There was a 3rd edition by FFG, but since FFG lost the license and it was proprietary dice I wouldn't expect to see it ever again. I do think a new version is being worked on.
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WACriminalDying Is Easy, Young ManLiving Is HarderRegistered Userregular
Update on that Pokemon PbtA game I was/am working on:
I finally accepted that coming up with unique stats for every single move in the 'dex was going to drive me crazy, so I went with (I think) Tal's suggestion to instead think of it in terms of characteristics that moves can have which can be quickly laid out to define a move.
For instance, a player who teaches his Rattata to use the move Tail Whip is told the following things:
1) It's Spd vs. Def
2) It's a Normal move. This provides a short list of options, essentially a Normal playbook, with which the player may customize the move (for instance, the player may choose to receive a +1 bonus to the roll since Rattata's type matches the move's type, at a slight cost of PP each time the move is used).
3) It is a Debuff (Def) move. This, like the Type selection, provides a list of options from the Debuff playbook with which to customize the move. More powerful options = higher PP cost.
So one Rattata's Tail Whip may be more powerful than another's, but they're both pulling from the same playbooks.
As another example, a Pokemon learning the move Confusion might be told that it is a S.Atk vs. S.Def move, and should be constructed from the Psychic, Damage, and Status (Confusion) playbooks. The move Double-Edge might be Atk vs. Def, with the playbooks Normal, Damage, Recoil. These combat playbooks will be small enough that a player could conceivably print them out and arrange them side-by-side on a page to detail their team's move lists by simply checking off boxes. And, you know, there's nothing saying that specific moves can't have unique twists, like Quick Attack allowing you to take another action immediately afterwards, but that sort of thing would be the exception rather than the expectation.
As a result, I'm re-tooling the Pokemon playbooks to consist of individual swatches as well. Each Pokemon gets a moderately sized unique playbook, but also gets little mini-playbooks attached to it for its Type(s), its Nature, and other characteristics like whether it was hatched from an egg, any held items you might give it, Pokerus infection, etc.
Working on this modular system means I don't get to do the fun Pokemon designing yet, but I think it will make that process much faster and more fun once I actually get to it, instead of just maddening and tedious. It should also help players feel the actual common threads running through Pokemon who share a type -- all Grass types have access to the same mini-suite of options, etc.
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
edited May 2018
I need a reason why slaving Star Wars gangsters would not want a cheap building in a bad Nar Shadaa neighborhood. I am good at lying, coercing, charming, and I put a thing in negotiation.
Here’s a few things I’ve thought
Deceive: There is an outbreak of Yautja mold in that building which is why the owner never got anywhere with it and defaulted on his loans.
Bluff: Crimson Dawn/whoever wants to move into Nar Shadaa and if you fuck us we will have the worst gang war you have ever seen.
Negotiate: In exchange for letting us have the space without a fight, Black Sun will be allowed to launder money through us as we open up Galto Corp and gentrify the area as long as they keep their slaving asses off the street.
Coerce: Have the combat minded characters kill the guards, I use the handcuffs I brought and intimidate the boss into telling his underlings not to fuck with me and step off the property
Bombs: see if the ex-Imperial assassin (who was being a jackass in the last session) has any explosives experience and rig the fuckers’ rackets to blow and combine that with coerce or the next option.
Kill them all, Peter: Kill them all, Peter
All the ideas later lead to fucking over Black Sun.
Update on that Pokemon PbtA game I was/am working on:
I finally accepted that coming up with unique stats for every single move in the 'dex was going to drive me crazy, so I went with (I think) Tal's suggestion to instead think of it in terms of characteristics that moves can have which can be quickly laid out to define a move.
For instance, a player who teaches his Rattata to use the move Tail Whip is told the following things:
1) It's Spd vs. Def
2) It's a Normal move. This provides a short list of options, essentially a Normal playbook, with which the player may customize the move (for instance, the player may choose to receive a +1 bonus to the roll since Rattata's type matches the move's type, at a slight cost of PP each time the move is used).
3) It is a Debuff (Def) move. This, like the Type selection, provides a list of options from the Debuff playbook with which to customize the move. More powerful options = higher PP cost.
So one Rattata's Tail Whip may be more powerful than another's, but they're both pulling from the same playbooks.
As another example, a Pokemon learning the move Confusion might be told that it is a S.Atk vs. S.Def move, and should be constructed from the Psychic, Damage, and Status (Confusion) playbooks. The move Double-Edge might be Atk vs. Def, with the playbooks Normal, Damage, Recoil. These combat playbooks will be small enough that a player could conceivably print them out and arrange them side-by-side on a page to detail their team's move lists by simply checking off boxes. And, you know, there's nothing saying that specific moves can't have unique twists, like Quick Attack allowing you to take another action immediately afterwards, but that sort of thing would be the exception rather than the expectation.
As a result, I'm re-tooling the Pokemon playbooks to consist of individual swatches as well. Each Pokemon gets a moderately sized unique playbook, but also gets little mini-playbooks attached to it for its Type(s), its Nature, and other characteristics like whether it was hatched from an egg, any held items you might give it, Pokerus infection, etc.
Working on this modular system means I don't get to do the fun Pokemon designing yet, but I think it will make that process much faster and more fun once I actually get to it, instead of just maddening and tedious. It should also help players feel the actual common threads running through Pokemon who share a type -- all Grass types have access to the same mini-suite of options, etc.
I've also considered homebrewing a Pokemon RPG since the ones out there seem like way too much record keeping and I haven't considered PBTA. Since PBTA leans into more cinematic gameplay and less technical stuff, have you considered doing something like this?:
Attack: Declare an attack of X type. On a 7-9 hold 1. On a 10+ hold 2. You can spend hold 1 for 1 on the following and you can take an item multiple times provided you have the hold to do so.
Do damage.
Increase a stat on your pokemon for the rest of the combat, or until recalled.
Reduce a stat on an opposing pokemon for the rest of the combat, or until recalled.
In addition, depending on the type, you may spend hold in the following ways:
Grass: inflict sleep, paralysis, or poison (2 hold each), or recover some health.
Fire: Inflict burn
Electricity: Inflict paralysis
Psychic: Inflict confusion
Poison: Inflict poison
Ground: Modify the terrain of the battlefield
Water: Make it rain (take one additional hold while attacking with water and electricity on later turns)
Rock: Whip up a sandstorm (non rock/ground pokemon automatically take damage. 2 hold)
etc.
I can see a downside being like, you're not actually declaring a move, you're just trying for something and seeing what happens but you can fix that in fiction. So you might attack grass but get the 10+ and say "Oh! I want to sleep powder instead!" But I feel this gets you 90% of somewhere without having to have a shitton of tables. Vine whip is just a grass move with one damage, you can upgrade it to Razor Leaf if you get the additional hold (select damage again). Sometimes a two hold fire move is ember with a burn, or flamethrower.
You could also probably subdivide this into two moves, attack and debuff but that seems unnecessary?
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WACriminalDying Is Easy, Young ManLiving Is HarderRegistered Userregular
I did think about that, but I feel like that makes all the Pokemon feel a little too samey.
It also doesn't account for design space where some Pokemon might be able to inflict status conditions that don't match their actual type, like a sleeper hold move that a Fighting-type might use. Then, too, healing moves get weird; is healing a +1 hold option? For which types? Does that mean that Machamp, Rattata, or Voltorb can be healers?
I think the number of tables/playbooks will be manageable, especially since all Status playbooks are the same, just with a blank space to write in the relevant condition.
Leveling up is also going to be non-linear (and maaaaybe without a level cap). What will happen is when a Pokemon levels up, its Max PP increases by a set amount. Any time you successfully train that Pokemon, you can choose to reduce its Max PP in order to take a new move from any of its playbooks -- in other words, consider PP to be a resource that you allocate to activate different options. More powerful moves cost more Max PP. Example: Each Pokemon's stats will be divided into Primary and Secondary attributes, with Primary attributes costing fewer Max PP to upgrade than Secondary ones. Since Speed is a Primary stat for Pikachu, it's easier to make him fast. Similarly, Fire-type Pokemon will have access to a high-cost passive move that raises the temperature of the arena the first time they're deployed during a fight (which, in turn, can enable extra effects for Fire-type moves, etc.)
