10/27/2010 5:35:50 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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There are a zillion rpg books out there that can be used in Oathbound. This thread is for us to point out some of the best.
Genjitsu's Shaping the Self is my favorite 3.X book (actually a 35 page pdf). It is about racial improvement ala levels, sort of like Wildwood prestige racial levels. There are 5 chapters, 4 of which are the rules and examples. Maturity is expanding the PH races' abilities (the human levels are very interesting), self-creation is like prestige races, legacies and destinies deal with bloodlines and afflictions and accidents cover curses, drugs and rituals.
Distant Horizon has three books that are shareware and I strongly suggest that you download them from OBS. If they are your cup of tea, then please buy them.
First is Eclipse, the Codex Persona. This is a point buy system that puts all others to shame. Even if you don't like the idea of freeform character creation, there are still hundreds of ideas, including variant spell systems, that you might find interesting for setting construction. Oathbound is a high powered setting and I can see a lot of this book in use.
Paths of Power I is about learning magic in small groups of related spells. This makes so much more sense to me than the willy-nilly method from the PH. Paths of Power II (which is not shareware) expands the idea to paths specific to character personalities, creatures and creature types, advanced paths and prestige classes.
And the best for last, The Practical Enchanter. One reviewer on OBS wanted to give it 6 out of 5 stars and I agree. It covers almost everything players will want in terms of magic items and has plenty of spells and other magic related ideas to make DMs salivate for years. I can go through it and come up with a new spell or monster idea without fail.
Green Ronin produces a lot of good work, so much so it is difficult to suggest any specific books so all I will mention now are the Advanced Guides. Monster templates in Advanced Bestiary; races, classes and a few scores of spells (plus psychic powers) in Advanced Player's Manual; and the Advanced Gamemaster's Guide has setting design, DM advice, new types of magic items, conditions and environments.
So what do you suggest?
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10/29/2010 7:23:54 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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Goodman's Morningstar setting has one very interesting idea that can be easily applied to OB- signatures are ways of representing how magic warps the land. There is a couple dozen examples such as the aberrant, ordered, insectoid, fey, fridgid, dynamic and profane. With how much magic is floating around the Forge, why shouldn't it have an effect upon the planet?
For those who want to add d20 Modern and d20 Future characters, The Second World Sourcebook has everything and more. In addition to suggestion on how to meld the rules, it has sections on military training (thus providing abilities to modern characters to bring them on par with fantasy characters), setting design (which can be used with signatures) and organizations (a very extensive section on influence and orgs).
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11/1/2010 6:52:22 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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Since the Forge draws from all kinds of worlds, in addition to d20 Future there are many books that have technology or magic that mimics technology.
Malhavok's Chaositech might be the most famous though the dangers the tech pose will limit where and who uses it.
En Publishing had 3- Steam and Steel for non-magical (or low magic) steam tech, Mechamancy where magic is made for everyone and The Fantastic Science where magic imitates technology (ie it is a different magic system). Personally I love TFS and think the book is worth its weight in gold.
Perpetrated Press released only two books, Arsenal and Factory, the latter about magical cybernetics, robots and computers.
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11/7/2010 9:36:04 PM
Paul Grosse
Posts: 38
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I would add in Privateer Press's Iron Kingdom's books for magical early renaissance level technology
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Paul "Yes that Paul" Grosse
PCGen BoD -PR Silverback & LST Chimp
Forums: Nylan (or Nylanfs)
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11/8/2010 5:52:10 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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For those wanting a new look at magic but do not want to use spells outside of the 3.5 PH/SRD, there is Plot Device's color scheme. They are pdfs and the only one I can not suggest is Chrome. It is prestige races and none are very exciting.
http://grandwiki.wikidot.com/publication-list
Check out Atlas' Occult Lore, Bastion's Spells and Magic and Clockwork Golem Workshop's OGC for some good magic on the OGL wiki.
And as for races, check out all of those from Primal Urge. Rodney did some most excellent work in that line.
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11/29/2010 5:21:50 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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I have been waffling about suggesting Skirmisher Publishing as I have written a few books for them. But that would mean I wouldn't be able to mention the other authors' works that deserve a place in this thread.
Experts 3.5 is just about everything you might want on the subject, from a PC class (the specialist) to scores of new skills to feats to specializations for experts and specialists. The new thing in it is the convergence task, where two skills can be "merged" to allow for powerful effects.
Warriors (3.0) does the same for the NPC class as well as provide some ideas for fighters. The subtype allows exchanging beginning feats (like those for weapons and armor the warrior automatically gets) for others within a very specific theme. It is well balanced and can be used in 3.5 and PF.
But the best is the City Builder series. It is both in print and pdfs and makes urban design easy. The advantage of buying the pdfs is that you can concentrate on the business types that you want to.
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2/14/2011 6:39:33 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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I picked up Legends of High Fantasy from Distant Horizon and it has two forms of almost freeform magic I think would work well on the Forge. One has catagories that the caster (druids and sorcerers) are restricted to and the other, rituals, take time and a lot of effort to complete. It is a better system than incantations from Unearthed Arcana, IMO.
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2/19/2011 11:21:38 AM
Saeth
Posts: 6
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Green Ronin does have a lot of good stuff. I can't help but feel evil when I think about picking up Blue Rose solely for the sake of throwing the politically correct, cloying, clean, beautiful people of Aldea into the Oathbound setting. The culture shock would probably kill them. On the opposite end of spectrum, any hero PC from the Midnight setting probably thinks he's hit the jackpot in Oathbound.
