Sharing my notes

[Mordax]

Hey,

 

I have finally gotten my group off of D&D, and over to Fantasy HERO (huzzah!).

 

I've put up a wiki for my players here, thought I'd share it in case it was of any use or interest to you guys.

[mayapuppies]

Re: Sharing my notes

 

Good Stuff

[Mordax]

Re: Sharing my notes

 

Thanks.

 

I'm still having some trouble with certain elements of the magic system, but we did a character creation/shakedown thing last Saturday, and what people had mostly seemed to work. (Just not sure about my final couple schools of magic, and then I need to write like a hundred spells. *sigh*)

 

Oh, and for anybody who looks: ideas and comments and whatnot are welcome.

[Curufea]

Re: Sharing my notes

 

You need not write up spells - just look at Killershrike's website

[Mordax]

Re: Sharing my notes

 

Nah, it'll be as much work either way. There are multiple types of caster in my background, each with their own particular way of doing things - even cribbing off of someone else's list, I'd have to adapt each spell to the type of caster it goes to.

 

Plus, I'm trying to tie what casters can do into the background, which involves thinking about what I'm doing a fair amount anyway.

 

For instance: the Kalasian culture is sort of Greek/Roman inspired. They assimilate gods and rituals from other cultures. The Shyrynmor are Norse-ish, and they worship an ancestral hero, whom their Berserkers believe they call on for powers. The Shyrynmor also use Death Magic, a charming form of sacrificial magic with various necromantic powers (best healing available, etc.). All Shyrynmor Berserkers take part in a sacrificial ritual - as the victim - because they believe it allows them to go on a vision quest in the land of the dead. (The caster puts them to the edge of death, and calls a ghost into their dying body. Their soul goes 'somewhere else' for the duration.)

 

The Kalasians have adopted the Shyrynmor ancestral hero as their god of war, and taken up some of the practices of their berserkers. But they outlawed Death Magic ages ago, and it turns out that without that key ritual, Berserker powers cannot reach their maximum potential. Kalasian magic can't

duplicate it, and even if they could, it'd be taboo for religious reasons.

 

Use of Death Magic vs. Kalasian Sorcery has other implications, too - the Shyrynmor engage in harvest rituals a la The Wicker Man, while Kalasians, (whose magic is more attuned to classic elemental energy), control the weather to protect their crops, etc.

 

From a writeup point of view, Death Magic and Kalasian Sorcery have different limitations, and the spells are expected to work different ways - Death Magic is mostly touch based to 'complete the circuit,' while the Sorcery tosses more conventional fireballs and lightning bolts, etc.

 

*shrugs*

 

Either way, I've painted myself into a ton of work. Not that that's a bad thing. I don't intend to handle everything every college of magic can do, just enough samples that my players understand what to expect from each one, then I'll write as needed.

 

Killer Shrike's site is excellent, though. I looked there for help about armor stacking, already.

[mayapuppies]

Re: Sharing my notes

 

Nice magic concepts. Really well thought out.

[runescience]

Re: Sharing my notes

 

OIL OF VITRIOL, Watson! me thinks me smell a fan...

 

I saw oil of vitriol first mentioned in a BBC episode of Sherlock holmes.

 

Just brought smile to my face.

 

thanks

[Mordax]

Re: Sharing my notes

 

Re: magic system -

Thanks for the kind words. I'm mostly handling balance by feel at this point, so I'm glad to have a second opinion.

 

I'll be adding the final two schools of magic soon:

- Chaos Magic, which will just be an adjunct to a caster's existing system. (I think it'll offer an improved version of Mana Tap to mana casters, and maybe a naked improved Delayed Effect cap to spirit casters, either with an automatic Side Effect to transform the caster into something truly horrible.)

 

- Light Magic, which will use both mana and spirit based casting, each depending on the role. Paladins will use spirit casting to call on 'the blessings of angels,' which neatly covers both why paladins can fall, and why falling imbues them with more power than other people, since spirit casting easily flips to demonic casting.

 

And I suppose that will round out the 'common' techniques. One of my players already has a secret school involving magic body art, that turned out pretty cool. (Sort of a cross between Alchemy and Spirit Magic.)

 

Re: oil of vitriol - Yeah, that's where I got it from. Always loved the term.

 

I'll be posting game logs starting in a few weeks. I run 'em every two weeks, give or take. (My old D&D logs may be of interest to anybody who runs D&D - I did what I could to make it interesting. Just ran out of steam at the end. But I did have Bee-mounted Beholders, a PC taking a death to healing energy during a 'baptism' by crazy Treants in a healing font, an evil twin gained in game, and other fun stuff.)