Loot availability/distribution in adventures

I guess in theory he could also be referring to Ash from Pokemon, who is kind of defined by what he carries around rather than who and what he is

Hello Eddie,

John Bellando said, “literary characters”, so I didn’t put that together with Ash from Evil Dead movies.

I was using a bit of a generality. I’ve since learned my lesson, Henry.

John

… no love here for the green lantern …

I think it has a lot to do with perceptions of equality and availability.

No matter what “solution” (and I’m still not convinced that there is a problem, here) you like best, someone will disagree and the debate will continue. The campaign staff can’t win, here.

Scott

What do you say when you think multiple people are saying smart things? I don’t know that this is a problem that needs solving. But I do believe reflecting on how items are currently distributed is a thought worthy of reflecting on.

Wilcoxon makes a fair point. As it stands the only way to get “the good stuff” is a hit and miss proposition of going through modules. You can loose out in treasure distribution because everyone wants the same item. Or if you play more than one character, you run the risk of playing a mod “with the wrong character. Worrying about either of these things does not make you

And if your PCs have zero items and but your buddy’s PC has three, then I can see that you might feel there is a fairness issue.

Then again I agree completely with Deadzone. And I don’t want to see a large increase in the number of magic items distributed. And I don’t want to see a big change to the campaign guidelines.

Still.

I think its a false dichotomy to suggest that we have to either leave things untouched as they are or make some big change to the rules of handing out (more?) items. And even if we can’t please everybody, I still think we should strive to please a wider slice of our players.

While thinking about how the campaign handles magic items it might be worth thinking about other ways for people to gain magic items besides loot at the end of a module. I did not like the idea of an Online Marketplace, but broadly speaking I think Cody was thinking on the right track. I thought an in module Marketplace make be a cool opportunity…though it doesn’t seem to resonate with many people on this list. Collecting (and eventually cashing in) Favors from someone like Master Elebac could be another idea. Regardless I would like to encourage people (and authors) to think about additional/different ways to put items out there.

The idea of cashing in favors for potential magic items or other non-purchasable loot sounds like a great idea worth investigating. Sure, it’s akin to some MMOs where you gather ingredients in dungeons and turn them in to a quest giver. However, if flavored right and there are in-game story reasons for the NPCs or nations to do this, it has a chance to do many things.

1) Allow characters a chance to customize their characters at a slow pace. For instance if someone wants an exceptional Flintlock, they will want to turn in favors for Altheria. If someone is looking for a magical bow, favors they have with the Hinterlands or NPCs from there would be valuable.
2) Keep magic items from flooding in. It might take 3-4 adventures to earn enough favor with a particular nation or NPC to warrant the item. There might also be a cost of some type (rate item from a module or cash).
3) Prevent the “10 games and never won a roll” quandary that was brought up as a potential problem.

This would require campaign staff and PCI to create a list of “allowable factions” that could reward items and the types of items. For instance:
Altheria (NPC 1 and NPC 2): favors and reputation for this nation or NPCs can get you flintlocks (if legally allowed), special shot, magical tomes or magical eye wear.
Milandir (NPC 1, NPC 2, or NPC 3(: Cannget you heavy armor, large weapons, shields, magical greaves, or magical helmets

Then authors could sprinkle favors or reputation for appropriate factions in their modules. When a character has enough then can complete a quest in their next module for the item.

This is just off the top of my head but I think it might be something that warrants fleshing out or more thought.

Thoughts?

John

Arcanis is in part defined by the fact that it initially used the D&D system rather than it’s own. It was high magic item because that was the norm for the system. It’s very clear though that the world of Arcanis as envisioned is far more about the heroes than about any gear.

If we’re talking high fantasy then it’s probably worth going back and looking at the founding of the genre. I think Arcanis is far closer to Tolkien’s Middle Earth. In the Hobbit through the entire book, there were 3 magic weapons found in the lair of the trolls, 1 magic ring as the driver for the plot and nice weapons and armor within the Halls of the Mountain King. You can maybe argue that the Black Arrow was a special magic arrow. From that perspective you had the Company which consisted of Gandalf, Bilbo and the 13 dwarves and through the entire story arc those were the only magic items they saw.

If you look at the Lord of the Ring series, there are very few additional named items that the Fellowship either starts with, reforges or finds.

If I think about the genre as a whole and about popular series within it I still have a hard time coming up with a lot of magic items mentioned or given. The Riftwar saga by Feist comes to mind. That was written using a game he ran as the core. Outside of Tomas and his dragon’s gift which was a major plot driver, there weren’t a ton. The Black Company novels by Cook has very little other than the Standard. The Jhereg series by Brust has a few, but mostly in weapons which are readily available in Arcanis as well.

