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I went back and looked at the rules for TC again, and 3 trait points is explicitly supposed to be for a situation stacked against the players. 2 is the range where the players will likely win but aren't guaranteed to. Not that I take that assessment as gospel. I think any time you have Superior Crafty on the table things have a chance of going south on the players real fast. I think my bigger gripe is that Observe seems like a trap now. It's the only option that has a true counter, and Deceive still has +1A/+1D, so it's a decent baseline default GM pick if you're not trying to do mean things with your traits. That and yeah, it feels kind of unsatisfying going into each TC with zero idea what you're up against when knowing would create a lot of neat tactical interactions. If you don't know anything, then you'll probably play it safe and shoot for draws until you have a good position to win. Every TC is the same until you get burned by a nasty trait, which feels like a trap since there aren't any actions you can take to learn them. If you instead know that an Increasing trait is on the table you're going to rush down a victory ASAP, Strikes be damned. And if that trait is modeling the building being on fire, then it would make sense that the PCs would know and understand that interaction.
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Oct 26, 2016 19:40
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I've only used Team Conflict once but I let the players know explicitly which traits the opposition had.
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Oct 26, 2016 19:47
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If an ability triggers on certain rolls (like 3-6 for Control Boost, or 2-5 / 6 for Damage Boost) do they still trigger when you roll below the minimum but boost it up with a miss token? Or does it only count on a natural roll?
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Oct 30, 2016 22:49
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Few more questions: Does the Grappler sample monster's "Abductor" ability override the normal grappling rules for dragging someone along with you? (i.e. for the monster it happens automatically instead of requiring opposing rolls?) If a monster is affected by Terrifying Visage, chooses to move away at full speed, and a Controller uses "Freeze!" on it, does it take the proximity damage, or is it considered to have moved as far as it can?
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Oct 31, 2016 00:02
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I ran my Halloween game yesterday. Some thoughts: Skill system was enjoyed by everyone, especially the complications, which led to some great moments. (Using chocolates for action points provided a natural additional incentive to acquire them!) We quickly noticed that simple plans could easily spin wonderfully out of control and stay interesting throughout as twists complicated things and new potential side plots were opened constantly by twists on rolls people made to get rid of conditions previously acquired through costs. So that was all great and at the end of the day we were already thinking of ways to steal the skill system for other games. Not 100% sold on the tactical combat yet, to be honest. We were six PCs and I used the rules as written to balance fights. I felt that made things kinda swingy, with critical hits almost one-shotting characters and monsters alike, although I suppose in a system where there's no overarching resource tracking, the suspense necessarily has to come from managing your HP and powers within a fight. But the other thing was, our fights were almost universally over by round 2, with only one barely edging into round 3. You have a lot of options and there are a lot of statuses and conditions being thrown around from the word go, but they become almost meaningless if a monster with a status effect goes down with the next hit anyway, goon or standard, and I couldn't help feeling that for 2-round battles you maybe don't need three at-will powers and encounter options and role actions. It seems like your best bet is still throwing out your Encounter powers in round 1 and whatever's left standing after that is effortlessly mopped up. I expect it's different in higher levels where monsters have more HP and staying power, but maybe more monsters would be the better encounter balancing mechanic for low levels. Overall, as far as combat goes and in comparison to 4E, I still prefer 13th Age's simplifying the tactics over Strike!'s simplifying the math. On the plus side, the generic classes and the class/role split give you great options to build your own unique characters. We had a necromancer/controller and a necromancer/defender and both players agreed they felt very different from each other. My favourites were a Trick Arrow archer/blaster refluffed as a witch and two Buddies/Leader who were a mad scientist with his creature, who was given a powerful roundhouse swing through the Minor Blaster feat. So that was extremely cool. e: another thing: there's this whole thing in the rules about how effects are supposed to last until the end of the target's next turn, either ending automatically or by saving throw, or else until the end of the encounter, and while I can't name specifics I felt there were enough effects that ended at a different point that this general rule was not really the case. My Lovely Horse fucked around with this message at 08:57 on Nov 1, 2016 |
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Oct 31, 2016 13:41
