In any case, this means that I'm temporarily putting down the work I've been doing on facilities and hexes. I'll get back to that, I promise. I'm just interested in doing this for now, is all.
I'm of a very different mindset than what I see from creators all around me, who covetously protect their material as they were taught to do in the days before the internet. I'm not concerned about people "stealing my stuff," first because most dealers refuse to see the value in it and also because they're unable to go on churning out new information on the same lines without me. I'm the goose that lays the eggs, and even a robber must keep coming back to the source for more product.
Secondly, I'm convinced that we're moving continously into an age where the maker is of more value and importance than the product. The product's ascendence came about in the 17th century, as the middlemen of the new economic age inserted themselves between the creator and the audience as a means of filling their own pockets. The internet obliterates their necessity — though gawd knows they're the last to know it — because I can talk directly to the audience any time I want, by sitting down and typing. Therefore the thing that's for sale isn't the product, it's me.
At the same time, the more product I create, the more valuable I become. It stands to reason that the well-thinking game wizard should realise that whatever they may feel about me personally, I'm producing work on a scale hitherto unseen in the annals of D&D. I look over the OGL-produced work of the last 20 years, surrounding the lamentations that such work is in danger of being "stolen" by the company, and feel the same as I have for years on this blog. Take it, dump in the garbage and move on. Because personally I feel that none of it amounted to very much. I've looked over hundreds and hundreds of pages these last two decades and found just about nothing to expand my game world or my interest in DMing. Certainly it wasn't a source to which I went in order to write How to Run or initiate the Wiki. I don't go to it now for inspiration ... and those that do rarely write anything that I find insightful.
Dismissive as that might be, it's how I feel. If I felt anything since the development of 3e was worth stealing from, I'd have certainly stolen it. I do have parts of 3e in my system. I have nothing, absolutely nothing, from the dreck that's been proposed since then.
I have two concerns. First, that I earn the support I receive ... and by this, I mean that my supporters feel assured that I am earning it. That means finding ways to serve the subject material that continuously push the envelope, drawing greater attention to those aspects that are constantly swept to the corner by those whose goal it is to emulate a company who doesn't care about them.
Second, that I'm available for discussion. I know I'm intimidating; and I know that I'm rarely willing to make concessions to the efforts others make to approach me, just because they've essayed to do that. But trust me when I say that it's more important to me and you become a better and wiser DM than that you feel better about yourself for what you are right now. I live in the future. What I am today means not a damn thing compared to what I'll be tomorrow ... and right or wrong, it's my intent to hold you to that same standard.
As difficult as that is, I promise that in the long run you'll thank me for it.
Please enjoy the changes I'm making to the Background Generator and rest assured that I'm also working on the Streetvendor's Guide.
The new additions to the CBG bring to mind a question that's puzzled myself and a few of my players about Sage Abilities for a while now.
ReplyDeleteThe new Progenitor method grants 10 points in an ability/abilities, explicitly not added to anything gained in the Study or Field as a whole. This has led to some confusion about how abilities are gained or more appropriately "unlocked".
If I have 12 points of Heroism, what difference besides semantics is it that I unlock each Amateur ability by virtue of having 12 points in the Field as a whole, versus possessing 12 points in each individual ability within that field (including those which are not "unlocked" yet).
Should it be understood that the player technically also has 12 points in abilities they cannot use (Authority, Expert, Sage) and that these only "unlock" once the appropriate point threshold is met?
Especially in the case of Authority and above level abilities is the expectation that these are explicitly gated by class as there is no (current) in-game method of gaining further points beyond Amateur except leveling?
Pandred, I think you're overthinking this. Let's take it Heroism.
ReplyDeleteHeroism is a study. Within it are the amateur abilities of forfeit self, presence and rash action. If the character starts at 1st level with 12 knowledge points, yes, it's assumed he or she has 12 pts. in forfeit self, 12 points in presence and 12 points in brash action. And if I create another amateur sage ability that seems to fit in the study, then the character has 12 points in that also.
It follows that yes, the character would also have 12 pts. of knowledge in Bestow Gift, an authority sage ability. This is as meaningless, however, as holding a light switch enough that the switch is not completely in the off position, but also that the light is not on. Until passing the authority threshold, those 12 pts. that you propose in authority, expert and sage abilities is game-meaningless.
