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obeyasia posted:Can someone give me the nitty gritty on Lamentation of Flame Princess? I guess one of its modules won an award recently? Why is it under NOPE in the OP? Is it GrimDark? Some research on the people behind it made them sound like turds. It's really hit or miss on a lot of the stuff it tries to do. It's a cool premise with some good ideas and cover art. The interior art and about half of the published material is pretty "meh", with a lot of gore added for weak shock value. It can be pretty fun with a good GM, but after coming across like the third "oh hey a dead baby kitchen full of dead baby parts" in the published material, it gets old to comical.
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Sep 20, 2015 21:24
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Covok posted:IIRC, it's very rape-y and is full of sexual violence. I could be mixing things together in my head so take that with a grain of salt. nope that's right.
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Sep 20, 2015 21:25
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obeyasia posted:Can someone give me the nitty gritty on Lamentation of Flame Princess? I guess one of its modules won an award recently? Why is it under NOPE in the OP? Is it GrimDark? Some research on the people behind it made them sound like turds. Lamentations of the Flame Princess is a retroclone of B/X D&D that mostly uses body horror, gore porn and general over-the-top shock-jock tactics to set itself apart from the pack. There are a few adventures written for it that are good like Qelong, but the base game's implied setting is really quite terrible.
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Sep 21, 2015 03:44
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obeyasia posted:Can someone give me the nitty gritty on Lamentation of Flame Princess? I guess one of its modules won an award recently? Why is it under NOPE in the OP? Is it GrimDark? Some research on the people behind it made them sound like turds. That, and regardless of that fact it's a really dull system. It says it's "weird fantasy", but doesn't do anything mechanically to reinforce that playstyle beyond making monsters all random-roll things. Other than that it's just six stat/AC/hp/five saves/race-as-class stuff we've seen a million times before with nothing new added apart from the fact that the fighter is the only one whose attack bonus increases as they level up. I honestly don't get why so many people like it, especially that in the category of "BECMI/RC clones" there are much better options out there.
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Sep 21, 2015 04:22
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Evil Mastermind posted:I honestly don't get why so many people like it, especially that in the category of "BECMI/RC clones" there are much better options out there.  E: Raggi's basically found that Venn intersection of "people who like gross things" and "indie fans". Kevin Crawford, for comparison, has settled for the "likes good games" demographic, which doesn't really stand out that much. 
Siivola fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Sep 21, 2015 |
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Sep 21, 2015 05:29
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There's a grand total of two mechanical innovations in LOTFP: 1. Fighters are the only class whose attack bonus increases with level. 2. All classes can attempt thief skill tasks, by rolling a d6 and getting a 1. Thieves are the only ones that receive skill points, which they can use to increase the target threshold on the d6 roll for a specific thief skill by 1 per point. Neither of these really supports LOTFP's theme of weird/horror fantasy - all of the weirdness and horrorness comes out purely as a result of the writing's say-so.
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Sep 21, 2015 05:38
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gradenko_2000 posted:There are a few adventures written for it that are good like Qelong, but the base game's implied setting is really quite terrible. Putting everything else aside, the implied setting is basically Thirty Years War Europe, which is actually a good idea. Evil Mastermind posted:That, and regardless of that fact it's a really dull system. It says it's "weird fantasy", but doesn't do anything mechanically to reinforce that playstyle beyond making monsters all random-roll things. Other than that it's just six stat/AC/hp/five saves/race-as-class stuff we've seen a million times before with nothing new added apart from the fact that the fighter is the only one whose attack bonus increases as they level up. They like the adventures. I've personally been around people talking glowingly of things like Tower of the Stargazer. Even then, I haven't seen many people actually play it. They usually play them in other systems.
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Sep 21, 2015 05:38
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gradenko_2000 posted:There's a grand total of two mechanical innovations in LOTFP:
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Sep 21, 2015 05:43
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From what I can tell based on my limited readings, Raggi's adventures (i haven't really checked out anything else published through lotfp) are cosmic horror in a "you push the lever and a scary ghost appears and eats your soul" way.
