Posts made by Thenomain

@Arkandel said:

@tragedyjones Dammit, did it get hot in here just now or what?

Are you in California? Because damn, share that heat would you!

@faraday said:

@Thenomain said:

If someone doesn't have the skill, aren't they still capable if the associated attribute is above 1?

Sure, to some degree.

But here's the thing... there are a couple ways to approach character creation. (This is true in ANY system, IMHO.)

A lot of games are very specific about what happens if you try to do Skill-Thing without having Skill. Fate, for instance, says that unless you note otherwise you are at the can-at-average level. So if there is Drive in a game, then it's assumed that you know the basics of driving without taking a point. This is the nature of Fate, and it's pretty up-front about it.

Others, as @Alzie mentions, tell you what happens if you don't have any points in the skill. Storyteller/Storytelling penalize you one to three dice. I'd penalize someone another two dice if it's stick-shift because screw stick. (Note: I can't drive stick because screw stick.) This is the nature of WoD.

But I'm not done! Let's cast this in the Online Text Gaming aspect, where I think you have a much stronger point:

You've got X points. You can ask yourself...

1. What skills are likely to come up in the game? I'll take as many points as I can in those.
2. How do the dice work? I'll try to spend my points most efficiently to maximize my success chance.
3. What should my character have, assuming that the names of the levels are accurate reflections of reality?

One of the things we get in tabletop that we don't get online is that the way players take stats are a conversation between the players and the GM. Even in Fate Core they say this, if more in the sense of "if a player takes a skill, find an excuse to use it".

Game design from staff becomes a skill to make this work, here. I don't think #3 works without staff support, and that #1 is the most likely for the casual online gamer. To make #3 work, the player has to be on-board with it before they enter chargen, which makes it a social training issue and not a game-design issue. You need to do what these other RPGs do: Say, 'Hey, making a character is a discussion between you and the game.' Then explain the game.

And finally, I kind of want to explain why I think you're getting push-back here. See, a lot of us loudmouths are used to do-whatever-you-want, find-your-own-entertainment games like how nearly every World of Darkness game has been set up since MasqMush (our progenitor). The idea that we would not game the system is alien to a lot of us, so that should explain the probing questions.

Also, they're probing questions. I don't think any of them are meant to incite or harsh. You're taking it well, but it could look like a dog-pile.

@lavit2099 said:

@Alzie I figured by that response he/she wasn't interested in sharing it.

A lot of Mu* coders are okay if someone asks. It's the not-asking that sometimes we get salty about.

@faraday

If someone doesn't have the skill, aren't they still capable if the associated attribute is above 1?

The changes to the dramatic wound system are interesting. First dramatic wound means you get a bonus die per challenge. The second means that villains get two bonus dice against you. The third means you get successes easier (each group of 9 instead of 10). The fourth means that you are out, and can potentially be killed.

The "groups of 10" system is a bit strange, but sure, I'll buy it. 9 + 9 is one success. But if you get one more die, it's impossible not to get 2 successes in that situation.

So far, there are no ways to remove dice from your pool. If you roll 5 dice, you roll 5 dice, period. This means that you can accomplish grander and more impressive feats as you get more dice, through actions or support from others.

Dice do not explode, which means there are no unusual situations of accidentally exploding the head of someone you're stabbing with a sword.

So far so good. I hope schools of swordsmanship are revealed soon.

We have detected gravity waves.

WWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

@mouse

Mod is gone already. Issues?

@Arkandel

I did delete some pictures, while I probably should have simply turned them into links, but I don't regret it and would do it again.

@Three-Eyed-Crow said:

Is there any way to get the Google search bar back?

Yes please.

@bored

No it's not. If you are going to be contrary, you could at least provide one shred of evidence.

(See, I'm pretty good at hyperbole as nuh-uh too.)

d20 SRD?

@faraday

Well for example, I hear about how awesome the combat system on these Battlestar games are. I look at the chargen document and I look for the awesomeness in it. I don't think this excitement is a fluke, but I don't see any leading examples as to why it wasn't a fluke.