Of course, if you want to actually use a powerful move, your Pokemon will need to have enough PP to spend in combat, so it's a balancing act. When you teach your Pikachu Quick Attack, you can really crank up the damage it does by choosing multiple options from the Damage playbook, but that means Quick Attack will have a high PP cost (similar to using mana) during combat. If your Pikachu's Max PP is too low, it won't be able to actually do anything with its fancy, expensive move.
As to the cinematic aspect, here's how I'm leaning into that.
One of the move playbooks will be Hazard, divided into Hazard (Create) and Hazard (Inflict). This allows Pokemon to set up damaging hazards in the arena that can later be utilized as part of other moves to great effect.
Example: Grimer levels up, and his trainer chooses to teach him Acid. Acid's playbooks are Poison, Debuff (S. Def), and Hazard (Create). To save on PP, the player chooses to ignore the Debuff playbook and choose only options from the Hazard (Create) playbook. Doing so, he creates a move that establishes a pool of acid in the arena which will deal 2 damage (Cost: 2 PP) to any Pokemon pushed into it, and that the hazard will have two uses (Cost: 3 PP) before it vanishes.
Another party member decides to build around synergy with this move, so he teaches his Machoke Seismic Toss with the playbooks Fighting, Damage, and Hazard (Inflict). He chooses a cheap option from the Damage table for base damage, then selects an expensive option from Hazard (Inflict) that allows him to inflict an arena hazard even on a partial success (in PbtA, a roll of 7-9). This move won't be very good (high PP cost, low damage) in situations without hazards, but that's why the Machoke has other moves.
In future fights, this plays out as Grimer and Machoke working together in a way that makes for great cinematic play, with Grimer spitting out a pool of acid and Machoke tossing foes into it. But the mechanics work the same as if it was, say, an Alakazam mind-controlling a foe to walk through a raging bonfire, or a Snorlax tackling a foe onto ice spikes, or a Pidgeot gusting a foe into an electrified fence. Some Pokemon, especially larger ones, may have resistance to Hazard-based moves, opening up different species to feel more distinct without complicating the base mechanics. It also lets the GM build set pieces, like a gym where the walls are all covered in electrified spikes, dealing both Electric and Steel damage to any fighters pushed into them.
In addition to Hazards, there's also certain "arena tracks" which can be modified by moves with the Arena() playbook, and have interactions with moves of certain types. For instance, Fire-type moves have access to an option that makes them cost fewer PP when the arena's temperature track is at its highest level, but cost more PP when it is at or below the track's midpoint. Some Grass-type Pokemon may have access to a passive Photosynthesis move which generates HP or PP when the arena's illumination track is high. Smaller Pokemon can have higher defense in foggy arenas, Fire-types can increase their Max PP in exchange for a weakness in wet arenas, Flying-types can be stronger in outdoor settings, Dark-types can deal more damage in low-illumination arenas, etc.
Basically I want the fights to work with consistent, easily learned mechanics that nevertheless allow for individual encounters to actually feel different from each other, instead of "I use this move, you take 2 harm. I use this other move, you take 1 harm."
My players are a couple sessions off getting a ship, and I guess all that POE2 made a ship minigame pop mostly formed into my head this afternoon. The first playtest I did with myself was even kinda fun, with the only weird thing so far is ships having substantial evasion even when at point blank.
Rules
---
Ship Battle
You have 3 sets of cards stacked in lines:
-HULL cards: Represents your ship.
-EQUIPMENT cards: 1 per HULL card.
-CREW cards: Any number per HULL card.
When used, turn that card sideways.
When damaged, flip that card face down.
You lose when all HULL cards are damaged.
Turn phases:
1. Ready & move CREW
3. Ready crewed EQUIPMENT
4. Use EQUIPMENT with CREW, or use CREW skills
When ATTACKING, roll d10 - DISTANCE.
Each HULL card has a number. You HIT if your roll matches that number. If you rolled multiple hits, choose one.
When a HULL card is HIT, all cards in that location are DAMAGED.
If you cannot damage a card on the location you rolled, damage the next closest card, in either direction.
CREW skills can only be used if you are at that location.
The smallest ship goes first.
The DISTANCE tracker starts at 5.
When DISTANCE reaches 10, the battle is over.
When DISTANCE would drop below 0, the two ships are in MELEE.
When in Melee, Equipment may no longer be used unless it states otherwise.
Crew may use to attack another crew, rolling a d10 and comparing the total. The loser is injured.
---
HULL cards are all identical, save their numbers.
The prow of the ship is high, the rear is low.
Ship size is 1-10.
Cards
---
CREW cards
Crewmember: Pilot - Movement +1 when crewing Sails or Engines.
Crewmember: Fighter - Roll an extra die in melee.
Crewmember: Engineer - Use to flip a damaged Hull or Equipment card to a used state.
Crewmember: Cannoneer - Roll an extra die when crewing a Cannon.
Crewmember: Healer - Use to flip a damaged Crew card to a used state.
-
Ahmed: Quick Charge - Use to ready a used Equipment card. Wind Mage - Movement +1 when crewing Sails. Adventurer - Roll an extra die in melee.
Li Cho: Revive - Use to flip a damaged Crew card to a ready state. Adventurer - Roll an extra die in melee.
Milovan: Sailor - Movement +1 when crewing Sails. Adventurer - Roll an extra die in melee.
Thaddeus: Cannoneer - Roll an extra die when crewing a Cannon. Adventurer - Roll an extra die in melee.
---
EQUIPMENT cards
Sails: Use to Move 1.
Engine: Use to Move 2. Cannot move in the opposite direction you went last turn. Aft only.
Cannon: Use to Attack.
Thunder Lance: Use to Attack. Roll an extra die. Only damages Hull.
Flame Launcher: Use to Attack. Roll an extra die. Only damages Crew.
Ice Projector: Use to Attack. Roll an extra die. Only damages Equipment.
Hull Reinforcements: If your Hull would be damaged, damage this instead.
Emergency Shield: If your Crew would be damaged, damage this instead.
Playtest (* = tapped, # = damaged) Spoiler: Pirates are dumb and make dumb decisions.
That lie in Edge of the Empire worked. I actually broke even on the roll, but the other face social player picked up the roll and got the slavers away from the building I want to buy.
Now that character’s accounts are frozen and they were going to be the first big investor to get Galto Corp got off the ground and serve as a hiding-in-plain-sight haven for force sensitives. So we have no competition but we also don’t have the money.
I'm going to try to run a short thing in Masks, it's my first PBTA game in general, I have experience with Star Wars and D&D. What should I know/what are some good tips for the first time?
"Take A Powerful Blow" doesn't just mean physical hits; you can take a powerful blow to your confidence, your ego, your self-worth, your belief in a cause, or how you see someone. Don't be afraid to call for it often.
In February my PCs all met thinly-veiled Warhammer versions of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson in a bar during one character's quest to become a Highwayman
Nobody realised what I was doing (I blame the youth as the oldest one is a mere 26 years old)
Now I know that the player of the Highwayman character has recently started getting into country music, and her car complication CD includes "Highwayman" which I made sure she was aware of when she gave me a lift home this week
Any day now I'm expecting a text that just reads "you bastard"
[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
edited June 2018
The Cannon Fodder have survived the bomb and escaped the bunker with a brand new power dao. They will now join my veteran group. The Expendable Henchmen and the Cannon Fodder will combine to become the Usual Tools. Going to workshop the name.
