Loche's page

Your lab is in the ancient city of Eonix. It is said that great metal birds flocked from across the world to come to the city of Eonix and die. It is said their is a great graveyard of metal bones somewhere outside the city.

Many ancient sites exist in the area including several You-ofs and a Science Corp. The Venk-Men are very interested in these ancient sites for the possibility to find Theories and Unstable Compounds that could be used to rediscover the secret of the Proton backs.

This is why you have set up your Fire Hall in the city.

The city also has a full selection of monstrosities for you to be hired to handle.

This has brought you to the Bunny Ranch where you have been asked to perform a bit of pest control.

You are to hunt down a Horl Choo aka Porcupine Bush. The creature recently moved on to the ranch and the Hoop owners of the ranch want the pests removed.

Bunny Ranch

Hoop are a lupus type of race aka intelligent rabbits. This pair are ranchers attempting to make it in the harsh world of the frontier. You've parked your vehicle well back of the map area as experience has taught you vehicles don't survive long near work zones. You have traveled to the starting spot which is the light blue 2x3 square area in the bottom left of the map.

I'll assign Gamma Cards for your Alpha Mutations after each person's first post.

I like the set of rules and would like to run a game.

I run a couple of other successful games (defined by having over a thousand posts and completed at least one adventure in Star Wars and half way through the second adventure). You can look at Smerg for the Star Wars Saga, Dresden Files RPG, and Zombie Apocalypse games.

I'll be using the first boxed set to start game play as I've yet to purchase the second box set.

Lenny Balsera who has worked on the FATE line for Evil Hats is a guest on the Shark Bone Podcast.

Shark Bone ep 48

The part discussing Aspects and their usage in games, not just FATE, starts around 30 min though the discussion of the movie Jurassic Park for game ideas is also good.

RPG DriveThru Big Bundle of Games for $20 with proceeds to go to New Zealand Red Cross Earthquake

It is a pretty good list including big name items like Scion Hero and Cthuhlu Tech Core Book

You've been at sea now for three of the seven days of your cruise.

The ship is in the Eastern Caribbean and has a final destination of Miami, Florida.

The cruise has been going very well and people have been mostly enjoying themselves.

There have been the usual cases of sea sickness but generally with gravol and wrist bands, most people fail to have problems or problems they have are manageable.

Each person that is a passenger should make a Fortitude test DC 10. If the first test is failed then make a second Fortitude test DC 10. The first check is to see if you suffer any effects from sea sickness and the second check is to see if you are able to manage your condition with standard over the counter treatments and medicines.

Regular crew are exempt in normal seas from the roll since they would have washed out months ago if they couldn't get their sea legs.

There have been a few rumours of people going missing from tables at meals and the medical staff has been quietly making the rounds to several of the state rooms.

Please make a Gather Information roll to hear rumours on the ship (gathered by talking to people). You instead make a Use Computer check to try and learn things by looking on the internet or the ships intranet (there is a $50 time charge for using the internet at sea so specify if you want the ships internal intranet or external internet). You could also choose to make a Perception check to watch what people are doing. Choose one of the above options.

During the third night on board the ship, the ships engines start to slow instead of the normal heavy thrum they make at night as the ship usually cruises to the next island day stop.

It is currently around 11:30 and Fiesta Night is in full swing.

Overall Map

Enchantment of the Seas

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Okay, this is where the OOC thread goes.

Check in and start to think of how you spent the first three days of a seven day cruise.

Each guest has saved or horded $200 US per day to spend on restaurants, clothes, gambling, off shore trips, and other such things. The voyage is planned to be seven days which gives $1400 US.

You should decide how much is in bills, debit cards, credit card limits, and Traveler's Cheques. Good and bad will go with each form of money as the world comes apart and eventually, none of these will be worth anything.

Crew people on the ship have meals provided in the crew areas (below deck 2 on the ship are the crew decks). Crew have more freedom to travel around the ship but are expected to avoid 'mingling' with guests out of their duties. Crew do earn money on the ship though payment is always at the end of the cruise (to avoid people choosing to leave during the middle of the cruise).

First, who am I?

I GM;

Smerg's Star Wars over 1000 game posts

Smerg's Dresden Files over 400 game posts

I started the Star Wars in September and Dresden Files in October.

I also play in a couple of other games that you can find by checking my Aliases.

I am familiar with many systems as I have used dozens over the years (over 30 years of gaming as player and GM).

If you choose to play then you are choosing to play with someone who will keep posting and playing as long as the players keep posting and playing.

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Second, the concept pitch;

Different travelers stop at (Manor, Abbey, Sea side resort) for the night. A couple hours after sunset, you are awoken by dogs barking. You look out your window to see a couple of people at the gate to the compound below.

The dogs handler is shooing the dogs away and looking to see what the people at the gate when you see him suddenly pull back with blood spraying.

A caretaker and a cook rush forward to tend to the wounded kennel keeper. You can see them giving first aid but it doesn't appear to be in time. The people gathered around start to wail and the dogs sniff around whining at the lost of their master.

The cook just holds the limp form of the dog handler while the caretaker shouts loudly at the people who still stand at the gate. Several more people emerge from the buildings to see what is the commotion and what has happened to the dog's handler.

Suddenly, the dogs start to pull away from their master barking and before the cook can realize it the limp form in her arms suddenly lunges forward to bite her. You see her scream as the dog handler chews into her throat.

People rush forward to separate the pair and soon others are screaming and complaining of various bites.

Welcome to the Apocalypse. How do you survive?

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This is the initial pitch but I am quite comfortable with designing the game around the players. If players want a modern Zombie horror then I am good with that too.

