Sup I've been working on this system for about a year and a half now and I'd like to get some folks who has some sparetime to try it out.
N00b Of Clandestein
and what the hell is it
Because I get tired of overly complicated settings where a player might have a hard time stretching themselves to (even though folks here accomplish it with great effect) or embelleshing in roles of ancient demigods with a millenia and a half lifespan only to seem totally out of context with the acting- I created this game where people are only expected to play as the one thing they wont go wrong in - themselves... or similar archetypes thereof.
In this game people start one step away from themselves and from there progress leaps and bounds in accordance to the situation that arises before them. A plain clothes fantasy for lack of a better term.
This is where the fantasy kicks in.
In n0c, the setting is negligible, people can start from where they sit and inevitably some great situation will pull them away to a start of an adventure. From there are the untested parts of the game, lengths and distances in which current beta players have yet to cover. Bear with me- people have yet to reach level 10 in this engine.
Huh? (aka Setting)
Players are anonymously mailed a keychain and glasses with nothing to go on but a manual. What results is that they are taken to a globally immersive virtual realm reminiscent of MMORpgs with nothing but the clothes on their backs (and maybe the knife in their pockets). In here is a mirror of their current world after facing a post apocalyptic collapse- where man has to start again, and in their former cities are inconcievable beings that prey on them. Monsters being the long and short of it.
While players dont exactly share in the plight of this new humanity they have been welcomed as beings of legend in this displaced world of witches, knights, gunmen, dinosaurs, and pop up ads.
And ?
From there its adventure time. Take what you learned in this world of simulations and meta gaming and see what you can make of this place. Of course, I ask that you dont die - respawning is gonna hurt more than you think.
Sounds Fun Where do I sign up ?
Just reply to this thread if you're interested, I'd be more than happy to post all necessary info involved in playing this game.
The System.
D10+Stat+Skills
added that and possible spirit you may use to bet on this roll. Spirit being the quintessential HP of this game. Should you run out of it, you leave your character's fate to the GM's hands. Other than that it should be easy to carve out your own legend from scratch.
Die used so far is a d10, difficulty rolls are decided by bogey die (d6 times d10) , an enemy's stat pair (spd+endurance to determine AC for example), or science (1str accounts for 10lbs, 1spd crosses one square etc)
Turns are approached with an AB approach. Where one side goes(no particualr turn order necessary) , and the other reacts and Vis a vis. Reacting incurs a speed roll in which the player tries their best to stimey the enemy's attempts until their turn comes.
Character Generation:
There are 5 attributes to Player generation, Class, Stats, Skills, Element, and Race - but since everyone's playing human for now let's just scratch out Race.
Player Classes can pick from 6 base classes.
Squire-Warrior, Fighter Types
Esper- Caster, Puzzlegame types
Kit- Bookworm, Logistic support type
Scout- Survivalist, hard to kill types
Vagrant-Adventurer, All around custom types
Stats-Players usually start with a predetermined spread of stats according to their class.
Those stats are usually:
Will(Will) - Your ability to have a strong mental reserve keeping a clear head in the most demoralizing situations will keep you sharp. Also your ability to make things explode with your mind.
Str(Strength) - Your body's ability to outwardly affect/go against other physical elements.
End(Endurance) - Your body's ability to continue working under great stress, wounds, and disadvantages
Spd(Speed) - Rate at which you kick ass. Or run like hell away from something that does it better.
Tek(Technique) - For lack of a better definition, applying what you know to making effective actions.
Emp(Empathy) - Your ability to take things in, see minute details, and feel things others brush off
The sum of these stats are usually how much Spirit you have. And on beginning games, most people start on 35spirit.
On top of this initial setup are 5 anything points. That's right, ANYTHING. Put these 5 points into any stat you choose ,OR Skill ranks that you may consider useful or character relevant. Adding on to stats will also increase maximum spirit.
-Skill Ranks-
From Necromancy to Pie Baking , you can assign an Anything point to one rank of a skill. How these skill ranks apply can be pretty open to interpretation. For example, one can have a skillrank in using heavy weapons which leads to that added +1 advantage to using heavy weapons, and the added perk that you actually know how to handle heavy weapons and not fuck up like everyone else attempting to go commando. The more specific the skill is, the sooner players will gain useful abilities every 2-3 ranks or so in said skill.
