Ruins of Khazan - A Rumbles RPG - Sign Up/System Test

[Postmania]

Well, your character sheet only has totals and not your BUILD, TRAIT, SYNC allocations so I can't check for you.

Add those back and I can run it through the sheet and check you.

Okay, I think I was calculating it wrong, but I do think I can tinker with the build *again* lol and will put those allocations back in anyways when I'm done.

[Sharpandpointies]

Looking forward to seeing a thread this weekend. My posting will not be that much better than 'one a day' likely - unless it's a REALLY short conversation kind of thing - but I'll try to keep to at least that.

[Postmania]

Made my change. Relatively minor right now, just moving 10 points from ENR to PRE for a bit more of a lean build.

I was thinking of pushing just a little more into the Spirit Affinity, but kept coming up just a little short of hitting the 120 for an extra Mundane, Honed, and Epic tech. Doing that though would make me lose out on either SPD (an additional attack per turn, movement, defense), ENR (significant drop in range, energy reserves negating some of the benefits of having more techniques, Stack possibilities), or BRA (Mind Techniques/buffs, defense, initiative, notice, all the little things).

In the end though, I'm wondering since affinity caps giving techs are a thing that only apply at character creation (and techniques being scarcer to grab after) whether I should try for that anyway since I can just add ENR later on and get all the benefits of that at time of levelup. But that runs into an unrelated point of now not being sure how to differentiate them all as is/not having ideas on what they should be.

[Postmania]

Yeah this build is staying with that last change I think.

Did think of another trait idea though

Trait: Basic attacks have a followup attack, but it is taken at 1/2 SKI although it maintains damage

[grampagen]

You've overestimated the ENR costs for your Multi-Slot Techniques, you only have to increase costs for additional effects purchased not for the whole slot. Also, some of your point allocations are a little off.

Some corrections:

Body Honed (25 ENR) +Spirit Honed (+10 ENR for additional effect): 35 ENR

Suplex City (+40 STR/+10 PRE) + With a grab around the waist and a perfect arch in her back, Kinu drops a foe directly on their brainstem to the amazement of many and humiliation to them specifically!
STR effects: Grapple and Crater;
PRE effect: Surge (Disrupt +15 ENR for opponent's next actions


Spirit Epic (75 ENR) + Body honed (+10 ENR for additional effect) Cost: 85 ENR

Codebreaker: (+60 PRE, +10 SPD): Kinu counters an enemy's attack by catching their face while falling and driving it into her knees. Counter-Technique.

Body Effect: Inspired Counter.
Spirit Effects: Concuss: Stun: Target is stunned for 1 turn and can take no attack, movement, reaction or defence actions.


Mind Honed (25 ENR) + Spirit Honed (+10 ENR for additional effect) Cost: 35 ENR

Pipe Bomb: (+40 CHR/+10 PRE) For all those who step up, they better have something to say and sure as hell better back it up! Kinu, with a surprising level of eloquence, mean-mugs and cuts a promo that tilts the doubters, the detractors, and those discerning that they have something she wants. Used for persuasive haggling or the crushing of self-esteem!

Mind Effects: Ranged Debuff -20 SKI/-20 BRA; Charm (Compel) <--- You can only have the Behavioural Effect or the Debuff I'm afraid, so you will need to decide which one. (Also the Debuff would be more than -40 because it includes Kinu's base CHR, a more correct split notation would be "Debuff hits on 50% SKI / 50% BRA")
Spirit Effect: Raise ENR costs by +15 in the following turn.

On that note, small correct on the debuff effects of Poison Mist.

Poison Mist (+20 CHR) A victory earned by any means is still a victory - and more than anything Kinu hates the shame of losing! By summoning the vile energy within her, Kinu spits a toxic spray at an enemy!

Mind Effect: Debuffs [Kinu's CHR + Technique Modifier] in BRA for 1 full turn at full effect (Currently -30 at full effect).

Other than that, all looks good. Will give your slots a once over as well to make sure this all works.

I will also be tweaking the rules around Grapple, which will be a small buff to it to assist in game flow, so keep an eye out for that since Kinu is a grappler.

Well that's a relief to hear regarding the ENR burn. And yeah, I'll apply these corrections to the techs post ASAP, thanks!