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Thoughts running my first full session: -It's really nice to do a narrative recap between rounds of a team conflict to ground everyone back in the fiction and contextualize what all the modifiers mean. -Champion packlords do not gently caress around. I made an encounter where for the first half the big bad was a blaster and the second a packlord as his minions rush in to save the injured leader. They handled the blaster bit okay, taking some extra damage, but knocking him down fairly well. But things went completely off the rails when 6 stooges were spawning in per round. I think we've had issues with the packlord at homullus' table too, so maybe that's just kind of a rough monster type in general. I doubt I'll be using him again. The fight ended with 3/5 people down and 14 strikes on the table. And that was with me kind of backing off when things started going sideways. -It was really rough trying to keep track of EoNT effects on a Champ. I'd been eying a set of magnetic mini/token bases for a few weeks, and I ended up ordering a set as soon as I got home. -Power cards are absolutely essential. For most of them their most recent game played was 5e, and a few of them paraphrased their powers on their sheets. That really does not cut it in this game. I'd managed to get power lists from most of them and made power cards for those I could, but those that didn't have them were pretty lost. All in all though a pretty good session. I think everyone had fun on the whole. ImpactVector fucked around with this message at 16:44 on Nov 2, 2016 |
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Nov 2, 2016 16:41
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It specifies for buddies that role boosts apply on certain actions originating with the buddy. I don't see it specified anywhere that they actually don't otherwise. I assume this is the case?
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Nov 3, 2016 00:45
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So, in "insane power comboes", a group I'm in has a Channeler Blaster with the Fly and Stealthy feats along with the Subtle Calling of the Moonless Night. The last makes them unable to be seen by enemies more then 10 squares away. I'm playing a bard pumping Melody of Movement most turns, and they proceed to start hiding more than 10 squares away from the enemies (where they can't be seen) and firing off AoEs (Lightning Bolt for reference) and proceeding to cream entire groups of enemy with advantage causing hilarious numbers of attacks and damage going to other targets from Lightning Bolt (especially since they did it on a square from the Lightning calling enhancing it).
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Nov 3, 2016 04:33
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So I ran my first Strike! game Friday night. It was the spooky horror game I mentioned before and we had a ton of fun! The skill system with its twists really lead things well in a narrative way and my players had a ton of fun role-playing their characters. It really cemented my decision to using Strike! as our go-to system and I am going to run a full campaign with it next (with tactical combat, of course). I wrote up the adventure in a way to let me re-use it in the future to introduce the game to new people. And, in an effort to get out of my comfort zone a bit, I've decided to release it publicly. Its document is 13 pages long (with a couple of homebrew rules, including a paranoia system) and it comes with a map. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxzTQr2Dfm44MEFzcnlvRTMyTGM?usp=sharing It's written to be vague (for the most part) so that everything could be improvised. If nothing else, the map could be useful to anyone who wants to have a spooky mansion dungeon in their game! (Also, the title of the game is meant to be bad; it's a tongue-in-cheek, B-horror-movie afterall!)
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Nov 7, 2016 02:17
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homullus posted:Hey what are people's feelings about Team Conflict traits being known to players? We discussed this after I ran Team Conflict with the errata. The combination of my making the conflict too strong (in Trait terms) and the fact that they didn't know them going in meant they didn't win (but conceded, and so got out with no Strikes). I mean, there was some bad player die-rolling and one very timely good Team Monster roll, but I think it was tilted against the players as-is. What we settled on was that that Traits the PCs would have reason to know should be explicit, but Traits the PCs couldn't have known could be (but do not have to be) surprises. In the game I'm in we had our second team conflict this session and it helped solidify my problems with it and I talked to the rest of the group and we agreed on it. 1) The length. There's supposed to be a house rule for this but I ended up looking at it and it's just for the turn limit to be set to 5. Ours only reached three both times but that took forever. I can't even imagine reaching five. 2) How gamey it is. Since bad things happen to you if you lose and progressively worse things happen to you the longer it takes to win, you're incredibly incentivized to game the system. It doesn't matter what makes sense for your character. It's about picking from the list of options so that you don't take even worse concessions and then justifying it in character. 3) In the end your actions don't matter. Oh they can lose you the conflict sure, but at best they just make it slightly more likely you can win. A bit of bad luck can still gently caress you over hugely and there's really nothing you can do about it.
