📈 Kickstarter How to get a complete, rules legal Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game character in 20 minutes or less

[woefulhc]

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game is a Powered by GURPS game from Steve Jackson Games that gives GURPS treatment to the trope of going underground, killing things and taking their stuff. It is a hack and slash game. While I love the game, it does start characters that are very competent at 250 points. (I have seen that compared to between 5th and 10th in D&D 5e.) It also shares GURPS' tendency to heavily front load the character creation. An hour to make a character for someone familiar with the game is common.

Kevin Smyth's Delvers to Grow (published by Gaming Ballistic* for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG) addresses both of those issues handily. It is currently in kickstarter which runs through 25 May (9p UTC-5). There have been a number of reviews from those that have gotten an advanced look. I have participated in three sessions of play test (in two different games) and have used the draft manuscript as the basis for creating a 250 point character.

Essentially, at the 62 point level you have 6 decisions

1. Type: Fast, Smart or Strong
2. Focus or profession (called class in some games)
3. Disadvantage package 1
4. Disadvantage package 2
5. Weapon
6. Upgrade package

The modules are all well enough named that you know what they do simply by looking at the name.

It is FAST. Like "sit down at lunch time with no character and be able to play a game within an hour" fast. I am running at about 20 minutes for all the ones I have done. One of the reviewers timed it at 14 minutes from getting the manuscript until he had a character. A friend who will be in a game I run using this had his character done in 5.

While the kickstarter has not, yet, funded it IS on track to do so. All of the stretch goals are backer-count based. $35 gets you 5 books in pdf format: the "Build a Bjorn" with the modules for building characters, three books of worked examples, one each for fast, smart and strong and an adventure tuned for a party of 5-6 125 point characters. While the license Gaming Ballistic has requires that it be set in Douglas Cole's Nordlondr background, you don't need to squint hard to reskin to some other setting. This is particularly true for the character creation rules.

*Gaming Ballistic is the only third party licensee for Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game
Edited to correct typos and add links to the reviews/discussions I know of.

 

[dalin]

Yes! This is going to be an awesome supplement. I like that it will be useful to new players—providing a great on-ramp to the system—and experienced GMs who can use it to generate fast stats for important NPCs.

 

[dalin]

Here's the cover spread:

 

[dalin]

Douglas Cole, the publisher, described it this way on the GURPS discord this morning:

This is an absolutely game-changing book for those who like GURPS and the Dungeon Fantasy genre, but find that the 250-point expectation is a higher-power campaign than you like to play, or find that you and your players get frustrated with Character Creation.

Kevin has penned a system that allows chargen in Powered by GURPS to be fast. TFT Fast. OSR fast. 1st level D&D fast. Five to 15 minutes to a playable, robust, interesting character with only a few decisions required.

It's the best on-ramp to GURPS that has ever been written. You can do pick-up games at conventions or your FLGS with this book and have each newcomer make a character on the spot. Despite a "Nordlond" flavor to the art and examples, this is 100% exportable to any DFRPG and most DF games with no alteration.

Yes, I think it's that good. I hope you do too.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-to-grow-dungeon-fantasy-rpg-powered-by-gurps

 

[Daosus]

I'd like to add that I have seen the preview of the book and it is excellent. You can make a few decisions in a few minutes, spend a few minutes tallying up the skill levels and you're done. And these aren't slipshod, random characters, either. They're well-optimized for the dungeon delving role.

Then there's the fact that there will be gear and spell packages makes what is probably the longest part of chargen a breeze. And while I love Doug's Nordlond setting, this book will work with any DFRPG setting without adjustment, and without needing any other Nordlond books.

Plus, Doug's negotiated GCS and GCA support, so this can all be done on a computer.

This is what I've been waiting for in DFRPG and really is a game changer. It really is that good.

 

[woefulhc]

With 9.5 days left of an 18 day kickstarter it is at 93% funded. This is Doug's eleventh kickstarter. All have funded. The tenth is in final stages of fulfillment. The supporters on the previous nine all received their stuff.

 

[woefulhc]

The kickstarter has funded. At this point $35 gets you five beautiful pdf books. If we get to 600 backer we get a sixth book (of Bandits and outlaws). 750 backers gets a seventh book (of spellcasters), 825 unlocks a book of Delvers and Thegns and 1000 backers gets us vikings and ships.

 

[DouglasCole]

If you read only a SINGLE post for Delvers to Grow, read this one.

Making a Swashbuckler: Worked Example

This goes through a complete worked example of making an eldhuð ("I'm totally not a tiefling!") swashbuckler in six quick steps using Delvers to Grow for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG.

This is the best quick-start recruiting tool for Powered by GURPS published to date. One of my patrons went to his Favorite Local Game store yesterday with an advanced copy. Ran a *pick-up game* using the Boxed Set for one total newcomer to RPGs, two D&D players, and someone from his regular group. All had characters quickly, and the game store employees asked him to come back and run a Dungeon Fantasy RPG game in the store *every week.*

 

[Daosus]

Greetings forumites!

