|
Poltergrift posted:Two things: First, I've heard -- at least in a few places -- that UA 3rd ed lacks the grit, that it's become sanitary and hopeful, even if the adepts are all still deeply damaged people. I'm disinclined to believe that this is sufficiently true to make it bad, since it's Unknown Armies, but I'm asking here, for anyone with 3rd ed, does it retain the spirit of Cosmic Bumfights? Pretty much the same tone, yeah. The new adept schools don't quite have the same sense of dissolution as the older schools but that's out of a concern for playability. Motumancers incite the people around them to do destructive acts, Cinemancers are annoying pop-culture morons with kewl magik powers and Agrimancers can always kill a bum to power their spells. Edit: Forgot the most important part. There's an Invisible Clergy shake-up: The Comte is no longer the First Man. Because he no longer embodies the archetype, the world feels a little newer, a little less set in its ways, and a little more egalitarian. Xand_Man fucked around with this message at 08:45 on Sep 9, 2016 |
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 00:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 12:27 |
|
|
Might be having a go at some wild talents in the near future, so I figured I'd put my hand at some characters as examples for the other guys (I've listened to a few campaigns and done a decent amount of reading). Chances are I'll end up turning these into villians or rivals depending on how they interact with them. I'm also a terribly unoriginal person, so I'll be In particular with this guy, the permission felt weird. Nothing gives just miracles (aside from one-power), otherwise I probably would have done inhuman stats+that. Unless you always get miracles. Also can you split hard dice into multiple sets? If not I'd tweak his heal dice around some (something like 4d+1wd instead of 4hd). I put +1 on both useful effects, though it probably only needs to be on 1 in order to use both in 1 multiple action at no penalty. First up is Joe Green, or better known as Laser Jesus. A college dropout who did generous amounts of pot and lsd until a bad trip combined with a door-to-door missionary caused him to become a born-again christian. Below his potting shed happened to be a supervillian lair, and after ragnarok a malfunctioning AI bot-napped him, and got really confused analyzing his memories and got to work. He is pretty average, but got a boost to social/evangelizing, and a couple biblical style powers. Probably should make up a dud water to wine power for him as well. 200 points Source: Conduit (0) Permissions: Super (15) Base Will: 16 (21 points for +7) Stats (normal / hyper) (80) Body: 2d Coordination: 2d Sense: 2d Mind: 2d Charm: 2d / 2d Command: 2d / 3d Skills (normal / hyper) (44) Empathy: 2d / 1wd First Aid: 2d Streetwise: 3d Lie: 2d Persuasion: 2d / 1wd Intimidation: 1d Leadership: 2d / 1wd Stability: 1d / 1wd Powers Walk on Water - Capacity: Speed (1/2/4) 2hd (4 points) (U) Duration (+2) Booster (+1) Willpower Investment (-1) Self Only (-3) It takes 4 willpower to have active, booster allows him to move quite a bit faster over water than his normal speed. Lay on Hands - Capacity: Range (2/4/8) 4hd (16 points) A.(U+1) Engulf (+2) Touch (-2) Slow (-2) B.(U+1) Variable Effect (4) Touch (-2) Slow (-2) Obvious (-1) Go Last (-1) If/Then - Variable effect only heals diseases ala Jesus (0) Option A is a strong heal limited by range and recharge. Option B cures diseases/physical maladies, but the list of poo poo Jesus did is wide enough that I don't think if/then is a point reduction. Obvious effect is big light halo+choir music. Let There be Light - Capacity: Range (5/10/15) 2hd (20 points) (A) Controlled Effect (+1) Duration (+2) Non-Physical (+2) Radius (+6) Attached - Lay on Hands A (-2) Automatic (-1) Go Last (-1) Limited Damage - Shock (-1) Obvious (-1) Backfires (-2) Self (0) When the heal effect of Lay on Hands is used, this triggers automatically dealing 1 killing to Joe's chest. Since it has radius the self targeting provides no bonus. Flashing strobe lights and techno music flood out, though controlled effect allows Joe to prevent permanent damage to those around him as he chooses. I figure this has to go on for at least 1 full song (5-10 minutes). Depending on what happens, Joe could either be hippie jesus or turn into mega-church jesus. In case (H) he'd go around helping the poor and holding peace disturbing concerts, in case (M) he'd force convert disciples in the church built over his old house ("baptizing" down in the super villian base) who would be better at fighting the heroes or other gangs in town (and have powers based on old testament poo poo like samson), and use his powers to run PR campaigns against the heroes.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2016 09:56