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Nov 7, 2016 12:30
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Hey all, I’ve been behind on replying to this thread. Work is busy lately, and the American Election has been eating up way too much of my brainspace. Tuxedo catfish: when you bump your roll up to a 6, you do get the extra damage from damage boost. The Grappler’s ability does override the usual rules for moving while grappling. With the new Terrifying Visage, as long as it spends the action and makes its best effort, it doesn’t take the damage. My Lovely Horse, thanks! This is good feedback. If you run with 6 PCs, then you end up with a choice between using the extra damage for monsters and having it be over in a shorter number of rounds, but about the same actual time, or adding extra monsters and having it take 50% longer than it does with 4 PCs. If you didn’t like the first, try the second. It might also be that your players are quite good, in which case feel free to make things harder! ImpactVector, yeah, packlords can be very strong in the right circumstances, and Champion packlords especially so. We had a playtest session not long ago where I gave a modified packlord too many defensive abilities and it was nearly impossible to kill. Oops! ShineDog, yeah, your Buddy generally isn’t making Attack Rolls outside of those powers, so when else would it get Role Boosts? Gourdcaptain, noted. I’ll take a look at that. Vinchenz, that’s awesome! I’ll take a look at that soon. Djw175, you’re not wrong! The whole point of the Team Conlfict system is to replace a simple Skill Roll or sequence of Skill Rolls with a subsystem that is a) more game-y, b) a bit longer (but not too long - how long were yours running?), and c) having less luck and more player control than Skill Rolls, while still having a substantial element of luck - it is the intention that the players will lose fairly often. If those aren’t what your group is looking for, then you should not use Team Conflict.
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Nov 11, 2016 06:11
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I want to run a short cyberpunk campaign for a few friends new to tabletop gaming, would slightly reskinning the chase rules work well for jacked into the matrix style hacking? Are there any better options? I was thinking of a secondary character sheet for matrix tactical combat but I don't want to leave non-hacker players out.
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Nov 17, 2016 04:59
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Isnak posted:I want to run a short cyberpunk campaign for a few friends new to tabletop gaming, would slightly reskinning the chase rules work well for jacked into the matrix style hacking? Are there any better options? I was thinking of a secondary character sheet for matrix tactical combat but I don't want to leave non-hacker players out. Yeah, that seems like a good solution. Chase is short enough that you don't have to worry about people feeling left out the way tactical combat would.
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Nov 17, 2016 06:19
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alternatively have them play a duelist and make "let's take this outside" into straight-up Tron mode
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Nov 17, 2016 06:26
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Had the DM in the Strike game I play in try 2v2 PVP with standard characters. It went pretty poorly (in the way I'd guessed it would when he announced it), to the point everyone just asked to resolve the rest of the tournament plot he'd set up with opposed rolls. Didn't help I was put in the first fight, and I'm a Bard. So I basically had crap-all I could do of much use given I had one ally to affect with the buffs and the debuffs weren't significant enough against the ranged artillery to offset contributing basically no damage or effects. (The Bard doesn't get 3 damage at LV 5 on MBA/RBAs, and I'm guessing that's intentional.) I then noted after the fight I had a potential strategy if I'd been matched up against the two melee guy team as the only way I thought I could significantly contribute to one of these, which was just to spam Melody of Sloth, slow them down to 0 speed on most turns, spam Chord of Positioning to keep them out of melee range even if they do save, and have my buddy RBA them to death with triggered actions. It was generally considered for the best this didn't happen.
