Adhock magic & gadgets

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Adhock magic & gadgets

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DMMike wrote:
Not to go off topic, but how did you handle those? Maybe a new thread?

Mike the curious

Ok here you go

First it has been very organic and fluid. Especially with the mage. Both the player & I have modified things as we have played.

The one hard and fast rule has been that for the mage to activate a power / spell, he has to make an intelligence based magic skill check. If his check is good the power activates and he can use it. If he already has 1 spell up he can drop the first to activate a second at a basic check, or try and keep the first up and start the second power - at an increased challenge rating. Of course, a nat 1 .... something unpleasant may happen (then or in the future) a nat 20 and the power is exceptional, lasts longer, is more effective, etc.

The interesting thing is that he has wisdom off the charts, but his Int is prime and well above average but not super human. With that he has made almost every check to wisdom for perception (even noticing the bad guys car license plate of a car speeding away in traffic ... darn his luck for that one) but there have been times in the middle of a fight that his spell has... fizzled .

It has made it interesting and a great narrative, and fits the less precise flavor of magic.

Oh yeah, with him having to make a skill check prior to the spell/power starting, those around him have a chance to notice him mumbling and twitching his fingers etc ( I rolled a 1 on the bus the first time he tried telepathy, so no one noticed. However, since then a few have made the check and now keep an eye out for that odd professor that ride the bus and gets off at the Rose Dinner every one in a while)

Also, he only has a few powers/spells thus far, and none of them are power house combat type spells . However, with use and thinking outside the box even those less than combat focused p0wers can have a big effect in the fight. Well, not so much with PK trying to stop a bus going 50 MPH ... that didn't work so well. Plus, in mid game we (me the player and Rhian, ... maybe all the players a few times) have paused a bit and talked how he could use the powers/spells out side the box so he stays useful in the fight.

Now the 'fluid' part ... the actual effects of the powers. They are all rank 1 (maybe a few at rank 2) and the result of the skill check has an effect on the power effect, and also it depends on how he is trying to use the power - use phantasm to make a guard see movement out of the corner of his eye, (or was it make it sound like the dog was barking around the corner ... been a while) and turn and look that way so party's marital artist could sneak from shadow to shadow and make it to the building ... toooo easy. Is it use PK to stop said speeding bus ... not pretty (at least he didn't roll a 1, or a nat 20 ... both ends of that spectrum would have gone bad!)

Then the powers he has ... after the first few games and seeing how big an effect the skill check to activate the power is and the limited number of powers he started with, I allowed him to learn a few more spells than his normal starting point buy would have allowed.

For the gadget,

The party's archer (based very closely on Hawkeye) even at first level he was devastating with his bow and wrist rocket sling shot, but it was straight damage. At 2nd level he wanted some more specialized different effect arrows/sling shots ... We ended up with him choosing 3 types of entangle effects, and having 3 arrows each for the different effects per fight. One was a shock arrow, one was a net (only big enough to tangle up a man's hands/tie up an arm/trip someone's legs, nothing big & not an area effect by any means), the last ... concussion ... if I remember correctly.

I know a gadget theme should cost at least min of 2 points, but I figured with the limited effect and very limited numbers of uses in a fight a 1 point by when going to 2nd level was fair.

As we paly and go up levels, I can see him getting more uses per fight, and then more different effects to use.
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Forgive all spelling errors.

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Re: Adcock magic & gadgets

Post by DMMike »

Pretty interesting! With the skill checks, were you still allowing saves versus all the magick effects or did you figure the SR was enough?

Gadgets...I guess the big question is, does he invent them himself or is he getting them from another org? If the latter, then its easy to refit and get new/different stuff. If he's inventing them himself...

One of the things I intend to talk about is how if you use invention to create gadgets X, Y, or Z; that take up Invention slots. Ok, fine. But when that character levels up thos X, Y and Z gadgets then become 'permenant" and the Inventions slots reopen to create new things.

This IMO gives the contraptionist more flexibility with invention without creating an assembly line power where the character just sits at the base all day and constantly builds gear for everyone else...to go fight evil. Talk about being worse than a cleric! :P

Mike
The Save for Half Podcast: Old School RPGs Reviewed
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Victorious: Steampunk Adventure in the Age of SuperMankind
http://www.victoriousrpg.com

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Re: Adcock magic & gadgets

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Rgr on allowing the target to make saves where appliciable . The skill check is to see if he can get the power up and working. I was worried it would slow down the game at first, but as far as I can tell it doesn't.

I would say the narriativve is someone else has made idea behind them, and he modified that to his bow.

If it was a "real" game with a campaign arc and story development, then I'd say that he begins to do more R&D on his own but as it is a lose connected run of 1 off games, no need (well no game time) for that development.
DMMike wrote:
...
One of the things I intend to talk about is how if you use invention to create gadgets X, Y, or Z; that take up Invention slots. Ok, fine. But when that character levels up thos X, Y and Z gadgets then become 'permenant" and the Inventions slots reopen to create new things.

This IMO gives the contraptionist more flexibility with invention without creating an assembly line power where the character just sits at the base all day and constantly builds gear for everyone else...to go fight evil. Talk about being worse than a cleric! :P

Mike
Ohhhh that is how it works ... nice.

Rgr on that being more flexible and not being the tinker for the cool guys of the group .

That changes things ... I was picturing a character like this mainly being the guy behind the hero's battle suit, etc, and then going out to self test some of his gadgets for R&D ...
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Forgive all spelling errors.

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Re: Adcock magic & gadgets

Post by DMMike »

Alas, that just goes to show it needed more explanation in the book. <sigh> Once Evil in the White City comes out maybe I can roll that up as the next project. :)

Mike
The Save for Half Podcast: Old School RPGs Reviewed
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Victorious: Steampunk Adventure in the Age of SuperMankind
http://www.victoriousrpg.com

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Re: Adcock magic & gadgets

Post by Lurker »

Well, to counter your "alas" ...

Feel good that your Hunter & Hunter catalog made my life sooo much easier last night ... I was thinking about weapons equipment and armor and remembered H&H ... for most of what I need it was there and I jut had to change the narrative a little to make if Star Wars and not Victorian
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Forgive all spelling errors.

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Re: Adhock magic & gadgets

Post by DMMike »

Yeah, I've been pleasantly surprised at the popularity of Hunter & Hunter. I'd originally just thought of it as a small adjunct book that perhaps should've been in the rules to begin with....but people seem to really enjoy it as its own 'catalog'!


Glad it was of use! Hopefully a monocle made it in there? :lol:

Mike
The Save for Half Podcast: Old School RPGs Reviewed
http://www.saveforhalf.com

Victorious: Steampunk Adventure in the Age of SuperMankind
http://www.victoriousrpg.com

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