Fighting Fantasy The Introductory Roleplaying Game

[champskees]

Hello everyone, i'm thinking of playing a couple of adventures using the book written by Steve Jackson, looking for people interested in playing over the forum. Will see how many people are interested, might need to cap skill scores if we get lots of adventurers. No knowledge other than basic skill, stamina & luck rules required, DO NOT READ OR REREAD the book, it will likely ruin the experience and knowledge of the book is not necessary as an adventurer. First adventure will be The Wishing Well, if that goes well (sorry) then I wanted to also have a go at the other adventure contained within the book, with a view to possibly play The Riddling Reaver in future.

For starters I will give you the introductory blurb to the adventure:

This adventure is set at the bottom of an ancient well where princes and nobles of long ago used to come, cast in their gold coins and make their wishes. All of this gold collected in the bottom of the well. When the well dried up, treasure hunters from far and wide set off to find it, hoping for riches. But when they reached the well, they found that the quests ahead of them were far more dangerous then they had thought...

Are YOU scummy enough to climb down a well to pick up coins tossed away by your betters? Is nothing beneath you, other than the contents of this well? Post below a quick intro of your adventurer, we will roll stats once we lock in no. of players. A quick game is a good game, so preferably you are checking into this forum at least every 24-48 hrs. Idea is party makes decisions democratically, players have 24 hrs to make a contribution before I move the game on. I will try to post when I can, aiming for at least 3 posts per week. Note I am a rather sadistic GM, quite enjoy killing adventurers in a Lawful Evil kind of way (see Blood Sword playthrough) so don't get too invested in your character lol.

I'm thinking there will be a cap to skill as per below. If you roll higher than the cap, you must re-roll the die.
1-2 adventurers: no skill cap.
3-4: Max 11 Skill.
5-6: Max 10 Skill.
7+: Max 9 Skill.

Your starting equipment will be as follows:
- A Sword
- A Backpack (max capacity 10 items excluding provisions and gold)
- A Lantern (enough oil for one adventure)
- 2 Provisions

So, if interested, post your characters name and short backstory here this week. Hopefully adventure will start next weekend or thereabouts.

Cheers,
Jake

[kieran]

I'm definitely up for this! I don't remember the Wishing Well much at all although I do remember a few key points about The Riddling Reaver.

Character: Talbion the Craven
Talbion deserted from the besieged city of Vymorna, expecting the lizard men to slaughter every inhabitant. When the city was saved against all odds, his former comrades decried him as a coward. Perhaps exploring the deadly Wishing Well will salvage his reputation?

[andrewwright]

YES! Count me in!

Character: Murg the Mighty
Murg is a Hill Barbarian from the Craggen Heights who has recently escaped slavery in the Green Metal mines and is looking for loot to spend at the nearest tavern quaffing as much dark ale as possible.

[daredevil123]

This sounds great!

Character: Redric the Noble
Redric is a citizen of Port Blacksand who was imprisoned for plotting to overthrow Lord Azzur. He escaped the night before his planned execution and is looking for funds to lead another rebellion. His undying determination to fight for the needy and downtrodden may put him at odds with Talbion and Murg's more selfish aims.

[vagsancho]

Character: Kradon, disciple of Razaak.
When Razaak leaved the path of good, in quest for his calling for evil he passed the first years in a deep preparation in the beneath, passing from apprentice to wizard, wizard to archmage, archmage to necromancer. In the beginning of those years he had a disciple who helped him in those primary stages. His name was kradon, a 34 strong young man.
One day, years have passed, kradon was overwhelmed by insanity and tried to kill Razaak in an apoteótic desire for madness and power. Razaak, however discovered his betrayal, and punished him with the ancient spell of Maghulla.. That's why Kradon aged 60 years... and is now a weak very old man with 94 years old.

[a moderator]

Character: Throma the Disappointment
The only child of the adventurer who survived the original Deathtrap Dungeon, neglected for not being a son who could carry on the family tradition. What started as a desire for parental attention and approval has become twisted into a determination to prove that she's a greater hero than anyone else, especially that has-been of a father. This well is minor stuff, but even Allansia's mightiest champion of good has to start somewhere, right?

[johnbrawn1972]

Character: Civilservicus curmudgeon
A desperate character driven to distraction by endless bureaucratic machinations seeking redemption in the wilds where the most authentic drives can be released by a carnal desire and passion for being not realised in the dusty halls of urban existence.

