Tactics of selecting combat special effects in Mythras – a result based visualisation

Special effects are one of the best features in Mythras. They can make the fights cinematic and their right use tactically can make you win.

Ulgar the Quick (PC character): I hit the thug and he did not parry – I want to get rid of the opponent’s weapon – what options do I have.

GM: Ushgar the Rabid (PC character) failed to hit and the Ilyan the Constable parried. I want to force Ushgar to do something – what options do I have.

Mongo the Mighty (PC character) : Mongo smashed and the puny opponent failed to parry. I want to hurt the opponent – what options do I have.

Here is a result based approach in mind map form for both defensive and offensive special effects. This should help in getting players (and the GM) to find quickly what special effects to use based on what the winner wants to achieve on his special effect.

You can find pdf of the offensive special effects here and defensive ones here. The visuals have been updated

Combat Style Cards for Mythras

Note: The directory based combat style cards have been replaced by Combat Style Card Encyclopaedia

Combat styles, combat style traits, weapon traits and special effects are key parts of what makes Mythras so interesting in combat. I decided to make a player aid for my campaign that contains the key information for players about combat style they have chosen.

Combat style card contains the name and combat style traits of the style with an explanation what the trait provides.

Each of the combat styles contains usually several weapons. Most of the special effects that player can choose are the same for each of the weapons. So I gathered the common special effects within the combat style’s weapons to the top of the page.

For each of the weapons the key details of the weapon are shown plus the possible weapon traits.

Underneath the basic information there are only those special effects specific to that weapon.

So how would player use this:

Let’s say she knows the combat style Gladiator – see in the Close Combat Encyclopaedia – section Styles for Standard – Gladiator. Easy to navigate there by opening the pdf link above and searching for Gladiator and clicking on the page number. 

She has succeeded in the attack so she now has options

  • choose any of the items in the common block underneath the combat style – any from Close Range to Trip Opponent.
  • decide to use her Shortsword’s Impale or Bleed
  • use her Buckler’s Bash or Stun Location special effect.

When it is her turn to defend she can

  • use her Daredevil trait to evade blows without ending up prone or
  • she can passively block with her Buckler 2 locations or
  • she could actively parry with either her buckler or
  • she could actively parry with her shortsword.

Here is a bigger combat style example

The files here contain close to 100 combat styles described as above. The material is scourged from AIG, Monster Island, Mythras, Monster Island and my own campaign.

