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Charming Sartoris

2012-07-30T17:35:25Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Created page with "'''Charming Sartoris''', [Level Title] *Bard 1, [Alignment, if you have one] *0 / [XP Needed to Level] == Attributes == *STR 12 *INT 11 *WIS 14 *DEX 15 *CON 11 *CHA 18 == Com..."

'''Charming Sartoris''', [Level Title]
*Bard 1, [Alignment, if you have one]
*0 / [XP Needed to Level]

== Attributes ==
*STR 12
*INT 11
*WIS 14
*DEX 15
*CON 11
*CHA 18

== Combat ==
*HP: 3 /3
*AC: 3
*Initiative: []

*Movement:
**Base:
**Combat:
**Charge:
**Climb:
**Stealth:
**Daily:

*Saving Throws
**Petrification & Paralysis 13
**Poison & Death 13
**Blast & Breath 16
**Staffs & Wands 14
**Spells 15

*Weapons & Attacks [THACO 10+]
**Shortsword 10+ [Damage]
**Crossbow 10+ [Damage]
**Dagger 10+ [Damage]

== Skills ==

*Languages
*Proficiencies:
**''Magical Music :'' The character can perform music that can serenade those who are potentially attracted to the character (as a charm person spell) or tame savage beasts (as a sleep spell). The character must succeed on an appropriate Performance proficiency throw to use Magical Music. If successful, the charm or sleep effect begins immediately and lasts until the character stops performing. If the character performs for a full turn (10 minutes), the effect has the duration of the spell. Magical music has no effect if used against creatures that are already in combat.
**''Diplomacy:'' The character is smooth tongued and familiar with protocol. He receives a +2 bonus on all reaction rolls when he attempts to parley.
*Class Abilities
**''Performance (Singing)''
**''Inspire Courage:'' Inspiring courage requires a few moments of oration before a battle (one round), and grants the bard’s allies within a 50' radius a +1 bonus to attack throws, damage rolls, morale rolls (for monsters or NPCs allied with the bard), and saving throws against magical fear. The bonus lasts for 10 minutes (1 turn). A bard can inspire courage in any given character once per day per class level.
**''Loremastery:'' This knowledge allows them to decipher occult runes, remember ancient history, identify historic artifacts, and similar tasks. At 1st level, a bard must make a proficiency throw of 18+ on 1d20 to succeed in these tasks.
**''Arcane Dabbler:'' They may attempt to use wands, staffs, and other magic items only useable by mages. At 1st level, the character must make a proficiency throw of 18+ on 1d20 or the attempt backfires in some desultory way (Judge’s discretion).

== Equipment ==

*Weapons
**Crossbow, quiver with 20 bolts,
**Shortsword
**Dagger
*Armor
**Well-maintained leather armor
*Gear
**Traveler’s tunic and sturdy boots
**Backpack
***Musical instrument
***2 weeks’ iron rations
*Coinage
**CP
**SP
**EP
**GP
**PP
*Treasure
**Gems
**Jewelry
**Whatever
*Magic Items

*Total Stones of Encumbrance

ACKS Versus Caverns of Thracia

2012-07-30T17:18:39Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Player Characters */

A game of Weird Fantasy run by The Wyzard
[[File:rope bridge.png|right]]

== Introduction ==

== Player Characters ==

*[[Bwango the Boisterous]]
*[[Erik the Brick]]
*[[Nicos the Silent]]
*[[Nogdar the Cryptic]]
*[[Sax the Scout]]
*[[Charming Sartoris]]
*[[ACKS Blank Character Sheet]]

== Entourage ==

===Animals===
====Gertie the Mule====
Movement: 120'/turn @ 20 stone, 60'/turn @ 40 stone
* placeholder for inventory
* placeholder for inventory

===Henchmen===

== Campaign World ==

== House Rules ==

== Maps & Plot Hooks ==

[[File:principality.png]]

== Treasure ==

===[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?632743-ACKS-versus-Caverns-of-Thracia-(feat-The-Wyzard)&p=15636810#post15636810 Giant Weasel's Lair]===
*3 sets of engraved teeth (1 stone per 100 sets), each worth 20 gp [On Sax]
*6 sticks of rare incense (1 stone per 100 sticks), each worth 16 gp [On Sax]
*2 vials of rare perfume (1 stone per 100 vials), each worth 150 gp [On Sax]
*1 rich fur cape (1 stone each), worth 1500 gp [On Erik]
*1 alexandrite, 500 gp [On Sax]
*1 turquoise, 25 gp [On Sax]
*1 Carved jade jewelry, 900 gp [On Sax]
*1 porcelain jewelry, 300 gp [On Sax]
*Weasel fur, 500 gp if properly removed and sold [On Erik]

===[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?632743-ACKS-versus-Caverns-of-Thracia-%28feat-The-Wyzard%29&p=15657659#post15657659 Mustache Guy]===
*Loose change equaling 2 GP [On Bwango]
*One chunk of turquoise worth 25 GP [On Bwango]
*One pouch of wolfsbane worth 10 GP [On Bwango]

===[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?632743-ACKS-versus-Caverns-of-Thracia-%28feat-The-Wyzard%29&p=15657720#post15657720 Spices from the Green Tome]===
*"A box containing a massive ten pounds of assorted ground spices." Their worth is "probably 150GP." [On Erik]

===[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?632743-ACKS-versus-Caverns-of-Thracia-(feat-The-Wyzard)&p=15697661#post15697661 The Neanderthals' Lair]===
*4,200 Copper (House of Accounts)
*3,000 Silver (House of Accounts)
*1 bag of loose tea, worth 75gp, 5 stone each (House of Accounts)
*38 animal horns worth 20gp each, 1 stone per 5 horns (House of Accounts)
*12 bone fetishes and figurines, each worth 15gp (House of Accounts)
*4 prisms, each worth 60gp (House of Accounts)
*1 lapis lazuli, 25 gp (House of Accounts)
*1 wrought silver trinket, 500 gp (House of Accounts)
*1 Fine wood trinket, 500 gp (House of Accounts)
*1 shells trinket, 170 gp (House of Accounts)
*A vial full of a glittering blue liquid, undoubtedly a potion. (House of Accounts)
*<del>1 barrels of beer, worth 10gp, 8 stone each</del>
*<del> 3 barrels of preserved fish, worth 5gp each, 8 stone each</del>

Deducted 800 copper and 12 animal horns for Bwango's share, per [http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?632743-ACKS-versus-Caverns-of-Thracia-(feat-The-Wyzard)&p=15703775#post15703775 Wyzard in IC thread].

Morvan the Spear-Slayer

2010-12-23T01:31:27Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

==Biographical Info==
Name: Morvan the Spear-Slayer (a character in the [[Carceres_et_Dracones]] game)

"Feeling the wander-lust descend upon him, Morvan, called the Spear-slayer, left the lands of the Twarings and strode westward, toward the lands of civilized men. Sullen-faced he came, but with eyes which burned with a strange fire that called to women and with a voice of steel that commanded the respect of men."

==Characteristics==
*Class: Woodsman
*Level: 1
*XP: 1036
*Next Level XP: 1260
*Alignment: Neutral

*STR 12
*INT 10
*WIS 7
*DEX 13 (+1, +5% XP)
*CON 10
*CHA 18 (+2 Reaction)

==Combat Stats==
*AC: 6 (4 with Shield)
*HP: 12 (Currently 12)
*Move: 90/30/90
*Saving Throws:
**''Death Ray or Poison'': 12
**''Magic Wands'': 13
**''Paralysis or Turn to Stone'': 14
**''Dragon Breath'': 15
**''Rod, Staff, or Spell'': 16

==Gear and Treasure==
*'''Encumbrance'''

Arms & Armour (ENC 430)
*Padded Tunic (200)
*Round shield (100)
*Spear (30)
*Sword (60)
*Dagger (10)
*Short Bow with 16 arrows (30)

Misc (ENC 80)
*Water skin with water
*6 Torches
*Tinderbox & steel
*50' Rope
*7 days rations
*Backpack
*Large sack
* 11 gold

Morvan the Spear-Slayer

2010-12-15T00:04:48Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

==Biographical Info==
Name: Morvan the Spear-Slayer (a character in the [[Carceres_et_Dracones]] game)

"Feeling the wander-lust descend upon him, Morvan, called the Spear-slayer, left the lands of the Twarings and strode westward, toward the lands of civilized men. Sullen-faced he came, but with eyes which burned with a strange fire that called to women and with a voice of steel that commanded the respect of men."

==Characteristics==
*Class: Woodsman
*Level: 1
*XP: 101
*Next Level XP: 2195
*Alignment: Neutral

*STR 12
*INT 10
*WIS 7
*DEX 13 (+1, +5% XP)
*CON 10
*CHA 18 (+2 Reaction)

==Combat Stats==
*AC: 6 (4 with Shield)
*HP: 12 (Currently 12)
*Move: 90/30/90
*Saving Throws:
**''Death Ray or Poison'': 12
**''Magic Wands'': 13
**''Paralysis or Turn to Stone'': 14
**''Dragon Breath'': 15
**''Rod, Staff, or Spell'': 16

==Gear and Treasure==
*'''Encumbrance'''

Arms & Armour (ENC 430)
*Padded Tunic (200)
*Round shield (100)
*Spear (30)
*Sword (60)
*Dagger (10)
*Short Bow with 20 arrows (30)

Misc (ENC 80)
*Water skin with water
*6 Torches
*Tinderbox & steel
*50' Rope
*7 days rations
*Backpack
*Large sack
* 11 gold

Morvan the Spear-Slayer

2010-12-13T23:43:06Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

==Biographical Info==
Name: Morvan the Spear-Slayer (a character in the [[Carceres_et_Dracones]] game)

"Feeling the wander-lust descend upon him, Morvan, called the Spear-slayer, left the lands of the Twarings and strode westward, toward the lands of civilized men. Sullen-faced he came, but with eyes which burned with a strange fire that called to women and with a voice of steel that commanded the respect of men."

==Characteristics==
*Class: Woodsman
*Level: 1
*XP: 96
*Next Level XP: ?
*Alignment: Neutral

*STR 12
*INT 10
*WIS 7
*DEX 13 (+1, +5% XP)
*CON 10
*CHA 18 (+2 Reaction)

==Combat Stats==
*AC: 6 (4 with Shield)
*HP: 12 (Currently 6)
*Move: 90/30/90
*Saving Throws:
**''Death Ray or Poison'':
**''Magic Wands'':
**''Paralysis or Turn to Stone'':
**''Dragon Breath'':
**''Rod, Staff, or Spell'':

==Gear and Treasure==
*'''Encumbrance'''

Arms & Armour (ENC 430)
*Padded Tunic (200)
*Round shield (100)
*Spear (30)
*Sword (60)
*Dagger (10)
*Short Bow with 20 arrows (30)

Misc (ENC 80)
*Water skin with water
*6 Torches
*Tinderbox & steel
*50' Rope
*7 days rations
*Backpack
*Large sack
* 11 gold

Morvan the Spear-Slayer

2010-12-11T01:50:22Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

'''Morvan the Spear-slayer''' (A character in the [[Carceres_et_Dracones]] game)

----

Class: Woodsman

Level: 1

STR 12

INT 10

WIS 7

DEX 13 (+1, +5% XP)

CON 10

CHA 18 (+2 Reaction)

HP: 12 (6 currently)

AC: 6 (4 with shield)

Move: 90' / 30' / 90'

Alignment: Neutral

Arms & Armour (ENC 430)

----
Padded Tunic (200)

Round shield (100)

Spear (30)

Sword (60)

Dagger (10)

Short Bow with 20 arrows (30)

Misc (ENC 80)
----
Water skin with water

6 Torches

Tinderbox & steel

50' Rope

7 days rations

Backpack

Large sack

11 gold

Bio
----
"Feeling the wander-lust descend upon him, Morvan, called the Spear-slayer, left the lands of the Twarings and strode westward, toward the lands of civilized men. Sullen-faced he came, but with eyes which burned with a strange fire that called to women and with a voice of steel that commanded the respect of men."

Morvan the Spear-Slayer

2010-12-07T01:54:00Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

'''Morvan the Spear-slayer''' (A character in the [[Carceres_et_Dracones]] game)

----

Class: Woodsman

Level: 1

STR 12

INT 10

WIS 7

DEX 13 (+1, +5% XP)

CON 10

CHA 18 (+2 Reaction)

HP: 12 (8 currently)

AC: 6 (4 with shield)

Move: 90' / 30' / 90'

Alignment: Neutral

Arms & Armour (ENC 430)

----
Padded Tunic (200)

Round shield (100)

Spear (30)

Sword (60)

Dagger (10)

Short Bow with 20 arrows (30)

Misc (ENC 80)
----
Water skin with water

6 Torches

Tinderbox & steel

50' Rope

7 days rations

Backpack

Large sack

11 gold

Bio
----
"Feeling the wander-lust descend upon him, Morvan, called the Spear-slayer, left the lands of the Twarings and strode westward, toward the lands of civilized men. Sullen-faced he came, but with eyes which burned with a strange fire that called to women and with a voice of steel that commanded the respect of men."

Morvan the Spear-Slayer

2010-11-23T20:50:06Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

'''Morvan the Spear-slayer''' (A character in the [[Carceres_et_Dracones]] game)

----

Class: Woodsman

Level: 1

STR 12

INT 10

WIS 7

DEX 13 (+1, +5% XP)

CON 10

CHA 18 (+2 Reaction)

HP: 12 (12 current)

AC: 6 (4 with shield)

Move: 90' / 30' / 90'

Alignment: Neutral

Arms & Armour (ENC 430)

----
Padded Tunic (200)

Round shield (100)

Spear (30)

Sword (60)

Dagger (10)

Short Bow with 20 arrows (30)

Misc (ENC 80)
----
Water skin with water

6 Torches

Tinderbox & steel

50' Rope

7 days rations

Backpack

Large sack

11 gold

Bio
----
"Feeling the wander-lust descend upon him, Morvan, called the Spear-slayer, left the lands of the Twarings and strode westward, toward the lands of civilized men. Sullen-faced he came, but with eyes which burned with a strange fire that called to women and with a voice of steel that commanded the respect of men."

Morvan the Spear-Slayer

2010-11-23T20:38:38Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

'''Morvan the Spear-slayer'''

----

Class: Woodsman

Level: 1

STR 12

INT 10

WIS 7

DEX 13 (+1, +5% XP)

CON 10

CHA 18 (+2 Reaction)

HP: 12

AC: 6 (4 with shield)

Move: 90' / 30' / 90'

Alignment: Neutral

Arms & Armour (ENC 430)

----
Padded Tunic (200)

Round shield (100)

Spear (30)

Sword (60)

Dagger (10)

Short Bow with 20 arrows (30)

Misc (ENC 80)
----
Water skin with water

6 Torches

Tinderbox & steel

50' Rope

7 days rations

Backpack

Large sack

11 gold

Bio
----
"Feeling the wander-lust descend upon him, Morvan, called the Spear-slayer, left the lands of the Twarings and strode westward, toward the lands of civilized men. Sullen-faced he came, but with eyes which burned with a strange fire that called to women and with a voice of steel that commanded the respect of men."

Morvan the Spear-Slayer

2010-11-23T20:20:18Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Created page with ''''Morvan the Spear-slayer''' ---- Class: Woodsman Level: 1 STR 12 INT 10 WIS 7 DEX 13 (+1, +5% XP) CON 10 CHA 18 (+2 Reaction) HP: 12 AC: 6 (4 with shield) Move: …'

'''Morvan the Spear-slayer'''

----

Class: Woodsman

Level: 1

STR 12

INT 10

WIS 7

DEX 13 (+1, +5% XP)

CON 10

CHA 18 (+2 Reaction)

HP: 12

AC: 6 (4 with shield)

Move: 90' / 30' / 90'

Alignment: Neutral

Arms & Armour (ENC 430)

----
Padded Tunic (200)

Round shield (100)

Spear (30)

Sword (60)

Dagger (10)

Short Bow with 20 arrows (30)

Misc (ENC 80)
----
Water skin with water

6 Torches

Tinderbox & steel

50' Rope

7 days rations

Backpack

Large sack

11 gold

Bio
----
"Feeling the wander-lust descend upon him, Morvan, called the Spear-slayer, left the wooded hills of his people and strode eastward, toward the lands of civilized men. Sullen-faced he came, but with eyes which burned with a strange fire that called to women and with a voice of steel that comamnded the respect of men."

Carceres et Dracones

2010-11-23T20:12:19Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Characters */

[[File:CED_Doors.jpg]]

This is a B/X Sandbox Hexcrawl, set in a Fantasy Roman era.

==Setting==

[[CED_Setting|Carceres_et_Dracones Setting]]

== Forum Threads ==

*[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=547664 Recruitment]
*[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=548833 OOC]

== Characters ==

[[Vincentius, formerly of the Penal Legion]] - Played by TheWyzard

[[Artoraxes]] - Played by Urlang K'Naboth

[[Alaric of Tournai]] - Played by Celeste

[[Emin ibn Ibrahim]] - shortened to Murat by many - Played by Asen_G

[[Lucius Didius Felix]] - known as Felix - Played by MonsterMash

[[Kudret]] - Played by Pariahic

[[Arvenus "Arvy the Slim"]] - Played by maxvale76

[[Morvan the Spear-Slayer]] - Played by the Fiendish Dr. Samsara

== Background information ==
*[[B/X Equipment & Movement]]
*[[B/X Quasi-Dragonlance DL1: Blank Character Template|Blank Character Template]] Open this page to Edit, copy the code, and close without making changes, then paste the code into the blank page for your character.

== Maps ==
*[[Plain Hexmap]]
*[[Numbered Hexmap]]
*[[Key to Numbered Hexmap]]

Samsara:Attributes

2006-10-16T22:02:01Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Simplified Characters */ Changed some names for Attributes

=ATTRIBUTES=
==The Full Character==
This is the level of detail normally used for PC’s and other important characters. The Full Character is followed by some simplified systems, which will be more useful for characters that need less fleshing out. The simplified systems could also be used as the default for PC’s is the game is to be run in a looser, less stat-based style.

There are twelve attributes which fall onto the following chart. The rows detail the sphere of action while the columns detail the nature of the action.

<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cell"border-collapse:collapse;border:none">
<tr>
<td colspan=2 rowspan=2>Full Character</td>
<td colspan=2>Active Attributes</td>
<td colspan=2>Reactive Attributes</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Force</td>
<td>Aim</td>
<td>Resistance</td>
<td>Speed</td></tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan=3>Sphere of Action</td>
<td>Physical</td>
<td>Strength (STR)</td>
<td>Dexterity (DEX)</td>
<td>Stamina (STA)</td>
<td>Quickness (QWK)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Mental</td>
<td>Intelligence (INT)</td>
<td>Perception (PER)</td>
<td>Willpower (WIL)</td>
<td>Acuteness (ACU)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Social</td>
<td>Presence (PRE)</td>
<td>Manipulation (MAN)</td>
<td>Resolve (RES)</td>
<td>Wit (WIT)</td></tr></table>

As is often the case, this might look more complex than it really is. Most of these attributes should be familiar from other RPGs. All that SAMSARA does to complicate this is to categorize the attributes within such concepts as sphere and nature of action. This helps determine what attributes might be used for various actions taken within a contest. If you want to hit someone, then you are probably looking at some thing Active in the Physical Sphere.

===Variation: Descriptors===
To add a little more color to these numbers, one could decide that every +/- 2 points in an attribute calls for a descriptor of how this attribute manifests. STR +2 could be “wiry”, or “lives in the gym”, or “freakishly strong”; “built like a Sumo wrestler” might be more appropriate for STR +4.

==The Basic Modifier==
When using the full list of attributes, the modifiers for most actions should be determined by adding together the two most relevant attributes. This allows for some variation in strengths to be utilized by characters. For example, hitting someone defaults to adding together STR and DEX. Strength relates to the force of the blow, so stronger folks have an advantage (remember, please, that the roll is not to hit; it is to further your goal, which in this case encompasses both landing the blow and inflicting physical punishment). Dexterity relates to how well you can place the blow, so more dexterous folks have an advantage. By adding these together, you have the default attack modifier. Someone strong and clumsy might have the same modifier as someone who is weak, but a dead-shot. This is intentional.

If both of those fellows deliver checks, the results should be narrated differently however. The strong guy might have just hammered his opponent on top of the head, while the dexterous guy might have deftly jabbed his foe three or four times, each time throwing him off a bit. The interpretation of the contest roll should be influenced by what attributes are used and in what proportion.

==Playing the Numbers==
But which attributes are the most relevant? Well, this is where it gets interesting (or maddening). There might be some pre-established default attributes, as in the boxing example above, but the options might be more wide-open. Here we encounter two major variations of play: the Classical and the Romantic modes.

Playing in the Classical mode means pre-set, formalized use of attributes. Physical combat always uses STR + DEX, while trying to resist that punch always takes STA + QWK. This mode of play relies upon the Active and Reactive distinction made with the attributes. Indeed, the Classical mode just goes ahead and always considers STR + DEX as the Active Physical Modifier (APM) and STA + QWK as the Reactive Physical Modifier (RPM). Yes, the acronyms are a trifle much, but it saves time typing. In general, any offensive action taken uses the two active attributes in the sphere of action, while the attributes used as modifiers against an offensive action use the two reactive modifiers. So there are six basic modifiers in the Classical mode, two for each sphere of action. Nice and neat. Very Roman.

Playing in the Romantic mode means no formalized use of attributes: the players can choose to use any attributes that they wish. But they must describe how they intend to use those attributes to accomplish their goal. For example, a character wants to intimidate someone. If he wants to use PRE + STR, he could say that he storms into the room and breaks something big and heavy, them tells the guy to do what he wants. No real insight and cleverness involved: just physical and psychological intimidation.

<pre>Example: Using Attributes
Captain Smashing is dueling with Baron Vile (remember?).
In the Classical mode, his modifier would be: STR + DEX
+ Dueling (let’s assume no checks, situational modifiers,
or motives engaged). He subtracts Baron Vile’s STA + QWK
+ dueling and adds the final result to the die roll.</pre>

But in the Romantic mode, he could come up with some other way to go. Maybe he, like Cyrano de Bergerac, is keeping up a running stream of invective against his foe, intended to distract and disturb (in verse or not). Maybe the Captain’s player suggests that STR has nothing to do with this fight, nor even targeting, but wants to make his attack based on MAN + QWK: he runs around the room waving his sword and making barbed comments. The GM will have to determine if he finds this acceptable. He will also determine what modifiers the Baron uses to defend.

Playing in the Romantic mode offers a lot more scope for player’s to come up with interesting ways of accomplishing their goals. It also offers a lot more room for arguments between players and GM. A couple of rules of thumb if you play in this mode:

1.The GM has final say on acceptable attributes. The player can suggest, but must regard the GM as the final arbiter here. Because someone has to be.

2.The GM can disallow repetitive use of attributes. If a character has two high attributes, it could become very tiresome if he uses them for every single contest. There is a fine line between playing to one’s strengths and being a munchkin. Who determines that line? See the preceding paragraph. The GM could set a hard limit per game (“you can use each combination only three times per game”) or give out rewards only for the first use of each combination. The point of the Romantic mode is to encourage interesting twists, not to allow every character to use his highest attributes.

3.Even in the Romantic mode, it is suggested that there be some default combinations of attributes. This gives everyone a base understanding of what they are doing and what they are changing.

==Testing Attributes==
Most of the time, one can come up with a relevant second attribute, but sometimes there is only one attribute that is relevant. This will ultimately come down to playing style. Some might say that trying to beat the strength machine at the Carnival uses STR + STA (or WIL), but other folks will find that weird and say that only strength is being applied. If a situation such as this comes up just double the attribute score and use that as the modifier. Thus if you consider that strength machine and the character has a STR + 1, then the modifier is +2. Easy.

==Simplified Characters==
It is frequently a drag trying to come up with stats for innumerable NPCs. Sometimes players and GM’s don’t even want all those attributes for the main characters. One way to make this easier is to reduce the number of stats. Particularly in the Classical mode, it makes sense to reduce the attributes to Active and Reactive stats, making only six attributes per character. The Active Physical attribute then incorporates both strength and dexterity; use it whenever either is being tested. The character would look like this:

<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cell"border-collapse:collapse;border:none">
<tr>
<td colspan=2>Simplified Character</td>
<td>Active Modifier</td>
<td>Reactive Modifier</td></tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan=3>Sphere of Action</td>
<td>Physical</td>
<td>Attack</td>
<td>Defend</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Mental</td>
<td>Savvy</td>
<td>Stubborn</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Social</td>
<td>Influence</td>
<td>Wily</td></tr></table>

I need better, more descriptive names for Stubborn and Wily

If you use this system, then you will not add together the two most relevant attributes to get the basic modifier, but use only the single most relevant. Using this system mostly precludes playing the Romantic mode as well. So a swordfight always uses the Active Physical Modifier to attack and the Reactive Physical Modifier to defend.

==More Simplified Characters==
An even more simplified system is to reduce a character’s attributes down to the spheres of action. A character would have only three attributes: Physical, Mental, and Social. In this case, definitely do not add two attributes together to determine modifiers. Just pick the attribute appropriate to the sphere of action and run with it.

This means that you might have to increase the attribute to make an even match with the full characters. So perhaps the goblin has a Physical score of +5. This doesn’t mean that he is the strongest man in the world. A full character with a STR +3 is actually stronger, since an attribute test would give the full guy a +6 modifier. Right?

This system is incompatible with running in the Romantic mode since there is nothing to choose from.

==Contest Rating==
This is the most simplified system of modifiers. There is only one modifier, called the Contest rating. Use this number for any contest that occurs with this character. Is this realistic? Not entirely.

But it is simple and really, how much do you need to know about Guard #3? He has a Contest rating of +2. He can probably defeat most average folk (though not overwhelmingly) and will be easily handled by anybody competent. Done and done.

This is even more useful for non-entity opponents. The masterwork which the artist from Chapter 1 was trying to create has a Contest rating. It only needs to represent one thing: how hard it is to compose. You don’t need any other information about it. Ditto the sudden storm which the character must use his survival skills to outlast. The contest rating is the modifier subtracted from the character’s PER + STA + Outdoorsman roll (or whatever attributes you want to use for survival skills).

===Goon Squads===
One Contest Rating can also be used to describe multiple antagonists. Heroic types frequently contest with groups of essentially unimportant foes. Such enemies are sometimes called “mooks” or “goons”. Goons are individually quite weak, more-or-less average folks whose only strength lies in numbers. Evil geniuses tend to collect such fellows; think of the old Batman show.

Since goons act as a group, for contest purposes consider them one actor. They have a default Contest rating of +1 for each individual goon in the mob. So if our old friend Captain Smashing is lured into a dark alleyway by six henchman of his arch-nemesis, Baron Vile, when they come to blows, the good Captain will contest with an opponent with a +6 Contest rating. This would be enough to overwhelm an average fellow, but fortunately, Smashing is an expert swashbuckler and can easily handle these villains.

Since goons act as a group, they make one contest roll which represents all of their actions. Vile’s goons thus roll d12 + 6 – Smashing’s relevant abilities as the sole mechanical representation of their combined actions. Each check delivered to a goon squad means that one of the goons has been removed from the contest. If Smashing delivers two checks, then two of Vile’s cronies have been rendered corps de combat in some fashion.

As always, bear in mind that combat examples are the easiest to visualize, but contests are not limited to fights. A gang of teenagers ridiculing someone and attempting to destroy their confidence is an example of a social contest involving goons. A Senate confirmation hearing might be a mental contest in which the Senators act as a group to try and confuse the nominee.

The default of +1 Contest rating for each individual goon is only a baseline. If your goons are tougher than average (a goon squad composed of zombies, perhaps), then make it +2/individual. If the goons are weaker (a horde of teddy bears attack the character), then make it +1/3 individuals. If you change the baseline, that changes the effect of checks delivered. In the Great Teddy Bear Massacre, every check delivered to the stuffed beasts means that three bears are removed from the contest.

[[Samsara:Main Page|Main Page]]

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

13.[[Samsara:Settings|Appendix B – Settings]]

Talislantan Terminology

2006-06-20T20:09:50Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Wilderlands Region */

[[Category:Talislanta]]

=Talislantan Terminology, Slang, and References=

Talislanta is an exotic place full of strange beings and happenings. Naturally enough, this oddness is reflected in the native terminology and idiom. Below is an attempt to present some Talislantan usage, rendered into the nearest English equivalent. Some idiom in common usage across the continent will appear first, followed by more regional, national, and tribal expressions.

==Common Talislantan Idiom==

'''The avir eats before the ogront.''' The quicker fellow gets the goodies.

'''The fastest way through the malathrope is the belly.''' Disaster is best faced head-on.

'''If it’s not the omnivrax, it’s the malathrope.''' Trouble is omnipresent.

'''Your certainty regarding my luck makes my own diminish.''' A common expression reflecting both a pessimistic view of the world and a cynical notion that anyone who praises your luck will soon be trying to take advantage of you.

'''You're as nervous as a long-tailed Jaka in an Erd herd.''' Metaphor expressing nervousness.

==Virdish==
The Virds are a nomad people of the Desertlands, brought into the Rajan hegemony with the rise of the Nihilist Cult. In the Second Age, their language and its use were intertwined with pre-Rajan references, Rajan-specific words, and expressions common throughout the Desert Kingdoms.

'''Irg''' A Virdish word that literally referred to someone who commands an infantry battalion and, thus, liaises regularly with the Rajan. Such positions were held by folk who considered themselves superior to others in cleverness and guile. They were also executed by the Nihilists with great frequency. An ''irg'', is therefore, primarily, someone who thinks himself clever and, secondly, someone likely to get in trouble because of that belief.

'''Jyort''' A good example of Virdish, abbreviated expletive. Before the Rajan suzerainty, the Utikar people, a sub-tribe of the Vird, were well-known for their flowery and poetic curses and might resolve disputes with hours-long displays of such, although this fact is unknown in the New Age to all but scholars of obscenity (who are more common than might be suspected). Life under the Nihilist Cult has restrained this characteristic and led to the common practice of abbreviating expletive so as to render them both more efficient of breath (frequently in short supply while at war) and indecipherable by the Rajan.

''Jyort'' encapsulates, as it were, the following, “May the Seven Cancerous Mouths of Death rend you into small pieces and swallow you; may the Fifteen Hellish Stomachs of Death burn your tender parts with their poisonous acids; and may the Twenty-two Flaming Rectums of Death, excrete you onto a world less pleasant even that this!”

'''Spitting''' Spitting, as a waste of precious water, was an indication that the speaker has conceded a point of debate and, in so doing, “sacrificed” precious bodily essence.

'''Squintting and grunting''' The traditional Virdish equivalent to a laugh.

'''Vrilk''' An appallingly rude verb. Cp. ''zuj''.

'''Water Guardian''' The little voice that sometimes speaks words of caution to the Virdish nomads just before doing something foolish. Water, in this case, in being poetically used in place of "life". This may reflect ancient, desert conceptions of what constitures life; alternately, it may be a way of rendering the archaic belief accetable during the period of Rajan hegemony, as guarding life was an heretcial concept under the Nihilist Cult.

'''Zuj''' Delicacy forbids the translation of this rather rude, anatomical term.

==Wilderlands Region==
'''Crazy as a malamentis.''' The ''malamentis'' is a smallish, sextapedal, ruminant animal which makes it’s home in the deserts of the Wilderlands. Given the generally deserty conditions of the deserts, many naturalists have wondered what in the Seven Moons a ruminant is doing in such a location. In fact, some have speculated that the ''malamentoi'' may well be wondering the same thing, as the chief field data of the beast consists of watching the small creatures, thin and dehydrated, climb to the top of the tallest outcropping in the area, and throw themselves to their dooms in various, spectacular ways. Frequently, these “death leaps” include large groups of the things, locking limbs and performing extremely impressive aerial acrobatics while making a distinctly disturbing keening noise in the few seconds preceding their flattening upon the desert floor.

No less an authority than the esteemed Thystram is recollected to have called the ''malamentis'' “the craziest being I have ever had the displeasure to study.” This note is nowhere to be found in the Thystram’s collected works, but rather in the notes of his acquaintances. Those same sources note that the famous naturalist was so disturbed by creatures, that he ripped the pages detailing them from his works and consigned them to the fire.

'''King Shaar''' The subject of a romantic fable that was widely-told throughout the Wilderlands region. It which was usually recounted as history, although reputable historians scoff at such assertions. Shaar is always portrayed as the bravest, handsomest, wealthiest, and most virtuous ruler of whatever people happen to be telling the tale. He was, however, unable to produce an heir to the throne (for some reason) and in his melancholy, locked himself away in his keep, or fortress, or tomb, or sky-castle (depending again, on the version of the story) to brood. Therefore, many fertile young women went through truly mind-boggling lengths to reach the King and present themselves as prospective brides (or whatever the culturally-appropriate position was). After many years of this, one equally virtuous and becoming young women, who was too modest to pursue the legendary ruler, accidentally discovered his place of solitude and Shaar was instantly besotted with her. His announcement of marriage was said to have triggered a wave of suicides across the land and many otherwise unmarked cairns and mounds across the Wilderlands are said to those of women who killed themselves when Shaar’s nuptials were made public.

Given the relative frequency of violent death, and consequent hurried burials, in the Wilderlands, it would seem that this terribly romantic legend is used to explain the much more prosaic reality behind the ubiquitous unmarked graves in that region.

