So I play a lot of games. It is cool really, it gives me the chance to meet all sorts of people and really get to know them. I have made some great friends while gaming and I hope to continue to do so.
But this time I am not talking about any of that.
Today I want to talk about the problem player.
We have this guy in one of my groups. I am not going to mention his name or which group he is in, but suffice to say he is just not working out. He seems to be a nice enough guy. He isn't a freak or psycho or anything like that. He just doesn't fit the group dynamic well.
So far through his actions at least two characters have died over the course of the game. I am not sure what exactly he is trying to do half the time and he spends the session getting so jacked up on caffeine that it is hard to watch him. No he is not running around like a squirrel on meth or anything, but there it is like his whole boody is vibrating at a frequency that only he and the Flash can relate too.
I think part of the problem too is there is a significant age difference between him and the other players. The GM is ready to cut him, based on the "he should know better" principle, a couple of the players want him out now and the rest are rather non-committal.
I want to restate it is not that he is screwing up. I am playing a different character type than I am used too (we all are really) and all of us have made silly rules mistakes that noobs would not make and some "type" mistakes (ie I keep thinking I can throw spells so I put myself in situations that would be good for that).
But he is not bringing anything to the table really. He is a good guy, but he just doesn't "get it" I think. He throws off the group dynamic.
What are your opinions? Have you run into the same situations? How do you / did you handle it?
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Willow & Tara: Kult
Going to the vaults today!
It's the start of a new term here so I am crazy busy. I had some other posts ready, but this one was all good to go. Plus I have been talking about Anime and Supers for so long I missed my favorite topic; Horror gaming.
So without further ado, one of the premier horror games of the 90's and into the 2000s. Kult.
Kult, Death is Only the Beginning
Kult is a very interesting game. I had heard about it from the WitchCraft RPG list and decided to check it out. I found a copy of 1st Edition on eBay and really liked it. It was not a game I played much, but freely stole ideas from. Kult is a very different kind of world from WitchCraft, World of Darkness, Call of Cthulhu or even Ravenloft. It is almost “Dark City” in it’s feel and tone. Sort of gothic-noir-splatterpunk, something I noticed that the new World of Darkness seems to have adopted and the eventual evolution of Chill. The pervasive dread in the game is more Call of Cthulhu, while the world on the surface looks much like WitchCraft. It also has a tone (to me) similar to Warlock, Black Spiral. The two *could* be set in the same world, with some tweaking, but that might be more than I want to do.
In the end I found that WitchCraft was more enjoyable, but I keep my copy of Kult handy, just in case.
Conversions
Conversions between Kult and other systems are not too bad. Kult has 8 abilities, 4 physical, 4 mental, that range from 2-20. There are two ways to generate abilities, one (the D&D method) is roll a 2d10 for each (ì=11). The other (the WitchCraft method) is to parse out 100 points to the 8 abilities (ì=12.5). For a d20 conversion the best bet is to match up the Abilities and -2 to get a d20/D&D (ì=10.5) score.
For Unisystem conversion I take a modification of my D20 to Unisystem conversion.
To generate a Unisystem value from a Kult one, divide the Kult Ability by 2 and minus 4.
BTW: To generate a Unisystem value from d20 I divide the d20 score by 2 and minus 3 (or -2 depending on the game’s power level) I find this works a little better than just dividing by 3.
The abilities match up like this.
*These conversions are covered by Qualities in Unisystem. Since these scores run both positive and negative a slightly different conversion is needed. Figure either quality can run from -5 to +5 for normal humans, but use -3 to +3 as a more realistic range. So add 6 to the Unisystem Quality/Drawback to generate the Kult ability. So a character with a -5 Charisma has a Kult ability score of 1.
Both Kult and Classic Unisystem have a set of similar Secondary Attributes that are derived from the Primary Abilities. Convert the Primary Attibutes/Abilites and then generate the Secondary ones anew from these numbers. This is the best way to handle Essence.
Kult also offers a couple of extra quirks. Dark Secrets are similar to WitchCraft’s character concept. The difference is basically that concepts define what you are, Dark Secrets define what made you the way you are today. Subtle, but in these two worlds it is a big difference. Dark Secrets can be ported over to WitchCraft as is for added (darker) variety without much trouble. The archetypes for either game would work well in the other game.
The other is Mental Balance, Kult’s quasi-equivalent to CoC’s Insanity or Mythos score. Since mental balance is the ration of Advantages to Disadvantages, Unisystem characters will always be on the positive side. To convert I am thinking that Kult to Unisystem characters will have to have a Quality called “Positive Mental Balance” or a Drawback called “Negative Mental Balance”. No points should be converted, gained or loss from these.
