I realise the following contains references you folks don't yet have available, but I occasionally write these, 'for the record', as it were. I hope it is at least moderately interesting.
After 'refreshing' the Spectral Index to make it more intuitive, I rolled up a 'long-form' character and spotted a tweak or two in the order of tables, or a formatting glitch that needed correcting.
--I then decided to see if the background skills (Environmental Activities, and Training points) could be abused RaW, and when I saw that it could, I then placed a hard limit on the letter code (skill level in common parlance) that could be purchased. Now (although 'levelled' figures can increase Training through Adventure Points), starting folk (such as NPCs and the Base PC), cannot be more than an average of 75% proficient in any given Activity. When I upload the Spectral Index this will all make good sense.
I must make certain that even casual readers of the Players' Manual will not be able to confuse the 'long form' character generation routine with the 'roll-and-go' (ostensibly 'old school') method which allows for importation of many/most other 3d6-based characters.
--That EPT thread on Dragonsfoot sent shivers down my spine. I don't want to deal with anything of the sort.
My decision to switch over to a Gamma World scale for a figure's 'HPs' and weapons damage makes me very happy, and opens up a lot of great official and fan-based GW material for cross-pollination, so to speak.
--Since I've always favoured GW over D&D, this is a sort of 'homecoming' for me in a similar way to many OS bloggers'/gamers' re-discovery of 'the old ways.' That Mutant Future is enjoying the fan-success that it is only bolsters my confidence in my decision.
Now, parallel to that change, the implementation of many of the ideas/principles found in Ward's MA articles in The Dragon, and a general memory of Jorune chargen, 'long form' PCs are very playable without one drop of Point Design prior to game-start, which was one of my goals that hadn't been made clear in the beta .pdf, to my chagrin.
Since UWoM is another creature altogether, and I am not in the Orthodox Old School church, ;) I strongly believe in games that have official settings:
* Tekumel
* Greyhawk (don't kid yourselves, you know 1e was keyed to reflect Greyhawk)
* The Vilani Imperium
* Glorantha
* The Warden
* Gamma Earth/Terra via its series of adventures literally expanding the known world's map
* The Morrow Project's earth
* The world of Palladium
* Car Wars' earth
* Jorune, among others.
--Having a strong setting in no way diminishes one's ability to 'sandbox', and some of the above required one to do so if only due to the grandeur of the setting.
With a strong setting comes the knowledge of the world's baseline and the origins from whence a character arose. The parents/guardians, the local environs, pastimes and home-education in familial trades/crafts and culture-ways, as well as years of hearing of the daily goings-on 'at work', if not actually apprenticing in that field. Then the local society and its concerns, diversions, interests, mores and standards of conduct, pastimes, philosophies, religious thoughts and ideals (if any), sexual congress rites, and burial practises, etc.
--In game terms, even if a young (teens) character is rolled, these things are already resident within the person, and figure into their ability to navigate the considerable dangers upon Urutsk, while the player is still the one in charge, and the one challenged. The details of a character's background are a goldmine for gaming possibilities.
So, for gamers who enjoy Urutsk as a backdrop, but want to roll 3d6 six times in order and optionally pick a class, it'll work fine, as will it for folks who'll find rolling up a native in their full glory to be rather nifty.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Geoffrey, Dragonsfoot, EPT, and Jeff Berry-
LINK 1
LINK 2
"As noted by one of the other posters, Tekumel isn't a 'fantasy' setting; it's better described as 'scientifiction' in the classic Gernsback/Burroughs mold, and with a lot of the influence of Lovecraft/Howard/Ashton Smith. As such, it doesn't seem to appeal to RPG gamers of the classic sort; the RPG gamer culture that has developed over the last thirty years has it's own set of cultural references that it applies to games and world settings.