  • Balazar
    Balazaring Hawk Slayer.pdf
    Balazaring Hunter Raider.pdf
    Balazaring Pony Cavalry.pdf
  • Dragon Pass
    Lunar Colonial Noble.pdf
    Lunar Colonial Survivalist.pdf
    Lunar Corps Hoplite.pdf
    Lunar Dara Happan Heavy Infantry.pdf
    Lunar Dara Happan Urbanite.pdf
    Lunar Dart Contestant.pdf
    Lunar Pelorian Cavalry.pdf
    Lunar Pelorian Noble.pdf
    Lunar Sagittan Peltast.pdf
    Sartarite Alynx Brother.pdf
    Sartarite Hill Clan Levy.pdf
    Sartarite Loyal Housecarl.pdf
    Sartarite Noble.pdf
    Sartarite Upland Crofter.pdf
    Tarshite Militia.pdf
    Telmori Hunter.pdf
    Telmori Wolf Hunter.pdf
  • East
    Monk.pdf
    Ninja.pdf
    Samurai Warrior.pdf
  • Enemies
    Hammer of the Beast.pdf
  • Esrolia
    Esrolian Citizen Legionary.pdf
    Esrolian City-State Phalangite.pdf
    Esrolian Clan Protector.pdf
    Esrolian Cohort.pdf
    God Forgot Holar Militia.pdf
    God Forgot Talar Defensive School.pdf
    God Forgotten Holari.pdf
  • Fonrit
    Afadjanni Bladedance,Coastal.pdf
    Afadjanni Bladedance.pdf
    Afadjanni Wrestling.pdf
    Calari Grip.pdf
    Harem Protector.pdf
    Kadam Slave Scuffle.pdf
    Kareeshtu Doublecross.pdf
    Ompalam Overseer.pdf
    Shovel Tusker Cavalry.pdf
    Slave Soldier.pdf
    Umathelan Noble.pdf
    Yad Strife.pdf
  • Lyonesse
  • Monster Island
    Brotherhood of the Carrion Scavenger.pdf
    Brotherhood of the Fang.pdf
    Brotherhood of the Noiseless Whisper.pdf
    Brotherhood of the Obsidian Claw.pdf
    Brotherhood of the Relentless Pursuit.pdf
    Brotherhood of the Serpentine Grace.pdf
    Brotherhood of the Silken Death.pdf
    Brotherhood of the Unsleeping Eye.pdf
    Civilian Cohort.pdf
    Eight Jab Doom.pdf
    Eiki Elite.pdf
    Eiki.pdf
    Mua Infantry.pdf
    Stinger.pdf
    Tua Skirmisher.pdf
    White Death.pdf
  • Mythic Constantinople
    Azap Conscript.pdf
    Bedouin Warrior.pdf
    Ghazi Tribesman.pdf
    Manglabliaros.pdf
    Pankration.pdf
  • Prax
    Agimori.pdf
    Baboon.pdf
    Basmoli.pdf
    Bison Berserker Bodyguard.pdf
    Bison Berserker.pdf
    Bison.pdf
    Bolo Lizard.pdf
    Cannibal Cult.pdf
    Desert Archer.pdf
    High Llama.pdf
    Impala.pdf
    Morokanth.pdf
    Ostrich.pdf
    Pol-Joni.pdf
    Rhino.pdf
    Sable.pdf
    Unicorn.pdf
    Zebra.pdf
  • Standard
    Assassin.pdf
    Barbarian Warrior.pdf
    Cavalry.pdf
    City Watch.pdf
    Gladiator Net.pdf
    Gladiator.pdf
    Master Archer.pdf
    Noble Warrior.pdf
    Outback Slinger.pdf
    Pirate.pdf
    Street Brawler.pdf
    Unarmed.pdf

Feedback welcome.

Other combat style card posts are usually found with category combat style cards or just search for them with search in notesfrompavis.blog search bar

Sorcery Grimoire for a Traditional Sorcery School in Mythras

Here is a traditional sorcery grimoire template for Mythras – this is a first tryout for my campaign’s first sorcerer. This is traditional in a sense that the only options it uses is the duration length option. I will be making similar ones for various sorcery schools which have different components.

How one could use it. Player should fill it with the sorcery information relevant to your players’ sorcery grimoire. During game it should help how the various shapings the player wants to use affect the spell.

Here is Grimoire of Ravenous Shark as an example:

When he selects as a spell Shapechange to Shark with his 4 shaping points he could put 2 points into duration getting 15 minutes of shape change. After this he could put one point into targets getting 2 targets (perhaps himself and a companion). After this he could put remaining 1 point he can put 1 point into magnitude getting a magnitude of 2 and have some protection for resisting dispelling the shapechange.

This would take 1 MP for the spell itself and 1 for each shaping (Duration, Targets and Magnitude) = 4 Magic Points for the overall spell cost. It would take 4 turns to cast the spell (1 for the spell itself and 1 for each shaping).

 

 

Daimons Are Forever – Sky Warriors, Flamingoes and Dog People

Gianni Vacca made a request at Google+ forums for d100 version of Altinae daimon that was missing. So I promised to create one in the Encounter Generator. Daimons are quite rarely encountered in Genertela.

