Heroica: Glory Amongst The Stars RPG - Game Development

[Kintobor]

Like, holy smokes, that looks so good!

[KotZ]

It looks amazing!

[Kintobor]

I'm going to try and get that creation story I've been meaning to write up for... awhile... finished.

[Duvors]

Well, I'm impressed! And from the sounds of it everyone else is too.

21 minutes ago, Kintobor said:

I'm going to try and get that creation story I've been meaning to write up for... awhile... finished.

On that note, I have some provisional background materiel I've been meaning to write up for a while now. As well as a 'rules revision' of sorts collated from various suggestions around this thread. I'll see if I can't get some of that done today.

[Duvors]

No longer in use.

 

Spoiler

 

Right, what I intend to do here is to set out a version of the rules with a number of suggested revisions from around the thread as well a some ideas of mine and a few formatting changes. That way we'll have all the suggested changes in one place and be able to see how they fit together. Any changes from the original mechanics will be in red. My personal thoughts shall be in spoilers beneath each section.

Player Character Registration

Directive: All interested applicants must submit the following form to the Hero Statistical Registry subtopic. Once confirmed, all applicants are encouraged to report to Heroica HQ for formal disposition.

Visual ID: Physical avatar photo in minifigure form (100x100 pixels)
Name (Player Name): Hero name and player name
Age, Gender, Species
Vitality: Starts at 5, measure of total hitpoints
Velocity: Hero's movement speed, starts at 1
Strength: Starts at 1, Every 2 Points (rounded down) =+1 Vitality, determines quality of armor and Kinetic weapons useable by player
Skill: Starts at 1, Every 2 Points (rounded down) =+1 Velocity, Rolled for Initiative and to reduce damage, determines quality of Energy weapons useable by player
Smarts: Starts at 1, Every 2 Points (rounded down) =+1 allowed proficiencies over starting 3, determines quality of Elemental weapons useable by player
Spirit: Starts at 1, Every 2 Points (rounded down) =+1 known Spells, expended to cast Spells
Proficiencies: Start with 3 at rank 1
Spells: Start with one from the list at the end of the rules
Credits: Start with 10
Equipment: Equipped items are listed here, 3 available slots for weapons, armor, and other equipment, can only equip one of each item type
Inventory: List other unequipped items and consumables here

Proficiencies (select three)
Acrobatics---Arcana---Artillery---Athletics---Culture---Deception---Engineering---Insight---Intimidation---Long Range Weapons---Medicine---Melee Weapons---Nature---Occult---Perception---Performance---Persuasion---Piloting---Religion---Short Range Weapons---Sleight of Hand---Stealth---Survival---Technology

Character Points (10 Points)
-Increasing Proficiencies costs the number being increased (i.e. to move a proficiency from 1 to 2 requires 2 points, 2 to 3 requires 3, ect.)
-Increasing Attributes (Vitality, Velocity, Strength, Skill, Smarts, Spirit) costs 2 points for every +1
-You may not have over 10 in any Proficiency or Attribute (bonuses from other Attributes do not count toward this total)

Species (select or create one)
Select a Species from the list of registered life-forms in the Hall of Records. If your character is a new species describe them with the appropriate features and await recognition by the Council.

Starting Gear (select one)

• Diplomat Kit
  Standard Energy Weapon
  Translator Cube
  50 Credits
• Marine Kit
  Standard Kinetic/Energy Weapon
  Standard Kinetic/Energy Armor
  Energy Cell/Shield Booster
• Medic Kit
  Standard Elemental/Kinetic Weapon
  Nanite Filter
  Plasma Potion
• Outlander Kit
  Calibrated Energy/Kinetic Weapon
  Standard Elemental Armor
• Researcher Kit
  Standard Elemental Weapon
  Holo-Scroll
  Energy Cell
• Spy Kit
  2 Standard Energy/Kinetic Weapons
  Cloaking Generator
  Hacking Chip

Spoiler

As you can see, I've taken the liberty of describing more or less everything a particular stat does in the character creation section. I did this largely because I felt it would be helpful for someone to know all this information up front when creating a character.

The first change I've made is one of my own, namely altering the way Skill and Smarts grant extra proficiencies/spells. I did this partly to make them work more like Strength in how they grant features, and partly because the fact that players technically start with one more Proficiency then the rules say they do annoyed me. As this would prevent people from starting with any spells without investing into Spirit I had it so that the Spells section I added to the character sheet gave them one spell for free. While this might not be the best for spells in their current state, if we decide to turn it into an 'abilities' system this is the structure I'd recommend. These are of course just suggestions and can be removed if people don't like them. The explanation for the cap I'm suggesting to Attribute/Proficiency scores is explained below the Dice Pool section.

Apart from that, the fact that there is a Spells section in there is so people have somewhere to list them. The bit where it says that Sprit is expended to cast spells is from @Waterbrick Down's  suggestion of how to improve spells.

Dice Pool System

Actions in Heroica 2.0 are determined by building a dice pool and rolling a number of successes against a target number known as a 'check'. Standard values for success on a six-sided are 1-3, failures are 4-6. In cases where the number of successes is equal to or greater than the target number the action is considered successful.

Standard Target Numbers Based upon Difficulty Class (DC)
Simple Task: 1 Success
Skilled Task: 3 Successes
Difficult Task: 5 Successes
Impossible Task: 7 Successes

Proficiency Check:
(3 +Proficiency) Successes vs. Target Number

Attribute Check:
Attribute Successes vs. Target Number

Opposed Check:
Proficiency/Attribute Successes vs. Opponent's Proficiency/Attribute Successes

Weapon Check:
Weapon Proficiency Successes +Weapon Mod vs. Target's Skill Successes +Armor Mod (if same type as weapon)
Aggressor's total over the Target's total is dealt as damage to the target's Vitality

Spell Check:
Appropriate Proficiency's Successes vs. Spell DC

For some checks, multiple players may contribute dice into a single pool, however the maximum standard dice pool is ten.

