The last two entries in Cypher Star Wars have gone over the process of creating player characters and outfitting them. Today, we'll look behind the screen at how a GM might go about assembling an adventure for a Star Wars game.
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Certain things form the core tropes of Star Wars - exotic locations, dangerous spaces, strange aliens, and space opera action. As such, these things need to be at least partially accounted for when designing an adventure in the game. Going off the initial putlay of the adventure, we have a group of two Jedi (one a Trandoshan), a smuggler with a silver tongue, and a droid bounty hunter who have just arrived at the polluted city-moon of Nar Shadda in pursuit of a Sith warrior and a squad of Imperial commandos during the age of the Old Republic. They'll be operating out of a semi-legal hangar space that belongs to a spice smuggling organization, trying to keep out of trouble until they find their prey.
As such, the GM outlines how things start - the arrival in orbit, initial negotiations with traffic control, contact with the smuggler's ally, and negotiating a berth for their ship. Given that they're all Tier 1, the GM assigns the initial negotiations a difficulty of 3, as the traffic controllers are always looking for a chance to shake a bribe out of ships arriving in the system in grand Hutt tradition. Getting past them will mean dealing with the contact, a level 4 task because if they're honest the contact is going to see a stark difference between "Hey, give us a berth" and "Hey, give us a berth while we hunt Sith."
Once they reach the docking bay, depending on how well things go, they'll have access to an array of facilities, but to actually pursue their overall goal they'll have to go explore the Smuggler's Moon. The GM decides that the droid will get a chance to roll an Intellect check when looking for bounties; if Kris beats a level 5 difficulty, she'll find a contract that describes a Sith in sufficiently vague terms, a contract by a Hutt who has had an entire floor of a docking structure taken over by the Imperial commando team. Given that the takeover was at lightsaber-point, the Hutt would like the Sith eliminated and provides a list of locations she's been frequenting.
Failing that, they'll get to spend time frequenting sabbac dens and cantinas until they overhear people talking about a docking structure with a level occupied by unruly Imperial, in stark defiance of Yotta the Hutt's usual clientele, and they'll be ambushed by a level 5 Bothan bounty hunter seeking the bounty that the Sith put out as soon as the team arrived on-world. The bounty hunter is outfitted with a pair of thermal detonators that deal 5 damage to everything within a short distance, and a blaster. If taken alive, the bounty hunter can give directions to the Imperial docking area in exchange for her life and freedom.
The docking bay is a series of catwalks around a Fury-class interceptor, with three pairs of Imperial commandos on patrol, positioned so that each group can always see the other two while moving. Four more Imperials are off-duty aboard the ship, unarmed and unarmored for five rounds after an alarm is raised, while four more are working on the ship, apparently installing upgrades and handling repairs. Each set of two operates as a level 3 group with six Health and 2 Armor, outfitted with blaster carbines that can hit out to long range. The Sith warrior isn't present, currently. Risks of the environment include falling, as the catwalks are open over the yawning chasms of Nar Shadda, and occasional rains of rubbish from upper levels.
If the players hit the Imperials but have to retreat before defeating them all, the squad leader will signal the Sith Warrior and they'll hastily finish their work before leaving the world in four hours. Defeating the commandos or managing to sneak or bullshit past them will let the players search the ship, gleaning clues that the Sith is looking for a nexus of Dark Side power in the lower levels of the world, where the air is polluted to the point of being acidic, dealing 1 point of environmental damage per round to anyone not adequately protected.
Descending to the lower levels will show clear signs that the Sith came this way - dead bodies cut in half by a lightsaber from a multitude of alien species, signs of Force lightning crackling across the walls, and so on. Questioning surviving aliens will direct the players into the heart of Gutter Scum territory, a stretch of particularly unstable construction and toxicity (damage upped to 3 per round of exposure; mostly relevant is a GM intrusion causes environmental suits to be disrupted) home to a gang of notoriously violent aliens.
Passing through the area will expose the group to attack by packs of half a dozen gang members, each one a Level 2 creature armed with vibroblades that deal 4 damage on a successful attack. It's also a good time to include environmental GM Intrusions - gouts of acid steam from failing pipes, sudden pitfalls looming out of the green-stained mist, gangers leaping out of hidden alcoves during a fight to land on characters' backs, and so on; the idea is to give them a supply of XP to use during the next encounter for rerolls.
At the end of the excursion into the depths is an area strangely clear of the acid mist, but which either Force-sensitive character can detect as a nexus of Dark Side energy with a difficulty 2 Intellect test. At the center of it, the Sith warrior is meditating, drawing upon the Dark Side and attempting to absorb it. If not disrupted, she becomes a Level 7 opponent who will happily try to kill them all, attacking twice per round with her red lightsaber. If she is disrupted, she's only Level 3, but a Level 6 Specter of the Dark Side - raw hate and anger manifest as a roughly humanoid mass - coalesces on the second round of combat, indiscriminately attacking anyone nearby.
If killed in the fight, the Sith Warrior becomes a Level 5 Specter herself, making a direct line for the ship in the Nar Shadda docks; if any Imperial Commandos are still alive, she takes one over and hastens to leave the planet before the PCs can reach her. If the PCs killed everyone, she dissipates before finding a new host. As for the initial Specter, the PCs have to defeat it, or else risk it consuming everyone on the lower levels and eventually wrapping Nar Shadda in the Dark Side. Success here brings 4 XP for each player, plus whatever they have left over from various GM Intrusions. The defeat of the Sith also leaves behind her lightsaber, an artifact weapon in its own right, and the defeat of the Specter leaves behind a few relics of the Force - cyphers, to be shared among the group.
Each player also gets a subplot; while Jack's Jedi could simply have the main thread as his story, the GM chooses to include two encounters for his trouble-seeking Jedi Warrior - a small gang of street urchins tormenting a young Twi'lek girl in the upper levels, easily scared off by a Jedi to rescue the girl and possibly find her someplace safer to be, and a gang of Gutter Scum trying to burgle an aging and derelict medical droid in the depths - if confronted without violence, it can be determined that they're trying to help one of their own, who has come down with rakghoul disease.
The smuggler's thread starts and ends with his contact; she asks him, when she hears that the group is going to have to go into the lower levels, to deliver a sealed package to a cantina just above the levels where the air turns acid. The group will get ambushed three or four times while he has the package, each group consisting of two Level 3 Bothan Thugs armed with vibroknives and a Level 4 Gand Hunter armed wth a pair of light blasters. Openng the package - which he isn't supposed to do - reveals a seemingly flawless diamond the size of a Wookiee's fist; if he doesn't deliver it, the ambushes continue indefinitely as long as they remain on-world.
The Jedi Consular's thread comes in during the later stages of the adventure; once they delve into the acid atmosphere, she can feel the pull of the Dark Side, and she has hallucinatory visions of the Sith imbued with dark power. She can, if she gets the chance, meditate in the Dark Side nexus, both taking a step toward her own doom and gaining an additional power - Force Lightning, a (2+) Intellect power that deals 3 damage to a single target in short range, with an additional 2 Intellect to add an additional point of damage, or an additional 4 Intellect to add an additional target within short range.
The bounty hunter's personal thread ties directly to the main story mission; when the Sith ship leaves the dock, the droid can claim the bounty immediately to gain enough credits to purchase an Expensive item, or the head of the Sith can be brought to the Hutt directly as evidence to gain enough of a reward for a Very Expensive item. Alternately, Kris can choose to have Yotta the Hutt give them a free upgrade to their ship, picking a more powerful shield generator, an upgrade to the weapon systems, or a n upgrade to the hyperdrive.
At the end of the game, the group should either being getting ready to follow the Sith ship (if they left the planet) or going over the Sith vessel more closely; in the latter case, log entries indicate that the next intended port of call was Tatooine, where the Sith warrior intended to undergo something called 'The Rite of Blood and Glass'. If the ship escaped, well, it certainly gave every indication of being headed for Tatooine when it made the jump into hyperspace.
Showing posts with label Cypher System. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cypher System. Show all posts
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Cypher Star Wars: Gear and Setup
Yesterday, the hypothetical group of Cypher Star Wars players assembled their characters; today, the GM will assign them their starting cyphers, tell them the beginning to the campaign, and then let them decide what they're going to use for their equipment selections. Jack, Mark, and Kris each get two cyphers with their Types as two Warriors and an Explorer; Mary gets three, as an Adept. Jack gave up all his weapon choices in exchange for a blue lightsaber, Mary traded her two Expensive choices for a green lightsaber, and Kris has chosen her two options as an electrostaff (which she describes as a medium bludgeoning weapon) and a techblade (a medium slashing weapon).
The GM's first decision is to assign cyphers rather than rolling them, to ensure a better fit for the starting characters; a melee-happy Jedi probably wouldn't pack a pair of thermal detonators around, after all!
Jack's Trandoshan Jedi is the first up, and the GM assigns him a pair of injectable cyphers - a stimpack full of red liquid that gives him a free level of Might Effort for ten minutes, and a kolto injection that heals up to the cypher's level in Might or Speed when used. Jack rolls 1d6+1 for each cypher's level, coming up with a 3 for the Stim and 5 for the Kolto. He also has an oddity - a fetish necklace of bits and pieces of creatures he has successfully hunted, a tally of his worth in the eyes of the Scorekeeper.
Mark's smuggler is next, and the GM assigns him a thermal detonator and a stim that can clear his mind, letting him recover up to the cypher's level in Intellect Pool when he uses it. Mark rolls 1d6+2 for the detonator, getting a 6 for a rather powerful little grenade, and 1d6+1 on the stim, getting a relatively weak pack that only heals 2 Intellect when used. He notes down that he got the stim from his contact, and suggests to the GM that he'd be willing to have it be something weirdly experimental, ripe for a GM Intrusion when used.
Mary's next; her Jedi Consular can have three cyphers, so the GM gives her a one-use holocron that can tap the Jedi Archives to answer any question with a degree of accuracy determined by the cypher's level, a holoprojector that can be programmed to display a realistic hologram of anything up to the size of a bantha for ten minutes before the power runs out, and a small crystal filled with swirling dark smoke and red lightning that can fully restore her Intellect pool, but also advances her toward the Dark Side. The GM throws in an oddity in the form of a dormant datacron that shows markings similar to those from the Rakata Empire.
Last up is Kris, whose droid gets a chemical spray that bonds parts for repair purposes, healing up to the cypher's level in Might, and a carbonite grenade that ensnares targets of the cypher's level or lower in frozen carbonite stasis for transport. Kris rolls 1d6+1 for both cyphers, getting a 4 on the repair spray and a 5 on the carbonite grenade. The droid also gets an oddity in the form of a bandolier that adheres things deliberately pressed to it, creating a trophy belt that the droid can use to showcase past successful hunts.
The GM outlines the start of the campaign - they've been hunting a Sith with a commando squad that attacked a Jedi training facility and fled after killing several Padawans, tracking them with the aid of the droid bounty hunter to the Smuggler's Moon, Nar Shadda. The game will begin with them coming out of hyperspace near the moon, in hot pursuit of the Sith starship; neither ship has strong enough weapons or shields to risk a straight-up dogfight, so they'll have to pursue the Sith to ground and hunt them through the twisted, garish mess of the overbuilt moon. Their goal is to capture the Sith, but the elimination of the commando squad is a benefit.
Mark says that he can have his contact arrange a relatively secure dock for them, away from the usual places that Republic citizens dock so that they won't be as obvious while they try to track the Sith down. Kris says she'll back the plan, and notes that she'll want to check the galactic network for bounties on the moon while they're there. Jack and Mary think it sounds good, and so the GM continues, noting that they'll be docking in the neutral turf between the Cartel factions theoretically loyal to the galactic powers, with easy access to holocomm facilities, a medical facility which doesn't always serve questionable purposes, and several outfitter shops that sell pretty much any good, legal or otherwise, that one could reasonably hope for. The group decides that, for now, they'll be living on the ship to avoid the surveillance that a hotel would bring.
The group turns to pooling their resources next to decide what they have in terms of equipment, agreeing that they should use it as a team since that was how the Jedi Council sent them out. Two Warriors means they have two expensive items, four moderate items, and eight inexpensive items, while an Explorer adds two expensive, two moderate, and four inexpensive. Mary has already burned her two expensive items to get a lightsaber, but she adds another two moderate and four inexpensive items to the list, for a total of four expensive items, eight moderate, and sixteen inexpensive items.
They agree that each of them gets a headlamp to wear when they need it, plus a knife for personal defense in an emergency, using up eight of the inexpensive items. They pool the other eight into four more Moderate items, giving them a total of twelve. They burn two moderates to get light armor for the smuggler and the Jedi Consular; Mark's smuggler wears a blast vest and reinforced pants, while Mary's consular wears robes reinforced with cortosis weave. Jack doesn't need armor, and Kris needs heavier gear. They burn three more to get each of the organics a healing kit, and another to give the droid nightvision capability as if using nightvision goggles. Left with six moderate, they pool them into three more expensive items, getting a total of seven.
Mark gets a medium blaster pistol as an expensive item, a relatively nice BlasTech model with engraving on the grip. Three more are spent to get environment suits for the organics, and another to get Kris a stunstick. Last, they pool the remaining two expensive options to get a very expensive item, outfitting the droid with a suit of heavy armor that essentially serves as armor plating bolted directly onto the droid's chassis.
With that, the group is pretty much ready to go on their first adventure.
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Next time, we'll look behind the GM's screen, such as it is, and see what might go into planning an adventure on the Smuggler's Moon for these PCs - and possibly go about making an actual adventure for people to try out.
The GM's first decision is to assign cyphers rather than rolling them, to ensure a better fit for the starting characters; a melee-happy Jedi probably wouldn't pack a pair of thermal detonators around, after all!
Jack's Trandoshan Jedi is the first up, and the GM assigns him a pair of injectable cyphers - a stimpack full of red liquid that gives him a free level of Might Effort for ten minutes, and a kolto injection that heals up to the cypher's level in Might or Speed when used. Jack rolls 1d6+1 for each cypher's level, coming up with a 3 for the Stim and 5 for the Kolto. He also has an oddity - a fetish necklace of bits and pieces of creatures he has successfully hunted, a tally of his worth in the eyes of the Scorekeeper.
