I've been working on Born of the Blood for a while now. I've discussed some elements of the game system on The Forge, but this is the first time the game as a whole has seen the light of day outside my regular gaming group.

The game is subtitled "Roleplaying Immortals in a world of Heroic Myth and Occult Intrigue", which is realy my mission statement as game designer.

We playtested the game last week, and it seemed to run pretty well. I'd appreciate comments from a wider audience though. I'm looking for comments on three aspects of the game : Rules, Setting and Content. By content I mean writing style, organisation, and so on.

The game itself is an 11 page document, coming to about 9,000 words. There is also a character sheet too.

The site is Here.

Best regards,


Simon Hibbs

Okay:

You start out by saying that there are 4 attributes for each character. Then, when discussing Immortals: you say there is only one attribute (Immortal Blood). Which is it?

For Immortals, are their Regeneration, etc. based on the same rank as their Immortal Blood score?

Why no experience gains for Immortals?

That's all for now.

Spooky Fanboy wrote: Okay:

You start out by saying that there are 4 attributes for each character. Then, when discussing Immortals: you say there is only one attribute (Immortal Blood). Which is it?

For Immortals, are their Regeneration, etc. based on the same rank as their Immortal Blood score?

Why no experience gains for Immortals?

That's all for now.

Just a note to say I've made the suggested improvements to the downloadable version. If you've already got it, there's not much point getting the newer version as the changes are minor. They are:

* Increased font size 1 point for easier readability.
* A little more introductory text.
* Clarified the points Spooky raised previously, in the relevent sections.


Best regards,


Simon Hibbs

Here's an idea:

Immortals have a 'negative trait' that most mortals do not: Weariness. It's not just growing hidebound due to the limits of the human mind that slows Immortals down. It's also the stress of continuing life while believing a) that no matter how different things seem on the surface, some things will never change, no matter how hard you work at it, and b) that no matter how hard you work at something, the world will still continue to pass you by. After awhile, it just doesn't seem worth it to keep going on.

Weariness starts out equal to the highest Attribute or Ability the Immortal has. As long as it remains equal to the highest Attribute or Ability, the Immortal cannot learn new Abilities or improve his Attributes. The motivation for doing so is lacking, and where there is no will, there is no way.

At the end of an adventure, if the Immortal still has a card left, he can invoke a contest between his highest Attribute/Ability and his Weariness. If the narrator has no Fate Cards, or his Fate Card is lower, the Immortal shifts his Weariness down by the amount shown on his card. If the Narrator wins, Weariness stays the same.

As long as Weariness is lower, the Immortal can learn new skills and increase Attributes. This can be done at either an increased cost, or at a regular cost providing the Immortal removes a similar amount from one of his previously learned abilities.

However, Weariness can also be lethal to the Immortal. Anytime the Immortal suffers a serious defeat or a serious 'shock to the system,' the Narrator can play one of his Fate cards against the Immortal. If the Narrator loses or ties, the Weariness stays as is. If the Narrator wins, Weariness increases.

If Weariness is boosted over the Immortal's highest Ability/Attribute, and the Immortal does nothing to correct this imbalance during play or immediately thereafter, the Immortal expires. He either succumbs to infection from his injuries, goes terminally insane, falls into a coma-like state and eventually dies, commits suicide, or in some other way determined by the player expires and is forever removed from the game. The magic can only amplify the desire to live; it cannot create it. Once that vital spark is extinguished, the character succumbs to the weight of the world and is crushed.

If this is used, I recommend giving every character, including Immortals, four cards to play with. Immortals are just regular humans underneath it all, but they have a lot more emotional baggage to deal with.

All of this is assuming that you have some sort of experience system in mind, or are open to the idea of such. I prefer this only because Immortals are supposed to be the main draw in this game, and I as a player want to see my character learn and grow, or at least know that I have the opportunity. Also, the theme of characters being consumed by their past, especially Immortal characters, makes them more real to me, more human.

Just an idea.

Also:

I reccomend disallowing players from trading their Blood abilities in to secure new Abilities. The Blood is innate; it's what you do with it (learn new and improve old Abilities) that really counts, and what the character really has control over.

I do like the concept of Weariness, it's certainly consistent with my view of immortality in the game.

First of all I'd make sure that Weariness effects were automatic, not at the discression of the Narrator as this will just lead to accusations of victimisation. As for excess Weariness destroying a character, I think they're more likely to simply withdraw from play. Perhap the other PCs can try and find some way to re-ignite the character's interest in life?

It would also be nice if Immortals could buy-down their Weariness during character generation, but unless they keep those cards at the end of each session, it'll gradualy creep back up again. Once you're in play, the only way to reduce weariness is through card play at the end of sessions though. Perhaps with the Weariness rule, I'd let Immortals get 4 cards instead of just 3 though, otherwise they're effectively only getting 2 cards per session. The game balance here would need careful playtesting.


Simon Hibbs

Perhaps one should just be forced to deal with Weariness once a session, period? Even if you fight it down, the sheer weight of BEING ALIVE...

so... at the end of every session, there is a Weariness check against each Immortal. Failure means it rises up one, once more.

Thoughts?

Lxndr wrote: Perhaps one should just be forced to deal with Weariness once a session, period? Even if you fight it down, the sheer weight of BEING ALIVE...

so... at the end of every session, there is a Weariness check against each Immortal. Failure means it rises up one, once more.

Thoughts?

simon_hibbs wrote: I'd appreciate comments from a wider audience though. I'm looking for comments on three aspects of the game : Rules, Setting and Content. By content I mean writing style, organisation, and so on.

Born of the Blood PDF wrote: Perception : Unranked characters...

Perception: Unranked characters...

Andrew Martin wrote:
Just a little comment about the writing style.

The rules overview on the web site has been fixed. The page editor doesn't support windows cut-n-paste and doesn't have a spellchecker - gah! I'd forgotten how much effort spellcheckers save. I honestly think the better error correction tools get in word processors, the worse my typing skills become.

ANyway, I've made the suggested formatting chenges in the master document, and that will go up on the web page soon.

From now on, I will focus on particular aspects of the game that are introduced in the current PDF. That way I can keep the current document static, so people who have already read it don't have to pick through a new version hunting for new material. Topics up for expansion include varous kinds of blood magic, secret history, secret societies and scenarios.

Best regards,


Simon Hibbs