RPGpundit's Xanga

Friday, May 25, 2012

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:29:02 GMT

The Playtest

So the D&D 5e playtest rules are out. As you know, I'm a consultant on the new edition; this doesn't mean that they followed everything I suggested or that I agreed with everything that was said. I'm not really going to talk about what was discussed behind closed doors at this time; we can just leave it at saying that they listened to me sometimes, and not others, and that of course, I am firmly certain that those places where I am not listened to are the ones that will cause problems for them, because I am certain of my own wisdom; that's no big reveal to anyone who reads this.

So take a look at the rules as they are now presented, and judge for yourself what's up so far. I do think, however, that what you're getting in these is a very very limited glimpse of what WoTC really wants to do. Character creation isn't in there, the modularity isn't in there. I'm not sure if that wasn't a mistake, from a PR point of view; though it may well be what was necessary from an actual PLAYTESTING point of view, and pretty well proves the lie to the idea that this is nothing but an exercise in public relations. Trust me, they are far from done the rules process here, and I'm quite certain, I would absolutely assure people, that their opinions WILL matter (maybe not individually, but certainly an opinion expressed en masse).

So really, if you're an Old School gamer in particular, and you think some of the rules presented are O.K., but others are not, it behooves you to participate in the entire feedback process. Argue for what you want taken out. Argue for what you want brought back. Argue for what you want kept in. You can't just assume they already know but won't care. If nothing else, give me the support I need to say "I told you so".

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Stanwell Deluxe + Image Latakia

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thu, 24 May 2012 20:12:26 GMT

Deep Thoughts

If God exists, then his preferred GMing style is clearly Sandbox.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Oversize Solitario + H&H's Beverwyck

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Wed, 23 May 2012 16:32:34 GMT

Arrows of Indra Playtest

Well, it seems I've finally got a computer that's functioning again; and last night we played the second session of the Arrows of Indra playtest; except we didn't actually because everything started late, and two of the 5 players were missing. The other three, instead, made second characters, which proved to be a useful exercise as I continued to examine the details of character creation. It lead me to make a few little tweaks to certain rules, clarifications to backstabbing, add a couple of objects to the equipment list, and so on.

Hopefully next time we'll actually play, though.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Stanwell DeLux + Image Latakia

Monday, May 21, 2012

Mon, 21 May 2012 19:20:31 GMT

No entry today, because my computer is busted. The one that I got precisely one week ago to replace the one I`d bought just before that, which was also busted on arrival.

Clearly, I`m not buying from these guys again.

RPGPundit

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Sun, 20 May 2012 07:44:01 GMT

RPGPundit Reviews: Omnifray Lite

Some time ago I had the dubious pleasure of reviewing the Omnifray RPG. In that review, I mentioned that it was probably the (I paraphrase, trying to look up the review to find the exact quote would just renew my trauma) "only RPG that ever gave me an embolism just from reading it". It was written as what was a clear labour of love, but the whole thing was a huge mess of byzantine super-complicated rules with nothing really redeemable.

Now, the people behind Omnifray have sent me Omnifray Lite. Matt West, the author, even signed the copy for me, with the little quote "For RPG Pundit (sic), best of luck with the embolism!!".

Ominfray lite is billed as "the easy-to-play cousin of Omnifray". It clocks in at 190 pages in a standard-sized softcover game book. Now, I have to assume that its not really being sold at new roleplayers; just because if it is, the job isn't very good.
The book itself is a standard enough fare, with a full-colour cover that is a fairly amateur illustration (and by that I mean, tons of stuff on DeviantArt would have been heads and tails better illustration than what they chose for Omnifray Lite's cover), black and white interior, and like its "cousin", full of walls of text and tables with hardly any interior art.
Presentation-wise, its definitely not beginner-friendly.
Even in the introduction, after a very perfunctory type of "what is roleplaying" section, it jumps into some hardcore gaming-ideology positions. Most of which I agree with, incidentally; like that the GM is the authority of the game, that players have autonomy over what their characters do (that one seems to warrant a 3 page essay for some reason, leading me to suspect that somewhere down the line the author found himself in a situation where the GM tried to run his character for him); and some very convoluted stuff about "player stances", where players could be "constructive" (wanting to work with the party) or "conniving" (wanting to work against the party) or "mixed" (a bit of both). The author even suggests that players should consciously choose their stance at the start of each game session, and may even want to tell that to other players. Seriously, does anyone actually do this kind of shit in actual play?!