Tekumel has always been outside that culture, as it has for miniatures gamers who have problems dealing with the idea of non-humans in what (to them) should be classical ancients wargames, but it does seem to appeal to F/SF fans who haven't had much assimilation into the gamer culture. I've got a dozen regulars on one Tekumel RPG group, with a second group of 12 in the process of forming, and very few of them are what I'd call experienced RPG or miniatures players; all of them however, are F/SF fans who have a taste for 'classic' F/SF.
Regarding the goofy names, I'm reminded of when we used to flog the merchandise for Dave Arneson at Gen Con; we had a guy who for three years running who would make a point of coming up to the booth and getting in our face about Tekumel's languages, and how he wouldn't buy anything for Tekumel unless we went through all the books and changed the words to something *he* could pronounce. The third time around, a bystander who had listened to the guy's diatribe stepped up to me, apologized for the guy's behavior, and suggested that he leave the area. The guy gave him some lip, saying "Who the f*** are you?", and Gary Gygax merely proffered his convention badge for the guy to read. It was, as they say, one of those moments you live for.
My advice, as it has been for the past three decades, is don't play what you don't like. Nobody is holding an Eye of Raging Power to your head and insisting that you must 'do' Tekumel, either as game or world-setting; play what you like! All I'd ask is that you do take a few moments to actually read what you critique; some of the reasons I've seen given for "Why I Hate Tekumel" seem to based on the same sort of logic that says "Dragons are real, because my sister's brother-in-law's third cousin what lives in the next duchy over says he heard that somebody's sheep got et by one!". These days, of course, it's "I saw it on the Internet, so it must be true!"
Speaking as somebody who has had the luck to play in three of what I guess might be called 'Old School' RPGs (Dave Arneson's "Blackmoor", Prof. M. A. R. Barker's "Tekumel", and Gary Gygax's "GreyHawk"), the 'sense of wonder' back in those far-off days was a lot more palpable and present; none of us knew what we were doing, of course, either as players or GMs, but that didn't stop us from having fun.
What ever happened to fun, by the way? I don't seem to see it much in gaming, anymore, but then maybe I travel in the wrong circles.
Just my two kaitars' worth - sorry, two GP...
" -- Jeff Berry / Chirine ba Kal
That was much nicer than anything I could have mustered.
LINK 2
"As noted by one of the other posters, Tekumel isn't a 'fantasy' setting; it's better described as 'scientifiction' in the classic Gernsback/Burroughs mold, and with a lot of the influence of Lovecraft/Howard/Ashton Smith. As such, it doesn't seem to appeal to RPG gamers of the classic sort; the RPG gamer culture that has developed over the last thirty years has it's own set of cultural references that it applies to games and world settings.
Tekumel has always been outside that culture, as it has for miniatures gamers who have problems dealing with the idea of non-humans in what (to them) should be classical ancients wargames, but it does seem to appeal to F/SF fans who haven't had much assimilation into the gamer culture. I've got a dozen regulars on one Tekumel RPG group, with a second group of 12 in the process of forming, and very few of them are what I'd call experienced RPG or miniatures players; all of them however, are F/SF fans who have a taste for 'classic' F/SF.
Regarding the goofy names, I'm reminded of when we used to flog the merchandise for Dave Arneson at Gen Con; we had a guy who for three years running who would make a point of coming up to the booth and getting in our face about Tekumel's languages, and how he wouldn't buy anything for Tekumel unless we went through all the books and changed the words to something *he* could pronounce. The third time around, a bystander who had listened to the guy's diatribe stepped up to me, apologized for the guy's behavior, and suggested that he leave the area. The guy gave him some lip, saying "Who the f*** are you?", and Gary Gygax merely proffered his convention badge for the guy to read. It was, as they say, one of those moments you live for.
