Interest Check: Scion (White Wolf)

Started by Teddy Molotov, October 04, 2014, 03:16:08 PM

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Bandeena

Yeah, running it as you would around the table seems like it would be painfully slow. Teddy said earlier that it would be a narrative focus, so I assumed modification from straight tabletop.

CarnivalOfTheGoat

I haven't played Scion, but I've played other WW games. Tentatively expressing interest in a pugilistic priest-son of Bast. Lightweight professional boxer bad-boy, a bit androgynous both in looks and pursuits.

She was a war goddess, the defender and protector of Lower Egypt before certain dynasties got hold of her, other gods were elevated, and the priests in charge said 'Nope, kitty-cat.'

My O/Os. My A/As.
Games I seek:
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony <- Just what it says. Free supplement for SW. (Or any other MLP RP!!! :D)
Eclipse Phase <- Posthuman grit SF, open source, downloadable from their web site. VERY deep worldbuilding.
Cold City <- Espionage meets the Lovecraftian supernatural. Allies in post-war Berlin chasing down the results of secret Nazi experiments
a|state <- Post-apocalyptic sort-of-steampunk, sort-of-high tech roleplay in a massive, decaying, broken-down city-state.

Teddy Molotov

@Avorae: Please PM me your profiles and sheets.

@HopeFox: Yes, I will be restricting the rise in Legend, and will probably give rewards in Legend to the group as a whole as opposed to individuals, but we'll see how things go.

I've always started people off at Legend 2 in my games, but in this case, Legend 3 is a good place to start. Okay, you got it, players will start at Legend 3, and will probably get more bonus points for character creation to start.

@HairyHeretic: Yeah, I'll probably make a lot of changes to help things progress quickly through the forums. Ideally, I want this game to be very rules-lite and accessible. For example, I'd love to know that the game could progress without me being around to storytell. xP

@CarnivalOfTheGoat: Haha, points for using the word "pugilist."

I've been a long time fan of Bastet myself. (Set too, but that's a whole other ball of wick). We could certainly use a character from the Pesedjet, and I don't think we have an androgynous or bad-boy archetype character yet.

General: I've updated the first post, and will be working on figuring out how to houserule the Scion system for better accessibility with the forums. Um... I'm also having some trouble with the dice system here on E (It's kind of complicated to a newcomer such as myself), so if someone wouldn't mind giving me a rundown or link me to a tutorial or something, I'd really appreciate it.

HairyHeretic

Dicebot
Dice: Number of dice to roll
Sides: 10
Target number: 7
Second Target number: 10

That should be what you need for Scion rolling, you just add the auto successes manually after.

What are you thinking in terms of character creation in addition to Legend 3?

And do the words Nac Mac Feegle have any meaning for you?  >:)
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Teddy Molotov

#29
Okay. Hypothetically speaking, say I wanted the dice bot to roll multiple dice, but only register the top results without adding them together or counting successes?

As for other changes... Well, I've always said that the Pantheon Specific Purviews should be free, with the exception of buying the same boon a second time (see: Arete. God damn Arete). I'm also thinking of doubling the starting bonus points from 15 to 30. Other than that, character creation should remain fairly standard.

EDIT: And by "Nac Mac Freegle," you wouldn't happen to be talking about wee little angry folk from Discworld, would you?

HairyHeretic

Quote from: Teddy Molotov on October 05, 2014, 01:29:01 PM
Okay. Hypothetically speaking, say I wanted the dice bot to roll multiple dice, but only register the top results without adding them together or counting successes?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. This what a roll using the dice roller gives, for a typical Scion roll.

Test Roll: hairyheretic rolled: 6d10
First Target Number: 7
Second Target Number: 10
Comment:
Result: 7, 4, 4, 8, 9, 7,
For: 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0,
Total: 4

What is it that you want from it?

Quote from: Teddy Molotov on October 05, 2014, 01:29:01 PM
As for other changes... Well, I've always said that the Pantheon Specific Purviews should be free, with the exception of buying the same boon a second time (see: Arete. God damn Arete). I'm also thinking of doubling the starting bonus points from 15 to 30. Other than that, character creation should remain fairly standard.

Some PSPs are better than others, mind you, I always thought the base Jotunblut was a bit weak, for example.

Doubling the BPs is going to give more powerful characters, but I can't say I mind that :)
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Teddy Molotov

It was just a silly question, don't worry about it.