'''Trool-headed''' The trool is a squat, ungainly beast of foul temper inhabiting the Wilderlands region. It’s appearance suggests the worst characteristics of the reptile, the mammal, and the amphibian; it’s bloated, disc-shaped body is more attractive only than the tiny, wedge-shaped head on top of it. Despite these aesthetics accomplishments, the trool is more famous for it’s behaviour than its appearance. Trools are infamous both for their strict sense of entitlement and their denseness. Upon meeting another creature, a trool will always pause and wait for the other to move out of the way, giving it primacy. Trools cannot speak, but seem to believe that the other will intuit what it wants. A trool will quite literally die before it allows another creature to pass it. This is attested to by the many dead trool that have been observed expired while silently awaiting tree-stumps and rock outcroppings to move aside and let them pass.

Trool-headed is thus used to mean stubbornly stupid.

Talislantan Terminology

2006-06-16T19:18:47Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Common Talislantan Idiom */

[[Category:Talislanta]]

=Talislantan Terminology, Slang, and References=

Talislanta is an exotic place full of strange beings and happenings. Naturally enough, this oddness is reflected in the native terminology and idiom. Below is an attempt to present some Talislantan usage, rendered into the nearest English equivalent. Some idiom in common usage across the continent will appear first, followed by more regional, national, and tribal expressions.

==Common Talislantan Idiom==

'''The avir eats before the ogront.''' The quicker fellow gets the goodies.

'''The fastest way through the malathrope is the belly.''' Disaster is best faced head-on.

'''If it’s not the omnivrax, it’s the malathrope.''' Trouble is omnipresent.

'''Your certainty regarding my luck makes my own diminish.''' A common expression reflecting both a pessimistic view of the world and a cynical notion that anyone who praises your luck will soon be trying to take advantage of you.

'''You're as nervous as a long-tailed Jaka in an Erd herd.''' Metaphor expressing nervousness.

==Virdish==
The Virds are a nomad people of the Desertlands, brought into the Rajan hegemony with the rise of the Nihilist Cult. In the Second Age, their language and its use were intertwined with pre-Rajan references, Rajan-specific words, and expressions common throughout the Desert Kingdoms.

'''Irg''' A Virdish word that literally referred to someone who commands an infantry battalion and, thus, liaises regularly with the Rajan. Such positions were held by folk who considered themselves superior to others in cleverness and guile. They were also executed by the Nihilists with great frequency. An ''irg'', is therefore, primarily, someone who thinks himself clever and, secondly, someone likely to get in trouble because of that belief.

'''Jyort''' A good example of Virdish, abbreviated expletive. Before the Rajan suzerainty, the Utikar people, a sub-tribe of the Vird, were well-known for their flowery and poetic curses and might resolve disputes with hours-long displays of such, although this fact is unknown in the New Age to all but scholars of obscenity (who are more common than might be suspected). Life under the Nihilist Cult has restrained this characteristic and led to the common practice of abbreviating expletive so as to render them both more efficient of breath (frequently in short supply while at war) and indecipherable by the Rajan.

''Jyort'' encapsulates, as it were, the following, “May the Seven Cancerous Mouths of Death rend you into small pieces and swallow you; may the Fifteen Hellish Stomachs of Death burn your tender parts with their poisonous acids; and may the Twenty-two Flaming Rectums of Death, excrete you onto a world less pleasant even that this!”

'''Spitting''' Spitting, as a waste of precious water, was an indication that the speaker has conceded a point of debate and, in so doing, “sacrificed” precious bodily essence.

'''Squintting and grunting''' The traditional Virdish equivalent to a laugh.

'''Vrilk''' An appallingly rude verb. Cp. ''zuj''.

'''Water Guardian''' The little voice that sometimes speaks words of caution to the Virdish nomads just before doing something foolish. Water, in this case, in being poetically used in place of "life". This may reflect ancient, desert conceptions of what constitures life; alternately, it may be a way of rendering the archaic belief accetable during the period of Rajan hegemony, as guarding life was an heretcial concept under the Nihilist Cult.

'''Zuj''' Delicacy forbids the translation of this rather rude, anatomical term.

==Wilderlands Region==
'''Crazy as a malamentis.''' The ''malamentis'' is a smallish, sextapedal, ruminant animal which makes it’s home in the deserts of the Wilderlands. Given the generally deserty conditions of the deserts, many naturalists have wondered what in the Seven Moons a ruminant is doing in such a location. In fact, some have speculated that the ''malamentoi'' may well be wondering the same thing, as the chief field data of the beast consists of watching the small creatures, thin and dehydrated, climb to the top of the tallest outcropping in the area, and throw themselves to their dooms in various, spectacular ways. Frequently, these “death leaps” include large groups of the things, locking limbs and performing extremely impressive aerial acrobatics while making a distinctly disturbing keening noise in the few seconds preceding their flattening upon the desert floor.

No less an authority than the esteemed Thystram is recollected to have called the ''malamentis'' “the craziest being I have ever had the displeasure to study.” This note is nowhere to be found in the Thystram’s collected works, but rather in the notes of his acquaintances. Those same sources note that the famous naturalist was so disturbed by creatures, that he ripped the pages detailing them from his works and consigned them to the fire.

'''King Shaar''' The subject of a romantic fable that was widely-told throughout the Wilderlands region. It which was usually recounted as history, although reputable historians scoff at such assertions. Shaar is always portrayed as the bravest, handsomest, wealthiest, and most virtuous ruler of whatever people happen to be telling the tale. He was, however, unable to produce an heir to the throne (for some reason) and in his melancholy, locked himself away in his keep, or fortress, or tomb, or sky-castle (depending again, on the version of the story) to brood. Therefore, many fertile young women went through truly mind-boggling lengths to reach the King and present themselves as prospective brides (or whatever the culturally-appropriate position was). After many years of this, one equally virtuous and becoming young women, who was too modest to pursue the legendary ruler, accidentally discovered his place of solitude and Shaar was instantly besotted with her. His announcement of marriage was said to have triggered a wave of suicides across the land and many otherwise unmarked cairns and mounds across the Wilderlands are said to those of women who killed themselves when Shaar’s nuptials were made public.

Given the relative frequency of violent death, and consequent hurried burials, in the Wilderlands, it would seem that this terribly romantic legend is used to explain the much more prosaic reality behind the ubiquitous unmarked graves in that region.

'''Trool-headed''' The trool is a squat, ungainly beast of foul temper inhabiting the Wilderlands region. It’s appearance suggests the worst characteristics of the reptile, the mammal, and the amphibian; it’s bloated, disc-shaped body is less attractive only than the tiny, wedge-shaped head on top of it. Despite these aesthetics accomplishments, the trool is more famous for it’s behaviour than its appearance. Trools are infamous both for their strict sense of entitlement and their denseness. Upon meeting another creature, a trool will always pause and wait for the other to move out of the way, giving it primacy. Trools cannot speak, but seem to believe that the other will intuit what it wants. A trool will quite literally die before it allows another creature to pass it. This is attested to by the many dead trool that have been observed expired while silently awaiting tree-stumps and rock outcroppings to move aside and let them pass.

Trool-headed is thus used to mean stubbornly stupid.

Talislantan Terminology

2006-06-13T00:45:14Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Reorganized and expanded.

[[Category:Talislanta]]

=Talislantan Terminology, Slang, and References=

Talislanta is an exotic place full of strange beings and happenings. Naturally enough, this oddness is reflected in the native terminology and idiom. Below is an attempt to present some Talislantan usage, rendered into the nearest English equivalent. Some idiom in common usage across the continent will appear first, followed by more regional, national, and tribal expressions.

==Common Talislantan Idiom==

'''The avir eats before the ogront.''' The quicker fellow gets the goodies.

'''The fastest way through the malathrope is the belly.''' Disaster is best faced head-on.

'''If it’s not the omnivrax, it’s the malathrope.''' Ttrouble is omnipresent.

'''Your certainty regarding my luck makes my own diminish.''' A common expression reflecting both a pessimistic view of the world and a cynical notion that anyone who praises your luck will soon be trying to take advantage of you.

==Virdish==
The Virds are a nomad people of the Desertlands, brought into the Rajan hegemony with the rise of the Nihilist Cult. In the Second Age, their language and its use were intertwined with pre-Rajan references, Rajan-specific words, and expressions common throughout the Desert Kingdoms.

'''Irg''' A Virdish word that literally referred to someone who commands an infantry battalion and, thus, liaises regularly with the Rajan. Such positions were held by folk who considered themselves superior to others in cleverness and guile. They were also executed by the Nihilists with great frequency. An ''irg'', is therefore, primarily, someone who thinks himself clever and, secondly, someone likely to get in trouble because of that belief.

'''Jyort''' A good example of Virdish, abbreviated expletive. Before the Rajan suzerainty, the Utikar people, a sub-tribe of the Vird, were well-known for their flowery and poetic curses and might resolve disputes with hours-long displays of such, although this fact is unknown in the New Age to all but scholars of obscenity (who are more common than might be suspected). Life under the Nihilist Cult has restrained this characteristic and led to the common practice of abbreviating expletive so as to render them both more efficient of breath (frequently in short supply while at war) and indecipherable by the Rajan.

''Jyort'' encapsulates, as it were, the following, “May the Seven Cancerous Mouths of Death rend you into small pieces and swallow you; may the Fifteen Hellish Stomachs of Death burn your tender parts with their poisonous acids; and may the Twenty-two Flaming Rectums of Death, excrete you onto a world less pleasant even that this!”

'''Spitting''' Spitting, as a waste of precious water, was an indication that the speaker has conceded a point of debate and, in so doing, “sacrificed” precious bodily essence.

'''Squintting and grunting''' The traditional Virdish equivalent to a laugh.

'''Vrilk''' An appallingly rude verb. Cp. ''zuj''.

'''Water Guardian''' The little voice that sometimes speaks words of caution to the Virdish nomads just before doing something foolish. Water, in this case, in being poetically used in place of "life". This may reflect ancient, desert conceptions of what constitures life; alternately, it may be a way of rendering the archaic belief accetable during the period of Rajan hegemony, as guarding life was an heretcial concept under the Nihilist Cult.

'''Zuj''' Delicacy forbids the translation of this rather rude, anatomical term.

==Wilderlands Region==
'''Crazy as a malamentis.''' The ''malamentis'' is a smallish, sextapedal, ruminant animal which makes it’s home in the deserts of the Wilderlands. Given the generally deserty conditions of the deserts, many naturalists have wondered what in the Seven Moons a ruminant is doing in such a location. In fact, some have speculated that the ''malamentoi'' may well be wondering the same thing, as the chief field data of the beast consists of watching the small creatures, thin and dehydrated, climb to the top of the tallest outcropping in the area, and throw themselves to their dooms in various, spectacular ways. Frequently, these “death leaps” include large groups of the things, locking limbs and performing extremely impressive aerial acrobatics while making a distinctly disturbing keening noise in the few seconds preceding their flattening upon the desert floor.

No less an authority than the esteemed Thystram is recollected to have called the ''malamentis'' “the craziest being I have ever had the displeasure to study.” This note is nowhere to be found in the Thystram’s collected works, but rather in the notes of his acquaintances. Those same sources note that the famous naturalist was so disturbed by creatures, that he ripped the pages detailing them from his works and consigned them to the fire.

'''King Shaar''' The subject of a romantic fable that was widely-told throughout the Wilderlands region. It which was usually recounted as history, although reputable historians scoff at such assertions. Shaar is always portrayed as the bravest, handsomest, wealthiest, and most virtuous ruler of whatever people happen to be telling the tale. He was, however, unable to produce an heir to the throne (for some reason) and in his melancholy, locked himself away in his keep, or fortress, or tomb, or sky-castle (depending again, on the version of the story) to brood. Therefore, many fertile young women went through truly mind-boggling lengths to reach the King and present themselves as prospective brides (or whatever the culturally-appropriate position was). After many years of this, one equally virtuous and becoming young women, who was too modest to pursue the legendary ruler, accidentally discovered his place of solitude and Shaar was instantly besotted with her. His announcement of marriage was said to have triggered a wave of suicides across the land and many otherwise unmarked cairns and mounds across the Wilderlands are said to those of women who killed themselves when Shaar’s nuptials were made public.

Given the relative frequency of violent death, and consequent hurried burials, in the Wilderlands, it would seem that this terribly romantic legend is used to explain the much more prosaic reality behind the ubiquitous unmarked graves in that region.

'''Trool-headed''' The trool is a squat, ungainly beast of foul temper inhabiting the Wilderlands region. It’s appearance suggests the worst characteristics of the reptile, the mammal, and the amphibian; it’s bloated, disc-shaped body is less attractive only than the tiny, wedge-shaped head on top of it. Despite these aesthetics accomplishments, the trool is more famous for it’s behaviour than its appearance. Trools are infamous both for their strict sense of entitlement and their denseness. Upon meeting another creature, a trool will always pause and wait for the other to move out of the way, giving it primacy. Trools cannot speak, but seem to believe that the other will intuit what it wants. A trool will quite literally die before it allows another creature to pass it. This is attested to by the many dead trool that have been observed expired while silently awaiting tree-stumps and rock outcroppings to move aside and let them pass.

Trool-headed is thus used to mean stubbornly stupid.

Talislantan Terminology

2006-06-12T22:22:41Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

[[Category:Talislanta]]

=Talislantan Terminology, Slang, and References=

Talislanta is an exotic place full of strange beings and happenings. Naturally enough, this oddness is reflected in the native terminology and idiom. Below is an attempt to present some Talislantan usage, rendered into the nearest English equivalent.

==Virdish==
The Virds are a nomad people of the Desertlands, brought into the Rajan hegemony with the rise of the Nihilist Cult. In the Second Age, their language and its use were intertwined with pre-Rajan references, Rajan-specific words, and expressions common throughout the Desert Kingdoms.

'''The avir eats before the ogront.''' Common expression meaning that the quicker fellow gets the goodies.

'''Crazy as a malamentis.''' The ''malamentis'' is a smallish, sextapedal, ruminant animal which makes it’s home in the deserts of the Wilderlands. Given the generally deserty conditions of the deserts, many naturalists have wondered what in the Seven Moons a ruminant is doing in such a location. In fact, some have speculated that the ''malamentoi'' may well be wondering the same thing, as the chief field data of the beast consists of watching the small creatures, thin and dehydrated, climb to the top of the tallest outcropping in the area, and throw themselves to their dooms in various, spectacular ways. Frequently, these “death leaps” include large groups of the things, locking limbs and performing extremely impressive aerial acrobatics while making a distinctly disturbing keening noise in the few seconds preceding their flattening upon the desert floor.

No less an authority than the esteemed Thystram is recollected to have called the ''malamentis'' “the craziest being I have ever had the displeasure to study.” This note is nowhere to be found in the Thystram’s collected works, but rather in the notes of his acquaintances. Those same sources note that the famous naturalist was so disturbed by creatures, that he ripped the pages detailing them from his works and consigned them to the fire.

'''The fastest way through the malathrope is the belly.''' A common expression meaning that disaster is best faced head-on.

'''If it’s not the omnivrax, it’s the malathrope.''' A common expression meaning that trouble is omnipresent.

'''Irg''' A Virdish word that literally referred to someone who commands an infantry battalion and, thus, liaises regularly with the Rajan. Such positions were held by folk who considered themselves superior to others in cleverness and guile. They were also executed by the Nihilists with great frequency. An ''irg'', is therefore, primarily, someone who thinks himself clever and, secondly, someone likely to get in trouble because of that belief.

'''Jyort''' A good example of Virdish, abbreviated expletive. Before the Rajan suzerainty, the Utikar people, a sub-tribe of the Vird, were well-known for their flowery and poetic curses and might resolve disputes with hours-long displays of such, although this fact is unknown in the New Age to all but scholars of obscenity (who are more common than might be suspected). Life under the Nihilist Cult has restrained this characteristic and led to the common practice of abbreviating expletive so as to render them both more efficient of breath (frequently in short supply while at war) and indecipherable by the Rajan.

''Jyort'' encapsulates, as it were, the following, “May the Seven Cancerous Mouths of Death rend you into small pieces and swallow you; may the Fifteen Hellish Stomachs of Death burn your tender parts with their poisonous acids; and may the Twenty-two Flaming Rectums of Death, excrete you onto a world less pleasant even that this!”

'''King Shaar''' The subject of a romantic fable that was widely-told throughout the Wilderlands region. It which was usually recounted as history, although reputable historians scoff at such assertions. Shaar is always portrayed as the bravest, handsomest, wealthiest, and most virtuous ruler of whatever people happen to be telling the tale. He was, however, unable to produce an heir to the throne (for some reason) and in his melancholy, locked himself away in his keep, or fortress, or tomb, or sky-castle (depending again, on the version of the story) to brood. Therefore, many fertile young women went through truly mind-boggling lengths to reach the King and present themselves as prospective brides (or whatever the culturally-appropriate position was). After many years of this, one equally virtuous and becoming young women, who was too modest to pursue the legendary ruler, accidentally discovered his place of solitude and Shaar was instantly besotted with her. His announcement of marriage was said to have triggered a wave of suicides across the land and many otherwise unmarked cairns and mounds across the Wilderlands are said to those of women who killed themselves when Shaar’s nuptials were made public.

Given the relative frequency of violent death, and consequent hurried burials, in the Wilderlands, it would seem that this terribly romantic legend is used to explain the much more prosaic reality behind the ubiquitous unmarked graves in that region.

'''Spitting''' Spitting, as a waste of precious water, was an indication that the speaker has conceded a point of debate and, in so doing, “sacrificed” precious bodily essence.

'''Squintting and grunting''' The traditional Virdish equivalent to a laugh.

'''Trool-headed malamentis''' A stubbornly-dense ''malamentis''. Given the notorious stupidity of ''malamentoi'', this is a very strong statement. Cp. crazy as a malamentis.

'''Vrilk''' An appallingly rude verb. Cp. ''zuj''.

'''Water Guardian''' The little voice that sometimes speaks words of caution to the Virdish nomads just before doing something foolish. Water, in this case, in being poetically used in place of "life". This may reflect ancient, desert conceptions of what constitures life; alternately, it may be a way of rendering the archaic belief accetable during the period of Rajan hegemony, as guarding life was an heretcial concept under the Nihilist Cult.

'''Your certainty regarding my luck makes my own diminish.''' A common expression through Talislanta, reflecting a pessimistic view of the world and a cyncial notion that anyone who praises your luck will soon be trying to take advantage of you.

'''Zuj''' Delicacy forbids the translation of this rather rude, anatomical term.

Category:Talislanta

2006-04-26T02:07:39Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

Wiki pages related to the Talislanta RPG setting. Talislanta is a game created in the late 1980's by Stephan Michael Secchi. It is set on on alien world with a style informed far more by the baroque fantasies of Jack Vance and Clark Ashton Smith, than J.R.R.Tolkien (the original advertising motto was "No Elves").

[[Category:Categories]]

Category:Al-Qadim

2006-03-25T02:24:55Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

Al-Qadim was a setting produced by TSR for the Second Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It was a fantasy Middle-East, modelled both upon such stories as appeared in The Thousand and One Nights and upon Western fantasies about Arabia.

Samsara:Ultramundane abilities

2006-03-25T02:14:31Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* The Master of Magic (Effect-based Abilties) */

[[Category:Magic]]
=APPENDIX A: ULTRAMUNDANE ABILITIES=
I love magic. Let’s get that out of the way. I love mysterious mystics and brash sorcerers and sly magicians. I love spells and incantations and theurgy and summonings and conjurations and faery-tale charms. I’m also pretty happy with psychic powers and weird energies and alien abilities and wuxia stunts. The first thing that I look at in a game system is how it handles all of this stuff, which I collectively refer to as ultramundane abilities.

Despite the fact that SAMSARA is not designed with any setting, I just couldn’t let the opportunity to let ultramundane stuff slide by. Besides, one of the strengths of the system, I think, is the variability of implementation that could be performed for this kind of stuff. Jedi powers, Elric-style summonings, Zothique magicians with hundreds of spells on call. All that stuff. So this appendix describes some ultramundane abilities and how the system could be used to manage them. It turns out that the same systems can be used to model various styles of power, so some of the entries have multiple descriptions. However, I believe that the description really should be primary. The story is in how the abilities are understood and narrated, not in how they are gamed.

==Making the Magic Happen==
If an ultramundane ability can be used automatically, then it can be treated like any another ability. Some folks can just fly and that’s all there is to that. In this case, the ability mod would be used when an actor is attempting to do something difficult with that ability. The flying guy can always fly, but he might need to roll STA + SPD + Flight to dodge heat-seeking missiles being shot at him.

But frequently, these abilities are envisaged as having to be engaged somehow. Spells must be cast and might always be miscast. Telepathy exerts an awful strain on the psychic and might lead to psychic feedback. And you don’t even want to think of what might happen when try your necromantic summoning ritual and forgot which protective symbol to draw.

If ultramundane abilities do not automatically work, then engaging them means a contest between the wielder and the effect he is trying to create. This can be either a simple or full contest. Overall difficulty might be a factor in the decision: if the Archmage is trying to magically light a torch, this should probably be a simple contest; while trying to banish the manifestation of Death might be a full contest.

But, as mentioned earlier, narrative needs should probably dictate the choice. If a psychic is trying to telekinetically bring his scotch and soda to him that can be a simple contest whether he is a master of the craft or just beginning his telekinetic studies. It’s a simple contest because the stakes are nearly-nonexistent and watching the struggle play out over several turns is not particularly interesting. However, if he is trying to telekinetically grab a vial of poison that is teetering on the edge of the city’s water supply, then that can be a full contest. Even if he is the world’s greatest telekinetic. Even if he can do this in his sleep at home. In-game, the explanation could be that he’s under stress, but you don’t need an in-game justification: this is the climax of the story; the heroes either save the day or the town is ruined. And you’re going to let one measly roll determine this? Imagine if this were a movie: this scene would take several minutes to play out, as the vial rolls back and forth, closer and closer to the brink and the sweat starts pouring of the hero’s face. See it? That’s why it’s a full contest.

In either case, the effect to be produced, the spell to be cast, the ritual to be performed, is given a Contest rating. How this is determined depends upon the mechanics being used for these abilities (see the following sections). The GM could simply assign a rating based on difficulty. Or, if the system, builds effects mechanically, then that will determine the number. The contest then plays out like any other. If the character wins, the power is engaged, although he might have suffered some checks. If he loses, the power doesn’t engage. Maybe nothing happens (Simple Contest with Simple Failure result); maybe he took some severe checks and is in bad shape (Full Contest); maybe something terrible happens (Simple Contest with Spectacular Failure result or Full Contest based on the nature of the powers i.e. totally losing a Full Contest while trying to summon a demon might result in bad things happening rather than just failing to summon one).

A further complication comes from transitive effects; that is, trying to cast a spell on someone. Does the target get a chance to resist? If so, then you should add in their relevant modifiers as a bonus to the Contest rating of the effect. The GM will have to adjudicate what the relevant modifiers are, based on mundane actions in the same sphere. For example, Mandragore the Mage is trying to mind-control a guard. The Mind Control spell is determined to have a Contest rating of +11. The guard would resist any attempt at persuasion with WIL + RES, so that becomes his modifier and is added onto the Contest rating of the spell (of course, the guard may only be represented mechanically with Contest rating if he is an unimportant character, in which case you don’t have to determine the appropriate abilities; just add his Contest rating onto the spell’s Contest rating).

One might determine that if the caster fails in his attempt only because of the target’s modifier, that the spell was successfully cast, but the victim shook it off or dodged or what have you. If he fails by more than that, he failed in casting in the first place. This distinction may or may not be a useful one to make, depending upon the nature of magic in your campaign and whether or not failed castings have any backlash upon the wizard.

==Relevant Attributes==
This is the foundation of ultramundane abilities. In many settings, manipulation of magic or psychic powers is based off of the wielder’s mental attributes. In the Classical mode, trying to create a magical/psychic effect might be a roll of INT+ PER/WIL. But you could use whatever fit the game.

Perhaps psychic powers draw on vital energies and the roll is based on STA + WIL; this roots use of the abilities in the awful strain of their use. If the wielder receives severe checks from using his power, those checks might be physical instead of mental. Too much mental effort and the guy slumps to the ground, gasping for breath.

If occult powers are based off of summoning and contacting supernatural beings, then one or two social attributes might be in order: INT + PRE to contact and WIL + MAN to reach a bargain. Maybe you need to know the True Names and proper fumigations (INT) but also need to be charming (MAN) or commanding (PRE). If the summoner receives severe checks, these could be social checks which would hamper his ability to be convincing. Possibly word gets around in the spirit world that this guy is a jerk. Possibly, he drools from extradimensional backlash and can’t charm anyone anymore.

==Example Applications==
===The Master of Magic (Effect-based Abilties)===
This system is used to model a metaphysic where wizards spend years studying and mastering long list of spells. They have hundreds at their fingertips which they could use at any moment. Think Zothique or Gondwane. Rather than have each spell be an ability, you build effects and then describe them however you want to.

Effects-based powers focus on the actor’s intent. The means of carrying them out (that is, the in-game explanation of what is happening) is left to the player to describe. This system of abilities is thus very consonant with SAMSARA as a whole.

To use effects-based abilities, you need a list of possible effects, such this:

*Attack
*Protect
*Summon
*Transform
*Move
*Perceive

Each of these is available as an ability. Attack +2 and Move +4. Then you need a way to build each effect. Thus:

<pre>Base Attack Spell: Has a range of 5 feet, affects 1 target, and is
instantaneous. Checks delivered to the target are based off of the
caster’s roll with an effect rating of 1. The base Contest Rating is +5.

Modifiers:
*Effect rating +1 for each +2 to Contest rating
*Range of 5 additional feet for each +1 to Contest rating
*Affects 1 extra target for each +3 to Contest rating
*Affects all targets in 3 foot square area for +5 to Contest rating
(i.e. the opponent’s Speed modifiers don’t apply)
*Lasts 1 extra turn for each +3 to Contest rating</pre>

Using this, you could create a spell called “Conjure Throwing Knife”. It has a range of 10 feet (+1) and everything else is base. This is a quick and easy spell—the Contest Rating is +6, with the opponent’s STA + QWK modifying the Contest rating. It’s not at all a flashy spell; in fact, it might not even seem to be magic since you could have been hiding the knife in your sleeve. Someone with very minor magic abilities could cast this without too much trouble. Some who is a master could cast this in his sleep and he could pull scores of these things out of thin air, which would be a bit unnerving to his opponents.

You could also create a spell called “Flowering Razor Blossom”. This shoots off a small spark which explodes into a whirling cloud of razor blades, like deadly fireworks. It has an effect rating of 3 (+4 to the Contest rating), a range of 30 feet (+5), affects everyone in an area of nine square feet (+10), and lasts for 3 turns (+6). This is a roiling mass of pain and a very hard spell to cast. The Contest rating is +30, which would require some serious ability.

An idea to consider is whether the magician can change his method of casting to suit his needs. What if he takes extra time? That might reduce the Contest rating. What if he has various magical doo-dads, like a wand of oak tipped with a ruby or powdered demon hide? Maybe they help too. Or is the casting fixed: this is how it is done and that’s all there is to it.

Effects-based abilities can be used to model all variety of abilities: from a magician with access to myriads of spells; to a wielder of some kind of universal, mystic force; to someone able to shape reality to his will. It will allow the character a great deal of flexibility, since he can do pretty much anything in an effect that he knows.

===Fire Sorcerers of the East (Thematic Abilities)===
This system allows one to create thematic wizards, perhaps the products of a particular school of magic. Any effect which could be accomplished by that theme is allowable and this calls for some thinking. Your Fire Sorcerer might have just one ability: Fire Sorcery +3. Any magic using fire sorcery uses that ability.

But what does fire sorcery do? Well, that depends upon the game. A free-form game might allow just about anything. Shooting bolts of flame is obvious. But maybe the fire sorcerer can step into any large flame and teleport to any other large flame. Maybe he can perceive anybody near to a flame and thus spy on them. Maybe he can use flames to hypnotize people. Can he summon fire elementals? Are there even such things as fire elementals?

Thematic abilities are the opposite of effects-based; the cause is everything. The effects of Thematic Abilities run in the Romantic mode might be left fairly indeterminate at the start. But in the Classical Mode, the GM might provide a list of what fire sorcery does: bolt of flame, walls of flame, resist heat and cold; but no summonings, no teleporting, no mind control and so on.

If there is a pre-determined sense of what Thematic Abilities can do, the GM might include experimentation as a mechanic. This would mean that the player knows what can be done with his ability, but not what can’t be tried. If the character wants to try and do something unusual, he can try with some penalty. If he succeeds, he has now learned a new application.

Experimentation can be tweaked in many ways. For instance, to emphasize the struggle of the new and the overcoming of that, the GM might apply a decreasing modifier to the Contest roll. A base -4 modifier would apply the first time an experiment is made. If successful, the next attempt at the same experiment will be -3 and so on, until the character can be said to have internalized the experiment when he reaches 0 modifier. If the character fails the roll, the penalty stays the same; a spectacular failure might even result in an increased penalty the next time.

To increase the struggle even more, the GM might require the actor to engage in a contest with his own powers, as he struggles to better understand them. The Fire Sorcerer who has never tried flame-walking might have to win a contest using his INT + WIL vs. his own Fire Sorcery stat. This would make it harder for powerful wizards to learn new tricks. In this case, the GM might allow the player to select as many applications of his power as he has positive modifiers at the beginning of the game (Fire Sorcery +3 means that the character knows three applications). Thereafter, anything new is going to be a struggle.

For the opposite effect, experiments might be given a Contest rating against which the character contests using his Thematic modifier plus relevant attributes. This would allow more skilled actors to better experiment. The Contest rating could be based off of the in-game difficulty of the action (walking of fire might be less unnatural than teleporting through fires) or of the effect’s relation to already-known applications (the Fire Sorcerer who already knows how to walk on fire, might find teleporting through flames less of a conceptual stretch than hypnotizing people through flames).

===Labyrinths and Lycanthropes (Each Spell as an Ability)===
This metaphysic also calls for mastering individual spells, but this time the characters are not expected to know hundreds of them. Rather, they might know just a few spells and painstakingly piece together a few dozen more over time. This would serve well for settings without “professional” wizards, but with folks who get what they can and Johnny One-Spells. Of course, professionals might have learned ten or twenty spells. This might fit into a setting inspired by the original Dying Earth.

Each spell is an ability: Bolt of Acid +3 or The Efficacious Incantation of Perspicuous Sagacity +1. Even with this fairly inflexible system, the GM will have to decide if the spell is capable of being changed by the caster or not. Does the Bolt of Acid always produce exactly the same effect? Or could the caster attempt to increase the range in exchange for a penalty? This decision need not be known to the players. Maybe “everybody” knows what the Bolt is like, up until the time that the player finds himself in a tough spot and tries to jury-rig a new version that affects multiple targets. Experimentation might be used in this system as well as the preceding one.

This system would function in either mode, although would fit the Classical mode best given its rigid structure.

===The Ten Million Gods (Universal Magic)===
This system is the opposite of the “professional wizard” described above. In this setting, magic is potentially available to anyone in the form of dealings with the innumerable spirits who live in the world. This is an animistic setting, with gods of the harvest and the rivers and each tree in the forest. Everyone has learned a thing or two about dealing with some spirits; otherwise life would be impossible. The farmer knows to leave offerings for the Goddess of Fertility (to increase his yield) and to the Mouse Prince (to keep vermin out of the crops). The blacksmith always starts his work with an invocation to the Triple Forge Lords: the Fire, the Water, and the Iron. Successful interaction with the Ten Million allows humans to successfully endeavor in a harsh world; incurring the wrath of the spirits means trouble.

In this metaphysic, there are no specialized abilities for magic. Magic and art (in the widest sense of the word) occupy a continuum of human action, with magic being the most efficacious form of art. Any time an actor attempts to take action against reality (i.e. engages in a Contest), his status with the relevant gods comes into play. His default modifiers represent someone neutral in the eyes of the spirits. If he wishes to improve his chances at any endeavor, he must first engage in a prayer-contest with the proper beings. Relevant attributes would be PRE (impressing the god), MAN (cajoling the god), and INT (knowing what the god likes or does not like). The appropriate skill acts as a specialization as normal. And recall that “art” should be loosely used, so that “Swordplay” might have an associated spirit, as might “Seduction” and “Chess”. The Contest rating might be based on how the intended action fits into the Divine Scheme: natural actions would be aided by the gods, while unnatural actions would be resisted. Causing a magical iceberg in the desert to melt would be encouraged by the Sand Daemons, while creating the iceberg would be resisted by them.

It is suggested that this contest be made a Simple Contest, except in dramatically appropriate circumstances. If the GM elects to have a Full contest, then the subsequent action should be made Simple since successive Full Contests will be very involving. Winning the Contest garners a bonus when the actor makes his attempt. Simple success garners +1, while a Spectacular success garners +3. Alternately, one might say that any success in the prayer-contest means that the subsequent attempt automatically succeeds because the relevant gods support it (it would then be appropriate to have the prayer contest be a Full Contest). Failure would be penalized similarly or deny the action outright. If Severe checks are incurred, it is suggested that they do not recover naturally, but can only be restored by making some sort of amends with the appropriate spirit. On the other hand, they might not apply to all actions within the Sphere, but only to that particular type of action. The farmer who enrages the Mouse Prince might have a severe check on future farming actions where they relate to predators, but not to all future physical actions.

