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Esser-Z posted:Approps of nothing, I started listening to System Mastery last week. I am really, really enjoying it!  (I just listened to the most recent Afterthought about an hour or two ago, while throwing together eggplant and bell peppers in a miso/soy/xiaoxing sauce. Both were delightful.)
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May 12, 2015 02:58
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I came across a Heartbreaker made in TYOOL 2015 while stumbling through /tg/ The author calls it "Dungeons and Dragons Redux", and they draw from a bunch of different sources: BECMI classes, AD&D Player's Option's initiative system, DCC's Mighty Feat die for Fighters, 5th Edition's entire skill check system, 3rd Edition's +1 ability modifier every 2 ability scores, but then you get to this part: quote:To begin, you generate ability scores randomly. Roll three, 6-sided dice and record the total on your character sheet as your character’s Strength score. Do this five more times, once each for Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma in order. 3d6-in-order for a game where the difference between 10 and 18 is a +4 
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May 12, 2015 10:20
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gradenko_2000 posted:I came across a Heartbreaker made in TYOOL 2015 while stumbling through /tg/ Is the game worth ignoring that part, or is it a general mess?
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May 12, 2015 10:24
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Lightning Lord posted:Is the game worth ignoring that part, or is it a general mess? Having seen and read this PDF, it's terrible in the boring way.
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May 12, 2015 11:13
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Lightning Lord posted:Is the game worth ignoring that part, or is it a general mess? The author took B/X and then: converted the ability score system to 3rd Edition converted to ascending AC bolted on the Inspiration, Background, Ideal/Flaw/Bond, Advantage/Disadvantage, Proficiency, skill check s, Hit dice healing, and Short/Long rest mechanics from 5th Edition bolted on the Mighty Feat die from Dungeon Crawl Classics to the Fighter bolted on the Backstab die and "burning Luck" mechanic from DCC to the Rogue bolted on the spell corruption/spell check mechanic from DCC to the Wizard and Cleric used the "saving throws are also your attributes" system from 5th Edition/Castles and Crusades claimed that combat takes place in Theater of the Mind but, like 5th Edition, still spells out mechanics in 5 foot increments took many of the basic combat actions from 5th Edition, such as Disengage, Dodge, its version of Grapple, etc Looking back on it, it's probably faster to say they pared down 5th Edition to just the 4 basic classes, removed feats, and replaced the class features with DCC's
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May 12, 2015 11:32
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Sounds kind of like that Dungeons the Dragoning thing but for old school D&D.
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May 12, 2015 11:39
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AmiYumi posted:Same, I actually went through your whole backlog as "things to listen to while cooking". Now I'm up to date, and keep having to fall back on the episode about MAID. We'll have Claire on as a guest again someday, too. Soon as she's done getting all married and whatnot.
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May 12, 2015 19:56
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 Come get your hot fresh Top Secret review! It's our third time cracking open an old TSR box, and I'm literally amazed to find this thing on the "Best of TSR lists" on the internet. It's insane.
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May 12, 2015 22:44
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Speaking of System Mastery, I went to the used book store and found something I'd like to send along after I read it. Here's a taste:
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May 13, 2015 00:26
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Oh god, is that Legacy: War of Ages? I recognize that border and the bad photographic art and the bit of a dumb section header quote.
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May 13, 2015 02:09
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Plague of Hats posted:Speaking of System Mastery, I went to the used book store and found something I'd like to send along after I read it. Here's a taste: Please don't post my yearbook photos, thx
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May 13, 2015 02:16
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Plague of Hats posted:Speaking of System Mastery, I went to the used book store and found something I'd like to send along after I read it. Here's a taste: That man wants to wash my clothes! Oh wait, I bet that's an extremely specific San Diego in the 90s reference, forget I said anything.
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May 13, 2015 02:23
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I can't hate dinosaur robots 
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May 13, 2015 02:29
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theironjef posted:
There's this blog I read by a man who hates nerd culture with an unhealthy, disturbing passion. He loved Top Secret so much he put the whole game up for download at one point- I got it, but deleted it because it seemed boring. I think I understand the reason he only mentioned running one session of it.
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May 13, 2015 03:07
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Kavak posted:There's this blog I read by a man who hates nerd culture with an unhealthy, disturbing passion. Man, there's loving the smell of your own poo poo, and then there's loving the smell of your own poo poo so much that you bottle it in jars and make your own public poo poo Museum.
