phydaux

At these point levels, and with Normal characteristics maximums, CV is self regulating. DEXes will run between 12 and 18, with CVs between 4 and 6. And damage breaks out at 9 DCs.- a 45 active point feat, or a 45 active point spell, or a fighter with a 2-handed sword and Deadly Blow. I envision players will break down their points as 60 for stats, 45 for skills, and 45 for "feats." A mage could spend 16 points on a 45 point Magic MP and the rest on spells. A fighter would spend 15 points on Deadly Blow and the rest on stats. A rogue would buy more skills.

I'm thinking of adding an Inert Material penalty for Sorcery skill - Minus 1 for every PD of armor worn.

i'd like to get some feedback on the campaign guidelines I'm giving to my players.

Ones that AREN'T min-max'ed munchkins. They MUST be hard to build. None of my players can seem to come up with one.

Great, so what adds/disadds should each group get?

"By letting the players create interesting back stories... we ended up with some very fun plot lines." I've tried this with groups before. I tell the players that I want each of them to set two goals for their character, one short term and one long term. Then I show up at the start of a session and ask the players "What does your character do today?" and they spout off half a dozen plots & schemes, and inside of three sessions it's all I can do to keep them from running the whole city. With my current group I ask them "What does your character do today?" and they say "What do you have planned?" Player driven campaigns don't seem to work with this group. As far as caster guilds, I'm ruling that magic is a multipower with, among other limitations, a Sorcery skill roll to activate powers. Sorcery can also be used in a skill vs skill test to "counterspell" someone else's activation roll. And I'm stipulating that a character's Sorcery skill can not exceed their Thaumaturgy skill level. And a character's Thaumaturgy skill can not exceed the level of the Thaumaturgy library (mages) or Holy Reflectory (priests) that they have access to. Priests are boned - They HAVE to buy access to their god's temple network, and stay in their god's good graces, or get cut off by the god. No more magic unless they atone for their sins. Mages can either buy access to the Circle of Sequestered Magics and deal with their bureaucracy & strictures, or buy a personal Thaumaturgy library for 20 silver pieces per level. Characters get 300 silver at character creation so a level 15 Thaumaturgy library would cost the character... Hey, look at that - EVERYTHING! What a shame. I'm running the Thieves's Guild like the Mafia. You get asked to join, are assigned yo an underboss, and you work for him. He brings you in for big jobs when he needs you, and anything you do on your own the boss gets 20%. And DON'T get caught skimming. In exchange if you get arrested then some well places bribes let you walk instead of getting flogged or losing a hand. You can get brought in to the Black Hand and that 20% requirement goes away, plus you will now have near immunity from all but the most powerful lords. But now the Master of Assassins OWNS you.

On a meta game level, I mostly just want to keep the PCs under the heel of some powerful NPCs, with each PC given instructions, goals & objectives that they must keep secret from, and may be in conflict with, the other PCs. But I also want to give them an out during character creation so they aren't under anyone's heel if they don't want to be.

I'm trying to create a collection of advantages & disadvantages that represent membership in various professional guilds. I want a guild to represent each of the major "character classes." I have a general idea of what I want to build, I just have no idea how to build it. So far the guilds I have are Priesthood, Circle of Sequestered Magics, and the Thieves Guild. I thought about having a guild for fighter-types but I don't see how I could do a tiered system with fighters. I want characters to be able to succeed in their "character class" without guild membership, but I want guild membership to have advantages. I want each guild to have at lease two levels of membership - Basic access and "inner mysteries." Basic tier would give you access to the resources of the guild, some social standing, and some level of obligation. I'm thinking this should be about a net zero between advantages and disadvantages. At the second tier you would have more access to guild resources, greater social standing, and tremendous obligation to the guild. I think this should be a net disadvantage, but the access be so tempting as far as game play goes that the players would want if for their characters. So for example if you are a basic member of the Thieves Guild then you would have some standing in the criminal underworld, some immunity from the harshest punishments for petty crimes, and an obligation to kick back 20% of your weekly criminal proceeds. At the second tier you are initiated into the Black Hand, and are a servant of the Master of Assassins. You would have a great deal more standing in the underworld, freedom from the 20% kick back obligation, but subject to the commands of the Master of Assassins and required to keep his secrets. Mages would have a similar deal with the Circle of Sequestered Magics. Basic tier would give them basic library access. Second tier would give them access to more spell formula, but they would be required to share their own research as well as be subject to orders from senior members. Same for Priests. Does anyone have anything like this in their own campaigns, or can anyone suggest a mix of advantages and disadvantages to represent this?

I had one gaming group where this was never an issue as all the players went out of their way not to step on another player's "stkich." My more recent gaming group this WAS a problem as every player (other than me) played the SAME type of character EVERY time. Different setting, different points level, but they all just played the SAME type of character EVERY time.

