I ask because they provided some of greatest comedy of the weekend... especially the Good Oak Tree lammie, which was tied to a pine that was less than ten feet away from an actual oak, and apparently allowed PCs to harvest best quality yew.

I want to run a game now that has illogical lammies on everything... Slightly Dented Tankard, lets you harvest four units of Poor Quality Sheep!

Ascendancy LRP: Redvers Fenn-Cooper

Crimson Requiem: Crew

Real Life: Doug McKerracher

Quis custodiet ipsos custard?

They get tied to any old tree physrep. (They used to be on the approriate tree type but it seemed sensible to make players search for them after they 'chop' down the first one... hence they aint always on the correct physrep. Otherwise the Oak is always in the same place which is dull)

Usually they provide the same wood as the tree type it represents.

I have no explanation for why it would provide Yew instead of Oak. However its entirely possible given the environmental problems of the game world and probably explained why no one cut it down IC. It may well do exactly what it says. It may be a spoogley weird magic tree. I wouldn't be cutting it down to find out....

Cataclysm could quite concievably have the 'dented tankard' lammy. It might well produce sheep. Who knows. that could be a double edged sword... especially if you keep it in a bag and it spontaneously produces a sheep at an inconvenient moment.

especially as the organisers have a ready supply of livestock physreps.

Weird shite like that is what happens when you experiment with enchantment....

Did you find any Spidars or Spyders?

And we put the Ideal Snake Habitat lammie in the gents, because... well... it seemed funny at the time.

Moon Pool!

Ascendancy LRP: Redvers Fenn-Cooper

Crimson Requiem: Crew

Real Life: Doug McKerracher

Quis custodiet ipsos custard?

Gents is occassionally where snakes are found bizarrely enough!

Hmmm.... the moon pool.

Was the pool still there?

Ascendancy LRP: Redvers Fenn-Cooper

Crimson Requiem: Crew

Real Life: Doug McKerracher

Quis custodiet ipsos custard?

Yup... that would be where it 'was'... I was a bit worried they'd left the prop on site......

Shven (4/11/2007)

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The lammies were a tad strange to us shards players. Complex maths? In a LRP system? My brain hurts!

From reading through the cataclysm rules it does seem really complicated. Does it seem that way from playing it or is that just an outside impression?

Shven

Interesting that... that was exactly my fear when I first read them. fortunately it doesn't work out like that. Ill try and explain but you should really talk to the organisers directly as for reasons explained below Im only aware of rules that apply to my character or those that have been used on me.

Character creation is more like a roleplaying game with skill costs based on attribute points. You get a racial template for attributes which you can then customise a little this then defines how expensive buying certain skills is to you... there is however no restriction at all on what skills you can buy just that things outside your aptitude will be very expensive.

However you don't make your character on your own you do it with the Refs in a little tent when you first arrive so they do all the complex math for you. If you wanted to play and indicated on the forum generally they ask you for a concept and then p[epare a race template with some basic skills for when you arrive and chat with you about how you'd like to customise your character and how your particular concept works in the system. They then help out with a crib card if neccessary.

All that maths actually breaks down into fairly simple things so when you actually play its very very very easy. Instead of a huge equation to carry out you know that you personally can bounce X many normal blows before you take damage or that you can use your 'special powers' X times before youll need to rest.

The cards you see provide the information you need to work out the effect on you personally without having to give away to everyone else the effect it has on you. Alternatively you just ask a player ref the first time you find one and theyll tell you in 'simple terms' so that you know how it applys to your character.

In general once you get the hang of it it all get quite simple really.

Oner of the major system features is that the rules given on the Web are the most basic. Indeed i'd largely iognore the development tables as they are really there for established players to get an idea of costs betwixt events. There are many other skills and rules available and the base rules should be thought of as a player handbook. Skills for particular classes and disciplines are only given to those who have them which is very nice because it means I have absolutely no idea what a (say) fire mage might be able to do. Infact unless he does something he might be lying about being a mage at all. One fire mage may differ vastly from the next so it puts the paranoia back in the game. Theres no 'well I know what spells he has and how many times he can cast them' going on. All magical effects are customisable by the player with a general concept that if you can physrep it then it can probably be done (though it may cost you a massive pile of 'XP') (i.e. blind spells use camera flash bulbs, if you get a firestorm cast on you the mage will create a small ball of flame-flash paper...unless he's to close for him to do so safely)

To that extent the system is constantly in development as it is perfectly possible to create new 'spell/physical effect disciplines'. The maths for this is as you say quite complex but neccessary to allow for a fair method of personal customisation and effect creation. Once the maths has been done however the actual effect is fairly simple.

The onus on the game is heavily toward self reffing and anyone abusing that would I imagine get extremely short shrift in the game because it would break it.... anyone who didn't buy in would probably not be allowed back. Players are expected to roleplay effects as far as possible and it is down to a powerful mage to explain the effect on the person he cast it on and down to that person to (a) trust his opponent and (b) roleplay the effect... which is why its not everyones cup of tea.

The forums welcome questions about the sytem and if you want to discuss a character concept its best to PM or email the administrators directly so they can talk to you about it without giving away the game to everyone else.

The game is intended to run with a minimum of monsters and inter player conflict is encouraged for good roleplay reasons and by limiting neccessary resources. Like food/minerals etc.

They are quite lucky in that they have a professional prop maker in Pete Williams who works on feature films who helps with things like flaming meteors.

Obviously though their are explosions and things so theres stuff that goes on that would probably be considered an insurance or health and safety nightmare by more paranoid systems/players...

Oh and weapons checking amuses me. they check the person whose going to use the weapon first and then look at the weapon second.... cos lets face it... some folk aren't capable with even the best padded weapon....