I’ve gone back and forth about limitations, and I think I have a workable solution. Rather than giving you a pool of bonus points at character creation, limitations give you experience bonuses when they come into play.
Generally speaking, players purchase limitations that they think won’t hurt them; I will take fear of water because the campaign is called “Dusty Death of the Ancient Pharaoh”; I take ‘enmity with demons’ because I figure demons will want to kill everyone anyway, so why not get some points for it.
Reverse that thinking. Superman doesn’t get additional CPs for taking a weakness to Kryptonite; he gets bonus experience during a scene in which an enemy uses Kryptonite against him. I LOVE this, because it means that players will look for ways to include their weaknesses as part of the game; they know that by surviving the encounter, they get more experience. Superman’s player hopes that the group of thugs firing a huge machine gun at him have Kryptonite-tipped ammo… otherwise, this encounter isn’t going to be worth squat.
Here are some examples:
- Allergy. When in the presence of an allergy (range at the rating you take), you suffer -1 to all rolls cumulative each round, until you reach the threshold or you remove the allergen. For example, with allergy to Immodium +10, you start to feel the pinch whenever you are within 10 units of Immodium (stay away from the drug store). At 10 units away, you suffer -1 to all rolls. If the Immodium is 3 units away, you suffer -1 in the first round, -2 in the second round, -3 in the third round, -4 in the fourth round, -5 in the fifth round, -6 in the sixth round, and -7 in the seventh round, and going forward. If someone gets into melee range with you bearing a weapon that is coated in Immodium, you take a -1 penalty in the first round, -2 in the second, etc. until you max out at a -10 penalty in the tenth round. For taking this +10 allergy, you get +10 XPs whenever you face an Immodium-wielding foe. You could elect to take allergy to cats +1, meaning that within 1 unit of a cat you suffer a -1 penalty to all rolls until you get at least 2 units away from a cat. Whenever your cat allergy affects you in a fight, you get +1 experience point.
- Susceptible. You take extra damage from a particular energy. Each +1 to damage gives you +1 experience point per scene. For example, if you take susceptibility to fire +5, your hero suffers +5 damage from any fire-based attack that hits you; when Pyrannicus Rex hits you with his jet of fire and deals 17 points, you have to roll to soak 22 points. You could still soak it all, but odds start to stack up against you over the course of a fight. For winning this fight with Pyrannicus, you get +5 experience points, on top of the experience value of the fight. If you take susceptible to sonic attacks +1, you are probably not going to get much mileage out of it; fewer foes use sonic attacks, and when they do, that +1 to damage you suffer is not really going to matter; meaning the +1 experience point you get is well deserved (as in barely at all).
This last one has all sorts of carry-over effects to play, however; when fighting a huge wolf, you petition the referee to have it emit a loud howl that will force you to resist or be stunned due to your sensitive hearing; basically, you (as a player), try to get the scene to shape itself in some way to your limitation, so as to get more experience from it. It’s the total opposite paradigm from any such system I’ve seen.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
#4: Malignant Jelly
Malignant Jelly (26 CPs)
Fighting +3; Elasticity +4; Invulnerability +2; Might +2 (strike); Stamina +2; Stealth +3; Stun +3
The malignant jelly uses its gelatinous form to stretch and compress itself, hiding along walls and floors to attack prey. On a successful fighting attack, the malignant jelly will attempt to stun targets, rolling stun vs. the target’s focus, forcing the target to lose 1 turn per success on the action.
Elasticity (Ability)
You may strike a target in hand-to-hand combat up to your elasticity rating units distant; with elasticity +4, you can land a punch against a target up to 4 units away.
You have a pool of points equal to your elasticity to add to invulnerability soak rolls each scene.
