tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35416002342613352502024-03-28T20:28:58.406-07:00Tomb of TedankhamenOld school fantasyTedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.comBlogger292125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-73169768531040237172024-03-24T05:33:00.000-07:002024-03-24T05:33:27.369-07:00Hicks On Fire - Futility of TTRPG Discourse<p>He said it better than I could have.</p><p>Video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrSapHNzkpY&t=166s">HERE</a>.</p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-42648857396807149192024-03-21T18:28:00.000-07:002024-03-21T18:28:08.678-07:00OSR Style Problems, Stormbringer, and D&D<p>Ben from Questing Beast just did a deep dive with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEEzVZQb3M0">This video</a> about OSR style gaming. I think one of the reasons Stormbringer has lasted as long as it has with minimal changes is because it meets lots of the requirements he outlines.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Is Stormbringer OSR?</h4><p>First, he notes the characteristics of an OSR style game:</p><p>1) The System Needs to be Incomplete</p><p>(As I've noted, original Stormbringer is almost rules lite in its lack of rule minutae)</p><p>2) System Supports Rulings via Disconnected Rules</p><p>(Elementals, Elan, Demons, all pretty disconnected and again rules lite)</p><p>3) System Has A Way To Resolve situations</p><p>(skill system)</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Stormbringer's Crunch</h4><p>Ben also notes that 'crunchy' systems don't allow OSR style gaming, but what do we mean by crunchy? Crunch, in my estimation, implies two things:</p><p>1 - There is a number or stat for everything</p><p>(Contrast the statted out Arioch of D&D's Deities and Demigods, who is a 10th level Bard for some reason, versus the paucity of stats for any god in Stormbringer)</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgRq63ODwUVj3xRFaEvemyfO1PHLsIwlB6OHXSzVqLIdEfSTL_1R3eBuMMtF79srpiHwwL7OCXLceRpe13dCjU1PQ6LRnsXr2hHOi3m5hjbpz4d1eBMbWNCJz6JuL58OB_kXYRvqzHUkOxuqW5vsZr_iqV4aNKl0FdlNdLi6Gh9z62W237dOgp5JCY1M/s460/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-21%20at%205.33.11%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="460" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgRq63ODwUVj3xRFaEvemyfO1PHLsIwlB6OHXSzVqLIdEfSTL_1R3eBuMMtF79srpiHwwL7OCXLceRpe13dCjU1PQ6LRnsXr2hHOi3m5hjbpz4d1eBMbWNCJz6JuL58OB_kXYRvqzHUkOxuqW5vsZr_iqV4aNKl0FdlNdLi6Gh9z62W237dOgp5JCY1M/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-21%20at%205.33.11%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>2 - All effects have been laid out, leaving no room for interpretation (ie rulings)</p><p>(In D&D, all Arioch's attacks and abilities are clearly spelled out, conversely making him more limited in power. In Stormbringer, summoning an avatar of any Chaos lord makes them have all attributes at 10 x that of the summoner, with SIZ and shape at will, and as we are told, "Lords of Chaos may accomplish anything up to the destruction of the world... by fiat." This means power is effectively unlimited, as a god should be.)</p><p>Deities and Demigods shows up the difference in the D&D and Stormbringer / OSR mindset. In the Melnibonean Mythos section, all gods are given stats. This means they are killable.</p><p>"To a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Hit points imply combat, and feats & powers limit action to what is on the character sheet.</p><p>By this metric, Stormbringer 1E Elemental rules are very OSR, while demon rules become less so from 1E to 4E and its laundry list of powers, which is a very 90's thing.</p><p>Stormbringer has accumulated some crunch as it aged, witness the jump from 1E rules lite demons to 4E catalogue of powers demons, and Elric! spells. But this still pales in comparison to modern D&D.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Rulings Not Rules</h4><p>Next, Ben asks, "How do you support the rulings not rules principle at the adventure level? You give players problems that can only be solved with innovation." He also notes, "I've noticed that fairytale and mythology frequently contain great examples of these types of problems."</p><p>What Ben has hit on is the narrative aspect of old school gaming. This is the influence of the source fiction, where triumphing comes from being inventive, not just the game of whittling down hit points of enemies. Moorcock's stories are very mythic, witness the golem Aubec defeats by showing it its own reflection, or how Elric uses elementals to escape the Sack of Imrryr, which is emulated in the Elemental rules' lack of heavy simulationist crunch. In game design, I think we forget the source fiction to our detriment. Part of the reason D&D went down the crunch for crunch's sake road is that it made its own (to me) lukewarm settings that I never got into, and that had no guiding narrative constraints for its designers. Thus D&D became its own game-narrative genre unto itself, an ouroboros eating its own tail.</p><p>This may be why Dragonlords of Melnibone failed - it is hard to have Moorcockean mythic stories in a game of preset feats and spells.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Zeroing in on OSR Style Problems</h4><p>Ben then resumes OSR style problems according to the venerable Goblin Punch blog:</p><p>1 No easy solution</p><p>2 Many difficult solutions</p><p>3 Requires no special tools</p><p>4 Can be solved with common sense</p><p>5 Isn't solvable by ability on character sheet</p><p>Here is where Stormbringer falls down a bit. As I have noted, original Stormbringer is schizophrenic. It has stats and skills for characters, but none for Elementals. Some of its published scenarios are nothing more than reskinned D&D dungeon crawls, but even the starter adventure, Tower of Yrkath Florn, has hints of the mythic OSR style in it. The demon trapped in the tower can be bypassed, fought, or bound, depending on what the players feel they could or should do. This is a stark difference from the norm of monster = combat from other games.</p><p>Another way to express this dialectic is "Is the GM a computer, or is he a philosopher? Are the players bean counters, or fellow storytellers?" Stormbringer's inherent mode of combat = avoidable, emulated in the lethality of rules and inspired by the source material, pushes this question to the fore.</p><p>Ben calls the principle "Create Problems Without Solutions" and notes that it is the players' job to find solutions, with or without GM help. Readers may remember I touched on this in my <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3541600234261335250/6714390432661689949">Moorcock bestiary</a>, in which I changed the Kay from boring Kobold stand ins to mobs of psychic crabs, and wrote:</p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"How can the PCs defeat an innumerable enemy? I don't know. That is their job to figure out. Maybe their sorceror-noble can call on the Lord of Crabs, or use flaming oil, or start a Cajun crab cook up."</span></p><p>I agree with Ben when he notes, "For me as a game master, I just love seeing players find a way to bypass these OSR style problems." In my Laughing Tower playtest, young players unfamiliar with Moorcock / Stormbringer tried to emulate skills by rubbing mud on their face for camoflauge, while older Moorcock-loving players interacted with NPCs in unforeseeable ways to get what they wanted.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h4><p>I agree with Ben when he notes, "Anything that gives you a numerical bonus is not an OSR style tool. What you want are tools that allow innovative problem solving, that stretch the brain." Stormbringer has tons of such tools in its Exotic Treasures section, all ripped directly from Moorcock. But its Elementals, though lacking hit points and other crunch, provide very flavorful yet unpredictable ways to solve problems.</p><p>As Ben says, "If OSR problems are problems without solutions, then OSR tools are solutions without problems." And this is a lot easier to do in Stormbringer than other games, due to both its system and source fiction. </p><p>For this reason, in my next Stormbringer post, I will be looking closely at how the game mixes a minimum of stats with a modicum of narrative options in its Virtues vs 1E Demon rules, a dichotomy of power I have unfairly overlooked for decades.</p><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-85715607196416795332024-03-18T19:33:00.000-07:002024-03-18T19:33:48.200-07:00The Devolution of Roleplaying<p>It is stories like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvwvaGG03uc">THIS</a> that make me realize how much roleplaying had devolved into pure trolling for some people.</p><p><br /></p><p>The player of Old Man Henderson</p><p>1) Makes a backstory that lets him have any ability he wants</p><p>2) Kills all other player characters</p><p>3) Finishes the encounter in a matter of minutes in a HORROR game</p><p><br /></p><p>I can't believe this is what passes for humour or roleplaying these days. I hope this is a joke.</p><p>If not, that Keeper needs a Sanity roll...</p><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-19784476593257418692024-03-15T11:07:00.000-07:002024-03-15T11:07:09.283-07:00Another Arrival<p> In much better shape than the corebook!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9RnlPdOXY3r4wawBWIIE9EU5hapJHswiHPymgMNmStMcVc3i4c7djlVhRCRm1DDX7r2ZF4BoFaV3Yc-Tb7eInKkZWRfo3JSAY6KlKYc5xNB-1AszLNwZnRmCN9f8mhzaBYZiStLBB5owjROvptWJPVBCamcF5uXirOgAidz2bC1gpMBZa2Eb1byw21mk/s4032/IMG_3066.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9RnlPdOXY3r4wawBWIIE9EU5hapJHswiHPymgMNmStMcVc3i4c7djlVhRCRm1DDX7r2ZF4BoFaV3Yc-Tb7eInKkZWRfo3JSAY6KlKYc5xNB-1AszLNwZnRmCN9f8mhzaBYZiStLBB5owjROvptWJPVBCamcF5uXirOgAidz2bC1gpMBZa2Eb1byw21mk/s320/IMG_3066.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-57800522052122061942024-02-29T19:33:00.000-08:002024-02-29T19:33:02.344-08:00I Have It!<p> It is decidedly grubby, but no complaints for $50.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOKY56iukyUtRooz8os9hqqkRshBUPIyxJo6nIEKcFrVlUxsyqMzMrzoPWTQM6DwjEjlyYtezg6RK2QPvlE6XpsEqaK-WdEX-J4o8XHx4KTiPKp4UeQCZwB9DBdzenDSQo7KY0SKPjwL-dnaQ8QnMhwxXdHlEI-mHnySEIdAdY9ZXaJ6IWzZVqSVAQcI/s4032/IMG_3005.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOKY56iukyUtRooz8os9hqqkRshBUPIyxJo6nIEKcFrVlUxsyqMzMrzoPWTQM6DwjEjlyYtezg6RK2QPvlE6XpsEqaK-WdEX-J4o8XHx4KTiPKp4UeQCZwB9DBdzenDSQo7KY0SKPjwL-dnaQ8QnMhwxXdHlEI-mHnySEIdAdY9ZXaJ6IWzZVqSVAQcI/s320/IMG_3005.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p>Behold the beauty!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLhRhSWV5Z3LZH8Co9ImLdfnWKJi0v6q9cVSsbln0cUJ7XVrRxRzBRC7n79UVcDB5uNaCxSbbxjHM8bIOhrszBuRgFRSSu08nzkRsvGUVMKMCP9wpth-iYZW2J05a90VpzGrgBiPSAk5dUIAgcrqeFErwBBQu8lpkG1rfJ49g1SHW7gHJqYt4iPN54U8/s4032/IMG_3006.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLhRhSWV5Z3LZH8Co9ImLdfnWKJi0v6q9cVSsbln0cUJ7XVrRxRzBRC7n79UVcDB5uNaCxSbbxjHM8bIOhrszBuRgFRSSu08nzkRsvGUVMKMCP9wpth-iYZW2J05a90VpzGrgBiPSAk5dUIAgcrqeFErwBBQu8lpkG1rfJ49g1SHW7gHJqYt4iPN54U8/s320/IMG_3006.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-82373851952226449302024-02-09T16:44:00.000-08:002024-02-09T16:44:09.028-08:00Stormbringer Redux Collected - EDITED!<p> Hi all,</p><p>The collected Stormbringer Redux was looking HIDEOUS, so I went through it and added title links to make it easier to navigate.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p><br /></p><p>TED</p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-39687979590901014802024-02-09T15:48:00.000-08:002024-02-10T13:10:22.910-08:00Stormbringer redux #21 Theology & The Alignment (Agent Elan) System<p>OK, since I keep banging on about Stormbringer mechanics that emulate or support the cosmology of Moorcock's fiction, this is the one mechanic that most fits that description, and thus merits a closer look. Honestly, I've never had recourse to use it, as no player in any of the short-lived games I ran ever needed it or insisted on it.</p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">THREE LEVELS OF RELIGION</h4><p>As I remarked in the BitR podcast, Stormbringer is all about theology, not cosmology so much. This makes sense since it is emulating a whole gameworld of believers. This is how the rules delineate them:</p><p><b>1 Believers</b> - Can have multiple cults if not in opposition. Don't get Elan, cannot invoke divine invention (see houserule at the end for one suggested exception).