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May 13, 2015 08:12
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Simian_Prime posted:Man, there's loving the smell of your own poo poo, and then there's loving the smell of your own poo poo so much that you bottle it in jars and make your own public poo poo Museum. Welcome to the world of blogs.
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May 13, 2015 08:15
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Okay, so I can't sleep. I could do the other two adventures for MiliKK but I don't feel like it. One is pretty risqué as far as these things go, as the idea is that PCs try to hook up with one of several girls only for things to go awfully wrong (the nice-looking girl is the Major's daughter! the would-be revolutionary chica was too loud and attracted a gaggle of Neo-Nazis!) forcing the party to flee for the safety of their barracks. No wonder the authors described this game as "cachondo", which is the adjective you would use for, say, a movie like Porky's. The other has no sex at all, thank goodness, but it's basically "okay bad officer is around and he'll try to gently caress you over" and is generally a time-line and a map of a base for PCs to goof around in and try to escape scrutiny. So no, instead you get something entirely different! Exemplars and Eidolons RULES OF NATURE Exemplars and Eidolons is a fantasy RPG of the oldschool type and... no, wait, where are you going? While it claims to be an OSR game and it's certainly compatible with other OSR-based products, this is not yet another pre-3E retroclone, far from it. Its creator is OSR luminary Kevin Crawford (who wrote noted Traveller-like Stars Without Number and Red Tide, which is the most badass setting the OSR ever produced) and it's a simple, but slick little game... Only it's not really a game. What? Okay, so there is an actual, playable game here, but Crawford's actual attempt was to use it as a learning example. See, E&E is a sample game to teach other would-be RPG DIY publishers how to layout a game or game supplement of their own. When you download E&E (which is free!), you get two files: one is the game itself, a simple PDF, and the other is a compressed file containing InDesign files, the art Crawford used in the book, and another PDF with a commentary layer where he explains why how he did the table of contents, how he chose fonts and laid out text, tables and pictures, and so on. It's really interesting if you're into desktop publishing and to be honest, I haven't seen this kind of effort before, so it's cool that he took his time to do something like this.  Snazzy art! Crawford gives permission for you to use it in your stuff, as long as you credit the original artists. But of course, what you really want is the rules. Which is good, because E&E rocks. E&E is a game where players play heroes. This is not a game where level 1 nobodies die lovely deaths in subterranean fantasy loving Vietnam. This is a game where you're on the way to toppling kingdoms from day one, where you're not pinching pennies and lying on your belly poking at traps on the ground. It's high-powered, high-flying adventure, and it's metal as all hell. Character creation starts by rolling the classic six D&D stats with a 4d6 drop lowest roll, assigning each roll to any stat you want. If no score is 16 or higher, simply erase the lowest and replace it with a 16, or ask the GM to use a pre-set stat spread (16. 14, 13, 10 and 9.) 9-12 is the average range, with higher and lower stats providing attribute modifiers that go from -3 to +3. Yeah, the pre-set spread won't give you any penalties. It's not that kind of OSR game. Classes! We have Warrior, Rogue and Sorcerer. Warriors are tough and punchy, rogues are sneaky, sorcerers have wikkd magikz. Each class has an attack bonus. hit points, Fray die and maximum weapon damage. I'll explain the Fray die later, but the maximum weapon damage is exactly that, the maximum damage you're going to roll with a weapon attack. A sorcerer simply won't be as martially trained as a warrior, so they get 1d6 maximum weapon damage, while rogues get 1d8. In fact, the warrior seems to have the best stats at this point, with the best attack bonus, the best Fray die, the most HP and unlimited weapon damage. But, we'll see! Each hero gets three Facts to add to their sheet. Facts are just that - facts about the hero, simple sentences that can later be used to gain an advantage in play. For instance, a sorceror's Facts can be "I was trained by STERN MASTER, but I betrayed him to THE SUPER PALADINS because he was a demonologist so now they like me, and when I get angry sparks fly around me so bdazz." So what if you don't know if there even are SUPER PALADINS in the game world? Ask your GM, because Facts are also how a GM can start building up a world for the PC heroes to traipse around in. When a Fact is relevant to a check or saving throw, it gives a +4 bonus to it. Only one Fact can apply to any single roll, though.  