Stone Lords: Thoughts.

Michael's game seems to be developing in a nice straight line, with minor bumps to flatten. I'd like to talk about my thoughts on this game:

• Monsters: From the first list of ideas Michael gave, I found that there were very few creatures. I'm not sure if it's because of the oversimplification of some groups (Dinosaurs, for example) or because he's trying to stay clear from the monsters that appear in D&D and the such. It's a great idea to get out of the comfort zone, and even greater to be prepared to make mistakes. I applaud this effort. However, I'd like to suggest that you look into other Stone cultures (Latinamerican, Australian, Celtic). It might expand both your creature list as well as what you could add to the game for mechanics and/or other stuff (plots, loot...)

• Magic: Not so sure how a Portal school healing spell could work, the ideas in general are basic and might need a bit more refining in the literary sense. As an example: Would Earth magic allow you to create sentient warriors (golems)? You only mention it can alter earth and rock, but I'm guessing you could expand on those, because it is really a big difference if the only thing you can do is something close to Earthbending (launching stone projectiles) but you can't do Earth summoning, so to speak. The rest of the magical schools sound great, and I can think of a plethora of spells for each one (healing rain, enemy shift, fire link, tsunami endurance, and so on).

• Classes: Once again, the first list could have done with a little refining, but with your revision (removing the Alchemist class, and adding the Marauder and Necromancer) it makes it look more in-setting. I like the various ideas you have for most of them (except the Bard and Assassin).
  Why don't I like the bard? Well, in Stone ages, and in most stone tribes, the one who "sang" stories and legends was the Shaman or the Tribe Elder (Usually the chief, as well). As for the assassin, I feel like it's too advanced a term for a world of Stone. Sure, the Trickster is an advanced term as well, but it sounds more feasible to have a guy who can make tricks and traps to escape and confuse the foe in a Stone Age setting than a guy who's a trained killer. At the same time, in a Stone Age setting, almost everybody was a trained killer of sorts (All you had to know is how to hit your foe over the head with a big rock hammer) of both men and monsters.
• Tribes: The historical approach might prove quite difficult, and you're sure to piss someone off if it's published and you made one tiny mistake. However, it might also turn out to be easier in the creative sense, since you're already a step ahead in the basic design of the tribes, and you just have to add what makes if fit the game and setting. Creating your own tribe might be great as well, considering it allows for you to fully cutomize your character's traits. However, as I had stated before, it would be great to have a general idea of "possible" tribes (like, say, some sort of Northern tribe would usually have a natural resistance to cold, or a natural bonus to strength).

So those are my thoughts on Stone Lords.

Stone Lords: Weapons

Hey. Just a quick post. I'm just listing weapons that'll be in Stone Lord. There won't be many to select from as this is primitive man and metalsmithing is nonexistent or very rare.

-rock dagger
-axe
-small spear
-large spear
-light club
-great club
-rock
-short bow
-long bow
-natural attack

There'll also be natural attacks when you transform into your animal spirit guide. Anymore ideas on primitive weapons.

Stone Lords: Combat Mechanics

Hi. Just posting some thoughts on how combat is going to work. Right now, these are just vague ideas and can change. I don't just want the game to be "roll a whatever sided die and if it beats their AC, you deal damage." I want something more original as this is done for most RPGs (though it is simplistic and easy).

Stances: Basically, during combat, you select a stance for your character to take. Based on the stance, you gain certain bonuses to certain abilities or rolls. You do not get to choose a stance if you are taken by surprised as you did not have time to prepare for a combat stance. When you declare a stance, you must remain in that stance for at least 5* turns. The three stances are:
-Offensive: you gain a bonus to attacks and damage
-Defensive: you gain a bonus to armor class
-Observational: you gain no bonus, but when you switch stances your bonus is greater as you're studying your opponent's movements and attacks and have a better understanding of them
I'm thinking at higher level, there could be an ability to combine Defensive and Observational (in that you're on the defensive, but you're still studying your opponent).
Also, Hunters and Shamen can switch out of Observational stance sooner when fighting animals.

