Sir Poley's Blog, page 45

So detect magic doesn't work but is that because HP spells have no Aura? I saw that the wording of antimagic field says "any spell or magical effect used within". Open wording sorta like D. Pois and D. Invis. Fiona as some kind of magic immune monkstrosity

Heh heh, yup. Antimagic Field would probably work against HP magic. It’s a pretty high level spell, though.

Bad News! Yay!

Hey everybody! It’s looking like, barring a miraculous burst of inspiration and productivity tomorrow, there won’t be a chapter this week. It’s already Thursday, and my word count is a scanty 48. And two of those are the bit where it says “Chapter Seventeen.” So the outlook is, in short, not good. I’ll do my best, though—we’ll see how that works!

Dear Sir Poley, I started translating HP & the Natural Twenty into German a while ago. Would you mind if I published my translation on a German fanfiction site? Your novel is awesome! :)

I may or may not have already answered this post, but yes! absolutely you have permission! Send me a link when you’re ready.

Hello Sir Poley! You mention stronghold dilemas? what about: -the [structural thing] needs reinforcement or it will break; -the enemy has found a way in, but we don't know where it is; -Someone among us is a spy (who plans to open the gates from inside? is

Awesome! This is all really good stuff! I’m writing it down. Some of it may end up in the final game. If you (or anyone else following this blog) have suggestions, this is a great way to give them to me. Here’s the kind of things I’m looking for:

Note: Remember that the Missions I’m going to include for the Alpha release are Strongpoint Assault, Strongpoint Defence, Convoy Escort, and Convoy Ambush. Future versions will include Sweep and Clear (as in, clearing out a building full of enemies), Assassination (kill an enemy leader or traitor), Bodyguard Detail (the inverse of Assassination), Dungeon Crawl (traditional RPG adventure, except the ‘heroes’ aren’t anywhere near qualified for the task), Giant Monster Rampage (a huge monster is rampaging through a town, you have to stop it), and anything else I can come up with.

-Dilemmas: (situations where the Party have to choose between two or more clear options, such as two bad ones, two good ones, or a risky one with chance of reward and a save one). Example: The bunker you’re defending is being shelled by enemy mortars. Do you head out to take out the mortars (leaving the base temporarily underdefended) or weather the storm (getting shelled in future battlers)? Alternatively: you find a broken down vehicle. Do you stay and try to fix it (chance of wandering monster while you do so, but you get to use it after) or do you leave it?

-Intermissions: This is an event that happens right before the climax, and its supposed to inject a little vigor into the squad. They could get reinforcements, find a local doctor living out in the woods who can tend their injuries, stumble across a magic weapon, that kinda thing.

-Scenarios: every different Mission will have 6 scenarios. The GM rolls 1d6 to pick one randomly if she’s doing the random mission generation. Scenarios are basically the ‘flavour text’ of what you’re doing. For example, here’s the five I have right now from Convoy Escort:

1. The convoy holds a shipment of ore headed for Eve’s factories, and must be escorted through contested territory.

2. The convoy holds medical supplies being sent through contested territory to a holding of Feral allies as part of a treaty with Eve. The shipment’s arrival is critical in maintaining their allegiance. The medical supplies can be used as an essentially-unlimited quantity of First-Aid Kits at the cost of 1 Prestige Point per use to the whole Squad (squandering the supplies in this way is shameful).

3. The convoy holds the household furniture and valuable art supplies of a noble moving to a country estate. The estate is secured by the noble’s personal forces, but the distance in between is not.

4. The convoy holds food destined for Eve’s citizens from an outlying agricultural settlement.

5. The Squad is escorting a convoy holding medicine desperately needed to stamp out a smallpox outbreak in one of Eve’s colonies, but the fastest route requires the convoy to break through a fortified enemy checkpoint.

6. ?????

There’s a separate table for Convoy Escort to see what kind of treacherous terrain the convoy goes through (follows a river, through a narrow mountain pass, etc.)

Coming up with a variety of interesting spins on a similar Mission theme is actually weirdly hard for me, for some reason. If I got one good suggestion there from one person in every thousand who reads Harry Potter and the Natural 20, I’d be good to go.

-Wandering Monsters: These are monsters/baddies that aren’t part of any particular faction, and will eat/attack pretty much anybody for any reason. Right now I only have a handful, and honestly, many of them aren’t that inspired. I’ve got bandits, giant spiders, ogres, giants, titans, giant worms (think Tremors), hydras, and dragons. I don’t know how much ‘fantasy’ this setting will have yet (will there be orcs? Are goblins more David Bowie, or more Dwarf Fortress?), so deciding what kind of monsters are stomping around is difficult. But I want more than I have. There’s enough for Alpha currently, but I want way more later. (Seriously—there’s a 1 in 8 chance of fighting a freaking dragon every time there’s a wandering monster simply because the table is so sparse).

Once the Alpha is released (which will be Real Soon Now), you guys will have a much clearer idea of what kind of suggestions will be helpful, and I’ll have a more straightforward way for you to make them (probably a forum and/or subreddit).

