Worldwalker Cyclopedia: Pech!

I wrote a ton for SimpExalted yesterday – but I didn’t want to post it just yet. It needs time to percolate and go through some editing, as it isn’t just musing, but a wholesale adaptation of Exalted, chapter-by-chapter. So here’s another thing,

Pech are the “small folk” of Fantasy Craft, what other games might call hobbits, halflings, or gnomes all lumped together. I decided if I was going to have them, they were going to be important, and so I made them wealthy merchants, the right hand of civilized dragons… and not just, say, teeny gypsies or hippies or hippie gypsies. Or at least the stereotype thereof.

Anyway, here’s the write-up for the (never to be completed) Worldwalker Cyclopedia!

Pech

Major Worlds: Star-Crossed Isles, Summerlands (Ghost-Eye), Sunken Lands (Dark-Earth), Theracia

The homelands of the pech are lost to the erosion of history. Some say they were forced to flee the Summerlands, driven out by the tyranny of elves. Others speak of an ancient homeland, the First Home, destroyed by a evil god. Humans of Theracia say the pech were born of a curse on a thief, while the grey elves say they were created by nature as servants. Every community of pech tends to have their own tale, but rarely do they put much stock in it. Pech generally look forward, rather than concern themselves with the past.

Pech are often bound into tight family units, and though little commonality is held between “Pech-kind”, loyalty is strong within individual clans. Taught from an early age of the importance of their family name and deeds, a young pech often has little illusions about his family’s expectations, but is oft-reminded of the support provided by the clan. Indeed, exile is considered one of the harshest punishments imaginable, as a pech on their own in a land of big folk faces an uncertain future at best. Though there are tales of pech performing tasks so great they are allowed to return to their clan after exile, these are more tale than truth.

Within Pech clans, it is said “the youngest go, the middle guide, the eldest reset”. The young are expected to work and make a living for their clan, even from a young age. The middle-aged – generally around 35 – still work, but guide, manage, and lead their youngers. And the elderly of age 50 are allowed to retire, and are taken care of for as long as the clan can see to their health. These ages can vary by clan – in harsher environments, the younger may be forced into the guiding roles earlier, if survival is a larger concern.

The Theracian pech are wanderers and travelers, and only expected to start settling in their middle years. They often live amongst their brother races, the humans and dwarves, but are more often found in rural and frontier communities. They rarely see true wealth, and do not lead the Empire – a feeling which at times has led to resentment and small rebellions by small folk.

In the Star-Crossed Isles, the ties of the pech to the Evenscale Lending Consortium has given then a unique noble status, and many occupy the higher or middle classes of the land. Many have been given the blessing of draconic blood by their masters, and a number of prominent dragonblooded pech lines exist, most notably the Goldhearts. Even those outside of the Consortium generally pursue skilled labors, and are well-repected despite their relative size.

In the Sunken Lands, the pech are adapted to their underground environs well. The pech dig the deepest, discovering some of the greater mysteries underneath the stone – and the greater hazards as well. Though they are far from the most deadly race, their reclusive nature is heightened by their tendency to kill and eat trespassers, using traps, tactics, and numbers to overwhelm the stronger races.

The pech of the Summerlands are servants of the elves, and though many are unhappy with their lot, the tyranny of the elves is occasional rather than ongoing. In truth, the pech have the greater control of the land and resources, and have as comfortable a life as slaves ever had, which does much to quiet their discontent. A number have dedicated to learning why the gods left the Summerlands – and if any divine power remains.

Worldwalker Cyclopedia: Giants!

Awhile back, when running Fantasy Craft, I started doing long, in-world entries on each race and locale. Though unlikely to ever be finished, some work was complete, such as the writeup for the giant race. I wanted to give them a spin as an elemental race, closer to the primordial aspects of the world than perhaps any other race.

Giants

Major Worlds: Elemental Vault, Star-Crossed Isles

Giants are primarily known as the servants of the Elemental Gods. Created from the elements, the first giants were comprised of elemental matter. Thrown into the wars of the Elemental Vault, they were used as slaves and cannon fodder, their hearts seen as a terrible flaw to their otherwise grand design. They could plot, plan, and make war in ways the Gods did not care to, and even show greater fervor and fanaticism… but also the many weaknesses of a soul.

At rare times, they were sold to other worlds for sorcerous power – the caldera of Zhul at one time had a great number of them, and it is said the elves of Frostholm once used them as slaves. As servants beyond the Elemental Vault, giants were simply too powerful and stubborn to remain slaves for long, and many firebloods and snowbloods still live on the edges of each world, presenting a slow but measurable threat to those who rule there.

