I should point out one thing I came up with which flipped my players out, though it was just a logical extension of something well established, and just they hadn't thought of it. One of the skills of a Warlock - Anchor - is the ability to bind spirits to people, places, and objects. There are two Warlocks in the party, but both thought this was a particularly boring ability. They only use they could come up with for it was to bind a guardian spirit to a treasure.

The group had found a coven of witches, and had managed to bypass the protected route into their inner sanctum by using Arcane Geometry and Mathematics - the Math was to estimate the proper placement of an extraplanar exit into a place they knew must be there but which they had not actually seen. There they saw a bat-winged goat-man attempting to sacrifice the party leader's wife on an altar. They prevented this, and at some cost to themselves killed the goatman - who was very powerful. During the struggle, the servant of one of the party's Warlocks - who was a Ghost Cloathed in Flesh by the Warlock - loosed his Fear which affected all of the coven except the goat-man, as well as several party members.

As they started to concentrate on the rest of the coven, one of the coven turned into the goat-man and attacked them again. One of the party - a Templar - realized that someone was doing this who was not of the coven, because they were all incapacitated by Fear. Using her Alertness Skill, and her particular personality traits, she scanned the room for something odd, and noticed that a large, ancient tapestry of a knight seemed to be watching the conflict. Using all of her available bonuses, she sent two arrows at the tapestry, one at each eye. The arrows sunk deep into the tapestry and blood poured from each eye. After that goat-man was dispatched, no more appeared.

After discussing it, and questioning the surviving coven members, they came to the conclusion that a dying Warlock had Anchored his own soul to the tapestry, and was using it to be effectively immortal and to control the coven. It was he who had Anchored the Goat-man spirit to certain members of the Coven, and Commanded that spirit to direct the activities of the coven.

The group came to a new appreciation of the Anchor skill that day.

-clash

Clash,
Nice description.  I wonder how many sessions led up to that bit.  
How many servant's can the Warlock's have?
Binding spirits is something that is done quite a bit with my setting, albiet only by NPC's at this point.  I have this thing called a Bone Golem which the players ahve dealt with (run away from) a few times.

Quote from: LordVreeg;315242Clash,
Nice description.  I wonder how many sessions led up to that bit.  
How many servant's can the Warlock's have?
Binding spirits is something that is done quite a bit with my setting, albiet only by NPC's at this point.  I have this thing called a Bone Golem which the players ahve dealt with (run away from) a few times.

This is the third session in the new year. It started with the group's leader getting married, and the horror that happened there. They have been tracking the culprits down ever since.

The Warlock's MAG rating is the number of effects he can keep simultaneously operating. Binding a spirit binds the MAG point. Freeing the spirit frees the MAG point. The stronger the Warlock, the more things he can keep in effect. The more skilled the Warlock, the greater the effect. This holds true for most of the magic using Paths.

The Bone Golem sounds very cool! How does it work?

-clash

Can you give us a percentage point that indicates how close HMAS is to completion?

Or is it still very much a project in the works?

Quote from: JohnnyWannabe;315283Can you give us a percentage point that indicates how close HMAS is to completion?

Or is it still very much a project in the works?

It's 90% ready to go to beta test. I just have to finish the professions and background skills.

Then I have to write background info, a description of the British Isles - geographically and politically, a Bestiary - with a section on fairies, a timeline, some general fluff, some examples, and do the rest of the illos. By the time I'm done, the beta test should be over and I can roll those results into the main body. My guess on release is October-November.

-clash

Well, I sent the current document over to Rich last night. I also need to do more equipment for it. As of now, the only thing I have listed is weapons. My players have been pulling pieces of equipment out of my other games - Sweet Chariot, Blood Games, Book of Jalan - and I've been allowing or disallowing them on a case-by-case-basis. I need to cover housing, food, clothing, entertainment, drink, transportation, and armor. The Elizabethans were very modern is many ways - that list would cover most of what I would do for a modern day game.

The science of making firearms has progressed very far in a short while. By the time Elizabeth's reign end, the first flintlocks will be available. Right now (my game is set in 1560) effective but complex wheellocks are available, as are the old matchlocks. Armor is still worn, but it is increasingly ceremonial. Armor used in battle is now "proofed" for bullets, and is mostly limited to breastplates and helmets - much like a current soldier's armor. Outside of guards, no one wears armor every day. The most common - and fairly effective - armor is the "Buff Coat" - a thick leather jacket designed to deter blades, but ineffective against bullets.

