Updates & Miscellaneous Notes

pitas

Lost Souls

Midian

Midian game pages
Everything on the game re-do should be fully up & running with the exception of the pdf versions. The fact that these are archived files--and their sheer size--makes finding a suitable site to shove them rather problematic.

If anyone has any problems, e-mail me, the nameless ghoul.

Once all of the RE-doing is completed, then we can actually set about creating NEW material.

Friday, September 20, 2002

Re-did the main page, triming the coding; likewise for the search page and links page.

We have new forums. Goodbye popup ads for gator, trying to download itself. Fucksticks. I have nothing against a company trying to keep itself in business, nor do I have a problem with adverts--in spite of our policy. I do have a problem with anything that tries to take over my system--whether by downloading unrequested programs, or opening new windows.

The new forums are hosted by CeeKay, they are greatly improved over the previous, and are ad-free.

Thursday, September 12, 2002

Since the host fuck-up, we're redoing everything. This is as good an excuse as any to recode the pages. It's a pain in the ass to hand-code everything, but the file sizes are much smaller this way. The new pages will load faster, and be more friendly to those that aren't using 'i.explorer' as their browser. In addition, the pages will be easier to translate into other languages.

We're redoing the forums, game pages, main site, everything. Loads of tedious work, but the end result will be well worth it.

Wednesday, September 4, 2002

The latest batch of the printed text of the Midian game is finally done. This is the new version with all of the re-edits done. Don't worry, there aren't any sweeping changes; this isn't some "second edition." For the most part, this is simply format/spelling/grammer corrections.

LSP would like to thank Marlene for all of her help and hard work. The new books look great, and this wouldn't be possible without her help.

Thursday, August 8, 2002

Character Development
New Morality: Bastard
The bastard looks out only for himself. If anyone else may be harmed by his actions, then that only adds to his ammusement.

Thursday, May 30, 2002

Main Page
Redid the main page by adding tables and cleaning things up a bit. The page should be easier to navigate and somewhat faster to load.

We are discussing trading ad space with Darn Fun Games. We are remaining true with our policy of not pimping our site out--no money is exchanging hands. This is more closely related to a webring than traditional advertising methods. This is a first for us, and we hope that this will help us with building and strengthening the total gaming community and industry.

Saturday, May 25, 2002

Added new species: Killian and Ghoul. Added magical traditions: Elementalist & Alchemist. These are in the Game Master's section & will be on the main pages shortly.

Friday, April 19, 2002

main page
Redid the main page (about time...) and added quite a few new quotes to the Random Thoughts--over 90 so far. The Gazetteer project (maps & such) is progressing smoothly. The first map should be up within a week or so. Additional maps (linked) and world information will follow.

Thursday, April 11, 2002

Play-by-Post
We have added a new section for our forum; Play/Post. This will be the new home for the game postings. We are also still seeking others to join to for an increased game community.

Wednesday, April 3, 2002

The City of Argent
Minor updates: changed forum & e-mail to be easier to read, added play-by-post forum, bunch of links. One of the links was an addition to the game world: The City of Argent & The Way of The Blade Gaming Guild. We are nearly finished with: Vampires, Werewolves, and maps. These will be posted within another week or two.

Saturday, March 30, 2002

There is no 'coin of the realm' for the Heldannic Confederation. Coins from different countries are occasionally used, for their base metal, but the Heldanns do not mint their own coinage. Barter and Hacksilver are used instead.

Hacksilver is the principle of tearing off pieces of jewelry (hence the name) for purchases. Jewelry is specially designed for this purpose--either with easily removed ingots, or in a single, simple band of a bracelet--so that the exact amount can be utilised. Only pure silver is used for this.

The penalty for using debased silver is 'base metal for base metal.' In other words, the offender is beaten with the often large weapons the Heldanns carry, sometimes fatally. This is not an official crime recognized by the Crown, but is a commonplace tradition. Officials will look the other way. Foreigners are rarely killed via the 'base metal for base metal' tradition, but few are willing to repeat the experience.