I agree, Jotunblut is heavily dependent on having mortal or animal sidekicks, and even then isn't particularly useful at higher legend. But that only makes me feel like PSP's should be free, and grow along with your character. Particularly if we start exploring what happens when demigods abandon their respective pantheons. I had a game where that happened, and so the character lost access to their PSP.

deadmanshand

I'm not sure I've even read the Celestial Bureaucracy's PSP. I remember glancing at it long enough to determine that Chan probably would never use it.

Bandeena

Taiyi is complex. Potentially very useful, but it requires a lot of planning and theory. It doesn't have the raw appeal of other PSPs, like, say, Arete. A lot of the Companion PSPs are like that.

HairyHeretic

I think Taiyi starts getting particularly useful at the demigod levels. I've used it a fair bit with my pen and paper scion character.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

avorae

I've never really used the PSP before even on the few times I've taken it for a character. Though the Amatsukami's looks fun so I might actually give it a try.
Life is a hard game but the rewards are sweet if you know where to look.

Teddy Molotov

I find that a lot of people gloss over PSP's without really toying with all the possibilities. Personally, I love Taiyi, Tsukoku-Gami and Heku. Heku is amaaaazing, imo, and Itzli is deliciously spooky.

HopeFox

Quote from: Teddy Molotov on October 05, 2014, 01:29:01 PM
As for other changes... Well, I've always said that the Pantheon Specific Purviews should be free, with the exception of buying the same boon a second time (see: Arete. God damn Arete). I'm also thinking of doubling the starting bonus points from 15 to 30. Other than that, character creation should remain fairly standard.

So, 30 bonus points instead of 15, Legend starts at 3 and can't be increased, and everyone maxes out their PSP for their Legend? Sounds good to me.

I like the idea of free PSP - it really helps to differentiate between similar Scions from different pantheons. They do vary in power and utility a bit, but in a freeform setting like this, it'll be easier to make them all useful. Jotunblut, for example, can benefit greatly from narrating berserker NPCs in interesting situations.
If you're such an iconoclast, where were you when we trashed Constantinople?

Teddy Molotov

Yup, that's what I was thinking.

So, the biggest problem now is streamlining combat. I was thinking of removing the Battle Wheel completely and leaving it to opposed rolls. Also, how do people feel about initiative being fixed, the new formula being (Wits+Awareness-Weapon Speed), the higher initiative going first?

deadmanshand

Removing the battle wheel is a welcome change. I hate that thing on tabletop much less pbp. The new Initiative sounds fine.

All the other changes are cool too. Whether I use Taiyi or not it's always good to have more options.

Teddy Molotov

Time in combat should be treated a little looser than on the table-top version, I think. For the purposes of combat, each combat post should last about six seconds, and end with an opposed roll. If you're attacking or defending, whether it's physical or with a boon, I'd say that takes your entire turn, while non-combat actions in the combat round could be done twice in a turn, all this assuming a turn would be your post.

As for baddies, I'll most likely post their DV's and initiative, and everyone can take their respective turn down the initiative track with their roll. If a target is selected multiple times, it's DV will go down once after each attack it suffers, whether hit or not. For example, if the Ogre has been target three times, and you're the fourth attacker, it suffers a -3 DV penalty. If you're the third attacker, it would have suffered a -2 penalty.

Initiative should be kept relatively simple, and probably included in your post or at the beginning of combat. As I said before, the formula will most likely be (Wits+Awareness-Weapon Speed)

We're also considering making auto successes a lot more loose, maybe you start receiving auto successes if your pool is higher than 5, instead of 7. The exact number is still up in the air at the moment, however.

I would also like to compile accuracy and damage into one roll, which will be difficult to do with threshold successes. Any ideas on this front would be greatly appreciated.

As for powers and mortals. Extras are people, I've always believed that, but for the sake of pace I will say that using powers on a mortal extra that's not directly under a Storyteller's control is an automatic success. Feel free to invent NPC's for the sake of your personal plot or showcasing your abilities, or whatever you need them for.

How does all this sound so far?

HairyHeretic

Keep in mind there are a few knacks and things that can change the initiative fairly substantially for combat.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Teddy Molotov

I believe the knacks you're talking about are Subliminal Warning (Perception, and only kind of dealing with initiative), Tactical Planning (Intelligence), Opening Gambit (Wits), and Between the Ticks (Wits).

