Tunnels and Trolls: Trollworld

Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls includes an amazing atlas of the Trollworld campaign setting. This was (and still is) the home-setting of the game's creators, and it seems all legendary campaign settings in pen-and-paper gaming begin this way. After reading the nearly 100,000 years of history in the atlas and pouring over the maps and details about the cities and other places, I come away feeling I have really misunderstood and underestimated T&T's setting over the years.

I thought mostly T&T's home setting, Trollworld, as referenced in the solo adventures and other sources,was more of a humorous and rather silly place like something pulled out of a Monty Python skit. There were funny-named spells, all sorts of black humor in the traps, and a tendency to wink-wink-nod-nod about the humor in town-names and other NPCs. Even the continents are shaped like fantasy creatures, so how can one take this place seriously? I mean, this place is no Greyhawk or Faerun, right?

I am feeling really humbled right now after reading and understanding what the designers were shooting for here. I really had misunderstood how the dark humor plays into the setting, it is like a world shaped by powerful, malevolent and uncaring beings of pure malice and a lack of caring - the "dragon shaped" main continent was made that way as a "self portrait" of a powerful dragon. While it was still populated.

Imagine that, some dragon comes alone and starts reshaping a continent the size of North America, dragging out a head from the states of Washington and Oregon, dragging a huge swath of California out into the ocean to form claws, pulling Mexico off the bottom border, tucking up the stomach of the Gulf Coast, twisting Florida into a back claw, and dragging all of New England up into a long, twisting tail.

The people and cities? Well, I hope you all take cover while I finish my handiwork. Never mind the earthquakes and ripping off the land apart around you, would you? I might be done the job in a couple hundred years, I am sure you won't mind the short little interruption while I finish my masterpiece.

There, perfect! Now that wasn't so bad, was it? Hello? Hrm, I wonder where they went and why every surviving civilization is so mad at me? No worries, I am a dragon after all.

Trollworld is Black Humor

Black humor permeates this setting from top to bottom, and once you understand this one fact about Trollworld you get everything else. A wizard so powerful he creates a dungeon which is essentially  his personal "MMO" where real people unknowingly enter to fight and die for his amusement? A wizard war with armies, sides, and years of bloodshed caused by the misunderstanding about fork placement at a magic wizard's birthday party centuries ago? Monsters terrorizing towns created by the careless dumping of magical toxic waste from a wizard's alchemy lab? Take any abuse of power from the headlines today, replace "the abuse of power" with "careless and who cares about the little guy" magic, and you are all set to create adventures.

And the little guy, the average person knows nothing about the capricious and deadly causes of the world they live in. The lands are dangerous because they always have been, not because everybody knows about the magical toxic waste dumping. When you find out about these "dark secrets" during your adventures and begin to piece together the insane and sadistic reasons why the world is the way it is, you begin to fear a world that is more chaotic and full of random death than even a Lovecraftian setting.

Little People Don't Matter, and Don't Know Better

This is worse. The powerful beings in control of this world don't care about the little people. And yet they still try and live their lives, build cities which routinely get burned to the ground, and survive in a world full of madness wracked by forces no one really understands or can control. In a way, it is a world out of a Monty Python skit, but here there is no laugh-track or studio audience. You are literally living in a world being torn apart by forces out of control with no care for those who live in it.

No other setting does this as well, and in fact, the humor plays into the "we are all seriously doomed" sort of feeling here. There are funny things, silly-named spells, and all sorts of intentionally humorous places and people here. Some could be created as a joke by a wizard and then set free upon the world, like a pair of trolls, one short, smart and weak; the other dumb, large, and strong like something out of a Steinbeck novel and out looking for a lost pet rabbit. Once the joke was over, the wizard forgot about them and went on to other pranks and more interesting things. And these two trolls wander the world until their demise, fate, or they find a place of their own.

Or until the adventurers meet them and either help them find the rabbit, or get smashed to a pulp by Lennie the troll. "I'm sorry George."

The Abuse of Power is Funny, and Great Fun Too!

