Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Creating game materials? Monsters, spells, classes, adventures? This is the place!
User avatar
SmootRK
Posts: 4230
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:03 am
Location: Nashville, TN

Re: Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Post by SmootRK »

I find the process interesting, though (as I expressed earlier in the thread) I generally find 1st level to pretty much be a meat-grinder for characters. Even 2nd level is fairly tough to manage as so much random chaos can affect characters. A small series of unfortunate rolls can take even very cautiously played characters.

That said, I will try it out. If nothing else, I like the way it allows a random "background" that can be applied to a character. In the end, this might be a great stepping stone to a NPC generator, specifically for Zero-Level (commoners) that have more flavor than just stats and weapon.
Is it really the end, not some crazy dream?
User avatar
AncientToaster
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 4:13 am
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Contact:

Re: Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Post by AncientToaster »

Hey Solomoriah, thanks for converting it! I've downloaded it and am making a few changes (hopefully save you a little work on the tables :) ). I'll reup in a day or so when finished.
Check out Infinite Dragons, my blog about old-school roleplaying games.
User avatar
MedievalMan
Posts: 1305
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Post by MedievalMan »

I like the process, but I have to agree with Smoot. 1st level characters are paper bags as it is, I can't imagine trying to survive 0th level only to then face the horrors of 1st. (though I would still try this at least a few times to see how it works)

But you have created a Warhammer-esque list of professions and trappings, for which you have my respect.
User avatar
Hywaywolf
Posts: 5271
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:30 pm
Location: Wilmington, NC

Re: Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Post by Hywaywolf »

I played in a game where you started with 5 zero level characters that became 1st level after 100 xp. It was a bit of a free for all to start.
User avatar
AncientToaster
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 4:13 am
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Contact:

Re: Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Post by AncientToaster »

Alright, I've gone through and made some changes. Specifically:

1. Fleshed out the intro to explain "tumbler" procedure, and other uses for the supplement.
2. Reworked the procedures slightly.
3. Rejigged and reordered the tables to fit more neatly (none flow onto another page now).
4. Reformatted the character sheet page. It should output to .pdf without weird formatting errors now.

Only table issue I couldn't fix is putting the character sheet page (and only that page) into landscape orientation. Tried setting Page Styles, but I'm a LibreOffice newbie and things kept breaking in dramatic ways.

Cheers!
Attachments
BF-Level-0-Character-Tumbler-r1.odt
Revised, expanded, reformatted
(32.98 KiB) Downloaded 395 times
Check out Infinite Dragons, my blog about old-school roleplaying games.
User avatar
AncientToaster
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 4:13 am
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Contact:

Re: Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Post by AncientToaster »

Solomoriah wrote:My only comment right now is that I've never seen the term "Iron Man" used before to describe "3d6 in order."
I ran across it a year or so ago in a ridiculously complete analysis of ability generation methods.
SmootRK wrote: find the process interesting, though (as I expressed earlier in the thread) I generally find 1st level to pretty much be a meat-grinder for characters. Even 2nd level is fairly tough to manage as so much random chaos can affect characters. A small series of unfortunate rolls can take even very cautiously played characters.

That said, I will try it out. If nothing else, I like the way it allows a random "background" that can be applied to a character. In the end, this might be a great stepping stone to a NPC generator, specifically for Zero-Level (commoners) that have more flavor than just stats and weapon.
I'd love to have more playtesting, so please do try and let me know what you think.

Do remember, each players gets four PCs to start out, with the assumption that one or two will die in the first twenty minutes of play. Death is really baked into this thing.
MedievalMan wrote:I like the process, but I have to agree with Smoot. 1st level characters are paper bags as it is, I can't imagine trying to survive 0th level only to then face the horrors of 1st. (though I would still try this at least a few times to see how it works)

But you have created a Warhammer-esque list of professions and trappings, for which you have my respect.
Glad you like the professions---combined with Iron Man ability scores, the results can be really something. See these example characters for the sort of eccentricity that turns up.

It's certainly lethal. But then, it's supposed to be! :twisted: It may alter things somewhat that I play with treasure-as-XP, and so as one poor commoner falls, his friends can harvest his XP as well as his possessions.
Check out Infinite Dragons, my blog about old-school roleplaying games.
User avatar
MedievalMan
Posts: 1305
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Post by MedievalMan »

The more I re-read this, the more I like it here is just a couple personal changes I would personally;

-change the amount of candles to 1d6
-change the clothing to common outfit like it is in the core rules. Maybe add a line about how you start with one set of clothes.
-change the amount of iron spikes to 1d4 or 1d6
-change torches to 1d4
-change hide armor to listing AC as 13, so it would match the presentation in the core rules

Their are a few formatting errors (things needing spaces and the like), but I am sure you will catch those on the next g around. Also dwarves get +4 vs spells not +3.

Overall I like it a lot. Again it reminds me of character generation in Warhammer.
Good work.
User avatar
Hywaywolf
Posts: 5271
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:30 pm
Location: Wilmington, NC

Re: Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Post by Hywaywolf »

Casting a resurrection spell to bring this back to life.

I have started playing in a FTF DCC game a few weeks back using their character funnel. I really prefer BFRPG to DCC but DCC was what was offered. The first thing that comes to mind after rereading this thread is that I really like my previous idea of the characters falling into a pit along with a bunch of random stuff that they roll for immediately prior to being attacked by two bands of kobolds and then having to find/fight/explore their way out. The DCC funnel module of all the people in a missing town disappearing and your town selecting band of normal men to investigate and choosing only to take a live chicken or a pound of clay and a stick. It felt to "gamey" to have these normal people willingly moving further and further into certain death without a real compelling reason to do so.

The other thing that I noticed is that I was the only one of the gaming group who regularly played old school. They were very uncomfortable with such low HP and no armor. They were so used to spending days building a character skills and backgrounds that the notion of dying from a single kill stroke paralyzed them. I think this is where the value of the player funnel really shows. If you have 4 quickly generated PCs and one dies you are still in the game. That first, and swift, character death was shocking to them but it wasn't a death blow to their "team".

I liked the format of the funnel. Out of your 4 PCs you will find yourself liking one the most (it might not even be the strongest) and find yourself starting to use the others in a way that protects him/her. But no one is safe and even the favored can be killed. My favorite died. (stupid kraken). The one that lived didn't start in my top 2, but I grew a bond with him during the first 3 nights of gaming. And now as we start 1st level I have a tiny back story and a PC that I want to live.

So tl/dr - I played the DCC funnel and liked it and think BFRPG is well served by having this. Did anyone ever write a module for it?
User avatar
Hywaywolf
Posts: 5271
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:30 pm
Location: Wilmington, NC

Re: Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Post by Hywaywolf »

Ok, I have started writing a chargen adventure module. I have actually never written a module and have little experience with libreoffice so its a bit of a mess. I went in a slightly different direct in chargen than Ancienttoaster did, but its pretty similar. I don't know how to properly credit him or if I can even do what I have domne to his supplement. A little direction in this area will be a great help.

I think i need to move this to its own thread and provide a link there to keep from mucking up Ancienttoasters thread.

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2325
dhmsatx
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2023 9:43 pm

Re: Basic Fantasy Character Funnel

Post by dhmsatx »

I have downloaded the pdf twice and multiple pdf/doc readers cant open it. Is it the apps or is the link to old? Anything helps, thanks.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Bing [Bot] and 44 guests