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Sep 21, 2015 05:46
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Turns out I have a Lamentations adventure - I bought a bunch of OSR stuff off Lulu and Patrick Stuart's Deep Carbon Observatory was one of them. It's not published by Raggi though, obviously, it just has LotP stats. I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but it's gotten high praise from everywhere as far as I've seen. When I get around to it I'll report back. Certainly looks cool.
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Sep 21, 2015 06:02
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"James, this is possibly the single coolest cover I've ever seen on an RPG product. No exceptions. I'm trying to think of a better cover, or one its equal, and so far I'm coming up with nothing." Some of the stuff he's published has been good, his game is your basic D&D-but-, he's an insufferable edgelord, and the stuff he writes himself tends to be mediocre. Raggi posted:
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Sep 21, 2015 06:13
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ACKS is a much better BX clone than LOTFP, even if it also has controversy attached(in it's case some connections to GamerGate through it's publishers) although in my opinion it's a good enough game that I can ignore that aspect(helps that I bought my copies from a secondary source and not directly from Autarch)
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Sep 21, 2015 06:19
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Labyrinth Lord serves that purpose as well with less controversy and some very good supplements to flavor play in your favorite fashion, be it advanced or original.
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Sep 21, 2015 06:33
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Hold up. Dark-and-edgy aesthetics? Totally eldritch Lovecraft adventures? Set in obscure historical time periods, but with magic? Mechanics with zero depth or interplay? My God, it's the D&D I played when I was fifteen! 
Siivola fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Sep 21, 2015 |
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Sep 21, 2015 06:35
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I did like how simple the rules were, and if you could some how merge it with the aesthetics of http://dungeonsanddrawings.blogspot.com instead of the cannibal corpse art, I would buy a copy for some of my younger cousins who are interested in DnD. I've heard a few interviews with him, and he's pretty much what i expected, a grown up version of that kid in highschool who loved the Dwarves and always wore black metal shirts every day because gently caress YOU STEVE YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD. Hell, I think that's why he moved to Norway, or Finland or wherever he ended up. One interesting thing though, he wrote a lot of the super edgy , super gory stuff while going through a nasty divorce, which in hindsight you can kinda see.
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Sep 21, 2015 11:37
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If you like LOTFP for how simple the rules are, there's also Labyrinth Lord that does it for free minus all the edgy goreporn, or Basic Fantasy so you don't have to deal with descending AC.
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Sep 21, 2015 11:46
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The thing is I like a lot of the art, and don't mind the rest. I like anything done in the same style as the cover, and I like his three main characters, I just don't think it's a good fit for my group, and not something i would hand out to younger players, and that's fine. I don't think every product needs to be for everybody, and I can't fault him for making exactly the book he wanted to make. I even think his modules are interesting. I would just rather read them than play them. I've seriously thought about using the rules printed out on four bookmarks to run dragon strike, that's how simple the game is. WaywardWoodwose fucked around with this message at 13:18 on Sep 21, 2015 |
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Sep 21, 2015 13:16
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Lightning Lord posted:Putting everything else aside, the implied setting is basically Thirty Years War Europe, which is actually a good idea. If you want this, I think Miseries & Misfortunes is a more thoroughly and rigidly designed supplement for that period in Basic D&D. You can ignore its special classes and just use its weapons and combat rules, which emphasize ranked fighting for the period flavor.
