Some vague ideas have been forming about doing a Sci-Fantasy sourcebook for Tunnels & Trolls. I’ve been trying to organise my thoughts (since Specialists had such a nice reaction from people) and here’s some of my initial thoughts on the direction it might take and some notes on themes and ideas that might enable you to make a start of your own based on what I’ve put here.
TrollSpace
Tunnel’s and Trolls remains fresh and interesting and beloved in part, in my opinion, because it just doesn’t take itself seriously. T&T remains whimsical, fun and simple. The best indication of the whole game line for me has always been in the name of the spell ‘Take that you fiend’ which just sums to all up for me.
In making any TrollSpace game setting and rules supplementation to the standard T&T game you’d have to work pretty hard to keep that whimsical nature to the game and not let it get too serious. Any rules changes would have to perpetuate and extend the feel of T&T without overriding or destroying it.
Sci-Fantasy
Sci-Fantasy would seem to be the sweet spot for any SF version of T&T. It’s much more open to the whimsical silliness and allows you to make it into more of a melting pot of ideas and fun silliness. You want a gang of Space Amazons mounted on giant mutant parrots? You’re good to go. There’s much more room for variety and much less expectation on behalf of the players that anything has to make any consistent sense.
7th Edition (30th Anniversary) Basis
Well, it’s my favourite edition and it’s the one I’ve written bits and bobs for before so… why the hell not eh?
Wiz = Psi
Purely a thematic thing really. ‘Psi’ sounds much more ‘sciency’ than ‘Wiz’. The powers would be changed from the current spells, but would probably cover much the same ground. It’s really just an aesthetic thing.
Character Types
Prole
The SciFan equivalent of the Citizen class and pretty much the same.
Crook
The SciFan equivalent of the Rogue class. Rather than having access to psi abilities, they’d get an additional talent – on top of Roguery – at character generation. Access to ‘wild’ psi abilities would come by spending talents, for those who wanted it.
Soldier
The SciFan equivalent of the Warrior class. Identical really.
Mystic
The SciFan equivalent of the Wizard. A Psi-specialist. Otherwise the same.
Specialist Brute (Str)
The equivalent of the Brute type in my Specialists book.
Specialist Protector (Con)
The equivalent of the Defender type in my Specialists book.
Specialist Gunner (Dex)
A stealthy sniper/survivalist, the equivalent of the Ranger type.
Specialist Daredevil (Spd)
The equivalent of the Swashbuckler type in my Specialists book.
Specialist Zen-Tech (Int)
The equivalent of the Tinker type in my Specialists book. Rather than particular devices a Zen-Tech would be able to enhance weapons, starships and equipment in various ways.
Specialist Mystic (Psi)
The equivalent of a specialist wizard, a natural psi who doesn’t need training but only has access to a particular arena of psi talent.
Specialist Chancer (Lck)
The equivalent of the Trickster in my Specialists book.
Specialist Commander (Cha)
The equivalent of the Leader type. Otherwise unchanged.
Specialist Exemplar (All 12+)
The equivalent of the Paragon role. Again unchanged.
Next time: Some ideas on Kin equivalents for TrollSpace.
Postmortem Studios 