Another version of Bloody Basic by John M. Stater meant to be an introduction to RPGs and the Blood and Treasure RPG itself. This basic set of Rules is setup to emulate medieval Europe without magic and monsters and as such the rules are a tad brief compared to other options but for a basic set it may indeed get the job done.
Characters are rolled in the familiar 3d6 for each ability in turn method and as in the other version of Bloody Basic I reviewed yesterday each ability score is given a descriptive tag for low score and high scores with different tags begin used in this version from the more lurid Weird Fantasy version. Characters of high strength are Strong while those with low score are Weak as those of High Dexterity are Nimble and those of low Charisma are Repulsive. I like these tags as they make remembering differences easy and add as hooks tin describing and understanding a character.
Instead of races for player characters this version of the game makes use of Social Ranks and characters can be an Aristocrats, Bourgeois, or Peasant. Each rank has a positive and negative ability score adjustment and a perk that sets them apart from the other two Social Ranks.
The main classes amiable to players are Armsman, Scholar, and Villein with a significant number of sublcasses.
Armsmen are fighters with a number of special abilities broken out by level and number with a limited number of uses per day, i find this mechanic interesting but maybe a bit too limiting for the advantages of some of the related special abilities; as examples: ARTFUL DODGE as a special ability that allows one to avoid one enemies attacks in a round seems okay for a 1st level ability that can be used but once a day at 1st level but QUICK granting a +1 to initiative rolls for but one round seems far inferior. The Armsman is joined by Berserkers, Cavaliers, and clerics each of which have an ability score requirement that isn;t too significant and get a special ability or two to set them apart from other arms men.
Scholars are learned men who have attended university (or the equivalent) and have knowledge among their special abilities, they can blather, decipher writings and speech and make observations on the true nature elf others and their status. Scholars each must pick a higher area of study making them a Lawyer, a Leech, or a Theologian. Lawyers are handy if there are trials, Leeches are healers, and Theologians are steeped in the mysticism of the church and may bless or curse others (this requires belief on the part of the person being blessed or cursed).
The Villein is a sneaky adventurer that nay be good at several skills and trades not too dissimilar from thieves of classic RPG. Subclasses include Assassins that gain a bonus to damage vs unknowing victims, Charlatans are confidence men, Hedge Wizard are rural scholars that can curse others, Minstrels can fascinate people with their performances, and Venturers are traveling merchants.
All classes may receive a randomly determined Retainer once the reach 6th level (the highest in these rules) which gives them a comment sidekick and second character.
Money in these rules is not he standard fantasy RPG decimal system but instead uses a pseudo-realistic system of farthings, pennies, groats, shillings and Crowns where characters start off with 10 shillings per point of Charisma to buy equipment.
Of note following the equipment section we see the importance of religion in medieval setting and each charter is recommend to choose a religion and how seriously they take their religion. Characters can be Zealots, Believers, Apostate, or Heretics. This is a good touch for the implied setting but I think it’s in the wrong section following equipment as it does and would have better served the rules in a section between Social Ranks and Character classes (i know form bitter experience few players ever read past the equipment section in an RPG,even a brief one).
The rule mechanics are simply laid out and clear. Savign thaws are broken down into three categories and each class is given at the score need to roll (or higher) to make a save based on level. Other tasked are rolled for in a similar manner with skilled tasks begin as successful as a saving throw and those tasks one is less skilled dwith are a tad less likely to be successful.
Combat is quick and easy with a d6 iniaitve roll for each side in group combat, a 1d0 for signle combat. Initiave modifiers apply in single combat and are based on type of weapon and if a character is Clumsy or Nimble. The hit roll itself is 1d20 + attack bonus to meet or beat the foe’s AC score. When a foe is reduced to 0 HP the attacker gets to deice if the target is killed, knocked unconscious to subdued. A few minor situational modiers are mentioned but standard combat is wrapped up in under a page.
Jousting and Archery contests are given extra attentions fits the setting both sections are adequate and should get the job done in setting both types of tournament apart from standard combat.
Healing is slow at 1 hp for a nights rest and a charter’s level for a whole day of rest but if one takes 10 minutes immediately after a fight to rest they do regain half their hit points. Players that are careful and don’t push it too much shouldn’t have to overly worry about the lack of magical healing if they are careful about when they choose to fight.
Sieges get some attention with siege weapons getting some quick coverage align with a few siege related modifiers to regular combat. Walls are given defense ratings that act as hit points for structures.
