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dragonewt

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Posts posted by dragonewt

    Perception and Unarmed Combat skills ?

    in Basic Roleplaying

    Posted · Edited by dragonewt

    It also makes it much easier to use the MRQ idea of common skills that everyone knows and specialist skills that you have to have explicitly learned at some time.

    Call me pedantic, however I derived this mind-set and approach from other sources, long before MRQ. It has been core concept in a lot of minimalistic systems, as well as a part of the approach of systems such as Interlock (eg: Mekton). Although CoC was possibly an initial leader in this area in the early days (compared to the traditionally crunchy systems of the day).

    Perception and Unarmed Combat skills ?

    in Basic Roleplaying

    Posted · Edited by dragonewt

    On the other hand you could say "my character is better at punching people than kicking them so there should be separate skills for that." It's a question of focus.

    I covered that in my example in this thread. It allows for a minimised and general skill set, however, for those who like the detail or want/need an extra degree of definition in some cases, they can have it (without adding more skills or rules).

    In the case of perception, I like differentiating between the senses. And you also need to take into account mental comprehension, deduction, speed of thought and reaction; a character with 20/20 eyesight might still miss a detail because they have unfocused thoughts or do not process the input they receive.

    The way to do this would be to have a single generic perception skill, and have modifiers, similar to advantages/disadvantages of some systems.

    Eg:

    Perception: 50% (General combined capability of all senses and the ability to respond to data) - All that is needed for an uncomplicated session that is light on skills (maybe because the players like it that way, or want to focus more on story telling, etc...).

    • Damaged ears = -20% to rolls involving hearing.
    • Loves eating carrots = +10% to rolls involving eyesight.
    • Cognitive dissonance and denial of spooky things = -30% to rolls involving the supernatural (maybe the result of a SAN loss).

    The idea is that modifiers are only added as required, while the single general "Perception" is all that is needed for most characters most of the time. This is something I am working on with some of my mechanics experimentation. One key question is the distinction between natural capability and trained skill (if there is such a difference). Also consider that the modifiers can be applied to other skills where appropriate (eg: Good eyesight aiding a visual precision oriented driving skill roll).

    Perception and Unarmed Combat skills ?

    in Basic Roleplaying

    Posted

    Therefore I thought that it could help to to combine the perception skills (Listen, Sense, Spot) into one Perception Skill and the unarmed combat skills (Brawl, Grapple, perhaps also Dodge) into one Unarmed Combat skill.

    A general "Martial Arts" type of skill seems suitable. Many sci-fi settings had their characters able to fight with a generic style that covered all various moves (The infamous karate kick and judo throw, or the "Judo Chop!" :7 ), but never gave a style name. If a player wants to have a "flavour" for the style used by their character, use a style name as a special effect, but treat them the same as far as mechanics are concerned. For the purists who really want a degree of differentiation, have a balanced spread of modifiers, such as "Taekwondo - Kicks +20%, Grappling -20%" vs "Judo - Kicks -40%, Grappling +20%, Locks +20%".

    To really cut down on the number of skills, you could combine certain specialised medical skills with fighting skills. ;t)

    Age of Shadow (based on OpenQuest)

    in D101 Games

    Posted

    The Age of Shadow is currently at version 0.91, and so this might imply that it is still a work in progress.

    I stumbled across The Age of Shadow while looking for map tiles at Crooked Staff Productions. You might find answers to your questions via the email address (and forum) found there. Alternatively, the web site for The Age of Shadow has a forum when these mysteries might also be revealed and discussed.

    How do you promote "good" roleplaying?

    in Basic Roleplaying

    Posted

    In Glorantha, a PC that kills indiscriminately would be chased by the relatives of the dead person looking for weregild if the dead was a Barbarian, or by the Lunar police, if the dead was a Lunar citizen, to be tried and jailed/crucified.

    Don't forget; spirits of reprisal, tattle-tale divination, begrudged dragonewts and Zorak Zoran death gangs. ;t)

    Glorantha - what would be a good starting campaign?

    in Glorantha

    Posted · Edited by dragonewt

    You could always start in Dorastor - Land of Doom. ;)

    Joking aside, there is a campaign in the Dorastor book is aimed at fairly new characters (which I find ironic, yet very feasible). The campaign notes says "for low and mid-level characters". Beyond this, there is plenty of scope for character and story progression.

