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Croverus
2009-09-18, 04:31 PM
This si just the story and what role the player's play in it, as I'm at work and need to put the work I did on ym computer online so I can access it from my laptop tonight when I get home. If anyone thing sthe story sounds interesting let me know what you think.

Severity, The Space Exploring Role Playing Game

Story:
The year is 3644. Humanity has been exploring the stars for over a millenia after faster than light (FTL) travel was created sometime in the 22nd Century. Even by that time the human race had space stations orbiting most of their home solar sytem's planets and many of the moons have Biodome cities. The social classes have been pushed further apart where the high class rarely even come across the lower class scum. Humanity has grown a great deal technologically and cybernetics are common place in all tiers of society, though the rich can afford much more aesthetically pleasing cybernetics. Diseases and genetic illnesses are practically non-existant in the upper class, but mutation and plagues are common in slums. Humanity is no longer under singular rule. There are 7 factions whom fight amongst themselves and with alien races to establish colonies, secure resources and control galaxies. These seven factions include two military groups, three industrial organizations, a coalition of terrorist groups, and "the vigalantees."

Humans made first contact in the 25th century with the insect-like Kreel. Over the course of only three centuries they encountered several other races, inluding the amphibious Chuu'ghol, the militant Digark, and the mystical Sleexxize. These four alien races are also divided into three or four factions each, every faction based on some philosophy or goal. The Kreel are divided into the Hive, the Free Thinkers, and the Swarm. The Chuu'ghol consist of the Patriarchs, the Corporations, the Dreadknaughts and the Tribes. Digark are divided by military interests, into the Guardians, the Raiders, the Conquerers and the Mercenaries. And the Sleexxize include the Storm Lords, Gaiads, Salamanders, the Archons and the Furies.

On top of this, there is always the choice to not belong to any faction. To become a free-lancer who works for the highest bidder.

With 5 races, each with bonuses and technological levels, and 23 seperate factions whom each have their own special units and abilities, Severity is a universe steep in fully customizeable characters. Players take part as a single indivudual in massive wars. Most of the action will take place planetside, as the player(s) work with NPCs to accomplsih goals to further the power of whatever faction they are working for.


Players:
The player will create their character to play a part in the faction wars. They first choose which of the 5 Races they will fight for - Humans, Kreel, Chuu'ghol, Digark, or Sleexxize. They will then choose their faction which gives them goals and shows how they were raised to believe things. Faction determines a great deals, after race. After that a player picks out specializations. For humans this could mean special training with a class of weapons and equipment. For the Kreel, specialization is more obvious in that it actually give the character a different form designed for its purpose. The Chuu'ghol have unique talents that take form as random information in genetic code, giving each member some kind of ability that other members of its hatchery might not possess. The Digark will specialize much like humans, using roles in a fight as a basis of what an individual is. The Sleexxize are unique due to their elemental nature which will manifest itself differently based on faction and purpose. Once a player has chosen their Race, Faction and specializations, they flesh out the details and pick their equipment. Specializations within a Race can exist in several factions, with slight changes depending on the faction itself. For example, most Human factions have a Soldier specialization, though a Soldier in the military factions is different from a soldier in one of the industrial groups.

Player-characters have a high mortality rate. But luckily death is rarely the end for a player-character, as they can be brought back in various ways, with each factions having its own form of "ressurection." The Humans have advanced cybernetics, the Kreel have "rebirthing chambers", Chuu'ghol can imprint the memories of the dead into new bodies, Digark having a cloning system, and the Sleexxize reincarnate in new bodies upon death. In this way a player can have their character die many times and simple come back in a new body, with the only penalty of death being that the if the previous body is not salvaged than any equipment carried on it will be lost. So recklessly dieing over and over becomes very expensive over time and to be perfectly honest, player-characters don't have a very promising income.


Basically it's going to be a mixture of FPS, RPG, and use some hex-based tabletop rules for combat, since fights will be between a large number of people, and while a lot of the fighitng will happen out of sight, the players can still run into the middle of two or more opposing groups fighitng it out and then help whoever they're allied with. Players are kinda super hero-ish, or as I liek to refer to it, Master Chief-ish.

Croverus
2009-09-18, 05:17 PM
You'll fight like a FPS turned into an RPG being played on a Tabel top, hex-grd game mat. (Shameless bump)

Samurai Jill
2009-09-19, 03:13 PM
Just one small point of contention:

There are 7 factions whom fight amongst themselves and with alien races to establish colonies, secure resources and control galaxies.
Galaxies are, like, super big. Really really really big, and far away. Humans, at the point in technological development where cybernetics is present but still not quite universal, probably wouldn't be able to control an entire galaxy, leave alone several. (It would be a little like bronze age Greece conquering the planet.) But that's a minor point.