On a related note, there is no police force amongst the Freeholds. Local lords are expected to keep local order. Unless mob-rule gets out of hand, the High King will do nothing. The Heldanns prefer it this way. Only when a situation has escalated to where the army is needed to pacify (an army comprised primarily of local forces anyway), will the Crown become involved.

Wednesday, March 20, 2002

Added & fixed quite a few things. All of the pages should have some kind of link to the Main page and to the Midian contents page. All of the background images and text should be complete & with a minimum of fuck-ups. A way to add links has been added, as have forums/BBS, and item-specific searches. All of the information in this update/misc section and the on-line build section has been added to the main game text, where possible and appropriate. The f.a.q. and notes have been added to the forum where everyone may comment on them and ask their own questions. The world information has been taken from the page on the Kingdom of Formour and given its own page (with additional material). Other Midian chapters added are the ones covering faiths/cults and magic, as well as a lexicon. Now we are finding ourselves faced with actually having to add CONTENT to the site (like the things we have been putting off entirely too long: maps & geopolitical information, vampires, werewolves, cultural information, magical traditions, new races & classes, etc.).

Wednesday, March 20, 2002

Online Build and Game Master's Section
We also added quite a bit to this section: new weapons and armour, holidays & days of the week, lycanthropes, religion, and a lexicon with pronunciation guide. These, and the interactive features listed below, will find their way into the main game text shortly. Much of the miscelaneous information on this page will also be added into the main text as well. Blue booking will quite likely become part of the core rules. Let us know what you think about this, either by e-mail, the submission form on the main page, or through the forum. Kinslayer is posting a new thread for you to post to on the subject.

Saturday, March 16, 2002

Midian Contents
Here are a few more links to the latest additions to the Midian Game.

Character Sheet Yes, it is sideways. It will print with the doggie lying down rather than standing up. It is supposed to do this. To view the character sheet online (when using Adobe Acrobat) click on the 'Rotate View Clockwise' button just to the left of the Adobe logo button.

Item-specific Search This allows you to search through: skills, traits, and backgrounds, to find a specific item rather than having to look through the entire page. This search returns just the portion that you were looking for.

Message Boards This includes: open boards for both the Midian game and for the Lost Souls Pack, commonly-asked questions, and a place where you can ask your own questions. We will reply to all questions promptly. Here you may also play-by-post, or use the chat feature. We also have the 'Roleplaying Games' board from Uncle Bear's RPG Toybox, who will feature Midian as the Free Site of the Day on--appropriately enough--April Fool's Day. Here you may also find other free games, and a few other goodies.

By way of other updates, we added a parchment background to the Midian pages, and fixed a few bugs.

Saturday, March 16, 2002

Armour (& Weapon) Features

New Features for Weapons & Armour

Armour may be spiked as well. This typically involves many smaller spikes rather than a single large one. These cost 10-50 guilder, and add 1-10 pounds to the weight of the armour, depending on the exact work done. Armouir spikes cause 2 points of damage to an opponent in grappling attacks per round, and can be used as a melee attack, such as a blow from the shoulder, forearm, shin, etc.

Sacrifice: Armour or shields that have this feature can be 'sacrificed' to guarantee that an attack can be completely avoided. This is effectively 100% resistance to hacking, stabbing, and piercing attacks, plus all damaging energy-related attacks (fire, lightning, etc.). When the character chooses to sacrifice the item, he or she takes no damage, but the shield or armour is destroyed. Shields are only effective against a single attack when they are sacrificed; armour is unaffected until the end of the round. This feature is typically only found in wooden, ceramic, bone, and ablative armours and shelds.

Friday, March 15, 2002

Character Advancement

Costs for Training

A more qualified teacher (5 or more ranks in the skill & the Teaching skill) will charge 2-3 guilder per hour of training. Specialists, highly-qualified or reknowned teachers, or those possessing rare skills, may charge up to 10 guilders per training hour or more.

