The Forge Archives

Ok, got a chance to play some Donjon Krawl this weekend.  Wasn't a very long session but it did confirm for me that this is definitely a game with a future.

Preliminary Notes:

Never have I seen a character creation system work so smoothly and be so fun.  Once you look at your stats and decide on a "Class" its virtually effortless to decide what "my character does".  Far from 5 skills being to few, for 1 of my players it was too many.  He literally could not figure out what else he needed after coming up with 4.  

The "Narrate your success DM decides the rest" system is one of the best GM tools I've ever seen.  Any time the GM is stumped on what to do it is ridiculously easy to resort to that tried and true GM query "what are you doing".  Convert the answer into some sort of skill roll, set the difficulty intentionally easy and let the player come up with something for his resultant successes.   Any GM who can't take a player narrated fact or two and spin that into at least a marginally satisfactory encounter probably shouldn't be a GM anyway.  For another twist, make the difficulty intentionally hard.  Come up with a couple facts from your own successes and let the player narrate the entirety of the rest.  All kinds of future grist from the mill comes out of that.


1)  Characters:  I don't have with me a list of all of the attribute scores for the characters, but I can remember most of their skills (that says something right there...something about characters being alot more interesting than "my fighter with the 18/78 Strength")

One thing we came up with on the fly was the idea of Racial / Class stats and Skills.  What we decided for Attributes was that when defining a new Race/Class a player could lower attributes by up to 2 dice and raise other attributes by up to 2 dice and that this would then become the racial standard for that race from that time forward.  For Abilities 3 of the initial 5 skills would be selected as racial/class skills and must be included in any future character using that template (or something very similiar) while the other 2 could be created freely.

The very first thing I did as a DM following character creation was ask each player for 2-5 sentences explaining why his character was in this town.  Thinking up an answer to this resulted in 3 of the players asking for (and immediately being given permission) to rewrite parts of the character they created.

Half Orc Hunter
Main: Spill Blood in the Dance of Carnage (combat skill)
Night Vision (originally "At one with the night" which got narrowed down after discussing the difference between Main and Secondary skills)
Battle Howl:  (defined as using Successes to reduce the Initiative of an opponent of equal or lesser level).
Hunting Game:
Working with Skins (decided that this skill could be added to an attempt to loot the body of fur bearing animals for Wealth, and also that successes could be used to fashion Leather Armor).

This character started as a general warrior type with skills like armor repair and something else I can't remember.  When I asked the question "what are you doing in this town" the player asked what the town was like.  After mentioning local points of interest (namely the Crimson Forest from the demo scenario) the player decided he was here to hunt Red Wolves whose skins were valued for their color.  He rewrote the character to include Hunting and switch "Armor Repair" to "Working with Skins"  
For Class Attributes he reduced Soc by 1 (a popular choice it would turn out) but interestingly increased Dis by 1 (to account for more animalistic orcish senses).  The "simulationist" in him decided that since he was only a half orc he'd only change 1 die instead of 2.  The Dance of Carnage was decided to be a racial skill of orcish berserker type combat, with Night Vision and Battle Howl being the other racial abilities.


Human Rogue
Main: Thuggery and Villainy (defined as being thief skills of the less "finesse" kind).
Club Things (combat skill)
Intimidate the weak
Fence Goods (also gives a bonus to rolls to sell items back to merchants)
Prepare Gear for Missions (add to Provision rolls in dungeons).

This was one of the players who had trouble using all 5 skill slots, after I explained that with Thuggery and Villainy as his main skill I'd allow that to include things like back stabbing and breaking and entering and other things he'd planned on having skills for.  He asked to save 1 skill slot for later, so I allowed it.  The very first time I had him make a Provisions check he came up with the "Prepare Gear" skill...
Interestingly when asked what he was doing in the town he decided (perhaps as a cop out) that he was a local.  When pressed as to what he did in the town he decided (again perhaps as a cop out) that he spent his time loitering and getting into trouble (I'd wind up using this later).


Human Charlatan
Main: Spell Caster (Words:  Decieve, Confuse, Stun, and Conceal)
Flim Flam and Bunko (fast talk)
Parlor Tricks (Casting Skill.  Words:  Disappear and Conjure)
Recognize Value (appraise)
Party down and get Funky.

