Showing posts with label Custom Content. Show all posts
Space Age! Part 1
Today I am talking about hacking Fantasy Age. It was a little less generic than I had hoped for, but it is super flexible and we can make it do what I want. This is Part 1 and after I get my hands on Titansgrave I will be modifying the hack, this one is kind of the rough draft.
Space Age (A Science Fiction Hack)
Most changes are just theme changes, so super easy. Keep in mind this is early stages.
Races:
Humans. (other fantasy races can be re-skinned to reflect alien origins)Background:
SameClasses:
Psycher (Mage, everything is flavored to be psychic abilities. ex Mind Blast, Control Device, Psychic Training, Psi Points), Rogue, WarriorSpecializations:
Psychic Scholar (Arcane Scholar), Psycher Hunter (Mage Hunter), Psychic Warrior (Sword Mage),New Ability Focus:
Accuracy (Energy Weapons), Accuracy (Blasters), Accuracy(Mind Blast), Intelligence (Psychic(various)), Intelligence (Psychic Lore)Energy Weapons could be things like lightsabers, personal beam weapons, or even the omnitool from Mass Effect. Vibro Weapons and energy weapons use power packs.
New Talents:
WIPMoney:
1 Copper Piece = 1 CreditEquipment:
Armor and Shields:
Light Leather = Light Leather
Heavy Leather = Heavy Leather
Light Mail = Light Flight Suit
Heavy Mail = Heavy Flight Suit
Light Plate = Light Ceramic Plate
Heavy Plate = Heavy Ceramic Plate
Light Leather Duster AR3, AP0, 150 Credits
Tailored Leather Duster AR4, AP0, 450 Credits
New Weapons:
| Weapon | Damage | Max. Str. | Cost |
| Charge Shotgun (Blunderbuss) | 1d6+2 | - | 600 Credits |
| Blaster Rifle (Arquebus) | 2d6+3 | - | 550 Credits |
| Blaster Pistol (Pistol) | 1d6+3 | - | 450 Credits |
Energy Weapons:
| Weapon | Damage | Max. Str. | Cost |
| Beamknife | 1d6+2 | - | 180 Credits |
| Beamsword (short) | 1d6+3 | - | 280 Credits |
| Beamsword (long) | 2d6+1 | 0 | 360 Credits |
| Beamsword (dueling) | 2d6 | -1 | 360 Credits |
| Great Beamsword | 3d6 | 2 | 460 Credits |
| Weapon | Damage | Max. Str. | Cost |
| Vibro Battle Axe | 2d6+1 | 1 | 280 Credits |
| Vibro Great Axe | 3d6+1 | 3 | 400 Credits |
Bludgeons Group:
| Weapon | Damage | Max. Str. | Cost |
| Thunder Mace | 2d6+1 | 1 | 240 Credits |
| Thunder Maul | 2d6 | 1 | 280 Credits |
| Great Thunder Maul | 3d6 | 3 | 380 Credits |
Brawling Group:
| Weapon | Damage | Max. Str. | Cost |
| Power Gauntlet | 1d6 | -1 | 100 Credits |
Dueling group
| Weapon | Damage | Max. Str. | Cost |
| Vibro Main Gauche | 1d6+2 | - | 220 Credits |
Heavy Blades Group
| Weapon | Damage | Max. Str. | Cost |
| Vibro Bastardsword | 2d6+2 | 2 | 400 Credits |
| Vibrosword (long) | 2d6+1 | 1 | 360 Credits |
| Great Vibrosword | 3d6+1 | 3 | 460 Credits |
Light Blades Group:
| Weapon | Damage | Max. Str. | Cost |
| Vibroknife | 1d6+2 | - | 180 Credits |
| Vibrosword (short) | 1d6+3 | -1 | 280 Credits |
Other Gear: WIP make fit fiction
Psychic (Magic)
Arcana = Foci
Spell = Power
Names are same
Stunts
Same...
Adversaries
Skin to fit fiction...
Camping for Bennies Revisited (D&D5e Version)
Why revisit camping?
So as I mentioned in the original post about camping for benefits, the campsite is often over looked as a good place to have RP and could provide mechanical benefits for the party. So I am updating it for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. Again this should work for any setting using the Dungeons & Dragons rules.
Food & Drink
Extend your rations with hunting. The basics are the same think about the game in the area and can be treated as a random encounter. You can also use survival to actively track game or gather food supplies. Using the chase rules (DMG 252) can also make the encounter more interesting, most animals will have a fight or flight reaction to hunters and most will take to flight making the chase even more important. If the players fail to drop the target with one hit have a chase ensue. As for cooking since D&D5e has streamlined the mechanics for skills you can just let the players say what they are cooking. This may be a great chance to work in their backstory and background, say they come from a land that is like Mongolia, but they are from the lower class. Their food is most likely some sort of delicious grilled food with sauce flavoring or grains and gathering related. Where as if they were from a wealthier background they may not even know how to cook well because of the pampered Noble life they were leading before adventuring. Same food just burned and they may know about some expensive dishes the Urchin could only dream of. Again this can lead to some interesting RP as not every character may love Mongolian Barbecue (for reasons unknown, because it is sooo good).