So OK, Omnifray Lite is not actually for beginners. That means that it was written for people like me: experienced gamers who didn't like the complexity of the regular Omnifray game (which, I remind you again, is so complex it makes GURPS look like Over the Edge).

After the intro, Mr. West, whose brain I think works a little bit different from the rest of ours, goes into character creation. Makes sense, right? Only the very first thing (and therefore presumably the most important thing) that he makes you choose in character creation is your alignment. And not even alignment in like "Lawful Good" or "Anarchist" kind of alignment, no. You can choose from "primordial, redeemed, excommunicated, fallen, or unbidden". Makes perfect sense, right?

Don't worry though, he explains what these alignments mean with stuff like "Redeemed spiritual status means that your character's soul belongs to the angels of the celestial realm". Wait, am I accidentally reading a copy of the Celestine Prophecy, or something? Did I pick up the wrong fucking book? WTF is this shit?

Actually, reading through the six-page description of alignments with great attention, one figures out that what he meant by "alignment" was actually more like "religious affiliation", and what he meant by the overly-pretentious names he chose was actually (in order) "Pagan, pseudo-Christian, heretic, satanist, or eastern-mystic". I guess it would have been too hard to just say so.

After alignment, we look at Luck, Energy, Reaction Time, Movement Rates, then choosing if your character is a spellcaster or not (apparently only Pagans or Satanists can be spellcasters), and finally "Action stats" and "Reaction Stats" (influence, melee attack, ranged attack, and stealth are action stats; "Defence", perception, and willpower are reaction stats). The most basic way of determining these stats is by rolling a 12 sided dice (the D12 is the only die used in the game), and looking on a table to see a set of predetermined attribute numbers which you then assign to the attributes in the order you want (though its mentioned twice, in bold and underlined, that melee attack and Defence must have the same numerical value). Spellcasters use a different set of tables for their stats.

I do have to note at least one improvement over Omnifray here, at least there's a quick-rolling non-point-buy system for attribute determination. You also roll randomly for your social class, which also determines how many "ref points" you get. Luck and "Ref Points" both give you a number of tokens. Luck tokens are spent to re-roll dice, Ref Points are the same except that you have to ask the GM for permission to use them. You can apparently get more "ref points" by playing out your personal "tendencies", which you list on your character sheet.

Your social status determines your starting cash (in the unexciting single denomination of "silver coins"), and equipment lists follow. There are even rules for how to own land and be a peasant farmer, and feudal obligations.

Anyways, onwards to the action resolution rules: everything in the game is resolved by D12 rolls. A single roll is used, adding the appropriate stat, to determine basic success. If you are doing an opposed check and you roll a natural 11 or 12 on the die, AND your opponent rolls a natural 1, you got a "perfect success". There is also a "double roll" mechanic, where you roll 2D12 (adding the stat to each of them but not adding the totals together), and compare that to the 2D12 rolls of your opponent, to determine if you had a "perfect success", a "clear success", a "bare success" etc depending on how each of your rolls compare to each of your opponent's. There's some relatively fast and loose rules to modifying these rolls based on difficulties, and for collective endeavours, or holding back effort, and other such stuff.

Like its "cousin" Omnifray, the lite version continues to track time in one-tenth-of-a-second increments, but it has simplified things somewhat. Please remember that this is Omnifray, though, and when I say "somewhat simplified", I mean "there are Eight Pages of rules about initiative".

In combat, besides having to worry about initiative, you also have to worry about "Combat stance". At the start of combat you pick a stance (from a list of "Cautious", "Cunning", "Heedless", "dramatic", "Darting", "focused" or "regular"). These are symbolized by suits or courts of playing cards. Why? I have no idea. There was no mention of playing cards up till just now. Ok, that's a bit unfair of me. The cards are used to put face down in front of you so that you don't need to reveal your stance right off the bat. Each combat stance gives you different combat options of what you can do with yourself in a fight, and different special advantages or disadvantages, which are triggered by the expenditure of yet ANOTHER beancounting mechanic, "Energy tokens". You spend energy tokens to give you certain bonuses. You can also spend 3 energy tokens to change your stance.

Next come shitloads of combat rules, including rules about handling mooks, special rules about poison, positioning, mounted combat, special injuries, etc.
Now, unless I've read the combat rules wrong, if you get a "perfect success" (ie. both your d12 rolls are higher than both of your opponents), you kill him instantly. Likewise, if he gets a "perfect success", he kills you instantly. Pretty rough combat system. Also, from how I understood the "compare 2d12s" method to work in light of the combat system, if you are fighting another PC-type character (ie. not a mook) you are likely to be taking injury pretty well every round (except if you get an instant kill, in which case the other guy doesn't hurt you at all).