I finished up a 3 month arc in my D&D campaign (marking a total of 8 months of gaming) and decided to put the game on a temporary haitus. I'm just feeling a bit burned out with D&D, and I think that partially it's because doing anything with my gaming group tends to drag. I want them to be a bit quicker with taking actions, both in and out of combat. I think a big part of the problem is that my wizard especially is always looking through his giant bag of tools for answers. Or if he isn't I've got the other players asking if they can make an attack roll to fix a problem. Yes, attack rolls can fix certain problems, but you can't find the hidden macguffin by attacking the darkness. Not in my games anyway.
I'm pretty hyped by the Solo movie, so I'm thinking of doing an Edge of the Empire game. Hopefully this will be a little easier to run. Specifically I hope that the reduced number of rolls and lack of a big book of spells will end up with the players doing things more quickly. I've got a bunch of ideas for tweaking (read: bounding) the basic resolution mechanic along with a two-sided handout to aid them in their decision making as well. But honestly the thing that I'm most looking forward to is just simplifying the story. The players aren't going to be Big Damn Heroes with individual character arcs and an overarching plot, instead I'm going to run each game as a simple heist complete with an Ocean's 11 planning phase. If they don't finish in the 4 hours we play on Sunday, they don't get paid. Simple.
Usually for session 0 I like to have all the players make their characters together with a smattering of ties and interwoven backstories, but I think for this game it's not going to matter. The PCs will all start in chains headed to a life of slavery in a mining colony when their ship is attacked by pirates. The pirates knock the power out and their restraints are released, and from there the game is underway.
飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
I feel you. DnD has too many spells, and more of them could be neatly categorized to make them easy to find. I think DnD also kind of trains one to be a murder hobo which leads them to attack everything; versus EoE or DH where people feel squishier so they're a little more hesitant. It helps in a contained solo adventure one of the players characters went out like Robocop (sans rez) with a bunch of gangers unloading weapons point blank into them for being too obvious in following them. He learned.
Self-contained adventures have more freedom to them. The serialized nature also just makes everything a little easier in the planning or lack thereof. One can improvise more freely without making an audiodrama two years down the road and thinking, "I have to change ALL of this.:
I mean, if the problem you have with your group is taking too long in the planning phase of heists, might I suggest Blades in the Dark?
We haven't played a heist game yet, they were taking too long playing D&D. Maybe EotE will take less time for them to get shit done, I dunno. I ordered Blades in the Dark last night on a friend's suggestion, and I'll crib what I need to from their mechanic. I think the flashback idea sounds cool, but I also legitimately like planning a heist. Ideally I'd like to have a simple set of framework that lets me build the adventure as they're planning it out, so I have basically 0 required prep before the game starts, and it sounds like BitD has that framework.
飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
The Sprawl also has pretty good heist mechanics, if cyberpunk is up your alley.
With Star Wars the number one thing that's going to slow your table down is players figuring out what to spend miscellaneous Advantage on. Houseruling is your friend here. I personally like letting players bank Advantage, and every three banked can turn into a single Success later. Keeps the flow going and cancels out those rolls where you end up with "nothing".
Also important is to get your players to narrate for you. Get them thinking about what threats, triumphs, and despairs mean in the context of the scene and let them go to town. Much more active and creative for everyone involved.
I picked up a copy of The Sprawl on RPG Now, and I'll give it a read during the week. I know there are a lot of other Star Wars RPG type resources. Any suggestions on a title crawl creator? I think someone posted a plot hook generator on here before, does anyone have that link? Anyone use any freeware voice changing software to give themselves a sweet robot or alien voice? What about soundtrack recommendations?
A pokemon Monster Hunter hybrid would work as someone is insane enough to go to the wild lands looking for the best ones to battle with
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
edited June 2018
Can you beat the pokemon with a magikarp in your hands?
Also Ranma I would also like to know that.
A bud of mine bought me a two months subscription to Roll20 so I wouldn’t have to waste time transferring characters from my newer group’s game to my vet group’s game. Ain’t he a swell guy?
DrivethruRPG also has good customer service and a sale on FFG 40k titles right now.
Kadoken on
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WACriminalDying Is Easy, Young ManLiving Is HarderRegistered Userregular
@Marshmallow in particular, but also anybody who cares.
If you were building a damaging move from a playbook, would this formatting make sense to you?
PARTIAL SUCCESS (7-9) Choose one as your base damage:
☐ Base damage plus 1 (0 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 2 (1 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 3 (3 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 4 (6 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 5 (10 PP)
CRITICAL HIT (13+) Choose one:
☐ Full damage plus 0 (0 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 1 (1 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 2 (2 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 3 (3 PP)
What's the standard roll for the move?
And how much PP do they have to spend?
Roll depends on the move. Moves will be listed like this:
Confusion -- S. Atk vs. S. Def -- Psychic, Damage, Status (Confusion) Tackle -- Atk vs. Def -- Normal, Damage Toxic -- S. Atk vs. Def -- Poison, Status (Poison)
So for Confusion, for example, you're rolling 2d6 + your S. Atk - target's S. Def, then checking the result against the options you selected from the three playbooks listed.
The actual numbers are just examples, but here's how they'll work: The PP cost to use a move is the sum of all the options you select. Your max PP = 10 per level (possibly 20 for first level, then 10 for every level after that) minus the cost of perks you've taken for that Pokemon. So, for instance, here's a small list of moves you might be able to purchase for Rattata:
Quick Attack -- Spd vs. Spd -- Normal, Damage (Cost: 5 Max PP) Hyper Fang -- Atk vs. Def -- Normal, Damage (Cost: 5 Max PP) Sucker Punch -- Atk vs. Def -- Dark, Damage (Cost: 10 Max PP)
]
If you level up your Rattata, it gains 10 max PP, but you might choose to use those PP to purchase Sucker Punch. If you do, you then construct a move from the Dark and Damage playbooks. Dark has characteristics like "Can only use this move in pitch-black arenas. (-5 PP)" and "+1 to use this move if the user is Dark-type. (1 PP)". Or, if you're trying to build up its max PP, you could choose not to purchase any new perks or moves for the Rattata, or simply purchase a cheaper perk like Quick Attack.
As a full example, let's say you buy Hyper Fang and select the following options:
NORMAL Playbook Extreme Conditions - User takes -2 to use this move if any of the Temperature, Humidity, Visibility, or Light tracks are at their highest or lowest levels. (-3 PP)
DAMAGE Playbook Partial Success
☐ 0 Damage (0 PP) Success
☐ Base damage plus 2 (1 PP) Critical Hit
☐ Full damage plus 2 (2 PP)
So now you have a move that is always free to use, that deals 2 damage on a 10-12 and 4 damage on a 13+ (but nothing on a 7-9). It is susceptible to opponents who can max out the arena tracks, so you'll either need to account for that when building Rattata's stats up (either a high Atk or a way to lower the opponent's Def, like Tail Whip), or partner up with another Pokemon (your own or a party member's) who can manage the arena for you.
Alternatively, you could build Hyper Fang this way:
NORMAL playbook Maximum Effort -- This move may be used even if the Pokemon does not have the necessary PP to use it. If using this move causes the Pokemon to fall below 0 PP, it faints and cannot be revived for the remainder of the scene. (10 PP) Same-Type Bonus -- +1 to use this move if the user is a Normal-type. (1 PP)
DAMAGE Playbook Partial Success
☐ 2 Damage (4 PP) Success
☐ Base damage plus 5 (10 PP) Critical Hit
☐ Full damage plus 3 (3 PP)
Now you've got a glass cannon Rattata who can dole out a potential 10 damage on a crit, at the cost of 28 PP. For a low-level Rattata, that's an almost certain faint due to Maximum Effort's drawback. But it could be worth it, depending on how you build out your party. It's countered by the fact that 1) an opponent with a high Def is unlikely to take the full 10 damage, and 2) even if the opponent gets knocked out, they could potentially be revived, while Rattata cannot.
And that's before you get into non-Normal type playbooks, hazards, status effects, stat buffs/debuffs, and stuff like recoil damage.
