Female Lone Wolf on MSN

[crysis]

This is posted over at Project Aon, but thought for those who don't go there anymore, they might want the ability to check it out.

Basically, I've been running through the Lone Wolf books on MSN with someone who is new to Magnamund. There are couple differences between the gamebooks and my iterations.

For starters, Lone Wolf is a female in this version (as per my player's gender). Yes, you can thank me later for converting a member of the fairer sex to our obsession. She's absolutely in love with the series now. On a less practical level, this change has done some interesting things to the series and some of the character interactions.

Also, combat works much more in a freeflow format, like my old Legendary Fights, making them very entertaining to run and read.

I've adjusted many sections or stories to be more in-depth. In particular I've added a lot of political intrigue surrounding the Sommerlund throne and the nations in general. I've also increased the meaning of several relationships, most notably Banedon who is no longer just a chance meeting in the woods. Finally, the villains have been fleshed out quite a lot, including a reoccuring villain in the form of Parsion.

In any case, it's fun reading and it's great to see the excitement of someone reading sections like the Zagarna fight or first Helghast encounter for their first time. Brings back a lot of nostalgia. If you're interested in giving it a read, it is updated frequently here:

projectaon.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=auxiliary&thread=1730&page=1

[Simey]

Just had a quick look - at the early vordak fight to be precise - and it looks great! A very cool way for someone to find their way into Magnamund. Nice going!

And I've got to run a few D&D sessions for only two players starting tomorrow, and I'm struggling for ideas - you may have just inspired a solution....

By the way, whilst I understand Xex/Morgoth wanting to keep things simple for now in his game - and await the Multi-Player Gamebook - your rules for expanding LW combat that you posted over there (and which I assume you're using on this) are very cool. They make things more interesting by giving you decisions to make without making combat complicated and off-putting - I really like them.

[crysis]

Thank you for the praise!

The combat rules in their finalized format work really well for a single player run through of Lone Wolf and should actually fix all of the issues with ridiculous CS scores and what not. We only abandoned them in our playthrough because, ultimately, they are a carry on of the "automatic GM" that is necessary when you are playing the games solo. But when you've got an actual GM to run your adventure, it's much more fun to do combat as more of a free form process.

[Simey]

Inspired by this - and, okay, lacking anything else to run at the time - I started a run through FFtD using the LWRPG d20 rules with two Kai Lords. There was never one single last of the Kai - there were two! And there was never a Lone Wolf - there was Stubborn Bear and, er, One-Eyed Owl!

They've rescued Banedon from giaks so far. This evening: deeper into the forest!

[crysis]

One-Eyed Owl?! Ha ha ha ha!

Oh my god, that's hilarious.

It'll be cool if they survive long enough to make it to book 5 and you get to use the Darklands Supplement for Haakon's stats.

Just don't tell there's going to be two Sommerswerds. I think they'll have to fight over the blade.

[Simey]

Jan 25, 2010 15:25:22 GMT -5 crysis said:

Just don't tell there's going to be two Sommerswerds. I think they'll have to fight over the blade.

Firstly, the Sommerswerd is not going to bestow a +10 to hit and damage as per the LWRPG - didn't anyone learn the lessons of the over-powering problems in the gamebooks!? Secondly, the characters suit there being a magical bow to complement the sword, so I might do something like that. Or maybe they'll be forced to return the Sommerswerd after they've slain Zagarna - that might be an easy way out!

Tonight they spotted and scuppered a giak ambush, slept in the riuned charcoal-burners settlement of Fogwood, did well to take out the vordak with the raven - One-Eyed Owl is all about the psychic abilities, which proved essential for that - and then had a night's rest interrupted by the burrowcrawler, which they fled from rather than fight it. It's good fun!

[crysis]

I had never thought about the possibility of returning the Sommerswerd! Interesting idea. I always wondered why they gave the damn thing to Durenor in the first place.

In my version I increased the damage of the blade but not the CS, resulting in decent hits for Lone Wolf but a good chance she'll take damage, too. I still find the system a little unbalanced in her favour, but that's not really that bad for me. I don't actually WANT her to die... just to fear the possibility. Every so often I let her drop to 3 or 4 hit points to scare her and remind her she isn't a god.

If she really messes up, I do things like kill off friendly NPCs, hand her empty victories, or give her permanent stat damage.

But back to the Sommerswerd... it's a GM's worst nightmare, I tell ya. I have attached a story penalty to it for being such a recognizable blade. The idea is that she won't want to draw it except in dire circumstances, which has actually panned out pretty nicely thus far.

You have given me a good idea though. I think I'll make her return the blade after the Magnakai series. In return I'll probably let her forge her own Kai Weapon for use in the GM series. That will let me remove the devastating Sommerswerd while simultaneously allowing me to make the subtle changes behind the scenes that are necessary to balance out the horrendously unbalanced GM quests.