tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46965268579372353442024-03-05T00:51:49.181-08:00Spirit of GreyhawkFate Core for the World of Greyhawk.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-30484061944230054502016-12-09T04:00:00.000-08:002016-12-09T04:00:24.827-08:00Traps or "What Was that 'Click'?"<h1>Starting Point</h1>
<p>One of the knock-on effects of translating spells is that, as you are thinking up how spells are going to interact with the gameworld, you also realize that there are parts of the world that still need extra definition.</p>
<p>The most recent situation that has come up (with Clerical spell translation) is <strong>Traps</strong>.</p>
<p>Though Fate Core talks about traps and the system doesn't need any new rules to handle traps, during the process of translating the "Find Traps" spell it became clear I needed to clarify a few things in my own head about Traps before getting the spell dialed in.</p>
<h1>Granularity of Traps</h1>
<p>So, how important are "traps" in a particular game world?</p>
<p>Depending upon your preferences or circumstances, a trap could just be a single-roll, Passive Opposition "Overcome" action and gameplay continues.</p>
<p>However in the dungeon-laden gameworld of Greyhawk, I believe dealing with traps to be a fairly important activity and worthy of some depth.</p>
<h2>Traps are Niche Protection</h2>
<p>The gameworld of Greyhawk is one where characters have a class (or niche). Meaning there is a degree of specialization to each class--each class is good at something.</p>
<p>This also provides some narrative justification for the notion of a "balanced" party of adventurers. Fighters are in the party to fight monsters and thereby keep everyone alive long enough to get to the treasure. Similarly, thieves are in the party because there's going to be traps to be defeated and thus, they also do their part to also keep everyone alive long enough to get the treasure.</p>
<p>So with a goal that each player's character should have their moments to shine, I think it makes sense to have traps be considered as important, or have as much game depth, as monsters?</p>
<p>Fortunately, Fate Core gives us a convenient method by which to define Traps as being as important as Monsters with the "fractal" approach.</p>
<p>In short: define Traps more like monsters.</p>
<h2>Traps are Monstrous</h2>
<p>A GM could use the same broad categorizations with Traps as you do with monsters:</p>
<ul>
<li>Mook Traps</li>
<li>Supporting Traps</li>
<li>Named Traps</li>
</ul>
<h2>Mook Traps</h2>
<p><strong>Mook Traps</strong> would probably be just a simple one-time Overcome Opposition roll using Burglary or Crafts. A tie or failure would then result in success at a minor cost or serious cost.<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" rel="footnote">1</a></sup></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> A Thief attempts to disarm a Trap with a +4 difficulty, and only generates a +3 result. The trap was sprung, but at a <strong>minor cost</strong>. The GM chooses to let the player think up how that complicates matters. "You disarmed the trap on the chest but something goes wrong. What happened?"</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The point is that if there is a thief in the party, Mook Traps can be little more than an annoyance. However without a thief, even a simple Mook Trap might break a fighter's hand and could present a serious risk to the party's survival.</p>
<h2>Supporting / Named Traps</h2>
<p>As expected, these traps would be more involved. Meaning that if Traps are defined similar to monsters, and thieves are "trap combat specialists", then...</p>
<h3>Traps Have Skills</h3>
<p>A trap's Attack skill (I'll call it "Deadliness")</p>
<p>A skill representing ability to "defend" against "attacks" by thieves' Burglary skill. I'll just call it "Difficulty to Disarm", to be more consistent with Mook Traps.</p>
<p>Stealth skill if the trap is hidden.</p>
<h3>Traps Could Have Aspects</h3>
<p>A few examples could be: <strong><em>Poison Gas</em></strong>, <strong><em>Magic trap</em></strong>, <strong><em>Complicated gears and cogs</em></strong>, <strong><em>That's gonna require a block and tackle!</em></strong></p>
<h3>Traps Could Have Stunts</h3>
<p>Zone Attack (I can't think of others at the moment--feel free to suggest trap stunts in the comments)</p>
<h3>Traps Could Have Stress Tracks</h3>
<p>A trap might require a certain amount of damage done to it (disarming it multiple times, or a sufficient degree of bashing), before it's rendered harmless.
</p>
<h3>What Traps Don't Have</h3>
<p>Traps only have <strong>Active Opposition</strong><sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" rel="footnote">2</a></sup> in the event that the Trap is considered as "attacking" a player. Remember that <strong>Passive Opposition</strong>, doesn't get a dice roll.</p>
<p>Traps probably wouldn't have Consequences. If they even have a stress track, once it is exceeded, it's Taken out.</p>
<h1>Sandboxing a Trap</h1>
<p>For the examples that follow, use these statistics...</p>
<h2>The Thief</h2>
<p>The Thief has the following statistics: </p>
<ul>
<li>Burglary: +2</li>
<li>Athletics: +1</li>
<li>Notice: +1</li>
<li>Physical Track: OO</li>
</ul>
<h2>The Lock</h2>
<p>The Lock on the Treasure Chest has the following statistics:</p>
<ul>
<li>Difficulty to Pick: +3</li>
<li>Physical Track: OOO</li>
</ul>
<h2>The Trap</h2>
<p>The Trap on the Lock has the following statistics:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Deadliness: +2
<ul>
<li>Aspect: <strong><em>Poison Needle Within the Lock</em></strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Concealment: +2</li>
<li>Difficulty to Disarm: +1</li>
</ul>
<h1>The Conflict</h1>
<h2>Does the Thief Find the Trap?</h2>
<p>This is a contest between the Trap's Concealment rating and the Thief's Notice skill.</p>
<p>There's a couple ways a GM might go about this...</p>
<h3>Thief is Passively using "Notice"</h3>
<p>The DM could consider that the Thief is always using Notice skill in a passive sense (even if only to avoid hearing it repeatedly at the gaming table), and then you could just compare the Concealment of the Trap against the Notice Skill, and go from there.</p>
<p>A Tie would be resolved according to "The Four Outcomes" [^2] ...look under "Mook Traps" above for an idea what to say in that circumstance.</p>
<p>Even in the event of failure, and that if the Trap is not noticed (the difficulty being higher than the skill), the Thief's player could elect to spend a Fate point and alter the narrative.</p>
<p>Alternatively, the GM could also choose to roll the dice for the Thief without saying why (and increase the tension).</p>
<h3>Thief is Actively using "Notice"</h3>
<p>If the Thief is focused on actively looking for Traps (which could then be used against the Thief if a monster is laying in wait nearby...), then the Thief gets to use the normal 4dF roll to Overcome the difficulty.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong><em>Does the Player Know there is a Trap?</em></strong></p>
<p>In Fate games, there's often an assumption at the table that the <strong>player</strong> knows more than what the <strong>player's character</strong> knows. This is in contrast to how most source material game sessions went in the past, where the player only knew what the player's character experienced.</p>
<p>So now, the GM would tell the player of a Thief that a trap is on the locked chest, and then prompt the player to roll to determine if the Thief finds it. However if the Thief fails, the player still knows there was a Trap (which can create a more cinematically-flavored tension at the table). The players are now similar to movie watchers who know there's a trap on the chest, as the Thief's hands edge closer to the poison needle...</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So the Thief's Notice Skill generates...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(Skill "Notice", +1) + (Dice 4dF, +2) = +3</p>
</blockquote>
<p>...against the Trap's Concealment of +2...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(Thief +3) - (Trap +2) = +1 </p>
</blockquote>
<p>...for a successful noticing of the Trap.</p>
<p>So now the Thief is aware of the Trap and the aspect. Keep in mind that the Trap has not yet been disabled, and it's still deadly! However the fact that the Thief knows it's there prevents it from being deadlier than if it was a surprise. Forewarned is forearmed!</p>
<h2>Disarming the Trap</h2>
<p>The Thief attempts to Disarm the poison needle for a value of...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(Skill "Burglary", +2) + (Dice 4dF, +1) = +3</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Trap's "Difficulty to Disarm" is +1 so...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(Attempt, +3) - (Difficulty to Disarm, +1) = +2 to the attempt</p>
</blockquote>
<p>...and so the Thief has successfully disarmed the poison needle trap. Note here that the trap is only providing passive opposition and doesn't get a die roll.</p>
<h2>Picking the Lock</h2>
<p>So the Thief attempts to pick the lock with the following examples...</p>
<h3>The Trap is Armed</h3>
<p>If the Trap is armed, then the during the Thief's action to pick the lock, the Trap interrupts the action by attacking the Thief:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(Skill "Deadliness", +2) + (Dice 4dF, -1) + (Aspect <strong><em>Poison Needle Within the Lock</em></strong>, +2) = +5 attack</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Thief tries to snatch his hands back, defending with...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(Skill "Athletics", +1) + (Dice 4dF, -1) = +0 defense</p>
</blockquote>
<p>...for a result of...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(Attack, +5) - (Defense, +0) = +5 stress to defender</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Thief (defender) takes 5 stress to his physical track, which will likely lead to a Minor Consequence of "Poisoned". Additionally, the lock has not been picked.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong><em>What about Armor?</em></strong></p>
<p>Any defensive benefit of armor depends upon the nature of the Trap and the nature of the armor. In this example, a poison needle in the lock, the thief would be assumed to have removed any mundane armor covering his hands. Magical protection might still be of use in this circumstance, however.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>The Trap is Disarmed</h3>
<p>If the trap has already been disarmed, or has already been sprung (from the example above), it might look like this...</p>
<p>The Thief attempts to Pick the Lock for a value of...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(Skill "Burglary", +2) + (Dice 4dF, +3) = +5</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Trap's "Difficulty to Pick" is +3 so...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(Attempt, +5) - (Diffculty, +3) = +2 to the attempt</p>
</blockquote>
<p>...and so the Thief has successfully opened the lock on the chest.</p>
<h1>Other Thoughts on Traps</h1>
<h2>"Just Bash It!"</h2>
<p>It's possible to try open the chest by just chopping it with an axe or attempting to break the lock with a prybar. Again, depending upon the circumstances, the Trap might injure the party in the attempt, the violence might damage the treasure held within the chest, or might alert nearby enemies to your presence and intention. Your mileage may vary.</p>
<h2>Complications</h2>
<p>Also remember that circumstances in a dungeon can make the thief's job a lot harder than if disarming a trap was done under "laboratory" conditions.</p>
<ul>
<li>Combat is going on.</li>
<li>The thief is injured / hung over.</li>
<li>Mental consequences.</li>
<li><strong><em>Did you Hear Something?</em></strong> Monsters are about.</li>
<li>
<p><strong><em>Do You Mind??</em></strong> Other PCs are looking over his shoulder because they don't trust the thief with a treasure chest (even a trapped one).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="footnotes">
<hr />
<ol>
<li id="fn:1">
<p>Fate Core, p. 189. <a href="#fnref:1" rev="footnote">↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:2">
<p>Fate Core, p. 131. <a href="#fnref:2" rev="footnote">↩</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-32714683134202711342016-12-06T04:00:00.000-08:002016-12-06T04:00:00.666-08:00Cleric Spell "Know Alignment"<h1>Know Alignment (Divination) Reversible</h1>
<h2>Properties</h2>
<p><strong>Difficulty:</strong> 2<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> 10' or within the same zone as the cleric.<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> The rest of the scene<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> One Creature per action (at a time)<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> 1 action<br />
<strong>Opposed By:</strong> n/a (but can be countered, see "Reversible")
</p>
<h2>Description</h2>
<p>A Know Alignment spell enables the cleric to exactly read the aura of a person - human, semi-human, or non-human. This will reveal the exact alignment of the person. Up to 10 persons can be examined with this spell. </p>
<h2>Mechanics</h2>
<p>Any Alignment aspects which are present on the creature touched, are now known to the cleric. The exact nature of the aspect is revealed to the cleric.</p>
<p>There is no variability in this spell, so no die roll is needed under normal circumstances.</p>
<h3>"Declaring a Story Detail"</h3>
<p>If the player expends a Fate point during the casting, the player can declare a story detail about the cleric character detecting a target's Alignment. The nature of the aspect would be up to the GM and player to justify any details about that aspect. (Fate Core, p. 13).</p>
<h2>Reversible (Obscure Alignment)</h2>
<p>The effect of this is to MODIFY an existing "Alignment" aspect that already upon the target to make that aspect "hidden". Unlike the normal version of this spell, this can only be used on a single charmed creature.</p>
<p>Note that in the case of Alignment in Spirit of Greyhawk, not all creatures have an Alignment. So this reversed effect will give the cleric a (false) result of having no Alignment or <strong><em>Unaligned</em></strong>. Fans of the source material should bear in mind that an Alignment of <strong><em>True Neutral</em></strong> is normally not the considered the same as having no Alignment.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-5579465140497846882016-12-02T04:00:00.000-08:002016-12-02T04:00:02.457-08:00Cleric Spell "Find Traps"<p>Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.</p>
<h1>Find Traps (Divination)</h1>
<h2>Properties</h2>
<p><strong>Difficulty:</strong> 2<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> 30' or Up to 1 zone away<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> The rest of the scene and the next scene (if there is no break between scenes)<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> The cleric<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> 1 action <br />
<strong>Opposed By:</strong> n/a
</p>
<h2>Description</h2>
<p>For the duration of the spell, the cleric receives divine awareness of any traps (i.e., they don't glow or anything, the cleric just "knows" they are there) within a 1 zone radius of the cleric for the spell's duration.</p>
<h2>Mechanics</h2>
<p>There are no specific mechanics here--no casting die roll is required. The cleric becomes aware of any Traps and their aspects, within the spell's range. The trap is just as deadly as it would be otherwise, but the cleric is now aware of the trap and its nature.</p>
<h3>"Declaring a Story Detail"</h3>
<p>If the player expends a Fate point during the casting, the player can declare a story detail about the cleric character detecting a Trap's aspect. The nature of the aspect would be up to the GM and player to justify any details about that aspect. (Fate Core, p. 13).</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-91786582262122313322016-11-13T04:00:00.000-08:002016-11-14T14:24:24.364-08:00Cleric Spell "Detect Charm"<p>Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.</p>
<h1>Detect Charm (Divination) Reversible</h1>
<h2>Properties</h2>
<p><strong>Difficulty:</strong> 2<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> 30' or Up to 1 zone away<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> The rest of the scene<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> One Creature (at a time)<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> 1 action<br />
<strong>Opposed By:</strong> n/a (but can be countered, see "Reversible")
</p>
<h2>Description</h2>
<p>When used by a cleric, this spell will detect whether or not a person or monster is under the influence of a Charm spell. This can be used upon 10 creatures before the spell wanes.</p>
<h2>Mechanics</h2>
<p>Any Charm-related aspects which are present on the creature touched, are now known to the cleric. The exact nature, of the aspect may not be specifically revealed to the cleric, only that a Charm-related aspect exists on the creature.</p>
<p>There is no variability in the spell, based on its Power.</p>
<h3>"Declaring a Story Detail"</h3>
<p>If the player expends a Fate point during the casting, the player can declare a story detail about the cleric character detecting a Charm spell upon the target(s). The nature of the aspect would be up to the GM and player to justify any details about that aspect. (Fate Core, p. 13).</p>
<h2>Reversible (Obscure Charm)</h2>
<p>The effect of this is to modify or obscure an existing "Charm" aspect that already upon the target to make that aspect "hidden". Unlike the normal version of this spell, this can only be used on a single charmed creature.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-61446182367419577782016-11-10T04:00:00.000-08:002016-11-14T14:21:02.727-08:00Cleric Spell "Augury"<p>Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.</p>
<h1>Augury (Divination)</h1>
<h2>Properties</h2>
<p><strong>Difficulty:</strong> 2<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> N/A<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> Special (See below)<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S, M (Very Rare: See below)<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> N/A<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> 1 action<br />
<strong>Opposed By:</strong> N/A
</p>
<h2>Description</h2>
<p>The cleric casting an Augury spell seeks to divine whether a single action in the immediate future (within the current or next scene) will be to the benefit of, or harmful to, the party. The material component for Augury is a set of gem-inlaid sticks, dragon bones, or similar tokens, or the wet leaves of an infusion which remain in the container after the infused brew is consumed. If the last method is used, a crushed pearl of at least 100 g.p. value must be added to the concoction before it is consumed.</p>
<h2>Mechanics</h2>
<p>The cleric requests the augury, then asks the question, and the GM rolls 4dF where the players cannot see the dice. Consult the following to determine if the augury is correct...</p>
<p>
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table.phtable tr.d2 td {
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<table class="phtable">
<tr class="d0"><td>Cleric's Apex Skill</td><td>4dF Result</td><td>Augury Result</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>+4 or less</td><td>-3 or -4</td><td>Augury will be inaccurate</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>+5 or greater</td><td>-4</td><td>Augury will be inaccurate</td>
</table>
<p>...otherwise the cleric's augury will be accurate.</p>
<h3>Mechanics Alternative</h3>
<p>This might also be a good application of the Deck of Fate (<a href="http://www.evilhat.com/home/deck-of-fate/">cards</a> or <a href="http://deckoffate.hiddenachievement.com/">app</a>).
