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Waffleman_ posted:Considering there's an epic-length crossover fanfiction between MLP and Fallout 3 that many bronies consider the highest of arts, the chances of there NOT being a pony AW thing are very close to zero. The odds of it being any good are probably the same
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Dec 28, 2014 20:09
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Now guys he didn't originally say a pony play book. He said a brony play book. So a character with moves to like wear awful t-shirts, perceive persecution where persecution is not, and roll to search for things that don't already have pony sex added to them and then add that.
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Dec 28, 2014 21:31
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Kai Tave posted:I think a certain degree of poeticism is fine and even better at conveying intent than something dry and utilitarian. Spirit of the Century I am very happy right now. I know what I'm getting next.
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Dec 28, 2014 21:52
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Waffleman_ posted:Considering there's an epic-length crossover fanfiction between MLP and Fallout 3 that many bronies consider the highest of arts, the chances of there NOT being a pony AW thing are very close to zero. 
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Dec 28, 2014 21:58
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I hate being right.
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Dec 28, 2014 22:00
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I hate you all.
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Dec 28, 2014 22:10
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Carados posted:I was hoping this had something to do with the Plantary/Stormwatch/etc Wildstorm comics. If you can, grab Strange Tales of the Century as well; it has a ton of period/genre info and updates the game to Fate Core.
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Dec 28, 2014 22:22
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Yeah, I feel like I should mention that SotC is several generations and improvements on Fate out of date by this point.
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Dec 28, 2014 22:37
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Did you just make that to spite us...or is this real? Please tell me the former.
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Dec 28, 2014 23:14
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"Celestia is dead. The sun doesn’t come up. Nobody plants the crops. Nobody harvests the food. Ponyville is a wasteland. Canterlot is a breeding pit for unremitting horror. Over all Equestria, the nightmare moon hangs in the sky. Friendship is hard. So is survival."  Turns out that picture is from some guy's abandoned attempt to hack an MLP AW reformatting of the main skins. https://mutatedpony.wordpress.com/
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Dec 28, 2014 23:44
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theironjef posted:Now guys he didn't originally say a pony play book. He said a brony play book. So a character with moves to like wear awful t-shirts, perceive persecution where persecution is not, and roll to search for things that don't already have pony sex added to them and then add that. she. What I mean by brony is that it's a pony playbook with all the uncomfortable grease of brony leaking from it
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Dec 29, 2014 04:19
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pkfan2004 posted:"Celestia is dead. The sun doesn’t come up. Nobody plants the crops. Nobody harvests the food. Ponyville is a wasteland. Canterlot is a breeding pit for unremitting horror. Over all Equestria, the nightmare moon hangs in the sky. I think what strikes me the most about this is the sheer lack of effort involved. Like they started with the "Herdholder" pun and tried to build a whole game around that and just stopped part of the way through.
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Dec 29, 2014 07:30
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Erebro posted:The really hilarious bit is that you can spin "Lovecraftian god" to teenager metaphor; the Complete Outsider. They enter at the exact bottom of the social hierarchy because they've never been a part of it, maybe they were at a much different school or even homeschooled for much of their childhood. This is obviously a bad thing, but the thing is that the Outsider understands how ridiculous the whole dance is. They're something alien to the social web, something who can examine it clinically and guess at who people actually are beyond its bounds, and that scares the social web. So basically Christian Slater's character from Heathers, where your Darkest Self makes you wire the school to explode.
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Dec 29, 2014 15:45
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The only place different social types can genuinely get along with each other is in Y'han'thlei.
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Dec 29, 2014 15:48
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GrandmasterTrash posted:I think what strikes me the most about this is the sheer lack of effort involved. Like they started with the "Herdholder" pun and tried to build a whole game around that and just stopped part of the way through. bronyproject.txt
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Dec 29, 2014 16:03
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 Alright, sorry for the delay. Stuff happened. Anyways, time for two of my favourite things - resolution mechanics and character creation! Sorry for the lore dump on the previous one, I wanted to get the setting out of the way.   Task Resolution Mechanic Iron Kingdoms, just like its bigger brothers Warmachine and Hordes, is a game that only uses d6. You normally roll 2d6, plus or minus some modifier (normally +/- 2s) and try to beat a certain number, normally a Difficulty, Defense or Armor value. In fact, the RPG shares almost 99% of its combat rules with the wargames. The main addition is that you add attribute bonii to your rolls. Characters have multiple attributes, 5-6 being the average for the ones you'd use on a roll, and 12 for the ones you'd be rolling against. Since it is a 2d6 system, numbers aren't too crazy and I think it is part of the appeal. There are ways to add dice, but the most you'll see is 6d6. The other part of the appeal is the way rules are written - no lovely naturalistic language, like I said in last update. Rules are clear and concise. Combat Movement is determined by inches instead of squares or hexes. An average human will move 6 inches per turn, unless he runs or charges (12' and 9', respectively). Miniatures are basically mandatory, especially since line of sight and cover are determined by base size. The fighting itself is pretty simple. You have three different attack ratings: melee, ranged and magic. You add them to your roll, and compare it to your opponent's Defense. If your roll is equal or above the DEF value, you hit. For damage, you roll again, this time adding your weapon's Power (and Strength, if it is a melee or thrown weapon). Every point that goes above the target's Armor value (ARM) is a point of damage. Which reminds me of something:  THIS SYSTEM IS LETHAL. Have an example:A thug (Defense 12) is shot at by a ranged-focused PC using a rifle (Ranged Attack Rating 6). He rolls 2d6 + 6, gets a 13 and hits. The thug's armor value is 12. The rifle's Power is 11. The PC rolls 2d6 + 11 and gets an 18. The thug receives 6 wounds and drops dead, because he only had 5. Another thug charges the PC (Melee Attack Rating 5) and rolls against his victim's defense (DEF 13), rolls a 9 and hits. Since he's charging, he adds a d6 to his damage roll. He's using a sword, so he's doing 3d6 + P+S 8 (Power 3 + Strength 5) against the PC. The