Budding Heroes - Open call for play testers of a new Goon-made game

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Budding Heroes - Open call for play testers of a new Goon-made game

Cloak Gaming: May 27, 2014; _{Our official stuff}
CloakGaming.com
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Our SAMart thread

Budding Heroes is a tabletop RPG that has a super-streamlined combat system which relies heavily on player-given flavortext. Obviously roleplaying is at the heart of any RPG, but this post will focus on the combat system since that's what really sets it apart from other games. The system was created entirely from scratch and is not a direct descendant of any other systems. Combat is turn-based and takes place on a grid like any other d20ish system, but the similarities start to break down beyond that. Budding Heroes completely gets rid of attack/to-hit rolls, attacks of opportunity, bonuses/penalties, magic spells, equipment, and even � la carte character generation. That may sound a bit oversimplified, but read on and it'll all make perfect sense.

Nearly every other rule system has an extremely complicated character creation process. In those games, creating characters can take hours of milling over character races, types, attributes, skills, equipment, and countless other options. Hell, in some of them the player even needs to roll dice to see just how many points can be assigned to various attributes (which means that one poor set of rolls in the beginning of the game can leave a player at a permanent disadvantage). The common explanation is that the wide variety of choice leads to a more personalized experience, but too much choice can really be a bad thing.

In other games, the mere fact that the game's mechanics are affected by the choices a player makes during the character creation means that there is an objectively best set of options to choose for each role. To follow that logic from a different angle, other games actively punish players for customizing their characters - either a player searches for a guide on making the optimal choices for their desired role, or the character is unnecessarily weakened by "wrong" choices. Budding Heroes solves this by using Character Molds, which leave the game mechanics entirely out of character creation.

You can basically think of CMs as character classes from video games. Each CM has its own thoroughly-balanced set of abilities, health, armor, speed, and regeneration triggers/amounts. When you pick a CM, you're effectively defining what you want to be best at in combat. Currently there are six different niches that they fill: the Brute which is a frontline tank, the Commander which works almost like a vampiric cleric, the Demolisher which deals in explosive fun, the Enforcer which is a roguey ninja, the Hybrid which is obviously a combination of everyone else, and the Longshot which picks off targets from afar.

To stick to the player-driven flavortext theme, the CMs each come with their own set of abilities, but those abilities are completely blank slates. They simply describe what type of action the character is making - for example, a melee attack, a ranged attack, or something that affects a target's abilities. The GM book offers a bunch of predefined characters and ability descriptions in case someone wants to jump right in, but it encourages player creativity beyond all else. Since the descriptions of the actions are the player's decision, the exact same Character Mold can be completely different experiences in different hands: one player could describe the character's ranged attack as a sorcerer lobbing a fireball at an enemy, another player could describe the character as an archer loosing an arrow, another one could describe the character as a Kung-Fu master punching so hard that a shock wave of air hits their target, and yet another could describe the character as a jester using a boxing glove on an extending stick.

Basically, the system's rules are designed to be strictly generic. Instead of being handed a chunk of what is essentially Tolkien fan fiction (you get to be an elven ranger or a dwarven fighter, how original!), the game is totally free to be whatever the GMs and players want without spell lists, leather armor, and the lack of skyscraper-sized robots getting in the way.

Okay, let's assume you jumped into a game and decided to be a Brute since you like being a meat shield. You could be given your info a couple different ways, but let's look at a character card to save screen space since this OP is already huge enough.

As you can see, everything is boiled down to the most important stats:

Health: Max health and the amount you start combat with
Armor: Armor, which again is a straight damage reduction
Speed: How fast you can move on the grid
Primary Attack: Main attack, which in this case is a melee attack that deals d4+d6+d10 damage
Teamwork Bonus: Teamwork damage bonus die, which is explained in a little bit
Secondary Attack: This one is a ranged (max range of 3) that does d4+d10 and pulls your target - great for protecting squishies
Special Attack: This is a burst that hits all adjacent enemies for big damage and gives them all the Fear status effect
Health Regeneration: Every CM has its own regen that happens whenever the trigger is met

Teamwork replaces the flanking advantage that most games have. Since there's no to-hit roll onto which you can apply bonuses, the game instead lets you deal extra damage with your primary attack if an ally is adjacent to your target (on any side). If you've got someone there to help you out, you add your teamwork die to the primary attack's damage roll. Different characters rely on teamwork to different degrees - the Enforcer gets to add a d20!

You'll probably also notice that none of the dice are written out, and none of the dice are used multiple times. Both are deliberate and consistent with every CM - since Budding Heroes tries to be newbie friendly, the dice are treated a little differently. The entire game is meant to be playable with a single set of dice, and the images and color-coding are specifically used to make it as easy as possible. The "official" dice for the game actually use the exact same colors as the manuals and cards - no more grabbing a d8 instead of a d10 on accident or second-guessing which one the d12 is if you only see it written out.

Back to the abilities, there's the special attack. It's a little different; the primary and secondary attack can be used an unlimited number of times at any point, but the special attack functions a little more like how other systems use encounter powers. You can use it once, but after that it's unavailable unless you spend your turn's action recharging it (which explains the "charged" box on the physical card's design). Most combats will start with it already charged, but there's always the chance of being caught off-guard or extra waves of enemies approaching.

Regen is also a key component of any combat. Every CM has a different trigger, and they all key off of what the different CMs should be doing in combat. Since the Brute is a meat shield, it wants to get in the faces of as many enemies as possible (which lets other CMs get teamwork bonuses and allows for plenty of fun with the special attack). Brute's health is actually among the lowest at a mere 35, but it has the highest armor of any CM - the straight 5 damage reduction on every attack is actually pretty huge with all things considered, and the constant flow of regen is pretty good at keeping a Brute topped off.

Combat itself is as simple as can be - every character involved can move and make an action on its turn. Movement is the usual grid-based stuff (hex grids work best, but a square grid can either follow 3.5's diagonal rules or count diagonals as a single square based on the GM's preference), and the action is anything from the CM's list or a couple extra options that every character has: extra movement, guarding (increasing your armor by using a d6), throwing an adjacent ally or enemy d4 squares away, or recharge a special attack.

If you want to attack something in range, you just say what you're attacking and roll the appropriate damage dice. Subtract the target's armor, and poof - you know the final damage, and the attack is done. No strength bonuses, to hit bonuses, cover, concealment, advantages, proneness, blindness, invisibility, or who knows whatever the hell else to calculate into things.

Here's where the fruits of labor really start to pay off. Over half a year of dedicated effort has gone into the game at this point, and everything's finally getting to the point of officially done.

This is the previously-mentioned dice and card kit, which is being called the Adventurer Kit. The dice are the standard d4/d6/d8/d10/d12/d20 set common with every other game (though no percentile dice is used), so this set isn't really required to play BH, but once you get used to the color coding it's really hard to go back. It also includes 6 plastic cards - they're the exact same weight and thickness as a credit card (and in fact made by the same company that makes plenty of them), and they've got an extremely high-gloss UV coating on the front and back. That means dry erase markers work perfectly on them; no need for players to even have scratch paper, you can just write your current health straight on the cards. Again they're not required to play the game since the same information can be printed on a character sheet or even just memorized, but they work great.

