The Unseen Servant forums

LtTibbles wrote:I asked the author on G+ about the whole backpack situation and he said that the backpack/sacks do not add to your encumberance limit but the items inside do.

Yep, just saw that. Thanks!

LtTibbles wrote:Also nice Sorcerer!

Thanks again!

LtTibbles wrote:Loving what I'm seeing on Jayamanka's sheet very nice!

Thanks As you hopefully gathered from what I said earlier, back at you for Skagvurd my friend.

And, like LtTibbles says, nice sorcerer 9littlebees.

We're rocking it so far. No pressure on the others but it's already looking like a classic Sword & Sorcery party. I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with.

9littlebees wrote:1. What weapon category would a quarterstaff fall under? Small or Medium?

It's sonofotho's call, so this is just my opinion, but given the simplified approach to weapon damage, I think you could make a reasonable argument for either. That said, compared to most editions of D&D/OSR retroclones, SS&SS tends to compress weapon damage downward slightly (i.e. d10 weapons are d8, some d8 weapons are d6, some d6 weapons are d4), so maybe Small/d4 (the same as a short sword) would be most in keeping with that trend.

9littlebees wrote:I'm rolling up a Magic User. Questions:

1. What weapon category would a quarterstaff fall under? Small or Medium?
2. I want to buy a lot of small items of equipment (candles, chalk, flasks, etc) which I believe would fit in a Backpack. The rules state for Encumbrance that I can carry a number of items equal to my Physique score, but also not to count contents of a Backpack towards carrying limit. So how do we rule on what is in the backpack, and thus excluded from the Encumbrance calculation?
3. Do weapons and armour count towards the Encumbrance limit (I assume yes for weapons, no for worn armour)?

Sorry for being late to the party! Let me give you my thoughts (being new to the rules myself)!

1) I can see a staff being both small and medium. But let's go with medium and the assumption that it takes two hands to wield in combat.
2) I'm not 100% sure how to interpret Diogo's comment on G+. How do you interpret? I definitely wouldn't count the backpack itself.
3) Weapons count (in my understanding) but armor just reduces your maximum ability the way I read it. Do you guys agree?

All good. Happy with the staff and weapon/armour encumbrance rulings.

As for backpacks - you can rule it either way - backpacks / sacks are not counted for encumbrance, or a backpack can hold 3 items, all of which are free of encumbrance. I wouldn't say the same of sacks, since they would need carrying, whereas a backpack is designed to be supported by your core muscles.

I hope I'm not coming across as a rules lawyer, it's just the rulebook is somewhat sparse in some areas. And I'm also designing a game, so these are all questions I've asked myself.

9littlebees wrote:All good. Happy with the staff and weapon/armour encumbrance rulings.

As for backpacks - you can rule it either way - backpacks / sacks are not counted for encumbrance, or a backpack can hold 3 items, all of which are free of encumbrance. I wouldn't say the same of sacks, since they would need carrying, whereas a backpack is designed to be supported by your core muscles.

I hope I'm not coming across as a rules lawyer, it's just the rulebook is somewhat sparse in some areas. And I'm also designing a game, so these are all questions I've asked myself.

Some of the items (such as sacks) don't count against encumbrance, yet a flint and steel do? I've never seen a flint and steel that took up space. I understand the rule is to keep it simple, but it seems a little odd...

No worries - I definitely am a believer in aligning on how to interpret the grey areas. That way we can all be on the same page. On this one, my stance is let's just be practical. You guys estimate your items for encumbrance and note it down - any questions we can discuss. I am fine with lumping paper, ink, quill, etc. as 1 item. 5 flasks of oil is a tricky one - I'd have to say treat it as 5, otherwise it becomes a slippery slope...

badams30 wrote:

9littlebees wrote:All good. Happy with the staff and weapon/armour encumbrance rulings.

As for backpacks - you can rule it either way - backpacks / sacks are not counted for encumbrance, or a backpack can hold 3 items, all of which are free of encumbrance. I wouldn't say the same of sacks, since they would need carrying, whereas a backpack is designed to be supported by your core muscles.

I hope I'm not coming across as a rules lawyer, it's just the rulebook is somewhat sparse in some areas. And I'm also designing a game, so these are all questions I've asked myself.

Some of the items (such as sacks) don't count against encumbrance, yet a flint and steel do? I've never seen a flint and steel that took up space. I understand the rule is to keep it simple, but it seems a little odd...

There is a bit of abstraction going on, I agree. If you guys come up close to your limits, let me know and we can make some interpretations. I definitely can see lumping small things (incl. empty sacks) together.

sonofotho wrote:

badams30 wrote:

9littlebees wrote:All good. Happy with the staff and weapon/armour encumbrance rulings.

As for backpacks - you can rule it either way - backpacks / sacks are not counted for encumbrance, or a backpack can hold 3 items, all of which are free of encumbrance. I wouldn't say the same of sacks, since they would need carrying, whereas a backpack is designed to be supported by your core muscles.

I hope I'm not coming across as a rules lawyer, it's just the rulebook is somewhat sparse in some areas. And I'm also designing a game, so these are all questions I've asked myself.

Some of the items (such as sacks) don't count against encumbrance, yet a flint and steel do? I've never seen a flint and steel that took up space. I understand the rule is to keep it simple, but it seems a little odd...

There is a bit of abstraction going on, I agree. If you guys come up close to your limits, let me know and we can make some interpretations. I definitely can see lumping small things (incl. empty sacks) together.

My character is definitely a minimalist, so it prob won't really affect him...

There's a potentially easy houserule for this, taking inspiration from the Year Zero games. Simply rule that smaller items take up a half "slot", and large items (such as large weapons, a minotaur's head trophy, whatever) take up two.

