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Messages - Guns_n_Droids

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31
Quote
Cone of Cold          Level 5, Evocation
You send a powerful blast of frigid air and ice from your fingertips. Choose one effect:

    Every surface in the immediate area is coated with thick, slippery ice.
    1d4 creatures of the GM's choice are frozen solid.
    Deal 2d6 damage to everyone nearby except yourself.
As it is CONE of cold, I'd suggest "In front of yourself" instead.

32
Dungeon World / Re: Odd races
« on: September 18, 2012, 05:58:58 AM »
make a separate classes for them?

33
Monster of the Week / Re: MotW and 3:16
« on: September 17, 2012, 05:57:14 PM »
Just like in AW you sooner or later come to the big question of "What the hell happened this one day fifty or so years ago?" - sorta same way your campaign in MotW will move and paint the white spots as well. While team may contain Expert, many things that are _true_ about the world of supernatural are established in play - and some things even those in the know are not privy with at start. You paint the world - the knowledge(who they are, how this work, is there a God, or he has left the building, how werewolf-vampire relationship work, what do daemons truly want, and so on), history(like in my game there was a really big piece about WWII and believe me, daemons and vampires were there in the deep), geography(what really is this Bermuda Triangle, is there really a Shambala), and etc and etc.

And.
And. Not a single *W game can be not about people. Society. How you, strange crazy folks, find your place in this society. How society is composed, can there be a balance between vampires and humans, are there any "good" fairy or daemon and so on. Yes, on start there can and very well will be this period of "let's kill every monster we see"
But then you see that some monsters you can't kill because they're part of the society. Some can be killed, but social repercussions can be devastating. Chances are this creatures has been here for a long, long time, and you can't just "go and cleanse the earth" with your two shotguns and a pitchfork.

To help with the social part - work the game around some concept beyond killing. Agency is a very good start. Reporters, too. Initiate is taught about how this world works, expert learned it the hard way - they all care about the situation beyond immediate consequences. Like "should I kill this young and stupid mage girl who just almost fried her boyfriend's brain trying to make him stop using drugs? What will she become in a couple of years? Can I afford to not interfere? Who can be trusted with teaching her, if I can't do it?"


34
Dungeon World / Re: Question on "Within the Devil's Reach" Encounters
« on: September 15, 2012, 10:38:40 AM »
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Kickstarter Exclusive Supplements
it says so even on $5 pdf-only version.
Could someone please make it clear, what is included in this supplements on each level, then?

35
Apocalypse World / Re: Another Go Aggro / Manipulate debate
« on: September 09, 2012, 08:45:42 PM »
I'll add my 50cents: simply put, YES, manipulating is more powerful then going aggro - because it is so. Because it's versatile, because I don't need an actual gun, and so on. Yet it's sometimes much more dangerous, as without having something to back up my plans, I'm hanging in the wind.

I think this difference in power is linked both to the world of AW, and to the stats allowances.
See, I think it's very important thing to understand - that moves are linked to the stats in playbooks, as well as to setting, - and very much so.
Under Fire is a very powerful move, catch-all, if you want. Having high +cool is very nice. And it is hard to get. There's only one or two books which start with high cool - battlebabe, and quarantine. most of the others have to up it long and painful way. On the other hand +hard is pretty easy to come by in the playbooks. But it's a lot more limited. It's obvious and one-way - remember that basically author shows us that solving things with violence eventually is rewarded with same violence killin' you. Because this is the way of society - easy enough to get a gun and grow hard balls, much more difficult to have a decent brain.
And +hot is in fact not only a "face" stat, it's very much in the brain as well. con man beats stupid legbreaker most of the time. still, when he blows it, he is a toast.
So, to say it short, in the post-apocalyptic society manipulating is hard to master, but it pays very much so, - because it's a social play. And society is good.
Playing with a gun is much easier - that is why it's hard to use in social situations when killing the other side is not an option.

Important thing is, however, that this rule is not always works when we swap settings. There're ones where there're much less fighters, but much more charmers, and having +hot(equivalent) at high levels is easy. In this case basic move should change accordingly

36
Dungeon World / Re: Perilous journey & recruit tweaks
« on: September 09, 2012, 03:07:39 PM »
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they all have +1 on wis, so when I asked who covered which role, their spontaneous collective answer was: "does it matter"?
hmm... remind me, isn't there a chance for GM to make a hard move on player if he fails perilous journey?
so, you know, the hard move DOES depend on which role are you taking - if you're the scout, you have a fairly high chance of stumbling into something really dangerous - and it helps if you have decent amount of HP to survive it, or at least are always-ready Thief with "shoot first"

37
Dungeon World / Re: Simple monster stats question
« on: September 08, 2012, 02:52:08 PM »
-w is "pick worst", then?

38
Dungeon World / Simple monster stats question
« on: September 08, 2012, 10:28:17 AM »
I have a preorder copy of DW, and I'm currently reading through the monster list. Sometimes in stat section I see monster damage written like "2d6-b+2". What exactly is this "b"?

