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DFT2 Notes



...yeah, I got nothin' for this.

OK, maybe a little. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 2: Epic Treasures is the result of my suggesting, around the time I was finishing up DFT1, that if we're going to have #1 in a series, it's just polite to have #2 in the pipeline as well. The Powers That Be agreed, and here we are.

I think the "Making It Epic" section in the introduction, discussing approaches to take to big treasures, may be the most important and reusable part of the book. Big treasures should go beyond mere bonuses (though, certainly, there are a few things which are all about the mere bonuses in there a page or two on). The GM has to consider scope in different ways, several of which I suggest, and each item in the book has a power in some way related to those criteria.

For example, the Marvelous Crab is about freedom of movement and, to some extent, freedom from resource management. It's not a fantasy tank. And despite calls from multiple playtesters to add claws, make it more armored, and so on, I kept it as a movement-only device. It provides transportation for a reasonably sized party and a lot of gear and/or loot at better speed and with better DR than a wagon while avoiding a lot of terrain problems (Rocks and pits? Step over them. River or small lake? Go under them.). While it does cost FP to use, it only needs FP from one character at a time so travelers can swap driving duties, and there's no need to carry along feed for beasts of burden. For long-distance travel, that's an excellent deal. As one of the playtesters (who shall remain nameless, except to say that it was Peter Dell'Orto) pointed out, if the Crab is more capable, the question becomes more "how can we fight from inside the Crab" and less "how can we get to the adventure in it."
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Comments

Peter D said…
That nameless playtester seems pretty smart.
February 4, 2016 at 4:29 PM
Iron Llama said…
Yeah, but I hear he's sleeping with your wife.
February 4, 2016 at 7:40 PM
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