Mark's smuggler is next, and the GM assigns him a thermal detonator and a stim that can clear his mind, letting him recover up to the cypher's level in Intellect Pool when he uses it. Mark rolls 1d6+2 for the detonator, getting a 6 for a rather powerful little grenade, and 1d6+1 on the stim, getting a relatively weak pack that only heals 2 Intellect when used. He notes down that he got the stim from his contact, and suggests to the GM that he'd be willing to have it be something weirdly experimental, ripe for a GM Intrusion when used.
Mary's next; her Jedi Consular can have three cyphers, so the GM gives her a one-use holocron that can tap the Jedi Archives to answer any question with a degree of accuracy determined by the cypher's level, a holoprojector that can be programmed to display a realistic hologram of anything up to the size of a bantha for ten minutes before the power runs out, and a small crystal filled with swirling dark smoke and red lightning that can fully restore her Intellect pool, but also advances her toward the Dark Side. The GM throws in an oddity in the form of a dormant datacron that shows markings similar to those from the Rakata Empire.
Last up is Kris, whose droid gets a chemical spray that bonds parts for repair purposes, healing up to the cypher's level in Might, and a carbonite grenade that ensnares targets of the cypher's level or lower in frozen carbonite stasis for transport. Kris rolls 1d6+1 for both cyphers, getting a 4 on the repair spray and a 5 on the carbonite grenade. The droid also gets an oddity in the form of a bandolier that adheres things deliberately pressed to it, creating a trophy belt that the droid can use to showcase past successful hunts.
The GM outlines the start of the campaign - they've been hunting a Sith with a commando squad that attacked a Jedi training facility and fled after killing several Padawans, tracking them with the aid of the droid bounty hunter to the Smuggler's Moon, Nar Shadda. The game will begin with them coming out of hyperspace near the moon, in hot pursuit of the Sith starship; neither ship has strong enough weapons or shields to risk a straight-up dogfight, so they'll have to pursue the Sith to ground and hunt them through the twisted, garish mess of the overbuilt moon. Their goal is to capture the Sith, but the elimination of the commando squad is a benefit.
Mark says that he can have his contact arrange a relatively secure dock for them, away from the usual places that Republic citizens dock so that they won't be as obvious while they try to track the Sith down. Kris says she'll back the plan, and notes that she'll want to check the galactic network for bounties on the moon while they're there. Jack and Mary think it sounds good, and so the GM continues, noting that they'll be docking in the neutral turf between the Cartel factions theoretically loyal to the galactic powers, with easy access to holocomm facilities, a medical facility which doesn't always serve questionable purposes, and several outfitter shops that sell pretty much any good, legal or otherwise, that one could reasonably hope for. The group decides that, for now, they'll be living on the ship to avoid the surveillance that a hotel would bring.
The group turns to pooling their resources next to decide what they have in terms of equipment, agreeing that they should use it as a team since that was how the Jedi Council sent them out. Two Warriors means they have two expensive items, four moderate items, and eight inexpensive items, while an Explorer adds two expensive, two moderate, and four inexpensive. Mary has already burned her two expensive items to get a lightsaber, but she adds another two moderate and four inexpensive items to the list, for a total of four expensive items, eight moderate, and sixteen inexpensive items.
They agree that each of them gets a headlamp to wear when they need it, plus a knife for personal defense in an emergency, using up eight of the inexpensive items. They pool the other eight into four more Moderate items, giving them a total of twelve. They burn two moderates to get light armor for the smuggler and the Jedi Consular; Mark's smuggler wears a blast vest and reinforced pants, while Mary's consular wears robes reinforced with cortosis weave. Jack doesn't need armor, and Kris needs heavier gear. They burn three more to get each of the organics a healing kit, and another to give the droid nightvision capability as if using nightvision goggles. Left with six moderate, they pool them into three more expensive items, getting a total of seven.
Mark gets a medium blaster pistol as an expensive item, a relatively nice BlasTech model with engraving on the grip. Three more are spent to get environment suits for the organics, and another to get Kris a stunstick. Last, they pool the remaining two expensive options to get a very expensive item, outfitting the droid with a suit of heavy armor that essentially serves as armor plating bolted directly onto the droid's chassis.
With that, the group is pretty much ready to go on their first adventure.
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Next time, we'll look behind the GM's screen, such as it is, and see what might go into planning an adventure on the Smuggler's Moon for these PCs - and possibly go about making an actual adventure for people to try out.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Cypher Star Wars: Player Characters
So, since this is ongoing (my wife and I may have logged close to 24 hours in the last 48 playing Star Wars: The Old Republic), expect regular post on converting the Cypher System and possibly others to handle the setting of Star Wars. Today, we'll look at how a hypothetical group of players might build their characters to fit an Old Republic kind of game. We'll go with a total of four people for these purposes, each with their own idea of what they want to play.
Jack wants to play a Jedi, preferably something like a Trandoshan lizard-person; he's got this idea of a heroic lizard-person with a lightsaber who seeks out wrongs to right, guided always by the Force. Mark want to be someone like Han Solo - a charming scoundrel with a ship, who survives in the galaxy by wit and blaster. Mary wants to also be a Jedi, but she wants to secretly be a disciple of the Dark Side, channeling the power of fear and hate to achieve her desires. Lastly, Kris wants to be a droid bounty hunter, a machine purpose-built to go to strange places and hunt terrible beings in exchange for rewards.
Looking at this, the GM takes a few notes and leans back to work out the rough details of a campaign as the players build their characters. Obviously the group will need transport of some kind - one of the tropes of Star Wars is that transit between worlds is easy for those who have narrative value, after all. Mark's character is an obvious choice for the pilot of some light freighter or the like, but the group can be linked together if someone else actually owns it - the two Jedi might have it as a loan from the Jedi Council, making them jointly responsible for upkeep, repairs, and upgrades of the vessel. The bounty hunter droid might be on board working as a repair droid in between bounties, the better to keep in oil baths.
The players, interested in having a ship, find this largely agreeable, with Kris pitching the idea that while her droid is a repair unit on the ship, it also serves as the one who knows all the hidden nooks and crannies to smuggle goods, and so serves more as the partner of the smuggler than anyone's servant. Mark agrees to the idea, and the GM adjusts the plan.
Jack thinks his options over, and decides he wants to generate his character as a Warrior type. Given his desired species and the timeframe of the game, he'll have been born on Trandosha, the homeworld of his species, but discovered to be Force-sensitive at a young age and sent to train on Tython. He wants his character to be a bastion of the Light Side, a Jedi Guardian, so he puts two points in his Intellect Pool and four in his Might Pool, bringing him up to 14 Might and 10 each in Speed and Intellect. Keeping the Force in mind, he decides to add the Magic flavor to his character for the supernatural touch, and starts looking over his options for his four starting abilities. Extra Edge immediately stands out - the intense training of a Jedi grants him an Edge of 1 in both Might and Speed, as befits a Guardian. Trained Without Armor is another good choice - he uses the guidance of the Force to avoid danger, not bulky armor. Given the nature of Lightsabers, most of the active Warrior options don't really appeal to him, so he turns to the Magic abilities, settling quickly on Premonition to give him a semblance of Force Sense, and Closed Mind to further represent his training; his will is backed by the Force, and no mortal attacks aganst his mind stand a chance.
He leans over to the GM at this point and asks if he can get Transdoshan as a descriptor; after some thought, the GM offers to reskin the flavor of the Tough descriptor to represent the Trandoshans, giving his natural armor, a kind of accelerated healing, and additional defensive capability. Jack quickly agrees, glad to get something that solidly represents the character he has in mind, and writes down the abilities from Tough, renamed to give them a proper feel. That just leaves his Focus and his equipment to figure out.
Defends the Weak and Commands Mental Powers both look appealing at first, but neither really fits the concept of a bold Jedi who seeks out the darkness in the galaxy to fight it off, so he looks farther down the list and lands on Looks for Trouble. It's the perfect match for his Jedi Guardian, who spends so much time looking for wrongs to right. He scribbles down his bonus damage and extra training, then looks over the suggested connections to other PCs. Given Mary's character, he suggests to her that the two of them likely have a past history, and that his Guardian sees it as a part of his duty to defend her, even when such protection gets in the way of her private studies. Mary likes the idea and the potential to inject some friendly bickering into the game and agrees to the idea.
Lastly, Jack pitches the idea to the GM that rather than all the weapons his choices give him, he only has one - a blue lightsaber; other than that, he fights unarmed, seeking to subdue rather than kill foes. The GM agrees, and Jack writes down his artifact weapon - a light slashing weapon that deals damage like a medium weapon. He writes it all down and sits back to wait for the others to be ready before he picks his remaining gear, envisioning his Jedi leaping around in a Force-powered blur of blue lightsaber and black-green scale, ready to prove himself to the Trandoshan's idea of a god, the Scorekeeper.
Mark wants to be a smuggler - someone who braves danger and gets through it with wit, charm, and a blaster. He's fine with being human, so he doesn't need a modified Descriptor the way Jack did. Given the wanderlust inherent in the character concept, he decides that the Explorer Type sounds like a good match, and decides that agility and wits are equally important to him. Three points each go to his Speed and Intellect pools, leaving him with a Might of 10 and a Speed and Intellect of 12 each.
He looks over the Explorer options and decides he doesn't need to flavo his character type any; Danger Sense, Decipher, Knowledge Skills, and Practiced in Armor fill out his four first-tier options. Decipher gives him an excuse to potentially be able to make himself understood anywhere in the galaxy, and he picks Piloting and Criminal Operations as his knowledge skills - his character isn't even remotely pure-hearted, and he's more than willing to rough it up if he has to do so.
Brash seems like a possible option for his Descriptor, as does Impulsive, but he ultimately falls back to the concept of the character and picks Charming; the bonus to his Intellect Pool and the skill training at any positive social interaction just fall in with his idea of a silver-tongued crack pilot, even if the piloting itself is hampered a bit by his inability to deal with Knowledge tasks. He pitches the idea that his contact is a member of the Hutt Cartel, and that perhaps they mutually owe each other favors through some complex web. The GM approves the idea, suggesting that the contact is a Bothan by the name of Leelanu, part of a spice smuggling operation operating off Nar Shadda. Smuggling spice while working for the Jedi seems like an exciting option, so Mark writes that down.
Next comes his focus - Fuses Flesh and Steel seems appealing, as he could be a cyborg with tricky options built into him, or who is Licensed to Carry because of his blaster, but that seems too much like abiding by the law for his character to do. He settles on Fights Dirty, because his character isn't above taking an advantage wherever he can. He asks the GM if his extra weapon can be a holdout needler with a burst of poisoned ammunition and writes it down when the GM agrees that it sounds reasonable. More important is the skill training in all forms of deception, making him even more capable of charming his way past obstacles - in situations where he has to pleasantly lie through his teeth, he may get to count himself as specialized in the action, lowering the difficulty two steps.
He asks Kris if she's willing to be on the other end of his connection, suggesting that the droid met his smuggler while chasing a bounty one day, and that the droid taught his smuggler some tricks he's added to his repretoire since then. She agrees, and so he writes it down and suggests that when he was contacted by the Jedi about flying the ship, he insisted the droid be hired as a repair unit, to give it a better way of crossing the galaxy in search of bounties. The others like the idea, with Jack saying his Trandoshan disapproves of bounty hunting in general but has yet to find a good reason to object to taking down any scum the droid goes after, while Mary says her would-be Sith is pleased at having a hired hunter on board. The GM scribbles this all down while Mark looks over the equipment list in preparation for the last of his gear.
Mary wants her Jedi to be a would-be Sith - a human strong in the Force who feels the call of the Dark Side and senses that her destiny draws her to it. Picking an Adept with a Magic flavor is an easy decision, and she looks over the list of available options carefully. She wants to be quick and clever, so she puts a couple points into Speed and the rest into Intellect, giving her 7 Might, 11 Speed, and 16 Intellect.
At this tier, she doesn't need anything from the Magic flavor, selecting Hedge Magic to represent her interaction with the Force, Magic Training as her esoteric knowledge of it, Onslaught as a method of combat, and Practiced with Light Weapons so she can wield a lightsaber. Other options, such as Push, Scan, and Ward, are all tempting, but she doesn't really need them to fill out her concept.
Looking the Descriptors over, Cruel and Mystical both catch her interest, but she settles on Doomed - her would-be Sith has terrible dreams of her fall to the Dark Side, and she lives with the knowledge that one day she will either be Sith or dead. She increases her Speed to 13 and notes down her skill training - perception tasks, Speed defense, and Intellect defense are all trained for her, now.
She looks over the Foci, skimming Focuses Mind Over Matter and Casts Spells as possible options before settling on Controls Gravity as an extension of the psychokinetic effects of the Force. She asks Mark if his smuggler might be willing to be a skeptic of her ability to use the Force, unwilling to believe she can do what she does. He agrees, thinking that his smuggler is a worldly sort who respects the raw skill and power of the Jedi while scoffing at their beliefs.
With the GM's permission, she marks her lightsaber as her two Expensive item choices, picking a green lightsaber as a Jedi Consular, then sits back to wait for the GM to assign cyphers and the others to be ready to talk about other equipment.
Kris wants to be a droid bounty hunter, making most of her decisions easy. She decides to be a Warrior, assigning all of her points to Might to give herself 16 Might, 10 Speed, and 8 Intellect, describing her droid as a powerfully built and heavily armored machine. She asks the GM if she can have an electrostaff and a techblade for her Type weapons, and writes them down.
She picks Bash and Thrust as abilities with little trouble, giving her a field of options for dealing with her bounties, then adds Practiced With Armor to help with her desire to be a nearly invulnerable machine and Physical Skills, picking running and climbing as her two options; her droid is good at pursuing fleeing targets wherever they go.
She glances briefly at other descriptors, such as Driven, but decides that Mechanical is the best one; she bumps her Intellect up to 10 and notes that she's skilled at any action involving identifying, understanding, using, repairing, or crafting machines - something she can use to justify healing herself with regular recovery actions despite being a machine herself.
