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<blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 7603557" data-attributes="member: 92305"><p><strong>The Scrolls of Skelos</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I am reading The Scrolls of Skelos, which, it says, was the first supplement for Mongoose's Conan RPG. One thing that strikes me about this magnificent game, and this supplement in particular, are the spells. Yeah, the sorcerers can do some amazing, powerful things. They can change the world. But, the casting times on so many of these spells are so long that the spell is pretty much useless in a roleplaying environment. It is one of the few real flaws in this game. </p><p></p><p>If a spell takes a week to cast, then it is not something that will happen in a regular game. The casting becomes more of a story event. Even if the spell only takes ten minutes to throw, that's still not something that will often happen in a game. Spells like that become part of a preparation period before battle.</p><p></p><p>Spells that can be cast quickly, inside of a combat encounter, are the spells that most players are interested in using. The spells that take a long time to cast become a task like crafting. The player rolls to make sure the spell is cast correctly, and we skip ahead a week to play out its effects.</p><p></p><p>If the duration is limited, then a long cast time becomes an exercise in timing. If a spell takes a week to cast but then only lasts for one minutes per Scholar level, the part that concerns the players will be timing the spell to complete when it is needed. This is not always as easy as it sounds if sacrifices and special tools/talismans/locations are needed to complete the spell.</p><p></p><p>If the sorcerer is the bad guy, then casting of a spell with a long casting time becomes a timer for the PCs to defeat the foe.</p><p></p><p>In many ways, Sorcerers in the Conan RPG are both more powerful and weaker than their D&D counterparts: more powerful in the types of spells that can be cast, but weaker in that a majority of these spells cannot be cast quickly--so, the magic becomes useless to a cornered sorcerer (that needs something quick to use in a combat round).</p><p></p><p>This is why most sorcerers in the Hyborian Age rely upon tricks, like poison tipped rings and alchemy produced flash balls. Many sorcerers are multi-classed as Soldiers first, then as Scholars, using cold steel to protect them from enemies.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Water Bob, post: 7603557, member: 92305"] [b]The Scrolls of Skelos[/b] I am reading The Scrolls of Skelos, which, it says, was the first supplement for Mongoose's Conan RPG. One thing that strikes me about this magnificent game, and this supplement in particular, are the spells. Yeah, the sorcerers can do some amazing, powerful things. They can change the world. But, the casting times on so many of these spells are so long that the spell is pretty much useless in a roleplaying environment. It is one of the few real flaws in this game. If a spell takes a week to cast, then it is not something that will happen in a regular game. The casting becomes more of a story event. Even if the spell only takes ten minutes to throw, that's still not something that will often happen in a game. Spells like that become part of a preparation period before battle. Spells that can be cast quickly, inside of a combat encounter, are the spells that most players are interested in using. The spells that take a long time to cast become a task like crafting. The player rolls to make sure the spell is cast correctly, and we skip ahead a week to play out its effects. If the duration is limited, then a long cast time becomes an exercise in timing. If a spell takes a week to cast but then only lasts for one minutes per Scholar level, the part that concerns the players will be timing the spell to complete when it is needed. This is not always as easy as it sounds if sacrifices and special tools/talismans/locations are needed to complete the spell. If the sorcerer is the bad guy, then casting of a spell with a long casting time becomes a timer for the PCs to defeat the foe. In many ways, Sorcerers in the Conan RPG are both more powerful and weaker than their D&D counterparts: more powerful in the types of spells that can be cast, but weaker in that a majority of these spells cannot be cast quickly--so, the magic becomes useless to a cornered sorcerer (that needs something quick to use in a combat round). This is why most sorcerers in the Hyborian Age rely upon tricks, like poison tipped rings and alchemy produced flash balls. Many sorcerers are multi-classed as Soldiers first, then as Scholars, using cold steel to protect them from enemies. [/QUOTE]
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