Waterbrick Down

"I believe the kitchen may have a fair amount of Proxima Purple Passion flavor from the last voyage, if the pantry manifest still checks out. As for soaps, I believe the channel selection on HBDisnetfulu Plus will carry anything you fancy." "Ah Dr. Frost, I trust you found your accommodations suitable? We tried to take everyone's cabin preferences into account when assigning rooms. Hopefully your luggage was delivered intact by the porters?"

"That would be the purview of Chef Baker, Mister... Mister..." Arthur checks his data pad "Hudson. I'm sure he'll be along shortly"

Arthur Allen steps into the main cabin, he seems a tad frazzled but quickly pulls himself together. Straightening his tie and brushing off his suit jacket he addresses the guests, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I do hope..." "Oh dear, that was just cleaned this morning, and the robo-maid is still in the shop..." Arthur makes a note on a data pad. "As I was saying, I do hope you make yourselves comfortable. If you should need anything, please let me know and I'll see to your requests." "So sorry, my good sir I'll look into this issue with the beverage-bot, we just had it's firmware updated this past week you see and you know how technology is these days..."

Hi Folks, so sorry about the hiatus. Life as always seemed to get in the way and couldn't quite get the gumption to keep at this at the time. Glad to see so many people in the other thread are still interested in a Heroica like game. I've been going through all the comments from the test quest Endgame ran and I'm glad to see so much to glean from. Basically it seems like folks like the following: Proficiency system Battle Grids Some parts of combat Things to fix: Leveling up Magic Things to add: Races Classes The races/classes I believe can easily be addressed through the use of a combination of traits (modifiers to existing stats) and new battle actions. The part I'm still scratching my head on is the magic system. Right now I'm toying with a system where in casting a spell involves making a magic proficiency check (Arcana/Nature/Religion/Occult) vs a set difficulty and simply spending a resource if the spell is successful similar to ether (Spell/Spirit points). So where we once had: Elemental Evocation (Does Elemental HP damage = # Arcana/Nature Successes over the DC - Enemies Elemental Armor) Elemental Bolt DC 1, Hits 1 square Elemental Ray DC 3, Hits 2 connected squares Elemental Cone DC 5, Hits 3 adjacent squares Elemental Blast DC 7, Hits 9 adjacent squares Now becomes: Elemental Evocation (Arcana/Nature vs Difficulty Check) if successful (Does Elemental HP damage = # Spell/Spirit Points Spent - Enemy's Elemental Armor) Elemental Bolt DC 1, Hits 1 square Elemental Ray DC 3, Hits 2 connected squares Elemental Cone DC 5, Hits 3 adjacent squares Elemental Blast DC 7, Hits 9 adjacent squares Thoughts?

You just narrated an entire demented story about baby dragons, I think you've got this in the bag.

I'd be glad to join, if you'll have me. :)

Hi Folks, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving if you were US based. Just finished moving and getting things unpacked, now with my collection more accessible I'm going to work on getting you all some sets for the test quest. I do want to comment that the names/organizations used for the quest test are simply place-holders. I don't have any finalized lore determined yet, but I would like to stay away from using existing LEGO company story-lines. They tend to limit creativity and force QM's into boxes that I think could be better explored. That said, certain LEGO faction aesthetics lend themselves to certain personalities, so yes Blacktron is easy to make a morally gray faction due to their color scheme. Space Police have colors and pieces somewhat geared toward law enforcement. These associations will understandably be difficult to ignore, so I don't think its inexcusable if people create similar backgrounds for the existing factions. On the subject of what to do with the "Heroica" like faction, because we're running essentially a "West Marches" style game, we need a central hub for all characters to start their journey out with. Mercenary organisations just tend to be a good fit for that criteria as it allows for a multitude of backgrounds, motivations, and skills.

Correct and correct

2. Everyone starts with 3 and the capacity to buy a 4th with points. After that you’ll need to buy a 2nd Smart to start a 5th proficiency. You’re welcome to join. Are there any particular parts that are more confusing than others? As the rules are refined, it’s always good to have feedback on how to state things more clearly.

Your character actually only has spent 2 points thus far to increase Strength from 1 to 2. The rest of the stats are still at their starting level (i.e. 1), you spend creation points to either increase those stats past 1, increase your starting proficiencies, or increase your vitality. Yep, when I post the battle grid there will be numbers and letters. Regarding Blacktron, I think taking existing factions and putting our own spin on them would be great. Sign ups so far: Samurai-turtle Endgame Kintober KotZ I'd like 2 more if possible. We've also may have potential for a few settings shots thanks to a generous builder, @Chromeknight, who's currently helping me out.

