Post by cartomancer on Feb 12, 2011 9:42:58 GMT -5
Tunnels and Trolls is a game of fantasy heroics, of the brave and burly staring down dragons and walking dramatically away from hellbomb bursts in dramatic slo-mo... Or is it?? ;D
I mean sure enough, it's the acts of bravery that get recorded for prosperity and the propeganda purposes of the delvers guilds but, as Monty Python taught us, not all knights are fearless and, often fearless knights have a screw loose (flesh wounds anyone)
So in comes the defective delvers house rule, turning the tables on the talents system in 7.x to create some more "well rounded" delvers.
How it works
Everytime a delver gains a new talent by gaining a level, they also gain a defect in an appropriate related attribute (explained below) that adds a negative influence to a SR whenever it comes into play.
Whilst a new talent adds it's bonus to the appropriate attribute when being used, defects minus thier value (still determined by the roll of 1D6) from the attribute when a SR is being made.
There's even a sort of psuedo-science to just how defective you are. That is when you choose your new talent refer to the list below and choose a defect in the appropriate related attribute:
A Talent in STR = A Defect in DEX (Bulls and Rhinos are not noted for thier co-ordination).
A Talent in DEX = A Defect in INT ("Muscle Memory" means you think less).
A Talent in INT = A Defect in WIZ (The more you know, the less you believe).
A Talent in WIZ = A Defect in CHR (The more commited you are to your own ideals, the less open you are to the ideas and oppinions of others).
A Talent in CHR = A Defect in SPD (The brave and influential do far less running... They have other people do it for them).
A Talent in SPD = A Defect in STR (Think of this as the performance athlete vs body builder).
A Talent in CON = A Defect in CON (A resistance to a poison or condition usually comes at the cost of some physical hardship).
Bravery Points
It is up to the GM to enforce any defects the players have (as no hero likes to admit they have failings) but, if a player reminds the GM of their defect before the dice are rolled they may net themselves some Bravery Points (also known as sucking it up).
The Bravery points earned are equal to the total of the SR and for every 100 earned, any defect may be reduced by 1 or a defect with a value of -1 may be written off.
GM's Fiat: That Just Isn't Bad Enough!
If the GM determines that the player has tried to pull a fast one at the point of choosing thier defect (it'll have little to no impact on the character) then they may declare "That Just Isn't Bad Enough!".
If the player cannot justify their descision to the GM in terms of impact (and GM's should as always be fair with this) then the value of the defect is 3D6 instead of 1D6!
So players, be brave in your defects or it could get a heck of a lot worse!!
Impact
Impact as mentioned above refers to just how often a defect will kick in as opposed to just how bad it is. For example, being obnoxious isn't the worst thing in the world (not pleasant but certainly not life threatening) but, would have a high impact as nearly every social situation requires a certain level of grace that this character lacks.
Being scared of dragons however is really low impact as unless in your game everone is a dragon (which would make it high-impact) because it's both natural to fear something with that many teeth that probably wants to eat you and, there probably aren't that many dragons around... Probably.
