> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2000 18:41:59 +0100
> From: "Jane Williams" <jane_at_...>
> Subject: Still converting that low-level RQ campaign
>
> Well, we've been through the initial character (re-)generation now, and
> it went quite well. (Except for the player who wanted every skill listed on
> his RQ character sheet to be listed on the HW sheet: and by RQ
> standards, there were a lot of them).
This could be a mistake =- one thing I noticed about HW is that with Improv penalties, one can do a vast number of the old skills quite readily wth a single ability -- take Orate (or Oratory if you prefer). This can be used as debate, bargain, boast, storytelling, Convince Clan Ring of Your Damnfool Idea, Cajole, etc, etc, with varying levels of improv penalty. I'd be thinking that this is a more efficient use of precious Hero Points, particularly in the long run.
> I started by giving them the Heorting Cultural keyword, at 13, since this
> is supposed to be what everyone learns as children.
Yep. Pretty much standard there.
> Then we did Occupations, and started to run into trouble. The chap with
> the 18 POW and 18 Piety (yes, Pendragon Traits) who's a junior
> trainee priest (no choirboy jokes, please) took Godtalker at 12,
> dropped the "Initiate To", and was happy.
Oh dear. We're making a direct conversion aren't we? =) If he's a trainee priest, I might allow him a devotee, though IIRC your game is sort of a proto-initiate kind of thing. Remember, however, that these folks will have been trained for their jobs/their parents jobs from an early age. Letting folks choose their careers and slope along till they are 18 is a very recent luxury, after all.
Godtalker at 12? Hmmm. I'd have given a 13 but you're working at a level of the game where the system might break down. You'll find that the challenges have to be scaled back considerably and that the heroes will have trouble advancing to more 'adult' stats.
> The fisherman got a modified version of Hunter: not too hard to sort out.
> Level 12 again.
Easily done. I think that there will be some fisher-folk type keywords out there.
> The ones with crafter backgrounds we just had to make up.
> And the guys whose background was mixed: learning hunting from dad
> and brewing from mum, for instance, got one keyword at 10 and the
> other at 8. If the same skill was listed for both, they took that one at 12.
Hmmm. Crafter is not very heroic but I'd be very willing to suspect that TR will have a *lot* of occupational keywords. Again, its sort of difficult to map over directly. Its not quite the same world.
Call me fudgy but I'd have been happier starting from scratch and experimenting with the game as written before trying to modify it drastically. You've given yourself a lot of extra work but I'd be very interested in seeing how it all works out.
> That's one bit of rules I couldn't find. If two starting keywords give you
> the same skill, but at different levels, what are you supposed to do
> about it?
You take the higher, of course. I think that is mentioned. I believe it is in the FAQ (if not, it certainly should be). There's no reason to take the LOWER, after all. And something like Sword and Shield 17 from being a Warrior and Spear and Shield 13 will result in Close Combat (Sword and Shield, Spear and Shield) 17, of course. I think this is covered in the FAQ as well.
> Then on to Magic.
> All three blokes present looked through, and eventually picked Orlanth
> Adventurous, so that was easy enough. They've only been initiated for a
> couple of seasons, so they got that at 12.
Hmm. I'd go to 13 at least. Remember, 12 is 'I just learned it and have not done anything with it'. Particularly true, if you've given them a few seasons since initiation.
> In the earlier campaign, they'd been initiated into their bloodline, getting
> the bloodline spirit spell from the guardian spirit of their family, so I
> really had to cover that somehow. We already know that each bloodline
> is tied to a plant (and the four plants together cover the ecology of
Give the heroes a stand alone feat. That's how we handle neat stuff given by Hero Band spirits. See Barntaros, The Hidden Gale in the Narrator's book or the extra stuff in the boxed set for details.
Basically this is a feat that is raised on its own (very much like a magical talent) that is known as long as they continue to worship and please the entity granting it. Ir our campaign, Sigmund Meldekbane gives a "Confound Spell" feat which is raised by itself like an ability. This is covered in the Theist Magic Chapter, I believe.
> converting marsh to dry land, which is how the clan works). So I gave
> each bloodline an Affinity to that plant (at 10), and a single Feat to
An Affinity is a bit big. However, this could be considered to be a minor or petty deity worshiped by a clan (which would provide a feat at best) to something that is more common -- tribe based or several clans in various places worship something similar -- Vangarth teh Flyer being an example of this) and that would provide an affinity.
> describe the spirit magic spell. So frex the Magnussons have an Oak
> affinity, and a Feat of "Strength of Oak", which is known to only work if
> they drink Oak Beer. I'm probably going to put an upper limit on
> advancing this, since these are really pretty small spirits.