39
Dungeon World / Re: Problems Getting "Within the Devil's Reach"
« on: September 04, 2012, 05:16:45 PM »
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WtDR it's not in the kickstarter updates, there's a link to it in a private message sent to every backer.
_every_?
I know I didn't preorder hardcover(sorry, kinda moot point with digital reader this days) but I did back on "pdf" level, and I've only got Number Appealing(beautiful thing, simply terrific) and some dungeon starters. And pre-release PDF of the main book, of course.
I'll send Sage message on the kickstarter - or there's some other better way?

40
The Sprawl / Re: The Sprawl: Alpha Version
« on: September 03, 2012, 03:30:04 PM »
Well, you know. I just like to advance things gradually. So that you get to the top with a fairly tangible _story_ behind you. Gettin' there right away is in my eyes somewhat... stealing this backstory from them.
I'll definitely try this - as soon as my current group finishes with their Martini Spy story

41
The Sprawl / Re: The Sprawl: Alpha Version
« on: September 02, 2012, 01:15:31 PM »
question: I suppose the same framework can be used for more "street-level" running, with clients like gangs, powerful fixers and so? to have some sort of "beginning phase".

other then that your hack seems quite nice, I'm looking forward to run it!

42
Rogue Trader: Apocalypse / Re: In Progress: Beta 3.0
« on: September 01, 2012, 09:49:15 PM »
Okay, first: not so much "ran" as "running" - we're doin' it in skype, and as usual kinda slow-y, so we're at about half of the first story using this system(second one at all).

next, about Emperor and the entities of the warp. In my game this was kinda important that He by default gave you absolutely NO insight. He's harsh, He's brutal and grimdark - you go there do that, scum, and that's how you serve Him. No saying you'll live, no saying you'll be praised - you'll do his mission and fairly probably die in His service.
But of course He gives you power to go through in form of +1-forward(or ongoing)

Warp is kinder. He answers you. He helps you go through. Just ask. Just ask for our help, first taste's always free...
(And that's no joke - other custom move I added says "after you roll X, if you REALLY want to hit Y, just ask - and you roll Y. at the end of session, roll +(Y-X) to see what you actually got yourself into" - and this move was used at least by one character. He's kinda khorny now)

Interesting example from my game: on the very start of the game missioner(having +2 beyond) was rolling to help Rogue Trader and before that wanted to get Emperor's guidance. He rolled 8 and got, well, sorta Mission from Him directly. To find and help >this man<, who's in capture. No info who he is, where he is, what the hell...you get the picture.
to get answers, to get leads - he had to ask warp. Which was no easy since, you know, warp lies. Not always directly, but ultimately anyway. And pursues its own agenda.
And missioner, being who he is was a sweet piece for it to try, so it was nice and hilarious both.

So while I'll definitely will be keepin' this one, I also suggest you to think about it - as an interesting thing with w40k taste.

about power armor. I like the idea that power armor is almost always special, individual in it is whole other class. See, for me in AW there was always important, what you can do automatically, and what you can't do at all, boundaries between which PCs go. So say Power Armor give character whole different statline(like before, but not "add", just "use") - and while statline itself can be worse, that user had already, it exists on a totally different scale then user was. maybe even some separate moves.

Other variant is to treat it like druid's "change shape" move (you roll armor's +venerable and get hold, which you spend to do awesome space-marine-like things)

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Yes, travelling the Warp with a PC Navigator is very safe (comparibly). My idea is that there will be a separate ship move for navigating through the warp when there's not a PC navigator on board - more similar to the warp move in the old version, where a 10+ just gets you there safely and a 7-9 gets you there with serious complications. In addition, if there's some kind of warp-storm or Tyranid shadow, I'd advise writing a custom move to deal with the situation.
well, I suppose it's just that different people treat WH40k's warp differently, like we say in our group - "each GM has his own WH40k universe". It's just that probably the only thing I liked in original RT(d100 one) was the warp journey roll, and especially because having NOTHING happened was kinda uncommon. It's you and your crew moving through the immaterium, weeks go, sometimes months - and having nothing happening for me is strange already. I think of it as kinda adventure in itself. Maybe something emerges inside the ship(great moment for a GM move "use their ship as a threat"), maybe crew have mutiny or demands or there's unsanctioned psyker who involuntary attunes to the things outside...
So that's just adventuring. more tame with PC nav, less tame without, but no safety, gods.
When you're going without Nav at all... for me it's kinda VERY short of just having warp breach. much more nasty stuff. it can be done, even by NPC ships, but expect it to be very risky even for one jump and progress more as you go further. There is a REASON navigators are widely accepted mutants.
Which, by the way, is a reason for me to think that only a crazy RT will let his Nav out of the ship or anywhere near danger. Because without him whole ship is screwed. even more than without Astropath.

