Delvers to Grow (Dungeon Fantasy RPG, Powered by GURPS)
Created by Douglas H. Cole
Fast, modular character generation. Would-be heroes from 62 points and higher as player characters, henchmen, or supporting cast.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Example Books: WIP Covers!
almost 3 years ago
– Tue, May 25, 2021 at 07:00:43 AM
Here's a quick look at what the example book cover art looks like.
You can see thematically they're all unified by background, and the four highlighted characters (each built at 62, 125, and 187 points to show the options for each as they grow in power) appear on the cover.
These are very early WIP stage. "Rough color," "sketch," and "sketch," to be precise. Nonetheless, you get to see where these are going.
Strong Delvers left to right: Barbarian gnome (that's what a ST 17 gnome looks like!), holy warrior, knight with flamberge, dvergr wrestler.
Fast Delvers: human thief, halfling scout, dragon-blooded martial artist, eldhuð swashbuckler
Smart Delvers: Human bard, raven-blooded cleric, human wizard, elfard druid
There you go. Can't wait to meet them!
Grown-up Delvers
almost 3 years ago
– Tue, May 25, 2021 at 07:00:37 AM
(As always, Kreios' screen shots are on his blog, and I suggest you check them out there!)
Grown-Up Delvers: Holy Warrior of Warding
May 24, 2021 • kreios
When, in my previous post, I said that I’d use Delvers to Grow even to build a full 250pt Dungeon Fantasy character, I was not kidding. There follows an example.
As usual, this is based on a prerelease version of Gaming Ballistic’s Delvers to Grow project (written by Kevin Smyth). And when I say prerelease I mean done content-wise and mostly art-wise.
My concept for this was to build a Holy Warrior of the Lord of Warding (from Hand of Asgard, also published by Gaming Ballistic and written by Kevin Smyth). I also decided to combine it with a racial template; in this case, the Himneskur (God-Bloded) from Nordlondr Folks (also published by Gaming Ballistic and written by Kevin Smyth). Did I mention Kevin’s work is amazing? Because it it.
To preface the actual build: I built a full 250pt DF character including extra Holy Abilities from Hand of Asgard and a race template in fifteen minutes.
I came up with this concept while reading through Hand of Asgard. The Lord of Warding (also, of messengers apparently) appealed to me; building a sort-of pseudo-Knight who protects those around him. Similar for the Himneskur: Those are essentially half-gods wandering the Earth. Nice!
Choose a Category and Point Level
Strong master template, clocking in at 187 points. All screenshots used with permission.
At 250 points, we’re leaving Delvers to Grow behind; the last template is the 187 point master template above. I’ve used this as a base, adding two more upgrade modules to it, leaving me with 13 free points in the end.
For my secondary (ranged) weapon skill, I’ve chosen the crossbow, though I don’t expect I’ll use it often in the actual game. Brawling gives me basic close combat abilities. For my main weapon, Hand of Asgard tells me Holy Warriors of the God of Warding should always choose Shield; that makes sense. I’ll put 4 points in Shield and 12 in Broadsword.
Choose Basic and Advanced Modules
Holy Warrior basic module
As you can see, the Holy Warrior basic template gives you rather much will, and a choice for Higher Purpose to either slay demons or undead. I’m choosing the former: The description for Himneskur says that “Demons will never pass up an opportunity to deprive the Aesir of one of their children” - except this Holy Warrior is ready and willing to fight back.
I won’t take Born War-Leader, again because Hand of Asgard tells me not to take it. Similarly, HoA gives me a few other choices for my faith-defining disadvantage; I’ll take the flavourful Vow (“Never let an innocent come to harm without trying to stop it.”) - that seems fitting.
The skills given here give a good background, except I’ll again follow HoA and remove Strategy and Leadership. I keep Tactics, though.
I’ve already chosen to use Broadsword as a weapon instead of the recommended Axe/Mace, primarily to avoid the unready after parry/attack larger axes suffer from. On the other hand, swords are far more expensive.
Holy Warrior II advanced module
Continuing in the profession-defining modules, Holy Warrior II gives us more competences: The +1 to IQ will come in handy (the Holy Warrior is something of a mixed class). I’m choosing to upgrade Holiness 2 instead of the new Higher Purpose against undead. For the disadvantages, I’ll note down to later on remove -10 points.
