Wednesday, July 20, 2011

I am still alive, so is book 2.

Howdy, folks! I know it's been a while since I posted anything, but that's mostly because there isn't terribly much I can preview right now. Most of what I've been working on is a bit dry or cross-linked with so many other parts of the book that it'd be mostly useless without the rest of the book backing it up (namely classes and feats). Things are still coming along - despite the temptations of Team Fortress 2. I'm just mostly down to the nitty-gritty stuff with a lot of bulk writing to do. Feat descriptions, chapter openings and the like. Turning dev notes into something other people can use (and learning just how much of a system was all in your head and not actually committed to paper yet).

There's also a bit of artistic work to do, which I am not terribly great at. My photoshop skills are not strong. I've been working on improved page backgrounds from the version seen in the ship rules preview. Because it's a fairly large image, I'll link it rather than posting the whole thing.

Book 2 new page background

Now, there is one part of the book I could use a little help from people on. I haven't started listing the new magical items and artifacts yet, and I'd like to know what people want to see. What are your favorite magical items? Why do you like them (so I can be sure to include the parts you actually care about)? Original ideas are great, too.

41 comments:

  1. Things that would be good to have as loot? Generic +1 items or something, items that grant certain feats or something to that effect. My GM is having trouble giving us satisfying loot, so some cool magic items might help with that.

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  2. I found this game today, I think it's really awesome, but before I print the book to use it, I would like to know if you are going to release a new updated version or if the book will remain as it is.

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  3. 1.SONIC SCREWDRIVER - since you included psychopaper in the first book, why not? It's goddamn effective tool.
    2.LIGHTSABER - we all know that this glowing sticks are fuckin' awesome. Just make them a category of Very Rare and Mythtic Rare melee weapons, and everyone will be happy.
    3. THE RING - how this piece of golden crap works depends on the power of its user, right? Then, it's perfect for both low- and epic high-level RPG, both as a plot device and PC's equipment.
    4. Molecular assembler aka 'Cornucopia Machine'. It would totally suit the Prometheans as totally transhumanistic technology. Expensive and rare as hell, but effective as heaven.
    5. Pirate's Compass, which shows direction to whatever you want to get. Spirit of Capitan Jack Sparrow would appreciate this.
    6. Portable Hole. Man, Bag of Holding without PortHole? Pfft. Nonsense.
    7. AND WHERE IS MY FUCKING BFG9000?!?!?!?!717171sevenonesevenone.
    8. Towel. You know, it's the most useful thing in space.
    9. Special bionic eyes and other stuff. For example, analogue of WH40K's Commissar Yarrick's Bale Eye with in-built laspistol.
    10. Well, all things mentioned by me above are obviously stolen from different sources. Then, it's time for something copyright-free. Modron Beacon. Push the button, wait about a week, enjoy total extermination of the whole Sphere. Throw to the star for recharge, for example, to make it freakin' hard to use more than once (and all existing beacons in the Wheel should by discharged, I suppose)

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  4. Okay, I have an odd request. Version 1.4, only less pretty. :)
    Specifically, a printer-friendly version of it. I love reading the pdf, but the idea of printing the damn thing makes be feel sorry for my cheap HP printer.
    I know you are busy, just something to think of for the future, or farm out to a volunteer. :)

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  5. Boomerangs and other thrown weapons that return to the user's hand.
    Spell guns (also called, Caster guns).
    Infinite Improbability Drive (Go anywhere in a short span of time regardless of the ship size. Also, prepare for a Warp Encounter)
    Weapons that appear randomly as an innocent and innocuous item (what appears as a gun is actually a key, but it also a gun. Maybe.)

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  6. Mechadendrites, servitors, more cybernetics in general, character-scale scanning devices, and all other things Omnissiah.

    Siege-type magitech, designed to be mounted on light vehicles and used against things that are either really big or come in swarms (as opposed to big unportable guns designed to nuke single characters, which is probably a bad idea).

    Items that generate forcefields, both character scale (personal forcefield for extra protection) and vehicle/group scale (semi-portable forcefield generator to ward off that horde of demons).

