Markdoc

Re: CampaignPedia Format Sounds like you are on the right track, from what you have posted. From someone who's been through this process, I'd just like to say: Subdirectories are your friends. Make lots. Otherwise as you add more stuff the whole thing becomes more and more unwieldy. cheers, Mark

Re: Mystical Properties of Materials I agree it should be a limitation on the spells/powers. You might like to see how I handled this at: http://www.geocities.com/markdoc.geo/Gaming_stuff/Grimoire/magic_systems.htm#On%20Stranger%20Tides Although obviously not all the limitations will apply to what you want. cheers, Mark

Re: [GM asks your HELP] Ambient Music Hit your local library - our GM for the RQ game had a whole stack o' CDs burned for gaming featuring both sound effects (animals, jungles, etc) and also mood music - creepy dungeon music, stirring battle music, something is lurking music, session ended for the night music, etc. All from the library. cheers, Mark

Re: Runequest Conversion (Paging Markdoc) OOPS! My Bad - I put it up ages ago, but forgot to post a link: http://www.geocities.com/markdoc.geo/Gaming_stuff/Runequest/heroquest.htm We actually used it to play a short series of heroquest/timetravel adventures (not realy long enough to call it a campaign) and it all went rather splendidly, I thought. The main character/hero was a didn't know whether to be pleased or pissed: at the end of the scenario, it became clear that the player's attempt to change history had failed - and in fact that her failure was actually known to the players: it had been a major part of the main campaign's backstory/timeline. So she was torn between: "Oh my god! That was US!" and the realisation that I had basically set them up from the very beginning. (evil cackle) cheers, Mark

Re: what non-fiction books have you read? please rate it ... I'm almost finished "Monasteries of Western Europe. The Architecture of the Orders". Wolfgang Braunfels. Sounds dry, but isn't, as he uses architecture to trace the changing nature of the orders and then expands out to look at the effect of the monasteries on politics and economics in Europe (which was huge - the monks were pretty much in the forefront of every technological change for most of their glory years). Particularly interesting to me given our debate of socialism/communism on the NGD at the moment was the economic section - he points out that for more than a thousand years the world's most effective economic organisation was communist - or at least communal - the monastery. I've just finished "Through the Labyrinth" by Hermann Kern. It's supposed to be the definitive history of the labyrinth in architecture and history and myth. Most of it is a great steaming pile of horse dung studded with the occasional bit of useful or illuminating knowledge. Kern is one of these academics who have firm ideas and cling to them regardless of evidence. Ugh. cheers, Mark

Re: hit location I always use it - with a little practice, it become second nature (at least for the GM) so i don't find it any slower than using a random stun mult dice for killing attacks. Cheers, Mark

Re: The Science of Magic and the Evolution of Gods Actually I'd agree with Adam - a Phys. Lim is most appropriate. Don't get hung up special effects - a Phys. Lim. can be mental or mystic in origin. The reason for this is that a Psych. Lim can be overcome with an Ego roll - so if you choose a Psych Lim., then a mage who made an Ego roll could recharge from worshipping and a Cleric could tap ley lines. If that's what you want: that the two styles of magic can recharge at each other's sources with an effort of will, then go with a Psych. Lim. If not, go with a Phys Lim. cheers, Mark

Re: Egypt, 1938

Re: GateCrasher Hero Just a quick comment from someone who deals with licencing and IPR issues as part of my job. A copyright covers the rights to use material generated by the copyright holder or his assignees. "Gatecrasher" cannot copyrighted - as pointed out, if a copyright holder exists for the phrase, he or she has long since forfeited it to the public domain. So while the content of the game can be (and presumably is) copyrighted, the name cannot. "Gatecrasher" could however be trademarked. In fact, it already has been - Gatecrasher is a music, video and games promoter, and the trademark is "live" (meaning actively defended) in both the US and UK. In theory, "Gatecrasher" could be trademarked by two companies if there was no possibility of confusion. However since in their USPTO filing Gatecrasher includes games and entertainment including"the field of comic book characters" (also sunglasses and optical equipment: WTF?), there's no chance of that here. People often confuse copyright (which is implicit in an original work: meaning if you made it, you automatically have a copyright) and a trademark, which needs to be filed and accepted, *doesn't* need to be invented, and renewed every 7 years and defended during it's life. I've been through this process - my homebrew game and website for a medieval Japanese game using Hero system was called Sengoku. When Mark from GRG chose Sengoku as the name for their line of books, he contacted me about changing the name. He was, I should point out, very polite about it. I (hopefully also politely) declined since I had been using the name for a while - but offered to put up a disclaimer. So the lesson of the piece is: Play nice! Both Wildcat and Tim can use the Gatecrasher name, neither of you can copyright or trademark it. Gatecrasher is unlikely to take either of you to court for diluting their trademark, given the way things are. Tim would be safest finding another wordmark to sell the line under. You (or someone) could presumably trademark "Gatecrasher the multidimensional RPG" , "Domibia Games' GateCrasher" or something similar. Cheers, Mark

