GM's Guide -- Anything you would like to see?

[peterjk3]

Been reading old 1st edition stuff. It would be nice to have a very descriptive timeline for all the sourcebooks. The sourcebooks all jump around in the timeline. The blood wood came out after prelude to war and talks about stuff that happened after the scourge too. A timeline that goes over all the important events would be great

[Utsukushi]

Also, you guys should absolutely have a page that devolves into Nybbas Nybbas NYBBAS!

..Just one, somewhere in there. Seriously, I would love that. Maybe use Nybbas in an example, then sprinkle them into some regular text, and then just finish out the last quarter of the page. At the end of a chapter, so that going back to business feels natural.

(I know, this only counts as `something I would like to see in the GM's guide' because I would, in fact, love to see it in the GM's guide; it is otherwise not the kind of helpful advice the devs were really hoping for.)

[peterjk3]

I would be nice to see a throalic / theran calendar, including holidays and lunar cycles.

[peterjk3]

Also am I the only one that realizes 90% of the post on this thread should have been their own posts, instead of clogging up the works so Josh and everyone else has to wade through a pile of crap to get to the few requests people would like to see. Just like a bar fight you guys need to take it outside please. How else are they going to find my ingenious requests and make the book awesome without my help. LOL

[Sangeet]

I would really like if the GM's guide would include a section how to create adventures on your own, and how to improvise adventures. There are many system neutral GM guides out there, and it would be nice if something would be included about the actual story telling /narrating techniques. (Mind Maps, NPC templates (Shopkeeper, Town Counsel, Merchant, Soldier) , Plot creation, social status effects, obstacles, acting advise for players and NPC, plot twists etc.)

I would also fully support if there were rules for mental stability, the horrors are the main antagonists, and they have many powers to corrupt the adepts, so it would make sense to have standardised rules for fear effects.

[kosmit]

Yep, mental stability, and some psychic conditions should be included because game with horrors should be horror for players

[peterjk3]

Mental stability would be good. Having a guideline on how to get from normal adept to horror crazy madman including how the effects of that translates to artisan skills and other facets of life

[Utsukushi]

In all honesty, I prefer that being a GM-call/roleplaying aspect. Call of C'thulhu's insanity charts are all well and good, but it doesn't feel right for Earthdawn - "Horror Marked, roll d100. Ah, 14, you're Kleptomaniac now. Lose 1d6 Sanity." (Well, 14 is probably a bit low a number for Kleptomania, assuming they're alphabetical as they usually are...um, anyway.) Bleah. No. Especially with Named Horrors, everyone's descent into madness and degradation should be individually, even lovingly, crafted.

Some guidelines on it might be nice; `standardized rules' I would dislike and shy away from. The Horrors are deliberately little beholden to standardized rules.

And whether-or-not it actually *does* translate to Artisan Skills absolutely must, must, must always be rumor and innuendo. A thing that is commonly believed, but not really known. Actually establishing that (either way) in canon would do irreparable damage to Earthdawn's atmosphere.

In other words; suspicious travelers demand Artisan Tests along with sharing Names because it gives a sense of security -- but you do NOT provide the players with an easy, reliable method to actually find out if anyone they meet (or even they themselves) is Horror Marked.

[Kasbak]

I'm much of the same mind as Utsukushi. Madness by definition should defy definition, and should be unique and random in how it develops. Loose guidelines establishing a general pattern might be helpful, but anything that could really be called rules would probably be too much. If you've read Burning Desires, I think it provides an excellent example of how to handle stages of mental stability (located in The One that Got Away, page 86). A format similar to this with multiple stages and some common general traits for each I think could be useful.

[Slimcreeper]

With artisan tests, I let the rank of the artisan test act as a bonus to Mystic Defense against the Horror Mark power. Granted, this has not come up in play, but I think it strikes a good balance.