The issue might be complicated if the actor’s knowledge of the gods is limited. Maybe not everybody knows all of the relevant sprits in the world (it would be quite a lot of spirits to memorize). So perhaps the characters only know certain gods: perhaps one god for each ability they possess, or one god for each +1 in INT. In this case, the characters might call upon gods to do things which they might not normally do. The Contest rating, in this setting, might be based on the personality of the god: the Maiden in Blue Silk loves all people and eagerly answers prayers to her, while the Lord of the Black Frost hates humanity and only answers prayers that contribute to its destruction. It might also be based on how the intended action relates to the spirit’s nature: the above-mentioned Mouse Prince will happily assist in destroying crops and poses a Contest rating of +1 for the artist (+1 because even the Mouse Prince doesn’t want to be bothered all the time); he is less likely to help someone find a lost grimoire since mice don’t care about that sort of thing and poses a Contest rating of +6 for this. Failure in the prayer-contest in this setting, might result in the gods shutting the character out for some time, or until reparations are made for the rudeness, or even result in attacks by the god.

Yet another variation would organize the gods into a hierarchy of power. Greater beings can give more aid, but are also harder to successfully petition. The spirit of the pebble beside you, on the other hand, is very easy to contact, but isn’t a great deal of help. In this case, the Contest rating will equal the bonus being sought and a relevant spirit must be found. If you want a +2 to build your bridge, the local river spirit could help you with little fuss (Contest rating +2). If you want to make the greatest bridge in history and seek a +15 to your effort, you will have to get into the good graces of Harmonia, Duke of Sympathies and Connections, a mighty god who does not easily grant his favours. Failure in this setting might result in a simple penalty as above; it might also result in the actors being cut off from that level of the hierarchy. The zealous bridge-builder who offends Harmonia might find the ranks of the Greater Conceptual Dukes closed off to his entreaties and will have to make do with minor, local spirits for a while.

The same implementation of the mechanic could be used if there is only one god who grants all petitions, but finds it easier to grant small favours than large miracles. This would call for less creativity on the part of GMs and players, who would not have to keep discovering new spirit-powers every time they try something new. Failure in this system might have the most severe consequences as angering the One God is probably a bad thing. Magic becomes another tactic in this system: getting a big favour calls for greater effort and risk.

==Absolute Abilities==
Some ultramundane abilities do not seem to require ever rolling. If the Fishman is an amphibian and can breathe underwater—well, that’s all there is to that. And the Living Hunk of Stone is an animate chunk of rock—no breathing, no eating, not susceptible to poisons. It is hard to see how one might use these as a modifier. If you want, you could just have them as absolute abilities with no number attached.

That said, you could also use these absolute abilities as modifiers, but not directly. They could be used in social situations particularly, as a measure of how inhuman someone is. For example, Fishman doesn’t need to roll in order to breathe underwater, but maybe he could use his Gills +2 to help in impressing upon a tribe of merfolk that he is not one of the hated “land-dwellers”. The Living Hunk of Stone doesn’t need to roll his Animate Construct +6 to resist the effects of nerve gas, but he could use it to scare the locals into worshipping him as a god.

Contents

[[Samsara:Main Page|Main Page]]

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

13.[[Samsara:Settings|Appendix B – Settings]]

Samsara:Ultramundane abilities

2006-03-25T02:10:29Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Fixed stupid spamming. Stupid spammers.

[[Category:Magic]]
=APPENDIX A: ULTRAMUNDANE ABILITIES=
I love magic. Let’s get that out of the way. I love mysterious mystics and brash sorcerers and sly magicians. I love spells and incantations and theurgy and summonings and conjurations and faery-tale charms. I’m also pretty happy with psychic powers and weird energies and alien abilities and wuxia stunts. The first thing that I look at in a game system is how it handles all of this stuff, which I collectively refer to as ultramundane abilities.

Despite the fact that SAMSARA is not designed with any setting, I just couldn’t let the opportunity to let ultramundane stuff slide by. Besides, one of the strengths of the system, I think, is the variability of implementation that could be performed for this kind of stuff. Jedi powers, Elric-style summonings, Zothique magicians with hundreds of spells on call. All that stuff. So this appendix describes some ultramundane abilities and how the system could be used to manage them. It turns out that the same systems can be used to model various styles of power, so some of the entries have multiple descriptions. However, I believe that the description really should be primary. The story is in how the abilities are understood and narrated, not in how they are gamed.

==Making the Magic Happen==
If an ultramundane ability can be used automatically, then it can be treated like any another ability. Some folks can just fly and that’s all there is to that. In this case, the ability mod would be used when an actor is attempting to do something difficult with that ability. The flying guy can always fly, but he might need to roll STA + SPD + Flight to dodge heat-seeking missiles being shot at him.

But frequently, these abilities are envisaged as having to be engaged somehow. Spells must be cast and might always be miscast. Telepathy exerts an awful strain on the psychic and might lead to psychic feedback. And you don’t even want to think of what might happen when try your necromantic summoning ritual and forgot which protective symbol to draw.

If ultramundane abilities do not automatically work, then engaging them means a contest between the wielder and the effect he is trying to create. This can be either a simple or full contest. Overall difficulty might be a factor in the decision: if the Archmage is trying to magically light a torch, this should probably be a simple contest; while trying to banish the manifestation of Death might be a full contest.

But, as mentioned earlier, narrative needs should probably dictate the choice. If a psychic is trying to telekinetically bring his scotch and soda to him that can be a simple contest whether he is a master of the craft or just beginning his telekinetic studies. It’s a simple contest because the stakes are nearly-nonexistent and watching the struggle play out over several turns is not particularly interesting. However, if he is trying to telekinetically grab a vial of poison that is teetering on the edge of the city’s water supply, then that can be a full contest. Even if he is the world’s greatest telekinetic. Even if he can do this in his sleep at home. In-game, the explanation could be that he’s under stress, but you don’t need an in-game justification: this is the climax of the story; the heroes either save the day or the town is ruined. And you’re going to let one measly roll determine this? Imagine if this were a movie: this scene would take several minutes to play out, as the vial rolls back and forth, closer and closer to the brink and the sweat starts pouring of the hero’s face. See it? That’s why it’s a full contest.

In either case, the effect to be produced, the spell to be cast, the ritual to be performed, is given a Contest rating. How this is determined depends upon the mechanics being used for these abilities (see the following sections). The GM could simply assign a rating based on difficulty. Or, if the system, builds effects mechanically, then that will determine the number. The contest then plays out like any other. If the character wins, the power is engaged, although he might have suffered some checks. If he loses, the power doesn’t engage. Maybe nothing happens (Simple Contest with Simple Failure result); maybe he took some severe checks and is in bad shape (Full Contest); maybe something terrible happens (Simple Contest with Spectacular Failure result or Full Contest based on the nature of the powers i.e. totally losing a Full Contest while trying to summon a demon might result in bad things happening rather than just failing to summon one).

A further complication comes from transitive effects; that is, trying to cast a spell on someone. Does the target get a chance to resist? If so, then you should add in their relevant modifiers as a bonus to the Contest rating of the effect. The GM will have to adjudicate what the relevant modifiers are, based on mundane actions in the same sphere. For example, Mandragore the Mage is trying to mind-control a guard. The Mind Control spell is determined to have a Contest rating of +11. The guard would resist any attempt at persuasion with WIL + RES, so that becomes his modifier and is added onto the Contest rating of the spell (of course, the guard may only be represented mechanically with Contest rating if he is an unimportant character, in which case you don’t have to determine the appropriate abilities; just add his Contest rating onto the spell’s Contest rating).

One might determine that if the caster fails in his attempt only because of the target’s modifier, that the spell was successfully cast, but the victim shook it off or dodged or what have you. If he fails by more than that, he failed in casting in the first place. This distinction may or may not be a useful one to make, depending upon the nature of magic in your campaign and whether or not failed castings have any backlash upon the wizard.

==Relevant Attributes==
This is the foundation of ultramundane abilities. In many settings, manipulation of magic or psychic powers is based off of the wielder’s mental attributes. In the Classical mode, trying to create a magical/psychic effect might be a roll of INT+ PER/WIL. But you could use whatever fit the game.

Perhaps psychic powers draw on vital energies and the roll is based on STA + WIL; this roots use of the abilities in the awful strain of their use. If the wielder receives severe checks from using his power, those checks might be physical instead of mental. Too much mental effort and the guy slumps to the ground, gasping for breath.

If occult powers are based off of summoning and contacting supernatural beings, then one or two social attributes might be in order: INT + PRE to contact and WIL + MAN to reach a bargain. Maybe you need to know the True Names and proper fumigations (INT) but also need to be charming (MAN) or commanding (PRE). If the summoner receives severe checks, these could be social checks which would hamper his ability to be convincing. Possibly word gets around in the spirit world that this guy is a jerk. Possibly, he drools from extradimensional backlash and can’t charm anyone anymore.

==Example Applications==
===The Master of Magic (Effect-based Abilties)===
This system is used to model a metaphysic where wizards spend years studying and mastering long list of spells. They have hundreds at their fingertips which they could use at any moment. Think Zothique or Gondwane. Rather than have each spell be an ability, you build effects and then describe them however you want to.

Effects-based powers focus on the actor’s intent. The means of carrying them out (that is, the in-game explanation of what is happening) is left to the player to describe. This system of abilities is thus very consonant with SAMSARA as a whole.

To use effects-based abilities, you need a list of possible effects, such this:

*Attack
*Protect
*Summon
*Transform
*Move
*Perceive

Each of these is available as an ability. Attack +2 and Move +4. Then you need a way to build each effect. Thus:

<pre>Base Attack Spell: Has a range of 5 feet, affects 1 target, and is
instantaneous. Checks delivered to the target are based off of the
caster’s roll with an effect rating of 1. The base Contest Rating is +5.

Modifiers:
*Effect rating +1 for each +2 to Contest rating
*Range of 5 additional feet for each +1 to Contest rating
*Affects 1 extra target for each +3 to Contest rating
*Affects all targets in 3 foot square area for +5 to Contest rating
(i.e. the opponent’s Speed modifiers don’t apply)
*Lasts 1 extra turn for each +3 to Contest rating</pre>

Using this, you could create a spell called “Conjure Throwing Knife”. It has a range of 10 feet (+1) and everything else is base. This is a quick and easy spell—the Contest Rating is +6, with the opponent’s STA + QWK modifying the Contest rating. It’s not at all a flashy spell; in fact, it might not even seem to be magic since you could have been hiding the knife in your sleeve. Someone with very minor magic abilities could cast this without too much trouble. Some who is a master could cast this in his sleep and he could pull scores of these things out of thin air, which would be a bit unnerving to his opponents.

You could also create a spell called “Flowering Razor Blossom”. This shoots ofo a small spark which explodes into a whirling cloud of razor blades, like deadly fireworks. It has an effect rating of 3 (+4 to the Contest rating), a range of 30 feet (+5), affects everyone in an area of nine square feet (+10), and lasts for 3 turns (+6). This is a roiling mass of pain and a very hard spell to cast. The Contest rating is +30, which would require some serious ability.

An idea to consider is whether the magician can change his method of casting to suit his needs. What if he takes extra time? That might reduce the Contest rating. What if he has various magical doo-dads, like a wand of oak tipped with a ruby or powdered demon hide? Maybe they help too. Or is the casting fixed: this is how it is done and that’s all there is to it.

Effects-based abilities can be used to model all variety of abilities: from a magician with access to myriads of spells; to a wielder of some kind of universal, mystic force; to someone able to shape reality to his will. It will allow the character a great deal of flexibility, since he can do pretty much anything in an effect that he knows.

===Fire Sorcerers of the East (Thematic Abilities)===
This system allows one to create thematic wizards, perhaps the products of a particular school of magic. Any effect which could be accomplished by that theme is allowable and this calls for some thinking. Your Fire Sorcerer might have just one ability: Fire Sorcery +3. Any magic using fire sorcery uses that ability.

But what does fire sorcery do? Well, that depends upon the game. A free-form game might allow just about anything. Shooting bolts of flame is obvious. But maybe the fire sorcerer can step into any large flame and teleport to any other large flame. Maybe he can perceive anybody near to a flame and thus spy on them. Maybe he can use flames to hypnotize people. Can he summon fire elementals? Are there even such things as fire elementals?

Thematic abilities are the opposite of effects-based; the cause is everything. The effects of Thematic Abilities run in the Romantic mode might be left fairly indeterminate at the start. But in the Classical Mode, the GM might provide a list of what fire sorcery does: bolt of flame, walls of flame, resist heat and cold; but no summonings, no teleporting, no mind control and so on.

If there is a pre-determined sense of what Thematic Abilities can do, the GM might include experimentation as a mechanic. This would mean that the player knows what can be done with his ability, but not what can’t be tried. If the character wants to try and do something unusual, he can try with some penalty. If he succeeds, he has now learned a new application.

Experimentation can be tweaked in many ways. For instance, to emphasize the struggle of the new and the overcoming of that, the GM might apply a decreasing modifier to the Contest roll. A base -4 modifier would apply the first time an experiment is made. If successful, the next attempt at the same experiment will be -3 and so on, until the character can be said to have internalized the experiment when he reaches 0 modifier. If the character fails the roll, the penalty stays the same; a spectacular failure might even result in an increased penalty the next time.

To increase the struggle even more, the GM might require the actor to engage in a contest with his own powers, as he struggles to better understand them. The Fire Sorcerer who has never tried flame-walking might have to win a contest using his INT + WIL vs. his own Fire Sorcery stat. This would make it harder for powerful wizards to learn new tricks. In this case, the GM might allow the player to select as many applications of his power as he has positive modifiers at the beginning of the game (Fire Sorcery +3 means that the character knows three applications). Thereafter, anything new is going to be a struggle.

For the opposite effect, experiments might be given a Contest rating against which the character contests using his Thematic modifier plus relevant attributes. This would allow more skilled actors to better experiment. The Contest rating could be based off of the in-game difficulty of the action (walking of fire might be less unnatural than teleporting through fires) or of the effect’s relation to already-known applications (the Fire Sorcerer who already knows how to walk on fire, might find teleporting through flames less of a conceptual stretch than hypnotizing people through flames).

===Labyrinths and Lycanthropes (Each Spell as an Ability)===
This metaphysic also calls for mastering individual spells, but this time the characters are not expected to know hundreds of them. Rather, they might know just a few spells and painstakingly piece together a few dozen more over time. This would serve well for settings without “professional” wizards, but with folks who get what they can and Johnny One-Spells. Of course, professionals might have learned ten or twenty spells. This might fit into a setting inspired by the original Dying Earth.

Each spell is an ability: Bolt of Acid +3 or The Efficacious Incantation of Perspicuous Sagacity +1. Even with this fairly inflexible system, the GM will have to decide if the spell is capable of being changed by the caster or not. Does the Bolt of Acid always produce exactly the same effect? Or could the caster attempt to increase the range in exchange for a penalty? This decision need not be known to the players. Maybe “everybody” knows what the Bolt is like, up until the time that the player finds himself in a tough spot and tries to jury-rig a new version that affects multiple targets. Experimentation might be used in this system as well as the preceding one.

This system would function in either mode, although would fit the Classical mode best given its rigid structure.

===The Ten Million Gods (Universal Magic)===
This system is the opposite of the “professional wizard” described above. In this setting, magic is potentially available to anyone in the form of dealings with the innumerable spirits who live in the world. This is an animistic setting, with gods of the harvest and the rivers and each tree in the forest. Everyone has learned a thing or two about dealing with some spirits; otherwise life would be impossible. The farmer knows to leave offerings for the Goddess of Fertility (to increase his yield) and to the Mouse Prince (to keep vermin out of the crops). The blacksmith always starts his work with an invocation to the Triple Forge Lords: the Fire, the Water, and the Iron. Successful interaction with the Ten Million allows humans to successfully endeavor in a harsh world; incurring the wrath of the spirits means trouble.

In this metaphysic, there are no specialized abilities for magic. Magic and art (in the widest sense of the word) occupy a continuum of human action, with magic being the most efficacious form of art. Any time an actor attempts to take action against reality (i.e. engages in a Contest), his status with the relevant gods comes into play. His default modifiers represent someone neutral in the eyes of the spirits. If he wishes to improve his chances at any endeavor, he must first engage in a prayer-contest with the proper beings. Relevant attributes would be PRE (impressing the god), MAN (cajoling the god), and INT (knowing what the god likes or does not like). The appropriate skill acts as a specialization as normal. And recall that “art” should be loosely used, so that “Swordplay” might have an associated spirit, as might “Seduction” and “Chess”. The Contest rating might be based on how the intended action fits into the Divine Scheme: natural actions would be aided by the gods, while unnatural actions would be resisted. Causing a magical iceberg in the desert to melt would be encouraged by the Sand Daemons, while creating the iceberg would be resisted by them.

It is suggested that this contest be made a Simple Contest, except in dramatically appropriate circumstances. If the GM elects to have a Full contest, then the subsequent action should be made Simple since successive Full Contests will be very involving. Winning the Contest garners a bonus when the actor makes his attempt. Simple success garners +1, while a Spectacular success garners +3. Alternately, one might say that any success in the prayer-contest means that the subsequent attempt automatically succeeds because the relevant gods support it (it would then be appropriate to have the prayer contest be a Full Contest). Failure would be penalized similarly or deny the action outright. If Severe checks are incurred, it is suggested that they do not recover naturally, but can only be restored by making some sort of amends with the appropriate spirit. On the other hand, they might not apply to all actions within the Sphere, but only to that particular type of action. The farmer who enrages the Mouse Prince might have a severe check on future farming actions where they relate to predators, but not to all future physical actions.

The issue might be complicated if the actor’s knowledge of the gods is limited. Maybe not everybody knows all of the relevant sprits in the world (it would be quite a lot of spirits to memorize). So perhaps the characters only know certain gods: perhaps one god for each ability they possess, or one god for each +1 in INT. In this case, the characters might call upon gods to do things which they might not normally do. The Contest rating, in this setting, might be based on the personality of the god: the Maiden in Blue Silk loves all people and eagerly answers prayers to her, while the Lord of the Black Frost hates humanity and only answers prayers that contribute to its destruction. It might also be based on how the intended action relates to the spirit’s nature: the above-mentioned Mouse Prince will happily assist in destroying crops and poses a Contest rating of +1 for the artist (+1 because even the Mouse Prince doesn’t want to be bothered all the time); he is less likely to help someone find a lost grimoire since mice don’t care about that sort of thing and poses a Contest rating of +6 for this. Failure in the prayer-contest in this setting, might result in the gods shutting the character out for some time, or until reparations are made for the rudeness, or even result in attacks by the god.

Yet another variation would organize the gods into a hierarchy of power. Greater beings can give more aid, but are also harder to successfully petition. The spirit of the pebble beside you, on the other hand, is very easy to contact, but isn’t a great deal of help. In this case, the Contest rating will equal the bonus being sought and a relevant spirit must be found. If you want a +2 to build your bridge, the local river spirit could help you with little fuss (Contest rating +2). If you want to make the greatest bridge in history and seek a +15 to your effort, you will have to get into the good graces of Harmonia, Duke of Sympathies and Connections, a mighty god who does not easily grant his favours. Failure in this setting might result in a simple penalty as above; it might also result in the actors being cut off from that level of the hierarchy. The zealous bridge-builder who offends Harmonia might find the ranks of the Greater Conceptual Dukes closed off to his entreaties and will have to make do with minor, local spirits for a while.

The same implementation of the mechanic could be used if there is only one god who grants all petitions, but finds it easier to grant small favours than large miracles. This would call for less creativity on the part of GMs and players, who would not have to keep discovering new spirit-powers every time they try something new. Failure in this system might have the most severe consequences as angering the One God is probably a bad thing. Magic becomes another tactic in this system: getting a big favour calls for greater effort and risk.

==Absolute Abilities==
Some ultramundane abilities do not seem to require ever rolling. If the Fishman is an amphibian and can breathe underwater—well, that’s all there is to that. And the Living Hunk of Stone is an animate chunk of rock—no breathing, no eating, not susceptible to poisons. It is hard to see how one might use these as a modifier. If you want, you could just have them as absolute abilities with no number attached.

That said, you could also use these absolute abilities as modifiers, but not directly. They could be used in social situations particularly, as a measure of how inhuman someone is. For example, Fishman doesn’t need to roll in order to breathe underwater, but maybe he could use his Gills +2 to help in impressing upon a tribe of merfolk that he is not one of the hated “land-dwellers”. The Living Hunk of Stone doesn’t need to roll his Animate Construct +6 to resist the effects of nerve gas, but he could use it to scare the locals into worshipping him as a god.

Contents

[[Samsara:Main Page|Main Page]]

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

13.[[Samsara:Settings|Appendix B – Settings]]

Samsara:Settings

2005-10-15T02:13:46Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

[[Category:Al-Qadim]]
=APPENDIX B: SETTINGS=

==Al-Qadim==
Here are some notes for converting TSR’s rather evocative al-Qadim setting into SAMSARA. It should be noted that this is far from a complete conversion; it is rather some ideas to get one started. Conversions can take two main forms: either a direct, point-for-point conversions (transliteration) or a less direct conversions which aims to capture the spirit of the original, without sticking to every detail (translation). I’ve gone down something of a middle path here.

===Honour ===
Virtually all inhabitants all the Land of Fate have a Motive called “Honour”. In contrast to most stats, an Honour +1 represents the average enlightened man he knows the workings of honour, and the specifics such as the salt-bond, and would have to struggle with himself to deliberately go against the dictates of honour. A Zakharan without any honour is an exception and those without honour often disguise this fact to prevent being shunned by all-right thinking people. Those with greater than 1 Honour are often called “the Righteous” or “the Honourable” and tend to attract respect wherever they go. They are also easy targets for those with no honour.

===Station ===
Zakhara is also a place of explicit and real social standing. All characters also possess an ability called “Station”. Station -5 represents the most desperate sort of beggar, Station 0 represents a commoner; Station +5 is reserved for the Grand Caliph. Station frequently acts as an additional modifier in Social contests: people listen to emirs and tend to ignore humble nomads. It is important to note that Station is a real attribute in Zakharan terms: Caliphs have a regal quality that frequently betrays them if they try to pas themselves off as commoners. By the same token, a lucky barber-surgeon might find himself in possession of much cash and buy nice clothes, servants, and lodgings; but his true Station will tend to out.

Station has two quirks. First, in certain circumstances, the modifier for Station is reversed. In counter-cultures, such beggarly, outlaw, or barbarian societies, negative Station acts as a positive modifier while positive acts as a negative. Negative station also aids beggars when begging, so that the most pathetic beggars are most liable to succeed (remember this is a fantasy world).

Secondly, Station impacts attempts to disguise itself. The absolute distance between an actor’s true Station and the Station of his disguise acts as a negative modifier. Thus, if a Station +2 merchant-rogue attempts to disguise himself as a Station -3 beggar, he has a -5 penalty to the attempt. This means that both filthy beggars and wondrous caliphs find it difficult to disguise themselves as anything other than what they are; their true character shines out. Of course, competent beggars may possess enough skill at disguise to overcome this somewhat.

===Heatstroke ===
Zakhara is, to put it mildly, hot most of the time in most places. Anyone who spends any significant time in the sun faces the possibility of heatstroke. For every hour spent in the sun, an actor must resist the effects of heatstroke. This is a Simple Contest, in the physical sphere. The actor’s modifiers are STA + WIL; the Contest rating for the sun is +5 for “normal” hot conditions with an actor undergoing normal exertion. Additional exertion or unusual conditions will increase the CR.

Success results in no ill effects for the character at this time. Failure results in checks as per normal contest rules. But note that the contest does not end until the actor gets out of the sun and recuperates; if the actor is spending all day in the sun, the contest will go on for quite some time. Severe checks are heatstroke: these are physical checks that will only recuperate at a rate of 1 per each day spent hydrated and out of the sun.

===Armour ===
Armour is useful in the midst of combat; D&D notwithstanding, nobody wears it unless expecting a fight because of its other drawbacks. Armour provides a bonus to an actor’s reactive modifier in combat along the lines of:

<table border=1 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=3>
<tr>
<td>+1</td>
<td>Heavy padding</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>+2</td>
<td>Leather</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>+3</td>
<td>Lamallar</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>+4</td>
<td>Chain mail</td></tr></table>

Those same numbers, however, count as penalties when attempting any other physical actions while wearing the armour. Running, jumping, climbing, even riding are made more difficult by wearing armour. Armour also acts as a penalty to the actor’s modifier to resist heatstroke at double the armour’s protective value (so that full chain gives a -8). Zakhara is not a land of heavy cavalry and knights.

===The Evil Eye ===
Zakharans are a humble people, given to great displays of modesty. This is because they know that displays of pride are likely to attract the Evil Eye. If the GM feels that a character has been too obviously prideful, he may roll to se if the fool has gotten the Evil Eye. This is a straight, unmodified roll in a Simple Contest (in other words, a 50/50 chance). Success means that no untoward attention has been attracted; any Failure means that it has.

* A Simple Failure results in 1 severe check applied to whatever sphere of action the actor was prideful about (thus, pride about seducing the Caliph’s favourite wife results in a Social check, while pride concerning your battle ferocity result sin a Physical check).

* Full Failure results in either 2 severe checks in that sphere, or 1 severe check in two different spheres.

* Spectacular Failure results in either 3 severe checks in that sphere or 1 severe check in all spheres (so you become either notably bad at what you were formerly good, or just become all-around jinxed).

Checks from the Evil Eye will not recovered naturally: the victim must somehow appease the forces he has aroused against him, usually by making some pubic display of humbleness.

===Magic ===
In order to do the magic conversion, we need to think how we want magic to work in this game. Do we, for example, want to retain the D&D idea of discrete “spells”? Or would sorcerers have a more generalized control over their elements (such as I suggested in the Thematic-magic in Appendix A)? Also, could anyone potentially work a little magic, or must you have the “Sorcery” or “Sha’ir” ability (I like this, myself, as playing up the magical nature of the setting))?

Performing any kind of magic (sorcery or the sha’ir arts) requires a Simple Contest, as suggested in Appendix A. I’m thinking of the variation where the player’s describe failures and the GM describes successes, but could work the other way too:

* A Simple Failure EITHER means the effect did not go off and 1 check has been received in the Spell Contest, if the mage desires to keep trying OR that the effect did occur but in some unexpected and not entirely helpful way.

* A Full Failure means the spell failed to go occurs and 2 checks in the Spell Contest.

* A Spectacular Failure results in 3 checks even if the casters desires not to pursue the Spell Contest, which means 1 severe check. For sorcerers this is Mental; for sha’ir this is Social. Optionally, something magical does happen, but it is rather unpleasant for the caster (something equivalent to 3 checks, but in any sphere. For example, if your were trying to create hunting-hound from a flame, maybe be a ball of flame mushrooms in front of you and you take 3 checks of Physical). Thus it’s a choice to just take your lumps and forget it, or take your lumps AND hope something useful come out of the resulting mishap.

In order to distinguish sha’ir and sorcerers better, I’m thinking it might be a good idea to retain the spell idea for sorcerer but dump the “spell fetching” for sha’ir, replacing it with services from the djinn (as I mentioned in my earlier post). The effect would be that sha’ir have access to a greater range of effects, but through more complex (and potentially dangerous) means, while sorcerers will be somewhat limited to those spells which they know, but will have a generally easier (and quicker) time producing them. Sorcerers are craftsmen and (at the higher levels of learning) scientists; sha’ir are artists.

====Sorcerers====
If we kept the spells for sorcerers, we might say something like this: all sorcerers begin knowing all the appropriate 1st level spells for their provinces. Further spells will have to be bought, found, traded, or stolen. Casting calls for a Simple contest in which the sorcerers rolls INT + PER + Sorcery versus the spell’s CR. The CR is +5 for 1st level spells and increases by +1 for each further level (so 9th level spells are CR +13)

Sorcerers who use all 4 provinces are limited to spells of level 1-2. Further power requires specialization. Rejecting 1 province allows knowledge of spells up to level 4, while rejecting 2 provinces allows knowledge up to level 6. The ability to cast spells of levels 7+ requires committing to one and only one elemental province. One-province sorcerers are not distrusted because everybody thinks they are part of the True Flame (that’s such a dumb rationale), but rather because the heavy-hitter sorcerers are all specialists. Even when they are aligned with you, having a nuclear bomb nearby is disconcerting. Of course, you could be specialized and have no particular power to speak of, but that’s not commonly realized. On the other hand, even the humblest village has a healer or cunning man with some first-level spells and no specialty; they are respected like any other craftsman, but not feared.

====Sha’ir (a start)====
Sha’ir would use something like Ten Million Gods from the Appendix A. Their abilities are entirely based off of securing the services and support of supernatural beings. How exactly that might work…eh…I’m still working on it. The easiest way is to say that the GM decides how difficult the request is, assigns a CR, and the guy rolls. More involved might use the effects-based construction and derive the CR from that. I’m thinking that you could say that all effects take approximately 4 turns to arrive. Higher success on the casting roll could be traded in for reducing the time required (so a Spectacular success could be traded in for a Simple Success only requiring 2 turns)

====Digitalogists====
Digitalogists study much the same magic as sorcerers, but there approach is far more theoretical than the average sorcerer’s practical knowledge. As relatively recent phenomenon, digitalogy emerged from the break-throughs of a handful of theoretical sorcerers and mathematicians in the schools of Qadib, City of Sages. It involved the realization that all spells can be predicted and explained by certain algorithms (bonus points to those who realize that the al-gorithm is Arabic). To the theorists, this was confirmation that the world can be understood entirely mathematically, although they would not take the heretical step of suggesting that the world is mathematical (not publicly, anyway).

Digitalogists are able to learn spells in a way unknown to regular sorcerers. By understanding the fundamental rationale behind spells, they are able to successfully cast spells beyond the capacity of sorcerers. However, because of the greater time and effort spent in learning the formulae of spells, these mathemagicians are able to learn comparatively few spells. All digitalogists begin the game knowing a number of spells equal to INT + Mathematics scores; these spells may be of any level and appear as separate abilities. There are very few venues in which to learn new digitalogy spells and very few fellow digitalogists from which to learn them. The mathemagician should expect to learn new spells at a very slow rate.

To cast a spell, the digitologist rolls INT + PER + Sorcery + the individual spell bonus. This gives them a larger bonus than most sorcerers and means that they may attempt higher level spells earlier. Because digitalogists understand a basic unity to magic, they need not specialize in any elemental provinces to cast higher level spells (they regard the Theory of Conceptual Incompatibilities as the product of lazy minds and the Theory of Provincial Obeisance as scarcely worthy of serous discussion). Casting takes time, however, as the mathemagician must draw out the formulae of the spells for it to take effect; all digitalogy spells take 2 turns to activate.

[[Samsara:Main Page|Main Page]]

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

13.[[Samsara:Settings|Appendix B – Settings]]

Samsara:Main Page

2005-10-15T02:03:05Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

[[Category:Samsara]]
[[Category:Game Mechanic]]
[[Category:Game System]]

This is the work-in-progress home of '''SAMSARA''', a rules-light game mechanic. The design goal is to produce a mechanic that is
*unified, without any dedicated subsystems required; but
*with modular applications to tweak the rules to support your style of play; and
*plays well with others

Added a page with some conversion notes for the al-Qadim setting.--[[User:The Fiendish Dr. Samsara|The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]] 19:03, 14 October 2005 (PDT)

=Introduction=
'''SAMSARA''' is a role-playing game rules-set; a system of mechanics. It is not an RPG in itself. You will find no setting materials herein, although there are some broad, setting applications and the rules are more generally applicable to roughly human-levels of power. There is no theme or premise, although '''SAMSARA’s''' mechanics tend to support play which rests upon social interactions and internal struggles at least as much as combat, which is correspondingly downplayed. It is, however, not a “generic” system, since I’m not sure that there can be any such beast.

'''SAMSARA''' is based upon the resolution of contests, rather than of actions, and is a rules-light, abstract engine of play.

There are also no inviolate rules. The game belongs to whoever is playing it and they can do what they want to change or modify it. To that end, you will find a number of rules implementations which are marked as ''Variations''. They are possible modifications which can change the nature of play and so be more aptly suited to your own preferred game. For example, if you don’t care much about specifying character’s attributes, the default number of attributes, which is twelve, can be easily reduced to six or three or even one. If you don’t care to differentiate between weapons and tactics, then the rules for Effect rating can be simply ignored. If you prefer a less flat probability distribution, the default twelve-side die can be replaced by two six-sided. Or use three six-sided, so as to increase the curve, but also increase the potential dynamic range of outcomes.

These are merely suggestions. Please do what you will most enjoy. Again, it is your game.

[[Samsara:Main Page|Main Page]]

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

13.[[Samsara:Settings|Appendix B – Settings]]

Samsara:Modifiers

2005-05-26T22:05:19Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Fixed and updated links

=Modifiers and the Character=

A good character might have a lot of indefinable qualities, subtle touches of personality and nuance. But mechanically, he is just a collection of modifiers. That’s it. The modifiers exist to implement the character in play. They might also help solidify those characteristics.

Modifiers are +/- numbers that affect the Contest Roll. A 0 is a perfectly reasonable score for a modifier. Most people have a 0 in all areas, making them average. A positive modifier means that one is better than average and a negative modifier means than one is worse than average. The default limits for human beings are +/- 6 in any modifier. This limit might be changed depending upon the nature of the game being played: the adventures of the Hellenic gods might well have modifiers in excess of +10, while a mobile hunk of protoplasm might have an intelligence of -10.

===Variation: Scaling===
The suggested range of human modifiers assumes that the game you are playing is centered on human beings. Extraordinary human beings, perhaps, maybe action movie superstars, but still basically human. If, however, that is not the case and your game revolves around hyperanthropes (“beyond humans”) of some kind: incarnated gods, superheroes, or high-level wuxia stars, then you might rescale the limits of modifiers, to prevent the numbers from getting too high for all involved. This would be a sort of reverse-mook rule.

