Introduction Greetings and welcome to GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: Gorefest Dungeon! Gorefest Dungeon is an old-school hack-and-slash dungeon crawl designed for three to five players and filled with lots of monsters, traps, puzzles and loot. It's our goal to provide a fun, interesting and challenging experience while sticking as close to the written word of the GURPS rules as possible. This, our third "season," will focus on making our video recorded sessions available to the public. We'll meet once weekly on a day and time to be determined. We generally play from autumn to spring, then take a break during spring and summer. Mission Statement Gorefest Dungeon's three-prong mission statement: 1. That everyone has fun while playing. 2. That we learn to better create fun and interesting challenges for a standard Dungeon Fantasy party of three to five delvers. 3. That we provide an entertaining and informative experience for a wide audience via a webpage, blog or vlog. All petitioners seeking a position as a player must agree to strive for the furtherance of Gorefest Dungeon's mission statement to the very best of their ability, and also to abide by all rulings and decisions made by a GM in regard to the game. Additionally, all petitioners pledge a strong dedication to be present on time for the entirety of each weekly session, giving advance warning when that is not possible , and to remain abreast of the game's state and news by checking the Roll20.net forums on regular occasion. Character Creation Rule #1: Do not attempt to create super munchkins to astound the most experienced GURPS scholar as I am trying to learn how to better balance combat encounters for wide appeal , so incredibly clever (i.e., terrible) builds won't help us fulfill the mission statement, which all petitioners pledged to support to the best of their ability . We don't need any "trip/dodge/parry/throw/stun monkey" builds. Save it for the gladiator arenas. Characters that are intentionally abusive and selfishly disruptive to other members' enjoyment of the game, including mine, will be disallowed. Instead of assembling rules and mechanics to create a character, first imagine the character, and then assemble the rules to fit that concept. Characters may be created using the character templates found in Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers and a selection of racial templates found in Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level using the standard 250 point budget with a -50/-5-point disadvantage limit. Please use GURPS Character Sheet (GCS) to design characters. Please follow the templates to the letter. If choosing a racial template from The Next Level , please make certain there is enough points in the character template to do so. See the Affording Racial Templates section on page 4 of The Next Level . You may follow the Skimping rules if needed. Allowed racial templates: Cat-Folks, Dark Ones, Dwarves, Elves, Faun, Gargoyles, Gnomes, Halflings, Half-Ogres, Half-Orcs, Minotaurs* and Wildmen. * The minotaur racial template is slightly different in Gorefest Dungeon than that in The Next Level , p. 14. Minotaurs have Extra HP 1 [2], Hooves [3], Social Stigma (Monster) [-15] and the feature: "Leg and feet armor isn’t interchangeable with human armor." It costs 30 points instead of 40. Teamwork is of vital importance in Gorefest Dungeon . Players should create characters with the intention of filling a crucial role in a well-balanced party. A well-balanced party is one that can overcome the widest variety of challenges. A party can be dominant in some areas and inefficient in others, but remember that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and if that chain is missing a link entirely, it's broken no matter what. We all know if the party is lacking melee or magic either one, it will fail, but there are a number of critical roles, or "niches" as Dungeon Fantasy likes to call them. Primarily among them are: Melee Combat Ranged Combat Trap Detection and Circumvention Wizardry Divine Miracles Healing There are a lot of other canonical aspects to playing a standardized game of Dungeon Fantasy , but those are the live-or-die essentials as I see them. Note that "divine miracles" doesn't necessarily mean healing and vice versa, but it often ends up being the same. As the designer of the dungeons, players would be well advised to follow my suggestions when creating a team with the greatest chance to overcome the widest variety of adversity. Here are my suggestions: Melee: A Knight with heavy armor and a shield is probably the simplest and most effective front-line warrior concept for a number of reasons, but there are countless other ways to get the job done. There are other good templates, such as the Holy Warrior, that also perform well in this position. The Savage Warrior template from Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians is another favorite. While Swashbucklers are popular melee damage-dealers, they aren't doing more than Knights and at the same time, a Knight can take what they dish out. Ranged Combat: If it's not a Scout filling the role of ranged combat—and I promise flying monsters and enemy archers will be brutal—it's likely the team's ranged combat ability will suffer greatly; thrown weapons rarely match the consistency or damage potential of a Heroic Archer's longbow. Wizards are poorly armed for the duty especially considering they are far better equipped to handle other tasks. Trap Detection & Circumvention: The Thief is touted as the ultimate at trap detection and disarming, but the Rogue from DF Denizens: Swashbucklers , p. 11, is a far more optimized character template. The Scout can do a serviceable job at everything thief-related despite lacking Lockpicking and Poison skills. However players decide the party should tackle trap detection and circumvention is up to the group, but it's a very important consideration. Mechanical traps will be ruthless ! Wizardry: Wizardry practically must be handled by a dedicated Wizard, and I would strongly suggest fielding one with a diverse grimoire consisting of several colleges . This is also perhaps the best position for the most experienced player in the group; Wizards are a