I will adjust and finalize the scenario around the players.

Generally, the starting location will be a place where there are plenty of people to turn into zombies and players will start out without much in the way of weapons. Players will have plenty of opportunities to find and convert common items to weapons until they get better equipped.

Influences for story will be movies like Resident Evil & 28 Days Later, games like Steve Jackson's Zombies, and anime like High School of the Dead.

Players will be at the start of the Apocalypes with the wave of people turning into Zombies. The first goal will be to get to a place they can survive. Later goals may to find a cure or to set up a colony of people that aren't infected.

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Rule system

I would like to use a d20 system. I have access to several but the system will likely be a 'hack' as I don't feel that a straight system like d20 Modern would give the right 'feel'.

I like Star Wars SAGA Edition rules but I'm not sure how comfortable people are with this system. The starting hit points are 'higher' in this system then I would like for the proper feel of 'fear' for zombies that often do 1d6 slam attacks. Players will start with more then the hit points of a 1st level DnD/Pathfinder character.

I like how Pathfinder cleaned up some of the d20 rules and gave things like CMB and CMD to simplify grapple checks (important in Zombie horror). I also prefer the Pathfinder AoO rules more then the Star Wars SAGA edition rules.

Player hit points will represent 'bruising' type of damage until the players get down to 10 hp or less at which point there will be a chance to catch 'Zombie disease'. This catching 'Zombie disease' is a pretty much a staple of the fiction with people often saying they're fine when they are beginning to change.

I am willing to work with people interested in play because I know some people would like to try out the new Ninja, Samurai, and Gunslinger classes for Pathfinder.

If you have some thoughts on system then I am willing to listen and work with the players.

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What I need is to get a group of five or six people interested in Zombie horror and giving me their input on what they want for system and setting (in FIASCO this would be the selection of Playset).

When I have enough people then I'll move this to a OOC post thread to create/finish making characters.

Clear Fantasy (working title)

Okay, what I want to do is work with some of the ideas that people have been suggesting on re-working of DnD into something that has a focus on story.

I am pulling the idea of games like the new Gamma World where weapons are not tables of different kinds but instead general ideas that the player can personalize and define. A good comment I saw was Mad-libs. I am also pulling from ideas like Fate system where the player defines the ‘aspect’ or nature of the ability. I would like to also pull from Saga system the idea that when you are ‘trained’ in a skill then you get a basic bonus to use that skill and another bonus if you choose to ‘specialize’ in that skill.

What I would like to get rid of are classes and races because they limit the story the player might want to tell. If a player wants to describe themselves as a large ogre or as a person in suit of living rock then they should be free to do this. I want to focus less on mechanics that differentiate and prevent a player from producing a ‘skin’ like this then on mechanics that promote this type of story play.

I would also like to get rid of levels. Levels are a reward system that is counter-productive to story play. I am not a fan of the idea that if you have troubles with the Big Bad Evil Person because they are too tough to fight then you should go fight a series or weaker people and you will become big and bad enough yourself that the villain eventually is not even a challenge. It also creates this endless envelope of opponents that are scaled around the rising level of the players with often the opponents needing to be ‘re-sized’ to make tougher or ‘weakened’ to avoid crushing the players. If this envelope of ‘monsters’ exists then it is easier to keep the players capabilities ‘fixed’ and just create monsters in types that are weaker or stronger then the players.

I feel that there are other reward systems that can be used then experience and levels which will be more productive and a better game mechanic. It will also make it easier for the GM if the player’s hit points are more ‘fixed’ instead of altering from level to level (levels 1 to 4 are very different due to hit points and damage that a player can absorb verses the damage most monsters can deliver).

I want to keep the d20 roll verses defenses and to make skill checks. A d20 is as good as any other number generator and provides a good variety of outcomes. A 1 is always a failure and a 20 is always special. This gives a bit of random bonus to keep interest in the die rolls.

I would like to go more with Saga style three defenses of Dodging (Skill/Quickness), Grit (Health/Stamina), and Determination (Mental/Mystical). Three defences gives a range of choices and players will be able to ‘specialize’ in one or two of these areas. Armour will be a modifier to one or more of the defences with the player possibly being able to choose certain attacks to resist with a different defense if they have armour than they normally might be able to resist. The ‘living rock’ armour person might be able to choose to deal with a large flame attack with their Grit defense instead of trying to Dodge.

I would like game sessions to focus on player story arcs with one player getting the ‘spot light’ per session. My thoughts on this would be the player chooses a goal and several sub-goals with the GM. The players and the GM work through a series of scenes to achieve the sub-goals and the finally the story arc goal. The group would also set a larger arc goal which would advance slightly through the series of player spot light arcs. The focus is to help players tell their story instead of the GM dictating the story.

Characters would be designed using an attribute system with the attribute representing a bonus to the d20 roll in various areas. I like how the new Mutants and Masterminds broke out of 3d6 paradigm (Blue Rose and True20 being early versions) and also added in a ‘Fighting’ attribute. I would like to have a Melee Fighting, Ranged Fighting, and Mystical Fighting attribute along with the three defences of Dodging, Grit, and Determination.

I would like each character to have amongst the three fighting skills to have one ability with a +5, one with a +2, and one with a +0. I would like to have players to choose one of the three defences to have a +5, one with a +2, and one with a +0. Players will have a chance to choose feats or talents to upgrade these further.

I would like to get away from the equipment and magical items to avoid the bag of a thousand different items to focus more on what each player brings to the game. Players can define their talents or abilities as equipment but people will not ‘rob the corpse’ to grab the items. Talents and abilities can be described or ‘skinned’ by a player to match their character concept.

