Quote from: One Horse TownThe Claw skill RCO explanation didn't communicate what i was aiming for correctly. Here is the cleaned up version.

Claw (Physique)

(RCO) Rend: If you gain 2 successes in a Reflexive Claw test in 2 successive rounds and the subsequent attack in each of those 2 rounds is successful, then the attack on the 2nd round causes 2 extra points of health damage and ignores up to 2 points of nominated armour.

Still a bit muddled, Dan. How about:

RCO (Rend) When making Reflexive Claw attacks, it it possible to get a powerful secondary rending attack bonus. If you succeed at a Reflexive Claw attack in two consecutive rounds, the attack in the second round causes 2 extra points of health damage and ignores up to 2 points of nominated armour.

Is that better?

-clash

You're right, it still isn't clear. Neither are the other weapon entries, i've just noticed. The reflexive action part is meant to augment the attack, not take its place. So using the weapon RCO uses up both your reflexive action for the round and your standard action (the actual attack). Just as using your reflexive action to dodge or use the RCO of another skill you have will mean that you cannot use your weapon RCO in that round. Only 1 reflexive action of any type during the round.

Re-writing.

Oh noes! Sean, if you're watching, this is the fuck-up you've been waiting for!

Let me just say this:
I am glad that you are back at working on Stone Horizons.

Quote from: Dirk RemmeckeLet me just say this:
I am glad that you are back at working on Stone Horizons.

Thanks! Just needed to re-charge the batteries, get a fresh perspective and get the old grey matter working again.

Edit: BTW clash, i've mailed you some thoughts on how to take this forward.

Quote from: One Horse TownThanks! Just needed to re-charge the batteries, get a fresh perspective and get the old grey matter working again.

Edit: BTW clash, i've mailed you some thoughts on how to take this forward.

Replied!

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceReplied!

-clash

As Ash would say, "Groovy!" :cool:

Details of a feature that few in the castle dare talk about, brought to you by the heretical Technician, Flashpan.

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93 Cremation Houses

The body didn't look that fearsome, considering the fear and damage the corpse had inflicted in life. Flashpan was finished with the preparations of the ovens, all he had to do was lay the corpse on the trolley and wheel it in. As he transferred the cadaver, Flashpan couldn't believe how warm the lifeless hunk was. Perhaps there had been a mistake and this monster still lived? Breath rattling between clenched teeth; he quieted himself – working here tended to get under your skin after a while. Confident once more, he closed the oven doors and started stoking the fires until the flames licked at the small glass window. He sat down on his stool and took out the pie that his wife had made him. Looking it over, he sighed; burnt offerings again.

A noise from the oven made him start. It was a loud thump. Perhaps the body had burnt partway through and had fallen off the trolley? It happened. It was annoying too; he would have to start again. Peering through the glass, all he could see was the enveloping flames. Then, from out of no-where, a grinning visage, haloed by a mass of burning hair pressed itself against the window. Flashpan stumbled backwards, his heart threatening to leap from his chest. But he was dead! Smoking Jack was dead!

The walking, burning corpse in the oven did not believe him. The handle turned slowly and the door swung open ponderously. The blast of air from the oven removed any hair that Flashpan had left and then the corpse was upon him.

"Fire is good," it gloated. "Fire can't harm me!" Laughing, Smoking Jack clicked his fingers and the whole cremation house went up in a conflagration to end all others.  

Player Character Information
Stat Mods: +1 Bearing
Skills: Hygiene 3, Portage 2, Craft (urns) 2, Lores (funerary) 1
Special Abilities: Cool 3, Heat Resistance 2
Status: 0

Description

There are some places that even the most disreputable avoid at all costs. Cremation Houses are one of those places – ironic since everyone who cannot afford being embalmed and placed in a crypt, end up there eventually. The pressure that the castle places upon its inhabitants means that every piece of real estate is of importance, subsequently, very little of that real estate is kept aside for the burial of the dead. Instead, the cremation houses get rid of the troublesome remains and everyone is happy. Well, everyone who doesn't have one in the local area that is. Resembling a working scullery, minus the food, and an industrial complex without the industry, the smoke-blackened chimneys of these grim edifices send their charges remains into the air. In times of disease, a pall of smoke can hang over the immediate area and a loathsome scent, not unlike cooking bacon, wafts on the breeze. It's even worse in totally enclosed spaces or underground. Luckily, the cunning ducts crafted into the masonry of the castle at least mean that people don't choke on their loved ones.

