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Raiders of R'lyeh

Started by RPGPundit, May 29, 2013, 08:41:07 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

3rik

How many archetypes will there be and how diverse? My players have a tendency to come up with character concepts that don't fit any of the archetypes, occupations or whatever offered in a game, and it's not because they deliberately try to think up ridiculous stuff.

Can you tell us some more about char gen in general? Are we looking at point-buy, completely random, life-path or some hybrid? Will several methods be provided?
It\'s not Its

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@RPGbericht

RPGPundit

Quote from: Rincewind1;664187To getting it (back) after WW1, of course. The Entente were plans to give some harsh land repercussions to Ottoman Empire after WW1 if I remember correctly, giving Constantinople to Greece or making it some DMZ. If I remember correctly, Greeks even went to war to enforce those claims at some point. Though Attaturk ultimately saved the state with his reformed military and diplomacy miracles.

Speaking as someone who's ancestors were at the front line and sometimes in command of armies dedicated to fighting the Turks for about four centuries, I think its a very good thing that the above didn't happen.  After so much time and with a completely different culture/religion firmly established in Istanbul, it would have been a clusterfuck of epic proportions.

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Quentin Bauer

Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;664278How many archetypes will there be and how diverse? My players have a tendency to come up with character concepts that don't fit any of the archetypes, occupations or whatever offered in a game, and it's not because they deliberately try to think up ridiculous stuff.

Can you tell us some more about char gen in general? Are we looking at point-buy, completely random, life-path or some hybrid? Will several methods be provided?

A key design design goal for the archetypes and skills list is to allow modularity and customization. The initial core of archetypes was doubled after the Pundit's involvement (the number is still fluctuating), but I can say that we have a broad and motley assortment of adventurers, antiheroes, professorial types, gunslingers, smugglers, proper gentlemen, Bohemian outliers, scoundrels, profiteers, spies, grave robbers, occultists and exiled aristocrats to cover a wide spectrum of play styles (as well as a few stretch goal archetypes with additional rules specific to the era and genre, which I'm not disclosing yet; however, one may have something to do with autos, another with electricity, and another with ghoul trafficking, but I'm not saying officially yet). We also have expansion ideas for some unique character types that to my knowledge have never been tapped for Lovecraftian and Howardian gaming, but I would be premature to share them this early.

As far as character generation goes, we strike a balance with attribute rolls and skill point buy; that said, social class plays a very important part of the system, and will be reflected in the generation process. Age plays a factor in acquired knowledge and skill levels. Options for variant generation methods are offered.
Raiders of R'lyeh, a Cthulhu-based d100-compatible game set in the Great War era of adventure
Raiders of R'lyeh: From the Tideless Sea, an epic sandbox expansion and seafaring toolkit for Cthulhu-based d100 games (PDF available now)

RPGPundit

Quote from: Quentin Bauer;668015A key design design goal for the archetypes and skills list is to allow modularity and customization. The initial core of archetypes was doubled after the Pundit’s involvement (the number is still fluctuating), but I can say that we have a broad and motley assortment of adventurers, antiheroes, professorial types, gunslingers, smugglers, proper gentlemen, Bohemian outliers, scoundrels, profiteers, spies, grave robbers, occultists and exiled aristocrats to cover a wide spectrum of play styles (as well as a few stretch goal archetypes with additional rules specific to the era and genre, which I’m not disclosing yet; however, one may have something to do with autos, another with electricity, and another with ghoul trafficking, but I’m not saying officially yet). We also have expansion ideas for some unique character types that to my knowledge have never been tapped for Lovecraftian and Howardian gaming, but I would be premature to share them this early.

As far as character generation goes, we strike a balance with attribute rolls and skill point buy; that said, social class plays a very important part of the system, and will be reflected in the generation process. Age plays a factor in acquired knowledge and skill levels. Options for variant generation methods are offered.

I assume that as well as the plethora of premade Archetypes, the GM's (Keepers') section will include details on how to make your own new Archetypes.

To clarify on Quentin's second part there, unless he's changed something, the core of the game's character creation will be the standard openquest rules, ie. rolling for attributes, and then dividing up skill points (based on intellectual attributes) into skills; so its fair to say that there's something of a balance, just like there's always been in BRP-type games.

