Brand new Talomir Tales player asking for help

[firefly]

Hi Everyone

I am brand new to this hobby, this is my first time trying anything like this, and decided to buy Talomir Tales Distant Shores after reading reviews and it appealed to me very much. I want to make sure I am understanding some of the rules correctly so please excuse me if my questions seem very simple. I want to play along with the rules as written to get the maximum enjoyment from the game.


Race Lists – Poison Table – Circumstance – Alignment: If the character has the same Alignment as the Vampire – Modifier -1d6 – Does this apply to both the character and Vampire? Or just the character and the Vampire still rolls 2d6?



Increasing/Decreasing Rep d6 – are the d6’s all gained by the Star or do they get allocated to each member of the band as they earn them and rolled against each member at the end of the encounter?



Armor Class – Is there any downside if a Star chooses AC8?



Gathering/Hunt – If you roll the objective higher than the number in your band, and you can only roll once per band member on the gathering/hunt table, is this an automatic fail and your character gains a 1d6 decreasing rep for failing to accomplish the encounter?



NPC Interaction – Circumstance – If characters have same or opposite alignment – modifier +1d6 or -1d6 – does this apply to both your character and the NPC? Or just your character?



Circumstance – Rep 7+ If the creature or character is Rep 7 or higher – modifier +1d6 – does this apply to your character too?


Thanks for any help with the above.

[shoshen]

1. Just the character. I think they would be more willing to "submit" to the poison, like a hanger on willing to please its master or, in the case of feral vampires, they wouldn't be expecting it.

2. Each character in your band rolls separately as they can leave if they get higher rep than yours.

3. I always figured you could only have 6 AC and the only way you could be boosted to 8 AC was by magic or a magical item.

4. Yeah, it looks that way in the book. I think it's supposed to be as your band gets bigger, there's less to go around so once you get past 3 people in your band, you need to start searching for larger quantities of food.

5. If anyone in your band is of opposite alignment it's -1d6 on the interaction as they're probably spoiling for a fight!

6. I'd say so!

Hope this helps. Anyone can correct me on these points if I'm wrong!

[firefly]

Thanks for your help 👍

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Sept 24, 2020 19:02:41 GMT firefly said:

Hi Everyone
Here goes and all and any questions you have are great.

I am brand new to this hobby, this is my first time trying anything like this, and decided to buy Talomir Tales Distant Shores after reading reviews and it appealed to me very much. I want to make sure I am understanding some of the rules correctly so please excuse me if my questions seem very simple. I want to play along with the rules as written to get the maximum enjoyment from the game.


Race Lists – Poison Table – Circumstance – Alignment: If the character has the same Alignment as the Vampire – Modifier -1d6 – Does this apply to both the character and Vampire? Or just the character and the Vampire still rolls 2d6?

Yes, just the Character. The Vampire still rolls 2d6.



Increasing/Decreasing Rep d6 – are the d6’s all gained by the Star or do they get allocated to each member of the band as they earn them and rolled against each member at the end of the encounter? Each Band member individually. The other option is they do not gain any Rep d6. Makes it easier if you only want to track your Star. I do it this way




Armor Class – Is there any downside if a Star chooses AC8? Limits if you're a Caster -2 to Rep.



Gathering/Hunt – If you roll the objective higher than the number in your band, and you can only roll once per band member on the gathering/hunt table, is this an automatic fail and your character gains a 1d6 decreasing rep for failing to accomplish the encounter? Correct,


NPC Interaction – Circumstance – If characters have same or opposite alignment – modifier +1d6 or -1d6 – does this apply to both your character and the NPC? Or just your character? Just your Character.



Circumstance – Rep 7+ If the creature or character is Rep 7 or higher – modifier +1d6 – does this apply to your character too? Yes.

Hope this helps.


Thanks for any help with the above.

[firefly]

That’s great 👍 I’m going to play my first game this weekend 😁

[shoshen]

Sweet! Let me know how it goes. It's my favorite in the THW stable so far.