Getting close folks. Test Quest Pitch, feel free to quote this post if interested in testing, also feel free to post a potential character if you are not interested in a pre-generated character. Mission Title: Mercenaries on the Boreal Express Patron: Leopold Irgonstead Middle Management at Octan Energy Corporation Assignment: A new source of energy is being smuggled by M’tronics Energy Conglomerate on the gas giant planet of Vison. The item is being transported on the Boreal Express hover train from capital city Parous to the refinery center of Con’stap. Sources claim M’tronics agents destroyed a moon to obtain it. Passage upon the train will be paid for by Octan Energy Corp. Reward: Pay is 150 credits each and a word in with Octan Energy Corp. Bring back the source itself and the pay will boost to 300 credits each. Team Requirements: 6 Agents Latest Rules Revision (credit to Khorn for the templates)

I've got a quest prepping, however there's been a slight change to my plans. I just bought a house and everything's getting packed away for the next 2ish months. I've got all the NPC's created and ready to photograph, just not the scenes. How interested are folks in trying the system out without scenery pictures?

When you've got a dozen of them possibilities are endless.

It is a slight modification to the torso.

Getting close folks. Pre-gens for test quest: Igaz 300 Cycle, Male Undead Vitality: 7/7 Strength: 2 Smarts: 1 Spirit: 1 Proficiencies: Athletics 1, Intimidation 1, Melee Weapons 2, Short Range Weapons 1 Credits: 10 Equipment: Standard Vibrolance (+1, Melee Kinetic Weapon), Standard Plate Armor (+1 Kinetic Armor) Inventory: Shield Booster Thenari 500 cycle old, Female Elf Vitality: 5/5 Strength: 1 Skill: 3 Smarts: 1 Spirit: 1 Proficiencies: Melee Weapons 3, Survival 1, Perception 1, Athletics 1 Credits: 10 Equipment: Standard Beam Blade (+2, Melee Energy Weapon), Standard Parka (+1, Elemental Armor) Inventory: Kleeck 35 cycle old, male Ornithun Vitality: 5/5 Strength: 1 Skill: 2 Smarts: 2 Spirit: 1 Proficiencies: Persuasion 2, Culture 1, Short Range Weapons 1, Insight 2, Deception 1 Credits: 60 Equipment: Standard Plasma Blaster (+1, Short Range Energy Weapon), Translator Cube Inventory: Ensonvilterayquis (Enson) 60 cycle old, Male Quo’ri Vitality: 6/6 Strength: 2 Skill: 2 Smarts: 1 Spirit: 2 Proficiencies: Melee Weapons 2, Medicine 1, Religion 2 Credits: 10 Equipment: Standard Void Star Hammer (+1, Melee Elemental Weapon) Inventory: Nanite Filter, Plasma Potion Dunola 125 cycle old, Female Dwarf Vitality: 5/5 Strength: 1 Skill: 1 Smarts: 1 Spirit: 3 Proficiencies: Arcana 3, Culture 1, Short Range Weapons 1, Engineering 1 Credits: 10 Equipment: Standard Flame Thrower (+1, Short Range Elemental Weapon), Holo-Scroll Inventory: Energy Cell Anton 52 cycle old, Male Human Vitality: 5/5 Strength: 1 Skill: 3 Smarts: 1 Spirit: 1 Proficiencies: Stealth 1, Slight of Hand 1, Melee Weapons 2, Long Range Weapons 2 Credits: 10 Equipment: Standard Plasma Rifle (+1, Long Range Energy Weapon), Cloaking Generator Inventory: Hacking Chip, Standard Nano-razor (+1, Melee Kinetic Weapon) Group Shot

Weapons and Armor are types of equipment along with tools. I'll lay it out better in the next revision. Noted. There's plenty of room for more status conditions, the ones listed are the basics for starting off and figuring out balance. The only difference in weapons is the type of damage they do. You'll find melee, short range, long range, and artillery for all types. Exactly since there's only one armor slot (for right now) we shouldn't have to worry about untouchable characters, since a character's armor will only be good against one type of damage. Like wise, characters will need to carry around different weapons based upon the range they like fighting at as well as for dealing with certain types of armors.

Rev 2 of the rules set. For the test quest, I think we'll hold off on Race and Classes for now, but the rest of the mechanics should be fairly straight forward.On the subject of keeping things around, I'm hosting on Flickr, but will make a text version of the rules available so we always have them. I'd also second the idea for multiple people keeping the game running. As shown through Heroica 1.0 it was really easy for DM's to get burnt out and people feel they did more to facilitate other people's fun rather than having it themselves. I've got a few ideas for keeping hosting and the actual running the game incentivized, but would certainly appreciate feedback and ideas. ]

That would be fantastic! Those are much better than what I'm currently working with.

