Namely, I just offered a player to use meta-game currency to introduce a sequence of events!
Everybody had fun, but it still feels wrong, somehow. I mean, most of us are used to adding Hero Points to checks in order to succeed: that's easily represented by extra effort.
But using them for introducing a turn of events that's more favourable to the characters? I've still got issues accepting that.
What actually happened:
Currently running BASH: Legends of Steel, and my party has split, as I find that a normal thing to happen in any S&S game.
Some of the players went to explore the rumours of the Forlorn King of Tyros and Aragos...what the one who decided that doesn't know is, she's going to walk into a heavily modified Death Frost Doom, where instead of thousands of zombies, she risks releasing an immortal necromancer king, modeled after Koshtchei the Immortal.
Another player went to explore the star-crossed love story of two scions of powerful noble families. Her, a scion of the Montevaggios, him, a scion of Kapi branch of the Omurt clan, a.k.a. the Capiomri.
Yes, there is a joke for the players in here, too. She noticed it already, too... but I'm not going to tell you what it is (because I might actually get around to publishing this as an adventure! Yes, complete with the in-jokes.
Anyway. She went thinking about the best approach to exonerate the guy from accusations of a murder, so I switched to the other party. When I switched back, she still hadn't decided anything decisive. So we played an information-gathering scene that didn't result in much new data, either (she didn't push an NPC that would have talked, but was unwilling to offer the info freely).
And then I couldn't switch, because the leader of the other group was making tea in the kitchen, and was unavailable. In my group, making tea is A Big Deal!
So I decided to spare everyone some dithering, and said.
"By the rules, you have exactly a single Hero Die remaining, and we can give you some clues for that. Do you want to do that?"
"Sure! Thank you for reminding me, too! You know that I'd have forgotten to use them, if not for you, right?"
Yes, I knew that. I'm the one who reminded her to use a Hero Point last session. That's why she only had a full Hero Die (by the BASH rules, you get 3 HeroPoints per session, and can bring them from one session to the next, up to 10 - or you can spend them separately as a dice bonus. If she hadn't earned some Hero Points for style and daring, and spent even more in a hard fight, she'd have forgotten to use any, I'm pretty sure. I should know, I've been playing with her for over a decade!
Then again, she was fighting a minotaur all by herself. Which is a suitable endeavour for a S&S character, in my book. Stunts like provoking a surprise attack in order to counter-ambush an assailant are also very much in-genre from my point of view - and this is what she did.
So, she got to witness people leaving after an encounter they'd rather have kept secret. Everybody had fun, and considered it in-genre, as I said.
And yet...I haven't used meta-game currency to give leads or "advantageous circumstances" in years. It just felt wrong!
Not sure I want to do that again any time soon.
And I guess that there went my qualifications as a simulationist sandbox Referee? Ah, well, I'd have to live with being a hidden narrativist!
I wonder what a suitable penance would be?
WARNING: The events happened as they were described, but this post might still contain traces of humour!
Showing posts with label Sword and Sorcery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sword and Sorcery. Show all posts
Sunday, 8 April 2018
Monday, 8 May 2017
The story of my Exaltation
That's about my current character, the Patrician of the Realm (in Exalteds's...
Last session he got Exalted. As the GM put it, "you can't get any better as Solar material than that" (Solars are Exalted by the head of the setting's pantheon, the most powerful god of them all - and are thus the most powerful Exalted. She thinks they're also the most arrogant...which I wouldn't dispute).
How did I prove myself arrogant enough to get Exalted (after quite a few sessions of play)? By negotiating, believe it or not!
It was a good negotiation with Fair Folk. These are, in Exalted, the kind of "fairies" you see in old tales - the kind that come, charm you, steal your soul, and age your body beyond repair;).
Then they make a tale about it, because Fair Folk are creatures of tales.
Now, one you have a picture of the Fair Folk in mind, imagine meeting old, powerful Fair Folks which were powerful enough that decades ago to have captured a Lunar Exalt, chosen by the second greatest goddess out there. (How did I know that? Well, that's the Lunar that had accompanied me to that place, as she had volunteered to guard me - I'm starting to think she's developing a thing for me...)
Imagined those Fair Folk? Good.
Those are the Fair Folk I negotiated with from the position of strength.