The cost of learning a skill may be reduced or eliminated by apprenticing yourself to the teacher. Whether you have reduced or free training--or even receive some small wage--will depend on the work that you do. A beginning apprentice will not be able to produce quality goods until she gets more training & practice. One who is further along will be able to actually help out the master with the goods &/or services provided.

A professional instructor will have more time available to devote to training your character--figure 8 hours per day. Those that have other duties--such as the blacksmith that you are apprenticing yourself to--may have substantially less time for instruction. This is why an apprenticeship may take years when the skills themselves may be learned within a few weeks.

Here is an example. Anna is learning the Armorer skill from the local smith. She is already an accomplished journeyman blacksmith (a prerequisite skill), and so can be useful around the forge. Knowing how to produce & repair armour is a useful (and lucrative) talent, and the smith is quite skilled in this area, so the cost would normally be 3+ per training hour, but Anna's usefulnes as an assistant alleviates that somewhat. The smith will charge her half the normal cost. The base training time for the Armorer skill is 800 hours, but Anna is a good student and is able to test that time down to only 200 hours. Between actual instruction, and practical hands-on experience, she effectively gets about 4 hours per day of training. This works out to 50 days, or about a month-and-a-half. The 200 hours worth of training will cost her 300 guilder. Since this is all of the money that she had saved, she had better hope that she makes her first Chance-to-learn check...

Friday, March 8, 2002

For a general guideline for equipment costs & wages, each Fomourian guilder is about equal to 20 Dutch guilder (or 10 U.S. dollars). Recall that the bezant of the Byzzant Empire is equal to the Fomourian guilder in purchasing power, even though the exchange rate does not reflect this (the Bezant has wider appeal as a more stable currency outside of Formour).

Friday, March 8, 2002

Skills
New Skill:

Distinguished Expertise

Social

Proficiency [Knowledge]

300 hours

Friday, March 8, 2002

Changed look of main page--colours specifically. The ivory text with brighter links is much easier on the eyes than the dark red text with dark blue links.

Thursday, March 7, 2002

Added interim interactivity to the site. Included is the notification list, updates (this page), submissions page, poll/calendar, on-line build, random text, and the links page. Also cleaned-up dead links on the main page & rearranged things slightly. New game & site content will be added as soon as the computer & I are on speaking terms again.

Wednesday, March 6, 2002

Random Book Generator
This is a great tool for Game Masters, particularly in a game like Midian where the contents of a library are qite important. This generator has options for the type & number of books, "extras," and the quality of books. Now I will suffer less when the munchkin players want to raid a library...

Wednesday, March 6, 2002

Special damage considerations

Midian uses a descriptive method of attacks--ideally that is, the reality depends on the role-playing skills of the players and the Game Master. This descriptive method can be used to affect outcomes in combat without the need to consult an immensely complex hit/critical chart (or charts). A normal critical hit or failure will have whatever specific effect that the Game Master determines, but other (non-critical) attacks can have similar effects. In other words, if you keep damaging a foe's arm, he won't be able to use it as well--you may even cripple it--even if you never rolled a critical hit (natural 19 or 20). There are no specific rules to determine this, such as 23.86% of hit points per arm, or other such game mechanics. Having such rules in place will unnecesarrily complicate combat and character creation, while simultaneously removing options and control from both player and Game Master. If you state, "I'm going for the eyes!" and hit, then no chart or rule need be consulted. Eyes are pretty fragile; one good hit with a sharp pointy implement of destruction tends to hurt a bit. The complexities of combat with regards to how much damage a particular blow causes--other than just the usual Hit Point/Life Point damage--is up to the Game Master to determine. She may assign any number of different penalties at her leisure: attack penalty, Attribute penalty, blindness, sprained limb, broken bone, severe scarring, permanant injury, internal bleeding that spreads to surrounding tissue, etc.

Keep in mind that this works both ways. Not only is this a more graphic way of depicting violence on an innocent victim, but players may have specific damage applied to them as well. Just because your Hit Points have all healed, doesn't mean that your arm is no longer broken.

Saturday, March 2, 2002

Interchangability of Magical Terms

There may be some confusion about the terminology used to describe users of magic. The various terms are often used interchangably with one another. The following should help clear things up a bit.

