Yeah, I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s a way to sensibly organize and reference all of the tables, and have yet to settle on one. Right now my thinking is to reprint each book’s tables at the back of that book, and include the DETAILS tables in every book, so you can always turn to the back of each book to find what you’re looking for (in addition to including all of the tables on printable play aids, of course).
Freebooters on the Frontier 2e Discussion
1 Like
Questions for @jexjthomas and anyone else who has put in a fair amount of playtime:
- How are you finding wilderness travel? Too tedious?
- Do you find the Incident tables (Mishap, Obstacle, Hazard) a help or a hindrance?
- Do the moves Lead the Retreat and Stay Sharp get any use?
Among the changes I am currently planning to make:
- Increase safety modifiers by 1 across the board (to safe +3, unsafe +2, dangerous +1, perilous +0), in order to reduce the potential for downward spirals.
- Increase Forage reward from 1d4/1d4 to 1d4+1/1d4+1.
- Add ability score damage to Pass the Night for anyone that does not get a night of restful sleep (player chooses any ability except Luck).
- Change how Craft works to the following:
CRAFT
When you spend one week making something, you must first convince the Judge you have the skills to do so, and gather the necessary supplies. The cost of supplies and the time it will take to craft the item in question are determined by the market value of the item (use the Marketplace price list for comparison):
Supply cost = market value/2 (round up)
Time = market value/20 (round up)
When you’re ready to get to work, roll…
…+STR if it requires brute strength
…+DEX if it requires a delicate touch
…+INT if it requires intense focus
…+WIS if it requires good intuition
On a 10+, mark 2 time, +1 if you burn 1 point of the ability used; on a 7-9, mark 1 time, +1 if you burn 1 point of the ability used; on a 6-, mark the ability used, and the Judge makes a move.
When you mark the last time, the item is complete and you may add it to your gear.
1 Like
Re tables - to be clear — the problem I have is finding sub tables.
1 Like
Ah, I see what you mean now, apologies. I was going to say that on the DETAILS page the subtables are presented in alphabetical order, but you’re talking more about how to navigate the hierarchy.
1 Like
My table enjoys it. I guess my biggest struggle is wishing there were more guidance on how to designate “legs.” Too many legs and it does get tedious, and I think explicitly requiring some kind of scene to play out between legs is useful. This generally works out, since if you roll poorly, you’re going to have to deal with something, and you roll well you can keep company, but it’s not always satisfying. I have to think on this a bit more, but to be clear we haven’t had any major issues at the table.
I like them, but do think they need some work. It’s not always easy for me to translate the results I’ve rolled into an actual event/encounter. I struggled most with this when trying to create urban encounters (your suggestion–and ultimate codification–of using settlement events was a good one), but I’ve had difficulty in wilderness travel as well. I wonder if maybe a table of example/pre-made encounters by region (referenced at the end of the book, rather than there on the page) could be included as well? So then you can roll up your own or just use some pre-made ones. You could even use some sourced from the community (wink wink).
We’ve used Lead the Retreat a number of times. Stay Sharp–never. Well, maybe once. Mostly we just forget about it, but I don’t think the trigger is super well-defined. Or rather, I think it needs to be more active, rather than reactive (kind of more like Scout in DW I guess?). This is actually the same problem I have with Check Reaction and Check Morale. The PCs aren’t actually doing anything to trigger the moves, not really.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I actually wonder if those moves can’t be reconfigured as 1.) optional, and 2.) die of fate or fortune rolls a la Blades in the Dark etc. For both Check Reaction and Check Morale I’ve consistently gotten the feedback from my table that they “feel like something the GM is supposed to be figuring out, not the players,” so maybe framing it explicitly as a way to disclaim decision making rather than codified moves that the players are meant to be using could clarify things considerably.
I’m thinking they could look more like this (borrowing some wording from BitD since I’m at work and don’t have a lot of mental bandwidth atm):
FORTUNE ROLL
When you need to make a determination about a situation the PCs aren’t directly involved in and don’t want to simply decide the outcome, or when an outcome is uncertain, but no other roll applies to the situation at hand, call on a volunteer to roll 2d6 + Nothing:
On a 10+, it’s a good result; on 7-9, it’s mixed; on 6-, things go bad.
Optional Moves Based on the Fortune Roll would be Check Morale, Check Reaction, and Stay Sharp.
I actually toyed with the idea of having it be 1d6 instead (same as BitD but without the Critical, since there’s no dice pool–6 = good, 4 or 5 = mixed, 3- = bad), but that skews the curve maybe a little too much. And BitD is never actually just 1d6–even on fortune rolls you can add ratings. I do like the idea of it being slightly different than the regular move structure though, to make it stand out and feel different. Maybe there’s a way to do this that makes sense. Maybe there’s a way to add modifiers to fortune rolls, though I have no idea what that would look like, especially without making things more fiddly.
2 Likes
The new Craft looks good to me, though I’ll be honest that my table doesn’t really use it a whole lot.
Re: tables, I think reprinting at the back of the book is a good idea, and that certain tables are included in each book.
1 Like
With the fortune rolls, I feel like I’m wanting to capture of the feel of D&D when the GM just has you roll a d20 (or other die) to see what happens, maybe for a random encounter, or whatever else. It always feels a little exciting, like this is something the GM should be deciding but I’m doing it instead–my luck is in my hands! As opposed to it being in the rules that it’s the PC that rolls it. I specifically like the idea of it being disclaimed decision making rather than a traditional move.
