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Ansob. posted:I'm not sure. Doing that would encourage players to put themselves in positions where they deliberately lose, and part of the point of putting in a "you can only get charges if you're trying not to lose" rule is so the best solution isn't to run into combat with a ridiculous handicap. A "you can't not try" taboo reinforces that, whereas if winning full stop is taboo players are never going to be able to accomplish anything and it encourages deliberately loving up instead of just being really reckless and trying to stick it to the odds. How about if charges are very easy to build up, so a character is built around the idea that they'll be gaining, then losing charges with some regularity. I notice a significant difference between the Dipsomancer, who can build up charges quite quickly if needed (and quite powerful regular ones, if they get access to the right drinking container), but is likely to eventually puke or black out and lose them all, and a Cliomancer, who has to put a fair it of ongoing effort into gaining charges, but doesn't lose them unless she doesn't use them. Edit: What I'm trying to say is that the gain and loss of charges should reflect the magic style. If the style is "if they make me gently caress up, they'll regret it" then I don't see that as being too far distanced from "if they make me lose all my charges, I'll build up a new batch soon enough and they'll regret it". The counterpoint to that is that, anytime they're not the beaten-down underdog, they don't have any supernatural power any more, and they'll have to rely on their wits and charm to get by. UrbanLabyrinth fucked around with this message at 09:28 on Jul 27, 2010 |
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Jul 27, 2010 09:24
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clockworkjoe posted:Mr. Stolze just put out a new superhero setting for Wild Talents: Progenitor. I've been giving Stolze a shitload of money lately. Can't wait to get this pdf/book.
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Jul 27, 2010 09:37
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UrbanLabyrinth posted:Edit: What I'm trying to say is that the gain and loss of charges should reflect the magic style. If the style is "if they make me gently caress up, they'll regret it" then I don't see that as being too far distanced from "if they make me lose all my charges, I'll build up a new batch soon enough and they'll regret it". The counterpoint to that is that, anytime they're not the beaten-down underdog, they don't have any supernatural power any more, and they'll have to rely on their wits and charm to get by. It is quite hard to be a living martyr. Maybe Taboo you can't ever back down from a challenge or affront? Because one of the major reasons you would do that is if you'd get your butt whooped OR it'd cause more consequences in your life, which is great because You Did It.
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Jul 27, 2010 10:47
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What's the "theme" of this guy? Is it more Spite(gently caress me up I'll gently caress you up), The Underdog(I am so out of my league but will win anyway), justified Failure(I gain power through losing) or something else?
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Jul 27, 2010 12:58
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Splicer posted:What's the "theme" of this guy? Is it more Spite(gently caress me up I'll gently caress you up), The Underdog(I am so out of my league but will win anyway), justified Failure(I gain power through losing) or something else? The original idea was the underdog, but the three are really rather related to each other - spite is how he hurts the people who hurt him and justified failure is how he gets his charges. When I get down to writing up spells I'll probably go more for "I've been shot up bad but I manipulate the odds to make it so my friends don't die" with a few dashes of sympathetic magic ("you beat me up so your leg rots off"), possibly more on the significant charges so at the basic level any damage you take is liable to be permanent. Gerund posted:Maybe Taboo you can't ever back down from a challenge or affront? Because one of the major reasons you would do that is if you'd get your butt whooped OR it'd cause more consequences in your life, which is great because You Did It. The problem I have with that is it would encourage the player to provoke people they know they'll lose against into challenging them for charges. If mechanically speaking that isn't much of a problem then it's fine, but I don't know UA well enough to really make that call and I'd rather not encourage the players deliberately gimping themselves. e; on the other hand, that would fit in with the taboo I had in mind, though. If you're not allowed to ever give up and you have to at least try to do everything you undertake to the best of your capabilities until you finish or you're stopped by something you can't overcome, you'd have to take the challenge if it's part of what you're doing and you'd have to try to win. I dunno, not sure if I know where I'm going with this.
