Which is not to say that the ForeSight psionic skills have no
place in a HindSight campaign (my personal opinion is that they have
more place in HindSight than in ForeSight, but John Campbell would
probably disagreeƒ), or that a "fantasy" campaign should be
"low-tech" (magicians in FTL spacecraft? Why not?) and/or "medieval"
(for a start, "authentic" medieval campaigns are not much fun for
poor people or women). Similarly, there is no reason why some of the
ideas in HindSight shouldn't be incorporated into ForeSight (eg.
rules for use of horses, or even these rules).
The important thing is that you put such things into your campaign
for a reason, not simply for the sake of incorporating more "detail"
(read complexity), or to add interest (read appropriate literature,
watch some movies, etc.; large books of rules are no substitute for
better scenario ideas, and a consistent and interesting campaign) to
a flagging campaign.
Eg. A campaign set on Darkover (the series written by
Marion Zimmer Bradley) could quite likely include [1] ForeSight in
its entirety (including psionics, of course, but remember the compact
preventing the use of ranged weaponry on the planetƒ); [2] the Magic
rules (with some modifications, probably treating them as a form of
psionics); [3] some new PC and NPC races/species (expressed either in
the ForeSight format for aliens, or the HindSight format for PC
races; Chieri might come out to be similar to elves attribute-wise,
and so forth); and, perhaps, [4] down-toned religious rules, perhaps
using psionics and/or magic in place of interventions. On the other
hand, there is no evidence in the Darkover series for disciplines of
the type described hereunder.
A PC in a HindSight campaign may acquire any of the following
disciplines as any normal skill, assuming that the GM is allowing the
use of given disciplines (ie. GMs should feel free to [1] disallow
the use of any or all of the following disciplines; [2] restrict the
acquisition of given disciplines to particular races, or cultural
groups (making it more difficult for outsiders to learn); and [3]
alter the Exp, and BEF, values of any or all of the disciplines
below. A character lacking a discipline may not, however, attempt
tasks relevant to it.
|
Discipline
|
Formula
|
Exp
|
BEF
|
Limit
|
|
Adrenal Control
|
WP/2
|
4
|
4
|
1.5
|
A character with this discipline may perform
a special action point action, costing one action point, and
one point of fatigue. He/she makes an Adrenal Control roll;
if he/she achieves QR1-2, then his/her Net Speed is
considered to be two higher the next pulse [only] (ie.
he/she acts sooner, and recieves up to two more APs); if
he/she achieves QR3-4 then his/her Net Speed is considered
to be one higher the next pulse [only]; and if he/she
achieves a QR10 then his/her Net Speed is considered to be
two lower, the next pulse [only]. (QR7's have no effect -
although the time and fatigue is, of course, wasted.) A
character may only perform one such action per action pulse.
|
|
Arrow Turning
|
(DX+PC)/4
|
4
|
see below
|
1.5
|
A character with arrow turning can "Parry"
thrown weapons, and projectiles from mechanical ranged
weapons (slings, bows, and crossbows) the same way he/she
would parry a [normal] melee attack (the projectile parried
must come from one of his/her legitimate target hexes). If
using his/her hands he/she must also possess the Defensive
unarmed combat field. If he/she is using a weapon to parry
the projectiles, then he/she incurs a -1 modifier (in
addition to the weapon's normal range PM). In any case, the
PCS used when parrying is the lower of the character's Arrow
Turning PCS and his/her appropriate weapon skill PCS, and
the EF is equal to the QR of the attack, +1 if a thrown
weapon is being parried. If the resulting parry is QR4, then
the defender may elect to take the damage in his/her arm,
while a QR3 or better result entirely negates the attack. A
QR1 allows the parrying character to catch a thrown missile.
|
|
Berserker
|
WP/2
|
3
|
4
|
1.5
|
A character with this discipline may, at the
beginning of one of his/her action pulses, attempt either to
enter a berserk frenzy, or leave it. He/she does so by
making a Berserker roll - entering on a QR4 or better, but
requiring QR3 or better to leave it. In the berserk state a
character pays double costs (APs and fatigue) for dodge and
parry actions, performs any attack actions, and any Pain
Resistance rolls at +2; he/she ignores the effects of
fatigue loss until he/she leaves the berserk state. He/she
must, if unstunned, try to attack at least one other
"person" each pulse.
