Character Sheet Is Up!!!

[andakitty]

Malakor, you are the MAN! Thank you for the character sheet.

 

[Malakor]

Malakor, you are the MAN! Thank you for the character sheet.

You are Quite Welcome. I hope it serves you well.

 

[atgxtg]

Very confusing. To me a good character picture is a much more important play aide (for the actual role-playing) than the numbers on the character sheet. Without the picture the character sheet is just a spread sheet of numbers and text.

Then again I have a truly excellent artist in my gaming circle, and the way I mostly game the character sheets (and game system) are handled by the GM. The players just describe what they are doing and throw dice as the GM asks.

(Hârnmaster, and GURPS mostly, and my own Unisystem games, of course)

It's that "excellent artist" thing that makes the difference. I like having character pointrats too. In Star Trek I used to take photos and put then into uniform. I helped in getting into the midset of that partulcar character when I was GMing. In other games, I've put character pics on a page too.

Unfortantely, that requires some artistic ability to pull off, (or these days a computer, a printer and acess to some images).

But most og the gamers I've met (hey, most of the non-gamers, too) can't draw very well. In one GRUPS campaign the "best character portrait" award when to the guy who drew a strick figure of his elf-complete with pointed ears. No one else even did that.

 

[atgxtg]

Malakor's Two Page Character Sheet is Out

 

[Ravelli]

Malakor's Two Page Character Sheet is Out

.... and so is Mongoose's! :wink: :!:

Seriously, there's a *new* version of the official MRQ character sheet now available for download.

The Dexterity formatting error's been fixed, the watermark/background removed and the Drive skill's been changed to "Driving", which should end any speculaton as to its function.

There's now an additional page that covers equipment, cults and spells and a third that details a sample character.

The Barbarian Shaman's sheet provides a few more insights into the system. For instance, it's clear that there *isn't* any further "base skill percentage" added to the characteristic(s) listed with each skill. Also, the advanced skills mentioned make for interesting reading and obviously stem from this character's Cultural Background and Profession.

Anyway, the new sheet strikes me as clean, clear and functional with only a couple of things I'd change.

 

[estarriol]

Malakor's Two Page Character Sheet is Out

.... and so is Mongoose's! :wink: :!:

Seriously, there's a *new* version of the official MRQ character sheet now available for download.

The Dexterity formatting error's been fixed, the watermark/background removed and the Drive skill's been changed to "Driving", which should end any speculaton as to its function.

There's now an additional page that covers equipment, cults and spells and a third that details a sample character.

The Barbarian Shaman's sheet provides a few more insights into the system. For instance, it's clear that there *isn't* any further "base skill percentage" added to the characteristic(s) listed with each skill. Also, the advanced skills mentioned make for interesting reading and obviously stem from this character's Cultural Background and Profession.

Anyway, the new sheet strikes me as clean, clear and functional with only a couple of things I'd change.

Hmmm, I wonder why Driving is considered a basic skill for all, but Riding isn't there?

 

[Ravelli]

Hmmm, I wonder why Driving is considered a basic skill for all, but Riding isn't there?

Nah, it's there mate, I think you just fumbled your Perception check. :wink: Looks like they've got the basics covered with Boating, Driving and Riding.

 

[Gallowglass]

Malakor's Two Page Character Sheet is Out

.... and so is Mongoose's! :wink: :!:

Seriously, there's a *new* version of the official MRQ character sheet now available for download.

...

:lol:

Oh dear. Perhaps they should just get someone to design a sheet FOR them, if the two efforts so far are the best they can manage? Or just adopt Malakor's?

Cheers,

NDM
NDM

 

[estarriol]

Hmmm, I wonder why Driving is considered a basic skill for all, but Riding isn't there?

Nah, it's there mate, I think you just fumbled your Perception check. :wink: Looks like they've got the basics covered with Boating, Driving and Riding.

D'oh, could have sworn it wasn't there when I looked earlier.

I wonder what the advanced healing skill is, you get first aid as basic and healing magics (I hope).

 

[Ravelli]

I wonder what the advanced healing skill is, you get first aid as basic and healing magics (I hope).

Yeah, that's a weird one alright; especially considering Healing is INT+POW rather than First Aid's simple INT. And why the discrepancy between Sing as a basic skill and Dance as advanced?

I'm also a little surprised that Influence is 10+CHA rather than CHA+POW, but I guess these things could be argued until the cows (war bison?) come home ...

Overall I'm quite happy with the design decision to base starting skill percentages directly off Characteristics. It's an elegant solution that removes an extraneous level of complexity from the game. What's the point in deriving a seperate skill bonus from characteristics and adding that to skills (an approach also taken by d20 )? Far easier to simply use the char score as the bonus instead and allow each point to have at least some value.

 

[Malakor]

Well, looks like I didn't do too badly for shooting in the dark with a blindfold.

Cool

 

[Jaldon Goldentooth]

Any guesses as to what the percentages in brackets/parenthesis next to some of the skills are on the sample character?

e.g. Acrobatics 11% (9%)

 

[Archer]

Any guesses as to what the percentages in brackets/parenthesis next to some of the skills are on the sample character?

e.g. Acrobatics 11% (9%)

I suspect it is due tgo encumbrance, or due to wearing armour, that the character has a temporary penalty to those skills.

 

[Turloigh]

And why the discrepancy between Sing as a basic skill and Dance as advanced?