</p><p><b>2 Priests</b> - Manage business, conduct services & sacrifices, build temples, collect knowledge, scheme on behalf of deity, speak directly to god & representatives. Get Elan, can invoke divine intervention.</p><p><b>3 Agents</b> - Souls promised to deity, work in their interest, get Elan, an amulet, special powers, and can invoke divine intervention. May also be priests.</p><p>No objections here, except the houserule at the end to give non-priest / non-Agent characters a little skill boost for their faith.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63kDeWcC5LaGWHFG_7mYyRwJa0mMCLLv1J4K8B-PexOY9a-l6WvQEpcZV2LWEkt2wpoeHgGAFjDVAgoGRw_fdzLBRKOnDVbjh3yWItlgQBvXCFh7aybsXTHVvzT3O3QS2_yfiL7DYe2qbOku_51pvtpSJ5O2VotuEGY64EXKnZly5I7tpy47iODrK9PQ/s602/only-the-blessed-can-understand-the-quickening-v0-k5pgiiggpbib1.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="There can be only one Agent of Law!" border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="602" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63kDeWcC5LaGWHFG_7mYyRwJa0mMCLLv1J4K8B-PexOY9a-l6WvQEpcZV2LWEkt2wpoeHgGAFjDVAgoGRw_fdzLBRKOnDVbjh3yWItlgQBvXCFh7aybsXTHVvzT3O3QS2_yfiL7DYe2qbOku_51pvtpSJ5O2VotuEGY64EXKnZly5I7tpy47iODrK9PQ/w320-h231/only-the-blessed-can-understand-the-quickening-v0-k5pgiiggpbib1.webp" title="There can be only one Agent of Law!" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h4>WHO CAN BE AN AGENT</h4><p>Although the rules state, "Any character may become an Agent for a god" [6.5], in keeping with Moorcock's fiction, I would say only Nobles can do so. Thus if a Beggar character wished to become an Agent, they would first have to carve out their own title and demesne. This is a wonderful roleplaying hook, in my opinion, and so I'll stick with it.</p><p>I would also add that characters can only be agents of a god listed in their Nationality description, to reflect the 'ancient bonds' mentioned in the Elric books. Remember, I suggested letting nationalities with no descriptions use Beast Lords or appropriate Elemental lords instead. As I wrote,</p><p>"<span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Note that all entries of ‘None’ on the table should instead be considered Elementals & Beastlords. Entries of ‘Other’ should include minor or local deities and godlings the GM should create, such as the undead ancestor worship in the Forest of Troos."</span></p><h4><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />BECOMING AN AGENT</h4><br /><br />The procedure is simple:<br /><br />1) Find a temple to the deity you wish to serve, have the priests make preparations<br /><br />2) Declare the number of POW points you wish to sacrifice<br /><br />3) Roll for success<br /><br />The simple formula for the roll is CHA + number of POW points sacrificed. In a way, this makes as much sense as Arioch being charmed by Elric, so I like it. Usually, I would suggest replacing a random attribute roll like this with a skill roll, such as Persuade, but I think the riskiness of the roll as it is works fine.<h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;">ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF BEING AN AGENT</h4><p>Again, these all make sense - the agent gets a boon (supernatural aid) and is protected from the element or followers of his god.</p><p>Let's just take a quick look through these:</p><p><b>Advantages</b></p><p><b>Elemental Agents</b> - Get one appropriate elemental, can get a new one if destroyed for 1 Elan; can't be attacked by elemental of their god.</p><p><b>Law</b> - Double CON and HP, unaging but sterile. Gods only intervene when directly fighting Chaos. Get one Virtue.</p><p><b>Chaos</b> - Divine intervention or message of inability, never have to make a demon POW vs POW over 50%. Get one free weaker demon.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Disadvantages</b></p><p><b>All Elemental Agents</b> - All can't worship other elements, mustn't lose amulet on fear of death or punishment.<br /><b>Grome</b> - Can't dig up or defile buried corpses.<br /><b>Strassha</b> - Originally can't eat fish, but I prefer can't eat land animals (see below).<br /><b>Lassha</b> - Never eat or kill birds.<br /><b>Kakatal</b> - Can't extinguish flames.</p><p><b>Law</b> - Cannot worship Chaos or elementals, cannot lose amulet on pain of losing Agenthood, must take orders from priest of own deity, cannot cooperate with Chaos Agents, must kill them.</p><p><b>Chaos</b> - Cannot worship Law, cannot lose amulet on pain of demon attack, must take orders from priest of own deity, cannot stay in any location more than a month.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><h4 style="text-align: left;">AMULETS OF AGENTS</h4><div>The rules for amulets are spread all over the shop, so I thought I'd try and review them all here.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>All</b> - Although this is only noted in the Elemental section [6.6.6], we can assume that an amulet is needed for any divine invocation by an Agent of any cult. Also, amulets only work for the Agent they belong to.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Elemental</b> - Although there is no reference to elemental amulet powers, I think the following should be allowed:</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Grome</b> - Can detect any undine within 100 yards, take 1/10 landslide damage.<br /><b>Strassha</b> - Can detect any gnome within 100 yards, take 1/10 drowning damage.<br /><b>Lassha</b> - Can detect any salamander within 100 yards, take 1/10 falling damage.<br /><b>Kakatal</b> - Can detect any sylph within 100 yards, take 1/10 fire damage.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><p style="font-size: medium;">Law<span style="font-weight: 400;"> <span style="font-size: small; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> - Glows and warms if Chaos forces within 100 ft vicinity (take 1 Elan to hide)</span></span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Chaos<span style="font-weight: 400;"> - Detects Chaos gods within 100 miles via rainbow swirl</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Detects Lawful Agent within 1 mile via chill<br /><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Detects harmful intent within 100 feet via electric shock</span><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">NB: I really dislike putting ranges on these effects, and just generally handwaive them as the story demands. Also, Chaotic amulets seem to have a little edge in sensing abilities, so I would just make both able to detect their own or opposing forces as appropriate for the adventure.</p><p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><br /></p></h3><h4 style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">STORY EFFECT OF AGENTHOOD</span></h4><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I noted in a previous post, Agents set themselves up as center of the story. As such, the following GM rules of thumb are suggested:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1 Agents are ALWAYS targeted by the opposition, companions are often ignored.</span></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-f73a754d-7fff-5b82-b60e-0867a38da724"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2 Agents CANNOT refuse the call of their faction, companions may come and go as they please.</span></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"></h3><h4><br />AGENTS OF BEAST LORDS?? ELDER GODS??</h4><p><br />As noted, characters from minor nations should also have the chance to become an Agent of Elemental or Beast Lords. Now, let's look at a sample Beast Lord Agent.<br /><br /><b>Becoming</b> - Once again, a Noble of any aligned nation should be able to be an Agent of a Beast Lord.</p><p><b>Amulet</b> - The amulet is made of some precious metal (gold or silver) plated to a part of the animal. A skull for a small animal, a fang or talon for larger ones. The amulet allows divine intervention, but should also allow the character to use a skill from the animal's description. For instance, an Agent of a tiger god could take the animal's heightened senses or stealth ability percentage, but doing so negates any skill check for improvement. If the amulet is lost or destroyed, the Agent can no longer access these abilities.</p><p><b>Advantages</b> - The Agent cannot be attacked by the animal in question, and he can summon a swarm (2D20) of small animals or group (1D6+1) of larger ones and give them commands that they may follow if it serves their interest and the character makes a successful Persuade skill or entices the animals somehow. Summoning animals costs 1 Elan each time.</p><p><b>Disadvantages</b> - The Agent can never harm one of the animals, and must try to protect the animal and its natural habitat at all costs. Failing to do so will lose them Agent status.</p><h4><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />ELAN</h4><p>Elan ranges from 0 to 100, equals percentage the god intervenes when called upon by Priests or Agents. A character must be devoted to one god to get Elan.</p><p>50 Elan can be converted into 1 POW at any time. I don't know if this is a bad or a good thing, so leaving it as is.</p><p><br /></p><h4>GAINING ELAN</h4><p>I have no objections to any of the rewards listed, but would also add GMs should reward any roleplaying that fits with a follower of the cult. The only issue I see is that keeping track of Elan for multiple priests or agents seems like a hassle for the GM, who should inform players it is their responsibility to declare when they are doing Elan-worthy actions.</p><p><br /></p><h4>INVOKING DEITIES (Priests and Agents only)</h4><p>Roll D100 vs Elan. </p><p>Success (equal or below Elan) means wish is granted, the number rolled is subtracted from Elan.</p><p>Failure (above Elan) means wish is not granted, Elan halved..</p><p>NB: I would add the following levels of success to spice things up:</p><p><br /></p><h4>DIVINE INTERVENTION ROLL LEVELS</h4><p><b>Critical Success (1/10 Elan)</b> - Deity is pleased, solves the character's problem in style. 50% it leaves a useful boon (companion or item of power) until the end of the session. Can try again this adventure.</p><p><b>Success (Equal or below Elan)</b> - Deity grants a boon in an indirect or understated way. Can try again next adventure.</p><p><b>Failure (Above Elan)</b> - Deity ignores the demand, Elan reduced by half. Can try again after a year of gametime.</p><p><b>Fumble (99-00 if Elan is 50 or below, 00 if above)</b> - Deity is angered by the petty demand, Elan reduced to 0. Deity won't answer any demands until the character has recovered at least 50 Elan. Also, can't try again until character has done some service for the deity and been forgiven for presumption.</p><p>One more thing I would add is that the deity themselves can offer to assist if the character is a necessary pawn in their game. However, there will be a HEAVY price to pay for accepting such assistance.</p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">PROFESSIONS FAVOURED BY DEITIES (Houserule for non-Priests or non-Agents)</h4><p>I don't agree entirely that non-priest or agent characters should have no benefit for having a cult. Also, the long list of gods who are patrons of certain professions is rendered window dressing if there is no mechanical incentive behind it. Instead, here is a simple houserule that I'd like to playtest at some point that adds a small advantage for mundane characters being in a cult.</p><p>If a character follows a deity that is a patron of their profession, they can add their CHA to a professional skill if it is used in an activity that somehow favours the deity or its supporters. For example, Strassha is patron of sailors, fishermen, laundry workers (?), painters, and also farmers to a degree. If a non-agent Sailor character is fighting a group of Pyaray cultists, he can invoke his god and get a CHA bonus to use any of his profession's skills (first weapon, Swim, Tie Knot, Climb, Balance, or Navigation for mates) if it supports Strassha or opposes Pyaray. </p><p>However, if using this rule, characters are also bound by the rules of the cult. This requires some modificatons, since some of the restrictions make little sense. For example, banning followers of Strassha from eating fish when the god is patron of Fishermen would seem counterintuitive, and instead it would be more evocative and restrictive if followers of Strassha were permitted to eat no LAND animal, and subsist on fish alone, in accordance with their opposition to Grome and his followers.