Fact: that hand is creepy as poo poo. Heroes also get Gifts. Gifts are what really separate heroes from regular people: you can be a veteran swordsman or a vizier with a head full of spells, but not a capital letter Warrior or Sorcerer without Gifts. This is heroic stuff, not inane d20-like feats. Starting characters get three Gifts: two of them must be from their starting class or from the list of generic Gifts available to all classes, and the third can be from either one of those lists or from one of the other classes' Gift lists. Heroes get one more Gift per level, and every even-numbered level they can choose to a another Gift from another class. Some Gifts require Effort to activate: this represents a greater investment on the part of the hero. Each hero starts with two points of Effort and gains one more per level. Effort is used different from Gift to Gift: some need Effort to be committed until a fight or scene is over (in broad terms, never something specific like individual rounds). Effort is recovered by a good night's sleep, and GMs may also require to spend Effort to perform some special feat of skill, but that should be very rare. Gear!: voulges, guisarmes... ah, gently caress that poo poo. Heroes have what they need, they don't shop in endless equipment lists. Weapons are defined generically as heavy (1d10), one-handed (1d8), light (1d6, hero can use Dexterity modifier instead of Strength for hit rolls and damage) and ranged (1d8, 1d6 for hurled weapons, can use Dex instead of Str). This is where the max damage per class kicks in - sure, a sorcerer can wield a heavy warhammer, but they'll only deal 1d6 damage tops with it. Armor is also handled generically: light armor is AC 7, medium armor is AC 5, heavy armor is AC 3, and a shield gives +1 armor. Rogue Gifts that rely on nimbleness and stealth cannot be used with heavy or medium armor, and sorcerers cannot cast spells at all when wearing armor or using a shield. As for other gear, simply choose them - it's the GM's call if they want to pare down outrageous gear, substantial holdings of land, scores of retainers and so on. Wealth! Okay, heroes don't give a flying gently caress about the 5 silver pieces on a bandit's purse. Capital-W Wealth is when a hero shoves their arm shoulder-deep in a coffer full of gold coins and jewels. It's the kind of moolah that makes kings and nobles go WHOA. Heroes are assumed to always have the money they need for daily life, unless they're like stripped naked in the rear end end of nowhere or coming out of a week-long bender or something. Wealth can go from 1 (the smallest treasury worth celebrating) to 10 (a kingdom's riches). A single point of Wealth can buy pretty much anything a fair-sized city can provide - a house, a party for a couple hundred people, a bribe for a high official in a dangerous matter. Aside from that, Wealth is also used to further a group's goals, acquiring Influence on them. How exactly that works is left for later! For the final touches, it's time to record a character's saving throw. There are three of them, Toughness (higher of Str or Con, plus levels in Warrior) Evasion (higher of Dex or Wis, plus levels in Rogue) and Mystic (higher of Int or Cha, plus levels in Sorcerer) To roll a saving throw, you just have to roll under it with 1d20. Then hit points (8 for warriors, 6 for rogues, 4 for sorcerers, plus Con modifier), attack bonus (+0 for non-warriors, +1 for warriors), armor class (your armor plus shield if you have it, defaulting to 9 without it, adding or subtracting the Dex modifier but AC can never be worse than 9), the Fray die (1d8 for warriors, 1d6 for rogues, 1d4 for sorcerers) and, finally, a name and appearance. And that's it, you have one hero ready to roll!  SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER Next: now, Raiden! Bring him down!
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May 13, 2015 08:50
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Traveller posted:
I have no real comment on the game itself, I just think this picture is amazing because it's a viking snapping the neck of a hopping vampire.
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May 13, 2015 09:12
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unseenlibrarian posted:I have no real comment on the game itself, I just think this picture is amazing because it's a viking snapping the neck of a hopping vampire.
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May 13, 2015 11:59
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Kavak posted:...by a man who hates nerd culture with an unhealthy, disturbing passion. You make this sound like a bad thing.
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May 13, 2015 12:17
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Forums Terrorist posted:You make this sound like a bad thing. It's the level of vitriol I object to, not hating nerd culture itself.
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May 13, 2015 12:22
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unseenlibrarian posted:Oh god, is that Legacy: War of Ages? I recognize that border and the bad photographic art and the bit of a dumb section header quote. It is, and here is my shame: if memory serves, this is in the section on psychic powers near a power that's about inflicting psychic damage and they intended the picture to represent that, the quote is the bit about heads exploding from Dark Side of the Moon, and I'm pretty sure they mangled the quote as well. You can't just purge stupid like that from your memory, sadly. E: Oh, I can see from the picture that they absolutely did mangle the quote. On the one hand, it's easy to throw stones from the comfort of the far future of 2015 with our robo-dogs and lyrics easily found through Google; on the other hand, they put as much effort into deciphering the actual lyrics as they did for writing the rest of this book, which isn't a lot. PantsOptional fucked around with this message at 13:45 on May 13, 2015 |
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May 13, 2015 13:35
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I'm pretty sure Pink Floyd put all of their lyrics in the liner notes too, on the third hand.
