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James Bond films don't try to be something they're not, and that's why they work. I mean, Live and Let Die didn't try to be a Do The Right Thing-style examination of race relations, while Kojima has a story with child soldiers and people who were raised as child soldiers and other mature topics while the main female cast member is wearing a bikini and torn fishnets into combat.
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Sep 28, 2014 02:02
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Kavak posted:James Bond films don't try to be something they're not, and that's why they work. I mean, Live and Let Die didn't try to be a Do The Right Thing-style examination of race relations, while Kojima has a story with child soldiers and people who were raised as child soldiers and other mature topics while the main female cast member is wearing a bikini and torn fishnets into combat. Hideo Kojima doesn't know from intersectionality. edit: intersexynality edit 2: it should also be noted that Kojima is a sheltered nerd with very little knowledge or understanding of the world around him beyond gun statzz and mawkish hand-wringing  over all the bad stuff in the world. He shouldn't be expected to produce any coherent statement on real socio-political issues, but if you keep rambling long enough and impassionately enough some people will assume that you must have something to say, even if they can't quite make out what it is...The closest he ever got to making a point was in 2, and that was a point about video games, in a video game, by a video game maker, for video game players. That's about the reach of his analytical insights. (Personally I thought the issue was handled far more deftly, not to mention more succinctly, by Hotline Miami.) PoontifexMacksimus fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Sep 28, 2014 |
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Sep 28, 2014 19:11
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anti_strunt posted:Hideo Kojima doesn't know from intersectionality. The point being that the average gamer has a four or five digit body count because somebody on screen told them to do it and in Milgram experiment terms we'd all be murderers in the next world war? That was the point MGS2 was trying to make? I always assumed it was something to do with, like, how can you tell you're not dreaming right now, maaaaaaan.
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Sep 28, 2014 20:05
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Actually Kojima is really good and in the tradition of Brecht's epic theatre
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Sep 28, 2014 20:15
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Doodmons posted:The point being that the average gamer has a four or five digit body count because somebody on screen told them to do it and in Milgram experiment terms we'd all be murderers in the next world war? That was the point MGS2 was trying to make? I always assumed it was something to do with, like, how can you tell you're not dreaming right now, maaaaaaan. I think the point was that you could make something as loving unimaginably inhuman as African child soldiering and make it part of the bathetic backstory of your lily-white Kellsterik posted:Actually Kojima is really good and in the tradition of Brecht's epic theatre Well he sure alienated me at least!!! PoontifexMacksimus fucked around with this message at 21:37 on Sep 28, 2014 |
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Sep 28, 2014 21:20
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Kellsterik posted:Actually Kojima is really good and in the tradition of Brecht's epic theatre i didn't know kojima was a pinko gently caress who apologized for the gdr
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Sep 28, 2014 22:27
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anti_strunt posted:I think the point was that you could make something as loving unimaginably inhuman as African child soldiering and make it part of the bathetic backstory of your lily-white Who gives a gently caress seriously
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Sep 28, 2014 23:07
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Kavak posted:James Bond films don't try to be something they're not, and that's why they work. I mean, Live and Let Die didn't try to be a Do The Right Thing-style examination of race relations, while Kojima has a story with child soldiers and people who were raised as child soldiers and other mature topics while the main female cast member is wearing a bikini and torn fishnets into combat. It bears mentioning that the book for Live and Let Die is quite racist, so it's probably not the best example to hold up for an argument like this. Though the movie's better, it doesn't really shake those roots. Kojima is both intelligent and ignorant in about equal measure, I think, and that's what makes his games interesting. He's very smart about what he does with games but never quite as wise as he thinks he is regarding the world. hectorgrey posted:The thing is, driving around St. Petersburg in a tank is more believable than most of the poo poo Spycraft lets you get away with at high level. Also bear in mind the original setting for Spycraft, Shadowforce Archer, was pretty removed from reality. It had bad guys with amazing world-threatening inventions, psionic characters, Russian ghost wizards, etc. World on Fire, the setting for Spycraft 2.0 (that is admittedly never actually going to be finished) was more toned down, but still had Illuminati-style conspiracies and ancient immortals and other weird things. It's thoroughly intended for pulp spy stuff by default, but there are optional rules that let you gear things to be more gritty and difficult for PCs; Spycraft 2.0 (and Fantasy Craft) is kind of neat in how it makes campaign house rules a standard option, and guides you in how to tweak it to taste. It'll never be GURPS, but you can adjust the tone.
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Sep 28, 2014 23:16
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Prison Warden posted:Who gives a gently caress seriously Someone said something positive about Kojima *rolls up sleeves* time to educate these loving plebs
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Sep 28, 2014 23:24
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I did like the World on Fire book, actually; if memory serves, that was a pretty good espionage sourcebook regardless of which system you want to run your spy games in.
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Sep 29, 2014 09:04
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Kellsterik posted:Actually Kojima is really good and in the tradition of Brecht's epic theatre Pretty much this. Other games have problems with ludonarrative dissonance. Kojima revels in it. I mean, MGSV is the dark and gritty end of the Big Boss saga where he finally goes from making ambigiously bad decisions to going full-on Kurtz, and it features a sniper lady who has trouble with the concept of clothing, stealing livestock via balloons, a horse that shits on command, a dog with an eyepatch, and Revolver Ocelot talking with a Texan accent.
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Sep 29, 2014 12:03
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hectorgrey posted:I did like the World on Fire book, actually; if memory serves, that was a pretty good espionage sourcebook regardless of which system you want to run your spy games in. It was pretty solid, yeah. Spycraft 1.0 supplements are filled with a lot of real-world espionage and military information that was more down to earth, which I can't vouch for the accuracy thereof (and would no doubt be dated now). The 1960s was a notable attempt to chronicle that decade as an espionage setting, and was played entirely straight from what I recall.
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Sep 29, 2014 13:09
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The 1960s is an excellent book. Top Secret /SI did a nice pair of books on real world spy agencies too and so did Millennium's End actually.
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Sep 29, 2014 17:06
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Halloween Jack posted:Well the thing is, Metal Gear Solid is a deliberate mockery of a spy game. It calls itself "tactical espionage action" and the bosses include a guy who controls bees and a grenade-lobbing fat man on rollerskates. Kojima knows exactly what he's doing. Each of the early Metal Gear Solid games go for slightly different tones. MGS1 is very much an 80's/90's action thriller in tone; you play a legendary badass ex-special forces guy called in to do the mission only he can do, to stop nuclear terrorists from using the latest high-tech superweapon, by infiltrating and shooting special forces terrorists. There's a geeky scientist and a sexy love interest, and lots of pathos around fighting your bother who hates you because you killed your father. The supernatural elements are largely an aspect of magical realism, and genre-appropriate, since they're a Magical Naive American and a Russian psychic. MGS2 is a self-critical story with much of the same genre-elements (it has to be, since it tries to emulate MGS1); you, (not-so-legendary rookie) badass special forces guy Raiden is called in to do the mission only you can do, to stop anti-eco-terrorists from destroying New York, by infiltrating and shooting rogue Russian special forces terrorists. Along the way you team up with a stranded Navy SEAL and you have to deal with your relationship with your girlfriend. Then things get metafictional and weird, because Kojima wanted to make a post-modern video game. As for the supernatural elements and weird characters, they're much of what MGS1 had taken to a more extreme level; a vampire, a woman with supernatural luck, and a fat man on roller skates. While one could say that Kojima included these as self-parody, I'm more inclined to say that Kojima just don't think that a vampire is out-of-genre for an action thriller with low-key supernatural elements, nor that a mad bomber on roller skates is "silly". MGS3 is self-parody and a loving pastiche of Bond films; the MGS "formula" is transported to the 1960's, the espionage angle is featured more heavily, and Snake and Eva's relationship is structured after the more action-y of the Bond girls, complete with ridiculous fanservice outfits and pre-credits sex. Since the formula has been transported to the 1960's, all the revolutionary high-tech weapons are suddenly things that would be high-tech in the 1960's, so everyone are in awe at Mi-24 Hinds and the Object 297's. The tone is far more goofy (see for example Para-Medic's report with Snake over food and B-movies). MGS3 is a loving parody and pastiche, but it's not really a "mockery"; everything is done in good sport and for fun. Kojima knows exactly what he's doing in each of these games, but with the exception of MGS2's post-modern critical self-analysis of the nature of sequels and video game violence, it's never really been about mocking or laughing at its audience. If you want to run MGS-style espionage, I'd recomment playing a super-competent character in a game where everyone aren't quite as competent as you. If you run it in GURPS, mooks have NPC-type Special Forces templates, while player characters have PC-type Special Forces templates and a ton of points and Advantages to represent how they're the best of the best. The guards may have Guns (Rifle)-13, but Solid Snake has Guns (Pistol)-18, Stealth-22, Hard To Kill 3, and Extra Attack. (Note: I have no idea what happens if you put four NPC-Green Berets with FAMAS rifles and a super-Special Ops character in an elevator and run combat. It may end horribly for Snake.)
