Character attributes and properties, to limit or to distinguish?

When you play your favorite RPG, how different do you feel your character is from other characters of the same class, but with different attributes? Do those attribute difference limit your character or enhance your character? For example is a low intelligence used to limit your spell use or is a high intelligence used to stimulate your spell use? Might sound the same, but it's quite different.

Is the impact of all attributes, regardless of class, important enough that your character feels quite different from one with a two point difference? Are attributes not relevant for the class used to distinguish characters of said class?

I'm concerned that many RPGs don't put enough emphasis on attribute use and end up with characters of the same class which are pretty much all the same. For example a magic user with 18 INT will look pretty much like a magic user with 17 INT and somewhat like a magic user with 16 INT. Simply because the magic user class focuses around intelligence and disregards all other values. So the magic users look pretty similar even when one may have 18 CON and another 13 CON. They both get few hit points, albeit 18 CON gives a bonus. They both get to set off a spell per round. They both have their handy dagger to attack with. So what really tells one character apart from the other?

In the quest for "balance" I find many RPGs tend to put a filter or veil on many attributes which are not directly related to the character class. Thus all members of a class seem the same, or lets say way more similar than their attributes gives them potential to be different from the rest.

Do you take steps in your game to leverage other skills in the character's attributes outside those relevant to their class?

An intro to Itza

Welcome to the calmecac, the Aztec school. Today's lesson is a quick intro to the Itza RPG. Itza is based on the Era rule set I developed last year. As the game has split it two, Era has become Imperium & Maleficium a Roman RPG and Itza its Mesoamerican counterpart. In this post I will go over the basic points of the character sheet and mechanics so players can get up to speed with the game rules.

Itza is a 2d10 game, that means that a 2d10 is used where usually a d20 would have been used in other d20 based games. All other dice are also used and in some cases in large numbers.

Attributes & Skill Use

Characters have two sets of attributes, primary which the player rolls and secondary which are calculated from the primary and can be improved over time through training. Skill and attribute checks can be called for by the GM for any of the attributes, primary or secondary, although secondary attributes are most commonly used with skills as they represent the actual training of the character.

Skill checks require the player to roll bellow the attribute associated with the skill. Skills have ranks that can be increased through training. Each rank grants the character a +1 bonus to the associated attribute. For example a character with an expert rank at something gains a +2. If the associated attribute value is 13, the player would need to roll 15 or less to succeed.

Power Points

Characters have three types of power points that represent the mind, body and soul of the character. These are Q'ort, Stamina and R'ho respectively. Power points represent the capacity the character has to affect the world, they are the energy that powers the characters special abilities. To make a common analogy to other games, Q'ort is mana for magic user powers, Stamina is endurance to physical punishment and strain, R'ho is mana for cleric powers, those involving the conscience/spirit (stress, mind spells, mind effects, psionic attacks etc) or activities demanding great concentration.

Spells, powers (like the wayob powers) and skills require power points. When attacked characters will suffer damage to stamina first and then if the damage is too high this will overflow to hit points (see combat below). Magic use will require Q'ort points to cast and skills and wayob powers will require R'ho. Skills can be turned on by notifying the GM. For example some find traps, detect ambush, or remove mines can be called on by the player so the character is particularly aware of such events. These type of skills put a great deal of stress on the mind of the character and will require rest to recover lost R'ho points invested in keeping this activity up.

Wayob powers are a special power characters have in Itza. All are born with an affinity to an animal. A character may develop this affinity through training and gain more powers from the animal. But be careful as this may consume the character and let the animal take over. Turning him into a nahual. Some of the more powerful animals also have the most treacherous spirits. So be careful with your wayob.

Character Templates, Collegiae & Training

Itza is a point buy system disguised as a class based game. Character templates are quick starts based on selected collegiae. Collegiae in turn are "schools of training" to which characters can "subscribe" and then progress by gaining new skills and powers under each collegiae. Multiclassing becomes possible by simply buying into different collegiae.

As characters progress in a collegia, they gain more and more skills and powers. These have an ongoing cost. That is, part of the gained XP in every adventure must be paid in upkeep. Each skill and power has a percentage upkeep cost. The sum of all these is the character's upkeep cost. For example it may be 22%. That means that out of each 100 XP points 22 are spent in upkeep and the character only accumulates 78 XP points. XP is then converted to role point (at 500 XP per role point). Role points are then used to buy skills, training and acquire entrance into new collegia.

Combat

Combat in Itza puts skill and tactics above weapons and armor. That means you don't want to be hit! An attack is resolved by both the attacker and defender rolling 2d10. To hit the attacker must beat the defender's parry/dodge roll. If the attacker succeeds then damage is rolled. A weapon's damage roll is matched by the armor's soak roll. If damage isn't soaked by the armor it goes on to deplete stamina, but only a fraction of it at a time. Only the amount given by the character's pain threshold can be soaked as stamina, all remaining damage overflows to hit points and causes a wound. Wounds can disorient, slow down or even drop a character unconscious, so hit point damage is something you want to prevent at all costs. Stamina can be increased through training, hit points can't. Hit points are fixed for life. Stamina recovers at an hourly rate given by the stamina recovery rate, hit points recover at one per day.

Combat takes place in time spans of 10 seconds called rounds and actions are limited by the character's action points and the fatigue table. Each character has a set amount of actions points given by the current tactical build (setup of weapons and armor). Each attack and dodge requires 2 action points, a parry requires 1 action point (it costs less, but not all attacks can be parried). It is the player's responsibility to allocate these points into attacks and defenses. Too hasty an attack may leave your character without action points to properly defend. As action points are used, fatigue rises and penalties are incurred. So keep enough to defend yourself without running out of breath.

