Fronela?
- Thread starter The King
- Start date
Blackyinkin
Mongoose
Hi,
I also had the privilage of reading Loz's Fronela over the weekend and must say that I have been friends with Loz for over 17 years and this book made me really hate him. I am a Gloranthan writer, and have worked on a number of supplements, however I am continually envious of Loz's ability to produce solid, entertaining and well researched supplements in a matter of weeks, his work is astounding.
The Supplement is packed with Gloranthan Goodness from the good city backgrounds, strong history, excellent short scenario and more. You can find information on the Hsunchen of Fronela, discover the secrets of Ernalda the Serpent and Orlanth the Scale, the chivalrous Hrestoli and other rich and detailed cults.
This is an area of Glorantha I formerly had little interest in, but after reading this rich, well structured and most importantly playable supplement, I now have plans to purchase a copy and run a game here.
Once again congratulations Loz (bah humbug).
Simon
I also had the privilage of reading Loz's Fronela over the weekend and must say that I have been friends with Loz for over 17 years and this book made me really hate him. I am a Gloranthan writer, and have worked on a number of supplements, however I am continually envious of Loz's ability to produce solid, entertaining and well researched supplements in a matter of weeks, his work is astounding.
The Supplement is packed with Gloranthan Goodness from the good city backgrounds, strong history, excellent short scenario and more. You can find information on the Hsunchen of Fronela, discover the secrets of Ernalda the Serpent and Orlanth the Scale, the chivalrous Hrestoli and other rich and detailed cults.
This is an area of Glorantha I formerly had little interest in, but after reading this rich, well structured and most importantly playable supplement, I now have plans to purchase a copy and run a game here.
Once again congratulations Loz (bah humbug).
Simon
duncan_disorderly
Mongoose
It's on Esdevium's new release sheet for this week, so should be in UK games shops from around Wednesday. I think most European Shops tend to match the UK release dates. I have no idea about those further afield though...The King said:
Lord High Munchkin
Mongoose
I liked it on a quick read... but there is oddly no Order of St Talor (or even St Gerlant - I had hoped slightly that he might appear too, as he is also a Western "Mega-saint").
Inspector Zero
Mongoose
I like it. I like it very much. I think the quest fits nicely with the approach we've also seen with Blood of Orlanth and Dara Happa stirs. The material is excellent, as always superbly written by Loz, is full of great ideas and is just rich, rich, rich in background!
One thing that is a bit of a surprise is the sorcery abilities of the NPCs listed seem quite low. Granted, Merasch has 75% in Diminish (SIZ) but most others, including the Wizard Abbott in the scenario, have lower spells scores. Speaking of the Wizard Abbott, it says his tactics in a fight are to cast Damage Resistance Magnitude 8 upon himself. How does he do this with Manipulation (Magnitude) 45% and Damage Resistance 44%? By my reckoning the best he can get is 5 pts of Damage Resistance.
I would imagine that some PCs would have sorcery skills and spells at percentages in excess of these and wouldn't think themselves Grand Magi. Am I reading this with my RQII/III hat on? The NPC levels must be deliberate and I wonder if so, what the rationale behind it is.
I'd make amendments to these as I saw fit but overall it's a great piece of work. The more I read it, the more I like it.
One thing that is a bit of a surprise is the sorcery abilities of the NPCs listed seem quite low. Granted, Merasch has 75% in Diminish (SIZ) but most others, including the Wizard Abbott in the scenario, have lower spells scores. Speaking of the Wizard Abbott, it says his tactics in a fight are to cast Damage Resistance Magnitude 8 upon himself. How does he do this with Manipulation (Magnitude) 45% and Damage Resistance 44%? By my reckoning the best he can get is 5 pts of Damage Resistance.
I would imagine that some PCs would have sorcery skills and spells at percentages in excess of these and wouldn't think themselves Grand Magi. Am I reading this with my RQII/III hat on? The NPC levels must be deliberate and I wonder if so, what the rationale behind it is.
I'd make amendments to these as I saw fit but overall it's a great piece of work. The more I read it, the more I like it.
Deleriad
Mongoose
Without having read Fronela but having noticed the same issue in Blood of Orlanth, what I think is happening is a case of the writers playing by the rules. By that I mean, if a scenario is written for seasoned PCs then the NPCs tend be built on the same points as seasoned PCs.