tricky template to optimize and field effectively. Protecting the party from other wizardry is one of the Wizard's primary functions as is recognizing and analyzing other magical items and threats. Don't forget the Wizard is one of the only templates with the Research skill, crucial for discovering secrets and pertinent intelligence about the dungeon. Imagine a level boss with Supernatural Durability. Without knowing his weakness, he'll be nigh impossible to slay. Of note, we're using Sean Punch's Wizardry Refined rules from Pyramid #3/60: Dungeon Fantasy III , which "patch" errors in the Wizard's standard spell list . GCS has the revised library available. Furthermore, we're also including Druidic lenses and rules for their use from Pyramid #3/68: Natural Magic , pp. 29-32. Lastly, we're not using Magical Styles: Dungeon Magic , and we're only using the standard magic system, so no Dungeon Fantasy 19: Incantation Magic . Divine Miracles and Healing: Everyone likes a little assistance from the gods. Divine miracles include clerical spells, healing, and protection against undead and demons. True Faith (Turning) is practically a win button against such foul monsters. Imagine fighting against a horde of 10,000 zombies shambling into a village without a Cleric in the party. Imagine facing a 5,000-point lich or demon lord without one. Not good situations! Usually, the Cleric pulls double duty as the healer and for good reason: the Minor, Major and Great Healing spells are the absolute best way to treat and mend injuries. There will be a lot of injuries, so healing is important! With all that in mind, I would highly suggest fielding a Knight, Scout, Wizard and Cleric with one additional wildcard character such as a Barbarian, Holy Warrior, Rogue, or Swashbuckler. Source Material Please use only the Basic Set: Characters and Campaigns, Magic , and the below-listed supplements when creating characters. Dungeon Fantasy supplements for character creation include: Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level Dungeon Fantasy 5: Allies Dungeon Fantasy 7: Clerics Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables Dungeon Fantasy 11: Power-Ups Dungeon Fantasy 13: Loadouts Dungeon Fantasy 15: Henchmen Dungeon Fantasy 17: Guilds Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Swashbucklers Equipment: In addition to that found within the Dungeon Fantasy line, we will use Low-Tech and Low-Tech Companion 2: Weapons and Warriors for equipment (and thus hit locations ), particularly weapons and armor. Usually, the equipment found in Low-Tech will take precedence over other sources. Combat: We will use the Expanded Combat Maneuvers and Additional Combat Options from Martial Arts , pp. 97-125. We won't use the "highly-optional" A Matter of Inches rules, nor optional rules, Harsh Realism for Unarmed Fighters . Additionally, we'll use Chapter 3, Techniques , but since we are not using Chapter 5, Styles , none can be improved beyond default. Note: Familiarity with the combat rules found in the Basic Set is all that's required to field effective characters. Enemies operate using roughly the same combat rules with which the player is familiar (i.e., I won't get "over your head" with combat rules). Expertise in the added rules from Martial Arts is entirely unnecessary. Additional Sources: As noted, we're using Sean Punch's Wizardry Refined rules from Pyramid #3/60 , which "patch" errors in the Wizard's standard spell list, and we're also including the Druidic lenses and rules for their use from Pyramid #3/68 , pp. 29-32. Also, players can use Power-Ups 2: Perks and Power-Ups 6: Quirks when creating characters. Please do not use other sources, including Pyramid. Special Considerations & Campaign Features It is a player's responsibility to maintain a current, accurate, and public record of their character sheets. Keep a thread containing links to each iteration of your character. Each time you update your character, list what changes were made and post a link to your updated character sheet while leaving the link to your previous build before spending the points. As a campaign feature, all player characters have Merchant Rank 0 [0] in The Delving Company ( Guilds , p. 13) and can't hold membership in another guild. If you aren't aware what that Rank grants, just know it's of almost no consequence—unsurprisingly since it's a 0-point trait. No more than two Allies can be fielded in any given session. That limit does not include hirelings (which are not Allies). Additionally, we will use the Appearance Rolls as Loyalty Rolls rules from Henchmen , p. 28. A character's size may range from SM -2 to SM +1. Use the Scaling Weapons and Armor rules in Low-Tech Companion 2 , pp. 20-21, to scale weapons and armor for higher SM's treating shields as weapons. Use the Tiny Tools rules from The Next Level, p. 3, to scale armor, clothes, weapons and tools down , again treating shields as weapons. Otherwise, use the scaling rules found in the Little, Big section of Loadouts , p. 4. Quirks may be left unspecified, but the points may be used. In fact, I encourage that practice; often the character's personality becomes more developed in play. Niche protection limitations are an essential aspect of Dungeon Fantasy that are constantly referenced throughout the entire line. Don't ignore the concept. Gorefest Dungeon attempts to recreate many aspects of Western-European high fantasy often to the exclusion of Eastern, Middle Eastern, East Asian, African, etc. There are no ninjas or samurai, for example. On rare and specific occasions, we will use rules found in Underground Adventures' second chapter, Tight Places . Found in those pages are are a lot of rules for exploration and combat in situations that are common in Dungeon Fantasy . For that same reason, when fighting under water and exploring the depths, we'll use the rules found in the GURPS Fathom Five chapter of Pyramid #3/26: Underwater Adventures . There is only one "house rule" in Gorefest Dungeon : critical successes on active defense rolls are treated as successes; they don't cause the attack to become a critical failure. Please be familiar with all Posts of Interest . Thanks for your interest and for reading and following the character creation rules!