This player had no character concept at all outside of being a magic user.  He also, being something of a min/maxer asked if he could have TWO casting skills, one as a Main Skill and one as a secondary.  Not wanting to say "no" and figuring that was as good a thing to test as any, I allowed it ruling only that they were 2 different "styles" and the words could not be combined (which saved the trouble of having to figure out which Casting Level to use).  The rest of the skills, including the choice of words came only after I asked "what are you doing in this town".  The player thought about it a good while and then decided that he was from a big city but was on the run so he was hiding out in a quiet provincial town.  When pressed for what he was running from he hit upon the "con man / charlatan" angle and filled out his character accordingly.


Human Law Rider.
Main:  Enforce the Laws of the Land
Ride Horse
Wield Sword
Holy Chants:  (Casting Skill.  Words:  Heal and Inspire)
Track Bounties.

This character started out as kind of a general Paladin type concept (hence the choice of spell words) with some uncertainty as what the main skill should be.  When asked the question "why are you in this town", however, the player came up with a slightly different concept.  He asked (and of course was immediately told "certainly") if he could have a character kind of like a ranger / bounty hunter / Wild West Marshall who roamed the provinces hunting criminals and aiding local law men.  The Main skill decided itself at that point.


2) The next thing I did in the game (before introduceing the Goal or Enticement) was to go around and ask each player in order "what are you doing".  My intention here was to use their responses to introduce the die mechanics dynamically.

The Orc went first and decided he was going to go shopping for gear (in true dungeon hack fashion) and hit up the local provisioner and smiths.  He burned all his wealth (which wasn't much being of low Soc) and wound up with very little.  He was somewhat annoyed at this, but given the Enticement of free gear for the scenario it worked out perfectly.  Two ideas came out of this scene, however.  a) all the players agreed that they should get their Wealth in equipment ratings or Provisions during character creation rather than starting with nothing and having to roll right from the first.  Not a bad idea.  b) In addition to Weapon, Armor, Provisions, and Hospitality Caps and Markups, Towns should have "Exotic" Caps and Markups.  This would cover (and the Markup be in addition to) any non standard (including magical) item the party might want to buy.  The big city might have a high Exotic Cap (where players with sufficient wealth could buy master work swords and magic rings).  A provincial town like Amerla would have a lower Cap and a high Markup so that anything beyond standard gear would be hard to come by.

The Rogue decided that he was just hanging out looking loitering around (again something of a cop out, this player was the most reluctant).  So I had him make a Soc roll vs. difficulty 3.  I figured he'd roll some successes and that decideing how to use them would "force" him to start being more actively involved.  Instead he got failure...which worked even better.  All DM's should engineer a Failure right off the bat for their first session.  I wound up with 1 Success for the DM, I narrated this as a local townsman coming by where he was hanging out and saying "get a job you dirty bum".  In other words, impuning on his ability to look cool on the street corner.  When I explained that that was all I got to do with my 1 success and he the player got to decide the rest of the scene, he was at first confused.  "Should I use my Intimidate Skill on him?" and other "Can I do this or that" questions.  Finally he got the idea when I told him that he was the DM for this scene and could come up with almost anything he wanted limited only by the success I'd already narrated and the scope of what the roll was for.  What he came up with impressed me.  He explained that he knew who that townsman was, knew he had a good bit of money, knew where he lived and that he'd decided he'd go rob the guy and beat him senseless.  Not perhaps the most original narrative, but definitely demonstrating he'd started to get "authoral power".  When he asked me just how rich this guy was and I answered "I don't know you're the one who said you knew him" he got this big ass grin on his face.

