(c) Copyright 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis
The statistics block is designated Open Gaming Content under the terms of the Open Gaming License version 1.0a.
Qetswn ('Exceedingly Subtle, FAST, Wise Spirit')-
]OGC[
Fight Dice: 1+2 to 8+16 depending on age
Resolve: (+8 + FD)
Defence/Armour: variable: (+12 + FD +1d6/1d6EM)
AB: (+1 + FD)
# Attacks: 2 By Weapon Type/Claw-Claw-Bite/Bite
Damage: Light-weapons/1d4 + .5 FD/1d6 + .5 FD
Move: 40 x FD' LoS Phase Travel, at will
Organisation: Family (2 adults, 1d4 kits)
CT: (+5 + .5 FD)
Loot: +67% Types IV-I
XP: (75 - 1,875 Base) + (42 x FD)
]OGC[
These sleekly-angled, long and lean creatures are capable of both upright and quadrapedal locomotion, and have three-fingered hands with opposable thumbs and padded palms and digits that terminate in claws of iron. The Qetswn are rather adept with their natural weaponry which extends to their toothy bite, but prefer the Shizar (thrusting Rapier) or the Brumshal (Cutlass). Clothing tends to be loose and easily shed, and often includes a long coat and a broad-brimmed hat with a rust-coloured feather tucked in its band.
Qetswn are vulpine (fox-like) in appearance and behaviour and rarely settle down in an area if it is heavily populated, although they will gladly traverse a metropolis in search of their victims. Their usual tactic is to disguise themselves with their coat and hat and operate near taverns and docks, as well as other areas frequented by prostitutes. Depending on the 'clientèle' either a female or male Qetswn will move forward toward the client, while the mate will co-ordinate and attack as soon as the trap is sprung.
Victims are then raced off to a feeding ground, where the parents ingest the food for transport and delivery to the kit(s). It is through this contact and systemic familiarity with the victim that the Qetswn's remarkable Humanesque ability gains a broader pallet, for it is the way they are able to assume a generic human-like appearance, in face and full body. Feeding humans to their young, early, provides a great aid in their survival and propagation. It lasts for (24/FD -- meaning it is easier for a younger Qetswn to maintain their human form than it is for an older creature) hours before another human must be eaten to re-activate the extremely taxing ability.
Qetswn are only injured by High Energetic or Magicked weapons.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
[Milieu][Wargaming] Preview-
(c) Copyright 1998, 2000, 2006, 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis All Rights Reserved
WARGAMING URUTSK-
: Autumn Garden
I - Overview
II - Colour Logic
III - Constructive Dice Pool Basics
----------------------------------------
IV - Unit Data
V - Squad Structure
VI - Cohort Rules (Attached Units)
----------------------------------------
VII - Formations & Distributed Assets
VIII - Command & Control
IX - Poor Order, Disarray, & Route
----------------------------------------
X - Terrain & Movement
XI - Darkness, Weather, & Circumstance
XII - High Energetics & Magical Effects
----------------------------------------
XIII - Optional Complications
XIV - Roster of Forces
XV - Scenarios
----------------------------------------
XVI - Postscript
I - Overview
II - Colour Logic
III - Constructive Dice Pool Basics
----------------------------------------
I - Overview-
Daqhtshal:Ikarentes-Yahannl
<"I am a dutiful, trained soldier: Proud First Wave Air Cavalry, a Devastator">
No, knowledge of the Vrun language is not necessary to use this rules-outline, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. In fact, you may be surprised at just how much of it you will learn through the process of reading these pages.
I took the opportunity to illustrate the manner in which Vrun structure their divisions, and the idiomatic manner in which, in this instance, the Resth Clan Confederacy name their companies.
When the Ancients, the First Parents, fell from the sky in the War in the Heavens, they brought with them a diverse range of martial traditions dating from millennia before, and millions of worlds amid the infinite Empyrean.
Because of the haphazard manner in which they tumbled to Urutsk from the great heights of the Space Beyond the Sky < Aya 'Eye-Ah' > , the variety of troops and armed units became so dispersed that individuals or detachment-sized remnants of squads and larger groups simply became associated with enclaves of other survivors.
From this jumble of civil servants, constabulary, home guard from dozens of environments, to elite and specialised warfighters, isolated societies cobbled together their individual tables of organisation, training, and deployment as Black Winter set in with its scouring celestial wind of space debris and plasma storms.
In some locales, due to the distribution of more favourable geographic features, limited surface activity was possible over the time-forgotten span of the Scourge. However, the vast majority of the scattered Imperial cantons were forced literally underground and expanded their holdings over the centuries.