Even rarer is the actual escape by giants. Often it was only one or two escaping through a trans-planar cataclysm, but more recently a large number of giants were liberated by the first Vossath, his loyal magi finding a means to summon them to the Star-Crossed Isles. Though pivotal in the war to come, they would be neglected soon after, and often feared by later rulers, who undermined attempts for the giants to become part of Isles society, and to this day they live in relative poverty and small numbers.

Giants in the Elemental Vault have difficulty giving birth – rare is the child that can survive the elemental forces, much less the harsh life in it. In other worlds, they have more of a chance, though often they lack the elemental powers of their forebears. Newly born giants rarely shed their mortal forms – and only after adulthood. Most giants on other worlds never reclaim their elemental powers, lacking the harsh environment that helps shape and foster it. Worlds with strong elemental potential, like Zhul or Frostholm, however, are more likely to awaken it.

Stubborn and patient, giants are used to hardship, and see shouldering it as a sign of strength rather than as a burden. Weakness is the greatest sin – showing fear or pain, though it is likely to happen in every giant’s life, is avoided if at all possible, or kept to private ears. They are clannish, often dismissing the outside world of “tinies” as trouble, though the giants of the wilds often simply crush them rather than humor them. To act too much like a tiny is a sign of weakness, though there are some races that are exempt – ogres, dragons, and saurians are seen as strong. Small size is associated with trickery, and liars and sneaks are often outcasts amongst their people, seen as too weak to handle a direct confrontation. Betrayal is also harshly judged, though less so if it is up front and blatant.

Generally giants are ruled by the guidance of their elders, particularly those who are immortal elementals. Elders are left to work out their pecking order more often than not, though in the Isles they often create formal positions as guild, gang, or cult leaders. In more savage lands, often leadership is decided by strength through fierce, bloody duels.

Giant religion is largely relegated to the worship of Elemental Princes – the Gods are seen has too distant to contact, and the Princes are, if not giant in mindset, far closer than their creators. The Brothers of Mendilan, the Sword of Serter, and others represent examples of myriad local cults. Rarely, giants have come to worship other gods. The First Fundamental Temple has the greatest commonality with giantkind, though it is a minority force due to its outside leadership. The old gods are respected for their power, but not for their often confusing and vague natures. Other gods are generally seen as weak, relying on mercy, trickery, and other “tiny” virtues.

Fallout Craft

I’ve been playing a lot of New Vegas, so- more Feats for Mastercraft, inspired by Fallout’s perk system!

Action Boy (or Girl)

It’s time for… danger.

Benefit: When you gain Edge for the first time in a round, gain 1 additional Edge. Also, by spending 5 Edge, gain 1 half action.

Heave Ho!

You’re going for the long pass!

Prerequisites: Thrown forte

Benefit: You gain 2 additional increments when using thrown weapons. Also, you gain a trick.

And Away! (Thrown Attack Trick): You gain a bonus to your damage roll equal to twice the number of increments between you and the target.

Nerd Rage!

They’re all going to be sorry they picked on you!

Prerequisite: Rage Basics, 3 or more Studies

Benefit: When your vitality is reduced to 1/2 normal, you may enter your Rage stance as a free action on the start of your turn. By entering your rage stance in this fashion you also gain Crunch! and Tough Hide 3 while in your rage stance.

Strong Back

You can’t raid the wasteland without bringing back a bit of swag.

Benefit: You add a +4 bonus to Strength when you figure how much  you can carry, or to determine if you suffer penalties when using a heavy weapon. Also, when you suffer a penalty to your movement the penalty is reduced by 5 ft.

Legend of the Five Crafts part 2

So here’s the conversions for the other main bushi schools: Yoritomo, Shiba, Bayushi, and Moto.

I have some mixed feelings with the structure. If I I revise it, it’ll probably be done in a less structured fashion (three feats with two tricks and one stance). It probably works well enough without circumventing the intentions of the original schools too much. Also, I’m renaming the feats for clarity, even if “Bushi Basics” sounds pretty awful, alas.

Yoritomo Bushi Basics

The power of the tides informs your martial style.

Benefit: Any one-handed weapon you use gains the hurl quality. You also gain a stance.

Strength of Waves (Stance): You gain the battering NPC quality. Your defense is at -2.

Yoritomo Bushi Mastery

Existing on uncertain footing has taught you quite a bit about balance.

Prerequisites: Yoritomo Bushi Basics

Benefit: When making Balance checks, your DC increases for surface quality, standing in water, or being attacked are reduced by 1/2. You also gain a trick.