I am thinking that players would get a set of minor talents or abilities to define the player’s heritage. Heritage could be the player’s race, community that raised them, or represent the underlying nature of the player. Similar to racial abilities these would include options to give a bonus to an offense or defense in certain situations, an extra skill, a quality like ‘strong’, a special effect, an improved sense, a bonus with a skill.

I am thinking that the player would get a set of more powerful talents or abilities to define their fighting style. This would be the pool of offensive and defensive abilities that makes the player unique in combat. It would include at least one offensive combat option and a number of other choices that can provide other combat options, damage mitigation, movement abilities, companions, resources, special uses for skills, special skills, or any other things that are more than a simple bonus to a basic skill or attack.

Needless to say, this is work in development but I am a regular poster with two active games to my credit on the pathfinder website (one Star Wars and one Dresden Files and you can check my Avatar for posting history). I am looking for people who are willing to work and develop this idea while telling some stories.

If you are interested then this is the process for character creation to get started.

1 Choose a concept for a character. I am not worried if the idea is ‘wild’ since that is part of stressing the design. You could have a flesh and blood character idea, a monster idea, a magical intelligent sword, a person dressed in a mecha suit or whatever seems to be your idea. This is fantasy but it is possible to do some steampunk and ‘mystical guns’ in fantasy with a bit of cleaver writing.

2 Choose a problem that your character cannot avoid. Problems make a character and it is the problems that make stories worth telling. This is not an enemy which is something that can be defeated but a problem with who your character happens to be and it interferes in some way with how your character deals with the world. It should be something that you are also comfortable with role playing and accepting when it gets in your character’s way.

3 Now, imagine what you see the character at the start of the campaign and decide what a ‘perfect ending’ would be for your character. Set a story goal for your character’s story arc as being related to this ‘perfect ending’. This should be some grand goal that will take several sub-goal achievements to reach. Now, think up two or three steps along the way to completing your character’s grand goal. If your grand goal is to conquer a kingdom and be named king then a couple sub goals might be to find a kingdom to conquer and to recruit people to serve in your kingdom. The sub goals will serve as the basis for your character’s spotlight adventures. The GM is not making up some random story. The GM is facilitating the players telling the story that relates to the characters.

4 Time to put some ‘bones’ or mechanics to your concept. Decide in order what your concept does best and worst for attacking from the choices of Melee Fighting, Ranged Fighting, and Mystical/Mental Fighting. Assign a +5 to your best, a +0 to your worst, and a +2 to the remaining choice.

5 Now, decide in order what your concept is best and worst for defense from the choices of Dodging, Grit, and Determination. Assign a +5 to your best, a +0 to your worst, and +2 to the remaining choice.

6 Now, think up what five skills best describe what your character can do or accomplish. Use the Pathfinder list of skills to help focus your thinking. I am sure a list can later be developed and personalized to the needs of the system but for now that is a list that most people should be able to get access to as a common list. Give each of the five skills chosen a +5 to represent your character’s training in those subjects. I like the order of doing skills prior to Heritage and Fighting Style to help the player determine what they can do or accomplish.

7 Heritage is the next choice. Heritage represents what background or race, environment, culture, society, or training that produced the character. This should be ‘blank’ upon which the character will develop their character further. It involves picking five small bonuses to represent this benefit. The list of benefits should be the type of things found in racial packages for d20 games. These benefits tend to be things like night vision, an extra bonus to a type of attribute, a damage bonus, a movement bonus, an ability to avoid sleep, a bonus to a skill, an extra skill, or a once a day extra special power. This selection should be in keeping with the concept of the character.

8 Fighting Style is the next choice. The first part of Fighting Style is to choose something that is the signature of the character. This should be something that people identify with your concept and expect to see your character to do on a regular basis. Most players will have an attack that is a signature of the character (though the attack can be delivered through an intermediary means like a companion). A player could choose a defensive signature that blocks damage or heals damage or a movement signature that allows them to reposition within a battle. The choice of the signature and the description of the signature should shape decisions for the other elements of a player’s fighting style.

What is a player wants to be a ‘mage’ with a book of spells? A player should still choose some sort of focus that is the signature of their magic whether it be heavenly light, swarms of insects, iron nails, or small demons. The player will then have a few choices to make of how many choices to commit to offense, defense, and other abilities. During the game, the player will be given a latitude in describing how their spell looks when used; so, an offensive spell that looks one way in one encounter can have a different ‘skin’ or appearance in another battle provided the base signature keeps constant.

9 The player having chosen the Signature of their Fighting Style should now decide on five ways this Style can be used in encounters. One of these should be an offensive usage though it does not have to be a damaging attack and could be something that snares an opponent or gives some sort of debilitating condition.

10 The player should choose a basic weapon to use when they cannot or do not wish to use their fighting style. The basic weapon could be one or two-handed and should be linked to one of the three fighting types (Melee, Ranged, Mystical/Mental). The player is free to define what this weapon looks like provided it fits the concept of the character.

11 The player will get a standard supply of 25 hit points which might have been increased or affected by the player’s choice of Heritage and Fighting Style.

Okay, that should be enough to get people deciding if they would like to get involved with this project and game.

Okay, I am splitting Munroe and Pernilla in the Acquisitions Warehouse to this thread.

Please post future items inside of this thread for your characters.

Omens

‘That’s How it always begins. Very small.’