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  7. Weapon- and armor-specific Hearthstones. From page 226:
    "All magical weapons and armor have one hearthstone slot in addition to their additional listed effects."

    For example, one stone that gives any weapon the Accurate trait, or another one that provides minor resistance to a specific damage type.

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  8. You mentioned once in IRC that these are low-quality outputs from your PDF maker thinger. It would be sweet if you'd let a high-quality one run overnight and then toss that online.

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  9. 1. Madhouse Labs Portable Quantum Tunneling Device - Range limited portal gun? Could do a certain amount of rending damage on contact with flesh.

    2. Head of Vecna - "...What is this, I don't even..." - Capable of reanimating a corpse, perhaps?

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  10. more materials for artifacts would be awesome, if not a little work intensive. you have darksteel, what about flowstone? Magical morphing bionics, weapons that can change shape? not sure how it might contribute to ammo, but i'm sure there's something. etherium would be hard to differentiate from mythril mechanically, but it might be worth a look.

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  11. Matias - I've got an updated version of the core book (mostly) ready to go. I've been holding off on releasing it until I get Book 2 done, simply so if I have any major rules changes I need to make to accommodate something I can make it without yet another core book revision.

    Keep the ideas coming! I'm compiling a list.

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  12. How about Terminator Power Armour? Storm Bolter?

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  13. @LawfulNice: Thank you very much for the answer. I'll wait until you make the update to print the book then... although I can't wait to storytell this to my friends! =)


    About the magical items, a couple ideas:

    1) Robot Servitors: because they are really useful.

    2) Holy Avenger +5, probably my favorite RPG weapon ever.

    3) Stargate-like portals to make a cool planetary network. Maybe an forgotten race built then in ancient times to connect their empire, and now a couple of them still remain. Maybe you can even have "portable" versions which can be installed on spaceships.

    4) Ioun Stones, because they look really cool on your character, flying around your head. Maybe then can be aligned with each god, so you have a one (or more) stones per god. Only followrs of the god (or at least people who share his aligment) can use the stone.

    5) Recording Crystals which can store writen information (basically like a kindle/tablet, but onyl for writing/reading).

    6) A magic staff which can create small portals for short travel.

    7) A steampunk mechanical dragon which you can control if you have the apropiate ring/amulet. It could work as a monster an NPC could use too.

    8) An old book that every time you open it tells you a secret about the future (a very unpleasant secret). There is probable some kind of price to use the book every time, like affecting your sanity.

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  14. More magical items:

    9) An old skull with emerald eyes which speaks forbidden (or lost) secrets if you feed it with inocent blood.

    10) Magical bracelets which allow you to break stone/iron walls like if they were paper.

    11) An amulet which allows the user to transform into certain kind of animal (it's a simple and useful item which allows many different options depending on the animal the amulet mimics).

    12) An iron/porcelain mask which protects the user from mind control.

    13) A candle that summon a demon when you light it.

    14) A soul capturing gemstone a sorcerer could use to fuel his spells.

    15) A mirror that shows the user visages of the Warp. Maybe it can even allow him to communicate with its inhabitants. It could also put at risk his sanity every time he sees more than his mind can comprehend.

    16) Something like Green Lanter's ring...maybe not as powerful but which allow some small cool effects.

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  15. A few suggestions:

    Well, we all know that cool heroes need cool weapons, so I'd certainly like some of those. One thing I've noticed however, is that some RPGs (i.e. Exalted) tend to wind up with powerful magical weapons that are ultimately just big killsticks (+5 vorpal sword, Soulsteel Grand Goremaul, Etc.) I'd like to see weapons/rules for making weapons that have unique thematic effects (I actually liked D&D's Elven Oathbow), instead of just being damage optimized.

    - Some sort of clockwork/robotic familiar. I was designing a character, and one thing I thought would be cool for him to have was a little robot bird that could serve as scout and recording device.

    - Poisons and Drugs! I want to be able to assasinate from the shadows with something that takes a week to kick in, or make an enemy berserk with rage.

    - Magical Staves: Classic, classy, and they suit everyone from the wizard in the pointy hat to your child-flaw atlantean magical girl.

