Heroica: Glory Amongst The Stars RPG - Game Development

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

I've never done that kind of a quest before. Luckily I train like the Weapon Master.

[Waterbrick Down]

Figured I'd start uploading these. Rough drafts and definitely need polishing, but they're a start.

[KotZ]

The fact that it's on a background like the old game brings back a lot of memories. We really should play test.

[samurai-turtle]

12 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Figured I'd start uploading these. Rough drafts and definitely need polishing, but they're a start. 

I guess I could try an make a character...

 

Tester 1 (samurai-turtle) 

6 lunar cycles, genderless War-Droid  

Vitality: 5 {Is this your HP or health points?} 

Strength: 1 

Skill: 1 

Smarts: 1 {If I wanted to get more proficiencies how much would I need to increase this by?} 

Spirit: 1 

Proficiencies: Artillery 1, Piloting 1, Technology 1 

Credits: 10 

Equipment: Arm-Cannon (+1, Energy Weapon), Metallic Exoskeleton (+1, Kinetic Armor) 

Inventory: Nanites Repair Drones ×1 {I am just making some of this stuff up and not 100% sure what it does exactly.} 

So if I am reading everything right, I currently have used 7 points and have 3 points available to use on some skill(s). 

Plus, would Kinetic be like a bullet? And using a Energy Weapon would be similar to a Star Trek Phaser? 

Is "Long Weapons" different from "Artillery"? 

Edited October 14, 2019 by samurai-turtle
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[Yzalirk]

@Waterbrick Down For a rough draft that looks really good!

@samurai-turtle Yes, Kinetic Damage would be basic non-element damage.  I think Energy Damage could be an assortment of elements, like Fire or Electricity.  There probably will be a variety of Energy Weapons ranging from Bolt Rifles to Solar Cannons.  

Correct me if I am wrong, that is the impression I get so players are not just relying on a single set of gear.

[Waterbrick Down]

Looks like I need to include info on starting equipment and basic consumables. Regarding weapon typings, there are:
Kinetic: Do physical damage, i.e. bullets, rockets, swords, maces, etc.
Energy: Do radiation/blast damage, i.e. beam swords, phasers, ion cannons, etc.
Elemental: Do Fire/Ice/Electricity/Etc. damage, i.e. flame-throwers, tasers, freeze-rays, etc.

Each of these corresponding to different range weapons:
Melee: Hits adjacent grid squares
Short Range: Hits grid squares up to 2 spaces away
Long Range: Hits grid squares up to 3 spaces away
Artillery: Hits any grid square not adjacent

[KotZ]

17 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Looks like I need to include info on starting equipment and basic consumables. Regarding weapon typings, there are:
Kinetic: Do physical damage, i.e. bullets, rockets, swords, maces, etc.
Energy: Do radiation/blast damage, i.e. beam swords, phasers, ion cannons, etc.
Elemental: Do Fire/Ice/Electricity/Etc. damage, i.e. flame-throwers, tasers, freeze-rays, etc.

Each of these corresponding to different range weapons:
Melee: Hits adjacent grid squares
Short Range: Hits grid squares up to 2 spaces away
Long Range: Hits grid squares up to 3 spaces away
Artillery: Hits any grid square not adjacent

Ok cool. I was worried kinetic was only going to be melee. Great to see energy swords like lightsabers getting some love.

[Kintobor]

On 10/12/2019 at 5:45 PM, Faladrin said:

So, I am stepping back a little and I am staying ready to help.

Oh, absolutely! If you have any ideas, feel free to share them!

As well, I'm digging the current rule set. It looks solid. I will ask what "Attributes" are, though, as there's nothing seemingly about them on the mock up rules, although there's a chance I may of missed them.

As well, what kind of gods to people want? So far I have a creator/life goddess who the creation story of the setting starts with, as well as a technology god whose clergy acts as IT/Tech Support for star ships. Any other ideas that people want to pitch? 

Also, any thought on character species having an impact on starting stats, Waterbrick Down?

