In reply to A Malign Presence (msg # 12):

Yes both sheets are there now. Thanks.

Hi, I was just wondering about lances in the context of the campaign. The description given was for more of a medieval stye weapon and I was thinking due to the other equipment that something along these lines was probably more appropriate.







They were used from the 19th century until the end of world war one. I think they fit the lighter idea for mounted cavalry. It certainly fits for what I thought Oliver would be fitted out with.

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Character sheets are up and I think complete, I am going to hold off on a detailed background until I pick up a bit more on the campaign world.

Basically, low born farmers daughter cast out for witchcraft, sort of The Witch movie thing and old soldier as I outlined before. Thanks.

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Finished the dungeon, or at least enough of it to start play. I picked up a copy job over the weekend, so I wasn't able to get a thread started, but I'll try to start one either this week or this weekend.

Oh, and regarding lances, yeah, the pictures you posted was more what I had in mind. I wasn't planning on the wooden, like, jousting lances or anything, but I never bothered to research if rigid metallic lances and spears used from horseback were ever a thing (I just kinda assumed they were?)

Do you know what (if anything) developed technologically with lances during this time period? Did materials get lighter or sturdy or something? Was there something about the 19th century that made metal lances feasible when they weren't in the middle ages? Or was it just a cost issue?
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:33, Mon 01 Oct 2018.

In reply to A Malign Presence (msg # 17):

I think it was all to do with the whole lightening of the equipment carried and the change in tactics, there were no longer as many massed cavalry charges because the tactics of those on the ground had changed and improved. That and they now could inflect very heavy losses on rider and horse if things did not go as planned.

This is the Imperial German version of the same lance from the same period, WW1 and it is an all metal lance.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C226863

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Looking forward to the start of the game!

I also had a question about multi-barreled weapons and whether they exist ? A double barrelled carbine or pistol were relatively common in our history, obviously costing more then standard arms. I suppose you could go as far as pepper-box arms and the infamous Nook Volley gun with seven barrels, given the time required to load these were big clubs once all the shots had been exhausted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nock_gun


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First of all: haven't heard of the nock gun before, and sweet Christ that thing is cool.

Second: sorry, but no. Mostly, I don't want people to have to track ammo. If this thing is capable of selectively firing its barrels (?) that could lead to a level of penny-pinching and complexity I think could bog down the game.

If the nock gun only fires all its barrels simultaneously, then I think mechanically it work pretty similarly to the blunderbuss?

In the gameworld, something like this could probably be created with the level of technology they've established, but a thing I'm playing with is the idea that daemons and magic have kind of distracted from scientific advancement. So they're not making the sort of developments one might expect, or at least not at the rate one would expect. So multi-barreled weapons might be a bit beyond their ken.

That said, in-game, they're probably experimenting with something like this, but it wouldn't see wide use or distribution (yet). I would consider including this as a sort of non-magic "magic item." Let me know if you have rules/mechanics for it in mind.

I'm going to sketch out the remainder of the bestiary and try to get a spell list up tonight. IC thread is possible but not likely (I've been functioning on like 0 sleep as of late).

In reply to A Malign Presence (msg # 20):

No that is fine, I just thought I would ask as double barreled guns are very prominent in our history time line at about the same level of tech. Yes they are very cool but weight a ton and you can fire all the barrels at once but it is again not particularly effective and then its a club. They were used by the royal navy to clear the rigging of enemy ships and only a handful survive today.

In saying that I have handled two different examples and there are a few in private collections in Australia and New Zealand for some weird reason. Probably to do with the fact that there was a shortage of any weapons and these things probably sat in the armory of several third rate ships of the line that visited Australasia so got sold or traded.

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That's really interesting. Like I said, I like the gun, I just don't know how it would work mechanically and be distinct from the blunderbuss.

I'm going to continue fleshing out the bestiary, but I -think- we have enough to actually start play. Let me know if you have any questions.

Cool I will get something up to day. Cheers.

Cymon.

Weapons rules have been updated. Realized I was missing ranges from pistols and carbines, so those have been added. Daemonlock weapons have graduated beyond the world of PM, and have an additional benefit: shots fired from them count as magical for the purposes of overcoming monster resistances.

In reply to A Malign Presence (msg # 24):

Thanks, just making sure I have all the pluses in place for each attack, missed a few on the first go.