You may use 1 turn to use elasticity to perform a feat such as forcing your way through a narrow opening or turning yourself into a parachute, rolling against the situational DR. To create a balloon that will carry two allies (weighing a total of 400 lbs) to safety is DR 11 (500 lbs. – the nearest weight on the chart - is +4). Slipping under a narrow door frame might be DR 14 (a superior use of your ability), while squeezing through the head of a pin might be DR 19 (a supreme application of your power).
Stun (Ability or Application)
Stun allows you to force the target to lose turns. Roll the rating of stun vs. the target’s focus. The target loses a number of turns equal to your successes on the roll; if you roll 17 and the target rolls 14 (a difference of +3), you stun the target for 1 turn; if you roll 21 and the target rolls 4 (a difference of +17), you stun the target for 4 turns.
Note: successes are scored at 0, 5, 10, 15, etc.
Yeah… this means that successes are back, albeit in a much simpler form. Many abilities (especially superhero abilities as I’ve conceived them thus far) need successes to be viable. Since I’ve defined hitting the target difficult rating (at +0) as being successful, it seems reasonable that you could generate an extra success at easy-to-remember thresholds. Every 5 points seems pretty reasonable. If you have +10 more in your ability than the defender’s ability, and you roll +10 more than the target rolls, that’s +20 on this particular action … 5 successes seems very reasonable in that circumstance. You stun for 5 turns, you force the target to take a -5 penalty, etc.
Fighting +3; Elasticity +4; Invulnerability +2; Might +2 (strike); Stamina +2; Stealth +3; Stun +3
The malignant jelly uses its gelatinous form to stretch and compress itself, hiding along walls and floors to attack prey. On a successful fighting attack, the malignant jelly will attempt to stun targets, rolling stun vs. the target’s focus, forcing the target to lose 1 turn per success on the action.
Elasticity (Ability)
You may strike a target in hand-to-hand combat up to your elasticity rating units distant; with elasticity +4, you can land a punch against a target up to 4 units away.
You have a pool of points equal to your elasticity to add to invulnerability soak rolls each scene.
You may use 1 turn to use elasticity to perform a feat such as forcing your way through a narrow opening or turning yourself into a parachute, rolling against the situational DR. To create a balloon that will carry two allies (weighing a total of 400 lbs) to safety is DR 11 (500 lbs. – the nearest weight on the chart - is +4). Slipping under a narrow door frame might be DR 14 (a superior use of your ability), while squeezing through the head of a pin might be DR 19 (a supreme application of your power).
Stun (Ability or Application)
Stun allows you to force the target to lose turns. Roll the rating of stun vs. the target’s focus. The target loses a number of turns equal to your successes on the roll; if you roll 17 and the target rolls 14 (a difference of +3), you stun the target for 1 turn; if you roll 21 and the target rolls 4 (a difference of +17), you stun the target for 4 turns.
Note: successes are scored at 0, 5, 10, 15, etc.
Yeah… this means that successes are back, albeit in a much simpler form. Many abilities (especially superhero abilities as I’ve conceived them thus far) need successes to be viable. Since I’ve defined hitting the target difficult rating (at +0) as being successful, it seems reasonable that you could generate an extra success at easy-to-remember thresholds. Every 5 points seems pretty reasonable. If you have +10 more in your ability than the defender’s ability, and you roll +10 more than the target rolls, that’s +20 on this particular action … 5 successes seems very reasonable in that circumstance. You stun for 5 turns, you force the target to take a -5 penalty, etc.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Monster #3: Shades
I want to work out the kinks of the phasing ability, so spirits and ghosts are a good place to do it… keeping with our low-level monsters, we’ll start with the Shade of Sorrows.
Concept: the lingering spirit of a fallen mortal who suffered an especially gruesome death, shades seek to revisit their final moments of torment upon other living creatures. The only way to truly destroy a shade is to completely burn its remains, which must first be located… a shade that is dispelled (reduced to negative wounds) will re-form within 2D hours.
