Willow & Tara: OVA

To wrap-up OVA I present my two witches.

Now at this point you might ask what is that OVA brings to the table that I didn't cover in BESM 2, 3.0 or d20?
And the truth is, not a lot, but that is fine.  It presents the material in a new way. By focusing on the concept of the character first, not just what the numbers add up to, was a good way to think about what the character is supposed to be.

The OVA sheets should sit nicely next to all the flavors of BESM and should be used with those games as well as a reminder of what the character is supposed to be.  I guess this is the reason that some many people like Fudge and Fate so much these days.

That is also what I like most about Anime as a genre/medium.  Emphasis is placed on the character.  Take the recent Witchblade anime and compare it to the Witchblade American comic.   In the anime we get to know Masane first as a mother. Ok a bit of an air head, but she is not an ass-kicker.  Sarah Pezzeni is.  As the series progresses we see Masane as something more than just the Witchblade wielder.  Just like Robin is more than a firestarter witch or Kiki is more than flying.  There is character development that you just don't quite see in American fare.  Now granted, sometimes I want a plot driven show or just watching stuff blow up real good.  That is fine.  But in game I want it to be more character driven.  I invest in these characters; I want to know what they will do.  I want to be pulled in and even surprised.

Shall we?
For the witches I wanted a more powerful game, so I set my power cap at 15.  That is crazy, but I think it works here.  In Mutants and Masterminds terms that could be between PL 12 and 17.

Willow Rosenberg

Human Intelligent Super Witch
29 years old (2010)

Abilities and Weaknesses
Beautiful +2, Filthy Rich +2, Item, Doll's Eye Crystal (adds to Endurance for casting) +1, Inventor +2, Magic, Arcane +6, Occult Knowledge +5, Smart +5, Telekinesis (part of magic) +6
Guardian (Brianna) -2, Loves (Tara) -2, Minority (Lesbian Jewish witch) -1, Quick temper -1

Attack
Blast +6
Spell +6, by spell type

Defense
Barrier +6

Health 40 Endurance 40

Tara Maclay

Human Empathic Witch

29 years old (2010)

Abilities and Weaknesses

Animal Companion (can talk) +1, Beautiful +2, Magic, Witchcraft +6, Occult Knowledge +5, Perceptive +2,  Psychic +2, Sixth Sense +3, Telekinesis (part of magic) +6

Guardian (Brianna) -2, Loves (Willow) -2, Minority (Lesbian witch) -1

Attack

Blast +6

Spell +6, by spell type

Defense

Magic Circle +6

Health 40 Endurance 45

This is obviously much later in the future than my previous builds.  Nothing new here really except for the addition of their dependent daughter Brianna (long story, I'll share it someday).  I gave them different types of magic, something I tried a bit in d20 Modern.  I think in future builds or revised ones I will explore this more.  I would like to see how it works in-game.

Now that I have OVA builds for Willow, Tara, Ivy, Rachel and Robin I should figure out a one shot to use them all in.  Maybe STN comes to Ohio?  Wow, that is even a stretch for me.

While I am on the subject of OVA I might head over to the American side of Cartoons for a bit and do Cartoon Action Hour.  It is a similar game in terms of character creation and I want to compare them while this is still fresh in my mind.

So many games.......

Outlaw Press is back and still stealing art

Like a bad case of herpes that flares up to piss you off, James Shipman has poked his head back up and is trying to sell his books full of stolen art.

The new details are here: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=519805

You can read what was said before here:
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-from-outlaw-press.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2009/12/outlaw-press-uses-stolen-art-and.html
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=483885

This is so irritating that this guy continues to do this.

Any Witch Way You Can: Ghosts of Albion / Unisystem

So to follow up on my OVA post on Rachel and Ivy I thought I would post Rachel and Ivy in my favorite system, Cinematic Unisystem.  since Eden has gone back online and Ghosts is due out soon, this is a great choice! (ok, biased I know).

Actually stating up the characters for Unisystem worked out fantastic.  I might be biased but I am really pleased with how they worked out.   While I am very pleased with the OVA stats, I am thrilled with the Unisystem ones.

The world of Ghosts of Albion (or even Buffy/Angel) is a good fit for the world of Rachel and Ivy.  Demons, faeries, pixies, witches and vamps are all similar to those in Ghosts.  There are "living vampires" in The Hollows series, but I figure they have many of the same stats as regular vamps, only not as much.  So instead of +3 to Strength they only get +2 and +1 to all the other affected stats and skills.  They can move about in the daylight and are not affected by holy items, but are no more in a hurry to die than a human.  Plus they still need to feed.

Vamps in the Hollows can also "pull an aura" which is more of an Emotional Control than a full on Hypnotize.   I reflected this in Ivy's stats below.
Jenks of course is a Pixie and almost a by-the-book one.  Trent is an elf and can be built like the Royal Fae in the Ghosts core book.  Al is pretty much a demon out of the Angel book with some fae qualities like Glamour (only used as a spell).