</p>
<h3>Additional Note on Mechanics</h3>
<p>The source material often makes the assumption that the GM will keep the result a secret from the player (as well as the character). However in Fate Core games, this may not always be the case. The GM may share the result with the Player in order to perhaps better roleplay the PC (player's character) faith in the Augury. This is up to the GM to determine.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-37050345881962753372016-11-06T04:00:00.000-08:002016-11-06T04:00:31.442-08:00Cleric Spell "Resist Cold"<p>Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.</p>
<h1>Resist Cold (Alteration)</h1>
<h2>Properties</h2>
<p><strong>Difficulty:</strong> 1<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> Touch<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> 1 scene + 1 extra contiguous scene for each + 1 of Spell Power<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S, M (Rare: (?) Pinch of sulfur)<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> Creature touched<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> 1 action<br />
<strong>Opposed By:</strong> n/a
</p>
<h2>Description</h2>
<p>When this spell is placed on a creature by a cleric, the creature's body is inured to cold. The recipient can stand zero degrees Fahrenheit without discomfort, even totally nude. </p>
<p>The material component is a pinch of sulfur.</p>
<h2>Mechanics</h2>
<p>Cleric creates the aspect <strong><em>Protected from Cold</em></strong> on the target, giving the target a single free invocation. If the spell's Power is +4 or better, the target gets 2 invocations instead of 1.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> Cleric with a Will of +1 casts Remove Cold (Difficulty: 1) rolls 2dF+2 and gets a +1. Assuming no other modifiers, this means the spell has a Power of...
</p>
<p>(Skill "Will", +1) + (Dice 2dF+2, +1) - (Difficulty, 1) = +1 Spell Power</p>
<p>...which means the target gets the aspect <strong><em>Protected from Cold</em></strong>, with 1 free invocation. The aspect lasts the rest of the scene and the next scene as long as there is no narrative "break" or interruption between scenes. In other words, unless the following scene begins immediately, one right after the other, the effect has expired.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Normal Operation</h3>
<p>The aspect means that the target is impervious to "normal" cold down to 0 degrees Farenheit.</p>
<h3>Attacks from Cold</h3>
<p>The aspect can be tagged for +2 on the target's defense rolls versus cold-based attacks.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-84646283374729615172016-11-03T04:00:00.000-07:002016-11-14T14:17:05.678-08:00Cleric Spell "Remove Fear"<p>Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.</p>
<h1>Remove Fear (Abjuration) Reversible</h1>
<h2>Properties</h2>
<p><strong>Difficulty:</strong> 1<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> Touch<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> Remainder of Scene<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> Creature Touched<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> 3 Combat Exchanges<br />
<strong>Opposed By:</strong> n/a
</p>
<h2>Description</h2>
<p>By touch, the cleric instills courage in the spell recipient, either to remove that target's fear or to help them resist fear for the duration of the spell.</p>
<h2>Mechanics</h2>
<p>The variability in the spell is the amount of benefit the target receives, based upon the Power. There are two mechanical effects on the Target.</p>
<h3>Increased Resistance (Armor) for Fear Attacks</h3>
<p>The target will be considered to have "armor" against Mental attacks that use fear. The Power of the spell determines the amount of armor. </p>
<p>Determine the Power of the spell, and divide by Power by two (rounding up), which would result in the following benefit:</p>
<p>
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<table class="phtable">
<tr class="d0"><td>Spell Power</td><td>Armor against Fear Attacks</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>1</td><td>+1df, counting only the "+"</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>2</td><td>+1df, counting only the "+"</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>3</td><td>+2df, counting only the "+"</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>4</td><td>+2df, counting only the "+"</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>5</td><td>+3df, counting only the "+"</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>6</td><td>+3df, counting only the "+"</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>7</td><td>+4df, counting only the "+"</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>8</td><td>+4df, counting only the "+"</td>
</table>
<p>This benefit lasts the duration of the spell.</p>
<h3>"Heal" an Fear-based Consequence</h3>
<p>If the target is suffering from a fear-based Consequence, the successful use of this spell will let the target attempt to Overcome/Recover from a Fear-based Consequence, using the "armor" provided by the spell.</p>
<p>The difficulty the target must overcome is based on the severity of the existing Consequence:</p>
<ul>
<li>+2 difficulty for a Mild Consequence</li>
<li>+4 difficulty for a Moderate Consequence</li>
<li>+6 difficulty for a Severe Consequence</li>
</ul>
<p>Note that if the Consequence is such where the target cannot be easily touched (eg., <strong><em>Fleeing in Panic</em></strong> where the target has already "fled") the GM may require the cleric to perform some additional physical test in order to touch the target.</p>
<p>This specific "healing" benefit only occurs at the time of casting--not for the duration of the spell.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> Cleric with a Will of +3 casts Remove Fear (Difficulty: 1) rolls 2dF+2 and gets a +3. Assuming no other modifiers, this means the spell has a Power of...
</p>
<p>(Skill "Will", +3) + (Dice 2dF+2, +3) - (Difficulty, 1) = +5 Spell Power</p>
<p>...which means the target of the spell will be protected from Evil creatures for the duration of that scene. If the target is attacked in any fashion (Physical, Mental, Magical) by an Evil creature, an additional +3dF "armor" will be used for defense by the target (just like physical armor).</p>
<p>Additionally, if the target already had a Fear-based Consequence the target may roll 4dF against their Will skill (using the +3dF, counting only "+" results) to instantly remove that Consequence at the difficulty determined above.
</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Reversible (Cause Fear)</h2>
<p>The caster may reverse the spell, and at a touch make an attack against the Target's Mental Stress. The power of the spell is compared against the target's defense, and if the attack succeeds, (i.e., causes any Stress) any extra shifts are discarded and the target is immediately struck with a Mild consequence to be determined by the caster (with GM approval), but is to be a variation on <strong><em>Fleeing in Panic</em></strong>.</p>
<p>(cross reference FC p.164 "Recovering from a Consequence")</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-53990641748119802622016-10-30T04:00:00.000-07:002016-10-30T04:00:34.366-07:00Cleric Spell "Protection from Evil"<p>Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.</p>
<h1>Protection From Evil (Abjuration) Reversible</h1>
<h2>Properties</h2>
<p><strong>Difficulty:</strong> 1<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> Touch<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> Remainder of Scene, plus addt'l contiguous Scene per + of Power<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S, M (Common, see below)<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> Creature Touched<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> 3 Combat Exchanges<br />
<strong>Opposed By:</strong> n/a
</p>
<h2>Description</h2>
<p>The spell provides an aura that surrounds the target at a distance of one foot and acts as magical armor for the recipient, with the following benefits:</p>
<h3>Protection from Any Attacks by Evil Creatures</h3>
<p>Any Defense action taken by the recipient in response to an Attack action (physical or magical) from a creature with an evil aspect, may invoke this aspect. The recipient receives 1 free invocation--any further invocations cost the recipient a Fate point, as per normal.</p>
<p>The recipient of the spell gets a stackable armor benefit of +1dF (using the "+" only) for the duration of the spell, but only when attacked by a creature with an "evil" aspect.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> A fighter wearing Leather armor is the target of the Protection from Evil spell. The armor is worth +2dF, the spell is worth +1dF, and so the fighter has a total "armor" protection of +3dF when physically attacked by evil creatures.</p>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> In the event that the same fighter was attacked by a mental attack by an evil creature, the fighter would also receive the +1dF benefit of the spell when determining his defense against the mental attack as well.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Cannot Be Touched by Enchanted or Conjured Creatures</h3>
<p>For the duration of the spell, the recipient of the spell cannot be touched bodily by enchanted creatures such as: aerial servants, demons, devils, djinn, efreet, elementals, imps, invisible stalkers, night hags, quasits, salamanders, water weirds, wind walkers, and xorn.</p>
<p>Similarly any summoned creatures are also prevented from actually touching the recipient.</p>
<p>There is no cost to the recipient for this benefit.</p>
<h2>Mechanics</h2>
<p>The recipient has an aspect of <strong><em>Protected from Evil</em></strong> upon them for the duration of the spell. To complete this spell, the cleric must trace a 3' diameter circle upon the floor (or ground) with holy water for Protection From Evil, or with blood for Protection From Good - or in the air using burning incense or smoldering dung with respect to evil/good.</p>
<p>The variable of the spell is the duration of the effect.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> Cleric with a Will of +3 Casts Detect Evil (Difficulty: 1) rolls 2dF+2 and gets a +0. Assuming no other modifiers, this means the spell has a Power of...
</p>
<p>(Skill "Will", +3) + (Dice 2dF+2, +0) - (Difficulty, 1) = +2 Spell Power</p>
<p>...which means that the target of the spell will be protected from Evil creatures for the duration of that scene, and the next 2 scenes as long as there is no narrative "break" or interruption between scenes. In other words, unless the following scenes begin immediately, one right after the other, the effect has expired.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Reversible</h2>
<p>This spell can be reversed to become Protection From Good, although it still keeps out enchanted evil creatures as well.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-24153977295683350702016-10-27T04:00:00.000-07:002016-10-27T04:00:00.865-07:00Cleric Spell "Detect Magic"<p>Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.</p>
<h1>Detect Magic (Divination)</h1>
<h2>Properties</h2>
<p><strong>Difficulty:</strong> 1<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> 1 zone away (30')<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> The rest of the scene<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S, M (Common: Cleric's Symbol)<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> In front of the cleric, up to 1 zone away. (A path 10' wide, 30' feet long)<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> 1 Exchange<br />
<strong>Opposed By:</strong> n/a
</p>
<h2>Description</h2>
<p>The cleric will detect any aspects of magical origin in front of the cleric, up to 30' away (in an adjacent zone). This detection is blocked by:</p>
<ul>
<li>Stone walls of 1' thick or greater</li>
<li>Solid metal of only 1/12"</li>
<li>3' or more of solid wood.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Mechanics</h2>
<p>Any aspects which are present in the range of the spell (environment, items or characters) that are "magic" in nature, are now known to the cleric. The exact nature, and location of the aspect are NOT known--only that a magic aspect is present.</p>
<p>There is no variability in the spell--determining a Power is not needed. Just the success (or failure) of the casting.</p>
<h3>"Declaring a Story Detail"</h3>
<p>If the player expends a Fate point during the casting, the player can declare a story detail about the cleric character detecting magic. The specific nature of the aspect would be up to the GM and player to justify any details about that aspect. (Fate Core, p. 13).</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-46630917947375926922016-10-23T05:00:00.000-07:002016-10-23T05:00:09.997-07:00Cleric Spell "Detect Evil"<p>Continuing the series of Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.</p>
<h1>Detect Evil (Divination)</h1>
<h2>Properties</h2>
<p><strong>Difficulty:</strong> 1<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> 4 zones away (120')<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> The rest of the scene + 1 extra contiguous scene for each + 1 of Spell Power<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S, M (Common: Cleric's Symbol held in front of cleric for the duration of the spell)<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> A straight line in front of cleric, out to Range.<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> 1 minute or 10 exchanges<br />
<strong>Opposed By:</strong> n/a
</p>
<h2>Description</h2>
<p>This spell discovers emanations of evil, (or emanations of good in the case of the reverse spell), from any creature or object. For example, evil alignment or an evilly-cursed object will radiate evil, but a hidden trap or an unintelligent viper will not. The spell has a path of detection 10' wide in the direction in which the cleric is facing. It requires the use of the cleric's holy (or unholy) symbol as its material component, with the cleric holding it before him or her, for the duration of the spell.</p>
<h2>Mechanics</h2>
<p>Any aspects which are present within the range of the spell (environment, items or characters) that are "evil" in nature, are now known to the cleric. The exact nature, and location of the aspect are NOT known--only that an evil aspect is present in front of the cleric's current facing, out to the area of effect.</p>
<p>The variable in the spell is the duration of the spell's effect.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> Cleric with a Will of +3 Casts Detect Evil (Difficulty: 1) rolls 2dF+2 and gets a +0. Assuming no other modifiers, this means the spell has a Power of...
