Pirates vs. Ninjas

[Lix Lorn]

Don't worry, I wasn't clear.
Happy to help! I don't know balance, but I can do grammar. XD

[Dairun Cates]

Don't worry, I wasn't clear.
Happy to help! I don't know balance, but I can do grammar. XD

Believe me. I understand. Balance has not been easy.

The Carpentarrs actually took a while because of their stupidly powerful abilities at low Life cost. There's doubtlessly some abilities that will need nerfing. Carpentarr, My Love (level 5, added 10 minutes ago) scares me a lot for its potential to MURDER an encounter. Of course, it cripples the Carpentarr like crazy until he can rest, but there are probably some clever ways around it (I can think of one Wanderer based solution as long as you can spend an awesome point a turn).

[Lix Lorn]

Whoah. I dunno if it's balanced, but it's certainly very cool. XD

[Dairun Cates]

Huh... So, I knew some factions were heavily lacking in abilities and that I needed to revisit some factions for overhauling, but I was shocked to find that some of the factions my beta-players love the most and find the most interesting actually have a small number of abilities. Matter of fact, I was pretty shocked at what was actually the lowest. Here's a current list in order.

Number of Faction abilities:
Charrismatic Lords: 25
Carpentarrs: 25
Drunkarrds: 25 (21 w/ redundancy of meads and "body over 10" abilities)
Feykinja: 24
Alchemists: 24
Dr. Inja: 22
Luckies: 22
Hitinja: 21
Arrcrobats: 21
Drunken Masters: 21
Gamblers: 20
Gunnars: 20
Evadinja: 20
Craftsmen: 18
Shoninja: 18
Charreographers: 18
Wanderering Minstrels: 18
Rokinja: 16

Total: 378

That's right. Rokinja, one of the more flavorful factions are actually a whole 5 abilities behind the current average (21). Not only that, but over a quarter of the factions don't effectively have 4 abilities for each ability level.

I knew I needed to focus on the earlier factions more, but this shows me exactly where to focus my attention now. Looks like the musical factions are getting buffed first (which is convenient, because Wandering Minstrels already have plans for them).

Although, amusingly enough, there are now exactly (counting items and generic factionless) 404 abilities that can be used by player characters at the moment. Happy File Not Found day, I guess.

[Dairun Cates]

Yeah. So, I got slightly bored last night and whipped up a nice little graphical illustration for you guys. Basically, while it's REALLY hard to find characters that only belong to one faction (because major characters in stories have DEPTH and multiple facets) here's a nice handy reference of characters of varying popularities that exemplify the style of each faction.

So, now, if you're explaining a faction to someone else, you can have a nice example of a character that practically IS that faction.

Some of these comparisons work better than others. In some cases, I tried to avoid incredibly obvious examples just to provide an alternate interpretation, and in others, I had trouble finding characters that perfectly fit certain factions because of a common lack of some trait. So, some of these may be weird, but they fit. I also tried to varying the sources in tastes from a little more obscure but better fits to less obscure but less appropriate. Although, almost all of these examples are from video games or animation of some kind. This is because characters in these tend to stress the ridiculous and over the top more.

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From Left to Right.
Ninjas:
Evadinja: Spike Speigel from Cowboy Bebop
Hitinja: Goemon from Lupin III
Shoninja: Domon Kasshu from G Gundam
Rokinja: Eddie Riggs from Brutal Legend
Dr. Inja: Dr. McNinja from Dr. McNinja
Feykinja: Aizen from Bleach

Wanderers:
Craftsmen: Craft Lawrence from Spice and Wolf
Luckies: Justy Ueki Tylor from The Irresponsible Captain Tylor
Alchemists: Minnie May from Gunsmith Cats
Wandering Minstrels: The Music Mesiter from Batman Brave and the Bold
Drunken Masters: Jackie Chan playing the main character in Legend of Drunken Master
Gamblers: Akagi from Akagi

Pirates:
Arrcrobat: Claire Stanfield from Baccano
Charrismatic Lord: Captain Harlock from Captain Harlock
Gunnars: Noel Vermillion
Drunkarrds: Suika Ibuki from Touhou
Charreographer: Ulala from Space Channel 5
Carpentarr: Frankie from One Piece


Fun Notes:
-Drunkarrds, Arrcrobats, and Alchemists actually gave me the most trouble. Despite being incredibly common character types and descriptions, it's decently hard to find an example of the stereotype of each of these factions that's not a better example of another faction.

