lawrence.whitaker

7 hours ago, g33k said:

So like... a "fantasy Hanseatic city" in rather the same way Fioracitta (sp?) will be a "fantasy renaissance-Italian city"?

Directly inspired-by, but not specific or historical?

Precisely. 

1 hour ago, Nozbat said:

Lawrence, I was looking at your Guilds, Factions and Cults supplement as a possible template for the Hansa but the League was more akin to a nation state in that it could declare war, defend its borders, bully the Holy Roman Emperor and conclude extremely favourable trade treaties without even referring to the 'Art of the Deal'. 

I was thinking how to conceptualise the Hansa. For those Hansestadts in the League it brought freedom, wealth and power that challenged Emperors, Kings, nobility and the Church, created  powerful burghers, possibly started a (bourgeoisie) democratic movement and arguably ended feudalism. For those cities, states and countries that were outside the Hansa, it must have been viewed with dark trepidation and given the often unfavourable trade treaties that they were forced to sign, they must have been viewed as the Evil Empire. 

However there is a lot of source material to suggest that some countries still found it beneficial (ie The Steelyards in London until it was sacked at the request of English Wool Merchants in 1469) or others that found them despotic (ie the Bergen Factory) and others that were willing to battle them for the right to the shifting Herring fisheries (Kalmar Union).

I assume Gülden will be a Stupor Mundi supplement? Can you tell me how you are viewing the Hanseatic League? (thats if it's not a state secret)

 

 

 

No, it's nothing to do with Stupor Mundi (although it's a great little supplement). It's a Mythras book, and intended to be a deliberate fantasy version of a European city state founded in extensive commercial interests that have brought it considerable power. I can't talk too much about it as I'm not the author, and it's a way from publication. But it is in the works.

7 hours ago, Nozbat said:

thanks Soltakss... I'd looked at your stuff earlier...or possibly last night which I remember perusing years ago... and maybe even swopped a few emails with you

I was thinking possibly about the Hansa period in Northern Europe.. or Early Middle Ages in laypersons terms:

The Hanseatic League (also known as Hansa, Hanse, 1356-1862 CE) was a federation of north German towns and cities formed in the 12th century CE to facilitate trade and protect mutual interests. The league was centred in the German town of Lübeck and included other German principalities which established trade centers ranging from Kievan Rus through the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Britain.

We have a supplement in the works - Guelden - that is in part based on one of the Hanseatic League cities.

It's worth watching the Lyonesse live plays I did with Inwils and his team. I make use of social conflict and the Task rules all the time, and they feature in these sessions.

Part 1: 

58 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

 

Sorry guys, but I think I fist saw something like it in MegaTraveler, and later in Icon's Star Trek RPG. I've seen variations of it in several RPGs since then, mostly Futuristic RPGs, for obvious reasons, although I've seen and used it in some modern day and "Steampunk" type games, and Harn's armor and weaponsmithing rules touch upon it too,. I'm an ol' timer, familiar with a lot of old RPGs, and a multi-success task resolution thing is common to many hi tech RPGs in some shape or another. 

So I honestly wasn't thinking of either of your "sister" systems when I posted. Not that those games shouldn't be given a look when trying to solve a problem in a BRP related game, and I did not intend to overlook their contributions to dealing with this sort of situation, they just weren't what came to mind.

Task resolution systems have been around for yonks, and they're certainly not unique to Mythras or Revolution. But it's always interesting when a solution presents itself that does have an equivalent in a BRP game.

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Yes, a good idea. I must have read something similar, I just cannot remember where 

Yeah, I'm struggling to recall where I saw a similar system too...

Destined is completing editing and will be heading for art direction very soon.

20 minutes ago, RogerDee said:

How crunchy or simple will this be?

As it's Mythras-based, its similar in crunch level. In terms of simplicity, the powers are very easy to understand and implement. Powers are always 'on', and don't cost any Power Points to use; however, they can be boosted, and this is what takes a superpower into remarkable and quite unique territory. Boosts cost Power Points to activate and enhance the core power. It's a very simple, very elegant solution that allows for quite a high degree of scaling up, without wrecking the underlying power economy.

The Destined team (Mike and Brian) have just featured in a Mythras Matters podcast, discussing where they're up to.

I'm really impressed with the work they've done on Destined. I can't wait to see it out there.

