Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls: Exploring, Part One-and-a-Half

Originally released in 1975, Tunnels & Trolls was the second fantasy role-playing game ever, having hit the market just one year after Dungeons & Dragons and three years before RuneQuest.  This year, Flying Buffalo, Inc. released Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls (dT&T), stating that "it's back, and better than ever!"

In this series of articles, I'm going give dT&T a thorough work-through, starting with character creation.  The article continues below.

In part one of this series, I mentioned the "specialist" character type, and promised I'd explain it later.  This is that explanation.

I'll start by saying that the specialist is very rare.  The only way a specialist character can be generated is if triples are rolled for one (or more) of the character's prime attributes.  No triples rolled?  No specialist.  Point-buy prime attributes?  No specialist.

Basically, a character who is a specialist is extraordinary in some way.  A specialist will still choose to be a warrior, wizard, or rogue, but they'll be a much-stronger-than-others warrior, or a much-smarter-than-others wizard, or a way-luckier-than-others-rogue.  So much so that it becomes a part of their identity and they are recognized for it.

It's very conceivable that a specialist character could start at 2nd level or beyond, given that with the  TARO rule (Triples Add and Roll Over), the minimum score for one of a specialist's prime attributes will be 7 (1+1+1 plus 1+2+1 = 7) and could be much greater.

As far as basic character creation is concerned, that pretty much sums up a specialist character.  The Elaborations section of the rule book contains many more options for specialists, but I'm not going to cover those until later.