-Characters that get strong and near indestructible while drunk that are WELL-KNOWN are pretty hard to find (especially off the top of my head). Suika actually fits the bill, but unless you know about the character, you wouldn't guess she's a Drunkarrd from looking at her.

-Ditto with Acrobatic STUNT based fighters and Alchemists. Pretty much any of the main characters from Atelier Iris fits Alchemists PERFECTLY. They sling potions and wield the elements themselves as their weapons. Not to mention they LOOK the part. Unfortunately, more common version of magic potion slingers are hard to come by. So, I stuck with the bombs and chemical demolitionist angle.

-Claire Stanfield is actually a PERFECT example of an Arrcrobat, but he may be a bit obscure since Baccano is a critically acclaimed anime that's never really been advertised or shown on TV. Still, watching this guy fight once will make you get it. I also considered showing one of the Errol Flynn characters or Pirates of the Caribbean characters, but they either belonged better to another faction or I couldn't find a good picture. Basically, agile fighters are easy to find, acrobatic stunt based fighters, not so much.

-Alternate Lucky example is Milfiel Sakuraba from Galaxy Angel since I wanted a few more female examples to change things up a bit, but she's REALLY hard to find a good picture of, and Tylor's probably a better example of the mental philosophy (even if he is a bit obscure).

-Similarly, finding gunners isn't hard. Over half the characters in anything that wield guns are gonna be Gunnars. So, I went a bit more obscure and went for something that represents a very well-trained Gunnar's style a bit more. Don't believe me. Watch this. or even better THIS.

-Despite not making anything, Craft Lawrence probably fits the mentality of a Craftsmen Guild character better than anyone in anything. Make money, honor contracts, and get creative when you have to.

-Almost put Axel from Disgaea 2 as a Rokinja until I remembered he uses his guitar for a grand total of 2-3 moves and almost never to do damage. Also, those awesome musical assassins from Kung Fu Hustle are also Rokinja, but finding a good picture of them would LITERALLY be impossible.

-Actually don't like Aizen much as a character, but he was the best example that wasn't a Naruto character (which felt like cheating for Ninja factions and felt wrong when they fit NON ninja factions).

-The Heavy from Team Fortress 2 is pretty much a Drunkarrd/Gunnar and is awesome. Sandvich anyone?

-Jackie Chan is the only live-action example, because 1. finding other POPULAR Drunken Masters is pretty ridiculously hard. Seriously, Drunken characters are easy, but one's that do awesome martial arts while drunk are not. 2. Seeing as a good 60% of the Drunken Master moves are based either vaguely or obviously around things he does in the movie, felt almost wrong not to put him as the example.

-No duh. Kamina is a Charristmatic Lord, but Harlock's the original, old school example. Gotta pay homage to your roots.

-I almost just considered saying the entire Touhou Games for Gunnars since Overdrive IS the Danmaku/Bullet Hell skill, but I felt that was cheating.

[DracoDei]

Also, those awesome musical assassins from Kung Fu Hustle are also Rokinja, but finding a good picture of them would LITERALLY be impossible.

Never seen that movie. There is probably fan art of them somewhere (unless they turn themselves into pure sound in which case you should have just linked to the appropriate file on Grooveshark or You Tube, and even then there might be fan-music)... it is probably part of my optimistic disposition at this moment that I am going to guess that only 50% of it is pornographic. Whether or not it is GOOD art is another question entirely, and knowing what it IS without it being labeled might be difficult or impossible.


EDIT: Couple of thoughts on un-factioned abilities.
Lock, Stock, and Stab <- Does this ONLY work against ninja's? It mentions "ninjas" in the description, rather than "enemies".
Sail the Seas <- I think there should be a higher level add on that turns you into a walking GPS due to inherent navigational abilities... pass out drunk, get kidnapped by ninjas who blindfold you, plug your ears with wax, drip some sleeping poison in your mouth to make sure you stay down long enough, put you in a barrel, take an evasive course over the roof-tops to a waiting get-away carriage where they drive like mad on an equally confusing course...and you wake up 36 hours later still knowing where you are to within +/-50 feet. Not going to come up much, even if you make it a continuous passive skill, but I think it might have enough "cool factor".