I thought I'd bang the drum for Delvers to Grow some more. I firmly feel that this is the best product for onboarding new players to DFRPG, and to GURPS. In an attempt to convince y'all that you should back the Kickstarter [link here], I'll first discuss my overwhelmingly positive experience and then discuss some reasons you might not want to back the Kickstarter and hopefully address them.

I'd like to start with my own experience. My first GURPS character was a 150 point wizard. Making him was a four hour long exercise in reading descriptions, cross referencing and attempting to optimize. My first DFRPG character was also a wizard, and took about 2 hours to make. I just finished making a 125 point wizard using an advance copy of Delvers to Grow. It took me 15 minutes, and the bulk of that was copying stuff onto a piece of paper. I did not have to crack open Adventurers even once.

Admittedly, that means were I a new player, I would not know what most of the stuff on the character sheet is. That's actually a feature and a good thing. I now have a decently optimized, competent character, and I had to read about 2 pages. If I were a new player, I would learn what that stuff meant in play. What I did not have to do was read through dozens of advantages and spells to figure out which one I should take. Did I mention that all the spells and equipment are also done? I did not have to deal with pre-requisites.

I understand this sounds pretty much like a pre-gen, but there were many decisions I made. Here's what I decided about my wizard: he's had a magical accident that left him disfigured and excommunicated. He's a bit of a geek. He has a lot of spell power and specializes in being a missile-slinger. And the most important thing is that since I made these decisions, I am bought into playing MY character, not a pregen off a list. I have every confidence that I could guide a group of players through this process in 30-60 minutes and intend to do so. In fact, other people's experience suggests that my time estimate is on the higher side.

And that's where the strength of Delvers to Grow is: it lets you make a character without having to be familiar with the mechanics at all. In fact, all you have to do is copy down stuff off each module. You make choices based on the kind of person your character is. Just like DFRPG/GURPS in play, the mechanics take a back seat to your decisions. You might think "but what about co-dependencies? I'd hate to make a missile-slinger without the Innate Attack skill." It's taken care of. The templates look deceptively simple, but a lot of thought and effort went into them. This is literally Kevin Smyth and Doug Cole doing the yeoman's work for you. The DFRPG templates are built to make a competent delver. Delvers to Grow allows you to make a competent delver QUICKLY.

The book has some new Advantages, and they are pretty fantastic. I don't want to go into detail too much for fear of spoiling the fun, but suffice it to say they fit the theme of DFRPG. The Disadvantages are grouped into 25 point packages with a story about how your character got them. For example, my wizard's magical accident gave him Frightens Animals [-10], Social Stigma (excommunicated) [-10], and Unnatural Features [-5].

Now, I'd like to address some of the reasons you might not want to join this Kickstarter:

Not into DFRPG or Dungeon Fantasy
This one certainly makes sense, from a certain point of view. Many people have their own style of game to play, and for a long-running game, that's great. What Delvers to Grow brings to the table is such speed that you can actually play a pick-up game. A friend rolls into town and wants to play for an session? Would you rather spend the evening making a character, running D&D, or playing DFRPG/GURPS? And you don't have to use pre-gens! This is a great product to have on the shelf just in case someone wants to play a quick game.

Not into Nordlond
Delvers to Grow is more or less setting agnostic. Only the art and a few of the inside jokes are Norse-themed at all. The written material and statistics are all DFRPG standard.

Too expensive
This is a difficult and touchy concern to address. Without getting into economics, I will mention only two things. First, games like DnD will always be cheaper. The nature of mass production and fixed costs guarantees it. We play other games because we like them better, not because we get more pages per dollar. Second, even while being more expensive than DnD, Delvers to Grow--and the DFRPG line in general--still offers a fantastic value. Compare dollar value per hours played to something like the cost of a novel or a movie. Or even to board games, where a $60 game might be played for 10 hours total.

I'll pick it up later
This is a tempting thing to do. Why pick up product you don't need right now? I'd like to propose a couple of reasons you might want to back the Kickstarter now. First, physical copies will be gone relatively quickly. I don't have any insight into Doug's business plan beyond what he's shared publicly, but I highly doubt he is going to print many excess copies of the book. So, if you want to pick this up in a year from now, it will probably not be there. Second, backing the Kickstarter sends Gaming Ballistic a signal that there is interest. These days, almost all sales happen within the first few months of a product's release. If you want to pick this product up later, back the Kickstarter now instead, and let Doug know he should continue making product like this.

As you might be able to tell, I am extremely excited for this product and want it to succeed. So, vote with your dollars and, to paraphrase some less savory figures in history, "vote early and vote often."

 

[Daosus]

And here's that link that I was supposed to [insert here]: Delvers to Grow (Dungeon Fantasy RPG, Powered by GURPS) by Douglas H. Cole — Kickstarter