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Sep 29, 2014 19:45
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An off-hand comment about a video game I've barely played generated more discussion than anything I've actually reviewed.
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Sep 29, 2014 19:58
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At least you didn't mention Dark Souls.
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Sep 29, 2014 20:05
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It'd probably end badly for Snake, since you don't get any body armour until after that fight and he starts off surrounded and unsurprised. That's the kind of situation that'd work better in SpyCraft, by virtue of being able to essentially ignore people shooting at you at higher levels.
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Sep 29, 2014 20:13
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LatwPIAT posted:Each of the early Metal Gear Solid games go for slightly different tones. MGS1 is very much an 80's/90's action thriller in tone; you play a legendary badass ex-special forces guy called in to do the mission only he can do, to stop nuclear terrorists from using the latest high-tech superweapon, by infiltrating and shooting special forces terrorists. There's a geeky scientist and a sexy love interest, and lots of pathos around fighting your bother who hates you because you killed your father. The supernatural elements are largely an aspect of magical realism, and genre-appropriate, since they're a Magical Naive American and a Russian psychic. Where would the games from MGS4 onwards fit in this? edit: Ratoslov posted:Pretty much this. Other games have problems with ludonarrative dissonance. Kojima revels in it. I mean, MGSV is the dark and gritty end of the Big Boss saga where he finally goes from making ambigiously bad decisions to going full-on Kurtz, and it features a sniper lady who has trouble with the concept of clothing, stealing livestock via balloons, a horse that shits on command, a dog with an eyepatch, and Revolver Ocelot talking with a Texan accent. If you actually think there is some connection between MGS and Socialist theatre that would be legitimately interesting to hear. I always took the poo poo jokes just to be the sanity check that even Kojima couldn't take all this nonsense seriously. But using the alienating effect of tonal inconsistency not to deflate his doctrinaire message (whatever it might be) but to foreground it sounds bizarre enough to be interesting. Personally I always thought it was just an anime thing. PoontifexMacksimus fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Sep 29, 2014 |
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Sep 29, 2014 20:16
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If your gonna play a spy game, you gotta look up the old Top Secret module http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Sprechenhaltestelle-Secret-Administrator-File/dp/0935696172 It's got all the poo poo you'd want to base any spy poo poo out of.
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Sep 29, 2014 20:56
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Those rumors bring back memories. The underground marketplace especially.
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Sep 29, 2014 21:01
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Halloween Jack posted:An off-hand comment about a video game I've barely played generated more discussion than anything I've actually (done). The Internet in a nutshell.
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Sep 29, 2014 21:08
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All this Spycraft and espionage talk has awakened my interest in checking out Spycraft. Aside from the main book, does anybody know if the supplements are any good?
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Sep 29, 2014 23:02
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Libertad! posted:All this Spycraft and espionage talk has awakened my interest in checking out Spycraft. I'm only familiar with the 1.0 supplements. I recall the various class guides as being variable quality but generally OK. The Shadowforce Archer stuff was pretty meh; it felt to me like an attempt to graft a White Wolf-style "clans" structure into a spy game in order to sell more splatbooks. It might be good if you like that type of gonzo superspy action, though.
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Sep 29, 2014 23:09
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The 1960s, as mentioned, is fantastic. The Splat books are decent enough. They expand on a lot of core books systems, have some pretty city maps, and some new gear along with adding extra classes and stuff. ShadowForce Archer is insane in a superspy so far over the top kind of way. I love it, but then Derek Flint and John Steed are personal heroes of mine. With 2.0, World on Fire is very good and I think almost essential. Real American H.E.R.O.ES IS GI Joe, Origin of the Species : Transmechs is Transformers. The Bag full of Guns series is all weapons and the 3 Agent X books are new single class frameworks.
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Sep 30, 2014 00:06
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I definitely agree with World on Fire - it has so much stuff about tradecraft, standard combat tactics, the way intelligence organisations operate and just general espionage goodness that I would honestly recommend it to anyone who wants to run a spy game, regardless of system.
