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Author Topic: Aquelarre Real Play ITT  (Read 1595 times)

Mistwell

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Re: Aquelarre Real Play ITT
« Reply #15 on: November 28, 2020, 12:12:23 PM »
I guess you mean Adventures in the East Mark, but it has nothing to do with Aquelarre, apart from the fact that both are Spanish games.  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/davebrown/adventures-in-the-east-mark-the-red-box

Yes that was the one! I was just commenting on RPGPundit's broader comment about Spanish companies doing these kinds of things before it was a thing here in the U.S..

rytrasmi

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Re: Aquelarre Real Play ITT
« Reply #16 on: November 28, 2020, 12:28:33 PM »
OK! Thanks for your comments, everyone. So now we are going to assign Zohra's skill points.

Let's do the paternal points first. Father is a Jester and we took from him Sleight of Hand +10% and Eloquence +15% (making up the 25% paternal bonus). Zohra learned from father's Eloquence by turning the same skill against him during arguments about taking the family profession. And as a family of slaves, everyone learned to have sticky fingers and palm what little extra they could when opportunities arose, and more so in a family that practices juggling and parlor tricks. When Zohra was a child, the master of the house would sometimes allow her to take a fig, a hunk of jamali̇́ (wonderfully spiced lamb), or some other treat, and Zohra learned to take a little extra without being noticed.

Eloquence 25% (10% from Communication 15% plus from arguments with father)
Sleight of Hand 30% (20% from Dexterity plus 10% from learning tricks from father and practicing them on the master's household)

As for primary and secondary skills, metagaming here, since we are going on a solo adventure, we will need an arms skill. Weapons in Aquelarre have strong class constraints! You don't get to walk around with a sword unless that is your birthright (aka you are noble). Commoners don't use spears; spears are weapons of war for the soldiery and nobility. And a noble would never stoop to using a bow, as that is a mere peasant tool. You can technically pick any weapons skills you like (unlike earlier versions of the game), you just have to be prepared to role play it. We could make Zohra the female slave skilled in longswords but 1) we need to explain it (maybe someone in her master's household had some reason to train her?) and 2) we won't be able to openly carry a sword without drastic social consequences (we'd get assaulted, accused of a crime, and likely straight up killed by a pissed off caballero). So we are going to pick something more suitable for a slave and more feminine: Knives! We spend 40 points on Knives and since it's a secondary skill add 40% to the base of 20% (from Dexterity)[/b]. Zohra is a healer, and her master allowed her to venture out into the countryside to collect herbs. This required a knife both to harvest the herbs and defend herself from men and animals. Knives 60%.

Now we have 60 more points to spend. We will use 15 to raise Magical Knowledge from its base of 60% (primary culture skill so 3x our Culture) to Magical Knowledge 75%. We will do the same for Alchemy 75% leaving us with 30 points. Zohra is pretty, so let's go for a wildcard here and burn 30 points to add 15%  (we pay double because this is not a Pri/Sec healer skill) to Seduction because why the hell not! We might be able to smile and wink our way through an otherwise dangerous situation. Seduction is the only skill based on a secondary characteristic, namely , Appearance. Zohra's appearance is a handsome 22, so Seduction 37%.

So Zohra's main skills, her primary skills and the ones we added points to, are as follows:

Alchemy 75%
Empathy 30% (Primary; Perception x3)
Heal 60% (Primary; Dexterity x3)
Magical Knowledge 75%
Knives 60%
Eloquence 25%
Sleight of Hand 30%
Seduction 37%

(All other skills default to the value of the underlying primary characteristic.)

So we can see Zohra shaping up to be a young witch, skilled with the knife and not above a little petty theft and flirting to get what she wants.

Next post, we will do Boons and Banes!
The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out
The ones that crawl in are lean and thin
The ones that crawl out are fat and stout
Your eyes fall in and your teeth fall out
Your brains come tumbling down your snout
Be merry my friends
Be merry

rytrasmi

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Re: Aquelarre Real Play ITT
« Reply #17 on: December 07, 2020, 10:26:39 PM »
Boons and Banes are based on age. The older you are the more life has affected you.

