FATAL & Friends 2: Let's Keep Talking About Notably Awful/Awesome TG Stuff

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Gazetteer: Nov 22, 2011; "You're talking to cats."
"And you eat ghosts, so shut the fuck up."

ThisIsNoZaku posted:

Sadly, I've never played the game.

I have a several friends who play RPGs and are fans of the TV show, and I thought they'd be into it, but they almost never play anything that isn't some kind of D&D knockoff.

I have played this game. Had a Schemer too, so this was more or less my jam. Like, I could deceive the poo poo out of pretty much anyone, even if I didn't know one end of a spear from the other and couldn't command in the field worth poo poo. We only played like three sessions, and I mostly did simple intrigues. We did one standard, though -- our GM played a little bit fast and loose with the phase order, but all of the stats were in play, and I felt like it worked.

I was trying to expose my mother as the lying manipulative harpy that she was in front of my lord father and the whole family (while at the same time obfuscating the major role I played in her bullshit plan) by being a better lying manipulative harpy. I ended up rolling something in the mid 30s, and I had been spending like two sessions periodically caring for my father on his sick bed so his disposition toward me was really high. Mom ended up locked in a tower and I got off scot-free. :toot:

Anyway, it was basically a boss fight. It made me feel cool and good at what my character was built for; doesn't seem to run any less smoothly than the combat (of which I took no part at all in). It's all way crunchier than anything I usually go near, but ASoIaF basically has Intrigues in place of a magic system; the GM joked that I was the party mage.

When you say step seven is superfluous do you mean that the section does not add anything or that you think roleplaying out the actions you're rolling for does not have merit?

Gazetteer fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Oct 28, 2013

# ? Oct 28, 2013 21:17

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 00:43

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

Halloween Jack posted:

THE EVERLASTING is The Interactive Legendmaking Experience. It features many new concepts: communal protagonists, customizable rules, gamemasterless options, tips on achieving epiphanies, tips on rewarding guides, dream control methods, opening and closing ceremonies, and Personal Mythology. Legendmaking takes you beyond roleplaying and storytelling to a new level of intensity. Each participant chooses from playing card, tarot card, dice, and freeform options the system personally preferred.

Your journey into the realms of modern-day fantasy, horror, and mystery begins now. Enter the magical world you have always wanted to visit�the one you live in.

I remember quoting this for grogs.txt once myself. This is gonna be :allears:

Also it bears mentioning Everlasting is the heartbreaker of one Steven C. Brown, architect of the original Clanbook: Toreador, Storyteller's Guide to the Sabbat, and Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand.

Geez, there's no way to underline that like, three hundred times? Oh well.

# ? Oct 28, 2013 21:52

Defiance Industries: Jul 22, 2010; A five-star manufacturer

Gazetteer posted:

When you say step seven is superfluous do you mean that the section does not add anything or that you think roleplaying out the actions you're rolling for does not have merit?

I would guess that anyone who is familiar with GoT and roleplaying knows how that step plays out, so writing about it is kinda unnecessary.

# ? Oct 28, 2013 22:04

Gazetteer: Nov 22, 2011; "You're talking to cats."
"And you eat ghosts, so shut the fuck up."

Okay, I've got the book handy. I'll just look it up.

First part is basically just a long-winded way of saying "act out a scene with what we already established in mind." Which I guess would be considered superfluous if your assumption is that this would already happen. There's also a rule where the GM awards bonus dice for good RPing, and if you end up saying completely the wrong thing, they can take away bonus dice or hit you with "a flat penalty of -1 to -5, depending on the seriousness of the gaffe." So, step 7 actually does have mechanical consequences to the outcome of the intrigue, and there's a reason it's meant to take place after you've decided your techniques and how everyone feels toward each other, but before you make your rolls.

Of course the book then adds that this part is optional if your group isn't into the whole improv thing, and that GMs shouldn't penalise players who aren't comfortable participating. Which seems a bit at odds with the above statement that the roleplaying part is the "heart of intrigues", but I guess they are trying to cater to a wide crowd with this game.

# ? Oct 28, 2013 22:24

Traveller: Jan 6, 2012; WHIM AND FOPPERY

Houses of the Blooded

MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA

The next chapter is about Poison. jadarx said the Poison chapter in the Wick of the Scorpion was a teaser of this and well, it was.

Wick says one of the most common forms of murder in ven opera and books is poison, so there's the temptation to make the system very complex... only not, because when you get poisoned you die. No one makes "saving throws" against arsenic, cyanide, mercury, spider venom, etc. (Disclaimer: I've been bitten by these beauties twice and well, I'm still kicking. And I'm not nearly as tough as a doomed murderous highborn manchild!) But maybe we want rules that are more than just "poison fuckin' kills you."

posted:

Okay, so you�re not that ruthless. You�re not that cruel.
(Why are you playing this game?)
Here�s Poison for Wimps. Enjoy.

There are five poisons ven know and trust. These are murderin' poisons, no pussyfooting around. Making a poison takes a Season Action and one Poison resource, and ready poison lasts until the end of the Year. Ven are tough enough that they can take small doses of one of the Big Five to make themselves immune to it: this takes one Season Action and a ven can be immune up to three of the Big Five. If you're poisoned and immune to that particular poison? You're fine! If not? You're fuckin' dead! Interestingly enough, ven can't just wait and drop poison in a cup for someone else to drink. That takes patience, and patience isn't a Virtue. You can justify using Beauty (sweet talk the target into drinking the poison), Strength (throw it into their eyes, this totally works you guys), Prowess (poisoned weapon), maybe even Courage... but the old Scorpion trick of carrying poison in a hidden ring compartment just plain doesn't work. If nothing else, this puts HOTB a bit above Wick of the Scorpion, as you will have to make at least one roll to poison someone. Of course, we're talking about one-shot kills here, so...

The five main poisons are:

Arsenic: it fuckin' kills you. Death comes in hours. It must be ingested.
Cyanide: it fuckin' kills you. Victim dies from asphyxiation. It may be ingested or inhaled.
Hemlock: it fuckin' kills you. A Fox specialty because death is slow, agonizing and beautiful. Must be ingested.
Oleander: it fuckin' kills you. Almost immediate death, but it's pretty obvious. Must be ingested. (Yes, oleander isn't poisonous at all in real life, but it kills ven dead. Go figure.)
Strychnine: it fuckin' kills you. It's about as subtle as a hammer. Method of administration? None!

There are also lesser poisons, that actually don't fuckin' kill you. They grant a Poisoned Aspect to the target, which can be tagged or compelled as the target feels like utter poo poo. Most importantly, while the Big Five are highly illegal by Law, using lesser poison is just clever. The Aspect lasts until the end of the day, or until the end of the scene if the target uses a Style.