*This number can change if it seems too high or low.




Fatigue Limit: I was also thinking that if you continue to fight for too long in combat, you start to take minuses or even lose hit points as you're moving around a lot - being agile - and your wounds are getting worse. Obviously, you'd have to be fighting for awhile - I'm not sure what a good number of turns for this is - but certain classes (soldier, fighter) can go longer than others.

Lethal Strike: This is just a rough idea I'm kicking around with, but basically you can strike the head or piece the heart with one powerful, precise blow that instantly kills your foe. The way this would work is that you make a normal attack roll, and the number you have to beat if your foe's AC plus a bonus that varies based on how far away they are from 0 HP (so a 50 HP would get a high DC than someone with only 10). And if you fail this roll, you still do damage, but a lot less than a normal hit. I'm not too fond of this concept right now, but I'm just trying to think up new ideas for Stone Lords to make it stand out and interesting.

Rage: Another idea I had is that every character can go into a rage at any time. Since these are early men, they'd be more savage. The way this works, is that you can potentially go into any number of rages any day. You have to make a rage check to go into it, and the DC increases by 10 every time you use it without getting a night's rest. This number increases regardless of if you successful or not. So your first Rage check for the day has no increased penalty, the second has a +10, the third has a +20, the fourth has a +30, etc. I'd figure if I did this, I'd have to do something for non-melee classes so melee classes aren't all broken with this.

Hit Points determine Starting Order: I'm not too attached to this idea, but it would make determining who goes first faster. Basically, the order everyone goes in is determined by whoever has the most amount of current hit points, and you go in order from most to least. Obviously this would be unfair to casters, but I feel that if you have more hit points you're more ready for combat. I think maybe there should be another factor with this too thought so it's not just all super tough end bosses go first.

Armor Class: Since most of the armor in Stone Lords is going to be very primitive (animal hides, bones, and wood) preventing successful hits from opponents is going to be more based on speed, grace, and deflection. For this reason, I was thinking there should be at least two stats you add to your armor class: Grace (how well you can move on your feet) and Agility (how fast you are). I was also thinking of having a deflection and/or parry bonus too.

Reducing Damage: Again, since armor isn't too advance, the way I'd figure it would work is that if you are hit, and you are wearing armor, you roll a die, add a bonus from your armor, and subtract that from how much damage you would have taken.

So, these are just rough ideas I have on combat.

Stone Lords: Class Revisions

So I've been thinking over my classes, and I'm dropping one and adding two others. I may have posted this before, but I'll do it again just to be sure. So alchemist is gone. I'm going to merger that with the other spellcasters. I'm also adding a Necromancer class...for necromancy. The other class I'm adding is Marauder. Marauder is gonna be a pillager type of class. It's going to be like soldier, except soldiers are trained for large scale battles, are marauders are trained to rush into an enemy's territory and just cause as much damage as possible quickly.

That's all I got for now. I have some notes on combat mechanics, but I just wanted to get this up to maintain my one week quota. I'll post some of the combat rules either later today or tomorrow.

Devastation: corruption of life. Rough draft.

So I came up with a game idea, it would combine post-apocalypse and high fantasy, with magic being irritated minerals like iron, stone, coal, etc. that would now cause a chain reaction with some energy and blood are used as a catalyst, causing magic. but I need help with some of the other stuff as I am no good with the important stuff but I did come up with some stuff already with the help of Quino cruz.


 two of the basic casting classes the ruination or known by the general populace ruiner the other being the corrupter. ruination being called such in my head because they cause the world to crumble and break down with their in born link to the magic stuff, corrupter being called such because of his continued use of the minerals causing his body to degenerate if over used. how they use magic will be different the ruination would be born with these irradiated materials growing inside him because his parents were corrupter or ruination themselves that used their abilities a lot.

I still have to come up with class tables and a many other things like what kind of monsters will be in it but I feel this is a good start. I am open to suggestions and ideas.

