[PEACH] New FFRPG

[Bruno Carvalho]

Hey, just passing by to say hello and realllllyy good job with this game of yours. As a Brazilian, half player half gm, FF fan (FF6/7 were my favorites), game designer aspirant (i think, do you have a job in this market), like yourself, I share your passion for creating and modifying established games or IPs. Are your work finished? Why don't give us a snapshot of what was the process of creating this gigantic project, almost alone should I say.

Thank you for the kind words. I'm actually a boardgame designer - I got one published game (Scippio), and I'm working on more games, as my own wife is the owner of a (quite small) game company: Legião Jogos

My work is NOT finished, and I doubt it will anytime. Not only I'm still talking about, helping, and generally nurturing the (quite small) FFRPG 4e player community, but I also want to release Worldbooks for, at least, every numbered FF release. So I'll keep writing this for many years to come, I believe. And my work is not alone, as several playtesters and co-writers (for example, MANY thanks for PapaQuackers, he was a huge help in this last book) do help making this a reality. For example, I gave up on translating the books to Portuguese (I got 3 books nowadays that are english only - Complete Edition, FF VI Worldbook and the latest, FFT Worldbook) and if you want to take a shot at it, I would love it.

About the process of writing, I mostly sit down and write. There's not much "magic" about that, just hard work and lots of writing. You know, practice makes perfect. If you want to know more about the game design philosophy and how the game came to be, I would love to discuss it with you, either here, or by any other means - might it be the games subreddit (/r/ffrpg), Facebook, Discord, or any other médium we can get in touch.

[Andrezitos]

Good to know that you are still developing this project. I will take a look to material and see if I can help with something.

I have a habit, some say a bad one, of always trying to change and subvert the games I play. In my rpg group I am considered to be that guy that is always trying to change the rules or convince others to play other systems. I have even created one based on cinema scripts, where players would say theirs lines of action and roll the dice to see who would go first. The lines were limited by what was written in the players characters sheet and what could be implied from those piece of information. A totally loose and subjective system. I have no problem with not playing my projects because my players don't like to experiment, my problem is not having a place to discuss and experiment with my ideas and from other people like minded. I may not have been looking for properly, there is that eheh.

Do you had too much trouble finding your play testers?

[Bruno Carvalho]

I usually find guinea pigs playtesters online, in comunnities like Myth-weavers or Roll20. Or even here at this forum.

Oh, btw, I just created a wiki page for us to share our FFRPG 4e Resources, like monsters, optional rules, and so. Feel free to use it, and add more material. Thank you and good games!
http://ffrpg4e.wikidot.com/

[Andrezitos]

One thing I think would be nice is some kind of lite version of the system, outlining the most important mechanics and features. Take for instance the source material of Risus system. All you need to know in four pages. Do already have anything like that?

[Bruno Carvalho]

I don't have a quickstart, but may do one. The rules are quite simple; of the corebook's 125 pages, about 100 of them are just lists and more lists ( equipment, Jobs, spells, etcetera), so I can think I can fit enough for a quickstart with pregens in a much smaller book.

Or are you talking about something like a rule summary for GMs or something like that?

[Andrezitos]

What I miss is a document that focus on the player, dm or otherwise, than content. Rules are basically a framework for content to lay upon and mechanics to work through. Think about a path that you could fallow with blurry glasses.

[Sparx MacGyver]

I think what Andrezitos is talking about is a "test drive" set of rules. Just the most basic info with like 4 pregens, with just enough rules and info to let a group test it to see if they really like the system. Nothing fancy, just a bite-size digest of the game.

I wanna ask: Is there a dice alternative? My players like the system, overall, save for the D100 aspect. It's been a slog to get them to try any new system, and with it being a different dice aspect, they are fighting me more than usual. I was thinking of swapping to 2d10, unless there is a preferred alternative.The comments I've gotten back are they just don't wanna deal with the larger numbers.

[Bruno Carvalho]

Sure, I'll write a introdutory adventure. About the d100 part, we had a great contribution by Box_of_Hats in the game's subreddit . I'll transcribe it here.

