The Green (discussion)

[rust]

Any comments on the tree children?

Yes, they look fine, and I really like them !

[Puck]

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

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

I am still pondering this a little. In the old days, when playing Runequest, I always used pregenerated stats or arbitrarily penciled in skills for the monsters I created. I never really followed a formula.

Is there some strict formula? Should the initial entry of "Tree Child" have their raw skills based on a newly generated character (strict formula) or a common wind child skills when encountered (more or less arbitrary). The Elf skills that I used as a reference point seem inordinately high even for the other example races.

As for character creation I was going to write a list of profession skills for Tree child (have not got to that yet) (EDIT: I just threw these in the entry). I figured that they should get an automatic bonus of 15% in Jump and Climb and possibly in some perception skills right off the bat before other skills points are distributed. This would be due to their physical differences as well as initial upbringing

Using the table function might be the best. You can read about it in this article

After looking at this I might want to wait a little until I have time to fiddle with it. I am a bit lame and challenged when it comes to computer stuff. I like how it looks, but for now the code thing is much easier.

[Puck]

I have been fiddling with the name of the Tree children a little. Should they be called "Tree children" or "treelings"? I originally called them treelings and then switched to Tree children and used treelings to denote all people who lived in the boughs. I am thinking of changing the name back to treelings and using tree children as a slang term for them.

Frelmick is of course just one tribe: the tribe who lives in harmony with the Nifara. I was thinking of detailing a slightly more wild tribe who are a little more distrustful of man, living deeper in the green. I was also thinking of adding a separate type of magic for treelings that deals with beetles (just read an article in National Geographic about beetles). This magic would be a lot like goblin totemist magic. These other tribes and magic can wait until other things are more hammered out though.

[Puck]

I put up a little more detailed draft for a map of the Green in the Gallery.

[rust]

A fascinating map. I am very much looking forward to reading more about the

places mentioned on it.

[Puck]

Thanks, I really need to work out a few more things like the variety and extent of influence of outside cultures on the Green; the rivermen and coastal cities in particular. I always write up certain stuff, particularly on maps, and then think of something later that doesn't really fit. I believe that writing the Gazetteer will be a lot of fun though.

[Puck]

I have been goofing around with character creation, professions and stuff. BRP 0 has a list of skills for each profession and the player chooses from them. This is pretty easy to write up, but I do not know if it is the best way to go. Would it be better to add something like backgrounds and professions a-la MRQ. I was never particularly satisfied with RQ III. (I personally liked the old traveler method both as a player and a GM. It was alway the most fun and seemed to make great characters:). I may do this as an option later). I would be happy for suggestions from more experienced gamers.

I have been fooling around with a MRQ-type skill set for the Nifarite:

Background:

Nefarite:

Climb +20%, Listen +10%, Harness +15%, Spot +10%, Stealth +10% .

Pick any two +10%

Spear, Axe, Bow, Sword, Staff, Shield, Dagger, Dodge.

Any two of the following +10%

Knowledge(Green Lore, Plant Lore, or Animal lore), Literacy (Nefarite)

Any one +15%

Craft (Woodworking, Leather, Resin)

Professions:

Trader:

Many Nifara take to trading up and down the bough roads with various inhabitants of the forests and rivers. Nifara usually trade animal and tree products in return for metal implements tools and weapons.

Appraise+20%, Bargain+20%, Knowledge (Animal or Plant) +10, Language(Other) +20%, Lore(Green)+10%, Literacy (Nifarite) +10%, , Spot +10%, Staff +10%.

Pick one:

Fast Talk, Insight, or Persuade +20%.

Hunter:

Climb+10%, Jump+10%, Knowledge(Animal)+20%, Devise (Trap/ Harness) +20%.

Pick Two 2 +15%

Listen, Spot, Tracking, Knowledge (Green).

Pick one

Hide+20%, Stealth+20%.

Bow+10%, Spear+10%.

Speaker/Healer/Craft worker:

Primary Skill:

First Aid +30%, Craft (Wood, Leather or Potion) +30%, or Language(Other) +30%.