Even more points are spent on my primary weapon skill, and two more points on the secondary weapon skill. The latter brings me up to 6pts; I’ll downgrade it to four and put the other two into my slush fund.
Similar for Brawling, which’d leave me with 3 points. I put one of these into my slush fund. Wrestling is obviously nice to try and avoid getting bogged down in close combat, although a measly two points will obviously not suffice against my 125pt Wrestler. On the other hand, the Holy Warrior will pretty much always parry or block, so that’s fine.
The other skills are pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll note the four points in Exorcism. Those will come in handy.
Choose Upgrade Module
I’m going to choose many, many different upgrade modules - four in total. My choices are mostly defined by the concept of “defends everyone and everything”, and “does not like demons”. I’ll chose:
Juggernaut (Defences!)
Stalwart (Defences!)
Blessed Warrior (a Holy Warrior without Holy Abilities would be kind of sad)
Demon Slayer (pretty much self-explanatory)
Juggernaut
Juggernaut upgrade module
The Juggernaut module is probably the most controversial, and one you’d need to talk to your GM about, since it’s officially a Knight-only module. But since Holy Warriors of the God of Warding get both Armor Mastery and Shield-Wall training, I judge it as being acceptable.
The module primarily upgrades my DR (assuming I wear at least some armour) and allows layering; at the same time, Shield-Wall Training allows me to both use larger shields without penalty and to block for people besides me.
Stalwart
Stalwart upgrade module
The Stalwart module is more of the same: Another two levels of Enhanced Block (and more levels of Shield), together with Enhanced Parry mean that most attacks won’t even land on me. Fevered Defense pulls in a rule from the Basic Set, allowing me to spend FP to get another bonus to active defences.
With all of these, I have a Block of 16 and a Parry of 15, both with a Medium Shield.
Blessed Warrior
Blessed Warrior gives me 25 points to spend on Holy Abilities. I won’t choose the proposed ones from the book, but instead pull in the special abilities from Hand of Asgard: Warding Dismissal means I don’t need to spend three hours exorcising something - giving “a glare while brandishing [my] holy symbol” suffices. I’ll also take Contingency Casting 1 for that extra flexibility. One level of Resist Evil rounds out the 25 points.
Demon Slayer
Demon Slayer upgrade module
Not surprisingly, the Demon Slayer module allows me to better slay demons. It does so primarily through upgrading the Higher Purpose for +3 to all rolls against demons. Aside from that, Soul Warding grants another two DR against direct damage from Demons. They’ll really hate this warrior…
If you add those +3 from Resist Evil, he should be essentially immune against even the strongest demons’ temptations.
Choose Disadvantage Modules
Himneskur racial template
First of all, I’ll note the disadvantages granted by the Himneskur racial template to the right - at a total of -25 points those fit a disadvantage module too perfectly to ignore it. So, one module is “demons always attack me if first and will show no mercy” plus “take 1d/minute damage in unholy areas”; luckily for the latter, I can exorcise it pretty much instantly. That’s convenient - you’d almost think I planned for this…
Hero disadvantage module
The Hero disadvantage module seems fitting, too. I have to remove ten points of disadvantage, and choose to remove the Selfless and Sense of Duty - the former is essentially the same niche as my Vow.
Rounding out Everything
Compared to the Wrestler, I have to tweak several things, since I removed and added advantages pretty much at will.
The first one is the racial template - I follow the advice from DtG and settle attribute points with those from my base template, leaving me with essentially one the ten points of Appearance, Covenant of Rest, and Fit.
Then, I have 13 points to spend, which I got from removing Born War Leader, Strategy and Leadership, and left-over points in Brawling and Crossbow. I spend five of them on Protector’s Rune (should I ever fail to defend an ally, I can declare his wound to be only 1 HP), and add the Sacrificial Block and Parry perks. Then, I rejigger points - removing one level of Enhanced Block and Enhanced Parry and investing another five points buys me Combat Reflexes for a net +1 to dodge and the freezing benefits Combat Reflexes provides.