Instead of digging through musty dungeons full of monsters characters are assumed to be storming castles and the rules for stocking ad exploring them are given cursory attention. Wandering Guards replace wandering monsters but I must lament the absence of a sample Wandering Guard table there’s room in such a short set of rules. for some odd reason the Npc reaction table is also hidden in this rule section. Wilderness and Civilization sections give both environments a little attention that should prove useful to the GM (oops sorry the Treasure Keeper).
the Creature section provides useful notes and statistics for a variety of Anmals that may be encountered during adventures and a brief variety of Human opponents.
The experience and Treasure section finishes off the rules. Experiecne points are earned for defeating foes and Experience points are earned for treasure; this exp section seems to be a copy and past from elsewhere as it lists coins as Gold Pieces, Silvee Picees and Copper Pices instead of using the denominations mentioned elsewhere in the rules, it’s useable as written but a little sloppy. Treasures are provided in a few charts that while not amazing get the job done, I do like the treasure chart for Special treasures they fit the setting well.
Overall these brief 25 pages of rules would be useable for a straight up medieval setting. Given how much is not needed when there are no monsters, magical items, or magical spells it’s just going to be briefer. A few tables for Wandering Guards and Wilderness encounters would have surely fit in. I’d say this would serve a GM …i mean …Treasure Keeper in introducing people to RPGs but they are likely going to be left chomping at the bit for monsters and magic to be added to the game which isn’t bad considering this is a lead in product to a more expansive set of rules. A more experience group may still find this useful for a rules light option for their RPG fun.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Bloody Weird [REVIEW]
Review of Bloody Basic Weird Fantasy Edition by John M stater.
Bloody Basic Weird Fantasy Edition is a basic version of the Blood & Treasure RPG intended to support play in a fantasy world where errant knights, burglars and magicians are bent on one last grand adventure, one chance to crack open the bones of drudgery and suck out the marrow of life, one final opportunity to live deeply and truly (to paraphrase the author). Let’s see if we can get there using these rules.
We get the introduction which explains the very most basics of what is weird fantasy and how to makes sense of the terminology and dice conventions used in the rules, old hat to experienced players but as this is basic set of rules the page and a half spent on this (including the start of the Making a Character Section) is well spent.
Abilities are the classical old school mix rated from 3 to 18 and rolled 3d6 each in order as presented in the game (STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA). Each ability has a descriptive for characters with a low score or high score in each of the abilities,a high Strength character is Mighty, a low Wisdom character is Foolish, a High Constitution character is Stalwart; I enjoy the descriptive tags for each ability score as it helps define the ability score and in identifying and role-playing a characters. Each score offers a small modifier of +1 or -1 to associated tasks if the score is high or low. The amount of cash a character starts out with is tied to Charisma.
The races are the familiar Humans, ageless and soulless Elves, a beastly Grotesque, or a cloven footed Satyr. Humans and Satyrs may advance to level 6 (the maximum level in these rules) in any of the classes wheel the Elves and Satyrs are limited but have multi class options.
The classes on hand will be slightly familiar to fans of classic fantasy adventure but with a slight spin of the lush and lurid Weird Fantasy setting: PCs may be an Idolator, a Magus, A Puissant, or A Thief (there are 2 subclasses available as well).
Idolators serve the gods and goddesses calling upon the ultra-mundane for divine favors. Idolators may “shun” their enemies (similar to turning undead with a wider range of effects on types of targets) and cast Orisons. There are nine mystery cults that govern access to the Orisons each requiring a taboo for the idolater to gain access. There are 10 Orisons given for each of the 3 levels of Orison power with each briefly and clearly defined in the idolater section, all are available if the proper mystery is known and taboos recognized with a limit based on Orison level and character level. An Idolater that violates a taboo suffers damage for Orisons already cast in a day tied to the mystery cult and loses the ability to cast related Orisons of that mystery. A 1st level Idolater could cast 3 1st level Orisons a day, a 6th level Idolater could cast 6 of the 1st rank, 5 of the 2nd, and 3 of the third. At 6th level an idolater gains a retainer (more on them later).
The Magus has access to the widest variety of magic in the game, which is good for they are fairly feeble otherwise. The Magus must prepare their cantraps each morning as they loose them from their minds when cast. Cantraps are limited to those learned and copied into their grimoires which hold but 3 spells at first level. There are 12 cantraps of 1st d level described, and 20 each of 2nd and 3rd level. Each magus may cast read magic from memory without the need of study and prep. The 1st level Magus can cast but 1 st level spell a day, at 6th level they may cast 3 spells of 1st level, 3 of 2nd and 2 of 3rd level. The Magus is not limited by taboos as the Idolater is.