Before becoming an Exalted myself - remember, I was still an unproven mortal.
After transgressing on their turf, which - in that area - would grant them "rights" over my soul.
Insolence, you say? It's part of the genre!
Hey, the very reason we were there was totally S&S: my mentor in sorcerous arts sent me to harvest the poison of a ancient god-snake as big as several houses. We were in the process - the god-snake didn't mind, as nothing less than a deer counted as worthy of his menu, and he likes when people use his poison to make medicine - when the Fair Folk came.
Thing is...in this place, the mortals live on the huge trees, hundreds of meters high. The Fair Folk and undead, by ancient contract, don't go up - but anyone who gets down, can be freely feasted upon.
As they put it after appearing at midnight, "by an ancient contract, you're ours - but please amuse us, we're willing to listen to your pleading..."
Me: "Well, I'm rich. I can buy 10 slaves and lower them to you here, or 20 slaves".
"An unscrupulous one? I like that! Let's negotiate."
"...but for 20 slaves, you make a volt-face, leave, and make sure we're not disturbed by anyone else in the next two days and nights".
I was willing to suffer their presence in the vicinity for the next couple of days.
And, as I pointed out to them, they can kill me in unimaginably awful ways, or they can get 10 or 20 other souls to feed on in the same way.
"She alone is worth more than that", they said, pointing to my Lunar companion.
"You don't stand a chance to catch her, anyways."
"We had captured her already. Didn't she tell you?"
"When was that?"
As it turned out, 50 or 60 years ago. The Exalted live for much longer.
My character had been around Exalted (Dragon-Blooded Exalted, but still) his whole life. He just smirked, knowing that in 50 years, an Exalted martial artist, like the Lunar, can go from initiate to master.
"Good luck capturing her again. Anyways, I'm negotiating for myself - she can climb those trees back faster than you can imagine, I've seen it. So, what's your word?"
Basically, I got them to the point where they wanted the slaves, and they wanted me. Decision points...
So the solution of the fair folk lady was to try and seduce me to give them both. With loads of Willpower, I resisted - much to her dismay - though she was tempting, and my character does like seductive women like her.
Of course, I knew she could just decide to take my soul anyway. So my rejection was formulated in the language of stories.
"No, much as you're beautiful...it's still a no. Though it's tempting!"
"Then why don't you come?"
"Ah, but consider what the story would be: I met a beautiful fair folk lady, and we fucked in the forest. Sounds like a young buck vaunting his exploits! Boring! But then, consider instead this story: I came across a beautiful woman of the Fair Folk, seductive as a dream, who wanted me for her bed - but despite me wanting her as well, we could never do that, for the mortals are too different. So we separated, still longing for each other...Now, that's a story! It speaks of wishes unfulfilled, of burning lust and desire left unsatisfied - because of higher reasons. It is a tragedy to the participants, and hints at deeper truths and plot devices at work, and yes, maybe, of a continuation!"
She was instantly sold, and thus the negotiation concluded;).
And when they left, I was feeling great, excited and powerful, while the Lunar almost had to pick her jaw off the grass.
Not the least, because I was shining in gold.
With the colours, and caste mark, of the Swords of the Dawn.
My laughter erupted. I went after the Fair Folk, and used that surge of power, such as I haven't felt since then, to kill the hobgoblins guards of the Fair Folk Nobles, to break off the man's hands and legs, and knock the lady out. I brought them back.
I had noticed the Lunar felt all tense just by seeing them.
"Was any of them displeasing towards you during your captivity, dear?"
"He most certainly was!"
I handed her my knife, handle first.
"Start cutting him. If you cut him too little, I'll finish him off."
She took her time, and he was dead at the end. In the meantime, I bound the woman before she would wake, and spoke with the ancient god about myself.
What was I now?
Was I really the incarnation of an all-powerful sorceror who would destroy my soul, as the Immaculate Monks had taught me?
Should I suicide?
"In all fights, the history is written by the victors, do you not know? The ones that lost are always guilty!"
Of course, being a Patrician, I'd seen that already, first-hand...my Dragon-Blooded Exalted brethren had no qualms about acting like that in front of me.
"Some of them were mad. Others were still kind, and caring", was the ancient god's verdict. "It's up to you what you would become".