I’ll also choose quirks:
Always takes letters on his journeys
Sends money home to his mother
Unwilling to let others take point
Dislikes bathing (“Unarmed and unarmoured? That’s as good as dead!”)
Believes all Eldhuð can be saved
Choosing Equipment
I didn’t buy any equipment. With potentially five quirk points to spend, I could buy the Huskarl’s Armor package at almost $2,000; at 48lbs that’d get me to light encumbrance. I’ll end up buying only a medium shield, because large shields are heavy. Adding the broadsword and basics, and a holy symbol… well, those five quirk points are well-invested.
Disadvantages: Weakness (1d/minute in unholy spaces) [-20], Charitable [-15], Vow (“Never let an innocent come to harm without trying to stop it”) [-10], Demonic Emnity [-5]
Quirks: Always takes letters on his journeys [-1], Sends money home to his mother [-1], Unwilling to let others take point [-1], Dislikes bathing (“Unarmed and unarmoured? That’s as good as dead!”) [-1], Believes all Eldhuð can be saved [-1]
Skills
Broadsword-16 [16]
Shield-16 [12]
Crossbow-14 [4]
Exorcism-14 [4]
Brawling-13 [2]
Intimidation-13 [1]
Meditation-12 [1]
Wrestling-12 [2]
Hidden Lore (Demons)-10 [1]
Esoteric Medicine (Holy)-9 [1]
Physiology (Demons)-9 [1]
Religious Ritual-9 [1]
Tactics-9 [1]
Theology-9 [1]
Summary
In conclusion, I built a full 250pt DF character including extra Holy Abilities from Hand of Asgard and a race template in fifteen minutes, and that includes clicking it together in GCS. I really do need to repeat this again. It’s a full-fledged DF character, and essentially ready to play.
Is it done? It’s probably not. I can spend another hour updating and optimizing point distribution. But that’s the whole point: I’m already further with this character after fifteen minutes than I’d be after two hours building him myself. And I don’t have to suffer from forgetting pesky things like Exorcism.
That’s why - aside from support for lower-level gaming and fast character generation (which are already huge), Delvers to Grow is such a game changer. Because it allows you to build your character so smoothly.
36 Hours to Go! Sprint to the Finish
almost 3 years ago
– Tue, May 25, 2021 at 04:17:34 AM
Well, the Delvers to Grow campaign ends tomorrow at 9pm Central Time.
The book is now substantially complete. I need to do the "complete these things last" items: hyperlinks, Table of Contents, and the Index. I need to put some quick-reference things like the skill cost table on the inside cover of the book. And I've commissioned the last two pieces of art that are needed to fill some spaces. Those shall be in hand June 12 or before, if all goes well.
Somewhere around that same weekend or before, I shall go live with Backerkit. Once folks start filling out their surveys, all existing PDFs shall be pushed through DriveThruRPG.
Some Screenshots
Here are some previews. Prior work has showed the swashbuckler and a knight. I'll push out a smart delver today as well.
This is one of the spreads that still needs finished art. What will go there?
Well ofcourse it's an homage to The Princess Bride. Probably based strongly on this scene:
If any of you are active on RPG boards, social media, or anywhere else, and you want to give the campaign a plug, please feel free to re-use these or any other image that has been shared as part of an update.
The Last Pitch
The Kickstarter for Delvers to Grow is ending at 9 pm Central Time on Tuesday, May 25. It has funded, and the next steps are stretch goals for more included content with backer pledges.
Delvers to Grow offers character generation for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG with two important features:
It covers lower power levels than the near-epic characters provided in the Dungeon Fantasy RPG boxed set: If you like "zero to hero" play, this is your book
It enables getting to the table fast. It usually takes people 5 to 15 minutes from opening the book to "ready to start play."
It is, without hesitation, the greatest recruiting tool for Powered by GURPS games like the Dungeon Fantasy RPG that has ever been created. One blind-tester took it to their favorite local game store, and ran an amazing pick-up game on the fly.
With the Dungeon Fantasy RPG. He was asked back to run more.
If you've wanted to try a Powered by GURPS game, if you love the Dungeon Fantasy RPG but can't get folks to make characters because it takes too long, if you prefer starting as a lower-tier delver and working your way up to epic during play...this is the book for you.
