Wilfred_Death

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations Souls For Sale Set in 20s - 30s Vincent Price is an adventurer now addicted to opium. He does battle with axe throwing Tong members to rescue female captives being sold into slavery and 'fates worse than death'. He msut escape the clutches of the cross-dressing Fu Manchu type, and do all this whilst he's got some sort of Opium hangover. It has a line in it like "No you fools, Use the Velvet whips!, don't mark their skins!"

Re: Dispel and Detect Magic clarification. Thanks, That cleared up what I wanted to know about dispel. AS for the see magic thingy, I went for 2 Different effects, that both fit into the campaign I am designing A See 'Magic' Defined as Improving your Sight into the Magical Spectrum sort of 'Octarine' vision which is 5 Base Points modified by usual spell limitations - used by PCs that learn magic. And for "naturally gifted" mages the option to buy The power ( not a spell ) Detect Magic, Ranged, Targeting, Discriminatory Base pts 25 (?). Which is a 'better' power, - Of course i had to stack limitations on the starting affect to get it down to 4 points, and the limitations can be bought down later. Advantages include that its not affected by Flash vs sight, doesn't count against maximum spells, will be able to 'see' most forms of invisible & etc

I have some questions about dipel and how it works and one about Detect magic - I have searched throught the forums but didn't find the info I recquire. Suppose You have a Magic System where all Magic is Magic ( obviously ), but there are 4 Elemental Subdivisions ( Earth WInd Fire Water ). An Earth magic user has Earth Special effect on all his spells. I get confused by the rules where it says "to affect two powers of a given special effect simultaneously.+1/2..... From The Given example it seems I am ok for the basic 'Dispel Magic' any Magic Affect +1/4. So, say there was a Fire Mage fighting an Earth Mage and a Water mage, who both have their ForceFields on. The Fire Mage casts Dispel Magic at the Earth Mage one phase and dispells his Earth shield, on his next phase he dispells the Water Mage's ForceField. What if The Fire Mage had bought a Dispel Defined against Magical Water Effects only, What sort of advantage would that be? Suppose The FIre Mage had Bought the +1/2 advantage above and that the Water Mage had been Levitating on a column of magical water. Would that mean that the Fire Mage could dispel any 2 effects and thus in this case cancel the ForceField and The water levitation in one casting? If the Dispel was bought at the +2 Level does that mean he can switch All of one NPC's Spells off in one casting ( assuming he has enough points )? I assume it is correct that if for some reason the FireMage bought Dispel Energy Blast , and suddenly thru a portal pops Sci Fi Guy with a Blast Gun, his Dispel would work versus that? Detect Magic: In the campaign I am designing at present, I wanted all characters with a background of 'Born a Mage' to have Detect Magic as a - power -. The effect of this would be that when the D&D type adventurer walks past on the other side of the street, they can tell, 'ooh ! that guys got magic', When the guy in the next apartment starts summoning Demons, they 'Know' something is happening. Later In their career, They learn a Spell : See Magic. With this ability switched on ( a spell ) They can spot across the room a wand, and it's obviously full of Fire Magic. With A Magic Skill roll they can figure out it is a Wand of Fireballs. I wanted this to be a form of Sight. However I aslso wanted the effect that If there was an invisible to normal sight Imp in a room, normal people wouldn't see it ( It's invisible ), the mage Guy wouldn't 'see' it either but because it is radiating Magical Energy that makes it invisible, they can see a Blob of Mana and thus know there is a creatur there. It's also intended That a Flash vs. Sight group would effect The mages regular sight and His 'See Magic' Is that 7 whole points for the basic detect, and then another 5 ( less limitations ) for the see magic ? or is that too much ?

Re: Taking Names Just make sure that you don't suffer from Spoonerism, such as in "Demolition Man" where Stallone has to tell his assistant "it's Kick his ass!"

