[Homebrew] Naruto-themed Backgrounds...

[Herabec]

Hello, everyone!

I'm working on a Naruto homebrew game using White Wolf's Storyteller game system as a base. Specifically, a modified V:tM.

However, many of the background advantages in Vampire are pretty Vampire-specific or wouldn't be appropriate for starting-level characters in a Naruto setting (who begin play at around 12 years old). So, while I brainstorm and try to think of some balanced backgrounds that could work for a Naruto Storyteller game, I thought I might pick the Playground's thoughts on it!

So, how about it? Do any of you have any neat ideas about Storyteller Background advantages that would work for Naruto?

[Lord Raziere]

Hmm.....

"noble clan member" is probably a good place to start. ninja nobility are big thing in Naruto.

another might be "common-born", y'know from a regular family which might be notable all to itself because your someone without a ninja family trying to be a ninja.

now a tricky background is "Jinchuuriki" because once you have a Jinchuuriki's Tailed Beast mastered its REALLY OP, and its not clear what the benefits are to it aside from "a big monster is not destroying your village." until you do. so....Jinchuuriki might or might not be its own thing.

another one you might consider is being "foreign born"- that a kid from another nation got adopted by some from your nation and brought into it to become a ninja because of some situation, which might allow you access to kekkai genkai and chakra natures you normally would not have, but also y'know, has a stigma associated with it.

another might be "born genius". like the amount of born geniuses in Naruto who do this ninja stuff at young ages is ridiculous, and they are held to higher expectations than anyone.

of course not all ninjas might be in villages- remember there are messing nin out there and while the normal Naruto trope is that they're evil, if we want to be more realistic there are probably lot of missing nin mercs and exiles that are just trying to get by and do what good they can, and maybe would be good for a different game where you don't start at 12 and instead want do something different as a group where your doing all this on your own.

and of course there is always ROOT-like organizations where your some kid who got trained using really harsh and unethical manners to be a super-emotionless killing machine of a ninja from birth and that could be a good background.

if you want a Lee-like character you can probably include that as a background with all the tradeoffs involved.

or a good background might be "transfer ninja" where your like this ninja taught in another nation but are sent to this nation to be as a sort of ambassador in a sense to show that you two can work together.

just a bunch of ideas thrown out there, take them or leave them.

[Herabec]

-snip-

Thanks! I'll need to work out some mechanics for them (specifically what you get for taking 1 - 5 ranks for each of them), but they're certainly useful to have! I could see some of those working well as Merits/Flaws as well. ^_^

[AshfireMage]

As an aside, when I first saw the title of this thread I was like "Naruto and... WoD? What?" but the more I think about it, the better it seems like it would work. A Willpower-esque mechanic fits in very well with the story and the different jutsu styles overlay well with Disciplines (sort of power "sets", all based around the same theme, but with more powerful things available to more powerful people).

It's been a while since I've seen the show, but I'll try to help out. Starting with the ones that already exist in Vampire:

Allies and/or Contacts could work- people in your village or in other places who would give you information and/or help you out if you need it. For example, Team Gaara would probably count as Allies by the end of the original show, while a contact would be someone like the ramen vendor that they go to all the time.

Some kind of Fame or Status background could work, how well known you are or how much your abilities are respected. Maybe relate it to things like how well you did at the academy, if your parents did anything famous, your own deeds... Heck, you could break this down into multiple things relating to multiple different sources of respect if you're short on ideas.

Mentor would fit quite well with the themes, and if you're using the show's 3-kids-and-a-team-leader formula, putting additional dots into this could make the team leader stronger and more well-respected, assuming that character is going to be an NPC. If they're going to be played by a player, then have it be someone outside the team, maybe a teacher or a family friend.

Resources don't seem to be that much of a problem for most of the characters in the show, but you could include it if you wanted, I guess? Perhaps tie it not so much to money as how much equipment the character has access to? It would be a slight deviation from the show, but you could in fact make that the sole component of a resources background, relating it to how much and what kind of equipment your character has access to.


Some other random ones I came up with:

What about Family or something like that? The more dots you put in it, the larger and more prestigious your characters family is. It could even wind up having some kind of in-story effect similar to Generation, where the more powerful of a family you're from, the more potential you have, but also the more of a target you are from others. I'm not sure how it would mesh with the mechanics of your game, but there's also the possibility of having to put dots into this background to access some of the more powerful "Disciplines" (Similar to how with the exception of Kakashi, pretty much only Uchias have the sharingan). For this to work, however, it would have to be some variation on "you can select any power set combos that are available to someone of your family background", and that might wind up with a lot of broken combos pretty fast (ooc disciplines are a thing for a reason)

Rank (chunin, etc) Not good for starting characters and you might want to do any rank advancements via earning them in-story, but it is an option.

