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The Green (discussion)


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I was thinking about orcs yesterday. My gaming has mostly been Gloranthan with a bit of Cthulhu and some SciFi or SciFantasy and I haven't played D&D for 20 years or so, so I don't play or GM with Orcs.

That's probably why I'd like to include them in a setting because, to me, they are a new and interesting species.

Of course, I'm sick to death of Storm-Worshipping Iron-Age Barbarians.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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Would the Grulks work? What about the mountain goblins(I was going to leave these out of the green)? There are quiet a variety There are the pig nosed images from d+d, the green nutjobs of warhammer and then the Tolkien type(no fantasy game has ever really come close to bringing these gutteral speaking monster justice). What type were you thinking of?

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Trodon were a species of carnivorous dinosaurs. There were about feet long, and are noted for having very large brains for their size. Their brain size was such that they might have been more intelligent than most mammals. Had they not died out, they might have evolved into something sentient.

This could kind of go places...What about making the lizard men just intelligent dinosaurs? Perhaps smaller ones like velocirapters. How long were the Trodon?

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Rust, I was thinking, would it be helpful to start a new wiki and a new thread for a sci-fi Green? I was going to spend time and effort on the fantasy Green, but there are some ideas that would work very well for one and not to well for the other. For instance the Sci-fi green would have psionics or telepathy instead of magic. The pirates or marauders from a different world could be using grav-boats or even sky sleds instead of ships and boats. You could also place the green in the star charts.

Anything that works in the Fantasy green could be cut and pasted into the Sci-fi Green. The two Greens could develop alongside one another and yet independently. I think this may be very helpful when the rules come out and the magic and cults start to develop.

One issue I that kind of brought this to mind was the Ashuli (very well done by the way I love the back story mystery to the player stuff).

I was thinking of using a very similar concept for a minor race called a Tree Kraken (for lack of a better term). They would be very similar to the Ashuli except they would live in fresh water (pools beneath the limbs)and breath air for long periods of time. Sometimes they would climb to the tree level with their tentacles and catch prey from above or even lurk in the Sloughs. They were(like the Ashuli) to be sort of intelligent. But they were very, very evil. Cthulhu evil.

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Rust, I was thinking, would it be helpful to start a new wiki and a new thread for a sci-fi Green? ...

One issue I that kind of brought this to mind was the Ashuli ...

I was thinking of using a very similar concept for a minor race called a Tree Kraken (for lack of a better term).

I do not know how others would like to handle this, but for me it would be

easier if you would just continue to develop your "Fantasy Green", becau-

se I find it much easier to "translate" an entire setting ("pick, choose and

introduce"-style) from fantasy to science fiction than to work on two simi-

lar settings at the same time.

As for the Ashuli (thank you !), you do not have to use them in your fanta-

sy setting, but on the other hand I see no problem with them being there -

they are far away in the deep sea and rarely show up.

Their similarity with the Tree Kraken should also be no problem at all, there

could well be two similar-looking but otherwise completely different species

in different parts of the region, I think. In fact, this could be a nice way to

confuse players who run into one species after having encountered the

other one earlier ...

Anyhow, I consider The Green basically your setting, and will accept what-

ever you find most useful.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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I do not know how others would like to handle this, but for me it would be

easier if you would just continue to develop your "Fantasy Green", becau-

se I find it much easier to "translate" an entire setting ("pick, choose and

introduce"-style) from fantasy to science fiction than to work on two simi-

lar settings at the same time.

Thats the way we will do it then. :thumb: Later on, when both settings develop a little more, we could write a senario incorporating both worlds.

As for the the Ashuli Tree Kraken thing, I think they both work fine. I like the idea about mixing players up.

By the way, on the Wiki, would it be possible to change my original posting/labeling of "the green" to "The Green". :o As it is, it looks kind of dorky. I do not know how to change it though. :(

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By the way, on the Wiki, would it be possible to change my original posting/labeling of "the green" to "The Green". :o As it is, it looks kind of dorky. I do not know how to change it though. :(

Done. You can do when clicking "Advanced Edit" ;)

SGL.

Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub!
b1.gif 116/420. High Priest.

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This could kind of go places...What about making the lizard men just intelligent dinosaurs? Perhaps smaller ones like velocirapters. How long were the Trodon?

'

About 6 foot/2m long, and they were related to Velocorators,and there is even some speculation, including a photo or what sort of intelligent species they hypothetically could have evolved into on wikipedia.

In fact, if we wanted to be different, we could replace all the mamallian species with intelligent dinosaurs.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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I have started to add the information to the Trade Goods list, and the Soo-

lie to the Races list. If I missed something, or got something wrong, please

tell me, or just edit the list.

The names of the people seem a little bit confusing, we now seem to have

Nifara, Nifarites and Nifirites, and I am not sure whether there are real dif-

ferences, or only different names for the same people ?

Thank you !

