Drakkar adventures

[askhati]

For the record - there are NO instant-death sections in my adventures. You might take some grievous damage when you fail a roll, but never will you be killed outright. However, I plan to be a little more harsh on equipment - shields can break when used for too long, weapons shatter when wielded against hard surfaces, potion bottles can break when you are thrown from your horse, etc. Word of advice: whatever you pick up in my adventures, don't become too attached to it too quickly!

[Zero]

Okay, that's definitely fine then. I'm okay with getting shanked for 12-odd EP when I do something stupid, but the random "lol sniper u dead" rolls, particularly when skills made no difference, really annoyed me. Looking more forward to this the more you discuss it.

(edit) ...wow, I'm griping a lot, aren't I? My bad. -_- I promise I do love the heck out of this series, but I'm a horrible systems twink.

[jellyfish]

"lol sniper u dead" is the best part of gamebooks.

Will you:
Open the innocuous door on the left? Section 324
Look under the perfectly normal looking table? Section 174

OH NUTS OH NUTS OH NUTS

[askhati]

Some more interesting items:
- a Scout Cloak, padded with fleece stuffing and mottled on the outside to resemble the dark, mossy greenery of the forests that cover most of the central and eastern Hammerlands. It can be worn over any type of chest armour that you might have, and gives a +1 EN bonus when worn in combat. It will also help with some d10 rolls where having Camouflage/Concealment improves your roll.
- a Glass Buckler, made from green glass and cast to resemble a screaming human face. A relic from the time when the Cenerese empire covered much of Central and Northern Magnamund, this odd-looking shield will give you +1 CS, +1 EN when wielded in combat. Finding it will not be hard - acquiring it will.
- a set of Brass Knuckles, worn on your hands. When told to take CS penalties for being unarmed (e.g. in combat), the Brass Knuckles will reduce those penalties by one half. Some fights will also feature certain points - e.g. after the first 4 rounds, or when your opponent has lost more than half their initial EN - to use the Brass Knuckles and end the fight earlier.

[pi4t]

Is 'one half' rounded up or down?

[Oiseau]

Penalties for unarmed combat tend to be even numbers (–4CS, –2CS), but I would assume you round down. If you're at a level where unarmed combat only penalizes you by –1CS, having brass knuckles should put you at even strength.

[johntfs]

I would assume neither. The standard "unarmed combat" penalty is -4. Halved, that would be -2. Assuming you progressed far enough to get it to -1, Brass Knuckles should eliminate it entirely or even give a bonus.

Actually, it might be simpler to say that Brass Knuckles give you a +2 CS when you are fighting without a Weapon (partially countering the unarmed combat penalty, which is still applied). That way you need not worry about halving anything.

[askhati]

Hmmm... Think I like your idea better johntfs. Should be easier to explain and use than the "one half" rule (and the idea was to make the -4 CS penalty a -2 CS penalty, which translates into a +2 CS anyway).

Thought of a new game system last night: poisoned weapons. At various points along his adventures, your character might be able to get his hands on poisons or venoms of some kind - snake venom, Graveweed poison, etc etc. Now, for a noble Kai warrior, using poison against your foes might not be kosher (except if they are Ice Barbarians), but for a vicious Drakkarim scout, using a poisoned blade or bolt should not be a problem. I'm still debating whether using poison in combat should be discipline-specific - like dual-wielding - or instead to simply add duration/potency bonuses if the poisoner has certain disciplines.

Sequence:
1. Acquire poison somewhere during your travels. If the poison can be applied to weapons, it will state two attributes:
- X duration (in rounds) of the poison
- Y added damage per round, or other effects
2. before combat, where you are normally given the chance to drink a potion, you may now choose to apply poison to your blade instead
3. the poison then stays in effect for X rounds and deals Y extra damage per round

Some opponents will obvious be immune to poison - spectral beings, the undead, elemental creatures - and in some fights, you will not have the time or opportunity to drink potions or poison your blades.

Like I said - the system is still a WIP. Any thoughts would be welcome as always.

[pi4t]

1)Consider only increasing the damage if damage is dealt, 0 damage is, to all intents and purposes, a miss.

2)Why not have it so that once you deal damage the poison takes effect gradually, ie deals Y damage per Z rounds, to a maximum of the number of damage you dealt.

EXAMPLE

You apply a poison lasting for 2 rounds, and dealing 3 damage every 2 rounds.

On your first round you deal 0 damage. The poison is not used.

On your second round you deal 3 damage. The poison will now take effect.

On your third round, no poison damage is yet dealt, but you deal 10 damage! Unfortunately, the poison has worn off on your blade, and your enemy is not poisoned again.

On your fourth round (second since the enemy was poisoned) you miss, but your enemy still takes 3 damage from the poison. The same happens on the sixth round (fourth since the enemy was poisoned).

On the eighth round, your enemy takes no damage from the poison. Since as you applied it you dealt 5 damags, its effects lasted for 5 attack rounds. Your enemy has now freed himself of its effects!

[askhati]

Jaaaa... Missing an attack makes sense to skip poison damage that round, but dealing damage every other round... That could get confusing.

Another alternative:
Round 1 - 1 damage
Round 2 - 2 damage
Rounds 3,4 - 3 damage
Round 5 - 2 damage
Round 6 - 1 damage, poison spent

[pi4t]

What I was meaning was that, having hit your enemy with poison, it doesn't deal all its damage at once, but over time.

[Oiseau]

You have to use the KISS rule with any new addition to the game rules. In this case, rememering to add Y damage every X rounds is confusing and detracts from the simplicity of the combat rules. Same goes for the 1-2-3-3-2-1 pattern of additional damage (since this would presumably be different for different kinds of poison). "Keep It Simple". Poisoned blades add X to all damage inflicted on the CRT. Choose X depending on how strong you want your poison to be, but no variable damage per round. Only exception is zero damage stays zero damage (since you missed).

[askhati]

...which is exactly what I had in mind initially - +Y damage per round for X rounds. Hmm... Think I'll stick to that rule then. It does still allow for alot of variation - weak poisons that last long, strong poisons that are "runny" (i.e. they do not stay on the blade for long), poisons that last for the duration of the fight, etc.

Talking about additions to the game rules, this is a quick summary of what I have added thus far:
1. Trophy Count (like money that is earned after each fight; thinking of dropping it...)
2. Shield Damage (N) checks (shields lose their efficiency the more you use them)
3. Poisoned Weapons (like drinking a potion that harms your opponent instead of boosting yourself)

...and that is about it. KISS indeed...

[jellyfish]

Apr 25, 2010 18:25:59 GMT askhati said:

...which is exactly what I had in mind initially - +Y damage per round for X rounds.

It's not the same. Oiseau wants X = 1, and I agree (less things to keep track of).

Either just a fixed +damage on hit (for a damaging poison), or a fixed -CS for opponent on hit (for a debilitating poison), effective for the whole combat, will be fine.

[pi4t]

Don't drop trophy count! You could have it as a sort of score, with uses sometimes.