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May 13, 2015 14:09
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Oh, dear. I just wrote the first chapter of a Legacy review, actually.
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May 13, 2015 14:29
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Kavak posted:It's the level of vitriol I object to, not hating nerd culture itself. Maybe I'm being taken to a different blog, but other than a (bit) harsh critique of GTA, I don't see any vitriol. Dude's a bit wordy, though. Anyway. That Kevin Crawford seems to put a lot of good poo poo. Does he only do OSR stuff?
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May 13, 2015 16:56
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Halloween Jack posted:Oh, dear. I just wrote the first chapter of a Legacy review, actually. Keep going! The podcast is a whole different thing that doesn't really line up to the rigorous standards of long-form review that happen in this thread.
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May 13, 2015 17:03
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GrizzlyCow posted:
Yeah, he likes writing OSR things the most. He did post some guidelines on how to run Red Tide with 4E in RPG.net, but he's more comfortable doing the stuff he knows.
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May 13, 2015 17:21
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Kevin Crawford may focus on OSR, but what makes him much, much better than 90% of OSR writers is that he knows what was good about those games and keeps that while removing the stuff that didn't really work too well. His custom system being a cross between old school D&D and old school Traveller works surprisingly well, for example.
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May 13, 2015 17:36
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Exemplars and Eidolons The only thing I know for real Gifts! As mentioned earlier, these aren't simple, mundane advantages. Gifts are what really makes a hero stand above the normal cut of mortals, and they can enable them to do the literally impossible for the ordinary run of folk. Most Gifts don't have prerequisites. Some allow committing Effort to gain Influence with a certain goal, but the meaning of that will be explained later. When Effort is committed, it usually returns after the immediate situation that called for the commitment is over, or the hero can get a nap.  : General Gifts (aside from Ferocious Effort, they can only be taken once per hero)
 Rogue Gifts (those that involve being stealthy or nimble cannot be used in heavy or medium armor)
 Sorcerer Gifts (most can be used while armored, but spellcasting is impossible)
 Warrior Gifts
 Archer's gonna 360noscope a fool. In the annotated version, Crawford mentions that he put this image in the Warrior Gift list to make it look better, as it is shorter than the lists of the other two classes. Yeah, motherfucker. E&E heroes don't gently caress around. Enough concepts spring out from reading this list that you could conceivably have a full party of the same class with distinct abilities and niches. A party of four Warriors can include the grim magekiller (Pierce Wards, Unbreakable Will and Unstoppable Wrath), the mystic archer (Unerring Accuracy, Titanic Blow and Eclectic Arcanist), the muscle hero (Crushing Fists, Inexhaustible and Iron Skin) and the daring frontline captain (Shining Leader, Drillmaster and Breaker of Armies) Next: Magnetic force, Jack!
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May 13, 2015 18:24
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Traveller posted:Yeah, motherfucker. E&E heroes don't gently caress around.
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May 13, 2015 18:35
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theironjef posted:
I was going to submit this for Afterthought (my being Nick E. Cheeses afterall), but this isn't really a question or discussion topic, it's just me being a despicable grognard telling stories about that-one-time-at-D&D. Partially embellished, but in keeping with the truth, with regards to HERO System, the tale of Sunspot! My group was kinda worn out of Sci-Fi and Fantasy and I had been eyeing HERO System at our local nerd store at the time. The book was XBox huge, all black and green and dense with the promise of sweet, sweet rules. I bought it and unveiled it to my table with all the awe and scared laughter it inspired. It took about three weeks of us parsing through it to have even a vague understanding of what was even the gently caress. I write up a game of "Low-Rent Supervillains", ala Dr. Horrible or Venture Brothers. Three of my four players have tried, as best they could, to make reasonable characters. I think we had a sorta-Iron Man, and a vaguely-Cthulhoid girl, and maybe a bard? And then there was Sunspot. Now, HERO System has several, repeated warnings throughout that it can be broken wide open with the lightest tap in the wrong spot. I think it's completely reasonable for the system to be as broad as it is, that the GM has to be given a greater amount of fiat power. Sunspot's player had figured out enough of the system to build a single superpower. A point-blank energy-projection Area of Effect attack with the "Hole in the Center" (that's the real name) modifier that made him immune from his own power. And he poured all of his character creation points into it. But what he didn't buy was the ability to do this trick more than once per day, because that increased the cost geometrically. After he was done, Sunspot had the power to vaporize a city block. Once a day. So the party is robbing a bank to get the money to fund a bigger scheme. Sunspot is bluffing the security with his power, finally everyone gets fed up. So, having reached an impasse, the party evacuates everyone to a safe distance. Sunspot goes up to the vault and proceeds to roll every die in the immediate vicinity. The police arrive, with a fire ladder, as Sunspot is now trapped, like a Loony Toon, on a spire of foundation, in the middle of a crater. The vault, the bank, the road up to the window of the Starbuck's having been consumed by Sunspot's plasma. And people complained about the 5-minute Wizard.