Some kind of of variation on the Ancestors background from Werewolf? A link to people from the past who might show up to advise you, encourage you in your darkest moments, etc. The more dots, the more powerful the person was and the stronger connection you have to them. You could even add in that you can spend a willpower point to contact this person in a dire situation, although it's up to the ST how much they can/will want to help you and in what way. If you wanted, you could also tie this to the fact that a lot of people in Naruto seem to have affinities for various animals, tying this background (or a separate one just for that) to the ability to call a summons. Or maybe you want to just make that a power set/discipline.

If you don't want to use resources-as-equipment, there's the option of having some kind of other equipment background that gives you access to one particular powerful/unique talent or item. Legendary weapons don't seem to be a huge thing in the setting, but there's definitely unique things like Kankuro's puppets. A lot of them are tied into the characters' powers or their tailed beasts or whatever, but you could require that over a certain number of dots, the player also has to explain how the character got the thing. Something like 1 dot just gives your character a weapon that's kind of unique, but doesn't have any crazy special properties, while five dots would get you more along the lines of Gaara's sand (although even at 5 dots, that might be a little too powerful, you judge). The stuff don't even have to be weapons or material items, it could also be a non-weapon item with useful purposes or a talent ability that don't fit well into the normal power structure, but is still within the lore.



That's all I've got for the moment, but hopefully it helps and I'll add more if I think of it. I'd love to hear more about this project, too, it sounds like fun and combines two things I love :D

[Herabec]

-Snip-

Hah! Yeah, I imagined I might get a few confused replies, but I think the system might work well with a Naruto setting. It's so flexible, you can make almost anything! It's almost got a built-in chakra system with the Blood Pool mechanic, that just requires some tweaking, they've got the Willpower mechanic to help represent the epic amounts of willpower displayed by characters in the manga/show... And it's not class based, which I can't imagine working well for something like Naruto and what turns me off the D20 Naruto system.

As for your ideas, I love them. ^_^ I'd definitely be able incorporate some of those, and they fit pretty well! As I get closer to having this all finished up, I plan to turn it all into a PDF to share with my friends, so I'd be happy to put a link to it up on the web somewhere for those who'd be interested in it.

[AshfireMage]

Hah! Yeah, I imagined I might get a few confused replies, but I think the system might work well with a Naruto setting. It's so flexible, you can make almost anything! It's almost got a built-in chakra system with the Blood Pool mechanic, that just requires some tweaking, they've got the Willpower mechanic to help represent the epic amounts of willpower displayed by characters in the manga/show... And it's not class based, which I can't imagine working well for something like Naruto and what turns me off the D20 Naruto system.

As for your ideas, I love them. ^_^ I'd definitely be able incorporate some of those, and they fit pretty well! As I get closer to having this all finished up, I plan to turn it all into a PDF to share with my friends, so I'd be happy to put a link to it up on the web somewhere for those who'd be interested in it.

Glad you like them :D

And yeah, I'd love to see a link to that sometime! You can always pm it to me if you don't feel like posting it for the general forum. No idea where I'll find anyone to run it with (I'm having enough trouble convincing my group to try normal V:tM), but it's at least fun to look at.

[fishyfishyfishy]

Have a look at World of Darkness: Innocents. While it is for the Chronicles/2e WoD line it offers some advice for running games for characters that are not adults and can be very helpful for what you are trying to accomplish.

[JeenLeen]

My group's been thinking of doing a homebrew Naruto game for a while and we like d10, so this sounds cool.

I'm making a couple assumptions, since you say this is based on V:tM. Basically, I'm assuming it's based strongly off V:tM, so maybe Generation correlates to your Rank, and your chi pool is like your bloodpool. This may impact some of the background I'm writing, so modify if needed. I'm also assuming that Clans in Naruto replace Clans in Vampire, since that seems to fit pretty well (Clan Disciplines being replaced by what type of jitsu your family and training specialize in, including bloodline-specific ones.)

The Generation background, as it is so powerful, seems like it's something not great to port into a background in Naruto. If you like it, a Rank Background sounds fine. If you'd rather not have it (i.e., so everyone can start one equal standing) but still want a way to have extra chi, I have a background below that could work.