player character is using light armor, so he's got an ARM 11. The thug's roll is pretty average, 18 in total. So that's 7 damage and the PC is on almost dead. Granted, there are ways through which the player characters (and boss enemies) can reduce the lethality of combat. But this isn't D&D, you won't be comfortably sitting at 200 HP. You'll have 20 points of damage and be grateful for it. In general, ranged and magic are not as good as melee. Melee characters will roll more damage dice, and ranged characters don't have that much of a range advantage. A regular rear end soldier with a spear can charge 9 inches, while adding 2 inches from his spear's Reach property. That's a threat range of 11 inches, while the most ranged weapons and spells have Ranges (RNG) that go from 10' to 12'. Only the absolute best handheld guns have RNG 14, at most. The spear-armed fellow will roll 3d6 + 9 on a charge, while the ranged character will normally roll 2d6 + 11 if he's using a rifle. Luckily, there are ways for ranged and magic characters to deal with this, and we will see them in a bit. There's just one Defense and one Armor value for every character, but different types of protection can grant extra DEF or ARM against certain types of attacks. Spells like Deacceleration adds +2 to a character's DEF against ranged attacks, while the Unyielding ability adds +2 ARM whenever the character is engaged in melee. Magic is pretty combat-centered, and melee and magic characters have just as equal amounts of plot agency - there's no Resurrection or Wish spells here, and magical Healing has severe side effects due to the way magic works in the setting. Magic powers rely more on their effects than their range or damage, since even the very powerful spells will only be hitting for POW 14 or 15. There's only one kind of magic, no distinction between divine, arcane, etc. There are some slight differences in WHERE that magic comes from for different factions, but the game treats them all in the same way. What matters is your Arcane Tradition - whether you are a Will Weaver or a Focuser. Both of them are born with The Gift of magic, but it's the way they've learned to use that makes them different. A Will Weaver, as the name implies, uses his will to use magic. Whenever you cast a spell, you pay its cost in Fatigue Points that stay with you after your turn. If your Fatigue points go over your threshold, you run several risks, like not being able to keep your upkeep spells in play or not being able to cast at all. You can remove some of them from turn to turn, but a character that's in a dangerous or desperate situation may need to push his powers beyond his Fatigue threshold. A Focuser, instead, doesn't deal with Fatigue, since they have a completely innate understanding of magic that doesn't put a toll on their bodies. Every turn, they generate Focus points. They can use Focus points to cast spells amongst other things, and at the beginning of every turn their focus reserve is replenished. Focusers cannot push themselves, their resources are safe but limited. Will Weavers have a risk/reward thing going on, while Focusers are centered on resource management. Neither of them have to adhere to the idea of lightly armored wizards - war mages in the Iron Kingdoms can be clad in fully enclosed plate and stil cast just as fine. In comparison to the combat (which, as you can tell, is the focus of this system), skills have pretty standard rules. There are General skills (things like Swimming, Gamble, Riding, etc) that all characters have access to, while specialized skills (like Seduce or Charm) are limited to certain careers. For skills, you roll your skill level + the corresponding attribute (which is not fixed, you can Charm or Seduce - for example - with Strength or Intelligence) against a certain Difficulty. The rulebook specifies some degrees of success and failure for certain skills, but nothing universal. It's my major issue with the system, but whatever - at least its better than what you get in D&D. Finally, characters get feat points they can use to activate feats, pass rolls, halve damage received, etc. You get them pretty easily, so the game expects players will be constantly using them while the GM will be awarding them just as fast. I should add, before getting into character creation, that this is a game that LOVES its setting. The first 100 pages or so of the book are dedicated to the setting and lore.  In Iron Kingdoms, you've got a decent variety when it comes to creating your character. There are three main choices to be made, and those are Race, Archetype and Careers. Yup, plural. The IKRPG makes character creation seriously fun and flexible. Characters have a 9-stat spread, separated in three Branches. You've got: Physique (PHY, defines toughness, Armor and Willpower) - Speed (SPD, determines your movement speed, Initiative and Defense) - Strength (STR, determines your melee damage and physical-related thresholds) Agility (AGL, mostly used for skills that require coordination and reflexes. It's also used for Defense) - Prowess (PRW, used to determine your Melee Attack Rating and Initiative) - Poise (POI, used to determine your Ranged Attack Rating) Intellect (INT, used for skills and Willpower) - Arcane (ARC, used to determine a character's skill at offensive magic) - Perception (PER, used for Initiative and Defense) PHY, AGL and INT are important for all characters, since their numbers define their damage circles on their life spiral. Losing all your points in the PHY, AGL or INT branches of your life spiral carries different penalties depending on the damaged branch of the spiral. The derived stats are Melee Attack Rating, (MAT), Ranged Attack Rating (RAT), Defense (DEF), Initiative, Command Range, Armor (ARM) and Willpower (WIL). A character also has Abilities, Connections and Skills, to be detailed later. Races First of all, races have starting stats, with their own racial limits. They can range from 2 to 10, but the average range will be 4 to 7. Every character gets 3 points to spend to improve their stats at the end of race selection, that can't go over the specified racial limit (three different types - Hero, Vet and Epic, according to the amount of EXP the character starts with/has).   Humans are average but diverse. They don't have any mediocre values, having most of their stuff at 3 or 4, while their speed (6) and physique (5) are downright lovely. Their maximum values all rest at 7, except for Arcane, Strength and Physique, which sit at 8. They get a fourth stat point to spend to increase their stats, but it can only be spent in PHY, AGL or INT. At the very least, a human character will have a respectable 12 damage circles on their life spiral. They start with two languages, their national one and another one they picked up during their travels. So a Cygnarian or Menite from the Protectorate will speak Cygnarian/Sulese (same loving thing by different names), a Khadorian will speak Khadorian, an Ordic will speak Ordic and a Llaelese will speak Llaelese. They can be Mighty, Intellectual, Skilled or Gifted. (More on archetypes later)  Iosan elves are the High Elves of the setting. They tend to be aloof and xenophobic, while also being kind of tragic due to the way their civilization has been brought down from their former glory. They are slightly more intelligent than humans, while sharing their other stats. Except for Arcane, their maximum stats are 7. Elves in this setting are highly technologically advanced xenophobic assholes, while also having beards and cigars. I kind of like the IK's take on them just as much as I like their dragon concept. Iosan characters can start with an additional ability selected from their careers, and this is kind of huge, due to the way advancement works. They know Shyr and some other language. They can be Mighty, Intellectual, Skilled or Gifted.  