Narcotics! Ven love their drugs. Brewing drugs takes a Season Action, some resources and a Wisdom risk, with the resulting narcotic having a Potency of 1 + wagers. Potency has a maximum of the Wisdom of the maker, which means that Dio can't roll a joint to save his life, while Al could turn into Walter White given the opportunity. Apothecaries can also make narcotics. Ingesting a drug grants the user an Aspect with invoke, tag and compel. The invoke gives a variable number of bonus dice, and the tag gets a number of dice equivalent to the narcotic's Potency. Ven can also get addicted: roll the drug's affected Virtue against its Potency, and if the drug wins the ven is Addicted (Aspect with a rank equivalent to the drug's Potency) and the tag/compel apply to the ven even if they're not under the drug. Like Insults, Addiction disappears at the rate of one rank per Season, you just have to go cold turkey.

Some drugs here!

Attar of Poppies: sweet oil, when burnt it makes you feel ~*euphoric*~. You're better at resisting pain and duress, but generally lack energy or focus.
Icefire: dangerous to brew, as it involves denatured oleander. Makes you rage when your wounds are tagged, and you are essentially on a running 'roid rage.
Foxwine: usually served with wine, a hit at parties. Bonus dice to Courage, but you're drunk as all gently caress.
Silken Veil: an oil you must burn and inhale to use. Bonus dice to Cunning rolls that have to do with perception, but you're twitchy and easy to freak out.

The odd thing here is that only the latter two have a Virtue listed for the Addiction roll. The other two mention nothing of Virtues. How do they even?

And now, finally, Revenge! Time to stab people in the face. But first, a look at ven Law, because Revenge is so ritual and stuff. Some history! Ven law is based around seven Laws left behind by Jonan Drax, one of the first ven that dug out the rest of his kind from the ruins after the sorcerer-kings were gone. Drax and his followers were essentially ven paladins, and they built the beginnings of ven society. But ven are hypocrites and they claim to follow them all while ignoring Drax's code all the time! Wick, well...

No. I'm not going to comment on anything from this page, and I'll let the man speak for himself.

posted:

VEN HYPOCRISY
Before we go any further, we should probably talk a little bit about this. Anyone remotely familiar with ven culture how they flagrantly ignored their own Laws. And while this may sound hypocritical to a modern audience, I assure you, it isn�t such a foreign idea.

For example, let�s talk about our own traffic Laws.

You never break the speed limit, do you?

You never make improper turns.

You always make a full and complete stop in an empty intersection.

Don�t you?

Ten thousand years from now, some archaeologist will look back at 21st Century America and take a look at those Laws. Then, he�ll make an assumption. Everyone followed them. Nobody ever broke the Laws regulating the speed at which we drive on freeways, side streets and highways. And those who did were viewed as criminals. Like thieves. And, because he�s an expert, everyone will believe him.

Of course, we know better.

Another example. Lying.

Lying is always wrong.

I have never told a lie. Not once.

And if I did, it was for the right reasons.

And if it was for the wrong reasons, it really didn�t hurt anybody, did it?

No, I�ve never ever told a lie. Not once.

Americans make a big deal about the virtue of honesty. We say we want honest politicians. We say we want honest police. We say we only deal with those who never lie.

Yeah. Right.

Lying isn�t a crime, but it is a major cultural value. Honesty. Unfortunately, 90% of the population are, at the very least, occasionally dishonest.

And the other ten percent? They�re lying about it.

Marriage is an important pillar of our culture. A sacred institution.

And sixty percent of marriages in America fail.

We hate murder and drug use and crime. Despise it. And organized crime is the worst. Degenerate scum who take advantage of our loose and liberal Laws. And The Sopranos is one of the most watched shows on TV and The Godfather is one of the �greatest movies ever made.

And don�t get me started on �gangsta rap.�

We have plenty of our own double standards. Plenty. Once you acknowledge that, �ven hypocrisy� is a lot easier to understand.

CTRL-C, CTRL-V. (okay, I edited some line jumps.)

Anyway, let's talk about the Laws.

No Ven Shall Be Above The Law: seems straightforward enough, but law applies differently if you're Blooded or not. Unblooded can't own land, but they can be owned by the Blooded. They can't hold Swords, or any other weapon really if their master doesn't want them to own weapons. Not even spears or bows. If an unblooded harms a Blooded in any way, the punishment is almost always death. (Mercy is not a Virtue~). And there are no crimes against the unblooded - you're just harming someone else's property.
You Will Not Commit Murder: this is generally taken seriously. As the ven don't believe in an afterlife, murder is a Big Deal, and punishment for it is usually death, sometimes banishment or permanent crippling. This one only applies to ven on ven murder. Unblooded don't count, but killing one may be an Insult to their owner.
What You Own Is Yours: kind of tricky but basically, ven own whatever they have a claim to and can hold on to. If you put something down and someone picks it up? They own it. Someone tries to take something from you? If they fail, obviously it belongs to you. If they succeed, obviously it belongs to them. People are also property!
You Own Every Promise: you Promise something, you're legally bound to go through with it. Being a flake is against the Law, so ven are very careful on the promises they make. Breaking this Law means wearing the black for a year and a day.
You Will Not Practice Sorcery: as we already know, pretty much all ven break this law. But as long as it's not in public, no one is using sorcery!
You Will Not Raise Armies For The Purpose Of War: no armies, sure. But a noble's personal guard has to protect them and their property, so it can get kind of big. They're just taking care of your stuff, so your guard is not an army. Of course, some ven raise secret armies all the same, and spec-ops raids on enemy territory are all the rage in Opera. If the Senate catches you with a secret army, though? They declare you fair game and everyone turns on you, because we're not having another ~~Emperor~~High King.
The Penalty Will Fit The Crime: the most open to interpretation, and the base of legal Revenge.

Wick tells us he can see all the oversights and mistakes the ven make, but he's not going to correct any one of them! He will be true to the ven. Also something about American immigration law.

There's also supposed to be an eight Law, but records are spotty regarding it. It might have something to do with hospitality, or not! Anyway, when matters of Insult or Injury take place between the Blooded, a Jury is called. The Jury is of at least three nobles, and at least one of them must not belong to an unaffiliated House. They hear the matter and if they determine the case has no standing, they dismiss it. If the case has legs, it proceeds. The Jury's decision is final and it's a very bad idea to go against it, as you're Insulting the authority the Senate has vested on the Jury, and by extension you're insulting every Senator in the Senate. Both parties have to be present before the Jury, so they're usually called right after the Insult or Injury took place, and in fact ven parties preselect a Jury because they know any gathering of ven will require one before the night is over.

