From: "Nadler, David" <[n--dl--d] at [uh2297p01.daytonoh.ncr.com]> Subject: DQN - July 1996 - v3n7 Date: Fri, 02 Aug 1996 12:33:00 EDT ================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter July 1996 || || || || Volume 3 / Number 7 || ================================================================ The DQ Newsletter is for discussions of the DragonQuest role playing game. The key addresses you need to know are: Philip Proefrock (Editor, Article Submissions, Etc.) [p s proefrock] at [ntsource.com] David Nadler (Distribution Coordinator) [David Nadler] at [DaytonOH.NCR.COM] Drake Stanton (FTP Site Coordinator) [d--ac--e] at [netcom.com] All articles are copyrighted property of their respective authors. Reproducing or republishing an article, in whole or in part, in any other forum requires permission of the author or the moderator. The DragonQuest Newsletter also maintains an ftp archive site: [ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/dr/drache] which includes back issues of the newsletter and other articles of interest to DragonQuest players and GMs. ----------------------------------------------------------------- C O N T E N T S [v3/n7] ================================================================= Editorial Column: The BEASTIARY -- Bone-Eater Bird Constable/Detective Skills -- Dean Martelle Energy and Detect Aura -- Vincent Yanda ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: ================================================================= Lots of change and commotion to report this month. We have new addresses for both editorial and distribution of the Newsletter, and the major DragonQuest Website has also moved! Firstly, after graduating, your editor now has a real job, and this has necessitated a change from the University's system to a commercial ISP. Effective immediately, the new address for Philip is: [p s proefrock] at [ntsource.com] This is the address which you should use for submissions of articles, letters, and other items for the Newsletter. Next, the DragonQuest Home Page which Daniel Allbutt maintains is now found at: http://www.magna.com.au/~dja/dq/ Dan's email address is new, too, and those of you who want to contact him directly can find his new address in those pages. And last, but not least, the new, best address for subscription and distribution questions about the Newsletter is: [David Nadler] at [DaytonOH.NCR.COM] This isn't really a move, but just changing over to a more efficient email address for Dave (which, hopefully, is less likely to bounce). If you have any trouble reaching us, old addresses may work for a while still, and we will all be trying to work out the bugs, so keep trying if you don't get a reply. -------------------_The_ _B_E_A_S_T_I_A_R_Y_--------------------- ================================================================= Bone-Eater Bird -- Philip Proefrock ([p s proefrock] at [ntsource.com]) The bone-eater bird is usually not a predator, but it can attack people or their animals (especially horses) when other food is not readily available. It is also noted that the bone-eater bird will spear small animals with its beak and kill them for food. Bone-eater birds often gather in small flocks of 4-20 birds, especially when they are going to attack a larger prey. The bone-eater bird is roughly the size of a barn owl or a large hawk, with up to a 52 inch wingspan. It has mostly brown feathers, with a white ruff around the neck. Its beak is long and pointed and is a bone white color. Move: 800 (flying) PS: 4-6 MD: 18-20 AG: 19-21 MA: None EN: 6-7 FT: 9-11 WP: 7-9 PC: 17-20 PB: 8-12 TMR: 16 NA: None Weapons: When it attacks, the bone-eater uses its narrow, sharp beak and strikes like a woodpecker. Because it strikes vital places where bone is close to the skin surface (joints, skull, etc.) a -3 modifier is applied to the die roll for every attack a bone-eater bird makes. It has a 40% chance to hit and does D-3 damage. However, the bone-eater bird is more of a carrion feeder, and will only attack a living target when extremely hungry. Otherwise, these birds are happy to feed on the bones of already dead prey. Because of the strong acid it produces, the body of a bone-eater bird may be worth up to 100 sp to an alchemist (although if it has been dead for more than 3 days, it looses its value). ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSTABLE/DETECTIVE SKILLS -- Dean Martelle ================================================================= [This is another of the articles by Dean Martelle originally published in the Riders' Hobby newsletter column Dragonquester's Notebook. Although Dean is not on the 'Net, he has given us permission to republish these.] The purpose of the Constable/Detective is to solve crimes and other mysteries. The Constable is a valuable addition to a city watch and in some ways a precursor to modern police officers in method. A Detective can work with a city watch but is more likely to be a consultant such as Sherlock Holmes or a private investigator such as Mike Hammer or Sam Spade. [Glen Cook's Garrett ('Old Tin Sorrows,' et al) is an example of such a character in a fantasy setting. -- ED] To the best of my knowledge such a skill has never been detailed out in a fantasy game before and provides a whole new area for adventures. A Constable is a specialist in local law enforcement. Such a person is usually provided