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Post by d4caltrops on Dec 18, 2019 12:36:12 GMT -5
I'm a relative newcomer to T&T, still discovering the game and which adventures are my favorites.
What's your essential [d]T&T bookshelf? Which adventures, rules editions, supplements, etc.?
To make it interesting, maybe top 5?
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Piper
4th Level Troll
Posts: 377
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Post by Piper on Dec 18, 2019 13:11:07 GMT -5
I'm a relative newcomer to T&T, still discovering the game and which adventures are my favorites. What's your essential [d]T&T bookshelf? Which adventures, rules editions, supplements, etc.? To make it interesting, maybe top 5?
I'm a relative newcomer to the game myself, but I'm happy to offer my opinion. I'm assuming you own dT&T, but my answer wouldn't change if it's a different edition.
1. Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes (MSPE): will allow you a great range of adventure choices. Keep in mind, however, your average "Sam Spade" gumshoe is fairly brittle in comparison to a TnT wizard or warrior.
2. Monsters! Monsters! (M!M! or MM): gives info for creating monstrous player-characters. The idea is to protect your dungeon from the human invaders, but it also works just for including alternate types in your campaign.
3. Trollgod's Terrible Twenty: a monster manual for TnT. It's much more fun to create your own creatures, but TTT will give you an idea of setting Monster Ratings and also just give some fun examples for your own tunnel complexes.
4. Grimtooth's Traps (various volumes, up to six or seven I think): some great puzzlers to add to your tunnels. Seriously, some of these are real corkers!
5. Race Spellbooks (various volumes): Ken St. Andre has published spellbooks for the various races such as elves and dwarves. It's fun to have some specialized magic for your campaign.
I hope this helps!
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Post by gaptooth on Dec 18, 2019 14:51:08 GMT -5
For me, the essentials are: 1. The 5th edition rulebook: Everything you need to run your first session is covered in just a few pages. The rest, you can pore over at your leisure for inspiration and ideas for special cases. 2. The 1st edition rules: This one is harder to piece together exactly how to play, but the contrasts between this and later editions make it very interesting. 3. Monsters! Monsters!: This game takes the 4th edition T&T engine and adds a diverse array of monsters, their special abilities, and how to win adventure points for indulging their monstrous appetites. 4. The fiction mentioned in the rules, especially the Swords novels by Fritz Leiber and the weird tales of Conan by Robert Howard. Tolkien is essential too, but his work is part of the popular imagination already. Crucially, Tolkien's fantasy doesn't cover one of the central conceits of T&T (and OD&D) the way these sword and sorcery stories do: Namely, the lust for treasure and looting forgotten places.
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Post by mgtremaine on Dec 18, 2019 16:48:03 GMT -5
Good one....
1) T&T 5th Edition Rule Book
2) Complete Dungeon of the Bear (GM Adventure)
3) Arena of Khazan Solo 12
4) TrollZine 1 (Dare to Daro is in there but really get all the TrollZines)
5) Sorcerer's Apprentice #13 (Elaboration for T&T is in there Roy Cram Spite Damage) (But again get them all)
-Mike
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Post by bigjackbrass on Dec 19, 2019 1:03:13 GMT -5
You have all the rules you need and I find that adventures are very much a matter of personal choice, so I'll suggest Flying Buffalo's Citybook series, still one of the finest collections of urban locations and characters, which will give you endless material for adventures of your own.
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Post by ProfGremlin on Dec 19, 2019 7:20:20 GMT -5
Hi, d4caltrops ! Great user name! Welcome to the TrollBridge! My dream has always been to collect T&T 5.5th ed, Monsters! Monsters! and Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes into a single volume and find a way to reconcile the differences amongst the three and account for scalability and approach, e.g. the lethality of firearms in MSPE vs. T&T, etc. A single comprehensive volume which I can pull out and ask my players, "How do you want to do this?" and cover any era they may want to delve in. Beyond that, as bigjackbrass points out, the adventures are largely a matter of interest and opinion. So, instead I'll point you towards this thread: Authors & books that make you think of T&T for some setting and flavor elements. There's also the T&T Viewing List and Favorite Movie Combat Scenes. Beyond the mechanics of the rules, T&T is as much a style-of-play as well as a setting which evokes a particular feel. Those three threads should help with that.
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Post by gaptooth on Dec 19, 2019 15:38:54 GMT -5
Sadly, it seems the linked videos in the "Favorite Movie Combat Scenes" thread are no longer available. But that's in the same vein as the #4 on my list: Filling our brains full of adventure imagery—from literature, comics, movies, even music—is way more enriching for my play than more rules and setting info.
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Post by zanshin on Dec 20, 2019 1:36:00 GMT -5
Welcome to the Bridge, great questions!
