Markdoc

Re: Alternate History - Roman Republic and the Renaissance Makers of Rome by Plutarch (I've got the Penguin Classics version). Roman politics and history as written by a Roman. Cheers, Mark

Re: Player/Character Mindswap L. Sprague de Camp wrote a story along these lines, but using the hero of a series of pulp novels rather than a game - after a period of franticallly trying to get back to their proper world, both characters decided they would rather stay where they were. The ex-barbarian liked flush toilets, central heating, and planes, and not being in continual danger of death - he became a cut-throat businessmen. The nerdy reader loved his new, huge muscular body and the wild adventure of the fantasy world. He became a barbarian adventurer (duh.) cheers, Mark

Re: What setting does your campaign use? Homebrew. There are certain "official" worlds that I have enjoyed GM'ing (principally Tekumel and Glorantha) and I have done a number of "historical" campaigns (I actually like that because it's less work), but like Fitz, I always end up looping back to my own homebrew. What I tend to do, though is run each campaign in a different part of the world, so that I flesh out a new magic system, new culture, new geography, etc, each time I do it, thus extending the level of detail of the world. cheers, Mark

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn by Robert Holdstock, the latest in the Ryhope Wood series. This is the kind of book that people who like this kind of book will like, if you know what I mean. Me, I loved it, especially the way it fills in the background of the Christopher Huxley character, so that you get to see him before he was a total bastiche. cheers, Mark

Re: WarHammer 40-Chibi for HERO? Dang. Beat me to it. cheers, Mark

Re: US Military .45 Pistols

Re: Magic and Mechanics, to you Also, a common mechanic does not necessarily mean a common style - just as with the example given for the "seal magic" I have a common underlying structure to how magic works in the game world: I want it to be "sword and sorcery" style - powerful, but not overwhelming in combat situations. Specifically, I require concentration and extra time (to make casters vulnerable in direct HTH), a skill roll to temper the use of high AP spells and a requirement that all magic uses LTE, so casters get exhausted if they cast a lot of spells and can need days of rest to recover from a magic-intense battle. However, every culture has its own style of magic (or styles - there's 3 different kinds of magic in the current game), which deals with these limitations in a different way - there are some cultures who DO have powerful styles of combat magic. Some of these require preparing spells in advance (often well in advance) and triggering them. Other schools specialise in just one or two attack and defence spells and mages work in pairs (or teams) - in both cases, trading combat power for flexibility. In some cultures magic is a gift that anyone can use, if they make the right sacrifices, in others it's closely-guarded secret, taught in ancient schools This lets me tailor magic to each culture (or just as often, the other way round) so that it's logical, consistent AND flavourful, but remains firmly under my control as a GM, for game balance reasons. cheers, Mark