☐ Base damage plus 1 (0 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 2 (1 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 3 (3 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 4 (6 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 5 (10 PP)
CRITICAL HIT (13+) Choose one:
☐ Full damage plus 0 (0 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 1 (1 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 2 (2 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 3 (3 PP)
What's the standard roll for the move?
And how much PP do they have to spend?
Roll depends on the move. Moves will be listed like this:
Confusion -- S. Atk vs. S. Def -- Psychic, Damage, Status (Confusion) Tackle -- Atk vs. Def -- Normal, Damage Toxic -- S. Atk vs. Def -- Poison, Status (Poison)
So for Confusion, for example, you're rolling 2d6 + your S. Atk - target's S. Def, then checking the result against the options you selected from the three playbooks listed.
The actual numbers are just examples, but here's how they'll work: The PP cost to use a move is the sum of all the options you select. Your max PP = 10 per level (possibly 20 for first level, then 10 for every level after that) minus the cost of perks you've taken for that Pokemon. So, for instance, here's a small list of moves you might be able to purchase for Rattata:
Quick Attack -- Spd vs. Spd -- Normal, Damage (Cost: 5 Max PP) Hyper Fang -- Atk vs. Def -- Normal, Damage (Cost: 5 Max PP) Sucker Punch -- Atk vs. Def -- Dark, Damage (Cost: 10 Max PP)
]
If you level up your Rattata, it gains 10 max PP, but you might choose to use those PP to purchase Sucker Punch. If you do, you then construct a move from the Dark and Damage playbooks. Dark has characteristics like "Can only use this move in pitch-black arenas. (-5 PP)" and "+1 to use this move if the user is Dark-type. (1 PP)". Or, if you're trying to build up its max PP, you could choose not to purchase any new perks or moves for the Rattata, or simply purchase a cheaper perk like Quick Attack.
As a full example, let's say you buy Hyper Fang and select the following options:
NORMAL Playbook Extreme Conditions - User takes -2 to use this move if any of the Temperature, Humidity, Visibility, or Light tracks are at their highest or lowest levels. (-3 PP)
DAMAGE Playbook Partial Success
☐ 0 Damage (0 PP) Success
☐ Base damage plus 2 (1 PP) Critical Hit
☐ Full damage plus 2 (2 PP)
So now you have a move that is always free to use, that deals 2 damage on a 10-12 and 4 damage on a 13+ (but nothing on a 7-9). It is susceptible to opponents who can max out the arena tracks, so you'll either need to account for that when building Rattata's stats up (either a high Atk or a way to lower the opponent's Def, like Tail Whip), or partner up with another Pokemon (your own or a party member's) who can manage the arena for you.
Alternatively, you could build Hyper Fang this way:
NORMAL playbook Maximum Effort -- This move may be used even if the Pokemon does not have the necessary PP to use it. If using this move causes the Pokemon to fall below 0 PP, it faints and cannot be revived for the remainder of the scene. (10 PP) Same-Type Bonus -- +1 to use this move if the user is a Normal-type. (1 PP)
DAMAGE Playbook Partial Success
☐ 2 Damage (4 PP) Success
☐ Base damage plus 5 (10 PP) Critical Hit
☐ Full damage plus 3 (3 PP)
Now you've got a glass cannon Rattata who can dole out a potential 10 damage on a crit, at the cost of 28 PP. For a low-level Rattata, that's an almost certain faint due to Maximum Effort's drawback. But it could be worth it, depending on how you build out your party. It's countered by the fact that 1) an opponent with a high Def is unlikely to take the full 10 damage, and 2) even if the opponent gets knocked out, they could potentially be revived, while Rattata cannot.
And that's before you get into non-Normal type playbooks, hazards, status effects, stat buffs/debuffs, and stuff like recoil damage.
Are Statuses a different playbook?
How does a player know that Dark is worth 5 Max PP more than the Normal playbook? Do they need to read both before they choose their move?
I guess that Damage playbook is nice and readable, so long as the final Move gets condensed down to a single line afterwards, as you've stated.
Wouldn't want to have two checklists permanently associated with each Move...
The math is also not very clear on the damage scales.
If I was investing 2PP more into the move, I would always increase my Base damage first to 2, before investing another 2 to kick my Full damage from 2 to 3.
The Base damage is almost always applicable, whereas the Full damage is less common, but that point increase is the same price and the pay-off gets worse as your Full damage increases further.
If you don't max your Base damage before going for lvl 3+ Full damage, you're wasting PP.
WACriminalDying Is Easy, Young ManLiving Is HarderRegistered Userregular
edited June 2018
The math is the thing I'm the least certain about, but I guess that's what playtesting is for. It's true that the current layout leads to obvious best choices like you point out, but I also feel like there needs to be some scaling as the damage values climb higher, because burst damage of 10 is markedly stronger than 2 attacks of 5 each. I'll fiddle with it.
Are Statuses a different playbook?
Yeah, there's one Status (___________) playbook, where you write in the status relevant to the attack in question, and then all the options are the same regardless of which status you're talking about. Makes things less complicated than having a different playbook for every status, and balancing between the different status effects (ex: if Sleep is stronger than Paralyzed) can be handled by making Status (Sleep) moves more expensive to purchase in the first place. There will also be a single playbook for each of Buff(_), Debuff(_), and Arena(_).
How does a player know that Dark is worth 5 Max PP more than the Normal playbook? Do they need to read both before they choose their move?
It isn't necessarily that Dark is worth more than Normal in general, but in this case as it's a Normal-type Pokemon, Dark moves aren't as directly in his wheelhouse. An Umbreon, for example, might have some cheaper Dark moves on its list, but pay more for extra Normal or Fairy moves. Similarly, Charizard might have access to Dragon Rage, but at an increased cost since it increases his versatility.
But yeah, I guess it would be handy to glance over both playbooks before choosing. They won't be long, they're not as complex as player class books.
I guess that Damage playbook is nice and readable, so long as the final Move gets condensed down to a single line afterwards, as you've stated.
Wouldn't want to have two checklists permanently associated with each Move...
Yeah, I think I'll make a move template image that is split into columns so the player can just write down "No effect, 2 damage, 4 damage + Paralyze target" in the columns and notate the attack type and PP cost in the corner. Just a narrow row of information condensed from the selected options. Something that you can fit at least four of onto a page, eight with double-sided printing.
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
edited June 2018
I’m trying something I wasn’t quite planning when I made a minisode thing. Originally I made a minisession where a Deathwatch team storms a freeboota bridge just to have a neat introduction to a space marine ally. They can call upon him for the right cost in influence and he can serve as a hook to introduce them to new adventures. They probably would really like a character like that now when they’re all hurt and running from daemons.
The session is instead going to basically be a test run of how my combined groups interact. They’ll all be astartes with different specializations but they’ll be more equalized in experience and gear than their own characters are.
My main worry about the two groups is that the vet group has a guy who’s pretty talkative and takes a leader role, a guy that’s half talkative and offers up ideas but is not super assertive, and a guy who’s mainly there for the combat. While the other group has two pretty talkative people and a mostly talkative person who does hang out on his phone from time to time but does chime in for stuff he finds important. That last guy worries me because he is somewhat assertive and likes to try to “advise” the other players in a kind of blunt way. None of them are argumentative in shitty unecessary ways. Their arguments when it comes to the narrative bits are often decently thought out in how they try to investigate stuff and approach stuff and how they might disagree with each other. It’s just when that last guy goes “No, you should really be doing this” and I have to tell him to back off is what worries me.
It will be fun to have young, hopeful arbitrator mesh with older, jaded arbitrator. Same for young techpriest and older techpriest.
Oh! I get to subject my vet group to psychic phenomena now because they’ve been without a psychic character for two years. Mmmyes
☐ Base damage plus 1 (0 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 2 (1 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 3 (3 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 4 (5 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 5 (8 PP)
CRITICAL HIT (13+) Choose one:
☐ Full damage plus 0 (0 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 1 (1 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 2 (3 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 3 (5 PP)
Then have move abilities / perks / attributes that raise the roll appropriately costed.
