[Fantasy Craft] GMs Unite!

[Gentry]

Right, a Quality that applies to the whole party instead of just one person.  Like... if it's a party of Samurai, Musketeers or Catholic Crusaders.  All flying one banner with one set of Ethos.

In one of the later D&D 3.5 releases there was a little system for Group Feats, where everyone could spend time learning a move that gave everyone a bonus of some kind. That's the image I get from what Koala's saying.

[Freelancer]

You did it.  You Blew It Up...  Damn you all to hell if the chimp isn't on top of the horse...  One of the monster races is now the dominant species in the world, and YOU are now equivalent to the dungeon dwellers.  Find a chest and a 10x10 room.  You're done.

Trope-ical Resorts  Tiny elven girls can wield claymores as large as themselves with no penalties.  Chainmail bikinis DO provide superior protection.  5 ninjas are cannon fodder; 1 is Death Incarnate.

No encumbrance penalties or weapon size penalties.
No armor = Def +3.  That's it.
Free 50 XP to GM for henchman/mastermind builds.

[Inkthinker]

I've got a couple subplot ideas that I can't seem to flesh out in any workable way:
-Something where you're the bane of someone's existence, if you throw a mug of ale over your shoulder in disgust, this is the man unfortunate enough to sit behind you, if you swing a door open, its this guy's face you hit. Problem is I'm missing a good form of resolution (other than him becoming a nemesis.)

The Frank Grimes Effect. Might be interesting if someone were the bane of your existence... i.e. everywhere you go, they've been there and messed it up for you. Retribution may cause alignment problems if they're truly innocent in their actions.

[Crafty_Pat]

- A quality that binds the players to a code of honor. 

So long as it binds everyone else as well, then it's a quality. Otherwise it's a Subplot.

Right, a Quality that applies to the whole party instead of just one person.  Like... if it's a party of Samurai, Musketeers or Catholic Crusaders.  All flying one banner with one set of Ethos.

I meant everyone, even NPCs.

[Crafty_Pat]

Subplot: Curse - You've angered someone, shown too much pride before great powers, stepped in the wrong place or just looked at fae that disagreed with your choice to do so. The curse would likely fit best by being something different from magical curses that might exist, maybe just restriction/exception with a subplot level of requirement to remove (hopefully all nice and poetic for the player who received it).

Got Curse Subplots, yup.

Also works as a Complication: Curse - Oh... Shouldn'tve touched that, who knows what kind of rancid magic it was carrying, that's going to take some work to wash off.
(Though that would likely be better being watered down from what a subplot might give)

Yeah, Complications are more transitory than that.

I've got a couple subplot ideas that I can't seem to flesh out in any workable way:
-Something where you're the bane of someone's existence, if you throw a mug of ale over your shoulder in disgust, this is the man unfortunate enough to sit behind you, if you swing a door open, its this guy's face you hit. Problem is I'm missing a good form of resolution (other than him becoming a nemesis.)

That's less a Subplot than a recurring gag. Good gag, though!

-Fae or Haunting - You see fairies, are haunted by the ghost of an ancestor/best friend/so on, or see other magical signs, and they seem to be telling you something, problem is, no one else can see or hear them. (Then this would become a sort of Quest + Avoid the Nuthouse, though it might just work as a template for a number of subplots).

We have Haunted. That's a great Subplot.

For insanity there's Unhinged but I don't think that will be making an appearance in this volume.

Perk - Interloper A new fighter joins the fray! Someone you know (or maybe someone you don't) comes upon your battle, debate or conflict of some sort and offers a touch of help (or maybe more), maybe only to disappear/leave as suddenly as he came or hang around to "borrow" the spotlight.

Yup. Got those on both sides.

[Sletchman]

- A quality that binds the players to a code of honor. 

So long as it binds everyone else as well, then it's a quality. Otherwise it's a Subplot.

Right, a Quality that applies to the whole party instead of just one person.  Like... if it's a party of Samurai, Musketeers or Catholic Crusaders.  All flying one banner with one set of Ethos.

I meant everyone, even NPCs.

Sounds kinda like an advanced Black and White.  I can see that sorta affecting a particular setting - Say a feudal Japanese setting where if anyone [pc or npc] doesn't act according to their station they are in for some serious trouble.  But I think thats more of a play style then a quality.

[TheAuldGrump]

Campaign Qualities:
Off the Map - XP and/or Action Dice for finding new areas to explore - to find out what lies within the area marked 'Here Be Dragons'. (I plan to use this one in the Fallout game, if it ever happens.)

Forbidden Magic - one or more Schools are against the law, practicing them can result in punishment, imprisonment, and/or death.

Ransom - A wise adventurer makes sure that he has a nest egg that can secure his release in the event that he is captured. A wise monster prepares in the same way, and is willing to negotiate if it captures a stray adventurer.

And I'd Have Gotten Away With It Too! - There are no monsters or ghosts, just Mr. Whithers from the museum, wearing a mask.

The Auld Grump

[Number Three]

Low Magic - anything that makes magic not so ubiquitous, or mages a rarity in the setting.  I'm thinking something along the lines of Warhammer FRP here.

Speaking of which, some sort of Taint/Thirst mechanic for magic would help that along, and also help... other... conversions.

On the subject of magic, how about a Those Darn Kids quality to run campaigns similar to Harry Potter or Redhurst Academy of Magic?

