Romance Monsoon & Mutant Scavengers of the (not so) Ruined Earth-

Check this [censored] out.

I heartily approve. :D

[RPG][General] A brief aside, and More on Fight Dice-

With too few players available this past Friday, there was no game.
--Instead, after the SO got off work, we played Guillotine, which I greatly enjoy.

This morning, after breakfast, I had her roll up a Villains & Vigilantes character, and I then rolled one up for a silly, 'stop the super crooks' fighting scenario.
--I think she was more entertained by my character illustrations and the 'funny voices' than anything inherent about Powered individuals, anti-heroes or villains.
---The duo are the Frienemiests! -- Friend/Enemy Feminists:

* Danger Jane: 'Like the Punisher, but a chick.' -- her quote.
* Chequer: My Woman of Colour super-charisma, street-fighter with her own brand of energy-drink-soda. 'Chequer Cola, I love it!' -- With a Charisma 37 selling it, you'll love it too. ;)
---

Okay, that silliness aside, let's get back to Fight Dice that do the fighting.

I'm still too heavily invested in my 2d12 action mechanism to abandon it, but I've thought about rolling the Fight Dice alongside them, taking the highest roller of the FD to add to the 2d12s. This would make their inclusion of immediate value not only in the Strike, but also in the Damage, as every block of 5 greater than what necessary to Strike results in a Critical iteration:

1st +5: Maximum damage
2nd: Maximum + 1 rolled
3rd: Max. + 2x rolled
4th: Max. + 3x rolled
etc.

So, rolling a 5 or 6 on the highest Fight Die will generate a base-level Crit on an average roll of 13 versus a non-combatant-type (an unarmoured individual [AC10] in d&dish terms), and it only increases from there, with a rolled 30 (24 from the 2d12 + 6 from the highest d6 FD*) is looking like 17 over the non-combatant-type 'to-hit', resulting in Max. + 2x rolled damage. Ouch.

So, if I were to adopt this routine, multiple FD would nudge the Strike results ever closer toward Crits, without adding a lot of maths, as only the highest FD result would be added.
--I like this idea, as it plays with the positive probabilities without assuring high-FD creatures/characters vicious Strikes and Damage, meaning that a 0- or low-FD creature could still theoretically hold their own against a brute -- but not making this 'likely'.

Using this method would replace the FD# as a flat addition to Strikes, although Ability Score (and other) mods would still factor.

* = Shrimpy critters would be rolling d4s, Humanoids rolling d8's, and truly monstrous things would be rolling d10's or higher.

Thoughts?

[RPG] proposed Advanced Creature Description template-

Revised based on Stuart's input.

Abbekqorru-
('Endless ranks of fierce tech-savvy raiders')

Fight Dice: 6d8
Attacks: 1
Damage: 3d8 or by weapon
Defence: 14 (06) M Armour
Special: Surprise +33%
Move: 45'/90'/270'
Size: L (7'+ tall)

Frequency: Uncommon
Terrain: Ubiquitous
#: 6d6
Lair: 25%
--Loot:

Cunning: 08-12
Disposition: Orderly & Vicious
Psychic: ?
--Powers: ?
Magnitude/A.P. Value:


I've yet to construct the Loot tables, and I am considering revising the Adventure Point values.

Thoughts?

Spielmeister's Blog (UWoM Entry)-

Spielmeister, of Under A Blood Red Sky blogging-fame, has posted THIS regarding the Urutsk: World of Mystery Alpha/Beta .pdfs.

It is with no difficulty that I say I find his blog to be a place of inspiration, too.

May the waters that flood the world end your dry spell. :D

[RPG] Musings on Fight Dice and 'Alternate-Alternate Combat Systems'-

'Like minds' and all that... ;)

I went to bed thinking of Brian Penn's surprise that Fight Dice didn't actually do the Fighting.
I woke up thinking that they very well could, and then:

* A Paladin in Citadel's blog
* Carl Nash's Other Blog
* Stuart Robertson's Robertson Games blog


Musing on What Fight Dice Could Actually Do-

What if Fight Dice (or Hit Dice) were instead actually rolled (akin to T&T), but with each die operating solo in comparison to another, opposed die from the opponent?


Let's start simply: 1d6 v. 1d6-

In a simple 'high-roll-wins' contest two 1FD combatants roll off:

OA: 3
OB: 5

Opponent B wins the contest and that die difference inflicts 2 DP (or HP). Ouch.


