Category Archives: Games

TFT: Against The Ifriti King

Wherein your humble scribe presents some experienced protagonists and an antagonist for The Fantasy Trip. You could turn this into a wee combat scenario if you were of a mind to. One of the various retroclones (like Legends of the Ancient World) should let you play this out if you don’t have TFT books handy.

These characters were created “by the book” with one key exception – I’ve built them using the Skill Points house rule used by my old group for years & years. The gist of this option is that instead of IQ serving as the point pool for buying Talents & Spells, you get your IQ plus the average of your ST and DX to spend (though you are still limited to a maximum number of Spells equal to your IQ). This lets characters be a little more well-rounded, without being particularly overpowered. Of course, TFT isn’t a game that really lends itself to characters being overpowered anyway.

Drawn from across the face of Cidri by forces beyond their comprehension, a disparate group of warriors and wizards finds themselves on a dangerous quest to defeat Tamir ibn Mu’tazz, the King of the Ifrit. Led by the noblewoman Takeda Mizuki, these unique individuals have faced numerous opponents and challenges as they have sought the palace of ibn Mu’tazz. Each hero stands ready to lay down his or her life to thwart the nefarious goals of the Ifrit.

If you’re going to give this a go as a combat scenario, treat Tamir ibn Mu’tazz as a 3-hex figure and allow him a 1-hex Green Slime, a 1-hex Silver Slime, and a 4-hex Goo as allies (stats below), thanks to his Ring of Slime & Goo Control.

The Villains

Tamir ibn Mu’tazz
ST 24 DX 16 IQ 20 MA 8/10 (40/20)
Sword, Charisma, Alertness, Acute Hearing, Diplomacy, Business Sense, Courtly Graces, Literacy, Recognize Value, Assess Value, Scholar
Fire, Speed Movement, Fireball, 3-Hex Fire, 7-Hex Fire, Create/Destroy Elemental
Chainmail (3), Scimitar of the Shayatin (2d6) allows a second attack each round at -4 DX, Amulet of Reverse Missiles, Ring of Slime & Goo Control

Green Slime
ST 14 DX 1 IQ 1 MA 2
Does 2 hits/turn once it engulfs a target by flowing into that creature’s hex.

Silver Slime
ST 18 DX 12 IQ 6 MA 6
Emits a lighting as the Lightning spell (i.e., 1d6/STR spent).

Goo
ST Nigh-Infinite DX N/A IQ 1 MA 4
Suffocates in 2 turns once it engulfs. Requires a 6 dice vs DX roll to hit the nucleus to kill.

The Heroes

Takeda Mizuki
ST 12 DX 15 (10) IQ 11 MA 6
Sword, Two Weapons, Courtly Graces, Diplomacy, Charisma, Tactics, Literacy, Horsemanship, Expert Horsemanship, Bow, Missile Weapons, Physicker, Sex Appeal, Alertness
Dou of Ama-Tsu-Mara (6), Katana (2d6), Wakizashi (2d6-1), Horse Bow (1d6), 20 Arrows

Black Crow
ST 11 DX 16 IQ 11 MA 12
Pole Weapons, Shield, Bow, Alertness, Missile Weapons, Tracking, Mimic, Silent Movement, Naturalist, Woodsman, Axe/Mace, Thrown Weapons, Animal Handler, Running
Small Shield (1), Spear (1d6/1d6+1), Bow of the Thunder Bird (1d6 + 3 pt lightning damage), 20 Arrows

Ultan MacEochagan
ST 10 DX 12 IQ 16 MA 10
Literacy, Sword, Bard, Seamanship, Sex Appeal
Light, Summon Wolf, Summon Myrmidon, Sleep, Summon Bear, Persuasiveness, Reveal/Conceal, Invisibility, Mage Sight, Magic Rainstorm, Control Person, Lightning, Glamor, Summon Giant
Silver Shortsword (2d6-1), Silver Dagger (1d6-1), Sapphire Eye of Manannan Mac Lir (5 ST Battery Gem)

Neferuptah
ST 15 DX 13 (12) IQ 10 MA 10
Sword, Axe/Mace, Shield, Warrior, Priest, Literacy, Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Naturalist
Light, Clumsiness, Blur, Aid
Cloth Armor (1), Shield of Horus (3), Hook Sword (2d6), Battle Axe (3d6)