Quazar - "Shake on it, and we've got a deal." Quazar would escort Black Volt to Primus headquarters, find the kid, then use is many contacts to enroll him in Ravenswood Academy. Mystica - "The child, he is no a mystic? No matter, I have to time to take apprentice. He will make his choices, like you did, like all do. So long as he stay far away from mystic power, he will have no trouble with me." Shadowhunter - "Thanks for the assist." Find Weakness roll. "I appreciate your offer to surrender." Offensive Strike, call shot to the head. "And don't worry about your kid." Offensive Strike, call shot to the head. "You'll serve as a great example..." Offensive Strike, call shot to the vitals. "of what happens if he breaks the law in MY town."

Back in the day I used to play with a gaming group that did this CONSTANTLY - Players fighting, sometimes even ambushing and out-and-out killing, other player characters. The standard reply was "I was just playing my character, and this character is a bit of a dickhead..." "Phil, if EVERY character you play is a dickhead, then it isn't the characters that are dickheads. It's YOU." Player pool was REALLY shallow back then, so a few of us put up with it. For a while. We finally decided there were 3-4 players we just didn't want at our table.

Susceptibilities are mostly Golden Age and mostly DC. My character inspirations are mostly Bronze Age and mostly Marvel.

Well now that you mention it I am running the Hackmaster version....

I'm thinking I'll have each PC receive "secret instructions" from their "Order." The Cleric will be instructed by senior priests to investigate a possible evil cult operating in the area. The Fighter will be directed by his Knightly Order to find the hidden holdfast of Rogahn the Fearless and investigate his disappearance. The Mage will be told to find Zelligar the Unknown if he is alive, or recover his spell books if he is not. The Thieves' Guild will tell the Rogue, um, I'm not sure yet. I need ideas here.

I would never advocate the use of torrent sites.

I managed to get my hands on this classic, old school PnP D&D module. I have very fond memories of playing this mod back in the day. I'm thinking of running my current gaming group through it. As I'm reading through I'm seeing lots of potential encounters, but nothing that ties them together into, for lack of a better term, a quest chain. I'm wondering, for those of you who remember this gem, what might be a good "quest chain" for the various encounters? Thanks in advance for the ideas, phy

http://www.kestrelarts.com/gamedls.html

As it turns out someone DID so a version of Little Keep for Fantasy Hero. I downloaded it from somewhere.[/] Gawd only knows if I could find it again.

Thing is Mark, if we look at "old school" RPGs then that's exactly what PC's COULD do. A 12th level D&D whatever was free to ignore 0 level city guards all he wanted. And a 12th level Magic User could pull all KINDS of spells out of his, um, robes. FWIW, I scrounged up an old copy of Hackmaster's Little Keep on the Borderlands. For those of you who don't know, it's an over the top, hack & slash version of the classic D&D module played mostly for laughs. I plan to run the PCs through this, plus Into the Unknown, slightly upgraded with a few Grimtooth traps. "That's nice, Bob, but the Owl Bear has four Combat skill Levels in Wuss Slap. Roll to hit, monkey-boy..."

I'm thinking: Refreshing Ring - +20 REC, OIF Ring. 10 Active Points, Real cost 7.

Personal END. I think that's more in genera.

Serious LOL @ those spell names. I'm totally OK with any of my players using any of those spells. PROVIDED that's all the mage can do. What I don't want is a mage with a 90 pip reserve slinging Phydaux's Phyrebolt and something like: Phydaux's EPHORTLESS Phreedom Phrum Phyzical Phorz: (Total: 45 Active Cost, 20 Real Cost) Force Field (15 PD) (Protect Carried Items), ) END cost (+1/2), Requires A Skill Roll to activate powers (No Active Point penalty to Skill Roll, RSR Skill is subject to Skill vs. Skill contests; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4) (Real Cost: 20) That, plus his natural PD & ED, will make him even MORE resistant to physical attacks than the toughest heavy fighter, and he'll be slinging a ranged attack that will one-shot most monsters. Actually, one reflection I'm fairly OK with it. I mean, a fighter with a greatsword, plate armor and Deadly Blow could buy: Wing of Pwoetekshun - 7PD/7ED FF, 0 END, OIF Ring Active Points 45, real cost 28. That's a big chunk of points for a 175 point character, but I wouldn't disallow it. So I guess I should allow mages to have 90 point reserves.

Sounds reasonable, blue. What point levels do you run at?

BTW, thanks for the math. 12 will get you 30, and 15 will get you 45. Plus another 9 points for the skills package. And they would only need to make three skill rolls if they switched spells at the top of their action phase. If they picked one spell and stuck with it then it would opnly be two rolls, the spell activation roll and the to hit roll. As far as "counterspelling," the attempt to counterspell would be considered an attack action, no? (BTW, does anyone else HATE this new forum software? The old forums were SOOO much better. Did Microsoft make this software? Feels like it. Like a lot of the changes were just change for the sake of change. I hate the new version of Office, too. AND Windows 8.)

I think I'll just tell the players "Look, combat will be DEADLY. The monsters will be slinging 9 DCs, and will built to be on the receiving end of 9 DCs on the regular. Build your characters accordingly."