Her Focus is also easy; she selects Hunts with Great Skill, and asks Jack if his Jedi might have once been caught in one of her traps, having had to free himself from it. Jack agrees, suggesting that their paths crossed at some point well before the droid was hired to crew the ship, and that she might have modified herself so the Trandoshan Jedi doesn't recognize her anymore. Kris writes it down, and adds her Focus skills, becoming trained in tracking and all forms of movement, which makes her specialized in running and climbing - her prey has little hope of escaping her now!
She considers her droid as it stands, nods, and leans back to see what the GM has for them now.
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Next time, we'll look at the group getting their cyphers, choosing their equipment, and the layout of an adventure that the GM cooks up while the players are busy getting their characters in order.
Jack wants to play a Jedi, preferably something like a Trandoshan lizard-person; he's got this idea of a heroic lizard-person with a lightsaber who seeks out wrongs to right, guided always by the Force. Mark want to be someone like Han Solo - a charming scoundrel with a ship, who survives in the galaxy by wit and blaster. Mary wants to also be a Jedi, but she wants to secretly be a disciple of the Dark Side, channeling the power of fear and hate to achieve her desires. Lastly, Kris wants to be a droid bounty hunter, a machine purpose-built to go to strange places and hunt terrible beings in exchange for rewards.
Looking at this, the GM takes a few notes and leans back to work out the rough details of a campaign as the players build their characters. Obviously the group will need transport of some kind - one of the tropes of Star Wars is that transit between worlds is easy for those who have narrative value, after all. Mark's character is an obvious choice for the pilot of some light freighter or the like, but the group can be linked together if someone else actually owns it - the two Jedi might have it as a loan from the Jedi Council, making them jointly responsible for upkeep, repairs, and upgrades of the vessel. The bounty hunter droid might be on board working as a repair droid in between bounties, the better to keep in oil baths.
The players, interested in having a ship, find this largely agreeable, with Kris pitching the idea that while her droid is a repair unit on the ship, it also serves as the one who knows all the hidden nooks and crannies to smuggle goods, and so serves more as the partner of the smuggler than anyone's servant. Mark agrees to the idea, and the GM adjusts the plan.
Jack thinks his options over, and decides he wants to generate his character as a Warrior type. Given his desired species and the timeframe of the game, he'll have been born on Trandosha, the homeworld of his species, but discovered to be Force-sensitive at a young age and sent to train on Tython. He wants his character to be a bastion of the Light Side, a Jedi Guardian, so he puts two points in his Intellect Pool and four in his Might Pool, bringing him up to 14 Might and 10 each in Speed and Intellect. Keeping the Force in mind, he decides to add the Magic flavor to his character for the supernatural touch, and starts looking over his options for his four starting abilities. Extra Edge immediately stands out - the intense training of a Jedi grants him an Edge of 1 in both Might and Speed, as befits a Guardian. Trained Without Armor is another good choice - he uses the guidance of the Force to avoid danger, not bulky armor. Given the nature of Lightsabers, most of the active Warrior options don't really appeal to him, so he turns to the Magic abilities, settling quickly on Premonition to give him a semblance of Force Sense, and Closed Mind to further represent his training; his will is backed by the Force, and no mortal attacks aganst his mind stand a chance.
He leans over to the GM at this point and asks if he can get Transdoshan as a descriptor; after some thought, the GM offers to reskin the flavor of the Tough descriptor to represent the Trandoshans, giving his natural armor, a kind of accelerated healing, and additional defensive capability. Jack quickly agrees, glad to get something that solidly represents the character he has in mind, and writes down the abilities from Tough, renamed to give them a proper feel. That just leaves his Focus and his equipment to figure out.
Defends the Weak and Commands Mental Powers both look appealing at first, but neither really fits the concept of a bold Jedi who seeks out the darkness in the galaxy to fight it off, so he looks farther down the list and lands on Looks for Trouble. It's the perfect match for his Jedi Guardian, who spends so much time looking for wrongs to right. He scribbles down his bonus damage and extra training, then looks over the suggested connections to other PCs. Given Mary's character, he suggests to her that the two of them likely have a past history, and that his Guardian sees it as a part of his duty to defend her, even when such protection gets in the way of her private studies. Mary likes the idea and the potential to inject some friendly bickering into the game and agrees to the idea.
Lastly, Jack pitches the idea to the GM that rather than all the weapons his choices give him, he only has one - a blue lightsaber; other than that, he fights unarmed, seeking to subdue rather than kill foes. The GM agrees, and Jack writes down his artifact weapon - a light slashing weapon that deals damage like a medium weapon. He writes it all down and sits back to wait for the others to be ready before he picks his remaining gear, envisioning his Jedi leaping around in a Force-powered blur of blue lightsaber and black-green scale, ready to prove himself to the Trandoshan's idea of a god, the Scorekeeper.
Mark wants to be a smuggler - someone who braves danger and gets through it with wit, charm, and a blaster. He's fine with being human, so he doesn't need a modified Descriptor the way Jack did. Given the wanderlust inherent in the character concept, he decides that the Explorer Type sounds like a good match, and decides that agility and wits are equally important to him. Three points each go to his Speed and Intellect pools, leaving him with a Might of 10 and a Speed and Intellect of 12 each.
He looks over the Explorer options and decides he doesn't need to flavo his character type any; Danger Sense, Decipher, Knowledge Skills, and Practiced in Armor fill out his four first-tier options. Decipher gives him an excuse to potentially be able to make himself understood anywhere in the galaxy, and he picks Piloting and Criminal Operations as his knowledge skills - his character isn't even remotely pure-hearted, and he's more than willing to rough it up if he has to do so.
Brash seems like a possible option for his Descriptor, as does Impulsive, but he ultimately falls back to the concept of the character and picks Charming; the bonus to his Intellect Pool and the skill training at any positive social interaction just fall in with his idea of a silver-tongued crack pilot, even if the piloting itself is hampered a bit by his inability to deal with Knowledge tasks. He pitches the idea that his contact is a member of the Hutt Cartel, and that perhaps they mutually owe each other favors through some complex web. The GM approves the idea, suggesting that the contact is a Bothan by the name of Leelanu, part of a spice smuggling operation operating off Nar Shadda. Smuggling spice while working for the Jedi seems like an exciting option, so Mark writes that down.
Next comes his focus - Fuses Flesh and Steel seems appealing, as he could be a cyborg with tricky options built into him, or who is Licensed to Carry because of his blaster, but that seems too much like abiding by the law for his character to do. He settles on Fights Dirty, because his character isn't above taking an advantage wherever he can. He asks the GM if his extra weapon can be a holdout needler with a burst of poisoned ammunition and writes it down when the GM agrees that it sounds reasonable. More important is the skill training in all forms of deception, making him even more capable of charming his way past obstacles - in situations where he has to pleasantly lie through his teeth, he may get to count himself as specialized in the action, lowering the difficulty two steps.
He asks Kris if she's willing to be on the other end of his connection, suggesting that the droid met his smuggler while chasing a bounty one day, and that the droid taught his smuggler some tricks he's added to his repretoire since then. She agrees, and so he writes it down and suggests that when he was contacted by the Jedi about flying the ship, he insisted the droid be hired as a repair unit, to give it a better way of crossing the galaxy in search of bounties. The others like the idea, with Jack saying his Trandoshan disapproves of bounty hunting in general but has yet to find a good reason to object to taking down any scum the droid goes after, while Mary says her would-be Sith is pleased at having a hired hunter on board. The GM scribbles this all down while Mark looks over the equipment list in preparation for the last of his gear.
Mary wants her Jedi to be a would-be Sith - a human strong in the Force who feels the call of the Dark Side and senses that her destiny draws her to it. Picking an Adept with a Magic flavor is an easy decision, and she looks over the list of available options carefully. She wants to be quick and clever, so she puts a couple points into Speed and the rest into Intellect, giving her 7 Might, 11 Speed, and 16 Intellect.
At this tier, she doesn't need anything from the Magic flavor, selecting Hedge Magic to represent her interaction with the Force, Magic Training as her esoteric knowledge of it, Onslaught as a method of combat, and Practiced with Light Weapons so she can wield a lightsaber. Other options, such as Push, Scan, and Ward, are all tempting, but she doesn't really need them to fill out her concept.
Looking the Descriptors over, Cruel and Mystical both catch her interest, but she settles on Doomed - her would-be Sith has terrible dreams of her fall to the Dark Side, and she lives with the knowledge that one day she will either be Sith or dead. She increases her Speed to 13 and notes down her skill training - perception tasks, Speed defense, and Intellect defense are all trained for her, now.
She looks over the Foci, skimming Focuses Mind Over Matter and Casts Spells as possible options before settling on Controls Gravity as an extension of the psychokinetic effects of the Force. She asks Mark if his smuggler might be willing to be a skeptic of her ability to use the Force, unwilling to believe she can do what she does. He agrees, thinking that his smuggler is a worldly sort who respects the raw skill and power of the Jedi while scoffing at their beliefs.
With the GM's permission, she marks her lightsaber as her two Expensive item choices, picking a green lightsaber as a Jedi Consular, then sits back to wait for the GM to assign cyphers and the others to be ready to talk about other equipment.
Kris wants to be a droid bounty hunter, making most of her decisions easy. She decides to be a Warrior, assigning all of her points to Might to give herself 16 Might, 10 Speed, and 8 Intellect, describing her droid as a powerfully built and heavily armored machine. She asks the GM if she can have an electrostaff and a techblade for her Type weapons, and writes them down.
She picks Bash and Thrust as abilities with little trouble, giving her a field of options for dealing with her bounties, then adds Practiced With Armor to help with her desire to be a nearly invulnerable machine and Physical Skills, picking running and climbing as her two options; her droid is good at pursuing fleeing targets wherever they go.
She glances briefly at other descriptors, such as Driven, but decides that Mechanical is the best one; she bumps her Intellect up to 10 and notes that she's skilled at any action involving identifying, understanding, using, repairing, or crafting machines - something she can use to justify healing herself with regular recovery actions despite being a machine herself.
Her Focus is also easy; she selects Hunts with Great Skill, and asks Jack if his Jedi might have once been caught in one of her traps, having had to free himself from it. Jack agrees, suggesting that their paths crossed at some point well before the droid was hired to crew the ship, and that she might have modified herself so the Trandoshan Jedi doesn't recognize her anymore. Kris writes it down, and adds her Focus skills, becoming trained in tracking and all forms of movement, which makes her specialized in running and climbing - her prey has little hope of escaping her now!
She considers her droid as it stands, nods, and leans back to see what the GM has for them now.
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Next time, we'll look at the group getting their cyphers, choosing their equipment, and the layout of an adventure that the GM cooks up while the players are busy getting their characters in order.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Cypher Supers - Operation Enigma, Part 4
Today, a sampling of cyphers and artifacts related to Operation Enigma. For those unfamiliar with the terms, a cyphers is a one-shot item that fills in the role of potions, spells, and the like in the Cypher System; players are encourage to use them by a relatively low limit on how many they can carry at a time. Artifacts are items that can be reused, but most of them have a depletion roll - a check that results in them running out of whatever powers them, or otherwise no longer being functional. Both fill in the characters of the system and give them additional capabilities beyond with their Focus, Role, and Descriptor offer.
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Cyphers
Electron Pulse Amplifier
Level: 1d6+1
This small device, about the size of a dime, attaches to any weapon the user desires upon activation. It causes the weapon to deal an additional 2 electrical damage on a successful hit, the power being provided from extradimensional sources. The effect lasts for 24 hours.
Thaumaturgic Supercapacitor
Level: 1d6
When attached to an artifact of an equal or lower level, this coil of silver-blue wire remains in place until the artifact fails a depletion roll; instead of the artifact depleting, the cypher disintegrates and recharges the artifact. Once attached, the cypher no longer counts against a character's cypher limit.
Digital Linguistic Archive
Level: 1d6
This small flesh-tone chip is used by touching it to the user's spine; it automatically attaches itself, granting the user fluency in a number of languages equal to the level of the cypher (GM's choice).
Proton Bomb
Level: 1d6+3
This small ovoid device has a very obvious red button covered by a clear cover; when the button is pressed and the device thrown, it explodes in a storm of high-energy protons that deal damage equal to the cypher's level to a short range.
Positron Wand
Level: 1d6+2
This slender translucent rod can be activated to project a positron beam at a single target, dealing damage equal to the cypher's level and modifying all their actions on the next round by one to their detriment as the anti-electrons interfere with their nervous system.
Thaumic Accelerator
Level: 1d6+1
This pair of slende silvery half-hoops fit over the user's feet or shoes; when activated, they allow the wearer to move twice in a given round, essentially doubling their speed both in and out of combat. This effect lasts for one hour.
Graviton Control Pack
Level: 1d6
Despite the impressive name, this slender backpack actually allows the wearer to fly at up to 120 mph (193 kph) for the next four hours by means of powerful electromagnetic coils, with a high level of control.
Daemon Drone Device
Level: 1d6+1
When activated, this small black box unfolds into a black mechanical mantis the size of a mid-sized dog, of equal level to the cypher. It obeys whoever activated to the best of its abilities, with the ability to fly up to a short distance every round. After six hours, it powers down and crumbles into rust.
Analysis Engine
Level: 1d6+4
A PDA-sized device, it can be used to access the Internet and numerous restricted networks for a short period, just long enough to serve as two assets on any knowledge skill check.
Bottled Ectoplasm
Level: 1d6+1
This bottle of pale goo can be emptied out and molded into the shape of almost any single device the user wants over the course of a single round; accessing the Internet and the thoughts of the user, the ectoplasm finishes the transformation, becoming a functional replica of whatever was intended with a level equal to the cypher. It cannot create other cyphers, artifacts, or living creatures.
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Artifacts
Holographic Camouflage Unit
Level: 1d6
Appearing as a belt buckle of unusual thickness, this device can sometimes be salvaged from Enigma Agents. When activated, it cloaks the user in a field that renders their usual appearance invisible, replacing it with a generic human figure of vaguely similar shape and skin tone dressed in a sharp black suit, mirrored sunglasses, and absolutely dispassionate expression. It cloaks their voice to a monotone that matches the appearance of the hologram, and when the user lifts their right hand it displays credentials that the built-in computer system judges most likely to impress whoever the user is facing; this serves as two assets for any attempts to impersonate a government or corporate official.