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  16. I suppose it might be overstepping to request you to include an exaltation based on Genius: The Transgression. People driven by a fire behind their eyes, something that comes from beyond the warp. Their focus is on the strange and wonderful gadgets they build.

    As far as magic items go, rules (or at least guidelines)on creating your own. If I want an effect from an item, but the item is not listed, how do I know what to price the item as?

    You might want to contact RPGnow.com if you wanted to reach a wider audience.

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  17. How about a new exaltation that gives psychic powers? I was really surprised not to see them in the core book.

    I would also like to see Cthulhu as a Chaos god or at least some kind of powerful demon inside the Warp.


    More magical items:

    17) Something like Thor's Hammer (Marvel's Thor) but focused on Sigmar. Maybe one of his Chosen Paladins used it a long time ago in a battle against the forces of Chaos, which is now lsot in the Warp.

    18) A magical flute that incite people to hedonism and lust when played (probably a sacred item of Slaanesh).

    19) A cursed book that is blank, but when someone tries to rad it it steals some of his memories and stores them in the book (which anyone can read).

    20) Sacred icons of each god that give the appropiate god's Chosen asset. They also compel somehow the weared to act according to the god's laws.

    21) One-use crystal spheres that when broken teleports everyone in a radious to the Umbra.

    22) Magical potions that allow that put the target under sleep and allows him to interact with the Umbra (or maybe the Warp) with some kind of astral proyection.

    23) Palantirs which are scatered all over the universe (the Lady of Pain could have one, probably Tzeentch has another...)

    24) A magical wand that allows the user to turn people into animals temporary.

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  18. How about a Hearthstone that gives the wearer great powers of command. Basically, anyone officially serving under him or her, like a spelljammer crew, perhaps, will get penalties to resist commands. The penalties will increase over time, so the people serving under him or her for several years will be fanatics. The limit is that they must officially accept the wearer as leader.

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  19. Promethean integration into Spelljammers.

    Wood-based Magical Material.

    An "Overdrive" Hearthstone that supercharges the artifact that it's attached to for a single use before destroying the artifact and dealing some sort of horrible backlash.

    Avatars (like from the film Avatar). Great for Prometheans who have very expensive bodies, very fragile parts and do very dangerous things

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  20. I have an idea. The Button. A red push button on a metal box.
    It is guarded by an ancient society of monks who keep the button from ever being pressed.
    The Button gives off an aura that lets people know its purpose. That when The Button is pressed, the entire universe is destroyed, and the person who pushed it is declared The Winner.
    That doesn't actually happen.
    What happens is the pusher is sent screaming into the Warp, never to be seen again.
    Most of the monks are aware of the true nature of The Button, but many have been taken in by its aura. The purpose of the monks' order is to get rid of the type of people who would actually push the button. They kill the weaker button-pushers to keep up appearances, but don't risk their lives on the tougher ones, and are happy to let them push it.
    The purpose of The Button, in game, is.... well, you know that one guy? The guy who just wants to kill everything? He'd crawl over broken glass for a chance to press The Button. The monks might take him out, but his next character might get through.
    And hey, some of the dumber players might try it more than once. All you have to say is, "No, you are absolutely certain that you will destroy the universe and be declared The Winner," and he'll probably buy it.

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  21. Ooh, I second The Button.

    Besides the Paranoia-worthy "GOTCHA!" moment, the world is inherently a dramedy-imagine the scene wherein the archetypal Woobie Destroyer of Worlds realizes he doesn't actually want to kill the world now that the power is in his hands, at which point his truly monstrous counterpart steals the button...and gets eaten by demons doing their best Judge Dredd impersonation.

    Cue explanation by the monks about the Button's true purpose, followed by much guffawing and waving of fingers.

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  22. I third "The Button" since it sounds like a cool idea.


    I would also like to see something like the Deck of Many Things from D&D.

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  23. The Deck of Many Things is one of the most pointless game-breaking devices in any game. It pushes all the worst gambling instincts in players, causing them to destroy themselves because they think they might get a level boost or something.
    In other words, we have to have it! :D

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  24. If a GM is bored with their game, there are plenty of ways to just end it. Like being an adult and saying "I am bored with this campaign and don't want to run it anymore." You don't need to place a Deck of Many Things.

