Jason Lutes – Page 2 – Dungeon World Tavern G+ Archives

Happy new year!

As a part of end-of-year accounting for L&B, I pay out profit shares to contributors and donate 10% of DTRPG sales to the Southern Poverty Law Center. This year I’m happy to announce that I was able to give $800 to the SPLC. So if you bought an L&B product this year, thank you!

Along with this auspicious beginning to the new year, I am quitting Facebook and paring down my life in order to focus as much as possible on comics and RPG stuff. Since G+ is sinking, the first steps in this department are to reboot my old blog, connect it to the L&B shopfront, and start posting again on a regular basis. I’ll let you know here when that’s all in order, which should be within the next 10 days. I’ll also be setting up a mailing list for anyone who wants to stay apprised of our activities.

My priorities right now are Stonetop (design & layout) and Freebooters 2e (development/playtesting). My contributions to both of these projects have been minimal over the past 9 months due to book tour stuff, but the dust has settled and I am super-eager to dig back in.

Thanks for your patience! Watch this space for more details.

Now that my book tour is mostly wrapped up and my next book is still in the early stages of development, I’m hoping…

Now that my book tour is mostly wrapped up and my next book is still in the early stages of development, I’m hoping to put more time into the L&B stuff. And as the G+ ship sinks faster, I’m thinking harder about where to swim ashore.

Right now I’m considering revamping the L&B shopfront website to hold an “official” L&B forum (and possibly a blog), with the commercial stuff shunted off to one side.

How many of you would realistically make use of something like that?

I’m hosting a game night this Wednesday that will likely have 10-12 attendees.

I’m hosting a game night this Wednesday that will likely have 10-12 attendees. I’d like to run an RPG. Right now I’m leaning toward a Freebooters Funnel (so it would double as a playtesting session for the current Funnel rules).

For the Funnel I would divide the players into 2-3 teams of 3-4 villagers each, and have them assaulting the citadel of the dark lord that has ruled over their families for generations. Each team would be assigned or come up with a different avenues of approach.

My plan is for each avenue of approach to involve 3-4 challenges before the confrontation with the dark lord. One player on each team would be nominated as a caller/leader, responsible for organizing and communicating their team’s plan to tackle each challenge. I would describe the situation facing Team A, then leave them to formulate a plan while I move on to Team B, etc. then return to each team in turn to resolve their plan (as communicated by the team leader) by the usual procedures. My hope is to produce a satisfying one-shot session for a dozen players with a minimum of waiting/downtime.

Anyone ever done something like this before? Are there any potential problems that I may not have considered? Any ideas for incorporating further opportunities for play within each team as I’m dealing with other teams? Any existing “assault the citadel”-style adventures/examples that I can look to for ideas?

Thanks!

On a teaching stint in Denmark, got to playtest Freebooters+Funnel 2e with some amazing people!

On a teaching stint in Denmark, got to playtest Freebooters+Funnel 2e with some amazing people! First time using the new level 0 villager rules went well, and it was fun to run them through a full-fledged adventure I’ve been working on.

Okay, here’s an example of the icons I’m playing around with to call out Dangers and Discoveries in the main text.

Okay, here’s an example of the icons I’m playing around with to call out Dangers and Discoveries in the main text.

Wes Baker, I can’t seem to tag you, but if you see this — is this the kind of thing you are thinking about?

I’m starting to write funnel Adventures for Level Zero play in Freebooters and I remember that there have been…

I’m starting to write funnel Adventures for Level Zero play in Freebooters and I remember that there have been issues with the way I’ve been handling monster stat blocks, by putting them all in their own section (cf Servants of the Cinder Queen and Perilous Deeps). Some people dislike having to flip back and forth between different sections of the book. Since ease of use is a primary goal, I’m looking for more opinions!

Option 1 shows the area description with stat blocks included, and option 2 shows what they would look like in a separate chapter. The area description text for option 2 would look just like option 1, but with the “Roughneck” and “Rooster” paragraphs removed.

FREEBOOTERS 2e PLAYTEST UPDATE

FREEBOOTERS 2e PLAYTEST UPDATE

Uploaded a new Basic Rules, tweaking the Level Up move to be less broken.

The big new thing is the Plumb the Depths chapter (separate pdf), which outlines dungeon creation and my initial stab at a random-table-prompt approach.

As usual, feedback is appreciated. I’d love to have someone who’s not me take a stab at dungeon creation using these guidelines and then let me know how it goes.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p88e7exekcb0qsa/AACDXT11NSfNsy_VtQS51xDca?dl=0

FREEBOOTERS 2e PLAYTEST UPDATE

FREEBOOTERS 2e PLAYTEST UPDATE

I’ve made some significant changes to the basic rules and playbooks. Note that if you’re using the previous version, those files are now in the “older versions” folder on Dropbox.

For most moves, on a 6-, you no longer mark general XP, you mark the ability used for that move instead. Each ability has a five-bubble counter, and when you fill it up, your ability score increases by 1. I like this (in theory and in our actual play around here) because it draws a direct relationship between failure and improvement. In addition, the ability score increase curve is built in because you’ll be getting fewer 6- results as your ability climbs.

General XP still exists, and is mostly gained from hitting your end-of-session triggers. XP leveling requirements have been dropped by 5 points across the board.

End-of-session class XP triggers have been reworded slightly to be a bit more flexible.

Level Up rewards are no longer every-other-level, since that has always bugged me. in this new version, each time you Level Up, your choices are:

– Mark 2 abilities of your choice

– Increase your maximum hit points by one roll of your hit die, +CON (minimum 1 hit point)

– Choose a new Advanced Move from your playbook

I feel like this creates more tough decision-making, but feel free to disagree and tell me why.

Class moves have been reworded in a few spots, but nothing major. The Magic-User’s spell power table has been rearranged because I’m still looking for the easiest-to-understand version that will fit in such a tight space. Better? Worse?

David Schirduan, apologies if these changes come too late for your game!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p88e7exekcb0qsa/AACDXT11NSfNsy_VtQS51xDca?dl=0

Spending studio hours switching back and forth between Stonetop and Freebooters 2e, and right now I’m writing the…

Spending studio hours switching back and forth between Stonetop and Freebooters 2e, and right now I’m writing the Freebooters dungeon chapter. If you have the time, I would love suggestions for more things in the following categories. I’m not going to be able to cover everything, but I’m guessing I’ve overlooked some basic things.

DUNGEON TYPE

Prison

Mine

Crypt/tomb

Lair/den/hideout

Stronghold/fortress

Temple/sanctuary

Archive/laboratory

Ancient city

Underworld (think Underdarkish)

Origin unknown (most classic dungeons)

GM ADVICE FOR RUNNING DUNGEONS

Marching Order

Gear

Situational awareness and constraint (consider the physical space)

Light & Darkness

Wandering Monsters

Traps & Other Secrets

Saving throws & Luck

BEASTS & BOOTY revised

BEASTS & BOOTY revised

Now that I have a bit more time in my schedule, I’m digging back into Stonetop and Freebooters 2e. The previous Beasts & Booty rules were a well-intentioned mess, but I think the new version I’ve just uploaded is an improvement.

These two “chapters” are the core of the B&B volume. They will be supplemented with more thorough rules explanations and a bestiary and treasure list intended to demonstrate what can be created using the various tables.

Feedback welcome!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p88e7exekcb0qsa/AACDXT11NSfNsy_VtQS51xDca?dl=0