[Yzalirk]

1 minute ago, Kintobor said:

As well, what kind of gods to people want? So far I have a creator/life goddess who the creation story of the setting starts with, as well as a technology god whose clergy acts as IT/Tech Support for star ships. Any other ideas that people want to pitch? 

We could have an American Gods situation where there are the old Gods and new Gods unless everyone wants to take the existing Gods and “modernize” them to fit the setting.

I have had an idea for an enemy in mind for some time now.  It is a bit ambitious as this enemy is a boss and would need to be built with bricks.  Spoiler: they are a type of Dragon.  Maybe not necessarily a God but has a God-like mentality.  I am still messing around with ideas for this character though.  My idea is that they become a Raid boss if we do those.

[Kintobor]

Let me be a bit more precise on what I had in mind.

The Creator Goddess is an alien from another galaxy, fleeing her war torn home. She came to this bleak, barren part of space and nurtured it into one with thriving ecosystems and lifeforms.

All of the gods in the setting are basically alien lifeforms far more powerful than any other creature in the setting, and actively give their, basically, divine energies to mortals for them to channel. In a sense, the gods walk among you.

[Tezclatipoca]

@Waterbrick Down : it is an excellent start !

I see it has a good Sci Fi vibe seeing energy weapons and phasers listed with swords and maces.

I am more interested in kwnowing which races can be played than knowing about the divinities we could have in the game for now. Do we will find the good old elves, dwarfs, goblins, orcs etc ... in addition of some more alien races ?

[Waterbrick Down]

1 hour ago, Kintobor said:

Oh, absolutely! If you have any ideas, feel free to share them!

As well, I'm digging the current rule set. It looks solid. I will ask what "Attributes" are, though, as there's nothing seemingly about them on the mock up rules, although there's a chance I may of missed them.

As well, what kind of gods to people want? So far I have a creator/life goddess who the creation story of the setting starts with, as well as a technology god whose clergy acts as IT/Tech Support for star ships. Any other ideas that people want to pitch? 

Also, any thought on character species having an impact on starting stats, Waterbrick Down?

 Yeah, looks like I didn't define Attributes (Strength, Skill, Smarts, Spirit). The rules will need to be polished so there isn't any vagueness on definitions. After playing RPG's for awhile, I realized I take a lot of the vocabulary for granted.

Regarding races, I figured we'd start with Heroica 1.0 as the base. Anyone can create any race, just try and be consistent with what has already been established by other players/the community. I fully expect their to be everything from elves and dwarves to cyborgs and A.I.'s. As for an actual system for advantages, my thought was to create a point buy system that way people can create a custom race without having to worry about balance. For example.

Traits (Choose 6 points worth)
Adept (1 point): Your race is particularly skilled at a given task and take to it naturally, members of this race start with +1 in a (Proficiency).
Hardy (2 points): Your race comes from a star system where conditions are rough, members of this race start with +1 Vitality
Logical (2 points): Your race does not experience emotion, members of this race are immune to the Charmed status effect
Agile (3 points): Your race are incredibly dexterous, members of this race reroll one of their Skill dice during combat challenges.
Polymeliac (2 points): Your race has multiple limbs, members of this race may wield two weapons at the same time.
Winged (3 points): Your race have developed the ability to fly, members of this race may move up to 3 squares in combat when taking the move action.
Telepathic (1 point): Your race evolved past spoken languages and now communicates with thought, members of this race can speak into the minds of other creatures.
Scaled (3 points): Your race has a toughened protective exterior, members of this race start with 1 point Kinetic Armor.
Prodigy (4 points): Your race are highly adaptive and able to learn new skills quickly, members of this race spend 1 point less when increasing a Proficiency

So an Elf race may be: Logical, Agile, Adept (Arcana)

[Kintobor]

Works for me, WBD.

[Waterbrick Down]

5 hours ago, Kintobor said:

Works for me, WBD.

Cool. I've been thinking about something similar for classes, except the traits would be fixed. For example.

Rogue
Sneak (Trait) - Stealth Proficiency rolls are rolled twice
Back-stab (Trait) - +1 Weapon Proficiency Success 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.

