What Cool Stuff Are You Working On?

[Horatio@Bridge]

I've been working on a role playing game using Fate called Senjitsu Jidai: The Era of 1000 Realities. It's set in a warring states Japan, but instead of fighting over who is going to be shogun, the clans are fighting over who is going to define reality. Each clan has their own reality framework, and I've been writing about the clans for the last few months. I'm kind of happy with the work I've been doing and want to share. I bet there are a lot of other people out here who are working on cool things too, like cool character backstories, adventures, homebrew content, novels, short stories, or even new games. Care to give us a glimpse? Not really looking to get around the rules on promoting, but it would be neat to see what people are working on and encourage each other.

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History of the Asakura

Asakura Toshikage was an underground artist during the Oni Rebellion, whose pop-up works showed the people the possibilities of freedom by their creative reimaginings of reality. He spent most of the rebellion on the run from the forces of ASHIKAGA, putting up his works of art ever so slightly faster than the officials could take them down.

In the aftermath of the destruction of ASHIKAGA, Toshikage traveled to the valley of Ichidojani in Echizen province to found an artist commune. It was his vision that the most creative peoples of the age would gather together to explore impossible art and new visions of what reality could become. When fighting broke out between the forces of Yamana Sozen and Hosokawa Katsuko, he invited all of the creative types from Kyoto to take refuge in his commune. He set up hilltop forts on either side of the valley to keep watch for partisans, and walled off the north and south ends of the valley to protect the artists, writers, thespians, and craftspeople who had come to take refuge with him. Then he turned his attention inward to work on creating his artist’s utopia.

Toshikage’s heirs maintained the peace of Ichidojani over the next 100 years, mostly by fostering friendly relationships with the nearby Ikko-ikki. As a result the region was more peaceful than most of Japan for this period, attracting refugees from across the tumultuous Kansai region. The Asakura also maintained friendly relationships with the Revolutionary Council, though they tended to keep themselves out of the political side of things. With Oda Nobunaga’s rise to power, however, the Asakura are facing increased pressure to take an active part in events.

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Powers of the Asakura

The Asakura have created a reality where imagination is transmuted into life by the skill of an artist. An Asakura artist might draw an image of a flower, then draw it into existence to present to her beloved. A poet speaks a frog into existence that then plops into a pond, while a potter might enamel a vase with images of fauns and fairies who spring to life and dance at the first sound of a musician’s instrument. The basic power of the Asakura is “Art Incarnate,” which brings their creations to life. As the artist advances, they follow particular art schools and philosophies which can lead to extraordinary creations. Also, the Asakura are generally quite famous, and have learned to use that fame to their advantage.

Art Incarnate

The Asakura clan has developed techniques by which they can infuse their works of art with reality. A painter might sketch a vine on a wall, then pull the ink off the surface into a real plant that helps them to climb the building. A poet may speak barbed words to sling at her enemies. An actor may shelter behind a prop shield, imbuing it with such life that it shelters him from the blows of his foes.

Prerequisites – None
Cost – 1 Refresh
The artist may use Art for create advantage actions to create a tool, object, or plant in the physical world. These creations last for one scene and then dissolve into a puddle of ink, burst in a puff of air, or revert to their base nature, as appropriate.
These artworks can include any inanimate object or plant life that may be no larger in any one dimension than 10 feet times the artist’s Art skill.

Art Explodes

There are fierce debates among the Asakura about the nature and meaning of art. For this artist, art is something which occurs in a fleeting moment. Each sunset is a unique beauty, and the cherry trees are beautiful for a time, but are just normal trees the rest of the year. Their art is meant to be experienced once, and then is gone. Sometimes this means that their art literally explodes. On the battlefield, they mix explosive chemicals into their materials and detonate their creations.

Prerequisites – Breathing Words, cannot have Art Endures
Cost – 1 Refresh
The artist may attack with Art by detonating a minion created with Breathing Words. The Minion is destroyed by the attack.
A Minion may be detonated anywhere within the line of sight of the artist, and may move one Zone before being detonated. Each minion sacrificed in the Attack, including the first, gives a +2 bonus to the Attack.

Art Endures

There are fierce debates among the Asakura about the nature and meaning of art. For this artist, art is something which lasts into future ages. The work of masters is displayed in museums and preserved in buildings for a thousand years or more. Beyond that, their work can become ingrained in the culture, lasting as long as humanity itself. On the battlefield, their creations fight with tenacity, and have enough self-possession to carry out orders on their own.

Prerequisites – Breathing Words, cannot have Art Explodes
Cost – 1 Refresh
Minions created with Breathing Words last for a full day and can persist out of the line of sight of their creator. Such minions can carry out simple instructions.
Instead of creating and controlling two Average minions, the artist can create a single Good Minion. This minion has one aspect, one Good (+3) skill, one Fair (+2) skill, and one Average (+1) skill. They have 3 Stress 1 point boxes and a -2 Consequence slot. It takes one action to create this Minion.

