[Bad Axe Games] Products on the horizon?

[Angel Tarragon]

Cool! Any chance you can give us a pagecount on these awesome Grim Tales Supplements?

 

[Yuan-Ti]

Hey, if it is relatively short, I prefer PDF -- I can always print it myself. But if it gets up around 64 pages, a print version is better. I guess it depends on what you are planning for the "Grim Grimoire" (as one fan called it). Is it going to be spells designed for Grim Tales or that have a GT feel? Well, then I can see you hitting 64 pages...

 

[Insight]

I was kind of assuming/hoping/imagining that the spells would not be the happy-go-lucky spells we find in most fantasy games. Maybe more of a Cthulhu feel to them?

:: goes back to plotting and planning :: Nothing to see here... YET!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I was kind of assuming/hoping/imagining that the spells would not be the happy-go-lucky spells we find in most fantasy games. Maybe more of a Cthulhu feel to them?

They'd have to provide something over and above what someone could work up with the skill-based system in a couple of minutes. I'm looking for 'break-frame' spells that aren't easily replicated by existing spells.

"Cold Ball" and "Acid Bolt" would obviously not make the cut.


Wulf

 

[Insight]

Wulf, I'm going to email you with some ideas for the Spellcasting product. I don't want to start working on material unless it's going to fit in with what you're working on.

 

[TerraDave]

Mythic Heroes vs Iron Lore: battle to the finish, peacefull coexistance, or Enworlders getting both and reasembling as desired...

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

They'd have to provide something over and above what someone could work up with the skill-based system in a couple of minutes. I'm looking for 'break-frame' spells that aren't easily replicated by existing spells.

It is unfortunate that the Black Company Campaign Setting's Chapter Ten: Magic is closed content because it is a fantastic skill-based spellcasting system. It has a steep learning curve, but once learned is supremely flexible. I will definately be grabbing the Grim Tales spellcasting product for certain, if only to get another option (toolkit, toolkit, toolkit!). That and the "gotta get them all" syndrome of collecting.


Regards,
Eric Anondson

 

[Galethorn]

...except for cover art...

Got ya covered, free of charge!

 

[Yuan-Ti]

They'd have to provide something over and above what someone could work up with the skill-based system in a couple of minutes. I'm looking for 'break-frame' spells that aren't easily replicated by existing spells.

Maybe I am being dense, but what do you mean by "skill-based system"? Will this product have a different mechanic than the magic system described in GT?

Just to throw in a request -- it would be nice if GT had a "taint" mechanic of some kind. Casting spells can cause spellcasters to: a) lose their sanity, b) become diseased, c) whisked away to be tortured in Hell, d) whatever devious effect you can dream up. It just occurs to me that in most pulp settings there are reasons why heroes don't cast spells or don't cast certain spells, or don't cast them often.

I've been thinking about this because I am designing an adventure in which the heroes (no spellcasters, yet) face off against someone dabbling in necromancy. While I don't mind one of the heroes casting spells, and did not intend to punish him for it, there are certain spells that would be decidedly unheroic and would carry a certain moral taint, if nothing else.

Of course, if someone animates dead, I suppose a horror check could be in order...

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Maybe I am being dense, but what do you mean by "skill-based system"? Will this product have a different mechanic than the magic system described in GT?

Just to throw in a request -- it would be nice if GT had a "taint" mechanic of some kind.

One of my design goals is to further break up the Spellcasting system so it is even more plug and play.

So I have defined a set of common terms used across all chapters that are then interchangeable.

So, for example, the term "spell burn." Chapter to chapter I refer to the concept of spell burn, but spell burn itself is definied in its own chapter.

1 point of spell burn could mean 1 point of ability damage (as in GT).

1 point of spell burn could mean you spend 1 point of spell energy (if you wanted to use a spell point or spell slot system).

1 point of spell burn could mean 1d6 of non-lethal damage.

1 point of spell burn could be 1 point of "sanity" loss.

1 point of spell burn could mean you must make a Fort save (DC15 + spell burn) or you are fatigued.

Spell burn isn't the only concept treated in this way, but it's the most prominent. "Caster level" also gets its turn at bat. For example, caster level is defined in a couple of different ways in the skill-based spellcasting chapter (caster level = 1/2 skill ranks, for example, or caster level = amount by which you beat the DC, as another).

Eminently customizable to the kind of game you want to run. I'm trying to cover all the most reasonable bases, maximizing GM flexibility while keeping the system manageable.

I have specifically not redefined anything that is inherent to the spell statblock itself-- so all the d20 spells you have, you can still use.

So (Insight... you listening?) I haven't created any kind of new mechanic that would require rewriting or adjudicating the spells themselves-- such as a "case by case" sanity loss or cost for spells, as in Call of Cthulhu d20.

It is unfortunate that the Black Company Campaign Setting's Chapter Ten: Magic is closed content because it is a fantastic skill-based spellcasting system.

Not to be argumentative-- especially since I have read BC and didn't care for the system-- but game mechanics are Open Content by default. It would be impossible to build a "skill based system," built, as it obviously is, on the d20 skill system, which is Open Content, without that system also becoming Open Content. OGC is viral-- touch it, and your Content is open.

Wulf