Thursday, August 29th

The Daily Report

Yesterday I did finish contacting donors. I said this in an update on the IndieGoGo campaign I sent out afterwards, but just to be clear, I'm not following up on all the responses with a reply email. Organization is not my strong suit, so I'm being very methodical about this. Being methodical is also not my strong suit, so I've got to do this the way it makes sense to me.

Flipside of that is that a few people have asked if they can take some time before making up their minds, and that's absolutely fine. There's not an expiration date on claiming the perks, especially since the nature of them means I wouldn't be done with them completely before the end of the year anyway.

The only things that are time-sensitive at all are the names to use for crediting in the first story after the move (which I'd need to know by early October) and the address for holiday card (which I'd need to know by December). I already have an address for everyone who requested a holiday card, I would just appreciate a confirmation that it's the correct one to use and how folks would like their cards addressed.

But the folks who paid for a story or whatever, I'd rather you take the time to come up with something meaningful to you than blurt out something because you feel pressure.

The State of the Me

Doing pretty well. I've been waking up at really reasonable hours of the morning most of the time I've been here and today's no exception, though I ended up taking a bit longer to get down to business this morning.

Plans For Today

Today's a posting day for Tales of MU, due to the schedule shift. This morning I'm going to be working on a newsletter for August.

AWW: I swear I had made a post about this before...

...but then I wanted to refer back to it last night and couldn't find it.

Anyway, one of the things that came up in the discussions spawned by my "what's missing?" post was the idea that someone might want to perform some of the functions of an enchanter (putting magic into items for immediate effect; e.g., flaming sword, crackling electrical armor) without actually playing as a wizard.

My immediate response to that was to spin off that idea into its own CQ (which is now known as the Imbuer), which I'm still doing because the ability to quickly create temporary magical effects for equipment really is its own distinct thing and that's separate from the slightly more complicated and subtle basis for the Enchanter CQ. You could combine the two of them to give someone with short-term and long-term enchantment abilities, or pick one or the other.

But the whole thing got me thinking about how many of what I've considered to be "Magic Required" CQs actually work more like the "Magic Optional" ones (Alchemist, Tinkerer, Minstrel) that give a bonus to related spell work if you have points in Magic but otherwise just have a list of Stuff You Can Do.

Necromancer has a bonus to spells concerning the dead or undead, and then a host of abilities that let them talk to the dead, command the dead, make it more affordable to have undead or spirit companions, etc. Make a character without Magic and absent an arbitrary restriction (which I do not like) there's no reason you couldn't take Necromancer and get a lot of out it.

Illusionist likewise has a bonus to spells concerning illusion and deception and then a host of abilities allowing them to do things that the normal Spell Check rules simply don't allow or aren't meant for. The way they were originally written they were tied into the Spell Check mechanics and/or required a Magic Check, but it didn't take much to re-write them so that the requisite check can be done with Deception, Presence, or Magic. Now the same quality works for a magical but non-wizard trickster, someone using "Bardic Magic" or psychic illusions.

In all cases adding Magic points to such a character would increase the range of what they can do, but that's true for all characters. The major advantage of Magic is its flexibility. Removing the need for Magic means these same qualities can represent innate abilities, wild talents, blessings, etc.

There will still be CQs that are so closely tied to the Magic rules that they absolutely require it to function, the same way that Warrior requires fighting ability and Sneak requires Stealth: Arcanist, Circle Mage, Magic-User, Battlemage. These are CQs whose abilities essentially revolve around changing how Spell Checks work. But they should be pretty rare.

In between, there were some CQs--mainly the elemento-mancers--that fall into a sort of middle ground. As much as was possible, I reworked their side abilities to work without Magic and without Spell Checks, but the kind of transitory/instant effects that things like elemental evocations involve can't really be represented in a "you can do this stuff" type list because "you can slam enemies into walls with sudden gusts of wind" is something that is going to require a check.

But I did come up with a solution: allow them to use a related attribute as if it were Magic purely for the purposes of direct elemental manipulation. Air could use Agility or Deception, fire could use Presence or Prowess, water could use Healing or Persuasion, earth could use Toughness or Perception (HI TOPH!*), and any of them could use Willpower. That way if you want to make an ATLA-style elemental evoker, you have your choice of physical or mental attributes, and if you want more than one elemental specialty, you can go Willpower and not split attributes. I've also went ahead and codified that Willpower or Magic can be used for Magic Burn Tolerance (some characters already had this as an ability), just to make these options more viable, and also allowed Elementalist to use Willpower for any of the four elements so there's consistency with the individual speciaties.