A Jury can recognize three offenses. Insult, Injury, and True Pain. The first one can be settled by the offending party surrendering something minor to the offended. This is usually a certain amount of resources like food, stone or iron. The other two require payment in Blood. The ven guided themselves using a manual, The Swordsman, that established proper ways of redressing offenses and seeking revenge through dueling. According to this manual, Insults can also be grounds for a duel (huh? but you just said... nevermind), which is why nobles prefer to couch their sick burns using innuendo so that they don't become Insults. Then there's Injury, a crime that results in a physical, spiritual or financial scar. The wording is ambiguous, so many nobles use this as a claim for Revenge. And then there is True Pain, for offenses that cannot be undone. The whole thing is pretty ritualized, involving a lot of Jury deliberation, signing and countersigning of letters, seconds setting up the duel, selection of weapons and so on. Duels can be to the touch (first hit wins), to Blood (first to bleed loses), to Injury (like to Blood, but a party that bleeds has a chance to apologize - if they don't, the duel continues until one duelist cannot continue) and to the Death (which is not as common as you may think because if things have gotten this far, then High Revenge is really the only solution) Once the duel is over, the issue is settled, no matter the outcome.

High Revenge is serious business. Wick found only two instances of it in the four volumes of Shara's history, and you can't just go around declaring it for every little slight. It involves writing a letter in the offended party's own blood, to be sent to their liege, then a formal declaration before the Senate. The Senate makes a Jury, then decides if the High Revenge is valid. If it is, they decide how long it lasts (one month, one year, one lifetime...), then both parties have to spill Blood on the document to make it sorcerously binding (sorcery is explicitly allowed by law in this case) and then they're given one week to prepare. When under High Revenge, parties have to wear red colors, and they're bound under no law and no ven until it's over with the death of one of them. Literally no law at all, they can use the Big Five poisons or sorcery or whatever to get their pound of flesh. The only things they can't use is their Swords, or their personal guard. It's just them and their Hate. Also, if a third party ends up in the way of the Revenge, they lose all legal protections and can be killed on sight. Once the Revenge is over, by one of the parties dying or by time, the issue is also over for good.

The alternative to Blood is wearing the black, which marks the ven as shamed and as an outcast to society. No nobles speak to someone wearing the black, and the Senate takes over their lands. Wearing the black means the ven owns nothing. Maybe they can find someone to mooch off from, or someone that can take care of their lands. Remember the whole deal with owning stuff? Yeah.

Okay, actual rules now. Duels (or any kind of one-on-one combat, really) are fought in a series of beats, with one side being the aggressor and another the defender until momentum changes. First, each side declares their intention, then gather dice (a surprised opponent does not declare intention or gather dice), then they decide their Strike Bid to go first. They set aside a number of dice in secret and reveal them at the same time: the character with the most dice decides to go first or second. Ties go to the highest Prowess or whoever spends the most Style. Then the winner of the Bid declares an intention (I want to stab your wrist, I want to cut your thumb, etc.) and the other character responds in kind (I parry your useless attack, I bend sideways and leave you open for counterattack.) Wagers are made with the remaining dice, and then it's rolling time. A successful attack deals a Rank 1 Injury, with wagers adding to its rank. Injuries 1-2 are just a flesh wound and heal one rank per day. Injuries 3-4 are crippling wounds and heal one rank per Season. Injury 5 is a mortal wound and drops the ven on the spot. They can only take actions (not risks) by spending Style and they're helpless for the rest of the adventure, and anyone can attack the ven and spend a Style to kill them. Injuries can be tagged to gain bonus dice equivalent to their rank, and you can spend 5 Style to turn them into a Scar (permanent Aspect), but you never lose dice to roll because of Injuries you have. Vassals, if they're involved, can take an Injury up to their own Rank before going down.

Then, Advanced Maneuvers come into play. Everyone knows how to Injure, and they can learn to Defend as well, but skilled duelists can learn fancier tricks. They cost at least 2 wagers to execute, they have ranks of effectiveness, and you must have a teacher and spend Season Actions to learn them. Note that we still don't know how Season Actions work, and that you need to learn how to Defend in game because you can't buy maneuvers at chargen.

Injure (basic, attacker): the basic attack. You can get more ranks on this to add more dice to your attack.
Defend (basic, defender): even if you get hit, you reduce that Injury's ranks by your ranks in Defend.
Bash: (advanced, attacker/defender): Requires Injury 3 and points in Strength. Contested Strength roll to push each other to the ground, with a free attack if you're still standing.
Bind: (advanced, attacker/defender) Requires Parry 3. Locks blades, all Maneuvers end and any remaining wagers go into Style for both characters.
Disarm: (advanced, attacker): Requires Parry 3 and points in Beauty. Disarms the other sucker.
Dodge: (advanced, defender): Requires Parry 3 and spending 4 wagers. Cancels any attack Maneuver.
Parry: (advanced, defender): Requires Defend 3 and wielding a Sword or dagger. Cancels Blind, Called Shot, Injure and Riposte. Reduces Injury ranks like Defend, can be used up to (rank) times in a fight.
Feint: (advanced, attacker): Requires Parry 3 and points in Cunning. After a successful attack, you may call for a Feint, which instead of Injuring the opponent gives you Style points equal to your Prowess to use in the next beat.
Lunge: (advanced, attacker): Requires Injure 3 and points in Courage. Adds Courage to the Injury rank, but cannot spend any more wagers that beat.
Press: (advanced, attacker): Requires two rank-3 Advanced Maneuvers and points in Prowess. Cancels Recover and Parry, lets you make a second attack. However many Style you spend on this is the rank of the Injury you deal.
Recover: (advanced, defender): Requires Dodge 3, points in Wisdom, and spending three wagers. Cancels Bash, Disarm and Feint.
Riposte: (advanced, defender): Requires Parry 3. Right after a Parry, you may make a counterattack with your remaining wagers. Does not count as an attack, but the riposte-r gets first attack on the following beat. A Riposte can be further Parried and Riposted itself.
Sap: (advanced, attacker): only 1 wager to use it, if you get surprise on an opponent you can knock them unconscious. Just one rank.
Step: (advanced, attacker/defender): also 1 wager to use, you step forward or back. If a duelist is at least one step away from their opponent, they must spend as many wagers to get close. Why the gently caress is this an Advanced Maneuver?

There are also Grappling Maneuvers that use Strength instead of Prowess, something something make your own D&D grappling joke.

Punch: like Injure, but the maximum rank of the Injury is the attacker's Strength.
Block: like Defend, but only works to its fullest with other unarmed attacks. Against attacks by weapons or tools, it only reduces the Injury in one rank. Also it lets you "gain Style", which I think means you can turn your wagers into Style maybe?
Grab (advanced, attacker): Requires Punch 3. Needs to go off before the other grappling Advanced Maneuvers. The attacker grabs the opponent, which is then immobilized. The defender can break the Grab with a contested Strength risk - the only risk they can perform until it's broken.
Squeeze (advanced, attacker/defender): Requires Grab 3. Now that the opponent is Grabbed, the user can cause Injury. Contested risk, winner deals an Injury equal to their wagers minus the loser's wagers. Yes, the defender can end up dealing damage this way.
Throw (advances, attacker): Judo throw! It does no damage on its own, unless you're like throwing them off a cliff or something.

