[PnP] my first post - a few very noob questions

[Alex Koponen]

Welcome!

Scott M wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I apologize in advance if my questions are too newbie-ish. It's just
> that resources are so llimited for what seems to be a really decent
> system. I was hoping someone on this list might have some time to
> share their thoughts about a few questions I have.
>   
No need for apology.
> 1) Can magic users wear armor and does it affect their ability to cast
> spells? From my reading so far, I assume magic users can wear whatever
> they like with no penalty. That seems strange to me.
>   
As previously answered, the rules have no penalty to magic users wearing 
armor.
Some have house rules on this subject.
When I ref I give no penalty other than encumbrance.
In the game I am playing a magic user in, my character wears heavily 
enchanted leather armor.
> 2) Are there any house rules to take OCV/DCV or the target's
> agility/dex (or anything) into consideration when targeting them with
> ranged weapons? It seems that an active person should be harder to hit
> than say, a tree. So far it seems the only difference between
> targeting a human and a tree, is that a human could choose to use his
> shield if he has one (although I suppose he could dodge if he wanted
> to give up his turn).
>   
As can be seen on Wout's site this question got asked of the game's 
creator back in the '80s.
See the additional errata section on http://abroere.xs4all.nl/pnp/ if 
interested. Basically it was
a design choice in the game.
> 3) Are there any house rules to keep the all-mighty Status roll from
> making or breaking a new character? It seems that so long as you make
> a status of 3 or higher, you don't really need to spend any initial
> increases on cash. So now you have both a cash advantage and a
> skill/character point/experience point advantage over characters with
> a status of 1 or 2.
>   
Part of the fun of adventuring is seeing if one can increase their status.
My magic user rolled a status of 0. This is explained in her backstory 
as having been born to a
relatively high status shaman mother, but being a half breed and taken 
to a new land after her
mother died she was treated as status 0 by her father's kin. She started 
adventuring shortly after
his death in part to avoid the social unpleasantness. By adventuring she 
has acquired experience,
wealth and contacts. As her MEL climbed so did her presentation of what 
her status is.
She is (or acts as if it is) currently status 6.
> 4) Can I assume that most P&P GMs are VERY liberal with spell success
> modifiers? It sure seems like the players can romp all over the NPCs
> without them. As an example, "Abandon"; I like to assign a 5 to 10
> penalty if the target is already leery of the caster, up to 25 if they
> are already in combat. Meanwhile, I would consider a bonus of around
> 10 if the caster can cajole the target into a discussion to at least
> consider "forgetting all your woes" before casting his spell.
>   
Depends. When I ref I am not liberal with modifiers, however I know that 
others are. My magic user
has had abysmal failure on spells where without add'l modifiers her 
chance of success was over 100%.

P&P is somewhat unbalanced in that powerful mages are REALLY powerful. 
Once a mage gets to
the point where spells are 100% successful unless against an MDV they 
become major movers and
shakers of the world if they want. However even an apprentice mage is 
not utterly useless if they have
the right spells...even at EL0.
> 5) I do see ambush rules, but are there any rules (House or otherwise)
> that dictate how soon two groups of travelers will see each other in
> the wilderness? Or who will see each other first? The skills don't
> seem to account for sensory perception very much – is that generally
> ignored in games that you folks run?
>   
As Em is the stat used by the rules for sensing things and waking up I 
have used Em.
> Sorry if that's too much too fast. I'll take whatever kind of response
> I can get.
>
> By the way, I live in Tarpon Springs, Florida and am always looking
> for interested gamers. We're going to the Necronomicon in October 5,
> 2007 at the Hyatt in downtown Tampa. A bunch of gamers get together
> there each year. No P&P so far, but you never know what might show up
> on the schedule.
>   
I am even further away than Whitehorse. I am in Fairbanks, Alaska. Still 
haven't managed to
get down to visit Whitehorse.

             Alex Koponen
>
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