</p><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-37602772957545636942024-01-31T14:33:00.000-08:002024-01-31T14:33:27.973-08:00D100 is The Best of Dice and The Worst of Dice<p> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D2N-dYmDlQ">This video</a> cracked me up. Enjoy!</p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-65880313530030274842024-01-30T19:05:00.000-08:002024-01-30T19:05:04.041-08:00STOP TALKING ABOUT MOORCOCK RPGS!!<p>Dudes, the Ebay prices have gone INSANE!</p><p>I was paying $30 a pop for books in Japan on Mercari (their Ebay) or online game shops.</p><p>$100 is the buy in price for anything here in North America, it seems.</p><p>Wild. I got my Amano cover Stormbringer boxed set for that.</p><p>I blame Breakfast in the Ruins and Grognards for all the attention.</p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-60181246929348388032024-01-30T07:52:00.000-08:002024-01-30T07:52:55.393-08:00I Should Have Listened To This Long Ago...<p>Finally caught the Grognard Files' first podcast on the Stormbringer RPG (<a href="https://thegrognardfiles.com/2016/02/21/episode-5-part-1-stormbringer-rpg/#comment-4279">HERE</a>).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdDI98qhHG4xFqV50cLe-r5a45PEGoIoUq4hdD-ut1XGbngNpCuIhJZxe7MSBysB2JJCWU-iUCAHwdZqUGRI3OkpN8QsbaRbJ-QnJhj9GQb-_6jtB_SjtphfScJp9Ye_os3c2LGWguUTErkIJS6xzukNOW74s_0hAqyQRK_8PsR-lWJLPOZiwBH-nWOk/s196/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-30%20at%2012.21.27%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="196" data-original-width="188" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdDI98qhHG4xFqV50cLe-r5a45PEGoIoUq4hdD-ut1XGbngNpCuIhJZxe7MSBysB2JJCWU-iUCAHwdZqUGRI3OkpN8QsbaRbJ-QnJhj9GQb-_6jtB_SjtphfScJp9Ye_os3c2LGWguUTErkIJS6xzukNOW74s_0hAqyQRK_8PsR-lWJLPOZiwBH-nWOk/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-30%20at%2012.21.27%20PM.png" width="188" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>So much jibes with what I feel about the game. Especially Judge Blythy's insights on Stormbringer as a proto-story game.</p><p><br /></p><p>"Modern games are about story. And I think Stormbringer is going in that direction. Whether it's intentional or not, I don't know. But what it forces you to do is consider: there's four people playing this game, one is very powerful... one is kind of ordinary, one is ... from Lormyr... a bit dim... and one of them is a beggar with one leg. Now go and play that game. But I think what it's trying to do is the story, isn't it? You could have a Melnibonean sorcerer with a beggar sidekick, and if you're the beggar sidekick, what it seems to be suggesting, and it doesn't say so overtly, but what it's nudging you in the direction of is 'Play the role, do the story. Just because you're the one legged beggar doesn't mean you're any less important than the sorcerer. It's not about power, and wealth, and going up the levles. It's about story."</p><p><br /></p><p>Couldn't agree more! Can't wait to find time for part II.<br /> </p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-47395371271674995632024-01-21T05:05:00.000-08:002024-01-21T05:05:22.688-08:00RPGs as Creative Process<p>Is playing and running TTRPGs a creative process?</p><p>I think there's different ways to look at this.</p><p><b>GM As Author</b></p><p>For instance, if you want to be an author, you must create and populate the fictional world you're using, make the rules of magic, and design the society. If you use an RPG, the setting and system do this for you. In theory, this should free you up to be more creative.</p><p>This freeing of creativity by accepting the twin yoke of rules and setting sometimes can lead to great works. The fantasy anime Record of Lodoss War was based on a D&D campaign. Also in Japan, RPG 'replays', basically novelizations of actual game sessions, were huge during the 80's and 90's, and are still being produced now. In the west, the legendary (but truncated) scifi series Firefly was supposedly based on Traveller.</p><p>So RPG can foster the creativity to make great works.</p><p>But such is not always the case in reality. A novel based on most D&D games I played in would be boring as fights dragged on and the same spells were used over and over again. Ditto many BRP games, where the whiff factor and lethality of combat could end a story before it begins.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Player As Author</b></p><p>Similarly, an RPG can facilitate the personal narrative. In the old days, this 'zero to hero' or bildungsroman was the driving engine of OD&D. As RPGs developed in the 90's, they also allowed a larger narrative based on how the characters each affect the game world, as in Dragonlance or Exalted.</p><p>Now, D&D especially seems to facilitate the memification of charcters, witness countless social media posts about edgy character concepts (axe-guitar wielding Centaur bard, anyone?) and every character in Vox Machina. </p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Game Creator As Author</b></p><p>To get back to the OSR, Jeff Rients once famously compared grognards making retrocones to Jedis making their own lightsabers. I agree that going through the process of re-viewing and re-making an old beloved game is akin to keeping alive the 'sad devotion to that ancient religion' whose 'fire had gone out from the universe'.</p><p>But re-creation is not creation. It teaches creation via reverse engineering, but needs to go somewhere new.</p><p>That is the riddle with which I am now wrestling...</p><p><br /></p><p>Sources</p><p>Is Firefly Based On Traveller substack</p><p>https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/13668/is-joss-whedons-firefly-based-on-the-traveller-rpg-he-played</p><p><br /></p><p>Japanese TTRPG Replays</p><p>https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/7r1jb1/a_fascinating_window_into_the_world_of_japanese/</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-70872229620715224972024-01-20T16:46:00.000-08:002024-01-20T16:46:29.640-08:00Hard vs Soft Worldbuilding<p>I found this great YouTube channeling that does deep dives into worldbuilding. The YouTube video on Soft Wordbuilding is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vtu0MqEhRs">HERE</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoH9UMxyaE94rN9W50Lgp8NswwqiQDuDUrWF2AUNaLRZCBJNxYrq6TeJ8cf0Tilk-2OjU255dbFlkT0PmZ-ALGkp2UoOd7K7A9PzqMBnLztv3huZnHTThDSWHz1WpBx_JWRIhr9tjAdvr5oKqju0-u9AO5wZL8iOPUHfN48IdkS_EJrq_DL5Dl8uiUQrI/s462/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-20%20at%209.14.27%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="462" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoH9UMxyaE94rN9W50Lgp8NswwqiQDuDUrWF2AUNaLRZCBJNxYrq6TeJ8cf0Tilk-2OjU255dbFlkT0PmZ-ALGkp2UoOd7K7A9PzqMBnLztv3huZnHTThDSWHz1WpBx_JWRIhr9tjAdvr5oKqju0-u9AO5wZL8iOPUHfN48IdkS_EJrq_DL5Dl8uiUQrI/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-20%20at%209.14.27%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I'll have to whip up a post about RPG implications at some point when time permits.</p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-22680258600641238562024-01-12T04:07:00.000-08:002024-01-12T04:07:56.683-08:00Farewell Jennell<p>Jennell Jaquays had a huge impact during her life.</p><p>For RPGs, she was a community pioneer, starting Dungeoneer and the Fantastic Dungeoning Society.</p><p>Naturally, she was also a force in the industry, with a long list of scenario publications noted for their groundbreaking open design.</p><p>And she was a fantasy artist of great talent.</p><p>With video games, she worked on everything from Pacman to Quake.</p><p>As a trans activist, she helped form Leelah's Law, protecting youth from harmful 'therapies'.</p><p>Thanks for inspiring, and rest.</p><p>You will be missed.</p><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-50888727114361401932024-01-09T04:15:00.000-08:002024-01-09T04:15:36.157-08:002024 Resolutions<p>1) Get the games I am designing (Giri-Nijo and fantasy) out to the world</p><p>2) Play in some games</p><p>3) Publish my novel</p><p>4) Re-orient my career</p><p>5) Build my Tanelorn</p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-56110243162709367122024-01-08T19:36:00.000-08:002024-01-20T16:53:27.268-08:00Hawkmoon Redux # 4 Science Weapons of the Tragic Millennium<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Welcome back to the world of Tragic Europe!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsf06tivzzDba8MBRpDCR1z2aANxvxSX-_mun0wjU7dxcMdzADAgxgoxDDRcVEqJSzPLhlwvlELs-n-qyTUC31jh1eUyL671dK7ASKTfEtYgYXyUF4nbQ8YM4UE8Dgaf8zIMz9fzxFj1RMoouG5KzGEzkYo2G6uTS6bz9A_AMCQcZ8i8DGhiol8k_sLjg/s1600/Runestaffmap02.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="995" data-original-width="1600" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsf06tivzzDba8MBRpDCR1z2aANxvxSX-_mun0wjU7dxcMdzADAgxgoxDDRcVEqJSzPLhlwvlELs-n-qyTUC31jh1eUyL671dK7ASKTfEtYgYXyUF4nbQ8YM4UE8Dgaf8zIMz9fzxFj1RMoouG5KzGEzkYo2G6uTS6bz9A_AMCQcZ8i8DGhiol8k_sLjg/s320/Runestaffmap02.webp" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">We have already outlined our mission of fleshing out the Science rules of the old Hawkmoon boxed set in a way that ties it to natural resource extraction that emulates the imperialist drive of Granbretan in the source fiction. In my last post, I uncovered the bones of a very compelling Bio-engineering system in the game, and added the concepts of labs and Mutagen Points (MP) to make it usable. I didn't get into the nitty gritty of resources (ie mutagen, natural resources), scientific laboratory staff, and other requisites, but hope to fill that out as I continue to outline the system for making and maintaining the Science Weapons of the Tragic Millennium.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today, we look at research & development of Science weapons, from cannons to lances and beyond, of the Hawkmoon game and story.</span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Source Fiction a la </span>The Rulebook</h4><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am waaaaay overdue for a reread of Hawkmoon, so I'll just review the Science Weapons presented in the rules and try to organize them into a useful taxonomy. I may revisit the source fiction if life ever gives me the time to sit down and devour novels like in my bachelor days.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">First, I'll review by stating that Science in Hawkmoon means generally three things:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>1) Science as Engineering Beings</b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">As we saw in my previous Hawkmoon post, Science in the game and fiction is a way to manipulate the abilities of living creatures. Bio-engineering is a pretty potent form of Scientific power, and one that outstrips what we have in the real world (for now). Today, let's skip over this to pass to the next form of Scientific power, Manufacturing.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">(NB: I am capitalizing science on purpose to give it that steampunk feel of Moorcock's works)</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>2) Science as Manufacturing Items</b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Next, from Moorcock's novels and the Science Book of the boxset we have the weapons and transport made by the super Ancient Science of Granbretan. This is again a potent Science, a steampunk alternative to our own world's armies, </span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">artillery</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and small arms.</span></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">As we can see, in a weird way, Hawkmoon's power via bio-manipulation or steampunk manufacturing is indeed a match for Stormbringer's summoning entities to do your bidding.</span></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>3) Science as Natural Resource Management</b></span></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Finally, although this is not explicitly stated in the text, natural resources are required to fuel super Science. Today's post will delve into linking manufacturing to natural resources, and consider some attendant rules.