Each round simply represents the reset of the action points and it does not mean a break in the continuum of actions. That is, a new round will not call for initiative rolls and action definition. As a player you go with the flow as the encounter is taking place. Initiative is a skill check against the mettle attribute. Mettle represents the character's decisiveness and coolness in combat. A higher mettle means the character will have better control and greater situation awareness. In an encounter whoever succeeds the mettle check by the highest margin has the initiative and is in greater control of the situation. Winning initiative may still mean attacking last, that depends on your strategy for combat. Holding back and wearing your opponent out is a very valid tactic in this game. Sometimes it makes sense to wait.

Now, going deeper into damage and soak rolls. Each weapon and armor has a roll defined by say 2d8 vs 3d6. This means the weapon rolls 2d8 (4, 7) and the armor rolls 3d6 (4, 6, 3). The rolls are ordered from highest to lowest and compared. The weapon's 7 vs the armor's 6, the weapon wins and adds 7 points of damage. The weapon's 4 vs the armor's 4, the armor stops the damage, and finally the 3 is not used. The weapon succeeded in delivering 7 points of damage to the character.

As you can see the higher the dice the more penetrating power the weapon has, and the higher the dice the more stopping power the armor has. Some attacks may have many dice, for example a fireball may do 6d4. That's a lot of small dice rolls. Armor may easily roll over a d4, but it can't stop all 6 of them, so at least 3 will do damage. This represents the cracks and gaps in the armor where such damage can seep through.

Well you're all set, looking forward to seeing you this weekend at the game sessions!

If you're visiting this blog post from outside the LUG Con community I invite you to join at

LUG Con

Image source

http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/aztec-manners

Google Maps 1500 AD - Tenochtitlan

So you're Tlaloc, the rain god, looking down on the Aztec capital city high above from your heavenly paradise of Tlalocan. What do you see? Had Google Maps existed 500 years ago the view would have been something similar to the picture on the right. A large city afloat on the Lake Texcoco. Causeways leading north, west and south from the great Tenochtitlán. The north causeway lead to the hill of Tepeyac, location of the altar of Tonantzin, an important goddess in Aztec mythology and a place of a great many sacrifices. The west causeway is known as the Tacuba causeway. On which Cortez suffered a great defeat and lost two thirds of his men and thousands of his Tlaxcalteca allies. The causeway to the south, known as the Iztapalapa causeway was the longest and lead to the far settlements of Coyohuacan and Xochimilco. To the east, separating the light blue water from the greenish one to the east was the Netzahualcoyotl dam that helped regulate water levels in the city. Crisscrossing the city and lake were many canals that allowed travel with bigger boats. They converged on the west and south sides of the city were the docks were located. The following image shows a closeup of the city. 

At the center was the great Templo Mayor, a majestic conglomeration of temples and government buildings. A street view of the city would look something like the image below. A well laid out grid of floating city blocks built with chinampas surrounding the city center and connected with waterways very much like the European Venice. To the north is Tlatelolco, actually another city, a sister city to Tenochtitlan and renown for its market. The most important commercial site in the area.




An areal view of the city looking down at it from the west would look like the painting below. An impenetrable city floating on its own moat the size of a whole valley. The causeways, with their removable bridges, provided ample protection against attacks. The chinampas on which the city was built were floating gardens great for farming. That and ample supply of water made sieging Tenochtitlan a futile task at best.

Far in the horizon the two volcanoes Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl stand out against the blue sky and beyond that the Gulf of Mexico.








Pulling back on our prehispanic Google Maps we would see the following. The city of Tenochtitlan quickly becoming a small blotch of land in the immense lake. The two following images show the lake from high above and an angled view from the south looking north north east at Tenochtitlan. In the second image down Xochimilco is clearly seen in the forefront, a place were even today chimampas and structures reminiscent of old Tenochtitlan still remain. Further north, to the top of the picture, is my home town of Texcoco, a small city that gives the lake its name. It is also the place from which Cortez would eventually launch his final and decisive assault on Tenochtitlan. One that would end Aztec rule forever.

The following is a drawing of Tenochtitlan and the surrounding lake and water structures.

Full image here

Image sources


http://bcr-8history.blogspot.mx/2010/06/aztecs-and-tenochtitlan.html

http://aztecciv.pbworks.com/w/page/8783392/Geography

http://www.mnartists.org/work.do?rid=29044

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/archive/index.php/t-1212325.html

http://geekaztecas.blogspot.mx/

http://www.ducksters.com/history/aztec_empire/tenochtitlan.php

The Macuahuitl, a kick ass sword against ballistic gel and bone

So you saw Apocalypto and were wondering how good that wooden sword with stones really was. The sword is known as a macuahuitl. A half meter to a meter long piece of wood lined with very sharp obsidian rock.

The macuahuitl comes in two sizes, one handed and two handed. The two handed version is a heavy piece of equipment with a lot of momentum. That means big time cutting and bludgeoning power, but how effective is it against something bigger like a horse? It is a viable weapon against the big monsters that commonly inhabit our game settings? Is it a threat to all those mythological creatures we just love to hack and slash or is there no hope of survival for our loin clothed heroes?

Let's take a closer look at the macuahuitl. It is a wooden club lined with very sharp obsidian. The weight of the wood and the sharpness of the obsidian make it a very deadly weapon indeed. But exactly how deadly. The following video puts a two handed macuahuitl to the test against ballistic gel and bone in a slow motion footage that shows exactly how painful it was to get hit by a warrior bearing this weapon.