|
|
Distant Death
|
WP/2
|
8
|
5
|
1.5
|
A character with Distant Death can "project"
his/her physical presence across a short distance (up to
20/QR metres) for a brief period (one pulse) to perform
physical attacks. He/she cannot project his/her possessions,
and his/her presence cannot be harmed. Projection via
Distant Death costs two action points. The character
performs a Distant Death roll, and expends QR fatigue
points. If successful, he/she is projected to any legitimate
target hex of his/her choice within range, and may then
perform one or two melee attacks (as he/she wishes) at +2
(since he/she is effectively attacking while invisible),
neither of which may be parried or dodged, after which
he/she returns to his/her normal body (during the projection
the character's body remains in place, and may be
[opportunity] attacked as though stunned).
|
|
Master [Weapon]
|
WP/2
|
4
|
5
|
1.5
|
A character acquiring this skill must
determine the weapon mastered. When he/she uses this skill
(a Pulse action), it costs QR fatigue points, and if
successful, gives him/her a "weapon" of the type mastered
(of quality determined by the QR, see below) for one minute
(using the lower of his/her appropriate skill PCS and
his/her Master [Weapon] PCS). If a QR4 is achieved, then the
weapon is Cheap (GM determines the Cheap modification used),
while a QR better than 3 allows one extra minute, or one
fine modification per QR lower than 3 achieved. Also note
that a weapon "produced" in this fashion may not be thrown,
or dropped and then retrieved. A master bow could be used to
fire real arrows.
|
|
Mobility
|
(WP+ST)/4
|
6
|
4
|
1.5
|
A character may use the lower of his/her PCS
in this skill and his/her Climbing, and Stealth, skill PCSs,
when performing Climbing and Stealth tasks. If he/she does
so then he/she can negate negative modifiers in those tasks
by doubling the time taken for the task for every -1
modifier negated (they cannot raise EFs this way, just
negate negative modifiers). By this method, the character
can perform Climbing and Stealth tasks which are of
incredible difficulty (but not impossible), eg. sneaking
through a region being directly observed, or climbing up a
smooth wall by bracing against a 90°corner, and along
the edges of ceilings. Furthermore, if a character with this
skill is conscious when tied up, he/she can escape his/her
bonds by making a Mobility roll (unmodified, unless the
person who tied him/her up was especially careful).
|
|
Self Mastery
|
WP/2
|
4
|
4
|
1.5
|
A character with Self Mastery can improve
his/her fatigue at the cost of Wound Levels, and vice versa,
as follows: if he/she wants to do the former the PC
increases his/her Wound Level (as opposed to status) by one,
and then if he/she successfully performs a Self Mastery roll
his/her fatigue increases to his/her Reserve level. If
he/she wants the reverse, then he/she loses all of his/her
Fatigue if currently below Reserve, and drops to Threshold
if currently above or equal to Reserve. If the roll is
successful, the character's Wound Level is reduced by one.
Designer's Notes: as given, Self Mastery will be a
very common discipline amongst player characters. Given its
low cost, it delivers remarkable recuperative capabilities.
If a GM wishes to further limit it, he/she may wish to
increase its Exp value to 6 or 8. I prefer a measure of
recuperative capacity in a campaign.
|
|
|
|
Zen
|
WP/2
|
10
|
4
|
1.5
|
A character may use his/her Zen skill
(including BEF) in place of any skill with PC only in its
formula, with no modifiers for PC related conditions (eg.
darkness, poor visibility, blindfolds, earmuffs, helmets,
and the like).
For skills whose formulae contain PC and some other
attribute, Zen can still be used, but if the character
possesses the skill at a lower PCS, then he/she uses his/her
PCS in that skill instead of his/her Zen PCS (if he/she
doesn't have the appropriate skill at all, then he/she also
suffers the -2 penalty for not having a skill); eg. a
character could use Zen in place of fencing (reflecting
fencing with his/her eyes closed), but since the appropriate
skill includes AG, he/she would have to use his/her Fencing
PCS instead of his/her Zen PCS were it lower (reflecting
that knowing where something is isn't all that it takes to
hit it).
Note that a character using Zen is not using any normal
sense, and is hence can sometimes detect magical "illusions"
for what they are (eg. an image would appear as an image
with no substance, a sound as a noise without a source, and
so forth - there are no explicit "illusory" things in the
magic system).
|