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Sep 21, 2015 17:31
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Lightning Lord posted:Putting everything else aside, the implied setting is basically Thirty Years War Europe, which is actually a good idea. Yeah this, I mostly run the LOTFP stuff I have into Savage Worlds and DCC. I do like some of the adventures and while I tear a lot of the more idiosyncratically stupid stuff out of them, I've done that with almost every module I've ever run from any writer with a... strong personality. By way of an example, I ran Tower of the Stargazer, made the telescope puzzle/trap a little less obtuse and had it transport the party to the DCC Purple Planet setting. The imprisoned Wizard was a fun NPC and the trap on the front door fits with the DCC funnel aesthetic. If there was a book that boiled the LOTFP modules down to elevator pitches and stripped out the Raggi-isms I'd probably buy it. I.E. - "Spooky Necropolis full of horror movie tropes where the pc's can accidentally unleash an undead army. Church hides the prison of a saint cursed to live forever as an ooze. Witches take control of town while two armies advance on it. Doppelgangers at the Inn." etc, etc.
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Sep 22, 2015 23:50
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Dammit, stop making me thinking about how I'd do a BECMI retroclone of murderhobos trying to survive a horror apocalypse world. Because ideas are forming, but that always happens when I'm tired.
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Sep 23, 2015 00:10
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Glorified Scrivener posted:
Penis shaped alien inspires gay orgy under the guise of satanism while super-intelligent bear stalks countryside.
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Sep 23, 2015 00:20
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WaywardWoodwose posted:Penis shaped alien inspires gay orgy under the guise of satanism while super-intelligent bear stalks countryside. See, set against a background of 17th century puritanism, that's something I can work with. Though I'd have the cock from another world be the hero, bringing sexual enlightenment to the enlightenment while the church freaks out and sends in the witch hunters.
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Sep 23, 2015 00:35
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Seriously, I'm hammering together a corruption mechanic that's a combination of mental hp, Fate-style consequences, Monster of the Week's luck, and Dark Side points. Someone please stop me.WaywardWoodwose posted:Penis shaped alien inspires gay orgy under the guise of satanism while super-intelligent bear stalks countryside. Evil Mastermind fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Sep 23, 2015 |
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Sep 23, 2015 00:54
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Evil Mastermind posted:Seriously, I'm hammering together a corruption mechanic that's a combination of mental hp, Fate-style consequences, Monster of the Week's luck, and Dark Side points. Someone please stop me. So, like Silent Legions?
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Sep 23, 2015 01:29
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Glorified Scrivener posted:
He was! The alien was just a confused stranded traveler mistaken for a demon. His crude telepathic messages of positivity were interpreted in the wrongly, and the "satanists" really just kept coming back for the orgy.
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Sep 23, 2015 01:34
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Glorified Scrivener posted:If there was a book that boiled the LOTFP modules down to elevator pitches and stripped out the Raggi-isms I'd probably buy it. I.E. - "Spooky Necropolis full of horror movie tropes where the pc's can accidentally unleash an undead army. Church hides the prison of a saint cursed to live forever as an ooze. Witches take control of town while two armies advance on it. Doppelgangers at the Inn." etc, etc.
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Sep 23, 2015 01:40
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Byers2142 posted:So, like Silent Legions? I don't know, I haven't read Silent Legions. It'd be pretty typical for me if I just came up with an idea that someone else already came up with months ago. Although now I'm simplifing it to "get too many of these Nasty Evil Points and you're dead. But you can take more willingly to buy these effects:".
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Sep 23, 2015 01:54
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Evil Mastermind posted:I don't know, I haven't read Silent Legions. It'd be pretty typical for me if I just came up with an idea that someone else already came up with months ago. Yep, that sounds pretty close to Silent Legions. That's not a bad thing, the Silent Legions Sanity mechanic works pretty well all told, letting you take points to use forbidden magic and introducing psychosis at various levels. And if you hit 100(?), you snap and are removed from play as a PC.
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Sep 23, 2015 02:02
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Byers2142 posted:Yep, that sounds pretty close to Silent Legions. That's not a bad thing, the Silent Legions Sanity mechanic works pretty well all told, letting you take points to use forbidden magic and introducing psychosis at various levels. And if you hit 100(?), you snap and are removed from play as a PC. I was thinking more of a 10 or 15 level cap with modified Basic classes, and each class would have it's own "take corruption to boost this class ability" things.