[Dairun Cates]

Never seen that movie. There is probably fan art of them somewhere (unless they turn themselves into pure sound in which case you should have just linked to the appropriate file on Grooveshark or You Tube, and even then there might be fan-music)... it is probably part of my optimistic disposition at this moment that I am going to guess that only 50% of it is pornographic. Whether or not it is GOOD art is another question entirely, and knowing what it IS without it being labeled might be difficult or impossible.


EDIT: Couple of thoughts on un-factioned abilities.
Lock, Stock, and Stab <- Does this ONLY work against ninja's? It mentions "ninjas" in the description, rather than "enemies".
Sail the Seas <- I think there should be a higher level add on that turns you into a walking GPS due to inherent navigational abilities... pass out drunk, get kidnapped by ninjas who blindfold you, plug your ears with wax, drip some sleeping poison in your mouth to make sure you stay down long enough, put you in a barrel, take an evasive course over the roof-tops to a waiting get-away carriage where they drive like mad on an equally confusing course...and you wake up 36 hours later still knowing where you are to within +/-50 feet. Got going to come up much, even if you make it a continuous passive skill, but I think it might have enough "cool factor".

Okay. In order.

1. The problem with the assassins from Kung Fu Hustle is this. It's a bit dark here, but you only see their faces for maybe like a minute in the whole thing even when it has good brightness settings, and you never get their names, but they kill people with music. It's pretty awesome. So yeah. Kinda impossible to get ANY good picture of them. It's still a memorable scene.

2. Nah. Lock, Stock, and Stab and the like says ninja because it was my way of not over-using the word target at first. It's just ASSUMED that pirate moves are most likely to get used on Ninjas and vice-versa. Unless something specifies only Pirate, Ninja, or Wanderer (which is like 3 ability, and two of them just give more damage to one faction and the last gives DR to pirate and ninja attacks), it can be used on anyone.

3. Sounds interesting. I'll have to look into adding that in as a high level passive. Maybe add it as a Charrismatic Lord skill (although, they seem to have plenty enough).

Hope that answers your questions and thanks for the input.

[Dairun Cates]

If anyone's going to be in Dallas for A-kon, we're currently writing up some basic sample characters and trying to write up a module for running a couple of demo games at the gaming rooms. At the very least, I have some friends from out of state that one of my players will be doing a one-shot for.

Anyway, if anyone's going to be there, let me know and we can possibly set up a time to try the system out.

[paddyfool]

I'd have been tempted to propose "Captain Haddock" for the Drunkarrds... although he'd have me keelhauled for calling him a pirate ("blistering blue barnacles!"). And to maybe suggest Douglas Fairbanks' classic role for the Arrcrobat.

[Lix Lorn]

Someone stat up Captain Haddock. Please. <3

[Dairun Cates]

I'd have been tempted to propose "Captain Haddock" for the Drunkarrds... although he'd have me keelhauled for calling him a pirate ("blistering blue barnacles!"). And to maybe suggest Douglas Fairbanks' classic role for the Arrcrobat.

He almost seems more like a Charrismatic Lord/Drunkarrds Mix than a pure Drunkarrd. Also, are we sure he gets his awesome from his alcoholism?

Also, amusingly enough, Errol Flynn was the original inspiration. Although, old pirate movies and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies provided some inspiration as well.

Someone stat up Captain Haddock. Please. <3

Oh. You mean something like this?

Captain Haddock

Side: Pirate
Faction: Drunkarrd
Age: 50
Points: 120

Life: 140
Reaction: 3

Body 6
Agility 3
Precision 3
Will 6

Abilities:
Level 1:
The Mead of Staggering (Pirate, Cost 5): Gain +2 Body at the cost of 2 Agility until end of combat
The Mead of Blurred Vision (Pirate, Cost 5): Gain +2 Body at the cost of 2 precision.
Stone-Cold Sober (Pirate, Passive): Gain a +2 to resistance against poisons and other foreign agents.
Fist of My Head, Foot of my Crotch! (Wanderer, Passive): Use unarmed attacks with any part of the body.
Double Tap (Pirate, Cost 2): Fire twice for 5 damage each. Range 20 squares.
The Bull's Red Cape (Pirate, Cost 2): Opposed Will check at a -2. If successful, target must attack user until hit by someone else.
Sail the Seas (Pirate, Passive): +2 to Sailing Checks.