For the most extreme actors, you might decide that the entire range of feasible human characteristics is -1 to +1. That is, all regular humans can be lumped into a range of “bad-average-good”. The best Olympic weight-lighter would have a Strength of +1. Anything beyond +/- 1 then falls into the ultra-mundane category. You might have each point double the previous one, so that +2 is twice is good as +1 and +3 is four times as good as +1. This would let you deal with extremely powerful actors. More modestly, each point might represent a set increase; this would keep things a little more down to earth. Contest ratings will have to be rescaled as well, since any action feasibly performed by a normal human would only have a Contest rating of +2 at the most.

==Varieties of Modifiers==
The various modifiers used to describe characters come in two varieties: variable and invariable. Variable modifiers change during the course of play. Checks received are a form of variable modifier. Invariable modifiers do not change, except in unusual circumstances.

Invariable modifiers can be further broken down into attributes (personal qualities like strength and intelligence), abilities (which modify attributes and are such things as skills, talents, and personal influence), and motives (which are the inner forces driving the character). As usual, do not get overwhelmed by terminology. All of these are modifiers, just +/- numbers which affect your contest roll. That’s all.

*Invariable Modifiers
** Attributes
**Abilities
**Motives
*Variable Modifiers
**Situational
**Temporary Checks
**Severe Checks

The number of these various modifiers possessed by a character depends upon the character and his narrative importance. The player characters are the stars of the story and tend to have the full complement of modifiers. The third guard on the left, however, will be knocked out approximately .3 seconds after the fighting begins and will never be heard from again. He has very few modifiers.

As a general rule, the number and kind of attributes are fixed; everybody has the same attributes but in vary degrees (some folks are smarter than others, but everyone has some intelligence score). The number and kind of abilities is not fixed (some people have no abilities to speak of, whereas others are polymaths). Most conscious folk have at least 1 motive, though they may have more.

The next section discusses the attributes.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Fundamentals

2005-05-26T22:02:56Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Fixed and updated links

=The Fundamental Mechanical Concepts=

There are three, fundamental and interconnected mechanical concepts used in SAMSARA: contests, checks, and modifiers. The entire system is an elaboration and implementation of these ideas.

==Contests==
The basic concept used in SAMSARA is that of the contest. A contest occurs whenever some actor attempts to do something at which he might fail. Or, to put it another way, whenever reality resists an actor’s intentions. This is implemented by that old, RPG stand-by: rolling a die. SAMSARA uses one twelve-sided [[dice|die]] (d12) as the method to simulate randomness, the will of the gods, or whatever it that causes an actor to sometimes succeed and sometimes fail. Rolling high is good; rolling low is bad (see The Contest Roll).

For reference purposes, every contest has two actors: a protagonist and an antagonist, although these may be individuals, armies, or abstract ideas. In the broad sense mentioned above, reality is always the antagonist, variously manifested. But don’t be confused by that; the examples below will clarify. These two roles will also shift during the course of a contest.

The prototypical contest in most games is a fight, whether that is a duel between bladesmen or a shoot-out. Those are contests alright, but there are many more types of contests. A few examples of contests:

*A cutpurse attempting to remove a drunken lord’s wallet without being noticed.
*A courtier at the court of Louis XIV attempting to belittle a rival in public by delicate witticisms.
*A horse-breaker attempting to tame a wild stallion.
*An artist attempting to produce a masterwork.
*A scholar attempting to decipher an unknown language.
*One army attempting to force a second army to surrender.
*A person wrestling with their own worst impulses.

Every actor in a contest has a goal, or victory condition. If that actor wins the contest, his goal has been accomplished. If it is a swordfight, the goal might be to disarm and render the opponent defenseless. Or it might just be to kill him. The artist mentioned above has the goal of producing a masterwork.

But who is this artist’s antagonist? The masterwork is his antagonist and its goal is to avoid being created. Yes, that’s not a misprint. So if the masterwork wins the contest, the artist is left with a blank canvas or perhaps a load of rubbish. This abstraction might be a bit odd compared to the usual run of RPG opponents, but it is a basic, building block of SAMSARA. To repeat the confusing statement from earlier: reality is always the antagonist in the ultimate sense and the burden of action is always upon the protagonist.

Thus, SAMSARA has no “combat system” as such, nor “skill system”, nor “magic system”. All of these activities are subsumed into the category of contests and all function in the same way.

==Checks==
Along with the wholesale abandonment of combat systems et. al., SAMSARA also does without “hit points” or “wound levels”. Instead it uses the mechanic of contest checks, which make it harder for an actor to continue a contest. Instead of “doing damage”, actors in SAMSARA deliver checks to each other.

As a contest is mechanically enacted by rolling the die, so checks act as negative modifiers to that die roll. If an actor has received 1 check and then rolls the die, the die result is reduced by 1. 6 checks reduce the roll by 6. Since SAMSARA uses a d12, 6 checks is generally quite severe (depending upon the actor’s Modifiers).

Just as the contest is an abstract idea that must be fleshed out in the action, so checks are an abstract measure of reduced performance which must be interpreted according to the nature of the contest and the actors’ goals. Let’s return to three of the above examples, this time identifying the actors, the goals, and the possible interpretation of checks:

===Example 1: The Sea Finch===
In a swordfight, Captain Smashing initiates the duel and is the protagonist at the start of the contest. This makes Baron Vile the antagonist. Captain Smashing is a saucy rogue, possibly showing off in front of some nearby damsels. He’s not trying to kill Baron Vile; just make him look silly and deprive him of his weapon. Vile, meanwhile, thinks that Smashing is a jerk who’s been a thorn in his side for far too long; he’d like to jab his sword into Smashing’s throat.

So the two actors have very different goals. Given this, whenever Captain Smashing delivers checks to Vile, the player and the GM must interpret this in light of his goal. If he delivers 1 check, perhaps he made Vile stumble a bit. If he delivered 6 checks, he might have gotten the Baron to thrust his sword into a doorway, gotten it stuck, and then reached over and smacked Vile on the face. If Smashing wins (see Winning the Contest below), then the player and GM will have to interpret how he won and why Baron Vile is out of the contest. Perhaps he lets Vile knock himself unconscious on a low-hanging branch, or perhaps the Baron is so overcome with shame that he just collapses in a heap.

On the other hand, if Baron Vile delivers 1 check, he might have pricked the Captain’s hand with the tip of his sword or even just gotten him off-balance. If he delivers 6 checks, he might well have rammed a length of that steel into some valuable piece of Smashing. If Baron Vile wins, then Captain Smashing is probably dead or dying.

===Example 2: You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two===
That sly rogue known only as the Cunning Weasel is attempting to pick drunken lord Wobblybottom’s pocket and relieve his lordship of his overly-burdensome wallet. The Cunning Weasel is the protagonist and Wobblybottom the antagonist. The Weasel’s goal is to take the wallet without being noticed. Lord Wobblybottom’s goal is to notice that attempt.

Note that Lord Wobblybottom has a goal even though he is entirely unaware of what is going on. Again, recall that in the broadest possible sense, reality resists the protagonist in every contest. If the GM had decided that there was no chance for the Cunning Weasel to fail (he’s simply too skilled or Wobblybottom is too drunk), then there is no contest.

This contest would play out in much telescoped time. Each roll of the die might represent a few tenths of a second as the devious Weasel eases his hand into the pocket, grasps the wallet, and slips his hand out again. Each check might well be an inch or two of movement in this way. So if the cutpurse delivers 1 check, his hand moves just that much closer to the fat wallet; if he delivers 6 checks, he’s almost home.

Wobblybottom’s checks are even more complex to interpret. If he delivers 1 check, he might have coughed or glanced around or done something else to make discovery that much marginally more likely. A few more checks and perhaps he turns his torso, trapping the Cunning Weasel’s hand still buried in the pocket. If Lord Wobblybottom wins the contest, he made it impossible for the Weasel to get the goods. He might even have noticed what’s going on, which might well begin a new contest (goal: drub that dirty thief).

===Example 3: What Does it Say, Indy?===
In this contest, a renowned linguist is trying to decipher the weird, characters that he found on a pot-shard. His goal is to be able to understand what the script means. The script’s goal is to remain unintelligible. Again: anything and everything can be an actor in a contest and have a goal, even inanimate entities or abstract ideas.

If the professor delivers a check, he might have just thought of a possible way to conjugate something, or maybe thinks that he’s noticed a similarity between this squiggle and an ancient Hittite symbol. If he delivers 6 checks, he might have a flash of inspiration, turn the symbol upside-down and realize that it is not Hittite at all, but Mesoamerican! This contest should probably work on a time-frame exactly opposite of that in the previous example: hours and hours could go by with each die roll and the entire contest might take weeks or months (or longer).

The checks that the writing delivers might be best represented as mental strain and fatigue which the linguist suffers. They could also be interpreted as false leads and blind alleys of interpretation which take up precious time. If the ancient script wins the contest, the professor might throw up his hands in disgust and give up, or suffer nervous exhaustion, or just plain realize that he has no idea what he is looking at (see The Varieties of Checks for more guidance on this).

==Modifiers==
The third and final fundamental of SAMSARA are modifiers. Modifiers are what separate the strong from the weak and the exceptional from the merely competent. Mechanically, modifiers are just a broader form of checks: checks are always bad, but modifiers can be advantageous as well as debilitating. In either case, they modify the result of the die roll, either up or down and thus are represented as a +/- number.

Modifiers function as stats, attributes, and skills do in the majority of RPG’s. “Strength” is a modifier, as is “Swordsmanship”. But modifiers are broader than those categories and also include personal motivations, passions, family connections, influence at court, or just about anything else.

The number and kind of modifiers is somewhat standardized, but will be changed to suit the particular game being played. Those that represent skills are the most likely to change since a “Starfighter Piloting” modifier doesn’t make too much sense in a game based in Feudal Japan. Those modifiers which represent personal attributes are more standardized, but also open to some variation depending upon the degree of specificity being sought in the game (see Modifiers and the Character).

----

Those are the basic ideas of SAMSARA; the rest of the system is just amplification and implementation of them.

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Ultramundane abilities

2005-05-26T22:01:09Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Contents */ Added link to Examples page

[[Category:Magic]]
=APPENDIX A: ULTRAMUNDANE ABILITIES=
I love magic. Let’s get that out of the way. I love mysterious mystics and brash sorcerers and sly magicians. I love spells and incantations and theurgy and summonings and conjurations and faery-tale charms. I’m also pretty happy with psychic powers and weird energies and alien abilities and wuxia stunts. The first thing that I look at in a game system is how it handles all of this stuff, which I collectively refer to as ultramundane abilities.

Despite the fact that SAMSARA is not designed with any setting, I just couldn’t let the opportunity to let ultramundane stuff slide by. Besides, one of the strengths of the system, I think, is the variability of implementation that could be performed for this kind of stuff. Jedi powers, Elric-style summonings, Zothique magicians with hundreds of spells on call. All that stuff. So this appendix describes some ultramundane abilities and how the system could be used to manage them. It turns out that the same systems can be used to model various styles of power, so some of the entries have multiple descriptions. However, I believe that the description really should be primary. The story is in how the abilities are understood and narrated, not in how they are gamed.

==Making the Magic Happen==
If an ultramundane ability can be used automatically, then it can be treated like any another ability. Some folks can just fly and that’s all there is to that. In this case, the ability mod would be used when an actor is attempting to do something difficult with that ability. The flying guy can always fly, but he might need to roll STA + SPD + Flight to dodge heat-seeking missiles being shot at him.

But frequently, these abilities are envisaged as having to be engaged somehow. Spells must be cast and might always be miscast. Telepathy exerts an awful strain on the psychic and might lead to psychic feedback. And you don’t even want to think of what might happen when try your necromantic summoning ritual and forgot which protective symbol to draw.

If ultramundane abilities do not automatically work, then engaging them means a contest between the wielder and the effect he is trying to create. This can be either a simple or full contest. Overall difficulty might be a factor in the decision: if the Archmage is trying to magically light a torch, this should probably be a simple contest; while trying to banish the manifestation of Death might be a full contest.

But, as mentioned earlier, narrative needs should probably dictate the choice. If a psychic is trying to telekinetically bring his scotch and soda to him that can be a simple contest whether he is a master of the craft or just beginning his telekinetic studies. It’s a simple contest because the stakes are nearly-nonexistent and watching the struggle play out over several turns is not particularly interesting. However, if he is trying to telekinetically grab a vial of poison that is teetering on the edge of the city’s water supply, then that can be a full contest. Even if he is the world’s greatest telekinetic. Even if he can do this in his sleep at home. In-game, the explanation could be that he’s under stress, but you don’t need an in-game justification: this is the climax of the story; the heroes either save the day or the town is ruined. And you’re going to let one measly roll determine this? Imagine if this were a movie: this scene would take several minutes to play out, as the vial rolls back and forth, closer and closer to the brink and the sweat starts pouring of the hero’s face. See it? That’s why it’s a full contest.

In either case, the effect to be produced, the spell to be cast, the ritual to be performed, is given a Contest rating. How this is determined depends upon the mechanics being used for these abilities (see the following sections). The GM could simply assign a rating based on difficulty. Or, if the system, builds effects mechanically, then that will determine the number. The contest then plays out like any other. If the character wins, the power is engaged, although he might have suffered some checks. If he loses, the power doesn’t engage. Maybe nothing happens (Simple Contest with Simple Failure result); maybe he took some severe checks and is in bad shape (Full Contest); maybe something terrible happens (Simple Contest with Spectacular Failure result or Full Contest based on the nature of the powers i.e. totally losing a Full Contest while trying to summon a demon might result in bad things happening rather than just failing to summon one).

A further complication comes from transitive effects; that is, trying to cast a spell on someone. Does the target get a chance to resist? If so, then you should add in their relevant modifiers as a bonus to the Contest rating of the effect. The GM will have to adjudicate what the relevant modifiers are, based on mundane actions in the same sphere. For example, Mandragore the Mage is trying to mind-control a guard. The Mind Control spell is determined to have a Contest rating of +11. The guard would resist any attempt at persuasion with WIL + RES, so that becomes his modifier and is added onto the Contest rating of the spell (of course, the guard may only be represented mechanically with Contest rating if he is an unimportant character, in which case you don’t have to determine the appropriate abilities; just add his Contest rating onto the spell’s Contest rating).

One might determine that if the caster fails in his attempt only because of the target’s modifier, that the spell was successfully cast, but the victim shook it off or dodged or what have you. If he fails by more than that, he failed in casting in the first place. This distinction may or may not be a useful one to make, depending upon the nature of magic in your campaign and whether or not failed castings have any backlash upon the wizard.

==Relevant Attributes==
This is the foundation of ultramundane abilities. In many settings, manipulation of magic or psychic powers is based off of the wielder’s mental attributes. In the Classical mode, trying to create a magical/psychic effect might be a roll of INT+ PER/WIL. But you could use whatever fit the game.

Perhaps psychic powers draw on vital energies and the roll is based on STA + WIL; this roots use of the abilities in the awful strain of their use. If the wielder receives severe checks from using his power, those checks might be physical instead of mental. Too much mental effort and the guy slumps to the ground, gasping for breath.

If occult powers are based off of summoning and contacting supernatural beings, then one or two social attributes might be in order: INT + PRE to contact and WIL + MAN to reach a bargain. Maybe you need to know the True Names and proper fumigations (INT) but also need to be charming (MAN) or commanding (PRE). If the summoner receives severe checks, these could be social checks which would hamper his ability to be convincing. Possibly word gets around in the spirit world that this guy is a jerk. Possibly, he drools from extradimensional backlash and can’t charm anyone anymore.

==Example Applications==
===The Master of Magic (Effect-based Abilties===
This system is used to model a metaphysic where wizards spend years studying and mastering long list of spells. They have hundreds at their fingertips which they could use at any moment. Think Zothique or Gondwane. Rather than have each spell be an ability, you build effects and then describe them however you want to.

Effects-based powers focus on the actor’s intent. The means of carrying them out (that is, the in-game explanation of what is happening) is left to the player to describe. This system of abilities is thus very consonant with SAMSARA as a whole.

To use effects-based abilities, you need a list of possible effects, such this:

*Attack
*Protect
*Summon
*Transform
*Move
*Perceive

Each of these is available as an ability. Attack +2 and Move +4. Then you need a way to build each effect. Thus:

<pre>Base Attack Spell: Has a range of 5 feet, affects 1 target, and is
instantaneous. Checks delivered to the target are based off of the
caster’s roll with an effect rating of 1. The base Contest Rating is +5.

Modifiers:
*Effect rating +1 for each +2 to Contest rating
*Range of 5 additional feet for each +1 to Contest rating
*Affects 1 extra target for each +3 to Contest rating
*Affects all targets in 3 foot square area for +5 to Contest rating
(i.e. the opponent’s Speed modifiers don’t apply)
*Lasts 1 extra turn for each +3 to Contest rating</pre>

Using this, you could create a spell called “Conjure Throwing Knife”. It has a range of 10 feet (+1) and everything else is base. This is a quick and easy spell—the Contest Rating is +6, with the opponent’s STA + QWK modifying the Contest rating. It’s not at all a flashy spell; in fact, it might not even seem to be magic since you could have been hiding the knife in your sleeve. Someone with very minor magic abilities could cast this without too much trouble. Some who is a master could cast this in his sleep and he could pull scores of these things out of thin air, which would be a bit unnerving to his opponents.

You could also create a spell called “Flowering Razor Blossom”. This shoots ofo a small spark which explodes into a whirling cloud of razor blades, like deadly fireworks. It has an effect rating of 3 (+4 to the Contest rating), a range of 30 feet (+5), affects everyone in an area of nine square feet (+10), and lasts for 3 turns (+6). This is a roiling mass of pain and a very hard spell to cast. The Contest rating is +30, which would require some serious ability.

An idea to consider is whether the magician can change his method of casting to suit his needs. What if he takes extra time? That might reduce the Contest rating. What if he has various magical doo-dads, like a wand of oak tipped with a ruby or powdered demon hide? Maybe they help too. Or is the casting fixed: this is how it is done and that’s all there is to it.

Effects-based abilities can be used to model all variety of abilities: from a magician with access to myriads of spells; to a wielder of some kind of universal, mystic force; to someone able to shape reality to his will. It will allow the character a great deal of flexibility, since he can do pretty much anything in an effect that he knows.

===Fire Sorcerers of the East (Thematic Abilities)===
This system allows one to create thematic wizards, perhaps the products of a particular school of magic. Any effect which could be accomplished by that theme is allowable and this calls for some thinking. Your Fire Sorcerer might have just one ability: Fire Sorcery +3. Any magic using fire sorcery uses that ability.

But what does fire sorcery do? Well, that depends upon the game. A free-form game might allow just about anything. Shooting bolts of flame is obvious. But maybe the fire sorcerer can step into any large flame and teleport to any other large flame. Maybe he can perceive anybody near to a flame and thus spy on them. Maybe he can use flames to hypnotize people. Can he summon fire elementals? Are there even such things as fire elementals?

Thematic abilities are the opposite of effects-based; the cause is everything. The effects of Thematic Abilities run in the Romantic mode might be left fairly indeterminate at the start. But in the Classical Mode, the GM might provide a list of what fire sorcery does: bolt of flame, walls of flame, resist heat and cold; but no summonings, no teleporting, no mind control and so on.

If there is a pre-determined sense of what Thematic Abilities can do, the GM might include experimentation as a mechanic. This would mean that the player knows what can be done with his ability, but not what can’t be tried. If the character wants to try and do something unusual, he can try with some penalty. If he succeeds, he has now learned a new application.

Experimentation can be tweaked in many ways. For instance, to emphasize the struggle of the new and the overcoming of that, the GM might apply a decreasing modifier to the Contest roll. A base -4 modifier would apply the first time an experiment is made. If successful, the next attempt at the same experiment will be -3 and so on, until the character can be said to have internalized the experiment when he reaches 0 modifier. If the character fails the roll, the penalty stays the same; a spectacular failure might even result in an increased penalty the next time.

To increase the struggle even more, the GM might require the actor to engage in a contest with his own powers, as he struggles to better understand them. The Fire Sorcerer who has never tried flame-walking might have to win a contest using his INT + WIL vs. his own Fire Sorcery stat. This would make it harder for powerful wizards to learn new tricks. In this case, the GM might allow the player to select as many applications of his power as he has positive modifiers at the beginning of the game (Fire Sorcery +3 means that the character knows three applications). Thereafter, anything new is going to be a struggle.

For the opposite effect, experiments might be given a Contest rating against which the character contests using his Thematic modifier plus relevant attributes. This would allow more skilled actors to better experiment. The Contest rating could be based off of the in-game difficulty of the action (walking of fire might be less unnatural than teleporting through fires) or of the effect’s relation to already-known applications (the Fire Sorcerer who already knows how to walk on fire, might find teleporting through flames less of a conceptual stretch than hypnotizing people through flames).

===Labyrinths and Lycanthropes (Each Spell as an Ability)===
This metaphysic also calls for mastering individual spells, but this time the characters are not expected to know hundreds of them. Rather, they might know just a few spells and painstakingly piece together a few dozen more over time. This would serve well for settings without “professional” wizards, but with folks who get what they can and Johnny One-Spells. Of course, professionals might have learned ten or twenty spells. This might fit into a setting inspired by the original Dying Earth.

Each spell is an ability: Bolt of Acid +3 or The Efficacious Incantation of Perspicuous Sagacity +1. Even with this fairly inflexible system, the GM will have to decide if the spell is capable of being changed by the caster or not. Does the Bolt of Acid always produce exactly the same effect? Or could the caster attempt to increase the range in exchange for a penalty? This decision need not be known to the players. Maybe “everybody” knows what the Bolt is like, up until the time that the player finds himself in a tough spot and tries to jury-rig a new version that affects multiple targets. Experimentation might be used in this system as well as the preceding one.

This system would function in either mode, although would fit the Classical mode best given its rigid structure.

===The Ten Million Gods (Universal Magic)===
This system is the opposite of the “professional wizard” described above. In this setting, magic is potentially available to anyone in the form of dealings with the innumerable spirits who live in the world. This is an animistic setting, with gods of the harvest and the rivers and each tree in the forest. Everyone has learned a thing or two about dealing with some spirits; otherwise life would be impossible. The farmer knows to leave offerings for the Goddess of Fertility (to increase his yield) and to the Mouse Prince (to keep vermin out of the crops). The blacksmith always starts his work with an invocation to the Triple Forge Lords: the Fire, the Water, and the Iron. Successful interaction with the Ten Million allows humans to successfully endeavor in a harsh world; incurring the wrath of the spirits means trouble.

In this metaphysic, there are no specialized abilities for magic. Magic and art (in the widest sense of the word) occupy a continuum of human action, with magic being the most efficacious form of art. Any time an actor attempts to take action against reality (i.e. engages in a Contest), his status with the relevant gods comes into play. His default modifiers represent someone neutral in the eyes of the spirits. If he wishes to improve his chances at any endeavor, he must first engage in a prayer-contest with the proper beings. Relevant attributes would be PRE (impressing the god), MAN (cajoling the god), and INT (knowing what the god likes or does not like). The appropriate skill acts as a specialization as normal. And recall that “art” should be loosely used, so that “Swordplay” might have an associated spirit, as might “Seduction” and “Chess”. The Contest rating might be based on how the intended action fits into the Divine Scheme: natural actions would be aided by the gods, while unnatural actions would be resisted. Causing a magical iceberg in the desert to melt would be encouraged by the Sand Daemons, while creating the iceberg would be resisted by them.

It is suggested that this contest be made a Simple Contest, except in dramatically appropriate circumstances. If the GM elects to have a Full contest, then the subsequent action should be made Simple since successive Full Contests will be very involving. Winning the Contest garners a bonus when the actor makes his attempt. Simple success garners +1, while a Spectacular success garners +3. Alternately, one might say that any success in the prayer-contest means that the subsequent attempt automatically succeeds because the relevant gods support it (it would then be appropriate to have the prayer contest be a Full Contest). Failure would be penalized similarly or deny the action outright. If Severe checks are incurred, it is suggested that they do not recover naturally, but can only be restored by making some sort of amends with the appropriate spirit. On the other hand, they might not apply to all actions within the Sphere, but only to that particular type of action. The farmer who enrages the Mouse Prince might have a severe check on future farming actions where they relate to predators, but not to all future physical actions.

The issue might be complicated if the actor’s knowledge of the gods is limited. Maybe not everybody knows all of the relevant sprits in the world (it would be quite a lot of spirits to memorize). So perhaps the characters only know certain gods: perhaps one god for each ability they possess, or one god for each +1 in INT. In this case, the characters might call upon gods to do things which they might not normally do. The Contest rating, in this setting, might be based on the personality of the god: the Maiden in Blue Silk loves all people and eagerly answers prayers to her, while the Lord of the Black Frost hates humanity and only answers prayers that contribute to its destruction. It might also be based on how the intended action relates to the spirit’s nature: the above-mentioned Mouse Prince will happily assist in destroying crops and poses a Contest rating of +1 for the artist (+1 because even the Mouse Prince doesn’t want to be bothered all the time); he is less likely to help someone find a lost grimoire since mice don’t care about that sort of thing and poses a Contest rating of +6 for this. Failure in the prayer-contest in this setting, might result in the gods shutting the character out for some time, or until reparations are made for the rudeness, or even result in attacks by the god.

Yet another variation would organize the gods into a hierarchy of power. Greater beings can give more aid, but are also harder to successfully petition. The spirit of the pebble beside you, on the other hand, is very easy to contact, but isn’t a great deal of help. In this case, the Contest rating will equal the bonus being sought and a relevant spirit must be found. If you want a +2 to build your bridge, the local river spirit could help you with little fuss (Contest rating +2). If you want to make the greatest bridge in history and seek a +15 to your effort, you will have to get into the good graces of Harmonia, Duke of Sympathies and Connections, a mighty god who does not easily grant his favours. Failure in this setting might result in a simple penalty as above; it might also result in the actors being cut off from that level of the hierarchy. The zealous bridge-builder who offends Harmonia might find the ranks of the Greater Conceptual Dukes closed off to his entreaties and will have to make do with minor, local spirits for a while.

The same implementation of the mechanic could be used if there is only one god who grants all petitions, but finds it easier to grant small favours than large miracles. This would call for less creativity on the part of GMs and players, who would not have to keep discovering new spirit-powers every time they try something new. Failure in this system might have the most severe consequences as angering the One God is probably a bad thing. Magic becomes another tactic in this system: getting a big favour calls for greater effort and risk.

==Absolute Abilities==
Some ultramundane abilities do not seem to require ever rolling. If the Fishman is an amphibian and can breathe underwater—well, that’s all there is to that. And the Living Hunk of Stone is an animate chunk of rock—no breathing, no eating, not susceptible to poisons. It is hard to see how one might use these as a modifier. If you want, you could just have them as absolute abilities with no number attached.

That said, you could also use these absolute abilities as modifiers, but not directly. They could be used in social situations particularly, as a measure of how inhuman someone is. For example, Fishman doesn’t need to roll in order to breathe underwater, but maybe he could use his Gills +2 to help in impressing upon a tribe of merfolk that he is not one of the hated “land-dwellers”. The Living Hunk of Stone doesn’t need to roll his Animate Construct +6 to resist the effects of nerve gas, but he could use it to scare the locals into worshipping him as a god.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Examples of play

2005-05-26T21:59:06Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

=EXAMPLES OF PLAY=

===Example 1===
Naughty Gutboy Barrelhouse of old-school fame attacks his companion Balto the Monk with his battle-axe (he’s evil, remember). Gutboy has a modifier of STR (+3) + DEX (0) + Battle Axe (+3), for a total of +5. In reaction, Balto has a modifier of STA (0) + SPD (+1), with no abilities applicable (for those who recall Balto, he’s only a 1st level monk, poor sod, and ought to travel in better company). Gutboy rolls a d12 and gets a “7”, which when computed is 7 (roll) + 5 (his active modifier) - 1 (Balto’s reactive mod) = “11”. A Contest roll of “11” result in 1.66 checks being delivered. Gutboy’s axe has an Effect rating of 3, so he multiplies the Effect rating (3) by the checks (1.66) this by 1.5 and finds that he has delivered 5 checks to Balto (3 x 1.66 = 4.98, rounded up to 5). Balto is now at –5 to take any action in the contest and is pretty much in trouble. If he tries to attack, his +1 mod has turned into a –4 (+1 – 5).

===Example 2===
Now that treacherous dwarf attacks again. He swings his axe and rolls “1”. Zounds! His modifier (+5) minus Balto’s modifier (+1) plus a roll of “1” means his Contest roll is “5”. This results in -.66 checks being delivered. -.66 multiplied by his Effect rating of 3 means Gutboy delivers -2 checks (remember fractions round up). He has given himself 2 checks! Maybe he threw himself badly off balance by chopping and missing; maybe he pulled his shoulder out of joint; maybe he got his axe caught in a door. Maybe Balto stands a chance now, although he’d be advised to hoof it out of that old dungeon.

At this point, Gutboy’s player has a choice: he can either take the 2 checks to himself. Or he can let Balto recover 2 of the 5 checks he took earlier (this is the [[Samsara:Checks| Dueling Variation]]). If he suffers the checks, then that may be narrated as swinging his mighty axe, missing, and throwing himself off balance. Or maybe he pulls his shoulder. If he lets Balto recover, it may be narrated as saying that the Barrelhouse’s axe misses and gets stuck in one of the famous dungeon doors, giving the poor monk a chance to recover his breath and get into better position.

===Example 3===
Why is Gutboy Barrelhouse attacking his companion anyway? Well, the day before, he founds himself debating Modalist Monarchian theology with Balto in front of a bunch of other dwarves (who are very passionate about theology for some reason). The GM decides that this kind of debate is both intellectual and social, so he calls for a roll based on INT and either PRE or MAN, depending upon the orator’s style. Gutboy has an INT of -2, a PRE of +2, and a MAN of -1. He uses INT + PRE and he has no useful abilities (like Theology or Debate). Gutboy’s active modifier is -2 +2 = 0.

Balto’s player suggest that he might resist with ACU + WITS. The GM says that since Gutboy is using PRE (using his ferocious demeanor rather than clever arguments), that either RES or WIL should come into play. Balto’s player is pretty sure that WIL isn’t appropriate as he isn’t going to be convinced on this topic by some loud dwarf, but concedes that he might need some verbal standfastness. So his reactive modifier is determined to be ACU (+2) + RES (0) plus Theology (+4) = +6.

Gutboy rolls and get’s a “5” which modifies into (5 + 0 – 6 =) “1” for the Contest roll . In a rare show of insight, Gutboy decides to use a standard argumentative technique with an Effect rating 1, rather than try to browbeat the monk (use a higher Effect rating), so the result is multiplied by 1 (unaffected in other words). A “-1” Contest roll means –2.66 checks delivered to himself (which rounds up to –3 checks). What did he do? Maybe he quoted some heretical source, or thought they were talking about Buddhism instead of Christianity, or couldn’t think of anything to say and called Balto a name, or just sat there and gargled. Anyway, he’s now at –3 for any further actions in this contest. Balto now smiles and begins to demonstrate what a clod the dwarf is.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Checks

2005-05-26T21:53:54Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Link to Examples page added

=CHECKS=
Checks are always negative modifiers. They represent events and occurrences which hinder an actor’s efforts to achieve his goals in a contest. What exactly they translate to must be, as always, narrated by the GM. Remember that receiving a check is not the same as having been hit if you are in a fight.

This should be born in mind especially when a character rolls low and delivers checks to himself. No one should assume that the World’s Greatest Swordsman just tragically, horribly, stabbed himself in the foot. Rather, something has happened which hinders his actions in the contest. Maybe the ground suddenly gave out beneath him. Or he perfectly stabbed his opponent in the heart only to find that the villain’s Bible blocked the sword.

But don’t restrict yourself to wild coincidences (although they are the easiest to come up with). The Goon concept can be very useful here: while fighting his arch-nemesis and his underlings, the Great Swordsman is attempting to kill the Big Bad. When he rolls low and delivers checks to himself, maybe the villain’s goons swarmed in on him and it takes his several seconds to kill them, thus hindering his goal. Yes, he kills a bunch of guys on a bad roll. He is a bad-ass; let the game represent him as a bad-ass. Nothing makes a weaker story than having a character who is supposed to be cool roll badly and trip over himself as he walks across the floor. What contests and checks mean has to be kept firmly in mind and ideas about “to hit rolls” and “damage” tossed out the window while you are playing with SAMSARA.

===Variation: Who Interpret the Roll?===
Rather than always having the GM interpret every roll, this function might be opened up to the players. One way to do this is to let the player narrate the results of a successful roll and the GM interpret the receiving of checks. The player then gets to describe how cool he is when he comes out on top.

Alternately, and more interestingly, the GM could narrate the results of a successful player roll and let the player narrate the results of receiving checks. What? Yes, right. The idea is that the player might come up with interesting ways in which his own character is getting shafted. He has to accept the mechanical results of the checks, but might have some fun describing how they occur. This helps alleviate the sense of having “lost” on a bad roll and keeps the player connected to the story.

===Variation: Dueling===
Because the average person can only take 6 checks before he is out of the contest and because every roll always results in checks being delivered, few struggles will last long. If you would like to have a contest go for a more extended period, perhaps see-sawing back and forth, the Dueling variation comes in handy. The image for this are those great, sword-fights that last for ten or fifteen minutes, where one fighter is up, only to lose his footing and be pressed back, only to throw sand in his enemy’s face and press forward, only to…well, you get the picture.