About the class itself - I'll give it another look later, maybe.

couple of things I did with Void-Master:
Quote
MOVES
You get Ace Pilot or One with the Ship, your choice, plus one other void-master move.

Ace Pilot: when in your flyer’s seat:
-You add your flyer’s power to your Defy Danger, Brandish Threats, Seize by Force and Help/Hinder rolls
-You add your flyer’s looks to your Seduce/Manipulate rolls when it’s applicable
-Anyone trying to Hinder you mid-flight adds your flyer’s weakness to their roll

One with the Ship:

You add +1 to the ship’s special move.

Daredevil: if you go straight into danger without hedging your bets, you get +1armor. If you happen to be leading a squad or party, it gets +1armor too.

Narrow Passages:
Whenever you fight in a tight space(hive corridors/tunnels/spaceship passages)

 -you have at least one hold in Seize, even on fail
 -you can use ship’s corridors as harm-2 ap hand weapon without major problems later, or harm-3 ap messy hand with a necessity of repairs later

. Additionally, when you fight on your own ship and, roll +Bold instead of +Adroit for read situation

It’s been a long time...
When you encounter stranger from Navy, roll +Charm.
On a hit: You’ve seen this one in battle, either on your side, or on the other. On 10+ you also take +1 forward for dealing with him.
On a miss: He’ve seen you also, and he’d like to repay the debts, not in a pleasant manner.


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a) Did you use the social / political / influence moves to any great extent? Did you find them compelling drivers of fiction, or were they awkward in play?
Well, I did use influence, sure, though for my players there was a bit of underperformance, I think - but definitely not worse then what was in d100 system. Anyway, currently my RT player is pulling a lot of favors from Navy betting it all on one sure thing, and if it backfires(which it quite probably will) I'd probably have to make a custom move to see how he goes through =)

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b) Did you use ship playbooks and combat rules? Did you find them compelling? What about balanced?
well, no, in fact, which worries me somewhat since we're about to move into ship-to-ship battles soon. one of the reasons I did not use yours is that my RT's ship is a raider - we generated it in original RT, and didn't want to just toss all the story aside. I'd have to get them something better at a certain point, I'm afraid(not 'cause I don't like nice ships in PC hands, but because this one already has quite a history, and... well, I don't think Mal Raynolds would abandon Serenity just to have something bigger and more powerful).
I had some thoughts about ship battles and made aforementioned Voidmaster move. To be short, we have basic moves for ships, we have their statlines and then each class of ship has Special Move - not AW kind of special %) but more of a traditional meaning.
Cruiser will ponder with broadside, frigate will hit-and-strafe, utilizing both maneuverability and firepower, carrier will engulf with bombers, raider will zip around and strike into a weak point. Only with a good voidmaster. By default of course raider still have speed and all, but it needs a good helmsman to utilize it.
[Transport, by the way, was supposed to be less "battle" and more "utility", as its cargo-holds are so big there can be virtually anything found]

but I see you're going to rewrite this anyway, so I'm waiting to see what you'd do about it. 

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c) What playbooks saw use in your game? How did the fiction evolve? Did you use the MC playsheet I posted, or did you work by your own code?
playbooks are
-RT
[by the way, I see you same as me added to RT playbook +1Bold move. Though I named it a bit differently, "Elusive as void itself" - I'll ask my RT player does he like your more, as mine is quite uncharacterful for him. Which I think is totally good and fine, move names SHOULD matter fictionally]
-Missioner
[by the way, I think I'll be reworking his divine minstration(as well as maybe some other Emperor'callin' moves) to work more like cleric in DW - right now divine healing became too common, and a bit unlike traditional wh40k verse-ish]
-Voidmaster [Kevin "Ram It!" Hasselhoff, who quite likes going in without hedging bets]
-Arch-Militant(fairly overpowered class for my taste - though fictional implications of "Stone-cold killer" move are catching up with our militant, and he's already paranoidal. I think later I'd give him an option to buy it out, loosing a bit of martial prowess but saving sanity)
-Explorator(again I already wrote my own Playbook, though I think I'll ask my player if he wants to switch. Here is my version, not fully done, just what is in use currently. Call of Metall was custom move my player wanted to have, so I used a bit of MoW)
-There's also Senechal - and I like your book there a lot - but he's not much involved as of now
-as well as Secutor squad, based mechanically on Arch-militant playbook and fictionally being sort of SW clone commandos in wh40k.