In a way, that made it even harder to decide what to do next.
Last session he got Exalted. As the GM put it, "you can't get any better as Solar material than that" (Solars are Exalted by the head of the setting's pantheon, the most powerful god of them all - and are thus the most powerful Exalted. She thinks they're also the most arrogant...which I wouldn't dispute).
How did I prove myself arrogant enough to get Exalted (after quite a few sessions of play)? By negotiating, believe it or not!
It was a good negotiation with Fair Folk. These are, in Exalted, the kind of "fairies" you see in old tales - the kind that come, charm you, steal your soul, and age your body beyond repair;).
Then they make a tale about it, because Fair Folk are creatures of tales.
Now, one you have a picture of the Fair Folk in mind, imagine meeting old, powerful Fair Folks which were powerful enough that decades ago to have captured a Lunar Exalt, chosen by the second greatest goddess out there. (How did I know that? Well, that's the Lunar that had accompanied me to that place, as she had volunteered to guard me - I'm starting to think she's developing a thing for me...)
Imagined those Fair Folk? Good.
Those are the Fair Folk I negotiated with from the position of strength.
Before becoming an Exalted myself - remember, I was still an unproven mortal.
After transgressing on their turf, which - in that area - would grant them "rights" over my soul.
Insolence, you say? It's part of the genre!
Hey, the very reason we were there was totally S&S: my mentor in sorcerous arts sent me to harvest the poison of a ancient god-snake as big as several houses. We were in the process - the god-snake didn't mind, as nothing less than a deer counted as worthy of his menu, and he likes when people use his poison to make medicine - when the Fair Folk came.
Thing is...in this place, the mortals live on the huge trees, hundreds of meters high. The Fair Folk and undead, by ancient contract, don't go up - but anyone who gets down, can be freely feasted upon.
As they put it after appearing at midnight, "by an ancient contract, you're ours - but please amuse us, we're willing to listen to your pleading..."
Me: "Well, I'm rich. I can buy 10 slaves and lower them to you here, or 20 slaves".
"An unscrupulous one? I like that! Let's negotiate."
"...but for 20 slaves, you make a volt-face, leave, and make sure we're not disturbed by anyone else in the next two days and nights".
I was willing to suffer their presence in the vicinity for the next couple of days.
And, as I pointed out to them, they can kill me in unimaginably awful ways, or they can get 10 or 20 other souls to feed on in the same way.
"She alone is worth more than that", they said, pointing to my Lunar companion.
"You don't stand a chance to catch her, anyways."
"We had captured her already. Didn't she tell you?"
"When was that?"
As it turned out, 50 or 60 years ago. The Exalted live for much longer.
My character had been around Exalted (Dragon-Blooded Exalted, but still) his whole life. He just smirked, knowing that in 50 years, an Exalted martial artist, like the Lunar, can go from initiate to master.
"Good luck capturing her again. Anyways, I'm negotiating for myself - she can climb those trees back faster than you can imagine, I've seen it. So, what's your word?"
Basically, I got them to the point where they wanted the slaves, and they wanted me. Decision points...
So the solution of the fair folk lady was to try and seduce me to give them both. With loads of Willpower, I resisted - much to her dismay - though she was tempting, and my character does like seductive women like her.
Of course, I knew she could just decide to take my soul anyway. So my rejection was formulated in the language of stories.
"No, much as you're beautiful...it's still a no. Though it's tempting!"
"Then why don't you come?"
"Ah, but consider what the story would be: I met a beautiful fair folk lady, and we fucked in the forest. Sounds like a young buck vaunting his exploits! Boring! But then, consider instead this story: I came across a beautiful woman of the Fair Folk, seductive as a dream, who wanted me for her bed - but despite me wanting her as well, we could never do that, for the mortals are too different. So we separated, still longing for each other...Now, that's a story! It speaks of wishes unfulfilled, of burning lust and desire left unsatisfied - because of higher reasons. It is a tragedy to the participants, and hints at deeper truths and plot devices at work, and yes, maybe, of a continuation!"
She was instantly sold, and thus the negotiation concluded;).
And when they left, I was feeling great, excited and powerful, while the Lunar almost had to pick her jaw off the grass.
Not the least, because I was shining in gold.
With the colours, and caste mark, of the Swords of the Dawn.