The Ichijodani Art of Fame

The artists of the Asakura frequently become renowned for their work. Their artwork travels the world ahead of them, winning the artist friends among people they have never met personally. A savvy artist learns to groom this reputation and leverage these relationships to advance their own causes.

Prerequisites – None
Cost – 1 Refresh
The artist may use Art in the place of Contacts for create advantage actions to find a useful person who would reasonably be among their network of fans and hangers on.
The artist gains a bonus called Fame. It has a value of +2.
The artist may apply their Fame bonus to create advantage actions with Art to find a useful person who would reasonably be among their network of fans and hangers on.

[Razade]

I've been working on a 250ish page fanbook for Masks: A New Generation, we're on the editing stage and getting all the art finished. Moving on to some other projects while my side of the book is finishing up.

[Horatio@Bridge]

What's Masks about? Also, what is a fanbook?

[Palanan]

And where are you sourcing the art?

[Telok]

Appatently reasonably soon I may be bothering to produce a serious errata/rebalance for DtD40k7r.

More currently I seem to be translating statistical dice roll models and a dice roller/perils of the warp for the game from an andriod app into a straight web page format.

[Mastikator]

I'm making a webpage for my RPG ruleset & campaign setting "Infinite Darkness". The most recent addition is 3D rendering of solar systems in javascript (no plugins or anything, just vanilla javascript, 3d rendering of solar systems, the rest of the page is a react project). Go to "World & Lore" in the top menu and then "The Sol System" in the menu that follows, then beneath the initial blurb there's another button "View The Sol System" which opens up the 3d rendering.
The Fringe World -> Ashra also has a full set of textures.

Still working out the kinks, currently it's like 90% kinks. This is my first time doing 3d animation and it turns out 3d animation is like super hard.

Edit- before that I made a body armor customizing tool that I think turned out pretty good.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I've got a whole mess o' things brewing!

• I'm preparing a new release of my Guide to Greatness with better editing, one or two new base classes (a shapeshifter, and maybe an alchemist), two more Paladin oaths, and racial feats for the Eberron races.
• I'm also putting together a new 5e book, tentatively titled "Grod's Grimoire of the Grotesque," that's going to be something like 3.5's Unearthed Arcana-- new rules, revised classes, system overhauls for gritty, high-power, and low-magic campaigns, stuff like that. Only two more big elements to go...
• Most excitingly, I've finished the third draft of my queer superhero novel and started sending it off to agents. Only rejections so far, but one was really nice and enthusiastic, so I'm holding out hope

[Cluedrew]

I'm currently working on a game where you desperately try to keep a ship just barely stilly capable of faster than light travel together for just a bit longer. Still very early in development but the notable features I am working on are:

• One-shot Game-Play: This is all I can arrange right now so why not.
• Ship & Crew Generation: Everything is tied back to the ship, right now you actually build your PC as kind of an add-on to the ship. There is a very thin line between your character abilities and the ship's facilities.
• Random Breakdown Tables: So many ways for the ship to break. It is constantly under stress and that causes problems and you have to fix them just well enough to keep going. In fact acquiring all the things you need to keep going is kind of the driving reason to interact with the places you go by.

First draft thematic introduction:

The ship is broken, has been for years really. Every jump may be its last, every stop might be its final resting place. It leaks and groans, it's half blind and stumbles forward at best. We should of abandoned it years ago.

We didn't, its all we have. Patching it up for one more jump, then another and another. Scavenging wrecks for parts when we can and cannibalizing the ship when we can't. Sometimes we have to choose between food and fuel. We go hungry every time.

At this point I'm not sure if we really are heading towards something or heading away. I'm not sure it matters either. Maybe it will someday - the day we get there. But for today and tomorrow all that matters is that we keep flying.

[NichG]

Finishing touches on Mythclad, a more or less total d20 rewrite for high powered Lovecraftian sky pirate ascendancy to godhood while redefining the fundamental structure of reality gameplay. There's a lot of risky mechanical stuff in there which I want to see players break - an action point system rather than move/standard/etc actions, everyone is a Tier 1 character, dramatic editing stuff, etc. The bulk of it is done so at this stage its things like adding setting details, PrCs, tying setting elements to hooks and putting stuff in the book to grab players' attention and interest.

This is the book so far, minus some stuff on crafting materials, a few item modifiers and spells, etc that I've added recently in my local copy.

[EdokTheTwitch]

I'm currently working on a new TTPRPG, set in a standard-ish fantasy setting. It is inspired by my love of E6 back in D&D 3.5 days, at least with regards to the assumed power levels of the characters.

