Support this site with every purchase with this link.

RPGNow.com

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Tattoo magic for Castles & Crusades.



Tattoo magic is art of inner force. Tattoo magic is the exclusive domain of the Ryuu brother hood (in my setting). 70% of the brotherhood are monks, While the other 30% are Tattoo priests (As Wizard). Rather than casting spells from a book these sorcerers have the spells tattooed into their bodies. Channeling power into these Tattoos is a wisdom check. If the check fails the same tattoo cant be caste again for one hour. Characters can have a number of tattoos equal to one half their constitution score. All Tattoo spells with a duration other than instant add level to duration of spells.

Tattoos:

Weapon Tattoo (Melee)
Level 2. Duration 4.
If this spell is successful, a common melee weapon is summoned. It can be anything from a dagger to a great sword.The weapon damage is based on the level of the caster. 1d4 up to level 6, 1d6 up to level 10, 1d8 at and above level 11.






Weapon Tattoo (Ranged)

Level 3. Duration 4.
If this spell is successful, a common ranged weapon is summoned. It can be a short horse bow or a long bow.  The tattoo is always of the weapon being summoned. Damage is the same as the melee equivalent of the same level.


Enhancing Weapon Tattoo (Melee)
Level 4. Duration 4.
If this spell is successful, Melee weapon held by the caster is effected by magic. It will cause some visual effect from a glowing aura to flames coming from the blade. The exact effect is chosen by the look of the tattoo. During the effect damage is added based on the caster level.
level             Damage:
1-5                  +1
6-8                  +2
9-12+              +3

The tattoo is of a melee weapon effected by what ever effect is chosen when the tattoo is applied. For example a flaming sword, a dagger covered in Ice, Or lightning swirling around a great sword.


Enhancing Weapon Tattoo (Ranged)
Level 5. Duration 4.
If this spell is successful, a ranged weapon held by the caster is effected by magic. It will cause some visual effect from a glowing aura to flames coming from the weapon. The exact effect is chosen by the look of the tattoo. During the effect damage is added missiles fired based on the magnitude level.
level             Damage:
1-5                  +1
6-8                  +2
9-12+              +3
The tattoo is of a ranged weapon effected by what ever effect is chosen when the tattoo is applied. For example a flaming bow, a crossbow covered in Ice, Or lightning swirling around a arrow.


Strength
Enhance Natural Ability
Level 3 Duration 4.
This tattoo is often a rune or a symbolic picture embodying a single attribute. One attribute is chosen as the target when this tattoo is created. This spell grants a bonus to attribute adjustment based on the level of the caster.

level            Enhancement.
1-5                  +1
                                6-8                  +2
                                9-12+              +3
A Tattoo with the rune of dexterity could be used to enhance roll for dance, drive, evade or any other skill that's base value is derived from Dexterity attribute.


Animal Tattoo
Level 3. Duration 8.
When the spell is cast, it Summons a common medium size creature with a INT of low or less. The animal is summoned to the place where the spell is cast, whereupon the spell effect terminates. The animal disappears. The summoned animal is part of the essence of the caster. The caster may extend its senses to that of the Summoned animal. The tatoo must be of the animal to be summoned.





Animal Tattoo II
Level 5. Duration 6.
When the spell is cast, it transformer the caster to a common creature of human or near human proportions. The tattoo must be of the animal to be turned into.






Flame breath
Level 3 Duration instant.
Flames burst forward from the tattoo. The range and damage is based on the level of the caster. Jest of flames extends in to a 4' cone.
level:           Damage:
1-4                    1d4
5-8                    1d6
9+                     1d8
The tattoo for flame breath is flame tattoos on the part of the body that the flames will shoot from.

Flight
Level 5.
Spectral wings spring from the back of the Tattooed man. Giving him flight (mov 12 fly). Each level of the caster adds 2 rounds to the duration of flight rather than 1. This tattoo is always of wings on the back of the tattoo man.




This is only the most common Tattoos available to a starting character. Other more unique tattoos will be available.

Shadow Servant

While planning a Pulp game I wanted a basic mook. A summoned minion for my dark sorcerer. (inspired by summoned minions from the Dresdenverse).



Shadow Servant
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1-4
SIZE: Medium
HD: 1d10 (5 hp)
MOVE: 30 ft.
AC: 11
ATTACKS: Touch (1d4) or by weapon.
SPECIAL: Darkvision 60 ft.
SANITY: 1d4/1d6 (no loss for those that know of them)
SAVES: M
INT: Low
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
TYPE: Created, Other planar
XP: 25+3 (bonus xp for weapon carried)
Shadow Servants are magical constructs. They resemble Humans clothed from head to toe.
Every inch of them are covered, Gloves, hats, Mask or cloth across the mouth.
Only the area around the eyes are ever exposed. What of the face is shown is very generic
and looks the exact same on every servant. These beings are called into this world by powerful magics.
As servants and enforcers my powerful and evil Arcanists. They follow the most basic of instructions
from the Arcanists that summon them. They are smart enough to use melee weapons and gun up to
and including pistols and light machine guns.

