Troika UVG! Further conversion notes

Hello

So as I mentioned a while ago, I'm running a UVG game with the Troika ruleset.

I'm not going to do play session reports, but here is what has happened over the last oh, 6 sessions or so:   So far they've gone to the Last Serai, managed to make a killing on vodka, and are regrouping at the violet city for a new voyage.  They have befriended a porcelain prince, the chicken warrior has accidentally joined a revolutionary group AND another porcelain prince is after his body, the inquisitor has a low-grade vome infection and they now have 2 motorcycles.  The group is very keen on finding a Behemoth pearl for Cubina - for some reason they really latched on this side quest hard.  Maybe because they all tried to save the were-pug and failed badly on their rolls?  But I already have plans for this quest now.  I didn't know where campaign was going to go, and it may still veer off in different directions, but well the players have a goal and that's great.

Play-testing is very important, and I thought I should report on my rules finding.

First, my conversion table is... a bit harsh.  It works OK with luck checks but not so much with skill checks, so I've tweaked it:

LUCK BASED			SKILL BASED
2d6	1d20		2d6	1d20
Fumble	Fumble		Fumble	Fumble
-6	1		-6	1
-5	2-3		-5	2
-4	4		-4	3-4
-3	5		-3	5-6
-2	6		-2	7-8
-1	7-8		-1	9-10
0	9		0	11-12
1	10-11		1	13-14
2	12		2	15-16
3	13		3	17-18
4	14		4	19
5	15-16		5	20
6	17-18		6	21+
7	19
8	20
9	21+
Critical Success	Critical Success		Critical Success	Critical Success

It's not perfect, but it's better.

Second, the gun damages is *wild* in Troika! and I have a few thoughts about that.

A: armor is *essential* - even a little bit will greatly enhance player survival.  It can also enhance the survival of villains (but don't give every mook armor).

B:  A better "fix" would be to revise damage... but that's a lot of work, and I'm going to wait for that, because it would mean looking at *all* the Troika! weapon damage.

C:  I will allow players to spend 500 XP to gain 1d3 stamina UP to a maximum of 24.  After that, it's 1000 XP.

Third, a new weapon - the humble revolver:

	1-	2	3	4	5	6	7+		# shots	Weights	range	base cost
Revolver	2	2	3	4	7	9	13		6	1/3 stone	near	75

Lastly I will note that I am collaborating with David Schirduan (ie Technical Grimoire), we are exchanging notes on play tests etc, and he will be publishing a new version of his conversion guide - as he is infinitely better at layout than I am, that should be a far better documents than my rambling blog :P .  We aren't aiming on having identical rules, but I'm confident that our mutual work will make each version better - peer review isn't just for science..   Also, Coins and Scroll is forging ahead full metal on UVG, so read his blog!

Stygian Library remastered on Kickstarter (+ some UVG/Troika! stuff)

Hello

Another short post today - but one that is time sensitive, so I need to do it!

A while back, I reviewed the Stygian Library.  You can go read the review if you wish, but tl,dr, it's a *very* good adventure that I very highly recommend and my players loved it.  It's a must have.  But what if you wanted a paper copy?  Or one with more original art?

Well now you can!  It is now on Kickstarter, and it's already backed.  It's closing in 6 days, so don't delay!

In other news, the Troika!/UVG game is going well (… if  you ignore the difficulties of gaming online vs in person and other such challenges), but I can tell you that the table I showed here as my first attempt at converting a d20 to a 2d6 works properly in the sense that it converts the rolls, but not so well in the sense that I don't like the results.   For example, someone can do a skill check on the nose (made by zero) and that translates to a 9.... which is often a mediocre or even bad result.   I think I was too concerned by the misfortune table, which is based on luck, which tends to be higher than advanced skills.  I'll post more about this later, but just in case you wanted to follow my example, beware of this.

This, incidentally, shows the value of playtesting!  No matter how clever you are, nothing beats actually testing something.  I think I will have to tweak the numbers a bit, and then more importantly, have *two* tables - one for luck check, and one for skill checks.