|
|
|
quote:In particular with this guy, the permission felt weird. Nothing gives just miracles (aside from one-power), otherwise I probably would have done inhuman stats+that. Unless you always get miracles.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2016 13:25
|
|
|
Hrmm, good point on just making a miracle only permission. This next guy I think I've made the stuff right (or mostly right or workable), though I wasn't really able to find much beyond "you can give minions powers by attaching them to them". In particular I wanted to have a "summon improved minions once per fight" sort of thing without it being too crazy. Also am I right in that every power quality on a focus gets the -1 focus flaw? Frank "The Nose" Santino was a small time crook until he secretly grabbed a small locked box while his crew was poking around an abandoned lair. After opening it he found a strange squid-like amulet and a contract written on strange leather. Following the instructions to sign in his blood, Frank's secret love of ninjas has come to life as he summons groups of them to do his bidding. Not concerned about the long term, Frank doesn't really worry about the consequences of what he needs to do to gain new contracts. He has however, been hitting the books (mostly Sun Tzu) to improve his usage of them. [I need a terrible name for Frank to be styling himself as]. Points: 199 Source: Extra-dimensional (0) Permission: Super-equipment (2) Base Will: 7 (6) Stats (65) Body 2d Coor 2d Sense 2d Mind 2d Charm 2d Command 3d Skills (50) Athletics 2d Brawling 2d Dodge 3d Lockpicking 2d Stealth 2d Perception 2d Streetwise 2d Tactics 4d Lie 2d Leadership 4d Amulet of Alhazred [3/6/9] 8d+2hd (U - Summon Ninja) Endless (+3) Willpower Bid (-1) Focus (-1) Go Last (-1) If/Then: 1 group per contract (-1) (D - Ninja Log) Fragile (-1) Focus (-1) Go First (+1) (U - Smoke Bomb) Exhausted (-3) Focus (-1) Booster (+1) The amulet lets him summon a group of 10 elite ninja minions, though if interrupted he loses a willpower, and can only have 1 group from each contract at once. Ninja Log is a strong defensive power, but if something is faster than him it is useless. Smoke Bomb is a modified teleport skill that he can use once a scene. I'd add more stuff to it but I don't want it to be too crazy. Basic Contract of Alhazred [2/4/8] 10d (U - Foot Soldier) Attached: Summon (-2) Focus (-1) No Physics (+1) (U - Foot Scout) Attached: Summon (-2) Focus (-1) No Physics (+1) Skill Mastery: Ninja Spy (+1) He can have one group of either active at a time. No physics to let them do movie ninja things, skill mastery to let the scouts use master minion rules for ninja spy things. Contract of Kenotat [2/4/8] 10d (U - Elite Foot) Attached: Summon (-2) Focus (-1) No Physics (+1) (A - Elite Equips) Attached: Elite Foot (-2) Focus (-1) Exhausted (-3) Deadly (+1) Go First (+1) Penetration (+1) No Retreat (+2) He can summon another group of soldiers, and once per scene they show up with swords. No Retreat is a custom extra to let them ignore the normal minion fleeing rules. I wasn't sure how the dice pools interact when giving minions special things. Do you need a dice per minion, or do you just need enough to activate the attached power? As minions do they still get to use up all their sets when using attached powers? I could throw them a +1 on the useful if I need to counter-act a multi-action penalty die for non-attacks or something. The non-physics I have in there because ninjas are always doing things like hanging on ceilings or running on water or kickflipping off of something that wouldn't support them, but should I add in a [permanent+always on] setup, or make them use a set in their action to do that? If I had a this guy as a PC I think I'd change it to have 1 group of soldier and 1 group of scout, and have the extra contracts be 1 scene buffs (elite equips attached to foot soldier, no summon elite foot power), but as a villian I want him to be able to have more guys, and the longer he evades the heroes the more contracts I can add to him. Also considering adding the obvious flaw onto them so they always tumble out of vents/doorways/wastebaskets to enter the scene.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2016 23:56
|
|
|
Are there any alt-covers for Greg Stolze's Better Angels that don't involve poser art? Sorry if I asked already.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2016 23:46
|
|
|
I'm sorry, I don't understand the question. I thought you said you wanted good art, but you're asking about a game by Greg Stolze.
|
|
#
?
