Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

[White Haven]

Verone does an acceptable impression of someone playing to the stereotype of the somewhat off-kilter thaumatologist, which disguises the fact that he is an off-kilter thaumatologist trying rather desperately not to be outed as [redacted]. Socially-acceptable, expected wonkiness is a great cover, especially when people think it's deliberate.

[Kaelan]

OOC - lesson learned. Awaiting next post from ECR

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Verone does an acceptable impression of someone playing to the stereotype of the somewhat off-kilter thaumatologist, which disguises the fact that he is an off-kilter thaumatologist trying rather desperately not to be outed as [redacted]. Socially-acceptable, expected wonkiness is a great cover, especially when people think it's deliberate.

What really matters, in my opinion, is that the character have the combination of intelligence and personal flexibility it takes to see that the situation around them has changed, and react accordingly.

Larric, for example, comes from almost as bad a background as can be imagined for someone who gets caught up in high politics. However, he's not foolish, he has a decent ability to read people, and he's good at observing the hard realities around him and working within the constraints they set on his behavior. He may commit gaffes socially, but it would be relatively unlikely for him to offer someone irreparable insult or do his own cause irreparable harm by accident.

The fact that he's secretly a gnome in disguise, or that his sexual preferences revolve around an elaborate ritual involving hula dancers, six cantaloupes, and a set of blacksmith's tools, or whatever [redacted] is... that's sort of beside the point, if he can hide it well.

[White Haven]

Shit, he knows about the cantaloupes.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Verone arrives at Sir Oliver's lodgings not long after, and is ushered in- it's fairly spartan; one picture on the wall, a pastoral scene, a bed, a desk, a workbench. On the workbench are a row of weapons, there's a dummy in a corner with most of the bits of a suit of armour still on them and some on Oliver, he's pacing up and down much to the irritation of his squire who is trying to attach bits of plate to him as he passes by.

He doesn't spend much time indoors as a rule, and Verone only knows him by face so far, not really to talk to. 'Ah, I assume you're the guild's man sent to ensure fair play? You'll not have much to do, I'm thinking- this will be an ugly one.'

He seems to want to talk about it. 'Sir Alfred, well I didn't at all mind provoking him to begin with, nothing personal at first- looking forward to crossing swords with him in the arena in fact, see if he's really worth his reputation- and envy. Caer Edric. I should have been there for that, instead of on a wild goose chase for elves of entirely the wrong colour in entirely the wrong direction.

'It all went hideously wrong though, and now I think it has become a fight neither of us can withdraw from without abandoning all reputation, and one likely to be to last blood, not first.

I think I can be forgiven a fairly high opinion of myself, but the barony- the county- has too few knights left to waste on such matters, one way or the other; still, it is too late to back out now.

I'll be using the lance, that one,' pointing to one with runes painted on the shaft, 'my hand and a half,' fireblade, 'and warknife, three throwing axes, those,' one magical, 'my usual armour with the wards built in, no animals I think, I don't want them to get into the habit of attacking people, Bonnie-' warhorse- 'in barding though, she's already antisocial, it'll make no odds.'


Simon- yes, can be done, but best done right before the start of the fight- it's how much abuse the enchantment can take before it fades that matters, time matters less than wear and tear, and find someone with decent tools- a smith, for instance- and borrow a punch or a probe, should do it.

[White Haven]

"Yes, referee in a no-holds-barred duel to the death, rather akin to an ash-wastes herder, I imagine. I suppose I'm mainly in place to watch if someone tries to bring a platoon into the duel and turn them all to ash if they do." The man gave a slight shrug, then narrowed his eyes as the knight began pointing out his various bits of planned kit.