Eratosthenes of Herapho
ST 11 DX 13 IQ 14 MA 10
Literacy, Architect/Builder, Scholar, Alchemy
Staff, Lock/Knock, Create Wall, Destroy Creation, Summon Gargoyle, 3-Hex Wall, Slippery Floor, Telekinesis, Control Elemental
Staff (1d6), Diamond Heart of Hephaestus (5 ST Battery Gem)

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TFT Nostalgia Photography (Melee, Wizard, In The Labyrinth)

Back in the day, that day when many of you were all about D&D in some form or another, I was playing huge amounts of Metagaming’s The Fantasy Trip. Whether it was arena battles (warriors, wizards, or both, against each other or against monsters) with Melee and/or Wizard, choose-your-own-adventure type microquests like Grail Quest and Treasure of the Silver Dragon, or full on RPG action with Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard and In The Labyrinth, TFT was really my game.

So here’s another batch of heavily filtered photos of some old RPG books for your enjoyment.

There are a couple of TFT retroclones out there, including Legends of the Ancient World. There are a couple of others, but I’m not having any luck with linking to them at the moment, so I’ll leave you with just the one. Or you can check out the original Melee and Wizard rules on Bluwiki.

As an aside, I should note that despite its obvious connections to TFT, I never really liked GURPS. It’s just too damned fiddly for my tastes.

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SciFi BoL Characters For Fun (But Not Profit)

Wherein your humble scribe presents a trio of NPCs for Barbarians of Lemuria… In Spaaaace!. These are put together mostly using the rules from Barbarians of the Aftermath and a few pulls from the other key BoL resources I’ve used before.

Traveling from the outer worlds to the Alliance capital aboard the tramp freighter Archilochus, Parjon Kelas (a minor noble with unique powers), Narsa Tash (a former slave from Aekos IV), and the disgraced boxerbot B0-RG9, are certainly bound for trouble. It’s in their nature.

Parjon Kelas / Lifeblood 10 / Hero Points 5 / Psychic Power 13
Attributes: Strength 0 Agility 0 Mind 2 Appeal 2
Combat Abilities: Brawl 0 Melee 1 Ranged 1 Defense 2
Careers: Noble 1, Psychic 1, Scholar 1, Chemist 1
Boons: Learned: History, Prismatic Soul
Flaws: Reluctant Fighter
Languages: Galactic Common, Aekosian, Fajash, Botic
Equipment: Blaster Pistol (d6+1)

Narsa Tash / Lifeblood 13 / Hero Points 6
Attributes: Strength 1 Agility 2 Mind 0 Appeal 1
Combat Abilities: Brawl 0 Melee 1 Ranged 2 Defense 1
Careers: Barbarian 2, Thief 1, Slave 1, Spacer 0
Boons: Hard-To-Kill, Lucky
Flaws: Savage
Languages: Aekosian
Equipment: Sword (d6+1)

B0-RG9 / Lifeblood 13 / Hero Points 5
Attributes: Strength 3 Agility 1 Mind 1 Appeal -1
Combat Abilities: Brawl 2 Melee 0 Ranged 0 Defense 2
Careers: Gladiator 2, Mechanic 1, Spacer 1, Priest 0
Boons: Self-Repair, Brawler
Flaws: Batteries Required
Languages: Botic, Galactic Common
Equipment: Fists (d3+3)

I’ve realized that I just don’t have the interest, inspiration or ambition to put together a proper BoL space game at the moment. But then again, with BotA handy there’s not much that needs to be done mechanically. I’ve decided that “Spacer” is a career in the same way that “Sailor” is in BoL. It covers piloting, general engineering, zero-g combat, and pretty much anything else you’d expect a person who has spent significant time in space travel to do.

You could certainly break these things down to “Pilot” and “Gunner” and other such things if you wanted to. But I think that pushes you closer to Traveller, et. al., and thus misses the point of the BoL system.

But that’s just me. And it’s not like I’m getting to play any of this anyway, so what do I know?

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Heists For Fantasy Thieves

Wherein your humble scribe, drawing on the “All The Dice” random generator concept (tip of the hat to Grim), presents a random table for your nerdly needs.

