|
  Jaws of the Six Serpents I'm posting the whole cover up there because this is the most gritty and badass a PDQ game has ever looked. PDQ is a great system, but it definitely has a reputation for goofier, beer and pretzels style gameplay. Jaws of the Six Serpents is Tim Gray's attempt to create the flip-side of his previous game Questers of the Middle Realms: going from Dungeons and Dragons Parody to Conan-esque Swords and Sorcery. Jaws is meant to be PDQ with chest hair and rippling biceps. It's got a strong "action" focus and a system for handling fights with lasting consequences and lethality. On top of that it comes with a Sword and Sorcery setting that's a bit more fleshed out than the world of Ludor from Questers. It also has the highest art budget for any PDQ game so far, which makes it a nice read:  Part 1: Rules and Characters The first part of the book is your standard PDQ rules, with a few previews of new ideas that are fleshed out later. Next we've got character creation. Characters in JotSS have a few required Qualities: *a Good [+2] People Quality. People is the stand-in for standard fantasy races. As a Sword and Sorcery game the assumption is that everyone will be human, and instead your nationality is more important. Instead of having a set of "special traits" that all People share in common. For example the Freemen of the River Towns might pick a Quality like Steady, Practical, Craftsman, Trader, Boating, or Fishing, while one of the Witch-Folk of Belimaur might take a Quality like Intelligent, Perceptive, Secretive, Trader, or Traveler. *A Good [+2] Faculty. This is an "innate" Quality, part of your mind or body like brawn, toughness, intelligence, etc. *A Good [+2] Driver, a Quality that motivates you to action. This could be good or bad, but it gets you off the couch. Next you get 5 Ranks to pick additional Qualities (so starting characters will have 8 Ranks total, making them pretty badass compared to standard PDQ characters). And of course you've got to take a Poor [-2] Weakness. You've also got the standard Fortune Points (in Jaws you get one point at the start of a session, plus the option to earn Fortune Points when you do something awesome, get screwed over by the GM, etc. And there are Learning Points, which work much like they did in Zorcerer of Zo. You earn Learning Points whenever you fail a roll or lose a conflict. You can also get them if your character has some kind of deep insight or understanding (basically if the GM decides to hand one out) or a major life event (typically the death of a party member). And then there are Dark Learning Points. Basically this is an optional rule for getting extra power at the cost of your sanity and/or humanity. Essentially these are your Dark Side points. Rather than getting these for failing a roll, you get them when you succeed at something you really, really shouldn't have done. Translating that forbidden tome, quaffing that concoction of human blood and nightshade and surviving, etc. Alternatively, some deeds may be so tainted that you earn them just by being involved, such as battling inhuman monstrosities man was never meant to see. Dark Learning Points can only be spent on "tainted" Qualities (addictions, mutations, insanity, or dark magic) and they can be used in place of Fortune Points to aid in rolls on "tainted" actions (which often means the Dark Learning Point will end up coming back to you). Jaws also introduces Danger Levels, which are basically different levels of risk for different situations. The GM will always tell the players going in what the Danger Level is, so they're aware of the potential consequences. *Drama This is the "default" for PDQ. No one is likely to get killed or seriously injured and any damage will usually be recovered within a few Scenes. A bar fight would be one example, or a fight where the PCs will be taken alive or rescued if they lose. *Risk This level has some long-term consequences if you lose a Conflict. If you're forced to Zero Out you'll end up with a Scar: a new, permanent Weakness. Scars have to be related to the nature of the Conflict. The only way to get rid of a Scar is to spend Learning Points to "buy them up" to Average [0] Rank from Poor [-2]. *Doom At this level, if you Zero Out from a Conflict, you die (or go permanently mad, hopelessly crippled, etc). It's generally recommended that this be saved for major "boss-fight" level confrontations. If a character is permanently killed then any Learning Points they have are distributed evenly among their remaining party members (at least 1 to each surviving member) and your new character will typically start with 1 Learning Point for every character who has died so far (not just your characters). Another new rule is Minions. Essentially these are NPCs with only a small number of Qualities. Usually just one like Good [+2] Corrupt City Watchmen or Good [+2] Imperial Soldiers. But they can also have some extra situational Qualities like Good [+2] Alertness or Good [+2] Archers. No matter how many Qualities they have, Minions go down in one hit. They're treated as a Challenge rather than a Conflict. If you're facing multiple minions they attack as a single character, with an advantage based on their numbers. Two minions get a +2 bonus, 3 or more change that +2 to a +1d6. That's the maximum however, whether you're fighting 3 or fighting 20 they only get to roll 3d6 plus their Quality. Of course, you can only take them down individually so 20 men will have plenty of time to wear you down while you chip away at their numbers. Part 2: Magic Magic in Jaws uses the same basic ideas from Questers and Zorcerer of Zo. You can purchase supernatural Qualities typically at one rank lower than normally (so starting at Average). There are two types of Magic in Jaws: Sorcery which is the big, powerful magic that's typically the domain of villains and NPCs and Charms which are small bits of very specific magical knowledge or abilities. They're less powerful, but much safer, than Sorcery. There's also Alchemy and Divination which are only kind-of magic. Sorcery This is your real magic: spellbooks and dribbly candles and wavy knives. The works. Sorcery is bought as a Quality one rank lower than normal (starting at Average) and it's rarely used directly to resolve a situation or make an attack or defense. Instead Sorcery is used to create Effects. An Effect is some sort of magical construct, force or being that acts on the Sorcerer's behalf. So rather than attacking an opponent directly with your Sorcery you create an Effect like Good [+2] Wall of Fire or Expert [+4] Black Lightning which your opponent then attempts to overcome as though it were an environmental hazard. This is important because an Effect can have a Rank higher or lower than the Sorcerer's Quality. To create an effect you have to first gather power, building it up one Rank at a time, starting at Poor. So if a Sorcerer is forced to zap away with a single spell every round, they'll only be able to produce a Poor [-2] Effect, which is mainly only good for special effects. Gathering a Rank of power takes one Action in a standard Conflict. Once you've reached the Rank you want you can cast the spell. Every round you spend building up power you've got to make a roll with your Sorcery Power against the TN of the Effect's current Rank. If you succeed you can keep building. If you fail then you take damage and there's likely some magical fallout. A roll of double 1's automatically fails. Using Sorcery is also always at least at the Risk Danger Level. It's not safe. It's also possible that you have to have appropriate sources of power to draw each Rank from (yourself, the environment, human sacrifice, objects of power, etc). Charms This is the more "heroic" form of magic. Usually Charms are innate magical talents, special gifts from the gods, magical objects, etc. This can also involve knowledge of very specific individual magical spells as opposed to the broad sweeping effects of Sorcery. Like Sorcery Charms are bought one rank lower than normal but you don't have to build up power or worry about charms spinning out of control. They're "cast" at your Quality's Rank and cost you only 1 Failure Rank to use. Alchemy This lets you produce semi-magical, one-shot Props. You can create Effects equal to your Alchemy Rank but every time you create one you effectively take a point of Damage to your Alchemy Quality (not to mention it takes several minutes or more). The GM may also require you to sacrifice appropriate Props (in the form of expensive materials, or rare ingredients) to create an Effect. Charmcraft is a version of alchemy that's even more specific, essentially the ability to make Charms into magic items. However, you can only "imbed" Charms you know already. So this is probably something only NPCs will tend to use. Divination This is for predicting the future and tuning into the GM's plot-radio. It can be used to either negotiate with the GM for some extra info (trading a Fortune Point to learn something significant, or earning a Fortune Point to learn nothing at all). You can also set up a Divination effect retroactively, basically using it to claim that you perceived something in advance and prepared in some plausible way (usually by swapping out Props or something similar). Part 3: Gear and Wealth Equipment works a lot like it did in Questers of the Middle Realms. Pretty much any non-Quality possessions take the form of Props: "free-floating" Qualities which anyone can use and which can't take damage for you. This represents both equipment (like an Average [0] Suit of Armor or an Expert [+4] Blade of Charmed Steel), supplies (Good [+2] Medicinal Herbs or Expert [+4] Large Pack of Rations), or wealth (Good [+2] Sack of Coins, Master [+6] Coffer Full of Gemstones). This also includes one of my favorite mechanics for fantasy adventuring: Indulging. Basically if you spend time in game indulging your passions and zest for life you can "cash in" Props in exchange for Fortune Points. You get a number of points equal to the Prop's Modifier. So if you decide you'll get blind drunk and wake up the next morning with your Good [+2] Fine Blade stolen you'll get 2 Fortune Points. Or perhaps you throw a massive party full of wine and singers and women and find that the next day you've spent your haul of Master [+6] Fat Loot, you'll get 6 Fortune Points in exchange. Part 4: The World of Six Serpents This is the "default" setting for the game, and it's actually pretty interesting. It's not extremely detailed but it feels more fleshed out and less cursory than QMR's Ludor. In general the World is a fairly wild, uncivilized place. Most of the land is wilderness and there are few major kingdoms or even cities. There's little in the way of science or education (beyond secret arts like Sorcery or Alchemy). Magic is widely known, but not well understood and is generally feared and distrusted. Seers and alchemists are a bit more likely to be accepted as their powers are less terrifying and far less likely to run amok. Religion varies from settlement to settlement and the gods do not take an active role in the world. A powerful priest might know charms or sorcery, but there's nothing to indicate that this is a divinely granted gift. Indeed, there's little evidence that the gods are "real" at all. One of the major setting elements is the concept of Urges. Urges are basically elemental energies that shape the world, represented by the eponymous Six Serpents:  There is an additional Dark Urge, connected with demons and the underworld, generally seen as something that is kept in check by the other 6 Urges. You can take Urges as a Quality or Weakness to represent how intense these energies manifest in you. This can be used for sorcery, as a source of power to produce effects, or it can be used for big bursts of energy related to the Urge. You can invoke a positive Urge Quality to receive a +1d6 bonus to a roll related to the Urge's theme (so for Fire that would be for things like making a passionate speech or flipping out on someone). In exchange, the Urge's Rank is reduced by one level for the rest of the scene. You can have multiple positive Urges, but none that oppose one another (they're rock-paper-scissors style as opposed to binary opposition). So if you've got Good [+2] Fire and Good [+2] Wind you can't have Water or Metal (water opposes Fire and is opposed by wind, and metal is opposed by fire) or Earth (opposes Wind). If you've got an Urge as a Weakness it represents a deficiency or lack of control over the Urge. Some locations or objects can also possess high levels in certain Urges, making them good sources to draw power from when performing magic. -------- Next there's a bit about Intercessors, basically priests of a group called the Cult of Honored Ancestors, also known as Bone Priests. These guys are probably the closest thing the setting has to out and out "good guys". They follow the will of honorable and good ancestor spirits and try and "smooth out" the Urges in the World and get them to work in harmony. They believe the best way to do this is for the good spirits to become strong enough to hold the Urges in check. Overall, a positive message, but it also means they're kind of interested in heroes dying, typically after performing great deeds. So, they'll want to help you to do great things...but they might not do much to try and prevent John Wilks Booth from taking you down afterwards. They have the power to call upon spirits to enter the physical world, either possessing a living host or animating a dead body. That means the closest thing to straight up "good guys" in the setting are the necromancers. ---------- Then we've got Peoples. There are no non-human races available in the standard setting...although some of the People are quite weird. *The Devilfolk of Ahaan: These guys live in a half-destroyed city which is the only remnant of an ancient civilization that was struck down by an unspecified calamity. They've got cat-slitted eyes and rumor has it they're descended from beings of the underworld, plus they don't share the common aversion to Sorcery most others have. Basically these are your Melniboneans of the setting. *Witchfolk of Belimaur: These guys like magic and magical knowledge, but avoid sorcery. Sticking to charms and alchemy or just the pursuit of pure knowledge and theory. They've got kind of an Arabic feel to them and they tend to collect charmed objects and equipment and serve in distant cities as advisors or scholars. *Earth Tribes of Kalet Here's where your Conans come from. They're a bit Celtic, a bit viking. They like fighting but aren't known for military discipline. Cliff People of Narrowhome These guys live in a single city founded by exiles and convicts and built on a cliffside. It's basically an entire city built from bad neighborhoods. They're culturally mixed and universally shady. Masked Folk of Nilsomar These guys hail from the City of a Thousand Delights...which combined with their masks makes it seem like "Eyes Wide Shut" the city. This is the seat of decadent civilization. Lots of money, lots of fun, lots of corruption. Water People of Quegin Like the devil-folk, these guys are only "semi-human". They've got slightly webbed fingers and toes and can hold their breath for around 10-15 minutes. They live in a collection of islands on top of a submerged city. Freemen of the River Towns Your independent, stubborn, salt-of-the-earth types. You know the sort. They're among the least likely to use or understand magic. Citizens of Sartain Aside from Nilsomar, Sartain is the other big city and it's not quite so hedonistic. This is where your cosmopolitan characters will probably come from. Streetwise, cynical, tough, etc. Of course they've got their foppish, decadent nobles and their hidden dark side as well. Owl-men of Temisarum These guys can see in the dark and are naturally nocturnal, living in the jungles that have grown over the ancient city of Temisarum. ---------- Next we've got the Monsters. This section isn't so much a bestiary as it is a guide for creating your own monsters out of common parts. There's a big list of Qualities that are common to monsters and a general idea of their Penumbra and any special rules that might apply. There are a few common monsters provided though. There's near-humans like Ogres and Undermen, beasts that range from big cats and rat swarms to Wyrms (the closest equivalent to dragons in the setting). Also undead and Things From the Dark (ie lovecraftian horrors). ------- finally the book ends with common GM advice for possible alterations or adaptations of the source material: making magic more or less dangerous, allowing other races, proper rewards and goals, etc. It does include an amusing sidebar:  And that's about it for Jaws of the Six Serpents. I've got to say, it's probably my favorite PDQ book. I like how Tim works with the PDQ mechanics and the book's art and layout is far better than any of the previous PDQ games. I still use the other PDQ games for their own unique takes on the mechanics, but Tim's work here is probably my biggest inspiration when working on my own PDQ stuff.
|
#
¿
Mar 13, 2014 07:16
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 10:54 |
|
|
Evil Mastermind posted:Just wanted to point out that Jaws of the Six Serpents is part of the latest Bundle of Holding, and if you beat the average you also get PDQ game Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies (which is awesome) and Hellas. Very cool, and Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies will be next on the list of summaries.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 15, 2014 14:17
|
|
|
 Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies is the first game to use what's called PDQ Sharp (or PDQ #). The core rules of which are available online: http://www.atomicsockmonkey.com/freebies/PDQ.pdf Of course, all the different iterations of PDQ have had some fairly significant differences from Truth and Justice's Powers to Zorcerer of Zo's "Good Bits" system. However, S7S has enough new ideas that it demands a new set of core rules. However, PDQ# isn't really a new "edition", as it is extremely focused on "swashbuckling" style play, something that will become apparent in time. Interestingly enough, Chad's introduction at the start of the book reveals that S7S was intended to be the very first PDQ game ever back in 2003. It turned out to be the fifth (the 8th if you count games Chad didn't write himself). Chapter 1: The World of Seven Skies Unlike most games S7S starts with the setting first. In fact, you won't see any mechanics until chapter 5. With 130 pages of setting material total, this makes S7S by far the most fully realized PDQ setting. The World chapter focuses the "geography" of the setting (aerography?), which is fairly complex. There is no "planet" to speak of...the world is a hemispherical bubble of sky, called the Dome of the Heavens with clouds and islands floating within. The center of the dome has a cone-shaped vortex called the Sky of Fire (this is not actually the source of day and night, the World has both a sun and moon). The Dome of the Heavens has 7 "layers", different wind-patterns stacked on top of one another, moving alternatively clockwise or counter-clockwise, with potentially dangerous cross-winds between the layers. There are also "sky-tides" which blow in and out from the center of the Dome rather than rotating around it.  At this point the jargon is somewhat overwhelming, with the names for each of the seven wind-layers, "cross-rips", the Fire Tide (winds blowing out from the core), and Utter tides (winds moving inwards towards the core) and the Blue. The Blue is one of the weirder features of an already weird setting. It's a flat expanse which covers the bottom of the World that is basically a pool of thick, blue tar. Anything that falls into it will slowly sink into it, typically never to be seen again and conversely things sometimes rise from the Blue into the skies above. The Blue is a fairly unstable place, magic behaves unpredictably and strange events can occur, especially for those who are attempting to harvest the Blue's substance (called Raw Cerulean). Outside the Dome of the Heavens orbit the sun and moon (both of which appear to move around the Dome, passing underneath the Blue and up the other side. Beyond the sun and moon the stars spin in a fixed field across the night sky, forming unique constellations which influence the setting's magic. This is not a setting that feels the need to explain or justify itself. The game knows that no aspect of it jives with science or logic and it doesn't try and come up with any. The world is just what it is. If you attempt to pass outside the Dome of the Heavens you'll simply be stopped by an invisible force at the edge and the Blue creates an impassible barrier at the bottom. Islands float, sink, or fall apart at the whim of unknown forces. For the most part I quite like that they don't bother to try and come up with any BS explanation or pseudoscience for why things work. It's a place where pirates and musketeers fly around in sky-ships, that's all you really need to know. However, one aspect that really could have used clarification is gravity, you can only figure out how it works by piecing it together from different descriptions. Essentially, out in the Sky everything will fall towards the Blue below (presumably at the same speed as falling objects on earth), with the exception of the numerous flying animals. The other exception is a substance called Bluewood which naturally is unaffected by gravity, neither floating nor sinking unless acted upon by wind or other forces. The cloud-islands themselves are also not subject to gravity (although anything on top of them is) but they also exert a mysterious force which cancels out Bluewood's anti-gravity properties when it comes within a certain distance. Next we get into the 7 Skies themselves:  The skies are essentially semi-stable "seasons" which rotate around the central Sky of Fire. Your typical cloud-island stays in a fixed position relative to the Sky of Fire and thus the other 6 Skies will move "across" the islands at regular speeds. It takes about 60 days for an island to pass through one of the Skies (a year is 360 days). The Mists this is "early spring". It's warm, but cloudy and damp with extremely low long-range visibility. They have a few native animals that move with the Sky (notably carnivorous sky-sharks) as well as small bluewood trees. The Jungle This is "late spring" and it carries with it the most vegetation and wildlife. This is when most islands harvest their bluewood. Bluewood will either fall upon an island as it drifts into their gravity enforcement bubble, or the islands will send out ships to harvest the wood. bluewood trees are wheel-shaped with a central node of wood surrounded by branches which grow in a horizontal plane. In addition to bluewood wheeltrees are a source of fruits and nuts for both food and alchemical purposes. Forests of wheeltrees are sometimes the home of "Blue-men", primitive natives who live in the sky and react with hostility to long-term logging projects. There are also monkey-squids and giant parrots called Ruqs. Sky of Thunder This is summer, bringing lots of rain and thunderstorms. Basically "monsoon season". Sailing through the high winds here is fast, but dangerous. Airwhales also make this sky their home, weird creatures that are known to "swim" in and out of the Blue. There are also hydrogen filled balloon-flowers and flying rainfish. The Sky of Stones This is theoretically "early fall"...but mostly it's "holy poo poo, rocks!" Basically this sky is a permanent asteroid field of floating rocks which seem to float like cloud-islands but without the anti-gravity canceling properties (like I said, the setting isn't great at actually establishing any coherent physics). This sky is commonly mined for ore and gems and some of the larger stones are used as a mobile base or mini-island. The stones occasionally smash open and inside can release bizarre things (monsters, animals, glowing water, music, etc). It's worth mentioning that islands have a semi-transparent protective "Fog" which naturally repels the majority of hazardous elements from the various skies. Typically an island won't be fried or flooded in the Thunder Sky, or mercilessly pelted by rocks or wood in the Sky of Stones or Jungle Sky. Some of the effects still get through (so wear a hat this time of year) but they're not devastating. Ghost Sky This is "late fall", and this Sky is mostly barren. few animals, few plants, not much of anything at all. Travel through the sky is normally quick and easy and it's probably a welcome respite to island-dwellers. However, legend has it that those who die in the Ghost Sky are doomed to haunt the winds, making it a bit of a "Bermuda triangle" Sky of Frost This is "winter" full of snow and sleet. It's extremely dangerous to be outside of a cloud-islands protection during this time due to sub-zero temperatures, the only way to travel safely is to skirt along the Sky of Fire where the cold is less intense. Sky of Fire The central "hub" of the skies does not move, sitting at the center of the world. Despite the name, this is not actually filled with flames, it's merely extremely hot. The intensity of the heat depends on the movement of the sun and moon. When both are in the sky the heat is enough to turn anything within to ash, just the sun alone is hot enough to ignite wood after an hour or so. Living beings can only travel the Sky during the night of a new moon, called the "Dragon Sprint" If you can make it in time you can travel across the World at unprecedented speeds, otherwise you burn. The sky of fire is supposed to be the home of the mythical Dragons, and supposedly a cloud-island in the exact center. Next, there's a brief discussion of the Cloud Islands themselves. The term refers to roughly disc-shaped pieces of landscape which are supported on a cloudbank which hold the island at a stable height and keep it in a fixed position relative to the Sky of Fire. Above the island is a protective field of Fog which shields the island from the hazards of the various Skies. The Fog also marks the border where the island begins to cancel anti-gravity effects from Bluewood. Most skyships sail in from the island's edge and into a body of water, and then sail off the edge of the island back into the sky. The major islands vary in size, most probably around the size of Britian, but with the biggest approaching the size of Greenland. These are the homes of the major nations of the World. There are also innumerable minor islands which serve as colonies, desert islands, fortresses, etc. Overall, I quite like that the setting doesn't feel the need to try and justify it's uniqueness. That said, I can't help but notice there's several setting elements (namely gravity) which needed to be spelled out clearly and others which seem to have unintended consequences, especially when it comes to the different Skies. For instance, the sun and moon both turn outside the edge of the Dome of the Heavens...and things like the Sky of Stone and the Jungle Sky both feature enough floating material that traveling through them is essentially described as moving through "channels" in the mass of foliage and/or rocks, sort of like gigantic Gradius levels. But even with the Fog protecting cloud islands, wouldn't this more or less prevent any sunlight from penetrating to the islands, especially those closer to the center of the World? And almost all cloud-islands have some kind of body of water on their edge (which is how skyships can sail on and off)...so does that mean that there is some kind of infinite source of water springing from within each island? That's probably the biggest weakness of the game. The setting is so far removed from the "real world" that there are few reliable frames of reference and it becomes very difficult to imagine the setting in action. It's tough enough visualize air-travel in the world: is it like space travel but with wind and selective gravity? or is it more like sea travel but in three dimensions? And then on top of that you've got the stacked winds, tides, and the extreme effects of the different Skies on top of that are even more bizarre. It's cool, but as a GM you have to be ready to answer many, many "what about..." or "what if..." questions on the fly. ----------------------- Chapter 2: Island Nations of the 7 Skies There are 7 major nations (yes, the number 7 will be a recurring motif throughout) in the World which represent the major powers of the setting. Each one is quite thoroughly detailed with information on their geography, history, technology, culture, relationship with other nations, and current events.  Barathi is the biggest nation and has an ominous spider-theme, which is never a good sign. Most of the island is actually a sea, dotted with...I guess you could call them "sub-islands" which make up the actual dry land. These guys also seem to be the most technologically advanced of the nations: possessing railways and (presumably) steam-powered trains. The culture is full of money, intrigue and scheming and the nation is run by a collection of noble houses commanded by the Empress. The entire society is tied together with Morgani Contracts, arranged marriages between the different noble houses which also include the transfer of resources, titles and trade agreements. The complexity isn't helped by the fact that the Barathi are polygamous for both sexes...so marriage is more like membership in a club than a personal relationship (marriage for love is practically unknown among nobility, but romance outside of marriage is perfectly acceptable unless your marriage contract forbids it). An interesting idea but I don't think I'd ever want to try and unravel the cultural effects of this sort of legal clusterfuck. Other than lots of marriages and lots of schemes, there's also plenty of fun honor duels and assassinations. Viridia is a rough, harsh island with lots of mountainous terrain but also plenty of metal deposits, including special ore for forging unique Viridinese steel which is just a step or two below mithral. However, what they have in mineral resources they more than make up for in a lack of flora and fauna. There are only a few native sources of food (a tree called eggfruit and gigantic venomous tortoise. This all lends itself to a militaristic nation with lots of weapons. It started off as Australia to Barathia's England, a colony for exiles and criminals. there's no real central government, instead there's several city-states who fight or raid one another, held together by a meeting of freehold leaders called the Conclave. They're basically sky-vikings. Colrana This island is split into two nations: the Zultanate of Colronia and the Kingdom of Colrania. The Zultanate has a middle eastern theme and is more arid, while the Kingdom is definitely European in style and is dominated by lakes and forests. The two are pretty much constantly at war with one another. The zultanate has no water coastline, so to allow skyship access the zultanate has built an "off-island" wharf constructed of bluewood and floating rocks from the Sky of Stones. They're also opposed to Kuldun (the "mages" of the setting), feeling their magic powers are too great and forcing them to accept either exile or "fettering". Crail This is one of the smallest islands, mostly because it used to be two islands. There used to be an 8th nation called Kroy which was one of the most powerful in the World. In a war with Barathi the Kroy developed an "island killer" weapon of unknown design and decided to test it against Crailwuz, a pirate haven. The test shattered the island into Crail and Ilwuz, but in the process Kroy managed to dissolve their protective Fog and began to drift towards the Sea of Fire, eventually being destroyed. Crail has Fog only about half as strong as most islands, meaning it's border is constantly ravaged by the Skies as they pass over. However, the city at Crail's heart is one of the biggest and most cosmopolitan in the world as it's easy for skyships to land and take off, and Crail is full of resources left by the skies on it's edges: lots of mineral rich rocks, bluewood trees, etc. Ilwuz While Crail left it's pirate past behind after the sundering, Ilwuz continues to serve as a pirate port, a floating Mos Eisley. Unlike Crail, Ilwuz's fog is stronger than normal, which is important because the island is unmoored in the sky, teleporting randomly from sky to sky, even occasionally the Sky of Fire, which it can survive thanks to the dense Fog. There is no government and only one actual city. The place is typically a hideout for pirates and similar sorts. Pirates will wait until the island appears in a new Sky (which happens every 49 days) goes out raiding and pillaging in the surrounding area, then once local authorities start hunting them they hole up in Ilwuz again until the place shifts position once more. It's also skull shaped. Sha Ka Ruq This is the least civilized of the nations, it's a jungle-covered island with several loosely allied tribes and villages. They're poor in metal and don't tend to use sky-ships, instead they leave the island on domesticated Ruqs, giant parrots. The tribesmen are descendants of Bluemen tribes who have survived crash-landings on the island. Much of the economy of this island is based on reputation, it's just as common to trade "face" as it is money. Basically individuals of elevated status can purchase goods and services by being friendly towards lower status individuals. If you have a great deal of "face" you can buy a meal just by shaking someone's hand, or invite them on a camping trip in exchange for a horse. In turn, this increases the "face" of the receiver, who might then be able to perform "facetrading" of their own (a creepy sounding term). Next: Info on magic and sky-ships.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 18, 2014 14:01