Nyss are winter elves. They are just like Humans, but more agile. They can't be as perceptive or smart, but they can be just as tough or strong. They are also huge weaaboos, their favourite weapons being the nyss claymore (a.k.a katana) and nyss bow. In fact, these two weapons are 10gc cheaper for them! They are also pretty good. Nyss also get a +1 to Initiative and Perception rolls, +3 ARM against Cold effects and -3 ARM against fire effects. They speak Aeric and some other language they've picked up. Nyss can be Gifted, Mighty or Skilled. Gifted Nyss can't be Arcane Mechaniks, Gun Mages, Arcanists or Warcasters.  Trollkin are a really weird mix of real life cultures, mostly Scottish with a slight hint of American and Norse elements depending on their origin. They are slower and poorer shots than humans, but tougher, stronger and more skilled at melee. Their PHY can reach an impressive 10, while their STR can go all the way up to 9. Their POI, SPD, INT and PER can only go to 6 though. They know Molgur-Trul and some other language, while having the Tough and Feat: Revitalize abilities. Basically, whenever they get incapacitated they can roll a d6. On a roll of 5-6, they just stand back up. And there's no limit to how many times you can roll for it. Revitalize is also similar to a D&D 4e's Healing Surge, so Trollkin are incredibly hardy fuckers to kill. They are the closest thing the setting has to a "good guy" faction, even if one of their leaders likes to feed medical train wagons to his trolls. Whoops. They can be Mighty, Skilled or Gifted. They can't be Arcanists, Arcane Mechaniks or Warcasters.  Gobbers are gipsy goblins, in a nutshell. They tend to be pariahs living at the corners of society or in caravans, but they are extremely good at mechanik stuff. They get the Deft archetype bonus from the get go, which means they get boosted rolls whenever they do AGL-related stuff. They can't use rifles or great weapons such as lances or halberds, but get a +1 bonus to DEF. Poor Gobbers are kind screwed in the stat department - while their starting stats are like those of a Human (except more agile), barely more than half their stuff can reach 7, with STR and INT being stuck at 6, while PER only goes to 5. They know Gobberish and some other language. They can be Intellectual, Mighty or Skilled.  Dwarves are sloooow. SPD 4 is incredibly lovely, and can only go up to 6. Yeah, PHY and STR can go to 8 as compensation, but it sucks anyways. They are as smart as any Iosan, and aren't affected by movement penalties from the armor they wear. They get Connections (clan), more on that later. They can be Gifted, Mighty, Skilled or Intellectual.  Ogrun are civilized ogres that love cash, so they end up as mercenaries often. Just like gobbers, they tend to live in pretty much all types of human settlements, but the largest groups live amongst the dwarves of Rhul. They aren't good at being perceptive, and only Prowess goes to 7, but they can reach 10 in STR and 9 in PHY. Everything else is stuck at 6. Their starting speed is Trollkin-bad, and not Dwarf-bad, but their Prowess is better than a Human. Here's where they get screwed. Their only ability is Huge Stature - they can one-hand two-handed weapons, but suffering a -2 penalty to attack rolls. Just like Gobbers, their abilites don't make up for their stat limitations. They get three languages: Molgur-Og, Rhulic and another one. They can only be Mighty or Skilled. Archetypes There are four types of Archetypes. Just like role in d&d 4e, they define the way the character deals with problems. You get a passive ability and you get to pick a benefit. Gifted characters can use Magic. You cannot take magic careers if you aren't gifted (something people are more than happy to houserule away). They are the only ones that have an ARC stat, plus they start with a Tradition: Focuser is they are a Warcaster, Will Weavers if they are anything else. Focusers start with 2 ARC and Will Weavers start with 3. That's their passive ability, by the way. Starting with an ARC stat. Their benefits range from incredibly niche (Rune Reader, which allows you to recognize a spell as it is being casted, since in-game the caster would be covered in runes, or Circle of Warding) to "downright amazing" (Combat Caster; roll 3d6 whenever you cast and drop the lowest die of each roll) Intellectual characters range from leaders to investigators. They give a non-cumulative +1 to attack and damage rolls of everyone in their command range (including themselves). Their benefits are mostly Feats that work as orders or plans (so, kinda heavy on the RP) while others are just downright great, like being able to spend a Feat point to make an attack miss, or getting boosted INT or PER rolls. Mighty characters like to hit things hard and survive getting hit hard. So they get an additional d6 on damage rolls whenever they roll melee damage. Note I said additional, not boosted. Since you can only boost once but there's no cap on additional dice, a Mighty character on the charge rolls 4d6 damage. The benefits are pretty nice, if feat points-heavy: like being able to spend a feat point to make another attack, or gain +3 ARM, or heal an amount equal to PHY as many times as Feat points you have, or getting +2 STR and +2 ARM when a friendly character is damaged in your command range. Skilled characters are, well, skilled. They get to make a second attack every turn. It sounds "eh", but it's a great benefit when you take into account how lethal the system is. Their benefits are interesting, from +3 DEF for a feat point, or no penalty for dual wielding, to Disarm and Defensive Strike (allows you to attack as soon as an enemy gets into your range during their turn). Careers You pick two careers, and get the benefits from both. Some are race, creation or archetype-limited. The game recognizes that, while the amount of options is pretty big, you may not find something that quite fits your concept, so they give you some ideas as to how you could modify your starting career's characteristics. It's a nice touch. Now, a small summary of every career. Alchemist: Only career that can use alchemy. You can cause a lot of havoc with the different effects your grenades can apply, from smoke or fire to dust. Arcane Mechanik: The mechanikal crafting career. You start loving loaded, with up to 750g spent on a mechanikal piece of armor or weapon. You're also an offensive mage. Gifted only. Arcanist: The vanilla sorcerer. You start with Rune Reader, and it's easier for you to upkeep spells. Gifted only. Aristocrat: You are a leader that knows his way both around a weapon and a noble court. Also, one of your starting abilities is called Privilege. You get money each month. Human and starting only. Bounty Hunter: You are great at knocking people down to capture them, while being good at both fighting and street-related social activities. Cutthroat: A nasty combat assassin, pretty hard to kill at range if you're smart with cover use, and really efficient whenever you team up on a target. Duelist: You say gently caress you to opportunity attacks (called free strikes) and anyone trying to shoot you or attack you thanks to Parry and Riposte. Explorer: Jack of all trades, you get cash each month as long as you're discovering new stuff. You have a nice assortment of combat, exploration and social skills while also having plenty of cash to start with. Fell Caller: You are a trollkin that comes from the line of Bragg. You can shout so loud that your voice becomes a shotgun, or splits the earth, or forces people to move really fast. Trollkin-only. Field Mechanik: You are a grease monkey. But you're the only career in the game that starts with a 200gc light laborjack, and you will eventually find a way to equip with weapons. Gun Mage: You are a mage that casts spells through his bullets, whether they come from a rifle or a pistol. Really fun to play. Gifted only. Highwayman: You start with a horse and a mask! You also know how to shoot from the saddle. Investigator: You investigate stuff like, really good. You get the Hyper Perception benefit, so you get boosted PER rolls if it is your initial career. Pretty much relegated to social campaigns, though you can use a couple weapons. Iron Fang: You are an elite soldier