Chaot

My first thought on the article was that 2nd edition D&D does none of the things that Mr. Sturkey cites in his list! Ok, being disingenuous. Assuming that he's speaking of AD&D when he says TSR D&D, it does 1, 3, 5, and 7 pretty well. If he's talking RC D&D, you can add #2 in there. As far as seeing praises sung for BRP, that's always a nice thing. I admit that I am still happily surprised that BRP has made the resurgence that it has. I had consigned myself to running an obscure game in the wilderness days when the only thing keeping BRP relevant was mighty Cthulhu.

Wow. You've been busy!

It's fitting! He is the hero reborn again and again.

Eternal Champion: Smallville Edition. I'd dig that. I wouldn't mind seeing it done up in some other flavor of FATE, like taking Dresden Files city builder and using it as a multiverse builder. I'd also be interested in something like Cinematic Unisystem which prides itself in having uber powerful PCs work along side joe schmoe (and because Ash is obviously an aspect of the Eternal Champion). I love the YK and have played in it for years, but there's so much about it out there now that I don't really see a need for additional books. I don't even have a number of the Mongoose books and I'm full.

Hmm. It seems I can't edit the title anymore. I'd like to change it to include Summonings and Alchemy. I think it would be good to contain it all in this thread instead of spamming the forum.

I think that's about it for this. The only additions I have are the use of Ritual and how much time Enchantments take. Both of those are in New York and I am currently traveling.

Wizardry Enchantments There are many items in a wizard’s arsenal; staves, wands, ritual robes, rings, rods, amulets and the athame for example. These items serve a wizard well, for not only are they symbols of their avocation, but are tools that can be personally invested with power. This investment is called an Enchantment. Some Enchantments allow the wizard to use the item as a reserve for magical resources (mp). Swords and staves, and amulets and rings are excellent for this. These enchantments work as per the Make Staff (or whatever it is) in the core rules. Other Enchantments store spells that can later be cast. Anyone holding the object can spend their own magic points and use the spell skills embedded within the object to cast the spell. The limits on how much of a bonus the item gives depends upon the wizard who enchants it. A wizard can only enchant up to the critical of the spell’s casting skill. So a wizard with an 80% in Sleep can enchant a stone (for example) with the Sleep spell up to 16%. Anyone who pick up the enchanted stone can attempt to cast the spell by expending their own magic points and rolling 16 or under on d00. OPTION: Items that wear away over use can only hold one enchantment. An example of this would be clothing or scrolls. However, it the item in question is of exceptional quality it can hold more than one enchantment. So a pair of boots might be enchanted with a Silence spell. A master crafted pair of boots owned by the exiled Baron Kostern von Viktul, master thief and arcanist, might hold Silence, Sleep, and Spider Climb spells. Another type of enchantment embeds the magical ability to perform certain skills into an item. Skill Enchantments work like the spell enchantments above. A Wizard can enchant an object to hold the knowledge of a skill up to double their Critical value in that skill. So, von Viktul creates a cloak with the Hide skill. Von Viktul’s skill is Hide 80%. This means he can enchant the cloak up to a skill of Hide 32%. Anyone using that cloak gets the 32% bonus to their hide skill. Often, the type of skill enchanted into the item has some connection with the item itself. A sword might have a combat skill attached to it, for example. However, this is not necessary. OPTION: If the bonuses for skills feels too high for your game, feel free to adjust them to Spell levels. The enchanted Skill would be the Critical value of the enchanter. A fourth kind of enchantment involves increasing the bearer’s Stats. Stat Enchantments drain the enchanter temporarily at 4 points of caster’s Stat per 1 point of Enchantment boost. An enchanter can only reduce their own stat down to 1 point during this process. The reduced stat slowly returns to its starting point over time as per the healing rules. So, if a wizard starts with a Strength of 16 they can enchant an object up to +3 STR, leaving themselves 4 points in their own Strength. Their own Strength would return over time. If a wizard has a Strength of 17 they can enchant an object up to a +4 STR, leaving themselves 1 point in Strength. Yet another method of Enchanting involves Damage and Protection Enhancements. This allows an object to do more damage in combat or allows an item to protect the bearer in combat. To determine the cost of these enchantments, use the Demon Abilities Table as a reference. (I have the cost worked out but it’s in a notebook I don’t have available to me right now. I think I settled on for every 4 mp the wizard invests in the enchantment, they get 1 point on the Demon table). Costs of Enchantments Enchanting is a magical skill that starts at 00. When a wizard decides to enchant an object they have to spend the POW point to allow the item to take the Enchantment. They then complete the enchanting ritual and imbue the item with the desired power, be it magical reserve, spell, skill, stat, or damage/protection bonus. Each enchantment costs the wizard one (1) permanent POW point. OPTION: Should you desire, an additional POW sacrifice might be required to attune the item to being able to receive enchantments. Sometimes a wizard will cooperate with an expert to create more powerful enchantments. In this case a second person’s skills or stats can be used to create the enchanted item. The enchanter still must pay a permanent point of POW. Additionally, the second person involved in the enchantment must also pay a permanent point of POW. For example, Jaana is a wizard who is trying to create a powerful weapon. She only has a Sword 25%. However, she contracts out with Landara, captain of the guard of Havensrest. Landara is a master swordswoman of 180%. Through the enchanting ritual Jaana loses 1 point of permanent POW and Landara loses 1 point of permanent POW. Jaana’s sword now has a bonus of 72% (or 36% if you are using the less powerful option). Breakdown Types of Enchantments Magical Reserve Cost: 1 POW Result: Wizard’s new POW in extra MP. Spell Storage Cost: 1 POW Result: spell can be cast at 1/5 of wizards initial spell skill. (Acts as a bonus as well.) Skill Enchantment Cost: 1 POW Result: Item provides bonus to the user’s skill at 1/5 the wizards skill x2, Characteristic Enchantment Cost: 1 POW Result: for every 4 points of stat the wizard can imbue 1 stat to the item. Caster must end spell with at least 1 point left in their characteristic’s stat. Enhancement Enchantment Cost: 1 POW Result: wizard spends mp to increase damage or protection qualities of the item. (I think it’s 4 to 1 on the Demon Table). So Jaana is making her sword. She’s a wizard who is hearkening to the call of the Adventurer’s life. She has a POW of 16. First she creates an amulet to use as an mp storage device, leaving her with POW 15 and 31 mp. Jaana knows that the adventuring life is dangerous. She invests her two enhancements. The first is a protection enhancement that she puts 28 mp into. Dropping her POW to 14 and her mp to 30. She then places a damage enchantment on the blade, putting 28 mp into it and dropping her POW to 13 and her mp to 29. She enlists the help of her friend Landara and the sword now has a combat bonus of 72%, leaving Jaana at POW 12 and taking 1 permanent POW away from Landara as well. Jaana goes to her mentor Govid the Wiseacre and asks if he will help in the creation of her sword. He agrees and imbues the sword with a spell that Jaana does not know yet. He know it at Spell 90% so the sword gains the spell at Spell 18%. Both Jaana and Govid lose a point of POW, dropping Jaana down to 11. Govid scolds Jaana, warning her that she is leaving herself weakened and open to magical attack. Jaana ignores the warning. Jaana wants more of an edge, but doesn’t have friends willing to invest Str or Dex into her sword. She herself has a Dex of 15 though, so she puts down a DEX +3 enchantment, raising her effective Dex to 18 and losing another point of POW. She is now at POW 10. Jaana has a powerful weapon. She also burned a ton of POW on it.