Stone Lords: Magic

Hey. Still working on Stone Lords. I'm trying to figure what sort of combat system to create with it as well as other mechanics. For now though, I've come up with the schools of magic:

-earth/plant: magic for altering plants, rock and earth
-necromancy: magic for communing with spirits, raising the dead, and causing plagues or instant death
-animal(transformation): magic involved with affecting beasts or transforming humans to give them strong, beast-like properties
-weather: magic to alter and control weather as well as the future (astrology)
-fire/pyromancy: the most basic, used for creating destructive energy attacks
-portal(summon/teleport): magic used to travel great distances in short time, open portals, or summon other creatures
-water/ocean/sea: magic involved with controlling water, tides, waves, and the creatures that live in them

In terms of healing, I'd figure each school would have at least one or two healing spells. Like, water you can turn ordinary water into healing potions. Or animal fills you with new beast like strength that heals you.

Stone Lords: Monsters

Hey guys! I'm still tinkering with the alchemist class in Stone Lords. I might just drop it. Also, maybe thinking of adding a Necromancer class. The idea just came to me. But that's beside the point. I'm posting some concepts I have for monsters in Stone Lords. I want them to seem more prehistoric and not too much fantasy, though some of these are fantasy/mythical creatures. Really, I'm just wondering if they seem out of place. (Also, the fantasy creatures are from ancient cultures.)

Dinosaurs
Gigantic ice age mammals/predators
Giant inspects
Giant reptiles
Spirits
Elementals
Big foot/yeti/sasquatch/monstrous apes
Plant monsters
Lizard folk
Frog folk
Bat folk
Greek/Egyptian/Mesopotamian mythical creatures
Leviathan
Behemoth
Giants
Dire animals
Monstrous/gigantic sea life
Animals in general

Stone Lords: the Basics

So based on "popular demand," the RPG I'll be working on this summer is Stone Lords. It's a romanticized prehistoric stone age campaign setting. I'd figure I'd post the basics I have so far and go from there: classes, animal spirit guides, and tribes.

Classes:
(My one issue with classes is some may be too advanced for the setting)

-Mage: A magic user class. Humans on their own are incapable of using magic. To do so, they must pay tribute to a higher power - gods, nature, or spirits. Mages typically gain their powers from a deity or multiple deities.

-Druid: Another magic user class. Druids also gain their supernatural powers from higher forces, but for them it's from nature. They channel hidden energy resources found plants and the ground and redirect them into magical forces.

-Oracle: They use magic, but not to such a great extent as mages and druids. Oracles studies the skies and some earthly forces to predict future events. It's not so much magic, as observation. They can even tap into supernatural powers and slightly alter future events.

-Alchemist: Alchemists much like oracles use a combination of magic and observation. They study the natural world and seek to manipulate it supernatural forces. While oracles seek to master time and future events, alchemist seek to master matter and physical objects. They mostly craft potions that grant extraordinary effects.

-Sorcerer: While technically a magic user, they are by far the least proficient in the art. Sorcerers' powers are eclipsed greatly by all other magic users (even oracles and alchemists) but sorcerers are far more diverse. Each other magic user has to dedicate their entire lives to one area of magic. Sorcerers are more casual. They typically pick up their spells through adventuring gain a diversity of miscellaneous spells.

-Soldier: The protectors of society, soldiers fight to maintain order. They risk their lives to protect the tribes they live in. They are strictly disciplined being told for the majority of their life when to train, eat and sleep. They are proficient in heavier armor and weapons.



-Fighter: Also a martial class, fighters are based more around lighter, faster, and more erratic combat. Soldiers are trained to fight in a group against large numbers of foes which to a degree limits them. Fighters are trained to fight in any situation: alone, in a group, against one foe, against many, larger foes, smaller foes, in any sort of terrain. They are far more diverse.

-Hunter: Hunters too prefer martial combat, but not for warfare. They fight for their survival. They eat what they catch, and most of what they catch is far bigger than them. While fighting a fellow human being is difficult, hunters have to take on beast several times their size that are much faster. They can use traps or brute martial force.