"Trimming Down the Numbers
Before I begin, I realize what I'm proposing is a large departure from the core of the game. It is also considerably less work to make combat happen. Again, I'm not suggesting this be a core change to the system, just a commentary on what I'm considering doing and why.

I'm considering trying the game without elemental points. That is, elemental levels, but without the granularity of number 1 through 9 between each tens digits. Imagine this:

At creation you have 20 XP. Costs are 1 costs 1, 2 costs 4, 3 costs 9, 4 costs 16. You just keep any XP you don't spend (so a 3 2 2 1 character starts with 2 XP leftover). Then you just buy whole levels at once.

Combat uses a d10 instead of d100. Normal attacks are Element vs. Element+4. Instead of adding the 1's digit die, you just add 5 (to make attacks that ignore the 1's digit stay balanced). If you roll a 10, roll again. If that roll is a hit, the attack is a crit.

As mentioned, this loses a degree of granularity. Accuracy jumps in increments of 10% and there's no variance in damage values. In exchange, you're dealing with rounder numbers. When each character has potentially four different defensive values that are relevant, it's a lot easier on everyone. And since the vast majority of the system only cares about elemental levels, not points, there are very few corner cases.

Among them are abilities like Time Mage's Wild Magic, which can also just roll a d10. Dervish's Deadly Accuracy is essentially tripling your critical hit rate, so they can threaten a critical on a 8, 9, or 10, and then resolve the confirmation roll as other classes would. The Rogue's !Lucky Seven reaction loses the thematic approach of a difficulty 77, but a difficulty of 8 (or 80 in d100) is mechanically only 3% off.

Again, this isn't something I'm advocating for on a larger scale. I'm just trying this out and seeing if a lighter mental load during combat improves the experience for my group.

We've played two adventures with some of the above modifications. Here are my reflections.

d100 -> d10 was a massive boon to the flow of combat. Resolving attacks was significantly faster. Perhaps for those playing with digital aids it would be less impactful, but I like to leave my computer aside during the game. As a GM, I find it helps me to be more present. As a result, trimming down the dice was met with unanimous support after the session.

There was a situation in which a Weapon+Shield Warrior/Defender who prioritized armour over weapon upgrades couldn't deal more than 1 damage to a high ARM target and perhaps random damage would have changed that. On the other hand, getting in for 2 or 3 damage wouldn't have changed the fight at all."

[Andrezitos]

Hi, everyone!
Just passing by to show a intresting reference I found on youtube about final fantasy. it is about the philosofical aspect of the game that is present through out the series. I will not try to explain for fear of buthcering the content .

I would love to write a campaing or adventure now that I sow this. heheh

[Bruno Carvalho]

Nice vídeo, Andrezitos!

Btw, nudge, nudge, wink, wink there's a "GM needed" - game ad here in this forums, so why don't you take a shot at it?

[Sparx MacGyver]

@Bruno Carvalho: That looks pretty much exactly what I wanted, basically cutting things out. Seems easy enough to extrapolate to other areas.

[moonbaby]

Hey everyone.

I'm going to say I joined this website just because of this thread.

I'm a writer and English teacher who grew up in love with Final Fantasy (and that whole era of JRPGs from Square, mostly their late 90s era). Did some online role playing in chat rooms back in the day. Didn't touch Tabletop RPGs for A decade or so until my friend convinced me to try his D&D his campaign. Loved it but after two campaigns and life stuff he got overwhelmed.

I love remixing or imagining things and I tried making my own FF RPG, but A) I have no experience with the nuances of designing the technical aspects of tabletop games and B) didn't know what other friends would try it with me.

Fast forward to today where I decided to see if there were other RPGs besides FFT Zodiac RPG, and I found this thread.

This is amazing, though that compliment is given from a completely rookie perspective. I'm still catching up on the thread and checking out this game (among others) but I'm very interested in what you've done here and would love to try an online session with anyone who is available online/in NY once the summer starts.

