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Topics - Spwack

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1
other lumpley games / On the wonders of censorship
« on: October 17, 2017, 10:27:54 AM »
As per the design goals, the name of "kill puppies for satan" has rendered me unable to publicly advertise it for my club. Everything about the game is fine*, just not the name. Go figure.

LO! I come to thee, internet, with a quest: I need a new name. Obviously, nothing can reach the perfection that is, "kill puppies for satan" but something must suffice.

Keep in mind I plan on maintaining the role of the title in being displayed proudly across the top of the character sheets. So it must be horrid. But no animal cruelty, apparently. Brutal gruesome human murder is fine, but as soon as it's fluffy? That's right out.

2
brainstorming & development / Palm cards and such
« on: July 28, 2017, 11:37:33 AM »
Reprinting for my own gratification:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kBtnnDeZDeYX2IYV1x5rktykgoEvxQKecJLxK3yOI0Y/edit?usp=sharing

It's a mix of introducing the starting rules, getting some roleplaying going, and just stirring shit. Looking back at it, the Angel card is literally just a 12+ roll of an advanced Read a Sitch. Which is kind of interesting.

Oh, and the Gunlugger card? That gives me a lever. If they are being interesting, that extra NPC just exists, and is an Ally (probably Lover or Confidante depending). If they are being kinda boring, I have them be taken hostage. However, if I'm feeling super cruel and I feel they can take it, this happens immediately -

“Well guess what, they’re fucking dead at your feet.“

To a non-violent character (Angel, Savvyhead or Driver):

“How’d they die huh? Shotgun or axe to the face? Electrocuted? Were they tortured before they died? Come on, give me something to work with. No no, I’m not blaming you for it. You just know something. Well, in that case, pick a number from 2 to 5. Yeah, they’re on your doorstep in [X] different pieces."

“And you know who did this?”

Point at a violent character (Faceless, Chopper, Battlebabe):

“They fucking did this. Did you do this? Did one of your guys do this? Then who fucking did it?”

“Gunlugger, it’s time to make a choice: Who’s to blame here?”

____________MESSAGE ENDS____________

Paul, you mentioned a "different kind of AW play", and that my text pointed towards a specific style of play. Basically my question is... what IS, my style of play? Was there anything specific that led you to reach this conclusion? What would you change for them to be your style?

3
Monsterhearts / The Damsel - Skinning in Progress
« on: February 04, 2017, 01:07:21 PM »
Having just watched Scott Pilgrim versus the World, I realised an archetype that's missing from MH: The Damsel in distress. Sure, the Mortal is emotionally abused and co-dependent, but until you enter your Darkest Self, you never outright have to cause fights. The Damsel, on the other hand, is all about causing fights, whether they like it or not. Here's the first draft of the heavily derivative Sex Move, a couple possible Moves to choose from and the stats as I see them. The Darkest Self is just what I have written down at the moment, suggestions are very much requested.


Stats: +1 Hot, -1 Volatile, 0 Cold, 0 Dark

Special: A few days after having sex with someone for the first time, everyone ever who you’ve previously slept with gains two strings on them, and they gain one string on everyone else. You gain 1 XP whenever one of them defeats another. [Is there a better way to word this?]

Darkest Self: If they’re fighting for you, it’s time to run. Lead them on a merry chase. If they aren’t, start the fight. Seduce one, be ensnared by another, them leave them both to squabble in the mud.

Moves:
Precious - Whenever you wake up, whoever is closest to you at the time gains a string on anyone who has a connection to you. They also take +1 forward. You may ask them any one question, they must answer honestly or give you a string. Everybody knows this to be the case, so announce it.

Nut Shot - When you suddenly attack someone who is emotionally vulnerable, like staring deep into your eyes, you can roll to Lash Out Physically with Hot, and they are stunned for a moment

Rooting For You - Whenever someone fights for or because of you, you can spend any of your strings on their behalf. If two or more people are fighting over you, you may choose to grant any of them +/- 1 ongoing for the duration of the fight.

Blinding - While you are pure, you can roll to Shut Someone Down with Hot. Anyone that lays a hand on you can decide to give you the condition Tarnished , and while you have it, you can’t use this move

Ivory Tower - When someone has you imprisoned against your will, they take -2 to do anything against you that doesn’t involve keeping you there.