that belongs to a pikemen order that's extremely proud and good at killing poo poo. So good, in fact, that their pike heads have been replaced by shaped blast charges. You must be Khadoran to take it, it must be one of your starting careers, and your second career is limited to other warfare-related careers. Knight: You're a noble leader of men, more dedicated to smashing heads in or protecting allies than the Aristrocrat. Only available to Iosans or Humans. Mage Hunter: You hate mages THIS much. You're connected to the Iosan's own state-approved paramilitary group, while laughing at any kind of magical protection. Iosan only. Man-At-Arms: A defensive-minded military career, they work really well in pairs. Military Officer: Pretty self-explanatory. Pirate: YARR. Pistoleer: Again, pretty self-explanatory. Priest: Okay, this is where it gets fun. Priests can be of Morrow or Menoth, at least if you restrict yourself to the Core rulebook. Each of those gets their own spell list, Menoth priests being more in love with fire than their Morrowian fellows. Priests are basically magical leaders. Gifted and Human only. Ranger: A career that's mostly centered around giving the finger to difficult terrain and any kind of natural exploration-related difficulties. Rifleman: Again, no explanation needed. Soldier: Soldiers are more survival-focused than Men-At-Arms, while having access to a more varied weapon repertoire. Sorcerer: An elemental sorcerer. You must pick from Fire, Ice, Stone or Storm. Gifted and Starting only. Spy: Not really a combat-centered career, and all over the place with their abilities. Stormblade: The fellow in blue from all the way up there in the post. It's a career restricted to starting Cygnarians, while limiting your secondary career, but you get extremely expensive toys to play around with, like completely insulated plate armor and a sword that shoots lightning. Thief: Just as the name says, up there with the Spy and the Investigator in "niche careers". Trencher: The Cygnarian front line troops, straight out of WW1. Pretty heavily armed, with their own weapons, armor and kit and an impressive repertoire of skills, abilities and weapons, but suffer from the same restrictions that plague the Stormblade. It's also available to Ogrun and Trollkin. Warcaster: The Warcaster is, along with the Gun Mage, one of the most iconic IK careers. You are extremely versatile: you are a focuser with a varied list of combat and support spells, can command warjacks like no one else (eventually playing your own micro version of Warmachine at a high enough level) and are pretty sturdy and hard-hitting to be a valuable combat character on their own. You also start the game with either a weapon or an armor with a Bond runeplate installed, which allows you to use your Focus to boost your attack or damage rolls (in the case of a weapon) or overload your armor's protective field (in the case of armor), but they must be fed either batteries or coal respectively. Your abilities are seriously lacking, with only six available, and access to only four types of weapons, General and Command skills. You must be Gifted and it must be one of your Starting Careers. No matter what your other career is, if you're a Warcaster you will always be a focuser. Warcasters play nice with every other career, but they start really weak. And remember, you get to pick TWO! There's other stuff in the other books, like Trollking bull riders, Cyriss techno priests, stormsmiths, or even Men-of-War (Khadorian soldiers in ultra-heavy boiler-powered armor) but this should be enough to give you an idea of how varied character creation can be. And that's most of character creation. Before going on, I want the thread to pick three different combinations of race, archetype and career. I will craft them into usable characters, to show just how it all comes together. First come, first served. Azran fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Dec 30, 2014 |
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Dec 29, 2014 22:42
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Azran posted:And that's most of character creation. Before going on, I want the thread to pick three different combinations of race, archetype and career. I will craft them into usable characters, to show just how it all comes together. First come, first served. So if I get this right we can have a Mighty Human Stormblade/Highwayman, who in Warmachine terms is basically Katherine Laddermore's punk sister? (For reference that character is a Cygnar special character who's a Stormblade on a horse)
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Dec 29, 2014 22:50
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Bob Smith posted:So if I get this right we can have a Mighty Human Stormblade/Highwayman, who in Warmachine terms is basically Katherine Laddermore's punk sister? (For reference that character is a Cygnar special character who's a Stormblade on a horse) Indeed! Basically, almost every single warcaster/named character in Warmachine can be broken down into three classes. Laddermore would be Military Leader (or Stormlance)/Warcaster/Highwayman. Rahn would be Warcaster/Arcane Mechanik/Arcanist. Eiryss would be something like Cutthroat/Mage Hunter/Ranger. Gudrun the Wanderer would be Man-at-Arms/Soldier/Labor Korune or something like that. Eiryss is obviously Skilled, whereas Laddermore is Gifted (on account of her being a warcaster) and Gudrun would be Mighty. Honestly, for translating Iron Kingdoms guys into the game system, it tends to work pretty well. It's probably my favorite fantasy system out right now.
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Dec 29, 2014 23:15
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 incoming:You're really overselling the Mighty archetype on most characters. It's extremely Feat Point intensive, which means it's most effective against swarms of lesser enemies, and low defense ones at that. You can just as easily go Skilled Trollkin to start that game with two Mighty Archetype abilities, a free version of Back Swing, and Virtuoso, which means their average damage per attack is only 2 less that a Mighty character's, and you get two higher accuracy attacks every round, plus get to save your Feat Points for more useful stuff. Mighty is really only good if you want to be a tank that isn't a trollkin.
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Dec 29, 2014 23:29
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The Deleter posted:Except he doesn't? There's many different interpretations and ways he's played by different actors, but the show is ostensibly kid-friendly despite all of the gruesome deaths and dark themes. It's a completely different kind of show than the ones Apocalypse World is based on, where death and sexuality is depicted more starkly and the outcome of an episode isn't 100% guaranteed to be a happy ending. He doesn't work in AW thematically, not without some serious changes. It's the complete opposite of "perfect" from him. Also, Doctor Who is not guaranteed a happy ending in any way, shape, or form (although far more for Old!Who than nuWho). But that's not why The Doctor is a miserable match for Apocalypse World. There are two central reasons - the first is that Dr Who is almost entirely episodic in a way that many playbooks (especially The Hardholder) resist. The closest to Doctor Who you could do is a "road trip" game involving Driver, Skinner, Savvyhead, and Battlebabe. The second you put in a "Tied playbook" - tied to a location or group of people (e.g. the Hardholder, Hocus, Chopper, or Operator) you can't hit one of the core the themes - which is that every story ends with the Doctor and Companions climbing in the TARDIS and flying off somewhere else. At that point you have the 6th Doctor Gallifrey situation (or other such messes). And who says you can't play Scooby or Shaggy in MotW? Other than the monsters of Scooby Doo not being the same as MotW monsters. Kick Some rear end may be a core move, but the two of them are really really bad at it.
