Petards Stuffed in Cows: A Necrocarcerus Armoury

Here's an extraction of the weapon expertise, feat and training rules, and the weapon tables from the Necrocarcerus house rule document. Parts of this are inspired by Courtney Campbell's Numenhalla weapons tables, as well as the BECMI weapon mastery rules. It is meant to be compatible with Swords and Wizardry Complete. All costs are in obols, the Necrocarcerus equivalent of gold pieces.

Weapon Feats

Each level beyond Proficient provides a cumulative +2 to hit and on damage rolls. Characters using a weapon they are unskilled with deal 1d4 points of damage on a successful hit.

Weapon	Proficient	Skilled	Expert	Master
Broadsword	1d8	Deflect	Bleed	Keen
Claymore	2d6	Disarm	Deflect	Vicious
Club	1d6	Delay	Stun	Knockout
Composite Bow	1d8	Skewer	Vicious	Swift
Crossbow	2d6	Delay	Stagger	Skewer
Dirk	1d4	Swift	Bleed	Keen
Falchion	1d6	Bleed	Keen	Vicious
Francisca	1d6	Delay	Stagger	Swift
Halberd	2d6	Trip	Skewer	Vicious
Lance	1d8	Delay	Skewer	Vicious
Long Bow	1d8	Swift	Skewer	Keen
Maul	2d6	Stagger	Stun	Knockout
Musket	2d6	Stagger	Delay	Stun
Pistol	1d6	Delay	Stagger	Vicious
Quarterstaff	1d8	Trip	Deflect	Swift
Rapier	1d8	Deflect	Disarm	Riposte
Sling	1d6	Stagger	Stun	Knockout
Spear	1d8	Delay	Skewer	Keen
Sparr Axe	1d8	Bleed	Delay	Vicious
Thrown Knife	1d4	Swift	Bleed	Skewer
Warhammer	1d8	Deflect	Delay	Knockout

Expertise Feats

Bleed – Target suffers 1 HP damage / round until they save.
Deflect – Wielder may save to negate one attack / round
Delay – Save or lose initiative next round
Disarm – Save or lose weapon
Keen – Critical hit on natural 19 or 20
Knockout – Save or fall unconscious
Riposte – Wielder may save to counterattack immediately
Skewer – Next round target takes the same damage again
Stagger – Save or can’t move for one round
Stun – Save or can’t attack / cast spells for one round
Swift – Wielder makes two attacks / round on one target
Trip – Save or fall over
Vicious – Wielder rerolls damage, takes higher result

Training Costs for Weapon Expertise

Level	Cost for Training	Training Time
Untrained	0	None
Proficient	1,000	1 week
Skilled	5,000	1 month
Expert	10,000	3 months
Master	20,000	6 months.

Melee Weapons

Weapon	Cost	Wt.	Special	Hands
Broadsword	50	1.5kg	-	1H
Claymore	100	3kg	-	2H
Club	5	0.5kg	Light	1H
Dirk	2	0.5kg	Light	1H
Falchion	50	1kg	Light	1H
Halberd	50	4kg	Reach	2H
Lance	50	2.5kg	-	1H
Maul	100	5kg	-	2H
Quarterstaff	2	1.5kg	Reach	2H
Rapier	50	1kg	-	1H
Spear	5	2kg	Reach	1H
Sparr Axe	50	2kg	-	1H
Warhammer	50	2.5kg	-	1H

Ranged Weapons

Weapon	Cost	Wt.	Rng.	RoF	Special
Composite Bow	100	2kg	100m	1/1
Crossbow	50	3kg	75m	1/2
Francisca	5	0.5kg	10m	2/1	Light
Long Bow	100	3kg	100m	1/1
Musket	100	4.5kg	40m	1/2
Pistol	50	1.5kg	10m	1/2	Light
Sling	2	0.25kg	100m	1/1
Spear	5	2kg	10m	1/1	Reach
Thrown Knife	2	0.25kg	10m	2/1	Light

RoF is number of shots / round. e.g. 1/2 is one shot every other round. 2/1 is two attacks per round.

