My Current Projects

[SmootRK]

That sounds like a cool project, but I was thinking about something specific to equipment. The Shady Dragon Inn was specifically for providing pregenerated characters and a place to find them, hang out, drink, eat and I assume sleep for the night. It came with a floor plan of the building.

This could be a specific building or "strip mall" of several shops selling wears, shop owners, and maybe a series of villagers that have weapons/goods for sale (could be used in small villages where no specific weapon shop is available but individual villagers may have weapons they've picked up over time). You could still have straight lists of equipment as well.

But then again, if anyone wanted anything like this, it would have been created in the past 30 years

I like the idea of a sort of "Merchant Alley" sort of backstreet area.

[jackel]

Hey this is kinda what I was talking about. Ettinmeyer's Equipment Emporium. Kinda of standard shop that GM's can plop down in any ole city, town, or village. Maybe we could do a 'shop's supplement' , GM's could pick and chose which they like and don't and just use then ones they like. This sounds like a potentially be a HUGE project.

[Joe the Rat]

No kidding. It's quite the task just to get them stocked. I'm working on, er... procuring some additional equipment - mostly just some odds-and-ends, but I'm looking to reasonably flesh out adventurer's gear, plus get a few price points for things for when they decide to outfit a Longship or get all Ermined up for a to-do at the Duke's castle (For the folks who don't want to simply fiat the whole thing). This is going to take a bit.

What I'm not looking to do is make a two page list of polearms with individual stats (you know what I'm talking about). I've an eye for some additions, but not if something could reasonably fit in an existing weapon type - and a few examples for where you've got something you want for style, but aren't as sure where it goes.

[SmootRK]

Not to be flip-floppy but, I think for starters we ought to keep goals set on the essentials for equipment... meaning Gear Lists (with costs, weights, and descriptive text), as this really is a big job in itself. Then as an afterthought, we can embellish or begin another project of a set of 'drop-in merchants' for any campaign.

As for myself, I have been working on my own Houserules Document, fully fleshing out the Character Races and doing my best to make sure I am using consistent writing/compiling. I hope to soon start into classes themselves so that this really starts to look like a personalized Player's Handbook for our game. Spells will be a monster project since I incorporate all the major supplements with spell casting classes (Druid, Illusionist, Necromancer, Fey-Mage, as well as the general Spell Supplement)... but I really think this will make a great reference book for us (our little group).

The work on my Houserule Document, has led to several changes, tweaks, and additions to other documents... New Races, Quasi-Classes, Necromancer, among those with minor changes.

Latest draft is attached for any who might want a peek.

[SmootRK]

So I am working on my House Rules Document about to start into doing various class write-ups... then it occurs to me to modify the experience charts a bit, even for the core classes...

Thieves and Clerics remain intact, but Fighters move to a progression based upon 1750 xp required for 2nd level, and MU moves down to a progression based upon 2000xp for 2nd (what fighters used to have). I have also created progressions for 2250xp, and even out to 2750xp... and even a plan for a 3000xp progression.

For the main classes, the change is rather minimal affecting balance in only a minor way. Thoughts on this? Does anyone think the game will be skewed in an out of control manner?

For anyone wondering, "what's the point?", there are a few reasons. One idea is to speed up the MU a tad (as discussed elsewhere), also boosting the overall levelling rate of the game. The idea also adds more 'stock xp tables' for subclasses such as Ranger, Druid, etc. Another idea is to figure out a way to have simpler math (or really a a new table to look at) when one might apply one of the Quasi-Classes to a character. Instead of "needs 10% more XP" we might try "use next XP Tier". And yet another idea is that Combination Classes, instead of using full combined XP of the two classes, might instead use something like "Cleric (tier2) + Fighter (tier3) + 1 or maybe 2 = new experience Tier (6 or maybe tier7 in this case)". The reason for this is to somehow make the non-feasible combinations such as Fighter/Thief somehow workable.... but I need to do some more math to actualize this line of thinking.

Look at the table I have in the document (new draft below for download) to see what I mean. I would love to hear what anyone's thoughts are for this idea.

[SmootRK]

meant to post up the pdf... but the open office version is above. Here is the pdf of my current draft:

[Joe the Rat]

Nice. I definitely like the idea of having a set of XP 'tiers' on hand - From a development standpoint it could be rather useful.

A quick question - you note the deity weapon & 'domain' bonuses for clerics. Have these been put out anywhere in the BF documentation other than in house rules?

[SmootRK]

Nice. I definitely like the idea of having a set of XP 'tiers' on hand - From a development standpoint it could be rather useful.

A quick question - you note the deity weapon & 'domain' bonuses for clerics. Have these been put out anywhere in the BF documentation other than in house rules?

Not yet... just ideas to expand. With my intention of dropping the XP for Fighters and MU, I felt that I might need to boost the other 2 core classes with something. Deity favored weapons/spells/powers is something I always did with other game editions (you know the ones), and it never broke the game. Likewise, for Thief, I plan to add one or more abilities to the mix (read languages skill for one).

[SmootRK]

I have done a little bit of work on developing alternate experience point tables and the rationale behind why I am doing it (mostly to accommodate more character option combinations in an easier way). I would love to hear from anyone about how my explanations work and whether anyone sees weirdness or unforeseen consequences from these changes.

Also, I have added an alternate Combat Attack Bonus progression, but edits to this table are still possible. There are some various changes throughout the document. I have not begun to work directly on the Classes, Spells, or Equipment sections, so the material held there is essentially just place-holders for future work.

[Hywaywolf]

Whats the latest on the fey-mage supplement? I had a call a short time ago by 3 roommates who saw my BFRPG flyer and wants to play.They played back in the 90's and aren't sure they like the new stuff. This past weekend they played a short game between the 3 of them to warm up and the MU was unhappy with the 1 spell per day rule and hinted that the 4e MU was looking pretty good with its at will and encounter spells. I think with the fey-mage and zero-level spells I might be able to win them over. (as an aside I would love the ODF file so I can get rid of the sorcerer, illusionaist, and druids. I don't want to confuse myself with too many options )