</span></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Taxonomy of Hawkmoon Science Items</span></h4><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Science book has a laundry list of items without any Scientific categorization or theme. </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">To remedy this, I’ve added in brackets the two Science skills I feel most useful to making and maintaining each weapon, a process which I will describe below. I've also added which nation starts with production capability for this weapon, negating the need for discovery of the tech. There are also </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">great omissions in the descriptions of devices, but as this lies outside my agenda today, I will attempt to fill in the holes at a later date.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>1) Artillery & Siege Weapons</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Acid Cannon (Chemistry, Mechanics - Granbretan) </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span> Range:<span> ?? Damage:<span> 1D100 Area:<span> 10m Ammo:<span> ?? Fumble: Cumulative 1% per shot, bubble splashes on users</span></span></span></span></span><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span><span><span><span><span><span> NB: Requires one gunner to aim and three technicians to reposition it, bubble lasts 2D6 rounds</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cold Cannon (Electronics, Mechanics - Muskovia)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Range: ?? Damage: frozen solid (ie death) Area: 1d10 cold spots, each had 4m radius Ammo: ?? Fumble: Machine breaks, anyone in 10 m takes 1D10 damage, half if in cold weather gear.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">NB: Rules state DEX x 3% to avoid, but why not just use Dodge? The explanation of 1D10 cold spots is unhelpful, so just consider it as hitting 1D10 targets.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sonic Cannon (Biology, Electronics - Constantinople)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Range: ?? Damage: see below Area: ?? Ammo: ?? Fumble: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">NB: Painful to humans noise, fatal to non-primate mammals such as horses. Other creatures get -20% to all skills while in area of effect. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Flame Cannon (Electronics, Mechanics - all Europa)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Range: ?? Damage: 10D6 Area: ?? spray Ammo: 20 shot chemical packet Fumble: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">NB: Pulled by one horse or three men.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hallucinocannon (Biology, Electronics - Espaniya)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Range: ?? Damage: see below Area: 1D100 gas bubbles Ammo: 1 shot, takes an hour to reload Fumble: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">NB: If hit, roll INT x 1% or go insane (fight, flight, or freeze). Hours later, INT x 5% to recover or die frothing. Seems rough, lets make it a POW roll instead and insanity on failure, death on fumble.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>2) Small Arms</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Flame Lance (Electronics, Mechanics - all Europa)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Range: 100m Damage: 5D6 Area: Ammo: 100 shots Fumble: as other weapons</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">NB: Very fragile</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p>NB: Compared to the list of cannons above, the paucity of choices in lances is a bit shocking. <span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">This implies the existence of other lances whose fabrication were lost to time, or were discontinued due to impracticality. I've included some ideas as to the reasons they are not readily available.</span></p><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Acid Lance (Chemistry, Mechanics)</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Drawback</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">- Prone to engulf the user in acid on malfunction, and also contains only two shots due to size of ammo canisters. </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Range also limited to medium.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cold Lance (Electronics, Mechanics)</span><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Drawback </span><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">- </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Requires the user to wear protective warmsuit, overheats in normal temperature. If used wearing normal clothes, wearer takes 1/10 damage rolled, or 1/2 if wearing warmsuit. Range also limited to short.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sonic Lance (Biology, Electronics) </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Drawback </span><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">- Requires the user to wear protective headgear making them essentially deaf, so not suited to combat. </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Range also limited to short.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hallucino Lance (Biology, Electronics) </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Drawback </span><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">- </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Requires the user to wear protective eyewear that is costly, difficult to make, and breaks easily. </span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Range also limited to short.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>3) Transport</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ornithopter (Mechanics, Chemistry (fuel), and Electronics (guidance))</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Since this machine seems taken after Leonardo DaVinci designs, one could also posit several steampunk or alternate history designs for tanks and submarines. Maybe a project for the future.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>4) Medicinal</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hypnogobe (anaesthetic) (Biology, Electronics)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mentality Machine (Biology, Electronics)</span></p><p><span>Looked at this way, the Granbretan super Science is weirdly focused on mental health. Maybe there is a connection to their famed penchant for madness?</span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>5) Wraith Folk Tech</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is the super science of the Wraith Folk, who probably are working on another level as they can shift themselves dimensionally. For this reason, it is not covered under the rules for Granbretan tech. Instead, it is a lost, alien tech that can be used, but never replicated or repaired.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lockpick Ray - as Science book</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sonic Screwdriver</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> - as Science book</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Slow Armor</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> - as Science book</span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>6) Balance Creations</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">These last creations are nothing more than a Deus ex Machina in a box. They work when and how the GM wants to move the story or scenario ahead. They also become available or disappear upon GM fiat.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mad God’s Amulet</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> - as Science book</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Runestaff</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> - as Science book</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sword of the Dawn</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> - as Science book</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Requisites for Creation</span></h4><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">When the characters decide to create ancient tech devices, they need to fulfill the following 7 requirements.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1) Skilled Scientific Staff</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Naturally, making an ancient tech device requires a Scientist to be working on its development. The Scientist must have the requisite skill at a level of 80% or higher. Also note that the Scientists must possess the science types required.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">NB: The 80% minimum in relevant Science skill as also applicable to Scientists doing repairs on tech.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">For example, if building an Acid Cannon (requires Mechanics and Biology), the ideal team is two Scientists, one specializing in Mechanics and the other in Chemistry. If only one Scientist does it, double the time is required (see Time below).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>2) Laboratories</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition to staff, the Scientists need the proper Laboratory conditions. As I posited the last time, the types of Laboratories are as follows:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Biology - Clinic</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Chemistry - Refinery</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Electronics - Workstation</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mechanics - Tool Shop</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ancient - Installation</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">So if we continue our Acid Cannon example from above, you need a Refinery (Chemicals) and a Tool Shop (Mechanics) if you are a Granbretan Scientist trying to fabricate or repair one. If you are from another nation, you also need access to a suitable Installation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">NB: An Installation is usually necessary for two reasons:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">1) If the tech being developed does not natural exist in the country of the Scientists working on it. For example, the Acid Cannon is a weapon of Granbretan, so Scientists from that nation building one need Mechanical & Biological Laboratories (ie a Clinic and a Tool Shop), but not an Installation. Scientists from other nations need an Installation as well as the other two Laboratory types.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2) If the tech is a one-off or lost ancient tech (ie an Acid Lance, or something created by the GM), the GM can require PCs to quest for a suitable Installation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>3) Resources</b></span></p>Just like with Laboratories, you will need access to suitable Resources for your planned construction. <br /><br /><b>Gaining Access to Resources</b><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1 Local Area</b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Obviously, Scientists can get the approval of a nation's rulers to use the resources already there. If a King wants Acid Cannons, for example, he will give assent to let his swamps be dredged for biological materials, and his mountains mined for chemical resources.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2</span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Trade</span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To augment local resources, a nation can trade with its neighbors. A shoreline nation with a fishery can trade its fish & seaweed to a mountainous region for their ores, and each pursue different Science projects.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">3 </span></span><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Diplomacy</span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A ruler can also ask for access to resources in return for a favour or goodwill. However, being in another nation's debt means taking on an obligation that must be fulfilled at some point, such as allying in war.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>4 Conquest & Occupation</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Of course, history is rife with examples of wars fought over resources. This is precisely what Hawkmoon is all about. If you invade a nation and enslave its population, you have to spend manpower both on guarding the populace, and ensuring resources are safely harvested.