A thread dedicated to discussion and feedback of games and homebrews made by /tg/ regarding anything from minor elements to entire systems, as well as inviting people to playtest your games online. While the thread's main focus is mechanics, you're always welcome to share tidbits about your setting.
Try to keep discussion as civilized as possible, avoid non-constructive criticism, and try not to drop your entire PDF unless you're asking for specifics, it's near completion or you're asked to.
Old Thread: >>45482180
>Thread Topic:
Hopefully this op is better except for the crappy topic.
>Useful Links and Project List:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/134UgMoKE9c9RrHL5hqicB5tEfNwbav5kUvzlXFLz1HI/edit?usp=sharing
http://pastebin.com/Yzkg25R1
Ill start us off witg my question from the last thread.
Does anyone know any good references for social combat systems? Does anyone have any experience or observations to share fron having played with them before?
If has always frustrated me that most games are 60% talking yet most rule systems are 90% about fighting. Obviously fighting is a more technical affair than conversation, but the lack of social mechanics makes it difficult to design accessory rules (abilities, magic, items, status, etc) that arent basically "+x to talking".
A more complex social system may even be able to mitigate many of the eternal problems with pc diplomanacy, ie
>i dont need points in cha, im a quick talker irl
>i dont need to rp, i have 99 points in cha
And a half dozen others.
>>45553912
My current attempt
A character has a pool of charisma points that function like hp for social interaction. The relative amount of charisma points between characters in any given scene dictates relative social dominance/personal pride.
Whenever you want to accomplish something (explain/convince/insult/posture/inspire/etc...) you gamble a certain amount of cp on it. You roll (maybe presence or wisdom or something else depending on the action) and they may roll against (will or perception) if the action is successful they get a lean for the scene of coresponding value to the gamble, if you fail you get a negative lean. Some actions may lower are raise cp directly. At some point participants propose an ultimatum to the conversation and the current cp values plus or minus leans are compared to get a result. Leans go away after the scene, actual cp takes longer to reset.
Ideally, this requires the players to state the things they are trying tk say or do in the conversation rather than stating a desired result and immediately roleing. Breaking things down this way means that conversations with bad roleplayers are still fleshed out, and good roleplayers can see the effect their points are having, and try to come up with more if it seems insufficient, before rolling. Or something.
My gut tells me its a bad idea for muktiple reasons. Bogging down something fluid to fix a small issue that most people have just learned to deal with, as well as forcing the players to have to fear charismatic opponents (possible good thing?) Who wouldnt otherwise have access to literal mind control .
Fucked up the op, no handle/title, sry, tried to delete, was too slow
For my game Im considering changing up how the XP economy normally works. As it's currently set up, you buy your advances, both stats and talents, nothing unusual with this method.
Im trying to blend a few ideas and make it workable.
>Abstract wealth
Bean counting is not the primary goal, I even want to remove it. Gold is unnecessary and it introduces another power scale to balance EVERYTHING around
>Buy Items with XP rather and gold
This is taking the above to a logical next step
>Items give narrative permission
By removing the common stats/gold and let items be narrative, not provide miniature differences in stats for a optimization minigame, I hope it will give a basis for picking what the player want rather than what's best. Not entirely sure how to handle armor
>Item modularity
The real change I wanna make to items is going over to a modular/'build-a-weapon'.
>Social status
A key point in considering who the character is, but often overlooked, harming social based encounters in the process as it's a good starting point for interaction and in particular prejudices. As with anything that provides a bonus this too be quantified in xp terms.
>Reputation
Sometimes included and I want it too. Tie it in with social status. There's a lot of mechanics around this and I have yet to make/scour any, but they will come.
So the end result of this, the consequences, how to make it work;
>Give xp up front
To get loot, you need to spend xp; to have xp to spend, you either need to save xp (I'd argue bad method) or give it before at the start of the session (new and crazy).
>Looting
Suddenly looting have a new twist, better solidify this step in combat. Not a tough adaption as Im gonna solidify and introduce other steps as well.
>Equipment, Weapons and Armor
Few/no stats, narrative permission, modularity. Too much change?
>XP currency
XP is less of a reward and becomes more of a currency. Is this bad?
>>45554081
I dont understand why you woukd give xp up front. Dont give it at the end of a session, sure, but dont give it before they accomplish something either. Just give it to them incrementally whenever they do something xp worthy, so if they would get "loot" after a challenge that they need to "buy" with xp, just give them the xp at the same time just prior to them having to make the decision.
I dont really get the idea of statless items. It actually seems bad for versatility because you need a certain item to do certain things, rather than being able to improvise, and certain items grant specific abilities instead of being concepts the players can toy with to get any ability they can sell to the gm
Postin' the reworked character creation and skill rules.
Feedback appreciated
Also posting a fun ruleslite little one shot police mecha game I made
>>45554777
>so if they would get "loot" after a challenge that they need to "buy" with xp, just give them the xp at the same time just prior to them having to make the decision
That's an elegant way of doing it, just renaming it to 'reward phase'.
