Hello

thanks for your feedback. I checked out fantasy express , it looks even better ... (still do like levels and classes you know:p) so i am bit lost here. is it better than novus? would you recommend me to switch? i am more of a campaign Game master .. so once my players characters adopt a system , we ll stick  with it for a while:p

The first game I ever designed was HARP, then came Novus, then Novus 2e, and  then Fantasy Epress. Each game I have developed is better than the one before it as I know  more and do a better job. And since I am essentially a one person shop here, I can only focus on one game at a time, and Fantasy Express  is my current focus and will  be for a while, which  mean I will be producing more products for it as  time progresses.

Yes,  I would recommend going with Fantasy Express. Novus  2e was an attemptt o go  profession-less to make things more flexible, but I still ended up with Training Paths, which were almost professions in an of themselves, and the dsired flexibility wasn't there.

In Fantasy Express,  I started with the Vocations that  Against the Darkmaster  had (about 6 or seven of them) and  then started adding. My playtesters commented on how similar some where we played around with  a few  options (like 4 core Vocations with  Kits  to specialize), but that brought up  issues of what if a Fighter wanted  Mage Kit (and at  the time, the Mage Kits gave access  to the spell lists and how that would  work). Then I stumbled upon  the idea of just splitting Vocations into two, and just letting the player  choose two, any two Vocations to build  their character (which takes the 32 core Vocations and gives 528 possible combinations. Add in the 9 Vocations from EA #3, and the 5 from EA #4, and that gives 1081 possible combinations overall.

You  wanted some quicker Chargen Methods, EA #1 includes Training Packages, you  can use the ones given or even make your own, they  will help  speed things up or  give  more flexibility overall, as there is  even an option in there to break Cultures into Culture and Adolescent packages.

Also, in your first post, you mention resurrection spells and spells to fly a group across a river.

The Envoy/Cleric's School of Divinism has the Miracles spell, which  can resurrect a person if it is cast at Tier 8 (requires  minimum 16 skill ranks in the spell or risk Abnormal Spell  Failure). The Magicians spell Levitation in  the School of Magery can when cast at Tier 5, cause all within a 5' radius to fly at the most minimum speed. (And if you are not sure how many individuals that  is, you can use the  notes on Circles from page 136 to  determine that it means 11 people total, with Asgerdi counting as  2 people, and Gnomes and Dwelfs count  as  half a  person each, and then easily extend that out so that  a Riding Horse counts for at least  3 people,  etc...)

last thing, regarding Novus, i noticed an interesting conversation between you and someone else sharing his players feedback about the game, one aspect interested me : Parrying is OP ...

By "OP" I am presuming that you  mean option.

i remember long time ago in Rolemaster , knowing when to parry was very important as well ...but was not OP. is it the same in novus and Fantasy express ?... you have to parry a lot a the beginning of combat  , and when you notice a weakness  you can go full offense?
as a matter of fact it was a mechanic i found enjoyable as it truly felt warriors were tanks.

While still important in Novus, it is not as important as  it is in Fantasy Express. I am also  working on converting the Combat Moves from Novus 2e and bring them to FX  as well (either in EA #5 or EA #6.

hello
as a old Rolemaster fan looking for something more modern and simpler but somewhat similar i came across your Novus RPG. i found it deeply interesting and so i purchased the bare and bones corebook of novus second edition. i am still reading it as we speak.
but i can already say that 1 it is very well written

Thank  you and I am glad that you enjoyed it.  Novus 2e was my attempt to go a levelless and preofession-less route in a game.

You should also  check out Fantasy Express as it was based on Against the Darkmaster (which  is very MERP-like), and I incorporated elements from Novus into  it as well. It does have Vocations and levels though so keep that in mind as well.

i was just worried about the spells that i found subpar as i did expect magicians in my rpg to cast spells that are truly impressive. have the group to fly over a river, teleportation, resurrect people.
i finally found the arcanis libram , no resurrect nor fly , but it seems we can create spells (i am not an ultra geek rover fond of complexity so we well see if i get there:p

Part of Novus 2e was also trying to make sure that spells were fuly  balanced as well and that made the starting spells a bit less than I was happy  with, but with their scaling ability, that should help alleviate some  of  deficiencies.

one  question. assuming i want to simplify the character creation process, (i need to create 5 characters from scratch) any tips?

Sorry, not off the top of my head. But don't forget to check out the Downloads section of the website, there are several pre-generated characters  there  that  you might find interesting and perhaps some of them will work for what you are  trying to do.

thanks anyway for this great contribution, i ll keep you updated of my games using your great RPG

Thank you for taking an interest in it.

Ok, so for the first issue, I am thinking of something like 65-ish critters.... Some of these are  creatues from Against the Darkmaster, that I had not previously converted since I  was going light on  the Darkmaster stuff at the time, but I  felt that it was appropriate to bring them across now.

Here is the list of what I am aiming for.....

