Chaot

One thing I do regret. When Ben was putting together Advanced Sorcery I was starting a new job. Though I'm uncredited I weighed in on some spells and I suggested the redesign of the Deep Magic wheels. What I really wanted to do was overhaul Demon summoning. I think it's the best part of the system and has so much potential for story telling. The second best part of the system goes to Charles Green and his Virtue summonings from Gods of Law. The issue with demon summoning is that items need to be scaled back and abilities need to be enhanced. There needs to be a reason for a sorcerer to summon and negotiate with a demon rather than just bind it.

It's funny but I've never run into stolen demon weapons. I would assume that the demon just wouldn't perform for the thief if it was bound with 1 POW. To make demon bargaining more interesting and attractive I use a variant on the Chaos Creatures rules form Corum. Nine magic points gets you 3d8 in every stat. The summoner can shift 3 of the dice, so one stat might be 1d8, another 2d8 and the third 6d8. One magic point also equals 10% in a skill. Once summoned, this demon is always on call and will usually request the same pact price.

Can I just say that I told you to get back to work in 2016 and it is now two years later.

Are you going down the route of druids transforming into animals?

Negotiating. Same rules. I've got a staff and lets say I still have a POW of 16. Thirty three mps to spend. When I calculate bargain costs I go by the Corum book. It's defined as taking a 'thing' from a 'victim', the result of which should get the sorcerer jailed or executed. We're talking costs that make people suffer. If you're looking for combat protection you want to summon something with a lot of legs for Claw, something that can Gout Fire or Vomit Acid. Otherwise you want something that can infiltrate. You want a Seer or a demon that can Shape Change and has a lot of social skills. The thing is with these you can pact for a week and just pay the pact price.You've a demon or two in your pocket. You can avoid local resistance. Still doesn't compare to Binding weapons and armor.

Oops, I screwed up major demons. It's been a while since I've ran. Minor demons are top out at 2d10 and 9 mp for the basic summoning. Greater demons need their stats to equal 25 d8s. This means 3d8 needs to be placed in each stat apart from POW, which is 4d8. This also means that my initial armor is topped off at 1d4-1+2d10 (but there are extra points to add effects). That also means my short sword is 1d6+1+db+5d10+1d2. Still, these are serious numbers. The strength of bargaining is plausible deniability and having someone else do your work for you.

Great Items, Thot. Question though. Let's look at the Scepter of Peace. Fog and Suture don't have a stat associated with them. Are these focuses in which the demon manifests or just bound items? If the Scepter is only used for the abilities then the soccer should probably leave all the stats at 1d8 (except for POW which would be 3d8). So, I was being a little flippant about the demon weapons but the truth is demon weapons are the best bang for your buck. If I were going to really dig into being a sorcerer I would want three spells as my base. Summon Demon, Brazier of Power and either Agony, Curse of Sorcery, Contribute to Truth, Terror, Unbreakable Bonds, Break the Will, Control Sea Life, Diminish Demon, Enthrall, Greater Banishment, Phantom Illness or Spectral Ownership. Summon Demon and Brazier of Power are obvious. All those other spells are POW : POW spells. I'd probably want a 1mp spell like Terror. Now my sorcerer has a way of replenishing POW that is not dependent on the DM calling for POW : POW checks. No binding to start out. I get myself a staff. That takes me from 17 to 16 POW. I now have 33 mp. From there, I use my POW spell to try and increase my POW back up to 17. Anything serious I need to get done happens through bargaining with a demon. When I'm back up to 17 it is time to get some armor. My POW is back at 17 so I now have 34 mp. Ten go into the basic summoning spell; one for ever stat except POW, which is four for a greater demon. Twenty four go into my demon armor. Lets say I'm enchanting soft leather which has a protection of 1d4-1. My new demon armor is 1d4-1+4d10+1d8. Hell, maybe I just want to bind the demon into some robes. That would still be 4d10+1d8. I'm starting to feel pretty safe right now. If my binding succeeds then I am in good shape. If it doesn't I use Terror some more to get me back up to POW 17 and try to bind my armor again. Eventually, I will get that armor. Next, I have a decision to make. Do I want to settle down or do I want to travel. If I settle down it's Brazier of Power time. If I want to travel it's time for another 'staff'. I might make this one an amulet or a torc or a bracer or a pretty tiara. Regardless, I'm creating it when I have POW of 17 and I won't bind again until I return to a POW of 17. This means I now have 51 magic points. Subtract ten for the binding ritual of a greater demon. Let's say I drop it into a short sword. The final result from 41 mp is 1d6+1+db+8d10+1d2. I'm now feeling very confident. Bound demon weapons and armor far outstrip any benefit from focus binding or binding demons for skills. These are all core rules. The only thing that complicates things is the binding luck roll. A smart sorcerer, when summoning, has extra targets chained to the wall, a straight hallway to run down and a fast horse waiting. I actually use the Corum Summoning rules for Chaos Creatures to make summoning physical demons more appealing but as it stands... I guess I should be fair and break it down for summoned demons.

