Pirates vs. Ninjas

[Maxios]

Some possibile stories and info would be helpfl. Thanks

[Observer]

Some possibile stories and info would be helpfl. Thanks

I have a few to share. What kind of stories would you like to hear? Insane shenanigans? Times when everything went poorly for us but still ended up awesome? Low point parties? Medium-point parties? High point parties? Nearing-the-threshold-of-epic parties?

We've had quite a few memorable moments in the nearly a year that this thing has been in Beta tests, so I'll need some point to open fire with.

[Kiroth6]

We have two sets of characters in our beta testing group. Since PvN allows characters to cross class pretty easily, I'll list our groups names, main factions and a brief description of our play style.

The PCs

Frederick Forge: Craftsman. Gentleman Craftsman of Words and Maker of the Reading Railroad, an indestructible steam train/car that serves as his Craftsman's forge and gets the party from place to place. Party Tank and alternative damage dealer.

Dr. Raptorstrike: Dr. Inja. Sardonic Doctor of many talents. Alternatively the party healer and buffer, glass cannon or secondary tank depending on the circumstance.

Tallahassee Rose: Lucky: A dodgy, brawling, adrenaline junkie gypsy.

******** Ned:Gunnarr: An ill-tempered gun-toting pirate who often sets both friends and enemies on fire with explosions and wide swaths of gunfire.

So we were tracking down this guy called the Essential Alchemist who was acting as an arms dealer in the area and causing a lot of trouble.
We had a lead to a town called Killfrost and had a choice to take a safer but longer path or a ridiculously dangerous short cut. Tallahassee, being an adrenaline junkie, insisted that the party take the ridiculously dangerous path.

Not long into the trip, the train has to stop because of a fallen tree on the road. Thinking something is up, the party sends out Tallahassee to check things out. She makes the precision check and warns the party just before the monsters attack. Eight raptors pop out of the woodwork and attack the party. We scribble our actions on our cards, roll our reactions and the battle gets underway.

[Maxios]

Observer: Any story would be helpful

Kiroth: Thanks! That's a good story!

[Observer]

Well, I might as well start this off by naming a character and rattling off the stories they have brought. So, let's start with the low point party, since Kiroth6 has already named the high-point party. (By the way, I play Raptor Strike in that group. A Dr. Inja / Shoninja. More on him later.)

When you talk about our lower point party, there are two names that are bound to appear. So, to start off my stories, I will say a few things about the face of the low point party. The Rokinja whose name and attitude are cannot be done justice in a text format such as this. I mean the One, the Only (thank God), the Awesome

Indigar VanSplosion!

Why did I do that?

Anyway, Indigar is your standard rock star. A list of addiction flaws a mile long, inversely proportional to the guy's precision score. The guy has a following, though, and not even Sirens have managed to resist his charms (thanks to freak dice rolls). We've even run into a fangirl problem. Specifically, one very obsessed fan-girl named "Thousand Cuts" who thinks the party's Wandering Minstrel is going out with the target of her, well, obsession.

The low-point party's standard tactic is, when they want to try being smart, to load Indigar with enough offensive teamwork buffs to rip out a decent portion of someone's life, and then just launch him into a Power Slide that, as time has gone on, has been combined with things such as Liquid Thunder and Pose And Explode, as well as the ability that he just acquired the level 6 version of: "God of Rock".

While going on the road to KillFrost, the safer route compared to the one Tallahassee took the high points on, the party encountered a T-Rex. In a moment that let this Rokinja shine, VanSplosion jumped onto the monster's back and started performing the Final Countdown. When buffed by the rest of the party, it wasn't much of an issue for him to keep dodging and dealing exponential damage.

This character has taught us beta testers a few things. 1: Power Chord is a deadly ability, and if a Rokinja manages to hit you with it you might as well give up on avoiding damage from the guy. 2: Even a character as awesome as this may end up having trouble if the player is having a hard time coming up with stunts. 3: Nothing stops Indigar from trying to pursue the Siren that got away.

Seriously. Its like some kind of fanfiction of Moby **** where Ahab never lost his leg, was a rock star instead, and the author is trying to, forgive the pun, ship him with the Siren that attacked his ship with a whale.

...Probably should have known that book's title would get filtered.

[Maxios]

Awesome. That's a pretty good story!

[Kiroth6]

Continuation of previous post.

Sorry I didn't finish this

Suprise! Raptors Attack

Six raptors attack Tallahassee and two attack Ned with deadly dinosaur hit coordination. Kurosawa corollary puts them at a -1. Tallahassee dodges most of the attacks but the ones that take off a quarter of her life. Ned starts shooting but gets pretty mauled. This pisses Ned off so he decides to use Black Powder Leap to get away and blows up the raptors around him. The raptors and Tallahassee. This draws off most of the raptors who maul Ned into unconsciousness.

Raptor Strike comes up with a quick plan to boost the party and creates a some clones with Me and My Shadow. While Forge is hurling damaging insults at the raptors, the clones run out suicidally, heal Ned and Tallahassee and burn themselves out before the turn is up. Ned gets up, flips the raptors the bird and knocks himself out with another Black Powder leap. Two raptors survive and run into the cart to attack Forge and Raptor Strike.

Raptor Strike exits out the window and Forge activates Infinite Sword Jobs trapping the remaining raptors and essentially ending the fight.

And that's how we got a brand new pair of raptor pets.

[Makiru]

I didn't join the beta test until about halfway through, which would probably be why my characters weren't put in the list. I'll just put them down as a general idea and let the others handle the storytelling (my memory isn't always the best for these sort of things). I've mostly just been playing the factions that had been new at the time to help Dariun find any kinks.