Willow and Tara in Kult
(Special thanks to Ronnie Bradley for helping put these together and notes from his Willow & Tara based Kult game.)
Ron’s Notes:
Willow Rosenberg
STR: 11 Load Capacity: 11/33/6/10
AGL: 12 Movement: 6/36
EGO: 16 No. of Actions: 2
CON: 18 Initiative Bonus: +0
PER: 17 Damage Bonus: +1
EDU: 18 Endurance: 120
CHA: 15 Mod. To Ego Throw: +3
COM: 17 Mental Balance: -15
Damage Capacity:
5 Scratches = 1 light wound
4 Light wounds= 1 serious wound
3 Serious wounds = 1 fatal wound
DARK SECRETS
Forbidden Knowledge
Guilty of Crime
Occult Experience
Supernatural Experience
ADVANTAGES
Magical Intuition 20
Math Talent 10
Mechanically Inclined 5
Influential Friends 15
DISADVANTAGES
Black Sheep 5
Dependent 15
Magic Addiction 10
Mortal Enemy (The First) 15
Nightmares 5
Guilt 5
Rival (Amy) 10
SKILLS
Basic Skills
Climb 7
Dodge 11
Hide 8
Read/write native language 18
Search 15
Sneak 12
Swim 14
Throwing 8
Unarmed Combat 16
Projectile weapons
Bows 6
Handguns 8
Heavy Weapons 4
Machineguns/Automatic Weapons 1
Rifles & Crossbows 6
Melee & Throwing weapons
Axes 10
Daggers 8
Impact Weapons 11
Pole Arms 8
Swords 8
Throwing Weapons 5
Whips and Chains 8
EGO-Based
Accounting 19
Alternative Medicine 12
Astrology 12
Computers 24
Cosmology 16
Cryptography 21
Electronics 20
First Aid 14
Info Retrieval 25
Lore: Dreamworlds 10
Lore: Metropolis 10
Meditation 16
Numerology 20
Occultism 18
Security Systems 22
Written Report 16
CHA-Based
Acting 14
Instruction 18
Seduction 12
PER-Based
Forensics 14
Academic Skills
Natural Science 16
Spec: Computer Science 25
Magic
All five basic lores at 25*
Notes
Black sheep really covers her moving towards the Wiccan faith and acceptance of her Lesbianism. This would certainly upset her father, which is why the disadvantage is included. Note that this is a disadvantage as it causes lack of family interaction and is not a statement of guilt on the part of Willow.
Influential Friends refers to the Watchers Council and Giles contacts.
Dependent is Tara, which is why the score is at it’s highest.
Nightmares refer to Killing Rack and her treatment of Tara and her friends whilst under the influence of dark magic. Her Guilt is related to that.
Tara Maclay
STR: 12 Load Capacity: 12/36/6/120
AGL: 10 Movement: 5/30
EGO: 15 No. of Actions: 2
CON: 18 Initiative Bonus: +0
PER: 15 Damage Bonus: +1
EDU: 16 Endurance: 120
CHA: 14 Mod. To Ego Throw: +0
COM: 18 Mental Balance: +35
Damage Capacity:
5 Scratches = 1 light wound
4 Light wounds= 1 serious wound
3 Serious wounds = 1 fatal wound
DARK SECRETS
Family Secret
Occult Experience
Supernatural Experience
Victim of Crime
ADVANTAGES
Code of Honor 5
Empathy 15
Faith 5
Forgiving 5
Influential Friends 15
Motherliness 5
Magical Intuition 20
DISADVANTAGES
Anxiety 5
Black Sheep 5
Dependent 15
Nightmares 5
SKILLS
Basic Skills
Climb 7
Dodge 12
Hide 9
Read/write native language 17
Search 12
Sneak 10
Swim 14
Throwing 8
Unarmed Combat 6
Projectile Weapons
Bows 4
Handguns 2
Heavy Weapons 2
Machineguns/Automatic Weapons 1
Rifles & Crossbows 3
Melee & Throwing Weapons
Axes 7
Daggers 5
Impact Weapons 8
Swords 5
Throwing Weapons 4
AGL-Based
Dancing 15
EGO-Based
Alternative Medicine 15
Astrology 16
Cooking 18
Creative Writing 12
Erotica 16
First Aid 19
Herbalism 20
Lore: Dreamworlds 14
Lore: Metropolis 12
Meditation 19
Occultism 16
Parapsychology 14
CHA-Based
Diplomacy 12
Etiquette 18
Fortune Telling 20
Riding 15
Seduction 10
Singing 20
PER-Based
Counseling 22
Drive Vehicle 14
Academic Skills
Humanities Scholar 14
Spec: Classical History 16
Magic
Five basic Lores at 25*
Notes
Black sheep refers more to how the Maclay family view and treat her as opposed to how she feels about herself.