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Dec 30, 2014 00:39
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neonchameleon posted:And who says you can't play Scooby or Shaggy in MotW? Other than the monsters of Scooby Doo not being the same as MotW monsters. Kick Some rear end may be a core move, but the two of them are really really bad at it. Actually, no, the Meddling Kid explicitly has a move that allows them to declare that the monster was a man in a mask all along. So when they're in the party, the monsters actually can be the same as Scooby Doo Monsters. Therein deflating any kind of tension the game had and likely throwing out the entire mystery that the party had been working toward solving for the past two hours of game time or whatever. Don't worry about that ritual you were all trying to discover to try and banish the primordial fear demon -- it was just Old Man Salty all along! There is already a playbook for being a plucky teen/kid sidekick. It's called the Mundane. It's probably one of the best designed playbooks in the game. Monster of the Week did not need another version of it beamed in from another genre with a wildly different tone from everything else. This isn't about the playbook not being able to use the move "Kick Some rear end" well, this is about the playbook having a concept which has no business existing in the same game as a lot of Monster of the Week's core mechanics. Gazetteer fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Dec 30, 2014 |
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Dec 30, 2014 01:18
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So I was going to do a playbook but then it turns out it's, like, five or six playbooks woth a similar theme. So uh, this will be interesting!
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Dec 30, 2014 01:27
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Azran posted:And that's most of character creation. Before going on, I want the thread to pick three different combinations of race, archetype and career. I will craft them into usable characters, to show just how it all comes together. First come, first served. How about a Skilled Gobber Field Mechanik/Pirate?
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Dec 30, 2014 03:54
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Skilled Gobber Field Mechanik/Pirate and Mighty Human Stormblade/Highwayman so far! Only missing one character. Can I recommend a magic character, if only to show how magic works? Swags posted:Indeed! Wait, Laddermore is a warcaster? I mean, I remember her father being one. Gah, it's been a while since I read the fluff. I wish PP would release all the old fluff somewhere. fool_of_sound posted:
Yeah, it really does sound like I'm overselling it doesn't it. Trollkin in particular are just an amazing race choice that make Ogrun and Gobbers look really, really bad. I'm not totally happy with the way Archetypes work - there's a lot of clutter in the benefits, they aren't really balanced between each other and some famous character concepts aren't even possible due to the way they work. You can't make Butcher or Caine as Mighty or Skilled Warcasters because you NEED Gifted. There's just no arguing with rolling 3d6 all the time even if it's not entirely optimal, but maybe that's just me because I love Weapon Masters in the wargame. So yes, I'd say you're right on that count.
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Dec 30, 2014 04:07
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How about a Trollkin Stone Sorcerer/Pugilist oh wait that wasn't on the list, then how about a Trollkin Stone Sorcerer/Fell Caller.
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Dec 30, 2014 04:11
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I'm gonna say... Gifted Trollkin Sorcerer/Fell Caller. Thunder and Lightning!
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Dec 30, 2014 04:12
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Ryuujin posted:How about a Trollkin Stone Sorcerer/Pugilist oh wait that wasn't on the list, then how about a Trollkin Stone Sorcerer/Fell Caller. I was about to add the others careers, but something came up as I was writing it - I wanted to get this update out and I didn't even have time to get art for the classes I DID add, so heh, might do the supplements separately or something. Urban Adventures has some really cool unarmed content. Also, I'm making a small career switch here - the Stormblade/Highwayman is going to be a Stormblade/Horseman, if only because this career (introduced in the first supplement, "Kings, Nations and Gods") is more fitting for the concept of a horse mounted frontliner - the Highwayman is more roguish in concept and abilities, plus it's technically forbidden from being a Stormblade as RAW ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anyways! By the thread's decision, we're going to make a couple test characters. We'll take this opportunity to go over equipment, magic lists, steamjacks, mechanika, character advancement and an explanation regarding career elements. Mighty Human Stormblade/Horseman Alright, we're trying to get as close to this as possible:  First of all, she's going to be a Human. Her initial stat spread is the following: - PHY 5 SPD 6 STR 4 - AGL 3 PRW 4 POI 4 - INT 3 ARC * PER 3 We get three points to spend in any of those categories, plus a fourth one for any of the Big Three. We want her to be a frontline soldier, so we will improve her melee accuracy and damage, as well as her toughness. Her new stat spread is the following (changes in bold): - PHY 6 SPD 6 STR 5 - AGL 3 PRW 6 POI 4 - INT 3 ARC * PER 3 PRW 6 is a really good score - she's at "this guy's a trained soldier" level. Her speed is pretty nice, and her STR is at a nice place right now. We don't really care about the other stuff right now. Let's say she's from Cygnar, with some experience from serving in Llael. She speaks Caspian and Llaelese. Now, we choose Mighty as her archetype. She will be rolling 3d6 on every melee attack roll, and 4d6 on a charge. I'm going to go with a thematic benefit - this character thinks swift offense is the best defense. And personally I love the idea of charging so hard you break someone's equipment. I'm going to pick Feat: Shield Breaker, allowing me to spend a feat point whenever I hit someone to destroy their shield permanently. Since it's part of my ATTACK, it means I don't have to deal with the ARM bonus granted by a shield when I roll damage. Alright, time for the careers. Stormblade and Highwayman were the thread's choice, but I decided to swap the latter for something more fitting for our concept, the the Horseman. I'm going to contrast both of these careers to showcase my reasons though! There's IS a pseudo-career named the Storm Lance that was introduced in Kings, Nations and Gods, but it replaces the Stormblade/Knight combination, while granting you an Electro Lance and a Warhorse with Storm Barding, but replacing both of the Knight's starting abilities and the Storm Glaive. But that's neither here or there. Since technically the Horseman wasn't around when the Stormblade was released, it's an illegal combination, but it's pretty fitting (both are military careers, Storm Lances exist, and the Horseman isn't nation restricted) so who cares. First of all, let's see what Stormblade gets us.  Stormblade posted:Starting Abilities: Blaster and Specialization: Storm Glaive Abilities are like feats - they can active or passive depending on the ability itself. Blaster means the character gets a +2 to his ranged attack rolls with electrical ranged attacks. Specialization is an ability that you can take more than once, and allows the character to ignore attack penalties on a weapon it wields. Such as the Storm Glaive - I mean, we're talking about a bastard sword with an integrated electric generator that can shoot out lightning. That must be quite difficult to handle. Connections "are resources, not answers", as the rulebook puts it. There are no hard or fast rules when it comes to using Connections, they are just a way to remind you "Hey, this character belongs/used to belong to this organization. If you're willing to deal with the consequences, you can ask for help here". They are a roleplaying aid mostly - maybe this character left the Cygnarian army in bad terms, or she's still with them, or she only knows a couple of low ranking officers but they are fiercely loyal to her for some reason. Military Skills are weapon related skills. They increase separately from Occupational Skills - no having to decide between being good at combat or social/exploration stuff. Great Weapon 1 means this character knows how to use stuff like claymores, zweihanders, bastard swords, halberds, pikes, etc. That 1 can go all the way up to 4, which is the maximum bonus achievable in a skill. You add it to your PRW whenever you roll an attack roll. Occupational Skills are the non-combat related ones. Our character knows how to Command people, how to deal