October 5th: News Item: Five suspected Triad members of the Wo Shing Wo were found dead in alley early this morning. The five members were identified by police as senior members in the organization. Police are not confirming rumours that this might be the start of a new turf war with another gang in the city.

October 16th: People in the para-community have been noticing a shift in the weather. The equinox is past and sensitive people or people in the fae community have been noticing the Hounds of Winter roving through the alleys of the city. Several people have been taken away for questioning. None of those people will discuss what the Hounds are looking for.

October 28nd: News Item: Florence Blackbird writes her fourth piece on the series of recent disappearance of prostitutes from the streets of Toronto. The police state that many of Miss Blackbird’s disappearances are women that have relocated to more lucrative markets in the states like Nevada.

October 29th: News Item: Florence Blackbird’s final piece in the series is not printed in the morning paper. The paper instead has an apology that Miss Blackbird failed to deliver her copy by the deadline.

October 29th: The Royal Ontario Museum is hosting a two week special on Medieval Torture. Tonight is the opening of the display with many of the city’s alumni attending the galla. All major donators to the Museum have been invited to attend with Professor Hanz Gunthur of the Smithsonian Museum giving a talk on ‘Vlad the Impaler: Psychotic Torturer or Despotic Leader’. It is a Halloween themed talk with dinner to proceed and a costumed masque to follow.

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Please use your aspects to develop a reason that you might attend the dinner, talk, and masque. If you need help then let me know and I will likely suggest a couple of ideas to you.

Okay, this is OOC thread for people to discuss the campaign.

Step 1: City Creation

Okay, this is your chance to suggest things that you want to have included in the campaign. This is why I asked people to generate a list of five or six things that they feel would be good ideas.

With six players that should generate thirty to thirty-six 'ideas' of things that you think are interesting or might want to encounter in the campaign.

I'll then ask people to take that list of ideas and hold a vote (basically we will each prioritize the list the list of ideas with lowest scores getting chosen). We'll look for a starting list of around a dozen ideas to develop further.

You can also suggest a particular city in the world that you would like the campaign set or we can look at the ideas generated and see if a natural match comes out of the ideas.

What makes good ideas?

Critters - Various monsters, demons, fae, werewolves, vampires, old ones or other. Don't be limited by the novels. Choose the things that make you go, 'I've always wanted to fight that'.

Locations - Various locations or types of locations that have magical or spooky connections. Even though some locations belong to certain parts of the world (Stonehenge) there are usually similar locations in other parts of the world (or you can edit history to put it in your city).

Organizations - Various groups with city, region, national, or world significance connections. They could be a real group or a made up group if the concept is interesting (The Delphin Society is a made up group in the sample Baltimore city game which is interesting for its belief that HP Lovecraft was writing on real life experiences).

When suggesting your ideas, remember that you are 'selling' them to the other players; since, it is the group that will vote on what ideas get picked first to become part of the campaign.

In the end list, I'll make sure that each player has at least one idea that is collected into the final list; so, everyone has something in the campaign that is their creation.

Alright, I love the Dresden Files (Jim Butcher novels and graphic novels) and I finally got my copy of the RPG.

So, I would love to find a group of people interested in building a city and participating in adventures.

Q. I like Dresden Files but I don't know FATE system. Can I play?

Certainly. FATE is a very easy system to learn. I'll give the Coles notes version of the rules.

1> You roll some dice and add your Skill Value to the roll. You compare the total to a difficulty number to determine success. Higher then the difficulty number can get you extra benefits called 'shifts'.

2> You have a variety of extra abilities called, 'stunts', 'powers', and 'aspects' that are powered by pool of points called 'Fate Points'. 'Fate Points' are the currency that determines how you run your character and allows you to do amazing things.

3> 'Aspects' are the central way to get modifiers to die rolls, to earn 'Fate Points', and describe what motivates you and everything else in the game world. 'Aspects' are the hot buttons that makes your character and opponents tick. They have both positive and negative qualities. When an 'Aspect' works against a character then the character earns 'Fate Points' and when they work for a character they give them various modifiers or re-rolls to the die roll.

There it is in a nutshell all the basic rules of the system. We'll go into more detail as we get into city creation and then character creation.

Q. I know FATE but I don't really know Dresden Files. Can I play?

Certainly. We won't be basing things in Chicago unless the group thinks that is the town for them to use. Even if we do use Chicago, it won't be identical to the Dresden Books Chicago (though I do have DFRPG Vol 2 Our World which covers Chicago). During city generation, players will identify the types of monsters and problems that interest them and the group. That information will develop the 'landscape, sandbox, or dungeon' which they will initially start playing within.

Dresden Files is an Urban Fantasy but I see no reason to limit it to 'pure' fantasy. If you are a fan of things like Delta Green and want to bring in 'aliens' (note: in Delta Green aliens are often various outsiders and their servants) then that is fine with me as long as it is good with the group. The DFRPG has rules for various Outsiders for the Call of Cthulhu lovers in the world.

Q. So what do I need to do to sign up?

I'm looking for 5 to 6 players interested in playing. I currently game a successful Star Wars Saga game on this site and play in a couple of other games; so, I check this site a couple of times a day for posts.

I'm looking for people who can post usually once a day though we all have lives that sometimes require us to do other things. Polite notes of times when you need some one to NPC your character for a couple of days are appreciated.

So if this is you, then post to this thread that you would like to play along with five or six things that you think would be neat or interesting to have involved in the game.

The list of things should have first, a general name of what you think might be neat or interesting. Second, it should have a sample type of location. Third, it should have an example in movie or TV that you reference and a brief explanation on you think this is would be fun. You don't need to limit yourself to the Dresden books and can pull material from where you find it.

