As I was out having fun one day I overheard two literary characters discussing a role playing game. Since this role playing games thing seems to be interesting to like the one person who reads this, I figured it would be relevant to their interest. It went about thusly:
Ken: Are fighting games technically literature?
Ryu: I dunno. But check out this cool tabletop RPG I got!
Ken: No way! Is Numenera out already?
Ryu: Actually, I don't know. This is Eoris Essence, the Columbian RPG that kind of failed to create enough interest and has been sold for cents on the dollar to clear the warehouses lately. It has a number of interesting ideas and really gorgeous art, although I don't know if it's $100 kind of gorgeous?
Ken: So, is the system basically Exalted with serial numbers filed off?
Ryu: It's pretty similar. You roll dice pools of d20s, 15 and above are successes, 1 subtracts one success and 20 is a double success. Also you designate one die as the Essence die and if it rolls 20 or 1 you can be really awesome, really suck or kind of awesome but kind of suck at the same time. And vice versa. Although there are STMs on top of that.
Ken: ST-Whats?
Ryu: STMs, or Standard Threshold Modifiers. Like, being a Red XIII makes you maybe stronger than a regular human (I don't remember) so you would get a -2 Standard Threshold Modifier to Strength attribute related rolls. That means you succeed not on 15, but on 13. Some STMs can also make things more difficult instead, like if you're really tiny or young.
Ken: I'm not tiny!
Ryu: Well, you get the idea.
Ken: It's kind of confusing, though. Aren't there a lot of STMs to keep track of?
Ryu: Well, most people will not have many of those, and you can have a maximum of two STMs applying to any roll - one for attribute and the other one for skill. If they're both positive or negative, then you simply take whichever is better for you (the lower one, that is), if one is positive and one negative then you add them together and sort of get the average that way.
Ken: I don't really get it but let's move on. So you have attributes and skills, just like in White Wolf? And when you attack someone, do they get... DV?
Ryu: Nah, it's more like 1e Exalted. You roll your Dodge versus the opponent's attack, or if it's a ranged attack and you don't have superhuman dicepool you have to just stand there and take it, or roll Barrier which is sort of Dune style powerfields for magical people (they don't work against melee attacks). If they STILL hit, you can roll your Parry dice and add that to your previous defense score and maybe you don't get hit anymore, but on the other hand it consumes your next action. Although there is some variable action points thing, the quickstart rules rather sensibly do away from them so I think we'll do that too when we next play, Ken.
Ken: Sweet! What about magic? I heard it was Saint Seya inspired, but I didn't quite get how.
Ryu: Haha, not quite! Magic in this game is called Saeia and it's usually performed by singing songs! There are different types of Saeia, which are tied to a type of skills called Saeia essences and they deal with different things. Like, if you have any dots in Isthenia, you can use a basic magical energy attack because Isthenia is tied to destruction.
Ken: Just like that, without spending permanent resources? Kinda like the at-will abilities in 4e.
Ryu: Yeah, like in 4e. Saeia basically only costs actions while you keep making activation rolls. When you fail, you get some negative consequences.
Ken: That's interesting, although it might have balance problems. We shall see. You mentioned something about Red XIII, though, were you serious?
Ryu: Yeah, there is actually a race that is pretty much Red XIIIs. And the other that is White XIIIs, so to speak. Several similar species of human-like characters and some weirdness like the squirrel-Yodas. That's for Xylen, who have the most variety.
Ken: okay... Wait, what was that about Cylons?
Ryu: Xylen are basically mortals of the setting. In addition to them you have Sil, who are sort of like angels that teach people and are looked up to, and Kalei, who are a wholly different and sort of emo class of... also angels. The latters' big goal is killing God...
Ken: Makes sense.
Ryu: ...by God's explicit request.
Ken: ...I need a drink.
Ryu: We're not done yet! Did you have any more questions?
Ken: This all looks a lot like Final Fantasy so far. But I feel like we're missing something... I can't quite remember what.
Ryu: Limit Breaks?
Ken: Limit Breaks!
Ryu: There are Limit Breaks.
Ken: Wooo!
Ryu: Several types of them, in fact. The exact number accessible to your character depends on their spiritual power, but you can spend Energy points for extra actions, extra dice, a spontaneous energy attack if you're powerful enough, and custom limit breaks you can design yourself, like damage mods or Aeris' Healing Wind. Xylen recover energy points simply with the passage of time (in-game or out of game, as is more convenient), rolling 1s and 20s on the Essence die or taking damage in combat.
Ken: That's pretty Limit Break-y!
Ryu: I know, right. Let's get drunk.
Ken: Woo!
To be continued?..
Tuesday 17 September 2013
Friday 19 July 2013
10 useful implements for undersea mecha warfare
A friend is going to run a FATE mecha game where all the action happens deep underwater. Since many traditional armaments don't work for that without some alterations, I decided to brainstorm a few variations that would be suitable. It's naturally very important to give them names that are suitable for shouting out loud.
