Topic: Director's Briefing - June 2023

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

Welcome

To the one hundred-and-forty-third Briefing and sixth scheduled Briefing of 2023.

RMU

The error catches on Spell Law have been completed. As you may have noticed two Mentalism spell lists were switched between Open and Closed in a final tweak to the rules and that meant we had to send proof masters into the DriveThru/Lightning Source process an additional time. The final masters have been approved and proof copies have been ordered. Fingers crossed, the physical copies will be as expected and we can launch Spell Law in print format at Gen Con.

Treasure Law is currently undergoing layout checks and an editing pass from Jonathan while we await on some additional spell rune imagery. My current estimate is that we would see a pdf release in August or September. My goal is that we would release Treasure Law in print format at Dragonmeet.

The first volume of Creature Law will enter the combined editing and layout process post Gen Con.

ERA for Rolemaster

Max has been working assiduously away on his own todo list. This month saw the release of the School of Hard Knocks dataset and a wave of updates to a number of datasets. A previous update to the ERA core software has positioned it with its own API which will make it much easier to connect to ERA from virtual tabletops, specifically Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds.

HARP

As promised, HARP Subterfuge was duly checked and is now available in softcover, hardcover and in bundle format. Discount coupons were issued via DriveThru for the benefit of everyone who had been an early adopter of the pdf. Despite my nagging last month, only about half of our pdf purchasers had their communication preferences set to receive the DriveThru emails. If you did not get the discount email, please contact Colin on the Discord server and ask very nicely for the code. (The same goes for anyone who missed out on the RMU Core Law discount).

Until next time
I am still enjoying some HARP editing work. Please stay safe and keep gaming.
Best wishes,
Nicholas

Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd

[Ecthelion]

Love the change of the Attack Avoidance now being a Closed List. I mentioned a few times that IMHO it was too powerful as an Open List, especially when comparing it to the Essence Shield Mastery or the Paladin's Holy Shields Spell List. Many thanks for this  .

[Hurin]

Love the change of the Attack Avoidance now being a Closed List. I mentioned a few times that IMHO it was too powerful as an Open List, especially when comparing it to the Essence Shield Mastery or the Paladin's Holy Shields Spell List. Many thanks for this  .

Definitely! It is a very good change.

[Hurin]

A previous update to the ERA core software has positioned it with its own API which will make it much easier to connect to ERA from virtual tabletops, specifically Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds.

This also makes me very happy. Anything that makes RMU easier to play in Roll20 is huge.

[Sam.Gamdschie]

Hi Nicholas,

as we are already running a group with RMU, it would be great to have something like "Release Notes" or "Change Document" for all changes in the rules. Although, you could find something for Spell Law in the Beta Forum (https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?topic=20938.msg244577#msg244577), it's not quite handy to find exactly that post (if you do not know what to search for, like Staunch Wound.).

I also really appreciate the change of "Attack Avoidance".

Thanks!

[jdale]

I can at least quote that post here. Note that the updates after that were just about the table of contents (mainly about how Attack Avoidance and Self-Healing were listed in the ToC) and PDF bookmarks (in addition to those two lists Nick also improved how the spell lists appear in the PDF bookmarks generally), there was no meaningful rules change subsequent to that post.

Here's a list of relatively substantive changes. This list does not include any typos, punctuation, layout, or rule clarity items, only things that actually change the rules. There are also some minor changes to spell durations and ranges not listed here. This list is probably not comprehensive. We are in the process of making all these edits and then going back and forth with checks and fixing anything that broke as a result of being fixed the first time, not to mention checking the ToC and PDF bookmarks. So I don't have an answer about when the updated PDF will be available, it's just "as soon as possible."

Thanks everyone, especially Dan for the close reading and I also appreciated the little jokes here and there to keep me sane (-ish).

General stuff:
* Changed Burn/Frostbite spells to Exposure (e.g. Light Exposure Relief).
* Shock Ball is a miniscule attack rather than tiny (matches Shock Bolt).
* Increased the required value of non-expendable ritual tools by 10x for the same bonuses.
* Added a 1 decade time increment for ritual durations.
* Various spells for locating traps: added "If a trap is missed, the spell will not find it no matter how many times the caster scans the same area."

Self-Healing has been moved to be an open mentalism list; Attack Avoidance is a closed mentalism list.

Blood Law (Closed Channeling):
Made a bunch of changes to simplify the dual spells (flowstop/clotting), and insert Light Flesh Relief. Spells not listed here are not changed.

