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

[Nik Hasta]

Regarding the Resurrection Mechanic for Jane; had a PC died but the player wanted to continue and Jane had been above first level, I would have allowed her to pull them back from death albeit at the cost of a character level from each of them so, while it gets them back in the game, it would have had a comparatively huge cost to the players to do it.

I also would have then tied the revived PC into Jane's awareness of Nekro and put them at risk of becoming the new vessel for the god of death as it tries to escape from captivity.

If Jane had died, my thought would be that she could revive herself once (at the cost of a character level) but I would have then introduced a mechanic wherein she is being much more strongly influenced by Nekro, occasionally inflicting her with Berserk status to proc attacks on allies or generally mess with Post's actions as a player.

I like would have discussed this in more detail with the relevant PCs before executing it but it was a concept that I thought could be fun.

There was no need for specific hooks for the character. Krys would make their own, by forging relationships with the other characters. It would have been interesting to have things crop up that were linked with Krys, and fighting a different version of themselves would be fascinating, but working toward making sure there was 'interesting stuff' for Krys' character? Unnecessary. NICE, but not needed.

I disagree with this view myself. As a GM, when you're coming up with stuff in the world or characters the PCs might interact with, it's inevitable (and even beneficial to the process) that you think "Aha, this will be a good way to engage this player because XYZ things about their character," Jagrati and Demonic Mirror, Fluttering Curtain were both NPCs I wanted to put into the game because I thought they were cool and fun ideas, but I did run the loose thought experiment with pretty much all NPCs of "how would an interaction with [PC] go? What do they talk about? Can this interaction be used to drive the PC character forward or prompt introspection or a fun character moment,"

Take the interaction Jane had with Bones when she was getting healed for example. Bones is a mook character, so he wasn't very deeply planned at any time. I had sketched him out with the following loose traits:

- Older man, not a member of the Troupe but tagging along so less likely to toe their specific party line on whatever issue.
- A healer both physically and spiritually, something akin to a Wise Man.
- Ritual casting being a specific component of his abilities.
- Speech impediment.

That's about all I had for him, no specific PC-centric purpose in mind at all. But when time came for Jane to be healed, I was like "Ritual casting means they are going to be stuck in this interaction for a while where Jane can't leave so she's going to have to talk and be somewhat diplomatic. Bones is kind of antithetical to her background (healer vs warrior) so he's a bit afraid of her but Jane is already having some pretty metaphysical thoughts about her place in the universe and Bones is designed to be able to speak on those sorts of matters so maybe his arc in this conversation is seeing this mechanical killing machine as frightened person who doesn't really know who they are,"

And then we had, in my opinion, quite an interesting interaction on that basis. As I say, Bones was never designed to be a hook for Jane at any point but I'm always doing the thought-experiment stuff of considering his character from a "how can I use this guy to engage PCs," perspective.

[Nik Hasta]

Speaking of NPCs, I'll post some (probably not all) of the NPCs I statted up and you can see some of the degenerate builds I came up with.

I'll start with the Thieves Troupe leaders.

Morgan was effectively born from the desire of me wanting to riff a little on the idea of Patches from the Dark Souls franchise. I wanted to have a somewhat charming but completely untrustworthy character who can, if properly engaged, help players acquire resources and knows more than he lets on but also is a complete slime-weasel in terms of his morals. I'll include my intial design notes for NPCs where I had them:

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[NOT!PATCHES AND THIEVES] (1st Level & Mooks)
Grimey little bastards. Kind of all rounders, very evasive, Mind Effects on a lot of stuff.

Morgan G. Scutt [NOT!PATCHES]
Smart and wiley, not really built for combat but rather evasion and irritation. Will steal things and push people off cliffs, amoral and bald.

Traits
Charming and Likeable (+10 CHR/+10 BRA) Can use Suggest as a bonus Basic ATK action every other round. Grants him a boost to Persuasion checks.

Squirming Little Snake (+10 AGI/+10 SKI) Grants him +10 to all Dodge Actions and Dodge Techniques.

Technique Slots
Free: 9 (-1, -2, -2, -2, -2)
Body: 1 Honed
Spirit: 1 Honed, 1 Epic
Mind: 1 Honed, 1 Epic

Natural Slots
Swing and a Miss (Honed Body) +40 AGI - Applies Uncanny Dodge to Morgan - 25 ENR

Enraging Jibe (Honed Mind) +30 CHR (AoE) - Applies Enrage to a group of enemies and sows discord and in-fighting - 25 ENR

Bumbling Misfires (Honed Spirit) +30 PRE (AoE) - Applies Disrupt to a group of enemies and makes abilities go wrong and wig out - 25 ENR

Let ‘Em Have It (Epic Mind) +40 CHR (AoE) - Applies -2 RAC on all enemies in the area for 4 turns at full effect. - 75 ENR

Stun Grenade (Epic Spirit) +40 PRE (AoE) - Applies Stun on all enemies in the area for 1 turn. - 75 ENR

Free Slots
Keep It Up Morgan (Mundane Spirit) +20 PRE - Restores Mastered ENR to Morgan - 10 ENR

Wound Binding (Honed Body) +40 STR - Restores HP on Morgan - 25 ENR

Smoke Bomb (Honed Mind) +30 CHR (AoE) - Inflicts Field Reduction on a group of enemies. - 25 ENR

Steady On Now (Honed Spirit) +40 SKI - Casts Awareness on Morgan - 25 ENR

I’m Out Of Here (Honed Body Dodge Reaction) +20 SPD, +20 AGI - A dramatic body roll out of the path of an attack

Morgan
Effective MAX: 163
HP: 83

STR 20
PRE 30
CHR 42

DUR 22
RES 12
AGI 44

BRA 42
SPD 36
SKI 46

ENR 20
ENR VALUE 200
Latent ENR 80
Mastered ENR 120
STACK 2.40
RAC 2.56
RUM 5
Movement 94
ATK Action(s) 1
Tech Action(s) 1
Range 60

CALVIN
Making Calvin a real boy since he and Morgan are meant to be equal players in the Thief Squad. Technician with a spiritual connection to the wind, equally comfortable with STR and PRE, minor CHR abilities. Jack-of-all-trades kind of guy.