Examples

1> Masonic Architecture - Washington, DC - movie National Treasure - The idea of ancient monuments built by secret orders in special ritualistic patterns has awesome potential.

2> Isolated community beset by monsters - Alaskan station or Antarctic Base - movies The Thing and 30 Days of Night - The idea of hunting a horrible monster or monsters in a small isolated community is the definition of horror.

3> Old Victorian Home Demonically Possessed - Old Eastern Houses - movies like The Amityville Horror - The idea of dealing with demon possession of a location or possible gate to Hell would be a wonderful challenge.

I'm running a game this Saturday for some friends where I'm trying to help some of our newer players get more responsible for making and managing their characters. Currently, they tend to just have other players do much of that work (since they've been in larger nine and ten person groups ~ grown from originally five players).

I'd like to be able to hand over a simplified list of spells from the Divine and Arcane list that will cover most of their gaming choices/needs.

I was hoping some people might know of where there is a list of the core Pathfinder spells where the best 10 for a first level Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, or Wizard have been identified? Maybe you have a list of 10 choices that you feel should be on the list.

The storyline will be a Mage Academy where I'm using Cleric and Druid classes as 're-skinned' mages (giving them titles like Light Wizard and Natural Wizard).

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

dotting.

A Secret Beginning: 3,958 BBY

The Republic has drawn a breadth of life to rebuild. The Mandalorian Wars has shattered many worlds. Thanks to Jedi Revan and Malak, the Madalorians were defeated at Malachor V and driven out of Republic Space. Revan and Malak at the head of a small fleet continue to chase the Mandalorians into the depths of the Unknown Regions.

People have been happy to once again see the return of peace to the Republic. People are beginning to call this the Second Restoration. It is a second chance for the Republic that was rocked previously be the Great Sith War in 4,000 BBY.

But in the depths of the Unknown Regions a monster awakens. A slumbering fleet of Sith Warriors bent on reclaiming the glory of the bygone days of the Sith. Ahead of them move their agents, gathering resources and preparing bases the Sith will need to strike to the heart of the Republic.

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You have been working on a Republic Space yard, filled to capacity with Republic ships being rebuilt, repaired, and outfitted for duty following the damage they sustained in the Mandalorian War. It is the Republic's largest effort to repair and replace her fleet since the end of the Great Sith War.

You have come to the end of the work week and are pulling a few credits for a night of relaxation when the monitor displays the message, 'Awaken Black Valkyrie'. You suddenly start to remember that you are a sleeper agent planted on the Space Yard and you have a mission.

A friend of mine would like to do L5R (Revised 3rd Ed to be specific) but there are a lack of people in the area where we live that know and would enjoy doing L5R.

So, I have offered to run a Solo Plot.

We talked out some possible sources of Solo characters and he decided that he would like to do an Emerald Magistrate plot working himself up from the bottom.

So I now need to work up a series of ideas that would work with such a character. I figure that as an Emerald Magistrate, he will have limited powers to request aid from the local town, city, or damiyo to provide a squad of bushi to aid in any arresting. I may even assign a couple Ashigaru as permanent guards and helpers for him to utilize.

He has yet to choose a clan or whether he is going ronin.

I now just need to think up a series of initial plots that would be appropriate for someone that is an Emerald Magistrate.

Time period will likely be post Clan Wars period; so, there are no major wars going on and people are trying to run their lives in a post war economy.

Mantis will be the new major clan which may be a source of problems.

There will be various amounts of Shadowland Taint that will need to be tracked down along with various Undead.

While not a big part of the L5R universe but very Japanese would be various Yokai that might need investigating.

I am hoping to avoid 'heavy magic' situations as the character will be a bushi and not really be equiped for magic.

So, idea help is greatly appreciated.

Here is a pointer to three people unboxing a copy of the new Red Box Essentials.

Red Box Essentials goes from 27 min to 37 min approx

I am thinking of running a PbP game and wondering which would be the better choice.

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1>> I got ICONS Superhero RPG last week and would like to give it a try. A way to help learn the rules and see how well the system works. The plan would be to set up an Avengers / Justice League type of Superhero group. The proto name would be something like League of Legends.

Character creation would be using the ICONS random character generation.

==

2>> The other idea would be to do an OSR DnD style of game with one of the DnD clones going around (in RL I play in Pathfinder and run a Pathfinder game; so, looking for a bit of change back to my roots). I have Labyrinth Lords and Sword and Wizardy Core rules. I would tweak things slightly by asking a few more development questions at the start of character creation to get more of a feel for some back story to develop upon and build some hooks.

Character creation would be using 3d6 in order. You can roll up two sets of attributes and take the set you prefer. The rule set would determine any trading of attributes. I'll likely also you to have one back-up character ready as we'll likely being going with 0 hit points is dead.

==

Either way, I will be looking for 4 to 6 players (likely less for the Superhero game).

Thoughts or interest?

How is DnD Encounters shaping up for you?

Any stories to share and tall tales to tell. Any advice on running or problems that you have found in the adventure?

Okay, I like the setting of the Legend of the Five Rings (L5R).

Everytime we get characters made up and play some, I get disapointed with the mechanics.

I recently heard some information on Starblazers from someone describing how they have used the system for doing things like Mechwarrior and Star Wars. I picked up a copy and looked at the rules.

I think this might be a good fit for what I am looking for.

Okay, what is my problem with L5R?

All the good and interesting stuff is all locked up in the Schools where it is very hard to access (It requires a considerable gain of skills and attributes to access these abilities) or it seems to have very little impact on the game (Clans, Families, Dojos, Historical Ancestors) beyond small bonuses in character creation.

