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Author Topic: Fantasy Express Updates  (Read 2482 times)

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Offline Rasyr

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Fantasy Express Updates
« on: August 08, 2023, 09:40:14 AM »
Ok, as I have mentioned before, this game is based stronly on the wonderful game called Against the Darkmaster (vsD) by Open Ended Games. Another strong influence is the Grievous Grimoire by Imaginary Turtles.

However, I will be using 2d10 rather d100. I have also made a number of other changes to  go with this.

Races -- I will have the same races as I have in Novus, which are the races in my Anwyn setting.

Culture  -- Also the same cultures as Novus, but handled very differently in Fantasy Express (FX). For FX, each Culture gets a list of common skills. You get 10 ranks to split between those skills however you want (with a max limit of 2 in any individual skill).

Vocations --  This is where I diverge even more. Basically I have a number of Kits which are essentially half of Vocation. So you choose 2 of them. You could choose a Fighter and a Wizard to make a Hybrid, choose Warrior Mage for a full Hybrid, choose a Wizard and Mage to get a Magus type (Magus == having two schools of magic)). Essentially, by picking two Kits, you get a great deal of flexibility in designing your character however you want.

Skills -- like in vsD, you get  Development Points in each Skill Category And all skills cost the same (1 DP per rank for first 10 ranks, 2 DP per rank for ranks 11 to 20, and 3 DP per rank for ranks 21+). You can move DPs from one or more Skill Categories to other Skill Categories at a cost of 2 DPs moved to get 1 DP in the receiving Skill Category.

Please note that once you move DPs, the resulting DP(s) must be immediately spent. The reason for this is to keep accounting simple since you are also able to save DPs across levels if you want, and to Save them, you Save them in the Skill Category where it was earned.

Each Vocation also gets 2 Special Skills (the player choose one from each of the 2 Kits they selected. These Special Skills are basically one-shot skills (you only learn them once) and you can only gain additional Special Skills via Milestones (see below)

Background Options -- Based on those from vsD and GG. You are allowed to get up to 3 extra Background Points by taking Drawbacks. You do not have to take Drawbacks if you do not want.

Passions, Drive Points, & MIlestones -- the Passions are essentially the same as in vsD, and Drive Points are also based on vsD, but also expanded as each Special Skill has its own Specific Drive Point option. And Milestones are also like in vsD, but expanded to include learning new Special Skills.

Resolution -- everything will use the following table for resolution

FEAT.jpg
* FEAT.jpg
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(Dimensions: 386x197, Views: 465)

This includes Saves, Skills, Combat, and Magic as well. As you can see, there are "x SL" next to the Success rows on the table. These are Success Levels and they can affect what you are attempting to do (i.e. for combat, they can produce "critical" damage - that the player decides upon!)

Combat -- like mentioned, it uses the above table. Like with vsD, you have an Armor Type and Defense that affect combat.
  • Weapons/Attacks -- will have ratings, for example the Arming Sword has a Damage Rating of 8s/6p which means that a basic Success on an attack deals EITHER 8 points of slashing damage OR 6 points of Puncture Damage. Each SL can do another increment of the Damage Rating, or the SL can be spent to purchase critical effects. Total Hit point damage is also increased by 1 point for each point that the final attack roll was over 20.
  • Armor -- Armor has all of the same stats as in vsD, but it also have Armor Ratings for Blunt, Slash, Pierce, Elemental, and Success Levels, which can reduce the overall damage received.

Magic -- Is based on the Spell Creation Rules from the Novus book, Libram Arcanis. There are 14 Spell Lores, and you learn them, gain ranks in them. You then build your Spell on the fly. Some aspects of the Spell Lore will increase the Spell's level, others will give Casting Modifiers (i.e. negative modifiers to your casting roll) which provides for a dynamic, flexible, yet still relatively easy.

I will post more examples later....









