"Deryni" is too close to "Daikini" in my brain, which immediately propels me to Willow and stealing babies from a "stupid Daikini". Anyway.
The Game: The Deryni Adventure Games
The Publisher: Grey Ghost Press
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one
This game, included in some bundle or other that I bought, is based on the Deryni novels by Katherine Kurtz. There are a bunch of these (like, five trilogies plus a few other short stories and standalones), I'd never heard of them, and there were still new ones being published up till about 10 years ago (they started in 1970). As such, it's an interesting collab for an RPG, given that when these novels started out D&D wasn't even a thing. There's a foreword by the author that talks about how that collab came about and how she learned to GM (kinda).
I haven't read the whole book; the writing is dull and it's the standard 50 pages of history and setting info without any pizzazz, in my humble opinion. Plus, it's not a flavor of fantasy that I find very interesting - it feels very Tolkien-inspired, what with the expansive world-building, but it feels...I dunno, regimented? Dry? Plus although it's a fictional world, Christianity is apparently still a thing, and that rubs me the wrong way. So with that stirring introduction out of the way, let's puzzle through this.
We're meant to start off with a concept. As I often do when I'm doing a fantasy game with an expansive world that fails the Chupp test, I shall find something in the setting of the book to use as a plot hook. That would be easier if the PDF were bookmarked, but whatevs.
Well, there's a loose collection of city-states called the Connait that mainly produces mercenaries, so sure, let's make a merc from the Connait. Tomos, for t'is his name, grew up in a farming family and followed his older brother Daffyd off to join a merc company, and then his big brother wound up with a blade in his gut and Tomos was faced with the choice between going home and information his family, or following the company further away to its next battle. Tomos left, because he knew if he went home he'd probably never leave again, but he wonders if his family ever learned what happened to Daffyd.
Sounds good, on to the chargen bits. I can be human or Deryni; I think Tomos is pretty obviously human. He's a commoner, he's a merc...let's see. The game also asks me to consider long-term goals and relationship with the Church. I don't think Tomos' company gets to actual church much; maybe there's a priest that travels with them to absolve sin or whatever. I think Tomos has a very "oh, sure" kind of attitude towards faith - he's been attending all his life, and hasn't really thought through what all of that means. It's not optional, right?
Getting into the meat of chargen, I'm faced with the same question as with NAGS: subjective, objective, or Five-Point Fudge, and as with NAGS I shall do the latter.
Right, so being human has no cost and no associated gifts. Being a Commoner kinda depends, but I think Mediocre makes the most sense, and that costs nada.
Cool. So now we do this stuff:
Well, let's do these in the order the book takes them, I guess? That starts off with Gifts and Faults. I get Income as one of my two Gifts, and for my other I shall take Combat Reflexes (Tomos doesn't want to meet the same fate as his brother). For my Faults, I'll take Blunt & Tactless (he's kind of coarse and he's not exactly in genteel company) and Social Stigma (merc for hire, and not from a very prestigious or reputable company).
Skills! This is just like NAGS; I have five points, I put them in groups, depending on how many I put in a group I get a different spread of Skills. I have to put at least one point into Trade Skills, and I can't put any into Noble.
Well, I think I'll put one into Trade, one into Athletic/Outdoor, and three into Weapons/Combat, which means I get 3 Fair/1 Mediocre in the first two and 1 Great/3 Good/4 Fair in the last. I may switch this around a bit, though, if that's too focused in combat.
Oh, it already is, because I want Daily Life Skills, too. OK, let's take one out of Combat to put there, which means I get 2 Good/4 Fair in Combat.
For Daily Life, I definitely want Brawling and Farming at Fair. I'll take Riding at Fair, too, and put my Mediocre here into Camaraderie.
For Trade...oh, wait, a lot of these skills overlap. Motherfucker. OK, let's do Trade first. Farming, Animal Handling, Knot-Tying at Fair, Fletching/Bowyer at Mediocre. Daily life: Brawling, Riding, and Camaraderie at Fair, Throwing at Mediocre. Athletic/Outdoor: Hunting, Jumping, Running at Fair, Camping at Mediocre. Weapons/Combat: Archery and Club/Mace at Good, Dagger, Dodging, Shield, and Axe (one-handed) at Fair.
Attributes! Six Attributes, they start at Fair, I have two free levels to bump them up, but I can lower some to raise others, too. Let's see. Do I wish to lower any? Sure, let's lower Willpower (Tomos isn't the bravest of cats, after all), and then raise Strength, Stamina, and Agility to Good.
Oh, hey, there is a sheet for this game, but it's in the middle of the book where no one would ever think to look for it. Ah, well.
That's actually about it. Tomos, I think, would probably get separated from his company and join up with the PCs if they could pay him (or promised to), and he'd be good for a redemption arc or a meat shield. I picture him as played by Lucas Black, if he can shed that Alabama accent (although I don't know, maybe that's what folks from the Connait sound like).
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