Monday, November 18, 2013

[Q&A] Jeff Mechlinski (Age Past: The Incian Sphere)

[19:08] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> Hello!  My name is Jeff Mechlinski and I wrote and designed Age Past RPG
[19:09] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> I graduated from Auburn with a degree in Industrial Design and I tried to use my learning to help build a new RPG that works and thinks differently from others.
[19:09] <+Alaren> (link worked for me and I'm using Chrome)
[19:09] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> I started to design Age Past about 6-7 years ago
[19:10] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and it was at first meant to fix the myriad and niggling issues with DnD 3.5
[19:10] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the game strted as a mechanical rewrite and turned into a full blown game and world
[19:11] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> The mechanical rule set is integrated into the world making it easy for players and the GM to interact.   But the main crux of Age PAst is the dynamic character build system and rolling systems
[19:11] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> Any type of PC can be designed by the player
[19:12] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> it uses a comprehensive archetype build system
[19:12] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there are over 140 powers and most can be taken 4 times
[19:12] <+Daniel> Is this in a multi-species universe, or a human only universe?
[19:12] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> no 2 characters will ever be close ot teh same
[19:12] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the world is what I call "generic fantasy"
[19:12] <~Dan> (Daniel: Please hold questions until we get a "(done)" from Jeff. I'll explain in a private message to you. :) )
[19:14] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> which means that there is magic and fantasy creatures... the world its self isn't absolutely  astounding... but the design around how the PC's interact with the world is
[19:14] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there are 11 races each with suggested clans that can help drive players to make creative choices and also drive teh archtype
[19:14] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> however, players can make up anything they want
[19:15] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> in Age Past you don't just build a "Warrior"  you instead build a Inquisitional Captain
[19:15] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> or a Shifting Smuggler
[19:16] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the game uses a simple skill system and combat has been designed to be dynamic, each player can do more in less time
[19:16] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> this is due to an action based system
[19:17] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> actions form a pool and anything - everything in combat uses actions
[19:17] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ther eis also horde combat based around minion rules... essentiall lower level monsters loose hit points based on how much higher the PC's are
[19:17] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> once they get to 1 HP they become minions and can be slaughtered in droves
[19:18] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> this enables larger combats or seiges to happen that woudl otherwise be impossible
[19:18] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> At the heart of the game is a rolling system called Elegant10
[19:19] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> this rolling system allows you to choose how you roll and helps contrain characters... i can explain in detail alter but essentially stacking points starts to lose efficiency the higher you go
[19:19] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ie. diminishing returns
[19:19] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> rolls are usually found to be between 6 and 16
[19:19] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> thus
[19:20] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> players gain a more expected result do to a bell curve that forms when rolling
[19:20] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and at that I think I'm (done)
[19:20] <~Dan> Thanks, Jeff!
[19:21] <~Dan> Would anyone like to start us off with a question?
[19:21] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> sure anyhting else you think i should mention?
[19:21] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> hopefully you all are able to get the book
[19:22] <~Dan> Can you give us an overview of the races?
[19:22] <+Daniel> the link does not work for me...
[19:22] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> im sorry daniel did you find the preview copy on rpgdrivethru
[19:22] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> you cans ee msot of it there
[19:22] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> just search "age past"
[19:22] <+Daniel> oh, ok! i'm on it. sorry
[19:22] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the races are meant to be fun and accessible
[19:22] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> each race has...
[19:22] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 1. perfreed weapons
[19:23] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 2. languages
[19:23] <+Bigby> The link works fine for me.  Glancing through it I like the art for the races.
[19:23] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 3. professions
[19:23] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 3. history and status
[19:23] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> oops
[19:23] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 5. clans
[19:23] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> they are what I would describe as generic fantasy with some interesting twists
[19:24] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> everything in Age Past is more political and selfish
[19:24] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> each race also starts out with some powers or quality
[19:24] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> human races gain additional points to start their build with
[19:25] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i also tried to put motivations in for each race... why someone from that race would adventure
[19:26] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> for this book everything is in the western continent
[19:26] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> which is magical
[19:27] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there is a push of new technology coming from the East
[19:27] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so the current history has magic being traded for technology and vice versa
[19:27] <~Dan> How advanced is this technology?