My latest obsession/idea is an old school urban crime mini-campaign, something along the lines of the old Gamelords Thieves’ Guild RPG.

My first thought was to use Labyrinth Lord/AEC and break down the thieving skills a bit to turn that subsystem into something that players could customize to reflect their own individual thief’s specialties (sort like AD&D 2e did – but I don’t have those books handy to steal from reference). But when I started doing the math I quickly realized I’d be better off using a different system (one that was already skill-based).

So in rode BRP and the fabulous Classic Fantasy monograph (to be used if I feel the need to retain a degree of D&D style). If I ever make this get off the ground (and given my current levels of gamer ADD and the general scheduling issues with the folks I play with, that’s a dubious proposition) I’m going to need an idea generator for some thiefly adventures & heists. Hence, the tables below. Please feel free to make use of these in any way you see fit. Sharing makes the world go ’round!

Let’s Roll

Grab yourself a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20 and roll ’em. Check against the charts below and let your creativity fill things out as needed.

Location of item(s) to be liberated, 1d4

  1. Temple or other religious/ceremonial building
  2. Private residence (1d4: 1 lower class, 2 middle class, 3 upper class, 4 nobility)
  3. Mercantile building (guildhall, apothecary, etc.)
  4. Governmental building (military hq, prison, town hall, etc.)

Complications of the job, 1d6

  1. No complications, job as described by the rest of the dice
  2. Minor complications, roll for a second guardian for the item (now under double guard)
  3. Major complications, roll for a second location (the item has been moved)
  4. No complications, job as described by the rest of the dice
  5. Serious complications, roll for two more guardians and a second location – the item(s) has been moved to a new location and is under a different kind of protection
  6. It’s a setup! A double-cross! A trap! Everything proceeds normally, but something bad happens if the job is successful (not paid, guard alerted, the job is completely fake, etc.)

Method of payment for liberating the item(s), 1d8

  1. No payment
  2. Keep anything else you can take
  3. Coin: ((2d4-1) X 10)% of item’s value
  4. Coin: ((1d10+10) X 10)% of item’s value
  5. A minor, limited-use magic item (potion of healing, etc.)
  6. Information (a treasure map, the name of a spy, etc.)
  7. Coins: (3d8 X 10) total gp value
  8. Gems: (4d6 X 10) total gp value

Nature of the item(s) to be liberated, 1d10

  1. Plain ol’ coin money
  2. Magic item (weapon/armor/shield)
  3. Religious relic
  4. Gems or jewelry
  5. Paperwork of significance
  6. Object d’Art (statue/painting/etc.)
  7. Symbolic item
  8. Magic item (non-weapon)
  9. Roll again twice using d8s
  10. Roll again three times using d8s

Guardian of the item(s) to be liberated, 1d12

  1. None
  2. Locked chest/safe
  3. Trapped & locked chest/safe
  4. Magical wards
  5. Generic human/demihuman guards
  6. Tougher-than-generic human/demihuman guards
  7. Natural animal(s)
  8. Monster(s)
  9. Undead
  10. Demon/devil
  11. Roll again twice using d10s
  12. Roll again three times using d10s

Source of the job, 1d20

  1. Professional connection (guild, crime family, etc.)
  2. Freelance theft-for-hire (merchant, sailor, etc.)
  3. Rumor/Innuendo/Legend
  4. Personal Reasons (revenge, matter of honor, thrill seeking, etc.)
  5. Religious connection (prelate with a problem, a favor for the god of thieves, etc.)
  6. Professional connection (guild, crime family, etc.)
  7. Freelance theft-for-hire (merchant, sailor, etc.)
  8. Romantic connection (spouse, mistress, etc.)
  9. Family connection (no-good brother-in-law, dying aunt, etc.)
  10. Political connection (local political faction, foreign government, etc.)
  11. Professional connection (guild, crime family, etc.)
  12. Freelance theft-for-hire (merchant, sailor, etc.)
  13. Rumor/Innuendo/Legend
  14. Personal Reasons (revenge, matter of honor, thrill seeking, etc.)
  15. Professional connection (guild, crime family, etc.)
  16. Freelance theft-for-hire (merchant, sailor, etc.)
  17. Military/Police connection (the corrupt sheriff, a questionable general, etc.)
  18. Rumor/Innuendo/Legend
  19. Professional connection (guild, crime family, etc.)
  20. Freelance theft-for-hire (merchant, sailor, etc.)

