Let's read Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls!
Apr 25, 2018 19:14:00 GMT -8
Post by Probie Tim on Apr 25, 2018 19:14:00 GMT -8
I decided to start a new thread for my "let's read" of Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls (dT&T) because there were other discussions in the other thread. Plus, more threads in OSR Central.
Originally written and released in 1975, Tunnels & Trolls (T&T) was the first commercial competitor to the granddaddy of all RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons. In 2015, DT&T was the result of a Kickstarter that brought in almost $126,000 for the project, creating "truly the ultimate edition of Tunnels and Trolls". So, let's take a look at this classic, updated RPG. My goal here is not to review the book but to give an overview of the game contained therein, so there will be jumping around from chapter to chapter as I skip over things like "An introduction to dT&T" and "A word about the organization of the rules".
3.0 Creating Characters
Creating a character in dT&T is quicker and easier than in almost every other RPG of its ilk. Even 5th edition D&D, where character creation time has been cut significantly from earlier editions.
Each character is defined by eight prime attributes - four physical and four mental. They are strength (STR), constitution (CON), dexterity (DEX), speed (SPD), intelligence (IQ), wizardry (WIZ), luck (LK), and charisma (CHR). Of those, the only two which may need a bit of explanation are wizardry (a measure of how much mana - or "kremm" on Trollworld - the character can store and channel for working magic) and luck (basically how favorably blind chance tends to find the character). Each attribute is rolled straight up on 3d6; but that's OK, because triples add and roll over (the TARO rule). So if you rolled 2/2/2, 4/4/4, and 1/2/3 for your character's strength, you'd wind up with a score of 24.
So, in D&D, every attribute has a modifier associated with it; it dT&T, every character has a number of personal adds based on their attributes. For each point of STR, DEX, SPD, or LK above 12, the character gets 1 point of personal adds. So if a character had 24, 12, 13, and 10 (for STR, DEX, SPD, and LK, respectively), that character would have +13 personal adds. Granted, while rolling triples once is awesome, rolling triples twice on the same roll is rare so you probably won't be starting with scores of 24 and personal adds of 13. But I digress.
Similarly, in D&D, characters have an assortment of saving throws; 5th edition has one per attribute, for example, whereas earlier editions have a number of them based on situation (save vs. polymorph or breath weapon, for instance). In dT&T, there is a saving roll mechanic. Basically a saving roll can be called for against any attribute, but LK tends to be the most common. Basically you roll 2d6 (using DARO, or doubles add and roll over) and add it to the attribute score. If you beat the target number of the level of the saving roll being called for, success! If not, failure. The target numbers and levels break down like this:
1st level - 20
2nd level - 25
3rd level - 30
4th level - 35
5th level - 40
etc.
So with a LK of 13, you'd need to roll a 7 or greater on 2d6 DARO to succeed at a level 1 LK saving roll. Saving rolls aren't really part of character creation, but they're discussed in that chapter and I thought it prudent to talk about them here, as well, just to give you an idea of how attributes are used in the game.
Character level is determined by dividing the character's largest attribute by 10 and dropping any fractions. So a character with a strength of 24 is a 2nd level character. Note that level isn't as much of a "thing" in dT&T as it is in other games of its ilk - like D&D - so it's entirely possible that you could start out with a 2nd (or even 3rd, if you're really lucky) level character. We'll go over this later, but XP (adventure points) can be used to boost attributes, and that's how a character gains levels.
3.3 Character Types
There are three basic classes ("character type") in dT&T: warriors (your generic fighter type), wizards (your generic magic-user type), and rogues (your jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none type). If you managed to roll triples on one of your attribute rolls, you are considered a "specialist" of your class; basically, you have inherent abilities that other people just plum don't got. Here's what I like about dT&T: those three archetypes cover pretty much any type of character you'd want to play. You, as the player, fill in the blanks with your imagination; your warrior could be a Conan the Barbarian, or a Sir Lancelot, or a Gimli, for example.
Warriors have weapon bonus and armor bonus skills; they roll an additional 1d6 (or get a +2 bonus if the GM thinks 1d6 is too powerful) per character level when using a melee weapon, and may double the basic protection value of any equipped armor at the expense of wear and tear. All of that will be explained later in combat. Note that warriors cannot inherently use magic regardless of their WIZ score (although they can use magic items).