This little book is really the heart of everything. It's called the Pocket Reference and its 60 pages are the distilled essence of combat in Budding Heroes. It walks through every single combat rule step-by-step in plain English. It acts as a quick reference guide during combat since it has an index that points to every term, and it also takes the place of any player handbook. It may seem small, but that's because it cuts out all the fluff - character creation doesn't need to be handled in the book since everything is taken care of by CMs, there doesn't need to be a huge glossary of equipment tables since there aren't any in Budding Heroes, and there don't need to be any roleplay guides since the GM will provide a much better guide of the tone and amount of RP than any book ever will. There's the color soft cover print version, as well as versions for the Kindle and the Nook (which use handcrafted XML for perfection - none of that sissy automatic generation stuff here). There will also be an Apple iBook version coming up as soon as we get an OS X machine.

Roll20 is being used for our online playtesting (in conjunction with Skype audio for voice chat), and tons of work has gone into making it as easy as possible to use. Every single CM and enemy has its own set of macros to make things super simple and fast. No need to type out "/roll 1d4+1d6+1d8+1d10" every turn, just hit the button and select your target. You can see the screenshot-within-a-screenshot above for the little set of instructions on how everything works. I'm working with the folks at Roll20 to release an official Budding Heroes module that includes all the CMs/macros/tokens/etc all nicely preconfigured; I'll provide updates on that as soon as there are any to share. Fine, I'll admit the screenshot looks complicated, but that's only because I have a ton of dialogs open to show off the work that went into it. Actually using it on the player side really is easy.

As a little bonus that may be useful for discussing dice/rolls on SA, here's some smilies that were thrown together (but are hosted on the site to avoid spending $180 on a few kb for now):

code:

 d4:  https://www.buddingheroes.com/img/somethingawful/smilie/d04.png
 d6:  https://www.buddingheroes.com/img/somethingawful/smilie/d06.png
 d8:  https://www.buddingheroes.com/img/somethingawful/smilie/d08.png
d10:  https://www.buddingheroes.com/img/somethingawful/smilie/d10.png
d12:  https://www.buddingheroes.com/img/somethingawful/smilie/d12.png
d20:  https://www.buddingheroes.com/img/somethingawful/smilie/d20.png

The next official phase of the playtest is currently being prepared. Instead of being a random mismatch of encounters, it'll actually follow a story and use real characters from one of the settings that'll be included in the main GM book. More details to come, watch for thread updates (which will also update this OP)

:siren:

Update 2014-09-05: This post goes into a lot more detail on the upcoming playtest, check it out for more information!

Original OP, 2014-05-31 - 2014-07-31

Cloak Gaming fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Sep 11, 2014

# ? Jun 1, 2014 01:43

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# ? May 4, 2024 21:37

Moriatti: Apr 21, 2014

I'll give it a shot. I'm a big fan of goofy/fantasy combat.
Skype: DoctorMoriatti

Avail: any non weekend after 8 EST

Moriatti fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Jun 1, 2014

# ? Jun 1, 2014 15:30

Unknown Quantity: Sep 2, 2011; !
Steven? Steven?!
STEEEEEEVEEEEEEEN!

I am SO down for this! I absolutely love systems like 13th age and Dungeonworld, so this is most definitely right up my alley.

Availability: Every day from ~8 AM to ~12 AM CST, except for Tuesday evenings.
Skype: AkihabaraSA

# ? Jun 1, 2014 15:49

Ygmir: Jan 27, 2012

This looks pretty awesome, I am down for this.

Availability: Monday, Wednesday-Friday after 5 PM PST, Saturday all day, and Sunday after 1 PM PST.
Skype: axelvampir

# ? Jun 1, 2014 17:17

Unknown Quantity: Sep 2, 2011; !
Steven? Steven?!
STEEEEEEVEEEEEEEN!

Okay so having read this in full, pretty good. I'd stop reading in the middle of a page and ask "well what about x" only to look down at the next paragraph and find the answer to that exact question. It might need a little more clarification on a few things, mostly sequence of events, but for what I assume isn't the final draft it was pretty good. A good friend of mine also got to look at it and he finally understands tabletop thanks to the visual aids, which makes me pretty happy.

If I had to suggest anything in the future, and it's probably already in the larger books, it'd be a play-by-play demonstration of how a turn goes just to get a good example of play going and a feel for how the flow is.

# ? Jun 2, 2014 19:21

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

I'd be interested in playtesting, and may have people from my usual group interested as well.

Availability: Pretty much any time after 2-3 PM EST that isn't Sunday.
Skype: countblanc

I have experience as a playtester in the original 13th Age alpha test, as well as Sacred BBQ's. Most of the group I'd be dragging along (they'll post here if they're interested) was also involved with most of that. We've also played extensive amounts of D&D 4e, most of them 2-4 times a month since launch, and other systems like older editions, WoD, and Dungeon World along the way.

Your game sounds fun, but I want to help make sure it doesn't fall into some really easy traps for this sort of thing to. Some mechanical stuff, like making sure people are actually hitting enough to be engaged (balance is one thing, actually feeling like you're doing something is another), as well as some more meta things; You mention that your game is totes original, guys, and that there's no boring ol' tropes to be found, but Sacred BBQ did the exact same thing and that didn't really go over particularly well even for some of the most diehard mechanical and rethemeing people I know. Not because people don't like coming up with their own ideas, but because a default theme allows people who need the boost to use that as a launching point if need be. That might not actually be a problem for your game, who knows, I certainly don't! But it's the sort of thing that should definitely be examined by your testers to see if there's ample resources in the book to aid with character creation beyond "here's your tabula rasa, have fun you crazy kids"; Again, SBBQ offered up a lot of tools in its rough draft for character creation, but due to formatting issues and a couple other issues some people still found it wanting.

I'd also rather play over Mumble, rather than skype (and have my own server to do that), but I can do either and would obviously sort that out with whatever my group ends up being.

Countblanc fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Jun 2, 2014

# ? Jun 2, 2014 20:31

Cloak Gaming: May 27, 2014; _{Our official stuff}
CloakGaming.com
_{Discounts for Goons}
Our SAMart thread

Countblanc posted:

it's the sort of thing that should definitely be examined by your testers to see if there's ample resources in the book to aid with character creation beyond "here's your tabula rasa, have fun you crazy kids"

I'd also rather play over Mumble, rather than skype (and have my own server to do that), but I can do either and would obviously sort that out with whatever my group ends up being.

Sure, Mumble for the voice will be perfectly fine as long as the rest of the people in your group are able to use it. We can figure out the finer details like that once there are enough responses to put together the actual schedules.

