How's the View at Scenic Dunnsmouth?

[First, there are major spoilers here, so I wouldn't recommend reading this if you're a player.  That said, this is one of the few adventures that changes drastically depending on who's running it, so even if you are a cheater this might  not help you much!]

One of the things I enjoy about Refereeing in general, and Lamentations of the Flame Princess in particular, is not knowing what's going to happen.  One could argue that even the most railroady adventures have an element of surprise once players get involved, but LotFP brings a few things to the table (in addition to avoiding railroads altogether) to amp up the chance of interesting, surprising things happening.

First, there are often random tables that include swingy effects.  I've seen some tables that range from the party finding treasure to the party (and the entire town they're in) being destroyed.  Second, there are usually elements with consequences that are unpredictable.  This includes magic items, spells, NPCs, monsters, etc., that once players start interacting with, can impact the game world in unusual ways.

The third way is providing a book that generates a different setting each time.  Some other books that do this include Vornheim, Red and Pleasant Land, and The Seclusium of Orphone.

I've enjoyed Zzarchov Kowolski's other adventures, so it's a no-brainer to pick up anything he's written.  Scenic Dunnsmouth also features art by Jez Gordon, which fits well with the backwoods look of the village's residents.  It's a bit thicker than the standard softcover LotFP books, clocking in at just over 100 pages.

Using this adventure takes a lot of prepwork.  Not only does it require the village generation (as it states on the cover), it will also require reading through carefully and taking notes for each NPC and locale here.  Unlike many other LotFP adventures where a readthrough and a few notes here and there might suffice, that is impossible here.

Many NPCs have behaviors, statuses and abilities that rely on other things being true or not true.  You can never simply just turn to one and riff off of it.  Is that NPC infected?  Is this building present?  How close is this NPC to that NPC?  What is the infection level of the town?  Etc., etc.  I had to go through item by item and rewrite my version of the adventure so that I would never need to refer to the book during play.

I also created a map of the village:.

My first experience was to run this as a convention game.  The players were there to collect the tithes and taxes from the residents.  I also gave each player a rumor (some true, some false) about the village and the surrounding area.

Examples:

"All of 'em are vampires!  That's why they live in the fog and don't age."

"The people in that town hate spiders. They won't tolerate one to live."

"Nobody born there ever leaves."

"One of those families has a dark secret."

(I also included some hints about the Time Cube, and the threat in the mountains that was put down by a mob of villagers long ago.)  One critique, I love it when modules include rumor tables, and for this module it would have been great to have a list of rumors that could all potentially be true, but won't necessarily be true for every version of the village.

In my home campaign, a coveted treasure (the Star Crystal) is located in the Deathfrost Mountains, and Scenic Dunnsmouth is located at the base of these mountains.  (I don't think it's a coincidence that the first guy players meet in Death Frost Doom is a Duncaster!)

So, at any rate, the players will find themselves at the dock:

I cut up my map (after scanning it) and can use it to build the village in front of the players as they discover parts of it:

I also had to come up with a special way of talking for each of the family groups.  (I just don't have the skills to do something different for every single NPC!)

Dunlops - southern accent in the style of Frank Underwood (House of Cards).

Duncasters - a bit thicker, more working class southern accent (Foghat Leghorn?)

Samsons - creepy, Deliverance style southern accent.

van Kaus - I have a strange "Dutch" accent that is modeled after Ren's cousin, Sven Hoek, from that one episode of Ren and Stimpy.

And then, of course, Uncle Ivanovik, Magda and Father Iwanopolous all have to have different accents from the original families in the village.

If the players have a map, or get some information about the location of certain places when asking around, the area might look like this:

When running this as a convention game, it was pretty challenging. It was about 4 hours of NPC interaction.  They explored the Time Cube a bit, then decided to not mess with it.  They never found out anything about the Spider Cult.  They subdued Uncle Ivanovik and turned him over to the town (rescuing one of the people tied up in his house), and they got the money from the church.  They were really obsessed with what happened in the mountains and drilled every NPC they came across about it.

I also had them make bushcraft checks when navigating the swamp area, but I wasn't quite sure what would happen if they failed and got lost?  There wasn't any sort of random encounter included with the village, so I would recommend Referees make something up before starting.