You'll fight like a FPS turned into an RPG being played on a Tabel top, hex-grd game mat. (Shameless bump)
Ahhh... I see now. A return to to RPGs' wargaming roots, huh? Sounds good.

The different racial options sound fine and dandy, (though I'd be tempted to rename the Sleexxize to something more pronouncable...) As setting background/justification, it sounds fine overall. However, it's difficult to comment further until you can make some suggestions for associated mechanics.

Croverus
2009-09-21, 10:43 AM
Mechanics I'm still trying to figure out if any current systems would fit well, been eyeing Dark Heresy's system. At least the whole d% system. Not sure, will look into this further. Renaming a race is easy. And It's not that cybernetics are not universal, its that the poor don't have as nice cybernetics as he rich. Anyone could get a cybernetic arm, but someone in the upper class can afford something beyond just replacing a regular limb (like compartments, onboard weapons, specialized internal tools, etc.)

Combat takes place on battlefields, the party is a squad among dozens. This amkes a lot fo work for the GM, but I'm a micromanager by nature (it's me job IRL) so I enjoy handling all that background info that the PCs don't even learn about until later on. Most likely all the player's will either agree on a race to be so they work for that race's factions, or work as mercs for hire by anyone which would allow them to mix. Some factions are peaceful between Racial lines. But the game will be 90% combat, with the other 10% being minor strategy and diplomatic situations, which I expect most diplomacy to occur at gunpoint and SOMEONE dying... because there will be no "alignment" issues.

Croverus
2009-09-21, 05:27 PM
Here are the factions for the human side. No mechanical bonuses for which side you choose yet, but at least have the fluff and an idea of what kind of bonuses and equipment they have.


Humans -
Sons of Humanity
The Sons of Humanity, a military group of anti-xeno extremists who refuse to make any deals with non-humans. They strike out against all other races with extreme prejudice, preaching the purity of humanity. They often work against the Freedom Fighters, who they see as fools and heretics, as well as against the Brothers in Arms who are "opportunistic cowards". The Ravagers are a plague on humanity that the Sons will irradicate on sight. The Sons are well equipped and funded by two of the three Industrial factions and and offer protection to humans that will fight against the alien threat. They are not as numerous as the Brothers or the Freedom Fighters, in fact the Sons are the second smallest faction, but they have access to powerful weapons, using advanced cybernetics and harnessing plasma and FTL weapon technology. Player's from the Sons are often genetically and cybernetically enhanced and well trained, but are close minded and have little experience beyond their specialty.
Brothers in Arms
The Brothers in Arms do not see all alien races as a threat, trying to reach out and make alliances with those that are willing. This is not to be confused with being pacifists. They are well trained, though they do not have the funding of the Sons. They see the Sons as being less human for the Sons' ideals and allow more open minded thoughts. However they still think that the humans should be united, so they often rub the Freedom Fighters the wrong way, and are always at odds with the Ravagers. The Brothers are tolerant of other races, but hostile groups are quickly brought down. The brothers use less sophisticated equipment than the Sons, but they also have slowly learned how to use some laien tech, so they can be more versatile than the Sons in that sense.
Freedom Fighters
The Freedom Fighters are a group of free thinkers, artists, creative geniuses, outcasts, and anyone that can't seem to find a place in the world. They are the humans that find their own way, prefering the freedom of space to any stationary home. They are rebels against an established society and sometimes are accused of being terrorists, but they are nowhere as dispiccable as the Ravagers. Each individual has their own goals and beliefs
and other members understand and respect such differences. They are ragtag, though with some coming from familes of traders and even upper class citizens who have chosen to help the poor and forsaken, they manage to always be well armed and prepared and have a wide variety of skills. They look like any other human, and can easily blend into a crowded human populace without any notice from the Brothers who would subvert their freedom or the Sons who would "cleanse" them fo their ideological ways.
The Corporation
The Corporation, as it is simply called, is the largest commercial and industrial group of the human race. They create all kinds of weapons, armor, tools, food, entertainment, and more. But despite this they do not have access to the kind of technology that would allow them to utilize FTL or alien tech in weaponized forms. That is solely a gift that the Eon Eyes Inc is known for. And the Corporation also doesn't deal with low quality/high accessibility equipment that are made by the Cheap Traders Group. Members of the Corporation are straight forward and logical and very charismatic, though often over confident in their own equipment.
Eon Eyes Inc
Eon Eyes Inc may not be as large as the Corporation but they are far older, having been the founder of FTL technology, and have constantly found ways to keep that technology in their hands. They are also more skilled at converting alien tech into use for humans, a task the Corporation has failed to duplicate. Eon Eyes is often on good terms with most alien races, however their methods of obtaining and converting alien tech are often put into question. An employee of Eon Eyes Inc has many secrets and is very intelligent, often with personal upgrades beyond the technology available to the public. But they tend to be unsettling in apperance and manner, the technology they work with having effects on their body and minds.
Cheap Traders
Cheap Traders is a group of several small companies that work together to make sure that the poor and the needy are taken care of, often employing such individuals in exchange of goods as pay. Their stock is rarely as reliable as things from the Corporation or Eon Eyes INC, but such items are so widely mass produced their cheap cost is as desireable as the more powerful (and expensive) equipment available on the market. The traders are shrewd, knowing hwo to take care of themselves should the Brothers try and stop their business or if the Sons disagree with their dealings with an alien. They trade freely with all, and must know how to deal with anyone(or anything) they may meet in the vast reaches of space.
Ravagers
The Ravagers are a violent group of "terrorists" who will always disagree with an established government in the most violent way they cna think of. They have no love for alien races either, but will make deals with violent aliens to attack the Sons, Brothers and any small-time governemnt controlled by any faction other than their own. They use outdated tech that is common among the lower classes; ballistic weaponry, hand weapons made of simple metals, and cheap explosives. Their assosiaction with several anti-human alien groups has made them a shoot-on-sight target for the Sons and Brothers, as well as the majority of private police. A good number of their members are insane and many have some kind of mutation that makes them unable to "fit in".

