The Unseen Servant forums

There's been enough interest on the main thread that I thought I'd start a thread for a potential Torchbearer game. As several who expressed interest have not played before, I thought I'd explain a little of what makes Torchbearer different (both as a selling point and to keep people from coming in with false expectations and being disappointed when it wasn't what they thought it was).

Torchbearer has a distinctly gritty OSR feel to it--while the systems are modern and skill-based, player skill and ingenuity still matters a great deal. If you say "my thief checks for traps", the GM will ask how. A well-considered plan will often result in success without dice hitting the table, but a foolish one may result in that thief taking a poisoned needle when he says "I tug on the lock to see what happens".

This is a game that turns on their head the absurdities of a D&D-style dungeon delve: coming back with mountains of treasure in your backpack that a team of pack mules would have a hard time carrying; untested characters charging bravely into battle with monstrous foes with no chance of anything less than epic heroism; pressing onward because you still have hit points left.

D&D tends to ignore things like encumbrance and light and the effects of wounds and just getting worn down, because it's not heroic. That's not Torchbearer. In Torchbearer, exploring ancient tombs and cave systems that have never borne human footsteps to confront monsters is perilous. Dropping your torch into a gulch is a real problem, as is how you're going to get that solid-gold statue back to town.

In Torchbearer, your character tends to start out fairly weak (not a DCC 0-level funnel-fodder character, but not as competent as most 1st-level D&D characters, either) adventurer who adventures not for fame and glory, but because it's the only option left to them other than starving on the streets. It's possible to become rich and famous, but generally civilization just isn't that welcoming--going back to town is expensive and arduous and presents its own challenges. Most adventurers go to town, do what they need to do, and get out before bill collectors come calling.

If keeping track of your inventory sounds as bad as doing your taxes (Torchbearer features a slot-style inventory system, much like an MMO), and having your character become afraid of the eldritch monstrosity that is lurking about (with actual mechanical effects) is an affront, Torchbearer is probably not the game for you.

On the other hand, if the idea of playing a wide-eyed novice adventurer who has to make tough decisions about whether to discard a torch to make room for a rare book found in the wizard's tower--what if the goblins come back, and we run out of time and get lost in the dark?--or whether to press on despite the fact that everyone's hungry and the dwarf is injured--sounds fun, Torchbearer may be the game for you.

A couple of systems unique to Torchbearer that bear mention:

• Turn structure and The Grind. One of the things that makes Torchbearer ideal for PbP is the turn system. Each action a character takes advances the game one turn. Besides using up a turn of light, it advances The Grind. (The Mythcreants blog makes a strong argument for letting each character take an action each turn, but we can discuss their proposals.)
• The Grind: Torchbearer doesn't use Hit Points. A character gets ground down as they adventure; after a certain number of turns they will become Hungry, and if you don't stop to eat and drink, you'll eventually take on another condition, and another…and the last one is Dead. (You can also take conditions as a result of a failed test--fail a Cook test and you may get Sick; fail a test to navigate and you may become Angry.) Relieving these conditions requires some strategic decisions.
• Inventory has already been mentioned; you have a certain capacity in your backpack or sack and on and about your body. Games by Crane & Co. tend to emphasize what they call "interesting decisions", and the inventory system is no different. You get more capacity for treasure and supplies if you carry a backpack, but face a penalty when fighting and climbing and such.
• Lighting: Torchbearer has various sources of light, from candles to torches and lanterns. In a game focused on the overlooked aspects of dungeon delving, lighting is critical! In Torchbearer, a light source lasts for a given number of turns and provides light to a certain number of characters. Deciding who is carrying a light source and what that source is can be a crucial decision (especially since that's a hand that's not holding something else). To illustrate this, while Light is a mundane utility spell in D&D, some consider the ability to produce light at will overpowered in Torchbearer, despite having your usual combat-oriented spells. Light's that critical.
• Town is, as mentioned, not the warm and inviting place it is in some D&D games. It's a society that doesn't really have a place for down-and-out miscreants who spend their time robbing tombs and fighting goblins. They'll take your money, but you won't likely ever be welcome. This leads to the basic cycle in Torchbearer: go adventuring, get what treasure you can and come back to town. Spend that treasure relieving the conditions you couldn't shake in the dungeon, and head back out before you run out of money. Rinse and repeat.

If you've ever played the video game Darkest Dungeon, Torchbearer is basically what that would be if it was an OSR tabletop game.

This sounds like a really intriguing game. I'm going to have to try it at some point.

I would love to have a spot in your game.

Well seeing as how I was/am? in a game atm, I'm very down to try again!

Always in for Torchbearer.

Count me in, I'll try to keep up.

I am in if you will take a newbie.

I'm still reading through the how-to posts and reading a few games to see how this all works, but Torchbearer sounds right up my alley. If you don't mind newbs around, count me in!

There's been enough interest expressed that I've requested a forum. In the meantime, give a thought to anything you might want to see in the game world (a particular faction, a scene you'd like to see play out, etc.), and what sort of character you might want to play and why they find delving into dark and dangerous ruins to be preferable to finding a steady job in town.

Torchbearer hews fairly closely to 0e conventions (basic classes are warrior, cleric, mage, thief, elf, halfling, dwarf, though there are some optional classes we can explore as well).

There are some modifications that Mythcreants has proposed to improve Torchbearer, and each of them has some merit. I'd like to discuss whether you all want to use any or all of them once we get a forum up. Those rules can be found here:

Seven House Rules for Torchbearer Campaigns

And Stirling makes eight. Always a good number for an adventuring party.

Not played much of Torch bearer but I do like the sense of accountability and dynamics if you can still be heroic at the same time, or at least epically fail.

Any room for a late entrant? I can try to by expeditious about character creation. I am currently building a character for a BW one-shot so I am at least a it familiar with the process.

Any room for a late entrant? I can try to by expeditious about character creation. I am currently building a character for a BW one-shot so I am at least a it familiar with the process.