Re: New Cmpaign : Magic Power Help? Thanks, I am most grateful for you going to all this effort: I will check into this, and take your suggestions on board Previously ( years back ) we played lots of fantasy games with a similar magic system to this ( what I'm trying to recreate here ) I wanted to simplify what we used to do a bit. So instead of having Powers / Advantages / Limitations applied to a long list of Magic 'Schools' e.g Illusionist, Mage, Elemental Summoner, Dragon Mage etc. I am going to cut it down to 5 'Special Effects' IE. A Fire Mage always has 'Fire' somewhere in the 'Special Effect' And you by GM Fiat are just not allowed to create a spell that is defined as 'Shards Of Ice' if you are a Fire Mage. Your Healing Spell is defined as 'Correcting the Flows of Elemental Heat in the Body' etc This Is a brief Description of the 'House' way Magic Works..... Insert: I probably forgot to say: All Spells Have RSR - That Elements 'Power' Magic Skill All Spells are visible to mundanes, and to Magic Sight To make them totally invisible requires Invisible to both. A: You probably design your character on a spreadsheet... Magic is everywhere.. It is not totally common mainly due to economic reasons - It usually has to be learned. The maximum power available to Humans, Elves, and other 'mortals' is severely limited. Each person who can produce magic, is only able to do so because they have tied their 'soul' into one of the 'Elemental' Sources. In previous games this has included : Death Magic, Draconic Magic & etc This 'tying of the Soul' is either undergone as a long Ritual or in Character Background. It is nigh impossible to reverse. Once one becomes for instance a Fire Mage, when they die - it's off to the Elemental Plane Of Fire ( Not reachable in Game ) to be re-cycled into the 'Soul Pool' eventually. Once this is done, and only if it is done the Character / NPC etc mystically gains access to an END Reserve - Their natural Mana Pool. Otherwise they can not access any Mana that flows through them, their Soul is not strengthend enough. At this point ( 5 Character Points For the base 'privelege' ) They have a MANA stat and a MANA REC stat which are based on INT & EGO in excactly the same way END and REC are based on STR and CON The MANA pool has a 'Human' Limit of 50 Points which can be exceeded at double points. The recovery rate is by default the same as Recovery on END The more MANA you have the more you automatically become tied to the 'Plane of choice' and start gaining things like ( For a Fire Mage ) Psych Lim : Will Never use 'Water based Spells'. DF: 'Fire Soul' - Any Mage can tell Instantly you are a Fire Mage if they can observe you ( No 'See magic' neccessary ). DF: 'Fire Soul' ( More points of Man ) - Anyone can tell instantly you are a Fire Mage - that vague suggestion of Flame around you is a giveaway. You usually do not get any negative points for these, they just are part of the campaign. If the 50 pt Limit is exceeded, then you are no longer Human, although you don't get any immediate Chr powers or such like. By the time you get to 100 pts ( no one ever got close yet ), you have to re-write your Chr as you are now an Elemental subject to the whims of the Elemental realms Powers that be. Things like Summon may actually call - you - Resurrection - ( none of the GMs using this system have used this ( ressurected a PC ) in my memory ) Is much more difficult for those with souls bound to an element than those without Your plain old Warrior character could at great cost be resurrected by his god, but the Fire mage is gone for good. Multiple Soulled ( 2 Or More 'Special Effect' types ) If it could be justified a CHR can align themselves with more than one type of Element. This would mean buying the Mana Pool Ritual again! No Matter how unfair that may sound the Fire Mana will not work for the Earth spells. Magic Items can be made if one has the correct Skills, Knowledge, Items and the appropriate Transform as an ability ( spell ) Without too much detail, Cosmetic, Minor, and Major Transform allow you to build items ranging from those that could be represented by mundane equipment in another setting, up to the unbreakable artifact. All Items in the campaign world are built using Character Points. These items fall into 2 Divisions: A: Those that are Independent and / or the Player did not have the PC spend actual points on. ( Non Attuned Items ) These are normally bought with Money and are relatively pricey