PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Sept 26, 2015 8:08:18 GMT -8
At first, I'm not quite sure if I want a possible result of a one-hit kill, but it would certainly fit the genre I'm trying to emulate.
Hmm...
Actually, a lethal iaijutsu strike in an official, witnessed duel wouldn't be too overwhelming (for me), since it's really only in those circumstances that I'd want that level of tension. With that as the intention, I think I can incorporate it with confidence without giving my players the notion that they have an "I Win" button they can just press at any time against anything.
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Sept 26, 2015 7:30:04 GMT -8
I just finished my second listening of the Inukai Saga AP, and it's dug into me enough that I want to run a game of a Rokugan or Rokugan-like setting. I have been fortunate enough that I've had the full set of D&D 5e core books gifted to me (with the polite assumption that I do something with them), so I just needed more material for building the world and characters. I've found that there were some L5R to d20 materials in the past, and ordered the Oriental Adventures and Rokugan campaign setting, which I'm now using as the fluff to drive creation for an online game I'll be running in the near future. (If it's in any way successful, I'll be looking to bring it and run for the next Jackercon.)
My current hurdle, however, is finding a way to represent the iaijutsu duel in a way that's representative of the duel itself but still fits in the 5e design paradigm. It's got to be quick, low on the additional math, but add some amount of tension and excitement. I've brainstormed what follows for some ideas as to what I'm thinking, but I would love to hear what other approaches I could possibly use from other points of view. (Outside of just play 4th Edition L5R. I know.)
I'm creating samurai only as Battlemaster Fighters with the different maneuvers in combination with fighting styles to recreate the different bushi schools, and the PCs are all level 4. (It's also an experiment for myself in having everyone play the same class.)
Three steps to the duel Assessment / Stance -- Make an opposed Insight check. If you win, you learn two of the options from the Battlemaster's Know Your Enemy feature (with an estimated CR to use instead of class / fighter levels), and you have advantage on your next roll in the duel.
Focus -- Make an opposed Initiative check. If you win, you deal automatic critical damage on your successful attack. If you win by 5 or more, you get to attack first in the Strike step of the duel.
Strike -- Each side makes an attack roll vs. AC, deals damage as normal. Automatic critical damage if you won the focus round.
Would an automatic critical feel "big" enough for winning the first round, or would perhaps maximum damage work better, in your opinion?
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Dec 6, 2013 9:05:37 GMT -8
Well the math is that you will average one success for every 3 dice in your pool. So 12 dice will average 4 successes. Remember that is an AVERAGE - so you will still fail about half the time. I think this was what I was originally looking for; thanks maxinstuff! Taking what you both have reminded me about the system into account (limits and things), my current plan is to follow the 4/7/10/13/16/17+ scale for dice pools, and reconcile it internally by separating the dice pool into different colors to at least give the players the appearance of me knowing what I'm doing. For example, 7d6 will be 3 red dice, 3 black dice, and 1 blue dice, to mimic 3 ability / 3 skill / 1 augment, 13d6 would be 5 red, 5 black, 3 blue, repeated until I want to put the fear of Shadowrun in them and grab 20+ dice for a roll. I'll likely fall to the 7-10 range for most, though. As for maintaining proper limits on rolls, it will likely come down to me comparing with players' stats if a roll goes wildly high or lethal, as that seems fair and challenging to me. Thanks for the help, guys, and I'll let you know how it goes, provided the little notice doesn't jinx us.
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Dec 5, 2013 18:38:22 GMT -8
I did get in a game at the FLGS, and the biggest takeaways for me was the brisk pace (I played a lot of D&D 4e prior) and what I imagine to be a harkening back to early editions with a lot of my character's abilities being simply and directly tied to an ability score, rather than a derived stat from a series of modifiers.
Advantage and Disadvantage is fun as expected (and damned easy to retcon a roll with) and it certainly breaks the later editions' convention of maximizing a stat or two and being done. I felt that it was quite amenable to a wider array of good stats than to laser-pointed specialization in a super stat, which is typical for d20. harumph*Dexterity/Wisdom*harumph
I managed to play two characters in the night, as we were running the Mines of Madness module and a save-or-die ended my dwarven paladin, leading me to the other unclaimed character of the human cleric. Yes, save-or-dies are back; DMs can rejoice, and PCs can go back to the corners they used to huddle in fearfully.
All in all, I felt it was a short session, but we had a lot of action. We didn't delve into any of the social mechanisms (if there were any) or general skills, so I can't really comment on them. They changed a lot between playtest packets, and I couldn't tell you which system we were using anyway. The group of local teens I was playing with didn't seem much for talking in character, but that happens.
