Good morning all! I recently saw the movie Prometheus, and was rather impressed by it all. The 'old man' makeup on Mr. Weyland (and rough attempts at something called 'acting' from the leading lady's boyfriend) could have been better, but overall it was a good movie. An interesting plot element in the movie (mini-spoiler alert here) was the reasoning behind the 'Engineers' changing their minds about humanity, although I wonder whether a sequel is really necessary to resolve the question.This brings me to a point I'd like to make about how plots are woven in good RPGs. Ideally, a great campaign would have a definable beginning, middle, climax and ending, all woven around a major premise and its interwoven plot lines. In practice, most campaigns have sequels. The party slays the evil villain, defeats his army, and frees the kingdom. They go home heroes, some continuing to serve their liege, some returning to their homes, and others taking darker paths. Then, something brings them back together.
Our favorite characters have a way of making us want to reopen the book of their lives, and that applies to both the player and the Storyteller. So you jump back in with those wonderful heroes, bringing them all back together for one more grand quest to save the kingdom. The result?
Jaws: The Revenge.
To be fair, there are notable exceptions, but this happens so often as to almost be the rule. Maybe its because we try too hard to recapture the magic of something great. Sometimes we love the nostalgia so much, we hope it can carry us through a new campaign. Nostalgia is great, but it is rarely enough for more than a few sessions. Greatness is in the story, and how it connects, challenges, and defines the characters. Greatness is in feeling as if the current story holds enough mystery, freshness, and excitement to stand on its own, regardless of what came before it. A lot of Storytellers forget this part, and try to hang on the coat-tails of success or nostalgia.
Capture, don't recapture.
When you craft a story, ensure that it stands on its own merits; this applies regardless of whether its the first campaign for your heroes or the tenth. Pay homage to nostalgia, but don't try too hard to recapture a particular feel, or emotion. Let the story develop its own feel, its own wonder. Tie-in elements are wonderful tools because they allow us to lay the groundwork for new stories, but we mustn't rely on them exclusively. Recycling an old villain is just fine if it is feasible, but don't resurrect (literally or figuratively) a defeated foe just because he or she was a great one. Resurrect him or her because it is integral to your new, standalone story.
A ring by any other name...
Finally, when you are running a campaign, give yourself the room and creative freedom that comes from leaving certain plot lines unresolved. Even seemingly trivial or insignificant plot devices that are left dangling can provide wholesome fodder for new adventures. Bilbo's Ring of Invisibility was a significant plot device in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, but you were never really told much about its past, its creator or its dangers. Its origins were a mystery that did not factor in to the conflict presented in that book. Many years later, Bilbo's favorite nephew Frodo learned the hard way that the One Ring indeed possessed quite a dark history, and the Lord of The Rings trilogy was born. The ring began as a tool that enabled Bilbo's bildungsroman - the ring's abilities put him on par with the dwarves, and allowed him to grow and mature from a sense of accomplishment and newly-found strength. Much later, the ring becomes a major plot device for Frodo, and over the course of three books Frodo's struggle against it decides the fate of all Middle Earth.
An in-development table top role playing game set in the grim fantasy realms of Khaelavar.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
The long road...
Due to feedback from some of my playtesters, I am tweaking how missile combat works in the game. Originally, before I switched to a dual-roll system (Offensive and Defensive), missile combat was no different than melee combat. When the system rules were updated in the last edition, I tacked missile combat right along with everything else, under the assumption that it would simplify things (I really didn't want two different-feeling combat systems in play).
After much input from the grumpy masses, I am reverting the missile combat rules to their pre-dual roll state; but with one important tweak: Combat Maneuvers for missile weapons will now be wholly separate from melee weapons/unarmed combat. This is closer in theme to an earlier edition of my rules set where Combat Maneuvers used with missile weapons had different names than their melee-only counterparts (Precision Strike was Precision Shot when used with a bow, for instance).
As we move forward, there will doubtless be many more tweaks and adjustments. Thank you for your bnear-infinite patience as we chart our way towards open beta.
After much input from the grumpy masses, I am reverting the missile combat rules to their pre-dual roll state; but with one important tweak: Combat Maneuvers for missile weapons will now be wholly separate from melee weapons/unarmed combat. This is closer in theme to an earlier edition of my rules set where Combat Maneuvers used with missile weapons had different names than their melee-only counterparts (Precision Strike was Precision Shot when used with a bow, for instance).
As we move forward, there will doubtless be many more tweaks and adjustments. Thank you for your bnear-infinite patience as we chart our way towards open beta.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Skills and levels of competency...
I’ve been asked to clarify levels of proficiency in FORGED, and to compare them to various qualities of skill. The basic question is:
What can a Mortal Hero can do with X amount of skill vs. Y amount?
The answer is not a simple one, but I can give some qualitative examples to help you to understand better the various levels of skill and Mastery. To start with, any skill of 15 or higher can be mastered, so we use 15 as the delineator between intermediate and advanced skill. This represents a craftsman or warrior with a level of recognized proficiency, capable of performing all of the basic tasks of a specific skill efficiently and routinely. The below table provides some more examples of competency:
What can a Mortal Hero can do with X amount of skill vs. Y amount?
The answer is not a simple one, but I can give some qualitative examples to help you to understand better the various levels of skill and Mastery. To start with, any skill of 15 or higher can be mastered, so we use 15 as the delineator between intermediate and advanced skill. This represents a craftsman or warrior with a level of recognized proficiency, capable of performing all of the basic tasks of a specific skill efficiently and routinely. The below table provides some more examples of competency:
Die Rolls and Success...
I hope everyone had a great weekend! We are going to start things out this week by talking a little about die rolls, success, failure, and criticals.
In FORGED, die rolls are used to determine everything from whether your Mortal Hero strikes a foe in combat to whether he or she can make a horseshoe or see a distant wisp of dust on the horizon. Random rolls play a big part in your Mortal Hero’s survival and infamy, so the various types of successful and failed rolls bears some discussion.
First off, let’s talk about Opposed and Unopposed Rolls.
Opposed die rolls work along very simple lines: the highest roll without going over wins. Opposed die rolls are called for whenever a character wishes to use a stat, sense, or skill in opposition to another character, creature or object that stands in the way of his goal. For instance, determining who wins a shoving match between two characters could come down to who rolls the highest Strength check without going over. The winner of this opposed roll would push the other character back.
Unopposed die rolls are simple determinations of ability or skill, and do not involve any person, force or object opposing the action. An example of this would be a simple Sight check (with or without penalty) to determine whether a character is able to see something or not. This roll would only be considered opposed if she were trying to see someone who was using their Sneak stat in an effort to not be seen.
So you are called upon to make an opposed roll. How do you know what your Mortal Hero managed to accomplish with that roll? You need a way to measure his or her success or failure in a quantifiable way. There are four outcomes to any die roll, along with a subset of success; Success (Partial or full), Failure, Critical Success, and Critical Failure.
Success occurs whenever you have rolled anything below your actual skill or stat number required by the task. For instance, your Storyteller may call upon you to roll against your Strength score to determine if you can quickly lift a table. The table is not so large that you cannot pick it up at all, but large enough to require some effort to do so in a single combat round. Your Mortal Hero possesses a Strength of 14. Any number from 1 to 13 would be considered a success.
Partial Success occurs when you have succeeded in an opposed stat or skill check, but were defeated by a higher roll from someone or something else. For example, Mort is fighting a Gorrhym, and has a 15 Offensive Skill in his Sword. The Gorrhym likewise has a 15 Defensive Skill. Mort rolls an 8, which is considered a Success; however the Gorrhym rolls an 11, which is a better roll. Mort only scores a partial success, while the Gorrhym has a full Success.
A Failure occurs when you roll a higher number than you possess in the relevant skill or stat, without rolling a natural 20. If Mort from the example above had rolled a 16-19 on his Offensive Skill, he would have scored a Failure. If both parties roll a Failure in an Opposed situation, both of them fail just as badly; except for Critical Failures there is no difference between one Failure and another.
A Critical Success occurs in two ways. First, it occurs whenever you roll the exact number required by your stat or sense for the task at hand. In this instance, had Mort rolled a 15 for his Offensive Skill check, he would have Critically Succeeded in his strike. Second, it occurs in combat whenever the number rolled is 20 points or more higher than your opponent’s roll. This can only occur when your opponent’s Offensive or Defensive Skill is at 0 or lower (in the negatives). If Mort’s own Defensive Skill roll was a -9 (due to Offensive Combat maneuvers and choice of weapons) and the Gorrhym had rolled a 14 Success (23 points higher than Mort’s Defense), then the Gorrhym would have Critically Succeeded against him. A Critical Success means that not only has your Mortal Hero managed to accomplish his task, he or she has done so perfectly and with great skill. A Critical Success in melee combat grants a bonus to damage, while a Critical Success in a skill or stat check indicates an impressive feat, capable of accomplishing the task far more effectively than was hoped for. Critical Successes are marked on the Character Sheet*, and during Advancement Phase they are tallied; more on this later.
A Critical Failure occurs on any roll of 20. Critical Failures botch the attempted task spectacularly, and often cause direct or indirect harm in the attempt. A Critical Failure of a Dexterity roll to see if one can leap a chasm in a single bound would result in the Mortal Hero falling into the chasm, rather than simply failing to land safely.
*It should be noted that only those Critical Successes which carry some sort of risk are marked on the Character Sheet. If a Storyteller calls for a roll against something for practice or fun, it should not be tallied. Additionally, Crits should only be tallied once for situations where multiple rolls are given for a single task (“I need each of you to give me three Strength rolls to climb the entire length of the rope.”)
In FORGED, die rolls are used to determine everything from whether your Mortal Hero strikes a foe in combat to whether he or she can make a horseshoe or see a distant wisp of dust on the horizon. Random rolls play a big part in your Mortal Hero’s survival and infamy, so the various types of successful and failed rolls bears some discussion.
First off, let’s talk about Opposed and Unopposed Rolls.
Opposed die rolls work along very simple lines: the highest roll without going over wins. Opposed die rolls are called for whenever a character wishes to use a stat, sense, or skill in opposition to another character, creature or object that stands in the way of his goal. For instance, determining who wins a shoving match between two characters could come down to who rolls the highest Strength check without going over. The winner of this opposed roll would push the other character back.
Unopposed die rolls are simple determinations of ability or skill, and do not involve any person, force or object opposing the action. An example of this would be a simple Sight check (with or without penalty) to determine whether a character is able to see something or not. This roll would only be considered opposed if she were trying to see someone who was using their Sneak stat in an effort to not be seen.
So you are called upon to make an opposed roll. How do you know what your Mortal Hero managed to accomplish with that roll? You need a way to measure his or her success or failure in a quantifiable way. There are four outcomes to any die roll, along with a subset of success; Success (Partial or full), Failure, Critical Success, and Critical Failure.
Success occurs whenever you have rolled anything below your actual skill or stat number required by the task. For instance, your Storyteller may call upon you to roll against your Strength score to determine if you can quickly lift a table. The table is not so large that you cannot pick it up at all, but large enough to require some effort to do so in a single combat round. Your Mortal Hero possesses a Strength of 14. Any number from 1 to 13 would be considered a success.