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  25. 1) The Graviton Beam Emitter - It has three settings - Over Powered, Jesus Christ It's Shooting Death At Everything, and [Unintelligible Sobbing]. A Syrne relic of unholy destruction, it appears to be no more than an unassuming, boxy laspistol. Warning - May rip your arm off at higher settings.

    2) The Ugly Stick - A stick so goddamn ugly that being hit with it causes horrific mutations - erupting pustules, cancerous growths, unibrows, etc, in addition to normal damage (club). These mutations are randomly generated and have various debilitating effects.

    3) Holy Hand Grenade - Yeah.

    4) Flashdark - Like a flash light, but makes darkness.

    5) Shrunken Head - A magical shrunken head. Makes snarky comments and can sense just about anything within a certain range. Must be fed a particular substance that varies from head to head.

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  26. I'm glad to see work is still being done on this game. It might become the system I play with the most, if I can find players.

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  27. first and foremost you are a shining example of all that is good on the internet.

    I was looking through the rulebook and found that it didn't have something I would expect out of a system that had space ships.

    that thing was drones, I like robots, I find them to be a fascinating means of defining a character. I don't want rules as detailed as what you'd find in Shadowrun, but a few autonomous units with limited utility might be nice. you might break it up something like this.




    servitors

    motive powers
    >>>legs (2,4,6, more...)
    >>>wheels
    >>>water/liquid
    >>>airfoil
    >>>baloon
    >>>antigrav
    >>>MAGIC BITCH
    features
    >>>weapons
    >>>>>> melee weapon (mounted)
    >>>>>> ranged weapon (mounted)
    >>> manipulator(s)
    >>> sensors (auspex?)
    >>> cargo capacity
    off the rack servitors
    >>> cargo carriers (dog sized, man sized, small car sized)
    >>> auspex servitors (small and cheap, small and expensive, big and cheap, big and expensive)
    >>> weapons servitors (small unit, mortar/artillery, multyweapon DEATHMACHINE, swarmer)
    >>> hive/engeneering servitor (contains a high power communit, or a hive for smaller servitors, or tools too bulky for a man to carry)



    I admit that I have no creative powers of my own, so I cannot really help with this...

    feel free to ignore this self serving request.

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  28. Prestige classes, LN.

    You know you want 'em.

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  29. I really don't understand the difference between composure and willpower in the current system. If I were to DM it, I'd rule the Willpower stat to be repurposed as the self-awareness stat, and allow Composure to be rolled for fear tests. Currently, they're a Willpower test.

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  30. Hey, I love the game. I was hoping you could include more fluff about the gods. I'd love to read more about Vectron.

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  31. He's totally real and he exists! What more do you need?

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  32. To me the background seems to resemble the patterns used in the 3E D&D DMG. =)

    Keep up the good work.

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  33. In V1.4 the book lists Armsman and Veteran in the class list, but they don't actually have any other descriptions of the class. Also, here's a character sheet I made. Link in the name.

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  34. Oh, one more thing. To use that sheet you'll enter all your information, hit submit, then save the URL. It'll likely be several thousand characters long, so save it in notepad or something. Put it through tinyURL if you want to share it with somebody.

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  35. So is it intentional that if put dexterity to 4 dots, then choose elf as your race and bring Dex to 5 dots, you can fire a gun you aren't proficient with better than you can with a gun you are?

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  36. Perhaps you may like the format from my character sheet to use for your online charactersheet:

    http://s4.zetaboards.com/LawfulNice/topic/8721194/2/?x=0#post8102469

    I just change one or two small things.

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  37. @FreeXenon:

    That character sheet is really hard to read. Light grey on white is almost impossible to see. Also, I've been updating that character sheet alot recently, and trying to get it submitted to Myth-Weavers, since character sheets is kind of their thing.

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  38. Looking forward to the new book and hope you are still trucking along!

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  39. >Looking forward to the new book and hope you are still trucking along!

    Same here, LN! I for one am really looking forward to the Spelljammer section!

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