Magic the gathering auras I would really like to have cast upon me

It deosn’t help when some of them are just rubbish anyway.

Auras (formerly known as local enchantments) have lost out a bit in Magic.  The main reason is the rule that if you attach an aura to a permanent in order to make it stronger and that permanent leaves the battlefield for some reason, then you lose the aura.  If the permanent is put in the graveyard, you lose two cards.  For this reason, the only auras that are usually played are auras that overcome this card disadvantage or auras that can be used as removal.

Even the sets which focus on enchantments (the Urza Block where auras go back to your hand if they go to the graveyard), the enchantments were overshadowed by other spells which were broken such as Tolarian Academy and Memory Jar.  Unlucky.

Build your own hero.

While auras that boost creatures can be risky for the planeswalker casting them, they are cool for the creature as it gets loads of cool new powers to use.  Here are ten auras that I would like to have cast on me if I were an adventurer.  I may be being vain, but I do not want any enchantments that change my appearance so I can’t pass unharmed in civilised lands.  Enchantments like Serpent Skin and Sleeper’s Guile would leave me looking like something a band of ignorant peasants would lynch.

Flight

Spending a whole card to give a creature flying is a pretty poor deal in Magic the Gathering, but in the real world, flying can get you out of all kinds of problems.  This first one is a bit of a no brainer.  Don’t have the winged helmet in Trial of the Champions?  Fall down the pit on Forest of Doom? Need to escape from Mampang in Crown of the Kings?  The ability to fly solves all of these problems and more.

Agility

It will be cool to have quick reflexes as I can easily chase down fleeing monsters or avoid traps.  In terms of Magic the Gathering, I would weaken creatures blocking me.  In gamebook terms, you no longer have to rely on your luck to avoid traps and projectiles, unless of course, you don’t want to such as in Black Vein Prophecy.

Giant Strength

Strength is another no brainer.  The good thing about this power is that it does not make you giant sized so if any passing giants would challenge you to a wrestling match or a shaman wants to test you before he helps you then you would have a nice surprise waiting for them.

Hero’s Resolve

Some powers aren’t bought on by magic but by a state of mind.  Gerrard has his back to the wall in this picture, but he’s still not going to give up.  That’s the kind of thinking a hero needs.  It would certainly be good when you’re exploring Neuberg Keep or the House of Hell.

Street Savvy

Most fantasy gamebook worlds contain cities which are inherantly lethal to naive visitors – Blacksand, Khare, Helgedad, Blackhaven, The City of the Runes of Doom.  This enchantment will bestow the knowledge to defend yourself in a city and to notice thieves and worse sneaking around in the shadows, ready to pounce.

Battle Mastery

Fighting is inevitable for an adventurer and I would not go on a great quest without thorough training and the best weaponry.  With these skills, I will make short work of bandits, goblins and crazed animals.

Fear

Battles with mooks will slow me down and weaken me eventually, so sometimes, it would be better to just intimidate them into submission so that I can move on to the real power.  An aura of fear around me would make those orcs cower before me as I walk past them.  The picture on the card reminds me of a jib-jib.

Power of Fire

If combat is not the answer, then I can turn to magic.  Nothing gets rid of a problem better than a blast of flame and you never know, you might cross paths magical serpent whose weakness is fire.  This power could also have mundane uses such as starting a fire on a cold desert night or lighting a lantern.

Instill Energy

Being an adventurer requires quick action so I cannot stand around taking stock of a situation.  I need to move now.  It is also exhausting what with all the fighting and running, so I am able to energise myself once in a while.  It is good if you have a time limit to your quest.

Indestructability

If I meet an opponent that is too much for my skills and magic, I have this power to run back on.  Forget just being invulnerable to sword strike, here I’m invulnerable to (almost) everything as if I’d received one of Leesha’s rings.  Acording to the Kamigawa story, being indestructable also means immortality, so it would also be like receiving the blessing from the giant in Necklace of Skulls.