The game is designed to provide a ridiculously wide range of choice for creating characters, while attempting to create as few "trap options" as possible. Each character is created by picking 3 base classes (out of the 25 in the original book), and grows by learning new abilities from those 3. The classes cover most of the standard archetypes I could think of, including a Berserker, Weapon Master, Knight, Thief, Acrobat, Hunter, Druid, Negotiator, Bard, Enchanter, Healer, Hexer, Elemental Mages, etc.

Each class has 8 base abilities (the player only ever needs to learn four) and 3 Mastery abilities (with the player only ever learning 1). From a couple of mock-up games and theoretical builds I've made, the system holds up in combat, exploration, and social encounters. Now, all I have left is the fine-tuning of the numerical stuff, populating the monster menagerie (I'm trying to come up with original concepts as much as possible), and creating the guidelines for the Game Master.

Hopefully, I'll feel confident enough to playtest with strangers soon, and then set it out for sale... somewhere.

[Lord Torath]

I'm currently working on my Orbit Tracker for Spelljammer. Trying to implement a 3D Bralspace flight distance calculator. Check my signature for a link to the current version (which as of today does not include Bralspace/Spiralspace). If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know.

[Anti-Eagle]

I've been working on a game system for running god/nation/narrative games for the past several years alongside a setting for it. The current name for the system is Ascendancy and I've so far run 4 games through the various prototypes with the setting in various points in the setting. The world started with Bronze Age socities, transitioned to a post apocalyptic medieval setting, going from there an industrial society rebuilding and securing the coasts against invasion, and then in the end a setting on a continent to west of the previous one in an american/pacific theme.

Things have hit a lull lately so I'm considering putting some more effort in and running another recruitment for the Western game... or alternatively finishing the epilogue for the East, copying all the text and finalizing that as a game setting for people to use.

[Horatio@Bridge]

Appatently reasonably soon I may be bothering to produce a serious errata/rebalance for DtD40k7r.

What is DtD40k7r?

Still working out the kinks, currently it's like 90% kinks. This is my first time doing 3d animation and it turns out 3d animation is like super hard.

This describes, like, every coding project I have ever done.

I'm currently working on a game where you desperately try to keep a ship just barely stilly capable of faster than light travel together for just a bit longer.

Feels like a mix of Firefly and Red November. Really cool!

The game is designed to provide a ridiculously wide range of choice for creating characters, while attempting to create as few "trap options" as possible. Each character is created by picking 3 base classes (out of the 25 in the original book), and grows by learning new abilities from those 3. The classes cover most of the standard archetypes I could think of, including a Berserker, Weapon Master, Knight, Thief, Acrobat, Hunter, Druid, Negotiator, Bard, Enchanter, Healer, Hexer, Elemental Mages, etc.

This has a Final Fantasy III/V feel to it. Very cool. If you're looking to playtest, I've found a lot of success going to conventions. They're all online these days, so I have been able to do a lot of demos there. I've even done games in Germany! (I am in the U.S.)

I'm currently working on my Orbit Tracker for Spelljammer. Trying to implement a 3D Bralspace flight distance calculator. Check my signature for a link to the current version (which as of today does not include Bralspace/Spiralspace). If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know.

DnD and orbital mechanics, not something I expected to see today. Spelljammer is so weird.

I've been working on a game system for running god/nation/narrative games for the past several years alongside a setting for it. The current name for the system is Ascendancy and I've so far run 4 games through the various prototypes with the setting in various points in the setting. The world started with Bronze Age socities, transitioned to a post apocalyptic medieval setting, going from there an industrial society rebuilding and securing the coasts against invasion, and then in the end a setting on a continent to west of the previous one in an american/pacific theme.

This is the RPG that I dream about every time I binge play Civilization. Very neat!

[Anti-Eagle]

This is the RPG that I dream about every time I binge play Civilization. Very neat!

If you want any information on it, feel free to peruse the links below. The Index thread in the Mythweavers forum links to all the threads this is spread across.
Even if you're just interested in the rules or using them for something it would be fine.

I'm probably going to start editing things soon and moving forward with a re-recruitment at some point or alternatively as I had mentioned that epilogue. The rules for the various versions are listed to the best of my recollection in their folders on the mythweavers. Only Ruins was the most complicated and ran the longest, with rules based on the previous game's PDQ based mythopoeia. 1900 and the Far West are systems designed to simplify the rules, 1900 being a simplification of Only Ruins, and the Far West being a modification with rules based on Lords of Creation.

The main problem I think people have had with it is understanding it as a narrative game, built more on what you want to do rather than predefined actions.

[LordCdrMilitant]

I'm currently working on my Orbit Tracker for Spelljammer. Trying to implement a 3D Bralspace flight distance calculator. Check my signature for a link to the current version (which as of today does not include Bralspace/Spiralspace). If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know.

