Unhallowed and Changeling

[nik]

Hello!

Does anyone know if the information on the Changeling and Unhallowed settings is still available? I am getting my group ready to play Mythus for the first time, and I would love to check out those other settings in case the group ends up doing some dimension hopping!

Thanks!

[Scott]

I'm sure I still have it saved somewhere. I'll post if I can find them.

[nik]

Hi, Scott!

That sounds great! Thanks!

Do you know if there are many people still interested in Dangerous Journeys?

[Scott]

Few and far between. I'll be forcing a DJ game on my group sooner or later.

[nik]

That was the impression I got. It's too bad, since the system is really neat, and the books are packed with information!

Have you run DJ for your group before? I'd love to hear what you thought of it if you have!

[foster1941]

I ran an ~18 month DJ campaign back in the 90s. My players all loved it - they loved all the flavor and detail, and how their characters were really powerful and heroic right from the start - but I eventually found all the record-keeping (for monsters and NPCs) to be too much of a burden. This was a game that really could have used a large database of pre-statted encounters and characters, because the ones in the books could only be re-skinned so many ways and creating new ones was a huge hassle. I still like the feel and flavor of the game and kept the books when I liquidated most of my rpg collection, but I don't think I could bring myself to run it again. So instead I took a bunch of my favorite stuff from it (like joss and knacks & quirks and spellsongs and buffoonery, and the Necropolis adventure) and converted it to AD&D, which sort of feels like the best of both worlds.

[GRWelsh]

I'd willingly play in a DJ game -- no force necessary. I don't have the rules, but I've always been curious about it. And I enjoyed the DJ novels I read: THE SAMARKAND SOLUTION and INFERNAL SORCERESS. I thought the setting of a mythical version of Earth (Aerth) was interesting and a sensible choice, since after all, aren't all fantasy worlds mythical versions of Earth to a certain extent? Why not just make use of real world history, then, and overlay with fantasy?

[Scott]

I would like to run Necropolis using DJ someday.

[nik]

Apr 26, 2017 18:39:42 GMT -5 foster1941 said:

I ran an ~18 month DJ campaign back in the 90s. My players all loved it - they loved all the flavor and detail, and how their characters were really powerful and heroic right from the start - but I eventually found all the record-keeping (for monsters and NPCs) to be too much of a burden. This was a game that really could have used a large database of pre-statted encounters and characters, because the ones in the books could only be re-skinned so many ways and creating new ones was a huge hassle. I still like the feel and flavor of the game and kept the books when I liquidated most of my rpg collection, but I don't think I could bring myself to run it again. So instead I took a bunch of my favorite stuff from it (like joss and knacks & quirks and spellsongs and buffoonery, and the Necropolis adventure) and converted it to AD&D, which sort of feels like the best of both worlds.

That makes a lot of sense. The system definitely seems to have a lot of things to keep players interested and busy, but running the game probably takes a lot of preparation and planning! A database of encounters, like you say, would be amazing!

That is really cool that you converted stuff to AD&D! I was thinking that, at the very least, the Mythus books make an excellent reference for clarifying some ambiguous aspects of Lejendary Adventures or adding some extra detail. LA really seems like a simplified form of DJ, and I am thinking about using information from the LA bestiary to develop encounters for Mythus.

When you were running DJ, were you using the majority of the rules, or were there some that you found too cumbersome in play? Did you use the simplified armor rules? Also, were you running the game for a large group? I am used to having about 3 players when running AD&D or Lejendary Adventures, but I might end up having twice that when we play Mythus! 

[foster1941]

I used the full set of rules (well, almost - none of the PCs were full practitioners so some parts of the magic system never came into play, but I didn't intentionally simplify or ignore anything). I had a group of 4-6 players (3 who came to every session and 3 who were more irregular). We spent the entire first session generating characters, and then I followed the advice in the book and had a brief one-on-one with each player to determine their characters' backgrounds and set some plot-hooks. Our second group session we started with the "Galley Slaves" adventure in the book (which, FWIW, I don't really like) and spent about 2 sessions on it. Then we had a wide-ranging series of adventures most of which I made up but IIRC I also used a couple of things from Journeys magazine. That lasted about a year, and is where I got burned out. Finally, I started running Necropolis, which filled the last couple months of the campaign and was billed as the "grand finale." We were running out of time and I wanted to be sure to get to the Tomb so I ended up skipping most of the Temple of Osiris part and they delved into the Tomb in an all-night marathon session. They never found the secret door that led to the third section of the tomb and IIRC ended up hopelessly lost in one of the series of endlessly-replicating illusion rooms.

[nik]

That sounds like a really cool game, although the ending seems unfortunate! Thanks for all that information! Galley Slaves does seem odd since the adventure separates the characters from all the cool background stuff they get at creation. I am reading through Necropolis right now, and it seems like a very cool adventure!

If you don't mind me pestering you with more questions...

Do you feel that the one-on-one games were a good way to go? How did combat work out in play? Is it pretty risky for the characters?

Thanks!

[foster1941]

I didn't run actual formal one-on-one adventures, I just had a between-session chat with each of the players where we discussed their background and came up with some goals and plot-hooks for them. I thought it worked out really well, and added a lot of depth to the second part of the campaign - one of the character's former mentor became a major villain, and I was able to work in other elements as well. It was a very different approach than what I use in D&D - where we get the action started as soon as possible and everything about the character develops through play - but it suited the game. When we started play each player already had what felt like a pretty fully developed character, like a D&D character who's already worked up to around 5th or 6th level (which is also about what their capabilities felt like - their ability to cast spells, successfully use their skills, combat ability, etc.). I'm sure it would be overwhelming to new players, but all of my players were experienced vets and liked that they were instantly "high level" and didn't have to go through a gauntlet of fighting kobolds and giant rats for copper and silver pieces.

It's been long enough that I don't really remember many specifics about combat, except that in play it moved more quickly and smoothly, and seemed more like AD&D, than is apparent from reading the book. One thing I remember is that characters have a ton of hit points even right at the beginning, so it seems like they'd be invulnerable, but the critical hit system can eat away at them very quickly - a single hit doing 50+ points of damage was pretty common. I remember that hits were more common but some of them wouldn't, or would barely, penetrate armor, so characters and monsters got worn down at about the same rate as AD&D combat, counting the PCs as characters around 6-8th level - which is to say most combats would last a half-dozen or so rounds and take maybe a half-hour to play through at the table.