Robe of Mirrors

Finally, I would don this robe so that I could not be targeted by any other spells or enchantments.  This covers targeted remove from the game effects and targeted effects that give me negative toughness.  I would have to don this last as I would not be able to receive any other enchantments as they are targeted.  Some aura enchantments are portrayed as clothes such as this one.  You can also get other objects such as veils or clasps.

So if you take me as a 0/1 creature, after receiving these enchantments, I would look like this:

I would be a 4/11 creature with flying, flanking, fear, haste, doublestrike, indestructibility and shroud.  I can block creatures with landwalk abilities as if they did not have them and untap once a turn.  I could also tap to deal 1 damage to a creature or player.

The only spells that can deal with me are non targeted effects that exile creatures (such as Apocalypse and Apocalypse Chime) and non targeted effects that will give me -11 toughness.  There is no one effect that can do that but it would require several.

What auras would you want on you?

from Lloyd of Gamebooks http://ift.tt/2cfEWSl
via IFTTT

Doctor Who and the Fescan Threat

By Chris Stone

What is a Fescan? Is it like a fresco? Perhaps it’s like a fax machine? I have no idea. Not yet, in any case. But thankfully, we have a professional on hand who knows all about them. We can trust him, he’s a doctor.

Doctor Who and the Fescan Threat is a gamebook adventure by Chris Stone, and he’s asked me to give it a whirl and see if I enjoy it. It is available exclusively at http://ift.tt/2bXAglj for a limited time, and proceeds go towards mental health charities.

If you don’t know what Doctor Who is by now, I’d like to introduce you to the longest running sci-fi show in the world (beating out Star Trek), and also the show of the most variable and often dubious quality. Get your bubble-wrap ready if you want to cosplay as any of the alien monsters in this show, kids!

Our story begins with the doctor telling his trusty companion that the Fescans are alien fish people, and he has faced them multiple times – once for each of his incarnations. Now don’t worry, you’ll get a chance to see many of these, as his first ten incarnations are included in this book, each one with their own adventure against the fish folk. (translation – you get ten adventures to play through here, guys). So, I chose to decide by a completely random roll of a ten sided dice to let’s see which Doctor I will be…

The Sixth Doctor

As the Sixth Doctor, played by the iconoclastic Colin Baker, you have a strength of 40. You are armed with a coat that could make a blind man’s eyes bleed, and a badge in the shape of a cat. Your special skill is hypnotism and being fired by the BBC.

After rolling up a few stats, the TARDIS arrives in the Carollean system, and I have the choice of which planet to land on. I opt to check out the desert planet of Loxani, which I am reliably informed to be quite hot. Leaving the TARDIS, I wander northwards through the baking sun until I arrive at an oasis. Finding a few sprigs of orange berries growing on some oasis foliage, I chew on them until I realise that they’re poisonous and spit them out. Well, going good so far!

Taking some of the berries with me, I explore the oasis a little bit more and take note of just how verdant it is. Very peculiar… At this point, a small assault craft descends overhead. A Fescan battle craft, it quickly opens fire. I dive for cover, but not before taking a sharp burning hit from its laser beams. Watching from under some cover, the fighter craft jets off into the horizon. The doctor proceeds past the desert, over the sand dunes, until something truly unusual catches his eye – a city, floating over the desert on a huge disc.

Eager to go and be haughty and arrogant at them, the Sixth Doctor scurries his way to the city and clamber aboard. It’s an impressively futuristic city, kept cool by what I assume is either a geothermic dome overhead or by cunning air conditioners hidden where you least expect them. Wandering through the streets for a while, it isn’t long before I catch sight of something suspicious – a group of Fescans. I head off in their general direction, and soon find myself standing outside of a bar.

So, ahem, the Doctor walks into a bar. The bartender asks me “Why the long face?” I tell him that Jon Pertwee’s nose wasn’t that big. Boom boom. Ahem. Anyway. The Doctor sits down at the bar, and a drunk chap wanders over and says “Psst, hey buddy, you’re not a member of the secret underground looking to overthrow the Fescan invaders, are you?” The Doctor, naturally, steals the man’s glass and runs out of the bar instead. Can’t help but feeling that I missed a useful clue when I chose to indulge in my kleptomania…

Leaving the bar, I eventually find a large statue of a Fescan warrior. The locals seem to be avoiding it, and it’s pretty clear that there must be some real systemic hatred of their cruel overlords. Can’t imagine why. I manage to stumble onwards until I find myself in a rough part of town, full of people wearing hoodies. For a moment, I thought I was in London rather than Loxani.