My advice, as it has been for the past three decades, is don't play what you don't like. Nobody is holding an Eye of Raging Power to your head and insisting that you must 'do' Tekumel, either as game or world-setting; play what you like! All I'd ask is that you do take a few moments to actually read what you critique; some of the reasons I've seen given for "Why I Hate Tekumel" seem to based on the same sort of logic that says "Dragons are real, because my sister's brother-in-law's third cousin what lives in the next duchy over says he heard that somebody's sheep got et by one!". These days, of course, it's "I saw it on the Internet, so it must be true!"
Speaking as somebody who has had the luck to play in three of what I guess might be called 'Old School' RPGs (Dave Arneson's "Blackmoor", Prof. M. A. R. Barker's "Tekumel", and Gary Gygax's "GreyHawk"), the 'sense of wonder' back in those far-off days was a lot more palpable and present; none of us knew what we were doing, of course, either as players or GMs, but that didn't stop us from having fun.
What ever happened to fun, by the way? I don't seem to see it much in gaming, anymore, but then maybe I travel in the wrong circles.
Just my two kaitars' worth - sorry, two GP...
" -- Jeff Berry / Chirine ba KalThat was much nicer than anything I could have mustered.
[Playtest Campaign] 11, December-
First, a correction: The daisy-chain door is not the same thing as the polished black stone 'door'. It appears to be a double door, with a handle on 'each'.
We updated the PCs (except for CiCi and the still deceased Delver) to the new rules-build, including Frame and the increased Dynamic Pool value with the Conditions, the Letter-rated Skill system, and Combat rolls made on 2d12.
--Things went smoothly, and I noticed that tracking damage via the Conditions was speedy and seemed to enhance play through the understanding of the character's status (Fit, Able, Pained, etc.).
---Ashta was upgraded to Bxhr, or amazon, and through that and other mods determined in chargen, ended up with the indisputable ranking of highest DP, topping it out at 109 points, primarily due to her score of 20 in Fighting (was Strength) and her previous 62 points. Next in line is Darius with 102, and Ymyk. Mela Mela was just edged-out by Tybylt, but their Coma/Dying values are within one point of each other. The percentile values on the Spectral Index may need a bit of tweaking upwards in the centre, but it played smoothly enough. --- The vexatious double door was attempted after the (previously unmentioned) fireman's pole was scouted out by Ashta's (previously un-used) ghost-rat (a rat skull with a command word that activates its non-corporeal body), which didn't like the floor of the pit to which the pole descended, so the party skipped that. The already tested knob (actually a latch but I just went with the knob thing to keep the game rolling) was the daisy-chain paralysis trap, and the right-hand door, but the other hadn't yet been tried. --Tyb used the 'Rope of Awesome' to curl 'round and turn it clockwise, receiving some electrical damage. He then turned it counter clockwise and the door was able to be pushed in, revealing a 3'-wide corridor down which the rat was sent. ---A four-way intersection which led to three doors: * 'west' = Fountain with eight radiating pools and seven additional doors facing the arms of the pool, within was seen jewellery, coins, and gems. * 'north' = room with 90+' deep crater and evidence of an explosion which also damaged the walls and ceiling, suggesting that the surface was reachable through it. A sewer grate led to a 10'x10'x40' sluice that terminated outside. * 'east' = when the rat passed through this door, it showed an all-dark room of great size that was, in fact, too large to be where it was without some sort of dimensional shenanigans, as it would overlap the northern room's sluice. The rat couldn't, however, find a door on that side, which the party correctly diagnosed as *not a good thing.* Ratskull was asked to check out the entire room and discovered a walled complex with several portcullis, and was ordered back to where it had first appeared. Tyb Jaunted to the other side of the 'door' and was greeted by extreme cold and dangerously low air pressure, so much so that the air was being forced out of his lungs even through his sealed lips. He quickly grabbed Ratskull and expended an extra Spell Point to Jaunt back with it at which time he informed the party of his findings. --A divination deck was consulted and 3 Turns later Tyb knew that his daughters were in fact in that black citadel; that there were two despotic figures running the show, and one was playing the other; and that these were behind not only the slave trade, but the tentacled things they'd fought in Qerzyk. ---Plans were made to 'open the door' (?!), and I asked which direction the lone and centrally-placed knob would be turned by Tybylt: Clockwise (remember what happened above ?) Tybylt disappeared and for a moment, I dealt with the party's reaction before turning to him: Paraphrasing myself -- "You dimly see arches and a covered roof. Around you are statues, some old enough to be pitted and moss-covered, others more recent. You find that your vision is dimming as your eyes are calcifying-over and you cannot move. Please give me an Experience Critical Test roll." Tyb passed the Test and Jaunted backward 5', knocking down and breaking another statue, as well as realising that his calcified dermis (as in his skin) as well as clothing had been left at his initial point of arrival, which meant he was spontaneously bleeding from every square Snk of his body, but was fortunately largely unaware of the sensation due to the loss of his surface nerves.
