"I'll just do a quick mock layout," he says. "Look out for that this evening," he says.
*facepalm*
Anyway, that was just a slight bit more complicated than I figured. I didn't get to try out a lot of tricks I was planning to do, but even though the layout's not exactly professional quality, it should be a bit easier to read than the previous text dump.
The file is here.
It's a complete draft. Sort of. I took out the Waterborne Adventures section because I'll be heavily revising is, if not completely rebuilding it from scratch, for the northern seas adventure.
The entire thing needs a rewrite to make sure it's all in the same "voice" as it is in large part a cut and paste of existing OGC, so suggestions about wording or typos isn't necessary at this time. Things like combing through all the spell listings and making sure the saving throws match my categories exactly, that hasn't been edited yet. I hope a lot of this can be trimmed of wordiness as well. This is but a "skin" at this point.
But if anything just looks wrong as far as the meat of what's being said, certainly inform me.
This draft, when finished, will be two separate booklets within the box.
Next items: Finish the tutorial booklet and then attack that referee booklet and get significant portions of it done.
All the while tinkering with some of the fiddly bits in the rules. I want to get that encumbrance stuff nailed down so character sheet design can begin. There's a good idea for an encumbrance system bubbling there but I don't think I've hit paydirt with it yet.
And my copy of CAS' Vintage from Atlantis arrived earlier today and I didn't even crack it open because I was doing this. Ay ay ay.
*facepalm*
Anyway, that was just a slight bit more complicated than I figured. I didn't get to try out a lot of tricks I was planning to do, but even though the layout's not exactly professional quality, it should be a bit easier to read than the previous text dump.
The file is here.
It's a complete draft. Sort of. I took out the Waterborne Adventures section because I'll be heavily revising is, if not completely rebuilding it from scratch, for the northern seas adventure.
The entire thing needs a rewrite to make sure it's all in the same "voice" as it is in large part a cut and paste of existing OGC, so suggestions about wording or typos isn't necessary at this time. Things like combing through all the spell listings and making sure the saving throws match my categories exactly, that hasn't been edited yet. I hope a lot of this can be trimmed of wordiness as well. This is but a "skin" at this point.
But if anything just looks wrong as far as the meat of what's being said, certainly inform me.
This draft, when finished, will be two separate booklets within the box.
Next items: Finish the tutorial booklet and then attack that referee booklet and get significant portions of it done.
All the while tinkering with some of the fiddly bits in the rules. I want to get that encumbrance stuff nailed down so character sheet design can begin. There's a good idea for an encumbrance system bubbling there but I don't think I've hit paydirt with it yet.
And my copy of CAS' Vintage from Atlantis arrived earlier today and I didn't even crack it open because I was doing this. Ay ay ay.
I don't see a section discussing character death, what happens when you reach zero hit points, etc.
ReplyDeletePage 21, "Damage" section in the lower right.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to checking this out. :)
ReplyDeleteSlave Masters!
ReplyDeleteJust poking through, haven't really gotten far, but...I think polearms are way too expensive. They're basically farm implements on long sticks. Yeah, they do a lot of damage, but they're also slow as hell (I don't know if there are weapon speed rules yet...maybe, like crossbows, only every other round unless you're a level 4+ fighting man?) and clumsy.
ReplyDeleteAargh! Still with the rapier, it's a four-foot hole punch, a civilian estoc, it is far, far better than a falchion, or shamshir, or backsword/broadsword or katana for getting into the crevices in armour and leaving nasty puncture wounds, it really should have a bonus against heavier armour.
ReplyDeleteThat aside, the system looks great and the presentation is very clear and you should be commended for presenting rapiers the way you want to present them.
RE: Adam Thornton, polearms are fast, and they should always strike first. Real weapons were never, ever slow and unwieldy, length determines striking order, not weight, aside from which people didn't take unwieldy weapons into battle (which is why rapiers were a civilian weapon btw). Mediaeval warriors were humans and just as smart as we are and seriously didn't want to die.
About the weapons -
ReplyDeleteFor the rapier, I'm thinking Zorro and pirate fights and Romeo and Juliet style duels - never depicted as going against heavy armor. The idea is to make it a "civilian weapon," as you say, not something to be used out on the battlefield amongst those outfitted for war.
Historical accuracy is not the exact point, but perhaps there's a better name for the weapon I have in mind if there is something more accurate that fits what I'm looking for?
As for the polearm, you're probably right. I'll put that on the list for the next go-through.
My comment about polearms' speed isn't so much how quick they are to swing the first time, it's how quickly you can get them ready to strike again. I think an axe blade on the end of a six-foot haft is probably going to be at a disadvantage compared to, say, a tomahawk.
ReplyDeleteThat was all I was trying to get across. That, and, while I understand that they do a lot of damage and therefore in some sense "should" be expensive, a poleaxe was (I'm pretty sure, anyway) a much less expensive item than a well-crafted sword.
I had a look at the file. I'm not sure how complete this file is meant to be? It sounds like you want this game to be horror-oriented and introductory. Are these elements going to be in material yet to be added? Because at the moment it doesn't strike me as having more horror or introductory-ness than other clones.
ReplyDeleteThe file is meant to be complete (as a draft, anyway) as far as being raw rules. The stuff in this file will be 2 booklets in the box.
ReplyDeleteThere will be two other booklets with material I haven't shown (plus adventures and miscellaneous stuff).
The rules will get a rewrite to help with the atmosphere, but since the rules are designed to plug right in with the other clones they are going to be the least original part of the whole package.
I would've thought you'd have some kind of Courage or Sanity score.
ReplyDeleteAlso the cleric / magic-user distinction doesn't really seem to fit. Maybe if the cleric was always good and the sorcerer neutral or evil?
PS I guess Wisdom could be used as sanity, but it doesn't say so in the attribute descriptions.
ReplyDeleteOn a seperate note: it might be easier to have the information about higher levels later, perhaps in the DMs material, and just give the saves etc for 1st level characters.
ReplyDelete>>I would've thought you'd have some kind of Courage or Sanity score.
ReplyDeleteMorale/loyalty for NPCs. I hate such mechanics for PCs.
>>Also the cleric / magic-user distinction doesn't really seem to fit.
Needs to be compatible with existing clones and modules. I can change a lot of little stuff if I want, but the labels and general meanings have to remain the same. The only reason the "Specialist" was done is because the thief is considered a throwaway option in some circles. :)
>>I guess Wisdom could be used
INT and WIS are traditionally ill-defined, so I made them adjust saving throws (WIS vs cleric spells, INT vs MU spells) to make them more important.
In the "Traps" section you make repeated references to thieves (as opposed to specialists).
ReplyDelete