Deadliest Warrior

Video source
http://www.spike.com/shows/deadliest-warrior

Image sources
http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/reply/399393/Re-MAQUAHUITL-Aztec-Swords-WAR-CLUBS-COUP-STICKS#.UbeFNPnrxqI

The Mayan Warrior in the Itza RPG

Creating the Mayan warrior for Itza (Mayan RPG) has been quite a challenge. One that has required a complete rewrite of the combat rules to allow for a fast paced and challenging encounter for characters with primitive weapons, scant armor and the goal to capture, not kill, the enemy.

Not only is combat different than the more familiar armored combat of most RPGs, the goal of combat is different. Getting the opponent to surrender and taking prisoners were a common goal in combat, as human sacrifice was a key element in their culture.

Itza uses a combat mechanism that:

• Has no fixed amount of attacks per round. These depend on the character's ability scores and the players strategy. Will the player be more aggressive and attack more than defend or fallback to a defensive stance waiting to wear out the opponent?
• Hit points are fixed for life and handled in a way that allows characters(and opponents) to be incapacitated and subdued in combat due to wounds. Thus allowing for the so valued prisoners.
• The attack roll has been remade to allow survival based on skill, not armor. Armor helps, no doubt about that, but your character is not defenseless if dressed only with a loin cloth. More so, less armor grants the character more actions per round, granting the player more options in the round to round tactics of combat.

The warrior's weapons

The Mayans and Aztecs lacked iron and thus their weapons were made of wood and stone. No less lethal though, they require a different damage and armor mechanism to fully exploit their lethal power in combat. The image above shows the Aztec weapons, which were very similar to Mayan ones.

1 - Club - clubs were either just wood poles or were tipped with big round rocks for an extra punch.
2 - Axe - made with stone, usually a large piece of obsidian.
3 - Bow and arrow, arrows were made with obsidian tips. I'm not aware of any composite type of bow. Mesoamerica lacked horses so the mounted archer was nonexistent in these cultures.
4 - Macahuitl, the sword was made of a thick wood piece with obsidian blades on its edges. A great weapon to cut and pummel with. If in doubt check this video out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKfuEUisyk0
5 - Spear with obsidian blades at the end
6 - Armor consisted mainly of shields, although the more prominent warriors may have used padding. Padding though presented a risk in the intense heat and humidity of the Yucatan peninsula.
7 - Atlatl - The atlatl was a shaft that allowed the warrior to project a spear like object with greater velocity towards it's target. The weapon itself, the spear, was an obsidian tipped pole.

Image source

http://rjjohnson.wikispaces.com/Warfare

Realism and rules light games

So what is realism in an RPG? Is it second by second simulationist perfection? Or a very good description of the setting, character and events? What is realism in a game that considers magic real? What is realism in a fictional sci-fi setting?

We could go into a lengthy conversation as to what realism is. Is it representing a characters ability to jump correctly? The precision of the bullet? The technobable involved in the game? The fact that a long sword really does deliver 1d8 HP of damage? What is a hit point?

I think the issue with realism comes when a player is happy when his magic user's fireball goes off and kills the orcs (as if fireballs and orcs were very real), but complains of suffering an attack of opportunity that could have been prevented. The player then goes on complaining how that's not possible, it should be evaded, that's not true, in real life his character could have dodged the axe. In real life his character wouldn't have fireballs. So what is real? What is realism in an RPG?

How do we define real in a game who's setting isn't real in the first place? Should we use a better term? A term like consistent? If a game is consistent the players and GMs know what to expect even if the setting itself isn't realistic.  What is the game rule's role in maintaining this consistency and what is the player's mind role in maintaining this consistency?

Consistency can be understood as the game rules contradicting themselves or not. If no contradiction exists the game is said to be consistent with itself. Clearly the bigger the rule set the more prone it is to have a contradiction. It has two or more rules that contradict each other. It is clear then that rule light games are more prone to be consistent than rule heavy games. A poorly designed rule light game can still have contradictions, it's simply easier to have them in rule heavy games.

We can also talk about consistency between player expectations and outcome. By this I mean is the outcome of a certain action what the player expected or is the player constantly taken by surprise by apparently incoherent outcomes to the character's actions. Is the game consistent with the player's expectations? Although it is a valid usage of the term, I prefer to keep consistency applied to the rules and use the  term plausible when talking about player expectations.

Instead of using the term realistic or consistent let's think for a moment about "plausible". Is the outcome of an action expected? Magic isn't real, but the effect of a spell must seem plausible for the game to be accepted by the players. In combat an attack or outcome must be plausible if it is to be accepted. A monster that swings at everything that passes by, while possible by the rules, is hardly plausible and being against the player's interests, a highly disputed by the players. The more plausible the game is, the less game flow will stop to challenge the GM, look up rules, check up tables, etc. Plausibility benefits play.

So to conclude, I'd like to lay out the following points I'm using to better describe and design games:

• "Realism" is a term that should not be used to describe a game, instead "plausible" gives a much better term for what is commonly meant by "realism". 
• Consistency is another term that should be used to describe a game, since an inconsistent game will surely be less plausible than one without internal contradictions. 
• Consistent and plausible games run smoother than less consistent and less plausible games. They're more fun!
• Rule light games are easier to keep consistent than rule heavy games.
• "Plausibility" is not only enabled by the rules, but also by the GM. Being the GM a human being he or she is clearly benefited by less rules than more rules, as there is less to keep track of, less to stop and check and it is quicker to learn. Leaving more time to concentrate on the game and creating a plausible adventure.
• It is of uttermost importance to select the essential rules to write. Any small set of consistent rules will not automatically ensure a plausible game. The rules must be cleverly selected to represent the essence of the game. They are to be the base from which all other dynamics in the game emerge. 

