tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72720204962116717842024-03-05T18:34:03.633-08:00Magical Space Dragon NyanbyTabletop Role-Playing Games and Adjacent Topics.
Shitting Rainbows all over your Interwebs.PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-64415350838394274032023-06-06T02:19:00.003-07:002023-06-06T02:40:07.820-07:00Three Months LaterOkay so... <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://media.tenor.com/6Fgs4FufN8UAAAAC/3months-later-three-months-later.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="161" data-original-width="498" height="161" src="https://media.tenor.com/6Fgs4FufN8UAAAAC/3months-later-three-months-later.gif" width="498" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><div>I have been writing. </div><div><br /></div><div>I just haven't been blogging.
I've a story up on Royal Road called <a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/66666/these-disunited-kingdoms" target="_blank">These Disunited Kingdoms</a>. The pitch is as follows:</div><br /><br /><blockquote>On a nameless world, impossibly distant and yet inconceivably close, there lies the misty and magical continent of Lusfell. Near the continent's geographical heart can be found the Tyranny of Pean. In the highest tower of his citadel the tyrant has finished his great work; a spell so mighty it will destroy all his enemies and lay waste to the armies besieging his capital in a single stroke. Granting him <b>Ultimate Victory</b>!<br /><br />Unfortunately this is not his story. Nor the story of anyone else on the continent. You see he forgot to carry the one.<br /><br />In an instant the metaphysical energies of everyone on the continent are snuffed out. Like <b>68,865,207</b> candles extinguished in a hurricane. Nature abhors a vacuum and finds the nearest population of souls in a neighbouring universe inconceivably close by. Which just so happens to be the entire population of the British Isles. A quick copy and replace and nobody will notice the difference.<br /><br />Meanwhile the newly incarnated population of Lusfell are waking up in bodies not their own, in a land of magic, mystery and mayhem. It's possibly the worst Monday morning in the history of Mondays.<br /><br /><b>And you though Brexit was a mess.</b><br /><br />Follow the adventures of Drake Dunn, angry Scot and avowed pacifist, as they wake up in this new world. In the body of a trained killer.</blockquote><div>I'm only trying to write two to three thousand words a week. I can do that in a day. Heck I've written 2k words in a single fevered hour. Yet here I am fighting for every single word for my story.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>I've stopped doing #Dungeon23. I've barely worked a minute on Points of Darkness. Or any of my other projects.</div><div><br /></div><div>Points of Darkness is a much bigger project than I first thought. Initially it was to be a toolkit to help me procedurally create sandboxes by treating dungeons and lairs as if they were settlements, but for monsters. If you're familiar with the settlement generation stuff in the 3.0e DMG, it was supposed to be that. But for monsters. Instead I'm reinventing the wheel. Again. </div><div><br /></div><div>But more of that later. I promise.</div>PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-25991529275013311782023-02-24T04:03:00.000-08:002023-06-06T02:39:51.665-07:00I Live!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://media.tenor.com/V5FNCh31UH4AAAAC/frankenstein-its-alive.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="498" height="368" src="https://media.tenor.com/V5FNCh31UH4AAAAC/frankenstein-its-alive.gif" width="498" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Reports of my passing have been greatly exaggerated, yadda yadda.</p><p>So yeah it's what, 22 months since my last post here? Something like that. Maths is hard; I should have been a Stripper (this is a joke; I know most strippers are self employed and thus probably competent at maths. Also I stole the joke).</p><p>So what, you may ask, happened?</p><p>Well it wasn't the 'Rona. I've only gotten sick twice since the pandemic officially started. One of those was probably food poisoning and the other wasn't Covid19. Although it was nasty enough to leave me with something like post viral fatigue.</p><p>What actually happened was that I had nothing to say.</p><p>I started half a dozen posts about superhero games. I looked at every supers system I had access to and left feeling like I couldn't make a satisfying conversion. My posts went unfinished. My attempts at converting just one character (Ms Fury) into other systems were abandoned.</p><p>I fell into depression. I couldn't write. I had nothing to say.</p><p>Then we moved. To a much nicer house. But we're down a bedroom and our daughter is in the process of moving back in with us. We've too much stuff and not enough space. It's chaotic and draining. We started boxing things up in December, moved first week of January, and we're <i>still</i> unpacking.</p><p>But I'm back to writing. I mean I'm not back to stay. I'm sure something else is going to loom over the horizon and take the wind out of my sails. </p><p>Today I started writing an essay I'm calling Points of Darkness. I was just trying to deACKs Fon Choille. Now I have a <i>thing</i>. Help!</p><p>I've mostly been doing #Dungeon23 in what little time I have spare. (I have lots of time, just little energy). I even started on a Sublevel for the Megadungeon I'm building with it so I could do more than one room a day.</p><p>So hopefully this is me back for a while.</p>PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-59055208228985147732021-04-10T03:00:00.044-07:002021-04-10T03:00:00.636-07:00Fixing Palladium<p> Okay. Previously I stumbled and fell during my last Versus Battle. Hitting the Palladium/Megaverse system's major flaw in combat. Combat. With 19 characters in play, ten of them animals, it became impossible for me to keep track of who was doing what to whom, at the beginning of the fourth action of round 1. </p><p>The actual problem I was having is that with actions and initiative. Normally after initiative is rolled for the round everyone goes through their first actions in initiative order. Then everyone goes through their second action and so on and so forth. Until everyone has had all of their actions for the round. Then you move onto the next round.</p><p>In Heroes Unlimited player characters start with 2 actions per round, but can quickly gain more through skills or powers. Most appear to have 4, at first level. The highest I've seen around first level is The Gargoyle, with 9 actions; a character I was planning on having turn up in later rounds of the versus battle in question.</p><p>Keep in mind that the combat round is 15 seconds long.</p><p>I remember from my teens having a great deal of fun playing this game. But then we were a small group of players and having more than a handful of foes was rare. When half the characters are being controlled by other people a lot of the weight of running combat is shared; Versus battles drop all that weight on my shoulders.</p><p>Someone must have had a similar problem to me. So I did some research, and yes. Lots of people. Looking at their solutions was not helpful. Most people just rewrite the system into another system and change things that I wanted to keep.</p><p>My self brief was thus:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Keep everything that makes the system the system. So no adding or removing bits.</li><li>Make it work.</li></ol><p></p><p>I spoke to friends and people online, I wracked my brain for a solution for two weeks. Nothing. </p><p>I tried looking at Actions as if they were Action Points, but that changed nothing. I tried looking at when an action would take place in a 15 second round. But that also didn't change anything and, if anything, added more complexity.</p><p>They, April 3rd I dozed off in front of the TV and dreamed of going through a box of books and folders that my poor parents are still storing for me. It was a battered blue folder which I once painted a streaking aura around a humanoid figure that caught my attention. The paint had almost immediately peeled off but in my dream it was whole. Inside was a system I had designed in my late teens; a super powered wrestling system. If you've ever seen a wrestling match, and I haven't been a fan since I was a kid (I loved <a href="https://www.ewrestlingnews.com/articles/the-best-of-british-vol-9-big-daddy-vs-giant-haystacks" target="_blank">Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks</a>; I lost interest when they retired, which dates me) it has a pattern in which whoever "has initiative" inflicts their opponent with a chain of blows, bounces, throws and pins until something goes wrong. Then the tide turns and the initiative reverses. In this system I had created I had attempted to model this. It was simple. Whoever wins initiative does their stuff until they screw up and fail a roll. Then the other guy gets to do their thing until they screw up and then the round ends and initiative rerolls. I'd never figured out how to get it to work with more than two fighters but that's because I was asking the wrong question.</p><p>When I woke up I realised I had my solution. To both problems.</p><p><b>The solution to the Palladium problem is to change how Actions work in the round. Instead of everyone taking their first action in initiative order, and then everyone taking their second action, and so on and so forth. Now whoever wins initiative gets to use as many actions as they wish until...</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>They fail a roll.</b></li><li><b>Or they run out of Actions</b></li><li><b>Or they decide to stop for whatever reason.</b></li></ul><p></p><p><b>At which point the next person in initiative gets to use their actions. And so on down the line.</b></p><p><b>When everyone has gone once, rinse and repeat until everyone is out of actions or nobody wants to act any more. Then the next round begins.</b></p><p><b>If someone has to dodge they lose a future action but the result of their dodge roll keeps until they either get to act or they are attacked again and choose to reroll. Which will cost another action.</b></p><p>And that's it. Simply reframing the combat sequence eases the burden. Or does it. Let's go to round 2 of that combat that confounded me and see what happens:</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>You could just scroll down to look at what I wrote previously, but the long and short is that the White Knights are being paid to kill architect Spirit Planque, who turns out to be a <strike>gadgeteer</strike> gizmoteer with her own set of light power armour. Ms. Fury gets wind of this and attempts to intervene.</p><p>At this point The Alpha, 6 mooks and 5 dobermans represent the racist fash. Versus Ms. Fury and Spirit, along with 5 feral housecats who followed Fury and seem to think this is their fight too.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCgTL2FkGedsKfFDjdx-KZGLJtEVO5DQS2jR8iutuGE_LkrPZKpqHQ_UHdLzgJOIEVSNoT0qwHn2hCXnMVaCRarf4eK0oXZbjzXf5b1OAfCj7UwsMc_ak5w3LPcBNoF1vlCx1y2olnjIG/s1024/Steel+Goth.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCgTL2FkGedsKfFDjdx-KZGLJtEVO5DQS2jR8iutuGE_LkrPZKpqHQ_UHdLzgJOIEVSNoT0qwHn2hCXnMVaCRarf4eK0oXZbjzXf5b1OAfCj7UwsMc_ak5w3LPcBNoF1vlCx1y2olnjIG/w231-h231/Steel+Goth.png" width="231" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Guy</td></tr></tbody></table>Suddenly a 6'6" figure in what looks like archaic armour over metal bursts out of a side passage into the unfinished basement. <p></p>This is the Steel Goth, a cyborg freelancer with the White Knights.<div>He's there to fuck some shit up and stuff. Since Masked trouble has arrived he's going to do as The Alpha asked and deal with Ms. Fury.</div><div>His initiative is 19 and the highest this round, matched by Mook#2, but the Goth has a way higher PP. <br />(<b>Instant House Rule: with Initiative ties, tiebreak by highest PP</b>)<br />He has a total of 5 actions and goes first.</div><div>His first action is to move. He can move up to 130' per action, based on his Spd. attribute. He easily covers the distance to Fury and goes for a flat out punch. He rolls 11 (10+1) versus a parry of 17 (9+8). His blow is deflected and play passes to Mook#2. Goth has 3 actions left.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mook#2 has 4 actions and is already in melee with Spirit. She swings her cricket bat at the armoured architect; 4 (3+1) versus 18 (14+4). Which is a miss. She has 3 actions left.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next initiative is 16, which is Fury and Spirit. Fury has a PP of 24, and Spirit only 13. So Fury goes first.</div><div>She has 4 actions. Facing off against both The Alpha and the Steel Goth, as well as any number of dogs, she claws at Alpha, who attempts to parry; 9 (3+6) versus 5 (1+4). Alpha takes 25 damage.</div><div>She then goes for Goth in the same way, he goes for a dodge, burning an action (down to 2); 26 (20+6) versus 22 (18+4). She penetrates his armour (AR18) and does 56 damage (because she Crit.). Still a great dodge roll though; that's a keeper.<br />Finally Fury dances away, getting some distance from the two racists. Since her Spd. is 140... hold on I need a map...</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i1.wp.com/www.miskasmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/178-robotfactory-factory-public.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="800" height="427" src="https://i1.wp.com/www.miskasmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/178-robotfactory-factory-public.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This'll do? The fight is around that obvious elevator shaft on the right hand side of the map. 10' squares.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>...Fury runs from the duet to Spirit's side. This leaves her one action, in case she needs to dodge.</div><div><br /></div><div>Spirit gets to go now and, recognising Fury as an ally, otherwise ignores her. Spirit has 6 actions while armoured and takes full advantage of them. There's a manoeuvre that robots and powered armour can do, called a Volley. Basically shoot a set of weapons at a single target. So Spirit points her right hand at Mook#3 and her left at Mook#6; the guys with the guns. </div><div>Her first volley, against Mook#3, is 19 (17+2) versus 3 )1+2). Mook#3 takes 26 damage from 9d6, as 3 finger lasers and 1 finger blaster, all at full power strike him. This reduces his SDC to 0 and takes 2 points off his Hit Points. This is less than 10% of his HP so he suffers no impairment. But damn that hurt!<br />Her second volley, against Mook#6 this time, is 21 (19+2) versus 11 (9+2). Mook#6 takes 68 damage (another Crit.). He drops. Dead.</div><div>Even with all this, Spirit has only used a couple of her actions. So she swings a punch at Mook#2; 8 (6+2) versus 15 (13+2). Her armoured fist is deflected with a parry. Spirit has 3 actions left.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next we have Mook#4, Mook#5, and Cat#1 all on 12 initiative. I don't have the PP scores for the animals so decide that they'll go last. Mook#4 is higher than #5 so that's the order we'll go in.</div><div>Mook#4 rushes in to swing at Spirit; 1 (1+0) is a miss. This cost Mook#4 two of his four actions.</div><div>Mook#5 decides to stick to the plan and also rushes in to swing for Spirit. 4 (1+3) is also a miss. This leaves them with 4 actions.</div><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile Cat#1 attacks Dog#1. 8 (5+3) versus 7 (5+2), for a hit. Doing 4 damage. Confident in its prowess the cat attacks again; 15 (12+3) versus 19 (17+2) which is a miss. Cat#1 has no more actions left.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next is initiative 11, which is Dog#4 and Cat#3. I roll a die and it's Dog#4 who goes first. Dog#4 attacks Cat#4; 20 (16+4) versus 11 (7+4) for 9 damage. This brings the cat to 0 SDC and deals 2/3rds of its HP. The doge keeps on its attack; 19 (15+4)... the cat burns its last action and dodges; 21 (17+4).</div><div><br /></div><div>(<b>Instant House Rule: You can wait to see your opponent's attack roll before deciding if you want to roll to dodge.</b>)</div><div><br /></div><div>Cat#3 attacks Dog#3. 13 (10+3) versus 8 (6+2) for 2 damage. It attempts another attack, but misses; 5 (2+3) versus the 8 dodge from before; no point rerolling. Cat#3 has zero actions left while Dog#3 has 2.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now we're down to Initiative 10 and, excluding dodging, 9 character have acted at least once. </div><div><p>Mook#3, Dog#2, and Cat#5 are up next. Let's stick with that order.<br />Mook#3 is hurting, having taken hit point damage. There are no morale rules but I decide then an there to roll d%. If I roll over his remaining HP he runs. So he has a 24% chance of staying in the fight. I roll an 80. He runs. He has 3 actions remaining and an Spd. of 24. That's 72'.</p><p>Dog#2 attacks Cat#2; 18 (14+4) versus 6 (2+4). Cat#2 is hit for 10 damage. That's enough to bring the cat to 0 SDC and 2/3rd HP.</p><p>Cat#5 attacks Dog#5; 23 (20+3) versus 21 (19+2). This is yet another crit. For 12 damage. Doge is fine; still has SDC.</p><p>And Initiative 9: Cat#2 and Cat#4.<br />Cat#2 runs away.<br />Cat#4 is out of actions.</p><p>Initiative 8: The Alpha and Mook#1. The Alpha has 13 PP to 11, so they go first.<br />They run after Ms. Fury. They have a Spd. of 178, so they can easily keep up. They swing their bat at Ms. Fury, who parries; 20 (17+3) versus 15 (7+8) for 18 damage. She rolls with the blow; 23 (17+6), reducing the damage to only 9.<br />He then swings again; 14 (11+3) versus 9 (1+8) parry. For 14 damage. She rolls with the blow again; 16 (10+6), reducing the damage to 7.<br />A third swing; 21 (18+3) versus 25 (17+8) parry. Is deflected.<br />Alpha is out of actions.</p><p>Mook#1 was standing with her boss swinging at Ms. Fury. But now the battle has shifted she's rushing after them. With a Spd. of 28 it's going to take them a few of their 5 actions. All 5 of them will make her as fast as Ms. Fury with just one. She ends up out of actions. </p><p>Initiative 7: Mook#6 is dead so just Dog#1 who retaliates against Cat#1. Cat #1 has no actions left. I can either rule that it can borrow an action from Round 3, or it's flat footed and has to hope that the doggo rolls under 5. I go with <b>yes</b>. (<b>Instant House Rule: You can borrow a single action from the next round. If you want. But only the one.</b>) 22 (18+4) versus... 23 (19+4). </p><p>Initiative 6: only Dog#5 remains. It attacks Cat#5; 18 (14+4) versus 10 (6+4), for 4 damage.</p><p>We've been around once. <br />Mook#5 has 4 Actions and will go on Initiative 12<br />Spirit, Steel Goth and Mook#2 all have 3 Actions and go on Initiatives 16, 19 and 19 respectively.<br />Mook#4 and Dog#3 have 2 Actions and go on Initiatives 12 and 5.<br />Ms. Fury, Dog#1, #2, #4, #5 and Cat#5 all have 1 Action left and go on Initiatives 16, 7, 10, 11, 6, and 10.<br />Everyone else has 0, or fewer, Actions.</p><p>Back to Initiative 19: Steel Goth fires his eye laser at Spirit. 19 strike (16+3) versus 10 dodge (6+4) for 7 damage to Spirit herself, bypassing the armour. This is barely more than a quarter of her SDC. But she is the squishiest person in the fight (ignoring the animals). Goth then rushes forward and pops his forearm blades to strike at Spirit with his right. 8 (6+2) versus 11 parry (7+4).</p><p>Mook#2 swings her bat at Spirit; 10 (9+1) versus 23 parry (19+4). Mook#2 still has 2 actions remaining.</p><p>Initiative 16 again: Ms. Fury holds her one action.<br />Spirit volley fires her beams at Steel Goth; 9 (7+2), versus... well zero. Steel Goth knows his armour can tank the hit and just stands there. All 80 points come off his armour's SDC. Roughly 9% of its total.</p><p>She keeps pouring it on; 18 (16+2) versus zero. Still not enough to penetrate his armour which takes a further 63 damage. She considers using her last action but instead decides to hold it back for a potential dodge.</p><p>Initiative 12: Mook#4 and Mook#5. Mook#4 swings again, this time at Ms. Fury. 6 (5+1), versus a parry of 13 (5+8).<br />Mook#5 swings for Spirit; 7 (4+3), versus a parry of 21 (17+4). He's not having much luck.</p><p>Initiative 11: Dog#4 goes for Cat#4; 19(15+4) versus it's last dodge of 21.</p><p>Initiative 10: Dog#2 and Cat#5. The dog no no longer has a cat to fight so it runs over to it's master, using it's last action to do so.<br />Cat#5 attacks Dog#5 18 (14+4) versus 16 (12+4) for 2 points of damage.</p><p>Initiative 7: Dog#1 attacks Cat#1; 15 (11+4) versus the previous dodge of 19.</p><p>Initiative 5: Dog#3 attacks Cat#3; 15 (11+4) versus... Cat#3 takes an action from next round and rolls dodge 16 (12+4).</p><p>Third go around. <br />Mook#5 has 3 actions left and is still on initiative 12.<br />Mook#2 has 2 actions and is still on initiative 19.<br />Ms. Fury, Spirit, Mook#4 and Dog#3 have 1 action apiece and are on 16, 12 and 5 initiatives.</p><p>Mook#2 is still attacking Spirit and is getting frantic. 12 (11+1) versus 14 (10+4). 1 action remaining.</p><p>Ms. Fury and Spirit hold actions.</p><p>Mook#4 swings again at Fury, 15 (14+1) versus who fails to parry with a 13 (5+8), so she burns her action to dodge; 7 (1+6). Ouch. She takes 3 damage.<br />Mook#5 is still swinging for Spirit; 4 (1+3), a categorical miss.</p><p>Dog#3 attacks Cat#3; 18 (14+4) versus 16 dodge from last round. For 9 damage. Then again 23 (19+4) for 7 damage. Which brings the cat to 1 HP remaining.</p><p>Only Spirit, Mooks#2, #4, and #5 have any actions remaining. #5 with a whole 2.</p><p>Fourth go around.</p><p>Mook#2 keeps attacking. 6 (5+1), versus a parry of 7 (3+4). No luck.</p><p>Spirit full volley fires at Mook#2; 22(20+2), a crit. Versus 21 (19+2) dodge, with an action borrowed from the future. 132 points of damage. Mook#2 falls.</p><p>"No!" yells Mook#5 and rushes to Mook#2's side and attempts to begin first aid. But Mook#2 is a charred corpse. Ironically Mook#6 is only unconscious/in a coma and will die in 10 hours unless the receive medical treatment in that time.</p><p>Round 2 Ends.</p><span><!--more--></span><p>So that was somewhat easier. Still lasted longer than I wanted though. The important thing is that there was only 4 go-arounds rather than the 6 I'd have to do as per the RAW.</p><p>So overall I'd say it's a success.</p><p>So round 3...</p><span><!--more--></span><p>As the slain Mook falls a horrific winged form swoops in at 400mph and slams into Steel Goth, lifting him off his feet and hurling him into the nearest wall.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXgasGX2xGssFXv55bWXYOF1tleEwTcw-uQmKA6enaVKrA75MhSoalJvebl-x7sdfVmImVa5mvwJ-Slur31UNMP2cskdg-5iHWnx_cDG5Wgc8KMnlaVmLhgAkZagLdNrSZfGn_6ePvoi4Y/s1024/Gargoyle+screenshot+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXgasGX2xGssFXv55bWXYOF1tleEwTcw-uQmKA6enaVKrA75MhSoalJvebl-x7sdfVmImVa5mvwJ-Slur31UNMP2cskdg-5iHWnx_cDG5Wgc8KMnlaVmLhgAkZagLdNrSZfGn_6ePvoi4Y/w320-h320/Gargoyle+screenshot+2.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>Gargoyle crits and does 388 damage, through Goth's armour. Which is enough to scrap him. But rolling an 24 to pull their punch they leave them at zero HP rather than -78. They then pounce on The Alpha, first hitting him with a restrained strike for 70 points of damage, then again with a crit for 208 damage. A 17 to pull their punch leaves him also at zero HP.</p><p>Gargoyle steps away from the defeated villains and pauses to let everyone take in her majesty.</p><p>Everyone except Ms. Fury fails their horror save. The Cats scarper, the Mooks leggit, and the dogs gather around their fallen master. Combat ends.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPNTh4ybOV-pOCZAiuX-m7ZtKiDbKJ4wFQlzi_hhzD-0nQ_9w4xIOqYZBN5kkcyLik56fF_avb9rKEa7q0BTfoe3cWOb_aNYZFb-V_-Kcf6O86STd0CGX0D3Rnww4eUn4iGGrmFI5xaMyA/s1024/Nemesis.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPNTh4ybOV-pOCZAiuX-m7ZtKiDbKJ4wFQlzi_hhzD-0nQ_9w4xIOqYZBN5kkcyLik56fF_avb9rKEa7q0BTfoe3cWOb_aNYZFb-V_-Kcf6O86STd0CGX0D3Rnww4eUn4iGGrmFI5xaMyA/s320/Nemesis.png" /></a></div><p>"We should go" Ms. Fury says to Spirit, after making sure that nobody else is going to die. "Leave these nuckle heads for the po-po".</p><p>"Not yet sister!" says a voice that none there recognise. Turning they see a winged woman in glowing armour, with an equally glowing sword and shield. hovering above the slain mook. She levels the blade at Spirit. "This one has taken a life and must be judged!"</p><p>"Who are you?" Fury demands.</p><p>"Why dearest Allecto, I am Tisiphone, but many call me... <b>Nemesis</b>!"</p></div>PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-14450290210150640822021-03-28T01:48:00.002-07:002021-03-28T01:48:33.588-07:00Ms. Fury Versus The Alpha<p>Dahlia Drake was heading for bed, rattling around the manse of her late grandmother alone, when her Fury phone chimed. A message from a contact; @devinegoil. It gave a name, the architect Spirit Deborah Planque, and an address, somewhere downtown. "White Knights hired to hit," it read "Tonight. Hurry." Dahlia sighed. Sleep would have to wait. The catsuit had wrapped itself around her like a shadow, before she'd even reached the garage. The Vincent Black Shadow throbbed into life between her thighs and she roared off into the night. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/77/52/02/77520268e262a2aede99914c40dd2ace.