Setting

I'm still running my PBEM game at the moment (although participation has lagged in the last two weeks). Things are going pretty well and I've had some time to brainstorm, mostly because I haven't had time to write due to "real work" concerns.

Still, I have had some time to sit down with Brant and go over setting issues. I have a good scheme for areas that should help in multiple ways (both in-game/story and out-of-game/writing).

The biggest issues facing me are as such:
1. Time - I'm working about 50+hours a week, am a hockey season ticket holder, and have two children. You do the math.
2. Philosophy - I dislike the Arcane/Divine divide concerning magic and I'm still working on separating them from D&D Canon.
3. Mapping the known world - this one I solved with some brain-storming. The "known world" is fragmented and small, so maps will exist for individual areas. This has to do with the integration of the faerie-lands into the material plane. In other words, civilization will exist in pockets of faerie; traveling between them will be difficult at best.

Creative decision

I'm playing a wait and see game with fourth edition D&D. In the mean time, I'm spending most of my creative time on setting. I'll try to keep making updates as I come to it.

Augury

Augury allows the character to read omens in order to foretell future events. This can be tracking the stars (astronomy), examining the liver (hepatoscopy) and/or entrails (haruspicy) of a sacrificial animal, interpreting natural phenomena, or almost any other ritualistic form of telling the future or seeking guidance (prayer, tea leaves, tarot, etc.).

Power Requirements
Future time period	Power
Within the next minute	2
Within the next 10 minutes	3
Within the next hour	4
Within the next 24 hours	5
Within the next week	6
Within the next month	7
Within the next year	8
Within the next 10 years	9
Within the next 100 years	10
Any future	11

Prerequisites: Wisdom 12

Attribute: Wisdom

Base Power: 1 + Wisdom Modifier

Base Area/Range: Personal

Base Duration: Concentration

Enhancements: None

Power Effect: The character may attempt to seek an answer to a specific question about the future. The diviner must make a successful Knowledge (Augury) check in order to correctly interpret the omens. The base DC for any Augury is 5 times the Power rating of the effect. If the Augury check succeeds, you receive a short answer to your question. If the question is direct, you will likely receive a simple “yes,” “no,” or “neither” answer. If the question is complex, the answer will be cryptic. By succeeding by 10 or more, direct questions will be answered with additional information, and complex questions will be answered clearly. You can only ask a question once in a 24 hour period. Fail by 10 or more and you cannot ask the question again for a month. Interpreting the omens of another person is a -5 penalty to your check.

The game approaches

I've made huge strides on the game system/mechanics and I have two and a half characters ready to start this thing. Once it begins I'll make regular updates of ongoing progress. So far I have an exile from the south, an army veteran turned mystic, and an ambassador noble with mixed heritage. I'm wanting to get one or two more characters sorted out before we start in earnest.

It should be fun.

Silverford

Silverford is a large town and smack in the middle of Weir Valley, straddling the Silver River along the Shield Road from Silvergate in the east to Shadow Gap in the west. It has a population just shy of 5000 and is the major trading center for goods traveling back and forth between Rone and Amara.

Technically it is ruled by Baron Callis Taljira, an Amaran noble who leaves most of the actual ruling to the elected city council. The council is currently led by Crispin Aldrich, a retired veteran of the now defunct Sixth Legion. Also on the council are Dugan Baxter, the head of the Merchant’s Guild, Edward Brigham the well known smith, weapon maker, and armorer, and Emmett Fletcher, cousin of the wealthy and powerful farmer William Fletcher and prominent land owner in the city. Also on the council, but not elected, is the town constable, Harrison Gage, another former soldier who served with Councilman Aldrich in the Sixth Legion.

For travelers, there are three main Inns – The Lord’s Inn, the Eastgate Inn, and the Silver Fork. The Silver Fork is by all accounts the nicest and most expensive. There are many taverns throughout the city, some linked to gambling houses and other dens of ill repute.

Weir Valley

The Weir Valley lies between two major political foes – the Holy Amaran Empire to the east and the Kingdom (or Kingdoms, depending on whom you ask) of Rone to the west. Technically a province of Amara, it is the crossroads of any travel between the two lands as it is the only pass in the towering Greer mountains.

Twenty years ago, the lowlands of Rone were firmly in the control of Emperor Augustus IV of Amara when a rebellion cost the Empire many of its best legions. Abram Kiros, the High King of Rone, led the rebellion and crushed the retreating Imperial Legions in sight of Shadow Gap, the western pass leading into the vale. No Imperial Army has marched past the fortress at Shadow Gap since that fateful day.

