A thought about procedures in FotF:

A thought about procedures in FotF:

A thought about procedures in FotF:

I was recently reading stuff about describing the procedure a GM goes through to run dungeon exploration, and wondering which games best describe this procedure. For instance, things like this: https://necrotic-gnome-productions.blogspot.com/2018/11/bx-essentials-adventuring-mode-control.html?m=1

I’ve been wondering if having such a procedure for FotF could make play smoother by giving the GM a structure to lean on, or if that’s contrary to the game’s design principle. A literal checklist of things to go through. Something like:

– When a player describes looking at a specific place, tell them what they see.

– If they want to look closer, have them roll Perceive.

– If they want to search an entire room, tell them how long it will take. If they spend the time, they find everything that can be found. Then, reduce the duration of spell, use up fuel for torches and rations, tie knots and possibly introduce a Danger.

And similarly for other situations. Your thoughts?

28 thoughts on “A thought about procedures in FotF:”

  1. I’ve also been thinking about old school procedures. I don’t think I ever played them as written/intended (because we where 12 years old), but reading BXE now, I quite like the random encounter check as the main driver of ‘resource management’. You can do almost anything, if you take the time and thus the risk of one or several random encounters.

    How could I implement that in FotF? Should I?

  2. I’ve also been thinking about old school procedures. I don’t think I ever played them as written/intended (because we where 12 years old), but reading BXE now, I quite like the random encounter check as the main driver of ‘resource management’. You can do almost anything, if you take the time and thus the risk of one or several random encounters.

    How could I implement that in FotF? Should I?

  5. Asbjørn H Flø The thing is, FotF doesn’t have random encounters. The closest thing is introducing a Danger during travels but there’s never a random table to roll on, or a risk that is out of the GM’s hands. I kind of miss it, to be honest.

  6. Asbjørn H Flø The thing is, FotF doesn’t have random encounters. The closest thing is introducing a Danger during travels but there’s never a random table to roll on, or a risk that is out of the GM’s hands. I kind of miss it, to be honest.

  11. Discoveries and dangers are sorta like random encounter tables. I don’t think there is anything wrong with making some prerolled tables for those. See “d100 woodland discoveries” in the 2E playtest folder.

    I’m making a version of that for our campaign world. It’s currently at d70, but working my way to d100 coastal discoveries fitting our norse/nordic fairytale world.

  12. Discoveries and dangers are sorta like random encounter tables. I don’t think there is anything wrong with making some prerolled tables for those. See “d100 woodland discoveries” in the 2E playtest folder.

    I’m making a version of that for our campaign world. It’s currently at d70, but working my way to d100 coastal discoveries fitting our norse/nordic fairytale world.

  13. The control panels are fantastic. Every game should have these, in my opinion, in some form. I would imagine even the storiest of story games still has a structure that supports play.

  14. The control panels are fantastic. Every game should have these, in my opinion, in some form. I would imagine even the storiest of story games still has a structure that supports play.

  15. I love this kind of procedure-based approach to dungeon exploration! But I’ve resisted putting something similar into Freebooters because I want individual game groups to develop their own methods. Also, if I go that far with dungeon exploration I’d feel it necessary to apply similar procedures across the board. It does appeal to me, but I have found a relatively freeform approach much easier to run (and easier for everyone to grasp) in my home games.

    “Random encounters” are built into the Venture Forth and Make Camp moves of the current FotF 2e rules. If you roll doubles on either of those moves (a 1 in 6 chance, just like classic wandering monster rolls), the Judge introduces a Danger (even if the roll is a 7+).

  16. I love this kind of procedure-based approach to dungeon exploration! But I’ve resisted putting something similar into Freebooters because I want individual game groups to develop their own methods. Also, if I go that far with dungeon exploration I’d feel it necessary to apply similar procedures across the board. It does appeal to me, but I have found a relatively freeform approach much easier to run (and easier for everyone to grasp) in my home games.

    “Random encounters” are built into the Venture Forth and Make Camp moves of the current FotF 2e rules. If you roll doubles on either of those moves (a 1 in 6 chance, just like classic wandering monster rolls), the Judge introduces a Danger (even if the roll is a 7+).

  19. Jason Lutes I understand what you mean! I think the way random encounters are handled for Make Camp and Venture Forth works well. It’s just that in other situations, there is no mechanic that makes it risky to spend time or be noisy in a dungeon room. Following procedures, rolling for random encounters, resource use etc, turns dungeon exploration into a “push your luck” kind of game. FotF can still have these elements, but they happen whenever the gm feels like it, not when the dice say so: it doesn’t exactly feel the same.

    But it’s a matter of style of course, nothing stops me from playing freebooters this way. It’s just that I need to feel my way around with the game for a while, which is harder than following a procedure.

  20. Jason Lutes I understand what you mean! I think the way random encounters are handled for Make Camp and Venture Forth works well. It’s just that in other situations, there is no mechanic that makes it risky to spend time or be noisy in a dungeon room. Following procedures, rolling for random encounters, resource use etc, turns dungeon exploration into a “push your luck” kind of game. FotF can still have these elements, but they happen whenever the gm feels like it, not when the dice say so: it doesn’t exactly feel the same.

    But it’s a matter of style of course, nothing stops me from playing freebooters this way. It’s just that I need to feel my way around with the game for a while, which is harder than following a procedure.

  23. Here’s something for Wandering Monsters/Resource Attrition that I posted a while ago but haven’t looked at since 1e:

    Take Your Time

    When you do anything carefully, thoroughly, or otherwise take your time in a task, (such as searching for traps or secret doors, reading a book, enacting a ritual, bandaging your wounds and catching your breath(?)), determine what everyone does during this time (someone may Stay Sharp, make camp and manage provisions, etc), and the Judge chooses a character to roll + Luck (minus a chaos factor set by GM? Dungeon level?).

    – On a 10+, all is quiet.

    – On a 7-9, choose one.

    – On a 6-, the Judge chooses two.

    – It takes longer than hoped, all torches gutter out, and a tool in use breaks or a resource is used up.

    – The exhaustion sets in; unless you make camp very soon, everyone burns 1d4 CON.

    – A Danger will soon manifest.

  24. Here’s something for Wandering Monsters/Resource Attrition that I posted a while ago but haven’t looked at since 1e:

    Take Your Time

    When you do anything carefully, thoroughly, or otherwise take your time in a task, (such as searching for traps or secret doors, reading a book, enacting a ritual, bandaging your wounds and catching your breath(?)), determine what everyone does during this time (someone may Stay Sharp, make camp and manage provisions, etc), and the Judge chooses a character to roll + Luck (minus a chaos factor set by GM? Dungeon level?).

    – On a 10+, all is quiet.

    – On a 7-9, choose one.

    – On a 6-, the Judge chooses two.

    – It takes longer than hoped, all torches gutter out, and a tool in use breaks or a resource is used up.

    – The exhaustion sets in; unless you make camp very soon, everyone burns 1d4 CON.

    – A Danger will soon manifest.

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