The Puissant is the fighter of these weird fantasy rules. Puisants have the ability to perform feats of combat (mechanically not dissimilar to spell casting), the combat feats that may be used in a day are limited in use to by character and combat feat level. Some of the feats are quite sensibly limited in uses per day while other seem a bit weak for the bonus gained or oddly limited for what they reperesent, it’s a good mechanic but I feel it needs a tad more tweaking. There is a subclass of The Puissant that may be available to those with a DEX of 15 or more : the Rake; the Rake may only be lightly armored but they gain access to a few of the special abilities of the Thief.
The Thief Class should be familiar to those experience in old school fantasy RPGS, they are thieves with access to a range of special abilities resolved with a skilled task check (mor eon this later). There are two subclasses available to thieves The Demimonde that only gains experience points by spending on hedonistic pursuits they gain some benefits in the face of wonders and a retina at 4th and 6th level. The second subclass is the Odalisque which are skilled seducers able to hypnotize an audience with their dancing and very limited spell casting at 6th level.
Each class has it own advancement chart that lists XP needed to gain a level, hit points, attack bonus, level title, and saving throws.
As mentioned above each character gain a retainer at 6th level (Demimondes at 4th and 6th level). A retainer is a totally loyal companion of the PC and may be used as a second character their initial nature is rolled randomly on a retainer chart. For the retainers loyalty one must spend 25% of EXP earned (which is no big deal since the game tops out at 6th level when retainers are gained by most PCs).
Equipment and money is fairly simple, character start with funds to buy equipment (10 GP per point of Charisma), equipment lists are given for all the essentials (including decoration for armor and clothing). A character my carry 24 light objects without being encumbered, 100 coins count as a light item, medium and heavy object count as more items. Effete character can carry less, mighty characters can carry more. Henchmen are included in the equipment section as hirelings to round out and boost an adventuring groups capabilities.
Wonder is an interesting element of these rules as PCs are not always natives to the realism they explore and there are amazing things to be witnessed in ancient places, haunted hillsides, or the edge of the world. Wonders may earn a character experience points without the need to fight monsters. When one is exposed to a wonder they may gain an epiphany which expands their abilities but may weigh down on their body and soul. Seeking wonders is both a boon and a bane to a character that may reduce CON and WIS depending on the nature of the wonder.
Saving throws are a simple system where a character needs to roll 1d20 to meet or beat a target number based on their class and level vs a general resistance including Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. Ability scores apply minor modifiers to these rolls, the author uses the descriptions to note adjustments to saving throws (I like the flavor presented in that).
Tasks are similar to saving throws with each tied to ability scores for skilled characters. An unskilled character succeeds art a task on a roll of 18 or more, a character with a knack does so on 15 or more, while a skilled character benefits from class and level treating the skill check as a modified saving throw. Note: Charisma task are improved by the value of accouterments worn by a character (nice touch that).
Combat is fairly simple. Attack order is brief using roll high on 1d6 initiative to determine which side attacks first in a round with minor modifiers for ability scores, spell casting, and weapons used. An attack roll is 1d20 modified by attack bonus (tied to class and level) which is successful if the score is equal to or higher than the targets AC. Simple and brief guidance is given for the advantage of tactics and dirty tricks.
Healing in slow at 1hp a night or 1hp per level for full day of rest. No yo-yo combats here without the aid of magic.
Simple morale rules are given for NPCs/monsters which are workable and should prove useful in play.
Adequate and guidance is given to running and setting up adventure in Donjons and Wilderness. A nice listing of traps is given for those wicked Donjons. A reaction table for monsters is buried in the Wandering monsters subsection of Donjon and Wilderness adventuring, i feel weird fantasy depends on such a chart as the motives of the weird aren’t always obvious.
The monster section for these rules is a delight. Each monster type gets a general set of scores for Hit Dice, Movement, Saving Throws (by category) and Challenge Level while specific monsters in each heading receive additional noted for AC, attack types and special abilities. The treatment of monsters allows for quick and easy monster presentation that still offers flexibility. The presentation also allows for a large number of monsters to be included without too much space being eaten up.
A fair section is given for treasures that may be found which includes baubles, Potions, Scrolls, Staves, Magic armor and weapons along with Wondrous items. A bit more time spent on a few detailed weird magic items wouldhave been helpful but the section still gets the job done.
A thesaurus is given in the rules which adds to the GMs ability to provide evocative descriptions of the threats and wonders the PCs may face.
In conclusions these rules do provide a basic set of rules and framework for presorting a weird fantasy campaign. I would have enjoyed as slightly more expansive section on the duties of the Treasure Keeper (the DM/referee ) as this i doesn’t really seem to be a basic edition meant for neophytes to learn how RPGs work all on their own but for a slightly experienced player to introduce others to fantasy RPG or as a light set of rules for a more experienced group of players it does the job.
