Lloyd Dupont

Just for fun...

Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about colonizing space

HP-Tables.xlsx

2 hours ago, Fenspar said:

- Magic (I'm thinking of the Blast spell) feels underpowered. I recall it's 3MP per d6 of damage, which seems a high toll, so an option for more epic fantasy magic would be nice.

It's one area where the rule are a bit unclear in their intention.

Remember how BRP both offer general HP or (much lower) location HP?

Well 3MP per D6 for location HP is a reasonable price. But it's expensive when playing with general HP and should be 1MP per D6.
They should amend the rule to that effect!

I have some sort of "powerful magical item" that's going to be found by the players soon.

Although, while powerful it's not that useful. I have a list of powers ideas for it.. and I am wondering whether the last power is a good idea and how it could improve the campaign... hence asking for feedback...

- 1st it let user broadcast dream to all in a large radius
- 2nd it can communicate telepathically with one known target anywhere
- 3rd, perhaps it can scry, as if bird view, in a large radius

and finally, the last power I am wondering whether it is a good idea or not, or how to make it a good idea... otherwise I might just skip this power

it can let the user project his mind in some particular domain in the astral sea (one related to the previous owner's deity) and perhaps the user can visit the place in dream form.. or perhaps creature from the domain can materialise around the magic item (to steal it back, for example).

Now I wonder if this power is really going to be interesting in play... If monster can materialise from it, most likely it will be an overwhelming force, not very rewarding gameplay to crush the players without warning and apparent reason. And why would the players visit the realm? It's probably be quite hostile to non believer...

I wonder what other GM take would be on such ability / concept? as a way to spice up their campaign?...

And nope, players have no advance warning & knowledge or clues about the item....
Although.. I have an opportunity to retrofit it, if they take go some future path I have in mind... A path that is very poorly lit, they can super easily skip it...

Now I feel like I must check it out!

BTW the best version was 2, i.e. Master of Orion 2, that was the best one!

2 hours ago, seneschal said:

So ... when do we play?

Glad you like my campaign setting idea btw!

Right now we are on a fantasy campaign across the multiverse...
Give me some time to think of the scifi setting a bit more!

hahah!  

14 hours ago, seneschal said:

The Star Wars and Master of Orion franchises are both well-done but they have different emphases and thus a different feel.  Morality in Star Wars is supposed to be black and white because Lucas was attempting to recapture the childhood joys of old Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers movie serials.  In fact., his initial plan wad to do a Flash Gordon remake but he couldn't get the rights.  He ended up having to come up with his own thing, and Srar Wars is the better for it.  Ironically, the success of SW paved the way for a 1980 live action Flash Gordon film by Dino De Laurentis.  Flash was certainly fun but it didn't have the franchise power of Star Wars.

Master of Orion in contrast is a tale of interstellar competition among assorted sentient races, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.  It isn't necessarily Game of Thrones dark but the rivalry and desperation for survival is real.  It could make a good movie if each species  was given irs moment to express its goals and desires.  Maybe a Babylon 5 feel?

Master of Orion (2) totally scratch my itch of psychological realism way more that SW does. Can't stand SW as a GM.
(As a player I go with whatever the GM wants,heck, I am even, shudder, playing (as a player) a D&D campaign right now! 😮 )

That said my Master of Orion campaign would be a bit different from the original settings.

It would be post win condition. And post apocalyptic sort of.

Bulrathi would have won. and conquered 2/3 of the galaxy (but not all).
They wouldn't wipe out races though, but keep the native, import other races anf do some heavy bulrathi cloning making each planet a melting pot with a majority of (socially inferior) Burathi clone. Which is good for multiracial party, most races are all mixed up
Bulrathi nobility would be, also, oblivious to the plight of its people with a very weak law and order and a power that is mostly, rightfully, hated by the people. Finally there was a coup, and a civil war, the previous Bulrathi emperor is dead and the empire is disintegrating into civil war. Which add opportunity for uncnquered perpherical powers...

And for good measure I added the Geth from Mass Effect that roam the galaxy with killing intent, and the Illitid / Mind Flyer from D&D as a "Master of Orion" minor race / native race, that has it use as spies...