    My view on the Balazar campaign material in Griffin Mountain is that there is enough material that you could run a an almost endless game in that area. There are many locations, an expansive wilderness (in fact two areas), plenty of plot hooks, many political and social interactions/complexities, and more in addition to the main adventure hooks (such as the "Wind Sword"). Even the small scenarios in the Points of Interest section could each grow into their own extended campaign by themselves, not to mention the three citadels, dwarfs, elves, tribes, trolls, lunars and so on. Almost endless possibilities. Remember that Griffin Mountain defined new high standards in the RPG industry at the time it was first published.

    Regarding meta-plots, all campaigns from any Gloranthan source material (third-age) can merge into the Hero Wars ("King of Sartar" may be of interest if you like that kind of thing).

    Edit: Apple Lane is the classic (if not cliche) beginners location in Startar.

    Talk Like a Pirate Day at RPGNow / DriveThruRPG (RuneQuest Pirates)

    in Basic Roleplaying

    Posted

    So I'm not sure where and when might we find a copy of Pirates ?

    You can also plunder our site for 20 totally free e-books from now until September 22nd. Just look for the treasure chests we've buried throughout our site, then click on them to get your free swag from your favorite publishers!

    Animated Treasure Chest images are located around the site. If you are logged in to the site, clicking on each of these adds a zero cost item to your cart. You have to be curious enough to search almost every possible section of their site (for a completely random example, their Privacy Policy).

    Gloranthan Classics on DTRPG

    in Glorantha

    Posted · Edited by dragonewt

    Pavis & Big Rubble is #1 of small press. Like Rome one year ago. Next step will be Ed Healy calling Rick for RPG Coundown, and everyone knowing that RuneQuest had all these great supplements back in the days.

    Remember there is also a lot of material that supplements the Pavis & Big Rubble and the Borderlands campaigns. Some of it still available in Tradetalk magazine, or in other works by Ian Thomson and friends that are available via the Chaos Society (Pavis and Big Rubble Companions), and some of Ian's work was freely (legally) down-loadable (via some dead links still listed on Soltakss' web site).

    Some Tradetalk links:

    Gloranthan Classics on DTRPG

    in Glorantha

    Posted

    I have the printed version of each of these four Gloranthan Classics. Highly recommended. Run, don't walk.

    Note: Check the indexes to make sure they do not duplicate too much of any early original RQ material you might already have.

    CLASSIC FANTASY - A Return to the Dawn of Roleplaying

    in Basic Roleplaying

    Posted · Edited by dragonewt

    The bull like creature with petrifying breath however MUST stay - it, along with Rust-monsters, Owlbears, Bullettes etc are part of the unique charm of Gygaxian D&D.

    I agree with Nick. It is a good idea to capture all the distinctly unique creatures that grew out of the early D&D days that provided some of the original good fun. Keep the bull.

    I think a balance can be made that preserves the fun unique memories, yet removes some of the nasty side-effects. How about calling Medusa a "Gorgon", and the Bull something like "Stone Bull" or "Petrifying Bull"?

    Reaper Mini's "Brass Bull" also comes to mind.

    Here is some more food for thought:

    CLASSIC FANTASY - A Return to the Dawn of Roleplaying

    in Basic Roleplaying

    Posted · Edited by dragonewt

    Might I suggest one more name-change? Medusa to Gorgon

    I agree with this recommendation. Medusa is the name of one of the gorgons.

    I find that there are plenty of cases where Gygax thought he was being clever but was really showing a degree of arrogant naivety. This is the dark side of D&D, where players were mis-educated at the same time it was implied that something (myth, knowledge, etc...) was being accurately presented.

    Yes, myth varies and is open to change, however the D&D gorgon/medusa name swap was an obviously deliberate and naive change. The name "gorgon" was possibly used to represent a bull-type creature, however, the gorgon/medusa representation in the original Monster Manual is an inaccurate solution. In fact I can't find any gorgon/bull references (in ancient myth), and so that connection is possibly a complete fallacy.

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