Low-Point:
Cannonball Carl: Drunkarrd who specializes in Rollin' Thunder. Had both shins chopped off for learning Rub Some Cheetah's Blood On It through very blatant theft and replaced them with pegs. Claims to fame include being as dense as a brick, breaking ships with his face and subsequently forgetting how to do so much damage in one hit (Rollin' Thunder got a damage cap due to me), being easily insulted into unconsciousness, throwing tanks at people, outrunning a motorcycle, and being the only person in his group that doesn't have an alcohol addiction.

High-Point:
One With Nothing: Feykinja infiltrator. So good at creating false identities, he actually forgot his real one (until recently). Backstory-wise, he'd actually been tailing the group for most of the adventure in disguise, including Frederick Forge's assistant, Kyle Crucible. He'd been hired out to kidnap Tallahassee, and he spends months ingratiating himself with the target. Naturally, another Feykinja kidnaps her before he makes his move and he joins the group to get her back and get revenge on his employer, the head of the Gambler's guild. Notable feats include fighting said guild head on two different occasions in the OWN Zone (and getting himself knocked well below -100 life both times), trolling people to such an extent that ****head Ned actually regarded him as a friend, and mind-controlling the Weasel King to punch its summoner...twice.

[Maxios]

Alright. Thanks
These are some good stories

[Observer]

Dammit, Makiru, I was going to get to Carl!

Anyway, next up on the list of characters from the beta is a person who my own character in the low point party firmly believes is the most idiotic creature ever created. This... THING represents the greatest terror that ninjas have presented to what little sanity the world has left. I speak, as my fellow testers will have guessed by now, of the man-child known as...

DEAREST FRIEND

Ever thought what the combined stupidity of every shonen action hero ever would be like? This is it. He has turned team fights into free-for-alls, is responsible for the Level 5 "Dearest Friends", and is definitive proof that, no matter how bad the character's stats may seem, good roleplaying can and normally will make the character a force to be reckoned with.

For the basic crunch, this little monster is a Shoninja/Lucky that just tends to out-tank most opposition thanks to a high will score and both Lucky abilities and lucky dice rolls. His favored attacks, when he's not distracted from combat by making snow men, have been "Strike the Forbidden Zone" and "Justice Barrage", normally going for the groin-kick first. This counters his main motivation for combat, which is that he fights people because if he wins that means they are his friend, right?

He's also the party's main user of "Bull's Red Cape", which capitalizes on the character's naturally annoying qualities.

Now that you know a bit more about him, here's a few of his accomplishments. (You'll see what I meant about the lucky rolls thing) In no particular order, he has: Tried to sneak into a guarded office while yelling "SNEAK SNEAK SNEAK" and succeeded, Get kidnapped then escape the kidnapper when said kidnapper threw him out of a window while attempting interrogation, establish a rivalry with the local paper boy named Timmy, and did I mention that at least half of his uses of Dearest Friends has been so that he can fight what he summons or team up with it against everyone including his own teammates.

He's also managed to come to the conclusion that the lucky known as "Black Cat" must be him from the future. "Black Cat" has also come to believe this when the two met and came up with this idea. Everyone else in the party has figured out that this is just those two being total idiots. There has also been a rumor that he is the long lost son of a particular Drunkarrd that I will no doubt summarize in a later post. Or Kiroth6 can do it, since that Drunkarrd is her character after all.

[Makiru]

I only put the general basis of the character. You still have room to talk about the truly stupid things that I've done.

[Observer]

I was wanting to wait longer to tell you all about this particular character. Its not because he has done incredibly awesome things and I wanted to save the best for last. I was waiting because, well, I don't like talking about my own characters too much because I can't seem to shut myself up.

On to introducing this guy to you all. Prior to Cannonball Carl and a yet-to-be-revealed character joining the low-points, he was the lone Pirate at the party. There is no such thing as too many AoE's, and this gunnar has frequently shown off a bad habit of hitting his allies as much as he hits friendlies, and causing excessive damage to the environment regardless of how many people he's fighting. He is...

Overkillin' Oliver

This is the smartest member of the low-point party. He's also mostly illiterate. Oliver's a Gunnar with a variety of Carpentaar, Craftsmen, and Alchemist skills who started out with Bullet #9 as his favorite attack and switched over to spamming Salty Peter's Hidden Arsenal later. His greatest drawback, aside from the fact that he is incredibly greedy, is his 1 agility. This guy cannot dodge, and stealth isn't really his cup of grog, so he settles for setting everything on fire with Jack of All Planes, causing explosions, building ridiculous gadgets, firing rapid-fire weapons, and launching Indigar out of cannons.

So, what has he done? Well, he did corner the market on a poison antidote in one town. Said monopoly incidentally helped the campaign's BBEG. He's also invented the PvN universe's first camera, trolled the Lord of Parries himself, and he has done enormous amounts of collateral damage to at least 3/4 of the towns the party has gone to. He has proven to be the closest thing the low-point party has to a skill monkey, constructs indestructible prosthetic limbs, and cut off his own hands just to acquire more guns and explosives.

Aside from that, most of his best moments come from team-ups with other characters, which I will focus on later once the entire cast of our low-point party is introduced... unless you want me to go into detail on the high-points, too.

Also, contrary to what Makiru said, Carl isn't the only one without an alcohol addiction in the low-points. Shante doesn't, Dearest Friend doesn't, and Oliver doesn't (though you wouldn't be able to tell based on how he acts.).

[Observer]

Kiroth6, please correct me if I screw up the spelling on this one.

There's not much to say about the next target of my party review. She's the singer in the band lead by Indigar, and is primarily a support character.

Shante

That's the best I can do at spelling her name, and I cut out most of it. Honestly, that's all anyone calls her anyway, so it should be fine.

There really isn't that much spectacular about Shante. When I say she's a support character, I mean that if she is alone she is the least threatening character around, and even when the party is assembled she often gets ignored unless the opponent is one of Indigar's fangirls. She, however, makes the group's efforts at teamwork shine. Damage boosts, roll boosts, healing, everything that the team needs to get the job done despite Oliver's frequent team-killing, Dearest Friend's pure chaos, and Indigar's incredible ability to drain his own life at excessive speeds in order to dump the musical pain on people.