At this point, any input I can get at all, even if you don’t think it will be, is super helpful!

Hello Sir Poley! You mention stronghold dilemas? what about: -the [structural thing] needs reinforcement or it will break; -the enemy has found a way in, but we don't know where it is; -Someone among us is a spy (who plans to open the gates from inside? is

Awesome! This is all really good stuff! I’m writing it down. Some of it may end up in the final game. If you (or anyone else following this blog) have suggestions, this is a great way to give them to me. Here’s the kind of things I’m looking for:

Note: Remember that the Missions I’m going to include for the Alpha release are Strongpoint Assault, Strongpoint Defence, Convoy Escort, and Convoy Ambush. Future versions will include Sweep and Clear (as in, clearing out a building full of enemies), Assassination (kill an enemy leader or traitor), Bodyguard Detail (the inverse of Assassination), Dungeon Crawl (traditional RPG adventure, except the ‘heroes’ aren’t anywhere near qualified for the task), Giant Monster Rampage (a huge monster is rampaging through a town, you have to stop it), and anything else I can come up with.

-Dilemmas: (situations where the Party have to choose between two or more clear options, such as two bad ones, two good ones, or a risky one with chance of reward and a save one). Example: The bunker you’re defending is being shelled by enemy mortars. Do you head out to take out the mortars (leaving the base temporarily underdefended) or weather the storm (getting shelled in future battlers)? Alternatively: you find a broken down vehicle. Do you stay and try to fix it (chance of wandering monster while you do so, but you get to use it after) or do you leave it?

-Intermissions: This is an event that happens right before the climax, and its supposed to inject a little vigor into the squad. They could get reinforcements, find a local doctor living out in the woods who can tend their injuries, stumble across a magic weapon, that kinda thing.

-Scenarios: every different Mission will have 6 scenarios. The GM rolls 1d6 to pick one randomly if she’s doing the random mission generation. Scenarios are basically the ‘flavour text’ of what you’re doing. For example, here’s the five I have right now from Convoy Escort:

1. The convoy holds a shipment of ore headed for Eve’s factories, and must be escorted through contested territory.

2. The convoy holds medical supplies being sent through contested territory to a holding of Feral allies as part of a treaty with Eve. The shipment’s arrival is critical in maintaining their allegiance. The medical supplies can be used as an essentially-unlimited quantity of First-Aid Kits at the cost of 1 Prestige Point per use to the whole Squad (squandering the supplies in this way is shameful).

3. The convoy holds the household furniture and valuable art supplies of a noble moving to a country estate. The estate is secured by the noble’s personal forces, but the distance in between is not.

4. The convoy holds food destined for Eve’s citizens from an outlying agricultural settlement.

5. The Squad is escorting a convoy holding medicine desperately needed to stamp out a smallpox outbreak in one of Eve’s colonies, but the fastest route requires the convoy to break through a fortified enemy checkpoint.

6. ?????

There’s a separate table for Convoy Escort to see what kind of treacherous terrain the convoy goes through (follows a river, through a narrow mountain pass, etc.)

Coming up with a variety of interesting spins on a similar Mission theme is actually weirdly hard for me, for some reason. If I got one good suggestion there from one person in every thousand who reads Harry Potter and the Natural 20, I’d be good to go.

-Wandering Monsters: These are monsters/baddies that aren’t part of any particular faction, and will eat/attack pretty much anybody for any reason. Right now I only have a handful, and honestly, many of them aren’t that inspired. I’ve got bandits, giant spiders, ogres, giants, titans, giant worms (think Tremors), hydras, and dragons. I don’t know how much ‘fantasy’ this setting will have yet (will there be orcs? Are goblins more David Bowie, or more Dwarf Fortress?), so deciding what kind of monsters are stomping around is difficult. But I want more than I have. There’s enough for Alpha currently, but I want way more later. (Seriously—there’s a 1 in 8 chance of fighting a freaking dragon every time there’s a wandering monster simply because the table is so sparse).

Once the Alpha is released (which will be Real Soon Now), you guys will have a much clearer idea of what kind of suggestions will be helpful, and I’ll have a more straightforward way for you to make them (probably a forum and/or subreddit).

At this point, any input I can get at all, even if you don’t think it will be, is super helpful!

I feel idiotic :D I just immediately brainstormed an unsolicited page of stronghold defense scenarios and sent it to you, and then saw it's *strongpoint assault* instead. Oops? I guess some things still transfer over... Anyways, let me know if you want pag

Yes! I absolutely need huge lists of scenarios. That’s currently the main thing holding me up from release.

I have both a Strongpoint Assault and a Strongpoint Defence Mission, so anything you can come up with for either would be perfect.

As for alpha/beta testers—I’m planning to release the game as an open Alpha, sorta like how indie video games do it. Everyone who plays in the first few months will be an alpha tester. I’m even planning to open a bug tracker for people to post things like typos, nonsenical rules, questionable balance, and the like.