compared to mundane items, they of course can also be looted & etc All these fade away after the base time - default is 512 Days - ( shifted the time chart so 1 level of Extra Time to 'recover' from the Transform gives 1024 days.......... ) - They will be treated usually as Equipment that the 'superhero' has not paid points for - example would be a 'Healing Potion' with Only Ever One use. Lightning Wand with 5 Charges left B: Those that the PC actually paid Points For ( Attuned Items ) These are usually very expensive indeed. b1, Independant - Slightly cheaper for the PC, but can be taken away, broken, lost etc, and will crumble to dust after a certain time period. Charges if any will require - re-spending some points depending on the type of item. Example is : The Wand we found ( stole ) last adventure that I have had custom recharged for Me, after that mage guy made me do this stupid concentation ritual....... b2, Not Independant - Even though they are OAF or such like the CHR will be able to get the item or an equivalent back without having to repay the CHR points Example is : MY OIF Elven Chain Mail that never gets dirty, which I love so much I always wear except sleeping, bathing, & other times. A New Idea I wanted to try out and use in this campaign when it gets going, is that all 'Non Attuned' items are 'Easy To Suppress / Easy to Suppress the affect of' So the Non Mage type who does not know magic ( hasn't got a Mana Pool, doesn't have KS: Magic, Power: Magic Skill etc ) who just killed and looted the local Orc Tribe and then spent the cash on a "Wand Of FireBalls" can easily go and kill some more Orcs with it. However when he tries to Zap the Wizard ( I spent Points ) guy, he is in trouble because the Wizard Gets Double his Suppress Dice vs this type of item and the FireBalls probably won't hurt him one bit. ( Assuming he bought 2 Dice of suppress ) This is partially: part of the feel I want for this campaign, and also to address the case where a non mage aquires money and just kits themeselves out with wands and etc, having spent all their points on HKA , DEF, Money perk I'll think about this. Maybe I'll make it cost 0 Points, but they 'must' 'know' the advantage, when learning new stuff miles from anywhere, creating new spells by experiment. Good idea. I'm trying to minimize getting too much of "Aw I want a Power Pool - you design it for me - Oh I'm not happy" For various reasons and after long philosophical arguments with other GMs, about where do CP's Come from? How much do magical Items Cost? How do NPC's make them? Especially : How does an NPC Know how to Make a 8DC Fire Enchantment on a Wand? How does he Make a Sword of Sharpness that heals you once a day/ How many Points is He based on, He looks like a pushover, why isn't he out there Smiting Monsters? If it costs Me 12 Real Points to buy this Power ( In the form of Magic Armor or such ), then why didn't it cost the creator 12 Cp? After all he had a few Thousand CP's invested in all the gear in his shop? Where are they coming from? How does he afford this? Can he make a profit? etc etc What we decided was: All Magical Items Cost CP's to construct and these must be paid from somehow by someone, Or else there will never be Magic shops even for cheapo items. The CP's are 'paid' during item construction. If The PC Gains an Item that's permanently theirs they Pay CPs on their sheet. Character Points 'Exist' in the Game World without the 'what level are you?' question - they are considered as a sort of Magical Potential Energy. Character Points can be 'collected' in two ways: 'Bitology' - ( Some other name is better ) - Pcs / NPCs with this knowledge skill are able with appropriate equipment to collect CPs by killing creatures and preserving their parts ) The usual exchange rate is : For Each 20 Pts the ( rare ) Creature is based on you extract 1 Cp from the preserved Bits. 