Matt_E

hahah  When I open it in Calc, I can edit whatever I want, after I turn off Protect Sheet (and it doesn't ask me for a pwd).

Last night I was playing around, using this as an import into LibreOffice Calc on the Mac, and everything seemed OK.  I did not remember to test Raleel's observation above, though.

Thanks, Rod.  I like this a lot, and I am going to adopt some of its approaches to my house sheet for generating plain Mythras characters, as you have found good ways to handle some things that give me pains.

What I miss from this sheet is not the bits about multiclassing and little mods, but a section on the Skills tab that would tell me what Rank my character is, and maybe what I need to attain next Rank. :-D

Nice.

Yeah, I basically agree.  Like Customs, you might want to give everyone Literacy in the mother tongue, at some base level--could be same base as the spoken language, but possibly lower.  IIRC, the rules give guidelines like you have mentioned for spoken language, but not written.  I think the percentages are rather different, though.

In my home game, and the scenarios I write, literacy is not a given.  Sometimes I throw in a clue that will give the characters an advantage, if anyone can read it. ;-)

As a simplest first pass, treat every language--written or spoken--as a separate skill, with a separate score.  If you feel like being kind, allow some language skills to Augment others.

Sweet...er...well done.

Um...  It sounds like you're asking whether a certain type of play is permissible--or, put another way, what is the correct way to play a game?

I think the proper response to that question may be, "Mu," as in, it's not a properly constructed question, at base.  In the interest of collegiality, though, I'll take a stab at it.

"Should"?  Well, it depends on the outcome you want, which is rather conditional.  If your players enjoy that sort of thing, then, yes, you should; why not?  If they don't appreciate what you term "cliche", then you should not.

On the other hand, there is a sort of opportunity cost to running any particular game:  By choosing an exercise in cliche, am I sucking up valuable time/air/juice that could be (much) better spent on something more original?  In my lifetime, how many hours do I have to spend on this?  How precious is the time with my group?  Is "good enough" actually good enough, or should I try for "better"?

Given the crucial condition of what your players (and you) like, I also don't see what significant difference the rules set could make.  If melodrama is a bummer for you, yet for some reason you play melodrama, then CF is just as bad as Mythras, just as bad as D&D, just as bad as Fate,...  The rules set is not the style (although I do admit that some sets are crafted to support some styles).

Finally, when you say "antipaladin" to me, I don't think of Snidely Whiplash twirling a mustache.  I think of death knights.  I think of the goddamned Witch-King of Angmar.  If you can't see that sort of antipaladin fitting into Mythras, I'm stumped. :-)

They have different filenames.

Yes, I would allow (have allowed) substitution of Literacy for a Lore, if it made sense.  I might make it automatic for some social classes in some settings, in principle, but not in my current game.

You're the GM.  It's your Mythras.  If it seems reasonable, do it; if it causes problems later, fix it retroactively and apologize to the players. :-)

Now THAT's cool.  How often does one get the game's creator to comment--in real time, no less--on the session you're running?!

In Blood Rock, events unfold in the background whether the characters do anything or not.  That is the linear part.  This is not to say that the players' choices don't matter--far from it--, but the fact that the villains are always executing a plan with a well-defined goal, and a fast approaching endpoint, means the plot remains manageable for the GM.

Put another way, even though the students get to root around in the corners of the sandbox as they prefer, in the end the recess bell will ring, and they will be brought back to where the teacher needs them to be for lessons. ;-)  They start off in the classroom, and they end up in the classroom, but in between they can mess around as desired, as long as they stay in the yard.

Translation:  Even though the adventurers get to root around in the corners of the village as they prefer, in the end the imaginary Doomsday Clock will chime, and they will be brought back to where the GM needs them to be for the climax.  They start off in a structured introduction, and they end up in a structured conclusion, but in between they can mess around as desired, as long as they stay in the isolated mountain vale.

Player agency is crucial, and we don't want to write every adventure to be totally on rails, yet pure sandbox play can meander, leave plot points unresolved, or even sputter out.  That's even more disappointing in the case of an investigation.  Here the story I had in mind has (and needs, really--and deserves!) a very clear conclusion.  As the project came together, I tried to keep it both open where it should be, and closed where it should be, so that the GM will always have a good feel for what is really going on, even though there are a lot of (mostly hidden) moving parts, and can react with ease and confidence to player decisions while relentlessly advancing the plot.