One can never have "12 points in the field as a whole," because knowledge is NEVER assigned to a field. It's assigned to individual studies, according to the character's choice in a field. If Heroism is your chosen study at 1st level, you start with those 12 points as a player character. If you're an NPC, you start with 1-12 points at 1st level. Then, with other studies in that same field (Judgement, Logistics and Motivations share the field for fighters), you get 1d8 minus 1 points.
When you go up a level, you gain 1d12 pts. in your chosen study, 1d8-1 in other studies within your chosen field, and 1d4-1 in all other studies not in your chosen field. This is a convenience. If you want to be a purist, you could, if you so wished, insist that your characters roll dice SEPARATELY for every ability within each study. This would take some time, but it would solve your dilemma.
NOW, suppose that we have a non-levelled NPC, who due to whatever circumstances happens to have the sage ability, and ONLY the sage ability, of "Presence." For whatever reason, due to happenstance, this NPC has gained 10 points, enough to be an amateur, in this particular sage ability. If the character had 9 points, well, we're back to the light switch again.
However, because the character is NOT a leveled person, and hasn't been trained how to learn, that character doesn't increase his or her knowledge points in presence, ever. Not until becoming levelled.
(... cont)
ReplyDeleteNow, you asked if there's an in-game method to gaining further knowledge points. There certainly is! If you look at the sage study Instruction, it gives all the details. If a person with Instruction knowledge, AND has 36 points of knowledge in the heroism sage ability of presence, then he or she COULD raise that NPC's knowledge to 12, with time. But 12 is as far as instruction can go. After that, the character must do it themselves. Which would mean that first the NPC would have to become a LEVEL, and then the sage ability would increase naturally.
Suppose, then, that a character doesn't know how to swim. He or she takes instruction and gains 6 points as a swimmer. Swimming is one of those sage abilities (usually physical in structure) where SOME knowledge is helpful. Most sage abilities are on/off in structure, but some are not.
Now let's say the character also happens to be a druid with the study Sea Life, which confers swimming. Unfortunately, it's not in the character's chosen field and when it came to roll, the character got a zero in Sea Life. But now the character has 6 pts. in swimming, and zero in the other two sage abilities, Identify Sea Life and predict emergence. And the character then becomes 2nd level and rolls 3 pts. in Sea Life.
This would mean that the character had 3 pts. in Identify Sea Life and Predict Emergence, and 9 points in swimming.
This is difficult to describe in text, but it's really very easy with regards to game play. It does take some effort to keep track, but I haven't had anyone complain about getting bonus skills in exchange for the accounting they must do.
That makes sense, and gels with how I understood things to work previously. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI see your point. I use your maps, your trade system, hell, my players saw your menu and decided they wanted to invest in a tavern and have that as their menu.
ReplyDeleteBut all that means is I keep coming back, because I want more things to use. When you update your trade system to include the British Isles and Ireland, I will be updating my own world.
The joys of following a polymath. Soooo many projects. Mapping. Character Generator. Facilites, Hexes. Streetvendors Guide. Occasional eructations into current events, philosophy, culture.
ReplyDeleteObviously SOMETHING happened in the last 24 so I thought I'd touch base with a short observation of my own: one voice, crying in the wilderness. Your mapping exercise I enjoy for “proof of concept” reasons. It just keeps proving the concept over and over and over – masterfully. Your other work I enjoy because I can USE it directly and immediately. It fits. It gives my game the verisimilitude (?) that my players deserve. And for YOUR sake I'm glad you have these diverse projects. Something tickles your fancy almost every day. Something gets touched. Something gets filled in. And (hopefully) as a result nothing gets stale. It might get set aside for weeks (or months) but it's always there, lurking in the shadows. Growing. Until you bring it out and start working on it again.
That's why my daily visits to the Wiki and here. To see what's next. And to remind myself regularly of my Dunning-Kruger bias.
Speaking of what's next – my $10 request. Since you've already started on Michiga I'd like to request a stub in Ohio. Either Columbus and parts west (blessed by glaciers, home to some great farmland and lots of woods) or the area around Greene and Clark Counties. Xenia/Springfield area. MUCH more topographical diversity.
Sorry, Escritoire. Please be specific. Is it Xenia or Columbus? I'll start in any county you say. Only, just now, it may take a week to get it together. My week is shaping up to be messy.
ReplyDeleteAs regards proof of concept, this to me is critical. A lot of times I feel like it's working in the dark ... churning out bit after bit, with little feedback and only a few viewers. But it proves that I actually DO work, I don't just throw a few characters at something and quit. People need to teach themselves that with slow, patient steps, they can accomplish monumental things.
Columbus then. Thx
ReplyDelete