|
|
Sunday, January 27th, 2008
| |
9:54 pm - And Here We Go Again
|
Alright, I know I haven't been updating this (which is okay since I'm pretty sure nobody checks it) but I've got a nice big list of things to update. This includes changes to feat prerequisites, weapon feats, wound and insanity penalties, shields, dual wielding, weapon damage, robot weapon feat usage cost, skills, as well as new feats, weapon feat traits, advantages and flaws, and more. As I write this, I'm sure I'll forget something as I do not have all my materials here with me. I suppose that provides me with the opportunity to update again when I remember.
First off, I've added progressive feat prerequisites to almost every single feat. What that means that each time you go to level up your feat, you must meet a higher prerequisite than the last level of the same feat. Sound complicated? Well it's not. For example, the feat High Arcane Magic has a prerequisite of INT 16+4. So the very first level of High Arcane Magic has a prerequisite of 16 INT before it can be purchased, and each progressive level adds 4 more to the prerequisite. That means that High Arcane Magic II requires an INT of 20, and High Arcane Magic III requires an INT of 24. This was set in place to counter the fact that all feats, petty and powerful, cost the same to level up.
Next, weapon feat advancement has been altered slightly, and a couple new traits were added. Each trait falls into a certain category, such as increasing area of effect or increasing accuracy. Previously, the cost to upgrade your weapon feat was solely dependent on the total amount of traits that had been purchased. Now, each category has separate advancement, so increasing accuracy has no effect on the experience point cost to increase attack, and vice versa. Also, each category has a different cost to upgrade, so making the weapon feat deal elemental damage costs much less than making it deal critical damage, or having it strike multiple times.
Here's a big one: wound and insanity penalties. Before this update, characters could act just as well at 1 health and 1 sanity than at full health and 100 sanity. However, that is no longer the case. As in real life, wounds and mental instability distract the character and prevent them from performing actions. Each point of health or sanity under 10 causes the character to lose 1 point to attack, accuracy, armor, all skills including magic and combat, and increases the magic cost of all spells by one. So a character with 1 health would have a 9 point penalty, as would a character with 3 health and 8 sanity.
Now for the fun stuff. Shields and dual wielding will be introduced in this update, meaning I've also added off-hand penalties. Each character has a dominant hand, unless they've bought the new and expensive ambidexterity advantage. Anything that the character tries to do with their off-hand is imposed penalties upon unless it is a two-handed action and their dominant hand aids. Attack and accuracy receive a 5 point penalty for weapons used in the off-hand, and shields also receive a 3 point penalty to the armor they grant when the shield is held in the off-hand. However, characters may chose to wield a weapon in their off-hand as well as their main hand, because while doing so the character may make up to four attacks per round, up to twice per weapon, plus any additional attacks granted by feats or abilities. The downside to this is that each attack over two granted from dual wielding causes an action of delay, so if a character with no special feats that grant extra attack is dual wielding and attacks four times in one round, they cannot attack at all the next round. There is an exception to this rule: any weapon in the small blade category will not incur any penalty at all, so dual wielding daggers with the ambidexterity feat allows the character to attack four times per round without penalty. As for shields, they simply provide extra armor and reduce accuracy, and are used in the brand new Shield Mastery and Shield Bash feats.
Something small. Weapon damage has been adjusted, mostly increased. Small blade weapons that were previously 1d2 are now 1d4. Mortar cannon is now 3d6. All bows now use one die size larger, except the recurve bow, which had been changed from 1d12 to 2d6. Most small and medium firearms were increased by one die size. Railguns and coilguns are now 2d12. The scythe now deals 2d8, as does the goupillon (three-headed flail).
Robots are getting shafted on 10 mana for weapon feats, so I moved it down to 7 mana. Hopefully that will be slightly more reasonable.
Okay, here's another major one. The fifty-something skills have been compressed down to eighteen. In alphabetical order: Academia, Art, Athletics, Concentrate, Craft, Drive, Empathy, Investigate, Knowledge, Linguistics, Listen, Medicine, Profession, Repair, Science, Spot, Stealth, and Technology. Since there are less skills now, characters only get 10 times their INT to spend rather than 15 times. However, this update will introduce specialities. A speciality is a certain field of a skill that the character excels in, granting them an extra 10 skill, per rank of the speciality, when making a skill check that is related to their speciality. For example, a character has 60 skill in Empathy, and rank 2 speciality Lie. When this character tries to persuade someone else, they have 60 skill in Empathy. However, when they lie, bluff, or bend the truth, their Empathy skill acts as if it were 80.
The new feats, weapon feat traits, advantages, and flaws will all be posted with the guide when I get it up...
A is for Apocalypse is (c) 2008 to Silencedhands productions
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Saturday, October 13th, 2007
| |
4:20 pm - Sanity, Sense Points, and Robots (Oh my!)
|
I've completed the system regarding Sense Points and the use of Weapon Feats. The max SP a character may have at one time is their current Sanity divided by ten, rounded down. Therefore, it is possible to have a max SP of 0, if the character's Sanity has dropped below 10. However, it is possible for the character to buy additional SP through experience, or obtain more SP by increasing Sanity.