My laughter erupted. I went after the Fair Folk, and used that surge of power, such as I haven't felt since then, to kill the hobgoblins guards of the Fair Folk Nobles, to break off the man's hands and legs, and knock the lady out. I brought them back.
I had noticed the Lunar felt all tense just by seeing them.
"Was any of them displeasing towards you during your captivity, dear?"
"He most certainly was!"
I handed her my knife, handle first.
"Start cutting him. If you cut him too little, I'll finish him off."
She took her time, and he was dead at the end. In the meantime, I bound the woman before she would wake, and spoke with the ancient god about myself.
What was I now?
Was I really the incarnation of an all-powerful sorceror who would destroy my soul, as the Immaculate Monks had taught me?
Should I suicide?
"In all fights, the history is written by the victors, do you not know? The ones that lost are always guilty!"
Of course, being a Patrician, I'd seen that already, first-hand...my Dragon-Blooded Exalted brethren had no qualms about acting like that in front of me.
"Some of them were mad. Others were still kind, and caring", was the ancient god's verdict. "It's up to you what you would become".
In a way, that made it even harder to decide what to do next.
Sunday, 26 March 2017
My Low Fantasy/Mythras setting
I am working on my own setting (and might publish it this time...). I already posted two NPCs from it.
So, here's what I want from said setting:
A place where weapons and emotions are the only magic.
That's the setting I'm working on...dual-statted for Low Fantasy RPG and Mythras (I've been toying with the idea of making it tripple-statted for Cepheus/Traveller, and/or one of The Riddle of Steel clones, too - but neither is part of it yet).
Why, you ask me? It resolves "the supremacy of spellcasters" and the complaints about "how can I do a monk and why do I need a weapon" in one fell swoop. And I just like weapons being magic.
Emotions
Since there's no magic, and a person can only be so strong and skilled, people are your only real, nigh-infinite resource for achieving greatness. You can't defeat an army...but you can lead your own army. Or you can work the army's strategist into committing a mistake, and defeating himself.
And the only way to control people, as we all know, is to appeal to their emotions. (Of course, that means finding out what they want, first. And catering to people's emotions is always taxing).
And some of the people you meet are weapons with spirits inside. Others are demons. Both can give you great power...at a cost, because they also have emotions. Granted, not all of them have the emotions you'd consider sane, but then that applies to those people of flesh, blood and human parents, too...
Swords (and other weapons)
It's important to note that the Spirit Weapons aren't always swords. Sometimes, they're something else, but always have steel parts (making shields and iron-shod staffs eligible).
One thing is for certain: they're virtually indestructible, and never need sharpening (nor is it possible, even if they're less sharp than you wanted them to be - as might be the case with some anti-armour implements, if you ever get to a place where people walk around mostly naked). You never clean rust, nor does it impact the functioning of the weapon, if it's there (on some rare* cases).
Last note: a true demon can never become a weapon. Only once-godlings can, and they can only be weapons. Because weapons are holy.
Don't hope to have both, though. Neither of them are into sharing, and even less are into sharing with another kind. To find two different ones that don't mind, is so unlikely as to be virtually impossible.
The POWERZ of thy sword!
First and most obvious: they give you bonuses and penalties on some Passions. And they demand that you indulge in those that they give you bonuses for, and avoid those where you have penalties...at least they don't make it harder for you to obey. And obeying makes you happy (that's listed here, because a naturally violent person who gets another shot of magic weapon-inspired violence might become a murder machine with no special powerZ needed - but you get those anyway). Keep in mind, it's never just "violence+20%", it's "violence against equals", "violence against groups", and so on. It's never "Love+20%", it's "love for your lawful wife+20%", or "love all the nice women+20%".
The next thing you get...depends on the weapon's personality.
A weapon that can be any other weapon? A weapon that can fly to your hand? A weapon that can help you teleport, as long as you already are wielding it? A weapon that sheathes itself in flame, or ice, or spits lightining or acid in the enemy's face? An weapon that gives you wings? An weapon that executes your wishes, but at a price?
The important thing is, they all have an...call it "theme". That's because they all have spirits inside, dontchaknow, and spirits have...well, personalities.