Mage or Wizard: these terms are universal for all serious users of magic. The two words are essentially synonomous, although the title of Wizard more properly denotes one with great power.

Summoner: this referrs to someone who specializes in conjuring up spirits, entities, demons, or other helpers.

Conjurer: This term is typically synonomous with Summoner, but can be equally applied to a trickster/stage magician type of magic-user.

Saturday, March 2, 2002

Combining/Stacking Armour

There are a variety of reasons for wanting to use 'piecemeal' armour. Cost and weight are major factors, as are aesthetics (how good you look) and the effects of certain pieces of armour (i.e. an crosbowman rarely needs to worry about armour on his back or legs).

The parts of the body that are hit the most often are the torso, shoulders, and head. These are, not coincidentally, the areas that are the most vital & need protection most. Forearms, hands, knees and neck are the next most likely targets. Ideally, you should specify how you attack; "I stab at his throat," is better than just, "I'm going to hit him." The advantages of descriptive combat are that you may get to ignore unarmoured or lightly-armoured areas, and the Game Master is more likely to give specific effects of your attack. In other words, if the guards aren't wearing cod-pieces, make them suffer for it. If a knight jousts without a helmet, he will find that quite a few opponents are aiming their lances at his face rather than his shield. Conversely, someone wearing only a helmet won't have nearly as many head-shots to worry about (everywhere else, however...)

Armour should be chosen that fits the character's style. In other words, someone who needs maximum freedom of movement--such as an archer or rogue--need to be weighted down by as little armour as possible. By contrast, a knight has his horse to carry him & his armour, and will face similarly-clad foes close-up with heavy weapons; the knight needs to be armoured much more heavily. Many mages disdain the use of armour, not out of any arbitrary "wizards can't use armour" rule, but rather due to focus and orientation. Mages are not usually trained in the wearing of armour--instead focusing on magical skills--and are statistically slighter of frame than the average warrior-type. The main reason that wizards do not usually wear armour is simple arrogance; they trust in their magic (or rather the reputation thereof) to protect them.

Combining armour types may be by wearing different types of armour on different parts of the body--such as a metal breastplate with leather leggings--or by layering the armour on top of one another--such as wearing plate mail over chain over padding. The game mechanics for wearing different types of armour, rather than a full suit, are quite simple. Add up the armour class bonuses of all covered flesh: arms, head, torso, etc. The damage resistance does not stack up, however. For layered armour, the reverse applies; the outer shell (typically metal over padding) is the only armour class bonus used, but the damage resistances are combined. The basic concept is this: the more flesh that is covered, the harder it is to hit; the more layers an attack must penetrate, the less damage done.

Here's an example. Drusilla is a duelist. She wears a hard leather vest & leggings, with a breastplate on her chest & a heavy steel bracer & glove on her left arm (she's left-handed). She otherwise keeps her arms free to maximize their freedom of movement. The breastplate helps to keep her from being pierced in the heart or other vital organ, and the bracers prevent a foe from easily disarming her by attacking her hand or wrist. She recieves +2 to her armour class from the breastplate, & +1 armour class from the leather (only the leggings count because of the breastplate). The bracer/glove combination adds an additional +1. Drusilla's total armour class is 9 (assuming she has no bonuses from a high Agility--we never said that she was a very good duelist). If a foe targets her spleen (or elsewhere on her torso), the damage restistance is 6: 4 from the breastplate and 2 from the leather underneath.

Saturday, March 2, 2002

Blue-booking:

This is a role-playing technique in which you log your characters actions, particularly out of combat and away from the other players. This allows for character development and solo activity such as learning new skills, maintaining your personal affairs, or running your empire. Things that can simply be written down (either on paper, or on-line such as at pitas.com or diaryland.com), can be run in the 'background' rather than during the main game session. These are things that can be discussed with the Game Master between game sessions, or read at her leisure, so as to not interfere with the other players game time.

