Topic: New and Interested

(originally posted this in the Introduce Yourself thread - someone suggested moving it over)

Hi,
I'm a guy from Toronto. I'm 31, and got into RPGs with D&D 3.5 a few years back while working in South Korea. Recently got back into it with my old group via Roll20 online, and we are trying out 5th edition. Really enjoyed 3.5. Really liking 5th, too.
I've never DM'd (GM'd, Ref'd), but have been thinking about it a lot lately.

I'm very curious about Lamentations of the Flame Princess (for starters, what a great name). I'm not sure that I'd enjoy the rules system, as it sounds like a mash up of stuff from well before my time...but who knows.
Beyond that it sounds interesting and potentially fun, but I don't know if I'm getting the right read on it.

So, anyone out there once in a similar situation?
Anyone want to try to sell me on LotFP?

Cheers,

Re: New and Interested

I have not. Thanks.

Re: New and Interested

I started out playing 2nd edition, and have since played all editions of D&D (some, like 4th, for only a single session, others like 3.5/Pathfinder for a couple of years), and Lamentations is my favorite of them all.

First off, from a rules standpoint, I would say 3.5 and LotFP are at two ends of a spectrum:

3.5/Pathfinder really encourages min/maxing, rules for everything, lots of skills, lots of tinkering and options around character creation, big stat blocks for creatures, as well as tactical, detailed combat and the idea that the PCs are heroes that should only die in the most extreme situations (and often have a chance to be resurrected).  Some people are really into this.

Personally, I get bored during the lengthy combats, I don't care about customizing every one of the hundreds of digits on my character sheet, and I really dislike bloated skill systems.  (Also, I hate rules lawyering - when a player is trying to teach the GM how to handle a situation, I consider that a problem with the ruleset.)

LotFP has little in the way of character options mechanically speaking.  What's important here is how the player feels like playing the character.  You could have a party of fighters and each player would be encouraged to come up with their own idea about what's up with their character.  That said, what's most important is player agency - if your character has a low intelligence, it doesn't mean you can't solve the mystery or the puzzles presented in the adventure - all players should be working hard to figure everything out, or else they will all surely die!

The rules are very streamlined and easy to learn, run and riff on.  Rather than checking every rule you don't know, just make something up (maybe a chance of success on a die roll) and keep going.

The PCs are not necessarily heroes, but greedy transients, willing to risk body and soul for a bit of coin.  They have a high chance of dying or worse while going about this business.

Again, I'm not trying to bash Pathfinder here (I'm still playing in a 2 year campaign myself), but frequently I feel like the rules of that game get in the way of the fun or what we're trying to do, whereas in LotFP, the rules get out of the way and let us play efficiently and have a lot of fun.

That said, I believe 5th edition is a solid set of rules and you could easily adapt LotFP modules to that ruleset if you prefer that (I mean, you could to 3.5 as well, honestly, but that'd be even more work). 

The modules are the most important element of LotFP, and I agree Ed's post above - read Better Than Any Man and/or The Doom-Cave.  If you like the possibilities you find within those modules, then LotFP may be a good fit for you!

Re: New and Interested

Thanks Crunk,

I like that LotFP skews closer to 5th than 3.5 rules-wise. At the time I did like all the customization of 3.5, but now I enjoy the way 5 is more of a "get out of the way" rule system.

If horrible things are (more) likely to happen in LotFP, that's cool, but does that mean people are constantly rolling up new characters? How is that handled?

I'll take a look at those modules and see how they feel.

I googled LotFP art and I (for the most part) really liked what I saw. Evocative of a really interesting and seemingly fun gaming world.

Re: New and Interested

I found that there were a lot more character deaths earlier on.  In Pathfinder, almost every encounter is balanced, and my players went into every LotFP fight thinking they would win eventually.  Now they've learned to run when they don't think they can take something down, or when they've just watched it dispatch a character.  There have been two TPKs, but those were extreme situations where they couldn't escape.  Also, realizing that many traps, poisons, and other effects can be "save or die" or "save or your head is being replaced with a rock" makes them a bit more cautious.

Fortunately, character creation is super quick - it should take only about 5 minutes or so, especially if you don't let them equip - just have them come in and pick up the gear their old character had (except, of course, whatever's absolutely necessary for their class - spellbook, holy symbol, etc.)

There is a rule in LotFP where if you roll up an "unsuitable" character (one that has less than 0 for total ability score modifiers) you re-roll.  One option to increase longevity is to let them keep that unsuitable character as a henchman (roll a straight up d6 for their hp) and they can toss this guy in the way of some of the traps.  (It also makes that rolling and re-rolling not feel like a waste of time).

If you like the art, and enjoy horror/sci-fi/weird fantasy in general, then LotFP's a good fit!  I'm interested to hear what you think of those modules after you've read through them!