In the realm of subplots I have a GM fond of hangers on for noble PCs.  This might seem like an entourage at first, but the difference is the entourage is useful, while 'hangers on' are sycophantic idiots riding your coat tails at best.  Unfortuantley, you can't just dump the hangers on, as that would reduce your standing among the nobilty.  It's like an evil version of dependents.

[Bill Whitmore]

Subplots:
Prophetic Visions:  From time to time you are gripped with prophetic visions.  These visions tend to interfere with whatever you are currently doing and seem to always strike at the worst time.  However, you have noticed that these visions tend to be truthful, sometimes showing events that have happened, are happening or may yet happen.  They may continue to occur until whatever event they are linked to comes to its conclusion.

Qualities: Something where the power of magic waxes and wanes from some external force, be it the cycles of the moons (ala Dragonlance), the passing of the seasons or on specific holidays.

Complications
Weather effects:  Flash floods; sleet and hail; driving, blinding rain; lightning and thunder (making it difficult to hear people sneaking up to your camp); etc.

Perks:
It may be the busiest day of the holy festival and you just got in town, but luckily someone just had to leave in a hurry, so there is a room available.

[samsimilian]

Right, a Quality that applies to the whole party instead of just one person.  Like... if it's a party of Samurai, Musketeers or Catholic Crusaders.  All flying one banner with one set of Ethos.

In one of the later D&D 3.5 releases there was a little system for Group Feats, where everyone could spend time learning a move that gave everyone a bonus of some kind. That's the image I get from what Koala's saying.

i use story feats for that. when the group accomplishes something important all players get this  kind of feat:

friend of rohan
whenever you are in dire need, a rohirrim won't let you down and do everything to help you. 20% off when buying something from a rohirrim

the possibilities for musketeers are endless
-cheaper weapons and equipement
-extra training (skill points, feats...)
-extra channels

[Crafty_Pat]

Subplots:
Prophetic Visions:  From time to time you are gripped with prophetic visions.  These visions tend to interfere with whatever you are currently doing and seem to always strike at the worst time.  However, you have noticed that these visions tend to be truthful, sometimes showing events that have happened, are happening or may yet happen.  They may continue to occur until whatever event they are linked to comes to its conclusion.

Yup, Prophesy's in there.

Qualities: Something where the power of magic waxes and wanes from some external force, be it the cycles of the moons (ala Dragonlance), the passing of the seasons or on specific holidays.

Interesting...

Complications
Weather effects:  Flash floods; sleet and hail; driving, blinding rain; lightning and thunder (making it difficult to hear people sneaking up to your camp); etc.

Nature's Fury is definitely a Complication.

[MilitiaJim]

Right, a Quality that applies to the whole party instead of just one person.  Like... if it's a party of Samurai, Musketeers or Catholic Crusaders.  All flying one banner with one set of Ethos.

In d20 Big Eyes Small Mouth there is the "Sentai" class, think Power Rangers for the paradigm.  Class benefits ranged from, I think, easier/better flanks to just knowing your buddies were in trouble.  While I don't think it's a worthwhile class, it could be a very nifty feat tree.

[Krensky]

I think that's the Wolfpack and other team based feat trees. The Partner tree cover some of it too, but it's limited to one other person if I remember right.

[joke]
Or, if you want to play a fantasy super sentai show, there's always 4e. Five man team, funky powers, only get to do you big attack once... it's made for a sentai game.
[/joke]

I would like to see a quality that represents a cost of magic, to you health, to your soul, or to both. I'm fairly confident it's there for Epoch, but still wanted to throw it out there.

[Deral]

Well, at least pretty much everything I suggested the first time was already taken care of, despite how many games I've run I'm drawing a blank- I know there's a lot in there but my mind tends to  shut out past games when I'm running one, I outta go back through the files...

Anyway on the side of Complications/Perks and Campaign qualities, I don't know how viable it'd be for the core book, but maybe in later releases it'd be interesting to see Campaign quality-dependent Perks and Complications, or campaign qualities that allow access to a set of controls, the example Bill Whitmore gave works well as an example:

Qualities: Something where the power of magic waxes and wanes from some external force, be it the cycles of the moons (ala Dragonlance), the passing of the seasons or on specific holidays.

While it might not be something as unpredictable as the weather, could conceivably have a series of magic-dampening/boosting/twisting controls tied to it.
Edit: It may be setup better as a "modify quality" perk/complication, there's already the built in ability to spring campaign qualities on someone (in Spycraft, at least) this might be a more temporary concept, make an already active quality ineffective, or more beneficial or restricting for a scene, that might get a little vague or a little too broad, however.

[Desertpuma]

As an extension of the Low Magic idea, I used to affect this in 2nd Ed D&D with a multiplier to the xp chart for those following those classes. With MasterCraft & Spellbound, I would make it more along the lines of: you may only have 1 Career Level of a spellcaster class for every 4 or 5 Career Levels of your character.

Another idea:

Pious Reality
Religion is forefront in one's life and it affects everything. Those who do not follow a religion suffer from no healing by Priests and are ostracized or ridiculed in public. On Holy Days, everything stops, including wars, as entire nations attend services. Prayers before combat are so commonplace as to be ritual in some locales. Priests have much power & sway within the world.

I do like the idea of restricting certain races to certain classes or denying them certain classes but that is all world building.

What about Adventuring Guilds or Charters? Something where you need to have a license and an office to work out of in order to be permitted to adventure.