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Re: (TFT) Re: Outnumbering PC's in TFT / D&D
Also, Michael's point about powerful characters rings true. Outnumbering in 
TFT rapidly becomes a big problem, so that powerful characters can be
overwhelmed by peons if there are enough of them.
I remember in D&D DMing a party from 1st level way up to 11th or so and

.>>DMing the Giant series (G1-3) with them. Past early levels, the PCs were

quite long lived, anyway they got into Hall Of the Fire Giant King and the

.>>party managed to combat about 75% of the Hall's troups at the entrance -

giants would keep getting reinforcements and adding themselves to a
bloodthirsty battle. The party did lose 17 assorted characters and NPCs but 
m managed to kill alot of giants, and they around 10th level or so (so not
way tougher than the module required).
I couldn't see how this could happen in TFT - te numbers of enemies would
wear down even powerful characters more quickly. The main factors apear to
be the escalating hp totals in AD&D and lack of area of effect spells, like 
a MMH fireball, in TFT (say, now there's an idea............)
Cas



       Hi Cas,


>      I HATED the fact that a handful of D&D characters

could kill hundreds,  of orks, etc.  Just my taste, but when
the players KNEW they were immune to hundreds of weaker
enemies, any drama just leaked out of the situation.

       Of course in D&D you had to replace all the weaker
monsters with a whole new set every 3 levels.  Very
profitable for those selling collections of new monsters.

       I remember I was converting a group of D&Ders
to TFT way back when.  They kicked a rotting stump and
a whole bunch of wasps came out.  The party ran every
which way looking for water or mud holes to roll in.

       Eventually they all killed / got rid of their wasps.
I didn't think much of the encounter but the D&Ders were
flabbergasted.  They were NOT fighting huge monsters
and Green Dragons, etc.  They really were delighted by
the strangeness of the encounter.

       Rick




    Well, Rick, Cas,
    I think area effect is one of the major differences
between TFT and D&D.  I also think its possible that the
plain old common nuisance of a wasp may be unique to
TFT.  I have heard a lot of complaints about D&D over
the years but in my experience Interpreting the rules is
half the fun.  Boy did AD&D have a lot of them.  Hehe.
    Area effects are very limited in TFT.  Few things can
make them. Molotov, petard, blunderbuss, hexes of fire,
of darkness, mega hexes of , pentagram, magic rainstorm,
freeze, sleep, sticky/slippery floor, and there is shock
shield, as well as the gaze of the basilisk, but not much
else.  If the players are suddenly outnumbered, they
usually aren't ready to drop a petard and run.  Then any
group of NPCs constitute a threat, even to the big time
wizard.  The all time winner amung the players and
ultimate area affect in is the word of command.  The
players who actually took missions into the pits and
engaged in tunnel fighting, found multi hex fire to be
invaluable against multiple opponents.
    In AD&D some enormous powers can be released
over big areas, but that doesn't detract from the fun.  It
is a different level of fun.  Picking up a hand full of orcs
and munching on them like snack crackers has its own
kind of satisfaction.  Sometimes oddities in the rules
enhance these leaps of the imagination.  Of course one
joke that was going around back when I first started
playing TFT said "Did you hear?  D&D has an atomic
bomb spell.  Yeah.  The casting range is fifty inches.
The area affect is one hundred miles."
    The only thing I really dog on AD&D about is the
frequency of monsters.  The only common monster in
the entire Fiend Folio was the throat leach.  Very rare
monsters constitute a lot more than 4% of the Monster
Manual.  Most encounters occur with about the same
frequency as everything else on the encounter tables.
The encounter tables in the Dungeon Master Guide
don't seem to follow the frequency guide lines.  This
strikes me as something that needs fixing in D&D,
and I humbly submit the following.  In wilderness
encounters the frequency is used to determine if the
monster will even reveal itself to the party or if it
will avoid and just observe.


    David Michael Grouchy II

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