Interesting. I have no idea what bralspace or spiralspace are, and probably don't need that capability, but I've often thought to myself that I should use an application that can plot trajectories, computer velocity change requirements, show relative positions of engaged bodies, and determine intercept opportunities in my RPG's.

Not really because I need this functionality for an RPG, but it would be nice to have a digital visualization to show my players of what is actually happening during the engagement.

Fortunately, such software exists, and I actually have licenses for some versions of it. Unfortunately, it's not really suitable for spur-of-the-moment visualizations because it takes a lot of work to set up anything in it, and can require even more work to make fictional solar systems and such.



As for "cool things" that I'm "working on", I've sometimes thought about revisiting and re-working a system I put together for a little "design your ideal D&D system" activity I did one time. The activity had some stipulations, mostly that it had to have classes and levels and be D20 based, most of which I would do away with if I didn't have to meet them to instead shamelessly stealtake inspiration from mechanics from other systems I like better. That said, I never really do end up revisiting it, because like, I probably would never run a homebrew system.

[lightningcat]

Appatently reasonably soon I may be bothering to produce a serious errata/rebalance for DtD40k7r.

I am not suprised by you saying this. :)

What is DtD40k7r?

It is a unholy combonation of Warhammer 40k, D&D, Exalted, and random pop culture using the framework of the Legend of the 5 Rings rules, that was made as an April Fools joke. It has its flaws and needs a revised edition, but is actually playable.
Telok is reviewing it here.


As for myself, I continue my insane task of building my Transformers (plus GI Joe and other stuff) game.
Currently at 6 books, and a total of 1250 pages. Link in in my sig to the current version.
I should be working on writing up antagonists, but keep getting distracted with other random ideas.

[Telok]

It is a unholy combonation of Warhammer 40k, D&D, Exalted, and random pop culture using the framework of the Legend of the 5 Rings rules, that was made as an April Fools joke. It has its flaws and needs a revised edition, but is actually playable.
Telok is reviewing it here.

It makes you do things like this:

[Lord Torath]

Interesting. I have no idea what bralspace or spiralspace are, and probably don't need that capability, but I've often thought to myself that I should use an application that can plot trajectories, computer velocity change requirements, show relative positions of engaged bodies, and determine intercept opportunities in my RPG's.

Not really because I need this functionality for an RPG, but it would be nice to have a digital visualization to show my players of what is actually happening during the engagement.

Fortunately, such software exists, and I actually have licenses for some versions of it. Unfortunately, it's not really suitable for spur-of-the-moment visualizations because it takes a lot of work to set up anything in it, and can require even more work to make fictional solar systems and such.

Bralspace (formerly Spiralspace) is the crystal sphere that has the Rock of Bral, according to the Spelljammer Cloakmaster Cycle novels. It also has a planet (opposite from Bral, on the same orbit) called Spiral, which was fairly important to the Elven Imperial Navy. Paul Westermeyer did a lot of work on the sphere. It has a non-traditional layout, which makes it tricky to implement.

Just to clarify, all this thing does is plot out the locations of the planets and calculate travel times between them. It tracks the locations of the planets (and the phases of the moons) based on how many days your campaign has been going for, and tells you what space on the planetary display they should each be in. There's also pair of charts on each tab plotting out their locations like a gridless planetary display. It's not much use in combat.

[Razade]

What's Masks about? Also, what is a fanbook?

Masks is a Powered by the Apocalypse system about teenage superheroes ala Young Justice/Teen Titans. It's published by Magpie Games. A fanbook is just what we're calling it. 3rd Party material printed under the Creative Commons Attribution license.

And where are you sourcing the art?

We have a graphic artist on payroll. We're not sourcing it from anywhere, it's being done in house.

[Democratus]

You people are amazing. This is all so cool!

I'm working on a 5e campaign world that is essentially 40s detective noir.

[Man_Over_Game]

Working on a video game project for a 1v1 MOBA-esc Dungeon Crawler kinda game, called "Enter the Crucible". The plot is that you are an Einjerhar that's fighting for freedom in a maze that's controlled by Death, and he has you fight and earn your worth against every other damned soul that wants out, basically as a means to get the damned to fight amongst themselves instead of working together and being a real problem.

You grind through different phases of randomized enemies and picking up randomized and unique weapons, akin to Dead Cells in that your playstyle changes with your gear.

However, every few checkpoints, you enter an arena against another Einherjar, a player, that you must defeat to proceed. You get his loot, and you continue through the Crucible, until you're the best or you fail.

The game will have a Karma weapon-style-leveling system, where the more you use a weapon, the more "karmic potential" other weapons get as a sort of experience. Using a weapon with "karmic potential" spends it as experience that increases stats and drop rates, so you're constantly forced to use new weapons that you're not comfortable with in order to level up. Only players who are masters at everything will be able to progress through the Crucible, while those that refuse to adapt get stuck at the bottom.