One last thing I've been mulling over is Kinu's trait, Issen. As noted before it was essentially to maintain Squash Match as a Honed install, neutralising the 5 ENR cost per turn after activation. I based if off of an example for HP regeneration, but I don't suppose I can grief you for more, can I? >_>

...or I may need to cobble up another one lol

[grampagen]

I really like this one. ^_^ Getting a stun on the other character...maaaan, this could really upset things. They are stunned, lose defensive actions...ugh, the potentials are pretty ugly against someone like Kinu, who has a fair chunk of base damage, and can follow up on a stunned opponent with stuff like Cratering attacks and so forth.

Kinu may end up being that character that stays behind to stall a stubborn mid-level enemy while everyone else runs ahead to further explore the map or something.

...however once the knees hit the face, even if she gasses out afterward that'll open up some fool for a stabbing, a sniping, and possibly photography!

[Postmania]

On a related note I wonder where the poison mist thing became associated with wrestlers. I know it's a thing King from Tekken does

[Nik Hasta]

Yeah this build is staying with that last change I think.

Did think of another trait idea though

Trait: Basic attacks have a followup attack, but it is taken at 1/2 SKI although it maintains damage

Hmmm... this would have you looking at potentially 4 Basic Attacks per turn which is pretty strong. But that 50% to SKI is pretty huge, which becomes even more pronounced if you're working at long range. For level 1 this means Jane's effective SKI drops to 25 (51/2 rounded).

I'm not committing to it at this point, it's not a particularly potent Trait but I think it could become problematic

Well that's a relief to hear regarding the ENR burn. And yeah, I'll apply these corrections to the techs post ASAP, thanks!

One last thing I've been mulling over is Kinu's trait, Issen. As noted before it was essentially to maintain Squash Match as a Honed install, neutralising the 5 ENR cost per turn after activation. I based if off of an example for HP regeneration, but I don't suppose I can grief you for more, can I? >_>

...or I may need to cobble up another one lol

What did you have in mind?

On a related note I wonder where the poison mist thing became associated with wrestlers. I know it's a thing King from Tekken does

Its origins are in Japanese Wrestling, been done by a ton of wrestlers over the years:

[Nik Hasta]

Sharp, a Technique query raised by the playtest:

"Form is a brief phenomena that nevertheless exists."
Honed Healing/Energy Recovery Technique
Having lived within and outside of All Things through Time out of Time, Krys understands that what appears to be individual beings are nothing more than brief waves in the vast sea of all that is. With that knowledge, they can nudge the fundamental connections between the discreet portions of that ocean in defiance of the local laws of entropy, pressuring the waves to their previous state of being and breaking down exterior influences.
'What you are can be altered within slices of entropic existence, but entropy can be denied.'
+30/+10 PRE for +30 Healing and +40 ENR Recovery, PURGE
Cost 25
Description: For those trapped in linear time, it is as if the body shifts to previous, unwounded/more energetic state. Injuries do not heal; instead, they disappear as if they were never there, or partly disappear as if the actual injury was interrupted in the making (wounds become less deep, burns become less severe, etc).

Wording on the boosts on this threw me a little.

To be clear, it's a +40 to PRE (Honed) Technique that then splits the healing impact between HP and ENR at a ratio of 75% - 25%, correct? The HP allocation will then be halved for the actual amount restored.

Because the amount you get healed will be influenced by other factors like Stack, boosts or other things, it's easier for me as GM if you note the raw boost provided by the Technique and then where it will be allocated in terms of effects, rather than trying to state how much would happen in a default/no stack/boost sitauation. Just to prevent confusion on my part.

[Sharpandpointies]

Sharp, a Technique query raised by the playtest:



Wording on the boosts on this threw me a little.

To be clear, it's a +40 to PRE (Honed) Technique that then splits the healing impact between HP and ENR at a ratio of 75% - 25%, correct? The HP allocation will then be halved for the actual amount restored.

Because the amount you get healed will be influenced by other factors like Stack, boosts or other things, it's easier for me as GM if you note the raw boost provided by the Technique and then where it will be allocated in terms of effects, rather than trying to state how much would happen in a default/no stack/boost sitauation. Just to prevent confusion on my part.

Ah, okay, yes.

I worded it that way BECAUSE of the HP allocation being halved and for me to comprehend what it does (I like to know). I know it will further be influenced by Stacks and stuff (this is good!). But yeah, that's confusing for you.

I'll go back and change it. Edit: Done!

Other than stuff like this, with my last query to you answered I believe I'm 100% finished. ^_^

[Sharpandpointies]

Kinu may end up being that character that stays behind to stall a stubborn mid-level enemy while everyone else runs ahead to further explore the map or something.