--Sorry, don't mean to divert the thread...  Go buy Book of Quests!

Wow, busy days!  Nice.

Did you post this on the TDM forum?  We miss it there.  Consult Loz, I think, because it would seem to belong in the Mythras Gateway section.

Thank you, Loz.  I am humbled.

Cool.  I hope you find what you're looking for--and if you don't, be sure to let me know.  These forums are an unbeatable source of feedback for this stuff.

Glad to hear it, Questbird!  I hope you like it.  If you do, feel free to leave a review.  If you don't like it, forget you ever heard of me. ;-)

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For modern occupations (and any aspects of a modern game using the Mythras system, I guess), I would consult Luther Arkwright.

I'm on the same page, quibbling aside.  Perhaps the biggest consideration is the Special Effect(s) that the impromptu weapon affords:  Stun, Bleed, Impale, Entangle, or what have you.

That seems reasonable.  Good job!  I'm glad it worked for your purpose.

This is an interesting problem.  For simplicity, I might just reduce this to a single equivalent entity with Augmented skills, as Raleel suggests.  My concern with that, though, is the Action Point economy.  Those several (small) grapplers still have far more APs than their lone victim, and soon will outspend him into submission.  If you don't have AP, you don't get to resist the grapple.  I think if we were talking about 2 adults grappling 1 adult victim, we would not fudge this aspect.  We also would not fudge it if this were plain attacking rather than grappling (though that strays from the OP, I admit).

With the AP tally in mind, then, I think I would actually keep separate rolls and handle it in full detail.  However, remember that line in the rulebook under "Contests of Strength" that goes something like, "Some enemies may be so powerful that no amount of skill can overcome them."  In this case, that concern applies to the demon children.  Even if s/he has unnatural strength, a kid's Damage Mod is sure to be at best -1d2, and probably worse.  Combine this with a low Brawn score (unless the demon somehow improves it), and any individual kid will almost always fail to grapple the Brawnier, bigger+stronger adult.

This is where the mob effect comes in:  Some of those levels of advantage that the adult enjoys are erased by the levels of advantage that cooperating kids enjoy.  This, to me, is they key aspect of the problem that you as GM need to sort out, and which RAW does not cover explicitly.  If these kids are trying to grapple Conan, it may take even more than 10 of them to neutralize his advantage, but if they are jumping on Mr. Magoo, it may take only 2 or 3.

There is also the ultimate intent to consider.  If the mob is trying to immobilize or even knock down the adult, then I think that can be accomplished handily.  If they are trying to inflict damage using puny natural weapons, though, I think the demons are out of luck:  Using tiny fists, etc. at reduced 1d2 or even 1d1 (!) damage due to small SIZ (I don't have the chart in front of me), with a damage mod of -1d2 or -1d4, they are unlikely to inflict any actual harm.  If the dude has armor, they are probably totally ineffective.  There are Special Effects, though, like Bleed (if they bite; we usually don't talk about that for humans, but I would allow it here), and there is choking.  Think about it.

One more thing:  Not all of a mob may be able to attack effectively.  Some part of the mob is blocked by the other part; this is the principle behind Outmaneuver.  How many kids can actually get close enough to attack effectively?  In the first round, it may only be 4 (2 per leg) or 6 (add abdomen), and subsequently any others trying for upper locations have to test Athletics as well as Brawn in one roll, to jump up.

Whatever you decide in the end, this should be a memorable combat!  I agree about grappling being handled poorly by many systems; when I first read Mythras, I was pleased to see that its approach is seamless and natural, not clumsily bolted on as an afterthought to swordplay.  In our game, many characters with advanced Combat Styles (not just "Frontier Commoner" or whatever) actually have Unarmed as one of their "trained weapons", so that they can use it with facility for punching or grappling during standard melee--and they do.  For example, if you're up against a heavy hitter with a 2-handed weapon, grappling either arm is an excellent way to neutralize that threat.

Yes, one does have to consider what the point of the game actually is, and how best to achieve it (or not to destroy it, at least).

Dare I say, at the risk of a shameless plug , you might want to check out this scenario, as a baseline to implementing your idea.  I wrote it not with a video game in mind, but I think it might fit your needs.  Plus, Mythos horror vibe...  Check the taster.

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