Partial Success occurs when you have succeeded in an opposed stat or skill check, but were defeated by a higher roll from someone or something else. For example, Mort is fighting a Gorrhym, and has a 15 Offensive Skill in his Sword. The Gorrhym likewise has a 15 Defensive Skill. Mort rolls an 8, which is considered a Success; however the Gorrhym rolls an 11, which is a better roll. Mort only scores a partial success, while the Gorrhym has a full Success.
A Failure occurs when you roll a higher number than you possess in the relevant skill or stat, without rolling a natural 20. If Mort from the example above had rolled a 16-19 on his Offensive Skill, he would have scored a Failure. If both parties roll a Failure in an Opposed situation, both of them fail just as badly; except for Critical Failures there is no difference between one Failure and another.
A Critical Success occurs in two ways. First, it occurs whenever you roll the exact number required by your stat or sense for the task at hand. In this instance, had Mort rolled a 15 for his Offensive Skill check, he would have Critically Succeeded in his strike. Second, it occurs in combat whenever the number rolled is 20 points or more higher than your opponent’s roll. This can only occur when your opponent’s Offensive or Defensive Skill is at 0 or lower (in the negatives). If Mort’s own Defensive Skill roll was a -9 (due to Offensive Combat maneuvers and choice of weapons) and the Gorrhym had rolled a 14 Success (23 points higher than Mort’s Defense), then the Gorrhym would have Critically Succeeded against him. A Critical Success means that not only has your Mortal Hero managed to accomplish his task, he or she has done so perfectly and with great skill. A Critical Success in melee combat grants a bonus to damage, while a Critical Success in a skill or stat check indicates an impressive feat, capable of accomplishing the task far more effectively than was hoped for. Critical Successes are marked on the Character Sheet*, and during Advancement Phase they are tallied; more on this later.
A Critical Failure occurs on any roll of 20. Critical Failures botch the attempted task spectacularly, and often cause direct or indirect harm in the attempt. A Critical Failure of a Dexterity roll to see if one can leap a chasm in a single bound would result in the Mortal Hero falling into the chasm, rather than simply failing to land safely.
*It should be noted that only those Critical Successes which carry some sort of risk are marked on the Character Sheet. If a Storyteller calls for a roll against something for practice or fun, it should not be tallied. Additionally, Crits should only be tallied once for situations where multiple rolls are given for a single task (“I need each of you to give me three Strength rolls to climb the entire length of the rope.”)
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Defenses and Armor Rating...
Today’s post will be a brief one, as some of what is stated below was covered in the combat examples previously posted. In this post we are going to talk a little about AR (Armor Rating), and how armor, Heroic Attributes, Dexterity and shields interact with one another to protect a Mortal Hero.
FORGED has a combat system that works on the principle of opposition; i.e. that every randomized outcome that occurs in the game can be opposed in one way or another. Just as Offensive Skill rolls are opposed by Defensive Skill rolls, all forms of combat damage are opposed, or reduced by AR. AR can come from a variety of sources: physical armor worn by the character, Combat Maneuvers that deflect or parry an incoming blow away, and high Dexterity scores and Heroic Attributes that that help the character to dodge and lessen the impact of weapons. Shields improve a character’s Defensive Skill rolls, and against missiles provide the advantage of Cover. Fighting Styles can augment one’s Defensive Skill rolls as well.
Let’s say your Mortal Hero is attacked by a swordsman of comparable skill. The two combatants pit their Offensive and Defensive Skill rolls with their melee weapons against one another in a contest to see who comes out on top. Through the use of Combat Maneuvers, your opponent is always seeking to defeat your Defensive Skill, while ideally maintaining enough of his own for comfort. Your Mortal Hero’s shield, instead of providing physical armor, is literally an instrument of defense in that its primary purpose is to keep a foe’s weapon away from the body. Your Mortal Hero’s shield adds to his Defensive Skill roll, and its benefits are increased by his Sword and Board Fighting Style. Generally, a balanced combination of Combat Maneuvers will be enough to protect yourself from an equal or lesser foe.
Sometimes, though, there is no accounting for a lucky or unlucky roll, and your foe’s Offensive Skill roll manages to get through your defenses. When this happens, your AR is all that stands between you and a nasty wound. The first thing to be calculated here is the AR you receive from Dexterity and your Heroic Attributes. This is removed from the incoming damage first because of the nature of these AR bonuses; they are literally a first-line defense against injury. Once these points are removed from the damage total, the remainder of the damage is what actually strikes your Mortal Hero’s body. Here, a Knockdown check against your Dexterity is rolled if the damage is equal to or greater than your character’s Size, with penalties for damage that exceeds Size. Heavier armor helps mitigate Knockdown a bit, and we’ll see more on this subject later.
Once the Knockdown check has been determined, you remove the AR you receive for physical armor from the damage total. Whatever portion of damage remains is what is actually taken by your Mortal Hero.
So there you have it; your protection against physical damage in FORGED is determined by:
1) your Combat Maneuvers that increase Defense, followed by
2) your Dexterity and Heroic Attributes, and finally by
3) your physical armor.
More to come on combat scenarios and how to maximize your Offensive and Defensive skill rolls.
FORGED has a combat system that works on the principle of opposition; i.e. that every randomized outcome that occurs in the game can be opposed in one way or another. Just as Offensive Skill rolls are opposed by Defensive Skill rolls, all forms of combat damage are opposed, or reduced by AR. AR can come from a variety of sources: physical armor worn by the character, Combat Maneuvers that deflect or parry an incoming blow away, and high Dexterity scores and Heroic Attributes that that help the character to dodge and lessen the impact of weapons. Shields improve a character’s Defensive Skill rolls, and against missiles provide the advantage of Cover. Fighting Styles can augment one’s Defensive Skill rolls as well.
Let’s say your Mortal Hero is attacked by a swordsman of comparable skill. The two combatants pit their Offensive and Defensive Skill rolls with their melee weapons against one another in a contest to see who comes out on top. Through the use of Combat Maneuvers, your opponent is always seeking to defeat your Defensive Skill, while ideally maintaining enough of his own for comfort. Your Mortal Hero’s shield, instead of providing physical armor, is literally an instrument of defense in that its primary purpose is to keep a foe’s weapon away from the body. Your Mortal Hero’s shield adds to his Defensive Skill roll, and its benefits are increased by his Sword and Board Fighting Style. Generally, a balanced combination of Combat Maneuvers will be enough to protect yourself from an equal or lesser foe.
Sometimes, though, there is no accounting for a lucky or unlucky roll, and your foe’s Offensive Skill roll manages to get through your defenses. When this happens, your AR is all that stands between you and a nasty wound. The first thing to be calculated here is the AR you receive from Dexterity and your Heroic Attributes. This is removed from the incoming damage first because of the nature of these AR bonuses; they are literally a first-line defense against injury. Once these points are removed from the damage total, the remainder of the damage is what actually strikes your Mortal Hero’s body. Here, a Knockdown check against your Dexterity is rolled if the damage is equal to or greater than your character’s Size, with penalties for damage that exceeds Size. Heavier armor helps mitigate Knockdown a bit, and we’ll see more on this subject later.
Once the Knockdown check has been determined, you remove the AR you receive for physical armor from the damage total. Whatever portion of damage remains is what is actually taken by your Mortal Hero.
So there you have it; your protection against physical damage in FORGED is determined by:
1) your Combat Maneuvers that increase Defense, followed by
2) your Dexterity and Heroic Attributes, and finally by
3) your physical armor.
More to come on combat scenarios and how to maximize your Offensive and Defensive skill rolls.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
The story...
In response to a question I received about yesterday’s post, I thought I’d talk a little about Adventure Companions, Story Arcs, and Campaign Lines, and how they fit in FORGED.
This game is based on something we like to call the Legend Cycle, which is visually represented on the Lore page http://greystafflegends.weebly.com/lore.html above. The Legend Cycle is basically a continuing feedback loop, wherein the game’s Lore drives the Characters (in this case, the Mortal Heroes), the Characters drive the Story, and the Story drives the Adventure. Finally, the Adventure and its outcomes alter the game world, which feeds right back into the Lore of Kelubaar, and so on. This is how any good story or RPG works, but in FORGED the Cycle is tied directly to the campaign mechanics.
Let’s look at how any good fantasy story works: In the beginning of every tale you have a premise. That premise is the world itself, and the environment (physical, ethical, political) in which our heroes find themselves. Then, you have the protagonist, who is generally not that much of a hero in the first chapters, though he or she is often well on their way to becoming one. Next, you have the all-important conflict. It is at this point that the story really begins; the premise and the protagonist are not much more than background to the conflict. The conflict is something that the protagonist has to find some way to overcome (again, physically, ethically, or politically) in order to effect a resolution. That resolution could be the defeat of an enemy, overcoming some adversity, or simply enduring and becoming stronger – in a word, change. Ideally, the premise, protagonist, conflict, and resolution should occur more than once in any great story; each cycle being a milestone of sorts for the hero on his or her way to resolving the primary conflict of the story.
It’s easy to understand how there can be multiple occurrences of premise > conflict > resolution in a story. But how do you have multiple occurrences or iterations of a protagonist? This is where the growth of said protagonist lies. The young man or woman from the first chapter is rarely the same as the battle-tested veteran that takes on the all-powerful enemy in the final chapter. The protagonist changes, evolves and improves with each cycle of the story. Every new premise, conflict and resolution builds the protagonist up, little by little, until they bear little resemblance to the plucky but inexperienced youth that they once were.
How does this all work with the Legend Cycle? Let’s take a look at an Adventure Companion in FORGED . An Adventure Companion consists of a short (1 – 3 session) story that challenges the hero(es) to complete some quest.
The town blacksmith’s two children have disappeared while playing in the hills above town (premise). The hero(es) are tasked with finding them (conflict), a task made difficult by incessant rains, rugged hill-country, and the interference of the hill-folk who don’t like trespassers (also a conflict).
During the course of this Adventure Companion, the heroes are forced to find some way to complete their mission in a certain timeframe, while the environment and the hill-folk try to thwart them. The hill-folk could be negotiated with, tricked, bypassed or fought – any success here will resolve the secondary conflict; i.e. the hill-folks’ interference with the heroes’ primary goal. Each method of dealing with the hill-folk carries its own benefits and consequences, although every form of resolution should ideally aid the heroes in their main goals.
The heroes learn that the children were seen at an abandoned mill on the day of their disappearance (premise). Setting out with new urgency, they come upon the ruins just before dark-fall, and decide to wait until daylight to head within. During the night, they are attacked by a pack of hounds emerging from the ruins (conflict and resolution). In the morning, they discover brands on the slain dogs’ hides, marks whose origins were known to but one among the heroes.
Now, the heroes are presented with new information by one of their own number. This knowledge came from that Mortal Hero’s Story Arc – his own background tale and one with implications for both past and present. Story Arcs are persistent, ongoing tales unique to each Mortal Hero, that ties them to the world and to the adventure. Story Arcs require a great deal of attention on the part of the Storyteller, and must be woven – sparsely or liberally as befitting the tale – into the various Adventure Companions that occur in the Campaign Line. The brands on the hounds were clues to the identity of their master, whose involvement with the missing children is now known to the heroes.
