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Post by gamepunk26 on Feb 29, 2008 2:51:48 GMT -5
The eternal question. This is the most work you will do as a GM for T&T. Monster Ratings are hard to figure out when you first start with the game. I use 6th ed. and they have a good formula to follow in the rulebook.
Add up all of your party's dice. Multiply by 3.5. Add to this the party adds. Try to match your monster rating to this number. Multiply the dice for your monster(s) by 3.5 and add the combat adds from the MR.
If this number is within 10 or so, the MR is perfect for a tough fight. Add or subtract to make it tougher or easier. You should know what each delvers CON and armor are so that you can jimmy the numbers if need be.
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Fenris
5th Level Troll
Weapon Hand Severed!
Posts: 614
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Post by Fenris on Feb 29, 2008 9:12:55 GMT -5
Adding to what Gamepunk said:
Depending on your nature of "how things work" as GM, monsters may or may not have magic (or at least, not as often as the PCs). Since the PCs typically will have magic, this gives them an advantage over many monster encounters. For this reason, you can keep the monster encounters equal (or even a little bit higher) than the PCs... this is doubly true if you use the system where as monster MRs drop, so do their combat abilities. In that case, after a spell or two hits (or even an arrow, for that matter), the monster MR will drop, giving the PCs an advantage.
In earlier editions of T&T, the monsters only got 1/2 their MR in adds in the first round of combat... on second and subsequent turns, they only got 1/4. That was a great value to the GM because the monsters scored higher attacks on the first round, giving the players a sense that they were in serious danger... but in the following round the fight got easier (the trick was surviving the first round!).
Regarding Orc MRs: Read the section on Adventure Points, and you'll see a reference to Orcs being rated at 20. The only place where I recall actually seeing Orcs rated at 40 was in Ken's sample monster list from his Gristlegrim dungeon... and he's pretty clear in the rulebook that the monster list he offers is merely intended as a starting point, but determining appropriate MRs for your monsters is up to you. For what it's worth, if anything, my Orcs/Thugs have MRs of 20, giving them essentially the value of a first level human with a sword and maybe a few points of skill bonus. An exceptional Orc (Uruk-hai?) might have an MR of 40, however.
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Fenris
5th Level Troll
Weapon Hand Severed!
Posts: 614
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Post by Fenris on Feb 29, 2008 12:14:01 GMT -5
If you want to be really unbalancing, just play a dragon. It's fun!! You really need to order a copy of Monsters! Monsters! from "that guy", Lion. I suspect you would love it!
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Post by apeloverage on Feb 29, 2008 18:45:46 GMT -5
Just in passing-your Mice have a higher CON than your Cats and actually look evenly matched in a fight, two Mice could take one Cat decisively to the cleaners...those stats wouldn't be for the Rats from NIMH, perchance? ;D They're meant to be like in the Narnia books, where talking animals are closer to human-sized than the real species - so cats would probably be human-sized, mice and owls would be like dwarves or hobbits, bears would probably be about their real size etc. Both cats and mice are supposed to be 'dashing swordsman' types, I suppose mice tending towards good and cats towards evil.
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horsa
2nd Level Troll
Posts: 61
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Post by horsa on Feb 29, 2008 20:44:08 GMT -5
Like the animals in the Narnia books, eh? I like that. I wonder how they would work for Redwall. The animals in those books all seem to be their usual sizes, although they use tools and weapons, so I'm not always sure. I'm also not sure to what degree their anatomy has been anthropomorphized. Still I don't see why T&T mechanics couldn't be used to run an all animal world if one wanted.
Simple game mechanics give a lot of room for creative freedom. a lot less need to get caught up in making all the details of teh rules fit.
MR ratings are always a tough one. The best solution I have found for testing them is one of the online T&T combat simulators. Just plug in the numbers and run a test fight to see what happens. Some clever players can handle much tougher challenges than the numbers would suggest, conversly even the weakest monsters can be tough under the right circumstances. I still shudder at the memory of the kolbolds in tree houses. That was the last time I went adventuring without a missile weapon.
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Fenris
5th Level Troll
Weapon Hand Severed!
Posts: 614
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Post by Fenris on Mar 1, 2008 11:27:30 GMT -5
I'm also not sure to what degree their anatomy has been anthropomorphized. I'm still trying to figure that comment out, horsa, but there's a part of me that isn't sure I want to!
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Post by gamepunk26 on Mar 1, 2008 13:44:38 GMT -5
Horsa made a good point. Make sure your players understand that this is a narrative combat system. The delvers have 2 minutes with which to work in a T&T round. If they choose to go charging in against every monster, one of them will eventually get them because it is just too tough. If they fail to notice the little trick you have set up for them to easily slay the monster through thought and creativity, they will be dead. I am still striggling with this with my current players. Though they have had a few moments, they seem to think thet "Charge!!" is the best tactic. They recently got slapped around by a vampiric demon that drained one of the party members dry and then proceeded to toss them into a freezing underground lake. It was bad, but they had a globe of daylight that would have slain the monster out right. They didn't stop to think.
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horsa
2nd Level Troll
Posts: 61
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Post by horsa on Mar 1, 2008 19:46:46 GMT -5
I'm also not sure to what degree their anatomy has been anthropomorphized. I'm still trying to figure that comment out, horsa, but there's a part of me that isn't sure I want to! Made human-like. Like Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse
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Post by castiglione on Mar 26, 2008 16:50:09 GMT -5
I'm still trying to figure that comment out, horsa, but there's a part of me that isn't sure I want to! Made human-like. Like Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse Since Narnia is the inspiration, that's probably going a wee too far. Think actual animals but bipedal and with hands with opposable thumbs (some of the animals on that list, like mice, have hands but no thumbs in real life). Where're are the stats for beavers?
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Post by castiglione on Mar 26, 2008 16:56:33 GMT -5
A follow-up question: why are monsters so powerful? An orc is suggested to have an MR of 40, which is 5d + 20 in combat; a lowly goblin with an MR of 30 has 4d + 15. Both of these seem more powerful than a 1st level human. Is that intentional? I would have thought that an orc would be about on par with a man, and a goblin somewhat lesser. Like everyone said, those were guidelines, and certainly aren't set in stone. Orcs in T & T can run the gamut from MR 10 (2d + 5!) which are probably something like an anemic snaga to something with a bit more oomph like an MR 40 Uruk-hai. Nothing is set in stone. There's little "standardization". And the same variability applies to all monsters. One goblin might be the classic "mook" or "nuisance creature" and another one might be a green cuisinart which slice and dices and is really, really hungry. It's up to the GM to describe the monster to give the players a fair assessment of the threat level it represents and allow them to make some sort of informed decision (fight, run, negotiate, etc.).
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Post by apeloverage on Mar 28, 2008 11:22:15 GMT -5
Where're are the stats for beavers? That's actually surprisingly difficult. I'd think of them as having a positive modifier to INT and DEX - but that would make them more likely to be able to use magic, and in Narnia they're very much non-magical 'craftsmen' types aren't they? Maybe they'd be the 'gnomes' of the game world: they can't use magic, but they have better technology (eg they might be the only ones who can use crossbows).
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