It's funny and pop-culture-tastic, but in another way, it's a sad reflection on the abuse of magical power in this world and what the average person has to deal with. You are constantly a victim of some careless mage's plans, in-jokes, plots, power-mad schemes, or manipulations of the world. Perhaps the White Rabbit from one wizard's version of Wonderland wanders the world as a lone knight, the rest of his version of Wonderland's inhabitants long gone, and he is out to clean the world of all other magically summoned versions of Wonderland that other wizards create for their amusement.

It is madness and I love it. The best part about this whole setup is T&T will actually let your character be one of those mages or powerful forces. It is intentionally overpowered and super-deadly, all the way up the level chart, and the spells at the higher levels can be created by the players. Want a spell that summons an insane version of Wonderland yourself? Spend some time and write it. If your character survives, they too can join the fun.

Now, this is my take on the setting as I read it - other people may play this differently. But from what I see, that humor and wild abuse of magical power makes this world unique, and the humor softens the blow a little bit and plays into the fun. It reminds me a little of the original humor in the Warcraft universe (before the game got all serious and multiplayer), and it has that insane and madcap charm to me.

And all the while, the box of broken toys, insane deathtraps, and crazy schemes keeps living on. Once you understand it, nothing else comes close to the insanity and power-mad nature of this place. A misunderstood, richly detailed, unique, and true classic of a setting indeed.

Great Article: The Story of Pathfinder

http://www.polygon.com/2016/8/1/12317888/the-story-of-pathfinder-dungeons-and-dragons-most-popular-offspring

This one is a bit basic, but it has some interesting historical perspective and comments from the game's designer. Pathfinder is still a cool game, and still our group's preferred edition of "the world's most popular fantasy game" rules set. Even though we wrestle at times with its complexity and size, nothing comes close in terms of options, openness, artistic style, compatibility, and mod-ability.

For the game to have been printed over seven years ago and to keep going strong is no small feat, and it happily keeps moving forward today. I am starting to believe this will keep moving forward, unchanged, for decades to come. A true universal set of fantasy roleplaying rules that stays the same from generation to generation? I sincerely hope so, and that too is no small feat. When you create something great, it lasts.

FATE Accelerated vs. FATE Core, part 1

In this corner we have FATE Accelerated, the stripped down, lean and mean light version of the FATE rules, which we will call FAE. In that corner, we have FATE Core, the little rules book that weighs in at over 300 pages which is way longer than I ever imagined a rules-light game could be, and a book we will call Core. I got both books and I wanted to do a first impressions sort of review as I read both and check them out, so I will be going over what I learn and how things work in this comparison.

Both PDFs are pay-what-you want and free and unrestricted for the initial download, an incredible distribution model and very progressive and thoughtful. I am feeling I will pay something here, this is just too kind and they deserve something for a great game and all this hard work. Honestly, I am not cheap, and we want companies this generous to stick around and put out great stuff in the future.

Dice!

I bought a special set of FATE Dice and I love these things. They are fun and very collectible, high-impact (I dropped one on a stone floor from 4 feet with no damage or marks after 2 three-foot bounces), and very pretty. I can see myself collecting these just to play around with, and they are a fun part of the game. More are coming in the mail, and I love the ones made by Evil Hat. Something makes me want to invent a game to play these with, or maybe use them for Monopoly or a WW2 wargame like Squad Leader. More dice? Let's do another picture of dice:

You only need four of them as a player or referee. Only four, so a 12-pack will be enough for three people. You roll them all together, plus means +1, minus means -1, and you total the result and add to an Approach (in FAE) or a Skill (in Core), what this game uses as an ability score. 4d3 is a unique mechanic, and it feels novel and unique.

Core Skills vs. FAE Approaches

FAE gets rid of a skill list for a more generic "action based" set of approaches to problems - it doesn't matter how skilled you are at an action, your approach to how you solve a problem is what matters. Core uses a list of 18 task-specific skills, where FAE sticks to 6 non-skill 'problem solving' approaches which any. I can see how those wanting a crunchy, more character-design driven game would be drawn to core, while those wanting a rules-light and more 'let's play a movie or TV show right now' would gravitate towards FAE. Core seems more like the long-term campaign choice, but I want to check out Accelerated to get my feet wet before diving in.

