Jkeown

So.... I have this cave. In it, there is a small pool of the clearest water that cures Curses and Transforms. Obviously, I'm not keeping it long. Eventually, some bad mofo is going to take it away build a freaking castle over it, or the government will step in and take over, adding all sorts of paperwork to the healing process.

The government falls, the cave, the castle, the paperwork and the pool all fall into bureaucratic legend. How would you use this item?

Lord Ashkar's Forgotten Pool of Purity: Major Transform 10d6 (Cursed or Transformed Person to Normal Person, Healed Back By Other Transforms), Usable By Other (+1/4), Area Of Effect (2" radius; +3/4) (300 Active Points); OIF Immobile (Location; -1 1/2)

As written, it looks like the pool's waters do not function away from the pool, though one could get rich (then kinda hunted) selling faked Remove Curse Potions from it.

In Caleon, it's a legend from the time of the Ashur Empire, which arguably hit its peak about 1500 years ago. I think enough time has passed for it to be a legend, and as the game I'm running will soon head thataway, it might be nice to get opinions on what you folks might do if your characters happened upon such a place. Would you heal your cursed party members, remembering to come back sometime, or would you set up shop... spreading word that everyone who's been Newted lately show up and pay up for healing?

Or just leave a large amount of graphitti. beer cans and burnt candles and move on down the road?

...and that's where the trouble started.

Jeffery's nose wrinkled. Laura stopped her own character's narration and Dan looked like his face was gonna cave in.

After 22 years of gaming in Caleon with me, he'd never heard the word "Grax." Not once. He'd know if I had. (So would I)

"What is a Grax?" they pleaded in unison.

Thinking quickly, I began ad-libbing my butt off.

"Um... Grax (it is both singular and plural) are a large class of creature made up of pure magic, Wizards often summon them to gaurd places. They come in a bewildering variety of forms, most commonly, a Wizard will know one or two Grax spells, and some wizards actually specialize in them, knowing no other magics." (pause to breath, await fallout)

Now they all want the Grax spells to spend their piles of unspent XP on. So, I'm going to write a Summoning Sub-College, complete with a Do-It-Yer-Darn Self Grax Table. Before next week... Next week being a much publicized Geek-gathering a few miles up the road. I'm like 5 miles from Gen Con.

Might slip it to Steve when I go up to him to give him my paycheck.

Anyway, my son and I brain stormed on this idea at the grocery store while shopping for home-made pizza fixings and ogling the girl in the black tank top and far-too-short camo miniskirt. Here's a list of the Grax we came up with (All Grax can be unsummoned with Dispels and Drains, and I don't know how that affects the creature's points, but does it affect the mage's cost)

Assault Grax (Fast, with HTH Attacks)

Seige Grax (Strong, with Ranged attacks)

Stealth Grax (Um... Stealthy HTH)

Sniper Grax (Stealthy, Ranged)

Anti-Mage Grax (Dispels and Drains, Personal Immunity)

Health Grax (Hops around Healing your Allies)

Brute Grax (Strong, HTH blunt attacks)

(I'm sure there are more... but I might stop short of Grax Grax, whose job it is to summon other grax... that breaks a rule somewhere, I think...)

I'll post it to this thread later this week, or something.

Re: Monster Hunter Campaign?

Here ya go... I've decided it's not good enough, and I'm refocussing on Caleon and my new Champions game.

http://www.geocities.com/jephkay@sbcglobal.net/VragDossier.doc

Re: Which one is it?

Shouldn't the sword be AVLD vs. tabards' date=' and not NND?[/quote']

 

That is also a simple, elegant solution. Since only one tabard is made every time a sword is crafted... how high a advantage is that? There are maybe 50 of these things over the whole course of history... Khoza died about 3000 years ago, so that's one every 60 years? Rare Rare Rare, I'd say...

 

This is an option I will strongly consider!

Re: Which one is it?

You could just make the sword armour piercing and the tabard hardened.

Oh... the simple route... Whoda thunkit? I already did the AP sword thing with a certain brand of "Armorglass" (Dh. Duraan) and my PCs think they're cool and all that... but I needed something worthy of the most dedicated guys on the planet (so far...)