Some Sample Heists

  • Your older brother offers to pay you a lot of money to break into the town armory and steal the enchanted Shield of the Sentinels. Of course, the armory is guarded by a pair of basilisks, but that’s not a problem for someone like you. You know he can afford what he’s offering; you just don’t know what he’s up to, which is planning on double-crossing you by turning you and the shield in for the reward to pay off his gambling debts.
  • Old Garril the Stonemason offers you a number of small diamonds he once found in a wall he was repairing to steal the sixteen large sapphires Korath the Bold recently donated to the Temple of Naali. These are locked in a chest stored within the high priest’s chambers.
  • You’ve heard a rumor that there’s a woman in Amberton who will pay a nice sum of money for a set of enchanted combs that are currently available in the shop of Forlburt the silversmith. The smith is a paranoid sort, who employs a small number of human guards and trained hounds to stand watch over his shop even as he locks all of his merchandise within a heavy (and trapped!) safe every evening.
  • Your guild or crime family needs you to break into the manor house of the Harbormaster and steal the ledgers for the last season’s shipping taxes. Your reward for pulling off this heist is the name and location of the man who killed your family when you were young. Everyone knows that the house is protected by magical wards. Not even your contact knows about the wraith that has been bound to guard the grounds.
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Classic Traveller Nostalgia Photography

Unlike my B/X stuff, I still have the box that my Classic Traveller set came in. It’s beat to hell and held together with silver duct tape, but it still holds everything I ever owned for the grandaddy of science fiction RPGs.

Though the Little Black Books aren’t really all that photogenic, I have always adored the simplicity of their graphic design.

I never really messed around with any of the books after 1-3, though I did own Mercenary and High Guard. Citizens of the Imperium was my absolute favorite supplement, and the Paranoia Press Scouts & Assassins got a fair amount of use in my games, mostly owing to the Martial Arts rules contained within. Supplement 1 was always good for grabbing an NPC or two from when needed.

I had one official adventure (the double-adventure Marooned/Marooned Alone) and the book of adventure seeds known as 76 Patrons, though I never really used either. Homebrewed settings and adventures have been my focus pretty much from day 1 of my gaming life.

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OD&D Whitebox Nostalgia Photography

In honor of the game that inspired the game that inspired yesterday’s big OSR blogosphere thingy, here’s a passel of heavily-filtered photos of bits and pieces from my cherished Original Collector’s Edition of the OD&D box:

I wish I’d taken better care of the box itself, but the books are all in pretty solid shape. You’re seeing shadows far more than any damage to the books themselves.

I never owned print copies of any of the supplements, which is why, despite owning one of these, I’m all but certain to give in and purchased WotC’s reprint edition when it comes out in November.

Oh, and for the record, I never referred to these as the LBBs (little brown books). That acronym means something entirely different to me. Tune in tomorrow to find out what.

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S&W Appreciation: Rogues In The Gallery

Swords & Wizardry White BoxWherein your humble scribe presents a batch of characters for Swords & Wizardry Whitebox in honor of Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day. You should have no trouble using these for any of the other flavors of S&W, though.

The party failed to run when they should have. Somebody just walked up and asked to join your public game. You need an NPC to befriend (or bedevil) your party. Whatever the reason, you need a character and your need it now.

Well have no fear, amigos. Strange Stones has made its name producing pre-made “rogues gallery” style characters for ye olde school and, just for you, here’s a passel you can pick from for your S&W game.