OGL and SRD FTW

And these are OGL games with a Creative Commons license, and an SRD as well. Wow, they are trying really hard to win me over. Really hard. I feel my defenses breaking already. A sensible, modern, open, and SRD-driven game with the normal OGL/SRD licensing guidelines and rules? Yes, D&D 5 went OGL, but they leave things out, so there is that forking thing going on over there. Here? It's all on the table, start creating your game. Or making a module. Or whatever. Just play by the OGL/SRD rules and you are good to go.

Okay, I am won over now, let's get back into the game.

But see what this does? Being open and flexible about your rules system wins fans. Legend is like this as well, along with a couple other games Mongoose makes. Evil Hat follows suite, and we have another game that will live forever and spawn countless forms, and there are no parts left out. This is the way to publish a game. Worrying about selling physical copies rule books is so year 2000. Make a great game, let people have it without restrictions, and then sell the rulebooks and other add-on items. Rules are cheap and should be free.

And yes, I will keep buying dice, and paying-what-I-want because generous people deserve to stay around and be rewarded for the cool stuff they make.

And I want other companies to follow this model, so I will support it.

Aspects are Where It's At

Aspects are really the core of this game, and while the game seems almost rules-light, don't let this fool you. There is a very deep and meaningful aspect game going on here underneath, and it supports the entire role-playing and task resolution system in the game. This really shouldn't be understated, where in most other RPGs, you get this dry "number vs. number" thing going on, what's your skill and what's the DR of the lock? Roll. Fine. Done, pass or fail.

An aspect is a simple statement of truth about any fact about a character, situation, or scene that can give you a bonus or penalty when invoked or compelled by a fate point. The statement can be anything, but ideally it can be something positive or negative that could apply in multiple ways.

In FATE, it's all about the aspects, baby. I want to stick to FAE for this, since that is how I want to learn the game, so here goes. Character aspects can come into play, like, "I am a master thief of the city of Cairo." Situational aspects can come into play, like, "the room is really noisy and it is hard to concentrate." Consequences (injuries or other temporary conditions) can come into play, such as, "I sprained my wrist" or "my confidence is shaken."

Before we get into the mechanical workings of aspects, the action system of the game turn plays into aspects as well and completely supports them. There is another layer here that is really critical to understand so you won't be playing this as a novice. Action during a turn can be taken to "create an advantage" or create a new, temporary situational aspect. I could plug cotton in my ears to cancel out the noisy room, or take extra time picking the lock. I could also try to use an "overcome" action against the noisy room aspect by trying to quiet everyone down, and if I roll good enough, get a one-time boost that I can use for a limited time (the room quiets down and circles around so they can watch me pick the lock with anticipation).

You can invoke positive aspects (or negative ones against fores) by spending a fate point. You can earn fate points by compelling negative aspects on yourself. The game's entire fate point system revolves around the invoking and compelling of aspects, and fate points are your "story points" which you use to gain benefits and make interesting stuff happen.

In this game, you are constantly creating aspects, invoking them, compelling them on others (and yourself), having the referee invoke them or compel them as NPCs, and keeping the "fate point economy" spending and earning points like poker chips being tossed around the table without abandon. This is not just for dry RPG combat, this is for social scenes, technical scenes, tasks, and any challenge or interaction in the game. You could have a whole social combat scene play out with situational aspects being created by the "create an advantage" action, such as a diplomat questioning the integrity of another diplomat, creating a "suspicion of personal gain" aspect on that person. That aspect could be compelled against that diplomat, or it could be invoked by a character saying "my integrity has not been challenged!" That "suspicion of personal gain" aspect could be dispelled by the "overcome" action with irrefutable proof of honesty and integrity, and if you roll good enough, earn a boost in which to turn the tables on your accuser with a boost, which you could use to inflict a "dishonest accusations and dealings" aspect back on your accuser.

This is not a cut-and-dried "by the numbers" RPG, this is a social experience simulator that can be used in a remarkable number of ways. You could use aspects to perform auto repair, negotiations, cloak and dagger sneaking around a enemy base, roleplaying, exploration of new lands, cutting down a tree, mining a mine, searching ruins, and any other normal and exceptional situation - should you choose to. The aspect and fate point system, combined with the create advantage and overcome actions, create an interactive and social experience out of anything you throw at it.