Re: Little help with Healing Advantages / Disadvantages It's gotta be 6d6 - three healings of 2d6 have the same maximum as one healing of 2d6 - they just get there faster. So the power is 6d6 healing, 60 Active. Real cost is: 20 points divided by whatever limitations you have on the spell + (20 points divided by whatever limitations you have on the spell and another (-1/2) "only works on targets of same religion" + (20 points divided by whatever limitations you have on the spell and another (-1/2) "only works on targets of same religion" and another (-2) "only works on targets you are in love with" cheers, Mark

Re: Saving Throws/Resistance Rolls What I did for RQ was: a) make all offensive spells BOECV. Since the spells are all heavily limited,this was not too punitive, and it fits the game: if they're in range you can zap them. There's no range mod.s Say EGO = POW. Thus, as you cast more spells your EGO went down, making it harder for you to affect other people, easier for them to affect you and also making it easier for spirits and so on to possess you. Simple, crude, but surprisingly effective. cheers, Mark

Re: Egypt, 1938 Yes well, I meant "funnily enough" as meaning funny-peculiar rather than funny-ha ha, but to be honest, my funny-o-meter is probably skewed way off normal anyway since a) I'm a doctor and I work from time to time in what we might kindly refer to as the squalid corners of the world. One needs a certain perspective if you are going to discuss where you are going for dinner after the operation, over sombody's open chest.....* Thus my reflection on seeing the tomb of memorial to the martyrs of Debre Libanos was that it looks disturbingly like a public toilet.... Anyhoo, more on topic - if you run the action back to the early 1930's the only thing that would change in Egypt is that the local nabobs were more generically anti-british than pro-german, and the Egyptian army would be even more disorganised than it was in 1938. cheers, Mark *true story - after some open chest surgery, the surgeon in charge went to put his watch back on - and couldn't find it (It had been off to the side of the surgical instruments, since in this facility there was no seperate scrub room). There was a long pause, everybody checked around and then they all looked at the guy who had just been closed up. Just as the doctor was calling for a consulting anaethesiologist to see if the guy could be put under again, the head nurse pulled it out of his pocket and went "ha ha, just kidding"

Re: Spells that work against pain If pain comes into play at all, I usually deal with it by requiring an Ego roll - or a resistance roll in some cases. You could therefore look at an AID that boosts those rolls, allowing someone to "ignore" the pain, but not repairing any damage. cheers, Mark

Re: Egypt, 1938 If you want to do Ethiopia (it was called Abyssinia back than) instead, remember that the Ark of the Covenant is there (well, supposedly..). It's kept in a church in Axum, although it was carried off and hidden during the italian occupation. No one is allowed to see it except one or two selected priests (presumably your head explodes otherwise). Axum itself is the site of an ancient pre-christian civilisation which was really into building giant stone obelisks: so there's plenty of weirdness there too. The Italian occupation was a pretty brutal era - hundreds of thousands died. Funnily enough, a couple of weeks ago I was at Debre Libanos in Ethiopia, a monastery where the Italians massacred over 500 priests and deacons as a reprisal for an attempted assassination of the Italian governor. cheers, Mark

Re: what makes a "demon" a "demon"? And in my game "demon" is commonly held by wizards to be a worn-down form of "dimensional traveller" - in other words, not from around these parts. These days the word is taken to mean "not from around these parts and nasty-looking to boot". If it was clearly extra-terrestrial but looked and behaved nicely it would be called a muse, or an angel or an avatar or a good spirit, depending on how it did and who was talking. cheers, Mark

Re: Things I'd like to see more of in fantasy gaming Yeps - I saw. And a Wu... well, think the magical bodyguard in 3x3 eyes (actually, I think you have a Wu writeup on your webpages). cheers, Mark