Wizards have spell training (meaning they can cast magic), magical proficiency (meaning they get a break on mana costs when using magic), and focus affinity (meaning they can use a staff or wand or whatever as a focus which gets additional breaks on mana costs when using magic) skills. All of that will be explained later when we get to magic. Note that wizards are not accomplished combatants, and can not use any weapons which do greater than 2d6 damage (explained later in combat).
Rogues are not the D&D style sneaky, thief-y characters you may be familiar with. A rogue is, as mentioned above, a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none character. They have the ability to use magic (but do not get the magical proficiency or focus affinity skills of the wizard), can fight with any weapon (but do not get the weapon bonus or armor bonus skills of the warrior), and get at least one extra talent (which will be discussed below) per level.
3.40 The Playable Character Kindreds
What's described above is how to make a human character. You can be any one of a number of races ("kindred") in dT&T; the character creation rules are the same, however, after rolling your character's attributes a multiplier is applied to them based on the race chosen.
A dwarf, for instance, has STR x2, CON x2, DEX x1, LK x.75, IQ x1, WIZ x1, CHR x1. So if you choose to play a dwarf, your rolled STR and CON will be doubled, and your rolled LK will be reduced by 25%.
There are no race/class combination limitations.
The basic "kindred" you can play are humans, dwarves, elves, fairies, leprechauns, and hobbs (halflings). There is a whole chapter dedicated to extended "kindred" which can be played with GM approval.
There's an amazingly large section for equipping your character including weapon and armor customizations, but I'm going to skip over that for now.
6.0 Simple Talents
Remember above when I said that you, as the player, fill in the blanks of your class with your imagination? Well, there's also talents to help with that. Each character gets one talent to start out; having a talent gives you a +3 bonus to a saving roll where the talent applies. When your character goes up a level, you get to pick an additional talent. While there is a list of talents in the book, they're pretty open to interpretation. You can take a broad talent like "botany" (the general knowledge of plants) to know that athelas, or kingsfoil, is a weed and help you find it in the wild. A narrow talent like "herbalist" would know that, and also know that it can be used to concoct a healing salve that will slow the poison in a wound from a wraith's darkblade.
So using talents, you can customize your character concept within your character type, and get a mechanical bonus as well. If you want to play, for instance, a shadowy assassin, you could play a warrior (or rogue) with a poisoner talent.
Aside of equipment, which is a large enough section to warrant its own post, that's pretty much dT&T character creation. I'm not sure if I will actually cover that, or if I'll go straight into magic or combat or something else.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this. More to come later.
Originally written and released in 1975, Tunnels & Trolls (T&T) was the first commercial competitor to the granddaddy of all RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons. In 2015, DT&T was the result of a Kickstarter that brought in almost $126,000 for the project, creating "truly the ultimate edition of Tunnels and Trolls". So, let's take a look at this classic, updated RPG. My goal here is not to review the book but to give an overview of the game contained therein, so there will be jumping around from chapter to chapter as I skip over things like "An introduction to dT&T" and "A word about the organization of the rules".
3.0 Creating Characters
Creating a character in dT&T is quicker and easier than in almost every other RPG of its ilk. Even 5th edition D&D, where character creation time has been cut significantly from earlier editions.
Each character is defined by eight prime attributes - four physical and four mental. They are strength (STR), constitution (CON), dexterity (DEX), speed (SPD), intelligence (IQ), wizardry (WIZ), luck (LK), and charisma (CHR). Of those, the only two which may need a bit of explanation are wizardry (a measure of how much mana - or "kremm" on Trollworld - the character can store and channel for working magic) and luck (basically how favorably blind chance tends to find the character). Each attribute is rolled straight up on 3d6; but that's OK, because triples add and roll over (the TARO rule). So if you rolled 2/2/2, 4/4/4, and 1/2/3 for your character's strength, you'd wind up with a score of 24.
So, in D&D, every attribute has a modifier associated with it; it dT&T, every character has a number of personal adds based on their attributes. For each point of STR, DEX, SPD, or LK above 12, the character gets 1 point of personal adds. So if a character had 24, 12, 13, and 10 (for STR, DEX, SPD, and LK, respectively), that character would have +13 personal adds. Granted, while rolling triples once is awesome, rolling triples twice on the same roll is rare so you probably won't be starting with scores of 24 and personal adds of 13. But I digress.