Aspects can be Special Equipment

Another interesting part of the game is that there are no equipment lists. You are a swordfighter, so you have a sword, often as a part of a character aspect. If you are a sniper, you could create an aspect "my specialized rifle is good at hitting targets at long range" and get a +2 when you invoke this piece of special gear with a fate point when that condition is true. At short ranges, it is like any other gun and can be used normally, but with a fate point and the right situation, that special equipment comes into play.

Again, in many "by the numbers" RPGs, you are forced to sort through long lists of equipment, match a weapon to a style of fighting, and weight positives and negatives of giant spreadsheets of modifiers, damage outputs, and numbers. Here, that isn't how this game is played, and specialized gear is more of a "TV or movie plot device used during a special scene" than something you would geek out about ranges, fps, muzzle energy, and all sorts of other arcane numbers that would bore the audience to tears.

Accelerated vs. Core

This is a tough one, since I want to see Core as AD&D versus FAE's simpler D&D. I don't really see that analogy holding up, since they are both the same game - but different. I want to learn and play Accelerated first and save Core for later. I may stick with Accelerated after I read Core, or incorporate the parts I like from Core. I don't know. I need to read and play some more before I make that decision, and no rush, because I am liking the interactive and social nature of this game.

It is not like Savage Worlds at all, nor Legend, d20, or any other game. Savage Worlds is taking our top spot as our group's "polyhedral game", while Legend is our "percentile realism" game, and our own Second Edition of SBRPG as our favorite "d6 game" (still in development, more soon). All of these are crunchy, by-the-numbers games, with SBRPG 2nd Edition sitting somewhere between storytelling and crunchy.

I can see FATE working its way into our playlist as our "fast and fun" story light game of choice. Why? It is anti-crunch and social. It is interactive and verbal. It is built around storytelling and a shared experience. It has a unique and fun mechanic. The dice are interesting and make us want to play.

A very strong system overall, and I am pleasantly surprised by this one. I had expected something rules-light and not as compelling, something you buy, collect, and never play. I got something which once dug into compels me to play, is full of interesting and social-play ideas, and is tailored to create a unique and fun experience.

A winner? Too early to tell, we need to run through our first session and see.

Tunnels and Trolls: 6d6 Max System

Thinking about the "lots of dice" issue with Tunnels and Trolls, especially in regards to MR and possibly rolling dozens of dice, I came up with this system:

If you roll 6d6 or less, roll that.
If you roll more than 6d6, use this chart:

Dice	# White Dice	White Damage	# Red Dice	Red Damage
7d6	5	x1	1	x2
8d6	4	x1	2	x2
9d6	3	x1	3	x2
10d6	2	x1	4	x2
11d6	1	x1	5	x2
12d6	6	x2	-	-
13d6	5	x2	1	x3
14d6	4	x2	2	x3

You need two colors of dice here, six white and six red. You see the pattern, for every die above six, replace one of the dice with a doubled up die. When the number is divisible by six, replace them all with multiplied dice.

So a roll of 10d6 would be two white dice, counted as-is; and four red dice, counted double. Remember to double things like spite damage as well when applying a multiplier. So if you rolled:

white 3, white 6, red 1, red 6, red 2 and red 5 this would equal
3 + 6 + (1 x 2) + (6 x 2) + (2 x 2) + (5 x  2) = 37 damage, and 3 spite damage

If the total dice throw is divisible by 6, just throw white dice with a multiplier equal to the number of dice thrown divided by 6. For example:

60d6 = 6 white dice with a multiplier of x10

If you have a remainder after dividing by 6, roll that many red dice and take that many white dice away. Make the red multiplier one higher than the white multiplier:

62d6 = 4 white dice with a multiplier of x10, and two red dice with multipliers of x11

The 10d6 System

Now, I am using six dice, but if you wanted to roll a maximum of 10d6 this system works just as well, you will need ten dice of each color (red and white), and the number you divide by becomes 10 instead of 6. For example:

60d6 = 10 white dice with a multiplier of x6
67d6 = 3 white dice with a multiplier of x6, and seven red dice with a multiplier of x7.

