SPECIAL ITEMSOver the millennia many powerful items have been created or found. These items are normally exceptionally powerful when compared to their basic counterparts. Many adventurers have dedicated themselves to locating these lost items either for a patron that has sponsored them, or for their own use and glory. Reliable information about them is very hard to come by, and many adventurers spend years chasing red herrings, or in some unfortunate cases red Dragons! Some special items are permanently enchanted with a special power; these are particularly important. For example, an amulet that has a Hide Emotion Power or a Crystal Ball of Scrying. All Special items have a '?' in front of the item number, for example, Mirror (?165434). These can be investigated for more information. Like all items, Special Items will be in a party's Plunder slot when they are first acquired, thus you need to be careful about what you do with your plunder slot and you should be aware that leaving the item there can result in it being stolen! The "?" is a moderation aid and the "?" should not be included in any turn orders, if you do so the order will likely fail. TAKING MODERATED ITEMSIt is possible that a moderated item is booby-trapped, cursed or in some way harmful to a party, it is also possible that the results of the action cause the player to change their mind with regards to taking an item. Due to these two reasons the GM will not automate the collection of items, the player needs to see the results and decide what they want to take. 'POWERS' - SPELLS / MIRACLES / RITUALSDeep within the secure sanctums of the Magic Cyrcle or the protected rooms of the various Temples and Guilds, many powerful spells, miracles or rituals have been developed. Most of these are beyond the power-levels of the typical adventurer and take a very, very long time to learn. Hence adventurers cannot learn them. These are commonly referred to as 'powers'. This is due to the fact that the same powers could be gained from the Magic Cyrcle or from one of the other Guilds or Temples. Powers are normally used in the form of a Power Scroll.A party may be rewarded with a Power for completing a Special Quest or a series of Special Quests. POWER SCROLLS IN MORE DETAILPS can only be used once, so an Alliance should use them wisely. It is possible to use different powers in combinations with each other, which could vary the effect. In the case of a power being used as a defence it is slightly more effective than an aggressive power. Low-level powers do have a chance of affecting any high level powers, but it is reduced. Any party can deliver a PS (476) or Message Scrolls (473) to any Alliance storeroom; yes this means you can deliver items to another Alliance. To use a Power contact the Games Master. Powers do not require a Special Action (SA); they are always Free Actions (FA); however some actions require a SA to be used first, like interacting with an NPC, for example a PS: persuade is a FA to use, but to talk to the person still requires a SA. This concept may be confusing, but it should not be once you take into account that each action is a separate action. The different Organisations have different areas that they are better suited to; this also applies to the creation of PS. Although it may normally seem best to ask the Magic Cyrcle for a PS, as they will likely be the best place to get a PS at a good price, sometimes other Organisation would be better places to enquire. The more powerful PS are generally not available at all Organisations. A good guide to this is thinking what things relate to the Organisation. For example Baldor's has strong links to healing so asking for a PS: Pestilence II will likely not only respond in a no, but also in a probably negative and possibly even a hostile response from Baldor Temple. The party's renown or an Alliance's renown & status plays an important part in any transaction, as does the current political situation; i.e. making a deal for a PS that will be used for the Organisation is more likely to result in the Organisation trying to sort out a better deal, however it may not be that straightforward. Organisations can convert special magical energy into a more stable form, which can then be released at a later date; this is what Power Scrolls (PS) are. This special magical energy is explained in a bit more detail in the 'Magic' Section, but in short the magical energy required is not readily available and is in great demand for many reasons. Another problem with PS is that they do not keep forever. The longer they are kept the more likely the magic contained will destabilise and be released, or warp when it is used. This can make a PS storeroom quite a dangerous place, thus Organisations do not keep stockpiles of PS around. For the above reasons the cost of PS can vary greatly; popular PS could rise in price due to the demand; whilst rarely requested PS could also rise in price due to an Organisation having to specially make one. A party can use a SA, if they have one, to enquire with an Organisation or person to purchase, trade, or ask for up to three Power Scrolls per SA.
The party can designate a total amount of gold they are willing and able to pay, and if the amount is equal or less than this total then the PS will be purchased. If the amount comes to more than the gold offered then the action results will say so and it is up to the party as to whether they are willing to accept the offer, which is a FA. The following Organisation Liaison Reply is shown on all the Alliance members next turns. In this example before issuing this SA the Alliance had 2 SA left: As the amount comes to less than 38,000 gold the GM takes 35,000 gold from the Alliance's bank account and places the PS in the Alliance storeroom. The following Organisation Liaison Reply is shown on all the Alliance members next turns. In this example before issuing this SA the Alliance had 2 SA left: As the amount is more than the Alliance said it is willing to pay the Alliance members decide what to do next, they could send the following FA. The two Power Scrolls are then added to the Alliance Storeroom. The Alliance could decide to issue another SA and haggle the price. The Alliance could just ignore the offer, and after four weeks the offer will no longer be valid. If a PS is not in stock the Organisation might offer to build one, and a time-scale of how long it will take, this will be told in the response and a party can turn the Organisation down or accept as noted above.