Fiction evolved mainly from
a) missionary's prayer I already mentioned which sprung Holy Mission storyline
b) RT's endeavor roll at the very start, which gave us an obvious enemy, pirate "fleet" which proved to be much more then anybody thought.
c) player actions, like attempt to repair Voidmaster's cyber-parrot resulted in
-~20+ gangers dead in underdecks
-suitcase full of thrones(in the end given to the contact below)
-suitcase full of illegal drugs(in the end given to the INQ as our RT is still on the legal side...for now)
-new underworld contact(who in fact was the purpose of the aforementioned gundown, who almost got 2 PCs killed and who got aforementioned suitcase full of money(his own money, to be fair) for the troubles. good thing RT didn't have much profit at the moment, I say, or it could go there, too)
-2 mildly pissed RTs
-one illegal basilisk-like psyker bird.

3) MC sheet wasn't used that much, as I'm in fact not this experienced in fronts writing; I'm doing it only now, in fact, as now most of the threats are formed and easier to see. My bad of course, improv without thinking and structuring can get you only this far

--Guns
P.S. feel free to ask questions =)

43
Rogue Trader: Apocalypse / Re: In Progress: Beta 3.0
« on: August 31, 2012, 07:18:13 PM »
Hi. I actually ran a game for a fairly long time with your hack(and with some additions by myself where it didn't cover). Anyway, excited to see things are going.
Couple of questions:
1) Last edition there were two basic moves regarding beyond - one to ask questions - for most characters only from Warp(and entities therein) and one to seek the Emperor's guidance(which was to give +1-fwds and put characters on missions)

both were particularly important for us (especially that Missioner started by using BOTH with latter giving him what basically became "current game's quest" and former tempting the hell outta him) - and both were interesting. While I see the former is somewhat still present, there's no "call for His Guidance" in this version.
a) why is that so? what was the reason to remove it? (no offense of course, and anyway I can use it as custom move; just interested)
b) in-game how do you reason the idea that potentially any PC can call for the forces of warp at almost anytime without any sort of learning or whatnot?
For my game I just explained to my players that their PCs are special otherwise they won't be PCs, so Warp is particularly interested in their souls(compared to those unintelligent unheroic masses) and is ever listening, waiting to make its move. Do you agree with this idea and if so, do you suppose that similar-level NPCs like inquisitors are also highly susceptible?

2) power armour just gives +1hard?

3) Navigating the warp:
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When you guide a star-vessel through the Immaterium, roll +Will. On a hit, the journey is safe and steady.

All navigators have +3 will as base and +1 will as advance. So at start they have only 1/12 chance to actually have some problems during warp-voyage? (and 1/36 after getting +4 will)

and there's whole other fact that ALL their moves that roll something rely on their Will which is +3. feels kinda cheesy. Even Battlebabe in AW(which looks a lot like it with the stat-line) only has one move from six involving cool(+3).

I'm just interested, why? mainly with warp travel, 'cause that, I suppose, shows your opinion on the nature of RT warptravel (generally safe and sound).

----------------------------
What I very much liked:
Astropath
Explorator
more or less - Panoply
quite nice idea with Insanities. If I may, some ideas:
-Rogue Trader: power hunger. risking anything and paying anything for the promise of power. Leaving: either when someone you value dearly has suffered for your ambitions or when someone demonstrates utter selflessness in front of you.
-Arch-Militant: paranoia. reacting at anything like its a threat, suspecting anyone of betrayal, and ultimately not trusting anyone except yourself
leaving: either when you do grave(not necesserily but quite possibly mortal) harm to someone innocent to sate your paranoia or when someone selflessly helps you.
-TechPriest: cold logic. ignoring any and all claims of faith and believing only hard facts as well as treating machines as most important and above all.
leave: either when your logic and love for technology endangers you and everyone around or...

Any VoidMaster? I had some ideas for this, mostly based on AW driver.

--Guns

44
The Regiment / Re: Alpha 2.0?
« on: August 27, 2012, 07:53:57 PM »
Awesome! Yay!

First of many questions: what's the Operator's deal? He's just the awesomeness machine able to do anything? What's his idea?

45
Monster of the Week / Help me prove players wrong about MoW
« on: June 24, 2012, 01:36:01 PM »
Last day got hit pretty hard by people criticizing MoW as compared with nWoD.
Main points were
-ability to make all challenges rolled just by 2 or 3 of 5 stats, and max those
-the overimportance of Cool as Under Fire is catch-all problem stat
-overall lack of any sort of "Willpower roll" versus scary things(and defaulting to "under fire" does not help).

Can you give me any advice? Because, frankly, I came across this things before, and have to say they're...true in at least some points (like +tough guy being able to endure fire with his +tough), I just didn't realize they were this important. I don't like nWoD for having quite bigger list of traits and skills(well, being traditional game), but I don't know how to counteract this problems to help my group not abandon this system.

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