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New Balazar Fan Site


Jon Hunter

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Jon Hunter:

I like Refuza the refusenik! Is she suffering from PBSD - Post Bat-tactic Stress Disorder? An interesting and complicated NPC with conflicting motivations is always a great asset to any campaign. Ones with real power or influence are even better. Bravo, sir! Thanks for sharing this.

Cheers and good gaming.

Evilroddy.

Edited by Evilroddy
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OK two new posts;

The first is an Alternative Itinerary I put together for Joh Miths in my Campaign.

The 2nd is an editable format of the Gloranthan Calendar

 

Edited by Jon Hunter
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On 4/16/2017 at 3:21 AM, Jon Hunter said:

Cheers, I appreciate the feedback.

One of my 8 or so planned articles is on writing a three dimensional NPC. 

I like what you are doing with the magic system.  As per WOD spell systems like thaumaturgy etc. do you have spell write-ups for the various rune level effects?  I assume you have developed cult write-ups that are merely not on the site?  The whole project is ambitious and I enjoy watching it develop.  I am quite interested to see how you convert the enchantment system over.  I have developed a system for randomizing skill increase a la the BRP "tick" system for WOD from back in the day, when  I was running a WOD cyberpunk game.  

You get a tick on a skill each time you successfully use it, but the number of ticks is limited to the same as your Intelligence in dots, ergo Int 3=up to 3 ticks.  Checking for the up is Skill dots +5 as your target number.  All rolls equal to or in excess of the target number net 1XP.  I note that some of the runes have 6 dots, so perhaps cult status will limit and offset the skill increase rolls so that initiates can get some of the magic but not all?  Personally, I am a huge fan of random skill increase as I think it reduces minimaxing and individuates characters so you wind up with an Uroxi with brilliant fast talk, an Orlanthi who sketches well, a Seven Mothers initiate with a green thumb etc.  Not everyone IS a fan of random ups though.

 

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14 hours ago, Darius West said:

I like what you are doing with the magic system.  As per WOD spell systems like thaumaturgy etc. do you have spell write-ups for the various rune level effects?  I assume you have developed cult write-ups that are merely not on the site?

Currently the games running are focused on lower initiate level characters so the focus is battle magic boosted by your runes; almost all the standard RQ spells and runes available.( I culled mulitmissile as i'm removing all multi attack spells form the game.)

Cult write ups i use for relevant cults ( Seven Mothers, Found Child, Etyries and Yanafal Tarnis. ) Everything else i'm free forming at the moment as its a time sink, for time I don't have.

However the plan is to have most standard RQ rune spells available dependent upon your cult and runes score;

So for the moon rune with Seven Mothers;

  • oooo      Reflection, Summon Lune
  • ooooo    Mindblast, Madness
  • oooooo  Chaos Gift

Are available using the rune point system RQG is going to use.

For your seven mothers you rune points are the sum of your Moon, death and fertility runes.

Casting dice are your runes and how many rune points you wish to spend.

Quote

 The whole project is ambitious and I enjoy watching it develop.  I am quite interested to see how you convert the enchantment system over.  I have developed a system for randomizing skill increase a la the BRP "tick" system for WOD from back in the day, when  I was running a WOD cyberpunk game.  

Yeah if i knew how big it was when started I probably would not have. Its been fun though. I'm running two campaigns with the systems through, and I believe other people have used it as a base for there attempts also.

Quote

You get a tick on a skill each time you successfully use it, but the number of ticks is limited to the same as your Intelligence in dots, ergo Int 3=up to 3 ticks.  Checking for the up is Skill dots +5 as your target number.  All rolls equal to or in excess of the target number net 1XP.  

Personally, I am a huge fan of random skill increase as I think it reduces minimaxing and individuates characters so you wind up with an Uroxi with brilliant fast talk, an Orlanthi who sketches well, a Seven Mothers initiate with a green thumb etc.  Not everyone IS a fan of random ups though.

No, going for the WOD points based experience system. Player choice is my preference and it allows me to accelerate growth if I want to.  It also means the games about the story not the tick.  I think ticks was a weakness of runequest so im more comfortable with classic storyteller mechanics.