Roleplay-wise, she has an amazing habit of being a total wimp. Easy to intimidate despite her will score, a proud owner of the Clumsy flaw, and pretty dependent on other people to handle things when the previously mentioned fangirls decide to attack her because they think she's too close to Indigar.

That's pretty much all I can tell about her. Kiroth6 may be able to provide some better information, but I'll save many of the good stories for after the teams are introduced.

[Maxios]

These are great stories and characters guys!

[Observer]

Second-to-last on my list of characters from the low-point party is one that's already been named in this thread.

Cannonball Carl

Carl is fast. As was stated before, he is built for rolling thunder. If only he was built to HIT with rolling thunder without burning awesome points. However, his relatively low accuracy ratings aren't what the beta testers remember him for. While we do remember him breaking a ship in half with a missed rolling thunder prior to that ability getting fixed (the damage has a cap now, thank creation) and thus saving the entire high-point party from a blind woman, his greatest moment involved a single word.

The high-point party (who I will properly introduce you to after the end of these low-point characters) was talking with the Immortal Man, who has been shaping up to be the BBEG of the campaign. In our planning, we made it look like the previously mentioned blind woman and her deaf husband had beaten us as were delivering us to him in exchange for their son. In the midst of this transaction, Carl says something I can't quite remember, and then one word that just blew any chance at keeping the impending trap hidden out of the window. "WINK!" Yep! Nothing like a signal like that to completely send a boss-fight in strange directions as the deaf Gunnar and his blind Hitinja wife accommodated for the change of plans by unleashing a chemical breakdown + elemental salve + overdrive combo followed by Carl burning 6 awesome points for an auto-crit max-distance-due-to-stunting Rolling Thunder to beat down the Immortal Man. No one expected him to be stupid enough to blow our cover like that, and no one expected that would somehow lead to success.

Naturally, the un-killable old man had a plan for this and managed to get away, if suffering from a slight problem where we sank a ship on top of him.

It should be noted that, with Carl's build and his recent gain of a Level 6 version of Rolling Thunder, that Evadinja are (as Makiru's backstory for him implies) his natural enemy.

[Observer]

And all that brings us to the last of our low-point characters... A new face to the game with only two sessions under his belt. I'll only say his first name and let you figure out the rest...

Jimmy

Jimmy is a charreographer/charrismatic lord with maybe a bit of arrcrobat added to the mix. He's missing an eye, but here's the hints that'll let you know what his last name is and what he's a reference to. He wears a Hawaiian shirt, and has an obsession with margaritas. The running gag between him and Oliver is to try to come up with a plan that would turn a town into a giant margarita. Unfortunately, Operation Margaritaville has never really been enacted.

In combat, he's great on support and attack. One Word Insult is his most damaging move, and many an encounter have been disrupted already by the powers that are The Thriller and Caribbean Airship.

That sums up the low-points. I'll likely go back to edit some of these posts later as the characters' players tell me how I screwed up the stories.

[Dairun Cates]

And all that brings us to the last of our low-point characters... A new face to the game with only two sessions under his belt. I'll only say his first name and let you figure out the rest...

Jimmy

Jimmy is a charreographer/charrismatic lord with maybe a bit of arrcrobat added to the mix. He's missing an eye, but here's the hints that'll let you know what his last name is and what he's a reference to. He wears a Hawaiian shirt, and has an obsession with margaritas. The running gag between him and Oliver is to try to come up with a plan that would turn a town into a giant margarita. Unfortunately, Operation Margaritaville has never really been enacted.

In combat, he's great on support and attack. One Word Insult is his most damaging move, and many an encounter have been disrupted already by the powers that are The Thriller and Caribbean Airship.

That sums up the low-points. I'll likely go back to edit some of these posts later as the characters' players tell me how I screwed up the stories.

Heh. Looks like you've given him a Proverbial Buffet of stories to look over. For the record, PvNRPG isn't dead, I've just been going through a few other things. I'm hoping to get a lot of my projects back on track in the coming week.

[Observer]

Heh. Looks like you've given him a Proverbial Buffet of stories to look over. For the record, PvNRPG isn't dead, I've just been going through a few other things. I'm hoping to get a lot of my projects back on track in the coming week.

By the way, Dairun, it looks like the last name of Jimmy's namesake is spelled with two t's.

[Observer]

So, this all brings us to the next party. The "High Points", as I will refer to them. Five members of this group have already been named off, and I'll try to give my own point of view on them. First, let's start off with the party face:

Frederick Forge

This man is a true gentleman of a craftsman/gambler. I can hardly fault him for messing around in gambling, though. If a wanderer's around long enough, they tend to stumble into the gambler guild eventually, unless they're someone like Black Cat anyway.

This man is responsible for a vehicle the likes of which, we have found, should never be trusted to a player character. What is it, you might ask? We just call it the Reading Railroad. It is some kind of cross between a train and a cart, and it serves as Frederick's mobile library/forge, giving him a moving base for the use of Infinite Sword Jobs. This is responsible for a few instances of the local feykinja tricking people into walking into the forge in the middle of a battle, which was responsible for the suicides of quite a few tengu at one point. Also, he possesses Firm Handshake, so just don't go back on any deal with him unless you think you can handle ISJ.

Outside of his forge-train, he enjoys the odd insult battle and handles the party's diplomacy issues. He also has an addiction to sudoku, uses a british accent, and prefers tea over any alcoholic beverage. His gambler name is/was "Full-House Freddy", and it seems that he was originally inspired by a certain puzzle-solving Professor.

That was a pretty quickly-written thing, and probably didn't cover absolutely everything, but it should give you a decent idea of what he's like.