So you can spread your damage for low PP and then raise your chance to crit with more PP.
Or boost your base damage for a lot of PP and not take the roll boost.
Thinking about it more, you probably want to keep the crit at 1 PP a step, to allow for just investing in crits and then buying roll increases.
Or just keep what you had and make full damage roughly 1.5 PP per point :P
So what makes moves different besides name? Do they have different base damages and costs, or unique options, or what?
Well, there's a significant amount of mechanical variety built around different combinations of:
1) The roll stats (about 26 possibilities)
2) The types (18, though I may look into the possibility of dual-typed moves which would mean there's 171 possible typings)
3) The category of move (Damage, Statusx6ish, Buffx5, Debuffx5, Arenax6x2, Hazardx2, Healing, Recoil, maybe a couple others by the end, we'll just round down to 30)
Between those, you're technically looking at 100,000+ possible combinations before you even consider the possibility of moves that have multiple categories, like a move that both deals damage and inflicts a status condition, or a move that debuffs two different stats. Now obviously, not all of those 100k+ combos will come into play, just because (for example) a Spd vs. S. Atk move that heals you and reduces the humidity of the arena doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense. But the point is, that variety exists, and is further complicated by the combinations of moves available to any one Pokemon due to their learnset, along with TMs, held items, sizes, natures, and egg moves.
But more directly to your question, there's not necessarily a mechanical difference between Tackle (Atk vs. Def, Normal, Damage) and Scratch (Atk vs. Def, Normal, Damage). That's intentional, because previously I was trying to design each move individually and that just wasn't working out. This way, designing a new move is as simple as choosing its stats, type(s) and categories. Everything fits on one line. Another advantage to this is that you can look over a Pokemon's learnable moves and get a quick sense for what its combat role is, without having to read a lot of full text.
Now, narratively, there's potentially a lot of difference between two moves even if they share the same playbooks. Hyper Fang is also a (Normal, Damage) move, but outside of combat it could potentially play a very different role than Tackle. Similarly, Ember and Fire Spin might have the same playbooks (maybe, not sure yet), but they evoke very different images. When using a Pokemon's move outside of combat, you'll roll +Bond with that Pokemon, instead of the usual stats. Examples:
"It's dangerously cold out here, and we need to take shelter for the night. I want Charmander to use Ember to get a fire going so that we don't all freeze to death tonight. [Roll +Bond to determine how successful Charmander is at keeping you warm.]"
"Team Rocket is charging across a rope bridge towards us. I instruct Rattata to use Hyper Fang to chew through the rope on one side, while I work on the other with my knife. [Roll +Bond]"
"These guards are just doing their job. I need to get past, but I don't really want to hurt them. Butterfree, use Sleep Powder to put them to sleep/Charizard, use Scary Face to scare them off/Drowzee, use Hypnosis to mind trick them/Jigglypuff, use Sing to distract them. [Roll +Bond]"
And so on. You wouldn't be able to cut the rope bridge with Tackle, but Hyper Fang works. Scary Face might suffice to get past the guards, even though another debuff move like Icy Wind isn't, despite the fact that they debuff the same stat.
So I dunno. I think the moves will be varied enough to be interesting. But there is a certain level of flatness I'm accepting as a sanity-saving measure.
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
Tell me what y’alls interpretation of this special ability is. For the Waaaaargh! Ability in DH2E Enemies Without splat, after a succesful command test by a Nob they may immediately make a charge or standard action as a free action. Now does this allow them to attack all at once right after the ability is used, or on their turns the free actions can be used for that. I am leaning on the latter interpretation, since that’s still pretty damn strong. I could have a full run action right up to the players and then charge them for free.
Tell me what y’alls interpretation of this special ability is. For the Waaaaargh! Ability in DH2E Enemies Without splat, after a succesful command test by a Nob they may immediately make a charge or standard action as a free action. Now does this allow them to attack all at once right after the ability is used, or on their turns the free actions can be used for that. I am leaning on the latter interpretation, since that’s still pretty damn strong. I could have a full run action right up to the players and then charge them for free.
I'm not sure at a mechanical level the strength of that, but thematically that sounds like what orks do.
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StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
Found out that the game store I go to will 3D print out models using the purchased custom character files that are bought at hero forge. Kind of makes me want to get my paladin printed but I'm only using him for a one shot campaign.
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Found out that the game store I go to will 3D print out models using the purchased custom character files that are bought at hero forge. Kind of makes me want to get my paladin printed but I'm only using him for a one shot campaign.
ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
This has been super inspiring. I think after our Masks thing I might try to run Pokemon through City of Mist. The cards seem like a fucking ideal way to do Pokemon.
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
edited June 2018
I completed the voice lines for the first episode of the audiodrama radio thingey I’m basing off of my DH campaigns. Need to get some others I have lined up to fill in place holders, then to add the sound effects and vintage filter to have it come together.
My beginning 3 hour session of this campaign? Adapted takes 13 minutes.
KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
edited June 2018
Audacity mainly. Took a bit to learn but I’m liking it except for the time the machine spirit got mad and made me sound like an indecipherable growling demon. I’ve been sending the audio as MP3 (which it converts for free if that’s not a regular thing) to a bud for feedback.
My biggest worry is that I do most of the voices, mainly because none of my friends have decent mics and most live aways.
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StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
Found out that the game store I go to will 3D print out models using the purchased custom character files that are bought at hero forge. Kind of makes me want to get my paladin printed but I'm only using him for a one shot campaign.
How much are they charging? What material?
They charge $15 and use resin.
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Posts
For instance, a player who teaches his Rattata to use the move Tail Whip is told the following things:
1) It's Spd vs. Def
2) It's a Normal move. This provides a short list of options, essentially a Normal playbook, with which the player may customize the move (for instance, the player may choose to receive a +1 bonus to the roll since Rattata's type matches the move's type, at a slight cost of PP each time the move is used).
3) It is a Debuff (Def) move. This, like the Type selection, provides a list of options from the Debuff playbook with which to customize the move. More powerful options = higher PP cost.
So one Rattata's Tail Whip may be more powerful than another's, but they're both pulling from the same playbooks.
As another example, a Pokemon learning the move Confusion might be told that it is a S.Atk vs. S.Def move, and should be constructed from the Psychic, Damage, and Status (Confusion) playbooks. The move Double-Edge might be Atk vs. Def, with the playbooks Normal, Damage, Recoil. These combat playbooks will be small enough that a player could conceivably print them out and arrange them side-by-side on a page to detail their team's move lists by simply checking off boxes. And, you know, there's nothing saying that specific moves can't have unique twists, like Quick Attack allowing you to take another action immediately afterwards, but that sort of thing would be the exception rather than the expectation.
As a result, I'm re-tooling the Pokemon playbooks to consist of individual swatches as well. Each Pokemon gets a moderately sized unique playbook, but also gets little mini-playbooks attached to it for its Type(s), its Nature, and other characteristics like whether it was hatched from an egg, any held items you might give it, Pokerus infection, etc.
Working on this modular system means I don't get to do the fun Pokemon designing yet, but I think it will make that process much faster and more fun once I actually get to it, instead of just maddening and tedious. It should also help players feel the actual common threads running through Pokemon who share a type -- all Grass types have access to the same mini-suite of options, etc.
Here’s a few things I’ve thought
Deceive: There is an outbreak of Yautja mold in that building which is why the owner never got anywhere with it and defaulted on his loans.
Bluff: Crimson Dawn/whoever wants to move into Nar Shadaa and if you fuck us we will have the worst gang war you have ever seen.
Negotiate: In exchange for letting us have the space without a fight, Black Sun will be allowed to launder money through us as we open up Galto Corp and gentrify the area as long as they keep their slaving asses off the street.