</p>
<p>(Skill "Will", +3) + (Dice 2dF+2, +0) - (Difficulty, 1) = +2 Spell Power</p>
<p>...which means the cleric is able to detect Evil aspects within 4 zones in front of her for the duration of that scene, and the next 2 scenes as long as there is no narrative "break" or interruption between scenes. In other words, unless the following scenes begin immediately, one right after the other, the effect has expired.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>"Declaring a Story Detail"</h3>
<p>If the player expends a Fate point during the casting, the player can declare a story detail about the cleric character detecting evil (or good). Then the nature of the aspect would be up to the GM and player to justify any details about that aspect. (Fate Core, p. 13).</p>
<h2>Reversible "Detect Good"</h2>
<p>The cleric may also elect to use the spell to detect a "good" aligned aspect in a similar fashion. The only difference here is that it requires an Unholy (Profane) Symbol to be used.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-27771692034920414062016-10-20T15:28:00.000-07:002016-10-20T15:28:01.689-07:00Cleric Spell "Bless"<p>This is the first in a series of the Cleric Spells (levels 1-3) that have effects that deal with the "Create Advantage" action.</p>
<h1>Bless (Conjuration / Summoning) Reversible</h1>
<h2>Properties</h2>
<p><strong>Difficulty:</strong> 1<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> Up to 2 zones away from the caster's zone (60')<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> 6 minutes or the full conflict <br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S, M (Rare: Sprinkling of Holy Water)<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> 50’ x 50’ or an area of two adjacent zones<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> 3 exchanges<br />
<strong>Opposed By:</strong> n/a
</p>
<h2>Description</h2>
<p>A successful casting will Create an Advantage of <strong><em>Blessed</em></strong> on all characters within the Area of Effect at the time the Casting is completed. This advantage lasts 6 minutes of game time or the full conflict.</p>
<p>The advantage is only available to those within the Area of Effect who are not already in combat (i.e., is not attacking or defending). The effect is sticky--so if that <strong><em>Blessed</em></strong> character then enters combat, the advantage is still available.</p>
<h3>Invocations</h3>
<p>A successful casting will also generate free invocations:</p>
<ul>
<li>Successful casting (Cleric generates a Spell Power of +1 through +3) = 1 free invocation</li>
<li>Succeed with style (Cleric generates a Spell Power of +4 or better) = 2 free invocations</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> Cleric with a Will of +2 Casts Bless (Difficulty: 1) rolls 2dF+2 and gets a +0. Assuming no other modifiers, this means the spell has a Power of...
</p>
<p>(Skill "Will", +2) + (Dice 2df+2, +0) - (Difficulty, 1) = +1 Spell Power</p>
<p>...which means everyone within the Area of Effect gets the aspect <strong><em>Blessed</em></strong>, and the party can leverage (between them) a single free invocation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>All other invocations require the invoker (user) to expend a Fate Point. </p>
<p>The aspect can be invoked for mental or physical uses.</p>
<h2>Reversible</h2>
<p>The reverse of the spell Creates an Advantage of <strong><em>Cursed</em></strong> within the Area of Effect. The reverse requires a different material component: sprinkling “specially polluted” or profaned, water instead of Holy Water.</p>
<h3>Compel</h3>
<p>A curse can either be Invoked or Compelled (Fate Core, p.71). If a player character cast the Curse, he may use an invocation as a Compel on a target that was impacted by the curse. The target may accept the compel (for a Fate Point) or pay their own Fate Point to avoid it.</p>
<p>Once the casting's free invocations are used, the cleric could continue to invoke compels at the cost of the cleric’s own Fate Points.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-64133256400603622062016-06-12T04:00:00.000-07:002016-06-12T04:00:38.130-07:00Boiling the Ocean<p>Despite a lack of posts, actual work on spell translation has been proceeding. While the first batch of spells is going through an editing pass for some consistency, here’s some thoughts about the process I took for spell translation.</p>
<ol>
<li>Define the Scope of the Spells to be Translated</li>
<li>Organize the Spells into Similar Categories</li>
<li>Batch the Translations in Each Category.</li>
</ol>
<h1 id="scope">Scope</h1>
<p>For the initial effort, I limited my translations to a “Blue Box” approach of only doing spell levels 1-3.</p>
<p><em>Only levels 1-3? That’s not enough!</em></p>
<p>Says you. The source material spell tables for levels 1-3 (remember that “Blue Box” = Cleric and Magic-User classes only), which leaves “only”…</p>
<ul>
<li>Cleric spells: 36</li>
<li>Wizard spells: 78</li>
</ul>
<p>…I think 114 spells is pretty good starting place.</p>
<h1 id="organization">Organization</h1>
<p>Starting from those 114 spells, I organized them into categories. Since the goal is to translate these spells into use for Fate Core, it made sense to make each of the Fate Core “Four Actions” a separate category: </p>
<ul>
<li>Attack</li>
<li>Defend</li>
<li>Overcome Opposition</li>
<li>Create Advantage</li>
</ul>
<p>A quick read of each spell’s description allowed each spell to be categorized into one (or more) of the Four Actions. Additionally it had the benefit of further narrowing the scope of each effort.</p>
<p>For example looking at the Cleric spells in level 1-3, an initial review gave the following breakdown…</p>
<ul>
<li>Attack: 1 spell</li>
<li>Defend: 0 spells</li>
<li>Overcome Opposition: 6 spells</li>
<li>Create Advantage: 37 spells</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>…You might have noticed that this adds up to more then the 36 spells I listed above. The reason for the higher number here is that a number of spells that were “reversible” would have the reverse effect fall into a separate Action category.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So looking at this categorization, it becomes a lot clearer where to spend time to do the most good.</p>
<h1 id="batch-translate-each-category">Batch Translate each Category</h1>
<p>So now even within each category, you could probably start picking and choosing spells with similar spell effects or descriptions, and limit from there.</p>
<p>Focusing again on Cleric spells 1-3 within the “Create Advantage” category, that means that you could look at spells like…</p>
<ul>
<li>Bless </li>
<li>Detect Good/Evil </li>
<li>Detect Magic </li>
<li>Detect Charm </li>
<li>Find Traps </li>
<li>Know Alignment</li>
</ul>
<p>…knowing that once you’ve worked out the basics of the Create Advantage action within one of the spells, you can leverage that work across similar spells.</p>
<p>This also has the advantage of improving consistency between similar spells and minimizing rework later on if you find yourself in a dead-end.</p>
<p>So what all this is leading up to is an explanation of why you’re not seeing spells being posted in a onesy-twosy fashion.</p>
<p>Look for some spells coming up pretty soon!</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-20170582195237363722016-04-05T17:00:00.000-07:002016-04-08T14:52:04.844-07:00More Ambient Music to Game by - John Carpenter<p>It has been an obnoxiously long time since I posted <em>(almost a year?? I am filled with shame)</em>, and my overly-long list of "to-do list" has the next series "real" articles coming up, but in the meantime, here's something that compelled me to write.</p>
<p>In addition to being "Master of Late 20th Century Horror", movie director <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carpenter">John Carpenter</a> composed a lot of the soundtracks to his movies.</p>
<p>They had a minimalistic feel and are very successful at conveying a mood. Come to think of it, that was a point I made the <a href="http://spiritofgreyhawk.blogspot.com/2015/07/ambient-music-suggestions.html">last time I wrote about gaming music</a>...</p>
<p>Keeping to another point from my prior entry: unless you (the DM) want the music to specifically prompt a connection in the players to a particular movie, say like...</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/7swocJUCUWTCiRUAU9oerC">The Theme from Halloween</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/2OpQyVfOexHcQFySmKnzx4">Main Theme Reprise from The Fog</a></li>
</ul>
<p>...You'd do well to look at some of his less recognizable work. You find A LOT of his work here <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/0hxQtmgWiPtEsDPeIuKxXq">John Carpenter's Music on Spotify</a></p>
<h2>My Spotify Picks for John Carpenter Soundtrack Music</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/7uVzM4lpt41xzzFx046tbZ">Matthew Ghost Story from "The Fog"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/68bZI8W8xD3wzv810t06Rv">Wrong Flavor from "Assault on Precinct 13"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/7C0PLU09wuagiab4Ks3Yih">Myer's House from "Halloween"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6tOG3bDpPI1TUHf63Cd5Q4">Better Check the Kids from "Halloween"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/7HeIeoQyZuvJkXjXATjbSJ">New Mexico from "Vampires"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3qa3DTk6xxNqTH2NNvVmnX">Valek's Portrait from "Vampires"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/68H6ex4inofn4BaIKKzYpm">Main Theme from "Escape from New York"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0HpsUpZ9lSZPqbDMB31YAk">The Bank Robbery from "Escape from New York"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/766Ek7LlezWK3f7ccbCRMF">Descent Into New York</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6crDnmdCSGxpghFzIhIuYG">Back to the Pod (version 2) / Crazies Come Out from "Escape from New York"</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Beyond the Soundtracks</h2>
<p>Though he hasn't directed a film since 2001, he released an album of original tracks called "Lost Themes" in 2015. Though it recalls his movie soundtrack work, I believe it's all original tracks. Some favorites for gaming....</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/62JdNf3y19hm3sQSiiI5S3">Night</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0kR53MY521Mc2D6AgvgElA">Vortex</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6Jo460cWE67AQ13gq6cirW">Wraith</a></li>
</ul>
<h1>Why Now?</h1>
<p>The genesis of this writeup was learning that John Carpenter has a new album of original music due out April 15, 2016. But NPR has the entire album available for streaming right NOW. And it is GREAT for gaming.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/03/28/472166991/first-listen-john-carpenter-lost-themes-ii?mc_cid=a5de408c30&mc_eid=b529fc8c83">John Carpenter - Lost Themes II</a></p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-15881978418430779742015-07-24T07:00:00.000-07:002015-07-24T07:00:04.933-07:00Ambient Music Suggestions<p>So it was the summer of 1982, and the first Champions game I ever ran was not going well. It was a new group of guys at the table that I had met from a 3x5" card that had been posted at the hobby store.</p>
<p><em>That was how we did it in old days, kids.</em></p>
<p>The feel at the table was very tentative--everybody was used to dungeon crawls (in 1982, Supers games were still something of a novelty in the RPG world). I was getting nervous that maybe this wasn't going to work. Then I tried something different: I put my cassette with the theme song to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" into the boom box and hit Play.</p>
<p><em>...That's right: a cassette in a boom box. Old School.</em></p>
<p>And all of a sudden, the mood changed. The "heroes" came alive. Players were physically punctuating their character's moves with a Superman-ish "fist in the air" takeoff. It was awesome.</p>
<p>Ever since then I have been a huge fan of ambient music. Whether it's at the table or even play-by-email, ambient music can be a really useful tool.</p>
<p>So in between SoG articles, I'll share some suggestions for ambient music that's available through <a href="https://www.spotify.com/us/">Spotify</a>, that might provide some oomph to your games.</p>
<p>My current preference is to look for tracks that are somewhat recognizeable, but aren't well known. I think that makes it easier to slot a particular piece of music into more varied circumstances. In other words, if you're playing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Hill_(role-playing_game)">Boot Hill</a>, having <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/62HY7V5hRKtfIZ7uCYqYqu">The Imperial March</a> in the background is probably more a hindrance than a help when it comes to providing a more immersive feel.</p>
<p>I also have been leaning towards music that has a "smaller" feel from an orchestration perspective, although that may be more due to the type of games I've been running / stories I've been telling lately.</p>
<p>For this first installment, I'll set the bar high with one of the more prolific composers of the 20th century.</p>
<h2>Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975)</h2>
<p>A Hollywood film score composer who worked a lot with Hitchcock and wrote the scores for the following movies (this is only a small sampling):</p>
<ul>
<li>Psycho</li>
<li>Vertigo</li>
<li>Citizen Kane</li>
<li>The Day the Earth Stood Still</li>
<li>Journey to the Center of the Earth</li>
</ul>
<p>...And while he was at it, he also wrote a few things for The Twilight Zone. Here's a few samples of his work to whet your appetite:</p>
<p>Journey to the Center of the Earth <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/11NJvY4jait9EaktCpD22F">Lost / Bridge / Gas Cave / Vines</a><br />
<em>If that's not a dungeon-delve track, I don't know what is.</em></p>
<p>The Day the Earth Stood Still <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4KELWzcGMuwKNBsbXCP0p6">Outer Space / Radar</a><br />
<em>Theremin in just the right amount.</em></p>
<p>The Day the Earth Stood Still <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4Vyz8PyeoG7LfnMFPUUpts">Klaatu</a><br />
<em>Great background "tension" track.</em></p>
<p>Mysterious Island <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0zN3qbhH9olHEIl1Ue6TO8">Escape to the Clouds</a><br />
<em>Steampunk.</em></p>
<p>Mysterious Island <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4zwYZKmNbeOOHXaZ2hXbTM">The Island</a></p>
<p>The Egyptian <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1InALf0Seku813uyDwPTH8">The Nile and Temple</a><br />
<em>Exotic without being distracting.</em></p>
<p>The Twilight Zone episode <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6WVb9AIGZbEHfcUiJZOgPX">Where Is Everybody?:The Door</a></p>
<p>The Twilight Zone <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1kr9l7luzTSBUlQ6VwOiGe">Where Is Everybody?:The Plea</a></p>
<p>Citizen Kane <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/2vr6GrgJcxMhJRBTeqAlMW">Rain</a><br />
<em>...Skulking!</em></p>
<p>Jason and Argonauts <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/3L0wH7e5XjyHYQoOMEirWL">The Feast</a><br />
<em>The party started off so nicely...</em></p>
<p>Jason and Argonauts <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/78iSALk2gljg21a9jfGEd7">The Vase</a><br />
<em>Good "prepping for the finale" or the Big Reveal before it all goes crazy.</em></p>
<p>North by Northwest <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5l337W9tnEAtSKLjzLNHR9">The Wild Ride</a></p>
<h3>Note About the Links</h3>
<p>If you have Spotify, you can paste these links into the search window in the Spotify app and go right to them.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-42888698520100030632015-06-05T12:30:00.000-07:002016-11-14T14:09:26.024-08:00Translating Spells<p>The following is a list of general guidelines for translating the spells from the source material into Spirit of Greyhawk.</p>
<h1>General Note about Translation</h1>
<p>Anything that the spell description "states" can be generally assumed to be true (Fireball is still a 3rd level spell). However in terms of the actual implementation when it comes to measurable metrics may vary somewhat, though still trying to stay as true as possible to the expected magical effect.</p>
<p>So every spell has the following properties in the source material:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Level</strong> - This is the difficulty of the spell.</li>
<li><strong>Range</strong> - Distance as a measure of how far away the caster can be from the effect.</li>
<li><strong>Duration</strong> - Time as a measure of how long the spell lasts.</li>
<li><strong>Area of Effect</strong> - Distance as a measure of a spell's effect.</li>
<li><strong>Components</strong> - The requirements to cast the spell.</li>
<li><strong>Casting Time</strong> - Time as a measure of how long the Wizard is engaged in generating the effect.</li>
<li><strong>Saving Throw</strong> - The means by which the target could resist/reduce/negate the effect.</li>
<li><strong>Explanation/Description</strong> - The writeup of the spell.</li>
</ul>
<h1>Time</h1>
<p>The source material’s most granular unit of time is 6 seconds (1 Segment) and SoG will consider that the equivalent of a single Fate “exchange” (or Full Action). Though I think that 6 seconds to cover only a single combat exchange is a bit long, it’s not bad enough to warrant trying to make a more complicated translation.</p>
<p>However there’s a bit of a translation challenge associated with going from an absolute time scale (in the source material) to Time as expressed in the Fate Core system. Fate Core tends to look at the impact of time more from a dramatic perspective. Additionally, even the use of a Time Ladder is a holdover from earlier Fate implementations--I currently only use it when I need a translation guideline--during gameplay, time tends to more closely resemble Fate Care.</p>
<p>
<p>
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<table class="phtable">
<tr class="d0"><td>Source Material Casting Time</td><td>SoG Game Duration</td><td>“Actual” Time in Game</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>Instant</td><td>Action (not full action)</td><td>About 3 seconds or less</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>1 Segment</td><td>Full Action (1 Exchange)</td><td>6 seconds</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>2 Segments</td><td>2 Exchanges</td><td>12 seconds</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>3 Segments to 1 round</td><td>3 Exchanges</td><td>18 seconds to 1 minute</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>1 round to 1 turn</td><td>Less than a Scene</td><td>1 - 10 minutes</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>1 turn to 2 turns</td><td>Entire Scene</td><td>10 - 20 minutes</td>
</table>
</p>
<p>(The full ladder for time goes further than this, but again this is enough for translation purposes.)</p>
<p>I have an untested theory that it might be possible to add a dramatic dimension to protraying time and spell duration for games occurring in real-time (around the table) and suggest that a GM to actually assign a real-world "time" to a spell's duration.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So if a Shield spell was cast at 12:45pm (real world time at the table), the Wizard player could just write down that the spell was in force until 1:25pm (reflecting a spell duration of 40 minutes).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given the relatively quick pace of Fate Core combat, I think this might be a fun way to log a spell's duration, as something easier than counting the number of exchanges, but more granular than just having spells last "the remainder of the scene", or "the rest of the session."</p>
<h2>Translating Distance</h2>
<p>Distance is used when considering both Area of Effect and Range.