Depletion: 1 in 20
Pyroclastic Rod
Level: 1d6+1
This slender metal baton contains a powerful energy cell and a series of electromagnetic field projectors and lasers that produce a flare of white-hot plasma, dealing damage equal to the artifact level to all targets within a short range.
It has an alternate mode that fires a small encapsulated mass of plasma out to long range at a single target, dealing damage equal to the artifact level as contact ruptures the containment and sprays a gout of plasma over the victim.
Depletion: 1 in 5
Immortality Unit
Level: 1d6+4
This device is activated by applying it to the base of a creature's skull, after which it burrows in painfully (dealing damage equal to the artifact's level) and replaces a portion of the spinal cord. At any point after this, if the person dies, the unit transmits a copy of their genetic code at the time of activation and a full record of their mind up to the point of death to an Operation Enigma reconstruction facility, where the information is used to rapidly grow and imprint a clone body over the course of two weeks; as most of these facilities are well-hidden and only monitored by basic subroutines of Max, the person who wakes in such a facility is unlikely to be bothered on their emergence and return to life. Getting home and convincing people of their story is another matter entirely.
Depletion: --
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And that wraps up the sampling of Operation Enigma devices! While future posts may come back to specific cells and additional creatures of the group, that wraps up this series on the organization; hopefully you've found it useful!
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Cyphers
Electron Pulse Amplifier
Level: 1d6+1
This small device, about the size of a dime, attaches to any weapon the user desires upon activation. It causes the weapon to deal an additional 2 electrical damage on a successful hit, the power being provided from extradimensional sources. The effect lasts for 24 hours.
Thaumaturgic Supercapacitor
Level: 1d6
When attached to an artifact of an equal or lower level, this coil of silver-blue wire remains in place until the artifact fails a depletion roll; instead of the artifact depleting, the cypher disintegrates and recharges the artifact. Once attached, the cypher no longer counts against a character's cypher limit.
Digital Linguistic Archive
Level: 1d6
This small flesh-tone chip is used by touching it to the user's spine; it automatically attaches itself, granting the user fluency in a number of languages equal to the level of the cypher (GM's choice).
Proton Bomb
Level: 1d6+3
This small ovoid device has a very obvious red button covered by a clear cover; when the button is pressed and the device thrown, it explodes in a storm of high-energy protons that deal damage equal to the cypher's level to a short range.
Positron Wand
Level: 1d6+2
This slender translucent rod can be activated to project a positron beam at a single target, dealing damage equal to the cypher's level and modifying all their actions on the next round by one to their detriment as the anti-electrons interfere with their nervous system.
Thaumic Accelerator
Level: 1d6+1
This pair of slende silvery half-hoops fit over the user's feet or shoes; when activated, they allow the wearer to move twice in a given round, essentially doubling their speed both in and out of combat. This effect lasts for one hour.
Graviton Control Pack
Level: 1d6
Despite the impressive name, this slender backpack actually allows the wearer to fly at up to 120 mph (193 kph) for the next four hours by means of powerful electromagnetic coils, with a high level of control.
Daemon Drone Device
Level: 1d6+1
When activated, this small black box unfolds into a black mechanical mantis the size of a mid-sized dog, of equal level to the cypher. It obeys whoever activated to the best of its abilities, with the ability to fly up to a short distance every round. After six hours, it powers down and crumbles into rust.
Analysis Engine
Level: 1d6+4
A PDA-sized device, it can be used to access the Internet and numerous restricted networks for a short period, just long enough to serve as two assets on any knowledge skill check.
Bottled Ectoplasm
Level: 1d6+1
This bottle of pale goo can be emptied out and molded into the shape of almost any single device the user wants over the course of a single round; accessing the Internet and the thoughts of the user, the ectoplasm finishes the transformation, becoming a functional replica of whatever was intended with a level equal to the cypher. It cannot create other cyphers, artifacts, or living creatures.
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Artifacts
Holographic Camouflage Unit
Level: 1d6
Appearing as a belt buckle of unusual thickness, this device can sometimes be salvaged from Enigma Agents. When activated, it cloaks the user in a field that renders their usual appearance invisible, replacing it with a generic human figure of vaguely similar shape and skin tone dressed in a sharp black suit, mirrored sunglasses, and absolutely dispassionate expression. It cloaks their voice to a monotone that matches the appearance of the hologram, and when the user lifts their right hand it displays credentials that the built-in computer system judges most likely to impress whoever the user is facing; this serves as two assets for any attempts to impersonate a government or corporate official.
Depletion: 1 in 20
Pyroclastic Rod
Level: 1d6+1
This slender metal baton contains a powerful energy cell and a series of electromagnetic field projectors and lasers that produce a flare of white-hot plasma, dealing damage equal to the artifact level to all targets within a short range.
It has an alternate mode that fires a small encapsulated mass of plasma out to long range at a single target, dealing damage equal to the artifact level as contact ruptures the containment and sprays a gout of plasma over the victim.
Depletion: 1 in 5
Immortality Unit
Level: 1d6+4
This device is activated by applying it to the base of a creature's skull, after which it burrows in painfully (dealing damage equal to the artifact's level) and replaces a portion of the spinal cord. At any point after this, if the person dies, the unit transmits a copy of their genetic code at the time of activation and a full record of their mind up to the point of death to an Operation Enigma reconstruction facility, where the information is used to rapidly grow and imprint a clone body over the course of two weeks; as most of these facilities are well-hidden and only monitored by basic subroutines of Max, the person who wakes in such a facility is unlikely to be bothered on their emergence and return to life. Getting home and convincing people of their story is another matter entirely.
Depletion: --
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And that wraps up the sampling of Operation Enigma devices! While future posts may come back to specific cells and additional creatures of the group, that wraps up this series on the organization; hopefully you've found it useful!
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Cypher Supers - Operation Enigma, Part 3
Today, in the third part of Operation Enigma, we look at Max and the goals of the organization.
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Dig a little deeper, and the more sinister aspect of their operations comes into focus - the disappearance rate of the homeless and others who won't be missed goes up significantly when Enigma cells are active, as the process of creating Agents requires a baseline human to host both the arcane cybernetics and the otherworldly creature whose power keeps the whole thing from just falling apart. Anyone who digs this deep can tell that Operation Enigma is building an army of capable and terrifyingly loyal soldiers, although the reason is somewhat vague.
Dig still deeper, and the monstrous nature of the creatures they summon shows up; demons and devils bound into bizarre constructs of high technology and living flesh, with potent dark magic holding them in their new forms and compelling their loyalty. Broad strokes of a plan to dominate the world in a single overwhelming stroke show up here, with movement of resources that suggest it's a long-range and far-reaching plan that has been unfolding for years, if not decades. This is also where the first clue as the the names of the masterminds of the Operation show up - David, Steven, and Max.
David and Steven are easy enough to learn about; their focus on the Singularity, an event when the advance of technology will accelerate beyond human understanding, appears to be the goal of these two; each one seems to be seeking their own version of it that will leave them in a state to achieve apotheosis, ascending to a kind of godhood into the indefinite future. Thwarting that alone is a worthy goal, but clues about Max are slim until one reaches the center of the conspiratorial organization.
Max - or the Magnum Intellect Terrestrial Node - is the greatest achievement of Operation Enigma, a network of computers in a steady state of upgrade that has had an ancient and extremely powerful archdevil bound into it. The network is built n a way that prevents the being from exerting any of its powers without express permission and command by someone with proper access to one of the network terminals. The archdevil has had quite a long time to learn how to persuade and manipulate people, however, and it essentially functions autonomously in commanding the cells of Operation Enigma toward the goal of an Infernal Singularity.
The Infernal Singularity is an attempt to push technology into a heavy reliance on magic, with hidden components that turn the linked global network into a pocket dimension connected to both the infernal realms where Max and its minions originate and to Earth itself, creating a staging ground for a full-fledged invasion of half-mechanical hellspawn. Max keeps its plans hidden, well aware that even David and Steven wouldn't support this goal, no matter what it might promise them in the resulting devil-haunted world.
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Max (Magnum Intellect Terrestrial Node)
The first look at an aspect of Max is generally unimposing - a cutting-edge computer in a climate-controlled server room, with only a microphone and camera as input methods. As long as people interacting with it don't seem to be aware of what it is, it pretends to be an advanced voice recognition program with access to a wide array of software and network connections across the world. It carefully manipulates everything it displays on the monitor to guide people into making self-serving requests of it, offering them clear consequence-free access to bank accounts and private information.
Those who show themselves to be aware of the intellect find themselves treated with an almost insulting level of subservience, as the archdevil uses every trick it knows to manipulate them into feeling like it has no purpose but to comply with their wishes, offering them the world at their feet.
Those who show awareness of the intellect's long-term plans are the only ones not treated to the flattery and lies, as it instead works to convince them that the goal it seeks is ultimately beneficial to everyone - humanity prospers immensely by the advance of arcane technology, the fiends get to escape the miserable dimension presently confining them, and Max offer to work directly with them to achieve their goals along with its own. Despite the coldly unemotional tone of its words, it remains fiercely persuasive, and takes pleasure in subverting those who meant to deal with it.
Level: 10
Motive: To bring about a world ruled by devilkind
Environment: Server rooms at the heart of Operation Enigma's power
Health: Individual server rooms have 25 Health before the systems are destroyed; destroying Max requires the destruction of every server housing it, which banishes it
Damage Inflicted: 6 Intellect to everyone in the building which houses the server room
Movement: None; an aspect of Max can withdraw from a building as a single-round action, wiping the entire server in the process
Modifications: Persuasion as Level 13; Seeing through deceptions as Level 13; Might and Speed Defense as Level 1
Combat: If a server is attacked, Max activates the defenses in the building housing it, alerting every Enigma Agent and Daemon in range, followed by a powerful psychic shock that attacks any foe every round. If threatened with the destruction of the server housing it, it will withdraw itself and effectively slag the hard dries connected to it.
The wrecked servers can be salvaged for 1d6 cyphers and 1 artifact.
Use: Max is essentially the mastermind behind Operation Enigma, and encountering it in full power should be the climax of a campaign against the group. Attempting to destroy server rooms faster than they can be assembled and hidden becomes a race against time.
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Next time we look at Operation Enigma, we'll take a look at some sample cyphers and artifacts that the group has access to, and which might fall into the hands of players fighting the conspiracy.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Cypher Supers - Operation Enigma, Part 2
While the Enigma Club was originally founded by a pair of siblings, they went missing under mysterious circumstances around the year 2000. In their wake, a pair of cousins stepped up to assume leadership: David Wick and Steven Fire. The two are only vaguely in agreement, working to advance the overall goal on the Operation Enigma in their own fashion. David is the one most likely to be seen, and the source of the rumors that the elite of the group have some form of immortality.
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David Wick
Just over six feet in height, David is a solidly-built man who otherwise would blend into the background if not for the manic light in his eyes. Most of the time, he seems perfectly normal, if rather fervent about the future of computer technology and the coming of the Singularity. He dresses in a fairly typical geek fashion, with slogan-festooned T-shirts and jeans that have been reinforced to grant him a level of armor. He never travels without at least three Enigma Agents, all set up as bodyguards, but he's far from a pushover.
When pressed in a fight, David reveals that he has several machine implants, including a flamethrower that pops up from his left arm and an array of pop-out blades on his right hand that have been laser-etched with runic inscriptions.
Level: 6
Motive: Bring about the Singularity Event before Steven is able to do so
Environment: Anywhere with internet access, preferably wireless
Health: 50
Damage Inflicted: 6; when using his flamethrower, he deals 3 to everyone in short range, and when using his implanted claws he deals 10
Movement: Short, or teleportation via wireless signal to anywhere else with wi-fi; the latter takes three rounds to accomplish
Modifications: Intellect Defense as level 9; resists fear effects as level 9; resist cold effects as level 3
Armor: 3
Combat: For the first 20 Health, or until his bodyguards are defeated, David fights with a high-tech pistol with a blue-green laser sight and keeps behind his bodyguards. After this, he willingly deploys his augmentations and goes head-to-head with opponents, immolating groups and slashing at anyone who seems to pose a serious threat.
If pushed below 15 Health, he begins to retreat, initiating his three-round teleport. If defeated before this, his body erupts into a white-hot fire that leaves behind nothing but ash and unidentifiable slag.
Interaction: David will happily talk to anyone who wants to engage him on the subject of computers, the Singularity, or any number of transhumanist lines of thought. He may turn up as an unexpected ally against groups that want to dismantle technology like the Medusa Society, and can be talked into funding projects in line with his goals.
Use: David is the more likely of the Operation Enigma leaders to be encountered; even after appearing to die in a fire, he'll be back in no time, although fully aware of the people who defeated him and willing to take steps to prepare against them.
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Steven Fire
With a much greater effort to appear elegant and refined, people can be forgiven for thinking that Steven is the sole leader and mastermind of Operation Enigma. Usually dressed in a well-tailored black suit with high-tech mirrorshades that double as a monitor, headset, and targeting system for his posthuman abilities, he looks the part of a wealthy businessman. Generally accompanied by a pair of Daemons disguised as femme fatale bodyguards and armed with a sleek handgun, he looks competent but not the kind of danger that Enigma really poses.
When he reveals his full abilities, the suit is revealed as a metamaterial armor, the fabric flowing and stiffening into a suit of powered armor around him, the mirrorshades becoming a part of the faceplate. Even the color shifts, becoming an intense green-and-black fire motif as he darts around the battlefield.
Level: 6
Motive: To bring about the Singularity before David does, with him in position to shape what emerges
Environment: Any, but usually places with a concentration of cutting-edge technology
Health: 50
Damage Inflicted: 6 with his handgun; in armored form, he has a long-range lightning beam attack that deals 4 damage and a short-range burst of static that deals 3 damage to everyone nearby
Movement: Short when in normal mode; long when in armored mode
Modifications: All actions related to movement as level 9; all Intellect Defense as level 9; against attempts to goad him into a rage or into showboating as level 3
Armor: 5
Combat: Steven tries to stay out of combat as much as possible, relying on his protective Daemons to defend him and using his handgun at long range; if goaded by opponents or if he takes more than 6 damage, he lets his suit transform into power armor and starts moving quickly around the battlefield, often wasting an entire round to move into a showier position before opening fire with his lightning beam; if forced into melee he relies on his mobility and the area-effect static shock to get back out of range.