I know my  home game would have gone differently.  My players are not so nice, and wouldn't have put up with some of the shit the villagers slung their way.  Uncle Ivanovik wouldn't have been allowed to live, there would have been a lot of thieving, and the Time Cube would be investigated more fully.  On the other hand, my players are already terrified of the village by its name alone, which may overpower their interest in getting to the Deathfrost mountains, but we'll see.

The fully explored area for my Dunnsmouth looks like this:

In the end, I have mixed feelings about this module.  Overall, I like the tone, the presentation, and the stuff within (the NPCs, locales, motif, etc.)  On the other hand, it's a lot of work.  Kabuki Kaiser ran his players through it like Groundhog Day, where they had to play it over and over (but he would generate a new one each time) until they solved the mystery of the Time Cube.  I love that idea and was originally going to copy that, but I don't know if I want to put in the amount of work it takes to make this village over and over again.

But if you don't do that, then what's the point of having this product that generates different versions of the same place?  It's not like Vornheim or R&PL where you can use it to generate cities/locales on the fly, you absolutely must do it in advance.  And, the village won't be different enough that you can create different villages to populate an area - it will always be some version of Dunnsmouth.

I think one thing that would have made this product perfect is the ability to generate it more immediately, and not in advance.  This would require some reformatting (I think Death Frost Doom style would work here - where there are a number of bolded parts that say "If this..."  "If that..." so that a Referee could easily check the current conditions of Dunnsmouth.  (As is, the text is buried within paragraphs, making this next to impossible.)

I would have preferred the village construction to happen at the table.  The referee rolls a bunch of dice, determines which is the boathouse, and players go from there.  As they get to a die, the Referee pulls the card for it, and can turn to that page and easily figure out what to say and do.

Conclusion: I think this is a must-have for LotFP fans.  At the very least, you spend a bit of time and generate a classic Zzarchov Kowolski LotFP adventure.  If you're willing to put in the work, you can do something more with it by creating multiple versions of Dunnsmouth and playing on that in some way.  If you literally have zero prep time and can only run pre-made modules, then unfortunately, you won't be able to use Scenic Dunnsmouth.

How to Crawl

Summer is usually my time to blog.  As a teacher, I'm barely scraping by during the school year with managing my job, running my weekly LotFP game, and spending time with my wife - only the most important things get prioritized.  During the summer, I suddenly find myself with the opposite problem - with all this time, which of the thousands of things that I want to do am I going to do?

This summer has been different in that I have a number of projects that have kept me busy. A project I can't talk about yet has been the bulk of this, but I've also done some planning for Scenic Dunnsmouth that I'm dying to share (but holding off until I've run it for both my group and Dragonflight), revised my character sheets (recreating them from scratch using GIMP), recreated my LotFP character creation book from scratch (using OpenOffice), and have been working on a LotFP style/fluff guide for my players because I find their understanding (and mine) of the Early Modern Era limited.

But this post doesn't have anything to do with any of that!

This is about: How do we become better Referees?

I recently read How to Run by Alexis D. Smolensk. Overall, it's a good book and I would recommend it.  I like his writing style, and I think everyone can learn something from it.

That said, it didn't exactly give me what I wanted.

A section of the book was on how to manage players, how to be a good host, how to treat people well and fairly.  I have met people that needed to read this section.  As someone who has a psychology degree, worked in social work, teaches kids, and plays RPGs pretty much exclusively with friends, much of this section was reiterating what I already know and do.

Another large section of the book was about world creation.  He talks about world creation as if it's a second job, recommending spending 40-60 hours a week on it.  He does this because he loves doing it.  I'm sure other people love doing this.  I enjoy doing this sometimes, but would burn out after too much.  He incorporates design principles into his work, he thoroughly discusses the process, the steps, and sets up great guidelines.  If you want to spend most of your time creating your world, then this book is almost a necessary starting place.

He makes an analogy between building a brick fence in your yard and world building.  Sure, you could pay someone to build that wall, and maybe do a better job than you, but it's also not yours.  If you built that wall yourself, it might not be perfect, but it would be your creation.  And maybe when you learned some new skills, you might go back and make it better.