Zohra is 23, so the Rules say we must roll 3 Boons and Banes and we have the option to roll 1 more. The roll is a d100 on a large table.

First roll is 89: Exemplary Student (Boon) - This allows us to learn from others better (when they use the Teach skill), and reduced the time to learn new spells.

Second roll is 63: Secret: Condemned to Death (Bane) - This means we carry a secret that, if revealed, would be punished by death. Perhaps we are a demon worshiper or have committed some crime. It is opened ended and allows us to choose.

Third roll is 8: Enhanced Appearance - This is a variable Boon, meaning that if we used the point buy system we could add 1-4 points to our Appearance. Since we are rolling, I will roll 1d4 to decide how much better looking Zohra is. I rolled a 4, so her Appearance goes from 22 to 26. Wow. Zohra now has "nearly inhuman beauty." It will be difficult for her to pass though a crowd unnoticed. And her Seduction skill also goes up by 4% to 41%.

At this point, we need to decide whether we will roll the last one, which is optional. Hell yes.

Fourth roll is 25: Kleptomania (Bane) - Okay then! Zohra has a disorder that causes her to steal uncontrollably, without concern of getting caught. Crazy. This Bane also raises Sleight of Hand by 15% to 45%.

Zohra the slave is really taking shape. She is smart and insanely beautiful, but has some terrible secret that would result in her life being forfeit if discovered. At the same time, she pushes her luck by stealing anything that isn't nailed down. Besides, she's a widow, so it's easy to imagine that she may have been sold by her master to a friend who, entranced by her beauty, married her despite her low status. Perhaps her terrible secret is that she used her plant knowledge to poison her husband.

A few more things to tidy up before she's ready.

Spells

Based on her Magical Knowledge of 75% Zohra gets 1d6 spells to start.

The roll is a 4. Aquelarre has a lot of spells, more than 200. They range from vis (level/power) 1 to 7. You can select spells of any vis. However, casting a spell requires a roll of 1d100 below your Irrationality. There are various modifiers that come into play, not the least of which is the spell's vis. A spell of vis 2 incurs a -15% casting penalty. Vis 6, -100%. So clearly a new character should stick to low level spells.

I will just skim through the Rules and pick the first 4 that seem to fit Zohra's past.

Release the Slave - This is an amulet-based spell that causes all mundane bindings and restraints to fall from the target. The spell description sets out how to make the amulet (it requires a sheet of gold, silver wire, and corundum). However, when selecting initial amulet spells, we start with one of the amulets.

Search Lamp - Another amulet. It's a lamp filled with human fat! (instead of oil). We use a piece of cloth from the shroud of a dead person to light the lamp and speak three times the name of the object we seek. The lamp's brightness will then increase as we near the object.

Healing Balm - Zohra is a healer after all! This is an unguent that we can apply to regain 1d3 Life Points (once per day per person). We start the game with 2d6 doses. I rolled an 8.

Surgat's Gift - This is an amulet in the form of a small purse with some small pieces of charcoal inside. When you pull a piece of charcoal from purse (and say the magic words), the charcoal turns into a gold coin. But there's a catch. The next day, as soon as the first cock crow is heard, the coin turns into a burning coal.

Equipment

We are allowed to spend starting funds on equipment. Starting funds can be quite high (for example, if noble) or very low. A Curandera (healer) starts with money based on her Healing skill. However, as a slave can only start with 50 maravedíes and must spend it all.

Zohra's Gear:

Gumia (Moroccan dagger with curved blade and bone handle)
Bag
Wine skin
Tinderbox
Smoked meat (1 lb)

She also has a dog.
The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out
The ones that crawl in are lean and thin
The ones that crawl out are fat and stout
Your eyes fall in and your teeth fall out
Your brains come tumbling down your snout
Be merry my friends
Be merry