And then there's Mass Murder, which is all orky and not ven-like and stuff. Because violence is an Art, a bunch of guys killing each other is not. These rules are used for fights with three or more characters involved. First, everyone picks a side (you can pick "Me" as a side), then everyone chooses a leader for the side. Dice are gathered, but only the leader adds name, Prowess, Aspects, etc. dice. Other ven give the leader just one die. Vassal bands like personal guards add one die per rank. The leaders make their wagers, then roll. The winner selects a ven on their side, spends a wager, and gives a Rank 5 Injury to anyone involved in the fight, even someone on their own side. Each ven can only be sent to attack once per beat. If you end up on a leader's sights, you may Dodge or Parry, but not just Defend. The attacking ven can spend two Style to counter your Dodge or Parry with an applicable Maneuver if they have it. Once a beat is over, a side may choose to surrender, otherwise the battle continues. Ven knocked out by Rank 5 Injuries no longer contribute dice: they are at death's door and any leader can spend a wager to murder them. Loyal Vassals can take hits for you or for their vassal leaders, though, and Vassal Bands lose one rank per Rank 5 Injury they take. Once they're down to zero, they're out of action. Wick tells us the point of this system is to make these scenes lethal, dirty, chaotic, fast, and to discourage them.

There's also some stuff about secret armies that we'll get a better look at when it's the Seasons chapter, fluff about how guards fight using a spear and shield style that is disgusting for proper-minded ven to watch but is actually pretty effective in groups, and how ven love to turn people they forced to wear black into their personal guards because there is no way this could go wrong what the poo poo is wrong with you, seriously. Also, if somehow Ikhalu, patron saint of Revenge, gives you his blessing, then not even the Earls are going to get between you and your revenge. How does that happen? Don't ask me.

Whew, that was a doozy. Sorry for the length of the post. I also skipped some stuff here and there and skimmed through the chapter because Wick's writing style is repetitive as gently caress, and I'm afraid I couldn't work a Dio example fight. But before I finish, let me mention that only Swords count as weapons because ven are swordophilic and if you don't have a Sword but you opponent does, you have the "Tool" aspect they can tag for two bonus dice in a fight. This only counts in hand to hand fighting, not if some guy is peppering you with arrows from afar.

Also, this, from two different sidebars:

quote:

Why is the system so lethal?
Because the literature is lethal and the point of this game is to emulate ven literature.
Look, if you want to adopt a hit point system where your character can take a knife in the eye, an arrow in the groin, lose an arm, burn a leg to a cinder but can still swing a Sword without any penalty, there are plenty of other roleplaying games that let you do that.
This isn�t one of them.

quote:

How many Injuries can I have before I drop?
You can have as many Injuries as you want. Really. The ven are tough. They�re robust. They can take it. Your character can have three 1 Injuries, five 2 Injuries, one 3 Injury, four 4 Injuries� so long as he doesn�t have a single 5 Injury, he can keep going.
I designed the system this way to reflect the way ven heroes and heroines act in the operas and pillow books of the time. They seem to acquire all kinds of Injuries�appearing as walking, bleeding wounds�until that one hit comes along that throws them to the ground.

Yeah.

Next: my first, my last, my everything~

# ? Oct 28, 2013 22:29

Kavak: Aug 23, 2009

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Geez, there's no way to underline that like, three hundred times? Oh well.

Wait, the book that was written primarily as a "gently caress you" by a man about to be laid off? :crossarms:

Are we sure this book is meant to be taken seriously?

# ? Oct 28, 2013 22:31

Everything Counts: Oct 10, 2012; Don't "shhh!" me, you rich bastard!

Kavak posted:

Wait, the book that was written primarily as a "gently caress you" by a man about to be laid off? Are we sure this book is meant to be taken seriously?

And speaking of, is there a place where one can read the full story about Dirty Secrets? I've looked before but all I ever find is apocryphal stuff like this, never any direct quotes or confirmation or proof that it was done on purpose (because, yeah, the book is lovely, but this is oWoD we're talking about.) I believe the stories, I'd just like to know the details about it if they're out there.

# ? Oct 28, 2013 22:57

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

I see that Dirty Secrets has a writeup, but it was abandoned after the first chapter...

Lord, take this cup from me.

# ? Oct 28, 2013 23:03

FMguru: Sep 10, 2003; peed on;
sexually

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand

Yes.

The Everlasting is literally the author of "Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand" building his dream WoD-clone-heartbreaker from scratch, and it's every bit the gonzo shitshow you would hope it would be.

# ? Oct 28, 2013 23:18

scissorman: Feb 7, 2011; Ramrod XTreme

Just so I get this right, as a ven you have to use a sword when fighting?
Can't you just use a spear/halberd/whatever, maybe with a debilitating poison on it to be extra 'clever'?

I get that it's probably strongly inspired by tales about samurai/knights (only with Wick feeling smart for telling us that honor/virtue/chivalry is a lie etc., even though it was never really a thing in the first place during actual combat) and its fetishization of swords/katanas but if it's going for a more gritty combat then I know I'd prefer to use a more practical weapon, especially if I'm playing a less skilled character.
Or would that just get me slapped with the 'dolt' aspect?

# ? Oct 29, 2013 00:00

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

Everything Counts posted:

And speaking of, is there a place where one can read the full story about Dirty Secrets? I've looked before but all I ever find is apocryphal stuff like this, never any direct quotes or confirmation or proof that it was done on purpose (because, yeah, the book is lovely, but this is oWoD we're talking about.) I believe the stories, I'd just like to know the details about it if they're out there.

I admit I hadn't heard of this either, I just thought it was a crummy book with a bunch of half-baked ideas. :eng99:

Though at this point I love the dumbest stuff from the ol' WoD because I can hardly take any part of it seriously anymore, I'd rather just revel in the ridiculousness of it all, if I want to do anything vaguely serious I'd pull out the new WoD. I'd rather just play a werehyena biker doing stoppies into werewolves with a spiked wheelguard basically forever.

Traveller posted:

Houses of the Blooded

MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA

It sounds just really unpleasant to interact with Ven, to be a Ven, to even be vaguely aware of the Ven's existence. They just sound like really unhappy people, even unhappier than Amberites, who are awful unhappy. What's this about Orks? Can we play one of them, instead?

# ? Oct 29, 2013 00:02

Traveller: Jan 6, 2012; WHIM AND FOPPERY

scissorman posted:

Just so I get this right, as a ven you have to use a sword when fighting?
Can't you just use a spear/halberd/whatever, maybe with a debilitating poison on it to be extra 'clever'?

I get that it's probably strongly inspired by tales about samurai/knights (only with Wick feeling smart for telling us that honor/virtue/chivalry is a lie etc., even though it was never really a thing in the first place during actual combat) and its fetishization of swords/katanas but if it's going for a more gritty combat then I know I'd prefer to use a more practical weapon, especially if I'm playing a less skilled character.
Or would that just get me slapped with the 'dolt' aspect?

