[RPG] Last Call for Players' Manual Suggestions-

While I am planning out the revised Players' Manual for Urutsk: World of Mystery, I thought I would give you folks another chance to provide input on what you want to see, and in the basic order it ought to appear.

As it stands, I am reworking the distribution of the background material (keeping the initial description in front, but pushing the timeline after the rules); unifying the Character Generation process (while still maintaining the Point-Design system as optional); and making certain that explanations appear in their proper and logical spots (the effects of a Sever result appearing in Combat, rather than in the weapons section, for instance). Die Rolling Conventions; Basics of RolePlaying (perhaps three pages); Glossary.
--Is there anything else I ought to know/do?

Currently, I have eight really wonderful line drawings from Peter, and I've hired him to produce about three times more than that number. I am concerned that, due to his immense popularity in the field, the whole body of work won't make it on time for my layout schedule, and there will need to be some sort of concession:
1). I wait longer than I had hoped,
2). I produce an art-light version and then re-release it once all of the art is in.
--Thoughts on that?

After my initial good reviews of Mutant Scavengers..., I am thinking about producing an UWoM-centric version as a quick-play version of the rules for pick-up/one-off games, and releasing this separately and before the PM goes 'live' for .pdf and PoD sales.
--Thoughts?

Anything else?

[Gaming] MUTANT SCAVENGERS of the RUINED EARTH!-

I was slightly derailed by a need to write a Gamma-style variant of Nicolas Dessaux' Searchers of the Unknown 1-page micro-game.

Mine is entitled MUTANT SCAVENGERS of the RUINED EARTH!, and was equally inspired by Sean 'bite the bulette' Wills' Scavengers & Spacewrecks extension of SotU.
--In fact, I think that playing a combined game of S&S and MSotRE! only increases the fun-factor.

One could easily argue that Sean's CYBORG SAMURAI ARE GO! extension is the prequel to both S&S and mine, timeline-wise. Or, perhaps the new home of humanity, Light City, is on another planet, and the occasional Spacewreck Scavenger team beams down to the Ruined Earth to salvage old-world tech, and bring home bio-samples from its mutant population.
--A ship full of Flying Brains would be truly terrifying without a mutant Psycher to lend a hand. :D

Let me know what you think of MSotRE! :)

The Isle of Slavers; 2e Gamma World Boxed Set; Play-by-Post Urutsk Game-

I am working on the island, fortress, and hidden sectors maps, descriptions, and general module-ness for The Isle of Slavers.
--When the adventure is played-out, I intend to reveal it here as a .pdf for your enjoyment. If it meets with your approval, I may submit it to Fight On!

My second edition Gamma World boxed set from an eBay purchase arrived today, as advertised, minus the map, but no sweat, as I still had my map. It also included 7 transparent green Gamescience dice (minus the 10's-die, plus a second d6), that I have Crayola'd white.
--Although 2e has less of an OS-feel than 1e, it is a fine and solid game-platform, and I especially like a lot of the changes and expansions to Mutations.

If I receive enough interest, I would like to run an Urutsk play-by-post game.
--I am most familiar with www.playbyweb.com, but would be open to other venues if heartily suggested.
---If interested, please leave a comment on this post to that effect.

[Playtest Campaign] The Isle of Slavers Pt. 1-

Tybalt/Darius' player was back; Delver/CiCi's no-show two weeks in a row, suspect something amiss; new player made a 2-Handed Sword melee guy --he'll be leaving each week around 8PM to run a game elsewhere; Ashta/Mela; Ymyk the Archer.

Ship escaped island inhabited by Qetswn family >> Sighted another island >> Almost ran aground >> PCs took ship's boat to shore >> Mountain cleft in two with fresh water channel bisecting the sandy & scrub island >> fairly busy pier >> only smallcraft able to reach pier due to shallows >> press gang combat avoided >> Notice Vrun and other non-'primitives' shackled, etc. >> extortionist fees to remain free (125 count per person so long as writ in possession) >> PCs enter tavern >> Strong (grog + ale) >> Uneasy >> Tybalt inquires after securing an educated, martially-proficient, orange-skinned (a Dokirin skin colouration possibility: range from Amber to Violet) individual >> Told that, if present on island, 1800+ count cost >> Hear shouting out in the courtyard >> Identify some of the voices as those from their ship >> Combat begins >> 4 Rounds, little damage to PCs, although there is plenty of action, and weapons accidentally discarded; NPC weapon snapped by Ymyk; Delver depletes most of his lightning-ring charges frying several 2FD fighter-types >> 5th Round I am about to Crit Darius when I am recalled to home base: Father has fallen for 2nd time >> I zip back home (20+ miles) >> 2nd try gets Pops into Mom's chair in living room.