with social situations that involve nobles and it's perceptive enough to be good at Detection. Even though they aren't listed, she can learn other skills - General ones (available to all characters) and Medicine. We will see why in a bit. She starts with a Storm Glaive and Storm Knight Armor. The latter is insulated in a such a way as to protect the user from the former. An Storm Glaive is a hilariously expensive weapon (1,560gc) that can be wielded in one or two hands. Wielding it either way carries a penalty (1h: -2; 2h: -1) to attack rolls (which our character ignores for having Specialization). Wielding it in one hand means it's a POW 5 weapon, it becomes a POW 7 weapon if you wield it two-handed. This mean she'll be hitting for 4d6 + 12 on a charge attack while wielding her Storm Glaive in two hands. The weapon also includes a Storm Chamber (which powers the weapon and will hit you harder than a rifle if you touch it without appropiate protection) and four rune points. Rune points are basically customization slots - and they can get pretty crazy. You could go for a boring (but effective. Remember, 2d6!) +1 to hit rune, or you could go for a rune that allows you to dispel any spells on a target when you hit it, or make it so enemies get frozen/lit on fire/slammed into their friends whenever you crit (which is as simple as rolling doubles on any dice). As if all this wasn't enough, the Storm Glaive allows you to shoot lightning. It's a RNG 4, AOE - POW 12 ranged attack that causes Electrical damage. It uses POI, so our character should ignore this outside of "gently caress, can't reach that guy quite yet" situations considering how poor a shot she is. You also suffer a POW 12 autohit whenever you use the Storm Glaive, that's what the armor is for! The Storm Knight Armor is heavy as hell. You get -2 to SPD, -3 to DEF and +9 to ARM. There's a talent the Stormblade can get that will reduce this to -1 SPD and -2 DEF, but it's still a pretty hefty disadvantage, especially at lower levels. It's kind of expensive (225gc) and grants you the Immunity: Electricity ability. This is really nice for one particular reason - you see, Electricity is the only elemental effect (the others are Fire, Acid and Cold) that doesn't have a "continuous" effect (in the case of Fire and Acid) or an effect that will affect your turns (like Cold). Instead, electricity attacks tend to bounce around nearby enemies - and allies. If an attack specifies "Electricity" as its damage type, that's it - you are completely immune to it no matter how hard it hits. ---------------------------- Alright, that's quite a bit. But there's more - careers also have a secondary box that will tell you about what else you can get from a career. For example, a Stormblade can learn the Medicine skill (and all general skills), and the following abilities: 'Jack Marshal (allowing him to command a warjack without the need to be a Warcaster), Load Bearing (reduces armor speed and defense penalties), Quick Work (allows him to shoot as soon as he kills an enemy in melee) and Relentless Charge (gives the middle finger to any terrain between himself and the charge target). This last talent is pretty important, since you cannot charge over rough terrain - unless you can ignore it. On the bad side, he can only improve his Great Weapon wielding skills, while only Command and General Skills can be improved all the way to 4 - Etiquette and Medicine are stuck at 2. The Stormblade is a through-and-through combat career in every sense of the word. Now, let's see what we get from Horseman.  Horseman posted:Starting Abilities: Cavalry Charge and Combat Rider. Besides all that, a Horseman can learn Navigation, and some other ride-dependant abilities such as Counter Charge or Saddle Shot. Combat Rider allows your mount to make an attack if you didn't charge this turn against someone in range, while Cavalry Charge allows you to do cavalry charges. Mounted combat is slightly complex. In summary, your character gets a DEF penalty (which can be reduced till it disappears at Riding 4), while being hit becomes a dice roll to determine whether you or your mount got hit. Your mount can make impact attacks against people you touch during your cavalry charges, whie allowing you to make ride-by attacks (where you don't stop to hit someone as you go by) and ignoring people when determining line of sight because you're tall on the saddle. There are also rules for getting knocked out of your horse but that doesn't matter. The warhorse is pretty tough, at 12 ARM and 12 Vitality points, while pretty fast at 8' on a normal advance. His impacts attack are at POW10, almost as hard as getting shot at by a bow or a pistol. The heavy barding makes the warhorse's ARM 20. The tack allows us to ignore the -3 to Riding penalty for trying to ride without a tack (you need to make Riding checks to do horse maneuvers). Our Highwaywoman would have gotten Saddle Shot and Ambush, while only being able to use Hand Weapons and bows, crossbows or pistols. She'd have gotten a riding horse instead of a war horse, but hey, free mask. She'd also have Animal Handling, Detection, Intimidation and Riding all at 1. Riding horses are faster, but can't equip heavy barding. Yeah, we only start with 25g rather than 75g if we had chosen Highwaywoman, but you shouldn't forget that all our free gear is already over 2000g and counting. Combat characters are combat characters from the get go. Anyways, that's careers. Our total abilities, skills and assets are looking like this: quote:Abilities: Blaster, Specialization (Storm Glaive), Combat Rider, Cavalry Charge Our life spiral, since we have PHY 6, AGL 3 and INT 3 is looking like this: code:Crippled Physique: -2 STR Crippled Agility: -2 to attack rolls Crippled Intellect: -2 DEF. Can't upkeep spells. You also roll to determine damage location in Warjacks, but it's more important there since you can destroy system pieces as to incapacitate their arms, legs, cortex, etc. Regaining vitality is slow, a short rest after an encounter will give you vitality points back up to your PHY. I'm going to admit that I just don't like the simulation aspect of this game at times. I mean, look at this: quote:A character recoves 1 vitality point per hour for the first three hours after being injured. After that he regains 1 Vitality point per every six hours.  Anyways! We will spend those 75g in some loot. We've already got armor, a weapon and a heavily protected horse (the horse should be safe from our storm glaive, it would look different if it were a Storm Lance though). We also start with our clothes. I'm going to buy a Spear for mounted combat (15g) - quote:Spear I could buy something reasonable, like a pistol, or something silly, like a gun shield but I'm going to get an equestrian gas mask for 45g. That will make my horse immune to gas effects and it has +1 ARM against corrosion damage, while suffering some minor penalties to his senses. I will spend my remaining 10g in some Metro 2033 flashbacks by buying two spare filters. quote:Abilities: Blaster, Specialization (Storm Glaive), Combat Rider, Cavalry Charge  Yesssss. It's important to note that our Great Weapon skill is at 2. That's the highest it will go till we reach the Veteran tier, where it will be able to go to 3. And then it will go to 4 in the Epic Tier, if we choose to improve it. Our derived stats are the following: Defense: 6 (SPD) + 6 (PRW) + 3 (PER) - 3 (for being on top of a horse with Riding 1) and -3 (Storm Knight Armor) = DEF 9 while mounted, DEF 12 while on foot. We're also moving at 4' on foot, and 8' mounted. Armor: 6 (PHY) + 9 (Storm Knight Armor) = ARM 15. The horse has ARM 20. Willpower: 6 (PHY) + 3 (INT) = WIL 9. Initiative: 6 (SPD) + 6 (PRW) + 3 (PER) = I 15 Our Melee Attack Rating (MAT) with the Storm Glaive is 8 (PRW 6 + Great Weapon 2), so we will roll 2d6 + 8 whenever we roll to hit. Our Power + Strength (P+S) is 10/12 if one-handing/two-handing it. Our MAT with the Spear is 7 (PRW 6 + Great Weapon 2 - 1 for its attack penalty), but becomes MAT 9 during a charge. The Spear's P+S is 9/10 (1h/2h) Our Ranged Attack Rating (RAT) with the Storm Glaive's gun is 4 (POI 4). Since it's a non-throwing ranged weapon, it's Power is stuck at 12 - it doesn't get our STR added to it. And that's it, really. Next time, the Gobber and advancement rules! As an aside, I will also admit that this system needs a little less crunch. A simplified math would go a long way to keep it closer to the wargame and its elegant system. Azran fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Dec 30, 2014 |
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Dec 30, 2014 07:59
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Azran posted:Wait, Laddermore is a warcaster? I mean, I remember her father being one. Gah, it's been a while since I read the fluff. I wish PP would release all the old fluff somewhere. Gonna be honest. I read that and thought you meant Haley. I have no idea why. No, Laddermore isn't a warcaster. That was just me being dumb.
