1 | Weird lands and forgotten islands » BoL Bloodlust » 9/14/2017 12:03 pm |
- nerosfiddle
- Replies: 8
-
Peter wrote:Sorry for the necro - just curious if you've taken this very cool concept any further?
Not exactly.
I ran a BoL game that used the basic idea, but I really just hand waived the powers of the Avatars. It seemed to work out well. I just used one Stat for the Avatars called "Urge" which I simply represented as a situational penalty to the Mind check the PC had to succeed against to resist the will of the item.
So for example, one of my player was using "Goregorge the Glutton" a powerful axe that would, on occasion, urge its wielder to drop everything and try to devour the bodies of fallen foes, right there on the battlefield, in the middle of the heat of combat. To resist, the PC would have to succeed on a Mind check. In this case, I had the penalty be -2. But later, after the battle, they would have to succeed again but this time the difficulty was -4. And later still, just because I'm a jerk, I'd have the PC make a mind check with a penalty of -6 to keep Goregorge from making the PC attempt to kill eat and group of kids the group had just rescued from slavers
If there's ever an interest in a formal rules set, I'd be open to revisiting the idea, but for now, a hand wave approach seemed quite sufficient.
| Announce your pbp games here » BoL one shot on Dec 30th » 12/18/2016 8:58 am |
- nerosfiddle
- Replies: 0
-
Hi guys,
I'll be running a one shot on Dec 30th via Roll20.
The link to the post is below.
Later.
| Weird lands and forgotten islands » BoL Bloodlust » 12/17/2016 12:45 pm |
- nerosfiddle
- Replies: 8
-
Just to clarify; to my mind, when an Urge check is failed and the Avatar takes over, it's not simply for a number of turns, but rather for the remainder of the scene. It's entirely possible for the character to come to having only a spotty memory (or no memory...or absolutely perfect memory) of what took place while the Avatar was running the show and discover that they've done the one thing they would never do otherwise (kill their loved one, betrayed the king, eat kale).
| Weird lands and forgotten islands » BoL Bloodlust » 12/17/2016 12:16 pm |
- nerosfiddle
- Replies: 8
-
You're not being difficult. I appreciate the feedback. This is exactly why I chose to post my idea here, to have it challenged and get points of view I might not otherwise have considered.
Ok, so how about this; all Avatars only have the one Urge stat. Furthermore, all Avatar types start with an Urge of 0. Then, I come up with a list of say, 5 or 6 powers per Avatar type. Each power taken then increases the Urge.
So maybe the helmet can have a selection of powers like:
- Titan Strength, +1 Urge per Strength point increase (ignores racial strength limits)
- Iron Skin, +1 Urge increase per point of natural armor (added to normal armor)
- Reaper's Bane, +1 Urge increase per Defense point increase (ignores racial limits)
- True Sight, +1 Urge, allows the Harbinger to see spirits, see through illusions, see things and people made invisible through sorcery, see with perfect clarity in utter darkness...etc.
-Infernal Gaze, the Helmet can emit a blast of hellish flame from the eyes, +1 Urge for D6L, +2 Urge for D6, and +3 Urge for D6H damage. Each use might require a MIND check to see if the Avatar takes over.
Meanwhile, an Avatar in the form of a light weapon may have powers that assist in being stealthy and increased movement. A medium weapon might be a flaming sword, or a hammer that returns to the wielder when thrown. I imagine heavy weapons will have powers that increase damage output, maybe add a bonus in warfare or something. I'll have to do some brain storming.Peter wrote:One thing you may wish to reflect on as well is whether it is the urges that are interesting - or the transgressions.
I agree, which is why I think multiple Urge types might not be needed. A single Urge stat to represent the will of the Avatar should suffice. The GM can call for Urge checks when the desires of the Avatar go counter those of the Harbinger and when there is narrative payoff for forcing his/her hand.
…
I think it pays to remember t
| Weird lands and forgotten islands » BoL Bloodlust » 12/17/2016 8:13 am |
- nerosfiddle
- Replies: 8
-
Peter wrote:
Are you going to use the circular player-weapon system from Bloodlust (you play your neighbours weapon) or will it be a more static relationship based on the urges?
Thanks Peter. I was asking myself that exact same question when I started thinking about this, and the truth is, I'd like to come up with a means that can support both styles of play, based on the preferences of any given play group.