Some ideas, which is incorporating what the posters above have said:

Renown -- combo of Fame, Status, and similar background. Used for the character's general standing in society, showing respect above just being a rank-and-file ninja.
Contacts -- as V:tM
Allies -- as V:tM, though potentially hard to modify since dealing with supernaturals. Other ninja? Summons you know? Maybe 'Summons' could be a variant of this.
Ancestors -- as AshfireMage recommended.
Gear -- reflects the amount of ninja gear the person generally carries. With no ranks, it is assumed you have some basic things like a knife and some shuriken/throwing knives. This could give you some points you spend to have special gear or be something more narrative like <up to Rank times per session> you can have a rare gear on you, like poison, a potion, a scroll, or specialized tool/weapon.
Chi -- you have an extra store of chi you can access, whether due to a bloodline trait, extensive training, or just being awesome. For each rank, your chi pool is increased by X. (You could allow, at higher ranks, the ability to burn willpower to gain extra chi.)

I agree Resources doesn't really make sense, since money seems a non-issue.

[fishyfishyfishy]

You could port in the Blood Potency mechanic from Requiem to represent characters gaining mystical strength. It allows for spending xp to increase and higher levels of blood potency are equivalent to lower generation in VtM.

[Herabec]

-snip-

Thanks for the ideas! Since money seems to be a non-issue for the most part, I agree that Resources might be better replaced with something akin to Gear. They always seem to have enough money (except when it comes to ramen), so maybe making it straight up how much ninja equipment they have access to for each mission might be better.

As for rank, I don't think I'll be allowing them to purchase ranks like you could purchase generations in Vampire. I plan to have them all start as Genin, and earn further ranks by actually participating in the requisite exams (Or, if they don't want to do that, by spending a pre-determined total amount of experience), since I plan for ranks to be more than just a title. (Chuunin can have higher max ranks in stats than a Genin can, while a Jounin can have more ranks than a Chuunin).

I think instead of having higher pools of chakra be backgrounds, however, I think I might turn that into a Merit, with the opposite being a Flaw, since I've made Chakra Pool an attribute they can put points into as they rank up so they can afford to use more powerful jutsu. (The only problem I've run into with that is I now have 4 physical attributes and 4 mental attributes, but only three social attributes. >.< Can't think of a new social to go along with Chakra Pool and Chakra Control...)

[lightningcat]

Now I am not a fan of Naruto, which is probably best for my sanity considering my current homebrew project. I don't dislike it, I simply have not seen it beyond one or two scenes, but I do have a few ideas for you to consider.

Rather then having Chakra Pool and Chakra Control as attributes, I would have Chakra Control as a power stat, much like any of the nWoD games. Let it control how many points you have to play with. You could then have a merit or background to give you more points.

Also rather then having rank be like a vampire's generation, instead have it be more akin a werewolf's rank. Build up something like Renown and once you have enough you go up in rank, or at least have the oppertunity to do so. Each rank would have its perks, such as access to more powerful jutsu, better attributes maximums, more chakra energy, etc.

Maybe go with something like Signature Gear for personal stuff. A collection of unusual stuff that you always have access to, as AshfireMage was talking about. Like other backgrounds, you might lose it for a while, but you should get it back. And Armory (needs better name) for being able to get ahold of that exact trick you need ever so often. If you want to split those up.

Other backgrounds were covered by AshfireMage and JeenLeen fairly well. Although is there anything like familiars/animal companions in the show? If so, then some sort of Familiar background is in order. I don't know if the Mage version is appropriate, or something more akin the one from Exalted.

[Katrina]

If I were going to attempt something like this, I would do the following.

Chakra Control as a Power Stat (Blood Potency, Gnosis, Primal Urge, etc.). This gives you a pool of Chakra points that you can store in your body by absorbing them in some form of meditative ritual. Depending on how you want various Ninja Powers to work, this could add to all Jutsu Activations like how Changelings almost always add their Wyrd to rolls, or that could be a function of the Powers themselves like how Vampire does it.

Rank would be a measure of your accumulated XP, much like in Exalted 3.0. A character starts as a Chuunin, and can gain Genin rank at 30 xp. Jonin requires 50, and so on.

Various Jutsu would probably best be treated like the Beta rules for changeling, with most powers not being in trees but freeform. That being said, Bloodline powers and other closely related series of techniques could act more like Disciplines in that you must know the basics before you can buy the higher rated stuff. Naruto Ninja seem to know a lot of techniques, so I would probably allow a lower XP cost, again similar to Changeling.