Coerce: Have the combat minded characters kill the guards, I use the handcuffs I brought and intimidate the boss into telling his underlings not to fuck with me and step off the property
Bombs: see if the ex-Imperial assassin (who was being a jackass in the last session) has any explosives experience and rig the fuckers’ rackets to blow and combine that with coerce or the next option.
Kill them all, Peter: Kill them all, Peter
All the ideas later lead to fucking over Black Sun.
Fantastic.
You get to where you start playtesting this you gotta let me know.
I've also considered homebrewing a Pokemon RPG since the ones out there seem like way too much record keeping and I haven't considered PBTA. Since PBTA leans into more cinematic gameplay and less technical stuff, have you considered doing something like this?:
Attack: Declare an attack of X type. On a 7-9 hold 1. On a 10+ hold 2. You can spend hold 1 for 1 on the following and you can take an item multiple times provided you have the hold to do so.
Do damage.
Increase a stat on your pokemon for the rest of the combat, or until recalled.
Reduce a stat on an opposing pokemon for the rest of the combat, or until recalled.
In addition, depending on the type, you may spend hold in the following ways:
Grass: inflict sleep, paralysis, or poison (2 hold each), or recover some health.
Fire: Inflict burn
Electricity: Inflict paralysis
Psychic: Inflict confusion
Poison: Inflict poison
Ground: Modify the terrain of the battlefield
Water: Make it rain (take one additional hold while attacking with water and electricity on later turns)
Rock: Whip up a sandstorm (non rock/ground pokemon automatically take damage. 2 hold)
etc.
I can see a downside being like, you're not actually declaring a move, you're just trying for something and seeing what happens but you can fix that in fiction. So you might attack grass but get the 10+ and say "Oh! I want to sleep powder instead!" But I feel this gets you 90% of somewhere without having to have a shitton of tables. Vine whip is just a grass move with one damage, you can upgrade it to Razor Leaf if you get the additional hold (select damage again). Sometimes a two hold fire move is ember with a burn, or flamethrower.
You could also probably subdivide this into two moves, attack and debuff but that seems unnecessary?
I think the number of tables/playbooks will be manageable, especially since all Status playbooks are the same, just with a blank space to write in the relevant condition.
Leveling up is also going to be non-linear (and maaaaybe without a level cap). What will happen is when a Pokemon levels up, its Max PP increases by a set amount. Any time you successfully train that Pokemon, you can choose to reduce its Max PP in order to take a new move from any of its playbooks -- in other words, consider PP to be a resource that you allocate to activate different options. More powerful moves cost more Max PP. Example: Each Pokemon's stats will be divided into Primary and Secondary attributes, with Primary attributes costing fewer Max PP to upgrade than Secondary ones. Since Speed is a Primary stat for Pikachu, it's easier to make him fast. Similarly, Fire-type Pokemon will have access to a high-cost passive move that raises the temperature of the arena the first time they're deployed during a fight (which, in turn, can enable extra effects for Fire-type moves, etc.)
Of course, if you want to actually use a powerful move, your Pokemon will need to have enough PP to spend in combat, so it's a balancing act. When you teach your Pikachu Quick Attack, you can really crank up the damage it does by choosing multiple options from the Damage playbook, but that means Quick Attack will have a high PP cost (similar to using mana) during combat. If your Pikachu's Max PP is too low, it won't be able to actually do anything with its fancy, expensive move.
As to the cinematic aspect, here's how I'm leaning into that.
Example: Grimer levels up, and his trainer chooses to teach him Acid. Acid's playbooks are Poison, Debuff (S. Def), and Hazard (Create). To save on PP, the player chooses to ignore the Debuff playbook and choose only options from the Hazard (Create) playbook. Doing so, he creates a move that establishes a pool of acid in the arena which will deal 2 damage (Cost: 2 PP) to any Pokemon pushed into it, and that the hazard will have two uses (Cost: 3 PP) before it vanishes.
Another party member decides to build around synergy with this move, so he teaches his Machoke Seismic Toss with the playbooks Fighting, Damage, and Hazard (Inflict). He chooses a cheap option from the Damage table for base damage, then selects an expensive option from Hazard (Inflict) that allows him to inflict an arena hazard even on a partial success (in PbtA, a roll of 7-9). This move won't be very good (high PP cost, low damage) in situations without hazards, but that's why the Machoke has other moves.
In future fights, this plays out as Grimer and Machoke working together in a way that makes for great cinematic play, with Grimer spitting out a pool of acid and Machoke tossing foes into it. But the mechanics work the same as if it was, say, an Alakazam mind-controlling a foe to walk through a raging bonfire, or a Snorlax tackling a foe onto ice spikes, or a Pidgeot gusting a foe into an electrified fence. Some Pokemon, especially larger ones, may have resistance to Hazard-based moves, opening up different species to feel more distinct without complicating the base mechanics. It also lets the GM build set pieces, like a gym where the walls are all covered in electrified spikes, dealing both Electric and Steel damage to any fighters pushed into them.
In addition to Hazards, there's also certain "arena tracks" which can be modified by moves with the Arena() playbook, and have interactions with moves of certain types. For instance, Fire-type moves have access to an option that makes them cost fewer PP when the arena's temperature track is at its highest level, but cost more PP when it is at or below the track's midpoint. Some Grass-type Pokemon may have access to a passive Photosynthesis move which generates HP or PP when the arena's illumination track is high. Smaller Pokemon can have higher defense in foggy arenas, Fire-types can increase their Max PP in exchange for a weakness in wet arenas, Flying-types can be stronger in outdoor settings, Dark-types can deal more damage in low-illumination arenas, etc.
Basically I want the fights to work with consistent, easily learned mechanics that nevertheless allow for individual encounters to actually feel different from each other, instead of "I use this move, you take 2 harm. I use this other move, you take 1 harm."
Rules
Ship Battle
You have 3 sets of cards stacked in lines:
-HULL cards: Represents your ship.
-EQUIPMENT cards: 1 per HULL card.
-CREW cards: Any number per HULL card.
When used, turn that card sideways.
When damaged, flip that card face down.
You lose when all HULL cards are damaged.
Turn phases:
1. Ready & move CREW
3. Ready crewed EQUIPMENT
4. Use EQUIPMENT with CREW, or use CREW skills
When ATTACKING, roll d10 - DISTANCE.
Each HULL card has a number. You HIT if your roll matches that number. If you rolled multiple hits, choose one.
When a HULL card is HIT, all cards in that location are DAMAGED.
If you cannot damage a card on the location you rolled, damage the next closest card, in either direction.
CREW skills can only be used if you are at that location.
The smallest ship goes first.
The DISTANCE tracker starts at 5.
When DISTANCE reaches 10, the battle is over.
When DISTANCE would drop below 0, the two ships are in MELEE.
When in Melee, Equipment may no longer be used unless it states otherwise.
Crew may use to attack another crew, rolling a d10 and comparing the total. The loser is injured.
---
HULL cards are all identical, save their numbers.
The prow of the ship is high, the rear is low.
Ship size is 1-10.
Cards
CREW cards
Crewmember: Pilot - Movement +1 when crewing Sails or Engines.
Crewmember: Fighter - Roll an extra die in melee.
Crewmember: Engineer - Use to flip a damaged Hull or Equipment card to a used state.
Crewmember: Cannoneer - Roll an extra die when crewing a Cannon.
Crewmember: Healer - Use to flip a damaged Crew card to a used state.
-
Ahmed: Quick Charge - Use to ready a used Equipment card. Wind Mage - Movement +1 when crewing Sails. Adventurer - Roll an extra die in melee.
Li Cho: Revive - Use to flip a damaged Crew card to a ready state. Adventurer - Roll an extra die in melee.
Milovan: Sailor - Movement +1 when crewing Sails. Adventurer - Roll an extra die in melee.
Thaddeus: Cannoneer - Roll an extra die when crewing a Cannon. Adventurer - Roll an extra die in melee.
---
EQUIPMENT cards
Sails: Use to Move 1.
Engine: Use to Move 2. Cannot move in the opposite direction you went last turn. Aft only.