This analogy doesn't work for me though.  I see RPG modules as more like novels.  First, I doubt I could write a decent novel without reading a shit ton of other novels.  Second, once I did write a novel, I wouldn't sit around and read it.  I'd love for others to read it, but I'd go find some other novels to read.  This is why I actually prefer to run published modules rather than world-build.  It's because of reading and running these modules that I feel capable enough to write my own.

So, we have two sections, largely useful, but not to me.  What did I hope to get from the book?  I actually want to know how to run RPGs.  I mean, I think I know how.  I've been doing it off and on since I was 16.  But am I doing it right?  And if I am, can't I do it better?  I am pretty much never satisfied with how I've run any game I've ever run.

The parts that were most helpful to me from How to Run were some of the offhand comments he made to elaborate a point, and his section on building player stress and tension.  I hadn't thought about managing player stress in the game as a way to build their investment in the adventure.

One of his suggestions, for example, was when asking a player to make a roll, he might get up and go stand behind the player to watch them roll.  This showed how important the roll was, and built tension...the player is now more invested, "Wait, what, this roll is that important?"  Another thing he mentioned was how when he was getting ready for a GM roll, he might start picking some dice out of his jar...the players immediately knew he was getting ready for some sort of check.  But then, if he dumps the bowl out, they know shit has just gotten real.

It's strategies like these that may seem like a tricks or a gimmicks that I think are important to running good games.

I think being a GM is a lot like being a teacher.

1) A group of people are depending on you to be engaging.  They are also depending on you to be in control. All. The. Time.

2) The amount of prep you put in is directly proportional to how well it's going to go for you.  But, you also have to do the right kind of prep, or that was just a disappointing waste of your time.

3) You are the odd one out in the room.  You are the one upon which all the expectations hang.  You are the one with the responsibility.

1

People are depending on you to be engaging.  The number one challenge of being a teacher, for me, is being continually engaging to a group of third graders.  I'm lucky in that most of them want to be there.  That still doesn't mean that everything I do is interesting to them.  It's my job to always try though, to get them invested or interested in whatever it is they're doing (and often I don't get to choose the thing they're learning about, which makes it all the harder).

Players presumably want to be playing in your game.  But they are not engaged all the time.  There are times when I'm bored as a player (in particular during long, drawn out combats, or times when another player is pursuing their own agenda with an NPC that I have no interest in).

What are the things we can fuck with when running the game to change it up?

Suddenly raising or lowering your voice draws attention and focus.  Speaking so quietly that everyone has to try really hard to hear you.  Shifting the emotion in your voice, or removing all emotion from your voice and manner.  Applying an accent, or otherwise altering your speech.  Pick an actor or actress and throw them in the role.

Can you change the lighting?  What happens if you just set a monster miniature on the table (especially if you never use minis)?  Do you use sound effects?  Do you create music soundtracks that work with the adventure and do you have a way to change the music up at a moment's notice?  Do you make foods or drinks that fit with the evening's them?  Do you have player handouts?

Your behavior and presentation have a huge impact on the game.  Acting or being calm, angry, sad, gloating...making random dice rolls, jotting down fake or real notes, communicating with players secretly.  Grin like a motherfucker.

I want more of this!  MORE!

2

One thing I learned early on as a teacher is that amount of time on prep isn't as important as doing the right kind of prep.  This is true of RPGs as well.  You obviously have to know your players - are they constantly going "off the path" and requiring you to improvise?  Are they into following along with the prescribed adventure?  Also, how much time do you actually have for this prep?

My players like a mix of exploring the various LotFP modules, and seeing what comes out of freeplay.  Sometimes I just pick an adventure that I think is suitable and get them there.  Sometimes I feed them rumors and they pick it.  Sometimes the module just happens suddenly because they wandered into the place where I put it.  Sometimes none of this happens and we just have to make shit up.

As time goes on, my style is changing.  When I was new, I ran the LotFP modules as close as possible to how they were written.  Many of them were pretty much perfect as they were, and at the beginning of a campaign, they didn't need to "fit" anything else that had been established.  After two years, there are simply some things that wouldn't make sense as written.  I've learned to both prep appropriately and to improvise when needed.

3

I'm used to being the odd one out.  I've felt that way for as long as I can remember.  I'm comfortable with it now.  It's best to recognize it and adapt to it; it's my identity, who I am.  I'm the one who thinks about the campaign world all the time, the one who reads the modules, who reads RPG blogs and studies new systems.  My players show up once a week, need some reminders on what's going on, and want to have some fun.

