Monday, June 23, 2008

Fantasy: Behind

Man, I'd better post something else this month, or I'll only have one post for all of June! Like so many other casual bloggers, it looks like I've fallen a bit behind. I don't know if I really have much of an excuse, beyond being distracted by 4th ed. D&D (I'm only human, people!) and a Star Wars-meets-Paranoia game I have to prep for a local mini-con this weekend.

Here's what I have on my plate, SotC-wise:
  • Rules for making poisons tied to a Poisoncraft stunt under Physik. I don't think they're too complicated, but it also occurs to me that they might make Poisoncraft more difficult than Alchemy, which doesn't seem right at all, so this will probably need another going-over.
  • Mass-combat rules. I've had these hanging around for a while now, and I'm still fond of them, which is... surprising, really. They'll need some tweaking, but they're mostly solid. No minis, maps, or terrain required! Should be a fun sub-game within "SotS." Hopefully I'll get a chance to actually playtest this soon.
  • Revamping skills. I've made some minor changes to the skill list since I last posted it, so it could use another look.
  • Revamping stunts. A bigger project, but also necessary.
  • A spell/potion/item/summoned creature list. Just a matter of throwing some things together. I have a small spell list already, but a larger one should be a good test of how well the system works.
  • Necromancy. I have some vague ideas about how this works, but nothing concrete. I haven't been as concerned about it so far, because, as conceived, it's more of an NPC strain of magic. But it's coming.
  • Monsters. Honestly, I think you could use the Summoning rules and a handful of aspects to build anything you want, but people do usually like to see a bestiary of some kind.

That last one brings me to the biggie: the setting. It's still out there, but it's been a little attention-starved lately as one thing after another has distracted Andy and me from working on it.

Feedback, as always, is welcome. Basically, right now I'm in a place where I'm looking back at what's been done so far and seeing how well it hangs together before charging ahead into new territory, so you comments, questions, and/or complaints would definitely help with that.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Mike:

Sorry for the holdup in responses. I tried to PM you but your blogger profile didn't have a listing for email addy displayed.

I googled around and found a "Superlative.com" address that might be you. Didn't want to try it without trying through the blog first.

If you want to email me at my blog-profile address.

Jonathan Breese said...

I still haven't gotten a chance to run these rules. I have just gotten a group together and we are playing D20. I had forgotten how much the system frustrates the hell out of me. D&D 4th ed. looks much better.

Mike Olson said...

I really dig D&D 4E. It's a whole different animal from 3.5-ish D20. Pick it up and try it out -- I think you'll like (or at least appreciate) it.

Jonathan Breese said...

From what I read it is a very neat game. I want to play it. The group I am in thinks it looks awful because of the previews they saw. They complain about how inflexible it seems. My only thought was, "You are playing 3.5 and you want a flexible system?"

I think they are just angry they have to learn a new system. They have fundamentally changed D&D and I think that is a good thing. They threw out all the rules that were always dumb and were kept to make the old timers happy.

Zooroos said...

Hi, regarding your commentary about the lack of a setting, what about converting the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting to the FATE system? So far it seems like a really cool setting, and as such you'd have less work to do.

Regards,

ZOOROOS

Mike Olson said...

Hi, regarding your commentary about the lack of a setting, what about converting the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting to the FATE system?
Hi Zooroos!

Thanks for the suggestion. To be honest with you, Andy and I are enjoying coming up with the setting. I've been using these convention one-shots to explore different areas of The Unnamed Lands (still just a working title, I assure you) and get a feel for the place. Golarion will be well-supported by Paizo and its fans, I'm sure.