The more dice you throw, the smoother your bell curve will be. The less dice, the steeper and more random the result. The system uses multiplication to make up for not rolling dice, but the numbers generated should fall roughly in the same range, and save you a lot of time counting and adding. If you don't have 60d6 this may also save you from rolling a lot of dice over and over again and adding them up.

I think 10d6 is easier math-wise, since the one's digit is the number of red dice and then you just fill to ten dice with leftover white dice. The white die multiplier is the tens digit, and the red die multiplier is the white die's multiplier plus one. If you have ten dice of two colors this may be the faster way to do the math, although you are adding 10d6 instead of 6d6. More dice is easier math, but more adding.

Everybody Must Agree!

As with all speed of play systems and changes, make sure your group knows you are using them and agrees to them before play. This is more of a house-rule on how many dice are thrown at the table than a real change to the rules, but it does have the potential to create more extreme results due to less dice being thrown.

The Martian: Sci-Fi That Speaks to Us

So I just watched The Martian, and I am getting the same feeling I did with Interstellar. This is sci-fi that speaks to us. Back in the 1960s we had a world growing closer together, so the "clash of cultures" type of sci-fi where space civilizations learn to get along was relevant then, and Star Trek spoke to that era. In the 1970s and 80s when escapist entertainment pleased the masses, so Star Wars filled the need of that time, and spoke to that era. Let's forget the 1990s because it was so confused with the end of the Cold War, it was a mix of escapist entertainment, geo-political drama and "personal" sci-fi stories that used science-fiction as window dressing for those times.

But we need sci-fi that speaks to us today. But to know that, we need to know what the world's problems are:

• The world hates itself
• People have given up
• The problems we face are just too big

We hate each other and we are ruled by fear, plain and simple. Our world can do nothing great unless it learns to work together, and more-so, come together behind great things. Our society has also turned inward with a sickness of "me" and self-important posts on Facebook and Twitter. It's not about you, it's about us! We distract ourselves with online games and Pokemon Go when there are great and incredible discoveries out there in the universe waiting for us to get over ourselves and take the challenge on.

It is an odd feeling, but Star Wars, Star Trek, superhero movies like The Avengers, Firefly, and all of those other forms of sci-fi don't feel like they speak to me anymore. They all feel like window dressing sci-fi that puts a western, romance, or Earth-bound drama in spacy clothes, bug-eyed aliens, and car-like starships and presents it to us as "meaningful."

It is not meaningful because it does not reflect the problems we face. It feels tone-deaf today because it speaks to none of our problems. Sci-fi is about reflecting who we could be, and overcoming the human drama that is life to rise above and do great things. At least, that is what speaks to me today. In the 1960's when television made the world smaller and brought every corner of the world into our living room, yes, Star Trek would have spoke to me. In a way the crew sitting in front of that large TV and dealing with the problems it brought into their world, a bridge that was essentially an American living room, would make sense and speak to that era.

But now, no, it doesn't mean anything to me more than nostalgia. What means something to me is overcoming hate. Finding a way despite all of our "it's about me and my way of life, screw you" based differences to come together and solve impossible problems. It's about living in a bigger universe. It's about us, not me.

Star Wars ships that fly around like "space cars" speak to the 1950's and 60's when exploring the universe meant hopping in the family Chevy station wagon and cruising the open highways and interstates. Those don't mean that much to me anymore than just nostalgia, since they don't reflect the real problems we have in escaping the deathtrap that is Earth at this moment. We need to prepare the next generation for the great "Christopher Columbus" type difficulties and hardships of space travel and exploration, and it will never be as easy as hopping in the Millennium Falcon and tooling off to Mars for a few hours.

The spaceships in Interstellar and The Martian feel like things that our culture should be dealing with and preparing the future generation for. They speak to me. They speak to the challenges we have ahead of us. They speak to the math, science, and physics problems that will be the next generation's "dragon" to slay when we finally escape this world and move on to better things.

I like my escapist entertainment, but in the end it doesn't mean much to me. It provides a couple hours of distraction and something popcorn goes well with for a night out. It's fun, but it doesn't make me think. It doesn't make me want to do better for myself, to sacrifice for something greater, and "do the math." I know going against "what's popular" is fruitless and pointless, right? But there is something here, something greater than just a popcorn movie.