Harpoon Machinegun
Harpoons are a staple in the undersea warfare, and it would make sense to crossbreed one with the trusty Vulcan cannon. You'd need some mechanism for attaching strands to harpoons as they leave the firing mechanism.Supercavitation Crusher
Supercavitation is a real thing employed by mantis shrimp in nature to aid crushing hard shells of its pray by adding secondary impacts to the physical one. Supercavitation Crusher would be a blunt rod of metal (possibly square or hexagonal - you don't want it sharp and it wouldn't last anyway) with a suitable acceleration mechanism. In the depth of a few kilometers you don't need to crush someone's armor entirely - just adding a good crack will ensure Mother Nature does the rest.Microwave Lancer
Water dampens radiation a lot, preventing the use of many traditional beam weapons, but that just means you need to get close in to do the job. Microwave Lancer requires you to close in with the enemy before frying them in a burst of radiation.Railgun Spike
Somewhat related to Supercavitation Crusher above, this is more similar to your garden variety pile bunker. To spice it up, acceleration mechanism doesn't use gunpowder, but magnetic linear acceleration instead, driving the piston along two electrified rails. For extra convenience, you can reverse the polarity to retract the spike. Try not to get any sea water inside or it will short out!Predator Claw
What's the better way to rub the inevitable into the enemy than grasping them in a huge sharp claw before crunching their robot in half? I don't think science is ready to answer this question yet. Don't get your fingers in it.Drill Torpedo Punch
So rocket punches don't work, see if I care. Just fit a forearm with a hidden torpedo engine and get to work. Note that these should probably be wire guided if you don't want one zooming out of your pitiful radio contact range and having to do without an arm for the rest of the trip. Since impact alone won't be much, slide a drill head in front of the fist - if you can connect it to the torpedo engine somehow, all the better.Chakram Cutter
Another close range weapon, Chakram Cutter rests in two semi-circular toothed halves on both forearms when not deployed (you can use the edges for hand to hand brawling, if necessary), which connect into a large arm-mounted buzzsaw . For bonus, you can use it like a shield to deflect enemy projectiles and harpoons.Magnetic Anchor
There are other fun things to do than just kill someone. If you're fighting close enough to the bottom of the ocean and there are things to entangle wires into, affix one end of a very strong metal wire there, set the other one into a powerful electromagnet and fire it at the enemy (both ends should be fired at once for better effect from a sort of double combination launcher). Now it's their job to figure out how to unattach the electromagnet from their metal armor while their mobility is reduced.Vapor Resonator
Suddenly turning water into a sea of bubbles wreaks havoc with floating objects, as they are suddenly dragged down. A ranged weapon that manages to achieve this effect in beam-like fashion won't kill anyone, but might take someone out of the action for a few critical moments.Impact Hammer
A Chinese meteor hammer version rather than a Western warhammer, it is simply a very large ball of iron with optional spikes, with a bunch of powerful torpedo engines set up in every which direction, connected to the parent robot with a chain housing control wires. Just clobber the target with it until they say "enough" or you can't identify the model anymore.Friday 21 June 2013
Discovering your Destiny, part 1
I guess this has been turning into a Tenra Bansho Zero blog lately. Oh well, whatever to fill the silence with, right?
Anyway. There's been a bit of a dissonance for me between the ease of picking out pregenerated characters in TBZ and jumping into the game for people who haven't played before. But at the same time, the GM needs to come up with a set of Destinies for them on the fly, that would ensure motivated participation by everyone and turn into an exciting story. It is not particularly easy with the wide amount of character types available.
A good set of party Destinies don't just smush together like overboiled rice, but spiral around a common center of gravity like a DNA helix, finally merging for the common resolution in the grand finale. That is the most satisfying way for player character Destinies to unfold, but it takes a lot of practice to get right.
That's what we're here for! Practice, and inspiration.
We're going to need a random chart to pick out sets of characters from, and then try to assign them Destinies with minimum preparation. Ideally it's going to be easier and easier as time goes by. I'll be using the following chart with 12 entries on it - Oni and Ayakashi are not present, because they're somewhat more difficult to fit into a default adventure, and instead there's another pregenerated character type, the War Master for people who like more choice from the "human" characters.
Note that this leaves Chun-Li undefined for now. In general, I don't like setting up closed loops of Destinies because they run the risk of splitting the party into isolated cliques. By all means give player A a Destiny related to player B but then move on with player B onto something else.
Ideally, we also want to group PCs by who knows whom from earlier, who are travelling together and so on (note this doesn't have to be romantic or sexual in nature, but it is going to involve some Fates). In this case, Chun-Li is protecting the Kugutsu, Sakura, that has been entrusted in her care, or simply chose her as the protector. Goal: Protect Sakura With Your Life works wonders.
Kijin are simple people, their lifes scarred by violence. If you want an Enemy type Destiny, and you probably do, it's a good fit here. Give him Enemy: Whoever Is Going To Be The Final Boss Or His/Her Dragon and be done with it.