Here are some of the missing daimons

On the whim I added few other rarely encountered ones. Sedrali are dog people in Ralios. They are seen for example in the original Narrator’s book but of course found on the Anaxial’s Roster.

of course there also exists a party of them

Passion spirits have gained

  • Idiocy spirit
  • Violence spirit
  • Grief spirit

Most of the rest of the daimons can be found in

 

 

Pregenerated Characters for Mythras – Nomad Herders and Warriors in Prax and Elsewhere

Games Master will sometimes need quickly a set of player characters. Perhaps it is for a one off at convention or otherwise. Perhaps there was a TPK or you had one new player on baord without a character. Though character generation is fun it may take awhile – so in this series of posts a way to generate quickly some pregenerated characters.

Previous installments of pregenerated characters for Mythras/Rq6 Encounter Generator tackled some city folk and barbarians.

Now is the time for the noble nomads. These can be used either in Prax in Glorantha or anywhere using the animal names as just names of the tribes.

First some herders

..and then some warriors to protect them

You will also find a pregenerated nomad party, most likely in Paps or near Pavis city walls as so many different tribes together is likely to cause strife.

What are you waiting for – go make ambush already in Plains of Prax or hire out to protect a merchant caravan or go looting he Big Rubble in front of you

 

Who says Dorastor has all the fun – join the Cwim’ming party

Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows that you should avoid Teshnos and Wastelands close by  it on the Wilddays as Cwim is having his daily walks.

Created the old favorite

from the Gloranthan Secrets book. He joins the Encounter Generator’s chaotic party with his small friends

who are spitting image of himself. For convenience there is now

which contains the Cwim itself, gorps he throw and the spit monsters.

It would be good to know about his arriva a bit beforehand as the party might need some preparing. So I created random party table for Foreshadowing the Encounter. It can be attached to any party and it can provide some clues that an encounter might be occurring. Some examples would be

  • locals fleeing the encounter
  • carrion animals associated with encounter gathering
  • Spoor of the encounter found
  • Footprints made by the encounter
  • Wildlife alarmed by the closeness of the encounter
  • Favorite food animal of the encounter growing alarmed

and so on.This is attached now to Cwim’ming party but will in time be attached to other parties as well.

Here are few other Chaos encounters from earlier posts

 

 

2500 Encounter Templates – Demons, Nightgaunts, Undead,Foxwomen and Sea Wolves

Mythras Encounter Generator reached a boundary of 2500 Encounter Templates today. It is quite a ride since August 2013 when I first learned of the RQ Encounter Generator and started to contribute to it.

Here are few of the new ones I created during this weekend.

Animals for Glorantha or other places

Chaos creatures

Intelligent beings

Undead and demonic beings

Here are some old posts to get the best out of the encounter generator

Encounter Generator Returns to Anaxial’s Annex

After a brief break here are a few additions to Encounter Generator to help Mythras and RQ6 referees create new NPC’s and other encounters.

Pamaltelan continent

Seas

Elementals

Various

Monster Island

 

 

Sorcery Tool for Mythras (and friends) updated

Sorcery tool described here has been updated based on user feedback.

The new version of the tool (1.1) contains both the standard durations for spells and the optional long durations. You select as per your GM’s choice using the campaing duration rules field.

The unenchanted iron version is a house rule that is now explained.

The new version can be downloaded from the same location than before in Sorcery Tool for Mythras (and friends like RQ6).

2016-09-04_21-16-26.png

There are other charts available for RQ6 and Mythras here. RQ and Mythras Encounter generator is found here

Mythras Charts and Tables

Here are some charts that I made that have been useful for my Mythras (former editions known as RQ6) campaign. All the relevant ones have been updated for Mythras 3rd printing (2018 Nov). The screen shots are still of the old versions.

This has been updated with the links to most recent resources as of May 2022.