Pick any Three that are not Primary Skills +20%:

Appraise, First Aid, Knowledge (Plant, Animal, Green), Language (other), Literacy.

Staff +10%.

Pick any Three +10%

Listen, Animal Handling, Insight, Persuade, Craft (Wood, Leather or Potion) Spellcasting.

Foragers/Gleaners/Gatherers:

These Nifarites travel the the boughs and foragings. They often visit certain far flung groves to sap and search for valuable plant and tree products

Axe+15%, Climb+15%, Harness +15%, Lore(Plant)+25%.

Pick one:

Bow or Dagger +10%

Pick Four +10%

First Aid, Lore(Green), Hide, Jump, Spot, Appraise, Language (other).

Languages and literacy always seem to pose a particular problem in RQ based games for me. I like the idea of character's knowing more that one language, especially in worlds were many cultures are converging and among more learned classes like spell casters or merchants. Knowing more than one language, and especially literacy, always seems like a point sink though and eats up other skill possibilities.

[rust]

A few days ago I have "jumped the gun" and have used The Green for a first

adventure with characters from my setting.

While investigating the Gate left behind by the Builders in a ruined outpost in

the Great Rift of Pharos IV, they inadvertently activated the Gate and were

transmitted to a portal under the mountains north of The Green.

Since the characters lacked the equipment for an exploration of the region,

they decided after a few encounters with giant spiders and thelike to "hole

up" near the portal and try to figure out a way to use it in order to return

to Pharos IV.

However, they had to go out to search or hunt for food, and this proved to

be extremely dangerous. In the end they only survived with the help of a

wandering group of Mamprusi.

While the characters concentrated on staying alive, the ARC scientists back

on Pharos IV managed to re-establish the Gate's connection with the portal

on Green (as the planet was named), and a security service team rescued

the characters.

The Gate is still extremely unreliable, and the characters lacked the equipment

to determine the precise astrographic position of Green, but I have no doubt

that the ARC (Avalon Research Center) will try to find a way to return to

Green: Some of the organic materials used by the Mamprusi could be most

useful for the colony on Pharos IV.

The players liked this adventure very much, and they especially liked the

Mamprusi - one of them will probably "borrow" them for his own fantasy cam-

paign.

[Puck]

Wow! That is fun to read! That is exactly how I hoped it would play out when I first started writing the Green... Kind of a wilderness that any setting or tech level could interact with. I've kind of fallen into the fantasy route as it is hard to get into a lot of details without falling into a particular setting and ruleset. I think it will be fun to write Sci-Fi options for the Green once I get the fantasy stuff more ironed out.

In the mean time I'd love to hear about any future expeditions into the Green your colonists from Pharos make. If that little excerpt was the pilot for a sci-fi television series or book I would definitely rush out and buy the rest.

[rust]

Thank you very much !

By the way, my favourite scene of this adventure was when a scientist

among the colonists attempted to get some DNA from one of the Mamprusi

("My hypothesis is that they are descendants of genetically uplifted Terran

great apes, so this planet must be a Lost Colony !").

The Mamprusi in question turned out to be female, and she completely mis-

understood the scientist's intentions - as did her mate, the leader of the

Mamprusi group.

The player's attempts to roleplay his character's explanation of what he re-

ally was after by pantomime would have been worth an entrance fee ...

[Puck]

A friend of mine just finished a concept sketch of a tree child or Frelmick. It looks pretty darn close to how I imagined them.

[rust]

A very nice drawing, and in my opinion it fits the description of the Tree Chil-

dren very well.

[mrk]

If your looking for a really great resouce for " The Green", you should take a look at " World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island ". It was written by Weta books( aka Peter Jackson's publishing company) and it's very good describing about all the florna and fauna on the Island and illustrated with some fantastic art. Here's a good review of it over at therpgsite:

http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=2371

[Puck]

Wow, that does sound really great! I'll see if I can get my hands on a copy. I already checked and it is not in my regional libraries. Next time I go to Barnes and Nobles I will scrounge around.