And all NPC personalities have a "theme", even if the "theme" is "person living in the Wild West and driving cattle around". Or, for a fantasy game, "a normal Nemedian guy who hopes his skill at arms would help him get ahead in life".
Or, in the case of weapons, The Noble Eagle, the Principle of Cutting, the Principle of Insertion, and The One Who Spots Everything (beware of ever meeting The Ruthless Ferret, though - he kills for fear, profit, pleasure, glory, infamy, food, because someone was in reach and his head was conveniently situated to shear off, and because once you start, you might as well go for the full round...)
The Noble Eagle has the powers of Sight (including through objects), See Magic, Flight, Paralysis, Telekinesis** and Longevity. He wants riches, power, but be ready for you your sex drive to take a plunge: eagles fuck once a year, after all, and he finds it distracting.
Farseer also gives you Sight, but also DarkSight, See Magic, and only then Flight (to get to better vantage points), and Longevity. He's quite close to The Noble Eagle, but while he respects the Eagle, the Eagle secretly envies Farseer. His desires are Curiosity, Respect, and Sex (being able to see people naked either makes you horny, or jaded, but being jaded doesn't match well with his curiosity). However, he lowers your desire for mass violence: Farseer prizes understanding and showing off the knowledge so obtained, not killing off. He very much wants battles with worthy opponents, though: what's better than figuring out the weakness of a man with no weaknesses?
Cleancutter is probably his stellar opposite, yet the two are, for some reason, close friends. Cleancutter allows you Power Cuts, Transformation (of Cleancutter, not yourself - you can always carry him like a knife, if only a knife is allowed, or as a glaive, if you face a horseman), Spirit-cutting, Wounding, and allows you to sever causality to get what you want by merely making a symbolic cut in the air. However, something is going to happen, as a price: when you cut the strings of causality, expect backlash! (Also: karma is a bitch).
You get the idea.
*Rusty weapons are alternately said to have spots on their souls, or to be weeping...forever. Or both.
**You suck being an eagle if you can't carry your prey off, if it's struggling, and eagles are long-lived.
P.S.: Those are the versions of Farseer and Cleancutter that I'm using. They might well be different in your campaign.
So, here's what I want from said setting:
A place where weapons and emotions are the only magic.
That's the setting I'm working on...dual-statted for Low Fantasy RPG and Mythras (I've been toying with the idea of making it tripple-statted for Cepheus/Traveller, and/or one of The Riddle of Steel clones, too - but neither is part of it yet).
Why, you ask me? It resolves "the supremacy of spellcasters" and the complaints about "how can I do a monk and why do I need a weapon" in one fell swoop. And I just like weapons being magic.
Emotions
Since there's no magic, and a person can only be so strong and skilled, people are your only real, nigh-infinite resource for achieving greatness. You can't defeat an army...but you can lead your own army. Or you can work the army's strategist into committing a mistake, and defeating himself.
And the only way to control people, as we all know, is to appeal to their emotions. (Of course, that means finding out what they want, first. And catering to people's emotions is always taxing).
And some of the people you meet are weapons with spirits inside. Others are demons. Both can give you great power...at a cost, because they also have emotions. Granted, not all of them have the emotions you'd consider sane, but then that applies to those people of flesh, blood and human parents, too...
Swords (and other weapons)
It's important to note that the Spirit Weapons aren't always swords. Sometimes, they're something else, but always have steel parts (making shields and iron-shod staffs eligible).
One thing is for certain: they're virtually indestructible, and never need sharpening (nor is it possible, even if they're less sharp than you wanted them to be - as might be the case with some anti-armour implements, if you ever get to a place where people walk around mostly naked). You never clean rust, nor does it impact the functioning of the weapon, if it's there (on some rare* cases).
Last note: a true demon can never become a weapon. Only once-godlings can, and they can only be weapons. Because weapons are holy.
Don't hope to have both, though. Neither of them are into sharing, and even less are into sharing with another kind. To find two different ones that don't mind, is so unlikely as to be virtually impossible.
The POWERZ of thy sword!
First and most obvious: they give you bonuses and penalties on some Passions. And they demand that you indulge in those that they give you bonuses for, and avoid those where you have penalties...at least they don't make it harder for you to obey. And obeying makes you happy (that's listed here, because a naturally violent person who gets another shot of magic weapon-inspired violence might become a murder machine with no special powerZ needed - but you get those anyway). Keep in mind, it's never just "violence+20%", it's "violence against equals", "violence against groups", and so on. It's never "Love+20%", it's "love for your lawful wife+20%", or "love all the nice women+20%".