Of course the big difference in Rachel and Ivy's world compared to say Willow and Tara's is magic is known to be real to everyone.  If Willow and Tara were in Rachel's world I would suspect that Tara would be an Earth Witch completely.  Willow of course would have started out as an Earth witch but moved to Ley Lines quickly.  Willow would almost certainly have some imbalance on her aura ("smut" in the books) and maybe a demon mark.

Rachel Morgan

Witch
Str: 3 Dex: 3 Con: 2 Int: 4 Per: 4 Wil: 5

Life Points: 36 Drama Points: 10

Qualities
Attractive 2, Contacts 3 (Weres, Demons, Witches, FIB), Hard to Kill 2, Heightened Senses (Witches in the world are more sensitive) 1, Magic 5, Magical Philosophy, Earth, Ley Line, Demonic (in Rachel's world you can have more than one), Nerves of Steel, Occult Library 2

Drawbacks
Addiction (Bad relationships) 1, Adversary 5 (nearly everyone wants her dead), Emotional Problems (hard for her to trust others) 1, Haunted (Pierce), Honorable 1, Obsession (Help Ivy), Reputation 3, Risk Taker, Secret (witches are really stunted demons, can do demon magic) 3

Skills
Acrobatics 3, Computer 2, Crime 2, Doctor 1, Driving 3, Engineering 1, Getting Medieval 2, Gun Fu 4, Influence 2, knowledge 4, Kung Fu 4, Languages 2 (English, Latin), Notice 3, Occultism 5, Science 1, Sports 2

Combat
by spell +15, special
Splat Gun +7, target falls asleep (paint balls filled with a sleeping potion)

(Image of Rachel found at http://valliantcreations.com/images/galleries/color.html)

Ivy Tamwood

Living Vampire

Str: 7 Dex: 7 Con: 5 Int: 3 Per: 5 Wil: 4

Life Points: 36 Drama Points: 10

Qualities

Attractive 3, Contacts 2 (Vamps, FIB), Emotional Influence ("pulling an aura"), Fast Reaction Time, Hard to Kill 3, Heightened Senses 2,  Iron Mind, Nerves of Steel, Regeneration (1 LP per hour), Resources 6, Vampire (Living).

Drawbacks

Adversary 2 (mostly other vampires), Fear (of dying and losing her soul) 1, Fear (of Rachel's magic) 1, Honorable 2, Love, Unrequited (Rachel), Obligation 1, Reputation 1 (living with Rachel has it's downside too)

Skills

Acrobatics 5, Art 2, Computer 4, Crime 4, Doctor 2, Driving 4, Engineering 2, Getting Medieval 6, Gun Fu 1, Influence 6, knowledge 4, Kung Fu 6, Languages 1, Notice 3, Occultism 2, Science 1, Sports 1

Combat
Sword +13
Hand to Hand +13

(image of Rachel and Ivy found at http://thwippersnapple.deviantart.com/art/rachel-morgan-and-ivy-tamwood-41669160)



All in all I really like these builds.  I think they capture the characters well.  I would love to add them to my Unisystem game, I just have not figured out how to bring them into the story yet.

I think I should put these two on the list of builds to try out for when I review Dresden Files.

Greyhawk Grognard: AD&D's Lost Second Edition

Here is a proper link-back for Blogger tracking.

Greyhawk Grognard: AD&D's Lost Second Edition

What if Gygax had done 2nd Ed?

Quick one for now. I am on my way to campus.

I have been following the OSR scene now for a while and have seen the attempts to do retellings of the most famous RPG in history. Associated with that is the wave of nostalgia for all things from the hands of the Old Masters (Gygax, Holmes, Arneson) and this had gotten me thinking.

What would 2nd Ed AD&D have looked like if Gygax had still been at TSR?

  

I suppose we should look at the variables.  What was TSR doing at the time (late 80s), what was Gygax doing (Mythus, Dangerous Journeys, and later Lejendary Adventures) and how would that have all blended into what could have been the 2nd Ed AD&D as written by Gary.

This is all speculation; I am not a Gygaxian scholar by any stretch of the imagination. But I am curious to know what you all think.

Would we have seen more classes? (I think so) More skills? (certainly) and I also think given the direction that TSR was headed and what Gygax did in DJ/Mythus that we would have seen more "world" books for different genres of play.  So instead of Spelljamer (D&D in space) we would have gotten a Space Opera game that used the AD&D 2ed rules.  Or not.

Thoughts?

EDITED TO ADD: Thanks to Herb and Jason Vey.  They uncovered this link for me.
http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2009/02/ad-second-edition.html
I will have to read that in detail when I can.

Eden Studios back online

After many months Eden Studios is back online with a new website and new releases!

http://www.edenstudios.net/

And in the "Upcoming Releases" section a welcomed sight!

More as I learn more.

Play Ivy For Me: OVA

So according to the official OVA RPG blog there will be a 2nd edition of the OVA RPG.
I have liked what I have seen so far of OVA, so the second edition should be fun.  July 17 is the release date.