Samurai Jill
2009-09-22, 09:26 AM
Anyone could get a cybernetic arm, but someone in the upper class can afford something beyond just replacing a regular limb (like compartments, onboard weapons, specialized internal tools, etc.)
Nah, I mean 'universal' in the sense of Ghost-in-the-Shell, full cyborg sense of the word- fully uploading consciousness to a cybernetic shell. But anyways-

I'm not sure the Freedom Fighters and the Ravagers are really distinct enough to merit sperate factions, apart from arbitrarily demarcating one as CG and the other as CE. If you want an amoral, alignment-free universe, then have an amoral, alignment-free universe.

Then... you you basically have 3 slight variations on the 'facless, megalithic, unfeeling corporate entity' theme, distinguished largely by their position on the incompetence-specialisation axis. I'm guessing there are game-balance reasons for this(?) but I'd be tempted to amalgamate the fluff and just give some customisation options for whatever company a player belongs to.

I'd be curious as to which of the three you have funding the Sons of Humanity, because wealthy magnates funding fanatical xenophobes who strike against external geopolitical rivals (the alien races) sounds remarkably similar to, well, terrorism to me. (Plus, if I were a businessman, I wouldn't want to tick off a large potential customer without some very good assurances it won't blow up in my face (e.g, the Saudi oil reserves.))

My advice, if you really want to facilitate tactical-strategic Gamist play, is to get some definite ideas for the crunch down first, and then really try squeezing in the fluff afterwards to complement it. (Besides, it could well suggest some useful setting ideas in the process.)

Croverus
2009-09-23, 02:17 PM
Nah, I mean 'universal' in the sense of Ghost-in-the-Shell, full cyborg sense of the word- fully uploading consciousness to a cybernetic shell. But anyways-

I'm not sure the Freedom Fighters and the Ravagers are really distinct enough to merit sperate factions, apart from arbitrarily demarcating one as CG and the other as CE. If you want an amoral, alignment-free universe, then have an amoral, alignment-free universe.

Then... you you basically have 3 slight variations on the 'facless, megalithic, unfeeling corporate entity' theme, distinguished largely by their position on the incompetence-specialisation axis. I'm guessing there are game-balance reasons for this(?) but I'd be tempted to amalgamate the fluff and just give some customisation options for whatever company a player belongs to.

I'd be curious as to which of the three you have funding the Sons of Humanity, because wealthy magnates funding fanatical xenophobes who strike against external geopolitical rivals (the alien races) sounds remarkably similar to, well, terrorism to me. (Plus, if I were a businessman, I wouldn't want to tick off a large potential customer without some very good assurances it won't blow up in my face (e.g, the Saudi oil reserves.))

