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Messages - theDwarf

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76
DFRPG / Re: Player Concept - Changeling Ogre (my players please stay out)
« on: July 03, 2010, 06:32:36 PM »
One of my concerns was a -8 point power (prior to Catches) in a 6 point "Feet Wet" game.  haven't found any limiter yet, but was not certain if they existed.

77
DFRPG / Re: Any mention of Redcaps in cannon?
« on: July 03, 2010, 06:30:31 PM »
One concept people don't seem to have considered ... Fae as are so far defined are those of the Summer and Winter Courts (Seelie & UnSeelie), so who says the Erlking and his type must have the same weaknesses?  Nevernever is very large and contains beings other than the Fae and so on.

But that is not the only possibility.  There are other mythologies besides Celtic/German/Britain.

Norse mythology is also very rich and tends to have different "banes".  A point to consider is that dwarves, goblins, gnomes, Redcaps, and even some trolls (possibly differentiated by calling them Trow) are of Norse origin and especially Norse dwarves (Dvergar) were known for working iron. Collectively they are referred to as Vaettir or "Wights" and include Alfar, Dvergar, Jotnar, Aesir, and Vanir. They could be arranged by "courts" of Svartalfar and Ljosalfar and correspond roughly to Autumn and Spring respectively (or vice versa, or be independent). Svartalfar are known for "problems" with sunlight and generally include Dvergar, Goblins, and Trolls (Trow) as well as actual Dark Elves (Black Elves ... skin the color of pooled blood ... which is why Hel is half "black" and half white ... aka she resembles a corpse that was laying on one side).

There is a lot that could be done with Norse Mythology and a number of others including Persian, African, Chinese, and so forth.

78
DFRPG / Player Concept - Changeling Ogre (my players please stay out)
« on: July 03, 2010, 05:47:25 PM »
I have a question for people ... what do people think of a character in a Feet in the Water game playing a Changeling Ogre with the
(click to show/hide)
powers listed in the OW book?

(I did spoiler so players glancing here don't automatically see what Ogres get :) )

79
DFRPG / Re: Are some cities too big? If so how would you ringfence?
« on: July 03, 2010, 03:53:14 PM »
Quote from: ironchicken on June 30, 2010, 05:26:59 PM
So I live in West London so our city would lead towards London.

But London is really big and really old with lots of potential places of power. It just seems to big for our town to me, I feel it would lose some of the personal atmosphere. What do you think? Is somewhere like London to big?

Well, maybe.
Take a look at Chicago ... city ~2.8 million;   urban ~8.7 mil;  metro ~9.8mil and density 12.6k/sq.mi.
London  ... city ~7.6 million;   urban ~8.3 mil;  metro 12-14 mil and density 12.3k/sq.mi.

So actually the urban populations are equivalent and the densities are similar therefore in some ways they map very well.  When looking at the Butcher stories most of the action is set in the City of Chicago proper, and even then mostly within limited areas and neighborhoods, but sometimes extends into other parts of Cook County or into surrounding counties.  Note that the Chicago Metro area extends 2-3 counties north of Cook County and includes Kenosha County is another state! (Kenosha is in Wisconsin, Chicago is in Illinois)

With London it should be in some ways easier for the players to stay local most of the time but then occasionally foray to other areas for specific tasks/reasons and thus only rarely interact with the local High Council members, go to a more major magic shop, visit a museum for a mission, or such.  If you create the city with your players you should have a much better grasp of where the action will most often or most likely take place and then London may not be as overwhelming as you may think (given the players are defining their comfort zone and you have over 2000 years of legends and events to draw from 8)  )


Edit:  I was watching the Dresden Files TV series and in there they mention Winnetka (which is still in Cook County, 14mi north of downtown) and even Milwaukee (which is not in the same state and is actually close to the same as the distance between London and Canterbury (according to one site)).

So, when discussing a large metropolis like London it is only too large if you let it become so.  You can probably deal with pieces of it well enough, and detail 1-3 areas very well, and then wing it beyond that.  :)

80
DFRPG / Re: LFG in Des Moines, IA
« on: July 03, 2010, 03:33:17 PM »
My GM used to live in the Quad Cities area and is thinking of Dresdenizing them.
I am sure once I bring his attention here he may be interested in swapping ideas on the Quad Cities.