Finally, for the Kugutsu... you have some room to fill in the blanks now. Personal freedom is a big staple here so you could go with Goal: Attain Freedom if you want it simple. If her creator is still alive and present in the adventure, you could have a positive or negative Emotion related to them. Or finally you could put the player up for some soul-searching with Goal: Understand What Is Human? or something similarily waffling and philosophical.
This is not to say that these things should be entirely GM decided and forced upon the player, which would be silly, just that you should have a firm idea of what to suggest to a player (and if they say "fuck no" then you can talk it out and negotiate). Note that this set of sample Destinies is going to be relevant right to the end of the adventure (parts of which they imply), keep PCs together and resolve at similar time, at the last Act of the game. These are, not to toot my own horn, reasonably good Destinies.
Next time, we'll see if we can do it again.
Anyway. There's been a bit of a dissonance for me between the ease of picking out pregenerated characters in TBZ and jumping into the game for people who haven't played before. But at the same time, the GM needs to come up with a set of Destinies for them on the fly, that would ensure motivated participation by everyone and turn into an exciting story. It is not particularly easy with the wide amount of character types available.
A good set of party Destinies don't just smush together like overboiled rice, but spiral around a common center of gravity like a DNA helix, finally merging for the common resolution in the grand finale. That is the most satisfying way for player character Destinies to unfold, but it takes a lot of practice to get right.
That's what we're here for! Practice, and inspiration.
We're going to need a random chart to pick out sets of characters from, and then try to assign them Destinies with minimum preparation. Ideally it's going to be easier and easier as time goes by. I'll be using the following chart with 12 entries on it - Oni and Ayakashi are not present, because they're somewhat more difficult to fit into a default adventure, and instead there's another pregenerated character type, the War Master for people who like more choice from the "human" characters.
- Annelidist
- Armour Hunter
- Armour Rider
- Kijin
- Kongohki
- Kugutsu
- Miko/Gyoshi
- Monk
- Onmyoji
- Samurai
- Shinobi
- War Master
- Ryu, Kijin
- Ken, War Master
- Sakura, Kugutsu
- Chun-Li, War Master
Note that this leaves Chun-Li undefined for now. In general, I don't like setting up closed loops of Destinies because they run the risk of splitting the party into isolated cliques. By all means give player A a Destiny related to player B but then move on with player B onto something else.
Ideally, we also want to group PCs by who knows whom from earlier, who are travelling together and so on (note this doesn't have to be romantic or sexual in nature, but it is going to involve some Fates). In this case, Chun-Li is protecting the Kugutsu, Sakura, that has been entrusted in her care, or simply chose her as the protector. Goal: Protect Sakura With Your Life works wonders.
Kijin are simple people, their lifes scarred by violence. If you want an Enemy type Destiny, and you probably do, it's a good fit here. Give him Enemy: Whoever Is Going To Be The Final Boss Or His/Her Dragon and be done with it.
Finally, for the Kugutsu... you have some room to fill in the blanks now. Personal freedom is a big staple here so you could go with Goal: Attain Freedom if you want it simple. If her creator is still alive and present in the adventure, you could have a positive or negative Emotion related to them. Or finally you could put the player up for some soul-searching with Goal: Understand What Is Human? or something similarily waffling and philosophical.
This is not to say that these things should be entirely GM decided and forced upon the player, which would be silly, just that you should have a firm idea of what to suggest to a player (and if they say "fuck no" then you can talk it out and negotiate). Note that this set of sample Destinies is going to be relevant right to the end of the adventure (parts of which they imply), keep PCs together and resolve at similar time, at the last Act of the game. These are, not to toot my own horn, reasonably good Destinies.
Next time, we'll see if we can do it again.
Wednesday 5 June 2013
鋼のＦＲＥＥＤＯＭ: Ashina Aya
鋼のＦＲＥＥＤＯＭ (Hagane no Freedom - Freedom of Steel) is a Tenra Bansho
Zero scenario for 4 to 6 players, including the Game Master. This series
of posts introduces pregenerated player characters and their stories.
Note: since the names are Japanese, they're written with family name
first, unless noted otherwise.
Two years ago, you were one of the few children most important for the domain of Torigoe. Born Mitsuko in a noble Ishikawa family, you were prepared from early childhood to control a terrifying steel frame of Yoroi Armour that could single-handedly turn the tide of battle.
The magical Meikyo mirror, contained in only the most powerful Armours, not only provides an interface for control, but absorbs all memories and experiences of the rider during battle, making the Armour grow ever more powerful. However, the price for that is little space left for the personal growth of the rider herself. Eventually, there will not be enough room inside the Armour for both personalities - the rider, and the one contained inside the mirror. When that happens, the Armour shuts down and the rider has to seek other avenues of self-fulfilment.
It all turned into a somewhat theoretical matter for you as in the battle of Hisano's Gate, where the armies of Torigoe were crushed, your personal duel with a Hakusen rider ended in destruction of your both Armours. Unconscious, you were pulled from the wreckage by an officer of the fleeing army, who, having lost his own family, nursed you to health and gave you home as well as a new, less conspicuous name. As you have heard, your real family now lives in Hakusen as hostages, never having had the chance to find out you're alive.