I soon find my way into a park, which sets my mind to rest by reassuring me that I am indeed on a desert planet because most of the plants are cacti. Apart from some red flowers, one of which I take to wear on my gaudy coat. In a rather unusual twist of architecture, I soon stumble my way past a castle, portcullis and all. Evidently the inhabitants of the desert planet of Loxani are big fans of European castle designs. On my way through the castle, a Fescan guard asks for my ident card and, when I don’t have one, he shoots me. Say what you will about the criminal justice system…

I wake in a cell. And, being the Doctor, I immediately find a small electronic panel near the door. While fiddling around with it to try to unlock the door, I accidentally create a swirling wormhole in the fabric of space… as you do… And being a bit of a sucker for diving into swirling vortexes of chaos, I dive right in.

I promptly fall through space and time, tumbling through universes and witnessing abstract images and thoughts given form. Flames dance around me and meteors fly past, and before long I am absorbed by a sentient entity made of the colour purple. It devours me entirely, and my misadventure ends here. A tragic state of affairs, really.

Doctor Who and the Fescan Threat is a good, solid gamebook. It’s long at over 2000 segments, and captures the feel of the TV show very nicely. Right off the bat, you’re given a path that splits off if you play as the 1st or 2nd Doctor, and if you don’t then you are presented with four possible planets to select to explore, all of which means that there’s a lot of replayability here.

This book is a limited printing, and all proceeds go to mental health charities, so if this sounds like your kind of book or you would like to benefit a good cause, grab a copy fast before it’s too late. http://ift.tt/2bXAglj

(If you’ve enjoyed this article, be sure to check out Justin MacCormack’s bestselling collection of horror stories – “Darkness Bites”, and the young adult coming-of-age comedy “Diary of a gay teenage zombie”.)

from Lloyd of Gamebooks http://ift.tt/2bSAxT0
via IFTTT

Ten Magic the Gathering artefacts I would use if I were a wizard

I see a great blog post today.

If I were a powerful wizard and I could take ten magical items from the World of Magic the Gathering and bring them to my tower, then I would take the following.
Quick note:  As a Brit, I spell artefact with an e.  However, the US spelling is artifact.

• Crystal Ball

First of all, a classic.  I’d want to know what is coming in my future.  I’ll probably be having vagabonds knocking at my door asking for favours or trying to kill me because they see me as evil.  It’s alway’s good to plan ahead.

• Ring of Gix

A sorcerer always needs a magic ring and this one ‘taps’ (if something is tapped, it cannot use its abilities and creatures cannot attack) an artifact, creature or land.  This will allow me to immobilise one opponent for a short time or disrupt another sorcerer’s spellcasting.

• Darksteel Brute

And it doesn’t need feeding.

I’m also going to need a guardian.  This fellow is good for many reasons.  First of all, he’s not a creature all of the time so people will not suspect him.  Second of all, he is indestructable so he will be difficult to defeat.  A perfect guardian for my tower.

• Scepter of Fugue

The Darksteel Brute deals with physical threats but I may have to deal with rival sorcerers, and for this I will us an artifact infused with dark magic to prevent them from using a spell.

• Gilded Lotus

The above artifacts all need magical power (mana) and this beautiful and powerful artefact will power them and my spells with any mana I desire.

• Darksteel Ingot

Fantasy Sudoku.

If I require some more mana or if I am going somewhere dangerous, I can use this ingot of extremely precious metal, darksteel.  Since it is indestructable, I can use it in my dangerous rituals where objects may be damaged.  

• Dreamstone Hedron

Finally, if I need more magical energy, I can use this puzzling relic from a far off plane.  In a pinch, I can also use the spells written upon it.  I will only do this if my life is at risk, though as this will destroy the hedron.

