Messages from the Far Havens

All I have to say to you is this:

 You ${[1d20cs<=:skill_value_score:] ? ‘Succeed!’ : ‘Fail!’}$

Are you glad you asked? I’ve been thinking how to get the Trudvang Chronicles RPG to the table and, realistically if it is to be a slightly longer form game, to the virtual table. I was disappointed that Foundry didn’t have a pre-built sheet, so reflexively went off to PlayRole VTT to create a simple character tracker sheet. For actual play, that’s still an option for me. My mate Tom pointed out that Role20 has a sheet, but that would require me to actually GM on that platform, and quite honestly I’d rather not. (Role20 is OK and improving and I’m happy to play games on it, but why use it when I am paying for Foundry, which feels so much better?).

So, a bit of YouTubery and other shenanigans took me to one of the point and click form builder systems on Foundry: Custom System Builder. It gives you the tools to build a sheet from selectable components, including tabbed panels, and access to HTML formatting and CSS if you are so minded. In essence, it gives you a framework to create a character sheet with formulas that execute dice rolls in the chat, and initiative in the combat tracker. In fact, it does a lot more with macros, but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself.

Although not especially pretty, I have managed to get a working tracking sheet for Trudvang Chronicles up and running in Foundry VTT. There’s still some light formula scripting to do, but on persevering I have managed it.

The tracking sheet only has the minimum that you need to monitor key resources, and execute dice rolls to share with the group. Still, it puts me in the frame for using a game system that isn’t supported in Foundry, and takes me closer to the simplicity of PlayRole VTT for non-coder sheet building. Could be a bit of a game changer, as the full range of the Dice API is supported, rather than the curtailed functionality on PlayRole.

 It seems a good time for the Homeworld 2D20 game that is due to arrive out of hyperspace when the book is fully validated by Gearbox, with current indications being August, just over a month away. I wasn’t too much of a computer gamer back in 1999 when the title first landed, and not in 2015 when the game was delightfully remastered. The RTS title, highly rated back in the day, and still pulling a great experience out of your screen today, is now available at a significant discount. A Father’s Day gift from Cameron brought it to my screen, with the age of the game ensuring that my rig could run it smoothly. I’m one mission in and we’ll see how I fare…

For me, this is all way of background for the Modiphius 2D20 TTRPG, which I seem to be looking forward to immensely. It’s very much on the light end of the 2D20 family of games, with six attributes and six skills that can be mixed and matched depending on the task. These are tweaked by Focus areas and Talents that bend the rules in your character’s favour through exception based design. It looks as though it will play out very well, and with a lot less heavy lifting than Infinity. Much as I love the big early Infinity, it is fiddly and really does go on for ever. You may loose some of the fine grain, but for some broad high octane action I think that’ll be OK. I haven’t gone tot he light end of 2D20 before, having bizarrely missed out on Star Trek Adventures, which I hear nothing but good things about, John Carter but a mssed opportunity, and Dune a hand wrinigng ommission. I have since been gifted a Dune core book PDF, so I will be able to erratically read across the dunes.  

I have pre-ordered the Gamesmaster Bundle, delivering a core book, some 2D20 and D6 dice with a screen. The Quickstart is already consumed, though I missed out on a physical copy on Free RPG Day as, ironically, I was running North Star Convention!

Keen anticipation then until the game drops into the real and I can pour over it. It’s a tingle game, one that I am impatient to get to the table. I think the theme of a desperate quest for home, when your world is destroyed and inimicable forces surround you, captures my current dispair at the state of the UK and the government running us. A yearning for better, and possibly against the odds. Plus of course, some highly accessible 2D20 space opera sounds just perfect for me. Without realising, I seem to be on a bit of a 2D20 kick at the moment, with Conan and Infinity both getting played and delivering good games at the table. Homeworld will round this off rather well.

Sometimes The Fates are kind and through a breezy verisimilitude everything falls into place. No sooner had I started to wibble on about how much I was looking forward to this game when Play Role, one of my core VTTs, and Modiphius announce a partnership, with the full Quickstart being prepared as a free ready to play game on the platform. The platform is also free to use.

It’s been a fair bit of effort to get the VTT ready for some tabletop action. I’ve been fiddling with NPC abilities, attacks, items and the actual assets to reflect the campaign. All told it has been a more effort than I was expecting, but think it will be worth it once we get going.

I’m glad to be using Foundry, which hasn’t seen much use since I stopped running Pathfinder. Pete is picking up the GMing mantle for our Pathfinder adventures and has elected to use the much lighter Owlbear Rodeo, with players rolling dice as they will, and keeping track of characters however, be it on Pathbuilder, on paper or somewhere else.

This minimalist approach to VTTs has also found expression in my 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons game. Players never really got on with the full size Role character sheet, so I created a really light one that just kept track of HPs, and other resources. My 4e Light sheet on Role fully expects the player to have the character sheet somewhere else. The minimum I’m looking for is quick shared dice rolls, which the Lite sheet enables. I honestly don’t think my players are bothering with that either. 

Surveying the Hyborian Kingdoms…

So, here we are with Foundry, a big boy VTT with more options than I’ve had hot dinners. I like integrated Audio and Video cameras, to give a sense that we are all together and around a table. I’ve shifted the Foundry AV to the Livekit module, as the Jitsi module is now not being maintained. I’m told that the new Livekit is rock solid, and that it is to be fully adopted by Forge Hosting. I hope so, as this capability is costing me a patreon subscription.

LiveKit success is a big deal for me and continued use of Foundry. The Conan mini campaign may well give me some usage for my money and I would like to run Cepheus Deluxe on here too. I’m not going to say that I will be running the Free league module for Bladerunner on here, because I’m not backing that game. I’m not. No. Not at all… 😳

So, in essence, I want to get a lot of Foundry use or I will pare back to Role for everything. Or maybe even Alchemy RPG, which I’ll witter on about seperately. There are only so many subscriptions i can afford!

More on my Conan 2d20 adventures to come…