Rules 3.0 Published

[iraham]

The 3.0 Rules will be available for pickup at the next event.

I will have photocopies available of the rule set at the next event. However if you want a more pocket sized edition you can buy it either online, or from me directly at the next event ($20 for a copy either way).

If you are impatient and want to order your own go here: http://www.lulu.com/content/4540899

Otherwise I'll have them at game!

-Ira

[Miniver]

Hah hah, I like the back cover! So are these the definitive final rules that have already undergone final plot review?

[iraham]

They have completed my review, they are at the printer.

[Misha]

They have completed my review, they are at the printer.

...so I shouldn't point out any types... ?

[iraham]

You can, but the printed copies will not have those changes.

[Bint]

They have completed my review, they are at the printer.

...so I shouldn't point out any types... ?

It's "Magic Epislon" isn't it? T_T

I hope to god that's the only one in there.

[RobMcDiarmid]

Typos add are like pepper. A little bit of them adds some flavor.

Way too much of them ruins the dish.

The rulebook only has a little bit.

If you want to see a ruined rulebook, I'll dig out my copy of the first edition printing of the Noir RPG. There are mistakes on pretty much every single page of the entire book. Except that very few (possibly none) of them are actual spelling mistakes. It looks like they ran the document through an low quality (it was early 90s) automatic spellcheck and hit "Accept All". Even though I was an English major at the time and am currently a professional technical writer, I try not to be a grammar nazi. This is one of the few texts that I ever found to be painful to read. Which is sad, because the content was brilliant.

[Miniver]

Even though I was an English major at the time

It must have been quite a rulebook to get you kicked out of the program! ;p

I keed, I keed, I've never known an English major who was gud at spelin!

[iraham]

The spelling error Emily is referring to is no longer a spelling error. It is now classified as a feature.

We have invented a new word.

All those tremble in fear of our mighty spell names.

It's fantasy, I can do this stuff...

[Misha]

It's fantasy, I can do this stuff...

For some people it's more fantasy than for others...


* if this post offends you then you ARE my intended target

[FaerellG]

The spelling error Emily is referring to is no longer a spelling error. It is not classified as a feature.

We have invented a new word.

All those tremble in fear of our mighty spell names.

It's fantasy, I can do this stuff...

It's not a bug, it's a feature.

[Nyteknight]

Even though I was an English major at the time and am currently a professional technical writer, I try not to be a grammar nazi. This is one of the few texts that I ever found to be painful to read. Which is sad, because the content was brilliant.

Try reading one of my students' semester projects....after a while you stop noticing the mistakes and your mind somehow processes the whole mess into something understandable. Its kinda like reading Sanskrit for hours and all of a sudden you comprehend the whole thing even though its completely unreadable.

[Silentwolf]

The rules look really solid, and I don’t believe I have any changes in mind outside of typos. However, could I get just a few rules *clarifications* please…?

In the main rulebook, Enchanting states that it “allows for the creation of magical or divine items” and “Like all crafted items, enchantments require” recipes, materials, and blessings used in the creation process etc., leading me to believe that enchanting is supposed to be similar to the other crafting skills, yet more expensive in SP and money costs (as well as having harder to obtain materials). In the Live Effects Bluebook, it states “Enchanting Recipes use gems as a resource. Gems can only be found in-game and cannot be harvested with any crafting skill.” (I’m going to interpret this last statement as “gathering” instead of “crafting” skill.) However, some of the crafting skills and world tags use the terminology “components” or “materials”.
Question: Are the words “components,” “materials,” and “resources” interchangeable as per their meaning in the rules? It makes sense that they would be, but I would rather not pick up a world tag that says “component in crafting skill XYZ” and have Plot say “sorry, but we use materials in crafting now, and resources in enchanting.”


Also, enchanting states “all items of Q3 or higher can be enchanted.”
Question: Does this mean that armor of Q3 can be enchanted, even though it specifically states in the armor section that one of the special qualities of Q4 armor is being able to be enchanted?