Re: Destiny as a Disadvantage

Re: And off we go! OK, the last day of the festival dawns. The players get themselves all poshed up and before the ritual starts go looking for Jaarst Daro again. When they find him down by the docks they decide half the group will watch him and the other half raid his room at the inn. They get inside, ransack theplace and find - hidden under the rest of his clothes - a very bllodstained shirt. There's some debate, but in the end they hotfoot it off to the temple, where a quick divination reveals that yes, the blood belongs to one of the murdered girls. The temple priestesses however refuse to have Jaarst Daro arrested - he can be arrested the moment it finishes, but he must be allowed to finish, since outside interference is unacceptable. OTOH, he mustn't be allowed to win. The player contestants are tasked with stopping him from winning, while the rest are tasked with stopping Okalla Wayblue from finding out and killing him - at least until after the contests. Meanwhile the town is getting ready for the main event - it's another attempt to woo the ladies but this time, people get bonuses to their rolls depending on how they diod in the contests. It's a similar contest as the first one, except that it turns out Sir Baharach has disappeared: Khastz makes a good show and Lamoniak wins the crowds with a poem about how he is glad to be in exile so he can meet the harvest queen etc, Jaarst Daro attempts a little covert hypnotism and Corylyon gets a big response by singing an old traditional ballad - one that annoys the Samadrians, which some locals feel is a bonus. Vathmar bores the ladies with tales of his daring deeds, while Promidor does his best but comes off as too formal. But the winner is Mhyrryhn, the Samadrian agent, who not only has an amusing, slightly smutty story, but has practiced it to perfection with a bard as a drama coach *and* has a Charisma spell secretly cast on him. But that proves his undoing - Castor who has the same spell himself and KS: analyse magic - realises was going on and accuses him of cheating. Mhyrryhn is uanble to wiggle out of it and is disqualified, leaving Corylyon and Lamoniak tied for first place - so they have to fight with swords. At the first clash of blades Lamoniak drops to his knees and says that he has been conquered by true love. The crowd goes wild and Corylyon and Melisande are swept up by the crowd and carried around at shoulder height, while Vathmar storms off. The Harvest queen's maids take turn kissing the likeable contestants - and some of the good looking male sin the general vicinity while the locals break out the musical instruments and drinks. In all the confusion, the players nearly miss the fact that Jaarst Daro is heading for his inn - he has realised that something is up, when he noticed his stuff had been interfered with. The players (and Okalla Wayblue) put the inn under surveillance but Jaarst Daro's not so stupid. He climbed out his window onto the roof and attempted to make his escape over the roofs of the nearby houses. There's a deal of climbing falling and racing around (mostly obscured by falling darkness and the huge party now kicking off in the square) and Jaarst Daro makes it to the cirty gate, sees the guards are alerted (the temple told them to watch for him specifically) and heads up the steps onto the city wall. Lamoniak catches him there but alas his attack is blocked and he gets a staff in the chest that send him tumbling 10 metres down the stone steps and into the street. That buys enough time for the rest to arrive. Half of them head for the gate to cut off any attempt escape and the rest head up the stairs. Jaarst Daro decides to make a break for it. He goes over the wall and lands on the grass outside, but still sprains his ankle in the fall, allowing the players and some guards to catch up. He puts up a brief and very spirited defence but is successively: run down by Gen on the horse, stabbed in the stomach by Bellona and as he falls, unconscious to the ground Okalla Wayblue charges up and sinks her battleaxe into his groin (ignoring cries of "no, we want him alive!") As Jaarst Daro expires, smoke begins to pour from his mouth and nose, forming a vaguely humanoid shape then drifts off into the gathering dark. (GM's note - all this murdering is because Jaarst Daro was possessed by a Gherent - a dark spirit, which if it can't get human lifeforce, slowly devours its host. It had forced Jaarst to enter the contest since if it won, it could have killed and "eaten" a woman who, even if temporarily was assuming the aspect of one of the Goddesses - giving it a major "fix" of magical power). The players are a bit upset by this unexplained death scene so cart the body back to the temple, where shortly after it is announced from the steps that the murderer has been caught, just adding to the party feeling. The players join the celebrations - as best they can - Lamoniak, seriously wounded, is carried to the temple where he gets some help, but is beyond much that the healers can do. Some of the others are troubled by the smoke thing and spend some time talking with the priests. They took a letaher amulet off Jaarst's body and discover that it's actually a cover for a silver amulet with a strange symbol on it. After chatting with the priests, they find out something about Gherents, which just disturbs them even more. Competition-related festivities go on all night. Corylyan and Melisande retire to a room at an inn, and stay there pretty much for the next few days. The next day Bellona & Aquilla interview the Samadrian sailors again, who are getting ready to leave and find out that one of their number jumped ship as soon as they arrived in Houndsgar. Later we find out that the missing sailor had seen the body of the murdered girl back in Sillith, had returned to his ship white and shaken, and a crewmate claims he was then wearing a leather amulet round his neck, when he had never worn one before. The players assume (correctly) it is the same amulet as Jas Daro wore, and that the sailor was taken over by the evil spirit. The players test the silver amulet found inside Jaarst Daro's leather amulet, and find that it blocks all scrying spells if worn! One of the priests speculates that the Gherent might be looking for a new host - which makes the players think of Sir Baharach, who left town the day before - presumably all alone and depressed. The priest says the spirit might be trapped if the host was drowned so that it couldn't leave the body; otherwise he can't tell us much. There are only two priests on our island who might know more than him, and they couldn't tell us much either. The head priestess casts a divination but can't detect any specific enemies within a few miles of the town, and the priestess of the Crone has no way to locate the sailor's (presumed dead) body. The players assume that that missing sailor met Jaarst Daro on the main road within a few hours of his leaving town (since Jaarst Daro arrived in town before sunset of the same day), and the spirit transferred to Jaarst Daro. They work out that possibly it was because Jaarst Daro was going to enter the contest – and they realize that had the spirit won and got a share in the Goddess' power it would have been a very bad thing indeed Bellona, Gen & Khatsz try to trace the missing sailor and Sir Baharach along the main road: Bellona gets a riding lesson as they search for 6 hours at foot speed, then Bellona & Khatsz return to town while Gen continues for home. Aquilla activates some contacts to try to find out about the S-like symbol on Jaarst Daro's amulet. A few days pass. Lamoniak heals up, Castor studies, Gen gets back from the family farm with an extra qurrock in tow which Bellona can buy if she wants once it's properly trained.. Then, Khelsan hears shouts of 'Fire!' while at market, and arrives back at the harbour to find his ship ablaze. It sinks shortly thereafter. Many witnesses attest that Vathmar set it alight with two pots of alchemist fire and then fled town; a bronze Klinthan dagger is stuck in the wharf. Kelsan immediately puts a 620 sp bounty on Vathmar's head. And buys a sheath for the dagger. The crime is reported and there are plenty of witneses, so when, at the trial the next day, Vathmar does not show, the bounty is increased to 800 sp by the alchemist whom he stole the alchemist fire from, and a judgement is made Vathmar will be declared outlaw after 3 days - then he's up for a legal revenge killing! Bellona, Aquilla & Khatsz go round town asking about the S-like symbol, ending with a Samadrian priest of the Horned Man out in the Samadrian soldier's camp as they are packing up to leave. No one knows anything. While visiting Lamoniak, Aquilla gets the lock on the temple library cabinet open.... and discovers that far from being the “black libraryâ€, it’s where the temple keeps it’s accounts and attendance rolls. The players decide to go hunting even though lamoniak is still very weak - for the sailor, to find out what happened to him; for Sir Baharach, to make sure he's all right; for the evil spirit, to make sure it's not; and for Vathmar, to take his head. They start collecting get provisions; Khelsan buys a *very* sturdy qurrock. While at the market they spot Obi Wan, hiding behind a stall and watching something/one! They send Aquilla to hold his attention as they try sneak up on him, and find he is watching instead a group of 4 Samadrians - the same 4 who provided cover for the old woman/jester/spellcaster at the joust. When they invite Obi Wan to a nice chat over tea and cakes at the temple he is hostile and suspicious and the players who are being very low key and non-threatening are just winning him over when another Samadrian comes out of the inn door - Khatsz recognises him as one of those who were tampering with the contest beer. The Samadrian and Obi Wan look at each other and go 'You!!' Everyone draws their sword.... and that’s where we are up to now. cheers, Mark