Level 2:
Speed Chugger (Pirate, Passive): Drink 2 Drinking actions a turn.
Stumbling Punch (Pirate, Cost 4): 10 damage. +1 to hit.
Improvised Master (Pirate, Passive): Can use anything as a weapon as long as it meets basic requirements.
All Hands on Deck! (Pirate, Cost 4/turn): +1 to precision on ships weapons or sail checks for all allies on ship.


Level 3:
Punch a God (Pirate, Passive): Exceed rule of 10 for body score for natural damage.
I'm Gonna Bop You Good! (Pirate, Cost 6): 10 damage + natural unarmed attack damage.
Quite the Kick! (Pirate, Passive): Gain 15 life per awesome point instead of 10.
So Be Ye Face! (Pirate, Cost 6): Opposed Will check at a -2. Deals damage equal to double the Will score.
The Wit's Rapier (Pirate, Cost 6): Say an insult. +1 to hit, 15 physical damage.


Level 4:
The True Mead (Pirate, Cost 10): +2 Body until end of combat on a drinking action (no life gain).
Drink to Your Health (Pirate, Passive): Gain 10 life for free once a battle as a drinking action.
The L Bomb (Pirate, Cost 20): Opposed Will check to everyone, 10 damage if failed. -1 to all rolls until end of turn for all targets that can hear it regardless.
Not to Be Trifled With (Pirate, Cost 20): -5 damage from all attack for all allies until end of turn.

Level 5:
Healthy as a 10 Story Ox (Pirate, Passive): +20 Max Life
One Word Insult (Pirate, Cost 20): 5 times will damage at on an opposed will roll at a -4 to will.

Flaws:
Addiction (2): Alcohol
Clumsy (2)
Dim-witted (1)
Reckless (2)
Code (1): Captain's Code
Focused Attribute (4): Will (Diplomacy)

Description: Sadly enough, the most I remember of Tin Tin is watching the Cartoon on HBO when I was like 8 (which is a time I don't remember a lot of things), but based on some quick research, this should be a reasonable 120 point version of the Captain (which would put him near the end of the series as a powerful and seasoned character). He's not particularly powerful in the damage department, and his attributes are fairly low for a 120 point character, but he's pretty beefy and can take some hits. He's also got a HUGE variety of skills that are mostly split between Charrismatic Lord and Drunkarrd. He's not very smart, but he knows his way around a ship and can be resourceful when he needs to.

[Lix Lorn]

Will you marry me? <3
XD

[Dairun Cates]

Will you marry me? <3
XD

I take it you approve then.

[Lix Lorn]

Very much. XD

[paddyfool]

Also, amusingly enough, Errol Flynn was the original inspiration. Although, old pirate movies and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies provided some inspiration as well.

Ah, but Dougie made a better pirate even than Errol. Here, have ten minutes of classic and acrobatic piracy, courtesy of the film world's first action hero and the first king of Hollywood, Douglas Fairbanks.

[Kaje]

My god, you can be a steampunk cyborg pirate. Or a pirate of Penzance! This is so many kinds of awesome.

[Grimtina]

Are you going to put this all on a website for easier reference? I'd like to run a game or two with this, here or at other sites and maybe offline but in one thread it is a bit too confusing.

[Kiroth6]

Dairun can't answer right now because he's just finishing up moving and heading to A-Kon in Dallas. However, he is planning on getting a website set up. He'll be back after the play tests at A-kon so he should be able to give a more definite answer then.

[Grimtina]

Yay, thanks

[Dairun Cates]

Dairun can't answer right now because he's just finishing up moving and heading to A-Kon in Dallas. However, he is planning on getting a website set up. He'll be back after the play tests at A-kon so he should be able to give a more definite answer then.

Actually, Kiroth was under the impression I wouldn't have my internet up by A-kon. SURPRISE!

Yeah. We're planning a website for this at the moment. We're looking into website maintenance costs and trying to find a solution that'll fit our budget while we work on this. Fax also offered some space on his wiki to store it for the time being, and I might take him up on that if I have the time to edit things together for a wiki. Until we find a more permanent home though, this and my computer are the only places you'll find the full thing.

If you're REALLY interested, I can send a copy of my open office document. It doesn't help as much as you'd think (as I find the spoiler tags easier to navigate myself), but you can use the find function on it.

...And if you're REALLY REALLY interested, I can send you the release form and hook you and your group up as beta testers so you can give me some direct feedback on the system.