This final point is what makes creating a good rule light games hard. A designer must distill the essence of the game and write it in a way that allows it to grow beyond the bound of the written rules, but still remain playable as the characters gain power. A shortcut to this is to bound the game's "power range" for example characters can go up to level 6 or have so many power points, etc. This binds the game to a range within which it remains stable. To let it move beyond it requires a set of rules that self regulate the power curve of the game by means of some negative feedback.

Thoughts?

Hit Points, Skills, AC and Genre

In his recent Legend & Lore article Mike Mearls talks about hit points and the influence on genre. He goes on to discuss about "dials" that can be turned to allow for different "styles of play and genre". The "dials" are set around recovering hit points and not losing them. I find this to be not only a terribly bad decision, but one that actually limits the options available in regards to "styles of play and genre".

As I move from developing a game set around medieval Europe and turn to developing a prehispanic Mesoamerican game I find the gamble of developing a whole new combat mechanism to be paying off. The game is called Era precisely because its goal was to be able to represent any epoch. This doesn't mean its goal was to be a universal system, but rather that different epochs in human civilization could be easily represented with a great deal of realism. That meant that combat in an unarmored, iron less setting was to be a possibility. One that was not only survivable, but also enjoyable and challenging to the player.

A few design criteria were taken early on:

• Hit points are fixed for life.
• Loss of hit points can mean an incapacitating wound.
• Stamina points act as a shield around hit points, but only a fraction of such points can be used at a given time. Making strong characters still susceptible to strong hits.
• Stamina points can be increased through training (aka level progression).
• There is a to hit roll challenged by a parry/dodge roll.
• Hit and parry/dodge rolls are made using the non linear 2d10 vs the linear d20. This creates a diminishing return on training and skill improvement.
• If a hit is attained a weapon damage vs armor soak roll is made to see if damage is actually done.

What are the repercussions of this?

• Skill counts a lot more than armor. Actually it's all about skill and not getting hit rather than taking it on as man. The added complexity of the damage and soak rolls is minimal as you're not usually getting hit.
• There's little chance you'll end up with one hit point and still be in fighting condition. Your character will most surely have passed out by then.
• Monsters (and characters too) can be killed with one good well placed hit. This may be very unlikely in some situations, but possible. This adds up to the excitement and epic realism of an encounter.
• Players are much more concerned about their tactics than in "hit point wall" configurations.
• It is possible to play without armor, be good at the game and actually enjoy it a lot.

So what's the issue I see with hit points, AC and skills? Well back in the day when I started playing D&D there was only hit points, AC and levels. Your character got better and had a better toHit roll or THAC0. Then skills and specialization and feats were added. Then extra healing to compensate for the extra damage, etc.

What happened is that an already existing overlap of concepts became even more overlapping. Armor class represent the difficulty in hitting and doing damage. Hit points represent the life force of the character, but also the possibility of not suffering damage, luck, and skill. A 10 hit point loss to a character with 100 hit points represents a flesh wound, while being a deadly wound for a character with 8 hit points.

D&D has added more rules and more detail over the years. More skills and modifiers to weapons and armor based on attributes and weight and what not. Yet it has not addressed the issue of these mangled definitions. As such I find it very difficult to "dial" in settings in the current D&D rules as Mike Mearls proposes. Dialing into the recovery rate is a stop gap solution to the underlying problem. To create different game styles and genre with D&D you need to dive neck deep into AC, HP and skills. Just adjusting recovery rate does not fix a setting without iron and without armor. Hit points, armor class and recovery are simple way too coupled to allow a simple "dial" to fix the situation. How would you go about implementing an armor less setting in D&D that was survivable and fun for the players?

Image source

http://s423.photobucket.com/user/SSonic2006/media/Motivators/HitPoints.jpg.html

An imperial jacuzzi carved in rock

You've got to hand it to Netzahualcoyotl, he knew how to pick his views! This is his bath overlooking his empire from the hills of Tlaixpan. To the left and outside the field of view of this photo would have been the great lake Texcoco and in its center the imperial city of Tenochtitlan.

From here the poet king could overlook his empire while he enjoyed his bath. To the side of his bath was the queen's bath. A smaller bath tub set in an outcropping and carved from solid rock. The view from there was no less spectacular than the king's.

From the queens bath stairways lead to the building complex below. Once again notice the stairs and structures carved in stone. This is basalt, by no means a soft rock to work. I guess the option, as a slave, was either carve the rock or have your heart carved out. Pretty damn simple choice if you ask me.

The whole complex took up the best part of three hills. Here we see the aqueduct going from one hill to the next and providing water to the aforementioned baths. The aqueduct ends at the base of the throne room and to its side a stairway leads up hill to the buildings at the top. Two passages form a circle around the hill providing water to the multitude of baths and complexes around its base. Beyond the hill and into the horizon stands Mexico City, back in the day it was all a lake that spanned left and right and as far as the eye could see. In it's center stood the mighty Tenochtitlan.

Below is a view from one of the baths on the other hill. A set of terraces with baths lined this hill and on top ( to my back) sat a building complex with rooms and living quarters. The photo can't capture the scent of incense that permeates the air. Giving tribute to the relevance of the site even today. Notice the dry, but recently placed flowers at the bottom.

I take a break to enjoy the emperor's bath after riding all morning under a blazing sun. Behind me you see the terraces that lead up to the aforementioned buildings and living quarters. Notice the water channel that brings water from the top of the hill and feeds the aqueduct to the other hill were the main baths are.