Blue Rose does have an interesting social magic system that uses corruption which I like. It gives players a real temptation to be evil since all the really powerful stuff is a no-no, and Oathbound feels like a world where temptation should be around every corner, just waiting to pull you into the seven deadly sins.
Remarkable Races (Alluria Publishing)has some good PC races that feel like they should belong in Oathbound. It made me realize I need a self-aware, non-malevolent race of living undead skeletons sworn to fight for righteousness.
I also find World of Nevermore (Expeditious Retreat Press) is a fun dream realm setting for anyone looking to have encounters while a character is sleeping or unconscious.
Monte Cook's also got some fabulous stuff.
I also took a look at that color scheme and it reminds me a lot of World of Darkness's Mage set up. One of the things I love about it is that there wasn't a real spell list, so you had to figure out what you could reasonably do with one dot of magic in a certain area. It made for some really wild levels of creativity.
edited by Saeth on 2/20/2011
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4/26/2011 3:56:39 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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The Forge has a lot of history. Here is a review of a game that might help players get into that: http://ageofravens.blogspot.com/2011/04/microscope-rpgs-i-like.html
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10/8/2011 3:25:43 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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Molesti, insect creatures from Mysteries of Arena and updated in the Oathbound Bestiary have the capacity to customize their offspring. The problem is they have a rather limited selection- either +2 to AC or 2 extra forelimbs. Yesterday I came up with a solution- spelltouched feats. They were introduced in Unearthed Arcana and provide a small magical bonus. There are two other sources I know of that have spelltouched feats.
Forbidden Arcana from Ronin arts has a chapter devoted to them. Looking over the list, I would say about a dozen or so could be useful for customizing molesti.
Feared and Hated by Octavirate has four, all useful for molesti design. It is a pdf supplement meant to make sorcerers more interesting in 3.5 and I would think most of the ideas could easily be used in PF.
So from all three sources, there are about 20-24 feats that can make molesti encounters more interesting. That they can breed daily and customize their offspring to needs of the moment makes them even more useful than most monsters.
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2/13/2012 4:13:43 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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Dire Press has a few, short pdfs for those who want to play undead (and one for earth elemental kin).
Going back a few years, Mayfair had a lot of unofficial supplements for AD&D. Monsters of Myth and Legend I - III were good sources from many real world mythologies. Even if you don't want to take the time to convert them, the books still have a lot of ideas that could be adapted to the ruleset of your choice.
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6/17/2012 3:52:37 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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For those who want to try old school gaming on the Forge, Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg is one very good choice. Magic is surreal, potentially dangerous to the caster and others around them and is pretty damn awesome. The art is very 1e DMG (even has joke comics) and whole is very, very gritty.
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7/7/2012 4:55:47 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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I am not impressed with Castlemourn as a setting but the magic items section has plenty to mine for Oathbound. Geodes*, mollusk shells** and eagle feathers*** are all "natural" magic and have a place on the Forge (which should have more than goddust anyways).
* You could also use vugs and thundereggs for additional magical mineral items.
**Pearls. dried sea urchins and stars, scales and even whale bones.
*** Manticore, roc, harpy and possibly giant insect wings.
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8/6/2012 6:20:08 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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http://radiancerpg.com/
A new d20 rpg with a ton of magitech ideas that could easily be used on the Forge. The classes and races are not PF compatible but I can see the game being used to run Oathbound anyways.
I forgot to mention- the PH is a free download.
edited by Derek Holland on 8/6/2012
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10/17/2012 3:25:01 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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Also from Radiance House, The Secrets of Pact Magic, Villains of Pact Magic (both 3.5) and a Pathfinder supplement are all very good, in depth books on how to use spirit allies for power. It is better than the WotC version, but that should be suprising considering how much more space there is in Radiance's books.
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11/21/2012 6:14:10 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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Necromancers of the Northwest has produced a fair amount of material for Pathfinder. I suggest the Advanced Arcana series (three so far), Alchemy, Herbalism and Island of Life pdfs.
Otherverse Game's The Modern Grimoire has spells for d20 Modern settings. Considering how little material there (for d20 Modern magic) is and how easily it could be used in Oathbound, I find it an excellent resource.
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12/20/2012 5:22:53 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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A worm race I posted to my blog that might be found in Wildwood: http://skirmisher.com/node/2113
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1/14/2013 4:26:35 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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Caelumancy from Bards and Sages provides a new item creation feat, but instead of enchanting an object, the caster affects an area. High level casters can affect large areas, many miles in diameter. The effects are mostly temperature and ecological in scope. An exception is a disaster like a volcano (has to be in mountains) or earthquake. The duration varies from one week per year to permanent.
And as magic items have rules for intelligence, so do these effects. I do think it has a great deal of potential for Oathbound and other magic heavy settings.
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2/18/2013 4:19:19 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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Tricky Owlbear has two files on achievement feats for Pathfinder. The first is very video gameish (kill 100 owlbears and get +2 to hit versus owlbears). The second one is much more grand and involves huge achievements.
What I am thinking is to replace the keys with 6 achievements, acts that attract the attention of the Flock, either admiration or ire.
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4/2/2013 7:16:58 AM
Derek Holland
Posts: 366
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One of the earlier 3.X books is Requiem for a God. With all the divine energy leaking from the Forge, I would think that some of the ideas within that book could apply to the setting.
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