Although, I'm a bit curious. Is there anything in particular that needs organizing with the table of contents on the first page, because I've been using that for my purposes of finding things and it's served me pretty well. It's not terribly difficult to add another header or subsection while waiting for us to get the website up.

Edit: And if anyone has advice on webservice hosts, I'm all ears.

[Grimtina]

It is probably just my bad eyes that's the problem. I always have trouble finding stuff on forums, it is less a problem on websites.

What do you need in a website? Maybe I could put it on my server until you find something better.

And yeah, I'd love to beta test this. I have a tabletop group crazy to test stuff like this (we just beta tested a German space pirates rpg) and this would make a good online game as well.

[Dairun Cates]

My Beta GM for A-kon informed me that I forgot to put this Mother Plucker up on the site.

Yatagarasu
Tier: Boss
Description: A monstrous 3-legged Raven that is said to be sent as a messenger from the Gods. Some legends even say the Raven keeps one as a pet as a joke on his name.

Life: 240
Reaction: 7

Body 6
Agility 7
Precision 6
Will 6

Note: While there are smaller varieties, when an adventurer references the Yatagarasu with any kind of respect, they're probably talking about this one. About 2/3rds the size of a T-rex. The Yatagarasu also takes a -4 to all dodges if its grounded in some way and can no longer fly.

Abilities:
Level 1:

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Tricky Frame (Passive): Despite it's size, the Yatagarasu is quite agile and slippery. The Yatagarasu gains a +2 to avoid capture or being held in place.

Level 2:

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Acrobatic Flier (Passive): Yatagarasu are master fliers despite their size and can duck and weave through all but the smallest holes for it. Whenever a Yatagarasu must fly through a thick area like a forest, as long as there is SOME room for it to move, the Yatagarasu can fly through.

Super Speedy Escape (Passive): When using both move actions to move in a round, the Yatagarasu moves at 3 move actions instead of 2.

Dark Sight (Passive): While not perfect, the Yatagarasu can see in the dark without any penalties. In regular darkness, the Yatagarasu suffers no penalties. In absolute darkness, or the kind caused by an abilty, the Yatagarasu can see the location of targets and suffers only a -1 to precision.

Level 3:

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Beak Grapple (Cost 10): The Yatagarasu attacks to hit. If the Yatagarasu hits, it makes an opposed Body check against the target. Once grappled, the target can attack the Yatagarasu but cannot move. They can spend their move action attempting to escape, but after the initial body check, the check is made at a -2 to the victim's body. Up to 2 targets can be grappled at once.

Wing Slap (Cost 15): The Yatagarasu's wings are powerful and allow it hits its foes for massive damage. This attack hits a 2 x 2 square area in melee range and does 15 damage to everything in that area on a successful hit.

Beak Peck (Cost 10): The Yatagarasu reels back and hits an opponent with its beak. This deal 20 damage.

Level 4:

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Rending Claws (Cost 15): The Yatagarasu flies at its prey and starts tearing it apart with its three taloned legs. This attack does 30 damage.

Heart-Shattering Call (Cost 15): The Yatagarasu lets out a frightening call to all that can hear it. On an attack action, make opposed Will checks against the Yatagarasu. Anyone that fails it takes a -2 on all rolls against the Yatagarasu for the next 2 turns.

Level 5:

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Raven Dive (Cost 20): The Yatagarasu moves past its target while attacking simultaneously. This attack can be done in the middle of a move action and does 35 damage.

Gale Force Wings (Cost 20): The Yatagarasu flaps its wings with massive power and generates a gale force tornado in front of it. This hits 3 square width line in front of the Yatagarasu and does 30 damage to anyone that fails an agility check. Furthermore, all people that fail are blown back 10 squares.

Gravity is Not Your Friend (Cost 20): The Yatagarasu can only use this attack if the target is grappled and if the Yatagarasu is in the air. From there, the Yatagarasu drops the target from up high and gravity and the solid ground do the rest. Unless someone can specifically stop the effect of the fall, the target drops to the ground and must make a 15 agility check or take 50 damage. If they succeed, they still take 25 unless they have some way to break their fall.

Flight (Cost 3/turn): Yatagarasu can use their powerful wings to fly. This is more representative of complex flight. Just gliding from place to place with minimal wing flapping does not require life cost.

[Makiru]

Just so you know, I am willing to help run the booth/table/whatever if you guys need a break or something or really want to go to a panel.

