Skills and Attributes

Mass Effect has a rather lightweight character development system – it’s more of action games than dice-rolling! (Heh, it is a action game, more accurately put!). The idea is to keep the system light, so the characters are going to be light too. There is only skill focuses, no attributes. All rolls made for mundane skills (persuasion, sneaking and etc.) are made a +0.

Specialized skills are made at base modifier of -4 and is always a failure if any of the dice rolled is a 1.

Getting Focus

Getting a skill focus at a relevant task allows you to make the check at +2, instead of the base modifier. Characters can gain multiple focuses in the same skill, each time bumping the bonus up by +1. Drawing inspiration from the list, the skills available are: AI Hacking (as opposed to normal Hacking), Assault Rifles, Biotics, Bypass, First Aid, Demolitions, Engineering, Computer Use, Heavy Pistol, Heavy Weapon, Intimidate, Persuade, Submachine Guns and Sniper Rifles and Tech. There should be other skills which are conventional – Navigation, Squad Tactics and so on.

Powers

Should powers, such as Overload, Combat Drone and so on be skills? Since Dragon Age has spells, to keep to the fidelity of the system, those in-game powers should be spell-like too, but instead of having many of them, they each have their own levels and can be evolved. The amount of powers available ideally should be scaled by the character’s Tech and Biotic skills.

There is need for a character creation system too. Maybe next time!

Combat

Combats in Mass Effect 2 is dynamic, with different weapons having different rate of fire, spread and range. It’s not a good idea to roll multiple dice for rifles and submachine guns. So the idea is: roll multiple dice for the quick firing weapons and take the top three best. But, but for each 1 rolled on the dice, the dice with the highest value is discarded.

Example: The Vindicator Assault Rifle allows attacking players to roll 5d6 in combat. On a roll of 3,4,5,5,6, the player takes the three highest roll (5 + 5 + 6) and comes up with 16. If he has rolled 1,3,4,5,6, he needs to remove the 1 and 6, leaving him with 3+4+5, or 12.

Hopefully this is a nice framework to develop the idea into!

Bombs

These alchemical creations explode in a variety of ways when expose to air, or when the mix of strange blackpowder within it is ignite, causing the clay jars or pots holding the mixture to shower upon the enemies. It takes a Strength test (3d6 + Strength) to make a good throw, and it at most can go up to 8 yards.

Bombs in the CRPG does good damage at the beginning (the Prima Strategy Guide lists them as doing 80 points of damage), but become lackluster towards the end of the game. As characters in the CRPG starts with 90 to 110 Health, and the PnP version starts with 20 to 35 Health, the bombs all do 3d6 points of damage.

As this is a PnP RPG game where stuff can be more flexible, I have added some side-effects of using those bombs.

Acid Flask: 3d6 nature damage within 4 yards, all targets take 1d6 points of damage next round, and 1d3 the round after. Double the AR for reducing damage from the Acid Flask.

Fire Bomb: 3d6 fire damage within 4 yards, will set flammable substance on fire

Freeze Bomb:3d6 ice damage within 4 yards, puts out fire, creates a thick alchemical fog which gives -2 penalty Attack to those within

Shock Bomb: 3d6 electricity damage within 4 yards, make a Constitution roll with the TN as the damage done or else loses major action

Soulrot Bomb: 3d6 spirit damage within 4 yards, all those who takes more than 12 points of damage suffer -1 penalty to Magic for 1 minute

Arrows

Those arrows are either coated with a susbtance that does elemental damage, or weaved with magic to achieve their effects. Enchanting items is usually left to the Tranquil (or in some cases, a very talent Dwarven savant), and hence it is not possible for PCs to craft their own enchanted items within the constraints of Freleden.

Andraste’s Arrows: Target suffers -2 Magic for one turn if hit
Arrow of Filth: +1 Nature damage
Elf-Flight Arrow: +3 Attack, use 3 Stunt Points to make a target unable to perform a major action
Fire Arrow: +1 fire damage
Ice Arrow: +2 ice damage

Shortbows

Scout Bow: 1 in 6 chance of Aim being  free action*
The Dark Moon: +1 Will Power, AR 2 against Nature damage, Ignore 2 points of AR
The Fox’s Bow: +2 Defense vs. ranged attacks
Whitewood Bow: +2 damage, +1 Stunt Point
Wilds Bow: AR 2 against Nature damage

Longbows

Antivan Longbow: +1 Stunt Points
Bow of the Golden Sun: +2 Attack
Dalish Longbow: 1 in 6 chance of Aim being a free action
Falon’Din’s Reach: +1 damage, 1 in 6 chance of Aim being a free action
Far Song: +2 damage, 1 in 6 chance of Aim being a free action, +1 SP, +3 Attack, add damage from the Dragon die on hit
Mage’s Eye: add damage from half the dragon die on hit, +2 Attack
Marjolaine’s Recurve: +2 Cunning, +2 damage, 1 in 6 chance of Aim being a free action
Spear Thrower: 1 in 6 chance of Aim being a free action, ignore 1 point of AR
Wolf-Killer: +2 damage against undead, +3 damage against beasts

* As a way of balancing the item, the second Aim action (if the player chooses to take it) will not have a chance of being free.