Provided next week is on, I intend on resuming combat from that point.

[RPG] UPDATED Critical Strikes & Attack Bonus ][-

As of now, I have settled on (AB / 5) incremental increase on the Critical Threshold.

Since I allow characters to purchase Levelled-capabilities, like Attack Bonus, at one-higher than their current Character-Level, I've pushed the value back to +5 AB, which is purchasable at Character-Level 4.

Crit- | Attack Bonus-
20. | AB +1 -- +4
19+ | AB +5 -- +9
18+ | AB +10-- +14
17+ | AB +15-- +19
16+ | AB +20 <

So far, I have two very strong votes for a Critical Hit determination Chart-thingie.
--Looking at my Arduin book, I ... > sigh <
---What can I say, guys? This stuff is not attack-type specific; ranges from low-power 'paper cut' to 'body shredded: instant death'. I'd rather give weapons/attacks the power they deserve and have it pretty clear that getting shot by a Mk. VII Blaster is just absolutely going to ruin your day from the game-maths, rather than even Rolemasterean Effect Type Charts, as silly-fun as those are.

I've looked at the Avalon Hill RuneQuest Deluxe box; I've even broken out AFTERMATH!, and neither of them goes anywhere into that kind of detail.
--I'm afraid that if folks want that kind of detail, they'll have to write up their own charts or what-have-you.

[RPG] 'Give them charts!' (Location Redux)-

I am struggling with a TMJ-induced headache as I write this.

It has become fairly apparent that the 100 Archetypal Locations isn't going to work in the format I had originally intended, and that several charts would be the better solution.
--As it stands, including a four or five paragraph explanation, I am already up to 5k words. I know you folks don't want to read huge blocks of data only to swap-out particulars.

"Give them charts to roll on!"

You got it, or, at least, will get them.
--Fortunately, extracting the data into the new format won't be an epic undertaking.

[RPG] Distribution of Urutskan Climatic Zones-

(c) Copyright 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis

Here is a sample of the current sub-project:

Main Entries by Urutskan Climate-

01-10 - Arctic : characterised by the area north of the northern tree line with ice throughout most of the year, and the area in which the average temperature of the warmest month is less than 50 °F.

11-27 - Tundra : is a vast, stark, frozen landscape for much of the year, making it impossible for trees to grow. The bare rocky land can generally only support heath, lichen, and moss.

28-48 - Subarctic : generally consist of peat bogs, rough herbs, grasses, and sedges. Characteristic large land mammals include Utdayk (moose), Ushko (bears), Kyn (reindeer), and Shaleske (wolves).

49-65 - Taiga : defined by both ‘lichen woodlands’ bordering the Subarctic and consisting of tree spreads with lichen ground cover, and ‘closed forests’ bordering the Temperate Cool composed of densely-spaced trees with mossy ground cover. This zone is the single largest percentage of forest on the planet.

66-76 - Temperate Cool : are humid with a forest canopy composed tall mature trees, a shade tolerant understory, a sub-canopy of smaller mature trees, saplings, and suppressed juvenile trees awaiting an opening in the canopy. Below the sub-canopy is a shrub layer of low growing woody plants, and diverse ground cover.

77-84 - Continental : typically, winter temperatures are cold enough to support snow cover each year, while summer produces moderate precipitation. These regions are a mixture of forest, tall-grass prairie, and very productive farmlands.

85-86 - Temperate Warm : typified by rains throughout the year, hot and very wet summers, and mild winters with occasional cold spells. These regions are ideally suited to agriculture, especially that of citruses, grapes, melons, and olives.

87-91 - Subtropical : characteristically cool winters and hot, humid summers, with significant amounts of precipitation throughout the year in most areas. Winter rainfall is derived from large storms that westerly winds steer eastward, while summer rainfall occurs during thunderstorms, occasional tropical storms, and hurricanes/typhoons.

92-99 - Tropical : marked by high temperatures, very humid and cloudy conditions, and heavy rainfall. While winds are usually light, powerful tropical storms can be problematic. The sun is nearly overhead in these regions so it is evenly hot all year. No where else in the world are conditions as ideal for sprawling, lush warm-climate rainforests.

00 - Arid/Hyperarid : any area characterised by a net moisture deficit, and receives less than 10" annual rainfall. These climates include arid areas in temperate regions, and often appear devoid of life, but the flora and fauna have adapted to survive extremely hot days and cold nights when the temperature plummets.

The range to the left is both the percentile-die roll for random determination on the 'big map' scale of overland travel, as well as the actual percentage distribution of the various climatic zones found on Urutsk.