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Post by ednote on Jan 17, 2015 16:16:52 GMT -5
The last session I ran saw one of the PCs choose to grapple with a wererat. Grievous injury was exchanged on both sides. I seem to recall that the PC will contract lycanthropy on a roll of 8, but I don't remember if that is 8 or less or if it is 8 or greater on 3d6. Can anyone help me.
Rather than give a magical resistance of 5 to non-magical attacks, I decided that all hits would subtract armor value, including the innate value of lycanthropy, then left over damage was divided by two. When division resulted in a fraction, I rolled a d6. On a 1-3 the fraction was dropped. On a 4-6 it was rounded up.
In my LAW games, I tend to favor the "Law of Conan" which states that almost anything can be damaged with cold steel, even if that damage is much reduced. I think it carries the feel of LAW better for me. My PCs have yet to find a magic weapon, at least one which they have recognized. There are 7 PCs which play at various times, including two wizards. Neither wizard can cast Reveal Magic, although one is rather adept with sword and bow... Now if the warrior with an IQ of 8 would quit rolling under his IQ on 4 dice...
Speaking of an IQ of 8... How many of you, upon finding a compost pit in the middle of a dungeon, would have the entire party jump into it because a part of it moved?!
I hope everyone rolls ones when you need them.
Thanks, Ed
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Post by ednote on Mar 9, 2015 16:02:39 GMT -5
For my hapless PC who tussled with a wererat, should he fail his rolls to avoid lycanthropy, is there a standard rule for curing it, or shall I have to work that out on my own?
Regards, Ed, a dirty rat, but not a wererat
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Post by mister frau blucher on Mar 10, 2015 11:52:25 GMT -5
Hey, Ed,
No standard rules for curing it. I had two options back in Sewers of Redpoint, as there was a chance the pcs could get infected there. I'll pull that adventure out tonight and refresh my aging memory.
Bret
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Post by ednote on Mar 21, 2015 0:02:15 GMT -5
Bret, I've ordered Sewers of Redpoint. I'm sure that I'll find other things with which to "entertain" my players.
Speaking of which, I've got to settle down and draw out the gladiator pit. I'm sure that the PCs will find it like ants find the lair of an ant lion. <evil grin>
Regards, Ed, an "accommodating" GM
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Post by ednote on Mar 28, 2015 16:32:51 GMT -5
I got the "Sewers of Redpoint" module today. I looked up the rules for lycanthropy. They aren't bad but I've chosen something different. For my campaign, I'm planning the following mechanic for determining whether or not a character succumbs to lycanthropy after a fight. Damage inflicted by a lycanthrope can be one of two types, Weapons' Damage and Natural Damage. Weapons' Damage is the damage caused by weapons such as swords, daggers, clubs, etc... It doesn't place a character in jeopardy of Lycanthropy unless the GM wishes to assign a low, base value (e.g. 4) on the grounds that the lycanthrope spat/sweated/bleed into an open wound and might have transmitted Lycanthropy that way. Natural Damage is caused by the teeth, claws, etc... of the lycanthrope. If a character is injured by Natural Weapons, he may succumb to Lycanthropy. The character has to make a strength check against the disease/curse. Lycanthropy also makes a strength check. The strength assigned to Lycanthropy is twice the number of hits inflicted by the lycanthrope via Natural Damage, with a minimum strength of 4. If a wererat claws and gnaws a character for a total 4 points of damage, then the strength used in the strength check is 8. Lycanthropy might roll different numbers of dice under varying circumstances. I'm planning on 3/ST for general use. If either side rolls all sixes, they fail their strength check. If both sides roll all sixes, the victim of the attack will succumb to secondary infections but not become a lycanthrope. Healing, Karma, Fate Points, etc... might prevent death. Otherwise the winner is the side which rolls higher without rolling over their strength. If the character wins, Lycanthropy is not contracted although other diseases might be. (Rat pox is rather odious.) If Lycanthropy wins, the character must undergo healing/cleansing or the Lycanthropy will manifest itself on the next full moon 2d6 or more days after the injury. Note that the character will have a pretty good inkling of what is in store after the night before the transfiguring (full) moon because the nearly full moon will exert a powerful influence. Roll 2/IQ to realize what is about to happen. After the second nights before the transfiguring moon, roll 3/IQ. After the third night before, roll 4/IQ. On the morning after the transfiguring moon, roll 4/IQ to be aware of being a lycanthrope and 5/IQ to remember roughly what happened. After the first transfiguring moon, drop the rolls to 3/IQ and 4/IQ respectively, following each full moon. Once Lycanthropy has manifested itself, being cured is far, far more difficult. Next month we should discover the fate of one of the characters in my campaign. Will he become a wererat? I'll hold off on a discussion of cures until then. I'll see you later. I'm off to the grocery for some Cheez-itz, what with Thursday being a full moon and all. Ed
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Post by mister frau blucher on Apr 18, 2015 10:37:21 GMT -5
Cool stuff, Ed! I like your rules!