To account for a "ranking" system, despite everyone starting at the beginning, it'll have reward checkpoints similar to Dead Cells. If you best Arena #4 by 5 minutes, and you lost less than 50% of your HP through that time, Arena #5 is a massive treasure room that gives you the next tier of gear instead of a player match (and since the player you'd fight would have lower tier than the treasure, you're usually better off just taking the treasure instead of fighting the player for different-but-equal gear). This ensures that most players are usually fighting other players of similar competency while decent players rush to get the treasure rooms.

Random environments will be a thing, even with player fights. One example I keep thinking of is a Maze with a darkness/vision-impairment effect, so you don't know where your opponent is until they're close, and you don't really know what their capabilities are until you clash. Other environments include things like triggered or timed traps, wind or ice effects, and indestructible monster spawners on opposite corners.

It'll also have some cooperative moments where players work together against hordes of badguys (basically a random environmental effect of a mob room), and I plan on incorporating a cooperative same-screen gametype called "Enter the Gauntlet" (a reference to Gauntlet) where you and your friends work together while also competing for gear, facing off between checkpoints in minor skirmishes for gear and levels, before facing off one final time with increased HP and a changing environment.

Took ideas from a lot of my favorite games over the years, between Dead Cells, Hades, CRAWL, Diablo 3, MOBAs, and the classic Gauntlet.



For now, just working on the simple stuff, like getting the movement to be responsive enough for everyone and deciding on how I want the weapons and mobility powers to feel like.

[Pleh]

Tying my various D&D homebrew setting together. Several ideas that came up independently being woven into a single setting.

Got a planet orbiting a small brown dwarf, which itself is orbiting a binary star system. Each of these stars has magically infused light, creating different seasons on the planet as the different stars take dominance of the sky. Mages have only recently discovered a fourth star, a magical black hole, just outside the system threatening to end the entire star system with hungering, inky darkness. Instead of the Planes being alternate dimensions, the Outer Planes are incanate on the various other moons of the brown dwarf.

Most of the game takes place in the Lowlands, a swampy river-crossed shard of the northeast continent trapped between mountains to the west, ocean to the east, a harrowing desert to the south, and a cursed frostfell to the north. The people of the lowlands live in near perpetual poverty, as the land has most its nutrients constantly washed away by the water flowing from the mountains to the sea. On top of the land being generally poor for farming, the lowlands are periodically raided by viking dwarves from the mountains and imperial elves from the islands just off the east coast. And every winter, the blighted Frostfell creeps a little further south, causing those who die in the blizzard to become zombified.

The lowlands are designed for low level play (level 10 cap), with the intention that level 11 characters are quickly swept away into the "Outer Planes" to deal with problems more befitting their abilities. Generally, the reason no threats over 10th level (maybe an occasional CR 13 monster) exist in the lowlands is that the higher level conflicts of the Outer Plane Moons always end up drawing such creatures and persons away to higher concerns.

Also working on some personal interpretations of combat and magic, but those are far less concrete at this point.

[Horatio@Bridge]

I
As for myself, I continue my insane task of building my Transformers (plus GI Joe and other stuff) game.
Currently at 6 books, and a total of 1250 pages. Link in in my sig to the current version.
I should be working on writing up antagonists, but keep getting distracted with other random ideas.

Man, if you ever get the rights from Hasbro, that would be an epic game. It reminds me of the TMNT game from Rifts, or the various licensed games from Modiphius.

I'm working on a 5e campaign world that is essentially 40s detective noir.

Then you introduce the mythical colored Rubiks Cube. :-D

Working on a video game project for a 1v1 MOBA-esc Dungeon Crawler kinda game, called "Enter the Crucible". The plot is that you are an Einjerhar that's fighting for freedom in a maze that's controlled by Death, and he has you fight and earn your worth against every other damned soul that wants out, basically as a means to get the damned to fight amongst themselves instead of working together and being a real problem.

That is intense! I hope it gets picked up.

The lowlands are designed for low level play (level 10 cap), with the intention that level 11 characters are quickly swept away into the "Outer Planes" to deal with problems more befitting their abilities. Generally, the reason no threats over 10th level (maybe an occasional CR 13 monster) exist in the lowlands is that the higher level conflicts of the Outer Plane Moons always end up drawing such creatures and persons away to higher concerns.

That reminds me of the Matt Colville video on why higher level adventurers aren't dealing with the local problems. There are bigger fish to fry. The whole thing has a dying Earth vibe. Very cool!

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I have an update on the Azai, a clan of samurai who get powers from their oaths.