[19:28] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> between victorian and WW2
[19:28] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the east uses a compound called fyrite to power steam geenrators
[19:28] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> thye have firearms but no smokeless power
[19:29] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> a "radio" would be like a magic item for them, but the fytite is radioactive and messes with wireless signals
[19:29] <~Dan> So how advanced are the firearms? It's hard to imagine WW2-level teck with black powder.
[19:29] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so essentially steambased and non-IC based tech
[19:29] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> well yeah
[19:30] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so that all int eh other book im working on
[19:30] <~Dan> (teck = tech, rather)
[19:30] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but essentiall they have multibarrel gunbs that can fire 3 times and then must be cleaned or risk jamming
[19:30] <~Dan> Like pepperbox revolvers?
[19:30] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> also (base don research) non-smokelss power heavily oxidizes the firearm
[19:30] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> yeah
[19:31] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so they must be kep up with
[19:31] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but like i said that's all a work in progree
[19:31] <+Bigby> Is the magic/tech difference an issue of cultural/area knowledge or is there something inherently different about the two areas?
[19:31] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there is a description of one of these eastern weapons on page 359
[19:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> yes
[19:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so the history covers it to soem degree
[19:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but at some point in time the gods interferred a whole lot
[19:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and many people didnt like this
[19:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so they moved east in droves
[19:32] <+Daniel> I just want to say, I saw our Kickstarter before even knowing who you were and I was amzed to start with. I congratulate you on your book. It looks very, very good.
[19:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and started to (THANKS!) use technology instead of magic
[19:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> then the apocolypse happened
[19:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and the two areas were separated
[19:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the magic people used what they knew to rebuild and the tech people used what they knew to rebuild
[19:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> some thousand years later they met back up
[19:33] <~Dan> (I see a lot of similarities between your work, Jeff and Daniel. You both produced gorgeous works as your first RPG efforts. :) )
[19:34] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i think thta was about 200 years ago in the history
[19:34] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> from current
[19:35] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so obviously for political and economic reasons there is a push from each side to get the magic/tech
[19:35] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there only one passage from west to east and it's regualted
[19:35] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so lots of political subterfuge takes place
[19:36] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i tried to place as many interesting hooks to entangle PC's as I could
[19:37] <~Dan> You may have touched on this in the introduction, but could you explain the function of Talents, Heroic Traits, and Professions?
[19:37] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there's also plenty of little fixtion tidbitz here and ther eto help people find things that are interesting
[19:37] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> sure
[19:38] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> heroic traits are the most important
[19:38] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> monsters dont get these except for major vilians
[19:38] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 1 point in heroic trait will rais all the talents in a category
[19:39] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> they also are teh last lien of defense agaisnt attribute damage
[19:39] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> omg typing...lol
[19:39] <~Dan> (Oh, and for the benefit of those reading the log of the discussion, do you have a link to a character sheet?)
[19:39] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> talents make up the bulk of the everyday skills.  they are comprised of Attributes, Combat, and standard
[19:40] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there are PC sheets in the book
[19:40] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i have soem on my website but they are bit dated
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[19:40] <~Dan> (Howdy, LW, Gemini!)
[19:40] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> im going to place a packet on RPGDriveTHRU for free that has all the cards and GM's guide in the book soon
[19:41] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so within a week or so
[19:41] <~Dan> Ah, cool. :)
[19:41] <+Daniel> May I ask what your essential inspirations were?
[19:41] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so as your PC levels you choose the talents to increase.  COmbat is the most expensive and then the attributes then the standard
[19:41] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i wanted to make a game that made sense
[19:42] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> as a designer i kept listening to people make padantic comments about DnD while playing
[19:42] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i thought i could do thingss a different way
[19:42] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> provide what people want and make a game that was more rewarding
[19:43] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> we all know that for some games people never want to use the classes or items form teh starting book
[19:43] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so i wanted to make a game where people love their characters and watch them develop in a way that is really rewarding
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[19:43] <+Daniel> that's cool.