--I have him a freebie by allowing him to successfully drink a healing potion, and then had him roll for all of his equipment, much of which (including the rope and his magicked Black Metal garotte, and scrolls and potions besides) failed their Test and were destroyed. Of the few possessions which did survive, one was a potion of flight, which he imbibed and used to fly from the tower's top down to the entrance (to retrieve the Xarj' bow) and then (using a Change Self) greet the party where he then revealed his current state.
---A few regeneration potions, an ebony and pearl lightning protective skein, and his self-administered Shadow-infused lightning-ring bolt - later, his skin had regrown, turned Dryvv grey, and his eyes widened and his cheekbones grew more pronounced.
After that soaked-in, I held the session, suggesting that the party was in no condition to attempt the raid on the black citadel (in the Void).
Rough session.
We updated the PCs (except for CiCi and the still deceased Delver) to the new rules-build, including Frame and the increased Dynamic Pool value with the Conditions, the Letter-rated Skill system, and Combat rolls made on 2d12.
--Things went smoothly, and I noticed that tracking damage via the Conditions was speedy and seemed to enhance play through the understanding of the character's status (Fit, Able, Pained, etc.).
---Ashta was upgraded to Bxhr, or amazon, and through that and other mods determined in chargen, ended up with the indisputable ranking of highest DP, topping it out at 109 points, primarily due to her score of 20 in Fighting (was Strength) and her previous 62 points. Next in line is Darius with 102, and Ymyk. Mela Mela was just edged-out by Tybylt, but their Coma/Dying values are within one point of each other. The percentile values on the Spectral Index may need a bit of tweaking upwards in the centre, but it played smoothly enough. --- The vexatious double door was attempted after the (previously unmentioned) fireman's pole was scouted out by Ashta's (previously un-used) ghost-rat (a rat skull with a command word that activates its non-corporeal body), which didn't like the floor of the pit to which the pole descended, so the party skipped that. The already tested knob (actually a latch but I just went with the knob thing to keep the game rolling) was the daisy-chain paralysis trap, and the right-hand door, but the other hadn't yet been tried. --Tyb used the 'Rope of Awesome' to curl 'round and turn it clockwise, receiving some electrical damage. He then turned it counter clockwise and the door was able to be pushed in, revealing a 3'-wide corridor down which the rat was sent. ---A four-way intersection which led to three doors: * 'west' = Fountain with eight radiating pools and seven additional doors facing the arms of the pool, within was seen jewellery, coins, and gems. * 'north' = room with 90+' deep crater and evidence of an explosion which also damaged the walls and ceiling, suggesting that the surface was reachable through it. A sewer grate led to a 10'x10'x40' sluice that terminated outside. * 'east' = when the rat passed through this door, it showed an all-dark room of great size that was, in fact, too large to be where it was without some sort of dimensional shenanigans, as it would overlap the northern room's sluice. The rat couldn't, however, find a door on that side, which the party correctly diagnosed as *not a good thing.* Ratskull was asked to check out the entire room and discovered a walled complex with several portcullis, and was ordered back to where it had first appeared. Tyb Jaunted to the other side of the 'door' and was greeted by extreme cold and dangerously low air pressure, so much so that the air was being forced out of his lungs even through his sealed lips. He quickly grabbed Ratskull and expended an extra Spell Point to Jaunt back with it at which time he informed the party of his findings. --A divination deck was consulted and 3 Turns later Tyb knew that his daughters were in fact in that black citadel; that there were two despotic figures running the show, and one was playing the other; and that these were behind not only the slave trade, but the