I got my pdf copy here: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5747/John-M-Stater
Bloody Basic Weird Fantasy Edition is a basic version of the Blood & Treasure RPG intended to support play in a fantasy world where errant knights, burglars and magicians are bent on one last grand adventure, one chance to crack open the bones of drudgery and suck out the marrow of life, one final opportunity to live deeply and truly (to paraphrase the author). Let’s see if we can get there using these rules.
We get the introduction which explains the very most basics of what is weird fantasy and how to makes sense of the terminology and dice conventions used in the rules, old hat to experienced players but as this is basic set of rules the page and a half spent on this (including the start of the Making a Character Section) is well spent.
Abilities are the classical old school mix rated from 3 to 18 and rolled 3d6 each in order as presented in the game (STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA). Each ability has a descriptive for characters with a low score or high score in each of the abilities,a high Strength character is Mighty, a low Wisdom character is Foolish, a High Constitution character is Stalwart; I enjoy the descriptive tags for each ability score as it helps define the ability score and in identifying and role-playing a characters. Each score offers a small modifier of +1 or -1 to associated tasks if the score is high or low. The amount of cash a character starts out with is tied to Charisma.
The races are the familiar Humans, ageless and soulless Elves, a beastly Grotesque, or a cloven footed Satyr. Humans and Satyrs may advance to level 6 (the maximum level in these rules) in any of the classes wheel the Elves and Satyrs are limited but have multi class options.
The classes on hand will be slightly familiar to fans of classic fantasy adventure but with a slight spin of the lush and lurid Weird Fantasy setting: PCs may be an Idolator, a Magus, A Puissant, or A Thief (there are 2 subclasses available as well).
Idolators serve the gods and goddesses calling upon the ultra-mundane for divine favors. Idolators may “shun” their enemies (similar to turning undead with a wider range of effects on types of targets) and cast Orisons. There are nine mystery cults that govern access to the Orisons each requiring a taboo for the idolater to gain access. There are 10 Orisons given for each of the 3 levels of Orison power with each briefly and clearly defined in the idolater section, all are available if the proper mystery is known and taboos recognized with a limit based on Orison level and character level. An Idolater that violates a taboo suffers damage for Orisons already cast in a day tied to the mystery cult and loses the ability to cast related Orisons of that mystery. A 1st level Idolater could cast 3 1st level Orisons a day, a 6th level Idolater could cast 6 of the 1st rank, 5 of the 2nd, and 3 of the third. At 6th level an idolater gains a retainer (more on them later).
The Magus has access to the widest variety of magic in the game, which is good for they are fairly feeble otherwise. The Magus must prepare their cantraps each morning as they loose them from their minds when cast. Cantraps are limited to those learned and copied into their grimoires which hold but 3 spells at first level. There are 12 cantraps of 1st d level described, and 20 each of 2nd and 3rd level. Each magus may cast read magic from memory without the need of study and prep. The 1st level Magus can cast but 1 st level spell a day, at 6th level they may cast 3 spells of 1st level, 3 of 2nd and 2 of 3rd level. The Magus is not limited by taboos as the Idolater is.
The Puissant is the fighter of these weird fantasy rules. Puisants have the ability to perform feats of combat (mechanically not dissimilar to spell casting), the combat feats that may be used in a day are limited in use to by character and combat feat level. Some of the feats are quite sensibly limited in uses per day while other seem a bit weak for the bonus gained or oddly limited for what they reperesent, it’s a good mechanic but I feel it needs a tad more tweaking. There is a subclass of The Puissant that may be available to those with a DEX of 15 or more : the Rake; the Rake may only be lightly armored but they gain access to a few of the special abilities of the Thief.
The Thief Class should be familiar to those experience in old school fantasy RPGS, they are thieves with access to a range of special abilities resolved with a skilled task check (mor eon this later). There are two subclasses available to thieves The Demimonde that only gains experience points by spending on hedonistic pursuits they gain some benefits in the face of wonders and a retina at 4th and 6th level. The second subclass is the Odalisque which are skilled seducers able to hypnotize an audience with their dancing and very limited spell casting at 6th level.
Each class has it own advancement chart that lists XP needed to gain a level, hit points, attack bonus, level title, and saving throws.
As mentioned above each character gain a retainer at 6th level (Demimondes at 4th and 6th level). A retainer is a totally loyal companion of the PC and may be used as a second character their initial nature is rolled randomly on a retainer chart. For the retainers loyalty one must spend 25% of EXP earned (which is no big deal since the game tops out at 6th level when retainers are gained by most PCs).
Equipment and money is fairly simple, character start with funds to buy equipment (10 GP per point of Charisma), equipment lists are given for all the essentials (including decoration for armor and clothing). A character my carry 24 light objects without being encumbered, 100 coins count as a light item, medium and heavy object count as more items. Effete character can carry less, mighty characters can carry more. Henchmen are included in the equipment section as hirelings to round out and boost an adventuring groups capabilities.