Being the odd one out has some advantages.  You can grow a reputation and you can subvert it.  My smile means something when I'm trying to hide it from the rest of the table. (Or pretending to try and hide it? Or not trying at all?)

It also gives you power.  I don't particularly like having power over other people.  I've never wanted to be a boss, I'm the last person I would think of as authoritative, if I never had to tell anyone what to do, that would be great.  But sometimes we are given power and we must exercise it.  When used responsibly, people appreciate it.  People respect it.  A responsible use of power provides structure and actually helps us all get shit done.

Ultimately, this is a somewhat lonely role.  As a teacher, I am usually alone in my classroom with little direction, occasional observation, and little to no idea what other teachers are doing in their classrooms.  I have to figure this shit out.  Kids can look left and right, they're learning all the time what it means to be a kid. Players are part of a party.  I look across the table at my players, at this party, and I can only think, I'm their foil.  Whatever they are...I am not.

I felt like sharing, and this is as good a springboard as any for my thoughts on how to be better at the thing I love doing most.  I'm also interested in seeing recommendations for other blogs or books.  My next post, ideally, will be a collection of these resources.  What do you do that's awesome?  Who or what helped you do that?

A Stranger Referee

First off, are you really reading a review about an awesome, free RPG product that you could just go download right now and read instead?  Seriously, go do that:

Ah, I get it.  The book is long, maybe it's not worth your time and trouble to download and read, eh?  I'll try and summarize its finer points here, then.

1) This apparently is your only chance to get "A Stranger Storm."  This is a great little adventure, which I'll talk more about later.

2) I'm going to assume that you are not going to get any of this art again.  If you like the LotFP art, here's some you might not have seen already.

3) If you run Lamentations of the Flame Princess, this has all the missing rules you need to run the game, like statting monsters, XP awards, etc.

4) This book fleshes out the tone of the intended setting a bit more.

5) I like the way it reads.  Similar to reading Gygax in the 1E DMG, this feels like James Raggi is talking to you about how to run a good game.

6) Included are quick generators for settlements and NPC characteristics.

7) I read it a thoroughly a long time ago, and while perusing it for this quick review, I'm already seeing things that I should pay heed to after a year and a half of Refereeing.  I probably need to read it thoroughly again to further hone my skills.

A Stranger Storm

At some point I was going to write a review of this adventure as a sort of pleading to James Raggi to reprint it or offer it in some form again.  Now that it's available, and he's added the tag, "which won't be reprinted," then I need to get on this now so that people know to snag this while they can.

This is a nasty but beautiful little adventure that offers players a 50% chance of death.  It's challenging, but fun to run (you will have to play a traveling group of snooty spoon salesman, a jocular troupe of young dancers, some simple townsfolk, an unusually calm priest, a grumpy paladin-type, confused nuns...)  I have never come across another adventure that is anything like this one. You can probably get through it in a single session.

Remember that first album you listened to by your favorite band?  No matter what they release, even if it's better, that first album is still elevated in your heart.  This was the first LotFP (OSR) adventure I ran, with the following results: 

-We had fun while being disturbed, and we were all hooked on the feeling.

-My players learned that treasure is not always buried in the ground, sometimes it's buried in our hearts, and, if you have to kill the baby, you probably shouldn't do it in the room with all the nuns and orphans watching.

This adventure is what got me and my gaming group into the OSR.  The party continued on to the Tower of the Stargazer and Better Than Any Man.  I have been a long time gamer: I've played (literally) hundreds of different board/card games, Magic: The Gathering, D&D of all editions, Storytelling Games, various other RPGs...some before LotFP some after.  But Lamentations still remains the most fun gaming I have and I owe it all to this little adventure (well, and Better Than Any Man, the reading of which convinced me to give the system a try in the first place).

As an added bonus, you get more advice from Raggi throughout the adventure.  I always enjoy authors discussing their choices, and this adventure is crafted for new referees to flex their muscles and try some things out.  However, there's enough meat here for experienced GMs to invite the whole block over for a good old-fashioned barbecue...

Now, you're either regretting reading on, or you're more stoked than ever, so go get yourself some free refereeing advice and a wicked adventure!

