Pen&Paper RPG: General Discussion

[Starnum]

Well, I’m glad you like it so far. Yeah, you could play a Hidren if you wanted, but I really wouldn’t suggest it. You see, Hidrens are close-minded. You wouldn’t be able to handle the truth, so you wouldn’t fit into the game very well. Trying to hang out with the main characters would eventually drive you insane. I think what you have in mind is a Base Esper. Basically that’s someone with an open mind, but weak spiritual power. I’m an Esper, so I’d work with you.

Well, that about covers the stats. Hm, what else their to discuss? Espers also have Spiritual Resonance. Every Esper’s resonance is different, like a spiritual fingerprint. That’s how you can locate each other from far away. However, all resonance fall into one of the elemental categories, which are Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning, Dark, and Holy. So essentially your spiritual power will manifest itself in one of these forms. However, you can make all kinds of cool spells, as long as you don’t try to use one of the other types. Plus, with Reality Manipulation, you aren’t really limited very much. To get Dark or Holy, you have to roll a 20 on a D20. If you have Holy, then that means you are an angel. So far no one has gotten that. However, I do have a couple of Dark Espers. They’re not evil; they just use Dark Ether. The demons and fallen all use Dark Ether, but some of them have dual ether types. Like Dark Water Ether, or something. Espers can get dual ether types as well, by hitting a 1 on a D20 during character creation. That hasn’t happened yet either.

Espers also have spiritual weapons. Almost every one, including the bad guys, has got a different weapon type. This is due to the fact that resonance is so different. I have a lot of PC’s and NPC’s too. I mean, you might see some unimportant enemies with repeat weapons, but those guys tend to just have claws and horns and teeth and shit. So far the only things that come to mind is two katana users. That’s because the main character, which is an NPC, basically my character, has a katana. I didn’t want to limit someone just because I gave the main character a katana. Since Ksi, the main character, usually isn’t with the players (Don’t want to massacre everything for them, because he would, being the ubber powered chosen one and all), I let the first PC, Kai Blank, also have a katana. I just didn’t think it’d be fair if I told him no. However, no one else got one after him.

Alrighty, that’s enough for now.

[Arresty]

The part with the weapons reminds me somewhat of Bleach. Though I am assuming you had that before you read Bleach. It is a cool concept though. Gets the creative juices flowing for the weapons. You coudl come up with some cool ones once you run out of normal ones.

Base esper does sound better. Mage's(WoD0 system is similar in some ways to yours with magic, yet expaination and stuff is still way different. Just more you approach on it. As in you can do everything. Well everything withing your power by stats. So you basically need a stat in that area and high enough to do stuff. But you get to create the spells you do. Also something you don't wnat normal mortals around for, but this time its for the Mage. Mortals will actually just ignore and say that that is not real. It will work but the mage is the one who gets punished with paradox. Which can eventually cause them damage, or if it doesn't it builds up and you start to hallucinate and stuff. Paradox is bad. There are coincidental magic, which doesn't do much paradox which is basicallly you make it look like it somethign that naturally coudl have happened.

I like how your reality manipulation works. So is Holy and Dark really powerful, or just something the you restrict for story reasons.

Also is this taking place in a futuristic societ or modern dayish, but different?

[Starnum]

Yes, I did indeed come up with the idea for the weapons LONG before I read Bleach. It is kind of ironic though. Hm, I didn’t know that about the paradox thing in Mage. I’ve never played the game, but I’ve heard a little about it. Yeah, I punish the players by making them have to clean up any messes they make. You don’t want normal people seeing too much, sometimes it frags their brain. Either that, or they might inform on you. It’s something we kind of like to keep under wraps, you know. As for Holy and Darkness, they’re only restricted because of story purposes. Like I said, the game takes place in present day.

[Arresty]

Always liked the present day settings. Is there more you are going to release to us today?

[Starnum]

one to create their own spells. The first spell you get is a beam; basically because it’s just a raw output of ether. It should in essence, be the easiest thing to do. As you get stronger, you get more intricate spells, until you make your own. At that point, you can be as flashy and creative as you want. I even allow you to tweak the spell and come up with interesting functions and systems for it, as long as it makes sense.

You may be wondering about the Harmony System. Basically, any time all three of your primary stats, Body, Mind, and Soul, are the same number, then you’ve harmonized. You get a new ability every time you do this. You also get a new spell. However, say you have a Body of four, and the other two stats are two. Once you raise one of them to a three, you become a Harmonic Three, and gain the third ability. There is also a counter system known as the Dissonance System, which gives advantage to those who’d rather play an unbalanced character. I’ll explain it tomorrow. Feel free to ask more questions.

[Arresty]

The harmony system is pretty neat way of doing the system. So I am assuming they way you use XP is instead of level raises you by attributes and stats correct?

[Starnum]

Arresty: Yeah, you get Creation Points after every fight. This also includes the CP you’ve gathered during just role-playing. You use the CP to buy everything, from Life to stat increases. Of course I have a well-balanced system for how much things cost, and how much you recieve after fights.

As for the Dissonance System, basically if you raise one stat so far above the other stats, you become dissonant in that area. Then you get something called a Dissonant Scar. Basically you get to make up a new special ability. Plus, the system in which they work is a bit different. I don’t really feel like explaining it completely because it’s too complex, and I’m feeling kind of lazy at the moment. A lot of my players like the Dissonant System though.

[Arresty]

Cool. I don't blame you, I am lazy too. I probably wouldn't have explained as much as you have already.

[Brainpiercing]

Didn't quite get that with harmony and dissonance. You said when you are harmonious you get a new skill, and when you are dissonant to the extreme you also get a new skill? So are those skills that couldn't normally be bought with experience points?

