Dungeon World

The Commentary On my First Dungeon World Game

The commentary is on this game linked to here

Some of this is disconnected craziness that bounces around.  Bear with me as I get negative and cranky, positive, then negative.

Two of six expected guests came to the game.  The players of the Paladin Cassius and the Artificer Thrawn.  Together with my wife playing Tana the Ranger, they formed the party of player characters.  We snacked on vegetables and tea biscuits while building the characters. Character creation was difficult as my wife who was overwhelmed by the Dungeonworld character sheet.  So I filled out her stats, asked her what her pet's name was and what it was, picked her gear, and told her not to worry about the sheet or the rules until I thought they applied.  Just to know that she's a friend of animals, can track, and is good with a bow.

The other two were familiar with RPGs generally and had a fairly easy time with creation.  They both had backstories pre-written to give some flavor to their chracters.  The Paladin had a huge hammer instead of a halbard.  I gave him a specially crafted plate armor, rather than scale, as with such a small party they'd want a tank.  Plus his drawing of the Paladin was fantastic and depicted him in a full suit of armor.  Very bad-ass.  The Dwarven Artificer was a priest of his technology religion with magical  gadgets.

I narrated how the other player characters wandered off:  The wizard had academic work to attend to.  His friend the bard joined him.  The Barbarian had to work on his tent.  His friend, a warrior maiden, decided to stay with him.  The druid had to dance the hoe-down at a forest folk music festival.  The thief had pregnancy related fatigue and decided a rough adventure was not right for her at this time.  That made the beginning of the story humorous and light-hearted.  It was easy to do after a couple shots of whiskey.

Now to put myself down, feel miserable, and try to learn from it:

Lacking a hard copy of the rule book, I had to improvise some of the rules of the game. For example, The Artificer used some bandages to bind up the Paladin, so I called it 1d4+1 healing.  The Paladin later pulled a healing potion from his Adventuring Gear and I called it 1d6+1 healing.  The Ranger wanted to pick a door lock with metal bits found in a crate.  So improvising, I said she could do it but with no Dex bonus.  Turns out she got a partial success so I had steam shoot out of the lock hole.  Lucky for her, I rolled a 2 on a 1d6 and with her leather armor it was reduced to one point.

If I could redo those decisions, I would.  I definitely want to be consistent with making calls on that kind of stuff.  I was afraid to let the Ranger pick the lock, but with no thief present, why not?  DW is about saying yes, so I must conclude that anyone can try to pick a lock but the Thief can do it better.  The early editions of D&D had no thief class and folks just said whether they're picking a lock or a pocket and a call was made.  I'm a fan of that.  I also noted, that if not for the presence of the artificer, this adventure would not have happened.  If there was no artificer, there would have been no airship story and thus no lock for the ranger to pick.  I allowed the artificer (an optional class), so therefore I must also allow the ranger to pick a lock.

I've read that it takes practice to get the Discern Realities and Spout Lore moves done correctly.  I need to work on that if we play this again.  They're not bad moves, I just fumbled them a bit.

I also need to work on more dynamic NPC behavior.  The goblins swarmed the Paladin in front of the door but he splatted them.  That's not a bad thing.  Read on.  The Paladin did not fail a single roll the entire game.  I didn't inflict sufficient consequences aside from damage rolls when he had partial success.  The goblins are supposed to swarm, jump on your shoulders, grab your weapon, bite you on the ear, pour past you like a flood.  I'll do better next time.  I allowed the Paladin to kill multiple goblins by dividing their HP into his damage roll.  That made for a great scene.  But I didn't do that for the Ranger who wanted to fire multiple arrows.  Bad choice.  What's good for the goose is good for the gander.  If ever faced with a similar situation of huge mobs of disposable creatures, the ranger can fire multiple arrows at multiple clustered targets.  After all, a partial success on Volley can result in multiple shots, so why not just do it?

As far as dynamic action, I tried to "pan the camera" to different players, but I found it difficult to get a decent and satisfying flow going and including everyone in the story.  After failing at this, I went around to each player and asked them what they're doing in turn, and narrated the results.  This was actually worked well for us.  Maybe I need more practice, but I prefer a turn based structure to encounters.  

As far as mapping goes, I also somehow connected the aft of the middle deck to the bow of the top deck of the ship.  Nobody said anything about it.  In retrospect I feel kind of silly for doing that.

What did I do right?

I made a wet-erase board by laminating an old flat board with cold peel lamination sheets that I had lying around for years.  I drew a nice scene of the road going along the mountains, river crossing it, a bit of terrain.  I cut up some thick cardboard and made an airship prop as well as rectangles for the caravan.  I cut some rectangles for the players and put their character names on them.  I used Mancala stones for foes.  When they boarded the ship, I erased the board and drew each level of the ship as they explored it.