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May 13, 2015 19:36
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Hehehe, Nick E. Cheeses. I've never actually read Hero System, mostly for the exact reasons you're describing, but that sounds like the sort of stories I've heard from it before. Like just ... too all-inclusive or something.
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May 13, 2015 19:46
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Adventure Fantasy Game, part 4 In part 1, we covered the core mechanic, character generation, and basic combat. In part 2, we covered experience, character growth, accomplishments, treasures and dungeons In part 3, we covered the advanced combat system This time I'll talk about the optional combat rules, which can be applied to both the basic 5MAIL and advanced FIGHTMORE systems Saving Throws: a character has 4 different saving throws: Alertness Toughness Stubbornness Morale Whenever a character runs into a situation that would necessitate a traditional TRPG saving throw, such as Alertness to dodge out of a fireball or Toughness to swole through some poison, make a 5MORE skill roll against the saving throw, but include a -2 penalty and a bonus equal to the character's Tier. If the 5MORE roll succeeds, then the character avoids some of the badness, else he takes the full brunt of it. The saving throws are spelled out separately because they're supposed to be able to develop EXPERT and MASTER status, just like any other 5MORE skill. Shield-smashing: if a character uses Shield Block as their action and an attack lands, roll for damage regardless. If the damage is 7 or more, the shield is damaged and cannot be used until repaired. Magic shields cannot be damaged. Morale: When a battle turns bad, a character will have to make a Morale saving throw in order to keep fighting, or else they will flee. A battle turning bad is defined as [if your side has lost 25% of their total Hits], [lost 50% of total hits], [lost 75% of total hits], or if one side is totally outmatched. Special weapon effects: Swords and Long Blades - if the character wielding the sword is engaged with multiple enemies, any successful attack can be leveraged to deal damage to any enemy currently engaged, even if they were not the one that the attack was rolled against Axes, Maces and Unbalanced Weapons - the target's armor is considered 1 grade worse Flails and Chains - cannot be blocked by shields Lance - when you use a mounted charge, add another damage die when rolling for damage (on top of the additional one you get simply for doing a mounted charge) Spears and Long-Hafted Weapons - characters using these weapons always go first during the melee phase Knives, Daggers and Short Blades - gain a +2 bonus to 5MORE skill rolls to conceal these weapons, and they can be drawn within the same round without taking a penalty. If the target is unarmed, add another damage die when rolling for damage. Long Staves - characters using this weapon can use the Shield Block move as if they had a shield Bows - characters using this weapon have a -1 to Fighting Capability (to be fair, the game outright admits that these special weapon rules are supposed to nerf ranged attacks) Slings - these weapons have a -1 penalty to damage against armored targets Crossbows and Firearms - the target's armor is considered 1 grade worse and Firearms deal 1 additional damage die, but Crossbows need 1 full round to reload, and Firearms need 3 full rounds Critical Wounds: If a character reaches 0 or negative Hits, roll a 1d6 and refer to a table for additional damage. These are things like taking scars or deep cuts at the low-end of the table, all the way to losing a whole leg or arm, or to just confirm your death in an especially gruesome manner if your Hits go negative enough. Tweaking the Combat Math: The ratio between additional damage dice and FC is 1:1. It's suggested to change this to 1 additional damage dice every 2 FC in order if you want armor to retain effectiveness even at high levels. The ratio between [Levels + Additional Hits] to FC is 4:1. It's suggested to change this to a lower ratio to make the Way of Steel have a larger effect in combat effectiveness. As an alternative way of calculating FC, divide the character's maximum Hits by 10 without adding Additional Hits and round down. This has the opposite effect of making the Way of Steel more "plain", although I'm not sure why you'd want to do this. Finally, if you're using FIGHTMORE's opposed rolls for your Melee phase, there's a suggestion to use 3d6+Level rolls for "grittier" combat or 1d20+Level rolls for "swingier" combat, instead of the normal d6+FC. Tweaking Initiative: If you move Magic to the first phase, casters will never fail spells, making them much more lethal. If you move Missile to the first phase, characters will always be able to take at least one ranged shot before becoming engaged in melee. In Closing: The saving throws are cool and would fit into a "normal" game pretty easily. I don't know that the combat here really needs the Morale check rules, since the math looks tighter and less lethal than the rest of the OSR. The special weapon effects and critical wounds rules add a bunch of chrome, but personally I think they just add complexity for complexity's sake. What impressed me was the suggestions to tweak the combat math: It shows that the author really had a mathematical basis for the system in the first place, and understands it well enough to lay the assumptions bare and tell you how to jigger with it.