I feel like it's a good time to mention a character in some Robert Heinlein book (I forgot the book's name or character).
This guy was a commie (communist) hating psychopath, and he found out some people have, you guessed it, red blood!
I mean how obvious can it be? goddamn commies!

I can't help but wonder.... It's a lot of scrutiny for what is an imaginary culture... Isn't that.. excessive? And bound to find holes!?  

I am sure my homebrew setting have gapping huge unrealism! 😮 (that is, even for a magic world)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot#Etymology

Wikipedia concurs!
Cool bit of trivia, I had no idea! 😮   

On a tangent topic....

And maybe not so relevant since I am mostly using homebrew campaign and adventures everywhere.. though I am not adverse on pulling maps, NPC, ideas, from other settings  

While SW is a great SciFi success.. what other SciFi setting is a great success, I wonder?

I, for one, is planning a Master of Orion campaign.... SW is too much good vs evil and emo Jedi (trying to suppress their feelings! 😮 ) for my taste, hahah

Also, I feel like pitching it, although I only read the last 5 posts on this particular page (so I totally lack context).
There is, it seems, a lot of historical and nerdish factual discussions going on the BRP/Gloranthata forums... so, in that spirit, I wouldn't think that Ian or Quizilbashwoman are really diluting the topic in anyway. In fact they are kind of enriching it, ain't they?

16 minutes ago, galafrone said:

Pigs can eat basically anything and in a semi-Wilderness ecosystem they can subside of a variety of vegetable (and even animal) parts. The fact the pigs are a mostly raised in the 3 cities (we can call them just that, even if 1000 inhabitants really dont make them "cities") says a lot about the need of a "cattle goddess". The votanki mosly hunt and gather. from what i remember and the more the clans are in the Wilderness the less they can keep pigs. They actually DONT need pigs, they hunt and gather the abundant fauna and flora of the balazaring lands

Nice pig info... 

But, however, isn't bacon soooo tasty!
They might not need pig, but they probably enjoy it!  

Though, I believe, pig meat is the most likely one to turn bad quickly (particularly in those hard time before the invention of fridge) and if they don't know how to make ham and bacon... Pig meat is more of a liability than anything else...

We haven't played the last 2 weekend due to real life issue...

Anyway.. was trying to cope up with Teleport attack and modify my Dark Elf accordingly, with the idea that they were used to this sort of thing.

I was inspired by the magic section which imply that one can extend enchant to large area.
Now (some of) my Dark Elf city have magical dome of protection which can prevent some spell (fly, teleport, scry) to work, and provide some minor scry ability over the city to some magical police force and also cover the city with an illusion.

And there is a magic room in the lord's dungeon to run continuous scry operation.... detecting multiple large teleport as possibly suspicious.

Not really important now, but I think if the player were to (successfully) investigate such enchantment it will be represented by some big crystal ball with an image of the city inside... and would somehow be tied to the city (not worked if removed and taken away)

Overall I like the techno magic surveillance, it's a cool concept which filled my player wit caution!

taste analysis might not be enough if you don't know what to look for.. I guess one need BOTH taste and alchemy to do it... but good idea  

Just sharing an idea I had... I guess I probaly roll with it, one can argue it's settings specific and I like it!
But hey, wonder if anyone feels like coming with amendments...

In my continuous personal crusade against spell caster... (because learning spell is easy, and I don't follow the rarity = power rule that some do) I was thinking armour should do more against magic. Maybe enchanted armor, but since fullplate is super expensive it should as well be enchanted too.

Now I don't like too much protect resist magic, it's an all or nothing affair... and then I had an idea...

What if armor gives a bonus to the resistance pool when defending against an incoming spell? I like that!
I guess how much is quite open to debate...
In fact that could also be a defensive spell option... 

I guess second sight to see a magical item and be able to identify an item, but conflict to learn all of its power.... sounds cool!

Not user I would use that with alchemical concoction though.. maybe need alchemical knowledge and some testing materials.... mm...