But I'm also happy to leave it as is.

sonofotho wrote:No worries - I definitely am a believer in aligning on how to interpret the grey areas. That way we can all be on the same page. On this one, my stance is let's just be practical. You guys estimate your items for encumbrance and note it down - any questions we can discuss. I am fine with lumping paper, ink, quill, etc. as 1 item. 5 flasks of oil is a tricky one - I'd have to say treat it as 5, otherwise it becomes a slippery slope...

Somehow missed this reply when I was typing up mine. This works for me.

We are now 4 characters - all looking good! I aim to have the first game post ready this weekend and then hopefully we can get this thing rolling!

There are two more players that had expressed interest, but I'm not sure where they are. If I don't hear from them by Wed/Thur, we will start with the current four (which is not a bad party size).

I will make the first post 'in medias res' just to get things going. I will provide enough background for it to make sense (including some ooc info) and then you guys can take it from there.

I'll also be posting a map of the campaign area at some point. Still trying to land on something that I like!

Sounds good to me, can't wait!

Yikes! I am so far behind now, I thought we were not starting for a bit.

I need to crack open my book again and roll up a character. I to cannot post every day, I have a life outside of my computer & phone.
If I need to bow out, please let me know.

I keep getting emails saying I have a message on here, but when I log in, it tells me "message removed by sender" Is that normal?


~Nitehood

Nitehood wrote:Yikes! I am so far behind now, I thought we were not starting for a bit.

I need to crack open my book again and roll up a character. I to cannot post every day, I have a life outside of my computer & phone.
If I need to bow out, please let me know.

I keep getting emails saying I have a message on here, but when I log in, it tells me "message removed by sender" Is that normal?


~Nitehood

Hi Nitehood,

I removed the message as it hadn't left my outbox in several days. I thought you had bowed out. Regarding posting frequency, ideally folks can check in daily in case their character needs to do something to move the game along. But I understand that every day might not always be feasible to post. I too, have a life! But I do need folks to commit to posting fairly regularly, say twice every three days on average. Do you think this is doable?

Thanks, Charles

sonofotho wrote:

Nitehood wrote:Yikes! I am so far behind now, I thought we were not starting for a bit.

I need to crack open my book again and roll up a character. I to cannot post every day, I have a life outside of my computer & phone.
If I need to bow out, please let me know.

I keep getting emails saying I have a message on here, but when I log in, it tells me "message removed by sender" Is that normal?


~Nitehood

Hi Nitehood,

I removed the message as it hadn't left my outbox in several days. I thought you had bowed out. Regarding posting frequency, ideally folks can check in daily in case their character needs to do something to move the game along. But I understand that every day might not always be feasible to post. I too, have a life! But I do need folks to commit to posting fairly regularly, say twice every three days on average. Do you think this is doable?

Thanks, Charles

Weekdays are not to much a problem, as I work in IT all week. Some weekends I am out with my grandkids on Scouting activities.

I will roll up a character tonight and post it.

~Nitehood

Nitehood wrote:

sonofotho wrote:

Nitehood wrote:Yikes! I am so far behind now, I thought we were not starting for a bit.

I need to crack open my book again and roll up a character. I to cannot post every day, I have a life outside of my computer & phone.
If I need to bow out, please let me know.

I keep getting emails saying I have a message on here, but when I log in, it tells me "message removed by sender" Is that normal?


~Nitehood

Hi Nitehood,

I removed the message as it hadn't left my outbox in several days. I thought you had bowed out. Regarding posting frequency, ideally folks can check in daily in case their character needs to do something to move the game along. But I understand that every day might not always be feasible to post. I too, have a life! But I do need folks to commit to posting fairly regularly, say twice every three days on average. Do you think this is doable?

Thanks, Charles

Weekdays are not to much a problem, as I work in IT all week. Some weekends I am out with my grandkids on Scouting activities.

I will roll up a character tonight and post it.

~Nitehood

Sounds good! Let me know if you have any questions!

So... So far we have:


Name: Skagvurd the Pale
Archetype: Warrior, Vocation: Barbarian

Name: Savage Jayamanka
Archetype: Warrior, Vocation: Wasteland Hunter (Last of Her Tribe)

Name: Xantius the Bloody
Archetype: Magic User, Vocation: Reckless Sorcerer

Name: Jasper T Bigguns the Third
Archetype: Specialist, Vocation: Thief


I am thinking a Magic user, Shaman and being in tune with nature. Thoughts?

Nitehood wrote:So... So far we have:


Name: Skagvurd the Pale
Archetype: Warrior, Vocation: Barbarian

Name: Savage Jayamanka
Archetype: Warrior, Vocation: Wasteland Hunter (Last of Her Tribe)

Name: Xantius the Bloody
Archetype: Magic User, Vocation: Reckless Sorcerer

Name: Jasper T Bigguns the Third
Archetype: Specialist, Vocation: Thief


I am thinking a Magic user, Shaman and being in tune with nature. Thoughts?

Sounds like a pretty well-rounded group to me.

Nitehood wrote:I am thinking a Magic user, Shaman and being in tune with nature. Thoughts?

Sounds great! Could have a bit of RP tension between us, as Xantius doesn't really care about the damage he wreaks.

9littlebees wrote:

Nitehood wrote:I am thinking a Magic user, Shaman and being in tune with nature. Thoughts?

Sounds great! Could have a bit of RP tension between us, as Xantius doesn't really care about the damage he wreaks.

I like it. I'm imagining Jayamanka as being somewhat superstitious and suspicious of full blown magic - so a shaman would be far more to her liking than a bloody fireball wielding, damage wreaking mage - no offence Xantius Not that she's liable to advertise such views. Better to try and stay on the right side of sorcerers lest they turn you into a toad or something