Spoiler

So the only change I've suggested here is to allow for opposed Attribute Checks, something I feel is a bit of an oversight in the original rules.

As for a cap to points from the Character Creation section above, that has to do with this area. The rules as they're originally written cap dice pools at ten, and nothing requires more than seven successes, meaning that there's usually no incentive to go any higher then ten in any proficiency. However there are two major exceptions to this rule:

1. The above-mentioned multi-player pools. Their numerical finickiness has already been discussed elsewhere in this thread, but having multiple players with Proficiencies higher then ten would allow the potential numbers of such checks to skyrocket beyond any QM's ability to oppose. Aside from this capping proficiency at ten wouldn't have any real effect, due to the dice pool limit.
2. I said that there was usually no incentive to go higher then ten in any Proficiency, but Attributes have plenty of reasons to go above ten. This is largely due to them having several effects unconnected to dice rolls and thus not being affected by the dice pool cap. While it would take a while, a person could theoretically know every spell, be proficient in every skill, and have an unspeakable health score. I am less certain about this though, as the increasing costs would make it extremely prohibitive to go that high. Furthermore, I'm worried that the numbers I've selected aren't appropriate.

This post is really long, so I'm going to split this up. To be continued and such.

 

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by Duvors

[Duvors]

No longer in use.

 

Spoiler

 

Continued from previous post.

Combat

During missions, the party of heroes will encounter various monsters and other adversaries that they must battle. These battles are initiated by the Mission Master.

Choosing Combat Actions
Once the battle starts, an initiative order is generated from highest to lowest. Each character's and enemy's initiative is determined by summing the result of a Skill Attribute Check. Prior to a battle round all members of the party choose their desired action and first target. If a player doesn't choose their target within 24 hours after being prompted to do so the Mission Master will choose for them.

Available Actions
-Attack: Weapon Check (see Dice Pool system).
-Defend: Add character's Skill Attribute dice to adjacent target's next Weapon Check (can target self).
-Rally: Add character's Smart Attribute dice to adjacent target's next Weapon Check.
-Cast a Spell: Spell Check (see Dice Pool system).
-Move: Move a number of squares determined by your Velocity.
-Try Something: Make a Proficiency or Attribute Check against DC chosen by MM.
-Use an Item/Change Equipment: Some items my be used in combination with other actions.

Battle Grid
At the start of battle enemies and heroes are arranged on a battle grid. Certain weapons may only target certain squares. Hero battle formation is set by the Mission Leader prior to combat.

Weapon Ranges
-Melee Weapons: Adjacent squares (or the closest enemy square)
-Short Range Weapons: Two squares from origin
-Long range Weapons: Three squares from origin
-Artillery: Any non-adjacent square

Status Conditions
At times a hero or enemy will be subject to a Status Condition. Common Conditions are listed below.
-Blinded - Target may not target a non-adjacent square for the next 3 rounds
-Enamored - Target may not target source of infatuation for the next 3 rounds
-Frightened - Target rerolls weapon dice and takes the lower when attacking for the next 2 rounds
-Poisoned # - Target will take # damage per round
-Restrained - Target may not take the Move Action for the next 3 rounds
-Silenced - Target may not take the Cast Spell or Rally actions for the next 3 rounds
-Stunned - Target may not take any action next round

End of Battle
If enemies remain after the first round of turns, the players will choose new targets and actions, and a second round begins. The battle ends when either all the opponents or all heroes are defeated, or one side has fled.

Fleeing
Escaping a battle is possible through the use of an Athletics or Acrobatics Proficiency Check vs. the number of remaining opponents.

Defeat
If a hero's health is reduced to zero during a battle, they are unable to participate in it. On a downed hero's turn they roll a Strength, Skill, Smarts, or Spirit Attribute Check against a DC 3. If successful, the hero is stabilized and can be revived with a healing consumable item or spell. If a hero is unstable at the end of combat the hero dies and can no longer participate in the mission. If all heroes die upon a mission it is considered a failure. If a hero dies, the player retains all Character Points gained during the hero's career but loses all their equipment. The player may then choose to have their character survive and start again with one of the Starting Gear choices, or create a new character with their accumulated points.

Victory
In the event of a victorious battle, all heroes gain Character Points as determined by the Mission Master. Some opponents also drop credits and items that are shared among the party as determined by the Mission Leader.

Spoiler

Not much to say here. I added @Endgame's idea of having weapon-based movement scores, though the values are my own and can be changed. I also added a bit to the frightened condition that I think was intended from the start but wasn't actually there.

On that note, why are all the Status Conditions negative? Shouldn't there be a few positive ones?

Items

Equipment
Over time heroes gather an assortment of equipment and tools that allow them to successfully complete their missions. Equipment falls into 3 categories: Weapons, Armor, or Tools. Only one of each type of equipment may be equipped at a time by a character.