Malgorn was a man of hill-folk heritage who had lived in the hills above town fifteen years ago, trading with the villagers and eking out a simple life in the rugged country. Then one day, he killed a man, and disappeared into the wild, never to be seen again. Twenty townsmen led by the local Reeve spent months hunting for Malgorn, but could never find him. Two locals were killed in the hunt; one from an accidental fall and another from an arrow. The man’s young son carried that arrow with him every day of his life; an arrow that bore the mark of Malgorn. Nocking the old, black arrow on his bow-string, the Mortal Hero swears an oath of vengeance, and leads the party into the ruins (new motivation for a protagonist).
The quest is now a personal one, and they rush within, cornering Malgorn and the two missing children on an unsteady staircase at the edge of a thirty-foot cliff. They are dirty and disheveled, and obviously terrified, but still alive. Malgorn demands the children as recompense for his family, slain by the town blacksmith fifteen years ago (premise). He swears an oath that if they rush him, he’ll jump, taking the children with him over the cliff (dual conflict of vengeance and wanting to save the children).
Now the party has a dilemma; two conflicts are in opposition to one another. One among their number wants the man dead, but at what cost? Is that character’s vengeance stronger than his desire to save the children? This is a choice for the player to make, and the outcome and consequences of this choice will echo in his Story Arc forever. A good Storyteller pits conflicting goals against one another as often as possible, in order to create a more meaningful conflict. Can the heroes find a way to save the children? Will Malgorn leap to his death, taking the blacksmith’s children with him? Will they learn why the blacksmith killed Malgorn’s family? Some, or perhaps all of these questions will be answered in the final resolution of this Adventure Companion. In the end they could return victorious, or having failed in their endeavor to save the children, set the stage for the story ahead. FORGED takes a very neutral definition of resolution; in this case, any of the above outcomes would count as a resolution, regardless of how much or little innocent blood was spilled.
This Adventure Companion is but one among 5-8 Adventure Companions in a single Campaign Line. They are designed to be usable as both standalones and plot elements within the larger campaign. The hooks, locations, villains and resolutions can be altered to suit the Campaign Line, as well as to build upon each Mortal Hero’s own Story Arc. Adventure Companions can even be switched in and out of Campaign Lines, although this will take a little work from the Storyteller, as Adventure Companions within a single Campaign Line are designed to share certain common themes, NPCs and plots.
This game is based on something we like to call the Legend Cycle, which is visually represented on the Lore page http://greystafflegends.weebly.com/lore.html above. The Legend Cycle is basically a continuing feedback loop, wherein the game’s Lore drives the Characters (in this case, the Mortal Heroes), the Characters drive the Story, and the Story drives the Adventure. Finally, the Adventure and its outcomes alter the game world, which feeds right back into the Lore of Kelubaar, and so on. This is how any good story or RPG works, but in FORGED the Cycle is tied directly to the campaign mechanics.
Let’s look at how any good fantasy story works: In the beginning of every tale you have a premise. That premise is the world itself, and the environment (physical, ethical, political) in which our heroes find themselves. Then, you have the protagonist, who is generally not that much of a hero in the first chapters, though he or she is often well on their way to becoming one. Next, you have the all-important conflict. It is at this point that the story really begins; the premise and the protagonist are not much more than background to the conflict. The conflict is something that the protagonist has to find some way to overcome (again, physically, ethically, or politically) in order to effect a resolution. That resolution could be the defeat of an enemy, overcoming some adversity, or simply enduring and becoming stronger – in a word, change. Ideally, the premise, protagonist, conflict, and resolution should occur more than once in any great story; each cycle being a milestone of sorts for the hero on his or her way to resolving the primary conflict of the story.
It’s easy to understand how there can be multiple occurrences of premise > conflict > resolution in a story. But how do you have multiple occurrences or iterations of a protagonist? This is where the growth of said protagonist lies. The young man or woman from the first chapter is rarely the same as the battle-tested veteran that takes on the all-powerful enemy in the final chapter. The protagonist changes, evolves and improves with each cycle of the story. Every new premise, conflict and resolution builds the protagonist up, little by little, until they bear little resemblance to the plucky but inexperienced youth that they once were.
How does this all work with the Legend Cycle? Let’s take a look at an Adventure Companion in FORGED . An Adventure Companion consists of a short (1 – 3 session) story that challenges the hero(es) to complete some quest.
The town blacksmith’s two children have disappeared while playing in the hills above town (premise). The hero(es) are tasked with finding them (conflict), a task made difficult by incessant rains, rugged hill-country, and the interference of the hill-folk who don’t like trespassers (also a conflict).
During the course of this Adventure Companion, the heroes are forced to find some way to complete their mission in a certain timeframe, while the environment and the hill-folk try to thwart them. The hill-folk could be negotiated with, tricked, bypassed or fought – any success here will resolve the secondary conflict; i.e. the hill-folks’ interference with the heroes’ primary goal. Each method of dealing with the hill-folk carries its own benefits and consequences, although every form of resolution should ideally aid the heroes in their main goals.
The heroes learn that the children were seen at an abandoned mill on the day of their disappearance (premise). Setting out with new urgency, they come upon the ruins just before dark-fall, and decide to wait until daylight to head within. During the night, they are attacked by a pack of hounds emerging from the ruins (conflict and resolution). In the morning, they discover brands on the slain dogs’ hides, marks whose origins were known to but one among the heroes.
Now, the heroes are presented with new information by one of their own number. This knowledge came from that Mortal Hero’s Story Arc – his own background tale and one with implications for both past and present. Story Arcs are persistent, ongoing tales unique to each Mortal Hero, that ties them to the world and to the adventure. Story Arcs require a great deal of attention on the part of the Storyteller, and must be woven – sparsely or liberally as befitting the tale – into the various Adventure Companions that occur in the Campaign Line. The brands on the hounds were clues to the identity of their master, whose involvement with the missing children is now known to the heroes.
Malgorn was a man of hill-folk heritage who had lived in the hills above town fifteen years ago, trading with the villagers and eking out a simple life in the rugged country. Then one day, he killed a man, and disappeared into the wild, never to be seen again. Twenty townsmen led by the local Reeve spent months hunting for Malgorn, but could never find him. Two locals were killed in the hunt; one from an accidental fall and another from an arrow. The man’s young son carried that arrow with him every day of his life; an arrow that bore the mark of Malgorn. Nocking the old, black arrow on his bow-string, the Mortal Hero swears an oath of vengeance, and leads the party into the ruins (new motivation for a protagonist).
The quest is now a personal one, and they rush within, cornering Malgorn and the two missing children on an unsteady staircase at the edge of a thirty-foot cliff. They are dirty and disheveled, and obviously terrified, but still alive. Malgorn demands the children as recompense for his family, slain by the town blacksmith fifteen years ago (premise). He swears an oath that if they rush him, he’ll jump, taking the children with him over the cliff (dual conflict of vengeance and wanting to save the children).
Now the party has a dilemma; two conflicts are in opposition to one another. One among their number wants the man dead, but at what cost? Is that character’s vengeance stronger than his desire to save the children? This is a choice for the player to make, and the outcome and consequences of this choice will echo in his Story Arc forever. A good Storyteller pits conflicting goals against one another as often as possible, in order to create a more meaningful conflict. Can the heroes find a way to save the children? Will Malgorn leap to his death, taking the blacksmith’s children with him? Will they learn why the blacksmith killed Malgorn’s family? Some, or perhaps all of these questions will be answered in the final resolution of this Adventure Companion. In the end they could return victorious, or having failed in their endeavor to save the children, set the stage for the story ahead. FORGED takes a very neutral definition of resolution; in this case, any of the above outcomes would count as a resolution, regardless of how much or little innocent blood was spilled.
This Adventure Companion is but one among 5-8 Adventure Companions in a single Campaign Line. They are designed to be usable as both standalones and plot elements within the larger campaign. The hooks, locations, villains and resolutions can be altered to suit the Campaign Line, as well as to build upon each Mortal Hero’s own Story Arc. Adventure Companions can even be switched in and out of Campaign Lines, although this will take a little work from the Storyteller, as Adventure Companions within a single Campaign Line are designed to share certain common themes, NPCs and plots.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Experience and Advancement...
I hope that everyone had a great long weekend, and in honor of the shortened work-week ahead, today’s post will cover a Mortal Hero’s advancement. Advancement is simple in this game: experience your Mortal Hero gains over the course of the campaign is turned in during your Advancement Phase for Hero Points, which can be used to buy skills, raise stats, purchase Heroic Attributes or Fighting Styles, etc.
FORGED has a very fluid character advancement system that can be tailored to your campaign style. There are two primary systems: yearly and block. Let’s take a look at both.
Yearly advancement occurs, well… yearly. This is the preferred system, and the one that I have used most often in my own games. It is simple, efficient for use in a campaign with multiple players, and allows for an ample pool of Hero Points. In this system, all of the Experience gained over the campaign year is tallied together, and divided by 1,000. Every 1,000 XP translates into a gain of 1d6 Hero Points. Those Hero Points may be used immediately, or saved for some time in the future*. Any experience points left over the nearest thousand mark are held over for the next year. For example, if a Mortal Hero earned 4,500 XP, he would ‘turn in’ 4,000 XP (thus gaining 4d6 Hero Points), and start the new year with 500 XP towards his next Advancement Phase.
Block advancement is a little more straight forward; 1d6 Hero Points are earned as soon as a character earns 1,000 XP. These Hero Points may also be used immediately, or saved for some time in the future*. This allows for a more immediate advancement throughout the campaign year, but will require the Storyteller to take time out of the session to deal with different characters all advancing at different times. Perhaps your players prefer somewhat speedier rewards for their many toils and travails; if they do, then this system is for them.
*A note on held-over Hero Points. In order to maintain a more realistic rate of skill gain, no more than 1 held-over Hero Point may be applied to any one Skill, Stat, Sense, Fighting Style or Heroic Attribute during the campaign. So while a Mortal Hero with 9 held-over Hero Points could spend 3 on his Sword skill, 3 on his Riding Skill and 3 towards purchasing his Fighting Style over a three-month period, he could not spend 5 all at once for his Fighting Style or more than 1 per month on his Sword. During the actual Advancement Phase, however, Hero Points may be spent as the player wishes, although no more than 1 bubble of any single Mastery, Heroic Attribute or Fighting Style can be purchased in a single year.
Which system you use is entirely up to you and your group, but it is advised that you pick one system for your game and stick to it. In most lands of Khaelavar, winter is a very harsh time, and travel in any land north of the Argonnean City-States is difficult at best, and oftentimes entirely impossible. Because of this, I choose to perform my yearly Advancement Phase during the cold winter months, when most characters are holed up somewhere, preferably in front of a hearth with a hot cup of tea.
Experience Gain: How quickly do you want your players to advance?
Finding a workable rate of advancement can be challenging, especially in an unfamiliar game system. In FORGED, advancement can be rapid, slow, or anywhere in between. It is entirely up to the Storyteller; fast-paced campaigns with epic struggles, little or no downtime for the heroes, or those campaigns where everything is measured on a legendary scale might grant upwards of 10,000 XP per year. Simpler campaigns, or those just starting out, or games where a lot of the downtime is dilated (“After resting in town for a month, you set out once more into the…”) might grant as little as 1-2,000 XP in a whole year.