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Jul 27, 2010 13:22
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Ansob. posted:e; on the other hand, that would fit in with the taboo I had in mind, though. If you're not allowed to ever give up and you have to at least try to do everything you undertake to the best of your capabilities until you finish or you're stopped by something you can't overcome, you'd have to take the challenge if it's part of what you're doing and you'd have to try to win. Ansob. posted:The problem I have with that is it would encourage the player to provoke people they know they'll lose against into challenging them for charges. If mechanically speaking that isn't much of a problem then it's fine, but I don't know UA well enough to really make that call and I'd rather not encourage the players deliberately gimping themselves. The big issue so far is that the way of getting charges is to have stuff done to you. This is fine for Minor charges(since you can get them just by starting a fight), but how can a player initiate getting a Significant or Major charge?
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Jul 27, 2010 14:12
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Pick bigger fights. Like on the scale of the Vietnam invasion, or the SCO vs. Novell patent lawsuits, for major charges.
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Jul 27, 2010 14:29
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Splicer posted:but how can a player initiate getting a Significant or Major charge? Do something stupid, but not deliberately handicap themselves - for example, try to storm the enemy's HQ with just an AR-15 and a couple of bricks of home-made plastique when you know they've got twenty goons with submachine guns. The odds are incredibly stacked against the player, but if he's incredibly lucky, he might pull it off and live. So you'd get the Significant charge for beginning the assault, but you'd immediately be violating taboo if you at any point gave up on the assault and pulled out without having accomplished your goals for a reason that was under your control (asking your friends to stop you counts as something under your control, the police independently raiding the premises so that when you give the assault the hard drive you were trying to swipe has already been seized doesn't).
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Jul 27, 2010 14:33
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...wait. Wait. George W Bush is an Ansobomancer?
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Jul 27, 2010 14:35
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clockworkjoe posted:Mr. Stolze just put out a new superhero setting for Wild Talents: Progenitor. It's nice to finally see a superhero setting that isn't just "now as normal, but with guys in capes" and just pretending that metahumans slamming each other through buildings wouldn't affect anything. The idea that famous historical figures (like J Edgar Hoover, Abby Hoffman, and Martin Luther King Jr.) would have powers too is very cool, and helps reinforce the "metas actually change the world" concept. He even figured out a way to do one-roll social change. edit: Also, there's a character with a power called "I'm On Fire, Bitches!" Evil Mastermind fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Jul 27, 2010 |
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Jul 27, 2010 14:36
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Ansob. posted:Dare I ask how the original woman passed the powers on, though? It sounds dirty. Powers are contagious. When you use your powers on someone, or hang around them a lot, it's possible that they gain their own. Here's the RPG.net thread where I first heard about this.
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Jul 27, 2010 15:10
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Splicer posted:...wait. Wait. No, but Cool Hand Luke definitely is. Was.
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Jul 27, 2010 17:46
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Ansob. posted:Do something stupid, but not deliberately handicap themselves - for example, try to storm the enemy's HQ with just an AR-15 and a couple of bricks of home-made plastique when you know they've got twenty goons with submachine guns. The odds are incredibly stacked against the player, but if he's incredibly lucky, he might pull it off and live. I don't like the idea that you get charges for Trying to be the underdog, because that is getting into the "using magic to fund more magic" no no. Instead getting a charge for getting smacked in the face because you bit off more than you can chew is more UA style magick.
