Beta Rules

I pitched in my dislike of the do over saving rolls for humans. I understand the reasoning but think there is no problem to fix, it is not about balancing out and it just goes against the grain.

As for the 'loss' of negative adds... No big deal, it didn't feature much but here's a hypothetical fight:

Weebo and Norm get into an argument at the county donkey fair and start shoving each other. There is a big pile of donkey droppings and soon this is the aim of each of the shovers - to deposit their adversary on the pile.

They both have adds of 10 for everything - except that Weebo has a STR of only four.

In the Beta Universe, he has a 50/50 chance of winning, That does not seem right! He couldn't punch his way out of a wet paper bag.

In the other Universes (5.5. and 7.5), Weebo would be a pushover, needing to roll a 6 to get any go forward while even with a roll of 1 for bare hands Norm would match his puny fellow donkey lover.

So are these other Universes boring no doubt places? No - because Weebo knows his weakness and goes for stunt attacks, like jamming his thumbs into Norm's eye sockets, and the possibilities are endless.

As they are in Beta-verse... just like to call a spade a spade or a wimp a wimp.

Latest Game and 'Missing' Projects

The latest game we have embarked on deals with what happens at Wizards' School. We have a group of 10 students starting out on their training, hoping to qualify as L1 wizards. So far, they have learnt 'Sparkle' and "Call Flame'. The basis premise is that they do the classroom work in the morning and then try to cast the spell under pressure in the afternoon. I am trying not to Hogwarts-ise it too much...

We play a rule that if a wizard fails the INT SR to cast a spell with a critical fumble, a random spell of that level is cast instead. With only one or two spells known, Professors Faunus (a centaur) and Indus (a satyr) are getting sick of seeing sparkly balls. One student died when Indus made him re-cast Hocus Focus - this called for a Master of the Metabolic Arts to hasten to the classroom to cast Nefarious Necromancy and a Mistress of the Cosmic Arts to hurry to cast Born Again before the N N spell ran out.

Elsewhere in my mental landscape, I am wondering about the well being of Trollzine #8 and the 'Apocolypse In Your Home Town' project, both of which I contributed to last year.

I had a query from the purchaser of a printed 'Arena of Khaboom' (go to Lulu) - what is the difference between being a Champion and a Challenger? Apart from champions getting their CON restored after every contest, the former have to commit to 10 fights, the latter just 3. Must get round to doing the pdf for DriveThru soon...

The Arena of Khaboom at Lulu

House Elf and Souza Fortescue

Longtime advisors to the Mayor of Khaboom, these are the two heading up the death-raid on Vasarax's sanctuary:

House Elf – Human wizard - Level 12 wizard, possessor of a flying carpet and a hat with an eye at the back.

STR: 30, CON: 53 DEX: 87, SPD: 53, INT: 120 WIZ: 120, LK: 71, CHR: 53.

Souza Fortescue–  Dwarf wizard - L12 wizard, possessor of a notoriously bad temper, inventor and scholar.        STR: 54, CON: 57 DEX: 41, SPD: 19, INT: 127 WIZ: 87, LK: 51, CHR: 40.

Getting Down Deep

With a judicious use of Hell Bomb Bursts, the crypt of the Vampire Lord of L5 (an addition of mine) was taken out by a team of 2 L10 wizards and a four-armed mad miner called Mr Jenkins, answerable to the demon-lord Zorgoth and replete with his 'A' team, the six fire demons (MR 70 each) Scorch, Burny, Fiery, Furnace, Lava and Volcano..

Now the Liche Lord awaits, returning to his mortal remains from the Nether Realms. The suicide going down are charged with making sure the portal to the Nether Realms is closed and the liche occupied enough to stop him escaping before the Big Guns come in (tghe logic being that their presence any earlier would bring him back to his bones before the trap has been set). Suicide squad? The are all equipped with Born Again medallions so they can afford to really get in his face. The fire demons have set their sights on orificial attacks...

We shall soon see if old Lichey has any tricks up his raggedy sleeves...

Next: a picture of Souza Fortescue, once of Goblin Crag, the curmudgeonly, canankterous and overweight dwarven wizard who is leading the squad.

d20 T&T

Had a "ToG" to (G)DM yesterday. Almost like real T&T but with a d20 and no magic from the players.

It was fun to steer with no script and no rulebook.

Odd though, playing a game where only I get to use magic...

I suppose if it weren't for T&T, this game might actually catch on!