[firefly]

Thanks shoshen, here goes.

Firstly, please bear with me as this is my very first attempt at playing any solo rpg. I've always been drawn to the idea, but noone else I know is bothered about it, so I've never pursued it, but now I've decided to jump right in and give it my best shot. I decided to start at the very beginning of the adventure with Haldor and Steinn and played the #1 Carousing encounter with them.

My thoughts after the encounter ended were just how much enjoyment I got out of just this one encounter, and it's definitely got me so excited about all the other encounters I can play, and where the game might take me, I can't wait to play some more. The tables made it very easy to play without feeling bogged down, and after a short time I'd already started to know the answers to the outcomes without looking them up.

Below is a run through of my dice rolling vs the encounter rules, I know it's very mechanical and no story telling, but wanted to make sure I was on the right track for playing. If I've missed anything out I should have been doing, or it should be played differently, please let me know as I can see myself investing a lot of time in this game from now on and creating great adventure stories.

Band Size:    2 - Haldor & Steinn

Roll for PEF's - I rolled a 6, giving 5 PEF's

PEF 1:
Who are they - I rolled a 4 - Men Tereken
How Many - I rolled a 6 then a 1 = 4 Men
Caster/Healer - I rolled 6 and 1 - No
Random Attribute - I rolled 1 then 2 - Born Leader
Friend or Foe - I didn't see this option in the Carousing encounter rules so didn't roll for it
Interaction:
Same alignment - Neutral so I gave Haldor +1d6
Haldor rolled 5,5,6 - passed 2d6
Leader (Rep 5) rolled 2,6 - passed 1d6
Passed more d6 - NPC equal rep so gain 1d6 Inc Rep
I wanted to try and recruit a Tereken Warrior Rep 4 using the Cutting Out From The Herd Rules as I couldn't recruit the leader with the same Rep as Haldor
Haldor rolled 3,6,6 - passed 1d6
Warrior rolled 1,1 - passed 2d6
Passed less d6 - Same alignment s Warrior makes snarky comments and Haldor gains 1d6 Dec Rep

I decide to leave these and go onto PEF 2:
Who are they - I rolled a 5 - Men Tereken
How Many - I rolled a 1 then a 2 = 2 Men
Caster/Healer - I rolled 5 and 6 - No
Random Attribute - I rolled 1 then 6 - Clumsy
Interaction:
Same alignment - Neutral so I gave Haldor +1d6
Haldor rolled 1,4,4 - passed 3d6
Leader (Rep 5) rolled 2,4 - passed 2d6
Passed more d6 - NPC equal rep so gain 1d6 Inc Rep
Couldn't recruit leader as same Rep, rolled a 5 for Warrior Rep so his Rep 5 was same as Haldor's too

Can't recruit here so tried PEF 3:
Who are they - I rolled a 1 - Men Civilians
How Many - I rolled a 6 then a 2 = 4 Men
Caster/Healer - I rolled 6 and 2 - No
Random Attribute - I rolled a 1 then 4 - Charismatic which gave a +1d6 interaction with lower Reps - Didn't apply with Haldor Rep 5
This was the first PEF with possible females and males so I rolled four times resulting in Leader and #2 as males and #3 and #4 as females
I also rolled for Leader and #2 Reps - I rolled 3 for the Leader so Rep 3, and rolled 6 for #2 so Rep 4.
I decided that the Leader had to have the highest Rep, so I switched the Leader and #2 and would use Rep 4 for the interaction.
Then I had to check alignment so I split it RS(1-2) N(3-4) BM(5-6) - I rolled 6 so they were BM.
Interaction:
Different alignment so Haldor only got his 2d6 this time
Haldor rolled 2,5 - passed 2d6
Leader (Rep 4) rolled 3,3 - passed 2d6
Passed same d6, dont have opposite alignment so Leader acknowledges Haldor and moves on