Battle-tested: The Wrestler from the Skogurenda Meatgrinder
almost 3 years ago
– Sun, May 23, 2021 at 02:22:56 AM
[Note: with my permission, Kreios cut images from the sample draft and posted them to his site showing the wrestler build he used. I'm going to let you link over there so you can check out his stuff too...but you can more than get the gist of it from what he's written below.]
Delvers to Mow Down II Supplement: Example Wrestler Build
The following is the Wrestler I built for Exxar’s meatgrinder game (session report). It is based on a prerelease version of Gaming Ballistic’s Delvers to Grow project (written by Kevin Smyth, whose work is again amazing). And when I say prerelease I mean basically done content-wise, with only edits and interior art missing. It’s essentially ready to go.
First off, I want to stress how amazing that book is. The following character was built at the beginning of the session and took about ten minutes to build (most of which was spent to build the sheet into GCS). I cannot stress this enough: To me, the book is a gamechanger. I will not only use this for my own DF games (including introducing new people to DF), I will also likely build similar modules for other games I’ll run. They won’t be as good as Kevin’s (which are well-built, amusing, and quite evocative), but they’ll make building characters so much faster.
In fact, even in DF games I’ll play in that don’t use those modules, I will still build my character using them. Ten minutes to build a character and another twenty to finetune them is far better than spending an hour building my character and then finding out in the first session I forgot to buy the climbing skill.
I had already decided on a concept - I wanted to give Fantastic Dungeon Grappling a spin and therefore would choose a wrestler.
Choose a Category and Point Level
Strong journeyman template, clocking in at 125 points.
Point level was given by the scenario, at 125 points. And since the wrestler is surprisingly a Strong template (you wouldn’t guess it, right?), that gives us the 125-pt strong template pictured to the right.
You can note a few things there: First, the modules: Two disadvantage modules give you additional points (for optimizers) and roleplaying opportunity (for roleplayers). The basic module and advanced module together give you 75 points of your character-defining abilities. And the upgrade module allows you to specialize your character.
I’ll be spending the required one point on Brawling, and chose Staff as a secondary weapon skill to spend two points on (you’ll see the choices in a bit). Most of the other professions get a ranged choice here; for the Wrestler, it’s melee weapons for foes you do not want to touch. That’s why I decided on Staff: More reach to stay away. The 12 points for main weapon goes to - you guessed it - wrestling.
Choose Basic and Advanced Modules
Wrestler basic module
My choice was already defined: Wrestler. So, I’m picking Wrestler and Wrestler II as the basic and advanced module respectively.
The Wrestler basic templace gives us the defining advantage for a wrestler: Wrestling Master, whose benefits include increasing control points inflicted by wrestling significantly and making your arms count as weapons for attacks and parries.
Wrestlers also get Judo which, together with Enhanced Parry, allows them to parry enemy weapons or limbs, followed by improving the grip and then tearing them limb from limb. Judo’s nice for that because (a) you parry for each hand separately, and (b) you get a bonus of +3 instead of +1 to parry when retreating. Judo takes encumbrance penalties, but you’re the strongest delver - my wrestler ended up at no encumbrance.
Wrestler II advanced module
The basic template gives you basic competence (and is all that 62pt characters get, plus one upgrade module). The advanced modules, though, is where each profession really begins to shine. For the Wrestler, Lifting ST increases total strength for grappling to 15 - that would inflict 1d+1 CP. Except that we have Wrestling Master, and will have Wrestling at DX+3, which boosts it by another 3 - for a final total of 1d+4 CP. Both the 187pt Knight Doug posted and his the 125pt Swashbuckler will probably suffer -4 to DX after just one successful attack. Of course, you first have to be in close combat.
Also very nice is the Tough Skin. At three levels, my armour (on which I spend most of my quirk points) usually protected me for 8 DR. Whenever you read “none of the three attacks on the Wrestler penetrate armour” in the session report, that right there is why.
The three skills usually found on the Martial Artist template in basic DFRPG are a nice addition, but I did not get to use them.