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Sep 30, 2014 02:11
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 *Note: I was wrong in the Warlord's detail: they can recover expended maneuvers equal to their Charisma modifier on a successful Gambit (minimum 2), 1 on a failed one. Chapter Three: Systems and Use This section is the basic rundown of how Path of War's martial system works, and what all the terminology means. Some of it is what we covered earlier, some things are new to this chapter. Martial Abilities goes over the differences between maneuvers and stances, as well as the 3 different kinds of maneuvers: boosts, counters, and strikes. The in-game reasoning for why maneuvers are limited-use is because the character expended a portion of their energy, they're out of position and can't resume the necessary posture, or their mental focus must be regained. Readying Maneuvers is basically equivalent to a wizard preparing spells: characters must spend 10 minutes preparing a certain number of maneuvers they know to use in future encounters, and cannot leave maneuver slots open like clerics and wizards can do. A character has access to all of their stances in an encounter and can adapt between any of them. Initiating Stances and Maneuvers refers to the action necessary to use the maneuver or stance in combat. Basically a swift/move/etc action, and unlike spells characters don't need to speak in order to use it (unless the maneuver specifically says otherwise). Stances are always initiated as a swift action. In general, stances and maneuvers do not require Concentration to use or maintain and do not provoke an attack of opportunity unless it says otherwise in the description. However, enemy interference (such as readying an action, disarming a necessary weapon for a discipline, etc) can foil a maneuver which is still considered "used." In most cases, a character must be able to move freely in order to initiate maneuvers and stances, meaning a grapple can shut you down. Libertad's Notes: I have mixed feelings regarding grappling being a maneuver-foil. There are so many huge beasts in Pathfinder who can overshadow PCs own modifiers that this can end up a really common hindrance, doubly so that so many maneuvers are melee-based. Initiator Level is simply like a Caster Level. It determines your overall martial skill, and what level maneuvers and stances you can access. Much like wizard spells, maneuvers are grouped into levels 1 through 9; in order to use 1st level maneuvers, you must have an initiator level of 1, for 2nd level maneuvers your initiator level must be 3, 3rd level maneuvers for 5, and so on and so forth. Much like Tome of Battle, Path of War's very dip-friendly: your Initiator Level is equal to your level in a martial class (Stalker/Warder/Warlord) + 1/2 your levels in all other classes. However, multi-classing between the three martial classes results in variant initiator levels for them: a 9th level Stalker/5th level Warlord treats his Initiator Level as 11 for Stalker maneuvers and 9th for Warlord maneuvers. Maneuvers of differing classes are readier and performed separately. Resolving a Stance or Maneuver discusses the effects of finishing said maneuvers' effects. It's a basic description of attack rolls (offensive maneuvers which target an opponent, even with a save, are considered attacks), bonus types (untyped bonuses always stack), and actions during a maneuver (a description providing the type of action necessary during the maneuver. Now we discuss the Recovery of Expended Maneuvers. Maneuvers are recovered either via a special action such as a class feature, or at the end of an encounter. Instead of being based on a per-day limit, maneuvers get recovered at the end of combat. In the original Tome of Battle, an "encounter" was vaguely worded so that the recovery of maneuvers was up to DM Fiat. In Path of War, an "Encounter" is defined as a period of time when initiative begins (starting with the surprise round, if any) to the last initiative ended and after a total time of one minute has elapsed without combat resuming. Basically, if a party kills 5 goblins and 1 minute elapses, maneuvers are recovered. Same if the party flees the encounter and the goblins don't give chase, and they don't encounter any other opponents within 1 minute.  Martial Abilities and Magic discuss the potential interaction with spells. The vast majority of maneuvers and stances are extraordinary abilities, which means that they are completely non-magical in nature (Pathfinder's RAW mentions that extraordinary abilities can break the laws of physics as well understand them, so it's not just this book). A few of them are supernatural abilities and obey all the rules as such, but maneuvers and stances are never spells or spell-like abilities. The use of a martial maneuver are generally instantaneous and not long-lasting, and thus obvious to observers. However, people can identify certain ones via Knowledge (Martial). Bonuses and penalties of spells and stances/maneuvers can stack with each other, provided that the bonuses don't overlap (ex. an Insight bonus from a Stance won't stack with an Insight bonus from a spell). Path of War also presents two new damage types, Profane and Sacred. Profane damage are energies powered with sheer Evil and deal 1.5 times as much damage on good-aligned characters and outsider with the [Good] subtype. Sacred damage is the same mechanics-wise, but it's holy and affects evil-aligned characters and [Evil] outsiders. Stance and Maneuver Description This section provides us with a standard format for stance and maneuver entries. We also get a more in-depth, in-game description of the various martial disciplines here for the first time! You might notice that two disciplines, Black Seraph and Silver Crane, are not granted by any of the three classes. This is intentional; the disciplines are learned by joining a respective Martial Tradition (organization) detailed in Chapter Seven. Black Seraph is a cruel art passed down from fiendish tutors as a way of enticing mortals into serving them. This disicpline focuses on powerful two-handed strikes, infliction of pain, and dirty fighting. Its associated skill's Intimidate, and the associated weapons are axes, flails, and pole arms. Broken Blade's origins lie in a swordsman whose signature weapon was sundered on the field of battle. He had a flash of insight, realizing that his training regimens made his own body a deadly weapon. Ever since it's been taught in monasteries and passed down from tutor to pupil. Its associated skill is Acrobatics, and the associated weapons are close, monk, and natural. Yes, you can use bite and claw attacks in addition to unarmed strikes with Broken Blade! The discipline of the Golden Lion is a practice passed between war leaders, generals, chieftains, and militia leaders over generations to bring their fighting units into a cohesive whole. It's mostly beneficial to warriors with allies, and the maneuvers and disciplines are geared towards indirect aid. Its associated skill is Diplomacy, and the associated weapons are heavy blades, hammers, and pole arms. Iron Tortoise arose from the need to protect oneself and one's allies during wartime. Phalanx fighters knew that their shields were just as great a boon to themselves as to the soldiers standing next to them, and the discipline relies upon a shield to foil enemy actions. Its associated skill is Bluff, and the associated weapons are axes, heavy blades, and close weapons. Believed to be the oldest of all disciplines, Primal Fury combines cold rage with calculated intellect for remorseless warfare. Its earliest practitioners were hunters who emulated the actions of great predators and spread their teachings everywhere. Its associated skill is Survival, and the associated weapons are axes, heavy blades, and hammers. Scarlet Thrones owes its invention to duelist aristocrats who realized that the realities of war made one-on-one matches impractical. This brief description's pretty great: quote:Regal and unflinching, a practitioner of Scarlet Throne owns any field of battle he walks upon, for it is his court and there he rules, painting his chambers red with the blood of his enemies. Its associated skill is Sense Motive, and the associated weapons are heavy blades, light blades, and spears. Silver Crane is the celestial counterpart to Black Seraph. It can only be learned and used by those of good alignment inspired by angels and other heavenly outsiders. Its stances and maneuvers focus on insight and combat-predictions to counter-act the forces of evil. Its associated skill is Perception, and the associated weapons are bows, hammers, and spears. Solar Wind originated among the archers of the windy plains, who used the terrain to deliver deadly force across vast distances. Its maneuvers and stances include ricochet shots, precision strikes, ammo which can be conjured from phantom force or hit multiple opponents, and counters which shoot enemy projectiles out of the sky. Its associated skill is Perception, and its associated weapons include bows, crossbows, firearms, and thrown. All maneuvers of the discipline require the use of a weapon from these groups, and thrown weapons which can be used for melee must be used for their intended ranged capacity. Steel Serpent dates back to ancient times, hailing from those who practiced in the dark of night, belonging to hidden organizations who valued the art of a swift, clean kill. Stealth, trickery, poison, and the knowledge of anatomy are important features of this discipline. Its associated skill is Heal, and the associated weapons are light blades, close weapons, and monk weapons.  Thrashing Dragon is popular among both strict aesthetics and daredevils for its grace and quickness. Its practitioners are mostly two-weapon fighters with extensive acrobatic and athletic training. Its associated skill is Acrobatics, and the associated weapons include close weapons, light blades, and double weapons. Veiled Moon is a strange and esoteric discipline, practitioners appear to be "half-in, half-out," living in two worlds at once. This is not far from the truth, as Veiled Moon makes use of connection to the Astral and Ethereal planes for greater harmony between the spirit and natural worlds. Its maneuvers are the most supernatural of the bunch, including teleportation effects, assuming incorporeal form, and even being able to affect said forms. Its associated skill is Stealth and the associated weapons include light blades, double weapons, and spears. The rest of the section talks about basic stuff, like the range of the attack, descriptors for types (fire, teleportation, evil, etc), the maneuver/stance's level, and the action necessary to activate it. What's interesting is that some maneuvers and stances have prerequisites, usually a minimum number of known maneuvers of that same discipline before it can be learned. We also get a run-down on boosts, counters, strikes, and stances. Interestingly, boosts and stances always require a swift action to activate, while counters are immediate actions (meaning that they're activated on an offending enemy's turn when they perform a necessary action). Boosts which apply to attacks only apply to attacks made within the round it was initiated. Counters can be used against critical hits unless the threatening roll was a natural 20. Strikes are almost always standard or full-round actions which is resolved with an attack roll, damage modifiers, and base weapon damage. Damage from strikes can be added onto a critical hit, but are not multiplied. As strikes require a specific form of attack, users cannot benefit from spells and effects that grant extra attacks (such as haste) while making a strike. Additionally, actions such as disarm and trip cannot be combined with strikes unless it says otherwise in the description. Also, Vital Strike and its subsequent feat chain cannot be used in conjunction with strikes. However, boosts and counters can be used in conjunction with it. The rationale is that Vital Strike requires the use of a standard action to activate it, making it very much like a martial maneuver. Stances can be switched from one to another in the same round as a swift action, allowing for some creative combinations in a combat round. They also count as maneuvers for the purposes of meeting prerequisites for higher-level maneuvers, feats, and prestige classes. Stances end if the user is rendered helpless (immobile). Our chapter ends with discussion Learning New Stances and Maneuvers. It explains that the per-level learning is assumed to be the result of practice and training between adventures and while resting, as well as knowledge gained from honing their abilities in dangerous situations. It's possible for martial disciples to learn new stances and maneuvers independent of leveling up, but that's up to the DM. Should this be permitted, the training regimen takes a minimum number of days equal to 3 x the maneuver/stance's level, as well as a fair cost to represent the resources used for the training (500 gold pieces per level is the default). At the end of the training, they make a Knowledge (Martial) check with a DC equal to 20 + (2 x the maneuver's level). If the check succeeds, the maneuver is learned automatically and in addition to any others the next level up, while a failure means that they must repeat the process anew (although they do not need to pay money again). The only restriction is that the martial disciple cannot learn a maneuver too high for their current Initiator Level.  Libertad's Thoughts: This chapter contains a lot of information you'll already be familiar with, but it's a necessary read in that it takes about some minor details not included in the rest of the book. Next time we're covering The Art of the Blade, which details all the maneuvers and stances. It's a doozy of a chapter, covering 89 of the book's 165 pages. For that reason I'm going to cover it in parts. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Oct 1, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 03:44
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Libertad!, how does Path of War compare with Tome of Battle so far?
