Crafting Testing Material (Updated)

[John Out West]

Greetings!

We've created several crafting systems that we are looking to test in dice based fantasy role-playing games, including Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Herbalism, Rituals, Runeing, Tinkering, and Artificing. We're looking to make these crafts a supplement to all medieval fantasy role-playing games, and many of the rules may be general or inappropriate for specific systems. At the moment, it is tuned for D20 games such as D&D 5e and Pathfinder.

Our Artificing supplement is especially new and we're looking to get as much feedback on it as possible. Artificing allows any player to make (almost) any magic item, so we're wary about possible world-ending combinations. We also want feedback on the effects of an Anti-Artifice, and how it balances the craft.

We're looking for feedback on these crafts, and we want everything from first impressions to game reports. Please contact us at our email address with your notes and experiences, both positive and negative. Posting in this thread is appreciated, and if you Email us we can invite you to our Discord and have a more lively discussion about the testing material.

The Crafting Testing material (And our email address) can be found at:

westboundgame
.com/crafting-materials-test

If you don't want to download them from our website, you can email us and we will send you the material.

Thank you, and Happy Crafting!

[jqavins]

Well, you did asked for "everything from first impressions to game reports" and this falls outside that range, as I haven't looked at the material yet. But here goes.

What problem are you trying to solve? D&D 3.P has crafting rules; in what way(s) are they inadequate? Or, if they're not inadequate, in what way(s) are your rules so much superior to adequate existing rules that they are worth adopting?

In short, what are you goals in creating these rules?

I'm not saying these rules aren't worthwhile; I really have no idea. But I'll have little more idea after looking at them if I don't know what you're trying to achieve.

[John Out West]

Hey jqavins,

Great questions. First off, what is the problem with the current crafting system. The answer is that they are largely not crafting systems, but simply a different way to buy an item. You exchange gold, a recipe, and skill points for what is the equivalent of a discount. What i would say is even more distressing is that crafting doesn't FEEL like crafting, it FEELS like shopping. When designing our systems, we wanted our players to FEEL like they were the Artisans in the workshops.

Imagine you've just slain a Draco-Lich. Besides its hoard of treasure, the average adventurer takes its horns as a trophy and its scales in an attempt at making armor. However, there is a yearning in the heart to strip down the creature to its very essence for every imaginable use; making Fire Potions from its Fiery Lungs, Making Swords from its Bones, Armor from its Scales, Elixirs of life from its phylactery, etc. We wanted to create rules that would allow players to do this, not just with dragons, but with every beast, monster, and demon that inhabit their magical world.

The 7 crafts we've created are "Crafts for the Adventuring Artisans." Meaning that they benefit crafters who are adventurers. Adventurers go out and get the ingredients for their craft, they don't pay for it. Blacksmiths don't require gold to make new equipment, only iron and the sweat of their brow. Alchemists don't require gold, only strange and rare powers to emulate, such as the Bones of Undead to or the Eyes of a Basilisk. Spell Scribes don't require gold, but their magical marks lose power the more they are replicated. Herbalists don't require gold, only knowledge of the local flora. Tinkerers don't require gold, only time to ponder their schematics and a willingness to compromise. Rituals don't require gold, only piety. Artificing doesn't require gold, only gemstones and a disregard for their own safety.

Second Question, what was our goal. As we mentioned before, our goal from the beginning was to make players FEEL like they were actually crafting, and not assembling an undefined shopping list. Each craft is unique and is drastically different from every other craft, so we had to create seven distinct crafts. Once we developed a system that felt natural for each craft, we tweaked them for balance until we got what we have today.

Now when a troll dies, the alchemist of the party will immediately start draining their blood for Regeneration Potions. The blacksmith will melt down that Mithril Shield and create a Mithril Sword. When the GM says that there is a flowery field, the herbalist will quickly harvest flowers for Healing Incense. When breaking into the lords castle, the Tinker can design a Grappling Hook to get past the walls. When an ice wall stands before you, the Spell Scribe can write a single letter on the wall to melt it into water.

Hopefully that answers your question and piques your interest enough to read some of them. I've been told our Herbalism section is especially interesting, which is good because it is also one of the shortest. (Three pages)

As I've mentioned in the above post, we're super eager to see what people think about our Artificing rules. (Making Magic Items) We had to cut them down from what we had initially, since the ingredients they needed were too weird. They're about 20 pages long now. (Three pages of basic rules, 5 pages of rule definitions, 10 pages of options) The basic premise is that when you create the Artifice you also create a monster that is tied to the artifice, called an Anti-Artifice, which cannot be destroyed without destroying the artifice. Players are forced to defeat the monster without killing it, or to entrap it, exhaust it, or escape it, until its connection to the artifice wanes. In our testing, most players are fearful of creating a magical adversary, even if it means getting a custom magic item. We're excited to see what a reckless player will do, as well as how long they would survive.