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Dec 5, 2013 18:10:52 GMT -8
In 5th edition, the skill limits are higher, so I'd say 21-23 would be near the upper limits of things for a human (or slightly higher for cases where you can employ multiple bonuses from augmentations and gear) as a point of reference, but the above still seems to work for starting runners. I'm not used to pools though, so I couldn't really guess at good benchmarks there though. With that high of an upper limit (including augmentations), I wonder if this set of ranges would be more appropriate: 4d6 = F (failing, inept) 7d6 = D (below average) 10d6 = C (average) 13d6 = B (above average) 16d6 = A (well above average) 19d6 = A+ (apex of ability) 20d6+ = S (superhuman) It might just be me not quite grasping the in-game correlation to what the dice are reflecting, but damn that's a handful of dice for what would be considered "average". Then again, augments are really nice and really expensive for good reason, something I've been overlooking since I've only been focusing on the base stats and skills for these dice pools. I think I can reconcile the larger dice pool internally if I remind myself the PCs are going to have a variety of augments available, and that it stands to reason that their opposition would also have a variety of augments at their disposal as well. Any other input on dice pools and expectations would still be appreciated. (I may go bug the White Wolf players and see what they say.)
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Dec 5, 2013 13:27:55 GMT -8
I am looking to GM Shadowrun for the first time in a fairly low-prep (and little notice) session, and in an attempt to hold true to the expectations of the systems for rolling dice (because it's Shadowrun, and rolling dice is what you do), I came up with the following:
4d6 = F (failing, inept) 6d6 = D (below average) 8d6 = C (average) 10d6 = B (above average) 12d6 = A (well above average) 14d6 = A+ (apex of ability) 16d6+ = S (superhuman)
For those of you familiar with the dice pool mechanics inherent in the later editions of Shadowrun (I'm looking at 4th and 5th), would you consider the previous breakdown an approximate abstraction of an entity's (a person, an AI, a goat, and the rest) ability to perform an action within the rules system?
I ask this due to the fact that I'm unfamiliar with the "feel" for the number of successes one would expect from a given dice pool, and I'm looking for a quick if dirty way of attributing stats to an NPC in a ad-lib fashion.
I have only played in a handful of sessions of Shadowrun, including one where I rolled dice once in a 4-hour period as the street samurai of the group (and it was Etiquette, even), so I would appreciate some insight in this regard. I mostly would like to get your opinions on where I could approximate abilities so that I'm not shortchanging my players or the system (well, at least not too much.)
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Dec 2, 2013 15:49:41 GMT -8
So... Netflix recently started streaming the Sword and the Stone animated film, and what should I see but this: The universe... it is mysterious...
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Nov 17, 2013 18:12:20 GMT -8
That's good to know; I'll try to complete the complete book first, then tackle the genre supplements whenever they strike a fancy.
Thanks JiB!
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Nov 16, 2013 6:44:58 GMT -8
I can't let Happy Jacks take the credit for getting me to buy a Savage Worlds corebook like a lot of people can, but it certainly worked on this bundle for HERO. (And I'm not that much a fan of heavy point-buy character creation!)
Looking to read it at a snail's pace just to take it all in, seeing as how it's a huge amount of material for comparatively cheap.
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Nov 13, 2013 10:34:15 GMT -8
Thanks again for answering my question about the birthday / bachelor-con setup at the last minute; I was having some issues with the scope of organization for such a thing and your insights put it a bit more into perspective (i.e. it doesn't have to be a big grand thing if you don't want it to be a big grand thing.) I just needed to be reminded that "if you run it, they will game."
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Nov 10, 2013 11:45:18 GMT -8
G+ name: KeithHampton8If everyone does show, I'd still like to sit in and watch the story unfold, if that's okay.
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Nov 9, 2013 16:36:55 GMT -8
I would like to sign up for zombie smurfs as well, if it is still available
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Nov 8, 2013 14:37:52 GMT -8
How about something like "Gusto" or "Bravura"?
It could be related to a form of mental defense, or perhaps "fatigue", in that way of "I'm not physically tired or suffering from mind control, but I'm emotionally drained," like how one would feel when arriving home after a long day at work.
Using some D&D 3.5 terms as they're the first that come to mind, consider it as a gauge for effectiveness for the more emotion-based "mind-affecting" spells such as rage or good hope, or perhaps a bard's bardic music effects. Someone with a higher "gusto" or what have you would be more resistant to a calm emotions or a crushing despair-like effect, and perhaps gain a greater or lesser benefit when affected with a inspire courage, depending on your outlook.
Differentiating it from your previously slated Willpower, I'd put the difference at Willpower is the thing to use when affected by a controlling or outside force imposing a condition, whereas Gusto is brought it when it is an "amplifying" or "multiplicative of an already existing condition" force on one's psyche.
That or just call it the "Awesomeness" stat and consider it the character's self-confidence toward life in general rather than in a specific function in dealing with others as Charisma might otherwise entail.
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Oct 29, 2013 18:46:50 GMT -8
On a happier note, I had a great time sitting in on the live chat for the full show for the first time, and I also got to hear a letter I sent in only a month ago read and responded to by our lovely lady hosts. It was an awesome night. Thanks again!
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PithyKoan
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 22
Preferred Game Systems: D&D, Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: D&D 5e (Dark Sun)
Currently Running: One-Shots
Favorite Species of Monkey: Pygmy Marmoset
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Post by PithyKoan on Oct 22, 2013 8:49:38 GMT -8
See uselesstriviaman "grind house " game. It's in the forums somewhere... Yes, very much the same intent. (Though I am nowhere near as skilled to come up with the same playing field )
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