.. We're taking a break form FH for a bit, and decided on Champions instead of Pulp Hero!

Here's the thing: they are making Competent Normals, then I'm springing their Origin on them in the first episode. A super-powered fight will spill over into their normal lives and chaos will ensue. They do not know I'm doing this. They think it's just 50 pointers in a Super-Powered World.

Anyone ever done this? Should I seek professional help?

Re: Which one is it?

I don't think I like the NND so much after a little thought. Yes, it makes it more "lightsabre-y" but at the cost of leaving a Thundai weaponless against any foe as trained as he is.

What about 2d6 HKA with a limitation like "Only To Cut Through Armor" and another one "Not against Thundai Tabards." As I see it, this would create a blade that literally melts most armor like butter, while the tabard stops it cold. If a sword ever fell into the wrong hands, the Order has a defense against them.

Or is that just silly?

What I wanted was a situation where both the swords and the tabards had great meaning and value, as well as creating another campaign secret (the method of manufacture of both items).

It try to make sure that items created in my game have meaning n the context of the setting, not just some nameless, generic +1 Broadsword of Ruleslawyering.

Re: Which one is it?

Thanks for the speedy replies.

And yes, the Tabard functions as armor. If there is interest, maybe I'll post the whole Thundai article when I'm done. It includes package deals, Raiment (for Thundai Arcanists) Vestments (for Thundai Channellers) and a few Artifacts, Thundai Axe and Thunderstrike, the Glaive of Khoza.

Maybe tomorrow...

Okay... You are a Thundai Knight, a gaurdian of virtues and heroism. You are highly trained and fear no man or beast (though those female trolls are often a problem). A high-ranking Thundai, you carry a couple of Artifacts; a Thundai Sword and a Thundai Tabard (which is defense against the Sword).

Sword, Thundai: (Total: 120 Active Cost, 37 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), NND (Magical Shielding; +1), Does BODY (+1) (105 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum (-3/4), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 30) plus +3 with HTH Combat (15 Active Points); OAF (-1) (Real Cost: 7)

Yeah, it's tough... It's the Lightsabre of Caleon. It is stopped by "magical shielding" Is it enough to define the Thundai Tabard's Armor as magical, and thus a decent defense? Do we need "more?"

Thundai Tabard: (Total: 22 Active Cost, 7 Real Cost) Armor (6 PD/6 ED) (18 Active Points); Independent (-2), Tabard (Protects Locations 9-17; -1/2), OIF (-1/2), Real Armor (-1/4) (Real Cost: 3)

What do we think? I tried to use my Monsters article to it's best intent, and I think it could be more detailed. Does it inspire? Does the "Chalasyan" area seem compelling?

You tell me.

Click Here

I thought I uploaded this puppy way back when, but apparently not.

Re: IK Hero?

They weren't kidding - it is very similar to the setting I created. WACKY. I don't need a port. I've written half of this already.

I know how you feel. I invented Steampunk in FH back in 1986. Makes me sick sometimes. Caleon is similar in many ways to Ebberon and IK.

Makes wanna be mean to Keith Baker. Real Mean.

Re: [resource]The Encyclopaedia Galactica

I must get involved in this... Rep for you!

Re: Loot

My players have to fight for their loot. They first see an item as it's being weilded against them. That said, here's my Meteoric Magic Item System of Doom. A total rip-off (I mean, conversion) of Diablo and World of Warcraft's system, but it gets the job done. The farther down the lists you go, the more powerful the items will be.

In some cases, the Focus limitation will be a bit off. I resolve it by adjusting for the item's purpose. Also, Defensive powers on weapons have "real armor" and that's not quite right... but I was going for the quick "click and publish" back then. There's very little finesse in that list.

I could, I suppose, key the list up to character points, or to a die roll convention of some sort, but I really wanted GMs and players to just pick and choose in true hero fashion. Call me crazy.

At the start of my most recent game, I let the PCs have 1 prefix and 1 suffix of their choice. It really let me know how they wanted the game played beyond their choice of characters. They all went for defensive items except for one guy. Him I beat up more than the others just for fun.