Other Weapons

Other weapons than the ones listed above cannot be mastered. All characters are proficient in using them.

Weapon	Cost	Damage	Wt.	Rng.	Special
Bolas	2	1d4	0.5kg	10m	Entangles
Blowgun	2	1d4	1kg	10m
Blunderbuss	100	2d6	4.5kg	20m	Cone
Flamethrower	250	2d6	30kg	20m	Burns, Cone
Grenades	10	2d6	0.5kg	10m	Explodes
Holy Water	10	2d6	0.1kg	10m	Burns
Net	5	-	3kg	5m	Entangles
Petard	50	4d10	3kg	-	Explodes
Petrol Bomb	5	1d8	0.5kg	10m	Explodes, Burns
Whip	10	1d4	1kg	-	Entangles, Reach

Ammunition

Type (# of shots)	Cost	Weight	For
Arrows (10)	3	1kg	Bows
Bolts (10)	5	1.5kg	Crossbows
Gasoline (5)	25	5kg	Flamethrowers
Shot & Powder (10)	10	2kg	Guns
Slingstones (10)	1	1.5kg	Sling

Weapon Qualities

Burns - Target suffers 1d6 automatic damage / round until they save
Cone - May attack up to three side-by-side targets simultaneously
Entangles - Target must save or become helpless
Explodes - Everyone within (# of damage dice x 2)m is hit. Save for half
Light – Can be wielded in off-hand
Reach – Can attack from behind someone else

[Review] Openquest 2

Disclosure: I am a fan of Openquest. I was one of the backers of the Indiegogo campaign for OQ2 (I am thanked by name on the general thanks page, along with other contributors to the campaign).

Openquest 2 contains zero fundamental changes to the mechanics of Openquest. Instead, it provides more spells, better explanations of gameplay and how to tweak it to suit your style, a brief realm system, some new skills, and colour pictures. Broadly speaking, a lot of the changes are incorporating material / inspired by other systems, including other versions of BRP (Basic Roleplaying, the percentile system that powers Runequest, Stormbringer, Call of Cthulhu and other systems). Sometimes this is good, sometimes it seems extraneous.

The two new skills are Wealth and Relationship (X). Both at optional, so you don't have to use them if you don't want to.

The Relationship skill is basically a passion-system like other BRPs have, and is something I really dislike outside of its use in Clockwork and Chivalry, since it rarely does anything directly in any of these games (typically, such skills add their tens digit as a percentile bonus to another skill). At least in C&C it represents one's ideological commitment to some position in the Civil War and comes up whenever you try to proselytise for your side or resist proselytisation by another side. I'm very leery of skills - and older versions of BRP are notorious for this kind of skill - where having them doesn't allow one to do anything different, it simply gives one a bonus to some other skill roll, or allows one to make a second kind of skill roll under certain conditions one otherwise couldn't. The Relationship skill here collects a bunch of fuzzy benefits together under four headings (Allies, Dependents, Enemies and Organisations) with different benefits in each case. If you wanted to create something like the D&D 3.5 Rangers' specialty enemy ability, this would allow you to do it. One of the things I like about Openquest is that it tends to give you clear expectations - whether in the form of concretely defined actions one can take, or in the Big Bonus rule - and I find that the relationship skill doesn't really do that.

Wealth is the typical BRP skill for people who don't want to track individual coins or assets. I go back and forth on this skill, since it mainly exists in games to represent credit but does a bad job representing how credit works or how it motivates people to act. This isn't OQ2's problem tho', it's really a problem with Call of Cthulhu / the BRP gold book, which use this skill. Personally, I think I would stick with the individual asset approach, at least at lower levels of play. This skill has all sorts of sublevels and requires you to determine where specific pieces of gear fall (tho' it provides a chart with some guidelines) so you know what kind of stuff you actually have to roll for or not.