>you need a certain item to do certain things, rather than being able to improvise, and certain items grant specific abilities
That is the point, rope do ropey things and weapons inflict wounds (and let that be handled in the combat section).
I meant getting away from
Longsword, 15 gp, 1d6 (s), 1d8 (m), 19–20/×2, 4 lb., Slashing
Short Sword,10 gp 1d4 (s), 1d6 (m) 19–20/×2, 2 lb., Piercing
Rather something akin to Dungeon Worlds signature weapon from the fighter class, pdf relatedI made bookmarks in this version!. There's still a lot of kinks I dont forsee as Im unfamiliar with such systems. Still gonna have some stats, but more along DW than DnD. I hope to introduced a way to also have magical items be part of this rules set.
I still have some content to add yet (need to actually fill out the 'Psychopomp' class and Reaver skills, and make sure that every class has a full list of seven skills.) I also need to do the sections on exploration rules and treasure, and finish up the monster creation rules.
I'm getting to the point where I can focus more on editing and organization though. Then the game should be ready for playtesting.
Before I start cutting stuff, is there anything you guys would like to see added?
And do you have any suggestions on what I should move around?
Yo, Trenchbreaker. You still got the contact info for the anon who did your cards?
>>45553912
Well, there's Burning Wheel for an interesting example. If you want to brave that crunchy mess.
>>45556028
>Hullpoints [can be are] restored
Here's a garbage 1-page game I made a while back. I'm thinking of revisiting it and trying to make it less shit. Any thoughts?
>>45558033
Inspired by Hotline Miami?
I kind of wish there was kind of consequence for failure, such as a wound track.
I also think it would be nice if there was some mechanical incentive to go after more difficult tasks.
>>45558218
I had just come down off of a marathon of doing nothing but playing Hotline Miami when I made it, yeah.
Rush points are supposed to be the incentive to do things in general, but now that I revisit it I'm not happy with how I decided to go about rewarding them.
Wounds would definitely fit with what I'm going for here, but I'm not entirely sure how to implement them while preserving a sort of barebones simplicity..
>>45554081
A lotta neat stuff in here that echoes some sentiments I've had.
First time poster here, six year /tg/ veteran; I've been slowly designing a homebrew system with a good pal after ~3.5 years of fantasycraft (and 2.5 embarrassing years of pathfinder beforehand), and we're taking it in a much more narrative direction, except we fucking love crunch.
Abstract wealth seems golden, and it's something he and I have not discussed much, but you're entirely right about "bean counting" and its tedium. I'm curious to see how my more simulationist players would react to that, though.
As far as weapons, armor, etc. go, I really love that FantasyCraft gave mechanical value to every piece of gear in the book- whether it's Flash Resistance 4 coming from goggles/visor/eye patch, a bonus to Relax checks with a game (cards, board game, puzzlecube, etc.) Or so forth, even when they aren't incredibly relevant, there's a pleasure in knowing they're not, mechanically, useless.
For weapons/armor, FantasyCraft introduced us to the notion of qualities, basically a library of minor effects that helped further define weapons/armor, and typically were shared. Like, crossbows and firearms both have the "load" quality, stilettos have Armor-Piercing 8, a Zweihander and a buckler each provide guard +1; so for our system we're taking this even further and getting rid of the catalog of diverse weapons, and instead providing a library of effects, qualities, and tags. Then, weapons can be crafted out of those tags- like putting Fire Damage I, jagged edge, and crystal-powered onto the generic "one-handed weapon" chassis suddenly defines a very interesting sword. And though it's very crunchy, it's also very modular- players who aren't interested in that depth can stick with simple, effective options, but characters who give quite a few fucks can get so invested that they play a crafting-based character, and become master of the tags.
>>45558458
To elaborate on crafting, in case any one gives a shit, here is one of the three examples we wrote up that's just chilling in our brainstorm pool:
Barnabus is a journeyman smith, with a particular interest in blades of legend, and has-- for the better part of the campaign thus far-- been crafting, collecting, and researching components to make his very own mythical artifact sword. After he and his pal Icarus plumbed the depths of the Arcosian Tomb of Legends, Barnabus made it out with a Red Dragon’s Claw; a crafting material that the GM (mechanically) said would apply the [Bleed II] and [Fire Damage] tags, with the restriction [Edged-only]. With this piece, Barnabus finally combines his Meteoric Bronze ingots (mechanically, just the [Durable II], [Honed Edge], and [Gleaming] tags as a single Component) and his Opal of the Taken King (mechanically, a Component with the coveted [Improved Threat III] tag) to create….. The Mythic Edge! which is just a Longsword with the Bleed III, Fire Damage, Durable II, Honed Edge, Gleaming, and Improved Threat III tags (meaning it triggers a very difficult save vs. bleeding, can deal fire damage at will, has 2 additional saves to make before it breaks, rolls damage twice, can be used to impress characters, and improves its critical threat range by 3, all respectively. hot SHIT), but is totally the bona-fide result of a long campaign spent working toward this creation.