Status, Fame, and other Social Merits are exactly that. Social Merits. They have more to do with your Ninja's perceived social status than your true power. Summons are probably best handled as five dot Powers, given the relative power of Summons in that show.

As for actual Ki or Chakra, there are two ways to do it really.
The first is "Chakra is plentiful, but required." To play this style, allow characters to attempt to Accumulate Chakra by making a Resolve+Occult+Chakra Control roll as an Instant Action to gain [Successes] in Chakra points. The trade off is that every power, even the most minor, requires the players to spend a Chakra point.
The second is "Minor powers are minor, Chakra points are for the big stuff." In this style, a character might have to spend an hour meditating to regain a single point of Chakra, but many of his minor powers such as "running up walls jutsu" and other stuff they do all the time don't actually require a Chakra point, only that the character possess at least one point of Chakra. Chakra points are only spent when a player does a large scale manipulation, such as Uzumaki's Shadow Clone Jutsu or similar effects.

[druid91]

Personally I would use Mage as a base rather than vampire. Replace the regular mage spheres with elemental and chakra control type spheres.

Get rid of Paradox but require quint AKA chakra to be spent on jutsu.

Avatar could be renamed Chakra Reserves, and Arete your chakra control.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I'm not sure, it seems to me like developing new Jutsu was always a project, and not something you just did on the fly normally? Perhaps if you increase the costs of improvised casting, and make Rote Spells more important? Maybe make all Improvised Casting cost mana/chakra, while Rote Spells are cheaper to cast?

[SaurOps]

Have a look at World of Darkness: Innocents. While it is for the Chronicles/2e WoD line it offers some advice for running games for characters that are not adults and can be very helpful for what you are trying to accomplish.

Ninja kids in a martial arts anime are generally far more mechanically impressive than normal kids from a low-powered game about occult investigations, and the poster is using WoD instead of CoD (the unfortunately named WoD: Innocents being a part of the latter). Generally, where normal kids are concerned in Storyteller system, their Strength is capped at 2 and they get increased social difficulties when dealing with adults rather than a Cybergeneration-esque alternate system.

[druid91]

I'm not sure, it seems to me like developing new Jutsu was always a project, and not something you just did on the fly normally? Perhaps if you increase the costs of improvised casting, and make Rote Spells more important? Maybe make all Improvised Casting cost mana/chakra, while Rote Spells are cheaper to cast?

Take a cue from the wonder sphere rules. You can only use them to develop Jutsu beforehand.

Then treat Jutsu like artifacts. Roll you arete/ chakra control.

That way you always get SOMETHING. Even if it's not the massive fireball you wanted.

[Braininthejar2]

So, one casting stat as an energy pool, the other rolled for control.

jutsu groups working as spheres, giving access to given fields. (elemental, taijutsu, genjutsu, fuinjutsu, clan/bloodline)

A jutsu can be learned if you meet the cost/control/sphere requirements, and is then added to your available options:
I think these should be bought with exp (cheap if you have a teacher, more expensive for scroll, most for self-developed)

Of course, the cost of increasing spheres, learning techniques would need to be discounted compared to WoD, since you'd be paying for both, and we don't want the campaign to move at a snail's pace.

What kind of damage would ninjas be able to soak? They seem way tougher than normal humans, but we've seen some go down from a knife stab.

Now, as for backgrounds, because that's what you've actually been asking about:

Allies, Mentor, Fame, Contacts, could probably stay as is. (in this case mentor is someone from outside the team, like a parent or a senior clan member)

Resources - ninja do missions for money, and the powerful clans who do dangerous ones call higher prices. A young ninja will likely just have an allowance. - being able to buy stuff with your dad's money goes under "Allies" or "Mentor"

Gear - now, that's a different matter. How much gear do you have access to per mission? Are you a member of a big clan, who just picks stuff off the shelf, or an orphan who has to spend the downtime between adventures sitting with a calligraphy brush, slowly infusing your chi into bomb tags? This stat is especially important for puppeteers - a good puppet might take months to craft and seconds to break.

Sensei - the jounin team leader of starting characters. This would be a team background, with team members pooling their points of a sensei - with no points invested, he is competent enough to be a jounin, but either so unfriendly, or so uncaring, that he isn't of any help except literal life or death situations, merely monitoring the team's efforts and offering snide remarks.

Secrets: - how much are you trusted with your clan secrets? This works in two ways. First, it works in conjunction with "gear" background, influencing what special gear is available relative to your rank. Second, it acts like a "library" background, enabling you easier access to your family techniques - this is especially important for forbidden techniques, which are usually only shared with exceptionally trusted individuals.