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="400" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/77/52/02/77520268e262a2aede99914c40dd2ace.gif" /></a></div><p><br /></p><i>Yes I know. Ms. Fury is having her second Versus battle. Belladonna has had two too. Yes they are my favourite characters. Sorry; not sorry.</i><p></p><p><i>Well I am bereft of inspiration for this fight. So let's have a look at the random inspiration tables from page 73 of Heroes Unlimited Games Master Guide.</i></p><p><i>My first roll is for villains and gives me a 6 pack of two bit thugs. A whole dozen bits! I <strike>quickly</strike> generate them and add them to The Alpha's side. They are, by age and alphabet; Leo Duchamp (level 4 Thug, 35), Murray Adair (level 5 Thug, 35), Osbourne Sweeney (level 5 Thug, 28), Eveline Gallo (level 5 Thug, 28), Ivy Wynne (level 3 Thug, 20), and Topher Platt (level 1 Thug, 17). Then there's the 5 dogs/wolves... Uh; Adolf, Badulf, Cuan, Eadwulf, and Ylva.</i></p><p><i>The second roll is for the crime at hand and I get Murder/Killing. Yikes!</i></p><p><i>Third roll gives me the villain's reasons why the villains are up to no good. I get "Hired". So someone is paying him to do this.</i></p><p><i>Fourth roll is for Complications. I get Underground. Which is... okay I guess. The complication table is a bit swingy; there's as much chance of the authorities interfering as there is of being hurled into outer space.</i></p><p><i>I need a potential victim. A few rolls later I have Spirit Deborah Planque, a Master Gizmoteer. </i></p><p><i>This all seems a but much for Dahlia so I decide to keep Gargoyle in reserve. Just in case. And if things go too easy in the other direction I might be able to <strike>kill off</strike> use the Iron Goth as backup for the fash.</i></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://media3.giphy.com/media/1fNNt6JmL5R7O/giphy.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="500" src="https://media3.giphy.com/media/1fNNt6JmL5R7O/giphy.gif" /></a></div><p></p><br /><p>The address wasn't some swanky office building or posh store but a building site. Ms Fury stalked through the concrete pillars and slabs. Keen hearing picked up voices deep within the bowels of the unfinished structure. Fury descended down towards what would one day be a subbasement. </p><p>The dark room was lit by sweeping beams from about half a dozen flashlights. In them she could see a metal table that had been overturned, and blueprints scattered over the bare concrete floor. Most of the beams illuminated a concrete pillar behind which she was sure their intended victim was hiding.</p><p>She counted seven criminals, one of whom had shoulders wide enough to deserve their own postcode; no way that was natural. All armed with cricket bats. And 5 dogs; Dobermans. A clowder of cats, of equal numbers, had gathered themselves around her as they always seemed to when she was patrolling the night. Stray domestic cats were hardly a match one on one for a dog of that size, but she could get them to distract and confuse. She was wildly outnumbered, but if she kept moving and focused on the big guy she should be able to demoralise and break the group. All she needed to do was take him down fast. She stepped off the beam on which she was crouched and plunged towards her foes.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm_a5MA2P8kyG10AYKd88nguxEumt23uiztbuonusr85Dy8pO-ZlDf0h1bludoh_5Yb1D-btGATurDY2aa-iIuRV4v4hEyWfU-AfHs3JmbugCfw7dkI4dqj80jhppkd-E_f7TYVSV58x0s/s1024/Ms+Fury.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm_a5MA2P8kyG10AYKd88nguxEumt23uiztbuonusr85Dy8pO-ZlDf0h1bludoh_5Yb1D-btGATurDY2aa-iIuRV4v4hEyWfU-AfHs3JmbugCfw7dkI4dqj80jhppkd-E_f7TYVSV58x0s/w221-h221/Ms+Fury.png" width="221" /></a></div><i><u>Round 0:</u> Fury burns all her actions for the round to slam Alpha for 32 damage. He rolls 3 to dodge, so fails.</i><p></p><p>Alpha staggers under the impact, dropping his cricket bat, but doesn't fall. </p><p><i><u>Round 1:</u> Initiative for the round: Alpha 14, Fury 22, Spirit 14, Mook #1 13, Mook #2 19, Mook #3 20, Mook #4 11, Mook #5 18, Mook #6 3. Dogs are out of play; waiting for instructions. Cats are weighting for the dogs to act.</i></p><p><i><u>First Action:</u></i> Fury unleashes her claws and goes for Alpha's face.<br /><i>She rolls 24 (18+6) and does 30 points of damage. Alpha fails to dodge again, with a roll of 1.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdCuKunIocZfv87t0BdE2mkbzIGv1hGDAr5N77SX7yU_nYrf8OLv-BOEbcxyqwy6ZRh3kBcijlQREQ1omPU3Taw046sWfno-CCMhrMZkfn_Mxz8OWmhNmEl0p5mdWlMlupmhj_GgwAK5O/s1024/The+Alpha+screenshot.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdCuKunIocZfv87t0BdE2mkbzIGv1hGDAr5N77SX7yU_nYrf8OLv-BOEbcxyqwy6ZRh3kBcijlQREQ1omPU3Taw046sWfno-CCMhrMZkfn_Mxz8OWmhNmEl0p5mdWlMlupmhj_GgwAK5O/w227-h227/The+Alpha+screenshot.png" width="227" /></a></div>Meanwhile Mooks #1 through #3 moves left to get eyes on their target. Mooks#4 through Mook#6 move right. <div>Their target, Spirit Planque, is dressed in what look like motorcycle leathers and remains in the shadows.</div><div>Alpha finally gets to punch his opponent.</div><div><i>He rolls 20 (18+2) for 13 damage. Fury uses her claws to parry with a 25 (17+8).</i></div><div><p><u><i>Second Action:</i></u> Ms Fury goes for another slash.<br /><i>17 (11+6) for 22 damage, 11(8+3) for a barehanded parry, followed by a Roll with Blow to reduce the impact; 21 (15+6) for half damage.</i></p><p>Mook#3 points their pistol at Spirit and lets off a shot. <br /><i>8 (4+4), which in this system is enough to hits, for 10 damage</i>. Oddly there's the sound of a ricochet. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Mook#2 is undeterred and rushes forward with their cricket bat raised.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ1bgnNkkdRHQL62DZ4xkSyv1D-KjGmRZr7tdskkm9j_3yPZOhYss6CphHDzJGqB71Y6raMyj_rNocc63E8-Ul9WAxACV7uLIvM0XxOKRxiZQQ8SRX8U5MGxinUU5gpSlWMDjiaU2YCJMS/s1024/Femme+Mooks.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ1bgnNkkdRHQL62DZ4xkSyv1D-KjGmRZr7tdskkm9j_3yPZOhYss6CphHDzJGqB71Y6raMyj_rNocc63E8-Ul9WAxACV7uLIvM0XxOKRxiZQQ8SRX8U5MGxinUU5gpSlWMDjiaU2YCJMS/w222-h222/Femme+Mooks.png" width="222" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mooks #1 and #2</td></tr></tbody></table>Spirit finger guns and a bolt of energy blasts out at Mook#3 from the tip of her right index finger and...<p></p><p><i>22 (18+4), hits for 12 damage.</i> Ouch.</p><p>Mooks #4, #5, and #6 are closing in from Spirit's left. Mook#1 hangs back behind #3. </p><p>Alpha is trying to back away towards his bat. Taking his action as movement. <br />"Will someone get this bitch off of me!" he growls, and then whistles to bring the dogs into play. <br /><br /></p><p><u><i>Third Action:</i></u> Ms Fury stays with him. Slashing again.<br /><i>15 (9+6) for 20 damage vs. 14 (11+3) for barehanded parry. Rolling with blow for 13 (7+6). He takes every point. He's at 94 SDC remaining, which is basically the mid point for him. He hasn't touched her.</i></p><p>Mook#3 pokes at his scorched clothes and the burned skin beneath before deciding to respond to his boss, and runs towards where he and Ms Fury are duking it out. He's hurting, but he's had worse. Cat#4 attacks Dog#4 before it can act.<br /><i>15 (12+3) strike vs 20 (16+4) dodge. A miss.</i> </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HJcX50rTNMxcAtc4A-3BhiuG4dqtleq9DUp2msYnBWyV34mxrPreDe7I9Le-v3yKPaXohJ3BabphU-LlU6R0s99sJoqsJ-CYEWBjpZIbrKe-OOPt9Do2eY4JoBHpDqAXc5BeCY9tX4I_/s1024/Masc+Mooks.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HJcX50rTNMxcAtc4A-3BhiuG4dqtleq9DUp2msYnBWyV34mxrPreDe7I9Le-v3yKPaXohJ3BabphU-LlU6R0s99sJoqsJ-CYEWBjpZIbrKe-OOPt9Do2eY4JoBHpDqAXc5BeCY9tX4I_/w218-h218/Masc+Mooks.png" width="218" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mooks #4 and #5</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Mook#2 reaches Spirit and swings. Clunk.<br /><i>10 (9+1) vs 5(1+4) parry for 5 damage.</i><p></p><p>Spirit responds by punching her. <br /><i>18(16+2) vs 18(16+2) parry.</i><br />But Mook#2 deflects her with the bat.<br /></p><p>Mook#5 has come in from Spirit's left and swings.<br /><i>23(20+3) vs 17(13+4) parry. For 8 damage</i><br />Spirit reacts to the attack which should have blindsided her. Almost like she has some sort of enhanced perception. Or something.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcgRplRz-Wpns1jdLpUbQ34001ySNouUH9nbnfkz_pfYCGcK03tHIbJp79BM3CiHs2TzYppRs-c6y3V9C6Ui7z7ozUqBDRCPq3aP5lSvkdDDl8DNOlnDQOPGM0H860TKolNZNfh3P5ItiR/s1024/Masc+Mooks+with+gun.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcgRplRz-Wpns1jdLpUbQ34001ySNouUH9nbnfkz_pfYCGcK03tHIbJp79BM3CiHs2TzYppRs-c6y3V9C6Ui7z7ozUqBDRCPq3aP5lSvkdDDl8DNOlnDQOPGM0H860TKolNZNfh3P5ItiR/w221-h221/Masc+Mooks+with+gun.png" width="221" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mooks #3 and #6</td></tr></tbody></table>Dog#1 rushes forward and grabs Alpha's bat in it's jaws. Ready to deliver it. Dog#5 leaps at Ms Fury.<br /><i>9(5+4) vs 13(5+8).</i> Only to be pushed away.<br />Dog#4 follows suit.<br /><i>15(11+4) vs 15(7+8).</i> To same effect.<p></p><p>Alpha grabs his bat from Dog#1 without so much as a "Good Dog".</p><p>Mook#1 reaches Ms Fury and takes a swing.<br /><i>9(6+3) vs 9(1+8).</i> More by instinct than skill her bat is deflected by the catsuit clad crimefighter.</p><p>Cat#2 lashes out at Dog#2<br /><i>18(15+3) vs 8(6+2) for 5 damage.</i></p><p></p>Mook#4 goes for Spirit, but is parried.<br /><i>16(15+1) vs 16(12+4).</i> </div><div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMWjdn0RhgR7CQB5eMuCoP_NSDDeCoFb3ttZldCaExEEjEMuoy6UCbpXY3JpDQYbg2uadP8QgnakcZJBiYnf752FwdWWE6UmKk80WNAWDxi97uFwMc9ZyzNbnLbx2VH6OGmK0nR2H2yTl/s1024/Armoured+Spirit.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMWjdn0RhgR7CQB5eMuCoP_NSDDeCoFb3ttZldCaExEEjEMuoy6UCbpXY3JpDQYbg2uadP8QgnakcZJBiYnf752FwdWWE6UmKk80WNAWDxi97uFwMc9ZyzNbnLbx2VH6OGmK0nR2H2yTl/w199-h199/Armoured+Spirit.png" width="199" /></a></div>Cat#5 follows after Dog#5 and Cat#1 follows after Dog#1. Dog#2 pounces at Ms Fury and grabs her arm in its jaws.<br /><i>23(19+4) vs 18(10+8) for 7 damage.</i> <br />Dog#3 tries likewise. But is knocked aside.<br /><i>12(8+4) vs 23(15+8).</i> <br />Cat#3 pounces at Dog#3.<br /><i>22(18+4) vs 7(5+2), for 6 damage.</i><p></p><p>Finally Mook#6 draws a bead with his gun and gets a good look at his target. Suddenly he wishes he had a bigger gun than a Glock, as he gets a good look at his armoured opponent. He lets off a shot on spec. <br /><i>7(3+4), a flat out miss (as ranged attacks need 8+ to hit).</i> </p><p><u><i>Action 4:</i></u> Ms. Fury... holy shit... </p>Look I'm down to... well action 3 took me a day to work through. I've already wasted two weeks when I forgot how many characters (at this stage 19) are involved in this fight and focused just on Fury and Alpha. </div><div><br /></div><div>This system doesn't work well when it's just one person carrying the load.</div><div><br /></div><div>And now Blogger's formatting has f-d up. I'm done with this for now. Palladium needs to be revised and I don't have the spoons or brain cycles spar to do it right now. I need a better system.</div><div><br /></div><div>So join me next time when I look at other superhero systems.</div><div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-27545478498380028582021-03-13T03:00:00.059-08:002021-03-14T01:22:13.133-08:00Heroes Unlimited: Phenomenal Paragons: Experiment: The Alpha<p> Dutch Lamb always knew he was destined for greatness. It just took a while to find him. He didn't just sit around like some loser waiting for it. No he went to university, read physics, got into extreme sports and fell into the wrong crowd. He didn't actually graduate but instead went into a life of crime, working for the mob. His destiny found him when he assisted another "mob scientist" with an experiment which intended to create mutant dogs as shock troops for the Mob. Something went wrong and Dutch was bathed in radiation. Which somehow resulted in him gaining super-abilities of his own. Now he works freelance as <i>The Alpha</i>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8z13iq9j31rccqrqo4_250.gifv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="245" data-original-width="245" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8z13iq9j31rccqrqo4_250.gifv" /></a></div><br /><p>This is the seventeenth character in my Phenomenal Paragons series. The introduction to which is <a href="https://magicalspacedragonnyanby.blogspot.com/2019/03/heroes-unlimited-phenomenal-paragons.html" target="_blank">here</a>. It is inspired by Jacob Pisson's World's Strongest series, <a href="https://walkninginshadows.blogspot.com/2017/11/heroes-unlimited-world-strongest-1.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>This is the second character inspired by a recent (Feburary 2021) discussion on a friend's Discord regarding the Marvel characters of <i>Snowflake</i> and <i>Safespace.</i></p><p>I've always seen the Experiment class as the default for Heroes Unlimited. If you're not any other class, then you go with Experiment. It shares a lot with Super Soldiers, and I thought I'd written up an Experiment already because of the number of times I've generated a super soldier for this project.</p><p>As with almost every other class there's a list of charts to roll against to help define the nature of the experiment and what it did to the character. </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>My first roll is on the <i>Nature</i> of the experiment. Which is essentially what was being messed with when this happened. In this case it involved radiation/energy which the character was exposed to.</li><li>The second roll is on the <i>Type</i> of experiment. Which is essentially what were you trying to achieve when this happened? In this case it's an accident. As in they were trying to do something else and have no way of replicating it.</li><li>The third roll is for the number and type of super abilities. I go with 4 minor and 1 major. Because I can.</li><li>The fourth roll is for the side effects of the experiment. These are permanent. You get one roll and done. The chart in the main rules is kind of short and a bit boring so I use one expanded to include fan-made side-effects that I added to, to make up to 50 different options. It can be found <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N0dMm72kk2fnvl5ljdPR3wdXxOev8VNyOJ0Ye_Fwkr0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />I roll up "New Life Form" (43 on that chart). This gives me a random number of mutations and a roll on one of the tables for Aliens. I use the fan-made Mutations table from before and accidentally do the high average rather than the low average. I get <i>Exceptionally Stocky and Broad</i> which gives him superhuman strength and makes him weird looking; <i>Predatory Instincts</i> which makes him dangerous, and <i>Angelic Face</i> which makes him pretty.<br />The roll on the table from the Aliens class gives me "High Gravity" worlder. Which gives him superhuman strength. </li><li>The fifth roll is to identify the organisation that sponsored the experiment. I get one that is both secret and criminal.</li><li>The final roll is for the character's status with the sponsoring organisation. I get: "Allowed to leave on good terms".</li></ul>For his major power I want something that says "leader of the pack" and so I pick <i>Animal Abilities: Canine</i>. This gives him a pack of 5 canines to lead. As well as a bunch of other things too.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://stuarte.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Rob-Liefelds-horrible-art-style.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="320" height="200" src="https://stuarte.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Rob-Liefelds-horrible-art-style.jpg" width="148" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This One</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>For his minor powers I go with <i>Extraordinary Affinity</i> and <i>Extraordinary Beauty</i>. Both of these make it far easier for him to manipulate people. Also he's built like Barret Wallace or that Rob Liefeld picture of Captain America. So he needs all the help he can get. </p><p><i>Physical Perfection</i> also makes people think he's more powerful than he actually is, on top of a bunch of other very useful bonuses.</p><p>I also pick <i>Vocalisation</i> as his final power. Not only can his voice be heard over half a mile, but it improves his ability to be command others. His bark is literally worse than his bite.</p>For his education I roll on the improved chart as normal and get 3 years of college and trade school. Unfortunately I immediately learn his trade is "Professional Thief".<br /><p>Rounding out his character I roll for his alignment, getting "Anarchist". He's another misogynistic, racist, SoB. Perfect to lead (?) the White Knights. (I'm not saying all anarchists are misogynists and racists; just this character).</p><p>So putting this all together...</p><p><b>Name:</b> Dutch Lamb<br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">Super Identity:</u> The Alpha<br /><b>Team:</b> White Knights<br /><b>Level:</b> 1 Experiment<br /><b>Height:</b> 6'4", <b>Weight:</b> 273 lbs, <b>Age:</b> 26.<br /><b>Alignment:</b> Anarchist<br /><b>Disposition:</b> Arrogant misogynist; looks down on everyone who isn't a Super. Or white. Or male.<br /><b>IQ</b> 11, <b>ME</b> 11, <b>MA</b> 29, <b>PS</b> 27*, <b>PP</b> 13, <b>PE</b> 15, <b>PB</b> 39, <b>Spd.</b> 178<br /><b>Hit Points:</b> 25, <b>S.D.C.:</b> 187, <b>P.P.E.:</b> 20.<br />(*Superhuman Strength)</p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Experimental Superpowers:</u><b> </b><br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Nature of Experiment:</i> Radiation/Energy<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Type of Empowerment:</i> Accidental<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Super Abilities:</i> 4 minor, 1 major<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Side Effects:</i> New Life Form<br /> <b style="font-style: italic;">Mutation 1: Miscellaneous Mutation:</b> *Stocky & Exceptionally Broad. <br /> <i style="font-weight: bold;">Mutation 2: Animal 2:</i>Predatory Instincts.<br /> <i style="font-weight: bold;">Mutation 3: Face:</i> Angelic Face<br /> <b style="font-style: italic;">Physiological Modification:</b> Heavy Gravity.<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Sponsor:</i> Secret. Criminal.<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Status:</i> Allowed to leave on good terms.</p><p><b>Animal Abilities: Canine:</b> <br /><b>Extraordinary Affinity:</b> <br /><b>Extraordinary Beauty:</b> <br /><b>Physical Perfection:</b> <br /><b>Vocalisation:</b> Amplify Voice range 1/2 mile, Wider Vocal Range & Command range 100', <br /></p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Skills:</u> <br /><b>Natural Skills:</b> <br />Charm/Impress 98%, Mimic Sounds/Whistles 70%, Modulate Voice 86%, Recognise Personal Scent 56%, Recognise Scent 70%, Track 50%, Trust/Intimidate 96%.<br /><b>Scholastic Skills:</b> <br />Advanced Maths, Athletics, Basic Maths, Body Building, Boxing, Chemistry, Climbing, Computer Ops, Demolitions, English Language, English Literacy, Hot Wiring, HTH Martial Arts, Locksmith, Mountaineering, Palming, Parachuting, Photography, Physics, Pickpocket, Pilot Automobile, Pilot Truck, Pilot Motorcycle, Prowl, Read Sensors, Running, Safe Cracking, Seduction, Streetwise, Surveillance Systems, Swimming, W.P. Pistol.<br /><b>Secondary Skills:</b> <br />Breed/Train Dogs, Diplomacy, First Aid, Land Navigation, Navigation, Pilot Sailing, W.P. Blunt, W.P. Improvised, W.P. Knife, W.P. Shield.</p><p><b><u>Saves</u>:</b><br /><b>Coma/Death:</b> +5%<br /><b>Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+):</b> +0<br /><b>Horror Factor:</b> +0<br /><b>Insanity:</b> +0<br /><b>Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+):</b> +0<br /><b>Perception:</b> +1<br /><b>Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+):</b> +0<br /><b>Psionics (15+):</b> +0<br /><b>Possession:</b> +0</p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Combat:</u> <br /><b>Initiative:</b> +4<br /><b>Attacks per Round:</b> 2+3<br /><b>Strike:</b> +2 (+3 w/thrown knife, +3 w/blunt weapons)<br /><b>Damage:</b> +12<br /> 1d4 Athletic Strike<br /><b>Parry:</b> +3 (+4 w/blunt weapons; +1 additional w/shield)<br /><b>Dodge:</b> +2<br /><b>Roll with Punch:</b> +6<br /><b>Pull Punch:</b> +3<br /><b>Critical:</b> Nat. 20</p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Benchmarks:</u> <br /><b>Carrying Capacity:</b> 5,400 lbs (2.7 tons); <b>Lifting:</b> 8,100 lbs (4 tons).<br /><b>Stamina:</b> Carry Max 60 minutes, 30 minutes while running or fighting. Lifting 15 rounds (225 seconds; 3.75 minutes).<br /><b>Ground Speed:</b> 125 mph for 15 minutes. (31.25 miles)<br /><b>Swimming Speed:</b> 81 yards (243ft.) per round for 15 minutes. (2.76 miles)<br /><b>Leaping Distance:</b> 29' high and 58' broad with a running start. 17'5" high and 29' broad with a standing start.</p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Background:</u><br />Dutch Lamb would like to think that he grew up on the streets and his powers were deserved and earned through his own hard work. But the truth is his family are just common upper middle class racists and he's a crook.</p><p>Dutch never had a holiday of adventure on the Blyghton Foundation's dime, and he's always felt robbed. (Some of them found buried treasure, and they kept it!) And he's never inherited anything as nice as a Spanish Quarter mansion, like that bitch he went to school with, Dahlia Drake. Although this isn't the reason he turned to criminality and, uh, social injustice.</p><p>He's just that sort of spoiled arsehole.</p><p>He leads the Ennor cell of the White Knights through force of personality rather than any real skill. But you know how the fash' are shallow and undiscerning when it comes to leadership. Show them a pretty face and a shouty voice and they get weak at the knees.</p><p>So join me next time when I out this joker up against my favourite hero so far. They'll be fighting like cats and dogs when... </p><h1 style="text-align: center;">Ms. Fury Vs. The Alpha!</h1>PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-78707013613435269792021-03-11T01:25:00.002-08:002021-03-11T01:25:28.829-08:00Updates<p> Sorry I've not been posting as much as I'd like but... well things continue to be difficult for everyone. My health has been worse than normal. Both physically and mentally. With no help on the horizon and only a looming and impossible to complete deadline. For getting the house sorted. </p><p>So the blog has fallen by the wayside. I've not even been having fun on the new PC. I got into <i>Elite: Dangerous</i> back when it was on sale, but since found it too much like having an actual job. Although if I could earn a million quid for an hour's work in a comfy environment far from others, with minimal risk, and be back home in time for tea; in real life I'd do it in a shot.</p><p>I've had to abandon <b>Odysseus Sector</b> for Traveller as my backups hadn't; so Olea, my dead laptop/tablet, took pretty much everything I had with it.<br />I'm going to come up with something else Traveller wise at some point and share it here with you.</p><p>I'm thinking about doing NaNoWriMo this year; I've been toying with writing a LitRPG (yeah I know) for a few years now. I started trying to use Google's Voice to Text stuff a few years back. I got a few thousand words into a story before running out of steam. Going back to reread it at the beginning of this year I realised that the problem was I'd started the story at least a year early, setting-wise. I just have to design a magic system, setting stuff and an actual story.</p><p>Otherwise everything is pretty much running along as always.</p>PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-79765598287181422352021-03-06T03:00:00.001-08:002021-03-06T03:00:01.029-08:00Heroes Unlimited: Phenomenal Paragons: Imbued Hero: Gatekeeper<p> While everyone believes themselves to be special as a child, most grow out of this by their teens. But not everyone. Jonty Clayton always thought he deserved better in life, despite being relatively well off, and was able to find like minded individuals online. Encouraged by these people he sought to take what he felt he deserved. Which resulted in him getting arrested and on a register. While in prison his cell mate hypnotised him. Surprisingly he unlocked super abilities. Now no cell can hold Jonty, no door can bar him; but he can bar others as <i>The Gatekeeper</i>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://66.media.tumblr.com/188265a2b58207de65d47f75dbf0926e/tumblr_onf78xC8wB1ua86fuo1_400.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/188265a2b58207de65d47f75dbf0926e/tumblr_onf78xC8wB1ua86fuo1_400.gif" /></a></div><br /><p>This is the sixteenth character in my Phenomenal Paragons series. The introduction to which is <a href="https://magicalspacedragonnyanby.blogspot.com/2019/03/heroes-unlimited-phenomenal-paragons.html" target="_blank">here</a>. It is inspired by Jacob Pisson's World's Strongest series, <a href="https://walkninginshadows.blogspot.com/2017/11/heroes-unlimited-world-strongest-1.