Wonder is an interesting element of these rules as PCs are not always natives to the realism they explore and there are amazing things to be witnessed in ancient places, haunted hillsides, or the edge of the world. Wonders may earn a character experience points without the need to fight monsters. When one is exposed to a wonder they may gain an epiphany which expands their abilities but may weigh down on their body and soul. Seeking wonders is both a boon and a bane to a character that may reduce CON and WIS depending on the nature of the wonder.
Saving throws are a simple system where a character needs to roll 1d20 to meet or beat a target number based on their class and level vs a general resistance including Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. Ability scores apply minor modifiers to these rolls, the author uses the descriptions to note adjustments to saving throws (I like the flavor presented in that).
Tasks are similar to saving throws with each tied to ability scores for skilled characters. An unskilled character succeeds art a task on a roll of 18 or more, a character with a knack does so on 15 or more, while a skilled character benefits from class and level treating the skill check as a modified saving throw. Note: Charisma task are improved by the value of accouterments worn by a character (nice touch that).
Combat is fairly simple. Attack order is brief using roll high on 1d6 initiative to determine which side attacks first in a round with minor modifiers for ability scores, spell casting, and weapons used. An attack roll is 1d20 modified by attack bonus (tied to class and level) which is successful if the score is equal to or higher than the targets AC. Simple and brief guidance is given for the advantage of tactics and dirty tricks.
Healing in slow at 1hp a night or 1hp per level for full day of rest. No yo-yo combats here without the aid of magic.
Simple morale rules are given for NPCs/monsters which are workable and should prove useful in play.
Adequate and guidance is given to running and setting up adventure in Donjons and Wilderness. A nice listing of traps is given for those wicked Donjons. A reaction table for monsters is buried in the Wandering monsters subsection of Donjon and Wilderness adventuring, i feel weird fantasy depends on such a chart as the motives of the weird aren’t always obvious.
The monster section for these rules is a delight. Each monster type gets a general set of scores for Hit Dice, Movement, Saving Throws (by category) and Challenge Level while specific monsters in each heading receive additional noted for AC, attack types and special abilities. The treatment of monsters allows for quick and easy monster presentation that still offers flexibility. The presentation also allows for a large number of monsters to be included without too much space being eaten up.
A fair section is given for treasures that may be found which includes baubles, Potions, Scrolls, Staves, Magic armor and weapons along with Wondrous items. A bit more time spent on a few detailed weird magic items wouldhave been helpful but the section still gets the job done.
A thesaurus is given in the rules which adds to the GMs ability to provide evocative descriptions of the threats and wonders the PCs may face.
In conclusions these rules do provide a basic set of rules and framework for presorting a weird fantasy campaign. I would have enjoyed as slightly more expansive section on the duties of the Treasure Keeper (the DM/referee ) as this i doesn’t really seem to be a basic edition meant for neophytes to learn how RPGs work all on their own but for a slightly experienced player to introduce others to fantasy RPG or as a light set of rules for a more experienced group of players it does the job.
I got my pdf copy here: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5747/John-M-Stater
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Visualizing the Dungeon
As a DM I'm often wondering if I'm presenting the dungeon to the players and even myself as best as I can.
Do players see the same thing I do? Can they? I've noticed over time groups if players tend to develop a shorthand to describe a dungeon environment to as quickly and meaningfully as possible (unless it;s an insanely boring campaign) but I wonder what is lost in that shorthand. While I still spend plenty of time analyzing and exploring the traditional dungeon maps I do tend to find the classical empty dungeon map boring, there is so much wasted space to convey information and keep notes but we habitually split it all up or keep the details lite. I understand some of the reasons to keep the details on the low end I tend to scribble on maps as the PC go rampaging through noting doors broken, piles of bodies, and missed loot on my copy of the map so I can track and present those changes (and other that may follow) to the players later in the adventure, yet I still wonder if more could be put on the map in the first place. There was a brief trend for isometric looking dungeon maps but these fell out of favor becasue not every DM is an artist and the time spent prettying up isometric dungeons didn't always add to the play experience, sure it made the maps less boring for the DM to stare out compared to a set of squares and rectangles with numbers in the middle but didn't really add significantly to the experience.
I wonder to myself if by keeping to old tools we are keeping our campaign and adventures from developing beyond old boundaries. My imagination can picture vast dungeon environments that the classical graph paper method is just sorely lacking in properly recording. Maybe the computer has given us the means but the exact tool-set isn't here yet as compter and video games allow impressive spaces to be designed but the means these are explored by players are still significantly different from how tabletop play unfolds.
