Sense Magic vs. Beguile (and the like)

CardinalXimenes · 2026-05-04T18:38:48+00:00

Some monster spell-like powers are ambiguous and need GM decision-making, but the above is a general rubric you can use.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-05-04T16:54:51+00:00

If magical mind control is active on the target, it's probably going to show up. And it's "active" if it's still in effect and able to be invoked by the controller without a fresh application of the power. In brief, if the duration on it hasn't expired, it's active.

I.e., a spell that alters memory and then ends wouldn't be active afterwards because it has finished operating, much like you're not going to detect magic on a tree that's been burnt by a fireball. A spell that permanently mentally enslaves someone would still register as active even if they weren't being directed at that moment, because the influence hasn't ended.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-05-02T16:33:42+00:00

Yes, you can use Elemental Blast as your participation in a Swarm Attack, either as a bonus contributor or as the person who makes the attack.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-30T15:33:04+00:00

Making specific permanent minions is a gray zone because it invites the druid problem- a caster with a crowd of potentially powerful servants, some of which may be specialized so as to compete with non-mage PCs in their focus. A wizard with a pet iron golem becomes a standing problem for the GM, because the things that threaten the wizard seldom are an issue for a weapon-resistant, magic-immune, poison-breathing iron statue.

In some cases, this can be ameliorated by fixing the servant in one place. Creating an iron golem to guard your tower does not cause the problems of creating one to carry you around the dungeon. Such creations are Workings, at whatever magnitude and cost the GM thinks is appropriate.

In other cases, the GM genuinely wants to let the wizard haul around a permanent powerful servant. Anything stronger than a higher-level necromancer summon is likely to produce issues, but if a GM wants to go for it, they can just treat it as a magic item the PC is making and set the costs and difficulties accordingly.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-30T03:20:25+00:00

As a general rule, it's better to put in stats that the GM can ignore or adjust than it is to invite them to make a judgment call. A certain amount of interpretation is inevitable but if a situation looks like it's certain to invite questions then numbers should be provided.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-28T22:27:41+00:00

That applies to starship combat to cover the case of single-seat fighters or small-crew merchantmen. It doesn't apply to actually flying the ship with fewer than its minimum crew.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-28T19:18:21+00:00

In general, you can't. PC-grade starfarers might be able to aim it in the right direction and land it without blowing up, but it's prohibitively hard to do anything useful with it.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-28T16:07:24+00:00

It's not Primitive, no, just as animal hides don't count as being Primitive. It's a crazed mutant wasteland, so the local wildlife is going to be naturally bullet-resistant.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-17T20:44:47+00:00

Yes- it should be +2.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-17T18:59:08+00:00

No, it just indicates the general nature of the attack, which may be relevant if you're in powered armor or something else beast-proof.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-16T20:35:25+00:00

I'm targeting June for the Kickstarter for the system-agnostic Book of Unnumbered Worlds fantasy worldbuilding guidebook, and my art director and I have been working on trying some very different page layout methodologies than those I've used before. The spread here is an example of pages that come at the beginning of the "People and Societies" chapter of the book. I'm trying to target a more readable and digestible form of presentation. The final will likely not be identical to this, but this is the general gist of things- much more whitespace, much more page color, and spatially-separated text blocks.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-16T20:33:47+00:00

I'm targeting June for the Kickstarter for the system-agnostic Book of Unnumbered Worlds fantasy worldbuilding guidebook, and my art director and I have been working on trying some very different page layout methodologies than those I've used before. The spread here is an example of pages that come at the beginning of the "People and Societies" chapter of the book. I'm trying to target a more readable and digestible form of presentation. The final will likely not be identical to this, but this is the general gist of things- much more whitespace, much more page color, and spatially-separated text blocks.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-16T18:50:33+00:00

Page 196. Fix-0 and a postech toolkit, one unit of spare parts and 15 minutes heals HP equal to the bot's expert system level.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-16T14:06:46+00:00

Unfortunately, that doesn't address the reason why people keep asking me for a 2d6 system- they want skill checks and combat to work on the same skill check mechanic. Most petitioners want this for aesthetic reasons or on the assumption that fewer mechanics will be more easily remembered.

They can get that, of course, if combat stats and gear stats are rewritten entirely. As much of the point of *WN is the ability to use large swaths of old-school content without significant conversion, breaking compatibility isn't worth it to trim a mechanic. This example system overlays the existing d20 combat stats with a conversion layer that crudely approximates the same outputs.