Strike of the Mantis (Trip Trick): If this trip succeeds, the target takes a die of falling damage equal to your base action die without modifiers (d4, d6, d8, etc.). This die does not explode. If you are flanking the target, you are not flat-footed if you fail.

Yoritomo Bushi Supremacy

And after they go down, you go for kill!

Prerequisites: Yoritomo Bushi Mastery

Benefit: Your attacks gain a die of sneak attack damage. You also gain a trick.

Hand of Osano-Wo (Attack Trick): When using two one-handed weapons, you may make a single attack at -5. The attack does the base damage of both weapons plus modifiers for Strength and other effects. This trick may only be used once per turn.

Shiba Bushi Basics

Violence is a means of preserving the peace.

Prerequisite: Edged forte

Benefit: You gain the Step-In trait – once per combat, you may choose to receive all of 1 attack’s damage on an adjacent character. Your Damage Reduction and Damage Resistance apply normally. If you already have the Step In trait, you can use it twice per combat. You also gain a stance.

Dancing With the Elements (Stance): When you spend an action die, you gain a bonus to Defense equal to the result of the action die.

Shiba Bushi Mastery

A skilled warrior defends oneself. A master warrior defends others.

Prerequisite: Shiba Bushi Basics

Benefit: When an attacker uses an action die on an attack roll or damage roll against you, gain 3 Edge.

Move With the World (Total Defense Trick): For every 1 Edge you spend, you can grant a +4 dodge bonus to Defense to a character that is adjacent to you at the end of your turn.

Shiba Bushi Supremacy

Harmony with the elements grants you fortune.

Prerequisite: Shiba Bushi Mastery

Benefit: You gain 1 additional AD.

Touch of the Void (Edged Attack Trick): Spend 1 Edge. This attack does divine damage instead of lethal damage, with no reduction in damage inflicted.

Bayushi Bushi Basics

They never saw it coming.

Prerequisite: Edged forte

Benefit: When you use the Distract action successfully, the Initiative Score of your target drops by 2d8 instead of 2d6. You also gain a trick.

Pincers and Tail (Sword Feint Trick): If you successfully Feint an opponent, your attacks gain two dice of sneak attack damage until your next Initiative Count.

Bayushi Bushi Mastery

You find advantage in the disadvantages of others.

Prerequisite: Bayushi Bushi Basics

Benefit: When you succeed at a Distract, Disarm, Feint, or Trip attempt, gain 1 Edge. You also gain a stance.

Strike First, Strike Last (Stance): When an opponent misses you with a melee attack, your threat range against them increases by 2 until their next Initiative Count.

Bayushi Bushi Supremacy

Your reach and speed is far more than they’ll ever expect.

Prerequisite: Bayushi Bushi Mastery

Benefit: When using a sword, your reach increases by 1. You also gain a trick.

The Pincers Hold, the Tail Strikes (Sword Initiative Trick): Spend 3 Edge when you successfully Disarm, Feint, or Trip your opponent. You may make a free attack against the same target.

Moto Bushi Basics

A bit of civilized savagery gives you the edge.

Prerequisites: Horse focus (for the Ride skill)

Benefit: When you wield a weapon, it gains the cavalry trait. If it already has the cavalry trait, you gain +1 to damage when using it while mounted. Also, you gain a trick.

Howl of the Moto (Melee Attack Trick): Your target must make a Will save with a DC equal to the damage taken or become Shaken.

Moto Bushi Mastery

A hard life breeds a hard warrior.

Prerequisites: Moto Bushi Basics

Benefit: You gain 1 Wound for every Melee Combat feat you possess. You also gain a trick.

Burning Strike (Melee Attack Trick): Add the Damage save bonus of your weapon as a bonus to the attack roll and damage roll of this attack.

Moto Bushi Supremacy

You are a master of weapons others only hear of in tales.

Prerequisites: Moto Bushi Mastery

Benefit: You are treated as having a forte for all exotic weapons. Also, you gain a stance.

Moto Cannot Yield (Stance): Your attacks gain an amount of AP equal to your Strength modifier. You may not move while in this stance (but you can take a bonus 5-ft. step as usual).

Legend of the Five Crafts part 1

I’ll occasionally be reposting stuff from my original blog, but when I do, I’m going to seek to add significant additions. This was originally posted on blogger, but has been significantly updated for balance and with double the material!*

* Almost.

