Savage Marches

[God45]

Unless anyone has any objections, I think I'll probably run down the list of NPCs and delete all of the henchmen, leaving only important characters (Devas and major NPCs) on Obsidian Portal. There's quite a lot of noise there currently, drowning out the major figures.

Sounds good

[santoan]

Sounds good ja

Does the hooked polearm work on Duror without it sinking my pace?

[God45]

I made this:


Full pic: http://s24.postimg.org/fqi9yc5r9/Charac ... _Blood.jpg

[santoan]

Hahaha, I like it

[nDervish]

Does the hooked polearm work on Duror without it sinking my pace?

According to http://sherohman.org/savage_marches/dis ... oulwrecker Duror is currently carrying 3 SI, assuming you replace your javelin. Another 3 SI for the poleaxe would take you right up to your limit of 6 SI of readied items without any penalties.

However... The javelin and the poleaxe both have the "carried" property, meaning that they won't fit into a scabbard, you can't sling them across your back, etc., so both hands would be full all the time. Also, the poleaxe is two-handed, so you wouldn't be able to use your shield at the same time.

Do you want to replace your broken javelin with the poleaxe instead of getting a new javelin, then? And, if so, do you want to keep the shortsword and shield as backup or do you want to carry only the poleaxe?

Also keep in mind that if you want to get some armor, that gets heavy pretty fast - a full suit of leather armor is 2 SI and mail is 3, so a chain hauberk ($250, 2 armor for torso, arms, and legs) plus the poleaxe would take up your full 6 SI.

I made this:
Full pic: http://s24.postimg.org/fqi9yc5r9/Charac ... _Blood.jpg

Nice! It's a pretty safe assumption that Duke Granitefist should be some flavor of Lawful, though, and the dogs are definitely True Neutral. And I sometimes wonder whether Spellbutcher is actually Chaotic Evil...

[santoan]

Dave: I will stick to shortsword and shield. Without any javelin since I have a feeling I will not need it in Brassport atleast. For the chain, I will try to get it later.

Bout the schematic pic, haha yeah Spellbutcher is Evil but I think Ghoulwrecker shouldnt be chaotic neutral since the man is insane enough to be more evil hehe

[bladerunner_35]

I made this:


Full pic: http://s24.postimg.org/fqi9yc5r9/Charac ... _Blood.jpg

Lol, that's great!

[nDervish]

A couple things that I'm sure will come as no surprise to anyone:

1) More stuff on Obsidian Portal!

I've finally created a full list of the eleven major deities in the setting and I also uploaded a new map with a bunch of additional locations marked on it that you are aware of. (I also added several locations that you don't know about on my private copy...) Unfortunately, the new sites are using smaller icons/text and OP's Google Maps interface won't let you zoom in far enough for them to be legible, so you'll have to hit the "View Original Image" button below the map to be able to find out what they are.

Although I can't absolutely promise anything, I intend to add pages with full descriptions of one deity and one location each day until they're all covered. If you have anything in particular that you'd like to see written up sooner, I'm happy to take requests.

2) I am continuing to screw with the rules.

As I mentioned a couple days ago, I've been going through the Hellfrost setting books. As a result, I'm now working on ideas for replacing the current Reputation system with Hellfrost's Glory mechanic and determining henchman availability with something based on the Hellfrost Expansion's Kinship & Fealty rules. However, both of those systems in Hellfrost rely heavily on the Persuasion skill, which none of you other than Gamrell have. I think that changing to those systems would, in the long view, be good for the game, but I'm also aware that they'd kind of screw you over in the short term.

Aside from that, I also hope to get time over my vacation to create a new weapon design system which is a bit more flexible than Savage Armory's. We'll see whether it actually happens or not.

[nDervish]

I've just finished a bunch of edits on Obsidian Portal. The big ones:

- All deities have at least a list of aspects, a holy symbol, and their relationships to each other filled in. A few have other details beyond that.