Dependent is Willow, hence the High score.
Nightmares are of Willow’s abuse of her and her family’s abuse. This is also where her Victim of Crime secret comes from.
*Willow and Tara are two of the most powerful witches in my game. So they get the
benefit of the doubt in being very powerful.
One word on the two co-operating to create a spell or device together. Either of them can be the High Priest and the other adds their entire Ego score to the other. Further there is no “tune in” time required to focus themselves unless one of them is injured or out of sorts. This does make them powerful when they cast together but they always were. One other thing, any Endurance loss is automatically split evenly between them.
It's the start of a new term here so I am crazy busy. I had some other posts ready, but this one was all good to go. Plus I have been talking about Anime and Supers for so long I missed my favorite topic; Horror gaming.
So without further ado, one of the premier horror games of the 90's and into the 2000s. Kult.
Kult, Death is Only the Beginning
In the end I found that WitchCraft was more enjoyable, but I keep my copy of Kult handy, just in case.
Conversions
Conversions between Kult and other systems are not too bad. Kult has 8 abilities, 4 physical, 4 mental, that range from 2-20. There are two ways to generate abilities, one (the D&D method) is roll a 2d10 for each (ì=11). The other (the WitchCraft method) is to parse out 100 points to the 8 abilities (ì=12.5). For a d20 conversion the best bet is to match up the Abilities and -2 to get a d20/D&D (ì=10.5) score.
For Unisystem conversion I take a modification of my D20 to Unisystem conversion.
To generate a Unisystem value from a Kult one, divide the Kult Ability by 2 and minus 4.
BTW: To generate a Unisystem value from d20 I divide the d20 score by 2 and minus 3 (or -2 depending on the game’s power level) I find this works a little better than just dividing by 3.
The abilities match up like this.
| Kult | Unisystem | d20/D&D |
| Strength | Strength | Strength |
| Agility | Dexterity | Dexterity |
| Constitution | Constitution | Constitution |
| Comeliness | Attractiveness Quality | * |
| Education | Intelligence | Intelligence |
| Ego | Willpower | Wisdom |
| Perception | Perception | Perception Skill |
| Charisma | Charisma Quality | Charisma |
*These conversions are covered by Qualities in Unisystem. Since these scores run both positive and negative a slightly different conversion is needed. Figure either quality can run from -5 to +5 for normal humans, but use -3 to +3 as a more realistic range. So add 6 to the Unisystem Quality/Drawback to generate the Kult ability. So a character with a -5 Charisma has a Kult ability score of 1.
Both Kult and Classic Unisystem have a set of similar Secondary Attributes that are derived from the Primary Abilities. Convert the Primary Attibutes/Abilites and then generate the Secondary ones anew from these numbers. This is the best way to handle Essence.
Kult also offers a couple of extra quirks. Dark Secrets are similar to WitchCraft’s character concept. The difference is basically that concepts define what you are, Dark Secrets define what made you the way you are today. Subtle, but in these two worlds it is a big difference. Dark Secrets can be ported over to WitchCraft as is for added (darker) variety without much trouble. The archetypes for either game would work well in the other game.
The other is Mental Balance, Kult’s quasi-equivalent to CoC’s Insanity or Mythos score. Since mental balance is the ration of Advantages to Disadvantages, Unisystem characters will always be on the positive side. To convert I am thinking that Kult to Unisystem characters will have to have a Quality called “Positive Mental Balance” or a Drawback called “Negative Mental Balance”. No points should be converted, gained or loss from these.
Willow and Tara in Kult
(Special thanks to Ronnie Bradley for helping put these together and notes from his Willow & Tara based Kult game.)
Ron’s Notes:
As anyone who has casually glanced at the GM’s section of the Kult rulebook will be aware, the world according to Kult is very different from the world according to the Buffyverse. So how do you make the two worlds collide? I offer these thoughts.(Note: Hey, me again. I tweaked Ron's stats to better reflect my versions of the girls. These stats are from early on in the Dragon and the Phoenix time-line.)