[Kiroth6]

In additions to enemy Pirates, Ninjas and Wanderers, there is also a whole host of monsters that can be used to threaten the PCs. Certain monsters are particularly dangerous due to their ability to strategize and make best use of their monster abilities. Here's one of the monster types that we've run into during the course of our campaign.

Mermaids

Why are women considered bad luck on the sea? Turns out its because the mermaids don't like the competition. While making an ill-advised voyage through Kraken infested waters (that is to say that the Kraken has been spotted within 500 miles), our party manages to encounter a group of Mermaids instead. The guys in our party all suffered a minus against the charms but the girls did not. Unfortunately, the mermaids realized that they could not subdue everyone and starting zapping everyone who wasn't charmed with lightning bolts. That was unless you are Indigar Vansplosion and decide counter-seduce the mermaids. Then they just attack everyone other than you.

When we managed to beat them back with ranged attacks, they 'rescued' Indigar and summoned a giant whale to swallow our ship. A freaking whale! What followed was a frenetic battle involving human cannon balls, bungee cord martial arts, uvula punching and a very wrecked ship.

[Observer]

Ah good. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to double-post. Thanks, Kiroth!

Anyway, for our next member of the high-points, I'll go ahead and run through my character and what makes him what he is:

Raptor-Strike

A Dr. Inja that got bored and figured out that he could use what he had learned to punch people in really interesting ways. Cue the Disabling Nerve Strike-spam that made an enemy musician hate him, and cue his descent into the school of the Shoninja for hilarious outcomes. His name, going off of the ninja naming scheme of naming yourself after your assassination method, is a references the name of everyone's favorite explosive punch o' death.

Now that the introduction is out of the way, here's the one major thing that this Dr. Shoninja is responsible for: Errata involving Daily Check-Up and Me And My Shadow. Due to a level of weirdness in the rules, it was found that using that combination would result in someone being able to heal themselves back up to full as long as they had more than a little over half their life left... every turn. And when someone's packing a Shoninja level of Will and life, this means that his first turn of combat can be summarized as "Buff buff buff buff HEAL BACK TO FULL". Luckily, after this initial beta test, that is getting errata'd. Kinda needs to be after a successful possession (damned low rolls) by a demon almost sent things into a TPK. Granted, if someone's reaction goes before yours, make sure that they are either your friend or that they are not delaying to your turn. Kurosawa does not look kindly on the army of low-health heal-clones.

Aside from that, RS is still pretty fierce. He throws around Raging Digits (including one to a pirate ship's powder magazine for an explosion of ship-wrecking proportions), Unlocks Potentials, or Heals people like a maniac. All through the magic of Me And My Shadow. Also, Breathe and Focus is a great move if you can find ways to avoid having to actually chase someone down in order to deliver their beatings... like a Projectile Shot item!

[Kiroth6]

Just so everyone knows. Smasher0404 is running a forum based game in this thread.

[Dairun Cates]

Oh dear. What's this?

Spoiler

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Song of the True Hero
Wanderer 5
Cost: 1 Awesome Point and 20 Life
The song of the minstrel brings the true hero out in anyone. When a Minstrel activates this ability, they give up their attack action every turn while it is activated. However, while activated, the Minstrel may choose one target that can hear them of their choice and give that target a +1 to all attributes (including the +20 Life), +5 damage, +5 DR, and 5 regeneration every turn. The effects of this move end immediately when either the minstrel goes unconscious or the minstrel chooses to drop the effect. The cost of this attack is only paid when the attack is activated.

With Catlike Tread
Pirate 2
Cost: Passive
The Charreographer is a master with a soft shoe. The Charreographer with this skill can treat their dance checks as stealth checks for the purposes of hiding and moving silently.

Three Sheets to the Wind
Pirate 4
Cost: 10
While boorish in nature, the well-versed Drunkarrd has learned to use their belches to powerful effect. This attack can be activated either as an attack or a reaction to an attack. When used as an attack, the Drunkarrd can pick a target within 8 squares of them. At this point, the Drunkarrd can attempt to knock the opponent off their feet with a Body check made at a -2. If the Drunkarrd succeeds, the opponent falls down and loses their next move action getting back up. They are also at a -2 to all dodge rolls until their next action. Used as a reaction, the Drunkarrd can make a body check at a -2 against the to hit roll of a physical projectile attack aimed at the Drunkarrd. If the Drunkarrd succeeds, the projectile is knocked out of the air and the attack is canceled including any extra targets that may have occurred from area of effect. If the Drunkarrd fails, the attack automatically hits.

Life's Sunset
Ninja 5
Cost: 2 Awesome Points and 20 Life
This attack seems harmless enough at first look. It is a regular Hitinja attack that does 20 damage. However, the true insidious nature of this attack comes in the after effect. The Life's Sunset comes not quickly, but slowly. If the attack hits, the target of this attack continues to take a quarter of the damage received by the initial hit (round down) any time they attempt to use a damaging attack in that combat. This effect ceases when the target has either had time to rest and recover or when they fall unconscious. In a death duel, this attack kills the target if the extra damage knocks the target below 0.

Over-stocked
Wanderer 3
Cost: Passive
The true Craftsman makes sure to keep a strong stock of useful items at all times. The Craftsman with this ability is never without mundane, but useful items on their person. The items produced from this ability must be hand-sized, mundane in nature, cannot be specific instances of an object (specific book or map), and cannot be a weapon (or at least not primarily a weapon). Otherwise, the character can produce the item in some given portion of time. So, swords, the encyclopedia, or carts are out of the quesiton. However, matches, whet stones, chalk, paper, and other handy items are always on hand. GM's discretion can veto this use of this ability if the item is too inherently useful or valuable to be considered generic.

Looks like I'm working on abilities again. Go figure. Wonder if this means a new faction, some rebalancing, and some new abilities to old factions are coming soon... Hmm...