If forced under 25 Health or if both Daemons are defeated, he attempts to flee, engaging an electromagnetic flight system that takes three rounds to fully power up; during this time he still moves a long range each round, although now he hovers while doing so. After three rounds he accelerates away at a rate that should kill him. If actually defeated, his body explodes on the next round and burns into slag and ash as uncontrolled electrical energy runs wild.
Interaction: Steven can contact players, or be contacted by them, and offer to fund any cutting-edge technology projects that might be of use to Operation Enigma's goals, asking only that he get access to all information related to the project. He may also turn up when dealing with more Luddite opponents such as the Medusa Society.
Use: Steven is best used as the enigmatic figure in the shadows for a time when dealing with Operation Enigma, although groups opposing them may encounter him in his mundane identity long before then, possibly attempting to cut a deal with them on advanced equipment for their escapades.
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Daemon
A Daemon, at rest, looks like a human with intensely green eyes and a feline level of agility. They typically serve as cell leaders or bodyguards for elite members of Enigma. When activated, their human facade literally splits apart as a metallic mantis-like nightmare emerges from inside, with massive scything limbs and crackling rows of supercapacitors running along their sides.
Level: 4
Motive: To enable the Singularity and open the Way
Environment: Any high-tech location
Health: 16
Damage Inflicted: 4
Movement: Short, or long once per encounter by a hopping flight
Modifications: Speed Defense as Level 6; Intellect Defense as Level 3; reacts to any effects that manipulate or block electric effects as a Level 2
Armor: 3
Combat: When disguised, a Daemon fights as a highly skilled and agile melee combatant, wielding long knives that seem to appear out of nowhere in their hands; these blades are electrified and can, on a GM intrusion, stun those struck for a round. When activated, they fight as supernaturally agile predators, striking with electrified scythe-limbs and razor-sharp mandibles. When actiated, they can take a round to rear up and screech, spreading their wings to massively amplify their intimidating presence; this is an Intellect attack that, if victims fail it, all their actions on the next round are moved two steps to their detriment.
When defeated, Daemons collapse in one themselves, leaving bits of mechanical debris and odd magical scraps behind; these can be salvaged with a Level 4 Intellect task to yield 1d6 cyphers.
Interaction: When encountered solo or when leading a group of Agents, Daemons are haughty, aloof, and have the inhuman air of a predator, all of which can serve as cues for perceptive players. Some may, if the situation dictates, attempt to negotiate a temporary alliance to achieve some mutual goal, such as fighting a Medusa Society cult or distracting agents from the Bureau of Paranormal Management, but these are inevitably short term.
Use: Daemons are essentially the high-caliber goons of Operation Enigma, and while capable and dangerous they're considered expendable by the group. They'll fight to the death rather than surrender, and aim to take as many opponents as possible with them.
---
Next time we'll look at Operation Enigma's actual goals, and meet Max (or, as those who truly know it would name it, The Magnum Intellect Terrestrial Node), the alien intellect that seems to serve as the chief of operations for the group.
---
David Wick
Just over six feet in height, David is a solidly-built man who otherwise would blend into the background if not for the manic light in his eyes. Most of the time, he seems perfectly normal, if rather fervent about the future of computer technology and the coming of the Singularity. He dresses in a fairly typical geek fashion, with slogan-festooned T-shirts and jeans that have been reinforced to grant him a level of armor. He never travels without at least three Enigma Agents, all set up as bodyguards, but he's far from a pushover.
When pressed in a fight, David reveals that he has several machine implants, including a flamethrower that pops up from his left arm and an array of pop-out blades on his right hand that have been laser-etched with runic inscriptions.
Level: 6
Motive: Bring about the Singularity Event before Steven is able to do so
Environment: Anywhere with internet access, preferably wireless
Health: 50
Damage Inflicted: 6; when using his flamethrower, he deals 3 to everyone in short range, and when using his implanted claws he deals 10
Movement: Short, or teleportation via wireless signal to anywhere else with wi-fi; the latter takes three rounds to accomplish
Modifications: Intellect Defense as level 9; resists fear effects as level 9; resist cold effects as level 3
Armor: 3
Combat: For the first 20 Health, or until his bodyguards are defeated, David fights with a high-tech pistol with a blue-green laser sight and keeps behind his bodyguards. After this, he willingly deploys his augmentations and goes head-to-head with opponents, immolating groups and slashing at anyone who seems to pose a serious threat.
If pushed below 15 Health, he begins to retreat, initiating his three-round teleport. If defeated before this, his body erupts into a white-hot fire that leaves behind nothing but ash and unidentifiable slag.
Interaction: David will happily talk to anyone who wants to engage him on the subject of computers, the Singularity, or any number of transhumanist lines of thought. He may turn up as an unexpected ally against groups that want to dismantle technology like the Medusa Society, and can be talked into funding projects in line with his goals.
Use: David is the more likely of the Operation Enigma leaders to be encountered; even after appearing to die in a fire, he'll be back in no time, although fully aware of the people who defeated him and willing to take steps to prepare against them.
---
Steven Fire
With a much greater effort to appear elegant and refined, people can be forgiven for thinking that Steven is the sole leader and mastermind of Operation Enigma. Usually dressed in a well-tailored black suit with high-tech mirrorshades that double as a monitor, headset, and targeting system for his posthuman abilities, he looks the part of a wealthy businessman. Generally accompanied by a pair of Daemons disguised as femme fatale bodyguards and armed with a sleek handgun, he looks competent but not the kind of danger that Enigma really poses.
When he reveals his full abilities, the suit is revealed as a metamaterial armor, the fabric flowing and stiffening into a suit of powered armor around him, the mirrorshades becoming a part of the faceplate. Even the color shifts, becoming an intense green-and-black fire motif as he darts around the battlefield.
Level: 6
Motive: To bring about the Singularity before David does, with him in position to shape what emerges
Environment: Any, but usually places with a concentration of cutting-edge technology
Health: 50
Damage Inflicted: 6 with his handgun; in armored form, he has a long-range lightning beam attack that deals 4 damage and a short-range burst of static that deals 3 damage to everyone nearby
Movement: Short when in normal mode; long when in armored mode
Modifications: All actions related to movement as level 9; all Intellect Defense as level 9; against attempts to goad him into a rage or into showboating as level 3
Armor: 5
Combat: Steven tries to stay out of combat as much as possible, relying on his protective Daemons to defend him and using his handgun at long range; if goaded by opponents or if he takes more than 6 damage, he lets his suit transform into power armor and starts moving quickly around the battlefield, often wasting an entire round to move into a showier position before opening fire with his lightning beam; if forced into melee he relies on his mobility and the area-effect static shock to get back out of range.
If forced under 25 Health or if both Daemons are defeated, he attempts to flee, engaging an electromagnetic flight system that takes three rounds to fully power up; during this time he still moves a long range each round, although now he hovers while doing so. After three rounds he accelerates away at a rate that should kill him. If actually defeated, his body explodes on the next round and burns into slag and ash as uncontrolled electrical energy runs wild.
Interaction: Steven can contact players, or be contacted by them, and offer to fund any cutting-edge technology projects that might be of use to Operation Enigma's goals, asking only that he get access to all information related to the project. He may also turn up when dealing with more Luddite opponents such as the Medusa Society.
Use: Steven is best used as the enigmatic figure in the shadows for a time when dealing with Operation Enigma, although groups opposing them may encounter him in his mundane identity long before then, possibly attempting to cut a deal with them on advanced equipment for their escapades.
---
Daemon
A Daemon, at rest, looks like a human with intensely green eyes and a feline level of agility. They typically serve as cell leaders or bodyguards for elite members of Enigma. When activated, their human facade literally splits apart as a metallic mantis-like nightmare emerges from inside, with massive scything limbs and crackling rows of supercapacitors running along their sides.
Level: 4
Motive: To enable the Singularity and open the Way
Environment: Any high-tech location
Health: 16
Damage Inflicted: 4
Movement: Short, or long once per encounter by a hopping flight
Modifications: Speed Defense as Level 6; Intellect Defense as Level 3; reacts to any effects that manipulate or block electric effects as a Level 2
Armor: 3
Combat: When disguised, a Daemon fights as a highly skilled and agile melee combatant, wielding long knives that seem to appear out of nowhere in their hands; these blades are electrified and can, on a GM intrusion, stun those struck for a round. When activated, they fight as supernaturally agile predators, striking with electrified scythe-limbs and razor-sharp mandibles. When actiated, they can take a round to rear up and screech, spreading their wings to massively amplify their intimidating presence; this is an Intellect attack that, if victims fail it, all their actions on the next round are moved two steps to their detriment.
When defeated, Daemons collapse in one themselves, leaving bits of mechanical debris and odd magical scraps behind; these can be salvaged with a Level 4 Intellect task to yield 1d6 cyphers.
Interaction: When encountered solo or when leading a group of Agents, Daemons are haughty, aloof, and have the inhuman air of a predator, all of which can serve as cues for perceptive players. Some may, if the situation dictates, attempt to negotiate a temporary alliance to achieve some mutual goal, such as fighting a Medusa Society cult or distracting agents from the Bureau of Paranormal Management, but these are inevitably short term.
Use: Daemons are essentially the high-caliber goons of Operation Enigma, and while capable and dangerous they're considered expendable by the group. They'll fight to the death rather than surrender, and aim to take as many opponents as possible with them.
---
Next time we'll look at Operation Enigma's actual goals, and meet Max (or, as those who truly know it would name it, The Magnum Intellect Terrestrial Node), the alien intellect that seems to serve as the chief of operations for the group.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Cypher Supers - Operation Enigma
The Cypher System rulebook comes with several genre options; one of these is the Superhero genre, which is fairly well-enabled for handling the wide range of such games. This post is the first entry of the Cypher Supers series, which will go through and present a setting for use with the system.
---
Operation Enigma is an obscure conspiracy theory, little known to most people other than as a bad explanation for otherwise unrelated events. While they seem to be in the same nebulous realm of existence as the Illuminati, they're dangerously real, and they have an agenda that puts the entire world at risk.
Founded by a pair of siblings in the late 20th century, the Operation - originally called the Enigma Club - was little more than a gathering for people interested in the point where the paranormal and the scientific blended together at first. It wasn't until the Internet became solidly enmeshed in daily life that the group found their niche when they decided to try combining a ritual to summon an extradimensional being with an obsolete computer.
The result was a computer infused with the mind of something from Outside, which quickly opened the way for the group to refine their approach and develop a fusion of technology and the Dark Arts that has seen them to their current level of power behind the scenes. This technomagic fusion is the primary reason that the true number of Enigma members unknown, with estimates from as few as a dozen to as many as thousands; the minions they create can often pass for human, while the elite are said to have found a technique to transfer their minds to new bodies as often as necessary.
Today, local cells of Enigma agents can be found in nearly every major city around the world, operating behind fronts that serve as charity groups and religious organizations. While their endgame is uncertain, those aware of them have noted that they seem to be aiming to push for a world-wide unified high-speed wireless network wherever they're found.
---
Enigma Agent
When first encountered, Enigma Agents look a great deal like Men in Black, with sunglasses, black suits, and impassive facial features. They're extremely good at maintaining this facade, and quite a few of Operation Enigma's activities have been attributed to other groups by this deception. One of the few tells that the Agents have is a quiet hum that can only be heard when an area is sufficiently quiet.
When confronted or sufficiently harmed, their actual appearance is revealed - a freakishly tall and thing humanoid with lobster-red skin interlocked with a variety of sleek machines, all humming as lights blink and flash across their readouts. Enigma Agents fill out the general ranks of any operation by the group, and occasionally a defeated and deactivated Agent will be revealed to bear some alarming similarity to someone that has gone missing recently.
When deactivated, an Agent begins to liquefy in a matter of minutes, the organic parts turning into a powerful acid while the machinery overheats and melts; little is usually left of them other than a mysterious stain and some chemical corrosion on the ground.
Level: 3
Motive: To advance and defend the interests of Project Enigma
Health: 9
Damage Inflicted: 3 while disguised, 5 when unveiled
Armor: 2
Movement: Short
Modifications: All tasks related to computer technology or magic as a level 5; deception to seem human as a level 6
Combat: As long as their nature hasn't been revealed, Enigma Agents fight as skilled humans, using ordinary handguns, batons, and brass knuckles as appropriate. They'll maintain this facade for as long as possible, making it useful for anyone dealing with them to try to avoid making them break identity. If pushed to 4 Health or lower, or if they realize their opponent knows their identity, they unveil themselves, a process where their human body melts away to reveal a vaguely humanoid shape of scarlet flesh and sleek mechanical parts. In this mode, they discard any human weaponry, relying on inbuilt tools - the most common being a high-power set in the palm of each hand.
Treasure: If sufficiently quick, an Intellect task at difficulty 3 can retrieve 1-2 cyphers from the mechanical aspects of an Agent.
---
Next post on Operation Enigma will cover the current known leaders of the group and another creature - the Daemon.
---
Operation Enigma is an obscure conspiracy theory, little known to most people other than as a bad explanation for otherwise unrelated events. While they seem to be in the same nebulous realm of existence as the Illuminati, they're dangerously real, and they have an agenda that puts the entire world at risk.
Founded by a pair of siblings in the late 20th century, the Operation - originally called the Enigma Club - was little more than a gathering for people interested in the point where the paranormal and the scientific blended together at first. It wasn't until the Internet became solidly enmeshed in daily life that the group found their niche when they decided to try combining a ritual to summon an extradimensional being with an obsolete computer.
The result was a computer infused with the mind of something from Outside, which quickly opened the way for the group to refine their approach and develop a fusion of technology and the Dark Arts that has seen them to their current level of power behind the scenes. This technomagic fusion is the primary reason that the true number of Enigma members unknown, with estimates from as few as a dozen to as many as thousands; the minions they create can often pass for human, while the elite are said to have found a technique to transfer their minds to new bodies as often as necessary.
Today, local cells of Enigma agents can be found in nearly every major city around the world, operating behind fronts that serve as charity groups and religious organizations. While their endgame is uncertain, those aware of them have noted that they seem to be aiming to push for a world-wide unified high-speed wireless network wherever they're found.
