The print version is $15, as well.
Get 'em while they're still sorta luke warm!*
*Chanbara has never really been "hot" but I'm happy with it! Hope you all enjoy it, too!
Monday, April 27, 2020
Chanbara Price
I just reduced the price of the Chanbara PDF to $5.00. If you never picked it up because you thought $10 was too much, now's your chance!
The print version is $15, as well.
Get 'em while they're still sorta luke warm!*
*Chanbara has never really been "hot" but I'm happy with it! Hope you all enjoy it, too!
The print version is $15, as well.
Get 'em while they're still sorta luke warm!*
*Chanbara has never really been "hot" but I'm happy with it! Hope you all enjoy it, too!
Saturday, April 25, 2020
CoronaBlahs, and a Simple Rule for Black Markets
My coronavirus isolation, plus online teaching, has kept me busy the past month. So not much blogging. I haven't done any more reading of the Immortal Set. Barely worked on my TSR-East project. I did paint a lot of minis, though, and started a play-by-post Star Wars d6 game using the same starting adventure I used with the Busan Gamers. I got some VERY enthusiastic players, and it's going pretty well so far, along with my now long-running but slow posting megadungeon Classic D&D play by post game. And I'm still running West Marches and Star Wars on Hangouts/Roll20. Star Wars tonight! Also, Dean switched back to 4E, his edition of choice, and I think the adventures of our high levle 5E characters, Jack Summerisle and crew, are finished.
Dean finally convinced me to try the 4E game. It took me two attempts to make a character. The first time I gave up in frustration at the overload of options. The second time, I got it done. I now play Xuan Lai, a monkey hengeyokai Monk. Yes, he's the monkey-est monk in Eberron! [Any similarity to Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, is purely coincidental, honestly!]
Anyway, the Star Wars game is heavily involved with Hutts. Both, actually. So I was thinking of ways to simulate black market sales of goods. And I think I have a pretty elegant idea that would work regardless of system, at least for things like odd treasures that don't have a set price. I often do that with treasures, saying it will be worth 1d8 x100 gp, or 2d6 x250gp, or whatever. If players want to shop around for different buyers, they might get a better price than the one first offered (they never do, tending to take the first offer).
For a Black Market, you're selling something illegally gained or illicit, so you want to avoid paperwork/official notice. And you will need to accept a probably lower price for the object to avoid the imperial entanglements or whatever. So roll twice, take the higher roll as the legit sales price, take the lower roll as the black market price.
And for something with a set value (price in the book, gems/jewelry in D&D with set value, etc.) just decide on a number range and the dice to roll to get that range, with the book value at or near the top. Hey, sometimes something like that might be in demand on the black market, why not give it a chance to be worth slightly more from time to time?
Dean finally convinced me to try the 4E game. It took me two attempts to make a character. The first time I gave up in frustration at the overload of options. The second time, I got it done. I now play Xuan Lai, a monkey hengeyokai Monk. Yes, he's the monkey-est monk in Eberron! [Any similarity to Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, is purely coincidental, honestly!]
Anyway, the Star Wars game is heavily involved with Hutts. Both, actually. So I was thinking of ways to simulate black market sales of goods. And I think I have a pretty elegant idea that would work regardless of system, at least for things like odd treasures that don't have a set price. I often do that with treasures, saying it will be worth 1d8 x100 gp, or 2d6 x250gp, or whatever. If players want to shop around for different buyers, they might get a better price than the one first offered (they never do, tending to take the first offer).
For a Black Market, you're selling something illegally gained or illicit, so you want to avoid paperwork/official notice. And you will need to accept a probably lower price for the object to avoid the imperial entanglements or whatever. So roll twice, take the higher roll as the legit sales price, take the lower roll as the black market price.
And for something with a set value (price in the book, gems/jewelry in D&D with set value, etc.) just decide on a number range and the dice to roll to get that range, with the book value at or near the top. Hey, sometimes something like that might be in demand on the black market, why not give it a chance to be worth slightly more from time to time?
Friday, April 3, 2020
Artifact rules
Starting in on the Immortals Set (no, haven't really read much past the last post, I've been busy) got me thinking about how to implement artifacts into Treasures, Serpents, and Ruins. Since I had just finished up the magic items section for TSR-East, I went on in and started in on the artifact rules.
In BECMI, artifacts are an extension of the Immortals rules, since they're created by immortals. They run on immortal power points. The powers are classified and ranked by power points needed for the effect.
In AD&D, however, they just have certain numbers of powers at certain levels of efficacy determined by the DM. The lists are just by power level.
In both sets, in addition to their powers, artifacts have negative effects on mortals that wield them. They also have a history and a purpose.
So in my rules, I decided to split the difference. Artifacts in TSR won't use power points, and will instead follow AD&D with each power: providing a constant bonus, being usable at will, or being usable a certain number of times per turn, hour, or day. But the powers are classified as Offense, Defense, Knowledge, and Utility, and artifacts are limited in how many of each type they can have by their power level.
And since I hadn't included intelligent swords in the regular magic item rules, I made them the lowest power level of artifact. And I extended the intelligent weapon rules into artifacts, so if the artifact is intelligent (not all are), it has Int and Ego scores, personality, and a desire to enact its purpose or indulge its personality traits if it takes control of its wielder/owner.
I'm currently in the middle of writing up power lists, and will be moving on to the drawbacks/limitations soon.
This is pretty fun.
In BECMI, artifacts are an extension of the Immortals rules, since they're created by immortals. They run on immortal power points. The powers are classified and ranked by power points needed for the effect.
In AD&D, however, they just have certain numbers of powers at certain levels of efficacy determined by the DM. The lists are just by power level.
In both sets, in addition to their powers, artifacts have negative effects on mortals that wield them. They also have a history and a purpose.
So in my rules, I decided to split the difference. Artifacts in TSR won't use power points, and will instead follow AD&D with each power: providing a constant bonus, being usable at will, or being usable a certain number of times per turn, hour, or day. But the powers are classified as Offense, Defense, Knowledge, and Utility, and artifacts are limited in how many of each type they can have by their power level.
And since I hadn't included intelligent swords in the regular magic item rules, I made them the lowest power level of artifact. And I extended the intelligent weapon rules into artifacts, so if the artifact is intelligent (not all are), it has Int and Ego scores, personality, and a desire to enact its purpose or indulge its personality traits if it takes control of its wielder/owner.
I'm currently in the middle of writing up power lists, and will be moving on to the drawbacks/limitations soon.
This is pretty fun.
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