'Evil Magic' - Various Drains and Transforms can be used to remove CPs from Sentient beings at about the 1 in 20 rate. This is considered 'Evil' in the deepest sense, the gods hate it as these pts are removed from the Life Pool. This is human sacrifice at best. Once collected these Bits ( Cps ) are usable as items in the Transform Ritual There are 3 Levels of this Mystery : Cosmetic, Minor and Major The Dice Of Transform Required must cover the AP in the Powers of the Object ( I think we used Cumulative as an advantage here but I can't find it now ) Whoever makes the Item Must : Be capable of Building the Item in the first place or buy one 'ritually constructed' by another Guildsman. This involves levels in for instance WeaponSmith, KS Weapon, KS Magic ( how it works ). And therefore adds to the Monetary cost as you are paying for skilled labour. The powers , advantages, and effects that are to go into the item must be actually known by the Creator of the Item. So For Instance to Make a magical Sword +3 OCV, the creator must Know "+1 OCV" Represented as Having 1 or more 5 Point levels with HKA This same Sword is also be given the following power: On Command 3 Times a Day, the Owner can call forth Lightning From the Heavens Striking All those in its' path blah blah etc etc 6 D6 EB Lightning Armour Piercing Indirect blah blah The Creator must have spent points to Know: At least 1 pt of EB with Electrical Effect ( He doesn't even have to know a full D6 ) Armour Piercing - Probably already knows from HKA and Weaponsmith Indirect - Learnt this when he was a Priest? Charges Limitation Ok. So now the PC Puts in his order and pays a deposit. The Bits are gathered, and the object is ritually created ( a 'Prequel' to the Transform ritual ) The Transform ritual is begun to imbue the Sword with power. ( This is when you probably want to ba absolutely sure that this guy uses Bitology ) In a Time where the Base Time is a based at least in Days and related to Active Points in the powers imbued, The Transform Spell is cast on the item. The Bits are 'used up'. The Item becomes a Magical Item of The Non Attuned Type, ready for sale. Because this is considered a Major Transform - due to the AP of the Lightning Spell , whereas merely imbuing the +1 OCV would have been Minor, and making it look ' all Shiny ' cosmetic - The Creator must know Major Transform as a spell with any appropriate advantages. He However does not have to be the 'Black Mage' in retirement, But he probably is some sort of Master Craftsman. We have a formula that enables him to make a profit on this item. The PC probably gets a discount if he brings the 'bits' Also The Item is considered to 'Heal' ie It recovers and then becomes mundane e.g dust. We changed the Base time for the recovery to 512 Days The Transform Spell is bought down to a Lower Real Cost by adding as many disadvantages as possible. However for things like Gesture and Incant throughout, we house rule that Apprentices can maintain these effects. ( Part of the Price is for the hire of skilled assistants ) Now all that's left is an attunement ritual................. With this rigmarole, we feel that we 'know where the Character Points come from'. It takes less than 1 day and not too much power to make a Potion, or other item of low effect ( Equivakent to making a Hand Grenade in a modern setting ) Yeh, you are right. To simplify things for this campaign, all magic works off the same stats However the PC Requires ( if he wants to be competent ) KS: X Magic - I Know about X magic and How it works 'Power' - XX Magic Skill - When I manipulate Magic I use this skill KS: General Spellcraft - That Looks like a Fireball's gestures to me - I will Dive for cover One more thing to mention is : one of the commonest powers is: See Magic : An addition to the Sight Sense that allows the user to See magical affects , mana use etc and combined with KS: Magic the user can examine a Magic Sword for instance and go "Oooh Powerful" - No Roll "A Ha! it casts a Blasty Spell" - Makes roll etc Once again thanks.

Re: New Cmpaign : Magic Power Help? Thanks guys, these are great suggestions and should do what I need, I'll have to think them over and fiddle with the points cost. Further to my description of the CounterSpell Effect. The PC has to know 'Sense' that they are being attacked, Probably - the CounterSpell will be less effective vs different Elemental Magic Effect. I'm not sure if I should make it an 'action' so whilst 'Counter Spelling' you don't get an attack, or just like some Magical Defence that only protects vs Spells - with the special effects being - 'you cast a CounterSpell that looks like X - partially negating the incoming spell....' It also seems to work out a bit cheaper than I thought Definitely! PC can not wait till he his hit before using this, and must announce it, Like "I'm going to do a 1/2 move and suppress 2 Dice of spells ( whether or not I get hit or even 'cast at' ) " Perhaps successful Magic Skill rolls to estimate how many Dice really need to be used.......... thanks for the help.