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Nov 17, 2016 09:42
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gourdcaptain posted:PVP ... I'm a Bard. Hahahaha Not a surprising result.
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Nov 17, 2016 12:42
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If a player wants to be able to spend an AP to do the "declare something useful" thing that many games have, would you say that's a reasonable and fun use of them as a house rule?
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Nov 19, 2016 03:10
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I do Skill rolls for declarations like that. If the player rolls a Cost, you get to add in a little caveat to their declaration (a Flaw). If they roll a Twist, well then you have lots of options, many of which involve the declaration still being true or mostly true. To answer your question directly, I don't think making an AP give a free declaration breaks anything, in case you don't like using Skill Rolls for declarations. It's not how I would play it, but I don't see any problem with it either.
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Nov 19, 2016 08:15
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So I'm preparing for a session very last-minute and I just realized I have no idea how to model cavalry in Strike! I'm just going to make something up for now, but out of curiosity, is this something covered by the vehicles expansion? If not, or for those without it, has anyone come up with a good homebrew solution?
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Nov 20, 2016 19:45
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So I'm thinking of having my 5e party make their characters in this system to buy myself more time to setup combat encounters. Is there a general number conversion of total conversion to level out there? It's something like 8 for starting characters, I think.
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Nov 29, 2016 03:28
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I'd just start at 1 since strike characters start pretty heroic, and there are only really 10 levels with less power variation between levels than dnd.
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Nov 29, 2016 03:36
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2-3 is the latest I'd start if people are new to the system. 2 gives you an encounter Role power and 3 gives you an additional encounter Attack power, which both go a long way toward making combat more exciting, but honestly just start at level 1 and level people up to 2 and then 3 after a session if they seem like they get it.
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Nov 29, 2016 03:43
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I'm actually not going to use Strike!'s tactical combat. I just want to actually move to something that will let the players do what they want outside of combat. I'll probably just revert back to 5e once I get the encounters worked out.
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Nov 29, 2016 04:40
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Tasoth posted:I'm actually not going to use Strike!'s tactical combat. 
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Nov 29, 2016 05:12
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I know. It's streamlined 4e and I think that's great. But I'm pretty sure my group would have a mutiny because they can't play the characters they played as they've built them over the last six or so months.
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Nov 29, 2016 05:38
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Tasoth posted:I know. It's streamlined 4e and I think that's great. But I'm pretty sure my group would have a mutiny because they can't play the characters they played as they've built them over the last six or so months. If all you're taking from Strike! is the skill system and maybe something like the chase rules then you don't really need to convert any of the characters by level or anything, just give them an equal number of appropriate skills and that's pretty much it.
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Nov 29, 2016 05:41
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Do the regular chargen - background+origin+personalize+gear. Add an extra trick and an extra skill representing what the players have done in the campaign so far that wasn't represented by their backgrounds and origins. Add in any optional things you want - relationships, reputations, or kits. If I'm understanding the situation right, kits probably aren't what you want for this mashup, but the other two might fit and don't require much effort if they do interest you.
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Nov 29, 2016 06:33
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Jimbozig posted:Do the regular chargen - background+origin+personalize+gear. Thanks! That's what I wanted to know.
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Nov 29, 2016 17:58
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Any thoughts on doing a multi crew starship for tactical combat? I imagine it would work something like the ogre, different stations as different heads. No idea how to put it together.
