Quote from: RandallS;283297Be my guest. I'm going to list FtA! in the "if you like Microlite74, but want a more complete game" section of the next edition of Microlite74 and will be saying pretty much what I said here. FtA! is a great game if you want to run an old-school style game with a more modern set of rules.

Wow; well thank you very much for that!

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Quote from: RPGPundit;283307And its not that different in that sense from D&D; one player can fight one Orc, but you'll want more than one player to fight five Orcs at a time, unless you do some very clever things to beat them.

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Very, very true; when I went down into Greyhawk with nothing but one first-level magic user, alone, I was VERY aware of the fact that the odds strongly favored my character ending up dead.

But he didn't.

If it's meant to be introductory & Roguelike-like, why not emphasise that by making it more 'boardgamey', and having more 'extra bits' (cardboard figures, rooms etc) - like HeroQuest or this thing.

Quote from: RPGPundit;283308Wow; well thank you very much for that!

You're welcome! Many people don't realize that the entire point of Microlite74 is to introduce modern players to the "Old School" style of play with a simple set of rules that mimics 0e with a variant of the modern D20 system they are probably most familiar with. I think of M74 as an old school roleplaying version of those 4 page "introductory" wargames SPI used to give away.

While M74 is playable for a full campaign, most people who try it and find the old school style enjoyable are going to want to move on to a more complete game. I currently provide info in M74 on all the retro-clones out there to help them do that. However, I realize that some people will want the old school feel without old-school rules. FtA! is the first game I've seen that I think could really handle this well, so it'll be listed in the next edition.

While old school me doesn't have a great deal of interest in playing it, I can see how those who don't actually like old school gamesystems but find they like the old school style might find FtA! to be just the thing to scratch their itch.

In regards of melee for single PCs: I guess it wouldn't be too hard as a houserule to break the melee down to one-on-one-action, or to apply the ranged combat rules to melee. That way, a single character would yet have to take loads of damge, but at least he could chip away at a foe one at a time, rather then being totally helplessly slaughtered.

I probably wouldn't do it, though: I think it would make ranged combat and melee mechanically too similar and take away a great deal of tactics.
Rather, I'd change the campaign set-up so that the single adventurer has some henchmen to aid him in the dirty bladework. If you use the abbreviated monster stat block for these henchmen, it should be performable quite smoothly without too much paperwork and math.

Quote from: RandallS;283297Agreement is always good no matter which way you look at it.



Be my guest. I'm going to list FtA! in the "if you like Microlite74, but want a more complete game" section of the next edition of Microlite74 and will be saying pretty much what I said here. FtA! is a great game if you want to run an old-school style game with a more modern set of rules.

Whoa! Thank you Randall! That's an honor!

-clash

Quote from: Skyrock;283350I probably wouldn't do it, though: I think it would make ranged combat and melee mechanically too similar and take away a great deal of tactics.
Rather, I'd change the campaign set-up so that the single adventurer has some henchmen to aid him in the dirty bladework. If you use the abbreviated monster stat block for these henchmen, it should be performable quite smoothly without too much paperwork and math.

Yes - that would be my preferred method of dealing with the situation, too.

-clash

Quote from: Skyrock;283350In regards of melee for single PCs: I guess it wouldn't be too hard as a houserule to break the melee down to one-on-one-action, or to apply the ranged combat rules to melee. That way, a single character would yet have to take loads of damge, but at least he could chip away at a foe one at a time, rather then being totally helplessly slaughtered.

I don't see why he'd be helplessly slaughtered currently, unless he was an idiot.  Yes, if he went up against three or four orcs at a time, he'd be slaughtered (unless he was like, 11th level or something). But if he was going up against a single orc, there's no difference in terms of challenge level than if three PCs were fighting three orcs.

In a way, Fta! is made for one-on-one combat; it presumes that to be the paradigm.  What you can legitimately complain about FtA! isn't that it doesn't handle single play very well, but that it doesn't handle the paradigm of "ultraheroic lone warrior wading into 20 orcs at a time and slaughtering them" kind of play.

QuoteRather, I'd change the campaign set-up so that the single adventurer has some henchmen to aid him in the dirty bladework.

And yes, if you're going out into the dungeon all by yourself, you'd better hire henchmen!

 

QuoteIf you use the abbreviated monster stat block for these henchmen, it should be performable quite smoothly without too much paperwork and math.

Shit. Now THERE'S a good idea I hadn't thought of. Henchmen with only monster stats! Awesome.

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Quote from: RPGPundit;283367Shit. Now THERE'S a good idea I hadn't thought of. Henchmen with only monster stats! Awesome.

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Huh? That's one of the first things I thought of when reading it! It's sweet, logical, and perfectly in-character for the game. Then again, I try to do this with any game I'm going to run - reduce NPC prep and handling time wherever possible. If I can't do this, I use a game that will.

-clash

Quote from: RPGPundit;283367I don't see why he'd be helplessly slaughtered currently, unless he was an idiot.  Yes, if he went up against three or four orcs at a time, he'd be slaughtered (unless he was like, 11th level or something). But if he was going up against a single orc, there's no difference in terms of challenge level than if three PCs were fighting three orcs.

Well, "live to fight another day" and "use your terrain, stupid" are of course important tactics, and they're even more important if you walk alone through a monster-infested cellar, but I can yet see how a single character is especially disadvantaged, as even one additional foe means a massive loss of chance. A bigger group has a bit more leeway, as the ratio grows slower with each enemy.

And there might also be instances where you hardly have the luxury of living to fight another day, like falling into a snake pit. In a typical one-on-one combat system, you could at least whack a path to the wall and try to escape battered and wounded; in FtA!, even being cornered by 4 snakes means pretty much death to anyone but high-level heroes, and you can't even scratch one of those scaled vermins.

QuoteShit. Now THERE'S a good idea I hadn't thought of. Henchmen with only monster stats! Awesome.

I actually assumed that this is the standard procedure. At least it seems to me from the NPC chapter in FTA!GN! that the monster stat blocks for the various lvl1-humanoids (Peasant, Barbarian, Dwarven Miner etc.) are meant for brigands, henchmen and other nameless "mooks" that should remain manageable while roaming the scene in numbers, while the more detailed standard stats divided by class and level are meant for solitary and more important NPCs like merc group captains, town mayors, the Ice Wizard from the standard setting and so on.

Quote from: Skyrock;283371And there might also be instances where you hardly have the luxury of living to fight another day, like falling into a snake pit. In a typical one-on-one combat system, you could at least whack a path to the wall and try to escape battered and wounded; in FtA!, even being cornered by 4 snakes means pretty much death to anyone but high-level heroes, and you can't even scratch one of those scaled vermins.

That's where you'd stunt!

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Quote from: Age of Fable;283341If it's meant to be introductory & Roguelike-like, why not emphasise that by making it more 'boardgamey', and having more 'extra bits' (cardboard figures, rooms etc) - like HeroQuest or this thing.

Well, because we're an actual RPG? I'm not saying cardboard figures might never be produced, but its hardly the emphasis.

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