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Level 1 spells are now up, let me know what you think. They're slightly beefed up compared to Labyrinth Lord. Haven't used the Valor mechanic yet, but intend to, I think. Trying to hard to make sure your CL is relevant for all spells. Keep in mind that you inflict a -1 save penalty at CL 5, -2 at 10, etc.

In reply to A Malign Presence (msg # 26):

The spells look good and I suppose the power thing works both ways. In the long term perhaps some region and campaign specific spells like in Scarlet Heroes, which I think were just renamed spells really with some tweaks.

I think I finally have my head around all the pluses I need for making an attack and remembering to swap out STR and DEX depending on whether it is a melee or ranged attack.

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Doing some final fiddling with the pact tables, and realized I in general need more bans, ordeals, or tithes that aren't a straight-up gold sink. There are a bit too many tithes that cost large amounts of gold per month than I'm comfortable with, and want to replace those with something more flavorful. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Also strongly considering removing all magic armor from the game. Currently, you have a 1% chance of gaining a piece of +1 armor, a 1% chance of getting +2, an a 1% chance of getting +3 armor. Let me know if what you think about eliminating magic armor as a concept. Removing those three results from the Boon table would allow me to sneak in some additional spells. I'm missing some classics at the moment, such as Silent Image, and I'm trying to find ways to shoe-horn them in.

Also thinking about, even if we do keep magic armor, to make it work more like a ring of protection. It's a little hat or magic epaulette you wear that gives you a magic -1, -2, or -3 penalty to AC. This reduces the problem of a magic armor you receive not being to your taste (plate for a thief, leather for a fighter, stuff like that), and also the simple fact that armor isn't super widely used and isn't likely to be something coveted by daemonologists signing pacts.

I like the armour being something else, could work for weapons as well, a pennant, sword knot etc... thought I still think magic armour is a good idea in an actual piece that slots into the existing set, such as a verbrace.

Could use sacrifice, blood, animals etc.... Once thing I suggest is there are a lot of old occult books that have been digitized and are available online, they should have some good ideas, though they are all from the point of view of the inquisitors usually.

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Ah, yes I did not pick up on the crossbow thing, sorry.

No worries, I totally forgot too.

I like the animal sacrifice idea. I already have human sacrifice as 1% outcome, more as a way to tempt players into the dark side than out of any expectation anyone will actually take that (but who knows). Devils & Dragoons is very "alignment neutral" in terms of rules, but people are still expected to play relatively "good guys." Or at least self-interested Han Solo types.

As I'm filling out the spell list, I'm starting to turn on the idea of spending Valor to boost spells. Since Valor is something that is only available to player characters, it doesn't make much sense for NPCs to be able to use it. I think instead I'm going to do a thing where you can pay 100 arcane reagents per spell level to get some extra boost or benefit out of certain spells. This puts it in an arena where evil NPC warlocks can use it, too, and makes another reason for arcane reagents to be valuable.

Let me know what you think, but we'll probably proceed with that for the playtest.

Regents sounds like a good idea, or perhaps some other expensive/rare element that somehow is in tune with the spell or its effect ?

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Maybe, but I sort of like how "arcane reagents" are super vague, and how they can basically be anything the players want it to be. It would defeat the purpose of that for me to sketch out too much magical paraphernalia. What already exists is mostly there as a nod to real-life demonology stuff to give flavor. As it is now, the magic element used in the spell can be whatever you want it to be.

By the way, what ranks were in common use for the simulated era? Roughly speaking? Never been good at that, and I'm having trouble finding anything useful in research.

Right I see what you are getting at, yes very much agree with the regents idea. As for ranks these are the most common and specific to cavalry.

Officer
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant

Enlisted
Sergeant major
Sergent
Corporal
Lance Corporal
Trooper

There is some difference between the different branches of the army and some regiments, but this is probably the easiest to use.

Excellent, thank you! I pulled Lieutenant out of a hat, but I think is roughly the rank I was looking for for Frame. Second Lieutenant, perhaps, but close enough.

I ran across weird terms like "Dragoner" and stuff in my research, maybe there could be different cultural version of each rank.

Yes the Household cavalry which is the unit responsible for the changing of the guard and all horse born duties for the queen has some very strange titles, cornet etc...

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This message was last edited by the player at 21:59, Sat 13 Oct 2018.

Morale checks are 2d6 plus any charisma bonus ? Cheers.