And then Xavier made a good point: robots couldn't use Weapon Feats, as they have no Sanity score or "sense," yet game mechanics still allow robots and other Sanity-less characters to use magic and connect to the Planes. Therefore, characters without a Sanity score do not have SP, and cannot purchase it through experience, and instead will use weapon feats through the expenditure of 10 MP. This may seem a bit steep, but it both makes sense and helps neutralize the benefit of being immune to insanity.
A is for Apocalypse is (c) 2007 to Silencedhands productions
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Monday, September 10th, 2007
| |
5:57 pm - Changes to the System
|
Recently, I’ve had the delight of getting to play some World of Darkness©. This has encouraged me to make some drastic changes to A is for Apocalypse. While some of the system will remain the same, other huge parts will be removed, replaced, and revamped. Hopefully I’ll be able to implement these changes seamlessly.
The first, and perhaps largest change is the removal of the level system. While this system is convenient, it is fairly unrealistic. You don’t suddenly become stronger, smarter, and better looking in sudden intervals, and nor should RPG characters. Character advancement will still use experience points, but these points will be used to “purchase” improvements for the character rather than causing the character to level up. Unlike the (normal) World of Darkness© system, normal battles will still grant the characters experience at the end, as will accomplishments. These experience point rewards will still be high, although so will the prices for upgrading your character. This will probably require the largest change to the A is for Apocalypse system, so bear with me if it needs work on the first few runs.
The next change is how weapon feats work. Weapon feats still replace a normal combat attack, and can be used at will, although not more than once per round without the proper feat. However, you now no longer must wait an hour to next use them, but rather spend points. These points, which for now will be called Sense Points (SP), are based on current sanity, most likely current sanity divided by ten and rounded down. Each time a weapon feat is used, one SP is consumed. SP is restored by either taking certain actions, which may be based on alignment or sanity, or by incredibly powerful magic or alchemy. This makes weapon feats somewhat more of a commodity than an ability, but also allows them to be used more effectively to get out of a bind. Don’t worry about feats and advantages that let you use more than one weapon feat per hour - they’ll be changed to something which will allow weapon feats to become more powerful and/or be used more often.
And while I’m on the topic of weapon feats, I have an idea which I would like feedback on. This idea is to remove the basic weapon feats I have, and replace them with custom weapon feats that the players themselves make and customize throughout advancement. Normal NPCs would probably still use the weapon feats I’ve already got.
Next is feats and magic. While I want to remove the level system from the character, I want to add it to magic and feats. When the character gains sufficient experience points, they will have the option of “leveling up” some feats and most magic. This is denoted by simple roman numerals at the end of the feat or magic name, unless the feat or magic is the first level (for example: Fireball III, Cure IV, Sneak Attack II, Meditate.) This will help eliminate problems posed by the removal of the character level system, and will also mean I have to do less work with magic.
Finally, I wish to change the effectiveness of weapon material, and also reduce the amount of health characters have. Weapons that deal 3d12 damage are somewhat insane, and effectively make magic worthless (even after changes made in a previous update.) Now, weapon material will still affect a weapon, but by one or two damage per level of material rather than then by one entire die (antimatter may still add an extra die.) In the end, this pretty much needed to happen.
That’s all for now. Check back later, even though I never post anything...
A is for Apocalypse is (c) 2007 to Silencedhands productions
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
| |
1:13 am - New Enemy - Orb Tank
|
I apologize for my lack of updates. Fortunately, I have been working on the system and not simply slacking off, however, it is on menial things such weapon feat effects, weapon chain rules, and magic burst rules (the latter two are still experiencing difficulty.) As such, I decided I'd come up with a new enemy to release, as I have nothing else new and completed to post.
The orb tank is much like the mega tank, except it is stronger, and much more difficult to damage. The orb tank is a multipede rather than treaded, like most other British Alliance tanks. However, unlike all former BA tanks, the orb tank requires four legs rather than three to support it's hefty weight. The body of the tank is simply an orb. However, on the orb is a large cannon - large enough to fit a horse within the barrel, although it extrudes from the orb itself no more than a foot, as most of the cannon is within the orb itself. Because of it's vulnerability, the tank makes use of a simple system that closes the barrel when not firing, only opening long enough for the cannon shell to leave the orb. Because of the durability of this mechanism, attacks directed at the main cannon are often in vain. However, the tank has a smaller cannon - only large enough for a small child to climb into - located at the bottom of the orb, towards the front. This cannon, known as a revolver cannon, uses a similar mechanism and thus the barrel is not the optimal target for an assault. However, every six shots the chamber rotates up into the orb to be reloaded, which is a process which takes a fair amount of time, and leaves the insides of the tank vulnerable to attacks, potentially even causing the cannon shells to discharge inside the tank. This revolver cannon also prevents the tank from dropping its weight to the ground in order to crush any unfortunates underneath, as this would destroy the expensive cannon. However, the tank is able to swing its legs at opponents rather than simply stepping like its three-legged counterparts, allowing it more versatile melee ability than simply attempting to step upon or crush enemies. The few orb tanks which have been destroyed have shown no signs of having any means of entering, nor have any crew been found within, favoring the theory that the tank battles based on its own programing.