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May 13, 2015 19:50
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So with crushing fists, iron skin and wallbreaker, you can play a fighter who just koolaid mans into battles and starts hitting people with other people and/or the remnants of the wall he just burst through and it will count as magical weapons and let him deflect swords with his steely abs? Sold.
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May 13, 2015 19:52
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gradenko_2000 posted:I came across a Heartbreaker made in TYOOL 2015 while stumbling through /tg/ Now the game just needs a prestige class or two that requires two 16s. And did they copypaste the "Your highest spell level is [Main Caster Attribute -10]" rule from 3.5 as well? That's gotta be fun for the wizards. AmiYumi posted:Same, I actually went through your whole backlog as "things to listen to while cooking". Now I'm up to date, and keep having to fall back on the episode about MAID. Same here. Except I don't cook that often and my connection's a bit slow, so I'm sadly not listening as often as I'd like to. gradenko_2000 posted:Without giving away too much, the awesome thing about E&E heroes is that you might be rolling on an OSR random encounter table, come up with 6d10 Goblins, and still steamroll the gently caress out of that fight. Good to see Kevin's short "Here's how to beef up a hero in order to run normal OSR adventures solo" supplements fleshed out for group lay. Need to get a look at E&E ASAP. theironjef posted:Hehehe, Nick E. Cheeses. I've never actually read Hero System, mostly for the exact reasons you're describing, but that sounds like the sort of stories I've heard from it before. Like just ... too all-inclusive or something. And that's why I waited for this Champions Complete book. All the rules with examples on just around 200 pages. (Though I'm a bit dissappointed it's not as hard as the legends make it out to be. Then again it's not the first effects-based game I've had. And I'm a bit of a math freak, so no chargen software for me sir.) Doresh fucked around with this message at 20:33 on May 13, 2015 |
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May 13, 2015 20:30
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Doresh posted:Same here. Except I don't cook that often and my connection's a bit slow, so I'm sadly not listening as often as I'd like to. I can't listen to my own show of course, but I basically save the podcasts I do listen to like precious gems so that I can use them when doing the dishes.
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May 13, 2015 20:32
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theironjef posted:I can't listen to my own show of course, but I basically save the podcasts I do listen to like precious gems so that I can use them when doing the dishes. That's why I do. Maid, Skyrealms of Jorune, all the fun stuff :3
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May 13, 2015 20:40
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I love that my copy of Skyrealms is signed because it was a gift from the author to my girlfriend's aunt, who he was dating in the 80s. I'm tenuously connected to greatness! Also that he had apparently completely internalized his game and said stuff like "Hesitate and you're scragger bait" in public.
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May 13, 2015 20:44
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I didn't know "koolaidman" was a verb, but I'm going to start looking for opportunities to use it in conversation.