13 minutes ago, RogerDee said:

Not sure if this is something you need to address, but it does state about using part of Mythras engine in the blurb still.

But yeah can post thus elsewhere on this site if need be. 

We actually insisted that that disclosure be included as part of resolving the copyright issues with the first edition, so it's something we're fully aware of, and it acknowledges the role Mythras played in Sabre's development, even though it uses the Legend OGL as its licensing mechanism. We've no problems with what Sabre are now doing, and certainly wish the game well, but it is produced outside of the Mythras apparatus, hence my comments upthread.

Sabre isn't part of the Mythras family, or use the Gateway license. Its structure follows Mythras in many key areas, and in its first edition there were some problems with rules being copied without permission. This was problematic, as Sabre was released under the Legend OGL (as is the second edition).

The new edition has steered clear of the earlier version, and from what I've seen of the rules, has started to forge its own direction. Any further discussion of Sabre should take place in one of the other areas here on BRPC, rather than in this one, which is reserved for Mythras and its Mythras Gateway cousins. 

The TDM roster of games and events are confirmed and viewable by the general public. Sign up begins on Monday 6th July.

Shrine of the Traitor Gods
Friday, July 31st, 6pm, Roll20
https://www.gencon.com/events/183543

https://www.gencon.com/events/183841

Roll20 & Zoom links will be sent to those who secure spots in the games.

Very much looking forward to seeing you there!

I haven't heard any complaints about the DTRPG Mythras core rulebook quality. I have several copies, and they're very good. While printing errors can happen (even with offset copies: we had to junk the entire first print run of Logres because the bindings were faulty), DTRPG are usually very quick to replace.

But, if you don't want to use DTRPG, you can find Mythras on Amazon (various sellers), Barnes & Noble (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Mythras?_requestid=15743276), and Lulu (https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/lawrence-whitaker-and-pete-nash/mythras/paperback/product-18r84kp8.html)

Note that if you buy from a third party, you won't get the free PDF, which you will if you buy through DTRPG or Lulu.

There are also German editions available too. I can't answer the questions on the printing, but I'm sure @AndreJarosch can help.

As a special 4th July treat, we're delighted to release two brand new adventures for Lyonesse and Mythras: 'In High Dudgeon', and 'Meeros Doomed'. Both are available via DrivethruRPG and our own website, in Print on Demand and PDF formats (you get the PDF free when buying the print copy).

In High Dudgeon

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/314519

http://thedesignmechanism.com/store.php#!/In-High-Dudgeon/p/210803496/category=36165487

An adventure for Lyonesse

$5.99 PDF, $9.99 POD, Colour, 36 pages

Games Without Frontiers...

Every year, the villages of High and Low Dudgeon meet for the midsummer games. Every year for the past 10 years, Low Dudgeon has lost. The villagers are suspicious; what is High Dudgeon's secret? Could it be magic? Could it be some secret training technique? Is it outright cheating? Enter the intrepid characters, visiting the villages to enjoy the games, but drawn into the intrigue of Low Dudgeon's misfortune. And if the true source of High Dudgeon's success isn't found before the current games end - well, things could get ugly.

In High Dudgeon is a Lyonesse scenario for 2-6 characters, and involves a high degree of investigation and social interaction. The adventure is complete with maps, and a plethora of colourful non-player characters. Also included are four pre-generated characters - Madam Neneveh's Festive Fellows - designed for use with the adventure.

Meeros Doomed

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/310825/

http://thedesignmechanism.com/store.php#!/Meeros-Doomed/p/212297067/category=5186110

$4.99 PDF, $9.99 POD, Premium Colour. 28 pages.

The City State of Meeros lies broken. Queen Herathos wants the renegade priestess, Kara, brought to justice to atone for her treachery. The characters are tasked with venturing to distant Kopash, and charged with making her arrest.

But is all as it seems? Powerful forces are plotting to destroy Meeros completely, and those who have protected the city may well be the ones who secure its doom.

The characters must uncover traitors, travel into monster-infested swamps, confront sorcerous fiends, and perhaps even ally themselves with Meeros' ancient foes, the Badoshi Warlords, if they are to avenge the Doom that has come to Meeros!

This mini-campaign follows on directly from events found in the Mythras core rules, and the scenarios Sarinaya's Curse, and Meeros Falling, although it can also be played stand-alone.