Doesn't help start a game, but could be useful.   ;D

81
DFRPG / Re: Compilation of Focus/Enchanted Items: Post Your Own!
« on: July 01, 2010, 05:25:32 PM »
Haven't structured it in games terms yet but I was thinking that a good Focus Item for Thaumaturgy to add to the strength of potions would be an Alchemist's Mortar & Pestle.  The affect would be that it helps concentrate and strengthen components ground or mixed within it.  (just picked up the books this weekend and haven't had time to do more than skim so far  :( )

82
DFRPG / Re: Compilation of Focus/Enchanted Items: Post Your Own!
« on: July 01, 2010, 04:15:10 PM »
A second area of potential Focus/Enchanted Items is swords.

Here is a partial list of names of swords I have researched ...

First I will mention three different possible names for the sword of Julius Caesar:
  • Crocea Mors, “Yellow death”
  • Agheu Glas, "Grey Death"
  • Angau Coch, "Red Death"
These three names are mentioned in the public domain and thus I make no claim on them.  I have some ideas on their possible use in a Dresden game or tales but will not state in open forum where it could corrupt an author's usage.  The same goes for the rest of the blades named below.


There are a number of swords associated with Charlamagne and his knights.  I am posting the three most powerful that were supposedly forged from the same steel first (legends state Vulcan himself forged them, or Wayland Smith (possibly a name for Odin), or Malagigi the Magician.  
  • Joyeuse (Charlemagne's sword; supposedly contained within it the Lance of Longinus)
  • Durandal (the legendary Sword of Roland; supposedly contained relics of 4 saints within the hilt)
  • Curtana (Ogier's sword)
The three could well be equivalents or alternatives to the holy blades mentioned in the Dresden books, possibly of another or "lesser" order and thus usable in campaigns.

Other swords belonging to Charlemagne and his Knights include:
  • the Froberge (”the flame-cutter”;  one of Charlemagne's swords)
  • Clarent, The Sword of Peace (IIRC another of Charlemagne's swords)
  • Balisarda (Rogero's sword in Ariosto Orlando Furioso, thus Charlemagne era)
  • Haute-Claire (name of Closamont's & Olivier's swords)


Another historical king is Arthur.  One of the blades is already covered IIRC, but many others existed as well including:
  • Caliburnus, The Iron-Cleaver (Arthur's sword before Excalibur or alternate earlier name (Excalibur essentially indicates "sword removed from iron/stone"))
  • Aroundight (Celtic, belonging to Llwch of the Striking Hand;  Lancelot's sword)


Charlemagne and Arthus are not the only legends mentioning swords, Norse Mythology has many as well, including those of Siegfried/Sigurd.
  • Balmung (forged by Wayland Smith or by dwarves;  Siegfried)
  • Gram, The Reforged Sword (Grief;  one of Siegfried's swords)
  • Aribrandr, the Falcon Blade  (Norse Mythology)
  • Mimung (a sword lent to Siegfried)
  • Dragvandil (Slicer;  yes, IIRC it is originally from Norse mythology)


Here are other blades from mythology and/or older fiction (like Spencer's Faerie Queen):
  • the Alchemist's Sword (carried by Paracelsus, it contained Azoth powder/liquid in the pommel)
  • Chrysaor (Artegal's sword from Spencer's Faerie Queen)
  • The Grass-Cutting Sword
  • Fragarach (The Answerer; Irish mythology)


A list with more can be found here http://life-us.blogspot.com/2007/12/famous-swords.html as well on other places on the web.
For fairy stories a great resource is Project Gutenberg.


There are literally TONS of named and/or described magic items in mythology and in fairy tales.  My feeling is that the names, descriptions, and reputed powers are better starting points and then game affects will follow. Good luck and happy hunting!

83
DFRPG / Re: Optional dice rolling system for those without Fudge Dice
« on: July 01, 2010, 02:49:48 AM »
Quote from: TheMouse on June 29, 2010, 06:09:29 PM
Although, to be fair, you only get results at +/-4 a little more than 2% of the time. It's not a really huge difference.

How do you figure?
Are you talking about the Fudge dice OR what I was talking about (d4-d4 compared to d5-d5).  In the case of the d5-d5 the chance of getting a +4 is 1/25th (aka, 4%) and a -4 is also 4%.  In the case of Fudge dice it is 1.23% for a +4 and 1.23% for a -4.  The chance of getting a +4 or better on d6-d6 is 8.33%.

Now then, you may be saying to yourself "look, you are proving my point" but I have seen too many players roll 00's on d% to think that 2% "is not a huge difference" especially when it comes to capping a level one lower (or higher).