---
Enigma Agent
When first encountered, Enigma Agents look a great deal like Men in Black, with sunglasses, black suits, and impassive facial features. They're extremely good at maintaining this facade, and quite a few of Operation Enigma's activities have been attributed to other groups by this deception. One of the few tells that the Agents have is a quiet hum that can only be heard when an area is sufficiently quiet.
When confronted or sufficiently harmed, their actual appearance is revealed - a freakishly tall and thing humanoid with lobster-red skin interlocked with a variety of sleek machines, all humming as lights blink and flash across their readouts. Enigma Agents fill out the general ranks of any operation by the group, and occasionally a defeated and deactivated Agent will be revealed to bear some alarming similarity to someone that has gone missing recently.
When deactivated, an Agent begins to liquefy in a matter of minutes, the organic parts turning into a powerful acid while the machinery overheats and melts; little is usually left of them other than a mysterious stain and some chemical corrosion on the ground.
Level: 3
Motive: To advance and defend the interests of Project Enigma
Health: 9
Damage Inflicted: 3 while disguised, 5 when unveiled
Armor: 2
Movement: Short
Modifications: All tasks related to computer technology or magic as a level 5; deception to seem human as a level 6
Combat: As long as their nature hasn't been revealed, Enigma Agents fight as skilled humans, using ordinary handguns, batons, and brass knuckles as appropriate. They'll maintain this facade for as long as possible, making it useful for anyone dealing with them to try to avoid making them break identity. If pushed to 4 Health or lower, or if they realize their opponent knows their identity, they unveil themselves, a process where their human body melts away to reveal a vaguely humanoid shape of scarlet flesh and sleek mechanical parts. In this mode, they discard any human weaponry, relying on inbuilt tools - the most common being a high-power set in the palm of each hand.
Treasure: If sufficiently quick, an Intellect task at difficulty 3 can retrieve 1-2 cyphers from the mechanical aspects of an Agent.
---
Next post on Operation Enigma will cover the current known leaders of the group and another creature - the Daemon.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Exile's Cypher: Born of the Vaal
The last couple posts in this vein have been on already-existing Foci and how to fit them to the themes of Wraeclast. Today we'll look at new Foci for the campaign - specifically, ones that relate character to the nightmare ancestral power whose fall condemned the land to be cursed, the Vaal Empire. The creators of the Virtue Gems, masters of forbidden sciences and dark arts, the Vaal today haunt the rest of the world as the darkest of boogeymen.
Touched By the Vaal
You have been touched since you were young with a connection to the mysteries left behind by the Vaal when they once ruled over everything. It manifests as whispering voices that offer insights and advice, not always pertinent to the situation you're in, and a natural instinct for the things the cursed empire left behind. You tend to be drawn to ornate clothing with strange symmetries hidden in the design, in lurid colors that draw the eye to you, and you likely delight in the attention.
While any Type can benefit from this Focus, those who focus on Intellect will find it more valuable than others.
Additional Equipment: You have a compass of sorts; fashioned of faintly luminous metals and crystals of unknown composition, it points to the largest Vaal-crafted relic within a month's walk of you.
Minor Effect: Corrupt energy courses over the area around you out to a short distance, stunning enemies and leaving all rolls against them modified one level in your favor.
Major Effect: An unnoticed Vaal construct surges to life for a moment and lunges at a foe, immbolizing them for a round before it crumbles into fragments.
Tier 1 Whispering Darkness (Intellect 2): You reach out with your psyche to listen carefully, gaining an asset on all initiative rolls and Perception tasks to detect creatures or Vaal relics for the next hour.
Lore of the Vaal: You are trained in all skills related to information about the Vaal Empire and the relics it left behind.
Tier 2 Corrupt Aura (Intellect 3): You channel the corrupt energy of the cursed land, creating a bubble of darkness that grants you +1 Armor and adds 1 point of corrupt damage to your melee attacks.
Tier 3 Army of the Vaal (Intellect 2+): For every two points of Intellect you spend, you animate a level 2 skeleton warrior that claws out of the ground and fights for you for the next three rounds. Alternately, you may spend 4 Intellect from your pool to summon a level 4 skeleton archer or sorcerer who can make attacks out to long range for the same duration.
Tier 4 Malachai's Touch: Your form corrupts and twists as you become closer to the source of your power, gaining an inherent +2 Armor bonus; this results in a visible and disturbing transformation of some kind - scales or chitin covers your skin and your body becomes emaciated and subtly deformed.
Will of the Vaal: You gain +4 Intellect.
Tier 5 Name of the Corrupt: You are considered an Abomination for all effects that enhance or heal such creatures, and they regard you as one of their own, leaving you in peace unless you attack them.
Howl of the Damned (Intellect 1+): You unleash a shattering scream from your augmented lungs and throat, dealing 2 damage to everything out to a short distance from you; every 2 Intellect you spend past this increases this damage by 2 points.
Tier 6 Blasphemous Apotheosis: You are considered a Vaal Construct for purposes of effects that enhance or heal such, and such things will regard you as one of their own unless you attack them. You gain an additional +2 Armor, and your Recovery rolls have a +1 bonus. You no longer even vaguely resemble your birth form.
Malachai's Blessing: You gain a melee attack that functions as a medium weapon of slashing, piercing, or bashing type (your choice), and it deals an additional 2 poison damage on the round following a successful blow.
Blessed With Virtue
You were born with an attunement to the Virtue Gems the Vaal first created; you can wield them adeptly, and have little to fear from the corrupting aspects of their fragmentary forms. You likely favor crystalline appearances, sewing reflective things to your clothing and delighting in gemstone jewelry.
Any Type can benefit from this Focus easily.
Minor Effect: A pulse of energy among your belongings conducts along your touch, augmenting whatever you were doing to be slightly more effective.
Major Effect: One of your Virtue Gems spontaneously activates without a need for a depletion roll, directing its power to best benefit you in the situation.
Tier One Capacity: You may carry an extra cypher safely.
Infused with Virtue: You gain an additional five points to distribute among your stat pools.
Tier Two Gembond: You are considered trained in all tasks relating to cyphers and artifacts.
Virtuous Power: Any Virtue Gems that deal damage deal one additional point when you invoke them.
Tier Three Gemseed: You may pick a single cypher you carry and embed it in your flesh, gaining the effects of it as a personal power. GM discretion on whether or not a cypher can be utilized in this fashion.
Crystalline: You gain +1 Armor.
Tier Four Virtuous: You gain +2 to each Pool, and a +1 on Recovery rolls.
Tier Five Fueled by Virtue: Whenever a Virtue Gem would be depleted, you may opt to instead move one step down the damage track instead; you cannot recovery from this state until your next ten hour rest. You may use this as many times as you like, but dead is still dead.
Tier Six Gemling: You may choose a single Virtue Gem; it becomes a permanent part of you, never suffering depletion rolls, and you additionally gain +2 to each Pool and+2 Armor.
Touched By the Vaal
You have been touched since you were young with a connection to the mysteries left behind by the Vaal when they once ruled over everything. It manifests as whispering voices that offer insights and advice, not always pertinent to the situation you're in, and a natural instinct for the things the cursed empire left behind. You tend to be drawn to ornate clothing with strange symmetries hidden in the design, in lurid colors that draw the eye to you, and you likely delight in the attention.
While any Type can benefit from this Focus, those who focus on Intellect will find it more valuable than others.
Additional Equipment: You have a compass of sorts; fashioned of faintly luminous metals and crystals of unknown composition, it points to the largest Vaal-crafted relic within a month's walk of you.
Minor Effect: Corrupt energy courses over the area around you out to a short distance, stunning enemies and leaving all rolls against them modified one level in your favor.
Major Effect: An unnoticed Vaal construct surges to life for a moment and lunges at a foe, immbolizing them for a round before it crumbles into fragments.
Tier 1 Whispering Darkness (Intellect 2): You reach out with your psyche to listen carefully, gaining an asset on all initiative rolls and Perception tasks to detect creatures or Vaal relics for the next hour.
Lore of the Vaal: You are trained in all skills related to information about the Vaal Empire and the relics it left behind.
Tier 2 Corrupt Aura (Intellect 3): You channel the corrupt energy of the cursed land, creating a bubble of darkness that grants you +1 Armor and adds 1 point of corrupt damage to your melee attacks.
Tier 3 Army of the Vaal (Intellect 2+): For every two points of Intellect you spend, you animate a level 2 skeleton warrior that claws out of the ground and fights for you for the next three rounds. Alternately, you may spend 4 Intellect from your pool to summon a level 4 skeleton archer or sorcerer who can make attacks out to long range for the same duration.
Tier 4 Malachai's Touch: Your form corrupts and twists as you become closer to the source of your power, gaining an inherent +2 Armor bonus; this results in a visible and disturbing transformation of some kind - scales or chitin covers your skin and your body becomes emaciated and subtly deformed.
Will of the Vaal: You gain +4 Intellect.
Tier 5 Name of the Corrupt: You are considered an Abomination for all effects that enhance or heal such creatures, and they regard you as one of their own, leaving you in peace unless you attack them.
Howl of the Damned (Intellect 1+): You unleash a shattering scream from your augmented lungs and throat, dealing 2 damage to everything out to a short distance from you; every 2 Intellect you spend past this increases this damage by 2 points.
Tier 6 Blasphemous Apotheosis: You are considered a Vaal Construct for purposes of effects that enhance or heal such, and such things will regard you as one of their own unless you attack them. You gain an additional +2 Armor, and your Recovery rolls have a +1 bonus. You no longer even vaguely resemble your birth form.
Malachai's Blessing: You gain a melee attack that functions as a medium weapon of slashing, piercing, or bashing type (your choice), and it deals an additional 2 poison damage on the round following a successful blow.
Blessed With Virtue
You were born with an attunement to the Virtue Gems the Vaal first created; you can wield them adeptly, and have little to fear from the corrupting aspects of their fragmentary forms. You likely favor crystalline appearances, sewing reflective things to your clothing and delighting in gemstone jewelry.
Any Type can benefit from this Focus easily.
Minor Effect: A pulse of energy among your belongings conducts along your touch, augmenting whatever you were doing to be slightly more effective.
Major Effect: One of your Virtue Gems spontaneously activates without a need for a depletion roll, directing its power to best benefit you in the situation.
Tier One Capacity: You may carry an extra cypher safely.
Infused with Virtue: You gain an additional five points to distribute among your stat pools.
Tier Two Gembond: You are considered trained in all tasks relating to cyphers and artifacts.
Virtuous Power: Any Virtue Gems that deal damage deal one additional point when you invoke them.
Tier Three Gemseed: You may pick a single cypher you carry and embed it in your flesh, gaining the effects of it as a personal power. GM discretion on whether or not a cypher can be utilized in this fashion.
Crystalline: You gain +1 Armor.
Tier Four Virtuous: You gain +2 to each Pool, and a +1 on Recovery rolls.
Tier Five Fueled by Virtue: Whenever a Virtue Gem would be depleted, you may opt to instead move one step down the damage track instead; you cannot recovery from this state until your next ten hour rest. You may use this as many times as you like, but dead is still dead.
Tier Six Gemling: You may choose a single Virtue Gem; it becomes a permanent part of you, never suffering depletion rolls, and you additionally gain +2 to each Pool and
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Exile's Cypher: Modified Focus
Some Foci will fit into Wraeclast just fine with just a little tweaking. Only a few need this tweak to be ready to play, so this will be a relatively simple conversion post. Most of these tweaks will simply be in favor of the flavor of the setting, but a few will be more deeply mechanical in nature. So, without further ado, let's get straight into it.
Channels Divine Blessings
This focus is perfect for those who want to be the rare truly innocent soul cast into Wraeclast by the machinations of a corrupt Inquisition.
At Tier 1, the Focus is modified in that there is, for this world, only one god; all the blessings come from this unnamed divinity. Addtionally, neither the Death/Darkness nor the Trickery/Greed/Commerce Blessings are available.
Tier 3: This tier's power specifically effects the undead (zombies, skeletons, ghosts, and the like) and all Vaal Abominations.
Tier 5: The improved portion of this power is always twisted by the cursed nature of Wraeclast, injecting some unwanted side effect into the result as if a GM Intrusion had been produced.
Tier 6: Vaal Abominations struck by this power act as if they were one level lower on the following round, as the divine power briefly stuns them.
Consorts With The Dead
Cursed Power: At any time that the character has a necromantic effect active, they're surrounded by thin, swirling wisps of dark energy, and they leave bloody footprints wherever they walk.
Necromantic Abilities: In addition to the other effects of this ability, each power so modified is accompanied by the keening wail of cursed souls when activated.
Controls Beasts
Beast Companion: This is a rhoa (an armored, flightless bird that attacks by charging opponents and ramming them, then tearing into them with its beak), giant scorpion, giant spider, sand spitter (a vaguely crablike creature that scoops up rocks and sprays them from its proboscis as a ranged attack), monkey, or large spitting serpent.
Crafts Unique Objects
Replace each reference to 'artifacts' with 'Virtue Gems'. This character has some knowledge of the dark process by which Virtue Gems are crafted, and at Tier 6 may even implant a Virtue Gem safely into a person, transforming them into a Gemling.
Hunts Nonhumans
For the sake of this setting, Vaal Abominations and Gemlings are valid choices as a dedicated foe.
Shepherds Spirits
On a GM Intrusion, the powers of this character draw the attention of the many, many unquiet ghosts that inhabit the land of Wraeclast, and may call spirit-eating cannibals to hunt the character.
Works Miracles
Another good choice for a somewhat pure character unfairly cast into Wraeclast, this one is even more proactive than one who Channels Divine Blessings.
Miraculous Power: All effects the character wields are tinged with a golden or silvery light, blatant evidence of the character's miraculous abilities.
Tier 2: The character gains a Disciple, a level 2 creature who follows the character around and acts as a loyal servant due to the character's miraculous powers.
Tier 4: Casting Out the Unclean - (4 Intellect) - The character radiates sacred energy out to a short distance, inflicting 2 damage to any undead or Vaal Abominations in range.
Tier 6: The character's Disciple become a level 5 creature, ready to defend the miracle worker against most threats.