The Dungeon World rules say for the GM to leave blanks, so I left blanks in the map.  I had to pull the kitchen and the room across from it out of thin air. I also left blanks for the engine room.  I knew it was an engine room, but not everything that was there.  I honestly had forgotten to place the switch for the door on the other side of the ship, so I'm glad I didn't pre-plan the whole ship.  I had kicked around an idea for The Dentist when first creating the starting adventure, and discarded it.  I included the Dentist when a goblin was interrogated.  However, by that time I was really tired for lack of sleep and was getting a headache from the whiskey I drank at the start of the game, so the Dentist wasn't the kind of challenge I hoped he would be.

Back on negative:

I was quite fatigued near the end, so got a bit ridiculous with the surrender of the mad dwarf taking off all his things and standing in his boxers and shirt.  I should have skipped that.

The players had fun.  That's a positive.

There's nothing wrong with Dungeon World.  I'm not sure if it's right for me, however.

What bugs me: The character sheets are really busy and wordy. My wife was overwhelmed by hers.  I like to play games simple enough for my wife to enjoy them.  I like to play with my wife, so I prefer games she can easily grasp.  That means my RPGs and my Board Games and my Video Games.  Gaming is one of the few things I'm interested in so I want to make the time I spend with her count.  She enjoyed Fighting Fantasy, but we also finished that in two hours.  So I'm thinking we may need to simplify the sheets or play with different rules, and stick to the time limit.  The "prequal" World Of Dungeons has a simpler ruleset but with the basic 2d6 fail/partial/success mechanic.  Success and Partial success are not wordy paragraphs.  I think we could cut out the verbiage and just let the GM make the calls.

I also found a game called "Dungeon Teller" that uses a dice pool mechanic that seems simple as well.  Roll dice for your skill, 5's and 6's are successes.  So a warrior say rolls 5 dices for his sword but a weak wizard rolls only 1 or 2.  Each 5 or 6 is a hit.  Ta da.  Competing actions are simply a comparing of successes rolled.  Tug of war, we both roll muscle, greatest number of successes wins.  Anyone might pick a lock with their Stealth trait but the thief gets extra dice for it.  And so on, and so forth.  I think just about everything in Dungeon World might be directly convertible to this system and less complicated.  Hell I can even get blank dice and paint smileys on them, or some other positive looking symbol, or just a dot even, and those are successes.  Skip the number crap altogether.  I'm not against maths (as my distant English cousins call it), I just prefer simplicity while retaining enough depth to stay interesting.

I found the Artificer sheet confusing.   I think the player used only the basic functions of his tools and not any of his character abilities such as Field Test or Jury Rig.  I allowed him a cleric spell "Words of the Unspeaking" but allows him to only talk to Machinery.  But examining the sheet, I notice he has a similar ability already called "Let me see that."  The rules governing "Charge" are confusing.  It's the power supply/ammo of his gadgets.  He can Volly or Melee with his INT bonus rather than STR or DEX, but it depletes a charge regardless of a hit.  Then I ask, can he strike with his axe if it's out of charge?  I assume it is, just no electrocution power.

While a lot of my difficulty and mistakes are of course the bumps and bruises of trying something new, I can't help but think there's a way go about making this sort of game simpler.

I still prefer Fighting Fantasy to this.  If I could somehow convert the classes of D&D/Dungeon World to Fighting Fantasy, or perhaps Dungeon Teller, then I'd play with those rules.

My First Game of Dungeon World

This is a narrative of my first game of Dungeon World.  Commentary on the game and how it went in my next post.  Reposted after correcting some spelling, punctuation and sentence structure errors.

The Airship

A large party assembled at the coastal town of Fishbasket to escort a trade caravan to Academ about two days north.  Of the nine who initially showed interest in the mission, only 3 remained to escort three wagons.  The Ranger Tana and her pet hawk, Airwolf.  The Paladin "Gabriel Cassius" of the (now declining) Black Templar order, sworn to destroy witches wherever they may be found, armed with his engraved maul.  And lastly but not leastly the Dwarven Artificer named Thrawn Blastmaker, a priest of a dwarven technology cult.

One wagon contained a load of silks and linens, the second driven by Adrik, a wizened elderly trader carried magical powders and artifacts bound for the academy of wizardry in Academ, and another of ocean based goods.  Of particular interest to Thrawn was a large cube carried in Adrik's wagon embedded with brownish gems on each face.

The After about a day's journey, on a cloudy, cool day, the caravan was travelling the road through rough terrain next to a mountain range when they heard loud squealing sounds on the other side of a hill.  Thrawn activated his invisibility device and scouted forward, to find 6 Pig Men flailing about at a river crossing.  They could have been fishing or just wrestling. Cassius also came forward and Tana worked her way eastward across the rough to cover with her bow.  Thrawn returns to warn the caravan not to proceed until they deal with the pig men.

