Fortune's Tide: Servitor Settings and Lifepaths

[eruditus]

Fortune's Tide is the general name of the Campaign Setting I have been using in all my fantasy games of late. It is the overarching setting for both my Dark Virtues campaign and my Illusion of Peace campaign. All of this will eventually be in one place.

For now I thought I would give folks a peek at the setting in bits before its release. First up is the Servitor Lifepaths:

http://www.burningwheel.org/pdf/servitors_v3.pdf

There are only two portions of this not completed - New traits and a Beliefs & Instincts segment. Please let me know if you have any input or suggestions for this.

Thanks

[eruditus]

I have found that this needs some editting. My apologies for that.

Errata #1: That Ob for Servitor Breeding (page 1 under History) is way too high. Make that an Ob 5.

[Kublai]

MMMMMmmmm... new lifepaths! :D

My first impressions:

- A well-constructed LP doesn't require a paragraph to describe it. Rather it becomes obvious of its intent after combining the skills, traits, resources, and numbers. You're LPs speak for themselves and thus don't require the individual write-ups. What I like about BW lifepaths are they allow for some freedom of interpretation. I would suggest leaving them out.

- Your tiny little monkeys (no bigger than 2 feet) are as strong as a grown human! :shock: Is this your intent? To have tiny little monkeys that can lock up a soldier and pin him to the ground? Whose sword swing will slice through a leg as easily as an orc's would?

- Do the Servitors have monkey sized weapons and tools? If so, we'll need some stats for them. If not, what are the Obs for using man-tools?

- The Chargers have the Mounted Combat skill, but I ask you what do they ride?

- If they are hermaphoditic, why do they need to pair up in order to breed? Are we talking "Alien Mine" hermaphrodites or "Left Hand of Darkness" hermaphrodites?

[eruditus]

Thanks a bunch for your input!!!




- A well-constructed LP doesn't require a paragraph to describe it. Rather it becomes obvious of its intent after combining the skills, traits, resources, and numbers. You're LPs speak for themselves and thus don't require the individual write-ups. What I like about BW lifepaths are they allow for some freedom of interpretation. I would suggest leaving them out.

Yeah, yeah. Luke gave me the same spiel. So i disagree. That works perfectly fine in a medieval based setting where the "farmer" has a known place in the big picture. I wanted to iron out some social aspects of the creatures and their place in Sherim society and the lifepath descriptions were a great place to do it.


- Your tiny little monkeys (no bigger than 2 feet) are as strong as a grown human! :shock: Is this your intent? To have tiny little monkeys that can lock up a soldier and pin him to the ground? Whose sword swing will slice through a leg as easily as an orc's would?

Well their max is 5. Should I make it max 3? That seems more appropriate. i will work on the trait and lower power while increasing the Agility ceiling.


- Do the Servitors have monkey sized weapons and tools? If so, we'll need some stats for them. If not, what are the Obs for using man-tools?

Hmmm. yeah, Servitor weapons are needed.


- The Chargers have the Mounted Combat skill, but I ask you what do they ride?

Anything that will have them :) Really, they often form relationships (something I mentioned in the lifepath description yet left the details to one's imagination). If they can train those animals to listen to them in any way (need Ride skills) then they have themselves a mount. It generally has the same effect so no need to monkey with it :D


- If they are hermaphoditic, why do they need to pair up in order to breed? Are we talking "Alien Mine" hermaphrodites or "Left Hand of Darkness" hermaphrodites?

They cannot go f**k themselves. They still need a mate to make babies but share the same organs and such.

[Kublai]

So i disagree.

Man, if this was a real cult, you'd be, like, soooo thrown out! :twisted:


Well their max is 5. Should I make it max 3? That seems more appropriate. i will work on the trait and lower power while increasing the Agility ceiling.

5 still means stronger than your average man. A max of 3 is better. I'd also cap out Forte to 3 at the most.

[eruditus]

So i disagree.

Man, if this was a real cult, you'd be, like, soooo thrown out! :twisted:



Well now, that sorts depends on whose driving the cult, now doesn't it? :twisted:

[Kublai]

also, do you have any caps on Will? If they are a subservient race, you may want to reflect this. Monkeys with 5 or 6 Willpower ain't taking crap from no one! :shock:

[luke]

That works perfectly fine in a medieval based setting where the "farmer" has a known place in the big picture. I wanted to iron out some social aspects of the creatures and their place in Sherim society and the lifepath descriptions were a great place to do it.

It also worked with Elves, Dwarves and Orcs who are decidely not "known".

I say that cultural roles and societal structure can be described in the lifepath traits and skills available in the individual paths.

Now, Setting descriptions are just fine! And a line or two about notable LPs in a settiing are fine as well. But writing a paragraph for every path is a lot of work, and I don't think it's necessary. I know from a personal standpoint, I skipped the descriptions and only looked at the LPs, lists and numbers. That is just my preference of course.

Perhaps some other folks who aren't currently writing for the Wheel will chime in with their opinions about the little Servitors?

BTW, cool stuff, eru!
-L

[eruditus]

also, do you have any caps on Will? If they are a subservient race, you may want to reflect this. Monkeys with 5 or 6 Willpower ain't taking crap from no one! :shock:Good point. Althouhg instead of a cap i think I will make this more a trait thing - like Tasting the Lash.

[Trayer]

I'll probably get distracted and dissappear from the forum soon enough so be happy with my little cameo here ;-)

I disagree with the monkey str cap. I realize they are only 2 feet tall, but aren't they stocky little things? A full grown chip isn't nearly as large as a human being and they could almost rip a man's arm off. I'm not sure if people know that most of the great apes have about 4 times the mucle density as a man. (Hence they can't swim well) Perhaps the wild servitors should have a higher strength cap?

And the Will cap should only be in place for Servitors that are raised completely in a servitude setting. The wild one's should have no caps.

[eruditus]

Thanks for the input.

I will have to think about all this and complete the traits section.

After that is the Fortune's Tide lifepath's of man based on pre-islamic arab culture.