are we waiting for other cultures

[Otaku-sempai]

A Ranger's of Ithilien variant of the Men of Gondor, and Dorwinrrim to add some exotic flavour (now that Una is introduced as a main character in the TOR chronology) seem to be very well liked by the public.
Dorwinrrim, in my opinion, might even be a simple Men of Lake-town variant, not necessarily a whole new Culture: change the Bog-stone Reward for a Bottle of Fine Wine, and the Bowman of the Guild Virtue for something else, and you have it.

How did I miss Rangers of Ithilien? Though I really think that background should have been one of those listed for Men of Minas Tirith (perhaps saving Seaman for Men of Gondor).

[atgxtg]

Some guidance for Loremasters wanting to write up their own, custom Cultures might very well be a good idea. Something like that might be appropriate for a Loremaster's Companion.

I'd like to see a way to modify the existing cultures slightly to handle different regions. Much like how Dwarves of the Iron Hills and Erebor Dwarves are mostly the same, with an ability or two swapped out. I think that would allow us to handle most of the cultures on people's wish lists, customize char gen for new areas as desired, and keep things from getting too cluttered. It's a lot easier to swap out an ability for a new culture than to do up a new 5 page write-up with backgrounds, virtues and rewards.

[Falenthal]

I'd like to see a way to modify the existing cultures slightly to handle different regions.

You can use this guide, made a long time ago by someone who's name I can't recall:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzkNI ... TQ3VnM3T28

The main points are:

1) Attributes: distribute 14 points, with no score landing higher than 7 or lower than 2.

Primary Attribute - 5 to 7
Secondary Attribute - 4 to 6
Tertiary Attribute - 2 to 4

4) Common Skills: using the skill costs (below), spend 29 points with no skill achieving a final value higher than 3. Underline one skill as being 'favoured'. Favoured skills must have a value of either 2 or 3.

Skill costs: to begin with a starting value of 1, spend one point. To begin with a starting value of 2, spend 3 points. To begin with a starting value of 3, spend 6 points.

10) Each culture has a primary distinctive feature shared by all backgrounds, and 21 secondary distinctive features, which are doubled and split evenly among all the sample backgrounds.

Examples:
Bardings
ADVENTUROUS
Cautious, Clever, Cunning, Determined, Eager, Fair, Fair-spoken, Generous, Hardy, Just, Lordly, Merciful, Patient, Proud, Reckless, Steadfast, Stern, Tall, True-hearted, Trusty, Wary

Beornings
GRIM
Bold, Curious, Determined, Energetic, Generous, Fierce, Forthright, Gruff, Hardened, Hardy, Proud, Reckless, Robust, Steadfast, Suspicious, Swift, Tall, Trusty, Vengeful, Wilful, Wrathful

Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain
WILFUL
Bold, Cautious, Cunning, Determined, Eager, Energetic, Fierce, Gruff, Hardened, Hardy, Honorable, Lordly, Proud, Robust, Secretive, Steadfast, Stern, Suspicious, Vengeful, Wary, Wrathful

[guang]

This is amazing.

Is there any need to distinguish between elves, men, hobbits and dwarves?

[atgxtg]

This is amazing.

Is there any need to distinguish between elves, men, hobbits and dwarves?

Yes, but thats mostly a case of which attributes and skills are prioritized, and what the choices are for which distinctive features. For instance hobbits don't get body as a primary attribute.

[aramis]

1) Attributes: distribute 14 points, with no score landing higher than 7 or lower than 2.

Primary Attribute - 5 to 7
Secondary Attribute - 4 to 6
Tertiary Attribute - 2 to 4

Each culture has a set of attributes, with a 1/3/4 (typically; 2/4/5 for the advanced cultures), to which a 1/2/3 are added by the various backgrounds. The more potent cultures have a different balance.

Code: Select all

Culture		Body	Hrt	Wits
Barding		3	4	1
Beorning	4	3	1
Dwarf		4	1	3
Elf Mirkwood	3	1	4
Hobbit- Shire	1	4	3
Hobbit- Wild	1	4	3
Men of the Lake	3	4	1
Woodmen		1	3	4
Ranger		5	4	2
High Elf o' Riv.	4	2	5

Each culture has: six specialties; one favored skill, 3-4 rewards, and 5-6 virtues.
Each background has: one favored skill; raises one attribute over the cultural base by 1, another by 2, and the third by 3; 8 distinctive features.

The balance of endurance and hope generally is End + 2*Hope = 38-40

This pattern holds for almost all the new cultures, too.

[atgxtg]

That table is interesting.

So if Bardings are Body 3, Heart 4, Wits 1, then:

By Hammer and Anvil: Body +2, Heart +3, Wits +1
Wordweaver: Body +1, Heart +2, Wits +3
Gifted Senses: Body +3, Heart +3, Wits +1
Healing Hands: Body +1, Heart +3, Wits +2
Dragon-eyed: Body +2, Heart +2, Wits +2
A Patient Hunter: Body +2, Heart +1, Wits +3

Hey, it works, except that some backgrounds can have a flat +2 to all (Dragon-eyed). This could be very interesting.It also seems that the +3 attribute is the one that the Favored skill falls under. This makes it possible to reverse engineer backgrounds from cultures. That lets us mix and match backgrounds and cultures a bit (for example a Woodman character with the Patient Hunter background for Body 3, Heart 4, Wits 7). It also lets us add more background to existing cultures.

I think I'll deconstruction all the cultures to see what the background modifiers are- that is unless someone else has already done it.



Also, I wonder if there is a third element that factors into the Endurance-Hope equation?