Combat : Shadow Servants will follow any order to attack a target chosen by its summoner.
Servants are able bodied and can engage in fisticuffs and sword fighting. They have been known
to carry .45s and Tommy guns. When a Servant looses all of its hit points its physical form
is lost and falls into a lump of clothing on the ground. Its solid form is sent back to another realm.
Servant don't fear this transition back to their native form. So they know no fear in loosing their form.
Servants will never take cover or fight defensively. A servant will walk into a hail of bullets without hesitation.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Amazing Adventures, mini review

 Here is my small review of Amazing Adventures from Troll Lord games written by Jason Vey (The Gray Elf), of Elf Lair Games.

First a small disclaimer: I really love pulp settings. Back in middle school I ran across a Doc Savage novel. And from there The Shadow and a whole slew of Pulp novels and comics. So if in this review I seem like a gushing fan boy, Its because I am.

Second small disclaimer: I am a big fan of the troll lords. I'm a big fan of Castles and Crusades, So I will not really be saying much about the siege engine itself, But will touch on a few things that differ with this product, If you want to know more pick up the Castles and crusades quick start here. Just assume I like the system. And again, I'm a fan boy.

Amazing Adventures is a Siege Engine roleplaying game for running games in the pulp era. The pulp era setting would be the style of the pulp serial comic, television shows, movies, books, and radio shows of the 1920s through about the 1950s. Encompassing a great many styles and moods. From hard boiled detectives to masked vigilantes. The horror that is The call of Cthulhu to the heroics of Indiana Jones are all examples of Pulp.

 The Amazing Adventures book starts out with character creation. There is more than one method for generating ability scores. There are eight classes in this games, All of which cover a lot of ground and are broad enough to cover a lot of different play styles. These classes are.
The Arcanist
The Gadgeteer
The Gumshoe
The Hooligan
The Mentalist
The Pugilist
The Raider
The Socialite

While Amazing Adventures is a Siege Engine game there are some notable differences in the system. For one the values for secondary and primary challenge bases are 10 and 15 rather than 12 and 18 as it is in Castles and Crusades. It was stated this was done for simplicity's sake and to capture a more heroic feel. Traits are added to help describe your character. All traits have and benefit and a drawback to them. I think this is a great way to flesh out a character.

Also worthy of a note is unlike C&C where a classes prime is set for spell casters (Int for wizards and Wis for paladins) Players choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma to be prime depending on the source or the magic powers. Each with its own spell list. While some spells over lap, others are unique to one source of magic. This is a great way to further customize Archaists.

Chapters one and two are all about character customization. Chapter three is paranormal, all about Arcanists and Mentalists. Chapter four is rules of the game. Chapter five is Bestiary. Chapter six is all about how to run a pulp game.

While this game looks to be an good stand alone game. I think the addition of a lot of the C&C books will add a lot to the game, especially monsters & treasures as well as castle keepers guide. Amazing Adventures looks to be every thing needed to run an excellent pulp game. I think Amazing Adventures will be very useful for most modern game as well, Just give the classes new names.

Really looking forward to putting this book to use.

Edit: It has been pointed out to me that I posted wrong about the Prime / Non-prime in AA. In castles and crusades Primes roll against a 12 and non roll against 18. But some players like to keep all rolls against 18 and give a prime roll instead a +6. This option in C&C is the default in AA. All rolls are against a  base 15. Prime rolls get a +5 to their rolls.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Amazing Adventures

Just got my pre-order PDF of Amazing Adventures.


Flipping through it now, It looks great. I cant wait for the dead tree version hits my mail box. This game looks like its going to be great for most any modern game to me. Since most my games have a flair of pulp to them.

Pretty sure I'm going to use it for Call of Cthulhu. As well as other horror settings. The classes are pretty broad and should cover most the bases. Might even see a Supernatural (the show) or/and Leverage AA write up here on the blog here soon. 

I have been a fan of Jason (The Grey Elf) Vey's work for a while now. And I see his house rules made it into AA. Which is great too. 

This has gotten me inspired again, So hopefully that means some new material to this blog.


Sunday, May 6, 2012

AZAMAR, Wicked North Games

Azamar players guide is 192 page. Written by Brett M. Pisinski & J. Elliot Streeter. Available in both PDF and hard copy from Wicked North Games. Also available form RPGnow.com as both PDF and POD.

 The system is Cinema6 (Using the cinema6 frame work), A reworking of the D6 system. Created and made OGL by West End Games. Cinema6 is a very dynamic system. It makes for a very cinematic and heroic feel. Cinema6 is also a bit simpler too. One way it differs is no pips. All attributes and skills are written in whole die. This also allows die to be tracked by filling in bubbles on the character sheet, any one familiar with white wolf's games will get the hang of right away.

