For posterity.
More art coming in. Sixty original pieces in all. Including some copyright-free art like this:
there will be 70-80 pieces. As the book is looking to be about 400 pages, that means there will be art on just about every-other open page. That should do it.
As for the original art, here's a sample of a harpy:
The art is quality, and a bit on the darker side. It is reminiscent of 1st edition as it doesn't have that Warhammer fantasy chunkiness that so much RPG art seems to have these days.
Rob has recently kicked out the first part of what looks to be a killer example setting.
Recently, I've been making characters, running them up through level 12, and comparing them. Happily, things are pretty balanced as they are. I've done some tweaking, but there seems to be a pretty fair balance between straight mundanes and straight spell-casters. Mundanes actually have several avenues that seem to work.
Defense can vary between two extremes. One is to move fast and take advantage of abilities that win initiative and increase dodge. The other is to get hit more, but soak damage.
Offense varies somewhat between hitting often for less, or less often for more, but has some options which can change this strategy from round to round.
Interestingly, some offensive and defensive strategies play into each other. Two examples:
1) Pause and Study: Pause and study enables a character to further delay his initiative by -5 to gain a +2 'to-hit' modifier against one specific melee opponent for that attack round.
If you are a soaker, PnS works well. You don't give a damn about having the jump on your opponent for defensive reasons, and are just looking to make a solid hit.
2) Stunning Blow: Stunning blow allows a character to ‘stun’ an opponent with one on-hand melee attack. If the stunning blow attack hits, the next combat round, the creature that was hit by the stunning blow suffers an initiative penalty equal to negative the damage inflicted with the stunning blow. For example, a character wielding a long sword strikes a goblin with a stunning blow, and inflicts 5 points of damage. Thus, the next round, the goblin adds a -5 modifier to its initiative roll.
If you are a dodger, SB can help you have the jump on an opponent the next round, enabling you to use dodge improving skills such as parry, feint or guard.
There's many more examples. Basically, I'm happy with the options for mundanes. -I haven't been able to find the uber strategy just yet.
One thing I like is that when making characters, I always wish I had just a few more skill points. That is, there is a healthy amount of tension between things I want, and what I can afford. Still, when fighting clones of the same character, a two-level gap seems to put the odds 70-30 in the higher level clone's favor.
Anyway, those are just some random thoughts, for my own edification.
Currently, I am expanding the spell lists a bit. I've gotten a few ideas since I 'finished' them. -Never can have too many spells.
there will be 70-80 pieces. As the book is looking to be about 400 pages, that means there will be art on just about every-other open page. That should do it.
As for the original art, here's a sample of a harpy:
The art is quality, and a bit on the darker side. It is reminiscent of 1st edition as it doesn't have that Warhammer fantasy chunkiness that so much RPG art seems to have these days.
Rob has recently kicked out the first part of what looks to be a killer example setting.
Recently, I've been making characters, running them up through level 12, and comparing them. Happily, things are pretty balanced as they are. I've done some tweaking, but there seems to be a pretty fair balance between straight mundanes and straight spell-casters. Mundanes actually have several avenues that seem to work.
Defense can vary between two extremes. One is to move fast and take advantage of abilities that win initiative and increase dodge. The other is to get hit more, but soak damage.
Offense varies somewhat between hitting often for less, or less often for more, but has some options which can change this strategy from round to round.
Interestingly, some offensive and defensive strategies play into each other. Two examples:
1) Pause and Study: Pause and study enables a character to further delay his initiative by -5 to gain a +2 'to-hit' modifier against one specific melee opponent for that attack round.
If you are a soaker, PnS works well. You don't give a damn about having the jump on your opponent for defensive reasons, and are just looking to make a solid hit.
2) Stunning Blow: Stunning blow allows a character to ‘stun’ an opponent with one on-hand melee attack. If the stunning blow attack hits, the next combat round, the creature that was hit by the stunning blow suffers an initiative penalty equal to negative the damage inflicted with the stunning blow. For example, a character wielding a long sword strikes a goblin with a stunning blow, and inflicts 5 points of damage. Thus, the next round, the goblin adds a -5 modifier to its initiative roll.
If you are a dodger, SB can help you have the jump on an opponent the next round, enabling you to use dodge improving skills such as parry, feint or guard.
There's many more examples. Basically, I'm happy with the options for mundanes. -I haven't been able to find the uber strategy just yet.
One thing I like is that when making characters, I always wish I had just a few more skill points. That is, there is a healthy amount of tension between things I want, and what I can afford. Still, when fighting clones of the same character, a two-level gap seems to put the odds 70-30 in the higher level clone's favor.
Anyway, those are just some random thoughts, for my own edification.
Currently, I am expanding the spell lists a bit. I've gotten a few ideas since I 'finished' them. -Never can have too many spells.
posted by Jimmy Swill @ 7:47 AM
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