[Dairun Cates]

Well, finished up about 12 sample characters for people to play or work from if they don't have the time to roll up characters. Only 6 factions total though (2 characters for each). We'll just have to see how things go from here. I should probably print out Captain Haddock for the hell of it in case someone wants to fight him.

Just so you know, I am willing to help run the booth/table/whatever if you guys need a break or something or really want to go to a panel.

Well, since we didn't get in in time to be industry guests or get a table, the idea is essentially to either take a table next to the RPG shops or in the tabletop RPG room and see if we can't get a few people to join in. In short, we don't exactly have a "table time". So, we'll just see how things go. At the very least, we have a game with some of the guys from the LARP that's going to happen one of the nights. Should be interesting.

Thanks for the offer though.

[tordirycgoyust]

2 questions. First what is your licence going to be like (you mentioned a friend was going to do that for you but one`d think you`d have an idea of what you want). Second, for people homebrewing in this system it would be nice to have a bit about general balance (eg. damage/life@given level, life/awesome point, etc.).

Love this system-it would be perect for a naruto game, though your setting rocks enough that I´m not sure I would play another.

[tordirycgoyust]

Just noticed this.

PWN
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[Dairun Cates]

Back from A-Kon. Up next, ability rebalancing and adding new abilities to old factions.

2 questions. First what is your licence going to be like (you mentioned a friend was going to do that for you but one`d think you`d have an idea of what you want). Second, for people homebrewing in this system it would be nice to have a bit about general balance (eg. damage/life@given level, life/awesome point, etc.).

Love this system-it would be perect for a naruto game, though your setting rocks enough that I´m not sure I would play another.

SEMI-LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO STARTS HERE:

Obviously, you shouldn't quote me on this, and I'd really have to discuss the finer points with her, but if memory serves, we're looking at going with a creative commons license on this, at least until it's published.

What that means, in short, is that what I posted online is free to be distributed and modified for non-commercial means as long as credit is given to the original creator and the modified content follows the same license. It's similar to the OGL but has the distinct difference of not allowing commercial variations (at least for now). Once again though, this isn't set in stone, but we are ultimately aiming for building a community on this so we actually have traffic to the site. So, we don't exactly want to stifle the creative process and ideas of our fans and supporters. There's just a lot of small factors to consider first. How we handle community feedback and such. Still, I have no doubt we'll make things work out well for you guys in the end.

Basically, don't fear the word license here. It's for making sure that I can eventually publish this. We're definitely not trying to stifle anyone or rip them off here, just making sure someone else can't pick this up and claim it as their own or I can't be sued for listening to feedback.

In short, we're not aiming to try to trick you guys. So, don't worry too much about it. Worst anyone's probably going to have to deal with is signing a release form if they want to beta-test for the full thing so I can't be sued for using their feedback.

SEMI-LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO ENDS HERE!

As for your other question about balance, it gets a bit weird, and I'll even admit there are mistakes here and there, but it would takes a lot of text that I don't have time to type at the moment. So, the INCREDIBLY short version goes something like this.

Damage: 5 damage a level (except level 5's). Damage can increase if a restrictive condition is added.

Life and awesome point cost: Typically around 1-3 for level 1's. 2-5 for level 2's. 4-8 for level threes. Around 7-15 for level 4's. Level 5's just typically cost 2/3rds of the damage potential (lower fraction for lower damage, higher fraction for higher damage). Add or subtract a couple of life points for accuracy bonuses/penalties, ranged attacks, positive/negative side-effects, and other similar modifiers. Multiply base cost by around 1.5 for LARGE AOE attacks. Abilities typically get an awesome point cost when one use of the ability can typically change the tide of a battle or end it entirely (like instant knock-out capabilities or REALLY debilitating debuffs). No matter how inaccurate.

For monsters, lower the damage by as much as 5 per level for mooks, raise it by about 5 per level for encounter monsters, and raise it around 10 a level for bosses. Scale life accordingly. Max Life for bosses has already been discussed, but for clarity. Half to a tenth of their natural life for mooks. Full to double for encounters. Double to 5 times their natural life for Bosses (5x should be reserved for things like the Kraken).

When in doubt, find the closest ability to yours (like point blank shotgun for 20 damage level 4's) and compare it. Tweak as necessary. If no similar ability exists, consider how the ability effects other FACTIONS and whether they can counter it. Things like darkness abilities with few counters need heavy cost to dissuade overuse. Level 1's are supposed to be useable as well as level 5's.