[Starnum]

Right, Dissonant Scars are abilities you get to make up. It’s stuff that you won’t normally get otherwise. If it’s something that you get later, I tend to warn you. You can get cool super attacks, but I’ve seen stuff like temporary power boosts and barriers. Pretty much I just let the player makes something up, and then we tweak it to be fair and fit into the system. It’s kind of like getting Revelation early, but the Dissonance system works a bit differently. The scars level ever time you increase your dissonancy. However, your scars have to relate to the field your dissonant in. Is there anything else you wanted to know?

[Arresty]

It actually adds stategy to building stats. Basically you want to always up something that puts you in harmony or dissonant, depending on which system you use. Of if you can't get it that level up to work toward setting it up later. I am assuming the more powerful the charcter the more powerful ablitiy he can create?

[Starnum]

Right, your capabilities are based on your capacity. Plus, the stronger you get, the more CP you put into the things, and the more you do things, the stronger, easier, and better you become at them. Also, you can be both harmonic and dissonant. You just have to keep your dissonant stat significantly above the other two. As long as you do that, you can also slowly pick up the harmonic abilities as you go. It can be a bit slow going though, which is good. You’ve got to have pros and cons for each system. Plus with the dissonant system, sometime your opponents will end up being to strong or to weak to face you. Since enemies tend to be more balanced than a dissonant character. That’s another thing to consider when choosing your path. If you accidentally become harmonic, due to bad planning, it can be very expensive to turn dissonant again. However, I usually warn you before that happens. Dissonance has larger bonuses, but it’s also got larger flaws, and it can be harder to plan for. It’s like trying to contain chaos, in a sense. Harmony is easy and efficient; I prefer it actually.

[Arresty]

Yeah, it seems easier. And its better to have something with more downfalls have better rewards. I think so far I like harmony as well, mainly cause I generally like a jack of all trades. Though sometimes if fitting the story better I will stack a character in some areas.

Now what are the max's for the stats?

[Brainpiercing]

Hmm, sounds interesting, easily allowing home-made skills. Most games don't do that, because they fear the game balance, at least they usually make it hard for players to make up new skills.

[Starnum]

The max for the primary stats is 20, but so far the highest value I have seen any of the PC obtain is 7. However, you have to understand that the stats start out at around 1 or 2. By the time you reach five you can fight with lower level DBZ characters. Like I said, the game ends up becoming very super powered.

As for making up the skills, I let the PC’s pitch ideas at me when it comes time for them to get to make one up. I’m pretty lenient about how spells and abilities look. However, once they’ve told me what they want, I balance it and fit it into my system, and gauge it properly to fit their character’s capacity. So basically I tweak it and tell them how it’s going to work.

[Brainpiercing]

It seems like a lot of work for a GM. Well, if you ever publish the system in it's entirety, I'll bludgeon some people here into trying it out.

The only thing I don't like so far is the weapon restriction. Restricting weapons within a single group of characters is understandable, and usually happens naturally, but why shouldn't several people use the same weapons? This is the same kind of restriction as "mages don't wear armour" that many RPGs have. At least some explain it well, but others just say it's forbidden.

[Starnum]

Well, I don't know if I'll ever publish the system. Like I say, my dream is to publish the story as a graphic novel (manga style of course). However, if that works out I might go ahead and publish the system. Oh, and balancing created abilities really isn't that hard. Once you get familiar with the systems that is. Most of the players do it themselves, I just have to proof it and make any minor changes.

Well, I think I give a fairly good reason for the weapon restriction, but I still understand your complaint. *Shrugs*

[Brainpiercing]

Heh, we all have our preferences. It would be boring if we all liked the same stuff.

And by all means publish your ideas. I guess you're picking a hard way to do it, as a manga, but there ARE other ways. Why not write a short story first or something like that?

[Arresty]

I feel the medium of a story is a key element of the story. If you have manga in mind then you should use manga as the medium. Different mediums have different feels and a sotry shoudl fit that feel. Thats why stories transfered across different mediums never seem quite as good, unless changed to fit the new medium. But that is just my opinion.

Plus with the type of story your target audience woudl be manga readers, so why not publish it in a form that they woudl notice. But then again that is just my opinoin. Just do what feels right.

[Brainpiercing]

A short story could never convey all of the material Starnum has in mind, so it would only be a teaser, not much more.

Also, with a bit of descriptive skill the written word is still the most powerful medium for transferring our thoughts, at least a well-written story is better than mediocre manga. Certainly the style Starnum wanted is very visual, but if it's good it will span different media without problems.

[Arresty]

True. True. and True. I think thats all of them. But I think Starnum knows more what he wants to convey than either of us do, so we shoudl probably see what he has to say. Its kinda funny now that I think about it.

[Brainpiercing]

Umm, ya, well, whatever, I'm just making suggestions here.

[Starnum]

Ah, and I appreciate it. Yes, I want to go with manga, but for right now I'm just writing the story in script format. However, I am pretty descriptive. If things don't work out for the manga, I might just have it published as a book. I think it could work in many formats as well. Shit, I'd love to see a videogame some day, one step at a time though. I need to find an artist, but I'm not terribly worried about it at the moment. For now I just want to finish the writing and then proof the whole thing a couple of times. Anyway, did anyone have any more questions? There are still things I didn't go over, but it's late and I can't think straight at the moment. Normally these are my normal hours, but with my new daughter and new job, my vampiric schedule has been all fucked up *sigh*. Should be back on track soon though.

[Arresty]

And most people complain about thier baby keeping them awake all night.

[Brainpiercing]

Babies aside.....

I still hope you'll treat us to a readable (prose) story sometime. As an experienced online freeform RPer you must have an accomplished prose style.