Knight
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.

Does anyone have good ideas for consumable names? I can generally handle the mechanics aspect, I'm just not really creative when it comes to in game names.

[Kintobor]

I'd recommend calling health potions "Stim-Paks", myself, but that's just me.
 

[KotZ]

10 hours ago, Kintobor said:

Oh, absolutely! If you have any ideas, feel free to share them!

As well, I'm digging the current rule set. It looks solid. I will ask what "Attributes" are, though, as there's nothing seemingly about them on the mock up rules, although there's a chance I may of missed them.

As well, what kind of gods to people want? So far I have a creator/life goddess who the creation story of the setting starts with, as well as a technology god whose clergy acts as IT/Tech Support for star ships. Any other ideas that people want to pitch? 

Also, any thought on character species having an impact on starting stats, Waterbrick Down?

9 hours ago, Kintobor said:

Let me be a bit more precise on what I had in mind.

The Creator Goddess is an alien from another galaxy, fleeing her war torn home. She came to this bleak, barren part of space and nurtured it into one with thriving ecosystems and lifeforms.

All of the gods in the setting are basically alien lifeforms far more powerful than any other creature in the setting, and actively give their, basically, divine energies to mortals for them to channel. In a sense, the gods walk among you.

I'm all into gods, and I'm sure the setting will have enough leeway for people who might want to play characters who don't see a creator and thing they're living in the matrix.

I'd love to see a god of hacking who is an active opponent of the Clergy IT/Tech god. Maybe a superpowered cyborg represents this god?

10 hours ago, Goliath said:

I have had an idea for an enemy in mind for some time now.  It is a bit ambitious as this enemy is a boss and would need to be built with bricks.  Spoiler: they are a type of Dragon.  Maybe not necessarily a God but has a God-like mentality.  I am still messing around with ideas for this character though.  My idea is that they become a Raid boss if we do those.

Space dragons are always a win.

8 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

 Yeah, looks like I didn't define Attributes (Strength, Skill, Smarts, Spirit). The rules will need to be polished so there isn't any vagueness on definitions. After playing RPG's for awhile, I realized I take a lot of the vocabulary for granted.

Regarding races, I figured we'd start with Heroica 1.0 as the base. Anyone can create any race, just try and be consistent with what has already been established by other players/the community. I fully expect their to be everything from elves and dwarves to cyborgs and A.I.'s. As for an actual system for advantages, my thought was to create a point buy system that way people can create a custom race without having to worry about balance. For example.

Traits (Choose 6 points worth)
Adept (1 point): Your race is particularly skilled at a given task and take to it naturally, members of this race start with +1 in a (Proficiency).
Hardy (2 points): Your race comes from a star system where conditions are rough, members of this race start with +1 Vitality
Logical (2 points): Your race does not experience emotion, members of this race are immune to the Charmed status effect
Agile (3 points): Your race are incredibly dexterous, members of this race reroll one of their Skill dice during combat challenges.
Polymeliac (2 points): Your race has multiple limbs, members of this race may wield two weapons at the same time.
Winged (3 points): Your race have developed the ability to fly, members of this race may move up to 3 squares in combat when taking the move action.
Telepathic (1 point): Your race evolved past spoken languages and now communicates with thought, members of this race can speak into the minds of other creatures.
Scaled (3 points): Your race has a toughened protective exterior, members of this race start with 1 point Kinetic Armor.
Prodigy (4 points): Your race are highly adaptive and able to learn new skills quickly, members of this race spend 1 point less when increasing a Proficiency

So an Elf race may be: Logical, Agile, Adept (Arcana)

I love this idea. Seems like it can also be a way for people to play hybrid races or "freaks" of their race, like a scaled, polymeliac elf.

17 minutes ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Cool. I've been thinking about something similar for classes, except the traits would be fixed. For example.

Rogue
Sneak (Trait) - Stealth Proficiency rolls are rolled twice
Back-stab (Trait) - +1 Weapon Proficiency Success 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.