Femme Fatale - After spending a night close to someone, you can choose to give them the condition Secret Weakness.

4
Monsterhearts / Discord Game
« on: January 25, 2017, 09:52:55 AM »
Anyone interested in joining my first time MCing of Monsterhearts? Discord server, PbP, any time zones, anything goes. Experience level doesn't matter at all, but if you are a veteran, patience will be required as we all get our heads around the rules. Not that that should take too long, but just FYI. Thanks!

5
Apocalypse World / Gunlugger + grenades = problem
« on: December 17, 2016, 10:55:16 PM »
Basically, is the above a problem? It isn't even against large groups, she seems to have a hilarious habit of shoving live grenades into people's mouths, then kicking them away to explode. Is this even a problem? It just seems to be an unlimited solution to every problem. I've said "the next time you fail a roll involving grenades, you'll only have three left and need to buy more somehow." Is this fair? I've been using destroyed terrain as a side effect, but it seems to be overshadowing every other weapon/player completely. Is there a rule I've misinterpreted? Thanks

6
Apocalypse World / A number of supplemental characters
« on: November 07, 2016, 02:56:18 AM »
Heyo! Just some things I've been idly making. Still in progress, especially stuff in [square brackets]. Feedback welcome!

Scoundrel (Battlebabe)
“When [something better here], you can also take any of the following as either new battlebabe moves or moves from another playbook”

Panache: When you have an appreciative or attentive audience, subtract your hot from any harm rolls, and you can roll+hot for single combat

Things just always go my way: Anyone that makes a move against you first suffers 0-harm (coincidental), NPCs should make the harm move. In addition, you can Read a Sitch, Read a Person, or Seduce/Manipulate during combat without having to worry about the logistics.

Points for Style: At the beginning of a fight, roll+cool. On a 10+, hold hot+1, on a 7-9, hold hot, on a miss, still hold hot-1, but an enemy has the drop on you. Spend hold during the fight to:
- Locate a useful element of terrain right when you needed it
- Organise a conveniently timed distraction
- Declare that an object that wasn’t being kept track of to somewhere on your person
- Maneuver an ally or enemy into a new position
- Take a single short action, uninterfered with, perhaps unnoticed
While you have any amount of hold remaining, no-one can ever stop you talking. [OR: Decide that an attack from a life-threatening enemy is AP in order to reroll this ability]

Cliffhanger: When you take a bunch of harm that might be fatal, don’t roll+harm taken, you instead are taken out of action, reduce the harm taken by two and are no longer part of this scene. If you have Panache, reduce another harm. If your audience is shocked and horrified, or triumphant and gloating, mark experience. You’ll be back later.

Quest: Pick a goal, something that you would not be able to complete on your own, without the assistance of your audience. Any time someone acts to further or subvert that goal, they mark experience. [additional benefit for owner of the move]

(Audience - Anyone or anything that is paying attention to what you are saying and has strong feelings about it one way or the other. Includes: Other players, disgruntled enemies, bystanders, possibly yourself)

Puppetmaster (Brainer)
“When your double-crossings and schemes within schemes threaten to overwhelm you, you can also take any of the following as either new brainer moves or moves from another playbook”

Chronobreak neurosis bomb: When you use in-brain puppet strings, you can roll+weird and plant the command up to three days after you’ve had time and intimacy with them.

All according to keikaku: Once per scene, you can roll+weird. On a hit, declare that you’ve made a move, performed some specific action or made some special preparation in the past three days, and it works more or less as you expected. On a 7-9, there might be some minor complications. On a miss, it slipped your mind. If you quietly discussed your plan with the MC beforehand, treat a miss as a 7-9, but there are definitely major complications

Pan-psychosis network interface: Advance “Open Your Brain” for everyone.

Voracious Socialite (Skinner)
“When you have firmly established your social presence in a community, you can also take any of the following as either new Skinner moves or moves from another playbook”

A friend in need: If you are a local and are in good or neutral standing with the neighbours, you can go searching for a past ally. Roll+hot. On a 10+, choose three, on a 7-9, two. On a miss, still choose one, but… well, that would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?
- They’ve got a room or two for you, it’s clean and secure
- They are still your buddy, they won’t make you pay or hold a grudge
- They’ve got a warning or tidbit of information for you
- They aren’t in danger from you being around them
- They won’t mind your friends too much, grudgingly or otherwise

Shutdown: You can roll+hot to get the effects of going aggro. They have to be able to communicate effectively with you, and you need leverage that would be suitable for Seducing or Manipulating them. If they force your hand, your sheer force of personality deals s-harm

Prince/ss: When someone does something interesting for you without being explicitly asked, they take +1 to do it, and if you appreciate it, they mark experience.