1) Staunch Wound I* -- Reduces target’s blood loss by up to 1 hit per round. Until the injury is actually healed by some means (e.g., Medicine maneuver or a Flesh Relief spell), the target cannot move or be moved without the bleeding resuming. Multiple Staunch Wound, Flowstop, Clotting, or Cut Repair spells may not be cast upon the same wound.
2) Staunch Wound II* -- As Staunch Wound I, except the caster may choose one option: reduce the bleeding by an additional 2 hits/round, or cause the wound to clot so that it is only at risk of reopening during the first hour and only if the target engages in activity more vigorous than walking.
4) Light Flesh Relief -- A flesh wound or skin/tissue injury that incurs a penalty up to -20 is cleaned, protected, and bound as effectively as if a successful Medicine maneuver was performed, and the target receives a +50 bonus on their recovery roll.
6) Staunch Wound III* -- As Staunch Wound II, except two options may be chosen, including multiple reductions in the amount of bleeding. If the clotting option is selected twice, bleeding is instantly stopped with no danger of reopening. In addition, one option may be spent to split the effect of the spell between multiple bleeding injuries (e.g., if the reduction will be 3 hits per round, it may be applied to reduce bleeding of one wound by 1 hit per round and another by 2 hits per round).
8) Medium Flesh Relief -- As Light Flesh Relief, except a wound incurring a penalty up to -40.
9) Staunch Wound IV* -- As Staunch Wound III, except three options may be chosen.
13) Staunch Wound V* -- As Staunch Wound III, except four options may be chosen.
15) Staunch Wound VI* -- As Staunch Wound III, except five options may be chosen.
19) Staunch Wound VIII* -- As Staunch Wound III, except seven options may be chosen.

Beastly Ways (Ranger Base), 16. Glide III - "product is 300."

Moving Ways (Ranger Base): Changed all the spells that have a Duration of C to 1 min/lvl, except Hide Tracks True is 10 min/lvl. And changed all the __walking and __running spells to be instant.

Pathmastery (Ranger Base): adjusted durations:
3. Tracking II: 10 min/lvl
4. Path Tale: —
5. Far Pathfinding I: —
9. Far Pathfinding V: —
13. Far Pathfinding XX: —
16. Tracking III: 10 min/lvl
18. Underwater Tracking: 10 min/lvl
19. Paths True: —
25. Know Path: —
30. Tracking True: 10 min/lvl
35. Aerial Tracking: 10 min/lvl
50. Tracks Ahead: —

Survival's Way (Ranger Base): Changed the duration to "1 day" for Survival I and Survival II.

Essence's Perceptions:  (Open Essence)
1. Touchless Feel: "as if actually touching that place." --> "as if their hand was in that place, able to move as their hand might. The point may be on the other side of a barrier (e.g., in a chest, behind a door), but cannot move through solid objects from that starting point."

Telekinesis (open Mentalism)
Adjusted Staying capacity (matches changes to Essence's Hand)
2. Staying II: change AoE to 25 lbs
4. Staying III: change AoE to 125 lbs
8. Staying IV: change AoE to 250 lbs
11. Staying V: change AoE to 500 lbs
19. Staying True: change AoE to 50 lb/lvl

Escapes (Magent Base)
3. Phantom Tools I: This spell allows the caster to perform one maneuver using a Craft or Technical skill as if the caster had a complete set of the appropriate tools with a bonus of +10.
6. Phantom Tools II - +20
13. Phantom Tools III - +30
30. Phantom Tools V - +50

Body Reins (Monk Base)
Changed the Strength spells to Monk's Strength.

Combat Mastery (Monk Base)
1. Study Opponent: "After being in combat for three rounds" replaced with "After he has both attacked and been attacked by the foe,"

Cleansing (Healer Base)
2. Transference: added:
"However, if the caster would be killed by the transferred damage, they go into a coma and death is delayed for one minute (during which time subconscious healing spells may be cast to prevent death from occurring at all)."

13: Suspend Life: "nor will any healing spells or herbs work on his body," replaced with "nor will any herbs work on his body although healing spells may continue to be used,"
Add: "The caster is not protected from further harm by external causes."

Section 10.6 Elements
I read up on symptoms of smoke inhalation and was going to write something more comprehensive, but it ended up looking so similar to respiratory poisons it made more sense to just add a sentence:

Treat smoke as a respiratory poison (see RMCL Section 15.6), except coughing (-20) replaces mild euphoria, and confusion and/or disorientation (-30) replaces significant euphoria.

[Pete_Keller]

Treasure Law is currently undergoing layout checks and an editing pass from Jonathan while we await on some additional spell rune imagery.

Nicholas,

If the layout checks and editing pass are complete before the imagery is done, please put some "holder artwork" in i.e. a white box with black writing "Artwork to go here", and release the PDF to allow us extra time to perform our review of the product.

Pete

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

RMU Treasure Law is a slimmer volume so should be much easier to review.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

[jdale]

We've also got Dan going through Treasure Law while we're waiting on that art. I expect that will mean fewer issues when it is released as PDF, as anyone who read the Spell Law errata thread will understand.

[Eryius]

Haha, Dan is a machine. Such level of detail, very impressive.

[Hurin]

Haha, Dan is a machine. Such level of detail, very impressive.

Definitely a good idea!

[rdanhenry]

I've just sent in my last bit of feedback. So, expect the pdf "soon", I guess.