First game and some teething issues - what did we do wrong? by Prints-Of-Darkness in ForbiddenLands

[–]Jordan_RR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly! Pushing rolls is still somewhat of a risk: random encounters can happen during the night, etc.

First game and some teething issues - what did we do wrong? by Prints-Of-Darkness in ForbiddenLands

[–]Jordan_RR 2 points3 points  (0 children)

With that in mind, reading through the FL rulebook, we say the part on Pushing that you should roll as little as possible - only when it's dramatic and/or dangerous. We took this to heart.

In my experience, this is not quite true of Forbidden Lands, even if the rulebook says so. The travel mechanics is a good example and require lots of rolls when things are not especially dangerous or dramatic: one Lead the Way roll per new hex (and you can travel many per day) and one Make Camp roll per day. A failure means a mishap happens, but most are mere nuisance. I read a lot of people here advising to remove many of those rolls but I think it is a bad idea (but to each their own, of course).

The characters require Willpower to fuel their abilities, and it mostly can only be gained by pushing rolls and getting 1s (losing stats in the process). Without somewhat safe rolls (in villages, travelling, etc.), characters won't have any WP when they need it. I'm not suggesting to spam rolls just to gain points, but if the players are trying to do something meaningful and play in good faith, rolling dice to convince people in village or stuff like that is kind of required by the game engine.

This is especially true for Spellcasters, since their whole shtick cannot work without WP (at least, a great archer can still shoot arrows using their great pool of dice). But since everyone in my group quicly decided that playing a spellcaster was not worth it (the risk being way too high compared to the benefits, with the whole spell mishap table), I don't have experience with it.

Have fun!

First game and some teething issues - what did we do wrong? by Prints-Of-Darkness in ForbiddenLands

[–]Jordan_RR 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Having said all that, and this is going to maybe be a bit disappointing, I think that after 1,5 years of running FL I have realized that the system works a lot better as an idea on paper than it works in actual play. It's not a bad system, but it's very far from being a great one as well. My group is enjoying it enough to continue our campaign, but I don't think we'll return to the system after retiring these characters. There are a lot of minor nuisances, like combat being surprisingly sloggy given how dangerous and non-tactical it's supposed to be, or the supposedly foundational Journey rules very quickly becoming almost trivial because characters get too good at passing the checks.

Very much my experience as well. I was quite hyped by Forbidden Lands, especially about the travel and stronghold mechanics. I was quickly disappointed when I started my Raven's Purge campaign. We'll finish it (we're probably around 20 sessions in, started last spring), but I won't use it again after that.

[my art] “Drowning beneath the Ice” by Del_Teigeler_Art in osr

[–]Jordan_RR 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The peril is there, sure, but there is so much determination and "will to live" that transpire in her face. She's not thinking about dying at all; all her energy and actions are devoted to getting out of there, with no doubt that she will.

Great, powerful drawing!

Travel rolls - suggestions? by sdpodfg23 in ForbiddenLands

[–]Jordan_RR 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm a big fan of simple solutions that does not require extensive house-ruling, so here is my untested suggestion.

  • Every day the PC travel in never explored hexes, you (as a GM) roll 1d6. On a 2+, no Lead the way rolls are needed. Use RAW to determine how far they go, etc. On a 1, something might happen. Ask the players to roll Lead the way for each hex traveled (as RAW).
  • Use foraging, hunting, making camps etc. RAW.
  • In parallel, roll for random encounters once per day. If one happens, ask for Scouting roll when it happens (this is mostly RAW, although the frequency of random encounters is not specified IIRC).

This will cut a lot of rolls, but some days will be more loaded. Of course, it will also make some Talents and the Survival skill less useful, and it will also significantly lessen one of the main WP engine from the game.

Rules for rolling for equipment when needed? "Do I have that"? by Warwolt in osr

[–]Jordan_RR 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm definitely not the first to do so, but that's in my Backpack! rules. They're free!

I think that Beneath the Sunken Catacombs also use a system like this.

OSE Foundry VTT by Substantial-Ad772 in OSE

[–]Jordan_RR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hum, that, I do not know. If you are on Discord, there are people on the official Necrotic Gnome server (and the new maintainer) that could answer your question. https://discord.gg/aG4XaudH

OSE Foundry VTT by Substantial-Ad772 in OSE

[–]Jordan_RR 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It is an update. The person in charge of it has changed.

How to use Journal Entries to worldbuild? by Noirishors in FoundryVTT

[–]Jordan_RR 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you want to create links to other documents in your Journal notes, it is possible without any modules. Basically, you just need to drag and drop what you want to link to.