[deadshadowrunner]

Prex, Shadow Runner
Shamed and disgraced after failing the initiation test of the Thieves' Guild in Port Blacksand, he wants nothing but to prove to Guildmaster Rannik how much of a mistake letting him go was.

[champskees]

Well looks like we already have 7 adventurers, so you can roll your stats for skill, Stamina and luck and post here. I'm going to change the skill cap to 10 though, so if you roll 11 or 12 for skill, roll again.

Still time for more wannabe hero/heroines to sign up for some well diving, max 10 adventurers though.

Good to see at least one female character in the mix, also always ready to watch a 94 yo man jump down the well for some treasure

[johnbrawn1972]

Jun 24, 2019 12:25:06 GMT champskees said:

Well looks like we already have 7 adventurers, so you can roll your stats for skill, Stamina and luck and post here. I'm going to change the skill cap to 10 though, so if you roll 11 or 12 for skill, roll again.

Still time for more wannabe hero/heroines to sign up for some well diving, max 10 adventurers though.

Good to see at least one female character in the mix, also always ready to watch a 94 yo man jump down the well for some treasure

Can I take my office chair?

Since I moved to my 2 up 2 down everything is packed in boxes so could you roll for me? I trust you(Night of the Necromancer brilliant solution "grumble grumble" as Willow might put)

My friend who moved down South gave me his copy of Fighting Fantasy and I can remember 1 of the 'traps' from 30 years ago. Where is it packed away?(Kryten cheat mode)

[kieran]

Talbion
Sk: 9 St: 22 Lu: 12 - not too shabby!

[daredevil123]

Redric:
Sk: 9 St: 17 Lu: 8 - might not last long.

[deadshadowrunner]

Prex:
Skill 9, Stamina 14, Luck 10
I think I can see why he keeps to the shadows...

[vagsancho]

Kradon
Skill 6 Stamina 4 (due to his age)
Luck 12

[daredevil123]

Jun 24, 2019 17:42:44 GMT vagsancho said:

Kradon
Skill 6 Stamina 4 (due to his age)
Luck 12

Did you actually roll a 6 for Luck?

[johnbrawn1972]

Jun 24, 2019 17:49:39 GMT daredevil123 said:

Jun 24, 2019 17:42:44 GMT vagsancho said:

Kradon
Skill 6 Stamina 4 (due to his age)
Luck 12

Did you actually roll a 6 for Luck?

I doubt you will receive a rational answer and doubt he will be any rational help in the puzzles. Nevertheless my instinct is to allow this as the character is somewhat balanced unlike the person in question.

[a moderator]

Throma
Skill 10
Stamina 18
Luck 11

[johnbrawn1972]

Jun 24, 2019 22:27:26 GMT a moderator said:

Throma
Skill 10
Stamina 18
Luck 11

I want to be your ally.

[lordomnibok]

Jun 24, 2019 17:42:44 GMT vagsancho said:

Kradon
Skill 6 Stamina 4 (due to his age)
Luck 12

This made me laugh out loud. Vagsancho, you're going to have to use all that luck just to survive climbing into the well with those stats. Unfortunately I haven't got time at the moment to get involved with this adventure, but I shall be following it when I can as I think it's going to be awesome. Good luck all!

[andrewwright]

Murg the Mighty

Skill: 9
Stamina: 18
Luck: 9

[Murg the Mediocre, more likely...]

[thealmightymudworm]

Count me in too...

Jack Timberlug
Failed pirate laughed off his ship after being robbed of some pearls while sleeping in Port Blacksand. One ear was sliced off in a fight – possibly by Jack himself – and was replaced by one carved from oak.
He claims he can still hear just fine.

Skill 8
Stamina 23
Luck 10

[champskees]

...and then there were eight.



I will go through some of the rules as we go, but I thought it might be good to quickly cover some of these now.

Exploration
As you venture forth into the unknown, it is likely that the party will have to decide what they want to do. Often, your decisions will conflict with others in your party. Ideally, the party will move together in a group (safety in numbers and all that), but there will be times when one character sees or experiences something by themself/ves. In these situations, a spoiler tag will be attached to their message. Only the characters mentioned should read the spoiler. For example, if Redric opened a pouch, the contents might only be visible to him. Whether or not he decides to disclose this information to the rest of the party is completely up to him.

Redric

SPOILER: Click to show

You find 20 Gold Coins.

Hopefully the party can work as a team, nothing worse than one player walking off and 'doing their own thing', expecting a GM to work twice as hard for their own selfish personal adventure.