So say someone had placed 5 points in pistol combat, they'd likely 1 or 2 handy abilities from this on top of the +5 they're already getting for rolls. For these kinds of things I leave it to the Player to tell me what they want their character to work towards, and go from there. Theres a great list of weapon proficiency skills but I'm not too concerned about posting that for now.
Class Skills-
Your player will usually have a Class Skill at the start, as a first step to discovering their potential. What , however, is dependent on their aligned element (9 flavors to choose from)
-Elements- Be it in their character, the way they think or in their build, Players are assigned an element which may affect subtle aspects about their journey or save them on a full moon.
>Luminas-The brilliance of light and truth
>Vitas- The Growth of Life
>Terras- The Stability of the Earth
>Aquas- The Universality of Water
>Aerias- The Freedom of the Wind
>Firas- The Sacrifice of Fire
>Chronos- The Passing of Time
>Abysmas- The Emptiness of Shadow
>Pandoras- The consistency of Chaos
And of course when leveling up, players get more AP, and their general stats/spirit increase in accordance to their class and level.
To advance to the next level, players first need to gain 100exp. To advance to the next level after that[3] is 200, then 300[4] then
500[5]
lvl6.800
lvl7.1300
lvl8.2100
lvl9.3400
lvl10.5500
Posts
I've been told its really easy to learn - despite my attempts to complicate it with explanation.
The battle rules are generalized you declare an action and roll the most concerned stat (Tek or Str), and magic- should you choose to go the route is a process of tapping "mana" and telling said mana on hand to subtley perform things within their nature (Empathy on the first turn, Will on the next). You can also boost rolls with spirit. Thats the long and short of it.
As for classes there are 6 base ones that cover most Adventurer Archetypes.
And stats are better recognized as points of conflict rather than quantitative measures of ability. So even though you have 100str , theres always gonna be the guy with 200 str looming over you.
But other than that you're a plain clothes modernite displaced in a world that you can only understand so much.
Hope that resolves most questions. Of course I can give you raw info on rules at any point in time.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
There are 5 attributes to Player generation, Class, Stats, Skills, Element, and Race - but since everyone's playing human for now let's just scratch out Race.
Player Classes can pick from 6 base classes.
Squire-Warrior, Fighter Types
Esper- Caster, Puzzlegame types
Kit- Bookworm, Logistic support type
Scout- Survivalist, hard to kill types
Vagrant-Adventurer, All around custom types
Stats-Players usually start with a predetermined spread of stats according to their class.
Those stats are usually:
Will(Will) - Your ability to have a strong mental reserve keeping a clear head in the most demoralizing situations will keep you sharp. Also your ability to make things explode with your mind.
Str(Strength) - Your body's ability to outwardly affect/go against other physical elements.
End(Endurance) - Your body's ability to continue working under great stress, wounds, and disadvantages
Spd(Speed) - Rate at which you kick ass. Or run like hell away from something that does it better.
Tek(Technique) - For lack of a better definition, applying what you know to making effective actions.
Emp(Empathy) - Your ability to take things in, see minute details, and feel things others brush off
The sum of these stats are usually how much Spirit you have. And on beginning games, most people start on 35spirit.
On top of this initial setup are 5 anything points. That's right, ANYTHING. Put these 5 points into any stat you choose ,OR Skill ranks that you may consider useful or character relevant. Adding on to stats will also increase maximum spirit.
-Skill Ranks-
From Necromancy to Pie Baking , you can assign an Anything point to one rank of a skill. How these skill ranks apply can be pretty open to interpretation. For example, one can have a skillrank in using heavy weapons which leads to that added +1 advantage to using heavy weapons, and the added perk that you actually know how to handle heavy weapons and not fuck up like everyone else attempting to go commando. The more specific the skill is, the sooner players will gain useful abilities every 2-3 ranks or so in said skill.
So say someone had placed 5 points in pistol combat, they'd likely 1 or 2 handy abilities from this on top of the +5 they're already getting for rolls. For these kinds of things I leave it to the Player to tell me what they want their character to work towards, and go from there. Theres a great list of weapon proficiency skills but I'm not too concerned about posting that for now.