Knight
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.

Does anyone have good ideas for consumable names? I can generally handle the mechanics aspect, I'm just not really creative when it comes to in game names.

Would it be possible for cross-class traits to unlock similar to proficiencies? So someone could be a jack of all trades while others could focus on just one, and some could focus on two cross-class?

As for consumables, here's some off the top of my head. Game names are totally fun for me.

Recharge pack - refills (or gives back points) Vitality
Power Pack - Running low on ammo? Take this to boost your ranged weapons Dice for three turns
Firewall - About to take some damage and need some help? Use this to boost your defensive pool
Upgrade Booster - boost your magic/tech dice for three turns

[Yzalirk]

@Waterbrick Down So far I really like everything you have presented!  

I feel like naming things is tough too.  Healing items should differ for Biological characters and Mechanical characters though.  I am not sure about said items for Biological characters but maybe for Mechanical characters a healing item could be called Nanites?  Ether should still be used for Magic.  I like to think they are like medichlorians and are ubiquitous.

[samurai-turtle]

11 hours ago, Kintobor said:

As well, what kind of gods to people want? So far I have a creator/life goddess who the creation story of the setting starts with, as well as a technology god whose clergy acts as IT/Tech Support for star ships. Any other ideas that people want to pitch? 

You mean like the flying spaghetti monster? I also heard Elsa form Frozen has been used for a deity. Plus their has been some other "crazy" characters used for deities for D&D games. 

11 hours ago, Goliath said:

We could have an American Gods situation where there are the old Gods and new Gods unless everyone wants to take the existing Gods and “modernize” them to fit the setting.

I think something like this could work, but not to sure about "modernize" the old gods. It doesn't seem necessary, was Thor "modernize" in the marvel movies? 

10 hours ago, Kintobor said:

The Creator Goddess is an alien from another galaxy, fleeing her war torn home. She came to this bleak, barren part of space and nurtured it into one with thriving ecosystems and lifeforms.

All of the gods in the setting are basically alien lifeforms far more powerful than any other creature in the setting, and actively give their, basically, divine energies to mortals for them to channel. In a sense, the gods walk among you.

It kinda sounds like this could be like the flying spaghetti monster as he is basically spouse to be invisible in reality. And it is supposed to be upon you (or whoever) to prove that he does not exist. 

9 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Traits (Choose 6 points worth)

Hardy (2 points): Your race comes from a star system where conditions are rough, members of this race start with +1 Vitality 

Logical (2 points): Your race does not experience emotion, members of this race are immune to the Charmed status effect

Polymeliac (2 points): Your race has multiple limbs, members of this race may wield two weapons at the same time.

Telepathic (1 point): Your race evolved past spoken languages and now communicates with thought, members of this race can speak into the minds of other creatures.

Some points on these traits. 

On Hardy it says "Star system" shouldn't it be "ecosystem"? If you think about Earth their is some harsh places and some nice places. 

On Logical it states "does not experience emotions" I was thinking it should say " does not normally experience emotions". But it might just me watching to many sci-fi TV shows / movies. 

For Polymeliac I had an idea for a humanoid character that "rides" around in a Exosuit. Would they qualify for this ability? 

For Telepathic, if a robotic creature used a "radio" is used to communicate with each other. But "regularly" with everyone else would it still be Telepathic? 

This is more in general should the term "race" be used? I think something more broad be used like species or creatures. Io

1 hour ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Does anyone have good ideas for consumable names? I can generally handle the mechanics aspect, I'm just not really creative when it comes to in game names.

I might be able to help? I would just need to know what the items are spouse to do. 

[Tezclatipoca]

@Waterbrick Down :

Great ! Your list allows already many combinations to create cool races (Species, or whatever you prefer)

About the item names; I would suggest to stay close to general terms; in order to be usable in any style of game, being medieval or Sci Fi.

For example :

Bandage : a good way to heal a character

Energetic drink : a way to boost a character speed

Ammo : a way to get more ammunitions in a range weapon

 

[Yzalirk]

I think we should avoid making guns use ammunition.  It seems like it would get very tedious to keep track of and worst case scenario a player runs out of ammo and cannot attack.

