Magic, It's magical

So I think that I've been looking at this particular forest from the inside of a hollowed out tree. After not quite liking my finished product I decided to look around for other examples and found one in the 2nd Ed FATE. (I think they are updating that site so it may be a bit weird.) It uses the same method as the one I was using, but executes it much more elegantly, so I've tweaked and adapted it for "Spider".

To create a spell (OOG), run through the list below adding the numbers together for what you want the spell to do. (Choose either Area or Targets not both) That number is the amount of Mettle you need to cast the spell. Add seven to that number, and you have the TN for the casting check.

Area
small room...1
large room...2
entire building...3
Town...4

Targets
Single Person...1
small group...2
Large Group...3
town...4

Qualities
convenient / inconvenient...1
Damaging / Healing...2
Incapacitating / facilitating...3
Transformative...4

Casting Time
Moments...1
Minutes...0
Hours...-1
Days...-2

Duration
Instant...1
Seconds...2
Minutes...3
Hours...4
Days...5
Months...6
years...7
Forever...8

I'm formulating another chart to determine amount of damage. The TN for the spell will be the same, regardless of damage. However you will have to pump more magic into the spell using more of your mettle. So two spells might have the same TN but one might use 2 points of Mettle while the other uses 5.

Pros:
Easy

Cons:
more gestalt

other people's bright ideas

So Rob had something cool to say about adventure design and it can be applyed to everything from one-shots to epic campaigns.

Basically, the "hard" part of the episode is going to be one of the following:

1. Finding out what the creature is (and by extension, its weakness)
2. Get their hands on whatever they need to exploit the weakness (get the arcane widget, find the body, find the lair)
3. Applying the fix (Actually shooting/burning/stabbing/whatevering the thing, performing the ritual or the like).

In RPGs, there's often a temptation to make all three of these the hard part, and the result is adventures that turn into long slogs. By making only one of them the real problem, pacing stays pretty sharp, and the formula becomes MUCH more usable. If the problem was ALWAYS that the monster was unknown then every show/game would be about research, which would get dull fast. Ditto the other hard points. Shifting emphasis between these three consistent points (Research, Investigate, Apply) gives you the benefits of consistency while still providing versatility.

If you like you can read the rest here.

Hectic Life level: yellow

Yay! I think I'll now have time to start working on Spider again. I figured a way to get the beta charsheet up. click HERE

Glaring game deficiencies: magic

Requirements for magic:

Easy to play

Versatile spells

Jargon:

I'm thinking that instead of explaining magic use in terms of amount of energy you can wield (manna) to explain it as your mind/body/soul's capacity to channel that energy, and having the currency be called 'mettle'.

(over?) Simplification:

I've also had in the back of my head for some time, that, I can no longer seem to justify breaking magic into two groups (sorcerers and wizards) and may need to just combine the two.

GReat Idea.

Not for Cobweb mind you... wellllll....

Anyway, What if skill checks had hit points and you rolled skill-damage on them to compleate them?

Rob hashes it out here.

Googaly Moogaly

1 Month and no posts, well unfortunatly that means I havent done anything with spider either.

In other news:
I bought a house, but still don't live there yet. Sad day. Really really hope to move at the end of this week, but I'm not sure. We'll see.

My baby can Read!
No.
I mean roll over.
My baby can roll over. AND she has a little tooth coming through. How crazy is that? Soon she'll be rolling around biting things and people.

Hmmm, I sence a new monster.

Worked.

Yesterday I managed to work on Spider. The new year will see some free time open up to work better on this.

sorry about the boring posts.

Or none at all.

thinking about making the damage "take your best", so if it's a 2d6 weapon, when you roll your 3d6 to determine if you hit, you take the highest two and add them for your damage.

My house

I'm officially naming my house.
"εργασία" Its pronounced, "ergasía"
and it's Greek for "labor"