Animals   
   Alligator/Crocodile
   Antelope-Like, Small
   Antelope-Like, Large
   Dire Bear
   Dire Boar
   Dire Wolf
   Eagle
   Elephant
   Hawk
   Swarm
   Tasmanian Devil
   Viper - (venomous snake)
   Wolverine
Celestial   
   Holy Guardian -- spirits tied to a place (i.e. of a forest or river, mountain,etc), they protect thier place, rarely appearing before mortalts.
   Sacred beast -- spirits that  manifest as  animals of great size/beauty (i.e. White deer, giant boar, etc), mischievous but  enemies of arkenss
   Shield Maiden -- guide the spirits of fallen warriors to the  afterlife enemies of darkness
Constructs   
   Carytid - statues of women that come  to life  to protect  a location, usually carved  into columns that support a structure
   Stone Guardian - kinda like a stone golem, but with a specific task - rough appearance
Demons   
   Faceless - muscular demons with no eyes, often in service to Dark Mages (i.e. evil mages)
   Shadowflame Demon - twisted spirits  of fire who have been corrupted and turned to evil
Devils   
   Efreet - Fire devils
   Marid - water devils
Draconic   
   Kraken --  (gigantic cuttlefish-like sea montster)
   Lindworm - giant reptilian creature that lives in forest
   Sea Drake - aquatic version of the Cave Drake
Fey Folk      
   Banshee -- avatars of fury and  death
   Bauchan -- sometimes referred to as a Buckawn, similar to Brownie/Boggart, but more evil in nature
   Dark  Elf (think evil Tylweth Teg, not true elves)
   Feyblade - Seelie  and Unseelie who have lost themselves to battle, and basically  liveto  fight now
   Leprechaun -fey shoemakers who often guard  great wealth
   Pech - nocturnal stone masons,
Floronic   
   Bloodthorn - vampire vine
   Chillvine - frost attacks
   Fire Flower - fire-breathing flower, chars victims  and then eats them via roots
   Sentients
      Fungoids (sentient) - mushroom people
      Oakmen/Yewmen (sentient) - like twiglings butbigger
      Swamp Shambler (sentient) - swamp creature
Giant Races   
   Firbolg - slightly bigger than Asgerdi
   Fomorion - type of giant
   Trolls
      Dark Troll - trolls  bread using dark magics
      Maimlord (think Dire Troll - also made using dark magics)
      Stone Troll - turns to stone in  daylight, similar to Ogres
      Wild Troll - similar to forest trolls, but wanderers, can be found  anywhere
Mythical Creatures   
   Alce (wingless griffon)
      Blackfeather - large gorcrows that can also travel through shadows
   Giant Eagles
      Giant Eagle - like it says on the tin
      Wind Lord - type of  Giant Eagle, often rules them   
   Gorcrow
      Gorcrow  - evil ravens, often serve evil masters
      Blackfeather - large gorcrows that can also travel through shadows
   Sky Manta - flying manta rays
   Vargr - giant riding  wolf-like creatures - think Wargs)

Prehistoric Creatures   
   Besr (Pygmy Mastadon) - about the size of cattle, but more dangerous
   Sognar (Compsognathus) - tiny velociraptor-like creatures
   Ursyon (Amphicyon) -  like a  cross be a  giant bear and wolf
Undead   
   Merlock - undead obessed with gold and riches
   Lich - undead spell user, very evil
   Vampire - more poweful version of the Vampyri
Unusual Races   
   Dragonspawn -- humanoid dragon-like  beings
   Dwergar - twisted evil dwarves
   Minotaur - bullmen
   Stylithi - reptile men  (not the same as lizardmen)
   Wulver - Wolfmen

thoughts and opinions welcome!

Not sure how I missed all that. I was just skimming through the PDF though. Good to know!

I am thinking that perhaps I need to update my FX Primer PDF to include the basics on how Combat  and Magic works (I include it in the modules I write, only 2  so far, but  am working on a third)

I should also try to work  on some generic ones that are  not Anwyn based, now that I think about it...

That's what I thought it meant. I didn't notice any critical hit tables so that won't be a factor.

Actually, there is a Critical Damage section of the Combat Boons table (page 123) and the columns that the player gets to purchase Critical Damage from (using the Success Levels earned in the attack)  is  based on the type of attack (and  type of damage) that they deal.

For example, a Handaxe has a Damage Rating of 8s[/8b][/7p]. This means that the normal damage is 8 Hits of Slashing Damage (thus  they can only purchase Slash Critical Damage if  they  earn any Success Levels..  The [/8b] and [/7p] are both types  of damage that might be dealt based on how the  weapon is designed. (i.e. if  the back of the axe is flat or has a hammer-like head, it can also deal the 8b damage if the  character chooses. If the axe has a spike  on the  end, it can use  that to deal the piercing  damage.

There are  also some Randomized Critical Tables in Express Additions  #2, but those  build off the basics of  how combat works as well