Noblesse oblige: When you take harm, a nearby ally can volunteer to take it for you instead. Every time they do this, they hold 1. They can spend this hold to invoke your name, whether as leverage, a threat, or a guarantee.

And a few extra, that don't quite fit anywhere (yet)

Arcana: So long as you are already rolling +weird, your moves apply to a particular type of natural phenomenon. To you, they are more like an NPC than anything. On a miss, alongside anything else, treat it as if you Opened Your Brain and missed that roll as well.

(Moves include Go Aggro, Read a Person, Seduce/Manipulate, Lost, maybe others. You can pick things that happen, like fire, or fear, or earthquakes, or gravity, or things that are, like metal or food. Harm against a natural phenomena is transient, leverage may be rare, and answers may be inscrutable. Choose carefully, your choice is reasonably permanent)

Sage: When you Open Your Brain, on a 10+, ask one question from Read a Sitch or Read a Person. An answer will come to you, eventually.


7
Apocalypse World / How to respond to overwhelming firepower
« on: November 03, 2016, 09:29:22 AM »
The gist is this: Battlebabe, Ice Cold, Perfect Instincts, +3 cool, +2 sharp, Not To Be F*cked With, 2-armor and an AP shotgun. A murder-machine if I've ever seen one, capable of chewing through nearly any size of gang with regular +5 bonuses, and actively looking for goals that can be achieved with overwhelming firepower. What can I do to threaten her without wiping out the rest of the players?

8
brainstorming & development / Idle attempts at a 40KW hack
« on: September 30, 2016, 03:51:48 AM »
Bits and pieces are stolen from other places, some stuff is just completely unchanged from AW. Basically, trying to make a humorous and bulletproof chassis for heretical shenanigans. Stats are Murder, Flee, Cogitate, Banter and Bullshit, corresponding to the appropriate AW stats. Basic moves probably won't change much, but still need to sort those out. Heres the garbage core moves of Guardsman, Scum, Psyker, Tech-Priest and Commisar. What's missing? What's garbage? What would you want to see happen next?

Guardsman (Hold the Line and one other move)

Hold the Line: When you are facing overwhelming odds with other troops, roll+murder. On a hit, you Hold. The. Line. On a 10+, choose 1, on a 7-9, MC chooses one. On a 6-, everything is fucked.

- You and everything near you has been deemed expendable by the artillery crew
- You have to Hold the Line again. This time, it’s worse though
- The order comes through: Advance
- The line breaks elsewhere

Brutality: +1 murder

Scum (Any two moves)

BITCH: +1 flee

Scumbag: Any time you deal harm, you can deal less harm to:
-   Make their life a misery (1)
-   Steal something (1 or 2)
-   Be able to run away (1)

Murderhobo: You deal +1 harm from behind and +1 harm if it’s a surprise. Stacks.

Psyker (Utter Bullshit, one area of “expertise”)

Utter Bullshit: Roll+bullshit, on a 10+ you pretty much do what you set out to do, but there’s a catch. On a 7-9, the MC will tell you what will happen if you go through with it, its not pretty. If you bail out, MC picks a catch. On a 6-. Ha.

Catches:
-   Take -1 bullshit forward
-   You attract the attention of something bullshit
-   You let something bullshit through
-   Your request is hilariously misinterpreted
-   Everything is on fire/covered in crap/alien viscera/whatever

Disciplines: Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis, Telepathy

“Why is a raven like a writing desk?”: +1 bullshit

Tech-Priest (“Fix”, important gear and a workspace)

“Fix”: Roll+cogitate, hold 3 on a 10+, hold 1 on a 7-9
-   Fix a thing
-   Make a thing work even if it’s broken
-   Make a shitty version of a thing

Glimpses of the Lost and Perfect: +1 cogitate

Workspace is as a Savvyhead

Commisar (“Leadership”, has a gang)

Leadership: Literally exactly the same as pack alpha from the Chopper

Authorised Insanity: +1 hard

9
brainstorming & development / Alternative death rule
« on: September 07, 2016, 07:05:18 AM »
When you take a fatal blow, you die. Unless of course, you say you don't want to. In which case, say what you sacrifice, it has to make sense*. It could be:

- A point in a stat
- A limb or part of a limb
- An unscarred piece of flesh (it's now scarred, duh, and not a cool scar either)
- A bodily function (a non-vital one, but one that's really annoying, like sight or bowel control)
- Dignity/social standing
- Material wealth
- Anything else you can think of

You lose whatever it is, permanently**. If the DM thinks you've paid your dues, you're unconscious and messed up, but no longer bleeding to death. If they don't, repeat the above move, or die.