I have not spent much time on the giant fauna yet. So far I have just been working on the humanoid monsters and cultures as well as locations and magic. This book may fire up some ideas. Thanks:)

[mrk]

Glad to help. One other little bit of good source material you may want to look at is Arduin Grimoire 8: Winds of Change and it's chapter on a massive area of nasty swampland called, surprisingly enough," Green Hell".

[Puck]

MMn, I never really owned or looked at much Arduin stuff. Must be my local shop did not carry it back in high school and college days. It has been mentioned numerous times around the forum here though. I just looked it up. Looks very interesting. I cannot find much stuff on Green Hell. I will look some more though, thanks.

I am almost afraid to find it as it probably has already gone places I am trying to go right now. I hate it when I feel I have come up with a cool original idea and then find someone else has already done almost the exact same thing.>:->

Lots of interesting ideas on the Arduin website though. Very similar to a lot of stuff I was working with; Herbalism in particular... that will probably be very important in the Green. I am still working out a way to do an herbalist/alchemist type of skill set. I do not know how well it is really going to work, but I was thinking of trying levels of skills. So one must have one skill at a certain percentage, say 70%, in order to learn the next skill. Kind of like mathematics. You need to know Arithmetic at a certain level in order to begin learning algebra. Well, with alchemy you would have to know herbalism at 70% in order to begin learning Refining. You must know Refining at 70% in order to know Alchemy. Each level would allow the Ichorites(alchemist of the Green) to learn to make increasingly powerful potions. I am not sure how well this will work though.

[mrk]

I am almost afraid to find it as it probably has already gone places I am trying to go right now. I hate it when I feel I have come up with a cool original idea and then find someone else has already done almost the exact same thing.>:->

Don't beat up on yourself. Thease are classic Science Fiction settings that have been around for years and milked by countless others. Hargrave, was a master of taking ideas ( some unflinchingly plagiarized) and putting his own spin on it. Basically, he drew inspiration from Forters' Midworld and transplanted the concept into his own realm and titled the place Green Hell after the nickname US Solgers called the jungles of the pacific back in WW II. Another souce of cool ideas might be Dagobah from the Star Wars universe. It too is a big swampy landscape not unlike The Green.

[mrk]

You need to know Arithmetic at a certain level in order to begin learning algebra. Well, with alchemy you would have to know herbalism at 70% in order to begin learning Refining. You must know Refining at 70% in order to know Alchemy. Each level would allow the Ichorites(alchemist of the Green) to learn to make increasingly powerful potions. I am not sure how well this will work though.

Hmm..I 'm not sure. If your an Alchemist-even an entry level one, You would already have the skills for refining as that's part of the process of making chemicals and such. Is there any write-up's on alchemy in any of the BRP supplements? There's a good website on it that I found. Have you seen it?

The Alchemy Web Site

[Puck]

Hmm..I 'm not sure. If your an Alchemist-even an entry level one, I would think you would already have the skill of refining as that's part of the process of making chemicals and such. But I'm not sure, Is there any write-up's of alchemy in any of the BRP supplements? There's a good website on it that I found. Have you seen it?

I Just took a look. There seem to be a lot of sites on alchemy. I'll spend a little more time at it shortly. The Ichorites are not necessarilly alchemists in the classic sense though. I am pretty much avoiding the metal stuff and the philosopher's stone and all. Ichorites are always looking for fabled or magical tree products though and are invaiders of sorts from the world outside the Green.

Refining is really just a term. I really need three terms to describe the different levels of working with tree ingrediants to produce products of increasingly greater value.

I though about going with the one product one skill idea, kind of like magic, but that makes a character really good with one thing and not much help with others. I am not sure but the tiered skills may allow a character to be good at a lot of little stuff at first; varied and useful, but not all powerful in one area.

[mrk]

The Ichorites are not necessarilly alchemists in the classic sense though. I am pretty much avoiding the metal stuff and the philosopher's stone and all. Ichorites are always looking for fabled or magical tree products though and are invaiders of sorts from the world outside the Green.