Traits
Stirring Presence (+10 CHR/+10 SKI) Grants allies within 10 feet of him +5 on HIT checks and reduces DMG by 5 when they are damaged.

Beloved of the Wind (+10 PRE/+10 STR) Supported by the sylpheed spirits, Calvin can ignore difficult terrain and move his full movement in any direction in the style of wuxia movement.

Techniques
Free: 9 (-2, -1, -2, -1, -2,
Body: 2 Honed, 1 Epic
Spirit: 2 Honed, 1 Epic
Mind: 0

Natural Slots
Fury of the Air (Honed Body) +20 STR (AoE) Launches nearby enemies into the air and Calvin zips between them delivering additional attacks. Inflicts Launch into Juggle.

Powerfully Mobile (Honed Body) +20 SPD (AoE) Calvin buffs the SPD of nearby enemies and grants them Uncanny Dodge.

Storming Strike of the Tornado (Epic Body) +40 STR / +20 PRE (AoE) Calvin summons a tornado that sucks up and hurls all enemies in the area, Calvin himself rides the air and delivers additional attacks. Inflicts Thunderclap into Fling into Crater. Inflicts Follow-through.

Flowing Movement of the Air (Honed Spirit) +40 SKI (Counter) Calvin uses sublime movement to strike his opponent and knock them down. Inflicts Parry.

Bending Strike (Honed Spirit) +40 PRE Calvin strikes his opponent and sets a buffeting gale around them that prevents their attacks from landing properly. Inflicts Blunt.

Unceasing Rending Winds (Epic Spirit) +60 PRE / +10 STR Calvin unsheathes his knives and relentlessly attacks his target. Inflicts Flurry. Inflicts Thunderclap.

Free Slots
Calm and Focused (Honed Mind) +40 CHR Calvin focuses his energies and enhances his skill. CHR buff to SKI.

Cycle of Breath (Mundane Spirit) +20 PRE Calvin focuses on his breathing and restores ENR to himself.

Warriors Swift Blows (Honed Spirit) +20 PRE (AoE) Calvin sends a wave of spirits of the wind out to strike enemies to assist his nearby allies and grants them Flow State.

Wind Bullet (Mundane Body) +15 STR (Ranged) Calvin sends a blast of air towards an enemy, aiming to knock them over. Inflicts Shove.

Calvin
Effective MAX: 244
HP 154

STR 50
PRE 50
CHR 22

DUR 33
RES 18
AGI 33

BRA 17
SPD 33
SKI 34

ENR 29
ENR VALUE 290
Latent ENR 90
Mastered ENR 200
STACK 4.00
RAC 2.00
RUM 2
Movement 82
ATK Action(s) 1
Tech Action(s) 1
Range 100

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Calvin being not a real boy for the combat encounter probably changed a fair few things. I was a bit nervous about the threat level of that whole encounter because it was reasonably complex but I also didn't want to rob the PCs of the role of being the deciding force in the encounter. I think we broadly landed on a decent enough level, several PCs were put in danger but no one actually went down, everyone got to use their stuff.

I definitely felt like, if I were still tinkering with the system, I would broadly lower hit points and maybe introduce something to make damage a little higher just to expediate things because I felt like that encounter started to drag a little by the end. All useful data for the next thing I build for sure.

[Sharpandpointies]

You've a lot of interesting thoughts and insights yourself, Sharp. : )

Unfortunately, I read your post and realize that some of my tipsy ramblings might be taken as criticism or comments about other players in this game. Not the intent.

Takes it away for me, too. But I tend to be pretty organic with how I do things, and there's no set in stone response to how this would have actually played out. But Rae having to go it alone after Nemo passed would have definitely been the more interesting way to go about things. Without Nemo as an anchor, Rae really would have been completely adrift in the wind here, and probably really resent that she was put in this situation. She might be more quick to blow off Nemo's death as "whatever, the Trickster will do something about it, or there's already some version of us already back in the Scribed Lands", but that's the thing, if there's already a version of them "revived" elsewhere, where does that leave her, the Rae in the here and now? It's not like this version of her is actually okay with dying or being lost and forgotten, despite her bluster. So, who knows? Rae in this case might actually be tremendously motivated to gun for the Rumble in order to secure her existence, get "her" Nemo back, confront the Trickster/the Imaginators, and by the time it all happened, who knows what level of unhinged/tunneled visioned she might actually have become? Or maybe she'd have forged a new relationship with her new companions that would have kept her more even-headed. Or maybe conflicts with them would have driven her further away. Who knows?

I like this, this is fun and an interesting direction to go. It would have been interesting to see the direction that Rae grew.

The metafiction angle, which I thought might have fit well enough with Khazan, was probably something I shouldn't have leaned on as much as I did, and I'll again point to the other characters I probably should have used instead. The deal with all the metafiction stuff ties back to a personal project of mine that was largely me having a mid-life writer's crisis and using a very poorly written "author meets his characters" project that I was using to process some incredibly toxic feelings about myself as a creative. I feel like I've really degenerated as a writer and creative mind in the last few years.