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>This character was inspired by a recent (Feburary 2021) discussion on a friend's Discord regarding the Marvel characters of <i>Snowflake</i> and <i>Safespace</i> which were introduced to the <a href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/introducing-the-new-new-warriors" target="_blank">New Warriors comic</a> back in March of 2020. Snowflake and Safespace are "psychic-er" twins. One of whom is non-binary and a cryokinetic (Snowflake) and the other generates force-bubbles to defend others (Safespace). They're people of colour and pretty heavy handed LGBT representation. The discussion got around to what their villainous counterparts would be called. In the end we came up with the names and concepts of the "Gatekeeper" and "Alpha Male". Naturally this is my take on Gatekeeper with The Alpha coming next.</p><p>The Imbued Hero gets their powers from an imbuing agent. Like a drug or something. This gives the character a limited amount of time to get up to their super stuff. This being Palladium there are a number of d100 charts to role on to generate these aspects, Which are expressed as questions. Refreshingly it says I can just pick from them. So naturally I roll on them.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The first aspect is the nature of the imbuing agent. I roll Hypnotism/Brainwashing. Which is interesting. Somehow the character needs to post hypnotic trigger to go into power mode.</li><li>The second deals with how addictive it is. I roll the maximum. Which is to say "Debilitating and Deadly". So if the character doesn't have their fix (or use their power) at least once every day then they could die from "system shock". So in this case if they don't use their trigger at least once a day they could die. From what? Power build up?</li><li>The third question is who can use the imbuing agent to gain super abilities. In this case I get "...only the... hero". Which suggests the power is inherent to them, but either locked or controlled by post hypnotic triggers.</li><li>The fourth asks who can make the agent. I get "Only those instructed by the... hero". This tells me that while he knows his trigger, he can't use it on himself and has to teach it to others to access his powers. This makes him dependent on a team.</li><li>The fifth question asks how long each "dose" of agent lasts. I get 2 hours. </li><li>The sixth asks how frequently the agent can be taken and I get "...As needed or desired".</li><li>The final step is how many super abilities and I get two major and two minor. Which is good as that's how many I need to do what I want to do with this character.</li></ul>The crux of the gatekeeper power is this: I want the character to be able to link any door or gate to any others that are within range, or that they've been to. As long as they are linked either side is connected to the other and moving from one top the other will be just a matter of stepping through the door.<div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The minor power of <b>Doorway </b>allows a character to open a door through any wall they touch that's five foot thick or less.</li><li>The minor power of <b>Window </b>allows a character to look through one window and see out any other window within range.</li><li>The major power of <b>Gateway </b>permits a character to open a portal to anywhere in the world, as long as they have the location memorised.</li><li>The major power of <b>Portals </b>allows a character to open portals to anywhere within range, but nobody can see through the portals thus created.</li></ul></div><div>By combining these four and changing things up a bit I can get what I want. </div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Gatekeeper can create a doorway/gateway on any surface and link it, or any pre-existing doorway/gateway to within any other doorway/gateway...</li><li>...Within Portals range...</li><li>...Or further to any one of (3 at first level) previously memorised locations. I choose their old prison cell (because being able to dump his opponents there is amusing), their base of operations, and I'll leave the third slot open for mission/adventure specific locations.</li><li>They can focus and look through their doorways.</li><li>Since I'm limiting both Gateways and Portals I give the character an ability to manipulate the locks on doors they touch. It's automatic but not instant.</li></ol>Okay let's put things together.<br /><p></p><p><b>Name:</b> Jonty Tobin Clayton<br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">Super Identity:</u> The Gatekeeper<br /><b>Team:</b> White Knights<br /><b>Level:</b> 1 Imbued 'Hero'.<br /><b>Height:</b> 5'8", <b>Weight:</b> 200lbs, <b>Age:</b> 21<br /><b>Alignment:</b> Miscreant<br /><b>IQ</b> 11, <b>ME</b> 11, <b>MA</b> 11, <b>PS</b> 14, <b>PP</b> 11, <b>PE</b> 13, <b>PB</b> 12, <b>Spd</b> 14<br /><b>Hit Points:</b> 18, <b>S.D.C.:</b> 49, <b>P.P.E.:</b> 10</p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Imbuement:</u> <br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Nature of Imbuing Agent:</i> Hypnotic Conditioning<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Addiction:</i> <u>Debilitating:</u> Must use at least once every 24 hours or suffer withdrawal. 10% chance of death by shock every time they go into withdrawal.<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Who can use:</i> Just Gatekeeper.<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Who can make:</i> Anyone instructed by Gatekeeper.<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">Dose Duration:</i> 480 rounds/120 minutes/2 hours.<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;">How Often:</i> As often as needed.</p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Superpowers:</u> 2 minor, 2 major<br />"<b>Gatekeeping</b>" (Doorways, Windows, Gateway, Portals)<br /></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Can open a doorway in a wall by touching the wall, which can penetrate up to 5' of wall. Created doorways are up to 10' high and 4' wide. (Dur: lvl rnds; 1 action to activate. Must remain in contact)</li><li>Can look through any doorway within sight and look out of any other doorway within range [100'+(lvl-1)x10'], as if they were the same doorway. (Dur: lvl min; all actions)</li><li>Can connect any two doorways within [300'+(lvl-1)x30'], but can't look through them. Other side of doorway looks normal. Those who pass through without expecting it will be disorientated for 1d4+2 rounds. (Dur: 1d4 rnds, unless doorway ceases; 1 action)</li><li>Can connect any two doorways on the planet, as long as they have been through at least one of them before. Can only recall [lvl+2] locations at any one time. Can also connect to any doorway within range as 2. or 3.</li><li>Can automatically lock and unlock conventionally locked doors and gates with a touch. No lock picking tools needed. Lockpicking/Locksmith/Safecracking skill for unconventional locks is considered 98% (1 action/rnd until lock picked)</li></ol><p></p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Skills:</u> <br /><b>Natural Skills:</b><br />Lockpicking 98%<br /><b>Scholastic Skills:</b> <br />Advanced Maths, Art (Computer Graphics), Athletics, Basic Maths, Botany, Boxing, Business & Finance, Cardsharp, Computer Hacking, Computer Ops, Computer Programming, Dieting, English Language, English Literacy, History (General), HTH Expert, Law (Business), +Language, +Literacy, +Literacy, Pickpockets, Public Speaking, Research, Sport, Streetwise, Streetwise (Drugs), Writing.<br /><b>Secondary Skills:</b> <br />Accounting, Business Management, Computer Repair, Entrepreneurship, Palming, Pilot (Automobile), Streetwise (Darkweb), W.P. Archery, W.P. Blunt, W.P. Bolas.</p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Saves:</u> <br /><b>Coma/Death:</b> +0%<br /><b>Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+):</b> +7<br /><b>Horror Factor:</b> +0<br /><b>Insanity:</b> +0<br /><b>Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+):</b> +0<br /><b>Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+):</b> +7<br /><b>Psionics (15+):</b> +0<br /><b>Possession:</b> +0</p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Combat:</u><br /><b>Initiative:</b> +0<br /><b>Attacks:</b> 2+2<br /><b>Strike:</b> +0 (+1 Blunt)<br /><b>Damage:</b> +0<br /> 1d4 Athletic Strike<br /> 2d4 Bolas<br /><b>Parry:</b> +4<br /><b>Dodge:</b> +3<br /><b>Roll with Punch:</b> +6<br /><b>Pull Punch:</b> +0<br /><b>Disarm:</b> +0<br /><b>Critical:</b> Nat.20</p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Benchmarks:</u> <br /><b>Carrying Capacity:</b> 140 lbs; <b>Lifting:</b> 280 lbs.<br /><b>Stamina:</b> Carry Max 52 minutes, 26 minutes while running or fighting. Lifting for 13 rounds (195 seconds; 3.25 minutes).<br /><b>Ground Speed:</b> 9.8 mph for 13 minutes (2 miles)<br /><b>Leaping Distance:</b> 3'6" high, 7' broad with a running start. 2'1" high, 4'2" broad with a standing start.<br /><br /></p><p><u style="font-weight: bold;">Background:</u> </p><p>Jonty Clayton thought he deserved more than his privileged middleclass upbringing brought him. He fell in with a bad crowd online and ended up in the far-right undercultures of incels and white supremacy. Eventually he tried to act on his 'wants' and was caught, arrested and put on a register. Doing prison time his cell mate hypnotised him, awakening super abilities in the young man. The two escaped and Jonty found himself on Ennor. Getting in touch with contacts on the island he hooked up with the White Knights, a team of racist arseholes. </p><p>While Jonty knows his trigger and can teach it to others, but can't use it on himself. He also can't remember who it was who implanted the trigger and escaped from prison with him.</p><p>Now wanted by the authorities Jonty has become an a terrorist and criminal with his fascist allies.</p><p><br /></p><p>Join me next time when I finally present you <b>The Experiment</b>.</p></div>PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-18176401360544922342021-02-27T03:00:00.001-08:002021-02-27T03:00:07.440-08:00Heroes Unlimited: Phenomenal Paragons: Heroic Hellion: The Good Fellow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's easy being evil. Just act on your baser instincts. Be selfish, violent, greedy; embody the sins and forget virtue. It's... boring!<br />
Goodness is harder. Empathy, virtue, compassion. It's a difficult path, made more so in that it's possible to do good for evil ends, and evil with good intentions.<br />
With this epiphany the demon Zm'r'thn abandoned evil in favour of good. Painfully aware that choosing good over evil out of boredom was hardly the most noble of motivations he came to Earth; he chose to seek out evil souls and punish them in this life rather than the hereafter.<br />
Now as Sam Arithon, proprietor of The Abyss nightclub, he fights evil as a dapper garbed masked vigilante. They call him "The Good Fellow".<br />
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Satan_summons_His_Legions.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Satan_summons_His_Legions.jpg" style="margin-top: auto; user-select: none;" width="313" /></a></div>
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This is the fifteenth character in my Phenomenal Paragons series. The introduction to which is <a href="https://magicalspacedragonnyanby.blogspot.com/2019/03/heroes-unlimited-phenomenal-paragons.html" target="_blank">here</a>. It is inspired by Jacob Pisson's World's Strongest series, <a href="https://walkninginshadows.blogspot.com/2017/11/heroes-unlimited-world-strongest-1.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<div><br /></div><div>I'm just going to jump to the character you've been waiting for for something like 12 months.<br />
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<b>Name:</b> Sam Arithon<br />
<u style="font-weight: bold;">Super Identity:</u> The Good Fellow<br />
<b>Level:</b> 1 Heroic Hellion<br />
<b>Height:</b> 6'3", <b>Weight:</b> ?<br />
<b>Alignment:</b> Scrupulous<br />
<b>IQ</b> 20(10*), <b>ME</b> 21(10*),<b> MA</b> 22(11*), <b>PS</b> 39(19*), <b>PP</b> 21(10*), <b>PE</b> 26(13*), <b>PB</b> 22(11*), <b>Spd</b> 37(18*)<br />
<b>Hit Points:</b> 554 (277*), <b>S.D.C:</b> 454 (219*), <b>P.P.E.:</b> 260 (130*) 5/action, <b>I.S.P.:</b> 207 (103*).<br />(*human form)<br />
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<u>Greater Supernatural Being:</u><br />
<i>Source:</i> Long Winding Road to Redemption.<br />
<i>Vulnerabilities:</i> Mundane: Hawthorn wood.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Natural AR 12</li>
<li>Supernatural Strength & Endurance</li>
<li>Human-like Appearance</li>
<li>Demonic Aura; heals 3x faster, bio-regenerates for 1d6x10+20 once per day, lives for 2,300 years and can become more human while halving all attributes*.</li>
<li>Super Tough: HPx2, SDC+300.</li>
<li>Sense Magic.</li>
<li>Sense Supernatural Evil.</li>
</ul>
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<i>Enhancement:</i> Transformative Power: <b>Bio Armour</b>.<br />
<b><u>Psionics:</u></b><br />
Astral Projection, Empathy, Intuitive Combat, Mind Block, See Invisible, Telepathy, Object Read, Precognition.<br />
<b><u>Spells:</u></b><br />
Blinding Flash, Globe of Daylight. Befuddle, Extinguish Fire, Levitation, Turn Undead.<br />Breathe Without Air, Energy Bolt, Negate Poison. Fire Bolt, Magic Net, Seal. Heal Wounds. Fire Ball, Teleport Lesser, Tongues. Heal Self. Exorcism, Locate, Negate Magic.<br />
<b><u>Skills:</u></b><br />
Sense Enchantment 75%<br />
Acrobatics, Boxing, Cardsharp, Detect Ambush, Find Contraband, Hand-to-Hand Basic, Intelligence, Interrogation, Prowl, Running, Seduction, Tracking, W.P.Chain, W.P. Paired Weapons, W.P. Revolver, W.P. Whip.<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Saves:</u><br />
<b>Coma/Death:</b> +22%<br />
<b>Drugs/Toxins (+15):</b> +6<br />
<b>Horror Factor:</b> +0<br />
<b>Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+)</b>: +6<br />
<b>Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+)</b>: +6<br />
<b>Psionics (10):</b> +4<br />
<b>Insanity:</b> +4<br />
<b>Perception:</b> +2<br />
<b>Mind Control:</b> +1<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Combat:</u><br />
<b>Initiative:</b> +0<br />
<b>Attacks:</b> 7+3<br />
<b>Strike:</b> +4<br />
<b>Damage:</b> +24 (+4*)<br />
<i>Restrained Punch:</i> 3d6<br />
<i>Full Power Punch:</i> 6d6<br />
<i>Power Punch:</i> 2d4x10<br />
<b>Parry:</b> +5<br />
<b>Dodge:</b> +5<br />
<b>Autododge:</b> +0<br />
<b>Roll with Impact:</b> +5<br />
<b>Pull Punch:</b> +4<br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Benchmarks:</u><br />
<b>Carry Capacity:</b> 11,700 lbs (5,700 lbs*); Lifting: 19,500 lbs (9,500 lbs).<br />
<b>Stamina:</b> Carry Max 1040 minutes [17 hours, 20 minutes] (520 minutes [8 hours, 40 minutes]*); 520 minutes [8 hours, 40 minutes] (260 minutes [4 hours, 20 minutes]*) when running or fighting. Lifting for 230 rounds [57.5 minutes] (130 rounds [28.75 minutes]*).<br />
<b>Ground Speed:</b> 25.9 mph for 520 minutes [255 miles], (12.6 mph for 260 minutes [54.6 miles]*)<br />
<b>Leaping Distance:</b> 156 ft. high, 234 ft. broad with running start; 93.6 ft. high, 140.4 ft. broad with standing start. (76 ft. high, 114 ft. broad with running start; 45.6 ft. high, 68.4 ft. broad with standing start.*)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Background:</u></b><br />
I've been looking at this character for a year now and I don't think I can invent a deeper background than their introduction at all. Which sucks.<div><br /></div><div>So join me next time when I create an <b>Imbued</b> character. Woo. Exciting.</div></div>PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-83230017776713457292020-10-14T04:53:00.002-07:002020-10-14T04:56:38.221-07:00A Quick Apology<p> For the last few years I've been working with nothing more than an expensive windows tablet with a terrible touch sensitive haptic 'keyboard', after my old desktop PC died. It hasn't been fun. Then late August / early September I woke to find a massive crack across the keyboard, which no longer worked. It had been a bit iffy on charging for the few months prior but now it wouldn't even do that. </p><p>That's why I haven't posted anything since June, as I couldn't use a decent keyboard with it and have it running for long enough to write anything. I also couldn't work on anything as my notes and game books were all on an SD card on the tablet. 2020 has sucked al around so far.</p><p>But that's changed. Last week was my birthday and I was gifted with a refurbished gaming desktop PC and multimonitor display. There's even a slot for my SD card. I can now work to my hearts desire. </p><p>So naturally I've been playing Space Engineer for the last week.</p><p>It's going to take a while but I fully intend to get back to blogging here.</p><p>Any day now</p><p>Honest</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="202" src="https://i.pinimg.com/236x/86/0a/d1/860ad117f44ed06f9654d6a9aec7757d--side-effects-gundam-seed.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; margin: auto; user-select: none;" width="236" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yūma Kuga, World Trigger; by Daisuke Ashihara</td></tr></tbody></table>PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-84386473286688401172020-06-06T04:01:00.000-07:002020-06-06T04:01:15.625-07:00Heroes Unlimited: Phenomenal Paragons: Versus Special: The Techtite Heist, part one. The Sanctum SlugfestWe join the Belladonna Gang as they survey their new home; the disused Sanctum Hotel. Owned by the Strickland Mob, through a tangle of front companies it would take a diligent team of forensic accountants a week to navigate. Now made all the more complex by the insertion of <i>Mooie Vrouw Acquisitions</i> into the mix.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="250" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Michigan_Central_Train_Station_Exterior_2006.jpg" style="margin: auto; user-select: none;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penn Central Station, Detroit, makes a great substitute (from Wikipedia)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"It's a shit hole!" Essa looked around at the musty, plaster dust strewn, halls.<br />
"It's been empty for more than a decade," said Lucky, defensively. "We're lucky that it still has power."<br />
"It was majestic once though." Keys said.<br />
"I think it's still majestic." Topaz smiled.<br />
They stood in the grand reception, a room that rose three stories up the interior of the hotel. Previous occupants, ironically a demon-worshiping cult, had used it as a place for their rituals until <i>The August</i> had stopped them and their world-ending plot.<br />
<br />
Now it was the scene of a photo-shoot. Belladonna looked like Athena stepped down from Mount Olympus, dressed in gleaming armour, a bow over her shoulder, a quiver of arrows at her hip, stood upon the infernal altar. A dozen models of all genders, and including Aditi as the thirteenth, gathered around her dressed in diaphanous gowns that left little to the imagination. At least half of them had already developed the dazed look of adoration that Lucky had begun to recognise as the effect of Belladonna's power. All she had said was "<b><i>Join me</i></b>."<br />
<br />
That had mostly been for the benefit of Fern, Wei Ruzhu. Or was that Ruzhu Wei? She was Aditi's agent. They'd used her to organise the shoot, but she scared Lucky. He'd recognised her as one of the Ruzhu Wu, a tong that ran several successful businesses in Little Hong Kong, and had connections to a triad of the same name over in actual Hong Kong. Lucky didn't want Belladonna to abduct her and start a turf war with the triads.<br />
<br />
But Belladonna had been looking daggers at the strangely metallic skinned Chinese woman ever since she'd declined the command. Possibly the self proclaimed goddess was annoyed she'd been told "No". Or possibly it was because of the two of them the Chinese born woman was the more attractive.<br />
<br />
Lucky was distracted from his musings when Essa elbowed him in the ribs.<br />
"You're staring," she said, returning his scowl.<br />
"I was wondering how she makes her skin look like that."<br />
"You're interested in beauty tips? We can always go over and ask."<br />
"Maybe she's a mutant?" Keys suggested.<br />
"Tammie!" scolded Topaz, "You can't go throwing around the M-word like that! Just because someone looks weird it doesn't mean that they're mutated. I mean look at me."<br />
"I know that you're not babe, you had the test, but yeah weirdness usually goes hand in hand with being a mutant."<br />
"I bet you a tenner," Topaz glared at her friend, "She's not a mutant."<br />
<br />
"I'm a mutant," Wei replied in her heavily accented English. Topaz silently handed Keys a ten pound note. Wei held out her hand and thin splinters bloodlessly pierced through the skin of her palm, extruding out from within. They quickly merged and grew together until she held a chess pawn her hand. She passed it over to Lucky who examined it. It had the same metallic glint and colour as Wei's skin, had a texture like wood and was, in many ways, similar to bamboo in weight and density, even though it was solid.<br />
"That's an impressive ability," Lucky said.<br />
"So what's your friend's intentions towards my si-mui?"<br />
"Your what?"<br />
"Si-mui. It means little sister. We have the same sifu; martial arts teacher. Aditi is like a sister to me."<br />
"They're in love." Lucky said.<br />
"Are they? Because I felt that whatever your friend tried on me and I know about that bank job last week."<br />
"The mistress's divinity binds the weak willed." Lucky spoke without inflection, as if repeating something verbatim. Which wasn't too far off the truth. He was paraphrasing something Belladonna had said earlier regarding why Aditi now followed her around like a puppy. Wei's eyes narrowed to slits.<br />
"Aditi isn't weak willed. I know for a fact she can easily resist this sort of influence. It's part of our training."<br />
"People can be trained to resist mind control?" asked Topaz.<br />
"Yes. You would be surprised how many would subvert the free will of our sisters for their own gratifications."<br />
"Not really."<br />
"It is a shame we did not meet when you were younger. You could have learned much." Wei then stuck two fingers between her lips and whistled loudly. As people's eyes turned towards her she took a step forward, raising a hand to circle above her head. "That's a wrap!" she declared. "I'm not sure on the safety of the site. Everyone get your things. Come on! Let's go people!" She clapped her hands together for emphasis.<br />
Slightly less than half the models had moved away from the altar, the rest gathering around Belladonna. Wei counted seven, and Aditi.<br />
<Little sister, come over, we need to talk,> Wei said in her native Cantonese.<br />
<We can talk in English, big sister,> Aditi replied. <My love understands all languages with ease.><br />
<You cannot love her.><br />
<I can't? Why not?><br />
<You've never shown any interest in women before. I would have noticed. She is controlling you.><br />
<Perhaps. To begin with. But I have chosen to accept these feelings she has gifted me with. Not be driven mad by them.><br />
"You are jealous," Belladonna said. "You want my pet for your own. Join in worship of me and she will warm your bed whenever she does not occupy mine." Aditi's eyes hardened for a brief moment before a warm smile spread across her face.<br />
"A good offer," she said. Then in Cantonese, <You should leave now, while you can, or join us in worship.><br />
"No," said Wei, reverting to English. "Please, last chance Aditi; come with me now. Before I have to make you."Aditi shook her head. Wei winced against the savage earworm that had suddenly afflicted her.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
A length of wood sprouted from Wei's hand and she grasped it before glancing back at Topaz. "I'm sorry."<br />
"You will b..." Topaz began, raising her huge fists, before grunting as something like a hard finger poked her in the back of her right knee. Her whole leg went numb. A second poke at the base of her spine was followed by a third where her skull met her neck. "...eeeeee..." she sighed as she went cross-eyed, her mouth dropping open to drool, and she slowly folded to the dusty floor like a poorly erected deckchair. Lowered gently into the recovery position by four finger thick, wood patterned, glittering tentacles.<br />
Aditi continued to smile as she picked up a length of wood and stepped forward to meet her friend. The last of the models not under Belladonna's sway fleeing the former hotel as the photographer stood by the door and began to shoot the unfolding scene.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://thumbs.gfycat.com/TiredSparklingHound-size_restricted.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; user-select: none;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey look at me. I'm a badass mighty female and I'm about to kick all your arses.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"<i style="font-weight: bold;">Defend me!</i>" Belladonna commanded.<br />
<br />
The six seduced subjects gather around their new goddess and link arms. Forming a human wall around her. Aditi stands between them and Wei. About 20 feet away from each. Topaz is essentially out cold for 6 minutes. She's conscious, but not able to move. The remaining three members of the gang are all standing within reach of Wei. Poor them.<br />
<br />
<i><u>Round 1, Initiative</u>: Belladonna 23, Wei 16 (22 within 16'), Keys 16, Essa 13, Models 9, Aditi 8 (14 within 6'), Lucky 6.</i><br />
<br />