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Sep 30, 2014 08:42
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Let's just crank this out. Combat! Two big differences from the regular D20 we know and “love” are the fluid initiative, where your initiative score in a round can change based on the actions you take, and armor providing damage reduction instead of making you harder to hit. Other than that, anyone solidly familiar with D20 combat can likely suss out the rest with minimal fuss. There’s a billion different actions you can take and lots of conditions and special rules for different damage types. (The damage from vacuum exposure and lasers have their own damage modifiers, for example) There are a few noteworthy particulars: First, there's a table for the starting distance between participants in combat based on terrain. Critical hits don't do extra damage. Instead there are three possible effects, based on who is getting hit. If a Special Character (including PCs) with any vitality points left is hit, the attacker can spend an action die to inflict damage to Wounds instead, and if the damage exceed the targets Constitution, two dice may be spent to cause a critical injury. With no Vitality, the damage automatically goes to Wounds and a critical injury requires only one die. Against Standard Characters (Mook NPCs), vehicles and items, one to four dice can be spent and each causes them to be affected as though they had failed that many damage saves along with having to roll normally to resist the damage. Spending no dice on a Threat means it stays only a Threat. There's a table for what happens on critical misses based on the number of dice spent to activate it and the type of attack.  loving fire Characters with Vitality and Wounds don't suffer any effect from damage until any of the following occur: - Being reduced to 0 Vitality or losing any Wounds makes you fatigued. - Unconscious at 0 Wounds, dying a -1 or lower, dead at -10 and body destroyed at -25. - With 25+ damage in a single hit, make a Fort save or take a critical injury, if the damage is 50+ you also start dying on a failed save. Standard NPCs just have a damage save to resist damage, instead of having to track Wounds and Vitality. This doesn't cut down on bookkeeping however, because each save is made against the total amount of damage they've taken in combat, so  There's special rules for lots of different damage types: Acid for corrosive substances. Bang is for things like the disorienting effects of sudden loud noises like flashbangs. Cold damage for temperatures below freezing. Collision damage from things running into other things. Contagion damage from poison, disease, radiation and chemicals. Electrical damage shocks the gently caress out of you. Explosive damage from bombs and what not. Spreads out and lessens with distance. Falling damage from... guess. Fire damage for burnin'. Flash damage for blinding and disorienting lights. Heat damage is the opposite of cold, for temperatures over 90 Fahrenheit. Laser damage, for lasers, which cannot be dodged. :science101: Sneak Attack damage is this seriously a special damage type, what the hell. Stress damage for when the rat race just starts getting to you. Subdual damage is non-lethal. Vacuum damage IN SPACE. Table for hearing and vision modifiers. For example, in "Dim" light, a character's "Visual Increment" is reduced by 30ft. (In Spycraft, perception checks are affected by range the same way attack rolls are.) Lots of different actions, including different ones for punching and kicking. Dramatic Conflicts! These rules are for non-combat conflicts that are important enough to warrant some more attention than just a complex skill challenge. Each dramatic conflict has a Predator and Prey, the sides seeking to achieve something and avoid it, respectively. How close they are is represented by Lead. The predator wins at 0 Lead and the prey at 10. The dramatic conflicts are Chases(predator is trying to catch the prey), Brainwashing(the predator seeks to alter the mind of the prey), Hack (the predator tries to compromise a computer system guarded by the prey), Infiltration(the predator wants to worm their way into the working of the prey organization), Interrogation(the predators try to extract information from the prey), Manhunt(the predator is looking to track down the prey) and Seduction(the predator seeks to subvert and co-opt the prey). Each conflict has its own skills and Strategies that each side can use. Each round, each side in the conflict picks a Strategy and makes a roll with a skill determined by the strategy and with results set by the same. The winner gets to select Advantages that can give Lead to various side advantages. There are mechanics for organizations, including the faction that Faction-affiliated characters work for. Organizations have five ratings: Goals, History, Tools, Image and Sites. Goals are what the organization seeks to achieve . The organization can provide members involved in activities related to their Goals extra action dice. These range from skill checks to triggering events in the game. History is important events that shaped the organization. Members gain bonuses to action dice rolls for certain skill checks based on the history of their organization. Image is how well known the organization goals, methods, leaders, members and sites are. This can either protect members via good public reputation or help them remain secret. Sites are important locations and facilities for the organization,providing bonuses to request checks and reducing the time for them. Tools increase the access to high quality equipment an organization's members have. Normally, members are limited to a maximum caliber of II. Each point of Tools let's the organization increase this maximum caliber in two gear categories.  Fanservice ninja twins Finally is Chapter 7 for the Game Control. Some of the stuff in here is hilarious. There's a lot of rules in here that, for another game, would just be advice and suggestions. Starting off, we soon learn what the GC can spend their action dice on: - Boosting an NPC roll or defence. - Boosting the DC of a roll. - Activating an NPC threat or enemy error. - Heal an NPC. - Promote a standard NPC to a special character. - Save a Special NPC from death or capture. - Add a campaign quality. - Prompt a dramatic scene. Also... Spycraft 2.0 posted:spend action dice to prompt “events,” impromptu Campaign qualities for customizing your game along with particular combination of qualities for certain genres. Guidelines for designing missions and RULES for deciding the objective of the mission. For example, maybe they need to succeed on a skill check, how will you ever decide what the DC of that check should be? Don't worry, Spycraft has you covered. Lots of XP modifiers and Reputation/Net Worth penalties for certain secrecy requirements. Add a time limit? Rules for giving more XP. The NPC system is actually pretty neat. Cross reference the average level of the party with the 'grade' from 1 to 10 of the NPC in six areas (initiative, attack, defense, resilience, damage save/Vitality and Wounds, and skill competence modifiers) throw on some qualities that give special effects, done. Grades are relative measures, so that grade I is always crummy, from levels 1 to 20, while X is always bad rear end. Spycraft 2.0 posted:"Friends help you move, real friends help you move bodies. Disposition is a mechanic where the opinion of an NPC to another character modifies their actions and attempts to manipulate or persuade them. The dispositions go from Helpful (most positive), Supportive, Friendly, Intrigued, Neutral, Aloof, Unfriendly, Hostile, Adversarial (most not positive). Each applies modifiers to "intimacy checks" (attempts to deceive or coerce), "fondness checks" (attempts to persuade), loyalty checks (who they side with if forced to choose out of combat), if and who they help in a fight and how long skill checks with the "Disposition" tag targeting them take. Contacts! Contacts are people you know, that know other people that know skills/have connections you need. Finally we cap off the book with generic advice. Analysis What strikes me as so  about Spycraft isn't that it's ultra mega because there's lots of other games that double down on that much, much more. Instead, it's because there are a lot of things that feel much more innovative mechanically but seen though a very bizarre lens. Like the abilities I mentioned back in the section about the classes, which I call "never-fail" abilities because they cause you to automatically succeed at certain routine checks in areas your class should be exceedingly competent in. This is basically the idea of "Say Yes or Roll the Dice" put in a form that's comprehensible to someone who can't conceive of the idea that a player might say "I do X" and the GC going "Okay."Is this the mindset that the writers had creating it, or that they thought their target audience would have playing it? Almost certainly not. But it's still true because Death of the Author.  Another unusual things is the way that certain GC things that should exist "behind the curtain" are restricted by rules. Like, there are rules that are supposed to be followed to have something unexpected happen in the game. Why should there be any kind of game-defined process for that? This is distinct from lots of rules-as-physics games where the game world that the characters exist in has very intricate rules governing it and the expectations the game gives for the meta realm that the players inhabit can be summed up as "do whatever."In Summary Spycraft is weird, and owns.