Tell us what happened to your player!
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Post by ednote on May 17, 2015 16:45:04 GMT -5
Here is an after action report for anyone interested.
The player made his roll and did pretty well, a "10" with his strength at "12" IIRC. But he was up against a strength 12 attack. Lycanthropy made its roll. It rolled a... <insert creepy organ music and evil laughter> ...secret roll <insert anti-climax>. The player won't know until events advance. Since at least one player in that campaign also frequents this board, I shall refrain from prematurely spilling any beans.
The roll was made 5 game days before the full moon. Lycanthropy has an incubation period of 2-12 days, with a distributional average of about 7 days (how convenient). Therefore the hapless PC might be harboring Lycanthropy and not show signs until next (game) month. For whatever it's worth, I plan to take a box of Cheez-its to our next session, which is this Tuesday night.
The party had another encounter with the ever-pestiferous Constable Dooley (named after the Dooley Tree). The players were so upset at the idea of being searched that they completely missed a major clue. (They were moaning and whining about strip searches and mentally playing "Dueling Banjos". Please note that the NPC gate guards had said NOTHING about strip searches. This displayed an alarming bent of mind in your humble reporter's players.) They DID discover a rather powerful wizard sequestered in the gate tower, when they attempted to resist.
Regards, Ed
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Post by mister frau blucher on May 26, 2015 9:11:34 GMT -5
Still waiting in suspense (organ crescendo)...
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Post by ednote on May 27, 2015 23:35:41 GMT -5
Potential "ratty" character's player was absent from last night's game. Full moon is second night away from where the party left off, in the dungeon. They had just encountered yet MORE wererats. They got one and the others fled. (I should never have let one of the wizards get "Summon Bear"...) The party is still standing in the room. There is important info there for them. The next session for this campaign is June 30, so you can hold off on the organ crescendo for a while. Stay tuned for opinions/rules on curing lycanthropy. regardless of whether or not "Erin" (the player's character) becomes a wererat. Don't forget the Cheez-Its... Ed
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Post by ednote on Jul 2, 2015 19:50:44 GMT -5
The party made the mistake of telling the potential lycanthrope that they were going to bind him down before the full moon. They had managed to acquire several jugs of wine. Unbeknownst to the rest of the party, the potential lycanthrope had spiked the wine. The PL was duly mobbed and tied up. Not to worry, he was able to chew his way out of the ropes later one... <GM whistles innocently> The PCs regained consciousness to find themselves bound and with bad headaches, the expected symptoms of Mickey Finn cocktails. The PL was standing by the window with moonlight streaming in. He was not a wererat. The party had wanted to buy manacles and chains, but after their run-in with Constable Dooley, they were not allowed.
In due course 6 characters went back to the dungeon, 3 were newbie characters and three were more advanced. Without going into too many details, the wizardless party took its first loss, one of the newbies. Ah well, since the character hadn't advanced, he can just be reconstituted if needed again. Neither of the two wizard players was present.
The party STLL isn't sure about the status of Erin, the PL member. Time will tell. I'm planning to upload the dungeon as a free offering after revision, so I won't include more spoilers. Although the Compost Pit of Death is likely to be deleted. More after the next session.