[19:44] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i always encourage people to make a PC
[19:44] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and see what you get
[19:44] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> all of the powers are balanced via cost
[19:44] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if you want a social character you will get A LOT of options
[19:44] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> because they are cheaper
[19:44] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and you can do a lot
[19:45] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> want a complex character then build one
[19:45] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> newer players can just pump stats if they want
[19:45] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ie make a simpler character
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[19:46] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but its really hard to make a munchkin in AP
[19:46] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> some can
[19:46] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but most balanced characters are actually better
[19:46] <~Dan> How long does it take for the average newcomer to the game to make a character?
[19:46] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> min/maxing is really cut down
[19:46] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i would say it depends on how much they review the powers
[19:46] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours
[19:47] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> since there are so many powers it can be hard to choose a ferw
[19:47] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> few^
[19:47] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i ahve some guidelines
[19:47] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> like choose 2 defense 2 offensive 2 utility
[19:47] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but people who really like to RP can build faster b/c they just choose stuff with cool names
[19:48] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> making a lord w/ champion or dryad w/ beast takes longer obviously
[19:50] <~Dan> This is something we discussed pre-Q&A, but can you say a bit about where the game falls on the gritty/cinematic scale?
[19:50] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> yeah
[19:50] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so the damage inflicted can vary
[19:50] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and the world is inherently dangerous
[19:50] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the magic that makes "man" powerful alsomakes beasts powerful
[19:51] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so they grow large and reproduce fast
[19:51] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> pockets of trapped mana can help create elements or undead or dire beasts
[19:51] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so the population is constantly at war with the world
[19:52] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> also the morality system uses a baseline of selfish
[19:52] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so that the world itself works agaisnt the PC's to a small degree
[19:53] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> in combat critical hits can kill right out
[19:53] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ive had it happen at con before... but it's rare
[19:53] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i've had a few lowlevel PC's dismembered too
[19:53] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> not as rare... ;)
[19:54] * ~Dan chuckles
[19:54] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> well for example
[19:54] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i had a VERY armored high level PC fighting on a ledge
[19:54] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> he fell
[19:54] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> broke his arm
[19:54] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and cant use his shield
[19:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the wounds taken were small
[19:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> maybe 10% of his total
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[19:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but in age past there are plenty of ways to reduce combat effectiveness
[19:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> also wounds are not an abstract
[19:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 1 heals a day
[19:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> w/o magic
[19:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> most characters ahve 6 to 11
[19:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> some have less
[19:56] <+Bigby> Is it easy to adjust the grittiness/lethality?
[19:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> yes
[19:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> crut hits are optional
[19:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> crit^
[19:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and there is an optonal "high lethality" mode
[19:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> which really jsut reduce wounds by -3 on all characters
[19:57] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but that means some PC's will have 1-3 wounds total
[19:57] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> a longsword does 2 wounds
[19:57] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> usually with a balanced party lethality is rare
[19:57] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but
[19:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> magic uses mana way faster then recovered
[19:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so this leads to "resource management"
[19:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if a high level wizard has 40 mana
[19:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> he can cast 10 4th level spells
[19:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> or 20 second elvel spells
[19:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> or 40 first elvel spells
[19:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> he gains about 12 mana back each day
[19:59] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so if the party goes buck wild and looses 30 wounds
[19:59] <+Daniel> I like how it feels classic and yet unique. I may be way off, but from a quick galnce I can see a lot of passion in the characters of this world and at the same time a lot of classic desires to survive in a world of perpetual danger.
[19:59] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and he doesnt even cast after teh next day he will only have 22 mana and that assuming healing each wound at a time (1 mana)
[20:00] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the classic nature is def there... kinda a knee jerk to DnD4th
[20:00] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there are optional training rules
[20:00] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but i really wanted the PC's to be able to do stuff
[20:00] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i wanted players to know when they roll they havea  achance to do something they want to do and thus care about
[20:01] <~Dan> How capable are new characters?