Re: The "Nice Happy" Thread I just made full professor. : It doesn't actually change my job signficantly, they just pay me some extra money cheers, Mark

Re: Myths about the Middle Ages

Re: Myths about the Middle Ages And - more to the point, for the same reason that we do today: to add flavour. Since the upper classes ate a *lot* of meat, and cooking tools were a bit more basic, spices made it a bit less boring: especially in the late winter and early spring when for less wealthy types, salted or dried meat was on the menu. This is nothing new - I was on Santorini last week and the 3500 years old frescos from Akrotiri (a city there) show people harvesting saffron. Saffron won't preserve anything, but it will colour and flavor food, and exporting it was big business, even back then. cheers, Mark

Re: All Scots don't have 17 str!

Re: All Scots don't have 17 str!

Re: All Scots don't have 17 str! Oh, I understand that people differ in their interpretations - we are trying to model something terribly complex here. I just never understood why people thought it was so important: we're never, ever going to to come very close to reality in such a variable area, so a DC here or there is no big deal. You just want to avoid something so wierd it makes people back up and look again. cheers, Mark

Re: All Scots don't have 17 str!

Re: Myths about the Middle Ages OK - cool. Thanks for the cite - and I suspect your guess about bathing while travelling might be on the money. John was pretty itinerant, even by the standard of the times and other commentators have made similar comments. Anna Commnena, for one comments on how stinky the crusaders were: but then they had been travelling through Greece in summer, en masse. Water was probably reserved for drinking: and sweating, not washing and being around horses stinks you up pretty good. But then she was pleasantly surprised at how nicely Bohemond cleaned up - even if he was a big pink freakish norman. cheers, Mark