Just as a heads up, the system as is does not currently incorporate a discrete level system. On the subject of respecing, if we really want it, I think a respec token at every 5 completed quests would work. As the classes are now, I don't see the need to limit respecing classes. The system significantly decreases the importance of classes. Characters aren't supposed to differentiate each other by their class, but by their stats (Attributes/Proficiencies), racial traits, and spell selection. Classes are an add on for those who want to specialize, but shouldn't be a necessity. The point of character creation is to give everyone the opportunity to shape their own backgrounds by selecting certain starting proficiencies that fit with their backstory. Classes just represent a character's current training/specialization. The intention would be to have a few starting races already prepared with stats, Humans will certainly have their own traits.

It's worth potentially arguing what might be unfair about it... If someone gets 4 quests in and decides they really don't enjoy the way their character is, why should they have to invest more time to create something they do enjoy? Yes, if you're constantly swapping your character's attributes/proficiencies, I can see it getting a little difficult to explain from a RP perspective, but if someone wants to decommission their current character, I could see letting them restart with another character of equal point value.

I don't think trading out classes will be such a bad thing in this system as most of a character's main effectiveness is tied to their stats (Attributes/Proficiency). Having the "wizard" class will only make you slightly better/more reliable at Arcane skills, but if you've spec'd your character out to have high spirit and a high casting proficiency (Arcana/Nature/Occult/Religion), you can still take the "rogue" class and cast spells almost as well. The real question is whether players should be able to respec their Attributes/Proficiency points. I don't think it should be unlimited, but maybe some sort of cost (either in level-up points or currency) could be associated with it.

Not 100% set on how to implement classes yet. The starter quest won't have any classes to begin with to focus more on the mechanics. The idea would be for classes to bolt on to the existing system. They probably won't be as prominent as they were in Heroica 1.0 as a charcter's uniqueness will be more driven by their stats (Attributes/Proficiencies), race, and spell selection. My current train of thought would be for classes to allow characters to perform certain task better (affecting the probabilities of combat actions/skill-checks, etc.), and add one extra combat action unique to their class. So for an Alchemist: Trait - Better probabilities when using consumables Trait - Better costs for consumables Combat Action - Status Effect causing action or explosion type of attack For Mechromancers: Trait - Better probabilities on summoning spells Trait - Better probabilities on Technology Proficiency Checks Combat Action - Create enemy thrall or heal enemy thrall

All good points, these are just examples and aren't the final versions of what I had in mind. If we ever get there, I'd think we'd have a thread going over the different species. There'd be set standard species; Human, Orc, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, but there's also be the rules to create a new race along with approval by the community for balance and place in the canon. I should be clear, I'm intending rules for a sci-fantasy setting. If someone would like to develop a generic rule-set, I'll leave it to them. The down side to generic is it is difficult to keep people motivated as most folks tend to be focused on a specific idea of a game instead of a general system. Health and Vitality are the same thing. Vitality due to Strength is automatically factored into the total Vitality and is always rounded down. So if your character has a Strength of 3, they get +1 Vitality. If they have have a strength of 4, they get a +2 to Vitality. Points for race creation are independent of character creation points. Most characters would choose a preset race (see post above) whose traits are already set. If they wanted to do a custom race, that race would get approved by the community in a separate Thread. Points are awarded at the end of a quest and can be spent increasing Proficiencies or Attribute scores. Regarding starting kits that each player can choose upon character creation. Marine Kit 1 Kinetic or Energy Weapon 1 Kinetic or Energy Armor piece 1 Energy Cell or Shield Battery Spy Kit 2 Kinetic or Energy Weapons 1 Cloaking Generator 1 Hacking Chip Researcher Kit 1 Energy or Elemental Weapon 1 Energy Cell 1 Spirit Infusion Medic Kit 1 Kinetic or Elemental Weapon 1 Nanite Philter 1 Plasma Booster Diplomat Kit 1 Energy Weapon 1 Translator Cube 25 Gold Consumables Energy Cell - Doubles Weapon Modifier for next attack Plasma Booster - Heals character 1d6 health Nanite Philter - Removes 1 status effect from character Shield Battery - Doubles Armor Modifier for next attack Hacking Chip - Grants 1 successful Technology or Pilot Proficiency Check Cloaking Generator - Grants 1 successful Stealth or Pickpocket Proficiency Check Translator Cube - Grants 1 successful Diplomacy Proficiency or Culture Check Spirit Infusion - Provides 1 extra spell use.

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.

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)