Re: Things I'd like to see more of in fantasy gaming

Re: Egypt, 1938 A few points: Yes, there were small numbers of British troops in Egypt at the time, but Egyptian troops served under their own officers: the only Brit.s in the Egyptian army were a small number of trainers and liasion. The army was mostly made up of conscripts, but you could pay for someone else to do your service so in general the quality was *extremely* low. basically only those people too poor to avoid it or poor enough to take a pittance to serve for someone else. A good setting for the adventure you describe might be Aswan. At the time there was a custom post and tiny army base there, with a british resident. Steamships sailed to Aswan from Cairo, but the falls at Aswan meant that was the end of the line. There may have been British troops there in small numbers from time to time, but it was mostly Egyptian forces, patrolling the border with Sudan. Aswan back then (before the dam) was the butt end of nowhere, surrounded by uninviting deserts. There is a spotty chain of oases extending southwestwards into Sudan, many of which have been inhabited since ancient times - there are still quite extensive ruins at some of them. In addition, the area around the Nile, both upstream and downstream is littered with muslim, early christian, greek, roman and pharonic remnants, including tombs of every size. Last off, note that although Egypt allied with the British, that was mostly because they were afraid of Italian-dominated Libya: the upper class - including many of the officers in the army - was often openly pro-nazi and Egypt did not officially join the allies until 1945, when it was clear the Nazis were about to go under. Throughout the war Cairo and Alexandria were hotbeds of intrigue and spying and the British intelligence officers assigned to Egypt often penly despaired of getting official action against hostile spies: there was also a communist/soviet underground, although the Egyptians were much keener to suppress them. That should give you something to go on with. cheers, Mark

Re: Things I'd like to see more of in fantasy gaming The answer, as you note, is simple: the GM must enforce such respect. I make it plain to the players when their characters should know they are going over the line (and I tend to surround powerful social figures with the appropriate hierachy anyway, so the players reaction to the emperor is moot - they get to meet with one of his minor official's secretaries instead). I don't do this to be mean - failure to enforce some sort of social structure leads to a very "PCs in video-game-land" feeling where actions don't have consequences. I'd hate to bully the characters, but if they cannot or will not restrain themselves, they will eventually suffer the consequences. In one game I ran, set in medieval Japan, two players simply could not cope with the idea of a rigid social structure, that placed high social value on things like not starting fights in bars just for fun. Inflicting penalties on the characters simply made the players mad: the only solution I could find so as to preserve the game for the other 4 players was to talk it over out of game with the two offenders - they chose to leave the game, rather than conform. cheers, Mark

Re: "How to" Transform Question. Another possibility is simply use images. In this case a sufficiently smart person could puzzle it out. At the other end of the scale a simple cosmetic transform - without a cryptography roll - would be sufficient to make it completely unreadable - athough you still need some way to turn the transform off (Tolkien's moon-writing in The Hobbit is an example of one method, although that would only qualify as "obvious" if your average wizard knew about such things) cheers, Mark

Re: Things I'd like to see more of in fantasy gaming What I tend to do is produce two maps for every culture/area - an accurate map for me, and then a players' map which (depending on the sophistication of the culture producing it) can range from somewhat accurate to wildly inaccurate. When the players interact with people from other cultures, their culture's "players' map" defines how much accurate useful information they can give. As for the "magic is mysterious" thing, while I like the idea in practice I found it to be more of a nuisance than a help, so let the magic-using players have access to the mechanics - at least for the system they used. cheers, Mark

Re: Modern-Day Urban Fantasy Actually as I understand it, the second Hellsing series is set in WW2 with Alucard and Walter fighting nazis.... Didn't we discuss this in Borders? cheers, Mark

Re: question about normal damage If most people have some resistant defence - as they do in most fantasy games, then they get to add their PD against Stun Damage, so there's not that big a difference between normal and killing damage. I had a martial artist type PC in my last fantasy game and he was extremely effective at putting down foes (more so than anyone except the player who spent almost all her points on sword combat abilities). But he didn't kill as many people: he simply generated more Stun on average than the sword guys, so he tended to stun and then put down his opponents. And since he was a "ghost-queller" he was more effective than most of the party against undead types too.... cheers, Mark

Re: Saving Throws/Resistance Rolls I was faced with this conundrum when translating Runequest magic over to Hero - the problem there is that for many spells you have to "overcome your target's magic points" - which is essentially a saving throw. On thinking about it I agree you don't need/want saving throws as a general mechanic (although the suggestion of a -1/2 limit to reduce or avoid the effect of some spells is a good one - I use it for some mental magics). The reason is that in most cases, in systems like RQ or DnD a spell always hits. The saving throw then takes account of effect. In Hero, you have to roll to hit - and even after (if) the spell takes effect it can still be modified (by defences, by adjustment powers, etc). So although the special effect is different, the mechanic is identical: cast your spell, roll dice to see effect on target. cheers, Mark

Re: Requesting help in finding source material These are basically a tibetanised form of the indo-persian Rakshahshah - deceitful, shapechanging demons who tend to target the the carnally-active. In some cases they are human flesh eaters, in other cases just mischevious/evil. They can mimic the voices of people in some legends and in others mimic their forms or mimic the forms of animals, although their natural form is almost always nasty-looking. The Tibetans seemed to have gotten them as part of a package deal with Buddhism (Subscribe to our exciting new religion and this month only, we'll throw in a bunch of superstitions for free!) cheers, Mark