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May 13, 2015 20:48
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| # ? Dec 5, 2024 07:41 |
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Night10194 posted:So with crushing fists, iron skin and wallbreaker, you can play a fighter who just koolaid mans into battles and starts hitting people with other people and/or the remnants of the wall he just burst through and it will count as magical weapons and let him deflect swords with his steely abs? That was going to be my original example for muscle hero, but I went with Inexhaustible for the imagery of a muscle-bound slab of flesh that Just. Does. Not. Stop. And hey, only one more level and they can koolaidman with the best of them!  Exemplars and Eidolons A stranger I remain It's time for magic! Oh, no, this is where the game reveals its OSR blood and where casters get to pwnzorz all the other classes, right? Not quite.  loving cthulhus! A sorcerer can cast a number of spells equal to 1 + number of levels in the sorcerer class. Restoring those energies needs a 15-minute rest, and small meditations and rituals to go with that. Casting a spell counts as a sorcerer's action for the round, and one that is struck or otherwise damaged before their turn comes up cannot cast a spell during that round. When a spell counts a character's level for an effect, all levels count, not just those of the sorcerer class. Some spells can only be cast on a creature the mage can touch, while others can reach anywhere within the mage's sight. Some spells require Effort to be committed: if a spell enchants another creature for good or ill, the effect remains until the Effort is withdrawn. If the effect is instant, the Effort returns after a good night's sleep. Healing spells feed upon the energies of violence and battle: a healing spell cast outside of it always heals the maximum amount of hit points, but because it has no energies to feed on it drains the recipient, who must commit Effort for out of combat healing to take place. This Effort also returns after a night's rest. Many spells require saving throws to be made against them, mostly Evasion for projectile-type stuff and Mystic for those that directly attack the mind or spirit. And again, spells can't be cast wearing mundane armor or shields - perhaps there are mystical armors that don't encumber a mage so. Each of the following schools has ten spells: four at Apprentice rank, three at Adept, two at Master and one at Archmage. Learning or creating a new spell outside of this listcounts as a minor goal within the Adventure and Influence system, which will come up later. This way, a mage can potentially use spells from other OSR games. Some spells can also be found as loot in the way of scrolls and spellbooks. Heroes explicitly don't require spellbooks, that's only for ordinary magic users, but they can use a spellbook or scroll to cast spells without draining their energies. Once used, the scroll or spellbook page crumbles into dust. Schools!
 You're not quite summoning 1d4 giant rats here. And now, some actual rules for playing the game! Heroic adventurers meet with challenges from time to time. But not everything is a challenge to them - in fact, most ordinary applications of their abilities simply work in their favor, no rolls required. A rogue isn't going to fall off a second story ledge or fumble a swipe of some rube's purse. A warrior doesn't have to doubt whether they can drink a weedy scholar under the table. That just happens. Real challenges, like calming down an infuriated mob or outdoing the artifice of a king's favored jeweler, are solved using ability checks: in classic D&D form, the player takes 1d20 and attempts to roll under the stat most closely associated with what they want to do. A relevant Fact adds +4 to this attribute, and for particularly difficult tasks the GM may impose a penalty, up to -4. A natural 1 always fails, a natural 20 always succeeds. If two contestants oppose each other, the one that wins by the biggest margin (or loses by the least) is the victor. Saving throws are effectively a specialized form of ability check, though most perils that can force a saving throw also impose a penalty equal to the hit dice of the foe attempting to inflict the condition. Time for combat! Some of you may have noticed that effects that deal damage seem to use very low numbers - the Torrent of Doom Gift deals 2 damage points, and 1 on a saving throw. What? Here's how it works. Combat progresses in rounds where participants can act once. Heroes always go first, unless they've been ambushed. In a round, a hero can move up to 60 feet and do one thing that doesn't take more than six seconds - attacking, cutting a rope, drinking a potion and so on. To attack, a character rolls 1d20 + target's AC + attack bonus + relevant attribute modifier, and attempts to beat a target number of 20. This is why lower AC is better - like in Stars Without Number and other Crawford games, this is so that old school material can be transplanted with the least effort without simply using the old rules. As before, a natural 1 is always a miss, and a natural 20 is always a hit.  Those monsters have no idea how hosed they are. But damage works a little differently than usual. When damage is rolled, it is added to the relevant attribute modifier then compared to a table. A damage roll of 1 means no actual damage took place, 2-5 means a single damage point, 6-9 means 2 points, and 10+ means 4 points. If multiple dice of damage are rolled, then the damage for each is counted separately then totaled, but the attribute modifier only applies to one of the dice involved. And here is where the game reveals its trick: while damage is counted off a PC's hit points as normal, it is counted off the hit dice of other foes. A 10-HP warrior takes ten points of damage to be brought low; a 1-HD mook goes down in a heap with a single point. Furthermore, excess damage can be applied to other foes within range that have an armor class equal to or worse than that of the unlucky target. If you take out a 1-HD soldier with a 4-point wound, then you have three damage points to share out with their similarly-armored comrades. The Fray die represents the myriad casual blows, snapshots and lesser mystic strikes a hero inflicts in the course of a battle. A hero always rolls their Fray die in combat, even if they're doing something other than attacking. Only one Fray die is rolled, however, even if the hero has access to more than one through multiclassing. Fray dice don't need to hit - they're just rolled, compared to the damage table, and the resulting points are doled out among foes within range. However, Fray damage only applies to enemies with equal hit dice to the character or less - more beefier opponents will need a deliberate effort to damage them. The only exception to this is the sorcerer's Fray die - it is the lowest at 1d4, but sorcerous blasts can damage foes with any number of hit dice. So yeah, those 6d10 goblins? Fodder.  