Remember that Experience is only gained for deeds comparable with the skills and capabilities of the Mortal Heroes themselves. After all, if you didn’t risk or learn anything new from accomplishing a deed, you really can’t grow from the experience. This is why there is no table listing the XP totals gained for fighting monsters or villains. While Bungo the Completely Ordinary might earn a great deal of XP for defeating a common bandit single-handedly, Thulgar the Mighty, Slayer of the Frost Wyvern of Mt. Kharn is unlikely to have learned much from the same fight. A street-wise veteran thief from the mean streets of Raven’s Harbour is unlikely to gain new insights into his subtle trade from stealing Old Madame Rusk’s apple pie recipe. The same thief would earn XP if Old Madame Rusk was an illusionist from Khare, and ‘apple pie’ was street-cant for a rare and deadly poison.
The following table lists some general guidelines for rewarding XP during a campaign.
-Character survives a risky* encounter with a foe of comparable threat: 25-50 XP
-Character survives a risky encounter with a foe of surpassing threat: 75-100XP
-Character successfully overcomes a deadly encounter with a foe of comparable threat: 100XP
-Character successfully overcomes a deadly encounter with a foe of surpassing threat: 250 XP
-Any of the above, with style, cunning, or admirable skill: x2 total XP
-Character critically succeeds a significant roll: 50 XP
-Character earns notoriety/fame for a deed: x2 total XP
-Character plays a key leadership role in any of the above: +50-100 XP
-Character successfully affirms a personal trait to his/her own disadvantage: 100-250 XP
-Character acts fully within scope**, and against advantageous knowledge held by the player: 250+ XP
-Character completes an Adventure Companion***: 500+ XP
-Character completes a personal Story Arc***: 1000+ XP
-Character completes a Campaign Line***: 2000+ XP
-Character survives his/her first Critical Wound: 100 XP
-Character survives his/her first Mortal Wound: 250 XP
-Character achieves 3 bubbles in his/her first skill/Heroic Attribute: 250 XP
-Character achieves 5 bubbles in his/her first skill/Heroic Attribute: 500 XP
*Risk assumes the danger of injury, damage, moral compromise or loss will occur as a result of failure, whether stemming from a fight, a plot, or a role-played encounter.
**Scope assumes the knowledge possessed by the Mortal Hero, limited and distinct from that known to his or her player (in other words, upholding the distinction of Player/Character knowledge).
***Adventure Companions, Story Arcs, and Campaign Lines are the different levels of gameplay in FORGED. Adventure Companions (AC) consist of single adventures, which may be standalones or part of a larger story. Campaign Lines generally consist of 5-8 ACs. Story Arcs (SA) are tailored to individual Mortal Heroes by the Storytellers, and are integral parts of the game. SAs are woven into Campaign Lines, starting as hooks to bring specific Mortal Heroes into the game and ending with some sort of significant resolution before, during, or after the completion of the Campaign Line. Campaign Lines (CA) are complete tales, from humble beginnings to climactic final battles, and they drive every part of the game.
FORGED has a very fluid character advancement system that can be tailored to your campaign style. There are two primary systems: yearly and block. Let’s take a look at both.
Yearly advancement occurs, well… yearly. This is the preferred system, and the one that I have used most often in my own games. It is simple, efficient for use in a campaign with multiple players, and allows for an ample pool of Hero Points. In this system, all of the Experience gained over the campaign year is tallied together, and divided by 1,000. Every 1,000 XP translates into a gain of 1d6 Hero Points. Those Hero Points may be used immediately, or saved for some time in the future*. Any experience points left over the nearest thousand mark are held over for the next year. For example, if a Mortal Hero earned 4,500 XP, he would ‘turn in’ 4,000 XP (thus gaining 4d6 Hero Points), and start the new year with 500 XP towards his next Advancement Phase.
Block advancement is a little more straight forward; 1d6 Hero Points are earned as soon as a character earns 1,000 XP. These Hero Points may also be used immediately, or saved for some time in the future*. This allows for a more immediate advancement throughout the campaign year, but will require the Storyteller to take time out of the session to deal with different characters all advancing at different times. Perhaps your players prefer somewhat speedier rewards for their many toils and travails; if they do, then this system is for them.
*A note on held-over Hero Points. In order to maintain a more realistic rate of skill gain, no more than 1 held-over Hero Point may be applied to any one Skill, Stat, Sense, Fighting Style or Heroic Attribute during the campaign. So while a Mortal Hero with 9 held-over Hero Points could spend 3 on his Sword skill, 3 on his Riding Skill and 3 towards purchasing his Fighting Style over a three-month period, he could not spend 5 all at once for his Fighting Style or more than 1 per month on his Sword. During the actual Advancement Phase, however, Hero Points may be spent as the player wishes, although no more than 1 bubble of any single Mastery, Heroic Attribute or Fighting Style can be purchased in a single year.
Which system you use is entirely up to you and your group, but it is advised that you pick one system for your game and stick to it. In most lands of Khaelavar, winter is a very harsh time, and travel in any land north of the Argonnean City-States is difficult at best, and oftentimes entirely impossible. Because of this, I choose to perform my yearly Advancement Phase during the cold winter months, when most characters are holed up somewhere, preferably in front of a hearth with a hot cup of tea.
Experience Gain: How quickly do you want your players to advance?
Finding a workable rate of advancement can be challenging, especially in an unfamiliar game system. In FORGED, advancement can be rapid, slow, or anywhere in between. It is entirely up to the Storyteller; fast-paced campaigns with epic struggles, little or no downtime for the heroes, or those campaigns where everything is measured on a legendary scale might grant upwards of 10,000 XP per year. Simpler campaigns, or those just starting out, or games where a lot of the downtime is dilated (“After resting in town for a month, you set out once more into the…”) might grant as little as 1-2,000 XP in a whole year.
Remember that Experience is only gained for deeds comparable with the skills and capabilities of the Mortal Heroes themselves. After all, if you didn’t risk or learn anything new from accomplishing a deed, you really can’t grow from the experience. This is why there is no table listing the XP totals gained for fighting monsters or villains. While Bungo the Completely Ordinary might earn a great deal of XP for defeating a common bandit single-handedly, Thulgar the Mighty, Slayer of the Frost Wyvern of Mt. Kharn is unlikely to have learned much from the same fight. A street-wise veteran thief from the mean streets of Raven’s Harbour is unlikely to gain new insights into his subtle trade from stealing Old Madame Rusk’s apple pie recipe. The same thief would earn XP if Old Madame Rusk was an illusionist from Khare, and ‘apple pie’ was street-cant for a rare and deadly poison.
The following table lists some general guidelines for rewarding XP during a campaign.
-Character survives a risky* encounter with a foe of comparable threat: 25-50 XP
-Character survives a risky encounter with a foe of surpassing threat: 75-100XP
-Character successfully overcomes a deadly encounter with a foe of comparable threat: 100XP
-Character successfully overcomes a deadly encounter with a foe of surpassing threat: 250 XP
-Any of the above, with style, cunning, or admirable skill: x2 total XP
-Character critically succeeds a significant roll: 50 XP
-Character earns notoriety/fame for a deed: x2 total XP
-Character plays a key leadership role in any of the above: +50-100 XP
-Character successfully affirms a personal trait to his/her own disadvantage: 100-250 XP
-Character acts fully within scope**, and against advantageous knowledge held by the player: 250+ XP
-Character completes an Adventure Companion***: 500+ XP
-Character completes a personal Story Arc***: 1000+ XP
-Character completes a Campaign Line***: 2000+ XP
-Character survives his/her first Critical Wound: 100 XP
-Character survives his/her first Mortal Wound: 250 XP
-Character achieves 3 bubbles in his/her first skill/Heroic Attribute: 250 XP
-Character achieves 5 bubbles in his/her first skill/Heroic Attribute: 500 XP
*Risk assumes the danger of injury, damage, moral compromise or loss will occur as a result of failure, whether stemming from a fight, a plot, or a role-played encounter.
**Scope assumes the knowledge possessed by the Mortal Hero, limited and distinct from that known to his or her player (in other words, upholding the distinction of Player/Character knowledge).
***Adventure Companions, Story Arcs, and Campaign Lines are the different levels of gameplay in FORGED. Adventure Companions (AC) consist of single adventures, which may be standalones or part of a larger story. Campaign Lines generally consist of 5-8 ACs. Story Arcs (SA) are tailored to individual Mortal Heroes by the Storytellers, and are integral parts of the game. SAs are woven into Campaign Lines, starting as hooks to bring specific Mortal Heroes into the game and ending with some sort of significant resolution before, during, or after the completion of the Campaign Line. Campaign Lines (CA) are complete tales, from humble beginnings to climactic final battles, and they drive every part of the game.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Mounted Combat
Mounted combat in FORGED is brutal and effective, as being horsed grants large bonuses to mobility, striking power and shock value. Beware the vulnerabilities of a mounted warrior though – disciplined infantry and skilled spearmen can spell doom to both horse and rider. Below is an example of mounted melee combat against a footed skirmisher and another horseman.
Baeron, a corporal-of-horse in the Duke of Northbridge’s cavalry, spots a small detachment of Galadorns at the edge of the Old Mill Wall, the wall that rounded the eastern flank of what was to be a battlefield on the morrow. The Duke’s forces were camped barely a quarter mile behind him, while a host of Galadorns; a mixture of wild hill-clans and Malcolm the Red’s own feudal forces; were fast approaching from the northern marches. Baeron was tasked with harassing any Galadorn reconnaissance or foraging parties that attempted to approach the field before nightfall. He ordered his War-Lance to split up, two riders heading around to the north to cut off a retreat and the other three to flank westward, as he was mindful of Galadorn trickery or ambushes. Baeron himself would charge into the Galadorn detachment, hopefully driving them into the waiting horsemen to the north.
They scatter as soon as they see him crest the ridge. Three of the seven Galadorns head for the river gully to the west, while two others flee northward immediately. The last two, a hobilar mounted on a bay hill-pony and a footed skirmisher armed with javelins and a buckler remain near the stone wall. Baeron decides to press the charge, riding down towards them before they change their minds.
Mechanics: Baeron possesses a 14 skill in his cavalryman’s spear, and a 12 in his longsword. He wears light mail (9 AR) and carries a kite shield (+7 defensive, -3 offensive). His horse is a courser and possesses a 10 movement rate, conferring a +10 charge bonus to his Offensive skill. Couching his cavalry spear turns it into a lance, causing the spear to do his horse’s damage to an enemy rather than his own; in this case his horse confers 6d6 damage. Finally, against footed opponents, he has a +10 offensive bonus and a -5 defensive penalty. Since the skirmisher doesn’t have a spear, pike or halberd, he cannot negate Baeron’s skill bonus.
His foes are armored in light leathers (3 AR). The hobilar is armed with an axe (12 skill), while the skirmisher is armed with 2 javelins (10 skill) and a dagger (8 skill). The hill-pony has a 9 movement rate, and thus confers a +9 charge bonus to the hobilar’s attacks.
Baeron charges the horseman, who likewise charges, as he did not want to be charged while stationary (and thus have to face Baeron’s Charge bonus without one of his own). Baeron’s skill with his lance is a 19/4 (Offensive base 7, +10 Charge, +5 lance, -3 shield = 19 total; defensive base 7, -10 charge, +7 shield = 4 total). The hobilar’s skill with his axe is a 17/-6 (Offensive base 6, +9 charge, +2 axe = 17 total; defensive base 6, -9 charge, -3 axe = -6 total).
