Simple Fantasy System Pre-playtest spell list

Getting ready to do a playtest for my simple fantasy system this coming Saturday.  So I through together a quick list of spells for the magic user types.  Instead of DnD 'fire and forget' type of magic I'm using a system that costs the caster stamina points.  So the more they cast the weaker they get and more liable to be taken out in combat.  Also spell casting requires a roll for them to work, but there are two difficulties, one for doing it from a spell book and the other by casting them from memory.  Finally each spell has a necessary object that the magic user has to have in hand in order to cast the spell as well.

Here is the short list I made for the very first playtest.  I'm sure it will get lots of modifications from feedback and all that. 

Magic User Spell list

Name

stamina cost – cast difficulty from book – cast difficulty from memory

spell description

object necessary for casting

Detect Magic

1 – 9 – 12

For the next two minutes the caster can see all magical items and effects within 60' of themselves. They show up with a faint blue glow around the object or something altered to look different with magic will appear as it normally does.

Object: A pair of glasses with clear lenses.

Light

1 – 9 – 12

Cast upon an object which will cause it glow with light. With a fifteen foot radius and it lasts for two hours. Can be cast on any object so it can be used to create the magical equivalent of a torch. Also it emits no heat so a heavy cloth can be used to cover the light.

Object: A small clear crystal.

Magic Missile

1 – 9 – 12

The caster points at a target while casting and inflicts two points of damage to them. This damage goes through cloth and leather armor with no soak. However those with chain or plate can make soaks as usual.

Object: A short wooden wand painted black.

Sleep

1 – 9 – 12

Causes up to six creatures within the casters field of vision to fall asleep. If there are more than six then it affects those closest to the caster. This WILL affect friendly party members so be careful when casting. Lasts for one hour.

Object: A small pouch filled with chalk dust.

Detect Evil

2 – 9 – 12

Same as 'Detect Magic' except it shows creatures of an evil nature shrouded in a red glow. Objects created of an evil magic will glow as well.

Object: A pair of glasses with clear lenses.

Detect Invisible

Same as 'Detect magic' except it causes anything invisible to show up the caster as if made from a faint green light.

2 – 9 – 12

Object: A pair of glasses with clear lenses.

Knock

2 – 9 – 12

Opens stuck, barred, locked, bolted or held doors. Will also unlock a secret door IF the secret door has been already discovered and the caster knows about it. Will not lift or raise gates or heavy bars that are beyond the normal size.

Object: A short wooden wand painted black.

Web

2 – 9 – 12

Creates a many layered mass of strong, sticky strands. Any one caught in the mass is stuck in it almost immediately. It takes five minutes for someone caught within to get loose, one minute if they use a sharp object to cut through. The webs are flammable and anyone caught within while they are burning suffers two points of damage each round with no armor soak. After fifteen minutes the mass turns to watery mess and is no longer sticky.

Object: A vial of sticky glue.

Dispel Magic

3 – 12 – 15

Cancels out all spell effects within a twenty foot radius of the caster. This lasts for two minutes but the caster may not cast any more spells during that time either. It has no effect on magical items.

Object: A pair of glasses with smoked lenses.

Hold Person

3 – 9 – 12

Same as Sleep except the targets stopped motionless in front of you and can affect up to eight creatures. While held they are aware but cannot move. They can, however, speak if the caster allows it.

Object: A small pouch filled with chalk dust.

Lightning Bolt

3 – 9 – 12

Caster points at a target and a burst of lightning leaps towards them. Causes 2d6 damage, cloth and leather armor makes a normal soak, chain and plate get no soak but instead receive an additional D6 of damage. If there is another person with metal armor within a meter of the target the caster rolls a D6, on a 1 – 5 nothing else happens, on a 6 the lightning leaps to the person as if they had the spell cast at them.

Object: A small wooden wand that is burnt on one end.

Water Breathing

3 – 9 – 12

Whoever has this spell cast upon them can breath underwater. This lasts for twenty four hours.

Object: A bag of small sea shells, a shell is given to anyone having the spell cast upon them.

Simple Fantasy System

Received some of the old Steve Jackson fighting fantasy books for Christmas.  Namely the first two books out of the Sorcery! series (which I once owned all of but lost them many years ago).  Going through the system provided I got some ideas.  Decided to toss together my own fantasy rpg system using it as the base inspiration  and adding a bit more on top.  That extra bit is necessary, I feel, to help it make the step from a solitaire adventure game to an actual system good for roleplaying. 