tentacled things they'd fought in Qerzyk. ---Plans were made to 'open the door' (?!), and I asked which direction the lone and centrally-placed knob would be turned by Tybylt: Clockwise (remember what happened above ?) Tybylt disappeared and for a moment, I dealt with the party's reaction before turning to him: Paraphrasing myself -- "You dimly see arches and a covered roof. Around you are statues, some old enough to be pitted and moss-covered, others more recent. You find that your vision is dimming as your eyes are calcifying-over and you cannot move. Please give me an Experience Critical Test roll." Tyb passed the Test and Jaunted backward 5', knocking down and breaking another statue, as well as realising that his calcified dermis (as in his skin) as well as clothing had been left at his initial point of arrival, which meant he was spontaneously bleeding from every square Snk of his body, but was fortunately largely unaware of the sensation due to the loss of his surface nerves.
--I have him a freebie by allowing him to successfully drink a healing potion, and then had him roll for all of his equipment, much of which (including the rope and his magicked Black Metal garotte, and scrolls and potions besides) failed their Test and were destroyed. Of the few possessions which did survive, one was a potion of flight, which he imbibed and used to fly from the tower's top down to the entrance (to retrieve the Xarj' bow) and then (using a Change Self) greet the party where he then revealed his current state.
---A few regeneration potions, an ebony and pearl lightning protective skein, and his self-administered Shadow-infused lightning-ring bolt - later, his skin had regrown, turned Dryvv grey, and his eyes widened and his cheekbones grew more pronounced.
After that soaked-in, I held the session, suggesting that the party was in no condition to attempt the raid on the black citadel (in the Void).
Rough session.
Friday, December 11, 2009
[Playrest Campaign] late November, something-
Last week Friday i was too ill to run the game, and I haven't updated since prior session, so here it goes:
* Referee forgot the PC sheets and it was largely off the top of our heads, except for the LGS co-owner who kept his sheet.
* Party descended into the rain-soaked central area of the city, cloaked, and sent a probe to follow the wake and particulate trail; went through the city filled with both lightning creatures of different human ethnicities, as well as different species; found a canal that, when the probe crossed, showed the Shadow plane in some detail before the signal died; the probe was able to return, however.
* PCs decide to travel in and quickly realise that they need 'grounding staves' to successfully navigate the bazaar without being 'turned' undead; meet a local guide who, in typical over-friendly/slightly menacingly lascivious manner, helped the guests procure said staves; if memory serves, she was quickly ditched.
* Tybylt inadvertently inspired local punks to join with them, and a few colourful events (namely one female slamming some of Tybylt's 'mysterious' shadow ink, which he could then turn incandescent blood red; Ahni then did likewise after it was demonstrated that Tyb could see through the other's eyes, and went ahead to help her da' to find the other girls.)
* The larger group passes through and quickly navigates to a nearby nyxteroid whereupon they discovered a fence and a gate through which they passed, arriving somewhere else entirely: lavender skies, vast untamed cold jungle rainforest, strange creatures, and an odd looking structure about three floors high.
* Fought what appeared to be Hierophantic Church folk (by uniform) with fleshy hoods over their heads, which turned out to be slug-like creatures that seem to disfigure the human face into something more 'orc-ish' (feral, toothy snout, pointed ears, narrowed and inhuman eyes, etc.). These were strangely easy to dispatch. An insectoid creature (a Xarj hive-worker) attacked the party with a very powerful bow, but the party's archer dealt pretty effectively with it, forcing it to gain higher ground, but it was still slain once concentrated Ancients gunfire pulped it.