The defeat impacted the Empire in many ways. The path to the Shattered Sea was now cut off, isolating provincial troops throughout the region. The provincial governments fell one by one and the Free Cities were formed as a result. The Empire had never been defeated on the field before that point, causing many to question the leadership of Emperor Augustus and whether or not he had been abandoned by God. The financial impact was devastating, sending the Empire into a depression they are just now recovering from.

Besides the Fortress at Shadow Gap and the matching one, Silvergate, at the eastern pass, there is only one settlement of note within the valley. Silverford, the largest town and capital of the valley, sits astride the Silver River in the middle of the valley. The river itself flows north, from Darkwood Falls at the south end of the valley to the Crack at the north, where the river becomes wild and erratic in dangerous rapids as it twists through a canyon down towards the coast of Rone.

Other than Silverford, there are two smaller fords across the river. Ramford in the north valley gets its name from the primary purpose of the route – moving herds of the well known and expensive Weiran Blacks, sheep from which the valley gets much of its income. In the south is Applecross, a ford in the rich and fertile orchards. Both fords have small villages at the banks to take advantage of the traffic.

There are also smaller settlements throughout the valley, although none more than a few hundred people. Richland is the land of William Fletcher, the wealthiest man in Weir Valley. His farmlands and orchards provide him with his ample wealth. Sawyer’s Mill is a forestry town on the edge of Northwood Forest. Cameron Hill is the westernmost settlement in the valley and has a larger than average Ronish population. Darkwood Falls is near the forest and waterfall it is named for in the south. Finally, Harlot is a little mining town in the northeast that works the last major silver mine in the valley.

Play by Post

I'm starting a play-by-post game with several people soon to go through some setting and rules stuff. I plan on keeping it updated here as we progress.

Snapback

I've figured out a simple system for snapback, something Brant has always liked about the magic. I won't go into too many details now (tweaking), but I like it a lot and it should add some flavor to the magic. It's very simple.

Back home

I'm back from Origins. Much fun was had by all and I got a lot of work done on Esaene. I'll need to collect my thoughts a bit before posting any of it, but things are looking up.

Origins

I'm here in Columbus for Origins. I'll be at the BayonetGames booth - we're sharing it with Lock & Load.

Origins

Brant and I will be at Origins this year, although I don't think we have anything specifically to show. We will spend the time getting some of this game stuff sorted out. Having several days to only work on this will help a lot.

Some thoughts on classes

Looking at what Chris has developed, I'm seeing a lot of tie-in with the original Esaene rules.
To recap: there were only 3 stats: ST, SK, IQ. What I didn't do as well as Chris was balance the classes like he has.

ST: combat-heavy warriors
SK: dextrous and nimble rogues
IQ: smart guys (like wizards)

In between these, there are
ST-SK: Ranger
ST-IQ: Mageknight
SK-IQ: not sure, but bears watching for development...

I'm intrigued to see how the wizard/sorceror dichotomy shakes out, too.

Esaene outline (working)

I'm still brainstorming this and it is subject to much change...
I think each release should be focused on an adventure and have it include the supplementary information along with it. Have an adventure in the Riverlands, the Pellinans, the heart of Amara or the highlands of Rone.

Esaene primer

1. Introduction


2. Races
   
   1. All characters are human
      
   2. Certain feats represent bloodlines (half-elves, etc.)
      
   3. Regional benefits are granted to different groups of people (cultures, etc.)
      
   4. Many cultural groups will be detailed in separate regional books.
   
   
3. Classes
   
   1. Fighter
      
   2. Mageknight
      
   3. Ranger
      
   4. Rogue
      
   5. Sorcerer
      
   6. Wanderer
      
   7. Wizard
   
   
4. Skills
   
   1. Skill updates
      
      1. Language
         
      2. Profession
         
      3. Spellcraft
      
      
   2. Changes
      
      1. Remove Use Magic Device
         
      2. Remove Magical Skills from EoM - Dispel Magic, Divination, Scry
   
   
5. Feats
   
   1. Magical feat changes
      
   2. Magical traditions
      
   3. Combat style trees
      
   4. General changes
   
   
6. Magic
   
   1. Elements of Magic revised
      
   2. Changes to base system
   
   
7. Starting region for base game

Regional Book

1. Introduction
   
   1. Overview
      
   2. Map
      
   3. Politics
      
   4. Religion
      
   5. History
      
   6. Organizations
      
   7. Adventure hooks/seeds
   
   
2. Races
   
   1. Regional Feats
      
   2. Languages available
      
   3. Physical characteristics
      
   4. Religion/Faith
      
   5. Benefits/Drawbacks
      
   6. Magical Traditions
      
   7. Standard and exotic weapons/equipment
      
   8. Preferred and restricted classes/traditions
   
   
3. Focal point write up
   
   1. Location description & statistics
      
   2. Important characters
      
   3. Full adventure in setting

A question of criticals

This is something I have been wrestling with for months, if not years...

