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Game Mechanics: Opposed Rolls and Tie Breaks

How to roll In Rivers of Sartar, all rolls are opposed rolls, between contestants, each of which is using an ability. Each contestant simultaneously rolls a single D100 (the success D100), and zero or more D20s (the bonus D20). The option of using different numbers of bonus D20 provides an additional dimension by which different situations may be handled in game: if a contestant has advantage, roll 2 bonus die; use the higher one.

Game Mechanic: Ongoing Contests

In an ongoing contest, a sequence of rolls are used to resolve a single contest. As with freeform play, success or failure simply changes the situation which must be dealt with. Compared to freeform play, within that contest, additional rules and guidelines apply, and so the need for GM fiat is somewhat lessened. A contest normally ends with a decisive roll, which will indicate the degree of success or failure the contest resulted in. A PC may

Scenario 1: Childhood Games

This short cameo is designed to introduce players to the basics of the rules in a low-threat environment. Player characters are 11 or 12 year old children in Nochet (N:AG), the largest city in all Glorantha.  At the start of play, nothing else is known about them; they will gain characteristics and skills during play. In Nochet, children of that age spend their morning doing chores, and evening with their families. But for much of the afternoon, they are free to play in the streets. The gam

radmonger

radmonger in Lyksos

The Lyksos Campaign

The Lyksos mini-campaign is intended as a step-by-step tutorial for these rules. It is based on Harald Smith's Nochet, Queen of Cities, and in particular the adventurer's guide  (N:AG). It is designed to be run interleaved with RQ:G character creation, so that characters emerge through play, start out knowing each other. By default, when going through the first two steps of family history, it is suggested to pick an answer by consensus.  This means the players will have a common authority,

radmonger

radmonger in Lyksos

Game Mechanics: Free-form Game-play

Rivers of Sartar supports three modes: free-form game play, structured contests and tactical combat. A given game may use any or all of these, by simply switching between them as required for pacing and to maintain player interest. In free-form play, the rolls to be made should be based on the logic of the situation as it unfolds. Each roll is standalone, in that there are no built-in mechanical consequences for succeeding or failing. There is no defined time scale. Instea

...and so it begins (cross-posted from forum)

A little background to start: Like many, I found Pendragon through RuneQuest which I began running with 2nd edition back in the 1980s.  When I saw first edition Pendragon, I was sold immediately – but not most of the people I played with.  Only one person from my group back then really seemed to get into it so it got shelved.  I picked up some things over the years (particularly the big hardcover of the GPC) but that was it.  However, with the plague and the lockdown that one guy who was in

Teacherguy

Teacherguy in GPC Sessions

Mythras Adventures in Time and Space

Tonight's blog is about writing adventures, as compared to reviewing existing ones. Tonight, I'll take my cue from the late Ursula K LeGuin for inspiration. I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant. - Ursula K LeGuin A tabletop adventure has got to capture the imagination. But it's also got to draw in the players. It's their time and energy, and the GM has got to give them something to challenge the

Alex Greene

Alex Greene in writing

Back To Meeros - Xamoxis' Cleansing

So, this being the last Saturday of the month of October 2023, I felt it was time to go back to Meeros and environs for another adventure. Last time, it was Sariniya's Curse; this time, it's Xamoxis' Cleansing. Behold, a map. For    For some of us, this is the first time we've seen where Meeros sits, as well as the lands and seas surrounding the city. What's this adventure about? First of all, Xamoxis' Cleansing is some sort of MacGuffin. A desideratum. A Maltese Fa

Alex Greene

Alex Greene in writing

Looking At Parts Per Million's BSRP

Parts Per Million is a small publisher with a speciality. Solo roleplaying. From their DTRPG page:- Parts Per Million is a specialist creator of Solo Roleplaying tools. I believe that moving between your chosen Oracle and your favorite game should be seamless, the entire experience should feel like one game. The solo supplements you will find here are intended to be an entry point into solo play. Every soloist builds their own set of preferred tools. These supplements will ge

Alex Greene

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A Look At ... Life's Long Consequences