• Urza’s Blueprints

I will need to advance my research and what better than by reading the designs of an extrememly powerful artificer and sorcerer who had lived for thousands of years?  

• Venser’s Journal

Ranked no. 1 on the Dominarian Amazon.

For a planeswalker, Urza did not get around much as he was much too focused on saving his home plane.  However, Venser got about more than an adventurer with the Aleph.  They say that travel expands the mind and this journal expands it so much that I can hold any number of spells in my head.  It is also a refreshing read.    

• Unbender Tine

Finally, most of these artefacts cannot go on forever, and need time to recover.  If I need to use another one again, I can activate this little statuette in order to reuse them.

The Magic the Gathering cards, storyline and articles are a great inspiration for gamebook ideas.  Take a look at them.  What artefacts would you use if you were a wizard?

from Lloyd of Gamebooks http://ift.tt/2cdInJO
via IFTTT

Six years on

Good day to you gamebookers! Today is the 6th anniversary of my blog (and also the 34th anniversary of Fighting Fantasy), so I thought I would look back to the past and forward to the future. So, first of all, here is a list of things I’ve been up to in the past year:

Asuria Awakens: My contribution to the Gamebook Adventures series was released on September 11th 2015 and the people who reviewed it loved it, which is something I am very happy about. I’m so glad that I managed to complete such a behemoth (running at about 160000 words!) and that it went well. It really marked a point where I upped my game in gamebook writing.

Windhammer 2015: Last year’s entry, Isaac Newton: Badass Ninja Crimefighter didn’t win anything, but I had great fun writing it and gained a lot from it. Renowned Interactive Fiction writer and consultant, Emily Short was kind enough to review it and describe it as “…what you would expect from the title.’, which in itself is a triumph as before that, I considered myself pretty bad at titles. I won’t be entering this year’s competition, I’m afraid to say because I wanted to finish off some other projects first (but there’s time to get your entry in. The deadline is the 7th September)

Legend of the Wayfarer: This has changed so much from the original that it is almost unrecognisable. I have decided to use maps, changed the skills and changed the world. The updated versions will appear in the above link. If you want to 8 books from the original system, they are available for PWYW here. I might go with Taigaole’s suggestion and give it a new name when it is complete. For the moment, it is something I work on when I have enough time and material to work with.

Project Reboot: I recently finished a book which is a reboot of an existing gamebook – it has most of the original scenarios from the book and some extra ones that I have written in. I can’t say any more about it until I have permission from the original author to release it.

Crypt of the Vampire: This is a new shiny version of the book written by Dave Morris, but with extra bits added by David Walters. I had some input in the form of proofing, so I know what David added. I am looking forward to seeing this in all its glory :).

Tunnels and Trolls Magic Weapon solo: This is a project I was saving for when I got hold of my copy of Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls. I made a start on it. The basic premise is that through a thinly veled plot device, you travel all around Trollword on adventures which give you points to make your own custom magic weapon at the end of it. Most of the work has gone into making solo rules for dT&T and then making a system for building a magic weapon that gets more powerful as you grow in level. The adventure itself is currently up to about 100 sections and I’ll be working on it periodically for the rest of the year.

Advanced Fighting Fantasy stuff: I a regular contributor to the Advanced Fighting Fantasy forum with extra ideas. The link above has adventures and other things and I have collated all the new items, spells, skills and other things into one document.

Warlock of Firetop Mountain app: I’m really looking forward to this from Tin Man Games. This is where they are pushing the boundaries of their script and taking it to the next level. I also backed to a level where I designed a room and wrote a death paragraph, so I’m looking forward to seeing them in action.

Frankenstein Wars: I also contributed to this to the level where I have a character named after me, so I’m looking forward to seeing that. In fact, thanks to Kickstarter, I now own a load of books with my name in, so I’m really chuffed.

Another super secret project: Something that should be out early next year, if all goes well.

Another super secret collaboration project: This is a big one. And I’m going to love working on it.

Things to check out:

Greek Winter Media: Jeffrey Dean, creator of the Road Less Travelled Books, part post apocalyptic survival, part meta humour, part mind screw, all fun. The covers are done by the excellent Tony Hough.