In this variation, allow the player a choice when he fails a roll. Either he can deliver checks to himself as usual, or he can let his opponent remove an equal amount of checks from himself. Thus, if Baron Vile (you remember him), rolls poorly and delivers 3 checks to himself, he could let Capt. Smashing remove 3 checks instead. This stretches out the contest and can be narrated as sudden shifts in position or just plain recovery.

Obviously, the opponent must have had a certain number of checks delivered to him first for this option to be used. It could not be used on the first roll of the contest.

This variation should probably not be used for every contest. It adds time and complexity and should be reserved for dramatically appropriate actions. Trying to sneak past a guard is probably not an appropriate duel; attempting to one-up Gollum with the best riddle might be.

===Variation: Checks as Hit Points or Wound Levels===
To mitigate the “Death Spiral” effect as receiving checks, the game could played with the checks functioning more as counters (like the archetypal “hit points”), than as active, negative modifiers. In the basic from of this variation, characters receiving checks mark them as usual, but the checks do not apply as modifiers to their subsequent actions in the contest. The checked actor continues to function at full effectiveness throughout the contest. The contest still ends when the total checks received provide a net -6 to his contest rolls. So an actor functions at full effectiveness in the contest until he loses. This can be a bit more over-the-top than the default rule.

Another way to implement this would be to regard the checks as counters along a wound level chart, which can be as simple or complex as preferred. As above, checks do not act as active, negative modifiers, but as counters. For example, one could make the rule that for every 3 checks received in the contest, the character does make subsequent rolls in the contest at a cumulative -1. This means that actors will function slightly less well as they begin losing the contest, though not nearly so badly as in the default rules. Characters with a higher initial modifier will have farther to fall than those with low beginning modifiers; an average actor will take 3 checks and perform at -1, and then be out of the contest at -6.

==Varieties of Checks==
There are two kinds of checks: temporary and severe. The distinction is made only to provide some kind of rules-differentiation between results that only apply to a particular contest and those that will be carried around for a while. If you don’t want to bother with the distinction, or only want to use it sometimes, that’s fine.

When a check is received in a contest, it is always a temporary check. Temporary checks only apply to that contest. When the contest ends, the checks disappear. The fact that that guy’s Bible blocked your sword-thrust ten minutes ago has no bearing on whether or not you compose a great song to your lady-fair.

But for every 3 temporary checks received in a contest, you also received 1 severe check. This is worked out at the end of the contest. Round down, so that if an actor received 2 temp checks, for example, then he has no severe checks. At this point, the GM and the player must decide to which sphere of action the severe check will apply. This should be from whatever sphere the contest occurred in, but sometimes there will be options. A severe check, unlike a temp check, only applies to further efforts in that sphere.

The idea here is that anything can help or hinder an actor in the midst of a contest. A fighter can be distracted by a rude comment and troubadour thrown off by a punch. These are temporary checks. But if the fighter takes the insult to heart, he now has a severe check in the Social sphere, but that won’t apply to his brawl. Similarly, if the troubadour gets whiplash, that might hurt him in the Physical sphere, but won’t affect him the next time he tries to sing.

As always, there’s a fuzzy area here, which will call for arbitration. But that’s a good thing as it allows freedom of interpretation. Maybe you decide that the insult was about the fighter’s battle skills and, in taking it to heart, he’s lost confidence in his martial prowess. Then say the severe check is Physical and not Social. Maybe the troubadour took the punch in the mouth and it really does hurt his social skills, but doesn’t stop him running and jumping.

How do you recover? Severe checks will naturally heal at a rate of 1 per game day. If you want. Or 2 if your characters are more heroic. Or every other day if you playing are playing up the struggle to survive. But you could have guessed that sort of answer by now.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Main Page

2005-05-26T21:52:14Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Link to new page

[[Category:Samsara]]
[[Category:Game Mechanic]]
[[Category:Game System]]

This is the work-in-progress home of '''SAMSARA''', a rules-light game mechanic. The design goal is to produce a mechanic that is
*unified, without any dedicated subsystems required; but
*with modular applications to tweak the rules to support your style of play; and
*plays well with others

Adding a page with examples of play. This is on-going as I think of useful situation to explain. I've also added a email link on my name page for feedback and conversation.
--[[User:The Fiendish Dr. Samsara|The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]] 14:52, 26 May 2005 (PDT)

=Introduction=
'''SAMSARA''' is a role-playing game rules-set; a system of mechanics. It is not an RPG in itself. You will find no setting materials herein, although there are some broad, setting applications and the rules are more generally applicable to roughly human-levels of power. There is no theme or premise, although '''SAMSARA’s''' mechanics tend to support play which rests upon social interactions and internal struggles at least as much as combat, which is correspondingly downplayed. It is, however, not a “generic” system, since I’m not sure that there can be any such beast.

'''SAMSARA''' is based upon the resolution of contests, rather than of actions, and is a rules-light, abstract engine of play.

There are also no inviolate rules. The game belongs to whoever is playing it and they can do what they want to change or modify it. To that end, you will find a number of rules implementations which are marked as ''Variations''. They are possible modifications which can change the nature of play and so be more aptly suited to your own preferred game. For example, if you don’t care much about specifying character’s attributes, the default number of attributes, which is twelve, can be easily reduced to six or three or even one. If you don’t care to differentiate between weapons and tactics, then the rules for Effect rating can be simply ignored. If you prefer a less flat probability distribution, the default twelve-side die can be replaced by two six-sided. Or use three six-sided, so as to increase the curve, but also increase the potential dynamic range of outcomes.

These are merely suggestions. Please do what you will most enjoy. Again, it is your game.

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

User:The Fiendish Dr. Samsara

2005-05-25T21:51:17Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Added email address

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara is a cosmic super-villain who exists to teach all sentient beings to suffer under the crushing weight of endless action and counter-action in this cycle of life. He endlessly schemes from his secret base, located somewhere in a dormant volcano on Maui.

The Dr. also enjoys lyric verse, Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, and the gentle scent of gardenias with his afternoon tea. He is most frequently engaged these days in playing with his darling daughter, who used to be known as the Fiendish Baby Samsara, but who has recently become the Fiendish Toddler Samsara.

Please email all questions and comments to <thefiendish@highstream.net>.

Talk:Samsara:Main Page

2005-05-25T21:47:44Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

Where can I ask questions about Samsara? An email-address to The Fiendish Dr. Samsara would be nice!

I would like an example, with simple narration included, for a combat scene (with Checks) with say two PCs and three NPCs? Or could I have missed an existing multi combat scene?

---
Good points. I’ll add an email-address to my page (it’s <thefiendish@highstream.net>. And I really do need to come up with some examples of play; I’ve been meaning to and just keep putting it off.
--[[User:The Fiendish Dr. Samsara|The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]] 14:46, 25 May 2005 (PDT)

Talk:Samsara:Main Page

2005-05-25T21:46:44Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

Where can I ask questions about Samsara? An email-address to The Fiendish Dr. Samsara would be nice!

I would like an example, with simple narration included, for a combat scene (with Checks) with say two PCs and three NPCs? Or could I have missed an existing multi combat scene?

Good points. I’ll add an email-address to my page (it’s thefiendish@highstream.net. And I really do need to come up with some examples of play; I’ve been meaning to and just keep putting it off.
--[[User:The Fiendish Dr. Samsara|The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]] 14:46, 25 May 2005 (PDT)

Samsara:Contests

2005-05-11T21:15:27Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Clarifications, corrections, and links

=Contests=
==Full Contest Resolution==
However a contest is conceived in story-terms, it plays out the same way mechanically: the protagonist adds up his relevant modifiers, subtracts the antagonist’s relevant modifiers, and adds that to the roll of a single [[d12]]. The number that results is compared to the chart below. A total of 7 or greater results in checks beings delivered to the opponent. A total of 6 or less results in checks being delivered to the protagonist.

This means that an actor can, in some sense, hurt himself by acting just as he could hurt his opponent. An action taken in a contest is a gamble: do you win or lose? Move closer to success or failure? This means that the basic roll is not a “to hit” roll, as is more usually seen in RPGs. Rolling low doesn’t mean that you missed. It means that you swung your sword and it was parried and now you’re a little off-balance. Or you hurt your wrist. Or maybe that your execution was perfect, but suddenly your opponent’s man-servant threw himself in front of you. It means something—anything—but always something more interesting than “you missed”.

Contests are goal-oriented, rather than task-oriented and each roll of the die represents an attempt to achieve the actor’s goal. SAMSARA’s system of contest resolution is thus abstract, rather than action-specific. How that goal is furthered or hindered, achieved or not, must be interpreted from the die result. A high result means that the actor has come closer to achieving his goal, while a low result means that his attempt has been hampered. That is all it means, but it does mean that. The specifics of those meanings must be brought out be player and GM to suit the narrative style and needs of the story being told.

==Determining the Actor’s Modifier==
<pre>
1. Add together the two most relevant attributes
2. Add any relevant abilities
3. Add/subtract any relevant motives
4. Subtract temporary checks received in this contest
5. Subtract severe checks in this sphere of action
6. GM applies any relevant situation modifiers
</pre>

==The Contest Roll==
The Contest roll is the result of the protagonist’s modifiers – antagonist’s modifiers + d12

<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cell"border-collapse:collapse;border:none">
<tr>
<td>Contest Roll</td>
<td>Checks Delivered</td>
<td>Success Descriptor</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>-2</td>
<td>-3</td>
<td rowspan=3>Spectacular Failure</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>-1</td>
<td>-2.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>0</td>
<td>-2.33</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>-2</td>
<td rowspan=3>Full Failure</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>-1.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td>
<td>-1.33</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>4</td>
<td>-1</td>
<td rowspan=3>Simple Failure</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>5</td>
<td>-.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>6</td>
<td>-.33</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>-7</td>
<td>.33</td>
<td rowspan=3>Simple Success</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>-8</td>
<td>.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>9</td>
<td>1</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>10</td>
<td>1.33</td>
<td rowspan=3>Full Success</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>11</td>
<td>1.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>12</td>
<td>2</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>13</td>
<td>2.33</td>
<td rowspan=3>Spectacular Success</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>14</td>
<td>2.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>15</td>
<td>3</td></tr></table>

Don’t worry about the Success Descriptors right now (see Simple Contests for that) or the fractions. Let’s take the first two columns first.

==Extrapolating the Contest Roll==
Recall that the Contest Roll is a sum of modifiers and a d12. This means that the result could well be above 15 or below -2, depending upon the stature of the modifiers used in the game. That’s okay since it is fairly easy to extrapolate results: each step increases or decreases by .33. So a Contest Roll of -3 would deliver -3.33 checks, while a roll of 20 would deliver a staggering 4.66 checks.

===Variation: Switch the Bones===
By changing the type and number of dice rolled, one can change the probabilities of certain result and thus the “feel” of the game.

*One could roll 2d6 instead of 1d12. This would keep the same range of possible outcomes, more-or-less, but due to the shift in probability distribution from flat to bell-curved (well, triangular, actually), the results will tend more toward the middle, with a roll of 7 as the most likely outcome. The effect of this variation would be to favor the more capable actors in a contest as the random factor of the die will be diminished. This would make for a grittier game, with less wild occurrences. On the other hand, that also means that the most likely raw outcome is a success, unless you shift the results table down.

*By rolling 2d8, one would also tend to reduce randomness and favor the more capable, but with a greater possible range of outcomes. This would somewhat counter-act the first effect and allow a greater possibility for wild, unexpected occurrences. This variation is then a mix between grittier and wilder. If you use this variation, you might want to shift the results of the contest roll by two places since the average roll will be a 9. So 9 should result in .33 checks, 10 in .66, and so on. If you don’t do this, then everybody will start doing very much better in contests. Which is fine if that’s what you want.

*3d6 just increases the variation from above: an even wider range of possible outcomes with a much more pronounced probability curve (a real curve in this case). Again, you might want to shift the results of the contest roll as the most likely result of 3d6 is a 10 or 11.

==Tactics and Effect Ratings==
Don’t be frightened of the fractions in the Checks column. They are there to provide a bit of variety in the form of methods and weapons. This is where the abstract nature of contests gets a bit more specific. The manner in which an actor pursues his goals in a contest affects his possible results. The broad term for this is tactics and tactics all have an Effect rating. The Effect rating of the tactic employed is multiplied by the amount in the checks column (always round up the final result). The basic range of Effects and calculated checks is provided in a chart in the back for the math-shy (refer to Appendix B). If you want to ignore this aspect of the game, do so. Every action would map onto the Success Descriptors like so:

<table border=1 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=3>
<tr>
<td>Spectacular Failure</td>
<td>-3 Checks</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Full Failure</td>
<td>-2 Checks</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Simple Failure</td>
<td>-1 Check</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Simple Success</td>
<td>1 Check</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Full Success</td>
<td>2 Checks</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Spectacular Success</td>
<td>3 Checks</td></tr></table>

A core idea in tactics is strengths and weaknesses. Any tactic has a positive and a negative, represented by greater or lesser potential checks delivered. A standard attempt at something has an Effect rating of 1, which is to say, that you read the results of the checks delivered straight off the chart. But an actor may attempt a more aggressive, powerful, or fool-hearty action and so take a higher Effect rating. If he succeeds in delivering checks to his opponent, the number of checks will be multiplied by the effect rating and so increased. However, if he fails and delivers checks to himself, those will also be increased.

<table border=1 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=3>
<tr>
<td>Sample Tactic Descriptor</td>
<td>Effect Rating</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Fools Rush In</td>
<td>4</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Overbearing</td>
<td>3</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Charge</td>
<td>2</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Standard</td>
<td>1</td></tr></table>

Thus, for example, the Mad Berserker goes into a berserk. This means he is attacking with an Effect rating of 4. His least successful contest roll would be a 7 (everybody’s least successful contest roll); the chart says that a 7 means .33 checks delivered. So this foaming-mouthed chap multiplies 4 by .33 and ends up with 2 checks delivered. Even his least successful roll isn’t too shabby. If he had a contest roll of 10, he would multiply 4 by 1.66 and deliver 7 checks. A good roll by the berserker could put an average opponent out in one go.

But consider further. If the Berserker rolls a 1, he would multiply 4 by -2, meaning that he delivered -8 checks, or delivered 8 checks to himself. Odds are he’s out of the fight with one bad round. It’s easy to get into trouble by blindly charging and going full tilt. This, then, is the essence of tactics in SAMSARA. A larger potential to deliver checks top your opponent is always a larger potential to do the same to yourself.

Because physical combat is easy to visualize, the tactics are described in terms appropriate to that sort of contest. But they should not be restricted to combat. The system is designed to make other sorts of contests as interesting and involving as fights and so tactics apply in these spheres too. There is a difference between one actor attempting to persuade the guard to let him pass by speaking reasonably and logically (Effect rating 1) and another yelling and trying to browbeat the poor fellow (Effect rating 3 or 4). One could try to solve “The Puzzle of the Ancients” by sitting and patiently trying to work it (Effect rating 1) or by throwing your whole being into it, neither eating nor sleeping until you solve this enigma (Effect rating 4).

===Variation: Weapons===
If you are interested in stressing the different, tactical capabilities of different weapons in the ever-popular fight scenes , then you could use weapons types as tactics. A simple scheme for melee weapons might be thus:

Weapon Type Effect rating
*Small weapon (dagger, club) 1
*Medium weapon (shortsword, hand axe, mace) 2
*Large weapon (longsword, battleaxe, spear) 3
*Huge weapon (lance, polearm, great axe, greatsword) 4

This can be extrapolated to contests other than physical fights. For example, a calligrapher might try to create a striking image. If he chooses a blunt-tipped brush, that has an Effect rating of 3: he will likely succeed or fail spectacularly.

One might also consider a method of argumentation or mountain-climbing strategy to be weapons, rather than tactics. You could then use the default system for everything except physical combat, for which you would then use this variation.

===Variation: Weapons and Tactics===
If you want to use both weapon types and tactics, you need to decide which to stress as the most important. The secondary choice will then operate as a further +/- 1 Effect rating.

If you stress tactics, then base the Effect rating on the tactic and then -1 for smaller/less deadly weapons and +1 for larger/more deadly weapons. If you stress weapons, then base the Effect rating on the weapon and -1 for a defensive/conservative tactic and +1 for a more aggressive tactic.

Thus, if you focus on tactics and you get the Mad Berserker into a fight with only a dagger, the Effect might be: 4 (from tactics) -1 (small weapon) = 3. If you want to focus on weapons, then the Effect rating would be: 1 (dagger) + 1 (aggressive tactics) = 2. The games’ focus will make a difference.

Please recall that a minimum of 1 check must be delivered to either the protagonist or the antagonist, so Effect ratings below 1 are not possible. See the next section for more on this principle.

==Something Always Happens==
This is a principle of design for SAMSARA. Notice that there is no Contest Roll that results in zero checks being delivered. Whenever an actor takes action in a contest, something happens. Good or bad. Minor or major. But something always happens. This might be considered the ultimate tactical choice: action entails risk.

This should probably be true in the narrative sense as well. This issue is ultimately up to the GM and the players, but “whiffing” is usually a very dull result. If an actor is failing in an attempt to do something (i.e. is delivering checks to himself), there should be some reason. Yang the Brute doesn’t just miss—he’s a nasty, bad-ass character, so that when he fails to hurt Essence of Jade, it is because the wily old hermit is leaping and dodging and stuffing eating utensils into his nasal orifice. Essence, the gong fu monk, is super-cool, so when he fails in his attack on Yang, it’s because he is forced to knock out one of Yang’s cronies or his staff breaks on Yang’s hard head. Or something.

==Simple Contests==
Despite all of the tension and drama that can result from running a full contest, it can also be a burden. Sometimes, the needs of the story would be better served by quickly determining if an actor succeeds or fails. Maybe you just want to know if your sneaky guy creeps past the guards or if he alerts them. It’s not a given either way, but it would only slow things down to play out the full contest. In that case, you run a simple contest. These contests ignore checks and use the success descriptors from the last column of the Contest Roll chart.

Simple contests involve the same method for computing the contest roll: protagonist’s modifiers - antagonist’s modifiers + d12. The result then is compared to the success descriptor column of the Contest Roll chart. The GM and the player then must, as always, flesh out the meaning of the result, based on the actor’s goal and the narrative needs. The descriptors are guidelines for how to flesh that out.

The most basic description is the success/fail description. A roll of 7 or over is some kind of success and a roll of 6 or under is some kind of failure. That might be all the description needed:

“I want to catch the bomb before it hits the ground.” Success means that you do. Failure means that you don’t. Enough said.

But if the quality of the result matters, the distinction between spectacular, full, and simple, comes into play. If the actor trying to catch the bomb, scores a simple success, he might fumble with it a bit, before fully catching it. A full success means a solid catch. And a spectacular success means that he runs to where it is going to fall, turns a flip in the air, and then catches it. On his head. You get the idea.

A simple failure might be very close to a success and leave the field open to trying again, perhaps. While a spectacular failure means something just plain horrendous has happened. If a character is trying to sneak past some guards and rolls a simple failure, he might have stepped on a twig and alerted the guard nearest him. He’s still got options: he might knife the guard and continue, for example. A spectacular failure, however, means that he snagged a trip-wire or the spot-light just fell full frontal on his sad face. And 20 guys are training their weapons on him now. He’s still got options, but not very good ones.

If your game involves [[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|ultra-mundane abilities]] which a character cannot automatically use, such as magic or psychic powers, using the Simple Contest rules most of the time might be in order. Thus the character might have to roll a Simple Contest against the power level of his spell: success means it works and failure means it doesn’t, with the possibility of extreme successes and failures keeping things interesting. See the suggestions in [[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]].

==Ending the Contest==
A contest ends either when one of the actors gives up or when one of the actors can not possibly win. The first is a character decision; the second is mechanical.

A character might decide to quit the contest for a variety of story reasons. Maybe just to save himself from being beaten up at this time. Maybe to run away and try again later with a better plan. Whatever. A good rule of thumb with NPC’s is that they will think about quitting once they take checks equal to half their starting modifier. Thus if a bandit attacks our hero and the bandit has modifiers for the contests of +4, he might think about quitting after he takes 2 checks. This is just a quick and dirty measure and is, of course, open to revision depending upon the personality of the NPC and the needs of the story.

If an actor can not possibly deliver checks to his opponent, no matter how high his roll, then he has lost the contest. In other words, if an actor is functioning with a net modifier of -6, even if he rolls a 12 on the die, he will have a Contest Roll of 6, which means that he delivers checks to himself. He cannot win and has thus lost. The contest is over.

Note that if an actor enters contest with a modifier of 0, it will take only 6 checks to put him out. However, if he enters with a modifier of +10, it will take 16 checks to put him out. It pays to be the best. And to choose the sorts of contests in which one is skilled.

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Major Projects

2005-05-10T19:59:33Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* SAMSARA */Fixed link

If you are working on a major project which you expect to span 6+ pages, please enter it alphabetically in the appropriate section of this page. Use a level 3 header, so that you'll appear in the table of contents, include a link to your project's main page, then briefly describe your project.

==Game Systems==
This is a list of original game systems being developed at the RPGnetWiki.

===Basic FANGS: Fantasy Adventure Network Gaming System===
'''Page:''' [[FANGS:_Main Page|FANGS]]

Version 1.6.1 of a classless skill-based [[RPG]] system, with some minimal compatibility with [[d20 System|d20]] modules. By Christopher Allen and Steve Perrin.

===SAMSARA===
'''Page:''' [[Samsara:Main Page|SAMSARA]]

A fairly rules-lite system of mechanics based around the resolution of contests. Designed to be modular and eminently tweakable.

===TEARZ===
'''Page:''' [[TEARZ:Main_Page|Tearz]]

A parody [[RPG]] that never fails to take itself too seriously.

==Generic Backgrounds==
This is a list of generic backgrounds, not tied to any game system, that are being developed at the RPGnetWiki.

===Alvatia: Game Setting===
Alvatia is a fantasy game setting originally developed for use with [[FANGS:_Main Page|FANGS]], however, is quite suitable as a generic low-magic fantasy setting.

* '''Page:''' [[ALVATIA:_Main_Page|Alvatia]] 
** '''Page:''' [[ALVATIA:_Ingsby_-_Village_and_Manor|The Village and Manor of Ingsby]]
** '''Page:''' [[ALVATIA:_City_of_Wedburgh|City_of_Wedburgh]]

===Athanatos: A Transhumanist Fantasy Setting===
'''Page:''' [[ATHANATOS:_Main_Page|Athanatos]]

A fantasy setting where powerful magics have allowed souls to stay connected to the material plane even after the death of the body.

===Contribute Your Eerie Event===
'''Page:''' [[Eerie Event]]

Following up on the thread from rpg.net, this is a Wiki designed to collate weird events for use in a variety of horror games.

===Meanwhile, Back Home...===
'''Page:''' [[MEANWHILE:_Main_Page|Meanwhile, Back Home...]]

A (mostly) humourous Alien Contact setting focusing on Earth.

==GM Resources==
Everything needed to make a [[GM]]'s life easier

===Generic Resources===
These are generic resources covering various topics that might be of use to game masters.

'''Page:''' [[Free_Adventures|Free Adventures]] 
'''Page:''' [[RESOURCES:_Npcs|Npcs]] 
'''Page:''' [[RESOURCES:_Gaming_Websites|Gaming Websites]] 
'''Page:''' [[Non_Gaming_Websites|Non Gaming Websites]] 
'''Page:''' [[Cool_Fight_Locations|Cool Fight Locations]] 
'''Page:''' [[Stereotype_List|Stereotype List]] 

===Short Adventures===
A resource page with short [[adventure]]s that [[GM]]s can drop into games to fill a night of play.

'''Page:''' [[Short_Adventures]] 

===Campaign Setups===
A resource page filled with thumbnail designs for [[campaign]]s, campaign ideas, and outlines to help jump-start a game.

'''Page:''' [[Campaign_Setups]] 

===War Stories===

'''Page:''' [[War_Stories|War Stories]] 

Tales of things that have happened during your gaming sessions which can amuse other gamers or serve as inspiration for GMs.

==System Supplements==
This is a list of supplements for specific [[game system]]s. Please be sure to list which game system your [[supplement]] is for if you include something in this section. (If you prefer to search by system then look at the [[Special:Categories]] page.)

===Essence-Blasting Hits of the Seventies===
'''Page:''' [[Essence-Blasting Hits of the Seventies]] 
'''System:''' [[Exalted]]

A thematic conversion for [[Exalted]], set in the modern day and involving the Exalted as rock musicians of various stripes instead of fantasy heroes. With Essence-infused heroin, a guitar that you carved out of Elvis Presley's coffin and a Malfean fragment as your agent, it's time to take to the streets. What do you do when you get there?

===Exalted 101===
'''Page:'''[[Exalted101:Main_page]] 
'''System:''' [[Exalted]]

This is an atempt to create a resource for [[storyteller]]s and players new to [[Exalted]], covering everything they need to know to get a game going, as well as tackling any niggling questions that tend to come up often about the game. It's based on a big thread from RPG open.

===Young Kingdoms Adventures===
'''Page:''' [[YKAdventures:Main_Page]] 
'''System:''' Stormbringer Fifth Edition or Elric!

This is a collection of story seeds for the [[Stormbringer]] roleplaying game, sorted by geographical locations. It includes notable people, places, items, and creatures for cities and countries all across the Young Kingdoms.

== Terminology ==
These are guides to common rpg terminology.

===Game title abbreviation===
'''Page:''' [[Game_title_abbreviations]] 

This is a collection of abbreviations used for various games and game lines.

Samsara:Character generation

2005-05-07T02:03:31Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

[[Category:Character Creation]]
=CHARACTER GENERATION=
==Classical Mode: Point-buy method==
The players are given a pool of points appropriate to the level of ability desired for the game. The cost of attributes and abilities is equal to the sum of the numbers that comprise it. Thus, a +3 anything costs (3+2+1=) 6 points. Negative modifiers add that many points to the starting pool. If no points are spent, the modifier is 0.

Motives, as both plus and minus numbers, cost nothing. Each character should have at least one, but probably no more than three, unless you want extremely conflicted characters. Similarly, the player and the GM should work out the motive modifier; as mentioned before, this can be seen as a type of tactical choice. A character with a high motive will be driven strongly and grandly passionate, while one with more modest motives will be of a cooler temperament.

Below are some suggested starting point totals, tied to a description of competency, and a suggested spread of those points for a character with the default 12 attributes (the numbers will need to be changed if you use the more simplified attribute schemes):

*Bold Adventurer: 10 Pts.
This would build a character with +1 in six attributes and +1 in four abilities. 
*Competent Adventurer: 30 pts.
This would build a character with +2 in six attributes and +2 in four abilities. 
*Hero: 72 pts.
This would build a character with +3 in six attributes and +3 in 6 abilities. 
*Great Hero: 120 pts.
This would build a character with +4 in six attributes and +4 in 6 abilities. 
*Super-Hero: 210 pts.
This would build a character with +5 in six attributes and +5 in 8 abilities.

The point-spreads are very tentative. A game emphasizing skills might require more points. A game deemphasizing skills, would allow more points to go toward attributes, so that the Hero might have only two abilities, each at +3, with three attributes at +2, six attributes at +3, and one at +5.

Also remember that the cost of modifier increases exponentially, so that it is much easier to buy numerous, small modifiers. 10 points will buy ten, +1 modifiers, but only one +4 modifier. The point totals given are merely a starting place.

===Variation: Straight Numbers===
To create more powerful, more flexible characters, the cost of modifiers could be changed to equal only the cost of the modifier itself. Thus a +4 would cost 4 points, rather than 10. This will not only make the points go much farther, but it will also encourage higher modifiers, because the curve is gone. It also makes character generation a lot simpler, for the math-shy.

==Romantic Mode: Themes==
In the Romantic Mode, each character has a number of Themes. These could be professions, backgrounds, or just stylistic descriptions. The character can be assumed to possess any attribute, ability, and Motive relevant to that Theme with a modifier equal to his theme modifier. Thus “Brash Pilot +1” can be assumed to have piloting skills, knowledge of his ship, PER, DEX, QWK, and maybe some general athleticism, as well as a propensity for barging into situations instead of thinking them out (Motive); all of which function at +1. Some more examples:

*Wolfish Barbarian
*Street fighter
*Hardened mercenary who has seen it all
*Decadent noble
*Student of Occult Philosophy
*Resentful Servant of the Dark Gods
*Dashing Captain of the Guard
*Last of the Old Ones
*Relentless hunter of evil
*Grew up a street urchin
*Clean-limbed fighting man of Virginia
*Spent time as a wizard’s apprentice
*Doomed prince of an ancient empire

These Themes will need to be tied-into the game world, so they can’t be standardized (grim gunfighters don’t make too much sense in Middle-Earth). The more iconic and archetypal the Theme is; the more broadly applicable. The more focused and world-specific the Theme is, the easier it is to know what is and isn’t appropriate to that Theme.

As a general guide-line, a Theme should have both an adjective and a noun; a prepositional phrase or dependant clause is also good. More than two adjectives or one clause, on the other hand, is probably over-doing it. Conjunctions are also highly discouraged unless you want to have characters whose parents were aliens and are themselves top scientists and also karate experts and learned magic from a friendly elf and are best friends with the President of Uruguay.

The GM and the players will decide how many themes each character has and the general level of competence for the characters. The Theme modifier will be set by the competency level of the game. For example:

*Bold Adventurer: 1 Theme at +1
*Competent Adventurer: 2 Themes at +2
*Hero: 3 Themes at +3
*Great Hero: 4 Themes at +4
*Super-Hero: 5 Themes at+5

If the GM allows 3 themes in a hero game, then each theme is at +3. If a player elects to take a theme more than once, each addition adds +1 to the modifier. This is a potentially tricky option and should be considered deeply. For instance, “Super-badass” taken four times to the exclusion of all else might be problematic in many games.

===Variation: Point-buy Themes===
A type of mixing between the two methods would be to allow the characters a pool of points to be spent on themes howsoever they like. This will give greater variety to the modifiers and to the number of themes. Thus, a particularly socially-mobile character might have “Ex-Gladiator +3”, “Cunning Merchant +2”, and “Rising Politician +1”. The size of the pool can be determined by competency level. For example:

*Bold Adventurer: 1 pt.
*Competent Adventurer: 6 pts.
*Hero: 18pts.
*Great Hero: 40 pts.
*Super-Hero: 75 pts.

As always, the number of points should be altered as the group sees fit.

===Variation: Making it up as you go along===
For the truly freeform, you could have themes without worrying too much about what they actually cover. Then, whenever a character enters a contest, the player could suggest that a particular theme might apply to this struggle. This would shorten character generation and would likely avoid those situations where a character who is supposed to be a “Dashing Swordsman” forgot to include “acrobatics” as part of his Theme. The converse, of course, is that this option might involve GM-Player negations that occur right as the action is about to start. Thus, this option would be more appropriate for groups that know each other well.

One could extend this option even further, and allow the player the option to leave one or more Themes undetermined at the start of play. At any point (and hopefully a dramatic one), the player could then elect to determine a Theme. This might work very well for games about somewhat mysterious characters. For example, the Sly Rogue finds himself confronted by some arcane writings and instruments, as part of his latest haul. His player might say, “You know, it’s been a long time, but in my youth, I served as an apprentice to a drunken, washed-up wizard. Maybe I can recall enough to recognize these things.” He has just determined a previously undisclosed Theme.

This variation will require cooperation and negotiation between players and GM even more than the less ambitious version. But using it would make discovery of the character an integral part of play.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Long term play

2005-05-07T02:01:40Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Linked to Category:Character Development

[[Category:Character Development]]
=Long Term Play=
The majority of games use some form of advancement mechanic, often called “experience”. I would like to interject a point here that this does not capture the spirit of many, adventure tales. Sure, Luke becomes a better Jedi over the course of three movies and Frodo more generally competent over a like number of volumes. But John Carter, clean-limbed fighting man from Virginia, starts off as a fantastic swordsman and pretty much remains so. And Elric doesn’t learn new spells and sword tricks.

My point is that advancement mechanics may not always be suitable or meaningful. “Leveling up” is an inheritance from D&D, but it is by no means a required one for your game. If the game is set at a Heroic level or above, the characters begin as quite competence and don’t need to “level up” in order to do things. This is not to say that advancement mechanics are bad or don’t fit into SAMSARA, but that the group ought to consider whether or not they fit into the game being played. Particularly in free-form, Romantic games, “character improvement” may just not be that meaningful.

Assuming that you do decide to use advancement as part of the game, Samsara points can be given out at the conclusion (or beginning or middle) of stories and subsequently cashed in for character points. These new character points are used to increase the character stats, just as the starting points were at chargen. 1-3 Samsara points is a general guide-line for the number of points to give out. The actual number depends upon how fast and how much you want the character’s to improve. They can be exchanged for character points at 1:2 or 1:3 ration, again depending upon the speed of advancement that you want.

===Variation: Sacrifice===
A variant advancement system would emphasis that for everything that a character learns, he must forget something else; for everything improved, something is lost. At the conclusion of a story, the player is allowed to switch his points around to reflect changes that have occurred in the character. The Farm Boy learns how to fight, but loses some of his naïve charm.

