Quote from: BedrockBrendan;599798I would be happy to send you an early version of the game Marleycat if you are interested in trying it out. Because we are still developing the rules you have to plug in the holes with Servants of Gaius (which I can also send you by email).

I can see the Irda connection there. The big difference is the orgres in gamandria never had any access to magic and have always looked like ogres. They also are not shapeshifters or anything like that, just nomadic pastoralist ogres.

You could try, just PM me I can give you my email. I made mention of the Irda because of the fallen from grace thing I know they aren't shapeshifters or magical it just has that similarity which I like by the way.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;599783Every spell can be cast over and over again as long as the caster wishes, but casting it at full potency exposes the Sertorius to Afflictions. So there is a naturally built in incentive to cast cautiously.

How likely is a caster to gain an affliction while casting at full potency ?

I'm only asking as I've played in another game where the party has ended up looking like a mutoid freakshow as the campaign progressed.

Quote from: Sean !;599999How likely is a caster to gain an affliction while casting at full potency ?

I'm only asking as I've played in another game where the party has ended up looking like a mutoid freakshow as the campaign progressed.

We are still adjusting that. Right now it is too likely and we are attempting to create a less risky process that is smooth as well.

There is certainly a risk when you cast spells, and we want there to be a risk, but we also want more of a cushion than the current system has. In the coming two weeks we will retool how the afflictions work (right now there are three stages and you can progress all the way to the final stage on a single roll in some cases).

I was wondering about the game's power curve - Is there some sort of system of advancement for the characters, do their powers get better or can they access a broader range of powers as they progress (or both) ?

Quote from: Sean !;600166I was wondering about the game's power curve - Is there some sort of system of advancement for the characters, do their powers get better or can they access a broader range of powers as they progress (or both) ?

It isn't like D&D. Basically characters start out pretty solid out of the gate. There are no levels and your health stays the same from the start of the campaign to the end. There are some ways characters can improve though:

Skills: as you gain xp you can purchase more points in skills. It is a skill based game so this is pretty central

Divinity: As you attract followers your Divinity score increases, this gains you more spells (though the number here is pretty tight) and access to up to three miracles (also having followers has a lot fo advantages by its very nature).

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;600168It isn't like D&D. Basically characters start out pretty solid out of the gate. There are no levels and your health stays the same from the start of the campaign to the end. There are some ways characters can improve though:

Skills: as you gain xp you can purchase more points in skills. It is a skill based game so this is pretty central

Divinity: As you attract followers your Divinity score increases, this gains you more spells (though the number here is pretty tight) and access to up to three miracles (also having followers has a lot fo advantages by its very nature).

Sounds good to me, I like the Divinity/followers idea. Sorry for all the questions.

Quote from: Sean !;600173Sounds good to me, I like the Divinity/followers idea. Sorry for all the questions.

Feel free to ask as many as you like.

We are still working out many of the details with the Divinty/Followers rules but it looks very promising. We need more playtestst to get a feel for how this will impact the game play. We know already that one interesting possibility this introduces is followers from two playes in the same party coming into conflict. They can gain large followings, becoming the focus of a new religious movement if they are lucky. However Sertori also have disciples, who can help them manage their followers (and also free them up to go adventuring).

So, one way to undermine the Sertori's power (magical as well as religious) is by taking or leading away their followers.

Quote from: Sean !;600184So, one way to undermine the Sertori's power (magical as well as religious) is by taking or leading away their followers.

Yes. This will result in the Sertorius actually losing some power. However we haven't fully explored this in playtesting yet, so it might change as we go forward.

I should say, as of now, all Sertori have a base level of power that cannot be undone by taking away followers. These numbers could change, but for the moment Sertori start the game with four spells (some may begin with as many as five or six). Gaining ranks in Divinity can earn them 3 more Spells (for a Total of 7) and up to three miracles.

Quote from: Sean !;600184So, one way to undermine the Sertori's power (magical as well as religious) is by taking or leading away their followers.

Mmmm....delicious followers!


I like the implication that keeping your follows alive is advantageous. Use them as cannon fodder at your own peril.

Here is more (from the blog: http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/sertorius-playtest-november-16.html):

QuoteThis playtest involved three players. I ran them through a very casual scenario that was mostly one combat after another followed by an off-the-cuff adventure. The purpose was to see how much punishment Sertorius can take without rest, but also to get a sense of their ability to impact the setting through magic. The party consisted of two halflings and an orc.

Their first battle was against The Beast of Sardonia, a Monstra (same one faced in playtest one). Couple of characters took wounds, but they were able to defeat it without too much trouble (though there was a close call when it paralyzed the whole party).

This was immediately followed by an attack of 10 Korvars (tribal creatures distantly related to kobolds). These were quickly dispatched through a Captivation spell. However I re-examined the spell and realized it should only have been able to affect 6 Korvars. The misunderstanding was due to an error in the entry format (which we have since fixed). Still the combat would have only gone another round or so.

As they walked back to the town the characters were attacked by four Blemmeyes. These succeeded in wounding one character (Player A). Player B used Scars Upon Scars to good effect here, which made him very hard to wound. In the end, Player C cast Captivation again to end the combat. Clearly Captivation is a useful spell, potentially too powerful.