It was not long before the tunnelling unearthed and awakened long dormant creatures and monstrous civilisations as recent as their own, also escaped to Urutsk. These wars, The Onyx Battle < Yuon Hakar >, never truly ended. It was only the gospel report of the Scourge's cessation that allowed Humanity to flee the Stygian depths for the sunlit world of the surface.
While certain kingdoms and other cultures did meet during that long period, few had the resources to maintain larger communities and had often kept the contact secret from their constiuents. Now upon the surface, the enclaves and empires of thirty or more generations removed cousins gradually were reunited.
The grand traditions of the Imperium made the re-integration of the disparate colonies more easily possible. Of course, there were those who desired no part of the resurrected behemoth that had created the Cataclysm, and from these 'deserters' came the first intra-Human wars.
But Fate was kind to renew the enmities with the non-Human, and in some cases, also the Allied Peoples (human-like aliens). More often than not, Human enemies were brought past their bickering and resource grabs to unite briefly against their common foes.
Through these various organic mechanisms of transmission and re-implementation, there became a great commonality to Human military endeavours that was retained as various groups spread out to seed the barren planet with animal and plant life from their long-destroyed homeworlds and others once held within the Imperium's grasp.
From the hereditary melange that had defined the Core of the Imperium ('The Sphere of Suns'), as had been recorded in myths of the long vanished past, Humanity became a species of multiple peoples. As the Human pool of bloods split and refined, specialised, and re-introduced other groups, the ethnicities of Urutsk came into being in only a few hundred years. With these divisions, martial procedures changed and were lost to time and replaced with more ideal methodologies and practical measures as suited each group's particular needs.
As the planet grew lush and green, as the rains fed the multitudes with blue and white-tipped marsh grains and fattened game animals, in many cases the non-human races began to find more ideal conditions above ground and expanded rapidly -- often out-breeding humans by several generations.
These groups usually fell upon each other as readily as upon Humans, but in some cases, great bands or more subtle confederacies were formed, and these both were a thorn in Humanity's side for much of the Mad Spring.
WARGAMING URUTSK-
: Autumn Garden
I - Overview
II - Colour Logic
III - Constructive Dice Pool Basics
----------------------------------------
IV - Unit Data
V - Squad Structure
VI - Cohort Rules (Attached Units)
----------------------------------------
VII - Formations & Distributed Assets
VIII - Command & Control
IX - Poor Order, Disarray, & Route
----------------------------------------
X - Terrain & Movement
XI - Darkness, Weather, & Circumstance
XII - High Energetics & Magical Effects
----------------------------------------
XIII - Optional Complications
XIV - Roster of Forces
XV - Scenarios
----------------------------------------
XVI - Postscript
I - Overview
II - Colour Logic
III - Constructive Dice Pool Basics
----------------------------------------
I - Overview-
Daqhtshal:Ikarentes-Yahannl
<"I am a dutiful, trained soldier: Proud First Wave Air Cavalry, a Devastator">
No, knowledge of the Vrun language is not necessary to use this rules-outline, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. In fact, you may be surprised at just how much of it you will learn through the process of reading these pages.
I took the opportunity to illustrate the manner in which Vrun structure their divisions, and the idiomatic manner in which, in this instance, the Resth Clan Confederacy name their companies.
When the Ancients, the First Parents, fell from the sky in the War in the Heavens, they brought with them a diverse range of martial traditions dating from millennia before, and millions of worlds amid the infinite Empyrean.
Because of the haphazard manner in which they tumbled to Urutsk from the great heights of the Space Beyond the Sky < Aya 'Eye-Ah' > , the variety of troops and armed units became so dispersed that individuals or detachment-sized remnants of squads and larger groups simply became associated with enclaves of other survivors.
From this jumble of civil servants, constabulary, home guard from dozens of environments, to elite and specialised warfighters, isolated societies cobbled together their individual tables of organisation, training, and deployment as Black Winter set in with its scouring celestial wind of space debris and plasma storms.
In some locales, due to the distribution of more favourable geographic features, limited surface activity was possible over the time-forgotten span of the Scourge. However, the vast majority of the scattered Imperial cantons were forced literally underground and expanded their holdings over the centuries.
It was not long before the tunnelling unearthed and awakened long dormant creatures and monstrous civilisations as recent as their own, also escaped to Urutsk. These wars, The Onyx Battle < Yuon Hakar >
While certain kingdoms and other cultures did meet during that long period, few had the resources to maintain larger communities and had often kept the contact secret from their constiuents. Now upon the surface, the enclaves and empires of thirty or more generations removed cousins gradually were reunited.