Optional: You only have one opportunity to bid on your life, and you must sacrifice whatever amount of things you deem expendable.

Optional: The DM doesn't have to tell you if you survived or not until someone tries to resuscitate you.

Optional: Bluffing. Somehow. Figure it out.

*If it doesn't make sense, you lose it, and it does nothing.

**Not really permanently, but at least for two campaign arcs. You nearly died, man.

Thoughts?

10
brainstorming & development / Feedback requested on move
« on: June 22, 2016, 12:13:55 AM »
The Monsters Mythos – You gain a new stat called Rage, which has a maximum value of hard+weird, so long as weird is above 0. When you cause brutal, callous and unmitigated devastation, such as ripping an enemy totally to shreds, increase your Rage by one. You can spend a Rage point to turn a missed Act Under Fire, Go Aggro, Raw Combat and Teramach move into a partial hit, but it’s not going to be pretty for anyone involved, including you. While you have at least one Rage point, you are incapable of showing any restraint in your attacks, you cannot flee from battle, and you can never, never show mercy to fallen enemies. Any creature that attacks you in any way is treated as an enemy for all purposes.

Balance? Broken? Basically, whenever the Teramach (name of playbook) misses a roll, they can decide, no, no I don't think I did miss that roll, and their callous disregard for morality, common sense and physics makes it so. Hard moves all round, of course, for whoever is standing next to them.

Thoughts? I'm tossing up what the max should be, I've used hard+1/2 level, hard+weird, hard±weird, each of which has pros and cons. This is the core move of the class, and several others manipulate Rage in a variety of ways.

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Apocalypse World / God is dead. We have his corpse.
« on: February 08, 2016, 05:58:36 AM »
When you bring someone to Gods Corpse, roll+barter spent-2. On a hit, the Corpse picks a piece of brainer gear or a brainer move. They now count as that gear, or have that move, and also add insanity to their threat.
On a 10+, the Corpse controls their actions.
On a 7-9, no one has any clue.
On a miss, they die, messily, then come back, and the maelstrom takes interest.


Thoughts? Just something I came up with today, remembering a question I had a while back about buying brainer gear.

12
Just so everyone is on the same level, I'm using Vincents mechanics outlined here: http://www.lumpley.com/archive/148.html . In short, pick 1 good thing and 2 bad things, and roll 3d6. 4+, the good thing happens, or the bad thing(s) don't happen. 3-, the good thing doesn't happen, or the bad thing(s) happen.

Savvy?

I'm getting slightly obsessed with this, mainly because I'm always the DM/MC/whatever. This mechanic is great for moving to an DM-free system. However, I've been messing around with some ideas. It's mostly garbage, but here's what I've got:

Behaviour:
- If you're trying to make the good outcome happen in an excessively cautious or cowardly way, remove one bad outcome, 1 die and modify the good outcome
- If you're trying to make the good outcome happen in risky manner, add one bad outcome and 1 die
- If you are willing to risk death to make the good outcome occur, add 1 die and the bad outcome "I die".

Stats:
- If you are a hard motherfucker what you want to do involves injuring someone, taking something, or otherwise being a douchebag, you can reroll the die placed on the good outcome
- If you are a really hard motherfucker, you automatically succeed on such rolls. You still need to roll for the bad outcomes though
- If you are a wimp, you automatically roll a 1 on any of your die. Roll the remaining, and hope for the best

Same as above for being smooth in social situations (hot, by any other name), versus being gauche and annoying, etc. etc. The only one that is different is for cool:

- If you are cool under pressure, you can reroll a die placed on a bad outcome
- If you are really cool under pressure, you can either reroll both dice that are on the bad outcomes, or automatically drop a 6 on one of them
- If you are a massive clutz, you automatically suffer a bad outcome

You'll notice that the stats only go from -1 to +2. I think getting to +3 in this system should be either impossible, or have a fictional rather than mechanical benefit.