<a href="http://www.deadlyfredly.com/2010/11/hack-use-your-grid-maps-with-fate/">Fred Hicks posted a great guideline</a> about how to adapt Fate to D&D maps (where 1 map square = 5 feet of game distance) that serves as the basis for SoG distance assumptions. SoG works with both zones and maps, but here’s the bottom line for purposes of SoG spell translation:</p>
<ul>
<li>Most source material dungeon maps that I care about scale at 1 map square = 10 feet of game distance.</li>
<li>The source material expresses distance for spells (within a dungeon) as 1 inch = 10 feet of game distance.</li>
<li>I generally consider a single zone in SoG as 30 feet long and 30 feet wide, which is 3 map squares on each side.</li>
<li>When placing characters on a map (should your game choose to do that) the caster stands at the middle of a 3x3 square that represents the Fate “zone” currently occupied.</li>
</ul>
<p>This means that melee attacks (range "Touch”) can only be executed on adjacent squares or a target occupying the same square as the caster.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1aVDr1Rhvr-UYKccEmMadflCZSUJDx0X3enlU_HlIN-nYnHj3Yhsck7x_8IU_Azl1JUvTAQgGwBkl9KrVtDmVpSNaE9lwJt9rPKup4rh3o-hsq22PwoyOsCeQ7JSUwT-CFFC6jqNcHuo/s1600/SoG-Blog-07-pic01-Target+in+Same+Zone.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1aVDr1Rhvr-UYKccEmMadflCZSUJDx0X3enlU_HlIN-nYnHj3Yhsck7x_8IU_Azl1JUvTAQgGwBkl9KrVtDmVpSNaE9lwJt9rPKup4rh3o-hsq22PwoyOsCeQ7JSUwT-CFFC6jqNcHuo/s320/SoG-Blog-07-pic01-Target+in+Same+Zone.png"></a></div>
<p>Anything further than that adjacent square would mean that the target was in a different zone from the caster.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy447wvBH5MNgHSEq-XgOyy6fj0SJ14J4Nr-tW1Z03Cjc0t6PW58i9pW3Bpjk46j0_LxdNzUa_swimDDRSsqHADbtMDDYOfcA_4EnZKrTRQqwt_6ivR3AKXNQFdRvT1-RppDE4bDMoyr8/s1600/SoG-Blog-07-pic02-Target+in+Adjacent+Zone.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy447wvBH5MNgHSEq-XgOyy6fj0SJ14J4Nr-tW1Z03Cjc0t6PW58i9pW3Bpjk46j0_LxdNzUa_swimDDRSsqHADbtMDDYOfcA_4EnZKrTRQqwt_6ivR3AKXNQFdRvT1-RppDE4bDMoyr8/s320/SoG-Blog-07-pic02-Target+in+Adjacent+Zone.png"></a></div>
<p>So what this means for translating spells...</p>
<ul>
<li>For a spell to affect someone in the next zone, the source material spell needs a range of at least 2" (using the measure of distance as shown in the source material).</li>
<li>In order to affect an entire zone of targets, the spell must have an Area of Effect of at least 3" square or radius.</li>
</ul>
<h1>Spell Components</h1>
<p>Spell Components in SoG represent requirements placed upon the spell caster in order to generate a spell’s effect. If one of those requirements cannot be met, the spell cannot be cast "as is". Remember, trying to modify a spell's formula on the fly changes the casting from Wizardry into Sorcery.</p>
<p>Each category of component (Verbal, Somatic, Material) places a temporary aspect on the caster for the duration of the spell casting.</p>
<p>These temporary aspects could be leveraged by opponents seeking to disrupt the caster and interrupt the spell, or represent some additional challenge. Remember that aspects represent a narrative "truth"--so if the caster has a "verbal casting" aspect on him, the narrative truth is that the Wizard is verbally speaking a portion of the spell.</p>
<p>If the spellcaster cannot maintain those temporary aspects during the course of the casting, then the spell is interrupted.</p>
<p>The source material states there are three categories of spell components, any or all of which
could be required for the Wizard to cast a particular spell:</p>
<h2>Verbal Component</h2>
<p>This requires that the caster must speak certain magical incantations in order to cast the spell. SoG’s assumption is that the caster would likely have to speak at a normal tone or louder. This places a temporary aspect on the caster for the entire time the spell is being cast.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> A party is trying to hide from sentries, and the party's Wizard casts a spell with a Verbal component. The GM could then compel that aspect to give the sentries a +2 to Alertness.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Somatic Component</h2>
<p>The caster must use certain gestures or movements in order to cast the spell. SoG’s assumption is that freedom of movement for both hands is required. This places a temporary aspect on the caster for the entire time the spell is being cast. Bear in mind that if the caster is forced to move during casting (for example, dives for cover), the Somatic Component is interrupted.</p>
<p>Additionally, you could liken this to the experienced gunslinger stopping and standing still to reload his six-shooter, while an opponent's bullets are hitting all around him.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> A Wizard is being attacked while casting a spell with a Somatic component. For the duration of the casting the attacker could have access to the normal free initial use of the aspect for +2 to an attack, or pay a Fate point to use the aspect after the free tag.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Material Components</h2>
<p>The caster must expend certain magical reagents (Material Components) in order to cast the spell. The caster must be able to access these components during the casting, and this places a temporary aspect on the caster for the entire time the spell is being cast.</p>
<p>Rather than worry about specific material components, consider the collective rarity of the material components relative to the situation.</p>
<p>Currently SoG uses four categories of Material component rarity:</p>
<h3>Common Material Components</h3>
<p>Common materials are something that would be readily available to the Wizard under normal circumstances.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Examples:</strong> dirt, grease, chalk</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Rare Material Components</h3>
<p>Materials that are considered as "Rare" require some effort on the part of the Wizard to obtain or require some sort of skill to distill/prepare.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Examples:</strong> crystal, sulfur, mercury, ash</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Very Rare Material Components</h3>
<p>Very Rare materials reflect something beyond the ability of most Wizards to create for themselves, or require a much larger effort to obtain.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Examples:</strong> a hair from the spell's intended target, a demon's True Name, gems of 10,000 gp value, tears from a unicorn gathered under a full moon</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Unique Material Components</h3>
<p>Unique materials reflect something that would typically be story-driven in order for the Wizard to obtain, or would be all but impossible for any but a guild master to even attempt to collect.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Examples:</strong> Blackrazor, a golden apple from Mount Olympus, the skull of the demi-lich Acererak, a four-leaf clover found in the Sea of Dust</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Game Impact of Component Rarity</h2>
<h3>Compelling Aspects</h3>
<p>The category of component rarity can serve as a guide as to how often this aspect might be compelled:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> If a Wizard has the aspect of “Impoverished”, and is attempting to cast a spell with “Very Rare” components, the GM could compel the Impoverished aspect and essentially block the casting by declaring the Wizard does not have the resources available to possess those components and thus can't cast that spell as Wizardry (and credit the Wizard a Fate Point).</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Component Rarity and Impact to Magical Effects</h3>
<p>The rarity of a material component will also have an impact to the On The Fly Magical Effect Economy (NOTE: This hasn't been published yet).</p>
<p>
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<tr class="d0"><td>Rarity</td><td>Impact to Difficulty</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>Common</td><td>-1</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>Rare</td><td>-2</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>Very Rare</td><td>-3</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>Unique</td><td>-4</td>
</table>
</p>
<p>You might also consider that "impact to difficulty" as also being relative difficulty in acquiring those components. So, a Very Rare material component might be considered as a +3 diffculty against a character's Resource skill.</p>
<p>Look in <a href="http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/2010/04/das-anniversary-and-fantasy-strongholds.html">this article I wrote over at Spirit of the Blank</a> for more information about the concept of a separate stress track for Treasure, and the impact of the Resources skill on it.</p>
<h1>Spell Translation Examples</h1>
<p>A quick recommendation! If you are looking for a good, no-nonsense online resource for PHB spells, you should go <a href="http://pandaria.rpgworlds.info/cant/rules/adnd_spells.htm">here</a>. Thanks to you guys for keeping it old-school and functional.</p>
<h2>Spell “Tenser’s Floating Disc”</h2>
<p>To keep this post's size a bit smaller, click on <a href="http://pandaria.rpgworlds.info/cant/rules/adnd_spells.htm#Tenser's Floating Disc">Tenser’s Floating Disc</a> for a writeup as it appeared in the version of the PHB that SoG references.</p>
<h3>SoG Translation</h3>
<p><strong>Skill:</strong> +1 Difficulty<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> 20 feet (2 squares)<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> 30 mins + (20 mins * Skill level)<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> See below<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> V, S, M (Rare: drop of mercury)<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> Action (3 seconds or less)<br />
<strong>Opposed by:</strong> n/a<br />
<strong>Effect:</strong> Create a magical construct in the shape of a concave disc 3' in diameter that holds an amount of weight that can be expressed as either:</p>
<ol>
<li>2,000 gp x Caster’s Skill Level</li>
<li>200 lbs x Caster’s Skill Level</li>
<li>Might Skill of -1 (Poor) + (Caster’s Skill Level * 2)</li>
</ol>
<p>All three represent the same weight, just expressed by 3 different standards.</p>
<p>It maintains a constant 6 foot distance (adjacent map square) to the caster unless otherwise stated by the caster's command, but the disc itself cannot push anything out of the way. It will remain at 3 feet off the ground, and stays level. If it is blocked from the caster and more than 20 feet (2 map squares) is put between them, the spell is broken.</p>
<p>If the spell is broken or expires, the disc construct dissipates and what ever was being carried by the disc falls as normal.</p>
<p>No positive shifts are considered for this spell, and unless in combat or otherwise challenged during casting, there is not a need to roll dice to cast this spell.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong>Someone with a Wizard Skill +2, casts this spell and creates a floating disc that will last for 70 minutes (30 + (20 x 2)), and can carry 400 lbs (200 x 2) or has a Might of +3 (-1 + (2 x 2))</p>
<p><strong>Example:</strong>Using Wizard Skill +7, this spell would create a floating disc that will last for 170 minutes (30 + (20 x 7)), and can carry 1,400 lbs (200 x 7) or has a Might of +13 (-1 + (7 x 2)). Or 14,000 gp, if there was a way to stack the gold pieces on the 3' diameter disc!</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Design Notes:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>One definition of weight (DMG, p.225) is that 10 gp = 1 pound. That means 1,000 gp = 100 lbs. The SotC Weight Factor table (<a href="http://www.faterpg.com/dl/sotc-srd.html#id803">SotC, p.258</a>) reflects that a Might skill of "Poor" (-1) means being able to hold and move (slowly) with 100 lbs, which is the “base” capacity of the disc.</li>
<li>The variable in this spell is based upon the skill level of the Wizard, which then is used for both the "strength" of the spell's effect, as well as for the duration. Unless otherwise stated, when looking at a factor of "(something) per level" you don't just consider the Wizard's skill level, but rather the net result of the Wizard's skill level, the dice roll, and the impact of any aspects or other casting modifiers.</li>
<li>For this particular spell, any positive shifts during this casting are discarded. For game play purposes, unless someone was trying to interrupt the wizard this casting wouldn't require a dice roll.</li>
<li>Also remember that when dealing with a "per level" factor, every +1 of Wizard skill counts as two experience levels in the source material.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Spell “Magic Missile”</h2>
<p><a href="http://pandaria.rpgworlds.info/cant/rules/adnd_spells.htm#Magic Missile">Magic Missile writeup at Pandaria</a>
<h3>SoG Translation</h3>
<p><strong>Skill:</strong> +1 Difficulty<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> 60 feet + 20 feet / skill level (see below for table)<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> Verbal, Somatic<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> Special<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> One or more creatures in a 10 foot square area (1 map square)<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> Action (3 seconds or less)<br />
<strong>Opposed by:</strong> n/a<br />
<strong>Effect:</strong> The spell creates magical missiles (the amount depends upon the result of the Wizardry skill roll, shown below)
which dart forth from the caster's fingertips and unerringly strike their target with no chance for the target to dodge or defend. Mundane armor does not count for protection. Certain magical protections may be used.</p>
<p>The caster can determine at will how many of the missiles will strike each target within a single zone. So if a Wizard generates 3 magic missiles and a zone within range of the Wizard contains 2 targets, the Wizard can determine how the 3 missiles are used between the 2 targets.</p>
<p>Each individual missile counts as +1 physical stress. Because each missile counts as a separate attack, when multiple missiles are aimed at a single target, the cumulative “rollup” effect can be devastating.</p>
<p>The number of missiles created is determined by the Skill result (Wizardry + die roll 2dF+2), then dividing the result by two and rounding down.</p>
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<tr class="d0"><td>Skill Roll Result</td><td># of Missiles</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>1</td><td>1 Missile</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>2</td><td>2 Missiles</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>3</td><td>2 Missiles</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>4</td><td>3 Missiles</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>5</td><td>3 Missiles</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>6</td><td>4 Missiles</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>7</td><td>4 Missiles</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>8</td><td>5 Missiles</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>9</td><td>5 Missiles</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>10</td><td>6 Missiles</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>11</td><td>6 Missiles</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>12</td><td>7 Missiles</td>
</table>
</p>
<p>The maximum range of the Magic Missile spell is 60 feet + 20 feet / skill level. This can also be expressed with the following "skill level to Zone" table (assuming a 30' per zone).</p>
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<tr class="d0"><td>Wizard Skill</td><td>Maximum Range</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>1</td><td>3 zones away</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>2</td><td>3 zones away</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>3</td><td>4 zones away</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>4</td><td>5 zones away</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>5</td><td>5 zones away</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>6</td><td>6 zones away</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>7</td><td>7 zones away</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>8</td><td>7 zones away</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>9</td><td>8 zones away</td>
</table>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> Trevare (Wizardry +5) is duelling against a sorceror. He casts Magic Missile in the hopes of getting in the first blow. The Wizard rolls 2dF+2 and gets +2 for a result of +6 (+5 skill + 2 shifts - 1 difficulty = +6). This creates 4 missiles that streak toward the unfortunate sorceror, who could be as far away as 5 zones.</p>