Until Green Ronin comes up with the various steel and metal used to forge weapons in the game, assume the enchanted weapons does base damage as usual. Generious GMs can give damage bonuses based on the material (for example, Iron -1, Grey Iron +0, Steel +1 and so on).

As the PnP system uses a curve instead of a linear system from the CRPG, I halved all stat bonuses by 2, always rounding up (lest some items become useless)

Daggers

Beastman’s Dagger: +1d3 backstab damage
Crow Dagger: +1d6 backstab damage
Darkspawn Dagger: Requires minimum dexterity +1, reduces AR by 1 for this hit
Enchanted Dagger: +2 Attack
Fang: +6 Attack
Gift of the Grey: +1 Stunt Point
Noble’s Dagger: +1 electricity damage
The Rose Thorn: +1 Dexterity, restores 1 HP every 2 round, +1 damage, +1 Stunt Point, +2d6 backstab damage
Thorn of the Gods: +1 damage, reduces AR by 3 for this hit
Thorn of the Dead Gods: +1 damage, reduces AR by 1 for this hit
Varathorn’s Dar’Misu: reduces AR by 2 for this hit, +3 Attack

Shortswords/Longswords

If a name of an item below doesn’t have the word ‘longsword’, whether it is a shortsword or a longsword is up to the GM to decide.

Darkspawn Longsword: Minimum Dexterity +1, reduces AR by 1 for current hit
Dwyn’s Sword: Messy Kills (GM describes death in the most gory manner possible?), +1 to resist rolls vs. spells
Cousland Sword: +1 Damage, +2 Attack, Warrior/Rogue only
Fine Dwarven Blade: +1 Attack
Imperial Edge: +1 damage, +1 Stunt Point, +3 Attack
Keening Blade: Reduce AR by 2 for this hit, +3 Attack, +2 cold damage, Warrior only
King Mairc’s Blade: AR 1 against cold damage, restoratve spells grant +1 Health per die rolled, Warrior only
Oathkeepr: Reduces AR by 2 for this hit, restorative spells grant +1 Health per die rolled
Saw Sword: +1 damage, 1 additional SP if dragon dice is odd
The Green Blade: AR 1 against natural damage, +2 damage against beasts
Topsider’s Honor: AR 2 against natural damage, +1 damage against spirits

Talents, Focus and Equipment

The rules basically extend the game by adding a new talent – the Poison talent, and the Poison ability focus. The focus is a Cunning based skill, and as in the game, it requires at least the Focus to use poison (without accidentally harming yourself). Poison typically works best on edged weapons, and unlike the CRPG, you can apply it on bolts and arrows.

Components for crafting poisons should be rare to come by – no price is listed (yet), and if the players are foraging, a Cunning roll against a difficulty of 11 should be made (if the character is in an environment where such things could grow) to locate the crafting component needed. A downtime of one day minimal is needed for a single flask of poison, which is good for 3 doses. Poison expires within a minute – exposure to air quickly cause them to lose their effectiveness.

Deathroot Extract

Equipment: Deathroot, Flask
Requires: Cunning 1, Novice Poison talent, Poison focus

Attack deals +1 Spirit damage, and you can use 4 Stunt Points to stun the target for 1 round.

Venom

Equipment: Venom Extract, Flask
Requires: Cunning 1, Poison novice talent, Poison focus

Attack deals +1 Spirit damage, and you can use 4 Stunt Points to reduce target’s Speed by 2 and Initiative by 2.

Concentrated Deathroot Extract

Equipment: Deathroot, Flask, Distillation Agent
Requires: Cunning 2, Novice Poison talent, Poison focus

Attack deals +2 Spirit damage, and you can use 3 Stunt Points to stunt the target for 1 round.

Concentrated Venom

Equipment: Venom Extract, Flask, Distillation Agent
Requires: Cunning 2, Novice Poison talent, Poison focus

Attack deals +2 Spirit damage, and you can use 3 Stunt points to reduce target’s Speed by 2 and Initiative by 2.