Happy Upcoming New Year everyone! I hope whatever holidays you celebrate have treated you kindly. With January comes a return to Ravenloft for me. I tried to get something going in October but it was too busy. Sadly, two of my players will have moved to Texas by the time I'm up and running again. I'm looking forward to getting back to the dread realms but a part of me is itching for a fantasy heartbreaker. Time will tell.

I think I'm going to post house rules to the forum. A previous example would be the Lucky Trinkets, Heirlooms and Named Items thread. For the most part, you'll need access to the original material to utilize my tweaks. Up in the series is Sorcery (specifically Demon Summoning) and Alchemy. I think they fall far enough away from how the systems are handled in the published material to make it somewhat worth reading. Feed back is welcome. Some of these are in various states of playtesting but in general I've been tooling around with them for a while so I decided it was time to let them wild. Wizardry (Magic) These rules apply to both the BGB and the magic system in Classic Fantasy. They exist to enhance the caster's spell skill level and to allow guidelines for magical Enchantments. Spell Components A well prepared wizard knows that success in magic means having the right tools. An invaluable tool are spell components. Spellcasting can be augmented by using spell components to manipulation of the Laws of Sympathetic Magic. By using items that align the caster with the spell, the spell's target or the intended outcome of the spell they can give a small boost to their casting ability. Laws of Sympathetic Magic Contagion - Once in Contact, Always in Contact Similarity - The Image Equals the Object Selecting spell components for a spell is a process of making connections using the Laws of Sympathetic Magic as a guide. The item should have some connection to the spell. Cobwebs would help in a spell of Spider Climb. Fresh ashes would help with a Fireball spell. Many of these ingredients are present in the wizard's environment or can be found inexpensively. However if the wizard invests in the items, searching for rare components or very specific components that take effort to come by, their magic can be significantly augmented. Bonuses are generally arranged as such; +5%, +10%, +15%, +20%. A component that is very effective once might be less effective other times depending on the situation and how it changes. As a rule, individual components will generally be worth a +5%, occasionally a +10%. Anything higher is more rare. Components may be combined in the casting of a spell and their skill bonuses stack up to a total of +20%. A wizard may use one component and cast on his INT (DEX) Rank. A second component sets the casting back 5 INT (DEX) Ranks. A third component sets the caster back another 5 INT (DEX) Ranks. If a wizard uses four basic components in a round to stack his +5% bonuses up to a +20% they will be going at a -15 INT (DEX) Rank. Sometimes this pushes them into the next round, depending on their Intelligence. Note: when I play and a PC or NPC is casting a spell I have their spell go off on the INT rather than their DEX. I just count down INT and DEX at the same time. This is different from published rules but I find it works well for me and I like how it affects combat. Actually, I've added options to the Initiative system incorporating held actions and quick actions. I need to check my notes to make sure I write them down correctly, but I'll add them to this thread when I have a chance. So that's the short bit. Enchantments are up next and that's more involved.