Until then though I wanted to bring out some characters I have been dying to stat up for any game.

I just finished reading the latest Rachel Morgan book, Black Magic Sanction.  Like all the others it was fun ride and great to see Rachel, Ivy and Jenks again.  Given the nature of the series I thought an anime roleplaying adaptation would be perfect. Plus I am wrapping up OVA and just finished the book so it fits; for me anyway.

So what do you need to know with out getting to spoilery? Well.  Rachel Morgan is a witch living in Cincinnati in a world where everyone knows about magic, witches (like Rachel), vampires (like her roommate Ivy) and even pixies (like their business partner Jenks).  Rachel has so problems keeping herself out of trouble and then problems about getting herself much deeper in trouble once she is there.  Ivy is a bad mood away from going total bloodlust psycho thanks to years of mental (and physical) abuse from Cincinnati's former Master Vampire. And Jenks...well Jenks is a pixie and that means a lot in this series.

It is a very cool set of books and if you have not read them and you like modern supernatural then these are a treat.  I have mentioned them before but had not got around to doing any stats.  That changes now.

Like my Witch Hunter Robin write-up I am using the rule of a power cap of 10.  I want Rachel and Ivy to be about the same league as Robin, but obviously more powerful due to their world, age and experience.

Rachel Morgan
Concept: Trouble prone witch with a deadly secret. or two.
"I'm a white witch damnit!"

Abilities & Weaknesses
Beautiful +2, Combat Skill, Splat-gun (a paint ball gun filled with potions) +2, Combat skill, Hand to hand +2, Magic, Arcane (Earth Magic in the book) +2, Magic, Witchcraft (Ley Line Magic in the book +3),  Magic, Demonic (combining Earth and Ley Line) +5, Occult Knowledge +3, Perceptive +2, Weapon, Splat-gun +2
Code of conduct -1, Guardian, Jenks and Family (though they are more often her guardian) -1, Impulse Control (Rachel often acts before she thinks) -2, Obsession, help Ivy -1, Rivals (Al, Moral and Ethical coven, Trent) -3, Secret (demon spawn) -2, Special Weakness, Jerk Magnet (Rachel has terrible taste in men) -1.

Attacks
Hand to hand, +2
Splat Gun +2, special damage. Hit target falls asleep.

Defense
Take down +2
Magic Circle +3, ley line based

Health 40, Endurance 40

Character Notes: Rachel is a 25 year old witch and former IS runner.  She is now an independent runner for Vampiric Charms and no that is not a escort service.  Rachel is tall with long red, red hair and green eyes.  She has a demon mark on her wrist from her personal demon, Algaliarept "Al".  She has discovered a great many things in her short time as an independent and maybe one day she will be able to live to talk about it all.
She awful taste in men given that they either leave, are secretly thieves or are really ghosts.
If nothing else Rachel is a survivor and she might be the secret to the survival of all the Interlander Races.  If they don't all kill her first.

Ivy Tamwood

Concept: Living vampire with issues.  lots of issues.

"Damnit Rachel, you are going to get me killed. Twice."

Abilities & Weaknesses

Agile +2, Beautiful +3, Combat Skill, Sword +3, Combat skill, Hand to hand +3, Filthy Rich +2, Occult Knowledge +2, Perceptive +2, Quick +2, Strong +2, Weapon, fangs +1, Weapon, Sword +3(extra damage), Special: Vampire*

Code of Honor/Conduct (friends) -1, Impulse Control  -2, Love Interest, Rachel (Ivy is in love with Rachel, even if Rachel isn't) -1, Needs Blood -2, Obligation (Master Vampire) -1, Obsession, Survive her 1st Death -3, Rivals (rival vampire clans) -1, Special Weakness, Afraid of Rachel's Magic (Ivy won't use any of Rachel's magic) -1.

Attacks

Sword +3, damage: 2

Hand to hand, +3

Fangs +1

Defense

Parry +3

Health 50, Endurance 50 

Character Notes: Ivy is a member of the Tamwood family of living vampires.  That means she is stinking rich but one day she will die and rise as a soulless monster, a dead vampire.  She will do anything to stop that and she thinks Rachel is the ticket.  Of course the fact that Ivy is also in love with the head strong witch has nothing to do with it.  Almost nothing.  Ivy suffered years of mental abuse from the Master Vampire Piscary to mold her into the type of Scion he wanted. In fact Piscary had been molding her whole family for centuries to get the qualities he wanted.  So Ivy, with her dark hair, husky voice and slightly Asian features, is a knock out.  Even supermodels think she is hot.  But most of the time Ivy is in a bad mood.  She tried to go of off blood and that made difficult to live with, then she went back on to the blood and that made things even weirder.

And there you go.
OVA does not have a vampire ability really, so I just combined things that made Ivy who she is; quick, strong, agile, needs blood to live.

I like the OVA versions of them and can't wait to try them out in Ghosts of Albion or Witch Girls Adventures.