Regarding the character creation, it actually isn't handled by the playtest's combat book at all. The game mechanics are all there in the form of the CMs, but the book that's being tested doesn't cover anything about the description/flavor side of things.

The system has two main books, there's the (currently incomplete) all-inclusive book called The Complete Foundation which includes all of the GM information:

instructions on running a game
different methods to encourage your players to get involved
guides on character creation along with tons of different examples for each type of ability
encounter creation (with plenty of pregenerated enemies and enemy groups)
creating enemies power-by-power using a point-buy system
walkthroughs on how combat works including a turn-by-turn guide on an example combat which explains exactly what happens and why
the entirety of the combat rulebook
several different complete pregenerated settings and characters along with some quests and plot hooks for each

And there's the Pocket Reference book which is basically a trimmed-down PHB (and what's being used in the playtest). It covers all of the essentials of combat, serves as a quick look up of any actual rules that might come up, and can be read cover-to-cover by a new player to be brought up to speed. It might not cover the big picture enough to grasp things like the flow of movement on a grid to someone that's never played a tabletop RPG (or strategy RPG like FFT), but just seeing combat once with the rest of the group will be enough to make things click. If the entire group is completely green, then running through the example combat in the big book should be enough to make anything clear (and other things like virtual workshops and walkthroughs on Youtube are planned).

vvvvv:
Don't worry about it - after all, I did specifically say to call it like you see it. It's always good to hear about potential issues; once they're laid bare, it's easy to either point to the checklist or recognize things that need to be taken care of.

Cloak Gaming fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Jun 2, 2014

# ? Jun 2, 2014 21:15

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

That sounds fantastic, and the bit about youtube tutorials is super important, good on you for recognizing that. Sorry if I sounded a bit rude, I just wasn't sure what was or wasn't covered and Sacred BBQ was like the son I never had and seeing it slowly disappear was heartbreaking.

# ? Jun 2, 2014 21:22

ForeverBWFC: Oct 19, 2011; Oh, the lads! You should've seen 'em running!
Ask 'em why and they reply the Bolton Boys are coming! All the lads and lasses, smiles upon their faces,

WALKING DOWN THE MANNY ROAD, TO SEE THE BURNDEN ACES!

I'd be down for this! Available from 6.30PM onwards BST (5.30 GMT) Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and 9PM Fridays and Sundays (I already have games running 6-9 Fridays and Sundays with Grey Hunter on SA).

# ? Jun 2, 2014 23:38

TheNabster: Apr 26, 2014; "Today I will cause problems on purpose"

You had my attention at Class systems. I love me the poo poo out of Class systems in a tabletop game

Skype name is thenabstein

I can do, 5:00PM to 10:00PM GMT on a weekday currently, but I would more prefer a Friday/Saturday slot, there I can do between 10-11 AM to Midnight and maybe beyond that if I can manage it.

(Give it two weeks, i'm waiting on whether this temp job I have right now will end in permanent employment or not)

# ? Jun 7, 2014 22:18

Dedman Walkin: Dec 20, 2006

Tried sending an email, found out it probably didn't go through, so I'll sign up here.

Availability: Mon-Tue, Thur-Sat from 5:00 to 9:00 pm CST. Saturdays I can play until Midnight or beyond.
Skype: WalkinOnTheMove

# ? Jun 7, 2014 22:49

Sentient Data: Aug 31, 2011; My molecule scrambler ray will disintegrate your armor with one blow!

Replying to random threads is fun

vvvvv:
Wrong thread was open in the app

Sentient Data fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Jun 8, 2014

# ? Jun 8, 2014 01:32

Cloak Gaming: May 27, 2014; _{Our official stuff}
CloakGaming.com
_{Discounts for Goons}
Our SAMart thread

Dedman Walkin posted:

Tried sending an email, found out it probably didn't go through, so I'll sign up here.

Nope, the email went through just fine and I sent out the Skype request the same day, I just now realized that it probably looked like spam since the current contact I'm using doesn't say 'Cloak Gaming' - I'll be changing that later tonight. I've re-sent the invite and confirmed through an email reply which Skype name to expect.

ForeverBWFC posted:

I'd be down for this!

Happen to have a Skype name? So far I've been inviting everyone into the large group for any discussion and preparation.

Sentient Data posted:

Replying to random threads is fun

So I take it you don't want an invite?

# ? Jun 8, 2014 01:46

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Hey I wanted to say that two of my friends are interested. Neither have Skype, but both with play in Mumble with me so setting up a group for that would be all the better for that.

# ? Jun 8, 2014 03:13

Cloak Gaming: May 27, 2014; _{Our official stuff}
CloakGaming.com
_{Discounts for Goons}
Our SAMart thread

Okay, since we've hit the new week I was able to put some schedules together. This list should line up well with everyone's availability, please chime in and let me know if the slot works for you. Times can be adjusted or days can be moved around, but I'm tentative on groups getting smaller than three for now. If you want to be in multiple groups, that's fine, but remember that each group would be getting similar encounters each week - it's up to you if that would stay interesting or not.

Everyone that's on these lists should have already received a copy of the combat rules (with the possible exception of ForeverBWFC? Not sure if that PM was received), so go ahead and make sure you're familiar before next week. If you haven't gotten it yet, send a message through Skype, a PM, or email. If everyone's able to confirm their availability quickly enough, I'm hoping for this to start next week.

Current playtest groups:
(Just check the end of OP, updating them there)

Cloak Gaming fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Jun 13, 2014

# ? Jun 10, 2014 22:05

Dedman Walkin: Dec 20, 2006

Haven't gotten the playtest (checked my spam folder), could you try to send it again?

EDIT: Message received.

Dedman Walkin fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Jun 10, 2014

# ? Jun 10, 2014 22:12

Cloak Gaming: May 27, 2014; _{Our official stuff}
CloakGaming.com
_{Discounts for Goons}
Our SAMart thread

Just wanted to chime in that Roll20 is set up and working like a charm. Each CM has its own set of macros created, so each ability is just a single button click. A group of us played a series of impromptu PvP sessions for 3 hours, and I'm happy to report that none of the individual CMs were super-OP compared to any of the other ones. The 3v3 match was so even that it was literally down to the last couple rolls (each side ending up with a single character a single average hit away from done).
:toot:

# ? Jun 17, 2014 07:30

Moriatti: Apr 21, 2014

Just played a quick game, here are my initial thoughts:

Likes:
- The simplified system makes things go really quick, which is very nice for combat.
- The regen system makes placement very important.
- Every class had at least one moment where they did something very cool.
- Picking up and rolling a poo poo-ton of dice has a very satisfying and visceral feel.
- The Ninja seems like a wild and interesting class. Its good, but because of it's attack nature, it often finds it's self the target of attacks. It's probably my favorite bit of design in the current system.