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Sep 30, 2014 12:05
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ThisIsNoZaku posted:There's special rules for lots of different damage types: Very glad they toned down the damage types in Fantasy Craft. It's a nice idea but there are just too many types with too many special rules. Similarly, fluid initiative is a cute idea but a pain in the rear end, which they also nixed in FC too! ThisIsNoZaku posted:Dramatic Conflicts! Surprised to see this covered so briefly. It's a cool idea to have noncombat systems covered in a combat-like depth but at the same time also is like having a variant combat system for all of the above. The game comes with pages and pages of cards for you to copy / print so you can reference just what the hell the different strategies do. I actually wish the game had tossed out normal d20 combat and had combat based off of this system; it'd be a neat system to have at the core of the game rather than on the edges.
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Sep 30, 2014 13:02
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Fluid Initiative COULD be a good idea, especially if it let you do have moves that messed with the enemy turn order, but it seems like it'd be too big a pain to track.
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Sep 30, 2014 16:00
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Surprised to see this covered so briefly. It's a cool idea to have noncombat systems covered in a combat-like depth but at the same time also is like having a variant combat system for all of the above. The game comes with pages and pages of cards for you to copy / print so you can reference just what the hell the different strategies do. I actually wish the game had tossed out normal d20 combat and had combat based off of this system; it'd be a neat system to have at the core of the game rather than on the edges. I remembered writing more than that, but I guess I accidentally cut it at some point while revising. I'll add it back later. I also am a fan of these sorts of mechanics. One of my least favorite thing in games is whenever something that should be a big deal mechanically boils down to "just roleplay it" because it's me, I am the .wdarkk posted:Fluid Initiative COULD be a good idea, especially if it let you do have moves that messed with the enemy turn order, but it seems like it'd be too big a pain to track. It's way too granular in Spycraft, in my opinion, and nothing is really done with it. It's just there. Like, in Exalted for example, the tick system is meant to be a major consideration in a fight (specifically, players are encouraged to consider how to make as many attacks as they possibly can as often as they can) but in Spycraft it's really just "also, initiative changes." ThisIsNoZaku fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 19:26
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 Chapter 5, Part 2: Action & Combat Dune has a fairly involved combat system, with many special combat maneuvers and dueling rules you can really sink your teeth into. In fact, for better or for worse, the combat rules mirror the fiction of the original novel: Hand-to-hand combat gets a lot of detail, ranged weapons are an afterthought, and large-scale warfare is mostly left to your imagination. Rounds and Actions Dune uses an action point system, set in a five-second Combat Round. Every combat move is either an Action or Reaction, helpfully coded as A or R with the number of required Option Points. (A Ranged Attack, an action that costs 1 point, is A1.) It quickly becomes apparent that Coordination is the godly attribute for combat. Coordination (Dexterity) is used for most combat rolls, and Coordination (Reaction) determines your initiative order--no rolling--and the number of Option Points you get to execute maneuvers. Dune doesn’t let you use your Option Points all at once when it’s your turn, nor does it use “scripted” combat. Instead, everyone declares their first Actions in initiative order, and then declare any Reactions to other characters. Once these are resolved, another series of Actions and Reactions begins until everyone is out of Option Points, at which point a new Combat Round begins. (The language can become confusing, because Dune talks about more than one “round of actions” happening in a Combat Round.) The catch is that after your first Action, the second costs +1 points, the third costs +2 points, and so on. Reactions work the same way, and are tracked separately. You can’t declare Actions if you don’t have the Option Points to pay for them, but you can declare any number of Reactions. However, If you don’t have enough points to pay for it, you take the difference as a penalty to your roll. (All weapons have a base Difficulty, so at some point, there’s no reason to declare more defenses--you couldn’t possibly roll higher than their base Difficulty to hit.) For example, say Duncan Idaho has Coordination 5, giving him 5 Option Points. On the first round of Actions, he makes an Armed Attack (A1) with his kindjal. He also declares a Block (R1) against an attacking Sardaukar trooper, and another Block (R2) against a Harkonnen thug. The second Block costs an extra point because it’s his second Reaction. In the next series of actions, he takes no Actions but is forced to Block (R3) a third time. He only has 1 Option Point left, so he suffers a -2 penalty to his roll. There are optional rules for side-based initiative, surprise tests, and lastly, for fatigue, which takes away Option Points in subsequent rounds for those who fail a Physique test. (I’m all for making Physique more meaningful, but what Narrator wants to make every combatant roll, every round?) There is also a table for movement and terrain modifiers while in combat, but unless one side is fleeing, movement rates and distance are only meaningful to gun-wielding characters. Attacking and defending Attack and defense rolls are simple, using Coordination (Dexterity) and Armed Combat, Ranged Combat, or Unarmed Combat. The attacker’s base Difficulty is determined by their weapon--melee weapons have one Difficulty, ranged weapons have a Difficulty for each range category. Defensive Reactions are more varied. The Dodge maneuver is a roll to change the Difficulty to hit you, Block is a roll to reduce damage, while special maneuvers like Parry turn the to-hit roll into an Opposed Test. But as a general rule, rolling higher than your attacker negates the attack.  