After a relaxing snooze in the tub a quick drop downhill gets me an ice cold beer and some delicious quesadillas and tlacoyos with some kick ass hot sauce!

Stimulating character sacrifice a worthy cause?

As players we take great care in protecting our characters. We develop them over the span of many sessions, raise their hit points, increase their skills and attain more spells. We want them to survive at all costs!

Question, would you let your character take one for the adventure? In my experience characters more often than not die to player mistake or a bad roll. Would you put your character in harm's way to save, not your fellow party members, but the adventure itself. Would you risk your character for a greater more exciting adventure?

I'm not only talking about that split second decision that ends with your character's death to give the adventure a grand finale. Not the going down in a blaze of glory ending. I mean taking the road less traveled. Developing a character who might have an early, and foreseeable death.

I'm currently working in a prehispanic RPG called Itza. The gods, the calendar and the horoscope were important elements in mesoamerican cultures. To the point that there could be a set path at birth that would be followed through out life. If you character rolled a bad destiny, would you be willing to pay it to it's fullest? Not the "fuck it I'm going to die anyway" attitude that either makes your character foolhardy or unloved/underdeveloped by the player, or both. I mean really playing the character to its fullest potential knowing the end is near. To live an epic life worthy of the gods.

I'm considering putting in game benefits to the player that promote this type of play. Have the gods benefit the player with bonuses usable on the next character. A type of posthumous medal from the character that the player may invest on the next character.

Would you find this stimulating enough to go all in on your character's destiny and play to the fullest? Do you think this just opens up more doors to abuse and min-max issues?


Image source

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TakingTheBullet

Skinned princess

They who owned nothing had a fame of valor that preceded them. Thus, small as their numbers were the chief Coxco asked for their help before warring with the Xochimilcans. They, all of them, offered to serve the chief. Great gain was to be made, as to them failure was not something they could conceive as an outcome of war.

They who had nothing were so committed in the battle that soon they captured twenty prisoners. Quickly, they cut off an ear off each prisoner as the best way to recognize their valor in combat. Never had they done something like that, but it was clear mark on their war treasures. It was to them the rightful thing to do.

On the following day, chief Coxco, still celebrating his victory, found them empty handed and was quick to reproach them. He questioned if they had even dared to enter battle and fight for him. His comments and scorn were of the most humiliating sort. Then, just as Coxco finished talking, he was asked by them why the prisoners lacked an ear. While Coxco was still dumbfound and looking for an answer, those who owned nothing produced a bag with the ears of the captured warriors. Proving, beyond doubt, it was their valor who brought in the twenty prisoners Coxco was so proud of.

So concerned was Coxco to make peace, and amend his words with these brave warriors that he promised anything they asked for to remedy his injury to their honor.Their leader, the high priest of those who owned nothing asked for Coxco's daughter in payment. In his words "she would mark the beginning of the most respected lineage their people had ever known".

Coxco, thinking he was turning his daughter to marriage as his priest queen, quickly handed over her hand and made preparations for a wedding. Little did he know that she was to be sacrificed to Coatlicue, her heart carved out her chest while she looked onto the eyes of the high priest, then disemboweled, beheaded and skinned. Her skin would then be turned into a tunic for the high priest who would in turn make his people, those who owned nothing, into the most respected and powerful tribe in the region. The priest dressed in the maiden's skin would begin the rise to power of the Aztec, and turn them into supreme lords of the land.


Source:
Los Aztecas, Manuel Yáñez Solana, Edimat Libros


Image source

http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Chichen_Itza_(Aztec_Empire)

Itza - prehispanic RPG

If you like long lived characters, gaining XP, growing your character's skills adventure after adventure, don't read any further. On the other hand if you're the type that believes that five minutes of glory is better than a life time of anonymity, then read on, this game is for you.

Itza is a prehispanic RPG in a Mayan-Aztec setting. It is a fast paced and brutal world were life is worth little and service to the gods is of uttermost importance in everyone's life. All classes are war like classes, war is after all a holy endeavor undertaken to please the gods. Even scribes and priests have powers that would turn the stomach of the weak at heart upside down. Blood is the currency of the land and one's life is the purse for such currency to be traded with. Your blood is of great value to the gods if you should fall prisoner to an opposing tribe.

There are various character classes in Itza; warriors and the elite jaguar warriors, priests and shamans, scribes, witches and hunters. You character will have an animal spirit akin to a totem called his wayob. Through training your character will be able to gain more powers from the wayob, and in time and should your character survive, he would be able to control such creatures and even become one.

There is no iron or steel. Hit points are fixed for life and survival depends on speed and cunning rather than big weapons and armor. The gods mark your path day by day. Powers will rise and wane depending on the influence of gods and animals on the current day and week. Ritual and tribute to the gods is an everyday aspect of your character's life.

Your characters will have more power and strength than the average 1st level character you might be used to, but will that be enough to ensure survival? Put your cunning and skill to play and make good use of these skills to outwit and outmaneuver the fate the gods have set for you and mark your own path in the world of Itza.

I'll be hosting a round of games during L.U.G. CON on June. Join the community to stay up to date with this and other great games that will be run that weekend.

Beware the crossroads tonight

Your party sets off today on 1 - Deer (Mazatl) on the Aztec 260 day calendar tonalpohualli.

It marks the beginning of a good 13 day trecena for hunting. It will favor those skilled in stalking, tracking and backtracking. It is unfortunately also a day that faces west and as a first name day with such an orientation it opens the doors to the Cihuateteo, vampire like creatures who stalk the crossroads at night searching for victims.