The Azai were originally vassals of the Kyogoku family, where Azai Sukemasa was a prominent general. The Kyogoku, like many of the clans near Kyoto, were heavily involved in the internal politicking of the Revolutionary Council. Sukemasa grew increasingly disgusted by the lies and betrayals that characterized this infighting, and dreamed of establishing a world of honor where the powerful would serve the weak and a samurai’s oath of loyalty would be unbreakable. Unfortunately, in order to do this, he would have to betray his masters and take control of the clan.

Sukemasa was eventually successful in overthrowing the Kyogoku and establishing himself as a daimyo, but in the process found himself at war with the Rokkaku clan. The Rokkaku were close relatives of the Kyogoku, so they naturally came to their kinfolks’ defense when Sukemasa rebelled. The Azai were driven out of Omi province and into Echizen, where they found refuge among the Asakura. Given a chance to rest and regroup, Sukemasa returned to Omi province and reclaimed his territory.

Once back in power, Sukemasa built Odani Castle, one of the great mountain fortresses of Japan. From this fortress, his son Hisamasa and grandson Nagamasa continued to defend Omi against the Rokkaku and the neighboring Saito clan. At one point Hisamasa was forced to swear fealty to the Rokkaku, but he got around this oath by retiring so Nagamasa could lead the clan. Nagamasa was victorious in the subsequent battle, and restored the independence of the Azai.

At about this time, Oda Nobunaga conquered the Saito clan and established his new capital at Gifu. He negotiated a marriage between his sister, the Lady Oichi, and Azai Nagamasa. This gave the Oda a clear path to Kyoto, and for a decade the Azai stood aside as the Oda swept away the Rokkaku and the Miyoshi and brought the Revolutionary Council under their protection.
Now, though, the Council is sending out missives to ask for help, and the Asakura are calling in their old debt to ask the Azai to stand against the tyranny of the Oda. Many of the Azai vassals, including Nagamasa’s father Hisamasa, wish to side with their old allies. Caught between two oaths, Nagamasa is unsure what to do. However, the Lady Oichi encourages him to do what his family has always done, and stand up for whatever he feels is right. She will support him, come what may.

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The reality of the Azai is a place where a warrior lives by their skill in bow and blade and by their unshakable oaths. The skill of Azai sword masters and horse archers is nearly supernatural. They can deflect bullets with their blades, and a shot from their bows can pierce a tank’s armor. They carry on the tradition of Japan’s mighty horse archers, and their skirmish tactics and superlative skill as warriors enables them to take on armies many times their size.
In the end, though, the martial skills of the Azai are their lesser abilities. The greatest abilities of the Azai come from their code of honor, bushido. An Azai, once sworn to an oath, cannot be forced to betray it. Their integrity can bind others to their cause. When they have appointed themselves to a task, no injury can dissuade them – they can even put off death until they have fulfilled the terms of their oath.

Meiyo
The samurai of the Azai are famed for their code of bushido, the warrior’s way. The first principle of this code is Meiyo – honor. When they swear an oath, they cannot be swayed from it. Most commonly this oath is to serve a particular lord, though it may also reflect an oath to complete a task, to honor an alliance, or an oath by a lord to serve those who follow them. The samurai is the sole judge of their own honor, and is not swayed by the opinions of others. Once they have decided what their honor demands, though, they cannot be swayed from it.
- Prerequisites – None.
- Cost – 1 Refresh
- The samurai gains a modifier to certain rolls called Bushido. The bonus is equal to the number of Extras the samurai possesses from the following list, each of which represents a principle of bushido: Meiyo, Yu, Rei, Jisei, Jin, Chugi, Makoto, and Gi. The maximum value of the bonus is +8, when the samurai has mastered all eight tenets of bushido.
- One of the samurai’s aspects is changed to reflect the nature of the samurai’s oath.
- The samurai may change one of their aspects to reflect additional oaths at any milestone.
- In any scene where the samurai is compelled on or invokes the aspect relating to one of their oaths, in addition to the normal benefits, they apply their Bushido modifier on overcome and defend actions made with Will made for the rest of the scene.
- The samurai cannot be forced to betray their oath by losing a contest of persuasion, and cannot be forced to betray it by the terms of being taken out. They may reject compels that would cause them to break their oath without spending a Fate Point.
- The samurai may offer to betray their oath as a concession, be maneuvered into a position where they cannot simultaneously fulfill two oaths, or otherwise choose to betray their oath. In this case, the aspect representing their oath changes to represent their status as an oathbreaker. While they have this oathbreaker aspect, they may not gain any benefits of this Extra or Extras which have this Extra as a prerequisite. They cannot change this oathbreaker aspect until they reach a significant milestone.