There follow a couple of chapters on stealth and perception checks, again with a lot of special rules for modifiers etc.

The magic rules for Omnifray lite are described next, and they are described as being "only a taster". In fact, the core Lite book has rules only for "pagan and unholy" magic; "holy magic and mystical powers" are left for a sourcebook called the "Booster Book", which was mercifully not sent to me.

In essence, players first choose their character's "type" of spellcaster from a list of Sorcerer, Priest, Wizard or Mage. The first three of those have sub-headings of "highly focused", "focused", "semi-focused" or "general". The Sorcerer type also has one more sub-heading, the "Universal Sorcerer". Apparently, "highly focused" spellcasters are "versed in eleven magical arts", while Focused are versed in 14, semi-focused in 20, and general are versed in something called "magecraft" (which lets you "bind the memories of particular spells" to your mind) plus 11 other arts. General spellcasters have 33 magical arts, and universal sorcerers know all the magical arts.
The more magical arts you know, the weaker your spellcasting level will be in all of them.
Some handy templates are provided for each kind of spellcaster, including "suggested magical arts known" and "favoured spells".

To cast magic you roll a 2d12 roll against the "spirit drain" score of the spell you are trying to cast, to determine how much spiritual fatigue you suffer from the casting. Characters who are spiritually fatigued suffer penalties to all actions until they rest to recover from the effects.
It is noted that all characters in the Omnifray default setting can sense magic, and that magic must be used with caution because it is supposed to be essentially kept hidden from the common folk, who fear and distrust it.

The book itself only provides a short list of about a dozen spells, making this section feel like the least complete of the book.

After this we get the sections on advancement (with a kind of building point mechanic), and an alternate method of character generation if you want to go with point-buy. I think it was a good touch that the author gave both options in the game, and generally a good call that the default method was the "assigned stats" method and not the much more complicated point-buy.

There is a chapter on the Assumed Setting of the book, which provides a list of core assumptions for the setting of the game; I think this is a necessary thing to have in an otherwise generic set of rules, because of course no rules are generic. There's always assumed default setting built into whatever rules you make, particularly for fantasy settings. Here, the author makes it clear that the rules assume the PCs are special individuals held up or chosen by the fates to rise above common folk, that the spiritual world is hidden to the common folk, that religion in the setting is divided into the defaults set out in the alignment section, that the common folk are deeply superstitious, and that the default technological setting is medieval.

The final chapter is a short but decent bestiary, a combination of 24 statblocks for a mix of normal animals, magical monsters, and basic human foes (like bandits or mercenaries).

So, to sum up: is Omnifray Lite better than Omnifray? Yes, I think so. It is a marked improvement, in the sense that I can actually imagine some people playing this game. On the other hand, the author would have to have tried really REALLY hard to have made a game that was less playable than Omnifray.
This game is playable, but don't let the "lite" fool you; we aren't talking about Everway here, we're talking about an incredibly crunch-heavy game with multiple mechanics of bean-counting type resource management, an option-heavy combat system, and fairly slow moving combat that nonetheless manages to also be highly lethal. To me, that's a pretty poor combination (though I guess technically, a slow-moving combat system where it would take forever to kill anything would be even worse).

On top of it all, the one area that Omnifray Lite is true to the "lite" moniker is in its lack of completeness. It only has human player characters, and has a less-than-complete (though still playable, just barely) magic system.

In short, I'd still have trouble seeing this game be something that anyone would choose over any number of other games out there. D&D in any of its forms is more complete, and plays faster and easier. If you want complexity, GURPS offers much more than Omnifray does. You might like Omnifray Lite if you really, really dig those particular default assumptions of the setting, without the benefit of having an actual setting detailed anywhere in the game. So I guess if you wanted to create a world of your own, with exactly the same assumptions as Omnifray has for its default, you might find this game worth trying. Though again, you could probably do much the same with any number of other games.

Omnifray Lite is a step up from Omnifray Basic, it doesn't reach embolism-levels of insane byzantine complexity. It just isn't very good at being better than any other choice besides Omnifray Basic, unfortunately.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Stanwell Deluxe Bent Billiard + H&H's Namaste

(originally posted April 6, 2010)

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:45:30 GMT

Words of Wisdom

A quote from Winston Churchill (allegedly), that I like quite a lot, so here I'm sharing it:

"Do you have enemies? Good! That means you stood for something in your life."

