Masters of Ioun

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Chris Brady
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Re: Masters of Ioun

Post by Chris Brady »

It doesn't matter what the pitch its, I've run games for a little longer (About 33 years now. God I'm old) but I've run a game like this. In several editions. As a litmus test, and every time in MY experience with about 20+ groups, if they can't heal relatively quickly, they start hiding behind minions and armies.

But if that's what you want, perfect! But if you're looking for a more S&S style game, you'll likely need to up the healing abilities. In the 5e game, I let the HD healing to refresh after every fight, it seemed to mitigate the problem I encountered.

Hopefully, you won't run into the issue I have with every edition of D&D I ran with a no magic healing or magic casting. Except for 4th.
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Woodclaw
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Re: Masters of Ioun

Post by Woodclaw »

Chris Brady wrote: Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:14 pm
Batgirl III wrote: Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:58 am Only if you want the campaign to be as forgiving as the default High Fantasy settings that 5e defaults to. This campaign world is not meant to emulate that genre. It’s explicitly based on the Sword-and-Planet subgenre of the pulp fiction days. Combat is lethal, injuries are lasting, and healing is difficult.
Personal experience (which is fully anecdotal) tells me that no one will want adventure in this. Especially if it puts people out of commission for several 'in game' weeks or months. They'll hide behind armies of minions.

And the Hit Dice mechanism works better at higher levels, when you have a small handful of them to spread out.
Chris Brady wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 12:55 am It doesn't matter what the pitch its, I've run games for a little longer (About 33 years now. God I'm old) but I've run a game like this. In several editions. As a litmus test, and every time in MY experience with about 20+ groups, if they can't heal relatively quickly, they start hiding behind minions and armies.

But if that's what you want, perfect! But if you're looking for a more S&S style game, you'll likely need to up the healing abilities. In the 5e game, I let the HD healing to refresh after every fight, it seemed to mitigate the problem I encountered.

Hopefully, you won't run into the issue I have with every edition of D&D I ran with a no magic healing or magic casting. Except for 4th.
I have to agree with BGIII here, the big point is understanding if your players are interested in that particular kind of game.
Personally I've played and GMed games at various levels of lethality and, in general, I've noticed that players who are willing to adjust tend to play samrter, not harder.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Masters of Ioun

Post by Batgirl III »

Indeed.

“Hiding behind an army of minions” is not only a very good “smarter not harder” option, it’s a style of gameplay I really enjoy and perfectly in keeping within the Planetary Romance genre convention. The trick is recruiting that army in the first place...
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Woodclaw
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Re: Masters of Ioun

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Batgirl III wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:17 pm Indeed.

“Hiding behind an army of minions” is not only a very good “smarter not harder” option, it’s a style of gameplay I really enjoy and perfectly in keeping within the Planetary Romance genre convention. The trick is recruiting that army in the first place...
All of the sudden I'm hearing that famous Jared Kincaid's line about shooting a wizard from a chilometer away with a high-powered rifle. ;)
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Ares
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Re: Masters of Ioun

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Meanwhile I'm remembering all of the times Conan or John Carter won the day via an army riding at their back. Ahhh. Good times.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Masters of Ioun

Post by Batgirl III »

Haven’t I mentioned before that my favorite roleplaying game setting of all time is AD&D2e’s Birthright?

In those games, you’d have an army of loyal soldiers, a castle, and a modestly sized duchy as part of your starting equipment. So would every other member of the party.

Birthright was playing the game of thrones before George R.R. Martin did.
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Woodclaw
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Re: Masters of Ioun

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Batgirl III wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:07 pm Haven’t I mentioned before that my favorite roleplaying game setting of all time is AD&D2e’s Birthright?

In those games, you’d have an army of loyal soldiers, a castle, and a modestly sized duchy as part of your starting equipment. So would every other member of the party.

Birthright was playing the game of thrones before George R.R. Martin did.
Same here, although for different reasons. I love the fact that political and military power was a factor in how the characters developed.
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Chris Brady
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Re: Masters of Ioun

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Oh! This is a top down campaign, where the players are leaders of men, rather than adventurers. OK, now I understand. Not my thing, but I hope it works out for you!
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Batgirl III
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Re: Masters of Ioun

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Chris Brady wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:31 pm Oh! This is a top down campaign, where the players are leaders of men, rather than adventurers. OK, now I understand. Not my thing, but I hope it works out for you!
Not to start out with, but if that’s the path the players choose to run down, I’m onboard.
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Woodclaw
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Re: Masters of Ioun

Post by Woodclaw »

A little primer on the foundations of pulp planetary fantasy.
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MisterB
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Re: Masters of Ioun

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That world map is kick ass.. What tools did you use to make it ?
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Re: Masters of Ioun

Post by Hoid »

It’s probably out of print, but The Riddle of Steel is perfect for this setting. You’ll probably have a hell of a time getting a copy of the corebook, though.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Masters of Ioun

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MisterB wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 11:44 pm That world map is kick ass.. What tools did you use to make it ?
It’s a photographic map of Mars, actually, with water added to lower elevations. I just stuck some labels on top.
Hoid wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 12:50 am It’s probably out of print, but The Riddle of Steel is perfect for this setting. You’ll probably have a hell of a time getting a copy of the corebook, though.
Iron Heroes from Malhovoc Press would also be a natural fit. But I’m sticking with D&D5e.
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