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3rik

In straight-up Call of Cthulhu (6E) in my experience players often have too many points to be distributed among their occupational skills and too few for hobby skills. This is mainly because the occupational skills at their disposal do not represent any past career moves or professional experience they would like to give their characters.
For example, I have an alienist who started out as a regular physician, also employing hypnotism in his practice. The occupational skill packages in CoC are rather limited in scope for this sort of thing, assuming you want to do things RAW.
I was therefore wondering if Raiders of R'lyeh is going to offer ways to address this issue for me and my group. Hence my question.

I always thought it would be fun if a character's list of skills reflected not only his interests and profession but also his past experience.
It\'s not Its

"It\'s said that governments are chiefed by the double tongues" - Ten Bears (The Outlaw Josey Wales)

@RPGbericht

RPGPundit

Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;668282In straight-up Call of Cthulhu (6E) in my experience players often have too many points to be distributed among their occupational skills and too few for hobby skills. This is mainly because the occupational skills at their disposal do not represent any past career moves or professional experience they would like to give their characters.
For example, I have an alienist who started out as a regular physician, also employing hypnotism in his practice. The occupational skill packages in CoC are rather limited in scope for this sort of thing, assuming you want to do things RAW.
I was therefore wondering if Raiders of R'lyeh is going to offer ways to address this issue for me and my group. Hence my question.

I always thought it would be fun if a character's list of skills reflected not only his interests and profession but also his past experience.

RoR will have a slightly more balanced spread, in order to better reflect the kinds of jack-of-all-trade types that you often see in Howard's stories, for example.  So you will get an even number of points to put into your Archetype skills and into your "knacks", the former based on Knowledge (ie. education/training), the latter based Int.

Also, because the game goes by Archetypes rather than just Occupations (Archetypes being more about what type of hero you are, rather than just your job) it would be possible to make an archetype (there'll be guidelines for that in the GM-guide) that would more closely match nonstandard career backgrounds like the one you describe in your example.

RPGPundit
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you\'ve played \'medieval fantasy\' until you play L&D.


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The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

Quentin Bauer

#81
Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;668282In straight-up Call of Cthulhu (6E) in my experience players often have too many points to be distributed among their occupational skills and too few for hobby skills. This is mainly because the occupational skills at their disposal do not represent any past career moves or professional experience they would like to give their characters.
For example, I have an alienist who started out as a regular physician, also employing hypnotism in his practice. The occupational skill packages in CoC are rather limited in scope for this sort of thing, assuming you want to do things RAW.
I was therefore wondering if Raiders of R'lyeh is going to offer ways to address this issue for me and my group. Hence my question.

I always thought it would be fun if a character's list of skills reflected not only his interests and profession but also his past experience.

Your post makes me think that Creating Archetypes would make an excellent topic for our newsletter...

In general, archetypes are meant to address this idea of characters with layered backgrounds, and to better reflect the accumulation of skills through experience (and not just occupation). They also have the potential for suggesting motivations, connections and adventure hooks. However, the concept is broad enough to allow for the traditional occupation-based skill purchase, if players want to use it that way as well. And, as the Pundit has pointed out, Raiders will include a section explaining and encouraging customization and creation of original archetypes.
Raiders of R'lyeh, a Cthulhu-based d100-compatible game set in the Great War era of adventure
Raiders of R'lyeh: From the Tideless Sea, an epic sandbox expansion and seafaring toolkit for Cthulhu-based d100 games (PDF available now)

RPGPundit

Quote from: Quentin Bauer;668672Your post makes me think that Creating Archetypes would make an excellent topic for our newsletter...

Yup, a very good topic, since its one of the things new and different about RoR.

RPGPundit
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you\'ve played \'medieval fantasy\' until you play L&D.


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The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

3rik

I have a question about the setting, or rather, its premise. In my CoC gaming I usually assume that Mythos magic is the only magic that actually works. So any occultist, witch, warlock whatever who occupies himself with magic, sorcery, whatever that is not Mythos-related is basically just delusional.

Is non-Mythos magic in RoR treated as something that actually works?
It\'s not Its

"It\'s said that governments are chiefed by the double tongues" - Ten Bears (The Outlaw Josey Wales)

@RPGbericht

Akrasia

1. The art looks beautiful.
2. I wish this were a supplement for CoC rather than a 'new' game.
3. But if it must be a new game, using OQ as a base seems reasonable.
RPG Blog: Akratic Wizardry (covering Cthulhu Mythos RPGs, TSR/OSR D&D, Mythras (RuneQuest 6), Crypts & Things, etc., as well as fantasy fiction, films, and the like).
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RPGPundit

Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;669586I have a question about the setting, or rather, its premise. In my CoC gaming I usually assume that Mythos magic is the only magic that actually works. So any occultist, witch, warlock whatever who occupies himself with magic, sorcery, whatever that is not Mythos-related is basically just delusional.

