DURF provides some rules for combat and a procedure for exploration and does not try to create an fully comprehensive system to simulate reality. The GM and players should use their own judgement for all other aspects of the game world. A lot of the fun of these type of old school dungeon crawl games comes from using items in unexpected ways and solving problems not by using character attributes but using items and the environment. Because of this the belongings table has some items that can spark some creative thinking in the players.
For example, one of my players has used the bottle of bees by shattering it on the ground behind the party while they were retreating. Resulting in the freed bees causing enough trouble for the pursuing monsters, so the party could escape.
Since combat can be pretty deadly, players will want to find ways around it (since treasure is the end goal, not slaying monsters). So the bottle of perfume could be used as a diplomatic gift when trying to negotiate a way through goblin territory.
The players and GMs are free to determine fun uses for these items without having to feel limited by rules. Just go with what makes sense :)
From the manual:
If in understand correctly, every uncertain event has the same chances to success. If for example the character wants to jump a 2 meters river, or if they wants to jump a 4 meters river.
Is there any trick to adjust the level of uncertainty? I am thinking in adding a Break to more than difficult events, or adding a Buff to more easy ones.
As with the belongings question earlier, combat positioning is not strictly governed by these rules, but is definitely a part of the world. A lot of these problems you propose will be solved when you describe the scene and use common sense to adjudicate from there.
So for example, if a party encounters a group of goblins, imagine the situation and describe in simple terms where the goblins are standing, what the area looks like, which characters can reach each other when they move towards each other and which characters can be hit by the characters using ranged weapons. If you want, you can sketch out a simple battle map on a piece of paper and use tokens or miniatures to represent the characters.
There is a small difference: damage is first subtracted from the target's Armor, only the damage that is still left after the Armor is depleted becomes Wounds.
I am curious about the reasoning of why range combat attacks have no critical:
Ranged attacks do have critical hits. Only the target of a ranged attack cannot roll a critical hit, since they don't deal damage if they roll higher than the shooter. They merely roll to see if they can dodge the projectile.
Oh, I understand now. It is a crucial difference between Close Combat and Range Combat: the target has no possibility of reversing the attack.
No, "worn" is a condition. A weapon either is "worn" or it is not. Just keep in mind, a worn weapon has its damaged reduced to 1, not by 1. So a worn weapon only ever deals 1 damage, so stacking this effect would not change anything.
Yes, the -1 reduces incoming damage before it is subtracted from Armor. So it is a separate type of damage prevention.
From the manual:
No reference that the resting period also removes all Stress. This is mentioned in other sections but for coherence it should be mentioned here as well.
Yes, all Stress is removed after a day resting. This is noted under "Inventory & Stress" earlier in the same chapter.
Yes, but for clear reference, I would recommend adding it here. So when you are scanning the rules to see what is going on in a Rest period you can see all the effects.
Yes, crossing a room generally takes 1 Turn, but if a character makes haste and has explored the rooms before, I'm inclined to let them move at 2 rooms per Turn.
The caster can have this weapon in their inventory. They just can't have it in their hands while casting a spell. This way, a caster who also wants to use a sword and shield during combat must store one of them on their body while casting a spell. It is mostly a role play thing, but it can cause some trouble when a caster wants to cast a spell during combat and has to redraw their weapon afterward before they can attack with it again (something which might cost them a round to do)
Understood. This is good. Because if I wanted to be a spell caster, I didn’t know if I was able to have a bow, which is my favorite weapon as a spell caster. I’ll ask my players for a round for “putting shield/sword” in the inventory, and another round to “pick shield/sword” out of the inventory
In the manual indicates the spell can be casted in a previous turn, to avoid the WIL roll:
As I understand this means it has to be pre-casted out of the combat. Does it mean the caster can cast the spell and keeping “warm” while they is moving among the dungeon until a combat occurs and the spell can be executed in a combat round?
Using a full Turn to cast a spell is usually for things like opening a portal or becoming invisible when you are not in combat. Outside of combat, casters can take their sweet time to cast a spell, so they don't have to make a WIL roll. This spell will take effect directly after that Turn so casters can't cook up a spell beforehand to cast during combat. This rule is there for when a caster wants to cast a spell outside of combat.
Combat in DURF should be a bit scary and stressful, so casting a spell during a fight it is a little risky.
Thanks, I am starting to understand one of the main philosophies on DURF: “combat is danger” :)
Yeah this is a similar case to the Belongongs and Positioning question. Use your own judgement to roleplay these effects.
So for example, I've had a caster who was made 1/10th their size, climb up into the pant leg of an enemy to distract them, which gave their party members a Buff when attacking the enemy who was frantically trying to get rid of the little wizard who was crawling up their leg.
In case of the poison ivy, this can pose a pretty annoying situation for characters and enemies without proper footwear, resulting in itchy legs and feet, which can be pretty distracting during combat.
As you can see, this is just another thing that can influence creative problem-solving or create problems for the players they have to adapt to.
To answer this and your next question at the same time: the bonus of magic armor is added to the Armor value. So if you wear a magical set of +2 Light Armor your total armor would be 5 Armor (3 from the Light Armor and +2 because it is magical. So being magical just increases the amount of Armor points a set of armor has, beyond this it just works like normal Armor and is reduced when taking damage.
A magical +2 Light Armor is better than mundane Medium Armor (even though both grant the wearer 5 Armor in total) because the magical Light Armor only takes up 1 inventory slot while the non-magical Medium Armor takes up 2.
The bonus just increases the amount of Armor points the armor has. They are still subtracted as normal when taking damage.
Yeah being able to attack from range is a lot better when you are able to do it. But having a bow in your hands when you are being surrounded by a group of goblins in a tight corridor is not going to do you any good, so there are situations where ranged weapons simple aren't an option. Close combat is dangerous so players should try to avoid it or try to stack the odds in their favor. For example, they can try to only pick fights with creatures they know are weaker than them or try to catch a bigger foe off guard so they can get a Buff on their attack. The rules merely sketch out what happens when both sides are evenly matched, clever adventurers will try to use the world around them to shift that balance in their favor.
They still take up inventory slots. "Inventory slot" are just a measurement of what a character can carry with them, whether it is in their hands, backpack or on their body. If you want a system that uses separate slots for body, backpack and hands you should take a look at Mausritter by Isaac Williams, Errant by Ava Islam, or The Electrum Archive by me :)