Channels Divine Blessings
This focus is perfect for those who want to be the rare truly innocent soul cast into Wraeclast by the machinations of a corrupt Inquisition.
At Tier 1, the Focus is modified in that there is, for this world, only one god; all the blessings come from this unnamed divinity. Addtionally, neither the Death/Darkness nor the Trickery/Greed/Commerce Blessings are available.
Tier 3: This tier's power specifically effects the undead (zombies, skeletons, ghosts, and the like) and all Vaal Abominations.
Tier 5: The improved portion of this power is always twisted by the cursed nature of Wraeclast, injecting some unwanted side effect into the result as if a GM Intrusion had been produced.
Tier 6: Vaal Abominations struck by this power act as if they were one level lower on the following round, as the divine power briefly stuns them.
Consorts With The Dead
Cursed Power: At any time that the character has a necromantic effect active, they're surrounded by thin, swirling wisps of dark energy, and they leave bloody footprints wherever they walk.
Necromantic Abilities: In addition to the other effects of this ability, each power so modified is accompanied by the keening wail of cursed souls when activated.
Controls Beasts
Beast Companion: This is a rhoa (an armored, flightless bird that attacks by charging opponents and ramming them, then tearing into them with its beak), giant scorpion, giant spider, sand spitter (a vaguely crablike creature that scoops up rocks and sprays them from its proboscis as a ranged attack), monkey, or large spitting serpent.
Crafts Unique Objects
Replace each reference to 'artifacts' with 'Virtue Gems'. This character has some knowledge of the dark process by which Virtue Gems are crafted, and at Tier 6 may even implant a Virtue Gem safely into a person, transforming them into a Gemling.
Hunts Nonhumans
For the sake of this setting, Vaal Abominations and Gemlings are valid choices as a dedicated foe.
Shepherds Spirits
On a GM Intrusion, the powers of this character draw the attention of the many, many unquiet ghosts that inhabit the land of Wraeclast, and may call spirit-eating cannibals to hunt the character.
Works Miracles
Another good choice for a somewhat pure character unfairly cast into Wraeclast, this one is even more proactive than one who Channels Divine Blessings.
Miraculous Power: All effects the character wields are tinged with a golden or silvery light, blatant evidence of the character's miraculous abilities.
Tier 2: The character gains a Disciple, a level 2 creature who follows the character around and acts as a loyal servant due to the character's miraculous powers.
Tier 4: Casting Out the Unclean - (4 Intellect) - The character radiates sacred energy out to a short distance, inflicting 2 damage to any undead or Vaal Abominations in range.
Tier 6: The character's Disciple become a level 5 creature, ready to defend the miracle worker against most threats.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Exile's Cypher: Focusing In
The Focus is the verb part of the one-sentence summary of a character that sits at the heart of the Cypher System; in adapting it to fit the setting presented in Path of Exile, we're going to have to remove some Foci, change others, and add a few. Given that this could be said to be the meat of the conversion, from a player's perspective, this will like be a series of posts on the subject, along with a look at the 'flavors' offered and how they might fit in. We'll start by looking at the list for those Foci that simply don't belong in the dark fantasy world depicted in Wraeclast.
Battles Robots and Builds Robots are clearly out of place in this, although you could make an argument to convert the latter to something like 'Crafts Golems' or the like. For the purposes of this conversion, however, we'll just mark them both off - the undead, wild beasts, and other exiles amply fill out the options for potential minions, and the undead should satisfy people who want something clearly artificial as a servant.
Calculates the Incalculable, at first glance, sounds like something that might not belong here, but what it describes isn't against the nature of the setting; a character of incredible intelligence has an obvious reason for being exiled, when their intellect results in them noticing flaws between the rhetoric of the Holy Church and the behavior of those who serve it.
Conducts Weird Science, on the other hand, has too much of a modern/sci-fi flavor to really fit; we'll revisit it as one we can revise to make it 'Conducts Strange Sorcery' for people who want a half-mad arcane savant, as the other options along that vein are more controlled than the way this focus feels.
Fuses Flesh and Steel and Fuses Mind and Machine are both out; the fantasic setting doesn't really half half-constructs aside from a few Vaal-era abominations that are dangerous as much for their absolute madness as for their power, and the bias is toward magic that destroys those who treat it as a science, rather than forms of science that can make magic safer.
Interprets the Law is out simply because, in Wraeclast, the only law is that of survival; likewise, the desolate nature of thing discards Is Idolized by Millions, while the fantasy setting sets Is Licensed to Carry aside. On the other hand, Metes Out Justice remains because the search for justice is a thing that exists even when there is no law to describe it.
Operates Undercover is out; it implies a form of society exists that Wraeclast just lacks. Pilots Starcraft is out for obvious reasons, as are Talks to Machines, Travels Through Time, Works the Back Alleys, and Works the System. Of those, the only one that could be argued in favor of is Works the Back Alleys, but the Stealth flavor covers it well enough that no need really exists for a thief-like Focus.
The last one that we could easily discard, Would Rather Be Reading, will remain - stories of this kind are full of the irreverent scholar who learned things and asked questions that those in charge of dogma would prefer remain unknown and unasked. This kind of like scholar-hero can make quite an interesting experience, and easily fills a role for the kind of person who likes to be a clever supporting-role tactician kind of character.
Some other Foci will need modified, even if they seem to fit just fine at first glance; we'll cover those in the next Exile's Cypher post.
Battles Robots and Builds Robots are clearly out of place in this, although you could make an argument to convert the latter to something like 'Crafts Golems' or the like. For the purposes of this conversion, however, we'll just mark them both off - the undead, wild beasts, and other exiles amply fill out the options for potential minions, and the undead should satisfy people who want something clearly artificial as a servant.
Calculates the Incalculable, at first glance, sounds like something that might not belong here, but what it describes isn't against the nature of the setting; a character of incredible intelligence has an obvious reason for being exiled, when their intellect results in them noticing flaws between the rhetoric of the Holy Church and the behavior of those who serve it.
Conducts Weird Science, on the other hand, has too much of a modern/sci-fi flavor to really fit; we'll revisit it as one we can revise to make it 'Conducts Strange Sorcery' for people who want a half-mad arcane savant, as the other options along that vein are more controlled than the way this focus feels.
Fuses Flesh and Steel and Fuses Mind and Machine are both out; the fantasic setting doesn't really half half-constructs aside from a few Vaal-era abominations that are dangerous as much for their absolute madness as for their power, and the bias is toward magic that destroys those who treat it as a science, rather than forms of science that can make magic safer.
Interprets the Law is out simply because, in Wraeclast, the only law is that of survival; likewise, the desolate nature of thing discards Is Idolized by Millions, while the fantasy setting sets Is Licensed to Carry aside. On the other hand, Metes Out Justice remains because the search for justice is a thing that exists even when there is no law to describe it.
Operates Undercover is out; it implies a form of society exists that Wraeclast just lacks. Pilots Starcraft is out for obvious reasons, as are Talks to Machines, Travels Through Time, Works the Back Alleys, and Works the System. Of those, the only one that could be argued in favor of is Works the Back Alleys, but the Stealth flavor covers it well enough that no need really exists for a thief-like Focus.
The last one that we could easily discard, Would Rather Be Reading, will remain - stories of this kind are full of the irreverent scholar who learned things and asked questions that those in charge of dogma would prefer remain unknown and unasked. This kind of like scholar-hero can make quite an interesting experience, and easily fills a role for the kind of person who likes to be a clever supporting-role tactician kind of character.
Some other Foci will need modified, even if they seem to fit just fine at first glance; we'll cover those in the next Exile's Cypher post.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Exile's Cypher: On Descriptors
Descriptors - the 'adjective' part of the one-sentence character description at the heart of an Cypher System character - come in a wide range of flavors and effects. They can be positive - things like Charming, Fast, Intelligent, Perceptive, or Tough - negative - such as Craven, Doomed, Impulsive, Mad, or Tongue-Tied - or simple flavorful - Exiled, Jovial, Mystical, or Weird. All of them have statistical impacts that help define the way your character is unique in contrast to a 'basic' version of whatever Type you choose.
Descriptors can impact whether you have training or an inability with a kind of skill, modify your stat pools to some degree, grant some small but helpful ability or a lasting effect the GM can use to invoke to bring your character into problematic situations, grant extra equipment or remove resources, and - perhaps most importantly - suggest ways to tie your character to the initial events of a game session or campaign.
As such, it might be helpful to touch on a few additional Descriptors (and modified versions of the core book ones) that are particular to the lands of Wraeclast. Modified descriptors are Doomed, Exiled, Spiritual, and Weird; additional ones are Cursed, Forgotten, Outcast, Pious, and Touched. As you might expect, given the cursed nature of the world these are helping describe, each one has downsides to go along with the benefits they offer.
Modified descriptors will just have their differences from the core versions noted, while new ones will be detailed in full.
Cursed
You're condemned and you know it. You were born under an ill sign, touched with dark powers and fated to come to an ill end of some kind. Your entire life has been lived under this cloud, leaving you waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course, there's always the danger that the curse doesn't mandate a bad end for you, personally, but for those who'll have to deal with what you may become.
Fatalistic Reserve - You gain a +2 bonus to your Might Pool.
Dark Lore - You are trained in religious knowledge, history, and knowledge related to Virtue Gems and magic.
Inability - Your resignation makes you slow to react to threats; all initiative and Speed Defense rolls are modified by one level to your detriment.
Condemned Fate - Every other time the GM uses an Intrusion on you, you gain one XP to give away to someone else, but none for yourself. You are allowed to spend XP to refuse the intrusion still.
Burdened - Your curse takes precedence over all other ills against you; any time something attempts to place a long-term negative effect on you, rolls involved in it are modified one level in your favor.
Cosmetic Effect: You have some visible mark or item you can't be rid of that signifies your curse.
Doomed
Inability - Effects that would grant you a lasting benefit have all their rolls modified one level to your detriment.
Voices - You hear the call of the closest voices of death; you can spend a minute studying a choice ahead of you to sense which one has the stronger taste of doom about it (in game terms, the GM gives you a vague idea about what way ahead of you leads to the highest-level opponents.)
Exiled
Bond of Wraeclast - You are trained in all tasks related to Virtue Gems.
Forgotten
Your exile included a condemnation from the Arch Inquisitor himself, commanding that your name be struck from all records and that all who knew you must never speak of you again. Your deeds are gone, your past erased, your course wrenched from the path that fate had laid in for it. Even the auguries of your birth no longer apply to you.
Flexible - You gain +2 to a Pool of your choice.
Raw Talent - Your newfound freedom has forced you to become better at looking after yourself. You become trained in running, jumping, and survival.
Inability - Being wrenched out of the world has wrenched it from you, as well; everything outside your life since the condemnation is a blur. Any rolls involving lore and history not directly related to you is modified by two steps to your detriment.
Outcast
Your crimes, whatever they were, are the stuff of whispered legend; where others were condemned to exile or cursed to be forgotten, you have been cast out. In the eyes of those who once knew you, you are no longer human - no longer anything but a terrible beast, a danger to all around you. Perhaps the crimes you were cast out for were true, perhaps not; it doesn't matter. On the cursed shores of Wraeclast, you have no choice but to become what you have been accused of being, if you want to live to see another day.
Enduring - Add +2 to each Pool.
Survivor - You are trained in all survival skills.
Outcast's Mark - All social skill are modified by two levels to your detriment.
Pious
Even in Wraeclast there is grace and glory, and you know that you have been touched by it. Whether you came here voluntarily to see to the needs of the exiles or you were unjustly exiled by rivals jealous of your blessed state, you are one of the few that the land's stain cannot tarnish. Of course, this makes you a magnet for the corrupt minds that linger in the darkest parts of the continent, as your grace is a burning light to them.
Piety - Add +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Purity - You are wholly unable to use any item of Vaal origin, as the corrupt nature of it burns you.
Sanctity - Any attempt to deceive others is modified by one level to your detriment.
Sacred Ward - The blessed nature of your being gives you +1 Armor.
Spiritual
Spirit-Talker - You are trained in all social interactions with ghosts and other spiritual beings, including the strange things raised by the Vaal.
Touched
While not exactly stained by the curse of Wraeclast, since you woke up on the beach there's something not quite right about the way your mind works. You know you think differently than others, but whether or not you try to hide that fact is up to you. It does give you some small advantages on these shores, even if you've got a hard time trying to understand the concerns of other exiles.
Flexible Mind - Add +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Distracted - You have trouble picking up cues of danger; initiative rolls are modified one step to your detriment.
Scrambled Thoughts - All skills related to knowledge are modified one step to your detriment, as you can't collect your thoughts into a form that you can express.
Altered Insight - You are considered trained in all perception actions.
Causeless Effect - You have trouble connecting effects to causes at times; whenever a GM Intrusion would be triggered by something you directly did, you can't spend XP to refuse it. You do gain XP as normal, however.
Weird
Rather than an affinity for the supernatural, you are attuned to the presence of the Vaal; replace all mentions of the supernatural with Vaal.
Gemling - You are considered trained with all Virtue Gems and Vaal items.
---
Next time we visit Exile's Cypher, we'll start looking at Foci, seeing what existing ones will work in Wraeclast, which need tweaked, which need removed, and what new Foci might be available.
Descriptors can impact whether you have training or an inability with a kind of skill, modify your stat pools to some degree, grant some small but helpful ability or a lasting effect the GM can use to invoke to bring your character into problematic situations, grant extra equipment or remove resources, and - perhaps most importantly - suggest ways to tie your character to the initial events of a game session or campaign.
As such, it might be helpful to touch on a few additional Descriptors (and modified versions of the core book ones) that are particular to the lands of Wraeclast. Modified descriptors are Doomed, Exiled, Spiritual, and Weird; additional ones are Cursed, Forgotten, Outcast, Pious, and Touched. As you might expect, given the cursed nature of the world these are helping describe, each one has downsides to go along with the benefits they offer.
Modified descriptors will just have their differences from the core versions noted, while new ones will be detailed in full.
Cursed
You're condemned and you know it. You were born under an ill sign, touched with dark powers and fated to come to an ill end of some kind. Your entire life has been lived under this cloud, leaving you waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course, there's always the danger that the curse doesn't mandate a bad end for you, personally, but for those who'll have to deal with what you may become.