You don't have to use a Sword, but if you're not using one and the other guy is, you're a Tool. Not a Weapon. You can use a poisoned spear though, that's cool, but other than having/not having a Sword there's no mechanical difference at all between weapons. Oddly, Wick references the Riddle Of Steel to justify why weapons have no mechanical differences, which is just plain wrong.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

It sounds just really unpleasant to interact with Ven, to be a Ven, to even be vaguely aware of the Ven's existence. They just sound like really unhappy people, even unhappier than Amberites, who are awful unhappy. What's this about Orks? Can we play one of them, instead?

Just like Americans. It's you, you are the ven.
I think you can play as orks, actually? I don't have the Wilderness sourcebook.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 00:07

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

Traveller posted:

Just like Americans. It's you, you are the ven.
I think you can play as orks, actually? I don't have the Wilderness sourcebook.

I have a copy of Orkworld, maybe that counts.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 00:10

scissorman: Feb 7, 2011; Ramrod XTreme

Traveller posted:

You don't have to use a Sword, but if you're not using one and the other guy is, you're a Tool. Not a Weapon. You can use a poisoned spear though, that's cool, but other than having/not having a Sword there's no mechanical difference at all between weapons. Oddly, Wick references the Riddle Of Steel to justify why weapons have no mechanical differences, which is just plain wrong.

Well, that's disappointing; I almost expected there to be support for fighters to try to out-smug/out-sperg each other concerning their weapons before the fight.
How large is the difference between using a Tool and a Weapon/Sword?

# ? Oct 29, 2013 00:42

Traveller: Jan 6, 2012; WHIM AND FOPPERY

scissorman posted:

Well, that's disappointing; I almost expected there to be support for fighters to try to out-smug/out-sperg each other concerning their weapons before the fight.
How large is the difference between using a Tool and a Weapon/Sword?

The Weapon-user can tag the Tool for two bonus dice.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 00:44

Bieeanshee: Aug 21, 2000; Not keen on keening.; Grimey Drawer

At first glance, I figured it was a device-based dolt tag.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 00:58

Ratoslov: Feb 15, 2012; Now prepare yourselves! You're the guests of honor at the Greatest Kung Fu Cannibal BBQ Ever!

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand.

Geez, there's no way to underline that like, three hundred times? Oh well.

For those of us who aren't intimately aware of the horribleness of this book, could we have a quick explaination of what the heck Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand is?

# ? Oct 29, 2013 01:17

claw game handjob: Mar 27, 2007; pinch pinch scrape pinch
ow ow fuck it's caught
i'm bleeding
JESUS TURN IT OFF
WHY ARE YOU STILL SMILING

From memory, it was THE REAL TRUTH BEHIND (some White Wolf thing, I think a clan that was brought up in a few books for the GMs?) and the dude writing it was on the cusp of being fired so he basically tried to burn everything down in his wake.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 01:19

ThisIsNoZaku: Apr 22, 2013; Pew Pew Pew!

Gazetteer posted:

When you say step seven is superfluous do you mean that the section does not add anything or that you think roleplaying out the actions you're rolling for does not have merit?

The step boils down basically to "roll and insert roleplaying here."

The rest is me joking. :v:

# ? Oct 29, 2013 01:38

Gazetteer: Nov 22, 2011; "You're talking to cats."
"And you eat ghosts, so shut the fuck up."

Fair enough, sorry.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 01:38

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

Ratoslov posted:

For those of us who aren't intimately aware of the horribleness of this book, could we have a quick explaination of what the heck Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand is?

Basically, Vampire is this grim urban politic / morality play thing, sometimes good, sometimes bad, with all sorts of weirdo vampires... but mostly stayed at the street level. Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand, on the other hand, introduced a secret vampire society with a secret city in the land of the dead made up of super-powerful vampires who were manipulating all the existing factions like puppets, fighting an extradimensional Lovecraftian disease, had a bunch of secret-supposed-to-be-dead vampires, had allies in all the other supernatural types at the time, etc. Oh and they had special superpowered human servants from super-secret families.

Oh, and they were supposed to be serving the TRUE MASTER DOUBLE-PLUS-PROBATION-SECRET VAMPIRES who were going to kill everybody.

Saying like that it almost sounds good but you have to realize the book is written in an incoherent, muddled fashion and basically just comes off as a huge pile of :smug:

. Not to say you couldn't polish it into something enjoyable, but it's antithetical to the mood and themes built up by the majority of Vampire books.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 01:39

Bieeanshee: Aug 21, 2000; Not keen on keening.; Grimey Drawer

There was even a secret, lost, 'True' version of one of the core clans, which had briefly and stupidly been referenced in the clanbook, that had the ability to manipulate time.

I liked the 'Vicissitude is a disease' angle. It was a nice bite in the rear end for the kind of people who made a beeline toward it, and brought it in even closer with some curiously similar vampire fic from the mid Eighties to Nineties.

Most of it though? Almost a parody of the setting at best, and unrelenting powergamer fodder at worst.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 01:57

Ratoslov: Feb 15, 2012; Now prepare yourselves! You're the guests of honor at the Greatest Kung Fu Cannibal BBQ Ever!

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Basically, Vampire is this grim urban politic / morality play thing, sometimes good, sometimes bad, with all sorts of weirdo vampires... but mostly stayed at the street level. Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand, on the other hand, introduced a secret vampire society with a secret city in the land of the dead made up of super-powerful vampires who were manipulating all the existing factions like puppets, fighting an extradimensional Lovecraftian disease, had a bunch of secret-supposed-to-be-dead vampires, had allies in all the other supernatural types at the time, etc. Oh and they had special superpowered human servants from super-secret families.

Oh, and they were supposed to be serving the TRUE MASTER DOUBLE-PLUS-PROBATION-SECRET VAMPIRES who were going to kill everybody.

That's incredibly stupid, even for oWoD. How did it even get published?

# ? Oct 29, 2013 02:04

sexpig by night: Sep 8, 2011; by Azathoth

Ratoslov posted:

That's incredibly stupid, even for oWoD. How did it even get published?

There was literally no quality control or communication.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 02:12

AccidentalHipster: Jul 5, 2013; Whadda ya MEAN ya never heard of Dan Brereton?

Ratoslov posted:

That's incredibly stupid, even for oWoD. How did it even get published?

Same way Changing Breeds got published. White Wolf doesn't care about their game lines enough to watch out for this kind of poo poo and just let their writers and freelancers run wild.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 02:15

Big Hubris: Mar 8, 2011

Ratoslov posted:

That's incredibly stupid, even for oWoD. How did it even get published?

The publishing dreadmill and lovely freelancers forced the people in Stone Mountain to throw whatever they had into the FedEx truck.