The next thing you get...depends on the weapon's personality.
A weapon that can be any other weapon? A weapon that can fly to your hand? A weapon that can help you teleport, as long as you already are wielding it? A weapon that sheathes itself in flame, or ice, or spits lightining or acid in the enemy's face? An weapon that gives you wings? An weapon that executes your wishes, but at a price?
The important thing is, they all have an...call it "theme". That's because they all have spirits inside, dontchaknow, and spirits have...well, personalities.
And all NPC personalities have a "theme", even if the "theme" is "person living in the Wild West and driving cattle around". Or, for a fantasy game, "a normal Nemedian guy who hopes his skill at arms would help him get ahead in life".
Or, in the case of weapons, The Noble Eagle, the Principle of Cutting, the Principle of Insertion, and The One Who Spots Everything (beware of ever meeting The Ruthless Ferret, though - he kills for fear, profit, pleasure, glory, infamy, food, because someone was in reach and his head was conveniently situated to shear off, and because once you start, you might as well go for the full round...)
The Noble Eagle has the powers of Sight (including through objects), See Magic, Flight, Paralysis, Telekinesis** and Longevity. He wants riches, power, but be ready for you your sex drive to take a plunge: eagles fuck once a year, after all, and he finds it distracting.
Farseer also gives you Sight, but also DarkSight, See Magic, and only then Flight (to get to better vantage points), and Longevity. He's quite close to The Noble Eagle, but while he respects the Eagle, the Eagle secretly envies Farseer. His desires are Curiosity, Respect, and Sex (being able to see people naked either makes you horny, or jaded, but being jaded doesn't match well with his curiosity). However, he lowers your desire for mass violence: Farseer prizes understanding and showing off the knowledge so obtained, not killing off. He very much wants battles with worthy opponents, though: what's better than figuring out the weakness of a man with no weaknesses?
Cleancutter is probably his stellar opposite, yet the two are, for some reason, close friends. Cleancutter allows you Power Cuts, Transformation (of Cleancutter, not yourself - you can always carry him like a knife, if only a knife is allowed, or as a glaive, if you face a horseman), Spirit-cutting, Wounding, and allows you to sever causality to get what you want by merely making a symbolic cut in the air. However, something is going to happen, as a price: when you cut the strings of causality, expect backlash! (Also: karma is a bitch).
You get the idea.
*Rusty weapons are alternately said to have spots on their souls, or to be weeping...forever. Or both.
**You suck being an eagle if you can't carry your prey off, if it's struggling, and eagles are long-lived.
P.S.: Those are the versions of Farseer and Cleancutter that I'm using. They might well be different in your campaign.
Monday, 16 June 2014
Creting a character for Barbarians of Lemuria in...I don't know how many, but they're easy steps!
So, I decide to go for a BoL character. And I've decided to make him a hero who can live up to the fluff of being a young Elric.
Why Elric? Because there's always enough people to play the pure swordslingers.
His name is Ashoka, I decide.
So I go and read the setting, then come up with the following. I've decided I want someone with a specialised skill in some weapon.
Malakuti golden lotus
Makes the best entertainment,
Malakuti wavey spears
Claim the most lives,
Malakuti night thieves
Bring you valued treaties,
Alchemy can make you immortal
If you survive the learning.
I am the Malakuti Alchemist!
That was the tl;dr version of his bio, actually.
Western Malakut...it's a province, but call anyone from there a country bumpkin, and you risk losing more than your teeth. Still, it's a place where men go to trade with the natives for herbs and drugs that are expensive elsewhere. You sail them to Malakut by boat on the small rivers, then North-East by boat towards the buyers. And if you try a bit of your own medicine? Eh, who cares, really... there's lots of it.
Ashoka is an alchemist born in Western Malakut. He learned to chew on the Lotus there, before going to the city to study his trade. Sure, he's also a thief, and can take care of a wound in a pinch, and other stuff... he even went on for a brief turn in the city watch, after finally getting in the city proper, long enough to learn some tricks with the spear. There, an older mercenary taught him the secret of combat. The most important thing in a fight is to not get hit. He was an apt pupil and absorbed these teachings, too.