So now you're trying to live your teenage life as best as you can, but something is missing. Losing your Armour felt like losing a close family member, but more so, and you dream of the time when again you will be able to rampage across battlefields of Tenra in an invincible body of an iron giant. This desire makes you seek success and attention in other fields - despite being somewhat frail of body, you never back down from a challenge and have a reputation as a bit of a troublemaker.
Kitan Kagetora, your friend at school, is aware of your true identity, and he has obtained a worn out, mass produced Armour for you to train in, so that your skills don't deteriorate entirely. However, hereditary artifacts that are Meikyo Armours are impossible to purchase and it will require a small miracle for the independence movement to obtain even one.
But when that day comes, you will show them all.
Fates: Emotion: Must be the center of attention, Misfortune: Loss of your Yoroi Armour
Note: this is a modified Yoroi Armour Rider archetype. It has a custom fate and the character will get access to their Armour in play (they have a temporary mass produced Kimen Armour at the start of the game).
Two years ago, you were one of the few children most important for the domain of Torigoe. Born Mitsuko in a noble Ishikawa family, you were prepared from early childhood to control a terrifying steel frame of Yoroi Armour that could single-handedly turn the tide of battle.
The magical Meikyo mirror, contained in only the most powerful Armours, not only provides an interface for control, but absorbs all memories and experiences of the rider during battle, making the Armour grow ever more powerful. However, the price for that is little space left for the personal growth of the rider herself. Eventually, there will not be enough room inside the Armour for both personalities - the rider, and the one contained inside the mirror. When that happens, the Armour shuts down and the rider has to seek other avenues of self-fulfilment.
It all turned into a somewhat theoretical matter for you as in the battle of Hisano's Gate, where the armies of Torigoe were crushed, your personal duel with a Hakusen rider ended in destruction of your both Armours. Unconscious, you were pulled from the wreckage by an officer of the fleeing army, who, having lost his own family, nursed you to health and gave you home as well as a new, less conspicuous name. As you have heard, your real family now lives in Hakusen as hostages, never having had the chance to find out you're alive.
So now you're trying to live your teenage life as best as you can, but something is missing. Losing your Armour felt like losing a close family member, but more so, and you dream of the time when again you will be able to rampage across battlefields of Tenra in an invincible body of an iron giant. This desire makes you seek success and attention in other fields - despite being somewhat frail of body, you never back down from a challenge and have a reputation as a bit of a troublemaker.
Kitan Kagetora, your friend at school, is aware of your true identity, and he has obtained a worn out, mass produced Armour for you to train in, so that your skills don't deteriorate entirely. However, hereditary artifacts that are Meikyo Armours are impossible to purchase and it will require a small miracle for the independence movement to obtain even one.
But when that day comes, you will show them all.
SYSTEM NOTES
Archetypes: Yoroi Armour Rider, Kabukimono/PunkFates: Emotion: Must be the center of attention, Misfortune: Loss of your Yoroi Armour
Note: this is a modified Yoroi Armour Rider archetype. It has a custom fate and the character will get access to their Armour in play (they have a temporary mass produced Kimen Armour at the start of the game).
Tuesday 4 June 2013
鋼のＦＲＥＥＤＯＭ: Kitan Kagetora
鋼のＦＲＥＥＤＯＭ (Hagane no Freedom - Freedom of Steel) is a Tenra Bansho Zero scenario for 4 to 6 players, including the Game Master. This series of posts introduces pregenerated player characters and their stories. Note: since the names are Japanese, they're written with family name first, unless noted otherwise.
You are Kitan Kagetora, the last living member of the Kitan clan. In another time you would have been the Lord of Torigoe domain, as your father was. However, independent Torigoe doesn't exist anymore: it was conquered by Lord Buren of Hakusen in a short and decisive war two years ago.
Your father and younger sister died during the chaos as the capital city of Tengaishi fell, while you were separately captured and spared by the troops of Hakusen. As a member of former ruling family you have been afforded a state pension. You now spend your days in a boarding school for young nobles such as yourself, living a content but ultimately pointless existence.
Or so everyone thinks. In truth, you have never stopped making plots to take back Torigoe from Hakusen, whether it's for the sake of your countrymen or just yourself. You have established secret contacts with the underground resistance movements and are planning to one day lead them to victory. Even though they are all just tools to you, you have a lot to offer them - your strategic abilities are supreme, honed over years of studying shogi (the Japanese chess), where you are nigh undefeatable.
Another important talent of yours is Onmyojutsu, the Taoist sorcerous art of distilling background life energy of the land and giving it the shape of monstrous creatures called Shikigami or simply shiki, which you can then direct at your enemies or use for more mundane tasks. While it is not something you want to showcase to the people watching you, it is a powerful asset which you have become quite good at manipulating.