<p>Unable to dodge and having no other defenses already in place, the sorceror receives 4 separate missiles each of 1 stress, wiping out the first 4 physical stress boxes (if the sorceror even has that many), or to take consequences.</p>
<p><strong>Example:</strong> The wizard Morgeaux (Wizardry +3) is beset by a group of 3 foul bugbears. An earlier fireball by Morgeaux has left many of them damaged, and she knows that even a simple spell might finish them off. Casting Magic Missile, she rolls 2dF+2 and gets a result of 1. This means she has generated (3 skill + 1 shifts - 1 difficulty) 3 positive shifts, for a total of two missiles (1 + (3/2)). Morgeaux chooses to aim one missile each at two of the three bugbears and deals one physical stress to each, leaving her to deal with a single remaining bugbear rushing her...</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Design Notes</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>A single hit die is a D8, so technically each stress box counts as 2 hit dice. Which also means that the average hit points from 2HD would be about 9 or 10. Which would also place the average damage per missile at 4 points (3 + 1), which would then mean 2 missiles would be needed to do enough damage to take out 1 stress box. Rather than worry about the exact number of missiles in the description, I would rather just simplify to 1 missile equal 1 stress box.</li>
<li>Because the variability in the original spell (the dice roll) was about the damage and in translation the damage roll was too granular for Fate, the variability in the spell has now changed to be a modifier to the number of missiles. This was how the shifts-to-missiles formula was created.</li>
<li>I believe there needed to be a variable impacted by the dice, given that this is a combat spell. The idea of a combat spell having no variable power of any kind didn't feel right.</li>
<li>However, with the above point in mind, this is a rare combat spell in that it has no opportunity for target to oppose the spell (no Dodge, etc). The casting could be interrupted, if someone was capable of action at the same time as the casting.</li>
<li>Later versions of this spell in the source materials required line-of-sight to the target / targets, but the original AD&D listing did not. So the implication is that the Wizard just has to “know” the target is there (around the corner, invisible, behind cover, etc) in order to use this spell. Given that Fate Core's default methodology is zones and doesn't normally get in to things like "line of sight", I'm currently sticking with this version.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Spell “Shield”</h2>
<p><a href="http://pandaria.rpgworlds.info/cant/rules/adnd_spells.htm#Shield">Shield writeup at Pandaria</a>
<h3>SoG Translation</h3>
<p><strong>Skill:</strong> +1 Difficulty<br />
<strong>Range:</strong> 0<br />
<strong>Components:</strong> Verbal, Somatic<br />
<strong>Duration:</strong> 5 minutes x Skill Roll Result<br />
<strong>Area of Effect:</strong> Special (in front of Wizard)<br />
<strong>Casting Time:</strong> Full Action (1 Exchange)<br />
<strong>Opposed by:</strong> n/a<br />
<strong>Effect:</strong> An invisible shield is created in front of the Wizard that acts as physical armor. Though the shield moves with the Wizard, it is bound to the Wizard's "front". This means that attackers with an advantage (i.e., aspect, boost) that involves out-flanking, back-stabbing, or some other similar manuever will be able to bypass the Shield spell's benefit.</p>
<p>This spell is one of the few effective defenses against the Magic Missile spell and will totally negate the damage of that spell.</p>
<p>Against all other types of physical attacks (arrows, spears, melee) the spell is worth +6dF armor benefit.</p>
<p><strong>Design Notes</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>The spell's duration was given in "real world" minutes to put some variability in the spell's casting. If that's inappropriate (i.e., play-by-email) then have the spell last until the end of the scene.</li>
<li>Remember that a magical spell could still count as a physical attack (eg., Ice Storm spell damage is a result of physical damage).</li>
</ul>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-87468597391463289112015-03-06T03:00:00.000-08:002015-06-05T09:57:31.672-07:00Foundations of Magic<p><strong>NOTE:</strong> Folks who have read my <a href="http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/search/label/spirit%20of%20greyhawk">prior posts over at Spirit of the Blank</a> will likely recognize many elements of the following, though there are some important updates within.</p>
<p>So it's time to get back to magic, having gotten some of the other foundational elements written down.</p>
<p>Within the game world, I think it's important to document the assumptions of how magic works for both the players and the GM. Just as players with experience of one sort or another with combat can get a lot of additional "bang for the buck" out of Aspects when playing in a physical combat scene, I think you have to give players the ability to understand how Magic works in a particular game world to provide a similar opportunity.</p>
<p>Enough preamble. Onward.</p>
<h1>Assumptions about Magic in SoG</h1>
<p>Magic exists as a "force of nature", like magnetism or wind. But while characters may understand the principles of Magic, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are able to generate magical effects. Conversely, characters may have the ability to generate magical effects but have no knowledge of the underlying principles that they are using.</p>
<p>So the following statements reflect the reality of the game world:</p>
<ul>
<li>Magical Effects exist in the game world as a force of nature.</li>
<li>Spell casting is but one method of generating a magical effect.</li>
<li>There are other methods of generating magical effects that do not require a spell.</li>
</ul>
<p>Generating a magical effect in SoG could be compared to being able to make a sailboat go where you want it go. You need a sailboat and you need wind. You also need a degree of knowledge to be able to use the sailboat to harness the wind to get where you want to go.</p>
<p>Depending upon where you’d want to go (or how big a sailboat you use), you need different degrees of knowledge: consider the difference in knowledge and type of ship needed to sail across the ocean versus sailing across a lake.</p>
<h2>Character Requirements for Generating Magical Effects</h2>
<p>Keeping with the sailing metaphor, consider that all magical effects generated by characters require the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>There must be "wind". In other words, Magic must be present. This also implies that it's possible to be "becalmed"...</li>
<li>There must be a sailboat. Expressed within SoG, you have to have the stunt "Magic" in order to harness the magical forces.</li>
<li>The characters require knowledge to guide the sailboat. In other words, a character must have a Skill tied to the Magic stunt.</li>
</ul>
<p>Restated, this means that a SoG character must have:</p>
<ol>
<li>Access to magical forces of the game world, which are generally (though not always) present.</li>
<li>The stunt "Magic".</li>
<li>A skill that can be narratively connected to the Magic stunt.</li>
</ol>
<h3>Stunt "Magic"</h3>
<p>Any character can have the "Magic" stunt and it is a prerequisite for generating magical effects. Without it, magical effects cannot be generated by the character (barring a potion, scroll or an enchanted item).</p>
<p>Like many other stunts in Fate, Magic is tied to a skill. The caster can determine what skill is used to generate magical effects. The particular skill that is tied to the Magic stunt would then play a part in the narrative expression of magical effects.</p>
<p>Powering the Magic stunt requires the application of a Fate point. How that Fate point is assessed depends upon if the character is using Sorcery or Wizardry (see below).</p>
<h3>Skill "Wizardry"</h3>
<p>This skill represents the study, research and understanding of the underlying principles of Magic as well as the application of predefined magic spells. In other words, attaching the Magic stunt to the Wizardry Skill is what establishes someone as a Wizard and is the requirement to allow them to cast predefined spells. Using any other skill with the Magic stunt constitutes Sorcery.</p>
<p>Someone could elect to learn the Wizardry skill without having the stunt "Magic", but would not be able to actually cast spells. This would be more like a Magic researcher, rather than a Wizard.</p>
<h2>"Wizardry" versus "Sorcery"</h2>
<p>In a departure to the source material (though not necessarily in conflict with it), SoG makes a distinction between "Wizardry" and "Sorcery" as methods of generating magical effects.</p>
<p>Because of the High Fantasy nature of magic in this world (i.e., it's not scarce), you don't necessarily need the Wizardry skill to generate magical effects.</p>
<p>Think of <strong>Wizards</strong> as the "ivory tower scientists" of magic, whereas <strong>Sorcerers</strong> are typically closer to "garage tinkerers" or "savants". This is not to say that sorcerers aren't effective magic users, but they can be just as dangerous to themselves and their allies as well as their enemies. Often the term "sorcery" can have a negative connotation, at least among Wizards.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Wizardry</strong> is defined as generating magical effects through the use of predefined spells that have been thoroughly researched and are generally considered "known quantities". This means that the character is generating magic effects by the combination of the Magic stunt and the Wizard skill.</p>
<p><strong>Sorcery</strong> is defined as generating magical effects without much (if any) prior research and can be prone to unexpected outcomes. In terms of game mechanics, this means a character is using the Magic stunt with a skill OTHER than the Wizard skill.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>Wizards have their Magic stunt tied to the Wizardry Skill.</li>
<li>Bards generating magic effects might have a Magic stunt tied to their Craft/Performance skill.</li>
<li>Rangers generating magical effects might have Magic stunt tied to their Survival skill.</li>
<li>Monks generating magic effects might have Magic stunt tied to their Discipline skill.</li>
</ul>
<p>Though this distinction between wizardry and sorcery was not laid out in the source material, I like it for a number of reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>I feel it enables players who want to leverage the more flexible nature of Fate mechanic with respect to magic, but still leave the "predefined" nature of source material spells intact.</li>
<li>Distinguishes Wizards from other characters that generate magic effects.</li>
<li>Narratively, it allows non-wizard characters to generate magic effects not due to any training by the Wizard's Guild, but rather as a function of their "agency" within the gameworld and the magical forces it contains.</li>
<li>The source material appears (to me at least) to contain assumptions that the use of actual spells within the gameworld world was a relatively rare currency but yet almost every class of character at varying levels of achievement could either cast spells or in some way generate magical effects (to say nothing of the frequency of crafted magical items appearing within games). This seemed a fun way to reconcile any perceived disconnect without contradicting gameworld assumptions.</li>
</ul>
<h1>Generating Magical Effects</h1>
<p>In SoG, there are three basic means of generating a magical effect:</p>
<ol>
<li>On the Fly</li>
<li>Casting a pre-defined spell (formula, recipe, ritual, etc)</li>
<li>Via a predefined Stunt</li>
</ol>
<h2>On the Fly Magic Effects</h2>
<p>"On the Fly" magical effects (sorcery) occur when the sorceror states the intention to generate a desired magical effect. The player and the GM then determine the difficulty of the spell by costing out the magical effect using a “magic economy” by defining the benefits (increase difficulty) and costs (decrease difficulty).</p>
<p>The character wishing to create an on the fly magical effect does the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Determine the difficulty of the magical effect. This would be determined by the player looking at the "Magic Economy" of effects (positive and negative) to come up with a net difficulty. <strong>NOTE:</strong> The Magic Economy hasn't been published yet.</li>
<li>Expends a Fate Point to power the Magic Stunt.</li>
<li>Determine success by rolling 4dF against the skill to be used with the Magic stunt.</li>
</ol>
<p>If successful, the effect is generated as desired by the caster. Positive shifts count towards an improved result in way or another.</p>
<p>If the caster fails the difficulty, then the magical effect does not occur as desired and <strong>Bad Things Happen</strong> (see "Casting Failures" below).</p>
<p>A conceit of SoG is that casting failure and negative effects were always present in the gameworld but as long as a Wizard followed a pre-defined spell that was within the limits of his Wizardry skill level, it can be assumed that there were sufficient fail-safes built into the spells to prevent any sort of negative impact to the caster or those around them.</p>
<p>The source material dictated that spells might fail to have the desired effect on targets, but that was due to some property of the target (saving throws), not because the spell "failed" to be cast. Even if the spell was interrupted during the casting there was no generally negative impact (past the loss of the spell).</p>
<p>Another SoG design conceit is that if casting failure was possible but never mentioned by the source material, then it must be pretty bad... (mwa-ha-ha)</p>
<h2>Casting Failures (aka Magical "Recoil")</h2>
<p>If an attempt to generate a magical effect results in a failure then the desired effect doesn't occur--at least not under the control of the caster.</p>
<p>The magical power that was focused in the attempt to create the effect has to go "somewhere". So the power of magical recoil is determined in SoG like this:</p>
<p><strong>The effect’s original difficulty + the number of shifts by which the caster failed the roll.</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Example 1:</strong> If a Sorceror attempts a +4 magic difficulty and fails by 1, a (+4 + 1 = +5 Superb) magical recoil is generated.</p>
<p><strong>Example 2:</strong> A Sorceror’s Apprentice (I couldn’t resist) with a +1 Skill attempted to cast a magical effect of +5 difficulty and then rolled –2 on 4dF. The result would be a failure by 4 shifts (+5 Difficulty against a result of -1 ((-2, 4dF) + (+1, Skill) = -1). The hapless apprentice would have to deal with a magical recoil of +9 (+5 difficulty + 4 shift failure)</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Dealing with Magical Recoil</h3>
<p>Any shifts of recoil are expressed as stress (physical or mental). When recoil occurs, the character must choose either/or/some combination of:</p>
<ul>
<li>Accept the recoil as stress upon the character.</li>
<li>Reflect the recoil out into the environment.</li>
</ul>
<p>The character can choose to split it up (i.e., the caster take some stress, the rest goes into the zone around them). I like the roleplaying potential inherent in allowing the character to choose.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Remember that 1 shift is equivalent to 10 hit points. So a +4 recoil would mean 40 hit points worth of recoil!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This would also narratively reinforce why Wizards keep a <strong>very</strong> close eye on apprentices. Or why sorcerors tend to live alone. In isolated areas. Quite possibly surrounded by a bleak, desolate landscape... <em>Hey, those tropes might exist for a reason!</em></p>
<p>The character's choice of how to deal with magical recoil could have a potential impact upon a character's alignment: projecting magical recoil into the world could very well represent something of a chaotic, or evil, or selfish act. Casters electing to take the stress of magical recoil upon themselves could represent more of a lawful, or good or selfless act.</p>
<p>Once that has been stated by the character, the GM and/or the player agree upon the nature of the recoil.</p>
<p>The particular nature of recoil is determined at the time the failure occurs. The GM normally determines the nature of the recoil, as the character has lost control of the magic.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For other ideas, review Fate Core p.189 under "Succeed at a Cost" <a href="http://fate-srd.com/fate-core/challenges#conducting-a-challenge">(Fate-SRD Link)</a> for more ideas about how to assign recoil.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Spell Casting</h2>
<p>A Wizard casting a pre-defined spell to generate a magical effect does the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Notes the pre-determined difficulty of the spell.</li>