>>45558449
If you're open to suggestions, I have an idea:
Treat Rush points as something to be wagered.
When you roll, you wager a number of Rush points. Failure means you lose Rush points (this functions as a sort of hit point mechanic; you die when you have 0 Rush points) and success means you gain Rush points (your reward mechanic).
You can use difficulty to determine returns on successes. Difficulty 1 gives 1:1 returns, while difficulty 2 means you win 2 Rush points for every Rush point wagered on a success.
You might even allow 'side bets' where people can wager their Rush points on somebody else's roll.
It would be easy to model weapons in such a way. Longer range weapons like rifles can kill people more easily (lower difficulty) but they don't thrill people like melee does, so they award fewer Rush points on a kill. Knives and other melee weapons require you to get up close and personal (higher difficulty) but award more Rush points on a kill.
>>45557903
I'm also open to suggestions and criticisms re: classes. There's been some comments that they are a bit schizophrenic. Flavor-wise I have this mishmash of town guards and mystic golem masters.
The classes are bottom-up designed for the most part.
>Sentinels
Sentinels are inspired by the spiked-chain fighters of 3.5. They are meant to be melee zone controllers.
>Pankrators
Pankrators are inspired by the grapplers of 3.5. They are meant to be melee single-target lockdown controllers.
>Animists
Animists are meant to be ranged zone controllers. Flavorwise they are largely inspired by Touhou. I wanted to shout-out to Touhou fags with this.
>Puppeteer
I always thought 4E should have had a summoning based primal defender; something like a Shaman, except where your animal/spirit companion could mark.
>Hellions
Hellions were actually inspired by the frostcheese/permafrost combo. This is an element themed striker class that uses a variation of the Rogue's sneak attack to give enemies vulnerability.
>Veteran
Veterans are basically Warlords, but flavor-wise I kind of made them an homage to oldschool fighters and rangers.
>Reaver
Reavers are basically twin-striking Rangers.
>Crusader
Crusaders are basically Paladins.
>Poet
Poets are basically bards/skalds.
>Demiurge
It was suggested that add something similar to the 'Soul Greatsword' spell from Dark Souls 2. I actually downloaded Dark Souls on Steam but wasn't able to get it to work on my computer without significant lag. Tried to design a class around this theme anyway, but it's something I'm going to need to fiddle with more.
>Oracle
A kind of leader class. I want to add more initiative manipulation and action economy enhancement skills to it.
>Psychopomp
Uh... I'm having doubts about this class, and I may very well drop it. I need a ranged single-target magic-attack striker class with some status-effect capability, and spells that target Fortitude and Will.
Any suggestions?
>>45557903
I think it'd be worth having an index at the start that goes through all the chapters. If I'm browsing through in play trying to find a section that's in chapter two, then I'd have to search for its index before searching for the passage, which makes it just about pointless.
>>45559294
>Psychopomp issues
I don't know if it's helpful, but my thoughts went to the Ritualist from Bravely Default (I don't know if other Final Fantasy titles had it or not). Maybe that could be some inspiration for you?
>>45559514
I'm sorry, it's called the Arcanist.
>>45557979
whoops
>>45559514
Oh, there's definitely going to be an index (and a glossary, as well), but I'm putting that off until the game is closer to being finished since making a good index is a hell of a lot of work and it's not something you can do until everything else is already well organized.
>>45559540
I'm looking that up right now! Thanks.
So the class basically deals extra damage or causes auto-death to enemies suffering from status effects? Instantly slay foes in sleep state, or deal extra damage to poisoned enemies? Yeah, I think that will work.
I think the grim reaper flavor I was envisioning with the Psychopomp will still work for this, even. Players who don't like it can always reskin it.
Thanks!
>>45559822
It's hard to get from the wiki results I'm seeing, but Ritualism (the Arcanists' magic) was very grim-reaper; its icon was a skull and the boss was very "haha killing is fun!" (granted, the Asterisks were twisted caricatures)
Those moves that execute all afflicted targets would also affect your party, so they were dangerous to allies as well. I dunno if that's useful inspiration to you. Glad I helped at least a little regardless.
>>45560181
Yeah, that will work!
I'm also a fan of Overlord, so I just might give the class a skill called "The Goal of All Life is Death".
I'm working on an exp system for my wargame, but the only examples that affect all models I know of are the old GW specialty games, Necromunda and Mordheim, which are not the most balanced examples.
Right now, the basic idea I have is a model gains a point of exp for surviving the game, and then, depending on the objective and side missions, you gain a point for helping accomplish them. The idea is that models can gain up to 4 points of exp, and then space out the advancements. For advancements, I'm looking at more gaining skills over straight stat increases. Straight stat increases are a bit boring, in my opinion, but I know that skills are harder to balance.