The grand traditions of the Imperium made the re-integration of the disparate colonies more easily possible. Of course, there were those who desired no part of the resurrected behemoth that had created the Cataclysm, and from these 'deserters' came the first intra-Human wars.
But Fate was kind to renew the enmities with the non-Human, and in some cases, also the Allied Peoples (human-like aliens). More often than not, Human enemies were brought past their bickering and resource grabs to unite briefly against their common foes.
Through these various organic mechanisms of transmission and re-implementation, there became a great commonality to Human military endeavours that was retained as various groups spread out to seed the barren planet with animal and plant life from their long-destroyed homeworlds and others once held within the Imperium's grasp.
From the hereditary melange that had defined the Core of the Imperium ('The Sphere of Suns'), as had been recorded in myths of the long vanished past, Humanity became a species of multiple peoples. As the Human pool of bloods split and refined, specialised, and re-introduced other groups, the ethnicities of Urutsk came into being in only a few hundred years. With these divisions, martial procedures changed and were lost to time and replaced with more ideal methodologies and practical measures as suited each group's particular needs.
As the planet grew lush and green, as the rains fed the multitudes with blue and white-tipped marsh grains and fattened game animals, in many cases the non-human races began to find more ideal conditions above ground and expanded rapidly -- often out-breeding humans by several generations.
These groups usually fell upon each other as readily as upon Humans, but in some cases, great bands or more subtle confederacies were formed, and these both were a thorn in Humanity's side for much of the Mad Spring.
Blah...-
With three of my four players present, we began where we left off, and it quickly became clear that there was no (winnable) fight without Tybalt (the PC of the missing player). Captured once the Control (Spells) Test was failed, the PCs were eventually purchased in trade by out-riders hired by the Kherstic League (PC patron organisation) to fetch them from the local manifestation of the TriUne goddess (while different from the Morrigan in particulars of the setting, similar enough for this purpose).
Once out of the witches' camp, the out-riders then suggested that they'd be better served negotiating a newer, higher price for the PCs. In a rare fit of using an NPC'd PC, I had Tybalt create a distraction using the comm-link, which spooked the 'cossacks' for two Rounds and allowed the party to escape. End of gimped session.
Whatever uneasy feelings I may have about tonight's session, I will chalk up to tired players and Referee and general oddness at the LGS.
I may be in the irregularly-scheduled C&C Freeport game tomorr-- Later today.
> publish post, shut down system, sleep <
Once out of the witches' camp, the out-riders then suggested that they'd be better served negotiating a newer, higher price for the PCs. In a rare fit of using an NPC'd PC, I had Tybalt create a distraction using the comm-link, which spooked the 'cossacks' for two Rounds and allowed the party to escape. End of gimped session.
Whatever uneasy feelings I may have about tonight's session, I will chalk up to tired players and Referee and general oddness at the LGS.
I may be in the irregularly-scheduled C&C Freeport game tomorr-- Later today.
> publish post, shut down system, sleep <
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Bulleted Updates-
* Busy writing the Aberration Tables and tweaking the percentages the way I like them. Largely brain-numbing work, but a labour of love.
I think I will keep those under wraps for the actual release, but perhaps a few teasers.
* The PCs are in for a big fight. I really wish I had the Ice and Snow tiles from Heroscape.
Three women riding sleds pulled by teams of giant stags on one side, a horde of 25 Berserks on the other side, and a bog behind them.
* I'm really conscious of trying to come in around 64 pages (which means more like 80 or 96), and leaving other ideas for a more detailed coverage in a subsequent work.
* Re-discovering my love of 2d12 tables, and new-found respect for the d24.
* etc.
I think I will keep those under wraps for the actual release, but perhaps a few teasers.
* The PCs are in for a big fight. I really wish I had the Ice and Snow tiles from Heroscape.
Three women riding sleds pulled by teams of giant stags on one side, a horde of 25 Berserks on the other side, and a bog behind them.
* I'm really conscious of trying to come in around 64 pages (which means more like 80 or 96), and leaving other ideas for a more detailed coverage in a subsequent work.
* Re-discovering my love of 2d12 tables, and new-found respect for the d24.
* etc.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
[Milieu][RPG] The Khark- (Ethnicity)
(c) Copyright 2000, 2008, 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis All Rights Reserved
Description: The Khark are somewhat shorter than Vrun of the same weight, and are wiry people with ropy muscles seen beneath their bronze skin. The totally subjugated female Khark stands around four feet ten inches tall, and typically weigh around 125 pounds, while males are perhaps 8" taller and weighing 145 pounds. Their long thick, wavy brown hair tends toward red-brown through chestnut, and turns white with age. They have a smooth bronze to light-brown complexion, and most have rich reddish-brown eyes. They are complex and fierce, with little ability to adapt to new environments unless followed in a ritual manner, as the new environment or situation, in their mind, requires the assistance of a host of unseen spirits.