84
DFRPG / Re: Optional dice rolling system for those without Fudge Dice
« on: June 29, 2010, 05:15:39 PM »
Quote from: SaintAndSinner on June 29, 2010, 05:02:02 PM
If you have d4's then d4 minus d4 gives you a range pretty close to d4F.  Not as wild as d6 minus d6.

But caps at +/-3 rather than +/-4.

For the full +/-4 then d5-d5 would work.
d5's can be found and faceted crystal rollers or 10-siders with 1-5 repeated twice.
 :D

85
DFRPG / Re: Optional dice rolling system for those without Fudge Dice
« on: June 28, 2010, 08:17:27 PM »
Quote from: UltraTroll on June 28, 2010, 07:33:11 PM
Wow really? Ummm, yeah... so let me get this straight you come up with some insane system to use regular D6s for FUDGE Dice. My group we do not use FUDGE dice we use regular D6s following what what page 16 in Your Story book says:

So when rolling a D6 the result is the following:
  • 1,2 = -
  • 3,4 = 0
  • 5,6 = +

Actually, I was responding to the OP and posting possible corrections to how he mapped it.
My own recommendation is the 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 as -, 0 and + respectively :D
but I would not want to see people trying to use an incorrectly mapped system thus the discussion (and instruction) on permutations, a little insight on how to test if a map may be reasonable, and a couple of options that can yield credible results (one easier to follow but less accurate, one more accurate but more scattered) in case people run afoul the mapping (see your post) or the d6-d6 system suggested in the book.

FYI ... 1d6-1d6 yields a chevron distribution.   ;)
See thread on      "Using both Fudge dice and d6-d6?" for chevron distribution of d6-d6 and permutations for 4 Fudge dice.

86
DFRPG / Re: Optional dice rolling system for those without Fudge Dice
« on: June 28, 2010, 06:54:06 PM »
Better mapping of 4d6 summed ...

       Maps
4d6  A    B
4   -4   -3
5   -4   -3
6   -4   -3
7   -3   -4
8   -3   -3
9   -2   -2
10   -2   0
11   -1   -2
12   -1   -1
13   0   -1
14   0   0
15   0   +1
16   +1   +1
17   +1   +2
18   +2   0
19   +2   +2
20   +3   +3
21   +3   +4
22   +4   +3
23   +4   +3
24   +4   +3
Notes:
  Map A is more intuitive and thus faster to determine results but although nearly exact at the extremes (15 in 1296 rather than 16) it follows more of a chevron distribution rather than a bell curve  and thus the chance of getting a "0" is greatly increased (426 in 1296 rather than 304) at the expense of +1/-1 and +2/-2 (229 rather than 256 and 136 rather than 160 respectively).

  Map B suffers the worst inaccuracy at +3/-3 then +1/-1, but even then the highest inaccuracy is ~-1% (+3/-3) and rest are within 0.7% or less (all slightly over except +2/-2 is exact) but this is much better than Map 1 with a high of 9.41% over and all the rest under by more than 0.69% except +4/-4.  Therefore Map B is a good, solid map that replicates the curve as well as possible but is obviously less intuitive.

I hope that helps!

87
DFRPG / Re: Optional dice rolling system for those without Fudge Dice
« on: June 28, 2010, 06:17:58 PM »
Quote from: arentol on April 29, 2010, 04:19:46 AM
Roll 4d6, add up the total, compare to either of these tables for result. The odds are only off by a teeny bit (fudge is 144/1296 for each result, for this system all results fall between 141 to 146/1296 per). I realize this won't be for everyone, but some people may find it a bit easier than the 1,2- 3,4 5,6+ method.

Number rolled / Result
4   -1
5   -3
6   -4
7   -2
8   -3
9   -4
10   -4
11   -3
12   -2
13   -1
14   0
15   1
16   2
17   3
18   4
19   4
20   3
21   2
22   4
23   3
24   1

Result / Number rolled
-4   6   9   10
-3   5   8   11
-2   7   12   
-1   4   13   
0   14      
1   15   24   
2   16   21   
3   17   20   23
4   18   19   22

Actually the results are weighted incorrectly.
Using Fudge dice (d3's .. removing the duplicate results) there are 81 permutations and only 1 way to get a -4 and one way to get a +4. The number of permutations for -4 to +4 respectively are in fact 1,4,10,16,19,16,10,4,1.