What will your party be on this day that favors hunting? Will you be the hunter or the hunted? Will you dare journey out on your adventure? Risking a random encounter with one or more cihauteteo? Or will you wait in town for a more favorable day, like tomorrow 2 - Rabbit, to venture on your journey.

Cihuateteo are the spirits of noble women who died during child birth. As such they are honored as warriors and escort the sun from noon to sunset. After sun set on this day they are free to wander the roads and encounter unwary travelers at the crossroads. They are vicious wailing spirits who cry for their lost life and children. Is your party prepared to face their banshee like wails and sharp claws? Will you defeat them or fall victim to their sharp teeth and insatiable appetite?

It is best you pack some xucuichtlamatzoalli or tamales for the road and have them ready to offer as food. Maybe a generous enough offer will make your party a less interesting target for their appetite.

Cihuateteos roam the crossroads on all first westward name days  : 1 - deer, 1 - rain, 1 - monkey, 1 - house and 1 - eagle). On our calendar 1 - deer was April 27. The next day to allow cihuateteos free access to our world is June 18 on 1 - rain. It will be a trecena (13 day) period favored by Tlaloc, god or rain. It will be a time of hardship with either too much water or too little. Prefer solitude over companionship and don't rely on others as support from others is doubtful during this period.

Tlaloc, the rain god

Tlaloc at the entrance of the anthropology museum in Mexico City

View Larger Map

Images :

http://radiopanico1.blogspot.mx/2011/02/la-cihuateteo.html
http://portal-dos-mitos.blogspot.mx/2013/02/tlaloc.html

Bibliographical reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlaloc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cihuateteo

Tamales and recipe
http://www.cookinglight.com/entertaining/holidays-occasions/christmas-eve-tamales-00400000003271/


Aztec glyph and dates

http://www.azteccalendar.com/

The Aluxo'ob

The Aluxo'ob or Alushes as they are commonly called are a race of sprites native to the Mayan culture. They are small and usually grow no taller than a man's knee. Alux are mischievous little creatures. Helpful and kind if respected, but wicked and dangerous if mistreated.

Alux live near human settlements and protect the land and house of their owner and creator. They are in a way a type of golem. Created in the form of highly detailed clay figures. Shamans can cast ritual spells to embed these figures with life. The common folk take a longer yet equally effective process. They leave the figure under the oldest tree in their land or in a house specially built for the alux, the "kahtal alux". Food and drink is taken to the alux on a daily basis until the clay figure disappears. The alus has become alive and will now protect the land and owner for seven full years. After those seven years the door to the "kahtal alux" (the alux home) needs to be sealed off during the day to entrap the alux inside and prevent him from becoming evil and mischievous.

The alux, although helpful to the owner, can be mischievous at times. They will do common pranks like take items from the owners household or simply move them around. Should the mischievousness of the alux become too much to bear the alux can be destroyed by finding the clay figure and breaking it into pieces. Care must be taken to perform this task during the day. To do otherwise would mean cursing whoever does this with great illness and disease, maybe even death. Needless to say finding the figure is no easy task as it is kept well hidden by the alux.

The alux have the following characteristics:

• May become invisible at will and are generally invisible most of the day.
• They are very quick, having a type of displacement effect that makes them hard to hit - AC between 16 and 18.
• They are low hit dice creatures 2 HD at most, although specially enchanted alux have been known to have 4 to 5 HD ( temple guardians ).
• They have two or three attacks per round doing 1d6.
• They can regenerate fully by becoming invisible for a whole round. During this round they can not attack or perform any offensive action. In other words they can't use this ability if they've attacked in a round. Thus they can use this ability in mid round if they haven't attacked yet. An alux can be hit, become invisible, forfeit his attack for this round and regenerate on the next and get back to attacking on the third round fully regenerated. This makes the alux very hard to kill, needing one strong decisive round to kill.
• If killed they will respawn on the next day as the sun sets. They can't be killed unless the figurine is found and destroyed, and even then the destruction has to take place during the day to prevent curse and disease.
• They have a +3 to initiative.

Alux prefer sneak attacks or pranks to actual confrontation. They will sneak on their target, stalk them and attack from a distances. They are smart and can set up limited traps: a rock that happens to fall, a log that will trip a character, an unexpected fire starting, etc. They will make good use of darkness and party unawareness to attack. A character may find himself without a weapon or magic item, potion or scroll. Items which were taken by the alux at night or during a lapse of attention.

If cornered to fight the alux will attack quickly and viciously. He will use his invisibility to his advantage, by moving around, attacking by surprise and regenerating quickly. Although alux are usually found alone, they have been known to act in groups. As such they are a formidable opponent that will wear down any party over the course of hours and days by means of sneak attacks, equipment theft and general sabotage. Three of four alux can easily attack a human sized creature and deliver many fast and deadly wounds.

As an anecdote, I'd like to point out the bridge from Cancun's international airport that leads to Kukulkan boulevard and the hotels. Under it resides the kahtal of the alux that protects the bridge. You can see the kahtal on the image below (click on it to be taken to google maps). The bridge collapsed during its construction and precaution was taken to allocate a home for the alux. After the kahtal was built to more incidents troubled the bridge.

Image sources

Alux : http://atanasio.deviantart.com/art/aluxes-2-305719210

Cancun bridge : Google Maps

Ceremonial burials in D&D, or lack of

Ceremonial burials have always been an important aspect in human life. A way to help the soul of the dead journey into the afterlife. In D&D this is a custom that has fallen out of use due to magic. What's the point of a ceremony when the character can be brought back to life? I see ceremonial burials as a means to put pressure on the players to get the job done or else suffer the consequences on the character waiting to be resurrected.