But his real love is alchemy. Some say he actually loves it too much, especially the potions...
Now, he is trying to set up his greatest invention. He's hunting for ingredients to go towards the creation of the ultimate elixir, one that might grant him immortality. Or so he hopes.
Too bad people that have such ingredients don't part with them willingly. Ah well, did we mention he's a thief, too?
Because he really is, and some people are soon going to find that out!
Well, that's for those that aren't afraid to do a bit of reading.
So, let's proceed with the stats.
I picture him as the mean, lean and not-burdened by muscles archetype. He's also smart, but not really wholesome. And all those years of training with the spear of Malakut should have thaught him speed...
Besides, I hit people with Ag+3. Speed is useful both in getting hit and in not getting hit. The edition of BoL I was using says you can put up to 4 points in a single place, so I'm not even min-maxing him as much as I could... remember: a 4/1 spread would have been cheaper to raise to 4/2 (due to non-linear XP costs). But I see him as starting with pretty even in the things he's good at.
Next, Boons and Flaws.
I decide he gets special skill in:
Malakut fighting spear and Blind combat
And he's got special Thieves' tools because remember how he started?
Of course, I've got to pay for these. I need flaws. Luckily, some of them are just so Elric-like!
Flaws:
Delicate
Addict (Golden/Black Lotus-left to the GM to choose)
He's an addict to Lotus powder, though, and Delicate means just that. So, he gets less Lifeblood, starting with 8, less than a normal BoL character.Well, it's only proving his point about avoiding getting hit! So, his skills....
And anyone with less than +3 on attack needs an 11 or more on 2d6 to hit me. Minions can't hit me unless they get a 12, and that's a critical anyway. I decide to keep a couple Hero points to downgrade their criticals into normal strikes, and to leave the heavy hitters to the more brawny barbarians.
I get 5 hero points for attributes and all that, though. That should be enough, as long as I keep a couple spare ones in case it goes bad.
Careers:
Thief 1, because he started stealing treatises.
Soldier 0, because following orders isn't his style...but he figured he ought to do his duty. And the soldiers got a special training in the Malakut spears.
Alchemist 3, because he discovered an apptitude towards the things he was reading about in treatises and such.
Physician 0
Weapons and armour are standard:
And then we get to the bonus of Alchemy. Because an alchemist gets to prepare beforehand.
I choose to make a Common preparation:
A painkiller (1d3 LB restored)
And then I also make an Uncommon preparation:
Malakut spear hidden in a walking staff
Of course, I'd only take it out against a real enemy, or as a way to show-off. But with it, I roll 3d6, take the highest two...and my enemies are much more likely to suffer a Critical. Criticals are nasty in this system.
And with that, Ashoka is ready to go adventuring. I hope to see other PCs with similar level of ability. I mean, this is a system where you can be rolling 2d6 and hitting a minion on anything that's not a 2 (Ashoka would be getting hit on 7+, but that's Ashoka Not My Face I'm Not Fit For Such Games). And you could be rolling a 3d6, take highest 2, effectively giving you a 0.5% odds to miss a minion (like, a normal soldier). Or, if you want a more sensible approach, you could be hitting them with 4+ on 3d6 take highest 2, but the minions only hit you on a 11 or 12.
Think about this-you could be Conan from the get-go, slaying enemies left and right. It is really a Swords and Sorcery game!
Why Elric? Because there's always enough people to play the pure swordslingers.
His name is Ashoka, I decide.
So I go and read the setting, then come up with the following. I've decided I want someone with a specialised skill in some weapon.
Malakuti golden lotus
Makes the best entertainment,
Malakuti wavey spears
Claim the most lives,
Malakuti night thieves
Bring you valued treaties,
Alchemy can make you immortal
If you survive the learning.
I am the Malakuti Alchemist!
That was the tl;dr version of his bio, actually.
Western Malakut...it's a province, but call anyone from there a country bumpkin, and you risk losing more than your teeth. Still, it's a place where men go to trade with the natives for herbs and drugs that are expensive elsewhere. You sail them to Malakut by boat on the small rivers, then North-East by boat towards the buyers. And if you try a bit of your own medicine? Eh, who cares, really... there's lots of it.