For a second, let's pretend I'm a player with a 17 POW and Summon Demon. First thing I do is set up some amazing demon armor and drop my POW to 16. Next thing I do is set up myself a funky weapon, placing my POW at 15. Thus ends my career as a sorcerer. Well worth it. I agree with you that the demon abilities open up a world of options. When I run a game in the Young Kingdoms though I usually go two ways. The first is the sorcerer I outlined above. The second is a sorcerer who pacts with demons to complete a specific task. Demon items are rather rare in my game unless they are seriously significant. In the spirit of the thread I will write up some objects this weekend.

McStern is quoting another page that give you lenience in your calls as a Game Master. Rule in favor of your players. You're still within the rules.

The Big Gold Book. page 170. Automatic or Impossible Reactions. "Not all actions require a die roll. Routine physical and Intellectual actions attempted under mundane conditions always succeed." You have an attack roll of 30% yet your opponent decides to stand and take the hit. Thirty percent is a respectable skill level and in your scenario our opponent just stood there. In this case there is no die roll. Someone just got punched.

Think about skills like this. 20% I hope I know what I'm doing! 40% I think I know what I'm doing! 60% I've been trained to do this and I'm like really, really good! 80% plus - grab the stone grasshopper.

Wait. Your scenario is you're fighting a dude and you have a 30% Stick Attack. This dude is not defending himself. He's, like "Get me bro?" You hit 100% percent of the time. You only roll the dice when there's a stressful situation and a question on what's going to happen.

I have no idea on who is responding to who but I think that we can all agree that it's a great thing that BRP is out there. Even though Elric!/Magic World is the superior rules set. No judgement though.

If people are still looking for some deck plans or other maps in general 0one games has some great little maps. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=0one&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto= They have two or three ships in there someplace.

Time is the eternal enemy! Good luck with putting a game together and welcome to the forums.

I love I!. Not to mention sorcerous travel, but playing up the decadent mundanity of the whole thing is best.

Welcome Phil! These forum response are slow, but they are always pleasant. Glorantha is a big place and so there's a lot to take in. Personally, I look for settings that are light on background. I prefer to not have to remember canon and make stuff up as I go along. That being said, I've stolen a ton of stuff from Glorantha. Boar Riders are just awesome, as are talking Baboons. Mello Yellow often makes his way into my games.

While you are probably right that it's smaller, I like your scale better and it's generally how I view the YK.

Let me clarify. The game was great. It was a huge success but Sentinels of the Multiverse and Talisman at that summer up. I sat down to write out a bunch of abilities, which I now believe was the wrong move. When I ran the game I eyeballed some Pokemon cards and winged it and that worked fine. This means that I have some partial lists of abilities written up somewhere. It's probably not worth sharing in it's current stage. However, I'd like to figure out a way of systematizing improvised abilities. It so happens that school is almost out again and since this thread was revived I may look into it. What I don't want to do right now is sit down and stat out a bunch of abilities. I'm think ability names coupled with some simple mechanics.

I may have some additional mechanical material but it's not great. I'll take a look. I ended up only running one game. It turned out to be a haunted light house with a Misdreavus, a Gastly and a Gyarados patrolling the lake.

My real issue is how much do I get paid for cloned kidneys? I feel like this may be secondary to our main point though...

120% agreed. I think BRP is best when the base is simple and you start layering on options. I try to think of it as basic rules, then spot rules, then special abilities. I try to keep the work on my side as simple as possible. BRP can be incredible fast during play. That's what I strive for. My games do tend to be slow but it's like anti-wargame. Combat takes about fifteen minutes. The rest is talking and decision making. Sometimes I feel like I could leave the table for a while and let the PCs sort things out.

Curses. I'm rendering some video files as I type. Led to a double post. So let's use it, shall we? Next, tell your players that you are very interested in instituting Sanity rules and that all further NPCs will come from the Malleus Monstrorum

Do what I do. Tell them that you're using a published rule but it's from an obscure book published in '76 that is going for $230 on eBay. Assure them that you remember the rule correctly from your cousin's collection. Then ask them if they feel like adventuring today.

Looks good. I miss the days when I hit 25 sessions.