<li>"Commits" a Fate Point, which means it is allocated for the scene but not actually spent (see below).</li>
<li>Rolls 2dF+2 to determine any positive shifts.</li>
</ol>
<h3>The Fate Point "Commit"</h3>
<p>The Fate Point Commit is a new rule and is different from spending a Fate Point. At the casting of the spell, the Wizard commits a Fate Point instead of spending it.</p>
<p>If a Fate Point is committed, the Wizard cannot make use of that Fate Point for the rest of the scene. Similar to physical or mental stress points, the Wizard gets back any committed Fate Points at the end of the scene.</p>
<p>Conversely, if the caster chooses to actually use a Fate Point in the normal manner during the casting, the commit is met by actually spending it, and the caster would not get it back at the end of the scene.</p>
<h3>Dice Roll 2dF+2</h3>
<p>The 2dF+2 roll produces a range between 0 and +4, so unless there is some outside factor (aspects, some sort of attempted interruption, etc.) to increase the spell difficulty, there would be no chance for spell failure (consistent with the source material), since the difficulty of the spell is never greater than the Wizardry skill.</p>
<p>The benefits of the Fate point Commit and the 2dF+2 die roll are only available so long as the following occurs:</p>
<ul>
<li>The difficulty of the spell must be <strong>less than or equal to</strong> the caster’s Wizardry skill. In other words a character with a Wizard Skill of +3 can cast spells of +3 difficulty or less.</li>
<li>The caster can fulfill all the requirements of the spell (having components, being able to make gestures, etc.).</li>
</ul>
<p>If these cannot be met, than the caster may still attempt the pre-defined spell, but must now actually spend (no longer Commit) a Fate point, and roll 4dF instead (no longer 2dF+2), and risk a casting failure.</p>
<h3>Wizardry and Casting Failure</h3>
<p>In short: doing just wizardry wouldn't be an issue. Under normal circumstances a Wizard cannot fail to cast a predefined spell equal to or less than the spell's difficulty, though it is possible to increase the situational difficulty of a casting via Aspects being compelled, or some party attempting to interrupt the Wizard.</p>
<p>If the Wizard does actually fail to cast a predefined spell, there is no magical recoil and no negative impact, beyond the loss of the memorized spell (or the loss of the scroll being read).</p>
<p>As the source material had no overtly negative impacts as a result of a spell being interrupted and lost, SoG's assumption is that Wizard spells are considered to have integrated various fail-safes so that if a spell was interrupted, the energy focused by the spell would be safely dispersed.</p>
<h2>Magical Effects Defined by a Stunt</h2>
<p>These are typically tightly-defined magical effects that are specifically allowed by having a particular stunt. A stunt powered by magic still requires magic to be present in the environment in order to function. This would be more the typical, single-application, no real flexibility, type of magical stunt.</p>
<p>This would include things like a troll's ability to regenerate and so forth.</p>
<p>These single-use Magical Stunts have no other requirement (i.e., you don't need the stunt "Magic", in order to have a Magical Stunt). Conversely, having a Magical Stunt doesn't act as having the actual stunt "Magic".</p>
<h1>Clerical Magical Effects</h1>
<p>The source material treats clerical prayers and magic-user spells as being mechanically identical, though the underlying principles by which magic-users and clerics generate magical effects are very different.</p>
<p>The source material states that clerics themselves don’t actually harness magical forces--they are a proxy for directing the magical forces generated by their deity. Clerics pray to their deity (singular/plural/whatever) with the desire for a particular prayer’s magical effect to occur. The deity’s power structure (for lack of a better term) then determines whether or not the cleric’s prayer will be fulfilled or not and then entities within the cleric’s faith system actually generate the magical effects on behalf of the cleric.</p>
<p>So to apply another metaphor (earlier I made the analogy that Wizardry and Sorcery were like sailing), clerical magic could be considered like “calling in an airstrike”.</p>
<ul>
<li>The Cleric acts as the "forward observer" for a particular deity.</li>
<li>A particular clerical spell (prayer) is a specifically worded request for that airstrike.</li>
<li>If the cleric has "valid authorization," the airstrike request is filled and the effect is generated by the deity's power structure. In the event that the cleric doesn't have a valid authorization, there is a danger that the deity's power structure will respond with a possible "smiting"...</li>
</ul>
<h2>Clerical Spell Requirements</h2>
<p>While the underlying narrative around clerical spellcasting is pretty different, the game mechanics are pretty similar. The requirements for a cleric to "cast spells" are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Serve a deity that is able to access to magical forces of the gameworld, which are generally (though not always) present. That deity must have a narrative connection to the plane of existance the cleric is on. Similar to wizardry/sorcery, this is USUALLY true.</li>
<li>The stunt "Divine Favor". This is separate (though similar) to the "Magic" stunt for Wizards. This represents the ability to have clerical spells by channelled by the player.</li>
<li>A skill that can be narratively connected to the "Divine Favor" stunt. For clerics (and Paladins), this skill may not be decided by the player, but rather by the deity. So for example, a cleric of the deity Bacchus (Greek god of wine and excess) might need the skill of Carousing as the "connected skill". St. Cuthbert might look at the cleric character's skill of Resolve. Again, a departure from the source material, but it appeals to my goal of providing players as much opportunity as possible to support a player's role-playing opportunities.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Clerics and Spell Casting Mechanics</h2>
<p>Casting a clerical spell to request a magical effect requires the player to do the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Notes the pre-determined difficulty of the spell (prayer).</li>
<li>Player "commits" a Fate Point (see above)</li>
<li>Rolls 2dF+2 (see above) to determine any positive shifts.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Clerics and Sorcery</h2>
<p>Clerics don't have an opportunity for Sorcery, unless they approach it similar to how anyone else would: with the Magic stunt.</p>
<h2>Clerics and Magical Recoil</h2>
<p>Narratively, there is no magical recoil as such from the attempted casting of clerical spells. However from a mechanics standpoint there is a parallel.</p>
<p>If an aspect of the cleric (or paladin) is considered in conflict with his stated deity, it's possible that a GM could do a Compel and require the cleric to roll 4dF instead of 2dF+2. Any failure would then be considered as the deity's wrath (to one degree or another), and be treated as magical recoil.</p>
<p>Though playtesting will out, this seems like a fun way to put some game mechanics and narrative tension into the faith-based magical effects.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-5372488995956549012014-11-03T12:00:00.000-08:002016-11-14T14:00:08.845-08:00Character Statistics and Skills<p>The <a href="http://spiritofgreyhawk.blogspot.com/2014/09/characters-and-levels.html">prior post</a> talked about the expression of the characters' general "level" within the framework of Fate Core. This post will get a bit deeper in to the translation (I prefer to think of it as "translation" instead of "conversion") of a character's properties.</p>
<h1>Character Properties</h1>
<p>A character is largely defined in the source material by the following properties:</p>
<ul>
<li>Attributes (STR, DEX, CON, etc.)</li>
<li>Class (Fighter, Wizard, Thief, Cleric)</li>
<li>Race (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, etc)</li>
<li>Abilities (Picking Locks, Turning Undead, Casting Spells, etc)</li>
</ul>
<p>Those properties can all be expressed within the normal scope of the Fate Core system of <strong>Skills</strong>, <strong>Stunts</strong> and <strong>Aspects</strong>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Skills</strong> would be for translating properties that are a matter of learning, experience or achievement.</li>
<li><strong>Stunts</strong> are for those properties or abilities that represent something special, something is something special that would not be otherwise available or achievable by a character.</li>
<li><strong>Aspects</strong> represent the expression of a narrative "truth".</li>
</ul>
<p>Now of course these categories can get a bit blurred in a game world of High Fantasy, but nothing beyond what Fate Core can handle.</p>
<h1>Attributes</h1>
<p>SoG expresses character attributes as Skills. Strength, Constitution, Wisdom, Dexterity and Charisma are all Skills.</p>
<p>They can hypertrophy with use, and atrophy with age or disuse. So yes: Strength is a skill. Dexterity is a skill. Elite athletes don't get to have elite characteristics without a lot of hard work to develop those skills.</p>
<h2>Intelligence and Wisdom are Skills?</h2>
<p>Currently there's a design decision in Fate Core that properties of Intelligence and Wisdom shouldn't be skills and I generally agree with that decision.</p>
<p>But on the other hand, the source material's reliance on those attributes for use by the Wizard class and the Cleric class might be best served by adding those attributes as Skills.</p>
<p>I previously talked about what might be done to address those needs without resorting to actual skills of Intelligence and Wisdom over <a href="http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/2012/02/greyhawk-attributes-as-stunts-skills.html">here</a>.</p>
<h1>Translating Attribute as Skills - Qualitative Method</h1>
<p>When it comes to Attributes that don't really have a measure (...how <strong>do</strong> you measure Dexterity?), rather than stress too much about it, I'd rather apply something like this...</p>
<ul>
<li>Attributes in the source material have a "normal" value between 3 and 18, with the potential to go as high as 25.</li>
<li>The source material's statistic range below 8 represents a "less than average" to "poor" range, whereas Fate Core's depiction of the "average" skill starts at +0.</li>
<li>Additionally, Mike Olson's <a href="http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/2012/10/strange-fate-srd-has-landed.html">Strange Fate</a> reflected a design decision that +4 was representative of the high end of "normal" human potential before you "level up" into heroic and fantastic power level.</li>
</ul>
<p>Putting those ideas together, SoG uses the following qualitative translation of Character Attributes...</p>
<p>9-11 = Skill +0<br />
12-13 = Skill +1<br />
14-15 = Skill +2<br />
16-17 = Skill +3<br />
18 = Skill +4</p>
<h1>What About Low Attributes?</h1>
<p>Rather than spend a lot of time on dealing with translating low attributes of 8 or less, I'd think I'd rather abstract this into two levels:</p>
<ul>
<li>A <strong>low</strong> attribute (translate as a "-1" FC skill level)</li>
<li>An <strong>abysmal</strong> attribute (a "-1" FC skill level <strong>plus</strong> an overtly negative Aspect)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Abysmal Attribute Aspect Examples:</strong><br />
(Low Wisdom) "A Sack of Hammers has nothing on Me!"<br />
(Low Intelligence) "Tetched in the Haid"<br />
(Low Constitution) "A life spent studying scrolls"<br />
(Low Strength) "Could you give me a hand with this two-handed sword?"<br />
(Low Charisma) "Obnoxious"<br />
(Low Dexterity) "Painfully klutzy"</p>
<h1>Translating Attribute as Skill - Quantitative Method</h1>
<p>I use this method wherever possible in SoG, based upon the conceit that the game world represents it's own reality--the rules just help quantify and define the boundaries of that reality. When you have a skill that relates to some quantifiable measure, then it's just a matter of figuring out where the levels "line up" and go from there.</p>
<p>A notable example of this process would be Strength. Compare the following two passages:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>DMG, p. 15:</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Exceptional Strength:</strong> Assume further that a strength of 18 indicates that the creature can lift weight equal to its own body weight, or 180 pounds, whichever is the greater, above its head.</p>
<p>A human with an 18 strength and an additional percentile dice roll is able to lift 1 additional pound for every percentage point up to and including 50%, 4 pounds for every percentage point from 51% to 90%, and 8 pounds for each percentage point from 91 % to 00%.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Spirit of the Century, "<a href="http://www.faterpg.com/dl/sotc-srd.html#id803">Lifting Things</a>", p. 258:</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Characters have a default amount of weight they can lift and still do something with that weight (like moving slowly, or trying to place it carefully), shown on this page in pounds. If purely lifting without moving – like, say, a heavy portcullis so others can scurry through – they can roughly double that capacity.</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>Those are sufficient to create the following convenient metrics of strength:</p>
<p>
<style type="text/css">
table.phtable {
//border: 6px inset #8B8378;
//-moz-border-radius: 6px;
}
table.phtable td {
//border: 1px solid black;
padding: 0.2em 2ex 0.2em 2ex;
color: black;
}
table.phtable tr.d0 td {
background-color: #ffffff;
font-weight: bold;
}
table.phtable tr.d1 td {
background-color: #c0c0c0;
}
table.phtable tr.d2 td {
background-color: #ffffff;
}
</style>
<table class="phtable">
<tr class="d0"><td>Max overhead lift (STR Attribute)</td><td>SotC Weight Capacity (Might Skill)</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>9 = 90 lbs</td><td> </td>
<tr class="d2"><td>10 = 100 lbs</td><td>Poor (-1) = 100 lbs</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>15 = 150 lbs</td><td>Mediocre (+0) = 150 lbs</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>18 = 180 lbs</td><td> </td>
<tr class="d1"><td>18/20 = 200 lbs</td><td>Average (+1) = 200 lbs</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>18/50 = 230 lbs</td><td> </td>
<tr class="d1"><td>18/60 = 270 lbs</td><td>Fair (+2) = 250 lbs</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>18/70 = 310 lbs</td><td>Good (+3) = 300 lbs</td>
<tr class="d1"><td>18/80 = 350 lbs</td><td>Great (+4) = 350 lbs</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>18/90 = 390 lbs</td><td>Superb (+5) = 400 lbs</td>
<tr class="d1"><td> </td><td>Fantastic (+6) = 450 lbs</td>
<tr class="d2"><td>18/00 = 470 lbs</td><td> </td>
<tr class="d1"><td> </td><td>Epic (+7) = 500 lbs</td>
</table>
</p>
<h2>Attributes Could Be One of Multiple Skills</h2>
<p>With the existing skill list, there's some source material statistics that could be translated to one of a few skills...</p>
<p>The source material attribute that could have the most interpretations against the current skill list would be Charisma. Applications of that attribute could be any one of the following: Contacting, Deceit, Empathy, Leadership, Rapport.</p>
<p>For purposes of translating a character from the source material, pick the single application that is the best definition of how the character most directly uses that skill.</p>
<ul>
<li>A Paladin might easily choose to have a good Leadership skill, and use that distinction to help define the character for the player as being different from a Paladin who might choose Empathy as the skill that represents her Charisma stat.</li>
<li>A thief with a high Charisma might choose to translate to a good Deceit and define his class as a Con Man. Or a thief would be distinguished as a Fixer if he chose Contacting.</li>
</ul>
<p>This also fits with one of my guidelines of being on the right path--does the decision help the player portray his character more clearly? If yes: you're doing it right.</p>
<h2>The Actual Skill List</h2>
<p>The following is the current skill list for Spirit of Greyhawk. The following table shows the entire skill list, then each character class has access to a subset of the total skills from which to define their skill pyramid.</p>
<p>
<style type="text/css">
table.phtable {
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table.phtable td {
//border: 1px solid black;
padding: 0.2em 2ex 0.2em 2ex;
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table.phtable tr.d0 td {
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font-weight: bold;
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table.phtable tr.d1 td {
background-color: #c0c0c0;
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table.phtable tr.d2 td {
background-color: #ffffff;
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</style>