I find my tastes changing today, yet the world around me still seeks the safety of the blanket of nostalgia. We grow inward with our social media and online identities, and we lose what it is to be human - together. To accept the greater challenges. To explore. To understand each other in face of an impossible problem. To overcome.

Even supposed "hard science" games like Traveller still have that "space cars" influence in a way. They ignore the little challenges, they focus on the wrong things, it feels too much about "me" than "us". They are too easy, point and go. They take in a thousand ideas from a thousand random sources and say "hey, sci-fi!" They ignore the "grand challenge" of making it to a point of space that is infinitely small when we look up at the stars, yet when we are there is as large as a planet.

For sci-fi gaming, I am done with nostalgia and I want something that speaks to us. I want something that reflects the challenges ahead of us instead of the memories of the past. I want something hard, that forces my players to work together, think, and solve problems. It doesn't have to be hardcore trigonometry and math, but having a game that reflects what space travel will be like for our children and their children really means a lot more to me than laser swords or space battleships right now. It still has to be a game and fun, but what it speaks to will be different than the games and sci-fi serials of the past.

Something greater calls.

Tunnels and Trolls: 7.5 versus 8.0 Warriors

Ah, warriors, the backbone of any good Tunnels and Trolls party and the heavy-hitters when it comes to dice and combat adds thrown into the turn's hit point total. Let's take two min-maxed warroirs from version 7.5 and 8 and put them beside each other.

But before we do that, we need a strategy for spending AP and determining priority on spending adventure points. I shall make the following assumptions for my test characters:

• STR and CON will equal each other and be set to a tens level
• DEX will be set to 80% of STR and CON
• SPD and LK will be set to 60% of STR and CON
• IQ will be 40% of STR and CON
• WIZ will be set to 10
• No ability score will go below 10

That is sort of how I may build my generic fighter when I play, so let's look at a sample 7.5 or 8.0 warrior at level 5:

Finnegan and Grimly (level 5)
STR: 50
CON: 50
DEX: 40
SPD: 30
LK: 30
IQ: 20
WIZ: 10
adds: +102

Let's call our 7.5 warrior Finnegan and our 8.0 warrior Grimly, just for fun. The scores look okay, a bit bland but balanced overall. Let's equip him with a 5d6 longsword (a similar weapon can be found in both versions) and 16 point (32 for warriors) plate armor (though in 7.5 it is 18/36 armor). Now, what am I getting at?

The Warrior Bonus

In 7.5, the warrior bonus is as follows from page 13 of the rules:

Simply put, the Warrior gets to increase his combat adds by his character level.

In 8.0, there is a drastic change here:

Warriors roll one extra d6 per character level on any melee weapon they are using.

Note that 8.0 applies to only melee weapons, where 7.5 applies to all weapons. So while our 7.5 warrior only adds 5 points to their adds, the 8.0 warrior adds 5d6. So our base attack totals for both sample warriors are as follows:

Finnegan the 5th level 7.5 Warrior: 5d6 + 107
Grimly the 5th level 8.0 Warrior: 5d6 + 5d6 + 102

The 7.5 warrior will average 125 points of damage (and 1 spite on average), and the 8.0 warrior will average 137 (and about 2 spite) - or about a 10% difference in power at level 5 between the games. I can see why they upped warrior damage, because a rogue in 7.5 at these levels has about the same adds plus magic. The only bonus a 7.5 warrior has over a rogue is the double-protection armor bonus.

At Level 10

Let's raise both of these warriors to level 10 and see what happens. We will need to recalculate our stats based on our formulas, as below:

Finnegan and Grimly (level 10)
STR: 100
CON: 100
DEX: 80
SPD: 60
LK: 60
IQ: 40
WIZ: 10
adds: +252

You can see where this is going. Let us take a look at their combat power now with weapons and warrior bonuses:

Finnegan the 10th level 7.5 Warrior: 5d6 + 262
Grimly the 10th level 8.0 Warrior: 5d6 + 10d6 + 252

While our 7.5 version warrior Finnegan will average 280 points of damage (and 1 spite), Grimly in version 8.0 will average 305 points of damage (and 3 spite) - and again, only about a 10% difference in combat power. So warriors received a 10% buff in power between 7.5 and 8.0 in combat strength, and I honestly expected a full +1d6 per level over +1 per level to be really, really unbalancing in overall terms of combat power.