For an added mechanical benefit to help motivate players you could allow fresh food to give players increased resting benefits for the next day. Normally a long rest restores half of your total Hit Dice after a long rest. So I would give them the normal half total hit dice for a long rest plus one extra.
Music/Stories (Interludes)
One of my favorite things from Savage Worlds was the interludes, basically you would get a moment to tell people about you background in character or have the spot light to further develop your character. I mentioned it could be music as well or some other common feature of your worlds campfire traditions. Normally in Savage World this get you a Bennie (think Inspiration).
I mentioned in that last post that I would give more bennies for more creativity, for D&D I like the idea of awarding the players with Inspiration for this, but keep in mind they can only have 1 Inspiration at a time unless you change that for your table. So I would give inspiration to the player who did an interlude and allow one player a chance to do an interlude each campsite. The rules for what type of interlude from Savage Worlds may still be used if you want to keep it random, if not story-tell.
Gear
If you use gear maintenance this would be a good time. I will be putting up a post about gear quality in D&D in the future, I will revisit camping with these gear quality rules in that post.
The Hearth
This by far was my favorite part from the last post. The idea of increased healing is awesome but it should do more than just add hit points since the way resting recover works. I would have it add 1 Hit Dice to those you recover during a rest if they carry a stone from the previous nights hearth with them to the new night's hearth. A prayer to the god of the hearth would be use to bless the hearth, no spells needed. If using the fresh food option that is up to 2 Hit Dice extra after a long rest.
Optional Rules
If you are using the optional healing rules feel free to tweek these to fit the options to your healing rate in game. Since often its a a change in what a short rest/long rest is defined as.
World Building Extras: More Maps & Upcoming Races Inspiration
World Building Extras: More Maps & Upcoming Races Inspiration
So I love collecting pictures for for inspiration, this one happens to be the YouTube channel thumbnail and a big source of inspiration for the Flood World concept, now named Isengar. I love the jagged alien nature of this planet but I wanted to use it for fantasy a fantasy project my friend started with me when we played a very complicated world building game. From there it has grown and expanded into something kind of neat. When I sit down and work on the map for the world I don't rush the work like I have done in the past because I am pacing myself to go with my planned YouTube schedule. It has afforded me a chance to look at some different aspects I had not thought of, so if anything is a take away from this is to give myself more prep time than I have in the past usually I have taken about three weeks or less to prep a homegrown game. This project has already exceeded my normal timeline and I don't think it should normally take this as long as the YouTube series will, but it should be longer or at least more developed than I have been treating it in the past couple years of games. The hope is to create a world that you are excited about and want to explore, but also to create something the players will be interested in so you will begin to see more open discussion items as the series develops. Stay tuned for more and as always please like, comment, and subscribe.Map Updates:
Race Inspiration Pictures
World Building Extras: Deities & Demiblogs
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Deities & Demiblogs
Moving along with the World Builder series on the YouTube channel we started talking about what kind of gods we want to use in this setting. So in part three I talked about using the domains created by Tim Harper at Samwise Seven RPG. So here is my list presented in the format you would see in D&D5e Player's Handbook.I haven't worked out exactly the relationships of the gods just yet but that can be left open to player input for now this is just as much information as what a player gets in the Players Handbook. So far I have not named the world or the pantheon since it is still early in the process.
After that we look at some map update pictures. I would also like to add that the discussion on the races for the "Flood World" is still open to suggestions. and comments, anything from an aesthetic looks to culture is an open topic.
Gods of Unnamed Pantheon (Flood World)
| Deity | Alignment | Suggested Domains | Symbol |
| Kuru, god of magic and learning | NG | Magic, Knowledge | A sword hilt with an eye in the center |
| Ilo, god of illumination | CG | Light, Fire | A single lit candle with a white flame |
| Nit, god of obfuscation | CE | Water, Darkness | A brass candle snuffer |
| Cyone, goddess of the natural way | N | Moon, Nature | A cerulean blue disc |
| Ezdar, god of fortune | CN | Trickery, Illusion | A silver coin with two faces: one of joy , one of sorrow |
| Malkor, watcher of souls and ruination | LE | Death, Destruction | A black iron coffin nail |
| Rayphon, goddess of civic duty | LN | Crafts, Protection | A shield and a smith's hammer |
| Abris, the traveler god | LN | Trade, Travel | A white feather |
| Ibtarr, god of fertility and the stars | NG | Life, Stars | A bassinet with three stars over it |
| Berius, god of battle | LG | War, Strength | A golden ram rearing |
| Lytrix, goddess of the wind | CN | Air, Fate | Triskelion |
| Acrena, goddess of hunting and stone | N | Earth, Animals | A primative longbow and arrow with stone arrowhead |
| Kazra, the unseen | LE | Plants, Revenge | Black antlers with twisting vines |
| Beta Nazhel, goddess of illness and suffering | NE | Slime, Suffering | A snail |
Map Updates:
More to come next time, see you at the gaming table.
