Backup Story in Skye Stalwart #2

I played out the events of the backup story for Skye Stalwart #2... you have the introductory page I did (I posted it again for your reference), and then the actual play of the fight... spoiler alert: it's as ugly as you think it would be.

Battle Master has, obviously, been expecting them. “I knew if I waited until Twilight Archer was on another mission and then just ‘happened’ to have your detection system find me, you wouldn’t be able to help yourselves… I figure that Twilight Archer has taken enough of my students. It’s time to return the favor…” He activates his battle staff and prepares for combat… the Young Wardens do the same.

Initiative. Battle Master has used nemesis to prepare for this fight, so rolls D12. He rolls 1 and 5, so keeps the 5. The team makes a representative roll, and gets 2. He wins, getting to attempt 6 actions (from the +1 shift from nemesis). “I don’t like magic…” he uses 1 action to get close to Minnow, and attacks. He rolls 2 and 8, keeping the 8, and landing a critical hit (dealing D16 damage because it’s a critical hit with nemesis, so a +2 dice shift from his normal D10 damage). He gets 14 (!) and drops Minnow on the first shot. Okay, then. He turns next to Aria, using 1 action to cross to her and attacking. He attacks with 6 and 9, keeping the 9. Even with her shield, she cannot parry this, and it’s a critical hit, so he deals 12 damage; she soaks 5 and suffers 7. He attacks again and gets 12 and 5, another hit (12) that’s critical and that she cannot parry. He deals 11 damage, but she soaks 5 and suffers 6. She has suffered 11 hits, and is at 9. He has one more action, so he attacks a third time and gets 9, 9… so another critical hit. He deals 9 damage, and she soaks 5, so her hits are down to 5. He spends a villain point to add D12 to this damage, and gets a 12 additional damage – OUCH. She’s down. Halfway through the round, Battle Master has already dropped two of the four members of the team.

Windsprint runs at him (using 1 action), and then punches 3 times as he circles around Battle Master; he needs a 7 or better to hit (on D8), so I don’t like his chances… he rolls 5, 8, 3, hitting once. He deals 4 hits, but Battle Master’s armor absorbs all of this. Kid Cadet uses 1 action to pick up Aria’s shield, and then attacks with it, missing with a 5. He spends a hero point, getting only a 2 (!), but this is enough to bump it to a 7, and just barely hit. He deals only 1 point with the shield… he smacks Battle Master in the face, and Battle Master doesn’t flinch.

Ruh Roh.

Round 2. Both Minnow and Aria try to recover… each checks tier (DT 4)… Minnow gets a 6, but Aria only gets 2. She spends a hero point, and gets a 6, so she is back up as well (but only with 2 hero points remaining). Battle Master starts spinning and whirling his battle staff; he attacks Windsprint first, getting 5 and 1, with the 5 barely hitting. He deals 5 damage with his staff, leaving Windsprint at 9. He attacks again, getting 9 and 5, so the 9 is critical. For damage, he rolls 15, and LEVELS Windsprint (basically clotheslining him as Wind is trying to run in circles around him). He has 4 actions remaining; he starts spinning and kicking at Aria, attacking with a natural 12 and dealing 7 hits. She soaks 5 but suffers 2 from her 10, now at 8. Cadet is still holding her shield, trying to find a moment to toss it to her (and availability of an action to do that). Battle Master spins his staff, striking at her and getting another natural 12 (critical damage). Cadet uses a hero point to take an action now, throwing the shield in front of the attack; he gets to make a hero point check, and if the result is high enough (he’d need an 8 on D8), he times the shield so that it absorbs the blow… he gets a 2 (womp womp). Battle Master is actually able to spin the shield as it’s flying and angles the edge into Aria's stomach. He deals 13 hits to her (she soaks 5), but the 8 is enough to drop her again. She’s back down. He still has 2 actions left. He turns back towards Minnow and wallops her again, getting a 3 and a natural 12… so another critical hit, this one dealing 12 damage. She’s down again. Since both Aria and Minnow have been felled twice, they are defeated. He uses his final action this round to punch Windsprint in the head, causing him to be defeated as well. Cadet moves towards him. Battle Master kicks Aria’s shield towards him, telling him to pick it up. He does, and attacks. Cadet attacks twice with the shield as a weapon, getting 2 and 5, so missing twice. He has already used a hero point this round, so there’s not much he can do.