The theory that there are a multitude of Heavens and Hells within the Buffyverse can easily be explained by the idea that man’s grasp of the reality is crippled by it’s own inability to grasp the concept of one complete city. Each “dimension” is in fact merely a part of Metropolis, with it’s own rituals and doors, rather than separate entities. The ending of Buffy season 5, in fact, could be easily seen as the Key dropping the illusion completely, as any player of Kult would be hard pressed to find a better single image of Metropolis than the building that suddenly has an infestation of demons in it when the illusion shatters.
The reason for Demons who are good becomes more obvious. With the disappearance of the Demiurge, there really is no proper side of “good” as we understand the term, or “evil” for that matter. There are only the Archons and Death Angels with their own agenda, vendettas and characteristical quirks. In this regard, it easy to consider that a monster, even one in demonic form, might be a “good guy”, even in the sense of wishing to help mankind break some of the shackles. GM’s should always remember that the black and white has gone, only the grey remains, and those who wish to take advantage of that grey.
The Bete-noir of course is another reason for some demons being good guys. Any demon seen on the show who is “good” (I am thinking of Lorne in “Angel” Or Whistler) could easily be a Bete-noir who has allied him or herself to the powers of good, or to aid mankind at least.
A note on Purgatory. This place has become a virtual hell for all and sundry as they suffer for their own sins. Angel most certainly went to Purgatory as opposed to Hell, although to the layman there wouldn’t be much difference aesthetically, so it was an easy mistake to make. The bigger question becomes, who did release him? Was it an Archon or Death Angel? Or was it a lesser being with it’s own agenda? Maybe that which set him free hoped he would fight for the powers of good, as he did. Or maybe they had Angelus in mind. Either way, he was freed. I bring Angel up to give you an example of how the world of Buffy must be augmented to deal with the Kult backstory, which must take precedence.
As for the First? I leave that open to individual GM’s as to who or what it was in the end. There are plenty of ideas that would fit the First so rather than tie down the creative brain I will let GM’s in their own campaigns set their own agendas.
I will now deal with the specifics of Willow and Tara in their Kult guises.
Willow Rosenberg
STR: 11 Load Capacity: 11/33/6/10
AGL: 12 Movement: 6/36
EGO: 16 No. of Actions: 2
CON: 18 Initiative Bonus: +0
PER: 17 Damage Bonus: +1
EDU: 18 Endurance: 120
CHA: 15 Mod. To Ego Throw: +3
COM: 17 Mental Balance: -15
Damage Capacity:
5 Scratches = 1 light wound
4 Light wounds= 1 serious wound
3 Serious wounds = 1 fatal wound
DARK SECRETS
Forbidden Knowledge
Guilty of Crime
Occult Experience
Supernatural Experience
ADVANTAGES
Magical Intuition 20
Math Talent 10
Mechanically Inclined 5
Influential Friends 15
DISADVANTAGES
Black Sheep 5
Dependent 15
Magic Addiction 10
Mortal Enemy (The First) 15
Nightmares 5
Guilt 5
Rival (Amy) 10
SKILLS
Basic Skills
Climb 7
Dodge 11
Hide 8
Read/write native language 18
Search 15
Sneak 12
Swim 14
Throwing 8
Unarmed Combat 16
Projectile weapons
Bows 6
Handguns 8
Heavy Weapons 4
Machineguns/Automatic Weapons 1
Rifles & Crossbows 6
Melee & Throwing weapons
Axes 10
Daggers 8
Impact Weapons 11
Pole Arms 8
Swords 8
Throwing Weapons 5
Whips and Chains 8
EGO-Based
Accounting 19
Alternative Medicine 12
Astrology 12
Computers 24
Cosmology 16
Cryptography 21
Electronics 20
First Aid 14
Info Retrieval 25
Lore: Dreamworlds 10
Lore: Metropolis 10
Meditation 16
Numerology 20
Occultism 18
Security Systems 22
Written Report 16
CHA-Based
Acting 14
Instruction 18
Seduction 12
PER-Based
Forensics 14
Academic Skills
Natural Science 16
Spec: Computer Science 25
Magic
All five basic lores at 25*
Notes
Black sheep really covers her moving towards the Wiccan faith and acceptance of her Lesbianism. This would certainly upset her father, which is why the disadvantage is included. Note that this is a disadvantage as it causes lack of family interaction and is not a statement of guilt on the part of Willow.
Influential Friends refers to the Watchers Council and Giles contacts.
Dependent is Tara, which is why the score is at it’s highest.