Is it better to have a static percentage chance of a critical (a natural 20 is a 5% chance to threaten, regardless of who the attacker is) or make it a matter of degree? For example, if a target's base armor class without modifier is 10, a natural 20 is beating the target by an additional 10 (10 will hit on the nose, as will 11-20).

So a rapier, normally a 18-20 threat range, would threaten/critical on a +8 (getting a result of 18 or better against an AC 10). Of course, at low levels critical hits would be less common as armor class often outstrips attack bonus. At high levels, however, this would reverse itself. It would probably require a defense bonus to mitigate it a bit, so high level opponents squaring off don't just crit each other to death. I'll have to run the numbers, I think.

On the positive, certain maneuvers (like feint, trip, etc.) designed to make your opponent temporarily vulnerable would have a very real impact on combat. Feinting an opponent to make him flat footed against your next strike could very well end the combat. A trip attack puts a target in a very vulnerable position, making a wolf pack a very real and deadly threat.

Classes

Well, I have all but finalized the classes. Minor tweaks still remain, but this is the current list*: Fighter, Mageknight, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Wanderer, Wizard.

Fighters will handle all of the combat-intensive work and can be customized quite a bit - they get a feat or ability every level toward this end. They are the only class with the full attack bonus. Fighters have a hit die value of 1d12.

Mageknights, Rangers, Rogues, and Wanderers all have a 3/4 attack bonus and different specializations. Mageknights are obviously spell-casters and their abilities are groomed in that direction. Rangers specialize in the hunting, guiding, and tracking; Rogues are experts in finding, avoiding, and acquiring; while Wanderers are jacks-of-all-trades who are good travelers - a "gypsy" class if you will. These classes all have a hit die value of 1d8.

Sorcerers and Wizards are opposite sides of the same coin - 1/2 attack bonus, full magic, with their own strengths and weaknesses. Sorcerers have a greater breadth of power whereas Wizards are much more focused and have a more classical "wizard" feel to them. I really like the differences and unique feel to both. These two both have a hit die value of 1d4.

All classes have starting abilities - class features they only gain if they start as a class. This consists of all weapon and armor proficiencies, as well as initial saving throw bonuses. Technically, the initial burst of skill points is also part of this, but it isn't listed that way.

* I may add a "noble/leader" class, but that has not been finalized.

The game goes on

Session two of our game was last night - it brought us through Act 2 (of 3) of the first adventure. The group has done well and they all advanced to level 2 after resting at a safe house in the city (a temple). In the process of all of this I have made adjustments to the magical skills (combining the Scry and Divination skills into a Divine spell list; moving Dispel Magic to spellcraft). I'm also in the process of creating my first tradition.

In the adventure, the main NPC the party interacts with is a cleric/fighter called Torrent. I have made her a level 2 mageknight instead and I started creating a magical tradition to encompass her faith. This will be the first in, I hope, many of such traditions.

It's tentatively named the Order of the Blue Circle - a religious order devoted to a god/goddess protecting travelers. They will have certain restrictions on which spell lists they can take first and they will have some bonuses to certain types of magic. The faith began around water magic, so I think I'm going to require followers of the faith to make 3 of their first 6 spell lists water-based or air-based and give them a +1 MP limit on air/gen and water/gen spells.

Sympathy

Sympathy
You can use items of your foes to enhance your spells.

Benefit: When casting a spell that targets a single creature and grants a saving throw, the DC to resist is increased by +2 if you possess an effigy – an item of physical, emotional, or spiritual significance to your target. If you possess a body part of the target, the DC is increased by +5.

If part of a ritual, possessing an effigy will give the caster a +4 bonus to the caster level check. A body part will give a +10 bonus. If you use this ability, the target is always considered unwilling, so it must attempt a save to resist, even if the spell is normally harmless.

Any effect on the target will affect the effigy or body part. For many spells, this will do nothing; evocations will often destroy the focus.

Game update

I have started a game using some of my new rules, although I am starting out very slowly on that front. I plan to introduce rules one at a time in order to not inundate the players with changes. I'm running an existing campaign (WotBS), although I have changed the place names to protect the innocent (or guilty).

