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Yes, as I mentioned before, it is quite complicated to play, or at least to learn. That’s why we call it “The Game you’ve been training your whole life for.”
Once you know what you are doing it’s not that hard. But there is a lot of “book keeping” that you want to do with your character to be prepared for various moves you like to make so you know you’ve got your numbers together.
We tried to embed huge flexibility, but with codified rules. As opposed to the GM-X-Machina sort of thing that Story Teller and some others relied upon for huge flexibility.
A D20 system won’t work as there are too many modifiers, up and down, this allows for a wide variety of things to influence combat.
Modifiers for things like your position relative to the target, your Desterity/Agility bonuses, your Skill Level with the weapon, the magical bonus of your weapon, magical bonus of spells, magical bonuses of other magic items. Right hand vs left hand? That’s your AF
Then you have your targets DF, and that has bonuses for Dex/Agil, surprise, does he/she see it coming?, magical armor, magical devices, skill with shield, etc.
Then, is the target parrying your attack? That’s something that never happens in D&D.
The 100 scale really allows us to have more varying levels of influence.
The combat was most influenced by Steve Jackson games, of which there were several with the same core rules. But yes, we had played and knew Role Master quite well. We really loved Arduin, which spun off and away from Original D&D. Space Opera, Traveler, all the old TSR games, Paranoia etc. We’d read pretty much all of them at the time even if we didn’t play the more esoteric ones. Including the StoryTeller which is still quite popular (Vampire: The Masquerade, etc)
We’d also done Tunnels and Trolls.
T&T was actually sort of fun. It was basically “who has the most D6?” It was quite easy. It was something like: Each side had so many D6 to roll based on the weapon/character and both sides rolled and you took the difference, and the person with the lower total got the difference as damage.
Unfortunately, no where at the moment.
We did quite a bit of beta testing with players near me and the other author of the game, however, we both got tied up with our dissertations and then day jobs and never finalized and published it.
To be honest, it was a bit of work for players (including the game master or AM). Everything was pretty complex, particularly when trying to generate higher level mana wielding characters.
The magic system [i]is[/i] exactly what is described on this site and in the books, the only thing you don’t see here are the numbers and probabilities. But, for example, all that astrology and elemental affiliations? That has a numeric impact on your chance of casting a spell correctly. E.g. your astrological sign and element, and the current astrological month and element, positive and negative. They are small modifiers of 5% or less, but if you are trying to cast something really difficult, you want to align the stars/time of casting with the spell and your own sign/element. Every little bit helps.
In the books, Lenamare can pretty much ignore such things, because he’s so experienced He only has to worry when casting really high spells, e.g. teens (13th) or higher, and for those, just obtaining the spells and components is a major quest.
Jenn and Gastrope’ however can’t. That’s why for example, your school, pyromancy, conjuror, thaumaturgy are important. If you want to succeed, you need to align your sign/element with the professions. Yes, a feminine water sign can do pyromancy, or pyromantic spells, but they aren’t as good at it as a masculine fire sign. Interestingly actual gender is less important than your lunar affiliation.
As does your level vs the level of the spell. If you’ve got the mana, you can try to cast any spell you have/find/know. Of course, part of knowing is being high enough level/experience to understand the spell, and thus trying to cast a spell you found way above your current level means a high chance of failure…or fumble.
Yes, you can fumble a magic spell and it may not be pleasant.
As some example:
[quote]
Name: Abyssal SwitchSpell Code: W18IC-D1h-R1000-A2500
Material: A pint of demon’s blood.
Description: This spell has ever only been recorded as being cast 4 times in all of history. What it does, quite literally, is interchanges the area of effect completely and totally with a corresponding region of the Abyss. Anything on the area of effect in the planes of men is now in the Abyss, and anything in the area on the Abyss is now on the planes of men. The spell expires 1 hour later, but anything wandering off the area is left stranded in the plane in wandered into. Further, note, the Abyss is generally a place of instant death for normal mortals. The environment and conditions are totally unsuited, and any unprotected individuals die within a matter of moments. On the other hand, Abyssal residents generally have no problems with the planes of men. This spell provides no protection against incoming Abyssal residents. UPGRADE (xx/2500/xx:225)
[/quote]
Spell Code: W18IC-D1h-R1000-A2500Wizard spell, 18th level, Indirect, Conjury, Duration 1 Hour, Range: 1000 ft, Area 2500 square feet.