The Mage decided (again in time honored dungeon hack fashion) to go to the local tavern and get drunk.  He decided he'd make a "Party Down and Get Funky" roll.  I decided this would be a good opportunity to introduce the idea of carrying over successes.  Playing off the idea that he was from a big city and this was just a little provincial town I said "Hmm...I don't know how well these local yokels might respond to "the Funk".  So I had him make a Soc roll vs Dif 3.  He got one success which we decided meant the locals didn't understand "the Funk" but were intrigued by it (something new and exotic) and so he carried that 1 die over into his actual skill roll.  He then got into the carry over mechanic and rather than use the resulting 3 Successes to narrate the "partying down" he rolled them over into a Hospitality Roll.  With his high Soc and the carried over successes he got enough Successes to recover all of the Wealth he had wagered and then some.  Essentially he got his drinks for free.  He used the 2 extra successes to describe how the ladies were all over him and the tavern was the site of the biggest party the town had seen in years...but what he was really interested in was rolling these 2 extra successes from his "popularity" into some future scam roll against these people.  I told him he could do both, and he promptly wrote "+2 to scam town folks, 1 time use only" on his character sheet for future reference.

The Lawman also decided to go to the Tavern.  He asked if his "Enforce the Law" skill would give him any additional professional standing in the community.  When I said sure, he added those dice into his own Hospitality roll explaining how was striding purposefully to the bar, scowling at all the "funkiness" going on, and daring by his demeanor anyone to start any trouble.  He too got enough Successes to get his drinks for free, but he refused them, volutarily spending 1 Wealth, explaining that as a law man he wasn't going let anyone think he owed any favors because they bought him a drink.  He then used his 2 Successes to narrate 2 things.  1) that he recognized the Mage character as a wanted man and was determined to bring him in and 2) that his presence and demeanor was throwing a damper on the Tavern party causing it to end early before it got crazy and out of hand.


3)  This was probably the greatest event of the evening and why Dungeon Krawl is an absolutely fantastic game to DM.  I went right into the interview with the Mayor setting up the scenario and the quest for the Gem.  The Orc character accepted immediately...he wanted the free gear and it meshed with his desire to hunt wolves.  The Lawman accepted immediately, "graciously" delaying his arrest of the mage to investigate the theft.  The mage pretended to accept after the Lawman inferred his aid would look good at his trial.  He figured there'd be plenty of time when things got tight to use his magic to skip out and leave the lawman in the lurch.  The rogue however decided to pass.  Far too dangerous, he wasn't exactly fond of the town anyway, and he was much more interested in robbing that townsman who'd slighted him.  After having just gone to great pains to encourage the guy's use of authoral power I couldn't very well railroad him out of it, so a new off the cuff encounter was created.  He also managed to convince the Mage to help him out, saying that his cut would give him enough money to live on the lam awhile longer.

When the Rogue started asking me for details about the guys house, I had him make a Thuggery & Villainy roll to case the joint.  I also used the occassion to explain burning Hit Dice for bonuses and how they recovered 1 Die per scene automatically.  When I ruled that the actual robbery would be a seperate scene he burned 2 Dice (knowing he'd be getting 1 back right away).  His Dis + Skill + 2 HD gave him something like 10 dice.  I set the Dif artificially low at 3 dice.  He wound up with something like 6 Successes.  I made him use those 6 successes to define his mark's house himself.  He and the mage put their heads together and came out with a couple of facts for basic floor layout, the presence of a safe, and (after I explained the concept of Cache Loot Levels) set the Loot Level for the house.  I then explained that anything they didn't define I got to and and introduced a difficult door lock, a pair of guard dogs, and a paranoid owner who slept with a spear next to his bed.

The rogue successfully picked the lock using his Villainy skill, a burned HD and a damn good roll netting 2 Successes.  He narrated the first Success as opening the lock (obviously) and the second (taking my note about my getting to narrate the rest to heart) as being that he opened the door completely silently pointing out that this should mean I couldn't decide to have them detected for my part of the narration.

I then had them make a move silently check, ruling that the rogue main skill wouldn't apply since he was more of a thug than a foot pad.  Surprisingly the Mage (with only about 2 dice of Adroitness) passed while the Rogue (with 5) failed.  I got 1 success and narrated that the dogs heard something and were coming to investigate.  They narrated that the owner hadn't woken up and the dogs were just curious and hadn't started barking or attacking yet.

This was the time for the Mage to shine.  I forget now exactly what the name of his spell was it was something like "Confuse Canines into thinking you're their Master".  It Failed...miserably...with 3 Successes I ruled that the dog's started barking, the owner woke up and the local constabulary on patrol had heard the commotion.

