Monday 15 October 2012

Dungeon Masters Series: The Bika

One of the more curious champions to be included in the original Dungeon Master is Wuuf, The Bika.

I say curious, as the avatar for Wuuf in the Atari ST release of the game clearly depicts her as an anthropomorphised fox but, in later releases Wuuf has become a dog / wolf (it's hard to tell which of the two it is).

Not a great leap in fairness but, this does shift my focus significantly when I am looking to convert the character concept into Tunnels and Trolls terms, which involves creating a new kindred.

This is because when we think of dogs, we attach words to them such as faithful and loyal. Wolves get words like lone and, foxes get words like cunning. It's the general perception of the species and, it's that which we want to translate into game terms.

So how do I see the Bika?

Very similar to Hobb's was my initial thought. Small and wily creatures of no great physical stature who need to be quick on their feet. So from an attributes point of view, I am looking to give them bonuses in DEX, INT and maybe SPD, with penalties in CON (unlike Hobbs who actually receive a bonus here due to their stout nature) and STR. They are quite fragile after all.

So after consideration, here is what I have decided to go with:

The Bika
Attribute Modifiers: CON x 0.5, DEX x 2, INT x 2, STR x 0.5.

In the end I opted not to modify the speed of the Bika. Although they may move a lot faster than your average delver, they are a lot closer to the ground too, so any gains granted by their agility would be lost by their short legs.

The Bika's cunning (an INT modifier greater than that of any of the common kindreds) gives them a great advantage in staying one step ahead of anyone who might try to make a meal of them and, their DEX is matched only by the Fae folk (who are no physical match for them).

All-in-all, quite a balanced kindred that could definitely make for some interesting role playing situations.

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