Obviously, Exador’s are bigger, they last until he’s done with them, and can be considerably bigger. That is covered with the Upgrade code, the additional mana required to increase the area and duration of the spell.
Of course, I love this particular spell, I doubt Lenamare knows it, and if he does he’s not that stupid.
[quote]
Name: Compel Demon PrinceSpell Code: W20IC-DS-R1000-A1
Material: Unknown, probably similar to other compel spells.
Description: One might expect that this spell would work like the other Compel spells do on other classes of demons. It is the opinion of this wizardly scholar, however, that most likely, the demon prince will only be compelled if he or she feels like it.
[/quote]Wizards and Clerics were pretty normal, just a bit more number intensive, but animages and some types of druids/shamans got very complicated for the AM (AniMaster) because the player has to describe exactly what they are doing and the logic underpinning it, and then the AM adjudicates their chance of success based on how close it is to “known effect difficulty levels”
For lesser affects and a high level animage, or well documented affect (e.g. the Form of Fire) it was straight forward. But animages can come up with about any variant they can think of, or something not even listed as a “known effect & difficulty”
Most of the beta adventures took place in Gizzor Del, but there were some in Freehold and the Council States.
The combat system was similar to Steve Jackson games. It was figure/hex based and you literally had to be behind your target to backstab it. The combat was every bit as complicated as the spell casting.
It’s funny, the other author did the combat system, I did the magic system, and completely independently, they both wound up being intensive and time consuming. A single dungeon adventure could last a very long time.
We both did the character creation was also intense and intricate accounting for lots and lots of possibilities and variations.
Freaky spells a wise wizard will never cast:
[quote]
Name: Mana WheelSpell Code: W25IT-DS-R0-A25000
Material: A specially constructed mana wheel, several mana pools.
Description: This spell requires the construction of a very special wheel. The wheel is constructed of the finest materials, and, in fact, should be considered a magic item which requires a 25th level spell to use. The mana wheel, in general, would cost about 100,000 crowns to construct and involve the use of a variety of spells. The exact secret of construction is currently unknown. A mana wheel has a receptacle at its center into which up to 50 mana pool gems may be placed at any one time. The mana wheel, itself, costs 625 mana points which must be given by the caster to start it spinning. Further, for each round of operation, the caster must expend 25 mana points to maintain control and keep from having his or her own mana affected.
What a mana wheel does is simply suck all the mana out of the region in which it operates. All mana-using spell users (other than caster) have their mana stripped, with no AR, (they may regain it normally if they go elsewhere), and all magic items in the area must make a destruct AR each round they are in the area, or have the mana stripped out of them (and thus be permanently demagicked). Higher-order beings such as class IV or higher demons or deities must make a WIL AR or have their mana stripped from them.
All mana from normal creatures (including non-spell-using people) is absorbed. The very mana from the air and ground is stripped by the mana wheel. The mana wheel does not do this automatically, rather, the rate at which mana is absorbed is 500 mana points per round. It absorbs the closest mana first. Of this mana, 250 points each round goes into feeding the spin of the mana wheel, and the rest goes into the mana pools at its center. If the mana pools become filled, the caster may replace them with more (if he or she has more). Excess mana will simply be bled off to some alternate universe. The caster may attempt to stop the wheel up until the point at which he or she runs out of mana. The chance of success is equal to the caster’s level plus his or her WIL and KNO. However, for each round that the mana wheel spins, it gains momentum. Thus, for each round it has spun, the caster must subtract 5% from his or her chance of success.
If the caster should run out of mana before the mana wheel can be stopped, the caster loses control and all of his or her possessions will be stripped of mana. Further, if control is lost, there is a 1% chance per round that the wheel has spun minus the WIL of the caster that the caster may be permanently stripped of his or her mana. The mana wheel will spin to a stop on its own once all the available mana in the area is gone (including the caster’s, so the caster should stop it on his or her own).