AreaName and latest link to chartCommentMore info
Mythras Core Rulebook Extended Table of ContentsExtended Table of ContentsHere is for all new (and perhaps also old) Mythras Gamesmasters a very extended version of Mythras Core Rulebook Table of Contents as a pdf. It could be useful when trying to find a rule. You will need a version of the Core Rulebook as all the page numbers refer to that (except the ones on the very first page, which are page numbers for this Table of Contents). The additions at the end from Examples entry forward could also be used separately. 
It contains table of contents that contains all the chapter headings from the Core Rulebook. Within the main table of contents all the optional rules are marked with italics

It also has few additional items with few examples below.
-All the examples of the book gathered into separate table of contents 
-All the non human character creations as a separate table of contents
– All the grey boxes (notes) as a separate table of contents
– All the tables as a separate table of contents
-All the optional rules as a separate table of contents

The main GM Design Choices as a table of contents. This is a list that GM could use which rules components to define/refine when designing their world. 

It also has a lists section which has a list plus page reference for list entries for each list in the book.
-Careers
-Close combat mechanics
-Combat Actions
-Creature Combat 
-Creatures
-Folk Magic Spells
-Mysticism Talents
-Professional skills
-Ranged Combat
-Sorcery Components
-Sorcery Spells
-Special effects
-Spirit Abilities
-Spirit Combat Special Effects
-Standard Skills
-Theism Miracles

It also has index pages for rules that are commonly used nearby each other or related to each other
– Healing, Wounds and Fatigue
– Movement and Combat
Passions

At the end is a page for rules and if there are any tools for that in my charts and tables. 
Table of contents
Campaign rules setupMythras Campaign Rule Setup ToolGMs sometimes wonder what rules they can setup from the Mythras. Here is a tool containing all of the optional rules from Mythras and some other additions to help GM to setup Mythras campaign specific toolset
Chases and PursuitsChase and Pursuit RulesChase and Pursuit quick reference for Mythras Companion Chase rules
Combat – FlowCombat FlowSmall chart on how combat flowsMore
Combat – FlowInteractive combat flow summaryInteractive version of combat flowMore
Combat – HealingHealing and WoundsCovers what happens to you when you get a wound and how to recover.More
Combat – ParryingParry and passive blocking to stop Damage by weapon and shield also known as Shields are awesomeMore
Combat – Reach (Optional)Shorter Weapons Reach effects to combat by weaponMore
Combat – Reach (Optional)Longer Weapon Reach effects to combat by weaponMore
Combat – Situational effectsMythras Visual Combat Modifier charts This is visual version of situational combat modifiersMore
Combat – Situational effectsClose Combat Situational EffectsIn Mythras the success of your attempt can be modified by the situation. More
Combat – Situational effectsRanged Combat Situational Modifiersand the visual version is hereMore
Combat – Skills, MovementEncumbrance calculator and Character Equipment listHelps to calculate whether you can actually carry that plate armor without serious penalties

Replaced by Fatigue, Encumbrance and Speed calculator
More
Combat – Special EffectsOffensive Special Effects Combines all the special effects for the offensive one quick reference to see what you can do when hitting something.
More
Combat – Special EffectsDefensive Special EffectsDoes the same for defensive More
Combat – Special EffectsTactics of choosing special effects – result based visualisationMore
Combat – Special EffectsTactics of choosing special effects – next generation – one pager version
offensive
defensive
Gives you easy way to select special effect based on what you want to do to the opponentMore
Combat – WeaponsGloranthan Weaponscurrent understanding how lunar, dwarves, elves, dragonewts More
Combat – WeaponsEastern WeaponsHow easterners weapons work More
Combat – WeaponsStandard Weapons
Combat – WeaponsShields and Passive BlockingMore
Combat Styles – ExamplesCombat Style Cards Encyclopedia

(the above link fixed 11.1.2023)
Updated early 2022,  hundreds of combat styles
There are now combat styles defined for almost all Mythras supplements (official or unofficial). Pick one or two for your players.