- I've replaced the Reputation page with one explaining the differences between the standard Hellfrost Glory rules and how I'm thinking about using Glory, but I didn't really go into the base Glory mechanics for fear of copyright problems. Basically what it comes down to is "do heroic stuff, then have someone who was there use Persuasion to tell a good story about it and you'll gain 1d6 Glory (2d6 on a raise). There are an extra set of Edges called 'Glory Benefits' and you get to pick one for every 20 Glory."

- I've completely rewritten the Henchmen Availability page both to make use of the central Glory mechanics and to account for the availability of Followers as a Glory Benefit at relatively low level (40+ Glory; no Rank requirement).

- I rewrote the explanation of advancement on the Setting Rules page again. The intention of it remains the same as the last rewrite, but this time it's explained in a completely different way which will hopefully be much more clear:

A player’s Song and host each receive full XP awards, but the host does not gain any Advances – his XP total is only tracked for in case the Song eventually leaves him. The Song gains and spends Advances normally, with the following additions:

- If the Song takes an Advance which the host would be able to take (but has not yet taken), the host also receives the same Advance. (e.g., If the Song takes Spirit d8 and the host has Spirit d6, then the host also gets Spirit d8.)
- If the Song takes an Advance which the host has already taken, then the host may take a separate Advance, independent of the Song’s Advance. (e.g., If the Song takes Spirit d8 and the host has Spirit d10, the host may take any Advance he would normally be allowed.)

Aside from that, I've also taken Cych in to do some running around in a randomly-generated dungeon, which has resulted in a few of Eastmere's NPCs getting an Advance, so they just might be a little more capable the next time you see them.

I'll look into setting up a doodle early next week to find a time (or two) to play after I get back to Lund. Any thoughts on what you want to do next session?

[santoan]

Hmm. I dunno bout the others. But Brassport is not finnished ...

[Arcturus]

We need to kill those damn orcs and goblins before they actually consider joining Spellbutcher.

"Blast! I did not come hundreds of miles …
… and slay thousands of orcs simply to be thwarted here!"
- Glorion

[God45]

Nice The gods seem fun, now I have to decide which one Spellbutcher worships.

The glory rules seem interesting. Can I switch out Spellbutchers 1d4 taunt skill to a 1d4 persuasion skill so that we have someone with a little bragging prowess in the group?

I vote to deal with the orcs and goblins. Let`s take care of the problems close to home before taking the longer trips again. Also, can they be recruited they will make an fine addition to the army

[santoan]

Anyone got a copy of Hellfrost ?

[nDervish]

The glory rules seem interesting. Can I switch out Spellbutchers 1d4 taunt skill to a 1d4 persuasion skill so that we have someone with a little bragging prowess in the group?

Gamrell already has Persuasion d4, plus the bragging can be done by anyone who was there and there are a fair number of potential henchmen with Persuasion d8, so it's not absolutely necessary.

More importantly... Spellbutcher is not the person you'd want to rely on for that. Persuasion rolls are always modified by Charisma, plus Glory rolls take -2 if made by someone with negative Glory (see below), so Spellbutcher would be rolling a base d4-4, as opposed to other PCs rolling unskilled at d4-2.


And I forgot to mention earlier that I've already gone through everyone who's been out on expeditions and calculated Glory ratings.

Storytellers for each expedition were:

• Session 1 - Mouri the Painted (rolled 2 with net -1 modifier = 1, no change to Glory)
• Session 2 - Dree Redraven (5 + 2 = 7, 1d6 Glory, group +1 Glory for adding Influence to Eastmere)
• Session 3 - Glewa Richtarn (4 + 4 = 8, 2d6 Glory, group +2 Glory for recovering Food and reducing Ruin)
• Session 4 - Gamrell (4 - 2 = 2, no Glory, group Glory loss for arson (-5) and fleeing (-2) - it may have been smart, but it was not heroic)
• Session 5 - Olia Legshaper (2 + 2 = 4, 1d6 Glory, group +2 Glory for increasing Food and Security)
• Session 6 - Duror Ghoulwrecker (2 + 2 = 4, 1d6 Glory, halved for those who weren't in the scouting party that fought the ghouls)

Glory totals for the various Devas:

Kod: Markera allt

Dree Redraven             16
Duror Ghoulwrecker        11
Enock                     22
Gamrell                   -6
Gych Spellbutcher        -10
Jonaleth the Ratslayer    14
Mouri the Painted          0

Spellbutcher's -10 also includes Glory losses of -5 each for two sessions (one was in Camedge and I remember there being one other, but don't recall which it was) where he made a point of descrating the bodies of dead farmers (i.e., decapitating every body in sight).