Regards, Ed
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Post by mister frau blucher on Jul 7, 2015 9:36:28 GMT -5
Good stuff, Ed!
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Post by araman on Jul 7, 2015 19:40:26 GMT -5
Ed, I'm jealous. This sounds like a good adventure. And it also sounds that playing with this group of players would be, ah... entertaining. And that's the reason we play, isn't it?
And speaking of "entertaining" players, I just had a flashback to the first RPG I ever played, way back in 8th grade. One of the players was not what you'd call a "team player." That made the game even more interesting. Some of his more memorable antics included stealing a rare and valuable weapon from a player when that player was unconscious and then taking off. Be mindful that the victim had played for months before getting this and had only had it about a day before this happened. Another instance was when he convinced another player to spend his fortune (the player had an amazing streak of luck gambling against ridiculous odds, only slightly better than winning the lottery, when we figured out the odds, they were somewhere close to a million to one.) on something and then have it destroyed due to some non-judicious play. And another time he interrogated a brand new player's character to the point where he almost did enough damage to kill the new character, on the character's very first day ever playing an RPG. The campaign had the unexpected element of having several different players and player groups trying to hunt down this player's character. Not your typical RPG experience.
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Post by ednote on Jul 8, 2015 0:16:41 GMT -5
Araman, you're right, the players are entertaining. We shall have to see what happens on Aug 4th when the campaign meets again. In theory they will finish this, the second dungeon. Then I'll redo both of the dungeons and run them again with a different group of players. After that, I'll put them into solo format and test them. If I like it, I'll let some others playtest and get feedback. When all is polished, I'll submit them as free modules to DCG. I am working on a whole series of modules of various levels. All of them are based in and around Cleeburg, a dingy port town of unsavory reputation. So here is a question. Thus far the adventures and adventurers have been human-centric. Are people interested in this sort of gritty setting, or do players want a greater level of cosmopolitan flavor. Do you want a limited number of non-human NPCs and characters, or a more open setting in which non-humans are not so strange and the people are not so insular in that regard. Regards, Ed
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Post by mister frau blucher on Jul 8, 2015 10:08:48 GMT -5
Looking forward to the post-Aug. 4 write-up!
Regarding your question: in my experience, it varies. Sometimes I want grim and gritty, other times high magic. Other people might have more codified tastes - I am a bit fickle that way! I am more interested in the quality of the experience.
Keep in mind, though, that the inclusion of non-human races does not neccessarily exclude it from being grittier. That is kinda the standard of how fantasy literature has evolved - Sword & Sorcery features humans almost exclusively, while High Fantasy is racially cosmopolitan. But it does not have to be that way.
My last adventure - Ebon Rebirth - features a goblin city in an area where humans are rare, and often hated. The adventure has elements of both high and low (S&S) fantasy. The reader/player has to judge whether it is successful, but I honestly don't think we need a demarcation line there.
Very interested in the adventures you are coming up with, Ed! Thanks for sharing.
Bret
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Post by mister frau blucher on Jul 8, 2015 10:12:03 GMT -5
Ed, I'm jealous. This sounds like a good adventure. And it also sounds that playing with this group of players would be, ah... entertaining. And that's the reason we play, isn't it? And speaking of "entertaining" players, I just had a flashback to the first RPG I ever played, way back in 8th grade. One of the players was not what you'd call a "team player." That made the game even more interesting. Some of his more memorable antics included stealing a rare and valuable weapon from a player when that player was unconscious and then taking off. Be mindful that the victim had played for months before getting this and had only had it about a day before this happened. Another instance was when he convinced another player to spend his fortune (the player had an amazing streak of luck gambling against ridiculous odds, only slightly better than winning the lottery, when we figured out the odds, they were somewhere close to a million to one.) on something and then have it destroyed due to some non-judicious play. And another time he interrogated a brand new player's character to the point where he almost did enough damage to kill the new character, on the character's very first day ever playing an RPG. The campaign had the unexpected element of having several different players and player groups trying to hunt down this player's character. Not your typical RPG experience. Ha, ha! I do recall a player from long ago with similar tendencies. I think he got bored hanging out with the other, more goal-oriented players, and stopped showing up.
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