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Thanks, I am hoping to write more up on the Soolie presently. Soolie just came to mind as a name, it seems somehow familiar, I hope I am not borrowing other peoples names, I have a habit of doing things like that.

Whoops, Nifara or Nifarites are the same, just slightly different names for the same people. Nifirite is just a spelling mistake.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Added "Sloths" to the Bestiary and "rivermen" to the Green.

They really look fine. I will add them to the list after the weekend.

Do the Nifara and the Rivermen produce the same goods (boat resin, cloth

resin, etc.), or do you plan to move them from the Nifara to the Rivermen ?

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Do the Nifara and the Rivermen produce the same goods (boat resin, cloth

resin, etc.), or do you plan to move them from the Nifara to the Rivermen ?

They may produce some of the same goods, I am still trying to figure it all out. I was thinking that the Nifara could make many of the easier to produce goods that may need big vats. The resineers on the other hand could produce the more secretive and magical good that take a little more learning: poitions and the like. They each must be able to make certain goods like the rope resin, paper resin,and boat resin.

The reason I switched the resineers to the rivermen was that they seemed a little redundant with the Nifara and the rivermen needed a little more variation to fill them out. In the end the Resineers may actually be a separate faction that grew out the riverpeople originally but have become more connected throught time to the nifara. To really make them viable a nice set of alchemy or potion making rules are going to be necessary. I saw some discussion on the main board and am watching closely. I can't really do anything until I get my hands on the book.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Phwew! Lots of new rules to ponder as I just received the BRP book. I was trying to think of how the actual BRP rules can be used with the Green.

The topic of magic is a big one and I have avoided it thus far do to the lack of having any rules at hand. Magic would be taught by traditions, brotherhoods, or cults, with each teaching particular skills and spells a la cults of RQ. Some traditions would be based on magic and others on sorcery. (I do not know whether both systems should be used by the same school of magic).

The first one I am thinking about is the magical traditions of the Tree children called Wealdling magic. I was thinking of using Sorcery and including variations of : Cloak of Night, Sorcerer’s Leap, Sorcerer’s Sureness, Several Characteristic and Combat spells, Unbreakable bonds, Ward, Brazier of Power, Heal and Sorcerer’s Ear and of course summon (tree) elemental.

I was also thinking of having a class of special Wealdling traditionalists or maybe initiates called Grove Guard or Gnarled hosts. These would be tree children who, in a ceremony, magically tattoo their bodies in bark-like patterns. They could then cast a spell while touching wood to absorb it around themselves in a wooden bark-skin or armor and become a kind of mini ent-like thing.

In the initial ceremony they would sacrifice permanent power points to create their armor. Cost would be:

1point for each +3 str and size, -1 dex.

1 pt for each +3 armor, -1 dex.

1pt for spiky boughs or thornsfists (damage bonus) or whip-like fingers.

1pt for shooty thorn or spikes.

1 point for shield boughs (thick Popeye-like forearm boughs that can be used to parry with.

Possibly countermagic, poison or regenerative abilities could be bought as well.

Gnarled Hosts could continue to add additions to his armor as they gain extra Pow.

Grove guard must learn athletic skills, including combat skills, separately for the grove guard armor form. This means that the Grove guard would probably need a whole different entry on the character sheet.

Spell: Embody tree (3)

Allows a tree child to encase his body in pre-prepared Gnarled host armor. In order to activate this spell the tree child must touch a tree or other amply large form of wood.

Grove Guard would begin quite weak with maybe skin showing through the bark, but as they grew in size and armor their tree form would grow and become quite huge, garled and nasty. Each Gnarled host would have distinctly shapes and bark patterns based on the tatoos and the type of tree sap used to make the tatooing ink.

Would this work? Would their be a better way to have the same effect through mutations or super powers?

Is +3 right for str and armor for each point of power sacrificed or should it be something different perhaps d6 or d4+1? Remember the Tree children are generally small weak and have no armor to begin with.

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Unfortunately I cannot give you much of a meaningful comment on this, be-

cause I almost never used magic in one of my settings. To me your ideas

look fine, but that does not mean much ...:o

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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To tell the truth, I've tried to steer clear of describing magic for several reasons:

1. I don't have BRP Zero

2. BRP is not out yet

3. The SuperPowers rules in the BRP Playtest left me cold

4. I rather hoped that someone would incorporate a version of the RQ3 Magic System as an option for BRP

Superpowers/mutations are fine if you can come up with a rationale.

Inherent magic is also fine as is magic that is derived from a source.

As for the example, I like the idea of the Grove Guard. +3 STR/SIZ or +3 Armour for -1 DEX sounds OK, you could get good armour (9pts) for -3 DEX and RQ Troll SIZ (+15) for -5 DEX, so that makes you pretty big and tough for -8 DEX, so providing they start off with a high DEX then they should remain fairly useful rather than becoming tough but immobile. I think +6 STR/SIZ is too much as +18 STR/SIZ for -3 DEX seems too good to be true.