[Dairun Cates]

A bit of a Christmas Gift for PVNRPG fans. A new faction to fiddle with. I haven't gotten around to the backstory yet, and some of the descriptions will need to be shortened, but hey. New abilities are new abilities, and new factions are new factions. I will give you a hint though. The Burglars are the only pirate faction crazy enough to mess with the Craftsmen directly.

New abilities for old factions coming soon. Also, this one should be getting a few new ones too. Trying to get all factions up to the amount newer factions have.

Burglars:

Summary: Coming soon...
History: Coming soon...
Attribute Scores: Burglars prefer a high agility for their thievery checks. They also like to have a high Will in order to use some of their more "roguish" moves.

Level 1:

Spoiler

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Sticky Fingers
Pirate 1
Cost: Passive
The art of Burglary isn't too particularly difficult. To steal an object from an opponent, a Burglar doesn't need to be trained, just agile. A Burglar merely needs to make an agility check against the opponent's precision. The size of the object effects the penalty. Minuscule objects like coins confer no penalty. Hand sized objects like an apple confer a penalty of -2, medium objects like a weapon confer a penalty of -4, and large objects like backpacks confer a -6 penalty. The Burglar with this ability gains a +2 to any Burglary checks. This only allows the Burglar to steal objects that the target is not currently holding. To steal objects that the target is currently holding or objects that the target is wearing (except loose clothing objects like necklaces and brooches), the Burglar will need specific Burglar abilities.

Picky Fence
Pirate 1
Cost: Passive
Burglars need to be able to pawn off their goods as soon as possible. So, most Burglars have learned to keep a good stock of clients to sell to at all times. The Burglar with this ability gains a +2 on will to selling stolen goods or a +2 on precision to finding prospective buyers.

The Golden Eye
Pirate 1
Cost: Passive
Burglars don't always have to be obsessed with other people's goods. Burglars also enjoy treasure hunting and the various legends surrounding legendary treasures. Burglars with this ability gain a +2 to precision for lore involving large treasures, gathering information about large treasures, or for just generally knowing where they might reside.

Bleed Em' Dry
Pirate 1
Cost: 2
Burglars are a bit greedy and don't always prioritize victory over riches. Whenever a Burglar hits with this melee attack that does 5 damage, he or she also manages to steal a minor amount of pocket change in the process. This should be enough to pay for a loaf of bread at a local merchant. Not enough to be crippling, financially, but enough to be annoying. If the target does not have any money, this attack just does damage.

Steal a Glance
Pirate 1
Cost: 1
Burglars only bring up this attack as a joke. Basically, it's a farsical trick where the Burglar catches his target off-guard and pokes their eyes while they're not paying attention. This melee attack does 1 damage, but also puts the target at a -1 to precision for the rest of the turn if it hits.

Level 2:

Spoiler

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A Delicate Touch
Pirate 2
Cost: Passive
Burglars can steal anything with the proper motivation. The Burglar that has mastered this technique can even steal things that the target is wearing, including (or possibly especially) their clothes. Penalties should be applied by how well fastened the items are rather than size. A loose article only gives a -2 while a well fastened articles can be a -4 or even -6 for items that are buckled down. This action happens in the span of one attack action.

Steal the Spotlight
Pirate 2
Cost: 4
Burglars know how to trip up others at what they're best at. When a Burglar uses this attack, they roll precision to hit. If they hit, the target of the attack takes 10 damage, but also takes a -1 to their best attribute until the end of turn. In the case of a tie, the target decides the stat to drop. For Body and Will, the target does not lose extra life.

Steal a Kiss
Pirate 2
Cost: Passive
There's desperate, and there's disturbing. Some Burglars would rather forget this move exists. Other still will give a thumbs up and nod happily at its mention. Whenever facing an opponent of the Burglar's preferred gender, the Burglar can make an opposed agility check as an attack action to steal a kiss. If successful, the Burglar gains back 10 life. The target of this ability can then either choose to gain 10 life as well or gain a +2 to hit on their next attack against the Burglar. The target of this attack MUST be an active opponent and cannot be one of the Burglar's party or a random bystander.

Brutal Mugging
Pirate 2
Cost: Passive
There's the nice Burglars and there's the not so nice Burglars. Not so nice Burglars can hurt their opponents when they steal from them. The Burglar with this ability can choose to deal 5 damage anytime they steal from a target (provided they weren't already using an attack in the act of theft). This counts as an attack and can receive damage buffs from other abilities like Coordinated Assault and Thine Drill Penetrates the Wave. However, just like all other damage buffs, the cost needs to be paid before the thievery attempt is made.

Level 3:

Spoiler

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At Least You Still Have Your Health
Pirate 3
Cost: 5
The Burglar knows a few nasty back-handed techniques such as draining his or her opponent's own life. When a Burglar hits with this attack, not only does he do 10 damage, but he gains 10 life as well. It's important to note that while the damage of this attack may go up, the life regain cannot.

Heart-Breaker
Pirate 3
Cost: 10
The Burglar is a master at stealing hearts as well as valuables. When using this attack ability on anyone that might be reasonably attracted to the Burglar, the Burglar makes an opposed Will check at a -2. If the Burglar succeeds, the target of this attack may not attack the Burglar until the Burglar attacks them first. The target can do anything else to the Burglar in that time other than cause the Burglar harm, but if an attack would even indirectly hit the Burglar they cannot use that attack.

What's Yours is Mine
Pirate 3
Cost: Passive
Burglars with incredible skill can catch a target so off guard, they can even steal objects the target is holding. The Burglar with this ability can steal an object that a target is holding in their hands even with the tightest grip. This includes weapons, potions, and even other people. Once again, the penalty to this check should be based on the size of the object. Small weapons like daggers give a 0 or -2 penalty, Swords give a -4, and massive weapons and people give a -6.