Baeron rolls a 14, a success by the die roll, and a critical success because his offensive roll is more than 20 higher than his opponent’s defensive roll (in this case, his 14 is 21 points higher than the hobilar’s -6). Since he possesses a lance, his longer melee reach means that he strikes first against the hobilar. Baeron rolls a 25 for damage (6, 6, 4, 3, 3, 2 and 1 for the crit), which is 22 points higher than the hobilar’s armor. 22 damage is enough to cause a knockdown (the hobilar’s Size is an 11, so he has to make a riding check at -11 for the damage taken), a Major Wound at -10 (over Prowess total), a Critical Wound at -10 (over Prowess in a single hit), and a Mortal Wound at -10 (brought to KO or lower level health; the hobilar only possesses 23 health total).
The hobilar fails his riding check, and is flung from his horse for an additional d6 damage (4). He fails all three Prowess rolls (he had major penalties to each from the sheer damage caused) and is brought below 0 Health. Due to his three wounds, he is bleeding heavily each round and would likely die regardless of healing attempts, even if any were forthcoming. Baeron decides against keeping hold of his lance, and lets it remain in the hobilar’s body (impaling mechanics and special damage will be covered later). The hobilar never gets the chance to strike back with his axe.
Drawing his sword, Baeron closes the distance on the skirmisher. Having seen his comrade laid low by his enemy, the skirmisher wisely decides to remain near the wall, which counts as a Difficult obstacle to a rider. Baeron sees this, but decides to press the attack nonetheless. As he closes within range, the Galadorn looses a javelin at him. Baeron is in point-blank range (the skirmisher’s Dexterity is a 14, granting him a 14-foot point blank range with thrown weapons) so the skirmisher’s 10 offensive skill increases. He uses Cunning Shot, decreasing his own defensive skill by 5 but likewise that of his foe. His skill with his javelin is a 9/3(Offensive base 5, +5 point blank range, -1 buckler = 9 total; defensive base 5, -5 Cunning Shot, +3 buckler = 3 total).
The skirmisher throws, rolling an 8, a success. Baeron's own skill this round with his sword is a 15/10 (Offensive base 6, +2 longsword, -3 shield, mounted +10 = 15 total; defensive base 6, +2 longsword, +7 shield, -5 mounted = 10 total). Baeron rolls a 5 for defense, a success but not high enough to defeat the skirmisher's 8. Baeron's shield provides 45% cover, and he rolls a 62, another failure. The skirmisher rolls 3d6 damage, coming up with a 12. Baeron's armor absorbs 9 of it, leaving him with 3 damage. The javelin falls from his wounded side, and the damage caused is not enough to knock him from his horse, impale him or cause a significant wound, however.
Baeron, closing in, now strikes with his 15. He rolls a 17, failing to hit the skirmisher with his blade. As his horse was carrying him at a gallop, it will now take him 2 full rounds to wheel about, and an additional round to close the distance once more. He begins his turn to his shield side (left) quickly, not wanting to offer the skirmisher his back for long - the Galadorn still has a javelin, after all.
The skirmisher decides to Charge forward now, taking advantage of Baeron's turn. The next round, he moves his full movement rate of 3, although his Size and Strength do not give him a bonus to his Charge. His skill with his javelin is a 17/-3 (Offensive base 5, +3 charge, +5 point blank, +5 Cunning shot, -1 shield = 17 total; defensive base 5, -6 charge, +3 shield, -5 Cunning shot = -3 total). He rolls a 14, a good hit.
Baeron does not possess Mastery in Riding, so he is not able to turn quickly enough in his saddle to give the skirmisher his shield-side. Baeron cannot benefit from his shield's defense this round, and only gains his passive cover bonus from it (as the shield covers a part of his body from the side as he turns to the left). He decides to go Defensive, trying to weave and duck as best he can. His skill this round is a -7/16 (Offensive base 6, no mounted bonus due to not being in direct melee, -3 shield, no sword bonus, -10 Defense Maneuver = -7 total; defensive base 6, no mounted penalty due to not being in direct melee, no sword or shield bonus, +10 Defense Maneuver = 16 total). He rolls a 12 for his defense, a success but not enough to beat the skirmisher's 14. His passive shield cover is 20%, and he rolls a 15; the kite shield takes the javelin! The javelin sticks into the shield's face, its head harmlessly stuck in the wood.
After finishing his turn, Baeron sees the skirmisher scrambling along the rocky stream-bed below the rock wall. Seeing the woods nearby, he pauses to consider whether he wants to follow the Galadorn into the thick, where hidden allies may well be waiting. Instead, he spurs his horse onward towards the north, intent upon catching up to the other Galadorns who fled at the onset. With luck, his War-Lance was already engaged,
Baeron, a corporal-of-horse in the Duke of Northbridge’s cavalry, spots a small detachment of Galadorns at the edge of the Old Mill Wall, the wall that rounded the eastern flank of what was to be a battlefield on the morrow. The Duke’s forces were camped barely a quarter mile behind him, while a host of Galadorns; a mixture of wild hill-clans and Malcolm the Red’s own feudal forces; were fast approaching from the northern marches. Baeron was tasked with harassing any Galadorn reconnaissance or foraging parties that attempted to approach the field before nightfall. He ordered his War-Lance to split up, two riders heading around to the north to cut off a retreat and the other three to flank westward, as he was mindful of Galadorn trickery or ambushes. Baeron himself would charge into the Galadorn detachment, hopefully driving them into the waiting horsemen to the north.
They scatter as soon as they see him crest the ridge. Three of the seven Galadorns head for the river gully to the west, while two others flee northward immediately. The last two, a hobilar mounted on a bay hill-pony and a footed skirmisher armed with javelins and a buckler remain near the stone wall. Baeron decides to press the charge, riding down towards them before they change their minds.
Mechanics: Baeron possesses a 14 skill in his cavalryman’s spear, and a 12 in his longsword. He wears light mail (9 AR) and carries a kite shield (+7 defensive, -3 offensive). His horse is a courser and possesses a 10 movement rate, conferring a +10 charge bonus to his Offensive skill. Couching his cavalry spear turns it into a lance, causing the spear to do his horse’s damage to an enemy rather than his own; in this case his horse confers 6d6 damage. Finally, against footed opponents, he has a +10 offensive bonus and a -5 defensive penalty. Since the skirmisher doesn’t have a spear, pike or halberd, he cannot negate Baeron’s skill bonus.
His foes are armored in light leathers (3 AR). The hobilar is armed with an axe (12 skill), while the skirmisher is armed with 2 javelins (10 skill) and a dagger (8 skill). The hill-pony has a 9 movement rate, and thus confers a +9 charge bonus to the hobilar’s attacks.
Baeron charges the horseman, who likewise charges, as he did not want to be charged while stationary (and thus have to face Baeron’s Charge bonus without one of his own). Baeron’s skill with his lance is a 19/4 (Offensive base 7, +10 Charge, +5 lance, -3 shield = 19 total; defensive base 7, -10 charge, +7 shield = 4 total). The hobilar’s skill with his axe is a 17/-6 (Offensive base 6, +9 charge, +2 axe = 17 total; defensive base 6, -9 charge, -3 axe = -6 total).
Baeron rolls a 14, a success by the die roll, and a critical success because his offensive roll is more than 20 higher than his opponent’s defensive roll (in this case, his 14 is 21 points higher than the hobilar’s -6). Since he possesses a lance, his longer melee reach means that he strikes first against the hobilar. Baeron rolls a 25 for damage (6, 6, 4, 3, 3, 2 and 1 for the crit), which is 22 points higher than the hobilar’s armor. 22 damage is enough to cause a knockdown (the hobilar’s Size is an 11, so he has to make a riding check at -11 for the damage taken), a Major Wound at -10 (over Prowess total), a Critical Wound at -10 (over Prowess in a single hit), and a Mortal Wound at -10 (brought to KO or lower level health; the hobilar only possesses 23 health total).
The hobilar fails his riding check, and is flung from his horse for an additional d6 damage (4). He fails all three Prowess rolls (he had major penalties to each from the sheer damage caused) and is brought below 0 Health. Due to his three wounds, he is bleeding heavily each round and would likely die regardless of healing attempts, even if any were forthcoming. Baeron decides against keeping hold of his lance, and lets it remain in the hobilar’s body (impaling mechanics and special damage will be covered later). The hobilar never gets the chance to strike back with his axe.
Drawing his sword, Baeron closes the distance on the skirmisher. Having seen his comrade laid low by his enemy, the skirmisher wisely decides to remain near the wall, which counts as a Difficult obstacle to a rider. Baeron sees this, but decides to press the attack nonetheless. As he closes within range, the Galadorn looses a javelin at him. Baeron is in point-blank range (the skirmisher’s Dexterity is a 14, granting him a 14-foot point blank range with thrown weapons) so the skirmisher’s 10 offensive skill increases. He uses Cunning Shot, decreasing his own defensive skill by 5 but likewise that of his foe. His skill with his javelin is a 9/3(Offensive base 5, +5 point blank range, -1 buckler = 9 total; defensive base 5, -5 Cunning Shot, +3 buckler = 3 total).
The skirmisher throws, rolling an 8, a success. Baeron's own skill this round with his sword is a 15/10 (Offensive base 6, +2 longsword, -3 shield, mounted +10 = 15 total; defensive base 6, +2 longsword, +7 shield, -5 mounted = 10 total). Baeron rolls a 5 for defense, a success but not high enough to defeat the skirmisher's 8. Baeron's shield provides 45% cover, and he rolls a 62, another failure. The skirmisher rolls 3d6 damage, coming up with a 12. Baeron's armor absorbs 9 of it, leaving him with 3 damage. The javelin falls from his wounded side, and the damage caused is not enough to knock him from his horse, impale him or cause a significant wound, however.
Baeron, closing in, now strikes with his 15. He rolls a 17, failing to hit the skirmisher with his blade. As his horse was carrying him at a gallop, it will now take him 2 full rounds to wheel about, and an additional round to close the distance once more. He begins his turn to his shield side (left) quickly, not wanting to offer the skirmisher his back for long - the Galadorn still has a javelin, after all.
The skirmisher decides to Charge forward now, taking advantage of Baeron's turn. The next round, he moves his full movement rate of 3, although his Size and Strength do not give him a bonus to his Charge. His skill with his javelin is a 17/-3 (Offensive base 5, +3 charge, +5 point blank, +5 Cunning shot, -1 shield = 17 total; defensive base 5, -6 charge, +3 shield, -5 Cunning shot = -3 total). He rolls a 14, a good hit.
Baeron does not possess Mastery in Riding, so he is not able to turn quickly enough in his saddle to give the skirmisher his shield-side. Baeron cannot benefit from his shield's defense this round, and only gains his passive cover bonus from it (as the shield covers a part of his body from the side as he turns to the left). He decides to go Defensive, trying to weave and duck as best he can. His skill this round is a -7/16 (Offensive base 6, no mounted bonus due to not being in direct melee, -3 shield, no sword bonus, -10 Defense Maneuver = -7 total; defensive base 6, no mounted penalty due to not being in direct melee, no sword or shield bonus, +10 Defense Maneuver = 16 total). He rolls a 12 for his defense, a success but not enough to beat the skirmisher's 14. His passive shield cover is 20%, and he rolls a 15; the kite shield takes the javelin! The javelin sticks into the shield's face, its head harmlessly stuck in the wood.