Most of your game time is focused on your skills which are mostly described in vanilla flavour compared to the spaced and dedication given to the schools that you will rarely access more then the first two to three levels.

The L5R system mechanics promote a character to be an attribute superhuman with a vanilla set of skills that might have one or two 'kwel' extras that differentiate from the rest of the group.

I think that the Fate3 system can help solve this.

I think that I can have items like Clans, Families, Dojos, Dualist, Yojimbo, and dozens of other things like this be Aspects. Many of the Advantages and Disadvantages could also become Aspects for players to personalize their character.

That would allow the players to Tag off of them (Fate3 humour) in combats or in other situations.

I see the School abilities or some of the advantages like Inheritance or Sacred Weapon being Stunts. This would both give more flavourful styles of combat (having more than a single School technique at Rank 1).

I also like having both the Health and Composure Track to represent both physical battles and social battles.

Last, I like the Starblazer Adventures book because it has things like Mystism, Psionics, Aliens, and Mutants for describing various Shadowland creatures including extra large monsters (Star Monsters).

So, this looks like it could work and be a good fit.

I am wondering what people's personal experience with running stuff in the Fate3 system might be and their own thoughts on such an adaption.

Two things that I think have come out of the Summoner play test.

The first is that people really like the Eidolon idea of being able to 'build' a monster.

The second is that it is very hard to balance the Eidolon with the additional magical abilities of the Summoner.

I would add to those points that there has often been a desire for a Savage Monster Class or class system for DnD.

The biggest problem of those ideas has been that when you start to build something like a Giant or Vampire that they don't balance well with the class system. The Eidolon evolution system does mesh with the class system.

Last, I would point out that Wizards, Clerics, and Druids can all be focused as Summoners (a few extra feats might help to reduce casting times; extend the length on a summoning; or further grow a familiar to be more of a permanent summon but otherwise work within the system). A summoning class doesn't really bring major 'newness' to the game (fill a missing niche).

In design, you focus on what sells and what people are interested in. I would drop the spells and summoning and focus on the concept of the Eidolon. This is the idea that has the 'buzz' and the interest of the boards. People have been interested in the option of being able to select from a list of abilities to make a monster that they want to play.

I would suggest that starting with the Eidolon base, you would need to add in a few 'paths' like the Sorcerer or Wizard has to represent major choices like being 'Undead', 'Dragon', 'Angelic', 'Abberant', and others. These types of paths would add things like better hit die type, breath weapon, outsider immunities, healing, exceeding some basic limits of limbs (Abberant would have this), negative or positive energy effects.

This would give something truly different for the players to have as a choice and use a base for players that want to be a mixture of a class and a monster while still fitting within the class system.

Just some thoughts on the revelations for Wind Focus

Air Barrier - I find this choice lacks luster. The class can use a shield and light armour. The bonus granted is an armour bonus which means that you either take up to a +4 for wearing a chain shirt at level 1 or you take a +2 bonus for 1 min per level that takes a standard action to activate (I think the always up light armour wins here easily). If the 'armour' bonus was supposed to be a shield bonus then you still are often better with a regular large shield which grants the same bonus and does not take a standard action to activate.

At level 3 the bonus spells gives the class a +4 shield bonus in the Shield spell. When the Air Barrier matches this at level 7 it is likely a player will be having access to +2 magic large shields which have the same bonus and no need to spend actions to activate.

The Air Barrier really doesn't start to become a benefit till level 11 when it reaches +6 (+4 large shields are hard to acquire at this level and usually far costlier then the benefit to the player). The Air Barrier is also an Extraordinary Ability and not subject to dispell magic. It still takes a standard action to activate (as do all Revelations unless specified otherwise).

The best advantage that this Air Barrier provides is at level 13 with the 50% miss chance though with Invisibility and Gaseous Form as other Revelations on the list, there are other ways to get a 50% miss or 100% miss chance that are able to be taken at level 1 and level 7. Greater Invisibility is available at level 9. These aren't Extrordinary abilities but are still Supernatural which is pretty good.

Suggestions of improvement (suggestions are mutually exclusive) of the Air Barrier Revelation are;

1> Make it like Wind Wall which can used a number of rounds equal to the Oracle level. This gives a way of shielding others which is a bit more useful to a group. It gives the protection to arrows and bolts and 30% miss to other missiles.

2> Make the bonus a deflection bonus and make it a swift action to activate. This won't interfere with the light armour and shield the Oracle will normally be equip'd with and fits better with the idea. Duration would remain minutes per day equal to Oracle level. This then adds and makes up for the lack of medium armour compared to a regular cleric. Still, I would likely just go with Invisibility and Gaseous Form with Sanctuary Spell tossed in as another level of protection at lower levels.

3> Make it like Sanctuary Spell. The winds surround the character preventing them from attacking or being attacked unless the opponent succeeds at a Will roll. You could use it a number of rounds per day equivelant to your Oracle level. Again, if you already have invisibility then this is more of the same. The advantage might be that you can use this Santuary on other people (like the Santuary Spell).

Gaseoeus Form - I take it the level 5 restriction on taking this power is a typo that should be level 7 as you can not get a revelation at level 5. This appears to a solid straight forward choice.

Invisibility - This too seems a solid and straight forward choice.