Round 3. Battle Master circles Cadet. Cadet wonders aloud, “why aren’t you attacking me?” Battle Master answers, “you get stronger the more you get hit… so, as long as I don’t hit you, you never get stronger… like this, you cannot possibly challenge me.”

Cadet knows there’s nothing to do, so he activates his communicator. “Cadet to Twilight Archer… emergency protocol seven.”

Battle Master grabs the communicator from Cadet (I don’t bother rolling)… “Ah, Twilight Archer. Good to talk to you. I’m about to kill your students, so I’m glad to have you with us. I’d like you to hear this.”

Twilight Archer’s voice crackles back, “Oh, hey. Battle Master. Glad to have you on the line. You should know that I’ve just planted several hundred pounds of plastic explosive under your primary training facility in Echo City. It’s taken all morning, but I’m pretty sure I can wipe the whole thing out. That’s, what, about a million and a half? Maybe two million bucks.”

Battle Master pauses. “I’m going to kill your students”

Twilight Archer’s voice comes back, “Then I’ll destroy your facility. Checkmate.”

Battle Master resumes, “I’ll let them go, and you disarm your explosives. On my word.”

A pause. Archer’s voice comes back, “Deal accepted.”

Battle Master hands the communicator back to Cadet, “next time I meet you, it ends a lot messier.” And then he’s gone.

Windsprint starts to come around, “So.. did we win?”

END

Analysis:

Okay, Battle Master is as advertised. Having elite tier + nemesis + knowledge of who's most dangerous is lethal... Minnow is by far the most dangerous; she has magic and can basically do anything she can imagine... Aria is second because of her ability to do damage; Windsprint and Cadet are really only minimally able to deal damage to him, and he knows that. He attacks in order. I had him use strategy and tactics, and it paid off. Lots of actions plus several critical hits equals lots of heroes dropping quick. I REALLY like the rules for elite and prodigy.

I had already worked out the 'story' ahead of time, so I knew that if the heroes lost (I expected they would, but not THAT easily), I had a way to save their bacon.

I didn't get to try out magic at all (Minnow dropped both times before she could act), and I would be curious if she and Aria would be able to at least make things difficult for Battle Master if the team had a little bit of strategy in place. I devised Battle Master's strategy on the fly as I was playing, but it made a lot of sense. Cadet never gets to take advantage of his dice shifts and boosts if he never gets felled; so just don't attack him, and he stays at his weakest. It's how a master tactician would think. I'm kind of proud of that one :) But, realistically, if Minnow is able to hit him with a stun spell and rolls really well, she at least gets him to spend a hero point to neutralize it, and then this creates opportunities for her and Aria to beat on him a little more... Aria has the potential to deal 12 hits with her shield, and a hero point could bump this up to as much as 20, so there's a chance she's able to start hammering him a little. I guess we'll never know...

An Introductory Page...

So, I'm going to very shortly play out a battle between the Young Wardens and Battle Master, but as I was walking to get a cup of coffee, I thought of what the first page of this comic would look like. So, rather than describe it, I thought I would just draw it... here's the splash page to the backup story in Skye Stalwart: The Girl Who Fell to Earth #2... I've thought about giving a sample interior page or two over time, but never actually did it until now. I expect I'll do a few of these for moments in Doc Stalwart history...

 

When Things Start Clicking

This might be the strangest of indicators, but this is how I know that things are clicking... I was drawing Mongrel (who originally was going to be 'Feral', but I decided to save that character for the next book, and put a lower-tier starter villain in this one). He was a pretty generic Vermin sort of dude until I added the "I Love Echo City" on his t-shirt... and then I got the idea for the backstory about street hot dogs... and then I decided to make it the backup story in an April-fools themed issue. And now this is one of my favorite characters, just because of his interesting backstory. It's silly and goofy, but he's now far more memorable than 'guy who was exposed to toxins' he was going to be. Now I want to write a silly story about how Doc Stalwart is running around Echo City with a tranquilizer gun trying to find this guy so he can 'cure' him, while Mongrel goes from street hotdog vendor to street hotdog vendor, trying to get his revenge... Doc finally tracks him down, tranquilizes him, administers the cure. The guy thanks Doc, shakes his hand, and wishes him well. Doc leaves. Then, the guy goes out and decides to try one of those delicious hot dogs from a street vendor...