Emily Short: Emily Short is an interactive fiction consultant who posts regularly on several topics to do with interactive fiction. A great go to blog.

Interactive Visual Gamebook Adventures: An excellent blog with in depth analysis of games and gamebooks.

Way of the Tiger blog: Here, Timothy Byrne plays through the Way of the Tiger series. He has almost finished, so you have plenty of entertaining posts to get through.

Trollish Delver: Scott Malthouse has loads of good stuff on the go. He has just released In Darkest Warrens, an awesome minimalist RPG as well as Magnificent Artifacts, a collection of artefacts for the game. They are both cost PWYW (but they are worth lots of money!)

So what about the future? I’m writing fewer posts for several reasons – my insight into gamebooks is running dry – when I started, I had 2 decades of gamebook experience to use and now I’ve almost used it all up. I also just want to get on and write gamebooks. I have a list of gamebooks that I want to write and I want to work through the list rather than write much more blog stuff. In my current situation, the list will take several years to get through. Also, the group of us who started writing about gamebooks a few years ago have all started writing gamebooks. I don’t now about them, but in my case, writing my analyses down was a case of having an “education” period which I now feel that I have graduated from and so I should carry on with gamebooks. So I’ll still post, but probably about once a month rather than weekly. However, I’ll have more gamebook stuff coming out. I still will write analysis as my survey said that analysis was the most popular post that people want, followed by news and Kickstarters.

So happy gamebooking, people!

from Lloyd of Gamebooks http://ift.tt/2bnpIve
via IFTTT

Computer games and me

This is me.

I’m a computer game addict.  Which is why I don’t play them any more.  I used to play games for hours on end and despite the lack of enjoyment, the tiredness, the headaches and the feeling of emptiness I felt after finished them, I would still come back for more.

Eventually, I decided that there were far more good things in my life that I should focus on – my wife, my friends, learning things and creating things of value.  They all contributed to a lasting feeling of happiness.  

It all started when I was very young and I was visiting my aunty and uncle, who had a computer.  This was a big thing for me at the time because the only other computer I had seen was my primary school’s one RM nimbus which could play the game Snake.

Naturally, there was always a big rush to use this amazing machine.

However, this tape based computer that my aunty and uncle owned could play this great game called Tachyon Fighter.  I’m no neuroscientist, but I can imagine that the game probably gave the biggest input of information I had ever had – the lights, the colours, the sounds, the need to win.  It was hypnotic and it gave me a great rush.

Every time I visited, I would spend most of my time in front of this computer, waiting for several minutes in the hope that the tape would work and load the game properly this time.  As time went on, the tape based computer was replaced by an Atari ST with floppy discs and a wider range of games with better graphics and more addictive gameplay.

Then came the day that they upgraded to an Apple Mac.  And I got the Atari.

I remember that within ten minutes, I had put a lead in a socket incorrectly and almost broken it.  However, it was fixed and that’s when my gameplaying started in earnest.

My uncle had collected all of the ST format magazines which I had read cover to cover before, but then I also got to play every game from the cover discs.  I played them all, spending thousands of hours perfecting my game playing skills.  Many school holidays would fly by in front of the little green desktop.  Sometimes, I would have a platform game day and sometimes I would have an RPG day.  I have a bit of an obsessive nature where I want to explore everything to its fullest extent and this made me a sucker for most computer games like the roguelike game Moria. 

I had the ST for about three years before it ran down and it was replaced for a really old second hand Atari cartridge console which had games with terrible graphics and simplistic gameplay before that also broke down and I received the Mac in 1999 when my uncle upgraded again.

This computer only had a couple of games, but that’s when there were plenty of games on the internet.  I played a game called Archmage and a cute little RPG called Dragon Court.  I was definitely showing signs of addictive behaviour.  I never had the internet in my home, so I would spend half an hour walking into town, just to use a library or internet cafe computer to play Dragon Court.  Then I would have to walk back.  I wasted money on an internet cafe if I couldn’t book a free library computer just so I could get access to my game accounts.