Subliminal Warning deals only with sneak attack, Tactical Planning replaces Wits with Intelligence when determining initiative, and Opening Gambit just makes it so you go first in the initiative round and otherwise ignore your join battle by spending some legend.
Between the Ticks would essentially work as an interrupt, and can only be used once a scene.

I don't think I'm missing anything on this front...

HopeFox

Quote from: Teddy Molotov on October 05, 2014, 03:56:00 PM
Yup, that's what I was thinking.

So, the biggest problem now is streamlining combat. I was thinking of removing the Battle Wheel completely and leaving it to opposed rolls. Also, how do people feel about initiative being fixed, the new formula being (Wits+Awareness-Weapon Speed), the higher initiative going first?

I'm definitely in favour of removing the Battle Wheel. One way to do that is basically to say that all actions are Speed 5, so it's a simple matter of characters taking their actions in turn. I don't really mind how we do initiative, as long as knacks like Subliminal Warning and Opening Gambit are still useful (or, at least, we know that they aren't, so we don't bother taking them).

Quote from: Teddy Molotov on October 05, 2014, 04:12:51 PM
I would also like to compile accuracy and damage into one roll, which will be difficult to do with threshold successes. Any ideas on this front would be greatly appreciated.

The simple way to do that is to assume that all damage rolls are average. Attack with Dexterity+Melee or whatever, count successes, subtract target's PV, then add Strength+WeaponDamage, divide by 2, then add Epic Strength bonuses and subtract soak and armour. The only problem with this is that it makes it very hard to damage creatures with super-high soak and armour, but such creatures probably call for different measures anyway, like grappling or careful targeting of weak points.

QuoteAs for powers and mortals. Extras are people, I've always believed that, but for the sake of pace I will say that using powers on a mortal extra that's not directly under a Storyteller's control is an automatic success. Feel free to invent NPC's for the sake of your personal plot or showcasing your abilities, or whatever you need them for.

I can feel free to leave a trail of Extras with broken ribs or broken hearts behind me? Got it.

QuoteHow does all this sound so far?

Sounds good! I'm pretty happy to wing combat as we go along, anyway - I'm sure everyone will be patient with the first few fights, and if we collectively decide that the system we're using is too cumbersome or unbalanced, we can change it later.

I think, when it comes to combat, everyone should post their initiative, armour and soak in each post, so that it's there for easy reference. Certain actions can change those values, too (such as combat manoeuvers that penalize DV), so it's good to keep them up to date.

(I also volunteer to test the combat system first!)
If you're such an iconoclast, where were you when we trashed Constantinople?

HopeFox

Quote

  • Lady Caitlin "Cuckoo" Laine, Female, Tuatha De Danaan, Bravo Nature, Scion of the Morrigan
  • Jack O'Neill, Male, Tuatha De Danaan, Competitor Nature, Scion of Lugh

Well, this is going to end with either bloodshed or sex. If not both.
If you're such an iconoclast, where were you when we trashed Constantinople?

Teddy Molotov

Haha, my money's on both, but I guess we'd just have to wait and see~

You bring up some excellent point, Fox. Not entirely sold on your suggestion for damage, but I can see the merits of it, for sure. It could certainly help inspire some strategy.

;-; And don't abuse my Extras too badly.

HairyHeretic

One combat alternative might be to have everyone list their actions for the round, as well as any conditionals, and let the GM roll all the dice and report the outcome.

I'm going to go with two attacks this round.
First will be a shockwave attack, second normal, preferably against a target that gets knocked into the air
If either attack misses I'll spend a point of Legend to reroll it.

As long as you're not trying to cover every possibile eventuality, it should give the players a fair degree of control over their combat actions, and the GM doesn't have to wait around on successive dice rolls.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Letrixia

Can I play on this one? I would love to do a daughter of Aphrodite, I need to know if you are full and if you can reserve me the spot.

Teddy Molotov

@HairyHeretic: Interesting. The only issue I see with your suggestion is what happens if I can't respond right away? I would feel super bad if I got busy and held up the game.

@Letrixia: Certainly not full :) Would you mind PMing me a basic outline of a character concept and backstory?

HairyHeretic

That's the same issue we all have. Life happens, and as long as we can get / give a head's up, I don't think anyone will mind too much.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.