* Entered and began futzing around and found all manner of oddities while I continued to drop hints that things were too easy. Fight with hoodies continues to go in the party's favour even after a belching sulphur cannon is brought to bear against them (althougha few PCs were rendered inert while choking) but Tyb flipped that and eventually baddies were routed and cut down, with one survivor who looked to only have worn the hood for a short time and was responding to the party in a positive manner.
* One polished stone mirror/door paralysed anyone who touched the handle or the paralysed daisy-chain thereafter.
* I don't remember if they were pressing on, but there were plenty of areas to still explore on just that level.
* Referee forgot the PC sheets and it was largely off the top of our heads, except for the LGS co-owner who kept his sheet.
* Party descended into the rain-soaked central area of the city, cloaked, and sent a probe to follow the wake and particulate trail; went through the city filled with both lightning creatures of different human ethnicities, as well as different species; found a canal that, when the probe crossed, showed the Shadow plane in some detail before the signal died; the probe was able to return, however.
* PCs decide to travel in and quickly realise that they need 'grounding staves' to successfully navigate the bazaar without being 'turned' undead; meet a local guide who, in typical over-friendly/slightly menacingly lascivious manner, helped the guests procure said staves; if memory serves, she was quickly ditched.
* Tybylt inadvertently inspired local punks to join with them, and a few colourful events (namely one female slamming some of Tybylt's 'mysterious' shadow ink, which he could then turn incandescent blood red; Ahni then did likewise after it was demonstrated that Tyb could see through the other's eyes, and went ahead to help her da' to find the other girls.)
* The larger group passes through and quickly navigates to a nearby nyxteroid whereupon they discovered a fence and a gate through which they passed, arriving somewhere else entirely: lavender skies, vast untamed cold jungle rainforest, strange creatures, and an odd looking structure about three floors high.
* Fought what appeared to be Hierophantic Church folk (by uniform) with fleshy hoods over their heads, which turned out to be slug-like creatures that seem to disfigure the human face into something more 'orc-ish' (feral, toothy snout, pointed ears, narrowed and inhuman eyes, etc.). These were strangely easy to dispatch. An insectoid creature (a Xarj hive-worker) attacked the party with a very powerful bow, but the party's archer dealt pretty effectively with it, forcing it to gain higher ground, but it was still slain once concentrated Ancients gunfire pulped it.
* Entered and began futzing around and found all manner of oddities while I continued to drop hints that things were too easy. Fight with hoodies continues to go in the party's favour even after a belching sulphur cannon is brought to bear against them (althougha few PCs were rendered inert while choking) but Tyb flipped that and eventually baddies were routed and cut down, with one survivor who looked to only have worn the hood for a short time and was responding to the party in a positive manner.
* One polished stone mirror/door paralysed anyone who touched the handle or the paralysed daisy-chain thereafter.
* I don't remember if they were pressing on, but there were plenty of areas to still explore on just that level.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
[RPG] Updates Notification: 9th, December-
I am busy describing life in all of the Imperial Castes based upon the ancestral traditions of former starship crew positions (Astrogator, Medical, Survival Instructor, etc.), and their applicability to contemporary Urutskan life.
--Mechanically, this works with both the Spectral Index, and traditional d100 rolls equally well, so both camps are accommodated without diluting the system.
Likewise, the micromanagement of Skill % has been eliminated through the introduction of the Spectral Index, which itself, eliminates the use of d100 while still maintaining as great a range through the addition of PC bonuses for Ethnicity, etc.
I have also updated the Dynamic Pool rules to align more precisely with Gamma World's (nd6) HP, where n is equal to the figure's Constitution score. Although, Urutskans are generally of a lighter build overall than inhabitants of a full G world, rather than .95 G or so of that smaller, watery world.