Crow Poison

Equipment:  Toxin Extract, Deathroot, Distillation Agent, Flask
Requires: Cunning 3, Journeyman Poison talent, Poison focus

Attack deals +3 Spirit damage, and you can use 2 Stunt points to stun target for 1 round.

Level 1 Sorcerer Reversed Spells

Wyrmbreath

As Dragonbreath, but unleash a blast of icy cold air with Speed 10 but doing 1d6 + 8 damage. If the GM is feeling generous, this can be used for some utility purposes (putting out fire, creating chill water and so on).

Ghost Image

Creates an image that is obviously false, but can be made to move around, though complex movement are impossible (no swinging of arms for a human person). Useful when you need to conjure floating daggers in front of potential usurpers.

Pain Touch

Does 2 points of HP damage to a person touched by the caster, or in other way in contact within 2m (such as through a weapon). This allows the target to make a Magic Defence roll. Armour does not protect against the damage.

Lunar Eclipse

Create a shade of darkness that plunge the surrounding area (5m in radius) into dimness. It is not completely dark (if it was dim before, then it is), but only those with darkvision could see clearly.

Portal

The original Portal spell is originally 2 spell in one (Close Portal and Open Portal)!

Strengthen

Grants the target (within 10m) +1 Attack and +1 damage in combat.

Level 2 Sorcerer Reversed Spells

Hide Aura (expired when dispelled)

Dampen the Sorcerer’s innate magical aura, making him more difficult to be detected as a Sorcerer. The aura can be extend by 2m in a sphere for every 1 extra MP used. It can also be cast on a magical item to prevent its true nature to be known. If a Sorcerer or any other magic-using profession attempt to use a spell to detect auras, treat the Hide Aura spell as a specialised Magic Wall. Magic cast within a Hide Aura, if its level is equal or lower than the MP invested in it, would not be picked up by any magic users.

Mana Lash

As Inflict Wound, but cause the opponent to lose 4 points of Mana instead of 5 points of HP.

Veil Against Unnatural Eyes (Spell Expiry Roll)

Range: 5m
Area of Effect: 2m

Creates an area that is blocked from spells such as Peer and Scry.

Lure Undead

As Hold off the Dead, but this time it lures the undead towards the target, but if they fail their magical defence. This can be tactically useful in some instance, for unless the undead is intelligent, it would just move in easiest method to the caster. Even if there is a pit in front of it.

Wither

This clears a patch of vegetation equal 2m in radius within a range of 15m of the Sorcerer. Trees, weeds, undergrowth and bushes would just wither away, as if water is being siphoned out of them directly and crumble into dust. This spell has no effect on human and other living creatures. Good for removing thick cover quickly.

Warrior’s Luck

Instead of adding -2 to an attacking creature’s hit roll, the Sorcerer gains a +2 on all hit-rolls.  The Sorcerer may cast this spell and attack immediately.

To be honest, I do not look up what a sandbox approach is. I take my cue from GTA and Obvilion, which basically allows the player to explore the world as they like. However, the thing with Nobilis and other RPGs is that it is a group thing. I need to come up with a way that players can do what they want, together.

Nobilis, I feel, address this issue superbly. Characters in the group belongs to a single ‘family’, under their Imperator. The welfare of the chancel, their own mystical realm, and the protection of each other is an important informal rule of the game. So what I have done is to give projects to each of the character that will ultimately improve the lot of their chancel and their Imperator.

Sometimes, reading through the sandbox threads on RPG.NET, one get a feeling that it is chaotic, disogranised, with players killing NPCs just because “they are not essential to the story” or “this is how I would act in game”, or just plain doing what is plain unacceptable (“I try to posion the king”). This is all fine and dandy if all the players go along with the action. But if not, it would be just a series of facepalms.

Nobilis address this issues, by once again, to have a set of laws governing the characters. After all, they are demi-gods who could shoot down the sun, change the laws of gravity – some checks and balance must be in place!

What can you do in Nobilis?

In my game, I have each character picked up a lost ‘estate’ – estate that are lost and not claimed because their Imperator is dead. The characters would have to decide what to do with the estate they had adopted. How are they going to promote it? Will they absorb the concepts of the new estate into their old one, or redefine them to fit their world view?

I think this approach is good because the players would generate their own plot hooks and two, anyone’s success is going to be everybody’s success (their Imperator gets stronger, and gains Dynasty Points, a form of experience points for their Imperator). Likewise, I can rest my brain for a while and see what they want to do. Whatever they come up with, I will then plan accordingly.