Tools
-Cloaking Generator - Grants 1 successful Stealth or Sleight of Hand Check
-Hacking Chip - Grants 1 successful Technology or Piloting Check
-Holo-Scroll - Grants 1 extra known Spell
-Translator Cube - Grants 1 successful Diplomacy or Culture Check

Weapons
There are three damage types for weapons: Kinetic, Energy, and Elemental. Each weapon also has a corresponding range: Melee, Short Range, Long Range, or Artillery. Attacking outside a weapon's range incurs a -1 Weapon Proficiency die penalty for every additional square. All weapon qualities (except Standard) have a minimum Attribute score needed for wielding (Kinetic =Strength, Energy =Skill, Elemental =Smarts) and add a number of guaranteed successes to Weapon Checks according to the list below:
-Standard: +1 (no corresponding Attribute)
-Calibrated: +2 (minimum corresponding Attribute =3)
-Engineered: +3 (minimum corresponding Attribute =5)
-Precision: +4 (minimum corresponding Attribute =7)

Armor
There are three damage mitigation types for armor: Kinetic, Energy, and Elemental. All armor has a minimum Strength score needs for wearing and add a number of guaranteed successes during Weapon Checks against the corresponding damage type according to the list below:
-Standard: +1 (minimum Strength Attribute =2)
-Padded: +2 (minimum Strength Attribute =3)
-Reinforced: +3 (minimum Strength Attribute =5)
-Composite: +4 (minimum Strength Attribute =7)

Consumables
-Energy Cell - Used as part of an Attack Action, doubles Weapon Modifier for next attack
-Shield Booster - Used as part of an Attack Action, doubles Armor Modifier until attacked
-Plasma Potion - Heals character 1d6 health +user's Medicine proficiency
-Nanite Filter - Removes 1 status condition from character

Spoiler

Again, not much to say. The rules description of the cloaking generator says it give a guaranteed success to a stealth or pickpocket check. As there is no such thing as a 'pickpocket check' as far as I know, I changed it to match the other items.

I'm not entirely certain my change to the Shield Booster is actually a change, but I disliked the wording of the original. As for the change to the Plasma Potion, that's just to make medicine useful for it's intended purpose.

I'll be finishing this off with a third post about spells later. See you soon.

 

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by Duvors

[Duvors]

No longer in use.

 

Spoiler

 

To finish this off I'm going to list the spells of the game as they'd appear with @Waterbrick Down's suggested change.

Standard Spells

Elemental Evocation (Arcana/Nature vs DC) if successful (Does Elemental damage = # Spirit points spent - Elemental Armor)
Elemental Bolt: DC 1, Hits 1 square
Elemental Ray: DC 3, Hits 2 connected squares
Elemental Cone: DC 5, Hits 3 connected squares
Elemental Bast: DC 7, Hits 4 connected squares

Healing Light (Nature/Religion vs DC) if successful (Heals Vitality = # Spirit points spent)
Sustaining Healing: DC 1, 1 target
Plentiful Healing: DC 3, 2 targets
Generous Healing: DC 5, 3 targets
Masterful Healing: DC 7, 4 targets

Mystic Binding (Nature/Occult vs DC) if successful (Target is Stunned for rounds = # Spirit points spent)
Hampering Hold: DC 1, 1 target
Thwarting Hold: DC 3, 2 targets
Irresistible Hold: DC 5, 3 targets
Debilitating Hold: DC 7, 4 targets

Obfuscate (Arcana/Nature/Occult/Religion vs DC) if successful (Creates a sensory effect for minutes = # Spirit points spent)
Misdirecting Illusion: DC 1, 1 effect
Distracting Illusion: DC 3, 2 effects
Impeding Illusion: DC 5, 3 effects
Incapacitating Illusion: DC 7, 4 effects

Purging Font (Occult/Religion vs DC) if successful (Cures number of Status Conditions = # Spirit points spent)
Acute Purge: DC 1, 1 target
Effective Purge: DC 3, 2 targets
Ardent Purge: DC 5, 3 targets
Intense Purge: DC 7, 4 targets

Quantum Transposition (Arcana/Religion vs DC) if successful (Teleports number of targets = # Spirit points spent)
Minor Transport: DC 1, Transports allies to different squares of the caster's choice
Major Transport: DC 3, Transports enemies to different squares of the caster's choice
Planetary Transport: DC 5, Target flees, may rejoin after 1 round
Galactic Transport: DC 7, Target flees, may rejoin after 2 rounds

Sickening Radiance (Occult/Religion vs DC) if successful (Does Energy damage for rounds = # Spirit points spent - Energy Armor)
Singeing Dose: DC 1, Does 1 damage
Scorching Dose: DC 3, Does 3 damage
Searing Dose: DC 5, Does 5 damage
Lethal Dose: DC 7, Does 7 damage

Spirit Ally (Nature/Occult vs DC) if successful (Summons ally for rounds = # Spirit points spent)
Lesser Familiar: DC 1, Stats: Vitality 2, Skill 1, Standard Kinetic Weapon
Common Familiar: DC 3, Stats: Vitality 5, Skill 2, Calibrated Kinetic Weapon
Greater Familiar: DC 5, Stats: Vitality 8, Skill 3, Engineered Kinetic Weapon
Monstrous Familiar: DC 7, Stats: Vitality 11, Skill 4, Precision Kinetic Weapon

Transmute Matter (Arcana/Occult vs DC) if successful (Converts 1 square foot of non-hostile material for minutes = # Spirit points spent)
Wooden Transmutation: DC 1, Object becomes wood
Stone Transmutation: DC 3, Object becomes stone
Titanium Transmutation: DC 5, Object becomes titanium
Adamantine Transmutation: DC 7, Object becomes adamant

Warding Bond (Arcana/Religion vs DC) if successful (Grants target Armor Mod = # Spirit points spent)
Interposing Ward: DC 1, Next attack
Shielding Ward: DC 3, Next 2 attacks
Resistive Ward: DC 5, Next 3 attacks
Preserving Ward: DC 7, Next 4 attacks

Spoiler

So as you can see I've made some changes aside from the ones implied by WBD. First of all, I've changed Obfuscate's duration to use rounds and removed the ability to use Occult or Religion to cast it. The latter change was due to the fact that Arcana and nature only had access to five spells while Occult and religion both had six. Secondly, I changed the spirit ally's weapons to kinetic weapons simply because I couldn't understand what 'natural weapon' meant. I also re-added a couple of DC that were missing from Transmute Matter. The change to Mystic Binding isn't really a change as such, but I felt I should mention it nonetheless.

I'd also like to point out that the sudden leap in the number of squares one can target with Elemental Evocation at the end is a bit jarring.

