Ok dokey, I'm not actually offended more just mildly amused at the bizarre request.

When you've got something else put up, like, rules for artisans, apothecaries/herbalists/first aid stick something on here to say the rules have been updated and I'll have a look.

And "chanelling"?  Two l's.  ;-)  It's because it ends consonant-vowel-consonant and the stress is on the last syllable (and it's not kidnap or worship).

I wouldn't say its useless by any means - don't forget that to get armour-bypassing skills you need to dedicate 50% of your chargen skills or spend significant in game time getting to that point. And then you only get 3 calls per day (or 6 if you dedicate fully into weapon use rather than body dev or any of the other warrior skills). And heavy armour will probably give you 6 extra hits per with the potential to regenerate after fights (still discussing that and how it might work)

I think its less calls overall than distinguishing between one handed and two handed weapons - and calling single/double each time - its hard to work out who's hit you with what in a mass melee so I'm not a massive fan of that type of damage call.

Re just turning up and playing - I agree with you that we do need to cater for people like this. We'll be doing a QuickStart guide with the basic rules on (ie how many hits you have, how much armour gives, what calls do what etc)

Being a strong proponent of agile development, I'm putting these rules up in beta form so we can draw on a far wider experience than we can summon between the people writing them. Apologies if you're expecting full finished rules to go through - I'd rather mitigate the risk of rework and get opinions early so we can at least be happy that we've thought about the various issues, even if we don't accept all the suggestions.

Crazy like Croolis-Ulv!

That would be my issue with things like the various level of "track".  Sounds like a good idea on paper but how on earth do you ref it? 

Other skills that are poorly thought out and have no place in a well designed system would include:

Sense Trap (with no corresponding ability to Disarm Trap)

Detect Truth (don't even go there)

Sniff (to tell what someone's race is.  I understand there are things called, "Phys reps" to help with that)

As for calls.  Grr.  Poorly thought out calls really get up my nose.  Take this "Crush" business apparently it's there to represent certain highly specific violence taking place to a specific bit of armour.  So, how does "crush" affect shields?  What about "Strikedown"?  Can you stop a SD with a block?  Do you intend to differentiate between blocking (I put my sword in the way) and parrying (I use my sword to redirect the force of your blow harmlessly past me)?  What if you have a shield, are you struck down then? 

I'm all up for a bit of Disarm, but how do you want it to work, what does it work against?  Can only polearm users disarm pole arms?  Can you disarm with a dagger?  I thought a 2 tier system would address that sort of thing, but YMMV.

The only way to test some of these things is in play, but you can limit the amount you have to test for (and save me from having to read the same bloody tedious discussions on Rule7) if you plan ahead and make sure that you've thought about it in advance.

Ultimately " the Rule no 7" is your helpmate, players can and will abuse the rules rather than stick to the spirit, but, there are also players, like me, who don't know you, but give you money and come along.  I'd rather head off having someone shout abuse at me and call me a cheat because my understanding of what they'd written and it's logical consequences was different from theirs.  Most typically this sort of thing comes when you have magic start getting involved.  Your magic system is completely hidden at the start of the game, and I respect that, but "agile development" won't help when people start mining it for ming, you need to have thought about it beforehand and tried to beta-test for unexpected bugs.  That will catch some and there will always be stuff that you didn't expect that comes up in play, but the hallmark of professionals is attempting to anticipate as much as possible.

Slow day at work today, does it show? 

I am being well thick here.  I can't find where it says big weapons do extra damage.  Help?

I reckon, have a smith or leather worker check your armour and do it in double quick time.  A "realistic" time might be 10 mins/loc, but bugger that for a game of soldiers.  I reckon 2-5 mins/loc dependent on armour type and skill level is a bit more like it, and if you're an expert in your field?  Maybe as little as a minute per.  That will encourage diversity.

Another question is: do props cost IC resources?  I know a man who wore 7 swords in case of "shatter" spells, he could do this because it was easier to just change weapons than faff about with weapon repair.  If you can only do a single through before your sword breaks, then surely having lots of swords is the answer, especially if a good one costs too much?

Pragmatic yes.  In keeping with your idea, no.  Cheating?  Why?