|
|
|
Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies, part 2: more setting material So we've more or less covered the major "landmarks" of the setting, so now we're getting down into what characters are actually going to be doing: weird magic and sailing airships. Chapter 3: The Mystical and the Faithful This chapter covers magic and religion in the S7S setting. Despite the fact that its included in here, religion in The World is not a source of supernatural powers or divine blessings. A priest might practice magic, but their religious training focuses on theology and scholarship. Alchemy is the first of the Mystic arts. The premise is pretty familiar: you mix stuff together and you get potions, salves, etc. Alchemy can produce magical effects and can even temporarily grant Gifts (see below) for very brief spurts. Alchemists are almost universally accepted throughout the Seven Skies (something that can't be said for other practitioners of magic) and even small settlements will generally have an herbalist or wise-person with some alchemy skill. Alchemy relies on the use of Materia Mystica. Basically anything worth mentioning as "different" from the normal world has some kind of mystical or alchemical properties that make it useful: Airwhale ambergris, the venom of Viridia's giant turtles or their special steel, The various flying and floating flora and fauna out in the Skies. Just about everything has some kind of potential value as an alchemical agent. Alchemists can create Alchemicraft items which are semi-magical tools or gear. They're cheaper and easier to acquire than "true" magical items, but they're also typically less reliable, more unstable, and generally not as good. The Gifted are the most common users of full-on magic. They're sort of a mix between Eberron's Dragonmarks and the X-men. Typically about .5 to 1% of the population exhibits a Gift, which is one of seven (of course) specific magical talents named for mythological beasts and constellations. The Gifts are: The Basilisk This gift is essentially telepathy. It includes not only mind-reading, thought-speak but also the ability to influence other minds or project mental illusions. Actual full-on mind control isn't normally possible however. Think "jedi" rather than "professor X". It's not clear why the Basilisk is associated with telepathy...some of these associations make perfect sense (see the next one), others not so much. The Dragon Pyrokinesis! Well, not just pyrokinesis, the Dragon Gift really covers any sort of fire magic. You can use it to speak through flames, teleport through them, protect yourself from fire, divining with fire, etc. They rarely use firearms, both because they don't generally need to and because if they get pissed off it tends to explode. The Griffin The griffin is kind of a mixed bag of abilities. Essentially they have perfect bio-feedback abilities. They can block pain, push their bodies beyond their normal limits, work for days, etc. Really, it makes them basically low-level superhuman in just about all human abilities: stronger, faster, tougher, better memories, slower aging, breath control, faster healing. Essentially this is the Captain America power. Oh, and it also includes the ability to touch ghosts, resist magic and cloak your aura. The one limit is that you can only do one thing at a time. The Merhorse This power includes just about any sort of "sixth sense". You can see magical energy, perform psychometry, clairvoyance and even see into the future. The last power is the most limited, as the more you gaze into the future the less distinct it becomes. This ability has some extremely practical functions as it gives you spider-man like "danger senses" and the ability to predict your opponent's actions as they're taking them. Pegasus This one gives you telekinesis. In addition to just moving things (very big things if you're a powerful Gifted) a Pegasus can fly, shield themselves and attack with pure TK force. Thunderbird Take this gift and you're Storm, controlling the wind and the weather. The gift covers commanding, dispersing and predicting the weather as well as generating lightning from your own body. needless to say, a very important power for sky-sailors. Unicorn Healing mental or physical trauma...or doing the opposite and draining someone's life force. The one big limitation is that your power works only via touch. The Koldun are basically the Gifted taken to the next level. They're the setting's equivalent of wizards. For whatever reason, a Koldun is a person who has the ability to develop all seven gifts. In addition they can learn the Three Hidden Gifts which only Koldun have access to. Because of their massive potential power, Kolduns are not as widely accepted as the Gifted or Alchemists...especially by the Church who believes that it is impossible for humans to use that much power responsibly. They're also very rare, about .01% of the population. A Koldun who has learned all 10 of their Gifts is an ArchKoldun and they are capable of using multiple gifts at once (normal Kolduns can activate only one Gift at a time, but they can maintain multiple Gifts simultaneously) and are capable of blending Gifts together in bizarre ways. For instance, the Basilisk and dragon together could set someone's thoughts on fire, or combining the Griffin and the Chimera to turn into living fire. Chimera The first Hidden Gift, this one lets you alter your form: turning into animals, plants or objects. This includes partial shapeshifting as well. The greater the difference between your shape and the one that you assume, the less time you can maintain it. Turning into another person might last a day or so, turning into a dragon would last only a few moments. This includes "aura-shifting" as well, so you can mystically assume the shape of someone else to bypass a lock keyed to their aura, or evade a curse meant to target you. Manticore This is the mind control ability that is lacking from the Basilisk. The Manticore gives you amazing charisma and the ability to command others to do your bidding, hijack their senses, or control them like a puppet. The one limitation is you can't use this gift to read thoughts, you'll need Basilisk for that. The use of this gift is universally illegal in all nations. Qilin The Gift of being in a martial arts movie. In addition to perfect agility you can walk on substances that can't support your weight: tightropes, paper, treetops and even smoke or mist. And teleportation, which kind of renders the rest of the power a bit obsolete. Kolduns can also create Kolduncraft items, basically full-on magic items (as opposed to the semi-magical objects made by alchemists). The most common are good luck charms, magical freezers, magical fetters which limit the ability to use a Gift, wands that shoot fire, floating discs, and of course, gunpowder. Alchemists can make gunpowder too, but Kuldon-made gunpowder is more stable and more powerful. The Church of Voaz is the major religious force in the World, with its center in Colrona. The church is apolitical for the most part and acts as mediators between the different nations, educators for most young people, and advisors. Voaz is the God of the church, the creator of the World. Honor is the central tenet of the church: don't lie, keep your promises, protect the weak, treat others with respect, repay good deeds done to you. Priests are trained in politics, philosophy, science, and theology. Each priest is also trained in a Domestic Craft, some sort practical skill for creating something. This could be alchemy, but more commonly it's cooking, smithing, weaving, woodwork, etc. Priests are allowed to marry and have children, but almost exclusively marry within the priesthood (which is unisex). Some priests are trained in the role of Virtutoirs, who are basically confessors. They listen to your misdeeds or arbitrate the most sensitive of issues. They're honor bound to never reveal secrets told to them in confidence (although what many don't know is that they can still choose to act upon what they know). There are of course other religious groups and heresies as well. Most are remnants of "native" faiths before the Church of Voaz became omnipresent. The largest is in Sha-Ku-Ruq, where the native animistic beliefs still hold sway. -------------------------------------------- Chapter 4: Skyships, Trade and Warfare Now this is the part we've been waiting for, the cool ships.  A "proper" skyship is a vessel capable of flying from island to island through open Sky. They come in three varieties: Galleons (big, not very nimble, heavily armed), Junks (mid-sized, mechanically complex allowing it to sail into the wind and de-mast quickly), and schooners (small, maneuverable and cheap). As you might notice from the illustration a "proper" skyship has masts on all sides, which means they must "de-mast" to land in water on a cloud-island. Galleons require so much work to de-mast that they almost never land if they can help it, sending ship's boats to and from land. All of these are made of bluewood and other mystic materials to allow them to fly, ascend and descend in the Skies. We're also treated to a great deal of sailing jargon, some of it from the real world and some likely of Chad's own invention for S7S's unique ship designs. Next we have Cloudships, which are ships that are capable of flight within an island, but not capable of Sky travel. They use giant gasbags filled with lifting gasses and floater discs. They're typically not armed with cannons due to weight concerns. And finally we've got Gliders which are wind-riding devices, usually made from bluewood. Since they're fast, risky and small they're typically only used for courier work between nearby islands. They can't stop moving, withstand much damage or severe weather so it's fairly common for a glider to wreck between islands. Then we've got more information on how skysailing works. It's interesting but at this point the jargon is getting almost impenetrable. This two page section alone has about 35 highlighted terms. Next there's information on skysailing, different roles sailors have on the ship, the role of officers The actual mechanics of skyships are handled in a later chapter, so the game moves onto travel and distances. And while skyships move fast, the distances from island to island are really friggin big. The shortest travel time (between Crail and Colrona) is six weeks. And that's assuming you don't fall prey to some of the hazards of the skies. You can get caught without wind sometimes, which means you're stuck in the sky unless you can get towed to a higher wind layer, drop an anchor into a lower one, or use a gas bag if you've got one. Storms can always be a problem when you're literally sitting inside of a thundercloud and wheel-trees, sky-ivy, or giant floating rocks can get you. And of course the Sky you're in will influence travel: The Ghost Sky is the fastest and safest by far...if you don't get taken by ghosts. The Jungle Sky is slow and dangerous since there's numerous obstacles and wild animals. The Mists doesn't involve lots of obstacles, and you can travel as fast as you like...but you might not see what you're flying into. The Sky of Fire is of course suicide unless you're traveling during a moonless night. The Sky of Frost is fast but dangerous due to intense cold. The Sky of stones is even worse than the jungle sky. The sky of thunder is very fast due to high wind but it's very, very unsafe. After that we've got some info on the islands, and specifically what each has ready supplies of, what unique goods they produce, and what they need. And of course, how they fight one another. The different island nations are large and powerful enough that actually attempting to conquer another nation is almost unheard of...the resources needed to engage in such an undertaking is enough to make the attacking nation vulnerable to any other nation. War typically takes the form of squabbles over colonies and resources or one-time raids on an island's assets. Colrona is the only nation where prolonged land-warfare is common, between the Kingdom and the Zultanate. The military technology of the War is just as Age of Sail as you would expect: ships are equipped with cannons and while guns are common they're of the flintlock variety so hand to hand combat is still extremely relevant. -------- Chapter 5: Seven Skies Characters This is where we get the character creation rules for Swashbucklers, and where we first start to see the differences between PDQ and PDQ#. First, you don't have Qualities anymore...well, you do they're just called Fortes instead. Instead of a Weakness you have a Foible, which is no longer a Poor [-2] Quality, instead it's meant to work a bit more like an Aspect from FATE, as a story-based disadvantage rather than a mechanical penalty (although if push comes to shove, it'll inflict a -2 penalty on your roll). PDQ# also introduces a new character element: Techniques. A Technique is something that's cool and useful, but not quite important enough to be a "full" Forte. Most Techniques are "chained" to one of your Fortes and serve as a kind of specialization or focus. For example, if you have a Forte like Expert [+4] Sky-Pirate, you could take a Technique like "Rapiers" for fighting with a specific weapon, or "fighting Colronians" for dealing with particular opponents, or even "While Drunk". You can also, at greater cost, purchase "unchained" Techniques which apply to any situation where the Technique is relevant (note to self, always take "While Drunk" and "While Naked" as unchained Techniques). A Technique lets you do one of two things: reroll one of your dice (not the whole roll) keeping the best result, or get a flat +1 to a roll. You can only use a Technique once per turn, but you can use as many as you want on a single roll. PDQ# also introduces an expanded "Master Chart". In normal PDQ, difficulty ranks are matched precisely to Quality Ranks. In PDQ#, the chart continues past Master [TN 13], for much higher potential difficulty ranks.  There are two other main elements of a PDQ# character: Training Points and Style Dice. Training Points are the "XP" of the game and you get one whenever you fail a roll. That means if you get hit in a fight, you get a Training Point, if you accidentally pilot your ship into a rock, you get a Training Point, get slapped by the barmaid you're trying to seduce, you get a Training Point. Training Points are used to improve or buy new Fortes, purchase new Techniques, and create alchemical and magical items. Style Dice are like PDQ's standard hero point/fate point/etc mechanics but they're more important and more complex. Get ready, because PDQ# takes style seriously. Style dice are used much like normal: you can spend them to improve a roll (they give the same bonus as a Technique), recover some damage ranks, dictate important facts about the world and using mystic powers. They also act as a sort of wealth mechanic, because you can exchange them for temporary gear and/or money. You can "purchase" a temporary gear/sidekick/money Forte in exchange for Style Dice equal to the MOD of the Forte. These temporary Fortes cannot take damage, and can be lost or used up and if not used up by the end of the session they disappear or fade into the background (you might still technically have that Expert [+4] dueling pistol, but unless you buy it as a permanent Forte or keep investing Style Dice into it then you won't get any bonus from it anymore). This tends to mean Style Dice matter more than actual cash when it comes to what you can buy and do economically. This makes a bit of sense given the setting where it's easy to come upon a sudden windfall (pirate booty, gambling winnings, your cargo getting exceptional prices, etc) and then lose it just as quickly. Earning Style Dice is where it gets a little tricky. There are two sources of Style Dice: The Box and the Bowl. The Bowl is the source of "being cool" dice. If you do something cool, come up with a clever idea, or advance the plot in interesting ways you get Style Dice from the Bowl. The Bowl has a limited number of Style Dice at the start of a session: two for every player. Any dice that get used are added to the Bowl and if players wish they can reward a fellow player with dice from their own supply for showing "good form" during the game. If this happens the GM must "match" their contribution by adding an equal number of dice to the Bowl. The Box has an endless supply of dice and it represents the "uncool" side. Whenever you're forced into a bad situation by the GM for plot purposes you get dice from the Box, same for if you're affected by your Foible. Style Dice are reset at the start of every session (everyone usually starts with 1-2 Style Dice) and the intent of the box/bowl system is to ensure that Dice are kept constantly moving. Players should empty the bowl quickly by doing cool, fun things and then fill it back up just as quickly by spending those Style Dice to pull off amazing actions. In practice, I find the whole thing a little overcomplicated honestly. Connected to Style Dice is a thing called Ephemera. Ephemera are temporary changes in status or relationships that might have slightly long-lasting effects. They're effectively a temporary Forte that lasts until the end of the next session, and which you can use to absorb damage. They start at Good [+2]. Some examples would be things like "Welcomed by the Blue Men Tribe" or "The Count Is Smitten With Me". You can use Ephemera as a normal Forte, but you can also "cash it in" for a one-time +7 bonus to your roll in addition to it's normal bonus. However, this immediately removes the Ephemera. You can spend a Style Die to keep the status going, rolling it over to your next session or spend training points to officially purchase it as a full Forte at half the normal price. Next Time creating a character, using magic, and more on the PDQ # system.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 19, 2014 12:32
|
|
|
Forums Barber posted:I have a buddy who keeps getting super psyched about getting in a Scion group and then for some odd reason things fall apart one or two sessions later, rinse, repeat. i'm curious where the fail point is, personally. Storyteller system isn't great at high-powered games, so Scion runs into a lot of the same problems as Aberrant and Exalted, namely that the line between "I can't do poo poo in this situation" and "I am utterly unstoppable" is just about non-existent. Abilities also tended to be either totally useless or vastly overpowered. Scion is one of those concepts that I always want to save from its own system. Exalted is another. White Wolf is good at those.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 20, 2014 04:57
|
|
|
Part 3: Mechanical bits So, we've covered a bit about the different elements that make up a character, lets get into the rest. Character Creation Here are the bits that make up your swashbuckler: First you've got Core Elements, which are 4 things that are essential for a proper protagonist. First you've got a Foible to serve as a disadvantage. Next you've got three Fortes which are each at Good [+2] Rank. You have a Past which must have something to do with your background, a Motivation which is some kind of driving force, and your Swashbuckling Forte which is the area where you have the greatest talent. After that we've got 3 additional Forte Ranks which can get you a new Forte at Good [+2] or improve one of your existing Forte's by one Rank. Next we have Technique Points which can be used to buy Techniques. Normal Techniques cost 2 points, Techniques chained to your swashbuckling forte cost half as much (1 point), and buying one that's unchained costs 3 points. Everyone also starts with 1 Style Die and 0 Training Points. The GM may give the team a Team Sanctum or Team Vehicle. These have a single Good [+2] (place) or (vehicle) Forte (like Good [+2] Hidden Cave or Good [+2] Sky-Schooner) and each PC gets one Rank to add Forte's to the sanctum. These can be combined to give higher Ranked Fortes (so if you want a really, really fast ship 3 PCs might pool their Forte's to give it Master [+6] Speed). The GM then gets to choose a Foible (Style Dice earned from the Foible are earned by the ship or place, but any PC on board can use them). Of course, if the GM isn't offering a Team vehicle or sanctum, you can still purchase your own with your own Fortes. Magic I figured I'd go ahead and cover how Gifts actually work in play. There isn't a dedicated section for this and some of the info is a little scattered, so here's how it works. Gifts work basically two ways. If you're using one of your Gifts to do something that could have been done with a normal Forte, or using it to attack or defend against a human-scale opponent in a Conflict then you just use it like a normal Forte, adding the MOD to your roll. "color" uses of Gifts are also free. If a Dragon wants to light his pipe without a match that's not a problem. However, if you want to use your Gift to do something that isn't humanly possible, or something that creates significant changes to the environment you have to spend at least one Style Die (major changes take two). This includes making attacks on a "vehicle-scale" such as attacking a building or skyship directly with your Gift. The GM can activate your Gift, but if the activation significantly inconveniences you then it counts as a Vexing Misfortune and you get 3 Style Dice. It's worth mentioning that you can purchase more than one Gift without being a Koldun, however there's absolutely no good reason to do this: being a Koldun is much, much more cost effective. Kolduns Honestly, I think Koldun's are a tad overpowered. Kolduns can create alchemical items, kolduncraft items, potentially use all 7 gifts and access 3 additional gifts only they can use, all within a single Forte. If nothing else, this means that anything a Good [+2] Alchemist can do, a Good [+2] Koldun can do and much, much more. To access a gift a Koldun must purchase it as a Technique for their Koldun Forte. They do get the benefit of the Technique as well as access to the Gift (which means a Good [+2] Koldun with the Dragon Technique will be better at any use of the Dragon Gift than a Good [+2] Dragon character). If you wanted to make a straight shot for Arch-Koldun-hood you can easily start as a Master [+6] Koldun, pick up 6 Gift Techniques (assuming Koldun is your swashbuckling forte) and then it just takes 4 more Techniques (8 Training Points) to purchase all the remaining Gifts and a 5th Technique to attain Arch-koldunhood. So, cool idea but definitely overpowered, this is a lot of abilities to stick on a single Forte, even considering the Style Dice cost for special actions. Alchemy and Kolduncrafting If you want to create an alchemicraft item the process is fairly simple, but it's not something you want to indulge in too often as it will use up Training Points. First you need a formula for the object you're creating. If you don't have one you can try linking together the alchemical associations for Materia Mystica to try and come up with something that makes sense. Next you spend 1 Style Die and 1 Training Point (if you're making a one-shot item you need only a Style die or a Training Point) then you've got an Average [0] product. You can then spend additional Style Dice to boost the Rank, at the cost of 1 Rank per Die. So if you wanted to create a Master [+6] Bomb (a one-shot device) then you would need to spend 4 Style Die. If you wanted a Good [+2] Armored Vest it would take 1 training point and 2 Style Dice. repeated use alchemycraft items can only be used once per session, after that they'll need to be recharged, renewed, or rested. Kolduncraft items on the other hand can be used multiple times a session, however the cost for kolduncraft items is always in Training Points. So to get an Average [0] device costs 2 Training Points, plus...apparently 8 points per rank. Which must be a typo as it'd cost much less to simply purchase a new Forte for your character. Challenges and Duels Here's the actual gameplay rules: Challenges are S7S's equivalent to Complicated Situations from ordinary PDQ. They're basically identical: the GM sets a TN, the player rolls 2d6 and adds their MOD and if they meet or beat the TN then they succeed. There is a new type of Challenge, called a Flashy Challenge which is halfway between an attack and a Challenge. Basically two characters roll 2d6 (plus modifiers) and whoever gets the higher result wins. The winner gets a Style Die and the loser takes a Failure Rank. This is a good way to handle actions in combat that might screw with someone, but probably wouldn't really defeat them outright. Things like tossing insults, intimidation, cutting your initials on their hat, etc. Duels This is PDQ#'s version of Conflicts, and it's fairly different. First and foremost, a Duel is almost always between two characters. You can have groups fighting, but everyone is expected to match up into pairs to engage in Duels. Both Duelists have 3 d6's which must be divided between attack and defense on a given turn. So if you wanted to be a bit more aggressive you could use two dice for attack, and 1 for defense. If you wanted to make sure you weren't going to get touched you could take no attack and use all 3 for defense. The attacker (the guy in the duel with the most Style Dice) rolls his offense dice and the defender rolls their defense, both adding any relevant Fortes/Techniques. If the attacker beats the defender they inflict damage equal to the difference. Then the defender becomes the attacker and gets to roll their offense dice and the other guy rolls his defense dice. notably, damage is not actually assigned until after both characters have a chance to attack or defend, so even if you do enough damage to the defender to take them out, they get a chance to cut you too. There are also a few "dueling tricks" which you can try in place of an ordinary attack. Some work fairly well, but many are either too effective, like disarming (you declare a disarm attempt and if you do Damage equal to your opponent's combat Forte then you've disarmed them...which means there's no reason not to attempt a disarm every time you attack) or not very effective at all, like feinting (you don't inflict damage, but if you succeed you get to add the degree of success as a bonus to your next roll, because of the way PDQ's damage and combat work there's no advantage gained, and if you fail then you take your margin of success as a penalty.) Damage from duels works basically the same as in PDQ standard, the biggest difference is that you aren't completely taken out until you have Zeroed Out every Forte. In effect, this lets every Forte take one additional point of damage, and ensures that everyone is a bit tougher than in normal PDQ. Once you do zero out all your Qualities you are Mostly Dead, a state where you can't effectively do anything and recover much more slowly (taking 1 Spirit Die per Forte to bring each one back to Poor [-2]). Another notable addition is Minion rules. Minions are minor characters with only a single Forte. A single minion is basically just a Challenge, they don't get to roll to resist a PC, instead they just have a Target Number based on their Forte Rank. So if you want to knock out a Good [+2] Guardsman, you just have to roll 9 or better. A group of Minions is treated as a single character that is capable of rolling, using their MOD and getting a number of dice equal to the number of Minions in the gang. They still get to keep only as many dice as they've assigned to attack and defense however. So a group of 6 minions has 6 dice, but they still get to keep only 3 total, divided between attack and defense. If a minion group is damaged, each point of damage takes out one Minion. So a group of half a dozen minions can easily be wiped out with a single good hit. Vehicular Combat This is one of the cooler sections of S7S. This is basically rules for mass combat, which work for both ships (sky or otherwise), fortresses, or potentially even two armies in open battle. The focus of these rules is how PCs work together as a team to achieve victory. The assumption is that each PC will take the role of an Officer (even if this is not an official rank) and one will be the Captain. The ship itself (or fortress) has Forte's much like a character that add to the rolls of any character taking advantage of the aspects the Fortes represent. The Captain should have some kind of Forte related to leadership or command, because they get a number of Orders equal to the bonus from that Forte, plus the ship's primary Forte (so an Expert [+4] Leader of Men on a Good [+2] Skyship gets 6 orders). Each turn the captain can give that many Orders to his officers, giving each of them a Challenge to overcome so that the captain can get Vehicle Dice that turn. The captain starts with 1 Vehicle Dice automatically. You get to divide Vehicle Dice between attack and defense (much like Minions, you can't have more than 3 results "kept" between attack and defense) in a Vehicle Duel. Vehicular combat goes as follows: 1 The captain issues his orders. "Load the cannons with extra powder!" "Bring us hard to port!" "Prepare the men for boarding!" They can also issue orders to themselves to represent mental (or possibly mystical) actions. These orders do not have to be strictly related to the combat (you could yell out to the taskmaster to get more grog ready for after the battle, or order the cabin boy to fetch your lucky hat). 2 The officer makes a roll, adding their Fortes and any relevant vehicle Fortes. If they succeed then they generate a Vehicle Die for the captain. If they fail they get a Training Point and take damage equal to the difference (failure ranks or wound ranks depending on what they're doing). They can choose to have the vehicle take the damage instead, but given how important the vehicle is and the relatively small number of Fortes it has, this is a bad idea. 3 The captain divides up any Vehicle Dice he's earned between attack and defense, and determines how many dice (out of 3) are "kept" for each. Alternatively the captain can "burn" vehicle dice for special actions: *a flat +1 bonus *let one of the officers make a Challenge roll to heal a rank of damage to the ship. *Launch or repel a boarding action: When a ship is boarded the fight temporarily "zooms in" person-to-person combat. *Give a die to a crewmember to have them target enemy crew or (at the cost of a Style Die) the ship itself with an attack. *Give it to a crewmember to be turned into a style die for their own supply. NPC ships always have 4 Vehicle Dice every turn, but they can board for free. 4 both ship captains roll their dice and determine damage just like a Duel. 5 Damage is divided up among the officer's "sections" of the ship. Each officer has to make the call as to whether they'll take the damage personally or assign it to the ship itself. If the PCs damage the NPC's ship their Forte's aren't reduced directly, instead the type of cannon shot the ship is using inflicts targeted damage, with each rank inflicting a -2 penalty to particular categories of actions: *Ball shot: puts holes in the hull (reducing integrity, seaworthiness), damaging their cannon (penalizing attacks) *chain shot: cutting masts/cords (reducing speed and/or maneuverability) *gas shells: clearing the deck (aiding in boarding) *grape shot: clearing the deck (as above), injuring crew, destroying sails (reducing speed) *harpoon shot: grappling (reducing speed, aiding in boarding) *incendiary shot: on fire (lots of possibilities). An NPC ship is taken out once the total penalty from targeted wound ranks equals the ship's TN (so a good [+2] skyship is taken out when they suffer a penalty of -10 or more (since that would be higher than Good's TN of 9). It's worth noting, a ship that's badly damaged will begin to fall towards the Blue, but this can take weeks since the bluewood ensures the descent is very slow. GMing Like always, this chapter is fairly familiar reccomendations on how best to run the game, possible ways to weak things to emphasize different aspects (such as the deadliness of firearms), and of course we've got Chad's traditional analysis of the genre. So that's it for Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies. The next PDQ game will be the mysterious Vox
|
|
#
¿
Mar 20, 2014 12:29
|
|
|
Kai Tave posted:I blame ear-seekers, personally. Really? My guess would have been rot grubs. Nothing says old school like this picture  I always assume the love of body horror comes from things like this because they were always among the worst "murder-DM" critters, something where the only solution tended to be burning yourself, dunking your arm in acid or stabbing at your own flesh or suffer unavoidable death. Something that 3rd edition more or less did away with, since part of 3e's philosophy is generally "everything deserves a saving throw".