After finishing his turn, Baeron sees the skirmisher scrambling along the rocky stream-bed below the rock wall. Seeing the woods nearby, he pauses to consider whether he wants to follow the Galadorn into the thick, where hidden allies may well be waiting. Instead, he spurs his horse onward towards the north, intent upon catching up to the other Galadorns who fled at the onset. With luck, his War-Lance was already engaged,
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
A sample combat...
A sample combat between two warriors - one a soldier, the other a bandit. Who will survive?
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Cormac, a warrior from the north of Galador and member of the King’s Hunt finally manages to corner Thaern Swifthand, a notorious highwayman, on a desolate stretch of the highland road. On most days, Thaern would not be alone, and Cormac would have to cut his way through a dozen outlaws and highland reavers to bring the brigand down. This was Lormond, however, a quiet corner of the north highlands that Thaern called home. The king had few friends here, and Thaern had dismissed his companions earlier that day; many of them likewise had homes and families in the hill-country of Lormond.
Thaern only became aware of Cormac’s presence after the latter bellowed his name in challenge. It was a risk Cormac had to take, as he wanted to ensure he had indeed found the famed highwayman and not some lesser man. Thaern whirled about, axe in hand, confirming his pursuer’s suspicions. After briefly eyeing the surrounding brush and thickets, wary of the unfamiliar terrain, Cormac strapped his shield over his arm, and drew his own axe.
Mechanics: Cormac is a veteran warrior, and possesses an 18 skill in his axe. He wears good brigandine armor (6 AR) – heavy enough for a skirmish and light enough for the rough country – and a medium shield (+5 defensive, -2 offensive skill) of the Armoghan style on his left forearm. His opponent, Thaern, wears only leathers (4 AR), has no shield and carries a fighting axe (16 skill) common to the northlands of Galador. He also possesses the Heroic Attributes Agility (1 bubble, +3 AR) and Deftness (1 bubble, +1 AR), traits that had earned him the moniker Swifthand.
Cormac Charges, adding the bonuses for his Size of 13 (+1) and his Strength of 14 (+1) to his Movement Rate of 3. He gains a +5 to his offensive skill, but a staggering -10 penalty to his defense. His long axe gives him a +2 to his offensive and a further -3 to his defensive skill, bringing his offensive/defensive skills on the first round of combat to a 14/1 (Offensive base 9, +2 axe, +5 charge, -2 shield = 14 total; defensive base 9, -3 axe, -10 charge, +5 shield = 1 total).
Thaern decides to Guard, increasing his own defenses while maintaining enough of an offensive threat to keep Cormac on his toes. The maneuver grants him a +5 to his defensive and a -5 to his offensive skill. He divides his 16 skill in half, and readies himself as best he can. His long axe grants +2 offensive/-3 defensive which combined with the Guard maneuver grants him a 5/10 (Offensive base 8, +2 axe, -5 Guard = 5 total; defensive base 8, -3 axe, +5 Guard = 10 total).
Cormac rolls his Offense, coming up with a 4; low, but still a success. He only has a 1 Defense, so he doesn’t bother to roll it (he doesn’t want to risk a critical failure, which with a 1 skill is just as likely as a success in this case). Thaern rolls his Defense, coming up with a 7, which defeats Cormac’s attack. He rolls his own Offense of 5, but is over with a roll of 13. This round of combat, neither opponent managed to score a hit.
The next round, Cormac squares up, but continues his attack, possessing a 9/11 (Offensive base 9, +2 axe, -2 shield = 9; defensive base 9, -3 axe, +5 shield = 11). Thaern decides to Parry, and will add any successful Offensive roll to his Defenses, bringing his skill to a 10/5 (Offensive base 8, +2 axe = 10; defensive base 8, -3 axe = 5).
Cormac rolls a 7 for his Offense, a success. He also rolls a 3 for his Defense, succeeding there as well. Thaern, hard-pressed, rolls a 4 for his Defense, not enough to stop Cormac’s blow. Using Parry, he decides to try for a defensive roll, and succeeds on a lucky roll of 1. He adds it to his Defenses, coming up with a 5, which unfortunately is still under the 7 rolled by Cormac.
Cormac’s axe causes 3d6 damage on a successful blow, doing 10 damage (dice roll of 3, 3, 4) to Thaern. Thaern’s 4 AR from Agility and Deftness are subtracted from this amount first, reducing it to 6. It is important to remove the AR bonus for Heroic Attributes and high Dexterity scores first, as this represents that character’s dodging and ducking in combat; only the damage left over from this actually hits Thaern. Thaern’s leather armor absorbs 4 damage, meaning he has taken a total of 2 damage – a nasty scratch but far less than what Cormac had expected to do.
The next round, Cormac decides to use the Bash maneuver, flipping his shield’s offensive and defensive modifiers in an attempt to batter the lightly-wounded Thaern. Thaern decides to go Defensive, recognizing Cormac’s superior skill as a serious threat.
Cormac’s skill is now a 16/4 (Offensive base 9, +2 axe, +5 Shield Bash = 16 total; defensive base 9, -3 axe, -2 Shield Bash = 4 total), while Thaern’s is a 0/15 (Offensive base 8, +2 axe, -10 Defensive = 0 total; defensive base 8, -3 axe, +10 Defensive = 15 total). Cormac moves in, rolling a 9 for his Offense (success) and a 14 for his Defense (failure). Thaern rolls a 13 for his Defense (success) and forgoes his Offensive roll entirely (0 skill). Cormac learns again why men called this rogue Swifthand.
On the following round, Cormac, enraged by his wily foe’s defenses, decides to go all in, using Berserk Attack. Thaern, who is no Master with his axe, does not know this, and decides to use Improvised Attack, intent on knocking his assailant down. Cormac’s skill this round is a lopsided 24/-5 (Offensive base 9, +2 axe, +15 Berserk Attack, -2 shield = 24 total; defensive base 9, -3 axe, -15 Berserk Attack, +5 shield = -5 total). Berserk Attack comes AFTER the opponent has rolled his own Offensive skill, and is one of the few attacks that is not considered simultaneous in FORGED; it is high-risk, but also high-reward. Thaern’s skill this round is a 5/5 (Offensive base 8, -5 Improvised attack, +2 axe = 5 total; defensive base 8, -3 axe = 5 total).
Thaern rolls his strike, coming up with a 5, a Critical Success! Due to his critical success, he will add 1d6 to the overall damage done by his axe. Since he used Improvised Attack this round, he is only causing Knockdown Damage (not counted against the Health score of his foe), but an additional +1d6 due to the maneuver, for a total of 5d6 damage (3d6 base, +1d6 Improvised Attack, +1d6 Critical Success). The damage total comes up to a 23 (6, 5, 4, 4, 2, 2). Cormac’s armor does nothing to stop the knockdown damage, and 23 is 10 points over Cormac’s Size of 13. He is forced to roll a Dexterity at -10, and fails miserably. He is knocked from his feet, landing hard on the turf, and losing his chance to complete his Berserk Attack this round.
In the following rounds, the ever-cunning (and lucky) Thaern could follow up his successes, taking advantage of Cormac’s precarious position (being knocked down halves your base weapon skill pool, in this case bringing Cormac’s base axe skill down to a 9), or he could take the opportunity to run, utilizing his knowledge of the terrain and the local people to evade his pursuer for another day. Had Thaern not succeeded in his strike, Cormac’s blow would almost certainly have done massive damage (he, too, would have been rolling 5d6 with his axe had he hit).
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As you can see from the above, combat in FORGED hinges on the decisions made by the players; their weapon choices, Combat Maneuvers, and cunning. Obvious advantages on one side do not guarantee victory, and can be turned into opportunities by a patient, well-prepared foe. The entire melee above, from the initial Charge to Cormac’s untimely fall, lasted FOUR rounds – 24 seconds in total. Neither combatant was a Master of his chosen weapon, nor were they both entirely prepared for the fight that ensued, although Cormac possessed a slight advantage in both skill and armament. Had one or both combatants been Masters, they could have Read the other’s intended Combat Maneuvers, gaining a key competitive advantage that could have made the fight that much shorter or at least one-sided.
Had Thaern started the fight, his bow (which never had a chance to enter the fight) would likely have made short work of Cormac, assuming the well-known brigand could have struck him before the Galadorn managed to raise his shield. Had Cormac decided to forgo his shield for the fight, the ratio of his Offensive and Defensive skills would have changed drastically, perhaps allowing him to keep the initiative for longer. Finally, if Thaern had not been alone, Cormac would have been forced to decide whether he could face two men on his own – a daunting proposition for even a veteran warrior.
I hope this sample melee has been informative; more will follow as we explore other types of combat; group melees, missile duels, mounted combat and ambushes to name just a few.
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Cormac, a warrior from the north of Galador and member of the King’s Hunt finally manages to corner Thaern Swifthand, a notorious highwayman, on a desolate stretch of the highland road. On most days, Thaern would not be alone, and Cormac would have to cut his way through a dozen outlaws and highland reavers to bring the brigand down. This was Lormond, however, a quiet corner of the north highlands that Thaern called home. The king had few friends here, and Thaern had dismissed his companions earlier that day; many of them likewise had homes and families in the hill-country of Lormond.
Thaern only became aware of Cormac’s presence after the latter bellowed his name in challenge. It was a risk Cormac had to take, as he wanted to ensure he had indeed found the famed highwayman and not some lesser man. Thaern whirled about, axe in hand, confirming his pursuer’s suspicions. After briefly eyeing the surrounding brush and thickets, wary of the unfamiliar terrain, Cormac strapped his shield over his arm, and drew his own axe.
Mechanics: Cormac is a veteran warrior, and possesses an 18 skill in his axe. He wears good brigandine armor (6 AR) – heavy enough for a skirmish and light enough for the rough country – and a medium shield (+5 defensive, -2 offensive skill) of the Armoghan style on his left forearm. His opponent, Thaern, wears only leathers (4 AR), has no shield and carries a fighting axe (16 skill) common to the northlands of Galador. He also possesses the Heroic Attributes Agility (1 bubble, +3 AR) and Deftness (1 bubble, +1 AR), traits that had earned him the moniker Swifthand.
Cormac Charges, adding the bonuses for his Size of 13 (+1) and his Strength of 14 (+1) to his Movement Rate of 3. He gains a +5 to his offensive skill, but a staggering -10 penalty to his defense. His long axe gives him a +2 to his offensive and a further -3 to his defensive skill, bringing his offensive/defensive skills on the first round of combat to a 14/1 (Offensive base 9, +2 axe, +5 charge, -2 shield = 14 total; defensive base 9, -3 axe, -10 charge, +5 shield = 1 total).
Thaern decides to Guard, increasing his own defenses while maintaining enough of an offensive threat to keep Cormac on his toes. The maneuver grants him a +5 to his defensive and a -5 to his offensive skill. He divides his 16 skill in half, and readies himself as best he can. His long axe grants +2 offensive/-3 defensive which combined with the Guard maneuver grants him a 5/10 (Offensive base 8, +2 axe, -5 Guard = 5 total; defensive base 8, -3 axe, +5 Guard = 10 total).
Cormac rolls his Offense, coming up with a 4; low, but still a success. He only has a 1 Defense, so he doesn’t bother to roll it (he doesn’t want to risk a critical failure, which with a 1 skill is just as likely as a success in this case). Thaern rolls his Defense, coming up with a 7, which defeats Cormac’s attack. He rolls his own Offense of 5, but is over with a roll of 13. This round of combat, neither opponent managed to score a hit.