Shade of Sorrows (28 CPs)
Fighting +3; Focus +3; Intuition +1; Invulnerability +2; Phasing +6; Precision +2 (Strike); Stamina +1
Phasing (Ability or Application)
Phasing allows you to become partially immaterial, able to move through solid objects and bypass protection that normally would impede you. You must spend 1 turn to activate phasing.
• As an ability, once you activate it, phasing gives you several pools:
- You have a pool of points equal to your phasing rating to add to invulnerability soak rolls each scene.
- You have a pool of points equal to your phasing rating to add to unarmed damage rolls (via strike) each scene.
- Additionally, phasing allows you to pass through solid objects. You roll your phasing vs. the DR of the object. For example, a wooden door has a +3 rating (DR 10), while a double-reinforced titanium door has a rating of +10 (DR 17). You may phase through objects as often as you’d like, although each such use of phasing requires a turn to attempt (if you are going to walk through a 30’ thick slab of stone, you must spend 1 turn activating phasing, and another turn actually traveling through the stone).
• As an application, you get to use phasing once per scene, activating it to any one of its functions (to move through a wall, take a pool of invulnerability points; take a pool of unarmed damage points).
Concept: the lingering spirit of a fallen mortal who suffered an especially gruesome death, shades seek to revisit their final moments of torment upon other living creatures. The only way to truly destroy a shade is to completely burn its remains, which must first be located… a shade that is dispelled (reduced to negative wounds) will re-form within 2D hours.
Shade of Sorrows (28 CPs)
Fighting +3; Focus +3; Intuition +1; Invulnerability +2; Phasing +6; Precision +2 (Strike); Stamina +1
Phasing (Ability or Application)
Phasing allows you to become partially immaterial, able to move through solid objects and bypass protection that normally would impede you. You must spend 1 turn to activate phasing.
• As an ability, once you activate it, phasing gives you several pools:
- You have a pool of points equal to your phasing rating to add to invulnerability soak rolls each scene.
- You have a pool of points equal to your phasing rating to add to unarmed damage rolls (via strike) each scene.
- Additionally, phasing allows you to pass through solid objects. You roll your phasing vs. the DR of the object. For example, a wooden door has a +3 rating (DR 10), while a double-reinforced titanium door has a rating of +10 (DR 17). You may phase through objects as often as you’d like, although each such use of phasing requires a turn to attempt (if you are going to walk through a 30’ thick slab of stone, you must spend 1 turn activating phasing, and another turn actually traveling through the stone).
• As an application, you get to use phasing once per scene, activating it to any one of its functions (to move through a wall, take a pool of invulnerability points; take a pool of unarmed damage points).
Rate of Progress
The other major consideration regarding awarding experience is the speed of progress. One school of thought is that the heroes shouldn’t progress at all; they should be of sufficient heroic stature throughout the game. Over the course of his 70-year comics career, Superman hasn’t really gotten more powerful over time; in fact, several times he’s been revamped to be less powerful! You could argue that Superboy is Superman at lower level, but you never really see that progression/discovery process of new and different abilities play out that much in comics, and if you do it’s REALLY slow. Spiderman today vs. Spiderman of 1963 is better because he’s more experienced and mature, not because he is innately more powerful. In game terms, his Resolve and Fighting have gone up, but that’s about it. He’s still basically the same guy. I don’t like this for extended campaign play; if you start at level 5 (whatever that is), how do you ever get to be level 10? I understand that Spidey will never be the physical equal of Thor, but as a player I’d like my game version of Spidey to get noticeably better as I play.
Conversely, the fantasy RPG paradigm has been gradual progress as you go, slowing the more powerful you get, and this has been reinforced by video games. You probably can knock out the first few levels in a handful of adventures, but the higher levels are going to linger. Resolute doesn’t really support this approach, since the distribution of CPs into abilities and the points-based approach to character building don’t align with this. I do think that this is already built into the ability system anyway; you only need 2 CPs to move an ability from +3 to +4, but you need 5 CPs to move it from +9 to +10. Things go slower at the higher end on an ability-by-ability basis, not necessarily in overall character power.