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Resource </b></span></span><b>Types </b><b style="font-family: inherit; white-space-collapse: preserve;">by Nation</b></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Finally, it is implied in the nationality descriptions that each nation is useful for the resources it holds. These are of two types - natural resources and ancient ones. There are also supernatural resources, and these are not fairytales, but are instead the twisted relics of bioengineering.</span></p><div><div>Resource types available in each county are given in the Player's Handbook, and can easily converted to RP. Let's look at the description of the first country, Carpathia. Note, I have underlined all mention of resources.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Carpathia is a land all of <u>forested</u> <u>mountains</u>... <u>farming</u> is only productive in the infrequent valleys. The mountains are rich in <u>oil</u>, <u>iron</u>, <u>copper</u>, <u>gold</u>, and <u>silver</u>. However, the soil is insufficient to support many people... In ancient times, Carpathia was strategically located. Thus, powerful <u>ancient weapons</u> and <u>artifacts</u> - sometimes entire <u>installations</u> - can be found. The old tales of werewolves, witches, and vampires are still told and believed. As the country is <u>mineral-rich</u> and land poor, many people are miners and craftsmen, trading their land's rich ore and artifacts for food and survival items from elsewhere."</div><div><br /></div><div>So if we link the resource descriptions to Science Lore skills, we get the following:</div><div><br /></div><div>Forests = Biological Lore or Chemical Lore</div><div>Mountains = Chemical Lore (for ores & compounds)</div><div>Farming = Biological Lore or Chemical Lore</div><div>Oil = Chemical Lore or Mechanical Lore</div><div>Iron = Mechanical Lore</div><div>Copper = Electronic Lore</div><div>Gold = Electronic Lore</div><div>Silver = Electronic Lore</div><div><div>Ancient weapons = Ancient Lore</div><div>Artifacts = Ancient Lore</div></div><div>Installations = Ancient Lore</div><div><br /></div><div><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Resource Size (Resource Points)<br /></b><br />The amount of resources available depend both on the terrain and size of the country. The description of nations in the Player's Book provides descriptors of terrain (ie mountains, farming, iron etc) that hint at its resources. Just as I suggested implementing Mutagen Points (MP) for Bio-engineering, similarly Hawkmoon's manufacturing would be better defined with the use of Resource Points (RP). The size of resource pools of nations would give RP as follows:<br /><br /></span></b></p><div><div>If we look at the descriptions of Carpathia and add up references to resources, we get the following breakdown of resources:</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Biological: 2</div><div>Chemical: 3</div><div>Mechanical: 2</div><div>Electronic: 3</div><div>Ancient: 3</div><div><br /></div><div>(NB: I may adjust this by nation size at some point, but good for now)</div><div><br /></div><div>This and its small population makes it a target for conquerors or despots intending to start manufacturing weapons and devices.</div><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">NB: If you use a resource for one Science, you cannot use it for another or for non-scientific uses. For example, if a nation has Agriculture 1, it can be used either for feeding the populace, for Chemical Science, or for Biological Science, not all 3. If it were from a larger country with Agriculture 3, you could use the resource in up to 3 ways.</span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">At some point in future I hope to go through all the nations and analyze them in the same way. Also, the Resource point values need playtesting to see if they are viable.</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><p><b>4) Time to Research & Develop</b></p><p>Although there is no time equation given for Mechanics, Electronics, or Chemicals, if we take a look at the base for Bio-engineering, we can extrapolate for other Sciences:</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Time: 60 - INT months to make a new technology (ie 5 years of R & D). The INT is taken of the highest member on the Research team. If the technology already exists in the country, reduce to 40 - INT months for first time research.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b><br /></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>5) Funds</b></p><p>The only tech price in the whole Player's book is 1000 Gold for an ornithropter. This is our start. If we consider a profit margin of 50%, this implies the an ornithropter takes 500 Gold of resources and manpower costs to manufacture. Since research & development can cost up to ten times this (I suggest rolling 2D4 as a base), first time production incurs this cost. Once R&D succeeds, economies of scale kick in and manufacturing costs are lowered.</p><p>This is a good start, and would need to be extended to all other devices. 2D4 x 500 Gold for first time R&D, half that once research succeeds, and half again as mass production is set up, with a minimum of 500 Gold seems reasonable at this point.</p><p>Of course, this necessity of a game economy implies that emulating the source fiction of Hawkmoon might be better played in Pulp mode, whereas Stormbringer is tilted a little more to a Saga playstyle to emulate its tragic storyline.</p><p><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><p><br /></p><b>6) Skill Roll</b></div><div><br />As with Bio-engineering a successful roll is required to complete any research project.<br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">RESEARCHING SUCCESS OR FAILURE</h4><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(Roll vs appropriate Lore skill)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">CRITICAL - Smashing Success! The Scientist gets exactly what they intended, with no complications, and can now manufacture the device at a reduced cost.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">SUCCESS - Success! The Scientist gets exactly what they intended, with 1 to 2 complications. Cost to manufacture is only reduced from initial production by 10%, and needs another month of research AND a successful roll to be reduced by another 10%. This can continue until the production cost is halved.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">FAILURE - Failure! Time and money has been wasted, and the Scientist must start over again.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">FUMBLE - Abject Failure! Not only has time and money been wasted, a disaster has been created due to some error. Roll 1D6 for complications (1 Lab burns down, 2 materials are wasted for 1 month, 3 staff is killed in an explosion unless they roll POW x 3%, 4 gas leak drives away workforce for 1 month, 5 area is contaminated and needs cleaning for 1D4 months, 6 ruler is infuriated and orders work halted until a service is rendered). All this and the Scientist must start over again as well.</span></p><p>As noted, a Scientist working in a laboratory must have 80% in the relevant Science skill.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">7) Workers - The Unseen Resource</span></b></h4><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One thing that is often overlooked in the source fiction as well as game rules is the need for workers and an adequate workforce to harvest and process resources. If an area has been depopulated, no resource extraction can take place.</span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If resources are in an uninhabited area, characters will have to set up a settlement and transport system to get what they need to their Laboratory.</span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Small amount or tiny nation - 1 point <br /><br />Medium amount or moderate sized nation - 2 points<br /><br />Large amount or giant nation - 3 points</span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In terms of Carpathia, although it looks about a middling size and thus rates a Population of 2, due to references to limited agriculture, we limit this to 1.</span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div>Carpathia</div><div>Size: 2 (population 1) </div><div><div>Biological: 2</div><div>Chemical: 3</div><div>Mechanical: 2</div><div>Electronic: 3</div><div>Ancient: 3</div></div><div><br /></div><div>We could add a bonus to defend for mountainous terrain, but that is a project for another time.</div></span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Example of Creation</span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A mad Scientist character in Carpathia has decided to construct a Flame Cannon to help defend his mountaintop castle against mountain bandits and vampire clans. Although he has the resources available in his country, he would need a larger workforce to import or enslave laborers from surrounding regions to get the work done.</span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this way, the RP system would flesh out the gameworld and promote roleplaying in ways that emulate the source material.</span></b></div><div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Conclusion</span></b></h4><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As much as the Hawkmoon Science rules as written are a lot of handwaiving, they have a very evocative underpinning. By extending what is offered, and knitting some connective tissues between skills and setting, we can see the bare bones of a system where resource extraction allows super science miracles to happen, but at the cost of ever expanding your empire or looting ancient ruins. This implies that, whereas Stormbringer's game mode is inherently saga style, centered on the struggle between Chaos and Law, Hawkmoon's is more war gamey, with invasion for resource extraction as an overarching goal. Of course, players can just as well have a fun time in pulp mode adventuring in either setting, with the cosmological struggle of The Young Kingdoms or the military invasions and weapons race of Tragic Europe as an exciting backdrop to their tales.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Please note that these rules are unplaytested, and would need to be run through thoroughly and adjusted for game playability.</span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-362039199942348662023-12-29T06:49:00.000-08:002024-01-09T17:35:27.675-08:00Roleplaying Carrot & Stick<p> So, the algorithm coughed this comic up for me:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikfVb0RkEbxGLydvn7GyFFdSogLp7hPHjsfMXxAAWeAa3qHRPYgJZ18G2nG2bR5b2mkl5DZ90akygVmynvbj3j8AN-72DxcYgNUhjqzXaV6xwuSSRe0wEd6neiB6UUHo4afm5KEPnbR0c7-51g_UDTaWLgT1MuD5lzci0qrq7PC9AyuUDOIjVLK4ev8sc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="526" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikfVb0RkEbxGLydvn7GyFFdSogLp7hPHjsfMXxAAWeAa3qHRPYgJZ18G2nG2bR5b2mkl5DZ90akygVmynvbj3j8AN-72DxcYgNUhjqzXaV6xwuSSRe0wEd6neiB6UUHo4afm5KEPnbR0c7-51g_UDTaWLgT1MuD5lzci0qrq7PC9AyuUDOIjVLK4ev8sc" width="237" /></a></div><br />This is an example of what can go weird or wrong in RPGs. Let's unpack it.<p></p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">CONFLICTING EXPECTATIONS</h4><p>The woman narrating her character's beautiful death is into the Narrative side of things. She gets joy from wrapping up the story she has created through her character.</p><p>The man is simply doing the next, natural move in the Game of accumulation. He gets joy from making moves in game that benefit his character, ie acquiring more useful loot.</p><p>But as the comic shows in her shocked face and his beaming smile, there is a huge conflict in how they feel about the incident.</p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">WHO IS RIGHT?</h4><p>Tough question. The game is 'roleplaying', ergo playing your role is what you do. It is also a 'game', and although it breaks many traditional game conventions (ie having a definite goal or end, or having limited moves), making moves is what you do.</p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">HOW SHOULD THE GM RESPOND?</h4><p>So, we've seen the Narrative take on the situation, as well as the Gamist. Although these two are the central pillars of roleplaying games, underlying both of these are the Simulationist side of the equation. If I were the GM, I would simply let the simulation of the gameworld react to the incident in a natural way.