curses-and-blessings/notes-and-comments.txt

# Mark Emoji

:warning: **Attention:**
:memo: **Developer Note:**
:question: **TODO:**

# Notes and Maybes

* Examples are needed, with humour
* Reactions and retaliations
* Ranged attacks and weapons
* altitude sickness environmental effects
* A lack of food?
* Bigger bags?
* Ranking system for guild members?
* crude, rough, normal, fine, master (item/equipment ranks?)
* grade 4, grade 3, grade 2, grade 1, special grade, aubade (artifact ranks) (aubades don't exist, do they?)
* luck or fate skill

# Artifact Ideas

Dhampir's Appetite (rare) - A dagger that can steal the lifespan of a victim, transferring it to the wielder. Extended usage has diminishing returns, but it's possible to live for centuries using this method.

Glowstone (common) - A a kind of semi precious gemstone which, when a small amount of pressure is applied, produces a bright green glow; excessive pressure can cause an explosion. Since this can be used as a light source that doesn't produce heat, glowstone lanturns can be fashoned from these.

Stone Heart (uncommon) - Superficially, this resembles a normal piece of stone stone carved into the shape of a human heart. When the heart of a deceased human is replaced with this, and the body has not decayed too badly, it will begin to move again, as though animated by some dark magic. The risen body can follow simple instructions, but does not retain any personality or memories from its life, and cannot speak.











* Fate stones? d20 jewels? Inspiration tokens? Twisting fate to screw yourself later

# Word Salad, Yummy yummy

```
double attack
cleave
dodge roll
Ecosystems Anatomy Botany Zoology Geology Willpower Cooking
Bartering Rumors Inspiration Deception Persuasion Intuition
Humanity -> inhuman actions
Fear? -> I like this idea ; Adrenaline Junkie -> boosts from fear?
Hiding a relic you're not supposed to have?
Medicine
Cartographer
Art and artistic
Forgetful
allergies
paranoid
partially blind or deaf
cowardly / brave
Camping


rope making - strengths and lengths
knot tying
```

## Possible Missions:

* Retrieve artifacts, bring them to the guild
* Take missions, like cartography tasks, biological surveys, etc.
* Cook, food hunter
* Bodyguard for the wealthy elite
* friend lost on the mountain 
* Some creepy monsters are making their way into the city


# German words, for some reason
Tier = Animal/beast
Fortner = gatekeeper
Auslaufer = foothills


## junk notes from the previous draft below

---
# German words, for some reason
Tier = Animal/beast
Fortner = gatekeeper
Auslaufer = foothills

...the order of these sections feels a bit wonky
...surprise attack
...distances in combat? I might need to work in some kind of distance and range system eventually.

## Ascending the Sacred Mountain

Starting from the city of Base Valley, players may ascend up the mountain, making their way through a series of well known areas or, in some cases, lesser known or totally unexplored routes. Each tier of the mountain also has additional environmental effects, which make ascension more difficult.

Since the exact height of the mountain is unknown, you should record the altitude of the party in abstract and relative terms. The amount of time that has passed while climbing should also be recorded, see [The Passage of Time](#the-passage-of-time) for more details.

To make the climb, different actions are needed by the characters. These are:

...these will negatively impact fortitude

...TODO: tier-based challenges, such as navigating, rolling dice, etc.

...pigeon holes

...collapsing mushroom caps

...altitude sickness from tier 6 and up

## Digging and Excavation

The primary goal of any climber should be to find rare and valuable artifacts from the mountain's past, and bring them to the Mountaineer's Guild for sale. When you've found a place that you want to inspect for artifacts, you may spend one point of stamina and one segment of time digging; make sure you have at least one pickaxe of some kind, otherwise you won't be able to dig at all.

When digging, you may roll on the table below to determine what, if anything, you find. Some specific areas may have their own artifact tables, and artifacts will vary between tiers - see the [Appendices](#appendices) for details. Alternatively, story-related artifacts may also be found, at the GM's discretion.

If situational modifiers would lower the result of an excavation roll below zero, then the pickaxe used will break and become unusable.

...TODO: insert an example table here

# Recovered Artifacts

...fate stones, sun stones?

The lower tiers have been picked clean of the best finds, so the higher you go, the more valuable - and interesting - the artifacts become. Each artifact takes up 1 item space in your bag, unless it has the "bulky" attribute (two slots), or the "petty" attribute (zero slots). It is highly recommended that you sell any unwanted artifacts to the Mountaineer's Guild - doing so will grant you the listed skill points, if any. If you sell it anywhere else, you will not receive any skill points, regardless of the sale price.

**Developer's Note**: In the future it might be possible to purchase certain artifacts from the guild's auction house, but these will be expensive, and usually limited to higher levelled players. It would also be interesting to explore the black market, where illegal trading can be found.

| Artifact | Price | Description |
| --- | :---: | ---: | --- |
| Sun Stone | 4as, 1sp | This small green stone can shine brightly when pressure or a simple electrical charge is applied. |

...The obsession stat will eventually be used to activate some higher rarity items

# Skills

To purchase a level in a skill, you must spend skill points equal to the new level being purchased. You can only purchase a level in a skill if you already have the previous level of that skill, and any other listed prerequisites e.g. to purchase 4 levels of any one skill, it will cost a total of 10 skill points, since 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10. Each character is assumed to have any skill at level 0, until levels of that skill have been purchased.

