From: Colin Watson (watson@computing-science.aberdeen.ac.uk)
Date: Tue 28 Sep 1993 - 22:38:20 EET
I'm one of the two GMs in our RQ group. It was the other GM's turn to
buy a published AH product, so he recently bought Doraster (#14.95).
I spoke to him at the weekend and he was feeling rather cheated. He
said there were a couple of dozen pages of encounters which were so
gross that he'd *never* be able to use them. He was annoyed at having
to fork out for this kind of stuff when it would only take 10 minutes
(and a similar number of braincells) to scribble down such a set of
pointlessly huge stats himself.
He read me some of it, and showed me some of it and I must say that
I agree. Is this really what people want?
I hope that the background stuff & scenarios (which I haven't seen)
are more reasonable...
Anyway, back to yesterday's Daily (worth every penny IMHO).
> And how will they [the PCs] win, then, against NPC XXXXs with YYYY?
The answer is that they *won't have to* unless the GM is feeling particularly
vindictive. The GM has complete control over what his NPCs do - if he doesn't
want things to get gross then they don't have to get gross.
We could be talking about "Monsters with Huge Stats", "Lunars with Crippling
Taxation", "HeroQuesters with Gifts From God" or (even) "Sorcerers with
Intensity 15 Damage Boosting".
This isn't a rules issue, it's a GMing issue.
Personally, I don't have a problem with rules which allow potentially gross
NPCs. In fact, I like the *possibilty* of having huge NPCs with which to
*threaten* the PCs (but I wouldn't necessarily put them up against each other).
It may even give the players something to aspire to.
[back to more constructive matters...]
I appreciated your comments on my Spirit Plane ideas.
You mentioned Very Powerful spirits which are worshipped (by Spirit Cults?) in
Prax:
My understanding of such matters is slightly fuzzy. Obviously, "real Gods"
(like Daka Fal) exist on the God Plane and hence they wouldn't have to
worry about POW deterioration (like I suggested in my earlier post) because
they exist outside Time. Big Spirits (like the Bad Man), on the other hand,
exist in the Spirit Plane and hence (by my model) would be prone to POW
deterioration over time. I reckon that sufficient worship would keep their POW
topped up. If worship ceased then they would have to resort to more mundane
ways of maintaining their POW, ie. casting offensive spells or attacking
other spirits.
This raises some interesting side points:
- - Such spirits are Very Powerful. *Almost* godlike. (Can they give Divine
Spells?).
- - But they're not bound by the Compromise. They exist in the Spirit Plane
within Time.
- - So they can directly affect mortals and each other...
Does this mean that, for example, the Horned Man could try to kick seven
shades out of Frog Woman? (who is Frog Woman BTW?)
Or, for that matter, would she directly attack the worshippers of rival
spirits?
The Spirit Plane could be a very interesting place if it's the battlefield
of quasi-deities.
It seems to me that Spirit worship could raise similar problems to those that
existed before the Compromise. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick
completely?
Do worshipped spirits transcend to the God Plane?
I really don't think I want to know the answer to this one.... <:-(
>A permanent point of power sacrificed is not that big
>a deal with weekly power checks(see experience, players guide).
You only get a POW check if you've exercised your POW by overcoming
an opponent in a MP vs MP duel (eg. by casting an offensive spell). BTW I don't
give a POW check if this is done gratuitously (eg. disrupting a dying Trollkin).
Only people who adventure regularly are likely to get regular POW checks.
I reckon my characters gain 1 POW every 4-5 adventures. So a permanent point
of POW is quite a big deal.
[...]
>why wouldn't most people fashion
>wards for their house? seems like CHEAP protection for your family to me...
Warding for homes is not too unreasonable I suppose. But its a lot easier
to get 'round a Warding (with countermagic etc.) than it is to put it up in the
first place.
[...]
> Why not just a sheep the size of a rhino?
I'm beginning to wish I'd never mentioned the bloody Sheep Riders of Prax. :)
[...]
> Money is not a driving force in
> my world for Cults or Shammans, Sorcerors - maybe...
I definitely agree with this.
>> >Is spirit magic taught by the cults at a percentage or is that only for >> >shammans? >> Sorry, I don't quite follow that one... > >Ok, in the pregenerated PC's they list a % by spirit magic. Is that % success >at casting that particular spell? chance to know a spell? general chance of >success for all spirit magic casting? does it apply to the spirit magic >taught buy cults as well or only that taught by Shammans? and how is it >calculated?
Sounds like your campaign is shaping up great. I must say I too prefer games where the GM gives the players options rather than railroading them into one scenario.
>they could MAYBE have taken the roc in the >Greenbrass sceniaro. The Humakt wannabe has SpeedDart-4... Uh oh? Are you playing RQ II or III? In RQIII Speedart is not variable (for 1 point it gives a straight +15% bonus, +3 damage). If you're playing RQII then you may want to disregard what I just said about spell chances above :-) But feel free to ignore this old rules lawyer... ;->
I thought a Humakt wannabe would be more interested in Swords than missiles anyhow.
>The bear, cave troll, giant spider, and bandit weren't too tough. I'm impressed. I remember taking a real kicking from the Spider and being too hurt to fight the troll. But we had fairly inexperienced characters. Just how tough are your guys?
>This week the first of the chaos creatures (a pair of Jack-o-Bears). Two Jack-o-Bears! Chalana-Arroy in a smoking birch-bark canoe!!! I just hope the PCs get within sword reach before they're all harmonised.
Eagerly awaiting the next installment.
___
CW.
Speaking of next installments: What's happened to Mannimark?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Fri 10 Oct 2003 - 01:31:46 EEST