Oct 23, 2016 03:07
|
|
|
I backed Thank you For Screaming and it is definitely pretty good. Not great, has a few misfires, but overall I enjoyed it. I simply don't understand why Stolze isn't popularly recognized as being in the Top Tier of game designers. He is really, really good at setting and no slouch at mechanics.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 16:50
|
|
|
ZypherIM posted:I wasn't sure how the dice pools interact when giving minions special things. Do you need a dice per minion, or do you just need enough to activate the attached power? As minions do they still get to use up all their sets when using attached powers? I could throw them a +1 on the useful if I need to counter-act a multi-action penalty die for non-attacks or something. The non-physics I have in there because ninjas are always doing things like hanging on ceilings or running on water or kickflipping off of something that wouldn't support them, but should I add in a [permanent+always on] setup, or make them use a set in their action to do that? Most of the time in Wild Talents it doesn't make sense for you to take on 10-15 actual individuals at once, since you're a super hero, not a mythic warrior. Moreover, actually fighting Minions in WT is a bit of a pain. Here's the hack that I use. A Minion has a Threat Rating between 1 and 5. The Threat Rating tells you three things: 1: The minimum Height you need to roll to neutralize one 2: How many Dice the Minion adds to the pool. 3: At Threat 1, any Successful attack knocks out Width in Minions. Anything above that knocks 1 Minion out at a time. Minions always declare First in the Declaration phase, and they can use all the Sets they roll (though never more than the actual number of bodies left in the Minion pool). This means they get free Multiple actions to use against multiple targets. So if you're fighting a group of 10 Threat 1 Minions, they're rolling 10d when they attack, and each time you roll any set whatsoever you're knocking out Width in Minions. They're the definition of Trash, but each Minion you knock out only reduces the Minion Pool by -1d, so it's not a huge loss. On the other hand, if you're fighting a group of 4 Threat 3 Minions, they're still rolling 10d when they attack (because you can never roll more than 10d in WT), and you need at least a Height of 3 to eliminate one. Each time you do though you're knocking -3d off that pool, so it will drop pretty fast because there's less of them. I also use a couple other rules which are a bit more complex, but since I play WT every week I'm used to it: 4: A Minion's Threat also tells you the maximum Width they can use (except for Threat 1, which has a max Width of 2). 5: Pursuant to the above, if a Minion roll ends up with a Width greater than their Threat, they can split it into multiple actions if possible, otherwise the excess Width is ignored. So if a bunch of Threat 2 Minions roll up a 4x3, it can be split into two 2x3s; on the other hand if they roll a 3x10, they can only use it as a 2x10, since a 1x10 is just a random loose die. These rules make it so that even if you're fighting a ridiculous number of Minions, they won't be TOO dangerous for you to handle, since the purpose of Minions more or less is to create flavorful chaos and let Players chew through whole gangs at a time. In my experience these rules work pretty well and streamline WT's somewhat more primitive use of the ORE Minions mechanic. Also yes add the Obvious Flaw because that's hilarious.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 16:58
|
|
|
Megaman's Jockstrap posted:I backed Thank you For Screaming and it is definitely pretty good. Not great, has a few misfires, but overall I enjoyed it. It's surprising to me as well. After playing ORE, it was pretty much impossible for me to go back to White Wolf style dice pools. Most of his recent designs have something that I find really exciting, whether it's the players as demons in Better Angels or combining a Dirty World into the new Unknown Armies.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 17:46
|
|
|
Megaman's Jockstrap posted:I backed Thank you For Screaming and it is definitely pretty good. Not great, has a few misfires, but overall I enjoyed it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 18:28
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:I'm sorry, I don't understand the question. I thought you said you wanted good art, but you're asking about a game by Greg Stolze. The art previews for UA3 look pretty good so far. Its has a very Silent Hill vibe to it. Simian_Prime fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Oct 24, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 18:41
|
|
|
Megaman's Jockstrap posted:I simply don't understand why Stolze isn't popularly recognized as being in the Top Tier of game designers. He is really, really good at setting and no slouch at mechanics. I think it's mostly because the games he's done solo are fairly obscure and the games he's worked on for white wolf or whoever don't have his name on the cover. He's got a great reputation among people who know who he is.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 18:46
|
|
|
I wouldn't have said that Greg Stolze was not in the top tier of famous designers.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 19:01
|
|
|
Yeah, if Stolze isn't in the top tier of designers, I'm not sure who is. I would think that people who don't know about Stolze are people who don't think much about individual developers outside of maybe D&D. I don't hear him often mentioned in the same breath as indie designers like Baker or Crane, but not all his work is indie stuff.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 19:30
|
|
|
His visibility may suffer because he is neither just an indie developer nor a huge name in the biggest sellers, but rather a person who goes from individual project to indivdiual project being extremely excellent. I always think of Kenneth Hite when people bring up Greg as another strong designer with no real celebrity status. (Although I think Greg is much more prolific and probably better at mechanics.)
