Matt_E

There is also the career of Hunter, which certainly entails both ranged and hand weapons. In our game, each CS has 4 weapons, one of which is either solely ranged or can be used at range. It may be dagger, hatchet, or short spear, but those have the Thrown trait, so, fine. Commoners often have Thrown Rock.

Thanks for asking, heathd666, but Old Bones won't be there, either. I, too, cannot justify the costs. Besides, I have so many projects to write for you... :-D

Ah. You said "solar", so I was not thinking about cosmic rays. Yes, the more, the better, as far as that goes, and any/every molecule counts, as a massive deflecting body. I would not call UV radiation "quotidian" (you do wear sunscreen, right?), but it is certainly less energetic. If you're going down that road, there is also the magnetosphere to consider. I don't know about that, for Mars.

Adding CO$_2$ will not block the problematic UV rays. You need oxygen for that, which has its ozone allotrope. You could use a UV absorber other than oxygen, I guess, but whatever else you might choose, I'll bet you shouldn't breathe it.

Yes. One of the triumphs of Mythras is that its modeling of combat makes spears and shields powerful, instead of "inferior weapon and +1 to AC".

1. I had in mind side by side walkers with Medium-reach weapons, like clubs or broadswords. If you were to try to swing a big weapon in that space, you would have to be all by yourself, without anyone standing next to you. In real life, swinging a greatsword or great axe normally in that space would be impossible, I think. You would hit the walls. That's what the penalty is meant to reflect. 2. I would say that any weapon with the Impale SE could be a thrusting weapon, but in this case you would have to declare in advance that you were using it that way. Interestingly, in Mythras (but not all other d100 rules) a greatsword is an impale weapon...! As long as you specify up front that you're poking, and don't try to choose Bleed later, I would allow it. If you have a weapon like a spear or trident that only has the Impale option, then I would dispense with the formality and not make the player declare up front--common sense. There is nothing sacrosanct about the distance of 2.5 m; that was the size of the passage in that adventure, so it was on my mind when I wrote down the penalty. It seems about right, but you might impose the same penalty for a 3-m-wide hall, and you might make it worse for a 1.5-m hall (anything above Short Reach, instead of Medium).

It sounds good--especially the additional sandbox aspect. Is it for Ranks 1--2, or 2--3? The blurb and cover don't match.

From the Old Bones adventure Secrets of Blood Rock: This natural shaft is irregular, but generally about 2.5 meters in diameter. Characters may walk two abreast in most places. Large swung weapons are at a disadvantage: Except for thrusting weapons like spears, each step of Reach above Medium penalizes Combat Style by one grade. This elegant mechanic was suggested by Loz himself, during editing.

We are participating in DriveThruRPG's annual sale, so stock up now and save 25%. Hey, only two products are behind a paywall anyhow, but now's your chance. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/10499/Old-Bones-Publishing I regret that the timing was not better for the release of Savage Swords Against the Necromancer. We are still on track for the end of the month, though. It won't be too much, I promise.

Agreed. Survey the tables in RAW, think about what you want to accomplish, and proceed by trends. Its ENC may be the hardest to figure, and is a bit loosey goosey anyhow, but, yes, in general the bigger the size (damage, Force, Reach) of the weapon, the bigger its ENC--quite naturally. I would not fret much over getting the ENC value "exactly right", though: Any player who really, really wants her character to wield the biggest [whatever] in the land is not going to give a shit about ENC 6 versus ENC 4, for example.

I think some explicit advice along these lines in RAW would be welcomed by many, especially new GMs. Just to be clear, I do basically agree with Loz here. I, too, allow the substitution of skills when reasonable, as I do find it models real life appropriately, and I, too, would call an absolute rule against it "draconian" (especially if I were a player). After 30 years (minus some hiatuses) as a RQ GM, I have finally begun to really internalize the lesson that, when possible, it's better to say "Yes, but" than "No". Identifying the "when possible" moments is the key, I think.

Aha, thanks TheGrayFox71--sanity checked. I stopped looking when I couldn't find it in the Skills chapter, ahem. Yes, Loz's suggestion, I see now. As many know, here and on the TDM forum, I tend to be a rules stickler. Loz, meanwhile, seems to have a much keener sense of when to bend a rule, and how, for Maximum Gaming Fun.

There is some debate about how to handle this. I am sure that the previous version of the TDM rules (RQ6) specifically stated that a character could not use a Professional skill that was not known, period. However, Loz himself has softened this rule, in the forum discussion that TheGrayFox71 mentions above. Furthermore, I agree with you, Ghostwriter: I am shocked to be unable to find an explicit statement in the current edition of the MYTHRAS rules! I would have sworn it was still in there. I think it must have been removed mindfully, but quietly. I prefer to stick to the idea that you can't use a Professional skill that you haven't "bought". However, for a skill that would be ideal in a given test, there is often another (which might be a Standard skill instead) that could be substituted--usually at a penalty grade. When I write a scenario, I try to include a few alternatives, to help out the GM and players and keep things from seeming hopeless. TheGrayFox71, I would dispute your "always a 5% chance" idea on technical grounds: That rule is true, and a 01 is always a crit...but only when you are allowed to roll. If the GM says you can't roll, that's it, end of story--and that's the case under debate here. That said, I don't find it an outlandish idea, and Your Mythras May Vary, as we always say. I would not let a player try to push me around on this particular point (why do we even have these character sheets?), but I would listen to a cogent argument for an exception. I think that I might make the character attempt the unknown skill at base score, and have it cost a Luck Point.