Are there any other wargame campaigns that people know of, and any ideas on how the exp should work?
Here's a thought: how would you design the opposition in a cooperative LCG in the style of Magic? I'm not quite sure "big monsters with scary abilities that show up every few turns" is enough.
>>45561721
It's a very old idea going all the way back before Gary Gygax's chainmail.
I think there though they would simply upgrade troop units up to veteran units, and that was basically just a stat increase.
Does your wargame use a point-buy system for building your armies? You could treat exp as a simple addition to your army's point budget earmarked to the specific units.
>>45561833
Right now, its you have limits on certain models depending on the game size. For example, some rarer models are limited to 2 in the force for each full 100 points of the army size.
I do think that skills would add to the cost for the model. One of the problems with GW's games is that even with the rating system, overly leveled models easily stomped lesser bands and weren't all that limited. A veteran model with sharpshooter skills, marksmen abilities, and a high quality gun is the same as a newly bought model, technically.
The idea would be in a campaign, players would build a force with their roster matching the lowest available point cost: if one player can only make 200 points worth of army, both players are limited to 200 points, even if the other player has 400 points worth of models in their roster.
Bumping while I finish up this draft.
My current project is a skirmish-style tabletop wargame, which is available at http://nullstrike.com - always looking for feedback.
>>45562191
Having skills for the models increase the points cost is very likely the way to go.
Is there a program that is good for making nicely formatted skill trees?
Using skill-tree based progression for my system.
>>45565895
It's called "give money to a graphic designer"
Or learn graphic design yourself and use photoshop
I've been busy today. Wrote out the Psychopomp, changed and added some skills, added traits, added magic items, and added a blurb on playing in bars under terrain.
>>45562191
>>45565350
Sounds like a great way to go about it!
>>45565998
>>45565895
Illustrator or Indesign might work better. Or better yet, pay a professional!
>>45565350
Going to be a pain to balance, but yeah, I think points for skills is going to be the way to go.
Looking at the Crusaders list, Inquisitor forces?
>>45566102
I had to look up what a psychopomp was, since I've only ever seen it used once before.
>>45568003
>I had to look up what a psychopomp was, since I've only ever seen it used once before
It's good to expand one's vocabulary, and so simple thanks to the internet!
Fun fact, "Merchantry" is an actual word.
It's the act of being a merchant, similar to how necromancy is the act of being a necromancer.
Things you learn while making a craft-based, trade route system.
>>45568071
>Merchantry
I'm snagging that as a skill name.
>>45568105
It's a research thema in my alchemy-based trade-routes having game im homebrewing with a friend.
Currently have 8 Concoction Thema (Vials and shit) and 8 Research Thema (Not vials, but still alchemical)
Concoction Thema:
>Dragon's Breath - Fire things
>Frozen Liquid - Ice things
>Lightning in a Bottle - Zap things
>Acidic - Acid things
>Bottle of Winds - Wind/air things
>Medicinal - Healing things
>Palewine - Drunk things
>Psychedelic - High things
Research Thema:
>Necromancy - Undead followers
>Golemancy - Golem followers
>Merchantry - Increased trade
>Leadership - Use charisma to get sellswords
>Shamanistic - Spirit Animal
>Mutagenic - alter your own body
>Mechanical - build machines and shit
So far I'm doing level cap of 10, with the PC's picking one Thema that they specialize in. At level 5 they can pick a second, and at 7 they can pick a third. Each Schema has its own skill tree.
>>45568499
Oops, missed one Research Thema:
>Antimagic - Counter magical beings
Also to note, mortals don't poses magic, so they use science to deal with it, aka alchemists.
>>45561727
If there's a central theme to the game, reinforce it by having a gameplay element about it. Like how the factions in the Game of Thrones LCG have a unique focus, or Netrunner is wholly about hackers vs corporations.
>>45568499
>>45568540
Interesting. In what way does alchemy increase trade?
Also, I really wish this thread had /gdg/ in the title so I could search for it more easily.
Also! I have a question:
What's a game system that does mounts really well? I should include mounts in my game, but I'm wondering if I should make them independent creatures with their own stats and hit point total, or if I should just make them items that increase your speed.
I should add that I want to add rules for armies later, but that I'm thinking of abstracting them to wearable pieces of equipment that simply scale up your attacks and defenses.
Your thoughts?
Ugh, I've spent all night hammering away at this new system, and it just doesn't feel right for me. I don't think I'm liking Aegeos in this format.
>>45572386
It's good to have multiple projects going. If you aren't happy with the way one project is going, put it on the back burner for a while and work on something else.
It's what I do!
For instance, I'm also working on a cyber-punk/post-apocalyptic game, but I'm taking a break from that for a while to pick up on this current project I put on hold a year ago.