One good use for blue-books is when your character is helping to build the world in-game. These are things such as constructing a stronghold, founding an organization, or improving an area. Your Game Master may reward you for this, especially as it makes her life easier. For example, a simple entry such as, "I have my trusted aide supervise repairing the roadways in my barony," could be rewarded with improved travel-time during your next adventure. Even when outside of your own lands, to continue the example, you may move faster and easier due to your neighbors trying to keep up with you--the quality of your roads makes theirs look bad by comparison.

This technique is especially useful for social interactions. Teachers, family, patrons, employees, minions, neighbors, Contacts, all may be dealt with in this manner. Many of these encounters would be fun to role-play with the Game Master, but others can be noted in your blue-book. Simple actions, such as instructions or just, "I spend some time with my kids." More complex conversations, that is, anything that involves multiple responses, should be role-played.

Friday, March 1, 2002

It is up to the players--not the Game Master--to determine how the characters know each other. The Game Master may have some ideas depending on what type of campaign that he or she wishes to run, such as a game where everyone is in the military or other organization/employment.

The characters could all come from the same home town/area, have the same goal (such as defeating a common enemy), or have suffered through the same calamity (war, fire, famine, flood, volcano, etc.). They could all be relatives (if the same species), cell-mates in prison (with the first adventure being an escape), or there could be tenuous connections--person A knows B & C, person D knows person B, etc.

Another method (that places less of a burden on the Game Master), is taken from some of the designers of Midian hanging out with actors too much. The first player describes her character to the group. The second player then describes his character and how he knows the first person. The third then describes her character & how she knows the first two. Continue this until everyone knows each other--in whatever manner.

Friday, March 1, 2002

Having a well thought out character personality profile and history helps both you and your Game Master. The Game Master may even give bonus ranks in skills, traits, backgrounds, even starting experience for a well thought out character. For example, instead of taking a skill just because it gives you an advantage, include how you learned the skill. Details about your teacher or your training may prove useful later in the game, or simply add dimension to your character.

Friday, March 1, 2002

'Midian' typically referrs to the 'known world.' Three continents comprise the lands of Midian--the northern continent (Noriterre), where Formour, Heldann, & the Elven Homelands are; the southern continent (Sudterre), consisting of Bizzant and the older nations; and the eastern continent (Osterre), from which Humans originated. The major nations of the northern continent, together with Bizzant, are often referred to collectively as the 'middle-lands.' This is due primarily to the fact that most of the western edge of the northern continent (including the Farreaches) is unmapped.

Thursday, February 28, 2002

'The Grey River'

This is an odd, flat ribbon of stone that winds through a 100+ mile stretch of Formour. The 'River' is mostly flat & of uniform width. It is a continuous vein of a stone that has not been found anywhere else. The 'Grey River' is about 30 feet wide and would be quite suited for caravans. However, people avoid it do to its oddness. Animals will not willingly go within sight or smell of it. There are no towns along its banks, and no major destinations anywhere near the 'river.'

Thursday, February 28, 2002

What we are working on specifically is: an e-mail list, contact/comment form (for those that cannot--or will not follow mailto links), update log (you're reading it now), game calendar, e-mail (also already in place--just have to open it up to everybody), plus other goodies like a Game Masters' section & a classified section (this one is working better than everything else--a good sign). The problem is that many of the things that we are looking at are hosted with another site & require banner ads. Lots more still needs to be worked on...

Wednesday, February 27, 2002

Working on new goodies for the website. Don't worry, more game information will follow along shortly therafter.

Wednesday, February 27, 2002

What is the nature of MAGIC?

Nameless pointed out a review of another game to me. In it the writer compared the game to (inevitably) Dungeons & Dragons. The reviewer complained that D&D didn't explain magic at all. The game being reviewed apparently described some shit about 'mana' or 'extra-planar energies.'

Magic shouldn't be explained. If it made sense, it would be science. Magic is mysterious. Indeed, it may even be said that magic is mystery itself.