Fighters

Count Augerin Vonfred du Hoxenbury, The Pale Heir / Human Fighter 1 / Lawful
STR 15 INT 8 WIS 5 DEX 11 CON 16 CHR 9
HP 7 AC 4 [15] Save 14
Items: 35 gp, Chainmail, Shield, Spear, Hand Axe, Longsword

Dunthal Rockstomper / Dwarf Fighter 1 / Lawful
STR 14 INT 14 WIS 12 DEX 11 CON 12 CHR 6
HP 4 AC 4 [15] Save 14
Items: 32 gp, Chainmail, Shield, Light Crossbow, 30 Bolts, Hand Axe, Warhammer

Fletcher Dorthal of Mirington-upon-Wyestoke / Human Fighter 1 / Neutral
STR 11 INT 9 WIS 9 DEX 16 CON 9 CHR 15
HP 5 AC 5 [14] Save 14
Items: 73 gp, Chainmail, Short Bow, Quiver w/ 20 Arrows, 2 Silver Arrows, Short Sword, 3 Daggers

Astrabian Silvershine / Elf Fighter 1 / Neutral
STR 13 INT 11 WIS 10 DEX 11 CON 15 CHR 9
HP 3 AC 4 [15] Save 14
Items: 2 gp, Chainmail, Shield, Longbow, 20 Arrows, Longsword, Dagger

Sylvestri Mancuso, The Black Mercenary / Human Fighter 1 / Chaotic
STR 14 INT 11 WIS 12 DEX 12 CON 9 CHR 13
HP 5 AC 2 [17] Save 14
Items: 49 gp, Plate Mail, Shield, Flail, Hand Axe, Longsword

Alwynnia Moonstone / Elf Fighter 1 / Chaotic
STR 13 INT 15 WIS 13 DEX 8 CON 10 CHR 6
HP 2 AC 5 [14] Save 14
Items: 9 gp, Chainmail, Shortbow, 20 Arrows, Shortsword, Dagger

Clerics

Sister Catalina Rosarita Consuela Mendoza y Juarez / Human Cleric 1 / Lawful
STR 12 INT 11 WIS 16 DEX 10 CON 9 CHR 15
HP 4 AC 4 [15] Save 15
Items: 25 gp, Silver Holy Symbol, 1 vial of Holy Water, Chainmail, Shield, Mace

Brother Horace of Sherwylde Glen / Human Cleric 1 / Lawful
STR 9 INT 9 WIS 14 DEX 13 CON 13 CHR 10
HP 3 AC 4 [15] Save 15
Items: 14 gp, Silver Holy Symbol, 1 vial of Holy Water, Chainmail, Shield, Morningstar

Father Lars the Mountain Goat / Human Cleric 1 / Lawful
STR 6 INT 9 WIS 9 DEX 18 CON 16 CHR 9
HP 7 AC 6 [13] Save 15
Items: 13 gp, Wooden Holy Symbol, 1 vial of Holy Water, Leather Armor, Shield, Mace

Brother Ignacio Román Donatello, Initiate of St. Basil / Human Cleric 1 / Chaotic
STR 10 INT 14 WIS 14 DEX 9 CON 11 CHR 8
HP 2 AC 4 [15] Save 15
Items: 2 gp, Silver Holy Symbol, 1 vial of Holy Water, Chainmail, Shield, Flail

Selene Shelwyn, The Arm of St. Katerine of the Sea / Human Cleric 1 / Chaotic
STR 10 INT 7 WIS 13 DEX 10 CON 10 CHR 12
HP 5 AC 2 [17] Save 15
Items: 25 gp, Silver Holy Symbol, 2 vials of Holy Water, Plate Mail, Shield, Mace

Jean d’Urlan, Brewer Monk of the Parast Monastery / Human Cleric 1 / Chaotic
STR 10 INT 14 WIS 14 DEX 9 CON 18 CHR 10
HP 7 AC 6 [13] Save 15
Items: 18 gp, Wooden Holy Symbol, 1 vial of Holy Water, Leather Armor, Shield, Club

Magic-Users

Thorgald the Runereader / Human Magic-User 1 / Lawful
STR 11 INT 12 WIS 7 DEX 13 CON 13 CHR 12
HP 4 AC 9 [10] Save 15
Spells: Charm Person, Read Languages
Items: 109 gp, Staff

Orlanarian Treeflower / Elf Magic-User 1 / Lawful
STR 9 INT 16 WIS 11 DEX 12 CON 13 CHR 13
HP 2 AC 9 [10] Save 15
Spells: Detect Magic, Hold Portal
Items: 174 gp, 2 Daggers