Areas drained of mana will be magic-poor for 3d4 months while mana comes back. This means that spell users will be unable to regain mana in the region for at least half this time, and for the last half, only at one half the normal rate. Further, all magical spells will be at -15% to cast in this region. Incidentally, any and all mana pools charged by the wheel may be used normally by the caster or whoever has them.
[/quote]
For highly experienced Necromancers:
[quote]
Name: Undead ArmySpell Code: W15IN-D1h-R1000-AMx
Material: A battlefield where lots of people have died.
Description: This spell allows the caster to raise the dead bodies of fallen soldiers on an old battlefield (may even be several centuries). The caster may raise an army of skeletons and zombies (zombies only if the battlefield is less than 1 year old) to march at his or her banner. The number raised is equal to the square of the level of the wizard casting the spell. The skeletons and zombies are able to understand simple battle commands and will obey the caster. The base cost of the spell is 225 points plus a cost of 1 mana point per animated corpse. UPGRADE(xx/xx/1 h:1 mana pt/corpse)
[/quote]
Wizard, 15th level, Indirect, Necromancy, Duration 1 hour, Range 10000 ft, Area: basically the area around the caster within range, e.g. 1000 ft radius.
What sort of deranged wizard would ever cast this spell?
[quote]
Name: Nuclear BlastSpell Code: W13IP-DI-R0-A1000 square radius.
Material: Two separate pieces, weighing 3 ounces each of plutonium or two 6-ounce pieces of uranium.
Description: This extremely dread and powerful spell is extremely dangerous to cast. Since this is a zero range spell, the caster who wishes to survive must cast it as a programmed spell. The first effect of this spell is to do 50d10 DT of heat and fire damage to all objects within the area of effect. The second is a super-large area of effect Gamma Blast spell. The Gamma Blast does 5d10 DT additional damage to all within the area. All living targets must make a CON AR or be forever after sterile. Further, future children of non-sterile persons within the area will have a 25% chance of physical deformity and will all suffer sufficient nerve damage as to be as if under an Ancestral Curse spell. Also, all targets will become very sick within 2d12 hours ands suffer 1d4 STM damage per 10 minutes for 2d6 hours. Following this, the individuals must make a CON AR or lose one random limb due to radiation damage. The individual must also make a CON AR -40% or suffer from the effects of a Cancer spell. Further, note the effects of Gamma Blast are not stopped by any standard defenses. The only currently known defenses are red prismatic walls and Alternating Pentacles set to maximum magical protection.
[/quote]
Which is why, basically the development and testing dropped off. Too much other stuff to do. Not enough others around anymore, although with time in the day, that is fixable, you can always find more, it’s just a question of making the time etc.
We used to collect lots of RPG’s read them, but almost never played them. I sort of think that’s why so many people drop back to D&D when they have time, even if there are better systems out there, they take too much work to learn/remember and play. D&D has a LOT of issues, particularly the later versions where they imposed arbitrary constraints to try to block power hungry players exploiting the rules to make god like characters, but it’s simple and easy to remember.
Systems that don’t have those arbitrary limitations to fix loopholes in the relatively simple rules, get far more complex to deal with, and for most, take away some of the fun.
And of course, a big part was the rise of computer games and MMPRPGs etc.
The only problem with playing a D’Orc is that you would probably need to be a D’Orc, or other immortal in order to live long enough to create the character!
Even for the moment, ignoring magical spells, assume the character is not a shaman.
It is a skill based system with skill points. Do you have any idea how long it would take to calculate 10,000 years of skill points?
Lenamare’s character sheet took me a couple days to do, figuring out his skills and spells that he knew. (Lenamare existed before the game so I was describing him)
A D’Orc would be at least a 25th level barbarian (which is it’s own class, sort of a cross between a fighter and a ranger), and then you have the thousands of years of D’Orc experience???
And btw: I will need to write a D’Orc class, and an Avatar class.
I realize now, at this moment, even though I actually have spells for immortalization/divine ascension etc. I have no idea what that does in game terms to the character. It’s a whole new set of character classes. Eeeesh.
Tizzy would not care if you didn’t play.
He would only want to ensure that you bought every rulebook, expansion, module, playset, licensed figures, etc that were issued.