Since it's a new rule, I'm OK with throwing those numbers out and starting everyone off at 0 Glory, but, even if we never see Dree or Enock again, Ghoulwrecker and Jonaleth would lose more than Gamrell and Spellbutcher gain, so I leave it up to you guys which way you want to go with it.

[God45]

Spellbutcher's -10 also includes Glory losses of -5 each for two sessions (one was in Camedge and I remember there being one other, but don't recall which it was) where he made a point of descrating the bodies of dead farmers (i.e., decapitating every body in sight).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDJedaxA2eU

I stand by my decisions

[santoan]

you descrated bodies :O !?- thats....just....no way 0.0

Duror: "Aye, lets bash those goblin skulls and take the loot back home to eastmere. Our banner will stand high and move to the heat of battle!"

[God45]

you descrated bodies :O !?- thats....just....no way 0.0

Look, there were zombies and ghouls so I decapitated the dead/crushed their skulls so that they wouldn`t become undead! That is perfectly reasonable!

[santoan]

They deserve an honorable discharge. Atleast wait till they turn, if they do not. We shall bury them and hold a ceremony. It is the principles my friend, and the right way that seperates us from the evil creatures outside our walls. B)

[nDervish]

Nice The gods seem fun, now I have to decide which one Spellbutcher worships.

Forgot to comment on that earlier... Let me know if you have questions about any of the gods. I have a lot of half-formed ideas that simply haven't needed to solidify enough to write them down yet. Also, if you have any good ideas that you think would work well for various gods, let me know and, so long as they're relatively compatible with how I see things, we'll use them.

And then a couple more things on setting rules:

1) The "Lasting Damage" rule proposed at http://www.peginc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=392025 I like it. Basically, healing doesn't make Wounds go away completely, it converts them into Fatigue levels (which recover at a rate of 1 per day).

2) Another recent thread on the SW forum led to me realizing that the main reason I don't like giving out bennies for doing cool stuff during the game is that I don't want PCs turning into invulnerable tanks that can shrug off any hit by rerolling Soak all day. To which someone replied, "Then just don't allow Soak rolls." Thoughts? Would you guys rather leave things as they are or get more bennies in exchange for a "no Soak Rolls" setting rule? (And, just so you're fully informed... The person who suggested that also suggested that certain enemies could be given a "Can Soak" special ability.)

[God45]

2) Another recent thread on the SW forum led to me realizing that the main reason I don't like giving out bennies for doing cool stuff during the game is that I don't want PCs turning into invulnerable tanks that can shrug off any hit by rerolling Soak all day. To which someone replied, "Then just don't allow Soak rolls." Thoughts? Would you guys rather leave things as they are or get more bennies in exchange for a "no Soak Rolls" setting rule? (And, just so you're fully informed... The person who suggested that also suggested that certain enemies could be given a "Can Soak" special ability.)

I like this, I am ready for the grizzly death of characters more easily since the song remains The only part that I don't like is that enemys can be given soaking. If we can be instantly decapitated from a critical hit I want to be able to do the same to enemy wildcards.

1) The "Lasting Damage" rule proposed at http://www.peginc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=392025 I like it. Basically, healing doesn't make Wounds go away completely, it converts them into Fatigue levels (which recover at a rate of 1 per day).

Not crazy about this. I hate being less effective more than I hate dying. I know myself and if this would happen I would like to instantly retreat to town for half a week no matter what is going on. So I would ratter not have to deal with lasting wounds.