I can personally see where it might have fit in well with the idea of Khazan, and why you went with it - there IS something of that in the poster stuff people have put up over the years.

As for the crisis, I'm sorry to hear about that. Writing is work (I'm not telling you anything you don't know, just rambling) and sometimes that work gets...frustrating. And we feel like we've dead-ended or, like you say, gone downhill.

Regarding my comment about Krys disagreeing with Nemo re: the world is a story, that was literally an off-hand thing I wrote in as something interesting that had just occurred to me. Should have put in a smilie. ^_^ It would have made for interesting discussion, to be sure. No, I was just talking with regards to 'players in a game', hooks for Krys, etc.

Krys' philosophy is exactly the world Nemo was trying to reach, so I think they might have actually agreed and possibly bonded a bit on that front, even if they were coming from different angles.

Discussions would have been fun.
This.

I was committed, even after I lost steam, to see things through. It's only because the game was ending so soon, and Nemo and Rae's situation at that moment in time, I went with deciding to have them leave as they did. Had the game kept going, I'd've had them stick with the group and hopefully bond more with them, but at the time, knowing the end of the game was just a few posts per person away, and really feeling like storywise Nemo was a fifth wheel to the group, and assessing Nemo's personal feelings of feeling like a fifth wheel and being sick of being shoved around by the whims of the gods and her own lack of confidence in her decision making in this world, well, I could see her being tempted to bail enough that I could see her actually following through on that temptation. So, circumstances being what they were, she did.

I admit part of that was also me getting a little fed up with things towards the end there. While I think the game was good overall, and I am grateful to have been able to play it, there were times when, due to my own headspace, I just was having a very difficult time keeping my head in the game, with the frequent delays, and feeling like I joined with the wrong character. That's not a dig on any of you, that's a me problem. But it is basically to say that by the time we were halfway though the fight against the Goo Men, I was in part posting out of obligation. I'm not saying I didn't have fun when I was able to knock my brain back into gear to be able to post, but there was a lot bad timing with posting on my end, just, my turn kept coming up on days I was working all day and coming home exhausted, or had very limited time in the morning to come up with something before I had to do a long closing shift, or days I was just in mental funk, and at some point, I was really ready to just be done, once I knew we were heading into the wrap up. Again, nothing on any of you, this is just the, well, "meta side" of the circumstances for opting to go with the ending I did: I got this far, I wasn't going to just drop the game and leave things hanging, I didn't want to do y'all dirty like that, and from a writing standpoint, I did want to actually see things through to some kind of closure. So, I opted to have Nemo depart as way of wrapping up my contribution a little bit earlier, and I figured that would be okay since after the big fight, it was just going to be the wrap up with the survivors anyway. Funnily enough, Nemo's departure got stalled, so I was basically still posting right up to near the end regardless.

If my comment about players who don't follow the storyline or leave felt like it was aimed at you, or anyone else in the group in this game, it was not.

I completely understand you deciding you were finished. Life can get in the way in all kinds of ways, and if a game starts become a chore, better to get out of it. I'm sorry it did - that's sad. But if it was a pain to post, forcing yourself, I'm glad you decided to leave - that's not fun, the game is supposed to be fun. ^_^

My comments were about players who wander off the main storyline for extended periods, again and again, refuse to involve themselves because 'it's not in character', cause the GM (and other players) to try to chase them down to get them involved again, often they don't, etc, etc. And often they complain 'there's nothing for MY character in this!'.

NONE of the players in this group were that. ^_^

And that's my overly winded explanation you didn't ask for for why I went with the Trickster Exfiltration Ending. :V

It's a good read, thanks. ^_^

[Sharpandpointies]

I disagree with this view myself. As a GM, when you're coming up with stuff in the world or characters the PCs might interact with, it's inevitable (and even beneficial to the process) that you think "Aha, this will be a good way to engage this player because XYZ things about their character," Jagrati and Demonic Mirror, Fluttering Curtain were both NPCs I wanted to put into the game because I thought they were cool and fun ideas, but I did run the loose thought experiment with pretty much all NPCs of "how would an interaction with [PC] go? What do they talk about? Can this interaction be used to drive the PC character forward or prompt introspection or a fun character moment,"

I'm 100% of the opinion that a good GM finds ways to engage specifically with specific characters. ^_^ There will be no disagreement there.

My discussion was not a criticism of your method regarding that; it was about Krys as a character, specifically. KRYS - not 'all characters' or even 'all of my characters' didn't actually require any hooks specifically designed to involve themselves with the game. That's what I was saying. I set up their character specifically to run in something of a supporting role for the roleplaying, to interact with other characters and become part of their storylines. Bit of a blank slate without any requirement on my part to fill, because Krys' story was finished. If they had any more, it would be as part of another character's story.

If you, as a GM, wanted to put in specific things for Krys because they thought it was cool, that's great, interesting stuff for both parties, as noted.

Hopefully that clarifies. ^_^

[Nik Hasta]

Jagrati, mean old lady from Sandman's RPG that never made it into actual play, was primarily used as a way to stress test what levelling up could look like to a player. There's a bit of a problem with that theory because she not only was built and rebuilt across three different versions of the engine and prospective levelling up systems but also the notion of force-growing her prompted me to give her a bit more stuff than she should have had.

As such, I think Jagrati might be a bit stronger than a genuine 5th Level character but it was very useful to put her together several times in terms of seeing how messed up builds could get.