The point was that I really want to encourage summoners to have an entourage of demons they can call upon rather than to focus on a few cool weapons.

I'd probably do it something like this. Conan STR 25 CON 20 SIZ 18 INT 17 POW 10 DEX 16 APP 16 Elric STR 25* CON 20* SIZ 14 INT 28 POW 35 DEX 20** APP 18 *5 each with drugs or sword **10 without drugs or sword They both would be good in a fight, but Conan would have a much wider selection of tools of war. Elric gets around very well when he wants to be stealthy or athletic, but Conan has him handily beat in this department. Head to head though, if Elric has Stormbringer (and Stormbringer is cooperating) Conan doesn't stand a chance. Conan and Elric have strengths that compliment each other nicely though.

Hey QueenJadisOfCharn, I thought you might like to take a look at this thread. I use Elric! summoning with a hefty dose of Corum mixed in. I'm pretty sure this is the thread where I go into the nuts and bolts of it a little.

We've lost the exclusivity to the RPG title. I personally think that's fine. People are so much more receptive to the idea of RPGs because they've been exposed to them in other media. There was a time when I grew up in the eighties where you were a pariah if you played. I've consigned myself to adding tabletop to the description of my hobby. I'll try, I don't really play computer games much. Baldur's Gate definitely leveled up with your character though. Daggerfall absolutely did! In fact, I'm trying very hard to remember a game that didn't 'level up' with the player in one way or another. One thing I think is missing from todays games is the challenge of figuring out how to 'break' them. I gain a lot of pleasure in pushing the system and figuring out where the holes are, then exploiting the hell out of it. Today's kids just have to do a search and to figure out the optimum approach. Actually, this keys into one of the reasons why I don't like D20. To make an effective (in my view) character you need to plan out 20 levels ahead of time or you become sub optimum game system wise. It's too much work. When I was young the whole point of playing was to not invoke the rules. You acted outside the rules so the DM had to make stuff up. If the DM picked up the dice the PCs were one step closer to death. So I would argue that modern rules systems are actually BETTER at addressing game issues than they were in the past. BUT, it all depends on what type of mood your in. I don't think you can categorize people as ONLY liking one style of game. If they do only like one style of play then I think they are missing out.

I read this yesterday and said "yup, this is the dumbest thing I'll hear today." Then I said, "No, Chaot. The day is early. You're going to hear a ton of stupid things before it ends." How naive I was! It was, indeed, the dumbest thing I had encountered. This board is really lightly moderated. I don't think I've ever seen the Mighty Beetle (may he thrive in chitinous glory) come down and tell people how to post. It's not really needed as we are a congenial bunch. Personally, I find flinging around political insults from either sides of the isle not only toxic to a community but actively counter productive to making a point. So I ask that you channel your energies into more productive channels, just as I would if the good Mr. Paul_Va decided that to say that being a Goldwaterites or Randians inherently means your elves suck eggs. So can we knock out the political screeds and get on with pretending to be elves please?

Yup. I use Classic Fantasy spells in my Magic World game of Ravenloft right along side of the sorcery system. Actually, I have psychic powers in there too. I find it all works very nicely together. As you said, Demon Summoning is a game changer. I think it's too heavily weighted towards making insanely powerful items and so I try and adjust it so that binding demons as themselves is a more attractive proposition. Spells in CoC vary widely. Sometimes they are extremely specific and sometimes they have wide sweeping powers. You also have to decide what you are going to do with the Sanity check if your default setting does not use it. What I would do is adapt them to the Sorcery system, using current sorcery spells as a guideline of what's appropriate. The Sorcery spells are actually priced very well and are consistent.