Here are my brainstorming ideas that I sat down and came up with in a couple of minutes.  No really hard numbers or anything.  Just laying out the basic direction I want to take it.

Simple Fantasy System

General Skills

Fighting Skills

Luck or Faith

Intelligence

Stamina

General Skill are misc non-combat related skill your character happens to know. Roll 2D6, add your skill and compare to target number. If under you fail, if over you succeed and if you match you succeed with exceptional results.

Fighting Skills, roll 2D6, add your skill and compare to opponents roll. If under you get hit, if over you hit them, if a match no damage to either. A roll of box cars is a critical hit and does double damage. There are three types of fighting skills; Melee, Brawling and Missile. Use of any hand held weapon is covered by Melee. Brawling covers any kind of battling while using your bare hands as the direct weapon. Missile is for bows, crossbows and thrown weapons.

Luck or Faith, player chooses one to believe in. Luck allows you various chances to increase your odds of success on rolls and alter the outcome of unfolding events. Faith allows your character to use Cleric abilities and is used to determine their success.

Intelligence works like General Skills for figuring out riddles, puzzles, etc. It is also used by magic users to cast their spells.

Stamina is a characters ability to take damage. You lose it by taking damage in combat, falling, etc and recover it at one point per day or by magical means.

Faith when being used for Cleric and Holy abilities. Each ability has a minimum Faith rating necessary to attempt to use it and a target number that must be reached on a test. Roll 2D6 and add your Faith score, if you roll over you succeed if you roll under you fail and subtract one point from your Faith rating. Recovering Faith is not easy and requires much from a character. These abilities are activated with a short prayer.

Luck can be spent on rolls before they are made. You may add a point to your total number to increase your chance of success, however if you fail you subtract a point from your total Luck. These points are very difficult to recover.

Spells are kept written in a book. Each spell costs a set amount of Stamina points to cast, you lose these points whether the spell is successful or not. They may be cast either by reading from the book itself or by casting the spell from memory. Each spell has a difficulty for each you determine success by rolling 2D6 and adding your Intelligence and comparing it to the difficulty. If under the spell fails, if over the spell is successful if you roll a match it is successful and you don't lose Stamina for it.

World of Warcraft: Legion Cinematic Trailer

Okay and here is the OTHER Warcraft trailer that dropped today. This one for the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft. I love their cinematic stuff in the game. They could make a movie just using that and it would be bad ass.



Seeing Varian and Sylvania fighting side by side would be a kick ass battle. Talk about heaping up the DPS. Will also be nice to see more Horde and Alliance working together stuff. For the Legion they will put aside all differences to fight them.

Warcraft - Official Trailer (HD)

Okay now this trailer really gives the film a lot of 'oomph' that it needed right now.  It actually looks like it may be pretty good.  So right now it's on my 'see at the theater' list.  Partly because it looks good and I'll admit partly because I'm an old World of Warcraft fan.  Lots of potential for a good story there hopefully they do it right.

Demon Players Guide, Legacy War of Ages and Resident Evil for sale

Demon Players Guide
Condition is used with some rough around the edges on the cover on the bottom corners.  All pages are intact.

Cost: $25 plus cost of shipping
Contact for questions or purchase: peteramthor@gmail.com

Picked this up and I'm passing it along to anyone who has a use for it.  Heard some good things about Demon from White Wolf (and honestly some bad things as well).  Was surprised to see that the books for the game are in relatively short supply as the print runs weren't that high.

Legacy War of Ages and the Blades Immortal Steel supplement. 
Condition is used but all in all pretty good shape, no major damage and all holding together.

Cost: $15 plus the cost of shipping.
Contact for questions or purchase: peteramthor@gmail.com

From Black Gate Publishing.  Picked these up years ago when a friend was running a campaign.  We had lots of fun with it.  Basically it's like Highlander with the serial numbers scratched off.

Resident Evil  Code Veronica X for PlayStation 2.
Condition is like new, discs are free of scratches, booklet is near perfect, both discs (the game and Devil May Cry demo) are perfect.