The Idea from Space

What is it?

The Idea from Space is a low level adventure written by Simon Carryer for Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  It is set on a tiny island off the coast of South America (near Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) in the Early Modern Era (mid 17th century).  As someone who likes to run LotFP adventures as close to "canon" as possible, I appreciate the real world setting.  However, there is nothing in the adventure that forces this setting upon the Referee (e.g., the events aren't tied into the history of Argentina or depend on 17th century technology or knowledge).  Therefore, this placement only helps and doesn't hurt.  Additionally, there are a variety of hooks for the Referee to get their players to the island, which range from accidental to party choice.

Overview

This module is a riff on the classic dungeon motif where there are two warring factions and the players can choose one or the other as allies.  A history for the Referee is provided, both on the development of the island, the two factions, and on the events leading up to the party's arrival.  There are ways in which a party might aid either faction without fully joining, but most likely they will find themselves "all in" with one side or the other (and in at least one scenario, unwillingly).  The factions are appropriately weird, and both provide unusually interesting opportunities for PCs.  The ramifications of joining either side will likely carry on into future adventures, although nothing here is campaign-breaking.

The bulk of the book details the island, which is ripe for exploration.  There is a Random Encounters table (which is unique in that it isn't just a list of monsters), a few areas of interest around the island, and then the two "towers."  Each area is detailed and provides a variety of unusual tricks, traps and encounters (plus treasure) for an exploring party.  Those familiar with LotFP adventures will more or less know what to "expect" out of this (in that, mostly everything is unexpected).  Those new to LotFP will be pleasantly surprised at the amount of freshness and "whoa!" moments.  Also, some or all of the party might die if they are not careful and/or lucky.

There is no story arc here, it is an above ground "dungeon" for a party of adventurers to explore.  That said, there is so much of interest here, including compelling NPCs, that I challenge any group to leave this island without having told an epic story.

Other Considerations 

The art and layout here is satisfactory and efficient, although I would say not as stellar as some of LotFPs other releases (like A Red and Pleasant Land, No Salvation for Witches or Death Frost Doom, but those are pricier hard covers).  I will say that it's refreshing to see a few pictures of nude men in an industry typically reliant on the male gaze (although LotFP has always been good at subverting this).  The maps are all excellent.

The PDF is good; there aren't any bells and whistles, but if you only use PDFs it stands on its own.  I do have two gripes:

-For some reason only the last map links back to the descriptions.  None of the descriptions take you to the map, and the other maps don't have this feature.  That it doesn't work everywhere makes the fact that it works on one of the maps superfluous - you might as well just print all the maps.

-The map of the two towers is spread across two pages and is done in an unusual way - it looks awesome in the print copy.  In the PDF, however, being split across two pages makes it harder to work with.  It would have been nice to have this spread be one of those special pages that are combined and placed at the end of the PDF.

Final Thoughts

If you are a fan of Lamentations of the Flame Princess already, then this module will not disappoint.  If you are considering your first purchase, at this price point you could buy Tower of the Stargazer or Fuck for Satan.  I would recommend Tower of the Stargazer first, then this module, then Fuck for Satan.  (I believe that Fuck for Satan is more interesting for LotFP veterans than newbies.)  That said, if you want a cool island adventure or already own and enjoy Tower of the Stargazer, then this fits the bill perfectly.

----

Actually running the adventure?

If you are not running the implied setting of the publisher, you will need to do some minor prepwork: like changing the name of the island location and NPCs, and you may need to mix in some demi-humans if they are prevalent in your game world.

The presentation is like most LotFP adventures in that each section is written to inform the Referee, not to be read to players.  So if you are able to read a couple paragraphs quickly and distill this to players, you're all set.  Otherwise, you may need to read through and take short notes: what do players experience when approaching the room, what do they first see when entering, and what do they find when investigating further?

Also, if you haven't already, you should totally watch Slither.

[More to be added after I've run it!]

Parting Questions:

Beneath the Ruins is another adventure that features the "two warring factions in a dungeon" motif but I wasn't able to easily identify others.  Does anybody know of some?  If you do, please list them in the comments.  (I'm pretty sure Gygax made a famous one and I'm ignorantly missing it as a reference...)

Do you know of other modules, supplements, sourcebooks, or OSR-style games that could be used to easily populate South America with more adventure sites once the players finish up on the island?