It also gives you a mutation of Were-Tree that allows someone to naturally take on Grove Guard form without the use of magic, depending on the mutations taken.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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To tell the truth, I've tried to steer clear of describing magic for several reasons:

1. I don't have BRP Zero

2. BRP is not out yet

I kind of figured that we were in the same boat there. When I got my hands on the book my mind started racing a bit though.

3. The SuperPowers rules in the BRP Playtest left me cold

I have not really looked at the Superpowers yet as there is still plenty of other stuff to sort through but a post you made on the main forum made me think that maybe they could be used as a sort of legendary ability type of thing.

4. I rather hoped that someone would incorporate a version of the RQ3 Magic System as an option for BRP

I do not know why the RQ 3 magic book could not be used verbatum with BRP. I have not looked over things with a fine tooth comb but I have not read anything that prevents it from being used thus far. I was shocked to not see divine magic in the book. Without divine magic it seems as if people will be running around with mighty high pow after a while(I may still have stuff to read that may clear this up though). That is what made me think of the Grove Guard. The sacrifice of perminant pow into the tatoo/armor would kind of be like divine spells in that it is something to spend Pow on.

I was also thinking a little bit about legendary abilities again here. Instead of sacrificing for Spells as in RQ what about sacrificing pow for abilities, magical or otherwise. The same idea for the grove guard could be used for the trogod bestial shapechangers as well.

Anyway it seems as if I have run past the shallow waters and have splashed into the deep end without pausing to learn how to swim. :P

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I just tried to throw in some stats for the tree children under the basic "the Green" entry in the wiki. I used the "code" option as that seemed to work the best at the moment. Is there another more useful or proper way to do this?

Any comments on the tree children? The powers section is just a placeholder now until I write up the Wealdling magic.

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The stats look fine. Physically and mentally they seem about right.

The skills look a bit high. Are they basic skills or are they for "normal" Tree Children?

Are the spells generic from the BRP Rulebook or are they spells that you have made up? The names of the spells don't really work for me. The spells don't really have any flavour, you couldn't tell they were Waelding or Forest Magic from the names. Even changing the names from "Sorcerer's" to "Forest" would be a start, so you'd have Cloak of Green, Forest Leap, Forest Sureness, Forest Speed, Forest Armor, Sharp flame, Make Fast, Forest Ear and Forest Eye.

As for having the stats in a Code section, it looks OK. I've also put them in tables but I'm not at all sure that it looks any better.

It would probably look better if the Weapons were pulled out to be below the stat block and above the skills, but that's the classic RQ layout. I've also included a sample Hit Location table, but I don't have the BRP rules so I haven't got the correct values. It's only an example after all.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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I just tried to throw in some stats for the tree children under the basic "the Green" entry in the wiki. I used the "code" option as that seemed to work the best at the moment. Is there another more useful or proper way to do this?

Any comments on the tree children? The powers section is just a placeholder now until I write up the Wealdling magic.

Using the table function might be the best. You can read about it in this article: http://basicroleplaying.com/forum/brp-wiki/156-wiki-manual.html (somewhere in the lower half of the article).

The tree children look great. :)

SGL.

Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub!
b1.gif 116/420. High Priest.

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The skills look a bit high. Are they basic skills or are they for "normal" Tree Children?

I used the skills for "elf" in BRP as a reference point. They do seem rather high though.

The names of the spells don't really work for me.

I agree. They do not work at all. They are simply the spells listed in BRP that could be construed to have woodland/tree magic effects. I will re-name these in the wealdling magic section. I very much like some of the examples you have listed and will probably pilfer them with your permission. The problem is that re-naming them may introduce confusion when people look them up in the rulebook. Would Something simple like this work?

"Cloak of Green (Cloak of Night)"

I've also included a sample Hit Location table

Cool, I meant to do this eventually.

Using the table function might be the best.

I'll look into this presently, Thanks.

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I've also put them in tables but I'm not at all sure that it looks any better.

Are you kidding? It looks way better! Did you individually place the font and size in each entry? It seems like a lot of work.

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I used the skills for "elf" in BRP as a reference point. They do seem rather high though.

They are fine for typical Forest Children, but you probably also need some basic chances for people who want Forest Children PCs.

I agree. They do not work at all. They are simply the spells listed in BRP that could be construed to have woodland/tree magic effects. I will re-name these in the wealdling magic section. I very much like some of the examples you have listed and will probably pilfer them with your permission. The problem is that re-naming them may introduce confusion when people look them up in the rulebook. Would Something simple like this work?

"Cloak of Green (Cloak of Night)"

Sure, pilfer away. Anything I include in this, or any other forum, is freely available unless I say otherwise - and I very rarely say otherwise.

I'd include that kind of thing "Cloak of Green (Cloak of Night)" in the Magic Section but then just refer to the Waelding spell name everywhere else. That way people who don't know where the spell is described can look in the Magic Section and know what to look for in the rulebook.

I can't believe they have spells such as Sorcerer's Eye or Sorcerer's Speed. How ultra-generic is that?

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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