PEF 4:
Who are they - I rolled a 6 - Thieves
How Many - I rolled a 1 then a 1 = 2 Thieves
Caster/Healer - I rolled a 6 and 1 - No
Random Attribute - I rolled a 3 then 4 - Initiative
Rolled for females/males - Leader female, #2 male
Rolled for Reps - I rolled 2 for the Leader so Rep 4, and rolled 1 for #2 so Rep 4
Interaction:
Same alignment - Neutral so I gave Haldor +1d6
Haldor rolled 2,3,5 - passed 3d6
Leader (Rep 4) rolled 1,6 - passed 1d6
Passed more d6 - Leader lower rep so recruited her and gained 1d6 Inc Rep 
I decided to try and recruit #2
I rolled for Random Attribute for #2 - I rolled a 3 then 2 - Hard As Nails.
Interaction:
Same alignment - Neutral so I gave Haldor +1d6

Haldor rolled 2,4,6 - passed 2d6
#2 (Rep 4) rolled 5,6 - passed 0d6
Passed more d6 - #2 lower rep so recruited him and gained 1d6 Inc Rep

PEF 5:
Who are they - I rolled a 4 - Men Tereken
How Many - I had a band of 4 now and I rolled a 4 then a 1 = 5 Men Tereken
Caster/Healer - I rolled 1 and 1 - Yes, a Leader Caster
Random Attribute - I rolled a 3 then 1 - Free Spirit - +1d6 when interacting
Interaction:

Same alignment - Neutral so I gave Haldor +1d6
Haldor rolled 3,5,5 - passed 3d6
Leader (Rep 5) rolled 1,5,6 - passed 2d6
Passed more d6 - NPC equal rep so gain 1d6 Inc Rep
I wanted to try and recruit a Tereken Shooter #5 using the Cutting Out From The Herd Rules as I couldn't recruit the leader with the same Rep as Haldor
Rolled for Shooter Rep and rolled a 6 - Rep 4
I rolled a 1 then 1 for the random attribute - Agile
Interaction:

Same alignment - Neutral so I gave Haldor +1d6

Haldor rolled 4,4,6 - passed 2d6
Shooter (Rep 4) rolled 4,5 - passed 1d6
Passed more d6 -  lower rep so recruited him and gained 1d6 Inc Rep

That was the end of the encounter. I had 6d6 Inc Reps and 1d6 Dec Rep so rolled 5d6 Inc Reps for Haldor - 1,4,5,1,5 - no increase so Haldors Rep stays at 5.

I now have 5 in my band - Haldor, Steinn, Female Thief, Male Thief and a Tereken Shooter.

I've just realised that I had not checked for a Robbery encounter or rolled for Fortune & Fame.

These questions popped in my head as I was playing the encounter:

1. Do you roll for Friend or Foe check while carousing?
2. Can you just decide to move to the action table and fight the PEF if you want to at anytime?
3. Do you resolve all members of the PEF before interacting for gender, random attributes or do you roll as required when you need to know?
4. For PEF's with any alignment, I split the chance 3 ways, is this how others do it?
5. The Leader of the PEF has to have the highest Rep, so if you roll a lower Rep then #2 or lower on the list, do you switch the places with the first one with a higher Rep?
6. Do you get an additional d6 Inc Rep for completing the objective eg a successful recruitment in addition to the d6 Inc Rep during the encounter?
7. Is just interacting enough to complete the carousing objective to gain a d6 Inc Rep? or does the interaction have to lead to something else to complete it?
8. If you fail at either 6 or 7 do you gain a d6 Dec Rep?
9. Can Fortune & Fame go below zero?
10. When playing your own campaigns, do you have to start as a single Star or can you start with band members already in the band who you've picked to play with?

Sorry for such a long post, but this was my very first go at something like this and wanted to make sure I was understanding things properly. I enjoyed it immensely and kind of got a bit of everything while rolling the d6. I'll give the new band members names and some personality before moving onto the next encounter.