1) 5.5e T&T - The original 5th is one of the best rulebooks ever written for a roleplaying game. I think that the innovations of spite damage and a spell casting attribute (Wizardry or Power) are worth the 0.5 addendum 2) Sword for Hire - T&T made its name with solo adventures. This is one of the very best, and really encapsulates the T&T vibe for me. 3) City of Terrors solo - one of the biggest solo adventures. Loads of depth 4) Trollszines - free, and packed with loads of stuff. Most is written by posters on Trollbridge 5) Monsters Monsters - T&T was the first to go there, well before Vampire the Masquerade landed.
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unclecranky
5th Level Troll
(mutter...grumble)
Posts: 657
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Post by unclecranky on Dec 21, 2019 19:04:26 GMT -5
Hi, d4caltrops, here's a good additional list: 1) The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein, 2) The Lord of the Rings, by same, 3) Origins Of Marvel Comics, by Stan Lee, 4) Son of Origins of Marvel Comics, by same, 5) The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. Needless to say, that's in addition to, not apart from, the suggestions above. And now we've ordered all your reading for a year solid... Check out all the Trollbridge! Tons of traps, spells, items, ideas, and monsters (and some of them won't even give you lists) here!
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Post by d4caltrops on Dec 21, 2019 22:13:10 GMT -5
Thank you all! These are all great lists. And thank you for the welcome as well. Long time lurker, first time poster. I introduced a player brand new to RPGs to dT&T tonight using Sword for Hire. That was a great suggestion, zanshin! I forgot all about the mini-rules in Lair of the Silver Serpent! I'll see if I can rustle up a party of adventurers using that. Cheers all, please keep 'em coming if anyone else has top 5s!
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Post by mgtremaine on Dec 22, 2019 10:30:46 GMT -5
Sword for Hire is a great adventure.. I used it myself when introduce my son to RPG also. I posted maps to it somewhere on the bridge so it can be easily run as a GM adventure.
-Mike
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Post by ProfGremlin on Dec 22, 2019 17:46:18 GMT -5
I posted maps to it somewhere on the bridge so it can be easily run as a GM adventure. Those maps and a slew of others were cataloged over here: Free Online Map Sources
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Post by zanshin on Dec 23, 2019 10:20:00 GMT -5
Thank you all! These are all great lists. And thank you for the welcome as well. Long time lurker, first time poster. I introduced a player brand new to RPGs to dT&T tonight using Sword for Hire. That was a great suggestion, zanshin! I forgot all about the mini-rules in Lair of the Silver Serpent! I'll see if I can rustle up a party of adventurers using that. Cheers all, please keep 'em coming if anyone else has top 5s! Great to have you posting. Glad Sword for Hire worked out for you; such good fun.
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jeffb
2nd Level Troll
Posts: 66
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Post by jeffb on Dec 23, 2019 11:45:28 GMT -5
Possibly the greatest thing about T&T, for me- Is that it is a "one and done" type of deal. I don't feel a need for anything outside of the core book (of whatever T&T edition you prefer). That's a wonderful thing and completely the opposite of the vast majority of RPGs, where we are beat over the head with additional rules, and supplements, and adventure paths and balh blah blah. It's a framework and RPG construction kit for the GM, much like S&W:Whitebox is for OD&D-esque play. Grab your dice, this book and go. Enjoy the lean-ness of T&T That said- I really enjoyed Sorcerer's Apprentice back when I had a sub, and I'd also throw in Complete Dungeon of the Bear.
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Post by peterpanda on Dec 24, 2019 8:52:34 GMT -5
Hello -
Great thread and some great suggestions. I'm going to restrict myself to just T&T products (or Catalyst) that I have heavily used over the years, both as a GM and as a player. There's nothing wrong with using other sources (which I do as well) and I agree with almost every suggestion made thus far. I'm also cheating by making my list go to 10. There will be duplication from previously posted lists:
1. T&T 5th Edition. I started with 4th but it was 5th that inspired me - it made for the perfect balance of playability vs. rules.
2. Buffalo Castle. I first played it with a GM running me through it and it is this flexibility that makes it a great tool for learning the rules and discovering the fun in T&T.
3. Dungeon Of The Bear (1-3). Excellent GM adventure that I ran with my first group.
4. Citybooks. All are excellent sources for inspiration.
5. Grimtooth's Traps. Diabolical inspiration.
6. Deathtrap Equalizer. The solitaire that showed me just how expansive gaming can be.
7. Uncle Ugly's Underground. Had a lot of fun GMing this one.
8. Monsters! Monsters! Play the "other side" and get perspective and fun at the same time.
9. City of Terrors. Expansive city-based adventure.
10. Sword for Hire/Blue Frog Tavern/Sorcerer's Solitaire (3-way tie). All fun and well-written solos.
Cheers -
Peter Panda
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