Wednesday 18 January 2012

Rules ideas - starting from scratch (again)

New rules (Take whateverythehellitisnowdearzombiejesuscan'tIjustpicksomethingandgetonwithplayingSkyrim?!)

OK.  I'm knackered from my new job, but I played with some rule ideas of Christmas and this is what I came up with.  I don't have the same guys around to argue it with, so feel free to kick the tyres. 


I have a bunch of principles that basically run along the ideas of keeping it idiot friendly (I'm the idiot in this example; I hate having to remember more than a couple of numbers at a time), easy to grasp but very flexible in the long term. 


Oh yeah, and rules should support play and setting.  You'll see what I mean with the virtue/vice thing.




Characters and character generation:

At this point rewards can change, but the basic system is predicated on using Drama points as currency.  You gain them by playing to their sins (and creating drama) and spend them on boosting your stat+skill test result. Wyrd points are more powerful Drama Points.  Of course, all of this is unstable - it only lasts until I think of better ideas.

           Each character begins with named traits.

Destiny
Your destiny is your ultimate goal and should be suitably epic; if you are uncertain, or new, ask the ST to create one for you, with some input. 
The reward for advancing your destiny is to receive Wyrd point(s). 
Passions (5)
Passions are your smaller objectives; anything from the political ('become renowned at duelling') to the personal ('woo the lady Serafina'). 
The player gains XP for advancing their Passions.  They also gain a one-off payment of XP upon completion of their Passion. Passions are basically goals and exist on top of the GM-inspired plots.  A little player power in defining what they want to do and getting a reward for it.
Strength
The character has taken one of the Seven Virtues to heart (see table).
The player may take a bonus based on ½ their Spirit stat at a critical juncture in their Task.  Not sure about the reward on this one, but I like teh idea of a temporary buff for doing something like that.  
Sin
The character is prey to one of the Seven Sins (see table).
The player regains Drama Points in-session by giving in to their weakness and creating drama.  I totally got the idea for this after playing ICONS.  FS is often about human frailty and players are notoriously frit of showing or acknowledging ANY weakness, so this is a gentle push.  

Here are the quick-and-dirty descriptions of FS's virtues and sins.

The Seven Virtues

Virtue
Patron
Tasks
Questing
Paulus the Traveller
Investigating mysteries.
Loyalty
Lextius the Knight
Upholding a pledge.
Compassion
Amalthea the Healer
Aiding those in need.
Protection
Mantius the Soldier
Defending the faithful.
Justice
Maya the Scorned Woman
Punishing the guilty.
Wisdom
Horace the Learned Man
Learning something new.
Humility
Hombor the Beggar
Selfless acts of charity.
Discipline
Ven Lohji the Alien
Investigating occult mysteries.


 The Seven Sins

Sin
Acts
Pride
Insisting on primacy; ignoring the social order.
Greed
Extracting too much from others, be it money or other goods. Stealing.
Lust
Overt seduction, lascivious excess, miscegenation (xenophilia).
Envy
Acts designed to deny or take a desired person or object from another.
Sloth
Failing to advance a Passion.
Wrath
Becoming angry or violent against those weaker than thyself.
Oathbreaking
Choosing not to honour agreements/contracts.
Technosophy
Relying on technology to do something for you.



            Characters have three main traits: Body, Mind and Spirit.  These traits act as health tracks and limits - a character cannot have a skill rating higher than their trait rating.

            A character's Body represents how much damage they can take before falling unconscious.  Health is lost through physical conflict, with each point of damage removing one point of health.  See the Combat section for more details.

            A character's Mind is the measure of their mental stability and their defence against the Darkness Between the Stars.  Stability is lost when the player comes across horrific situations (grisly occult rituals, facing the Darkness Between the Stars  and so on).  Players can also make mental attacks against one another, seeking to sow confusion and uncertainty in their enemies through debate.

            A character's Spirit is their worthiness, be it in the Pancreator's eyes or their own.  Theurgic or Psychic characters need a strong soul to control their abilities, while the ungifted may offer their Spirit points to demons in unholy bargains.  A character's conviction is lost when installing cyberwear, or engaging in spiritual combat.

Falling to Zero 
            When a character's trait falls to zero, they are temporarily taken out of play. 
A character with zero Body is grievously wounded and unconscious. They can recover through healing, be it chemical, technological or mystical.
A character with zero Mind is insane and must be locked up for their own good.  Psychological healing is a limited art in the Known Worlds; instead, many go on quests to recover their minds, exploring their history in order to recover their personality.
A character with zero Spirit no longer abides by their own morality; instead they act as they please. A character must either return to their path through spiritual acts, or choose an alternative, such  as soul death through transhumanism, or demon worship.
Stats work like in Dr. Who: the actual stat number is reduced, which has a knock-on effect on taking tests.  Body works fine, and Mind is generally OK (not sure of the PVP thing, but as PVP is a big part of the game I guess I'll have to work something out.  Spirit...sucks.  I have no idea how to work this one yet, although I do like the idea of selling soul like a certain Patchwork Prince).  

Combat is sketched out but basically runs like this: a character's total health is their Body + any armour rating (armour is extra health).  If all the armour points are used up, its effectiveness in subsequent battles is 1/2 total until repaired and is halved again every time it's used up.  

Energy shields protect against a range of damage values for X many hits.

Weapons do X damage.  That's basically it.  

Things to add: Feats(?), a proper skill list, crafting and whatever else I've forgotten.   

Sunday 1 January 2012

[GUNS] I bring you the best toys...

Look at this Pancreator-lovin' gun.  Is this not awesome?


This is the X-Power Shock Blaster from Simba. While everyone's ooh-ing and ah-ing over Nerf guns, Simba snuck out this freaking bolt pistol lookielike

And you see that open bullet chamber?  That's right; once the dart's fired you cock it again and the freaking shell casing tinkles onto the ground.

That's cool.  

OK, so it's not what you's want in a forest shooting match, but in a closed social environment it just looks funky.  Plus, spent cartridges are a storytelling device.  They say 'there was a fight here' without having to do messy special effects and make someone lie still for too long.

I picked it up in Toymaster for £12, down from £16. It isn't coming up any more, but Amazon and other places have them.

Bargain.

Damnit Brain, shut up!

So there I am, lying in bed at grannies' house and pondering a Christmas Mass Effect game.

And my brain decides that's pretty dull and switches track.

"You know what?" it says. "You should dump as many stats as possible and make Fading Suns about Passions.  Flagged ideas that form characters, with skills and stats coming second/last.

"Start each character off with a Destiny, a really big goal the player/character has. Link progress towards this goal with Wyrd point recovery.  Then give them Passions - anything from political ambitions to love stories - and let them gain XP for achieving those.

"You could throw in a Drama point economy, like in Cinematic Unisystem.  Give each character a virtue and a vice, straight out of the Universal Church's seven virtues/vices and link them to Drama points; they can recover DPs if they succumb to their vices and can spend DPs for a bonus if their virtue helps them.  or something.  I'm sure you'll figure out the details."

I love and hate my brain sometimes.  Never did finish off the Mass Effect plot, either.