Belladonna doesn't bother reaching for the quiver on her hip. Instead she just draws the bow and a bolt of lightning arcs between string and arrow rest. She looses the bolt and it flies the short distance between her and Wei. Wei sees it coming and dances aside, the lightning splashing on the ground. She lances out with one of her tentacles and strikes Lucky just below the left knee. He cries out in surprise as he's hit by one of Wei's tentacles. Even though his knee and lower leg is numb he remains standing, on his right leg. Keys and Essa both swing at Wei with their baseball bats. Keys swings wide as Wei's staff intercepts Essa's bat. One of the models starts singing "We will not be moved" but nobody else wants to take them up on it. Aditi moves forward, twirling her staff. Wei parries her blow too. Lucky is rooting inside Topaz's jacket for something.<br />
<br />
Belladonna shoulders her bow and draws her bullwhip. Wei tries to tentacle poke Essa, but she parries easily. Keys swings her bat but Wei parries once more. Same with Essa and Aditi. Looks like she can do this all day. But it's only been a few seconds. Lucky is still rooting.<br />
<br />
Belladonna rushes from the stage to close to whipping range, her cadre of mind-controlled models following along like startled goslings. (<i>She's something like two to three times faster than most of them</i>). Wei smiles as all her major opponents are within her zone of perception. She tentacle pokes Belladonna (<i>having rolled a 19 on her save versus Awe</i>), causing her to drop her whip and lose the use of that hand <i>for what should be the next 6 minutes. But since she recovers three times faster than any mortal I rule that it's only going to be 2</i>. Keys miraculously catches Wei with the end of her bat as the other woman is twisting away. It's barely even a glancing blow. But it's still a hit. Essa and Aditi both miss again. Lucky has finally found what he's looking for, pulling a revolver from Topaz's jacket and aiming it at Wei.<br />
<br />
Belladonna takes a few steps back, out of the range of Wei's tentacles, and fires of a one-handed energy bolt spell at Wei. It arcs around Aditi and strikes Wei from an unexpected angle (<i>dealing</i> <i>21 damage, as The Sanctum sits on one of the three main Ley Nexi on the island</i>). Wei responds by tucking her staff under one arm and raising the thus freed hand past Aditi's ear and launching a volley of arrows from her fingertips. All four strike Belladonna, all but one bypassing her armour (<i>She takes 17 damage and the armour takes 4</i>). She then returns to her dance with Keys, Essa and Aditi, parrying all their attacks. Lucky spoils it when he shoots her. Thankfully she's again turning and it does minimal damage (<i>7 points</i>) as it creases across her left arm.<br />
<br />
Belladonna starts pulling arrows from her flesh. One at a time. Wei uses her neural atemi to disable Lucky's right hand (<i>for 9 minutes</i>) and he drops the gun. Aditi strikes at Wei, who parries her attack.<br />
<br />
Belladonna removes the remaining two arrows while Wei uses her tentacle strikes to disable Lucky and remove him from play (<i>for 6 minutes</i>).<br />
<br />
<i><u>Round 2, Initiative</u>: Wei 23, Belladonna 17, Essa 11, Aditi 7, Keys 5. Wei loses 1 hit point from her bullet wound, and Belladonna loses 3 from her arrow wounds.</i><br />
<br />
Realising that she can't let Belladonna get off another energy blast Wei surges around Aditi and closes on the demi-goddess, striking at her other hand with her tentacles. Belladonna tries to evade but fails to do so(<i>, losing the use of her off-hand for the next 10 rounds</i>). Belladonna, who was about to cast Heal Self because bleeding is ungodly, instead performs an acrobatic kick. Wei tries to raise her staff to block the kick but fails to do so. (<i>Belladonna rolls nat. 20; a critical strike. Despite rolling minimal damage she does 34 points of it. 22 points of it are soaked by Wei's remaining S.D.C. and the remaining 12 blow through to hit points. This is more than 10% of her hit points; actually 20%. Rolling on the Minor Wounds table I get a sprained shoulder; heavy dice. Wei takes a 3 point penalty to prowess, nixing her inherent strike and parry bonuses, and a further -2 to parry. It's going to take her 8 days to recover</i>). Essa follows in with her bat but Wei parries with a tentacle (<i>I'm not sure the penalty should apply, but even with it she'd successfully parry</i>). Aditi goes for her friend and agent but swings wide. Keys also winds up and is also parried by a tentacle. The models finally catch up and surround Belladonna again.<br />
<br />
Wei spends a few moments armouring up. Belladonna (<i>having read the rules and found that there's nothing about needing to gesture to cast spells I decide that being unable to gesture halves the amount of P.P.E. she can channel</i>) decides to get back to that healing spell (<i>It'll take 2 actions to complete</i>). Essa takes another swing and is parried, Aditi swings and misses, but Keys hits (<i>and crits. 7 damage doubled bypasses armour and drops Wei past 50% hit points. She gets a head wound; -5% to all skills and -2 speed for the next... it doesn't say. I'm going to guess until it's healed</i>), clocking Wei on the head just before her helm fully forms.<br />
<br />
Head ringing Wei tentacle-pokes Belladonna in the face. She collapses (<i>for 10 rounds again</i>), her unfinished spell fizzing. Essa misses. Aditi hits. She narrowly bypasses both Wei's parry and armour, giving her a nasty bruise to the ribs. (<i>Wei takes 5 damage after a successful roll with impact. That's still enough hit point damage to cause a minor wound. She's penalised another 3 points of speed, 1 point of prowess and 3 of strength.</i>) Keys is deflected.<br />
<br />
Wei then tentacle-pokes Keys, causing her to lose the use of her dominant hand (<i>for 8 minutes</i>). Essa and Aditi are both deflected. Keys, who tried to dodge Wei's tentacles, lost their last action in the process.<br />
<br />
Wei turns her tentacles to Essa and disables her dominant hand (<i>for 9 minutes</i>) too. She also parries Aditi.<br />
<br />
Now unchallenged for a few seconds Wei disarms Aditi and then grapples her while attempting to order the mesmerised models out of the hotel. I'll save you her indellicate language but due to her skill she is unchallenged and all 6 models start moving for the doors.<br />
<br />
<i><u>Round 3, Initiative</u>: Wei & Aditi 13, Essa & Keys 1.</i><br />
<br />
Wei, carrying Aditi in two tentacles, rises up on four and springs away, leaping over everyone's heads. She lands ninety feet away, near the door. Aditi tries to break free of the pseudopods binding her but passes out from her efforts (<i>Wei rolled high enough in the contest to get a KO/Stun result</i>). Essa and Keys are powerless to stop her. Combat ends.<br />
<br />
Wei retracts her tentacles, puts Aditi into a fireman's lift over her good shoulder, and staggers over to the photographer. She puts out her hand for his camera.<br />
"You work for me." she reminds him, "I see any recognisable pictures of me online or in the press? You never work in this town again!" He reluctantly turns the camera over to her and they all leave.<br />
<br />
<u style="font-weight: bold;">An hour later, at the Ruzhu Wu compound</u><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="280" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/25/93/87/259387681477825bafe4eea9c9907773.jpg" style="margin: auto; user-select: none;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Something like this</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<You can't keep her prisoner Wei.> The speaker is May, Wei's mother, who looks twenty years younger than her actual age of 69.<br />
<Mother! They were controlling her mind. They made her think she was in love with this Belladonna woman. I couldn't leave her!> Wei sits at the kitchen table, her head bandaged, her left arm in a sling. She winces as she turns to look at the third woman in the kitchen. <Deny it. Prove you've abandoned everything you've built for a life of crime out of your own free will!> Aditi lowers her cup of tea to the table and sighs.<br />
"Okay, yeah," she says, switching to English. "At first I was, I don't know, ensorcelled or something. But then I got angry. Belladonna is an actual goddess. Stripped of her power and exiled here. Imagine that! It'd be like us being turned into ants. And then the first person she meets is Lucky Strickland! <i>He's</i> using her! They all are. They can use her powers and then get off scot-free by claiming she made them do it. They'll do the crime and she'll do the time! Imagine what would have happened if she'd met you first, Fern" Aditi said, using Wei's English forename. Wei hesitates; thinking.<br />
<With her presence and voice? I'd give her a job of course. With the right skills she could be a singer, an actress, even a diplomat. She'd be a millionaire inside five years, just from the money she could make from modelling.><br />
"Exactly. That's why I need to go back. I can gather evidence from the inside and blow the whole scheme when the time comes."<br />
<I don't like it, you don't have the skillset for undercover work.> This last speaker was Hope, Wei's sister-in-law, and detective in Guardian City Metropolitan Police Force. Aditi laughed.<br />
"I'm an actor, detective, and I can take care of myself." She nodded at Wei who winced again and rubbed her bruised ribs.<br />
<She can do it,> Wei confirmed, <I'm still not sure she should.> She sighed again. <You've twelve weeks then we're coming for you again. That should give you enough time to recover from the thrashing I'm going to give you, before your next big project.><br />
Aditi stood, bowed and gave the school's traditional salute.<br />
<Big sisters,> she said, <Training Mother. I'll see you soon> With that she climbed out the nearest window. Behind her she heard Hope begin to chastise Wei.<br />
<Can you <i>not</i> threaten...!><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-81396600622401828312020-04-27T12:00:00.001-07:002021-02-24T11:56:25.205-08:00Heroes Unlimited: Myriad Mutants: Ruzhu Wei-Wei<h2>
<i>And this little piggy went... all the way home</i>.</h2>
<div>
Born in 1989 Wei-Wei was obviously different from the outset, with a metallic glint to her skin. The full extent of her mutant abilities didn't become evident until her third year. The hide-and-seek incident was terrifying for her family. She vanished and then was found, apparently dead, in a cupboard. Only for her to suddenly awake with a giggle. The wood and tentacles were a surprise, but much less so.<br />
<br />
1999 was the year Hong Kong was due to be handed back to China, and China's attitude towards mutants was well known. Not wanting their daughter taken and enslaved, the family made the difficult decision to split up. Wei-Wei and her mother, Mei-Mei, moved away to Ennor on the eve of the handover. Before her tenth birthday Wei-Wei found herself uprooted to a new country, a new island, and a new city, without her father and brothers. It was less traumatic than expected. The old fashioned Chinese buildings of Little Hong Kong made the neighbourhood feel quaint and homely. The great-aunt with the ailing restaurant business was kind and welcoming. The cousins less so, after Mei-Mei took over and rescued the restaurant. But the community backed her up, especially after she created the "Little Princesses Club".<br />
<br />
Wei-Wei had already begun her training in Wui Wing-Chun but some of her new friends expressed an interest in learning. Her mother encourage the interest and what started as mother and daughter's after-school practice became an after-school club for girls of all ages in the neighbourhood. Beyond, even, when a Hindi family from Banger Town enrolled their daughter, Aditi, into the club; forming a bond between the two communities that blossoms to this day.<br />
<br />
When she was 16 Wei-Wei was headhunted by a modelling agency. She didn't like how toxic the industry was but persevered through the five years she was in-vogue for. After 'retiring' at the age of 22 she started up her own agency, vowing that the people she represents will be treated well. Many of her clients are alumni of the Little Princesses Club, including Bollywood actress Aditi Rao.<br />
<br />
The following year two of her brothers, Happy and Piggy, moved to Ennor with their families. Happy took over running the restaurant, Piggy and his wife, Sandi, opened a burlesque club in an adjoining building already owned by the family.<br />
<br />
Then the person her brothers had come to Ennor to evade caught up with them, dragging a secret niece and the girl's mother, along with her. This Deidre "Dye-Daii" Long; literally the "Big-Bad Wolf"; abducted the Ruzhu family and held them hostage until Lucky and Red surrendered to her. Long's first action after capturing the entire Ruzhu family was to murder the abducted girl's mother. Both the girl and Red erupted with power at the shock. She, Wei-Yu, became a winged phantom sylph while Red transformed into a molten scarlet, demonic, figure of fire. As Red rushed Long and Wei-Yu wailed over the body of her mother. Wei-Wei took the opportunity to free herself and her family, each joining the fight in turn. Long, and her minions, were a match for the smaller group of mutants but the tide was turned when local masked vigilantes, guided by the Little Princesses, arrived in force.<br />
<br />
Long was quickly overwhelmed and captured. Then imprisoned. Everything went back to what passes as normal for the Ruzhu family. At least for the next seven years or so.<br />
<br />
<b>Name:</b> Ruzhu "Fern" Wei-Wei<br />
<b><u>Super Identity</u>:</b> <strike>Bamboo</strike><br />
<b>Level:</b> 6, Mutant<br />
<b>Height:</b> 5'9", <b>Weight:</b> 120 lbs, <b>Age:</b> 30.<br />
<b>Alignment:</b> Taoist.<br />
<b>Disposition:</b> .<br />
<b>IQ</b> 24, <b>ME</b> 21, <b>MA</b> 18, <b>PS</b> 19 (29*), <b>PP</b> 17, <b>PE</b> 23, <b>PB</b> 33, <b>Spd</b> 25<br />
<b>Hit Points</b> 48, <b>S.D.C.</b> 52, <b>P.P.E.</b> 25, <b>Chi</b> 38.<br />
(*Tentacles; Supernatural strength)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Mutation</u>:</b><br />
<b><i>Age of Awakening:</i></b> 3 (Although most of her mutant characteristics were evident from birth)<br />
<b><i>Cause of Mutation:</i></b> Genetic Aberration.<br />
<b><i>Mutant Characteristics:</i></b> Broad Mutation (4 random, 3 cosmetic)<br />
<b>Eyes: Independent Eyes.</b><br />
<b>Animal 1: Hibernation:</b> Only needs 10% oxygen when hibernating; no food nor water required. Appears dead except to medical examination.<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Level 1 Hibernation:</b> Takes 2 actions and lasts for up to 23 hours. She is completely aware and can leave hibernation at any time for the cost of no actions.</li>
<li><b>Level 2 Hibernation:</b> Tales 4d6 minutes to enter from level 1 and lasts up to 11.5 months. Takes 5d6 minutes to leave. She is completely unaware for duration and must decide how long hibernation will last when she enters it.</li>
</ol>
<b>Neural: Extraordinary IQ.</b><br />
<b>Combat: Retractable Knee & Elbow Spikes.</b> +1d6 damage to knee & elbow strikes. +1 Horror Factor when extended.<br />
<b>Skin: Sunproof Skin:</b> Half damage from Light<br />
<b>Face: Angelic Face:</b><br />
<b>Skin:</b> Metallic (but otherwise normal complexion)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Superpowers</u>:</b> 2 major<br />
<b>Matter Expulsion: Wood:</b> +10% climbing wooden structures.<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Shoot Wooden Arrows</b> from finger tips: range of 600'. 1 to 4 arrows per action, doing 1d8 damage each.</li>
<li><b>Splinter Blast:</b> Generates 3d6+10 splinters in a foot wide cone with a range of 25'. Does only 1d6 damage to bare skin. However splinters also cause -1 to initiative, attack and parry rolls due to pain. Also penalise skills use by -10%; -30% if using affected area. Each splinter takes 1 action to remove.</li>
<li><b>Create Wooden Object:</b> Can create up to 19 lbs of wood for 1 action. Remains for 1d4 minutes after being discarded. Weapons created in this manner do normal damage. Effective against vampires and some other supernatural creatures.</li>
<li><b>Create Wooden Armour:</b> Can wrap herself (only) in wooden armour with an AR of 12 and 125 S.D.C.. Floats on water.</li>
</ul>
<b>Prodigious Multiple Arms: 6 Tentacles:</b> Each tentacle has a supernatural PS of 29 and length of up to 10 feet. Climbing with tentacles grants a <i>Superior Climbing Skill</i>. Each pair of tentacles used in combat grants an extra action. Each individual tentacle grants a +1 to strike, parry and entangle. Each tentacle is finger thick and appears to be made out of segmented wood/bamboo.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Skills</u>:</b><br />
<b>Natural Skills:</b><br />
Charm/Impress 98%, Superior Climbing 97%, Trust/Intimidate 50%.<br />
<b>Scholastic Skills:</b><br />
Aerobics, Basic Maths 98%, Business & Finance 98%, Cantonese Language 98%, Cantonese Literacy 98%, Climbing 98% (Rappelling 95%), Command +70%/+105%, Computer Ops 98%, Confidence Talking 98%, Contacts 56%, Disguise 98%, English Language 98%, Fasting 98%, Gymnastics (Balance 98%, Bars & Rings 98%, Climb Rope 98%, Back Flip 98%), Mandarin Language 98%, Philosophy: Taoism (Feminist) 98%, Prowl 95%, Research 98%, Swimming 98%,<br />
<b>Combat Skills:</b><br />
Ch'in-na (Secondary Martial Arts), W.P. Archery, W.P. Knives, W.P. Paired Weapons, W.P. Staff, W.P. Naginata, Wui Wing-Chun Kung Fu (Primary Martial Arts).<br />
<b>Martial Arts Skills:</b> (All Atemi are derived from Ch'in-na; all Katas from Wui Wing-Chun)<br />
Art of Disguise 98%, Blood Flow Atemi, Body Chi, Chi Mastery (Chi Awareness, Chi Combat, Chi Relaxation), Grasping Atemi, Healing Atemi, Kata of Five Principles, Neural Atemi, Martial Arts Awareness, Special Martial Arts Bonus, Windmill Kata.<br />
<b>Secondary Skills:</b><br />
Art (Make Up) 75%, Carpentry 65%, English Literacy 70%, First Aid 75%, Juggling 75%, Marathon, Running, W.P. Blunt, W.P. Shield, W.P. Spear, W.P. Throwing.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Saves</u>:</b><br />
<b>Coma/Death:</b> +16%<br />
<b>Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+):</b> +4<br />
<b>Horror Factor:</b> +0<br />
<b>Insanity:</b> +4<br />
<b>Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+):</b> +4<br />
<b>Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+):</b> +4<br />
<b>Psionics (15+):</b> +3<br />
<b>Possession:</b> +0<br />
<br />
<b><u>Combat</u>:</b><br />
<b>Initiative:</b> +0; +1 Thrown, +6 within 16', +7 Thrown within 16'.<br />
<b>Attacks per Round:</b> 2+1; (+3 Ch'in-na), (+5 Wui Wing-Chun); +1 per 2 tentacles.<br />
<b>Strike:</b> +1; +3 Blunt (+6 Thrown), +2 Ch'in-na, +4 Knife (+9 Thrown Knife), +4 spear (+8 Thrown), +3 Staff (+6 Thrown), +2 Shield (+4 Thrown), +2 Wui Wing Chun; +1 per tentacle.<br />
<b>Damage:</b> +4 (+9 Ch'in-na; +6 Wui wing Chun); +28 with tentacles.<br />
1 Fingertip Strike (Ch'in-na).<br />
1d4 Backhand (Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
1d4 Crush (Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
1d4 Forearm (Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
1d4 Punch (Ch'in-na & Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
1d6 Claw Hand (Ch'in-na).<br />
1d6 Knife Hand (Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
1d6 Palm Strike (Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
1d6 Tonfa<br />
1d8 Double Knuckle Fist (Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2d4 Gymnastic Kick.<br />
1d10 Power Punch (Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
1d10 Flying Jump Kick (Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
1d4+1d6 Elbow (Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
2d6 Knee (Wui Wing-Chun).<br />
2d6 Staff<br />
<b>Parry:</b> +3; +5 Blunt, +5 Ch'in-na, +6 Knife, +6 Shield, +5 Staff, +6 Wui Wing-Chun; additional +1 per tentacle; additional +2 within 16'.<br />
<b>Dodge:</b> +1; +3 Ch'in-na, +4 Wui Wing-Chun; additional +4 within 16'.<br />
<b>Automatic Parry:</b> Additional +2 vs. multiple attackers only. <u>Kata of Five Principles</u>.<br />
Automatically deflects all muscle-powered ranged attacks. <u>Windmill Kata</u>.<br />
<b>Automatic Dodge:</b> Additional +2 vs. multiple attackers only. <u>Kata of Five Principles</u>.<br />
<b>Special Attacks:</b><br />
<i>Blood Flow Atemi:</i> Any fingertip attack of 9< which hits does 1d8 damage (only; no damage bonus), straight to hit points. (Ch'in-na)<br />
<i>Crush/Squeeze:</i> (Ch'in-na)<br />
<i>Grab/Knee:</i> Roll to grab opponent with both hands. Upon success roll to strike with knee for double damage. (Wui Wing-Chun)<br />
<i>Grasping Atemi:</i> Any hold of joint lock attack does 2d6+3 damage. (Ch'in-na)<br />
<i>Hand Hold/Strike:</i> Two handed strike, requiring two rolls. First to grab opponent's hand and the second to strike. Does an additional +3 damage but prevents dodges and parries for rest of round. (Wui Wing-Chun)<br />
<i>Neural Atemi:</i> Successful (Ch'in-na) attack can paralyze a limb for 2d6 minutes. on the third successful paralysis attack against the same opponent they suffer full body paralysis for 2d6 minutes. Breathing and heartbeat are unaffected. (Ch'in-na)<br />
<i>Parry/Strike:</i> Once per round may parry a single opponent and then immediately attack them with zero bonuses to strike. (Wui Wing-Chun)<br />
<i>Pin/Incapacitate:</i> 18+ (Ch'in-na)<br />
<b>Roll with Punch:</b> +3 (+4 with Wood Armour); +5 (+6) Ch'in-na, +7 (+8) Wui Wing-Chun.<br />
<b>Pull Punch:</b> +0 (+3 with tentacles)<br />
<b>Disarm:</b> +0 (+3 with tentacles)<br />
<b>Balance:</b> +0; +1 Ch'in-na, +3 (Wui Wing-Chun)<br />
<b>Critical:</b> 18+ Auto from behind; (Ch'in-na & Wui Wing-Chun)<br />
<b>KO/Stun:</b> Nat. 20 (Ch'in-na), Nat. 19+ (Wui Wing-Chun)<br />
<b>Killing Blow:</b> Nat. 20 (Ch'in-na)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Benchmarks</u>:</b><br />
<b>Carry Capacity:</b> 380 (5,800*) lbs; <b>Lifting:</b> 760 (8,700*) lbs.<br />
<b>Stamina:</b> Carry Max 92 minutes, 46 minutes while running or fighting. Lifting for 23 rounds (345 seconds; 5.75 minutes)<br />
<b>Ground Speed:</b> 17.5 mph for 23 minutes. (6.7 miles)<br />
<b>Swimming Speed:</b> 57 yrds (171ft.) per round for 23 minutes. (2.9 miles)<br />
<b>Leaping Distance:</b> 4.75ft. (58ft.*) high; 9.5ft. (174ft.*) broad from a running start. 3.85ft. (34.8ft.*) high; 5.7ft. (104.4ft.*) broad from a standing start.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-10889306712505418512020-04-20T12:00:00.000-07:002020-04-20T12:00:14.481-07:00Heroes Unlimited: Myriad Minutes: Ruzhu Seiyu<h2>
<i>This little piggy had none</i></h2>
Ruzhu Seiyu, "Piggy" to his friends, is now a well regarded Ennor business man, husband and father. But it wasn't always like this. You see Piggy was born under a curse, as the <i>fourth</i> son of the Ruzhu family. His twin, Happy, is only older by a few minutes, but that made all the difference between a lifetime of joy and one of sorrow.<br />
<br />
But he didn't let superstition define him. He worked hard to overcome the perceived disadvantages of his birth. By the time he was a young man he had a degree in philosophy, an offer of a teaching position at the university, and had met Xun Li Zhou. She was his first true love. Beautiful, intelligent, independent. She didn't need a man. That she chose to fall in love with him too was a blessing. They were young and successful; engaged to be married. So of course that's when the curse caught up to him.<br />
<br />
On the way home from the family teahouse they were forced into an alley at gunpoint. Robbed. But when the man tried to take the engagement ring Li Zhou snapped and lashed out. The gun went off and... Li Zhou died in that alley, cradled in arms of her beloved, surrounded by filth.<br />
<br />
Piggy tried to get on with his life. but every sleepless night he'd find himself wandering the streets, drawn inevitably to that alley. To the place where his love died. One day he never left. He abandoned career, home, family and life. Choosing to live, instead, on the street.<br />
<br />
He expected to waste away and join his love in death. But the curse was not done with him. Instead he grew stronger, faster, tougher. Deep within him long dormant instincts woke. He changed on the outside too, becoming slightly more porcine in appearance. He used these new found strengths to help Hong Kong's other homeless. Soon rumours of a "pigman defender" spread.<br />
<br />
Of course many discounted the stories as urban legend. Among these was a pimp who dragged one of his girls into a certain alley to "deal with" her and leave her corpse as a warning to the rest. Only he was confronted by a wall of muscle and rage. The pimp was the second person to leave that alley on a stretcher. When he came out of his coma, three years later, he was a transformed man. But that's another story.<br />
<br />
The girl called herself "Sandi Soy" of all things. She decided that she owed Piggy her life. He dismissed such nonsense. He had thought, on some level, she was Li Zhou; that he had a second chance to save her. Or maybe she was trying to save him.<br />
<br />
Sandi was an exotic dancer forced into prostitution by her 'agent'. Now that he was out of the picture she went back to her dancing. And she was very, very, good at it. Within the year one of the buildings beside the alley had opened into a high-end burlesque club, "The Naked Blade", and Piggy found himself unwillingly 'employed' as the stagedoor man. Protecting Sandi and the other dancers from overly amorous clients. As Sandi put it "You're out there anyway. Might as well help out."<br />