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 19:42
|
|
|
So I've gone full Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in my Wild Talents game, with my players taking on a bunch of metahuman gangsters who've turned a low-income housing development into an impenetrable fortress. Their powers: Conditioner Useful Range (Interference +3) Defends Self, Range (Interference +3) Conditioner creates floating, homing soap bubbles that numb any body part they come in contact with. The bubbles respond to the user's will almost subconsciously, allowing him to influence a wide area and deal with multiple threats affecting him and his henchmen. Conditioner can effectively defend against attacks by numbing the body parts to throw off or weaken attacks, or foil other actions by disabling the body parts needed to execute them (such as numbing a person's legs to prevent them from performing Athletics). Gravel Pit Attacks Range (Spray +1, Limited Damage-1 (Shock Only)) Useful Defends+1 (if/then -1 (Target must have her feet planted on the gravel and user must be touching it)) Useful Speed Gravel Pit can control any area of small rocks as long as the user is in contact with the overall mass of them. These rocks can be launched at high velocities in a shotgun like spray, and can defend the user by shifting the gravel underfoot of his enemies to deprive them of sure footing. Finally, Gravel Pit allows the user to slide freely across the stones at high speeds. Severe Punishment Attacks Mass (Augments +3, Penetration +2, Booster +1) Severe Punishment magnifies the kinetic energy of hand-to-hand combat abilities. In basic terms it allows its user to improve the speed and strength of her attacks (adding its dice to her pool), but Severe Punishment can also channel that energy more effectively into a target, projecting it through body armor and causing severe knockback (adding its extras to the attack). A target struck by a punch enhanced by Severe Punishment can be launched back upwards of 6 yards. Bring tha Ruckus Attacks Range (Radius +2, No Upward Limit +2, if/then-1(Using No Upward Limit incurs a Slow effect), Limited Damage -1 (S), Area+2 (S)) Defense Self+1 (if/then -1 (only works against projectile attacks) Bring tha Ruckus generates concussive sonic waves that reverberate within a 30 foot radius, and collide with one another to create sudden and powerful bursts of air pressure. Anyone caught within this power’s effect takes Width in Shock, plus Area 2 Shock. Moreover, Bring tha Ruckus allows its user spend 2 Willpower to increase the Width of this attack. When used in this manner, Bring the Ruckus takes a turn to recharge. Bring tha Ruckus can also be used defensively against projectile weapons by firing off sonic waves that deflect incoming projectiles. The Chronic Defense Self+1 Useful Speed+2 Attacks Range (Duration+2, Go First +1, Non-Physical +2, Willpower Investment -1, Limited Damage -1, if/then -1 (Duration ends when user takes total damage equal to the Width of his roll) The Chronic allows its user to transform into a cloud of smoke. This can be used in three ways. Defensively, any attack that would strike its user would instead pass clean through the smoke. The Chronic can also be used the power to move around as a cloud, passing into spaces that would otherwise be inaccessible. Finally, the Chronic can be projected into the lungs of another person, causing rapid suffocation. This incurs a significant willpower investment to use, but anyone affected must make an Endurance roll vs a Difficulty of 6, losing a -1d each turn. Failure results in the user taking 1 Killing to their Torso and 1 Shock to their head. The boss of the encounter used the Chronic coupled with a 2hd Permanent Hyperdodge power called Chronic Relief that made him completely immune to any attack with less than 3 Width. The group said it was the best fight yet. Conditioner is the first time I've actually sat down and used an Interference power, and that's some nasty stuff. I softballed the Players fighting its user by giving him fairly weak minions, but against deadlier henchmen there may have been casualties. All this just makes me want to make a proper Jojo hack of Wild Talents.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2016 19:55
|
|
|
Thanks for the words strange, sounds like you're using a sort of mesh between reign and ore minion rules. Kind of surprised you didn't pull the expanded total dice pool from reign, I thought that worked well with the limited width rules. How do you handle leadership, or has that mostly just been passed over? This can give you a pool of over 10d, which normally you dump to offset penalty dice as you do maneuvers/multi-actions, so I guess just maneuvers for minions. What I meant more-so with my question about minions is that I can find references to giving minions powers (so they have eye-lasers or whatever). This seems fairly simple, with attaching it to the minions power itself and then building it as normal. Now do you need to treat it like operational skill (where if the power pool is equal or higher you add in extras, and roll the smaller of the two pools)? When minions have powers do they continue to follow standard rules for using sets? I guess the normal examples of weapons don't change between fists and guns, so I'd keep rolling based on minions and using multiple sets. In a related question, is there anything preventing you from buying more than 10d in a power? I know that stats/skills have limits (though the combined total can go past 10 letting you do multiple actions or maneuvers while still getting a full pool) but couldn't find anything directly addressing powers. Conditioner sounds hilariously annoying, though by the way