Cannon: Use to Attack.
Thunder Lance: Use to Attack. Roll an extra die. Only damages Hull.
Flame Launcher: Use to Attack. Roll an extra die. Only damages Crew.
Ice Projector: Use to Attack. Roll an extra die. Only damages Equipment.
Hull Reinforcements: If your Hull would be damaged, damage this instead.
Emergency Shield: If your Crew would be damaged, damage this instead.
Playtest (* = tapped, # = damaged) Spoiler: Pirates are dumb and make dumb decisions.
Round 0: Distance 5, size tied: Buzzard won initiative roll!
Rising Sun
10, Cannon, Thaddeus, Ahmed
09, Cannon, Li Cho
08, Sails
07, Sails, Milovan
06, Sails
Buzzard
10, Cannon, Cannoneer
09, Cannon, Fighter
08, Sails, Engineer
07, Sails, Healer
06, Sails, Pilot
-
Round 1: Distance 1
Rising Sun
10, Cannon*, Thaddeus*
09, Cannon*, Li Cho*, Ahmed*
08, Sails*, Milovan*
07#, Sails#
06, Sails
Buzzard
10, Cannon*, Cannoneer*
09#, Cannon#, Fighter#
08, Sails*, Engineer*
07, Sails*, Healer*
06, Sails*, Pilot*
-
Round 2: Distance 0
Rising Sun
10, Cannon*, Thaddeus*, Milovan*, Ahmed*
09, Cannon*, Li Cho*
08, Sails*
07#, Sails#
06, Sails
Buzzard
10#, Cannon#, Cannoneer#
09#, Cannon*, Fighter*, Engineer*, Healer*
08, Sails*
07#, Sails#
06, Sails*, Pilot*
-
Round 3: Distance 0, Rising Sun sinks Buzzard!
Rising Sun
10, Cannon*, Thaddeus*, Milovan*, Ahmed*
09, Cannon, Li Cho
08, Sails*
07#, Sails#
06# Sails#
Buzzard
10#, Cannon*, Cannoneer*, Engineer*, Healer*
09#, Cannon*, Fighter*
08#, Sails#, Pilot#
07#, Sails#
06#, Sails#
That lie in Edge of the Empire worked. I actually broke even on the roll, but the other face social player picked up the roll and got the slavers away from the building I want to buy.
Now that character’s accounts are frozen and they were going to be the first big investor to get Galto Corp got off the ground and serve as a hiding-in-plain-sight haven for force sensitives. So we have no competition but we also don’t have the money.
"Take A Powerful Blow" doesn't just mean physical hits; you can take a powerful blow to your confidence, your ego, your self-worth, your belief in a cause, or how you see someone. Don't be afraid to call for it often.
Nobody realised what I was doing (I blame the youth as the oldest one is a mere 26 years old)
Now I know that the player of the Highwayman character has recently started getting into country music, and her car complication CD includes "Highwayman" which I made sure she was aware of when she gave me a lift home this week
Any day now I'm expecting a text that just reads "you bastard"
I'm pretty hyped by the Solo movie, so I'm thinking of doing an Edge of the Empire game. Hopefully this will be a little easier to run. Specifically I hope that the reduced number of rolls and lack of a big book of spells will end up with the players doing things more quickly. I've got a bunch of ideas for tweaking (read: bounding) the basic resolution mechanic along with a two-sided handout to aid them in their decision making as well. But honestly the thing that I'm most looking forward to is just simplifying the story. The players aren't going to be Big Damn Heroes with individual character arcs and an overarching plot, instead I'm going to run each game as a simple heist complete with an Ocean's 11 planning phase. If they don't finish in the 4 hours we play on Sunday, they don't get paid. Simple.
Usually for session 0 I like to have all the players make their characters together with a smattering of ties and interwoven backstories, but I think for this game it's not going to matter. The PCs will all start in chains headed to a life of slavery in a mining colony when their ship is attacked by pirates. The pirates knock the power out and their restraints are released, and from there the game is underway.
Self-contained adventures have more freedom to them. The serialized nature also just makes everything a little easier in the planning or lack thereof. One can improvise more freely without making an audiodrama two years down the road and thinking, "I have to change ALL of this.:
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
We haven't played a heist game yet, they were taking too long playing D&D. Maybe EotE will take less time for them to get shit done, I dunno. I ordered Blades in the Dark last night on a friend's suggestion, and I'll crib what I need to from their mechanic. I think the flashback idea sounds cool, but I also legitimately like planning a heist. Ideally I'd like to have a simple set of framework that lets me build the adventure as they're planning it out, so I have basically 0 required prep before the game starts, and it sounds like BitD has that framework.
With Star Wars the number one thing that's going to slow your table down is players figuring out what to spend miscellaneous Advantage on. Houseruling is your friend here. I personally like letting players bank Advantage, and every three banked can turn into a single Success later. Keeps the flow going and cancels out those rolls where you end up with "nothing".
Also important is to get your players to narrate for you. Get them thinking about what threats, triumphs, and despairs mean in the context of the scene and let them go to town. Much more active and creative for everyone involved.
Also Ranma I would also like to know that.
A bud of mine bought me a two months subscription to Roll20 so I wouldn’t have to waste time transferring characters from my newer group’s game to my vet group’s game. Ain’t he a swell guy?
DrivethruRPG also has good customer service and a sale on FFG 40k titles right now.
If you were building a damaging move from a playbook, would this formatting make sense to you?
Choose one as your base damage:
☐ 1 Damage (2 PP)
☐ 2 Damage (4 PP)
Choose one as your full damage:
☐ Base damage plus 2 (1 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 3 (3 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 4 (6 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 5 (10 PP)
Choose one:
☐ Full damage plus 1 (1 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 2 (2 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 3 (3 PP)
What's the standard roll for the move?
And how much PP do they have to spend?
Roll depends on the move. Moves will be listed like this:
Tackle -- Atk vs. Def -- Normal, Damage
Toxic -- S. Atk vs. Def -- Poison, Status (Poison)
So for Confusion, for example, you're rolling 2d6 + your S. Atk - target's S. Def, then checking the result against the options you selected from the three playbooks listed.
The actual numbers are just examples, but here's how they'll work: The PP cost to use a move is the sum of all the options you select. Your max PP = 10 per level (possibly 20 for first level, then 10 for every level after that) minus the cost of perks you've taken for that Pokemon. So, for instance, here's a small list of moves you might be able to purchase for Rattata:
Hyper Fang -- Atk vs. Def -- Normal, Damage (Cost: 5 Max PP)
Sucker Punch -- Atk vs. Def -- Dark, Damage (Cost: 10 Max PP)
If you level up your Rattata, it gains 10 max PP, but you might choose to use those PP to purchase Sucker Punch. If you do, you then construct a move from the Dark and Damage playbooks. Dark has characteristics like "Can only use this move in pitch-black arenas. (-5 PP)" and "+1 to use this move if the user is Dark-type. (1 PP)". Or, if you're trying to build up its max PP, you could choose not to purchase any new perks or moves for the Rattata, or simply purchase a cheaper perk like Quick Attack.
As a full example, let's say you buy Hyper Fang and select the following options:
Extreme Conditions - User takes -2 to use this move if any of the Temperature, Humidity, Visibility, or Light tracks are at their highest or lowest levels. (-3 PP)
DAMAGE Playbook
Partial Success
☐ 0 Damage (0 PP)
Success
☐ Base damage plus 2 (1 PP)
Critical Hit
☐ Full damage plus 2 (2 PP)
So now you have a move that is always free to use, that deals 2 damage on a 10-12 and 4 damage on a 13+ (but nothing on a 7-9). It is susceptible to opponents who can max out the arena tracks, so you'll either need to account for that when building Rattata's stats up (either a high Atk or a way to lower the opponent's Def, like Tail Whip), or partner up with another Pokemon (your own or a party member's) who can manage the arena for you.