It's a typo. Locale is not part of Lyonesse; it is replaced by Folklore. 

Both are great additions to the Deutsche Mythras line.

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Lawrence you misunderstood me... the plan is for the galaxy to be (more or less) "fully mapped" (albeit in a summarily expedient fashion), the plan is NG437 to be a "hidden world" (hidden by the government that is) (and a few other system as well). And I want to avoid players going systematically into unpopulated planet one by one or, luckily (or unluckily) jumping on it the first time. So I want to make the plan to systematically explore unchartered world cumbersome and tedious.

How many of these Hidden Worlds are there? Why are they hidden? Surely the whole point of having something hidden in a roleplaying game is for it to be discovered sooner or later? If it's one or two worlds out of an entire galaxy, and if the government has hidden them effectively, then the chances of the characters stumbling upon the hidden world(s) should be very, very remote anyway. And presumably if the government has gone to great lengths to 'hide' worlds, then they've put surely in place defensive measures and disinformation strategies to prevent them being accidentally stumbled on or found: deep space installations that scramble sensors when a ship gets too close; automated weapons platforms that fire on intruders; weird nanotechnology that can infect engines and life support (like Smatter from Iain Banks Culture stories), or other such nasties to prevent deliberate or accidental discovery.

All the above are simpler and preferable to imposing arbitrary roadblocks and brakes on space exploration generally - unless there's an an exceedingly good campaign rationale for limiting it. As you've said, the campaign needs star hopping ("Well it's Master of Orion, star hoping is a must!") so if you start throwing obstacles in the way of the characters for no good reason, save to stop them finding a hidden world, then you're shortchanging them very heavily.

It's your campaign of course, but if you've got a 'fully mapped' galaxy, then there's a reason why it's fully mapped: if space exploration is as hard, slow, and ponderous as you want to make it to simply keep a few worlds hidden, then you're undermining the logic of a well mapped galaxy.

Personally, if this was my campaign, I'd engineer a way for the characters to find the hidden world, experience its secrets, and then spend the rest of the campaign dealing with/fleeing from/attempting to expose/being changed by those secrets. That's usually how most good dramatic SF stories develop...

This is a perennial problem with any setting that involves large unmapped areas and few impediments to travel. The players inevitably want to go off-grid, and it's the GM's job to either have an idea of what's in the direction of where they're going, or some means of managing it. Placing artificial constraints, or engineering them to prohibit exploration is basically shortchanging your players.

If you're set on running a sandbox campaign that involves the characters whizzing around the galaxy, then my advice would be to create a bunch of random charts (such as the many found in Traveller) that allow you to quickly create an inhabited world from a few dice rolls, if the characters suddenly head into uncharted territory. Customise the tables to fit the local authorities/rulers/empire so that it fits the themes of the campaign. And roll up a few worlds in advance and have some scenario seeds developed for them in case the characters head out there. In other words, you need to be prepared, and be ready to improvise. These are two of the most important things for any GM.

The worst thing you can do is put constant obstacles or constraints in front of the characters to stop them doing what they want to do. By all means have risks - and rumours of risks (the route to star NGC1646 is fraught with peril; no ship has ever made it through. Why is that?) - but try to avoid dampening the enthusiasm to explore. Instead find ways of managing it, or switch to a campaign that is rooted in one system or on one planet, so that the need for exploration is negligible.

GenCon's online this year, and we're going to be running some virtual games via Roll20 over the GenCon weekend. I'll be on duty running sessions of Shrine of the Traitor Gods, Lyonesse, and Mythic Britain. More details to come on these, (and possibly other) TDM events.

https://www.gencon.com/

6 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Good point and argumentation!

Bonus (optional) question: What is the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

(and you know this is coming)

African or European?

You can paste in text from another source without its formatting. Thus forces the text to adopt the prevailing style of the text you're working on in Publisher. 

Plus, Publisher can now open idml files from InDesign, and thus brings in any styles or formatting you had from the InDesign original. 

Join Loz, Inwils, and the InCrowd for an epic, 3-part play through of the Lyonesse scenario 'In High Dudgeon'.

A word of warning - contains extensive spoilers for the scenario itself, so best for GM eyes only...

TDM will be virtually attending.

More details on what we'll be hosting soon.