I feel idiotic :D I just immediately brainstormed an unsolicited page of stronghold defense scenarios and sent it to you, and then saw it's *strongpoint assault* instead. Oops? I guess some things still transfer over... Anyways, let me know if you want pag

Yes! I absolutely need huge lists of scenarios. That’s currently the main thing holding me up from release.

I have both a Strongpoint Assault and a Strongpoint Defence Mission, so anything you can come up with for either would be perfect.

As for alpha/beta testers—I’m planning to release the game as an open Alpha, sorta like how indie video games do it. Everyone who plays in the first few months will be an alpha tester. I’m even planning to open a bug tracker for people to post things like typos, nonsenical rules, questionable balance, and the like.

So, will there be options for playing as the monster going up against the army of redshirts? Or, the options to play as a party of cultists, Deep Ones, or Fae Soldiers (well, the cannon fodder of those factions)? What about people like different play style

The initial release will only support playing as ordinary humans fighting against horrifying monsters (and other humans), but Death or Glory is easily, easily convertible. I could probably switch the party to be Fae Soldiers or cultists in a weekend—all I’d need would be 5-10 different types of ‘Squads’ the players could play as (I dunno, Changeling Slaves, Fae Warriors, Wild Hunters, that kinda thing) and a dozen or so specializations to differentiate the players from each other (like Sidhe Knight, Sidhe Lord/Lady, some kind of ranged and melee specialist, and a couple of ‘dud’ specializations (drummer?) to encourage suicidal charges). Cultists would be similarly easy.

Playing as giant monsters competing to destroy enemies, King of Tokyo-style, would be a little trickier, but not impossible. I’d probably remove squad types altogether, and instead of specializations you’d roll for what kind of monster you’d play as off the Wandering Monster charts (I’d need a few more to keep things interesting—there are only six or so Wandering Monsters right now, and three of them are just bigger versions of each other in the form of Ogres, Giants, and Titans), with a bad roll giving you something lame like a giant spider or an ogre, and a high roll giving you something wicked like a hydra or dragon.

I’d either remove Redshirts or only give them to characters playing as the lamer monsters (the guy playing as the spider gets 1d4 extra spiders to control, while the dragon only has herself). Competing for kills is already built into the system in the form of Prestige Points, so that’s easy enough. Some of the Mission Types don’t make a heck of a lot of sense for monsters without some tweaks (maybe instead of defending a fort full of refugees, you’re defending a dungeon or lurking in a ruin?).

Currently, almost anything combat-related is possible, even at very large scale (not quite Warhammer-sized battles, but having over fifty characters/monsters on the board is possible without significant slowdown as long as many of them are similar). I spent a lot of work in making a robust combat engine that can handle quite a wide and weird array of scenarios.

As for other types of playstyles, there’s much less support. I don’t even have proper stealth rules, yet, much less diplomacy. There are a couple of pre-scripted diplomatic/noncombat encounters with other actors in the random mission generator, but there’s a lot of GM fiat/randomness in how they’re resolved. That’s definitely an area that needs work, but it’s complicated by my desire to keep character gen very simple. I don’t want to have a huge array of skills and things to keep track of, so I’d need a pretty elegant solution. Characters have a Command Bonus, which is the general bravery and intelligence bonus used in a wide array of situations that goes up with rank, and I could use that as the generic “conversation” skill as well (roll Command 5+ to convince the cultists not to sacrifice you to their demon prince, for example). Stealth and surprise are still an open question.

Chapter 16 Posted!

Harry Potter and the Save-or-Die, Chapter 16: “Safer Justice Practices,” is up! You can find it here.

This was probably the most fun chapter to write so far in this book, for me. After reading, I’m sure you’ll be able to guess why.

Status Report

Greetings, everyone!

I’m happy to say that Chapter Sixteen of Harry Potter and the Save-or-Die is about 70% complete, and therefore on track for release tomorrow evening.

In other news, work on Death or Glory continues. I’ve added a bunch of page cross-references throughout the rules to make it easier to know where to go to look up relevant rules. Turns out Word can make those automatically update when pages shift around, which is nifty. I polished off the Convoy Ambush Mission, in which the party has to track down an enemy convoy and, well, ambush it. It has a cool chart for the GM to roll on to see what was in the convoy, too, based on the enemy you’re fighting (demon cultists might have barrels full of blood, rogue wizards might have spell components, etc.). There’s only a few things left on the checklist for the alpha release:

The Convoy Escort Mission needs a little work
I still need stats for some wandering monsters, like giant spiders, hydras, and giant worms. Future releases will have more wandering monsters, but I haven’t decided yet how “fantastical” the game will get, so I’m not sure which of the usual fantasy opponents will make it into the game, and in what incarnation.
Feral humans need leader/character units
Still a bunch more random encounter/dilemma/intermission charts to fill in. I don’t yet have any Strongpoint Assault dilemmas, for example. Future versions will have more entries in each chart, but even putting 6-10 on each is very time consuming so far.