This system could also be combined with the Samsara point advancement system. One could say, for example, that new or improved stats can only be paid for in half by Samsara points; the other half must come from shuffling existing abilities. This way the characters do improve, but must also sacrifice to do so.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Character generation

2005-05-07T02:00:41Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Linked to Category:CharGen

[[Category:Character Generation]]
=CHARACTER GENERATION=
==Classical Mode: Point-buy method==
The players are given a pool of points appropriate to the level of ability desired for the game. The cost of attributes and abilities is equal to the sum of the numbers that comprise it. Thus, a +3 anything costs (3+2+1=) 6 points. Negative modifiers add that many points to the starting pool. If no points are spent, the modifier is 0.

Motives, as both plus and minus numbers, cost nothing. Each character should have at least one, but probably no more than three, unless you want extremely conflicted characters. Similarly, the player and the GM should work out the motive modifier; as mentioned before, this can be seen as a type of tactical choice. A character with a high motive will be driven strongly and grandly passionate, while one with more modest motives will be of a cooler temperament.

Below are some suggested starting point totals, tied to a description of competency, and a suggested spread of those points for a character with the default 12 attributes (the numbers will need to be changed if you use the more simplified attribute schemes):

*Bold Adventurer: 10 Pts.
This would build a character with +1 in six attributes and +1 in four abilities. 
*Competent Adventurer: 30 pts.
This would build a character with +2 in six attributes and +2 in four abilities. 
*Hero: 72 pts.
This would build a character with +3 in six attributes and +3 in 6 abilities. 
*Great Hero: 120 pts.
This would build a character with +4 in six attributes and +4 in 6 abilities. 
*Super-Hero: 210 pts.
This would build a character with +5 in six attributes and +5 in 8 abilities.

The point-spreads are very tentative. A game emphasizing skills might require more points. A game deemphasizing skills, would allow more points to go toward attributes, so that the Hero might have only two abilities, each at +3, with three attributes at +2, six attributes at +3, and one at +5.

Also remember that the cost of modifier increases exponentially, so that it is much easier to buy numerous, small modifiers. 10 points will buy ten, +1 modifiers, but only one +4 modifier. The point totals given are merely a starting place.

===Variation: Straight Numbers===
To create more powerful, more flexible characters, the cost of modifiers could be changed to equal only the cost of the modifier itself. Thus a +4 would cost 4 points, rather than 10. This will not only make the points go much farther, but it will also encourage higher modifiers, because the curve is gone. It also makes character generation a lot simpler, for the math-shy.

==Romantic Mode: Themes==
In the Romantic Mode, each character has a number of Themes. These could be professions, backgrounds, or just stylistic descriptions. The character can be assumed to possess any attribute, ability, and Motive relevant to that Theme with a modifier equal to his theme modifier. Thus “Brash Pilot +1” can be assumed to have piloting skills, knowledge of his ship, PER, DEX, QWK, and maybe some general athleticism, as well as a propensity for barging into situations instead of thinking them out (Motive); all of which function at +1. Some more examples:

*Wolfish Barbarian
*Street fighter
*Hardened mercenary who has seen it all
*Decadent noble
*Student of Occult Philosophy
*Resentful Servant of the Dark Gods
*Dashing Captain of the Guard
*Last of the Old Ones
*Relentless hunter of evil
*Grew up a street urchin
*Clean-limbed fighting man of Virginia
*Spent time as a wizard’s apprentice
*Doomed prince of an ancient empire

These Themes will need to be tied-into the game world, so they can’t be standardized (grim gunfighters don’t make too much sense in Middle-Earth). The more iconic and archetypal the Theme is; the more broadly applicable. The more focused and world-specific the Theme is, the easier it is to know what is and isn’t appropriate to that Theme.

As a general guide-line, a Theme should have both an adjective and a noun; a prepositional phrase or dependant clause is also good. More than two adjectives or one clause, on the other hand, is probably over-doing it. Conjunctions are also highly discouraged unless you want to have characters whose parents were aliens and are themselves top scientists and also karate experts and learned magic from a friendly elf and are best friends with the President of Uruguay.

The GM and the players will decide how many themes each character has and the general level of competence for the characters. The Theme modifier will be set by the competency level of the game. For example:

*Bold Adventurer: 1 Theme at +1
*Competent Adventurer: 2 Themes at +2
*Hero: 3 Themes at +3
*Great Hero: 4 Themes at +4
*Super-Hero: 5 Themes at+5

If the GM allows 3 themes in a hero game, then each theme is at +3. If a player elects to take a theme more than once, each addition adds +1 to the modifier. This is a potentially tricky option and should be considered deeply. For instance, “Super-badass” taken four times to the exclusion of all else might be problematic in many games.

===Variation: Point-buy Themes===
A type of mixing between the two methods would be to allow the characters a pool of points to be spent on themes howsoever they like. This will give greater variety to the modifiers and to the number of themes. Thus, a particularly socially-mobile character might have “Ex-Gladiator +3”, “Cunning Merchant +2”, and “Rising Politician +1”. The size of the pool can be determined by competency level. For example:

*Bold Adventurer: 1 pt.
*Competent Adventurer: 6 pts.
*Hero: 18pts.
*Great Hero: 40 pts.
*Super-Hero: 75 pts.

As always, the number of points should be altered as the group sees fit.

===Variation: Making it up as you go along===
For the truly freeform, you could have themes without worrying too much about what they actually cover. Then, whenever a character enters a contest, the player could suggest that a particular theme might apply to this struggle. This would shorten character generation and would likely avoid those situations where a character who is supposed to be a “Dashing Swordsman” forgot to include “acrobatics” as part of his Theme. The converse, of course, is that this option might involve GM-Player negations that occur right as the action is about to start. Thus, this option would be more appropriate for groups that know each other well.

One could extend this option even further, and allow the player the option to leave one or more Themes undetermined at the start of play. At any point (and hopefully a dramatic one), the player could then elect to determine a Theme. This might work very well for games about somewhat mysterious characters. For example, the Sly Rogue finds himself confronted by some arcane writings and instruments, as part of his latest haul. His player might say, “You know, it’s been a long time, but in my youth, I served as an apprentice to a drunken, washed-up wizard. Maybe I can recall enough to recognize these things.” He has just determined a previously undisclosed Theme.

This variation will require cooperation and negotiation between players and GM even more than the less ambitious version. But using it would make discovery of the character an integral part of play.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Ultramundane abilities

2005-05-07T01:52:39Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Added Category:Magic

[[Category:Magic]]
=APPENDIX A: ULTRAMUNDANE ABILITIES=
I love magic. Let’s get that out of the way. I love mysterious mystics and brash sorcerers and sly magicians. I love spells and incantations and theurgy and summonings and conjurations and faery-tale charms. I’m also pretty happy with psychic powers and weird energies and alien abilities and wuxia stunts. The first thing that I look at in a game system is how it handles all of this stuff, which I collectively refer to as ultramundane abilities.

Despite the fact that SAMSARA is not designed with any setting, I just couldn’t let the opportunity to let ultramundane stuff slide by. Besides, one of the strengths of the system, I think, is the variability of implementation that could be performed for this kind of stuff. Jedi powers, Elric-style summonings, Zothique magicians with hundreds of spells on call. All that stuff. So this appendix describes some ultramundane abilities and how the system could be used to manage them. It turns out that the same systems can be used to model various styles of power, so some of the entries have multiple descriptions. However, I believe that the description really should be primary. The story is in how the abilities are understood and narrated, not in how they are gamed.

==Making the Magic Happen==
If an ultramundane ability can be used automatically, then it can be treated like any another ability. Some folks can just fly and that’s all there is to that. In this case, the ability mod would be used when an actor is attempting to do something difficult with that ability. The flying guy can always fly, but he might need to roll STA + SPD + Flight to dodge heat-seeking missiles being shot at him.

But frequently, these abilities are envisaged as having to be engaged somehow. Spells must be cast and might always be miscast. Telepathy exerts an awful strain on the psychic and might lead to psychic feedback. And you don’t even want to think of what might happen when try your necromantic summoning ritual and forgot which protective symbol to draw.

If ultramundane abilities do not automatically work, then engaging them means a contest between the wielder and the effect he is trying to create. This can be either a simple or full contest. Overall difficulty might be a factor in the decision: if the Archmage is trying to magically light a torch, this should probably be a simple contest; while trying to banish the manifestation of Death might be a full contest.

But, as mentioned earlier, narrative needs should probably dictate the choice. If a psychic is trying to telekinetically bring his scotch and soda to him that can be a simple contest whether he is a master of the craft or just beginning his telekinetic studies. It’s a simple contest because the stakes are nearly-nonexistent and watching the struggle play out over several turns is not particularly interesting. However, if he is trying to telekinetically grab a vial of poison that is teetering on the edge of the city’s water supply, then that can be a full contest. Even if he is the world’s greatest telekinetic. Even if he can do this in his sleep at home. In-game, the explanation could be that he’s under stress, but you don’t need an in-game justification: this is the climax of the story; the heroes either save the day or the town is ruined. And you’re going to let one measly roll determine this? Imagine if this were a movie: this scene would take several minutes to play out, as the vial rolls back and forth, closer and closer to the brink and the sweat starts pouring of the hero’s face. See it? That’s why it’s a full contest.

In either case, the effect to be produced, the spell to be cast, the ritual to be performed, is given a Contest rating. How this is determined depends upon the mechanics being used for these abilities (see the following sections). The GM could simply assign a rating based on difficulty. Or, if the system, builds effects mechanically, then that will determine the number. The contest then plays out like any other. If the character wins, the power is engaged, although he might have suffered some checks. If he loses, the power doesn’t engage. Maybe nothing happens (Simple Contest with Simple Failure result); maybe he took some severe checks and is in bad shape (Full Contest); maybe something terrible happens (Simple Contest with Spectacular Failure result or Full Contest based on the nature of the powers i.e. totally losing a Full Contest while trying to summon a demon might result in bad things happening rather than just failing to summon one).

A further complication comes from transitive effects; that is, trying to cast a spell on someone. Does the target get a chance to resist? If so, then you should add in their relevant modifiers as a bonus to the Contest rating of the effect. The GM will have to adjudicate what the relevant modifiers are, based on mundane actions in the same sphere. For example, Mandragore the Mage is trying to mind-control a guard. The Mind Control spell is determined to have a Contest rating of +11. The guard would resist any attempt at persuasion with WIL + RES, so that becomes his modifier and is added onto the Contest rating of the spell (of course, the guard may only be represented mechanically with Contest rating if he is an unimportant character, in which case you don’t have to determine the appropriate abilities; just add his Contest rating onto the spell’s Contest rating).

One might determine that if the caster fails in his attempt only because of the target’s modifier, that the spell was successfully cast, but the victim shook it off or dodged or what have you. If he fails by more than that, he failed in casting in the first place. This distinction may or may not be a useful one to make, depending upon the nature of magic in your campaign and whether or not failed castings have any backlash upon the wizard.

==Relevant Attributes==
This is the foundation of ultramundane abilities. In many settings, manipulation of magic or psychic powers is based off of the wielder’s mental attributes. In the Classical mode, trying to create a magical/psychic effect might be a roll of INT+ PER/WIL. But you could use whatever fit the game.

Perhaps psychic powers draw on vital energies and the roll is based on STA + WIL; this roots use of the abilities in the awful strain of their use. If the wielder receives severe checks from using his power, those checks might be physical instead of mental. Too much mental effort and the guy slumps to the ground, gasping for breath.

If occult powers are based off of summoning and contacting supernatural beings, then one or two social attributes might be in order: INT + PRE to contact and WIL + MAN to reach a bargain. Maybe you need to know the True Names and proper fumigations (INT) but also need to be charming (MAN) or commanding (PRE). If the summoner receives severe checks, these could be social checks which would hamper his ability to be convincing. Possibly word gets around in the spirit world that this guy is a jerk. Possibly, he drools from extradimensional backlash and can’t charm anyone anymore.

==Example Applications==
===The Master of Magic (Effect-based Abilties===
This system is used to model a metaphysic where wizards spend years studying and mastering long list of spells. They have hundreds at their fingertips which they could use at any moment. Think Zothique or Gondwane. Rather than have each spell be an ability, you build effects and then describe them however you want to.

Effects-based powers focus on the actor’s intent. The means of carrying them out (that is, the in-game explanation of what is happening) is left to the player to describe. This system of abilities is thus very consonant with SAMSARA as a whole.

To use effects-based abilities, you need a list of possible effects, such this:

*Attack
*Protect
*Summon
*Transform
*Move
*Perceive

Each of these is available as an ability. Attack +2 and Move +4. Then you need a way to build each effect. Thus:

<pre>Base Attack Spell: Has a range of 5 feet, affects 1 target, and is
instantaneous. Checks delivered to the target are based off of the
caster’s roll with an effect rating of 1. The base Contest Rating is +5.

Modifiers:
*Effect rating +1 for each +2 to Contest rating
*Range of 5 additional feet for each +1 to Contest rating
*Affects 1 extra target for each +3 to Contest rating
*Affects all targets in 3 foot square area for +5 to Contest rating
(i.e. the opponent’s Speed modifiers don’t apply)
*Lasts 1 extra turn for each +3 to Contest rating</pre>

Using this, you could create a spell called “Conjure Throwing Knife”. It has a range of 10 feet (+1) and everything else is base. This is a quick and easy spell—the Contest Rating is +6, with the opponent’s STA + QWK modifying the Contest rating. It’s not at all a flashy spell; in fact, it might not even seem to be magic since you could have been hiding the knife in your sleeve. Someone with very minor magic abilities could cast this without too much trouble. Some who is a master could cast this in his sleep and he could pull scores of these things out of thin air, which would be a bit unnerving to his opponents.

You could also create a spell called “Flowering Razor Blossom”. This shoots ofo a small spark which explodes into a whirling cloud of razor blades, like deadly fireworks. It has an effect rating of 3 (+4 to the Contest rating), a range of 30 feet (+5), affects everyone in an area of nine square feet (+10), and lasts for 3 turns (+6). This is a roiling mass of pain and a very hard spell to cast. The Contest rating is +30, which would require some serious ability.

An idea to consider is whether the magician can change his method of casting to suit his needs. What if he takes extra time? That might reduce the Contest rating. What if he has various magical doo-dads, like a wand of oak tipped with a ruby or powdered demon hide? Maybe they help too. Or is the casting fixed: this is how it is done and that’s all there is to it.

Effects-based abilities can be used to model all variety of abilities: from a magician with access to myriads of spells; to a wielder of some kind of universal, mystic force; to someone able to shape reality to his will. It will allow the character a great deal of flexibility, since he can do pretty much anything in an effect that he knows.

===Fire Sorcerers of the East (Thematic Abilities)===
This system allows one to create thematic wizards, perhaps the products of a particular school of magic. Any effect which could be accomplished by that theme is allowable and this calls for some thinking. Your Fire Sorcerer might have just one ability: Fire Sorcery +3. Any magic using fire sorcery uses that ability.

But what does fire sorcery do? Well, that depends upon the game. A free-form game might allow just about anything. Shooting bolts of flame is obvious. But maybe the fire sorcerer can step into any large flame and teleport to any other large flame. Maybe he can perceive anybody near to a flame and thus spy on them. Maybe he can use flames to hypnotize people. Can he summon fire elementals? Are there even such things as fire elementals?

Thematic abilities are the opposite of effects-based; the cause is everything. The effects of Thematic Abilities run in the Romantic mode might be left fairly indeterminate at the start. But in the Classical Mode, the GM might provide a list of what fire sorcery does: bolt of flame, walls of flame, resist heat and cold; but no summonings, no teleporting, no mind control and so on.

If there is a pre-determined sense of what Thematic Abilities can do, the GM might include experimentation as a mechanic. This would mean that the player knows what can be done with his ability, but not what can’t be tried. If the character wants to try and do something unusual, he can try with some penalty. If he succeeds, he has now learned a new application.

Experimentation can be tweaked in many ways. For instance, to emphasize the struggle of the new and the overcoming of that, the GM might apply a decreasing modifier to the Contest roll. A base -4 modifier would apply the first time an experiment is made. If successful, the next attempt at the same experiment will be -3 and so on, until the character can be said to have internalized the experiment when he reaches 0 modifier. If the character fails the roll, the penalty stays the same; a spectacular failure might even result in an increased penalty the next time.

To increase the struggle even more, the GM might require the actor to engage in a contest with his own powers, as he struggles to better understand them. The Fire Sorcerer who has never tried flame-walking might have to win a contest using his INT + WIL vs. his own Fire Sorcery stat. This would make it harder for powerful wizards to learn new tricks. In this case, the GM might allow the player to select as many applications of his power as he has positive modifiers at the beginning of the game (Fire Sorcery +3 means that the character knows three applications). Thereafter, anything new is going to be a struggle.

For the opposite effect, experiments might be given a Contest rating against which the character contests using his Thematic modifier plus relevant attributes. This would allow more skilled actors to better experiment. The Contest rating could be based off of the in-game difficulty of the action (walking of fire might be less unnatural than teleporting through fires) or of the effect’s relation to already-known applications (the Fire Sorcerer who already knows how to walk on fire, might find teleporting through flames less of a conceptual stretch than hypnotizing people through flames).

===Labyrinths and Lycanthropes (Each Spell as an Ability)===
This metaphysic also calls for mastering individual spells, but this time the characters are not expected to know hundreds of them. Rather, they might know just a few spells and painstakingly piece together a few dozen more over time. This would serve well for settings without “professional” wizards, but with folks who get what they can and Johnny One-Spells. Of course, professionals might have learned ten or twenty spells. This might fit into a setting inspired by the original Dying Earth.

Each spell is an ability: Bolt of Acid +3 or The Efficacious Incantation of Perspicuous Sagacity +1. Even with this fairly inflexible system, the GM will have to decide if the spell is capable of being changed by the caster or not. Does the Bolt of Acid always produce exactly the same effect? Or could the caster attempt to increase the range in exchange for a penalty? This decision need not be known to the players. Maybe “everybody” knows what the Bolt is like, up until the time that the player finds himself in a tough spot and tries to jury-rig a new version that affects multiple targets. Experimentation might be used in this system as well as the preceding one.

This system would function in either mode, although would fit the Classical mode best given its rigid structure.

===The Ten Million Gods (Universal Magic)===
This system is the opposite of the “professional wizard” described above. In this setting, magic is potentially available to anyone in the form of dealings with the innumerable spirits who live in the world. This is an animistic setting, with gods of the harvest and the rivers and each tree in the forest. Everyone has learned a thing or two about dealing with some spirits; otherwise life would be impossible. The farmer knows to leave offerings for the Goddess of Fertility (to increase his yield) and to the Mouse Prince (to keep vermin out of the crops). The blacksmith always starts his work with an invocation to the Triple Forge Lords: the Fire, the Water, and the Iron. Successful interaction with the Ten Million allows humans to successfully endeavor in a harsh world; incurring the wrath of the spirits means trouble.

In this metaphysic, there are no specialized abilities for magic. Magic and art (in the widest sense of the word) occupy a continuum of human action, with magic being the most efficacious form of art. Any time an actor attempts to take action against reality (i.e. engages in a Contest), his status with the relevant gods comes into play. His default modifiers represent someone neutral in the eyes of the spirits. If he wishes to improve his chances at any endeavor, he must first engage in a prayer-contest with the proper beings. Relevant attributes would be PRE (impressing the god), MAN (cajoling the god), and INT (knowing what the god likes or does not like). The appropriate skill acts as a specialization as normal. And recall that “art” should be loosely used, so that “Swordplay” might have an associated spirit, as might “Seduction” and “Chess”. The Contest rating might be based on how the intended action fits into the Divine Scheme: natural actions would be aided by the gods, while unnatural actions would be resisted. Causing a magical iceberg in the desert to melt would be encouraged by the Sand Daemons, while creating the iceberg would be resisted by them.

It is suggested that this contest be made a Simple Contest, except in dramatically appropriate circumstances. If the GM elects to have a Full contest, then the subsequent action should be made Simple since successive Full Contests will be very involving. Winning the Contest garners a bonus when the actor makes his attempt. Simple success garners +1, while a Spectacular success garners +3. Alternately, one might say that any success in the prayer-contest means that the subsequent attempt automatically succeeds because the relevant gods support it (it would then be appropriate to have the prayer contest be a Full Contest). Failure would be penalized similarly or deny the action outright. If Severe checks are incurred, it is suggested that they do not recover naturally, but can only be restored by making some sort of amends with the appropriate spirit. On the other hand, they might not apply to all actions within the Sphere, but only to that particular type of action. The farmer who enrages the Mouse Prince might have a severe check on future farming actions where they relate to predators, but not to all future physical actions.

The issue might be complicated if the actor’s knowledge of the gods is limited. Maybe not everybody knows all of the relevant sprits in the world (it would be quite a lot of spirits to memorize). So perhaps the characters only know certain gods: perhaps one god for each ability they possess, or one god for each +1 in INT. In this case, the characters might call upon gods to do things which they might not normally do. The Contest rating, in this setting, might be based on the personality of the god: the Maiden in Blue Silk loves all people and eagerly answers prayers to her, while the Lord of the Black Frost hates humanity and only answers prayers that contribute to its destruction. It might also be based on how the intended action relates to the spirit’s nature: the above-mentioned Mouse Prince will happily assist in destroying crops and poses a Contest rating of +1 for the artist (+1 because even the Mouse Prince doesn’t want to be bothered all the time); he is less likely to help someone find a lost grimoire since mice don’t care about that sort of thing and poses a Contest rating of +6 for this. Failure in the prayer-contest in this setting, might result in the gods shutting the character out for some time, or until reparations are made for the rudeness, or even result in attacks by the god.

Yet another variation would organize the gods into a hierarchy of power. Greater beings can give more aid, but are also harder to successfully petition. The spirit of the pebble beside you, on the other hand, is very easy to contact, but isn’t a great deal of help. In this case, the Contest rating will equal the bonus being sought and a relevant spirit must be found. If you want a +2 to build your bridge, the local river spirit could help you with little fuss (Contest rating +2). If you want to make the greatest bridge in history and seek a +15 to your effort, you will have to get into the good graces of Harmonia, Duke of Sympathies and Connections, a mighty god who does not easily grant his favours. Failure in this setting might result in a simple penalty as above; it might also result in the actors being cut off from that level of the hierarchy. The zealous bridge-builder who offends Harmonia might find the ranks of the Greater Conceptual Dukes closed off to his entreaties and will have to make do with minor, local spirits for a while.

The same implementation of the mechanic could be used if there is only one god who grants all petitions, but finds it easier to grant small favours than large miracles. This would call for less creativity on the part of GMs and players, who would not have to keep discovering new spirit-powers every time they try something new. Failure in this system might have the most severe consequences as angering the One God is probably a bad thing. Magic becomes another tactic in this system: getting a big favour calls for greater effort and risk.

==Absolute Abilities==
Some ultramundane abilities do not seem to require ever rolling. If the Fishman is an amphibian and can breathe underwater—well, that’s all there is to that. And the Living Hunk of Stone is an animate chunk of rock—no breathing, no eating, not susceptible to poisons. It is hard to see how one might use these as a modifier. If you want, you could just have them as absolute abilities with no number attached.

That said, you could also use these absolute abilities as modifiers, but not directly. They could be used in social situations particularly, as a measure of how inhuman someone is. For example, Fishman doesn’t need to roll in order to breathe underwater, but maybe he could use his Gills +2 to help in impressing upon a tribe of merfolk that he is not one of the hated “land-dwellers”. The Living Hunk of Stone doesn’t need to roll his Animate Construct +6 to resist the effects of nerve gas, but he could use it to scare the locals into worshipping him as a god.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Ultramundane abilities

2005-05-07T01:32:53Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Added link to new page and minor editing

=APPENDIX A: ULTRAMUNDANE ABILITIES=
I love magic. Let’s get that out of the way. I love mysterious mystics and brash sorcerers and sly magicians. I love spells and incantations and theurgy and summonings and conjurations and faery-tale charms. I’m also pretty happy with psychic powers and weird energies and alien abilities and wuxia stunts. The first thing that I look at in a game system is how it handles all of this stuff, which I collectively refer to as ultramundane abilities.

Despite the fact that SAMSARA is not designed with any setting, I just couldn’t let the opportunity to let ultramundane stuff slide by. Besides, one of the strengths of the system, I think, is the variability of implementation that could be performed for this kind of stuff. Jedi powers, Elric-style summonings, Zothique magicians with hundreds of spells on call. All that stuff. So this appendix describes some ultramundane abilities and how the system could be used to manage them. It turns out that the same systems can be used to model various styles of power, so some of the entries have multiple descriptions. However, I believe that the description really should be primary. The story is in how the abilities are understood and narrated, not in how they are gamed.

==Making the Magic Happen==
If an ultramundane ability can be used automatically, then it can be treated like any another ability. Some folks can just fly and that’s all there is to that. In this case, the ability mod would be used when an actor is attempting to do something difficult with that ability. The flying guy can always fly, but he might need to roll STA + SPD + Flight to dodge heat-seeking missiles being shot at him.

But frequently, these abilities are envisaged as having to be engaged somehow. Spells must be cast and might always be miscast. Telepathy exerts an awful strain on the psychic and might lead to psychic feedback. And you don’t even want to think of what might happen when try your necromantic summoning ritual and forgot which protective symbol to draw.

If ultramundane abilities do not automatically work, then engaging them means a contest between the wielder and the effect he is trying to create. This can be either a simple or full contest. Overall difficulty might be a factor in the decision: if the Archmage is trying to magically light a torch, this should probably be a simple contest; while trying to banish the manifestation of Death might be a full contest.

But, as mentioned earlier, narrative needs should probably dictate the choice. If a psychic is trying to telekinetically bring his scotch and soda to him that can be a simple contest whether he is a master of the craft or just beginning his telekinetic studies. It’s a simple contest because the stakes are nearly-nonexistent and watching the struggle play out over several turns is not particularly interesting. However, if he is trying to telekinetically grab a vial of poison that is teetering on the edge of the city’s water supply, then that can be a full contest. Even if he is the world’s greatest telekinetic. Even if he can do this in his sleep at home. In-game, the explanation could be that he’s under stress, but you don’t need an in-game justification: this is the climax of the story; the heroes either save the day or the town is ruined. And you’re going to let one measly roll determine this? Imagine if this were a movie: this scene would take several minutes to play out, as the vial rolls back and forth, closer and closer to the brink and the sweat starts pouring of the hero’s face. See it? That’s why it’s a full contest.

In either case, the effect to be produced, the spell to be cast, the ritual to be performed, is given a Contest rating. How this is determined depends upon the mechanics being used for these abilities (see the following sections). The GM could simply assign a rating based on difficulty. Or, if the system, builds effects mechanically, then that will determine the number. The contest then plays out like any other. If the character wins, the power is engaged, although he might have suffered some checks. If he loses, the power doesn’t engage. Maybe nothing happens (Simple Contest with Simple Failure result); maybe he took some severe checks and is in bad shape (Full Contest); maybe something terrible happens (Simple Contest with Spectacular Failure result or Full Contest based on the nature of the powers i.e. totally losing a Full Contest while trying to summon a demon might result in bad things happening rather than just failing to summon one).

A further complication comes from transitive effects; that is, trying to cast a spell on someone. Does the target get a chance to resist? If so, then you should add in their relevant modifiers as a bonus to the Contest rating of the effect. The GM will have to adjudicate what the relevant modifiers are, based on mundane actions in the same sphere. For example, Mandragore the Mage is trying to mind-control a guard. The Mind Control spell is determined to have a Contest rating of +11. The guard would resist any attempt at persuasion with WIL + RES, so that becomes his modifier and is added onto the Contest rating of the spell (of course, the guard may only be represented mechanically with Contest rating if he is an unimportant character, in which case you don’t have to determine the appropriate abilities; just add his Contest rating onto the spell’s Contest rating).

One might determine that if the caster fails in his attempt only because of the target’s modifier, that the spell was successfully cast, but the victim shook it off or dodged or what have you. If he fails by more than that, he failed in casting in the first place. This distinction may or may not be a useful one to make, depending upon the nature of magic in your campaign and whether or not failed castings have any backlash upon the wizard.

==Relevant Attributes==
This is the foundation of ultramundane abilities. In many settings, manipulation of magic or psychic powers is based off of the wielder’s mental attributes. In the Classical mode, trying to create a magical/psychic effect might be a roll of INT+ PER/WIL. But you could use whatever fit the game.

Perhaps psychic powers draw on vital energies and the roll is based on STA + WIL; this roots use of the abilities in the awful strain of their use. If the wielder receives severe checks from using his power, those checks might be physical instead of mental. Too much mental effort and the guy slumps to the ground, gasping for breath.

If occult powers are based off of summoning and contacting supernatural beings, then one or two social attributes might be in order: INT + PRE to contact and WIL + MAN to reach a bargain. Maybe you need to know the True Names and proper fumigations (INT) but also need to be charming (MAN) or commanding (PRE). If the summoner receives severe checks, these could be social checks which would hamper his ability to be convincing. Possibly word gets around in the spirit world that this guy is a jerk. Possibly, he drools from extradimensional backlash and can’t charm anyone anymore.

==Example Applications==
===The Master of Magic (Effect-based Abilties===
This system is used to model a metaphysic where wizards spend years studying and mastering long list of spells. They have hundreds at their fingertips which they could use at any moment. Think Zothique or Gondwane. Rather than have each spell be an ability, you build effects and then describe them however you want to.

Effects-based powers focus on the actor’s intent. The means of carrying them out (that is, the in-game explanation of what is happening) is left to the player to describe. This system of abilities is thus very consonant with SAMSARA as a whole.

To use effects-based abilities, you need a list of possible effects, such this:

*Attack
*Protect
*Summon
*Transform
*Move
*Perceive

Each of these is available as an ability. Attack +2 and Move +4. Then you need a way to build each effect. Thus:

<pre>Base Attack Spell: Has a range of 5 feet, affects 1 target, and is
instantaneous. Checks delivered to the target are based off of the
caster’s roll with an effect rating of 1. The base Contest Rating is +5.

Modifiers:
*Effect rating +1 for each +2 to Contest rating
*Range of 5 additional feet for each +1 to Contest rating
*Affects 1 extra target for each +3 to Contest rating
*Affects all targets in 3 foot square area for +5 to Contest rating
(i.e. the opponent’s Speed modifiers don’t apply)
*Lasts 1 extra turn for each +3 to Contest rating</pre>

Using this, you could create a spell called “Conjure Throwing Knife”. It has a range of 10 feet (+1) and everything else is base. This is a quick and easy spell—the Contest Rating is +6, with the opponent’s STA + QWK modifying the Contest rating. It’s not at all a flashy spell; in fact, it might not even seem to be magic since you could have been hiding the knife in your sleeve. Someone with very minor magic abilities could cast this without too much trouble. Some who is a master could cast this in his sleep and he could pull scores of these things out of thin air, which would be a bit unnerving to his opponents.

You could also create a spell called “Flowering Razor Blossom”. This shoots ofo a small spark which explodes into a whirling cloud of razor blades, like deadly fireworks. It has an effect rating of 3 (+4 to the Contest rating), a range of 30 feet (+5), affects everyone in an area of nine square feet (+10), and lasts for 3 turns (+6). This is a roiling mass of pain and a very hard spell to cast. The Contest rating is +30, which would require some serious ability.

An idea to consider is whether the magician can change his method of casting to suit his needs. What if he takes extra time? That might reduce the Contest rating. What if he has various magical doo-dads, like a wand of oak tipped with a ruby or powdered demon hide? Maybe they help too. Or is the casting fixed: this is how it is done and that’s all there is to it.

Effects-based abilities can be used to model all variety of abilities: from a magician with access to myriads of spells; to a wielder of some kind of universal, mystic force; to someone able to shape reality to his will. It will allow the character a great deal of flexibility, since he can do pretty much anything in an effect that he knows.

===Fire Sorcerers of the East (Thematic Abilities)===
This system allows one to create thematic wizards, perhaps the products of a particular school of magic. Any effect which could be accomplished by that theme is allowable and this calls for some thinking. Your Fire Sorcerer might have just one ability: Fire Sorcery +3. Any magic using fire sorcery uses that ability.

But what does fire sorcery do? Well, that depends upon the game. A free-form game might allow just about anything. Shooting bolts of flame is obvious. But maybe the fire sorcerer can step into any large flame and teleport to any other large flame. Maybe he can perceive anybody near to a flame and thus spy on them. Maybe he can use flames to hypnotize people. Can he summon fire elementals? Are there even such things as fire elementals?

Thematic abilities are the opposite of effects-based; the cause is everything. The effects of Thematic Abilities run in the Romantic mode might be left fairly indeterminate at the start. But in the Classical Mode, the GM might provide a list of what fire sorcery does: bolt of flame, walls of flame, resist heat and cold; but no summonings, no teleporting, no mind control and so on.

If there is a pre-determined sense of what Thematic Abilities can do, the GM might include experimentation as a mechanic. This would mean that the player knows what can be done with his ability, but not what can’t be tried. If the character wants to try and do something unusual, he can try with some penalty. If he succeeds, he has now learned a new application.

Experimentation can be tweaked in many ways. For instance, to emphasize the struggle of the new and the overcoming of that, the GM might apply a decreasing modifier to the Contest roll. A base -4 modifier would apply the first time an experiment is made. If successful, the next attempt at the same experiment will be -3 and so on, until the character can be said to have internalized the experiment when he reaches 0 modifier. If the character fails the roll, the penalty stays the same; a spectacular failure might even result in an increased penalty the next time.