"Quite the arsenal," he commented, carefully scrutinizing each one, tracing over the runes with a finger held carefully just shy of contact. "Do you have some sort of an n-dimensional scabbard for them all?" A pause, as Verone recalled the mention of a warhorse, "Possibly an n-dimensional stable? Not relevant, just my own professional curiosity." A discrete cough and a sheepish grin, "That can wait. More pressingly, as I'm the one who'll be responsible for mitigating any collateral damage, I have to ask. Do you intend to or possess the capacity to inflict significant collateral damage in the form of explosive or elemental effects or necromantic incantations? Any airborne toxins or other agents? I understand that none of those would be against the effectively-nonexistent rules of engagement, it just makes my job easier when I have to contain matters so that no more than both of you die. You understand."

[Simon_Jester]

I'm starting to like Verone already.

IC:

Larric will lay in the tools, make sure what he's got in mind will be stable and explain it to Alfred. He then mutters,

"Damn it, where's Eliska when you need her?"

OOC:

Also, William mentioned something interesting- he still has some of those magic (anti-magic?) rocks the elves gave him. The ones that neutralized the magic on that banzai squirrel Dleamthayaran threw at us.

It might be a good gesture of "if you survive this, please don't crush me into meat paste from the feet up" for him to offer them to Alfred, for whatever they're worth.

Also, I'm beginning to think that bringing "faithful Mister Snuggles" might be Alfred's only chance of survival. Can we get away with it.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

'Pockets of unreal space to hold my weapons? I can't afford enchantments like that, and besides that's what squires are for.

Explosions and extinctions, hm, only the lance. It's temporary- when it breaks, as I expect it will, the enchantments laid on it are set so they unravel forwards, in theory into the creature it shattered against. Blast and fire, mainly.

Apart from that, nothing coming into the arena with me. What I have of such things would not be well used against another human being- as well save the monstrousness for the monstrous.'

[Kaelan]

The two rocks have already been offered, and mr snuggles has over an hour to do a superman and change. I can't see how they can argue against him, if only he was large enough to count as a mount.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

They may argue against him if they determine that he is, in point of fact, not really a big doggie.

[protests]

"Shep big gray peanut-loving doggie!"

[/protests]

It all depends on the referee...


Hm.


Anyhow. Yeah, looks like you might want to avoid the exploding lance, Alfred. That's gonna be a real bear to ride out. Agility sounds like the order of the day. We really need Eliska...

[White Haven]

"Aaah, I'd wondered about the lance. Personally, I would have gone with momentum-amplification, but I can see the benefits of explosive splinters of stabbing. Now, I'm afraid I do need to do one final pass..." With that, Verone sobered up and began a close, careful inspection of each enchantment. Given the lack of rules, the effects at large were generally ignorable. Instead, he scrutinized the runes one at a time, felt for hidden sigils pressing against proximal reality, hunting for any sign of a channel linked to an outside effector. That, unlike explosions and necromancy, would violate the rules of the duel...

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Larric's going to make damn sure that his plasma hammer trick isn't drawing power from himself once it's up and running, then

[Kaelan]

Any chance you can pull of the magnet trick again? Failing that, any magic that can cripple and drop the horse on the charge.

[Panzersharkcat]

First, Alfred makes sure to empty his bowels again, as he does not want to "pass dirt" if he dies. He accepts the rocks as sufficient apology from William. He inspects his armor and maul for any breaks before going to stretch and meditate.

(OOC: Has anybody in the party other than Alfred gone to the bathroom at all? Oh, and Alfred has his own plans on how to drop the horse. By the way, is Sir Oliver left or right-handed?)

[Kaelan]

William performs his abolutions off camera.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

*Ablutions.*

Aaand likewise. I haven't mentioned Larric going to the bathroom- or, for that matter eating, drinking, or even breathing, by and large. In most fiction, it's assumed that these activities continue in the background when they don't urgently need to be covered. Though I have a perverse respect for you doing it, Panzer...

Just remember about the exploding lance.

Any chance you can pull of the magnet trick again? Failing that, any magic that can cripple and drop the horse on the charge.

Remember, William, wizards actively interfering in the battle while it's going on are against the rules. I can enchant Alfred's weapons, but I can't use magic against Oliver while they're fighting.