SPECIAL ITEMS & APPRAISALSWhen an item with the special tag in with the item number (?) is found, using the standard order Investigate Item, for example "I 100232", may not bring up all the information about the item. In this case the owner will need to appraise the item. Note: Power Scrolls (PS) can always be investigated using the standard order Investigate Item on a party's turn.
3. A party that is not aligned to an Organisation that has a SA can issue a SA to ask an Organisation to appraise an item. Since the party has no direct status they have to pay a gold fee (see table below). There is always a chance that the Organisation may decide to misinform the owner about the item's true value and abilities; so the generally evil and backstabbing type of Organisation tend to ask for less gold to persuade people to use their services instead. Note: As with everything in Quest: GME the results may not be straightforward. For example Baldor Priests could swindle a party, but that is not the normal way of things; if the evil Organisations always lied and cheated then no one would ever use their services so even they do not always betray customers. Depending on the Organisation that is approached the fee changes: -
Note: If the Organisation you work for finds out that you have been asking other Organisations to carry out services like this for the Alliance they might be upset, then again they might not.
MAGICAL ITEMSNOTE: When a PS: Enchant, Remove Enchantment, Suspend Enchantment is appropriately being used no SA is required as powers are always FA; specifically with regards to creating, re-powering or removing powers. CREATING MAGICAL ITEMSThere is a magical resonance to certain items with certain power types, and although it is possible to deviate from this it does make the process more difficult.
Magical Items can be created in several ways: Commissioned:Items can be made for someone, although asking for an item to be commissioned requires a SA. There is a possible problem with having items commissioned and built in that the creation may not succeed and thus the time and gold used is lost; there is a chance that an item could be better than what was commissioned and thus the time and gold could be saved in this case. The more powerful the item commissioned the more likely the person trying to make the item will have problems.It is possible that items may take several weeks to complete, possibly even months. The more powerful the item, the increased chance that a lot of time will be required for its creation.Requesting item creation from someone that you do not have status with is likely to result in either a no or a big increase in the item creation price.The following costs are not constant, but are the normal prices charged. The action should include the amount a party is willing to pay for an item to speed up the items construction and purchase.If a magical weapon or piece of armour is requested the cost is based on the "+" modifier, each "+" adds 900 gold to the cost, on top of the item cost. The production cost starts out at 10% on top of the other modifiers, but it does increase with the power of the item. The higher the "+" modifier the more likely the cost is also increased as not many people can craft +4 items, let alone +7 or +8. It is possible that the production cost could go up to production fees as high as 50% extra, so it is best to be willing to pay above the standard cost.
There is an increased chance of any attempt to create powerful items that things go wrong, which could result in a weaker item being created or the attempt failing totally. Even if the attempt is not fully successful the cost still has to be paid.
The cost works out in this case as: A +4 long sword costs 3,600 plus 80 gold for the basic long sword cost, which comes to 3,680. 10% of 3,680 is 368 so the final cost is 4,048 gold. The following reply is given:
Here is another example:
The cost works out in this case as: A +8 plate mail costs 7,200 plus 1,000 gold for the basic plate mail cost, which comes to 8,200. 25% of 8,200 is 2,050 so the final cost is 10,250 gold. The following reply is given:
A +9 or better item is an artefact, which require legendary efforts to construct and of course legendary fees.
The cost works out in this case as: A +8 plate mail costs 7,200 plus 1,000 gold, which comes to 8,200. Resist Power normal cost is 60,000 gold, the Enchant normally costs 15,000. 35% of 83,200 is 29,120 so the final cost is 112,320 gold, not cheap, but this is a very powerful magic item. Protection From or Slaying Modifier can be added to an item and the cost is normally doubled, i.e. an extra 100 percent cost to just the base item and "+" value, before the construction percentage, which is before the final amount is worked out. The Power Enchant is needed to have an item empowered so the cost of this power needs to be taken into account as well. The cost works out in this case as: A +8 plate mail costs at least 7,200 plus 1,000 gold, which comes to 8,200. For the Dragon Protection the cost is doubled to 16,400. Resist Power normal cost is 60,000 gold, the Enchant normally costs 15,000. 35% of 91,400 is 31,990 so the final cost is 123,390 gold, not cheap, but this is a very powerful magic item. Status and renown can greatly affect the cost, so it is generally best for someone with some standing in an area or with a specific Organisation to make the request. The cost works out in this case as: A +8 plate mail costs at least 7,200 plus 1,000 gold, which comes to 8,200. For the Dragon Protection the cost is doubled to 16,400. MiracleBy far the easiest and cheapest is the Fleyshur Miracle 404, however this only improves weapon and armour bonuses. The item is also not a moderated item. The Power EnchantNormally available as a Power Scroll, can be used along with other Powers to enchant any item. Like with commissioned magical items enchanting an item could result in the item being ruined or even totally destroyed. The chances depend on many factors but the two best guidelines are: 1) That powerful abilities, for example Super Blast are very difficult to bind to an item. 2) The greater the number of powers being tied to an item the greater the chance the attempt will fail.