Similarly, in D&D, characters have an assortment of saving throws; 5th edition has one per attribute, for example, whereas earlier editions have a number of them based on situation (save vs. polymorph or breath weapon, for instance). In dT&T, there is a saving roll mechanic. Basically a saving roll can be called for against any attribute, but LK tends to be the most common. Basically you roll 2d6 (using DARO, or doubles add and roll over) and add it to the attribute score. If you beat the target number of the level of the saving roll being called for, success! If not, failure. The target numbers and levels break down like this:
1st level - 20
2nd level - 25
3rd level - 30
4th level - 35
5th level - 40
etc.
So with a LK of 13, you'd need to roll a 7 or greater on 2d6 DARO to succeed at a level 1 LK saving roll. Saving rolls aren't really part of character creation, but they're discussed in that chapter and I thought it prudent to talk about them here, as well, just to give you an idea of how attributes are used in the game.
Character level is determined by dividing the character's largest attribute by 10 and dropping any fractions. So a character with a strength of 24 is a 2nd level character. Note that level isn't as much of a "thing" in dT&T as it is in other games of its ilk - like D&D - so it's entirely possible that you could start out with a 2nd (or even 3rd, if you're really lucky) level character. We'll go over this later, but XP (adventure points) can be used to boost attributes, and that's how a character gains levels.
3.3 Character Types
There are three basic classes ("character type") in dT&T: warriors (your generic fighter type), wizards (your generic magic-user type), and rogues (your jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none type). If you managed to roll triples on one of your attribute rolls, you are considered a "specialist" of your class; basically, you have inherent abilities that other people just plum don't got. Here's what I like about dT&T: those three archetypes cover pretty much any type of character you'd want to play. You, as the player, fill in the blanks with your imagination; your warrior could be a Conan the Barbarian, or a Sir Lancelot, or a Gimli, for example.
Warriors have weapon bonus and armor bonus skills; they roll an additional 1d6 (or get a +2 bonus if the GM thinks 1d6 is too powerful) per character level when using a melee weapon, and may double the basic protection value of any equipped armor at the expense of wear and tear. All of that will be explained later in combat. Note that warriors cannot inherently use magic regardless of their WIZ score (although they can use magic items).
Wizards have spell training (meaning they can cast magic), magical proficiency (meaning they get a break on mana costs when using magic), and focus affinity (meaning they can use a staff or wand or whatever as a focus which gets additional breaks on mana costs when using magic) skills. All of that will be explained later when we get to magic. Note that wizards are not accomplished combatants, and can not use any weapons which do greater than 2d6 damage (explained later in combat).
Rogues are not the D&D style sneaky, thief-y characters you may be familiar with. A rogue is, as mentioned above, a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none character. They have the ability to use magic (but do not get the magical proficiency or focus affinity skills of the wizard), can fight with any weapon (but do not get the weapon bonus or armor bonus skills of the warrior), and get at least one extra talent (which will be discussed below) per level.
3.40 The Playable Character Kindreds
What's described above is how to make a human character. You can be any one of a number of races ("kindred") in dT&T; the character creation rules are the same, however, after rolling your character's attributes a multiplier is applied to them based on the race chosen.
A dwarf, for instance, has STR x2, CON x2, DEX x1, LK x.75, IQ x1, WIZ x1, CHR x1. So if you choose to play a dwarf, your rolled STR and CON will be doubled, and your rolled LK will be reduced by 25%.
There are no race/class combination limitations.
The basic "kindred" you can play are humans, dwarves, elves, fairies, leprechauns, and hobbs (halflings). There is a whole chapter dedicated to extended "kindred" which can be played with GM approval.
There's an amazingly large section for equipping your character including weapon and armor customizations, but I'm going to skip over that for now.
6.0 Simple Talents
Remember above when I said that you, as the player, fill in the blanks of your class with your imagination? Well, there's also talents to help with that. Each character gets one talent to start out; having a talent gives you a +3 bonus to a saving roll where the talent applies. When your character goes up a level, you get to pick an additional talent. While there is a list of talents in the book, they're pretty open to interpretation. You can take a broad talent like "botany" (the general knowledge of plants) to know that athelas, or kingsfoil, is a weed and help you find it in the wild. A narrow talent like "herbalist" would know that, and also know that it can be used to concoct a healing salve that will slow the poison in a wound from a wraith's darkblade.
So using talents, you can customize your character concept within your character type, and get a mechanical bonus as well. If you want to play, for instance, a shadowy assassin, you could play a warrior (or rogue) with a poisoner talent.
Aside of equipment, which is a large enough section to warrant its own post, that's pretty much dT&T character creation. I'm not sure if I will actually cover that, or if I'll go straight into magic or combat or something else.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this. More to come later.