Stolen Thunder
Pirate 3
Cost: 10
Burglars can steal a person's resolve and authority right from under them with a few careful words and actions. Attacking the Burglar is plenty easy enough, but even if you hit, it could be humiliating. Ultimately, you'll have wished you hadn't even bothered. When a Burglar activates this ability, he or she sacrifices their attack action for the turn at the beginning of the turn. However, anyone that attacks the Burglar in that time is at a -2 to all rolls until the end of turn after their attack, whether they hit or not.

Cut in Line:
Pirate 3
Cost: 6
Burglars are great at manipulating and stealing the flow of battle. Of course, such things come at a cost eventually. The Burglar that uses this ability in the reaction phase of combat can go first in reactions in the same way as if he had used an awesome point, but the Burglar will automatically go last in reaction order on his next turn.

Level 4:

Spoiler

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Your Strength is Your Weakness
Pirate 4
Cost: 10
Burglars have a magnificent way of turning an opponent's greatest advantage into their own advantage and a weakness for their opponent. When using this ability, the Burglar uses agility to hit at a -2. If they succeed, the opponent loses 1 from their highest attribute and gives it to the Burglar. If there is a tie, the target chooses what to give up. The Burglar can only use this ability on 1 target at a time. If they switch targets mid-battle, the debuff and buff are dropped upon a second successful activation.

Thievery in Reverse
Pirate 4
Cost: 10
Burglars aren't just masters at stealing, they're masters at placing object back on a person as well. This particular trick comes from taking a live explosive and hiding it somewhere on the target's person without them realizing it. The Burglar makes rolls agility to hit in melee. Should they succeed, the Burglar can choose to detonate this attack at any point they wish as long as the target stays within 100 squares of the user. This attack does 20 damage.

The Old Switcheroo
Pirate 4
Cost: 5
Burglars are fond of practical jokes. While stealing a Ninja's sword in the middle of an attack is amusing, replacing it with something else entirely is even more hilarious. That's where this technique comes in. At any time where a Burglar makes a successful Burglary check to take an object from an opponent, the Burglar may spend the cost of this ability to replace said object with another one. The target of this effect must make another precision check equal to the Burglar's Burglary check to notice that a switch has been made. For objects that are extremely similar in nature (like two alchemist vials), give the target a -2 to the Precision roll or even a -4 if the replacement is almost a near duplicate. However, for vastly different items like a knife and a giant lollipop, give the target a +2 to the check. Any other penalties and bonuses are at the GM's discretion. Noticing the switch often doesn't do anything, but in the cases of switching a healing potion with an explosive concoction, this can make all the difference. The target will usually notice the switch after they fail to use said item.

Your Own Weapon Against You
Pirate 4
Cost: 7
Burglars aren't just master thieves, they're accomplished weapons masters in their own right. If you're going to steal something, you should know how to use it. A Burglar can use this attack whenever they attack someone with a weapon that they stole from that target. This attack does 20 damage and has the same range as the weapon being used. Roll precision to hit.

Level 5:

Spoiler

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Nine Tenths of the Law
Pirate 5
Cost: 1 Awesome Point
Burglars are masters of items and their effects. Even without the proper training, a Burglar can draw out an item's potential. Whenever a Burglar has an item in his or her possession that has abilities he or she is not trained in, the Burglar can spend 1 Awesome point to become instantly trained in the usages of those abilities until the end of combat, even Passive abilities or unknown artifact abilities. As an extra added side-effect, the Burglar knows what all non-unique abilities on the item are just by holding it.

Your Loss is My Gain
Pirate 5
Cost: 3 Awesome Points
A master Burglar can steal anything, even metaphysical concepts such as an opponent's combat advantage. By spending 3 awesome points, the Burglar uses precision to hit their opponent at any range. Should the Burglar succeed, the Burglar will still any non-passive buffs the target has. This can include scene long buffs, turn long buffs, or even action long buffs. The Burglar will also gain the disadvantages that come with this as well. The target of this attack can still reapply the buffs after they are stolen, but does not get refunded the life for activating them.

All of the Luck, All of It
Pirate 5
Cost: 1 Awesome Point
Burglars can even steal their opponent's luck with enough training. Once a battle, a Burglar may spend an awesome point and attack a target. Should the Burglar hit, the target loses 2 awesome points and the Burglar gains these points. If the target has less than 2 awesome points, the Burglar gains whatever they have left if any. Should the target have no awesome points, the Burglar still loses the awesome point. However, as a side-effect of this attack, the target of this attack may not spend awesome points to avoid this attack nor can they preemptively spend their awesome points on other effects to spend them before the Burglar's attack hits.

Identity Theft
Pirate 5
Cost: 2 Awesome Points
Feykinjas aren't the only ones that can fake being other people. However, unlike the Feykinja, the Burglars have learned to do it by purely mundane means. With just a bit of research, acting talent, and make-up, the Burglar that uses this ability can perfectly become a person they have observed for 5 minutes for 2 hours. During this time, anyone viewing the target will believe they are the person they are pretending to be without any chance to make checks. The only way that the Burglar is not this person is their knowledge. Whenever the Burglar is asked something that they do not know about the target being impersonated, the Burglar must make a precision check to either think of it or bluff the information. Basic knowledge should only require low or no checks at all while more uncommon knowledge should require precision or will checks of around 12. Finally, very personal information should require 15 or even 18 precision or will checks to fake.

I Believe You Meant to Do This!
Pirate 5
Cost: 1 Awesome Point and 20 Life
Burglars are fairly sneaky and know how to take their opponent's attacks and use it against them. Any time when a Burglar has not attacked in a round and is missed by an attack aimed at them, the Burglar can spend an attack action and immediately cancel that attack out for any other targets and is allowed to immediately use that attack and any buffs applied to it for free. Needless to say, this can cause a very dramatic reversal.