<br />
Then Piggy's father was murdered and the brothers were brought back together. At first they thought Mr Long was responsible, but eventually realised that it was his adopted daughter Dye-Daii who was behind the plot. They burned down her warehouse and destroyed her drug running operation. She clawed her way out of the ashes and came at the family again, destroying the tea house, Happy's home and The Naked Blade. In the end the brothers hunt her down to the abandoned Cheung Sha Wan abattoir. Leaving her for dead.<br />
<br />
Piggy and Sandi had married and moved together above the club but after it had been trashed they sold it to Red, Joining with Happy and his family in moving to Ennor. There they opened up a new Naked Blade club. Sandi was expecting their daughter; Yi-Jing, "Joy".<br />
<br />
The following year Dye-Daii came back from the dead and started abducting members of the family. Lucky and Red came to Ennor from Hong Kong, attempting to rescue Red's ex-girlfriend and their daughter, Wei-Yun, from Long. Unfortunately the family was reunited only briefly when Long murdered Wei-Yun's mother in front of Hung and the girl. The grief caused the mutant powers of both to erupt dramatically. Freeing the rest of the family, they collectively battled Long and her lackys in the disused gasometer she was using as a base. The conflict drew the attention of the local Mask community; Long was captured and sent to prison for murder. Where she languishes to this day.<br />
<br />
Happy adopted Wei-Yun.<br />
<br />
<b>Name:</b> Ruzhu "Piggy" Seiyu<br />
<b><u>Super Identity</u>:</b> Piggy<br />
<b>Level:</b> 6, Mutant<br />
<b>Height:</b> 5'10", <b>Weight:</b> 225 lbs, <b>Age:</b> 42.<br />
<b>Alignment:</b> Taoist.<br />
<b>Disposition:</b> .<br />
<b>IQ</b> 13, <b>ME</b> 15, <b>MA</b> 23, <b>PS</b> 68, <b>PP</b> 26, <b>PE</b> 27, <b>PB</b> 24, <b>Spd</b> 148<br />
<b>Hit Points</b> 45, <b>S.D.C.</b> 213, <b>P.P.E.</b> 23, <b>Chi</b> 208.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Mutation</u>:</b><br />
<b><i>Age of Awakening</i>:</b> 29.<br />
<i style="font-weight: bold;">Cause of Mutation</i><b>:</b> Genetic Aberration.<br />
<b><i>Mutant Characteristics</i>:</b> Freaky Mutations.<br />
<b>Skin: Leathery.</b><br />
<b>Oversized: Torso.<br />Body: Stocky.<br />Animal 2: Prey Instincts.<br />Hands: Ambidextrous.<br />Neural: Extraordinary Reflexes.<br />Combat: Knee & Elbow Spikes.<br />Misc: Modified Legs,</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><u>Superpowers</u>:</b><br />
<b>Animal Abilities: Hoofed; Pig.</b><br />
<b>Healing Factor.</b><br />
<b>Superhuman Strength.</b><br />
<b>Iron Will</b>.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Skills</u>:</b><br />
<b>Natural Skills:</b><br />
Charm/Impress 70%, Horror Factor 2, Trust/Intimidate 75%<br />
<b>Scholastic Skills:</b><br />
Advanced Maths 98%, Athletics, Basic Maths 98%, Bodybuilding, Boxing, Cantonese Language 98%, Cantonese Literacy 98%, Classical Chinese Studies 98%, Climbing 98%, Computer Ops 98%, Cryptography 85%, Dieting, English Language 98%, English Literacy 90%, Fashion Tools & Weapons 80%, Hand-to-Hand Martial Arts: Tai Chi Ch'uan, History: China 98%, Intelligence 87%, Law (Chinese) 85%, Law(General) 85%, Lore: Chinese Myth: Buddhism 95%, Lore: Chinese Myth: Taoist 95%, Mandarin language 98%, Mandarin Literacy 90%, Maoism 98%, Meditation 50%, Outdoorsmanship, Philosophy 98%, Philosophy: Taoism 98%, Physical Labour, Public Speaking 85%, Research 98%, Running, Streetwise 75%, Tai Chi, Teaching 85%, Wilderness Survival 90%, Winter Survival 98%, Writing 85%.<br />
<b>Secondary Skills:</b><br />
Basic Electronics 75%, Basic Mechanics 55%, Begging 40%, Business & Finance 60%, First Aid 70%, General Repairs & Maintenance 60%, Prowl 65%, Qi Gong, W.P. Staff, W.P. Throwing.<br />
<b>Martial Art 'Skills':</b><br />
Chi Mastery (Chi Awareness, Chi Combat Chi Relaxation), Body Chi, Dragon Chi, Calm Minds.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Saves</u>:</b><br />
<b>Coma/Death:</b> +64%<br />
<b>Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+):</b> +4<br />
<b>Horror Factor:</b> +6<br />
<b>Insanity:</b> +4<br />
<b>Disease:</b> +4<br />
<b>Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+):</b> +7<br />
<b>Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+):</b> +4<br />
<b>Psionics (12+):</b> +4<br />
<b>Possession:</b> +8<br />
<b>Mind Control:</b> +7<br />
<b>Illusion:</b> +6<br />
<br />
<b><u>Combat</u>:</b><br />
<b>Initiative:</b> +1<br />
<b>Attacks per Round:</b> 2+4<br />
<b>Strike:</b> +6; +1 Grab/Throw,<br />
<b>Damage:</b> +53<br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> 1d4</span> Punch<br />
1d6 Backhand<br />
1d6 Push Hands (knockback, Chi feet)<br />
1d6 Palm Strike<br />
2d4 Martial Arts Punch<br />
2d4 Spiked Elbow Strike<br />
2d6 Spiked Knee Strike<br />
2d6 Snap Kick<br />
2d4+1d6 Kick<br />
1d10+1d6 Crescent kick<br />
3d6 Porcine Kick<br />
<b>Parry:</b> +11;<br />
<b>Dodge:</b> +14;<br />
<b>Automatic Dodge:</b> +7<br />
<b>Roll with Punch:</b> +5<br />
<b>Pull Punch:</b> +0<br />
<b>Disarm:</b> +0<br />
<b>Critical:</b> 19+<br />
<br />
<b><u>Benchmarks</u>:</b><br />
<b>Carry Capacity:</b> 13,600 lbs; <b>Lifting:</b> 20,400 lbs<br />
<b>Ground Speed:</b> 103.8 mph<br />
<b>Leaping Distance:</b> 94 ft. high; 166 ft. broad from a running start. 56.8 ft. high; 111.6 ft. broad from a standing start.<br />
<br />
<br />PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-45950957072471967302020-04-13T12:00:00.000-07:002020-04-13T12:00:04.480-07:00Heroes Unlimited: Myriad Mutants: Ruzhu Hung<h2>
<i>This little piggy had roast beef</i></h2>
Ruzhu Hung, or "Red" Ruzhu to his friends, is Mountain Man of the Ruzhu Wu Triad in Hong Kong. He is also a rebel and freedom fighter, at least to his allies; a criminal and terrorist to the Chinese authorities. Although they only know him as the Hóng Lóng; the Red Dragon of Hong Kong.<br />
<br />
You've probably already heard the story by now. How a distant ancestor of the Ruzhu family was a mutant pig. While that's certainly true of poor cursed Seiyu; Red suspects that, looking at his own mutations, there might have been a dragon in the mix too.<br />
<br />
As the eldest brother Red had always expected to take over the family business. Said business being organised crime. Lucky as the accountant, Happy to run the tea house, and Seiyu to... well he was unplanned. Of course nothing went to plan. Lucky was head hunted by the stock exchange. Happy got married, to a frigging cop, and became a stay-at-home dad. And Seiyu... poor tragic Seiyu.<br />
<br />
Red had always <i>expected</i> to take over, but when Pei-Pei retired he put his associate Mr Long in charge. Long brought in his adopted daughter, Dye-daii; a huge Eurasian freak, scarred and mute by an animal attack as a child that had killed both her parents. Red might have felt sorry for her in any other situation. But now she stood closer to what he saw as his rightful place than he did. After Long took over Red saw a change in the Triad, a change he didn't like. Although it had never been the tightest of ships; pigs after all. Now more members were being ejected for dabbling in drugs, jobs were getting more violent and the food at the tea house had gotten worse.<br />
<br />
Then Pei-Pei was murdered. First Red and his brothers suspected a rival tong. Then Mr Long. But eventually they discovered that it was Dye-daii who was behind it. Behind all of it. They discovered that she was running drugs through a warehouse. They tracked it down and burnt it to the ground; Dye-daii inside it.<br />
<br />
Of course she came back and destroyed the tea house, the nightclub Piggy was living at, and Happy's home. Red was able to track her down to the derelict Cheung Sha Wan abattoir and the four brothers fought her and her minions. Red himself left her hanging with a meat hook in her back and the chain wrapped around her neck.<br />
<br />
It took Dye-daii a few years to come back from that one. But when she did she tracked down one of Red's old girlfriends, Li Zan Hsu, and their daughter Wei-Yun; abducting them both and letting him know she had done so. Teaming up with Lucky, Red tracked her down to Ennor. She had abducted the rest of the family and was threatening to kill them if Red and Lucky didn't turn themselves over to her. Which they did. It was the first time Red had met his daughter. Gloating, Dye-daii murdered Li Zan. The shock caused both Red and Wei-Yun to erupt. In his case he became a demonic-looking creature of lava and fire, while Wei-Yun was transformed into an ethereal winged being of cloud. Freeing the rest of the family they again fought Dye-daii and, with the assistance of local masks, she was arrested and imprisoned.<br />
<br />
But Red was forever transformed; now a red-skinned, golden haired (and horned) person. His mutation obvious to everyone. Lucky was able to get his brother back home, but Red was no longer able to be the public face of the Triad. Instead, pulling strings behind the scenes. He became Hóng Lóng; the Red Dragon of Hong Kong. The government came for him and he resisted. Resistance spread and now he has gone from the leader of a criminal gang to the figurehead of a counter-revolution.<br />
<br />
<b>Name:</b> Ruzhu "Red" Hung<br />
<b><u>Super Identity</u>:</b> Red Dragon (Hóng Lóng)<br />
<b>Level:</b> 6, Mutant<br />
<b>Height:</b> 6'5" (including horns), <b>Weight:</b> 180 (360*) lbs, <b>Age:</b> 47.<br />
<b>Alignment:</b> Anarchist.<br />
<b>Disposition:</b> .<br />
<b>IQ</b> 12, <b>ME</b> 12, <b>MA</b> 21, <b>PS</b> 32 (42*), <b>PP</b> 24, <b>PE</b> 27, <b>PB</b> 28, <b>Spd</b> 30 (15*)<br />
<b>Hit Points</b> 51, <b>S.D.C.</b> 114 (184*, 154**, 234 ***), <b>P.P.E.</b> 30, <b>I.S.P.</b> ##, <b>Chi</b> ##.<br />
(*lava form, **flying, ***flying in lava form)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Mutation</u>:</b><br />
<i><b>Age of Eruption:</b></i> 41.<br />
<i><b>Cause of Mutation:</b></i> Genetic Aberration.<br />
<i><b>Mutant Characteristics:</b></i> Broad Mutation (2 random and 3 cosmetic)<br />
<b>Hands: Ambidextrous.</b><br />
<b>Animal Traits II: Predatory Instincts.</b><br />
<b>Cosmetic: Metallic red skin, golden hair and nails.</b><br />
<b>Cosmetic: Angelic Face</b><br />
<b>Cosmetic: 7" Horns.</b><br />
<br />
<b><u>Superpowers</u>:</b><br />
<b>Unstable Powers:</b> (1 major and 2 minor) An additional Altered Physical State power activates when character is in an extreme emotional state or forced to fight on when at 0 S.D.C. and 20 or less Hit Points.<br />
<b>APS Lava:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b style="font-style: italic;">Limited Invulnerability:</b> Body melts most physical attacks (arrows, bullets, knives, swords and similar) within a few seconds. These attacks do zero damage. Attacker takes 3d6 damage, and 2d6 damage per round for 1d4 rounds. Takes no damage from any fire, plasma of fire based magic.</li>
<li><b><i>Superhuman Strength.</i></b></li>
<li><i style="font-weight: bold;">Flowing Body:</i> Body can flow like lava, melting through most materials at a rate of 6" every 7 seconds. Denser materials such as stone take 1" per minute. Can control heat output so that they can handle most things other than highly flammable materials such as paper and cardboard. Worn, M.D.C. and magical items are unaffected. Body can spread out into a river 20' wide, 30' long and 3' deep. Does 1d4x10(+6d6) damage per round to everything in its path. Speedsters take 1d4x10 damage per round when moving through the area. Anything enveloped has a 75% chance to be trapped, needing 50 strength (half if superhuman or supernatural) to escape.</li>
<li><i style="font-weight: bold;">Shoot Lava Jet:</i> 180' range, 6d6 damage. Half damage per round for 1d4 rounds. 1 action.</li>
<li><b><i>Bonuses and Limitations:</i></b> +70 S.D.C. Speed is halved while transformed. Takes double damage from cold or water (and speed is halved again after attack). Takes 2d4x10 damage from immersion in water or ice. Explosions do half damage. Horror Factor 13.</li>
</ul>
<b>Control Elemental Force: Fire:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><i style="font-weight: bold;">Ignite:</i> Range 30'. 1 action.</li>
<li><i><b>Extinguish:</b></i> 120' radius within range of 300'. Once every 2 rounds taking 2 actions.</li>
<li><i style="font-weight: bold;">Flame Growth:</i> 4x fire area. 120 radius within 300'. Duration of 4 minutes. 1 action.</li>
<li><i style="font-weight: bold;">Smoke Cloud:</i> Drawing smoke from all sources within 300', fills 30' cube with impenetrable smoke, within 100; for 4 minutes. Takes 2 actions. All combat actions through smoke are -8.</li>
<li><i style="font-weight: bold;">Fire Burst:</i> range pf 150', 4d6+12 damage. 1 action, +2 to strike.</li>
<li><i style="font-weight: bold;">Fire Wall:</i> drawing from flame sources within 60' can create a 60' long wall of any shape, within 60'. Duration of 10 mins. 2 actions to create, but only once per round.</li>
<li><i style="font-weight: bold;">Fire Invulnerability:</i> Invulnerable to all fire, heat, smoke, and plasma. Even magical. </li>
<li><i style="font-weight: bold;">Temperature Sense:</i> Know any temperature above zero within +/- d6 degrees.</li>
</ul>
<b>Indestructible Bones:</b> +1d6 HtH damage. Halve fall damage.<br />
<b>Wingless Flight:</b> 320 mph flight. +40 S.D.C. while in flight.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Skills</u>:</b><br />
<b>Natural Skills:</b><br />
Climbing 75%<br />
<b>Scholastic Skills:</b><br />
Acrobatics (Balance 98%, Tightrope 98%, Climb Rope 98%, Back Flip 98%,), Advanced Maths 95%, Athletics, Armoury (Field) 95%, Basic Electronics 85%, Basic Maths 95%, Basic Mechanics 85%, Boxing, Business & Finance 85%, Cantonese Language 98%, Cantonese Literacy 98%, Computer Ops 95%, Detect Ambush 80%, Dieting, Disguise 85%, English language 98%, English Literacy 98%, General Repair 90%, Gymnastics (Balance 98%, Bars & Rings 98%, Climb Rope 98%, Back Flip 98%), Hand-to-Hand Martial Arts, Intelligence 82%, Law (General) 75%, Pilot Automobile 98%, Prowl 98%, Running, Sniper, Streetwise: Organised Crime 70%, Toxicology 95%, Tracking 80%, W.P. Automatic Pistol, W.P. Automatic Rifle, W.P. Bolt-Action Rifle, W.P. Chain, W.P. Knife, W.P. Revolver, W.P. Shotgun, W.P. Sub-Machine Gun, Wrestling.<br />
<b>Secondary Skills:</b><br />
Bodybuilding, Dancing, Musical Instrument: Saxophone, Palming, Pick Locks, Pick Pockets, Pilot Motorcycle, Research, Seduction, Singing.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Saves</u>:</b><br />
<b>Coma/Death:</b> +24%<br />
<b>Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+):</b> +7<br />
<b>Horror Factor:</b> +0<br />
<b>Insanity:</b> +0<br />
<b>Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+):</b> +6<br />
<b>Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+):</b> +7<br />
<b>Psionics (15+):</b> +0<br />
<b>Possession:</b> +0<br />
<br />
<b><u>Combat</u>:</b><br />
<b>Initiative:</b> +3<br />
<b>Attacks per Round:</b> 2+5(+6 flying)<br />
<b>Strike:</b> +8; +10 (flying)<br />
<b>Damage:</b> +17 (+27*), +4 each additional 20mph of flying speed.<br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> 1d6 Backwards Leg Sweep
1d4+1d6 Punch
1</span>d4+1d6 Crush<br />
2d4+1d6 Acrobatic/Gymnastic Kick<br />
2d6 Martial Arts Punch<br />
2d6 Snap Kick<br />
3d6 Axe Kick<br />
3d6 Karate Kick<br />
4d6 Roundhouse Kick<br />
<b>Parry:</b> +11; (+13 flying)<br />
<b>Dodge:</b> +10; (+14 flying slower than 80mph; +16 flying faster)<br />
<b>Automatic Dodge:</b> NA<br />
<b>Roll with Punch:</b> +10<br />
<b>Pull Punch:</b> +4<br />
<b>Disarm:</b> +2<br />
<b>Pin:</b> 18+<br />
<b>Critical:</b> 18+<br />
<br />
<b><u>Benchmarks</u>:</b><br />
<b>Carry Capacity:</b> 640 (8,400) lbs; <b>Lifting:</b> 1,280 (12,600) lbs<br />
<b>Stamina:</b> Carry Max 108 (216*) minutes, 54 (108*) minutes while running or fighting. Lifting for 27 rounds (405 seconds; 6 minutes, 45 seconds)<br />
<b>Ground Speed:</b> 21 mph for 27 minutes (9.45 miles)<br />
<b>Flying Speed:</b> 320 mph for 27 minutes (144 miles)<br />
<b>Leaping Distance:</b> 8 (42*) ft. high; 16 (84*) ft. broad from a running start. 5.8 (25.2*) ft. high; 9.6 (50.4*) ft. broad from a standing start<br />
<br />PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-40411627328850760192020-02-26T04:07:00.000-08:002020-02-26T04:07:33.390-08:00Elder Sight - Rethinking "Elf Eyes"I've never really liked good old Infravision, especially how poorly written/explained and scientific it was. In B/X it was "Heat-sensing sight," but no further description was given beyond:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
INFRAVISION: Infravision is the ability to "see" heat patterns.<br />
Most living things give off heat. To infravision, warm things are<br />
bright, cool things are gray, and cold things are black. Infravision is<br />
useless in normal or magical light. Infravision cannot be used to<br />
read without light. All non-human monsters have infravision. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
(Basic Dungeons & Dragons, page B21; 1981/Moldvay edition)</blockquote>
First edition AD&D gives us;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As previously mentioned, infravision is the ability to see into the infrared spectrum. Thus heat radiation becomes visible and differences in temperature allow infrared sight. Warm things are bright, cool things grey, very cold things are black. Most infravision extends to 60’ distance. Dungeon-dwelling monsters have infravision to 120’. All infravision is spoiled if a light source is shedding illumination upon the creature possessing the infrared sight capability. Similarly, great heat will spoil the capability.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Thieves hiding in shadows are successful with respect to infravision only if there is a heat/light source nearby to mask their body heat, or a very cold object or radiation to provide similar cover.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
It also gives us Ultra-Vision;<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ultravision is the ability to see radiation in the ultraviolet spectrum — gamma<br />
rays, x-rays, etc. Creatures with this ability can see in normal nighttime<br />
darkness; that is, they see at night as well as a human can see at dusk because<br />
of the continual bombardment of ultraviolet radiation upon the earth.</blockquote>
Which is brought up in the PHB despite no player characters having it.<br />
<br />
Second edition gives us two options for infravision. The first being condensed down to "You see in the dark out to 60 feet. No worries" (I'm paraphrasing). The second is an even more in depth version of the earlier editions above.<br />
<br />
Third edition gives us Low-light vision and Darkvision. The former doubles the effective range of light sources while the the latter gives normal vision, but in darkness, out to sixty feet.<br />
<br />
<strike>Fourt</strike> Fifth edition just has Darkvision which does both; granting normal vision in dim light and making darkness look like dim light.<br />
<br />
Then there's this:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sto1TA1hw2U/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sto1TA1hw2U?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So what is it I don't like about Infravision? It doesn't feel fantastic. Elves and Dwarves see like the Predator. Darkvision goes in the other direction. It feels fantastic because there's absolutely no explanation as to how or why it works. It just does. While I'm not opposed to "shut up, it just does" it can feel like cheating.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
What I want is something that feel fantastic and any scientific sounding explanation feels more pseudo than scientific. But I do want a certain amount of rational and logic; I want people to read what I've done, go "oh!", and then feel smart because they figured something out. I want weird little synergies and strange interpretations. I want people to take the stuff I've written and build upon it in new and ingenious ways. I want emergent behaviour and narratives to erupt from my </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I was finally inspired enough to decide to nail down Elder Sight, my infra/darkvision analog for my homebrew <a href="https://magicalspacedragonnyanby.blogspot.com/search?q=tarragon+oubliette" target="_blank">Project Tarragon Oubliette</a>. Here's what I've got. Expect some changes and edits in the long term as I've still yet to playtest this.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h2>
Elder Sight</h2>
Elder Sight grants vision <i>as if in daylight</i> in all light levels, to total darkness, out to 20 meters, in a roughly 90 degree angle (centered where they're looking, so 45 degrees either side of "forwards") ahead, in three dimensions.<br />
It does not extend beyond that range, and so the old <i>mark one eyeball</i> must be used to see beyond that limit. It is hindered, to a degree, by physical barriers. Which is to say that typically Elder Sight is typically blocked by walls and similar (but see below). Elder Sight is not seated in the eyes but in some inhuman section of the Elder brain. As such physical blindness cannot remove it. However magical spells; illusions, darkness or blindness may (temporarily) do so. (As could radical brain surgeries beyond the scope of most fantasy societies) Elder sight cannot detect pigments; everything has the same washed-out tone, unless they are specifically created to resonate with Elder Sight by mixing in magical materials. Thus most mundane writings are not visible to Elder Sight (unless specifically created so that they can be), but spell scrolls, eldritch tomes and runes are. The homes and settlements of those with Elder Sight look less vibrant to those that don't, than they do to their inhabitants.<br />
There are some advanced techniques possible with Elder Sight. A character with Elder Sight may spend additional/available Talents to develop one of the following per Talent.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Eldritch Attunement</h3>
As Elder Sight functions via, and marks an awareness of, some esoteric pseudo-force unrecognisable to science. It follows that someone with Elder Sight should be able to detect nearby sources of that pseudo-force. A character with this talent has taught themselves to do just that.<br />
As a "move equivalent action" (as in it takes 1d6 seconds/1 round) the character may tune out everything else to become aware of everything within range of their Elder Sight that is magical; every source of Wyrd, Arcana, active spells, runes, or similar. It cannot differentiate one from the other. However the more concentrated the source is the ‘brighter’ it is. It cannot detect PSI/psychic powers. By spending Wyrd the character can double the range of this ability for each point spent.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Extended Vision</h3>
The range of the character’s Elder Sight is doubled. However the angle is halved, but only in the extended area. So a character with extended sight would keep their 90 degree angle within 20m, but have only a 45 degree angle of perception out to 40m. This Talent can be bought multiple times, doubling range and halving angle each time. However the angle of perception cannot drop below 10 degrees. If combined with Zone of Awareness (see below), use the expanded angles to calculate the restrictions for this talent.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Higher Awareness</h3>
Elder Sight functions beyond the regular dimensions of space that we are familiar with. It is able to peer out a head, so might it not also be able to peer into other objects. With this talent the character has learnt to do just that.<br />
Physical barriers no longer hinder their Elder Sight. They can see within any container within range just as easily as they can see ahead. Walls and doors are as easily peered through as windows. They don’t even have to unroll a magical scroll to read it and, especially if combined with Zone of Awareness below, might not even have to remove it from their pack or case. The character has advantage to healing others, being able to see within their bodies, and any other situations this talent may be useful in (such as finding secret doors or traps).<br />
<br />
<h3>
Self Perception</h3>
The character has learnt to turn their Elder Sight inward. At its most basic, and gory, the character can perceive the inner workings of their body. This gives them advantage on any healing they do to themselves, and they may pass this benefit onto others treating them, if they are conscious at the time.<br />
It also allows them to perceive their other senses visually, in a sort of deliberate synesthesia. This gives them advantage to all perception based checks. This gives the <i>character</i> much of the same information that the <i>player</i> has; they know how badly hurt they are, how much Stamina, Vitality, Resolve and Spirit that they have and how much they're encumbered by to whatever degree the players has measured by. Loud noises may also manifest as flashes of light from their source. Weird associations between different senses expressing themselves. Think of this as giving the character a computer-game style GUI, with all the associations this may grant.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Zone of Awareness</h3>