>>45572647
That's actually part of the problem, I have setting and idea ADD. I already have several projects that I'm working on, and really need to focus on one.
I should probably focus on Hellsgate, since its the closest to "complete".
Bumping with the latest version of Hellsgate.
>>45570661
>Alchemy and trade
Who do you think makes medicine? Generally, the flow of medicine is important in fantasy worlds, and those who make it can generally make good money.
Trading will be how players get goods from one session to the next. They set trade deals with either the GM or other players to get the ingredients and materials they need for alchemy. Merchantry gives them bonuses on these deals, and gives them passive bonuses to gaining resources outside of these trades.
>>45566102
Dude, if you really must ham a BOC reference in there, at least quote correctly.
The experiment is progressing nicely, however.
Feedback coupled with praise is integrated. Same or higher quality feedback delivered in an apathetic or insulting fashion is immediately discarded.
>>45574814
So they have abilities related to creating tradegoods. I assume they can create other trade goods such as dyes, or food preservatives, correct?
I was just wondering if they had any abilities related to transporting goods making their goods more appealing. That sort of thing.
>>45574876
Any alchemist can sell/trade goods.
Merchantry makes it so the Alchemist is really good at selling/trading goods, with special bonuses like a secondary trade route, getting more from a trade route, making more money from trade routes, etc.
>>45574990
Got it. Is it more abstract, or more crunchy and simulationist?
>>45574839
The flavor text there is a placehold for now. Will probably change it.
I'm sorry if I convey the wrong ideas with my feedback. It honestly isn't my intention to be apathetic or insulting. If I come off that way, I will try to communicate better in the future.
>>45575046
Still deciding the actual rules, trying not to be crunchy.
So far I have these stats:
>Body
>Mind
>Spirit
And each Concoction or Research Thema will have their own stat that is used to roll. It will be a d6 system. Geomancy for example, will be a Body based Research Thema. To create your golem you will roll say 3d6, needing the average of that roll to pass. However, if you get 1/4th of the maximum with that roll or under, it fails - using up the requirements. If you succeed in the upper 1/4 of the maximum, you only use half of the resources for Research Thema, and make double of your concoctions with the Concoction Thema.
I'll probably use a roll system like that for everything, not sure. Need to do some research on other d6 systems, like Shadowrun for example.
I'd like to pose this question again to try get some more input: I'm making a forum game and I'm considering how I'm going to do my line of sight rules. I want them to be simple enough that there are easy to explain and use quickly, but not too simple that they limit what I can do.
My first idea was to simple say anything in a straight outward and anything in the same room was within line of sight, but that might very quickly limit my options.
My other thought was that any complete rectangle that included the palyers square would be considered line of sight. Its not perfect, but it would be quick and easy to impliment and have more depth. I'm having trouble figuring out how I would explain it without visuals, though.
Suggestions?
I need help re: damage progression, guys.
So:
Level 1 characters should do about 8-9 damage per attack on average. That should increase by 1 every level.
I already have this figured out with weapon damage. You deal two dice of weapon damage on a hit. If you are dual wielding you roll damage dice for both of your weapons. If you are wielding a weapon in two hands you deal it's damage die twice. Weapon damage scales as you level up, with off-hand weapons and one-hand weapons stepping up their damage dice at even and odd numbered levels respectively.
Typically you'll roll :
1d8+1d6 (avg. 8) at level one
2d8 (avg. 9) at level two
1d10 +1d8 (avg. 10) at level three
2d10 (avg. 11) at level four
1d12+1d10 (avg. 12) at level five
2d12 (avg. 13) at level six (the cap)
Now... here's the problem:
I want magic attacks to deal three dice of damage on a hit to differentiate them from weapon attacks. But I want roughly the same damage at level one, and I want those dice to scale up to level six at a rate of +1 average damage per level.
Can it be done?
>>45575046
Oh, no. I mean that you take feedback that's bundled with praise into account and it makes it into the game. Whereas you discount similar or better ideas that are delivered in a typical offhanded or mildly insulting fashion.I know, because I tried both ways as several 'people'.
>>45575558
Oh! I read that wrong. I get you now.
Yeah, I should work harder at being more critical of praising and insulting feedback in order to get at the good ideas. But I have my cognitive biases like everyone else.
In fairness, when somebody called the organization in my game a clusterfuck and a hot mess I did sit down and try to reorganize. There's more work to be done yet though.
I have had comments regarding the flavor of classes. I assign a low priority to those since I am trying to focus more on the mechanics first before hamming out the flavor. The current names and flavor text are all just placeholders.
Thanks!
Made the Fire Alchemy tree. I like how it turned out, actually.
How much of a dick should I be with failure on use and craft? I was thinking exploding in their hands, dealing half the Wound Points?Fire Alchemy and Thermite goes so ell together.
>>45575814
Woops, Inferno Style was cut off.