The next round, Cormac squares up, but continues his attack, possessing a 9/11 (Offensive base 9, +2 axe, -2 shield = 9; defensive base 9, -3 axe, +5 shield = 11). Thaern decides to Parry, and will add any successful Offensive roll to his Defenses, bringing his skill to a 10/5 (Offensive base 8, +2 axe = 10; defensive base 8, -3 axe = 5).
Cormac rolls a 7 for his Offense, a success. He also rolls a 3 for his Defense, succeeding there as well. Thaern, hard-pressed, rolls a 4 for his Defense, not enough to stop Cormac’s blow. Using Parry, he decides to try for a defensive roll, and succeeds on a lucky roll of 1. He adds it to his Defenses, coming up with a 5, which unfortunately is still under the 7 rolled by Cormac.
Cormac’s axe causes 3d6 damage on a successful blow, doing 10 damage (dice roll of 3, 3, 4) to Thaern. Thaern’s 4 AR from Agility and Deftness are subtracted from this amount first, reducing it to 6. It is important to remove the AR bonus for Heroic Attributes and high Dexterity scores first, as this represents that character’s dodging and ducking in combat; only the damage left over from this actually hits Thaern. Thaern’s leather armor absorbs 4 damage, meaning he has taken a total of 2 damage – a nasty scratch but far less than what Cormac had expected to do.
The next round, Cormac decides to use the Bash maneuver, flipping his shield’s offensive and defensive modifiers in an attempt to batter the lightly-wounded Thaern. Thaern decides to go Defensive, recognizing Cormac’s superior skill as a serious threat.
Cormac’s skill is now a 16/4 (Offensive base 9, +2 axe, +5 Shield Bash = 16 total; defensive base 9, -3 axe, -2 Shield Bash = 4 total), while Thaern’s is a 0/15 (Offensive base 8, +2 axe, -10 Defensive = 0 total; defensive base 8, -3 axe, +10 Defensive = 15 total). Cormac moves in, rolling a 9 for his Offense (success) and a 14 for his Defense (failure). Thaern rolls a 13 for his Defense (success) and forgoes his Offensive roll entirely (0 skill). Cormac learns again why men called this rogue Swifthand.
On the following round, Cormac, enraged by his wily foe’s defenses, decides to go all in, using Berserk Attack. Thaern, who is no Master with his axe, does not know this, and decides to use Improvised Attack, intent on knocking his assailant down. Cormac’s skill this round is a lopsided 24/-5 (Offensive base 9, +2 axe, +15 Berserk Attack, -2 shield = 24 total; defensive base 9, -3 axe, -15 Berserk Attack, +5 shield = -5 total). Berserk Attack comes AFTER the opponent has rolled his own Offensive skill, and is one of the few attacks that is not considered simultaneous in FORGED; it is high-risk, but also high-reward. Thaern’s skill this round is a 5/5 (Offensive base 8, -5 Improvised attack, +2 axe = 5 total; defensive base 8, -3 axe = 5 total).
Thaern rolls his strike, coming up with a 5, a Critical Success! Due to his critical success, he will add 1d6 to the overall damage done by his axe. Since he used Improvised Attack this round, he is only causing Knockdown Damage (not counted against the Health score of his foe), but an additional +1d6 due to the maneuver, for a total of 5d6 damage (3d6 base, +1d6 Improvised Attack, +1d6 Critical Success). The damage total comes up to a 23 (6, 5, 4, 4, 2, 2). Cormac’s armor does nothing to stop the knockdown damage, and 23 is 10 points over Cormac’s Size of 13. He is forced to roll a Dexterity at -10, and fails miserably. He is knocked from his feet, landing hard on the turf, and losing his chance to complete his Berserk Attack this round.
In the following rounds, the ever-cunning (and lucky) Thaern could follow up his successes, taking advantage of Cormac’s precarious position (being knocked down halves your base weapon skill pool, in this case bringing Cormac’s base axe skill down to a 9), or he could take the opportunity to run, utilizing his knowledge of the terrain and the local people to evade his pursuer for another day. Had Thaern not succeeded in his strike, Cormac’s blow would almost certainly have done massive damage (he, too, would have been rolling 5d6 with his axe had he hit).
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As you can see from the above, combat in FORGED hinges on the decisions made by the players; their weapon choices, Combat Maneuvers, and cunning. Obvious advantages on one side do not guarantee victory, and can be turned into opportunities by a patient, well-prepared foe. The entire melee above, from the initial Charge to Cormac’s untimely fall, lasted FOUR rounds – 24 seconds in total. Neither combatant was a Master of his chosen weapon, nor were they both entirely prepared for the fight that ensued, although Cormac possessed a slight advantage in both skill and armament. Had one or both combatants been Masters, they could have Read the other’s intended Combat Maneuvers, gaining a key competitive advantage that could have made the fight that much shorter or at least one-sided.
Had Thaern started the fight, his bow (which never had a chance to enter the fight) would likely have made short work of Cormac, assuming the well-known brigand could have struck him before the Galadorn managed to raise his shield. Had Cormac decided to forgo his shield for the fight, the ratio of his Offensive and Defensive skills would have changed drastically, perhaps allowing him to keep the initiative for longer. Finally, if Thaern had not been alone, Cormac would have been forced to decide whether he could face two men on his own – a daunting proposition for even a veteran warrior.
I hope this sample melee has been informative; more will follow as we explore other types of combat; group melees, missile duels, mounted combat and ambushes to name just a few.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Heroic Attributes
Today, we're going to discuss a little about Heroic Attributes. Before we do that, I wanted to clarify some terms you will be seeing pretty often in the game.
Statistics or Stats: These represent the actual numerical values assigned to your character, and include Size, Strength, Dexterity, Prowess and Appearance.
Senses: Sight, Hearing, Awareness, Memory and Cunning.
Derived Stats: These are stats which are derived from other stats. For example, in FORGED your Health is determined by adding your Size to your Strength, while Movement Rate is determined by adding Strength to Dexterity and dividing the sum by 10, rounding up at 0.5.
Skills: These are martial (combat-related) and non-martial proficiencies.
Heroic Attributes: These are the traits that define a Mortal Hero; setting him or her apart from common people. Heroic Attributes modify and enhance various Stats, Senses and Skills, but they are more than just numerical bonuses. They set the character above his or her peers, and allow for a much more in-depth customization for each Mortal Hero. Heroic Attributes have five ranks, each one more powerful than the one before it. These ranks are referred to as 'Bubbles' after the way you mark them on your character sheets, similar to 'Bubbles' of Mastery for Skills.
An example of a Heroic Attribute is Brawn. While any character may have a high Strength score, Brawn sets the bar for the truly mighty. Brawn grants bonuses to Strength checks, damage, and skill at using large weapons. The Stat bonuses do not raise the actual Statistic, they simply provide bonuses for checks against that Stat. A Mortal Hero who possessed a 14 Strength with one Bubble of Brawn would still have a 14 Strength for purposes of Derived Stats, but for all Strength checks he or she would roll as if the Strength Stat was a 16.
Heroic Attributes cost Hero Points, starting at five for the first Bubble. Each rank beyond the first costs two more character points; thus your second Bubble of Brawn would cost seven Hero Points (in addition to the five already spent), and so on. No more than one Bubble of any single Heroic Attribute may be purchased each Advancement Phase. Starting characters are granted one free Bubble that they may use for either Heroic Attributes or Mastery, and may purchase additional Bubbles with their starting Hero Point allotment.
Other Heroic Attributes are less easy to quantify. Take Command, for example. While Command likewise grants bonuses to certain Stats and Skills, it also grants the character the ability to inspire his or her comrades in battle, an ability that no one but those who possess Command can use.
I hope you have found this snippet about Heroic Attributes helpful in better understanding the rules of FORGED. Check back regularly for further tidbits on the system, and feel free to ask any questions you'd like.
Statistics or Stats: These represent the actual numerical values assigned to your character, and include Size, Strength, Dexterity, Prowess and Appearance.
Senses: Sight, Hearing, Awareness, Memory and Cunning.
Derived Stats: These are stats which are derived from other stats. For example, in FORGED your Health is determined by adding your Size to your Strength, while Movement Rate is determined by adding Strength to Dexterity and dividing the sum by 10, rounding up at 0.5.
Skills: These are martial (combat-related) and non-martial proficiencies.
Heroic Attributes: These are the traits that define a Mortal Hero; setting him or her apart from common people. Heroic Attributes modify and enhance various Stats, Senses and Skills, but they are more than just numerical bonuses. They set the character above his or her peers, and allow for a much more in-depth customization for each Mortal Hero. Heroic Attributes have five ranks, each one more powerful than the one before it. These ranks are referred to as 'Bubbles' after the way you mark them on your character sheets, similar to 'Bubbles' of Mastery for Skills.
An example of a Heroic Attribute is Brawn. While any character may have a high Strength score, Brawn sets the bar for the truly mighty. Brawn grants bonuses to Strength checks, damage, and skill at using large weapons. The Stat bonuses do not raise the actual Statistic, they simply provide bonuses for checks against that Stat. A Mortal Hero who possessed a 14 Strength with one Bubble of Brawn would still have a 14 Strength for purposes of Derived Stats, but for all Strength checks he or she would roll as if the Strength Stat was a 16.
Heroic Attributes cost Hero Points, starting at five for the first Bubble. Each rank beyond the first costs two more character points; thus your second Bubble of Brawn would cost seven Hero Points (in addition to the five already spent), and so on. No more than one Bubble of any single Heroic Attribute may be purchased each Advancement Phase. Starting characters are granted one free Bubble that they may use for either Heroic Attributes or Mastery, and may purchase additional Bubbles with their starting Hero Point allotment.
Other Heroic Attributes are less easy to quantify. Take Command, for example. While Command likewise grants bonuses to certain Stats and Skills, it also grants the character the ability to inspire his or her comrades in battle, an ability that no one but those who possess Command can use.
I hope you have found this snippet about Heroic Attributes helpful in better understanding the rules of FORGED. Check back regularly for further tidbits on the system, and feel free to ask any questions you'd like.
Friday, May 18, 2012
A little about the system...
I thought I'd talk about the game mechanics that run FORGED. We are in the middle of finalizing the beta draft, a laborious process but an enlightening one, so some things discussed here may not end up in the 1.0 release.
Firstly, FORGED doesn't have any character classes. You read that right - NO classes whatsoever. This is a skills-based game, where your stats, derived stats and known trades make your character. If you want to know the art of swordsmanship, put Hero Points (HP) into it. If you want to be a master trader, a sailor, a con-man, a thief, a cattleman, an archer, a priest, a war-chief or even a wizard, you put points into it. Its as simple as that.
Secondly, there are no levels in this system. Your advancement is also entirely skills-based. You earn experience throughout the campaign, and that experience is applied to your pool of HP during the Advancement Phase, which occurs at the end of the campaign year (generally in Winter). You can also earn HP in specific skills and even bonuses to stats and derived stats throughout the campaign year by rolling critical successes. More on that later.
Finally, FORGED possesses an entirely opposed combat resolution system, meaning you are never going to be standing around taking turns in a fight. Your enemy is trying to kill you at the same time you are trying to kill it. You oppose your weapon skill against that of your opponent(s), with the highest successful rolls winning. You tailor your offensive and defensive skill rolls and Combat Maneuvers against yours opponent(s), factoring in the Fighting Styles, weapon choices, certain stats, shields and bonuses of both combatants.