Characters tell you how they want to play. Gear and Magic Gear tell you how they think you will run. It's a clever thing. Works every time.

Re: Real-Life Hyperspace Theory?

What bugs me is that humanity is going to make it to the stars with all our current "thinking' intact. We won't have time to straighten out our problems with each other, and despite the near-infinite resources of the universe, we'll still be arguing over sand, skin color and religious outlook.

So... can I go first? Leave all this behind and let Humankind catch up to those of us who don't hold prejudices. There should be an ethics test for leaving the planet so we don't turn into old-school Klingons out there.

Then again, it does make for good games.

Re: Urban Fantasy...

Here ya go... Join. Edit. Let's have fun with this!

http://arkowiki.wikispaces.com/Home

Re: Urban Fantasy...

Are your players exploring this city for your wizards, or are the wizards already in possession and the characters are just trying to get in?

 

The answers to those two questions could lead to other lines to set down as background.

 

CES

I had hoped to write with such scope as to allow all possibilities. PCs should be special people, MAYBE even Chaos Blades themselves... that would immediately thrust them into the setting's politics. Either way, they would only see "life from the inside" at character creation. After they leave the city, PCs could be created using standard fantasy character types with a different perspective.

Re: Urban Fantasy...

Oh' date=' so you're a hard geek. You know, like hard deaf who refuse to speak at all.[/quote']

 

That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said in this context. I have a friend who starts sentences with "Ya know, there's this book you should..." before he gets to "know" I've already tuned him out. Dawn, my Significant Other is a Serious Reader. She's a genius... reads a Stephen King novel in 1 day. She can spend $50 on paperbacks at Borders and have nothing to read in 4 days. She knows every author, every plot, every character of every fantasy novel ever written.

 

Me, I know the characters I've created. Sure, sometimes my players will say "Oh, she's just like [insert fictional character here]!" and I'll just nod.

 

Less kind words have been used, I assure you.

Re: Urban Fantasy...

That's the funny thing. I don't read fantasy and sci-fi. Nor comics or other printed material outside of scientific journals.

(Waits for gasps of shock and awe to cease)

If I think of something, it's an original thought. Perhaps not fully-formed, perhaps it was some published authors thought first, but if I read somehting in a novel and then bring it to the game, it's just not my idea, no matter how much spin I put on it.

Am I a bit of a jerk for being this way? Probably.

Re: Urban Fantasy...

I had a long reply to everyone, but my DSL provider doesn't love you guys the way I do, so...

I'm using a fantasy world with a limited technological population , a large, self-sustaining city called the Arcologie (note the somewhat odd spelling), ruled by wizards (Chaos Blades from FH) with the main thrust of the plot being to learn about the city's origins.

It'll be like Games Workshop's Necromunda with actual fantasy elements instead of all the psychic stuff.

Rep to all of ya's!

Re: Urban Fantasy...

Love that Orion...

Shirow is a genius....

His was a fully Techno-magical setting, it's true...

I find myself wanting to revive the Arcologie, a setting where the inhabitants of a truly vast city don't even remember how they came to live that way.

I'd still like other opinions, of course

...no... not the ones my girlfriend has about Karl Urban, the one where it's the modern day and magic is available.

I've been thinking about multiple projects, this being one of them. I'd like to do an Urban Fantasy, set someplace other than Earth of the 21st Century. It's actually pretty easy to design a world for typical medieval fantasy games, but I think a whole complex, modern planet might be a little tougher.

Just one of the problems might be placing wilderness areas. There aren't so many of those left in the Real World. How might you go about justifying both High-tech and typical fantasy "wild zones," to give it a UF feel...

And you need big monsters. I'm sure if dragons had ever existed, the Discovery Channel had it right, we hunted them down and finished them off long ago.

And maybe other races as well, even though other species don't fare well in the real world, we tend endanger them (Dolphins), breed them out of existance (H. Erectus, H. Neanderthalensis) or don't recognize them as people (octopus and chimpanzee).