15d6 vs. 5d6

But 15d6 is a lot to roll every turn, isn't it? I admit, the tighter feeling of 7.5 where players aren't rolling handfuls of dice seems appealing from a speed-of-play standpoint. Then again, you are level 10 and the player isn't rolling multiple attacks per turn, so who cares if they throw an extra 10d6 for that 5d6 longsword attack? DarkgarX is adamant that 15d6 is a lot to roll (and dead set against this) and I am on the fence.

If you are at a table and every player is responsible for their own dice and adding, I am fine with it. If I have to run statted NPCs in a party alongside one player, this is a non-starter (I'd rather just give them MRs, but the large number of dice problem is there too). If we are verbally roleplaying a combat, forget all of this, I am noting your averages and using that.

Warrior Bonus +4 Per Level?

If I was playing 8.0 and wanted a 7.5 style "dice reduction" effect, I would set the warrior bonus to 4 points per level and do that, so an 8.0 version of Finnegan would be:

Finnegan the 10th level 7.5 Warrior: 5d6 + 292 (+4 per level)

That puts him at an average of 310 damage and into the same range as Grimly. Yes, I know I should be doing 3.5 per level, but losing 10d6 will make us lose about 2 spite damage, so I am rounding up (308 total with spite for 8.0 and 311 total for this mod).

The main rulebook suggest adding +2 per level if you feel 1d6 per level is overpowered, but I don't think the math adds up to have an equal balance, especially when you want to keep that 10% buff over 7.5 in order to make warriors appealing again.

Finnegan the 10th level 7.5 Warrior: 5d6 + 272 (+2 per level) = 290 damage on average

House Rule #2

Warrior Bonus: The Warrior gets to increase his combat adds by 4 per level.

I would also extend the warrior bonus to all weapons, like 7.5, since missile weapons in our game will be a 7.5-like straight to HPT affair instead of 5/5.5 single target strikes separate from total party hits. This will make archery-based warriors viable builds and be able to keep up with the melee warriors in the group.

So this is our second houserule to T&T Deluxe, and it helps reduce the dice thrown at the table while keeping the warrior bonus in-line with the 8.0 power level used in the game. DarkgarX shouldn't complain now, and you know what? I like this rule a lot since it makes my job easier as well.

Tunnels and Trolls Deluxe: Missile Weapons

From the Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls Rulebook, page 78:

If the character aims for a particular target and makes the (to-hit) saving roll, then that damage will automatically take effect against the target when damage is assessed at the end of that combat round (even if the party loses the round). 

If your character misses the saving roll to hit, you still count the weapon damage toward the party’s overall HPT regardless of whether the PC party wins or loses overall.

Okay, so let's say my archer had +6 personal adds, and is using a 4d6 damage standard bow. I am fighting a MR 16 gremlin who rolls 2d6+8.

In a "party" of one. This applies to a party of two as well, but I am using a one-person "party" to highlight this rule.

So if I miss, my 4d6+6 attack is still counted in the my party's turn damage total (HPT)? Also, the word "still" implies if you hit, the damage applies to HPT on a successful to-hit.

Which means the damage applies, even on a failed to-hit SR.

Again, I use a one-person party to highlight the contradiction, but for two people this is an equally valid point because 4d6+6 is a lot of HPT contribution for a pair of adventurers.

Chaos Equals HPT?

There feels like a disconnect here for a rule intended for a 4-6 person party where the archer's contributions feel like they should be accounted for in the chaos of a large battle, hit or miss. With smaller parties or single archers, this rule feels like it short-circuits the missile weapons to-hit system. For solo adventures with a single archer (or even two people), this matters a lot.

Let's say in my fight with the gremlin that he rolls 3 + 1 + 8 = 12 and I roll 5 + 6 + 6 + 5 + 6 = 28 and I miss the to-hit SR. I beat him by 28 - 12 = 16 and the MR 16 gremlin dies, even though I missed? That can't just happen from the chaos of combat unless the little bugger got confused and ran off a cliff.

