Sat Oct 21, 2006 1:22 pm by Eli
My thoughts on the game stops for spells:
Rather than calling them over and over how about a simple statement before the battle to the scene narrator of what spells are being cast. This will of course require those npcing to understand a spell is.
When a particular spell goes off the caster blows a whistle or something and this lets the npcs know to take the damage. As for where or who takes it that can be explained by spell.
Please note there really are just the three big ones.
First River of Stone
We are preparing river of stone in the keep to go out the door when the door falls in. The NPC's are beating their way in. The caster finishes the spell, puts their hands above their head to indicate they are for the duration of the spell oog. (This is only the time it takes them to move forward and show where the spell hits and come back). They can make it clear that something nasty just happened by blowing a whistle. There is no dodging the spell (unless you have a skill). NPC can keep going keep fighting, but the Caster runs by them OOG and taps you with a weapon to let you know you just got hit by the spell. Instead of repeatedly blowing a whistle they could simply blow it once to draw attention, then they could even scream "river of stone 10" over and over as they move through the NPCS. Zero game stop required.
Issue 1:
I see the issues once again of people moving after the spell finished, or stepping aside to avoid being in the effected area. Well too bad no arguments allowed. If the caster says they hit you, you're hit. Get over it. I mean no arguing, zero. No game stopping. Just take the damage and then die or keep going if you still have soak left. We leave it to the caster to look to see who is in their spell area when they finish, and they let those affected know. They move by with their hands above their head with say a staff (which btw would be about the same length as their arms are spread) in their hands saying the call and hitting people. A simple nod by the NPC could indicate that they acknowledge the hit. (Please note I use this in the form of pc casting on npcs. As we all experienced this goes both ways.)
Issue 2:
The caster will be in the way OOG. Well that's just crap. First, it is a freaking wall of ROCK, those tend to get in your way, especially when they are MOVING. Second, people who die while NPCing move thru the ranks of combat oog all the time! Just move out of the way and keep going. Problem solved.
Issue 3:
NPC's wont hear us over the battle and wont take the damage unless there is a game stop... That's where the very loud recess type whistle comes in. And while I cannot speak for every single mage in the game I know most of you can scream while you’re oog and moving through npcs.
Issue 4:
The caster will be oog for the time it takes them to go out and hit people, and that's not fair, we should have the chance to hit them with a arrow or something. To bad so sad. If you want to reduce / eliminate games stops there is a price to pay. Else it simply sucks to be an arcane because you can NEVER work with another Arcane. Heck you can change the spell description to read something like "after releasing the spell a large mystical mound of rocks encompasses the caster making them invincible" during this time the cast will go oog and move thru the battle field blowing a whistle with their hands up to indicate the spell effect going off.
Fire storm: spell seems to me to work as is. Simply blow a whistle or something to let people know it went off, Scream out the damage and the word all, presto No game stop required. Keep doing what ever you were doing.
The key here would be to let people know when they hear a whistle they are probably being hit with something.
The Ice Storm or what ever it is called spell book packed:
This could have been handled better at the event by the PC’s. Mike was there and knew we were casting, we should have taken the time to detail the plan to him and come to an agreement, that while the spells would really be lagged in game, oog we needed them to go off at one time to keep game going smoothly. We could have then let him know that basically we’d call one stop, cast, and then he could have simply reduced the numbers accordingly. I mean, 12 vorpal at one time kills most things. Assume the only limit is the strength of the throwing arm of the casters. I know if we could get 150-200 people to march in formation I could personally throw two packets that would encompass most of them if not all using myself as the third point, or at least a large chunk. That’s why we Americans stopped marching into battle in formation a few hundred years ago, only then it was cannons not spells, but basically it had the same effect. 12 canons go off at once and rip 80% of the company to shreds vs. 10% if we are spaced out… hmm.
This one needs more work and all the rules stuff I’ve been doing today has made my head hurt. I’ll think on it more, perhaps another will have an idea before then.
I will say that forcing casters to go off at the same time does not seem like a good solution to me. This seems to me to be the best way to handle things, with less games stops but still being effective as an arcane.
-Eli (Full Elvish: Elaith Vonaduran Craulnober)
There once was a man named Eli,
A man who claimed he could not die.
But one thing makes him wail:
That's when there is no ALE!
Thus his tale: with no beer, he will cry.
(The dark haired, green eyed mage child has faded into the past leaving behind one not quite an adult, but clearly no longer a child. The warrior-mage mixture that he has become can only be described as a survivor. )