[TSA P&P RPG] Design discussions aka brainstorming the rules-set

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Wilshire

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« Reply #60 on: June 18, 2014, 10:55:05 pm »
We could work out the time difference, early evening for us in the states, morning-ish for you in Europe. As for the spoken english thing, can't help you there, sorry ;)
The rest of us could attempt to play a game I guess. I just need any experience playing an RPG like this.

If you want the possibility to limit things, like schoolmen, I think detailing something similar to what I said before could work. Make it optional or whatever. I gather that games like this play as strict or as relaxed with the rules based on the DM and other players at the table. Its easier to put too much detail in to add some "authenticity". It lets the DM not look like an ass, but it allows the players to feel like they had a part in the decision.
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Wilshire

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« Reply #61 on: June 19, 2014, 12:20:02 am »
roll20.net/

Easy to set up, embedded video chat, live and shared diced rolls, and its free.
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klarakos

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« Reply #62 on: August 01, 2014, 07:39:50 am »
Those are my thoughts, Kellais. I'm kind of like Theliopa/Hitchhiker's Guide to Earwa, I have little creative value . Though, I might bend my mind to learning some rule-sets a la Wilshire.

The Sharmat

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« Reply #63 on: September 04, 2014, 02:27:34 am »
There's another wrinkle in playable schoolmen that I don't think is being addressed. Earwa is very much a "caster supremacy" setting. Representing most schoolmen as anything close to as powerful as they are in the books would see them quickly overshadow all the other characters. The only thing counter-balancing them is the (very rare) chorae. And Chorae are basically a big dose of "save or die", which is usually decidedly unfun to play against, win or lose. There's not a lot of strategic options with a chorae-tipped arrow vs. a schoolman. Either the guy misses, or the schoolman is a pillar of salt.

Kellais

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« Reply #64 on: September 17, 2014, 04:58:15 pm »
Those are my thoughts, Kellais. I'm kind of like Theliopa/Hitchhiker's Guide to Earwa, I have little creative value . Though, I might bend my mind to learning some rule-sets a la Wilshire.

Hey klarakos,

Why don't you give it a try and lay it out for us? I am sure you are just being modest with the "little creative value" ;) I'd like to see your reasons in more detail for your thoughts in that other thread. As it were i got the general view you seem to have, but it'd be much more interesting and, i hope, fruitful if you go into the details of what you think makes a rulesset tick in contrast to the shotgun-blasts in the dark. How would you tailor the rules to specific needs...show it to us on an example. If you read and played that many games i am sure you have some interesting anecdotes where you can showcase your view.
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Wilshire

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« Reply #65 on: February 06, 2015, 04:47:49 pm »
http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Tzimisce

Simas Polchias [06|Feb 11:42 am]:   A one-liner, if i may. Ichoroi are basically space-faring tzimisce.
Wilshire [06|Feb 11:43 am]:   i will be google that shortly
Wilshire [06|Feb 11:44 am]:   very cool, and yeah a good description.
Wilshire [06|Feb 11:44 am]:   what is White Wolf?
Simas Polchias [06|Feb 11:45 am]:   p&p rpg publishing company, afaik


Have not explored it a ton, but that page at least seems curious close to the inchoroi. Might be worth checking out.
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The Sharmat

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« Reply #66 on: February 06, 2015, 05:36:01 pm »
They sound like they're a race of flesh, but are they also a race of lovers?

H

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« Reply #67 on: April 29, 2015, 02:20:26 pm »
They sound like they're a race of flesh, but are they also a race of lovers?

Super late to this party, but in my former days, I was an avid reader (and occasional player) of Vampire: The Masquerade.  I actually own almost all the Revised edition books and a few Second Edition books.  The "world building" was pretty interesting, from what I recall, although, maybe that is just nostalgia talking...

I'll have to dig out the books and take a look for you guys.  From what I can remember though, there certainly are some parallels between the Tzimisce and Inchoroi, but to what extent I can't really recall (Tremere and Lasombra were my real interests).
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Cynical Cat

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« Reply #68 on: July 31, 2016, 05:26:17 am »
A few thoughts from a veteran gamer

1) Chorae are more common than sorcerers.  Their are literally thousands of chorae out there but most are in the hands of caste nobles and elite archers.  They're rare, but potentially obtainable by PCs.

2) Chorae are lethal to sorcerers, but they aren't an instant win button.  Chorae didn't save the guys Akka dropped a roof on, or the guys on the walls of Shimeh when the Spires blew up the walls, and more than a few Shrial Knights died when Cishaurum scourged the earth beneath their horses' hooves.  There's going to need to be rules on indirect sorcerous attacks.  A chorae won't save you when an earth moving cant drops smacks you with a two ton boulder.

3) This world is lethal.  Sorcery blows people into smoking meat.  Spectacular badasses get stabbed in the ear and die.  Chorae turn sorcerers to salt.  Bashrags turn people to bags of stew.  Guys catch sranc javelins in the eye.  Warriors like Saubon and Cnauir slaughter their way through hardened veterans. 

The game's rules need to reflect that aspect of the world and provide some kind of protection for players as well.  Akka, after all, isn't directly struck by the sranc's chorae.  He's wounded and knocked out, but not killed.  Cnauir survives the crushing defeat inflicted on his people by the Nansur due to a very generous amount of luck.  Kelhous survives a Nonman unleashing deadly sorcery at close range when he first goes into the world.  Something like fate points would allow players to buy down their fatal bad luck to merely incapacitating incidents or narrow escapes.  That would allow the players to survive a small number of bad rolls without stacking up a massive PC body count while keeping the world dangerous to them.  And, of course, if you want to increase player fatalities one need only cut down or eliminate the fate points.

Callan S.

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« Reply #69 on: July 31, 2016, 08:11:47 am »
[cough] - maybe some spoilers there?

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« Reply #70 on: July 31, 2016, 01:58:59 pm »
[cough] - maybe some spoilers there?

For TGO? Or just generally for the series?

Otherwise, appreciate you trying to bring some life to these threads, CC.
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Cynical Cat

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« Reply #71 on: July 31, 2016, 11:55:56 pm »
There are no spoilers from the TGO.  All references are from the earlier books, which should be fair game as they've been out for years and this is a discussion of how to reflect Earwa in an RPG format.

Callan S.

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« Reply #72 on: August 01, 2016, 03:19:52 am »
Ok, it has been years and I didn't remember the Akka bit (TGE?)

Instead of fate points, call them 'The World Conspires' points. TWC's.

As I think that's what is hinted at in the book - some of these outrageous instances of luck are actually contrivances.

Cynical Cat

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« Reply #73 on: August 01, 2016, 06:41:12 am »
The White Luck is a contrivance, everything is  . . . . debatable.  Besides, Fate is a whore.  Use whatever name you're happy with, I just use the term from Warhammer Fantasy because its well recognized in the gamer community and its also a fantasy world where men are crushed with uncaring cruelty by forces greater than them.

Callan S.

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« Reply #74 on: August 01, 2016, 10:50:39 am »
Fair enough, I get the principle you're conveying.

I'd probably also suggest some kind of mechanic, call it a 'red shirt' points, to pass off attacks on the PC as having happened to some NPC hireling/follower instead. So the brutality of the attack is underlined with someone getting killed - instead of the javalin merely grazing the side of the PC's head and KOing them, spend a redshirt point and it goes through the neck of an NPC follower, leaving them thrashing on the ground grasping at the dread intrusion. Possibly redshirt points recover over time or from some game play event, while fate points don't (ala warhammer fantasy)