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Dec 30, 2014 08:11
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Gazetteer posted:Actually, no, the Meddling Kid explicitly has a move that allows them to declare that the monster was a man in a mask all along. I thought I'd double check that - aaaggghhhhh! That's a treasure trove of bad design including a move for +1 Forward whenever. and further breaking the Manipulate Someone move. And as you mentioned looking back it's a playbook by the game designer.
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Dec 30, 2014 18:52
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Unmasked! could be changed to be a bit more interesting. My version: When you have a foe captured or at bay and reveal the culprit, choose 2 of the choices below and make a declaration about the foe:
On a 7-9, one of the declarations are correct and the Keeper offers an alternate explanation for the other declaration. On a miss, as above, but only the Keeper gives an alternate explanation.
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Dec 30, 2014 20:39
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Azran posted:As an aside, I will also admit that this system needs a little less crunch. A simplified math would go a long way to keep it closer to the wargame and its elegant system.
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Dec 31, 2014 05:28
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The Meddler may be bad, but I'm happy we're not posting John Wick columns anymore.
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Dec 31, 2014 05:51
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ascendance posted:Isn't the game basically trying to be the wargame with a bit more crunch? But you can basically use wargame statlines as monsters, right? WIth the appropriate addition of a life spiral? Sort of. You have to add in a few more stats that don't exist in the wargame, and most will also require you to rework their life spirals. You're also going to have to apply some special abilities to keep them as threatening as a warbeast, since they lack Fury rules (for now at least). Combat-wise, the game doesn't add much more crunch than the wargame; it's more or less a direct port, which I believe is very much to its benefit. It also does lead to some annoying problems, like the game's bias towards military campaigns, and several careers that are nowhere near as fleshed out as they should be (almost all the Protectorate ones, amongst others). Most of the system's problems come in when its 3.5 roots trickle their way back into out of combat stuff, like a lack of fail forward, overly complex recovery rules, and obnoxiously unbalanced pricing on gear. There are a few balance issues and character build traps as well, though they aren't dealbreakers by a long shot.
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Dec 31, 2014 05:52
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fool_of_sound posted:Sort of. You have to add in a few more stats that don't exist in the wargame, and most will also require you to rework their life spirals. You're also going to have to apply some special abilities to keep them as threatening as a warbeast, since they lack Fury rules (for now at least). Combat-wise, the game doesn't add much more crunch than the wargame; it's more or less a direct port, which I believe is very much to its benefit. It also does lead to some annoying problems, like the game's bias towards military campaigns, and several careers that are nowhere near as fleshed out as they should be (almost all the Protectorate ones, amongst others). Most of the system's problems come in when its 3.5 roots trickle their way back into out of combat stuff, like a lack of fail forward, overly complex recovery rules, and obnoxiously unbalanced pricing on gear. There are a few balance issues and character build traps as well, though they aren't dealbreakers by a long shot. The one major issue I have noticed is that magic is basically a direct port of the wargame, so there isn't much in the way of utility spells.