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2014 13:23
|
|
|
 Vox: The Hard To Explain One Vox came out back in 2009 very shortly after Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies. It's also the only PDQ book I own an actual physical copy of (the author sent me one to help playtest). Weird more or less sums up Vox. It does a lot of things in an unusual way and like I mention in the title it's kind of difficult to explain exactly what the game is about and what I'm talking about when I summarize it. Lets start with a bit of system history to show you what I mean: PDQ is the core rules that has been used for all games up until PDQ# was introduced as a lead-in to Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies. The PDQ book often makes a few small changes to the core rules, but for the most part they focus on adding new rules and ideas rather than altering the basics. PDQ# is the first "new edition" for the Core Rules, making significant changes and introducing several new concepts. However, it's heavily geared towards the "swashbuckling" genre, and it doesn't quite fit into a more generic game (the biggest change being the fact that all Conflicts are now Duels, one-on-one (or one-vs-mooks) fights). The writer of Vox took many of the new concepts from PDQ# and created PDQ2. PDQ2 (also called PDQ Too!) resembles PDQ#, but lacks several of the more "swasbuckling" elements such as Duels and Techniques. Basically, the only reason this isn't an official "2nd edition" PDQ system is because it isn't freely available and it wasn't created by Chad. Layout Normally, I don't focus on the layout, but with this book it bears mentioning. The book has an unusual 9 x 7 format, and it's a "flipbook". The front cover (colored white) is the "Lux" section for players and is about 95 pages. To read the rest you flip the book over and start from the back, black, cover for the "Nox" section which is the GM and setting section, also about 95 pages. What the hell is this about? That's a drat good question. Like I said, Vox is hard to describe and is definitely "high concept", approaching pretentious. The main concept is that each of the PCs has a voice in their head. What this means will vary greatly depending on the game and the setting. Are the voices a product of insanity? Are they spirits? Ghosts? Split personalities? None of these questions are definitively answered and are left to the GM to answer (or preferably not answer). So, what sort of game is it? Horror? Definitely maybe. Conspiracy? Sort of could be. Urban fantasy? *awkward shrug*. Basically it's a bit like Unknown Armies with the weirdness dialed up, the magic dialed down and a narrower focus. It doesn't have any kind of specific "goal" or built-in driving forces, rather providing a wad of inspirational materials to try and get the players and GM to come up with their own goals and purposes. You could also say it's "First Season of Lost" the RPG. Basically lots of weirdness which hints at a larger pattern which may or may not exist. Well, lets get started. We'll begin with the Lux side of things. ----------------------------------------- Patient Handbook This is essentially the introduction. The first paragraph points out that this is a game for "experienced" roleplayers which is usually code for "this is an obscenely complex fantasy heartbreaker". In this case, it's code for "this is a really weird, indie RPG that won't provide much guidance". There is no "what is an RPG" section although there is some very deep musing on what a character is. Like I said, this game can seem fairly pretentious, although it doesn't get anywhere near as bad as Everlasting at least. ------------------------------------------------------------- Know Thyself Here's where the game's core concept is laid out. You've got a Voice in your head. One day the Voice started speaking to you, telling you things, asking you things, or even demanding things. It's been getting louder, and harder to ignore. Each character has their own voice. There's no set explanation for why this is. Maybe your Voices told you about one another and arranged for you to be together. Or maybe you all went through some kind of significant or traumatic experience together. It goes on to point out that many serial killers, murders and psychotics have claimed to hear voices. But so have political, religious and spiritual leaders throughout history. This doesn't actually mean anything...or does it...no it doesn't...but maybe... Next we've got a discussion of common causes of Voices. This bit is somewhat confusing because it's not clear if this is a discussion of what causes a PC to hear voices in the context of the game, or if this is a list of real-world afflictions which cause hearing voices as a symptom. I say this because the first three entries (Drug-Induced Paranoia, Dissociative Disorder, and Schizophrenia) seem to be relatively straightforward explanations of real-world problems, but the fourth Vox, seems to be entirely fictional (as I can find no information on a disorder with that name). Finally there's a brief section on "what the voices sound like", which basically boils down to "whatever". they can have any characteristics or none at all, they may stay the same or be different over time, they may come from inside your head or without. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tabula Rasa Now we're on to character creation. There are actually two methods of character creation. The "Blank Slate" method and the "traditional" method. The Blank Slate method is actually fairly interesting, although like all the rest of the game it's very "high concept". In this method, PCs start with nothing at all beyond, perhaps, a description (if that). They're all experiencing an amnesiac state together. Why and where is up in the air, but there's kind of a "standard" scenario provided in the form of a subway. Players may be required to roll to attempt to overcome difficulties as normal for PDQ, but at this point they have no Qualities or other defining traits so all rolls are a straight 2d6. However, pass or fail the GM should consult a table after the player rolls to see what the roll revealed about the player. A roll of 2-4 reveals some kind of failing or flaw, a roll of 5-6 provides some significant insight into your past, a straight 7 gives you some knowledge of your present, an 8-9 gives some remembrance of a future hope or ambition, and a 10-12 gives you a Karma Die (identical in function to S7S's Style Dice). The player comes up with all of this information, the dice just provide a cue for when it is revealed. So we've got a bunch of amnesiacs (who, at this point will usually not have Voices)... Scene 1: The Subway Everyone is in the last car of a subway, with only flickering emergency lighting on. The car has stopped in between stations and there appears to be no conductor or other passengers. The PCs should at this point give a brief character description and may or may not know their own name at this point. They can roll (target number 7) to search the train or their own person. On the train are some random things: a laptop with 2 minutes of battery life, a wrench, and a set of keys. Each PC may have (depending on how well they roll) an ID, some cash (a lot of cash actually: 2d6 x100$), and maybe a cell phone with a wiped memory. There's also a shopping bag that has some Salvia, a throw pillow, a page of words in Yaralde (extinct Australian language), and a page ripped from a latin phrasebook (Vi-Vo). After the PCs are done investigating and get ready to leave the subway, a hippie appears. Seriously. His name is Roger and he shows up from somewhere on the train that has been passed over. He's an aging hippie who seems friendly and probably stoned. Scene 2: Buddy Roger is friendly and unusually likable and seems oddly familiar. He appears to be stoned but a high roll (11+) will reveal it's a ruse and he actually seems to be sober and a little nervous. He'll claim the bag is his but can't remember much about it other than he wanted to smoke the Salvia and look at weird words for some reason. He doesn't know why the train stopped as he fell asleep. He doesn't seem to bothered and just suggests getting out and walking to the last station. Scene 3: Tunnel Opening the door (TN 7) is possible in a variety of ways, and will presumably be managed eventually. Roger will immediately set off towards the last station. Whether or not you follow, someone will bump into something in the tunnel, it's a protrusion that turns out to be a circular door set in one wall labeled "this is not an exit" but the word "not" has been obscured by a greasy handprint. Roger will ignore it and just head towards the station which he insists is just a little ways ahead. Anyone following him may notice an excessive amount of cables and metal debris on the floor of the tunnel. If someone does open up the door and the group heads into it, Roger will turn around and follow them. If they ignore the door then you should skip to scene 5. Scene 4: Stairs The room beyond is initially dark and full of cables, but after someone steps further in some kind of monitor is triggered and all the lights in the room come on. The door will also swing shut, only open-able by a key pad. Theoretically it could be disabled but the TN is high enough that it's only possible if the PC rolls well and has already established a relevant Quality related to such things, and even then its unlikely. However, there is a flight of stairs leading downwards. The stairs lead to a panel set in the wall with no knob or handle. After reaching the bottom a soothing female Voice will speak (this is capitalized), saying "welcome 23704773" and asking you to wait for a retinal scan. however, the only result is a spray of sparks as something shorts out and the voice stutters to a halt. At this point Roger is suddenly nowhere to be found. If the PCs return to the upper floor (the only real option) they may (TN 9) spot a wallet which upon investigation has roger's license (expired), a library card, a coffee card (9 of 10 holes punched) and a single 5,000 dollar bill. The trick here is that the previous Voice was not saying "23704773" but "to 3704773". If the PCs don't figure this out then after a few minutes fumbling around the lights flicker to blacklights for a moment and the code is visible in fluorescent ink. Scene 5: Train If you skipped Scene 4 Roger goes missing at this point, basically just disappearing into the darkness. A few moments later the power turns on and the rails begin to vibrate. a train is coming. The hatch door has locked now and won't open again and there is no space off the side of the tunnel to avoid a train. The PCs must run towards the platform (the train that they were on has gone now), making a TN 7 check to make it. even if everyone fails a hand reaches down from the platform to help them up just in the nick of time. There's no real risk here since no one has any Qualities yet. Scene 6: Platform On the platform is a young girl named Ezter in a teddy bear costume pushing a coffee vending cart. She'll give everyone free coffee. She was here when things went dark, and said that some people freaked out and didn't seem to know where they were anymore. She says security guards came down and helped them upstairs. At least she thinks so. If they talk to her further (TN 9) she'll reveal that she'll relate a surreal story involving a glass eye and someone jumping off the platform. This is what inspired her to quit and now she only has to take her cart back to drop it off. Roger's coffee card can be used for a free cookie. At this point other subway goers begin showing up on the platform, and there's nothing else here, so likely the PCs will head up to the streets. The game seems to assume they'll look for Roger's home address (123 Fourth street). Scene 7: Street The PCs will having a nagging urge to return Roger's wallet at this point. This may or may not take the form of Voices, depending on how reluctant the PCs are. They can walk the 10 blocks or try and catch a cab or find a bus (TN 9). Odd sounds and maybe even footsteps are heard as the PCs make the trip. They may (TN 9) notice an ice cream truck parked nearby. A TN 11 roll will notice the same kind of truck parked in several places along the way. Scene 8: House Roger's house is a huge gated mansion, with a damaged intercom. Climbing the gate is TN 7, but it will set off a silent alarm. The garden is overgrown and neither door is locked. In the backyard behind a shed is an ice cream truck. Once all PCs enter the house the doors slam open and the room is filled with men in suits with mirrored shades and earpieces. All carrying silenced pistols. A black man with a blond mullet introduces himself as Mr. Samson, and he wants to talk about Roger. Scene 9: Emerge Since no one has Qualities yet and there's no real combat to speak of if the PCs decide they want to fight they're outnumbered 3 to 1 and have to roll an 11 or higher to "take out" one of the agents and they only need a 7 or better to take down a PC (wrestling them to the ground). However, Samson just wants to talk asking for any details about their encounter with Roger. If the PCs hand over his wallet he'll search through it and discard everything but the coffee card. If it's not completed then he'll hand the card to an agent who hurries out. If it's been used then he seems disappointed and puts it in his pocket. Samson will then loudly instruct someone to "take him out", at which point there's a gunshot (silenced) as one of the agents suddenly turns on one of his fellows, shooting them in the arm. He'll then grab the wounded agent and hold the gun to their head. He seems confused, alternatively pointing the gun at his hostage, Samson and his own head. "No, that's the Divanorum up there!" he'll shout. This seems to confuse and shock his fellow agents and guns begin to wave in all directions. At this point a Voice only the PCs can hear tells them to get down. Samson admits that he is eliminating the Divanorum, at which point several of the "agents" begin weeping or praying and before long they begin shooting, basically firing randomly at one another. Samson will pull any PCs who haven't ducked to the floor, pull out a small silver pistol wrapped in duct tape and give it to one of them and tells them to "do the right thing" before getting back up to shout at the agent who attacked first, named Daniel. At this point time seems to stop, and the PCs are told what exactly will happen in the next few seconds. Samson will approach Daniel who will shoot him, first wounding then fatally and then turn the gun on himself. The PCs feel like this has happened before many many times and now they have the chance to influence events. Depending on what they choose to do they may interrupt the chain of events. If Daniel survives he'll say "not what I expected" and toss a blank black business card to a player before leaving. refusing to speak further. If Samson survives he'll drop a blank white business card, shake everyone's hand and leave. Scene 9: Rest If the PCs explore the house they may find a few hundred dollars in loose change in different jars, sorted by year (from 1960 to 2008) Roger is upstairs on the bed, dead. No sign of violence and he seems to be smiling. There's also an electroshock machine. In a few minutes there's the smell of gasoline and shortly thereafter a voice instructs you to "Get Out". The ice cream truck in the back starts up and drives away, playing CSNY's "Ohio". The house the erupts in flames, reduced to ash in a few moments. Epilogue By this time the PCs should have a sheet full of different memories and clues to their past lives. They should take one each of the Past, Present, and Future memories and turn them into one of their 3 Core Qualities: Good [+2] Past, Good [+2] Defining Quality, and Good [+2] Motivation. Memories of failures or problems becomes your Quirk, and a Karma memory becomes either a new Good [+2] Quality or an increase to one of the 3 Core Qualities. The GM should also construct everyone's Voice at this point, based on the memories and events of the prelude. Also, by this time they are probably thoroughly confused. The Tabula Rasa method is interesting but it's obviously unsuitable to "reuse" and only really fits one of Vox's 4 settings (Oversight, a modern-day conspiracy setting). The core idea can of course be adapted or adjusted to different settings or scenarios...but I get the feeling that after the first time wandering around with no skills or memories isn't going to appeal. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dharma This is Vox's "traditional" character creation section. Characters have two parts: your Persona and your Voice. Your Persona is the "real" you, the guy everyone can talk with, walks around, picks things up, puts on pants, etc. The Persona has 3 Core Qualities at Good [+2] (Past, Defining Quality, and Motivation) as well as a Quirk to represent a failing and a single extra Quality rank which can give you a Good [+2] Quality or improve one of your Core Qualities up to Expert [+4]. Needless to say, Vox characters are not badasses, with only 3-4 Qualities to start with. Your Voice is the thing that only you can perceive which speaks to you. Voices may have a name, a description, a Good [+2] Past Quality, a Good [+2] Motivation Quality, a Quirk and a rank to buy an extra Good [+2] Quality or improve their Past or Motivation to Expert [+4]. Since they have no physical body Voices never have physical Qualities. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Karma This bit deals with Karma Dice, Vox's equivalent to Style Dice from S7S. Like Style Dice you have both the Box (an infinite source of "mechanically driven" dice) and the Bowl (a limited source of "good form" dice). Karma Dice are earned in much the same way as S7S, however there's one new source: playing Voices. This will be detailed a bit more later on, but basically your Voices are usually roleplayed by the GM or the other players. Whenever you take the role of another player's Voice for the first time in a session you get a Karma Die. It's also worth noting that Karma Dice belong to the player, not to their characters. So if Steve is currently roleplaying Jake's Voice, he can use his Karma Dice if he wants to make a roll better but he can't dip into Jake's pool of dice. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Core Rules Like I mentioned, this is PDQ# with the buckles filed off the swashes. Like PDQ # it's got a larger range of possible Target Numbers, uses Spirit Dice (ie Karma Dice) and you earn Training Points for failing at a roll. You've also got unranked Quirks (Foibles) instead of Poor [-2] Weaknesses However, Fortes have turned back into Qualities, and the standard PDQ Conflict rules are back instead of divvying up dice between attack and defense. The system has one significant new addition: Metanoia In times of great stress your Voice may attempt to take control of your Persona. At these times you must make a Metanoia check, using your Defining Quality vs your Voice's highest Quality. The winner becomes dominant for the rest of the Scene. Since Voices are often played by other players, Persona and Voices are going to get swapped around a lot. Bob might end up controlling his own Persona, plus RPing Jim's Voice when Jim fails a Metanoia roll causing Bob to take control of his Persona as well. Next Time: more rules for Voices and personalities before getting into the Nox section.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 30, 2014 10:27
|
|
|
VOX part 2: Hearing Voices So far, we haven't actually gotten much info on Voices. To some degree, this will continue but here's the actual relevant chapter. Voices The first thing we're told is that a Voice, despite the name, is not limited to audible words. A Voice might have no language and just communicate via growls, beeps, morse code, etc. Alternatively it could involve visions, images or text, or even just a feeling or urge. Voice Qualities As mentioned in character creation, Voices have their own Qualities. They cannot have purely physical Qualities (like Strong or Handsome), and while they might have knowledge of physical skills (Gymnastics, Swordfighting, etc) they cannot use these Qualities unless they're in control of your Persona. No matter what, a Voice can only act in the physical world through the medium of the Persona's body. They can control some things that are normally instinctual or unconscious (glandular function, heartbeat, etc), but not beyond the level of something like hypnosis or biofeedback. If the Persona and Voice are cooperating, it is possible to add your Qualities to those of your Voice for a roll total. Working together with your Voice makes you much stronger. Voice Types Next we have a list of various Voice Types. Despite the amount of space devoted to this section, these Types have no mechanical effect, they're simply a list of possible ways your character might interpret their Voices. Keep in mind that all of these are your character's interpretation of the Voices, there is no implication that any of them are remotely factual. Each type comes with a few suggested Qualities for your Persona related to your Voice. These aren't "special" or unique qualities, just thematic suggestions. However, most are irritatingly vague and since your Voice cannot grant any specific or explicit supernatural or unnatural abilities they're usually more or less just different forms of GM fiat as to when they will or won't work. For example, one of the example Qualities for Vox Equus is "The Man With the Hex" which states: quote:Maybe it's real magic, maybe it's the power of suggestion, or maybe it's just paranoia and superstition, but if your target is aware of you and your intent then you can put a hex on him that will cause him nothing but misfortune in the future. Vox Alius Your voice is an alien being, some kind of signal, telepathy, or transmission from space. Vox Angelus The voice of angels or heavenly beings. Guardian angels specifically, but really any kind of heavenly messenger. Vox Animus Messages from your spirit animal. Vox Apparatus Communications from electronics, usually TV or computers. Vox Bestia Talking animals, different from Animus in that it's communication from actual, physical animals. Vox Custos Basically this is you tapping into "big brother", listening in on the secrets and transmissions from the people controlling the world. Vox Dei The voice of god(s). Wannabe prophets. Vox Equus This one's pretty specific and seems to be referencing Vodoun beliefs as far as I can tell. it's one of the more confusing Types. Vox Fata Basically getting visions or glimpses of the future or sending the flow of fate. Vox Imago Speaking with your own reflection. Vox Madidus Another very specific voice. This is the imaginary friend who only shows up when you're drunk, or more generally I suppose any kind of Voice related to drinking. Vox Musum A muse or voice of inspiration. Vox Natura This is communication through natural forces such as sunlight, wind or rain. Vox Pecunia Money talking to you. Vox Phasma These are ghosts talking to you. Vox Susurrus whispers, basically noises in quiet places or in the murmur of a crowd. ------------------------------------------------------- Voice Mechanics Here we get some info on how your Voice actually interacts with you. It's made clear that the Voice is not a constant presence and will only speak up on its own at times of importance. Most of the time the Persona is in control of themselves and the Voice rides shotgun, occasionally piping up to offer some kind of advice or commentary. So long as you've got the time to "chat" with your Voice you and the Voice can cooperate and pool your Qualities. But this is just the same as receiving advice from someone in the room, it's probably not going to be fast enough for split second reactions. A voice with the Good [+2] Marksman skill might be able to help you line up a shot and correct for errors if you're firing a gun from a rooftop at night, but he can't really help in a firefight. Essentially using a Voice's Qualities takes at least one round in a Conflict spent only conversing with the Voice. The exception is if you're combining your Defining Quality with one of your Voice's and you spend a Karma Die. So someone with the Defining Quality Good [+2] Violent and a Voice with the Quality Good [+2] Boxing, could (by spending a Karma Die) immediately make use of that quality in a fight to hit someone by channeling the Voice. The Voice can attempt to take over the Persona via Metanoia checks, this can happen when the Persona is forced to Zero Out a Quality or is rendered Mostly Dead. The player may decide to initiate a Metanoia challenge, hoping to lose, to "channel" his Voice in order to let them take over and use their Qualities. When a Voice is controlling the Persona, all of the Persona's Qualities are inaccessible except for their Defining Quality (although they can still absorb damage). However, as the Persona is now a Voice they can use their Qualities to assist in the same way that a Voice would. transitioning is always traumatic and obvious, unless the player spends a Spirit die. Normally only one Metanoia Challenge can happen in a Scene, to initiate a new Challenge after the first costs a Karma Die. At the end of the Scene control returns to the Persona. Controlling Voices The player should not control his Persona's Voice, instead it is controlled by the GM or other players. Everyone may just have the person to their left control their Voice, it could be random, or it could be controlled entirely by the GM. Multiple Voices Everyone starts with a single Voice, but apparently most Persona will eventually develop additional Voices. However, searching through both sections I cannot for the life of me find any rules covering how one gets additional Voices or why. This section presents two options that seem to be related to multiple voices but actually don't really have anything to do with them: Fugue This is where a Voice takes over the body permanently. Basically when a Metanioa event is failed and the situation is so traumatic that the Persona cannot regain control (this usually happens after the Persona is reduced to Mostly Dead). In this case the Voice effectively becomes the Persona under control of the player and the Persona becomes a Voice under the control of the GM and other players. It's not made clear what happens to the Persona's Qualities, especially Qualities that might represent relationships, appearance, physical traits and so on. The text states that in order for a Fugue to occur, the Persona must have multiple Voices but it's not really clear why this is since only one Voice is actually involved. Harmony This is where two Personae both hear the same Voice, so kind of the reverse of multiple Voices. It also doesn't address the fact that this moves the game from "reality vs insanity" to a straight up, blatantly supernatural game although it does mention that this is only available at the GM's discretion. Making the Voices Stop There are two ways to get rid of a Voice, should you want to. Purge this is basically an exorcism. First the Voice must be in control of the body, meaning a Metanioa check will likely be forced until the Persona fails and the Voice takes control. Then the Voice must be engaged in a Conflict to inflict Failure Ranks. This could be psychological counseling or just straight up torture. Once the Voice is Zeroed Out it can be Coup de Graced just like a Zeroed Out person, effectively "killing" the Voice. If the Persona wishes they can use their Qualities to aid either the exorcism or the Voice in the Conflict. Merge rather than erasing a Voice this is basically integrating a Voice with the Personae. There are no real rules for this and it's basically up to the GM when the Personae has fully realized what the Voice represents and its nature. The Persona immediately gains a new Quality at Average [0] based on the Voices highest Quality. Surge this is only loosely defined but apparently an extremely important Purge or Merge of a voice can lead to a "breakthrough", giving the PC new Qualities. This will apparently be addressed more significantly in the Nox chapter. Role-playing Voices This is just some notes regarding how Players should roleplay the Voices of other Persona. It mostly amounts to a fair amount of gabbing over how Vox doesn't restrict you when you want to do things that are "out of character" or addressing other common "table problems" (such as absent or idle players, etc). Damned Lies Here the author waxes philosophical on Jungian philosophy and the nature of truth. I've got to say, it's not a bad game but drat can the constant digressions on the nature of truth, reality and the self become kind of mind-numbing. Basically this section works on the assumption that when you roleplay a Voice you'll often by lying or telling contradictory truths. Of course, it's kind of a hard thing to wrap your head around. After all, while the DM may or may not provide truth or lies when roleplaying a Voice, your fellow players don't know anything more than you do...so why ask them (via your Voice) for advice, beyond that provided through Qualities? It just seems to be an odd assumption that the Voice will be telling lies, and that you the player might be in a situation where you'd believe them. Of course, over all the relationship between Persona, Voice and player is still a little vague as we have no real setting yet to provide them context or understand what your goals are and what Voices are (the Voice Types provided in the previous sections are often contradicted by the nature of the Voice rules, meaning they're clearly not "real"). It does state flat-out that a Voice will never attempt to force the Persona to suicidal actions. They're dependent on the Persona and destroying them will also destroy themselves (another bit of evidence showing that most of the Voice Types aren't "true"). ------------------------------------------- Personality This chapter is basically a short essay on the Myers-Briggs personality types. The game apparently includes its own terms for each of the dichotomies, for instance a Thinker is an eMpath, a Feeler is a sYmpath (and yes, the capitalization is from the book), an extrovert is a Cenobite and an introvert is an eRemite. When you need to include random capitalization in order to avoid repeating letters in your acronym and you're already replacing existing terms you might want to just step away from the thesaurus. We're then given archetypes for certain personality combos. For instance "Doer Kritarchs" (ie, people who are both Sensing and Judging) are referred to as Wardens, with four subtypes based on the other two personality components: Watchmen (DYKC or ESFJ), Commissioner (DMKC or ESTJ), Bodyguard (DYKR or ISFJ) and Gumshoe (DMKR or ISTJ). I suppose I could see these as being useful "shortcuts" for Voices, since each voice will be swapped from player to player...but considering this is a game for experienced gamers, I'd bet most of the time it would be easier to simply list a few personality descriptors rather than forcing everyone to figure out what you mean when you say your voice is a Gumshoe personality type. That's it for the Lux section, and we're officially out of the player portion of the book. Next we flip the book over and go to the Nox section, maybe we'll get some idea of what's going on (hint, we won't).