Cassius meanwhile steps forward to challenge them.  The pig men are large and tough looking, but timid.  Shaking their spears and squealing challenges.  Two come forth to fight Cassius.  Cassius Crushes one with his Maul while the other approaches with his spear.  Thrawn blasts another with his energy bolt thrower device.  Just then the party hears a loud hissing sound and a giant airship (held aloft by a large blimp baloon) comes down from the clouds over the mountain and turns heading to the bridge where the pig men stood. Tana sends Airwolf to investigate while Cassius stands his ground.

Before long the Airship approaches the bridge and there's a loud blast and the pig men, save one, are blown to bacon bits.  A second blast sounds and the bridge itself is destroyed, the airship turning and landing where there bridge once stood.  Cassius finishes off the last pig man.

Thrawn urges the caravan to turn around but the drivers panic and two wagons get stuck in ditches off the road.

A large door opens in the side of the ship and a swarm of goblins pours out.  On the deck of the ship can be seen a crazy looking dwarf with an eye patch and gems for teeth laughing maniacally.  Thrawn studies the airship's balloon and sees blue gems embedded into it.  Passing a Spout Lore, and being a magical technologist, he recognizes the device as a container for an elemental spirit, and the key to the container are the gems in it.

Cassius splatters multiple goblins in a single swing while Thrawn shoots his weapon at the gem, beginning to dislodge it.  Tana fires arrows at the gem and dislodges it, and the air elemental spirit begins to hiss out of the now unsecure balloon.

Thrawn joins Cassius and Tana maintains her distance, firing arrows at the swarm of goblins.  Airwolf flies to the deck of the ship, and amid much commotion and flying darts, emerges again with the gem in its claws, returning to his mistress.  She orders it to attack a goblin while she fires arrows.  The goblin goes down and Airwolf rips its jawbone off and returns with it as a prize.

Cassius engages in a gory splattefest with his maul, pooping goblins two at a time  while Thrawn swings his electric axe, missing, and some goblins evade them and begin bolting for the caravan over the hill.  Thrawn shoots one but only partially damages it and it trips and falls.  Two goblins charge Tana and she shoots one while the other knocks her to the ground.  She grabs her spear and skerwers him groin to skull.

The remaining goblins still in the ship retreat while Cassius sprints after the two, now split up, heading for the caravan.  One reaches the foremost wagon and leaps on while the drivers, panicked, try to drive off.  Cassius runs alongside and swipes the goblin with his maul, it flies off and splits it skull on a rock.  He begins to question Adrik about what the pirate might want, and Adrick admits they're after his Earth Elemental trapped in the cube.  He chose to transport it in a small caravan so as not to attract the attention of thieves and pirates.  Just then the last goblin (who was shot previously) is seen by Adrick running up behind Cassius.  And Adrik fells it with a spell that burns it to a crisp.

Returning to the ship, Tana (with her spear now recovered and her Hawk on her shoulder), Cassius and Thrawn enter the ship. The lower deck of the ship appears to be a cargo bay, dimly lit with hanging lamps.  Thrawn uses his electric axe to give some illumination.  There's barrels and crates.  Tana pulls out a crowbar and begins popping the lids of the barrels, finding mostly stinky goblin food and some machine parts.  There's talk of finding a switch to open another door on the other side of the cargo bay.  Thrawn turns his attention to a door in the aft of the ship while Cassius goes toward the bow, where there's a ladder.  Several goblin faces can be seen and they hurl darts at the brave Paladin, then retreating.  Cassius decides to follow them up the ladder.

Tana checks out a door in the bow, finding a latrine.  She returns to popping crates, finding one filled with small brass statues of various animals.  The first real loot of the adventure.  She takes one and puts it in her pack.

Thrawn tries to pick the lock with the screwdriver end of his electric axe, but to no avail.

Upstairs, Cassius finds the gunnery room in the bow.  Two large steel tubes encrusted with blue gems akin to those on the now deflated balloon. On the walls are racks with very large stones (the obvious projectiles). He tries to smash the tubes, but only leaves dents.  He opens the door leading aftward, seeing a sleeping quarters strung with hammocks and is confronted by six goblins and a large, great dane with filed teeth.  Those teeth being various colors of gems.   A melee begins, Thrawn dashes up the ladder to help his friend.

The dog lunges at Cassius, knocking him down.  Cassius throws off the dog and it is stunned as it hits a support beam.  Thrawn picks up Cassius and Tana enters the gunnery room.  "Get out of the way" she says, an arrow knocked and ready to fire.  Thrawn enters the room, and Tana lets fly, hitting a goblin while Airwolf dashes in, ripping out its eyeballs and returning.  Airwolf eats an eyeball and gives one to his mum as a prize (eww).