To increase the struggle even more, the GM might require the actor to engage in a contest with his own powers, as he struggles to better understand them. The Fire Sorcerer who has never tried flame-walking might have to win a contest using his INT + WIL vs. his own Fire Sorcery stat. This would make it harder for powerful wizards to learn new tricks. In this case, the GM might allow the player to select as many applications of his power as he has positive modifiers at the beginning of the game (Fire Sorcery +3 means that the character knows three applications). Thereafter, anything new is going to be a struggle.

For the opposite effect, experiments might be given a Contest rating against which the character contests using his Thematic modifier plus relevant attributes. This would allow more skilled actors to better experiment. The Contest rating could be based off of the in-game difficulty of the action (walking of fire might be less unnatural than teleporting through fires) or of the effect’s relation to already-known applications (the Fire Sorcerer who already knows how to walk on fire, might find teleporting through flames less of a conceptual stretch than hypnotizing people through flames).

===Labyrinths and Lycanthropes (Each Spell as an Ability)===
This metaphysic also calls for mastering individual spells, but this time the characters are not expected to know hundreds of them. Rather, they might know just a few spells and painstakingly piece together a few dozen more over time. This would serve well for settings without “professional” wizards, but with folks who get what they can and Johnny One-Spells. Of course, professionals might have learned ten or twenty spells. This might fit into a setting inspired by the original Dying Earth.

Each spell is an ability: Bolt of Acid +3 or The Efficacious Incantation of Perspicuous Sagacity +1. Even with this fairly inflexible system, the GM will have to decide if the spell is capable of being changed by the caster or not. Does the Bolt of Acid always produce exactly the same effect? Or could the caster attempt to increase the range in exchange for a penalty? This decision need not be known to the players. Maybe “everybody” knows what the Bolt is like, up until the time that the player finds himself in a tough spot and tries to jury-rig a new version that affects multiple targets. Experimentation might be used in this system as well as the preceding one.

This system would function in either mode, although would fit the Classical mode best given its rigid structure.

===The Ten Million Gods (Universal Magic)===
This system is the opposite of the “professional wizard” described above. In this setting, magic is potentially available to anyone in the form of dealings with the innumerable spirits who live in the world. This is an animistic setting, with gods of the harvest and the rivers and each tree in the forest. Everyone has learned a thing or two about dealing with some spirits; otherwise life would be impossible. The farmer knows to leave offerings for the Goddess of Fertility (to increase his yield) and to the Mouse Prince (to keep vermin out of the crops). The blacksmith always starts his work with an invocation to the Triple Forge Lords: the Fire, the Water, and the Iron. Successful interaction with the Ten Million allows humans to successfully endeavor in a harsh world; incurring the wrath of the spirits means trouble.

In this metaphysic, there are no specialized abilities for magic. Magic and art (in the widest sense of the word) occupy a continuum of human action, with magic being the most efficacious form of art. Any time an actor attempts to take action against reality (i.e. engages in a Contest), his status with the relevant gods comes into play. His default modifiers represent someone neutral in the eyes of the spirits. If he wishes to improve his chances at any endeavor, he must first engage in a prayer-contest with the proper beings. Relevant attributes would be PRE (impressing the god), MAN (cajoling the god), and INT (knowing what the god likes or does not like). The appropriate skill acts as a specialization as normal. And recall that “art” should be loosely used, so that “Swordplay” might have an associated spirit, as might “Seduction” and “Chess”. The Contest rating might be based on how the intended action fits into the Divine Scheme: natural actions would be aided by the gods, while unnatural actions would be resisted. Causing a magical iceberg in the desert to melt would be encouraged by the Sand Daemons, while creating the iceberg would be resisted by them.

It is suggested that this contest be made a Simple Contest, except in dramatically appropriate circumstances. If the GM elects to have a Full contest, then the subsequent action should be made Simple since successive Full Contests will be very involving. Winning the Contest garners a bonus when the actor makes his attempt. Simple success garners +1, while a Spectacular success garners +3. Alternately, one might say that any success in the prayer-contest means that the subsequent attempt automatically succeeds because the relevant gods support it (it would then be appropriate to have the prayer contest be a Full Contest). Failure would be penalized similarly or deny the action outright. If Severe checks are incurred, it is suggested that they do not recover naturally, but can only be restored by making some sort of amends with the appropriate spirit. On the other hand, they might not apply to all actions within the Sphere, but only to that particular type of action. The farmer who enrages the Mouse Prince might have a severe check on future farming actions where they relate to predators, but not to all future physical actions.

The issue might be complicated if the actor’s knowledge of the gods is limited. Maybe not everybody knows all of the relevant sprits in the world (it would be quite a lot of spirits to memorize). So perhaps the characters only know certain gods: perhaps one god for each ability they possess, or one god for each +1 in INT. In this case, the characters might call upon gods to do things which they might not normally do. The Contest rating, in this setting, might be based on the personality of the god: the Maiden in Blue Silk loves all people and eagerly answers prayers to her, while the Lord of the Black Frost hates humanity and only answers prayers that contribute to its destruction. It might also be based on how the intended action relates to the spirit’s nature: the above-mentioned Mouse Prince will happily assist in destroying crops and poses a Contest rating of +1 for the artist (+1 because even the Mouse Prince doesn’t want to be bothered all the time); he is less likely to help someone find a lost grimoire since mice don’t care about that sort of thing and poses a Contest rating of +6 for this. Failure in the prayer-contest in this setting, might result in the gods shutting the character out for some time, or until reparations are made for the rudeness, or even result in attacks by the god.

Yet another variation would organize the gods into a hierarchy of power. Greater beings can give more aid, but are also harder to successfully petition. The spirit of the pebble beside you, on the other hand, is very easy to contact, but isn’t a great deal of help. In this case, the Contest rating will equal the bonus being sought and a relevant spirit must be found. If you want a +2 to build your bridge, the local river spirit could help you with little fuss (Contest rating +2). If you want to make the greatest bridge in history and seek a +15 to your effort, you will have to get into the good graces of Harmonia, Duke of Sympathies and Connections, a mighty god who does not easily grant his favours. Failure in this setting might result in a simple penalty as above; it might also result in the actors being cut off from that level of the hierarchy. The zealous bridge-builder who offends Harmonia might find the ranks of the Greater Conceptual Dukes closed off to his entreaties and will have to make do with minor, local spirits for a while.

The same implementation of the mechanic could be used if there is only one god who grants all petitions, but finds it easier to grant small favours than large miracles. This would call for less creativity on the part of GMs and players, who would not have to keep discovering new spirit-powers every time they try something new. Failure in this system might have the most severe consequences as angering the One God is probably a bad thing. Magic becomes another tactic in this system: getting a big favour calls for greater effort and risk.

==Absolute Abilities==
Some ultramundane abilities do not seem to require ever rolling. If the Fishman is an amphibian and can breathe underwater—well, that’s all there is to that. And the Living Hunk of Stone is an animate chunk of rock—no breathing, no eating, not susceptible to poisons. It is hard to see how one might use these as a modifier. If you want, you could just have them as absolute abilities with no number attached.

That said, you could also use these absolute abilities as modifiers, but not directly. They could be used in social situations particularly, as a measure of how inhuman someone is. For example, Fishman doesn’t need to roll in order to breathe underwater, but maybe he could use his Gills +2 to help in impressing upon a tribe of merfolk that he is not one of the hated “land-dwellers”. The Living Hunk of Stone doesn’t need to roll his Animate Construct +6 to resist the effects of nerve gas, but he could use it to scare the locals into worshipping him as a god.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Long term play

2005-05-07T01:28:50Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Variation: Sacrifice */

=Long Term Play=
The majority of games use some form of advancement mechanic, often called “experience”. I would like to interject a point here that this does not capture the spirit of many, adventure tales. Sure, Luke becomes a better Jedi over the course of three movies and Frodo more generally competent over a like number of volumes. But John Carter, clean-limbed fighting man from Virginia, starts off as a fantastic swordsman and pretty much remains so. And Elric doesn’t learn new spells and sword tricks.

My point is that advancement mechanics may not always be suitable or meaningful. “Leveling up” is an inheritance from D&D, but it is by no means a required one for your game. If the game is set at a Heroic level or above, the characters begin as quite competence and don’t need to “level up” in order to do things. This is not to say that advancement mechanics are bad or don’t fit into SAMSARA, but that the group ought to consider whether or not they fit into the game being played. Particularly in free-form, Romantic games, “character improvement” may just not be that meaningful.

Assuming that you do decide to use advancement as part of the game, Samsara points can be given out at the conclusion (or beginning or middle) of stories and subsequently cashed in for character points. These new character points are used to increase the character stats, just as the starting points were at chargen. 1-3 Samsara points is a general guide-line for the number of points to give out. The actual number depends upon how fast and how much you want the character’s to improve. They can be exchanged for character points at 1:2 or 1:3 ration, again depending upon the speed of advancement that you want.

===Variation: Sacrifice===
A variant advancement system would emphasis that for everything that a character learns, he must forget something else; for everything improved, something is lost. At the conclusion of a story, the player is allowed to switch his points around to reflect changes that have occurred in the character. The Farm Boy learns how to fight, but loses some of his naïve charm.

This system could also be combined with the Samsara point advancement system. One could say, for example, that new or improved stats can only be paid for in half by Samsara points; the other half must come from shuffling existing abilities. This way the characters do improve, but must also sacrifice to do so.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Samsara points

2005-05-07T01:28:06Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Clarified rules

=SAMSARA POINTS=
Samsara points are a meta-game mechanic allowing the player greater control over the events of the game. Samsara points can be spent in the following ways:

*1 Samsara point allows an actor to bid for protagonist status, thus allowing him to control the sphere of action. This can occur at any point, whether the contest is about to begin, or is already raging. If he wins, he can determine the sphere of action. This is free if the conest has not begun, but costs 1 Samsara point otherwise (see below). If his opponent has Samsara points and also wishes to be the protagonist, that actor can counter-bid 2 Samsara points to retain control of the sphere of action. The first actor could then counter with 3 points and so forth until someone gives up. Actors who bid for protagonist status, and lose the bid, must still pay 1 Samsara point for having participated in the bidding.

*1 Samsara point allows the protagonist to switch the sphere of action in the midst of a contest. If the antagonist objects to this, he must attempt to take control of the contest by becoming the protagonist. In that case, the original actor is still committed to spending 1 Samsara point at least, regardless of the outcome.

*On a 1 for 1 basis, Samsara points may allow an actor to disregard checks received in a contest for the duration of that contest. After the contest is resolved, the character will suffer twice as many checks as he has previously bought off. Note that this is not immunity from checks received in the contest after the Samsara points are spent. The actor may only ignore the checks received which he is paying off at this moment; if he receives more checks the next round, then they apply as normal.

*On a 2 for 1 basis, Samsara points allow an actor an immediate bonus to his next roll, thus allowing him to exceed his usual limits. This is using the Force or calling on the aid of the gods or feeling the surge of adrenaline or however you care to characterize it. An actor may only buy such a bonus equal to his default modifier for the action.

===Example===
“Tomakawk” McBride, the legendary gun-fighter is in a tough spot, he may use Samsara points to help his gun-fighting abilities. Normally, McBride rolls to fire his pistol with a + 8 modifier (DEX +2 + PER +3 + Gunfighting +3). he could spend up to 16 Samsara points to give himself up to an additional +8 for one contest roll. he can do this whether or not he has received any checks in the current contest; that is, even if his current modifier is only +3 because he has taken 5 checks already, he can still receive up to +8 from using his Samsara points.

==Variation: Pay Now or Pay Later==
There’s could be a price for using Samsara points. Maybe every action in the cosmos prompts an equal and opposite reaction. Maybe the Fates don’t like people messing with their territory and get revenge on those who change the odds.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Character generation

2005-05-07T01:19:05Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Romantic Mode: Themes */

=CHARACTER GENERATION=
==Classical Mode: Point-buy method==
The players are given a pool of points appropriate to the level of ability desired for the game. The cost of attributes and abilities is equal to the sum of the numbers that comprise it. Thus, a +3 anything costs (3+2+1=) 6 points. Negative modifiers add that many points to the starting pool. If no points are spent, the modifier is 0.

Motives, as both plus and minus numbers, cost nothing. Each character should have at least one, but probably no more than three, unless you want extremely conflicted characters. Similarly, the player and the GM should work out the motive modifier; as mentioned before, this can be seen as a type of tactical choice. A character with a high motive will be driven strongly and grandly passionate, while one with more modest motives will be of a cooler temperament.

Below are some suggested starting point totals, tied to a description of competency, and a suggested spread of those points for a character with the default 12 attributes (the numbers will need to be changed if you use the more simplified attribute schemes):

*Bold Adventurer: 10 Pts.
This would build a character with +1 in six attributes and +1 in four abilities. 
*Competent Adventurer: 30 pts.
This would build a character with +2 in six attributes and +2 in four abilities. 
*Hero: 72 pts.
This would build a character with +3 in six attributes and +3 in 6 abilities. 
*Great Hero: 120 pts.
This would build a character with +4 in six attributes and +4 in 6 abilities. 
*Super-Hero: 210 pts.
This would build a character with +5 in six attributes and +5 in 8 abilities.

The point-spreads are very tentative. A game emphasizing skills might require more points. A game deemphasizing skills, would allow more points to go toward attributes, so that the Hero might have only two abilities, each at +3, with three attributes at +2, six attributes at +3, and one at +5.

Also remember that the cost of modifier increases exponentially, so that it is much easier to buy numerous, small modifiers. 10 points will buy ten, +1 modifiers, but only one +4 modifier. The point totals given are merely a starting place.

===Variation: Straight Numbers===
To create more powerful, more flexible characters, the cost of modifiers could be changed to equal only the cost of the modifier itself. Thus a +4 would cost 4 points, rather than 10. This will not only make the points go much farther, but it will also encourage higher modifiers, because the curve is gone. It also makes character generation a lot simpler, for the math-shy.

==Romantic Mode: Themes==
In the Romantic Mode, each character has a number of Themes. These could be professions, backgrounds, or just stylistic descriptions. The character can be assumed to possess any attribute, ability, and Motive relevant to that Theme with a modifier equal to his theme modifier. Thus “Brash Pilot +1” can be assumed to have piloting skills, knowledge of his ship, PER, DEX, QWK, and maybe some general athleticism, as well as a propensity for barging into situations instead of thinking them out (Motive); all of which function at +1. Some more examples:

*Wolfish Barbarian
*Street fighter
*Hardened mercenary who has seen it all
*Decadent noble
*Student of Occult Philosophy
*Resentful Servant of the Dark Gods
*Dashing Captain of the Guard
*Last of the Old Ones
*Relentless hunter of evil
*Grew up a street urchin
*Clean-limbed fighting man of Virginia
*Spent time as a wizard’s apprentice
*Doomed prince of an ancient empire

These Themes will need to be tied-into the game world, so they can’t be standardized (grim gunfighters don’t make too much sense in Middle-Earth). The more iconic and archetypal the Theme is; the more broadly applicable. The more focused and world-specific the Theme is, the easier it is to know what is and isn’t appropriate to that Theme.

As a general guide-line, a Theme should have both an adjective and a noun; a prepositional phrase or dependant clause is also good. More than two adjectives or one clause, on the other hand, is probably over-doing it. Conjunctions are also highly discouraged unless you want to have characters whose parents were aliens and are themselves top scientists and also karate experts and learned magic from a friendly elf and are best friends with the President of Uruguay.

The GM and the players will decide how many themes each character has and the general level of competence for the characters. The Theme modifier will be set by the competency level of the game. For example:

*Bold Adventurer: 1 Theme at +1
*Competent Adventurer: 2 Themes at +2
*Hero: 3 Themes at +3
*Great Hero: 4 Themes at +4
*Super-Hero: 5 Themes at+5

If the GM allows 3 themes in a hero game, then each theme is at +3. If a player elects to take a theme more than once, each addition adds +1 to the modifier. This is a potentially tricky option and should be considered deeply. For instance, “Super-badass” taken four times to the exclusion of all else might be problematic in many games.

===Variation: Point-buy Themes===
A type of mixing between the two methods would be to allow the characters a pool of points to be spent on themes howsoever they like. This will give greater variety to the modifiers and to the number of themes. Thus, a particularly socially-mobile character might have “Ex-Gladiator +3”, “Cunning Merchant +2”, and “Rising Politician +1”. The size of the pool can be determined by competency level. For example:

*Bold Adventurer: 1 pt.
*Competent Adventurer: 6 pts.
*Hero: 18pts.
*Great Hero: 40 pts.
*Super-Hero: 75 pts.

As always, the number of points should be altered as the group sees fit.

===Variation: Making it up as you go along===
For the truly freeform, you could have themes without worrying too much about what they actually cover. Then, whenever a character enters a contest, the player could suggest that a particular theme might apply to this struggle. This would shorten character generation and would likely avoid those situations where a character who is supposed to be a “Dashing Swordsman” forgot to include “acrobatics” as part of his Theme. The converse, of course, is that this option might involve GM-Player negations that occur right as the action is about to start. Thus, this option would be more appropriate for groups that know each other well.

One could extend this option even further, and allow the player the option to leave one or more Themes undetermined at the start of play. At any point (and hopefully a dramatic one), the player could then elect to determine a Theme. This might work very well for games about somewhat mysterious characters. For example, the Sly Rogue finds himself confronted by some arcane writings and instruments, as part of his latest haul. His player might say, “You know, it’s been a long time, but in my youth, I served as an apprentice to a drunken, washed-up wizard. Maybe I can recall enough to recognize these things.” He has just determined a previously undisclosed Theme.

This variation will require cooperation and negotiation between players and GM even more than the less ambitious version. But using it would make discovery of the character an integral part of play.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Character generation

2005-05-07T01:17:14Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Variation: Making it up as you go along */ Added link to new page

=CHARACTER GENERATION=
==Classical Mode: Point-buy method==
The players are given a pool of points appropriate to the level of ability desired for the game. The cost of attributes and abilities is equal to the sum of the numbers that comprise it. Thus, a +3 anything costs (3+2+1=) 6 points. Negative modifiers add that many points to the starting pool. If no points are spent, the modifier is 0.

Motives, as both plus and minus numbers, cost nothing. Each character should have at least one, but probably no more than three, unless you want extremely conflicted characters. Similarly, the player and the GM should work out the motive modifier; as mentioned before, this can be seen as a type of tactical choice. A character with a high motive will be driven strongly and grandly passionate, while one with more modest motives will be of a cooler temperament.

Below are some suggested starting point totals, tied to a description of competency, and a suggested spread of those points for a character with the default 12 attributes (the numbers will need to be changed if you use the more simplified attribute schemes):

*Bold Adventurer: 10 Pts.
This would build a character with +1 in six attributes and +1 in four abilities. 
*Competent Adventurer: 30 pts.
This would build a character with +2 in six attributes and +2 in four abilities. 
*Hero: 72 pts.
This would build a character with +3 in six attributes and +3 in 6 abilities. 
*Great Hero: 120 pts.
This would build a character with +4 in six attributes and +4 in 6 abilities. 
*Super-Hero: 210 pts.
This would build a character with +5 in six attributes and +5 in 8 abilities.

The point-spreads are very tentative. A game emphasizing skills might require more points. A game deemphasizing skills, would allow more points to go toward attributes, so that the Hero might have only two abilities, each at +3, with three attributes at +2, six attributes at +3, and one at +5.

Also remember that the cost of modifier increases exponentially, so that it is much easier to buy numerous, small modifiers. 10 points will buy ten, +1 modifiers, but only one +4 modifier. The point totals given are merely a starting place.

===Variation: Straight Numbers===
To create more powerful, more flexible characters, the cost of modifiers could be changed to equal only the cost of the modifier itself. Thus a +4 would cost 4 points, rather than 10. This will not only make the points go much farther, but it will also encourage higher modifiers, because the curve is gone. It also makes character generation a lot simpler, for the math-shy.

==Romantic Mode: Themes==
In the Romantic Mode, each character has a number of Themes. These could be professions, backgrounds, or just stylistic descriptions. The character can be assumed to possess any attribute, ability, and Motive relevant to that Theme with a modifier equal to his theme modifier. Thus “Brash Pilot +1” can be assumed to have piloting skills, knowledge of his ship, PER, DEX, QWK, and maybe some general athleticism, as well as a propensity for barging into situations instead of thinking them out (Motive); all of which function at +1. Some more examples:

*Wolfish Barbarian
*Street fighter
*Hardened mercenary who has seen it all
*Decadent noble
*Student of Occult Philosophy
*Resentful Servant of the Dark Gods
*Dashing Captain of the Guard
*Last of the Old Ones
*Relentless hunter of evil
*Grew up a street urchin
*Clean-limbed fighting man of Virginia
*Spent time as a wizard’s apprentice
*Doomed prince of an ancient empire

These Themes will need to be tied-into the game world, so they can’t be standardized (grim gunfighters don’t make too much sense in Middle-Earth). The more iconic and archetypal the Theme is; the more broadly applicable. The more focused and world-specific the Theme is, the easier it is to know what is and isn’t appropriate to that Theme.

As a general guide-line, a Theme should have both an adjective and a noun; a prepositional phrase or dependant clause is also good. More than two adjectives or one clause, on the other hand, is probably over-doing it. Conjunctions are also highly discouraged unless you want to have characters whose parents were aliens and are themselves top scientists and also karate experts and learned magic from a friendly elf and are best friends with the President of Uruguay.

The GM and the players will decide how many themes each character has and the general level of competence for the characters. The Theme modifier will be set by the competency level of the game. For example:

*Bold Adventurer 1 Theme at +1
*Competent Adventurer 2 Themes at +2
*Hero 3 Themes at +3
*Great Hero 4 Themes at +4
*Super-Hero 5 Themes at+5

If the GM allows 3 themes in a hero game, then each theme is at +3. If a player elects to take a theme more than once, each addition adds +1 to the modifier. This is a potentially tricky option and should be considered deeply. For instance, “Super-badass” taken four times to the exclusion of all else might be problematic in many games.

===Variation: Point-buy Themes===
A type of mixing between the two methods would be to allow the characters a pool of points to be spent on themes howsoever they like. This will give greater variety to the modifiers and to the number of themes. Thus, a particularly socially-mobile character might have “Ex-Gladiator +3”, “Cunning Merchant +2”, and “Rising Politician +1”. The size of the pool can be determined by competency level. For example:

*Bold Adventurer 1 pt.
*Competent Adventurer 6 pts.
*Hero 18pts.
*Great Hero 40 pts.
*Super-Hero 75 pts.

As always, the number of points should be altered as the group sees fit.

===Variation: Making it up as you go along===
For the truly freeform, you could have themes without worrying too much about what they actually cover. Then, whenever a character enters a contest, the player could suggest that a particular theme might apply to this struggle. This would shorten character generation and would likely avoid those situations where a character who is supposed to be a “Dashing Swordsman” forgot to include “acrobatics” as part of his Theme. The converse, of course, is that this option might involve GM-Player negations that occur right as the action is about to start. Thus, this option would be more appropriate for groups that know each other well.

One could extend this option even further, and allow the player the option to leave one or more Themes undetermined at the start of play. At any point (and hopefully a dramatic one), the player could then elect to determine a Theme. This might work very well for games about somewhat mysterious characters. For example, the Sly Rogue finds himself confronted by some arcane writings and instruments, as part of his latest haul. His player might say, “You know, it’s been a long time, but in my youth, I served as an apprentice to a drunken, washed-up wizard. Maybe I can recall enough to recognize these things.” He has just determined a previously undisclosed Theme.

This variation will require cooperation and negotiation between players and GM even more than the less ambitious version. But using it would make discovery of the character an integral part of play.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Checks

2005-05-07T01:16:19Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Varieties of Checks */Added link to new page

=CHECKS=
Checks are always negative modifiers. They represent events and occurrences which hinder an actor’s efforts to achieve his goals in a contest. What exactly they translate to must be, as always, narrated by the GM. Remember that receiving a check is not the same as having been hit if you are in a fight.

This should be born in mind especially when a character rolls low and delivers checks to himself. No one should assume that the World’s Greatest Swordsman just tragically, horribly, stabbed himself in the foot. Rather, something has happened which hinders his actions in the contest. Maybe the ground suddenly gave out beneath him. Or he perfectly stabbed his opponent in the heart only to find that the villain’s Bible blocked the sword.

But don’t restrict yourself to wild coincidences (although they are the easiest to come up with). The Goon concept can be very useful here: while fighting his arch-nemesis and his underlings, the Great Swordsman is attempting to kill the Big Bad. When he rolls low and delivers checks to himself, maybe the villain’s goons swarmed in on him and it takes his several seconds to kill them, thus hindering his goal. Yes, he kills a bunch of guys on a bad roll. He is a bad-ass; let the game represent him as a bad-ass. Nothing makes a weaker story than having a character who is supposed to be cool roll badly and trip over himself as he walks across the floor. What contests and checks mean has to be kept firmly in mind and ideas about “to hit rolls” and “damage” tossed out the window while you are playing with SAMSARA.

===Variation: Who Interpret the Roll?===
Rather than always having the GM interpret every roll, this function might be opened up to the players. One way to do this is to let the player narrate the results of a successful roll and the GM interpret the receiving of checks. The player then gets to describe how cool he is when he comes out on top.

Alternately, and more interestingly, the GM could narrate the results of a successful player roll and let the player narrate the results of receiving checks. What? Yes, right. The idea is that the player might come up with interesting ways in which his own character is getting shafted. He has to accept the mechanical results of the checks, but might have some fun describing how they occur. This helps alleviate the sense of having “lost” on a bad roll and keeps the player connected to the story.

===Variation: Dueling===
Because the average person can only take 6 checks before he is out of the contest and because every roll always results in checks being delivered, few struggles will last long. If you would like to have a contest go for a more extended period, perhaps see-sawing back and forth, the Dueling variation comes in handy. The image for this are those great, sword-fights that last for ten or fifteen minutes, where one fighter is up, only to lose his footing and be pressed back, only to throw sand in his enemy’s face and press forward, only to…well, you get the picture.

In this variation, allow the player a choice when he fails a roll. Either he can deliver checks to himself as usual, or he can let his opponent remove an equal amount of checks from himself. Thus, if Baron Vile (you remember him), rolls poorly and delivers 3 checks to himself, he could let Capt. Smashing remove 3 checks instead. This stretches out the contest and can be narrated as sudden shifts in position or just plain recovery.

Obviously, the opponent must have had a certain number of checks delivered to him first for this option to be used. It could not be used on the first roll of the contest.

This variation should probably not be used for every contest. It adds time and complexity and should be reserved for dramatically appropriate actions. Trying to sneak past a guard is probably not an appropriate duel; attempting to one-up Gollum with the best riddle might be.

===Variation: Checks as Hit Points or Wound Levels===
To mitigate the “Death Spiral” effect as receiving checks, the game could played with the checks functioning more as counters (like the archetypal “hit points”), than as active, negative modifiers. In the basic from of this variation, characters receiving checks mark them as usual, but the checks do not apply as modifiers to their subsequent actions in the contest. The checked actor continues to function at full effectiveness throughout the contest. The contest still ends when the total checks received provide a net -6 to his contest rolls. So an actor functions at full effectiveness in the contest until he loses. This can be a bit more over-the-top than the default rule.

Another way to implement this would be to regard the checks as counters along a wound level chart, which can be as simple or complex as preferred. As above, checks do not act as active, negative modifiers, but as counters. For example, one could make the rule that for every 3 checks received in the contest, the character does make subsequent rolls in the contest at a cumulative -1. This means that actors will function slightly less well as they begin losing the contest, though not nearly so badly as in the default rules. Characters with a higher initial modifier will have farther to fall than those with low beginning modifiers; an average actor will take 3 checks and perform at -1, and then be out of the contest at -6.

==Varieties of Checks==
There are two kinds of checks: temporary and severe. The distinction is made only to provide some kind of rules-differentiation between results that only apply to a particular contest and those that will be carried around for a while. If you don’t want to bother with the distinction, or only want to use it sometimes, that’s fine.

When a check is received in a contest, it is always a temporary check. Temporary checks only apply to that contest. When the contest ends, the checks disappear. The fact that that guy’s Bible blocked your sword-thrust ten minutes ago has no bearing on whether or not you compose a great song to your lady-fair.

But for every 3 temporary checks received in a contest, you also received 1 severe check. This is worked out at the end of the contest. Round down, so that if an actor received 2 temp checks, for example, then he has no severe checks. At this point, the GM and the player must decide to which sphere of action the severe check will apply. This should be from whatever sphere the contest occurred in, but sometimes there will be options. A severe check, unlike a temp check, only applies to further efforts in that sphere.

The idea here is that anything can help or hinder an actor in the midst of a contest. A fighter can be distracted by a rude comment and troubadour thrown off by a punch. These are temporary checks. But if the fighter takes the insult to heart, he now has a severe check in the Social sphere, but that won’t apply to his brawl. Similarly, if the troubadour gets whiplash, that might hurt him in the Physical sphere, but won’t affect him the next time he tries to sing.

As always, there’s a fuzzy area here, which will call for arbitration. But that’s a good thing as it allows freedom of interpretation. Maybe you decide that the insult was about the fighter’s battle skills and, in taking it to heart, he’s lost confidence in his martial prowess. Then say the severe check is Physical and not Social. Maybe the troubadour took the punch in the mouth and it really does hurt his social skills, but doesn’t stop him running and jumping.

How do you recover? Severe checks will naturally heal at a rate of 1 per game day. If you want. Or 2 if your characters are more heroic. Or every other day if you playing are playing up the struggle to survive. But you could have guessed that sort of answer by now.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Motives

2005-05-07T01:15:10Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Wrestling with Yourself */Added link to new page

=MOTIVES=

Motives are really just abilities that have a little quirk to them. SAMSARA can be run without them, but they were one of the reasons that it was developed.

The word is used here in a very literal sense: a motive is a thing that moves or motivates a character’s actions. Not every action. Just some. A character can be obsessed with revenge, say, and have that motivate everything he does, but that may not be the most interesting character in the world. Most folks have between one and three motives, with ratings also between one and three. More motives than that tend to make for a very schizoid fellow; higher ratings make for a compulsive lunatic. This is great if that’s what the game calls for.

The quirk about motives is that they are both a positive and a negative modifier, depending upon how they are being used. For contrast, regular abilities are always either plus or minus: Stealth + 3 means you are good at being stealthy. Period. But “Devoted to Justice” 3 can both help and hinder you depending upon circumstances. The Motive rating will act as a positive modifier when you act in line with it and as a negative modifier when you act against it.

Thus the archetypal paladin with “Devoted to Justice” 3 would get to add 3 to his roll when charging into an angry mob in order to save an innocent victim. But he would get a -3 to his roll if he was trying to fight a legitimate representative of the government or was forced to help a known criminal.

The dual-edged sword of Motives should be actively emphasized by the GM. Not because the GM has an antagonistic attitude to the players, but because Motives are there to be the focus of the story. Or, at least, a focus. The players should thus choose his Motives carefully and with the knowledge that many stories with this character will explore the nature and effects of his Motives. If the player doesn’t want to suffer in dealings with criminals, he shouldn’t choose “Devoted to Justice”. GM’s should bear in mind, at this point, the distinction between character and player: the player should want to explore his Motives and see the complications that result; the character might not want any of this, might pretend the Motive doesn’t exist, and might complain bitterly when the Motive activates. That’s okay.

It is worth repeating that a Motive only comes into play sometimes and is something unique about the character. That means that the selection of Motives must be carefully made. “Don’t want to suffer” might not be unique since almost nobody wants to suffer. The Motive also needs to be genre appropriate. A game about bold adventurers that features a great deal of physical combat should probably disallow Motive “defeat all opponents in combat” since this will be activated endlessly. On the other hand, a game about people trying to do good in the world might find that Motive interestingly complicating.

Particularly in a Romantic game, the line between abilities and motives can get fuzzy. A Western game run in the Romantic mode might feature a character with a modifier called “”Crazy-eyed killer”. This might be an attribute allowing him to intimidate folks and shoot them and do all sorts of Sergio Leone-style badness. But it might also be a motive, egging the character on to doing those sorts of things and penalizing him for playing nice. Which is it? That’s something for the GM and players to decide. But in a Romantic game, gamers should be open to the possibility of reinterpreting things. So maybe it started out as an ability, but then someone realizes that it could function as a Motive as well. Go for it. Remember that Motives are just special use modifiers anyway (for more on this topic, see Chapter 8, Romantic Mode: Themes).

==Wrestling with Yourself==
In particularly stressful situations, an actor may be forced to contest with his own motivations. Perhaps the paladin knows that helping the criminal is the logical course of action, but it might be very hard for him to break down and do it. He stands still, locked in internal turmoil, struggling to act.

In this case, he enters a contest (either Simple or Full), probably using just his WIL attribute (doubled, as with any straight attribute test, although WIL + INT would also make sense here as the rational brain tries to “defeat” the emotional brain). The opposing modifier is the Motive score doubled (just like any other attribute test). Note that the motive does not provide a modifier to the character in these cases, as that would be “double-dipping”.

If the Motive is defeated, the character may act howsoever he wills. If the character is defeated, the Motive has mastered him in this moment of crisis and he must act in accordance with it. The paladin in this example would punch the criminal for even suggesting that they team up. Severe checks (see the next section) will most logically apply to the mental sphere.

A high motive rating is both a blessing and curse and the GM should utilize both aspects of a character’s motive. The motive rating is another type of tactical decision. A fully interesting, balanced character can be had with small Motive ratings and a +/- 1 now and then is noticeable. Not everyone has to be a figure of operatic passions. Unless that’s what you want in your game.

