Alex Greene

I think everyone who's worked on Fioracitta is hugely gratified by its reception this weekend, and hope to see the title really taking off in time to come. I know I am hugely pleased, and grateful. Depending on sales of Fioracitta and the adventure I'm still writing, which I'm calling Scandalous Liaisons, this weekend I've seriously been contemplating further products to support the Fioracitta line. If Fioracitta takes off, at least I know I'll be happy to create further works for this supplement and setting. I've spoken to people, and there's some good feedback for this idea. So, I'm casting feelers out here. Once you've got Fioracitta in your hands, or on your tablets, laptops, whatever, what do you think? Do you want more titles to expand upon the glamour and weirdness and charm of The Heart of Power? Supplements and adventures? Give it a think. Let us know.

Soph Conner, one of the incredibly talented editors at TDM, in a comment posted on Facebook. The last in a line of editors of Fioracitta, who worked with Dean Kotz and myself to turn that book into something truly impressive. If and when someone makes a review of Fioracitta, I'll post the links here.

I'll be here tomorrow to answer more questions. This has been a great day. Soph even described Fioracitta as "something superb, which deserves to be up there with the great cities of fantasy gaming." Thank you, everyone.

Here's two examples of Journalists which show how much of a difference the 100 point spread makes. Journalist Aliboglio puts some of his 100 points in Bureaucracy, Commerce, Customs, and Influence. Aliboglio likes to schmooze, press the flesh, and dig through archives to get at the truth. Financial records, birth registries and Tamaggia church records are all the same. Journalist Baranna puts points in Athletics, Deceit, Insight, Perception, and Stealth. She is used to climbing places where she is not welcome in order to get at the truth, she is glib, and she knows how to hide, cold read her interviewees, and eavesdrop. The Standard Skills you put your points onto will define your character's metier and forte. Insight and Influence, for example, make your character good at reading people and manipulating them. Commerce and Customs, on the other hand, make the character a born haggler.

As for Standard Skills, p. 38 of Mythras applies. "Standard skills are common to everyone. They represent innate abilities and skills that most people employ on a regular basis from any walk of life." I always assumed that every character possesses these skills at their base chance, and you can share your 100 skill points among them. Most characters, and practically all Fiorese characters in particular, are Civilised. Barbarian and Nomadic exceptions are listed on p. 15 of Fioracitta. Because characters are Civilised, their cultural background skills can be drawn from those listed on p. 15 of Mythras. The skills listed here are for their professions. The 100 points can be spread among those cultural background skills from Mythras as well as the skills listed for these professions. Some of these professions are new. There is no cultural equivalent to them in Mythras. It kind of makes the character options unique to this book. You may complain about the lack of useful skills for Journalists, but in my experience journalists in real life seem to have no useful skills whatsoever, so. as for the Combat Styles, p. 87 of Mythras still stands. There's an or in their listed Combat Styles, too. You just don't see it in the pages of Mythras. You do, however, have to choose which Trait to learn when your character chooses their Combat Style. If it says "choose one from," that's the Trait you pick for your Style when you're using it to fight. It doesn't just grant flexibility in Combat Styles, such that no two warriors, even with the same characteristics and Combat Style %age, will fight in exactly the same way; the difference in Traits can be used to identify the character by their fighting stances, the way they apply their abillities, and even to identify the fighting stable or teacher who taught them to fight.

I just got an email - Fioracitta is finally out on DrivethruRPG! There'll be a big official announcement, but here's a link, large as life!

Lake Ippalia does have many secrets. is it truly the birthplace of the Longane? The Otter People will aver to that with their last breath. Lake Lascha, too, has her secrets. Both those lakes are connected by the Longane, so they could go together. The characters could be faced with an adventure which requires them to wander. Where will they go? There is a whole underground down below the streets. Hidden temples, sewers, aqueducts, cellars full of conspirators, hidden and secret tunnels, and tombs. There are a few above-ground abandoned places, too. Delving into those means delving into the history of the city. As for the magic items and wondrous things, that would have to tie in with the book, to show their histories, their impact on culture and economics, and so on. They'd not just be there for the sake of it - anyone can do something like put a permanent Bladesharp on a sword. But a sword owned by a historical character, which seems to have a shady curse, is another thing altogether. I'm sure that if there is a high enough demand for expansions, I can talk to Loz about opening a line of short modules and adventures.

That would be interesting to do. What would you like?

I'm going to be popping in and out of here all weekend.

You've got one. But in the adventure, you'll get the chance to visit.

Google has been a boon to me during the writing of this book. Quite out of sheer laziness, while looking for the floor plans of a famous house of ill repute in Fioracitta, I googled "Italian mediaeval brothel floor plan" for inspiration. Pages and pages of source material later ... I didn't get to put it into the sourcebook. But I owe you an adventure module ...

Anyone got any more questions?