So 1296/81 = 16.  Therefore for your distribution to work there would have to be approximately 16 permutations for a a number resulting in -4 to come up.  Analyzing a "6" result, the most rare of the numbers you have indicated, I come up with 10 permutations that result in a 6 on 4d6 (1113,1131,1311,3111,1122,1212,1221,2112,2121,2211). Therefore the sum of permutations in your chart that yield a -4 is significantly greater than 16 as you have 3 numbers resulting in a -4 result and each has 10 or more permutations (10 + much more than 10 + much more than 10 > 30 ... heck, probably well over 50 if not 100+).

-4 to +4 results are probably able to be mapped onto 4d6 summed results, but you will have to do more statistical analysis to properly map the permutations.

Hope that helps!


88
DFRPG / Re: Compilation of Focus/Enchanted Items: Post Your Own!
« on: June 28, 2010, 05:01:23 PM »
I have a number of concepts for items but as we haven't started yet they are not written up.  Would people be interested in hearing about potential items and where they are taken from (aka, sources and names) rather than fully stated items?  If so I may create a separate thread. :)



As I received no responses I will post a short list here.

First off is alchemical or occult texts that could yield bonuses (focus item for Thaumaturgy).  In the case of alchemy to could yield the greater power or make it easier to make more faster or at the same time, but some may have additional affects.  Books by author (added in parentheses)
  • Circe
  • Medea
  • Semiramis
  • Heraclitus
  • Zhuge Liang
  • Albertus Magnus
  • Nicholas Flemel (Wizard's Constitution for non-Wizard spell casters)
  • Abramelin the Mage
  • Olaus Borrichius
  • Christina of Sweden
  • John or Arthur Dee
  • Paracelsus (especially medical uses, homonculi, fae, and the 4 elements)
  • Gerhard Dorn
  • Athanasius Kircher
  • Henry Percy
  • Sire Walter Raleigh
  • any of the royal alchemist of Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor
  • Johannes Trithemus
  • Johann Weyer / Johannes Wierus (mostly medical alchemy but original texts may contain hidden demonology notes)
  • Cagliostro (aka Giuseppe Balsamo; text may be completely useless)
  • Isobel Gowdie
  • Count of St Germain
  • Emanuel Swedenborg (may be "preachy" about Sewedenborgianism)
  • Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin (would probably mention Martinism)
  • Adam Weishaupt
  • Francis Barrett
  • Algernon Blackwood (member of Hermetic Order for the Golden Dawn)
  • Robert Felkin (medical; member ot Hermetic Order for the Golden Dawn; wrote on Africa & medicine thus would probably contain African alchemy)
  • Samuel L.McGregor (founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn)
  • Papus / Gerard Encausse
  • Arthur Edward Waite (member of Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn)
  • Dr. William Wynn Westcott (cofounder of HOotGD)
That is a rough list and probably misses more potentials then it hits.  Most were known alchemists or occult authors and therefore the most probable to have authored texts on alchemy.

Note that a number of organizations exist that the player/GM can look up and investigate for the campaign.  The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is but one, but has a history rife with information a GM could use to indicate some of the wizards of the White Council coming forward and becoming "more public" for a while then running afoul various complications.  the net results could be very interesting.

If Mr.Butcher runs across this realize that I am just paraphrasing legends that already exist and claim no rights on any of this information.  I am trying to avoid mentioning plots or such and if he, or anyone else, wants to discuss anything I have mentioned out of public areas I would be more than happy to discuss things with them.

89
DFRPG / Re: Using both Fudge dice and d6-d6?
« on: June 28, 2010, 04:59:05 PM »
Also remember the change in odds and permutations:

   Fudge   D6-D6
-5   0   1
-4   1   2
-3   4   3
-2   10   4
-1   16   5
0   19   6
1   16   5
2   10   4
3   4   3
4   1   2
-5   0   1
      
Total permutations   81   36
Table may not align properly, but gives you an indication

90
DFRPG / Re: The Search for Fudge Dice
« on: June 28, 2010, 04:53:12 PM »
I have a pack of Deryni Dice so I am covered.

Deryni Dice were a pack of 8 Fudge Dice, 4 black, 4 white.
They were manufactured by Crystal Caste and marketed by Grey Ghost (GGG9008DA)


Other alternatives would be purchasing blank dice and using permanent marker on them to at the +'s and -'s or using normal dice in the interim and and counting 1-2 as minus, 3-4 as "blank", and 5-6 as plus.

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