 

Stalwart V 1.1 Release Notes

Release notes? Dang. Like a real game designer or something... Changes to the Stalwart core rules in v1.1 include:

• Re-named tiers at the D20 threshold to make it more accessible to players.
• Added rules (-1/+1) for shifts down from D4 and up from D20.
• Revised Hero Points to a pool of tier dice to use daily.
• Revised language for might thresholds to representative items instead of weights.
• Added language for thresholds at the D20 tier to better imply this is a playable tier.
• Changed action rules; you no longer suffer a penalty to SVs when using actions beyond half your tier SV, only to dice (because there is no way to account for this before your turn; you do not necessarily know before your turn how many actions you will use, so the penalty would not apply; this would therefore penalize characters acting earlier in the round by having SVs drop after acting).
• Added move to character creation checklist.
• Revised gift: Heal (now just usable once per minute, but a hero point allows it to be used again).
• Revised gift: Jump (now grants distance based on endure using standard distance rules in 3.2)
• Revised gift: Melee Weapon is now just Melee (with examples like bite, claw and weapon given)
• Revised gift: Reflection now lets you hit the original attacker or another foe nearby.
• Revised the language of Telekinesis for simplicity and clarity.
• Revised gift: Shape Change (now grants one gift like a bite, amphibious, or flight)
• 
  Added gifts: Elite, Mind Shield (so that focus no longer automatically soaks mental damage), Prodigy
• Revised tag: Leadership (now grants a bonus to one ally check per round).
• Revised tag: Martial Arts (to account for rating granting bonus to unarmed melee damage)
• Revised tag: Stealth (to refer to tier and not reflex, since tier governs sneak attempts).
• Added limitation: Impaired
• Added specific rules for villain points and tenacity as a villainous option.
• Added guard dogs, sharks, and t-rexes as more sample animals.
• Revised the stat blocks to align with current stat block format I am using in the World of Stalwart.

Also, Gladius the Grim is me attempting to see how Stalwart does at emulating the world's most iconic superhero. All in all, it feels pretty much where it should be... he's got a stat block in the World of Stalwart.

Another Minor Tweak: The Flying Ratman Rule

I obviously won't CALL it this rule, because of trademark infringement and all those silly things, but the idea is actually pretty simple. It's a gift called Prodigy; as a prodigy, you have a pool of points in tags equal to your tier die instead of your tier SV (so double as many points). You may have a tag rated as high as your tier SV -1.

I got to thinking about this because of poor Twilight Archer. I've made him a key figure in the story of the world; he's a mover and a shaker behind the scenes. He is not the guy you need in a fight; but he's the guy you need before and after (and maybe on the sidelines during) the fight, since he's going to help strategize, and he's going to coordinate stuff, and he's going to be one step ahead.

But right now, he's a pretty bland regular old paragon-tier hero. Nothing in his stat block would suggest any of those things about him, so the implication is that this all has to come through in role playing. And that's great, except that this is a game with mechanics and stuff, and the mechanics should support the roleplaying. The roleplaying cannot be an excuse to cover up holes in the mechanics. 

Using this new gift, Twilight goes from 4 tag points (capped at +2) to 8 tag points (capped at +3).

This moves him from (Aim +2, Infiltration +1, Stalwart +1) to (Aim +3, Infiltration +1, Leadership +2, Stalwart +1, Stealth +1). By also giving him the Elite gift on his tier, he gets to roll 2 dice for all tier checks (which covers both his attack AND damage /effects rolls, since his trick weapon is linked to his tier). He's still a normal guy - just super well trained and very efficient. The mechanics now reflect what the roleplaying should indicate.

The reality is that everyone would want this gift, but only a few characters should truly have it. And everyone wants invulneraerable and resists to all energies and time travel and disintegration, too, but the game stops being fun if everyone has those things.

As far as the Flying Ratman, I figure that he's maybe legendary tier (D12) but he has D8 across the board; he has elite tier, and the prodigy gift gives him 12 points in tags, with caps as high as +5 (which he will probably never use). He could have profession (detective) +4, stealth +2, infiltration +2, and maybe a +4 in stalwart so he gets a bunch of hero points to offset the places he might be lacking otherwise. This begins to feel more like flying ratman; the game now gives a viable pathway to build him, and also (because of the way points can be allocated) creates a lot of different variations on this character; you could now have four or five characters on a team with similar builds, but because they are going to have different point allocations (Twilight and Ratman on the same team, for instance), they are going to be functionally different in play.