Is non-Mythos magic in RoR treated as something that actually works?

non-mythos magick will be treated as something that works, and will be loosely based on the real (european) concepts on magic at the time (a high-point of the "ceremonial magick" period).  The Mythos-magic will be far more powerful of course, and in essence not fully comprehensible to the human mind.

So a non-cultist magician will be capable of doing some very impressive things but his stuff will feel puny in comparison to the magical power of the Mythos; and human magicians using Mythos-magic will have the feeling of a cargo cult, potentially incredibly powerful but they're doing things that they don't really understand and can have huge side-effects or consequences.

RPGPundit
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you\'ve played \'medieval fantasy\' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Akrasia;6696361. The art looks beautiful.
2. I wish this were a supplement for CoC rather than a 'new' game.
3. But if it must be a new game, using OQ as a base seems reasonable.

OQ is extremely compatible with BRP.  This game will thus be compatible with very little work required on the part of any GM.

RPGPundit
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you\'ve played \'medieval fantasy\' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

JeremyR

Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;669586I have a question about the setting, or rather, its premise. In my CoC gaming I usually assume that Mythos magic is the only magic that actually works. So any occultist, witch, warlock whatever who occupies himself with magic, sorcery, whatever that is not Mythos-related is basically just delusional.

Is non-Mythos magic in RoR treated as something that actually works?

Isn't CoC pretty much full of non-Mythos magic?

Strictly speaking you should be correct, but CoC has always seemed downright new-agey to me.

Quentin Bauer

A lot has been going on behind the scenes, and things are going to really pick up the rest of the month. So, I just wanted to announce a few things that have been happening.

1. First off, keep your eyes on our main site (raidersofrlyeh.com), as it will be going through redesigns and updates this month as we build up the game and announce more details. If you are feeling really dangerous, sign up for our mailing list. The biggest news is that we are launching our design journal this week, and it will have a regular posting schedule of MON and THU each week. Guest articles too.

2. Our site is not just for promotion. We're going to be using it for something else that I think GMs and players (and hint: designers) will find extremely exciting, but I won't say anything more for a couple weeks until we make the big announcement on our blog.

3. To the writers, editors, and play-testers who have spoken with me about working on RoR, I will be getting in touch this month (and possibly going into next month if things get very crazy, which I imagine they will!). Thank you so much to those of you who have contacted me to be a part of the game. I would also like to extend an invitation to other writers who may think they would like to contribute to the project. Interested parties, email: mail@thecipherbureau.com.

4. I need a lot of help with promotion. ESPECIALLY this month and going into August. If anyone is moved to spread the word on forums, podcasts, etc. (and some people have already done so and I thank you very much for the generosity), I would be tremendously grateful. But please, if you do, let me know so that I can keep a record of your help with this.

5. Lastly, I've been asked if I will be at GenCon, and to answer in brief: I simply will not have time as I will be thoroughly entrenched in the production of RoR in August. However, I would like to know if anyone has ideas about getting the news out at GenCon. Our team has a pretty cool idea for some free collectible RoR handouts, that we still have enough time to produce and ship to interested parties, but we would not be able to do this without a plan for distribution at the con.

P.S. I'd like to take a stab at the Nature of Magic question, but I am going to have to do so at a bit later date (and again...awesome potential design journal topic). I will say that Magic is a tricky area to get right, especially as it pertains to the Mythos (and as the Pundit has mentioned, we are adding into the game system an Occult historical layer that is very deserving of attention for this particular setting).
Raiders of R'lyeh, a Cthulhu-based d100-compatible game set in the Great War era of adventure
Raiders of R'lyeh: From the Tideless Sea, an epic sandbox expansion and seafaring toolkit for Cthulhu-based d100 games (PDF available now)

3rik

Quote from: JeremyR;669918Isn't CoC pretty much full of non-Mythos magic?

Strictly speaking you should be correct, but CoC has always seemed downright new-agey to me.

In places, it is. But it's not how I usually run it. All magic that actually works is Mythos-related. I take perverse pleasure in killing off self-proclaimed magic user (N)PCs, especially if they're in some sort of "occult" society.
It\'s not Its

"It\'s said that governments are chiefed by the double tongues" - Ten Bears (The Outlaw Josey Wales)

@RPGbericht