New Year's update finally

I figured I would try to put out an update since I haven't posted lately.
Hopefully the next thing I post is either the Feline or Canine race description. I've got them worked out in my head, just need to sit down and type them up now.

I've gotten a lot of the basic game information done already and have gotten to test it with a few people. So far they have seemed to like the game play and setting, which I'm excited about. I'm wanting to upload a copy of the basics on here, but I need to redo it and organize it before I do that. I typed it out and organized it in Excel, which is handy although doesn't always transfer over well to PDF afterwards for me, and isn't as easy to update and keep looking decent.

I've gotten the magic system pretty well reworked I think, although I haven't gotten to test it out yet. It is more of a free form system which I think will work well with the Silver Divinity setting. Planning on talking a couple of people into helping me test it out soon to see how it works.

I hope everyone had a good new year.

New Year's Game

So we are having some friends and family over at our house tonight for new years eve. My wife is trying to find things to do with them, and asked me to put together a quick one night game for us to possibly play with everybody.

I decided to make a short game set in my Silver Divinity game. I'm working on some characters for them to choose from, and much to my wife's amusement I decided to start them out as patients in an asylum of sorts. They are going to start with only a gown to wear and nothing else, as well as being in completely different rooms. They are all going to be under the effects of basically a drug induced amnesia, although because of some outside circumstances their memories are slowly returning (they only remember their name and vaguely what they are capable of, but don't remember anything about their pasts at the moment).

I think they should have fun with this, or at least I hope they do. I'll probably post a follow up to this as long as we actually play the game.

Happy New Year to everyone.

New page - Zindel's Rage

I've been busy lately finishing up the semester for school, and haven't gotten to work on my game too much. Planning on trying to get more done over the holiday break.

One of the classes I took last summer was creative writing, and I wrote a short story based in the Silver Divinity galaxy, although it is in the past. I enjoyed it and thought I would share it on here. I have put it on its own page here if anyone is interested in reading it.

Feel free to leave a comment if you like or dislike it, I enjoy critique.

Gaming with the kids

This is a story me, Kim and the girls made while playing a game we bought for them awhile back. It is a silly game, but is quite fun. It is actually meant for higher age groups, but it is fairly easy to get it ready to play for younger ages.

 DO: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple is the name of the game.

This is the letter that we answered, which is what the pilgrims are supposed to do.

Dear Pilgrims of the flying temple,

Hi how are you! My name is Melanie. I come from a very small planet.

There is me, my house, my cat, and two trees.
I am not so good, because my planet has been eaten by a whale.
It is a very small planet. I woke up and I was inside a whale. I don’t want to get (more) eaten.
Please help!
your friend
Melanie (age 8)
P.S. I will make you cookies.

Here were our names:

Pilgrim Stubborn Earth – Eric (me)
Pilgrim Pretty Fairy – Izabel (5 year old daughter)
Pilgrim Quiet Beast – Barbara (7 year old daughter)
Pilgrim Kind Flower – Kim (my wife)

Pilgrim Stubborn Earth, Pretty Fairy, and Kind Flower went to the planet while Pilgrim Quiet Beast stayed outside of the whale.

Pilgrim stubborn earth tries to help by throwing dirt in the whale to make it cough the planet up. Melanie tries to tell him that the whale just ate a bunch of dirt and it won’t work.
Pilgrim pretty fairy tries to steal a cookie. She gets caught and decides to give the cookie back.
Pilgrim quiet beast tries to talk to the whale to get it to let the planet out. The whale doesn’t hear her though because she is too quiet.
Pilgrim kind flower makes the trees grow really tall to tickle the whale’s stomach, so it will throw the planet up. If the trees grow too tall though, they will break her house, so she can’t make them big enough to help.
Pilgrim stubborn earth tries to move all the dirt from the planet outside instead. But Melanie stops him as he would destroy her home if he did that.
Pilgrim pretty fairy tries to steal Melanie’s pretty cat this time. But decides not too when Melanie notices.
Pilgrim quiet beast is so quiet that the whale doesn’t notice her and runs over her.
Pilgrim kind flower tries to grow the grass instead of the trees. But all the grass is gone because pilgrim stubborn earth is moving all the dirt.
Pilgrim stubborn earth stops moving the last of the dirt so he doesn’t destroy Melanie’s planet and home. He eats one of her cookies before finishing helping though.
Pilgrim Stubborn Earth made the planet a different shape by moving the dirt, giving Melanie more room to live.
The cat decided to go with Pilgrim Pretty Fairy because it liked her.
The whale noticed Pilgrim Quiet Beast when it hit her and stopped to listen and let the planet out.
Pilgrim Kind Flower found some hidden seeds, and made them grow; covering Melanie’s planet in fresh grass.