However, you sneer at the outdated traditional ways of sorcery, carefully drawing summoning glyphs in a beautiful display of calligraphy. You're one of the new generation of Onmyoji, emphasizing substance over style - using an abacus and a mechanical kimenkyo calculating device to quickly produce calculations required to create Shikigami as fast as possible. Older Onmyoji would say that this method is too dangerous, as any error made in haste can produce terrifying and uncontrollable Chimera, and derisively call your ilk shiki-slingers. But you don't care. You know better than them.
Will you oust the invaders who have conquered your homeland, and give its people the freedom they deserve? Or will your own reign you promise be even more terrible?
Fates: Emotion: Hostility towards classical Onmyoji, Emotion: Loyalty to Torigoe domain
You are Kitan Kagetora, the last living member of the Kitan clan. In another time you would have been the Lord of Torigoe domain, as your father was. However, independent Torigoe doesn't exist anymore: it was conquered by Lord Buren of Hakusen in a short and decisive war two years ago.
Your father and younger sister died during the chaos as the capital city of Tengaishi fell, while you were separately captured and spared by the troops of Hakusen. As a member of former ruling family you have been afforded a state pension. You now spend your days in a boarding school for young nobles such as yourself, living a content but ultimately pointless existence.
Or so everyone thinks. In truth, you have never stopped making plots to take back Torigoe from Hakusen, whether it's for the sake of your countrymen or just yourself. You have established secret contacts with the underground resistance movements and are planning to one day lead them to victory. Even though they are all just tools to you, you have a lot to offer them - your strategic abilities are supreme, honed over years of studying shogi (the Japanese chess), where you are nigh undefeatable.
Another important talent of yours is Onmyojutsu, the Taoist sorcerous art of distilling background life energy of the land and giving it the shape of monstrous creatures called Shikigami or simply shiki, which you can then direct at your enemies or use for more mundane tasks. While it is not something you want to showcase to the people watching you, it is a powerful asset which you have become quite good at manipulating.
However, you sneer at the outdated traditional ways of sorcery, carefully drawing summoning glyphs in a beautiful display of calligraphy. You're one of the new generation of Onmyoji, emphasizing substance over style - using an abacus and a mechanical kimenkyo calculating device to quickly produce calculations required to create Shikigami as fast as possible. Older Onmyoji would say that this method is too dangerous, as any error made in haste can produce terrifying and uncontrollable Chimera, and derisively call your ilk shiki-slingers. But you don't care. You know better than them.
Will you oust the invaders who have conquered your homeland, and give its people the freedom they deserve? Or will your own reign you promise be even more terrible?
SYSTEM NOTES
Archetypes: Aristocrat/Princess, Shiki Slinger, TacticianFates: Emotion: Hostility towards classical Onmyoji, Emotion: Loyalty to Torigoe domain
Monday 3 June 2013
Equipment: pistol gauntlets
I'm pretty sure everyone has seen RWBY: Yellow by now but if you haven't, you owe it to yourself. Do it here.
Anyway, a player wanted this kind of thing for their character in Iron Kingdoms. With a little bit of reverse engineering and guesswork, I present you this. You're welcome, Cassie!
Ammo: 5 (metal-cased light round)
Effective range: 36 feet (6")
Extreme range: 180 feet
Skill: Pistol
Attack modifier: -1
POW: 10
AOE: -
Description: This weapon is a heavy gauntlet that integrates a repeating pistol firing mechanism with a five-chambered ammo wheel. The ammo wheel can be replaced in the heat of combat instead of reloading each cylinder separately.
Special rules: When used as a melee weapon, this weapon has an attack modifier of -1, is POW 2, and uses the Unarmed Combat skill.
Replacing this weapon's ammo wheel requires a quick action. Reloading each cylinder of the ammo wheel takes one quick action.
It costs 3 gc for blasting powder, bullets and casings for five light rounds. Additional ammo wheels cost 15 gc each.
As part of a charge, after moving but before making the charge attack, a character can spend 1 feat point to make one ranged attack with this weapon targeting the enemy charged unless the character was in melee with the enemy at the start of his turn. When resolving the ranged attack, the attacking character does not suffer the target in melee penalty. If the target is not in melee range after the attacking character moves, the character can make the ranged attack before his turn ends.
Anyway, a player wanted this kind of thing for their character in Iron Kingdoms. With a little bit of reverse engineering and guesswork, I present you this. You're welcome, Cassie!
PISTOL GAUNTLET, REPEATING
Cost: 45 gcAmmo: 5 (metal-cased light round)
Effective range: 36 feet (6")
Extreme range: 180 feet
Skill: Pistol
Attack modifier: -1
POW: 10
AOE: -
Description: This weapon is a heavy gauntlet that integrates a repeating pistol firing mechanism with a five-chambered ammo wheel. The ammo wheel can be replaced in the heat of combat instead of reloading each cylinder separately.
Special rules: When used as a melee weapon, this weapon has an attack modifier of -1, is POW 2, and uses the Unarmed Combat skill.
Replacing this weapon's ammo wheel requires a quick action. Reloading each cylinder of the ammo wheel takes one quick action.