The Ichorites to me sounds like an Alchemist only his knowledge is in Ethnobotany.Wikipedia is a good place to start learning about this kind of stuff.

[frogspawner]

RoleMaster had a good long list of magical herbs (including weird insect-juices etc) which might be helpful for a start.

But lists define what is possible and what is not, setting limits. It would be nicer if The Green's variety of herbs was limitless and unknown/unknowable. Maybe you could develop a series of tables for the properties of herbs/etc that might be found...?

[mrk]

Also, if you had any tribal people/ or medicine man living in the green, chances are they would have a higher degree of knowledge of some of the stuff growing out in the bogs then anyone from the outside.

[Puck]

The Ichorites to me sounds like an Alchemist only his knowledge is in Ethnobotany.

Exactly, at least I think so. I am not sure what Ethnobotany is.

Wikipedia is a good place to start learning about this kind of stuff.

Yep, the only problem is that every time I start bugging around with Wikipedia to much, days go by with no writing getting done. It sure is useful though. Crazy thing is many herbs help with stuff like congestion, digestion, sore feet, rheumatism.etc. I really need to find more in game effects.

RoleMaster had a good long list of magical herbs (including weird insect-juices etc) which might be helpful for a start.

But lists define what is possible and what is not, setting limits. It would be nicer if The Green's variety of herbs was limitless and unknown/unknowable. Maybe you could develop a series of tables for the properties of herbs/etc that might be found...?

I agree with you on both points. What I was thinking would be to give a list of items that are commonly used, the basics, and then leave it kind of open ended for the GM to develop. The reason Ichorites are in the Green is to research and develop new products... some good adventure hooks here. Later on, on a website, or the Green II, a more exhaustive list could be developed.

Even so I am still messing with how to do the lists. There are more variables that one would expect.

1. A list of valuable items and ingredients found in the Green and their prices "per dose". Some would have effects on their own, some would need to be "refined"

2. A list of items that are "refined" and created from the other items, their effects and prices per dose, as well as type of skill necessary to "refine" them.

3. There are many items which use tree products, that are not potions per say but need certain ingredients. The relative price for these ingredients should be included somewhere as well.

I figure that characters entering the deep Green would always have to keep their eyes open for little hoards of herbs and valuable tree things that they could use or bring back and trade for other cool stuff. Herbal lore will be a very valuable skill to have.

Also, if you had any tribal people/ or medicine man living in the green, chances are they would have a higher degree of knowledge of some of the stuff growing out in the bogs then anyone from the outside.

Yep, but many do not have the alchemical skill to make the most of some herbs. Ichorites are always looking for rumors of medicine men and any previously unheard of remedy, use for herbs, or other weird concoction.

[mrk]

Exactly, at least I think so. I am not sure what Ethnobotany is.

The scientific study of the traditional knowledge and customs of a people concerning plants and their medical, religious, and other uses.

Yep' date=' the only problem is that every time I start bugging around with Wikipedia to much, days go by with no writing getting done. It sure is useful though. Crazy thing is many herbs help with stuff like congestion, digestion, sore feet, rheumatism.etc. I really need to find more in game effects.[/quote']

You just have to think how this stuff applies in game terms. Minor ailments like rheumatism,sore feet, ect, could be remedied by the equivalent of a (light) cure disease, healing spell, potion and the like.

[Dredj]

Crazy thing is many herbs help with stuff like congestion, digestion, sore feet, rheumatism.etc. I really need to find more in game effects.

I would suggest looking up some funky New Age herbalism books. You can find herbs that facilitate astral projection and such

For him it could be anything from using a high tech lab with computers and technicians to do his bidding all the way to something as simple as feeding the plant to a particular animal and waiting for it to fully "digest it" if you know what I mean (believe it or not, there's a very expensive coffee that's processed that way with Monkeys here on Earth!) .

I wonder who was the first person to taste test that? Was it a dare?