Critiques/Suggestions:
- As of right now, Range seems a bit better then melee, simply because you can always run and you can hit first. Adding a tie-up mechanic of some sort or hampering the amount of move you can make on a range attack would fix this, but both add extra-rules, so might not be the most elegant of solutions.
- Since there is no tie-up or forced movement available to the players, AoEs seem unwieldly. Maybe giving some of them secondary effects on single-target hits? (Much like you have with the Grenadier?)
- The fighter seems tanky, but unable to use it to much good. I almost never used my secondary, so I think it'd be cool to replace it with some sort of ranged taunt?
- Status effects seem really cool, and I wish there was a better way to access them as a player.
- I don't think escape abilities came up during our session, which is a shame.
- There's enough ways to do damage, but there do not seem to be any ways to make it easier to hit an enemy.

Crazy off the wall suggestions:
- Possibly add in "techniques" which allow you to step-back or remove damage dice for an added effects (which could handle status, movement or bonuses to hit.)
- Adding in gear, but making it asymetrical so that "best gear" matters only in terms of preference.

# ? Jun 18, 2014 04:58

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

I agree with most of Moriatti's suggestions, and will write up a few of my own, but I wanted to expand on/reply to a few of these first:

Moriatti posted:

Critiques/Suggestions:
- As of right now, Range seems a bit better then melee, simply because you can always run and you can hit first. Adding a tie-up mechanic of some sort or hampering the amount of move you can make on a range attack would fix this, but both add extra-rules, so might not be the most elegant of solutions.
- Since there is no tie-up or forced movement available to the players, AoEs seem unwieldly. Maybe giving some of them secondary effects on single-target hits? (Much like you have with the Grenadier?)

I absolutely think you need to do these. Streamlining is one thing, but there really just wasn't any sort of control whatsoever. Fighters need to be stickier, and maybe the archer or the ninja should have an ability/escape power that either sets up a decoy or "marks" an ally for enemies to attack instead of them.

quote:

- The fighter seems tanky, but unable to use it to much good. I almost never used my secondary, so I think it'd be cool to replace it with some sort of ranged taunt?

I'm not convinced about this though. Maybe tie the taunt in with the Special Power. The Fighter's healing is simply out of his control right now, either make it activate at the end of his turn (so you can run INTO a group and get healed) or make the fighter sticker/make enemies want to attack him somehow. That said...

quote:

- There's enough ways to do damage, but there do not seem to be any ways to make it easier to hit an enemy.

There absolutely are - Multihit moves. You're trading damage for more chances to hit, which is exactly making an enemy easier to hit. In fact, you might not even be trading damage, since it gives more chances to crit (I don't have the numbers run though). I think those attacks should be changed to be unable to target the same enemy, otherwise classes like Fighter and Archer feel kinda samey between abilities, and that simply seems unfair to those classes if you stick to the effective three powers system.

quote:

Crazy off the wall suggestions:
- Possibly add in "techniques" which allow you to step-back or remove damage dice for an added effects (which could handle status, movement or bonuses to hit.)

I like the idea of techniques, but doing damage is almost always the best thing to do in an RPG. That said, that sort of system might work in this game since trading away a D4 to shift someone a bit or something is a more interesting trade. Still, be careful with going the "do less damage to do cool stuff" route. DEFINITELY don't add in bonuses to hit, those are the worst kinds of things you can do in a Powers based combat system I feel; It's almost always worth it to trade damage for accuracy, if not just because missing and sitting on your rear end for 3-5 minutes because you only get a single action sucks.

Now, a few quick things, I might think of more later. Since I'm copy/pasting some other people into this post some of this is going to be redundant, but I think it's important to hear about issues as different people see them:

- The Grenadier's, Mage's, and Archer's restoration powers are the only ones that have you acting outside your goal. The healer wants to heal, the ninja wants to get kills, the fighter wants to be in the thick of it, but the Grenadier has to use one of his powers suboptimally (this would KINDA be ok if his other power wasn't ranged and stronger), the Mage's just sorta softens the penalty for being out of position, and the Archer's is basically the same as the Mage's but less extreme. Maybe you wanted to do this to emphasize the fragility of those classes, but I think lowering the die but making the effect more interesting is a better way to do this, and even then the Ninja is still (probably) supposed to be fragile and gets bonuses for doing his job.

- Rolling d20s to hit feels antiquated. It's just a really high variance die. Using it as an attack die for a few classes is cute, but it sucks to miss. Crits are also not super powerful most of the time, maybe expand the crit range to 19-20 if you keep the d20.

- Balancing encounters when there's no realistic damage floor is incredibly difficult. I've learned this lesson by DMing Dungeon World, but that game sorta gets away with it (though not really imho) because the combat is already sorta bleh. This system wants a solid, tactical (but easy) system for combat, which means easy for the DM and player alike. 4e does this by making a lot of the player damage come from fixed modifiers, like something doing 2[w] + STRmod (+ weapon mod + a few other static bonuses), which means the floor is, assuming a 1d10 weapon, 2 + a bunch of mods, and the height is 20 + a bunch of mods. This sounds like a pretty big spread, and it definitely is, but that'll work out to be something like 12-32, unlike your system where the Ninja special power can do either 3 damage or 42 damage. There's a couple ways to address this and I could expand on it if you want, but you probably get the idea.

- Maybe consider renaming some of the character molds. We joked around about the Healer, but I think Brennon raised a good point - The name is generic, but most people don't like being "the healer" in tabletop RPGs. Clerics evoke a certain coolness to their imagery, but little of it comes from using your full action to make someone else not die because they rolled badly on something that was going to trigger a regeneration action. I don't really have any suggestions for that one, but I think renaming the Ninja to the Skirmisher makes quite a bit of sense and still sounds cool without ascribing too much theme to the mold.

- Define the Ninja a bit more. Right now I can't tell if it's supposed to be a rogue, a slayer, a ranger, a ninja, or something else entirely. The mediocre Teamwork die implies it isn't a rogue, but he doesn't fight better against isolated enemies like a ranger or ninja might. Consider bumping the Teamwork die to a d10 or even d12 and removing the d4 completely from his main attack, or making the Special Power does a bit less by default but gets a notable damage increase if used against a target that no one is adjacent to. This makes the class have the ability to take advantage of and create interesting situations in combat, and care about enemy positions a lot more than it currently does. Think of how much cooler it is for the ninja player to throw himself into dangerous solo situations to activate his power, instead of just using it on the boss everyone has surrounded for instant damage.