with powers of search and arrest. A detective is a specialist in the solving of mysteries and gathering of information. The skills of Constable and Detective are quite similar but they are ranked differently. They are treated as two different skills and ranked separately. A Constable/Detective has a bonus to perform special strikes with certain weapons. These weapons include quarterstaff, war club, sap, net, bola, and unarmed. This bonus is (Rank x 2)% for a Constable and (Rank)% for a Detective. A Constable/Detective can gain information from witnesses or suspects by interrogation. For a Constable this chance is PC + (10 x Rank)%. For a detective the chance is (2 x PC) + (11 x Rank)%. In both cases add the WP of the person being interrogated if they are willing to help, and subtract (2 x WP) if the person is hostile or does not want to divulge the information. A Constable or Detective can analyze evidence or the scene of a crime for clues. GM's discretion is critical in the use of this skill. FIrst a GM should describe the scene to the player and then let them draw what conclusions they can and then make a roll for additional information. For a Constable this chance is PC + (8 x Rank)%; for a Detective the chance is (2 x PC) + (10 x Rank)%. A Constable or Detective can memorize faces and give a detailed description up to (3 x Rank) days after seeing the person or being. For a Constable this chance is (2 x PC) + (12 x Rank)%; for a Detective this chance is (3 x PC) + (10 x Rank)%. A Constable or Detective can detect an ambush in an urban or other artificial setting. This chance is (2 x PC) + (5 x Rank) for a Constable and PC + (6 x Rank) for a Detective. A Constable has the ability of presence. By virtue of his legal authority he can persuade people or divert crowds. The chance is WP + (6 x Rank) - WP of person or crowd. A Detective has the ability to shadow or follow a person and not be noticed. The chance is PC + (2 x Stealth) + AG + (5 x Rank)%. Add 2x Troubador rank if the Detective is in disguise. The person being shadowed gets a (1 x PC) roll to notice the tail if the Detective makes his roll and a (5 x PC) roll if he fails his roll. Of course, spells such as invisibility and walking unseen will modify this further. If a character's Constable rank is higher than his Detective rank, the character expends one-half the normal experience necessary to acquire or improve the Detective skill. The reverse is also true. A Constable uses the same experience point costs as Spy. A Detective uses the same experience point costs as Assassin. -- Dean Martelle ----------------------------------------------------------------- ENERGY AND DETECT AURA -- Vincent Yanda ([c--ug--r] at [tamu.edu]) ================================================================= Detect Aura has become very simple for me to GM as I have explained it (more to myself than anybody) as a way of seeing energy. Detect Aura picks up Magical, Physical, and Spiritual (all living things have souls and dead have pale, fading reflections of their former soul). What this boils down to is a VERY simple way of determining "what" people see... The hard part is deciding "how" they see it. Different colleges of magic will look different as they use mana in different ways. Physical energy is a bit more tricky. An arrow flying through the air is using energy and would show up to DA, which gives a kind of "motion detector" type of sense, but is short range, easily blocked by objects, and requires a separate roll to try this AFTER one successfully uses DA. The spiritual side tells you their current mood, aspect, general character, and overall strength of their life force (i.e. how powerful they are as a whole. A dragon or deity would be BLINDING in this regard). This doesn't allow you to discern if they are lying or not, but it does allow you to function as a polygraph, seeing if they become anxious after they ask you a question. Example: A skeleton would show up on a magical level (animation spell), a physical level (those bones moving about use energy), and a spiritual level (there is still a shard of the old soul there, although it will most likely be pale and "decaying"). All you have to do is decide what colors, shapes, movements, etc. that the aura appears to the player, and Detect Aura is done. The hard spell that I would think would warrant discussion is Limited Precognition (Sorceries G-2)... How do you give enough information to make the spell worth ranking without giving away game info or giving information that may not come to pass? -- Vincent Yanda ([c--ug--r] at [tamu.edu]) ================================================================= DragonQuest URLs: (If you know of any other DragonQuest related sites, please let us know.) --DragonQuest Home Page http://www.magna.com.au/~dja/dq/ --DragonQuest Newsletter Page http://miamiu.muohio.edu/~psproefr/dqn.html (the DQN site will be moving soon) --DragonQuest Archive ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/dr/drache --Shannon Appel's RPG Archives (DQ Index) ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/rpg-index --Surge's (Unofficial) Mirror Archive http://www.cqs.washington.edu:80/~surge/gaming/dragonquest ########################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v3/n7 -- July 1996 ########################################################### X-perimentin' with Eudora -- Lookout!