And so it's time for another review of a Mythras adventure. This one is the first adventure to be attached to a Mythic title. In this case, it's Mythic Constantinople, a title I aim to review at some point in the future. For right now, let's take a look at this adventure by Mark Shirley. By the way, just in case, if you're planning on running this adventure, best to have a copy of Mythras and Mythic Constantinople handy. The opening paragraph of the blurb lays the story on the sho

Alex Greene

Alex Greene in writing

A Look At ... Mythras Adventures

Tonight, and for the next couple of months, this blog will be looking into the adventures created for Mythras and satellite games. This includes the Meeros adventures, the Luther Arkwright adventures, and the adventures for Mythic Constantinople and Lyonesse. We're going to start with Sariniya's Curse, the introductory adventure designed to allow the readers to test out the combat system in a dungeon crawl. Behold, the Mark of Sariniya. Actually, the glyph comes out with a bi

Alex Greene

Alex Greene in writing

Mythras Factions

This month, I will be looking at Mythras Factions, The Design Mechanism's most recent title for Mythras. This will be a short review, as it is a short book. I'm also declaring personal interest, since I both proofed it and supplied material for the book, hence the multiple credits on the inside cover. Mythras Factions Only this week, I received my complimentary author's copy of this book. It's a slim volume, like a magazine with glossy, colourful pages. The illustrations by A

Alex Greene

Alex Greene in writing

1604: Rebuilding

The main characters for 1604 are:     Rana Allmother, Busybody and Terrible Cook, Charmer of Men and Vingans     Forshator Quilwright, Scribe and Legalist     Glenning Stoneheart, Cowardly Bard ----- 1604 Babies The Tenth entered the city of Furthest late last year. The Dark Season was temperate compared to Sartar, and the darkness less impenetrable due to the glow of the Red Moon. You hear tales of a Lunar defeat in the Holy Country, but war seems farther away now. Now

Bahntah

Bahntah in questworlds

Long Break

I'm taking a step back from blogging on most of my social media. It'll be my birthday on June 30th, and in the runup to my birthday I'm planning on doing nothing but reading, maybe ocarina playing, anything but hunching over a laptop, sweating the reluctant words out onto the screen. There will be a sea change to the scheduling of this blog. From July 2023, it now goes out once a month, on the last Saturday of each month. In the case of the next blog, that will be July 29, 2023 at arou

Alex Greene

Alex Greene in holidays

Modern Mythras Finale - Summary

This post is going to wrap up what we have covered over the past few months. There are a number of TDM titles I have yet to dig through and review ... I do hope nobody minds if I give Mythic Polynesia a wide berth - and I'll be moving on with the next blog post. I also have news about the blog going forward. Modern Mythras We began with an introduction to the concept. It began here. We moved on to embrace modern Mythras' characters, and the cultures they came from. We th

Alex Greene

Alex Greene in writing

Modern Mythras: Challenging The Players

This is the penultimate Modern Mythras post, and I intend to wrap up the subject with one last look at Gamesmastering before I summarise everything in the next post - then take a one week hiatus. In a recent post, I posed four sources of drama and conflict: Person versus Person, Person versus Self, Person Versus Nature, and Person Versus Society. This blog just expands on those four sources of drama, and presents ideas which are intended to draw the players in to the conflict. Make It

Alex Greene

Alex Greene in writing

Modern Mythras: Gamesmastering the Modern Setting

Drama is the key to Games Mastering in any Mythras setting. In most fantasies, the goals are pretty simple: there's some healing herb to cure the King who's fallen to some poison, or it's a McGuffin with the magical power to stop some weird storm, or the characters have to drop by some bloody wizard's Black and Evil Tower In The East and kill a guy. And that's it. It's a Thing, or a Task. Do that, and you get your Experience Rolls. Modern Mythras is a bit different. There are any numbe

Alex Greene

Alex Greene in writing

Modern Mythras: Writing Tabletop Adventures I Want To Play

Adventure is adventure, so - according to custom - every adventure should be the same, right? There’s a dungeon, and an evil wizard’s tower, and an army rising up from the East, and only this bunch of idiots stands in their way, and … So how come adventures like these utterly fail to whip my cream? Because they’re not really adventures. They’re computer programs. Your characters are the code; the mooks, monsters and the final BBEG are just input; and treasures are just output

Alex Greene

Alex Greene in writing

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