Here's Ferrinus' thoughts. Without overstating things, I think Ferrinus is one of the better amateur RPG designers I've talked to so I encourage you to really consider his suggestions:

quote:

i thought it was kinda dull, in the final estimation. positioning was largely unimportant except for the very limited potential to use burst powers and turns were fairly repetitive. i don't think miss chance added much to the game - i guess it was exciting to see that i'd hit rather than missed, after having missed a few turns alreay, but i wish there was more of a gradient or it just cost a resource or something

having a single encounter power, and that encounter power itself being fairly simplistic (just damage in a radius, which isn't a lot higher than my at-will, and theradius is small?) meant that most of my turns were the same. having multiple charges, or better yet something i could do in combat to reset the power, would have been more fun because i could at least use it straight off instead of Saving It for an opportunity that ultimately amounted to "there are two enemies together instead of one alone"

and to reiterate/expand from before, positioning - especially on the wide open maps - was REALLY arbitrary/trivial, we had no real power to force enemies together or bottleneck them or whatever and of course we could slip past them and them us at will. more twisty corridors and obstacles would've definitely helped but it seems like it needs some sort of sbbq opportunity damage thing

also, this might just be an artifact of the chat readout in roll20 being kind of obtrusive/scrolling by fast, or the macros not being very readable, but i didn't really notice big differences between the enemies. i don't remember the alchemist getting to burst us, for instance, or the enemy fighters locking us down, or w/e - enemies just seemed to basically Do Damage

also, this was mostly a function of how we were running it on roll20 + not paying enougha ttention, but not at the very least being able to see at a glance how much damage a given enemy had taken or how close it was to death sucked

i feel like smaller hp/damage numbers would serve the game well. like knowing you can take three hits and have already taken one

Brennon didn't have much to say that wasn't said already, but he wanted to drive home that positioning felt very arbitrary, and it made the game feel between worlds in a way. Like, brennon, ferrinus, and I all adore power based grid systems, but the lack of stickiness and ability to manipulate enemy movement (either full-on pushing/shifting, or things like slow, creating difficult terrain, immobilizes, marking, etc.) means the only things you need to care about are "am i close enough to hit someone but not get hit in return," and this made it feel like a close/near/far system ala 13th Age taped onto a grid. You really can't plan for anything else without DM fiat. In fact, that's really what 4e did best - It let players (all players, not just casters) get in on the fiat, and have a thing to point to and say "look, this happens now, you just have to deal with it." Marks were the player telling the DM that monsters are going to either pay attention to him or pay one of several prices, for example.

He also wanted to mention that the Healer's special power being a straight heal was, quote, "incredibly disappointing." He said it felt like something he HAD to do, instead of something he GOT to do. All the other classes had powers that theoretically took advantage of cool situations, but the Healer basically had to spend his turn fixing other people's mistakes.

Finally, Cudds' stuff:

quote:

* the game's systems emphasize tactical grid combat, ie what makes sacred bbq and 4e good, but it suffers from level 1 4e problem where there's not much to do

* you get one special power per encounter and one escape and thats it, and its usually clear which of your standard/secondary is better

* i like embracing the concept of generic rules-only playbooks that you skin flavor around, though the names on some of them seem a bit rooted in fantasy

* the miss rate is way too high. since there's no way to increase chances of hitting, and since the only attacks that dont rely on chance to hit are your encounter powers, misses should be a lot rarer or even nonexistent entirely

* this goes both ways, incoming damage seemed very low as well

* i like that they're going for a "you dont have to worry about opponents interrupting you" kind of thing, but that also means that turns that aren't yours are pretty boring. it plays out like hearthstone does compared to mtg, only that has really really really quick turns.

* in the combat encounters we had, the movement and ranges were so wide that honestly it felt like the game could be run without an actual grid whatsoever, and instead with "near" "far" "adjacent" descriptions. i think they need to double down more on positioning based stuff, but that might just have been a problem with the preset encounters

* having the archer's multishot's first shot fire at longer range but deal less damage then the 2nd and 3rd shot feels really weird to me thematically. im not sure what its supposed to be representing

* whoever asked about being able to defend an ally / influence a monsters movement was right on the money. with no AoOs and no marking, and the only control options being pushes for really small distances, it really does seem like Damage is the Strongest Condition

* playbooks for grenade and super grenades should indicate on the playbook that they're burst 1 and burst 2, imo

* never rolling the same die twice is really cool and convenient for tabletop play but actually makes online play more annoying if you're not using macros, ironically. thats less a criticism and more food for thought/an observation

* having to beat the monsters armor rather than meeting it makes sense i guess, but is so different compared to every other system that i know of that i think the devs should consider changing it and shifting everyone's armor by 1 to be more standardized, maybe for brand new players to RPGs its fine though

We're all vets for tactical RPG grid combat - Ferrinus and Brennon in particular have been playing in the same 4e game pretty much every week for like 6 years now with really knowledgeable players - so obviously the simplicity of the system might seem a bit overboard to us if we aren't your target demographic, but all of us have also expressed a desire to simplify 4e-like combat to something quick and cute. Hopefully these bits of advice might help towards that goal.

A lot of our comments were basically "simple is good, but there currently aren't decisions/ways to actually feel in control," so as a parting gift I'm gonna suggest you look at Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light. The combat system was super simple and each class also had very few options, but it used an AP-based system where you could use smaller actions - basically at-will powers - to build up to a small number of bigger ones (or you could blow your resources early on big powers and be vulnerable) and I think that would work fantastically here. It's an incredibly simple resource, but it opens up a lot of decisions for the party.

Countblanc fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Jun 18, 2014

# ? Jun 18, 2014 07:07

Cloak Gaming: May 27, 2014; _{Our official stuff}
CloakGaming.com
_{Discounts for Goons}
Our SAMart thread

Countblanc posted:

Rolling d20s to hit feels antiquated.

No offense to anyone else, but this line right here is the single best sentence I've gotten out of all of the playtesting. After some serious thought and tons of options considered, a chunk of the rules that was psychologically huge (yet really a pretty self-contained and overall simple extra step) was removed. The balance has been completely reworked and the test games of the past few days have been great, so far the response has been very positive. I'm not going to quote the gigantic (and very appreciated) wall of text to do a point-by-point, but I'm sure you can see in this list of changes that nearly every point brought up was considered and either addressed or was made moot by other related changes. At this point, the first run of print books and CM cards have been wholly moved to a "prototype" version rather than just a first edition due for tweaks, so I'm updating the earlier statement in the OP: you'll all get a copy of the prototype books and cards, along with the final version once the testing is complete and the rules are totally set in stone. Thanks again to everyone for your continuing participation, and see most of you back on the battlefield and Lich's den soon enough!