Nightmares refer to Killing Rack and her treatment of Tara and her friends whilst under the influence of dark magic. Her Guilt is related to that.
Tara Maclay
STR: 12 Load Capacity: 12/36/6/120
AGL: 10 Movement: 5/30
EGO: 15 No. of Actions: 2
CON: 18 Initiative Bonus: +0
PER: 15 Damage Bonus: +1
EDU: 16 Endurance: 120
CHA: 14 Mod. To Ego Throw: +0
COM: 18 Mental Balance: +35
Damage Capacity:
5 Scratches = 1 light wound
4 Light wounds= 1 serious wound
3 Serious wounds = 1 fatal wound
DARK SECRETS
Family Secret
Occult Experience
Supernatural Experience
Victim of Crime
ADVANTAGES
Code of Honor 5
Empathy 15
Faith 5
Forgiving 5
Influential Friends 15
Motherliness 5
Magical Intuition 20
DISADVANTAGES
Anxiety 5
Black Sheep 5
Dependent 15
Nightmares 5
SKILLS
Basic Skills
Climb 7
Dodge 12
Hide 9
Read/write native language 17
Search 12
Sneak 10
Swim 14
Throwing 8
Unarmed Combat 6
Projectile Weapons
Bows 4
Handguns 2
Heavy Weapons 2
Machineguns/Automatic Weapons 1
Rifles & Crossbows 3
Melee & Throwing Weapons
Axes 7
Daggers 5
Impact Weapons 8
Swords 5
Throwing Weapons 4
AGL-Based
Dancing 15
EGO-Based
Alternative Medicine 15
Astrology 16
Cooking 18
Creative Writing 12
Erotica 16
First Aid 19
Herbalism 20
Lore: Dreamworlds 14
Lore: Metropolis 12
Meditation 19
Occultism 16
Parapsychology 14
CHA-Based
Diplomacy 12
Etiquette 18
Fortune Telling 20
Riding 15
Seduction 10
Singing 20
PER-Based
Counseling 22
Drive Vehicle 14
Academic Skills
Humanities Scholar 14
Spec: Classical History 16
Magic
Five basic Lores at 25*
Notes
Black sheep refers more to how the Maclay family view and treat her as opposed to how she feels about herself.
Dependent is Willow, hence the High score.
Nightmares are of Willow’s abuse of her and her family’s abuse. This is also where her Victim of Crime secret comes from.
*Willow and Tara are two of the most powerful witches in my game. So they get the
benefit of the doubt in being very powerful.
One word on the two co-operating to create a spell or device together. Either of them can be the High Priest and the other adds their entire Ego score to the other. Further there is no “tune in” time required to focus themselves unless one of them is injured or out of sorts. This does make them powerful when they cast together but they always were. One other thing, any Endurance loss is automatically split evenly between them.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Weekend Recap
My big birthday weekend is coming to an end and it was a blast.
Pathfinder
Finally leveled up in Pathfinder yesterday! Yeah! We are all still making tweaks to our characters which is to be expected. Still enjoying this game but there are some minor rules tweaks we are still getting used to after 3.5 and 4.0. I am also playing a Paladin. Something I have not done in maybe 20 years or more, so I have to get used to being a front line fighter again and not the sneaky arcane type that fires magical bolts from the background. So I have combat tactics to read up on.
New Games
Got Dresden Files. Wow that is a good looking book, can't wait till the dead tree version is out. Great stuff and I love the city creation guidelines and it does have one of the most detailed character creation systems I have seen. I am not sure if I will like it as a game yet, but it goes a long way toward's selling Fate to me.
Mentioned this one on Friday, but I am still loving my new Monster Manual 3 for D&D 4. The guys over at Wizards know their audience, all the monsters in this book appeared (more or less) originally in the various AD&D modules from the Golden Age of AD&D. So there are your GDQ monsters, your S series ones (some, not all) and more. It was nice to see some old faces. There were new ones as well to keep things interesting.
I worry about D&D 4 though. It seems to me that the wind is gone out of it's sails (and maybe sales too). I like the game, but I see why some gamers don't. The market is more factionalized than ever before and it is somewhat due to the one thing that was supposed to bring us all under one system to rule them all; d20.
I have new Witch Girls Adventures book on the way, so I want to talk about that soon too.
Wedding
Next week I have a Civil War reenactment wedding to go to. I am in the wedding so I'll be wearing my Victorian suit. I will be wear a full wool suit, in Illinois, at the start of Summer, outside. I must be insane.