Pleasure to meet you all,

Moonbaby/Masoud

[Bruno Carvalho]

Glad to see you aboard! I'm happy you're enjoying the game, and I hope your sessions are quite fun!

If you need anything, feel free to talk here and I'll try to answer to the best of my skill. If you are needing some extra goodies for your games, you can find the latest Errata, some optional rules by the community and a sample Bestiary at the FFRPG 4e Wiki.

See ya!

[Bruno Carvalho]

I released a new playtest packet this month, so if any fellow Gitp'ers are playing this game, it would be nice if you could PEACH it and report your experiences with these changes to the rules.

Spoiler: May 2018 playtest packet

Show

Welcome. This playtest packet replaces the last packet (Jan 2018), with reworks to 2 Jobs: the Druid (mostly the Geomancer) and the Black Mage. Both are Jobs that are quite on the low end of power level right now and need a buff. So, without further ado, here's the proposed changes:

FREELANCER
The Awakened Core Ability costs only 2 JP to gain, instead of 3

BLACK MAGE
Elemental Mastery: Change the requirement to Water level 3. Replace the text with "You gain one Elemental Spell group. After hitting level 15, gain another Elemental Spell group."
Elemental Burst: Change the requirement to Earth level 4.
Elemental Shock: Change the requirement to Fire level 5.

Transmutation Mastery: Change the requirement to Fire level 6
Piercing Arcana: Change the requirement to Air and Water level 5.
Magic Resistance: Change the requirement to Earth and Fire level 4.

DRUID
Here is the full rework, intented to replace the Druid Job.

Nature’s Path: Core Ability acquired at level 1. You may equip medium armor and the following weapons: Claws / Gloves; Wands; Throwing Weapons. Your HP bonus is 3 times your level, the multiplier increasing by 1 at levels 15, 30 and 60. Your MP bonus is 1 times your level, the multiplier increasing by 1 at level 30. Specialties:
Primal Arcana: Requires level 1. Increase your MP bonus multiplier by 1. You may equip light armor. Also, you gain one of the following Spell groups: Healing, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Poison or Slow.
Nature Warrior: Requires level 1. Increase your HP bonus multiplier by 1. You may equip heavy armor and two of the following weapons: Heavy Weapons, Bows, Light Swords / Knives, Heavy Weapons & Shield, Polearms or Staves.
Primal Music: Requires level 1. Increase your HP and MP bonus multipliers by 1 each. Also, you may equip the Instruments weapon type.

Awakened: Core Ability acquired at level 1. Select an option: Blue Mage, Summoner or Geomancer. This choice determines what defines your abilities and powers.
Blue Mage: You may learn Blue Magic Spells, but you can only cast Initiate Spells. Learn two Blue Magic Initiate Spells at character creation. Also, whenever you suffer the effects of a Blue Magic Spell and are not reduced to 0 HP, you permanently learn the Spell. The list and description of the Blue Magic Spells starts at page 62.
Geomancer: You earn the Ranged Slow (2) magical action !Geomancy. The geomancer has the power to use the terrain to his advantage, invoking magical effects. Their powers vary accordingly to the terrain where the battle takes place, be it Plains, Forest, Mountain, Snow, Sea, Swamp, Urban, Underground, Lava, Desert or Cosmic. The rules for these effects and their descriptions are in the Geomancy section, starting at page 70.
Summoner: You gain the Quick magical action !Tame. To use it, make a Water vs Fire attack, difficulty 40. If successful, you deal non-elemental damage equal to your character level. If the opponent is reduced to 0 HP by this attack, you capture the enemy’s soul, and can release it later with an action to have the captured enemy perform his most powerful attack against targets of your choice. Use the Stats of captured enemy to determine the effects of this action. !Tame can also be used as a reaction when an enemy drops to 0 HP. In this case, the enemy's soul is captured if it hits, regardless of damage. While you own a captured soul, you may not use the !Tame action.
Whatever the choice is, the Specialties are:
Intimidation: Requires Water level 4. You gain the Ranged Quick magical action !Intimidation. You attack your enemy’s self confidence with your presence of spirit. Perform a Water vs Fire attack, difficulty 40. If successful, until the end of the next round, when the target roll doubles in an attack roll, instead of having a critical hit, its attack fails. Treat this as a Mental-type status effect.
Martial Channeling: Requires Earth and Air level 4. Whenever you use a magical action (but not Spells), you may substitute the attack roll for a weapon attack, maintaining the same difficulty. You are successful in your action if you succeed with the weapon attack. If you do succeed in a single-target action, and the action deals damage, you deal weapon damage instead of the action’s damage. Other than attack roll and damage, this Specialty don't change anything else in the action.
Light Steps: Requires Fire level 6. You gain the Flight spell group.