Overall Rule Changes

Strike rolls removed, every attack automatically hits
Armor changed to flat damage reduction
Special attacks can be recharged by using a standard action
Escape powers removed, effects rolled into normal/special attacks
Enemy armor/health rebalanced and damage increased
1-square push replaced by the Throw action which lets you move an adjacent target 1d4 squares in any direction
Complete enemy and CM rebalance:

Fighter (Brute)

Renamed to Brute
Health lowered to 40
Armor (DR) changed to 5
PA: Melee, d4+d6+d10 (+d8 T)
SA: Range 3, d12; Pull enemy to adjacent
Sp: Burst 1, d6+d10+d12; Fear all targets 1 round
Regen changed to max of 3d4, triggers at end of turn

Archer (Longshot)

Renamed to Longshot
Armor (DR) changed to 4
PA: Range 8, d4+d6+d8 (+d10 T)
SA: Range 8, d12; Range 8, d12
Sp: Range 6, d8+d20; Push target 1d6 squares away

Grenadier (Demolisher)

Renamed to Demolisher
Armor (DR) changed to 3
PA: Range 5, d8+d10 (+d6 T)
SA: Grenade (B1) 6, d6+d10
Sp: Grand G (B2) 5, d4+d6+d12; All targets Weakened (no regen) 1 round

Mage (Hybrid)

Renamed to Hybrid
Armor (DR) changed to 3
PA: Range 6, d8+d12 (+d4 T)
SA: Melee, d10; Burn d10 (ignores DR, hits at start of target turn)
Sp: Grenade (B1) 5, d10+d12

Healer (Commander)

Renamed to Commander
Armor (DR) changed to 4
PA: Range 2, d8+d12 (+d6 T)
SA: Drain 4, d6+d12
Sp: Range 6, d6+d8+d12; Teleport target up to 1d6 squares

Ninja (Enforcer)

Renamed to Enforcer
Armor (DR) changed to 3
PA: Melee, d4+d8 (+d20 T); Burn d6 (ignores DR, hits at start of target turn)
SA: Range 4, d12; Move 4 squares
Sp: Melee, d6+d12+d20; Target is Threatened (Armor 0) 1 round

E: If any of you are numbers geeks, this might be a fun peek behind the curtain - I've been working on the tool that will automatically generate enemies for encounters, and part making a random system work is figuring out just how powerful the enemies are in an objective sense (rather than just feel). In a game like this there are obviously an insane amount of variables, but I'm confident I've gotten a good hold of them. Here's what the raw attack scores look like for each CM; the system takes the Burning SE into account along with the normal damage, but it's not handling other effects like teleport/threatened/etc just yet. It factors in all kinds of stuff like the character's range of movement, the attack's range, the damage of the attack against certain enemy armor values (which is itself based on actual roll probabilities, not just assumptions or the average value of all dice combined), weight of how often a special attack could be used, weighing the cost of using a special attack only once if it's worth skipping an action to do a second special attack, etc. It then spits out the mold's score based on a few different scenarios - whether it would be solo or part of a team, the size of the map/room area, and the number of enemy targets.

vvv:
Yeah, it's just to give an idea of some of the stuff being done to figure out the true EVs of everything rather than a gigantic image that would probably give even a 4k monitor a scrollbar. I'm also happy to say that I was able to figure out a good algorithm for the character's lasting power, and multiplying that by the raw attack power gave some great insights to see which CMs were over/underpowered. Those tweaks were hammered out and have been applied to the roll20 macros in time for tonight's game, so it'll be great to see how things play out. No major changes to armor/health/attack types, just the damage rolls and a couple range tweaks that will be posted in the next update.

Cloak Gaming fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Jun 21, 2014

# ? Jun 20, 2014 04:07

Moriatti: Apr 21, 2014

Is that second image supposed to be circular?

# ? Jun 21, 2014 15:45

Unknown Quantity: Sep 2, 2011; !
Steven? Steven?!
STEEEEEEVEEEEEEEN!

Okay, so, having played in a session yesterday, gotta say. The Longshot will either entertain or infuriate the heck out of the group with its ability to take a potshot at something and then run off where nothing can reach it. In our case, it was the former, and resulted in the hilarious idea that the Longshot was the biggest coward ever. The special is /really/ good too, considering knockback + stun can make for a very nice way to remove something from an equation. It seems like unless enemies specifically go after it, it's very possible to go completely untouched for several consecutive encounters, which...also makes it a decent target for a Commander to use to redistibute health totals. All in all, a very fun CM.

As for the enemies, I noticed that there's a deceptive quality to the way the encounters thus far went: the melee things did more on average, but the archers would, by virtue of not getting beaten up immediately, get to collectively plink at a target undeterred. In fact, the priority list we kinda went through was, from highest to lowest, grenadiers, enforcers/brutes, commanders, longshots, and then whatever else is still alive. This...is actually a neat thing. Aggro is a system that seemed to exist for both players and the GM, and that is a great unspoken understanding.

The final point that I think is worth noting is that watching things do 0 damage every once in a while was just so fun. Even funnier was the end of the session. Overall, would play again. Can't put a numerical or alphabetical grade on it just yet, but I'm sure I'll figure out something after a few more of these.

# ? Jun 22, 2014 17:21

TheNabster: Apr 26, 2014; "Today I will cause problems on purpose"

I'm no fancy smancy game designer person, but I was asked to throw my two cents in so I shall do so.

I also played last night, and played two different classes on the course of the session, the Demolisher, and the Brute.

I will be very blunt and say the Demolisher is kind of poo poo, and the Brute is super good. Perhaps, too good.

The Demolisher has a problem, his shtick is he has lots of AoE, but AoE is the ONLY thing he can do, so your choices are AoE, and AoE, but when AoE is not appropriate, like say the target is surrounded by friendly dudes, or is surrounding a friendly dude, he is poo poo out of luck. Also not helping, the guy is made of paper, but all of his skills have a range of 5, so you NEED to stand closer then you would like to people who will kill you until you die, all for a grenade attack that could very easily hit like a wet fart, and the only way you can regen with him is to hit just one target with your grenade attack.

Compare and contrast the Hybrid, whose AoE attack is his special, and doesn't inflict weakness, but the rest of his skills actually do other stuff, he has decent damage, can inflict burn, and more importantly can regenerate without hitting his allies with his secondary attack. In other words, what the Demolisher does, other people do better, and you have a class that the opponent can easily counter by just standing next to teammates. It could use a few changes. And by few I mean 'the class has some fundamental issues and probably needs to be remade'

The Brute on the other hand, oh boy. When I swapped to brute, I noticed two things, one, I could afford to take bigger risks, and it mowed through multiple dudes a hell of a lot faster then the AoE dedicated class could, with just liberal application of primary attacks and teamwork bonuses. Teamwork attacks are great, so you have the tankiest CM in the game, with a kit that is specifically designed to huddle enemies together in a big clump next to you, Regening 3d4 health per turn at the max by just doing what he should be doing anyway, and making sure all your allies are getting almost constant teamwork boosted attacks, and you also have a big giant "gently caress you" button that does huge AoE damage and fears everyone, I am hard pressed to see why you would not include a Brute in your team, none of the other melee classes have the raw damage power and staying power the brute does.

The Enforcer does poo poo loads of damage but folds like wet paper when people start putting the hurt on him, and the Commander can just keep healing himself constantly, but he won't be doing much damage that way. Right now I feel like by default every group should have a Commander for the heals, and a Brute for the tank, and you can pretty much deal with almost anything.

tl;dr: Demolisher is tier 4, Brute is tier 1

But it was still a fun session over all, I look forward to the system being expanded in the future for sure.

TheNabster fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Jun 22, 2014

# ? Jun 22, 2014 17:51

Cloak Gaming: May 27, 2014; _{Our official stuff}
CloakGaming.com
_{Discounts for Goons}
Our SAMart thread

Big updates coming soon, but here's what the new CM balances look like. It's also a preview of the brand new card layouts, which will be in hand soon. Enjoy the sneak peek!