It costs 3 gc for blasting powder, bullets and casings for five light rounds. Additional ammo wheels cost 15 gc each.
As part of a charge, after moving but before making the charge attack, a character can spend 1 feat point to make one ranged attack with this weapon targeting the enemy charged unless the character was in melee with the enemy at the start of his turn. When resolving the ranged attack, the attacking character does not suffer the target in melee penalty. If the target is not in melee range after the attacking character moves, the character can make the ranged attack before his turn ends.
Friday 26 April 2013
Machine God Fist martial arts style
Hello everyone, sorry about the silence, hopefully I'm back to business. Let's do a martial art for Tenra Bansho Zero, the Hyper Asian Fantasy roleplaying game by Jun'ichi Inoue, translated in English by Andy Kitkowski.
I needed a martial art for a TBZ scenario I'm preparing, well not that I actually needed one but I have a character who's an expy of Folka Albark / Ialdabaoth / Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star (I'm afraid it gets a bit recursive). Kishin Ken - Machine God Fist - is the mecha martial art used by the Shura people in Super Robot Wars Compact 3, and there wasn't quite a martial art for armour pilots in the rulebook so I figured it's a niche that deserves being filled so here we go.
Where's a visual presentation of Kishin Ken:
There are four techniques displayed, which is pretty much perfect for a War Art in Tenra Bansho Zero. With that in mind, we can write it up.
These methods were later found to also be effective for kongohki, as their bodies work on similar principles. The practitioner of Kishin Ken is thus required to either pilot a yoroi armour or be a kongohki, and can choose to use either Unarmed Combat or Interface for attacking but they can only use their fists, feet or integrated martial arts weapons such as Dragon Claws and White Heat Palm. Since the style was developed with meikyo armours, having a true soul mirror improves its efficiency, but it is not mandatory. Kijin can not use Kishin Ken effectively even if they have a mirror installed as their structure lacks the full integration between it and every part of their body.
Skilled Rank (Skill Level 2):
Machine God Fist - 機神拳 - Kishin Ken
The practitioner can use Station instead of Body when using Unarmed Attack to attack or defend. If the armour or kongohki mounts a meikyo mirror, it can use the accumulated Karma bonus in place of a weapon bonus for damage.
Advanced Rank (Skill Level 3):
Machine God Twin Beast Attack - 機神双獣撃 - Kishin Soujuu Geki
This rank allows the martial artist to focus his inner reserves and the energy surging through the frame to make distance attacks.
They can make a ranged attack with the following profile:
Damage +(Karma bonus)
ROF: 2
Range: 50m
Ammo: a lot
Points of soul are expended as if they were ammunition for the weapon.
Master Rank (Skill Level 4):
Machine God Furious Attack Fist - 機神猛撃拳 - Kishin Mougeki Ken
This level of technique allows the practitioner to burn the very life energy of his metal frame to inflict damage in battle. After rolling the attack, they can choose to mark off a single damage box, to add a listed amount of damage dealt - Light (+5), Heavy (+10), Critical (+15), Dead (+25).Yoroi armour pilots can choose either their own boxes or those for their armour.
Supreme Rank (Skill Level 5):
Roar Supreme Machine God Fist - 轟覇機神拳 - Gouha Kishin Ken
The master can now permeate his entire frame with burning life energy, and focus it to obliterate enemies. This removes the one damage box limit from the previous technique, now allowing any amount or combination of them. In addition (or instead of it), the practitioner can add extra point of damage for every two points of soul expended. Finally, points of Soul spent this way also count as being used for White Heat Palm, if one is equipped.
I needed a martial art for a TBZ scenario I'm preparing, well not that I actually needed one but I have a character who's an expy of Folka Albark / Ialdabaoth / Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star (I'm afraid it gets a bit recursive). Kishin Ken - Machine God Fist - is the mecha martial art used by the Shura people in Super Robot Wars Compact 3, and there wasn't quite a martial art for armour pilots in the rulebook so I figured it's a niche that deserves being filled so here we go.
Where's a visual presentation of Kishin Ken:
There are four techniques displayed, which is pretty much perfect for a War Art in Tenra Bansho Zero. With that in mind, we can write it up.
FIST OF THE MACHINE GOD STYLE
Kishin-KenSkill used : Unarmed Combat / Interface
Fist of the Machine God is an esoteric Art of War, developed by an obscure and now extinct Buddhist martial who sought to apply the principles of martial arts to machine bodies of meikyo armours they were granted the use of. Gradually, they learned the similarities of moving living blood and muscles, and the soulgem powered pistons of a yoroi armour, and invented a devastating set of techniques that blends the movement and focus of force from a martial arts master with an invulnerable body of iron.These methods were later found to also be effective for kongohki, as their bodies work on similar principles. The practitioner of Kishin Ken is thus required to either pilot a yoroi armour or be a kongohki, and can choose to use either Unarmed Combat or Interface for attacking but they can only use their fists, feet or integrated martial arts weapons such as Dragon Claws and White Heat Palm. Since the style was developed with meikyo armours, having a true soul mirror improves its efficiency, but it is not mandatory. Kijin can not use Kishin Ken effectively even if they have a mirror installed as their structure lacks the full integration between it and every part of their body.