THE END

Fey (Fairies)

Been a little hectic lately with the holiday happening, then me and my wife passing around sicknesses between each other. But after much thought here is another race for my game. This one I like a lot, which I think might be influenced by the fact that I have three daughters.

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The Fey, or fairy as some like to call them, are a relatively new race to the galaxy. Although they have been around for a while, they did not become a part of the galactic scene until recently. Originally they could only be found on one planet alone, and their love for nature was so ingrained in their cultures, no matter where on the planet they were, that they had grown fairly stagnant in their society. The events that lead to them being thrust onto the galactic scene, was a mixed blessing for them.

When the crystalline beings made their entrance into the galaxy, the planet they settled on was the Fey home world. Over half of their population was killed when the Crystalline “ships” landed on the planet’s surface, although it was not an intentional action. When the other races came to investigate the occurrence they stumbled upon the Fey as well as the crystalline beings.

Fey society split in different ways with the sudden introduction of so many new creatures. Some wanted to get to know the crystalline beings better, while others wanted only to fight them; still others were more curious by the new races, and some bartered for passage away from their now ravaged homes. It didn’t take long for the Fey to be integrated into the galaxy, although they do not have any centralized government in any regard as most other races do, and they don’t have any major representation amongst the other races, although they can be found most anywhere now.

Physically Fey resemble humans, although they are slightly smaller and thinner than the average human. They also have a long, thin, and semi-transparent set of wings protruding from their upper backs. In low gravity areas, whether a planet, ship, etc…, they can use these wings to fly; although in higher gravity areas their wings do not give enough support to fly, although they can usually glide for a short time.

Fey are physically androgynous appearance wise; they technically have male/female genders although unless they reveal it to you, or you see them unclothed it is hard to tell them apart. Due to the fact that most of the other races genders are generally easily distinguishable and with their sudden access to technology, a lot of Fey have taken to having surgery to enhance their physical differences. Although this is not a very common occurrence, it is starting to gain more support amongst younger Fey. Although very rare, a small group of Fey have taken to even having their wings surgically removed; making it easier to blend in with humans, or sometimes because of the hindrance with some physical labor jobs.

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Randolph Erickson                             Fey

HP: 9                     

Initiative: 6

Strength: 1

Dexterity: 2

Constitution: 0

Intelligence: 1

Wisdom: 3

Charisma: 3

Base movement speed:  60ft.                    Sneak: 30ft.                        Run: 120ft.

General Skills (max rank 4 at level 1):

Athletics (STR/DEX): 4 ranks

Charm (CHA): 4 ranks

Dodge (DEX): 4 ranks

Empathy/Sense Motive (WIS): 4 ranks

Perception (Spot, Search & Listen) (WIS/INT): 4 ranks

Weapon Ranged Energy (DEX): 4 ranks

Weapon Ranged Ballistic (DEX): 4 ranks

Specialty Skills (max rank 4 at level 1):

Animal Handling (WIS): 4 ranks

Medicine (WIS): 4 ranks

Specialty Weapon Whip (DEX): 4 ranks

Survival (WIS): 4 ranks

Talents (max of 4 at level 1):

Animal Empathy (bonus): +2d to skills like Charm, Intimidate, Bluff, Diplomacy, and Animal handling when used against animals.

Agility: +2d to Athletics, running, sneaking, and climbing. And +10ft. to movement speed.

Toughness: +1d to your health.

Complications (First 3 give you more character points to spend: 5 for first, 3 for second, 1 for third):

Racial Abilities:

Small Wings: You have light wings that can be used to glide 1 minute per CON and break a fall, but you cannot truly fly in normal gravity.

Animal Friend: Gain animal empathy as a bonus talent

Spellcasting Changes and Thoughts

Although this is a time consuming process at times, I'm planning on redoing the spell casting system for my game.