Interesting stuff!

-clash

Some other things I have to cover - servants! This would cover any people who provide services for you - clerks, maids, prostitutes, stewards, butlers, grooms, maids, body-servants, lackeys, henchmen - whether low or high. A wealthy man or woman always traveled with a retinue of people. That is *really* important!

-clash

Quote from: flyingmice;315416maids [...] maids

...and not to forget the most important point, MAIDS!

While it's certainly important to point out the day-to-day necessity of large flocks of servants in certain circles (I just have think of those literally baroque dresses, into which women got actually sewed as just a part of the hours long prep...), I hope that adventure-relevant uses get also covered.
After all, a large flock of uniformly dressed stooges is an easy, inconspicuous cover for a spy. And even an untrained maid benefits from being seen as staffage when she performs light shadowing tasks, whether on the streets of the capital or in the halls of the kingly court.

Quote from: Skyrock;315453...and not to forget the most important point, MAIDS!

Maids, useful for so many things...

QuoteWhile it's certainly important to point out the day-to-day necessity of large flocks of servants in certain circles (I just have think of those literally baroque dresses, into which women got actually sewed as just a part of the hours long prep...), I hope that adventure-relevant uses get also covered.
After all, a large flock of uniformly dressed stooges is an easy, inconspicuous cover for a spy. And even an untrained maid benefits from being seen as staffage when she performs light shadowing tasks, whether on the streets of the capital or in the halls of the kingly court.

A very good point! Servants tend to be all but invisible in this culture and time. Thanks, Skyrock! I'll have to remember to point that out!

-clash

Well, I worked up a good equipment list last night, including servants. The clothing was especially interesting - men and women's clothing was equally beautiful and intricate. Elizabethans never saw a bit of surface that they didn't embellish. It's in a weird mid-state between the medieval and modern. It's certainly going to be very odd for many players, who are used to being grubby and not paying much attention to clothing. I suggest anyone playing in this era should watch the Tudors. Though it's a generation earlier, and styles have changed, the concept is there - You can tell a person's importance by the beauty of the clothing.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmice;315607Well, I worked up a good equipment list last night, including servants. The clothing was especially interesting - men and women's clothing was equally beautiful and intricate. Elizabethans never saw a bit of surface that they didn't embellish. It's in a weird mid-state between the medieval and modern. It's certainly going to be very odd for many players, who are used to being grubby and not paying much attention to clothing. I suggest anyone playing in this era should watch the Tudors. Though it's a generation earlier, and styles have changed, the concept is there - You can tell a person's importance by the beauty of the clothing.

-clash

Hee hee. I always found it initially difficult to get players to understand the importance of presentation in "period" games, especially where the nobility is concerned. It was very much a surface world. Once they embraced the concept, however, many became zealots and sticklers for detail. You might want to weigh in with a bit on etiquette, etc. The PCs are, after all, working on behalf of HM.

Quote from: JohnnyWannabe;315631Hee hee. I always found it initially difficult to get players to understand the importance of presentation in "period" games, especially where the nobility is concerned. It was very much a surface world. Once they embraced the concept, however, many became zealots and sticklers for detail. You might want to weigh in with a bit on etiquette, etc. The PCs are, after all, working on behalf of HM.

Yeah - my guys (New England unisex expression) are all totally into it. They complained that there was nothing in the equipment section immediately, even though they know as playtesters that I just hadn't got to it yet. It's important - very important -  to look as good as you can afford in this game. I am going to adapt a concept from StarCluster here - in SC, you can buy "clothing" (defined as typical for your culture) or you can buy "expensive clothing" which gives you bonuses to your CHAR. In OHMAS, I'm going to detail the clothing  used - it's got too much flavor for the bland "clothing" label I had to use in SC, with its hundreds of cultures - but you will get bonuses to your CHAR depending on how much you spend for it.

-clash

The whole equipment section in one evening? That's an impressive pace, even if most of it is quick&dirty transplanted from other SC games.

Quote from: Skyrock;315693The whole equipment section in one evening? That's an impressive pace, even if most of it is quick&dirty transplanted from other SC games.

I was saying....

Clash, what type of magic in your system makes a person seem more important or of a higher social class?  Or the opposite?

Quote from: LordVreeg;315733I was saying....

Clash, what type of magic in your system makes a person seem more important or of a higher social class?  Or the opposite?

Glammer. It's a type of fairy magic. It makes anything seem better than it is.



-clash