I never realised that I was addicted until my final year of university when I would stay up until two in the morning playing Command and Conquer, not realy enjoying it and going through the motions.  I had done this before with the game Civilization IV when I was a teenager but I could stay up all night once in a while and it didn’t affect me at school etc.  This was affecting my grades and social life at university.

It never got to the stage where I missed lectures or never came out of my room for days on end, but I could have done a lot better in all fields if I hadn’t been playing computer games.

NWN:  10% action, 90% trudging back and forth

After my degree, I started training as a teacher, which took up huge amounts of time.  However, I still played games.  I was now playing and creating maps for Battle for Wesnoth and trying to complete the adventure in Neverwinter Nights.

It was not until I moved in with my girlfriend (now my wife) and I was teaching as a job, that I realised that I had to prioritise my time.  I couldn’t do my job well if I was playing Neverwinter Nights for two hours a night, mostly involving level grinding and getting an item in one far corner of the city and transporting it to another far corner of the city in order to get to the next stage.

She didn’t mind the gaming but it he went too far when he started doing a poo at the console.

My girlfriend did not appreciate it either although she is too tolerant to go to extreme lengths.  I had to cut something out.  All I had to think about was how I felt after saving a game in Neverwinter Nights.  I would always think to myself ‘What have I got to show for this?  A file with some code in it, a headache and a feeling of tiredness.  This is no way to spend your free time.’

Computer games did nothing for me and I had other, more fulfilling things in my life.  After a few weeks without computer games, I felt much better and I’ve not wanted to go back.

I put hours of effort into getting a picture on a screen.

I find computer games to be a waste of my life.  I sunk hours into controlling some graphics on a screen, desperate to see the consequences of my actions.

For the most part, I don’t remember feeling much satisfaction, I just felt a compulsion to ‘get through it’.

However, there was always another level (and if the game had a level editor then I would be on that for hours too), another way of winning, another challenge I could set myself and there were an infinite number of other games to play.

The only way that I would get out of this gaming habit was that if I just said no.

Originally, I intended this post to be an introduction to how certain computer games have given me material for gamebooks, but instead, it was an account of all the hours I wasted playing them when because I couldn’t get away from them.  However, I am glad that I wrote about it.

In future posts, I will write about specific computer games and what they have added to my gamebook writing and why gamebooks are better for me than computer games.

from Lloyd of Gamebooks http://ift.tt/2b6F97V
via IFTTT

AdvancedFighting Fantasy 2nd edition monster – Bigfoot

Funny thing, Bigfoot.  I would imagine the existence of what appears to be just another species of ape should have been proved or disproved years ago.  However, it hasn’t.  some conspiracy theorists believe that this is because the Bigfoot ‘race’ can actually transport themselves between dimensions.  Never thought of that one. Who knows what bigfoots are really up to?

Bear in mind that not all aspects of Bigfoots are known until one is caught.  Maybe they are just big apes, or maybe they are an intelligent dimension hopping species with their own goals and desires.

Bigfoot

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED:  1

LOCATION:  Anywhere.

REACTION:  Neutral

INTELLIGENCE:  Average? High?

CREATURE TYPE:  Animal? Humanoid?

SKILL 8

STAMINA 12

LUCK 6

MAGIC: 8

MAGIC POINTS:  18

SKILLS:  Strength 4, Awareness 4, Hunting 4, Fishing 3, and possibly some knowledge based ones?

TALENTS:  Survivor, Strongarm, and possible more?

WEAPON:  Large Fist

ARMOUR:  Light

SPECIAL:

Dimensional blinking?:  Bigfoots can go from one dimension to another. This might just be a case of teleporting from one place to another or they might be able to travel through time or to different worlds.  The cost of this depends on how far they travel and whether it is through just space, or time as well and also if they want to control it precisely.  Teleporting a few metres costs 1 magic point.  Teleporting to a specific year and place would cost up to 18 magic points.