One of the things I toyed with while writing Mythweaver: Reckoning was the idea of giving multiple levels of complexity for various game functions, giving the whole thing more of a toolkit feel. I can see this particular element of Resolute working that way… for instance, my instinct right now is to give you two options for progress: a standard option, and the ‘lite’ option. (This may be a good way to designate this in the rules; a small sidebar appears near a more complicated rule to give the ‘lite’ option. This way, you can layer in elements of the game as you play or as you introduce things to new players).
Here’s the crunchy option:
An experience point is 1% of a character point. When you earn 100 experience points, you redeem these for 1 character point, or you continue to accrue these until you have sufficient experience to redeem for the desired CPs; you want to move your stamina from +4 to +5, and you need 3 CPs to do this. You bank your experience until you get to 300 experience points, and you then redeem these for 3 CPs.
The referee awards experience points at the end of every scene. Completing a scene is worth a base of 10 experience points +/- the difference between the level of the team of heroes and the level of their adversary. If four heroes (two of level 5 and two of level 4) face a necromancer of level 8 and his zombie minion of level 6, the heroes earn 9 experience points each (the total level of the foe was 1 level below theirs, so 10-1=9). In the following scene, they overcome eight rabid wolves (each of level 3), earning 8 experience points each (the total level of the foes was 2 levels below theirs, so 10-2=8). In the third scene, they face a wyvern of level 15. For this, they earn 13 experience points each, since this foe was 3 levels higher than their total level; 10+3=13.
The heroes have a total level of 12 (5+2.5+2+2= 11.5, rounded up to 12)
The necromancer/pet combo has a total level of 11 (8+3)
The eight wolves have a total level of 14 (3+1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5= 13.5, rounded up to 14)
The wyvern has a total level of 15, as a level 15 foe.
Light Option: Award 10 experience points at the end of every scene in which the heroes successfully overcome a challenge.
Conversely, the fantasy RPG paradigm has been gradual progress as you go, slowing the more powerful you get, and this has been reinforced by video games. You probably can knock out the first few levels in a handful of adventures, but the higher levels are going to linger. Resolute doesn’t really support this approach, since the distribution of CPs into abilities and the points-based approach to character building don’t align with this. I do think that this is already built into the ability system anyway; you only need 2 CPs to move an ability from +3 to +4, but you need 5 CPs to move it from +9 to +10. Things go slower at the higher end on an ability-by-ability basis, not necessarily in overall character power.
One of the things I toyed with while writing Mythweaver: Reckoning was the idea of giving multiple levels of complexity for various game functions, giving the whole thing more of a toolkit feel. I can see this particular element of Resolute working that way… for instance, my instinct right now is to give you two options for progress: a standard option, and the ‘lite’ option. (This may be a good way to designate this in the rules; a small sidebar appears near a more complicated rule to give the ‘lite’ option. This way, you can layer in elements of the game as you play or as you introduce things to new players).
Here’s the crunchy option:
An experience point is 1% of a character point. When you earn 100 experience points, you redeem these for 1 character point, or you continue to accrue these until you have sufficient experience to redeem for the desired CPs; you want to move your stamina from +4 to +5, and you need 3 CPs to do this. You bank your experience until you get to 300 experience points, and you then redeem these for 3 CPs.
The referee awards experience points at the end of every scene. Completing a scene is worth a base of 10 experience points +/- the difference between the level of the team of heroes and the level of their adversary. If four heroes (two of level 5 and two of level 4) face a necromancer of level 8 and his zombie minion of level 6, the heroes earn 9 experience points each (the total level of the foe was 1 level below theirs, so 10-1=9). In the following scene, they overcome eight rabid wolves (each of level 3), earning 8 experience points each (the total level of the foes was 2 levels below theirs, so 10-2=8). In the third scene, they face a wyvern of level 15. For this, they earn 13 experience points each, since this foe was 3 levels higher than their total level; 10+3=13.