The Long Overdue Titles Post

In this earlier post I shared my new approach to stripping away class.  As a quick refresher, instead of choosing a class, players choose a Focus for their character at first level and each time they level up.  Here are the base stats for all starting characters, and the details of each Focus:

Default Alignment:	Neutral
Luck Save:	15
Attack Bonus:	+1
Parry AC:	+2
Press Attack:	+1 AB / -4 AC
Defensive Attack:	-4 AB / +1 AC
Skill Points:	3
Minimum HP:	5
Unarmored:	12
Base Movement:	40’

Choose one at first level and when leveling up:

Focus	Improvement	HD
Offense:	+1 Attack	D8
Defense:	+1 Luck Save	D10
Specialization:	+2 Skill Points	D6
Magic:	1 Spell Point/Level	D4
Faith:	1 Spell Point/Level	D4

Some thoughts/reasoning/nuts and bolts:

-If a player prefers the basic classes, it's easy to replicate.  If they want to just be a Magic-User, they can just take the Magic Focus at every level.  However, this does mean they won't improve in saving throws.  (Although, it would be easy to just look at how the saving throws improve at each level for each class and apply them as needed, if you'd prefer.)

-If players like to multi-class, this makes it really easy.  Just pick whatever Focus you want at each level.

-This system also allows for very specific character ideas that players might want to replicate.

Okay, now onto Titles!

-These are inspired by the titles that go with each level in the 1E Player's Handbook.  

-Characters (PCs & NPCs) would use these in the game world to refer to each other.  (Whereas, I wouldn't think people would call each other "Fighter" or "Magic-User.")

-Players can use them to try to improve saves or argue for in-game benefits/knowledge above what's provided by taking the Title.  ("I think my years as a militiaman would allow me to assess the quality of the fighting men in this village...")

-Whatever Focus is chosen at first level is a defining focus.  You get a piece of headgear and a special power appropriate to your first Focus. Both of these charts are taken from The Complete B/X Adventurer.  (For the core classes, these areas will be blanked out on the sheets below because they are copied right out of this book.  However, the Defensive ones will be shown so you can see what the chart looks like, as I made these up or they are variations of random things I've read over the last few years and the original source is long lost to me.)

Defensive Focus:

(I'm starting with this one so that you can see what the special abilities at first level might look like for the other classes.  With the Defensive Focus, you get one at every level!)

When taking a Defensive Focus at first level, choose from the chart below.  If taking this focus after first level, you may roll randomly to gain the title immediately, or choose one of the titles.  If you choose the title, roll d%.  You won’t gain the use of this title until you are that percentage of XP toward your next level.