As for damage, unarmed attacks do Physique (Strength) damage plus a maneuver bonus. This is stun damage unless you’re trained in martial arts or the Weirding Way. Melee weapon attacks do damage based on the weapon, and Physique doesn’t give a bonus. (This makes some sense, since most fighting is done with short blades, often with deliberately slow strikes to penetrate a shield.) As for guns, lasguns do ridiculous damage, while other guns do a small and insignificant amount of damage on their own. An excellent to-hit roll doesn’t translate into higher damage unless you rolled a Dramatic Success. (There are rules for cover, which gives the attacker a penalty based on coverage, and the defender some armor based on the material. However, there are essentially two kinds of guns: lasguns, and guns that shoot darts and pellets and rely on poison to inflict injury. Lasguns cut through solid rock, everything else will bounce off a wooden door.) Dying and Staying Alive When you take damage, you might get wounded and suffer penalties. You reduce the damage of each hit by your Resistance, which is equal to your Physique (Constitution) plus any armor you’re wearing. Furthermore, there are seven wound levels, from Healthy to Killed, and you can take damage equal to your Physique (Constitution) before dropping to the next level. A character with high Physique can shrug off several times more damage than an average character. When you reach the Incapacitated level, you’re knocked out and effectively out of the fight. Stunners and needlers can be loaded with narcotic ammo that knocks you out as soon as you hit the Stunned level. That can make them one-hit weapons...fortunately, their base damage is poo poo against anyone with decent Resistance. As for armor, there are two kinds: body armor, and body shields that use a Holtzmann field to deflect incoming objects. Armor increases your Resistance, while body shields work by increasing the Difficulty to hit you. Body shields have an adjustable setting, but high settings chew up battery power. Dune’s equipment list doesn’t include a huge variety of body armor. Wealthy Nobles carry body shields, and elite soldiers do the same or wear “battledress” made of breathable mesh fabric that’s as effective as any mail or Kevlar. There are also rules for powered armor, even though that doesn’t appear in the books. It’s a heavy metal bodysuit with servos that increase Strength.  There are rules for getting hurt by drowning, falling, radiation, and so on, and a big table of optional hit locations, but gently caress all that. Poison, on the other hand, is a special element of the setting and deserves special mention. There’s a potentially infinite number of made-up exotic sci-fi poisons, so the game divides them into 5 categories. Type I: No effect for (Physique) hours. Then you take 1 point of damage per hour until stunned, then 1d6 damage per hour until you get treatment or die. Type II: No effect for (Physique)*10 minutes. Then you take 1 point of damage per 15 minutes until stunned, then 1d6 damage per hour until you get treatment or die. Type III: 1 point of damage per minute until stunned, then 1d6 damage per minute until you get treatment or die. Type IV: 1d6 damage on contact and every round until you get treatment or die. Type V: Specialized nonlethal nerve toxins that can inflict blindness, deafness, paralysis, etc. Types I-III represent poisons that can be present in food, drink, or a gas. It’s worth noting that the Great Convention unequivocally bans the use of poison in weapons of mass deployment, and advanced poisons can only be used against declared targets in kanly. Type IV is lethal contact poison, and Type V is, of course, for plot devices. As for healing, First Aid is used to stabilize victims of poison, and can instantly heal one or two wound levels in the field, but after that you can’t benefit from more attempts. Medical Arts, on the other hand, gives bonuses to your Physique rolls to heal wounds naturally. Alright, now that the basic rules are out of the way, the real fun is in all the special combat maneuvers you can do. This is where those special Traits like Dueling, Shield Fighting, and Weirding Combat come into play.  Pickle surprise! General Options Aim (A1): You get +1 to your next attack. A good use of any leftover Option Points at the end of a round. Dive for Cover (R2): Make an Athletics Test and you move to nearby cover, gaining Full Cover but falling prone. Dodge (R2): If you want to Dodge in reaction to attack, you have to declare it before the attacker rolls. Your Dodge total becomes the new Difficulty to hit you. Drop & Roll (A2 or R2): Make an Athletics Test, and you get the benefits of a Dodge plus reducing the cost to Draw or pick up a weapon. Hand Switch (A0 or R0): This is an interesting move because it captures a bit of the setting, where it comes up in a couple of dueling scenes. When you Hand Switch, you quickly pat your weapon from one hand to the other, which will foil a Disarm attempt and also give you a bonus to your next attack. (If you don’t have Bimanual Fighting, the off-hand penalty will offset it.) Regain Footing (A1 or R1): Used to stand up from prone. Close Combat Options These are only possible with Armed Combat and Unarmed Combat. Armed Attack (A1): A standard melee weapon attack. Attack Sinister (A1 or R1): An attack with an off-hand weapon. This incurs a penalty, but sinister attacks can be counted as Reactions for purposes of counting your multiple actions. Bind (A1): A grapple. It can be used armed or unarmed, and prevents you and your opponent from moving until one of you breaks free. Block (R1): When you Block, as opposed to a Dodge or Parry, your roll subtracts from your attacker’s damage roll instead of making it harder for them to hit you in the first place. Charge (A3): You can make your full move and attack, with a bonus to damage and a chance to knock your enemy down. Disarm (A2): You knock your enemy’s weapon away. You take a penalty if you’re unarmed. Foot Attack (A1): A kick. Difficulty 7, 1d6+Strength+3 damage. Hand Attack (A1): A punch. Difficulty 6, 1d6+Strength. Given that the difference in Difficulty is slight and your enemies will probably be Dodging anyway, there is little reason to ever punch instead of kick. Press (A1): After a Bind, either figher can Press to break free and inflict penalties on his opponent in the next round. Tackle (A3): Similar to Charge, you move, Bind to an opponent, and knock them down. Dueling Options A-ha! Here’s where those thematic Advantages come in. You need the Dueling advantage to use these maneuvers, as well as a dueling weapon: a sword, slip-tip, or kindjal. Feint (A0): A fake attack. You declare an Armed Attack, hopefully provoking enemies into wasting Option Points by declaring defensive actions, then reveal it was just a Feint. Since Dune doesn’t require you to play “combat cards” or suchlike, I suppose you’re free to declare an Armed Attack was really a Feint right up until you would have rolled dice. Counter-feint (R0): Fiddly as hell. When you declare a Counter-feint, you can change it to a different Reaction when an Attack turns out to be real, but your new Reaction costs double the normal Option Points. Parry (R1): Like a Dodge, but cheaper, and using your Armed Combat skill. Parry Sinister (A1 or R1): The parry equivalent of an Attack Sinister. Riposte (R1): An Armed Attack that you can only declare after a Counter-feint or Parry. If it follows a counter-feint, it costs no Option Points.  