Mbana Tenkanaka / Human Magic-User 1 / Neutral
STR 9 INT 14 WIS 12 DEX 14 CON 14 CHR 11
HP 5 AC 9 [10] Save 15
Spells: Detect Magic, Light
Items: 66 gp, Staff, Dagger

Halina Halx, Guardian of the Silver Gate / Human Magic-User 1 / Neutral
STR 10 INT 14 WIS 11 DEX 12 CON 9 CHR 15
HP 6 AC 9 [10] Save 15
Spells: Charm Person, Protection From Chaos
Items: 43 gp, Staff, 2 Daggers

Veridian Starlight / Elf Magic-User 1 / Chaotic
STR 12 INT 16 WIS 8 DEX 12 CON 9 CHR 14
HP 5 AC 9 [10] Save 15
Spells: Hold Portal, Sleep
Items: 76 gp, Staff, Dagger

Skag / Human Magic-User 1 / Chaotic
STR 10 INT 16 WIS 9 DEX 11 CON 15 CHR 9
HP 7 AC 9 [10] Save 15
Spells: Hold Portal, Light
Items: 80 gp, Staff, 3 Daggers

While You’re Here Looking At S&W Stuff…

Be sure to take a gander at the monsters I’ve put together for S&W as well. Although they’re not officially part of S&W Appreciation Day, you might just find something useful. These are ones I didn’t submit for the S&W Monster Book (now known as Monstrosities, apparently) back in the day.

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B/X Nostalgia Photography

I thought I’d kill a little time today by taking some heavily-filtered shots of my classic B/X gaming stuff. The boxes for my old Basic & Expert Dungeons & Dragons sets are long gone, as are the dice (alas!), but the rulebooks and the modules that came with ’em are still in pretty good shape.

The books still live in the blue Trapper Keeper I bought for them back in ’82 or so. The modules live in a plastic storage box with my other assorted modules.

The presence of B2 (emphasis on the 2) in my Basic Set caused me to go out and find B1, because even as an eleven-year-old-kid I couldn’t stomach the idea of having the second issue of something but not the first. Obsessive-Compulsive disorder shows up early, I guess 🙂

Last note: I think that B/X is hands-down the most photogenic of the Dungeons & Dragons line. The bright colors, the engaging-yet-cartoony art (especially the Otus covers), the paper covers of the books and modules. These things just beg to be snapped casually.

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Barbarians of Heavy Metal 14: Game Slate Panel 1…

BoHMScreensSplash

Just a quick update on the progress of BoHM, this time talking about the tablet interface for the Gameslate.

The interface is made up of multiple panels, accessed through a pull down menu bar (which can be seen at the top of the picture below). For the first, Kickstarter, release, we will be focusing on everything the player needs to play the game, so that means a Character Generation panel, an Action Panel, a Music Panel, a Gear Panel and a digital Rulebook reminiscent of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which can be pulled down and read at any time from any panel.

To illustrate, here is the first panel a player will use, the character generation panel, and a character that has been created using it – Nicodemus Bosch, a Ledite of House Capricorn (inspired by Jethro Tull, of course):

BoHMScreensChargen

Using this panel, one can completely create a new character, save it, delete it or search through the database for other characters created on this tablet (we’ll be looking into transferring them over Bluetooth later this year).

The Bio Panel is the first stop, as this is where you create a name for your character. the six buttons, from left to right are: Search, which allows you to use the next two buttons, left and right, to flip through the various characters stored in the database; two buttons to delete or add/save a character, represented by a ‘-‘ and ‘+’; and finally a Text button that pulls up the keyboard so you can name or rename your character. The small number to the right of the name is the ‘Level’ indicator. Basically, this keeps track of how advanced the character is over a starting one. This makes it easy to manage experience on sight.

The Attribute and Combat Adds panels are fixed, as the names of the stats are constant, and only allow the rank of the relevant Attribute or Combat Add to be adjusted up or down by the use of the adjoining dial. BoL players will notice that there is no panel for secondary attributes built off of these, like Life Blood (or Fight in the case of BoHM). This is intentional, as these are automatically generated from the ratings on these panels and will show up, and be manipulated on the Action Panel.