[20:01] <+Alaren> Could you maybe walk us through a sample attack and defense or skill use to get an idea of how the dice system works? I'm not real clear on that.
[20:01] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> well not like shadowrun capable
[20:01] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> sure
[20:02] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so i woudl say an AP character is about as capable as a 3rd level pathfinder PC
[20:02] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> typical levels are 1 to 15
[20:02] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so that is close to DnD 1-20
[20:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> umm i think for example a new character gets about 35 build poitns (abstractly)
[20:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> plus race
[20:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so maybe like 50ish total
[20:03] <~Dan> (I'll call for a question pause here to let Jeff go over combat.)
[20:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and thereafter you get 10 a level
[20:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> yes
[20:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> just wanted to finish the other quest
[20:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> okay combat
[20:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> here's how it works
[20:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> its active
[20:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i roll agaisnt you
[20:04] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i use my combat+mods to hity
[20:04] <~Dan> (brb)
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[20:04] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> modes = magic, charging or a weapon hit bonus
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[20:04] <+MonkofLords> Hello
[20:04] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so if my combat is 4 and my brawn is 1 and my weapons gives me a +1 to hit
[20:04] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> my total pool is 6
[20:04] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so therefore i will have 6 dice to roll with
[20:05] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i roll and get a 12
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[20:05] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so that's my strength of attack
[20:05] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> you then must roll to defend yourself
[20:05] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if its a sneak attack then you are automaticallt struck
[20:05] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> to defend
[20:05] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> either dodge or parry
[20:06] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> parry = combat; dodge = agility
[20:06] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if its a ranged attack and you dont have a shield then you must dodge
[20:06] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> or if you have a shield you can use it to parry a ranged attack
[20:07] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> obv melee weapons can parry other melee weapons
[20:07] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so
[20:07] <+Alaren> so you rolled 6d10 and got a 12?
[20:07] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so that's rolling
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[20:07] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> with elegant 10
[20:07] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> you dont have to roll all the dice
[20:07] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> when you roll you only choose the highest duce
[20:07] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> dice
[20:07] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but
[20:07] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> any dice you dont roll get added as a +1
[20:07] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so with 6 dice
[20:08] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if i dont roll 3 then i roll 3 and get a +3
[20:08] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so 6 dice... roll 3 = 6,7,8 + hold 3
[20:08] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> total score is an 11
[20:08] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i could roll all 6
[20:08] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> or only r oll 1 and add a +5
[20:08] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> also
[20:08] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> extra 10's add a +2
[20:09] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so, as above, i roll a 7,10,10 +3 for holding
[20:09] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> my total score is a 15
[20:09] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 10 +2 +3
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[20:09] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so thsi rollign system keeps scores between 4 and 18 really well
[20:09] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if you have a score of 0
[20:09] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> then roll 2 and take the lowers
[20:09] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> lowest^
[20:10] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> okay
[20:10] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so you are defending
[20:10] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> you parry and add your combat + mod = pool
[20:10] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if you get less then a 12 then you are struck
[20:10] <+Daniel> It's very simple
[20:10] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so i take my strength
[20:11] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and roll agaisnt your armor
[20:11] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> this is passive
[20:11] <~Dan> (Howdy, MonkofLords, Duloth, egyptian! Q&A in progress, #rpgnet2 open for general chat. :) )
[20:11] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> usually armor is 8 to 11
[20:11] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so if my STR is 5
[20:11] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and your armor is 9
[20:11] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i must beat your armor
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[20:11] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if i roll a 10 then you take weapon damager
[20:11] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there is no roll fro damage, wounds are just taken
[20:12] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> now once i penetrate yout armor
[20:12] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if i roll natureal 10's i cause +1 wound
[20:12] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so my roll
[20:12] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i roll 4 dice and hold 1 to pen your armor 9
[20:12] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i roll a 1, 8, 10 and 10
[20:13] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i woudl cause my weapon damage (usually 2 wounds)
[20:13] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> then the 8 +1 for holding = 9
[20:13] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the 9 pens your amor
[20:13] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but i also have 2 10's that each cause +1 wound
[20:13] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so you woudl take 4 wounds
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[20:13] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> essentially each str point adds a +10% chance to cause an additional wounds
[20:13] <~Dan> (Welcome back, MonkofLords, and howdy, Abstruse!)