Re: Adult themes in gaming, a rant of sorts In a Long running D&D Game, I played this perverted Elf - no this is perfectly normal for us elves! - Partly because of some of the players wanting to go into vicarious sexual details and because in D&D there are so many 1/2 breeds and X - Elves I thought, as I designed my Character, "Hmm it seems Elves can breed with anything, and have a slight chance of offspring". So I took this Mage Elf, who had lots of artistic ability and the correct spells to make 'long lasting' colored pictures, calligraphy skills and etc. This elf also had this High quality like Spellbook ( blank ) he took everywhere. What he was doing was writing this elaborate illustrated treatise on sexual experiences, - Something like 'Dirk Stig McNasty's Illustrated Alphabetical guide to Xenophila' - It worked a treat, party would go into town and lascivious player would insist we all go to brothel and etc. Dirk would pull out his tome, consult it for a while then in a deadpan voice say something like: "lets see, E , F , G... Hmm, no sorry I'm not doing Humans at the moment, don't start with G.... " Other players would have their PCs walk off puzzled and in a huff.. After a while of this they wanted to know what the book was. Dirk would explain that it was an Alphabetical guide to Xenophilia and then say something like "hmm.. L, M, hey! Anything around here start with M?...." And then wander off annoying townsfolk with questions about what starts with 'M" Of course sometimes Dirk would get a match and get the GM to 'fade to fireplace' Or In battle yell out 'Hey don't kill it yet, that's a Jotun, I'm doing J's at the moment!' or such like. Ended up saving a few HillGiants that way, sometimes you have to put your money where your mouth is Totally effective in cutting down beeing nagged by stupid players. Also became this like minor legendary book in later era in same campaign. Also great 'revenge' when Dirk would do something like carry a Table up to his room at the Inn, just so if anyone still hadn't got the message and asked "what are you doing?", He'd just say something like "T, yeh I'm up to T, you know, this is a Table....." Never had to describe anything in detail I didn't want to thereafter....

I am considering starting up a 5th Edition Fantasy Campaign, after much swearing that I'd never GM again.... Just switching over to 5th Edition and will be purchasing 'books' for that as money allows. I Tend to run a game that is like Dark Champions Fantasy, where the PCs are low powered 'Super Heroes' - Just mages and Sword swingers with some minor powers... Without going into too much detail about it in the first place, I'd like some advice on a couple of points about the way I want to make Magic Work in this campaign. 1. First off there will be 5 Schools of Magic ( which are basically just different set special effects ) Fire : Wind : Earth : Water : Void ( Spirit ) 2. All Magic Users Have An END reserve - MANA which they power their spells with. Those 2 are obvious how to deal with and I've done that before.... 3. All Magic Items normally purchased / found / looted etc ( Unless the PC actually bought with Points ) are "Easy to Suppress" that is say that they only have 1/2 the AP vs Suppress powers. This will be a Campaign Limitation so I assume it is worth 0 Points? The purpose of this is so that if a non mage 'buys' scrolls, potions etc, they aren't all that effective vs 'Real Magicians' 4. Mages Have discrete spells which they learn as they choose, So one Mages Fireball might be totally different from anothers. I will most likely be not allowing Multi powers of any sort. Also If A PC is for example a 'Fire Mage' then they only have an END / MANA reserve for Fire Spells. 5. Mages will be able to ( usually ) use an action to execute a 'Suppress' Power / Maneuver ??? where they burn Mana to Suppress an incoming Spell. This is to simulate the concept that when mages throw spells at each other, they cast some cancelling spell. This is the concept I am having the most difficulty with. I don't want the PC to have to make Any To-Hit Roll for this. Like for default the Suppress works around the Character using it. And for example a Mage PC in a group of other PCs hit by a 4D6 AoE Fireball should be able to 'Suppress' say 2 Dice of it ( assume he only bought 2 Dice of Suppress ) thus he gets 2D6 of Fireball applied vs his defences and his companions get the full 