My advice, if you really want to facilitate tactical-strategic Gamist play, is to get some definite ideas for the crunch down first, and then really try squeezing in the fluff afterwards to complement it. (Besides, it could well suggest some useful setting ideas in the process.)

See, I'm not the best at fluff. I'm much better at numbers. The difference between the Ravagers and the Freedom Fighters is that the Ravagers are crazy and kill anyone that basically won't help their cause, while the Freedom Fighters try not to kill people when it can be helped (in general). I'm posting fludd just to show some basics about the universe and how factions tend to interact. The feel is more like dArk Heresy, but imagine if you had the option of the party playing as all Tyranids, or as all Orks, or all Eldar.

Croverus
2009-09-23, 02:22 PM
Kreel -
The Hive
The Hive is a group of collective minds, every individual Kreel is given a task, a job it was born to perform and which it will do performing. The Hive is self sustaining and it extends across several solar sytems, the worlds it rules slowly transformed by their presence. The collective mind helps build unity among its members, who have a sense of purpose. The Hive has had skirmishes with the Sons, as well as with the Digark. But the Hive has done business with Humans and Chuu'ghol while hunting the rabid swarm. The Free Thinkers were once members of the Hive who questioned their place and were ostracized because of it, but they are treated more like outsiders rather than desserters.
Free Thinkers
Every Free Thinker was once a member of the Hive. They were born into their station but each found they wanted something else; they were not content doing what they were born to do. The Hive, which is ruled by a massive being in the center of their home system, chose to allow these individual-minded Kreel to leave the Hive, at the cost that they lost their connection with other Kreel that the Hive and even the Swarm have. The Free Thinkers were formed to create at least some semblance of the unity lost, but it will never replace the connection. Free Thinkers are tolerated by the Hive but fight the Swarm viciously. Most members have an easier time accepting other races than a member of the Hive, and they are more capable of changing.
The Swarm
The Swarm is ravenous; a piece of the Hive's mind that went insane in some corner fo space and broke free, turning into a moving tendril of gnashing teeth, scything limbs, acid spit and chitenous spines. Members of the Swarm are all crazy and marked differently than those Kreel that are part of the Hive. The Swarm attacks and destroys everything in its path and considers none as allies. Some cases exist of the Digark and Sleexxize "aiming" the swarm at an enemy system, though doing so is rare and dangerous.


Chuu'ghol -
Patriarchs
The Patriarchs consists of the oldest of the Chuu'ghol, and is considered to be the ruling faction among the Chuu'ghol, as only the Tribes are not alligned with the the other Chuu'ghol factions. Th Patriarchs have vast stores of ancient technology and eons of knowledge. They are the smallest faction, but their members are wise and powerful, and many Chuu'ghol from the Artisans and the Dreadknaughts will fight for a Patriarch. They combine eldritch power with superior alien technology in ways humans could never imagine.
Artisans
Artisans are very human-looking Chuu'ghol whom deal openly with other races with the blessings of the Patriarchs and the protection of the Dreadknaughts. They are merchants, artists, swindlers, gambers, public speakers, and perform many other social roles. They are usually the primary workforce outside of the combat related work performed by the Dreadknaughts. Most Chuu'ghol that belong to the Artisans learn to speak many languages.
Dreadknaughts
A Dreadknaught is a warrior caste in Chuu'ghol society, equipped with awesome weapons made by the Artisans and protected with the blessings from the Patriarchs. They openly wage war on the Tribes, and also battle the Sons on many occassions. The Dreadknaughts often come in conflict wiht the Digark Conquerers and fights between the two factions last for years. Members of the Dreadknaughts are bred for battle, trained for victory, and taught that death in battle is glorious.
Tribes
The Tribes are feral Chuu'ghol that shun many forms of technology that they see as unnatural. They harness elemental forces and have aligned themselves with Sleexxize on several occassions. They forgo any mechanical or synthetic machinery, choosing to design and utilize organic weapons and equipments. A member of the Tribes is skilled in guerilla tactics, though many of them are lacking in intelligence of the universe.

Samurai Jill
2009-09-24, 10:38 AM
The difference between the Ravagers and the Freedom Fighters is that the Ravagers are crazy and kill anyone that basically won't help their cause, while the Freedom Fighters try not to kill people when it can be helped (in general).
Yes, but does this mean a member of a given faction is actually mechanically obliged not to kill people unnecessarily, or is simply encouraged to role-play it? How often does this question actually crop up in play?