Following the attack of four Blemmeyes, they were assaulted by a Banshee. These are different from Banshees in other settings and linked to the whole Grimming process (see previous blog entries on Sertorius). Skinnless monstrosities with a "flay flesh" ability, they also have the traditional howling power associated with the creatures. In Gamandria Banshee are powerful, requiring a good deal of research and planning to kill, so the party fled (with one member of the group falling behind and narrowly evading its Flaying touch).

After this they strode into Thana (A Sardonan settlement), and met with the Emir. He decided to employ them after they made their magical skills known (he even gave them a wing of his vizier's palace--promising to erect individual palaces for them in the near future). To gain permanent employment with the Emir, they agreed to assassinate the Emperor of Ronia.

Arriving in Ronia they found a contact who arranged an audience in the Palace with Emperor Nicephorous (their cover was they were priests of Lurolai seeking to erect a new temple in Rostanba). I should say at this point, that this was not the best strategy in my opinion. Attacking the Emperor in his own court just didn't seem as likely to succeed as attacking him away from the security of his palace, so I decided to play the guards and courtiers to the hilt. However, I may have miscalculated how many guards the emperor should have had (this was run off the cuff, had I prepped the court in advance it would likely have been more secure and challenging).

Based on my calculations of the number of Sertori available in the Fellowship of Promestus (somewhere around 55-60) I decided the emperor would only have two permanent Sertori in his court (this was a number I decided well before the session, based on the need to have the sertori fill other posts in the empire). Outside his own court, this number would be increased (say when the Emperor is travelling). He also had 8 Ogre guards in a line before his throne. His throne is a magic device that floats above the court (again in hindsight it probably should have an arch of protection spell imbedded in it, or something to that effect). In addition to this he had 10 human guards directly next to his sertori (and their function was to absorb attacks directed at the wizards).

I still think 2 Sertori is a reasonable number for a frugal empire that is somewhat stretched. But maybe four would be a better number. For Ogres, I think realistically, the court really should have had closer to twenty five. Plus there probably should be a century or so of human soldiers who can reach the court in seconds to respond to any threat (and a full cohort soon after that).

All that said, the battle didn't go the players way initially. They had a few lucky breaks. Player C used captivation, but she said she was using it on the emperor, so I assumed she was not trying to project it onto other people in the room as a way of not attracting attention to herself as a Sertorius. Had she attempted to use it on multiple targets, things may have gone better. It did work on the emperor, but I gave the Sertori Detect rolls to notice (something the rules are going to have to address). They immediately cast Avalanch of Flame, followed by Bolt of Fury. The combo worked well so they continue that for the rest of the fight.

Player A was killed. The emperor was never harmed (though he had one close call). They didn't really manage to do much. But Player C was able to save the characters by using captivation on the Sertori and convincing them it was a misunderstanding (that Player A was the assassin and she and Player B were innocent). This seemed a reasonable use of the spell to me, though I imagine a temporary measure as there were witnesses who might contradict her account. Had to end it there because we were running out of time, but I believe they may have escaped unharmed (with the exception of Player A). At the end of the day though, they failed to kill the emperor, so they didn't achieve their objective.

I sent them against the Emperor deliberately, just to test how powerful Sertori are in terms of overthrowing or attacking political authorities. In hindsight, I should have run some of the spells a bit differently (particularly Captivation). I also think some of the spells require revising. While Captivation is intended to be a potent spell, it isn't meant to cause people to not do their job or behave unintelligently. Some rewording will go a long way toward fixing the issue.

Everyone had a good time and enjoyed using their spell abilities. It is still very early, so marked some spells for observation and made a couple of changes. In the coming weeks we will put together an excel chart to map out all the different spell effects and peoples' impressions of them during play.

What is a Grim/Grimming? I've tried looking on the blog.

Wouldn't openly attacking Sertori from the Fellowship of Promestus be a bad idea, making the PCs the target of the Fellowship, or does the fellowship have a 'join us or be viewed as enemies' stance towards rogue Sertori anyway?

Quote from: Sean !;601125What is a Grim/Grimming? I've tried looking on the blog.

Wouldn't openly attacking Sertori from the Fellowship of Promestus be a bad idea, making the PCs the target of the Fellowship, or does the fellowship have a 'join us or be viewed as enemies' stance towards rogue Sertori anyway?

Basically every time you cast a spell at full power, you expose yourself to a transformational process called grimming. Mechanically this happens through the acquisition of Grim Points which are tracked on your sheet (you get these every time you roll ones on a "cathartic casting" of a spell). When you amasss enough Grim Points, you start acquiring mental, then physical physical afflictions. After two stages of afflictions you reach a third stage where you become a Grim. This can mean you either turn into a powerful creature like a Lich or Banshee, or you can fuse with the land around you, warping the environment your magic.

Attacking Sertori from the fellowship of Promestus is generally a bad idea. Still designing the organization, but they do actively try to recruit any Sertori they hear about. Refusing to join won't make you an enemy of the order, but you must at least take a vow (a magically sealed vow) not to violate any of their rules while in Ronia. Those who refuse to take the vow are required to leave Ronia.

Just put all of our spells into an excel chart so we can compare damage, area of effect, duration, etc. Took a while but this is very useful.

Seems like Captivation is a bit too useful