Getting out of the way. It's there when you need it and it hides when you don't. It has a solid intuitive skeleton to hang the flesh of the game on. It's modular, so you can adjust powers to fit the needs of whatever sort of campaign you are running. It's praised for doing 'gritty' but I prefer to use it to run 'high powered' or 'heroic' games. In my Elric! games the heros could wade through a sea of rabble before coming up against opponents who were terrifying. Combats that took hours in D&D took half an hour in BRP.

Ha! After reading Nick's post I realized I hadn't actually answered the question. When you get to the high skills it no longer becomes possible to roll over them to gain your experience check. Therefore, in order to figure out if you increase your skill you roll against 100 minus your INT score. For a character with an INT of 15 and an Art [Tea Party] 112% they would need to roll an 85 or above to increase their skill in an experience check.

I'm not sure where it's written in Magic World but Elric! did indeed base all of its experience rolls on INT. Of course you could mix it up and base experience rolls on skill category modifiers. Just remember to double the modifiers as they are found by halving the appropriate stat.

Don't get me wrong, I think a good amount of information is a positive. I know I like it when I'm a player. It gives me something to hang my character on. It depends one who your pitching to, I guess. Like, when I did the flyer? Every single one of the players admitted to me that they didn't read it! The world sounds dangerous and gritty. The game itself sounds heroic. The pitch was about all of these great changes and prophecies that are going to sweep the world. Kings and hierophants might now agree with me but I would expect to be talking with them at some point, if only to stress to them how much danger their kingdom/flock is in. Now, if it were pitched that we were nomads fending off the boar-men of the Volg and that darker hints of the coming of the Dark Ones, then I would scale down my expectations from 'heroic' to being more local. Know what I mean? All that being said, I want to add that it sounds like you have a very rich campaign world. I hope you get a chance to put it through it's paces soon!

Oh horrors! I think we all have the same cabinet. (Note, a T&T box and Dresden book is in there. I think the rest is all BRP. Plus some Delta Green out of shot and some RQ2 boxed sets.)

In my estimation it is.

As soon as I posted this I remembered that I was lying. Sometimes I don't keep things simple.

Some thoughts. It's obviously a good setting for a game but it was hard for me to get through on a casual reading. You can condense a lot of it. I'm a simple man and I need a game pitch to tell me what I'm expected to do in the game. Take out the bit in the second paragraph about the Dark Ones. We know their bad news already, we don't need them described. Move Magic becoming more powerful up to the first paragraph. Move the ruins of the First Men up to the first paragraph too. The last three paragraphs can then be condensed and combined. So we get Mithras and his prophecy, the Dark Ones and the fall of the First Men, and the rise of magic in the first paragraph. It gives us a solid idea of what the stakes are. Then follow with all the beasties leaving their haunts in the second paragraph so we know what we're fighting right away. The third paragraph kind of tells us what our resources are. We have sorcerers, cities, dwarves, the faithful and the secrets hidden in the ruins of the First Men. We also know that not everyone is on the same page about how this should be handled. I would use this condensed third paragraph to let the players know what kind of character they could potentially play. Questions answers: 1. dark, hidden, monsters 2. I'd expect a lot of fighting in the muck, several losses and magical artifacts that would help turn the tide. I'd also probably like to raise a small company of soldiers or an army if I were playing in this game. 3. gritty 4. Depends, I'm not sure what the question means. I expect there will be some strong magics flying around. Otherwise I don't see a way for the PCs to hold their own. 5. Big impact? No. I'm making assumptions on the resources available to me. As presented it seems like there's not much hope. 6. Either is fine. 7. Losses, gains, reversals, big magics, maybe some diplomacy. It's a big setting maguffin so I could see running parallel games with different characters all trying to solve the issue of the Dark Ones and the prophecy. Final Note: I try to keep my pitches short because I find my players just want to play something. As long as they have some cool things to do they are happy. I pulled up an old email as an example where I pitched several games (edit to remove non pitch things). Now I'm not saying this is the best way to get a player excited about the game or whatever, just offering it for comparison. A more involved write up is something I would do after I get people signed on. Again, no worries if you don't agree with things I've written. I make it a point to be wrong at least seven times a day.

It depends on the type of game. Right now I'm running Ravenloft, and 20% lets you communicate fine as well as get by in reading. I also hand out Language skill points like candy because I want to encourage a lot of different languages floating around the table. In stricter games or games where there is a monolanguage and some minor other languages floating around I make things more difficult. It could also be fun to run a game in which writing was a plot point and restricted to hte educated class, but that's not a game that I've actually run before. No split for language and literacy here. I do something similar on occasion. Rather than a cap, I use one roll to determine how the character did on both skills. He may have crited his Bargain but fumbled his Language. Then the fun part is how you want to read the roll.

Wait what!? No way.