If multiple things have the same level, they are choices. The player doesn't get all of them.
>>45575814
It depends on the tone of the game you are after, but if it's too risky players might become to averse to using it.
>>45575888
I kinda want things to go horribly wrong for the players doing alchemy stuff.
>>45575944
Well, do you want things to ever go horribly right?
>>45575977
Yes, thats why Critical Successes are a thing.
Right now I have decided that for Concoctions, they simply make double for free, and for Research they simply only use half their requirements, with no requirements going below 1.
>>45575814
Don't do failure as the item is used, but rather when it's created. Add randomly generated effects on a failed check, and leave it to the player whether they want to risk using the concoction.
I'm torn between two systems for my homebrew tactical wargame.
In one, the resolution system is 2d6 + STAT versus 2d6 + STAT, with crits on a natural 12 and fumbles on a natural 2. The system uses HP with an armor stat that reduces incoming damage to a minimum of 1 but can be countered by a weapon's AP stat. All damage values are flat.
The second system uses an open, exploding die roll with modifiers against a target number. For example, the roll to hit a target might be 2d6+3 and the target number an 8. Damage is identical, a roll against a composite armor/toughness value, although the armor portion can be countered by a weapon's AP stat.
Which is better?
This is the only thing I'm working on currently. I'd post it to the Exalted general, but fuck those guys.
>>45578306
>modernart.png
So what's it about aside from being Scion: Metal Edtion?
>>45578648
Well it makes playing a demigod less terrible than the Scroll of Heroes made them out to be. Also lets you play a demigod who serves as an agent of Heaven like a Sidereal does, but with less wacky charms, and more Solar-ish styled awesomeness charms.
Scion inspires some of this, but it's no where near as broken as it. Demigods fit at the lowest of the Celestial bracket. They can take on Dragon Blooded of the same level, but they're not god damn Solars.
>>45578841
That does sound interesting. How do they fit into mixed parties with solars?
>>45578896
Well I took the Inheritance mechanism from the Scroll of Heroes and used them for this. Their Charm cap is (Higher of their Inheritance or Essence), so the more powerful their parent, the more powerful they are.
Compared to Solars, they're not very powerful, but much stronger than a Dragon Blooded ally. Like I said, they're pretty weak, but they do have some benefits over Solars. They don't have an anima banner, so they can blow through all their power without drawing attention. Down side is they don't have an anima banner. They get a bunch of benefits since they live in Yu-Shan, along with a free Divine Panoply and Celestial training.
In a game where the party is Essence <6, they can reasonably hold their own. During the First Age, they were the body guards of the Exalted host, and were considered Spec Ops.
A shameless re-post of my Civ Board Game Fan Expansion rules. Would love to hear some more feedback on this. It's based on the FFG game. Starting tiles still in progress.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2vh5lznqg6ugu25/Riches%20and%20Rulers%20Alpha.docx?dl=0
>>45579067
I feel it's a nice balance, to be fair, though I see it working better for online games where you can do solo stuff easily and they can separate from the main group to do something less flamboyant. Keep at it, I might use it when I get my 3e game rolling.
>>45579109
Well it's for 2.5e currently. I have no intention of porting it to 3e as that's pretty much what Exigents are. If someone wants to port it over after I'm done, I'm not going to stop them, but I don't like 3e so I'm not going to do it.
>>45577120
It depends on how many models per side. Example one is a lot more engaging, but slows done heavily if there's a lot on the board, while example two is much better for larger groups.
Me and my players are going to start an Apocalypse World campaign and we all agreed that having Bioshock's Plasmids would be fun. I made some Special Moves for them, how do they look?
>>45584066
That looks great. I really like the first set of choices, and the implicit "this will almost always fuck you up". I am really amused by the idea of getting a 7 and only choosing" it doesn't fuck you up ".
>>45568003
Yup, Crusaders are an Inquisition-type force.
>>45584252
Thank you, I was very intentionally trying to convey that using Plasmids is dangerous, so hearing you say that is good news. I messed up option 2 of "Use Plasmid", it should be "You draw unwanted attention".
Also I'm looking for powers that might be similar to what Bioshock already has, but may not necessarily be in the games. Or ways that using Plasmids takes its toll on the body or mind. (point of note they might not BE Plasmids, but that's the touchstone we're using.)
>>45584491
Throughout the game I was always aware of and worried for the possibility of plasmid induced hallucinations. The splicers clearly have them, but they are not really explored. I think self perception illusions, even up to failing to actually gain power but being convinced you have power, is really interesting.
>>45559294
Hahah nice, you actually did puppeteer, I dig
>>45575530
It has to be either 1/2 points more or less because of how dice averages work, but sure.
L1: d6+2d4
L2: 2d6+d4 or d8+2d4
L3: 3d6 or d10+2d4
L4: d8+2d6 or d12+2d4
L5: 2d8+d6 or d12+d6+d4
L6: 3d8 or d12+d8+d4
Left can be used for more consistent/studied magic, right for swingier/wilder magic.
