Dragonlance: How does the lunar influence on Mage spells w..

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ISTR, dimly, that in one or more of the Dragonlance
Chronicles-based AD&D computer games, the phases of the
three moons would influence Mages, by giving bonus spells
when the relevant moon was in a favourable phase (full,
probably).

Is that also the case in the regular AD&D Dragonlance rules?
What about D&D3 Dragonlance?

The reason I'm asking is because I'd like to hear reports
from players and GMs who have played under such rules, where
the abilities of one character are significantly boosted on
a regular basis (e.g. during the full moon).

How did that affect things? How did it affect the behaviour
of the character? Of the character's non-Mage friends? What
was it like for the player? What was it like for the GM?

--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org
 
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In article <38j78uF5oa7ucU1@individual.net>,
Peter Knutsen <peter@sagatafl.invalid> wrote:
>
>ISTR, dimly, that in one or more of the Dragonlance
>Chronicles-based AD&D computer games, the phases of the
>three moons would influence Mages, by giving bonus spells
>when the relevant moon was in a favourable phase (full,
>probably).

I recall I lost spells if things were un favorable and
gained then when it was favourable things got super-
favourable every 250 days or so (triple full moon)

>Is that also the case in the regular AD&D Dragonlance rules?
>What about D&D3 Dragonlance?
>
>The reason I'm asking is because I'd like to hear reports
>from players and GMs who have played under such rules, where
>the abilities of one character are significantly boosted on
>a regular basis (e.g. during the full moon).
>
>How did that affect things? How did it affect the behaviour
>of the character? Of the character's non-Mage friends? What
>was it like for the player? What was it like for the GM?

I played Rastlin and found the luna effects just _annoying_
extra bookkeeping, I normally have a 2-3 standard prepared
spell lists (dungeon, wilderness, city) the luna effects
ment I had to have an extra layer of conditionals on top of
those based on the date. I also found keeping track of the
luna phases mildly irritating (even when I'd computerised the
cycles) as I had to keep asking the GM OK how many days did that
take.

3rd ed would be rather better, I'd go for free meta magic like
heighten and lower spell level for day to day mods
with other free metamagic like effects on the big conjunctions

Say all necromancy spells are empowered on the night of the
twin black moon.

I'd also be inclined to dispence with the timekeeping aspect,
instead, I'd fix the dates of the grand conjunctions (much easyer to
balance them) then have the casters roll each day (or week) to
determine the effects of the stars on them (probably something
like 2d6-2d6).

A sucessful Astrology roll would allow a mage to roll their
astrology mods in advance so they can plan an attack etc.



--
Michael
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NPC rights activist | Nameless Abominations are people too.
 
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In article <38j78uF5oa7ucU1@individual.net>,
Peter Knutsen <peter@sagatafl.invalid> wrote:
>ISTR, dimly, that in one or more of the Dragonlance
>Chronicles-based AD&D computer games, the phases of the
>three moons would influence Mages, by giving bonus spells
>when the relevant moon was in a favourable phase (full,
>probably).
>
>Is that also the case in the regular AD&D Dragonlance rules?
>What about D&D3 Dragonlance?

I played a wizard in a 3.5ed Dragonlance game...25 or so sessions
before the game fizzled. The moon phases would give or take a point
or two of CL and/or DC to your spells...no bonus spells. It never
really made or lost an encounter...those couple of points one way or
the other weren't enough to tip the balance, looking back on it.
However, it made for a fun roleplaying crutch... the character was
more cocky and outgoing on the 'good moon' days, more ornery and
stubborn on the bad ones.

There was a spreadsheet floating around that'd compute the moon's game
effects...just plug in the date and your robe color. I kept a
hardcopy of the next handful of months on hand so the bookkeeping
wasn't much trouble.

seann
 
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Peter Knutsen wrote:
>
> ISTR, dimly, that in one or more of the Dragonlance Chronicles-based
> AD&D computer games, the phases of the three moons would influence
> Mages, by giving bonus spells when the relevant moon was in a favourable
> phase (full, probably).
>
> Is that also the case in the regular AD&D Dragonlance rules? What about
> D&D3 Dragonlance?
>
> The reason I'm asking is because I'd like to hear reports from players
> and GMs who have played under such rules, where the abilities of one
> character are significantly boosted on a regular basis (e.g. during the
> full moon).
>
> How did that affect things? How did it affect the behaviour of the
> character? Of the character's non-Mage friends? What was it like for the
> player? What was it like for the GM?
>

I run a Dragonlance game using RuneQuest rules rather than D&D, and in
my house rules High Sorcerers get a few more magic points to use (i.e.
spell slots if you want the D&D translation) at high phases of the moon
than at low.

It's only a minor difference but it can be tricky book-keeping since you
need to know the phases of the moons (when you have a White Robe up
against a Black Robe you need to knwo both moons). I like to have a
fairly detailed campaign calendat though, so it's only a minor addition
to my personal playing style.

On a related note, there was once a character in an old AD&D campaign
that I ran who had a magic sword and shield whose powers waxed and waned
according ot the moon. Again, it never really made the crucial
difference in an encounter and required extra book-keeping. It worked
out more as flavour than anything else.