I just wanted to add that my group has had problems with critical hits because the dice tend to want to kill them all.  None of us like the idea that a player character can be killed in 1-3 hits from a big nasty if the dice are unkind--especially when you add options like frenzy, swift attack, or flurry.

In our case, I created a house rule for critical hits that I think follows the "make it difficult for them, but don't actually kill/stop them" theme I have found throughout Fantasy Craft.  With the house rule, I created a critical hit table (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2kQ8wwtYmgxMTQ0ZTAxNzMtODgxYS00NjQ2LTk5NTQtN2RhOGMyODJiZjk4) that is really nasty, accelerates combat, but doesn't kill anything out of hand.  Now, when anyone gets a critical hit (including NPCs that can make critical hits), they pay 1 AD to roll on the critical hit table, or 2 action dice to roll on the critical hit table with the option of moving the result one number up or down on the table (they have to spend the AD before rolling on the table).  They no longer have the option to send damage straight to wounds or roll on the Table of Ouch.

Our group has found it a lot of fun, so after reading this thread, I thought others might like it, although I'm sure it's not for every group.

You know, the delay on Spellbound is practically killing me, but you guys really know how to take the sting out of it.

After reading this, I'm sitting here with a warm, fuzzy feeling and a smug grin, eagerly, but patiently, waiting for the upcoming goodness.

Thanks, Crafty Crew!

 

I have the same problem with scenes (and renaming it wouldn't help me) because I am running a campaign where the PCs completely control the pacing.  There is no plot or pacing for them except what they add (the campaign is taking place on its own timeline and multiple NPCs are acting at the same time they are; the plot advances no matter what they do and they get to choose where they make their impact).  I've had to create a kind of average scene length, which for now is one day, to determine when I end a scene. 

The most important thing I've learned is that the players need to know approximately how long a scene will be, or at least know that one scene won't be a single room and another will be an entire dungeon.  Otherwise, they cannot use their abilities without worrying they won't have them for a later fight, which, if the scene is much shorter than they expected, means they never use their best abilities.

These are excellent ideas.  I think I will use all of them.    For his current contact, he will be a generic contact that will be different people in different places.  For additional contacts, we will use either the same thing or actually start using some of the spirits of places that exist in the setting in a similar generic context.

Thank you, all.  The Crafty Community never disappoints!

Thank you.  I'll have to try to find that discussion.  I must have missed it.

Well, as GM why did you approve contacts that you or the player couldn't think of a way to make useful?
Why aren't you, as GM, making them useful by structuring your adventures so the Explorer can call on his contacts from time to time?
Why isn't he using his Core Ability to overcome these by simply declaring that his Contact is close by for whatever reason?

Most of the reasons for the above is because this is the first time we have played Fantasy Craft.  We just picked up the book and figured it out.  Unfortunately, that means that we sometimes missed things and didn't realize exactly how they would work until we got them in play.

The deeper issue for me, though, is the cost versus the benefit.  We have all sat around trying to think of any time a contact would be useful enough to pay for its cost and we can't come up with anything.  A competent NPC seems to work out to around 60 xp.  To take it as a contact, you must pay 30 reputation.  Being able to call on that contact for a single task or scene once per adventure just doesn't appear to be much benefit.  I don't think we are thinking about it in the right way, but we just can't seem to come up with anything that would make the cost worthwhile.

I'm running a campaign set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world.  Most population centers (and hence, most governments) have been destroyed, leaving only small villages and tribes and a few loners.  The world is very dangerous and people are just starting to put the pieces back together.

One of my players is playing an Explorer.  We have not found a way for him to get any use out of his contact at all.  In a fantasy setting (without telephones, for instance), I'm having some difficulty figuring out how contacts would be worth a feat or even the reputation they cost.  My setting makes things even more difficult in that there are no population centers larger than about 200.

I tend to be a loner at heart, so I probably wouldn't be good at using contacts under any circumstances, but can anyone give me examples of how contacts are useful and worth what they cost?  Also, does anyone have any ideas on how to make them more useful in my setting (which admittedly makes using them more difficult)?

As for a secret police.  Yes... both sides will have one.. perhaps they'd be the same agency.. not sure just yet.  Which will add to the pressure of a rebellion.  Are they really heroes?  Or are they spies looking to catch us conspiring??!

Now that's an interesting idea.  What if there was a single individual or organization behind it all and they had managed to set up the situation?  How difficult would it be to trace back to this individual or organization?  Would everyone in a position of power be working for them, or would some be unknowing dupes?  What if some or all of the "good guys" were being coerced or secretly led into their actions?

For that matter, what if the "bad guys" were the ones trying to resist this organization?

It sounds like this could easily become a covert-ops-type game, too.  If the "good" governments weren't really that bad but had been forced into those terms for some reason, they could try the "go do some good, but we'll disavow you if you are caught" approach.  It could become a cold war situation, where both sides know stuff is going on, but are covering themselves, politically.  Lots of espionage, sabotage, and assassination.

That isn't exactly what I was looking for, but I'm going to steal that, too.    Thanks!

I'm more interested in making the Priest class a non-religious, focused, arcane caster class that doesn't gain circle of power or its equivalent.  Something like an Aeromancer who specializes in Travel and Air, but who doesn't focus completely on casting spells.  I'm trying to come up with good ideas for swapping out some of the other Priest class abilities that are focused around religion.  If I could come up with replacement abilities related to the various Paths, it would be even better.  The problem is that I've seen some of the subtleties of game balance in Fantasy Craft and don't want to inadvertently break anything.

A while ago, I saw a post where there was discussion of modifying the Priest class to be an arcane class to make more focused arcane characters.  I cannot find it, though.  Can anyone point me to it, or does anyone have something like this already worked out?

Was subdual damage errata'd?  The description of subdual damage in my book does not say it ignores DR.

That all makes sense and is the way I figured it would be, but, as I read it, it would cost 180 reputation to get 16 standard creatures (I can't find 32).  That just seemed like an awful lot, so I wondered.

The Call From Beyond spell has a duration of 1 minute per Casting Level (dismissible, enduring).  As I understand it, that means someone can cast Permanency on it, resulting in a non-dispellable summoned creature.  How do you handle it when the summoned creature is killed?  The character payed 20 x spell level reputation to gain the creature--is it just gone?  That seems a pretty steep price for a standard creature that can be one-shotted.  Does the creature reappear at a later time?  Is the reputation refunded, or partially refunded?  How do any/all of you handle it?  Thanks.