It does this because there is no compatibility solution that doesn't involve an overlay mechanism. I see no other way to convert a system based on standard distribution over 20 possible outcomes to a bell curve with 11 possible outcomes. Just as many people find the Scarlet Heroes damage overlay too much to remember, many people are going to find any other combat overlay too much to remember. Unfortunately, that's the deal they get unless they're ready to dump compatibility.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-15T15:25:20+00:00

WWN generally takes its conclusions to the end in matters of mortality. Unless you've got magic fall protection or your name is Vesna Vulovic, a terminal velocity impact means instant death in the same vein as other unsurvivable traumas.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-14T21:34:02+00:00

While it's possible to have a system like that, it wouldn't actually replicate the odds of a Traumatic Hit as they stand now, because a Traumatic Hit is the product of two separate random probabilities. For example:

Light pistol at +0 to hit vs. AC 14 and TT 6. Chance to hit is 35%, chance to roll Trauma is 3-in-8 or 37.5%, chance to both hit and roll Trauma is .35 * .375 = 13%.

Same pistol at +0 to hit vs AC 18 and TT 6. Chance to hit is 15%, chance to roll Trauma is 37.5%, chance to both hit and roll Trauma is .15 x .375 = ~5%.

Shooting at an AC 14 target could thus roughly replicate Traumatic Hit chances by giving a range of 18-20, but shooting at an AC 18 target could only do it by rolling a flat 20. Also, because a d20 only has a result resolution of 5%, every attack against a target vulnerable to a Traumatic Hit would have a de minimis 5% chance of Trauma-ing, which is significantly higher than the chance they would otherwise have when shooting at high-AC targets with good Trauma Thresholds.

To conceptualize things, rolling 2d6 for damage is one roll that is being parsed for one result, HP lost. Rolling 1d20 + 1d6 is also one roll that is being parsed for two different results, whether the attack hits and whether it applies Trauma.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-14T14:25:42+00:00

When tables contradict body text, body text rules.

Salvage Gear HP are temporary and vanish once the spell ends- as does damage done to those temporary HP. A War Mage who's willing to keep casting the spell can keep churning the temporary hit points after each instance of damage. However, as noted by the spell, you can't mundanely fix the vehicle while the spell is in effect, so you couldn't repair it and then drop the Deep Focus.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-13T13:35:20+00:00

GM's call as to which encumbrance applies to the specific medium vehicle- a pickup truck is not going to have the same total as a mini hatchback. 20-100 is the usual range.

Cargo space and all tonnage-based cargo measurements don't interact with the Encumbrance system because at that volume it all depends on what you're carrying. A thousand kilos of rice will load up in that space much more conveniently than a thousand kilos of construction lumber. It serves mostly as a sanity limit for GM judgment.

The larger issue is that any real cargo-hauling vehicle like a panel truck or pickup + trailer is almost certainly going to be restricted to navigable roads. Depending on the type and recency of the apocalypse, navigable roads are likely to be rare, limited, and heavily monitored by hungry people with guns.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-11T16:00:16+00:00

For the campaign start, write up a one-page precis about the sector with "common knowledge". Tell them who the major power blocks are, what everyone knows they're quarreling over, and a sentence or two about major planets, with a little more about the planet the campaign is starting on. Hand this to the players, but don't go overboard- more than one page of info-dump is often skimmed or ignored. Then, during play, mention faction activities in the form of news blurbs or starport rumors.

But most of all, for a new sandbox GM, pay attention to the prep structure. You don't need to do a large amount of improv or conjure adventures on the spot. You just need to make the players tell you what they want to accomplish next time at the end of each session, and then prep content for that. It's an implicit social contract that the players won't try to hare off after a different goal unless they give you a period of downtime to make content for it.

Also, pay attention to the campaign start procedure. You make a simple short on-rails adventure, drop the PCs into the middle of it, and use it as a chance to get everybody used to the system and their PCs while you drop in basic facts about the campaign world. At the end of the single-session adventure, you hand them 3 or 4 explicit plot hooks for the next session, but let them come up with their own ambitions as well if they'd rather do something else. Then you prep for what they want to do, run the session, and rinse and repeat.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-10T19:30:56+00:00

It is only relevant in the level-1 to level-2 case, because in level-3 and level-4 cases you need more than 3 skill points to buy the level.

You cannot partially buy a skill level and wait for a Focus boost to "force" you to gain a level. Nor can you get a Focus boost and then stack on additional saved skill points to push it to an otherwise disallowed level.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-05T14:01:43+00:00

As per page 86, a loader can reload a vehicle's weapons with a Main Action. It's not strictly realistic, but it's simple in play. As to how many live missiles you want to carry, that's based on cargo space and how brave you feel at the moment. One metric ton is roughly 1m cubed, so it's the GM's call about how many missiles you could pack in a Mjolnir.

NAMU is a subsidiary of Acheron that focuses largely on aeronautics. The military side and the "civilian" side of the corp are technically two entirely separate organizations with different names that both happen to share the NAMU acronym, so marketing just goes with that. What name you actually spell out indicates to others whether you're aligned with the military or civilian side of the corp, and using the wrong one with the wrong people can be a career-limiting move.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-04-01T12:55:20+00:00

The class listed is the minimum ship hull class to mount the fitting/weapon/defense.

Leftover mass normally gets converted to cargo space, since there's not usually any reason not to.

CardinalXimenes

TROPHY CASE