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Nov 30, 2016 02:12
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As a DM, I am very, very tired of Prone And Cannot Stand Up (Save Ends) being a thing. It just utterly humiliates melee monsters who can't move and provoke whenever they attempt to do anything. And the Evoker can apply it at LV 3 AoE with Gravity element. (Or the later at-will of the Controller every round.) EDIT: Sorry, posted in a bit of a anger after having half a session where I was basically stunlocked as the DM with a set of bad rolls. gourdcaptain fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Dec 4, 2016 |
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Dec 4, 2016 05:39
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Just start sending CC-immune Champions and Elites against them. Or ve even a bigger dick and make your own CC-capable mobs and add them to encounters.
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Dec 4, 2016 07:08
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Introducing a new villain - the slug-folk, who cannot be knocked prone since they crawl everywhere anyway.
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Dec 4, 2016 18:12
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something something Gelatinous Cube with the serial numbers filed off.
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Dec 4, 2016 18:59
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A few updates made to the character generator: First, updated for Elm v0.18 and all the awkward things it removed for formality don't you know More importantly, The Rogue! But.. with no power texts by default, because I don't have permission to use them - quite reasonably because unlike the core classes, the Rogue is in a supplement which contains nothing else, so putting it fully in the character generator would wipe out the point and sale value of the supplement. So if you choose one, you can either build one with blank power texts, or download the generator yourself and type the texts in. Given that there's going to be a supplement with a bunch of extra classes, and that supplement will have the same issue, this was kind of a rehearsal for when that happens!
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Dec 18, 2016 19:35
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Hyphz, thanks for keeping the builder up to date!hyphz posted:Given that there's going to be a supplement with a bunch of extra classes, and that supplement will have the same issue, this was kind of a rehearsal for when that happens! That is not necessarily true. I am planning on having a lot more than just the classes in the supplement. That's still up in the air a bit. I wasn't able to do much Strike! stuff during the busy fall term since my wife went back to school and we've been juggling childcare responsibilities, but I should have time to get some stuff done in the next few weeks in between family stuff. Then we'll see what winter term is like - it's always hard to tell what a term will be like before it gets going. By the way, has anyone been continuing to play with the new playtest classes? If you have, send me an email and let me know how it's going. I'd love to hear more about it.
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Dec 19, 2016 03:57
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Has someone already made a Strike GM screen? I'm running a few sessions during the Christmas break and I'd like to have a quick reference of conditions, cost and twist examples, combat rules, etc. I think I remember seeing something like that posted in this thread but if I'm mistaken I'll make my own and throw it up on Google docs or something.
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Dec 20, 2016 17:24
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Hardcordion posted:Has someone already made a Strike GM screen? I'm running a few sessions during the Christmas break and I'd like to have a quick reference of conditions, cost and twist examples, combat rules, etc. I think I remember seeing something like that posted in this thread but if I'm mistaken I'll make my own and throw it up on Google docs or something. http://www.strikerpg.com/downloads.html The "Quick Rules References" should be what you're looking for.
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Dec 20, 2016 17:28
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Generic Octopus posted:http://www.strikerpg.com/downloads.html That'll do. Thanks!
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Dec 20, 2016 17:41
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Fair warning, those sheets aren't updated to the latest errata last I knew. This doesn't really change much except the Team Conflict rules. Just be sure to remember Miss Tokens.
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Dec 20, 2016 17:47
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Because its hard (impossible) to fit everything youll need on the default sheet, i made a big set of printable character sheets that had the various choices available at each level as check boxes, the powers themselves are on a deck of poker cards. Similarly for the roles. The role sheet has lots of space for all the role playing skills and stuff too So a player takes the archer/blitzer sheet and the striker sheet. It tells them every special rule of their class and tells them what powers to draw from the deck. I put the power cards into coloured sleeves denoting their usage, so you can just flip your encounter powers over and know at a glance. My graphic designer housemate made the cards look nice and professional. The character sheets are a little rough right now but will look clean and nice once I've had another pass. I'd share these because i find them useful, but given that they comprise basically a whole critical chapter i don't want to share them openly. Jimbo, once I've tidied up the sheets would you be interested in having these?
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Dec 20, 2016 19:04
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