Let's Morphin! Episode 1: Attack of the Tropes! Part 1
What is Tokusatsu?
So for my friends anyways it is no secret to close friends I am a huge Power Rangers/Super Sentai fan along with the other parts of tokusatsu. Today we are going to talk about what tokusatsu is and why I am interested in making a game focused on it.
Tokusatsu is a genre of Japanese film and TV dedicated to special effects. Examples of the genre are Super Sentai(Power Rangers), Godzilla, Kamen Rider(Masked Rider), and even Spiderman at one point. It emphasizes special effects, over the top action and obviously repeated formulas for episodes and movies.
Those formulas are often called tropes. You will find tropes, or common elements, in most every type of game. In fact some games even have it in their name, Dungeons & Dragons. So when ever you start looking to create your own games you should consider the tropes you want and that's what we are talking about today. So the purposes of the game I am making I am only considering the core elements of Super Sentai and voiding those involving the gritty remakes. The remakes are fun but they dont capture the spirit of the game. I will consider gritty rules after establishing the core rules for those interested. Keep in mind Super Sentai is actually more gritty than the American Power Rangers, the characters do not have plot armor and can get seriously injured or die but only if the story is furthered by doing so.
The Big 5 Tropes of Super Sentai
1. Team work2. World of Badass
3. Card-Carrying Villain
4. All up to you
5. Color Coded/Matching Motif
When thinking about the tropes for a type of game I always think about the big five. The big five should come up in almost every game and aspect of the game.
In a normal game teamwork is mostly a given but in a Super Sentai game it becomes almost mandatory, sure there will be spotlight moments but for the most part teamwork will be needed to over come challenges. As for a world of badass, think about the episodes explosions everywhere, big monsters, big robots, and martial arts. This will be more influenced by the GM and players so it is really more of a mind set for the game.
For the GM keep in mind that most villains are the card-carrying type meaning they will be evil and let everyone know they are. In almost every season you get one monster of the week who will change the status quo and actually try to be good. The rangers will help, but then the Big Bad will either corrupt him making the rangers fight their new friend or send a monster to finish off the failure, though that later is much rarer.
"Its all up to you" is another trope that usually shows up in most any game but in a Rangers style game it is even more important your team is literally all that stands between the Earth (or your planet/galaxy/universe depending on scale) and the greatest threat known to man. And every new season the threat is some how considered worse even though the power level doesn't change all that much. For example in starting with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, every new threat was so much more powerful. In each season their powers where considered not enough so they got better powers until they got to Zero which was the most powerful rangers ever and still are for the most part canonically speaking. The following season is Turbo which was a step down in power but they power was specialized to fight their new big boss, and the specialized force motif continues from there with each new season. Super Sentai does the same specialized motif though it never really states which rangers are the most powerful. Thinking of it this way makes it understandable why a bad guy from the previous season could come back in a future season with new rangers and they still have a hard time fighting him.
Color coded/Motif is the blatant use of colored uniforms to mark who and what kind of person they are. In the past the Power Rangers and Super Sentai have been accused of racism and sexism with the color motif, though this has been changing over the last 10 years or more. And in the spirit of good gaming I am not going to focus on those elements, in my rules you will be able to pick a color regardless of race or sex, instead it will be focused on the common personality elements of each color for example Red is usually the leader, but he is almost always an icon of justice, heroism, and what the team should be, but he is sometimes willing to take on more than he can handle to keep his friends away from danger
For this hack I am considering using Blades in the Dark, which just finished a very successful kick starter and will be in final print later this year, or Apocalypse World/Dungeon World for ease of use. I think both systems have their merits but after play through the Quick Start Rules for Blades in the Dark I think that one may end up being the best choice.
Other notable tropes
Action GirlCalling attacks (naming them)
An ass kicking Christmas
New Years (rest)
Authority = Ass Kicking
Awesomeness is volatile
BFG - Big Fucking Gun
Broken Faceplate
Monster of the week
Demonize the mundane
Henshin call (let's morphin of it's morphin time)
Drastic Tone change
For more about the game systems I am considering check out their websites:
http://apocalypse-world.com/
http://www.dungeon-world.com/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2080350433/blades-in-the-dark
Until the next issue of Let's Morphin!