[20:14] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> some weapons cause +2 wounds on an extra 10
[20:14] <+Alaren> Ok, that all makes sense
[20:14] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> yeah so rela fast
[20:14] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 1. roll to hity
[20:14] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 2. roll to defend
[20:14] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 3. roll topenetrate and determine wounds
[20:15] <+Abstruse> (Eeek! Q&A tonight! Sorry I'm so late!)
[20:15] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> whats nice is the pools are determeind before rolling
[20:15] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so its fast
[20:15] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> when i roll fro monsters i roll them all at once
[20:15] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> bam bam bam bam i point at players and give them numbers thye have to defend against
[20:16] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so the system scales really well with high elvel combat
[20:16] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> now
[20:16] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if you use all your actions ina  round
[20:16] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> your PC becomes flatfooted
[20:16] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> they cant dodge
[20:17] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> or turn in place
[20:17] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> therefore if you are shot in teh back or stabbed you cannot defend and will be auto critted assuming the shot penetrates armor
[20:18] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the baclstabbing strike power grants +2 str per rank and at rank 4 will grant +8 strength
[20:18] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> hence dynamic combat starts to pan out
[20:18] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there is also a comprehensive crafting system
[20:19] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and mechaniocs like surprise knockout
[20:19] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so its possible to actually kepe a guard from shouting
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[20:20] <~Dan> (wb, Duloth!)
[20:20] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> page 204 has a great combat example
[20:20] <+Alaren> cool, I will take a look! I almost forgot I have the book.
[20:20] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> lol\
[20:20] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> yeah
[20:20] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> tell your friends.. lol
[20:21] <~Dan> A quick note, Jeff: Abstruse over there is the RPG columnist for Ain't It Cool News. :)
[20:21] <+Daniel> I for one, will, this seems like a very good game.
[20:21] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ahh cool
[20:21] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> yes i'd appreciate any reviews
[20:21] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if you do those
[20:21] <~Dan> I do those. :)
[20:22] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> please do
[20:22] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> :)
[20:22] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the morality system on page 114 is def worth checking out
[20:23] <~Dan> So how common are monsters in the setting? Are there rampaging armies of goblins, for example, or are monsters more creepy things whispered about around campfires?
[20:24] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> okay
[20:24] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so i ahve a thing called werking
[20:24] <+Abstruse> I do reviews. Contact me at theabstruseone@gmail.com
[20:24] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> werking is highly illegal and dangers
[20:24] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> its addictive and corrupts
[20:25] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> werkers take humanoid hosts and rip their sould using magic to make new creatures
[20:25] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> they can also take souls floating in Limbo
[20:25] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> (thanks!)
[20:25] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so really terrible monsters are made thata re compeltely outside the natural order
[20:25] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so they can swarm
[20:26] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and are usually evil
[20:26] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the goblins are essentially slaves
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[20:26] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> to orks but they do have their own territory
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[20:26] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there are lots of cults
[20:27] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> elementars (page 352)
[20:27] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> vampires (page 326)
[20:27] <+Daniel> 352?
[20:27] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> areas infested with giants or trolls
[20:27] <+Daniel> I have only 241...
[20:27] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> sorry
[20:28] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i stopped it there
[20:28] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> for the preview
[20:28] <+Daniel> oh. sure! that makes sense :P
[20:28] <~Dan> (Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bujzyp387tkt4le/Age_Past_%20Incian_Sphere_APIS001b.pdf)https://www.dropbox.com/s/bujzyp387tkt4le/Age_Past_%20Incian_Sphere_APIS001b.pdf
[20:28] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> even the factions can be inherently deadly
[20:28] <~Dan> (There's the link to the game, if you want to give it another try.)