Now a few questions for WBD: In Elemental Evocation, does the term 'adjacent squares' refer to the squares being adjacent to each other, or adjacent to the character? I ask because the latter is how the term is used elsewhere in the rules and wanted to make sure.
Next, can Quantum Transportation be used to flee battles?
Finally, what are the various levels of Transmute matter supposed to do mechanically? If I'm being quite honest the entire spell seems a bit phoned in and unfinished.

You'll also notice I've changed the names of both Sprit Ally and the levels of Transmute Matter. This is just a matter of personal preference.

And that's everything! What do you all think?

 

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by Duvors

[Waterbrick Down]

Thanks Lord Duvors for all the ideas! Let's start with character creation:

• I think the changes to smarts/skills is ok, the trick is to make each attribute equally viable for a given build
• I think the attribute/skill caps are fine. The only downside is if we ever have effects that directly impact those scores, i.e. something like "Weakened: -5 to target's Strength attribute" it can't be offset. The multi-player pool I'm not too worried about as the intention was to limit all pools (including group pools) to 10 dice maximum.
• The Spirit attribute is still a tough one. It feels weird for each character to have the ability to already cast spells, but without a full class system it's difficult to get around without making all Attributes start at 0. We could make it such that Spirit can be spent on more generic "powers" that include both martial and spell-like effects, but that's fairly easy to create a bloated system and I think takes away from some of the unique aspects of spell-casting.

On to mechanics:

• Missing attribute checks is indeed an oversight, glad someone caught it
• Thanks for fixing frightened. The intention is to include positive effects, but I liked Flipz idea from way back in that only one positive/negative status condition can be active at a time on a character, so I haven't figured out how to best balance for that yet.
• Regarding movement, I've got to be honest, when I designed this system, I really wasn't expecting large battle maps. The biggest grid I ever imagined was 4x4. Granted after observing the test quest, I now see how the larger space can definitely add new fun elements, but I wasn't planning on it originally. That being said I think as far as movement goes, I'm not a fan of tying it to weapons. To some extent it makes all the weapons too similar, mechanically most weapons are able to effectively hit something within 4 squares. I will grant, currently the system as is, does not provide much balance between ranged weapons and melee weapons. Generally in most systems melee weapons have an edge by doing more damage than ranged weapons, but in this system they all do the same. Perhaps if we made range modify the combat check, i.e. the further a character is away, the defender starts with more Skill dice. In that case we could roll movement into the Skill attribute similar to vitality.
• Concerning the items, you're right about the shield generator and cloaking generator. I like the change to Plasma Potion

Spells:

• Elemental blast is a typo, it should be 4 squares. Adjacent should be connected. The idea is the spell scales from single target to AOE.
• Obfuscate is a generic "cantrip" for all the types of magic characters. It's more for roleplay than a exact mechanical benefit, hence why it's in minutes instead of rounds, it wasn't meant for combat.
• Quantum Transposition could be used to flee a battle.
• Kinetic Weapon is the appropriate substitute for "Natural Weapons"
• Transmute Matter is another roleplay spell hence why the duration is listed in minutes. In this magic system all effects are intended to be codified. Where in Heroica 1.0, magic users could use the "spellcasting" trait to simply cause generic effects, in this system, if there's isn't a spell for it, it cannot be performed.

On to a new system: Classes. While not necessary, I think they can add more variability and potential flexibility in combat with specific actions. The current intention is that anyone could swap back and forth between the classes, but would be rewarded for sticking with a class by eventually being able to mix and match traits/actions between classes and "create" their own custom class. I've listed some rough classes for the time being:

Spoiler

Scoundrel
Light-foot (Trait) - Stealth Proficiency rolls are rolled twice
Back-stab (Trait) - Weapon proficiency count 3 as successes when attacking a target adjacent to an ally
Pick Pocket (Action) - Make a Sleight of Hand Proficiency Check vs. an adjacent target's Perception Proficiency. On a win steal one item from the target's inventory. On a loss, take the difference between the rolls in damage.

Guardian
Defensive (Trait) - Minimum Strength requirements for Armor are 1 less.
Protective (Trait) - +1 Skill die added when taking the Guard action
Charge (Action) - Make a Weapon Proficiency Check vs. an adjacent target's Armor Proficiency. On a win, move the target to an adjacent space.

Warrior
Weapon Adept (Trait) - +1 Success to Weapon Proficiency Checks
Tactical Mind (Trait) - +1 Skill die added when taking the rally action
Riposte (Action) - Make an extra attack action if you take 0 damage from an enemies weapon attack.

Berserker
Unbreakable (Trait) - The first time in battle your vitality is reduced to 0, you are instead reduced to 1
Relentless (Trait) - You may reroll weapon proficiency attacks on your turn, if you do weapon checks made against you are also rerolled
Cleave (Action) - Make a Weapon Proficiency Check vs. two adjacent targets combined Skill. On a win deal the weapon rating in damage to both targets.

Skald
Encouraging Words (Trait) - May target 2 allies when taking the Rally Action
Jack-of-all-trades (Trait) - +1 die to all Proficiency checks
Mesmerize (Action) - Make a Performance check vs. a target’s Smarts Attribute. On a win, the target rolls its next check with disadvantage

Hermit
Planet Communal (Trait) - +1 success to Nature Proficiency rolls
Speech of Beast and Bark (Trait) - Persuasion rolls with non-sentient organic creatures are rolled twice
Entangle (Action) - Make an empty square within Nature proficiency # of spaces away unpassable.

Priest
Divine Communion (Trait) - +1 success to Religion Proficiency rolls
Blessing of the Gods (Trait) - Adjacent allies receive +1 when regaining vitality
Turn Unholy (Action) - Make a Religion check vs. all Phantasmal targets’ smarts. On a win, the targets take the difference in damage.