One of my own admissions about the game (in a discussion thread on DriveThru) was that it doesn't do street level 'great' because of the limited options you have. Between the elite and prodigy gifts, you now have all of the tools you need to build much more variety in your lower-tier (more mortal) characters.  

Hero and Villain Points - Some Thoughts

In working on the World of Stalwart, I am going through and figuring out not only how gifts (powers) work, but also how these are used in the context of larger comic book narratives. I was thinking specifically about hero points and how Augury (Doc's wife) was able to maintain a mind block in Doc's mind to blind him to two truths - first, that he had a twin brother, and second that she was pregnant with his daughter. She had to do something to make these last beyond the normal limits of mind control; the idea that she gives up an action in perpetuity seemed unreasonable... but then I thought about hero points.

One option for hero points can (and should probably) be that they can be used to maintain the effects of a gift over very long periods of time. You basically give up a hero point from your pool for as long as you want to maintain this effect; in essence, by the time she was pregnant with Skye, Augury had only 3 of her 5 hero points when at full capacity; 2 of these were allocated to maintaining ongoing effects.

I really like this because she could, theoretically, have 5 ongoing long-term effects, but would then have 0 points in her hero pool. Since it is presumed that she probably already gave 2 of those to the shared pool to be a member of the Victory Legion, she only had 1 hero points left of her own when not working with the Legion. 

This kind of makes me want to revisit hero points, and maybe upgrade their effectiveness while downgrading how many you get. For instance, instead of a hero point being a +1 on a roll, a hero point gives you your tier die to add to any exising result... you could use a hero point to add to evade against a certain attack, or to increase damage on a successful strike by your tier die. This is a bit more powerful, but you'd only get your pool each day instead of each minute. This makes hero points more valuable, but also more precious. 

In reviewing the rules for Stalwart Age, I also liked the villain mechanism of Tenacity - as a villain, you get to use a villain point to check tier; if you get a 4 or better, you can just completely ignore something that just happened (snatch the arrow out of the air and break it in half; step aside of the sonic blast because you have been preparing to face this foe). I like this as a general mechanism that makes battles about resource management as much as they are about just hitting each other as hard as possible as many times as possible; if you spend a hero point to strike Vyperion with a huge ion blast, and he spend a villain point to just leap out of the way because he anticipated this, it feels more comic accurate. You're trying to get your foes to use up their hero or villain points early in the fight while holding off on your best options until later so that you maximize the opportunities to be successful.

Just some thoughts. And here's a drawing I did of Boom-R-Ang and Boondock because they are next to each other alphabetically... plus, Boom and Boon sounds like a great tag team, even though they have nothing to do with each other...

  

Day 25

After 25 days, Stalwart is a Copper Seller, and has sold a total of 70 copies. This is an AMAZING number of sales for a small game from a small publisher. I've also sold 12 copies of the Stalwart Companion (although the total number of downloads is 63). I presume, based on the way sales went, that the Companion helped to sell a few more of the core rules (which is why it was put up as PWYW). I figured that once people could see how the game is built and how it works, they might want to get the core rules - that appears to have been the case, since sales picked back up after the release of the Companion, and have been consistent (a few a day) all month.

My instinct right now is to start moving towards wrapping up the World of Stalwart as a "Volume 1" and releasing that in early July (also as a PWYW). I'd like to find a way to get it 'down' to 48 pages (it's over 50 right now, but with some white space I could tighten up). I think that if people see how robust the game setting is and how much opportunity it presents to maybe revitalize some supers games, people might be willing to give the core rules a try (because, you know, they're a dollar). I've added a lot of content to that (like Microbe).

Also, I really like how flexible this ruleset is in allowing you to create supers and build custom gifts. For example, I built the character of Cadet the Boy Patriot this morning, and tried to figure out how the 'American Spirit' would look as a super power (other than just aping Captain America for the 80th time). I decided that he's a relatively normal dude (D6 across the board) who's a trained combatant (so he has brawling)... but that every time he gets knocked down (felled), he gets back up stronger than before (so he gets a boost to Might and Reflex... first to D8, and then to D10). I like the symbolism of that power (your defeats just keep making you stronger), and the mechanics of the game allowed it to fit very easily (being felled, dice shifts). I didn't have to create any new mechanics; I just applied existing mechanics to the new idea. I also gave him elite tier, just to show that he was a little bit elevated. He's in the World of Stalwart draft as a member of the Young Wardens.