Lightning Breath - has a damage of d4. I can understand at level 1 that you don't want this out shining burning hands or magic missile. I do think that since this is a 1/day at level 1 and increases to 2/day at level 5 and 3/day at level 10 (and so on) that you might consider the damage die type increases at say level 7 to a d6. Since the maximum damage is capped at 10 dice (compared to say the Dragon Sorcerer or Elemental Sorcerer that do not have a capped level on the damage) it might also be worth considering that at level 13 to increase the damage die to d8. Wizards and Sorcerers will still be able to shine and the damage die increase will keep this power staying equivelent to other choices (level 13 Oracles have access to Flame Strike, Blade Barrier and Clerics have Holy Word).

Spark Sin - This seems a decent choice. Fits thematically with the character but just not sure it will get chosen when there are all the other solid choices to make. It might be better as an auto power given to a character of a certain level (since there are Resist Energy and Protection from Energy that the Oracle can customize on the fly and use for the whole group).

Thunderburst - This is mostly fine but would like the range to be clarified as Range 0 if it is meant to be a burst centred on the Oracle or a distance if has an actual target range. If it is range 0 then this is a panic button for the Oracle when people are swarming on top of them. The trouble will be to use this ability with other players on your team without affecting them. I think the deafness of 1 hour sounds nice but would be better if it lasted rounds equivelent to the Oracle level. This would allow it to clear faster in a post battle if you accidentally splatted a team mate with the effect and should still last a full fight if used (minimum level is 7 which is 7 combat rounds which is generally plenty).

Suggestions for Improvement;

1> If this is a range 0 power meant to be a bail the Oracle out of trouble effect then I would remove the damage component. Instead give the power a repulsion or push back effect like Forceful Hand with a Bull Rush on everyone in the area of effect using the Oracle level + set bonus (+9 is used in Foceful Hand ~ +8 Str +1 Large). This would avoid the fratricide of fellow players and still accomplish the goal of clearing a space around the Oracle. I would still leave the deafness with the modifier of rounds instead of hour.

Touch of Electricity - I know this is a touch attack power but I can use a mace almost as well and do a d8 to hit (plus any magic weapon bonuses). The limit of uses of Charisma Modifier + 3 just doesn't add to the value when I can have a mace available to use whenever I want. The increase of Shock at level 11 increases this to 2d6 + 1/2 level doesn't do much when the 1st level Wizard/Sorcerer spell Shocking Grasp can do up to 5d6 damage.

When you have a choice of commiting one of your precious Revelation choices and grabbing a piece of lumber and hitting the opponent with the chunk of lumber (club for d6 plus strength) then you are going to choose the chunk of lumber.

Suggestions for Improvement;

1> Change the touch range to a 30' range with an additional 5' per Oracle level. I would still likely use a crossbow before choosing this as a revelation but this at least brings it closer to the similar abilities of Sorcerer and Wizard. If you have light armour then range is a benefit. Even for the lightning focused Wind Oracle they would likely choose the Lightning Breath first (range 30' with line attack and damage increasing to 10d4 at level 10), Vortex Spells second (usuable all the time on all spells when a critical occurs ~ second choice do Thunderburst not available till level 7), and third would be Thunderburst (d6 damage for 20' radius burst). Even after that I would still likely choose some other movement revelation because I would have enough cleric spells for combat purposes that I really would not often need a d6 or 2d6 touch attack.

2> Change this to Shocking Grasp. It does a d6 per Oracle level to a maximum of 5d6. To prevent it from dominating, I would lower the uses per day to 1 at level 1 and an additional usage per day at level 5 and every five levels thereafter. Players might still like things like Lightning Breath and Thunderburst but this keeps it in line with those powers. I might also suggest that around level 11 the damage die be increased from d6 to d8 or d10 to keep this power competive with the other revelations and spellcasting choices.

Vortex Spells - This is a solid choice and works as written.

Wind Sight - This is a solid choice and works as written. It has some interesting interaction with the curses of Clouded Vision and Deaf but GMs and players should be able to work that out or choose a different Curse to avoid the interaction.

Wings of Air - I take it is a typo that this is listed as level 5 instead of level 7 for when you can take this revelation. This is fine as it is written.

I was recently working on making a Wind Focus Oracle and this was the impressions and thoughts that I got from looking through the list.

There was no change to channel energy.

Feats of Selective Channeling and Extra Turning are still available.

Turn Elementals and Turn Outsiders is a bit more selective in that you need to specify which type that you effect.

Personally, I think the negative energy version is pretty powerful in the impact it would have on gaming.

Arguments though are the same from Alpha 2; so, no need to rehash an old issue.

One thing that should be done with the normally low skill classes is to have a few automatic skills that they receive without having to spend skill ranks. Just assign level to the class skill (like Wild Empathy is for Rangers and Druids).

This is to avoid some of these embarrasing moments of roleplaying;

Cleric without Knowledge (Religion)
PC: So, Cleric, when is the next Holy Feast for your God?
Cleric: I don't know. I am not that type of Cleric.
PC: So, Cleric, did your God marry anyone and have any children?
Cleric: I don't know. I am not that type of Cleric.
PC: In your religious opinion, Cleric, how should we proceed into the temple to avoid offending this God?
Cleric: I don't know. I am not taht type of Cleric.

Barbarian without Knowledge of Survival.
PC: So, Barbarian, can you build us a fire while I tend to the horses?
Barbarian: No, I am not that type of Barbarian.
PC: So, Barbarian, where do think that we should shelter for the night?
Barbarian: I don't know. I am not that type of Barbarian.
PC: So, Barbarain, can you point out which of the food around here is safe to eat?
Barbarian: I don't know. I am not that type of Barbarian.