[20:29] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> assassins, smugglers, inquisition, lore masters, realmwalkers
[20:29] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> werkers
[20:29] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> not to mention the competing clans
[20:29] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> anytign can be dangerous
[20:29] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> politicians are corrupt
[20:31] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but i dont have an underlying evil or a sort of the PC's verse a central point
[20:31] <~Dan> No evil gods?
[20:31] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ohh sure
[20:31] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there are 998 gods
[20:31] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so enough to tickle any fance
[20:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the more worshippers the god has the more powerful he is
[20:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> gods made everything
[20:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> essentailly they made DNA
[20:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so i have aspects of creationism and evolution
[20:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but
[20:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there are gods who do thinsg jsut to spite the other gods
[20:32] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there are gods with favor pets
[20:33] <+Daniel> creationism as in, christian beliefs? or a deity oriented origin?
[20:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> kill the pet and you feel their wrath
[20:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> umm gods can pretyt much do what they want
[20:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> at least 20%
[20:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i dont really get too involved with them
[20:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but note that some gods act good and otehrs evil
[20:33] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but mostly each god has a central selfish motivation
[20:34] <~Dan> And did I read correctly that they have angelic and demonic servants?
[20:34] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> gods created demons just to kill angels
[20:34] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> yea
[20:34] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but they are flaweed
[20:34] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> angels and demons can't worship as they dont ahve free will
[20:35] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so over time the gods started to steal souls to use as constuction material
[20:35] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> which is sorta forbidden
[20:35] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so you have angels now that have been alove for 10,000 years and are completly insane
[20:35] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> alive^
[20:35] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the same gods that made the demons also made the trolls
[20:35] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but they reproduice slowly
[20:35] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so they havent been a threat
[20:36] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so those gods used up all of their energy
[20:36] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> not all literally
[20:36] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but the trolls worship doesnt bring much mana back to them
[20:36] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> gods are more complex then otehr games
[20:36] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> they are kinda like kids
[20:36] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> children
[20:37] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i am going to review some of the gods in detial for the next book
[20:37] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> maybe get 100 to 200 of tehm in there
[20:37] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i always want to leave a few out
[20:37] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> let people make stuff up
[20:38] <+Daniel> that's cool
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[20:39] <~Dan> Speaking of mana, how potentially powerful is magic in the setting? Can it smite whole cities? Grant wishes? Raise the dead?
[20:39] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> lol
[20:39] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> well potentially yes
[20:40] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> you can read the high level spells
[20:40] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> on page 179
[20:40] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but generally in teh book magic is used on a mroe tactical level
[20:41] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ie use for a situation specific reason
[20:41] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> here's a high level spell
[20:41] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> Over 30 minutes the caster can draw a full castle out of Terres. He may sit inside it or anywhere near it. It is a full castle in every way and it comes armed with 20 standard cannons. At the end of the duration, the castle sinks back into the earth over 30 minutes.
[20:42] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> another
[20:42] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> By drawing an immense amount of power from Terres, the caster releases a warm glow of healing across the land. Within the radius any living thing gains 4 wounds, all poison and disease is eradicated. Broken bones, mute, deafness, and blindness heal twice as fast to anyone exposed to the light.
[20:42] <~Dan> Impressive!
[20:42] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> 1/4 mile radius
[20:42] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but yes there is raise dead
[20:43] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i think it causes 1 END when cast
[20:43] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so it cant be used over and over
[20:43] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> A large dome is conjured centered on the caster. It is 30’ (6”) in radius and anyone inside is completely enclosed but the ice is clear enough to allow light to penetrate. The dome takes 15 structure to collapse and 10 fire damage will burn a man-sized hole. The ice does not penetrate through the ground.