3 Likes
We’ve enjoyed wilderness travel. I make unique encounter tables (per your own examples) for each area and keep it stocked with novel entries that keep my players (and myself) on their toes. Here’s one example.
I also try and use the wilderness travel as ways for players to contribute slice-of-life narration into the game. If they roll and finish a leg with nothing major, I’ll ask about something they see, frame a scene between two (or more) characters that might have some beef to settle after the last adventure, etc. Sometimes I borrow from 13th Age, and ask a player about something troublesome that happens along this leg, and ask the player to the right to explain how they dealt with it.
I don’t think I’ve ever used the stock Incident tables, but they have provided some inspiration or, at least, a springboard for working on the unique entries on my own encounter tables. I don’t use a table
for mishaps, though. I usually just pick something the group has previously highlighted as a concern (“This surly donkey is going to be a pain in the butt, I bet!”) or I just ask them what goes wrong.
I use Stay Sharp on just about every Set Out move. I ask about marching orders and who is responsible for being on look-out. Instead of just using it for whether creatures ambush or not, I also use it to determine whether a Hazard is announced with a soft or hard judge move (see the flash flood coming or get stuck right in the heart of it) or, if I’m feeling charitable, if they perhaps spot something they wanted to keep an eye out for along the way but isn’t their destination.
Lead the Retreat has been used once when they got in over their heads. I think having a move in this vein is good, as part of OSR-type play is running from stuff that isn’t always beat-able. I do wish it was more of an… active (?) roll. Instead of just giving +1’s, it did something to change the scene or how the scene was framed.
This leads me to wonder if the game might benefit from some clarification on group rolls / group activities. Like, if the group decides to make a retreat, the person in the worst position makes the Retreat roll; or the person who takes the lead rolls and suffers the brunt of the consequences. I’ve seen this in several PbtA and FitD games, and really appreciate the clarification and don’t feel like I need every player rolling.
I like the current odds–feels spicy–and wonder if you might create ways for the adventurers to improve their odds (+1 for a detailed map, a knowledgeable local guide, the blessing of the Forest Spirits, etc).
The rest of the suggested changes sound good!
5 Likes
Thanks for the feedback, @buffalo, I really appreciate it. Nice to hear how you handle things at your table, and I love your regional encounter repertoire!
I’m glad you brought up the question of how to handle group rolls. I’ve been meaning to add an explanation to the playtest rules, and will do so for the next update.
2 Likes
@jasonlutes
I have a question about The Invoke move for clerics. This is the second time playing with leveled PCs and this move came up. The PC rolls a 4 and we get to this Judge move: “Exemplify: take -1 ongoing to Invoke until you satisfy your tenet.”
Where is the tenet defined? Do you mean “Cause?”
Yes! The Cleric’s religious aspects have gone through several iterations, and I failed to update that move. Doing so now. It should read:
Exemplify: take -1 ongoing to Invoke until you advance your cause
2 Likes
I hope everyone is doing okay out there in our strange new world.
If you are stuck inside and bored, perhaps you’ll feel inclined take the new dungeon creation guidelines for a spin. I recently uploaded them (as part of the Overland & Underworld pdf) to the playtest folder.
5 Likes
Oh, this is very exciting news!
Are there any major updates to any of the other booklets?
Oh good stuff!
I was thinking of running a pbp via slack for my friends. (fond memories of a pbp with @jexjthomas a couple of years ago). I’ll definitely use these new rules.
1 Like
- Safety has been changed to +3/+2/+1/+0, and the CREATURE table has been updated to reflect this.
- CRAFT has been rewritten (as described above in thread).
- FORAGE has been altered to deliver more rations.
- MAKE CAMP and PASS THE NIGHT have been tweaked in terms of how ability point damage occurs.
My next project is to write magic item name generation tables that work like the spell name generation tables.
4 Likes
Oh wow, the dungeon tables are incredible!
2 Likes
Agreed. This is all looking really great. I liked the old method a lot in theory, but it also resulted in way more rolling than was necessary. This seems like a great approach to both pre-planned and on-the-fly dungeons. Can’t wait to roll one up.
Looking over these changes and have a couple questions and a comment:
So on Forage you mark Wisdom no matter which ability you used? Or is that a typo? I’m also not actually seeing the change here; should it be more than 1d4?
The changes to Make Camp and Pass the Night are great. Much clearer, imo.
Whoops, exported the wrong file, thanks for the catch, jex. I’ve updated it.
Forage now reads:
FORAGE
When you spend a day seeking food in the wild, roll…
…+DEX to do it stealthily
…+INT to recall useful knowledge
…+WIS to intuit the best spots
On a 10+, gain 1d4+1 rations, plus another 1d4+1 rations if you have the gear to hunt or trap; on a 7-9, the 10+ result applies, but you must first deal with an incident ; on a 6-, mark the ability used, and the Judge makes a move.
1 Like
Thanks!
Further clarification of something I’ve meant to ask for a while, because the language is unclear. In the Marketplace “Rations” has 5 uses; however, in other place, such as when discussing “consuming a ration” it seems clear this is referring to one use, correct? And so here, are you gaining 1d4+1 uses of rations, or 1d4+1 rations with five uses each? I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but feel like while it’s on my mind might as well ask for clarification.
Additionally, it might be good to spell this out in Make Camp and Forage (possibly other places? can’t recall)
1 Like