<table class="phtable">
<tr class="d0"><td>SoG Skill</td><td>Cleric</td><td>Fighter</td><td>Wizard</td><td>Thief</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Agility (DEX)</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Alertness (INT)</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Art</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Burglary</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Contacting (CHA)</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Craft</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Deceit (CHA)</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Empathy (CHA)</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Gambling</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Intimidation</td><td>Apex</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Investigation (INT)</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Leadership (CHA)</td><td>Apex</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Lore</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Melee</td><td>Apex</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Might (STR)</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Missile</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Physik</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>No</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Rapport (CHA)</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Resolve (WIS)</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Resources</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Ride</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Seamanship</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Sleight of Hand (DEX)</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Status</td><td>Apex</td><td>Apex</td><td>Apex</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Stealth</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Survival</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d1"><td>Toughness (CON)</td><td>Yes</td><td>Apex</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr class="d2"><td>Wizardry</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Apex</td><td>No</td></tr>
</table>
</p>
<p>For every skill, there's the following "states"...</p>
<p><strong>No</strong> means that a character has had no access to any special training in this skill. Again, this was meant to represent a culture that has evolved an educational system based upon guilds.</p>
<p><strong>Yes</strong> means that a character can elect one of these skills to go into their skill pyramid in any position in the pyramid EXCEPT for the pyramid's single top slot--known as the "Apex" skill.</p>
<p><strong>Apex</strong> means that a character can elect this skill to be in the top position in the pyramid. Considered the skill that most clearly defines the character as being a member of a particular class. In other words, the Apex skill defines the "level" of the character. A fighter with an Apex skill of "Missile" at +3 would be considered to be a 6th level character in terms of the source material.</p>
<p>Once sub-classes like Rangers, Bards and Paladins are ready for sharing, there's also an idea that certain skills would have a numeric value assigned to them to represent that the minimum value that a character's Apex skill must have in order to add this skill.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For example, the "Wizardry" skill is currently only available to the "Wizard" class. Once the Ranger class is added, a ranger could elect to add the Wizardry skill once the character's Apex skill has reached at least +4 (i.e., 8th level Ranger).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In a similar vein, it's likely that certain skills might also have limitations for certain classes, races, based upon other skills (attributes).</p>
<h1>Attributes Could Be One of Multiple Skills</h1>
<p>With the existing skill list, there's some source material attributes that could be translated to one of a few skills...</p>
<p>The source material attribute that could have the most interpretations against the current skill list would be Charisma. Applications of that attribute could be any one of the following: Contacting, Deceit, Empathy, Leadership, Rapport.</p>
<p>For purposes of translating a character from the source material, pick the single application that is the best definition of how the character most directly uses that skill.</p>
<ul>
<li>A Paladin might easily choose to have an apex skill of Leadership (or even have it as one of the higher skill levels), and use that distinction to help define the character for the player as being different from a Paladin who might choose Empathy as the skill that represents her Charisma stat.</li>
<li>A Thief with a high Charisma might choose to translate that to an apex skill of Deceit and play his Thief class as more of a con man. Or a thief would be distinguished as a Fixer if he chose Contacting.</li>
</ul>
<p>This also fits with one of my guidelines of being on the right path--does the decision help the player portray his character more clearly? If yes: then I say you're doing it right.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-58979654940346113782014-09-10T18:00:00.000-07:002015-06-04T09:44:05.432-07:00Characters and Levels<p>Spirit of Greyhawk's character generation process is probably as much about "conversion" as it is about "generation". Or at least you need to be considering the viewpoint that players will likely be looking at their SoG character with a thought about how it looks from the perspective of the source material. By way of a running start, here's a summary of "starting characters" in <a href="http://fate-srd.com/fate-core/veterans-guide#game-and-character-creation">Fate Core</a> and <a href="http://www.faterpg.com/dl/sotc-srd.html#id157">Spirit of the Century</a>...</p>
<h1>Fate Core Starting Character Summary</h1>
<p>Skill Pyramid: 1 x (+4), 2 x (+3), 3 x (+2), 4 x (+1)<br />
Stress Track (Base): OOO in each track<br />
Aspects: 1 High Concept + 1 Trouble + 3 Additional Aspects<br />
Fate Point / Refresh: 3<br />
Stunts: 3 free stunts, extra stunts cost Refresh</p>
<h1>Spirit of the Century Starting Character Summary</h1>
<p>Skill Pyramid: 1 x (+5), 2 x (+4), 3 x (+3), 4 x (+2), 5 x (+1)<br />
Stress Track (Base): OOOOO in each track<br />
Aspects: 5 phases x 2 aspects = 10 aspects total<br />
Fate Point / Refresh: 5<br />
Stunts: 5</p>
<p>...From that information and a bit of fiddling with the dials, I generally consider Fate Core starting characters to be the equivalent of 8th level, relative to the source material. Spirit of the Century starting characters would the equivalent of 10th level.</p>
<p>So given those two points of reference, I ventured off on that heading to make the following character "levels" for Spirit of Greyhawk. SoG uses a guild-based naming convention--I like the concept that the game's feel reinforces a cultural assumption for the game world that education is generally a function of a feudal-ish guild structure, and that a character class is a guide into the sum total of that character's skills. Plus, the source material's class titles implied a pretty similar assumption.</p>
<h1>Spirit of Greyhawk - Character "Levels"</h1>
<h2>"Apprentice" (0 Level--in case anyone wants to try it)</h2>
<p>Skill Pyramid: All at +0<br />
Stress Track (Base): (none), one hit takes out character (barring Consequences)<br />
Aspects: 1 Race/Alignment Aspect<br />
Fate Point / Refresh: 0 Stunts: 0</p>
<h2>"Craftsman" (2nd Level)</h2>
<p><em>(This would be closest to the source material starting character)</em><br />
Skill Pyramid: 1 x (+1)<br />
Stress Track (Base): O in each track<br />
Aspects: 1 Class Aspect + 1 Race/Alignment Aspect<br />
Fate Point / Refresh: 1<br />
Stunts: 1</p>
<h2>"Journeyman" (4th Level)</h2>
<p>Skill Pyramid: 1 x (+2), 2 x (+1)<br />
Stress Track (Base): OO<br />
Aspects: 1 Class Aspect + 1 Race/Alignment Aspect + 1 Additional Phase Aspect<br />
Fate Point / Refresh: 2<br />
Stunts: 2
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>NOTE: The "Additional Phase Aspect" is similar to a character creation <a href="http://fate-srd.com/fate-core/phase-trio#phase-one-your-adventure">phase</a>, because the character has now begun journeying.)</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>"Experienced Journeyman" (6th Level--I haven't researched a better title yet)</h2>
<p>Skill Pyramid: 1 x (+3), 2 x (+2), 3 x (+1)<br />
Stress Track (Base): OOO<br />
Aspects: 1 Class Aspect + 1 Race/Alignment Aspect + 2 Additional Phase Aspects<br />
Fate Point / Refresh: 3<br />
Stunts: 3</p>
<h2>"Master" (8th Level)</h2>
<p>Skill Pyramid: 1 x (+4), 2 x (+3), 3 x (+2), 4 x (+1)<br />
Stress Track (Base): OOOO<br />
Aspects: 1 Class Aspect + 1 Race/Alignment Aspect + 3 Additional Phase Aspects<br />
Fate Point / Refresh: 4<br />
Stunts: 4</p>
<h2>"Guild Master" (10th Level)</h2>
<p>Skill Pyramid: 1 x (+5), 2 x (+4), 3 x (+3), 4 x (+2), 5 x (+1)<br />
Stress Track (Base): OOOOO<br />
Aspects: 1 Class Aspect + 1 Race/Alignment Aspect + 4 Additional Phase Aspects<br />
Fate Point / Refresh: 5<br />
Stunts: 5</p>
<h1>Reinforcing the Character Class Mechanic</h1>
<p>To further support the source material's assumption of character classes, and working again from the assumption that education in the game world is largely a result of a guild system, Spirit of Greyhawk has a rule mechanic that separates the skills for all classes into three categories...</p>
<ul>
<li>Skills that a particular class can elect to have in their skill list. <em>A Thief can choose the Missile skill, just not as an Apex skill.</em></li>
<li>Skills that a particular class can elect as their Apex skill. <em>For example, the Wizard class is the only class that can elect Wizardry as an Apex Skill.</em></li>
<li>Skills that are not available for a particular class. <em>A Fighter cannot elect the Wizardry skill.</em></li>
</ul>
<p>...So while it's conceivable from a narrative perspective that a fighter COULD have the Wizardry skill, it would require the character to multi-class / split-class to gain access to skills that wouldn't be otherwise available via a single class. Additionally (and this probably doesn't even need to be said), the distinction between classes also provides a more natural backdrop in the game world for why characters of different classes would band together into adventuring parties: to gain access to skills that would improve chances of survival.</p>
<h1>Low-Level Non-Fighters and Combat Emphasis</h1>
<p>There is a natural tendency for players with low-level characters in the non-Fighter classes to want to select the Melee or Missile skill as early as possible, to improve their chances of surviving combat. However, this can result in the majority of successful (i.e., surviving) low-level Thief and Wizard characters to be less distinguishable from the Fighter characters or Clerics. SoG tries to encourage non-fighter characters in two ways:</p>
<ul>
<li>The Skills by Class table (shown in post "<a href="http://spiritofgreyhawk.blogspot.com/2014/11/character-statistics-and-skills.html">Character Statistics and Skills</a>") requires a non-fighter character to pick an apex skill that is NOT Melee or Missile.</li>
<li>Similar to the source material, give all starting character classes a truly "free" stunt: <strong>Weapon Specialization</strong>. This means that the character will pick a weapon from the Weapons Table and when the character is fighting with that weapon (and only with that type of weapon), they receive a +1 bonus.</li>
</ul>
<p>Given the larger benefit of a +1 in the Fate Core game mechanic, hopefully this gives a player a comfort level that the non-fighter character is not being unduly penalized when it comes to combat.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-28486798667746495782014-09-03T14:00:00.000-07:002015-03-05T13:37:23.020-08:00Weapons and Armor, part 2<p>Continuing on from <a href="http://spiritofgreyhawk.blogspot.com/2014/08/weapons-and-armor-part-1.html">Part 1</a>...</p>
<h1>Idea Three: Add More Fate Dice</h1>
<p>The idea of having weapons and armor be a constant benefit (+1 to +4) and leave the variability to skill differential and 4dF (luck), didn't really have a desireable feel in relation to the source material. So there was the idea that you could just add more Fate dice, based upon the weapon or armor you were carrying. The better the weapon or armor, the more dice you added.</p>
<h2>Pro</h2>
<ul>
<li>You only need more FATE dice, and that's it. The fact that it also supports sales of FATE Dice is just a happy coincidence.</li>
<li>Conceptually, it's a relatively easy adjustment to understand.</li>
<li>Stackable bonuses are easier to factor in.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Con</h2>
<ul>
<li>Would still require multiple dice configurations (see <a href="http://spiritofgreyhawk.blogspot.com/2014/08/weapons-and-armor-part-1.html">last article</a>), though keeping track of a number of dice is easier than working with multiple dice color combinations.</li>
<li>Scaling - Again, scales too fast for the different weapon / armor versions.</li>
<li>Devalues character skills, especially once you start factoring in stackable bonuses.</li>
</ul>
<p>So, with all that out of the way, here's what SoG is currently using...</p>
<h1>Current Iteration: Spirit of Greyhawk Weapons and Armor</h1>
<ul>
<li>Roll the usual 4dF for Hit / Defend actions, using Skills/Stunts as per normal. That determines the success/failure of the attack, any extra degree of success are extra shifts of stress.</li>
<li>If the attack is successful, any damage from the weapon (i.e., beyond the shifts generated by the margin of success) is determined by rolling a particular number of Fate dice assigned to that Weapon. Any extra shifts from the weapon are added to the shifts from the margin of success in the prior step and the net stress is assigned to the defender.</li>
<li>If the defender has any armor, roll the Fate dice assigned to that armor.</li>
<li>For the Weapons and Armor dice, any "+" result counts as a +1 for either a Weapon’s damage or an Armor’s protection.</li>
</ul>
<p>The value of the armor’s protection is then subtracted from the total damage--anything not yet absorbed by the armor is counted against the stress track.</p>
<h3>Example:</h3>
<p><strong>Fighter</strong><br />
Melee Skill (+2)<br />
Athletics Skill (+1)<br />
Weapon: Battle Axe (Weapon dF: 3)<br />
Armor: Chain Mail (Armor dF: 5)</p>
<p><strong>Thief</strong><br />
Melee Skill (+1)<br />
Athletics Skill (+3)<br />
Weapon: Dagger (Weapon dF: 1)<br />
Armor: Padded Armor (Armor dF: 2)</p>
<p><strong>The Thief stabs at the Fighter</strong> first (let's just say he's faster). Fate Dice are rolled as normal...</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdF_sRQwM5CUFOB3K86MYrFfV7nfun1gbZOqv1NXlYsiSeWjWhgV8GS79AL1OWABbeZjTHYtflqOQbliJkO5OOnXw2mg5ExG1HFqKjLHUnCzT1ZEtrB2GFkQSjtdjd8-Vq5DNAl3fbAyE/s1600/article+2+-+photo+1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdF_sRQwM5CUFOB3K86MYrFfV7nfun1gbZOqv1NXlYsiSeWjWhgV8GS79AL1OWABbeZjTHYtflqOQbliJkO5OOnXw2mg5ExG1HFqKjLHUnCzT1ZEtrB2GFkQSjtdjd8-Vq5DNAl3fbAyE/s1600/article+2+-+photo+1.PNG" height="320" width="270" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Fighter's dice are White, </i><i>Thief's dice are Green</i></span></div>
<ul>
<li>Attack (Thief): Skill (Melee, +1) + Dice (4dF, result: +1) = +2</li>
<li>Defense (Fighter): Skill (Athletics, +1) + Dice (4dF, result: -1) = 0</li>
<li><strong>Result:</strong> +2 - (+0) = Attack succeeds, +2 shifts damage.</li>
</ul>
<p>Weapon / Armor dice are now rolled...</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBiuXNcGsXVl4-UQT9LnmWG2SXg6MRtkLcGvbXWgC-hFRk_5azh567wGci2pPQ00A5YUNdLDAdL9G7QehEmWGSUwu9qnshaiu4UUV1YaSFrk7MZ6YiWbDXWi5tioPFtLllXOckksF9-I/s1600/article+2+-+photo+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBiuXNcGsXVl4-UQT9LnmWG2SXg6MRtkLcGvbXWgC-hFRk_5azh567wGci2pPQ00A5YUNdLDAdL9G7QehEmWGSUwu9qnshaiu4UUV1YaSFrk7MZ6YiWbDXWi5tioPFtLllXOckksF9-I/s1600/article+2+-+photo+2.PNG" height="320" width="246" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Fighter's dice are White, </i><i>Thief's dice are Green</i></span></div>
<ul>
<li>Thief's Weapon Damage: Weapon (Dagger 1d, +0 result) = +0 damage</li>
<li>Fighter's Armor Defense: Armor (Chain Mail 5d, +2 result) = +2 defense</li>
<li><strong>Result:</strong> Attack Shifts (+2) + Weapon Damage (+0) - Armor Defense (+2) = 2+0-2 = 0 physical stress to the Fighter</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>The Fighter hacks at the Thief.</strong> Fate Dice are rolled as normal...</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-K6cvryvFB_jjEnkteOSzClbNluUzWRLKYrE9ZHAKC-uaX2BG-4MUtdTgPMRMWNsTPLXzm2KHUHbXotZxMJ3CctVRKiQ0MZkMzA8B-qRoEXkPzp0IKmdaJy7vE7H3Z_0s_Sgk598rukM/s1600/article+2+-+photo+4.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-K6cvryvFB_jjEnkteOSzClbNluUzWRLKYrE9ZHAKC-uaX2BG-4MUtdTgPMRMWNsTPLXzm2KHUHbXotZxMJ3CctVRKiQ0MZkMzA8B-qRoEXkPzp0IKmdaJy7vE7H3Z_0s_Sgk598rukM/s1600/article+2+-+photo+4.PNG" height="320" width="187" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Fighter's dice are White, </i><i>Thief's dice are Green</i></span></div>