I want to get XP for this like it was a LARP and be able to apply to any of Ghosts of Albion characters.
In any case I won't be posting near the end of the week.
Pathfinder
Finally leveled up in Pathfinder yesterday! Yeah! We are all still making tweaks to our characters which is to be expected. Still enjoying this game but there are some minor rules tweaks we are still getting used to after 3.5 and 4.0. I am also playing a Paladin. Something I have not done in maybe 20 years or more, so I have to get used to being a front line fighter again and not the sneaky arcane type that fires magical bolts from the background. So I have combat tactics to read up on.
New Games
Got Dresden Files. Wow that is a good looking book, can't wait till the dead tree version is out. Great stuff and I love the city creation guidelines and it does have one of the most detailed character creation systems I have seen. I am not sure if I will like it as a game yet, but it goes a long way toward's selling Fate to me.
Mentioned this one on Friday, but I am still loving my new Monster Manual 3 for D&D 4. The guys over at Wizards know their audience, all the monsters in this book appeared (more or less) originally in the various AD&D modules from the Golden Age of AD&D. So there are your GDQ monsters, your S series ones (some, not all) and more. It was nice to see some old faces. There were new ones as well to keep things interesting.
I worry about D&D 4 though. It seems to me that the wind is gone out of it's sails (and maybe sales too). I like the game, but I see why some gamers don't. The market is more factionalized than ever before and it is somewhat due to the one thing that was supposed to bring us all under one system to rule them all; d20.
I have new Witch Girls Adventures book on the way, so I want to talk about that soon too.
Wedding
Next week I have a Civil War reenactment wedding to go to. I am in the wedding so I'll be wearing my Victorian suit. I will be wear a full wool suit, in Illinois, at the start of Summer, outside. I must be insane.
I want to get XP for this like it was a LARP and be able to apply to any of Ghosts of Albion characters.
In any case I won't be posting near the end of the week.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Random Stuff before the Weekend
So some little posts today.
Monster Manual 3 for D&D 4
Picked this up earlier in the week. I love it. You can never get too many monsters or monster books. IT's too bad we are not playing D&D4 in my adult group. I might have to move to D&D4 in my kids group just so I can use this.
I am torn. My kids' game of D&D 3.x is going great I almost hate to change things on them. But then there are all these nice new D&D4 books...
Pathfinder
As typical tomorrow is ENWorld Game Day at my favorite local game store, and I am going to be at home in my game room playing a marathon game of Pathfinder. Not that I am complaining mind you! I will just have to be there in spirit. Anytime there has been an EN World Game Day or a D&D Game Day we are gaming at my place instead. I am fully expecting my paladin, Johan Werper the V, the great-great grandson of my first ever D&D character to reach 2nd level tomorrow. One can always hope.
I am totally digging using Hero Lab for this as well. Great to keep track of things and even explore "what ifs" on skills or class choices.
Tempting FATE
Bet that title hasn't been overused! Anyway. I have a bunch of new(ish) Fate and Fudge games that are screaming at me to try out. I regular GM is bringing over his printed out copy of Icons, I have Dresden Files and few others. I am still not 100% sold on Fate/Fudge even if they are Indy darlings.
More Games
Look for reviews, overviews and commentary of games like Dresden Files, BASH, Icons, Cartoon Action Hour 2 and more. Plus I have a stack of old games I want to go over. Mostly horror.
AND....
It is my birthday this weekend! So happy birthday to me.
Monster Manual 3 for D&D 4
Picked this up earlier in the week. I love it. You can never get too many monsters or monster books. IT's too bad we are not playing D&D4 in my adult group. I might have to move to D&D4 in my kids group just so I can use this.
I am torn. My kids' game of D&D 3.x is going great I almost hate to change things on them. But then there are all these nice new D&D4 books...
Pathfinder
I am totally digging using Hero Lab for this as well. Great to keep track of things and even explore "what ifs" on skills or class choices.
Tempting FATE
Bet that title hasn't been overused! Anyway. I have a bunch of new(ish) Fate and Fudge games that are screaming at me to try out. I regular GM is bringing over his printed out copy of Icons, I have Dresden Files and few others. I am still not 100% sold on Fate/Fudge even if they are Indy darlings.
More Games
Look for reviews, overviews and commentary of games like Dresden Files, BASH, Icons, Cartoon Action Hour 2 and more. Plus I have a stack of old games I want to go over. Mostly horror.
AND....
It is my birthday this weekend! So happy birthday to me.
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
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
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.......
Thursday, June 10, 2010
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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