The interior is as grim as one would expect, with cadavers awaiting cremation laid in a line on rickety metal trolleys. The ovens dominate the interior, however, and are huge affairs that you could drive a horse and carriage through. Superstitious folk never look directly into the oven – you know, just in case.

A Day in the Life

Cremation technicians (as they are called in the hope that some of the social stigma is removed) are a resigned lot. Generally ostracized by their communities, these dour men and women usually have no choice but to bed down in their place of work. The phrase 'down among the dead men' was originally coined at the expense of an unlucky cremation technician. Those lucky enough to have relatives, who will take them, still live outside. These are rare, however, and most technicians end up sleeping on an unoccupied trolley.

Technicians work a standard day, which is a better deal than many other castle residents. First thing in the morning they start with the grim job of cleaning any new corpses that arrived during the night. The afternoon is normally spent in crafting small urns for those who paid extra to have a memento of their loved one. Finally, in the early evening, the corpses are sacrificed to the flames and once this is done, the rest of the day is the technicians own. Of course, if he is restricted to the cremation house, then there's little that he can do in his increased spare time but indulge in the obsessive hygiene regimen that seems to occupy most of them. Any distraction is welcome, however.

Local Area

There are no special instructions for this feature.

GM Information – Problems, Politics & NPCs

All Cremation Houses suffer from the Ostracized entry found in the Politics table (see Problems & Politics). Roll randomly for another problem and implement both results.

Something i wrote a while ago for the Architects book. The first of 70 special features that can crop up in a fantasy/sci-fi game.

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01-02Levitation Shafts

The damp air swirled violently around the petrified Hammerjack, plucking at the miner's clothing with insistent hands. His innards shrank within his body as a peculiar tugging sensation radiated from deep inside. With wild eyes, he saw the ground retreat as he floated serenely upwards towards the small aperture high above his head. Exultation quickly replaced the brief feeling of nausea as he floated upwards on unseen winds. He caressed the small brass disk attached to his cloak reverentially - satisfied that he had divined its use properly.

Description: These shafts are invariably found in huge towers or descending into the bowels of the earth. They come in all shapes and sizes, from cylindrical shafts ascending forty feet to hexagonal shafts that run unbroken for miles. Where it is practical, these shafts normally have 'landings' that can be stepped upon when a new level is reached, allowing egress to other areas, however mastery over the Levitation Shaft's mechanics and the accompanying Disk is required to control this function. At each landing are a number of stone protrusions that are manipulated in order to use the levitation effect and select the landing that you wish to levitate to. Levitation Discs are needed to properly manipulate these controls.

The shaft may be constructed of dark obsidian, shiny quartz, sandstone or even wood - some are almost mosaic like in their construction, whilst others are framed only in huge blocks of dressed stone. Other than egresses to other areas, Levitation Shafts do not contain any other openings. Because of this, some of them are stiflingly hot, impenetrably dark or sink holes for noxious fumes and other hazards. Vermin or bandits sometimes beset communities that contain a Levitation Shaft, however, areas containing one can also be rather more wealthy and cosmopolitan than others, as travel between features is easier. There are also likely to be fewer sets of stairs or trap doors leading to other levels in an area that contains a Levitation Shaft.

Utility: These shafts were built to allow easy travel to other areas of the castle that either lay many levels above, or below, the traveller. They vary greatly in usage. Certain shafts can only be utilised by a set number of people, whilst others only accept those people who are nominated to use it. Maybe it only levitates a certain item, race, or type of person and does not work for anything else. A shaft that only works for angry scholars would be very different in utility to one that allows anything carrying a disk to use the shaft. Discovery of a Levitation Shaft is only the beginning. Those who discovered it will need to uncover how to unlock its power, any conditions for its use and what exactly it is able to transport. Who knows? Maybe it only works for the mysterious Architects.

Artefacts: In order to use a Levitation Shaft, the user must be carrying a specially crafted Levitation Disc. These discs are sometimes found in forgotten halls or grottos within the Stone Horizons. They are generally covered in arcane script (although they may be totally unadorned) and come in a variety of materials, from brass to shale to cork to gold. How these discs interact with the shafts is not known. Finding a disc should result in an investigation into their use. Even if their use is uncovered, where is the shaft that utilises it?

Plots & Ideas: Unwritten.