The Midian Role-playing Game makes no attempt to explain the inner workings of magic. To do so would subtract from what makes it so intriguing. This is one of the reasons that most of the mystical effects in Midian are based on real-world occultic beliefs. By taking the inspiration for spells from medieval manuscripts and modern occult books, we keep magic from becoming the cheesy bullshit that it is in so many games. Magic in Midian is developed the way it is in thaumaturgical belief structures: things work simply because they work. Someone way back noticed that keeping a lock of hair from the one that you desire seemed to help gain their affection. Certain symbols and exclamations seemed to cause certain things to be more likely to occur. By a process of trial-and-error, these findings have been coalated into more reliable magic.

There are no rules in Midian for number-of-spells-per-day, or for Willpower costs for using magic. Having such rules makes even less sense than having magic work, well, magically. I can understand game designers wanting to work in rules for game balance. They don't want everyone who plays their game to always take the wizard class & fireball everything in their path. By removing any artificial game balance from Midian, we have placed total control of the scope & power of magic (and the players) in the Game Masters' hands. Right where it fucking belongs.

Within the game, there are many theories among loremasters about how magic works: influence from the divine or infernal, psionics, 'mana,' unknown laws-of-physics, or extra-planar energies. Whether any of these are true (possibly none, possibly all), will be quite difficult to determine for the inhabitants of the game world.

Perhaps the best explanation of magic is found in the "Spelljammer" boxed-set by the late TSR Hobbies:

"The simple answer is that it is magic.

The Complicated answer is that it is magic and it knows it's magic.

Saturday, February 23, 2002

Soldiers, sailors, scouts, and marines, in both Formour and Bizzant have different options to receive their pay. They may choose any combination of coin, scrip, or savings.

Scrip is a durable rag-paper that simply has the amount listed along with the serviceman's name & unit. This is considered an official government document by both countries, and as such can be used to pay taxes or for purchase from the appropriate government. Soldiers wishing to use this for exchanges between themselves need their commander's signature on the scrips. The advantages of scrip is that it is lighter in weight (very positive bonus for soldiers) and is useless when stolen as the proper bearer's name & unit is written thereon. A few merchants--but not many--in areas with large populations of military such as near garrisons or in some port towns, will accept the scrip as payment. This is somewhat inconvenient to the merchant as the comander's signature is still required for exchange, and the merchant must take it to the paymaster for hard coin.

Coin is, of course, hard currency--gold in your pocket. Mercenaries in Bizzant are always paid in hard coin, but their contract may only allow full payment after the campaign is completed. The advantage of being paid with coin is obvious--you get to spend your pay.

Soldiers also have the option to have their pay 'on hold,' similar to a savings or retirement account. They may withdraw this from the paymaster on payday, but most that choose to save their money try to leave it until they leave the service.

Paymasters are typically the second in command for a unit that has this job as an additional duty.

It is possible to use any combination of the three. For example, a sailor may save half of his money while dividing the remainder amongst scrip and coin.

Thursday, February 21, 2002

WOLF BLOOD

Those that are posessed of this Background get a saving throw (or a retest if they already have one) against being infected by Lycanthropy. This may be voluntarily failed by someone wishing to embrace that portion of their heritage. The resulting wolf-form is a hybrid of the werewolf that infected you and you own ancestry.

Thursday, February 21, 2002

Familiars

There are essentially three types of familiars: normal animals (which may be magically augmented), demonic familiars, and demonically-posessed familiars (which is actually an option for either of the other two varieties--you may find a body for your demon to inhabit, or conjure a demon to augment--by posession--your normal familiar.

Demonic familiars are usually bound servants. Rarely will one offer its services to a mage. Faust & Mephistopholes is a good cautionary tale there--another is the Elric saga with its anti-hero & demonic blade. With these the phrase "nothing for nothing" definately applies.

Normal familiars are by far the most common. These are normal--but special--animals that are linked to a wizard by a ritual similar to the Blood Bonding Ritual. Like that rite, the process works both ways--the mage is also linked to the familiar. The linking magic allows both to understand each other; just bear in mind the differences in thought processes between animal and sentient--your toad cannot carry on much of a conversation. The communication is on a very primitive level--think guide-dog.