The Enchant normally only imbues an item with one charge of the power being used, however it is possible that a few extra charges could result on rare occasions. There is a minuscule chance that an item could have permanent charges, but the chances are so low that is something not worth expecting.
It is possible to have several different powers all empowering a single item, but this is risky for two reasons. 1) It places too much power in one place. 2) It is generally accepted that it is more difficult to successfully empower an item with the second power.
Unfortunately the Counter Power fizzled, but luckily did not destroy the item or dispel the Reflect Power charge SiphoningThis is a long-term method of enchanting an item with power or magical properties. By placing an item at a site of magic the item could slowly become imbued with magic. The more items that this is tried on the more likely things will go badly for all the items; the reason is that there will be too many items attempting to siphon magic from each other as well as their location.This is not a very reliable way, unless the item is left for years, but still there have been occasions when only leaving an item for a few months has worked. Checking the power of the item can be accomplished via either a SA to appraise the item or a PS: Detect Power. Divine Blessing/CurseThis sort of event is rare, as it is not usual for the Gods to involve themselves in the world. A mortal who acquires such an item often finds it hard to live up to the expectations placed on them by a divine item. A SA could be used to carry out a sermon to a God to ask them to do this for the party; the chances of it being successful are incredibly slim. Another method would be to ask an appropriate Temple to carry out the request for the party, doing so will likely require a lot of gold as payment and also some status. Even if the request is what the party may think is in the Temple's best interest it is normal for the Temple to ask for some financial payment. Parties that are dedicated to a God are more likely to succeed. RE-POWERING MAGICAL ITEMSItems can be re-powered by the following methods. The Re-Power EnchantNormally available as a Power Scroll, can be used along with other Powers to re-power any item. There is a magical resonance to certain items with certain power types, and although it is possible to deviate from this it does make the process more difficult. See the table above for the resonance list. Using Re-Power can fully restore an items charges, destroy the item but most likely just restore a few charges. DESTROYING MAGICAL ITEMSBasic Magic Items (Non-moderation items): The ease of destroying a magically empowered item can vary greatly. For example a +3 sword or +5 Chain, and other such weapons or armour are quite straightforward to destroy. If the item is in a party's plunder slot then selling it or dropping it outside of a settlement will remove it from the game. If the item is not in the plunder slot then selling it to a shop will suffice for destroying the item. Using the Fleyshur Miracle 404 could destroy an item if the miracle fails. A SA could be used to destroy the item, but this is very wasteful of a precious SA. Overall it is a rather strange thing to want to do; this might seem like a good way of removing an item that has a question mark on the item number, but then it is not a basic magical item and thus read on for more information about how to destroy them. Suspend EnchantmentThis power can be used on an item and would likely temporarily remove the items magical property or possibly even several properties. It is also possible that the result could be a permanent removal, or possibly the increasing of the magical property. Remove EnchantmentThis power can be used on an item and would likely result in the removal of a power altogether, or possible even several magical properties of an item. It is also possible that the result could be a permanent removal, or possibly the increasing of the magical property. For Example: Game 31, Mystics of Avaellia 111, Account Number: 12345, Bobby Joe Smith The Mystics (1032). Possible Result: With the PS: ritual completed the party members are relieved to find that their work has been successful and the amulet is no longer enchanted. Special ConditionSome items are so well made, contain so much power, or have been divinely imbued that they require a special method to destroy them. Finding out if an item needs some special requirement usually requires a SA to be used to appraise the item, or ask someone else to appraise the item. Conditions are likely to be a combination of place, time and components.
SPECIAL SPELLS/MIRACLESMore spells and miracles will become available via the Temples or Magic Cyrcle Special Quests. Since these special spells/miracles are guarded and difficult to understand, learning them is not as straightforward as spending some Gold and experience points at a shop, mixing a few powders together, or spending a few weeks aligned to a God
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