Here, you will find a list of skills that can be purchased, which are divided into several categories based on their utility. The categories are mainly guides, however some may also have extra rules attached, such as [Group Skills](#group-skills).

## Progression Skills

| Name | Description / Effect |
| --- | --- |
| Health Training | Increase this stat by your levels in this skill. |
| Stamina Training | Increase this stat by your levels in this skill. |
| Fortitude Training | Increase this stat by your levels in this skill. |
| Obsession Training | Increase this stat by your levels in this skill. |

...more, better names, better descriptions

## Survival Skills

...don't die; climbing, slip and fall recovery, etc.
...I'll add scavenging and fishing as a skill

| Name | Description / Effect |
| --- | --- |
| Rough Cooking | You can make a meal out of just about anything, be it vegetation, fungi, or a giant beast hunted by your group. This skill is considered essential for surviving on the mountain when returning to civilization is not an option. You can produce enough edible food for two people for each level in this skill; if you own some kind of cooking gear, an additional serving can be prepared. Any ingredients used are consumed. |

## Trade Skills

...identify artifacts, craft new gadgets, etc.

| Name | Description / Effect |
| --- | --- |
| Botanical Sketching | You can record details of the flora endemic to the mountain. You may spend one point of stamina to record a specimen from a safe distance. For every two levels of this skill you have, you can usually sell the documents to the Mountaineer's Guild for an additional 10%. |
| Anatomical Sketching | You can record details of the fauna endemic to the mountain. You may spend one point of stamina to record a specimen from a safe distance. For every two levels of this skill you have, you can usually sell the documents to the Mountaineer's Guild for an additional 10%. |

## Combat Skills

| Name | Description / Effect |
| --- | --- |
| Unarmed Fighting | You punch, kick, slam and bite to the best of your ability, without using a weapon. When used in combat, perform a skill check against a target. On a success, deal damage equal to 1d4 + LVL - 1 as damage. You may only take this skill up to 3 times. |

...knife training, pickaxe training

## Group Skills

Group skills are unique in that every member of your play group is required to purchase them all at once; purchasing a level in a group skill will still only cost equal to the level being purchased by each player. In addition, you cannot take a group skill during character creation.

| Name | Description / Effect |
| --- | --- |

...need many more skills: knot tying for combining ropes, group skills, etc.

# Bestiary

## Bug Swarm

Health: 3
Difficulty: 12
Attacks: Sting (1d3-1)
Special: This creature can attack four times during it's turn.

Description: A mass of various flying insects, most likely disturbed by a climber's activity or some other passing creature. Swatting it away is enough to make it disperse.

## Devilfish

Health: 10
Difficulty: 8
Attacks: None
Special: None

Description: A harmless, but delicious source of meat found largely in the waterways of the first two tiers. There are old tales of Devilfish climbing vertically up the Gambler's Bluff; these are usually dismissed as a metaphor of some kind, but there is a confirmed population living in the Mycelium Jungles.

## Knee Weasel

Health: 6
Difficulty: 6
Attacks: Bite (1d6)
Special: The difficulty of this creature is increased by 2 if there is at least one other allied Knee Weasel nearby.

Description: A variety of black grass-dwelling weasel. On their own, they pose little threat, but they normally travel in large family packs, and can sometimes overwhelm climbers who get too close to their territory. Found mainly in the dense tree clusters of the first and second tiers, they're known for attacking humans by targeting their legs and knees, causing the target to fall to the ground, and swarming them with bites.

## Siphon Colony

Health: 50
Difficulty: 15
Attacks: 4x Tendril Whips (1d10), 4x Spore Shots (2d6), Body Slam (1d12), Static Discharge (2d12)
Special: When attacking, the Siphon Colony may only use one listed attack, with the multiplier indicating the number of times it uses that attack. If a spore shot attack hits a target, the residual spore material causes a burning sting, dealing 1 damage over the next two turns.

Description: Siphon Colonies are born from many small eggs. Soon after hatching, they clump together and fuse into one large mass, and remain this way for the rest of their lives. They are almost exclusively seen within the Mycelium Jungles, and are not naturally aggressive. The nature of each colony depends largely on what kinds of, and how many of, the eggs contributed to the mass. Some individual components have developed into offensive or defensive weapons, while others developed to consume nutrients, and process it before passing it along to the rest of the colony via internal vein-like structures.

**Developer's Note**: This is very strong - probably too strong. But as a starting point, it's fine. This is actually inspired by a kid's idea, where a D&D beholder is formed from multiple "eggs", each of which having a mind of it's own, and contributing a different power to the creature as a whole. I knew about Siphonophores from nature, and even added a creature called a "Siphon" to a previous game, but this one is very much it's own thing.

...I definitely need a ranged attack system now - the spore shots don't work properly without one.

...Should I add elemental damage, like lighting?? This discharge should only be possible once, I think.

..."brain" components could be interesting - they form the minds of conscious colonies.

# Botanical Compendium

...

# Appendices

...More things and stuff goes here

## Excavation Tables Based On Areas Within the Tiers

...d8 tables

...hunger might need to be harsher?