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Jul 28, 2010 01:14
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I know you guys are thinking more in terms of adepts, but I think the Underdog might make for a cool Avatar path. Taboo could be doing anything that gives you the tangible advantage. You can increase your chances but never trump. The concept wouldn't be limited to combat though. You could be competing for a job against someone with a far more impressive resume, but land the job based on a great interview or chance encounter. A possible Channel could bump up one of your skills but never to equal or exceed your direct opponent. Also, the Underdog Godwalker would be a tough position to hold, because those trying to assume it are always in a thematically superior position as Underdogs to Godwalker. Free Gratis fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Jul 29, 2010 |
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Jul 29, 2010 16:47
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Does an adept school based on personal security and the us-vs-them mentality have any potential? I suppose charges would be built up through purchasing and installing home security devices (with price and/or rarity determining charge size) and through being entirely self-sufficient and isolated for various lengths of time. One possibility for a major charge would be spending a year (maybe a decade) in isolation, successfully relying on yourself. What better way to ruin your life with magic than to take it away near-completely? The actual magic could range from making a location secure in various mundane ways (e.g. doors and windows reinforce themselves and can't be opened) to making someone become highly xenophobic for a given duration of time to mental protection that causes you to automatically gain hardened rather than failed notches for Helplessness and Isolation tests (up to a certain level). Blasts could make the target perform suicide-by-cop. Taboo would be suffering a break-in such as a burglary or house invasion, or perhaps just a more general violation of privacy. It's mainly based on the security scares after major killing sprees, terrorist attacks and so on, particularly the ongoing post 9/11 one in the USA. The 'paradox', I suppose, is that the obsession with safety leads the adept to split the world into a shrinking 'us' and an ever-growing 'them', a belief that makes the world seem more and more dangerous. I don't know much about the UA system and the specifics of the current schools, so I'm not sure whether any of this is balanced or in-theme. EDIT: forgot Isolation tests. UnCO3 fucked around with this message at 21:14 on Jul 29, 2010 |
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Jul 29, 2010 21:11
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UnCO3 posted:Does an adept school based on personal security and the us-vs-them mentality have any potential? Paranoiamancy or some such. Thematically, I see it being all about barriers. A barrier between your world and their world, your thoughts and their thoughts. I like a lot of your ideas, however I'd make the Taboo more reliant on the adepts actions. Something along the lines of ever trusting anyone, or personally allowing someone access to your thoughts or home without some sort of verification or password. Break ins and invasions of privacy seem more like things your magic would help you combat, rather than take your magic away.
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Jul 29, 2010 21:55
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I've been reading Progenitors in my spare time today, and it's really pretty awesome. A few bits of the timeline are predictable but in most games you're not going to be sticking to their history anyway, so it works out. What really makes the setting shine is that Stolze is just a hell of a writer, so most of the little details he calls out are really interesting and feel like springboards for games as opposed to filler.
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Jul 30, 2010 07:46
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UnCO3 posted:Does an adept school based on personal security and the us-vs-them mentality have any potential? According to your description, it does. I think UA is lacking in truly modern (post-9/11) schools, so making 9/11 its genesis would be even cooler. Gerund posted:I don't like the idea that you get charges for Trying to be the underdog, because that is getting into the "using magic to fund more magic" no no. Instead getting a charge for getting smacked in the face because you bit off more than you can chew is more UA style magick. Point taken. Okay, so if I keep this as a single thing you'd basically have to deliberately put yourself in a situation where the odds are against you, but it can't be a situation where it's literally impossible for you to win, and you have to try to win to the best of your ability. Getting hurt generates charges based on how severe the hurt is, spells allow you to alter the odds a bit like Entropomancy, and taboo would be competing against someone in a situation where you're not the underdog - you'd have to more than even the odds or lose all your charges, but you can't violate taboo if it's a situation where you can't be the underdog (i.e. you're going for a walk, or going shopping - it'd have to be a race, or you'd have to be competing against another person somehow). The other solution is to split this into two, have the Underdog as an Avatar and turn the Adept school into the Gipsy curse thing discussed earlier where getting hurt lets you hurt others. I feel this might actually be stronger than just trying to take bits of each and rolling them into a single Adept school; the only problem is I'm not that well versed in UA's rules and don't actually know how Avatars work. e; VVV Bosushi! posted:I posted some thoughts on an Underdog Avatar path a few posts above. You did; that's where I got the idea to make it into an Avatar path from.  I've dug up a copy of UA2e so I'll get to reading it and see if I can turn these ideas into something workable. Lemon-Lime fucked around with this message at 14:15 on Jul 30, 2010 |
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Jul 30, 2010 11:07
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Ansob. posted:The other solution is to split this into two, have the Underdog as an Avatar and turn the Adept school into the Gipsy curse thing discussed earlier where getting hurt lets you hurt others. I feel this might actually be stronger than just trying to take bits of each and rolling them into a single Adept school; the only problem is I'm not that well versed in UA's rules and don't actually know how Avatars work. The Avatar rules are actually quite simple. Think of an archetype that you believe exists in this world. If you walk its path and don't break any of its taboos then your skill in that avatar path gradually goes up. You stop advancing at 98% until you do some symbolic act in line with the archetype. If you manage that then you reach 99% and are known as a Godwalker, someone who's one step away from Ascension. What makes it interesting is if there's already a Godwalker, who won't be too happy about someone trying to assume their position. Lastly, if the archetype you follow has already had someone ascend under it, you gain access to abilities, known as Channels, when your Avatar skill reaches certain levels. For example, at 91% an Avatar of the Merchant cannot be deliberately attacked unless the assailant pays him for the privelage. Offhand, I think all the avatars in the book have four Channels. The book also mentions that Godwalkers are able to create a fifth Channel. I posted some thoughts on an Underdog Avatar path a few posts above.