Only the slow face penetrates the shield. Shield-Fighting Options Body shields can only be penetrated by objects at very low velocity—-perhaps the speed with which you’d absent-mindedly reach out to pick up a mug. If either the shielded fighter or their enemy move too quickly, they harmlessly bounce off one another. You can only use these maneuvers if you have the Shield-Fighting advantage. You need a body shield for defense, and a dueling weapon for attack—-Slow Attacks are so slow that a blunt weapon couldn’t possibly hurt anyone. Slow Attack (A2): A Slow Attack is a carefully timed Armed Attack that negates the penalty to hit a shielded opponent. Shield Defense (R0): A successful Armed Combat Test negates the benefit of the Slow Attack. Slow Attack Sinister (A2 or R2): Exactly what it says. Martial Combat Options The Unarmed Combat skill is goofy. It has three specializations—Brawling, Martial Training, and Wrestling. Using these special maneuvers doesn’t require a Trait, just the Unarmed Combat (martial training) specialization. Brawling and Wrestling don’t get special maneuvers. The only apparent advantage to Brawling is that it’s used for improvised weapons like bottles and chains, in a setting where those aren’t very useful. (Would you bet on the Sharks and the Jets to take out the Sardaukar?) As for Wrestling…I think they forgot about it. Presumably your specialization bonus would apply to Bind, Press, and Tackle maneuvers, but I can’t find anywhere it says so. Body Throw (A2): After a Bind, you can break free and throw your enemy, inflicting 1d3 damage. Difficulty 9. Driving Kick (A1): Like a foot attack, but it’s Difficulty 8 and does 2d6+1+Strength lethal damage. Power Strike (A1): Like a hand attack, but at Difficulty 7 and doing 1d6+3 lethal damage. Manual Disarm (A2): Like a Disarm, but you take no penalty for disarming someone with your bare hands. Weirding Combat Options The awesome martial arts of the Bene Gesserit, these maneuvers require the Weirding Combat advantage. Blinding Attack (A?): This adds to another Unarmed attack, allowing you to spend extra Option points for extra damage on a one-for-one basis. Deft Precision (A?): Like Blinding Attack, except that your Option Point spends increase your roll to hit. Blurring Motion (R1): A Dodge, but cheaper. It also says that it’s handled as an Opposed Test…this is weird, because attack and defense actions already effectively work like Opposed Test. The only difference it makes is that with an Opposed Test, it doesn’t matter if the attacker beats the base Difficulty of their weapon. But, anyway, it’s a cheaper Dodge. Ranged Combat Options Ranged combat gets short shrift in Dune. There are no special maneuvers for it, really; you have either a silly little dart gun or a lasgun which comes with the risk of a nuclear explosion if it hits a shield. Happy hunting. Reload (A1 or R1): You reload your gun. Ranged Attack (A1): You shoot a gun or throw a knife. Ranged Attacks can only be Dodged. Autofire (A2 or A3): Nobody in Dune uses machineguns, really, but lasguns have “arc” and “full burn” modes that correspond to burst-fire and autofire. Calibration (A0): Used to change the mode on a lasgun or stunner. Cover Fire (A0 or R0): You lay down a laser arc that attacks everyone in an area. It has a stiff penalty, and is more useful for covering an escape. The combat chapter ends with a well-made quick-reference sheet, and an example of combat. In the example, two swordmasters and a Mentat stumble upon a group of three saboteurs planting an explosive. The Swordmasters draw their blades and make quick work of the thugs as the Mentat is aiming his stunner. However, the Mentat’s success on a Projection test reveals that these three were just a diversion--saving the three from being ambushed by five approaching enemy soldiers.  Alright, shift’s over. It’s spice-thirty, am I right? Overall, I like Dune’s combat system. It’s primary fault is that some of the maneuvers are too fiddly. Some require a Test before you can successfully do something unopposed, like fast-drawing a weapon. More importantly, there are too many maneuvers which change the basic mechanic of how attacks and defenses work--Block rolls to reduce the attacker’s damage, Dodge increases the Difficulty to hit you, and other maneuvers change the resolution method to an opposed Test (which is only slightly different from the way Dodge already works). But that being said, this is not hard to simplify. In fact, if I was running a game where dueling was paramount, like a Highlander game or something, this is the ruleset I’d look at first. The real problem with Dune’s combat rules is what’s missing. There are no rules for explosives, artillery, or vehicles, nor any rules for unit tactics or mass battles. That’s pretty important since war is a huge part of the setting, and characters in the book wage war with everything from guerilla tactics and suicide bombers to mortars and giant worms. In a later chapter, we’ll see that there are rules for handling an entire military campaign as a House Venture. But those are handled with a single skill roll, which belies the need for a Warmaster to spend points on several different skills to reflect their military prowess. (In fact, the designers seem to have forgotten that the Armament skill even exists—all mention of using lasguns refers to the Ranged Combat skill.) The problem lies in the source material itself. Warfare in Dune is extremely baroque. We know that the Guild’s monopoly on space travel makes it impossible to wage interstellar warfare, that the Great Convention outlaws nuclear weapons, and that combined with the effectiveness of Holtzmann shields, this makes small armies of elite infantry a serious force. But does that mean that when two Houses declare war, they send gangs of swashbucklers to settle it with knives? Are all forms of industrial warfare obsolete, or will a body shield fail you when a bomb blows up the hill you’re standing on? All of the fighting seen in the first few novels is under unique circumstances on a unique planet. The Fremen wage guerilla warfare against the Harkonnens, the Sardaukar launch a secret and illegal attack on the Atreides, and it all happens on a world where Holtzmann shields don’t work and most of the planet hasn’t been mapped. The event that could answer these questions—Paul’s great jihad—-takes place between Dune and Dune Messiah and is hardly depicted at all. Ultimately, the way Herbert rationalizes “rayguns and rapiers” in the Imperium is just as fanciful as it is in Burroughs’ Barsoom or Vance’s Tschai. That’s all well and good for an adventure novel, but when translating Dune into a game, it means the game designers have to make decisions about the setting and define its boundaries so that the players can engage with it. The skills in this game imply that armoured warfare does happen, and they state outright that biological and chemical weapons are banned along with atomics. Besides that, it’s up to the Narrator to figure it out.
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Sep 30, 2014 20:19
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wdarkk posted:Fluid Initiative COULD be a good idea, especially if it let you do have moves that messed with the enemy turn order, but it seems like it'd be too big a pain to track. If it had some central game consequence, that would be neat, but it's just too fiddly to be handy in Spycraft 2.0. Like, I could see doing some weird system where like initiative doubled as some form of HP or resource, but as just something where you punch somebody and they drop 2 initiative is a good example of a significant bookkeeping addition with little actual consquence . The same could be said of the tick system from Exalted 2e... which really is just a phase system, honestly. In theory that kind of thing can be interesting if you're weighing the pros and cons of a low-tick action versus a high-tick action, but in reality it's mostly just charop axis where you drop your speed as low as possible to chip away at your foe's mote pool with cheap pokes. It's the kind of thing that works better in CRPGs; I'm reminded of Zeboyd's Penny Arcade games where characters have the ability to "knock back" foes in the initiative order, which becomes very important since enemies escalate in power each round. It's possible at a tabletop to make ways to have it easier to track through phase wheels or trackers but you have to have a really compelling reason to add that.