The spells are strong, and good additions to the system. Openquest is now in competition with Runequest 6 for the best battle magic system in a BRP-type game.They're mostly fixed-magnitude, and appear inspired by various low level spells from D&D (this is good), though there are some progressive ones that upgrade. There are a few "extra action" type spells, which I am mixed about. Multimissile was already in the game, but new ones have been added, and I worry that this will create an action / magic point economy at the higher levels of power and transform high level combat into managing it. Still, overall, the additions to the spell lists (not just battle magic, but divine and sorcery as well) are welcome.

The Realm management system is mostly about quest generation, as it should be, and includes notes on using the quests for the various power levels PCs will be at. Like most stock OQ work, it's pretty sparse. I may expand on it and the attached mass combat system sometime in the upcoming year.

The game in general includes a lot more advice on how to play it, which is good for me, as I use Openquest to introduce people to BRP-type systems. I would feel more comfortable handing OQ2 to a new referee than OQ1, now that I have the option to choose between them. The examples are more fleshed out, different campaign power levels are discussed, and there's some discussion of modifying the base assumptions (i.e. different types of magic available and how) to help you create a particular feel.

So, I like Openquest: It remains one of my preferred systems for fantasy roleplaying games, and I will continue to use it for such in future. Openquest 2 is more an extension and continuation of that source text that a radical revision of it (the two are fully compatible, which is nice as I already own three well-loved copies of Openquest 1). I would recommend picking Openquest 2 up for all the same reasons I recommend picking up Openquest 1. I don't know that it's dire and urgent that you switch over if you're happy with Openquest 1 already, but if you like it and want more spells and options, it's worth checking out.

Filling Out Your Alignment Forms

"Changing Alignment
Alignments are registered with the Association of Useful Citizens – Administrative Division on a theoretically quarterly basis. One’s alignment changes by altering or forging one’s record, upon the result of a trial, upon release from punishment, upon registration with AUC – AD, by special request by the Guardians (common in inter-Guardian factional struggles), or through other forms of bureaucratic manipulation." - from the Necrocarcerus play document

Alignments in Necrocarcerus are simply an administrative recording of whether you are an enemy of the Necrocarcerus Program, and how much of an enemy. Think of them as combination terrorist watch list, no fly list, criminal record, and administrative categorisation used by the people running your reality. This means that you don't get to pick your alignment (except for Citizens, who get an initial choice, which is then set until they change it in the usual ways), nor does it motivate your behaviour. The biggest effect is mainly in interacting with spells and abilities - Detect Evil detects anyone who has a file marked "Chaotic" in the records of the Guardians, Unholy Word will smite anyone who is marked "Lawful". It's a metaphysical-administrative state. Bureaucracy is king, so even the Undead, Rogues and Projectors can be declared Citizens in good standing if their paperwork is in order.

Why Are You Currently Chaotic, Citizen?

1 - An open warrant from local authorities
2 - Misfiled form JM-58 (b): Application for Incarnation (1-3 Wrong cabinet 4-6 Incomplete form)
3 - Bureaucratic delays in filing the paperwork to clear your name from last time (1d4 weeks)
4 - Same name as someone else on the Guardians' Priority Threats Schedule for 9998
5 - Currently listed as "Evading Arrest" due to clerical error on punch-card
6 - Name appears on informant's list of criminal confederates
7 - Local Guardian disapproved of conduct, filed form HX-99: Request to Remove Citizenship
8 - Office containing your records was recently attacked by a third party and all records lost
9 - Daring raid by unknown enemies surreptitiously inserted false denunciations into your file
10 - Taxes in arrears (1-3 Receipts and a thorough audit can rectify 4-6 Will need tax lawyer)
11 - Identity theft has led to you being blamed for someone else's crimes
12 - Your actual behaviour has been duly, efficiently and correctly logged

Where Is the Master Copy of Your Record Stored?