Paladin without Ride skill.
PC: Wow! So your god gave you a mount. When can I see you ride it in battle?
Paladin: I don't know how to ride. I am not that kind of Paladin.
{I know that Sprit Bond now gives an option that does not involve a mount but a Paladin should not get to level 5 without having some skill in riding}

The previous could be repeated for

Druids not having Knowledge (nature)
Wizards not having Spellcraft
Bards not having performance skill in a single instruement

Since these classes often start with a limited amount of skills choices like 2 to 4 then it seems only fair to give them free the one skill that is most related to doing their profession instead of having players end up with crazy combinations that do not know the basics of what they are supposed to have spent their lives doing.

Mostly I am looking at Negative Energy pg 60

Particularly when combined with Selective Channeling pg 51 and to some degree Extra Turning pg 50.

This is a real combo bomb here; especially at low levels.

Negative Energy does 1d6 damage to all living creatures in 30' radius with DC 10 +1/2 lvl +Cha bonus.

Clerical Turns per day are 3+Cha bonus.

Take a Cha 16 cleric that takes the feat Selective Channeling.

The cleric can AoE in a 30' radius doing 1d6 for half against Will Save of DC 13 up to 6 times in a row or spread over that many attacks. That is good damage and awesome blasting for a level 1 cleric without even touching their spell list.

I can not tell you how the wizards and sorcerers would be jealous of that kind of ability. You do not even need to be evil but a neutral faith will still allow you the damage (though many clerics might want to turn evil for damage out put like this).

The damage effect also scales and can be made to affect Outsiders and Elementals thanks to Turn Elemental and Turn Outsider on pg 52.

By level 10, the Cleric that increased their Cha to 18 and took the Extra Turning feat once (though this is likely a feat that could be taken multiple times with each selection adding another 2 usages).

The 10th level Cleric now can AoE in a 30' doing 1d6+4d6= 5d6 damage with Will save DC 10+5+4= 19 for a total of 3+4+2= 9 times per day and could be affecing Elementals or Outsiders beside Living targets.

You might argue that Fireball can do more damage by 10th level but this is pretty free spell choices for damage, the AoE at 30' radius is larger then most Fireballs and then their is Selective Channeling.

Selective Channeling is the real game breaker. Taking this feat means that you do not blast your friends with all this damage that the cleric is doing without even opening their prayer book.

You automatically get the ability to exclude your own self from the negative damage as part of Negative Channeling. Selective Channeling lets you protect up to your Cha bonus in other targets. Given the very average 16 Cha Cleric then this gives three people (usually enough to exclude any of the other members within 30' of the Cleric).

A Cleric dedicated to this combo would start with a higher Cha and a race like Gnome which is +2 on Cha and thus possibly a Cha 20 starting race at level 1.

A Cleric of this type would focus almost strictly on being able to spam this power while using their spells to protect them as they just walked around killing things with their field of death.

Worst case situation by level 20 using a Gnome base with 18 Cha before racial modifer and taking multiple Extra Turnings.

Cha would be 25 with bonus +7. Feats would be Selective Turning, Turn Elementals, Turn Outsiders, Extra Turning x7 (+14 bonus turnings per day).

The Cleric can now AoE for 30' radius doing 1d6+9d6= 10d6 damage with Will Save for half of 10+10+7= 27 for a total of 3+7+14= 24 times per day affecting both Elementals and Outsiders (also any undead are just extra recruits for the front line for this character).

They really do not need their spell list as they have plenty of combat power already and just spam channelings all the time.

Something that Sorcerers lack is something that is unique to them and not an Arcane Wizard knock-off spell.

I like the idea of the Bloodlines but I think that this idea can be taken further with something that I am calling 'Sorcerous Expressions'.

Conceptually, it is similar to what they can currently do.

Currently, a Sorcerer has a list of known spells that they are granted.

Sorcererous Expressions would be more like feats like the Divine Feats that Clerics use with the Turn Undead Battery or Barbarians use with their Rage Points.

Sorcerous Expressions though would allow a Sorcerer to sacrifice a spell slot to gain an immediate ability.

Some of this idea already exists in feats that allow a Sorcerer to do things like sacrifice a slot to apply a metamagic feat without spending a full round or to sacrifice a certain number of lower level slots to cast a higher level spell.

What I am thinking more with Sorcerous Expressions are that some things that Sorcerous should not have to 'learn' a spell to be able to channel magic to occur.

For example, an Elementalist Sorcerer should not have to learn a spell to be able to channel magic into a damaging field that surrounds them with their element. This should just be a special feat choice that they can do to make a 1d6+1/2 levels damaging aura in a 5' area around the sorcerer lasting a number of rounds equal to the caster. Fortitude save for half damage with a DC of 10+1/2 level+Cha of Sorcerer. This would be one sample feat or Sorcerous Expression.

BTW thematically, I do not like the idea of Sorcerers wearing armour. I think that they should be able to shape magic into something better than hunks of metal strapped to their arms.

The Sorcerous Expressions would thematically sound like they were the mind of the Sorcerer shaping the raw nature of magic to fit their own outlook.

I might compare the effect to the Warlock's or Dragonfire Adept's pools of abilities though the Sorcerer would use their spell slots to activate the abilities. More powerful abilities would take higher level slots to activate the abilities.

Thus, for example, a Draconic Sorcerer might choose Breath of the Wyrm as something that requires a level 5 slot to activate. Breath of the Wyrm would be a blast of an appropriate type of wyrm doing 1d6 damage per level of the Draconic Sorcerer with the characteristics of effect of a Huge Dragon.

While something like Wings of the Wyrm might only take a level 3 pick like a fly spell known would require.