--Now, commoners and non-Fight-die gaining persons are still as durable as an average GW character, and any gained DP from Fight Dice are simply added to the total.
---The effect this has upon the Combat System is that Critical Strikes will conform more closely to the established 'Double Damage' sort of operation than my, 'straight into the negatives' method. Concurrent with that, however is a 'Wound Level' mechanism which emulates similar effects I find desirable in my games; namely that folks really ought to go unconscious before kicking the bucket more often than not.
Also Combat-related, Critical Strikes now occur only on iterative '5+ what was needed' results, and taken off of the raw die (dice) results of a '20', etc.
With all of the talk of Mass Combat and the Deendee End Game in the blogs, I brushed-off my work from earlier in the year and combined it with the Spectral Index to provide a standard wargamey matrix with the added granularity of a subjective, colour-logic system.
--I'm letting all of that simmer, but have taken efforts to support a seamless integration with the PCs so that 'on-the-fly' change of focus 'zoom' can be used to affect both the Strategic and PC scales of action.
---The results of 'heroes' are then stepped-down one level for the aligned warriors around them, but also, poor troop rolls can drag-down the heroes' efforts. It is the most synergistic and compact mechanism that I have seen in a system tailored to such high degree of integration with an RPG, so I hope I succeed in my lofty goal.
My entirely random character, Eresenkh Elik, using the CharGen tables, and before expending any 'PC' currency, is pretty interesting and serves to illustrate the sorts of folks who surround and support/undermine the PCs in their efforts/exploits, and from whence PCs are derived.
--This makes UWoM PCs somewhere on the order of magnitude between D&D and GW starting characters, which is where I intended.
---This ought to further facilitate the use of GW and UWoM materials back and forth between the two games, and a few of the tables are based on concepts put forth by James M. Ward in early Dragon articles for Metamorphosis Alpha.
I'm certain other bits are escaping me at present, but that's the gist of the changes.
--Mechanically, this works with both the Spectral Index, and traditional d100 rolls equally well, so both camps are accommodated without diluting the system.
Likewise, the micromanagement of Skill % has been eliminated through the introduction of the Spectral Index, which itself, eliminates the use of d100 while still maintaining as great a range through the addition of PC bonuses for Ethnicity, etc.
I have also updated the Dynamic Pool rules to align more precisely with Gamma World's (nd6) HP, where n is equal to the figure's Constitution score. Although, Urutskans are generally of a lighter build overall than inhabitants of a full G world, rather than .95 G or so of that smaller, watery world.
--Now, commoners and non-Fight-die gaining persons are still as durable as an average GW character, and any gained DP from Fight Dice are simply added to the total.
---The effect this has upon the Combat System is that Critical Strikes will conform more closely to the established 'Double Damage' sort of operation than my, 'straight into the negatives' method. Concurrent with that, however is a 'Wound Level' mechanism which emulates similar effects I find desirable in my games; namely that folks really ought to go unconscious before kicking the bucket more often than not.
Also Combat-related, Critical Strikes now occur only on iterative '5+ what was needed' results, and taken off of the raw die (dice) results of a '20', etc.
With all of the talk of Mass Combat and the Deendee End Game in the blogs, I brushed-off my work from earlier in the year and combined it with the Spectral Index to provide a standard wargamey matrix with the added granularity of a subjective, colour-logic system.
--I'm letting all of that simmer, but have taken efforts to support a seamless integration with the PCs so that 'on-the-fly' change of focus 'zoom' can be used to affect both the Strategic and PC scales of action.
---The results of 'heroes' are then stepped-down one level for the aligned warriors around them, but also, poor troop rolls can drag-down the heroes' efforts. It is the most synergistic and compact mechanism that I have seen in a system tailored to such high degree of integration with an RPG, so I hope I succeed in my lofty goal.