Makoto
Makoto is the virtue of honesty. Asking a samurai of the Azai to swear to do something is redundant – to the follower of bushido, speaking an intention is the same as doing it. If they say they will deliver a message, capture a fearsome weapon, or retrieve a sacred gem to prove their worth to marry a daimyo’s heir, then no hardship will keep them from accomplishing the task. A samurai can even push themselves beyond death to achieve such a task. However, wise samurai are cautious about what they agree to do. There are many tales of Azai samurai who found themselves forsworn when they set out to accomplish a task that was beyond their means.
- Prerequisites – Meiyo
- Cost – 1 Refresh
- The samurai may spend a Fate Point to create a situational aspect reflecting their intention to carry out a particular task. This aspect counts as one of the samurai’s oaths for the purpose of any power that is keyed off such oaths. It lasts for one scene, though the samurai may take it as a character aspect at any milestone.
- Any time that a samurai is taken out, they may invoke an aspect relating to one of their oaths to put off being taken out until they take one more action, or one more turn during a conflict. Instead, they are taken out at the conclusion of that action or turn. However, they may continue to defer being taken out for as long as they can invoke a relevant aspect. Once they can no longer invoke such an aspect, they immediately suffer the original consequences of being taken out.

Kenjutsu
Kenjutsu is the study of the blade, which provides the basics of self-defense vital for all warriors of the Azai. A fully trained student of the blade is even able to cut down arrows in full flight and deflect bullets with their sword. The samurai may also join a particular school of swordcraft, where each school teaches its own philosophy of combat and special techniques that give the samurai new tactical options. Among the Azai, two schools are popular – Kage-ryu, which is a battlefield art, and Shinkage-ryu, which focuses more on dueling.
- Prerequisites – None
- Cost – 1 Refresh
- The samurai may use the sword to defend against Ranged attacks using the Melee skill.
- The samurai gains a +2 bonus on all defend actions with the sword.
- The samurai selects one of the following two schools
- Kage-ryu – this Kenjutsu tradition is a battlefield art, emphasizing discipline and coordination with your fellow soldiers. The soldier survives by protecting his fellows. The samurai gains a boost called Infantry Tactics whenever they use an attack or create advantage action with Melee against a foe that has attacked one of the samurai’s allies in the same zone.
- Shinkage-ryu – this school is a new style of Kenjutsu that focuses on dueling. It teaches the student to commit to a single, perfect strike to fell their opponent before they can strike back. Students of this school may choose to gain a boost called Single Blow on their next attack or create advantage action with Melee, but the next enemy to attack them before the start of their next turn gains a boost called Open Defenses in return.
- A samurai may take this extra multiple times to master the special techniques of other schools of combat. The bonus on defend actions does not stack – only the largest such bonus applies from each school mastered.

Bajutsu
While the image of a samurai is of a warrior wielding a katana, their true power on the battlefield is as a highly trained cavalry force. They learn to use the speed, mass, and power of their mount to their advantage on the battlefield. The Azai are followers of the ancient Ogasawara-ryu school of horseback fighting, which focuses on firing a bow from horseback. The skirmish tactics from this school have been key in several battles where the Azai defeated armies much larger than they were.
- Prerequisites – None
- Cost – 1 Refresh
- The samurai gains a +2 bonus on all defend actions with Drive.
- The samurai gains the benefit of the following school:
- Ogasawara-ryu – this tradition focuses on horseback archery and mobility for shoot and run tactics. Even on foot, practitioners of this school stay on the move. Whenever the samurai moves at least one zone, they gain a boost called Mobility on any action made with Drive or any attack or create advantage action Ranged at the end of the movement.
- A samurai may take this extra multiple times to master the special techniques of other schools of combat. The bonus on defend actions does not stack – only the largest such bonus applies from each school mastered.

[Kyutaru]

A form of D&D that eliminates the biggest issue I see with roleplaying game balance: the Attack stat. Any time there's an Attack or something like it whether in tabletop games, video games, or MMORPGs it becomes the most important stat of all. It's most noticeable in tabletop games like Warhammer 40k where if you get the 1st turn you can potentially wipe out half the enemy's army before he's even had a chance to shoot putting you at a staggering lead. People will build around min-maxing this stat and then sure up defenses to offset this stat -- leaving everything that is utility or fluff laying unloved and unwanted. Even with 5th edition, the game is balanced mostly around Hitpoints and having more of them makes you a god.

So instead, scrap that idea entirely and normalize damage and accuracy to more consistent, focusing instead on what people can actually do to gain the advantage or place their enemies at a disadvantage. With a stat system that exemplifies combat tricks and an assortment of stat interactions I aim to produce a roleplaying experience likened to a wizard's duel. To date, games of many genres have managed to produce such a strategic layer. Chess being the most notable, MOBAs with their identical shops and starting levels, TCGs with their reactive play, even Starcraft. Yet they all feature the downside of the snowball effect primarily due to the Attack stat (or in chess's case, running out of pawns).

I've started beta testing this summer and ironing out the mechanics with my crack team of testers that I pulled from the LARP I frequent. Corona has given us much time to spend in online play (which is why I've been so active these months). There will be no one dominant strategy in the final product though currently the warlocks are a bit strong owing to their debuffs. In such a system without personal stack abuse making someone else worse is the next best thing.