Yeah, a plain old arc. Some shielding fails, and a big ol' electrical arc connects metal bits that aren't meant to be connected, and any systems you like go down. Nice, simple, no radiation. "It's a know problem with reactors of this type. There was a recall, but also a shortage of replacement units out in this sector..."

Yes, that's what I had in mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse Of course, it would have to be more manageable than an actual explosion or prompt-critical excursion, to avoid having everyone in the vicinity be disintegrated, or take a lethal dose. Maybe a small event, in a small reactor... Anyway, I don't think we have to do the forensics. Game on. :-D

How about this? The ship's reactor goes down and creates an EMP that wipes out those electronics. It could wipe out anything you like... ;-)

What flavor of peyote do you need to attain that sort of perspective? :-b Seriously, though, Belgath, you keep drawing whatever you like. It's interesting.

They're not parallels if they meet in the center. Sorry, couldn't resist...

When I started playing RQ3 back in the 1980s, it was as a better alternative to AD&D. To put it bluntly, I was growing up, and my gaming taste was, too. At some level, I was probably looking for a better system for more or less the same style of play. This is precisely what Classic Fantasy brings: Mythras mechanics (modestly altered to fit) for the flavor of Old School play--plain and simple. I guess in principle the prime reason for me, then, would be nostalgia, a return to the roots. However, my tastes have continued to change, and I don't put that much stock in nostalgia. :-) I like CF as a product, but, it's not my cup of tea, nowadays. Rod has done a great job, though.

When I briefly played an old edition of CoC, 25+ years ago, I did not miss hit locations. That is a game where avoiding combat is generally a really good idea. When switching from AD&D to RQ3, one of the things I liked best was hit locations, and the more realistic combat that came with that rule. When switching to RQ6/Mythras a few years ago, one of the first things I noticed was that the general HP total was gone, but that hit locations remained. I thought I would miss the general HP, because I liked the realism of "a pile of minor wounds can still kill you", but in fact I do not miss it at all. It required extra bookkeeping, and the centrality of Special Effects--particularly Bleed--in Mythras handles that piece of realism. Even if it would not break anything (but Loz notes that it would, basically, and I of course agree), personally I would not want to run Mythras without using hit locations, especially considering the frequency of combat in our home game.

Yes; so did RQ3 (Spirit Magic), which is what I played for many years, before Mythras. This is sort of what I had in mind. Our RQ3 game was centered around Sorcery and Theism, and sorcerers would invariably create items with bound INT and POW spirits, into which spell knowledge was transferred. You can see where this leads. This became rather Monty Haul, after a while (though not as bad as actual AD&D). >> pachristian added: Keep in mind that "unbalancing" only applies if only one side has access to the ability. You shift the balance, but you only unbalance if you do not give the other side equal abilities. That's a fair point. My thought was that the players might seize upon the idea before the GM did, creating a (temporary) imbalance--followed by an escalation ("arms race") that would either never end or result in the demise of the campaign. My point, then, was that if either the players or the GM don't want that sort of situation, then the game will be spoiled. If both groups don't mind, fine. This is just a restatement of the usual advice: Unless everyone is on the same page, probably the fun will be spoiled, so be mindful. Meanwhile, if everyone keeps on the same page, then even unintended consequences of play probably will not spoil the fun. It's not really so difficult to achieve in practice, I think, but it bears mention.

Note that this could easily unbalance a low-magic campaign. Before you go down this road, do sort out what level of magical gear you're truly prepared to deal with...because that is where you are likely to end up, if any of your players are at all Gamist. I don't mean to suggest that you should avoid matrices, but I feel it's important to know where you're likely to end up if you don't take precautions.

Note that this could easily unbalance a low-magic campaign. Before you go down this road, do sort out what level of magical gear you're truly prepared to deal with...because that is where you are likely to end up, if any of your players are at all Gamist. I don't mean to suggest that you should avoid matrices, but I feel it's important to know where you're likely to end up if you don't take precautions.

Um, if turning superoxide/peroxide into much less reactive O$_2$ doesn't reduce radical stress, then why does practically every living thing bother to do it? By electron counting and balancing net reactions, I'm pretty sure it does reduce radical stress--at least in the sense of radical count. In an environment with such high O$_2$ concentration, why bother to store any as peroxide esters? Just keep breathing. ...but this is all fun-time anyway, so have at it.

My eyes caught on this: For a minimal change viz. humans, maybe the Blue Ones just have better superoxide dismutase in their blood and cells. As a side effect, in less aggressive atmospheres (like our own) they would probably have much longer lifespans. That could be a reason for some to move to other planets.