Class Skills-
Your player will usually have a Class Skill at the start, as a first step to discovering their potential. What , however, is dependent on their aligned element (9 flavors to choose from)
-Elements- Be it in their character, the way they think or in their build, Players are assigned an element which may affect subtle aspects about their journey or save them on a full moon.
>Luminas-The brilliance of light and truth
>Vitas- The Growth of Life
>Terras- The Stability of the Earth
>Aquas- The Universality of Water
>Aerias- The Freedom of the Wind
>Firas- The Sacrifice of Fire
>Chronos- The Passing of Time
>Abysmas- The Emptiness of Shadow
>Pandoras- The consistency of Chaos
And of course when leveling up, players get more AP, and their general stats/spirit increase in accordance to their class and level.
Hope that answers your question
A couple of clarification requests on characters:
1) Are we supposed to pattern our characters on ourselves or create original characters?
2) Are elements supposed to be reflective of their characters' personalities? For example, is an Abysmas character supposed to be goth or gloomy or w/e in "real life"?
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
It is similar to .Hack in concept , but the displacement situation is more akin to Those Who Hunt Elves purely for the reason that the majority of the inhabitants of the setting are not local to your world. (and if you havent seen that anime then Inu Yasha, Bleach, and Escaflowne could be close )
On the other end of the coin, Invasive elements can enter into YOUR world and things like Gantz, HighSchool of the Dead, Persona 3-4 are similar situations. I mainly cite anime mainly because the tone can be fairly lighthearted and serious in other moments when it needs to be.
While settings could be any flavor, or tone. The concept of displacement is important here as a catalyst to bring characters that are would-be zeroes to fruition as self actualized people. In short, incorporate Dream Diving as a means to explore human dynamic in bizarre yet local situations. While at the same time beating up baddies and delving in serious powerplays for added fun.
A friend and a betatester described it to me as:
You're introduced into a foreign world. Think a mishmash of generic fantasy, post apocalypse, and everyday life. The world is molded around your actions.
I will answer more specifically what the local universe to the imouse is like but for now Im posting this as I have to run somewhere.
Characters.
Original Characters taylored for the situation is preferable since places where the character used to live and whatnot may conflict/add on with the current setting. I wish to keep that ambiguous for the most part but flavor references from time to time are important too.
Although,
I find that people who fashion characters after themselves or archetypes of tend to be more invested in their roleplay and it comes off sincere and overall gameplay becomes immersive.
And yeah Elements, Those who are nihilistic, skeptic realists, Amoral or ZEN in nature can be Abysma- theres many ways to incorporate your element, not just in outward appearance or social tags . I dont wish for characters to be monotone in flavor but something significant has to match up with their true colors through and through.
Name: Del Roland
Lvl2 Esper (34 xp)
Element: Pandoras
Will09
Str04
End05
Spd05
Emp10
Tek07
Spirit:40
Abilities:
Elemental Sense
Chaos Charm
Will Burn
Leyline Whisper
Skills:
rank2 Higher Mathematics
rank1 Physical Sciences
rank1 Salesman
rank1 Swimming
rank3 Aerias
rank2 Firas
6'2" tall, heavyset, full head of red hair, full beard and moustache; 30 years old
A college dropout working a dead-end job, Del Roland has always been smarter than other people. Years of working in retail and watching the morons and brown-nosers fail upwards has instilled in him a healthy disrespect for authority.
One day, Del receives a strange package containing only three things: a keychain, a pair of glasses, and a manual titled "N00bs of Clandestein". Severly bored, and tired from a long day of stupid customers and even stupider management, he briefly flips through the manual, pausing to chuckle a bit at the horrid grammar and generous smattering of l337. Figuring it to be some new VRG, Del follows the instructions laid out in the manual, donning the keychain and glasses...
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Your beginning stats are as follows:
Will07
Str03
End05
Spd05
Emp09
Tek06
Spirit:35
Class Abilities:
Elemental Sense: Objects are vivid to you and you sense more about them than people usually see or hear.....
-Chaos Charm: You are more familiar with the workings of chance. +1to emp pandoras PerLevel.