More
Encyclopedia
Combat Styles – TraitsCombat Style Traits  All the combat style traits from all official and unofficial supplements should be on this EncyclopaediaMore
Encounters City Quarter Map CreatorSettings: Fantasy, Mythic Constantinople, Monster Island, GloranthaMore
EncountersMythras Encounter Generator (MeG) Generate with a touch of a button all the enemies or NPCs you need. Should contain all the stats for all the fantasy based supplements, also all Gloranthan creatures. Easy to add your own if you want. Almost 4000 NPC/Monster templates to generate encountersMain post
EncountersMythras and Gloranthan generators for GM Other generators for a Mythras or Gloranthan campaign.
EncountersGuides to Mythras Encounter Generator
generic
creating NPC’s
as a session tool
guidance in creating encounters
Various guides how to use Mythras Encounter tool
EncountersMythras Encounter Generator JSON finder tool (for Roll20) 
EncountersSize MattersSize is not linear in Mythras, here is a tool to visualise the size of the creatures
MagicMagic Situational Modifiers
MagicMythras Magic Modifiers VisualisedMore
Magic – Folk Magic OptionalProgressive (variable) Folk MagicMore
Magic – Setting – GloranthaHoroscope Personality Traits for GlorantMore
Magic – Setting – GloranthaRune List
Magic – Theist, Folk Magic, Animist – Setting – GloranthaCult one pagers for Glorantha150+ cults for Glorantha moddedMore
Magic – SorceryDiminish Effect on your opponenthas the goods on what can that pesky diminish spell do to you or your opponent.
Magic – SorcerySorcery ToolMore
Magic – SorceryGrimoire formexample: Grimoire of Ravenous SharkMore
Magic – SpiritsSpirit Combat tablesSpirit combat charts (Spirit damage, special effects and spirit combat results) have been gathered into this chartMore
MovementFatigue, Encumbrance and Speed CalculatorFatigue, Encumbrance and Speed calculator.
It makes it much easier to see all the effects that encumbrance, terrain and fatigue make. The aim here is to make movement speed also count – when escaping One-Eye the Carnosaur you do not have to be the fastest but faster than 2-4 of the slowest ones. You should also be make the hard decisions what to drop to escape easily from game mechanics point of view. 
The encumbrance and fatigue can make drastic changes to the speed and skills. This tool aims to help the use of them to support the game session.
More
MovementMovement and Swimming EffectsIt contains now a table for movement rates between 1 and 14, effect of athletics on the speed when walking, running or sprinting.
It also has a table for the common modifiers for movement like encumbrance, armor and fatigue.  It has also the effects on ranged combat.
More
MovementChase control roll resultsFor the future chase sequences in my campaign decided to combine all the movement effects into tables that fit into a single page.
More
SkillsDifficulty Grade Progression mini-chartMore
SkillsMythras Skill Roll Evaluatoraugmentation and difficulty grade calculatorMore
Skills, Movement, CombatFatigue progression mini-chartMore
Skills,CombatCriticals and Difficulty Grade shortcut tableThere is an interactive version at http://toolsfrompavis.com

Here we have a quick reference chart for criticals and difficulty grade on skill. If you like maths – you do not need the chart, the calculations are simple but I find doing them in the heat of the game distracting.
TravelGloranthan Ships for RQ6They could be useful anywhere in fantasy worldMore
Travel (Setting – Monster Island)Exposure Modifiers for Camping in the WildernessMore
Travel (Setting – Monster Island)Monster Island Hex Crawl and Jungle (and other difficult terrain) travel effectsJungle Fatigue Calculator
(Replaced by Fatigue, Encumbrance and Speed Calculator)
Traveling effects in Jungle
Traveling rolls in Jungle
Traveling Distance in Jungle
Camping in the Wilderness

More
Commerce (Setting – Monster Island)Bird Feather pricingMore
Setting – Monster IslandCity Map – AkakorMore

You might find this condensed version for starting GM’s useful