Cloak Gaming fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Jul 9, 2014

# ? Jun 22, 2014 18:36

Dedman Walkin: Dec 20, 2006

I was in last night's playtest session, and had fun with it. Played the Commander class, liked how it handled healing by hurting the enemy, then healing a buddy. Seems more active than a set list and amount of healing spells. But with people getting really close to death, it felt like the only thing I could do was the healing drain to keep everyone else not dead.

Most memorable moment of the session: getting unexpectedly thrown by a goon.

That, or being at ground zero when the Demolisher threw a grenade at the goons I was fighting. Twice.

Looking forward to the next session.

# ? Jun 22, 2014 19:38

Moriatti: Apr 21, 2014

So I got to play a bit with the new Demolisher, the possibility for dickery is high (good!) he seems like a support class as much as can be in this game: he softens up and cleans up. I also quite enjoy that my projectile pushes, it opens up strategic options.

I also like the turrets, I feel like gear giving you another, if situational, option as opposed to straight bonuses is a neat way to handle gear in a system that deals with asymmetry instead of leveling up. I would like to see more.

# ? Jun 27, 2014 00:19

Cloak Gaming: May 27, 2014; _{Our official stuff}
CloakGaming.com
_{Discounts for Goons}
Our SAMart thread

Original OP archived for posterity

Cloak Gaming posted:

Greetings, potential guinea pigs!
Are you bored and restless? Do you feel like you have too much time on your hands? Do you think your opinion should matter more than those of your fellow man? If so, this is the thread for you - we're creating a new tabletop RPG, and we're looking for some play testers.

What You'll Be Checking Out
The game you'll be checking out is Budding Heroes, which is designed to be much simpler, open-ended, and roleplay-heavy than the rest of what's out there. Instead of focusing on huge rulebooks where you spend hours building a character and figuring out what the correct bonuses are for your powers, the mechanics of the game are set in stone and almost everything is handled through flavortext. The core rules are entirely generic bare bones on which a thick layer of actual descriptions are be added. There is no system for spells, there are no stats for various races, and there aren't even any items in the game mechanics at all.

The player characters are handled through predefined roles called Character Molds. The CMs are boiled down to 3 basic stats - speed, health, and armor. Beyond that, they each have a primary attack, a secondary attack, a teamwork bonus (which is basically a damage bonus instead of a flanking to-hit bonus), two different once-per-combat abilities, and health regeneration.

Instead of being handed a chunk of what is essentially Tolkien fan fiction (you get to be an elven ranger or a dwarven fighter, how original! ), you're basically handed a completely blank slate which you use for either a predefined character or your own descriptions from scratch. For example, if one of your attacks is a ranged attack, you get to figure out what that means for your character - sure, it could be the usual bow or gun depending on the game's setting, but that very same damage to an enemy a few squares away could just as easily be caused by a fireball, a clockwork spider with a precise explosive, a swarm of nanites, a suborbital laser, a dragon familiar, a boxing glove on an extending stick, a psychic attack, or quite literally anything else.

What We'll Be Doing
The combat rules have been completed and it's time to do some testing with a fresh set of eyes. Since we won't be physically meeting up, the game itself will be done on http://roll20.net/ and we'll be communicating through voice chat over Skype. You'll need accounts, but the free accounts to each service are fine - don't be suckered into paying for anything. Sessions can happen throughout the week, so there will probably be several different groups based on how the schedules fit together. Sessions will be between one and two hours long, and they'll focus mainly on the actual combat and enemy balance. Obviously having a bunch of fun and doing some lighthearted roleplaying is encouraged, but don't expect the games to focus on an overarching epic campaign.

Who You Should Be

Someone who is familiar with tabletop RPGs that have combat on a grid, though the system you're experienced with doesn't matter much. The combat rulebook covers all of the basics of what you can and can't do, but it doesn't teach the overall big picture - you should already be familiar with turn-based combat in general.

Someone who has an honest opinion. Seriously, be completely unfiltered - you can say "This sucks, even babies think it's too easy!" or "Where have you been all my life?!" as long as you mean it. Obviously complements will give warm fuzzies, but it's not useful to just have a bunch of yes-men.

Someone who actually wants to play. Yes, this is about having fun and the lack of an actual story means that jumping in and out of sessions isn't a big deal, but I've seen other games in the past fall apart when half the people don't show up. If something comes up in the real world or even if you just decide you don't feel like playing any more, just say so rather than disappearing.

What You Will Happen
If you're interested in playing, post a reply to this thread, send a PM to this account, or send an email to public.contact@cloakgaming.com with your availability (including time zone) and why you feel like giving it a shot. If you're picked to be part of the play testing, you'll be given free access to the full combat rulebook, you'll be invited to two Skype groups (one for text chat among everyone, another for the voice chat of your smaller group to be used during combat), and you'll be invited to the playtest group on Roll20. Anyone that doesn't flake out too much on showing up to the sessions will also be sent a free physical copy of the combat rulebook once the testing is done (as long as you live in the US or somewhere that doesn't have crazy international shipping prices). By June 9th there should be enough responses to start putting the schedules together; once that's figured out, we'll work on a tentative start date of June 16 and see where things go from there.

This thread will hopefully evolve into a Budding Heroes release/Kickstarter/chat/etc megathread in a couple months, so feel free to talk about the game here - I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Check out the new OP for some brand new information and better summaries, and more updates will be made in the next couple days about the next wave of playtesting and upcoming materials/etc!

# ? Aug 1, 2014 04:39

Unknown Quantity: Sep 2, 2011; !
Steven? Steven?!
STEEEEEEVEEEEEEEN!

So I just got my little care package today as a result of the playtesting. Very good call with the glossy finish instead of the matte finish like the original version you included. Also a good call were the smaller cards. They didn't need to be that original size; most pockets don't fit objects like that as perfectly as you'd hope. Anywho, if I get a chance I'll bring this and the little enclosed dice and cards over to a group gathering and see if I can't get some people to play, maybe get some post-release feedback.

# ? Aug 3, 2014 03:53

Dedman Walkin: Dec 20, 2006

Also got the stuff. Like that the booklet and cards can be considered "pocket-sized", can carry them along without a big bag. Like the cards, feel like they can stand up to some wear and tear. Will try to think up an improv game when our Encounters group meet next.

In a Skype game we had last weekend, we were pirates fending off other pirates. We ended up firing cannons at other smaller ships (or as I called them, battle canoes). Since the NPCs and cannons had the same moves as our CharMolds, I figure making NPCs and interesting things for players to interact with will be easy.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 23:13

Sentient Data: Aug 31, 2011; My molecule scrambler ray will disintegrate your armor with one blow!