The feel is more like dArk Heresy, but imagine if you had the option of the party playing as all Tyranids, or as all Orks, or all Eldar.
I'm not actually terribly familiar with that system (sorry,) but I'll try to look it up when I can. (I would however, point out that Tyranid PCs would be sorta difficult to reconcile with unthinking obedience to the hive-mind. :P On the other hand, that could be an interesting mechanic to work with...)

Okay, so the Kreel are basically a slightly friendlier version of the Tyranids/Zerg, and Chuu'ghol are basically Protoss/Eldar. A few spelling mistakes aside, it seems fine, but again: Moar Krunch Pleez!

Croverus
2009-09-24, 02:53 PM
Yeah, pretty much. Then there are Digark who are kind like a corss between Orks and the Turian's from Mass Effect.

The Sleexxize are elemental beings, divided up into the furies which are female, artronarchs which are all male, and then the slamanders, gaiads, and storm lords are non-gendered who are divided up elementally as well as philisophically.

Samurai Jill
2009-09-25, 02:47 PM
Well, keep it up in any case. I'd love to see a quick summary of the mechanics.

Croverus
2009-09-29, 09:16 AM
This is what I have so far. Thought I'd at least post how the stat system will work and post the stat adjustments for the 7 human factions.

The following are the stats for each faction. This system uses the attributes Melee, Ranged, Explosives, Dodge, Leadership, Mechanical, Science, Toughness, and Senses. All attributes start at 20 and 3d10 are rolled for each at character creation to see the starting score for each. Many factions have modifiers to these abilites, usually plus or minus 5 to 15 points, with a few extremes. Not every faction is suited for mixed groups and factions with extreme bonuses are designed for either all characters to be from that same faction, or for solo play.

Here's a short description of each attribute and examples of what it covers. Checks for attributes are rolled with the d%.

MeleeAny action involving a physcial blow with an attached body part or with a held object counts as melee. This includes punching, kicking, biting, claws, gouging with horns, body slams, wrestling, pushing, tripping, disarming, and basically anything that would be covered under hand-to-hand combat.
RangedCovers projectile and thrown weapons, including improvised weapons, as long as the weapon is being fired or thrown. Trying to crack open someone's skull with the butt of your combat rifle is a Melee action. Shooting them from point blank is Ranged.
ExplosivesDeals with interacting with explosives, including setting, defusing, making, breaking, and detonating. Thrown explosives, such as grenades are usually covered under ranged to determine how clsoe to the target they land. Trying to shape a charge to set up an ambush is a good example of using explosives. Rocket weapons can be fired with Ranged attribute, but reloading an explosive weapon that is classified as Heavy requires an Explosives check to properly reload.
DodgeThis attribute will determine how capable a character is at avoiding incoming threats, whether ducking under a blade, diving for cover to avoid a hail of plasma, or jumping back as the floor gives way beneathe you. Dodge rolls are usualyl reflexive and take up half a turn for a round. If you'd rather take the hit and use a full round simply declare so. Dodge can be rolled ahead of time to show a character is actively weaving and dodging and spending a full round on dodging adds a nice bonus.
LeadershipDetermines most, if not all, social interactions. Will determine how strong a character can force his/her will on another being, how convincing they can be in a diplomatic situation, and how well NPC troops and other characters will understand and follow orders. When rolling two beings disagree they make opposing Leadership rolls to see who has the dominant personality. High Leadership can improve the morale of allies.
MechanicalSkill with making, repairing, and interacting with physical objects. This includes making and fixing weapons, armor and other non-powered equipment, as well as how easilyl a character can manipulate machinery. High points can give access to improvements to ballistic weapons.
ScienceInteractions with electronic and scientific machines, such as power cores, computers, lab equipment and energy-based weaponry. Inludes reprogramming, hacking and creating electronic items. Often combines with Mechanical to make powerful machines. A high Science score allows for bonuses with energy and plasma based weaponry and sheilds.
ToughnessWhen a character wants to see how much damage his body cna shrug off, he rolls his Toughness and on a success can reduce the damage he takes by one for every 20 points of Toughness (theoretically every character has the opportunity to shrug off at least one point about 25% of the time). This is an expression of how badly a character can be injured and keep going. When poisoned or subjected to an environmental hazard that does not allow a Dodge save (like poisons, radiation, exposure to a vaccum) Toughness is rolled to determine how severe the effects are.
SensesCharacters learn to combine all their senses to stay aware of their surroundings. This attribute determines just how aware they are. Senses helps spot the presence of any who are actively hiding themselves, notice small details that another person might have missed, and paying attetntion to tells and hints. When a creature is actively trying to avoid notice, instead of rolling some kind of Hide check, it simply adds a penalty to the Senses check of the person trying to find them.