[KotZ]

8 minutes ago, Goliath said:

I think we should avoid making guns use ammunition.  It seems like it would get very tedious to keep track of and worst case scenario a player runs out of ammo and cannot attack.

Absolutely. That's why the consumable ammo/power pack idea should be to increase effectiveness rather than count. Because if there's ammo for guns, then we should have ammo for arrows, etc. It'll be a mess.

[Tezclatipoca]

37 minutes ago, Goliath said:

I think we should avoid making guns use ammunition.  It seems like it would get very tedious to keep track of and worst case scenario a player runs out of ammo and cannot attack.

Yes of course !

I was juste throwing name ideas. Not rules.

Of Course, that could be an "Ammo belt" used to increase the effectiveness of a range attack.

We can also have a "Scope" to increase the range of a range attack.

Well, the concept is to keep to some generic terms to create the Items.

@Waterbrick Down :

When trying to create a character, I found some questions :

- How health is represented? Is it Vitality? You've mentioned both of the terms but in the exemple character you built, it is still Vitality, then it should be mentioned like Xpoints/Xpoints like 7/7 to ease the count the damages your character endures, and this leads me to ask the 2nd question :

- How Vitality and Strength are linked? Is it an automatic count, or can we allow points to Vitality alone? If I have 3 in Strength do I have +1 in Vitality or is it already a +2 ? It seems unclear to me.

- How do you think to include the Race traits? Are the points we can allow to those traits are points we cannot allocate to some Proficiency ? So each race trait is counted like a Proficiency ? It would be logical, but it is not precised yet.

[Yzalirk]

14 minutes ago, Faladrin said:

Yes of course !

I was juste throwing name ideas. Not rules.

Of Course, that could be an "Ammo belt" used to increase the effectiveness of a range attack.

We can also have a "Scope" to increase the range of a range attack.

Well, the concept is to keep to some generic terms to create the Items.

Things like that should be fine.  They could slotted in an Accessory slot or something.

Equipping a Battery Pack could add +1 Damage to Energy Weapon attacks.

Improved versions of said items could exist too.  For example, an Overcharged Battery Pack could add +3 Damage to Energy Weapon attacks.

I am not exactly sure what the equivalent would be for Kinetic Melee Weapons and Bows / Crossbows though.  Maybe Kinetic Melee Weapons use Whetstones and Bows / Crossbows use Quivers?

[Tezclatipoca]

3 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Things like that should be fine.  They could slotted in an Accessory slot or something.

Equipping a Battery Pack could add +1 Damage to Energy Weapon attacks.

Improved versions of said items could exist too.  For example, an Overcharged Battery Pack could add +3 Damage to Energy Weapon attacks.

I am not exactly sure what the equivalent would be for Kinetic Melee Weapons and Bows / Crossbows though.  Maybe Kinetic Melee Weapons use Whetstones and Bows / Crossbows use Quivers?

Nice idea !

We could have a way to improve the items; there should be some kind of Tiers to list them and if you don't have enough in the good Proficiency to use them, you shouldn't be allowed to use those powerful items.

We should follow the Proficiency list though to have items that stay cohesive and not too OP.

[Yzalirk]

50 minutes ago, Faladrin said:

Nice idea !

We could have a way to improve the items; there should be some kind of Tiers to list them and if you don't have enough in the good Proficiency to use them, you shouldn't be allowed to use those powerful items.

We should follow the Proficiency list though to have items that stay cohesive and not too OP.

That could definitely work to avoid powerful early game players.

There could be three tiers of boost items.  Tier 1 items could be equipped to a player no matter their proficiency.  Tier 2 items can only be equipped if the player has a proficiency of 5 or higher.  Tier 3 items can only be equipped if the player has a proficiency of 10.  This is assuming 10 is the max proficiency.

Speaking of which, how are additional proficiency points earned?  Leveling up?  Rewarded for completing a quest?