I asked that question during the early playtesting phase, but I'm afraid to admit that it was ignored.

Also, I never understood what the phantom "-ing" is doing behind Boat, Drive, Ride, and Throw skills. (Strangely enough, it was lost from Dodging and Singing). And there is still no Swim skill.

Overall I'm quite happy with the design decision to base starting skill percentages directly off Characteristics. It's an elegant solution that removes an extraneous level of complexity from the game.

That I can agree with.

However, on the whole I feel disappointed.

(For the record, my biggest concern is the lack of general hit points. Without them, fights that should have been resolved in a couple of rounds dragged on forever.)

 

[Archer]

...And there is still no Swim skill.

Would not that be part of the Athletics skill? I would think so.

(For the record, my biggest concern is the lack of general hit points. Without them, fights that should have been resolved in a couple of rounds dragged on forever.)

I have similar experience with Hit Location only HPs from other games. Since hit location most often are determined randomly, it is seldom you hit the same location in a row, and drop the opponent by doing so. Instead you will keep hacking at him, nicking him here and there.
The solution my players at that time used was; Ignore small weapons, they are useless. Use only the weapons that deals the most damage.
In the end, no-one fought with daggers, maces, shortswords, or longswords anymore. They opted for the Greatsword (2d10+2) and the Greataxe(3d10), since they could finish an opponent in armor off with one blow, if you were lucky.

This could have been solved by introducing a sort of "damage trauma" check to see if the damage inflicted were enough to make the opponent pass out, but that would have slowed down the game to a crawl.

 

[Wulf Corbett]

I have similar experience with Hit Location only HPs from other games. Since hit location most often are determined randomly, it is seldom you hit the same location in a row, and drop the opponent by doing so. Instead you will keep hacking at him, nicking him here and there.

But everyone knows you only ever hit the Left Leg in RuneQuest! Or was that just us...

The solution my players at that time used was; Ignore small weapons, they are useless. Use only the weapons that deals the most damage.

Presumably they also only ran the high-STR characters with no interest in concealed weapons that went with that choice?

EDIT: to further that comment, had any of the players actually tried lugging those weapons around? I've briefly hauled a Greatsword/Claymore around (steel reenactment), frequently a decent-length spear and halberd (6'+), and more often, and for far longer, numerous LARP latex weapons of the same size (vastly lighter, but just as bulky). They're universally a bitch to get through any sort of indoor or confined areas (including ruins, forest, dungeons, etc). Even a decent-size shield takes all your concentration to walk though a modern building without causing a disaster!

Wulf

 

[Archer]

I have similar experience with Hit Location only HPs from other games. Since hit location most often are determined randomly, it is seldom you hit the same location in a row, and drop the opponent by doing so. Instead you will keep hacking at him, nicking him here and there.

But everyone knows you only ever hit the Left Leg in RuneQuest! Or was that just us...

Well, not in RuneQuest, but game with similar mechanics, and we also hit the left leg very often. Hit Location and numbers representing which looked pretty much as the MRQ hit location table, so I have no real explanation for it. Mathematically, there should not be a greater chance to roll 1-3.

The solution my players at that time used was; Ignore small weapons, they are useless. Use only the weapons that deals the most damage.

Presumably they also only ran the high-STR characters with no interest in concealed weapons that went with that choice?

Wulf

Correct. High STR and High SIZ, because it became a requirement to deal damage. So at least two out of six players tried to create characters that was effectively tanks (granted this was very long ago - roughly 18-19 years ago, when we ran a lot more combat). Maxed out Armor and Damage Bonus, then wielding the largest damage dealing weapon available.
Effective against "normal" opponents such as humans. Against creatures with even more HP per hit location, even this was not sufficient.
And to deal with that, they usually included a Elemtalist wizards, with a spell called "Explosion", which dealed 1d6 points of damage per Magnitude (1 Magic Point per Magnitude, -5% per magnitude to cast the spell). By utilizing amulets, talismans etc. these wizards usually succeeded in casting a Mag 10 Explosion dealing 10d6, to deal with high HP + High Armour opponents.
(statistics and terminology translated to current MRQ terminology for ease of discussion, but basically the game was very similar in construction).

To go back to the topic of this thread; Why does not the "boxes" of information on the front page have the same scroll-background as it has on the backside? that would make it look uniform and easier to read.
Only the two lowest sections on the front page have that scroll box around them.

 

[AikiGhost]

Any guesses as to what the percentages in brackets/parenthesis next to some of the skills are on the sample character?

e.g. Acrobatics 11% (9%)

Is it just me or do these percentages seem extremely low?

 

[Archer]

Any guesses as to what the percentages in brackets/parenthesis next to some of the skills are on the sample character?

e.g. Acrobatics 11% (9%)

Is it just me or do these percentages seem extremely low?

They seem very low.

They are in the same range that basic skills are for characters in WFRP2 compared to WFRP1. And I have to say, in WFRP2, characters are such klutzes that I hesitate to even call for rolls when it is important rolls (I do not have them roll for everything).

Starting around 30-40% would have been much better. Below 30% and a character will mostly be a klutz, not a hero.

 

[SteveMND]

They seem very low.

Well, they appear to be absolute minimum base percentages. It doesn't seem to include any sort of 'cultural bases' (which implies that they aren't used) not does it seem to include any 'previous experience' via character generation (which implies similarly that they aren't used either).