I ran my first D&D game at the age of 12. It was a pre-made adventure from a magazine and had a redemption arc for a villain who forgot they were a villain, emphasizing that compassion begets compassion and “hurt people hurt people”. I loved the idea and couldn’t wait to see it all play out around my living room table. It was a disaster. The players were all older and more experienced than I was. They convinced me to let them bring their “usual” characters from another DM’s game with all their gear and within ten minutes the game was laying in broken pieces while they cheered one another on, whooping and hollering with sadistic glee at having broken the adventure so thoroughly. I was mortified and never wanted to run another game again. I was GM for my group until I was about 32.
The near collapse of this project made this more of a priority, then there was the mental toll that our dissolving partnership inflicted, the thousand cuts of everyday responsibilities etc. I found that there was nothing in the GM tank. I figured that with time and mental recuperation things would come back to me. Twenty years of running not only D&D but a variety of other ttrpgs had shown I had a depth of ideas for story seeds and though the games rarely saw a storybook conclusion, I was sure I would be ok. Then something happened.
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I am a child of the arcade stick, raised to put my quarter on the screen, trained to detest cheese and never take chip(Damage) for granted. All of that was to explain that our combat mechanics are greatly inspired by arcade fighting games. The idea that advanced moves sacrifice something from the character in order to gain a different effect. Not being able to move for a time in order to pull off a ranged melee attack, taking more time to recover from throwing a powerful blow, the move itself having a cool down of it’s own or it using up some form of energy.
We’ve been quiet for a minute; don’t worry we haven’t just been playing FFXIV … . We’ve been cleaning up Project Powerpunk; the wording of the system and making sure all the rules are running off of the same 0.98 rules. Now we’re solidifying the story threads and Npcs in the setting. When that’s done it’s all going into our first Beta core book. While we’re doing that in the background, we’ll be posting bits of the setting. Why setting? Because we said we would. We’ll be covering the book’s main location; an archipelago city in the northeast of America(New York City). Made up of three islands and a peninsula and has become a proxy battleground for a number larger world encapsulating problems.
Last thing; we’ve finally come up with a cover idea for the core book, we’ll be shopping the idea around to see if it's a hit or miss. Oh and if you want to keep up with what we’re up to join our mailing list and follow us on the society destroying social media sites. Ethereal Deep Diver & Dev-X | Stock & Bull Entertainment Amalgams are not like the rest of the listed exim both in their catalogs of powers and how their powers function. First, Their catalog of powers won’t be listed due to their innate affinity to learning the powers of the other classifications. It is rumored that some have exhibited powers from less known or uncategorized Exim. Second; unlike other Exims who can activate a power at different ranks up to their current maximum or even, in a number of cases, push themselves farther; Amalgams can not. Everytime their power activates it's at their current maximum, no more and no less. This post will explore the options that are open to the versatile Amalgams: True Flight & Mind Blast: While most are unsure if this combination is wielded by someone the absence of evidence is not “the evidence of absence”. Think of it, a person flying about untethered from the earth and able to wipe the memories of any that might catch sight of them. They could be out of sight and out of mind, quite LITERALLY! Natural Weaponry & Density Manipulation: This power mix is horror incarnate. Strands of living hair riggling through the pores of solid matter, taking the shape of lethal weapons and striking out at all in it’s reach. Worse, cutting the hair is near impossible, it’s like trying to cut animated tar. Radiation Control & Mind Control: When CJ agents mistook an Amalgam for an improperly released Kin asset, the agents had their minds warped by “Psychic” energies and their bodies warped, as well, by waves of unnatural radiation. They were then made to act out fan written Super Sentai episodes by their Amalgam puppet master! We will stop here because part of the fun is seeing these combinations that no other Exim can play with and how you can implement them in your game. Ethereal Deep Diver & Dev-X | Stock & Bull Entertainment Image by Joel Robison