On the subject of gathering skills…“Between games, Plot may allow you to submit a write up that you are using one of your gathering skills.”
Question: If a person has multiple gathering skills (Ex. Hunting rank 2 and Mining rank 2), can they use all of them between games to gather, or can they only use one gathering skill per game?

I would like to reiterate a point I made on the Rules J thread:

Reinforce, page 38 – This spell “Allows you to develop a spell that grants +1 to a skill or statistic.” I’d like some examples if that’s okay. Since there are no magical components for General skills, Weapon skills, Armor skills, Gathering skills, Crafting skills, or Magic or Divine skills, it seems that this component does not, in fact, allow you to develop a spell that grants +1 to a skill or statistic. Was the intention for players to Research additional magic components?

All I’m asking for is an example of how this component is supposed to work.

So it seems like you can resist Aura effects with a resist magic, but is it possible to use a resist magic on a reflect spell?
Question: Does the entire attack get converted to a magical spell because it is “being combined” with reflect, or does the magic of the reflect spell only affect the user of the spell, with the attack being reflected needing to be resolved as if the caster of reflect had struck the attacker?

Under Ritual magic: Participant modifiers, we have the bonus for “Every rank of 8 or above in any magic school (not including Focus) or in Divine.” I’m interpreting “Focus” as Form, but my main question is two parts:
Question 1): Is it +1 for each rank 8 or above, as in +2 for rank 9, +3 for rank 10, or just +1 per school that is 8 or higher?

Also, I’m also not sure on how it applies to Divine with the multiple trees.
Question 2) Is it +1 for having Rank 8 divine in general, or if I have Rank 8 General Blessings, is it +1 for each aspect I have as well (Ex. Having Rank 8 and one tree would total +2 for rank 8 in General Blessings and Rank 8 in the aspect)?
In an extreme case (rank 10 with 4 aspects), assuming +1 per rank 8 or above, and including the bonus from each aspect and the general tree, it would then be +15. If we didn’t include the General tree, and only used the rank in the aspects, it would be +0 (!) for having rank 8 and no aspects, +1 for having Rank 8 and one aspect, and +12 for the maxed divine spec. As a side note, with 4 trees of magic and using the +1 per rank the maximum bonus is +12.

Thank you for your feedback.

[iraham]

Question: Are the words “components,” “materials,” and “resources” interchangeable as per their meaning in the rules? It makes sense that they would be, but I would rather not pick up a world tag that says “component in crafting skill XYZ” and have Plot say “sorry, but we use materials in crafting now, and resources in enchanting.”

By normal definitions in my perspective:
--Components mean magical components, usually from the magical tree. Divine blessings fall under this as well for enchanting purposes. (We should have added 'blessings' to that list).

--Materials - This refers to gathered materials, such as Ash, Wood, and Metal.

--Resources - Refers to other things, such as Water from the sunwell, or raw mana from sweet the magic elemental. It's the 'misc. bucket'.



Also, enchanting states “all items of Q3 or higher can be enchanted.”
Question: Does this mean that armor of Q3 can be enchanted, even though it specifically states in the armor section that one of the special qualities of Q4 armor is being able to be enchanted?

-No, Armor needs to be Q4 or higher because it explicitly states as such. Explicit statements about a specific item trump implicit statements.


On the subject of gathering skills…“Between games, Plot may allow you to submit a write up that you are using one of your gathering skills.”
Question: If a person has multiple gathering skills (Ex. Hunting rank 2 and Mining rank 2), can they use all of them between games to gather, or can they only use one gathering skill per game?


-It says one, therefore one. This was the limiting factor we chose on the amount you can obtain, otherwise you'd become a major resource generator. Without time blocks this is where we are.


Question: Does the entire attack get converted to a magical spell because it is “being combined” with reflect, or does the magic of the reflect spell only affect the user of the spell, with the attack being reflected needing to be resolved as if the caster of reflect had struck the attacker?

-If you have reflect up, and I cast a divine spell on you, you reflect a divine spell back on me. Reflect is not being combined with such a spell, it is performing an action on the spell, similar to how a mirror reflects light. The nature of the light remains unchanged, it just goes in a different direction.