</p><p>For example, if the looter were a Good aligned cleric, he might lose his divine gifted powers for desecrating a body instead of giving a decent burial to a comrade. If NPC hirelings were present, they may start to mistrust the desecrating PC and slip away during the night, something native porters have done to imperialists for centuries.</p><p>Some may suggest that the GM discuss with the ''offending'' player, but in his ideology he is only doing what is right. I might warn the player about gameworld repurcussions of their acts, but trying to persuade someone their 'fun' is wrong never ends well, in my experience.</p><p>Finally, the GM might want to make sure Gamist and Narrativist PCs are not in the same locale or separated by some deux ex machine to let them do their thing. However, this puts lots more burden on the GM and threatens to bore one type of player while the other takes center stage.</p><p>This is an RPG conundrum that can never be solved entirely because the tension between Game and Narrative is what makes RPGs work. But both Narrativists and Gamers have agreed to play in the same gameworld sandbox, so it is the GM's job to hold them to this agreement. </p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">EXAMPLES OUTSIDE OF FANTASY ROLEPLAYING</h4><p>This comic is a narrow example drawn from the specialized genre of D&D and its derivatives. What about other genres?</p><p>Horror - As I related before, players in games like Call of Cthulhu often arm up heavily even before any sign of trouble. This is not how horror movies or novels go. Make sure first that your players are onboard with the genre - horror is all about being powerLESS. If people want to power game, maybe play something else. Also, if they are waving heavy weapons around, make sure NPCs will run or call the police. As I suggested <a href="https://tomboftedankhamen.blogspot.com/2022/12/threat-levels-in-horror-gaming.html">HERE</a>, you can limit PC access to weapons based on the threat level & their experience to better simulate the genre. </p><p>Supers - In superhero games, the monologue of the villian is a Narrative trope, but in Gamist terms it is an excuse for a free attack. Remind players in advance of genre tropes (ie monologues go uninterrupted, heroes are captured not killed), but if players choose to ignore them and become unscrupulous, have the villains do the same and switch to sneak attacks or swarming and doxing with intent to kill.</p><p><br /></p><p>RESUME</p><p>1) Explain genre tropes BEFORE starting the game so everyone is on board.</p><p>2) If a conflict occurs, let the gameworld react realistically to it.</p><p>3) Be prepared for the game to either fall apart or be strengthened by the experience.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-52417178158094115352023-12-27T17:04:00.000-08:002023-12-27T17:04:18.632-08:00Reading Nephilim<p> So, before I quit Japan I picked up the old Nephilim game and all its books for cheap.</p><p>(If you have a friend in Japan and want to find cheap vintage RPG books, ask them to check Mercari or OGM for you).</p><p>This book and game is a TRIP. I remember reading it in the 90's and not being able to wrap my head around it.</p><p>Now, it reads like Foucault's Pendulum the RPG. Also feels like I'm on mushrooms.</p><p>I might start a new series...</p><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-44468596376033198832023-12-23T08:49:00.000-08:002023-12-23T08:49:23.816-08:00WTF BRP #1 The SIZ characteristic<p>So, what is up with the SIZ characteristic? It seems more useless than CHA supposedly was in D&D, but seems to have escaped scrutiny.</p><p>Let's take a deep dive.</p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">History of SIZ</h4><p>Stormbringer upped the ante by adding a Body Type to it, but this was quickly scrapped in Elric! and (so far as I know) never appeared in other Chaosium products. SIZ in Stormbringer is used to determine if there is a damage bonus, but also adds to Hit Points for larger monsters or beasts. It also limits armor one can wear to within a few points of SIZ.</p><p>Nephilim dropped the SIZ statistic altogether.</p><p>The Big Gold Book (2010), which came out as the official word on the system, has only three pages on SIZ.</p><p>Page 26 tells us some interesting uses - it can be used to resist shoving, increased or decreased temporarily via lifestyle, or permanently via damage. </p><p>Page 277 has a list of SIZ of common objects, and notes that SIZ equals Hit Points for things.</p><p>Page 296 just has a long list of SIZ and body weight for creatures, and notes that this is not useful for amorphous or gaseous creatures.</p><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Another Use For SIZ</h4><p>I've always wondered if there might not be another use for SIZ that could enhance gameplay. Specifically, could SIZ be used comparatively to increase or decrease the chance of spotting or hitting a creature or character? The old Palladium Fantasy Roleplaying Game (a true banger despite the mechanical oddities of the underlying system) allowed smaller creatures a bonus when hitting larger ones.</p><p>Why not do the same here?</p><p>So, what if we say for every multiple of an attacker or searcher's SIZ that the target has, the attacker / searcher gets +5% to hit or see the larger target? We would have something like this:</p><p><span> </span><span> </span>Multiple of Attacker's SIZ<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Skill Bonus to See or Hit</span></p><p><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span> </span><span> </span></span>x2<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> +5%</span></p><p><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span> </span><span> </span></span>x3<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> +10%</span></p><p><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span> </span><span> </span> </span>x4<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> +15%</span></p><p>And so on. So, whether we have an ogre hiding behind a tree or someone trying to hit Cthulhu, they obvious should have an easier time of it. There are some caveats - this bonus does not apply when the target is moving at speed (ie a dragon in flight) or using some means of concealment (camouflage or magic). Also, this bonus does NOT increase chance of a critical hit. If you have 40% but get a 10% bonus to hit something large, you still only critical on 01-04.</p><p>Conversely, we can also impose a penalty to see or attack something smaller than oneself.</p><p> Factor of Attacker's SIZ Skill Penalty to See or Hit</p><p> 1/2 -5%</p><p> 1/3 -10%</p><p> 1/4 -15%</p><div>And so on. This makes the game more tactical and realistic, while also giving a bit more weight to statistics than the original rules allow.</div><p><br /></p><p>References</p><p>Durall, J. et al. (2010). Basic Roleplaying: The Chaosium roleplaying system. Chaosium.</p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-53266241704447438492023-12-22T18:39:00.000-08:002023-12-22T18:39:49.628-08:00Wyatt Earp's GMing Advice<p> Just listened to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEJNpWBcvQE">this</a> WILD account by Wyatt Earp of the reality of gunfighting in the Wild West.</p><p>A couple of takeaways:</p><p><br /></p><p>1 If someone got the drop on, 9 chances out of 10 you'll lose.</p><p><br /></p><p>2 Carrying two guns is not for shooting at the same time, but in case one runs out.</p><p><br /></p><p>3 People who fan (spam) or quick draw don't always win.</p><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-22831389952288663822023-12-22T18:33:00.000-08:002023-12-22T18:33:06.153-08:00A GM's First Priority Is...<p>This is not so much a hot take as a tepid opinon.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">What is a GM's first priority?</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">To entertain the players?</h3><p>No, they have to work just as hard as the GM for this to happen. The modern vogue of GMs as free entertainers rankles me, and leads to games fizzling out.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">To know the rules perfectly, and memorize the rulebook?</h3><p>Again, I dislike the GM as computer school of thought, which leads to clueless players, one person stuck as forever GM, and GM burnout.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">To adjudicate the rules fairly?</h3><p>This is essential, but I would not call it a first priority.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">To create compelling adventures?</h3><p>Again, this is natural but not a first priority. Weak storytellers can rely on published adventures, stronger ones will naturally</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">What is the answer, then?</h3><p>If you ask me, a GM's first priority is to lessen his or her workload. This will prevent burnout, but more importantly, let them enjoy the game, and be fresh enough to improvise when PCs go 'off script' during an adventure. It will also let GMing look like the thrill it should be when done right, and hopefully lead to players taking turns in the driver's seat.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-31715251540807311952023-12-21T17:17:00.000-08:002023-12-23T04:49:39.563-08:00Stormbringer redux # 17 - Abstract Weight and Wealth<br /><br /> (NB: Yes yes, I realize I skipped # 17. Things are ready when they are. This isn't work, there are no deadlines thankfully.)<br /><br />I've circled back to this post after a long pause because it was daunting. But something has clicked in my brain, so I thought I'd churn it out.<br /><br />Here are my thoughts on Concrete vs Abstract systems of Weight & Wealth. I will go through Original Rules, Concrete Rules & Reasoning, Abstract Rules & Reasoning, and finally define When To Use them and suggest Other Effects.<br /><br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">1 ORIGINAL RULES</h4><br />Famously, the old Stormbringer rules had nothing about carrying weight. Players were on an honour system.<br /><br />As for wealth, there was starting wealth based on character background, stretching from Nobles all the way down to peasant Farmers. There was also a catalogue of things to buy, but nothing on living costs, quality of items, etc.<br /><br />Let's try to connect these things in useful or interesting ways.<br /><br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">2 WHEN TO USE CONCRETE VS ABSTRACT WEIGHT & WEALTH</h4><br />As noted earlier, I think the implementation of 2 styles of play, Pulp vs Saga, would make gaming more enjoyable. Each of these dictate different rules to help emulate the feel of their source material.<br /><br /><br /><div>PULP PLAY = CONCRETE RULES, ELRIC!<div><br />Pulp is when you want to hack and slash through the Young Kingdoms. In this mode, player characters need to face limits, and thus Concrete Wealth and Weight are natural choices. Just like Moonglum in the Elric books, characters are more concerned with actual coin than abstractions, and thus limiting how much they can carry feeds into this aesthetic. The Elric! game also limits the characters to humans, and so is firmly in this camp.<br /><br /></div><div><br />SAGA PLAY = ABSTRACT RULES, STORMBRINGER<br /><br />Saga play is when characters strive for higher ideals, fighting for a cause, opposing the gods themselves, even if it means destroying worlds. In this case, stopping to count coins in their purse or bank vault seems counter productive. Although Stormbringer toys with this idea of a higher struggle, especially with its Elan and Agent rules, there are no clear rules underpinning this aesthetic.<br /><br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">3 CONCRETE RULES EXAMPLES</h4><br />WEIGHT<br /><br />For weight, you can use the encumbrance rules I proposed (<a href="https://tomboftedankhamen.blogspot.com/2022/02/stormbringer-redux-6-encumbrance-income.html">HERE</a>), or something from a Chaosium product. This will make players more wary of the gear they choose and any treasure they pick up.<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />Likewise, the starting wealth and price lists are useful. However, we could add levels of wealth & living costs to give some connective tissue. Here is my previous stab at it.