[Wilshire]

There could be some stat variation based on Race, but maybe rules could be adapted to make large group conflicts possible. Meaning that difficult will scale more with total number of enemies rather than absolute strength of each individual creature. Just more thought.

[Wilshire]

RQ6 thoughts so far:
Much more complex than OQ, but OQ did a decent job at explaining the basics.
It seems that every system is more in-depth and complex, and I've only read through some 50 of the 460 pages.
 
Characteristics:
Pretty standard here, though I like how everything is explained. All of it seems pretty TSA friendly.
One note: Luck. Consider changing name to have something to do with the Fate, or Anagke, or even World-Conspires.

Culture/Community:
Available choices: Barbarian, Civilized, Nomadic, Primitive

Scylvendi seem to fall someplace between Barbarian and Nomadic. Some minor adjustment might need to be made.
Only Sranc seem to fit into primitive culture, and I assume those will always be NPC so I'm not sure if that matters.
Civilized seems to fit reasonably well with TSA.

Background Events: I haven't read though them but they seem entertaining. Good addition.

Career Development:
Most careers seem reasonable, though I didn't read extremely closely.
Sorcerer, Shaman, Priest, and Mystic: Caution with anything that involves mysticism/supernatural/cults. Closer reading needed, but probably a good idea to limit those through culture and remove ties to sorcery.

Age: Whats the average lifespan of a non-magical character in Earwa? Normal aging might make sense for most characters, but schoolmen might need a separate table. They live longer, perhaps based on school, and become much stronger as time goes on. Also, starting age of schoolman apprenticeship may be important. Another dice roll?

I'll just keep posting my thoughts like this as I read through the document.

[Kellais]

Btw, total offtopic, but it might be of interest to some of you:

RQ6 is available via bundle of holding. It's a very reasonable price and if you go over the median price you get some extra books for free on top. No matter what you do, it's an awsome price for this stuff AND you also help charity.
The deal is available for the next 6 days.

So here goes: http://bundleofholding.com/index/current

[Wilshire]

Seems reasonable. $6.95 is worth it for the main book alone. All the other stuff is gravy, even at $17.

[Wilshire]

Sooo... Now that its June, anyone interested in this yet? We've got a couple of new members floating around out there, thought maybe I'd ask.

[Kellais]

Thx Wilshire for bumping this up.

I myself am now working with RQ6 to bring my own fantasy setting to life. So by the end of that i should have a good grasp on the rulesset. If we, by then, have the necessary world-notes on Earwa, i'm sure we can translate those into RQ6 without it being a sisyphean workload 

[Somnambulist]

This has been a problem on my side.  I was hoping to use RQ6 with my gaming group, but it kind of disintegrated.  Being democratically aligned, they voted to use another ruleset to play under.  Lol.  Tbh, its been a little bit of a slog to get a better grip on the rules without the play experience.

[Wilshire]

What would be absolutely ideal would be to get a group together and somehow play one, but with different timezones it might be impossible. I'm EST, or well actually EDT until daylight savings time ends.

We could do something super simple like Skype? I dunno, maybe that wouldn't even work, but I'd be willing to try. I'd also need to get a set of dice. 3 people doesn't seem like enough, but I have literally 0 experience. If we need a 4th, maybe Raizen will play (he posted on the other thread)?

EDIT:
btw with the "bundle of holding" i got some extra campaign books and quests, etc., so we could just use some of the preset stuff just to get a feel. It would make starting a game easier, especially because only Kellais has RQ6 experience.

[Raizen]

I'd be interested in helping out for sure.  I have a few years of D&D experience under my belt, but I'm sure RQ6 is similar in it's playstyle.  I was doing some thinking about the chroae and how we can limit their power over Schoolmen.  There are a few things we can do with them, these are just a few ideas I had:

- turn them into a skill for non magic users (passive skill) that reduces damage taken by sorcery by a given percentage that will increase as the level goes up.  This is just their defensive capabilities
- At the higher levels perhaps the sorcerers get a will saving throw to combat the effects of the chroae. Something like, "warrior x approaches schoolman y with a chroae.  Schoolman y can use a will-based saving throw (or the RQ6 equivalent) to negate the salting by cracking the ground or pulling a building down on him.  Otherwise, chroae will become the most broken part of this game and no one will want to play as a schoolman since a capable warrior with a chroae will always win.