:d/
Yes, and there is quite a bit of detail on this in OOA and in COA, both feature shamans prominently (obviously Trig is a Shaman in Space).
So there is quite a bit of discussion about dead spirits, and how far back you can go to get them
It’s very very different because their spirits eventually dissipate on the material plane (unless they are troubled or manage to hop over to the ethereal plane)
So, for some ancestors you have to figure out how to summon dissipated mana back together to get something out of the spirit–as opposed to a priest reaching out to a spirit in the afterlife (assuming they didn’t reincarnate–in which case you are out of luck)
But, very explicitly Shamans of Orcus definitely did summon D’Orcs–see discussion on the Isle of Doom about that, this was done for a while after Orcus’ death.
In particular, D’Orcs on the Isle the very few were killed and went back to Mount Doom and were then summoned back by Shamans on the Isle, both D’Orc shamans and mortal shamans. But eventually, they stopped getting killed and sent back
That’s how they found out what happened.
Or that’s the story they’ve given. As some people have noted, there are some holes in their explanations–in all the D’Orcs explanations of the aftermath. And that will start coming out in these next books.
Regular shamans, like any, would need to know the name to summon them. But, say if it was one of their ancestors, they’d probably know the name and could summon, but that fell out of fashion because so many ancestral D’Orcs disappeared, the summonings came up with nothing and people stopped trying, for mortal (non Isle of Doom shamans) it would be a crapshot as to who was still around.
Also, even before that, summoning someone you knew was a D’Orc would require a serious need. You really don’t want to piss off one of the greatest warriors your tribe (and race) has ever seen, not frviolously. Futher, Orcs are not great at admitting weakness or asking for help. Not unless they had a personal relationship with the individual.
Thus summoning recent ancestors you knew, is the most likely thing, but even then, it’s considered a bit disrespectful to disturb the dead. And hard to disturb the long (dissipated) dead.
Definitely worth watching, not seeing it free streaming, but it might be. It is a cheap rental though.
However, I would definitely look for the highest resolution quality, a lot of the clips I see on youtube look pretty grainy/making it look cheesy. It was on film obviously and gorgeous in the original. Not “Legend” gorgeous, of course–there has never been a more beautiful fantasy with with a weaker script and cheesy Tom Cruise acting, than Legend–but definitely worth watching for the soundtrack and Tim Curry’s Darkness–my favorite movie demon of all time)
For the time, DragonSlayer’s the special effects were quite good, and with a good quality copy, the FX still hold up relatively well compared to stuff you see on say SyFy.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Sharknado’s but…
Cool…although now I am paranoid of overselling 8-[
I haven’t seen it in several years and I suspect there may be some sentimentality in my goggles.
However, centuries ago, it was mandatory watching for SF/Fantasy groupies and people playing D&D. Vermithrax is (was a long time ago) one of the most legendary dragons of fiction.
I could see Tizzy asking Vermithrax for a light, particularly if he were hosting a large party and wanted to burn a couple bundles of Demon Weed in a brazier at the center of the party.
Tizzy’s rather famous for his sweat lodges powered by demon weed braziers. Although if he invites Vermithrax, he might want to be in a marble/stone sweat lodge rather than a TeePee or Yurt.
Another person mentioned that.
There are only two fears I have
1) Fragmenting users more; you’d be amazed at how many users on FB don’t know about this site.
2) Another thing to monitor 🙂Right now I monitor
This site
FB
GoodReads (GR has crappy notifications–I have to go to each book to see if there are questions on them)
Amazon (although they discontinued the author discussion forums–those were really good, they want people to use GoodReads instead, but the old author forums were much better)
And used to do tumblr before censorship (Actually the COW tumblr never did much–but my art blog took a lot of time–to the point that not doing it saves me a couple hours a day)
I will check it out though.
Yeah, one needs to go where the people are, and a spirited discussion can spark interest in people who haven’t read the books.
Will definitely check it out.
Hmm,
I know that name, I know I’ve read something by PS, however, can’t figure out which they’ve only written about a thousand books.
Must be of the same race as the Sanderson, you know someone with access to a localverse with millions of worlds populated by monkeys with typewriters continually typing until they churn out a book suitable for publication. Which for “The Sanderson” is about every 5 minutes.