interference works he should be only interfering with 1 thing at a time, that he declares in the declaration phase. Unless he does multiple actions, or takes duration (and defensive duration area interference gets crazy strong). If I'm correct (haven't found solid examples) throwing a +1 on the useful should let him do a multi-action useful+defends declare with no dice penalty. As is he is really strong against piecemeal attacks, but multiple attacks will bust past it, or depending on how his dice are set up inflicting some sort of penalty die can mess him up good (eg a hyperbrawler using the daze maneuver). Ranged defends with spray can be a lot of fun too, that is how I modeled a laser based anti-projectile thing. Some go first and spray feels like I have more room to work around in instead of just slamming the interference+duration wall into them as well. I've been thinking about making a zangief. Basically give him a defensive move (sfv he has this hilarious flex move that grants armor) and have him flex walk up while soaking hits to piledrive someone.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 10:49
|
|
|
Speaking of Stoltze, does anyone here have any experience with Reign? I'd expect more people to be into it, "lead your own nation or your own mercenary company" sounds like a real crowd pleaser, but I rarely come across people who played it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 13:11
|
|
|
paradoxGentleman posted:Speaking of Stoltze, does anyone here have any experience with Reign? I'd expect more people to be into it, "lead your own nation or your own mercenary company" sounds like a real crowd pleaser, but I rarely come across people who played it. I love the hell out of it and have run a few games in it, including at least one long running campaign that went great. Other than the invariable undodgable headshot problem, I've found it works fantastically if your players mesh with ORE. LaSquida fucked around with this message at 13:41 on Oct 25, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 13:39
|
|
|
paradoxGentleman posted:Speaking of Stoltze, does anyone here have any experience with Reign? I'd expect more people to be into it, "lead your own nation or your own mercenary company" sounds like a real crowd pleaser, but I rarely come across people who played it. Reign is great, and I've stolen the company rules for a ton of other campaigns in other systems since it's really self-contained.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 13:45
|
|
|
ZypherIM posted:Thanks for the words strange, sounds like you're using a sort of mesh between reign and ore minion rules. Kind of surprised you didn't pull the expanded total dice pool from reign, I thought that worked well with the limited width rules. How do you handle leadership, or has that mostly just been passed over? This can give you a pool of over 10d, which normally you dump to offset penalty dice as you do maneuvers/multi-actions, so I guess just maneuvers for minions. quote:What I meant more-so with my question about minions is that I can find references to giving minions powers (so they have eye-lasers or whatever). This seems fairly simple, with attaching it to the minions power itself and then building it as normal. Now do you need to treat it like operational skill (where if the power pool is equal or higher you add in extras, and roll the smaller of the two pools)? When minions have powers do they continue to follow standard rules for using sets? I guess the normal examples of weapons don't change between fists and guns, so I'd keep rolling based on minions and using multiple sets. First would be to fudge it. The rules say that Minions can attack, so you can just flavor it to say that the methods that the minions use to attack are Eye Lasers and leave it at that. There are no clear rules that say that Minions at a certain quality level need to do a certain kind of attack, so in that respect it's up to you. Of course, you also can give them genuine point-per-dice powers. Here's what the Minions power in the Miracle Cafeteria says about that: Wild Talents Essential Edition pg 152 posted:If you want minions with strange powers, take the powers as separate Power Qualities or separate powers entirely and link them to Minions with the Attached Flaw. Those are powers that only the minions can use quote:In a related question, is there anything preventing you from buying more than 10d in a power? I know that stats/skills have limits (though the combined total can go past 10 letting you do multiple actions or maneuvers while still getting a full pool) but couldn't find anything directly addressing powers. quote:Conditioner sounds hilariously annoying, though by the way interference works he should be only interfering with 1 thing at a time, that he declares in the declaration phase. Unless he does multiple actions, or takes duration (and defensive duration area interference gets crazy strong). If I'm correct (haven't found solid examples) throwing a +1 on the useful should let him do a multi-action useful+defends declare with no dice penalty. As is he is really strong against piecemeal attacks, but multiple attacks will bust past it, or depending on how his dice are set up inflicting some sort of penalty die can mess him up good (eg a hyperbrawler using the daze maneuver). quote:Ranged defends with spray can be a lot of fun too, that is how I modeled a laser based anti-projectile thing. Some go first and spray feels like I have more room to work around in instead of just slamming the interference+duration wall into them as well. The weakness was The Chronic's Willpower Investment. He had to set aside a ton of Willpower to keep his suffocation attack up. We play with the standard Willpower uses plus Wound Shift, so many fights against bosses end up being about depleting their Willpower as much as hitting them. Eventually they hit him enough that he ran out of reserve Willpower and had to break off his suffocation attack to stay alive. It was a really interesting fight quite unlike any I'd done before. quote:I've been thinking about making a zangief. Basically give him a defensive move (sfv he has this hilarious flex move that grants armor) and have him flex walk up while soaking hits to piledrive someone. I've actually started importing some of the Martial Paths from Reign into WT for my players and their enemies. Knife fighting especially has gotten real interesting.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 14:25