Those are words I live by. Let me be loved and hated for what I stand for, and not just inspire lukewarm sentiments.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Solitario Horn + Gawith's Navy Flake

Friday, May 18, 2012

Fri, 18 May 2012 19:07:24 GMT

Dark Albion Timeline

So, I thought some people could use a timeline of future events from the initial starting point of the campaign. The campaign is assumed to start in 1454 or 55, so here's the first few significant events in Albion and the world:

1453:battle of Castillon; the last Anglish holding in Normandy aside from Calais is lost. John Talbot, Earl Shrewsbury killed.
-coldest winter in known memory
-rebellion in Burgundy, crushed by the vile Duke Philip
-bloody murder of Douglas Chief William "the black" by Chief James Bruce in Scots Land
-Byzantium falls to the Turk hordes.

1454 -battle of Stamford bridge: Lord Egremont (younger son of Henry "Hotspurs" Percy, Earl of Northumberland) vs. Sir John Neville; each has a few hundred men, the battle ends with Egremont's capture and only a few dozen deaths. To prevent this incident from igniting a larger war, both the King's forces and Richard of York oblige the Nevilles to free Egremont shortly afterwards.
-John Kemp, the "Cursed Cardinal", Archbishop of Canterbury, dies of a horrific wasting curse; he is replaced by Thomas Bourchier, half-brother of the Duke of Buckingham
-War between Commonwealth and the Teutons, King Casimir vs. the Grand Master; first battle at Chojnice is a loss for the Commonwealth.
-Reports of wolfmen in the Yorkshire moors attacking isolated farmsteads.

1455 -Pontifex Nicolas V dies; his replacement is Calixtus III, an already very old Iberian cardinal known for his ultraconservative views.
-1st battle of st.albans
First Saint Albans was the opening battle in the Wars of the Roses. Richard of York led a force of about 3,000 on a march toward London. The Mad King moved from London to intercept the Yorkist army. Henry halted his march in the town of Saint Albans and waited. Despite desperate last-minute attempts at peace negotiations by the Duke of Buckingham, Richard attacked; a cunning tactic by the Earl of Warwick allowing Yorkist forces to sneak into the town, slaying a number of nobles and capturing the Mad King, making the first battle of the Rose War a victory for the Yorkists. The battle was relatively swift, with only about 300 casualties. The Queen and her young son Edward managed to escape and fled to Wales.
Yorkists participating: York, Edward York, Salisbury, Warwick, Lord Cobham
Lancastrians: Henry VI (injured, taken prisoner), Stafford duke buckingham (injured), beaufort/somerset (dies), Henry Beaufort (injured) Clifford (dies), Percy/Northumberland"hotspurs" (dies), Thomas Percy/Egremont, Thomas de Roos, Humphrey Earl Stafford (injured), courtenay (injured), Lord Grey (magister), James Butler "Eireman" Wiltshire, John Sutton/baron dudley(taken prisoner), Edmund Sutton(taken prisoner), Sir John Wenlock (changes sides to the Yorkists in mid-battle)
noncombatants present: Margaret, Edward Lancaster (both flee)

Beaufort's title is inherited by his heir Henry Beaufort, 2nd duke somerset
Clifford's heir is John "the butcher" Clifford
Percy's Heir is Henry Percy Earl Northumberland

These three men swear revenge on the yorkists for the deaths of their fathers; Clifford in particular swears he will not rest until he is dead or the entire line of York is dead.

-Thomas de Iberia, Supreme commander of clerical order dies, replaced by Gabriel of Ancona.

-The Earl of Exeter was captured on the way to fight for Lancaster at St. Albans, he is imprisoned in Wallingford castle, but manages a daring escape slaughtering everyone in his path.
-Queen Margaret escapes to Wales, to the lands of her ally Jasper Tudur, builds an army.
-Scots tribes of Bruces and Douglas continue to war, Bruces defeating Douglases at battle of arkinholme. (Angus Douglas vs. James Bruce, 200 men each; just north of Carlisle on the other side of the Wall).

