[Circle of Hands] Summoning, Cure, Breaking Stuff

[Nyhteg]

Hi, Ron

We've played three Ventures now and some recurring questions have come up.

First, some spell casting things.
In a previous conversation, you referred to the summoning/creation spells and said:

"Avatars, beasts, and eidolons require rituals to summon; demons except imps are snap-your-finger"

...and that's really nifty, except that the rulebook doesn't seem to say that. The Amboriyon summons are all listed as instant (except Eidolon which is given as a ritual in the one-page spell list but an instant in the detailed entry); the Rbaja Demon 2 and 3 spells are both instants but Demon 1 is listed as a ritual.
So we're a bit confused about all that. Should we be? Is that all...correct?

Second spell thing. Cure.
The text in the spell implies that it might be a handy 'recover spent Brawn during a fight' spell - the fact that it specifically states that it recovers all fatigue and the note that the spell's cost is not restored.
But...turns out it's a two point ritual. So that's a minimum two hour casting time.
Threw us out totally and left us confused again.
So I guess the question really is - is that a typo of some kind, or is it your intention that there is no way at all to recover spent Brawn during a scene (not by Cure, not by Balm, not by nothing)?

Last thing - equipment breakage.
So there are those rules about Mishaps when both parties roll doubles (ignoring the Advantage die I assume?) which can result in weapons breaking and so on.
But then there's that slightly cryptic column in the weapons table labelled 'Breaking' with seemingly no obvious reference to it in the rules.
So for a Spear it says "Damage is fully stopped by armour".
For a Shield it says "Damage exceeds shield armour value".
What's the intention here? Every time your spear's damage is stopped by armour it becomes unusable..? If you hit someone with your shield effectively it'll probably not be any use to you as a shield any more..?
Seems that might be a bit...annoying, so I'm assuming it's possibly ot applied so mechanistically. I keep feeling like I'm missing something in the text that clarifies this, but I can't find it.

Still loving the game, incidentally. So far they've killed a wizard, slain them some Unicorns and just took out a Silver Dragon, good times. Characters are starting to gain some weight from the emerging narrative, players are developing favourites and a sense of connection with the various characters, regardless of who rolled them up originally. Next Venture's going to feature a Guide in full-bore Throng mode, with a tone set to 'Squick'. Probably going to get...ugly... ;)

Best,

G

[Ron Edwards]

First, some spell casting things.
In a previous conversation, you referred to the summoning/creation spells and said:

"Avatars, beasts, and eidolons require rituals to summon; demons except imps are snap-your-finger"

...and that's really nifty, except that the rulebook doesn't seem to say that.
...

Looks like that's where me and Nathan must have finally cognitively shorted out. Trying to reconcile that page and the descriptions in the face of final spell modifications pretty much killed us.

The previous conversation was certainly my intention at one time, but it didn't end up that way. Follow the spell descriptions in all things. Everything else is legacy.

Second spell thing. Cure.
The text in the spell implies that it might be a handy 'recover spent Brawn during a fight' spell ...
But...turns out it's a two point ritual. So that's a minimum two hour casting time.
Threw us out totally and left us confused again.
...

I think we're looking at some legacy text there. I had to rework a lot of spells after deciding how fatigue-Brawn returns, and so that particular phrase can be safely ignored. When in doubt, follow the mechanical rules and never mind the commentary.

I'm pretty sure I made it hard to get this kind of Brawn back during a scene. I can't say for sure I eliminated every way to do it, but this spell was one of them.

Last thing - equipment breakage.
So there are those rules about Mishaps when both parties roll doubles (ignoring the Advantage die I assume?) which can result in weapons breaking and so on.
But then there's that slightly cryptic column in the weapons table labelled 'Breaking' with seemingly no obvious reference to it in the rules.
...

Occam to the rescue: ignore it. That table was either repurposed and the label was left off, or simply mislabeled.

[Nyhteg]

Thanks for the clarifications - glad to see you're feeling well enough to get back to the keyboard again, too. :)

So bottom line is the only way Brawn loss due to fatigue should get restored is between scenes.
Seems extra harsh to me but you're the boss, and I'm GMing, so good luck players! ;o)

G