I figured we can keep this well open for discussion, as it'll be the most challenging portion of this.

[Wilshire]

In Earwa, in open conflict, a schoolmen always loses to a choraed warrior, or hell even a choraed child. More so in Earwa than any other universe, Mages are a glass cannon. Lots of power but very, very, squishy. If the power of the chorae is reduced, then the maximum power of a given schoolman would also need to be reduced.
Finding a good balance will be difficult.

[Somnambulist]

Honestly, while accepting that being chorae'd as a sorcerer would suck as a player, I'm not sure I agree with changing that fact to make the game more palatable for those wanting to play a magic-user.  Personally, and this is just my opinion, flavor is lost and the whole idea of playing in Scott's world loses it's edge if we start tinkering with fundamentals like that.  This world is deadly and unbalanced, unfair and serious as fuck.  To me, it would just be a cheap reduction of a game if that edge and desperation were taken away or 'balanced' toward sorcerer survivability.  As a player, imo, if you choose to be able to lay waste to legions of men and sranc and wield god-like power, you accept the possibility (inevitability?) of someone coming after you with a trinket.  I think that's fair.

[Wilshire]

Somna I lean towards that sentiment. Chorae being all or nothing is something that makes Earwa unique, and changing that could be too much.

I suggest allowing for some kind of find-and-disarm mechanic. For example, if two groups are facing a boss with a chorae, the schoolmen might spend his turns "feeling" where exactly the hidden chorae is. One he is successful, the other members of his group could try to target that spot and try to get the opponent to drop it.

Also, the schoolman wouldn't be totally useless. He might be able to search the surroundings and look for rooks, or loose walls/cieles/tree branches that could be lifted and thrown at the enemy, doing some amount of damage, hindering or disorienting them in some way, etc. I think we will need to find out of the box solutions for this, and therefore account for them when building our world here.

Damage values for inanimate objects based on size/weight and distance from target.
Ability for schoolman to move/lift/throw based on school, rank, and experience and even specific skills?
Think of things like creating a dust storms in a desert to blind enemy
Use schoolmen to create armors from mundane materials (must be recast every battle), good for absorbing 1 blow from a choraed opponent, used on self or companions.


In order to stay true to Earwa, we will have to invent plausible scenarios that might offer a balance to make things more palatable for the player, or at least playable and worth the risk

Also, as long as there is not skin to chorae contact, the schoolman would survive. Hurt, certainly, knocked-out, probably, but at least still alive.

[Somnambulist]

Wilshire, all true.  Within whatever we can come up with in terms of an Earwan rpg setting, we should absolutely give suggestions as to how sorcerers could survive an encounter with a chorae bearer.  All the things you mentioned can be given as examples.  I believe there are guidelines for the toughness, etc. of inanimate objects within the existing ruleset of RQ6.  There are also many examples given in the books (i.e., disguises, Javreh protectors, Kellhus' spinning rock shield, billows, etc.).  Magic in RQ6 is extremely flexible in terms of adapting it to need.  I think a clever sorcerer would try any/all those things, the degree of success pinned to how good he/she is.  Ultimately, it's up to the gamesmaster to provide plausible scenarios to the players and to grant them a means to survive, however small that may be in some cases.  Unless a gamesmaster is deliberately trying to obliterate the players (in which case they're doomed no matter what and there are other issues to contend with), a good gaming group will provide and find ways to overcome the obstacles they encounter.  You wanna play a sorcerer?  Be smart about it.  Dumb sorcerers don't survive, just like a dumb soldier who rushes to attack a bashrag with only a knife and no help is gonna die.  Just thoughts.

[Wilshire]

lol "rushing a bashrag".

I really need to play a game so I can know what going on

[Kellais]

I agree with Somna.

What i want to throw into the discussion:

First of all, sorcerers are pretty rare. Maybe it is even called for to limit players to non-sorcerers (?) or if you do not want to strictly forbid it, make them roll for it? Something like "throw a d100 and on 01% you're a sorcerer".

Second of all i don't see the imbalance of Chorae as dramatic. Why? Because they are even rarer than schoolmen. Not everyone will have a Chorae handy and that is an unbelievable understatment And if you want to go up against the big players in the three seas...well then you better have a plan how you will deal with those Chorae-Warriors.

At least that's my stance on it.