Technical information:
HP - 880
MP - 330
STR - 40
VIT - 40
DEX - 15
INT - 15
WIS - N/A
CHA - 10
Main cannon - 7d12, critical times 2, weapon delays an entire round
Revolver cannon - 5d12, critical times 2, weapon delays one action
Revolver cannon reload time - One full round
Casts the following spells - Lesser teleport
More to come on this tank soon-ish.
A is for Apocalypse is (c) 2007 to Silencedhands productions
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, May 15th, 2007
| |
3:28 am - Weapon Delay
|
I've noticed during the sessions that characters who use large weapons which have high damage tend to completely overshadow smaller weapons. However, in the time it takes to swing a great axe, a character would easily be able to make two or more stabs with a knife. So I've after long contemplation, I've decided to add weapon delays to certain large weapons as well as when bursting with an automatic firearm. This delay is time in which the character may not make another physical attack, as they are recovering from using a large weapon or a weapon with high recoil. However, the character may still perform other actions such as casting magic or activating a feat. Normally, this delay is a single standard action, meaning the character may attack once with the large weapon, but then may not attack on their second standard action, even with another weapon. This delay also transfers to the next round, so if a character attacks on their last standard action during a certain round, they may not attack the first standard action of the next round.
While using a weapon feat is considered an attack for actions restricted during the delay period, weapon feats do not cause delay.
A is for Apocalypse is (c) 2007 to Silencedhands productions
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
| |
10:25 pm - Weapon Proficiency and Weapon Feats
|
After considering how weapon skill works, I've decided to completely eliminate the feat Weapon Proficiency. Instead, characters suffer a two point penalty to both Attack and Accuracy if they have less than 30 skill in the weapon they are using unless they have taken the advantage Automatic Proficiency, in which there is no such penalty. This eliminates worthless clutter when it comes to working around proficiency and penalties.
Also, weapon feats now must be learnt. Once at skill of 10, 30, 60, and 100, the character may begin spending points that would normally increase their skill in that weapon on learning the lowest level weapon skill available to them. Skill 10 weapon feats require only a single point to learn, skill 30 weapon feats require four skill points, skill 60 weapon feats require seven skill points, and skill 100 weapon feats require ten skill points to learn. This prevents characters from gaining weapon skill too quickly.
A is for Apocalypse is (c) 2007 to Silencedhands productions
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, April 24th, 2007
| |
4:16 am - Attacks of opportunity.
|
I'm adding once again to A is for Apocalypse.
Attacks of opportunity may be made against targets within melee range that cast magic, attack with ranged weapons, use items, or otherwise make themselves vulnerable. You may use the attack of opportunity at any time, but normally may only perform one attack of opportunity per round (certain feats and advantages may change this.) This will hopefully lessen the mobility of ranged weapon users and mages.
Also, then enmity system has been changed slightly. Enmity produced by certain actions such as the feat Provoke and the magic spell Flash slowly dissipate, while enmity from most other actions will remain until combat ends. Enmity that dissipates usually comes from actions mainly used to generate enmity. This change is to counteract the power of enmity-producing actions.
Complicated weapons in which the character is not skilled with now have a higher chance of fumbling. Most weapons fumble on a roll of one, but complicated weapons fumble on a roll of one or two unless the character's skill is at least 30 in that weapon or a similar weapon, or if they have the automatic proficiency advantage. This reduces the ability of a character to simply pick up a firearm and use it if they've never used a firearm before.
Finally the good news. Magic has been made slightly stronger then physical attacks. This will make magic slightly more inviting to use, and compensate for the fact characters must expend MP to cast magic. Most spells have been given a greater dice pool or larger dice.
Remember, however, that all of these except the enmity adjustments, affect both friend and foe. Your opponent may cast a powerful spell, only to become subject to an attack of opportunity.
A is for Apocalypse is (c) 2007 to Silencedhands productions
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Monday, April 23rd, 2007
| |
12:13 am - An Introduction...
|
Hello, and welcome to my RPG blog. Hopefully, this blog should come in useful for those interested in reaching a new level of role-playing, especially in my own home-made game A is for Apocalypse. This blog is a forum for me to post information on my progress to completing A is for Apocalypse and to notify those in the campaign of new adjustments, rules, and so forth. This will also be an area for spoilers on my guide, which will hopefully be released one day.
If you don't know what I am talking about, you probably won't find any immediate use in this forum.
Enjoy.
A is for Apocalypse is (c) 2007 to Silencedhands productions
|
|
(6 comments | comment on this)
|
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
silencedhands's journal