|
|
|
The Minion discussion is helping me with statting up the final boss for my Monsters and Other Childish Things (redone as Pokemon via Team Rocket) game. Going over 10 dice also seems like it doesn't happen in MaoCT, but the end boss (MewTwo) doesn't make sense as a Bigger Bad. So I was thinking of using the Minion idea listed above, where MewTwo's body parts have more than 10 dice but only ever roll 10. So it might have to take 5-10 dice worth of damage before seeing a reduction in dice pools. I'll probably flavor it as a psychic barrier until they get to the "real" 10 dice of health. I've found that even fairly tough single opponents get quickly ground down in MaoCT when outnumbered, so I was planning to combine extra strength MewTwo with a couple assistant creatures of more regular strength. Probably one attack-focused glass cannon and one defense focused ally that hardly attacks. Does that sound reasonable? Anyone else with experience at boss fights in Monsters and Other Childish Things who wants to weigh in?
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 19:22
|
|
|
Sionak posted:The Minion discussion is helping me with statting up the final boss for my Monsters and Other Childish Things (redone as Pokemon via Team Rocket) game. Like there could be boulders raining from the sky constantly as a byproduct of all the anime psychic energy making rocks levitate and stuff, but until the Monsters come up with a way to overcome that (reflexively knocking things out of the sky, forming a giant umbrella that protects an area, etc.) it'll be rolling attacks to represent who rocks are falling on/near in a given turn. That way, the conflict is still narratively about the boss being solo, but there's other stuff to address in ways beyond "shoot cyberdemon until it dies" dogpiling on the solo creature. Plus it makes the fight feel a little more lived-in by making the scenery itself something to overcome.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 19:41
|
|
|
Sionak posted:The Minion discussion is helping me with statting up the final boss for my Monsters and Other Childish Things (redone as Pokemon via Team Rocket) game.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2016 19:49
|
|
|
Both of those are great, thanks!
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2016 00:20
|
|
|
I don't really know of many people who've played reign (I've done a very small amount), but if you're a GM and your players want to do a different system, it is really easy to pull chunks of ORE out and redo them into other systems. I think a ranged defense power still only defends 1 target unless you're doing something to let you target multiple people (multi actions, spray, radius). Like you have a force shield you can place in front of a buddy, but that doesn't put it in front of ALL your buddies. Interference is weird and doesn't seem to do normal gobble dice at all, just applies the whole width versus whatever. Without duration it only effects the opponent you're declaring against. I have a fun idea for a modification of it. [D] [Self, Range] Endless +3, Burn +2, If/then -1 (only absorbs width in total), If/then -1 (Burn effect only on attack that breaks effect) Basically he puts bubbles around his buddies that stick around, they only get 1 set of gobble dice, and when it pops it gets all over the attacker. I'd probably let them remove the burn effect fairly easily, either any set or total width of whatever the shield sucks up. At 7 points it is decently expensive, though adding interference and 2hd is only 40 points. There are some silly ways using spray and stuff to get a lot more dice for the same cost (10hd in spray is 20 points, so for 30 points you could have 1d+10hd), makes me think a rule about max cost per quality is in order for my own game. I haven't really done anything with MaoCT, but one of the reasons one big monster tends to not fair as well as expected is because they tend to just have so many less actions than the players. Either extra helpers, something that gives the boss more actions, or something in the area that people need to also deal with are all good ways to even things out a bit. There is always the full-on anime "this isn't even my final form" way to setup your boss, where you give him a couple stages and add something extra each time (maybe even giving each new thing it's own action). For example you can model the place being on fire as a group of minions (I don't actually really know any pokemon stuff to make it more relevant sorry), maybe as a second round action your boss does. We'll say that it has 10 dice, every round have it declare that it is going to burn, and if they don't try to fight it next round have it say it is going to try to spread (give one set back as additional dice pool) and burn. Then when they're try to deal with the fire, you just have width successes remove that many dice, or if it a tougher fire for some reason you can have minimum height or only 1 die at a time.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2016 00:26