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Jul 30, 2010 13:24
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Bosushi! posted:I'd make the Taboo more reliant on the adepts actions. Something along the lines of ever trusting anyone, or personally allowing someone access to your thoughts or home without some sort of verification or password. Break ins and invasions of privacy seem more like things your magic would help you combat, rather than take your magic away. quote:I think UA is lacking in truly modern (post-9/11) schools, so making 9/11 its genesis would be even cooler.
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Jul 30, 2010 23:57
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UnCO3 posted:The idea I had for the taboo was about eternal vigilance and the mindset of 'if I let up for just one second, someone will rape and murder my family and torture me to death ohgodno' or something similar (by the sounds of it most adepts aren't well-adjusted enough to have close family). Basically, the idea was about the self-perceived lapse in vigilance and lack of foresight that shatters the adept's worldview - the idea that, no matter how well-prepared they are, it's just as much their fault that their house was broken into as it was the burglars'. However, I can see what you mean in that this isn't a restriction of actions. I'm not sure what would be a good taboo, but the verification idea sounds good as a basic idea. It works for a whole lot of paranoid beliefs rather than just security - 'how about you prove you're not a Man in Black/alien invader/communist before I let you into my house?'. Well you can break it down into the taboos of other schools and see what the core tension / power prevention is with the taboos off the top of my head Money Magic: can't spend any money taboo Drunk Magic: can't get sober taboo Insomnia Magic: can't sleep TV magic: can't miss your program With these, the action has to be self-actuated and has to defeat the primary aspect of the magic. So for me, Fortressamancy would be anti unlocking doors for people to come in (other people breaking in / having a key is okay) edit: This means that Spite-o-mancy would be that you can never forgive anyone unless they pay you back first, then
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Jul 31, 2010 04:40
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Gerund posted:edit: This means that Spite-o-mancy would be that you can never forgive anyone unless they pay you back first, then Yeah. I did five minutes' more thinking yesterday and came to the same conclusion. The taboo should be ever letting anyone who insulted or harmed you get away with it without retribution. Incidentally, I've got a couple of nickname for Adepts of this school, which are "gypsies" and "bastards," but still no name. Spite came from French, so the most we can get by looking at Latin/Greek is "despectomancer," which doesn't sound amazing. Am alternative is "vexamancer" which I like better, even though it still sounds poo poo.
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Jul 31, 2010 08:01
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clockworkjoe posted:Mr. Stolze just put out a new superhero setting for Wild Talents: Progenitor. I found the origin thread for Progenitor. It's really interesting. Greg Stolze started it near the end of 2008. You can watch the world being created from the ground up. A random person named Bailywolf creates Nguyet Cam in the third page.
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Aug 2, 2010 07:17
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Cyrai posted:I found the origin thread for Progenitor. It's really interesting. Greg Stolze started it near the end of 2008. You can watch the world being created from the ground up. A random person named Bailywolf creates Nguyet Cam in the third page. Ben has pretty much gone to the Stolze School of Awesome Idea Generation.
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Aug 2, 2010 17:15
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^^^^^ Pretty much. My personal list of game designers I would go gay for is: 1. Greg Stolze. 2. Bailywolf.
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Aug 2, 2010 22:14
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Xand_Man posted:My personal list of game designers I would go gay for is: 3. Dan Bayn
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Aug 2, 2010 23:19
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I purchased a secondhand copy of One Shots, and a couple of the character pages from 'Jailbreak' are missing. I don't have Steve Updike or that one... ethnic-sounding convict in my copy. If anyone could help me out somehow, I'd really appreciate it. I could always improvise, but Greg Stolze is a better writer than I will ever be.
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Aug 3, 2010 20:43
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Xand_Man posted:^^^^^ Pretty much. Greg is working on a new sci fi game called Termination Shock. It's about humans and aliens vs. super intelligent AIs and transhumans Ben is working on a fantasy ORE game based on the dragon rider trope. It includes rules for aerial combat.