A sorcerer's Fray die into action. Zappo! Healing! After a fight, heroes can take a five-minute break to bind their wounds, healing up to 2 HP from their latest struggle. A good night's sleep is enough to restore a hero's full complement of HP. Advancement! Heroes acquire new levels through experience points. A hero obtains 2 XP after completing a minor goal, 4 after a medium one, and 8 after a truly realm-shaking problem is solved. The GM judges what goals are which according to guidelines that will come up later. When a character obtains a new level, as directed by the handy XP chart here (which goes up to level 10, at 54 XP) they can choose to gain it in any of the three classes, adding HP, attack bonuses, saving throws and Gifts as directed. Furthermore, each new level gives the character a new Fact to add to their sheet, something relevant to the great adventure that netted them the XP necessary to level up of course. After level 10, heroes no longer advance in attack bonuses or HP increases, but since they have reached the outermost limits of mortal capacity they may gain new Gifts, or even develop brand-new ones.  If I rightly remember, this is from Crawford's Spears of the Dawn, his Africa-inspired fantasy game. Which I hear is really loving good. Next! In my new America, people will die and kill for what they BELIEVE! Not for money. not for oil! Not for what they're told is right. Every man will be free to fight his own wars!
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May 13, 2015 22:04
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Domination: Assorted mind fuckery. A Domination apprentice can ruin someone's friendship, suss out bonds of alliance, get favors from people and clear other domination effects. The power over the minds of others grows with each level of mastery, until the pinnacle Archmage spell Mind Slave, which allows the caster to command pretty much anything that is not directly "kill yourself" from the victim (and even then, that's a failed saving throw away)
Flames: Flame on! The Flames apprentice gets to cast firebolts on others, extinguish fires, create smoke barriers and be temporarily resistant to fire and extreme heat. As dominion over the school increases, so does the size and heat of the flames at the mage's command. One Master level spell manipulates a structure into being as inflammable as dry wood, and the Archmage spell lets the caster burn their own life essence (HP) in order to literally burn the unburnable.
Healing: Because not everything is DPS, Tanking or Support. Healing apprentices can heal wounds, restore life to a recently slain ally (yup, at level 1!), ward against disease and toxins. Master healers can regenerate lost limbs or necrotic effects like energy drain. The Archmage of this school can completely restore and improve someone's body - even heal congenital defects. 
Necromancy: Spooky! The Necromancer apprentice can animate skeletons, put the already undead to rest, ward against them and interrogate the dead. The type and number of undead they can animate increases with mastery in this school, but necromancers can also heal the blights that undead cause, and even bring the long-dead back to life if they have a good reason to come back. The Archmage spell lets the caster animate a whole legion of spookies.
Perception: SIGHT BEYOND SIGHT. The Perception apprentice can ward against other Perception spells, detect magic, find objects and see in pitch darkness or blinding clouds as if it were a clear noon. Later on, they can mute someone else's senses, extend their sight far beyond the immediate area and even understand the meaning of others without knowing their language. Their Archmage spell simply makes everything clear - all illusions dispelled, all magic items revealed, all hidden items and persons uncovered, all spooky inscriptions translated. Which is cool but it does require a hefty commitment to being a sensor bot.
Space: It's an illusion, etc. Space apprentices can accurately map the local area, pin people in place, teleport within a small area and be aware of their surroundings without needing to see. They can later ward against other attempts at teleporting in or out of a place, and its Archmage spell lets the caster open a semi-permanent gateway between any two points that lasts as long as the archmage commits Effort. It also has a spell, Open Path, that... isn't actually in the spell list. Kevin!
Summoning: 2spooky! The creatures that Summoning brings into this world are generically described as minions, servitors and OUTER LORDS. Can't be up to anything good! Aprentice Summoners can summon lesser beings, ward against summonings and attempt to banish summoned beings away. They can later bring bigger gribblies into play, or outright attempt to dominate summoned beings. 
Winds: This school comprises both actual manipulation of air as well as lightning and electricity. Winds apprentices can jump great bounds (and cast the spell fast enough to survive great falls), bring blinding mist upon an area, fritz people with crackling bolts and create pockets of fresh air in case of poisonous miasma or being underwater. Later they can fly, call down thunderstorms, be classic and cast LIGHTNING BOLT and their pinnacle spell lets them recreate Twister. Finger of God, yo.