Are we visualizing our dungeons well, and are the other players really seeing what we think they are?
I wonder to myself if by keeping to old tools we are keeping our campaign and adventures from developing beyond old boundaries. My imagination can picture vast dungeon environments that the classical graph paper method is just sorely lacking in properly recording. Maybe the computer has given us the means but the exact tool-set isn't here yet as compter and video games allow impressive spaces to be designed but the means these are explored by players are still significantly different from how tabletop play unfolds.
Are we visualizing our dungeons well, and are the other players really seeing what we think they are?
Friday, September 18, 2015
To open the bag or not?
Still here, just swamped with contracts and the work that goes with them.
A coupe weeks ago my dead friend Tom's girlfriend entrusted his gaming bag to me. It's one of those college kid backpack/book-bag deals. I haven't mustered the will to open it yet. Inside it there is probably a gaming book or three and a couple notebooks or folders and character sheets from the past few years. I'm curious to look inside, to get this one last insight into someone I knew for over 30 years but even typing this brings up tears. Should I open it myself or call together other gaming buddies to all share in the experience? Do we divvy up the goodies and entrust the character sheets to the "hall of the dead" (a character sheet record I've been keeping for decades)? Maybe the bag should be propped up in a corner of Gamehalla ? To open the bag or not: to look into the past and a future that can never be...
A coupe weeks ago my dead friend Tom's girlfriend entrusted his gaming bag to me. It's one of those college kid backpack/book-bag deals. I haven't mustered the will to open it yet. Inside it there is probably a gaming book or three and a couple notebooks or folders and character sheets from the past few years. I'm curious to look inside, to get this one last insight into someone I knew for over 30 years but even typing this brings up tears. Should I open it myself or call together other gaming buddies to all share in the experience? Do we divvy up the goodies and entrust the character sheets to the "hall of the dead" (a character sheet record I've been keeping for decades)? Maybe the bag should be propped up in a corner of Gamehalla ? To open the bag or not: to look into the past and a future that can never be...
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Solar System of the 78th Aeon
Some of the 11 planets of the 78th Aeon solar system.
Charon- constructed to replace ancient Mercury and Venus as the mass was deemed necessary to allow for safe use of Interregnum hyper-drives.
Earth and Luna- Ancient texts speaking of Telluria refer to Earth and Luna together. Modern Luna retains a thin but life supporting atmosphere thanks to gravity supplied by Telluric Engines and was re-positioned to about half again as far from Earth as it was during the first three eras of space exploration. The prime polity of the solar system (The Telluric Throne of Earth & Mars) claims Luna as it's Throne-world.
Mars- While it managed to evolve it's own delicate lifeforms it was deemed necessary to Terraform the planet in the 3rd Aeon as it would have surely been lifeless again in but a couple Aeons were it not for ancient Tellurian engineering.
Saturn and Titan- Saturn had it's rings harvested in the distant past and all references to this lost marvel are decidedly archaic. Life evolved on Titan to go extinct in absence of sentient interference but life was restored but is now feared to have gone extinct again despite the historic significance of Titan being humanities only refuge during the 17th Aeon.
Pluto- Yes my dear reader Pluto is a planet and deservedly so as it is the fourth body in the solar system to independently evolve a native biology.
Charon- constructed to replace ancient Mercury and Venus as the mass was deemed necessary to allow for safe use of Interregnum hyper-drives.
Earth and Luna- Ancient texts speaking of Telluria refer to Earth and Luna together. Modern Luna retains a thin but life supporting atmosphere thanks to gravity supplied by Telluric Engines and was re-positioned to about half again as far from Earth as it was during the first three eras of space exploration. The prime polity of the solar system (The Telluric Throne of Earth & Mars) claims Luna as it's Throne-world.
Mars- While it managed to evolve it's own delicate lifeforms it was deemed necessary to Terraform the planet in the 3rd Aeon as it would have surely been lifeless again in but a couple Aeons were it not for ancient Tellurian engineering.
Saturn and Titan- Saturn had it's rings harvested in the distant past and all references to this lost marvel are decidedly archaic. Life evolved on Titan to go extinct in absence of sentient interference but life was restored but is now feared to have gone extinct again despite the historic significance of Titan being humanities only refuge during the 17th Aeon.
Pluto- Yes my dear reader Pluto is a planet and deservedly so as it is the fourth body in the solar system to independently evolve a native biology.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
The Aeon
Aeon as defined by The Incomplete Encyclopedia of The Tellurian Throne of Earth and Mars 541st edition:
Aeon, a galactic season defined as 1/4th of a galactic year (63,000,024 neoclassical Tellurian years).
