The Role Playing Public Radio Forums
General Category => RPGs => : SageNytell November 19, 2012, 02:52:45 PM
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Working on an idea for a hack of the game to be based off a certain video game (which will not be named here for a bit because someone who's in it might read this), trying to mess around with Weird Kids eventually starting to scale like Wild Talents. Has anyone played extensively with Weird Kids as compared to Monsters to know how they tend to scale and how the system behaves with them? On paper it looks like they'll be a lot more vulnerable to full-out Monster opponents.
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Weird skills degrade relationships, the primary source of bonuses for normal players so pumping them up will shoot you in the foot on that side of things.
Monsters are the toughest; nothing is going to stand on even footing with a monster unless that something is specifically made to fight them and the monster isn't prepared for combat in any way.
The skills scale to how they are described. Like most things in Monsters the players have alot of leeway to phrase their abilities.
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a group of kids with weird skills vs 1 monster would be good for a boss fight if the kids used teamwork and the monster wasn't minmaxed to hell and back.
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I'm absolutely ripping off the Shadow Mob and Cafeteria Garbage Monster from Curriculum of Conspiracy as a lingering threat for an arc and a general boss fight, for one thing. ;D
I was thinking of dropping the 'kill your relationships to gain power' and just letting them (slowly) develop their weird abilities ala Wild Talents, but still use Monsters as a base - the source material is an RPG, I guess I can say that much, and it's a tad bit happier, less dark and more generally weird than Monsters Core. D'you guys think that might get out of control? I'd like them to be able to reliably stand against general monsters by the end, but I'll mostly be using a whole bunch of threat pools for incidentals at the start.
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I'd recommend dropping Monsters power instead of trying to tweek the kids too much.
Make monster locations worth 3 dice instead of 5 while keeping the other rules the same and you'll have monsters that can be dealt with more easily by weird kids.
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Gotcha. Alright, cool, that's one thing taken care of.
As the game I'm basing this on involves equipment that gets upgraded as time goes on, I'm planning on giving them small upgrades to their 'weapon of choice' which is going to be represented with a normal skill (hands + punching, hands + baseball bat, hands + frying pan) that starts out doing W+1, then upgrades to W+2 in the second 'tier', then maybe picks up an extra or two for the final two tiers. This'll give them some variety in situations where superpowers might not be a good idea.
Essentially, I'll be having Weird vs. Boring be a major theme in the campaign. Weird stuff can't directly interact with Boring stuff normally, and boring stuff is always either useless or deadly against weird stuff. For example: That evil possessed beaver gnawing on your arm does shock to weird kids, but that IRS accountant is going to ignore your lightning-pitched baseballs and his lecture on tax preparation is bringing the Scarring damage. Kids'll have to figure a way around Boring things other than weird powers.
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One note, remember that Monsters defaults to W-1 for damage, not W like Wild Talents does. Doing W damage is an upgrade. W+1 is a big upgrade.
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Base rules already has that in place, I'm actually gypping the players. 'Sticks and stones', page 29 in conflicts in the main book.
I might go with just base damage of W-1 to start and then up it later. Something to think on, I suppose.
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Working on a pregenerated character concept, and I need some assistance. Weird kid in question is a 'princess kid', meaning the Disney variety that swordfights and practices archery and leads from the front. I need some ideas for one or two weird skills for her, one of them preferably a 'leadership' style thing, but I have not played enough Monsters to figure out how to work it. She has between 8 and 10 points to work with, and I'm fine with her going through all 10.
I've already got the baseball kid - his weird skill is "Throw Lightning and Catch Smoke". He can attack with various supernatural pitches, catch literally anything, and can block supernatural attacks with his baseball glove. 8 dice to work with boils down to a 4d weird skill with ADU and Awesome x2. His non-weird skills are mostly PE, and he uses a baseball bat like a sword.
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Second kid's weird powers done! "Ray Skanz, The World's Littlest Ghostbuster".
Special weapon is Hands + Super Soaker.