The best thing about making CQs more flexible like this is that it means down the road I don't have to make any otherwise redundant "elemental superpower" or "spontaneous animation of the dead but you're also not a wizard" qualities.

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* "It sounds like a computer screen, but I guess you're referring to what's on the computer screen."

AWW: Touched By Fate

So, the CG preview posts seem to be pretty popular, at least on the cross-posts.

This one is Fate-Touched. The "touched by [concept]" CQs are intended for cleric-type characters, to fit the same sort of idea of D&D's domains. The idea is not that there are whole hierarchies of clergy out there that share these abilities, but that they're incredibly rare direct displays of contact with a higher power. The description of Fate-Touched in particular mentions that people who manifest it young may be accused of witchcraft or labeled a jinx, because improbable things will happen around them and in particular to people they don't like.

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FATE-TOUCHED
Basic Abilities
[A] Hand of Fate: You can spend your positive Luck Points on others' behalf, as either positive or negative Luck Points, in any way that such points can normally be spent (i.e., not ways provided by special abilities). You can also spend your points to cancel out the effect of someone else spending a positive or negative Luck Point on a one for one basis.

[A] Contemplate Fate's Design: The Storyteller must identify if a scene contains appreciable danger, chance for profit, or story significance if you ask. From level one, once per level adventure, you can ask the Storyteller how significant a character or object that is present is to the story.

Standard Abilities
Powers of Fate: Once per level per adventure, and no more than once a scene, you can gain one die of Luck Points.

Rube Goldberg Variations: You can make a physical attack against someone using a Luck Check. It can be a ranged or close attack, though a ranged attack requires you to spend a positive Luck Point. The actual attack takes the form of a coincidental happenstance like an icicle or slate dislodged from a roof. Range penalties are figured between you and the target, regardless of the actual mechanism of attack. If the target has attacked you within the previous or current round, you can add your level as an attack bonus or an effect bonus. You do not have to be able to see the target.

It Is Fated: Once per scene, you can add half your level as a bonus to any check that is part of a challenge that is a direct part of the adventure's main plotline. If it is an Influence Check, add your full level. If you try to use this ability on a check that has already been made and the Storyteller rules it inapplicable, then the ability is not expended. However, if the check it would be for is risky, you can ask before the check is made. This expends the ability whether it can be used or not.

Aegis of Fate: Once per scene as a reaction, you can use a Luck Check plus your level as a Defense Check for yourself or another. There is no range penalty, but the maximum distance this can be performed at is equal to your level. If you defend yourself using this ability, you can make another defense as normal. If you spend a focused action to use this ability, you can defend against every attack within range using this ability, though you do not get a second defense against attacks that target you.

Advanced Abilities
Level 2 Pull The Strings: At the start of each scene, roll one die and keep the result. At any point during the scene, you can replace any die roll with that one. At levels 4 and 6, roll and keep one more die.

Level 4 Fickle Finger: You can change any die roll of 1 to 6 or 6 to 1, but once you have used this ability during an adventure, the next time you use it must be to do the opposite.

Level 6 Fates Rewritten: Once per adventure, you can declare a "save point" at the beginning of a scene, after the Storyteller has set the stage and given any information the party is entitled to through abilities such as Contemplate Fate's Design but before anything has been done. For the rest of the scene , everyone should keep track of any damage or change in status or items used on a separate sheet because at any point up to and including the end of the scene, you can revert time to the beginning of the scene. Other players should assume that their characters' memories of the abolished timeline are fragmented in a way that conveniently lets them react to things like abilities or tactics the villains displayed or a secret hiding space that was revealed, but not be able to give detailed accounts of information they uncovered.

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It Is Fated kind of has a little fun with the idea that when you're running an adventure, yes, there are choices, but some things are kind of... laid out in advance. If you've got to get through the front door somehow, then It Is Fated. Yes, you have to talk them into it, but It Is Fated that the villagers will give in to your request. That's part of the story.

Given the significance of 1s and 6s in the game system, Fickle Finger might prove too powerful... the limitation that you have to alternate means you'll miss some good opportunities, but in a fight scene--when dice are rolled most often--there will be plenty of times you'll want to do either. I have a balancing drawback in mind, but I'll want to see how it plays in the wild first.

Fates Rewritten might end up being a huge headache, but it just... if there's anything a high-level fate manipulator should be able to do, it's something like that. I think since it requires advance notice and it gets used up whether or not the scene is "re-loaded" or not, it probably won't actually be used every adventure.

Actually, I think I'm going to add an alternate use, whereby at the end of the scene, if you haven't had to re-load and you're otherwise satisfied with the scene's resolution, then everybody can spontaneously lose some injuries they suffered. Basically abstracting away the idea that you made it through the scene a second time a little better.