Mage
Mystic Concentration (Trait) - +1 success to Arcana Proficiency rolls
Arcane Memorization (Trait) - Know one additional spell
Magical Reflux (Action) - Regain 1 Spirit Point

Warlock
Esoteric Studies (Trait) - +1 success to Occult Proficiency Rolls
Enigmatic Mind (Trait) - +1 success against being Feared
Call from Beyond (Action) - Make an Occult check vs. Humanoid target’s smarts. On a win, target swaps one Attribute with the Warlock for the next round.

Survivalist
Grit (Trait) - +1 Skill die when attacked by multiple enemies in a round
Guts (Trait) - +1 Die against checks to impose a negative condition
Track (Action) - Spend a turn to add Perception proficiency to next weapon proficiency check

Medic
Restoring Hands (Trait) - Restorative items generate + (# Medicine proficiency) Vitality
Exploitable Anatomy (Trait) - +1 Die when attacking organic enemies
Combat Triage (Action)- Make a Medicine check vs. an adjacent ally. Ally receives vitality equal to successes. An ally can benefit from this feature only once per battle.

Hacker
Computative Expertise (Trait) - Technology Proficiency rolls are rolled twice
Vulnerable Circuitry (Trait) - +1 Die when attacking synthetic enemies
Cyber swipe (Action) - Make a Technology check vs. Synthetic target’s smarts. On win, the target takes -1 less success from its next check.

Shaman
Spirit Guide (Trait) - Insight Proficiency rolls are rolled twice
Unguarded Soul (Trait) - +1 Die when attacking phantasmal enemies
Inspiring Vision (Action) - One adjacent ally makes their next weapon check with advantage

Engineer
Ingenuitive Spirit (Trait) - Engineering Proficiency rolls are rolled twice
Tinkering Hands (Trait) - 50% chance a consumable is not used up upon activation.
Upgrade (Action) - Make an Engineering check vs. an adjacent Ally. Ally’s weapon rating is increased equal to successes. An Ally can benefit from this once per combat.

Scholar
Well Read (Trait) - Culture Proficiency rolls are rolled twice
Eye for Detail (Trait) - +1 Success to Perception Proficiency checks
Research (Action) - One adjacent ally makes their next non-weapon check with advantage
 

 

[Waterbrick Down]

12 hours ago, Kintobor said:

Like, holy smokes, that looks so good!

12 hours ago, KotZ said:

It looks amazing!

11 hours ago, Lord Duvors said:

Well, I'm impressed! And from the sounds of it everyone else is too.

Also, thanks! Just about done with it, next working on training room, registry room, and vendors.

 

[samurai-turtle]

8 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

On to a new system: Classes. While not necessary, I think they can add more variability and potential flexibility in combat with specific actions. The current intention is that anyone could swap back and forth between the classes, but would be rewarded for sticking with a class by eventually being able to mix and match traits/actions between classes and "create" their own custom class. I've listed some rough classes for the time being:

I am not quoting the rest of the thing, but this sounds it is going to be another stat to put on a character "sheet". And are we going to be able to get more than one, like purchasing from a special shop? 

[Duvors]

10 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Regarding movement, I've got to be honest, when I designed this system, I really wasn't expecting large battle maps. The biggest grid I ever imagined was 4x4. Granted after observing the test quest, I now see how the larger space can definitely add new fun elements, but I wasn't planning on it originally. That being said I think as far as movement goes, I'm not a fan of tying it to weapons. To some extent it makes all the weapons too similar, mechanically most weapons are able to effectively hit something within 4 squares. I will grant, currently the system as is, does not provide much balance between ranged weapons and melee weapons. Generally in most systems melee weapons have an edge by doing more damage than ranged weapons, but in this system they all do the same. Perhaps if we made range modify the combat check, i.e. the further a character is away, the defender starts with more Skill dice. In that case we could roll movement into the Skill attribute similar to vitality.

I mean, the values are provisional. But ultimately you're probably right. Endgame suggested something similar earlier and I thought it a good idea then too. Having moment tied to Skill also appeals to me.

10 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Spells:

• Elemental blast is a typo, it should be 4 squares. Adjacent should be connected. The idea is the spell scales from single target to AOE.
• Obfuscate is a generic "cantrip" for all the types of magic characters. It's more for roleplay than a exact mechanical benefit, hence why it's in minutes instead of rounds, it wasn't meant for combat.
• Quantum Transposition could be used to flee a battle.
• Kinetic Weapon is the appropriate substitute for "Natural Weapons"
• Transmute Matter is another roleplay spell hence why the duration is listed in minutes. In this magic system all effects are intended to be codified. Where in Heroica 1.0, magic users could use the "spellcasting" trait to simply cause generic effects, in this system, if there's isn't a spell for it, it cannot be performed.

I understand. But if Obfuscate remains accessible to everyone then we'll probably need another Arcana/Nature spell. I'm going to go back and alter a few of these spells to match what you've said.

All-in-all, thanks for the feedback!

[Waterbrick Down]

12 hours ago, samurai-turtle said:

I am not quoting the rest of the thing, but this sounds it is going to be another stat to put on a character "sheet". And are we going to be able to get more than one, like purchasing from a special shop? 

Sure it'd be included on a character sheet. The system I'm currently roughing out is somewhat based on the RPG game Codevein where you can easily swap between classes. You would only have one class at a time, but as I said in order to reward those folks who stick with a single class eventually the features of the classes could be mix and matched via training. Training could also be purchased with XP points and would be rewarded a level for every completed battle. For example

Guardian:
(0/10) Defensive (Trait) - Minimum Strength requirements for Armor are 1 less.
(0/20) Protective (Trait) - +1 Skill die added when taking the Guard action
(0/30) Charge (Action) - Make a Weapon Proficiency Check vs. an adjacent target's Armor Proficiency. On a win, move the target to an adjacent space.