Weird Skills: Brains + "We Have The Tools! We Have The Talent!" 5d - Useful, design temporary superscience tools, one at a time, takes 5-W minutes per device; Useful, analyze weird powers and weird effects, Sweet x1, Awesome x1
Weird Relationship: Tobin's Spirit Guide 1d
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This sounds like two or three separate skills to me, depending on whether or not you count the archery and swordsmanship as one thing. The Leadership thing would probably be a face-based skill. Something like:
Useful: Decree (Princess can make a decree that others have to follow)*
If she has a high face, which makes the most sense as a princess, I would only set aside two dice and give it awesome x2. Or you could give it Sweet, and make it really hard for people to combat its effect. Also, to highlight that she's a disney princess, I'd give her the ability to SUMMON ANGRY PEONS
Proclamation! 2d Awesome x2
Useful: Do what I say or 50 years dungeon no trial! Attacks: Summon loyal subjects (with torches and pitchforks)
That leaves between three and five dice to work with, depending on how creepy you want to make the princess; La Belle or La Bete. As for her second skill, it sounds like you want her to have Little Miss Badass swordfighting abilities, but that honestly sounds more like a regular sort of skill to me, not a weird one. Could you go into a little more detail about what you want?
*What's that, Ross? No PC mind control? FIE ON YOU I SAY!
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Gonna give each character one 'normal' way of fighting, in the vein of punching/kicking/wrestling/outwit/putdown, but reflavored for the game. Baseball player hits with Hands + Baseball Bat, Science kid is either Hands or Mind + Squirt Gun, Princess might be Guts + Swordfighting or Hands + Archery. These are separate from their Weird Skills.
The Princess I'm trying to flesh out, trying for a leader-style character. I've mostly been working on the monsters / threats / plot / challenges, and I'm usually pretty bad about making pregens either bland or same-y, so I figured I'd poke around and ask for some ideas.
The Decree thing might work, the particulars of the scenario mean that Summoning Angry Peons might not work as most of the kids in town have been co-opted by Bad Guys, but I'll look into that one too.
Kids are all normal-ish kids with some weird traits and hobbies, in the year 199X. What makes them special is they're the Weirdest of the Weird, and they stand out from the other kids in town, and it falls to them to save the day. I'm going off a video game for source material, but since certain people who might be playing the home game might see this I'll stay mum on more for now.
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Oh neat! Gives me a kind of Earthbound vibe.
They're magic peons! They come from the land of Ooo! Or Fantasia, or Andalasia. They appear for width-1 turns, cause a ruckus, then turn into trash or something. Up the dice amount to turn it into one large skill pool, add the Defends quality, and you've got a magic crowd.
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:-\ That would be because it's an EarthBound game.
Welp, guess the cat's out of that bag.
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Er, sorry about that. I'm kind of overdosed on references. I'll keep my mouth shut next time.
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Alright, then. Any advice from anyone in an Earthbound adaptation for Monsters? I've done a lot of prep work, but any fun ideas are always welcome.
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You'll need to include the classic "Loot food from trash cans".
If Weird and Boring are the two main classification of abilities, how do dangerous objects play in? If Frank pulls out a knife, how are the kids going to handle it?
Perhaps allow one of the characters to take the Pray command or something similar? You'd need to set up a random table.
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Are there any good dice rollers online for monsters and other childish things or matching dice roller?
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Are there any good dice rollers online for monsters and other childish things or matching dice roller?
My question exactly. Ross had something working for a Nemesis game after one of the Kickstarters, but damned if I can remember the name of it. I want a working die roller figured out before I try and run a game.
Also! From the Heroes of New Arcadia thread where it began, regarding that bet to run a game:
Alright, quick update. I've got 4 people so far - GorkaMorka, Tadanori Oyama, Dom, and Teuthic, and a friend of mine might be joining us so I'm calling it there. Game'll be held sometime in January because fuck trying to schedule things in December. We'll be playing Monsters and Other Childish Things in a setting inspired largely by EarthBound. Any further nonsense will be posted in the thread I started in RPGs. (IE here)
My goal is to record the game, so be aware of that, and any Skype recording advice would be lovely. Otherwise I'll have the pregens posted out here, I've got 4 of 5 done to my satisfaction.
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dice roller: http://www.metstuebchen.de/cgi-bin/DIESERVER/roll.pl
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Just an update: This is still happening, I went back to school after being out for six years and getting into the swing of things took longer than I thought it would. Game is 90% done, will take place most likely in early February.
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Alright, I'm rezzing this bitch. In two weeks I will be taking a two month break from school. I'm finally putting my money where my mouth is and I'm going to run that bet game from the Kickstarter last year. Game will be the first or second week of July, folks who had already called spots - IE Teuthic, Gorkamorka, Dom and Tad - still have spots if they want/need them.
Ironically I won't be using Monsters, but instead we'll be trying out FATE Accelerated Edition (http://www.evilhat.com/home/fae/). The game is still somewhat styled after SNES classic Earthbound, and I'll be providing pregens but I might be persuaded to allow people to make their own weird kids. I will try to record and post the game on the Community Actual Play feed.