The heroes have a total level of 12 (5+2.5+2+2= 11.5, rounded up to 12)
The necromancer/pet combo has a total level of 11 (8+3)
The eight wolves have a total level of 14 (3+1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5= 13.5, rounded up to 14)
The wyvern has a total level of 15, as a level 15 foe.
Light Option: Award 10 experience points at the end of every scene in which the heroes successfully overcome a challenge.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Rewards and Character Progression
There are several different layers of character and player rewards that can and should be part of the game. I’m endeavoring to find a perfect balance (at least for my play style) of crunch and flexibility. I know that experience awarding (or whatever economy you use for character progression) runs the full gamut from overly complex to far-too-simple. Here are a few things I want to avoid:
- minutia of counting individual experience awards, with all manner of factors for bonuses, penalties and the like (divide the level of the most powerful foe by 15 and add the number of players in the group x3… count every henchman or summoned creature as ½ a player).
- hand-wavey experience that gives the referee few concrete examples to work from (if your group did well, give ‘em 20 more XPs)
- ‘role-playing’ based rewards. This is tough, because you want to reward players for exceptional play… but this leads into a general thought about play styles…
Several GM/Referee sections I’ve seen discuss how to deal with ‘problem players’, or how to characterize the play style of different people in your gaming group. Really, I think that the referee section just needs a paragraph on social dynamics- this is a social game, and the more you know your players and what they are like as people, the better you are going to be at running games for them. You need to listen to and adapt the game for the group of people you are with. For every specific piece of advice you give for how to deal with a ‘rules lawyer’, you are going to have a ‘rules lawyer’ as a player who defies those descriptions. This sort of thinking also fosters a really negative approach to gaming- putting each of your players into a narrow definition before you even start playing. These people are all as complex as you are (and in many cases probably more so!), and deserve to be approached that way.
This applies to rewards in that many GM sections infer a ‘correct’ way to play the game. If you are a social person who has his characters make sacrifices for the group and who tends to play quirky characters, you tend to get rewarded. This is generally the way I play. However, the people I most regularly game with (which is sadly rare these days) have a wide range of styles.
- One player likes to break stuff. As long as she is hitting and dealing a lot of damage, she’s fine. She doesn’t want a lot of tactical options; she doesn’t want fiddly details to worry about. She wants to swing the biggest weapon possible and do the most damage each time.
- Another player likes to encounter epic fantasy elements. She likes dragons and castles and elfin kingdoms. She doesn’t like slogging through dungeons particularly or worrying about the contents of her backpack. She wants to be heroic against medium challenges; she doesn’t want to have to face exceptionally difficult foes or barely escape with her life. She’d prefer to win most fights with only a few scratches on her armor.
- The third player likes to think through all problems. He doesn’t like to get into the heart of a battle. He’d rather sit back, survey what’s happening, help develop strategy, heal, provide support for other characters and generally get as much utility out of his character as he can.
- The fourth player wants to be cool, and find creative new ways to solve every situation. He wants to use flaming arrows to cause the roof to cave in on the group of goblins rather than just firing the arrows at them; he wants to use his pet raven to blind the sorcerer to help the team overcome him, rather than just dishing out as much damage as possible.
At the front end, I’ve endeavored to build the game to tailor all of these styles. The first two players are not going to purchase a lot of resolve; they want to know what they can do and do it. The second two players are going to purchase more resolve; they want flexibility and creativity in the moment. Player three is going to pick up lore, leadership, storytelling, healing, stun, boost spells and energize weapon… he’ll have tons of options for helping the group. Player four is going to take a lot of resolve, allowing him to use his intuition to improve his bow attack, pumping his own fighting into his raven’s talon strike, and generally doing all sorts of whacky things (often successfully, because he built his character to do that).