All I can say is that this is what I've been looking for and it's exceeding all my expectations.

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Here goes.

These questions popped in my head as I was playing the encounter:



1. Do you roll for Friend or Foe check while carousing?
Nope, they start as Friends but could become Foes depending upon how you Interact with them.
2. Can you just decide to move to the action table and fight the PEF if you want to at anytime?
Yep.
3. Do you resolve all members of the PEF before interacting for gender, random attributes or do you roll as required when you need to know?
Roll them up from the list based on the number you have met, then assign gender, etc. if you want to. I do it for the NPC leader, not so much for the other NPCs in the group.
4. For PEF's with any alignment, I split the chance 3 ways, is this how others do it?
Yep unless specified in the book.
5. The Leader of the PEF has to have the highest Rep, so if you roll a lower Rep then #2 or lower on the list, do you switch the places with the first one with a higher Rep?
Yep.
6. Do you get an additional d6 Inc Rep for completing the objective eg a successful recruitment in addition to the d6 Inc Rep during the encounter?
Yep and a Decreasing one for not.
7. Is just interacting enough to complete the carousing objective to gain a d6 Inc Rep? or does the interaction have to lead to something else to complete it?
Friendly interaction is all you need. The other Inc d6 are built into the Interaction tables
8. If you fail at either 6 or 7 do you gain a d6 Dec Rep?
Yep.
9. Can Fortune & Fame go below zero?
Nope, that's the bottom.
10. When playing your own campaigns, do you have to start as a single Star or can you start with band members already in the band who you've picked to play with? You can do it anyway you want, it's your game.  

Hope this helps.
Ed

[shoshen]

Looks like you've got quite the band going! What's your next encounter?

[firefly]

It's going to be looking for a job offer #2 - Employment which is restricted to either guarding a location or guarding a character followed by the next encounter #3 - Rescue. Looks like more potential for combat with Lycaon as a potential PEF in encounter #2 as well as Tereken Men and Thieves, which I can't wait to try out.

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

That's one of the best things about THW, you don't know what you'll run into when you sit down to play. Have fun! Now back to Dead heat, the zombie racing game I'm updating.

[crinklechips]

Hi Firefly.

Talomir Tales and all THW roleplaying games are great because once you get used to the simple system you can easily expand upon it to make it as detailed and story driven as you like, without losing sight of its basic simplicity.

Here is one of my favourite posts by Davidlhsl - Solo RPG Toolbox Ideas

There’s so much to think about in that post its nuts!

Enjoy :-)

[shoshen]

Thanks for the link!

[firefly]

Thanks Crinklechips for the link, I'm enjoying playing the basic rules and it's really exciting to see how it can be so much more. My imagination is getting fired up enough now to start creating a linked up narrative, struggled with that at first. I've also just bought 5150 No Limits Maiden Voyage as I love anything Sci-Fi and it's arrived this week.

[crinklechips]

Oct 3, 2020 9:16:19 GMT firefly said:

Thanks Crinklechips for the link, I'm enjoying playing the basic rules and it's really exciting to see how it can be so much more. My imagination is getting fired up enough now to start creating a linked up narrative, struggled with that at first. I've also just bought 5150 No Limits Maiden Voyage as I love anything Sci-Fi and it's arrived this week.

Sometimes filling in the blanks is tough.  I recommend this deck of cards.  It has everything you could want and more and at the moment its laughably cheap!  You may as well take advantage as there’s little of benefit to a world in a pandemic.  You’ll get ways to answer simple and complex questions, locations, equipment, catylists, vice and virtue, what you can see or hear, names, hell you can even use them instead of rolling D6 if you want!  Its genre neutral too.  I wouldn’t be without my deck:-

Gamemasters Apprentice Deck

Glad you’ve bought No Limits.  Thats your essentials covered!