This Talent increases the angle Elder Sight covers by an additional 90 degrees each time this Talent is bought. So 180 degrees with one talent, 270 degrees with two, out to a maximum of 360 degrees with three. Each time a character buys this Talent they get a +1 bonus to avoid being surprised.PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-37800452884975535172020-01-20T09:30:00.000-08:002020-04-07T23:40:23.864-07:00Heroes Unlimited: Myriad Mutants: Ruzhu Hoisum "Happy"<h2>
<i>This little piggy stayed at home</i></h2>
<div>
Ruzhu Hoisum , or "Happy" Ruzhu to his friends and family, never had any ambitions outside of the kitchen. Now he's succeeded beyond his wildest dreams; a minor celebrity and successful businessman, running Ennor's ever popular Happy Pig restaurant. Other than through his brother, Hung, he has no connection to organised crime. Indeed his wife Xi is a police detective.<br />
<br />
There is something squirrely, or rather piggy, in the Ruzhu family tree; Hoisum's daughter , Wei-Lu, has discovered that a distant ancestor was a mutant pig. Nobody is entirely sure how that works but the evidence is in the DNA. It certainly explains the youngest Ruzhu brother and Hoisum's twin, Seiyu, who seems to have reverted to a more porcine nature after his years living on the streets.<br />
<br />
Never comfortable with his father's criminal activities Hoisum set his ambitions on becoming a chef. Pei-pei, for all his faults, was never one to hold his loved ones back and instead used his wealth to send his son to some of the best cooking schools in the world. When not travelling the world learning his trade Hoisum worked in the Greedy Pig teahouse. He still tells of the time that his father arrived at the teashop and found him sweeping and cleaning. Pei-pei was incandescent with rage until Hoisum explained that this is how it worked, even in the kitchen; starting at the bottom and working up to the top.<br />
<br />
When Hoisum married Xi she was welcomed with open arms even though having a cop in the family caused all sorts of problems. When she fell pregnant soon afterwards and Hoisum decided to become a full-time homemaker so that his wife could continue working, Pei-pei gifted the new family with a professional grade kitchen.<br />
<br />
When poor Seiyu's tragedy struck Hoisum did everything in his power to help his twin while Pei-pei and Xi hunted the killer from opposite directions. But their efforts clashed, the killer escaped and Seiyu abandoned his life to live on the streets.<br />
<br />
Ironically it was Pei-pei's own death that reunited the brothers.<br />
<br />
Initially suspecting Pei-pei's old friend, and then Mountain Man of the Ruzhu Wu, Mr Long of the murder it eventually transpired that it was his adopted daughter Deirdre Daisy, or "Dye-Daai", Long who was responsible. The four brothers destroyed her drug operation and believed her dead in the conflagration.<br />
<br />
Hoisum and his kids, Joey and Wei-Lu, finally managed to lift Seiyu out of the gutter with the help of his friend the burlesque dance Sandi Soy. Sandi and Seiyu quickly marry.<br />
<br />
Just as soon as the family begin to settle D.D. Long resurfaces, destroying first the family teahouse, and then Sandi's nightclub. When Long's "wolf pack" attacks Hoisum in his home he is able to fight them off long enough for Xi and the kids to escape but is unable to escape himself before an explosion levels the property.<br />
<br />
Miraculously Hoisum walks from the burning wreckage unharmed, a man of silver nigh impervious to harm. His mutant powers having erupted and saved his life.<br />
<br />
Given China's attitude towards mutants and superhuman's at the time Hoisum, Xi and their children decided to leave Hong Kong and travel to the UK and Ennor. Seiyu and Sandi chose to join them. On Ennor Hoisum was reunited with his mother and accepted her invitation to become head chef of her restaurant. Eventually he took over more and more of the day to day running while she had more free time to just be Grandma. Of course retirement didn't slow her down. Xi leveraged her experience as a detective in Hong Kong to join the Guardian City Metropolitan Police Force.<br />
<br />
Not long after moving to Ennor Hoisum's youngest, Lu, reveals that she has psychic powers. A few months later his eldest, Joey, awakens to his own mutant abilities.<br />
<br />
The next year D.D. Long returns, smuggling a Chinese woman and child into Ennor. She tracks down the family and begins abducting them one by one. Zing and Hung turned up just in time to be captured themselves.<br />
<br />
The family are reunited within a disused gasometer. There Long introduces them to the girl, Hung's long lost daughter Wei-Yun, and her mother; his ex-girlfriend. Long then murders the mother causing both Hung and Wei-Yun to erupt. Literally in Hung's case.<br />
<br />
Together the family were able to battle Long and her allies. With the assistance of Ennor's superhuman vigilantes she was captured and brought to justice. She remains a resident of HMP Bishop's Rock, at Her Majesty's pleasure, to this day.<br />
<br />
Afterwards Happy adopted Wei-Yun. His son Joey decides that he wants to join the army so he can better protect people. His daughter, Wei-Lu, her intellect amplified by her mutation, decides to study mutations and super powers. She excelled at school and just got her doctorate, at the age of 18.<br />
<br />
Happy continues to run his restaurant and the adjacent meeting hall. His mother runs her Little Princess Club and martial arts school. Hope is still a kick arse detective. Wei-Yun is the teenaged hero Cloud, working closely with her aunt and the Paranormal Resources and Tactics Squad.<br />
<br />
<b>Name:</b> Ruzhu "Happy" Hoisum<br />
<b><u>Super Identity</u>:</b> Stirling<br />
<b>"Team":</b> The Ruzhu Wu<br />
<b>Level:</b> 6, Mutant.<br />
<b>Height:</b> 5' 10", <b>Weight:</b> 160 (800*) lbs, <b>Age:</b> 42.<br />
<b>Alignment:</b> Principled.<br />
<b>Disposition:</b> Cheerful and sunny.<br />
<b>IQ</b> 13, <b>ME</b> 17, <b>MA</b> 23, <b>PS</b> 22 (44*), <b>PP</b> 25, <b>PE</b> 32, <b>PB</b> 24, <b>Spd</b> 30 (15*)<br />
<b>Hit Points</b> 82, <b>S.D.C.</b> 173 (550*), <b>P.P.E.</b> 25, <b>Chi</b> 94<br />
(*Silver body; superhuman strength)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Mutation</u>:</b><br />
<b>Age of Eruption:</b> 37<br />
<b>Cause of Mutation:</b> Genetic Aberration<br />
<b>Mutant Characteristics:</b> Broad Mutation<br />
<b>Neural: Extraordinary Reflexes.</b><br />
<b>Combat: Retractable Knee & Elbow Spikes:</b> +1 die damage to knee & elbow strikes; +1 Horror Factor when extended.<br />
<b>Hands: Ambidextrous.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><u>Superpowers</u>:</b><br />
<b>Continuous Mutation.</b> 1 Major power @ level 1, 1 Minor power @ level 2, 1 Major power @ level 4, 1 Minor power @ level 6. Additional powers at levels 8, 12 & 14.<br />
<b>Metal Manipulation:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b>Mold Metals:</b> </li>
<li><b>Melt and Cool Metals:</b> </li>
<li><b>Harden & Weaken Metals:</b> </li>
<li><b>Sharpen:</b> </li>
<li><b>Restore Metals:</b> </li>
<li><b>Shoot Metal:</b> </li>
<li><b>Metal Invulnerability:</b> </li>
<li><b>Sense Metal:</b> </li>
</ul>
<b>Mechanical Awareness:</b> 250' range<br />
<b>Alter Physical Structure: Silver:</b> AR16, Horror Factor 13, 17 versus creatures vulnerable to silver.<br />
<b>Extraordinary Physical Endurance.</b><br />
<br />
<b><u>Skills</u>:</b> (Worldly Martial Artist)<br />
<b>Natural Skills</b><br />
Alloy Metals 75%, Appraise Metals 80%, Charm/Impress 70%, Mold Metals 85%, Recognise Weapon Quality 90%, Trust/Intimidate 75%.<br />
<b>Scholastic Skills</b><br />
Advanced Maths 85%, Art (Culinary) 90%, Basic Maths 95%, Biology 70%, Botany 65%, Business & Finance 75%, Cantonese Language 95%, Cantonese Literacy 75%, Computer Ops 80%, Cook (Profesional) 98%, Dietician, Law (General) 65%, Mandarin Language 95%, Philosophy: Taoism, Research 90%, Tai-Chi Ch'uan Martial Arts, Zoology 80%.<br />
<b>Martial Arts Skills</b><br />
Body Chi, Calm Minds, Chi Mastery (Chi Awareness, Chi Combat, Chi Awareness), Chi Healing, Dragon Chi.<br />
<b>Secondary Skills</b><br />
Athletics, Climbing 65%, English Language 80%, English Literacy 60%, Pilot Automobile 70%, Running, Swimming 75%, W.P. Knife, W.P. Pistol, W.P. Throwing Knife.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Saves</u>:</b><br />
<b>Coma/Death:</b> +32%<br />
<b>Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+):</b> +#<br />
<b>Horror Factor:</b> +0<br />
<b>Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+):</b> +8<br />
<b>Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+):</b> +8<br />
<b>Psionics (15+):</b> +1<br />
<b>Possession:</b> +0<br />
<br />
<b><u>Combat</u>:</b><br />
<b>Initiative:</b> +1<br />
<b>Attacks per Round:</b> 2+4<br />
<b>Strike:</b> +5;<br />
<b>Damage:</b> +7/+29<br />
1d4 Backhand<br />
1d6 Cold Metal<br />
1d6 Push Hands (Moves opponent PS feet)<br />
1d6 Palm Strike<br />
1d6 Snap Kick<br />
1d8 Kick<br />
2d4 Spiked Elbow Strike<br />
1d10 Crescent Kick<br />
2d6 Spiked Knee Strike<br />
2d6 Shoot Metal (per pellet; 1-4 pellets per action)<br />
3d6 Mold Metals (vs Metals)<br />
4d6 Hot Metal<br />
<b>Parry:</b> +10;<br />
<b>Dodge:</b> +11;<br />
<b>Automatic Dodge:</b> +1<br />
<b>Roll with Punch:</b> +4<br />
<b>Pull Punch:</b> +0<br />
<b>Disarm:</b> +0<br />
<b>Critical:</b> 19+<br />
<b>Balance:</b> +2<br />
<br />
<b><u>Benchmarks</u>:</b><br />
<b>Carry Capacity:</b> 440 (8,800*) lbs; <b>Lifting:</b> 880 (13,200*)lbs<br />
<b>Stamina:</b> Carry Max 2,560 minutes (42 hours and 40 minutes), 1,280 minutes (21 hours and 20 minutes) while running or fighting. Lifting for 640 rounds (9,600 seconds; 160 minutes; 2 hours and 40 minutes)<br />
<b>Ground Speed:</b> 21 (10.5*) mph for 1,280 minutes<br />
<b>Swimming Speed:</b> 66 yrds (198ft.) per round. Not buoyant in silver form.<br />
<b>Leaping Distance:</b> 5.5ft. (44ft.*) high; 11ft. (88ft.*) broad from a running start. 3.3ft. (26.4ft.*) high; 6.6ft. (52.8ft.*) broad from a standing start.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-36736847649671803042020-01-14T11:30:00.000-08:002020-01-14T11:30:08.542-08:00Odyssey SectorSo I've been thinking of running an Open Table Traveller game using Classic Traveller, with a few adaptations which I'm still musing over.<br />
<br />
I've already mapped out the central quadrant of a sector I call "Odyssey", with all the subsectors being named after mythical and fictional islands, or real islands from the myth of Odysseus. The mapped central quadrant subsectors being R'lyeh, Gondal, Laputa, and Krocylea.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZOdEbBVmTbxdnuB8V-Qfg8R_4SZjfBteuNa4SHLoBt6FMUjRJtYri-bjvbrTvwFy0HzkG34pS4XPPvOTHWaoJp_o9Fe7V8LXv1ulJfhRjtwIuUyQXaswyTf8_TeFuWERk2gzIQfm0kwRQ/s1600/star-clusters-67616_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1121" data-original-width="1600" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZOdEbBVmTbxdnuB8V-Qfg8R_4SZjfBteuNa4SHLoBt6FMUjRJtYri-bjvbrTvwFy0HzkG34pS4XPPvOTHWaoJp_o9Fe7V8LXv1ulJfhRjtwIuUyQXaswyTf8_TeFuWERk2gzIQfm0kwRQ/s400/star-clusters-67616_1920.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Space. There sure is a lot of it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
In 1111 the Eclipse class cruise-liner <i>Nemo</i> jumps out of Margesi (Rhylanor; Spinward Marches 3212), heading for Suvfoto (Sabine; Deneb 0211) and the Core. It is a week behind schedule, delayed after one of its cargo lighters lost control of a container filled with low-berthed sheep, which impacted and destroyed the primary sensor array of the scout cruiser <i>Polyphemus</i>. It would be less than a footnote in history except for the Jump Anomaly.<br />
<br />
Immediately upon the jump field propagating and the ship entering Jump Space the ship's automatic log recorded two simultaneous events.:<br />
<br />
In one the ship jumps as normal, re-entering normal space a hundred diameters from Suvfoto roughly 165 hours later.<br />
<br />
In the other the jump field immediately collapses, propelling the <i>Nemo</i>, and everyone aboard, along an incalculable vector that Jump Physicists are still trying to puzzle out to this day.<br />
<br />
For those that arrived in Suvfoto the trip was otherwise unremarkable. But meanwhile, a distance which is at once both impossibly close and incomprehensibly distant, the Nemo is lost. All five hundred passengers and crew forced to survive in a galaxy that is as alien as it is familiar.<br />
<br />
<br />PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-24736101314792935772020-01-11T11:30:00.000-08:002020-01-11T21:05:47.830-08:00Heroes Unlimited: Phenomenal Paragons: Captain ValiantWhen Victor Valiant joined the British army he never thought he'd be suitable for Project Broomstick, Britain's supersoldier program. Now as Captain Valiant he has been assigned as government liaison to the Guardian City Metropolitan Police Force's Paranormal Resources And Tactics Squad.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://comicvine1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/original/11131/111319483/5804486-22.gif" style="margin: auto; user-select: none;" /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
This is the fourteenth character in my Phenomenal Paragons series. The introduction to which is <a href="https://magicalspacedragonnyanby.blogspot.com/2019/03/heroes-unlimited-phenomenal-paragons.html" target="_blank">here</a>. It is inspired by Jacob Pisson's World's Strongest series, <a href="https://walkninginshadows.blogspot.com/2017/11/heroes-unlimited-world-strongest-1.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
It's been a while since I've done one of these so excuse me if things are a little different this time.<br />
<br />
I've previously created a super-cop in the form of Jade "Swift" Justice. This is much the same only an actual soldier this time. So I'm not going onto as much detail this time around. Especially as the differences are rather minor.<br />
<br />
So in that case, straight onto the character.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<b>Name:</b> Captain Victor Valiant<br />
<b><u>Super Identity</u>:</b> Captain Valiant<br />
<b>Team:</b> P.R.A.T. Squad<br />
<b>Level:</b> 1 Super Soldier<br />
<b>Height:</b> 6', <b>Weight:</b> 180lbs<br />
<b>Alignment:</b> Scrupulous.</div>
<b>IQ</b> 11, <b>ME</b> 11, <b>MA</b> 11, <b>PS</b> 48, <b>PP</b> 18, <b>PE</b> 32, <b>PB</b> 14, <b>Spd</b> 39<br />
<b>Hit Points.:</b> 55, <b>S.D.C.:</b> 131, <b>P.P.E.:</b> 20 <br />
<br />
<u>Supersoldier Programme</u><br />
<i>Sponsor</i>: H.M. Armed Forces<br />
<i>Motive</i>: Combat<br />
<i>Procedure</i>: Project Broomstick<br />
<i>Subject</i>: Mutant (Genetic Aberration)<br />
<ul>
<li>Flame red hair</li>
<li>Ambidextrous</li>
</ul>
<i>Status</i>: Active (£150,000 PA)
<i>Replication</i>: Success. 1 supersoldier can be created a month, with minor variations between them. Process is secret and expensive.<br />
<b>Super Soldier Enhancements:</b> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 11pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><b>Physical Transformation</b>.: <strike>Strength becomes Extraordinary</strike>.</li>
<li><b>Bionic Implants</b>.: Impervious to exhaustion for first 2 hours of physical activity out of 24 and then after fatigues at half rate. However eats thrice as much and suffers from chronic headaches</li>
<li><b>Uncanny Targeting & Throwing</b>.: Can throw anything that can be thrown (with weight considerations), over twice its normal distance. Suffers no penalties to shoot or throw due to motion. Can target two foes with one action but with no bonuses to hit. Can dodge or parry ranged attacks with a maximum of +2 to do so.</li>
<li><b>Increased Leaping</b>.: Broad jumping distance is increased by 30', with an additional 5' per level. High jump is half that. Dropping is twice broad distance. Kicks do an additional 2d6 damage and are +2 to strike and disarm.</li>
</ul>
<b>Super Abilities: </b>
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Superstrength</b>.: Strength is <u>Super</u>. Fatigue at half rate.</li>
<li><b>Healing Factor</b>.: Recovers 3 S.D.C. every 10 minutes (18/hour); 1 hit point every 15 minutes (4/hour). Can also instantly recover 4d6 points twice daily. Broken bones heal ten times faster than normal.</li>
<li><b>Extraordinary Physical Prowess</b>.</li>
<li><b>Manipulate Kinetic Energy</b>.: Can generate a field around himself that manipulates the kinetic energy of anything passing through it. This means that, as long as it's activated, any incoming kinetic based attacks (bullets, fists, swords, &etc) do half damage, while other attacks (fire, lasers, telepathy, &etc) do their normal damage. It costs one action per round to activate/maintain the field. Further all of their thrown attacks can do double damage or have double range but at -2 to strike. They can also redirect any item they've thrown at the cost of an action. Finally they can deflect incoming ranged attacks, gaining a +4 to parry them at the cost of an action.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><u>Skills</u>:</b> <br />
Acrobatics (Balance 95%, Tightrope 95%, Climb Rope 98%, Back Flip 85%) Advanced Maths, Armourer (Field), Athletics, Basic Maths, Boxing, Camouflage, Climbing 95%, Demolitions, Demolitions Disposal, Detect Concealment, English Language, English Literacy, Gymnastics (Balance 85%, Bars/Rings 95%, Climb Rope 85%, Backflip 98%), Hand-to-Hand Martial Arts, Intelligence, Interrogation, Land Navigation, Military Etiquette, N.B.C. Warfare, Night Fighting, Parachuting, Performance, Prowl 70%, Public Speaking, Running, SCUBA, Strategy & Tactics, Swimming, Trap/Mine Detection, TV/Video, Underwater Demolitions, W.P. Assault Rifle, W.P. Grenades, W.P. Knife, W.P. Pistol, W.P. S.M.G., Wrestling, Writing.<br />
<b>Secondary Skills:</b> <br />
Law (General), Pilot Automobile, Pilot Motorcycle, Research, Streetwise, W.P. Blunt, W.P. Shield, W.P. Throwing.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Saves</u>:</b> <br />
<b>Coma/Death</b>: +52%<br />
<b>Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+)</b>: +2 <br />
<b>Horror Factor</b>: +0 <br />
<b>Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+)</b>: +2 <br />
<b>Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+)</b>: +2 <br />
<b>Psionics (15+)</b>: +0 <br />
<b>Possession</b>: +0 <br />
<br />
<b><u>Combat</u>:</b><br />
<b>Initiative</b>: +3 <br />
<b>Attacks per Round</b>: 2+4 <br />
<b>Strike</b>: +2; (+3 aimed, +1 Burst, +2 Thrown, +2 Called Shot, +1 Blunts, +2 Thrown Knives, +1 Thrown Weapons) <br />
<b>Damage</b>: +33 <br />
1d4 Punch <br />
2d4 Martial Arts Punch <br />
2d4+2d6 Acrobatic Kick <br />
<b>Parry</b>: +5; (+4 Kinetic Block, +1 Blunts, +1 Shield) <br />
<b>Dodge</b>: +6; <br />
<b>Automatic Dodge</b>: +3 <br />
<b>Roll with Punch</b>: +9 <br />
<b>Pull Punch</b>: +3 <br />
<b>Disarm</b>: +0 <br />
<b>Pin</b>: 18+ <br />
<br />
<b><u>Benchmarks</u>:</b><br />
<b>Carry Capacity</b>: 9,600 lbs; Lifting: 14,400 lbs <br />
<b>Stamina</b>: Carry Max 512 minutes (@8.5 hours), 256 minutes (@4 hours, 20 minutes) while running or fighting. Lifting for 128 rounds (1,920 seconds; 32 minutes)<br />
<b>Ground Speed</b>: 27.3 mph for 128 minutes.<br />
<b>Swimming Speed</b>: 144 yrds (432ft.) per round.<br />
<b>Leaping Distance</b>: 39ft. high; 78ft. broad from a running start. 23.4ft. high; 46.8ft. broad from a standing start.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Background</u>:</b><br />
Project Broomstick was one of the UK's numerous super soldier programs during the second world war. Its goal was to create super soldiers with the power of flight. It failed. But only in the flight part. Through methods still classified, and much trial and error, the Ennor based research group was able to reliably create multiple super soldiers with only minimal variations. During the attempted invasion of Ennor in 1942 both the successes and the failures were instrumental in the island's defence. Although not without loses.<br />
<br />
Broomstick wasn't the only successful super soldier programme. Britain also had Project Snowflake, Project Fruitcake, and Project Firework all of which were successful. Although Firework was discontinued due to the process being expensive and the short life expectancy of the program's subjects. The exact number of failed programs are still classified, although the disasters of Project Black Moon and Project Minerva were declassified in the 1990's.<br />
<br />
Ennor born Victor Valiant grew up on tales of the war and decided at quite a young age that he wanted to be a soldier. When he discovered that he was suitable for the Broomstick process he jumped to volunteer. Now instead of going to war he is attached to the police as their government liaison.<br />
<hr />
Join us next time for the, uh...<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Heroic Hellion</h2>
PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-38010473783318968662020-01-01T11:17:00.000-08:002020-01-02T06:09:45.856-08:00My 2020 VisionI know it's been a while but this seems as good a chance as any to get back on the horse that is this blog.<br />
<br />
I'm planning on being a bit more regular with posting here. I'm thinking of theming each day with particular content. I won't be posting on each day, or every week, but I will post as frequently as possibly.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Mutant Mondays</li>
<li>Traveller Tuesdays</li>
<li>Callous Criminals/Overwhelmed Bystanders Wednesdays</li>
<li>Free Thursday</li>
<li>Fantasy Fridays</li>
<li>Super Saturdays</li>
<li>Free Sunday</li>
</ul>
<br />
My lack of frequent posting is due to technological limitations. I'm writing this on a glorified tablet with a dodgy haptic keyboard. It is slow and frustrating.<br />
<br />PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-21351175317182007872019-11-08T02:40:00.000-08:002019-11-08T02:41:56.965-08:00Tarragon Oubliette: Combat ThoughtsI've been thinking about how combat will work in Project Tarragon Oubliette.<br />
I want to condense everything down to as few die rolls as possible to keep things moving quickly.<br />
<br />
Usually combat goes:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Initiative roll</li>
<li>Attack roll versus Defence</li>
<li>Damage roll<br />Then back to the start</li>
</ol>
<br />
But I've already screwed things up with my plans.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<u>Firstly</u>, </h3>
Initiative uses different die sizes depending upon the weapon, or spell. With a melee weapon's initiative die being the same as its damage die. Higher numbers go later.<br />
<br />
So a sword that 1d6 damage rolls 1d6 for initiative.<br />
<br />
To add insult to injury I've settled on a 6 second round and a 5 foot/1.5 metre step.<br />
<br />
Given that the largest weapons do 1d12 damage, this would mean that each pip on the die was half a second long. I could either go with half second "segments", decide its all abstract and each "pip" doesn't represent real time at all, or go with 1 second segments/"pip" and just accept that the heavier weapons will be going once every other round.<br />
<br />
Or do I need rounds at all?<br />
<br />
If I'm measuring things in seconds maybe I could just have an accumulating shot counter. first strike is on 3, second goes on (3+5) 8, third goes on (8+5) 13, and so on and so forth. Campaign for Real Time, and all that.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<u>Secondly</u>, </h3>
I want active defence rolls. I want the PCs to be rolling for both attack and defence. However this runs counter to my idea of reducing rolls to speed up combat. I can think of a couple of ways around it.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Players roll 6d6 and split into two sets of 3d6. Once for attack and one for defence.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Or</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Players roll 3d6 and decide if it's going to be an attack roll or a defence roll. The other gets a flat +10 to it.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Attack roll would be a contested task:</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
3d6 + [Attribute Bonus] + [Skill Ranks] +/- [other modifiers] ≥ 3d6 + [Attribute Bonus] + [Skill Ranks] +/- [other modifiers]</div>
<div>
</div>
<br />
The Attribute Bonus for the attack side of the equation would be Strength Modifier for Melee and Brawling, and Dexterity Modifier for Ranged.<br />
The Attribute Bonus for the defence side would be Dexterity Modifier.<br />
Skill Ranks for attack would be based on weapon? Base Attack Bonuses? It's something I need to write about down below.<br />
Skill Ranks for defence would be a dodge skill? Possibly weapon or shield skill for parrying.<br />
Other modifiers for the attack side would be general bonuses from weapons and talents. But most importantly it also includes the damage die.<br />
Other modifiers for the defence side would include bonuses from armour, possibly including an Resistance die. Which is a die roll to soak damage using armour; sort of an anti-damage die.<br />
<br />
Why is damage part of the attack roll? Because of this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Critical Hits</b><br />
To keep things simple, instead of lengthy critical hit tables, this is what we'll do:<br />
For every point you roll over to hit your foe you do an extra point of damage.<br />