Ah, but this is the cool place to be. ^_^

[Nik Hasta]

Small update on the current playtest, we're at Round 4 of a 10 person brawl (7 Mobs vs 3 PCs).

Thoughts in no particular order:

- Grapple amendment has been tested and will added to the Body Effects table. Makes it more fun and snappy

- Dealing with mobs is less a game of "reduce HP to zero," it's more akin to "force them burn ENR via defensive actions, so they fall into burnout and get -20 to all stats and lose all ENR to spend on their defensive options and then hit them for massive damage,"

- grampagen, I'm not demanding this but I just want to implore you to put like 5 points from somewhere into her Mastered ENR. Playing as Kinu is really fun, because she's pretty good at most things and surprisingly hard to pin down with her high AGI and DUR. But, the flipside is, you have to manage her ENR usage super carefully because she has such finite resources. Issen helps but it's a very nervewracking experience.

- Going to codify attacks of opportunity as an offensive use of RAC points to tempt you to use them in situations other than defensively.

- Blocking feels like a very logical continuation of the defensive matrix of options so that's good.

- Mob levels, at present feel good, I need to maybe massage a few things to make it feel just right but on the whole it feels good.

- The game is much more fun to play than it was in Patch 1.1, you have a lot more options and things feel a lot more responsive.

Aiming to finish the test this evening, update the above outlined bits and then try running a test with what I have of Ella, Arx and Arcadia to stress test their builds as they currently stand.

[Postmania]

- Going to codify attacks of opportunity as an offensive use of RAC points to tempt you to use them in situations other than defensively.

- Blocking feels like a very logical continuation of the defensive matrix of options so that's good.

Both of these things felt vaguely like they should have been in previously though I didn't find it pressing to bring up or anything, so it's neat that they're going to be a thing.

[Sharpandpointies]

Cool with all of these.

- Going to codify attacks of opportunity as an offensive use of RAC points to tempt you to use them in situations other than defensively.

*coughs and raises hand* Sooooo...a while back there was some hay made of Heat Death being a potential huge issue for Interruptions. I take that to mean that while the bonus I receive from Heat Death with regards to PRE is for counters only (it is a COUNTER technique, after all), the...let's say 'number'* of RAC points that Heat Death provides is just an adjustment to my overall RAC points while the technique is running?

Both of these things felt vaguely like they should have been in previously though I didn't find it pressing to bring up or anything, so it's neat that they're going to be a thing.

Attacks of Opportunity are an interesting thing and not uncommon in games with complex combat systems (D&D obviously popularized them, Anima has something similar though less-codified). I'm not against the idea, though I will say they make a game a lot less 'free-wheeling' in combat style. More structured, so to speak.

What is important is to nail down what provokes an AoO for this system. May we get a list?

...I am not at all considering making up a trait that will abuse the AoO system, no, never; nor have I ever done that in another game system. *glances sidelong at an Infernal Berserker character made up for a PbP D&D game that make the GM throw their hands up and stop bothering to throw hordes of lesser enemies at the group. Like, period*

* this is not at all the proper way of putting it.

[Nik Hasta]

*coughs and raises hand* Sooooo...a while back there was some hay made of Heat Death being a potential huge issue for Interruptions. I take that to mean that while the bonus I receive from Heat Death with regards to PRE is for counters only (it is a COUNTER technique, after all), the...let's say 'number'* of RAC points that Heat Death provides is just an adjustment to my overall RAC points while the technique is running?

Hmm... with a lot more iteration on the system and more testing done of Krys specifically with Heat Death in play, I'm a lot less nervous about the power of the Technique broadly.

Hmm... my gut feeling would be "sure why not, infinite RAC means all uses of RAC on the face of it,"

Then my design brain says "Well hang on," and I think about how that could be a lot more dangerous when implemented.

Maybe something in the vein of;

For the purposes of countering, Krys' RAC score is functionally infinite. When using other RAC-based actions (interruptions/attacks of opportunity) Krys will work on their normal RAC score per round. However, if they wish to make one of the aforementioned action and have exhausted their standard allocation of RAC points, they may spend ENR equal to a round of maintenance of Heat Death (10 ENR) per additional point used.

So, they are still hyper-optimised for counters and defence but can be a bit more offensive of annoying at additional ENR cost to themselves if they are being extremely aggro.

Sound fair?

What is important is to nail down what provokes an AoO for this system. May we get a list?

That's on the list of work to do but yes, I will attempt to fully codify how Opportunity Attacks will work and when they can be used.