Under Ritual magic: Participant modifiers, we have the bonus for “Every rank of 8 or above in any magic school (not including Focus) or in Divine.” I’m interpreting “Focus” as Form, but my main question is two parts:
Question 1): Is it +1 for each rank 8 or above, as in +2 for rank 9, +3 for rank 10, or just +1 per school that is 8 or higher?

- +1 for each rank above. So each rank of 8 or above you have counts. So if you have Rank 10, that's 3 points since it's 8,9, and 10.


Also, I’m also not sure on how it applies to Divine with the multiple trees.
Question 2) Is it +1 for having Rank 8 divine in general, or if I have Rank 8 General Blessings, is it +1 for each aspect I have as well (Ex. Having Rank 8 and one tree would total +2 for rank 8 in General Blessings and Rank 8 in the aspect)?
In an extreme case (rank 10 with 4 aspects), assuming +1 per rank 8 or above, and including the bonus from each aspect and the general tree, it would then be +15. If we didn’t include the General tree, and only used the rank in the aspects, it would be +0 (!) for having rank 8 and no aspects, +1 for having Rank 8 and one aspect, and +12 for the maxed divine spec. As a side note, with 4 trees of magic and using the +1 per rank the maximum bonus is +12.

- ANy blessing or magic area (except form) that has a Rank number of 8,9, or 10 gives you a +1. So each aspect can give you 2 points (since they have a 8 and 10 component). This can make for some badass stuff.


Reinforce...
First... by default the call is 'Enhance Quality 1' This means if you cast it on an item, such as armor or a weapon it's quality improves by one.

And yes this is designed to encourage research you really want to research with this one.
I expect +1 to other things with enough research. I'll field more questions about this at the game.

[Silentwolf]

Thank you for your timely and extensive reply. However, on my first question...

By normal definitions in my perspective:
--Components mean magical components, usually from the magical tree. Divine blessings fall under this as well for enchanting purposes. (We should have added 'blessings' to that list).

--Materials - This refers to gathered materials, such as Ash, Wood, and Metal.

--Resources - Refers to other things, such as Water from the sunwell, or raw mana from sweet the magic elemental. It's the 'misc. bucket.

The primary reason I bring this up, is because I have several world tags that...let me just quote them.

"Fairy dust - Will turn into any normal component Quality Q 1-3"

"You find an ingot of void element. This can be used to replace any Single Q3 or Q4 component."

Do these Items now do nothing? Or can I turn them into spell components of higher quality...? ::scratches head::

Good to know there is a method in place for limiting gathering materials.

I appreciate the clarification on Ritual magic, it is all very helpful.

Reinforce...
First... by default the call is 'Enhance Quality 1' This means if you cast it on an item, such as armor or a weapon it's quality improves by one.

I'm afraid that this is inconsistent with the current rule set. If I thought the above statement was supposed to be the case I would have brought it up earlier. Currently, Page 37 Alteration, Rank 7 - "Reinforce: Allows you to develop a spell that grants +1 to a skill or statistic. If not combined with other components it grants +1 to a caster's armor." Where in the rules does it state the default call as 'Enhance Quality 1'. Also, if this is intended as an enhance component, does it then stack with Enhance (Rank 5 Alteration) because they are different components?

And yes this is designed to encourage research you really want to research with this one.
I expect +1 to other things with enough research. I'll field more questions about this at the game.

Fair enough, I'll talk with you about it later.

[iraham]

I think it's Ian or Tim who have the revised 3.0 spreadsheet, can they repost it here?

[Salaris]

I have one, but Tim or Ian may have made a better one.

[FaerellG]

I just created a 3.0 spreadsheet for anyone who wishes to use it. Much in the same fashion as the previous ones.

Let me know if there are any changes that need to be made either due to error or aesthetics.
Also, if someone could edit it with comments, that would be helpful.

[Miniver]

I actually don't have a new one (I'm only about 50% updated on my spreadsheet) so these help, thanks!

[iraham]

As soon as I get a final spreadsheet we'll be good to go.