Rich is playing Cyrus, a fighter. He was nearly killed by a mercenary and later made a rousing speech to inspire the citizenry in a time of crisis, organizing a bucket brigade to put out a burning building and generally acted heroically.
Scott is playing Nabron, a sorcerer. He is cowardly and self-serving, thinking only of his immediate goals.
Brian C is playing Arwin, a rogue with some fey blood. He heroically saved a woman from a burning building by scaling the wall and carrying her down from the fourth story.
Brian D was absent, but is playing a yet to be seen MageKnight.

I have changed the classes slightly, added a few feats, and changed the magic system to Elements of Magic (Revised) along with the existing errata and Lyceum Arcana.

Current Classes:

• Fighter (slight modification by adding combat styles at odd levels)
• Rogue (more akin to the Thief from Conan)
• Sorcerer (Mage from EoM)
• Wizard (Arcanist from LA)
• Taskmage (EoM)
• Mageknight (EoM)

Future Classes (tentative):

• Hunter/Ranger (non-magic)
• Expert

Class Mechanic Change: All classes have "Starting abilities" and "Class features". Some class features are only gained when you start as a class. This includes weapon/armor proficiencies, some first level abilities, and any initial saving throw bonus. This prevents picking up a single level of a class just to get a special ability and never going back. You have to invest to get something back from anything.

Classes

I always feel that I'm getting too far ahead of myself and need to slow down in some of the changes I make. I know they're good, but it's too much to do at once and I somehow get lost in the shuffle. I have decided to take a more iterative approach in the time being, especially with the lack of time I have.

I want to start with the base SRD classes and work from there. Since I'm using Elements of Magic as my base magic system, I'll also throw in the three classes from there as well.

• Barbarian - Just a flavor of fighter. Can safely be eliminated as long as class abilities are rolled up into ability trees.
• Bard - Tradition of spellcaster.
• Cleric - Tradition of spellcaster.
• Druid - Tradition of spellcaster.
• Fighter - Standard
• Mage - Standard
• Mageknight - Standard?
• Monk - Flavor of fighter. I've never been a fan of this class.
• Paladin - Mageknight variant?
• Ranger - Fighter-light?
• Rogue - Standard
• Sorcerer - Mage
• Taskmage - Standard
• Wizard - Replaced by Mage

When broken down, this leaves:

• Fighter - includes Barbarian, maybe some Monk stuff
• Mage - Magic heavy
• Mageknight - Fighter/mage
• Ranger - Essentially a fighter/rogue hybrid
• Rogue - Skill heavy
• Taskmage - Rogue/mage or skilled mage

I would like to get down to a good core of classes that covers all of the basics and allows a player to play just about anything. I may just start with the basics big groups and go from there.

Weapons updated

Weapons will be given a base damage and the attack roll will determine the amount of extra. Base damage equals a static number + size modifier, the static number based on medium damage. To determine the base, divide max damage by 4 and round up. This is all computed beforehand so no one has to do it on the fly.

d2 +1
d3 +1
d4 +1
d6 +2
2d4, d8 +2
d10 +3
2d6, d12 +3

Damage, as previous stated, is determined by degree of success. Melee is base attack + strength mod + other bonuses. Because of this, you don't add strength into the base weapon damage - it's already accounted for. The other things to modify are threat range and critical.

Critical is a bonus to wound damage on any critical hit. Multiply the critical multiplier by the weapon's base damage, adding one to the base for each extra threat range. A rapier (1d6, 18-20/x2) has a base damage of 2 and a critical value of 8 (base 2 + 2 for the added threat range, multiplied by 2 for criticals). Whenever someone rolls a critical hit with a rapier, add 8 points to the damage for wounds only. This value scales with base damage for size.

Range is actually a factor of strength, whether it be muscle or mechanical. The standard range increment is assuming a average strength. The base is 10 x some modifier; Add the strength modifier to the base 10 and remultiply. See below for examples. Mechanical weapons are slightly different and will be covered later.

Crossbows have a default mechanical strength. Heavy crossbows have a strength of 14, which is the strength needed to crank them (either manually or by winch). This affects criticals and range respectively. Light crossbows have a strength of 10; the range of a light crossbow will be adjusted accordingly.

Bows have an inherent strength value. If a character (using two hands) has a lower bonus than the bow's strength, they suffer a penalty to hit and range. The strength of a longbow is 10 (+0), whereas a composite longbow has a strength 12 (+1), increasing the range. Composite bows with increased pull will increase the range as appropriate. A composite longbow with a Strength 18 (+4) will have a range increment of 140 (10+4)x10. Of course, someone with a 10 strength would suffer a -4 penalty when using it and would not be able to string it at all. You need to be able to match the bonus with two hands in order to string a bow. When using a bow that has a draw greater than you can pull, the range defaults to your strength and you take a penalty to the difference.