>>45584491
Can you show us more?
Hoping this is a good place to ask this: What are some very simple ways I can spin a group of strangers into paranoia and backstabbing in a two hour RPG session, with no restrictions on genre or setting?
Here's the deal: For a 101 game writing course, I have to run a 2-3 hour campaign for a very simple RPG that's basically just fantasy roleplay improv with occasional arbitrary skill checks in place of any real battle system.
I have no real tabletop experience and neither do most of my classmates. The past few sessions have largely been grindy back-to-back sequences of battles or other encounters. There's very little actual roleplay or storytelling, and people are mostly bored, and everybody's just fucking around during sessions.
We're in groups of 4 players with 1 rotating GM. For my session as GM, my goal is to make a memorable session that allows players to actually roleplay. I want to make a story of whatever adventure we write for ourselves. This is why I want my players to turn on each other. Not only will this break away from the pattern of GMs just telling the players what to do in these sessions by encouraging the players to interact with each other, my hope is that it will also be very, very funny.
So, I thought of lying to the players by claiming one of them would be a mole. But I don't really have anything beyond that to get players really riled up during the game. I can't think of game mechanics or even outside bribes that could get players afraid of losing something because of a perceived traitor, or otherwise encourage them to find out who the mole is themselves. The group members will pretty much be complete strangers, and are less likely than friends would be to screw each other over for shits and giggles. Character death isn't a motivator because the setting resets every session, and as I said before, nobody's taking this assignment seriously. And I don't want to just say, "Okay, you and you are enemies this session" either.
Any thoughts?
>>45589072
Assemble the party for an adventure in which they were each hired as a contract assassin to take out a target, maybe they were each given a task to prove themselves from an assassin's guild.
Give each player a note from their supposed contractor that gives details about the person they are to take out.
At first they are told that their target is in some kind of crowded building or whatever you want, just as long as the players are given an environment where they can try blending in with groups or socialize and negotiate.
Have each player's note describe some features of another player as their target, but none of them are to find that out until they begin looking for their target in the location.
I dunno, I don't have much experience so that could just end up being dumb and awful.
>>45587934
What do you mean by that?
>>45589072
Here's something that might help inspire you.
http://www.mindspring.com/~ernestm/horror/horror.html
>>45584570
IIRC the hallucinations were more like visions created from the energy of those who'd had the ADAM in their system before. Splicers kept getting ghostly visions and that's part of the reason rapture went to shit in the end.
I've been considering the relationship between randomization and strength rating for feats of strength.
There are two main approaches I see:
1-You have a base lifting capacity determined by your strength and you can roll to increase your lifting capacity by a fixed measurement The roll could either be on a fixed dc or a dc determined by the weight of the object. You could either do this as a binary roll, like a success simply making you perform at strength+1 with the corresponding lifting capacity, or you could have levels of success, say gaining +25 lbs lifting capacity for how much you surpassed the dc by.
2-A feat of strength has a fixed dc determined by the weight and you successfully lift it if pass the dc. The DC of the test is determined by the weight of the object. This approach would likely be the more swingy of the two unless the increments of the first approach are very large.
>>45585731
Thanks a bunch!
I like the progression on the left.
I'll include a table for that.
>>45585731
Hmmm....
I'm wondering now if I should tie one's magic damage into the use of implements.
Players are already going to be checking the equipment chapter to see how much damage their physical attacks do. Maybe they should check the same chapter to see how much damage their magic attacks do? That should help to keep everything together.
I'm thinking that magic attacks unaided by an implement should deal 3d4 damage.
Magic attacks aided by an implement deal damage according to that wonderful progression you posted anon.
Hmmm... Maybe implements should have their own modification slots the same way weapons and armors have their own modification slots. What do you think?
Need some help thread.
I'm currently rewritting my rules for customizing alien species, mainly for the purposes of player character use, and I want to make sure I've got a wide array of bases covered. I'm also trying to avoid "This species gets +X to Muscle/Seduction/whatever!", because ORE doesn't work so great in terms of stacking bonuses like that.
Here's what I've got so far, in brief. Oh and this uses the term Xenotype when referring to character species.
>Abnormal Morphology
Lets you customize your Xenotype's hit locations to create unique body types
>Affinity
It's cheaper to raise one of your Stats using XP, and you can reach a maximum of 6 points in the stat, instead of 5. This is the trait to use when you want to create aliens that are genetically stronger or smarter, or whatever, without just adding points to them.
>Durability
Adds more hit boxes to increase the amount of damage you can take
>Extra Sense
You can perceive the world differently from other Xenotypes. You can either augment an existing sense, like having thermal vision, or create a whole new sense, like smelling radiation.
>Immunity
You aren’t hurt or bothered by something that most other lifeforms have trouble with. You can't use this trait to make yourself immune to normal combat damage, but it's got a scale of point costs for greater resistances.