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Sep 30, 2014 20:22
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ThisIsNoZaku posted:There's special rules for lots of different damage types: For a list that separates collision damage from falling damage and explosions/fire/heat the lack of pressure or drowning/asphyxiation damage seems conspicuous. Could you stand at the bottom of the ocean or inside a gas giant (with a non-corrosive atmosphere) to no ill effect? Edit: I guess "explosive" has to primarily account for the shockwave since shrapnel/heat/catching on fire would be covered by other types. And maybe "subdual" includes getting chocked...? PoontifexMacksimus fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 20:55
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Uh, it's been a while. Where was I? Moving on with Chapter 4, Being the MC. Managing NPCs So, like in Apocalypse World and other PbtA games, NPCs don't really work the same as PCs in Monsterhearts. As you may or may not know, all rolls in PbtA games are made by players. NPCs do have rules associated with them, but the real purpose of NPCs in PbtA games is to give a context to the Moves the MC makes. In a more traditional RPG the GM would declare that the group of thugs are gunning at the PCs and roll for each thug's attack roll against the PCs, then declare what happens. Because in PbtA games all the rolls are made by players, the same situation could be presented as the MC declaring that the PCs are about to come under fire (a soft move) followed by asking "What do you do?" This might trigger moves on the players' part (in Monsterhearts, probably run away if they try to get out from the situation, or hold steady if they're trying to do something risky under fire), or it might even escalate straight into a hard move (say a player decides that their character will just stand there dumbfounded, taking a load of buckshot into their chest, a viable strategy if you're purposefully trying to trigger your Darkest Self!), which in this case would probably be to deal harm as established. Anyway, this brief section mainly just lists advice on how to keep tabs on all of your NPCs. You should have some kind of a sheet with each of your NPCs listed by name, a short description of each (just enough to tell them apart) and any Strings they may hold on PCs (or even other NPCs!). NPC Strings As I've undoubtedly mentioned a number of times before, NPCs can hold Strings just like PCs can. However, because of the aforementioned fact that the MC doesn't make rolls, NPC Strings work somewhat differently from PC Strings. NPCs can spend Strings on others to do any of the following:
Now, here's a weird thing: PCs can use Strings to force people to hold steady to act, something conspicuously absent in the NPC list, which is a really weird omission because a number of examples in the book have NPCs spending Strings on PCs to force them to hold steady. It is probably a simple omission (because later in the text making PCs hold steady is explicitly identified as a use of NPC Strings), but I still think it's kind of weird (especially when later on the text describes making PCs hold steady as falling under coming out of nowhere with a hard move). Yeah, it's weird. I get the intent, but it's confusingly phrased. Advantage & Disadvantage So, because NPCs don't make any rolls, Monsterhearts uses a simple system of Advantage/Disadvantage for NPCs. NPCs act at an Advantage whenever they're able to make use of a Condition placed on a PC, they spend a String on that PC, something would give the NPC a +1 to their action, or a custom move or special rule would make them do so. On the flip side, NPCs act at a Disadvantage when they have a Condition that would interfere with their action, something (like the Queen's Shield) would give them a -1 to their action, or a custom move or special rule made them do so. Advantage and Disadvantage don't actually really change the rules or how the moves work, they modify the consequences of moves that the MC makes with their NPCs. When an NPC acts at an Advantage, they gain one of the following benefits: the action gains them new followers or support; the action leaves them better protected in some way; or the action sets the NPC up perfectly for a follow-up action of some sort. When at Disadvantage, the action has one of the following additional effects: it alienates their friends and allies; it leaves them exposed to danger; it leaves them exhausted or without an escape plan. Now, I haven't actually made a lot of use of Advantage or Disadvantage in my Monsterhearts games (because they were mostly about player vs. player drama), but I think Advantage & Disadvantage is a neat little system. It is a simple system based on narrative tags, which works perfectly for a game as light on rules and heavy on emergent narrative as Monsterhearts. Blending In This brief section discusses the many different ways the PCs can blend in with humans. The idea of Monsterhearts is that the characters are monsters, but they're very human on the outside, and no matter which Skin you're using they should have some means of interacting with high school life. Most of the Skins can easily pass for human and interact with them like normal, but the Ghost and Vampire both require a bit of extra consideration: how does no one notice that the Ghost is, well, a Ghost? Maybe there's just something about them that makes people ignore them, even when they literally walk right through them. How does the Vampire not burn in sunlight? Well, maybe you've decided with your players that that's not a thing for Vampires in your game, or maybe the PC lugs around a parasol or some magical geegaw to protect them from the sun? Who knows? It's up to you guys. Under Each Skin This section is pretty much what we've been doing throughout my write-up of the Skins: discussing the themes of the Skins and what they bring to the table, as well as special MC considerations that should be made for each Skin. It's mostly just really no-nonsense and worthwhile advice, like "If your Werewolf takes the Uncontainable Move it's not because they never want their character to be caught in bonds or captivity, but because they want their character escaping from captivity to be a story for their character! Throw them in the back of a police car once in a while!" and so on. There's also a lot of neat stuff about adapting the setting to the needs of the Skins as well as introducing NPCs to give a context to Gangs that PCs may take when they advance. If you have a Fae in your group, there should be a lot of pristine wilderness nearby, probably with lots of reflecting ponds so they can gaze into the abyss. If you have a Werewolf in your group, it's basically a licence for you to set all your scenes at night under the light of the full moon. If you have a Ghoul in your group, ask them lots of probing questions about how their body may be falling apart to make sense of why they might seek the services of Necromantic Caretakers. After Graduation So, you want to play Monsterhearts but don't want any of that teenage drama? This section discusses it. Sort of. Basically, given the themes of Monsterhearts, high school is a perfect setting for the game. If you don't want to run a high school game, you should still find a context for the game that features a lot of social changes for the PCs, as well as potential for volatile drama. Also, petty social politics are a must. That's basically the extent of this section. Next time, Chapter Five, Teaching and Running the Game, which is thankfully short enough for me to do in one sitting!
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Sep 30, 2014 21:07
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anti_strunt posted:For a list that separates collision damage from falling damage and explosions/fire/heat the lack of pressure or drowning/asphyxiation damage seems conspicuous. Could you stand at the bottom of the ocean or inside a gas giant (with a non-corrosive atmosphere) to no ill effect? Pressure is generally subdual damage. Suffocation is just Fort saves that KO / kill you. Walking out of a bathysphere unprotected or falling into a gas giant would presumably also be what's called a "Terminal Situation", where the Game Control (i.e. GM) can spend a single Action Die to KO or kill a PC. Other examples of Terminal Situations are having multiple guns to your head, falling out of a plane naked, being at ground zero for a nuke, and other situations where a character is in lethal circumstances and is reasonably helpless. Not that a PC will always die in those circumstances, but the GC has the option to make sure if they have Action Dice left. Never underestimate Spycraft 2.0's
Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 21:33
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anti_strunt posted:For a list that separates collision damage from falling damage and explosions/fire/heat the lack of pressure or drowning/asphyxiation damage seems conspicuous. Could you stand at the bottom of the ocean or inside a gas giant (with a non-corrosive atmosphere) to no ill effect? It turns out the rules for that are found in the "Underwater combat" section. Going 100+ft requires a Fort save every minute, inflicting 1d6 + 1d6 per 50ft subdual damage, with a DC equal to 15 + 1 per previous save until you go above 60ft. So pressure can't actually kill you by itself; even at the deepest point of the ocean, you'll just pass out and drown, rather than being crushed. 
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Sep 30, 2014 21:33
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ThisIsNoZaku posted:It turns out the rules for that are found in the "Underwater combat" section.
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Sep 30, 2014 21:57
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By the way, I heard a rumor that somebody did an uncredited reading of my Rifts Vampire Kingdoms review on Youtube. Anybody happen to have a link for that to confirm? I haven't been able to find any such thing.
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Sep 30, 2014 21:59
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Covok posted:Libertad!, how does Path of War compare with Tome of Battle so far? Hard to say at this point, but I'm kind of leaning towards Path of War being an improved version of Tome of Battle. In comparison, the maneuver refreshing mechanics for Path of War are overall better than Tome of Battle's. Crusader's was random and pretty much required you to have a deck of cards; the Warblade could recover all expended maneuvers with but a swift action, while the Swordsage needed Adaptive Style to do the same thing (effectively making it a feat tax). The game mechanics are overall clearer and the feats are comparatively more useful and versatile, which I like. I do like the inclusion of a ranged combat discipline, too. I do kind of miss the Crusader-equivalent class feature of being able to outright ignore a certain amount of damage until the next round. I feel that the Prestige Classes of Tome of Battle were more creative than Path of War's. Half of PoFs are gishes (psychic gish, divine gish, arcane gish), while ToB has a bunch of creative character concepts: Eternal Blade is an elven practitioner with a link to a spiritual companion, Shadow Sun Ninja uses the conflicting powers of light and darkness, Ruby Knight Vindicator was a devotee of the Goddess of Death, etc. And finally, all of PoF's game mechanics are Open Content. Of course, there are some broken and cheesy abilities in PoF, but you could say the same thing about full casters, and Tome of Battle wasn't averse to this either (hello Iron Heart Surge!). But I feel that denouncing this or ToB as a power-gamer's wet dream is a knee-jerk response. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Oct 1, 2014 |
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Oct 1, 2014 19:02
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