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Jagrati Bhatt, Mistress of the Whispering Rings (5th Level):
Enlightened warrior, wine grandma and friendly NPC. Can gift characters who max her social link with rings to amp their abilities permanently, can also gift them in a combat encounter as a friendly action as she remains neutral. Should not be fought by the PCs if possible as she is quite capable of team-wiping to some degree. Will be an occasional ally but mostly does not wish to fight or take part in the battle for the Rumble. Tied to the Probe quest if the PCs miss it.


Traits
Engraved Secrets (+10 SKI / +10 ENR) Jagrati's rings contain her Techniques. By sacrificing a Trait, she can imbue [1+Level] of her rings with a permanently active Persistent Honed Technique boost at the cost of spending a Trait, suitable slots and subtracting the ENR cost for invocation for said Technique permanently from her total Mastered ENR score. These rings can be given to other people to give them the same boost.

Whispering Rings (+10 BRA / +10 CHR) Anyone who holds one of Jagrati’s rings can communicate to her by speaking quietly into it. Holding the Ring in question will give them access to any Technique engraved on it. Jagrati will hear their voice in her mind and can summon the ring back to herself at any time. She cannot send audio back. Gains +10 CHR when she has all rings in her possession.

Discovering Swordplay (+10 PRE / +10 SPD) Jagrati can manifest an energy sword which she does not herself wield. It floats alongside her and allows her to attack at range. +10 PRE on sword attacks.

Ring of Wounding (+10 PRE/ +10 SKI) Grants a Persistent +25 PRE and allows her to inflict Bleed - Lacerate on any of her attacks at will. (-25 ENR)

Ring of the Bending Tree (+10 SPD/ +10 AGI) Grants Persistent +25 AGI and grants Uncanny Dodge status. (-25 ENR)

Ring of Certainty (+10 RES / +10 BRA) Grants a Persistent +25 to RES and grants Purge status. (-25 ENR)


Affinity Slots
Free: 21 (-1, -4, -4, -4,
Body: 2 Honed, 1 Epic
Spirit: 5 Honed, 3 Epic
Mind: 3 Honed, 2 Epic

Natural Slots
The Tolling of Heaven’s Bell - Honed AoE Body (+20 STR) Jagrati collides two of her rings together, letting out a booming toll of sound and energy that sends all nearby targets flying away from her. Inflicts Thunderclap and Fling.

Ring of Grasping Capture - Honed AoE Body (+20 STR) Jagrati activates one of the rings on her fingers by grasping her fist and striking the ground sending golden energy waves to restrain and capture all nearby targets. Inflicts Sweep and Grapple and will hold the Grapple on all targets.

Dancing Steps of the Former Dancer - Epic Body (+60 AGI) Despite her age and infirmity, Jagrati moves with extreme grace and precision and Shadow Walks on a target.

Ring of Peaceful Calm - Honed AoE Spirit (+20 PRE) Jagrati activates one of her rings and places a temporary seal on all nearby enemies. Does not inflict damage. Inflicts Enfeeble - Blunt.

Ring of Troubled Waves - Honed AoE Spirit (+20 PRE) Jagrati activates one of her rings and shakes the internal energies of all nearby enemies. Inflicts Surge - Disrupt

Fly My Blade - Honed Spirit Ranged (+30 PRE) Jagrati’s sword acts to attack with her until the end of her next turn. Grants Jagrati Awakening - Flow State.

Dance My Blade - Honed Spirit Ranged (+30 PRE) Jagrati’s sword moves to attack a nearby enemy. Grants Jagrati Chain - Follow-through

Reap My Blade - Honed Spirit Ranged AoE (+10 PRE) Jagrati’s sword sweeps in a wide arc hitting multiple targets. Inflicts Surge - Disrupt on enemies.

Ring of the Final Seal - Epic Spirit (+60 PRE) Jagrati attempts to seal her opponents in gold, turning them into a statue. Inflicts Transfigure.

Unholy Unity of Sword and Soul - Epic Spirit (+60 PRE) Jagrati takes her blade in her hand and inflicts a devastating display of furious sword techniques. Inflicts Chain - Flurry.

Ring of Spiritual Silence - Epic AoE Spirit (+40 PRE) Jagrati chimes the ring in her nose and sends a wave of soporific energy across the battlefield. Does not inflict damage. Inflicts Stun.

Ring of Forboding Danger - Honed Mind AoE (+20 CHR) Jagrati activates a ring and spreads fear to her nearby opponents. Does not do damage. Inflicts Fear - Frighten.

Ring of the Gentle Step - Honed Mind AoE (+20 CHR) Jagrati activates a ring and passes unnoticed by her enemies. Does not do damage. Inflicts Disinterest - Lose.

Ring of Raging Provocation - Honed Mind Ranged (+40 CHR) Jagrati’s ring issues a small cloud of target smoke that drives an enemy to rage. Does not do damage. Inflicts Berserk - Enrage.

Ring of the Crushing Seal - Epic Mind AoE (+40 CHR) Jagrati seals the Techniques of all nearby enemies. Inflicts Technique Sealing.

Ring of Overwhelming Skill - Epic Mind AoE (+40 CHR) Jagrati’s ring grants her the ability to never be outdone in a contest of skill. Does not do damage. Debuffs SKI.

Free Slots
Ring of Relentless Renewal - Mundane Spirit (+20 PRE) Jagrati draws energy from the bottomless well of her ring and restores Mastered ENR.

Ring of Bloody Restoration - Epic Body (+60 STR) Jagrati uses a ring set with blood red rubies to restore herself or others. Restores HP.