Thoughts? This is mostly stream of consciousness, and late at night, and hasn't been edited, but whatever.

13
brainstorming & development / The "Action Button"
« on: December 05, 2015, 12:29:38 AM »
Ok, here's just a dumb idea I've got kicking around for a Pulp Fiction themed game. After watching the movie, I noticed that things just happen. No reason is really given, it's just random coincidence that makes the plot move forward. People happen to be crossing the street at exactly the wrong time, someone OD's, a gun goes off. Things just happen.

So. The Action Button, the Pulp Button, or whatever you want to call it. Works best if it's big and red. Whenever anybody presses it, the MC makes a hard move. Bored? Too much talking, not enough action? Have no idea whats going on? Hit the Button. Same goes for the MC.

Thoughts? Maybe different settings would have a list of moves that link to the Button, rather than just a flat hard move. I've got no idea.

14
Dungeon World / Mythos Characters ported into Dungeon World
« on: November 16, 2015, 10:14:13 PM »
Hey all. Someone by the name of Xefas has a bit of a cult following over on the Giant in the Playground Forums. He created a set of homebrew classes, collectively referred to as Mythos. The core idea is thus: "Wizards and Clerics are hella OP in 3.5e. Like, ridiculous. Fighters and Barbs and all the jazz are cool, but can't really hold their own against the Tier 1-2 classes."

"Let's not nerf wizards. Let's just buff everything else."

And it was so, and it was good. People have taken the idea (let's make homebrew classes that are overpowered on purpose!) and run with it, but the  Xefas' work is always... beautiful. The classes are part of a cosmology that is straight up insane, and I (and many other people) love it. I personally dislike the ridiculous 3.5 rules, so I've decided to take the classes and move them Dungeon World. Eventually I might make my own hack, but for now, this will suffice. Stay tuned for the first class 'The Teramach'.

If you're interested, the latest discussion link is http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?457613-Mythos-Homebrew-Discussion-III-Grievous-Imbalance-Is-A-Feature.

15
blood & guts / How much damage does a proton beam do?
« on: October 11, 2015, 07:36:09 PM »
...among other questions. Basically, the savvyhead met with a whole lot of other NPC savvyheads, and I have a sneaking suspicion they want to build a spaceship. For reasons unknown. It's a nice long term goal, so I need to start thinking about it. Here's what I've got so far:

A small ship (scout, personal etc.) won't give a flying f*** about small arms fire, so it would have to have at least 3-armor, maybe more. It's armaments would probably be slightly stronger than it's armor, so either 4- or 5-harm. However, I feel that against ground forces (especially dumb ground forces) a ship would have a distinct advantage. To represent this, I'd say a small ship (1 or 2 seater) would count as a small gang for the purpose of fighting against other groups, or ships, but take harm the same as other vehicles.

However (and this is the part I'm not sure about) highly mobile ships in movies nearly always rely on the pilots fast reflexes and dodging shots rather than shields and armor. For this reason, I've put together this:

When controlled by a highly skilled pilot and accelerating faster than it's opponent, this ship counts as one size larger than normal.

It's actually quite efficient, deal +1 harm, recieve -1 harm, and the damage reduction from dodging and weaving is ignored by area weapons. I have some ideas for larger ships as well, I may add those later. What do people think?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, any unusual flight maneuvers requires Acting Under Fire, the fire being you crash and burn. Pilots are cool. Your co-pilot might be using the onboard sensors to Read a Sitch, or Going Aggro with those proton torpedoes, but pilots are always cool.

So, with medium to large ships (think Millennium Falcon), once again, they count as a gang for combat once again, and probably have large amounts of armor and firepower. AP is probably the only type that will go through their shields. For these massive ships, the vehicle rules probably won't cut it, and they can take 8 or more harm before exploding. Would they need anything more? Perhaps room for more equipment and firepower, but that should do it.

With truly massive ships, the normal rules break down, they are moving terrain types. Each turret is a vehicle in its own right. You either drop one tiny explosive into the air vent that obliterates it entirely, or you leave it alone. I vaguely recall rules for damage to buildings, where nothing less than 9-harm would have any structural effect. Perhaps that might work?

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