So if your foe had AC5 and your THAC0 is 20 a roll of 15+ is a hit. At 16 you'd do +1 damage. At 20 you'd do +5.<br />
All the math is at my end too.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Heroic Effort</b><br />
Since everyone is rolling to-Hit and Damage at once (good players, DM like) I'm going to implement a rule that applies to Players Only.<br />
If you miss but your target is within your To-Hit+Damage roll I will deduct damage points until you successfully hit.<br />
So, FoEx, if you roll 14 and 6 damage but you needed a 15 to hit, You'll hit but only do 5 damage. So if you had only rolled 1 damage you'd have miss because you'd have done 0 damage if you had hit.<br />
I hope this makes sense. </blockquote>
That comes from a CSIO campaign I ran on rpol.net using OSRIC. Everyone would roll attack and damage at once, which was good because it kept things going. It also tempted me to apply damage as a bonus to hit.<br />
<br />
Since Project Tarragon Oubliette doesn't have a critical hit system I thought applying damage to hit to the attack would mean an exceptional roll would result in exceptional damage.<br />
<br />
The idea is that, if you hadn't guessed from my terrible explanation above, the Effect of the attack roll (degree of success or failure) is applied as a modifier to damage.<br />
<br />
However when just plugged into the resolution formula like that the effect that I was hoping for ("I rolled poorly on attack but did just enough damage that some sneaks through their defence!") is lost. Instead of modifying damage it becomes a case of whomever rolls highest applies the Effect as damage to their opponent.<br />
<br />
In which case do I even need a defence roll at all? Just attack roll versus attack roll, highest wins...<br />
<br />
But if I don't include the damage (and resistance) dice as part of the combat roll then combat becomes:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Roll Initiative</li>
<li>Attack roll versus Defence</li>
<li>Damage roll; apply Effect of attack to damage.</li>
<li>Defence roll versus Attack</li>
<li>Resistance roll to reduce damage</li>
</ol>
<div>
Its gone long rather than short.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
<u>Finally,</u> </h3>
<div>
I'm unsure what to do combat, skills-wise.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The simplest is the good old singular Combat skill with different techniques and weapons as specialisations of that skill. The old BAB route.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The other extreme would be seperate skills for each weapon and technique.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The middle ground would either be to split combat into two skills; one for ranged combat and one for close quarters/melee. Or to divide in some other way, such as Archery, Brawling, Melee, Throwing, and if/when I include them Firearms.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I dunno seems too much.</div>
PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-42599853155318161572019-09-16T03:00:00.000-07:002019-09-16T03:00:08.985-07:00Erehwen: An OverviewSo I've had some irons stuck in my fire. A setting called K'thyna and another called Erehwen. If you remember I mentioned Erehwen before when I answered 20 setting questions about it. Back on August 21st.<br />
<br />
Well I also hit up Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator (which since has hit version 1.0). After a bit of tweaking this is what I got:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBnVr-j1PxW5s-gHg18_O3j3BGps_ivpDeUtyJ5Empfdy19vRu3SKu7qmMn-AvB9SapzI6lLYTaslZCFFkgpwDR0hIsXXBwQmatcEddHKSFPy2iOFnnrLwDuxLjr2wnPOtMIod1xYte1U2/s1600/Continent+of+Ukush.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="1600" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBnVr-j1PxW5s-gHg18_O3j3BGps_ivpDeUtyJ5Empfdy19vRu3SKu7qmMn-AvB9SapzI6lLYTaslZCFFkgpwDR0hIsXXBwQmatcEddHKSFPy2iOFnnrLwDuxLjr2wnPOtMIod1xYte1U2/s640/Continent+of+Ukush.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This is the continent of Ukush. Or at least it's southern portion. It's roughly 1,800 km by about 1,600 km in size, or about 2,880,000 square kilometres in area. It's a small continent but more than big enough for our needs. It's a tropical region with a high mountain range dominating the center of the landmass, providing a cooling effect to the surrounding land.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6VdyExMr_sE03mcWdZm_7ObvDXQsr-RzaqVryp9R7PI_FZq8QZ8bkCqBW2iojVcPAJz3UFfwpqLpE1dAwA_nCEsBPqFwPlDp1jQwTZuwnrqsVRE5dQNZe_aRHQbdlD2yvXsqp1TCQ2lU/s1600/Ukush+Temperatures.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="hot stuff" border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="1600" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6VdyExMr_sE03mcWdZm_7ObvDXQsr-RzaqVryp9R7PI_FZq8QZ8bkCqBW2iojVcPAJz3UFfwpqLpE1dAwA_nCEsBPqFwPlDp1jQwTZuwnrqsVRE5dQNZe_aRHQbdlD2yvXsqp1TCQ2lU/s320/Ukush+Temperatures.png" title="The Temperatures of Ukush" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Temperatures of Ukush</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The equator is somewhere off Tiorvia's southern coast and not by much.<br />
<br />
There are 14 cultures, 16 nations and at least 10 sophont species on the above maps. But we're only really interested in one nation. There, on the eastern side of the map, that cool spot. Erehwen.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7idfEjTJlFHz04O3taUdlLtCqOl0Q0-_HfAsJivu22w2z3KyfiZrl6o4KLVpV3Kq8_Ge-hS_qJx6FkHY1AcZLA3UYxTLNTO5u7s-GSbEtim7MlSDE6WqFgOtSAhF51U-mPaubfrrcJ2nO/s1600/Erehwen+and+neighbours.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="1600" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7idfEjTJlFHz04O3taUdlLtCqOl0Q0-_HfAsJivu22w2z3KyfiZrl6o4KLVpV3Kq8_Ge-hS_qJx6FkHY1AcZLA3UYxTLNTO5u7s-GSbEtim7MlSDE6WqFgOtSAhF51U-mPaubfrrcJ2nO/s640/Erehwen+and+neighbours.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erehwen and Neighbours</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Realm of Erehwen (yes: N-E-Where backwards; or possibly "New Here") surrounded on all sides by the Alvaborszag Prectoriate, the Principality of Beobwon, the Duchy of Eigionia, and the kingdoms of Pachargia, Tintaria and Thorn.<br />
While Eigionia and Pachargia are separated from Erehwen by mountain ranges, and Alvaborszag is literally in the mountains, the rest are not. Thorn's and Erehwen are connected by two rivers, and the borders to Beobwon, Tintaria and Thorn are completely open.<br />
<br />
Culturally and religiously, the largest and most expansive group (with 9,2 million believers) are the followers of the Old Way and the New Way; "Kirzastianity" according to their religious and cultural rivals. Although the faithful would never dead-name a deity like that. However I'm neither faithful nor writing about a real thing so I'm going to call it Kirzastianity.<br />
It's an essentially benign religion; a balance between the responsibility and traditionalism of the Old Way and the acceptance and innovation of the New Way. Its popularity lies in that 100% of the Erehwen born clergy can work miracles. In the rest of the world no more that 10% of the clerics or any religion can perform miracles (PC clerics are, of course, always among the miracleworkers).<br />
<br />
Alvaborszag, Beobwon, Erehwen, Tintaria and Thorn are all predominantly Kirzastian. There are even believers in the eastern part of the Muuttusan Empire.<br />
<br />
This is slightly problematic in that Alvaborszag is supposed be the protectorate of the Vangrian culture; the "orcs". Although the o-word is a racial slur. However so many Vangrians have converted to Kirzastianity that the former culture is essentially dead.<br />
<br />
Beobwon still contains pockets of the original Luari culture.<br />
<br />
Thorn has a problem in a home-grown non-theist movement, Pasburism, that denounces the Powers and promotes the populace to find power in sorcery and eldritch magic. It's also a republican movement in that it decries the "divine right" of monarchs to rule. In all fairness the Old and New Powers only claim the authority to decide the ruler of Erehwen; there is no official record of their opinions regarding the rulership of other nations. While only 1% of the human population have the "talent" to work eldritch magic, the Pasburists have developed a method to share that ability with their less fortunate fellows. The number of these "Warlocks" is unknown but spreading. They openly walk the streets of Ameshil, in packs, tussling with the army and templars. Even the Beobwonian city of Fiverbury has turned to the Pasburist cause. Rebellion is brewing.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0yHBFN-J1gb3lL6SG7j-zJR6UDno5LHF1KwU1HkWkgO39M_XcxMYH-Q7Tewqkx6wUlUDzrsBolAeHKr9TLtQqzBOQdposbpXxjrJ9QbHXIrQT6oLDNGJG1wNZEyXacYwluJrpQoERPf-/s1600/Lyster.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="1600" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0yHBFN-J1gb3lL6SG7j-zJR6UDno5LHF1KwU1HkWkgO39M_XcxMYH-Q7Tewqkx6wUlUDzrsBolAeHKr9TLtQqzBOQdposbpXxjrJ9QbHXIrQT6oLDNGJG1wNZEyXacYwluJrpQoERPf-/s400/Lyster.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">County of Lyster, each hex is 40km</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Trouble is also brewing on the border between Alvaborszag, Beobwon and Erehewn. The county of Lyster, which has a silver mine and the only road into, or out of, Alvaborazag, has been part of Erehwen for centuries. But in the last year the Count defected to Beobwon and took everything. The current Erehwenian monarch, the outlander, Maya I said something about teaching the count to play games with thrones. Whatever that means.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikn01S-4MhUAvR8bdh_7nTkUxinyLFI4Vr7Rc88iL4D1em0pSp02635ZE1JBPp3K7p8NNPIid1jJrTZS79WpqwDPFW-kkqHKThvA2uvOGVAoAymQs_Uuo2etgxfwMFJAUS0BFc_az3A5Pq/s1600/Tarragon+Environs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="1600" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikn01S-4MhUAvR8bdh_7nTkUxinyLFI4Vr7Rc88iL4D1em0pSp02635ZE1JBPp3K7p8NNPIid1jJrTZS79WpqwDPFW-kkqHKThvA2uvOGVAoAymQs_Uuo2etgxfwMFJAUS0BFc_az3A5Pq/s400/Tarragon+Environs.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tarragon is the unlabeled circle in the middle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Meanwhile over in Tarragon City, where I want to base my campaign, the monarch has ordered the abandoned dungeons beneath the castle, the mysterious Tarragon Oubliette, opened to explorers and is looking for volunteers to delve its depths. There are concerns that enemies of the realm might be seeking to plunder the city's depths.PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-7890946915974714812019-09-12T08:00:00.000-07:002019-09-12T08:00:04.574-07:00A Brief ApologySorry I've not blogged anything in almost three weeks. I've been 'distracted' by poor health. Nothing serious, but enough to throw me off my stride.<br />
<br />
I'll get back to you with something in the next few days.<br />
<br />
Thanks in advance for your understanding.PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-48595077731846827352019-08-21T09:38:00.002-07:002019-08-22T01:35:56.540-07:00Tarragon Oubliette Setting: 20 Questions"Hey!" I hear you all not yelling. "Where's this last two weeks blog post?"<br />
Well truth is, dear reader, I wrote two posts about the setting of K'thyna I'm working on before realising that both would spoil the setting for any players. I also realised that I really need to playtest Tarragon Oubliette. So then I started working on a setting to playtest in.<br />
<h2>
The DREAM of Erehwen.</h2>
<div>
Erehwen is named for its founder and first ruler, the dragon Erehwen who lived within the herb-covered crag of Tarragon Rock. The realm is a monarchy, but the monarch is 'elected' through divine providence. In short the three main religious groups are told by their deities, the Powers, who the best choice would be. Given the nature of these Powers it's never someone untalented at the job and, unless things are going to be particularly boring, usually have strange ideas. This has resulted on a highly enlightened society. For instance, due to having had an orc rule during one particular war-like decade orcs can be subjects of the realm, with all the rights thereof.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Here's <a href="https://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/04/twenty-quick-questions-for-your.html" target="_blank">Jeff Reint's Quick 20 Questions</a> for the setting of Erehwen:<br />
<br />
<h3>
1. What is the deal with my cleric's religion?</h3>
<div>
Well you're a cleric, which means you're part of the Clergy. The clergy worship the New Way, also known as the New Power. Formerly known as Kirza Sacredgrove. Kirza was an Erehwenite born miraculously to a barren woman through the blessings of the Old Power. Born intersex both the Druids and the Dryads (witches) sought them out to teach them the secrets of the Old Ways. Kirzen was an attentive student, more so than many of their peers, but seemed... bored. They spoke of needing to find a new way and of having to go on a long journey. Not more a few days past their 13th birthday they woke early, packed a bag as if to travel, took a few steps from their front door and dropped dead. There was much grieving, but not long after Kirza's funeral there were sightings of them wandering the realm. Talking to people. Asking questions. On the morning of what would have been their 14th birthday a friend of theirs, Conn Goldeyes woke to find Kirza sitting at the foot of his bed.</div>
<div>
"I've found a new way," Kirza was reported to have said, "I want to show it to you." By dawn Conn was first of the Clergy.</div>
<div>
The New Way/Power (nobody says "Kirza" anymore; that would be rude/blasphemy/deadnaming) focuses on laws, innovation, trade and all the other aspects of civilisation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Old Way focuses on nature and wilderness. Including hunting, animal husbandry, agriculture and, of course, the harvest. It is practiced by the aforementioned druids and dryads.</div>
<h3>
2. Where can we go to buy standard equipment?</h3>
<div>
There is a market in the capital, the city of Tarragon, where you can get pretty much everything legal. The illegal stuff will be tougher, you might have to head for the border for that. There are smaller markets across the realm with typically a smaller range of available equipment.</div>
<h3>
3. Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?</h3>
<div>
The Storm Forge, just on the corner of Tarragon Market Square and Castle Rise, is the best smithy in the realm.</div>
<h3>
4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?</h3>
<div>
Archmagister Lohion Clearthorne is Chancellor of the Lyceum of Erehwen and, by popular reckoning, is the mightiest wizard in all the realm.</div>
<h3>
5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land?</h3>
<div>
Ser Dakio "Warmight" Axefang is regarded by many as the greatest of the realm's Guardians. Some attribute his ferocity in battle to his Orc mother, but many who remember is father say that papa Axefang was a mean piece of work himself.</div>
<h3>
6. Who is the richest person in the land?</h3>
<div>
The realm of Erehwen itself. Castle Tarragon still sits atop the hoard of the dragon Erehwen and the dungeons beneath.</div>
<h3>
7. Where can we go to get some magical healing?</h3>
<div>
Given that all the clergy within Erehwen can work miracles and a decree by the current monarch means that they have an obligation to heal the realm's subjects, magical healing is easily found. There are also special clergical doctors who focus entirely on healing. The druids and dryads also have access to healing magic. The clergy, druids and dryads aren't allowed to charge for their healing services, nor refuse the needy, but can request donations. Since some 'healing' spells require expensive ingredients and material components these are usually included in any requested donations.</div>
<h3>
8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?</h3>
<div>
The aforementioned clergy, doctors, druids and dryads.</div>
<h3>
9. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?</h3>
<div>
Yes. Getting an education in magic sets one up for all sorts of prospects. The only form of magic that doesn't make the practitioner an immediate gentleperson is Wild Magic. That's only because it's proto-magic which is looked down by more 'sophisticated' practitioners.</div>
<h3>
10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?</h3>
<div>
The Grand Lyceum of Erehwen, at Tarragon, is the foremost school of learning in the realm, if not the world.<br />
The Lyceum system results in a well educated and highly literate population.</div>
<h3>
11. Where can I hire mercenaries?</h3>
<div>
If you are a landowner you're allowed to raise a volunteer militia from among any tenants you might have. It's not uncommon for landowners to pay warriors to become tenants and join their militia. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But that's not what you asked. You asked about mercenaries. There are... associations... of warriors. Not militias as such but combat solidarities. It might be possible to employ them. But most likely you'll end up bringing mercenaries from outside the realm, and that probably won't go down too well.</div>
<h3>
12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?</h3>
<div>
Not within the realm, as such. Most of that sort of thing is found beyond its borders. </div>
<h3>
13. Which way to the nearest tavern?</h3>
<div>
In any town you're probably no more than a stone's throw from some sort of drinking establishment.</div>
<h3>
14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?</h3>
<div>
The foreign conspirators may have been releasing monsters into the countryside to destabilise things further.</div>
<h3>
15. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?</h3>
<div>
Some of Erehwen's neighbours are attempting to take advantage of the upheaval from the new monarch. Some of it is ideological, much of it is opportunistic, but a great deal of it is out of fear of change. </div>
<h3>
16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?</h3>
<div>
There are contests of skill. This can include gladiatorial style contests. Lightweight practice weapons are used to reduce the chance of injury and all such contests are to first blood or yield.</div>
<h3>
17. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?</h3>
<div>
There might be a dragon cult. There are certainly groups of conspirators funded or led by foreign agents to destabilise Erehwen.</div>
<h3>
18. What is there to eat around here?</h3>
<div>
The national dish is Tarragon Chicken. The local chickens have been bred until they are turkey sized.</div>
<h3>
19. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?</h3>
<div>
First and foremost there are some missing dragon eggs.</div>
<h3>
20. Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure? </h3>
<div>
In the depths of the Tarragon Oubliette.</div>
PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-28876557198415425792019-08-08T04:00:00.000-07:002019-08-08T04:00:04.072-07:00Tarragon Oubliette: Skilless Skill SystemI suppose you're wondering how a skill system can be skilless.<br />
<br />
Well firstly I'm not going to give you a list of skills. Because I'm not ready to yet. I'm not ready to work on the controls and bodywork until I've got an engine that functions, and a framework to support it, at least on paper. No game system survives contact with the players after all.<br />
<br />
And secondly... well I'll get to that.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Skill System.</h2>
<div>
<div>
I said I wasn’t going to do this. This was to be an “old school” and thus skill free system. However in earlier drafts I found myself explaining the stealth mechanic I was then using for the umpteenth time, (well I was copy-pasting by that point,) and realised that species and class combinations were throwing the whole thing off I decided it would be far easier if I had a single “stealth” ability and could just say “stealth +1”.</div>
<div>
Thus skills.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Skill Points.</h3>
<div>
<div>
Whenever a character “levels up” they get skill points to add to their skills. Although in some cases/classes this goes on hidden within the class progression system. However in many cases the player gets to decide what skills to improve with these points.</div>
<div>
Starting characters also get a certain amount of skill points with which they acquire their starting skills. Although again this varies between settings, classes and characters.</div>
</div>
<div>
(All fairly standard stuff)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Skill Ranks.</h3>
<div>
<div>
All skills are ranked 0 through to 9 with the number acting as a bonus to dice rolls involving those skills.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h4>
Unskilled Use.</h4>
<div>
If a character doesn’t have a skill (not even a rank of 0) then they are at -4 to any die rolls involving that skill. Modified further by skill difficulty.</div>
</div>
<h4>
Rank 0 </h4>
<div>
Represents the most basic of familiarity with a skill. A character who has invested a rank in a skill they did not previously have is at rank 0 with that skill. It costs 1 skill point to gain rank 0.</div>
<h4>
Rank 1 </h4>
<div>
Represents a minimal professional level with that skill. Rank 1 is enough to pass a test to get a license to practice that skill, if necessary. It is at rank 1 that a character may start investing ranks into specialisations of that skill. It’s also at rank 1 that some skills start to modify a character’s ability scores. It costs 1 skill point to progress from rank 0 to rank 1.</div>
<h4>
Rank 2 </h4>
<div>
Is a good solid professional level of skill. It costs 1 skill point to progress from rank 1 to rank 2.</div>
<h4>
Rank 3 </h4>
<div>
Is the peak of the professional level of skill. It’s the equivalent to a Bachelor's degree(?). It costs 2 skill points to progress from rank 2 to rank 3. </div>
<h4>
Rank 4</h4>
<div>
It costs 2 skill points to progress from rank 3 to rank 4.</div>
<h4>
Rank 5</h4>
<div>
It costs 2 skill points to progress from rank 4 to rank 5.</div>
<h4>
Rank 6 </h4>
<div>
Represents mastery of a skill. In an academic skill a character with a rank of 6 would have the equivalent of a master’s degree. If they also had rank 6 in a specialisation within that skill they’d have the equivalent of doctorate. An MD has rank 6 in medicine. A surgeon has rank 6 medicine and rank 6 surgery. It costs 3 skill points to progress from rank 5 to rank 6.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8m9XQr4n-nM3jk6KMKZ3H7BNCLGqfzdqVuxZkrNb8l7y6MUatqZZAeB072EEYA6jCamDLqpkJ92XSs3nXWxS2Uu3gjwOy3Enyh7iAooO8AwGVoiBn02XFjuSIfJ8JNFQP1OOs3sAjQglK/s1600/total+skil+rank+costs.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="386" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8m9XQr4n-nM3jk6KMKZ3H7BNCLGqfzdqVuxZkrNb8l7y6MUatqZZAeB072EEYA6jCamDLqpkJ92XSs3nXWxS2Uu3gjwOy3Enyh7iAooO8AwGVoiBn02XFjuSIfJ8JNFQP1OOs3sAjQglK/s200/total+skil+rank+costs.png" width="193" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Total Skill Points by Rank</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4>
Rank 7</h4>
<div>
It costs 3 skill points to progress from rank 6 to rank 7.</div>
<h4>
Rank 8</h4>
<div>
It costs 3 skill points to progress from rank 7 to rank 8.</div>
<h4>
Rank 9 </h4>
<div>
Is the peak of ability. To further improve one must specialise. It costs 4 skill points to progress from rank 8 to rank 9.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
Skill Difficulty.</h3>
<div>
Not all skills are equal, and some are more difficult than others. These more difficulty skills, usually specialisations, have a penalty that applies to every use of that skill. This is to encourage specialisation. For example a character who has specialised with 4 ranks in quantum physics, a specialism of physics with a difficulty of 4, would be rolling for quantum physics essentially without penalty (although the -4 would still be there, just countered by the ranks in the specialism) whereas a character with the physics skill and no specialisation in quantum physics would still be rolling at -4. A character with no skill in physics at all would roll at -8 and expect to fail. </div>
<div>
Every skill has a difficulty rating of 0 or higher. However I would only recorded the difficulties of skills where the difficulty is higher than 0.</div>
<div>
On a skill list it would look something like this:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Physics</li>
<ul>
<li>Quantum Physics (4)</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
In a skill description it looks something like this:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Quantum Physics (Difficulty 4)</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
Skill Specialisation.</h3>
<div>
Many, if`not most, skills are general skills that cover wide variations of uses of said skill. Indeed many skills have uses not obvious at first blush. Such as the archery skill also including the maintenance and care, and even the construction of, bows and arrows. In addition to the use of specific types of bow.</div>
<div>
All these “subskills” are considered specialisations of the parent skills and can have skill ranks invested in them to improve a character’s use of them in that area alone.</div>
<div>