Humans: All Human factions have a total of +40 to their abilities.
The Sons of Humanity
+5 Melee
+15 Ranged
+5 Leadership
+10 Toughness
+5 Senses


Brothers in Arms
+15 Melee
+5 Ranged
+5 Explosives
+10 Toughness
+5 Senses

Freedom Fighters
+5 Melee
+5 Ranged
+5 Explosives
+10 Dodge
-5 Leadership
+5 Mechanical
+5 Science
+5 Toughness
+5 Senses

The Corporation
+10 Explosives
+5 Leadership
+15 Mechanical
+5 Science
+5 Senses

Eon Eye Inc
+5 Ranged
+5 Explosives
+10 Leadership
+5 Mechanical
+15 Science

Cheap Traders
+10 Melee
+5 Ranged
+5 Leadership
+10 Mechanical
+5 Science
+5 Senses

The Ravagers
+10 Melee
+5 Ranged
+15 Explosives
+5 Dodge
-10 Leadership
+5 Mechanical
+10 Toughness

Croverus
2009-09-30, 02:56 PM
Here are stats for the other factions:


Kreel: All Kreel factions have a total ability bonus of +50

The Hive
+10 Melee
+5 Ranged
+5 Explosives
+5 Dodge
+5 Leadership
+10 Toughness
+10 Senses

Free Thinkers
+5 Melee
+10 Ranged
+5 Explosives
+10 Dodge
+5 Mechanical
+5 Science
+5 Toughness
+5 Senses

The Swarm
+15 Melee
+10 Ranged
+10 Dodge
-10 Leadership
+15 Toughness
+10 Senses

Chuu'ghol: All Chuu'ghol factions have a total ability bonus of +35

Patriarchs
+5 Ranged
+10 Leadership
+10 Science
+10 Senses

Artisans
+5 Dodge
+10 Mechanical
+10 Science
+10 Senses

Dreadknaughts
+5 Melee
+10 Ranged
+10 Explosives
-10 Dodge
+10 Toughness
+10 Senses

The Tribes
+10 Melee
+5 Ranged
+10 Dodge
-5 Leadership
+5 Toughness
+10 Senses

Digark: All Digark factions have a total ability bonus of +40

Guardians
+10 Melee
+5 Dodge
+10 Leadership
+5 Toughness
+10 Senses

Raiders
+5 Melee
+5 Ranged
+10 Explosives
+5 Dodge
+5 Mechanical
+5 Toughness
+5 Senses

Conquerers
+5 Melee
+10 Ranged
+5 Explosives
+5 Leadership
+10 Toughness
+5 Senses

The Mercs
+5 Melee
+5 Ranged
+5 Explosives
+5 Dodge
+5 Mechanical
+5 Science
+5 Toughness
+5 Senses

Sleexxize: All Sleexxize factions have a total ability bonus of +45

Storm Lords
+5 Melee
+15 Ranged
+5 Leadership
+10 Mechanical
+10 Science
+5 Senses

Gaiads
+15 Melee
+5 Ranged
-5 Dodge
+5 Leadership
+5 Mechanical
+15 Toughness
+10 Senses

Salamanders
+5 Melee
+5 Ranged
+15 Explosives
+10 Dodge
+5 Toughness
+10 Senses

Atronarchs
+5 Melee
+5 Ranged
+5 Dodge
+15 Leadership
+10 Toughness
+10 Senses

Furies
+10 Melee
+10 Explosives
+15 Dodge
-5 Leadership
+5 Mechanical
+5 Science
+5 Toughness
+5 Senses

Samurai Jill
2009-09-30, 08:07 PM
Okay, so... you've got a bunch of percentile scores. Fair enough. How do you account for variations in difficulty? Just apply a %-ile modifier to the roll?

How are opponents modelled? If their scores a %-ile too, how do you handle opposed skill checks?

...I'll try to look over the modifiers more closely later, but those are my main points of curiosity.

Croverus
2009-10-01, 12:38 PM
Okay, so... you've got a bunch of percentile scores. Fair enough. How do you account for variations in difficulty? Just apply a %-ile modifier to the roll?

How are opponents modelled? If their scores a %-ile too, how do you handle opposed skill checks?