<br /><br /><br /></div><div>SOCIAL RANK <span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> CURRENCY <span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span> REAL WORLD<br /><br />Melnibonean Imperial <span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> Melnibonean Wheel <span> </span> 500, 000 dollars <br /><br />Melnibonean Nobles <span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> Silver Dragon (MA) <span> </span> 500 dollars <br /><br />YK Royalty <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span> </span><span> </span></span> Large Gold (LG) <span> </span> <span> </span> 100 dollars <br /><br />YK Nobles <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> Small Gold (SG) <span> </span><span> </span> 50 dollars <br /><br />Clergy <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> Large Silver (LS) <span> </span><span> </span> 10 dollars <br /><br />Urbanites (Merchants, Rogues) <span> </span> Small Silver (SS) <span> </span><span> </span> 5 dollars <br /><br />Rural Folk (Hunters, Farmers) <span> </span> Large Bronze (LB) <span> </span><span> </span> 1 dollar <br /><br />Dispossessed (Beggars) <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> Small Bronze (SB) <span> </span><span> </span> ½ dollar <br /><br /><br />STARTING WEALTH<br /><br />Starting wealth could thus be calculated in the currency of the social rank. For example, according to the 4E rules, a Young Kingdom noble would 100 x 1D100 LB, and a Hunter with 1D100 LB. You could either keep this, which seems reasonable, or start all characters with 1D100 X INT of their currency to simplify things.<br /><br /><br />LIVING COSTS<br /><br />One staple of pulp fiction is the constant need to go find treasure. Conan gets the rich at the end of a story, and is broke and needs to go adventuring again at the start of the next. Living costs help give this impetus for adventure.<br /><br />If we make living costs 100 - INT in the requisite coins a month for all characters, this would give them a motivation to adventure and try to accumulate wealth. Small currency means characters live cheaply, large means ostentatiously. Note that even Melniboneans live using gold, because their currency is so rare and a result of exploitation that it can never be spent on mundane things. Instead, it is reinvested in keeping the status quo.<br /><br />ITEM COSTS</div><div><br /></div><div>The Stormbringer item price list is very limited, as is Elric! By extrapolating costs based on the currency suggested above, we open up the game to an interpretive economics that enriches the whole experience.</div><div><br /></div><div>For example, a Riding Horse is listed as 100 LB in Stormbringer. Moving up or down the social ranking, we get very different </div><div><br /></div><div>SOCIAL RANK CURRENCY REAL WORLD<br /><br />Melnibonean Imperial Melnibonean Wheel A fine dragon with ornate palanquin<br /><br />Melnibonean Nobles Silver Dragon (MA) A young dragon with simple saddle<br /><br />YK Royalty Large Gold (LG) A trained & intelligent warhorse plus retinue<br /><br />YK Nobles Small Gold (SG) A fine, fast steed with a pair of mounted guards<br /><br />Clergy Large Silver (LS) A thoroughbred trotter</div><div><br />Urbanites (Merchants, Rogues) Small Silver (SS) A gentle city trained mount<br /><br />Rural Folk (Hunters, Farmers) Large Bronze (LB) A rough riding horse<br /><br />Dispossessed (Beggars) Small Bronze (SB) Broken nag a fortnight from the glue factory<br /><br />The same range of prices and qualities can be extrapolated for all items on the list through discussion between GM and players.</div><div><br /></div><div>WEALTH GAP<br /><br />Note that poorer characters should never be allowed to 'piggy back' off the wealth of others. Pulp worlds are dog eat dog, so any rich Noble character would have to pay poorer characters in their retinue, while poorer characters would be constantly forced to work or adventure to make ends meet.<br /><br /><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">4 ABSTRACT RULES</h4></div><div><br /></div><div>WEIGHT</div><div><br /></div><div>If we want to step away from the bookkeeping to focus on story, we can tie encumbrance to character occupation. First, we can link carryable arms & armor:</div><div><br /></div><div>Warriors - Any armor and shield, up to 3 weapons (usually one main, a side, and one ranged)</div><div>Soft urbanites - One side arm (ie boot dagger or cudgel), with one more when prepared for battle. Can only use soft armor and small shields (target, buckler).</div><div>Hardy countryfolk - One side and main weapon (usually bow), plus one extra when prepared for battle. Can use any armor except full plate, and up to medium shields (target to heater).</div><div><br /></div><div>For other objects, common sense judgments of weather it is light (no penalty), carryable (fills arms and slows movements), or draggable (so heavy can only be dragged slowly with character exhausted afterwards).</div><div><br /></div><div>WEALTH</div><div><br /></div><div>Similarly, we can do away with number of coins and simply use the following descriptors for any equipment or services the character uses.</div><div><br /><br />SOCIAL RANK <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> CURRENCY <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> LUXURY DESCRIPTOR<br /><br />Melnibonean Imperial <span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> Melnibonean Wheel <span> </span><span> </span> Decadent <br /><br />Melnibonean Nobles <span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> Silver Dragon (MA) <span> </span><span> </span> Opulent <br /><br />YK Royalty <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span> Large Gold (LG) <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> Magnificent <br /><br />YK Nobles <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span> </span></span>Small Gold (SG) <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> Ornate <br /><br />Clergy <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> Large Silver (LS) <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> Distinguished <br /><br />Urbanites (Merchants, Rogues) <span> </span> Small Silver (SS) <span> </span><span> </span><span> Clean, proper</span><br /><br />Rural Folk (Hunters, Farmers) <span> </span> Large Bronze (LB) <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> Rustic, sturdy <br /><br />Dispossessed (Beggars) <span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span> Small Bronze (SB) <span> </span><span> </span> Squalorous, unhealthy</div><div><br /></div><div>STARTING WEALTH</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Here we do away with costs, and simply decide what a character would have based on their Social Rank. In my playtest last year, we had a Melnibonean noble high priest, who started with a mystical yacht made of strange alloys by lost ancient craftsmanship. His companions were various YK folk, such as a Weeping Waste warrior who had arms, armour, a pony, and naught else.</div><div><br /></div><div>LIVING & ITEM COSTS & ACCESS</div><div><br /></div><div>Once again, abstraction does away with all price lists, and characters get the item quality they can afford. The Melnibonean high priest would usually have opulent meals in Imrryr, but would have to settle for lower fare while traveling in the Young Kingdoms. The Weeping Waster would be satisfied with rustic food, such as tartar steak seasoned under his saddle and cooked by his horse's bodyheat.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">4 OTHER EFFECTS</h4><div><br /></div><div>One other effect of choosing Pulp vs Saga play is whether the Allegiances system should be used. But this is a tale for a different time.</div>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-24825494052047915662023-12-03T07:26:00.000-08:002023-12-03T07:26:53.514-08:00Why I Walked Away From An OSR Game Offer<p>Last week, I got offered a spot in an OSR game an old friend was running for his nephews & nieces.</p><p>When I stated my preference of 3D6 down the line, I was laughed at and told to roll 4D6, drop the lowest, and arrange to my liking.</p><p>I walked away.</p><p>What even is the point of playing a broadly competent but unremarkable character?</p><p>Why don't you just play 4E, grab your 18, 18, 17, 17, 16, 16 array, and pretend to roleplay when you're just doing an analog simulation of a CRPG?</p><p>Am I out to lunch?</p><p>Here, let's compare two characters to see which is more compelling to play.</p><p><br /></p><p>4D6 Drop Lowest</p><p>2, 3, 3, 2 = 8</p><p>2, 2, 4, 6 = 12</p><p>2, 6, 2, 2 = 10</p><p>6, 2, 6, 5 = 17</p><p>3, 5, 6, 5 = 16</p><p>2, 5, 6, 1 = 13</p><p>So, you'll either put the 17 in STR for a Fighter or INT for a Mage, 16 in CON for HP or DEX for an AR boost, dump 8 in CHA and call it a day. Other stats go wherever. Ho hum, another Murderhobo. And everyone else in the party will have the same cookie cutter stats, unless they got super unlucky and become the object of derision / scorn, or so high they are envied and reviled. Because we don't play for the individual in OSR / NSR, we play AS A PARTY.</p><p><br /></p><p>3D6 Down The Line</p><p>STR 3, 6, 4 = 13</p><p>CON 5, 6, 1 = 12</p><p>DEX 4, 3, 5 = 12</p><p>INT 6, 5, 1 = 12</p><p>WIS 5, 2, 6 = 13</p><p>CHA 6, 3, 5 = 14</p><p>Wow, got super lucky! No really 'hopeless' stats (a moniker I hate, as I just consider a low stat a roleplaying hook), but that 14 CHA tips me towards taking a Bard, which I LOVE doing in older editions. This gets my juices flowing to see how this character will interact with others with similarly evocative stats.</p><p><br /></p><p>And that is why I said no thanks.</p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-42877964685163734732023-11-10T04:48:00.004-08:002023-11-10T04:48:55.197-08:00Update From Sandy<p>So I just got an email from Sandy Petersen.</p><p>He magnanimously accepted my apology.</p><p>He is pleased and relieved that Kerie is still around and active.</p><p>Life goes on.</p><p><br /></p><p>Speaking of life, what is Tedankhamen up to?</p><p>Working on a 'zine.</p><p>Loving life with sonny and my partner.</p><p>Reading Warlord of the Air.</p><p>Grinding through first year as a schoolteacher while keeping eyes out for better.</p><p><br /></p><p>Renting a house in the country for the long weekend.</p><p>Hoping for peace in the middle east.</p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-59753554375976636822023-11-08T12:22:00.000-08:002023-11-08T12:22:13.618-08:00Apologies To S. Petersen, K. Campbell-Robson, and my readers<p> Hello everyone,</p><p>Yesterday, I posted an interview with the venerable Sandy Petersen about his involvement in the development of the Stormbringer rpg. In it was a reference to the author of the Hawkmoon game, Kerie Campbell-Robson. In a case of mistaken identity, Sandy believed she was deceased.</p><p>I posted the interview without checking this fact, and was informed by several readers that, thankfully, Mrs Campbell-Robson was indeed alive and still active in RPGs.</p><p>So I'd like to issue a few apologies.</p><p>First, to Sandy Petersen, for jumping the gun on posting. It was late and I was tired, but these are poor excuses. Mr Petersen kindly took me into his confidence and shared his insider knowledge and invaluable memories of production at Chaosium. Sandy is a compassionate man, and included the mistaken identity story of a tragic end. However, the fault is mine for posting without fact checking.</p><p>I am sorry Sandy.</p><p>Next, to Kerie Campbell-Robson, I apologize unreservedly for spreading an erroneous story of her demise. I will try to make up for this by educating myself on <a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgdesigner/15610/kerie-campbell">her RPG industry achievements</a>, and posting a complete picture of her career achievements and contributions to the Eternal Champion line in future.</p><p>Please forgive me, Kerie.</p><p>Finally, to my readers, I am truly sorry for disseminating false information. As a one man blog operation who is also a single father and fulltime teacher, I am stretched pretty thin. Still, as a former Media Studies professor, I should have done better.</p><p>I hope you will let me make it up to you with content here.</p><p>I have redacted the mistaken identity story from the interview, and added the following disclaimer:</p><p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">NOTE - In the interview, I have redacted the part about Campbell-Robson being deceased. This was a case of mistaken identity. My apologies to Mr Petersen for jumping the gun on publication, and Mrs Campbell-Robson for not checking the fact before posting.</span></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3541600234261335250.post-63232699207209578202023-11-07T19:48:00.003-08:002023-11-08T11:47:12.996-08:00Interview With Sandy Petersen - The Man, The Mythos, The Living Legend!