Choose Upgrade Module
Hulk upgrade module
Remember when I gushed about the CP my wrestler could inflict? What if we made that even more? The Hulk upgrade module is very straightforward. At a total of another three levels of lifting strength, that gives me 18 and therefore 1d+2 base CP, increased to 1d+5. If I were to spend three of my quirk points on another level of Lifting ST, I’d have ended up with 2d+2, even.
Not surprisingly, that mountain of muscle is intimidating, and is trained to lift even more: He can bench-press almost half a ton!
Choose Disadvantage Modules
Fortune’s Fool disadvantage module
Hero disadvantage module
A big hulking wrestler in a heap of armour? I’ve chosen two modules that fit quite well: Fortune’s Fool and Hero. There’s two levels to every disadvantage package in DtG: First, there’s the descriptions which in this case tell me that my wrestler is straightforward bordering on foolish while being extremely certain of himself. At the same time, he’s heroic, ready to carry everyone back if necessary (with his strength, he should be able to still walk at Move 2 while carrying two or three wounded delvers).
At the same time, the disadvantages contained within the module give you (and the GM) a more rules-based approach to the disadvantage.
In-game, due to the scenario we played, these disadvantages didn’t really surface. Overconfidence might’ve, due to the large number of all-out attacks I threw, and Sense of Duty certainly would’ve come into play once we didn’t have constant combat to play with.
Choosing Equipment
All that remains now is choosing our equipment. Luckily, we don’t need a weapon (that’s what hands are for). I have five quirk points available to trade for armour, which means at most $3500. Usually, I’d buy a Basic Kit for $233, but in that pure combat scenario, it was unnecessary. Knight’s Armour would’ve been nice, but clocks in at almost $6,000; even bought as cheap (a new option in DtG), it would’ve been too expensive. Instead, the Huskarl’s Armour ($1,905 and 47.4lbs) must serve. Primarily made up of light mail with more armour for limbs and head, it gives DR 6/4 to the skull, DR 4 to hands and feet, and DR 3/1 everywhere else. That’s a total of 9/7, 7, and 6/4 respectively with tough skin. Another $1,000 I spent on the Fortify I enchantment, for another 1DR for everything. That’s about $3,000 spent, and $480 buy me four minor healing potions. Add a quarterstaff to that at $10, and we’re done. That’s a total of less than 55 lbs, so the wrestler is at no encumbrance.
The Wrestler was really nice to play, and I enjoyed doing so immensely. I just wish I’d have actually damaged somebody using wrestling instead of throwing them down the wall. That was undoubtedly more effective, but I could’ve spent 9 CP on some of the attacks to do 3d cr damage. That would’ve been nice.
In retrospect, I also might’ve chosen Fortunate Son (more money would have been nice, and Luck is always good), or Veteran for that sweet combat reflexes. That would’ve meant more than the one more damage I got from more strength.
However, I am and continue to be impressed by Delvers to Grow’s ease of character generation (the character above took about ten minutes to create, most of that clicking it together in GCS; with the announced release of GCS and GCA files, creation time will probably be less than five minutes for a fully-fledged and well-rounded character. (Well, the wrestler is basically restricted to “wrestling” and “carrying heavy loads”, but that’s a class feature).
It’s a game changer. Really.
Artur the Knight
almost 3 years ago
– Sat, May 22, 2021 at 05:13:56 PM
Artur the Knight [187 points]
Oh, you really don't want to piss this guy off.
After the 125-point eldhuð swashbuckler, now we're going to walk through a 187-point knight. Any physical resemblance to my Viking martial arts instructor is purely intentional.
We'll jump to the end and do skills first. We nab two points in Brawling, four in a secondary weapon, which is almost always "hit things from far away." Never throw a thrust weapon when you can throw a swung one: we choose Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace) because throwing axes is awesome.
I'm really tempted to go with a dane axe. But axe and shield is also really cool. I'll go with that in this case, because y'all know I love my shields. That's 12 points in Axe/Mace and four points in Shield (Buckler).
Step 2: Disadvantage Modules
Picking the disads first, we'll make Artur an old veteran soldier from the wars in the south (which south? Who cares!). Also, he finds that the kind of enemy that makes for the least trouble is, well, a dead one.