After every battle, if you played the Guardian class, your training score in each feature of the class would go up by 1. You could also spend XP points to raise the training level of your current class or another class you may want a feature from. Eventually once training was complete, you could swap that feature out with a feature of a different class, assuming you had completed training with that other feature, essentially allowing you to eventually create your own class.

10 hours ago, Lord Duvors said:

I mean, the values are provisional. But ultimately you're probably right. Endgame suggested something similar earlier and I thought it a good idea then too. Having moment tied to Skill also appeals to me.

I understand. But if Obfuscate remains accessible to everyone then we'll probably need another Arcana/Nature spell. I'm going to go back and alter a few of these spells to match what you've said.

All-in-all, thanks for the feedback!

Oh most certainly. These are just the starter spells, I'd envision the full game having at least another 2 dozen more spells.

[Duvors]

Right, I've gone back and edited the way movement is handled according to @Waterbrick Down's feedback. I'm also going to quote the relevant sections here:

On 9/19/2020 at 8:44 PM, Lord Duvors said:

 

Player Character Registration

Skill: Starts at 1, Every 2 Points (rounded down) =+1 Speed, Rolled for Initiative and to reduce damage, determines quality of Energy weapons useable by player

Speed: Hero's movement speed, starts at 1

 

On 9/20/2020 at 12:06 AM, Lord Duvors said:

 

Combat

Available Actions

-Move: Move a number of squares determined by your speed

Weapon Ranges and Hit Chances
-Melee Weapons: Adjacent squares (or the closest enemy square), enemies gain nothing to defense
-Short Range Weapons: Two squares from origin, enemies gain +1 Skill to defense
-Long range Weapons: Three squares from origin, enemies gain +2 Skill to defense
-Artillery: Any non-adjacent square, enemies gain +3 Skill to defense

Weapons
There are three damage types for weapons: Kinetic, Energy, and Elemental. Each weapon also has a corresponding range: Melee, Short Range, Long Range, or Artillery. These ranges also determine bonuses targeted enemies receive to defend against them. All weapon qualities (except standard) have a minimum Attribute score needed for wielding (Kinetic =Strength, Energy =Skill, Elemental =Smarts) and add a number of guaranteed successes to Weapon Checks according to the list below:

Again, all values are provisional.

[samurai-turtle]

If we are showing pictures here is one I am using to show off some home made "guns". I used spare parts I collected over the years, the guns only uses three parts and usual a single or double color but here I am using three colors to help with ID ing parts. 

 

[Yzalirk]

Hey folks, sorry I have been absent for a while.  I have just been lacking any motivation and creativity the past couple of weeks and even months.  I am hoping when you guys start sharing some figbarfs, character sheets, and really anything I can hopefully gain some of that creativity back.

@Waterbrick Down The new hall looks incredible!  You really did an outstanding job on it.  I really like how it it is a futuristic take on the original hall, it feels so nostalgic!

I know a couple of months back we were still debating on the mechanics and I think these look great, @Lord Duvors!  All that stuff is not my strong suit so I am completely fine with what you guys want.

[Waterbrick Down]

18 hours ago, Lord Duvors said:

Right, I've gone back and edited the way movement is handled according to @Waterbrick Down's feedback. I'm also going to quote the relevant sections here:

 

Again, all values are provisional.

Thanks for working on the rewording. Another idea is instead of giving a bonus to the defender, we could give a penalty to the aggressor the further the target is away. In this system ranged weapons can hit any square, but there's a penalty for going beyond a certain point for each weapon class, so:

Melee: Range Limit 1, -1 Weapon Proficiency Die for ever further square
Short Range: Range Limit 2, -1 Weapon Proficiency Die for every further square
Long Range: Range Limit 3, -1 Weapon Proficiency Die for every further square
Artillery: Range Limit 4, -1 Weapon Proficiency Die for every further square

So if someone is with a Short Range Weapon proficiency of 3 is targeting an enemy within 2 square, there's no penalty to their Weapon Check. If the enemy is 3 squares away, there's a penalty of 1, if 4 squares away a penalty of 2, and so on. For Long Range weapons an enemy can be 3 squares away with no penalty, and for Artillery 4 squares away. Eventually a character could get really good with a certain weapon that they could almost ignore the penalty, but they'd have to dedicate themselves to it.

12 hours ago, samurai-turtle said:

If we are showing pictures here is one I am using to show off some home made "guns". I used spare parts I collected over the years, the guns only uses three parts and usual a single or double color but here I am using three colors to help with ID ing parts. 

I'd be interested to see what a singular color looks like. It's got some potential. The trick with this space fantasy them is getting the right mix of high and low tech at the same time. Most of the pre-molded blasters from Starwars and Space sets end up looking too modern, but blunderbusses and flintlocks don't quite fit either. The best compromise I've seen so far is something in dark brown that can then have gold/silver/translucent accents added.

11 hours ago, Goliath said:

Hey folks, sorry I have been absent for a while.  I have just been lacking any motivation and creativity the past couple of weeks and even months.  I am hoping when you guys start sharing some figbarfs, character sheets, and really anything I can hopefully gain some of that creativity back.

@Waterbrick Down The new hall looks incredible!  You really did an outstanding job on it.  I really like how it it is a futuristic take on the original hall, it feels so nostalgic!

I know a couple of months back we were still debating on the mechanics and I think these look great, @Lord Duvors!  All that stuff is not my strong suit so I am completely fine with what you guys want.

Thanks for checking in @Goliath, I'm slowly working to put everything together so it'll be mostly set at launch, rules, builds, and an initial quest.