Alternatively, you could build Hyper Fang this way:
Maximum Effort -- This move may be used even if the Pokemon does not have the necessary PP to use it. If using this move causes the Pokemon to fall below 0 PP, it faints and cannot be revived for the remainder of the scene. (10 PP)
Same-Type Bonus -- +1 to use this move if the user is a Normal-type. (1 PP)
DAMAGE Playbook
Partial Success
☐ 2 Damage (4 PP)
Success
☐ Base damage plus 5 (10 PP)
Critical Hit
☐ Full damage plus 3 (3 PP)
Now you've got a glass cannon Rattata who can dole out a potential 10 damage on a crit, at the cost of 28 PP. For a low-level Rattata, that's an almost certain faint due to Maximum Effort's drawback. But it could be worth it, depending on how you build out your party. It's countered by the fact that 1) an opponent with a high Def is unlikely to take the full 10 damage, and 2) even if the opponent gets knocked out, they could potentially be revived, while Rattata cannot.
And that's before you get into non-Normal type playbooks, hazards, status effects, stat buffs/debuffs, and stuff like recoil damage.
Are Statuses a different playbook?
How does a player know that Dark is worth 5 Max PP more than the Normal playbook? Do they need to read both before they choose their move?
I guess that Damage playbook is nice and readable, so long as the final Move gets condensed down to a single line afterwards, as you've stated.
Wouldn't want to have two checklists permanently associated with each Move...
The math is also not very clear on the damage scales.
If I was investing 2PP more into the move, I would always increase my Base damage first to 2, before investing another 2 to kick my Full damage from 2 to 3.
The Base damage is almost always applicable, whereas the Full damage is less common, but that point increase is the same price and the pay-off gets worse as your Full damage increases further.
If you don't max your Base damage before going for lvl 3+ Full damage, you're wasting PP.
Choose one as your base damage:
☐ 1 Damage (2 PP)
☐ 2 Damage (4 PP)
Choose one as your full damage:
☐ Base damage plus 2 (1 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 3 (2 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 4 (3 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 5 (4 PP)
Choose one:
☐ Full damage plus 1 (1 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 3 (2 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 6 (3 PP)
Yeah, there's one Status (___________) playbook, where you write in the status relevant to the attack in question, and then all the options are the same regardless of which status you're talking about. Makes things less complicated than having a different playbook for every status, and balancing between the different status effects (ex: if Sleep is stronger than Paralyzed) can be handled by making Status (Sleep) moves more expensive to purchase in the first place. There will also be a single playbook for each of Buff(_), Debuff(_), and Arena(_).
It isn't necessarily that Dark is worth more than Normal in general, but in this case as it's a Normal-type Pokemon, Dark moves aren't as directly in his wheelhouse. An Umbreon, for example, might have some cheaper Dark moves on its list, but pay more for extra Normal or Fairy moves. Similarly, Charizard might have access to Dragon Rage, but at an increased cost since it increases his versatility.
But yeah, I guess it would be handy to glance over both playbooks before choosing. They won't be long, they're not as complex as player class books.
Yeah, I think I'll make a move template image that is split into columns so the player can just write down "No effect, 2 damage, 4 damage + Paralyze target" in the columns and notate the attack type and PP cost in the corner. Just a narrow row of information condensed from the selected options. Something that you can fit at least four of onto a page, eight with double-sided printing.
The session is instead going to basically be a test run of how my combined groups interact. They’ll all be astartes with different specializations but they’ll be more equalized in experience and gear than their own characters are.
My main worry about the two groups is that the vet group has a guy who’s pretty talkative and takes a leader role, a guy that’s half talkative and offers up ideas but is not super assertive, and a guy who’s mainly there for the combat. While the other group has two pretty talkative people and a mostly talkative person who does hang out on his phone from time to time but does chime in for stuff he finds important. That last guy worries me because he is somewhat assertive and likes to try to “advise” the other players in a kind of blunt way. None of them are argumentative in shitty unecessary ways. Their arguments when it comes to the narrative bits are often decently thought out in how they try to investigate stuff and approach stuff and how they might disagree with each other. It’s just when that last guy goes “No, you should really be doing this” and I have to tell him to back off is what worries me.
It will be fun to have young, hopeful arbitrator mesh with older, jaded arbitrator. Same for young techpriest and older techpriest.
Oh! I get to subject my vet group to psychic phenomena now because they’ve been without a psychic character for two years. Mmmyes
Choose one as your base damage:
☐ 1 Damage (1 PP)
☐ 2 Damage (3 PP)
Choose one as your full damage:
☐ Base damage plus 2 (1 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 3 (3 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 4 (5 PP)
☐ Base damage plus 5 (8 PP)
Choose one:
☐ Full damage plus 1 (1 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 2 (3 PP)
☐ Full damage plus 3 (5 PP)
Then have move abilities / perks / attributes that raise the roll appropriately costed.
So you can spread your damage for low PP and then raise your chance to crit with more PP.
Or boost your base damage for a lot of PP and not take the roll boost.
Thinking about it more, you probably want to keep the crit at 1 PP a step, to allow for just investing in crits and then buying roll increases.
Or just keep what you had and make full damage roughly 1.5 PP per point :P
Well, there's a significant amount of mechanical variety built around different combinations of:
2) The types (18, though I may look into the possibility of dual-typed moves which would mean there's 171 possible typings)
3) The category of move (Damage, Statusx6ish, Buffx5, Debuffx5, Arenax6x2, Hazardx2, Healing, Recoil, maybe a couple others by the end, we'll just round down to 30)
Between those, you're technically looking at 100,000+ possible combinations before you even consider the possibility of moves that have multiple categories, like a move that both deals damage and inflicts a status condition, or a move that debuffs two different stats. Now obviously, not all of those 100k+ combos will come into play, just because (for example) a Spd vs. S. Atk move that heals you and reduces the humidity of the arena doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense. But the point is, that variety exists, and is further complicated by the combinations of moves available to any one Pokemon due to their learnset, along with TMs, held items, sizes, natures, and egg moves.
But more directly to your question, there's not necessarily a mechanical difference between Tackle (Atk vs. Def, Normal, Damage) and Scratch (Atk vs. Def, Normal, Damage). That's intentional, because previously I was trying to design each move individually and that just wasn't working out. This way, designing a new move is as simple as choosing its stats, type(s) and categories. Everything fits on one line. Another advantage to this is that you can look over a Pokemon's learnable moves and get a quick sense for what its combat role is, without having to read a lot of full text.
Now, narratively, there's potentially a lot of difference between two moves even if they share the same playbooks. Hyper Fang is also a (Normal, Damage) move, but outside of combat it could potentially play a very different role than Tackle. Similarly, Ember and Fire Spin might have the same playbooks (maybe, not sure yet), but they evoke very different images. When using a Pokemon's move outside of combat, you'll roll +Bond with that Pokemon, instead of the usual stats. Examples:
"Team Rocket is charging across a rope bridge towards us. I instruct Rattata to use Hyper Fang to chew through the rope on one side, while I work on the other with my knife. [Roll +Bond]"
"These guards are just doing their job. I need to get past, but I don't really want to hurt them. Butterfree, use Sleep Powder to put them to sleep/Charizard, use Scary Face to scare them off/Drowzee, use Hypnosis to mind trick them/Jigglypuff, use Sing to distract them. [Roll +Bond]"
And so on. You wouldn't be able to cut the rope bridge with Tackle, but Hyper Fang works. Scary Face might suffice to get past the guards, even though another debuff move like Icy Wind isn't, despite the fact that they debuff the same stat.
So I dunno. I think the moves will be varied enough to be interesting. But there is a certain level of flatness I'm accepting as a sanity-saving measure.
I'm not sure at a mechanical level the strength of that, but thematically that sounds like what orks do.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
My beginning 3 hour session of this campaign? Adapted takes 13 minutes.
My biggest worry is that I do most of the voices, mainly because none of my friends have decent mics and most live aways.
They charge $15 and use resin.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.