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Post by Admin Pete on Mar 28, 2017 12:30:57 GMT -5
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Post by Vile Traveller on Mar 29, 2017 22:35:14 GMT -5
The creatures chapter was one of the most fun for me. In addition to the Holmes Basic book itself I have read every short story and gaming article by the good Dr. Holmes that I could find, scouring it for the merest mention of a monster. My favourite addition are the dreenoi, an insectoid race from a tabletop wargame called Starguard by John McEwan. JEH mentions that the highest level he ever reached in play was 4th, and that character was a dreenoi. I asked John McEwan for permission to include dreenoi in BLUEHOLME™, and he awesomely agreed. Honorable mentions also go to Zach Howard and for letting me use the green grabber / sleepflower from JEH's book Fantasy Roleplaying Games, and Daniel H. Boggs for his cyclopians which were inspired by Fangorn's art in the UK edition of Holmes Basic.
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Post by Vile Traveller on Mar 29, 2017 22:42:15 GMT -5
Although I had to give up on including all the sub-classes, they will probably be released as a series of PDFs called the Maester Classes (geddit?). But Journeymanne includes two sets of rules that should let players have plenty of options for their characters: Firstly, combination classes. Holmes still separated race and class, although demi-humans were effectively limited to only one class each. Journeymanne has simple rules to allow any combination of classes to create a new class. You can build the traditional fighting magic-user, or how about a clerical thief? If you wanted to you could even combine all four basic classes into one. Secondly, the "Creatures" chapter has rules to allow any of the beings to be played as a character. Old school doesn't do game balance, so referees who are worried can always veto a particular species. During playtest we tried out a lot of these, and the only one that really gave us any trouble was the medusa. The old saying holds true: old-school player characters are only scared of two things: level drain, and stuff that turns your ass to stone.
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Post by Mighty Darci on Mar 31, 2017 11:13:37 GMT -5
The creatures chapter was one of the most fun for me. In addition to the Holmes Basic book itself I have read every short story and gaming article by the good Dr. Holmes that I could find, scouring it for the merest mention of a monster. My favourite addition are the dreenoi, an insectoid race from a tabletop wargame called Starguard by John McEwan. JEH mentions that the highest level he ever reached in play was 4th, and that character was a dreenoi. I asked John McEwan for permission to include dreenoi in BLUEHOLME™, and he awesomely agreed. Honorable mentions also go to Zach Howard and for letting me use the green grabber / sleepflower from JEH's book Fantasy Roleplaying Games, and Daniel H. Boggs for his cyclopians which were inspired by Fangorn's art in the UK edition of Holmes Basic. Kudos to John McEwan, Zach Howard and Daniel H. Boggs! Good for them!
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Post by Mighty Darci on Mar 31, 2017 11:16:07 GMT -5
Although I had to give up on including all the sub-classes, they will probably be released as a series of PDFs called the Maester Classes (geddit?). But Journeymanne includes two sets of rules that should let players have plenty of options for their characters: Firstly, combination classes. Holmes still separated race and class, although demi-humans were effectively limited to only one class each. Journeymanne has simple rules to allow any combination of classes to create a new class. You can build the traditional fighting magic-user, or how about a clerical thief? If you wanted to you could even combine all four basic classes into one. Secondly, the "Creatures" chapter has rules to allow any of the beings to be played as a character. Old school doesn't do game balance, so referees who are worried can always veto a particular species. During playtest we tried out a lot of these, and the only one that really gave us any trouble was the medusa. The old saying holds true: old-school player characters are only scared of two things: level drain, and stuff that turns your ass to stone. Did you try out one our admin's favorites, the beholder?
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Post by Vile Traveller on Apr 1, 2017 11:02:51 GMT -5
[...] the "Creatures" chapter has rules to allow any of the beings to be played as a character. [...] During playtest we tried out a lot of these, and the only one that really gave us any trouble was the medusa. Did you try out one our admin's favorites, the beholder? Alas, that's one of the "iconic" monsters expressly forbidden by the OGL. Even if it weren't, though, it wouldn't be in BLUEHOLME™ because there are no mentions of it in any of Holmes's writings. Journeymanne has creatures taken from Holmes Basic (whether fully statted-up in the bestiary section, or just mentioned somehwere in the text), his short stories and The Maze of Peril, and his articles. We had a black dragon though, who was quite a bit of fun.
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Post by mormonyoyoman on Apr 3, 2017 21:41:59 GMT -5
Not gonna stop me from stocking beholders everywhere. Never did, never will.
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Post by Vile Traveller on Apr 3, 2017 22:16:05 GMT -5
Not gonna stop me from stocking beholders everywhere. Never did, never will. Well, hey. The final words are "Have Fun!"
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Post by Admin Pete on Apr 4, 2017 6:59:40 GMT -5
I'm with Chet, or Tzhett as Mighty Darci says, I love to throw in beholders. I have been throwing young and inexperienced beholders (almost did them all in) at the party and they know that an old battle tested one is just around the corner.
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Post by mormonyoyoman on Apr 4, 2017 13:24:20 GMT -5
Baby beholders! I love baby beholders, Mr Admin! Just as powerful as the older ones, but insatiably curious and always hyped up on sugar. And innocent, without an alignment genetically spliced into them. The Think of a cross between Kyle from Studio C and Casper the Dead Baby.
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Post by Admin Pete on Apr 7, 2017 11:22:25 GMT -5
Baby beholders! I love baby beholders, Mr Admin! Just as powerful as the older ones, but insatiably curious and always hyped up on sugar. And innocent, without an alignment genetically spliced into them. The Think of a cross between Kyle from Studio C and Casper the Dead Baby. That's Kaspar! Yeah, now that is a scary thought!
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Post by Old Timer on May 8, 2017 22:52:38 GMT -5
That would be amazing, a Supplement of nothing but beholders, of course you couldn't call them beholders you would have to come up with a new name.
Let's see you could call it Betty Davis Eyes, you know BD Eyes.
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Post by mormonyoyoman on May 9, 2017 6:46:43 GMT -5
BD Eyes a cousin to the Dick Tracy villain?
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