I've been getting lost recently as people talk about FS3 as both a role-playing game system and a coded system, when it's not fully either of these things. I'm only now realizing that the original purpose of this thread is: Hey, people who've played on games with this, what do you think of these changes? I'm clearly not the target audience, but as not-the-target-audience I'm exploring.

Also, sometimes I code small, easy systems for fun. Go figure.

I know that I am a hundred posts away from this point now, but by god I'm going to make it.

@faraday said:

@Thenomain - Sorry if I'm being dense, but I'm not sure quite what "rules" you're looking for. Dice mechanics? Chargen instructions? As you say, FS3 is a framework not a complete game, so I'm not sure that what you're looking for actually exists.

That's what I was exploring at first and am now outright saying. If FS3 is a framework, then I am poking holes in @bored's complaints that it can be gamed. You can't game a framework. You need a system before it can be gamed. At worst you can complain about people's use of the toolkit, but I can't see any sincere argument to be made about how people might implement it (edit: unless the framework is so broken that it's difficult to implement it in a way that works; not the case here). Certainly not in the way that @bored has made it. That is one dead horse.

Maybe system toolkits need building instructions somewhere between Ikea (Fate Core) and kitbashing (Fudge), and that would be my first complaint about FS3. You know, how do I turn this collection of ideas into a system? I don't see this being your focus, tho, so I'm mainly throwing this out there to throw out there.

But it occurs to me, right this instant, is that I could be thinking about it wrong, and we could be talking about it wrong. FS3 is not a toolkit to a system, it's a system of guidelines. A system of guidelines is all a lot of RP-centric games need. They don't need a convoluted mash-up of six more or less similarly based game systems (WoD).

I'm going to have to think a bit more about what I mean by "a system of guidelines". I do wish that this system had more of them to make it easier to apply. How many skills is comfortable to balance things out? I could be over-thinking it. It happens.

@faraday

I apologize for seeming to harp on this, but let me be clearer: I'm looking for the FS3 game rules. The Star Wars page comes closest by describing simple and opposed rolls, but none of these links really explain the system.

In a way this is in your defense. Without a system, sure I could create a game with a horrible leaning curve or one where it's impossible to become a master so min-maxing is a necessity. I have long criticized WoD games for giving out too much XP, but because we know the effect of XP from the get-go.

For example, look at the Game of Bones skill list. There are so many there that how could anyone become well-rounded in comparison to, say, the Battlestar's much more meger list?

I see complaints like this about a framework, which is what I'm guessing FS3 to be, as indicators of How Not to Make The System Around This Framework.

@HorrorHound said:

@Thenomain said:

@HorrorHound

So not very well and to a niche minority. Get out of my office!

Just like MUSHing and Doctor Who.

I've tried, really I have, but if you are working this hard to lack a sense of humor then I can't help you. Sorry.

$228,000 funded of $30,000 requested. And climbing.

A $40 better spent than Witcher 3? Maybe, maybe not, but it's done.

@HorrorHound

So not very well and to a niche minority. Get out of my office!

In trying to catch up with this game design, I notice that the link in the initial post does not link to the system it's adjusting. What is presented is a toolbox, and like Fudge before it, that's not enough to talk about balance, which is what's going on here. So could someone link to a game system designed around FS2 or 3? Thanks.

@HorrorHound said:

@Thenomain said:

I have never heard of this before, so I am choosing to believe that I'm hearing about a kids show set in an action-playset far future. Camazotz: Knights of the Forever Tales.

Sons and daughters of a giant Ancestor/King of the Underworld who resides in the House of Bats and grows fat on blood, fear and Bad Things. Possible servant of an Elder God-like being called 'Xibalba'.

@Coin now has all of our attentions.

How would this sell action figures? Get out of my office!

I have never heard of this before, so I am choosing to believe that I'm hearing about a kids show set in an action-playset far future. Camazotz: Knights of the Forever Tales.