The Original 7/7.5 Rules

This is one place where I can say I am confused a little on this rule (and would love a clarification), and our group will likely be house-ruling this back to the 7/7.5 version where the following is said on page 97 of the rulebook:

Make a DEX SR (or perhaps a similar roll using your “Marksmanship” Talent or the like) to see if the missile hit. If you miss the SR, you get no points toward the melee total. If you make it, your points count no matter what.

Note there is no "single target damage" rule mentioned in 7/7.5 where missile damage (in combat against an active foe) goes straight to MR/CON and is reduced by armor, as it seems all missile damage goes straight to a side's HPT. In Deluxe, this rule is re-introduced as a benefit of making the to-hit SR (and aiming at a particular target), and it also means a successful hit also adds to the side's HPT (and is handled as a unique missile hit during step #9, not counting double because total melee damage is counted separately from missile and magic damage).

This is a key difference between the versions, in 7.5 the game is more focused on the HPT and not individual attacks. In 5.5 missile weapons are separate attacks apart from the HPT. In 8.0/Deluxe they try to go back to the 5.5 "single attack" feeling, but still want to keep the "missile weapons add to HPT" rule of 7.5, and I feel the game ends up a bit confused in this regard.

Consequences

There always is a consequence for a house-rule, isn't there? With the deluxe rules, I make my to-hit SR and roll damage. The gremlin rolls melee damage. These are compared. If I make my to-hit, magic and missile damage is applied first, and the gremlin dies as this is ruled as a "single target" hit - damage goes straight to MR and armor reduces.

In Deluxe, if I do not make my to-hit and miss, we go into HPT vs. HPT mode in step #10 (page 86). My total is higher anyways, and the gremlin jumps in front of the arrow and dies.

With the 7/7.5 rule, missiles must make the to-hit roll to contribute towards HPT. If I miss, the gremlin takes no damage, I take 2d6+8, and we go on to the next round of combat. If I hit, this goes into HPT versus HPT mode (with no single-target hit rule), and with my original rolls above, the gremlin dies.

Final Thoughts: 7/7.5 is Very Clear and Playable

I like the 7/7.5 missile weapon rules enough to house-rule these in as my preferred way of handling missile combat, over the structured and more-complex rules in Deluxe. Also, the single-target rule's reintroduction in 8.0 seems to have made the entire combat sequence less clear to me, and is apt to confuse players at my table. We like the 7.5 rules:

If you hit, you hit, and the missile damage goes towards the party's damage total.

If you miss, it doesn't.

There is no splitting magic, missile, and melee damage afterwards with single-target rules - all damage done (melee, missile, and magic) by one side adds to total party damage counted in the turn.

Simple.

The only drawback is you lose the "single-target damage" deadly (and almost simulation-like) effect with an archer supporting a melee, but then again, if I shoot an unaware monster it should go straight to MR anyways, so that effect is still in the game. Still, in melee, I can see adding to HPT and losing "single target damage" as a more realistic rule since the opposing HPT roll (reducing damage) simulates the monster "on defense" and trying to avoid getting shot. Out of melee when sniping, the "straight to MR" thing applies since there is no active defense, and the "single target" rule is not "lost" - it just doesn't apply in a melee with creatures aware of the archer.

Final-Final Thoughts: TrollBridge Thread

After I wrote this, I found this thread on the TrollBridge e-zine forum site:

http://trollbridge.proboards.com/thread/3352/missile-weapon-damage-deluxe

So yes, hit or miss, they add to HPT, and that seems to be the consensus there. It feels odd to disagree with the official ruling, but I can't wrap my head around "missing a shot" and still doing damage.

House Rule #1: Missile Weapons

On a successful to-hit SR, missile damage is added to the party's total. If the SR is missed, no points are added to the party's total. If the monster is unaware, out of combat, or defenseless, the damage goes straight to MR (or armor/CON) as normal.

The 7.5 era "hit for HPT, miss for nothing" missile weapon house-rule stands in our 8.0/Deluxe games, at least for our group and for my sanity. Damage-based magic is treated the same way, adding to HPT and not being considered separately.