At the back end, the game shouldn’t penalize players for approaching the game a certain way. If you always give a bonus for ‘heroism’, player three is always going to miss it. He sits back and lets others take all the damage, but he also makes sure that they stay vertical. He typically finds the safest spot on any battle field. That’s how he plays. Penalizing him for this (or rewarding other players for not doing this) will not ‘encourage him to play better’… he plays just fine! All it will do is build slow resentment against the other players, the referee, or the game itself. All of these are detrimental. The same is true for ‘role playing’ rewards or for using special skills or abilities. A thief should not get a special bonus for finding a hidden door; isn’t that just part of his role in the group?
To summarize, the way that experience is doled out should be fair, dynamic, and easy to adjudicate…
- minutia of counting individual experience awards, with all manner of factors for bonuses, penalties and the like (divide the level of the most powerful foe by 15 and add the number of players in the group x3… count every henchman or summoned creature as ½ a player).
- hand-wavey experience that gives the referee few concrete examples to work from (if your group did well, give ‘em 20 more XPs)
- ‘role-playing’ based rewards. This is tough, because you want to reward players for exceptional play… but this leads into a general thought about play styles…
Several GM/Referee sections I’ve seen discuss how to deal with ‘problem players’, or how to characterize the play style of different people in your gaming group. Really, I think that the referee section just needs a paragraph on social dynamics- this is a social game, and the more you know your players and what they are like as people, the better you are going to be at running games for them. You need to listen to and adapt the game for the group of people you are with. For every specific piece of advice you give for how to deal with a ‘rules lawyer’, you are going to have a ‘rules lawyer’ as a player who defies those descriptions. This sort of thinking also fosters a really negative approach to gaming- putting each of your players into a narrow definition before you even start playing. These people are all as complex as you are (and in many cases probably more so!), and deserve to be approached that way.
This applies to rewards in that many GM sections infer a ‘correct’ way to play the game. If you are a social person who has his characters make sacrifices for the group and who tends to play quirky characters, you tend to get rewarded. This is generally the way I play. However, the people I most regularly game with (which is sadly rare these days) have a wide range of styles.
- One player likes to break stuff. As long as she is hitting and dealing a lot of damage, she’s fine. She doesn’t want a lot of tactical options; she doesn’t want fiddly details to worry about. She wants to swing the biggest weapon possible and do the most damage each time.
- Another player likes to encounter epic fantasy elements. She likes dragons and castles and elfin kingdoms. She doesn’t like slogging through dungeons particularly or worrying about the contents of her backpack. She wants to be heroic against medium challenges; she doesn’t want to have to face exceptionally difficult foes or barely escape with her life. She’d prefer to win most fights with only a few scratches on her armor.
- The third player likes to think through all problems. He doesn’t like to get into the heart of a battle. He’d rather sit back, survey what’s happening, help develop strategy, heal, provide support for other characters and generally get as much utility out of his character as he can.
- The fourth player wants to be cool, and find creative new ways to solve every situation. He wants to use flaming arrows to cause the roof to cave in on the group of goblins rather than just firing the arrows at them; he wants to use his pet raven to blind the sorcerer to help the team overcome him, rather than just dishing out as much damage as possible.
At the front end, I’ve endeavored to build the game to tailor all of these styles. The first two players are not going to purchase a lot of resolve; they want to know what they can do and do it. The second two players are going to purchase more resolve; they want flexibility and creativity in the moment. Player three is going to pick up lore, leadership, storytelling, healing, stun, boost spells and energize weapon… he’ll have tons of options for helping the group. Player four is going to take a lot of resolve, allowing him to use his intuition to improve his bow attack, pumping his own fighting into his raven’s talon strike, and generally doing all sorts of whacky things (often successfully, because he built his character to do that).