In short, the strategy is “sandbox while planning, focus while playing”.

Sandboxing in Traditional Fantasy

Fantasy games, like D&D, are harder to regulate than Nobilis because besides the laws of alignment, there is nothing in the meta-plot to stop short of the PCs slaughtering an entire village, or to seduce the king’s daughter and other session-breaking acts. As emphasis, if all the players agree with the action, there’s no problem. The problem is what happens when two characters want to be the hero, while two others just want to cause trouble wherever they go?

Again, I would like to borrow elements from FATE/Spirit of the Century for some ideas. During character creation, each character has a chance to take part in a ‘novel’ (or adventure) of the other character. It is best, therefore, to come up with the goals and objectives of the sandbox game. But wait, isn’t the lack of planning the giest of a sandbox game? True,  but it doesn’t mean that there should be no planning. The planning here is to have a sort of a meta-plot which would guide the freedom in the sandbox game. It helps to keep the players in agreement with each other and give them a direction to all their actions.

For example, we take a group of characters whose goal is to overthrow the empire that has invaded in their homeland. This is not going to happen in a session or two. The first adventure could be something like a teaser – the PCs meet, are attacked by enemies, find some allies and perhaps find a base to hide. The next move is up to them. What will they do next? Recurit followers? Forge weapons? Assassinate one of the captains leading the armies? In this context, setting up an inn or becoming slave traders would look like odd decisions.

The important thing here is that all players must agree with the direction and objectives.

Playing Chess with the GM

I don’t see a sandbox game where the players come up with all the options and bombard them at the GM. Whenever there is an action, there would be a reaction. The GM opens the first session, setting the stage. Next session, the players come up with a plan and set it into motion. They got something done, fulfill an objective and so on. But what they have done would have consequences, and so in the next session the GM can introduce a more tightly plotted adventure, like the kidnapping of one of their allies or bounty hunters after them. This helps to guide the campaign

1. A few records of Taidezi arrived at Ellesland, probably smuggled out from the country (for those are all considered Imperial treasures) and sorcerers, sages and scholars are scrambling to get their hand on it. Meanwhile, Imperial agents from Khitai have arrived, determined to retrieve the star charts at all cost. If the adventurers meet them, the agents would explain it is more than a matter of pride – the charts itself contain the exact arrangement of “A Doom of the Sky”, a time when the “celestial lights are in disharmonious accord” which made it easier to summon demons and fiends to the world.
2. A merchant, gifted with a star chart of Taidezi from a high ranking Khitian officer, had a few of his scholarly friends examine it and all went away puzzled. The stars are all in a strange arrangement which does not match those of western astrology and the scholars come to the conclusion that either there is something they didn’t know or the chart is a fraud. Yet when the merchant accidentally hang the chart in front of a mirror, certain of the arrangement begin to form Khitian characters! What is the secret hidden within the star chart?
3. Taidezi did more than just record down the arrangement of the stars. He reconstructed them, using the resources of powerful warlords, sorcerers and Imperial Ministers whom were his patrons. He predicted the time when he would die, and retreated into the Sixty-Four-Fold Celestial Formation, a hilly and forested region of natural wonders, with iron pillars erected at certain positioned. If one would climb the Mountain of the Heavenly Wonders and looked down, those pillars would form the major constellations of the Khitian sky. Yet why did Taidezi create such a formation? There are legends that this formation actually channeled the raw Yin and Yang enegry towards its centre, and there Taidezi still live, observing and studying the stars. If  the adventurers are in need of sagely advice, Taidezi and the Sixty-Four-Fold Celeistal Formation is a place to go.

Why a One Roll Combat?

The idea of one roll combats come from video games – the famous “reaction sequences” from God of War and its numerous clones as well as the Time Crisis arcade games. In those games, usually, out from nowhere, an enemy will launch at you or an event will demand your immediate attention. On the screen a button will flash and you have to hit it at the right timing to avert imminent doom. Resident Evil 4 uses this to good effort, with an entire fights played through by pressing a combination of right buttons.

An armed confrontation, in a RPG, is usually a time for thrill and action-packed roleplaying; but sometimes tactical rules could drag the process down and it becomes a number-crunching, planning-laden process. The motive of thinking up a one-roll combat is to have the thrill of combat without all the lengthy dice rolling.

When to use One Roll Combat?

One of the features of old-school dungeon crawls, and in console rpgs, are random encounters (or planned encounters for the the good old dungeon). The intent is to soften up the adventurers before they come to meet the final bad guy at the end. The idea of one roll combats is for those cases – not for epic, dramatic, pivotal showdowns (which are often slow-downs as well)  but for fighting mooks.