So a character with the archery skill may want to specialise in hunting bows (whatever they are) specifically, but not in longbows.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h4>
So Why Specialise?</h4>
<div>
There may seem little motivation for a character to specialise before reaching rank 9 other than to counter the penalties from higher difficulty skills.</div>
<div>
A character with 9 ranks in archery alone is +9 to all archery related tasks while the character with archery 5 and “hunting” bows 4 is only +9 with “hunting” bow tasks and +5 in all other archery.</div>
<div>
However to get to Archery 9 requires a total of 22 skill points while Archery 5 only costs 9, and the specialism of 4 only 7, for a total of 16 skill points. A saving of 6 skill points.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
Ability Score Improvements.</h3>
<div>
In the real world people are not static and unchanging. We grow and develop, both intellectually and physically. (We can also go backwards and get worse in things but I’m not planing on modelling that for now.)</div>
<div>
To simulate this some skills will increase a character’s ability scores at certain ranks. But only a single ability score. Usually ranks 1, 3, 6 and 9. Others improve scores at every rank from 1 onwards but again only one ability per rank and usually there’s multiple (no more than 3) ability scores to choose to improve.</div>
<div>
There are hard limits. No score can be improved by more than 4 points from a single skill. No score may rise more than 8 points from its original score without some paranormal influence. And finally there is a hard cap for ability scores with none being able to be higher than 24. Although this last cap would not apply in many super-heroic games.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
Why "Skilless"?</h2>
<div>
Because I can map anything I want onto this system.<br />
<br />
I started this whole process by wanting to simplify my system by turning class features into skills. That hasn't changed. I can take almost any class feature I want and make it a skill. Sure I can say "Halflings get 1 skill point in stealth and Rogues get 1 skill point in stealth. Two skill points in stealth means stealth of rank 1." But why stop there?<br />
<br />
<h4>
</h4>
<h3>
Pop Quiz:</h3>
<h4>
Q: What has been measured in levels between 0 and 9 in most editions since AD&D1e?<br />A: Arcane Spells.</h4>
<br />
So I can create an Arcane Spellcasting skill and say that a character can cast spells of a level equal to their rank in a skill. Perhaps call it "Wizardry". Do the same with divine spells and call it "Channeling". Sorcerers know sorcery, druids do druidry, witches and warlocks have witchcraft. Class specific casting skills and spell lists. Job done,<br />
Fighters? Well they fight. A fighting skill seems too general. Archery, Brawling, and Melee. There's your Ranger, Monk and Fighter straight off.<br />
A character's level is essentially the skill points in their class skills, so rank 9 around level 22. Specialisms can literally be specialised sub-classes that characters can choose to train into.<br />
Each class can have a few skills, and some special abilities that fill the gaps when they level up but don't get a full rank. Everything tied to class and level. The <b>Basic</b> option.<br />
Or I can go more <b>Advanced</b> and have slightly looser classes, letting players choose some skills from outside their classes. Maybe have a fighter that knows a bit of magic?<br />
Or I can go completely loose. Have players roll on a chart to find out how many skill points and/or ranks they start with. I mean modern setting would expect a character to start with a Phd or MD. Perhaps streamline it a bit with predefined skill packages and let them pick a set number of them. Or something.<br />
The options are endless.<br />
<br />
"But Niles, nobody would want to play a starting magic user who can only cast cantrips or a fighter who is at +0 to hit!"<br />
Well, hypothetical reader, I can simply give each class a talent (feat, feature, what-have-you) that gives them an effective +1 rank to one of their skills. So while the MU starts casting cantrips <i>and</i> first level spells, the character who learns spellcasting on the side (say as a "secondary skill") starts with just cantrips. Meanwhile the fighter starts with a +1 to melee. (Maybe the only difference between the ranger, monk and fighter is which skill they get their starting bonus on; didn't think of that, did you hypothetical reader!)<br />
<br />
It doesn't even have to be skill based. Maybe, I dunno, the PCs can level up the local economy. Maybe it takes a thousand gold to set up a blacksmith and 22,000 to get it to its cap at "level 9".<br />
With this system I can do anything. Well within reason.<br />
<br />
The thing is all of this can be hidden away behind the interface and bodywork. On the outside it runs serenely, while underneath it's scrabbling furiously.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-552540459058882902019-08-07T09:25:00.001-07:002019-08-09T02:01:27.752-07:00Project Tarragon Oubliette: Stamina & VitalityHaving written about <a href="https://magicalspacedragonnyanby.blogspot.com/2019/07/resolve-and-spirit.html" target="_blank">Resolve and Spirit</a>, <a href="https://magicalspacedragonnyanby.blogspot.com/search/label/Delirium%20%26%20Dementia" target="_blank">Delirium & Dementia</a> and most recently about my <a href="https://magicalspacedragonnyanby.blogspot.com/2019/08/project-tarragon-oubliette-dice.html" target="_blank">dice mechanism</a> I thought it was about time to go back where I started.<br />
<br />
The thing that started off as DaD's RPG and became Project Tarragon Oubliette began with me looking at B/X and wondering what would happen if I switched the relationship between hit dice, attributes and classes.<br />
<br />
So I started by having the hit dice based on Constitution and the hit point bonus based on class. Like this:<br />
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<br />
<br />
What happened was... well if you ever took things apart as a kid to see how they worked... That thing where you remove the last screw and there's an unexpected noise like "sproing!" and suddenly the thing is in very small pieces all over the floor. That? Yeah, that's what happened with B/X.<br />
<br />
Only the floor was my brain.<br />
<br />
I had the bits of B/X all over my brain. I could put it back together anyway I wanted. I could do anything!<br />
<br />
So what was a thing in D&D that irritated me? Dying at zero hit points. One moment fine and then the next, dead. Didn't like it. There should be some buffer between 0 hp and death. None of this death's door malarky, no. My own thing. Having read about Death & Dismemberment tables I went looking for some.<br />
<br />
I found some of course. I used them as reference and made my own. Very nice. I might share it at some point, although I can't stop tweaking. Currently trying to add hit locations without making it super complex.<br />
<br />
Of course now hit points actually became the thing that they've always been described as but rarely ever used as: The thing spent to avoid injury and death.<br />
<br />
What else could they do?<br />
<br />
Well I found that it's easier to think of things in different and new ways if you call them different and new things. Well, at least new for me. First I started by calling them "Vitality", but more recently they became "Stamina" and vitality became something related but different.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Stamina.</h2>
<div>
<div>
Stamina is a measure of a character’s endurance. It is a pool of points that are depleted when a character is subject to strenuous physical activity and potential injury. It is most often lost during combat but can also be lost when using certain physical abilities.</div>
<div>
As with resolve, stamina is calculated by rolling a number of dice equal to a character’s level. This is usually done by adding a single dice roll to the pre-existing resolve pool when a character levels up. But some players, and GMs like to re-roll the entire pool every level, or in the cases of some games, more often.</div>
<div>
The number of sides the dice has is defined by their Constitution score, literally “Stamina die”, further limited by their background, and further modified by their class.</div>
<div>
Thus a character who rolls a d6 for stamina and gains +1 from their class would roll 1d6+1 per level for their stamina.</div>
<div>
Some GMs permit a starting character maximum stamina at first level. In the example above such a character would have 7 stamina.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Uses Of Stamina:</h3>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Soaking Damage:</b> For every point of damage, a point of stamina can be spent to prevent vitality from being harmed. If there is insufficient stamina to negate the total amount of damage any remainder is applied to vitality as normal. This is the most common use for stamina. However a character need not spend stamina to soak damage if they don't want to.</li>
<li><b>Boosting Saving Throws:</b> Stamina can be used to add to any saving throws for Might, Mortality, or Mobility. This is at a rate of +1 per point of stamina.</li>
<li><b>Boosting Dice Rolls:</b> Likewise stamina can be used to increase any roll for physical activity. Again at +1 per point of stamina.</li>
<li><b>Activating Talents:</b> Some talents (powers, feats, what-have-yous) require stamina be spent to be activated.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Recovering Stamina:</h3>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>One point of stamina can be recovered every ten minutes of rest. However resolve cannot be recovered over the same period.</li>
<li>As with resolve, stamina can be restored to full after a full nights sleep (of 6+ hours, which need not be consecutive) in a comfortable bed. Or after the same sleeping rough if the previous day the character did not use a point of stamina for any reason. (So light activity in other words)</li>
<li>Similarly the character can recover an amount equal to half their maximum stamina if sleeping rough after a day's adventuring, or after a night's carousing.</li>
<li>Spells that restore vitality will also restore stamina once all vitality is restored.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<h2>
Vitality.</h2>
<div>
Vitality is the measurement of the character's capacity to survive physical damage and associated injury. If a character runs out of, which is to say hits zero, vitality then that character dies. However it's more probable (I say that, but I've yet to do the maths) that the character will die of their injuries before then. Because whenever a character loses vitality, even a single point thereof, there is an associated roll on the Death & Dismemberment table.<br />
Vitality equals the total of a character's Strength and Constitution attributes. Optionally you can add the Stamina per Level bonus based on the character's class, (see above) every level. But currently I'm not planning on doing that.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Vitality and Injury.</h3>
</div>
<div>
When a character is injured from a roll on the Death & Dismemberment table the amount of vitality loss that caused the injury is recorded with it. This is used to determine how long it will take for the injury to heal.</div>
<div>
Vitality is capped by how injured a character is. A character with 21 vitality who has a penalty of -5 from their injuries is capped at 15 vitality until those injuries are healed.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Recovering Vitality.</h3>
</div>
<div>
Typically a character will regain 1 point of vitality per day of rest. However healing magic can restore vitality instantly and without scarring.</div>
<div>
Injuries are healed separately and I'll write about that when I present the Death & Dismemberment table.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
What Next?</h2>
<div>
That's all for today. I'm not feeling well. Which is why this is being posted so late.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Next I'll write about my skill system and why I call it "Skilless".</div>
PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272020496211671784.post-65408567035488758422019-08-05T06:31:00.001-07:002019-08-09T02:01:01.010-07:00Project Tarragon Oubliette: Dice Mechanic/Task ResolutionI've been talking lots on the OSR Discord about Tarragon Oubliette and in line with my goal of blogging more actual game design I thought I'd record how I'm doing the core of the system; the dice rolling.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Core 'Philosophies'.</h2>
Okay so first off I'm replacing the 1d20 roll with 3d6.<br />
<br />
This is because I like how the bell curve pulls towards the middle, which means that character ability and skill becomes more important.<br />
<br />
Secondly a high roll is good.<br />
<br />
This means that bonuses and penalties act as they look; -4 to a roll is bad, and +4 good. I also don't have to set a cap on how high things can go. If I want to adapt this for say, super-powered heroics (and I do), the system still holds itself together and functions as long as everyone and thing is essentially on the same page.<br />
<br />
This 'good' aspect currently breaks down when it comes to things like the Death & Dismemberment and Delirium & Dementia tables. But I can probably fix that in the edit.<br />
<br />
Thirdly, fewer rolls are good, but player rolls are better.<br />
<br />
Rolling dice is fun, and is what makes TTRPGs different from sitting around and just telling each other stories. But too many rolls can get in the way of, and slow down, everything else in the game.<br />
My solution is to get the players to do the majority of the rolling.<br />
So for the most part I'll present them with static difficulties/TNs (see below) which they'll have to overcome; most NPCs and minor monsters will be nameless "mooks" with static attack and defence scores. I've still to decide if they can be taken out by 5+ damage or not.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Task resolution.</h2>
<div>
Tasks are either uncontested or contested. Each must equal or exceed a Target Number (TN) or Difficulty to succeed. Rolling under the TN indicates the task was failed.</div>
<div>
Currently, when all things are considered the most general, standard, default uncontested TN is 12. That is to say in many, if not most, cases an uncontested roll of 12+ will succeed.</div>
<div>
<div>
The amount by which a roll succeeds or fails, that is to say is above or below the TN, is called the degree of success (or failure). This is useful in measuring how well the character did and if further rolls are required. It is applied as, what I like to call, a modifier to <i>effect</i>.</div>
<div>
This is an important thing to note. Either for damage, or long tasks. The degree of success or failure of an attack is applied as a modifier to the damage done by that attack. While for extended or long tasks it is applied as a modifier to the TN (see below).</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Uncontested Tasks.</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
An uncontested task is basically a character versus some passive or environmental thing. Such as attempting to navigate a forest, or scale a cliff. If there is nothing actively trying to thwart the task in question then it’s probably uncontested.</div>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
Uncontested Task:</h4>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
3d6 + [Attribute Bonus] + [Skill Ranks] +/- [other modifiers] ≥ TN</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Contested Tasks.</h3>
</div>
<div>
A contested task happens when do or more characters are attempting to outdo one another. They happen most commonly in combat and the most frequent contested task will between two characters is when one attempts to strike the other.</div>
<div>
In essence the other character's dice roll becomes the TN of the task.</div>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
Contested Task:</h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
3d6 + [Attribute Bonus] + [Skill Ranks] +/- [other modifiers] ≥ 3d6 + [Attribute Bonus] + [Skill Ranks] +/- [other modifiers]</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
Extended Tasks.</h3>
<div>
When it comes to tasks many of them could take more than a single roll to complete. Tasks such as repairing a device, climbing a wall, searching a room, negotiating a treaty, or something similar the TN is reduced by the degree of success (or increased by the degree of failure). So unless the degree of success of a task equals or exceeds the TN then there will be need for at least one additional roll. If, through repeated failure, the TN grows beyond the character's ability to succeed then they can't succeed at that task. It's just beyond them. At least for the time being.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For Example a character is attempting to climb a cliff. It’s typically a typical uncontested [Dexterity] + [Freerunning] roll. Let’s take a hypothetical character. He’s a Ninja called “Bob”. His dexterity is 15 and he has Freerunning 6 and this being an Action game he’s rolling 3d!6. The TN to climb this particular cliff is 16. Rolling three 4’s, a 12, and adding +2 from dexterity and +6 from his Freerunning skill Bob’s player has a total of 20. He succeeds in his task by 4 points. This reduces the TN to 12, implying that he’s covered about a quarter of the distance. His roll the next round is is 6, 3, and 6. Those two 6’s explode and he rerolls them, getting a 4 and a 2. That’s 21, +2+6, or a total of 29. He easily scales the remaining distance. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Had "Bob" rolled a 6 for his first roll then his total would have been 14, 2 under the 16 TN. This would mean that the TN would go up to 18. The second roll of 29 would have had an effect modifier of 11, meaning that the TN would have been reduced to 7. </blockquote>
This introduces another idea:<br />
<br />
<h3>
Automatic Successes: Taking 3 & Taking 10.</h3>
<div>
Simply put if a character is sufficiently capable that, all modifiers considered, a minimal roll of 3 would succeed the TN, and/or the effect doesn't matter, and/or there is no time pressure. Then they don't have to roll. They just add 3 to the modifiers and calculate the effect as normal. This simulates the minimal effort of the skilled at simple practiced tasks. Then taking 3 each action/'roll' still takes a "round" as normal for when it comes to initiative. Or the normal amount of time for longer rolls.</div>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the above example where Ninja Bob had TN 7 remaining on their climb, their total bonuses from attributes and skill equals +8. Taking 3 would give a total of 11 and an effect of 4. Taking 3 again they could reach the top at the end of the next "round".</blockquote>
<h4>
Taking 10. </h4>
<div>
Related to this is the idea of Taking 10. </div>
<div>
Mostly this is for NPCs, so I don't have to roll for them. I just add 10 to their bonuses and the result is the TN for when the PCs interact with them.</div>
<div>
When PCs take 10 there's a little more to it. Primarily, it always takes the maximum amount of time. So in combat they'd always go last. Secondly, in uncontested rolls it must be able to succeed. [There should probably be more here, but right now I'm coming up blank.]</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
So going back to Ninja Bob and his wall. If he had taken 10's it he'd have made 4 rolls of 18 and it'd have taken 24 seconds to climb.</blockquote>
<h3>
Dealing With Failure.</h3>
<div>
A few weeks back I was reading a review of and about how Mouse Guard deals with failure. (If I can find it then I'll post a link here.) What that does is apply a narrative event to any failures. So if you fail to pick a lock a guard wanders by, or something.</div>
<div>
That's all well and good but not what I'm interested in for Project Tarragon Oubliette. However it does raise issues about how to deal with failure within the game. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A game should never hang on the success or failure of a single dice roll. It is always better for the players to win through their own skill rather than fail due to the skill of their character. However the players will invariably set themselves a goal that requires skill rolls to overcome. This should never be their main goal; if sent to free a princess from a bandit lair then nobody should need to roll to free her from her manacles. She should know where the keys are to be found if nothing else. However if they decide to raid the bandit’s treasure vault on their way then they should certainly need to roll to pick the locked door.</div>
<div>
What happens if they fail to pick that lock? In most games in the style of the Old School that would be that. Too bad, so sad. Try again (and again and again until the dice roll in your favour). This is something I wish to avoid. So instead, in order:</div>
<h4>
0. Let Them Take 10.</h4>
<div>
If taking 10 would be a success then why are they rolling? Just let them get it done.</div>
<h4>
1. Burn Resources: Stamina & Resolve.</h4>
<div>
Both these pools of points exist to do stuff with. Normally they soak damage or boost saving throws but the option exists to use either, or both, to boost other rolls too. Something that can be done retroactively. Stamina for physical activities and resolve for mental. Some tasks, such as lockpicking, could arguably use both. If they have the points and are willing to spend them then let them. +1 per point spent.</div>
<h4>
2. Burn Resources: Tools.</h4>
<div>
Tools exist to help us get things done, from hammers to, well, lockpicks and a whole variety in between. Some of these tools give bonuses to their related tasks. If these bonuses are insufficient then increase them by +1 temporarily, for one roll, but permanently reduce the bonus by -1 thereafter. Once the bonus goes below +0 then the tool is broken/destroyed. Thus you can increase the bonus to twice its normal rate, +1 for one roll. So if you have lockpicks +2, you can increase them to +5, but then they're gone.</div>
<h4>
3. Extend the Task.</h4>
<div>
Turn the task into an extended one. This is akin to rolling again as mentioned above which is why it comes here. If the players can't succeed in one roll then obviously they need to take their time. Turn the task into an extended one, as above and proceed as normal.</div>
<h4>
4. Let The Players Choose To Fail.</h4>
<div>
Sometimes a task just can't be completed. Some things are just beyond some people. And that's fine. Present the options above to the players and if they don't want to use them then fine. That's good.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
Greebling.</h2>
<div>
Greebling is a scratch-built model maker term for the little decorative bits on the model that gives it texture and depth. In this case I'm using it as a term for all the little extra subsystems that make games interesting.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Explod!ing D!ice!</h3>
<div>
You may have notice in the first Ninja Bob example I used an unfamiliar dice notation 3d!6. The d! is the notation for exploding dice.</div>
<div>
Exploding dice are open ended rolls where extra dice are can be rolled and added or subtracted from the total.</div>
<div>
In this case any roll of 6 on d!6 is rolled again, or an extra d6 rolled, and the result added to the existing total.</div>
<div>
meanwhile any roll of 1 on d!6 is rolled again and the result subtracted from the total. </div>
<div>
This can result in chain-reactions of exploding dice. As long as 1's and/or 6's are continued to be rolled then the additional rolls are made. However once they start exploding in one direction or another they can't reverse. A 6 followed by a 1 is just +1 and no more dice are rolled. A 1 followed by a 6 is just -6. Again no further dice are rolled. This can result in very high rolls and very low rolls. But not too low, as rolling 5 1's in a row and then a 2 is still only -6.</div>
<div>
Exploding dice are intended for Action and (super) Heroic games.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Advantage & Disadvantage.</h3>
<div>
An idea nicked from the recent edition of the world's most popular TTRPG, but done differently. Instead of rolling twice and picking the best/worst result an extra die is added to the roll what you so with that die pulls the lovely bell curve out of shape. It also doesn't work well with exploding dice.</div>
<div>
Some of you are looking at me like "What?" so let me break it down.</div>
<h4>
Advantage.</h4>
<div>
Rolling 3d6 with Advantage means you actually roll 4d6 and discard the lowest die (4d6-L, in common notation). This pushes the average roll out to around 13.</div>
<h4>
Disadvantage.</h4>
<div>
Rolling 3d6 with Disadvantage means actually rolling 4d6 and discarding the highest die (4d6-H). This pushes the average down to around 8.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What this means is... well I'm not entirely sure. I suppose it means I can implement the Advantage and Disadvantage stuff which will make some people happy.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
That's all for now. </h2>
<div>
Next time I'll write about Stamina and Vitality. TTFN!</div>
PlanetNileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16166553184766848116noreply@blogger.com0