|
|
|
Sionak posted:Going over 10 dice also seems like it doesn't happen in MaoCT, I think Threats can go over 10d
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2016 01:19
|
|
|
Doodmons posted:I think Threats can go over 10d
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2016 04:27
|
|
|
Ore doesn't let you go over 10 because 11+ garauntees at least one match (and to discourage silly 20+ dice roll builds). If your threat always generating at least one success isn't a problem, don't worry about it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2016 12:49
|
|
|
Strange Matter posted:But do you actually get to roll more than 10d, or are the excess just penalty/damage buffers? I don't have the book immediately to hand, but I have always seen it run that Threats can keep pools beyond 10, like Reign Unworthies.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2016 13:48
|
|
|
Splicer posted:Ore doesn't let you go over 10 because 11+ garauntees at least one match (and to discourage silly 20+ dice roll builds). If your threat always generating at least one success isn't a problem, don't worry about it. This is true in general, the question comes up because Reign specifically lets unworthy opponents (minions) keep up to 15d. They then can only make sets 3-wide, so if you get a 4-set you have to break that into 2 2-sets. So while they can get to guaranteed sets there is a limit on how fast they act, and any damage reducing things are more effective. So yea, just realize that you'll always have at least 1 success, and if MaoCT doesn't already account for that, consider pulling some more conditionals like limited width. I just had a hilarious idea for a modified roll where you have a ton of tiny ankle biters, and on even sets they hit the left leg and odd sets the right leg. Allow pool up to 15d, let PCs use all sets they roll with no penalty, have a big pile of them. ZypherIM fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Oct 26, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2016 15:35
|
|
|
Is Greg Stolze still making games? If so, what has he released recently?
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2016 01:57
|
|
|
Covok posted:Is Greg Stolze still making games? If so, what has he released recently? Unknown Armies Third Edition is in layout, for a start.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2016 02:10
|
|
|
Covok posted:Is Greg Stolze still making games? If so, what has he released recently? Better Angels is a few years old now, he's doing Unknown Armies, working on the new Delta Green, some other odds and ends. He did the cult rules in White Wolf's nWod Mummy. He's also been doing a bunch of fiction, a short story collection just came out and he did a novel for 13th age recently.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2016 02:19
|
|
|
And he does judo
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2016 02:21
|
|
|
Wild Talents power thought: what's the best way to build an Attacks Power that can EITHER deal Shock or Killing, but not Shock and Killing? I thought that the following might work: Variable Effect+4, Limited Damage-1,if/then-1(Variable Effect only works for switching between Shock or Killing damage, must be declared at start of round) But that leaves it at +2 per die, which seems expensive considering that Limited Damage where you can only deal Shock or Killing is a -1 Flaw. Also I've never built a very good understanding of Variable Effect in the first place. Would it be quicker just to make it as a +1 Extra, something like "Adjustable Damage"?
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2016 15:30
|
|
|
ZypherIM posted:This is true in general, the question comes up because Reign specifically lets unworthy opponents (minions) keep up to 15d. They then can only make sets 3-wide, so if you get a 4-set you have to break that into 2 2-sets. So while they can get to guaranteed sets there is a limit on how fast they act, and any damage reducing things are more effective. I wish I'd asked earlier in the campaign because this would be incredibly perfect for the Pokemon moment when you go in a cave and all the Zubats in the world swarm you at once. ZypherIM posted:I have a fun idea for a modification of it. MaoCT doesn't go quite this in-depth for powers, but as a special attack for a boss character I think it'll work well. Despite not knowing Pokemon you've pretty much hit exactly the right tone - MewTwo is basically Frieza from DBZ. So multiple forms and stuff flying around is perfect. Thanks again for the help! What I'm thinking now is that the fight will include MewTwo and a mechanical suit that MewTwo has modified. MewTwo will have two forms and get extra attacks. The mechanical suit will act as defender/healer until it is destroyed, but can't be repaired itself. As the action gets more intense, molten rock will start to bubble up from beneath, melting the ice to establish an additional environmental Threat, and release clouds of steam. That ought to be enough wrinkles to keep it interesting.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2016 17:43
|
|
|