2FD Fight-

OC: 3, 4
OD: 1, 6

Opponent C wins two DP against opponent D, but D returns the favour.


Mismatch-

2FD v. 3FD:

OE: 2, 5
OF: 3, 3, 2

Opponent F inflicts a total of three (3) DP against E, but E inflicts 2 on F.


Getting Fancy-

If in the above mismatch, what if F's unopposed 2 could be used instead to block E's two DP reprisal?

Thoughts?

[RPG] Speak your Mind on Skills-

Prone to multi-tasking, I am working on:

* Creating pregens for two convention sessions
* Writing the streamlined PM
* Re-designing the Character Control Record
* Providing input to my map artist
* Tracking my other artist's output relative to the deadline
* Cleaning up for the SO's coming over to cook for mum and me
* Floating ideas for the weekly game
* Waiting to hear from Work regarding new assignments
* Tending to home-things

...more or less in that order.

One idea that keeps vacillating in my mind is to collapse the skills into the overarching framework I'd used for years on Guild Houses of Blood, namely:

Academic
Arcane
Athletic
Combat
Communication/Aesthetic
Covert
General (Civilisation)
Professional
Technical/Trades
Wilderness

My 'new school' players prefer micro-managing individual skills, but I am being plagued by wise admonitions to Keep It Simple/As Simple as Possible, but Not Simpler.

I think the Middle Path I'll adopt is the above with Specialisations.
--But, don't quote me on that.

Thoughts/Input/Derision?
--I'd love to hear everyone from 'Skills? Hate 'em!' to 'Skills? Natch'' folks here at TGT.

Best,

[Playtest Campaign] 5th, March-

Without going into excruciating detail, the party confronted the apparent demon, moved down an Ancient corridor beneath House Ahzenbakh (Tyb in 2D Shadow-form throught the rest of the battle), Ashta fought the unseen baddie in Psychic combat (doing a good chunk of its DP total), the rest fought skeletal mooks, and then were confronted with a fairly wimpy Shorrannin which was slain.

Ashta psych-blasted it one last time and tore through its non-mind only to reveal thousands of its Hive-siblings suddenly looking back at her. Its carcass self-destructed injuring everyone, especially Skelk and Rhur who were not in sealed e-shealth Scout suits, and then the tesseract labyrinth began to collapse in upon itself.

The party not only managed to escape, but saved the KO'd cavorters and pre-sacrificial kids, but lady Miren, with implicit authority from the Governors, killed her sorceress mother, Dame Diem. The Governors asked Miren for (and were granted) permission to take over the mansion so as to better safeguard the site, as it was still extra-dimensionally unstable.

End of that adventure.

Beginning of next adventure:

The Aelbaan Sphere, having been nearly destroyed by fighters launched from the cloaked ship in orbit, had been repairing itself and hadn't been able to assist Ashta since they'd entered the sea cave. It asked to be transported to the Shadow Plane where it wouldn't be fighting gravity to repair its various micro-fissures. Tyb couldn't do it alone and went off in search of assistance, meeting the Shlzm. This group describes an army of human worshippers of a demon-god raiding their underground realm, and secures the aid of the party in exchange for their Shadow-transport of the Sphere.

He also meets a very loony Dryvv woman named Kyllia who is essentially a historical quasi-goddess who offers a number of her handmaidens to accompany Tyb in his future raid of the Aelbaan starship (in exchange for a drop of Ahni's [and by extension, Tyb's] blood). Kyllia is whispering into her slumbering Grand-(or great-grand-)-father's ear about wanting to have possession of (one of) Tyb's timelines. Tyb is given an inky copy of the Myth of Power, the mythified history of the pre-Dryvv, proto-Dryvv, and Dryvv peoples. It can be manifest as a regular tome, or can be 'read' in his mind's eye as a (searchable) running film narrative of the contents.

Ashta, Mela, and Tyb confer and determine that the demon was in fact a psionic delusion/illusion generated by the Shorrannin. And also that the Aelbaan are aware of their possible defeat at the hands of the party, and are moving against them, fearing that Ashta and Tyb will learn to unify their power. This is then vaguely set against the background of the Dryvv' interest in Tyb's timeline, and his metacosmic relation to another character of his from my Pathfinderish off-the-rails game that preceded my running UWoM for them.

The party are now in the Endgame of followers, land holdings, and approaching lord/dameship.

Fight on! :)