Hmmm. Perhaps you could treat them as feats and cap them at 10w2 like all feats known by initiates-- unless they become devotees of that daimon or petty god or hero, ANY initiate is capped at that level.
> Another example of why I really, really, like HW, BTW. I'd been trying to
> simulate this Oak Affinity business under RQ, and just couldn't do it.
Yeah. It really does let you get the weird little stuff in nicely. And remember, sacrifice a cow or sheep to your friend (or whatever they happen to like). These little fellows do like attention, after.
> Anyway, then all we had to do was the two characters who'd had further
> initiations. The Vingan was easy. Again, a very new initiate, level 12, as
> if she'd just got the initiation in play. But the Trickster: now he's going to
Sounds good.
> be difficult! Not that there should be a defined list of affinities for
> Trickster, of course. We ended up wth Change, Deceit, and Sensuality
> (having read the Yinkin description)
There's a few ways to do this. The one you use is good. But I prefer to treat any Trickster ability as a Feat and let him learn them all independently. Of course, some things ARE Affinities, so that's fine. Lust, for example is a good Trickster Affinity but Detach Body Part is more a feat or magical ability (detach head, detach arm, detach naughty bits...). You, as narrator, will have to decide on a case by case basis. Besides, I'm of the opinion that Trickster is inherently unknowable and there's a lot more to Eurmal than meets the eye.
> Then we looked at the adventures they'd had so far, any other skills
> they'd developed, and slapped those in at a level that seemed to reflect
> how well they'd done. (Anyone who can earn money by singing in
> taverns should have the skill, after all). We picked a skill to increase to
> 1W (all craft related), and two to go up to 17.
Yep. Though I think that a person who was going to be a warrior would have spent their youth practicing with the other youngsters. I'd prefer to give the players more choice in that, particularly with the artificially low characters you're using.
Don't forget that membership in some organizations confers some abilities too -- your Marshedge clan probably gets Clodhopping or Bogtrot as a part of their cultural keyword. It does help define the clan. My group has Running at 13 (except for the humakti who seem to have Eat Sauerkraut 13) reasons I do not know.
> And that was almost it. Until we looked at the Close Combat skill, and
> said "spear & shield 13, sword & shield 12, what's the CC skill?" And
> totally failed to find it in the rules or examples. What is it? Lowest skill?
> Highest skill? Something else?
They DO combine at the level of the highest. This is in the FAQ but I am sure by now others have answered this. Your folks would get Close Combat 13 (Sword and Shield, Spear and Shield)
> Same for Ranged of course: what does my ex-hunter Vingan, with
> Archery 8 and Javelin 12 get for Ranged Combat?
Ranged Combat 12 (Archery, Javelin)
> And we'd already decided we needed a generic Craft skill for one chap
> (he had Devise at high levels, plus Craft Wood, Craft Reeds and gods
> only know what else). The same rule will apply, when I find out what it is.
I'd just give him Woodcarving or the like at 17 and let him improvise. Improvising is a wonderful thing, you'll find.
> I have still to look up weapon ranks, edges, and armour (we ran out of
> time). I'm hoping this will simply be looking up the numbers and writing
> them in (pp145-147, from the look of it)
They are just look up. Most weapons are 3 unless they took a 'fine weapon' as a keyword or part of their write-up.
> And we have the various family and followers to do. I decline to worry
> about whether they're allies, dependents, followers, or what: they're
> *people*, and which category they fall into will depend on what we're
> doing that session. Quite a lot of them have been PCs before now.
Hmmm. Some could be Patrons, you know. Particularly the powerful folks running the clan. Many of them should just be at the 12-13 level, though relationsihps can include groups of folks -- Relationship to Temple could subsume a lot of folks. But its better to buy them 'in game.'
One thing about Relationships and Followers -- you have to roll that loyalty number to get them to come along on something insanely dangerous. A lot of our followers didn't want to go on an untried heroquest for some reason. Strangely, one player was a bit annoyed that his troops wouldn't go -- but that's the problem when you have a large number of follwers who have a 12 relationship. It was a very Knights of the Dinner Table moment.
> I now have a fortnight to re-type the character sheets, do the looking up,
> and take any comments, suggestions, and advice on board. And then
> we might go and find out who nicked those sheep. (From the Poss,
Good luck with it.
> BTW. I already know they go in for sheep, and there's already a plot-
> hook set up for the Poss to ask the PCs for help. Just don't ask who
> was nicking the Poss cows!).
>
Um, that was us. But we'd be happy to blame you! I just hope those
weren't my sheep. I just stole them, darnit.
Jeff
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