|
|
#
¿
Apr 1, 2014 12:09
|
|
|
Vox Part 3: Nox Now onto the GM section. Now if you thought that things were confusing before... Forward The mood for this section is set by an "in-character" sidebar written by a doctor examining the disorder known as Vox, which has become widespread and epidemic. The note indicates it's around 2020-30 or so and Vox started affecting about 1% of the population (a hell of a lot of people really) and this grew by 1% every 17 years, first being notice roughly 40 years ago. Although Vox is apparently not conclusively blamed for this governments have collapsed and billions of people have died since this doctor has been investigating the phenomena. This seems to be document from the future of the "Oversight" setting which we'll cover later. Admin Handbook The chapter begins by letting us know the general philosophy of the game's mysteries: "the truth is out there"...but you won't get to find it. Essentially the "truth" of Voices and reality is not going to be established and should be hinted at to the players but it should not be revealed. Then we zoom out and the cosmology gets...explained? Apparently at the beginning of time there was a singular, omnipresent entity: The One. For reasons no one is capable of knowing the One decided to divide itself. Half of the One splintered into Chaos, each bit dividing further and further. The second half remained intact and was Order, the Demiurge. A single, sentient entity that seems to be the closest thing to a "god" in the universe. It is immensely unclear whether the "universe" as we know it is an aspect of the fractured half or the Demiurge. Both are stated to have become "reality" but neither is defined beyond the vaguest terms.  There are two groups who each have beliefs about the One, namely whether the division was an act of creation or an attempted suicide. Who these groups are, whether they're human or otherwise, and where they got this information from is not defined. Both groups however have noticed that the bits of the splintered half occasionally "come together" and rejoin, becoming closer to the original entity in the process. The Demiurge is very "territorial", it does not want to divide or become less than it currently is and will do whatever it takes to ensure this doesn't happen. The Demiurge knows that if any entity becomes strong enough to challenge it then it would basically be the end of the universe. So it makes sure that the bits of chaos don't accumulate and grow bigger or badder. For the history of the universe humanity has been kept in the dark by the Demiurge and those who serve it, with the Truth kept hidden from them. However, throughout its history humanity has discovered some kind of link to the Truth, often in the form of Voices. This frightens the Demiurge who always makes sure that such prophets or visionaries are "taken down" by the rest of humanity. Now theology really starts to go through the wringer... Now, apparently the legend of the tower of Babel was sort of right, but not quite. It was a project mean to be a "gate to God" or the path to becoming gods. The text refers to genesis and the words of the serpent who claims that God is afraid that humanity will eat of the tree of knowledge and will become like god, knowing the Truth. Oh and the tree, it was Yggdrasil, the tree that leads to the heavens. Essentially it is an event where humanity became closer to Godhood, before the Demiurge managed to break them apart, divide them and weaken them again. It has happened many times throughout history and each time the Demiurge has defeated them. Here we get a pretty clear statement as to what Voices are. They are not imaginary (well, there's that mystery gone), but they are also not gods or aliens or ghosts. They're part of the Persona's own mind, trying to reestablish contact with itself and connect and merge once more. Meanwhile the Demiurge uses its agents to try and undermine those who hear Voices, convincing them that what they hear isn't real, or just kill them. Now, that's actually fairly clear...except that this "backstory" isn't actually mentioned in any of Vox's four Settings. Perhaps this a fifth, default setting? Or maybe its some kind of truth behind each of the four settings. It's unclear.  ----------------------------------- Apotheosis The Demiurge background continues here. Each of the PCs contains a little "spark" of the original One, and if they manage to "integrate" and rejoin with that spark they may be able to to it again. As more and more sparks, or Voices are merged you become something more than human. PCs are Apoths (I've got to say, that's a terrible name), people mean to change the way things are, and possibly lead humanity to a new stage of being. Which is of course exactly what the Demiurge doesn't want and the universe will attempt to discredit or destroy Apoths. Apoths typically appear when something needs fixing or repairing, often starting or ending wars or revolutions. The text seems to imply that the Demiurge might allow them around when it needs things changed briefly, only to eliminate them before things can change too much. By the way, I'm sparing you a lot of college-roomate philosophizing. Let me give you a taste of stuff I'm trimming: quote:Who's to say that it wouldn't be good to have an Apoth live on, changing minds, awakening the whole world to a new reality, casting down old beliefs, and raising all existence up into open warfar against the universe itself, tearing down all that is in order to see what lies beyond the veil? Unity consciousness, all for one and one for all, forever and ever. Well, lots of people would probably say that wasn't good. Because once you pull back the curtain, rip the tablecloth out from under the dishes, there's no going back. isn't it safer to keep your hands inside the car at all times? To color inside the lines? To keep your mind shut? So basically, the Demiurge is the Man and the Man is keeping you down, dude.  Oh, and apparently Apoths are also called aeonites, because apparently the first things Chaos splintered into were called Aeons. Apoths tend to be polymaths and are usually very broadly skilled (definitely not the case for a starting PC, but perhaps this is meant to change over time). But basically an Apoth can do anything the GM decides is appropriate for them to do. Perhaps they can take Qualities that let them see the future, tell truth from lies, etc. Each time the PCs manage to Merge with a Voice one of the Voices Core Qualities becomes part of the PCs (as an Average [0] Quality). Whenever this happens there is a 1 in 6 chance of a Surge, giving you a new Quality in addition to the Quality that you've absorbed from the Voice. A short table (3d6) is provided with possible Surge Qualities. Presumably these new Qualities are also Average [0], it's not stated. Most of these Qualities are psychic abilities (clairvoyance, clairaudience, dowsing, empathy, precognition, psychometry), some are just exceptional or unusual human traits (photographic memory, musical prodigy, intuition, speed reading, and synaesthesia). The game does mention that in order to avoid an over-abundance of Qualities eventually the players should "fuse" multiple Qualities together to produce a single Quality with a larger penumbra. Finally there's a smaller table of extremely supernatural Qualities the GM might hand out if he decides he wants something less subtle. This is things like TK, invisibility, levitation, teleportation, resurrection, etc. ---------------------------------------- Karma Chameleons Here we get even more bizarre philosophy and cosmology, as well as plenty of new vocabulary words. Did you know the passing of a soul to another body is called Metempsychosis? Also, because you are breathing the same air molecules breathed by Socrates it's not unbelievable that thought, memory and personality work the same way! Reality and time is cyclical, like an etch-a-sketch. The same material is used to create new things over and over again only to be dissolved and rendered back into raw nothingness and the whole thing starts again, unless you know the Truth! Ignorance is what chains you to Maya, the illusion of reality (just insert "man" after everything I say and you'll know how this all sounds in my head). Next we're told about how time is real, but perception is reality and reality is illusion and did you know that if you take LSD time can seem meaningless and in near death experiences you can relive your life in a single moment? Also there's polydimensional time where you have always already "done" and "been" everything and everwhere you will ever do or be. But you can't perceive this except on the quantum level of your thoughts where your synapses will occasionally "align" with states that they "will" occupy in the "future" (quotation marks are the book's). Basically it's talking about deja-vu, which players can trigger via spending Karma Dice. The GM rolls 2d6 and consults a chart. 2: Jamais Vu You have the experience of encountering something familiar yet feeling as though it is unknown or new. 3-4: Deja Senti This is where you have no idea what will happen or be said, but you "feel" you've seen it before. Basically what most people know as deja-vu. 5-7: Deja Vu For the next few seconds you know what will happen or be said, but of course you can change it by saying or doing something different. 8-9Deja Vecu This is the feeling that an experience is familiar, but more distant than deja vu, as though some other person has lived through the experience, sort of like a past life memory. 10-11 Deja Visite You feel like a new place is familiar, and may find your way around without a problem. 12 Cryptomnesia This is the feeling that what is happening now has never happened before but it is in fact something that has happened before (such as writing a song someone else has already exactly written). Now, to be clear, this is the only explanation for the events given. It is never made clear what exactly the benefit of Deja Vu is meant to be, why players would want to spend Karma on it and how the GM is meant to come up with the "future" off the top of their heads. We've got more  about Synchronicity (where you spend Karma for helpful coincidences) which mostly amounts to talking about how weird coincidences can totally happen in real life and Jung said blah blah blah blah. It's a bit too dense to be interesting and too  to actually be useful. Did you know on August 8th, 2008 a baby named Eden was born at 8:08 AM who weighed 8 pounds and 8 ounces (man). Also more vocabulary words: Apophenia (the experience of seeing patterns in random data) and Pareidolia (seeing faces in inanimate objects such as household objects or clouds). ------------------------------------------------------- Finding Yourself This is basically a chapter introducing you to the concepts of Jungian psychology and how completely relevant it is to the game. This is basically about how to integrate your Voices with your Persona, seeing them as Complexes that block the path to Individuation and Anima and Shadow and Syzygsdug paaaah! I'm sorry, but this section is really really dense and every other word is capitalized. We're also presented with Tarot-style Archetypes which, in Vox Tradition, are renamed for no apparent reason. For instance the Hierophant is the Praeceptor, the High Priestess is Antistia, the charioteer is an Agitator, The Strength is Fortitudo (and is also called the Strongman). ----------------------------------------------------------- Legion This is the "adversaries" Chapter. It includes rules for Minions (identical of S7S) and different ranks of "power" for opponents (the highest of whom may have Voices of their own). Archons are those who knowingl serve the Demiurge. They are aware of the Truth and seek to prevent anyone else from learning of it. They don't actually know what the Truth is, just that it exists and something similar to the Demiurge exists. Some Archons think they're serving the creator of the world, others know the world is an illusion but it's best illusion you can hope for. There are several hundred Archons and they operate in pairs. Archons have all had Voices which they have viciously purged, often leaving them with several extra Qualities. They also get a huge 10 Karma Dice every session, in addition to the GM's dice. Basically their main power is that the universe is literally on their side. Orders are essentially conspiracies that run things from the shadows trying to discover or hide the Truth. There are two main ones: Lux Aeterna and Nuit Lux Aeterna is the more "positive" of the two. They're goals are to protect the ignorant (but keep them ignorant). If the ignorant learn the truth they're to be guided towards awareness and learning the importance of unity and obedience. The needs of the many, etc. Basically they're all about small sacrifices for the greater good. They might ever-so-slowly ready the masses for the Truth but until then, ignorance is their best protection. Their leader is called "The Man" and he looks like the Colonel of KFC fame. Like their counterpart, Nuit believes in keeping humanity ignorant. However, they feel it's better that the masses never learn of the Truth. Rather than providing incremental knowledge or leading those who stumble onto it they seek to cloud any discoveries and, if necessary, eliminate anyone who learns of the Truth. Voice especially are to be purged. Neither Order specifically serves the Demiurge, although both may have secret Archons among their ranks. ------------------------------------- Next We've got the four "settings" for Vox, and the best part of the book.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 5, 2014 11:48
|
|
|
Vox Part 4: Settings Here we talk about the potential settings for Vox, which are all actually quite cool but they do reveal the game's biggest weakness...It's not very focused on it's core concept. Basically the idea is that you hear Voices, and the effect of those voices on gameplay is fairly interesting. But that idea seems to get left behind as the book gets caught up in its cosmic conspiracy theory and it turns out the Voices are just going to be "power ups" for the PCs to deal with and then "eat" in order to become more powerful. It's fairly well established that the Voices aren't independent beings or forces (making the Voice Types kind of pointless) and since they aren't in any sense real their existence doesn't ultimately matter beyond the abilities granted once they're absorbed or purged. The setting intro mentions that you can use Vox for just about any sort of setting: greek hoplites communing with the Gods, space horror games with psychic parasites, or a game of lunatics whose voices are actually people in another place or time who are hearing your voice. These are all neat ideas...but Vox isn't a generic game system. "all the players are people with voices in their heads only they can hear and which can take over their body" is pretty far from generic. The "default" Demiurge concept makes for an interesting conspiracy/horror game in the vein of Unknown Armies or even a low-powered Mage game...but it doesn't actually have anything to do with the Voices, and those just feel tacked on, which is bizarre since that's the central concept behind the entire game. Likewise, the other three settings are all really interesting...but they could be played just as easily without Voices and they're probably be more coherent and playable. Anyway, lets get to the four potential settings: Facility This starts by stating that apparently everyone in the titular Facility has a Voice, so that's interesting. It also talks about the different types of Voices that are most common: *Vox Phasma: the "ghosts" of those who have died in the Facility, or possibly those who were there before. *Vox Alius: These Voices are mostly confined to a group explained later: The Order of the Red Brotherhood. Basically people with these voices tend to believe that the Facility is some sort of alien vessel or lab and the Voices are transmissions or messages from the Alien Masters. *Vox Dei: These guys believe they're hearing the voice of God or the Devil and usually see the Facility as some form of purgatory or hell. Often these guys are driven to violence and join a group called the Possessed. Apparently anyone who gives off the impression that they're hearing Voices is generally assumed by others to be one of the Possessed...which is odd since earlier it mentioned that everyone has Voices. *Vox Machina: The voice of the System itself, that runs the Facility. They tend to be "hackers" and have a talent for getting the Facility to do what they want. So, what is the Facility? Well, that's a good question. Basically it is a gigantic structure of long white hallways and small, barren rooms. No one knows who built it, how it operates or why it's full of people with Voices in their heads. Every 90,000 seconds sleeping gas is pumped into the rooms and halls. Everything is controlled by the System (or Evermind) and there are several computer terminals in some areas. Much of the Facility is lit constantly by soft-white overhead lighting but in some areas the lights are unreliable or burned out. These areas are called Nighthalls. Sometimes small, useful objects are found in the area, they're called Gifts and have a tendency to vanish spontaneously sometime later. The structure of the Facility is as follows: Rooms are 10x10 chambers which are what you can find behind most open doors in the Facility. They have running water, toilet facilities, and a cot. Some time after the sleeping gas is pumped in food will appear in inhabited rooms. Halls connect just about everything. Some Halls have lights, some don't (see Nighthalls). Night-halls are often the lair of the possessed. Sectors This is a collection of Halls and Rooms that have regular inhabitants. They're named for the number of regular people staying in them (so Sector 116 has 116 inhabitants). This would presumably be confusing but the narrator (for some reason this chapter is told in first person) states that he's never found two Sectors with the same population or any Sector where the population fluctuates for long enough to be renamed. Sometimes people go missing but someone new always replaces them. Wards are larger chambers, often surrounded by Nighthalls. They're usually locked and inside are computer terminals connected to the System. The Garden is the center of the "main" Facility, a pentagonal area in the center of a 5-way intersection of rectangular "wings". This contains a library (which is also kind of a "neutral zone") and an indoor garden full of many different plans tended by the Facility. This region is handled by a faction called the Union. Around the Garden are several Wings which are rectangular-shaped regions of halls and rooms, about six floors tall. Each Wing has their own collection of Nighthalls, Sectors, Wards and unexplored areas. The garden and it's Wings are connected to other parts of the Facility by The Hallway. The Hallway is a single, giant stretch of wide-open blackness. There are no lights and the whole thing is several miles long. Corpses can be found in the darkness with disturbing regularity. There are plenty of Possessed here as well. At the end of the Hallway is the Stairs, a big, empty spiral staircase leading downwards with occasional lighting. At the end is a magnetically locked door with a blacked out window. No one has been though this door. However, some landings also lead to two other Wings that are only accessible through the Hallway. One of them is nearly as dark as the Hallway and the rumor is that it's the source of the food, water and medication pipes. Next we've got some info on the organizations and factions in the Facility: The Union is the "good guys" of the Facility. They're there to try and get people to work together. They want everyone to get along, stand together and basically be more civilized. The Administrators believe they are descended from the people who were originally employed in the Facility, and are thus superior to the other residents. They want to stop anyone from finding an exit and to ensure that they control as much as possible within the Facility. They refer to non-administrators as "patients" and basically keep them as servants and slaves whenever they can. Patients who prove themselves can be promoted to "doctors", but only those with "provable" pedigree can become high-ranking. Order of the Red Brotherhood, also called the ORB. They think the facility is a space-ship taking everyone to an alien planet. The aliens live in the basement below the Staircase, controlling and observing the Facility and its inhabitants. They hate the Union and may have some kind of treaty or understanding with the Possessed. The Possessed are basically those who hear Voices that drive them to violence and who have been "broken down" by their Voices. They are usually alone or in small packs. However, Possessed are not beyond saving and there are a few Redeemed who have managed to purge or merge with their Voices and regain their sanity. The Facility chapter ends by breaking out of the first person and provides a few tips on running a Facility game, including a few random tables for random exploration events, random gifts. The last part gives us the "truth" behind the Facility, which is actually disappointingly mundane and doesn't actually make a huge amount of sense given the Facility's layout and procedures. Basically back in 2012 a facility in Antarctica was created to house victims of the Vox plague...and that's about it. No one knows what has happened to the rest of the world since then or how long its been. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oversight Oversight is the "default" campaign setting for Vox, set in the modern day with an ever-increasing "plague" of the Vox disorder, where the victims hear unexplainable Voices. Presumably this also includes the Demiurge and its agents...but they're never actually mentioned nor is it ever explained how the Demiurge cosmology fits in with the "plague" of Voices (something you think would provoke a huge reaction from the entity). The setting is, specifically, Washington DC during election season of 2012...which is pretty darn specific I suppose. People in America and the world are starting to become more polarized and radical. Everyone has an opinion and they're getting louder about it. Protests are more common and becoming more violent and in reaction the jails are full of activists and extremists on trumped up charges. The presidential election is currently undecided with recounts and court orders extending the election into late November and no new president yet determined. Oh, and apparently one candidate is Muslim...how they possibly got enough votes in 2012 USA to deadlock the elections is an exercise for your imagination (Vox was published in 2010 by the way). Like the Facility it starts with some common Voice Types: *Vox Dei: Plenty of religious extremists and true believers. This is where its mentioned that one of the candidates is Muslim (the other is Christian) and it also says that both sides seem to be equal in size and influence...this must be a very, very different world because a quick google search reveals that Muslims make up .6% of the population vs Christianity's 78.4%. I'm all for alternate realities but sometimes you need to point out that you're diverging and maybe give some insight into what that means for the setting. *Vox Apparatus: These guys can either be luddites who hate the "machine Voices" they're forced to endure or semi-transhumanists. *Vox Alius: basically a surge in alien abductee mania. Many of those with these Voices believe that the Truth is being hidden by the government. *Vox Custos: These are the conspiracy theorists who believe that they're "tuned in" to the people who are trying to hunt them down and control the world. The chapter goes on to describe some of the better known landmarks in DC: the national mall, the Washington monument, the Capitol Building, etc. None of this has any actual game relevance, but it does serve as set-dressing. Next we've got the fictional candidates and their major supporters. No political parties are mentioned...but it's not exactly hard to tell. Nor is it hard to tell whose side the book is on. First we have the "Agents of Change" Aadil Bukhari is the Muslim candidate and he's just one miracle away from sainthood. He's the frontrunner, won the popular vote clearly but the electoral vote is being hotly contested. He was born in the inner city, has an "astounding intellect" and made his way through public high school in "record time" (which must be something considering the youngest high school graduate is six years old). He's also the youngest presidential candidate in history. His running mate is Nathan Locke is an older and more seasoned man of so full of wisdom and serenity it is leaking out of his ears. He was, notably, an ambassador prior to becoming the VP candidate so although he has lots of experience and wisdom he has never been a "real" politician, avoiding the corrupting brand of being an "insider". some of Bukhari's supporters are listed as well: a climate change expert attempting to warn people about dangerous new weather conditions in the near future, a secret service agent in service of the unnamed incumbent president (who is ending his 2nd term), a young reporter for the Post. There is also mention of a Micah Harris a high schooler who has some vaguely defined prophetic or mystic gift. There's no indication of how he's connected however. Then we have "The Establishment", ie the opposing party. It's worth noting that from the brief description given of the 2-term incumbent he's clearly on the same team as Bukhari...so it's not really clear how the rival party counts as the "Establishment". They might has well have labeled them "the Sith" considering how they're described. Judith Wagner is the opposition candidate and a lawyer. During her legal career she was nicknamed "the vampire" and her political career has been tainted by shady real-estate deals that have recently come to light. It also makes it clear that she and her family are the ones behind the gridlock on the elections. For some reason no mention at all is made of her running mate. We do hear about a few of her supporters: a supreme court justice who is instrumental in helping her block the election results, a political radio commentator, a freelance reporter, and the evangelical Reverend Grigsby. Micah Harris's psychologist is also mentioned, but again his connection is unexplained. Then we've got the Factions which may or may not be connected to the conspiracies of Lux Aeterna or Nuit. There's the Lightbringers who are a semi-secret group who reaches out to those with mental illnesses offering help and support (but operate in secrecy) and the AVARC or Association for Voice Anomaly Research and Containment. They're basically Men In Black who seek out and capture those with Voices. The chapter ends with a random headline generator as well as a "random event" table. The random events are basically insane, which isn't totally inappropriate, but it does paint the world as one where the events of the presidential election are the least of anyone's concerns...let's see...here are 4 random results: Preachers disguised as rioters. Also an explosion. EMTs arguing with bystanders during a fire. Police questioning a Flash Mob in the middle of traffic Men In Black assaulting looters while an assassination occurs. Honestly, this setting is way too focused on the least interesting part of the world (2000-style stalled presidential election in a world where schizophrenia is a contagious disease and the weather is poised to go Ragnarok) and the one aspect that lone individuals (ie the PCs) have the least amount of influence or control. There's almost no actual indication of how the PCs might get involved, what would drive them or even what will happen without their intervention. The lack of any moral ambiguity is also a bit of a game-killer for a political conspiracy game. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Currents This setting is semi-lovecraftian and set in the 1920s, in Buffalo NY. Like before we've got some suggested Voice Types: *Vox Apparatus: Almost the whole of Buffalo is now powered thanks to the work of Nikola Tesla at Niagara Falls. Also there's jazz. *Vox Musum: Specifically related to the Suffragette movement and the "voice" of inspiration leading these activists. *Vox Madidus: Can't avoid mentioning Prohibition of course. *Vox Sussurus: This is basically a Voice personified by rumors. We also get a selection of almost-1920's street slang. Did you know that "tough guys" used to be called "Bimbos"? We're then given some important places in interbellum Buffallo, of course mentioning the insane asylum. Some of these are just historical mentions but others have bizarre rumors attached to them. Supposedly a giant tentacled creature sleeps under niagara falls and the hydroelectric dams are there to keep it either asleep or to wake it up. People who go over in barrels sometimes disappear. And of course there's mention of the mob families of buffalo, the personelle of the insane asylum and oddly enough vendors in the Broadway market. Then we come to people connected to the Supernatural... We do have Phineas Ghoule who is on the opposite end of the spectrum. He leads a cult trying to take over the world, performing rituals to use the electrical grid of the city as a giant ritual focus for unspecified purposes. And we've got Nikola Tesla in the twilight of his life who is working on secret modifications to the electrical system in the hydroelectric dam. There are two other characters mentioned, a professor of history from the local university with no known supernatural affiliation (but hey, he's a history professor in a lovecraftian setting) and a couple who runs the Queen City Hotel with undefined " knowledge of the occult". Currents also comes with an actual adventure scenario, something that Oversight desperately needed revolving around the eclipse set to occur on January 24th of 1925. The Eclipse can be used as either a climax for the game or as a starting point. However, reviewing this outline I've got to say...I'm a bit confused. If we're going with the events leading up to the Eclipse here's what we have: In January of 1900 Tesla arrives to upgrade the system he created for Westinghouse in Niagara Falls. The generators run at 4000 RPM after he modifies them. Twenty years later just after prohibition is passed the PCs find themselves at the Front park near the Niagara river. Something is going to happen that only they can stop. This is the only information we have. In 1922 we have a bit about the DiCarlo crime family. Yes, we seem to have skipped forward two years with no explanation. Antony DiCarlo, the son of Joe DiCarlo (the family head) loses 4 days during which his father succumbs to a heart attack and he is nowhere to be found. Upon returning he appoints Stefano Magaddino to run the family until he feels capable. This is all the work of Angelo Palmeri who didn't want to see Antony in charge. Then in ??? we have Dr. Eliot Cambria who is a senior psychologist at the insane Asylum. He leads a cult in Buffalo under the name Phineas Ghoule and is preparing to create some kind of portal using the power of Tesla's generators and the parks around Buffalo. Cambria helped to arrange Antony's disappearance for Angelo Palmeri in exchange for getting him test subjects for his mind control experiments which take place under the asylum. As their plans unfold unnatural events begin to occur around Buffalo: "time doors" open to other places, citizens vanish and reappear or are altered in odd ways. January 1925, three years after the last established date, the solar eclipse will occur. And then...profit? The characters have presumably saved the day, or they haven't. This is literally all we have and it's meant to span a 5 year adventure? Forget what I said earlier about an adventure outline. Of course, the Eclipse could just be the start of things... The morning of the eclipse the characters are drawn to downtown Buffalo, they enter Niagara square at about 9:40 and the eclipse begins 5 minutes later and lasts for 101 seconds. And basically bad things happen. We're given a few brief examples (doorways to other worlds/times open, lovecraftian beings enter the dimension, or perhaps psychic episodes affect the inhabitants of Bufallo) and a possible way to defuse the situation (dropping the revolutions of the transformers to 3600 RPM). However, overall it's a bit of a mess. There's not really enough information or material for this to be considered a real "setting" and as an adventure it's waaay too long-term and disjointed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reckoning This is the Victorian setting for Vox. In this setting five years before Victoria was due to ascend to the throne she was forced to flee and an usurper has taken her place. Here at least we're given a rundown of how this world is different from our own version of 1832. Cholera outbreaks and civil unrest weaken the government and King William the IV becomes ill and dies. His Queen becomes regent but power is seized by John Conroy and a 13 year old Victoria flees the palace and disappears. The game itself may occur weeks, months or years later in a London where it has been raining constantly ever since. Buckingham palace has been fortified by Conroy's forces and the Tower of London is home to his Watchmen. Queen Victoria has joined up with a group called the Guttersnipes, basically a semi-organized group of lower classes and criminals. She is 13 (no matter how long it has been since Conroy seized power, she does not age) and is organizing a revolution among the guttersnipes to overthrow Conroy and put herself back on the throne. And...well that's really about it. Again, kind of a neat idea but there's not really anything beyond some notable historical differences and some unexplained phenomena. No real information about how Voices tie into things. At least it's easier to see the PCs getting involved, but the whole Voice schtick just feels out of place... And that's it for VOX. It's quite the up-and-down game. It introduces some cool ideas and the occasional neat mechanic but it doesn't really seem to know where it's going with things. It's also missing some essential information (mainly, how you get additional Voices). Definitely not the strongest PDQ game, but it's certainly a source of potential inspiration for weird/conspiracy gaming.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2014 08:33
|
|
|
Kaja Rainbow posted:Vox kinda seems like the writer shoved in cool ideas without really thinking about them, how to best use them, or how well they fit together. That pretty much sums it up. There's lots of cool ideas that aren't really explored as much as they should be or don't link together properly. Other than the Facility setting (which I like a lot) the other three are really more like the core idea for an adventure scenario. I can't imagine actually using Currents or Reckoning for more than one game.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 14, 2014 02:56
|
|
|
