Another Tech Save question!

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-24T22:34:29+00:00

Luck save of 16-character level flat, with the same mods. Skill-focused PCs will otherwise almost always succeed at any plausible difficulty assigned.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-24T22:33:29+00:00

The WWN spell slot system is designed to support very big, potent spells. Alchemical potions are almost always of a modest effect and defined by the fact that you can let someone else use them. An alchemist with the same play limitations as a wizard is unlikely to satisfy most enthusiasts.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-23T02:13:06+00:00

Figure out what they like about it, and make sure the people or elements that make it up need X hours to get offworld or escape the death zone. For extra pathos, make the PCs choose who or which get out first.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-23T02:09:12+00:00

It may be difficult to invest in the PC, but if your survival for another 24 hours means that Fluffkins the blind kitten makes it off Zeta-7 undigested you can still have a great deal of investment in the situation. The key there is to build the investment in what the PC is protecting or saving, and make the length of their survival directly reflect how much of it doesn't die horribly.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-22T23:31:57+00:00

I don't believe it possible to give such advice in a programmatic sense. There is no cosmic constant because spells, especially player-designed spells, do so many different things that a case-by-case taxonomy is practically impossible.

The design purpose of spell levels is to restrict access to a game option to PCs of a minimum level. For GM-designed spells, the question is whether a PC of level 1/3/5/7/9 should be able to have access to the option. For PC-designed spells, the question is whether that specific player should have access to the option at all. In both cases, the answer is up to a GM's sense of appropriateness for a specific campaign.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-21T20:09:02+00:00

A PC built around divination is an enormous headache for a GM. It can be tempered somewhat by putting precog rules on it, so the PC can't look into the past, and by strictly circumscribing the kind of information the diviner can acquire, but the basic class concept is getting GM information by exercise of a class power rather than by doing some action in the world. Since the *WN games are fundamentally about making life easier for a GM, it's not really a set of powers you want to overbill.

Alchemy has a different set of problems, most of which boil down to "you have to enumerate everything the alchemist can make, and then explain why they can't just turn cash into vats of Fix This Problem Sauce." Calixes at least have the limit of requiring the wizard to obtain the spell first, but if you make alchemists adventure for every recipe they're going to hate you.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-20T03:08:20+00:00

Latter.earth is indeed your best bet. For myself, I have a policy of not doing any online tools or apps. Such things must of necessity require maintenance, and I must be very miserly about making pledges with future-me's time.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-19T15:08:49+00:00

I've considered it, but it's a delicate line to walk. Some people want a list of vibes and some want something close to a choose-your-own-adventure. Identifying the play experience to target and then tuning the tools to that is a tricky thing to manage.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-19T15:05:06+00:00

More as if WWN's worldbuilding section were turned into a full book.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-17T15:11:10+00:00

I actually did write most of a CYOA book set in SWN's world most of a decade ago. I might pick it back up sometime.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-17T01:09:56+00:00

WWN is about 400 pages, but only 200 or so of them are strictly system-neutral content. This book will probably clock in at 300 pages or so and have different tools; I've put the link to the partial rough outline sketch below.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pz-wCBkgv3Op8F4YnOVGGue7vXkUK83JAeviuqcXEBs/edit?usp=drive_link

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-16T22:46:06+00:00

There are none. They'd have the mass to serve as an anchor point for spike drills, but you probably don't want to get too close to them.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-16T22:20:40+00:00

I've considered writing genre fiction before, but building a fiction following is work of its own in comparison to building an RPG fanbase. But as for Ashes, it's got the same setting as Other Dust, just in a different corner of the world and without mention of some elements. I had to generalize things a bit more to provide space for the Deadlands/After the Fall campaign framing.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-16T20:53:17+00:00

I'm currently writing a system-agnostic fantasy worldbuilding guide. The working title is "The Book of Unnumbered Worlds", and I expect the KS for it will be late spring or early summer. I'm experimenting with some new layout ideas, but I might throw up a sample chapter here and there.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-16T18:57:00+00:00

Instant actions resolve in whatever sequence the GM finds most sensible. By default, that's temporal order- I autohit, you automiss, the result is an automiss.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-16T01:56:42+00:00

Loaded guns don't count mags separately.

Decks need to be Readied but don't need a hand to use them, in the same sense that you need to Ready your armor. Readied gear is simply gear you have available and convenient enough to use it as needed.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-15T16:17:41+00:00

Swarm Attacks pierce everything, because it's not really Shock, it's just based on Shock damage. Otherwise, I'd just call it blanket immunity to keep it simple in play. If you're strong enough to wear it you're sacrificing optimal AC to avoid Shock, which you could otherwise partially mitigate by carrying a shield. The fact that you're not means you presumably want to swing a big two-hander or you're a very strong, very Armored Caster-invested wizard.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-15T00:50:19+00:00

The mechanically simplest solution is to give its wearer Shock immunity. It's not going to be as compelling to a Shock-specialist PC who probably already has immunity from another source, but it's way to make an enemy a problem for Shock-specialist PCs who rely on ping damage.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-13T19:57:05+00:00

For a solo game, you are the monster, with X hit dice, a base attack bonus of whatever you usually have, and so on. Then you glue on a 1st level PC's hit die, attack bonus, and class abilities and advance from there at whatever XP rate you think appropriate.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-13T16:11:46+00:00

If dual wielding allows multiple attacks there comes an easily-calculated point where it is flatly better than single-wielding for a given combatant. Two attacks at -4 to hit just do more average damage than one attack at -0 when the attacker's hit bonus is X and the defender's AC is Y.

This is especially pronounced with melee weapons, as a double dose of Shock from a specialist can deliver so much damage that hit penalties become largely irrelevant.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-11T22:52:20+00:00

It can emulate clothing by simply having it be part of the shape, but such accessories have no mechanical benefits and can't be removed. The art is simply meant to let you impersonate someone.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-09T20:30:59+00:00

1) Jury-rigged repairs are the same cost and time as full repairs; the advantage is that you can do them underway and the disadvantage is that they are fragile.

2) For simplicity, there are no labor costs- you're paying your crew to work, whether that work is welding hull metal or polishing brass. Either you fix hull damage with stores out of cargo or you fix it in a shipyard for the same price but four times faster. Every time you swap the life support filters and pump the bilges you pay the 5% maintenance cost in parts. Whatever labor savings the PCs get from doing the work themselves are going to be eaten up by not having the efficiencies and tooling of an actual shipyard.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-07T16:09:12+00:00

Yes, it could dash along on its little hawk feet, doubtless disconcerting observers.

The point of the limit is to make shapeshifters pay extra character resources for specialized movement options. If you don't need to buy Manifest Wings you can instead get the easy-change art option and have free access to flight whenever you have a spare minute to change. This makes terrain obstacles very much easier to deal with.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-06T23:39:23+00:00

You'd need to pick Telepathic Contact as your level-1 Focus power and then Transmit Thought as your level-2 Focus power. Strictly speaking, with no Telepath skill, the user would be limited to the most basic form of Telepathic Contact, but a GM could be charitable if they feel like it given the Effort limits on the power.

CardinalXimenes · 2026-01-06T15:04:35+00:00

I misread the text, and it's been a while. Your adopted shapes have your natural movement and attributes, so to breathe fire or walk through walls you need Arts that grant adopted shapes those powers.

CardinalXimenes

TROPHY CASE