Ring of Time’s Fickle Hand - Epic Mind AoE (+40 CHR) Jagrati fractures time itself with one of her rings making her impossible to react to. Debuffs RAC.

Enlightenment’s Shadow - Epic Mind AoE (+40 CHR) Jagrati attempts to remove the touch of the Rumble from all nearby foes. Debuffs RUM.

Jagrati Bhatt
Effective MAX: 244
HP 164

STR 30
PRE 100
CHR 70

DUR 40
RES 52
AGI 64

BRA 79
SPD 54
SKI 103

ENR 54
ENR VALUE 465
Latent ENR 80
Mastered ENR 385
STACK 7.70
RAC 4.66
RUM 0
Movement 140
ATK Action(s) 2
Tech Action(s) 2
Range 192

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On the whole, I probably would have rebuilt again before I actually introduced her. Her build is pretty degenerate and I'm still on the fence if I balanced it right. However, having her be a source of fun upgrades for players might have been quite fun. If she herself is unwilling to engage with the situation then perhaps her power can do so through the medium of the PCs.

[Sharpandpointies]

That's an interesting first post Sharp. I suppose that is also an aspect in terms of morality that with Jane hanging around being the killing machine it can be easy to not see some aspects of others in the game being fine with killing in a way that some more traditional forms of (I guess comic book?) morality would not be.

Jane is a bit of the 'killing is the answer to every question' (I'm exaggerating, this is not the case) character, but for a good reason. She was created this way, it is almost all of her experience. That made her really interesting, because working in a group set up a situation where she would need to do something DIFFERENT. ^_^

Made for good stuff.

My stuff regarding Krys was a long-winded ramble partially about the Behind the Scenes for Krys, and partially about stuff I had considered, some of which was regarding the tropes and templates that do affect our biases. ^_^

In terms of Jane, at least as she is in the game we were playing, necromancy would definitely provoke mixed feelings in her. I intended it to come directly from Nekro in a few ways so it would always be a reminder of him regardless of how much she could achieve with it. But also it would appeal to power in her so...

It would be a conflict I would want to have stick around for a while. Resolving it one way or another would be a marked sign of growth (good or bad)

Really would have liked to see this.

[Nik Hasta]

And lastly, for now at least, I'll post Cassa and the Toxic Commander.

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PROBE DRONE - CASSA
Needs a name. This is a side-quest guy who will attempt to gain access to the scientific district to gain access to the World Forge and become a killer microplanet. Support type character, not very good at combat. Often confused.

Traits
Nanobot Infection (+10 CHR / +10 RES) On any physical attacks (CHR) Probe can inflict a SPD debuff by infesting its targets with a nanobot swarm that attacks their muscles.

Nanobot Replication (+15 ENR / +5 AGI) Regeneration trait, Probe gains 5 HP at the start of each turn.

Affinity Slots
Free: 7 (-2, -2, -1, -2)
Body: 0
Spirit: 1 Honed, 1 Epic
Mind: 1 Honed, 1 Epic

Natural Slots
Nanobot Augmentation - Honed Body Ranged (+30 STR) Restores HP on an ally. Casts Regeneration on an ally.

Nanobot Fortification - Epic Spirit AoE (+40 PRE) Restores ENR on allies in range. Casts Purify on all allies in range.

Nanobot Override: Dismiss - Honed Mind AoE (+30 CHR) Inflicts Lose on enemy targets in a small group.

Nanobot Override: Assimilate - Epic Mind AoE (+40 CHR) Inflicts Control on all enemy targets in the area.

Free Slots
Energy Cannon - Honed Spirit Range (+30 PRE) Produces and fires a plasma cannon, inflicts Disrupt on target.

Nanobot Restraint - Honed Body AoE (+30 STR) Issues a cloud of nanobots from his body that crystalise around nearby foes and restrict movement and push them away. Inflicts Grapple > Shove on targets.

Nanobot Hammer - Mundane Body (+20 STR) Makes his hand into a hammer and strikes with it. Inflicts Crater on target.

Flight System: Damaged - Honed Body (+40 SPD) Allows for flight and enhanced movement, can be erratic. Leaves Cassa Prone after use.

Cassa
Effective MAX: 250
HP 120

STR 20
PRE 30
CHR 45

DUR 27
RES 48
AGI 19

BRA 28
SPD 11
SKI 32

ENR 54
ENR VALUE 540
Latent ENR 130
Mastered ENR 410
STACK 8.20
RAC 1.78
RUM 0
Movement 31
ATK Action(s) 1
Tech Action(s) 1
Range 205


TOXIC COMMANDER (1st Level)
Ranged guy, poisonous body, traits which inflict additional damage by touch. Bleed, Sickness, low level debuff etc.

Weapon
Toxic Spray Gun - (+1 Basic ranged ATK) Allows the Commander to spend 5 ENR per Basic ATK to add a Sicken - Poison effect to his attacks by spray his own toxic sludge at people. If he goes into burnout, the weapon ceases to function until he gains sufficient ENR once more.

Traits
Toxic Body (+10 SPD / +10 DUR) Opponents who hit the Commander with a melee attack or Counter will take 5 DMG and will run the risk of being Poisoned.

Noxious Smell (+15 CHR / +5 STR) Opponents who enter melee range with the Commander are hit with a non-damaging debuff to SKI from his passive CHR. If they fail the RES check, this will remain until they leave his melee range.