Nature’s Blessings: Core Ability acquired at level 10. You gain one of the following three extra abilities:
Blue Mages may cast Acolyte Spells.
Geomancers may now spend MP to increase the power of their !Geomancy action, as indicated under each terrain section below, starting at page 70.
Summoners gain !Call, allowing them to obtain the help of Summoned Monsters they've obtained in their adventures. The complete rules for these are in the Summoned Monsters section, starting at page 74. Specialties:
Air Gust: Requires Air level 7. You gain the Ranged Slow (2) magical action !Air Wave. Using it, you perform an (Air or Fire) vs Water attack against a target, difficulty 40. If successful, choose one: You deal 10x Air level Air-elemental damage to the target or grant the Float status to your group until the end of the round. At 30th level or greater, you may spend 30 MP when using this action to increase the damage to 15 x Air level and force the target to lose their highest initiative dice this round. No more than one dice can be lost by a target per round. Treat this as a Seal-type status effect.
Weak Point: Requires Water and Air level 5. You gain the action !Advice. It allows you to choose an ally and point out the weaknesses of the enemy. Until the end of the next round, whenever the chosen ally perform an attack that can score critical hit, critical hits happen even if the attack did not overcome the difficulty.
Magical Camouflage: Requires Earth and Water level 7. Whenever you or an ally uses an action or spell that targets your own group, you may choose up to two targets to avoid the effects of the spell or action.

Natural Domain: Core Ability acquired at level 20. You gain one of the following three extra abilities:
Blue Mages may roll 1d100 whenever a combatant uses a Blue Magic spell on any ally or foe, automatically learning the spell if the roll is equal-to or lower than the Blue Mage's level.
Geomancers gain the Ranged Slow (X) magical action !Geotrance action and can use it to cast geomancy effects even if not in the right terrain, according to the rules in page 74.
Summoners may now have up to two monsters souls under the effect of !Tame at the same time. Specialties:
Monster’s Language: Requires Air level 10 and Fire level 8. You gain the Ranged Quick magical action !Parley. Speaking the monsters’ language, you can try to convince them to abandon the fight. Perform a Fire vs Fire attack, difficulty 70. If successful, the target will use on its next action to !Flee, obtaining automatic success if you want. Treat this as a Fatal-type status effect.
Adaptative Tolerance: Requires Water level 9. Whenever you suffer the effects of a Status effect, you gain (Status) Resistance to that status effect until the end of combat.
Earth Slash: Requires Earth level 10. You gain the Slow (2) magical action !Earth Slash. Using it, you perform an (Earth or Fire) vs Water attack against all other combatants (allies and foes), difficulty 40. This attack automatically fails against targets that are under the Float or Flight status effect. If successful, choose one: deal damage equal to 7x Earth level, Earth-elemental, or inflict the Immobilize status until the end of the round. At 40th level or greater, you may spend 60 MP when using this action to double the duration of the status effect or increase the damage to 14x Earth level.