Borrowed Time
Pirate 5
Cost: 1 Awesome Point
Some Burglars are so awesome, they can even steal time itself. Of course, even the Burglar has to eventually pay back what he took. When a Burglar uses this move, he can spend and awesome point to gain 2 attack actions that turn. However, the Burglar loses his next attack action regardless of what turn (or even combat) that happens in. So, if the Burglar knocks himself out with his second attack, he loses the attack action of the first combat turn after he regains consciousness.

[Observer]

Well, I realize this is taking a longer time than I expected, so I'm going to wrap up character summaries in this post so that I can give you all a good overview of the first campaign and all its glory.

****head Ned

Originally named something else, but the name of this gunnar changed once we all saw how he behaved. A team-up of him and Forge made me almost feel bad about Onis being so stupid. His most well-known act to distract people with is to stand around, firing his guns into the air, yelling "Yarr harr harr I'm a pirate." He also felt the need to learn "strike the forbidden zone" and seems to purposefully aim Missile Spam so that it hits teammates, too. (generally ones that he has gotten into an argument with) A lot of his name, and the reason why when the party visited Hell we were fully expecting to see him there, is because of his personality. Being played by the same person that brought us Dearest Friend, it should be known that Ned was not with the party as much as most of us would have liked.

One With Nothing
A feykinja. Okay, so he was also a brainwashed weapon master but that only pops up so often. Has a prosthetic arm, made by Oliver and therefore indestructible with about 2 or 3 different crafting bonuses able to apply. The group's second Raging Digit user. Follow My Lead was responsible for his feykinja mode's greatest victory moments, mind-controlling two weasel kings and throwing a few people down pits of indeterminate depth. Welcome to My World, while it really helped take down most of a boss's life, also normally ended in him being unconscious. The weapon master first appeared in a fight with THE lord of demons, unleashed a royal amount of pain, and was promptly mind-controlled into a fire pit, with that final descent into fire being played by One With Nothing's player like a certain scene in an episode of the anime "My Bride is a Mermaid" which happened to be parodying Terminator 2.

Wildcard Will
A character named after a Level 5, and now you get a good, in-character explanation for that move. Blind. Gambler. Alchemist. Let me first say that the higher point party, upon meeting this Russian-in-a-world-without-Russia, had already run into a blind person who was a weapon of hitinja-based destruction, and had made enemies of a large portion of the alchemist guilds and the entire gambler guild. So, he kinda had to prove that we didn't need to kill him. The guy wound up saving us a few times. To sum up the character quickly, I'll finish this with a quote on how Will makes decisions:

"I flip coin... And then cry. I cannot see result."

Pretty profound, really.

[Observer]

I accidentally forgot to cover these two characters in my last post, so let's get this over with. They are both played by the same person, and at least one of them was already partially covered.

Tallahassee

An adrenaline-addicted wanderer that originally drew at least some inspiration from a certain character in Zombieland. The best way to describe her stat block is that she's able to dodge a lot and packs one of the highest precision stats from among the beta's characters, in a tie with Overkillin' Oliver for highest precision by the end of the campaign. The most notable thing this caused was that the character had a freakishly high reaction score, and could manage an okay chance of success on one-in-a-million. Also, the lucky and weapon master abilities this character has makes built-up awesome points even more dangerous than normal.

If we ever need an image to illustrate the reckless flaw, it had better be of Tallahassee. If something was ever seeming like it'd be suicidal to attempt, she'd personally drag the party into it.

Manny
Tallahassee's pirate brother. Probably better known as "Molasses Straw Man". The character itself acts like some strange fusion of Andre the Giant's character in Princess Bride, the Heavy from Team Fortress 2, and the most irritating aspects of the previously outlined monster known as Dearest Friend. This person is a heavy-weight engine of session derailment, and is frequently made even worse by characters that can heal him back to full life (Raptor Strike did this a few times, and Wildcard Will could have done it as well). He is best known for an incident where we kept on reviving him, or bluffing that we had revived him, to the point where the group of tengu we were fighting decided to commit suicide.

[Lix Lorn]

I love these stories. xD
Just so you know you're not talking to air. :)

[Kiroth6]

So the initial beta session has ended and a new one has begun. The best I can summarize the ending is the following:

Beta Test Finale Part 1

Spoiler

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After traveling to Hell and getting curb stomped by the Demon Lord, the parties successfully removed the immortality of the Immortal Man (an alchemist who had figured out how to steal of the Pirates and Ninjas and planned to use a plague of zombies to remove them from power). However, they don't know where he is so the parties split up in order to track him down. Through the defeat of the Immortal Man's hired mercenaries led by Steel Soul Collins and the sinking of their fifth ship, the Reading Railroad group learns of the Immortal Man's new base in Climactic Battle City. (Yes, that is its real name) However, they are ambushed by the Gambler's Guild led by Ace of Spades (the Immortal Man's former partner in crime) and forced to give a head start in addition to the Immortal Man's location due to being beaten unconscious.

After waking up, the Reading Railroad group sends a message to the VanSplosion! group and chases after Ace of Spades. They arrive at Climactic Battle City to find that it aptly named as every single climactic battle seems to be going on at once.

Tallahassee and One with Nothing (disguised as an alchemist) sneak into the the Alchemist's Guild only to find Ace of Spades waiting for them. One with Nothing manages to crit on his bluff check and successfully convinces the Gamblers that he is a random alchemist who wants to join the Gambler's guild. Stupefied by the fact that Tallahassee seems to be crazy enough to try and take on the Alchemist and Gambler's guild alone, Ace of Spades forgoes his usual smarmy monologue and directly bets to see who can reach the Immortal Man first.

One Benny Hill-esque chase later, Tallahassee catches up with Ace of Spaces in the Immortal Man's basement lab with a horde of angry alchemists hot on her heels. That's when the Reading Railroad bursts in through the wall, courtesy of Fredrich Forge and a creative application of Right Place Right time. One with Nothing and Raptor Strike allow the party to get the clear advantage in the fight due to the element of surprise and buffs. Using the Reading Railroad to block the alchemists, Frederick Forge deduces that Ace of Spades is actually an imposter causing the imposter to flee into the next room and lock the door behind him.