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Dec 31, 2014 05:58
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ascendance posted:Is there a discussion on some of the build traps and balance issues? Except for the one that gives everyone +2 ARM which is basically the reason you bring an arcanist along because gently caress. As far as build traps.. Picking two social focused careers is basically a trap, unless one of them also gives 4 points in a military skill. Blending Gunmage and another caster is basically a build trap, and two casting classes in general also tends to be a rather bad idea because there's a lot of overlap in spell lists and you can only really know so many spells, and you quickly run out of things to pick up with your non-spell advances since they're ability and skill light. It's much easier to just convince your DM to let you pick up inferno or something because it's so cool rather than wasting five advances to get it. Kurieg fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Dec 31, 2014 |
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Dec 31, 2014 06:11
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ascendance posted:Isn't the game basically trying to be the wargame with a bit more crunch? But you can basically use wargame statlines as monsters, right? WIth the appropriate addition of a life spiral? Basically, yes. I mean, you have to make up a Initiative and Perception stat, plus add 8 boxes to trooper models and craft a life spiral for the different multiwound troopers/beasts, but it's exceedingly easy to a) create content (be them monsters, career, equipment, etc) and b) measure enemy strength at a glance after a couple sessions. I managed to run two sessions with barely a hickup with only my D&D 4e and Warmahordes experience. They went against a Warcaster, a handful of warjacks and a small Cryx raiding undead party and they won through some smart use of cover. I did use wargame statlines and I barely noticed a difference, but granted - it was a combat scene that was meant to be simple, so nothing had overly complex rules (except for the Thrall combostrikes and the Warcaster's powers). ascendance posted:Is there a discussion on some of the build traps and balance issues? Not as far as I'm concerned, but it'd be awesome to have it. The original thread for this died due to inactivity, but now there's some mounting interesting due to Unleashed (the Hordes part of the RPG) getting closer to release. I'd love to hear fool_of_sound's opinions on trap options, really. I can notice a few at a glance (mostly, stuff you wouldn't use in the wargame either, or abilities that require an elaborate setup/more than one player coordinating in the middle of a battle), but one of the main issues is how high your combat values can go, in comparison to the wargame. I mean, let's say you're a regular rear end Soldier/Trencher or something. You are a epic human - you've got MAT7. You're also using a mechanikal weapon that has no attack roll penalties, while being modified with a +1 to hit rune. That's effectively MAT8. Now, let's say that's a great weapon of some kind, and you've got Great Weapon 4. That's basically MAT12. Granted, it's a high level example, but there are, IIRC, three or so models with MAT 10 in the wargame, while you can still count the ones with MAT9 in two hands. I honestly think the lack of utility spells is one of the best parts of the system. There's some basic stuff you can do, like reroll skill checks (one of the Morrowan spells), or lit stuff on fire, or illuminate a zone, or use telekinesis. And that's it. Healing is extremely hosed up (magical, that is) - you can do more harm than good the more you heal. But classes don't have radically different levels of agency like say, the Fighter and the Wizard from 5e/3.5. It feels like society has to make do with power sources such as steam power because Gifted individuals are pretty vital to the war effort. Even if you aren't in an army, you can earn a living by offering your services to the Iron Kingdoms. It's a wartorn setting, and the magic (that isn't really a physics simulator like d&d, more like a nice gesture from incredibly powerful entities towards their embattled followers) reflects that. Who cares about learning how to make water out of thin air, got to learn how to command and kill robots. It really, really could do with some simplyifing in some parts. Azran fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Dec 31, 2014 |
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Dec 31, 2014 06:27
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It also handles the way Mechanika works way better than the d20 version, where it tries to reconcile magic item creation rules with mechanika and reaches this VERY fiddly middle ground where you have to make a save for every piece you construct or you end up spending the rest of eternity as a sentient +3 item enhancement plate.
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Dec 31, 2014 06:35
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ascendance posted:Is there a discussion on some of the build traps and balance issues? Despite the focus on battle magic, it's not particularly good in combat, since it's both inaccurate and not particularly powerful. While mages can spend additional resources to boost (roll and extra d6) on accuracy and/or damage, they still get out-blastered by the Alchemist and out-strikered by the Rifleman, particularly a Skilled one. Where mages shine is with support magics, battlefield control, generating cover, and tossing out buffs/debuffs. The biggest problem with mages is out of combat, where RAW their magic can't really help them, and should they want to use their magic in reasonable puzzle solving ways (lifting a set of keys with a telekinesis spell, for instance), the GM is required to adjudicate the use hardly any guidelines. Adding more utility spells wouldn't even create the 3.5 problem, since mages have extremely limited spell selection anyway. Balance-wise, the biggest issues are races, archetypes, warcasters, and the arcane mechanik. The races are pretty poorly balanced at best. Outside of the fantastic Trollkin and the general-but-helpful bonuses given to Humans and Iosans, the other races are mediocre to bad. The Gifted archetype should probably allow you to take abilities from a single other archetype of choice, since it's very narrowly focused as is, and prevents some otherwise cool character concepts. The Mighty archetype is my big sticking point however, since it's mostly outclassed offensively by the Skilled archetype and mostly outclassed defensively by the Trollkin race. The big problems are a lack of any out of combat utility basically at all, and a massive glut of 'feats', abilities that require a feat point to activate. While feat point are regained by defeating enemies, all this means is that the Mighty character can't reliably activate their abilities unless the GM is sure to throw in a swarm of mooks for them to kill. That isn't to say it's completely useless: it's perfectly servicable on some builds, and is the only way to make a non-Trollkin tank. Warcasters are a sticking point for me. They're absolutely iconic to the setting, but have a strong tendency to cause problem. Basically, warcasters are already quite good (particularly for mages) on their own, thanks to their unique ability to use Bonded Weapons and Warcaster Armor, which together allow the warcaster to switch between offense and defense however (s)he pleases. The problem comes when steamjacks are introduced. In the hands of characters with the Drive skill/talents, Warjacks are just a slightly buff NPC companion that get their own cool little set of buffs, customization, and abilities, and they're very fun if you're playing an arcane mechanik or field mechanik. Problems arise when combined with a warcaster, however, since the Focus mechanics turn even a laborjack into a vicious killing machine that can outclass almost any other 'heavy' character build. Of course, most people who want to play warcasters want to lead around giant robots, since they're another icon of the setting, and might get upset if they aren't allowed to use their jacks regularly, while players of tanky character might be upset about being constantly outclassed if you do allow the jack. Arcane Mechaniks are really indicative of a bigger problem in the setting: clockwork bullshit is weirdly priced and on the whole waaaaay too expensive. In particular, mechanikal armor and weapons are massively overpriced, since making a clockwork version of an item is a straight multiplier. Arcane Mechaniks, however, can reduce this price down to about a fourth of the asking price, and thus bring it into the realm of non-GM-fiat attainability. This means that there's enormous pressure for every party to include an Arcane Mechanik. As for trap builds, the biggest one is the 'double mage', a combination of any two Gifted careers. Mage careers tend to offer very little outside of their spell list, and while double-maging expands said list, it doesn't actually allow you to choose any more spells, other than the handful of starting ones. It also leaves the character all but unable to contribute outside of their limited spell selection. Double-combat-classes has something similar going on, though not to the same extent, since most combat classes at least have a handful of useful occupational skills. The problem here is with career design; basically every combat career has everything it needs to succeed on its own, and for that most part it isn't possible to use multiple combat styles at once (though there are some very useful exceptions). e: It sounds like I'm complaining a lot about the system. It's actually quiet good, and I do recommend it. It just has a few lingering issues that GMs should be aware of. fool of sound fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Dec 31, 2014 |
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Dec 31, 2014 06:54
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Yeah, the system's basic resolution task and actual ideas are good. Even in the wargame, magic takes a backseat to actual fighting, with units like Iosan Force Mages more practical for their forced repositioning skills than the damage they cause. Also, that ARC determines both spell points AND your spell attack rating can lead to some annoyance at the beginning of your character's career.
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Dec 31, 2014 07:12
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 23:30 |
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I've played a skilled rifleman before and it's quite ridiculous the amount of damage you can unload, particularly if you start chaining kill shots. But Channelers do get some advantages at higher levels, mainly that they can boost attack and damage on two spells and turn and if they overload it's not too big of a deal since the spell still goes off, just make sure you didn't want to move that turn anyway. IF you're a gunmage, however, overloading is basically the kiss of death (though you shouldn't be boosting your casting there anyway)
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Dec 31, 2014 07:27
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