I noticed this because I've been writing a few scenarios for beginning PCs to play through before starting Blood of Orlanth and as a discipline, I'm trying to give major NPCs about the same level of skills as PCs. Seasoned PCs get a total of 140% in cultural skills, 50% in professional skills and 150% in free skills. Building NPCs on the same points can be quite challenging especially if you give them heavy armour and the armour skill penalty kicks in.
There has always been a mismatch between NPCs and PCs in RQ, MRQ is just making it apparent. If you played by the book it would take literally decades of game time to get a character to qualify as a wizard. In the past people have just fudged this.
Consider a wizard knowing seven spells, 5 arts, persistence, language and the relevant lores. To get a flat +30% in all of those would require +450% and that's getting close to legendary hero type character generation. Yet even with optimal stats that's still not reaching 75% in any skills. Basically, if Mongoose are going to maintain a policy of building NPCs as they would do PCs, they're going to need to rethink some details - especially where sorcery is concerned - to make sure the numbers add up.
I noticed this because I've been writing a few scenarios for beginning PCs to play through before starting Blood of Orlanth and as a discipline, I'm trying to give major NPCs about the same level of skills as PCs. Seasoned PCs get a total of 140% in cultural skills, 50% in professional skills and 150% in free skills. Building NPCs on the same points can be quite challenging especially if you give them heavy armour and the armour skill penalty kicks in.
There has always been a mismatch between NPCs and PCs in RQ, MRQ is just making it apparent. If you played by the book it would take literally decades of game time to get a character to qualify as a wizard. In the past people have just fudged this.
Consider a wizard knowing seven spells, 5 arts, persistence, language and the relevant lores. To get a flat +30% in all of those would require +450% and that's getting close to legendary hero type character generation. Yet even with optimal stats that's still not reaching 75% in any skills. Basically, if Mongoose are going to maintain a policy of building NPCs as they would do PCs, they're going to need to rethink some details - especially where sorcery is concerned - to make sure the numbers add up.
Inspector Zero
Mongoose
Jeez, do they make you do everything? Surely they've got subbies for that kind of thing? Do they make you bind the books too?
The original comment wasn't a crit btw, I just didn't understand. You are something of a one-man mongoose machine at the moment. I love it, keep it up.
Loz
Mongoose
Nah - its a team effort. Thing is, RPG books are more than just picking up on typos. As you, and Deleriad, point out, there's all the stats, the ramifications, how the numbers are arrived at and so on. Its easy to miss things like that, no matter how many sets of eyes get set on a book.
I check through the manuscript before handing it over to the editor. The editor does his or her work and hands it to our Editorial Assistant for layout, and he does more work, then a proof comes back to me for a final check before it goes to print. In between that, there's a playtest process. But things can, and do, get missed!
Nor was it taken as one! But there are three other Mongoose writers out there, beavering away every bit as hard as me, plus the unseen, unsung crew in Swindon. Its just a whole rash of books I've worked on are coming through the presses right now. Believe me, everyone else slugs away too, and I wouldn't want them forgotten.
Lord High Munchkin
Mongoose
On further reading, I like it - a great depth of information with some nice touches and flourishes.
The omission of St Talor however still jars though - He's pretty much the patron saint of Fronela (obviously along with St Herestol, of course). Is his order going to be detailed (hopefully along with Saint Gerlant!!) in the supplimentary book?
The omission of St Talor however still jars though - He's pretty much the patron saint of Fronela (obviously along with St Herestol, of course). Is his order going to be detailed (hopefully along with Saint Gerlant!!) in the supplimentary book?
Loz
Mongoose
There's definitely scope for extending the cults to Gerlant and Talor. There were space considerations, and it became kind of a toss-up over which would get detailed. However, no reason why these couldn't become S&P pieces, and, in fact, I'd like to see how others come up with these cults, using the Fronela book cult examples as templates.
But yes: an extended Fronela would include these cults - plus some for the Hsunchen, too.
But yes: an extended Fronela would include these cults - plus some for the Hsunchen, too.
Lord High Munchkin
Mongoose
I just thought it odd that three draconic cults were included, but not Saint Talor, given his importance to Fronela (and the whole of the West). It seemed a strange weighting.
Inspector Zero
Mongoose
The fact that they live in Swindon must make this more difficult...