from Lloyd of Gamebooks http://ift.tt/2aR5KZ9
via IFTTT

Entries now being accepted for the Windhammer Prize

Entries now being accepted for the 2016 Windhammer Prize
Arborell.com is pleased to announce the commencement of the 2016 Windhammer Prize for Short Gamebook Fiction. Entries are now being accepted, with the initial submission phase running from the 1st of August to the 7th of September. All prospective entrants should note that there have been some minor changes to the prize pool guidelines and these should be viewed prior to entry.
Now in its ninth year this contest is proudly sponsored by Arborell.com and continues as a means to promote the gamebook genre, and to provide exposure within a competitive environment for aspiring gamebook authors. In particular this prize values creative and original works of gamebook fiction. The challenge given to those who wish to participate the development of a full gamebook experience whilst meeting stringent requirements regarding length and original content. This competition is open to all gamebook writers and requires no entry fee or other costs.

All information regarding this year’s comp including full entry guidelines, competition schedule and prize details can be found at the Windhammer Prize webpage at
http://ift.tt/1rtuNQt
For more information on the Chronicles of Arborell gamebook series, sponsors of this competition, go to http://ift.tt/2aEbZ0e
May Glory and Renown follow all who enter.
Regards
Wayne Densley
2016 Windhammer Prize for Short Gamebook Fiction
http://ift.tt/1rtuNQt

from Lloyd of Gamebooks http://ift.tt/2aBxzFv
via IFTTT

Legend of the Wayfarer in its new incarnation

Hello all! I have been tinkering with Legend of the Wayfarer again (is this how games are really made?) and I ahve come up with a new version. It is now more of a solo player hexcrawl. I am also going to tone down the combat with now specific ability for combat, but I will take every combat as it comes. This version is more story based and set in an almost medieval Eurpoe analogue (I will be borrowing from other cultures when I think it will spice things up. There is also some magick, but it is very low key and monsters but they are rare. Faeries make mischeif but usually stay away from humanity and gods roam the world, but they are very low powered compared to what you would expect. In DnD terms, the people are around 0-1st level and the gods and monsters are around 5th level at most).

Since this is moving towards story and exploration, I am working on a more gamey DnD version which will involve hexs, dungeons, wizards, orcs etc.

The new version is for you to have a look at. I will be releasing more materials as I make them.

from Lloyd of Gamebooks http://ift.tt/2aXCtuK
via IFTTT

Tunnels and Trolls magic weapon solo

Hello lovely gamebookers! I’m currently working on something that I’ve wanted to for a while – I am a fan of Tunnels and Trolls and I wanted to create a solo where you can go on quests to help make your own personalised magic weapon. This weapon would be able to gain powers as you gain in level, so it would be a weapon that you could never outgrow.

The solo would involve you questing and collecting points to spend on your magic weapon at the end of the book where you could pick powers. The powers were in levels, so higher level powers are more expensive. You are allowed to buy a power at a higher level, but you can’t use it until you get to that level. So, if you buy a power that increases your adds at levels 3, 4 and 5, then as you go up in level, your adds will increase.

Here is the document so far – it is still a work in progress, so expect updates. Please feel free to leave any comments about the powers – are the levels appropriate? Will the weapon be powerful enough, but not too powerful? Are there any powers that you want to include?

from Lloyd of Gamebooks http://ift.tt/2a1zYpx
via IFTTT

Tunnels and Trolls solo rules updated for Deluxe edition

Hello world! First of all, a big shout out to my readers in Russia – there seems to be loads of traffic coming from Russia in the past few days. Thanks for your attention 🙂

Secondly of all, I have just written some rules for Tunnels and Trolls solos using the Deluxe edition. I love that Tunnels and Trolls has so many solo adventures. I have written a few of my own (for PWYW!) and when I did, I came up with solo rules then.

I love Tunnels and Trolls solos, but most were restrictive on the level you had to play at and whether magic was allowed or not (normally it wasn’t), so I made these rules for all characters to enjoy solos. I have done it again for the Deluxe edition (which is really awesome). I have another idea for a solo lined up which I hpe will come into being one day, so I updated these rules for that. However, if you want to have a look at the rules no, here they are!

So check out my solo rules.

from Lloyd of Gamebooks http://ift.tt/2a113fc
via IFTTT