>Natural Armor
>Natural Weapons
These two seem pretty self-explanatory
>Unconventional Movement
You can traverse the environment in manner that others can’t. Walking on walls, flyinging, etc.
Is there anything obvious that I'm missing that would be central to "build your own alien" system?
>>45596641
Non standard forms of communication, maybe a few things that are extra limb specific ( extra hands, extra legs). Maybe a few things to expand their survivability in weird places (doesn't breath air and uses a respirator, thus giving bonus to gas based attacks and suffocation).
>>45596641
You should read Peter Watt's Blindsight, or Eliezer Yudkowsky's Three World's collide, and add
>Radically Divergent Cognition
Here, listen to this:
https://youtu.be/jsJoit7EQU4
Appreciate the feedback but I guess I should have been more specific.
A Xenotype's Traits are comprised of three elements: Advantages, Flaws and Problems. Advantages are what I listed: things that change the rules for your character to help them out. Flaws the opposite-- they change the rules but cause you difficulty. Advantages increase the point cost of a Xenotype, Flaws decrease it.
Problems are a different matter. Problems in ORE are for roleplaying mainly. If one of your Problems crops up in the story and you actually need to deal with it in some creative way, then you get an extra XP for it. But they don't usually have a mechanical benefit or penalty, most of the time.
>>45596901
>Non standard forms of communication
That's a Problem
>maybe a few things that are extra limb specific
That's part of the rules for Abnormal Morphology
>Maybe a few things to expand their survivability in weird places
Covered by Immunity, actually.
>>45596969
>Radically Divergent Cognition
I like this, again it would be a Problem but it's a very interesting one at that. I'll definitely use this as a Problem
Mostly what I'm looking for is, what kind of stuff would it be cool for an alien race to be able to do, or what's something obvious that I missed?
>>45596641
I'm always impressed by how broad your categories are. Other than the cultural and social aspects as well as the technology levels of the alien species, regarding the bodies themselves I think you've pretty much covered most that is necessary.
If you want a litmus test you could always recreate some existing alien designs, from movies (Aliens and Predator are the first I can think of), anime (Captain Earth's is an interesting test, though there's definitely others) and especially Lovecraftian stuff (The Colour out of Space is definitely interesting).
Oh there's one more Advantage, which is Native Marvel. It pretty much means that your species have some unique ability that others don't have, and is kind of a catch-all for any other abilities not covered by existing Advantages. I have separate rules for Marvels written up.
>>45597462
Okay, let me try a Xenomorph.
Xenomorphs have the following traits:
>Deadly claws and jaws
>Acid Blood
>A tail, which may or may not be deadly
>See via Echolocation
Claws, tail and Echolocation are easy: Natural Weapons (Width in Killing), Abnormal Morphology (creating a tail location is easy) and Extra Sense (Echolocation as a part of Hearing).
Acid Blood is trickier. It's got to be a Marvel, which I'd build like this (using the prototype Marvel rules I'm working on):
>Acid Blood
Form: Grown, Theory: Chemistry
Skill: Body + Brawling
*Function: Attacks (Width in Killing) (2 pts)
*Range: One target in arms reach (0 pts)
**Extras: Burn (2 pts), Penetration 2 (2 Pts)
**Flaws: If/Then (must take at least 1 point of Killing to a location first) (-1 Pt)
Function: Useful (Create Acid) (1 Point)
Range: Self (0 Pts)
**Extras: none
**Flaws: If/Then (must take at least 1 Killing to a location) (-1 Pt)
This Marvel has two Functions: an Attack that deals Width in Killing, Penetrates armor and causes a Burn (i.e. ongoing damage) effect, and a Useful ability to create acid in a general sense. The Useful function is there so the Marvel can be used to do things like melt through doors or walls, while the Attack function means it can be used in a combat situation. Both Functions have the same flaw: you need to have taken at least 1 point of Killing before you can start flinging Acid all around.
To use this Marvel, the character uses Body + Brawling to throw acid around, or to inflict damage on itself to produce acid for other purposes.
The total cost for this Marvel would normally be 5 Points, but since it's a Native Marvel, that cost is reduced to 4 Points for Xenomorphs.
>>45597856
So the total cost for a Xenomorph with these Traits is 9 points right now. From there we can add in Flaws for things like not having actual vision (probably a -1 Point Flaw), and some Problems (like the fact that Xenomorphs are perpetually violent predators).
Have any of you ever written for contests like Gamechef or LD? Would there be any interest for me to organize and operate something similar on tg? 72 hour time limit, 2-3 design elements, small ($50-$75) prize pool delivered via PayPal?
>>45602581
Having done a few of those roll 3d500 24-hour design things, I'd probably try to participate, even if there were no prize pool. Work might get in the way this month though (project crunch against deadlines might lead to quite a few hours of overtime).