At the back end, the game shouldn’t penalize players for approaching the game a certain way. If you always give a bonus for ‘heroism’, player three is always going to miss it. He sits back and lets others take all the damage, but he also makes sure that they stay vertical. He typically finds the safest spot on any battle field. That’s how he plays. Penalizing him for this (or rewarding other players for not doing this) will not ‘encourage him to play better’… he plays just fine! All it will do is build slow resentment against the other players, the referee, or the game itself. All of these are detrimental. The same is true for ‘role playing’ rewards or for using special skills or abilities. A thief should not get a special bonus for finding a hidden door; isn’t that just part of his role in the group?
To summarize, the way that experience is doled out should be fair, dynamic, and easy to adjudicate…
Monster #2: Harpies
I’m going to stick with threats to low-level heroes for a bit. Here’s a creature that I think could play havoc with a low-level group of heroes quickly. If it happens to charm 2 or 3 members of the team, there’s going to be trouble!
Concept: Creatures with the head and torso of hideous women and the lower bodies of huge vultures, harpies dwell in fallen lands, seeking to lure mortals into their traps. Their beautiful song belies their malignant nature.
Harpy Deathsinger (22 CPs)
Charm +4; Fighting +3; Flight +2; Focus +2; Intuition +2; Might +2; Stamina +3
Harpies wield clubs +3, dealing +5 damage with these weapons.
Charm allows you to take control of the minds of other living creatures that you can communicate with, within rating range. Targets roll focus to resist your charm. Targets built on more CPs than you are have automatic immunity to your charms, although you may use a resolve point to allow you to attempt to charm a target built on more CPs than you are; however, a target built on more than twice your CP total is always immune; if you are built on 30 CPs, you may attempt to charm a target built on up to 30 CPs at will; you may attempt to charm a target built on up to 60 CPs by spending a resolve point; you may not attempt to charm a target built on more than 60 CPs.
• As an ability, you may attempt to charm a number of times per scene equal to your charm rating, affecting targets up to your charm rating range. With charm +5, you could charm (and control) up to 5 different targets simultaneously.
• As an application, you may attempt to charm once per scene, using the linked ability rating up to the linked ability range. With lore +6 (charm), you may charm a living target up to 6 units away, rolling +6 vs. the target’s focus.
Concept: Creatures with the head and torso of hideous women and the lower bodies of huge vultures, harpies dwell in fallen lands, seeking to lure mortals into their traps. Their beautiful song belies their malignant nature.
Harpy Deathsinger (22 CPs)
Charm +4; Fighting +3; Flight +2; Focus +2; Intuition +2; Might +2; Stamina +3
Harpies wield clubs +3, dealing +5 damage with these weapons.
Charm allows you to take control of the minds of other living creatures that you can communicate with, within rating range. Targets roll focus to resist your charm. Targets built on more CPs than you are have automatic immunity to your charms, although you may use a resolve point to allow you to attempt to charm a target built on more CPs than you are; however, a target built on more than twice your CP total is always immune; if you are built on 30 CPs, you may attempt to charm a target built on up to 30 CPs at will; you may attempt to charm a target built on up to 60 CPs by spending a resolve point; you may not attempt to charm a target built on more than 60 CPs.
• As an ability, you may attempt to charm a number of times per scene equal to your charm rating, affecting targets up to your charm rating range. With charm +5, you could charm (and control) up to 5 different targets simultaneously.
• As an application, you may attempt to charm once per scene, using the linked ability rating up to the linked ability range. With lore +6 (charm), you may charm a living target up to 6 units away, rolling +6 vs. the target’s focus.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Monster A Day for the New Year (or at least a month!)
I always learn a great deal about a game by building monsters for it; they tend to have wacky, oddball powers and abilities that inherently break the game. How does dragon breath work compared to other attacks? What about poison? Petrification? The semi-transparency of spirits? The fluid form of animated jellies?
It’s a pickle; or rather, it's a jar of pickles.
I’m going to spend the month of January creating a monster a day (in addition to other blog posts I do; some days you’ll get double the goodness!). Most of these will end up in the core book at some point, although I can’t say for sure where and how they’ll make it in; also, a caveat: these are drafts and not finished versions of anything.