I’ve run an number of Legend of the Five Rings games, and the techniques of the various samurai clans leads to some interesting parallels with Fantasy Craft feat progressions. I was inspired by the Legend of the Five Rings Mastercraft conversion by Morgenstern, Glimmerat, Aegis, and others I’m probably missing on the Crafty Games boards. However, that project seems to have trailed off after several months. Keep in mind this is from scratch, and not based on their conversion – there are probably minor conflicts of conversion here and there.

In any case, rough conversions (or in some cases reworkings) for Hida, Doji, Mirumoto, and Akodo bushi schools here. The Mirumoto don’t get a full conversion as most of their techniques are aptly covered by the two-weapon feats of Fantasy Craft and Adventure Companion.

For the record, the Hida Bushi feats are Basic Combat Feats. The Crane and Lion feats are Melee Combat Feats. Blood of my Brothers is a Spellcasting feat and Heart of the Dragon is a Style feat.

Hida Bushi Basics

You embody the might of the Carpenter Wall.

Benefit: The first time you are hit in a round yet take take 1 or 0 damage, you gain 1 edge. Also, you gain a Stance.

The Mountain Does Not Move (Stance): You are treated as one size larger for the purpose of Bull Rush, Grapple, or Trip actions. Furthermore, any character trying to Tumble through your space adds an additional +5 to their TN. You may not move while in this stance (though you can still take 5-ft. steps as usual).

Hida Bushi Mastery

Pain in, pain out!

Prerequisites: Hida Bushi Basics

Benefit: When wearing medium or heavy armor and not using a shield, the AP of any attack that targets you is reduced by a number equal to the Basic Combat feats you possess. Also, you gain a trick.

Devastating Blow (Attack Trick): Spend 3 Edge. If you hit and inflict damage, the target is stunned for one full round.

Hida Bushi Supremacy

Death no longer concerns you.

Prerequisites: Hida Bushi Mastery

Benefit: You gain 5 edge when your vitality points are expended for the first time in a scene. You also gain a trick.

The Mountain Does Not Fall (Refresh Trick): Spend 4 Edge. This Refresh action can be used even if you are suffering from conditions, and you gain the benefits of two action dice (though only one is still spent).

Crane Bushi Basics

You aim to end fights swiftly – in your favor.

Prerequisites: Edged forte

Benefit: You gain an additional bonus to initiative checks equal to the number of melee combat feats you possess. Also, you gain a stance.

First Stance (Stance): Any one-handed sword you use alone gains the finesse quality. In addition, you get +2 to melee attack rolls and +2 to melee damage rolls when your Initiative Count is higher than the Initiative Count of the opponent you’re attacking.

Crane Bushi Mastery

You focus in on a singular, perfect strike.

Prerequisites: Crane Bushi Basics

Benefit: The first time you use Aim or Anticipate in a round, gain 1 Edge.

Strike From the Void (Sword Attack Trick): Spend 2 Edge. If this melee attack inflicts damage, the target is -4 to attack rolls against you until your next initiative count.

Crane Bushi Supremacy

Your blade strikes so fast, it may as well be invisible.

Prerequisites: Crane Bushi Mastery

Benefit: You may replace the bonuses granted by the Aim or Anticipate actions with your Dexterity modifier. Anticipate actions that target you add +10 to their DC. You also gain a trick.

Strike With No Thought (Sword Attack Trick): If the target is a standard character with a lower Initiative Count than yours, he
immediately fails his Damage save (damage isn’t rolled). You may use this trick once per round.

Blood of My Brothers

You have been exposed to mysticism and spells of many sorts, and can ease or hinder magic performed on you.

Benefit: You gain +3 on saves against spell effects. Furthermore, when you willingly accept a spell effect (this can be chosen even when the spell presents no saving throw for purposes of this feat) you can add 2 to the spellcaster’s threat range.

Heart of the Dragon

You win all the staring contests.

Benefit: You may use Resolve for Distract and Threaten checks. You also gain a trick.

Unnerving Patience (Threaten Trick): Take a -4 penalty with your check. If you succeed, the target gains the slow condition for one full round. You may only use this trick once per target during each scene.

Akodo Bushi Basics

When you use a blade, nothing occurs by accident.

Prerequisites: Edged forte, Called Shot

Benefit: Your penalty when using the Called Shot trick is reduced by the number of Melee Combat Feats you possess (to a minimum of -0). You also gain a stance.

Fury Without End (Stance): When you suffer penalties due to conditions, those penalties are reduced by a number equal to your starting action dice (to a minimum of -0).

Akodo Bushi Mastery

Your nobility and honor are impeccable.