When a character dies he doesn't just go to "resurrection lobby" and wait there with tea and cookies until the party gets him back into his body. No, he's somewhere where he shouldn't be and from which the burial ceremony should help him journey onward. That means that he is not in a pretty place.

A burial ceremony is meant to take place a short time after the person dies. That means that those days of mourning are tolerable by the soul in whatever place it happens to be. If a ceremony isn't performed in the period stipulated by the character's faith then something nasty is prone to happen. If the character is left without resurrection and without a burial ceremony for a long period of time, then whatever comes back may not be desirable at all. Stephen King's "Pet cemetary" is close to what I'm thinking about.

So here are a set of guidelines for putting this into play:

• The character can be dead between 4 to 7 days without any noticeable effect.
• After a week the strain of being dead and not journeying onward begins to place a toll on the soul.
• 7 to 14 days dead
• Lost memories
• Childish behavior
• Fixed on some though or event
• 15 to 30 days dead minor mental disorder
• Hypochondriac (inventing illnesses)
• Reclusiveness
• Phobia (based on some even early in life) : water, heights, animals, darkness, etc.
• 30 to 60 days dead, major mental disorder
• Neurosis : axiety, panic, cleaness, etc.
• Obsession
• Homicidal rage
• Addiction
• Manic Depressive
• more than 60 days dead (might not be getting your friend back)
• Split personality
• Paraniod Schizophrenic
• Demonic possession

As you can see this puts a bit of pressure on the party to get the character revived as soon as possible. Even when illnesses can be cured by magic too this doesn't relieve the fact that the character will be afflicted by it and he nor the party know exactly what the illness is. This should be played by the GM by a gradual revelation of the illness. If the character develops an phobia to rats it would not be known until the character encounters rats. Greater illnesses may not be even aware to the character. Going on a murder streak may seem the most normal thing and the GM could include it as a series of deaths occurring in town, only later to reveal that the character is the culprit. Illnesses may remain dormant until triggered by some outside event, like stress in a dungeon, combat or serious injury.

In general this should not stop players from reviving their characters. It should put pressure in doing so quickly, not just journey two more weeks in a megadungeon and then get the character revived. It also adds a spin to the returning character, which should not be life ending as it is also curable by magic. You just need to know what illness it is and find the proper cure.


Image source
http://www.historicalstockphotos.com/details/photo/1988_burial_of_desoto.html

The funeral

The fallen men were brought back on their horses. The sheer number of them told the townfolk just how bad the battle had been. The unit sent had return with barely half their number. These men had fought valiantly to rid the roads of the marauding orc tribe and their goblin henchmen, now they were dead.

The celebration of the victory would not overshadow their death. The people would celebrate tonight, and tomorrow all the proper honors would be paid to these brave men and their bodies handled as a true hero deserves. Funeral pyres will be built tomorrow and at sun set their bodies placed on top and the fires lit.

The pyres would burn all night while the priests do all the rituals to ensure a safe passage to the after life. Chanting, signing and making sacrifices to the gods, the priests will help these brave men onto their last journey.

How do you handle character death in your game? Is there a time when you don't use magic to bring the character back? If you don't bring him back from the dead, what part does the character take in the last bit of role play left for him? Do you tuck the character sheet in the back of a folder or do you play out the funeral and all proper ceremonies to ensure a good afterlife?


Image source
http://flavias.blogspot.mx/2012/08/pee-you-bkak-ptooey.html

Music in your hangouts

Last Friday during my Era playtest I included music in my hangout game. I must say I was most pleased with the result. There was always some background to the scene at hand. I had music grouped into battle and search themes. Whenever the characters were in a roleplay part, investigating or in general just moving around I'd put some of the search or suspense tracks on. When they moved into combat I changed to something that would build up to the encounter, and finally there was a battle finished track that I played after the encounter. I added to the sense of triumph and it placed us in the mood to go over the battlefield, tend the wounded and mourn the dead of the encounter.

I've been running these hangouts using Roll20 which has a jukebox for exactly this purpose. Below is a snapshot of how it looks.

You add tracks to the jukebox and then during the hangout you can click the play button to activate the track, which can play one time or loop. As you can see I've also added special effects to the jukebox, like the "draw sword" below.

The jukebox gets its music from SoundCloud . When adding a new track to your game you can search by keywords, preview the track and add it to your jukebox if that's what you want. Below you can see an example while setting up my campaign.

For me this opens up a whole new dimension in role playing and adding more value to the story. Not only is there the verbal and visual components of the story as you narrate it and present the players with maps, dungeons and images, there is also the background music that adds more depth to the game. There is a reason movies have soundtracks. Imagine Alien without the music and sound effects. It simply would not be the same. I seriously recommend players take a look at this functionality and include it in their games. It is one of those game preparation things that should really be done.

Things I would suggest to the Roll20 team if they happen to read this:

• Add tabs so I can separate sound tracks into groups relevant to the different parts of my adventure. Maybe link tracks to maps?
• Add some notes or link functionality so I know when I should play a certain track during the game. For example: play when characters approach the golden vault of Kja'ish.
• Create playlists I can add various tracks to. This allows for a longer background track without sounding to repetitive in loop mode.

So, have you used this feature in Roll20? Do you think ambient music and effects are important in a tabletop game?