-Chaos in Devon as the Lancastrian Courtenay (Earl of Devon) goes to war with the (Yorkist) Bonville family: 3 nov the Earl occupies Exeter; same day Bonville sacks Earl's manor; 15th November Powderham Castle besieged by Courtney (the castle has a bombard among its defenses, one of the first of its kind in Albion!), 15th december battle at Clyst bridge: Courtenay defeats Bonville, 17th December Earl's retainers pillage town of Shute,
-parliament held in London declares Richard of York the Lord Protector (Sir John Wenlock, who had switched to the Yorkist side at St.Albans, is made Parliamentary Speaker), York goes to Devon and Courtenay(senior) quickly submits to him and is imprisoned in the tower. The Mad King is sent to his castle in Windsor, guarded there by the brother of the Earl of Westmoreland, William de Neville. Earl Warwick made Captain of Calais.
-Archbishop Thomas Bourchier named Chancellor of Albion.

I'll continue making periodic updates.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Brigham Anniversary Pipe + Image Latakia

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:29:54 GMT

Arrows of Indra: The Maps are Done

A million thanks to Rob Conley ("Estar", writer of "Points of Light" and "Majestic Wilderlands"), for providing the maps for this project.

I tried to post them on here but they were too big to fit. So instead let me direct you to the RPGsite Thread about them, where you can see them in all their glory. They're in both B&W and Colour.

Note also that the maps shown in that thread represent only about 25% of the total map area of the setting.

This is going to be one hell of a game.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Winslow Crown Canadian + Rattrays's Accountants Mix

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:12:57 GMT

Bold Steps Backwards: Announcing the PSR

As of today, I am celebrating the recent announcement by some of the guys over at Dragon-foot, the Knight-and-Knave Ale-house, and other bastions of Old-School Purity, of the birth of the new, more purist (because we all know ideological/historical purity is the key to fun, don't we?) Paleolithic School Restoration; where we fix what went wrong with RPGs for good this time.

One cannot disagree with the argument some of that gang of moderates who call themselves the Old School Renaissance have said, that RPGs have "taken a wrong path". But where they are deeply wrong is in their timeline. The mistake wasn't 2e (as most of the OSR-ites seem to feel), nor was it 1e (as some seem to feel).

No, we at the Paleolithic School Restoration take this line of thinking to its logical conclusion, and judge that the place where it all went wrong was none other than 0e!
That's right, the original D&D booklets were an abomination that twisted the whole meaning of our great RPG hobby by altering the "fast and loose" style of play that existed before its publication.

We at the PSR want to bring Roleplaying back to what it once was: playing Chainmail and making your miniatures talk in funny voices.

THAT, and nothing else, is the pure fundamentalism of RPGs.

The PSR: because being an RPG luddite shouldn't be an unifinished task.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Meerschaum Masonic + Altadis' Fox & Hound

(originally posted April 1, 2010)

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:39:50 GMT

Arrows of Indra Section Outline

This is a rough outline of the different sections that are in the Arrows of Indra book:

0. Introduction (not yet written, everything else here has already been written)
1. Character Creation: Ability Scores, Caste, Non-Human Races, Names, Character Classes, Alignment, Skills, Class Skills, Enlightenment Powers
2. Equipment and Money: including things like starting money, loans and credit, encumbrance, slaves, and hirelings.
3. Task Resolution: includes reaction rolls, morale rules, Wilderness travel, and experience point awards.
4. Combat: includes damage and dying, healing and recovery, poisons and diseases.
5. Gazetteer of the Bharata Lands: an outline of the various human kingdoms, including notes on the culture; as well as notable geographical features (mountains, jungles and rivers).
6. The Patala Underworld: the massive underworld that exists beneath Jagat, including a random cavern complex generation system with random monster tables for each of the six Underworld realms.
7. Random Overland Encounters: includes encounters in cities (and details about finding patrons, and the Kalari dueling arenas), details on the roads and caravanserais, as well as encounters for all the major wilderness areas.
8. Monster Guide: stats for all the significant monsters of the setting.
9. Treasure and Items: mundane and magical treasure (including Celestial Weapons), complete random treasure tables.
10. The Gods and Religion: details about the deities and the religious system of Jagat.
11. Appendix: Higher Level Play: this includes details on costs of living, housing, profit from landholdings, mercenary work, temple priesthood, schools of philosophy, Thief gangs, income from professions, big business, taxes, Royal attention, marriage, children and inheritance, laws and punishments.
12. Appendix: In The Future: this details a list of future events that occur if the GM wants to have his setting events follow the course of the Mahabharata.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Stanwell Compact + Image Latakia