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Sep 23, 2015 02:09
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I've got the 2e rulebooks and most of the Night Below campaign (missing some of the early DM cards)... Just gotta find dudes dorky enough to play.
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Sep 23, 2015 23:10
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Pham Nuwen posted:I've got the 2e rulebooks and most of the Night Below campaign (missing some of the early DM cards)... Just gotta find dudes dorky enough to play. Quoting myself 'cause I'm a dude who sucks, but can anyone recommend a good 2e character sheet? Seems like a lot are kind of disorganized.
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Sep 25, 2015 03:41
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I like the Mad Irishman's sheets, and he has a couple for AD&D 2nd edition. They may not be to your liking but they are worth taking a look at. http://www.mad-irishman.net/pub_dnd_2e.html#2e_sheets
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Sep 25, 2015 04:03
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remusclaw posted:I like the Mad Irishman's sheets, and he has a couple for AD&D 2nd edition. They may not be to your liking but they are worth taking a look at. Thanks, I grabbed this and rolled up a human fighter for the hell of it, figured if I try to get people to play it'll help to have some pregenned characters. I also wanted to see how bad a fighter sucks, especially if I go for something "flavorful" like a spear-wielder rather than minmaxing my weapon choice. Anyway, I gave him chainmail and a medium shield for 4 AC. I equipped him with a "long spear" (spears rule, 1d8 damage) and a shortsword (1d6) as backup. Then I read a bit more and got sad at how little your level 1 fighter can actually do, so I added some abilities... they're probably overpowered without similar adjustments for the other classes, but at least it lets you do more than poke the other guy. I wrote these up with the spear+shield user in mind, would appreciate feedback especially on math/balance: Shield Bash: Roll as normal attack. Knocks an enemy back by 5 ft per 3 character levels, up to 25 feet max at level 15. Deals 1d4 + character level in damage. Shield Throw: Throw your shield as a normal attack. Attack roll as normal melee. Range is 10ft * character level. Deal 1d6 + character level in damage. 2-handed Spear: Cannot be using shield (obviously). May attack @ next "tier" of #attack/round (e.g. 1st level fighter can do 3/2 attacks per round). +1 to damage and attack rolls representing greater agility and power when you wield with both hands. You can optionally do non-lethal damage, but you only get your normal # attacks/round and don't get the +1 to attack/damage rolls (you choose to use the spear as a quarterstaff). So you might be fighting normally with spear and shield, but then if you like you could bash the other guy away from you, hurl your shield at him, and start fighting him with two hands on the spear. It may not be "verisimilitudinous" but it's a lot more fun to describe/imagine. Does this totally wreck the balance of combat? I tried to keep the shield maneuvers at lower damage rates than normal attacks, and you can only feasibly use the shield throw move occasionally, generally as a precursor to switching to 2-handed spear style.
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Sep 25, 2015 05:58
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You dont need to guess if you dont want. Theres a shield bash as part of the "Weapon and Shield" style specialization. (I dont remember the damage.) Theres also a 2H, 2weap, and 1weap styles with their own rules. Throwing the shield should not have a better range than, say, a javelin. Ranges were designed per-weapon, not per-level. Moving up the rate of attack is fine, as long as you are not combining it with other things that do the same. (Basic specialization does this.) It looks like youre planning a 2e character based on 3e ideas (or something). Adding "+character level" to damage/range/anything in 2e is extremely strong. Pretty much nothing does that. An orc has ~5hp. An ogre has ~20hp. A hill giant has ~40hp. A low-mid level fighter can kill a hill giant (8HD) in a couples rounds by themselves pretty easily, a 1st/3rd level fighter shouldnt be able to. OTOH if you have fun, go with it.