[20:44] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> here's a typical level 10 spell
[20:44] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> it can be cast reflexively
[20:44] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so that means it can be cast in another character's turn
[20:45] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so with casting spells there are dimishing returns
[20:45] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ideally you want to always cast level 1 to 3 spells
[20:45] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> because they cost 1 2 or 3 mana
[20:46] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> level 7 spells cost 7 mana to cast normally and 10 to cast psionicly
[20:46] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> thats essentially a full night's rest of mana on 1 spell
[20:46] <~Dan> There are psionics in the setting?
[20:46] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> yes
[20:47] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> they are spells cast
[20:47] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so
[20:47] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> if you cast psionically you still cast from the normal lists
[20:47] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but dont ahve casting penalties and they cost 50% more
[20:48] <~Dan> You mentioned cannons. How common are they in the setting? Please tell me there are cannon-armed pirate ships...?
[20:48] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> of course and there are naval combat rules and siege rules as well
[20:49] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> and there are rules to craft all of these as well
[20:49] <~Dan> Excellent.
[20:49] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there are also airships and race specific ships
[20:49] <~Dan> What sorts of airships?
[20:49] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> pages 231- 237
[20:49] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> they are like dirgibles
[20:49] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> powered by mana
[20:49] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> they are very expensive
[20:50] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> airgliders are like taxis
[20:50] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> small i think they hold 5 people including the pilot
[20:50] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> the engineering guild would ahve spots for these to land on the roof
[20:51] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> there's a whole section on creating mana batteries
[20:51] <~Dan> Man, I can't get over how cool the art is as I'm skimming this book.
[20:51] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but they are very hard ot make
[20:51] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> thanks
[20:51] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> it was mostly Alex
[20:51] <+Daniel> yeah it is very beautiful
[20:51] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but i also did much of the art direction
[20:51] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> thanks
[20:52] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> horde combat is also a blast
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[20:52] <~Dan> So as I mentioned earlier today, you're welcome to hang out with us as long as you like; that said, is there anything you'd like to bring up that we haven't mentioned so far in what's left of "regular" Q&A time?
[20:52] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ive had a party kill like 100 levels of monsters in 3 rounds
[20:52] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> sure
[20:53] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i knwo its hard because you havent had much time to review the book
[20:53] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but try to take the time to make a PC and see how you fele about it
[20:54] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ill be around to answer anyt questions or you can email me at info@agepast.com
[20:54] <~Dan> So it's pretty fast in play?
[20:54] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> also save teh PDF copies.  i might take it downa t any time
[20:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i also plan on making a primer
[20:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> umm kinda
[20:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> depends
[20:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i would say for a full blown high elvel combat its about 50% faster then pathfinder
[20:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> at lower levels its 20 to 30% faster
[20:55] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i mean if you have 2 tanks beating on each other it can take so many rounds
[20:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so teamwork is really needed
[20:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> any attribute can be attacked with magic
[20:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so if i am fighing and i cause 3 END to a target
[20:56] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> he might not lose alot of wounds but is very vulnerable for a teammate to attack END
[20:57] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> same with any stat
[20:57] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> in some ways the game canbe crunchy
[20:57] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> like there is intimidation<fear<dread
[20:57] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> you could argue that fear is enough
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[20:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> but really they dont come into play together so its just mroe options
[20:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> they count as fear effects
[20:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so a resistance would work equally agaisnt any of them
[20:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> also
[20:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> ive had brand new players
[20:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> start with age past and mocve to D20
[20:58] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> they all ahve said that AP was easier to learna dn jsut made more sense
[20:59] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> so i think its easy enough to learn
[21:00] <~Dan> Cool. :)
[21:01] <~Dan> I'll go ahead and log the chat there, but again, please hang out with us as long as you like. :)
[21:01] <~Dan> And either way, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us about Age Past! :)
[21:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> sure thing
[21:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i hope some people can enjoy it
[21:03] <+Age_Past_Jeff_> i really did try to craft it
[21:03] <~Dan> It shows. :)

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