This is the part where it got amazing and I was just floored.  Rather than try to make some frantic escape rolls or come up with a new spell to throw, the previously reluctant seeming rogue player narrated how the constables came in, arrested them both, and hauled them in front of the judge (who was also the mayor they decided).  The mayor would agree to dismiss the charges if they returned with the gem.  Thats right...my players "rail roaded" themselves back into the evening's scenario (yes, I know, that isn't rail roading if they do it to themselves...but it would have been if I'd done it to them).  Apparantly satisfied that this "authoral power" "I get to be the DM for the scene" stuff wasn't just a trick the rogue player was more than willing to cooperate to get the night back on track.  I guess I passed his test.

One thing that came up was after narrating all of this as his part of a failed roll, the player asked "just how much stuff do I get to narrate anyway...If it's 1 fact per success, what is it for failures?"  I hedged a bit and told him he could keep going till the DM decided it was enough, but you'll probably want to comment on that in the rules.


4) The rest of the brief evening's session went well.  The first thing the Orc player did once in the Crimson Forest was announce he was hunting for Red Wolves.  This worked out perfectly since an encounter with the wolves was on the agenda anyway.  When I explained they were kind of weak and the size of foxes, he used the successes from his hunting roll to encounter more of them than the actual scenario called for.  Ah well, draws your own poisons sez I.  Fortuneately for the party the Lawman remembered he had "Healing" as one of his magic words.


5) We only had time for 1 more encounter so we agreed to make it a big battle, so I threw a Blood Goblin horde at them.  They were basically getting their butts kicked pretty soundly when the mage decided he was goint to use that opportunity to bolt.  I took him aside and suggested that even though this would be the last encounter for the night and he wouldn't actually get a chance to do it, that his character may instead decide to stick around and wait till they found the gem and abscond with that.  He agreed and decided to pull out all the stops.  With 3 Actions in quick succession and a burned HD he gathered up an impressive amount of Spell Points.  This spell I do remember, and gave him a couple bonus dice for the clever alliteration.  "Comagus's Confusing Clap of Concealing
Thunder and Stunning Sound."  Thats right, a three word spell.  The effect was a pyrotechnic cloud which "Concealed" the party (and everyone) from view, which appeared with a thundrous boom so loud it "Stunned" the targets, and which in the "Confusion" caused the targets to attack each other by mistake.

Needless to say, the puny goblins were no match for the power of that spell and the tide was instantly turned.  The mage was down 2 Casting Levels from the strain, however, so the power was somewhat balanced.

Note:  I forgot to take the Casting Die loss into account on successive rounds of the spell, hitting him with the loss only after the gathering stopped and it was time to cast.  In retrospect I suggest this is actually a good change.  It allows a few more points to be gathered then otherwise might, and the penelty to future rolls is probably bad enough without reducing the Spell Points gathered too.

I am . . . agog.  My Sorcerer players have been having a bit of fun with Authorial & a touch of Directorial power, but this is just sheer damned poetry.  To use the band metaphor, your group seems to be truly jamming, with players finding their own places naturally, doing solos, and returning to the key with excellent timing.

I note that the Author dial is generally supposed to be off when players are in town, but wow.

I have got to play this game.  I swear, it's got such legs, it could kick the living crap out of Trivial Pursuit, with appropriate visibility.  Clinton, once you print this baby, don't just take it to typical gamer venues--I'd send a review copy to Games magazine and see what they do with it.

OK.  Drooling fanboy mode off.  Gonna print this up, scratch in the variants that have come up on the Forge, tie someone down, and make them play.

--TQuid

Valamir,

Jeebus, it sounds like you guys had a good time. It's cool you spent so much time in town knocking around - I haven't tried that yet with either time I've run it, instead grabbing the characters by the back of the necks and throwing them out as quickly as I could. I really like what you guys did instead.

For the race/class issue - I really like you guys' idea of letting races alter their scores a little. To balance, I might give classes an extra skill die or two at first level. I also liked that you let a player keep a skill slot for later - it's a good tactic to use with new characters.

I'm working pretty hard on the new text right now, and will make it available to playtesters as soon as I can. (Valamir - PM me the names of the people that played in your group, and I'll credit them as playtesters.) Again - it sounds like you had a blast. That final spell cracks me up.

Clinton