At the moment in order to cast spells you have to take an appropriate spell casting Talent, which opens up the appropriate skill. There are two talents at the moment and each opens up one of two skill associated with it.
The skills determine what spells you can actually cast.
The first talent is Thamaturgy, which lets you choose between the skills Enchanting, or Thamaturgy.
In essence these are Arcane casters.
Enchanters are the buffers, their spells have to be cast on someone or something.
Thamaturgy are a combination, their spells are more attack oriented, although they do have minor buffs and a very minor version of heal.

The other Talent is Faith, which lets you choose between the skills Channeling, and Devotion.
These are the Divine casters.
Channelers are similar to clerics, they have one attack spell to choose from, while the rest of their spells focus on healing damage, curing diseases, removing poison, and a few minor buff spells.
Devotion casters are interesting to me. They are the only caster type that has access to all of their spells. Whenever they cast a spell it is more along the lines of praying for an affect, but the affect that occurs may not be exactly what they want, it is up to the deity they worship as far as what spell takes affect. They do not have any attack spells, but the spells they do have access to are very powerful compared to the other casters.

Although I do like the way it is set up, the times I have gotten to play it has not been received quite so well. Not only that the different talents giving access to different spells in essence seems to create a magical class system in a game where there are technically no classes. Also with the more I think about it, the more I realize that not all, but most stories I read with spell casters, there are not usually distinctions between them, and someone who can call down fire and lightening can also potentially heal at least slightly. Although this is not always the case, I like the feel of that better for my game.

I am still working on the specifics, but what I would like to do is make one spell casting talent
that grants potential access to all the spells for players. As far as figuring out how to regulate how they are at actually casting a spell is part of what I am still working on.

Eventually I would like to work on a more free form spell casting ability, although I do know that the majority of the people I normally play with will never play a more free form spell caster.

Dwarves

Dwarves are short statured beings, with fairly humanoid features. They are generally stubborn, although it has been known for some to overcome this basic urge. The old tradition was for them to grow their beards to long lengths as a show of power. There are a few groups that still practice this, but it is largely ignored by the current dwarven society.

The main resources that dwarves export to the other races are materials from their mining. Barring a few hermits and the like, dwarves don’t live in caves but prefer to build homes away from the mines. Their homes are usually misconstrued as caves because they do like to keep everything close at hand, meaning that their homes and their ships alike are usually built with short ceilings, tight corridors and small rooms.

Dwarves are usually misconstrued as being greedy, hoarders. This is untrue assumption is based upon a few powerful dwarves in the past who were greedy tyrants, who tended to make themselves noticed in their attempt to gain more power. Their current system of government was finally put in place in an attempt to quell any attempts for one person alone to gain control of the people.

Technocracy is the form the government has taken for the largest dwarven nation, although the other countries still use other forms to govern their people. There are many different fields that make up the government, but the largest two groups are mining, and although it is not technological exactly the magical society is the other largest group.

Dwarven magic users are held in high regard among the other dwarves, even if their abilities are extremely limited. Dwarven mages are referred to as Silver Spirits amongst their own, and the majority of their members keep their facial hair shaved, while the hair on their head varies in length by personal preference. The lack of facial hair is by no means a requirement, just a general practice from the past.

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Gillian Kierre                      Dwarf                    HP: 12HP              Initiative: 7

Strength: 1

Dexterity: 2

Constitution: 2

Intelligence: 2

Wisdom: 2

Charisma: 0

Base movement speed:  40ft.                    Sneak: 20ft.                        Run: 80ft.

General Skills (max rank 4 at level 1):

Athletics (STR/DEX): 4 ranks

Concentration (CON): 4 ranks

Dance (DEX): 4 ranks

Empathy/Sense Motive (WIS): 4 ranks

Perception (Search/Spot/Listen) (INT/WIS): 4 ranks

Weapon Ranged Energy (DEX): 8 ranks

Specialty Skills (max rank 4 at level 1):

Appraise (INT): 4 ranks

Photography (INT): 2 ranks

Research (INT): 4 ranks

Talents (max of 4 at level 1):

Combat Sense: add 1 to your initiative.

Expert: Ranged Energy Weapons

Deadly Shot (twice): add +2d damage to ranged energy weapons

Complications (First 3 give you more character points to spend: 5 for first, 3 for second, 1 for third):

Stubborn (racial): When someone disagrees with you, you must get at least 1 success on a wisdom or concentration check or go to extreme lengths to prove you’re correct