Peter wrote:I think having a range of free AP from 0-3 can be a challenge to balancing. Having a helmet becomes a LOT better than having a two handed axe in terms of escalating urges. After all, the Pc could just have a helmet and a non divine heavy weapon...
You make an excellent point. Maybe I need to rethink the basic approach.
Perhaps instead of having four separate Urges, the Avatar has only one stat, called Urge, that represents the general will of the Avatar.
And instead of offering free points, maybe the starting Urge is determined by the type of Avatar, so a Helmet starts with an Urge of -1, light weapons start with 0, medium weapons with 1, and heavy weapons with 2.
Then player buy whatever powers they want for the Avatar, but each power increases the Urge stat by a certain amount, and certain powers can not be bought for the Helmet, while other can only be bought for the helmet...
I need to mull this over.
| Weird lands and forgotten islands » BoL Bloodlust » 12/16/2016 1:28 pm |
- nerosfiddle
- Replies: 8
-
So when that video of the French version of BoL came out, it reminded me of Bloodlust.
…
It was a game that was set in a wonderfully savage Swords & Sorcery setting in which the various nations and tribes engaged in ceaseless war and bloodshed.
One big reason that characters in Bloodlust slaughter everyone with gleeful abandon is that they carry sentient weapons that egg them on to greater and greater violence, a la Stormbringer. The conceit of the setting is that these sentient weapons are gods that have decided to manifest in the physical world so that they can experience and indulge their passions through the bearer. These "god weapons" always choose their bearer and if they don't like the person who has picked them up, they will arrange for their untimely demise. This leads to a situation where the will of the bearer is often pitted against the desires of the weapon.
So naturally, I've decided to adapt the central idea of Bloodlust to BoL.
I'm not looking to create a straight conversion of the entire game. Instead, I just want to create a method of introducing the notion of these "god weapons", which for the purposes of this project I've decided to dub "Avatars" into BoL. Those characters which wield these weapons will be termed "Harbingers", because wherever they go, carnage and bloodshed are sure to follow. One small thing to keep in mind; in the original Bloodlust game, there were no sorcerers per say. The only source of magical power were Avatars. But because I love BoL sorcery so much, I would never dream of getting rid of it. Rather, I'd just hand wave it and say that Avatars loathe sorcerers, which they see as usurping power that doesn't belong to mortals. Any character wielding an Avatar adds their Magician career ranks as an additional penalty when making MIND checks against the Avatars Urge. The Avatar will seek any opportunity to have a sorcerer wielding it slain.
The basic idea
| Weird lands and forgotten islands » Barbarians of the Void » 3/30/2016 4:28 am |
- nerosfiddle
- Replies: 253
-
gnombient wrote:
I'm all for unofficial homebrew work, and am thankful for this great (and great-looking) product you have shared with us. If we can't have a proper print release (I'd love to see BotV "officially adopted" into the BoL family in that way), how do you feel about unofficial, individual printings -- say, for instance, if I wanted to get a copy bound for myself via LULU?
Well personally I don't mind at all.
If you want to have it printed and bound for your personal use, feel free.
Here's a link to the Word Document so that if you want to edit any pages for your personal game, have at it:
It's slightly modified from previous versions. Mostly just minor typos that have been corrected and very minor rules clarifications here and there.
Alex
| Announce your pbp games here » Barbarians of Greyhawk » 1/10/2016 6:25 pm |
- nerosfiddle
- Replies: 5
-
PM sent
| General discussion » Roll20 » 12/08/2015 7:40 am |
- nerosfiddle
- Replies: 5
-
Oh! That's great news!
BTW, I've submitted a "Looking for players" post in the Roll20 forums for a BoL one shot.
Anyone interested should check it out.
| Bizarre sketches and scribbles » Barbarians of the Hex » 12/05/2015 3:54 pm |
- nerosfiddle
- Replies: 2
-
Hiya Prof,
Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
You make some very good points. So good in fact that it's inspired me to make a second map.
The first is the overall political map. The one with kingdoms and empires.
I'm inspired by the map of Erisa in Legends of Steel. Something like that.
Then, I'll make a secondary map of the initial play area that will contain more detail, but be more contained.
And I fully intend to steal "The endless wastes of Zord"