So basically an honorable chap, if a bit grizzly and with an old wound that can be targeted in a fight if the bad guys know of it.
Step 3: Basic and Advanced Modules
As we already know where we're going here, we slap down both the basic and advanced knight modules.
Despite the recommendations (and sword is the best overall thing for the knight - you get cut and thrust, a one-point damage boost, and no issues on the parries), the knight really is a master of weapons. I'm going to deliberately go sub-optimal for my main weapon choice and do Axe/Mace...but with the recognition that I will need to use a hatchet rather than an axe or even a small axe, because hatchets have Parry 0 insted of Parry 0U for either of the other axes. Also that this is a deliberately sub-optimal choice for a beginner (both a player and a character, as it turns out), because I'm taking the stance that this character will spend time hooking and grappling with the axe in a way not encouraged/possible with the sword, and just trying to be a bit different.
Interestingly enough, this axe that I use in real life for my martial arts training parries just fine and has a somewhat credible thrust mode (though this one less so than others I've used, whose pointy bits are pretty impressive) ... but also only weighs 2 lbs, making it a hatchet in the Dungeon Fantasy RPG.
As noted, I'm actually going to go with Axe/Mace as a primary, because why not? I will also see about diversifying into other weapons. I'll drop 8 points into Broadsword, giving me some diversification and an impaling attack as the "new weapon" from the basic module. Two more points on a ranged weapon skill is six points in Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace) so I do two points in Thrown Weapon (Spear) instead. I could also use quirk points to push up Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace) but I suspect I'll want that money for armor later.
Step 4: Upgrades
The Master template gets two upgrade picks. Juicy.
Armsmaster is too fun to pass up. I take that. I'll also pick up Spear for 2 points as part of it, put three points into Wrestling, and the last in Knife.
Also, the whole point of battle is to kill the other guy and notdie. I pick up Stalwart for the sweet, sweet defensive boosts.
Step 5: Write it Down
ST 13 [30] HP 13 [0] Basic Speed 6.00 [0]
DX 13 [60] Will 10 [0] Basic Move 6 [0]
IQ 10 [0] Per 10 [0]
HT 12 [20] FP 13 [0]
Advantages: Born War Leader 2, Combat Reflexes, Enhanced Block 2, Enhanced Parry 2 (Axe/Mace), Fevered Defense, High Pain Threshold, Master at Arms, Rapid Switch.
Disadvantages: Bloodlust, Code of Honor (Chivalry), Code of Honor (Soldier's), Sense of Duty (Nation/Realm), Wounded.
As always, writing it down takes longer than making the choices. When GCA and GCS support appear for this after the project is closed...this will take zero time and really guard against mistakes.
A few notes: Combat Reflexes stacks with the defense bonuses to give Parry-15 even without a shield; a DB +2 medium shield means base defenses without a retreat are at Parry-17, Block-16.
You can Armed Grapple with the hatchet (which is why I took it) at a skill-16 to hook foe's shields and limbs. He's strong enough and has Wrestling at DX+1, giving 1d+1 control points on a grapple, so not wrestler-level awesome (but what is?) but credible.
This character is fearsome on defense and decent on attack, but doesn't rack up the raw damage that a character with Extra Attack or Weapon Master would do. The strategy here is not to one-shot foes, but to stand firm and not get hit while one does steady damage. If you need The Big Hit, you may need a barbarian friend with a two-handed axe. But that, of course, is what friends are for!
Step 6: Loadout
With $1000 in base funds available and not having consumed any quirk points for skills, Artur could theoretically spend up to $3,500 in gear.
We slap down the Basic Kit because of course we do.
We'll want weapons: a hatchet ($40, 2 lbs), broadsword ($600, 3 lbs), and medium buckler ($60, 15 lbs) for the shield. (That really ought to be about 7 lbs...but it's a game, not a reality simulator).
The Huskarl's Armor package looks really good here. Just over $1,900 and under 48 lbs for solid protection, mostly mail. The Guard's Armor is almost $1,000 cheaper and 15 lbs lighter if you go that way. You get such great parry and block from the Stalwart Package and Combat Reflexes that being a lighter, more mobile fighter might be worthwhile.