I've hit upon a few, none of them terribly satisfying... Decline of civilization (PCs are among the last technologically advanced culture on the planet and that culture is fading fast). Social evolution within a confined area (but without exploration and exploitation, how do you advance?), Lost Colony (why, then, can't we build ships and get back to our homeworld?)... and post apocalyptic (Best one yet, really).

Another issue is the magic-technology problem. Why did technology develop with magic there to do it for you? Or... why is magic still used when tech is easier to employ (from the standpoint of the untrained -- it's easier to use a toaster than to learn a toast-summoning spell).

I suppose this last bit is still around (at least by inference) in typical fantasy, swords are cheaper to hammer out than a trained mage. If we have a chick who can fling fireballs, why do siege engines, hand cannon and mortars ever get invented? It's usually not said, but it's there... most fantasy worlds accept a certain level of technology and then remain there for thousands, if not tens of thousands of years.

My FH game, Caleon, evolves, but every technological development was watched over, debated and finally killed until very recently in history, and then only for reasons known only to the GM. Without the controlling influence of an ancient race of wizards, technology is racing ahead. Before their departure, it was swords and sandals for 25,000 years.

How does Urban Fantasy even happen, in your opinion... Or do I just seek too much rationalization for things I ought to just write and enjoy?

Re: More from Caleon... The Master Blades

Great stuff! Just wish I could Rep you some more

Whenever I see your avatar, I just imagine that I got repped... it's okay...

BTW... Thank you for the grammar corrections to the Vrag Dossier... I'll update you when I finish the Package Deals. My players have a hint of what the... um... VD...will contain... they want 100+100 .... I think I'll have to rebalance the whole thing.

They know what to expect from my Fantasy HERO GMing... lots of personal plot (Caleon is Days of Our Lives with swords and more gunpowder) and plenty of danger.

Two of the Master Blades are in play... both in the hands of PCs... but Michael's idea has a great deal of merit... I think it's time for 2 more to appear... all buffed up (You can give XP to your magic items in Caleon, but the Independent (-2) Lim means that if you lose the weapon, the points go with it!) from years of evil use. Perhaps if Dan (the wielder of the Sword of Doom) would start xp'ing the SoD... he might turn it away from Chaos...

Nah...it stays evil.

By the way... according to the WoWQualities.hdp, the Sword of Doom started out as an (Un)Holy Great Sword of Doom, about 4d6 HKA, +5 OCV, with 3 or 4 Negative Skill Levels vs Opponents DCV. I don't have the current stats in front of me... but certainly someone XP'd that blade in all that time since the Scattering.

Re: Dark Champions Campaigns

I'm about to start a DC game... and I've let a (somewhat geeky) non-gamer have a look at my notes. She said it would make a good mini- or full-run TV series in the vein of The X-Files or Millenium.

So I'm pretty happy with those notes. It does read a bit like Doom or Blood 2: The Chosen or ... Body Snatchers, but I think it will stand on its own once I get going.

We're going to start it this week.

Re: More from Caleon... The Master Blades

Wouldn't it be weird if the Twelve ended up in the hands of villains and it was a hero who had to stand against them with the Sword of Doom? Especially if the Sword of Doom is inherently corrupting' date=' and chnages its weilder over time, so that to use it means giving up everything you love and treasure?[/quote']

 

A hero has come into possession of the Sword of Doom... and the Army of Fel Intent that is drawn to the blade has begun to gather... his apprentice (a scary little Goth chick) tried to take it from him, failed, died... (but with Lord Arkoon's name on her lips....)

 

But the Army of Fel Intent remains behind... ready to follow him... It's pretty sad, really... vast army of evil... evil blade... dead apprentice on your hands... I'm having a blast... the player is hatin' it.

 

So there's the files... Both the Master Blades and one of the files I use to make magic weapons. Don't know if you have that one.

Re: Monster Hunter Campaign?

Yep. We've been playing a Monster Hunter/Buffy the Monster Slayer/League of Extraordinary Gentlemen type campaign for quite a while now. I would be tickled to see more materials in that vein.

Well, Well... A definite Positive Reply. Do you like .rtf or .doc or what?

And! You have to promise not to reply to me publically with feedback... I'm gonna try and sell this thing to Steve!