4D6. I would really like to be able to implement this idea, but I can see some problems with it. For example bought with reduced endurance cost it could end up being a real pain. Also would I make it like the default spell all mages learn, so it has to be cast that phase to work, or could it be some sort of 'Mage Maneuver' - "I abort to Suppress", or a Talent - Can Suppress Spells using own Mana. I maight be an equivalent to Missile deflection just vs Spells. This is the point I am having most trouble with. 6. Learning New Spells. In my past campaigns PCs have been allowed to learn new spells by paying Character Points, sometimes of course this will happen ' on the trail'. I want to limit the 'Advantages' a PC 'knows'. For example: In their Background: A mages Tutor taught them 2D6 AoE FireBall (RKA).... So 'On the Trail' I can Live with the PC spending points to make their fireball bigger using 'Magic Research' to thus gain a 2D6 + 1 RKA Fireball... Then Say The PC Finds a 'Grimoire' which conatins the spell - FireBolt - a 1 Pip RKA with Armour Piercing. They Learn this spell, then they can justify "I now know the Armour Piercing Advantage", Later they modify their Fireball to be 2D6 + 1 RKA AoE AP ( and probably go over the campaign limit ) Could I get away with making Knowledge of New Advantages etc a Perk? So for One Point the PC might learn a 'New' Advantage or Power ? For Example the Above PC goes to a Tutor and (pays in game money to them ) He then spends 1 Pt and now knows the Power - Aid - After some more adventuring ( for character points ) they 'research' their new fire powered Aid Spell. I really want to limit what a PC can Invent unless they have somehow learnt the various 'pieces' of it, However 1 Character Point may be too harsh? 6 Scrolls and Potions: I want these to be one use magical items that the PCs could create if they 'know the right things'. The special effect is the PC casts for instance Fireball into a potion ( in a special way ). This potion can then be used by someone else Once - Independent 1 Non recoverable charge ( triggered ? by breaking the potion bottle ) I don't want all mages to be able to do this, but it could be some sort of learned skill / power / ritual. Especially so that I know How NPCs can do it to be 'magic shop' proprietors..... Whoever Makes the potion would have to 'know' all the powers and advantages etc that go into it, but maybe not have to know a 4 Dice Fire ball to make a 4 Dice Potion Bomb. Any advice on this would be appreciated. 7. Wands / Magical Items etc and How PCs and NPCs make them. I usually use something along the line of Tranform for this. To make a Healing Wand some one must know: The spell 'Transform mundane object into magical Item' An appropriate Healing Spell, The 'Extra Time for Recovery' advantage The 'Ritual' for making Items The number of Dice Of Transform is compared to the Active Points in the Item, so the Item maker with only 1 Dice of Transform ( 15 Points? ) can only make a Wand of 1D6 RKA FireBolts, which crumbles to dust after say 1 Year ( for example ) Then the question is "Where do the Character Points come from, and how much does it cost ?" 8 Intelligence and Magic Skill. As all spells recquire a SKill roll to activate, usually based on INT, players tend to have their PC have a High Int so that they (don't fail their casting roll ) Then they can never play the Super Genius Character they have. So how is INT only for casting Spells handled ? 9 Increased END for Powers that might not even use END? I'd like to let PCs Have spells that might say take 40 Mana ( End ) to activate ( representing a heroic effort to cast ) ( in the campign 50 Mana is Maximum Human Limit ) but then have reduced or even 0 End / Mana to maintain. And since it has been a while since I ran a campaign I've become unsure about what those advantages and disadvantages cost. It does play well however, a beginner mage might have to take 5 minutes and almost collapse from Mana loss to activate their 'Force Field' but then it takes Zero End to keep it running, whereas The experienced mage merely goes 'Flame On'. I'd like to allow this even for Powers that normally require No End use at all... All Spell casting will have to require the expenditure of some End / Mana ...... ( This also allows the 'I feel a disturbance in the force... ' detection of spell use ) Any pointers? Any help with these ideas would be much appreciated.