...I'll try to look over the modifiers more closely later, but those are my main points of curiosity.

More difficult (and the opposite - easier) tasks are adjusted by a negative or positive modifier. So if you're hitting someone that is paralyzed, you get a bonus to your score so the roll is compared to your adjusted score.

Opposed, its just like a normal check, if both win, then the person that roleld closer to a 1 wins, if one fails then the other wins automatically, but if the person that would cause the check to need an opposed check froma nother faisl, the other check is not necessary, there's nothing to oppose.

Opponents use % but at a lower base. Players are crem of the crop. So NPCS don't often get the 20 base plus 3d10. Powerful enemies might have some scores with higher base as well. Example: Your squad runs into a "Tank-Beetle" froma Kreel Swarm assault. His toughness and melee are gonna be rediculous, but he'll have penalties to dodge and not be able to use ranged weapons, and his skill in mechanical and science is non-existant. In this way Player's are considered more adaptable.

Samurai Jill
2009-10-02, 12:20 PM
...Opposed, its just like a normal check, if both win, then the person that roleld closer to a 1 wins, if one fails then the other wins automatically...
Ah, right, similar to the GURPS approach. My main remark here is that- in the event of an initial tie- this has the counter-intuitive side-effect that the party with the lower skill actually has a better chance to break the tie: (e.g if A has skill 50 and B has skill 20, and both 'win' their initial rolls, A has a 1/50 chance to roll a 1, while B has a 1/20 chance.)

Another potential weakness is that modifiers become less significant as skill advances. Imagine, e.g, that 'target is paralysed' means you get a +15% bonus to hit from a reasonable distance- now, if your base 'hitting' skill is 10, then that's a big deal- you've more than doubled your chance to hit. But if it's 60, then that's only a 25% increase, and this may not make particular sense. e.g, some would incline to the view that the guy with a skill of 60 should have practically a 100% chance to hit an unmoving target at medium range.

These are mostly Sim concerns, but from a Gamist-competitive standpoint, the drawback here is that things become trickier to balance at both very high and very low skills levels:

At very high skill levels (for PCs vs. NPCs,) success is the norm, ties become frequent, and ties usually go to the weaker party, so really it's a bit of crap-shoot. At very low skill levels (for PCs vs NPCs,) failure is the norm, and situational modifiers dominate. In both cases, it's hard to guarantee that players have a slight-but-mostly-reliable edge over enemies without basically going easy on them. In other words, the PCs edge over opponents is really only significant when skills are at moderate levels (say, the 30-70 range.)

I will look over the various faction outlines shortly, but if you plan to do any serious powergaming, you might want to consider a dice pool system or simply roll-and-add, possibly with connotations of exponential growth.

Croverus
2009-10-02, 12:42 PM
Dice pools... Like in n WoD?

Samurai Jill
2009-10-02, 12:47 PM
Something like that. I'll outline a couple of frequent approaches later.

Samurai Jill
2009-10-02, 01:12 PM
Okay, after going over the suggested modifiers and skill array-

1. So, I'm guessing melee is opposed by melee or dodge, and ranged by dodge, possibly with help from senses? For something resembling wargaming, it's important to have clear mechanics, or calvinball rules-lawyering will eat you alive.

2. regarding science/mechanical- I'd be quite interested in a system for putting together advanced weaponry, power armour or other cybernetics- those things can get deliciously crunchy. How often would these skills crop up during a mission?

The array of basic skills seems pretty suitable, overall. It's good and focused. The stats for the human factions all look pretty plausible, but I'd still be tempted to simplify things a bit.

Oh- one other thing- I strongly recommend against rolling for stats randomly if you want PCs to be well-balanced. Just give them, say, 100 points to distribute as desired, then add 20.

Croverus
2009-10-02, 02:54 PM
Okay, after going over the suggested modifiers and skill array-

1. So, I'm guessing melee is opposed by melee or dodge, and ranged by dodge, possibly with help from senses? For something resembling wargaming, it's important to have clear mechanics, or calvinball rules-lawyering will eat you alive.
Dodge has to do with avoiding attacks, yes, and toughness is resisting damage you can't "avoid" (falling, poison, radiation, extreme temperature, starvation, fatigue). When you attack with a melee or ranged attack you roll to see # of successes (if using dice pool method) and then the other person has to roll more successes witht heir dodge to avoid the attack.