 Ninja Burger: Fast Food Assassins Rewinding the PDQ timeline a little bit here because I managed to track down my copy of Ninja Burger. Apparently I have two accounts at Drivethrurpg. Ninja Burger was the first PDQ product by Aethereal Forge, who would eventually produce Vox, and up until Jaws of the Six Serpents and Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies came out it was probably the PDQ game with the best production values. If you're not familiar, Ninja Burger was a turn of the millennia joke site similar to Real Ultimate Power. I was first introduced to it through the ninja-burger card game, which I always found to be a lot of fun. After discovering PDQ one of the first things I wanted to do with the system was use it to turn the card game into an RPG (I was not aware that the "1st edition" of the Ninja Burger RPG already existed). Well, Ninja Burger beat me to the punch and released a PDQ version of Ninja Burger themselves, the 2nd edition of the Ninja Burger RPG. This is that game. Introduction The name pretty much sums it up. Ninja Burger is a fast food delivery franchise owned, run, and staffed by ninjas. They promise delivery within 30 minutes or they will commit seppuku. Unlike Vox, Ninja Burger thankfully does not take itself seriously. Well, for the most part at least. We do get a 9 paragraph essay on the nature of imaginative play and ninjas in popular consciousness...but that's easy to skip past. Here is the in-game history of Ninja Burger: It was founded in the 1950s when fast food was becoming prominent. Because ninja burger employed real ninjas they could cater to exclusive clientele: the rich and powerful who find themselves in places where getting fast and greasy food would be impossible: politicians locked in military bunkers on high alert, wealthy explorers scaling mount everest, soldiers pinned down behind enemy lines. Ninja burger has been involved in most major historical events, but you don't hear about it because (of course) they're ninjas. Eventually the ninja burger franchise began to branch out as the rich elite are a bit of a small market. Now they'll deliver to anyone who needs their food delivered quickly, quietly and discretely. The first Ninja Burger location was in San Francisco in Chinatown, which is still the company's primary headquarters and main dispatch/call center. The Ninja Burger company relies not only on ancient secret arts but also extremely advanced modern technology. This is their primary delivery vehicle:  The VR Rating is a concept introduced in order to try and set the theme of the Ninja Burger game and it refers to the Violence/Realism rating. These ratings are +2, 0, and -2 for each. Violence +2 is like a Mortal Kombat game. Limbs go flying on most deliveries and the "Seppuku Rule" is in force, or at least the "finger rule" (where you can cut off your fingers to atone for dishonorable conduct). Violence 0 is like an action movie. PC death will probably only happen if you're incredibly stupid or you break the rules of the genre (jumping out a plane with no chute, trying to block a bullet with your kidney). Violence -2 is cartoon violence. permanent death is pretty much not in the cards. Grenades may blacken your face and knock you out but no one is getting blown to bits. Realism +2 Basically means anything goes. Aliens could crash in the middle of town and everyone will complain about the traffic. You can show up to a delivery with a giant brain leech trying to gnaw through your mask and no one will comment. Realism 0 is "comic book" realism. There are mutants, talking monkeys, aliens, magic, etc. Realism -2 is mostly the real world. People may act strangely (for instance starting up a fast food franchise staffed entirely by ninjas), but nothing physically impossible happens. For the most part there's no specific effects from the VR ratings, however there are going to be sidebars scattered throughout that represent optional changes related to the VR score of a campaign. There are also "sample concepts" related to different VR rating combos: Ninja Burger 101 (V0, R-2) this is basically Ninja Burger being run as though it were a real company in the real world. They have tremendous resources, highly trained staff recruited from ex-special forces or intelligence agents, and a good working relationship with several major governments. Delivery issues are mostly logistical and deal with the real world complications of getting food to their clients quickly and discretely. Enemies are mostly a few other "elite" fast food franchises and corporate espionage. Crouching Monkey, Hidden Robot (V-2, R+2) This is Ninja Burger as a saturday morning cartoon and toy line. Every week there's a new set of mutants, aliens or thawed out nazis who somehow are interfering with your deliveries. If it weren't for them though, deliveries anywhere and anytime would probably be a snap. Biggie Sized Trouble In Chinatown (V0, R0) The weird stuff is out there but ordinary people never see it...and that's how it needs to be. Make sure that you get your customers their order and fight off those vampires who caught the scent of the ketchup without letting anyone know what's really going on. Burger Wars, Inc (V+2, R-2) This is cyberpunk ninja burger. The year is 20(2d6+10) and Ninja Burger is a mega-corp engaged in the fast food wars with other vicious themed franchises. Cybernetics, genetic mutation and high tech gadgets are common weapons in the war for customer's hearts. Real Ultimate Ninja (V+2, R+2) This the "flip out and kill people" version of ninjas, and a setting where basically anything can happen and you can try just about anything so long as it sounds fun. Grab a guitar and shred out a solo to try and melt a robot's brain? Sounds good. Going back in time to deliver food to historical figures. Easy. About Ninja Burger Employees Next we've got a set of four concepts that sum up the ninja burger employee philosophy: 1) Ninja Burger will deliver to anyone, anywhere, anytime. They're 24-hours, multinational and hold no particular loyalty to any government or philosophy. Since everyone is a potential customer it's considered bad for business to put the general public at risk and can result in paycheck deductions. 2) Ninja Burger's mission statement is "Guaranteed delivery within 30 minutes or less or we commit seppuku". However, it is up to the individual franchise whether or not this slogan is to be taken literally or not. Some of the more lenient franchises only demand the ninja cut off a finger or garnish the failure's wages. 3) Company Honor before Personal Honor. The first goal of a NB employee is to deliver food, and the second is to defend the company against its competitors. Ultimately you're expected to place these goals above your own needs and desires. If you need to kamikaze a helicopter into the side of a building in order to make that the delivery happen, so be it (and its coming out of your paycheck). 4) Ninja Burger employees do not exist. Ninja Burger deliveries should always be as stealthy and low-key as possible. The company will publicly deny knowledge of any employee captured or killed in the line of duty and its best to minimize casualties (other than competitors) whenever possible. ---------------------------------------------- Character Creation Ninja Burger characters are pretty standard for PDQ. There are four bits: Your Name, Job, Qualities, and Background. Your Job is the specific role you fill as a NB employee. Each delivery team consists of 3-6 ninjas and usually has a mix of different positions: *Ninja Chef The backbone of Ninja Burger. These guys usually go on missions in case something happens to the food en route. If the bag gets squished or the fries get cold you'll need to be there to whip up a replacement. *Ninja Deliverator This is the guy who gets the food to the customer's face-hole. They're usually the best at combat, breaking and entering and stealth. Basically classic ninjas. *Ninja Driver Your ride. The guy who makes sure everyone can get to the delivery site on-time. *Ninja Navigator The driver's best friend. Also typically responsible for knowing building layouts and so on. *Ninja Spotter This is the guy who watches everyone's back and keeps an eye out for trouble. Often backs up the Deliverator.  Worth noting, your Job doesn't have a strict mechanical effect, your Qualities cover that (although you can take a Job as a Quality). Everyone starts with an Average [0] Ninja Quality which is basically a big, extra-broad Quality covering everything Ninja: unarmed combat, fighting with swords, staffs, shurikens, knives, spears, riding swimming, playing with gunpowder, espionage, infiltration, stealth, disguise, meteorology, geography, philosophy, meditation, and fast food. Since you're only Average [0] that doesn't mean much yet. But if you advance to Good [+2] or higher its a big bonus. Other than the Ninja Quality everyone gets 3 Quality Ranks (that's 3 Good [+2], one Master [+6] or one Good [+2] and one Expert [+4]) and a Poor [-2] Weakness. Finally you've got your Background which includes appearance, attitude, personal history but also includes your Element and Clan. There are six elements: Air, Earth, Water, Fire, Light and Dark. There is no set list of Clans, the naming format is [Color] [Verb]ing [Animal] such as "Blue Leaping Dolphins" or "Off-White Quivering Hamsters". You should also pick a "Matter of Honor", some sort of action you're personally forbidden from. If you have trouble coming up with ideas there's a slightly excessive set of tables:  Honor is a pretty overburdened system for Ninjas. In a more serious game it would be an abysmal system. As a beer-and-pretzels game it's somewhat acceptable. Basically everyone starts with 2d6 Honor Points. Honor serves as your social status (ninjas of equal rank are meant to defer to those with higher honor), it's used as "action points" in game and also as "experience points" for character improvement during downtime. When a ninja is faced with a conflict to either corporate honor (the four points above) or their personal Matter of Honor they face a Challenge of Honor and may increase their Honor score. Or it may decrease if they screw up. More to come on that later. It is possible to have a negative honor score, which can be fatal if the seppuku rule is in effect. Character improvement costs Honor as mentioned before. 5 Honor points lets you improve a Quality by one Rank or gets you a new Good [+2] Quality. Your Ninja Quality has two ways it can be improved at the GM's option: easy or really, really hard. The easy option is to simply allow Ninja to be boosted like any other Quality. Naturally this will lead to everyone dumping most of their honor into becoming Master [+6] ninja. The alternative is far on the other end of the spectrum. In order to raise your ninja quality you must use, successfully and appropriately, the ninja skill for each of the 20 individual ninja sub-skills (that is unarmed combat, swordfighting, staff fighting, shurikens, stealth, geography, etc, etc). Especially with the "successfully and appropriately", that's going to be a very hefty order to fill. If you're using the optional rule where everyone starts as Poor [-2] Ninja trainees at least they suggest giving everyone the option to check off ten of the uses ahead of time, so you don't have to worry about how you'll figure out how to shoehorn in a meteorology challenge and avoid failing on your 2d6-2 roll.  Next: Basic rules and other stuff
|
|
#
¿
Apr 17, 2014 14:04
|
|
|
theironjef posted:Is there an associated die roll for this to explain why it's +2 and -2 instead of just +1 and -1? Does the book make mention of a Realism +1 scenario? Not quite. It mostly just seems to be because PDQ works in even numbers. There are a few optional rules that basically involve upshifting or downshifting (+2 or -2) for certain settings but you could easily replace the +2 with "high" and the -2 with "low" and it works out the same. You never make "VR rolls" or anything.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2014 05:05
|
|
|
 Ninja Burger, Part 2: Ninja Rules So, this part has the core rules. These are almost completely identical to the standard PDQ rules so I won't go into them. However, it does have some of the more fun art in the book so I will go ahead and throw that up here. Acting Ninja is Ninja Burger's equivalent of Being Badass from the core-rules (basically, you get a +2 bonus for cool descriptions, awesome ideas, etc). For clarity the rules make a distinction between "being ninja" (i.e. doing things that a ninja does normally) and Acting Ninja (doing things in a particularly awesome way, deserving of a bonus). Summed up in this illustration:    VR Rules There are a few optional VR rules scattered about here, both for Violence level. The first is an option to add a game's Violence level to the damage of a successful attack, ensuring that attacks are more or less damaging. A variant option is presented where this is only the case for attacks that inflict "lethal" damage. Chapter 4: The Dispatcher The Dispatcher is Ninja Burger's name for the Game Master, however there's one important distinction. The Dispatcher is also an actual character role played by the GM. They are the voice on the other end of your ninja headsets feeding you mission updates and monitoring your status. Basically a fast food version of Oracle. Of course the Dispatcher still has to wear the "GM hat" when describing things or role-playing NPCs, but the game encourages them as much as possible to speak to the PCs "in character" as the dispatcher. The GM should also create stats for their ninja dispatcher just like the other starting character, using the dispatcher's Qualities to help out characters with Challenges and the like. Some of the suggestions are pushing the "GM as a character" aspect a bit too much (there's really no reason your dispatcher should be telling you "in character" what you see when you come into a room), but overall its a neat idea. Next we've got a random delivery generator:  The neighborhood is referring to a neighborhood in San Francisco (the default setting), which is a little bit disappointing given the premise promises a lot of really ridiculous delivery locations (mountaintops, secret bunkers, underwater space stations). And then we've got the optional complications table which the dispatcher is encouraged to use whenever things are going too smoothly.  Next are Bad Guys, the opponents of honorable ninja burger employees. Bad Guys come in 5 standard "sizes" which determine how powerful they are: Kid-Sized, Small, Medium, Large and Super. This is basically their threat level. Kid-Sized enemies are things like the family dog, minor henchmen, kids, etc. They get one Good [+2] Quality and one Poor [-2] Weakness. Small sized threats are your faceless mooks, rookies, mall cops and so on who get one Average [0] and two Good [+2] Qualities and a Poor [-2] Weakness. A Medium threat is someone like a soldier or cop and has one Good [+2] and one Expert [+4] Quality and a Poor [-2] Weakness. Large threats are significant opponents like high ranking henchmen or enemy ninja and they have two Good [+2] Qualities and one Expert [+4] Quality with a Poor [-2] Weakness. Finally the super-sized threats are "bosses" who have a Master [+6] and an Expert [+4] Quality plus a Poor [-2] weakness. We next get a set of example opponents in different categories. Evil Ninjas  Robots and Computers  Modern Day Warriors (despite the name and picture these are modern day versions of ancient warriors)  Pets  Evil Primates  Pirates (of course)  There's also a brief write up of Ninja Burger's competitors. Basically take an existing fast food or franchise and alliterate it with something: monkeydonalds, ghurka burger, pirate pizza, tiki taco, etc. There's also a couple of VR Factor rules here as well. The first is the "inverse ninja" rule based on Realism. In case where you're dealing with multiple ninjas at once you get a shift to your rolls every time the number of ninjas double. Whether this shift is positive or negative depends on the Realism factor. So for +2 Realism (which is low realism, in case you're confused by the modifier) you get a +2 bonus to your rolls every time the number of opponents doubles. So facing eight ninjas at once means you get +6 to any rolls against them and will likely destroy them in short order. However, for -2 Realism you suffer the equivalent penalty, so a -6 to rolls for those 8 ninjas you're fighting meaning you're dead meat. It's not quite clear if this is meant to apply only to actual ninjas or if it applies to any opponents. The second relates to the list of ninja burger competitors. The competitors can be randomly generated by rolling 2d6 and they range from least to most ludicrous, starting with pirate pizza and samurai burger and ending with Domo Antipasto (italian food run by robots) and monkeydonalds. You simply add the Realism factor to the 2d6 roll so a high realism (-2) game will result in more "normal" results and exclude monkeys and robots while a low realism game will make them more likely (although it somewhat questionably will exclude pirate pizza and samurai burger). Really, none of the competitors other than monkeydonalds and domo antipasto are any more or less ridiculous than any of the others. I'm not sure how a burger joint run by actual samurai (#3 on the list) is more or less realistic than a Cuban Guerrilla themed banana stand (#10). Next we have more Honor Rules, going into detail on what Honor can be used for other than character improvement. The Seppuku Rule Every time a character does something dishonorable they lose one Honor point. Any time Honor becomes negative the GM can require the player to make an Honor Roll, this is 2d6 plus your Ninja Quality minus any negative Honor. So an Average [0] Ninja with -5 Honor rolls at 2d6 +0 -5. The difficulty is 7, so that guy's screwed. Failure means that the urge to commit seppuku grows too strong and you must end your life. Otherwise you manage to deal with your shame and keep going. Typically only one check is made per game session, although really dishonorable acts might prompt another. They shouldn't be made when in the throes of a sacred mission such as a delivery or protecting clan honor, you can kill yourself after the job's done. You can play as an "Honorless Dog", a character with no personal Matter of Honor who is not subject to the seppuku rule. However, if you dip below -5 Honor you'll probably find that other ninjas are happy to do the job for you. You also start with 5 less honor than normal ninjas (which can, from a 2d6 roll, mean you start with negative honor out of the gate). Lenient franchises might offer another way out for those who have dishonored themselves: offering a finger as atonement. You immediately gain 1d6 honor and can ignore a failed Honor Roll (only one digit per session and only when you're already in the negatives). If a character does commit seppuku their replacement gets 2d6 extra Honor as compensation. Honor is also used as a loose form of rank within the Ninja Burger franchise. Anyone with 25 or more Honor is considered a Crew Trainer and 50 or more means you're a Manager. Obviously this means that the higher ranked characters will actually have less skill (not having cashed in Honor for character improvement) which the book points out is exactly in line with management in the real world. Money and Salary Being employees of Ninja Burger you naturally get a salary. This works out to, roughly and after taxes, 1$/hour per point of Honor. So assuming a 40 hour work week an average starting ninja character (7 Honor from a 2d6 roll) will take home 280$. Low Honor characters presumably suffered paycheck deductions, demotions or took time off to train and improve themselves. High honor characters get bonuses, promotions and overtime. The minimum hourly pay is 0, no negative money. Bonuses are also possible, issued by the Dispatcher. Good Teamwork 50$ to each member. Hazard Pay 1d6 x100$ for the team as a whole if someone is injured during a mission, 2d6 x100$ if every team member is injured. MVP 100$ bonus to award to whoever did the best on the team for a mission. The vote for this is secret, but if everyone gets only one vote no one gets it. Gaining Market Share +25$ per defeated competitor employee, to the team as a whole. Team Spirit 100$ to the employee who has done the best job of boosting morale in the team. And of course, there are benefits: training facilities, food and lodging (if the employee wishes, living on site is not required), basic equipment (uniform, personal gps, satellite headset, and some job specific gear). Health insurance is not provided but Ninja Burger stores have full medical suites which provides free care. And there's the Ninja Burger Store. The Ninja Burger Store is a 24 hour, on demand employee store for just about anything a ninja needs. You can purchase from the store at any time, on or off the clock. Purchases can be delivered anywhere within the same city in 2d6 minutes for triple normal price. This is the best way to get ahold of important items in the heat of delivery. We get a page or so of common weapons, tools, and vehicles that might be purchased. Of course, since PDQ tends to ignore equipment for the most part this doesn't actually mean much. The weapons especially don't really serve much purpose: why pay 250 (or 750 for delivery) of a crossbow when, for all intents and purposes it's pretty much identical to a Bow (150). Or the 350$ Naginati vs the 50$ tanto. Finally we come to Ninja Magic which is an optional feature depending on the game's VR rating and personal preferences of the GM. There are two types of magic: Focus and Flashy. Focus is "internal" effects that mostly just give you some kind of personal "invisible" benefit, while Flashy are obviously magical and often "external". It's not quite clear how Ninja Magic is actually used but my best guess is that you need to take Ninja Magic as a Quality which then gives you access some or all of the Ninja Hand Signs to produce magical effects. When making a Ninja Magic check the TN is typically going to be the same as a normal action, but a failed roll results in backlash which ranges from lost honor (you can always choose to simply take a 1d6 Honor hit instead of suffering another consequence) to Damage Ranks, temporary amnesia, wrong target(s), etc. The actual effects are based on the hand-sign used:  *Rin: Focus +2 on the next physical or mental action. Flashy You gain the temporary Quality Good [+2] Ubermensch for the rest of the Scene which can be used for any physical or mental actions but you automatically fail any social or "other" actions (including the use of ninja magic). *Kyo: Focus your next successful attack inflicts +2 damage. Flashy Shoot a ball of elemental energy based on your element, essentially a ranged attack with your Ninja Magic Quality. *Toh: Focus +2 on your next social Flashy for a scene you have the Good [+2] Buddha-Like Quality which applies to Social actions and wisdom, but you automatically fail any physical actions or ninja magic. *Sha: Focus You heal 1 damage rank, can only be used once per scene. Flashy you get the Good [+2] Supernatural Healing Quality for the Scene. This Quality can be used to resist diseases or poisons and adds +2 to your healing roll at the end of a scene, this can also be applied to someone you touch. *Kai: Focus You go first next turn Flashy You fall unconscious and your heart slows. you become aware of all living things within a mile and know who wants to harm you. While in this state you cannot act but you never take more than 1 damage rank from any source of harm. *Jin: Focus you get +2 to your next defensive action. Flashy you get the Good [+2] Psychic Quality for the rest of the scene. This allows you to attempt to read thoughts or added to social rolls. however you automatically fail any physical or magical rolls. *Retsu: Focus You get +2 to your next offensive action. Flashy You can step out of normal time and space and can choose to step back at any time to interfere or intercept someone else's action. *Zai: Focus You can "swap" the properties of one element for another such as walking on water like it was earth, seeing in darkness like it was light, etc. This lasts one action. Flashy You can either swap or simply ignore an element. if you ignore it and the element does not match yours then you take 1 Damage Rank per turn. This lasts for an action. *Zen: Focus You automatically succeed on your next complicated situation. Flashy You can swap your Quality ranks around. This lasts for a scene and during that time you are completely unaffected by any bonuses or penalties. Needless to say it doesn't take much examination to see that the different hand signs are hardly "balanced" against each other (clearly the focus version of Retsu beats Kyo, and Rin beats Retsu for instance), but its serviceable enough for a quicky one-shot game. Next Time Waaaay too much time describing San Francisco and a couple of ninja burger adventures.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2014 10:24
|
|
|
InfiniteJesters posted:Okay, I GOTTA get me Ninja Burger now. I don't own it myself but there is actually an updated "No Honor" edition which may feature a few key rule edits. As the title implies one of the main ones is ditching the honor system, which is fairly over-burdened. Might be worth considering if you're looking to getting the most up-to-date version.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2014 13:13
|
|
|
hyphz posted:There are at least 4 versions in that case. I still have the first one which is an A5 cardboard bound leaflet and uses the BEER system (which is normally Brawn, Endurance, Extraneous and Reactions, but they changed it to Strength, Agility, KI and Endurance to have SAKE). Then there's a much larger second edition but I can't remember what system it used, but it did have the dispatcher-as-GM thing. Actually the version I'm reviewing is the 2nd edition one, that's the one that started using PDQ. No Honor Edition is kind of a "2.5" edition that still uses PDQ but ups the lethality and ditches a few extra bits to make it a bit more like the first edition.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2014 05:07
|
|
|
Ninja Burger Part 3: The Rest Chapter 5: The City By The Bay Now we come to the setting chapter detailing the city of San Francisco. Now, I've got to say as a setting document for Ninja Burger, the world-wide fast food delivery service for anyone and everyone it's a pretty disappointing chapter. As a guidebook to San Francisco it's amazing. Seriously, this is probably the most detailed city write-up I've ever seen in any RPG I own. It's 28 pages long, includes 8 maps (4 road maps of varying levels of detail, a map of alcatraz, monster park stadium, golden gate park, and the san francisco zoo), several skyline photos of different areas, about a page dedicated to the city's history, half a page to its traffic, and half to its weather. There's brief info on nearby locations and a breakdown of the 35 neighborhoods or regions in the city (called "delivery zones"). And the thing is, this could be really cool if that much time was dedicated to "game material". Perhaps notes on where you might find lots of competitor franchises, evil white ninja hideouts, experimental robot factories, or focus on the weirder or unique areas like Alcatraz...but really almost all of this is pure, factual information from the real world. This is a 28 page guidebook to the city of SF as it exists in the real world. The only nod to the game are "encounter charts" for different regions...and all of those are extremely mundane. As an example, here's a random write-up for one of the neighborhoods.  It just strikes me as a lot of wasted potential. All of this material is fairly easy to find for anyone who's dedicated to making their city "true to life" and anyone else will likely find it easier to just to wing it. Not to mention that it doesn't really jive well with the concept of the game...isn't Ninja Burger meant to be able to get you your food anywhere in the world within 30 minutes? It seems like a lot of local focus for a company that should be parachuting their team into remote jungles or launching them into space. I mean, lets compare some of the location cards from the Ninja Burger Card Game:   It's just weird to dedicate over a quarter of the book to a fairly dry description of San Francisco. Now, after the long list of San Francisco locations we do get some ninja burger specific material on the Ninja Burger HQ. The place is a huge underground facility below the original NB franchise, which resembles an old-fashioned diner.  Below are huge kitchens, training facilities, employee dorms, vehicle bays and tunnels leading to the rest of the city. These tunnels come up at a few different locations to facilitate rapid delivery: Yerba Beuna Island (containing a secret dock housing company boats and subs), Mt. Sutro (which has their private helipads and light aircraft as well as Dispatch's sattelite uplinks), and Fort Funston (linking to the docks to allow employees from overseas to get in easily). ' Ninja Burger Adventures  This is the intro to the Ninja Burger tradition of building adventure scenarios via loose movie parodies. In this adventure the Ninjas are new employees who have done amazingly well at the basic Ninja Burger training. They have caught the attention of Staff Trainer Bill, who has decided to test their potential with his personal "gauntlet". The PCs are taken out of their regular training course and informed that due to a sudden employee shortage they're being sent into the field before completing their full training. Their mission is to bring two Ninja Burgers and a large soda to a trailer in Monster Park for a "Bill", which is currently hosting a game between the 49s and Cardinals and the customer wants their food before 7 PM. Upon arriving at the trailer the ninja who comes to the door will be yanked in by a woman in a yellow jumpsuit with two eyepatches. This is Patches, a blind ninja who sees via her ninja discipline. Along with her is Bob, a ragged looking man with a shotgun.  Patches will insult and threaten the ninjas, claiming that she never ordered anything and doesn't know any Bill. She'll try and incite the PCs to combat but won't attack first. If the PCs don't seem to want to fight the police will show up to make things more tense (remember, if you get arrested the company will disavow any knowledge of you). If the PCs flee Patches will hunt them down with her super-keen senses. No matter how the confrontation plays out, after it is over the dispatcher will announce that Bill has called in to cancel his order...a grave insult to Ninja Burger. The ninjas must hunt him down to exact revenge. The "hint" to track Bill down is probably going to throw off most people. Patches has a note on her from Bill stating they'll meet for a round of darts at "the usual place" after her business is done and the trailer is full of dart trophies from a bar called the Fox and Whistle. Of course if the PCs don't search Patches (not making the connection that she's really working for Bill all along), avoid a fight, or have left the trailer during the course of the fight...well hopefully the Dispatcher can trace the call or something. Of course Bill isn't actually at the Fox and Whistle. Several of the patrons are dangerous though: an assistant manager of Pirate Pizza is playing darts, some criminals are discussing their latest heist at a poker table, etc. To find Bill the PCs will have to notice a fellow called Twitch (actually a fellow ninja) who, upon hearing Bill's name will fling a knife into a map (pinpointing the San Francisco Zoo) and vanish in a flash of smoke (quite possible setting off a fight with the pirates). If the PCs don't catch the clue then the Dispatcher might just need to slip in an emergency delivery to the Zoo in order to get them back on track.  If the PCs search through the Zoo they'll find no sign of Bill, but they will be attacked by a primate army led by the Zookeeper. This is probably the hardest fight in the game...in fact it's borderline impossible for most characters, due to the stats for the monkey army. Their Qualities are fairly basic: Good [+2] Screaming Horde and Poor [-2] Morale. However, there are 99 monkeys in all. They're treated as a single character but they get to make an attack against every PC in a round and a every point of damage decreases the number of Monkeys by one. Given that the Ninjas are Average [0] and only have 3 Quality Ranks, they're likely to have a combat-based modifier of only +2 or +4....meaning it would probably take 10-15 rounds of combat to whittle down 99 monkeys and by that time the monkeys will certainly have inflicted some significant damage or simply taken out the PCs. There are some advantageous rules. After 10 monkeys are taken out they panic (suffering a -2 penalty to their rolls) for one round until the Zookeeper gets them back into shape. Once the Monkey's numbers drop to 50 their Screaming Horde Quality drops to Average and they panic again...but then the Gorilla Guerrillas show up (4 apes with Expert [+4] Fists of Fighting Fury and Average [0] Fling Feces). Honestly at this point the PCs are probably screwed. And of course there's also the Zookeeper but he's not too impressive (Good [+2] Ninja, Good [+2] Evasion, Poor [-2] Hygiene). If the PCs are badass enough to deal with the monkey horde, a monkey on a motorbike zooms away and the Dispatcher instructs them to follow the ape. The monkey will lead them through a chase scene through the zoo. The monkey will finally take them to the Japanese Tea Garden in the Golden Gate park. At the tea garden the PCs will encounter Bill's right-hand woman, a white-robed ninja named Hinagami Asuka. She offers a combat to the death and if the PCs are victorious she will reveal Bill's location with her dying breath (Ninjas are god-drat serious about their training excercises). She's not likely to last very long though...she's only an Average [0] Ninja and her only combat Quality is Expert [+4] Spearwoman. After being defeated she'll reveal Bill is hiding in tunnels under Alcatraz. The Dispatcher requisitions a stealth boat to infiltrate Alcatraz. Before leaving the docks the PCs will be ambushed by the police (if they encountered them earlier in the evening) or by pizza pirate crew. Either fight is pretty deadly...the PCs are probably outnumbered and the attackers are typically packing a +4 modifier on attack and defense... Alcatraz itself is apparently secretly in use again, serving as a prison where the police keep captured combatants from the Fast Food wars: samurai, ghurkas, vikings, etc. Naturally ninjas have infiltrated the security at this prison and make sure that high value ninja burger employees conveniently escape. Bill's tunnel is beneath one of the bottom-most cells, leading to a secret chamber full of fine art and souvenirs. And of course Bill.  When confronted Bill will reveal that this has all been an elaborate training exercise and congratulate the PCs for accomplishing what no other trainees have managed...unless the PCs have displayed a significant lack of honor during the mission. If Bill thinks the PCs haven't honored the franchise then he may demand they commit seppuku. Likewise if the PCs have strictly avoided combat as much as possible he may demand a fight to test their bloodlust (no small challenge as Bill is a Master [+6] Ninja). Success means the PCs are declared employees of the month. Appendix We've got a set of short TV/Movie adventure seeds (numbered to be rolled via 1d6 x 1d6). Here's some examples: quote:3: Big Trouble In Little China In search of a stolen truck in Chinatown a trucker and his friend stumble into the plot of immortal chinese sorcerers, monsters and gangsters. Guarded by the legendary 3 Storms the trucker has managed to call in an order for two burgers and two colas. Better hurry before he's dropped into the Hell of Slowly Starving. quote:9: The Hulk Exposed to gamma rays, a scientist has developed a habit of turning into a giant green monster when things don't go his way. Deliver 24 cheeseburgers, and don't be late. Don't make him hungry, you wouldn't like him when he's hungry. quote:6: Star Trek The Voyage Home A group of strangely dressed gentlemen insists that they are here from the future to save some whales. They're also quite hungry, and have placed an order for one of everything on the menu. Get to them before the authorities track them down. Next we get some japanese vocabulary for ninja terms, fast food terms, counting and some common phrases. Also instructions for making a paper shuriken. A ninja burger menu (available online here: http://ninjaburger.com/order/menu.shtml) and character sheets. Then we go back to adventure plots with 4 short adventures, again based on movie puns: Diet Hard: There's a guy stuck in a building full of terrorists with nothing to lose and he needs a meal. Get past the terrorists and get him fed. Burger She Wrote: upon delivering to a loft apartment a dead body is discovered. You must track down the killer to ensure that the order is paid for. House on Hamburger Hill To win a hefty bet a group of ghost hunters are staying in a haunted mansion. However their food has mysteriously disappeared and no other food joint will deliver to this place. The Meatrix A young hacker, who goes by the handle Prius, has placed an order with the new, completely robitically automated fast food chain "The Meatrix" He is their first customer and you're there to ensure he gets a complimentary delivery of Ninja Burgers and stop the robots from taking over the fast food market. And there we go! Like I mentioned Ninja Burger is probably the best early PDQ game as far as production values go. It's also hilarious and really creative. It's a little shaky on the mechanics in some areas and could definitely benefit from some of the later innovations (Techniques and Minion rules especially could definitely improve it). It also has kind of a love-hate relationship with it's over-the-top concept swinging from completely ridiculous to oddly mundane at the drop of a hat. Overall though, definitely glad I found it. I may decide to drop the 4 bucks to get the No Honor Edition to see what improvements were made.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2014 11:50
|
|
|
And That's really it for PDQ in general, but just in case anyone's interested there's a few PDQ products out there I didn't cover that still bear mentioning: *Legends Walk A supplement for Truth and Justice by Tim Gray (who did Questers and Jaws) focusing on creating mythically themed Super-Heroes. It's a PDQ conversion of a stand-alone system for mythic supers. Essentially super-heroes have a mythic Source for their powers (gods, heroes or monsters of legend). It's a little bit chunkier than standard T&J since it's trying to tie in ideas from the original system but it's a neat possibility for those interested in the premise. *Adventure into Darkness Another Truth and Justice Supplement by Atomic Overmind Press. Essentially lovecraftian comic book adventures is the premise. I don't own this one so I can't say too much, but its definitely out there! *Serpent's Teeth This is a supplement for Jaws of the Six Serpents. It's a collection of adventures, game options and setting material for the Six Serpents world by Tim and several fans. *Acthung! Cthulhu A version of PDQ designed for horror-based gameplay, for the Acthung! Cthulhu world. Since this one was written by me, I figure I'm not the best one to F&F it, but if anyone else wants to feel free. Not sure what I may try and do next. I'll browse through my collection and see if anything stands out ripe for talking about.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2014 14:08
|
|
|
Alien Rope Burn posted:FATE is just nu-FUDGE. If you don't have the time I could always give it a shot. I've got the book and it's one of my favorite settings which I have never, ever played using the intended system.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 26, 2014 06:24
|
|
|
The Mega-juicer probably deserves mention not because it's anything like the most power-bloated, but because no other class really displays just how much RIFTS says "gently caress it" to any idea to game balance. The normal juicer gets all his drug-fueled minor super-powers which mostly end up not mattering since he's just as reliant on vehicles/MDC weapons and armor as any other character for the most part. These minor super-powers are "balanced" by a dramatically decreased life span (5 years and change). Something that doesn't actually matter one bit in 99% of games. Of course, they completely ignore possible interesting complications of the class like where the hell the juicer can get refills for the chemical cocktail they depend on, and how long they last (unless we're expected to believe 5 years worth of designer drugs are stored in the juicer's relatively tiny rig). The mega-juicer on the other hand combines juicer conversion, M.O.M. systems and latent psychic powers to turn themselves into mega-damage beings. Of course, compared to most MDC creatures they're utter wimps but that still makes them several hundred times tougher and stronger than a regular juicer. In exchange, once their 5 years are up they catch fire and explode. There are plenty of "souped up" versions of character classes that leave the original class in the dust and there are way more obscenely powerful classes, but the Mega-Juicer fills the exact same niche as the Juicer does with no meaningful difference in disadvantages but the Mega Juicer (and dragon juicer, etc) is clearly superior.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 24, 2014 08:21
|
|
|
 Apocamon!
