I have been working on preparing a very special playset for Fiasco, with the assistance and editing of my friend Mark Richardson. This is sequel to the excellent Dragonslayers playset, featuring the petty, vindictive and ambitious goblins.
Enjoy….
The Goblin Uprising Playset
I am a fan of Fate and the Dresden files RPG system in specific. That said, I have noticed that there are some rough spots in the magic system from my perspective. I found that the absolute dependence on the three existing magic skills was less than idea. This post consists of my little hack to the magic system to meet my personal preferences, in hopes that it broadens the discussion. I would love your comments and thoughts!
Evocation (-2) (Wizard Requirement)
Evocation: You’re able to use evocation in all of its forms, as described on page 249. You gain five new skills, rated at Mediocre (+0), representing the different types of evocations that you are capable of performing. These skills are typically Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and Spirit/Force, for those trained in the classical western tradition. Underline these skills on the character sheet to keep track of them.
Specialization: Gain 5 Evocation Skill-points, which can only be spent on increasing your Evocation skills.
Thaumaturgy (-2) (Wizard Requirement)
Evocation: You’re able to use Thaumaturgy in all of its forms, as described on page 261. You gain five new skills, rated at Mediocre (+0), representing the different types of thaumaturgical spells that you are capable of performing. These skills are typically Summoning and Binding, Conjuration, Divination, Veils, and Wards. Underline these skills on the character sheet to keep track of them.
Crafting: You can craft Items and Potions, which you may possess by purchasing the Focus Item, Enchanted Item or Potion
Specialization: Gain 5 Thaumaturgy Skill-points, which can only be spent on increasing your Thaumaturgy skills.
Refinement (-1) (Wizard Requirement)
Gain 5 skill points which may only be spent to increase your Evocation or Thaumaturgy skills.
Focus Items (-1) (Wizard Requirement)
A focus is simple. Whenever you cast a spell with the appropriate focus for the appropriate skill, you gain a free aspect of “Focussed” for that spell, including a free tag.
Enchanted Items (-1)
You gain 4 Enchanted Item slots.
Potions (-1) as normal
Channeling (-2)
Pick a specific thematic specialization of Magic. You can cast Evocations with your Conviction, within the limits of that thematic specialization.
Ritual (-2)
Pick a very specific Thematic area of magic. You can cast Thaumaturgy with your Discipline, within the limits of that thematic specialization.
Sponsored Magic (-1)
Gain the Channelling and Ritual rules, at no cost but incurring 1 Sponsor Debt with each casting.
Follow all the normal procedures for steps 1,2 and 3.
Roll your appropriate Thaumaturgy Skill to control the power. You can apply aspects to this roll, including the free invoke of the “Focussed” aspect if you have a relevant focus item.
If you fall short, you will succeed but you will have to pay a price. Count the number of shifts that you are missing. Those will strike you as backlash, unless you can mitigate enough of them by….
Anything left over deals physical stress damage to you.
Rote spells work as normal.
Follow all the normal procedures, except that your maximum number of shifts per roll is determined by your Discipline instead.
Roll your appropriate Thaumaturgy Skill to control the power. You can apply aspects to this roll, including the free invoke of the “Focussed” aspect if you have a relevant focus item.
If you fail any individual roll, the spell fails entirely and there is a price. Count the number of shifts that you have accumulated so far. Those will strike you as backlash, unless you can mitigate enough of them by….
Anything left over deals physical stress damage to you.
Hey all,
Sorry about the delays in getting the latest version of Spark out the door, but that should be ready in about a week or so. Until then, I bring you a free little mini game called the Intrigue Engine. It’s a little thought experiment inspired by Rob Donoghue’s Mighty Brain.
Feel free to take a look, to comment and to pilfer any clever bits. It’s mostly Amber and Durance smashed together with a light sprinkling of Polaris in there.
The Intrigue Engine First Draft
Cheers!
P.s. The GenCon seminars, including the “Intro to Indie RPG’s” one, will be up very soon.
Microscope, by Lame Mage Productions, is an amazing game. It gives you all of the tools to create your own epic history, outlining the epochs and describing the events within. If there is one complaint, it is that the game only accommodates a max of 4 people per game session. When I was running it at Games on Demand at GenCon 2012, I wanted to share the experience with more people than the game allowed, so I started to hack.
I dragged in a total of 7 other players to play a massive game of Microscope. The eight of us came together with the broad concept and the palate of the game world. Once we had that determined, we created a total of three bookends. We created the Start Period, the Climax Period and the End Period.
At that point, we split into two even sizes groups. Group A explored the span of time between the Start and the Climax, while group B explored what happened between the Climax and the End. Both sides shared the Climax period and all of the Legacies. Most importantly, we had sporadic communication between the two groups. I asked the other group if they had established a particular important location, for example. We also notified each other about facts that we had established about the world.
For scale, we ran an eight-person game of Microscope in 2 hours. I limited each group to two new Periods between their respective book-ends, and we were able to flesh things out beautifully. The only thing that would have made it better was a full 4 hour time slot, so we could explore the setting in more depth.
Hope you find this helpful! I will have some updated information on Spark shortly.
I am a fan of Dungeon World as a member of the Adventurer’s Guild. When I heard about the idea of “Alignment Moves”, I was fascinated. D&D was the perfect game for alignments to have mechanical effects and moves seem ideal for this. Since I couldn’t find any of these in the text of v 2.2 of the Beta, I wanted to post them here as a hack. Dungeon World is by Sage Kobold productions and the following text is public domain.
When you are faced with a complex ethical or moral problem that impacts bystanders or society on a whole, Roll+ Wis. When acting on the solution provided, take +1 Forward. Each alignment has it’s own move with different lists of items to choose from. On a 10+ choose two from your list. On a 7-9, choose one.
Lawful Good
Neutral Good
Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral
True Neutral
Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil
Neutral Evil
Chaotic Evil
