Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Rosisha 08-04-05, 01:16 PM	Hello everyone! I'm working on a game which is a steampunk campaign. I've changed a few classes around, have gunpowder weapons, skill based casting, etc. its fun and all but I want to slowly twist the game into a gothic horror type situation. I have Unearthed Arcana and I'm VERY happy with the Taint and Sanity check rules in there. However, I've never used them and I am wondering if anyone has, and what their opinion of them is? Do they need any fixes, either to make them tougher or easier? Thanks in advance. Rosisha
Vexsom 08-06-05, 07:16 AM	Hello everyone! I'm working on a game which is a steampunk campaign. I've changed a few classes around, have gunpowder weapons, skill based casting, etc. its fun and all but I want to slowly twist the game into a gothic horror type situation. I have Unearthed Arcana and I'm VERY happy with the Taint and Sanity check rules in there. However, I've never used them and I am wondering if anyone has, and what their opinion of them is? Do they need any fixes, either to make them tougher or easier? Thanks in advance. Rosisha I've used them and decided agains't any future use due to two things. Firstly, they can become a little difficult and argued over aspects of the game to keep track of. Not that a dedicated group couldn't handle it, but the simple truth is that no one wants to keep track of something that starts at 60 and goes up and down so much its even more baffeling than a 4 hour long battle with a caster healing you and a monster picking at you. Secondly, the dynamics are slow to affect the real outcome of anything. Beyond role playing your own characters sanity or taint without needing a score, its hard to put in terms. I can role play my obease dwarf slowly becoming unreasonable and wishing to devour anything that moves than deal with it because those hes become familiar with wont associate with him. He became more internal and as the members of his group delt with others in a violent manor, he felt that indulging himself was the only way to feel happy and repress his loneliness. Alternately, I would find it redundent to keep a score of how every time the dwarfs companions slaughtered someone for no reason, he became a pin prick less sain. My take: They are very amusing and workable varients, but lack real staying power or roleplaying zeal to stick with me or my group.
Rosisha 08-06-05, 11:52 AM	thank you for the input! You raise some good points and I will have to very carefully consider them. Rosisha
Lankin the Mad Mage 08-16-05, 07:17 PM	While I've never used taint, I have been involved in games usingsanity, which is one of the best alternate rules I've seen so far. But it all depends on how you implement it. If seeing a murder causes you to lose saity, combt becoms unbearable. But if abberations and their ilk is all that triggers it, a game lacking such horrors won't need sanity checks. It all depends on two factors: What is mentally unbalancing in YOUR game world, and how much will those factors appear in game play. If they appear too much, the characters will go insane quickly and ruin the fun. If they appear too seldom, sanity won't be an issue and will be forgotten. It's like a spice: It adds flavour if used in the right amount.