Ashoka is an alchemist born in Western Malakut. He learned to chew on the Lotus there, before going to the city to study his trade. Sure, he's also a thief, and can take care of a wound in a pinch, and other stuff... he even went on for a brief turn in the city watch, after finally getting in the city proper, long enough to learn some tricks with the spear. There, an older mercenary taught him the secret of combat. The most important thing in a fight is to not get hit. He was an apt pupil and absorbed these teachings, too.
But his real love is alchemy. Some say he actually loves it too much, especially the potions...
Now, he is trying to set up his greatest invention. He's hunting for ingredients to go towards the creation of the ultimate elixir, one that might grant him immortality. Or so he hopes.
Too bad people that have such ingredients don't part with them willingly. Ah well, did we mention he's a thief, too?
Because he really is, and some people are soon going to find that out!
Well, that's for those that aren't afraid to do a bit of reading.
So, let's proceed with the stats.
I picture him as the mean, lean and not-burdened by muscles archetype. He's also smart, but not really wholesome. And all those years of training with the spear of Malakut should have thaught him speed...
- STR 0
- AG 3
- MIND 2
- APP -1
Besides, I hit people with Ag+3. Speed is useful both in getting hit and in not getting hit. The edition of BoL I was using says you can put up to 4 points in a single place, so I'm not even min-maxing him as much as I could... remember: a 4/1 spread would have been cheaper to raise to 4/2 (due to non-linear XP costs). But I see him as starting with pretty even in the things he's good at.
Next, Boons and Flaws.
I decide he gets special skill in:
Malakut fighting spear and Blind combat
And he's got special Thieves' tools because remember how he started?
Of course, I've got to pay for these. I need flaws. Luckily, some of them are just so Elric-like!
Flaws:
Delicate
Addict (Golden/Black Lotus-left to the GM to choose)
He's an addict to Lotus powder, though, and Delicate means just that. So, he gets less Lifeblood, starting with 8, less than a normal BoL character.Well, it's only proving his point about avoiding getting hit! So, his skills....
- BRAWL 0
- MELEE 0
- RANGED 0
- DEFENCE 4
And anyone with less than +3 on attack needs an 11 or more on 2d6 to hit me. Minions can't hit me unless they get a 12, and that's a critical anyway. I decide to keep a couple Hero points to downgrade their criticals into normal strikes, and to leave the heavy hitters to the more brawny barbarians.
I get 5 hero points for attributes and all that, though. That should be enough, as long as I keep a couple spare ones in case it goes bad.
Careers:
Thief 1, because he started stealing treatises.
Soldier 0, because following orders isn't his style...but he figured he ought to do his duty. And the soldiers got a special training in the Malakut spears.
Alchemist 3, because he discovered an apptitude towards the things he was reading about in treatises and such.
Physician 0
Weapons and armour are standard:
- Malakut fighting spear (roll 1 die more, keep best) d6
- Walking staff d6-1
- 3 throwing daggers d3
- Close-combat curved knife d6-2 (if the GM lets me have this one, otherwise, just a d3)
- Fists d2 I don't like using them...
- Very light armour d3-1
And then we get to the bonus of Alchemy. Because an alchemist gets to prepare beforehand.
I choose to make a Common preparation:
A painkiller (1d3 LB restored)
And then I also make an Uncommon preparation:
Malakut spear hidden in a walking staff
Of course, I'd only take it out against a real enemy, or as a way to show-off. But with it, I roll 3d6, take the highest two...and my enemies are much more likely to suffer a Critical. Criticals are nasty in this system.
And with that, Ashoka is ready to go adventuring. I hope to see other PCs with similar level of ability. I mean, this is a system where you can be rolling 2d6 and hitting a minion on anything that's not a 2 (Ashoka would be getting hit on 7+, but that's Ashoka Not My Face I'm Not Fit For Such Games). And you could be rolling a 3d6, take highest 2, effectively giving you a 0.5% odds to miss a minion (like, a normal soldier). Or, if you want a more sensible approach, you could be hitting them with 4+ on 3d6 take highest 2, but the minions only hit you on a 11 or 12.
Think about this-you could be Conan from the get-go, slaying enemies left and right. It is really a Swords and Sorcery game!
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