Sometimes they had to catch it at the stop-light. At other times they pulled out in front of it and threw it over the driver's shoulder.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 02:32

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

Ratoslov posted:

For those of us who aren't intimately aware of the horribleness of this book, could we have a quick explaination of what the heck Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand is?

Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand is the book about the Black Hand, the semi-secret sect within the Sabbat that secretly controls everything (sort of like the Schutzstaffel within the Nazi party). It contains gems like this:

1. The Black began as a mage death cult called the Tal'Mahe'Ra which joined the Sabbat, so there's the Sabbat, the Black Hand, and the really for real Black Hand.
2. While the Sabbat believe they're preparing for the return of the Antediluvians, the Black Hand believe they're the Antediluvians' chosen servants, so they're playing the entire Sabbat for suckers.
3. The True Brujah (because the "Brujah" are actually descended from Brujah's traitorous childe Troile). They're the opposite of Brujah because they're scholarly and unemotional, and instead of Celerity they have Temporis, a Discipline that alters time.
4. The Old Clan Tzimisce, who are Tzimisce that are 100% Vlad Tepes with all the Clive Barker/David Cronenberg body horror removed...
5. Because Vicissitude is not really a Discipline, but an astral parasite from the Deep Umbra.
6. Did I mention the Black Hand has a secret city in the Shadowlands because they're so uber?

And like ARB said, they're the strongest and the smartest and are secretly controlling and manipulating everyone because they're sooo awesome and smart.

Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Oct 29, 2013

# ? Oct 29, 2013 02:36

raverrn: Apr 5, 2005; Unidentified spacecraft inbound from delta line.

All Silpheed squadrons scramble now!

Enoch getting blown to hell (out of hell?) is the best thing WW ever did.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 02:50

Traveller: Jan 6, 2012; WHIM AND FOPPERY

Halloween Jack posted:

And like ARB said, they're the strongest and the smartest and are secretly controlling and manipulating everyone because they're sooo awesome and smart.

oWoD seemed to have regular trouble with that, making antagonists and factions within the super duper COOL FACTIONS what are you stupid staying with the old and busted.

The Camarilla rules the nights, and they fight the villainous Sabbat! Only the Sabbat are actually trying to hold off the monstrous Antediluvians (what are you, stupid?)
The Traditions fight to awaken humanity, and they are opposed by the villainous Technocracy! Only the Technocracy are trying to make the nights safer for everyone and they fight the real monsters (what are you, stupid?)
The Garou Nation protects Gaia and the spirits from harm, and against them is the villainous Pentex Corporation! Only--- wait, I don't think Pentex are ever shown in any kind of positive light ever. But you get the idea.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 02:51

Bieeanshee: Aug 21, 2000; Not keen on keening.; Grimey Drawer

Nah, they just show the Garou as increasingly, tragically dysfunctional. The 'Play as wyrm-things!' books didn't even try to candy-coat their innate grossness.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 02:55

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

The Garou are the least sympathetic protagonists in the oWoD. Their stance on every other supernatural race is "Kill them" or "dunno, might as well kill them, better safe than sorry y'know."

The dumbest thing in Werewolf was the Seventh Generation, a Wyrm-worshiping cult of evil Republican lobbyists who are extra evil because they run child pornography ring, and was run by an evil Mountie. To quote one of the WW editors, "This is the World of Darkness, not the World of Liberalism," and they were quietly killed off with the justification that King Albrecht wiped them all out in a crusade.

The New World of Darkness should only have one uber-NPC: an angel named Achilli that comes down from heaven and erases from reality things too stupid to exist.

Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Oct 29, 2013

# ? Oct 29, 2013 02:57

Erebro: Apr 28, 2013

Halloween Jack posted:

The Garou are the least sympathetic protagonists in the oWoD. Their stance on every other supernatural race is "Kill them" or "dunno, might as well kill them, better safe than sorry y'know."

The dumbest thing in Werewolf was the Seventh Generation, a Wyrm-worshiping cult of evil Republican lobbyists who are extra evil because they run child pornography ring, and was run by an evil Mountie. To quote one of the WW editors, "This is the World of Darkness, not the World of Liberalism," and they were quietly killed off with the justification that King Albrecht wiped them all out in a crusade.

The New World of Darkness should only have one uber-NPC: an angel named Achilli that comes down from heaven and erases from reality things too stupid to exist.

Quite. Say what you will about the regular clusterfuck that is Forsaken's rules, at least the Urathra are vaguely sane.

Speaking of nWoD versions of gamelines, one of the things the writers did right was find a happy medium between "cool" and "utter monsters" for the antagonists. Belial's Brood, for instance, are essentially Tyler Durden if he were a covenant of vampire biker gangs. That is five kinds of awesome on toast, served with a nice, big helping of pure, unrefined nightmare fuel.

Erebro fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Oct 29, 2013

# ? Oct 29, 2013 03:45

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

raverrn posted:

Enoch getting blown to hell (out of hell?) is the best thing WW ever did.

Of course, it says something about how groggy even revised Vampire was in that they didn't just scribble out the elements they didn't like (Ravnos, Tremere antitribu, the True Hand) but had to work into the metaplot how each was exterminated by the hand of metaphorical god.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 03:48

AccidentalHipster: Jul 5, 2013; Whadda ya MEAN ya never heard of Dan Brereton?

I'm on the cusp of actually posting Part 1 of my Naruto d20 write-up, but I've hit a few hitches. It should be up once I figure out how to upload images from my computer to the forum. I have a Platinum upgrade so I know I can.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 04:59

Red Metal: Oct 23, 2012; Let me tell you about Homestuck; Fun Shoe

AccidentalHipster posted:

I'm on the cusp of actually posting Part 1 of my Naruto d20 write-up, but I've hit a few hitches. It should be up once I figure out how to upload images from my computer to the forum. I have a Platinum upgrade so I know I can.

Just host them on imgur or something and use image tags.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 05:03

AccidentalHipster: Jul 5, 2013; Whadda ya MEAN ya never heard of Dan Brereton?

Red Metal posted:

Just host them on imgur or something and use image tags.

Thanks for the tip. I kinda wish imgur didn't mutilate the quality, but I guess you get what you pay for.

AccidentalHipster fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Oct 29, 2013

# ? Oct 29, 2013 05:11

AccidentalHipster: Jul 5, 2013; Whadda ya MEAN ya never heard of Dan Brereton?

Seeing as I've finally learned how to format, I think it's time for

PART 1: HOW TO NINJA 101

Make sure you have your Traffic Cone "Kill Me" Orange jumpsuits on to get the full experience.

What the crap is Naruto d20?