You have 05 AP to be used for Skills, or stats (which will increase your SPirit) Consider your character's daily life practices and point him accordingly.
but lvl 1 scout and abysmas.
The glasses were clear at first, that is until he looked at his computer screen. It started as a prompt at first was the computer being remotely hacked? but soon a small display processed on the screen- and from it darkness enveloped Del's line of sight.
-Game Start-
said the letters in white text. Soon, Del found himself standing stationary as space traversed around him. A man with a doctor's coat, a pink dress shirt and a purple tie is found sitting across from him. His head ; a red cube.
"Oh dear, Another one" said a soft bottomless voice " it seems this chain letter scheme is reaching the mainland "
He gets up from his chair, a towering 8 feet tall. With gloved white hands, he produces a clipboard from nowhere and hands it to you.
"I'd like you to fill this out
A questionaire.
As you glance back at him he's already back at this seat as if he hadn't stood up at all.
Your stat are as follows
Will4
Str4
End5
Spd7
Emp8
Tek7
Spirit 35/35
Scout Skills so far:
Zero Out
(Second one pending on info)
again you have 5 AP to apply to stats and skills
Also Character creation partly occurs ingame. That is- the questionaire bit.
After that I set you loose on a hell of your own choosing.
PS, Include general stuff like Age and Description. It would help if i can visualize whats going on.
How many players are you looking for? Should we wait for a couple more signups or should we just jump into it?
Edit: do you have a general skill list? Or do we just make up whatever skills we want?
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Del:
Btw you have 5 anything points. Apply them however you want [stats or skills(marine biology, a mean left hook, cooking etc)]
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?p=8432105#post8432105
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Login names will be asked of you later, For now just work on your character as they are pre-game.
lvl 1 Scout
Element : Abysmas
Will4
Str4
End5
Spd7
Emp8
Tek7
Spirit 35/35
Appearance: Somewhat muscular built but not extremely trained. Thin mainly from odd eating habits. Stands about 6'0 and a half feet. Medium length unkempt light brown hair. Pale complexion.
Aran comes from a fairly well to do family. He grew up with a rather weak constitution; easily getting sick and usually to an extreme degree- and all his life he has suffered from acute insomnia. His insomnia being so extreme that it lead to problems in school and at least in part contributed to his dropping out of school all together.
However later on than the usual norm, he got his degree and later went on to work as a security systems analyst. Aran spent a fair amount of his time on the net after his initial drop out of highschool; later on he worked out as night security at various locations. Until he finished his degree. A few years later he eventually worked his way up to working as a systems security analyst.
age- 26-27-28 area
Aran receives his Noob of Clandestine book and keys and opens it rather quickly. Since he had spent a fair amount of time in the past, he likely thinks it just a promotional tool or reward for something he participated in the past.
Skill wise
I'm thinking
rank 3- Security Systems
rank 1- Hacking
rank 1- Breaking and Entering (methods) / Burglary
Seeing as how he's a security systems savvy, try giving him some ranks in. . .well,
Security systems.
His second Class Skill is
Scry : Roll Emp against a target to analyze it (person place or thing). Spending 10 minutes or so (depends on target) for this action can get you a temporary rank concerning it.
and seeing as how I didn't tell you what zero out is, here it is:
Zero Out: Roll emp against a target(s) that is present , whatever you rolled is the observation check someone has to beat in order to notice you.
Skills:
Level3 Security Systems
L3Ability> Familiar Ground: Fighting in a Place you know (or have ranks in) gives you a +X indirect defense. X being your Tek cut in half.
You may post in the IC thread whenever you want.
" Wearing the glasses etc " and the moments and setting preceding it.
I'll post my intro tomorrow. Bit too tired atm.
Warban, what time is it from where you are ? We could work you on another continuity perhaps ?
It is currently 3:11Am where I am.
I think I'd want to be "Kit- Bookworm, Logistic support type" if we're playing close to ourselves (for I the books).
Will being on GMT be a problem?
Eventually it will be up to me to make to make dynamic challenges that can be handled interestingly through quality posts.
Btw it seems our time zones have a 15 hour difference so posting in the noon/afternoon for you would be a great time
Bobceska write up a background for your char, I'll stat you when I wake up.
