New player questions

Nikorisu

Nikorisu

Apprentice
Hey guys, first off, I'm pretty nervous about this whole thing. I've done role playing games my whole life starting with AD&D back in the day.
I have a few questions, I've read through the book so I hope I'm not just blind haha.
1. First off, I know it says that PVC is the standard, but I was wondering if something like bamboo would be acceptable for a weapon core.
2. Second, and this may be a strange question, but I live in a converted cargo van. If I were to get a cover that went over the whole thing to make it look like a covered wagon or some other acceptable means of travel, would that be acceptable instead of a tent?
3. I make chain mail suits. Would I be able to sell these "pys reps" (I hope that's the right words haha) for real OOG money?
I don't plan on coming this year, I'll most likely be dragging my (mostly willing, though nervous) girlfriend along as well next spring.
 
Hello newbie! I'm Dan, a member of the staff team here at SoMN Alliance!
To answer your questions in order;
1. From page 82 of the Rulebook, talking about weapon construction guidelines; "Heavy aluminium pipe, wood and metal wire are never acceptable weapon making materials." unfortunately discounts bamboo from use as a core. I -could- be wrong, but for the sake of saving yourself from mistakes stick the use of PVC, kitespar, fiberglass, or carbon fiber cores. Lighter materials will also help keep combat safer for everyone.
2. Making your cargo van look like a covered wagon is an absolutely stellar idea, but send me an email to discuss the finer points of using it as your IG sleeping area.
3. You can definitely make chain mail products to sell for OOG money, we have many other fine artists and crafters who do that exact same thing!

Again, I'm Dan, email at danly469@gmail.com and we can talk about anything else you want to know!
 
I have one more question, how prevalent is the blacksmith skill in the PCs. I've seen multiple people saying that it's really only useful to fill out to 20 if there aren't many other smiths.
 
At least in the long run at least one rank in blacksmith is good. Though I don't play at Somn I do play chicago. I know we have atleast two people if not more who play blacksmiths. But you definetly would be better off in the long run getting at least one rank so you can refit your own armour.
I say that from experience because i didn't do that and it was super annoying not to be able to refit my own amour.
 
I plan on playing an artisan with very limited combat skills (thinking staff or spear), and possibly becoming a scholar and going for ritual magic. I haven't quite decided yet. How important are rituals to the plot? I mean, can they drastically change things or do they mostly just give buffs (Albeit large buffs) to the caster?
 
Your mileage will vary with ritual casting sometimes there will be rituals that are more or less essential to the completion of a plot story line, but more often than not they're used for roleplay and character improvement in some way by either making magic items or buffing a caster and their allies directly.
 
Well as far as things are going right now for chicago Chapter story they are a huge deal at the moment for us. And you could even use ritual casting to make weapons to help hit for more, or tools that could be extremely useful in battle. I would definetly say though going scholar with staff and artisan is a good comb. But rituals can be cast on other people or things. But I am not a ritualist caster, I play an earthen templar. But i almost always have seen atleast 1 ritual at an event if not more being cast that event for what ever reason. So it all depends on what you want to do.
 
I think my last question is how long do characters last? I mean, about what level do people get to before their characters end up dying for good?
 
I'm going on six years and I've only died once.

It all depends on how you play your character.
 
Very much depends on how you play your character. I am only on year 2 and I have died 4 times with this character.
 
Nikorisu said:
I think my last question is how long do characters last? I mean, about what level do people get to before their characters end up dying for good?
Click to expand...

There are a couple characters running around the midwest that had been playing for years back when I started in 2004, and are likely over level 40 by this point. More out on the east coast. If you work at not dying, it's possible to keep a character alive almost indefinitely. In comparison my old Sarr had IIRC 11 deaths (half bought back with GS) on his card when I retired him after a few years, because he did stupidly dangerous things.

On your other points :

Blacksmithing is very common skill, however a lot of folks only have one level in it as needed to refit armor, or perhaps a small handful to produce arrows/bolts. With rules changes that are upcoming, it may be even more useful as physical armor is likely going to be more common, and the proposed new skills mesh well with the blacksmithing mastery bonus.

Ritual casters are neat, however I would recommend that you keep in mind that the components and scrolls required to be a ritual caster are in-game drops as part of treasure policy, and as such are not going to be easy to always have on hand unless you have a dedicated group who is funneling them to you.
 
What are these proposed new skills? I mean, I was looking at my build, planning it out and all, and I'm just wondering how these new skills would fit in. Unfortunately, I want to do a bit of everything, so I'm looking at lvl 36 before I get to my "target" haha. Thankfully I'll be able to have my basic set "at least lvl 1 in everything I want" by lvl 3.
 
Nikorisu said:
What are these proposed new skills?
Click to expand...
There's an updated set of rules that will probably be coming out sometime next year - at the earliest, it'll happen over the winter, but no date has been announced, so it could be a while longer. Whenever it does happen, it's a substantial enough change that people will get a chance to rewrite their build to fit in the new rules, and they'll publish it far enough in advance that you should have some time to think it all over.

For now I'd just concentrate on a build that you'll enjoy for the first game. New players get to rewrite their characters after their first game, so if it turns out there's some part of the game you do/don't enjoy that you didn't realize before your first game, you can make it fit a little better. There's a lot about this game that doesn't really *click* until you try it out.
 
Goblin stamps (aka goblins or gobbies) are basically points you get for helping out the chapter. If you NPC, donate props/costuming/weapons/packets, donate money, or otherwise help out, you can get goblin stamps. Each month you can trade in 30 goblins for one goblin blanket, which gives you as much experience as a one-day event or half of a weekend event. You can also use goblins to blanket an event you missed - in other words, you can pay 60 goblins and get experience as though you attended the event.

Here's a build calculator if you want to see how much build you would get per event or per blanket. The actual method for calculating build from experience is kinda convoluted - it's spelled out on page 50 of the rulebook if you want to read up on it more.
 
Ok! Last question! I promise (though mostly likely an empty one)! Does a staff HAVE TO have a trusting tip on both ends or can I leave one end with just a cap on the PVC tubing to use as a walking stick when not in combat? If it MUST have a thrusting tip in each end then how do staff users carry them?
 
Ok! Another one! If I were to say "screw weapons, I'm just gonna throw alchemy and do scrolls and magic" and I had the shield skill, could I strap a buckler to each arm and then throw magic and such? Or would I need flouentine or two weapons?
 
Staffs require a thrusting tip and the walking stick end of staffs are all quite beat up, but a little bit of regular maintenance is needed for all weapons to make sure they stay safe for use (I need to replace the tips of all my personal weapons I use every couple events because of wear and tear in combat).
For your second question, you can only have one shield being actively wielded at a time, both as safety and because of "turtling" rules. It's actually already tricky enough to hit someone wielding just one shield. And with a buckler being strapped to your arm, you can only use the arm with a shield to block, no other "in game" actions can be done with the shield hand/arm.
 
So, what I'm getting from this is that a buckler has absolutely no advantage over a full shield and is actually much worse off in every scenario.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top