Skilled Rank (Skill Level 2):
Machine God Fist - 機神拳 - Kishin Ken
The practitioner can use Station instead of Body when using Unarmed Attack to attack or defend. If the armour or kongohki mounts a meikyo mirror, it can use the accumulated Karma bonus in place of a weapon bonus for damage.
Advanced Rank (Skill Level 3):
Machine God Twin Beast Attack - 機神双獣撃 - Kishin Soujuu Geki
This rank allows the martial artist to focus his inner reserves and the energy surging through the frame to make distance attacks.
They can make a ranged attack with the following profile:
Damage +(Karma bonus)
ROF: 2
Range: 50m
Ammo: a lot
Points of soul are expended as if they were ammunition for the weapon.
Master Rank (Skill Level 4):
Machine God Furious Attack Fist - 機神猛撃拳 - Kishin Mougeki Ken
This level of technique allows the practitioner to burn the very life energy of his metal frame to inflict damage in battle. After rolling the attack, they can choose to mark off a single damage box, to add a listed amount of damage dealt - Light (+5), Heavy (+10), Critical (+15), Dead (+25).Yoroi armour pilots can choose either their own boxes or those for their armour.
Supreme Rank (Skill Level 5):
Roar Supreme Machine God Fist - 轟覇機神拳 - Gouha Kishin Ken
The master can now permeate his entire frame with burning life energy, and focus it to obliterate enemies. This removes the one damage box limit from the previous technique, now allowing any amount or combination of them. In addition (or instead of it), the practitioner can add extra point of damage for every two points of soul expended. Finally, points of Soul spent this way also count as being used for White Heat Palm, if one is equipped.
Saturday 2 February 2013
Urbancrawls: wealth disparity
Here's something I came up when developing Kaine - an industrial/Renaissance fusion metropolis using the Vornheim urbancrawl guidelines (SFW). Any city in even slightly self-conscious fantasy is a pretty neat place to live for those rich enough, and, well, sort of better than freezing to death for everyone else - and on top of that, Kaine (and the whole country it's in, Togarini) is noted for having an especially stratified class system.
This made me think I could do something slightly more interesting and appropriate than the suggested "roll d10 to determine location of shit" system. After all, there are neighbourhoods where you can typically find the classy stuff (like opera houses) and neighbourhoods where you only want to go to if you really have to and in broad sunlight (like the place your opium dealer lives, and he's never home during the day).
So, a Wealth Disparity map! We're taking social commentary on fantasy to the next level, you guys. First, procure a neighbourhood map as above. Now take 10 d10s, preferably of the same colour (I'm awfully OCD about this), and roll them. You should get several numbers once, a couple of them repeating twice or more and missing some numbers entirely (if you get some weird result like five doubles and five zeroes, or a perfect distribution of all 10 faces, consider rerolling).
Now write down the number of times that face was repeated next to the neighbourhood. The ones with 0s next to them are out of the process. They're good for inexpensive housing.
Roll 10 dice again. This time, set aside results that correspond to neighbourhoods with no wealth generated in the previous round and reroll them until all the results fit into your better neighbourhood range. If you want less inequality, reroll them only once, if you want more inequality only randomize between 2-3 currently wealthiest areas.
You can repeat the process some more times, and the results will consolidate only to richest neighbourhoods. I did it three times with the following breakdown:
Expensive Stuff Random Distribution Chart One
I hope you found this useful. If you want me to explain the maths or have some remarks on methodology, feel free to comment.
This made me think I could do something slightly more interesting and appropriate than the suggested "roll d10 to determine location of shit" system. After all, there are neighbourhoods where you can typically find the classy stuff (like opera houses) and neighbourhoods where you only want to go to if you really have to and in broad sunlight (like the place your opium dealer lives, and he's never home during the day).
So, a Wealth Disparity map! We're taking social commentary on fantasy to the next level, you guys. First, procure a neighbourhood map as above. Now take 10 d10s, preferably of the same colour (I'm awfully OCD about this), and roll them. You should get several numbers once, a couple of them repeating twice or more and missing some numbers entirely (if you get some weird result like five doubles and five zeroes, or a perfect distribution of all 10 faces, consider rerolling).
Now write down the number of times that face was repeated next to the neighbourhood. The ones with 0s next to them are out of the process. They're good for inexpensive housing.
Roll 10 dice again. This time, set aside results that correspond to neighbourhoods with no wealth generated in the previous round and reroll them until all the results fit into your better neighbourhood range. If you want less inequality, reroll them only once, if you want more inequality only randomize between 2-3 currently wealthiest areas.