Searching
When searching for secret doors, treasure or hidden objects, you must specify exactly where you are searching. The GM then rolls 2 dice and compares the total to your skill score. If it is less, then you are successful. When you fail a search roll, you will not be told that you have failed. Note some items/chests etc will have false bottoms or secret compartments, which require a successful search on the item/chest.

Weapons and Equipment
You must inform the GM if/when you change weapons and/or armour. Weapons don't make a big difference in this adventure (although an unarmed adventurer receives a -4 Skill penalty), but in The Riddling Reaver I believe different weapons do different amounts of damage. If a rock falls on you and you possess a helmet but you did not actually say that you put the helmet on, you will not be protected.

Opening Stuff
The book has some fairly specific rules regarding locked and secret doors, and locked chests.
To break a locked door, you must pass a Skill Test (roll below your skill). A failed roll means any subsequent attempts are made with a +1 to roll modifier (it gets harder). Each time an attempt is made (including the first), you lose 1 stamina point.
To open a secret door, you must find the secret catch that opens it, which requires a successful Test your Luck roll (equal or less than Luck score).
To open a locked chest, you must pass a Skill Test (roll below your skill). Each time an attempt is made (including the first), the weapon used is blunted, giving it -1 skill modifier when used in future.

Roguish Actions
Actions such as sneaking or picking pockets generally rely on your Skill. Escaping from a combat means taking one wound from the enemy automatically. Bribery is possible, many intelligent creatures will be open to offers of gold in exchange for information, a truce, or other things they may possess, generally this will be between 1-6 Gold Pieces.

Using Luck
Luck can be used in combat to increase/reduce damage as per the normal rules. Falling also requires the use of Luck to check the extent of any damage. Opening a secret door requires the use of Luck too. Luck is also used during particular scenarios/encounters. Luck can be used to reduce damage from escaping.

Sight
Adventurers can only see ~1 metre in darkness. This improves to ~20 metres with the use of a light source (lantern or torch).

[champskees]

Anyway, without further ado let us begin our adventure. 

It was a bright and sunny morning, the blue sky and vanilla clouds leaving you in very high spirits indeed. As you head towards your destination, the sounds of the nearby village slowly begin to recede, giving way to the familiar sound of gravel crunching underneath your worn leather boots.

An hour later, you arrive at the well. You see some of the other adventurers and layabouts you met at the village inn last night, as well as a few others you do not recognise. Eight in all, including yourself, you think. It seems they are all talking about the well in front of you, and you decide to also get a closer look.




It is an ancient thing of simple design, a handle with a rope attached to a bucket, the well itself being about a metre in diameter. Although the well itself appears to be very old, the rope looks quite new and in good condition. 

The rest of the group are now looking at each other. It appears introductions are in order...

[johnbrawn1972]

I am Civilservicus master of the scribe and scroll. It appears we should inspect the well and then lower ourselves one at a time entirely in keeping with the health and safety directives of the town over yonder.

[vagsancho]

Coughing, and with an obvious difficulty to speak, the old man takes the word:
My name is Kadron, and I am a disciple of ... That does not matter now... The prophecies indicate that this is the place. We all need to get down now! There is no time to lose.

[kieran]

"Perhaps we should draw straws to decide on who's going down first? Unless anyone wants to volunteer?"

[andrewwright]

"My name is Murg the Mighty, and I am always happy to go first!"

[daredevil123]

"I, Redric of Blacksand, second that. Let the barbarian prove the truth of his claim!"

Also, I don't know if the item in the spoiler tag was meant to be part of the adventure or just an example of how it works, but if it's real, Redric does not yet trust this motley crew enough to reveal it.

[johnbrawn1972]

Jun 25, 2019 16:15:26 GMT daredevil123 said:

"I, Redric of Blacksand, second that. Let the barbarian prove the truth of his claim!"

Also, I don't know if the item in the spoiler tag was meant to be part of the adventure or just an example of how it works, but if it's real, Redric does not yet trust this motley crew enough to reveal it.

In the spirt of Red Dwarf it was an example you daft twonk. The idea is in the real games if Civilservicus has a spoiler then I click on it to find I have been bitten by a black widow and toppled sideways or something like that. The point is Champskees is relying on our honesty/not saying anything if you click it by accident and that is the point. Nobody has been given a head start but we might have our first spoiler for someone very soon.

[johnbrawn1972]

Let Murg lead the way and the rest of us should follow one at a time. Let Radion or Kradon go last as he is weakest.

(I suggest we do this to speed things up. Champskees can interrupt if he wants more information.)