Quote

I note that some of the runes have 6 dots, so perhaps cult status will limit and offset the skill increase rolls so that initiates can get some of the magic but not all?

Your runes of essence determine how high dots can go, so above 5 is beyond normal human ( rune lord levels ), this is done via runic associations. So when you move your runes and essence above 5 other skills can follow and match that level.

I hope that helps.

Edited by Jon Hunter
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On 4/19/2017 at 5:57 PM, Jon Hunter said:

No, going for the WOD points based experience system. Player choice is my preference and it allows me to accelerate growth if I want to.  It also means the games about the story not the tick.  I think ticks was a weakness of runequest so im more comfortable with classic storyteller mechanics.

I appreciate your position, and the appeal of the Storyteller XP point system.  I found it was just fine when you were trying to build expensive Vampire disciplines, but it was undercharging for mundane skills.  I once played an FBI/X-files Hunters Hunted game as a fully mundane FBI Special Agent, and found it took surprisingly little time to max out skills.  Normally it took 1 to 3 sessions to complete an adventure netting on average 4XP per session, plus the bonus for completing a story arc of about another 4-5XP.  16XP buys a lot of skill; hell, it buys a lot of attribute.  I remember thinking "well my brawl, dodge, police procedure, investigations, firearms, and alertness are all at 5 dots and so are my Dex, Wits Int and Perception, where am I going to spend my remaining 15XP?".  This was after about 15 weekly sessions and 85XP.  It was about the same in game weeks too.  I just don't think people learn that quickly, even if they are fighting vampires and werewolves (and surviving).  Having GMed Storyteller a lot myself, I like the system and I don't think the GM I was playing with was being notably generous or stingy with the XP given what we were facing, nor do I think that the assigned XP "buy values" for skills are really wrong.  Are you concerned about your Balazaar game becoming top heavy with Runelord/Priests?  Admittedly I was playing first edition Storyteller, and the rules have probably been "de-exploited" since then.  Story teller is a damn good system and the only one I think really handles machinegun fire with anything approaching realism (not that such things come up in Glorantha).

Edited by Darius West
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1 minute ago, Darius West said:

I appreciate your position, and the appeal of the Storyteller XP point system.  I found it was just fine when you were trying to build expensive Vampire disciplines, but it was undercharging for mundane skills.  I once played an FBI/X-files Hunters Hunted game as a fully mundane FBI Special Agent, and found it took surprisingly little time to max out skills.  Normally it took 1 to 3 sessions to complete an adventure netting on average 4XP per session, plus the bonus for completing a story arc of about another 4-5XP.  16XP buys a lot of skill; hell, it buys a lot of attribute.  I remember thinking "well my brawl, dodge, police procedure, investigations, firearms, and alertness are all at 5 dots and so are my Dex, Wits Int and Perception, where am I going to spend my remaining 15XP?".  This was after about 15 weekly sessions and 85XP.  It was about the same in game weeks too.  I just don't think people learn that quickly, even if they are fighting vampires and werewolves (and surviving).  Having GMed Storyteller a lot myself, I like the system and I don't think the GM I was playing with was being notably generous or stingy with the XP given what we were facing, nor do I think that the assigned XP "buy values" for skills are really wrong.  Are you concerned about your Balazaar game becoming top heavy with Runelord/Priests?  Admittedly I was playing first edition Storyteller, and the rules have probably been "de-exploited" since then.

However if that is  balanced out over runes, lores, battlemagic, and backgrounds it slows down considerably.

xp awards and spends are very much  down to ref preference, after 12 month using the system i find its going too slow not too fast.

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8 minutes ago, Jon Hunter said:

However if that is  balanced out over runes, lores, battlemagic, and backgrounds it slows down considerably.
xp awards and spends are very much  down to ref preference, after 12 month using the system i find its going too slow not too fast.

LOL, you miserable stingy bastard :)  Seriously though, slightly slow skill progress is probably for the best.

Edited by Darius West
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