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Aug 11, 2010 06:13
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clockworkjoe posted:Greg is working on a new sci fi game called Termination Shock. It's about humans and aliens vs. super intelligent AIs and transhumans Three demensional tactical combat? Jesus, if anyone could do it well...
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Aug 11, 2010 08:32
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clockworkjoe posted:Ben is working on a fantasy ORE game based on the dragon rider trope. It includes rules for aerial combat. He's also popped up last month to mention he's working on a sci-fi game based on a setting riff that's been on RPGnet for almost 4 years (Counting to Infinity), using Dan Bayn's Secrets & Lies for a ruleset. http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=294175
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Aug 11, 2010 21:24
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If you like Ben Baugh, listen to him run Candlewick Manor at Dragoncon 09.
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Aug 12, 2010 04:58
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Someone said upthread they were doing art for Better Angels (super-villains are actually demon possessed). Any idea when that's coming out?
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Aug 29, 2010 04:21
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Xand_Man posted:Someone said upthread they were doing art for Better Angels (super-villains are actually demon possessed). Any idea when that's coming out? no set due date yet
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Aug 29, 2010 04:41
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Borrowed a copy of Wild Talents and skimmed through it, it looks amazing. Someone sell me on Kerberos Club, though. It's just a setting, right? Is it what I gleefully imagine it to be, a mix of Sherlock Holmes, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and Flashman? If it isn't, can it be?
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Aug 29, 2010 18:40
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Capntastic posted:Borrowed a copy of Wild Talents and skimmed through it, it looks amazing. Yes, as long as you also mix in a little H.G. Wells and John Carter of Mars. That's actually a pretty good hig-level summary of the setting; Weird poo poo And People start cropping up, they form a gentleman's club for mutual support and defense, and use their abilities to defend Queen and Country. The game's timeline covers everything that happens in the 19th century; things start out rather low-key and subtle, but then Queen Victoria becomes an almost-divine being and things start getting more gonzo from there. There's Atlantean invasions, punch-card powered automatons, syphilitic vampirism, werewolf brigades, mass-produced lightning guns, treaties with the Faerie, and the Confederacy is worshiping some Chtuliodian Horror from Beyond Space and Time. And that's just the stuff I remember off the top of my head. Fortunately, Ben Baugh is such a great writer that he can actually make a 100-year-long timeline a good read. He also covers what life what like in Victorian London; what being at each social rank means at a personal level, how they live, and things like that. There's a free QuickStart pdf that does a good job of getting the setting across. Ruleswise, it's pretty much standard-issue 250 point WT, but with two additions: Convictions (which are basically the same as Motivations, but are rated with dice), and a free-form skill creation system. The skill creation system kind of mirrors the WT power creation rules; instead of Attacks/Defends/Useful, you have Broad/Flexible/Influential. Basic skills are 1 point, and it's +1 per quality. For instance, "Boxing" is a non-modified skill, "Brawling" is B/-/-, "Criminal History" is B/F/-, "Member of Parliment" is -/-/I, and "Detective" is B/F/I. (The way the game roughly breaks it down is that (-/-/- is a Basic Skill, B/-/- is an Advanced Skill, B/F/- is a Background, -/-/I is a Social Position, and B/F/I is an Occupation.) So yes, it it awesome. It's also been released in a Savage Worlds version, with Hero System and Fate planned for release too.
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Aug 29, 2010 19:06
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Evil Mastermind posted:The skill creation system kind of mirrors the WT power creation rules; instead of Attacks/Defends/Useful, you have Broad/Flexible/Influential. Basic skills are 1 point, and it's +1 per quality. Holy poo poo, loving sold.
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Aug 29, 2010 23:14
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Arc Dream news http://arcdream.livejournal.com/6768.html There's talk of a M&M version of KC as well.
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Aug 30, 2010 00:00
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Any interest in getting an ORE IRC/Maptool game going here? Been looking for a system to run a thieves guild game, and I'm settled on either ORE or Savage Worlds, just want to see if there's any interest.
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Aug 31, 2010 12:44
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I'd be in.
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Aug 31, 2010 14:32
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Likewise, depending on availability, of course.
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Aug 31, 2010 14:55
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