Warban if you're interested, hit me up as well.
Lvl1 Kit
Element: Chronos
Apperance: 5'8", a little overweight woman in her mid-20's. Mid-length brown hair, olive complexion, glasses.
A PhD student reading Classics, Cesca lives her life in front of the computer, desperately trying not to fall into the stereotype of the lonely, anti-social academic, but failing miserably. The only things which keep her going are the people she meets on the internet, the few hours of teaching work at the University, and the money she makes from translating work - who would have realised 6 years ago that doing a Classics degree meant being proficient in so many languages?
Interrupted from the latest round of obscene poems by the postman knocing at the door, she opens the package to find a keychain, a pair of glasses, and a manual titled "N00bs of Clandestein". Flicking through the manual over a coffee on her next break she assumes it's some kind of joke, maybe from one of her few friends back in Scotland. Wondering what's going on, she replaces her own glasses with those in the package and dons the keychain...
In hospital in the morning for a very small operation, but not sure when I'll get home and what the pain will be like.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
lvl 1 Squire
Element : Luminas
Will05
Str08
End07
Spd06
Emp04
Tek05
Spirit 35/35
A computer Tech and systems administrator apprentice , Warban had the job of reviewing Game and media applications before they landed on the local market. He had recently gained the Job of Reviewing and classifying some of the lesser mainstream items.
Beyond his job he followed the online gaming & the Role playing scene as more of a personal interest as well. Playing years of the other MMORPGS there had been little he had not seen or read about. Recently he had become obsessed with Mecha and Anime and Scum Forum games.
When it came to Computer Operation, Warban had a 6th sense of how program code reacting with its hardware. More of really a simple Innate sense really, he could manage to tell what exactly that "spyware", "Virus" was trying to do and remove it without the use of a 3rd Party application. To Warban Debugging a computers systems operation came naturally, And given enough time at with the computer OS he could always recover a system from a hijacked state without a format.
Forwarded to his desk was a keychain and glasses with nothing to go on but a manual. Which game Developer group has created this he didn't know, Which ever it was, They hadn't seemed to done much advertisement yet. Sitting down to Review the this MMORPG he wasn't surprised he was the one given this review.
Picking up the manual he looked though the Pages quickly noting the Elements. The brilliance of light and truth. That was one one he would pick.
And then he puts on the Glasses...
Age- 25.
Skills
Rank 3 - Natural System Debugger. (Hardware/Software Understand/Recovery/Exploitation)
Rank 1 - Over Enthusiastic Attention Seeker. (Taunting/Challenging/Persuasion)
Rank 1 - Drill Weapon Proficiency. (Combat)
For Squires it is.
Will05
Str08
End07
Spd06
Emp04
Tek05
Custom Stats are totally ok in my book if you want to go that route. However, Im just worried that your speed will get you some free hits from the enemy as indirect defense (AC) is pretty much Speed+Endurance.
However your tek will be a nice touch to scoring a lot of hits, making you super ideal for offensives at the start of the game.
If you decide to stick with this, just know that 3 is a below normal number that could be contextualized as such in role-playing.
Your Abilities>
Since you're Lvl 3 In systems Debugging, you get-
A Hunch: Roll Emp, add your skill bonus. You will somehow get a sense of what the game may try to pull next.
Class Ability> Squire
Parry(Defense Action)- Tek(rolled or no)+Def of your weapon will subtract against an enemy's attack roll - throwing it off course. Should your parry overwhelm them, you will get a chance for a counter(requires a reaction). Should you crit your parry, you automatically counter.
Block(Defense Action)- Str+Def of your weapon will subtract against one attack's damage.
Other than that, I'll be preparing your entry post.
Will7 Str4 End4 Spd5 Emp6 Tek9
Spirit: 35
Kit Abilities:
Analyze> Break things down to it's basic components to deduce a function by rolling EMPx. Xbeing a unit of time you're gonna put in.
>> Speed Read> Player can read through a book in less time than it takes a normal person. (Reading books gives you ranks)
PS, you have 5 Anything points, apply them to stats, or skills (reading, languages, proper machine gun maintenence etc..)