On a vaguely related topic I have a conundrum, I am tempted to  give perhaps 3 or 4 power to this orb. The 4th (optional) one is top open a path to a dream realm. A place in the astral plane frequented by the followers of the deity of the temple owning the orb. And I am wondering if it could be used both ways.. Not by the spirit of the dead of course, but by local demons..
But then this orb could become too dangerous to steal, since why not send plenty of demons at once through it hey? I might not give this last power at all, because benefit is little... but wondering if you got any reaction / ideas about just that kind of item?

What's the procedure to identify magic items?

I am adding many potion / grenades.

Soon I will introduce a powerful orb of dream casting....

How to identify such item?

Some might have magi tracker on them.. how to detect those?

I stumbled on that today, perfect for scifi settings! 😮

Plus it's real (allegedly)! 😮
http://www.hyperstealth.com

Well there are other generalists in the D100 family!  

I am having a go at Revolution D100 now...
It has lots of good things  

The only "bad thing" is that despite an apparent simplicity at the get go, plenty of unexpected complexity comes into view when playing... But eventually it become simple again!

I was not planning to "help" 1H sword, only Guns and Daggers, without increasing the overall damage done to the target...  

Rhino hide.. good image!
I was thinking it either boost the armor (and has the armor coverage weakness) or it's an egg like forcefield, so up close (with short weapon) won't help...
I guess it's up to me... but hurt my suspension of disbelief less this way...  Although.. my players seems to like the Rhino hide version more.. mm...

I am sure there is a Cthonian creature somewhere that looks just like that! 😮 

I will have to check the conspiracy theory... 

Mmm.. it seems to me that we are not that much of a disagreement... if I rephrase it... we could even be totally agreeing  let's see....

1. the D8 damage bonus for impale attack is good enough no need for by pass armour bonus, mm.. something to think about (since I was thinking bypass armour 4 top anyway, it's even better)

2. you said what about a stunt give -3 coverage roll.. well I said I was just thinking about such stunt, but make it usable only with short range weapon (mostly specific daggers)
But I was also thinking to help those weapon when coverage is 0.... for example the gothic armor has 0 coverage on many location, but there are still many joint that can be used....

3. you said to combo stun and coup de grace, it is even better than coverage roll modifier, there is just no armour! Yeah I guess I have to work that angle... ^^ one of my player can't use it though, with his strength 0 of 10 and main weapon is a sword... I guess wrestling it is

Point 1 and 3 would be better use of the rules that my initial thinking, thanks hey!

Point 2 is a bit of a difference (maybe?) which is, after some consideration, weapon that have the best coverage modifier should be the small ones, like narrow and pointy daggers.

On another topic, coup de grace makes me think.. it implies (like other realism issue) that magical armour is not a totally impervious thing. We had an "argument" my player and I, (nothing serious, more like a debate really) I created a swarm of (magically summoned and venomous) spiders,  while small and easy to kill they were fast, numerous, and climb on player and bite them with poison ignoring armour. And they were like.. Protection (spell) should help! And I was like... protection is not an impervious bubble.. one can breath through it.. and... be "coup de grace", ho well , something to think about for next time

Reading about heavy armour fights....
Apart from the ambush, or slow them and shoot them hard and fast and a lot, I am talking heavy armoured melee....

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/heres-how-fight-wearing-15th-century-armor-180955204/
https://www.scienceabc.com/social-science/warriors-wore-full-body-armor-killed-battles-ancient-times.html

I think I might give bypass defence stunt on normal attack for (some special?) dagger (like the gunners stileto on the second page)...

And I also think I want to introduce some bypass armor (value) to some weapon (like musket), like they do in Mythras... The little ball doesn't really do much more than a big ass sword... but can punch through an armour better though.... And should maybe only work at short range or decay or something....
(Not that muskets matter much right now.. I might start to use them at a much later stage)

48 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Yep, "Ducks in spaaaaaaace" will be echoing through my dreams tonight!

Cheers

Omg, could it be?

That Gloranthans Ducks are the ancestor of the proud Alkari master of Orion?! 😮
https://masteroforion.gamepedia.com/Alkari