There is much debate in the least significant digits, some scholars insist tit should be as few as 13 or as many as 67 but the majority find 24 to be adequate. It should be noted some numeric heretics insist on simply dropping the two least significant digits and rounding off to an even 63,000,000. Some scholars point out that the length of the neo-classical Tellurian year is an educated guess that is in conflict with the time-span reported by chrononauts but it has held as the modern definition since the beginning of the as of yet unresolved Andromedan conflict.
At the time of this writing it is currently the 68,415th year of the 78 Aeon. It is what many consider the last Aeon as near the end of this Aeon the tellurian engines will fail and without the energy stabilizing transfer Sol unchecked will resume it's expansion and consume Earth and Mars, even worse, this incident will unchain Thanatos and all the galaxies that could be reached using tri-light drive from the dawn of the 63rd Aeon to approximately 14,000 years post Telluric Apocalypse and the Thanatos Consumption will ( for lack of a better term) be consumed.
Footnote in regard to fleeing the Telluric Apocalypse:
Some have questioned "Why the population of Earth can not be evacuated by time travel" ? This question is of course based in ignorance as transporting even even a tenth of the known sentient population of Earth and Mars would require the consumption of about 13% of the combined mass of the Milkway/Andomeda galaxies; such a monumental project is agreed to simply not be worth the effort.
Footnote to the footnote:
Some engineers of the Reformed Church of Neo-Arhcaic Olympian Trans-h-umanity claim it would be entirely possible to use a significant mass appropriated from an adjacent multiverse to move the population of all suspected sophonts in the core of the Thanatos Consumption Zone to a safe portion of a nearby cosmos. Serious consideration of this endeavor recognizes the need for unprecedented cooperation of many moralities, species, and polities and the reaction of residents in portions of the multiverse with useable mass is unlikely to prove to be favorable. Even the most senior of engineers can't all agree on what constitutes the core of the Thanatos Consumption Zpne (representatives of polities on a defined fringe always seem to insist they are part of the core). Relocation to a nearby cosmos seems to be an unlikely prospect.
Further footnote:
It should be noted appoximately 1.3% of the mass of the Milkyway Galaxy was consumed by tri-light drive and other means during The Great Sentient Exodus of the 62nd Aeon. It is also suspected a similar exodus may have happened in the 13th Aeon but one must wonder why they were in such a hurry in that distant age (none of the surviving species evolutionary descendants involved in the earlier exodus can provide an adequate answer if aware of the event at all).
Aeon, a galactic season defined as 1/4th of a galactic year (63,000,024 neoclassical Tellurian years).
There is much debate in the least significant digits, some scholars insist tit should be as few as 13 or as many as 67 but the majority find 24 to be adequate. It should be noted some numeric heretics insist on simply dropping the two least significant digits and rounding off to an even 63,000,000. Some scholars point out that the length of the neo-classical Tellurian year is an educated guess that is in conflict with the time-span reported by chrononauts but it has held as the modern definition since the beginning of the as of yet unresolved Andromedan conflict.
At the time of this writing it is currently the 68,415th year of the 78 Aeon. It is what many consider the last Aeon as near the end of this Aeon the tellurian engines will fail and without the energy stabilizing transfer Sol unchecked will resume it's expansion and consume Earth and Mars, even worse, this incident will unchain Thanatos and all the galaxies that could be reached using tri-light drive from the dawn of the 63rd Aeon to approximately 14,000 years post Telluric Apocalypse and the Thanatos Consumption will ( for lack of a better term) be consumed.
Footnote in regard to fleeing the Telluric Apocalypse:
Some have questioned "Why the population of Earth can not be evacuated by time travel" ? This question is of course based in ignorance as transporting even even a tenth of the known sentient population of Earth and Mars would require the consumption of about 13% of the combined mass of the Milkway/Andomeda galaxies; such a monumental project is agreed to simply not be worth the effort.
Footnote to the footnote:
Some engineers of the Reformed Church of Neo-Arhcaic Olympian Trans-h-umanity claim it would be entirely possible to use a significant mass appropriated from an adjacent multiverse to move the population of all suspected sophonts in the core of the Thanatos Consumption Zone to a safe portion of a nearby cosmos. Serious consideration of this endeavor recognizes the need for unprecedented cooperation of many moralities, species, and polities and the reaction of residents in portions of the multiverse with useable mass is unlikely to prove to be favorable. Even the most senior of engineers can't all agree on what constitutes the core of the Thanatos Consumption Zpne (representatives of polities on a defined fringe always seem to insist they are part of the core). Relocation to a nearby cosmos seems to be an unlikely prospect.