|
|
#
¿
Nov 8, 2014 10:13
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:Bait and Switch can, however, work in one specific circumstance: When you're playing with people you know well and you know the thing you're doing is something they really like. But it's something that requires a long term relationship with a play group, and a lot of foreshadowing. And as was said above, always leave your options open to bail on the concept if they're really enjoying the original assumptions or don't bite on the foreshadowing. My thoughts as well. Basically, there's nothing wrong with subverting expectations...so long as you know your group well enough to know that they're going to be fine with the direction you're taking things and your decisions don't invalidate any of the character decisions (for instance having a D&D games where the gods die and divine magic is gone...when there's a cleric in the party). These sort of twists or surprises can be extremely effective and that effect is largely lost if you spell it out ahead of time. But it's even worse if it ends up pissing off everyone at the table. For instance, in a Star Wars game I was running I decided I was a bit bored with the whole "rebels vs. imperials" thing and decided to mix things up by throwing some cthulhu mythos into the mix. Basically started making the primary antagonists a group of cultists who worship beings that live in Hyperspace. And it worked fine because I knew my group would find the concept interesting and weren't particularly interested in Star Wars "canon".
|
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2014 06:19
|
|
|
TurninTrix posted:My PBP experience tell me that every Fate game is full of those guys and gals. PDQ has a similar affliction. Considering every PDQ book tends to average between 1 to 2 words for a Quality, most players I've interacted with tend to make them whole sentences, if not multiple sentences.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2014 14:35
|
|
|
It is great...although I have absolutely no idea why it would be involved in an aquatic-themed book.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 14, 2014 15:16
|
|
|
RocknRollaAyatollah posted:Can someone give a breakdown of Zir'an? It sounded interesting but there's not much out there on it. Zir'An is a game that would be decent ported to a different system. It's also a great example of why you don't go too elaborate with your book layout. One sentence summary: Zir'An is a lot like Eberron but with actual WWI levels of technology: automatic weapons, biplanes, etc. More detailed summary: setting Basically the world is caught in a perpetual war against continents of generically evil monsters. The tech level is roughly WWI with automatic weapons, trains, airships and planes. The aircraft in particular are actually magi-tech (using magically strengthened paper or balsa wood in place of metal to create exceptionally light and durable frames). This basically allows the aircraft design to get exceptionally impractical looking. It suffers heavily from the "our races are the same as other races but they're more special and have different names" syndrome. Humans are called Ianer, Dwarves are Dolnarri, Elves are Zhalanti, and so on. There are also chocobos. System Confusing. I've tried reading the game a few times and honestly I still haven't had the willpower to actually learn the system. It's impressively dull and unintuitive It seems like it wants to allow for "epic" level play but honestly there's no indication that it's really possible. Magic Conceptually, the magic is kind of neat, there's two types: Rune Magic and Shadow Magic. Rune Magic is relatively traditional magic but it involves using magic stylus' to create elaborate rune mandalas or ofuda-style paper strips. Shadow Magic is heavily themed abilities that sometimes resemble super-powers a bit more than spells. But since the system is so dense I haven't really grasped the depths of the magic system. Layout/Art More than anything else, this is what killed the book. The book has lots of "behind the text" artwork and symbols (especially runemagic symbols) that were in a light gray...except the ink was a reflective silver-gray. This means that entire chapters are practically unreadable. the whole thing was probably extremely expensive to print and certainly is what killed any chance of the game being a success. Basically, it's got some cool imagery and a few neat concepts in the middle of a lot of uncreative drek with weird names. Play WWI era-Savage Worlds with magic and fantasy races and you've got a much better version of Zir'An.
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2015 23:09
|
|
|
It's been a while since I did a F&F and so I figured I'd pick up a game that someone else started but got abandoned a while back... because it's a really weird game (in a good way for the most part) and people who haven't heard about it definitely should. Unknown Armies is a game of weirdness, conspiracies, occultism and horror. The tagline is "a game of power and consequences." Unfortunately it doesn't take a lot of power for there to be some pretty nasty consequences. It resembles Call of Cthulhu in that its a d% based horror game with a sanity system and secret cults and mysticism. However, in terms of theme it's more the flip side of the same coin: while Cthulhu is a game about being a fleeting speck of dust in the uncaring cosmic void, UA is anthropocentric horror. That is, everything revolves around mankind and all the horror's you face either are, were or were created by a human being. Mankind is the ultimate enemy and the ultimate cosmic force. For better or worse. Legacy, The obligatory intro fiction I'm not sure what it is but just about every modern occult/magic setting seems to be required to include an intro fiction from the perspective of a "mundane" plunged into the supernatural world. I get the idea behind it but it's sure predictable at this point. Anyway, UA's intro fiction is "Legacy" and it at least does a very good job of introducing the feel and concepts behind a UA game. In fact, personally I use a modified version of Legacy's concept as the intro adventure for pretty much every single supernatural conspiracy game I've ever run. So that should tell you something. Legacy is told from the point of view of Renata Mers Dakota, a girl with a strange name, a lovely childhood and suddenly missing parents. She just came home from school one day and they were gone: cleared out their things, closed their bank accounts, rented a truck and just loving left. Not willing to let a lovely childhood get even shittier Renata decides to try and track them down and takes a train to Atlanta (after convincing the rental truck company to tell her where it was going). On the train she's sitting across from Eugene Larue, a hobo with crazy eyes who keeps trying to strike up small talk with her. After arriving she manages to blackmail (via breaking and entering and self-made nude pictures) an unemployment agency employee into giving up her parent's current whereabouts (don't worry, he was an rear end in a top hat) but when she arrives at the address she sees none other than Eugene Larue snoozing in a truck outside. Being understandably high strung she apparently decides he must have been stalking her and/or involved with her parents so she pulls a knife on him and tries to get him to spill the beans. Unfortunately he has a gun and gun beats knife in this particular rock-paper-scissors. Fortunately, crazy hobo-ness aside, he's not interested in blowing her brains out and instead takes her knife and the two go have some breakfast to talk things out and he lays some metaphysical truth on her. It seems that Eugene is indeed after her dad, although he knows him by a different name. It seems that before she was born her mom and dad were both part of a cult led by a man named Dermott Arkane which managed to piss off other cults leading to a short-lived "gang war" which her family's cult lost, causing them to scatter. However, one of Dermott's biggest enemies wound up decapitated a couple of weeks ago and it seems like he might be gathering his allies together again. Oh, and magic totally exists. Renata obviously calls bullshit on this but does admit that her parents were strong believers in superstition and regularly engaged in small, odd rituals...and it turns out that they (and her) all happened to have fake social security numbers and no official paperwork matching their identity. She doesn't even have a birth certificate. So, Eugene decides not to beat around the bush and shows her a bit of the real stuff, pricking her finger and blowing the blood droplets into the air, asking "who is the father of this girl". The blood drops spell out "Dermott Arkane". This surprises Eugene who then realizes that Renata Mers Dakota is an anagram of Dermott Asa Arkane. Renata was intentionally conceived to act as a magical "decoy" to help Dermott hide from his enemies: by sharing his blood and his (jumbled) name she has become a sort of magical surrogate for Dermott and allowing him to throw his enemies (including Eugene) off the track. Well, this manages to kindle a bit of righteous fury in Eugene who takes Renata with him as he storms the cult hangout where her parents are and confronting the rest of the cultists (who seem to mostly be ignorant of Dermott's shenanigans). Renata's parent's show up, tears, awkward denials, lies, gunfire. more tears. Running out into the night. Life never the same. Etc. Book One, Secret Name of the Streets  Do NOT gently caress with the bat gypsy. Uknown Armies is divided up into three "Levels" of play: Street, Global and Cosmic. This is the Street Level section which also contains the bulk of the game's rules. The first concept the game introduces us to is the Occult Underground which is more or less the name for a collection of weirdos, conspiracy theorists, rumormongers, wanna-be mystics and lunatics who all live on the fringes of society for one reason or another. At the Street Level you're a newcomer to the Occult Underground. You aren't "in the know" but you're nosy and suspicious enough to get yourself in over your head and start loving around with the wrong sort of people. A few example character concepts are provided: *A cave diver who explored a flooded cave and found what appeared to be a chamber carved in the form of a christian chapel except upside down from the ceiling with an Egyptian statue behind the altar. He had to leave before he ran out of air and could not find it when he came back. *A woman who was staying with "Mama Flo" a local widow who took in abused wives and children. When some kids' abusive dad showed up to claim them, with a gun, Mama Flo stands up to him with a frying pan. He blows her brains out and she proceeds to beat him to death with that pan without flinching before falling over dead herself. *A college student who went to Milwaukee took something that was "mostly" LSD and hooked up with a guy named Drew who (at the time) looked like a guy...but also like a god and a demon and a bit like a seahorse. They spend the night together and in the morning they wake up and drew has turned into a 50 year old woman who screams at her, grabs her clothes and runs out of the room. Street Level play is all about being on the fringes of power without bieng one of the "players" yourself. It's a bit like being an investigator in Call of Cthulhu: you're in over your head, out of your element and in dangerous territory. You're probably a little unhinged (or you will be soon) and are, for whatever reason, chasing rumors and weirdness. There's a section called "What You Hear" which is a collection of weird rumors, urban legends and lies that are spread around by the Occult Underground. Rather than include them all here I'll sprinkle a few of the better ones here and there throughout the write-up. quote:There is a man who lives behind a trap door in the sporting goods section of a Wal-Mart in South Dakota. If you ask him for a lemon he will accurately predict your future for you. Creating Your Group Appropriately this section comes before creating your character, because unlike a lot of secret occult/horror/monster games there's no overarching justification for PCs to be working together. In most games you're a part of some group that shares certain goals in common (such as the WOD), are professional monster hunters (Rippers, Hunter, etc) or are trying to keep cultists from summoning gods that will eat the universe (CoC and the like). In UA the stakes are not nearly so clear-cut. Sure, there are people out there trying to hurt or murder other people...but that's true in the real world too and that's why we have the police. There are also people looking to shape the world to fit their personal ideals and to control mankind's future...but we've got that in the real world too and it's called politics. So just why are you delving into the lunatic circus that is the Occult Underground? The game encourages you to think about not only why your group sticks together, what specifically are you trying to accomplish together and what assets and liabilities you have as a group. quote:Planes do not actually fly. It is a very elaborate hoax created because the general public does not understand or trust quantum physics. Ultimately the group dynamic is between you and your GM, but as always the book throws you a few examples: *A circle of friends who all knew Charlie Verrick. Charlie was the guy who really loving seized the day, exploring jungles, hanging out with the Hell's Angels and dying saving people from the World Trade Center on 9/11. At his funeral you all pledged to live more like Charlie...and now he's in your dreams telling you secrets and guiding you to newer...weirder...places. *You are all "kept" young men for rich and lonesome women. However you've begun to realize that the rich and powerful are different...really different. Now you're all caught up in their power games and creepy eyes-wide-shut mystic bullshit. *You're all grad students in Professor Morbious' Psychology Open Study course. You've got one assignment and it's 100% of your grade: investigate and report on alternative spirituality communities and sub-cultures. *You've got a fatal, incurable disease: cancer, HIV, etc. None of you are going to live longer than 5 years and you've become your own "support group". Rather than waiting for the inevitable, painful end you've decided to do something with your life...something that'll let you go out on your own terms. As you can see there's no "standard" UA gameplay. Which is probably one of the main criticisms of the system. It's very much a "sandbox" experience. There's no "classic formula" or built in guides or enemies. There's just you and a whole world of weirdness right below the surface. This is especially true at the Street Level when you've got no weird powers of your own to speak of and it can sometimes be tough to come up with a good reason why your PC wouldn't just stay home, get a job and keep his head out of the furnace. quote:Every single president of the United States has had a glass eye. The same glass eye. Next we'll get into character creation. oriongates fucked around with this message at 13:03 on May 28, 2015 |
|
#
¿
May 28, 2015 12:44
|
|
|
Unknown Armies, part 2: Character Creation So, you and your group have worked out why you're together and generally what you're trying to accomplish...so next you've got to make your individual character. At the Street Level there's no real magic or powers to speak of (that's saved for at least Global games) so your character is more or less going to be an ordinary person. They might have exceptional training, minor unusual talents or be just plain crazy but you won't be able to go up to James Randi, blow his tiny little mind and collect 1 million dollars. The first step is to pick your Trigger Event, what happened that convinced you the world was not as it seems and ultimately drove you to poke and prod the dark corners of reality. The Trigger Even has no mechanical effect, it's merely part of your character's individual origin story and might be used by the GM as a tie-in to larger plots. What does have a mechanical effect is your Obsession, which may or may not be related. Your Obsession is whatever really defines your existence and which you focus on to an unhealthy degree (even the most stable UA characters are a little unhinged). Obsessions could be things like being a kleptomaniac, understanding what makes people tick, accumulating knowledge, music, physical improvement, sex, religious dedication, etc. This is tied to an Obsession Skill which will be defined a bit later on. quote:The penis of John Dillinger in the Smithsonian’s secret vault is a fake. The genuine article has dark magickal properties and has been grafted onto a chimpanzee which can be controlled via ULF radio waves by the fiendish Brazos brothers, two gifted technological adepts, in the service of darker powers. Closely related to your obsession is your Passions. Your Obsession is the thing that fills your days and that you think about all the time. Your Passions are things that you don't necessarily fixate on but serve as "buttons" right to your gut. When your Passions are triggered logical thought and reason goes right out of the window. When you're in a situation where one of your Passions is involved you can choose to trigger it and get a bonus for a single roll (either reversing the numbers on the d100 or re-rolling). You can only do this once per session per Passion. There are three: *Fear This is something that just makes you scared. It could be a phobia, a scar from some past trauma or even just a concept that makes you particularly jittery for no good reason. Either way when you're exposed to your Fear passion you get a bonus to all attempts to get away from it: breaking down doors, running fast, climbing over stuff, etc. However, you also have to make a madness Stress Check (described later) *Rage Like fear, this is something that just sets you off. But it's your "fight" button instead of flight. You might have a special, seething hatred of those who hurt women or children, people looking down on you, politicians and even seemingly mundane things like being impolite or a bad driver (see Lost Highway for a great example of the latter). When your Rage is triggered you can call upon a bonus to lash out violently. It has to be violent retribution (even if it's not directly aimed at the source of the passion). No careful plans or schemes, just flipping out. *Noble This is the thing that speaks to your conscience. No matter how hosed up you are you've got something other than sleaze and poo poo in your veins and that's what this is. It might be respect for the elderly...it might even be respect just for your gram-gram. It could be helping people in the third world or preserving history for future generations. You can trigger it to do something immediate and selfless to help pursue your Noble Passion. quote:The interstate highway system was actually laid out as a giant magickal glyph to enable the summoning of a demonic legion in case of a Soviet attack. After your Passions and Obsessions you need to come up with a short description for the rest of your Personality. You're encouraged to draw upon simple personality summaries such as role models (like "renegade cop"), zodiac signs, pop culture icons, etc. This is just a shorthand for the GM and other players when interacting with your character. Next we get into the nuts and bolts: your Stats and Skills. There are 4 Stats which are rated on a percentile scale: *Body Health, strength and vigor. This determines how much damage you can take as well. *Speed Agility, coordination and literal speed. *Mind Your raw intellect and willpower. It's closely tied with the sanity mechanic. *Soul Your emotions, social skills and charisma. If you've got magical abilities they're linked to your Soul stat. You have a certain number of points which can be poured into your Stats, which varies depending on the game level. Street level characters get 220 points, Global get 240 and Cosmic get 260. These points can be spent, 1-for-1 on stat points. So a Street character who wanted to be solidly average could drop 55 points into each Stat. 30-70 is the typical range for adult humans. After that you must assign your Skills. Each Stat gives you a number of points equal to your Stat rating to assign to Skills related to the Stat. Each skill has a maximum rating depending on the game level (55% for Street Level) and can never be raised higher than the related Stat. Each character also gets a small section of bonus points (again based on game level) to distribute among skills of any stat (for Street that's 15 bonus points). There's a small selection of "free" skills that everyone gets at 15% (or their Stat, whichever is lower...but you really don't want a Stat that low). These represent the absolute basics of human ability: *Body General Athletics (climbing stuff, lifting things, etc); Struggle (fighting hand to hand) *Speed Dodge, Drive, Initiative (used to determine initiative order). *Mind General Education (stuff anyone might know), Notice, Conceal (hiding stuff or people where they won't be found) *Soul Charm, Lying. These skills can be renamed at the player's option, for instance you might call your Struggle skill Boxing or Muy Thai, or refer to your Charm skill as Silver Tongue that sort of thing. However, most skills are player determined. Pick a name or concept for a skill and assign a value for it. Want to have a Body Skill like "Too Sexy For My Shirt" or a Speed Skill like "Can't Follow My Hands" that's totally fine. Each skill has a Penumbra which determines the "umbrella" your skill applies to. Generally speaking, having a skill not only covers practical uses of the skill but related knowledge. For instance a skill like "Dolling Myself Up" would not only cover the skill of applying cosmetics and makeup but could also be used to recognize a shade of makeup, a certain perfume scents and knowledge of different brands and fashions related to cosmetics. Those of you who read my PDQ Fatal And Friends review might think these concepts sound familiar and it should come as no surprise because Chad Underkoffler (the creator of PDQ) is one of the writers behind Unknown Armies. One of your Skills must be an Obsession Skill which is tied to your character's obsession. So a character obsessed with "Being The Toughest Mother Fucker" might make their Struggle skill their Obsession. You get a bonus whenever you use your obsession skill. There are several example skills, including a few that play around with the rules slightly like Do Two Things At Once which lets you take a second action whenever you succeed at a Speed Skill with a roll lower than your Do Two Things At Once Skill...but the second roll fails if it's higher than your Do Two Things At Once Skill. Or Double-think a Mind skill which lets you briefly convince yourself that something you know to be a lie is actually true, meaning you don't actually need to make a Lying roll to convince someone of it at the cost of a mental Stress check. There are also Paradigm skills which are a special type of Mind skill which refer to deeply held personal truths or philosophies which protect you from some forms of mental Stress while making you more vulnerable to others. For instance, the Military Paradigm skill helps to protect against Violence based Stress and makes you more vulnerable to Isolation based Stress. Other paradigms are things like religious beliefs, superstitions and scientific thought (which both protects against and makes you more vulnerable to Unnatural stress). There are a small selection of extremely minor supernatural skills in the examples such as Aura Sight or the Hunch skill (both linked to Soul). quote:Germ Theory is a lie. Sickness is caused by invisible rays nobody can explain but are expected to be of alien origin. Now, you've got skills, how are they used? Well, there are three types of skill checks: Minor, Significant and Major. *Minor skill checks involve minimal risk, no time crunch and no significant consequences for failure. You automatically succeed if your skill is 15% or higher (a skill below 15% means the roll is at least Significant). *Significant skill checks involve pressure but not life-or-death pressure. Generally cases where nothing is immediately trying to kill you...but you also probably aren't getting a second shot at what you're doing. This would be things like tailing someone, most forms of social interaction, hacking a computer, etc. You succeed if you roll lower than your Skill, but even if you roll higher you get a "weak success" so long as the roll was lower than your linked Stat. *Major skill checks involve life or death situations. This includes all checks made in combat. You only succeed if you roll below your skill rating. It gets a little fancier than that however, because there are circumstances which allow you to fiddle with the roll result. The first is flip-flopping, which allows you to swap the numerals in your d% roll. So, for instance if you flip-flop a roll of 81 you can turn it into an 18 (turning it from an almost certain failure to an almost certain success). You can flip flop any roll on your Obsession Skill or by triggering one of your Passions (magical effects might also allow, or force, flip-flopping). The second mechanic is simply re-rolling (which you can do through magic or triggering a Passion). In most cases you simply reroll the dice and must take the newest result (better or worse) but some situations might let you re-roll only one of the two dice. If you manage to get a matched roll then the result is exceptional, either exceptional success or failure. For one thing you automatically add 1% to your skill rating (success or failure) the first time this happens in a session. In combat (or magic) there's a variety of special effects which may occur on a matched roll. quote:Aliens from Proxima Centauri have been living among us now for years, but in the last few months they’ve all started leaving. Next we'll get into combat.