(Note to self, old version of Awful on iPad 1 likes to switch threads when the sidebar is open)

Sentient Data fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Aug 5, 2014

# ? Aug 5, 2014 23:44

Cloak Gaming: May 27, 2014; _{Our official stuff}
CloakGaming.com
_{Discounts for Goons}
Our SAMart thread

Great to hear that they're being enjoyed, and I've heard good things from the rest of the group on Skype that hasn't been posted here yet. By all means go ahead and try out any improv sessions with any other groups; I'll also be putting together a little GM booklet with some of the playtest scenarios' maps along with the stats and tactics for about a dozen different types of enemies.

In the meantime, you (and everyone else) can have another little goody that I whipped together to help with my in-person games. Have some freely-printable custom-purpose scratch paper that should make battles a bit easier to keep track of given the fast pace of combat turns. It's been laid out in both letter and A4 sizes, so it should work well for you no matter which continent you're on.

US Letter-sized Scratch Paper | A4-sized Scratch Paper

I still need to make a dummy-proof example/instruction page for it, but the labels should be self-explanitory.

Name: The name of the character
Token: Which token the character uses (I have some prototype tokens based on the designs I use in Roll20 along with the letters A-Z on them, so I typically just write something like "B-C" for the token with the burst icon and letter c)
Mold: Which mold the character uses (Each enemy mold has its own code, like "E4L" for quick lookups)
Speed: The character's normal movement speed
KO: Used as a checkbox for if the character is KO yet
Maximum: Max health so you don't have to guess when doing regen/drain/etc
Health: Current health; cross out the old value when no longer valid and write the new one below/next to it
Normal: Normal armor value for the character
Armor: Current armor, mainly used if the character used guard or was Threatened
Special Charged: I typically draw a circle when it's charged then a line through the circle when used
Status Effects: Obvious enough; write down any in effect, cross off when expired

# ? Aug 5, 2014 23:45

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# ? May 4, 2024 21:37

Cloak Gaming: May 27, 2014; _{Our official stuff}
CloakGaming.com
_{Discounts for Goons}
Our SAMart thread

Tons of progress has been made, so it looks like it's finally time for another big update. The self-driven GM playtest guide is nearly complete and currently weighs in at a trim 4,000 words excluding any combat rules and scenario information (The earlier playtests only had testers involved in player roles).

Rather than simply offering a simple flowchart like most other games, the GM guide acts as a course on how to GM in the first place. It covers how you should properly think about the game and your players, common pitfalls that most GMs learned the hard way (if ever), and how to get the most out of your group. Basically it's a cliff's notes of what to expect out of the actual main Budding Heroes book instead of just a linear tour guide through a dungeon.

The guide will also include a sample of the first Adventure Flavor for Budding Heroes:

To switch things up from the now boring trope of magical high fantasy, the first official setting for Budding Heroes takes place on the high seas with a group of privateers. The guide will include a couple missions and quite a bit more information on the relevant locations, characters, and equipment, but the following should offer a nice taste of what's to come.

Your story takes place on the world known as Corrad. You hail from the island nation of Lorea, which is a land rich with valuable mines, hardy forests, and a central location along the shipping routes used by many nations. Unfortunately, Lorea's wealth has made it a prime target for pirates, thieves, saboteurs, and even outright wars.

There has been a large surge of hostile activity over the recent months, mainly from pirates which have suddenly increased in number and are rumored to possess strangely powerful weapons. Lorea's navy has been stretched to its limits, so the king has put out a desperate plea to any able-bodied civilians to join the fight as privateers. The privateer crews are given ships and a fair amount of gold in exchange for eradicating any threats in their areas.

One of those ships is The Icarus, which was commissioned to Thomas Anders and his band of 28 others. Under his command, the small 12-gun ship has become known for her speed and her crew's tenacity in the face of danger. The Icarus is assigned to the town of Port Tuft, from which Anders helps patrol the Eastern coast of Lorea and the waters of the Coldhammer Sea.

[ Edit: Forgot to mention that the above map is not final. Work still needs to be done to determine sensible mountain ranges and rivers, which will then help define deserts/forests/tundras and refine the borders. ]

Thomas Anders
Anders is the captain of The Icarus and is fiercely loyal to his values. He was formerly a sailor in the Lorean navy, but his hot-headed nature clashed with superiors that Anders felt were too passive. When Lorea called for privateers to help bolster its defense, Anders jumped at the chance and formed a crew of his own. He experience and strong intuition made him a natural fit for his new role.
(Most Fitting Character Molds: Commander or Longshot)

Rupert Shergold
Shergold is the captain's right hand man and the smoothest talker that Anders has ever known. His ability to read and manipulate people was honed in dimly lit gambling halls, and he keeps his dagger nearly as sharp as his tongue for the rare occasions that people don't see his way. His skills are always welcome during negotiations, and he has proven himself to be an invaluable tactician during battle.
(Most Fitting Character Molds: Hybrid or Commander)

Darcy Hawke
Darcy is a behemoth of a man that stands nearly seven feet tall. He made his trade as a strongman in a traveling circus until Anders happened upon his act. The captain quickly convinced Darcy to help his fellow countrymen by joining the privateers. Ever since, he has been happy to serve as a deckhand and eager to use his fists to bring justice against any who dared to attack his homeland.
(Most Fitting Character Molds: Brute or Enforcer)

Violet Kitts
Violet is a relatively soft-spoken woman that has recently inherited her family's fortune. As the only child in a line of merchants, she rebelled against her prudish upbringing by pouring her recently acquired wealth into becoming a highly skilled swashbuckler. She considered several crews that were looking for new members and decided that Anders' was the most capable. She joined the crew and has been fighting to make herself more famous for her swordsmanship than her former wealth.
(Most Fitting Character Molds: Enforcer or Brute)

Peter Rook
Rook is a teenage boy that was stowed away on The Icarus when it was first commissioned. He was discovered by the crew, but the ship was attacked before Rook could be safely discharged. Rather than staying in the room where he was told to hide, he snuck out and made his way to the powder storage. Once there, he fashioned some crude bombs using experience from his brief smithing apprenticeship. The makeshift weapons were instrumental in winning the day, and the boy has been a member of the privateers ever since.
(Most Fitting Character Molds: Demolisher or Hybrid)

Lucy Fenn
Fenn lived alone in the Lorean highlands as a hunter and trapper until she heard about the call for privateers. Logging had been picking up pace due to the massive ship-building and city-rebuilding efforts, and her usual hunting grounds were being encroached upon. Rather than uprooting herself and settling deeper in the woods, she decided to join Anders' crew and enact her revenge against the attackers. She sees the pirates as little more than animals and makes quick work of them with her ambushing skills and keen marksmanship.
(Most Fitting Character Molds: Longshot or Demolisher)

The book should be ready in about a week, all that's left is writing out the details on the actual encounters. Feel free to post any thoughts or questions about the setting or system!

Cloak Gaming fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Sep 5, 2014

# ? Sep 5, 2014 13:00

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Budding Heroes - Open call for play testers of a new Goon-made game