Naruto d20 is one of many fan projects to convert something the creator loves into a d20 game back during the OGL craze. Unlike most d20 3rd party "I wanna RP in [insert favorite show here]" projects, this one is not only still being maintained, it's actually pretty fun! Relatively speaking of course. Personally, I attribute this to it being based off of not just a show that's still both airing and popular, but also on a d20 Modern which expected you to multiclass and progress in atypical ways rather than D&D which expected you to fit very specific molds. Ever since its start way back in 2004, it has grown to be over 1000 pages and 5 supplements, all written by one guy. If you want to see Frankto's handwork, try it out here for free.

http://www.narutod20.com/

There's even an in progress SRD here.

http://www.narutod20srd.com/

I don't watch Japanese Animes, what's a Naruto?

I don't think I need to go in to detail over the characters or plot (just wikipedia it, or read the series), but I'll give a (relatively) quick primer on the setting Kishimoto (the manga writer) has it take place in as well as my thoughts on it. Basically, there are 5 nations, each tied to one of the 5 elements (earth, wind, water, fire and lightning) and each one is at roughly modern tech levels except militarily. Instead of men with guns, they have Hidden Villages that train people to be superpowered child soldiers called ninja. The intro to the d20 Modern game actually praises the Naruto setting for making ninja fallible human beings who can specialize in things other than sneaking around in black pajamas, but I wouldn't give Kishimoto too much credit because orginization-wise, Naruto ninja are pretty much what you'd expect from a "train superpowered kids to fight evil" group like Professor X's mutant school from X-Men, except that they start kicking rear end really young (you start training as early as 8 and are considered a full fledged Ninja by the age of 12) and that killing your enemies is pretty much expected.

Most of Naruto takes place in the Fire Country's village called the Leaf Village and the Leaf village MO is to have academy graduates (the aforementioned 12 year olds) train under an elite ninja in a 3 man cell until they're ready to rise in the ranks with most cells sticking together for missions even after promotion, at least until they get assigned their own 3 man squad of rookies to babysit. This is actually a really good set up for small groups because it means that there's a drat good reason to go adventuring together and you start with a level 12-15 GMPC with explicit orders to only get involved if things are going to complete poo poo (as in, the GM needs to either save luckless PCs or slap down rear end in a top hat ones). The fact that everyone most likely grew up in the same village makes interlocking backgrounds and pre-established relationships easy to do. But I've rambled on for 2 paragraphs at this point, so let's move on to

Chakra

Chakra is the "how you do awesome poo poo" of this setting and is defined through a characters Chakra Pools (how much juice they have) and Chakra Skills (how good they are at using it a certain way). The skills are

Chakra Control: This one is your basic "use mana better" skill. It covers pretty much all of your "mess with your Chakra Pools" actions as well as a fair number of utility abilities like Spidermanning up walls and leaping tall building in a single bound. The book claims that there are very few offensive or defensive options based purely off of Chakra Control, but Jutsu bloat means that there are still a fair number of "wild/concentrated release of chakra" moves that fit the bill. Best for ninjas with a large Chakra Pool. Wisdom based.
Fuinjutsu: Magical ninja marks. Most of them are drawn on enemies to lock down certain abilities or on to allies and scrolls to store things like weapons and chakra for later use but it has other uses included crafting certain magic items. Because this is a 1000+ page document pretty much done by one guy, this skills isn't mentioned in Basic Mechanics but is included as a Chakra Skill in other parts of the book. Best for ninjas who love setting up Batman "gently caress you" situations. Intelligence based.
Genjutsu: Illusions with a few Enchantment effects thrown in. Comes complete with Jedi Mind Tricks, Your Mind Makes It Real fireballs, and duels to the death with yourself that happen in seconds of realtime. My personal favorite because not only is it crippling if used right, you can trick enemies in to doing stupid poo poo just by letting them think that they're still in an illusion. Best for ninjas who like mind games and Save-or-Lose. Charisma based.
Ninjutsu: A catch all for pretty much everything that isn't covered by another skill. Elemental blasts, healing, duplicates of yourself, the whole shebang. Everyone will want to invest at least a little in this. Intelligence based.
Taijutsu: Ninja kung fu. If it's something that anime claim you can do purely through mundane training, it's this. Has the advantage of costing practically no chakra and having lots of long lasting self buffs. Best for ninjas who have high combat stats. Strength based.

And yes, these are all new Skills added to the already bloated d20 skill system. The book also mentions Perform Checks, which are the skill check you make to do a jutsu you know and Skill Thresholds which is the point for every jutsu where your bonus is considered so high that you no longer need a Perform Check. These will be very important later.

For the other half of this equation, we have the Chakra Pools. Your primary Chakra Pool is equal to 2 plus your Constitution Modifier at each level with an additional +2 at level 1. Or 2+([Constitution Modifier+2]*Level) You also have a Reserve Pool equal to twice your level that you can't use without making a Chakra Control check. Chakra is spent on using Jutsus and returns to full after a good night's rest.

Chakra isn't just free though. If your Reserve ever dips below 50% you become Fatigued after the fight until you recover your reserves, if it ever drops below 25% then the fatigue hits instantly, and if it ever hits 0 ever run dry you suffer Chakra Depletion. Chakra Depletion makes you Exhausted until your reserve reaches 50% and makes chakra recover at 25% maximum per night of rest instead of 100%. Running out of normal chakra is no picnic either because that drops your Reserve to 0 (causing instant depletion), to reset your regular pool to 1. So basically, don't throw that poo poo around like candy. Unless you have the power of bad writing on your side of course *coughSasukeVersusDeidaracough*

Chakra can be damaged as well by certain attacks. Regular Chakra Damage hits a character's Chakra Pool instead of their Hit Points, but once a character hits 0 Chakra leftover damage is doubled and goes to HP. Chakra Coil Damage is an advanced form of Chakra Damage that heals at a rate of 1 per week of full rest. :goddamn: There's no special name for reducing the maximum on a character's Chakra Pool, but it sucks to happen and rolls over to Constitution if it ever drops your Pool to 0. :gibs:

The last tidbit on Chakra is that everyone has an Element that their Chakra is aligned to. You gain a bonus to Learn Checks for Jutsus of your starting affinity equal to +1 at 1st level and an additional +1 every 5 levels there after (6th, 11th, 16th, etc.). You also gain Energy Resistance 5 to your starting affinity equal to 5 at level 10 and an additional +5 every 5 levels there after (15th, 20th, etc.). Lastly, you can only learn Jutsus of an Element you have an affinity for, but you gain a secondary affinity at 11th level and an additional affinity every 5 levels blah blah blah (you get the drill). Affinities are important because Elements have a Rock-Paper-Scissors cycle that gives you a +/-2 modifier to your saving throws depending on whether your starting affinity is on the winning or losing side of that cycle when an elemental attack hits you. The cycle is Earth beats Water beats Fire beats Wind beats Lightning beats Earth. Yes, Lightning beats Earth. I don't think Kishimoto ever played Pokemon. There are 2 special Elements that don't belong in the cycle (Ice and Wood) but they're technically 2 elements mixed together (Water and Wind for Ice, Earth and Water for Wood) and require you to take a feat at 1st level to represent having the necessary bloodline to use them.