==Contents==

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Abilities

2005-05-07T01:13:06Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Variation: Specialized Actions */ Added link to new page

=ABILITIES=
Abilities include skills, special powers, social influences, patrons, and whatever else might be a modifier to contest but isn’t a personal attribute or motive. A relevant ability will be added to the base modifier. And yes, you could have negative abilities (Prof. Schnitzel has INT +4, but also Practical Knowledge -5. If called upon to actually do anything with his knowledge, he has a penalty).

In a sense, abilities are modifiers on top of modifiers (attributes). Alternately, one could consider them specializations of attributes. Either way, they add or subtract more from the Contest roll. If one of the characters had Pugilism +2, then he would add that to his basic modifier in a fist-fight. Motives do much the same as abilities, but are a bit more complex so let’s leave them until later. But they can also add modifiers in relevant situations, so that if one of these chaps was fighting someone for which he had a passionate hatred, that would also add to his roll, while if he was boxing someone he loved, that would subtract from his roll.

If playing in the Classical mode, there will be a pre-set correspondence between attributes and abilities. “Lock-picking” will always be used to modify the INT + PER roll required to get through the door. “Drive truck” will always modify the DEX + ACU roll needed to drive.

If playing in the Romantic mode, there will be a lot more variation. One might try to use his “Drive truck” to identify a certain make and model, based on the idea that this ability means the characters is familiar with all trucks. One might try to use the same ability to help bluff a guy into thinking that you work at the auto shop. One might use the ability to help ingratiate himself with someone who likes trucks. You get the picture.

=Which Abilities?=
The particular abilities available must be determined by the setting and style of the game, so it doesn’t make sense to provide a master-list. A game that focuses on highly skilled agents operating around the unskilled masses, will probably feature lots and lots of abilities and differentiate between “Security Systems” and “Lock-Picking”. It might have separate “Drive” abilities for cars, trucks, semis, and motorcycles. The many abilities are a part of the feel of the game.

On the other hand, a superhero game that is more focused on personalities might have one, lump ability called “Sneaking” and another called “Drive”. These abilities are not a focus of the game: probably everybody is assumed to drive and who cares? Superheroes scarcely ever drive a car anyway. On the other hand, it would have a lot of abilities like “Flight”, “Shoots laser beams out of his eyes”, “Survive in a vacuum”, and a whole bunch of things that wouldn’t show up in the spy-game.

===Variation: Specialized Actions===
The style of play will determine if characters can perform actions for which they have no relevant ability. This is another fine line. Most folks will allow someone to throw a punch whether he has martial arts training or not. But can a character try and create a nuclear reactor using just INT + PER without any ability in nuclear engineering? It depends on how much realism you want, which is to say how much you want to complicate things.

You might make a distinction between common actions and specialized actions and allow anyone to try the first, but only those with relevant abilities to try the second. Alternately, let those without the specialized skill try, but give them a penalty to their roll. This distinction must be tailored to the game setting: literacy might be considered a specialized action in certain settings and common in others.

This sort of problem will likely come up in any game using technical abilities. Can every super-spy reprogram computers? It might also crop up in games using magic. There is a huge difference between one world where only those with the Sorcery ability can perform magic and another world where anyone can try.

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Attributes

2005-05-07T01:11:52Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Tables fixed and link added to new page

=ATTRIBUTES=
==The Full Character==
This is the level of detail normally used for PC’s and other important characters. The Full Character is followed by some simplified systems, which will be more useful for characters that need less fleshing out. The simplified systems could also be used as the default for PC’s is the game is to be run in a looser, less stat-based style.

There are twelve attributes which fall onto the following chart. The rows detail the sphere of action while the columns detail the nature of the action.

<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cell"border-collapse:collapse;border:none">
<tr>
<td colspan=2 rowspan=2>Full Character</td>
<td colspan=2>Active Attributes</td>
<td colspan=2>Reactive Attributes</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Force</td>
<td>Aim</td>
<td>Resistance</td>
<td>Speed</td></tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan=3>Sphere of Action</td>
<td>Physical</td>
<td>Strength (STR)</td>
<td>Dexterity (DEX)</td>
<td>Stamina (STA)</td>
<td>Quickness (QWK)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Mental</td>
<td>Intelligence (INT)</td>
<td>Perception (PER)</td>
<td>Willpower (WIL)</td>
<td>Acuteness (ACU)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Social</td>
<td>Presence (PRE)</td>
<td>Manipualtion (MAN)</td>
<td>Resolve (RES)</td>
<td>Wit (WIT)</td></tr></table>

As is often the case, this might look more complex than it really is. Most of these attributes should be familiar from other RPGs. All that SAMSARA does to complicate this is to categorize the attributes within such concepts as sphere and nature of action. This helps determine what attributes might be used for various actions taken within a contest. If you want to hit someone, then you are probably looking at some thing Active in the Physical Sphere.

===Variation: Descriptors===
To add a little more color to these numbers, one could decide that every +/- 2 points in an attribute calls for a descriptor of how this attribute manifests. STR +2 could be “wiry”, or “lives in the gym”, or “freakishly strong”; “built like a Sumo wrestler” might be more appropriate for STR +4.

==The Basic Modifier==
When using the full list of attributes, the modifiers for most actions should be determined by adding together the two most relevant attributes. This allows for some variation in strengths to be utilized by characters. For example, hitting someone defaults to adding together STR and DEX. Strength relates to the force of the blow, so stronger folks have an advantage (remember, please, that the roll is not to hit; it is to further your goal, which in this case encompasses both landing the blow and inflicting physical punishment). Dexterity relates to how well you can place the blow, so more dexterous folks have an advantage. By adding these together, you have the default attack modifier. Someone strong and clumsy might have the same modifier as someone who is weak, but a dead-shot. This is intentional.

If both of those fellows deliver checks, the results should be narrated differently however. The strong guy might have just hammered his opponent on top of the head, while the dexterous guy might have deftly jabbed his foe three or four times, each time throwing him off a bit. The interpretation of the contest roll should be influenced by what attributes are used and in what proportion.

==Playing the Numbers==
But which attributes are the most relevant? Well, this is where it gets interesting (or maddening). There might be some pre-established default attributes, as in the boxing example above, but the options might be more wide-open. Here we encounter two major variations of play: the Classical and the Romantic modes.

Playing in the Classical mode means pre-set, formalized use of attributes. Physical combat always uses STR + DEX, while trying to resist that punch always takes STA + QWK. This mode of play relies upon the Active and Reactive distinction made with the attributes. Indeed, the Classical mode just goes ahead and always considers STR + DEX as the Active Physical Modifier (APM) and STA + QWK as the Reactive Physical Modifier (RPM). Yes, the acronyms are a trifle much, but it saves time typing. In general, any offensive action taken uses the two active attributes in the sphere of action, while the attributes used as modifiers against an offensive action use the two reactive modifiers. So there are six basic modifiers in the Classical mode, two for each sphere of action. Nice and neat. Very Roman.

Playing in the Romantic mode means no formalized use of attributes: the players can choose to use any attributes that they wish. But they must describe how they intend to use those attributes to accomplish their goal. For example, a character wants to intimidate someone. If he wants to use PRE + STR, he could say that he storms into the room and breaks something big and heavy, them tells the guy to do what he wants. No real insight and cleverness involved: just physical and psychological intimidation.

<pre>Example: Using Attributes
Captain Smashing is dueling with Baron Vile (remember?).
In the Classical mode, his modifier would be: STR + DEX
+ Dueling (let’s assume no checks, situational modifiers,
or motives engaged). He subtracts Baron Vile’s STA + QWK
+ dueling and adds the final result to the die roll.</pre>

But in the Romantic mode, he could come up with some other way to go. Maybe he, like Cyrano de Bergerac, is keeping up a running stream of invective against his foe, intended to distract and disturb (in verse or not). Maybe the Captain’s player suggests that STR has nothing to do with this fight, nor even targeting, but wants to make his attack based on MAN + QWK: he runs around the room waving his sword and making barbed comments. The GM will have to determine if he finds this acceptable. He will also determine what modifiers the Baron uses to defend.

Playing in the Romantic mode offers a lot more scope for player’s to come up with interesting ways of accomplishing their goals. It also offers a lot more room for arguments between players and GM. A couple of rules of thumb if you play in this mode:

1.The GM has final say on acceptable attributes. The player can suggest, but must regard the GM as the final arbiter here. Because someone has to be.

2.The GM can disallow repetitive use of attributes. If a character has two high attributes, it could become very tiresome if he uses them for every single contest. There is a fine line between playing to one’s strengths and being a munchkin. Who determines that line? See the preceding paragraph. The GM could set a hard limit per game (“you can use each combination only three times per game”) or give out rewards only for the first use of each combination. The point of the Romantic mode is to encourage interesting twists, not to allow every character to use his highest attributes.

3.Even in the Romantic mode, it is suggested that there be some default combinations of attributes. This gives everyone a base understanding of what they are doing and what they are changing.

==Testing Attributes==
Most of the time, one can come up with a relevant second attribute, but sometimes there is only one attribute that is relevant. This will ultimately come down to playing style. Some might say that trying to beat the strength machine at the Carnival uses STR + STA (or WIL), but other folks will find that weird and say that only strength is being applied. If a situation such as this comes up just double the attribute score and use that as the modifier. Thus if you consider that strength machine and the character has a STR + 1, then the modifier is +2. Easy.

==Simplified Characters==
It is frequently a drag trying to come up with stats for innumerable NPCs. Sometimes players and GM’s don’t even want all those attributes for the main characters. One way to make this easier is to reduce the number of stats. Particularly in the Classical mode, it makes sense to reduce the attributes to Active and Reactive stats, making only six attributes per character. The Active Physical attribute then incorporates both strength and dexterity; use it whenever either is being tested. The character would look like this:

<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cell"border-collapse:collapse;border:none">
<tr>
<td colspan=2>Simplified Character</td>
<td>Active Modifier</td>
<td>Reactive Modifier</td></tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan=3>Sphere of Action</td>
<td>Physical</td>
<td>Attack</td>
<td>Defend</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Mental</td>
<td>Clever</td>
<td>Stubborn</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Social</td>
<td>Charm</td>
<td>Wily</td></tr></table>

These need better, more descriptive names

If you use this system, then you will not add together the two most relevant attributes to get the basic modifier, but use only the single most relevant. Using this system mostly precludes playing the Romantic mode as well. So a swordfight always uses the Active Physical Modifier to attack and the Reactive Physical Modifier to defend.

==More Simplified Characters==
An even more simplified system is to reduce a character’s attributes down to the spheres of action. A character would have only three attributes: Physical, Mental, and Social. In this case, definitely do not add two attributes together to determine modifiers. Just pick the attribute appropriate to the sphere of action and run with it.

This means that you might have to increase the attribute to make an even match with the full characters. So perhaps the goblin has a Physical score of +5. This doesn’t mean that he is the strongest man in the world. A full character with a STR +3 is actually stronger, since an attribute test would give the full guy a +6 modifier. Right?

This system is incompatible with running in the Romantic mode since there is nothing to choose from.

==Contest Rating==
This is the most simplified system of modifiers. There is only one modifier, called the Contest rating. Use this number for any contest that occurs with this character. Is this realistic? Not entirely.

But it is simple and really, how much do you need to know about Guard #3? He has a Contest rating of +2. He can probably defeat most average folk (though not overwhelmingly) and will be easily handled by anybody competent. Done and done.

This is even more useful for non-entity opponents. The masterwork which the artist from Chapter 1 was trying to create has a Contest rating. It only needs to represent one thing: how hard it is to compose. You don’t need any other information about it. Ditto the sudden storm which the character must use his survival skills to outlast. The contest rating is the modifier subtracted from the character’s PER + STA + Outdoorsman roll (or whatever attributes you want to use for survival skills).

===Goon Squads===
One Contest Rating can also be used to describe multiple antagonists. Heroic types frequently contest with groups of essentially unimportant foes. Such enemies are sometimes called “mooks” or “goons”. Goons are individually quite weak, more-or-less average folks whose only strength lies in numbers. Evil geniuses tend to collect such fellows; think of the old Batman show.

Since goons act as a group, for contest purposes consider them one actor. They have a default Contest rating of +1 for each individual goon in the mob. So if our old friend Captain Smashing is lured into a dark alleyway by six henchman of his arch-nemesis, Baron Vile, when they come to blows, the good Captain will contest with an opponent with a +6 Contest rating. This would be enough to overwhelm an average fellow, but fortunately, Smashing is an expert swashbuckler and can easily handle these villains.

Since goons act as a group, they make one contest roll which represents all of their actions. Vile’s goons thus roll d12 + 6 – Smashing’s relevant abilities as the sole mechanical representation of their combined actions. Each check delivered to a goon squad means that one of the goons has been removed from the contest. If Smashing delivers two checks, then two of Vile’s cronies have been rendered corps de combat in some fashion.

As always, bear in mind that combat examples are the easiest to visualize, but contests are not limited to fights. A gang of teenagers ridiculing someone and attempting to destroy their confidence is an example of a social contest involving goons. A Senate confirmation hearing might be a mental contest in which the Senators act as a group to try and confuse the nominee.

The default of +1 Contest rating for each individual goon is only a baseline. If your goons are tougher than average (a goon squad composed of zombies, perhaps), then make it +2/individual. If the goons are weaker (a horde of teddy bears attack the character), then make it +1/3 individuals. If you change the baseline, that changes the effect of checks delivered. In the Great Teddy Bear Massacre, every check delivered to the stuffed beasts means that three bears are removed from the contest.

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Modifiers

2005-05-07T01:00:42Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Varieties of Modifiers */ Added link to new page

=Modifiers and the Character=

A good character might have a lot of indefinable qualities, subtle touches of personality and nuance. But mechanically, he is just a collection of modifiers. That’s it. The modifiers exist to implement the character in play. They might also help solidify those characteristics.

Modifiers are +/- numbers that affect the Contest Roll. A 0 is a perfectly reasonable score for a modifier. Most people have a 0 in all areas, making them average. A positive modifier means that one is better than average and a negative modifier means than one is worse than average. The default limits for human beings are +/- 6 in any modifier. This limit might be changed depending upon the nature of the game being played: the adventures of the Hellenic gods might well have modifiers in excess of +10, while a mobile hunk of protoplasm might have an intelligence of -10.

===Variation: Scaling===
The suggested range of human modifiers assumes that the game you are playing is centered on human beings. Extraordinary human beings, perhaps, maybe action movie superstars, but still basically human. If, however, that is not the case and your game revolves around hyperanthropes (“beyond humans”) of some kind: incarnated gods, superheroes, or high-level wuxia stars, then you might rescale the limits of modifiers, to prevent the numbers from getting too high for all involved. This would be a sort of reverse-mook rule.

For the most extreme actors, you might decide that the entire range of feasible human characteristics is -1 to +1. That is, all regular humans can be lumped into a range of “bad-average-good”. The best Olympic weight-lighter would have a Strength of +1. Anything beyond +/- 1 then falls into the ultra-mundane category. You might have each point double the previous one, so that +2 is twice is good as +1 and +3 is four times as good as +1. This would let you deal with extremely powerful actors. More modestly, each point might represent a set increase; this would keep things a little more down to earth. Contest ratings will have to be rescaled as well, since any action feasibly performed by a normal human would only have a Contest rating of +2 at the most.

==Varieties of Modifiers==
The various modifiers used to describe characters come in two varieties: variable and invariable. Variable modifiers change during the course of play. Checks received are a form of variable modifier. Invariable modifiers do not change, except in unusual circumstances.

Invariable modifiers can be further broken down into attributes (personal qualities like strength and intelligence), abilities (which modify attributes and are such things as skills, talents, and personal influence), and motives (which are the inner forces driving the character). As usual, do not get overwhelmed by terminology. All of these are modifiers, just +/- numbers which affect your contest roll. That’s all.

*Invariable Modifiers
** Attributes
**Abilities
**Motives
*Variable Modifiers
**Situational
**Temporary Checks
**Severe Checks

The number of these various modifiers possessed by a character depends upon the character and his narrative importance. The player characters are the stars of the story and tend to have the full complement of modifiers. The third guard on the left, however, will be knocked out approximately .3 seconds after the fighting begins and will never be heard from again. He has very few modifiers.

As a general rule, the number and kind of attributes are fixed; everybody has the same attributes but in vary degrees (some folks are smarter than others, but everyone has some intelligence score). The number and kind of abilities is not fixed (some people have no abilities to speak of, whereas others are polymaths). Most conscious folk have at least 1 motive, though they may have more.

The next section discusses the attributes.

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Contests

2005-05-07T00:59:51Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: /* Ending the Contest */ Added link to new page

=Contests=
==Full Contest Resolution==
However a contest is conceived in story-terms, it plays out the same way mechanically: the protagonist adds up his relevant modifiers, subtracts the antagonist’s relevant modifiers, and adds that to the roll of a single, d12. That number that results is compared to the chart below. A total of 7 or greater results in checks beings delivered to the opponent. A total of 6 or less results in checks being delivered to the protagonist.

This means that an actor can, in some sense, hurt himself by acting just as he could hurt his opponent. An action taken in a contest is a gamble: do you win or lose? Move closer to success or failure? This means that the basic roll is not a “to hit” roll, as is more usually seen in RPGs. Rolling low doesn’t mean that you missed. It means that you swung your sword and it was parried and now you’re a little off-balance. Or you hurt your wrist. Or maybe that your execution was perfect, but suddenly your opponent’s man-servant threw himself in front of you. It means something—anything—but always something more interesting than “you missed”.

Contests are goal-oriented, rather than task-oriented and each roll of the die represents an attempt to achieve the actor’s goal. SAMSARA’s system of contest resolution is thus abstract, rather than action-specific. How that goal is furthered or hindered, achieved or not, must be interpreted from the die result. A high result means that the actor has come closer to achieving his goal, while a low result means that his attempt has been hampered. That is all it means, but it means that. The specifics of those meanings must be brought out be player and GM to suit the narrative style and needs of the story being told.

==Determining the Actor’s Modifier==
<pre>
1. Add together the two most relevant attributes
2. Add any relevant abilities
3. Add/subtract any relevant motives
4. Subtract temporary checks received in this contest
5. Subtract severe checks in this sphere of action
6. GM applies any relevant situation modifiers
</pre>

==The Contest Roll==
The Contest roll is the result of the protagonist’s modifiers – antagonist’s modifiers + d12

<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cell"border-collapse:collapse;border:none">
<tr>
<td>Contest Roll</td>
<td>Checks Delivered</td>
<td>Success Descriptor</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>-2</td>
<td>-3</td>
<td rowspan=3>Spectacular Failure</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>-1</td>
<td>-2.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>0</td>
<td>-2.33</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>-2</td>
<td rowspan=3>Full Failure</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>-1.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td>
<td>-1.33</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>4</td>
<td>-1</td>
<td rowspan=3>Simple Failure</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>5</td>
<td>-.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>6</td>
<td>-.33</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>-7</td>
<td>.33</td>
<td rowspan=3>Simple Success</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>-8</td>
<td>.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>9</td>
<td>1</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>10</td>
<td>1.33</td>
<td rowspan=3>Full Success</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>11</td>
<td>1.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>12</td>
<td>2</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>13</td>
<td>2.33</td>
<td rowspan=3>Spectacular Success</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>14</td>
<td>2.66</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>15</td>
<td>3</td></tr></table>

Don’t worry about the Success Descriptors right now (see Simple Contests for that). Let’s take the first two columns first.

==Extrapolating the Contest Roll==
Recall that the Contest Roll is a sum of modifiers and a d12. This means that the result could well be above 15 or below -2, depending upon the stature of the modifiers used in the game. That’s okay since it is fairly easy to extrapolate results: each step increases or decreases by .33. So a Contest Roll of -3 would deliver -3.33 checks, while a roll of 20 would deliver a staggering 4.66 checks.

===Variation: Switch the Bones===
By changing the type and number of dice rolled, one can change the probabilities of certain result and thus the “fell” of the game.

*One could roll 2d6 instead of 1d12. This would keep the same range of possible outcomes, more-or-less, but due to the shift in probability distribution from flat to bell-curved (well, triangular, actually), the results will tend more toward the middle, with a roll of 7 as the most likely outcome. The effect of this variation would be to favor the more capable actors in a contest as the random factor of the die will be diminished. This would make for a grittier game, with less wild occurrences. On the other hand, that also means that the most likely raw outcome is a success, unless you shift the results table down.

*By rolling 2d8, one would also tend to reduce randomness and favor the more capable, but with a greater possible range of outcomes. This would somewhat counter-act the first effect and allow a greater possibility for wild, unexpected occurrences. This variation is then a mix between grittier and wilder. If you use this variation, you might want to shift the results of the contest roll by two places since the average roll will be a 9. So 9 should result in .25 checks, 10 in .5, and so on. If you don’t do this, then everybody will start doing very much better in contests. Which is fine if that’s what you want.

*3d6 just increases the variation from above: an even wider range of possible outcomes with a much more pronounced probability curve (a real curve in this case). Again, you might want to shift the results of the contest roll as the most likely result of 3d6 is a 10 or 11.

==Tactics and Effect Ratings==
Don’t be frightened of the fractions in the Checks column. They are there to provide a bit of variety in the form of methods and weapons. This is where the abstract nature of contests gets a bit more specific. The manner in which an actor pursues his goals in a contest affects his possible results. The broad term for this is tactics and tactics all have an Effect rating. The Effect rating of the tactic employed is multiplied by the amount in the checks column (always round up the final result). The basic range of Effects and calculated checks is provided in a chart in the back for the math-shy (refer to Appendix B). If you want to ignore this aspect of the game, do so. Every action would map onto the Success Descriptors like so:

<table border=1 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=3>
<tr>
<td>Spectacular Failure</td>
<td>-3 Checks</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Full Failure</td>
<td>-2 Checks</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Simple Failure</td>
<td>-1 Check</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Simple Success</td>
<td>1 Check</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Full Success</td>
<td>2 Checks</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Spectacular Success</td>
<td>3 Checks</td></tr></table>

A core idea in tactics is strengths and weaknesses. Any tactic has a positive and a negative, represented by greater or lesser potential checks delivered. A standard attempt at something has an Effect rating of 1, which is to say, that you read the results of the checks delivered straight off the chart. But an actor may attempt a more aggressive, powerful, or fool-hearty action and so take a higher Effect rating. If he succeeds in delivering checks to his opponent, the number of checks will be multiplied by the effect rating and so increased. However, if he fails and delivers checks to himself, those will also be increased.

<table border=1 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=3>
<tr>
<td>Sample Tactic Descriptor</td>
<td>Effect Rating</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Fools Rush In</td>
<td>4</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Overbearing</td>
<td>3</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Charge</td>
<td>2</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Standard</td>
<td>1</td></tr></table>

Thus, for example, the mad berserker goes into a berserk. This means he is attacking with an Effect rating of 4. His least successful contest roll would be a 7 (everybody’s least successful contest roll); the chart says that a 7 means .33 checks delivered. So this foaming-mouthed chap multiplies 4 by .33 and ends up with 2 checks delivered. Even his least successful roll isn’t too shabby. If he had a contest roll of 10, he would multiply 4 by 1.66 and deliver 7 checks. A good roll by the berserker could put an average opponent out in one go.

But consider further. If the berserker rolls a 1, he would multiply 4 by -2, meaning that he delivered -8 checks, or delivered 8 checks to himself. Odds are he’s out of the fight with one bad round. It’s easy to get into trouble by blindly charging and going full tilt. This, then, is the essence of tactics in SAMSARA. A larger potential to deliver checks top your opponent is always a larger potential to do the same to yourself.

Because physical combat is easy to visualize, the tactics are described in terms appropriate to that sort of contest. But they should not be restricted to combat. The system is designed to make other sorts of contests as interesting and involving as fights and so tactics apply in these spheres too. There is a difference between one actor attempting to persuade the guard to let him pass by speaking reasonably and logically (Effect rating 1) and another yelling and trying to browbeat the poor fellow (Effect rating 3 or 4). One could try to solve “the Puzzle of the Ancients” by sitting and patiently trying to work it (Effect rating 1) or by throwing your whole being into it, neither eating nor sleeping until you solve this enigma (Effect rating 4).

===Variation: Weapons===
If you are interested in stressing the different, tactical capabilities of different weapons in the ever-popular fight scenes , then you could use weapons types as tactics. A simple scheme for melee weapons might be thus:

Weapon Type Effect rating
*Small weapon (dagger, club) 1
*Medium weapon (shortsword, hand axe, mace) 2
*Large weapon (longsword, battleaxe, spear) 3
*Huge weapon (lance, polearm, great axe, greatsword) 4

This can be extrapolated to contests other than physical fights. For example, a calligrapher might try to create a striking image. If he chooses a blunt-tipped brush, that has an Effect rating of 3: he will likely succeed or fail spectacularly.

One might also consider a method of argumentation or mountain-climbing strategy to be weapons, rather than tactics. You could then use the default system for everything except physical combat, for which you would then use this variation.

===Variation: Weapons and Tactics===
If you want to use both weapon types and tactics, you need to decide which to stress as the most important. The secondary choice will then operate as a further +/- 1 Effect rating.

If you stress tactics, then base the Effect rating on the tactic and then -1 for smaller/less deadly weapons and +1 for larger/more deadly weapons. If you stress weapons, then base the Effect rating on the weapon and -1 for a defensive/conservative tactic and +1 for a more aggressive tactic.

Thus, if you focus on tactics and you that mad berserker get into a fight with only a dagger, the Effect might be: 4 (from tactics) -1 (small weapon) = 3. If you want to focus on weapons, then the Effect rating would be: 1 (dagger) + 1 (aggressive tactics) = 2. The games’ focus will make a difference.

Please recall that a minimum of 1 check must be delivered to either the protagonist or the antagonist, so Effect ratings below 1 are not possible. See the next section for more on this principle.

==Something Always Happens==
This is a principle of design for SAMSARA. Notice that there is no Contest Roll that results in zero checks being delivered. Whenever an actor takes action in a contest, something happens. Good or bad. Minor or major. But something always happens. This might be considered the ultimate tactical choice: action entails risk.

This should probably be true in the narrative sense as well. This is ultimately up to the GM and the players, but “whiffing” is generally a very dull result. If an actor is failing in an attempt to do something (i.e. is delivering checks to himself), there should be some reason. Yang the Brute doesn’t just miss—he’s a nasty character, so that when he fails to hurt Essence of Jade, it is because the wily old hermit is leaping and dodging and stuffing eating utensils into his nasal orifice. Essence, the gong fu monk, is super-cool, so when he fails in his attack on Yang, it’s because he is forced to knock out one of Yang’s cronies or his staff breaks on Yang’s hard head. Or something.

==Simple Contests==
Despite all of the tension and drama that can result from running a full contest, it can also be a burden. Sometimes, the needs of the story would be better served by quickly determining if an actor succeeds or fails. Maybe you just want to know if your sneaky guy creeps past the guards or if he alerts them. It’s not a given either way, but it would only slow things down to play out the full contest. In that case, you run a simple contest. These contests ignore checks and use the success descriptors from the last column of the Contest Roll chart.

Simple contests involve the same method for computing the contest roll: protagonist’s modifiers - antagonist’s modifiers + d12. The result then is compared to the success descriptor column of the Contest Roll chart. The GM and the player then must, as always, flesh out the meaning of the result, based on the actor’s goal and the narrative needs. The descriptors are guidelines for how to flesh that out.

The most basic description is the success/fail description. A roll of 7 or over is some kind of success and a roll of 6 or under is some kind of failure. That might be all the description needed:

“I want to catch the bomb before it hits the ground.” Success means that you do. Failure means that you don’t. Enough said.

But if the quality of the result matters, the distinction between spectacular, full, and simple, comes into play. If the actor trying to catch the bomb, scores a simple success, he might fumble with it a bit, before fully catching it. A full success means a solid catch. And a spectacular success means that he runs to where it is going to fall, turns a flip in the air, and then catches it. On his head. You get the idea.

A simple failure might be very close to a success and leave the field open to trying again, perhaps. While a spectacular failure means something just plain horrendous has happened. If a character is trying to sneak past some guards and rolls a simple failure, he might have stepped on a twig and alerted the guard nearest him. He’s still got options: he might knife the guard and continue, for example. A spectacular failure, however, means that he snagged a trip-wire or the spot-light just fell full frontal on his sad face. And 20 guys are training their weapons on him now. He’s still got options, but not very good ones.

If your game involves ultra-mundane abilities which a character cannot automatically use, such as magic or psychic powers, using the Simple Contest rules most of the time might be in order. Thus the character might have to roll a Simple Contest against the power level of his spell: success means it works and failure means it doesn’t, with the possibility of extreme successes and failures keeping things interesting. See the suggestions in Appendix A.

==Ending the Contest==
A contest ends either when one of the actors gives up or when one of the actors can not possibly win. The first is a character decision; the second is mechanical.

A character might decide to quit the contest for a variety of story reasons. Maybe just to save himself from being beaten up at this time. Maybe to run away and try again later with a better plan. Whatever. A good rule of thumb with NPC’s is that they will think about quitting once they take checks equal to half their starting modifier. Thus if a bandit attacks our hero and the bandit has modifiers for the contests of +4, he might think about quitting after he takes 2 checks. This is just a quick and dirty measure and is, of course, open to revision depending upon the personality of the NPC and the needs of the story.

If an actor can not possibly deliver checks to his opponent, no matter how high his roll, then he has lost the contest. In other words, if an actor is functioning with a net modifier of -6, even if he rolls a 12 on the die, he will have a Contest Roll of 6, which means that he delivers checks to himself. He cannot win and has thus lost. The contest is over.

Note that if an actor enters contest with a modifier of 0, it will take only 6 checks to put him out. However, if he enters with a modifier of +10, it will take 16 checks to put him out. It pays to be the best. And to choose the sorts of contests in which one is skilled.

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Long term play

2005-05-07T00:56:37Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara:

=Long Term Play=
The majority of games use some form of advancement mechanic, often called “experience”. I would like to interject a point here that this does not capture the spirit of many, adventure tales. Sure, Luke becomes a better Jedi over the course of three movies and Frodo more generally competent over a like number of volumes. But John Carter, clean-limbed fighting man from Virginia, starts off as a fantastic swordsman and pretty much remains so. And Elric doesn’t learn new spells and sword tricks.

My point is that advancement mechanics may not always be suitable or meaningful. “Leveling up” is an inheritance from D&D, but it is by no means a required one for your game. If the game is set at a Heroic level or above, the characters begin as quite competence and don’t need to “level up” in order to do things. This is not to say that advancement mechanics are bad or don’t fit into SAMSARA, but that the group ought to consider whether or not they fit into the game being played. Particularly in free-form, Romantic games, “character improvement” may just not be that meaningful.

Assuming that you do decide to use advancement as part of the game, Samsara points can be given out at the conclusion (or beginning or middle) of stories and subsequently cashed in for character points. These new character points are used to increase the character stats, just as the starting points were at chargen. 1-3 Samsara points is a general guide-line for the number of points to give out. The actual number depends upon how fast and how much you want the character’s to improve. They can be exchanged for character points at 1:2 or 1:3 ration, again depending upon the speed of advancement that you want.

===Variation: Sacrifice===
A variant advancement system would emphasis that for everything that a character learns, he must forget something else; for everything improved, something is lost. At the conclusion of a story, the player is allowed to switch his points around to reflect changes that have occurred in the character. The Farm Boy learns how to fight, but loses some of his naïve charm.

This system could also be combined with the Samsara point advancement system. One could say, for example, that new or improved stats can only be paid for in half by Samsara points; the other half must come from shuffling existing abilities. This way the characters do improve, but must also sacrifice to do so.

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

Samsara:Main Page

2005-05-07T00:55:27Z

The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Added new page link

[[Category:Samsara]]
[[Category:Game Mechanic]]
[[Category:Game System]]

This is the work-in-progress home of '''SAMSARA''', a rules-light game mechanic. The design goal is to produce a mechanic that is
*unified, without any dedicated subsystems required; but
*with modular applications to tweak the rules to support your style of play; and
*plays well with others

The main pages are up now. The formatting is an insult to formatters everywhere (whatever that means); it needs substantial cleaning up to be intelligible. I’ll be trying my best.
--[[User:The Fiendish Dr. Samsara|The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]] 12:49, 5 May 2005 (PDT)

=Introduction=
'''SAMSARA''' is a role-playing game rules-set; a system of mechanics. It is not an RPG in itself. You will find no setting materials herein, although there are some broad, setting applications and the rules are more generally applicable to roughly human-levels of power. There is no theme or premise, although '''SAMSARA’s''' mechanics tend to support play which rests upon social interactions and internal struggles at least as much as combat, which is correspondingly downplayed. It is, however, not a “generic” system, since I’m not sure that there can be any such beast.

'''SAMSARA''' is based upon the resolution of contests, rather than of actions, and is a rules-light, abstract engine of play.

There are also no inviolate rules. The game belongs to whoever is playing it and they can do what they want to change or modify it. To that end, you will find a number of rules implementations which are marked as ''Variations''. They are possible modifications which can change the nature of play and so be more aptly suited to your own preferred game. For example, if you don’t care much about specifying character’s attributes, the default number of attributes, which is twelve, can be easily reduced to six or three or even one. If you don’t care to differentiate between weapons and tactics, then the rules for Effect rating can be simply ignored. If you prefer a less flat probability distribution, the default twelve-side die can be replaced by two six-sided. Or use three six-sided, so as to increase the curve, but also increase the potential dynamic range of outcomes.

These are merely suggestions. Please do what you will most enjoy. Again, it is your game.

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]