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2015 09:42
|
|
|
Count Chocula posted:I love that this thread is writing up Unknown Armies again. I was thinking of doing it, but I loved that game so much it broke my brain for awhile. I played in a few UA campaigns, and I started seeing UA in everything. I wanted to write up my favorite songs as Unknown Armies adventures. It had so many concepts that mapped onto reality. Yeah, my experience the main reactions to Unknown armies are "this is all really neat and weird but I have no clue how to run/play it." or it snaps perfectly and you are through the looking glass and everything becomes inspiration for bizarre events and plots.
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2015 13:46
|
|
|
hyphz posted:In my case it was a hybrid of both: I got lots of bizarre ideas and plots but no clue how to get PCs involved in them. I think some of the published adventures reflect that as well. The aformentioned Fly To Heaven, and also To Go, both have to make Ascension way too easy in order to justify basing the plot on it. Some others, like Bill In Three Persons end up fudging the PCs into critical situations in terrible ways (that adventure literally has them teleported into the middle of things at random), or even just being like the starting adventure of Weep in which the PCs can't actually do anything for the entire adventure. Yeah, that's sort of where I am too. It gets harder at higher power levels too since everyone wants to play the neat adepts and avatars but the fact of the matter is that a lot of them do not play well together. Like I mentioned I actually really like the concept behind Legacy so when I start a game like Unknown Armies with a new group (or really any urban fantasy game like Dresden Files) I use a variation on it, basically some magical kook has pissed off a lot of people and knows that he's about to be taken down...so he arranges to get the PCs (and maybe a few innocent bystanders) tagged with his mojo to throw off curses and tracking spells. It's a good way to throw "mundane" characters feet first into the setting and force them to bond together as they dodge cult assassins and hit squads while trying to figure out what the gently caress is going on.
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2015 15:40
|
|
|
Unknown Armies, part 3: Combat, bloody combat So, here we have the combat rules. As mentioned in the last, incomplete F&F review for this game it has one hell of an introduction. Like the last reviewer I'll let it speak for itself:  ... ... ...  Now, that is a great intro to the section. Not only because it's generally a little bit gut-wrenching and disturbing like any good horror game, but because it helps to emphasize two big ideas behind Unknown Armies[: First, when you engage in combat you aren't typically going to be battling eldritch monsters or dynamiting elder gods...you'll be killing human beings. They might be human beings with problems or dangerous human beings...but they're still just as human as you are. If you kill someone you have ended a human life. Obviously that carries its own horrible psychological weight but that means there will be people who miss that person, people who might come after you and, of course, the police. In UA, lethal combat should never be undertaken casually and should always have consequences. Second, you are not good and your foes are not evil. UA rejects objective morality (and indeed, objective reality). Almost all conflict in UA (especially at the higher levels) are conflicts of ideology. People might be willing to kill for their beliefs but that doesn't make them monsters or you a roaming paladin. In a good UA game things are not black and white and often you have to decide just how terrible a person are you willing to become in the pursuit of your beliefs? There are a few exceptions to both of those, there's the occasional magickal abominations or humans so crazed that they're basically mad dogs...but they're the terrifying exceptions not the rule. Remember UA's tagline: "a game of power and consequences" and here is where it starts. With a knife, gun or even just a brick you've got the power to end a human life and there are consequences that come with that. quote:Bigfoot has a social security number So, how does combat work? Well, Unknown Armies has a bit of a reputation as an extremely lethal game...but that isn't really true. It is possible to die from a single hit from a shiv but overall it isn't very likely. Combat isn't as lethal as something like standard Call of Cthulhu, for instance. It may not be insanely lethal but it is brutal. If you go after someone with a baseball bat you'll find yourself spending many bloody painful minutes smashing their head in, not just knocking their blocks off. Combat Overview -Initiative- When combat starts everyone rolls their Speed stat or uses their unmodified Initiative skill as their spot. Highest successful rolls (or your iniative skill) go first then the highest failed rolls. Ties are broken by a roll-off. Initiative stays the same throughout the combat but you can sacrifice an action to re-roll if you want to try higher. -Attacking- When you attack you can roll an appropriate skill (usually Struggle or Firearms, by any other name). The goal is to roll as high as possible (usually, it can be complicated) but remain under your skill rating. There are a lot of options that might "Shift" your skill rating (adding or subtracting from your skill itself, not the roll). For instance something like being blinded is -30% to your skill but attacking an opponent who's shackled hand and foot is +30%. Some of the shifts are surprisingly small (shooting at someone while jumping through a plate glass window is -10%) and many are extremely specific (shooting an opponent carrying a big, off balance frame backpack gives you +10%) but overall it's just meant as a guide for the GM to hand out situational bonuses or penalties. You can also apply Focus Shifts which is the equivalent of an "all out" or "wild" attack, adding a bonus (+10, +20 or +30%) to your attack roll but granting the same bonus to everyone else attacking you. This is applied at the start of combat which means that everyone who acts before you has a chance to murder you before you can take advantage of the bonus. However, Focus Shifts definitely make ranged combat very deadly. If you know your opponent can't reach you this round a +30% bonus is a big difference. quote:If you bury empty coffee canisters end to end around your house, lids on, then you will never see the Northern Lights from your yard, and the IRS will never audit you. -Dodging- Normally, attacks are unopposed: if you manage to roll under your skill then you've hit your target. However, you can sacrifice your action to Dodge. You can then roll your Dodge skill in response to attacks, if your roll succeeds and is at least as high as your opponent's attack roll you can avoid the attack entirely. If you roll succeeds but is higher than the opponent's attack roll you take half damage. Those with incredible (85%) Dodge skills can Dodge and take an action in the same turn. -Damage- Now, damage gets a little tricky. There are two types of damage: firearm damage and hand-to-hand damage. If you successfully hit someone with a gun then you inflict damage equal to the amount you rolled, up to a maximum set by the power of the gun. This ranges from as low as 35 points for a .22 pistol to as high as 170 for something like a sniper rifle. So, a guy armed with a glock (max damage of 50) and a Firearms skill of 30% can't normally inflict more than 30 damage. If he trains and trains and gets up to a 60% skill he ends up with a max of 50 damage without getting a bigger gun. On a critical hit (a roll of 1) you inflict max damage for the weapon (which is why some guns have a damage score higher than 100). A fumble (roll of 00) results in a jam or misfire. Guns are surprisingly not as dangerous as you might expect (especially if your attacker isn't an amazing shot) and most people will take several hits to die. Even the deadliest sniper with a high powered weapon has a pretty good chance of only moderately wounding most targets. Of course, UA isn't really a game about military action and combat is meant to be more up-close and visceral...the advantage of a gun is uncertainty, sure you might just wing someone but on a good enough roll you can blow a big hole through them...you feel lucky? The most dangerous is, unsurprisingly, fully-automatic weapons. A 3-round burst adds +10% to your skill and a full-auto burst adds +40% (but requires a minimum roll of 20 to hit at all). Both ignore the normal damage maximum for the weapon and just inflict the damage you roll. quote:JFK was in fact the Lindbergh baby, abducted by Joe Kennedy who performed a ritual on the baby. JFK gained a power allowing him to tap into the power generated by the fame of his biologic father to fuel his own popularity. The ritual is still performed in the Kennedy family. Hand-to-Hand combat is a little bit trickier. When you successfully hit someone in hand-to-hand you inflict damage equal to the sum of the dice you rolled. So a roll of 23 inflicts 5 damage, a roll of 96 (if it hits) inflicts 15. For this purpose a "0" counts as a 10, so a roll of 10 inflicts 11 damage (1+10). Weapons add a bonus to this based on three factors: is it sharp? is it heavy? Is it big? For each "yes" you add +3 to the damage. So a Knife (sharp) adds +3, a sword (heavy and sharp) adds +6 while a fire axe (big, sharp and heavy) adds +9. On a crit you just plain kill your target. They're dead. If you fumble (00) then you take the damage (that is 20+weapon bonus). Matched successes (55, 44, 11, etc) inflict firearm damage, plus the weapon damage so long as you're using a +6 weapon or higher. Knives in close quarters combat inflict 1 point of damage even on a miss. The text here points out just how difficult it is to avoid being at least grazed by a sharp, fast blade in close quarters and I certainly get where they're coming from...but 1 damage is such a small amount when compared with the average Wound Points of a character it seems like a bit of a needless bit of record-keeping. If your Struggle skill is your Obsession and you manage to get a matched success you can get cherries which add additional effects. These range from adding damage or dazing them to grabbing or blinding them. The exact effects are up to you, subject to gm approval. quote:The Golden Gate Bridge is laced together with yards of scar tissue. It’s the only thing holding California together. -Other Damage Then there are some rules on other forms of damage or hazards. *Point-Blanking: Basically execution of a helpless target. You roll your skill. On a success they're dead. On a failure you either inflict firearms damage (for hand to hand attacks) or the maximum damage for the weapon (for guns). It also forces a Violence based madness test. *Drowning: You pass out after [Body] seconds unless you manage to get a breath. That's about 16 rounds for the average (body 50) person. Suffocating someone is handled in a similar way, although using a garrote properly can cut it down to 3 rounds. *Car Wrecks: The rules for this are interesting but a little bit schizophrenic..the GM rolls 1d10 for every 10mph the car is going and then uses any two numbers from the results to assign damage. For instance in the example they give of a 50 mph crash the rolls are 7, 7, 3 and 2 giving possible results of 23, 27, 32, 37, 72 and 77. The GM should pick the damage based on things like position in the car, seatbelts, air bags, safety features, if the car rolls, etc. Given how abstracted shooting, stabbing or smashing people is it seems like the rules for this are a little bit out there. I'd probably personally just do something like firearm damage to those without belts and hand-to-hand damage to those with, maybe with a bonus or multiplier based on speed. Also, unless you explicitly state you're wearing a seat belt you need to make a Mind roll to have it on. Seems a little bit of a dick move there, I think the average person wears their seatbelt more than 50% of the time. *Falling is handled by rolling 1d10 per 10 feet fallen and adding the dice together. A controlled, deliberate fall subtracts the highest dice. Amusingly this means that most average people can expect to survive falls of 50 feet or more and walk away. -Non Combat Actions To perform most non-combat actions in a fight you must operate under a 1-round delay. The first round you have to declare whatever it is you're going to try and do on the next round but you can still Dodge or attack. On the second round you can perform whatever action you're attempting but cannot attack or dodge. You can't change these actions after they're declared, at least not beyond slight adjustments (for instance it mentions that if you were going to run to a car and get in you could instead crawl under the car or maybe jump over it and hide on the other side. This assumes that whatever it is you're doing will take only 1 round (3 seconds) to accomplish. Longer actions use the same rules but require more rounds to complete, although there's more freedom to adjust or cancel your actions. If your Struggle is 85% or higher you can still attack/dodge in the same round as a non-combat action...if both Struggle and Dodge are 85% or higher you can do all three at once! It's worth noting that doing things like running away or repositioning yourself counts as non-combat actions (presumably something like charging an opponent would not). quote:Most people’s morals and sense of authority comes from a psychic parasite living in their corpus callosum. You have to worry about the people who don’t have the parasite. You can spot them easily: they’re the ones with bad dress sense. ----Damage and Healing----- Everyone gets Wound Points equal to their Body Score (so the average is around 50). However, although you know your Wound Points you don't get to know how much damage you've taken. All damage is tracked by the GM and you have to figure out how bad-off you are based on the GM's description of your injuries. One of the best reasons to be careful about engaging in combat because you never quite know how hosed up your situation is. In fact, the GM tracks each injury separately (another reason why the knife fighting rule is fairly annoying), because recovery is handled on a wound-per-wound basis. Once you've lost between 25% to 30% of your Wound Points the GM tells you that you now have a -10% shift to your stats. Once you've lost 60-75% of your wound points the penalty increases to -20%. Oddly enough this only affects your Stat rolls...your skills are explicitly not affected which actually makes the penalty fairly toothless: almost all rolls in UA are skill rolls, not stats. Minor injuries (anything below 10% of your maximum wound points) can be healed with basic first aid. If you've got some bandages, first aid kit, etc you can roll an appropriate Skill (like Doctor or First Aid) and the patient recovers the sum of the roll (just like hand-to-hand damage). You have to make separate attempts for each injury and no injury can be reduced below 1 Wound Point...that last point has to be recovered with time. first aid has to be performed within an hour of the injury and if the treatment fails it can't be repeated for that injury without professional attention. Any major injuries (10% or more of your total) requires professional help. If you can get to a hospital or similar facility within 1 hour the GM rolls the doctor's medical skill and you recover Wound Points equal to the roll result (just like firearm damage). Like minor injuries each injury is a separate roll and you are always left with at least 1 wound point per injury. If you can't get treated within the hour the damage healed is the sum of the dice (just like first aid). Any remaining wound points requires rest and attention from a doctor or nurse. You recover 2 wound points per day of rest. If you've got 60% or more of your total then you're well enough to remain moderately active and still recover 1 wound point per day. Any attack that does more than 50 points in one injury will never fully recover. The exact nature of the injury is up to the GM but could include a permanent reduction in wound points, a skill penalty...maybe even missing limbs. quote:Holiday Inns are sentient beings, tied in a large collective mind, with their own agenda. The people working in Inns are just pawns. People sleeping in Inns are sometimes warped in subtle ways, sometimes untouched, sometimes just disappear. Maybe it depends on the rooms, maybe not. After this there's a brief section on car chases which I'll skip, and a very useful section on combat strategies (use weapons, sucker attacks are a good strategy, don't fight to the death) and a primer on how firearms such as legal issues, transportation, and forensics. It's all very helpful but I'll pass on going over the details here since it's not really game relevant. Next we get into Madness and the rules for sanity. oriongates fucked around with this message at 12:02 on May 30, 2015 |
|
#
¿
May 30, 2015 11:53
|
|
|
Kavak posted:EDIT: That Unknown Armies combat chapter reads like it's judging the reader every time I see it. I had that first impression when I originally got the book as well, but I came to realize that it's really just a way to impress the game's themes upon the reader. It's a lot like a movie. You don't expect a grim, brutal oscar-bait movie about the horrors of war to treat violence the same way something like say...Kill Bill for instance. The writers are basically trying to get across the idea that although this is a game about supernatural horror it's also a game about personal horror and the experience of shoving a knife into someone and watching them cry and beg as they bleed out on the ground is supposed to be just as awful for your character as seeing someone pull off their face and shoot tentacles out of their eye sockets.
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2015 12:38
|
|
|
Unknown Armies, part 4: Going Crazy Okay, like most horror RPGs Unknown Armies has a sanity system to model losing your mind from all the crazy stuff you have to deal with. However, where it stands out is the fact that it doesn't model sanity as a form of mental "hit points" or anything similar. In fact, as far as I'm aware its probably the most realistic system for sanity (at least as far as modeling mental trauma from shock and horror, it obviously doesn't delve into more complex mental issues). Personally, it's my favorite sanity system for any horror game. quote:The Knights Templar did not die out, but are actually still alive via the Masonic fraternity. So, rather than a single "pool" of sanity, your mental health is tracked by 5 Madness Meters which each measure how affected you are by different types of mental stress. Each has two gauges: Failed notches which represent failed attempts to resist the stress and you get one every time you lose control from that type of stress and Hardened notches which represent how well you've mentally adapted to the stress and how tough it is to be affected again. It's worth noting that both represent insanity. The more failed notches you rack up the less stable you become...but becoming hardened to Stress is just as likely to gently caress you up in the head, it's just slower. Someone who can casually execute a child with a meat tenderizer and not break down is not somehow saner than the person who breaks down crying when he sees a sharp object. When exposed to a source of mental Stress you have to make a Mind roll, on a success you tick down a Hardened Notch, and on a failure you record a Failed Notch (and suffer a temporary freak out). There are 10 "degrees" of stress for each gauge and the GM decides how intense the Stress is based on that 1-10 scale. As you record Hardened notches it becomes easier to deal with that sort of stress and you can ignore any Stress checks rated at your Hardened level or lower (so a person with 5 Hardened notches doesn't need to roll when exposed to any Stress lower than a 6 on that meter). You just don't roll and so you don't accrue any more hardened or failed notches until exposed to a higher intensity form of stress. Failed notches run from 1-5, at five failed notches you're permanently hosed up. Note that each meter is separate: being hardened to one form of stress does not help you deal with another. You can be completely used to witnessing magick but go weak at the knees when someone pulls a knife on you in an alley. Likewise, its possible to have both Failed and Hardened notches on the same meter, meaning that you've built up enough of a shell to ignore some of the stress but you're still pretty messed up by anything that manages to break through. quote:The Knights Templar are directly linked to the international banking conspiracy, via the bloodline of the Rothchilds. There are five separate Madness Meters and each has their own scale of what constitutes a Stress check and the effect of Failed and Hardened Notches. Violence is pretty self-explanatory. Any form of violence, regardless of the source. The lowest degree of Violence stress is simply being attacked by a dangerous weapon and increases to witnessing or being briefly tortured, killing someone in the heat of battle, performing torture, etc. The more brutal and emotionally present the violence is, the higher the rating. Failed violence notches cause you varying levels of unease around violence (even fictional violence), the sight of blood and means you can't help but react to anything that might indicate danger (flinching at loud noises, raised voices, etc). At the highest levels you basically can't help but imagine violence all around you: what would happen if strangers on the street assaulted you, a car plowed into you, etc. Hardened Violence notches make you much more callous and matter-of-fact about violence. At higher levels you have a difficult time avoiding thoughts of violence and most people can pick up on it in your attitude. Extremely hardened individuals are the kind of guys whose first thought when they enter a room is the possibility of killing everyone there. Violence Stress is actually one of the things that makes combat very dangerous (and very powerful). Characters who aren't used to violence can easily go to pieces when confronted with even relatively mild situations and someone who is hardened can often end fights just because they're willing and able to deal with a higher degree of brutality than their opponent. It also makes a great equalizer with opponents who are might be very powerful but are unused to combat: even the most powerful adept might still be cowed by pointing a gun at them if they aren't used to the presence of deadly weapons. quote:The banking conspiracy had JFK eliminated because JFK was going to pull U.S. troops out of Vietnam. That would have bankrupted several military-industrial endeavors, including Bell Helicopter, Sikorsky, and General Dynamics. Unnatural is Stress caused by exposure to something that totally shakes your view of the world. Witnessing Magick in action is obviously one of the most common forms of Unnatural stress (and a powerful weapon in the hands of magick users). It can also be caused by things like understanding the mutable nature of reality or your place in the universe. The lowest degree of unnatural stress don't even require supernatural effects...just the belief that something beyond your understanding has occurred. Being attacked with obvious magick is rated as 5 on the meter, making it quite difficult to resist (not to mention it can also cause violence stress...not everything hits just one meter). Higher degrees of stress involve realizing that facts you took as completely, immutably true are not (such as realizing the man you're married to is not actually a human being). Failed Unnatural notches gradually convince you that supernatural forces essentially suffuse every aspect of reality. At low levels this translates to a bit of caution around superstition and eventually builds into full-blown paranoia as you no longer have any reliable touchstones as to what is true or false anymore. Hardened characters are similar but tend to react with more cynicism and grim acceptance of the unstable nature of reality: they know that the universe is governed by unseen and baffling forces and have trouble hiding their contempt of anyone who believes that they know "the truth" or are in control of their own lives. quote:The banking conspiracy is linked to the Illuminati. Next is Helplessness, which is probably the form of Stress that's most common in the "real" world. You must make Helplessness checks whenever forces beyond your control (whether premeditated by someone else or simply bad luck) trap you in awful situations. Low-level Helplessness checks are actually fairly common such as suffering dramatic public humilation, getting fired from a dream job of failing at extremely important tasks. Losing your ability to help those you care about and even the ability to control your own actions are more intense. Generally, trying and failing to act is worse than simply being put in a situation where you cannot act. Helplessness checks can often be tied with Violence or Unnatural checks as well. Failed notches make it difficult for you to trust in your own ability to affect the world and make it difficult for you to deal with unexpected changes or surprises. Controlling your life becomes immensely important but also immensely difficult. Hardened notches lead to fatalism and pessimism: you assume failure is always likely so you aren't upset or disturbed when it occurs. At extreme levels you assume that nothing we do really matters and are basically just going through the motions. Since it is so closely connected with real experiences I actually find the Helpless gauge the most disturbing in many ways. I imagine for many people it's probably the most uncomfortable to be subjected to. quote:The Illuminati manifested themselves in other mediums historically, most notably with the founding of The Order of the Golden Dawn, in 1776—the same year as the American Revolution against England on the basis of a revolution against taxes (economics), and the publication of Englishman Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. Isolation is probably going to be the least common sort of Stress, but it can also be very subtle so it's probably the Stress of choice when attempting to "gaslight" someone. Isolation checks almost always take a lot of time: being locked in a sensory deprivation check, solitary confinement, separated from other people or being trapped somewhere no one speaks your language, etc. However, having extremely important people betray you or (even worse) act like they don't know you can also inflict Isolation stress. Failed Isolation notches makes it difficult to be alone...you need other people around you to a worrying degree and require constant affirmation of your own existence and place in others lives. At the highest levels you probably get panic attacks if left alone for too long. Hardened notches are, unsurprisingly, more or less the opposite. Because you're so used to be alone/betrayed you have difficulty acting appropriately around others and probably stop seeing the point in most social norms such as proper grooming or bathing. You don't care what others think of you because you're fairly sure (on some level) they don't actually care about you at all. quote:George Washington was a Mason. His monument was dedicated with full Masonic rites, and this is actually detailed in those words in brass at the foot of the Egyptian-style obelisk. Finally we have Self stress. It's kind of the flip-side of Unnatural stress. Unnatural stress is when your view of the external universe is deeply challenged and Self stress is when your view of your internal universe is challenged. It's when you do things that you not only believe are wrong but things you didn't even believe that you were capable of doing. Minor Self checks are caused by doing things like failing to live up to honest commitments or violating your personal belief's or upbringing (say a priest breaking a vow of celibacy). Failing to act on your Noble Passion is the cause for a pretty hefty Self check and utterly betraying it is even higher. More extreme self checks include betraying those that you care deeply about or even killing them. Effectively Self stress involves destroying your own life. Failed self notches wreck your sense of identity: you stop feeling like your beliefs have any meaning and began to feel disassociated with your own actions, as though you were just watching someone else. Hardened Self notches are probably the worse ones: you lose any connection to your thoughts and feelings, have difficulty telling whether or not you even believe the things you say or do and ultimately cease to care about anything and life is little more than mechanical rote actions and you have no real opinions to speak of anymore. -Maxing a Gauge - The results of hitting the maximum number of Hardened or Failed notches are fairly unpleasant. If you hit 10 hardened notches on any of your gauges (or if you reach a total of 35 hardened marks on all gauges) you've turned into a sociopath and lack the essential emotional abilities to connect with other people. You can no longer use your Passions. If you happen to be an Avatar your lack of connection with humanity means you can't use your Avatar skill anymore. Whenever you fail a Stress check you suffer from either panic, paralysis or frenzy. The effects are fairly obvious: running away, locking up or going berserk on the source of your stress. You lose all control and can't act with any rationality or thought. The upside is that at least while you're freaking out you can't be affected by other forms of Stress and don't need to make any Stress rolls until you snap out of it. You can choose which way you freak out but you can't change your mind afterwards and have to keep running, fighting or freezing until the source of your stress goes away or you can no longer act. If you get 5 full failed notches on any meter then you can no longer cope with that form of stress at all. Anytime it comes up causes you to freak out unless you've got enough Hardened notches to block it out. You also pick up some kind of permanent scar or mental trauma such as a phobia, flashbacks, addictions, etc. The details should be hammered out between you and the GM. -Healing from Madness- If you get help you can recover from the effects of stress. You can't help yourself, you need to seek counseling from someone that you can trust and who represents a reliable authority: it might be a psychiatrist or it might be a priest. What matters is that they are willing to help you and that you believe that they can. So long as you seek help before hitting 5 failed notches on a meter you and your counselor make rolls (you make a Mind roll, they roll whatever skill seems relevant to the GM). The effects vary: *If either of you get a Matched success you can erase a hardened or failed notch. *If you both succeed you can erase a hardened or failed notch. *If you succeed but your councilor fails you can erase a failed notch. *If you fail and your counselor succeeds then you can erase a hardened notch (note you can choose to resist and not remove a hardened notch). *If you both get matched successes you can erase up to 3 failed or 3 hardened notches (no mix-and-matching). There is also psychological first aid which is basically having a friend talk you down from your freak out. So long as you can talk to a friend or counselor within the hour they can make a roll and if they succeed they can cut off a Failed notch. Hardened notches can't be dealt with this way. Dealing with permanent insanity is harder obviously. It takes at least a month of residential treatment or six months of normal treatment for you and your therapist to make rolls and you both have to succeed. This erases that fifth failed notch and lets you go back to regular treatment. (matches don't help and you can't remove hardened notches this way). quote:Seven colors in the rainbow. Seven chakras in the Sanskrit texts. Seven varieties of Barbasol shaving cream, if you count the discontinued Wintergreen gel. Do I have to draw you a picture? By the way, if you're interested in starting a little crazy (or usually, in starting a bit hard) you can take up to 3 Failed notches divided up between any meters you like and in return take 1 hardened notch per failed notch (which do not have to be on the same meters). next we'll step things up and get to the Global power level
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2015 11:09
|
|
|
Doodmons posted:Not quite as toothless as it first seems. Skills aren't allowed to be higher than their linked stat. If you have 60 Speed and 55 Firearms, and you take enough damage to be on -20%, your Speed is now 40 and so is your Firearms. Possibly To be honest this area is actually not clear at all. This is the relevant passage under the skill section of character creation: quote:If you have a good reason for a higher starting skill than allowed, you can ask the GM for approval. But starting with a single skill too high cripples your other skills within that stat. So yes, by a strict reading of that last line a character can never have his effective skill rating higher than his Stat rating (although even then it's not a big penalty for most...and oddly enough it means that characters with more skill are penalized a lot more than amateurs). However, there is a lot of stuff that modifies skills: Focus Shifts, Automatic Fire, Avatar abilities, adept powers, rituals, tilts, artifacts, etc. And all those lose a whole lot of usefulness if they've got a hard limit of your Stat (and likewise, it heavily penalizes characters with more skill: Two speed 50 characters one with a firearms skill of 10% and one with a skill of 50% would be equally dangerous when firing an SMG full auto) and given how big an effect that would have on the game I feel like it should be mentioned a bit more explicitly in relation to temporary modifiers. So my interpretation of the passage is that you cannot purchase (or raise with XP) skills higher than the linked Stat. It makes a lot more sense to me that way and given how vague UA can sometimes be with the wording on its rules that's how I choose to see it. That said, I'm aware this is just an interpretation and the other way of seeing it is equally valid. Personally, I just apply Wound Penalties to both skills and stats because that makes more sense to me anyway.