Affinity Allocation
Free: 7 slots (-2, -4, -1)
Body: 1 Honed
Spirit: 1 Honed, 1 Epic
Mind: 1 Honed

Natural Techniques
Grasping Ooze - Honed Body Ranged (+30 STR) The Commander flings out tendrils of disgusting ooze to ensnare and capture an opponent. Inflicts Grapple into Submission.

Splashing Fluids - Honed Spirit AoE (+20 PRE) The Commander shakes his body sending toxic fluid flying from his pores in all directions. Inflicts Curse - Haunted.

Putrid Cloud - Epic Spirit AoE (+40 PRE) The Commander explodes sores on his body, engulfing the area in vomit-inducing smog. Inflicts Sicken - Toxic.

You Don’t Wanna Touch This - Honed Mind AoE (+20 CHR) The Commander gives off such a foul stench that enemies actively avoid getting close or touching him. Inflicts Fear - Frighten.

Free Techniques
Flowing Waste - Honed Body (+40 SPD) The Commander moves in ways that really expose his sludge-based body to cover more ground. Grants Regeneration.

Swamp Conversion - Honed Spirit/Body AoE (+20 PRE/+10 STR) The Commander strikes the ground and converts it into swamp that drags enemies in and slows their movement. Inflicts Paralyse - Stiffen and Sweep into Crater. (35 ENR)

Stun Round - Mundane Body Ranged (+15 STR) Shoots a heavy duty rubber bullet at a Target. Inflicts Shove.

Toxic Commander
Effective MAX: 283
HP 163

STR 35
PRE 40
CHR 25

DUR 35
RES 54
AGI 16

BRA 22
SPD 20
SKI 38

ENR 33
ENR VALUE 330
Latent ENR 120
Mastered ENR 210
STACK 4.20
RAC 1.84
RUM 2
Movement 48
ATK Action(s) 1
Tech Action(s) 1
Range 105

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Had a lot of fun building the Commander especially, wanted to really try and get as many gross ways to cover players in goop as I could haha.

[Sharpandpointies]

You put a lot of work into making up these characters, Nik. It's impressive.

[Nik Hasta]

I'm 100% of the opinion that a good GM finds ways to engage specifically with specific characters. ^_^ There will be no disagreement there.

My discussion was not a criticism of your method regarding that; it was about Krys as a character, specifically. KRYS - not 'all characters' or even 'all of my characters' didn't actually require any hooks specifically designed to involve themselves with the game. That's what I was saying. I set up their character specifically to run in something of a supporting role for the roleplaying, to interact with other characters and become part of their storylines. Bit of a blank slate without any requirement on my part to fill, because Krys' story was finished. If they had any more, it would be as part of another character's story.

If you, as a GM, wanted to put in specific things for Krys because they thought it was cool, that's great, interesting stuff for both parties, as noted.

Hopefully that clarifies. ^_^

I see, well it certainly means that my intuition of "Krys seems pretty done so this is going to be the flat arc model," was on point haha.

[Nik Hasta]

You put a lot of work into making up these characters, Nik. It's impressive.

Cheers, making builds was definitely the most fun thing for me and made for a good way to stress test the system.

[Sharpandpointies]

I see, well it certainly means that my intuition of "Krys seems pretty done so this is going to be the flat arc model," was on point haha.

Yes, pretty much!

Was having a bucketload of fun playing the character.

[Sharkerbob]

As a GM, when you're coming up with stuff in the world or characters the PCs might interact with, it's inevitable (and even beneficial to the process) that you think "Aha, this will be a good way to engage this player because XYZ things about their character," Jagrati and Demonic Mirror, Fluttering Curtain were both NPCs I wanted to put into the game because I thought they were cool and fun ideas, but I did run the loose thought experiment with pretty much all NPCs of "how would an interaction with [PC] go? What do they talk about? Can this interaction be used to drive the PC character forward or prompt introspection or a fun character moment,"

One thing I really appreciated was that even while you had all these unique characters, and had effectively GM PCs in some cases, none of them felt like they were overshadowing the player characters. Trevor fit well with the group (even if he didn't participate in combat up to that point), but it wasn't "his story" driving things. And you had a lot of fun characters. : )

Unfortunately, I read your post and realize that some of my tipsy ramblings might be taken as criticism or comments about other players in this game. Not the intent.

Oh, I didn't take it that way, don't worry. I mean, I was kinda in a mood myself last night (works' been rough again this week), so I hope likewise I didn't come off as, like, overly defensive or pessimistic or something. I tend to ramble a lot in that state. And in general. :V

I like this, this is fun and an interesting direction to go. It would have been interesting to see the direction that Rae grew.

Yeah!

I can personally see where it might have fit in well with the idea of Khazan, and why you went with it - there IS something of that in the poster stuff people have put up over the years.

As for the crisis, I'm sorry to hear about that. Writing is work (I'm not telling you anything you don't know, just rambling) and sometimes that work gets...frustrating. And we feel like we've dead-ended or, like you say, gone downhill.

Thanks. It's been a rough ride mentally for the past few years, so that doesn't help, either..

Regarding my comment about Krys disagreeing with Nemo re: the world is a story, that was literally an off-hand thing I wrote in as something interesting that had just occurred to me. Should have put in a smilie. ^_^ It would have made for interesting discussion, to be sure. No, I was just talking with regards to 'players in a game', hooks for Krys, etc.

Discussions would have been fun.

No, I appreciate the thought experiment, it got me thinking more about the characters and how things could have gone. This is the sort of spitballing about story stuff I like. : )

If my comment about players who don't follow the storyline or leave felt like it was aimed at you, or anyone else in the group in this game, it was not.