Sorry it took so long! I remember why I left school the first time now. :P
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I haven't tried out FATE, though I would still down for this if you'll allow someone that doesn't know the rules. :)
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More fun that way! FATE Accelerated (http://www.evilhat.com/home/fae/) was just released but it's dead simple and available for free! I haven't actually run it yet but I've run a few sessions of Spirit of the Century, and that's been a blast.
Like I said, simple pregens will be provided for simplicity's sake.
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I am always down for a system I haven't tried. I'm ridiculously busy during the week, though. Are weekends doable?
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Weekends are doable. I'm EST, and at least one of the players is GMT, so I would probably look at a morning game (7-8-9AMish EST) to make things fit.
Character Creation and Example Pregens!
This is mostly off of memory from reading the rules this weekend, refer to the (freely available) rules to check me. The pregens are rough, I may tweak them a bit.
-First come up with a High Concept for your character! This will be your first Aspect, and helps form the base of your character.
-Next figure out a Trouble for your character! This will be your second Aspect, and it'll be used against you to give you FATE points and get you into all sorts of fun problems.
-Next, you can come up with two more Aspects. These should be something cool about your character - something they do, have, or want. Give them fun names!
-Your last Aspect is a Friend Aspect, and will be related to one of the other characters in the game, and will focus on the relationship between the two of you. This could be friendship, rivalry, or something similar. Give it a fun name!
-Next, we select your Approaches! Characters can Approach problems in six different ways: Careful, Clever, Flashy, Forceful, Quick, and Sneaky.
-Choose one approach which will be Great and get a +3, two approaches to be Good and get a +2, two approaches to be Fair and get a +1, and finally one approach will only be Mediocre and get a +0.
-Finally, you choose Stunts! Stunts follow the following format: Because I am [person/place/thing related to your character], whenever I use [a specific Approach] to [Attack/Defend/Overcome/Create an Advantage] under [particular circumstance] I get a +2 bonus.
-Other Stunts could provide a different sort of one-time bonus to break the rules of the game by a little bit - an example would be having an ally or two show up or coming up with a brilliant one-use invention on the spot.
-Stunts should also have fun names!
-I may be remembering this incorrectly and will check the actual rules when I get a chance.
Timmy Rodriguez, the Greatest Little Leaguer Who Ever Lived
High Concept: The Greatest Little Leaguer Who Ever Lived
Trouble: Pretty Painfully Shy With People
Aspects: Throw Lightning and Catch Smoke; My Teammates Are Counting On Me
Friend Aspect: Regina's My Trusty Manager
Approaches: Quick +3, Forceful +2, Flashy +2, Careful +1, Sneaky +1, Clever +0
Stunt 1, Thunderstorm on the Plate: Because I can Throw Lightning and Catch Smoke, whenever I Quickly act to Create An Advantage against a Lone Foe I get a +2 bonus.
Stunt 2, Bottom of the Ninth: Because My Teammates are Counting On Me, whenever I Quickly act to Overcome An Obstacle when My Friends are In Danger, I get a +2 bonus.
Stunt 3: Unfinished!
Description: Baseball Bat and Glove as Sword and Shield, Red Baseball Cap, Chews Big League Chew, tries to be a tough guy
Ray Skanz, the Littlest Ghostbuster
High Concept: The Littlest Ghostbuster
Trouble: I'm Sort of Afraid of Some Ghosts
Character Aspects: We Have the Tools, We Have the Talent; Tobin's Spirit Guide Junior Edition
Friend Aspect: I've Got a Crush on Rebecca! (Editor's note: This is a placeholder!)
Approaches: Clever +3, Careful +2, Flashy +2, Sneaky +1, Quick +1, Forceful +0
Stunt 1, Boy Genius: Because I know We Have the Tools, We Have The Talent, once per session I can create a one-use Fantastic Gadget to solve some sort of problem.
Stunt 2, Well Read: Because I have Tobin's Spirit Guide Junior Edition, whenever I Cleverly act to Create An Advantage by discovering an aspect on a Supernatural enemy, I get a +2 bonus.
Stunt 3: Unfinished!
Description: Squirt Gun as Neutrona Wand, Backpack water reservoir and bag o' stuff, Budding mad scientist, Wants to go to space when he grows up to fight the SPAAAACE GHOOOSTS and the Green Gribblies from Mars
More to come!
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Oh god I'm barely sentient that early, especially on my days off. This'll be interesting.