|
Post by shaungamer on Nov 20, 2009 18:11:20 GMT -5
Party size has always been assumed to be 3-4 Heroes (at least when I design a Quest it is!) but sometimes you want to play with smaller groups. You might want a game to go quicker or you may not feel like constructing all the figures required. Rather than designing separate Quests for smaller parties I tried playing some of the level 1 Quests with only 1 or 2 Heroes and reductions in Treasure, Monsters etc. I quickly discovered that the only real change required is the number of Monsters. Most other reductions made the Quests less enjoyable. (Although getting all these treasure items and not being able to keep them all is annoying!!) With this in mind I have come up with the following chart for changing the Monster rolls. I have tried to include every roll combination we would likely use in a Quest. 4 Heroes (normal) | 1 | 2 | 3 | D4 | D4+2 | D4+4 | D6 | D6+2 | D8 | D8+4 | D12 | 3 Heroes | 1 | 1 | 2 | D3 | D3+1 | D3+3 | D4 | D4+2 | D6 | D6+2 | D8 | 2 Heroes | 1 | 1 | 1 | D2 | 2 | D2+2 | D2 | D2+2 | D4 | D4+2 | D6 | 1 Hero | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | D2 | D3 | D2 | D3 | D2 | D3+1 | D4 |
This is only a BETA version and hasn't been playtested thoroughly, so if anyone wants to give it a go and provide some feedback, it would be greatly appreciated.
|
|
|
Post by ciabs on Nov 21, 2009 4:01:11 GMT -5
that sounds like a brilliant addition to the game, as soon as I get my setting done I'm definitely gonna test it out... one problem that I could think of out of the box is with a low-dex single character trying to open difficulty 2 or higher locked doors, isn't it impossible for him..? another could be related to bosses, they should be watered down when facing a single opponent... or maybe not? in the end it's that lonely hero's courage/madness that brought him all alone to that point altogether... ;D anyway, I'd even go further with this thread; the point is, we should need a more definite version of DYOQ and a wider assortment of miniatures reflecting the most typical fantasy monsters... as for DYOQ, it could go with these additional party number rules added to them, and what the heck, even a complete overhaul of the monster table altogether in order to reflect from 1 player up to 6 players I say..! (as with most other tabletop games, so not to be forced putting DP away if there's 5 of you...) you know, something like a reference table on the main rules with monster numbers in relation to a given symbol on the quest sheet (as in: KW gargoyles are now a monster class "E" for the KW dungeon, so you check the "E" class on the manual, conveniently referenced with die rolls in relation to party number) or anything like that... keeping it short (even if with me it's kinda impossible... ), what I'm saying is that IMHO, most efforts on DP should be focused on getting an "ultimate" version of the rules integrating DYOQ so that when someone gets his hands on DP he can begin creating his own quests and monsters, meaning that there aren't the 4 or 5 of you anymore, but the whole community can partecipate in enlarging the quest/items/monsters database, speeding up the process and enlarging the playtest base too! I know, probably I'm sounding delusional, but I really think something like this would be worth it (and you guys could even think about selling your product altogheter at that point... ) as for monsters I'll just throw a stone for now: we've got a nice assortment of them, and what I'd say is, keeping flexibility in mind as the first priority (as in my dreamt-of-ultimate-ruleset), there should be at least the B&W drawing of most of the famous and recurrent fantasy monsters, you know, dragons, kobolds, rust monsters and such, so that anyone creating the stats for advanced monsters can just use the most significant miniatures to represent them in play..! (on this matter I could have something more to say, but now I gotta go and I'll post it later if I manage to put it back together when I return... ) again, I'm being delusional, anyway let's see what you guys think about it...
|
|
erf_beto
Artist
Artwork Wizard
Posts: 369
|
Post by erf_beto on Nov 22, 2009 9:44:05 GMT -5
the point is, we should need a more definite version of DYOQ and a wider assortment of miniatures reflecting the most typical fantasy monsters... Well, I have some (a lot) of minis partially done (as in, "no backs as of yet"...), I even showed them tho Shaun and I still hope to share them with everyone, but my pc is down. Nothing is lost but it will be a while until I get it fixed and have the time to post everything. Just know they WILL come. As for the new party size rules, I think they are great and very handy. I'm thinking about a hostage-rescue scenario where players compete fo find missing/kidnaped villagers: adjusting monsters to solo players will help a lot when designing a proper quest. I planned to do this taking a hint from the new 4th edition D&D: each monster XP adds up to an encounter budget corresponding to the heroes party size and level. Ex: each level 1 monster gives 100xp, there should be at least one monster per hero, so a standard party of five should face 500xp worth of monsters (wich could mean either 5 level 1 standard monsters or just 3 of them plus one level 1 elite worth 200xp). Might sound complicated at first, but it's all very simple.
|
|
|
Post by ciabs on Nov 22, 2009 10:33:26 GMT -5
that's great news, I can't wait for them to be finished..! ;D
your suggestion about how to balance encounters could work with the proper adjustments to a gmless game, it's something we should think about some more...
true, it would mean to rewrite the existing monster encounter tables, but it could end up being functional...
|
|