2. regarding science/mechanical- I'd be quite interested in a system for putting together advanced weaponry, power armour or other cybernetics- those things can get deliciously crunchy. How often would these skills crop up during a mission?
They can be used in the field to hotwire enemy tech that you might not be familiar with. Mechanical can also help repair malfunctioning equipment (which could have been damaged from an attack or a critical failure). Science can be used to bypass security locks, hack into computer systems, and other espionage activities. And making things, it can be done with the proper facilities and materials. (if you get really good you can pretty much make weapons Fallout 3 style.)


The array of basic skills seems pretty suitable, overall. It's good and focused. The stats for the human factions all look pretty plausible, but I'd still be tempted to simplify things a bit.

Oh- one other thing- I strongly recommend against rolling for stats randomly if you want PCs to be well-balanced. Just give them, say, 100 points to distribute as desired, then add 20.

Explain to me what you mean abotu giving them points to distribute then adding 20... Do you mean that the modifiers I already have are good (if we use dicepools every 5 pts could represent an extra dice to the pool) but instead of adding them to (20+3d10) or... idk what you're saying.

Samurai Jill
2009-10-02, 04:50 PM
Dodge has to do with avoiding attacks, yes, and toughness is resisting damage you can't "avoid" (falling, poison, radiation, extreme temperature, starvation, fatigue). When you attack with a melee or ranged attack you roll to see # of successes (if using dice pool method) and then the other person has to roll more successes witht heir dodge to avoid the attack.
Fair enough. How do your see damage/recovery mechanics working out? Straight HP, HP+wounds, wound penalties, body parts, etc.? How do armour, damage, weapon types, criticals work out?

They can be used in the field to hotwire enemy tech that you might not be familiar with. Mechanical can also help repair malfunctioning equipment (which could have been damaged from an attack or a critical failure). Science can be used to bypass security locks, hack into computer systems, and other espionage activities. And making things, it can be done with the proper facilities and materials. (if you get really good you can pretty much make weapons Fallout 3 style.)
Sounds fair.

Explain to me what you mean abotu giving them points to distribute then adding 20... Do you mean that the modifiers I already have are good (if we use dicepools every 5 pts could represent an extra dice to the pool) but instead of adding them to (20+3d10) or... idk what you're saying.
The modifiers seem fine, sure, but I just mean you'd split 100 points between the 9 skills (e.g, Melee 20, Ranged 30, Explosives 5, Dodge 30, Mechanical 15,) then add 20 to each. (Don't let any go over 50 to start, and yeah, divide by 5 if you're using dice pools.)

Croverus
2009-10-02, 05:04 PM
Fair enough. How do your see damage/recovery mechanics working out? Straight HP, HP+wounds, wound penalties, body parts, etc.? How do armour, damage, weapon types, criticals work out?
This I'm working on. I'm probably gonan take a cure from WoD, dividing up damage into bashing, lethal and aggravated and a person gets a set amount of health boxes. Different damage will affect species diffently, like lightning and fire and bashing and aggravated damage respectively to most races, but to some Sleexxize that kind of damage actually heals. Kinda like how in WoD, electricity is bashing to mortals, lethal to vampires, and heals Prometheans.

Armor would probably subtract from the number of success an enemy gets on damage rolls. Penalties... not sure on that and targeting a specific part won't always matter (your enemies get less health boxes than you) but when it does it will cause penalties to dice pools that that body part is concerned with. Criticals... again, take from WoD, 5 or more successes can be a critical.


The modifiers seem fine, sure, but I just mean you'd split 100 points between the 9 skills (e.g, Melee 20, Ranged 30, Explosives 5, Dodge 30, Mechanical 15,) then add 20 to each. (Don't let any go over 50 to start, and yeah, divide by 5 if you're using dice pools.)

Ok, that makes sense. And yeah, divide by 5, so they get 20 points to spend then all stats get 2 (rather than 4, being able to throw out 10 dice is ridiculous easy to get successes) and then add modifiers.

Samurai Jill
2009-10-04, 02:20 PM
...Well, it sounds like you have a serviceable system there! Now all you have to do is get some guinea pigs playtesters!

Croverus
2009-10-05, 12:45 PM
...Well, it sounds like you have a serviceable system there! Now all you have to do is get some guinea pigs playtesters!

Heck, I only need a couple fo groups with 2-3 players in each group to pull that off.

Croverus
2009-10-06, 03:08 PM
Wait, before I playtest I need to work out a list of equipment and the specializations available to each faction. Types of specializations change from race to race and within each faction some of that races (but not all) of those specializations are available. Kinda like how being froma specific homeworld in Dark Heresy will determine what careers are available to you.