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.