1 - In the Incarnation Temple you were created in (1d20 Guardians, 4d10 AUC guards)
2 - In the regional AUC - AD headquarters (4d10 bureaucrats, 1d10 guards)
3 - No one is really sure, but you can file a form to request they search (1d6 months, roll again)
4 - Last copy is in a monster's hoard via a circuitous route of happenstance
5 - In the corrupt clutches of Theosophist sadistocrats (1-3 hermit sect; 4-6 militarised sect)
6 - In one of the haunted outer rings of the Ineffable Nomoplex (1d6 shadows)

Bureaucratic Assistance With Changing Your Alignment

Type	Cost
Clerical bribes	1d10 x 10 / case
Filing Fees	10 / page
Forged Forms	200 / page
Lawyer	2500 / case

Changing your alignment requires processing 1d100 pages, in cases where you pay by the page & this is possible. All prices are in obols.

Tables from Necrocarcerus

I'm trying to turn Necrocarcerus into a single document with all the handy reference material in one place a la those primers that Courtney Campbell puts together. I'm working on the gear section right now. Here are some extracts. I'm using Erik Jensen's Oh Crap My Hat rule in Necrocarcerus.

Clothes

Outfits	Cost (OB)	Notably Includes
Artisanal Workwear	10	Leather apron, gloves
Cold Weather Gear	50	Wooly mittens
Diving Suit	100	Form-fitting bodysuit
Fancy Tailored Clothes	500	Slick styling
Former God-King	1000	Lots of gold fabric
Grey Jumpsuit	5	Many pocketed-jumpsuit
Hot Weather Gear	25	Brightly coloured fabrics
Military Uniform	20	Tabard of issuer
Petty Official’s Suit	10	ID badge, wrinkles
Priestly Vestments	200	Gaudy religious icons
Spiky Biker Gear	50	Sweet leather coat, chaps
Stealth Gear	200	Ninja mask & gloves
Tattered Rags	Nil	Rags
Trenchcoat	200	Trenchcoat
Wizard Robes	200	Softly glowing runes

Hats

Type	Cost (OB)	Special Effect
Aviator & Goggles	100	+1 to Pilot rolls
Balaclava	15	+1 to Stealth rolls
Bonnet	50	+1 to Decipher rolls
Capotain	100	+1 to Tracking rolls
Diving Helmet	250	Breathe underwater
Gas Mask	175	Immune to gases
Hardhat & Goggles	50	+1 to Engineering rolls
Impressive Wig	175	+1 to Law rolls
Kufi	15	+1 to Religion rolls
Mortarboard	50	+1 to Geography rolls
Outback	50	+1 to Foraging rolls
Scary Mask	100	+1 to Arcane Lore rolls
Shako	100	+1 to hit with blades
Surgical Cap & Mask	50	+1 to Healing rolls
Telescoping Goggles	175	+1 to Devices rolls
Tin Foil	100	+1 to saves vs. spells
Top Hat & Monocle	100	+1 to Appraisal rolls
Tricorn	50	+1 to Listening rolls
Turban	50	+1 to Alchemy rolls
Ushanka	100	+1 to hit with guns
Veil	100	+1 to Disguise rolls
Wreath	50	+1 to Athletics rolls

Mounts

Mount	Cost (OB)	Daily Speed
Your Feet	Nil	20 km
Horse-like	150	40 km
Motorcycle	2500	75 km
Golem Palanquin	60 / day	10 km
Charter Train	500/ day	100 km
Nightmare	10,000	400 km
Airship	200,000	1200 km

Mount	Upkeep	Cost / Day (OB)
Your Feet	Calluses	Nil
Horse-Like	Fodder-like	5
Motorcycle	Gasoline	35
Golem Palanquin	Nil	60
Charter Train	Wages & supplies	500
Nightmare	Eats people	1 person per day
Airship	Wages & supplies	200