In an industry saturated with fantasy games and fantasy settings I really feel Azamar stands out. First of all its not human centric. There are some full blooded humans they are very rare. Most of humanity are divided into two distinct mix blood races. Along side some more common fantasy races.

Enfri, who are a hobbit or tinker gnome like race. Immyr, a dwafen race, stout, strong, and love a good ale.
Tre’uoall, Wild elf like race, Empathic and aloof. Wyvine, a race of sea faring people known for being proud and loyal. Shrave, a goblin/reptilian like race who live deep in the earth, they are known for being patient and coarse.

Azamar is layer of worlds atop each other. With the blur being just beyond. The blur is A place of fiends and also the source of magic in Azamar. With other worlds beyond the blur. Being blur touched can also bring on special abilities as well as the use of spells.

The setting is deep and rich. History laid out for five millennium. With a lot of locations fleshed out. The bestiary in the book is a breath of fresh air. I was expecting your standard fair of monsters. Instead it is full of unique creatures to the world of Azamar.

The artwork in the book is black and white. Ranging from simple line drawing to full page fully shaded pictures. All the art seems well placed and fitting for the section its attached to. And all the art adds to the heroic scope and feel of the setting.

The only bad I can really find about this product (if there is one) is the layout of the book. While each section is laid out clearly the order of the sections are in a strange order:
Introduction: History
The Game: Rules
About Attributes: Attributes and Skills
Races: Races of Azamar
Characters: The basics
Character features: Abilities and magic
The world of Azamar:
Geography of Azamar:
Bestiary:
Fiends:
The combat system:
Props: gear
Grandmaster characters:
Road to Azamar: intro adventure
Character templates:
This by no means a deal breaker for me. But I know some gamers go into convutions over this kind of thing and thought I would mention it.
Azamar is the kind of game I was hoping would come out of the Opend6 (D6 system) OGL. I would recommend it as a very imaginative setting. Built upon a strong, heroic, and cinematic system. I'm really enjoying the game and look forward to what Wicked North Games comes out with next.

We now know what is coming next from Wicked North Games, WestWard!



Thursday, May 3, 2012

Westward, A steampun Western RPG.

Westward is coming!!

Kickstarter for the steampunk western Westward is live. Using Wicked North Games flavor of the D6 system called cinema6.

Any one who has followed or even browsed my blog knows my love for D6 system in all its flavors. Wicked North Games is adding more flavor than I could have ever hoped for from Open D6.

My review for Azamar, the fantasy setting from Wicked North Games will be coming soon.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Working with the Siege Engine (Castles and Crusades)

I have seen lately a fair share of posts about the "failure of the siege engine", The gaming engine that drives the castles and crusades game. I thought for today's post I would address one reacquiring theme in some of these posts.

First I'll repost the "problem". Or what I have read is a "problem" by others.

In this example we have two thieves, Annabell and Lucy. One is a human rogue and the other is a half elf rogue.

Annabell has chosen her primes. Her primes are DEX, WIS, and INT. She has chosen to capitalize on her rogue abilities by choosing primes that are connected to all her rogue abilities.

Lucy on the other hand has chosen CHA as her second prime. She has chosen to be a grifter type. Able to fast talk her way out of trouble.

Now lets say neither of these rogues have attributes that give any bonuses. And both rogues got to pick a lock on a door. The door has a simple CL1 lock. Pretty simple lock to pick. Both rogues have Dex as prime so both would need to beat a 12 or higher to pick the lock. Since the CL1 cancels out level bonus the roll is just a straight forward 12 or higher. This is pretty simple.

Now lets say both rogues pass the door. Both rogues know that the lock was just too easy for what could be a great reward just beyond the door. So both rogues want to try to "find" traps. And of course the room is trapped. The craftsmanship of the trap is not the best, But it is no armature work either. So the CK assigned a CL of 4 to the trap.

So Annabell has Int as a prime. Her difficulty would start off as a 12 with the CL4 added on. For a final difficulty of 16. She adds her level to the roll. 

Now poor Lucy on the other hand doesn't have Int as a prime. So her starting difficulty is 18. With a CL of 4 as well. So she has got to roll a natural 20 to detect the trap. Since her final difficulty is 22.

I myself look at this and it makes sense to me. Lucy chose to not have her Int as a prime so she is not good in any of her skills the are not Int based. I do not see this as a flaw in the rules but rather a level of customization.

After all I could choose a rogue with Str as my second prime to be a bit of a thug. Or Cha and be a confidence man and fast talker.

If the above example was turned around. And this was a social roll. And both rogues were trying to talk their way out of trouble and the it may very well have been Annabell needing the natural 20 and Lucy skating by with a low difficulty.

Power 10 for 5E D&D.

As I play more and more fantasy role-playing games, especially D20 variants, I find that some of my favorites are the ones that boil the ent...