Re: Myths about the Middle Ages I'd want to see a cite on that - given the time and energy invested in building bathing facilities at the time, it'd be a bit strange if they were rarely used. At Leeds Castle, from 1291, there was a 23ft by 17ft bathing chamber, with a ledge for accessories, a recess for the bath, and a changing room located right above the bathroom. Some castle bathrooms from the same era had piped-in hot and cold water. Some lords even had bath mats to protect their feet from the cold. We also know that his brother Richard took a gilded wooden bath, heating apparatus and windshields with him on campaign. Georges Duby, in an article in A History of Private Life, writes "In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Cluniac monasteries and houses of the lay nobility continued to set aside space for baths...At Cluny the custom required the monks to take a full bath twice a year, at the holidays of renewal, Christmas and Easter; but they were exhorted not to uncover their pudenda." - and yet contemporaries regarded monks as filthy and unwashed - commentaries on their smelliness are legion, so it is clear that twice a year was considered a bit gross even in the 1200's. This, despite the fact that much earlier Gregory the Great, himself a monk before he became pope, allowed baths every sunday to his monks and even commended them, so long as they didn't become a 'time-wasting luxury'. Contemporary writers also inveigh against the sinfulness of too much bathing - which would be odd if people weren't bathing very often. It's not just nobles - most large medieval towns had public baths - some of them very ornate - even though wealthier people preferred to bath at home. In later periods, recent excavations at Hampton court showed Henry the VIII a sunken tub next to a hearth in his privy appartments, and his daughter Elizabeth not only had special bathing rooms in her various places but the one at at Whitehall reputedy had a mirrored ceiling. In between those two, many medieval writers commented on baths (or the lack of) and they were described as necessary and healthy. Constantinus Africanus, in Opera Domestica, from 1536 does so, while the unknown writer of de Balneus (1420) not only extolls bathing, but gives instructions on how best to set up your bath. That's all England and France, but in Janssen's History of the German People there are many details concerning the popular use of baths in Germany during the Middle Ages. He writes that men bathed several times each day - and from the 20th of May to the 9th of June, 1511, Lucas Rem bathed one hundred and twenty-seven times, as recorded in his diary (OK, that's getting a bit obsessive ) Further East, in Slavonia, Wroclawia had a law in the 13th to 15th centuries which ordered every citizen to visit a public bath once a week. If someone didn't they could be imprisoned or fined. For some (religious) folks like Monks and the militay orders, it was true - but in their case washing only a few times a year was a penance and a casting off of vanity. If it was the general rule, they would not have mude such a big deal out of it in the rules of their order. Add that to many medieval finds of combs, mirrors, soap scrapers, oil bottles, perfume, baths, etc plus all the paintings, tapestries, etchings and woodcuts of people bathing, and I think we can safely lay the medieval myth of very infrequent bathing to rest. cheers, Mark

Re: All Scots don't have 17 str! Nope, that's exactly my thought. Bigger, heavier weapons can be wielded by lighter, less muscular people just as effectively as by big muscular people: it just takes a bit more effort and training (ie: the investment of few points). I have never understod the heat and fury over STR Min.s But then I have never understood the rage generated in debates over exactly what damage different handguns should do, either. cheers, Mark

Re: Adjusting Costs When STR is 2 points

Re: Adjusting Costs When STR is 2 points

Re: Adjusting Costs When STR is 2 points

Re: Adjusting Costs When STR is 2 points Yep, basically you have summarised the argument for making STR 2 points per in a nutshell. I wouldn't make No figured CHA a -1 based on this reasoning, however - applying the same logic to CON would suggest it should be -2 or greater, since almost all of the measureable benefit of CON is in Figured CHA. If you make the assumption that you get a price break for buying CHA (and that's fair enough - it applies to INT, CON and DEX as well), then I can easily accept no figured CHA at -1/2.

Re: Your scenario style Long running games with multiple plot threads that run for years, but often shorter unrelated "single adventure scenarioes" that last a few sessions within that. For example, the last few months we've been playing "Ritual Wedding of the Goddess" with "Murder Mystery" as a side plot. The first part is finished but "Murder Mystery" is about to segue into "Hunt the Evil Cultists". That will lead to (and overlap with) "Hunt and Kill the Monster" which leads to "Castaway" "Pirates" and "Ghost Ship" in that order. These are three totally unrelated adventures, just for a change of pace. If they survive, we go back to "Hunt the Evil Cultists 2, Electric Boogaloo", which will in turn lead to "Expose High-up Corruption", "Cross the Wilderness" and "City of Buried Treasure", all of which have a subplot of "Hunt the Evil Cultists", but are also a change of pace. "City of Buried Treasure" introduces the second and third major subplots of "Reassemble the Magic Artefact" and "Become Major Political Figures", which together with "Hunt the Evil Cultists 2, Electric Boogaloo" underlies most of the smaller adventures which will make up the second half of the campaign. By stringing multiple shorter "minicampaigns" together into one long story arc, I can give the players a varied diet of action and intrigue in different settings and it makes it possible for a player who is burnt out or unable to play because of exams or summat to have a character go off and do something else. The player can either play a new a character or take a break, and then come back at a later point, without losing the thread too much. Multiple subplots stop the players from getting fixated on one thing until the end phase of the game where all the subplots run together and I *want* them to be fixated. cheers, Mark

Re: Spellbook Yep - although I can't take credit for the HD files. Fitz made those and also has a useful app for digging spells out of the grimoire on his website. cheers, Mark