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Sep 25, 2015 07:41
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FRINGE posted:You dont need to guess if you dont want. Theres a shield bash as part of the "Weapon and Shield" style specialization. (I dont remember the damage.) Theres also a 2H, 2weap, and 1weap styles with their own rules. Hah, I had downloaded the Fighter's Handbook PDF last night but didn't get around to reading it... glanced at it today and sure enough there's weapon-and-shield style, 2-handed style, and shield-punch. Looks like they even allow you to shield-punch AND attack normally in the same round, and if you take enough slots of weapon-and-shield and a slot of Ambidextrous, you can do that with no penalty to either roll. (Once you hit level 13 and can attack twice per round, does that mean you can shield-punch twice and attack normally twice in each round? EDIT: just found this in the PHB, you attack normally 2x per round, but only get one shield-punch per round) I had decided not to do proficiencies, not even weapon proficiencies, but after looking at the Fighter's Handbook I'm liking some of the weapon proficiencies in there. As for throwing the shield scaling with level, I think I went overboard at 10ft x level, but I was basically imagining it as a fundamental style of this shield-and-spear-style fighter, so as he levels his ability to throw the shield should grow with him until he's throwing that poo poo Captain America style from one end of the battlefield to the other to whack the enemy wizard. Same with shield bash increasing the distance shoved with character level--by the time you hit 15th level, you should be able to whack a goblin so hard he's flying through doors and poo poo. (Just realized I didn't write anything in about big creatures, you probably can't shield-bash a Storm Giant across the room) I agree that on retrospect "+character level" is probably excessive... I was trying to figure out how to make the skills remain useful throughout the levels, give a reason to keep using them. Thanks for the feedback! Edit: also, I never really noticed this before but the 2e PHB doesn't seem to acknowledge that at some point you'll actually have to roll a character, it just throws detailed explanations of stats, races, and classes at you in some rough order, accompanied by charts. Rules Cyclopedia has a section right at the front with step-by-step instructions for making a character and it's p. cool Pham Nuwen fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Sep 25, 2015 |
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Sep 25, 2015 15:39
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gradenko_2000 posted:If you like LOTFP for how simple the rules are, there's also Labyrinth Lord that does it for free minus all the edgy goreporn, or Basic Fantasy so you don't have to deal with descending AC. Also, Swords & Wizardry is quite cool on this count for simplicity as well. Ascending AC, Challenge Levels for monsters, a single saving throw meant to cover all the nasty effects which don't target hit points, and Core and Complete versions separate race from class so you can be a dwarven thief or elven fighter if you want.
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Sep 25, 2015 21:46
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I don't mind a switch to ascending AC, but the single saving throw thing changes up the class balance too much for my taste. For one they gave magic users better saves than fighters. who are tied with dwarves for the worse saves at the highest level..
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Sep 25, 2015 22:02
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Pham Nuwen posted:I was trying to figure out how to make the skills remain useful throughout the levels, give a reason to keep using them. Part of making skills useful throughout the levels is to let monster's improving HP, AC and damage do your realism vs epic bad-assery balancing for you. That is, you don't need to makeup a special rule that says a level 1 scrub can't shield bash a storm giant because a level 1 scrub can't really fight, or even reliably hit, a storm giant in the first place. You might also look at the Rules Cyclopedia weapon specialization rules or the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG's mighty deed of arms rules for a couple of different, but very good, takes on giving Fighters cool toys to play with.
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Sep 26, 2015 00:40
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Pham Nuwen posted:I agree that on retrospect "+character level" is probably excessive... I was trying to figure out how to make the skills remain useful throughout the levels, give a reason to keep using them.  As far as the "staying useful" thing, it will regardless. Even if you define the range as 10/20/30 it will work forever. 2e wizards are always one step from dead withing 50' (or whatever you use as the "move and attack" limit) of a classed fighter. Its not like 3e. A wizard with a posse on the other hand, is a problem.
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Sep 26, 2015 01:27
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FRINGE posted:
Longbows. Fighters with longbows.
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Sep 26, 2015 19:16
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