I didn't think it was, but I felt a compulsion to overexplain myself last night. :V

I completely understand you deciding you were finished. Life can get in the way in all kinds of ways, and if a game starts become a chore, better to get out of it. I'm sorry it did - that's sad. But if it was a pain to post, forcing yourself, I'm glad you decided to leave - that's not fun, the game is supposed to be fun. ^_^

Appreciated.

My comments were about players who wander off the main storyline for extended periods, again and again, refuse to involve themselves because 'it's not in character', cause the GM (and other players) to try to chase them down to get them involved again, often they don't, etc, etc. And often they complain 'there's nothing for MY character in this!'.

NONE of the players in this group were that. ^_^

I see what you mean.

It's a good read, thanks. ^_^

: )

[Postmania]

Rae in this case might actually be tremendously motivated to gun for the Rumble in order to secure her existence, get "her" Nemo back, confront the Trickster/the Imaginators, and by the time it all happened, who knows what level of unhinged/tunneled visioned she might actually have become? Or maybe she'd have forged a new relationship with her new companions that would have kept her more even-headed. Or maybe conflicts with them would have driven her further away. Who knows?

The metafiction angle, which I thought might have fit well enough with Khazan, was probably something I shouldn't have leaned on as much as I did, and I'll again point to the other characters I probably should have used instead. The deal with all the metafiction stuff ties back to a personal project of mine that was largely me having a mid-life writer's crisis and using a very poorly written "author meets his characters" project that I was using to process some incredibly toxic feelings about myself as a creative. I feel like I've really degenerated as a writer and creative mind in the last few years. But either way, it resulted in me getting a little stuck in that metafiction headspace for a while, so although I've been trying to move past it now, I've got some lingering threads to it going on. Nemo and Rae originated as a side story concept in that meta-project, and so naturally carried some of that baggage along with them. I don't know why I thought that was a good idea to bring into this game, but I did, so I ran with it.

I dunno, I think the metafiction concept although initially seeming out of place has room for it to be interesting at least in that I don't really see that in a work the person involved isn't the prime author for. There was stuff there.

Regarding the Rumble, I actually hadn't thought too deeply about who would get it. I think Jane could go either way on that if she/I wanted. Probably leaning towards no though because in Jane's universe that kind of power explicitly comes with a "you now have responsibilities" label.

Regarding the Resurrection Mechanic for Jane; had a PC died but the player wanted to continue and Jane had been above first level, I would have allowed her to pull them back from death albeit at the cost of a character level from each of them so, while it gets them back in the game, it would have had a comparatively huge cost to the players to do it.

I also would have then tied the revived PC into Jane's awareness of Nekro and put them at risk of becoming the new vessel for the god of death as it tries to escape from captivity.

I had a feeling levels would be involved for some reason. The other thing is also nasty stuff. That could have been really interesting...although at that point I don't know if I'd have wanted to play on with those conditions. Moreso the tie to Nekro might or might not be too stressful, or not stressful enough in a way that would work for me, if that makes sense.

If Jane had died, my thought would be that she could revive herself once (at the cost of a character level) but I would have then introduced a mechanic wherein she is being much more strongly influenced by Nekro, occasionally inflicting her with Berserk status to proc attacks on allies or generally mess with Post's actions as a player.

I like would have discussed this in more detail with the relevant PCs before executing it but it was a concept that I thought could be fun.

This on the other hand sort could be kind of cool, although the conditions still are a bit steep. I had actually thought of representing Nekro's control in a way like this or just having her have a chance of instead of attacking anyone, being taken over in the middle of a pitched battle and calmly deciding to leave the area, although if people got to her they could snap her out of it. I would still have to think about how much i'd like her to go on with the added stressors like this though hm. And also I did like the idea of seeing what could happen if she actually died re: coming back wrong in that way even though of course I do love her getting the win and completing her arc. And also, bringing in a new character to bounce off the crew/make a fun entrance, even though I only had some concepts at that point.

I disagree with this view myself. As a GM, when you're coming up with stuff in the world or characters the PCs might interact with, it's inevitable (and even beneficial to the process) that you think "Aha, this will be a good way to engage this player because XYZ things about their character," Jagrati and Demonic Mirror, Fluttering Curtain were both NPCs I wanted to put into the game because I thought they were cool and fun ideas, but I did run the loose thought experiment with pretty much all NPCs of "how would an interaction with [PC] go? What do they talk about? Can this interaction be used to drive the PC character forward or prompt introspection or a fun character moment,"

Take the interaction Jane had with Bones when she was getting healed for example. Bones is a mook character, so he wasn't very deeply planned at any time. I had sketched him out with the following loose traits:

- Older man, not a member of the Troupe but tagging along so less likely to toe their specific party line on whatever issue.
- A healer both physically and spiritually, something akin to a Wise Man.
- Ritual casting being a specific component of his abilities.
- Speech impediment.

That's about all I had for him, no specific PC-centric purpose in mind at all. But when time came for Jane to be healed, I was like "Ritual casting means they are going to be stuck in this interaction for a while where Jane can't leave so she's going to have to talk and be somewhat diplomatic. Bones is kind of antithetical to her background (healer vs warrior) so he's a bit afraid of her but Jane is already having some pretty metaphysical thoughts about her place in the universe and Bones is designed to be able to speak on those sorts of matters so maybe his arc in this conversation is seeing this mechanical killing machine as frightened person who doesn't really know who they are,"

And then we had, in my opinion, quite an interesting interaction on that basis. As I say, Bones was never designed to be a hook for Jane at any point but I'm always doing the thought-experiment stuff of considering his character from a "how can I use this guy to engage PCs," perspective.