Further footnote:
It should be noted appoximately 1.3% of the mass of the Milkyway Galaxy was consumed by tri-light drive and other means during The Great Sentient Exodus of the 62nd Aeon. It is also suspected a similar exodus may have happened in the 13th Aeon but one must wonder why they were in such a hurry in that distant age (none of the surviving species evolutionary descendants involved in the earlier exodus can provide an adequate answer if aware of the event at all).
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Using Anomalous Subsurface Environment
A week or so ago I finally got around to picking up Anomalous Subsurface Environment 1 and 2-3 by Patrick Wetmore (blogging here: Henchman Abuse). I'm not going to write a review of a pair of modues (one of which is about 4 years old) but I do have to say it's good stuff. I enjoy the mix of standard D&D fantasy and wahoo post-apocalyps. I suspect the humorous elements may have kept me away in the past byt reading what other have done with the modules over the years inspired me to pick them up finally and I'm glad I did.
I'm surprised how well it fits in with my MOG campaign stuff , which while not as humorous doesn't go for being overtly serious. I spent the last couple hours copying and pasting from both modules, David Bowman's Dismal Depths Bestiary and my own undercity monster collection to make a combined monster doc for when I get around to running a campaign with this (along with MOG as it fits so well); i'll be copying in a few more monsters for other sources.
I'm wondering on how to setup the campaign to shove together MOG and ASE, I'll likely start out with bog standard races and in a couple sessions add in the variants from my MOG stuff and then the options from ASE 2-3. First characters would be Fighters to Clerics along with elf, Dwarf, Halfling to have Cyclops, Pygmies, and Amazons added into the mix and then Insect-Men, Moktars, Robots, and Scientists. I undoubtedly going to use house franken-rules over rigid adherence to any one set of published rules ( I already edited the moster doc to have S&W style AC to make ready for this).
High Tech weapons are a little too wimpy in damage and pricey in custom ammo costs in ASE so that will change but not too radically, I already have/had firearms in my old MOG campaign and they didn't actually dominate play with few shots at all being fired after the 3rd round of most fights.
Certainly going to pepper in spells from Space Age Sorcery . I had many of them in the spell lists for MOG but I think they should be moved from direct PC knowledge (i.e. not in PC magic listings) and be used as unusual findings for PC spell casters who otherwise will have limited access to a more bog-standard old school spell selection. Ink and Alchemy tables similar to my old ones should be reworked to involve more of the features of the mixed post-apoc setting.
My Gods of Mog certainly work mixed in with the Gods from ASE but I'm also tempted to make use of Petty Gods...but that work assumes a different nature of dieties than does ASE, but maybe many of those Petty Gods would work well as NPC Wizards.
The biggest problem I'm having reading Anomalous Subsurface Environment is all the darned ideas it keeps giving me as I read it. Good creative stuff inspires more creativity.
I'm surprised how well it fits in with my MOG campaign stuff , which while not as humorous doesn't go for being overtly serious. I spent the last couple hours copying and pasting from both modules, David Bowman's Dismal Depths Bestiary and my own undercity monster collection to make a combined monster doc for when I get around to running a campaign with this (along with MOG as it fits so well); i'll be copying in a few more monsters for other sources.
I'm wondering on how to setup the campaign to shove together MOG and ASE, I'll likely start out with bog standard races and in a couple sessions add in the variants from my MOG stuff and then the options from ASE 2-3. First characters would be Fighters to Clerics along with elf, Dwarf, Halfling to have Cyclops, Pygmies, and Amazons added into the mix and then Insect-Men, Moktars, Robots, and Scientists. I undoubtedly going to use house franken-rules over rigid adherence to any one set of published rules ( I already edited the moster doc to have S&W style AC to make ready for this).
High Tech weapons are a little too wimpy in damage and pricey in custom ammo costs in ASE so that will change but not too radically, I already have/had firearms in my old MOG campaign and they didn't actually dominate play with few shots at all being fired after the 3rd round of most fights.
Certainly going to pepper in spells from Space Age Sorcery . I had many of them in the spell lists for MOG but I think they should be moved from direct PC knowledge (i.e. not in PC magic listings) and be used as unusual findings for PC spell casters who otherwise will have limited access to a more bog-standard old school spell selection. Ink and Alchemy tables similar to my old ones should be reworked to involve more of the features of the mixed post-apoc setting.
My Gods of Mog certainly work mixed in with the Gods from ASE but I'm also tempted to make use of Petty Gods...but that work assumes a different nature of dieties than does ASE, but maybe many of those Petty Gods would work well as NPC Wizards.
The biggest problem I'm having reading Anomalous Subsurface Environment is all the darned ideas it keeps giving me as I read it. Good creative stuff inspires more creativity.
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