<ul>
<li>Attack (Fighter): Skill (Melee, +2) + Dice (4dF, result: +2) = +4</li>
<li>Defense (Thief): Skill (Athletics, +3) + Dice (4dF, result: -2) = +1</li>
<li><strong>Result:</strong> +4 - (+1) = Attack succeeds, +3 shifts damage.</li>
</ul>
<p>Weapon / Armor dice are rolled...</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhRVuUnM7Hx09zs0X0z5wOcxddx0DFwssonpSgVS2h4_KmcJSobC91Qsxd5o7F1gtdiQpW2ZQNrfqoComUpGN2IENTmi_SAXTxcQa194ODNShPpPLPGY-YgaujxONi-yzAuIyT7bu8PA/s1600/article+2+-+photo+3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhRVuUnM7Hx09zs0X0z5wOcxddx0DFwssonpSgVS2h4_KmcJSobC91Qsxd5o7F1gtdiQpW2ZQNrfqoComUpGN2IENTmi_SAXTxcQa194ODNShPpPLPGY-YgaujxONi-yzAuIyT7bu8PA/s1600/article+2+-+photo+3.PNG" height="320" width="305" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Fighter's dice are White, </i><i>Thief's dice are Green</i></span></div>
<ul>
<li>Fighter's Weapon Damage: Weapon (Battle Axe 3dF, +1 result) = +1 damage</li>
<li>Thief Armor Defense: Armor (Padded Armor 2dF, +1 result) = +1 defense</li>
<li><strong>Result:</strong> Attack Shifts (+3) + Weapon Damage (+1) - Armor Defense (+1) = 3+1-1 = 3 physical stress to the Thief</li>
</ul>
<h1>Rules about Bonuses</h1>
<p>Weapons with an enchantment that improves the chance to hit can use that extra die during the first roll, using the "die face of '+' counts as +1" result, before rolling damage. So any extra shift(s) from the weapon would count towards both success and damage (similar to the source material). An extra die color would probably help here.</p>
<p>Bonuses that are "damage only" would be rolled during the weapon damage, as normal.</p>
<p>Stunt-related bonuses (eg., Weapon Specialization) that improve chances to hit would also be treated similar to enchantments. But now stunts can be broke out by improvements to hit and / or improvements to damage.</p>
<h1>Design Points</h1>
<p>Consistent with the source material, the general approach is that mundane (unenchanted) melee weapons don't make it easier to hit an opponent--it makes the damage count MORE when you hit them. This means it's the player's skill with the weapon that is the most important--and I like that.</p>
<p>Though armor in SoG follows the basic premise of the source material in that it makes it harder to hit an opponent (by an offset to the attacker's shifts), it would be more accurate to say that armor in SoG makes an attack less likely to damage to its wearer.</p>
<p>The scalability of the weapon / armor benefit being limited to only the "+" die result appears to allow a nice degree of granularity without overwhelming the Fate Core scale. Given a cumulative probability of around 50%, I believe it takes 11 dice before the weapon / armor benefit would average a result better than a +4.</p>
<p>Of course it's possible a mundane weapon could score big time (i.e., the halberd above rolls all 4 Fate dice at "+"), but that chance appears pretty small. About a 1.2% chance, if I’m reading it right. However as any observer of gambling stats knows, the POSSIBILITY that a really good roll could result is where the excitement is at.</p>
<p>So with the design approach settled (for the moment), the next step was to actually translate Weapon damage ranges and the Armor classes from the source material.</p>
<h1>Translating Armor</h1>
<p>Translating armor was the easier place to start, because there are a finite range of possibilities: from unarmored to the best possible (epic, deity-level) protection, there are <em>only</em> 21 values. Starting from the idea in <a href="http://fate-srd.com/fate-core/more-examples-extras#weapon-and-armor-ratings">Fate Core</a> that a +4 armor benefit was really serious personal armor, and then fiddling with the dials a bit to take into account things like "shields should count for an improvement in armor benefit" and the like, I arrived at a maximum mundane (non-enchanted) armor benefit of 7 dice.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Statistically speaking, 7 Fate dice (counting the "+" as +1), translates to a 74% cumulative probability of getting at least a +2 benefit.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Overall, armor values have gone from 21 possible levels of protection (10 to -10 in the source material) down to 14 levels (in SoG). Which means going from unarmored (+0 dice), to a conversion maximum (i.e., best possible armor class, god-like level) of +13 dice.</p>
<h1>Translating Weapons</h1>
<p>The translation of weapons and damage bonuses was more of a balancing act than a straight translation. The balance was more about adding enough granularity into mundane weapon damage to make things interesting (like making sure halberds and 2-handed swords could still be scary), but still leave enough room open at the higher end of the scale for things like dragon fire and so forth.</p>
<p>The source material’s weapons table originally had 9 variations of dice to determine the damage ranges of all the weapons on that table. In keeping with FC’s low-resolution approach, SoG mundane weapons has 5 variations.</p>
<p>Thinking ahead to monsters and some of the unusual damage ranges you can find in other related materials, I may try to put together some guidelines based upon a Fate dice recommendation based upon a source material listing for min damage value and max damage value.</p>
<p>So here’s some sample values (in addition to those listed above) for those who want to just start rolling for those "+"...</p>
<h2>Armor</h2>
<ul>
<li>Shields are good for an extra 1 die to the benefit of the armor being worn.</li>
<li>Leather armor (2 dF)</li>
<li>Chain Mail (5 dF)</li>
<li>Plate Mail (6 dF)</li>
</ul>
<h2>Weapons</h2>
<ul>
<li>Dagger (1 dF)</li>
<li>Morningstar (3 dF)</li>
<li>Quarterstaff (2 dF) (aspect: 2-handed weapon, can be improvised)</li>
<li>Bastard Sword (3 dF) (aspect: can use 2-handed)</li>
</ul>
<p>(The screen-caps were taken on the dice-rolling app <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/pip/id298751953?mt=8">Pip</a>)</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-41196483843235791902014-08-27T10:15:00.000-07:002015-03-05T11:37:02.802-08:00Weapons and Armor, part 1<p>I wanted to share what I've been most recently working on--integrating the gameworld's emphasis upon weapons and armor into the Fate Core ruleset. Here are my guidelines for success:</p>
<ul>
<li>Provide the game with a feel that weapons, armor and upgrades "matter".</li>
<li>It has to be scalable.</li>
<li>It can’t slow down the pace too much. Fate Core tends to play at a faster pace, relative to the source material.</li>
<li>Weapons and Armor can’t totally overshadow character skills. Skills still have to matter. This is more of a personal goal and more consistent with the tenets of Fate Core, rather than an expectation from the source material.</li>
<li>It has to be able to handle magical weapons / armor, without having to bolt on extra mechanics on top of what was already being implemented for weapons / armor. Additionally it also has to play well with other "stacking" bonuses (Strength, etc.)</li>
</ul>
<p>Here's some ideas I tried, and why I didn't use them. Note that this isn't a criticism or rejection of these ideas, but perhaps my experiences might help some readers with their own efforts.</p>
<h1>Idea One: Weapons and Armor have their Own Polyhedral Dice</h1>
<p>I had a thought that you could define the benefit of weapons and armor as the value of polyhedral dice (d2, d3, d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, etc) and use those combinations to represent the damage increase / decrease of those items.</p>
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<h3>Pro</h3>
<ul>
<li>The polyhedral dice gave a nice emotional connection to the source material. I really-really liked this concept.</li>
<li>The dice could be thrown at the same time as the Fate dice and were easy to distinguish from the actual Fate dice roll. So, you only needed one roll of the dice to handle IF an action was a success or not, as well as the DEGREE of the success/failure. This was in keeping with Fate Core’s own dice-rolling and didn’t slow down the pace.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Con</h3>
<ul>
<li>The progression scales up too fast. At Fate Core's degree of granularity, the difference between a d4 and d6 is too dramatic, due to the scale of a "+1" bonus being very different between Fate Core and the source material. For example, the source material's weapons table has 9 different ranges of damage: from 1-3 and 1-10. In order to fit in with Fate Core's scale, you need something closer to <a href="http://www.evilhat.com/home/dresden-files-rpg/">DFRPG</a>'s 4 levels of damage/protection.</li>
<li>As a knock-on effect, putting too much value on the weapons reduces the value of a character's Skills. When you start to factor in the various ranges of damage from Monsters, it gets even harder to keep Skills as the most important factor in success.</li>
<li>Factoring in magical benefits and other bonuses stressed the scaling even further.</li>
</ul>
<h1>Idea Two: Tri-Color Dice</h1>
<p>There's been a few versions of this idea--a "+" result for one color of Fate die would result in an additional +1 benefit (let's call this the blue dice), and a "(blank)" or "+" result for another color would result in an additional +1 benefit (let's call this the red dice).</p>
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<h3>Pro</h3>
<ul>
<li>It's in the Fate Core Toolkit. Fate fans could easily accept the change.</li>
<li>It was also considered that there could be certain weapons that possessed color types that gave different effect (white could be considering "bashing" damage, blue could be for absorbing / dealing "slashing" damage, red could be for absorbing / dealing "Piercing" damage). This gave a tactical consideration to weapons and armor selection that I liked.</li>
<li>The three colors and the context of the die result allowed for a feel of different gradations that doesn’t scale up too fast.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Con</h3>
<ul>
<li>In playtesting, this concept felt like it needed too much overhead for players to keep track of the various dice "configurations", which slows down play too much for my taste. A player with only one character would need to keep track of two dice configurations: one dice configuration for the defensive/armor setup, and one for the offensive/weapon setup. This gets even worse for the DM, needing two configurations for each monster!</li>
<li>There's a finite number of tri-color dice combinations--specifically, there are 14 combinations of the progression from 4 white Fate dice up to all 4 red Fate dice. When you start having to factor in the various monster-damage combinations, this finite amount is tough to manage with respect to weapons/monster damage. Because there are a finite number of Armor Classes (21), this could scale okay for armor. However there's a LOT of different dice combinations used to describe weapons damage, especially once you factor in monsters' damage dice. This could also prove tricky when trying to provide conversion guidelines for adventure modules, etc.</li>
<li>Bonuses that stack (Stunts, Skills, Enchantments) stressed that finite number of dice combinations even further. Additionally, if the colors represented a tactical distinction, then the bonuses just watered that down.</li>
<li>Last and perhaps only a nit-pick of mine: describing the tri-color dice combinations required creating a Fate dice number/color shorthand, which seemed to be more confusion than I wanted. The best I ever did was come up with something that looked like this: <strong>2dF(W)1dF(B)1dF(R)</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<p>The current version of Weapons / Armor modifiers did use something from this idea. The next post, <a href="http://spiritofgreyhawk.blogspot.com/2014/09/weapons-and-armor-part-2.html">Weapons and Armor, part 2</a> covers all this.</p>
<p>(The screen-caps were taken on the dice-rolling app <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/pip/id298751953?mt=8">Pip</a>)</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16250749425368911284noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4696526857937235344.post-63073829620823051672014-08-22T19:36:00.001-07:002015-03-05T11:14:29.145-08:00Welcome!<p>Hello and thanks for clicking your way here!</p>
<h1>What Is "Spirit of Greyhawk"?</h1>
<p>Spirit of Greyhawk (SoG) is an implementation of Evil Hat's <a href="http://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core/">Fate Core</a>, with the idea that the rules try to reflect "the way things worked" in the gameworld of Greyhawk, circa the late 70's and early 80's.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For example, if a player came to a session of SoG with the past experience that, in the world of Greyhawk, trolls take extra damage from fire, hitting a troll in SoG with a torch would have the expected effect.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The goal is to make a set of rules that takes advantage of all the positives that Fate Core allows, but still gives players the sense that they have been adventuring in the world of Greyhawk.</p>
<p>So the point of the ruleset is to invoke the "spirit" of Greyhawk. Which also makes the working title a no-brainer. This project was started at a time when Evil Hat's <a href="http://www.evilhat.com/home/spirit-of-the-century-2/">Spirit of the Century</a> was the state-of-the-art Fate ruleset. Which should also give Fate-o-philes a sense of the pace at which I've been working.</p>
<h1>What Makes Spirit of Greyhawk Different?</h1>
<p>Spirit of Greyhawk is about trying to recreate the "play experience" of what it was like to play in the world of Greyhawk. The conceit of SoG is that the rules in the source material were written to describe the way things work in the world of Greyhawk.</p>
<p>Think of the basic translation process as working like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Take the source material's rules and turn that into a series of assumptions about how something works in the gameworld. From those assumptions, apply Fate Core rules to portray assumptions using the "Fate fractal" to expand where necessary.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hopefully, this would provide RPG players of a certain age (like me) the opportunity to play Fate in a world that is already somewhat familar.</p>
<p>When I actually get an all-too-rare opportunity to spend a few hours with friends at the table-top, I don't want to spend that time having to learn a new version of rules for a world I've already put a lot of work into understanding. I love Fate Core, I love old-school Greyhawk. Simple enough. Though that's not the same as saying "easy enough"...</p>
<h1>So, What's the Goal?</h1>
<p>I don't consider myself a game designer, so much as a game master in need of a ruleset that helps me tell the stories I want to tell, the way I want to tell them. The actual goal (more than a hope) is to get to a compiled ruleset and that it would be something worth sharing with people who are looking for something similar.</p>
<p>The blog's goal is be a workspace to test ideas, noodle around theories, gather opinions, and in general be a reason to push myself to keep progressing towards that goal of a compiled ruleset.</p>
<h1>Roll Credits!</h1>
<p>I'll start with a very sincere debt of gratitude to <a href="http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/">Mike Olson</a>, who has been gracious enough to let the Spirit of Greyhawk project "crash on the sofa" of his blog the last few years. He was also kind enough to encourage me to put this project into its own blog.</p>
<p>To Jeff Bradley, who has been a tireless sounding board for Spirit of Greyhawk playtests. Your unflagging positive energy (and inspired roleplay) has been a great resource--not sure I'd be posting today without your support. Here's a mug of ale to Rysc and Muntz--the Laurel and Hardy of SoG--long may they annoy each other!</p>
<p>To Bill Burdick: my partner in crime since the second grade. Discovering Steve Jackson's <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3464/melee">Melee</a> and <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3463/wizard">Wizard</a> Microgames truly was the beginning of the end for us.</p>
<p>And a tip of the hat to Nick Daly, for reminding me that people still read those <a href="http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/search/label/spirit%20of%20greyhawk">original SoG posts</a> that appeared on Mike O's <a href="PLACEHOLDER">Spirit of the Blank</a> blog.</p>
<p>And of course the whole project is really a love letter to the work and endless imaginations of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax">E. Gary Gygax</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Arneson">Dave Arneson</a>.</p>
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