Other New Mechanics

Firstly, there are some new types of energy damage to represent jutsu elements. They are Wind and Wood (which deal normal damage to objects), Earth and Water (which deal quarter damage to objects) and Holy (which deals no damage to objects). And no, just throwing a rock or shooting someone with super soaker don't count as Energy damage now, this is just for Jutsu.

Next up is Learning Jutsu. You see, you can't just roll Genjutsu to trap someone in an illusion, you need to take the time to Learn the appropriate Jutsu. A Learn Check is 1d20+Character Level+Relevant Ability Modifier (i.e. Charisma for Genjutsu). Characters start with 1d4+1 Jutsus of their choice (that they are eligible to Learn) and the game suggests starting with Bunshin (create illusory duplicates), Henge (disguise yourself instantly) and Kawarimi (the ninja log trick). The actual Learning process is described in Chapter 10, so we'll get to it later.

There's a lot of stuff repeated from d20 Modern that I'll skip but I will say that Action Points can now be spent to gain 1d6 Chakra for 1 minute that can exceed normal maximum.

There are special Ninja abilities that you get from things like Jutsu and Feats that are described in this section as well. The first is Detect Emotions which is just like a Detect Thoughts effect but with a Sense Motive check against the target's Will Save (minimum 20) and limited to creatures you know about and only emotions. Next is See Chakra which let's you use Spot instead of Genjutsu to detect Genjutsu, tell how much Chakra someone has, and make a Spot Check to Detect ~~Magic~~ Chakra Auras. See Through Chakra is an advanced version of See Chakra that gives a +4 to Detect Auras, a +2 to resist Genjutsu, and let's you tell when someone is using a Bloodline ability or is actually made of chakra instead of flesh. Sense Chakra let's you make a Wisdom Check to tell if Chakra is around like you were using the Scent ability. Suppress Chakra let's you hide from chakra based sense. Lastly, Seal Tenketsu let's you do pressure point attacks that hinder chakra use. It's chart based so I'll just copy the info from the book.

quote:

Tenketsu Damage: This entry relates to the amount of tenketsu damage taken by the character. The penalties are not cumulative.

Chakra Control DC: The difficulty of the chakra control check the character must succeed to perform a technique of a rank impeded by tenketsu damage (see below).

Technique Rank: The rank of techniques impeded by tenketsu damage, for which the character must succeed a Chakra Control check in addition to a perform check. If the performed technique's rank is equal to or lower than this entry, it is impeded.

Check and Threshold Penalty: The penalty to the character's effective skill threshold and perform checks in Chakra Control, Genjutsu and Ninjutsu suffered from tenketsu damage. This penalty does not apply to the chakra control check made to tap one's reserves, but it does apply to Chakra Control checks made to perform a Chakra Control technique (assuming the check was a success or the technique is not affected by tenketsu damage).

If you're a Hyuuga, print this info out. Otherwise, ignore it.

This section wraps up with Speed Ranks and Strength Ranks which let spend Chakra to boost how fast or strong you are. The higher the Rank, the more Chakra per turn spent. Speed Ranks give you bonuses to Jump and Hide checks, a buff to Defense and Reflex Saves, a bigger Base Land Speed, and at higher Ranks even bonus attacks and Kawarimi Defense. As an aside, Kawarimi Defense is something that only comes up with Speed Ranks and certain jutsu. It means that unless you have a number of Speed Ranks active equal or higher than an attack's Kawarimi Defense, you can't ninja log away from it. Anyway, Strength Ranks give you a bonus to Strength based checks, combat manuevers other than feint, attacks rolls, damage rolls, multiplies carrying capacity, and let's you penetrate object Hardness and at higher Ranks grant you Damage Reduction. In order to gain access to them, you need to learn the appropriate Jutsu Training, but I'll save that for chapter 10.

Varient Rules

There are a lot of optional rules but I'll only cover Power Units and True Ninja. Power Units are ways of representing more badass characters without having them be higher level, but that's kind of irrelevant since every 2 PU is grants +1 Level Adjustment. Power Units grant:

+0.5 dodge bonus to Defense (rounded down)
+0.5 hit points per level (rounded down)
+1 to his Learn checks
+2 bonus to Chakra Pool
+1 bonus to attack rolls
+1 bonus to saving throws
+2 bonus to Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Spot, Swim and Tumble checks
+2 bonus to Initiative
+2 feet movement increase (rounded to the nearest 5-feet unit)

True Ninja is a variant of Character Creation for stronger characters. Quite rationally, it's expected that either all PCs will be True Ninja or no PCs will be True Ninja. If you're a True Ninja, then you:

are built using 40-point buy or 5d6, taking the three best, rerolling ones.
have at least 1 power unit
are able to learn techniques with only half the normal time
are able to move at up to 5 times his normal speed.
count as armed and deal lethal damage with unarmed strikes even without the Combat Martial Arts feat
begin play with the three basic techniques, Bunshin, Henge and Kawarimi, as well as 2d4 +1 jutsu per level
have Balance, Chakra Control, Climb, Disguise, Genjutsu, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Ninjutsu, Search, Spot, Survival and Taijutsu as permanent class skills
are able to recover Chakra loss twice as fast.

So that's Chapter 1 of Naruto d20. And as you probably already tell it has a bloat problem. The upcoming chapters have much less new content so I should be able to breeze through them much quicker. But until next time, just remember that Sasuke is a dirty cheater.

Next time: New Races! New Talents! New Jobs!

EDIT: As a side note, if you guys really want me to make characters with this system, please say so. If the thread really pushes for it, I'll take suggestions for rookie nin now (and maybe again after my next update) but don't count on it. As much as I like this system, it's still a 1000+ page d20 supplement.

AccidentalHipster fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Nov 2, 2013

# ? Oct 29, 2013 05:18

Traveller: Jan 6, 2012; WHIM AND FOPPERY

Naruto d20 sounds like a :stare:

of bloat.

Someone should take up that one d20 40K book for the full dose of d20 cholesterol.

# ? Oct 29, 2013 05:37

AccidentalHipster: Jul 5, 2013; Whadda ya MEAN ya never heard of Dan Brereton?

Traveller posted:

Naruto d20 sounds like a of bloat.

Just wait until Chapter 10! :suicide:

# ? Oct 29, 2013 05:40

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 00:43

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Of course, it says something about how groggy even revised Vampire was in that they didn't just scribble out the elements they didn't like (Ravnos, Tremere antitribu, the True Hand) but had to work into the metaplot how each was exterminated by the hand of metaphorical god.

How did they deal with the True Black Hand, anyway? Did they say that they had always just been one faction within the Sabbat, then destroy their ghost castle and kill most of them off?

# ? Oct 29, 2013 05:54

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > FATAL & Friends 2: Let's Keep Talking About Notably Awful/Awesome TG Stuff

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