You can repeat the process some more times, and the results will consolidate only to richest neighbourhoods. I did it three times with the following breakdown:
- Seven - 10
- Four - 6
- Five - 6
- Ten - 3
- One - 2
- Three - 2
- Nine - 1
- Two - 0
- Six - 0
- Eight - 0
Expensive Stuff Random Distribution Chart One
- 01 - 07 One
- 08 Two
- 09 - 15 Three
- 16 - 34 Four
- 35 - 53 Five
- 54 Six
- 55 - 85 Seven
- 86 Eight
- 87 - 90 Nine
- 91 - 100 Ten
I hope you found this useful. If you want me to explain the maths or have some remarks on methodology, feel free to comment.
Friday 1 February 2013
WTF Populi, WTF Dei
I'm trying to communicate here, and one of the biggest hurdles in communication is selecting words improperly or not defining them clearly enough. To this end, I asked a bunch of people on the internets about what does the phrase "post fantasy" mean to them as a genre, with no prior context of the term.
The results were, shall we say, not very accurate, but rather thought provoking. Slightly edited, the most interesting of them are listed below.
Feel free to provide your own definitions in the comments section.
Oh, and one more for the finishing move:
The results were, shall we say, not very accurate, but rather thought provoking. Slightly edited, the most interesting of them are listed below.
I keep thinking Post Fantasy is a next step from Urban Fantasy to somewhere. If Urban fantasy was bringing fantasy to modern context, maybe post fantasy is about taking to the fantasy context somewhere else? Or something.-- Shader
post fantasy?
no associations other than, maybe reality?-- Dirian
Post fantasy? My guess would be that it's an "artsification" of urban fantasy, so drowning in metaphor, high-literary influences and kind of masturbatory about its own literary value.-- Thanaeon
Immediately? For some reason, gritty-futurism with fantasy elements, be it cyberpunk or post-apocalyptic. I mean, I know that's probably WRONG, but that was what popped into my head. Like images of grey streets and black skies and dim streetlamps.
^_^: Sort of like noir?
Yeah, but with muted tones of elves and orcs and GRIT.
^_^: Kinda like punk-fantasy.
Yeah. A game where no one is happy.
^_^ :( That's a bit too far, I think?
It's REAL LIFE YO.
^_^: I'm now getting the vibe that Dark Sun MIGHT be post fantasy.-- Gemini
Dark Sun is kind of post-fantasy, sure.
Fiction informed by the fantasy genre without necessarily being part of it. So... I dunno. A Song of Ice and Fire? Maybe magic realism? Or possibly fiction that takes fantasy and makes it mundane.-- Snoof
^_^: wouldn't that be framed as a bad thing?
I dunno. So, like, a crime procedural set in a universe with magic where the magic is entirely unremarkable.So the book is part of the crime genre, and it just has fantasy trappings without taking on the themes and ideas of fantasy. Maybe?
WoW. Scantily clad ladies. Bright colors everywhere. Maybe some Final Fantasy games? Most artwork kinda oriental looking.-- Augustas
Post fantasy to me suggests a setting in which the elves have died out, the dwarves have buried themselves in the mountains and only humans remain.-- Djones
- and/or -
A sexual fetish involving poor defenceless fence posts.
Feel free to provide your own definitions in the comments section.
Oh, and one more for the finishing move:
Post Fantasy - a sort about the magical adventures that a mail deliveryman gets up to.-- Moxiane
Post the what with the who?
Hello. I'm vytzka, a software engineer and amateur actor and I want to talk about RPGs. Most of the posts will be at least tenuously related to the Anima roleplaying game as I am currently running a campaign of just that, but I'll try to pay attention to general applicability.
As for the post- thang, it is necessarily going to look haughty but there's not really that much pretentiousness behind it. I simply wanted a label that would encapsulate looking at classic Western fantasy through the lens of sundry modern media... and stuff like that. It is also a pun on the name of Anima: Beyond Fantasy which is actually a perfect example of what I'm talking about, being a very unusual marriage of Rolemaster with the JRPG aesthetic.
If you know what OSR is you probably just thought "how is that different again" and that's probably a lesson for another post (spoilers: not that much) but it honestly sounds cooler. Not just to myself but people I'm trying to get into gaming are probably going to be more interested in doing something called "post fantasy" than something called OSR. Since I have zero interest in coining any sort of permanent lexicon you may feel free to use any term you like or none at all, just remember the URL ^_^
As for the post- thang, it is necessarily going to look haughty but there's not really that much pretentiousness behind it. I simply wanted a label that would encapsulate looking at classic Western fantasy through the lens of sundry modern media... and stuff like that. It is also a pun on the name of Anima: Beyond Fantasy which is actually a perfect example of what I'm talking about, being a very unusual marriage of Rolemaster with the JRPG aesthetic.
If you know what OSR is you probably just thought "how is that different again" and that's probably a lesson for another post (spoilers: not that much) but it honestly sounds cooler. Not just to myself but people I'm trying to get into gaming are probably going to be more interested in doing something called "post fantasy" than something called OSR. Since I have zero interest in coining any sort of permanent lexicon you may feel free to use any term you like or none at all, just remember the URL ^_^
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