The Career and Instrument panels are three part: the top allows you to dial through the relevant careers, and by hitting the text button on the bottom right edge, even allows you to add custom ones. This is particularly important for instruments, which aside from the standard grouping of Axe, Bass, Percussion and Voice, can include a wide variety of other sonic devices, as Nicodemus shows with his preferences for Flutes, Keyboards and Mandolins.

The second part of these panels allows you to dial in a rank for said Career or Instrument and then add it with the down arrow button, to your skill list or, if you want to remove a career or instrument, take it away again. Very simple.

The third, bottommost panel simply shows you the careers you have chosen along with their appropriate ranks. If you end up with more than 4, the handy dial will let you scroll through them.

The final part of our character generation panel is the Style Dial. This large central construct determines three things for your character: their School of Rock, which is indicated by turning the metal Roctagon so that the character’s school is at the top; the character’s ranking in various styles, indicated by the number in the radiating Rank Indicators adjacent to each schools position on the interior Rocktagon; and the opposition school, at the bottom, which is the only place on the dial without a radiating Rank indicator.

Ranking various styles is done by turing the central selection dial so that the arrow is pointing towards the appropriate school and then using the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons at the base to change the number in the indicator.

The controls are all designed to look good and prevent accidental mishandling, hence the use of dials for a large number of selection points. I like dials on a touchscreen because they require a three step process to use: touch – drag – release. Unlike a plain button, which is simply touch, this means it is harder to accidentally change something by a simple misplacement of the finger.

There are buttons of course, but in accordance with the way people hold tablets,  they are kept towards the center of the design so that any movement of the hand to access them will be largely deliberate (in theory, or course). This is also why the dial controls are mirrored on the left and right edges. Ease of use for the thumbs. And of course, mixing it up a bit helps to make the design more varied, hence the use of buttons for Style Ranks instead of Dials.

Once the character is created, all these numbers will be fed into the approriate spots on the  other panels. The only place to change them, however (except in temporary cases, as when using equipment) is on this panel. This avoids accidental changes to the character during play and also allows the information to be presented in a more compact manner on the other panels, which is hugely important from a mobile platform perspective.

This panel is being broken up and the graphics added to the underlying code this week, and I’m currently putting the finishing touches on the Action Panel and Splash Screen panel (the in-progress version of which I placed at the top of the page). Hopefully, the Gear and Music panels will be finished by the end of the month so that we can get everything the player needs, sans Titans, ready for beginning of May. The Titan screen will probably have to wait until we can figure out how to get the tablets to communicate through Android, which might be a post Kickstarter deal, but progress is apace and I’m very happy with how it is turning out…

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Traveller: Pedro’s Angels

Wherein your humble scribe presents a group of characters for (classic) Traveller. All of these were rolled up by-the-book using Book 1: Characters And Combat and/or Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium.

Jaunting about the sector aboard his private yacht, El Alma y La Cruz, Baron Pedro Miguel Ramirez and his lovely companions (mís ángeles, he calls them wryly) take on missions and causes that otherwise might go unaided. The Baron feels that he and his friends are destined to help those who cannot otherwise help themselves. This sometimes puts the gang on the wrong side of the law, of course – especially when the law itself is the problem. But there’s something to be said for having strong ties to the Imperial family.

Baron Pedro Miguel Ramirez
89A86C Age 30 3 Terms (Service: Noble, Final Rank: Baron)
Hunting-1, AutoPistol-1, Bribery-2, Engineering-1, Pilot-1
Yacht
Cr250,000

Lady Solara Marte
5A348B Age 26 2 Term (Service: Noble, Final Rank: Knight)
Hunting-1, Hovercraft-1, Pilot-1, Jack of All Trades-1, AutoPistol-1
Cr150,000

April Murphree
958B37 Age 34 4 Terms (Service: Marines, Final Rank: Lieutenant)
Cutlass-1, Revolver-1, Mechanical-2, SMG-1, Ground Car-1, Jack of All Trades-1, Tactics-1, Electronics-1
Travellers’
Cr25,000

Louise Helms
3659A8 Age 34 4 Terms (Service: Scientist, Final Rank: -)
Computer-1, Survival-1, Navigation-1, Electronics-2, Jack of All Trades-1, AutoPistol-1, Medical-2
AutoPistol
Cr6,000

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