Possible variants or an evolution of the Quarks, the Kin do not wield the forces of earthly energy but instead embrace their role as dominators of cosmic powers. With skin flushed by the radiation of solar flares, muscles pulled taut with gravitational pull and a mind rippling with magnetic waves from out in the void. Gravity, Kinetic, Magnetic, Radiation, Temperature and Vibration are the celestial toolkit of these exim. Not more than but certainly not less than their Quark contemporaries, the Kin are the other face to a powerful coin. Absorption: Turn a cell phone into an anabolic steroid, a microwave into a lifeline, the l000 degree temp from a fire into a zero calorie snack to stave off starvation, or a howitzer shell to the face to rude, albeit, harmless tap from metal. Density Manipulation: This is actually two powers that combine to become one greater than the sum of its parts. On one hand, you can increase your density till your skin is like steel and the city of towering steel and concrete feels like cardboard and paste. Or increase the density of your favorite item till it rivals some dwarven crafted alloy of adamantium and mithril. On the other hand, you can reduce density to the point where the space between molecules serves as a new doorway to you and a molecular cage to others. The body can flow like water, is as malleable as clay, and deadly attacks can harmlessly pass through. But What if we combine them…? Super Speed: As noted before, move like a blur, strike like a flash, escape like lightning greased in the blood of a cheetah...that was...struck by lightning. That’s SPEED-CEPTION! Native Element Control: Back at it again, this scoundrel two-timing power has been described before but instead of Fire, Electricity, water etc, you harness the harness of gravity, master magnetism, redirect radiation, drumbeat the world with vibration, temper heat and frost and even control kinetic output (I can’t make a kinetic pun or witticism) like a punch, a bullet or the freight train at the end of the tunnel coming your way. Dev-X & Ethereal Deep Diver | Stock & Bull Entertainment
Commanding the primal forces of nature with an easy hand on the reins. Harnessing terrestrial energies to become Earth shapers, wind riders, weather witches, illuminaters and fire tamers; a Quark wields Earth, Electricity, Fire, Light, Water and Wind as a tangible item with which to change society and their place in it. Such a power would be enough to make them a match for other Exim but they can also improve the "vessel" that directs these energies. They can greatly improve themselves on the fly and show their enemies real "control": Absorption: Towering infernos, lightning storms, raging floods, rampaging twisters; these terrestrial death sentences for mortals serve as nothing more than fuel for you. Your body can absorb the damage that would destroy any normal person and convert that raw force into energy to boost your stats, powers and even heal wounds. Boost: The power to amplify any and everything about you past human limits. You want to lift Sis? Do you wanna lift Bro? Then you can ba- boost to lift a building off it's foundation! You want Hankeye levels of accuracy, ba- ba- BOOST! Bam bullseye every single time. Be warned, ba-ba- boosting your body well beyond it's limits comes at a steep price but hey "No Agony, No Bragony"! Super speed: Can you run fast, Yes. Can you run fast enough to sprint on walls and run the surface of water? Well it wouldn't be super speed if you couldn't. Can you move fast enough to cause a Vortex in your wake...? Perhaps~. Now for the Quarks Bread and Butter! Native Element Control aka NEC: Earlier we told you the elements but what does it mean to control them and what makes them different from one another? Each element has an identity, a quirk and path of power that is all its own. Facets of the elemental energy bent to a new end by the wielder. Focus on one element, specialize in it and use it to rise to greater heights. Why not go "Avatar" and throw a yolk over multiple elements? Use combinations to create a unique mix of element, quirk and energy that is all your own. Dev-X & Ethereal Deep Diver | Stock & Bull Entertainment
Every word that I write, I think of first. It goes without saying doesn’t it? Everything I see, every sound I hear. It is all filters to my brain, imagine the monster that could rob control of it from you. No longer able to trust what you see, what you hear. Not to get lost in the existential but, no two people see the world the same way. No two people share the same experiences. The Cerbo can twist the minds of their victims, they can plug into the minds of others like a lesser being would plug their phone to charge. The ability to generate force with a thought, turning away strikes and danger. The power to ensnare the thoughts and hearts of others, pulling them like puppets on invisible strings. Read the thoughts of others as easily as you understand you’re own thoughts. These are just a sample of the mastery of mental abilities that a Cerbo can bring to bear. The puppetmaster, the psychic; these are the obvious choices but a detective, a bare-knuckle brawling bartender that is quick with “just the right words”; all of them are potential Cerbos ready to come to life in your hands. Force field: Invisible shield of protection, a see through cage to capture your enemies, metaphysical clay to shape into any desired shape. All of this and more is what this power promises. Mind Control: Your playgrounds are the minds of others commanding controlling, dominating. Their prom, you were the DJ, their 20th birthday your were that cool bouncer that let them in. Their significant other that they let get away because of their commitment issues, you were their dealer. Icing on the cake; none of this was their life but it is now. Mind Control. Telepathy: ALL MINDS ARE OPEN! YOU are the Ethereal NavigatOr swimming thrOUgh streams Of cOnsciOUs and UncOnsciOUs. SUrveying the minds aroUnd YOU; the raider, the Spy, THE ETHERNAUT. Telekinesis: You can play pool with Mountains and Molecules. This power is the physical manifestation of your mind's power. Can you agitate atoms to burst otherwise known as pyrokinesis, yeah. Can you coalesce your power to form a telekinetic golem, yeah. Can you move objects with your mind ...well Yeah ... and so much more. Dev-X & Ethereal Deep Diver | Stock & Bull Entertainment