One of the goals is to make the experience of fighting monsters different. It should feel different to battle different foes; you use different abilities and face different challenges depending upon the abilities of the foes you face.
Monster #1: Myrmidon Ant
Idea: I like bugs as a staple of fantasy gaming. I usually default to spiders (the image of the spiders climbing out of the sand and attacking the heroes in the first Desert of Desolation module is one of my all-time favorite gaming scenes). I'll mix it up a little by going with ants instead.
Concept: stout, giant ants (3’ long), these burrowing pests attack en masse, growing more powerful as the battle continues. They attack without reason, seeking to kill and take food wherever and whenever they can. Having a virtually bottomless hunger, myrmidon ants have wiped out entire communities.
Myrmidon Ant Soldier (30 CPs)
Battle Acumen +3; Burrowing +2; Intuition +2; Invulnerability +4; Fighting +4; Might +3 (mandible strike); Stamina +4
Ability Notes:
• Battle Acumen stacks with your fighting. Each round after the first, you take a +1 shift to your fighting, up to your battle acumen rating. With battle acumen +3 and fighting +4, myrmidon ants have fighting +4 in round 1 of every new combat; this moves to fighting +5 in round 2; to fighting +6 in round 3; and to fighting +7 in round 4 (and beyond). With battle acumen +10 and fighting +20, by round 11 of a combat, you’d have fighting +20… that’s pretty awesome (but then again, you did invest 60 points to get it).
• Burrowing is an ability that sets your travel rate (in units per turn) through earth and soil; as an application, you can purchase this linked to speed, allowing you to move your speed rating through soil, not taking the +3 bonus that all creatures normally get while moving. Swimming will be a similar ability, although swimming as an application defaults to 1 unit per turn, + your speed rating as applicable.
It’s a pickle; or rather, it's a jar of pickles.
I’m going to spend the month of January creating a monster a day (in addition to other blog posts I do; some days you’ll get double the goodness!). Most of these will end up in the core book at some point, although I can’t say for sure where and how they’ll make it in; also, a caveat: these are drafts and not finished versions of anything.
One of the goals is to make the experience of fighting monsters different. It should feel different to battle different foes; you use different abilities and face different challenges depending upon the abilities of the foes you face.
Monster #1: Myrmidon Ant
Idea: I like bugs as a staple of fantasy gaming. I usually default to spiders (the image of the spiders climbing out of the sand and attacking the heroes in the first Desert of Desolation module is one of my all-time favorite gaming scenes). I'll mix it up a little by going with ants instead.
Concept: stout, giant ants (3’ long), these burrowing pests attack en masse, growing more powerful as the battle continues. They attack without reason, seeking to kill and take food wherever and whenever they can. Having a virtually bottomless hunger, myrmidon ants have wiped out entire communities.
Myrmidon Ant Soldier (30 CPs)
Battle Acumen +3; Burrowing +2; Intuition +2; Invulnerability +4; Fighting +4; Might +3 (mandible strike); Stamina +4
Ability Notes:
• Battle Acumen stacks with your fighting. Each round after the first, you take a +1 shift to your fighting, up to your battle acumen rating. With battle acumen +3 and fighting +4, myrmidon ants have fighting +4 in round 1 of every new combat; this moves to fighting +5 in round 2; to fighting +6 in round 3; and to fighting +7 in round 4 (and beyond). With battle acumen +10 and fighting +20, by round 11 of a combat, you’d have fighting +20… that’s pretty awesome (but then again, you did invest 60 points to get it).
• Burrowing is an ability that sets your travel rate (in units per turn) through earth and soil; as an application, you can purchase this linked to speed, allowing you to move your speed rating through soil, not taking the +3 bonus that all creatures normally get while moving. Swimming will be a similar ability, although swimming as an application defaults to 1 unit per turn, + your speed rating as applicable.
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