[BoL] Any Barbarians of Lemuria (Mythic) players to answer questions?

[J.Quondam]

I played a couple one shots of BoL a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. I've only really started delving into the game in the last week or so, and already have some questions. Are there any people around who play and willing to give some input? Thanks!


1. BoL Forum? Is there a fairly active BoL (and/or Everywhen) community to ask questions of? I've looked around last few days, but what few I've found found seem effectively dead. Also a good live-play, advice site, or whatnot could be helpful, too.

2. Ex-apprentice characters? For example, similar to Grey Mouser, who has runaway apprentice hedgemage as part of his past, can understand the basics and cast a couple cantrips, but isn't a full magician. How do I model that? Using a rank 0 magician career seems logical, but RAW that's a magician with a full complement of Arcane Power points (10), and therefore able to cast some pretty beefy spells with effort. What to do fora character with just a couple AP who uses a cantrip on occasion? It's easy enough to rule (or just play as if the PC only has 3 AP or something), but is there an obvious RAW i'm missing?

3. Perception, spotting, or sensing? For example, an ambush, trap, or someone is lying, when does the Task roll to detect it happen? Is it something the player should ask for explicitly, or is it something the GM should prompt for? The concepts of secret rolls and passive checks don't seem to exist in BoL, so I'm unsure how to correctly handle those sorts of situations.

4. Everywhen and other supplements? I'm interested in eventually applying the system to other settings and genres. Is Everywhen (the generic version of BoL) decent, or the dual-statted Sword & Sorcery Codex? I'm also curious about a couple of the Everywhen settings in particular, "Red Venus" and "Blood Sundown": are these useable with just BoL rules, or is Everywhen necessary for them?

 

[Haiku Elvis]

I've not played BoL but your post reminded me I got the pdf a bit ago on a sale and had only given it a quick skim through. So I've been giving it a more thorough read through. So thanks for the nudge.

I can't help with points 1 or 4 but for 2 there is a Boon "Magic of the Sorcerer Kings" that grants a bonus die for magic tasks but requires an extra flaw. I think you could swop out the bonus die for a couple of AP points and call it Runaway Apprentice or similar. It says NPC rabble apprentices have 1-3 AP so the power level fits.
I couldn't find anything about passive checks either, so it's not you. I think it's a case of do how you would do it in other systems, which may not be a lot of help but I personally don't like passive checks and tend to throw out hints like "something about his manners says he's hiding something" or "you notice a slight draught but don't know where from" and then wait for the players to do something about it. So I can't talk from experience

 

[Theory of Games]

I played a couple one shots of BoL a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. I've only really started delving into the game in the last week or so, and already have some questions. Are there any people around who play and willing to give some input? Thanks!


1. BoL Forum? Is there a fairly active BoL (and/or Everywhen) community to ask questions of? I've looked around last few days, but what few I've found found seem effectively dead. Also a good live-play, advice site, or whatnot could be helpful, too.

2. Ex-apprentice characters? For example, similar to Grey Mouser, who has runaway apprentice hedgemage as part of his past, can understand the basics and cast a couple cantrips, but isn't a full magician. How do I model that? Using a rank 0 magician career seems logical, but RAW that's a magician with a full complement of Arcane Power points (10), and therefore able to cast some pretty beefy spells with effort. What to do fora character with just a couple AP who uses a cantrip on occasion? It's easy enough to rule (or just play as if the PC only has 3 AP or something), but is there an obvious RAW i'm missing?

3. Perception, spotting, or sensing? For example, an ambush, trap, or someone is lying, when does the Task roll to detect it happen? Is it something the player should ask for explicitly, or is it something the GM should prompt for? The concepts of secret rolls and passive checks don't seem to exist in BoL, so I'm unsure how to correctly handle those sorts of situations.

4. Everywhen and other supplements? I'm interested in eventually applying the system to other settings and genres. Is Everywhen (the generic version of BoL) decent, or the dual-statted Sword & Sorcery Codex? I'm also curious about a couple of the Everywhen settings in particular, "Red Venus" and "Blood Sundown": are these useable with just BoL rules, or is Everywhen necessary for them?

1. Online forums are fading fast. Maybe there's a Discord?
2. You take the Magician career and use the APs for the characters 'cantrips' which are low-cost spells (pg. 144)
3. Usually the GM calls for a Mind roll to spot important things but players can decide to roll on their own too (pg. 14-15 and 61-62)
4. I'm unfamiliar with Everywhen.

 

[J.Quondam]

I've not played BoL but your post reminded me I got the pdf a bit ago on a sale and had only given it a quick skim through. So I've been giving it a more thorough read through. So thanks for the nudge.

I did the same thing, too, heh. Glad I looked deeper, though, because it really does seem like it's great lightweight system for scratching the S&S itch.

I can't help with points 1 or 4 but for 2 there is a Boon "Magic of the Sorcerer Kings" that grants a bonus die for magic tasks but requires an extra flaw. I think you could swop out the bonus die for a couple of AP points and call it Runaway Apprentice or similar. It says NPC rabble apprentices have 1-3 AP so the power level fits.

As it happens, there's a boon called "Power of the Void" that explicitly grants 2AP, which is exactly what you suggest. I'm considering that route, as it seems to nicely model a slight innate talent for magic. Otoh, just using the boon is a little harder to justify a PC having the vague mundane skills associated with magical apprenticeship, things like deciphering runes, identifying components, recognizing sorcerous brotherhoods, navigating libraries, and all that). That sort of stuff fits more clearly in the rank 0 career.

It's not too important, at the moment. I was just making a test PC inspired by Grey Mouser and immediately bumped into the issue.

I couldn't find anything about passive checks either, so it's not you. I think it's a case of do how you would do it in other systems, which may not be a lot of help but I personally don't like passive checks and tend to throw out hints like "something about his manners says he's hiding something" or "you notice a slight draught but don't know where from" and then wait for the players to do something about it. So I can't talk from experience

Yeah, that's pretty much my default: a slight bit of telegraphing, if appropriate, but otherwise let the players decide the specifics. I suppose a GM could also just let them auto-detect stuff relevant to their field: "Thief, you notice a discolored tile." "Hunter, there are some tracks." "Merchant, these coins don't feel right."
Just not quite sure of the designer's intent. But I doubt it matters; I'm pretty sure the game is meant to be loosey-goosey in ways like that.

 

[J.Quondam]

1. Online forums are fading fast. Maybe there's a Discord?

Good idea, i'll poke around. I know there's a (slow) FB page, and a (very slow) associated forum; and some once active forum threads that have petered out over the years. Plus quite a bit in French... but my French is 20 years rusty, so not sure how fruitful that will be.

I'm just 10 years too late to the BoL party, I guess.

1. I'm unfamiliar with Everywhen.

It's a toolkit system meant to broaden the BoL rules to other settings and genres. There's a fair bit of support for it in the form of one-shot adventures, settings, and rules expansions.