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2015 13:34
|
|
|
hyphz posted:See, I also really like the Madness Meter system but the choice you get when you fail is kind of the elephant in the room. I know it's supposed to model the fight-or-flight response, but it can have a couple of problems in that it doesn't work well with some of the more subtle things that might trigger Challenges (how the heck do you interpret any of those three actions if it was a Self check you failed?), and it can make your character degenerate really fast. In the worst cases, it can introduce a save-or-suck mechanic to what should be the character's most dramatic moments. It's usually when this goes off that you realize that UA is still designed as a horror game, even though a lot of the writing is modern supernatural style. For less dramatic Stress checks (like Self or Isolation) paralysis is probably the best choice since its the least dramatic and fits the situation the best (simply shutting down and hiding from the world). Of course something like a fight reaction on a Self roll could represent a suicide attempt.
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2015 23:51
|
|
|
Unknown Armies, part 5: Global Gaming After the sanity system there's a brief "running the game" section that provides suggestions on running a Street Level game. Mostly it's about setting goals for this level of play, which tend to be fairly mundane with a tinge of the occult. At street level you're getting together to get revenge, help someone, get cash, etc. It may involve something unexplained or weird but ultimately your goals here are comprehensible without needing to know the "truth" But after that we move on to Book Two, "The World of Our Desires". This is the chapter where we get out of the basic rules and vague setting outlines and into the really juicy bits: adepts, avatars and magick. But first a basic overview of the Occult Underground. Like the first "book" this section opens with a selection of example character backrounds. These characters have been around the block long enough to know that weird poo poo is out there and they've got some grasp on how it can be dealt with, at least in the immediate sense. quote:There’s a woman in Louisiana who deals in eyes. She can change your sight. You want to see the world like a child again? Or, maybe you’d like to not have seen something? *Amanda Wilkes: an ex-cop who got assigned to a case that turned out to be...strange. As a result she ended up getting involved in more and more weird cases. Eventually she got fed up and went into business as a private detective but the weirdness keeps coming to her door. Today its a woman with a missing child, except according to the police and records department she never had a baby to begin with and no one remembers her being pregnant to begin with. She barely remembers her own kid herself, but she's got the cesarian scar and stretch marks. *Stan Abronski The police are searching for a serial killer who disfigures his victims but can't find any connection between them. Stan knows though. All the victims have phone numbers whose sum is an ascending total and their addresses are all sequential prime numbers. The killer is murdering with math, loving up the formulas that tell their skin how to hold together and their blood to stay liquid. Stan knows that there's just two more murders until his number is up...27 Fordham drive. Before he can figure out the next two victims in the chain he's got to figure out the killer's "z-axis" that ties them together so he can start building his own pattern. Fortunately the victims all have no middle names with 5 numbers and so does the killer. One more link and he can weave a numerological trap of his own. Basically, playing on the global level means you've got power within the occult underground. You're not one of the major players and you don't see the big picture but you know enough that you can dabble in secrets and face off with the things that work behind the scenes. You've got at least a few secrets under your belt. For example, you don't know the "truth" about the afterlife but you know its out there. And you know its full of demons. They aren't pitch-fork wielding, bat-winged goat-men, in fact they don't even have a body (unless they can steal yours). The reason they're called that is that for whatever reason everything anyone has managed to call up from the great beyond is an evil bastard. Not in a bond-villian, "destroy the world" way but they're universally manipulative liars who'll take any chance to steal your body (or anyone else's) and once they get it wreak wild havoc like a frat boy on PCP. The only other detail known about the after-life is that there's something the demons are afraid of: the cruel ones. And we only have the demon's word on that. At this point you've pretty much found out that Magick is real too. It's also really loving weird. Word is back in the day magick was stronger and more primal and anyone could perform a bit here and there and the true masters of magic could do just about anything. Then things started solidifying: languages, concepts, borders. It locked things together and magic became tamer and less powerful. Maybe more reliable but definitely only a shadow of its former self. Science and technology didn't technically suffocate magick...but it definitely helped cause things to "gel" further and for the most part it rendered it irrelevant. Who wants to sacrifice a goat drowned in the blood of a virgin sow in order to cure a wart when you can go to the dermatologist to get it frozen off? However, recently a new magickal Renaissance has begun based on contradiction and bizarre personal symbology: post-modern magick. There are three main types of Magick now: quote:The secret rulers of the world—Count Dracula, Merlin, and the Wandering Jew—meet every year that ends in a zero in a private club in the West End of London named the Mandragora Arms to discuss “business” for the coming decade. Adepts are the "true" mages. They've taken to the new, bizarre forms of in ways no one else can because its a part of who they are. Basically they practice an extremely advanced and focused form of "chaos magick". That is, they take something that has no inherent power and through obsession, ritual and intense self-delusion they've turned it into something mighty. Each adept "school" really makes sense only to other adepts of that school because it relies on truly and deeply believing that the universe works like this, that it's all about sex, or drugs, or money, or pain. Each and every adept is a certified lunatic but they're crazy enough that what they believe is true for them...and they can make it true for others too. They push against the flow of reality so hard that the friction generates power. Of course this level of obsessive devotion means that the real world doesn't really make sense to adepts. An adept whose power comes from drugs and booze finds the actual idea of sobriety somewhat disturbing, let alone a society where you can't drink in public. Everything is filtered through their obsession and they typically can't operate outside of it. Avatars are adept's "good" older brother. The one who probably has a job, has some friends and doesn't scream about aliens in his teeth. Sure, they're not as fun as parties but they've definitely got things a bit more together. Instead of obsessing to the point of breaking reality avatars "go with the flow" and let it push them forward faster than everyone else. An Avatar is someone who (knowingly or not) has figured out how to tap into the collective unconsciousness and embody one of the "roles" that have become iconic to human thinking. By working to behave like their chosen archetype (and eschewing behaviors that conflict with it) they gradually start to become a part of that archetype and develop powers that echo it. Avatar powers tend to be a lot less dramatic than adept's but are often more reliable and less costly. Unlike Adepts, Avatars do not have to "drink the kool-aid". Many do, but quite a few just play their roles to get the power that it earns them. An avatar of the Messenger might not care about the truth...they just tell it because it helps to synchronize themselves with their chosen archetype. Since Avatars do not have to be pants-on-head insane they're often better at fitting in with the real world, especially at low levels. Finally there's the Old Magick, the rituals from mankind's supernatural history (some of which have been updated or altered for modern times). Old Magick lacks the power of the adepts or the ease of the avatars...in fact it's kind of on its last legs. For every ritual that works there's a dozen that's lost all of its mojo (or was never any good to begin with). The one thing that the old-school stuff has going for it is that it works for anyone. It doesn't take crazed obsession or years of dedication. Anyone who knows the right secrets and has the right tools can perform it and still get on with their normal lives afterwards. There are also artifacts which have gained power through exposure to magickal forces or were crafted by the ancient magick-users of the distant past. Actually making reliable artifacts is almost impossible now. quote:The internet is one big engine. The faster the information flows, the more power it generates. If anyone could find out how to harness this power they could rule the world. People and Groups Since you've stepped firmly in the occult underground and messed up your shoes you probably know at least some of the players behind the scenes. In the underground the name for an individual who has important power or knowledge is referred to as Duke (generally speaking the PCs qualify as Dukes at this level, although not necessarily powerful ones). Groups with a common goal are referred to as Cabals. There are many, many cabals (some actually powerful, some just wannabes) but there are a few that are worth knowing: *The Sleepers This is the oldest cabal, centuries old, and they're more or less the "policemen" of the occult world. They've got one law: the occult underground stays underground. Don't freak the mundanes, don't gently caress around in public and don't get caught. They're the most well-known cabal because any decent mentor makes sure one of the first lessons they teach a new initiate is "don't gently caress with the Sleepers." *The New Inquisition These guys are new kids on the block but they're almost as feared as the Sleepers. They're sort of like a magickal mafia: they've got money, power, influence, weapons and talent but no one really knows what they want just yet. They just know if you cross them or have something they want you can end up dead. *Mak Attax: These guys used to be a bunch of nobodies. A lot of weirdos and idealists pissing in the magickal pool...and they all work for mcdonalds of all things?! They were basically the Occult Underground's bad joke...until they almost single-handedly stopped Y2K. No one is quite sure what they did but everyone knows it was something...something big. *The Sect of the Naked Goddess These guys are just another one of the cults that pop up all over the place in the Occult Underground...except supposedly their goddess really exists and they have her ascension on tape. Supposedly anyone who watches the tape becomes an instant convert...and they are expanding surprisingly fast. quote:All those cell phone towers aren’t really for cell phones. They are built by the government agency known as CTAP, who found a way to harness innate magical energy from unsuspecting people. What they are going to use it for is still unknown. The Sleeping Tiger Now, the occult underground is full of pissed off lunatics, wizards with a grudge and people who lie, cheat and steal from one another. Enemies are common and friends are rare. They've all got the knives out and the guns ready but there's one thing that's got them too scared to start an all out war...the loving tiger in the room. The tiger is asleep right now, snoring away. But if you make too much noise it's going to wake up and then everybody dies. The tiger is the general population. The six or seven billion ordinary and ignorant humans who go about their daily business completely oblivious to the true nature of the world. And the occult underground is loving terrified of them. Right now, they don't know jack poo poo about magick beyond new age self-help manuals and crystal-gripping snake-oil peddlers. But that could change...cameras are everywhere and the news has 24 hours to fill. If actual, solid evidence got out there then the magickal community is hosed. All the universal secrets and cosmic truths don't mean poo poo if the tiger wakes. The entire occult underground working together (if such a thing was even possible) has a snowball's chance in hell if the tiger spots them. The Sleepers are there to deal with those people who're too crazy or too stupid to stay safe. But everyone else knows that if the tiger wakes the Sleepers won't have time to kill you. quote:There’s a kid in Little Rock, Arkansas who gains magical power from boredom. Next we'll get into some more details on magickal cabals and some stuff on the old-school magick. oriongates fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Jun 3, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2015 12:16
|
|
|
I actually used BESM to play a game of RIFTs once in place of the standard system...it got weird. I don't know why but whenever I run a game and give characters a universal system and tell them to go crazy, they do, they really do. For that game I got... A blatant rip-off of mega-man, a robot boy with an arm cannon & laser sword. He was also emo as hell, real bad case of pinnochio syndrome. A communal swarm of carnivorous moths that could cling together into the shape of a person (in heavy robes). Mostly served as the party's spellcaster but would occasionally dissolve into moths and just eat people. A somewhat cowardly, frail young man with very minor psionic powers who, when he got angry/stressed, would transform into a xena-esque warrior woman with super-level psychical stats and fighting ability.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2015 20:05
|
|
|
Unknown Armies, part 6: Intro to Magick So, now we're getting into a more detailed examination of Magick (yes, the extra "k" is part of it) in the UA universe. To some degree or another all magick in Unknown Armies is Sympathetic, that is it exploits the connections (or perceived connections) between your actions and the result you desire. By creating a symbolic "link" you can send your will out into the universe and affect change. Magick is divided (roughly) into 3 "types" and three "levels". There are Adepts, Avatars and Ritual Magick and each of the three can be divided into Minor, Significant and Major forms (although the distinction is less important for avatars). It's important to note that the three types of magick are not mutually exclusive. An avatar and adept can practice ritual magick in addition to their own form (and often do it better than practitioners who don't channel either form of magick). Likewise its possible to be an Adept and an Avatar at once. In practice there are only a few Adept schools and Avatar archetypes that resonate strongly enough for this to be practical...the competing taboo behaviors from both an adept and avatar background can cause major crossed wires. But when they do work well together the results can be extremely powerful. You cannot channel more than one Archetype as an Avatar, although you could start over as the Avatar of a different archetype if you sever your ties with your current one. Technically it is possible to learn a second adept school the result is more or less immediate and complete insanity, blasting all five Madness gauges to the max. quote:The Comte runs an email list where you can hear about the plans for the universe and swap cookie recipes and so on. Ritual Magick Ritual Magick is the most basic and universally available of all magickal practices. You don't have to be insane, you don't have to dedicate your life to living naked in the woods, all you've got to do is know the right words and rituals and you can give the laws of the universe a little kick. Rituals are compared to cosmic "back doors" or "cheat codes". The problem with ritual magick is that it represents the "old-school" magick and it's dying. Every generation less and less rituals retain their power and those that do generally aren't as strong as they once were. Truly powerful rituals are extremely rare and are carefully guarded secrets. No-one knows for sure what is causing ritual magick to weaken but no one wants to give up what little scraps of power they've managed to harvest. No one has been able to create new ritual spells (although it's possible to perform improvisational rituals known as Tilts) and unfortunately there are also a lot of "trap" rituals out there which turn on the user (no one is certain if this is intentional or the result of slow corruption). The symbolic connections of ritual magick are all external so there's a lot of preparation and frippery that go into making a ritual work. Blood, full moons, wavy knives, the works. Minor Rituals Anyone can perform minor rituals with the right tools and performance. You've just got to succeed at a Soul Check at a -30% shift. Adepts can choose to spend a bit of their own power and use their Adept skill and Avatars can roll their Avatar skill. Both can use the Soul -30 roll if that would be better. You need a copy of the ritual on hand to cast it. The minor rituals are an extremely mixed bag, ranging from "moderately useful" to "incredibly specific. Here are a few examples: Poison Ward: Before drinking something, rotate the container 360 degrees clockwise while saying "sushem" and then 360 degrees counterclockwise while saying "crechab". The effect will negate any poisons or toxins in the drink (including alchohol, drugs and germs). Back Monkey: Get a fish tank with at least one living fish in it. Cut your hand and bleed into the water. If there are any spells on you that last longer than a month the blood will take the form of the name of the person who cast the spell and then shifts to depict the subjects face. It detects the most recent person to enchant you. If no one has cast any spell on you the blood forms into egyptian hyroglyphs and then into the face of a woman. No one knows who she is or what she must have done to show up for anyone who casts the spell. Angel of the Animals You need some of the target's body (hair, nail clippings, blood, etc) Mix it with two cups of buckwheat flour and then add two tablespoons of butter churned under a full moon.from the milk of an all-white cow. And yeast and salt and bake it in a pan greased with fat from an animal that you hunted yourself. Prick your left ring finger and write a word (any word) on the loaf before baking it at dawn over a fire of sandalwood. Feed it to the target. After that you can speak the word written on the loaf and the target will become the obsessive focus of animals: all animals in the target's vicinity will be compelled to touch and cling to the target. Targets covered in animals who try and fight back will be quickly ripped apart as the animals fight to stay in contact. This lasts for 8 hours. quote:Cats are powerful alpha-wave generators and are being used by secret government agencies as a renewable source of energy. Significant Rituals Significant Rituals are an order of magnitude more powerful than Minor rituals, but they require a significant "charge" of power to perform (sometimes multiple charges) which generally means they're restricted to adepts who can create them with the appropriate charging actions. Powerful Avatars of an Archetype called the Mystic Hermaphrodite can generate significant charges as well. However, a well kept secret of certain cabals who practice the "old ways" of magick are Minor rituals called "charging rituals" that allow the ritualist to create significant charges which can then be used for Significant rituals. Adepts can theoretically perform charging rituals but the process removes all other charges in the process, as the idea that ritual magick could create significant charges goes against their worldview. Charging rituals are the rarest and most valued of any ritual, even more valuable than the Significant rituals that they allow you to cast. Charging rituals are difficult and extremely limited. The example ritual given has different requirements month-to-month depending on the caster's zodiac sign and can be performed only on the day of the month you were born in (so someone born the 10th of july can perform the ritual the 10th of every month.). The ritual becomes more complicated the farther you are from your actual birthday. On your birthday you just need to say six words in latin under the open sky. Six months from your birthday it requires specially made robes, herbs, crystals chalk diagrams and a specific latin chant. Significant rituals are more powerful and broadly useful than minor rituals (for the most part). Here are some examples: Prowess of Samson: Cut up a copy of the old testament (or Torah scrolls) and stitch the pages into a robe with camel-hair and a bone needle. Wear the robe and goat-leather sandals along with a beard (fake works fine). Beat someone with the jawbone of an rear end. The result is you can now Flip-Flop your Struggle skill and, if you accept a Failed Self notch, you get +10% to your Struggle skill. This can be done 4 times (or until you completely fill your self madness meter) to increase the bonus by another 10%. A ritual with nearly identical results, called Prowess of Bruce Lee using a yellow tracksuit and unwound film from the movie Enter The Dragon wound around your limbs. No one knows how its possible for a ritual to be "updated" like this. Spellbreaker crush a live starfish in your left hand while making the "fig sign" with your right. It will remove the effects of magic currently on you (to a degree, it won't heal damage or get rid of a summoned entity). Lead into gold For 4 significant charges you can turn very small quantities of lead into gold, enough to turn a fish sinker into solid gold or thinly coat a lead coin. There are tons of alchemical rituals available for this one, they just all require enough sig-charges. Major Rituals If major rituals ever existed they're long gone or are being kept by people who are drat good at hiding them. Some speculated Major rituals would be the creation of the philosopher's stone or a spell to summon an archangel, a truly inhuman being from beyond the veil. Unfortunately its all just speculation and even if you had a Major ritual there are no known charging rituals to generate Major charges. quote:The ice-cream guy at the corner of 9th and Liberty keeps a talking human head at the bottom of his cart, under the dry ice. For a silver dollar, he’ll let you ask it one question; it knows the identity of everyone who wants you dead—and why. Proxy Rituals These rituals are a little looser than the previous ones and have one very specific purpose: tricking the universe into thinking one person is actually another person. Poor Renata Dakota was under the effect of a powerful Proxy ritual in the starting fiction. Proxies allow you to convince the universe that one person is really someone else (usually convincing them that someone else is actually you so unpleasant spells and powers accidentally target your Proxy rather than yourself). Proxy rituals are two-way...if the victim is aware of the connection. Ignorant victims only get your baggage, not vice-versa, but if they find out they can use the connection the same way you do. Proxies come in both Minor and Significant varieties. Like normal rituals they are specific spells of varying complexity. However, there are dozens and dozens of proxy rituals which can be performed in different ways with more or less identical results. The simpler the ritual the more charges it costs to use (especially with Significant rituals). With proxies the important thing is not so much how the ritual is performed but what connections exist between you and your target and what you can do with it. Minor proxy rituals allow you to forge a connection that lets you spy on their surface emotions/senses, redirect long-distance spells targeting you, or (if the target is an avatar or adept) push their taboo buttons by performing taboo-breaking actions yourself. Significant proxy rituals allow you to steal charges from your proxy, switch minds and maybe even get them to die in your place! Major proxies are only theoretical but supposedly would allow you to destroy the victim's body and consciousness and absorb their soul. This gives you all the benefits of a significant proxy except the victim is a part of you and thus can't fight back or cause any trouble out in the world. When you perform a Proxy ritual you gain the Skill "Proxy of [target]" with a rating based on how similar you and the target are, up to your Soul stat as the maximum. The modifiers start at +50% for close blood relatives (parents, siblings), go to +30% for close coincidences (same address, same birthday, shared a lover, etc) down to +10% for simply having one person change their appearance to resemble the other (dying and cutting your hair for instance) or +5% for wearing some of the other person's clothes. The proxy skill can be strengthened like a normal skill and can be boosted with certain actions: staring into a mirror (+5%), spending a minor charge (+10%), sitting in a mirror room (+15%). So long as you don't have to be picky about who your proxy is it isn't tough to build major connections fairly easily, maxing out the proxy connection. In fact its generally important to make sure that your proxy is an ignorant normal person, because if they find out about the proxy connection (and understand what it is) they can get a proxy skill of their own (equal to the original proxy skill when the ritual was performed) and can perform all proxy actions right back at you. Or they can try and break the connection, spending XP to lower their proxy skill. your skill stays the same but once theirs hits zero the connection is broken. Some uses of the Proxy bond involve a struggle where the dominant proxy (the one with the highest skill) must roll below their skill rating but above their victim's. It's impossible to use these abilities if you aren't the dominant proxy (unless you can boost your skill with charges or something similar). quote:“Skull and Bones” is more than just a name. The U.S. government is ruled by the talking skulls of every dead president, animated using ancient Celtic techniques. Kennedy was shot in the head because he was a powerful psychic and would have taken over. Tilts Tilts are the closest anyone has gotten to creating new rituals. They're kind of improvisational rituals that don't produce dramatic effects but do allow you to shift things in your favor. These are basic curses, blessings and warding effects. To perform a Tilt you need a Soul of at least 60 and you have to have been a consenting participant in a Tilt ritual performed by someone else, targeting you. There are few basic types of Tilts: Bonds are kind of a limited "proxy" ritual based on common cause and loyalty. A bonded group can be targeted by positive tilts and be affected as a single unit: bless one and all of them benefit. Minor bonds can shift their roll up to 5% when it comes to helping another bonded individual. Significant bonds let you flip-flop when helping a bonded member. A Major bond lets you get a brief vision of what another bonded target is seeing. all of these effects can only be performed once per month. Boons grant a one-time modifier to a roll for a specific purpose. For instance you might craft a Boon specifically to "kill that bastard Carl". Someone can only have one Boon active at once and it vanishes once used. Minor boons grant a 5% shift to your roll (up to 5%, you can go less if that would be better, and even subtract up to 5%). Significant tilts let you flip-flop. Major lets you get an automatic critical success. Hexes are identical to Boons but reversed, allowing you to negatively influence their actions when they are doing something specific (such as a hex to make it difficult for Carl the first time he tries to hurt you). Wards let you make a location more difficult to enter or weaken those who do enter. It's like a Hex but it doesn't require a specific target and affects the first roll they have to make once they're in your warded space. Actually performing Tilts involves a lot of time and work. You have to build connections, with each connection granting a cumulative chance of success. The big ones are the target's presence (+5%), participation (+5%) and informed consent (+20%). If you're really elaborate you can make a proxy connection with your target so that they're effectively "present", "participating" and "consenting" in the ritual because you are. After that's done you have to build up a set of symbolic elements (+2% per element). Symbols are objects or actions which represent the caster, the target, the intent of the Tilt, and/or the context during which the til will activate. Each of those four elements can only grant 10% individually (maximum tilt chance is 70%). For instance, say you want to try to produce the magical equivalent of a cut break-line, Hexing a target to have trouble the next time they're making a Driving roll. To represent yourself you might have your name, a photograph showing yourself scowling in anger or grinning evilly, a weapon belonging to you (representing your dangerous intent), your home (where the ritual is being performed) and your allies (who all encourage and help you during the ritual). To represent your target you might have their name, a copy of their driver's license, some fingernail clippings, a personal belonging and an object of yours the target damaged. To represent the context you might provide scrapings from the target's paint, a printout of a map route the target follows to work, a model car that resembles the target, a tape from a traffic camera in the area and a stolen traffic sign. To represent the intent you might put tire marks on the target's photograph, provide a picture of a terrible accident, cut a brake-line or puncture a tire during the ritual and verbally describe what you hope to occur. You can also "pump up" these elements for additional effect, breaking the normal 10% limit, by spending magickal charges (+2% per element for minor charges, +18% per element for Significant charges), incorporating powerful ritual acts into the element (+2 to +8% depending on the act) such as keying occult symbols into the paint of the victim's car and then using the pain scrapings instead of just chipping a bit here and there. The riskier and more symbolically powerful the gesture is the bigger the bonus. Adepts and Avatars automatically get +2% for elements that synch easily with their school or archetype (for the example above an alcohol-based Dipsomancer would get the bonus if they included a DUI report instead of just a driver's license). Now, there's one big limit on Tilts: every element you use can only be used once and never again. Speak your name aloud to represent yourself in the ritual? Well, that won't work again for any Tilt ritual you ever perform. Similar elements can work (for instance using a nick name, writing your name instead of speaking it, using your first name and last name separately, etc) but you can never re-use the exact elements for any Tilt ritual. quote:There’s a guy up in Canada, blind from birth, who paints very pretty pictures of swans on old engine blocks. He says they’re pictures of God. Next we'll get into the really fun bit: Adepts!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2015 12:29
|
|
|
VOX actually reminded me a lot of Unknown Armies. The suggested character creation scenario especially resembles an exceptionally crazy version of the UA world. Unfortunately it suffered a bit from the same problem people had with Unknown Armies (it can be unclear what exactly PCs are meant to be doing) and also from an extremely specific premise (everyone experiences Voices only they can hear). Parts of the game were absolutely great at inspiring the weird/conspiracy/insanity that Unknown Armies did...but other parts were a bit of a mess.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2015 14:34
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 10:54 |
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:By the by, if you like the Madness Meters, Stolze translated them into ORE in the free Nemesis RPG (direct link to pdf). From there you can translate it into other dice pool systems if you like; people have done it for nWoD. I've definitely found the Madness system very transferable to other systems. Most of it uses it's own rules, and there's no baked in mechanical effects for failing/hardening so it can easily slip into just about any other game.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2015 14:38
|
|