Tools of the trade: Material (part1)

TOOLS OF THE TRADE
The success of a campaign lies in its capacity to renew itself, which may be difficult after a while, especially with a minimalist system. So here I propose no new rules, but variations on known themes.
The following series of articles suppose you have read the Peninsula, the Dark Lands, the Hero’s Folios, the Master’s Folio, the Arena, and of course Savage Flower Kingdom.

ABOUT MATERIAL
Material has a major impact on the overall quality and capacities of a weapon. And we’re not talking only about resilience here.

CURRENT METALS
Most weapons sold and manufactured on Norynn are made of metal (at least the head / blade / point). Those are the most frequently used.

Bronze: For centuries, bronze was the principal weapon-making alloy on Norynn; it was dropped in favour of iron and steel, more durable and lighter, but some monsters and lost people still use it. A bronze weapon is fragile; each time you roll a critical while using such a weapon, or deal the weapon’s maximum damage, roll D6 (1-2, good; 3-4, the weapon needs repair; 5-6, the weapon is broken); and it is quite cumbersome (Init –2). It only costs ¾ of the price though, if you find someone to forge it.

Steel : the most commonly used metal on norynn. Iron weapons are those described in SFK core booklet. Steel is a variant (more rare) obtained through a certain treatment of Iron, which is more durable, sharpens better (damage +1), and is lighter (init +1); it is of course more expensive (price is doubled). Both those metals, when cold, do D6 supplemental damages to Faës and Faëry creatures. It cannot take away their last HP, though.

Silver: silver is not commonly used in weapon making, usually favoured for jewellery and ornamentation. A silver weapon can be made, however it will cost 5 times the indicated price, and will be a lot less sturdy than its iron counterpart; each time you roll a critical while using such a weapon, or deal the weapon’s maximum damage, roll D6 (1-3, good; 4-5, the weapon needs repair; 6, the weapon is broken). It is of course nicer, shines a lot, and some say it takes magic better; when casting a spell on such a weapon, you have a +2 bonus on the casting roll. Silver is also known to hurt Undead and shapeshifters better; when fighting such an opponent with a silver weapon, you deal D6 supplemental damages.

Gold: Gold is not such a good idea as weapon material: it is soft and weak; each time you roll a critical while using such a weapon, or deal the weapon’s maximum damage, roll D6 (1, good; 2-4 the weapon needs repair; 5-6, the weapon is broken). It is also quite expensive (10 times more) and heavy (Initiative –2); it has a lot of alchemical properties and conduct magic very well (like silver). Gold is eternal (it doesn’t oxidise), and as such is symbolically the metal of the gods; it deals D6 supplemental damages to Hellions.

AND WHAT ABOUT PLATING?
Well, of course, you can have a plated weapon. A silver sword is solid silver, a silver plated sword is an iron or steel sword, with a thin silver coating all over it. Since there is less silver than in a silver sword, the effect will be lower.
A silver plated sword would give +1 damage when fighting shapeshifters and undead, a gold plated one +1 damage when fighting hellions; they would still give +1 to all casting rolls on them.
Of course, plating is easy to damage, and needs to be done again everytime the weapon deals a critical, or does its maximum damage. And of course, there is the price: first you buy the weapon (iron or steel), and then bring it to a jewelmaker to have it plated; plating costs the same as the weapon for silver, and fifty percent more for gold. And you still look cheap!
Note: the strange metals described in next part are already difficult to forge; they cannot be plated.

Norynn: The arena

The middle of Norynn is a big plain, known to all as the great plains of battle, or the Arena. It is a place of conflict and war, pain for the meek and spoils for the brave! But you better be warned: don't go there alone!


Download it here (or in the Download tab)!

Master's Folio

The heroes had their books, now the GM does too.
The Master's Folio is a compilation of optional rules and tools for the GM: Advanced combat and damages, illness, NPC generation, legend points (to do legendary stuff), and Special boss monsters.

Download it here (or from the Download tab)!

Where to start?

Okay, something old, something new...

You'll find, in the "download" tab, all previously released files for Savage flower Kingdom, even those with only an historical interest. You'll also find links to LARA, which is the generic system SFK uses. It is not necessary to play, The Core rules of SFK includes all the needed rules.
I'll try to keep this up to date, and to keep it clear!
For now, everything is written for the Core rules 2ed, and most of it also uses the "Heroes folios". So if you only get 2, get those.

Now for something new...

You'll also find there a bunch of stuff I did for myself and am happy to share: my GM screen (small but effective), the last version of my character sheet (the one I use in my games), and of course, my advanced combat set (vampirised from a lot of EP games, all Art from Robertson Sondoh Jr, of course). If memory serves, the advanced combat set was published on EP facebook page some times ago (years maybe) in comment to a post; well it's here too now.

And to finish, a reminder: EP blog published a lot of creatures, classes, rules, and general stuff about SFK over the years, some of it I used, some of it is mine, but a lot of it is exclusive there!
Cheers!

Introduction

Well, here we are. Introduction. Yeah.

Those of you who are familiar with Experimental Playground may well have heard of me, those who have not... Go there and read EVERYTHING! Now! it's worth it!

I plan to keep on doing pretty much the same here as I do there, meaning free pen and paper RPG, maybe boardgames, anything in topic really. Norynn will continue to grow, and we'll see more of Pyre, with just a bit of luck. Maybe translate things in french (I am français by the way...), but don't wait on that.

This is in no way a break with EP, this is just me getting on the front line, instead of staying hidden behind Rob. It's about sharing the load of work. I don't like facebook, google+ is a pain, maybe this will work for me. I won't promise a specific rhythm, I hate to talk when I have nothing to say, and to rush things; so there will probably be times with lots of posts (because yeah, inspired) and months of radio-silence (because, well, not inspired).

Voilà voilà. If you have comments, feel free; I can't promise I'll answer to all, but I'll try. If you have questions, do not hesitate; if you have ideas, you're welcome too; anyway, be patient, I have a life.

Welcome, and good reading.