Fights in this system are brutal, and very often short - especially among extremely skilled warriors. Only fights between relatively green or untested fighters last more than a few combat rounds, and even that is no guarantee. Wounds generally put the fight out of a soldier long before his Health score reaches zero. As healing magic is almost unheard of in Khaelavar, this keeps the Mortal Hero consistently aware of his or her own... well... mortality.
I will follow this post up with more tidbits of the game system over the coming weeks, and I'll happily answer any questions you might have.
Firstly, FORGED doesn't have any character classes. You read that right - NO classes whatsoever. This is a skills-based game, where your stats, derived stats and known trades make your character. If you want to know the art of swordsmanship, put Hero Points (HP) into it. If you want to be a master trader, a sailor, a con-man, a thief, a cattleman, an archer, a priest, a war-chief or even a wizard, you put points into it. Its as simple as that.
Secondly, there are no levels in this system. Your advancement is also entirely skills-based. You earn experience throughout the campaign, and that experience is applied to your pool of HP during the Advancement Phase, which occurs at the end of the campaign year (generally in Winter). You can also earn HP in specific skills and even bonuses to stats and derived stats throughout the campaign year by rolling critical successes. More on that later.
Finally, FORGED possesses an entirely opposed combat resolution system, meaning you are never going to be standing around taking turns in a fight. Your enemy is trying to kill you at the same time you are trying to kill it. You oppose your weapon skill against that of your opponent(s), with the highest successful rolls winning. You tailor your offensive and defensive skill rolls and Combat Maneuvers against yours opponent(s), factoring in the Fighting Styles, weapon choices, certain stats, shields and bonuses of both combatants.
Fights in this system are brutal, and very often short - especially among extremely skilled warriors. Only fights between relatively green or untested fighters last more than a few combat rounds, and even that is no guarantee. Wounds generally put the fight out of a soldier long before his Health score reaches zero. As healing magic is almost unheard of in Khaelavar, this keeps the Mortal Hero consistently aware of his or her own... well... mortality.
I will follow this post up with more tidbits of the game system over the coming weeks, and I'll happily answer any questions you might have.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Perils and Progress...
Putting together more than a decade of rules, notes, revisions and concepts into one semi-coherent document has been a monumental undertaking, to say the least. I applaud those who have done this sort of thing before, and hope to cross the finish line still more or less vertical. Real life has certainly taken its toll on me recently, derailing the final phase of this project in every conceivable fashion. Hopefully, I can trudge through the whole house-hunting process quickly and get settled in before summer is too far gone.
I just found a previous version of my rules covering sorcery, a rarity in Khaelavar but certainly a game-changer. The rules for sorcery will not be included in the basic set, as its introduction too early on would be detrimental to the overall effort. In Khaelavar, magic is a truly powerful thing, and those who practice its arts may as well be forces of nature in their own right. There is no tit-for-tat character balancing in FORGED, and for good reason: certain things in the world are not, and will never be fair. The game achieves balance through attrition, meaning that the rarity of powerful magic is such that although one wizard may be a match for 100 men, you won't find one person in 10,000 that has the talent to be a true wizard. More on this later.
Right now, the focus is on getting the basic rules out in preparation for open beta (still no ETA on that; sorry). The basic rule set will consist of character creation, combat mechanics, skills, economics, the basic lore, creatures and monsters of Khaelavar, and an Adventure Companion - a starter module for one of the FORGED campaign lines.
Future projects will include but are not limited to:
- Adventure Companion releases on a regular basis.
- The Sapient Arcanist, containing all of the rules for magic.
- The Path of War, containing all of the rules for epic battles in Khaelavar.
- Kingdom Guides, richly detailing all of the major kingdoms of Khaelavar.
- Campaign Lines to be released regularly.
I just found a previous version of my rules covering sorcery, a rarity in Khaelavar but certainly a game-changer. The rules for sorcery will not be included in the basic set, as its introduction too early on would be detrimental to the overall effort. In Khaelavar, magic is a truly powerful thing, and those who practice its arts may as well be forces of nature in their own right. There is no tit-for-tat character balancing in FORGED, and for good reason: certain things in the world are not, and will never be fair. The game achieves balance through attrition, meaning that the rarity of powerful magic is such that although one wizard may be a match for 100 men, you won't find one person in 10,000 that has the talent to be a true wizard. More on this later.
Right now, the focus is on getting the basic rules out in preparation for open beta (still no ETA on that; sorry). The basic rule set will consist of character creation, combat mechanics, skills, economics, the basic lore, creatures and monsters of Khaelavar, and an Adventure Companion - a starter module for one of the FORGED campaign lines.
Future projects will include but are not limited to:
- Adventure Companion releases on a regular basis.
- The Sapient Arcanist, containing all of the rules for magic.
- The Path of War, containing all of the rules for epic battles in Khaelavar.
- Kingdom Guides, richly detailing all of the major kingdoms of Khaelavar.
- Campaign Lines to be released regularly.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
A Legend in the making...
When I set out all those years ago to create this game system, the only thing I knew was that it had to be a perfect fit for an existing world. Khaelavar had been born a few years before the system, and I had previously run games there using other sets of rules. The world was more or less fully fleshed out, but something was always missing.
One day when I was still stationed overseas in Japan, I decided to run a new campaign in the realms of Khaelavar. I told my players to roll up their characters by Friday and that we'd begin Saturday afternoon when we were all off duty. When Saturday came, they sat eagerly at my table, dice in hand, shiny new character sheets at the ready. Pizza was on the way, a case of Dew was sitting nearby, and we were all looking forward to unwinding for the weekend.
Though it did not yet have a name, FORGED as a concept had already more or less formed in my mind. I had experimented with a very rudimentary version of it in my spare time, rolling out combat scenarios on my own (and yes, I am geeky enough that I ~might~ have given my imaginary combatants names and voices) and writing down the results. I had about a dozen little tables and charts for combat maneuvers, skills, and opposed rolls floating around my desk, most of them illegible to all but me. I hadn't yet decided whether I liked this strange little experiment or not, and to be honest I was actually starting to lean away from it. It was too new, too different from what I was used to. What the hell did I know about making my own rules?
I tossed back a drink, looked into the impatient eyes of my players, and sighed. Why not give it a go? I thought. It's a new campaign, after all. If it goes bust it won't really matter. No one at the table is yet invested in their characters or the campaign. I leaned forward, took in a deep breath, and smiled sarcastically.
Your character sheets are all done, right?
*Heads nod.*
I have.... a thought.
*Less enthusiastic nodding.*
You're going to need new ones.
*Grumbling and rumors of insurrection. A can of Dew crunches in someone's fist.*
After a couple hours of description, stat rolling and basic familiarity scenarios, the game began. No one around that table, myself included, had any clue as to whether this was going to work. The first game was set in Thrandor, and by the session's end (a harrowing flight from a pack of Moorhounds that ended with an ugly melee) everyone around the table was happy with the system. It fit the game world in feel and scope, combat wasn't too bad (we were all a bit new to it still), and we'd all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. A system was born.
FORGED was born.
It would be many years and a dozen-odd rules editions down the road before it would bear that name, but the core of what it is now had been established. Judgment calls made on the fly in that session are what we now call Heroic Attributes. A boneheaded math flub made by yours truly during the game now forms the basis of Weapon Mastery. Finally, an answer to one of my players' questions became a mantra that I've stood by for more than a dozen years.
Nothing's impossible here. Roll it, brother.
One day when I was still stationed overseas in Japan, I decided to run a new campaign in the realms of Khaelavar. I told my players to roll up their characters by Friday and that we'd begin Saturday afternoon when we were all off duty. When Saturday came, they sat eagerly at my table, dice in hand, shiny new character sheets at the ready. Pizza was on the way, a case of Dew was sitting nearby, and we were all looking forward to unwinding for the weekend.
Though it did not yet have a name, FORGED as a concept had already more or less formed in my mind. I had experimented with a very rudimentary version of it in my spare time, rolling out combat scenarios on my own (and yes, I am geeky enough that I ~might~ have given my imaginary combatants names and voices) and writing down the results. I had about a dozen little tables and charts for combat maneuvers, skills, and opposed rolls floating around my desk, most of them illegible to all but me. I hadn't yet decided whether I liked this strange little experiment or not, and to be honest I was actually starting to lean away from it. It was too new, too different from what I was used to. What the hell did I know about making my own rules?
I tossed back a drink, looked into the impatient eyes of my players, and sighed. Why not give it a go? I thought. It's a new campaign, after all. If it goes bust it won't really matter. No one at the table is yet invested in their characters or the campaign. I leaned forward, took in a deep breath, and smiled sarcastically.
Your character sheets are all done, right?
*Heads nod.*
I have.... a thought.
*Less enthusiastic nodding.*
You're going to need new ones.
*Grumbling and rumors of insurrection. A can of Dew crunches in someone's fist.*
After a couple hours of description, stat rolling and basic familiarity scenarios, the game began. No one around that table, myself included, had any clue as to whether this was going to work. The first game was set in Thrandor, and by the session's end (a harrowing flight from a pack of Moorhounds that ended with an ugly melee) everyone around the table was happy with the system. It fit the game world in feel and scope, combat wasn't too bad (we were all a bit new to it still), and we'd all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. A system was born.
FORGED was born.
It would be many years and a dozen-odd rules editions down the road before it would bear that name, but the core of what it is now had been established. Judgment calls made on the fly in that session are what we now call Heroic Attributes. A boneheaded math flub made by yours truly during the game now forms the basis of Weapon Mastery. Finally, an answer to one of my players' questions became a mantra that I've stood by for more than a dozen years.
Nothing's impossible here. Roll it, brother.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Shameless art headhunting in progress...
We are looking for artists!
FORGED is a fantasy Role-Playing Game
(RPG) developed over more than 12 years by a dedicated little legion
of writers, amateur game-designers and play-testers. After much blood
and toil, we are rounding the corner and charging towards the
long-awaited publishing of our first rules set. Now, more than ever,
some truly amazing artwork is required to polish off all of our hard
work.
We're not looking for an artist to
perform a one-time job; we are looking for a fully invested partner
to join our team and breathe life into our world. The lands, races
and cultures of Khaelavar will literally be yours to create, from
current concepts to a finished product. FORGED needs a talented
artist to provide a sense of continuity in style as we go forward
with first phase publication. As we advance to other projects that
expand the world, we want to bring that same magic and visual theme
to those projects.
Interested? Get in contact with us via pm here or on our website at http://greystafflegends.weebly.com/.
Let us take a look at your style and discover if you are a match for the unique feel of FORGED and Blackstone Entertainment, Inc. If so, we'll put you to work immediately. We are a dedicated, passionate team and we are very selective about who we bring in.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Very much under construction
FORGED is a fantasy RPG currently under development by Blackstone Entertainment, Inc. Now nearing its final draft phases, FORGED is preparing to go into public beta. With support from our playerbase and fans, we are actively pursuing artistic talent and stitching together a maelstrom of rules, patches, reworks and notes as we approach the beginning of our publishing timeline. In the last few days, we've set up our website, put up two blogs (this one and our development-specific blog) and are hammering away at our various tasks. A whole lot more is coming, so be patient with us as we try to get things rolling on our end.
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