Yeah Bones was a pretty cool character. Went from more of a blank slate in Jane's eyes to somebody she wouldn't mind seeing again. Although as a player I wouldn't have minded seeing the crew again in general, and hopefully interacting with them on less antagonistic terms lol

Morgan was effectively born from the desire of me wanting to riff a little on the idea of Patches from the Dark Souls franchise. I wanted to have a somewhat charming but completely untrustworthy character who can, if properly engaged, help players acquire resources and knows more than he lets on but also is a complete slime-weasel in terms of his morals. I'll include my intial design notes for NPCs where I had them:

Huh. That's pretty funny. My only substantial Souls experience is Elden Ring so I didn't see him in it but now I hear his voice for Morgan.

-stats-

Fighting these guys together sounds like a big pain in the ass. Glad it was never going to happen here.

Calvin being not a real boy for the combat encounter probably changed a fair few things. I was a bit nervous about the threat level of that whole encounter because it was reasonably complex but I also didn't want to rob the PCs of the role of being the deciding force in the encounter. I think we broadly landed on a decent enough level, several PCs were put in danger but no one actually went down, everyone got to use their stuff.

I definitely felt like, if I were still tinkering with the system, I would broadly lower hit points and maybe introduce something to make damage a little higher just to expediate things because I felt like that encounter started to drag a little by the end. All useful data for the next thing I build for sure.

I can agree with that. Although, hit points keeps me alive too :O

Jane is a bit of the 'killing is the answer to every question' (I'm exaggerating, this is not the case) character, but for a good reason. She was created this way, it is almost all of her experience. That made her really interesting, because working in a group set up a situation where she would need to do something DIFFERENT. ^_^

Made for good stuff.

My stuff regarding Krys was a long-winded ramble partially about the Behind the Scenes for Krys, and partially about stuff I had considered, some of which was regarding the tropes and templates that do affect our biases. ^_^

True, but it did make me think about Krys a little more

And in terms about your Jane point, I've mentioned it before I think but I'm glad I was also able to take a character like that and come up with a good reason for her to stick with the group (and also, in the case of the potential Trevor split, try to keep the group together). The conditioning of the Facility put her in a position to at least ostensibly be prosocial even though in a totally unhealthy cultlike way, which isn't love, but in a situation like this Jane could have grown to *actually* love the group.

Would have been fun to play out, but alas

[Sharkerbob]

I dunno, I think the metafiction concept although initially seeming out of place has room for it to be interesting at least in that I don't really see that in a work the person involved isn't the prime author for. There was stuff there.

I suppose. I might have been feeling a little too sour about it in the moment when posting that just due to my own writing troubles the last few years, so there's baggage there for me. But metafiction themes have actually been very interesting to me throughout the years. It's only recently I've really deliberately embraced it in my narratives. It could have grown into some interesting themeing after all.

True, but it did make me think about Krys a little more

And in terms about your Jane point, I've mentioned it before I think but I'm glad I was also able to take a character like that and come up with a good reason for her to stick with the group (and also, in the case of the potential Trevor split, try to keep the group together). The conditioning of the Facility put her in a position to at least ostensibly be prosocial even though in a totally unhealthy cultlike way, which isn't love, but in a situation like this Jane could have grown to *actually* love the group.

Would have been fun to play out, but alas

I think you did a good balance with Jane, whereas most other times I've seen players do a killbot run tend to default to "I'm a heartless thug" or "I'm crazy, lmao", whereas Jane's situation was an interesting, more introspective take with a lot of development and connection potential.

[Postmania]

Jagrati Bhatt, Mistress of the Whispering Rings (5th Level):
Enlightened warrior, wine grandma and friendly NPC. Can gift characters who max her social link with rings to amp their abilities permanently, can also gift them in a combat encounter as a friendly action as she remains neutral. Should not be fought by the PCs if possible as she is quite capable of team-wiping to some degree. Will be an occasional ally but mostly does not wish to fight or take part in the battle for the Rumble. Tied to the Probe quest if the PCs miss it.

Huh. She sounds like she could have been fun to interact with (and has some cool rings)

And lastly, for now at least, I'll post Cassa and the Toxic Commander.

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PROBE DRONE - CASSA
Needs a name. This is a side-quest guy who will attempt to gain access to the scientific district to gain access to the World Forge and become a killer microplanet. Support type character, not very good at combat. Often confused.

Hmm, what would happen if they succeeded?

One thing I really appreciated was that even while you had all these unique characters, and had effectively GM PCs in some cases, none of them felt like they were overshadowing the player characters. Trevor fit well with the group (even if he didn't participate in combat up to that point), but it wasn't "his story" driving things. And you had a lot of fun characters. : )

Can agree with that. Also I'm curious about Trevor's sheet now since he never got to do combat (if he has one)[/QUOTE]

I suppose. I might have been feeling a little too sour about it in the moment when posting that just due to my own writing troubles the last few years, so there's baggage there for me. But metafiction themes have actually been very interesting to me throughout the years. It's only recently I've really deliberately embraced it in my narratives. It could have grown into some interesting themeing after all.

Yeah I suppose that's possible. Hope you're doing better by the by

I think you did a good balance with Jane, whereas most other times I've seen players do a killbot run tend to default to "I'm a heartless thug" or "I'm crazy, lmao", whereas Jane's situation was an interesting, more introspective take with a lot of development and connection potential.

Yeah, when starting out thinking with Jane I wanted to do a robot that I hadn't seen before. Definitely a lot of influence by other AIs but I'm happy with where I took her in the end.