Khark culture is typically angered by the presence of outsiders in their territory, and will initiate hostilities without hesitation. The Khark animist faith is the very glue to the fabric of their life and death. Everything outside of their jungle lands is seen as the borders of Dream (the Jungle), and Nightmare (the rest of the world), and as a result of this belief, have little regard for the value of life, nor ponder the laws of nature apart from their playing out through the elements. Narcotics are a staple ingredient in Khark cooking. Biological lifespan of the Khark is thought to be roughly one hundred and twenty years.
Restrictions: They are required to have a minimum Str and Dex of 11 -- others are killed.
Special Abilities: The Khark are often possessed by various spirits if they offer themselves up to be used as vehicles for the wandering entity. Their chance to become possessed is (33% + Strength + Dexterity + Charisma + Exp), but temporarily increases by +5% per kill they perform.
Once possessed, the Khark character temporarily becomes an NPC, and the player only rolls whatever dice indicated by the Referee. The possession lasts for (1 + Con) Rounds, and provides +5 to all Test, Strike, and Defence rolls. Damage taken while possessed is halved.
Critical Tests: The Khark save at +1 vs. Lifeforce (Death Ray), Health (Poison), and Control (Spells).
---
60
700
===
760 XP
Description: The Khark are somewhat shorter than Vrun of the same weight, and are wiry people with ropy muscles seen beneath their bronze skin. The totally subjugated female Khark stands around four feet ten inches tall, and typically weigh around 125 pounds, while males are perhaps 8" taller and weighing 145 pounds. Their long thick, wavy brown hair tends toward red-brown through chestnut, and turns white with age. They have a smooth bronze to light-brown complexion, and most have rich reddish-brown eyes. They are complex and fierce, with little ability to adapt to new environments unless followed in a ritual manner, as the new environment or situation, in their mind, requires the assistance of a host of unseen spirits.
Khark culture is typically angered by the presence of outsiders in their territory, and will initiate hostilities without hesitation. The Khark animist faith is the very glue to the fabric of their life and death. Everything outside of their jungle lands is seen as the borders of Dream (the Jungle), and Nightmare (the rest of the world), and as a result of this belief, have little regard for the value of life, nor ponder the laws of nature apart from their playing out through the elements. Narcotics are a staple ingredient in Khark cooking. Biological lifespan of the Khark is thought to be roughly one hundred and twenty years.
Restrictions: They are required to have a minimum Str and Dex of 11 -- others are killed.
Special Abilities: The Khark are often possessed by various spirits if they offer themselves up to be used as vehicles for the wandering entity. Their chance to become possessed is (33% + Strength + Dexterity + Charisma + Exp), but temporarily increases by +5% per kill they perform.
Once possessed, the Khark character temporarily becomes an NPC, and the player only rolls whatever dice indicated by the Referee. The possession lasts for (1 + Con) Rounds, and provides +5 to all Test, Strike, and Defence rolls. Damage taken while possessed is halved.
Critical Tests: The Khark save at +1 vs. Lifeforce (Death Ray), Health (Poison), and Control (Spells).
---
60
700
===
760 XP
[Milieu][RPG] The Khem- (Ethnicity)
(c) Copyright 2000, 2008, 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis All Rights Reserved
Description: Khem are a tallish, wiry people; female Khem stand around five feet four inches tall and typically weigh around 130 pounds, while males are perhaps 5" taller and weighing 160 pounds. Their long red hair tends toward red-brown or strawberry-red, but turns grey or silver with age. They have a pale complexion, and most have green eyes. Khem have a lithe, wiry build. They are adroit and cunning, with the ability to adapt to virtually any sort of social/work environment, so long as their Yirinn neighbours provide the model for them to copy.
Khem are typically apart, cunning, and quick-witted & -tempered. Culturally they are Epicurian, enjoying the good life with much wine and dancing. They are also suspicious of outsiders, and possessive of their ways to an ultimate end, if deemed necessary. Provided they live so long, they have a biological lifespan of roughly one century.
Restrictions: They are required to have a minimum Dex and Chr of 11.
Special Abilities: Khem have a unique adaptive ability that grants them a (Int or Wis + Cha + Exp) point pool which functions in all regards as Focus.
Critical Tests: Khem save at +1 vs. Lifeforce (Death Ray), Experience (Petrification), and Control (Spells).