Artefact Mastery

Disc:
Decode writings: 1 success – determines the usage of the disc.
Determine name of Levitation Shaft: 2 successes – learn the name of the shaft that the disc is attuned to. Not necessarily its location.
Decode preconditions: 2 successes - tells of any preconditions for use (IE only allows sheep to use the disc).
Disc activation: 2 successes – allows use of attuned shaft with disc once all preconditions have been divined.
Disc manipulation: 3 successes – allows user to choose which landing to stop at.

Levitation Shaft Control panel:
Program protrusions: 4 successes – can change the coding of the shaft using the controls at each landing. This can change speed of levitation and which items accompanying discs can use. Failure could wreck the mechanism or scramble the controls, with strange effects.

I've changed each feature entry to better reflect its place in the castle and to differentiate what can be bought there and what is a service offered by that feature. Along with the flavour text, description & the day in the life sections, this should give readers a pretty good idea of what each feature is about (even if the name doesn't give it away!)

Instead of this sort of thing:

Scullery feature

Scullery Accoutrements: A hearty meal (an evenings work or 2 pennies), Crockery (2 bits), Knives & cleavers (5 bits), aprons and work clothes (1 bit), 1 day of preserved foods (5 pennies), vermin poisons, lesser (3 bits), baskets & packs (1 bit), heat resistant gloves (1 bit), 1 days supply of chopped wood (3 pennies), coals, bag (1 bit), heat stone, 10% chance, see special features (20 crowns), mesh gloves, butchery (4 bits)


I now have this sort of thing for each feature:

Bath Houses feature

Goods: Cologne (5 bits per bottle), Towels (6 pennies each), Buckets (1 bit each), Comb (2 pennies each), coals, bag (1 bit per bag),

Services: Hot bath (1 bit), Massage (3 bits), Attendant (5 pennies), Grooming (1 bit),

As always, design tighter than a duck's bum.

Quote from: Rob LangAs always, design tighter than a duck's bum.

Thanks! I was aiming for tighter than a penguin's chuff, but i'm happy enough with a duck's bum.

I'm also adding a new General Skill: Craft (feature)

Given the logistics of moving stuff through the castle and buying stuff in from far off (well, a few miles anyway) climes, i figure that inhabitants of each feature of the castle has the opportunity to learn how to make items that are central to the purpose of that feature. Therefore, taking the Craft (feature) skill gives you the skill needed to craft any of the items that are availible in the Goods entry of your feature.

Merchants and travellers still peddal goods from features that are removed from you local area.

Quote from: Rob LangAs always, design tighter than a duck's bum.

I refuse to ask how you know how tight a duck's bum is, Rob...

-clash

Quote from: One Horse TownThanks! I was aiming for tighter than a penguin's chuff, but i'm happy enough with a duck's bum.

I'm also adding a new General Skill: Craft (feature)

Given the logistics of moving stuff through the castle and buying stuff in from far off (well, a few miles anyway) climes, i figure that inhabitants of each feature of the castle has the opportunity to learn how to make items that are central to the purpose of that feature. Therefore, taking the Craft (feature) skill gives you the skill needed to craft any of the items that are availible in the Goods entry of your feature.

Merchants and travellers still peddal goods from features that are removed from you local area.

Sweet!

-clash

I'm re-jigging some skills & special abilities actually. Some special abilities will now be general skills. Also, general skills are being removed from the character information section in each feature entry. Each entry will now give you feature specific skills and you buy general skills such as Spot, Haggle etc afterwards. Probably 6 points for buying general skills instead of 3, with a maximum skill rating of 3. Where a general skill is vital to a feature, then the special ability you get will reflect your expertise.

55Gargoyle Halls

Deep in the bowels of the mountain, old halls sit forgotten in dust and darkness. No human footfall has disturbed these halls for hundreds of years. They are not empty, however. In the glow from the lava flow that frames one side of these halls can be seen line upon line of hideous statues. Imps, demons, tiny dragons and hoary animals of a dozen forgotten species sit on obsidian plinths. Jewelled eyes stare indifferently from these carvings – twinkling with reflected light.

If ever a traveller once more found these ancient delves, he could be forgiven in thinking that these rows of sentinels lived. If he resisted the urge to flee the crushing heat, the twitching shadows and crack of stone, he would be in no doubt. His screams would be short and his eyes would only briefly glimpse the majesty of a hundred statues taking flight and jabbering in a low, rumbling language, before his life was taken from him.