Tallahassee manages to get through the door before it locks only to find the real Ace of Spades backed up by the entire Royal Flush. She waves, smiles and then continues running past them into the maze of laboratories. Ace of Spades blinks in shock for a moment before ordering the King of Clubs to catch her.

That's when the Reading Railroad comes crashing through the wall again. Unfortunately, Ace of Spades is prepared and uses an indestructible metal bar to jam the wheels on the Reading Railroad. That's when things start to turn for the worst.

[Makiru]

Just to give everybody a taste of what's going on in the new beta: there are two devoted Equinja (myself and Forge's player) who have managed to keep the party together by virtue that the world would probably fall to pieces if they weren't being monitored 24/7. Also, Dairun is playing a different character every session. And his first character was Recett and Tear (from Recettear) standing on top of eachother under a trenchcoat. And Recett will be coming back later by herself, mostly because we dared Dairun to, and it's funny to hear him talk like a little girl.

Seeing as Kiroth is the one running this game, I'll let her tell the specifics at her own leisure. Needless to say, she really doesn't have to do much outside of combat, since we pretty much provide all the NPC antagonism by ourselves.

[Observer]

So the initial beta session has ended and a new one has begun. The best I can summarize the ending is the following:

Beta Test Finale Part 1

Spoiler

Show

After traveling to Hell and getting curb stomped by the Demon Lord, the parties successfully removed the immortality of the Immortal Man (an alchemist who had figured out how to steal of the Pirates and Ninjas and planned to use a plague of zombies to remove them from power). However, they don't know where he is so the parties split up in order to track him down. Through the defeat of the Immortal Man's hired mercenaries led by Steel Soul Collins and the sinking of their fifth ship, the Reading Railroad group learns of the Immortal Man's new base in Climactic Battle City. (Yes, that is its real name) However, they are ambushed by the Gambler's Guild led by Ace of Spades (the Immortal Man's former partner in crime) and forced to give a head start in addition to the Immortal Man's location due to being beaten unconscious.

After waking up, the Reading Railroad group sends a message to the VanSplosion! group and chases after Ace of Spades. They arrive at Climactic Battle City to find that it aptly named as every single climactic battle seems to be going on at once.

Tallahassee and One with Nothing (disguised as an alchemist) sneak into the the Alchemist's Guild only to find Ace of Spades waiting for them. One with Nothing manages to crit on his bluff check and successfully convinces the Gamblers that he is a random alchemist who wants to join the Gambler's guild. Stupefied by the fact that Tallahassee seems to be crazy enough to try and take on the Alchemist and Gambler's guild alone, Ace of Spades forgoes his usual smarmy monologue and directly bets to see who can reach the Immortal Man first.

One Benny Hill-esque chase later, Tallahassee catches up with Ace of Spaces in the Immortal Man's basement lab with a horde of angry alchemists hot on her heels. That's when the Reading Railroad bursts in through the wall, courtesy of Fredrich Forge and a creative application of Right Place Right time. One with Nothing and Raptor Strike allow the party to get the clear advantage in the fight due to the element of surprise and buffs. Using the Reading Railroad to block the alchemists, Frederick Forge deduces that Ace of Spades is actually an imposter causing the imposter to flee into the next room and lock the door behind him.

Tallahassee manages to get through the door before it locks only to find the real Ace of Spades backed up by the entire Royal Flush. She waves, smiles and then continues running past them into the maze of laboratories. Ace of Spades blinks in shock for a moment before ordering the King of Clubs to catch her.

That's when the Reading Railroad comes crashing through the wall again. Unfortunately, Ace of Spades is prepared and uses an indestructible metal bar to jam the wheels on the Reading Railroad. That's when things start to turn for the worst.

Continuing on Kiroth's post:

Spoiler

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The high-point party ends up in a match with the entirety of the Royal Flush, and there are some things we should have learned from previous encounters that came back to bite us. For instance, whenever 'Royal Flush' or 'Jack of Diamonds' is mentioned, you should probably stash all your items. Cue the Level 6 that dealt huge amounts of damage to the entire party and is pretty much the main reason we finally lost that battle... but we did reduce the Flush down pretty well. Then they tried to make a run for it with one of the party's NPC's, with the reduction in their ranks being just enough that they had to leave a knocked-out Jack of Diamonds behind.

And this is when the low-point party runs into them. The result? Let's just say that when Overkillin' Oliver has 6 Awesome points, you want to stay more than eight squares away from the guy. One Hidden Arsenal and some of VanSplosion's rockinja shenanigans and the Royal Flush were dropped. We then tried to find the other party, only to see that they were probably taken hostage by the Immortal Man while they were knocked out. We did, however, find Jack rather angry that he had been left behind and proceeded to recruit him into the Band.

So, all that taken care of, the low-point party runs into the final boss fight. Immortal Man, and four of his body guards. Rather impressive until the team uses nightmarish teamwork buffs and cross-arm draw to send Cannonball Carl flying straight at him at full speed. The result? Turns out that the body guards were good body guards. They took the damage for him, and even with the 200 or so life they had, that Rolling Thunder wiped out all four of them. Jimmy B. then used Thriller on the Immortal Man and made the rest of the battle a cutscene.

After the battle ends, the IM pulls out a potion and is about to drink it when Dearest Friend interposed and drank it instead... and vanished. After knocking out the Formerly-Immortal Man, we made sure he was dead, then loaded his body on a boat full of explosives and other such things and gave him a Valhallan Burial. And what happened to Dearest Friend?

Decades ago, he ends up in a ditch. A guy named Jim (We met him in the game. He's really a drunken master named 'Drunken Satori'.) helps him out, and asks him his name. The only answer he can think of? "Black Cat."