Another benefit of linking to an animal familiar is that its normal senses are mystically augmented, allowing it to sense supernatural evil (gains that trait). Each will feel great discomfort experienced by the other, albeit at a greatly reduced level. Familiars also automatically gain a level whenever their wizard does.

Familiars (of all varieties) may be enhanced by various rituals & spells. These may allow the familiar to speak, assist with magic, share sensory information, or convey magical effects to the wizards victims.

Familiar animals are special; it is said that the familiar chooses the mage at least as much as the wizard chooses the animal. The primary benefit that a familiar brings is companionship.

Thursday, February 21, 2002

Just as you cannot put too much water in a nuclear reactor, a role-playing game cannot have too much magic.
HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN SPELLS FOR MIDIAN
1. Get an actual book on rituals (support those poor blokes that are trying to market something that the mass-market doesn't approve of; just try to get something published, much less sold)
2. Find a spell that you want to use & write it up with any needed description & game mechanics
3. Convince your Game Master to allow it
4. Repeat steps 1-3 as needed
5. Realize that the only book on magic worth reading is "The Cat in the Hat"
6. Realize that you wasted several years of your life getting a degree in thaumaturgy
Ok, so steps 5 & 6 are optional, but you can easily increase your wizards repertoire. As an added plus, you have abilities that are unique to your character.

Saturday, February 16, 2002

Why can't you lie when using Runes. What happens when you try?
The part of the brain used to create and examine falsehoods cannot be accessed at the same time that Runes are being carved. This is a mystical function of that language. The scribe simply cannot do both. If he or she is thinking of an untruth, that scribe cannot recall the appropriate symbols; if concentrating on the inscription, he or she cannot think of any lie. Even when transcribing what someone else is saying, the Dwarf (or anyone else) will be unable to carve the Runes when encountering anything that he or she knows (or even suspects) of being untrue.

Friday, February 15, 2002

New Combo

Here's something for the DBZ fans, a new combo based off of a running joke...
Ka-me-ha-me-ha: nasty combo combines Dragon Kata with Explosive Kata (which if you have Dragon, you automatically have the required skills for Explosive). This is a 4-round combo. Round one of the battle is a normal round--get your bearings, do whatever. Round 2 is when you start using the Timing skill; you have a -2 on initiative for this round, but that is in your best interest as you will finish your turn by putting some distance between you and the enemy. You may even take the time to change weapons in this round--nothing says that ranged weapons cannot be used (works great with hidden & palmed items). You want space between you and your opponent because you spend round #3 'powering up.' At the start of round four--when everyone is reaching for the dice for initiative--use your Battle Cry skill. Explosive Kata lets you delay this skill and the basic level lets you have a surprise round. This means that you get a free attack without rolling for initiative, you do double damage (from Dragon Kata), and you get a +2 to hit (from Timing). To top it all off, assuming your opponent still lives and wishes to continue the fight, you get the fourth round as a normal round (the surprise round 'doesn't count') at a +2 to hit from timing, and the -2 initiative penalty no longer applies.

Friday, February 15, 2002

This is an easy guide to exactly how effective different levels of Resistance is to reduce damage. For example, for 20% resistance, subtract one point from every 5 points of damage done to your character.
Resistances Delineated
5% 1:20 points
10% 1:10 points
20% 1:5 points
25% 1:4 points or quarter damage
30% 1:3 points
40% 2:5 points
50% 1:2 points or half damage
60% 2:3 points
75% 3:4 points
90% 9:10 points
100% total immunity

Friday, February 15, 2002

Added site search to the main page. This searches either the site or the internet, & includes a site map. The site search function picks up the mirror as well, so the results usually look paired.

Thursday, February 14, 2002

New races and equipment are being examined by subject-matter experts. Pending their responses, we will have a new batch ready for uploading soon. We are also working on the scripts to add interactivity to the site. The full debugging process could take some time however, but we want everything up and running before unleashing it.

Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Rumour Mill

Kinslayer's Rants

On-line Interactive Index (site search)