[samurai-turtle]

1 hour ago, Waterbrick Down said:

I'd be interested to see what a singular color looks like. It's got some potential. The trick with this space fantasy them is getting the right mix of high and low tech at the same time. Most of the pre-molded blasters from Starwars and Space sets end up looking too modern, but blunderbusses and flintlocks don't quite fit either. The best compromise I've seen so far is something in dark brown that can then have gold/silver/translucent accents added

Well since you asked...Here we have our models dual welding the lastest guns...These are all the variations I made with spare parts (if you are like me, I keep my sets mostly together and put the extra parts in a "extra part box").

[Duvors]

14 hours ago, Goliath said:

Hey folks, sorry I have been absent for a while.  I have just been lacking any motivation and creativity the past couple of weeks and even months.  I am hoping when you guys start sharing some figbarfs, character sheets, and really anything I can hopefully gain some of that creativity back.

@Waterbrick Down The new hall looks incredible!  You really did an outstanding job on it.  I really like how it it is a futuristic take on the original hall, it feels so nostalgic!

I know a couple of months back we were still debating on the mechanics and I think these look great, @Lord Duvors!  All that stuff is not my strong suit so I am completely fine with what you guys want.

Nice to see you again. Sorry if our last discussions got a little heated.

[Waterbrick Down]

21 minutes ago, samurai-turtle said:

Well since you asked...Here we have our models dual welding the lastest guns...These are all the variations I made with spare parts (if you are like me, I keep my sets mostly together and put the extra parts in a "extra part box").

 

Makes sense, most of my collection is disassembled and sorted for easier building. On to the subject of building and DMing, when Heroica 1.0 was around Zepher, JimBee we debated rewards to encourage DMing. One thought would be to include XP that can go towards a character, additionally in order to help new DM's a photo repository could be created with enemies, set locations, etc. to help those with smaller collections to still be able to host. So rewards would look something like below:
Host a quest: +5XP
Submit an enemy: +1 XP
Submit a set location: +2 XP
Submit a battle map: +2 XP

We'd need templates to help standardize things, but those should be fairly simple to create.

Just now, Lord Duvors said:

Nice to see you again. Sorry if our last discussions got a little heated.

 Quite alright, time soothes many tempers. 

[Yzalirk]

5 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Thanks for checking in @Goliath, I'm slowly working to put everything together so it'll be mostly set at launch, rules, builds, and an initial quest.

Great!  I will continue to check-in daily and see what's new and share some creative ideas when necessary.

Speaking of which, one idea that popped into mind when browsing BrickLink was one for some type of Robot race if you want to call it that.  Basically I just thought of them as "Skeletons" as the pieces to create them are basically those from skeleton pieces.  If I had the pieces I would show you all but basically they just use the black skeleton pieces with I want to say it's a head from the Insectoid series?  It's a black head and looks the most robotic of all heads I saw.  I also wonder how the tall Enderman / skeleton legs would look with it...

2 hours ago, Lord Duvors said:

Nice to see you again. Sorry if our last discussions got a little heated.

No worries, it's all good!

[Duvors]

5 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Thanks for working on the rewording. Another idea is instead of giving a bonus to the defender, we could give a penalty to the aggressor the further the target is away. In this system ranged weapons can hit any square, but there's a penalty for going beyond a certain point for each weapon class, so:

Melee: Range Limit 1, -1 Weapon Proficiency Die for ever further square
Short Range: Range Limit 2, -1 Weapon Proficiency Die for every further square
Long Range: Range Limit 3, -1 Weapon Proficiency Die for every further square
Artillery: Range Limit 4, -1 Weapon Proficiency Die for every further square

So if someone is with a Short Range Weapon proficiency of 3 is targeting an enemy within 2 square, there's no penalty to their Weapon Check. If the enemy is 3 squares away, there's a penalty of 1, if 4 squares away a penalty of 2, and so on. For Long Range weapons an enemy can be 3 squares away with no penalty, and for Artillery 4 squares away. Eventually a character could get really good with a certain weapon that they could almost ignore the penalty, but they'd have to dedicate themselves to it.

At first I wasn't entirely certain about this because it felt a bit odd to have Melee weapons target that far. But having given it some thought I believe the scaling costs of both attacking outside weapon range and of increasing Weapon Proficiency will keep it form being too ridiculous. I also like this idea because of how it interacts with larger grids. Especially that three-dimensional one I made earlier.

 

3 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Makes sense, most of my collection is disassembled and sorted for easier building. On to the subject of building and DMing, when Heroica 1.0 was around Zepher, JimBee we debated rewards to encourage DMing. One thought would be to include XP that can go towards a character, additionally in order to help new DM's a photo repository could be created with enemies, set locations, etc. to help those with smaller collections to still be able to host. So rewards would look something like below:
Host a quest: +5XP
Submit an enemy: +1 XP
Submit a set location: +2 XP
Submit a battle map: +2 XP

We'd need templates to help standardize things, but those should be fairly simple to create.

I think something like this would be immensely helpful. I'm one of the QMs for Lind's little project and the most daunting aspect so far is building sets (something I'm probably going to do in stud.io and LDD). Having a number of standardized enemies would also be immensely helpful. Like the Bestiary from the original Heroica except not being abandoned partway through.

[samurai-turtle]

3 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Makes sense, most of my collection is disassembled and sorted for easier building. On to the subject of building and DMing, when Heroica 1.0 was around Zepher, JimBee we debated rewards to encourage DMing. One thought would be to include XP that can go towards a character, additionally in order to help new DM's a photo repository could be created with enemies, set locations, etc. to help those with smaller collections to still be able to host. So rewards would look something like below:
Host a quest: +5XP
Submit an enemy: +1 XP
Submit a set location: +2 XP
Submit a battle map: +2 XP

We'd need templates to help standardize things, but those should be fairly simple to create.

Well this might help probably about half are 100x100 squared. 

https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=544469&n=0 

I found some of them over the internet and then tried to resized them right. I know some of them are not what you might need but if you want to double check them. And if you have any questions about using one (or some) I think PM (or DM) would be a preferred method of contact with a title like "picture usage". 