Fatalistic Reserve - You gain a +2 bonus to your Might Pool.
Dark Lore - You are trained in religious knowledge, history, and knowledge related to Virtue Gems and magic.
Inability - Your resignation makes you slow to react to threats; all initiative and Speed Defense rolls are modified by one level to your detriment.
Condemned Fate - Every other time the GM uses an Intrusion on you, you gain one XP to give away to someone else, but none for yourself. You are allowed to spend XP to refuse the intrusion still.
Burdened - Your curse takes precedence over all other ills against you; any time something attempts to place a long-term negative effect on you, rolls involved in it are modified one level in your favor.
Cosmetic Effect: You have some visible mark or item you can't be rid of that signifies your curse.
Doomed
Inability - Effects that would grant you a lasting benefit have all their rolls modified one level to your detriment.
Voices - You hear the call of the closest voices of death; you can spend a minute studying a choice ahead of you to sense which one has the stronger taste of doom about it (in game terms, the GM gives you a vague idea about what way ahead of you leads to the highest-level opponents.)
Exiled
Bond of Wraeclast - You are trained in all tasks related to Virtue Gems.
Forgotten
Your exile included a condemnation from the Arch Inquisitor himself, commanding that your name be struck from all records and that all who knew you must never speak of you again. Your deeds are gone, your past erased, your course wrenched from the path that fate had laid in for it. Even the auguries of your birth no longer apply to you.
Flexible - You gain +2 to a Pool of your choice.
Raw Talent - Your newfound freedom has forced you to become better at looking after yourself. You become trained in running, jumping, and survival.
Inability - Being wrenched out of the world has wrenched it from you, as well; everything outside your life since the condemnation is a blur. Any rolls involving lore and history not directly related to you is modified by two steps to your detriment.
Outcast
Your crimes, whatever they were, are the stuff of whispered legend; where others were condemned to exile or cursed to be forgotten, you have been cast out. In the eyes of those who once knew you, you are no longer human - no longer anything but a terrible beast, a danger to all around you. Perhaps the crimes you were cast out for were true, perhaps not; it doesn't matter. On the cursed shores of Wraeclast, you have no choice but to become what you have been accused of being, if you want to live to see another day.
Enduring - Add +2 to each Pool.
Survivor - You are trained in all survival skills.
Outcast's Mark - All social skill are modified by two levels to your detriment.
Fallen Virtue - All tasks involving resisting temptation are modified by one level to your detriment.
Hunted - Even in Wraeclast, your past haunts you. Someone has followed you to these cursed shores, or another exile has decided you are too dangerous to let live. GM Intrusions involving you will sometimes involve this foe's appearance, or at least indirectly be the work of their hands. If another player is also Outcast, this may be the same foe or two different ones who may work together or be at odds.
Pious
Even in Wraeclast there is grace and glory, and you know that you have been touched by it. Whether you came here voluntarily to see to the needs of the exiles or you were unjustly exiled by rivals jealous of your blessed state, you are one of the few that the land's stain cannot tarnish. Of course, this makes you a magnet for the corrupt minds that linger in the darkest parts of the continent, as your grace is a burning light to them.
Piety - Add +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Purity - You are wholly unable to use any item of Vaal origin, as the corrupt nature of it burns you.
Sanctity - Any attempt to deceive others is modified by one level to your detriment.
Sacred Ward - The blessed nature of your being gives you +1 Armor.
Spiritual
Spirit-Talker - You are trained in all social interactions with ghosts and other spiritual beings, including the strange things raised by the Vaal.
Touched
While not exactly stained by the curse of Wraeclast, since you woke up on the beach there's something not quite right about the way your mind works. You know you think differently than others, but whether or not you try to hide that fact is up to you. It does give you some small advantages on these shores, even if you've got a hard time trying to understand the concerns of other exiles.
Flexible Mind - Add +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Distracted - You have trouble picking up cues of danger; initiative rolls are modified one step to your detriment.
Scrambled Thoughts - All skills related to knowledge are modified one step to your detriment, as you can't collect your thoughts into a form that you can express.
Altered Insight - You are considered trained in all perception actions.
Causeless Effect - You have trouble connecting effects to causes at times; whenever a GM Intrusion would be triggered by something you directly did, you can't spend XP to refuse it. You do gain XP as normal, however.
Weird
Rather than an affinity for the supernatural, you are attuned to the presence of the Vaal; replace all mentions of the supernatural with Vaal.
Gemling - You are considered trained with all Virtue Gems and Vaal items.
---
Next time we visit Exile's Cypher, we'll start looking at Foci, seeing what existing ones will work in Wraeclast, which need tweaked, which need removed, and what new Foci might be available.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Exile's Cypher: Welcome to Wraeclast
The cursed land of Wraeclast changes somewhat when put through the lens of the Cypher System; where Fate focuses on how to render it into a story-format that provides everyone with building blocks to create the story, the Cypher System tends to be more freeform; outside of the characters and their defined abilities, everything in the Cypher system comes down to a thing's level and the set dressing hung on that detail.
Characters in the Cypher System are comprised of three parts - an adjective (descriptor), a noun (type), and a verb (focus) that are strung together to form a description of the character. For Exile's Cypher, there's a need for special attention to the first and last of those components, to allow for the nature of the setting to be played out as players see fit. Interestingly, while each of Path of Exile's character classes has a decided flavor, you can thematically construct them with any of the Cypher System's four character types, even though the flavor varies significantly with each.
Descriptors are essentially single words that serve as an adjective to make a given character more unique, modifying the basic statistics of a given character by providing extra skills, equipment, features, and flaws to shape how the character interacts with the world. A Brash character who has the same Type and Focus as a Quiet one will interact with the world very differently, much less in comparison to one who is Cursed or Forgotten.
Types are one of the four things that function as the closest thing the system has to a character class. Coming in flavors of Warriors, Adepts, Explorers, and Speakers, each one can offer something as the base for building a PoE character; some obviously make more sense than others (a Marauder makes more sense as a Warrior than as an Adept, at first glance), odd-looking combinations can be fruitful ground (a Speaker built as a Marauder may persuade the spirits to aid them, and talk the more intelligent foes down from hostility, while a Warrior built as a Witch may be an elemental force of destruction, smashing through all who oppose her in wrathful fury.)
Foci are the real workhorses of the game system, providing a tremendous amount of flavor and specialized capability to each character; this is where the power of a given class will come into play, and is the component most likely to have several posts fleshing out versions for use n Wraeclast; each of the varieties of character can be described through Foci in the form of a verb statement such as Communes With Spirits or Commands The Elements.
Put together it forms a complete one-line description that gives a concise feel for what the character is like; a Brash Warrior who Commands The Dead is a warlike Witch who wades into battle alongside their raised minions, heedless of personal danger, while a Cursed Adept who Fires Runed Arrows is a Ranger whose very existence draws the attention of the lands of Wraeclast.
The next post in the Exile's Cypher line will look at Descriptors, and how much the existing ones need added to or modified for the purposes of this campaign.
Characters in the Cypher System are comprised of three parts - an adjective (descriptor), a noun (type), and a verb (focus) that are strung together to form a description of the character. For Exile's Cypher, there's a need for special attention to the first and last of those components, to allow for the nature of the setting to be played out as players see fit. Interestingly, while each of Path of Exile's character classes has a decided flavor, you can thematically construct them with any of the Cypher System's four character types, even though the flavor varies significantly with each.
Descriptors are essentially single words that serve as an adjective to make a given character more unique, modifying the basic statistics of a given character by providing extra skills, equipment, features, and flaws to shape how the character interacts with the world. A Brash character who has the same Type and Focus as a Quiet one will interact with the world very differently, much less in comparison to one who is Cursed or Forgotten.
Types are one of the four things that function as the closest thing the system has to a character class. Coming in flavors of Warriors, Adepts, Explorers, and Speakers, each one can offer something as the base for building a PoE character; some obviously make more sense than others (a Marauder makes more sense as a Warrior than as an Adept, at first glance), odd-looking combinations can be fruitful ground (a Speaker built as a Marauder may persuade the spirits to aid them, and talk the more intelligent foes down from hostility, while a Warrior built as a Witch may be an elemental force of destruction, smashing through all who oppose her in wrathful fury.)
Foci are the real workhorses of the game system, providing a tremendous amount of flavor and specialized capability to each character; this is where the power of a given class will come into play, and is the component most likely to have several posts fleshing out versions for use n Wraeclast; each of the varieties of character can be described through Foci in the form of a verb statement such as Communes With Spirits or Commands The Elements.
Put together it forms a complete one-line description that gives a concise feel for what the character is like; a Brash Warrior who Commands The Dead is a warlike Witch who wades into battle alongside their raised minions, heedless of personal danger, while a Cursed Adept who Fires Runed Arrows is a Ranger whose very existence draws the attention of the lands of Wraeclast.
The next post in the Exile's Cypher line will look at Descriptors, and how much the existing ones need added to or modified for the purposes of this campaign.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Game Conversion: Path of Exile - Beginning
One of the wonderful things about modern video games is how easily some of them convert to tabletop purposes. The downside to this is that many of them either give you a world and no useful plot-related material, or such a narrow band of plot that there's no world to go and explore. Middle ground, where a solid plot exists but is fluid enough to leave room for exploration in other forms without too much effort on the part of a GM, is relatively rare to find.
Thus why this conversion comes to Path of Exile, a massively multiplayer instanced online game where players take the role of people exiled from one land, cast ashore on a continent that actively hates all who walk upon it. With seven classes each with three thematic branches, there are a lot of options for converting the game to a dice-using format. I'll be focusing on two specific game systems in this conversion effort - Cypher System and Fate Core.
I'll be doing this in two sets, one for each system; posts for Fate Core will be tagged with Fate of Exiles and Cypher Systems posts will be tagged as Exile's Cypher.
We'll look at converting classes; With Fate, the posts will have suggestions on building the various classes in ways that both fit their themes and also harness the flexible power of the Fate system, then Cypher, with a look at how each Cypher class aligns with the classes of PoE and a selection of Foci for each class to reinforce the thematic aspects of the available selections on the skill trees.
Further posts will look at the primary NPCs and the roles they occupy, and how they can tie in for a tabletop RPG experience; I'll provide a system conversion for each such NPC in the relevant post, as neither system is the sort of heavyweight mechanically that a D20 system is. Also included will be some suggestions on how to work plot hooks into each of them to lure players in.
We'll also look at locations around the land of Wraeclast and how to use them for game purposes, ways to detail the eerie and hostile nature of the land, and the ways to introduce the things that each region holds for itself. Special detail will be given to the three hub areas and how to turn an encampment of reluctant exiles and suspicious natives into a base of operations for player characters without falling back too much on the digital game's structure. The hideouts available as part of the game will be looked over, giving an idea of how to let players create their own personal base of operations, letting them stake a permanent claim to a portion of Wraeclast itself.
Attention will be given to the enemies of Wraeclast, covering them in rough detail and giving suggestions for how to use the basic creature types and how to modify them to give an increasing level of threat and danger as exiles explore deeper into the ruins of the Eternal Empire and the nightmarish ruins left behind by the Vaal. A special series of posts will cover the bosses and elites, with suggestions on ways to vary each to ensure they provide a challenge to players. Other Exiles - the tabletop equivalent to the named enemy Exiles who appear in the game - will be covered in posts similar to those on the primary NPCs, with notes on their personalities, motives, and tactics.
Throughout the entire series, there will be a series of posts on the items and powers of Wraeclast, on ways to codify things like the Virtue Gems and the various unique and exotic items in the world, plus posts on the lore of the game relevant to a given section.
By the end, playing in this world via either the Cypher System or Fate Core will hopefully be easy for any experienced GM, and provide a framework for converting the game to any other systems they might desire.
Thus why this conversion comes to Path of Exile, a massively multiplayer instanced online game where players take the role of people exiled from one land, cast ashore on a continent that actively hates all who walk upon it. With seven classes each with three thematic branches, there are a lot of options for converting the game to a dice-using format. I'll be focusing on two specific game systems in this conversion effort - Cypher System and Fate Core.
I'll be doing this in two sets, one for each system; posts for Fate Core will be tagged with Fate of Exiles and Cypher Systems posts will be tagged as Exile's Cypher.
We'll look at converting classes; With Fate, the posts will have suggestions on building the various classes in ways that both fit their themes and also harness the flexible power of the Fate system, then Cypher, with a look at how each Cypher class aligns with the classes of PoE and a selection of Foci for each class to reinforce the thematic aspects of the available selections on the skill trees.
Further posts will look at the primary NPCs and the roles they occupy, and how they can tie in for a tabletop RPG experience; I'll provide a system conversion for each such NPC in the relevant post, as neither system is the sort of heavyweight mechanically that a D20 system is. Also included will be some suggestions on how to work plot hooks into each of them to lure players in.
We'll also look at locations around the land of Wraeclast and how to use them for game purposes, ways to detail the eerie and hostile nature of the land, and the ways to introduce the things that each region holds for itself. Special detail will be given to the three hub areas and how to turn an encampment of reluctant exiles and suspicious natives into a base of operations for player characters without falling back too much on the digital game's structure. The hideouts available as part of the game will be looked over, giving an idea of how to let players create their own personal base of operations, letting them stake a permanent claim to a portion of Wraeclast itself.
Attention will be given to the enemies of Wraeclast, covering them in rough detail and giving suggestions for how to use the basic creature types and how to modify them to give an increasing level of threat and danger as exiles explore deeper into the ruins of the Eternal Empire and the nightmarish ruins left behind by the Vaal. A special series of posts will cover the bosses and elites, with suggestions on ways to vary each to ensure they provide a challenge to players. Other Exiles - the tabletop equivalent to the named enemy Exiles who appear in the game - will be covered in posts similar to those on the primary NPCs, with notes on their personalities, motives, and tactics.
Throughout the entire series, there will be a series of posts on the items and powers of Wraeclast, on ways to codify things like the Virtue Gems and the various unique and exotic items in the world, plus posts on the lore of the game relevant to a given section.
By the end, playing in this world via either the Cypher System or Fate Core will hopefully be easy for any experienced GM, and provide a framework for converting the game to any other systems they might desire.
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