Strange Matter posted:Wild Talents power thought: what's the best way to build an Attacks Power that can EITHER deal Shock or Killing, but not Shock and Killing? I thought that the following might work: I have some thoughts on how to do it. Option 1 would be to just build two attack qualities onto the attack. If they're using a focus it makes it a lot cheaper to do it this way. Example character from the book does this. [A] Focus [-1] Accessible [-1] Limited Dmg: Shock [-1] If/then: can't use with A2 [-1] [A] Focus [-1] Accessible [-1] Limited Dmg: Killing [-1] If/then: can't use with A1 [-1] Add in extras as you see fit, even without the focus you're at 2 points total with +1 extra to each. This can be nice if you want each option to have different properties (penetration, etc). Option 2 would be to add a new extra. It definitely isn't more than +1, and I'd even consider saying the +1 version should let you swap between shock, killing, and shock+killing. If it just lets you swap between shock and killing, limited damage flaw should be noted to be worth (0). Variable effect is a possibility, I'd argue that the if/then on it is restrictive enough to warrant -2, leaving it as a +1 total. So some words on variable effect. Normally what you do is roll to activate the variable effect power, then assign dice from the variable effect pool into a new power. Gadgeteering and cosmic power are the two standard examples. If you just had variable effect on Attacks you could manifest tons of different types of attacks. Without an If/Then (variable effect only for XYZ), you can turn that power into anything that the qualities cover (hyperstats, hyperskills, power). The If/Then (only for variable effect) means that the power doesn't have a native effect, it only has stuff you've emulated. For an example, take a guy with a 10d pool in an attack. [A] Variable Effect [+4] With this he can either do an attack at 10d, or make a roll with variable effect to emulate a new attack power. If he gets a set, he assigns up to 10d from his power to the new emulated power. Dice not assigned to the new power can still be used with another normal attack roll, or to be used to make another power. If instead he had 10d in this power: [A] Variable Effect [+4] If/Then (only for variable effect) He can no longer attack natively with this power, only roll it to make a new power. If you don't have duration the new power goes away after 1 use. A lot of examples of variable effect feel weird, and part of this is because you often have something non-combat with variable effect. For example the 'rabid anne' perception power from the book, technically she should take a round to change setting on the visor before seeing stuff, but in practice you'd just let her see poo poo because that is too fiddly. Technically you'll have something where the person should have taken a turn to setup some variable effect power, but in effect you hand-wave a lot of the in-between and just make sure they don't do anything too crazy.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2016 05:00
|
|
|
The funny thing about Variable Effect is that Stolze spends a lot of time explaining how it can be used to create new powers, but doesn't quite explain as fully that the power's more conventional, perhaps even intended, use is to create extremely flexible Useful powers. Taken through that lens it actually makes a lot of sense. And that Dossier for Rabid Anne actually has a case study of a weapon with variable damage where each damage type is modeled as a different Attack Quality, so I think you're correct about that being the right way to go. Strange Matter fucked around with this message at 13:38 on Oct 28, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2016 13:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 12:27 |
|
|
Yea variable effect can be wonky, and using it more as intended can end up costing a lot of willpower if you go for anything too crazy in the extras. On the other hand, the flexibility is really crazy, especially if you have a player who is good at planning. They variable effect a remote-viewing power to find hidden info, or they change it into knowledge hyperdice, or they transform into water to go under a door, etc. Even attack varieties can be surprisingly good, you can basically change your power quality around, or if you really want an extra you can have it. If you're changing your skill around a lot, it isn't a big deal to cook up a new power with like exhausted and obvious to give yourself 4 points of extras to play with. If your character has some sort of regeneration, throw in a backfires to push you up to 6 without spending willpower. Give yourself something to do in your off-turn that you multiple action with making your next variable effect power (maybe conjure up a healing or defensive power with your other qualities). The other way to use it is how you usually see it employed, where it gets a bunch of restrictions that let you do one thing in a bunch of ways, like changing it between immunities or seeing on all wavelengths. I think this is the easier to understand way, along with the other way being hard to keep in-line with how strong/useful the rest of the group is. Rabid Anne was one thing I referenced for that, yea. Variable damage works out nicely with the focus to me because I don't feel like I'm grasping for flaws to make the cost reasonable, and it gives you the ability to customize each damage type. For example you probably want a lot of penetration on your shock variant to make sure you cut through armor, but with the killing type you could just go for more damage or whatever. For an enemy variable effect could be a pretty good way to make a "mastermind" sort of villian, who spends time spying on the PCs while sending in minions to fight them and discover how their powers work or what they like to do, and then exploit that (smoke blocking vision around the ranged guy, webs for the flying guy, nullifiers, damsel in distress, etc). Heck you could give him a variable effect useful power for the scouting, and attach a variable effect power to a minion power so he summons groups of goons with specialized equipment.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2016 14:40
|
|