So, if Tolkien’s Middle Earth is closer to the way to think about magic items and gear, I would say it’s pretty much right on target.

Returning to the specifics of Arcanis, most characters will never reach an 8 Charisma. As such, they have a practical limit of between 4 and 6 items they can be wearing at any given time. Some items will be used from Tier 1 to Tier 5 because they’re practical and useful. To me this sounds more like 2 – 3 magic items earned at most per tier plus various weapons and armor. I think it will be incredibly rare to find exceptional quality armor before late Tier 2 or Tier 3. The value it has is huge. Exceptional weapons are far less expensive and are being found. There’s still an opportunity to add various runes to them.

I think there are opportunities to add interesting mundane items that will have particular significance. I go back to the idea I had earlier of making a drinking horn from one of the horns or teeth of Uhxbractit. It would have no magical properties or likely resale value, but it would have made a lively RP hook.

Personally I’m glad it’s about the story. I’m extremely glad that the rewards provided aren’t decided by the tier of difficulty you play. People still want to play everything with a character so they can advance it in ranks and get that cool new weapon trick or spell or autocast level or Path. That’s focused on the character and where I think they want it to be.

Respectfully and with a sweep of his hat,

Paul

As for the “This isn’t D&D” argument. Arcanis is a high fantasy RPG with many races, “classes”, nations, ruins and dungeons to explore, organizations to tally against and heroes to aspire to. It’s the same genre as D&D and still pulls a lot of its core from that and similar games. We have elves (Elorii), dwarves (cursed Celestial giants), tiefling a (dark-kin), aasimar (val), Etc. Arcanis had brought a very unique, and powerfully addictive twist on a lot of aspects of the game (story and mechanics) that make it a wonderful game! However, just saying “this isn’t D&D” and discounting comparisons in that light is missing out on a lot of things that can and will draw more people to the game. I’d rather see argument about what Arcanis is and what makes it special than just falling back on saying what we feel it isn’t.

John

Although I do see where you coming from, that PoV also makes it that every fantasy game as at least some similarity to D&D (and in all honestly they do). Though, the general genre is where these games are similar, once you go in-depth, that similarity ends.

I have seen many new players partake of Arcanis adventures because they though the game was like D&D. Easily, 90% of them stated the same thing (in one way or another): ‘This isn’t like D&D at all!’. Not in a negative stance, but one of experience something they never did before. To a minor few, this new experience pushed away certain players due to not wanting to try something new or it was to complicated for them to grasp (the storyline aspect and implications, not the game’s mechanics). To majority of others, it was a very welcomed experience that opened up a new appetite concerning playing a RPG (be it a home or living campaign).

The largest, and albeit conflicting (in a good way) at times, attraction of Arcanis is its story and how heavily it is emphasized in the game. I believe is here where that “This isn’t D&D” phrase is coming from. And, like all other Fantasy genre games, it will have its flux of magical items (minor and major alike). However, and the alluring feature of this game is, despite the fact that magic items can make certain things less complicated, they are by no means absolutely necessary to be competent and useful.

In Arcanis, with a few notable exceptions, every enemy faced can be defeated with a rusty old sword – …

I forsee the creation of a new magic item: Ye Rusty Ole Sword

Not to be confused with Ye Rusty Ole Goat (the mount or the spouse).

When looking at magical items availability I feel there are 2 things to consider, how frequently they appear in modules, and how many appear when they are available as loot.

PCI has a done a great job in how frequently they appear in modules. They appear rarely, and make magical items feel special. I hope this kind of frequency continues and I hope no one here is asking to change to this.
In the Crusade Arc there was 28 modules released for general play.
4 of them present magical items (excluding runes because they can be bought, sold, and transferred to different items). Magic items cannot be bought and are basically one time get items.
1 was gifted to every character for doing well in a module
1 a list was provided and each character could take a single item
1 provided 2 items
1 provided a single item

These last 2 example are the kinds of situations that lead to people being upset. I do feel that when magic items do appear that not enough appear to avoid disappointment at a table. When 2 items appear, 2 players get money, XP, and an item, 2-4 only get money and XP. It’s hard to find a table that won’t argue, especially if an item can be used by more than one person. In my earlier post I gave suggestions to increase choice to players. I liked the situation where the list appearing on the cert and each character got 1 item, that was great.

Keep item frequency the same, let them appear very rarely, don’t allow the Marketplace, in module or out. But when they do appear in module make it easier to avoid disgruntled players by giving them all an item.