Offline Fidoric

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Re: Fantasy Express Updates
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2023, 03:47:08 PM »
Quote
this game is based stronly on the wonderful game called Against the Darkmaster (vsD

I second that whole-heartedly. Extremely smart design. The strongest inspiration is really MERP (One game to rule them all 😎) rather than RM I think. Beside HARP, this is definitely a way RM could (should) have evolved into after RMSS. Simple, efficient, streamlined and all the DNA required to reunite a supposedly fractured fan base.

Offline Rasyr

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Re: Fantasy Express Updates
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2023, 02:16:51 PM »
Been a while since I posted here, so I thought that I should do so....

Races -- all the same Races as found in Anwyn - this has not changed

Cultures -- changed this so that each Culture gets a specific number of ranks in various skills. 20 ranks total.

Vocations -- no changes here

Resolution -- as in the first post, everything uses the following table (which has changed slightly from the first post)

FEAT.jpg
* FEAT.jpg
(Filesize: 19.56 KB)
(Dimensions: 280x146, Views: 420)

If you get a Partial Success in an attack, you deal the weapon's Damage Rating (based on the attack Used)
If you do a Successful attack, you do the DR in damage, plus 1 hit for each point above 20, and then you get to spend the Success Levels to purchase Critical Damage.....

The person hit has a Defensive Modifier (DM), which is subtracted from attack rolls, and an Armor Rating (AR).

Armor has Ratings against Bash, Slash, Pierce, and Elemental/Energy attacks. It also has an SL Rating (most armors have a zero for this, but  plate gives a -2 SL)

So, for Reinforced Leather Armor, you would have an AR of B7/S8/P7/E5/SL0 (helm, barcers and greaves each have their own ratings, which add to that frmo armor)

so, if your Foe has an Arming Sword (8s/7p), and a Dagger (5s/6p), and he tries to stab you with the dagger, and gets a partial success, you deal 6 Hits of Pierce damage, which is less than the 7 defelcted by the armor, so no damage.

But a partial success against the reinforced armor using a Slashing attack with the Arming Sword, would again deal zero hits. But with a Success (i.e. the minimum of 20), you could spend the 1 SL to do ano DR of damage (i.e. 16 hits instead of 8, which, after armor is reduced to 8 Hits of damage or you could have him Bleed 1 Hit per round, or give him a -1 to actions.

this way, you get to choose the damage.....

I have also expanded the number of background options and am working on the spells and on a magic item creation system for players as well.....

And here are a few pre-gens that I have done up...

Argorn-Pregen.jpg
* Argorn-Pregen.jpg
(Filesize: 423.2 KB)
(Dimensions: 1700x2200, Views: 414)


 
Chzor-Pregen.jpg
* Chzor-Pregen.jpg
(Filesize: 451.57 KB)
(Dimensions: 1700x2200, Views: 405)


 
Eddyrim-Pregen.jpg
* Eddyrim-Pregen.jpg
(Filesize: 456.18 KB)
(Dimensions: 1700x2200, Views: 412)


Offline Arnwald

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Re: Fantasy Express Updates
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2023, 05:44:18 PM »
Longtime friend of Fidoric here, who informed me of your most recent efforts. Big fan of MERP and its more recent reincarnation (re. Against the Darkmaster)... and so naturally eager to learn more about FX! Happy to participate in 'play testing' if you are looking for guinea pigs. ;)

Offline Rasyr

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Re: Fantasy Express Updates
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2023, 05:48:06 PM »
Longtime friend of Fidoric here, who informed me of your most recent efforts. Big fan of MERP and its more recent reincarnation (re. Against the Darkmaster)... and so naturally eager to learn more about FX! Happy to participate in 'play testing' if you are looking for guinea pigs. ;)

Welcome! I have given you access.

Offline Arnwald

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Re: Fantasy Express Updates
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2023, 05:49:48 PM »
Many thanks!

Offline Rasyr

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Re: Fantasy Express Updates
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2023, 08:17:04 PM »
Many thanks!

I sent you a PM (click on My Messages at the top). You should also be able to see the FX Playtesting forum as well.

Offline Rasyr

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Re: Fantasy Express Updates
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2023, 06:10:20 PM »
The Open Beta has now been released as of this morning.