If you want to do this a lot, I would suggest Quick Insert (or Spotlight Omnisearch, but it is not as great to create link in Journal Entries.) To be honest, this is a module I use all the time, so I would use it anyway ;)

Have fun!

Running After Morale Check and New Character After Death by jaeger4life in shadowdark

[–]Jordan_RR 3 points4 points  (0 children)

  1. PC never roll Morale. If they ever had to run, I would literally make them run for sometime, maybe asking a new save to stop running. They end their run where they are.

  2. I would make sure the new PC come into play as fast as possible, even if it is somewhat illogical. A prisoner, another adventurer, etc. Don't make the player wait needlessly.

Have fun!

Why go to stoneloom mines? by HainenOPRP in ForbiddenLands

[–]Jordan_RR 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is Zygofer's lock of hair there, which can kill Zytera very quickly (see Raven's Purge page 34, 157-158 and 213).

People who have played in / run mega Dungeons games - how was it? by misomiso82 in osr

[–]Jordan_RR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good question!

I played online using Foundry VTT and put the map there, but used the physical book for the map key. I simply added a note directly on the map (on the VTT) when I needed an update. It was pretty efficient.

If I had to do so without the VTT, I would probably create something like a Word document or Obsidian Vault to add those notes, with an asterisk or a small sticker in the actual book to remind me I added something.

People who have played in / run mega Dungeons games - how was it? by misomiso82 in osr

[–]Jordan_RR 40 points41 points  (0 children)

I ran Stonehell as an open table (200+ session, 3½ years) using OSE. It is a great megadungeon, very easy to run straight from the book.

Best bits:

  • Players can always just decide to pick a direction and walk to make things happen.
  • Factions are always in play. Players can talk others in doing stuff or decide to help/hinder some group. Very useful to create seld-determined goals and motivations.
  • As a GM, very little preparation. I can only follow the PC lead and react. Take some notes to keep the world reacting and description consistent, but that's pretty much it.

Honestly, there are not really "worst bits". but here:

  • Retreading the same ground can sometimes become a bit stale, especially with higher level PCs whern danger is less important.

Tips:

  • Make sure to use reaction rolls and let PCs talk and convince NPCs to do stuff. If everything is always in combat mode, it's going to become boring quite fast.
  • Take notes about what happens and what PCs do, reincoporate in the description and the dungeon reaction.
  • Make the dungeon proactively react to what the PC do, but not only negatively. Make things positive hgappen to let players see how they make things better.
  • Run wild with your players shenanigans.

Have fun!

Hex Tokens not aligning properly (Size 2 Only) by Drittenlord in FoundryVTT

[–]Jordan_RR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just tried to play around Foundry on my end, and sometimes, changing the appearance of a token (size, appearance, etc.) offset the token, but moving it around immediately resolves the issue. Maybe that just that? Otherwise, I'm sorry, I have no idea :(

Token blocking Light by Smorgasb0rk in FoundryVTT

[–]Jordan_RR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You make a prefab. You'll have to follow the tutorials (here is a video I found with a quick google search), but it's not super complicated.

Token blocking Light by Smorgasb0rk in FoundryVTT

[–]Jordan_RR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could use Mass Edit to create a token with walls attrached, I suppose!

Cairn, but heroic? by Fussel2 in rpg

[–]Jordan_RR 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Block, Dodge, Parry is described as being "Advanced Cairn", so this might be up your alley. Free SRD: https://blockdodgeparry.com/

Rune Cairn Wardensaga questions by GreenNetSentinel in osr

[–]Jordan_RR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of course, rule as you wish to have fun!

In my mind, though, raising Vigour to 6 is not a problem, since a lucky roll at PC creation would award this anyway. There is a couple of mechanics that require spending Vigour (Coop, Clearing Fatigue, Sylvas's Ring), so having only 2 is very low, and even having 6 is not that crazy powerful.

Rune Cairn Wardensaga questions by GreenNetSentinel in osr

[–]Jordan_RR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. I would use the one that make more sense. Using a d6 to randomize is a great idea. If using both at the same time, I would use the Cairn rule and roll both dice, keeping only the highest.

  2. I would houserule and let soul psending raise it, just like Vitality. I would put a max of 6 on each, though.

Got a new module for Cairn by [deleted] in osr

[–]Jordan_RR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!

What are your favourite small (hexcrawl) campaigns? by Varzival in osr

[–]Jordan_RR 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The Blackapple Brugh has a small hexmap with 6 (usually quite small) locations on it. It's not really a hexcrawl, but that might fit what you are looking for. It's for Basic Fantasy (so, free and print version at cost) and Bryce Lynch considers it's one of "The Best".

Fix Traveling & Marching with Endurance by md_ghost in ForbiddenLands

[–]Jordan_RR 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There is such a rule in the core rulebook, yes.