Also, for sending players against monsters. Most encounter monsters are balanced for 60-80 point characters (ie. 1 60-80 point character will take ONE down half the time). Play to your party's weaknesses and strengths otherwise. For adventurer/human characters. Stick to slightly lower than the party for light encoutners and either 10-20 points higher for boss parties to up to double point cost for single bosses (although, that depends a LOT of the party size. 1 single boss is not recommended for a party of 6).

Hope that helps a bit.

As for the setting. We're building it as we go along, but you'll love some of the new additions when I get around to writing them up (hint: The Gunnars guild G&W has airships in their higher up rankings and there are actually old villages that don't know the Pirate/Ninja war end/started up again).

Just noticed this.

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Heh. Never noticed that. We've been looking for a new title (to avoid copyright issues). That might be something to work with.

All in all, glad you like the system.

EDIT: Oh, and we only got 1 game in, but watching new players learn the system gave me a lot of insight and ideas. Possibly more on that later.

[Dairun Cates]

Alright guys. Creative Commons license is done. Here's the incredibly short and simple version.

By making use of this Work (tentatively titled but not limited to protection under the name "Pirates v. Ninjas), You agree to use the Work only in a non-commercial capacity and to attribute ownership to the author of the work according to the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Deed as listed here.

The link gives the short and sweet version of the license and puts what we've been saying in writing. Homebrew away without fear.

[tordirycgoyust]

Thanks. I have a friend who GMs a PBP Naruto game with a from scratch homebrew system that has become very cumbersome and I offered to find/build a new system and my first question was derived from legal concerns about storing this system's rules on the forums they play on. My second question answers the concern that many players in this game create new powers on a regular basis and the necessity of a tool for creating reasonable powers has become apparent.
That these concerns are more universal than this on game and a lack of time to post changed my questions a bit.

Third question! Could you create an "epic handbook"? This would be for those long, high-powered campaigns where level six abilities and 11+ attributes start being attractive (if only to GMs looking for ways to keep players challenged).

[Dairun Cates]

Thanks. I have a friend who GMs a PBP Naruto game with a from scratch homebrew system that has become very cumbersome and I offered to find/build a new system and my first question was derived from legal concerns about storing this system's rules on the forums they play on. My second question answers the concern that many players in this game create new powers on a regular basis and the necessity of a tool for creating reasonable powers has become apparent.
That these concerns are more universal than this on game and a lack of time to post changed my questions a bit.

Third question! Could you create an "epic handbook"? This would be for those long, high-powered campaigns where level six abilities and 11+ attributes start being attractive (if only to GMs looking for ways to keep players challenged).

1. Yeah. Like I said, our aim isn't to scare off the community. We practically need the indie crowd to get any leeway and maintain any kind of actual base of users. So, obviously, a restrictive license would be deadly. Just needed the creative commons license to ensure protection of the IP. No problem using the system. Heck, give me a link if you do, I'd like to see how it goes.

2. I could get a bit more specific on powers, but for the most part, you have to wing it. Otherwise, half of the powers are easily flavor texted towards something new. Raging Digit itself really can cover any unarmed attack. So, if you wanted it as a headbutt instead, it can work. If you don't mind a page of theory on balance though, I can give you a pretty succinct explanation of how I decide life costs and ability levels. There's a bit of guesswork in there, but there really is a science to it. From there, it's really up to you whether you want to just post those guidelines or get some people you trust to keep things balanced.

3. Actually, the beta campaign is essentially an extremely accelerated regular campaign. Both sides (the 40 point and 80 point characters) have gained over 40 points from their original totals in something like 8 sessions each. So, the higher end character have hit the 120 point region about now, and that's where things start getting to the weird end of scaling. A group of four 120 point characters actually can take on a 250 point character pretty handily. Also, amusingly enough, I realized that the Kraken is definitely no match for two well-made 150 point adventurers. It'll need some buffing if it wants to be the "Pirates vs. Ninjas Tarrasque analog".

So yeah. The balancing on epic is currently in the works. For the most part, you just have to tweak balance a bit as GM and realize that 150 damage in a turn on a non-crit becomes possible at that point, but I could definitely throw together some guidelines on higher level play.

Matter of fact, best advice for characters over 90 points. Don't throw one boss at them unless it's a monster with a LOT of Life like a Ninjasaurus Rex or Great Tengu.

Anything else of any particular concern?