Cost: $10 plus the cost of shipping.
Contact for questions or purchase: peteramthor@gmail.com

Not much of a video game player anymore.  Used to be a big fan of the Resident Evil games.  Now I need to move them on to someone who may enjoy them more than me. 


Find more stuff I have up for sale (mostly roleplaying games) by checking out the 'game sales' label at the bottom of this post. 

Truly Rural on Drivethrurpg

Well I've finally went and done it.  Managed to get my hands on a scanner, scanned in some of my old artwork and sat up a seller account on Drivethrurpg.  So now I will be adding hopefully about two pictures a week up for sale.  All the while I'll be working through a sketchbook as I try to shake the rust off and get to creating some new art to put up there as well. 

You can find the Truly Rural Productions store on Drivethru right here.

Currently as I write this I only have six pieces of stock art up but I've got several scanned in ready to go over the next few weeks.  Not looking to strike it big but just hoping to add in a few extra bucks to my wallet from time to time. 

Now I also need to find more time to put up a few more blog posts on here as well.  But at least I've got the Jaded Gamer Diaries down for a good while. 

Jaded Gamer Diary - Archon part two

Let's tackle part 2 of how to run a convention like a dumbass brought to you by the fine folks at Archon. This time we'll talk about their first big show of disdain for the Facebook group in the fight over peacebonding and prop weapons.

Okay I can see the reasons for weapon policies and all that. Especially at conventions where there is quite a bit of drinking going on later in the night. But sometimes the people at the top let the control go to their head which trickles down to the people on the floor.

Things I've personally seen with my own eyes. Telling a person with a leg brace that he couldn't have a walking cane. Going after people who were carrying around umbrellas even though it was raining outside and the con takes place in both a hotel and a con center in which you have to walk between the two. When brought up to staff they hand wave these things off and act like you are making this up. But then they get to walk around with whatever the fuck they want with no problem. They make the rules but never, NEVER, follow them themselves.

Eventually things started getting to a louder roar when they were peacebonding a toy ray gun (small pistol sized) that a child was carrying around. Made him strap it to his outfit so he couldn't hold it. Why? Because he MIGHT run into the art room unattended and he MIGHT damage something and the parents MIGHT not want to pay for it. Yes they basically came and accused the parents of being basically bad parents on this. Nothing was left to be held in the hand. Tried to make a guy in a full Ghostbusters uniform strap his working prop PKE meter into a little belt holster so he couldn't pull it out. Why? Because he may hit somebody with it. Yeah right whatever. Dicks.

Then suddenly ComiCon appeared on the horizon with them opening up a St. Louis date. Archon sat back unworried and said they'll have a promotional desk there. All was cool. Until all the cosplayers started talking on the group about their experience at ComiCon.

Peacebonding and prop weapon policies super lax compared to Archon. They could pull out their fake guns, swords, whatever and pose with them for pictures (at Archon that could get you kicked out because it's not peacebonded on you). The staff was mixed in with them, talking, taking pictures and enjoying the whole thing with them. Then came the big line that made Archon staff shit themselves a little.

“I think I'm just going to focus on ComiCon every year and forget about going to Archon”

A line that was joined in by many of the costuming folks. Tired of the constant harassment by the staff they finally had another option. Many also started asking about who they need to get into touch with to get a refund on their preorder passes. Oh shit, cosplayers were making up a good chunk of Archon attendees, and now they were talking about leaving.

Staff FINALLY paid attention. Pissed off over this all coming up on the group (though never acknowledging the fact that they never gave a damn before) they started to back peddle rapidly. Citing that they needed to talk with their insurance providers and a lawyer before making any official statement to soon.

Well the continued well of unsatisfied folks continued to press that they either wanted a refund or a policy change before the next con date. So finally the staff, gritting their teeth the whole way, caved in. Relaxing on the policy a lot in certain areas, especially during the day but not at night when there are a lot of drunks about. But they also added in the veiled threat that these rules would be enforced more strictly without much of a chance of appeal.

This was the first big blowup that spawned from the fan community for the con. All made possible by them all being in the same place to communicate with each other instantly and easily. But this change put a big chip on the shoulder of another group, some of whom decided to be complete assholes because of it. Security. But the big blow up over them and the second fight from the Facebook group that angered staff will be covered in a near future installment of Jaded Gamer Diary. Can't use everything all at once can I?