Prerequisites: Akodo Bushi Basics

Benefit: When you lose reputation, that loss is reduced by your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). Also, you gain a trick.

Strength of Purity (Sword Attack Trick): You may add your Noble renown as a bonus on your damage roll.

Akodo Bushi Supremacy

No defense stands against your fury.

Prerequisites: Akodo Bushi Mastery

Benefit: When you spend an action die on an melee attack roll and miss, you do not lose that action die. You also gain a trick.

Triumph Before Battle (Sword Attack Trick): If your opponent is in Total Defense and you successfully attack them, they lose the benefits of Total Defense. Total Defense tricks may not apply to this attack.

Crafting a Fantasy Game

Since I’m going to be doing a lot of work playing with it as my tabletop flavor of the month: what is Fantasy Craft?

In 2000, Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition came out, featuring the d20 system, one of the more divergent games was Spycraft. Eschewing D&D 3e’s fantasy trappings for modern espionage and action, it introduced a number of mechanics that made it significantly different from its parent game, including:

• Action Dice, a limited number of dice that can be added to the usual d20 roll by each player each game session.
• Chase mechanics, an abstracted way of representing vehicle and foot pursuits.
• Critical Threat and Error, where people spend action dice to activate high and low rolls respectively, rather than having automatic success or failure.

With over a dozen books printed out for it, Spycraft was later revised as Spycraft 2.0, with great changes to just about every mechanic that made it essentially a different game, even if a lot of the framework was similar. The big addition was Dramatic Conflicts, where the chase rules were expanded to represent a great number of opposed efforts – infiltration, seduction, manhunts, etc. Another significant addition was attempting to divorce the rules subtly from the original espionage genre, trying to make it into a more flexible modern action RPG. Supplements like Origin of the Species and Spellbound introduced more fantasy options for Spycraft 2.0. Lastly, the addition of Campaign Options codified rule changes to support different play themes – making combat more or less deadly, changing magic, or making characters more or less capable.

Why go over all this? Well, the answer lies in the current addition to Spycraft – Mastercraft. Mastercraft was not intended as quite as genre-specific as Spycraft, and the first product in that line in Fantasy Craft. One should understand that with two editions behind it, Fantasy Craft has taken quite a different trajectory than some of the other games that have evolved from Dungeons and Dragons 3e, such as Dungeons and Dragons 4e or Pathfinder. It represents a change smaller than D&D 4e but much greater than Pathfinder (which has been dubbed D&D 3.75).

When I went to come up with a game a year ago, I know I wanted to do an original world (or at least a bog-standard fantasy world) of my own. Originally it was planned for D&D 3e, but I was dissatisfied with a lot of the design aspects of the game. I wanted classes and magic items and funny ears but some aspects of the game left me cold. Namely, the love lavished on magic-based characters and skill or combat-based characters were left out in the cold. Though there were books and books of added traits for skill and combat characters, magic trumps them at every turn. There are an insane amount of spells that magic users have to cover every contingency, leading to the so-called “Batman wizard”, characters that can do anything competently given a bit of foresight.

But I didn’t want to jump ahead to D&D 4e. D&D 4e is a very fun system – within its purview. It doesn’t have much room for campaign customization, other than what classes and races you allow. I didn’t want somebody playing a fighter to have more options than ‘which of these four attacks do I take’? Pathfinder presented the same problems as 3e. Arguably, it makes them worse, making some spellcasters even better and offering other classes abilities that amount to chump change.

What I was going to do was make a 3.5 game using House Rule #2, based off this comprehensive D&D class tier list. That’s the way it went for the early stages of planning…

… until I learned about Fantasy Craft.

It was a big jump to learn (and I’m still learning), but my players have loved the game, some even hinting at using it as well. If you have any fondness for D&D 3e, I highly recommend it. It’s more flexible than D&D 3e, with characters getting more abilities (and thus more customized characters, and having the classes be more balanced and robust, with no need to take special advanced classes (though they’re still available) to be viable. There are very, very few “junk traits” that players have to take to get to where they want to be. Monsters level with players, meaning you don’t get artificial superhumans through leveling. Which isn’t to say characters get more competent, but it’s through gaining extra tricks, versatility, and abilities that both deepen specialties and broaden characters. Mages are still probably too good, but it’s a slight advantage rather than overall dominance.

I’ve run it for about a year, and I still want to come back to it sometime. I don’t say that for many systems I run that long, and whether I do something with Fantasy Craft or Spycraft, I actually look forward to my side of the mechanics. Fantasy Craft gives a gamemaster a bit of a game all their own, and I’d like to play it again now that I know so much more.