[Waterbrick Down]

50 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Great!  I will continue to check-in daily and see what's new and share some creative ideas when necessary.

Speaking of which, one idea that popped into mind when browsing BrickLink was one for some type of Robot race if you want to call it that.  Basically I just thought of them as "Skeletons" as the pieces to create them are basically those from skeleton pieces.  If I had the pieces I would show you all but basically they just use the black skeleton pieces with I want to say it's a head from the Insectoid series?  It's a black head and looks the most robotic of all heads I saw.  I also wonder how the tall Enderman / skeleton legs would look with it...

No worries, it's all good!

I'm working on the starting races (as always open to suggestions), so far I've got:
Human
Elf
Dwarf
Undead
Orc
Android
Cyborg
Star-born (Star faring species transformed by solar radiation)
Golem (Elemental inorganic species)
Zorcon (Astral energy based lifeform)
‎Cricet (Rodent species, multiple variations similar to Khajiit from Skyrim)
Reptin (Snake/Lizard species)
Ornithun (Avian species)
Quo’ri (4 armed Simian species)
Ursin (Bear species hailing from the similarly named stars)
Cephalon (Octopus/Tentacle species)
Icthyan (Fish based species)
 

4 minutes ago, Lord Duvors said:

At first I wasn't entirely certain about this because it felt a bit odd to have Melee weapons target that far. But having given it some thought I believe the scaling costs of both attacking outside weapon range and of increasing Weapon Proficiency will keep it form being too ridiculous. I also like this idea because of how it interacts with larger grids. Especially that three-dimensional one I made earlier.

 

I think something like this would be immensely helpful. I'm one of the QMs for Lind's little project and the most daunting aspect so far is building sets (something I'm probably going to do in stud.io and LDD). Having a number of standardized enemies would also be immensely helpful. Like the Bestiary from the original Heroica except not being abandoned partway through.

Yeah, regarding ranged melee I wanted to give options to those who may want to chuck their sword or spear at someone. It wouldn't be effective, but it's not out of the range of possibilities. The ranges are such, that there is a slight advantage to ranged weapons (+1 square), but not so much that melee won't be able to keep up.

I always found the building the slowest part, but in the end the thing that made a lot of quests memorable. I like giving players freedom, but unless you're free to build 100% of the time, it's just not possible and you have to prebuild some of the sets. Agreed on the standardized enemies, or at least enemy templates that can easily be scaled up or down depending upon the party.

1 minute ago, samurai-turtle said:

Well this might help probably about half are 100x100 squared. 

https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=544469&n=0 

I found some of them over the internet and then tried to resized them right. I know some of them are not what you might need but if you want to double check them. And if you have any questions about using one (or some) I think PM (or DM) would be a preferred method of contact with a title like "picture usage". 

Ah good old Brickshelf. :) I'm not sure how it'd be hosted yet, but yes the idea would be to create standards, i.e. 100x100 thumb, 5 point black or colored border, solid color background, etc.

[Yzalirk]

3 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

I'm working on the starting races (as always open to suggestions), so far I've got:
Human
Elf
Dwarf
Undead
Orc
Android
Cyborg
Star-born (Star faring species transformed by solar radiation)
Golem (Elemental inorganic species)
Zorcon (Astral energy based lifeform)
‎Cricet (Rodent species, multiple variations similar to Khajiit from Skyrim)
Reptin (Snake/Lizard species)
Ornithun (Avian species)
Quo’ri (4 armed Simian species)
Ursin (Bear species hailing from the similarly named stars)
Cephalon (Octopus/Tentacle species)
Icthyan (Fish based species)

I think that is a fantastic list to start with!  I would just add Robot, or call it by some other fancy synonym, to that list for those who want to be completely mechanical. 

[samurai-turtle]

5 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

I'm working on the starting races (as always open to suggestions), so far I've got:
Human
Elf
Dwarf
Undead
Orc
Android
Cyborg
Star-born (Star faring species transformed by solar radiation)
Golem (Elemental inorganic species)
Zorcon (Astral energy based lifeform)
‎Cricet (Rodent species, multiple variations similar to Khajiit from Skyrim)
Reptin (Snake/Lizard species)
Ornithun (Avian species)
Quo’ri (4 armed Simian species)
Ursin (Bear species hailing from the similarly named stars)
Cephalon (Octopus/Tentacle species)
Icthyan (Fish based species)
 

 

Ah good old Brickshelf. :) I'm not sure how it'd be hosted yet, but yes the idea would be to create standards, i.e. 100x100 thumb, 5 point black or colored border, solid color background, etc.

I was thinking of adding - 

Kappa - (or Tortle if you want a D&D flavor) for tortoises and turtles, plus their is TMNT mini figures and now the Super Mario line. 

Tengu - I am not sure if this will be to close to Ornithun. But I figured since the Chima Ravens exists they look pretty close to other depictions other tangu. And I did find two examples of what I thought they will look like. 

Tabaxi - (again more D&D influence) your basic cat person, since again Chima has "Cats" we should have it available to use. 

Canine - since their is "cats" we better have Dogs. Again if their is Wolves and werewolves for mini figures, I think eventually "regular" dogs & coyotes or any other similar animal could become a mini figure. 

Those are the ones I can think of for now. But if their is a mini figure of it, we should consider a possible creature that going to be need made. I was also thinking if it exists in D&D or even in Starfinder we should have a version in this game. Someone might have a desire to play that creature. 

 

I was just showing I got some items available. But consider the recent issues Brickshelf have had, using it as a hosting spot might not be the best idea, besides I don't think you could even set up a new account. For a standard on pictures a 100×100 pixels square with a solid color background should be easy enough to do, we don't want to make it to complicated. 

I am still not sure about "battle maps" or "establishing shots" what standard should be used for that stuff. Was there any standards before?