A lot of emphasis on one roll combat is more than just attribute + skill or a roll-under of certain sum of number – but also the use of environment, tactics and strategies to outsmart your opponent. While usually in a normal combat encounter the usage of those is broken into several rounds, for a one-roll combat system this is all abstracted in one quick roll (or several rolls, for each of the player).

Actually, another inspiration for this idea comes from Tunnels and Trolls, where everyone rolls their combat dice and adds and compare it with the monsters. No movement chart, no flanks or attacks of opportunities. Well, no formal rules, anyway. It is possible to use “saving rolls” for other effects, but there’s only GM’s fiat to work that out.

Likely Objections to ORC

Right, typing “One Roll Combat” is tiring my fingers out, so let use ORC as its shorten name instead. One of the biggest objections to ORC is that it takes out all the planning and the fun crunchy part of the game. It’s a valid one; however, ORC is not intended to replace all combat. It is a pacing tool, as one could see later.

A second challenge to ORC is what if it doesn’t incorporate all the nuances of combat? For example, if designing an ORC for D&D 3.5 and it doesn’t take into consideration iterative attacks, fighters may feel ‘nerfed’ when using the ORC system (or for D&D 4, the inability for fighters to mark targets for a long term advantage). For such reason, ironically ORC is good for medium rules heavy game instead of ultra-heavy ones – unless the players are all right with the inconsistency. One thing to stress though is that ORC is a pacing tool – it is  intended for “mook combat” , an alternative to “only 2 combat scenes per game” as fully ran combat could run up to an hour.

A Simple One Roll Combat System for Fate 3.0

To start off simple, let’s consider a ORC for Fate 3.0 (where ORC is the acronym for One Roll Combat). The SRD for Fate 3.0 is online and at any rate it is based on FUDGE. The concept is simple.

1. The mob is given a level, maybe Average (+1) or Good (+3). The GM will roll 4dF for the mob, add it to the it’s level and hide the result.
2. Each player has a chance to use one skill (and if they wish, tag an Aspect or two) in the fight. That skill represents their main thrust of strategy in the combat. A character who uses the Weapon skill is of course, engaging in combat. Another character may use Leadership in an attempt to coordinate the battle. One may use Stealth to try to stay hidden and cause distractions.
3. Players will roll their skill.
4. Each player compare his skill to what the GM has rolled. For each player, if he rolls lower than the mob, he takes a physical stress equal to the number of shift. If the player has rolled higher, the mob takes 1 point of damage. Keep track of the running damage.

For each point of damage taken by the mob, its quality drops by one level. Once it is reduced to mediocre (+0), the mob is dispersed or utterly destroyed. Hence, a mob of Fair quality (+2) upon taking 2 or more points of damage would not be of any threat. If this is too easy, consider this variant – for every point of damage equal to the number of players, the quality of the mob drop by 1. So for 4 characters, if there are 4 points of damage, the mob’s quality will go down by 1.

Only evaluate whether the mob’s threat is neutralised after giving resolving each roll of the player’s.

Of course, some skills would not be applicable during a a pitched battle (for example, Academics), so it’s the GM’s call whether a skill can be used. Depending on the nature of the enemy, certain skills may be penalised. A character going hand to hand with a bunch of gangsters wielding tommy guns may get a disadvantage via tagging of an aspect.

Doing an ORC fo Fate is simple, really. Let try something with medium crunch next – Dragon Warriors.

Usually, I begin with, “Would you want to play a game where you are a god-being? You represent a concept, say guns, and you can like do anything with guns.” The usual reply is “Heck, if I am so powerful, then where’s the challenge?”

There’s a couple of mistakes here; one reason may be due to I have been reading the GWB rather carelessly. First, the players are not god-beings. In fact, when pitching the games to others, I will suggest not trying to explain what’s a noble is. Remember, back when I mention HCI, people always try to frame new things with their own experiences. So to sell Nobilis, go for what they may already be familiar with.

“You play as an avatar which represents a component of creation”. Now this sounds easier to swallow.

(Though I have to say that people who read Sandman and other related novels, especially the series suggested in the GWB, will have less problems)

However, thinking through things, I think it is better to sell the world.

“Oh, Nobilis is a game in which everything and anything has a spirit and are semi-intelligence. You play as an avatar of a concept, or anything, in creation and you have to make sure it survives. You are being empowered by one of the many gods in creaton so in a sense you are superhuman. There are also others like you too around.”

I’m not sure if this sells better, but I am going to try this if I need a second group to play Nobilis.