Friday, May 28, 2010

I need a hero... or something

Proposed change #2

My next proposed chage came out of my desire to have a magic item creation system that the mechanics and flavor (mechanoflavor? Flavorchanics?) was such that something becomes magical beacuse it's with you and you are awesome so you make your stuff magicaly awesome.

My gut reaction was to let you "spend" XP on items so they could gain magic power. (poo: stolen xp, not as high a level as the party)

The current proposal is thus:

Characters acrue "hero points". They get one at every level. They can spend these points on either a "magic power block" or a feat.
The trick is that each class pays a diferent cost for either feats or magic power blocks.

Fighter-y class pays 3 for feats and 5 for magic blocks
mage-y class pays 5 for feats and 3 for magic blocks
skillz-y class pays 4 for feats and 4 for magic blocks

Wtf is a magic block?
Each block would be worth, say, 5 "power points". This would allow you to make either: 1 magic item with 5 levels of power, or 2 items with 2 levels of power with 1 power point left over.

The cool thing is this; the magic is ""re-useable"" meaning if I have a level 5 item (some boots of flying) and i don't need them anymore, I can take the magic back and redistribute it to something more usefull.


So read it again and tell me what you think

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Mad Skillz

Possible Change 1

Currently the skill system mechanics are based on a D&D 3.x model. You select your class skills and then pay one skill point for one rank for class skills etc.

I am thinking of changing them to something that more closely resembles 4th ed, in that it removes skill points and you now have trained and untrained skills.
You choose the skill that you are trained in, then you get a +2 to those skills in addition to your ability mod. At some level (maybe 5th) you get a skill bump to all your trained skills.

For skills that you are not trained in you add your roll + applicable ability modifier + your Luck modifier.

Monday, May 24, 2010

AFTER the MATH

OMG! !Donuts!

Last night’s game and the resulting “talk about the game” session turned my brain into a fondue pot. My good friends Charlie and David (Jason couldn’t make it) then dipped their cubed breads into my brain cheese and pulled out delicious and overpriced gaming appetizer-for-dinner greatness.

… It’s not a perfect metaphor.

Anyway, the brass tacks of it are this:

I have a proposed new sleek skill system, which I will put into testing immediately. My current skill system is based on D&D 3.x and even at first level you can get too hoss. Changing DCs do not alter it that much and would just delay the inevitable.

I have a very workable magic item creation system

If I use the model we worked up last night, all the character advancement rules will be very sleek. I am pretty stoked.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

How does it work?!

The masses cry out.

Well it is a Manna system where spellcasters get a certain amount of manna per day. (duh) The amount increases as you gain levels in spellcaster.

Spells cost a certain amount of manna to cast. This amount also corresponds to a Target Number. When the caster uses a spell, he makes a Skill check using his spellcasting skill. If he has the required manna and can beat the TN, the spell is cast. Easy peasy.

There is a chart that will be published with the book, showing how to design a spell (out of game), and what elements of a spell cost what manna.

You simply go down the list, “I want a ray (+1 manna) that does not allow a saving throw (+0 manna), that does 1d6 points (+2 manna) of electricity (+1 manna) damage”

Then you add up the manna: 4, so that spell costs 4 manna points. The TN at this stage in the game is simply 10 + ‘the amount of manna used’, so you would then have to make a “spellcraft” check of 14 to cast the spell.

If you don’t make the check you waste the manna.

Wizards have to hold a spellbook, but can cast any spell in the book.
Sorcerers do not need a spellbook, and can make up spells on the fly.

Q: “Why would you play a wizard?”
A: “predictability; Wizards use well researched spells, so if they miscast, the spell just fails, where as if a sorcerer fails there’s a chance they could “short out” (like a circuit) and the spell could explode in their face”

Q: “Why wouldn’t you play a wizard?”
A: “Versatility; sorcerers can custom craft an exact spell for their situation. Also with miscasting, there is also maxcasting (stupid name? I just made it up.) Sorcerers can also critically succeed and cause the spell to be … “Super Effective!”… Get it, like in Pokemon?

So there it is.
Ask and you shall receive.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Magic Spells!!

What other kind of spells are there???

Anyway, I am using my manna skeleton to make some more spells for people to use in the Alpha Adventure. It's going fairly well, but Ive hit a snag.

I currently don't have any mechanical time limit on curses, the opposite of buffs. So I'm going to have to backtrack a little to put in some, "1 point of manna means spell lasts X rounds" typed stuff.

Then I used photochop to re-arrange the heads on family photos. LOLCats eat your heart out.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

A conversation with my own brain!

Brain: Dude you need to get to work on RUNNING something

Me:Ok I know, I know.

B: Sooo?

M:How about the weekend of the 15th?

B: who is going to play?

M:I don't know, depends on what my wife says.

B: Well what are the options?

M:If she says yes, then I'll wrangle up some of my friends, if no, then I'll run with our brothers. How's that?

B: Good

M:Good.