-Shaman: Much like hunters, shamans share a deep connection with nature. However, hunters just seek to conquer it and devour it. Shaman form a connection with it. They are a martial class that has the ability to commune with animals and convince them to do their bidding. They do this with a combination of slight magic and animal domestication.

-Thief: Sneaky, covert, they take what they please. They don't use magic. They aren't physically strong. All they are trained to do is take. They can study their opponent and gauge the best way to dope their foe. They do this with a quick, nimble hand or a sharp, silver tongue.

-Trickster: A weaker martial class, tricksters fight their battles with illusions and tricks. They might set a trap to slow their foe down or ignite some blinding powders to daze an opponent. Whatever their tactic is, they are sure to have 1,001 tricks up their sleeve.

-Assassin: They're kill you. Plain and simple. That's all they're trained to do. Be it in public, private, or in your sleep. An assassin is trained to kill you as quickly and as quietly as possible without getting caught. They might be hired mercenaries or political agents from another tribe. Whatever the motive, they're cutthroat killers.

-Bard: A storyteller. They remember the stories and histories of their tribe and others as well as the history of the world and gods. They use their powers of charm to either inspire their allies or bring fear into foes.

Animal Spirit Guides:
(Animal Spirit Guides are celestial beings that help guide all humans through live. They are based on twelve earth animals. Depending on the animal that guides you, they grant you different powers: strength, speed, cunning, increased endurance, the ability to commune with similar animals. And at higher levels you can ever transform into them.)

-Raptor
-Wolf
-Sabertooth
-T-Rex
-Mammoth
-Brontosaurus
-Pterodactyl
-Dog
-Hawk
-(Giant) Spider
-(Giant) Scorpion
-Ram
-Bull

Tribes:

I'm having a difficult time coming up with tribes. Since everyone is human, and this is a stone age campaign, I could base the tribes on real ancient cultures, but that could come off offensive seeing as how I'm giving absolute racial traits to these tribes based on real peoples. I've had a few ideas:

-Option one: base all the tribes on ancient cultures. Obviously, I'll have to be careful on the tribal traits I choose and really do the research to make them as accurate as possible.

-Options two: The four tribes. These are the Northern Barbarians, the Southern Barbarians, the Western Barbarians, and the Eastern Barbarians. These would each be based on ancient cultures from Europe (Northern), Africa (Southern), Americas (Western), Asia (Eastern). This is slightly based on option one, but more generalized which could be better or worse.

-Option three: PCs/GMs create their own tribes. They would be a long list of racial traits and you're allowed about 4-8 and these traits are what your tribe stresses and what you were taught growing up.

Need to Know Mafia: Basis

Hello everyone, Half Monkey Games people, Crimmy (Joaco) here. I hope you're interested in this small idea for a completely complicated and totally unfinished game.

Need to Know Mafia started as a small joke between my brother and me. We were talking about how, in his former job, he had this strange clause that implied he could well be working in something without knowing about it, and he'd only be filled in it if there were ever a need to know about it.

I mentioned "Huh, well, right now (in the middle of a Mafia game) I'm the Medic. I could reveal my role to X player, but I'd really prefer to keep my role a secret until the need to be revealed comes. It would be awesome if there was a game where the whole basis was to be completely in the dark, but not like Mafia. Something more like some sort of Big Brother."

After a small punch at how it would be "interesting", we started flashing out ideas: A prison? Yeah, sounds about right. Now, there has to be something like a Big Brother. Oh, now we have it, Dual - Mods for the game. 2 or more "Big Brothers" overlooking a group of... inmates? No, how about some sort of game? They're not really inmates, they just, somehow, ended up inside this huge prison.

The details right now are not completely worked out, but I will edit this entry later on to add what we already had as a starting point.

I'd love it if you guys could give us a hand. The way it originally was, it was meant to be a huge expansion to the Mafia games, something close to a 40 or so people setting. It could well evolve into a full-fledged board game.

Thanks for your time, and check back later to read our original notes.

Crimmy, out


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Original notes:

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