---
600
700
===
1,300 XP
Description: Khem are a tallish, wiry people; female Khem stand around five feet four inches tall and typically weigh around 130 pounds, while males are perhaps 5" taller and weighing 160 pounds. Their long red hair tends toward red-brown or strawberry-red, but turns grey or silver with age. They have a pale complexion, and most have green eyes. Khem have a lithe, wiry build. They are adroit and cunning, with the ability to adapt to virtually any sort of social/work environment, so long as their Yirinn neighbours provide the model for them to copy.
Khem are typically apart, cunning, and quick-witted & -tempered. Culturally they are Epicurian, enjoying the good life with much wine and dancing. They are also suspicious of outsiders, and possessive of their ways to an ultimate end, if deemed necessary. Provided they live so long, they have a biological lifespan of roughly one century.
Restrictions: They are required to have a minimum Dex and Chr of 11.
Special Abilities: Khem have a unique adaptive ability that grants them a (Int or Wis + Cha + Exp) point pool which functions in all regards as Focus.
Critical Tests: Khem save at +1 vs. Lifeforce (Death Ray), Experience (Petrification), and Control (Spells).
---
600
700
===
1,300 XP
Monday, April 20, 2009
[RPG] Ability and Critical Tests-
(c) Copyright 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis
Ability and Critical Tests-
Procedure-
Both of these Tests require adding the final value to a d20 roll, with a Target# of 20.
While perfect success is sometimes required, often, less than 100% is good enough to narrowly perform a task.
Informing the Referee of the amount by which the Test failed or suceeded by (T# 20), allows her to quickly determine the actual outcome, rather than always being a flat yes/no process.
Further, heed the counter-intuitive wisdom: Less rolling makes those rolls more important and the game more exciting. Rolling for every impromptu Listen, Str Test, etc., slows the game, and sets a precident for another roll later on.
However, rolling dice engages the players, and removing their ability to interact with their character's success (even when failure accompanies the risk), robs them of game-role autonomy -- they stop being a player in a game, and instead become an actor in a play.
Ability Tests-
Simply use the associated Ability Score modifier, and add the Experience value (1/2 Level, round down).
Unlike Critical Tests, Ability Tests naturally improve as the character progresses.
To use d% with Ability Tests (optional) multiply the modifier by 5 to determine the percent bonus.
Critical Tests-
The base numbers are then modified by the Ability Score modifier (only), and any pertinent Ethnic or Species Critical Test bonuses.
Purchasing increases to a given CT is the only way their scores increase.
---
I'm not happy with the Paralysis replacement, Concentration, as it is keyed to Str. My original tag for it was Courage, but then I looked at the core-class CTs and Fighters had a -1 to Courage.
I then cycled through a few and ended up with the very imperfect 'Concentration'.
I am enlisting you to (please) help me solve this issue, as I have exhausted my current batch of ideas.
Thanks.
Ability and Critical Tests-
Procedure-
Both of these Tests require adding the final value to a d20 roll, with a Target# of 20.
While perfect success is sometimes required, often, less than 100% is good enough to narrowly perform a task.
Informing the Referee of the amount by which the Test failed or suceeded by (T# 20), allows her to quickly determine the actual outcome, rather than always being a flat yes/no process.
Further, heed the counter-intuitive wisdom: Less rolling makes those rolls more important and the game more exciting. Rolling for every impromptu Listen, Str Test, etc., slows the game, and sets a precident for another roll later on.
However, rolling dice engages the players, and removing their ability to interact with their character's success (even when failure accompanies the risk), robs them of game-role autonomy -- they stop being a player in a game, and instead become an actor in a play.
Ability Tests-
Simply use the associated Ability Score modifier, and add the Experience value (1/2 Level, round down).
Unlike Critical Tests, Ability Tests naturally improve as the character progresses.
To use d% with Ability Tests (optional) multiply the modifier by 5 to determine the percent bonus.
Critical Tests-
- Lifeforce : Cha (+8)
- Health : Con (+8)
- Vigilance : Wis (+7)
- 'Concentration': Str (+7)
- Experience :(.5 L) (+7)
- Reflexes : Dex (+4)
- Control : Int (+4)
The base numbers are then modified by the Ability Score modifier (only), and any pertinent Ethnic or Species Critical Test bonuses.
Purchasing increases to a given CT is the only way their scores increase.
---
I'm not happy with the Paralysis replacement, Concentration, as it is keyed to Str. My original tag for it was Courage, but then I looked at the core-class CTs and Fighters had a -1 to Courage.
I then cycled through a few and ended up with the very imperfect 'Concentration'.
I am enlisting you to (please) help me solve this issue, as I have exhausted my current batch of ideas.
Thanks.
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