The process was much the same as with an InDesign book. Create the Master Pages, set up the paragraph, heading and character styles, then tweak the layout elements on the Master Pages and main pages with the sizing of the guides and so on.

I tend to import manually and selectively, using linked text frames with autoflow turned off. That is, I have the Word Processor manuscript open at the same time, and cut and paste text into a Publisher text box, pausing when I reach an element (such as a table, piece of art, boxed text, etc) that requires a different kind of work to be done in Publisher. I then pause, work on this element, and position, and then continue with the text paste. Once I've completed a chapter or major section, I go back through and apply heading and paragraph styles, adjusting for spacing, flow, widows and orphans, and tweaking where the separate graphical elements need to go, and whether they're kept in-line with the body text, or float free.

The book builds up in this way, and always in a single document. The three big challenges I had with Publisher were:

1. Art needs to be carefully linked to its source files, and if these links become broken - which can happen quite easily - it can be a devil to correct. Doable, but deeply annoying. A couple of images somehow delinked in the production file following all the proofing, which meant there were blurred images in the final PDF download that just shouldn't have been there. The TDM logo image also shifted or replicated somehow, and this wasn't spotted. So Publisher's image handling still needs some tweaking by the developers; it's not quite as slick as InDesign's yet.

2. The file size increases hugely with art and other graphics, and this caused the software to slow down hideously the longer you work on a file. When it came to adding page hyperlinks for 'page XX references', it was taking a massive amount of processor power, and several minutes, for even small text changes to be processed. In part, it's because Lyonesse is a very big book, but also because Publisher handles graphics in a weird way, and imports linked images, but doesn't embed them - which is presumably how they get delinked when a file is saved.

3. Indexing is bloody awful. And as the file size increases, it gets slower, and slower, and slower...

Overall though, Publisher is far, far nicer to use than InDesign. It feels friendlier. It's a doddle to create styles, update them, copy them, and edit them. Wrapping text around an image is much easier than with InDesign. Despite slowing down, Publisher is far less prone to crashing. The Studio feature (allowing you to swap between Publisher, Designer and Photo personas, if you have these other two apps installed) is simply brilliant, and I used it a lot. Managing assets, like tables, text boxes, certain graphics, etc, is a doddle using the Assets pain. Spellchecker is better. Find and Replace functions are far superior to InDesign.

I wouldn't go back to InDesign at all. Publisher can only improve. InDesign, I've found, is getting clunkier. Soon, Adobe will stop supporting older operating systems, and then I won't be able to use the latest version of their hideously expensive Creative Suite at all. Affinity came along at absolutely the right time.

Magic users still get STR+DEX as the base in the Combat Style; they simply don't get skill points to develop it from their class/culture.

If one opponent has a skill >100, the Combat Style is reduced to 100, and the number of points above 100 are subtracted from the opponent (see page 51 of Mythras). So if Anathaym has Spear & Shield 120%, and she's fighting Bestatrix 98%, Anathaym effectively fights at 100% and Bestratrix fights at 78%. Bestatrix now has about a 25% chance of failing a roll, while Anathaym has a 5% chance of failure: Anathaym should win a Special Effect and cause damage much more frequently than Bestratrix - and it's the Special Effects that actually speed up combat.

This means that very long combats are quite rare in Mythras. Plus, when one factors in the rules for weapon reach and fatigue, high skills can be whittled down moderate numbers quite quickly. Good use of Special Effects, such as Overextend, also reduce an opponent's ability to retaliate; while other effects, such as Trip, Stun and Bash, can be used to eat-up a high-skilled opponent's Action Points, denying them the opportunity to fight effectively.

Our advice for newcomers to the system is always to try the rules as written first, and study the many options one has in combat. You should find that we've anticipated the situation of highly skilled opponents drawing combat out, by building in a number of different ways to either reduce the skill of an opponent, or their effectiveness in other combat areas.

The Combat Training modules: Breaking the Habit and Take Cover! are very useful in helping you get to grips with Mythras combat, as they're designed to show you hwo to make the best use of situations, reach, Special Effects, and other tactics that help you gain the right kind of edge.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/4057/Design-Mechanism/subcategory/8030_32283/Game-Aids

You'll also find some very engaging discussions about combat and tactics on the TDM forums: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/designmechanism/rules-and-mechanics-f6/

Yes, that's correct.