[LordCdrMilitant]

Bralspace (formerly Spiralspace) is the crystal sphere that has the Rock of Bral, according to the Spelljammer Cloakmaster Cycle novels. It also has a planet (opposite from Bral, on the same orbit) called Spiral, which was fairly important to the Elven Imperial Navy. Paul Westermeyer did a lot of work on the sphere. It has a non-traditional layout, which makes it tricky to implement.

Just to clarify, all this thing does is plot out the locations of the planets and calculate travel times between them. It tracks the locations of the planets (and the phases of the moons) based on how many days your campaign has been going for, and tells you what space on the planetary display they should each be in. There's also pair of charts on each tab plotting out their locations like a gridless planetary display. It's not much use in combat.

Oh. Disappointment. Both at the intended purpose for Spelljammer, which I detest with a passion, and at just calculating time.

How does it calculate transfer time, though, because that's a nontrivial problem with way too many variables once you leave the realm of 2-impulse hohmann trajectories. I mean, I've got 6 years of university education to teach me how to do this...


I guess I'll have to look elsewhere, do it my self, or be content without having an STK-for-RPG's.

[Lord Torath]

Oh. Disappointment. Both at the intended purpose for Spelljammer, which I detest with a passion, and at just calculating time.

How does it calculate transfer time, though, because that's a nontrivial problem with way too many variables once you leave the realm of 2-impulse hohmann trajectories. I mean, I've got 6 years of university education to teach me how to do this...

Spelljammers travel at over 4 million miles an hour (100 million miles per day). That's fast enough that most planets can be treated as stationary for the purposes of plotting your course, and any discrepancy can typically be made up in a matter of minutes. So I just plot the location of the planets and calculate a straight-line distance between them, divide that by the speed, add on the lift-off and landing times, and call it "close enough".

It's actually a lot like Star Wars. You hyperspace to your destination and fight at tactical speeds after you arrive.

I actually could calculate the actual orbits (courtesy of my Orbital Mechanics course with a refresher from Kerbal Space Program), but there's really no point in doing it for Spelljammer.

Sorry it won't be useful for you.

[Wraith]

I have just finished contributing to Restaurants & Retail, the next expansion for Monsters of Murka which is due to hit Kickstart on September 8th.

It's going to be so much fun and I am completely stoked - it's my first ever accredited writing role, and Action Fiction are all great people. Check it out, if you like D&D and satirical humour!

[LordCdrMilitant]

Spelljammers travel at over 4 million miles an hour (100 million miles per day). That's fast enough that most planets can be treated as stationary for the purposes of plotting your course, and any discrepancy can typically be made up in a matter of minutes. So I just plot the location of the planets and calculate a straight-line distance between them, divide that by the speed, add on the lift-off and landing times, and call it "close enough".

It's actually a lot like Star Wars. You hyperspace to your destination and fight at tactical speeds after you arrive.

I actually could calculate the actual orbits (courtesy of my Orbital Mechanics course with a refresher from Kerbal Space Program), but there's really no point in doing it for Spelljammer.

Sorry it won't be useful for you.

Well, good luck in your project. I may hate Spelljammer, but I don't hate other people for liking it.

I mostly run sci-fi games, and as I am an aerospace engineer running usually for people with about as much background as "Star Wars is Cool", I've often thought it would be fun to have an STK-like program to put up and show what exactly is happening with trajectories and delta-V costs and everything as they head for and engage in combat to kind of share what I know with them.

Like, I dunno, drag and drop some planets into orbit, drag and drop some spacecraft, and then maybe plot their trajectories KSP-style and animate forward and pause so that things like the incoming trajectories of missile and gun salvos and the orbits required to go out, intercept somebody, and then return and the consequences and costs of tactical maneuvering and etc would all be visualizable and animatable.

[ngilop]

I am currently writing a Spycraft 2.0 campaign with d20 future tossed in as well.

Since they are both d20 based the foundation conversion isn't as hard, but giving those finishing is a bit rougher than I initially thought.

For those who want to know, the campaign is Call of Duty Infinite warfare inspired except instead of crazy space russians blowing up geneva its a fight between two space nations, one of which is out for total annihilation of the other side.

[Ides Usher]

I have been updating a few of the crystal spheres that I created when Spelljammer first came out and also expanding my Cenotaph Road project. The two things are intertwined. Also, I want to get some of the spells I created about 30-35 years ago for an intrigue based campaign to a place where other people can use them. I don't have any rules system newer than 3.5 so I am updating them to that before I post them. It is harder than I thought it would be because 3.5 is very different from the little boxed set I started with. Keep, Capture Voice and Spell Echo are being difficult, but I will get there.