Would you like to spot someone in a crowd by the smell of their personalized shampoo care kit? Do you like the idea of having two sets of claws; one for tearing through fabricated material and the other for flesh. Do you have the desire to soar like an eagle over a target and then turn into an plated 6 ton bunker busting elephant? Then you might want to play a Proteán. Proteán Masters of adaptability and the living tool that is their bodies. Physically intimidating and dominating; they are the teeth in the darkness, the Talons in the Night, mermaids, centaurs myth made manifest, shapeshifter and body mixers. What follows is a small smattering of what they can do: Body Adaptation: This allows you to build a catalog of body mods that your character can switch between or mix and match. Picking from things like adhesive grip and extra arms; for expert wall crawling and a hellish grappler. Or Extra stomach and extra mouths for a very disturbing magic/smuggling trick. There's also fins and too much more to tlk about in a single paragraph. Natural Weaponry: It's exactly what it sounds like; access to the weapons of the animal kingdom. But not just access, the ability to combine these weapons in different and devastating ways. Like mixing a tentacle with plating and claws to make a living version of Ivy's(from Soul Calibur) whip sword! True Flight: Do I have to say more ... YES! It's the ability to fly and enter into what can only be called Aerial Kombat. Taking advantage of being able to move in three dimensions to pull off a whole set of maneuvers and gain a number of bonuses/boons. Last and way far from least- Animal Transformation: Its what it sounds like and sooooo much more. Yes, you can transform into different animals from a library of animals that your character has memorized. You choose which animals and all the animals have different natural boons that boils them down to their core (usually 2 to 4). You can customize your transformations to fit your play style; you can transform animal to animal, from frightening lion to slithering snake like Beastboy. Partial transform like equipping the eyes of an eagle or the pump of a gorilla arm. You can even go with the essence of the beast a la Vixen. Not enough for you? Good, because it wasn't enough for us either. We also built in the ability to mix the different animals in your libraries to make Chimeras! You can also transform into Were creatures and YES you can become WERE-CHIMERAS! Oh and all these powers can be used together ... just wanted to let you know that little fact. Ethereal Deep Diver "Sam" | Stock & Bull Entertainment
We've finally done it; we've put together several practices for the prototype of the game. With these done we'll be able to test every inch of the game! We have Proto-Traits; what you roll to accomplish tasks and actions. Proto-Physical and Proto-Social combat styles; what you can get to make you better at combat and customize your characters fighting style. Proto-Practices; what shapes, hones and customizes your characters out of combat action like; crafting, medicine, investigating, profiling, sporting and more. PROTO-POWERS; Absorbing dangerous energies, Transforming into strange creature of your own making, Controlling the minds of the weak, bending the laws of physics and nature and uddles of Noddles More! As for this blog; we're going to shift slightly from our system development blog style to shed some focus on the setting. In the coming weeks we will post the names of the four Exims you'll be playing around with. As well as a small overview of the powers you'll be able to choose from as that specific Classification. We're also looking to finally building a "gen-you-ein, bone-ee-fide" project page, yay... Last; as you all may know we're doing this on a shoe string budget and we now have enough saved up for more art. We have a few artist in mind but we are open to suggestions. The four pictures will be for the aforementioned exim classifications and we'll be looking to nail down a overall art style for the game. Ethereal Deep Diver "Sam" | Stock & Bull Entertainment
“The Future” as a term calls to mind images of great gleaming towers, lights and high tech toys that borderline on magical. Scientific breakthroughs that allow for exploration of what we in the present call “The Impossible”; be it the deepest seas, distant stars or different timelines. The technology of the future is the key to those wondrous notions because in “The Future”, people remain a toss up. |
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