Nor against his horse.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: I just want to be very sure Alfred doesn't crap himself after he dies. I assume everybody's breathing but eating or drinking is something I want to make sure I do, as well have the adequate supplies for. I would rather not find out in the middle of the journey that the party has run out of food and water. It's the sort of thing I'd do if I was a GM, because I am apparently sadistic like that.

Anyway, the lance is why I asked about whether he's left or right-handed. I suppose I should also ask how long the lance is.)

[Simon_Jester]

You'll find out at the duel, before he has time to stab you with it.

I imagine your tactics would be pretty much mirror-image depending on which hand the lance is in. It's probably pretty long, since it's designed to explode and no prudent warrior would want his exploding spear to blow up while only a short distance from the point where it's couched under his arm.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

No, Oliver has nothing of that nature- for the reason that he's usually somewhere up in the hills, without much in the way of support, and he can't afford to take anything that relies on any skill and power but his own. His gear is effective, and you have to wonder about 'can't afford that'- why did he decide to pick a fight with Alfred, anyway? Was it really only jealousy? Is there a motive there, a usable one perhaps?


Generally, I only worry about toilet trips and such things when something might happen because of them; for instance, when the chances of being ambushed while on a "shovel recce" in hostile territory- or frostbite from exposure in hostile terrain- are nonzero.

The story of Dysentery Bridge is something of a cautionary tale, as is a thoroughly infamous duel theoretically of the kind Alfred's about to fight, where one party was so generally disliked that the rules were broken by virtually everyone present who could, and he was dragged onto the field unable to stand, suffering from life magic induced ulcers, gout, burst appendix, projectile vomiting and diarrhoea. Barely a figleaf over a judicial murder, in other words- and everyone agreed that the humiliated and murdered party deserved absolutely everything he got, only it should have been done sooner. This is...unlikely to be the case here.

Oliver's too solitary and too far out to be genuinely liked, but he is still in official good standing.

[Kaelan]

OOC -
Predictive autochanging text. The bane of my life. Got to love apple...

[Kaelan]

I was wondering if you could have set it up (the magic) to function on a trigger that Alfred could activate.

[Kaelan]

Or we could try and copy a varient of D. Former trick of suicide squirrels.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Alfred is not exactly a mage and it would be against the rules for Larric to interfere like that, even if he could do that. No, Alfred will try to play to his strengths and take out the horse with his maul before trying to take down Oliver.)

[Simon_Jester]

A one-shot magic item that the user activates by some means can't be illegal, or Oliver's lance would be illegal- he obviously didn't enchant the blasted (blasting?) thing. However, Larric does not, in my own opinion, have the finesse it would take to create something along those lines. He could probably create capacitor stones that would function much like the warhead on D's kamikaze squirrels, but he lacks the ability to control the squirrels.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Hmmm. If Oliver's short on money it may explain his motives going into this- he's obviously a strong warrior who maintains his status at court through the use of costly magic items against dangerous enemies. It wouldn't really be that much of a stretch for him to agree to break the leg of a troublesome knight for money in a contrived duel, as long as word of what he was doing didn't get out.

Someone may be funding him, though probably not the treasurer since the treasurer was about to call the whole thing off.

The constable?

We could have used that... if the whole thing hadn't gotten screwed up and mutated into a fight to the death or severe maiming. I would think, under the circumstances, that quarter might be given after one combatant was incapacitated- it's the deadliness of the weapons involved that makes that unlikely, or relatively so.

If Alfred manages to win- to incapacitate Oliver without killing him- it would probably be a well-received gesture to at least try and let him give up. "Too good a man to deserve to die over a sellsword's insults," that sort of thing.

In that contingency, it should probably be accompanied by an apology for the ruffian's conduct; if someone wants William's head, maybe Kaelan should roll up a new character after all, for the sake of the party... We can't totally disavow William, even then, but frankly our association with him is a bit tenuous- in the big fights we've been involved in, he participated but his influence wasn't critical, and we don't owe him quite the same scale of debt we'd owe to Bryan (if Bryan were still alive and had done something similar).

I'd prefer it didn't come to that, though. Maybe a good Bragulan-commissarial stickbeating, though...