The three finish off the goblins and the dog, taking it's gemmed teeth as a prize.  The last goblin is questioned, and under duress, says the captain is working for someone called "The Dentist" who can be in two places at once.  He is the executed. It is quiet for a while.  They explore aftward, finding a small kitchen with pots of goblin crud still on the boil.  Opposite is a door to an unknown room.  Trying the door, Thrawn's hand becomes stuck to the knob.  A pair of 2 dimensional eyes open on the door and a long, almost psuedopod of a fist reaches out to punch him.  He gets clocked and takes a bruise.  Tana takes her crowbar and jams it in the eye of this creature-door.  One eye goes dark, and it absorbs the crowbar, which now floats in a goo of it's translucent body.  Thrawn gets flung backwards into the kitchen, banging into pots and spilling goblin crud all overhimself as the creature now assumes humanoid form and goes to attack the rest of the team.  Tana figures burning it with the oil from one of the hanging lamps might work, but before she can do it, Cassius lays into the beast with his maul and it splatters into dozens of jello fragments, landing especially on Thrawn.

Thrawn tries to keep his dignity, and they open the door to the cabin.  Tana returns to the lower deck to try to find the switch to open the other door.  Meanwhile Cassius, in a rush to go lay down so justice, ascends to the deck to mop up the remnants of the goblins.  Before Thrawn can open a chest, he hears the sounds of battle upstairs. He rushes to help his friend.

Tana takes bits and pieces of wire and machinery and uses them as improvised lock picks, trying to pick the door lock in the aft of the cargo bay. She succeeds, but a blast of steam comes out of the lock, scalding her slightly but otherwise not hurting her.  She enters and finds the engine room: two cubes connected by pipes that lead to an exhaust pipe out the back of the ship.  One has red gems and the other has clear ones.  There's doors on the the starboard and larboad sides of the room.

Up on the deck, A hail of darts from the poop deck suppress Thrawn as he takes cover behind slightly elevated quarterdeck.   The mad dwarf can be heard shouting curses and urging his goblins to attack.  Cassius dodges incoming darts and kills one goblin, the rest fleeing up to their comrades.  After a short fight, the two ascend the poop to confront dwarf Bolgur and his two remaining goblins.  They find Bolgur in a small basket and balloon and the two goblins rapidly pumping some kind of apparattus to inflate the balloon attached to the basket.

Thrawn uses his last shot to blow a hole in the balloon.  The three enemies then surrender.  Cassius delivers swift justice to the goblins but Thrawn stops him before Bolgur is finished.  They order Bolgur to disarm.  He tosses down his cutlass, his eye patch (revealing a perfectly healthy eye underneath), and knives from every sleeve, pantleg, and from under his hat.  He tosses his trousers, standing in just his shorts and shirt, surrenders.  They question him.  He whines, begs for mercy.  "*I* won't kill you" says Thrawn.  Cassius delivers justice, black templar style.

Meanwhile Tana returns to the deck, informing her comrades that she found the switch.  With just one foe remaining, and two doors to the poop cabin, they pair off.  Cassius to the right, Thrawn and Tana to the left.  Cassius bangs on the door with his hammer.  "Open in the name of the black templar."  The door explodes, Cassius is flung back, wacking his head on a raised platform.  The room appears full of smoke.  Thrawn begins chopping at the door with his axe.  Tana gives the weakened door a kick and it falls open.  Inside there's an gaunt, creepy looking elf staring at them calmly.  It doesn't respond to any words.  Thrawn goes to poke it with his axe, but his axe goes through the image.

Now Cassius recovers and charges the now open cabin, where The Dentist awaits him.  He dodges a magical blast of energy and shatters the right arm of his foe.  He then breaks the elf's legs.  The Dentist passes out.

The tie him to the bed in the other room, and the Paladin lays on hands to heal him.  In his rage, he absorbs the injury rather than just healing it.  The Paladin feels sick and weak.  Thrawn goes to question him, but Cassius says "let me do my thing."

He slaps the elf.  "Who are you working for?"

The elf denies working for anyone.  Another slap.  The same question.  Another denial.  He's just a dentist, that's all.  The Paladin says "By the law of the Black Templar I order you answer our questions!"

The elf talks.  He wanted to seize the earth elemental for his ship.  Once imbued into the hull of the ship, it would be nearly invulnerable.  There are warrants for his arrest in seven cities.  He really is a dentist.  He works for himself.  He employs goblins because they're cheap as as long as you feed them, they'll fight for you.

Cassius does his thing again with his maul.

They loot the chest in room and find 1700 coin worth of gems and gold.  Aside from dental tools, nothing else of particular value was found.

The three return to the engine room.  The engine runs on steam generated by the interactions of a trapped fire elemental and trapped a water elemental.

They open the door on the other side of the cargo bay, and the caravan drives through.  They make it to Academ and get their pay.  The academy plans to send a team to remove the ship and build a new bridge.  The heroes stay at an inn.