Thank you!

Will there be a dedicated new Fioracitta discussion thread here? Thread necromancy's distasteful anywhere.

Try them a second time; and if you are getting no dice, ask Loz to check at his end.

Glad you are enjoying the book. And yeah, there are a few groundbreaking things in Fioracitta. You can enjoy the city as is, or purloin bits you like for your own. Me, if there's a new Bestiary from TDM, I'd like to see at least one of my non-human peoples brought into such a future book.

I'll be here from 18:00 BST tonight (UTC+1) for those of you who've secured advance copies of the PDF.

Addendum: I finally have the newsletter blurb myself, and it confirms:- The city and its region are lovingly presented, and it can easily be used alongside Mythic Constantinople, Thennla, or even as a parallel for Luther Arkwright. So there you go. Hopefully, the public launch date will be soon. Or you can subscribe to the newsletter, contact TDM, and get them to send you the latest one. Recommended, if you want to secure your copies ahead of the public launch date. Hope you enjoy.

Some of you may have subscribed to the newsletter, and so you'll have had the link to order the hardcover. Fioracitta is now in the wild. Those of you who wanted to know about compatibility with the Mythic Earth books, this is what the book has to say. Fioracitta would work well with any Mythic Earth setting or Thennla, as those are fairly close in technological and social development and would require the least amount of adjustments. So it's official. Yes, you can have both Fioracitta and Mythic Constantinople together, if you like. You shall go to the ball.

Hi. What Loz said, plus ... 1. I presume this is a sourcebook / setting-book. Does it have included adventures, or a campaign? Or is it strictly a "sandbox," without any "adventures" as such? There's a scenario being written. It'll come out down the line, and I'm hoping it'll be as well-received as the sourcebook itself. 2. Does Fioracitta need Mythras (or Mythras Imperative), or is it standalone / all-in-one (and if standalone, is its basis Mythras or MI)? The magic rules are likely to require Mythras - but if you only have MI, your characters could get by with the more limited magic rules. 3. Does it introduce substantive new subsystems (e.g. like Luther Arkwright does), or is it mostly as per the core rulebook? 3a. Would any "generic" Mythras-core character with a "renaissancey" vibe be viable (if maybe a bit bland) in the city? Or are some such unsuitable? As Loz said. You really just need this book plus either Mythras or MI to enjoy a complete game. Your characters can get by without magic, even if the city is magic-rich. There are plenty of opportunities for adventure, even if your character only knows one or two of the MI Folk Magic cantrips, or no magic at all. I've had this persistent notion, since hearing of this, that placing Fioracitta and Mythic Constantinople into a "RIval Cities" campaign could be all sorts of awesome; does either one have content that would need to be nerfed or buffed to prevent one side from having a killer advantage? Answering both the last question and the next para: Fioracitta welcomes visitors from all sorts of places ... even more, if you bring along something interesting to trade.

I've bought up DoubleZero and the three sourcebooks which derive from the corebook - retoolings of "Revelations in Cold Iron" and "Hardboiled Follies," and a new setting loosely based on Gerry Anderson's Captain Scarlet and UFO, with hints of The Invaders, among other settings. They can all be retooled to a straightforward d100 system with a little work. The question is whether or not there's a place for a d100 spy sourcebook using BRP or a game from the same family, such as Mythras. Mythras, you say? Well ... whoops, looks like this message will self destruct in five se-

I'll have to start coming here regularly once it comes out, to field questions.

That was how the first timelapse photography was invented.

Something in the walls of the cells could block any sort of powers which reach through it, or restrict the ability of magic to work at range. One possible idea is a sorcery spell, Enchant (Prison), which enchants a room, turning it into a cell which stops all magic. One way of setting it up is runes in the walls, door, floor and ceiling which conveys the Neutralising Chaos feature (The Sacred Text, p. 275). It's a permanent effect, so it could be fuelled by the magicians themselves - every two Magic Points they regain, the cell drains them of one, and they wake up short one Magic Point every day, no matter how high their POW. A component of the runes which make up the prison enchantment is a fatigue level's worth of blood from a convict condemned to death. This replaces the permanent Magic Points cost. Of course, nothing prevents the sorcerer from using their mundane skills (Lockpicking, Mechanisms, Influence, Insight, BRAWN (with or without Enhance STR, which could still work, since it operates entirely on the caster) to break out - everyone assumes that the mage is probably going to try to think of spells to escape first, and forget that a bedspring could be turned into a lockpick, or hinges forced, or a lock prevented from closing by a tiny chip of stone picked up from the prison yard ...

Larry was also writer of the episode of The Real Ghostbusters "Collect Call of Cthulhu," and lead designer and author of Masks of Nyarlathotep. This post is from Kenneth Hite. Yes, I have Kenneth Hite on my Facebook f'list. Kenneth Hite on Larry DiTillio's Death