Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Random Starting Equipment: LotFP Weird Fantasy RPG

[Editor's Note: I corrected a minor error on the chart (an asterisk was omitted on the armor chart). Also the PDF of this chart can be downloaded here. ]

Ok gentle readers, one last chart for the hopper before you all begin to think of me as some kind of random table obsessive. (I rolled a “6” on a d6 before deciding to post by the way.) I promise that the next post will feature another Vancian creature write-up; off-the-wall variant class; throw-away rant about the inherent superiority of the Holmesian five-fold alignment or the like.

Here's a version of yesterday's tables modified to work with the economic-tweaks James Raggi slips into Lamentations of the Flame Princess. His price lists haven't received as much hooting and hollering as his heavily-flavored magic system and character classes (or hell even his encumbrance rules), but they should. With weapons, armor, and mounts (available to all classes) fetching some hefty prices and retainers and buildings conversely lower ones, the economics subtly steer players' choices in interesting directions at lower levels. The distinction between urban and rural costs seem to do the same. (“Rats, to get that suit of chain mail looks like we're going to have to hump all the way back to Carcosa.”)

There's definitely an implied feel in the text of the boxed set—and certainly a bit more explicit in Raggi's brilliantly-written adventures--that the lives of PCs in such a setting are destined to be short, spectacular affairs. All the more reason for my tweakage in anticipation of my own Skype mini-campaign.

Modifiers for Armor and Weapon rolls
-1 if starting in a rural area
+1 for each level character starts over 1st

Class-based equipment
Fighter, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling: +1 on any weapon table
Cleric: Iron holy symbol
Magic User: Spellbook
Specialist: Specialist's tool

Chart A: Armor (Roll d6)
1,2,3,4,5 Leather
6,7,8 Chain*
9 or more Plate
*-2 on all others rolls if 1st level.

Chart B: Melee Weapon (Roll d6)
1 Garrote, Cestus
2 Minor weapons, Spear, Staff
3, 4 Small weapons, Rapier, Whip
5 Medium weapons, Mancatcher
6 Great weapons, Polearm
7 or more Roll twice or pick minor silver weapon

Chart C: Missile Weapons (Roll d6)
1 None
2,3 Sling, Dart (x3), Blowgun
4,5 Short Bow
6 Long Bow, Light Crossbow
7 or more Heavy Crossbow
(one free batch of ammo assumed)

Adventure Packs (Pick one)
All packs come with backpack, two small sacks, bedroll, water skin, tinderbox, and one week of iron rations
Pack A (10 oil flasks, lantern, shovel, two caltrops, whistle)
Pack B (10 torches, 10 pieces of chalk/charcoal, blank scroll, mirror, crowbar)
Pack C (five torches, five oil flasks, 60 ft. rope, grappling hook, wooden pole)

Extra cash (Roll d6)
1
5 gold pieces
2,3
10 gp
4
15 gp
5
20 gp
6
30 gp
7 60 gp
8 120 gp
9 250 gp

5 comments:

  1. Cool stuff Chris. One of my pet peeves is characters feeling 'entitled' to starting out with the standard 3d8x10 gp and having a mini arsenal and banded mail to start. More realistic would be that they are starting out the son/daughter of farmers or peasants and try and become adventurers. (how about - Padded armor, a shovel and 50' rope! go at it!) Besides its fun scrounging and picking up spears and arrows off of dead Orcs..

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  2. Great stuff! Thank you!

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  3. @Scaly
    I am not surprisingly in total agreement. I like the fact LotFP makes a player get leaner and meaner in their search for typically mundane equipment at lower levels. LL went this direction too, but LotFP with it's 120 gp chainmail and 3d6x10 gp is a step beyond.

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  4. You might want to add a tinderbox and flint and steel to the above kits, they have no way to light those torches and oil flasks ...

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  5. Ah but that's the brilliance of the system, they have oil but no means to make it usable.

    Seriously, I caught that a few months back and it's corrected (along with a few other things) on the downloadable PDF.

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