<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> I love Sandy Petersen.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4lklMqkHonts7F2U0Zpimq-v7vOuMqDcJUA_5ulHCPPpxleUSSr1EB4S-cii1uoz-11o8nQ4F8qqbqhDhPrGePHXXksNdoHCcUm1yQDZQ8gvn4TdRDiPfZBCDM-nH6vv9Wi5ibbMTfFy0mV-ZQ8g97Zuchcy-ib3RPiFhonXYdnIP7sPCvnpjD5rUCg/s700/Sandy-Petersen.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="700" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4lklMqkHonts7F2U0Zpimq-v7vOuMqDcJUA_5ulHCPPpxleUSSr1EB4S-cii1uoz-11o8nQ4F8qqbqhDhPrGePHXXksNdoHCcUm1yQDZQ8gvn4TdRDiPfZBCDM-nH6vv9Wi5ibbMTfFy0mV-ZQ8g97Zuchcy-ib3RPiFhonXYdnIP7sPCvnpjD5rUCg/s320/Sandy-Petersen.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>The man has made a game (Call of Cthulhu) that is arguably responsible for the ubiquity of Lovecraft we now seen in popular culture.</p><p>His game has also given me many great gaming memories with friends.</p><p>Ditto the video game DOOM he helped create.</p><p>A few years back, he started his YouTube channel, and I was impressed anew by his warmth, his encyclopedic knowledge, and his astute insights. He even liked and responded to some of my comments, attesting to his love of the fans. </p><p>Not thinking I would get an answer considering how busy Sandy is being the patriarch of a large, happy family as well as the head of a gaming company, I decided to contact Sandy and ask him a few questions about his involvement in the development of Stormbringer.</p><p>And Sandy delivered. There are some juicy insider tidbits here, and it'll take me a few days to respond to them.</p><p>For now, please enjoy these memories of Stormbringer's production and insights on its popularity. There are also some dark revelations in here about the business, especially the sad fate of Hawkmoon's creator. Sandy's comments remind us that the games we love are all too often made by real, frail humans who do not always get the happy end they deserve.</p><p>I am happy that Sandy seems fit and happy. Please give him some love via the links below:</p><p>Sandy's YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@SandyofCthulhu">HERE</a></p><p>Peterson Games <a href="https://petersengames.com/">HERE</a></p><p><br /></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 I think your work for Call of Cthulhu is amazing and well known by now, but can you tell us a little about the other Chaosium products you worked on?</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Answer – After being hired in 1981, I had a tendril in almost everything Chaosium produced. As far as game design credits go, I was assistant designer on Elfquest, co-designer on Runequest 3<sup>rd</sup> edition, and main designer on the Ghostbusters RPG which Chaosium created for West End Games.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span color="inherit" face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2 Back in the day, Chaosium was known for doing quality interpretations of Intellectual Properties - Lovecraft’s Call of Cthulhu, Niven’s Ringworld, and Moorcock’s Eternal Champion. What was the thinking behind that, and what do you think ended this trend?</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Answer – I was not privy to the early reasoning; Chaosium got the Lovecraft & Moorcock licenses before I worked there. Plus they did the Sanctuary multi-system expansion. Chaosium also got the license for Fritz Leiber’s Nehwon series but this was literally extorted away by evil men. I was there when they got Niven’s Ringworld and I think by that time they were no longer giving reasons for it – they were just in the habit of doing games based on literary licenses.</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When Chaosium fell on hard times, this really bit them in the hindquarters, because Moorcock got pretty mad about not getting his royalties or really, any communication. This was after I’d left of course.</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I also recall, as a side note, that Moorcock didn’t care a lick about what we did with his characters & world. We had carte blanche. He just wanted to give us the license, sit back, and let the checks come in. Of course that suited us dandy, but we did keep our creations within the spirit of his worlds.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span color="inherit" face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3 The cosmic horror of Lovecraft has a huge resonance & appeal for roleplaying fans and has really seeped into the cultural zeitgeist. The Moorcock mythos also has a roleplaying appeal & influence, but in terms of literature has been copied or homaged but generally remained niche. Why do you think this is so?</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Answer – I think there are two reasons behind this. First, Lovecraft’s work was far more seminal and influential than Moorcock’s. When talking about “great horror writers” it’s Poe and Lovecraft, with everyone else panting far behind. When talking about “great fantasy writers” while Moorcock gets a mention, so does Tolkien, LeGuin, Howard, Zelazny, Rowling and so many others. Moorcock can get lost in the flock.</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The other reasons is that, for me, Lovecraft’s work is more adult. It appeals to the empty, terrifying universe, and he put forth concepts not seen before in horror or science fiction. A cosmic entity which acts as Earth’s suicide pill? Creatures that travel in time instead of space? All Earth life is a joke or mistake? It’s heady stuff.</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Moorcock is designed to appeal to an angsty teenager. I realize that sounds like I’m making fun of Moorcock, and that’s not the case. I think Moorcock’s writing appeals to the angsty teen that lurks inside ALL of us. Look at his sad tortured yet murderous heroes who practically must be prodded into action and spend so much time navel gazing. In addition almost none of his heroes belong in their world –many are the Last Remaining of their race, so the eternal outsider. I will say that every “tortured outsider” written by other authors are really depressing and boring, while Moorcock managed to make HIS heroes likeable, interesting, and also he did a fabulous job of world creation. That’s quite a feat. I love everything of Moorcock’s I’ve read (which is most of his stuff).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span color="inherit" face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4 Can you tell us how you came to work on Stormbringer (and Hawkmoon) rpgs, and what products of the Eternal Champion line you contributed to?</span><span color="inherit" face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(I know only of the Stormbringer Companion and Hawkmoon Shattered Isle)</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Answer – basically I did almost all of the typesetting and a good part of the editing for every single Chaosium product. We all worked in a single large room so were firing ideas off each other like machineguns. I was brought onto Stormbringer late – the game already existed, so we were looking to do expansions for it. We felt that Stormbringer was the “good neglected child”. We spent almost no effort publicizing nor supporting it, yet it kept selling well year after year. Every couple of years we’d feel guilty about this, and put something out.</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hawkmoon was another attempt to support Stormbringer. I read (and liked) all the Hawkmoon books, and we had a young woman, Kerie Campbell-Robson, who was a big fan, and could write really well. So she designed the Hawkmoon game, and I worked pretty closely with her in the process. She gets the majority credit though. </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: red; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NOTE - I have redacted the part about Campbell-Robson being deceased. This was a case of mistaken identity. My apologies to Mr Petersen for jumping the gun on publication, and Mrs Campbell-Robson for not checking the fact before posting.</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> (she also did our CoC Dreamlands book)</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span color="inherit" face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">5 Did you find it easier or harder to write for epic fantasy than cosmic horror? Were there any similarities between the two genres, specifically Lovecraft & Moorcock?</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Answer – In 2017, I published <i>Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos for Pathfinder.</i> And a couple of years later I republished it, but for D&D. I also published a number of high-quality campaigns for D&D – all set in their epic fantasy world but filled with horrific Lovecraft stuff.</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">While I don’t think that Lovecraftian horror and heroic fantasy are particularly similar, I do think that Lovecraftian horror can be added to a lot of genres, fantasy included. I think Moorcock is particularly friendly to Lovecraft, given the terrifying creatures that Moorcock placed within his tales – such as Sreng of the Seven Swords, the Castle of Blood, or other such awful ideas.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span color="inherit" face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">6 Whereas the original Stormbringer enjoyed 4 editions and several reprints, Hawkmoon did not fare as well. Do you think this was due to production issues, or else a different reception among gamers?</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Answer – I think we at Chaosium didn’t manage to push it very well. By 1986 Chaosium was starting to retract itself. The two main creative forces at Chaosium were me and Greg Stafford. I was of course focussed primarily on Call of Cthulhu (the big money maker) and Greg was focused on Pendragon (his baby). I suppose overall it was a failure from the top down, in that Chaosium never had a real chain of command.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span color="inherit" face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7 You are also a designer and lover of board games, and Petersen Games is known for huge tactical games like Cthulhu Wars. Did you ever play the old Stormbringer boardgame? What was your opinion of it as a designer and game lover?</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Answer – I played the Elric game several times. Victory was kind of random, because the summonings and events could be so earth-shattering. I mean, you can carefully build up your army, pack it into a fleet and send your mighty military out to conquer Pan Tang (or whatever) and then your enemy summons Slortar the Old or a pack of Oonai or something and wipes your force out. But on the other hand, it certainly hews to the spirit of the stories, where that sort of thing happens a LOT. (“Ha! I’ve summoned the Elenoin to kill you, Elric.” “Well, I’ve summoned a bunch of Grahluk, who live only to kill Elenoin, to save me.”) The bottom line is that while your strategic reasoning and plotting may not always carry you to a win, but the game is always fun to play and full of surprises which is more important.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span color="inherit" face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">8 Petersen Games is known for the award winning Cthulhu Wars, but has also published fantasy games such as Glorantha: God War and Orcs Must Die. If you did have a crack at Moorcock’s IP, would you produce a game? If so, what would it be like?</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Answer – I guess I’d first have to decide if I was doing a game on a single realm or the whole multiverse. If it was the multiverse, I’d have all the players be the different Eternal Champions, competing against each other (yes I know they’re all the same person) to become the most memorable, or find peace, or something.</span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; color: #00b0f0; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If it was just Elric’s world, I would have each player be a powerful nation from the world – one player would be Pan Tang, another Melnibone, etc. Elric would be a spoiler.</span></p>Tedankhamenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00181643018957592969noreply@blogger.com2