My entirely random character, Eresenkh Elik, using the CharGen tables, and before expending any 'PC' currency, is pretty interesting and serves to illustrate the sorts of folks who surround and support/undermine the PCs in their efforts/exploits, and from whence PCs are derived.
--This makes UWoM PCs somewhere on the order of magnitude between D&D and GW starting characters, which is where I intended.
---This ought to further facilitate the use of GW and UWoM materials back and forth between the two games, and a few of the tables are based on concepts put forth by James M. Ward in early Dragon articles for Metamorphosis Alpha.
I'm certain other bits are escaping me at present, but that's the gist of the changes.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
[RPG] Diced Spell Point System-
Copyright (c) 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis
This has been simmering for a few weeks:
Diced Magic-
The exact Spell Magnitude number must be rolled on a die, with the number of dice equal to the number of Spell Points possessed and available, plus 01.
If the required number is the die result, that Magnitude of spell may be freely cast without the expenditure of the Spell Points.
If, instead, any other number is rolled, the warp and woof of reality did not support the harvested energy within the Kherstic matrix, and requires the expenditure of the listed SP if the spell is to be successfully cast.
If the figure has insufficient SP to cast a spell, DP may be substituted at a 1:1 ratio.
Spell Magnitude-
1-3 : d4
4-5 : d6
6-7 : d8
8-9 : d10
Example-
:: Eshylzbet seeks to cast the spell, Xhillsen Del Hamn 'Being a powerful working of the air into a duty-bound being; a being of subtle spirit from above; a servant of the Empyrean.' This spell is 4th-Magnitude, and costs 04 SP. At present, Eshylzbet has only 03 SP, and attempts to empower the Kherst matrix with ambient energy instead.
:: Her player rolls 4d6 (because 4 Mag must be rolled on the next-higher die-type than d4, which is d6; the number of dice is derived from the current number of SP she has available, plus 01): 1, 2, 3, 5 -- no success. For Eshylzbet to cast the spell, she must expend all three of her SP, and sustain a loss of 01 DP to make up for the deficit of 01 point.
However, crafting magic items, including single-use items such as scrolls, require too great a degree of focus to allow for the gathering of ambient Aether, and subsequently necessitates the expenditure of personal SP (etc.) reserves (although the SP/DP need not be given willingly...).
This has been simmering for a few weeks:
Diced Magic-
The exact Spell Magnitude number must be rolled on a die, with the number of dice equal to the number of Spell Points possessed and available, plus 01.
If the required number is the die result, that Magnitude of spell may be freely cast without the expenditure of the Spell Points.
If, instead, any other number is rolled, the warp and woof of reality did not support the harvested energy within the Kherstic matrix, and requires the expenditure of the listed SP if the spell is to be successfully cast.
If the figure has insufficient SP to cast a spell, DP may be substituted at a 1:1 ratio.
Spell Magnitude-
1-3 : d4
4-5 : d6
6-7 : d8
8-9 : d10
Example-
:: Eshylzbet seeks to cast the spell, Xhillsen Del Hamn 'Being a powerful working of the air into a duty-bound being; a being of subtle spirit from above; a servant of the Empyrean.' This spell is 4th-Magnitude, and costs 04 SP. At present, Eshylzbet has only 03 SP, and attempts to empower the Kherst matrix with ambient energy instead.
:: Her player rolls 4d6 (because 4 Mag must be rolled on the next-higher die-type than d4, which is d6; the number of dice is derived from the current number of SP she has available, plus 01): 1, 2, 3, 5 -- no success. For Eshylzbet to cast the spell, she must expend all three of her SP, and sustain a loss of 01 DP to make up for the deficit of 01 point.
However, crafting magic items, including single-use items such as scrolls, require too great a degree of focus to allow for the gathering of ambient Aether, and subsequently necessitates the expenditure of personal SP (etc.) reserves (although the SP/DP need not be given willingly...).
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