1	Arsonist	+1 Fire skill.  Once per day you can start a fire just by thinking about it.
2	Beastmaster	+1 Animals skill.  You gain a random animal companion.  It is loyal, reasonably intelligent, and if it survives to your next level, it gains a supernatural ability.
3	Cartographer	+1 Cartography skill.  Increase your mapping speed by 25%. You always have a way of making a map.
4	Charlatan	+1 Fraud skill.  Each day you can pretend to be something you’re not (spellcaster, priest, king, etc.) and temporarily gain the spells and abilities of that title, occupation or class.  Negotiate a % chance of failure with the Referee, which is checked when your authenticity could be called into question.
5	Collector	+1 Artifact skill.  You have a random magic item with d% knowledge of its properties.
6	Dabbler	+1 Magic skill.  You gain 1 Magic Point, become Chaotic, and receive a random 1st level spell. [Gain Read Magic the first time you receive this title.]
7	Diplomat	+1 Diplomacy skill.  If you parley with an NPC, you can automatically increase their reaction to you by one step.  +1 initiative, and you are surprised less, in settlements.
8	Dogsbody	+1 Packing skill. You are considered to have encumbrance one level lower than your actual encumbrance.  Eliminate time to put on armor for one ally.
9	Druid	+1 Paganism skill. Roll for a random animal form.  Once per day, you may change into this animal.
10	Drummer	+1 Rhythm skill.  You increase overland travel speed for the party by 25%.  +1 to reaction rolls for the party when entering a settlement.
11	Duelist	+1 Fencing skill.  When facing off against a single, humanoid opponent, if your attack and/or AC is lower, both are raised to equal that of your opponent. [+1 to Attack/AC against this opponent for each time this is taken after the first.]
12	Entertainer	+1 Performing skill.  Choose a specialty (singing, acting, miming, storytelling, etc.)  You can entertain in settlements to earn 1d4 sp per hour per size of the settlement, to improve the morale of hirelings, to improve the reaction of humans, or to heal 1d6 hp divided amongst companions however you want.
13	Gangrel	+1 Wildlife skill. You were raised in the wilderness by wild animals.  You can attack with your “claws” and teeth as if they were weapons (1d6 lethal damage). +1 AC if lightly encumbered or less.
14	Guide	+1 Spelunking and Dungeoneering skills.  You have low light vision, gain +1 initiative, and are surprised less when delving underground.
15	Hedge Wizard	+1 Herbalism skill.  Each day you can make a potion with a random 1st level spell.  The potion must be used that day or it will spoil and become useless.  There is a small chance that the potion will backfire or otherwise be dangerous.
16	Hunter	+1 Hunting skill.  Once per day, you can choose a creature or person that you can track with 100% certainty (unless they have escaped through supernatural means).  You must have some evidence or information regarding how to begin tracking.
17	Jack-of-all-Trades	Roll an additional time on this table, the Random Skill Table, and the Previous Occupation table. +1 to random ability score.
18	Quarter- master	+1 Cooking skill.  Once per day, you have the chance to have any mundane item in your special pack.  In a settlement, you can always find needed mundane items.
19	Ranger	+1 Stealth skill. When firing into melee, you can choose one ally that you have no chance of hitting.  Choose a favored animal – this type of animal will never attack you (unless supernaturally forced to) and you have a chance to befriend it if encountered.
20	Scout	+1 Wilderness Survival skill. While adventuring in the wilderness you gain +1 to initiative, are surprised less often, and have low light vision.

 This is a randomized skill list (sometimes an entry directs a player to "gain a random skill.")  Many of these are inspired by the Goblin Punch skill list, but I've changed it to be more suitable for the setting of LotFP.

1	Alchemy	53	Jungles
2	Alcohol	54	Lakes
3	Animal Handling	55	Law
4	Animals	56	Linguistics
5	Arcana	57	Literature
6	Art	58	Locks
7	Astronomy	59	Lutes
8	Begging	60	Maps
9	Blacksmithing	61	Masonry
10	Bureaucracy	62	Mathematics
11	Business	63	Medicine
12	Carousing	64	Merchants
13	Carpentry	65	Military
14	Caves	66	Money
15	Cities	67	Mountains
16	Comedy	68	Music
17	Cooking	69	Navigation
18	Criminals	70	Nobles
19	Cults	71	Oceans
20	Cultures	72	Paintings
21	Dance	73	Philosophy
22	Demons	74	Plants
23	Deserts	75	Poetry
24	Disguise	76	Politics
25	Drugs	77	Religion, Foreign
26	Drums	78	Religion, Local
27	Engineering	79	Religion, Paganism
28	Etiquette	80	Riding
29	Faeries	81	Rivers
30	Farms	82	Roads
31	Fashion	83	Royalty
32	Fishing	84	Sailing
33	Flutes	85	Scavenging
34	Folklore	86	Science
35	Food	87	Sex
36	Foreign Affairs	88	Singing
37	Forests	89	Smuggling
38	Forgery	90	Survival
39	Fortune Telling	91	Swamps
40	Gambling	92	Tailoring
41	Geography	93	Tracking
42	Geology	94	Traps
43	Gossip	95	Trumpets
44	Guitars	96	Warfare
45	Guns	97	Weapons
46	Harps	98	Weather
47	Harpsichords	99	Wizards
48	Heraldry	100	Writing
49	History, Ancient	Standard Skills Architecture, Bushcraft, Climb, Languages, Search, Sleight of Hand, Sneak Attack, Stealth, Tinker
50	History, Local
51	Horses
52	Jewelry

Get the word document here.

Offensive Focus:

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Specialization Focus:

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Magic Focus:

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Faith Focus:

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We are currently in the process of playing with these in the current campaign.  The next big project on my plate is to rework the character sheets based on player whining and bitching.

As always, I'm interested in hearing feedback and ideas!