Thoughts On Version 0.3

[samwise7]

Just some thoughts, take them or leave them.  Page 57 Deluxe: I think the Death and Dying section needs looked over and cleared up a bit.  Are you unconscious at -1 HP, or at -11 HP?

[imported_Rasyr]

okay, I have to go out of town -- may be for most of the day, may be until tomorrow sometime - don't know for sure yet. Will take a closer look at this when I get back (no idea if I will have internet or not).

[Right Wing Wacko]

page 22 Deluxe: I still think there are too many types of coins... 


Agreed.

[samwise7]

Maybe I missed them, but are there any sample poisons in the PDF?


Also, I noticed that there are only two 1st level monsters in the book.  I would suggest adding more, especially since the standard game starts out at 1st level.  Maybe putting a Giant Rat in there would be good, and some other 1st level humanoid creatures. 


One nice thing about Novus, is that it is really easy to convert D&D modules to run.  That is what I'm going to be running on Monday Night for my group.  When Novus doesn't have something that D&D does, it is fairly easy to mostly take the D&D stuff and make it fit into Novus with relatively few tweaks.  When the module had a monster Novus didn't, I substituted the closest Novus monster I could find and then bolted on some special effects so that it was close enough.  The players will never know what is in the real module anyway. 

[samwise7]

I was thinking about the idea of somehow making up Generic Monster Stats per level.  So there would be a generic monster up to a certain level (20th?).  It might be harder than it sounds though, since each monster can be greatly different than another monster.  I'm not even sure I know what I'm suggesting, but maybe it can inspire some new add on.


It would seem that having Scrolls that are of Universal Spells would be the most versatile in a game, since many types of magic-users could use them.  Just something I noticed.  I'll have to look over the rules again to see if Adepts can use scrolls from other Schools of magic or not... 

[samwise7]

One of my players had some comments too.

I noticed on the character sheet in the section to the right of armor and shield  where it breaks down types of armor there is no place to put your speed bonus to up the DEF score to what it should be from the base score of 15 unless you write it into one of the misc slots which i did, a nitpick i know but he may want to know.

 

Also I had some trouble with the skills/talents section until I watched your youtube video then I was able to make the character with no problems.  It just didn't seem very intuitive with the "free" ranks from the background stacking in to me, maybe I just wasn't thinking right.

 

Matt is a pretty smart guy, who has played lots of RPGs, but he seems to have gotten tripped up with the free ranks and then the ranks you buy in skills later.  Maybe some more sentences to clarify how it all works together might be in order for those that are more used to D&D that doesn't have backgrounds (which Matt is).

Also the save vs. column on the sheet got me for a moment as well.  I got the raw number, racial and value with no problems.  Is the bonus column that is next from upping the stat with talents or the stat bonus itself?  Then I assume you add 1 for a 1st level character where it says lvl and get the number to roll.  But in the book it says you save vs a 15 so which is it ?

I think maybe he was confused as to what the save was.  I'm pretty sure it is the Stat Bonus + 1/2 Level rounded up.  Once again, maybe some more sentences are needed to clarify things. 

[imported_Rasyr]

It would seem that having Scrolls that are of Universal Spells would be the most versatile in a game, since many types of magic-users could use them.  Just something I noticed.  I'll have to look over the rules again to see if Adepts can use scrolls from other Schools of magic or not...

Any character should be able to use a scroll if they make their Magecraft roll to do so. Of course, spell users will be better at it..Fixing the Magecraft skill description is one of the things I still have to do. The rules on page 77 are the correct rules (TN + 10 to inscribe a scroll; requires magical inks that cost 500 gp for enough ink to inscribe 7 spells), TN for casting the spell off the scroll is the same as the TN for casting the spell normally, but no Spell Points are expended.

[imported_Rasyr]

The Character Creation Overview definitely needs some work. It should fully explain the chargen process. It doesn't mention that the ranks from the Backgrounds are free ranks. But the "Develop Your character section DOES mention purchasing skill ranks.

I may need to create a sample character, and walk through creating him as part of the Overview. We will see... (I am aiming to keep the final product under 100 pages if I can).

Saves -- This is stat bonus + level (the 1/2 level is for character points...). What needs to be made clear is that is the character's bonus for Saves vs a specific stat, not the TN of the Save, which appears to be your player was thinking.

[samwise7]

Another comment from one of my players Brian:

I made a Human Archer with a Barbarian background.  I definitely have comments of character creation if I can remember them.  Also, the moving shot Talent is broken as far as I can see.  I can move all I want during the attack without any extra AP cost to do so, but I take a penalty to my attack for every AP worth of movement I take.  My attack bonus is +15 for a bow.  I can move 5 AP worth of movement or 5 times my base speed and still be +10 to attack.  And all I've used is the 2 AP for a missile attack.  I still have 3 AP left for more movement or other things.  Hell, I can move 10 AP (talent) + 3 AP (regular) so 13x my base speed and still be +5 attack.  You could be a mile away and I'll run you down and kill you.  Or maybe I've read it wrong.

[imported_Rasyr]

Another comment from one of my players Brian:

I made a Human Archer with a Barbarian background.  I definitely have comments of character creation if I can remember them.  Also, the moving shot Talent is broken as far as I can see.  I can move all I want during the attack without any extra AP cost to do so, but I take a penalty to my attack for every AP worth of movement I take.  My attack bonus is +15 for a bow.  I can move 5 AP worth of movement or 5 times my base speed and still be +10 to attack.  And all I've used is the 2 AP for a missile attack.  I still have 3 AP left for more movement or other things.  Hell, I can move 10 AP (talent) + 3 AP (regular) so 13x my base speed and still be +5 attack.  You could be a mile away and I'll run you down and kill you.  Or maybe I've read it wrong.

He is reading that incorrectly....

There are 5 AP during a round. Firing a Bow takes 2 AP. So, using  Moving Shot, he can take 2 AP worth of Movement while firing the bow. If he is reloading AND shooting, then he can take  a maximum of 5 AP worth of movement while spending the 5 AP on reloading and firing the bow.

In other words, the AP value of the movement is not supposed to exceed the AP value of the action being performed.

[samwise7]

Some sample NPCs might be good too in the GM Section.

[imported_Rasyr]

Some sample NPCs might be good too in the GM Section.

Suggestions?

[samwise7]

Suggestions for NPCs in the back of the book might actually double as pregen characters for people that want to jump right into the game.  Elven Archer, Human Cleric, Half-Orc Fighter, etc.

I got a TON of feedback from playing a 1-shot of Novus today.  I'll have to type it up tomorrow.  The wife is mad that gaming lasted an extra hour tonight.  We spent an hour after the session talking about the pros and cons of the system.

[imported_Rasyr]

Great! Get it to me as soon as you can. Been sick past 2 days, but will be trying to work on the manuscript today.

I am at the point where once I am done fixing the text, that I have to fork the InDesign file into 2 versions (since I will start adding artwork as well).

[samwise7]

Duplicate post.