Image source

http://geeksdreamgirl.com/2009/04/20/arcane-power-es-top-five-fun-ways-to-roleplay-a-bard/

Full Plate Hand to Hand - Part II

Here are a couple of videos showing hand to hand combat in heavy armor. It's interesting to see how the armor is so good against blades the greatest weapon is the armor itself. Take a look at the following video. Notice all the hand to hand combat moves. Driving forward with a knee up, grabbing, pulling and pushing the opponent. Trying to put him in the most vulnerable position: on the ground. Take a look at the heavy beating taken at 1:10, one fighter is pummeling the other's head with his fist.

Some observations I get from this video are:

• An armored body is a weapon.
• A dagger is really deadly in knight to knight combat.
• An armored hand is a club.
• The shield is a weapon.
• A character can roll with a punch or blow and still get up on the same move.

From a rule design perspective I'd consider this:

• So many moves it seems hard to create so many rules to cover each move, not to mention complex to use.
• Consider how an armored body part becomes a weapon.
• Consider an element of bludgeoning damage in all weapons. Should weapons like swords do slashing AND bludgeoning damage?

Now take a look at this video:

Some key moments:

• 0:08 - unarmed knight pushed the other one back with arms and body.
• 0:20 - knight pushes the other back with foot to make for space between both.
• 0:26 - knight locks weapon with shield and pushes the other knight back.
• 0:33 - knight once again pushes the other to make room between them, this time with shoulder.
• 0:55 - part in which one knight deliberately (and quickly) lays down to wait for an attack and then gets up quickly as well.
• 1:15 - ending part, one night is constantly hit, no apparent armor damage is done, but those sword hits must hurt some. In the end he is taken down and choked to death with the shield.

In view of these videos I find most of D&D's combat mechanics to be out of sync with reality (yes even within its "abstraction"). The concept of a sword swing and a set of damage being done until the character is dead is not congruent with what we see here. The body is never considered a real weapon. There are unarmed combat rules, but it's more along the lines of you're either armed or unarmed, not so much a mix in between.

They say that in love and in war anything goes. Have we become to accustomed to the sword, sword, shield, sword swing idea of initial role playing games that we don't think of a mix of activities to defeat one's opponent. When was the last time you killed a full plated knight with a dagger?

No modifier should be greater than 10

I've added a new design constraint. No overall modifier should be greater than +10. This keeps the math simple when adding numbers together. A die roll plus a value up to ten is easy to calculate by just about anyone. Using a bell curve the higher end values weigh a lot more so the +10 is more like a +15 or +20 in a flat distribution like d20. Since I use a 2d10 system with opposing rolls the lower end values weigh in a lot more and the later, higher values, add less with every plus. So 10 is pretty good in covering the full range of benefits.

More so, since most activities involve opposing rolls the bonuses can be added on either end and would result in a -10 to +10 overall modifier, depending on which roll the bonus is added. This bonus limit would apply to combat as well as skill checks.

Finally I also believe this cap sets a limit on the power a character may have. There is no "infinite" amount of bonuses a character can add to things like damage and skill checks, and every plus beyond 5 would cost considerably more and provide considerably less return. This will make player think twice about investing so much into something that will pay back so little.

Impact Damage

My recent thoughts on the matter of hand to hand combat and it's importance in full plate encounters has taken me to rethink the importance of hand to hand combat itself and in so doing reconsider the modelling of armour and damage itself.
Having a strong requirement for a rules light system I have between one and two pages to explain hand to hand combat and one quarter of a page to put relevant information on the GM's screen. I can not extend it to a full chapter of hand to hand rules and tables upon tables of modifiers.

With this in mind I'm lead to think that hand to hand combat should be an extension of the armed combat, or for that matter armed combat should be an extension of hand to hand. This makes me rethink the concept of damage, which so far I've considered as piercing, slashing or bludgeoning against the armour or protection. I'm thinking about these abstract points called hit points which are a representation of damage through the armour and into the body. But I'm not thinking energy transfer through the armour or more importantly momentum.

Take a moment to view the image I've included in this post. Notice the small bulge on the bottom. There's a pocket created in the metal due to the momentum of the impact. Of course this is a hyper velocity impact (4.25 miles/second, about Mach 22), but it makes the point. When hit by a bullet, the ballistic vest may hold, but the body will still receive an impact on the skin and underlying tissue. More so a ballistic vest will not save someone from a 30m (99 foot) fall, nor by being hit by a truck.

So, when an armoured knight charges another the sheer bulk of the impact will cause some damage inside the impacted knight. It will transfer momentum to the body and give him a speed vector in a direction he may not be able to compensate for, leading to a fall. Can combat damage be reworked based on "momentum"? Can this lead to a simplified set of hand to hand rules and weapon damage? Should typical concepts like piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage be reworked around a more unified model around momentum? Would this lead to a more realistic modelling of weapons without a greater rule complexity?


Image

http://www.gizmag.com/space-debris-kessler-syndrome-nasa-debrisat/24911/

Hand to hand in full plate

Just found this very interesting video that will make me rethink the importance of hand to hand combat in Era. First off it's clear full plate isn't as encumbersome as some rule books would make us think. Take a look at the video and see some aerobics in action while in full plate.

Secondly, weapon damage is very hard to achieve. Notice the sword swing in the beginning. No doubt that a strong bludgeoning blow would still deliver concussion damage, but a sword by itself, specially a light sword has no place in this combat.

Finally the most effective tactics are hand to hand close quarter combat. Grapple, pull, push and bringing down the armored knight is a good strategy. Pinning him down on the floor for a good knife attack is clearly a winning strategy.

So it's time to go back to the drawing board and put more attention into those hand to hand combat rules.