Natural Mastery: Core Ability acquired at level 30. You gain one of the following three extra abilities:
Blue Mages learn Blue Magic Spells after suffering them even if they are reduced to 0 HP because of its effect, and increase their MP bonus multiplier by 1. In addition, they can now cast Master and Ancient Spells.
Geomancers gains one status effect permanently applied to himself. Which status is gained is based on the Geomancer's lowest Stat value when he reaches level 30. The Geomancer may choose between status in case of a tie.Earth - Puncture Resist; Air - Float; Fire - Premonition; Water - Blink.
Summoners gain the Quick magical action !Summon. It may be used only once per combat. Using it, you choose a Summoned Monster to materialize. Until the end of the round, you cannot use any Call beyond the summoned. On the other hand, the Summoned Monster, in addition to its normal Call effects, will also protect you from harm, effectively granting you the Wall status until the end of the round, and other effects, depending on the Summoned Monster. The complete rules for this and the description of the Summoned Monsters are below, starting at page 74. Specialties:
Natural Resilience: Requires Earth level 10 and Fire level 8. Choose Toxic, Seal or Transform. You become immune to all the negative statuses of the chosen type.
Truce: Requires Water level 12 and Air level 8. You gain the Ranged Quick magical action !Truce. Speaking the monsters’ language, you try to make them pause for a moment. Do a Water vs Fire, difficulty 40, attack against all enemies. The enemies hit cannot target your party with actions for the next 3 phases. Remove this effect if the target suffers damage. This has no effect on phase 10. Treat this as a Mental-type status effect.
Quagmire: Requires Fire level 10 and Water level 12. You gain the Slow (4) magical action !Quagmire. Using it, you realize a (Water or Fire) vs Water attack against a target, difficulty 40. This attack automatically fails against targets under the effect of Float or Flight status effects. If successful, you deal 17x Water level Water-elemental damage and inflict the Slow status over the next two rounds. At 50th level or greater, you may spend 90 MP to use this action against a group, rather than a single target.

GEOMANCY, page 70:
Replace the text with: "To use Geomancy, roll 1d100 and add your level. A result smaller than 60 casts a Minor effect; a result between 60 and 119 cast a Minor or a Major effect; and a result higher than 119 casts any effect. You must choose which effect you'll cast after rolling the dice. In addition to the Geomancy’s normal effects, a Druid of 10th level or higher may choose to spend MP to activate one of the action’s extra effects, if they have the effect’s required level or greater. Geomancies are magical actions, and not Spells, but this MP expenditure is affected by equipment and abilities that reduce Spells’ MP cost. "

GEOTRANCE, page 74:
Replace the text with: "High level Geomancers can use their powers to conjure effects even when not in the correct terrain. To do this, use the terrain wheel: Plains <> Forest <> Mountain <> Snow <> Sea <>Swamp <> Urban <> Underground <> Lava <>Desert <> Plains. When using Geotrance, you choose which terrain you will conjure and, for each "step" away in the terrain wheel, apply a cumulative 1 phase channeling the effect, in addition to the normal Slow (2) of the regular Geomancy. For example, a character in a Swamp wants use a Lava effect. His !Geotrance is Slow (5) (Swamp (2) > Urban(3) > Underground:(4) > Lava:(5) ) . Similarly, if the character is in a Forest and wants a Desert effect, !Geotrance will be Slow(4) (Forest(2)> Plain(3)> Desert(4) ). Cosmic is out of the terrain wheel and can’t be used with Geotrance. If the Geomancer is in a Cosmic terrain, it may use Geotrance to any other terrain as a Slow (4) action. "

[Bruno Carvalho]

Greetings! In Feb 29th, 2016, I published the Core Rulebook of the game. Now, 2 and a half years later, I present you a Revised versionof the book. Main features of this version are:

* Lots of gramar *bugs* corrected;
* Reorganization of the book chapters to make it more easy on new players;
* Inclusion of the Freelancer and Squire Jobs (originally presented in the FFT Worldbook);
* Inclusion of all Errata and lots of new balance changes, including the Druid rework;
* Katanas now presented as a weapon type.

Also, I proudly present you the conversion of the original Omega Fantasy starter adventure, Chaos in Cornelia, to the FFRPG 4th Edition rules! Many thanks to its creator for his help with this adventure and I hope you enjoy it!

[Bruno Carvalho]

As the work continue, now I present a big errata, with reworks to four Jobs: Adept, Monk, Fencer and Dervish. http://bit.ly/FFRPG4ePatch1