#system mechanics

[laikagohome]

[bijuhero]

Strategies to Upkeep Intensity of Habits During Travel

If the gold prize for behaviors is being able to inculcate them extremely fast, then silver surely goes to being able to maintain and maybe even push habits through interruptions like travel.

Next month, Sept 12 - 17th, I’ll be traveling to Aruba for a conference. Normally when this happens I attempt lowered minimums for a few days, abandon all my habits, then pick them up a few days after I get back.

Doing that is really really good. Progress isn’t made, but my habits continue - and that used to be impossible for me. I’ve done this new behavior more times than I can count now.

But I want to push it. When I normally think about sustaining the same levels of habits through travel I think in terms of the minute - I think about if I’ll have the time, or if I’ll have access to wifi, or space to do pushups or whatever. This time I want to experiment by thinking of it in terms of general mechanics.

I see people who do sprints and workout while on vacation - why can’t that be me? Maybe it’s not the details that matter, maybe those are excuses used to cover a lack of willpower?

The next question becomes how can I increase willpower for the duration of that week? In “Sandbagging” I described Lydia’s idea of starting more habits and later losing a few in order to artificially boost the remaining one. In “Skill Pushes and a Looming Problem: Strategies” I describe a “Dragon Ball Z/Kung Fu” Method of pushing skills.

Widening this theory, what if I increased the system load of all my behaviors the week before the trip? Generally speaking I tend to feel the affects of such loads several days to a week later. My theory is that by overloading the system before, I’ll be able to artificially boost willpower in the system by dropping down to my regular habits.

What does that actually look like?

I’d say that 4 or 5 days before traveling I’d up all my minimums. 4 rounds of writing, 45 minutes on the rower for LISS, and additional 20 minutes of LISS on HIIT days, 45 minutes of meditation, extra mobilizations, earlier sleep times.

Then drop down to normals once I get to Aruba.

Here’s hoping it works!

[youngcomic]

System Paradigms - Mekton Zeta

 So last week, I was able to convince my little grognards to play something other than d20 fantasy. One of them was a one-shot I wrote set in the universal century of the Mobile Suit Gundam universe. I was lucky enough to find a wonderful person online who translated some rules and official pregens from the Gundam Senki RPG, which helped immensely with planning for the scenario (because mecha creation is an obstacle of the system). The dice mechanic in mekton zeta uses 1d10 + stat + relevant skill to resolve skill challenges against a difficulty number. Using a d10 leaves the average dice throw around 5 and independently it is much more likely to roll a 1 or a 10 which is a critical failure or success, respectively. I decided to go with the 2d6 replacement that would raise the average roll to around 7 and make the critical rolls of 2 and 12 much more rare. There is a stability mechanic in Mekton Zeta that I had been banging my head against for the longest time. Stability is like a mental Armor Class rating which is equal to a character’s COOL multiplied by 2.5, rounded down. Now this is mostly for interpersonal interaction, but I wanted to use it for mental assaults by eldritch beings from beyond time and space. In a moment of clarity, I took the skill roll mechanic from Basic Roleplaying system of skill checks and had the players roll under their COOL stat. Characters with a 9 made their rolls consistently and those with a 5 had a harder time. Since I only allow a stat max of 10, failure is still a possibility.

[bonemistress-blog]

angels, gods, machines, spirits, our vessel has become filled with life and with it we grow stronger

[thorazine-dreams]

We Are The Monsters - Frenzy and the Beast

Vampire the Masquerade is a game with numerous underlying themes - part of why the game is so complex and enjoyable. One of those themes that's explored universally throughout the game is the duality of man.   The duality of man is the opposing states of being at war within us all - the instinctive nature of Man the Animal versus the intellectual and logical nature of Man the Sophisticate. However, Vampire the Masquerade takes this a step further because this is a game and what fun is a game without a little risk-taking? When a vampire is Embraced, the experience isn't at all wine and roses. No matter how gentle your sire was, how loving - it doesn't change the fact that you die and are then ripped back from the precipice at the last possible second, back into your now altered (and still altering) body... and your now altered mind. There are numerous theories on the "whys" of the Beast, in universe - the most easy to refer to being a theory that the Beast is one of the curses conveyed upon Caine - Yes, that Caine - who according to VtM lore was (possibly) the first vampire, with the weaknesses of the Kindred being curses that were placed upon him by the Archangels upon his repeated refusal to accept God's forgiveness. The theory as I recall it is that when Uriel (or Gabriel depending on what flavor of mythos you've got - the Book of Nod or the Erciyes Fragments) cursed Caine with undeath and vampirism proper - that the Beast is the part that hungers for blood and ensures that all you touch will come to ruin. Regardless of it's origin, your fledgling Vampire awakens with, in essence, a second presence inside their mind - a presence that is as violent as it is foreign and abhorrent to the civilized mind. This creature is one of base instinct, composing the three most basic urges of a vampire - kill, feed, sleep. It answers to no man or authority, it doesn't give a damn about hiding, and it wants what it wants when it damn well wants it, not later! And you, the civilized vampire, are the only thing standing between it and what it wants - and damned if it's not willing to throw down with you over it. This is the being that we call the Beast. The base urges of the vampire given a sort of sentience without form, vying for control over the body that serves as the vehicle for satisfying it's desires. The Beast wages an almost constant war against the Man, and it knows that every time it can win a battle, that's one step closer to it winning that war for complete and total control. And though it may be possessed of the desire to satisfy the most base urges of the vampire, the Beast is hardly a simple-minded monstrosity. No, the Beast is in fact just as cunning, if not moreso, than the vampire themself. Willing and able to lie in wait for the most inopportune moments to strike, the Beast knows that in this war, it's victories are cumulative. Every small act of violence or horror that it can push a vampire into committing is one further nudge off the edge of the precipice upon which both are balanced. Every act of violence that a vampire commits serves to desensitize them to the world just a little bit more, until eventually there's nothing left within them that's even remotely human as you and I know it. And when that last bit of control has eroded away, there's nothing left of the Man but a monster wearing his skin. The worst part is that the monster, in the end, is you at your darkest - stripped of all social and cultural morals and ethics, all order and restrictions cast aside in favor of satisfying your needs and wants right now, and damn everyone else because the only thing that matters is you. Now, every so often, the Beast gets a little impatient, shall we say? Particularly in times of extreme hunger, duress or stress - fear or anger are the easiest catalysts for this. Sometimes, when a vampire is angry, or in fear for their life, or sometimes even just humiliated in front of their peers, the Beast may vye for control - and sometimes, for a little while, it wins, and this is called Frenzy. When a vampire Frenzies, they are completely and utterly out of control. They're consumed with rage or hunger, and during the throes of Frenzy don't recognize friend from foe, lover from hated enemy. If you Frenzy from hunger, you'll attack and feed of any and everything close to you with zero regard for their life, who sees, etc. If you Frenzy from anger, you'll do everything in your power to destroy the thing that just royally pissed you the fuck off. And if it's fear that drives you to Frenzy, well, you'll tear through whatever you have to in order to get away from the source of that fear. The Beast will drive you to do whatever it needs to in order to achieve immediate gratification or resolution of it (and your) desires and fears. And in the wake of Frenzy, it's the Man that's left to pick up the pieces of his unlife and suffer the consequences of this humiliating and terrifying loss of control and composure. In terms of game mechanics and RP, a vampire may fight for a moment of control during their Frenzy - that precious second for someone to run, or beg forgiveness and mercy - but it doesn't stop the Frenzy. It may alter the course or the focus of it, but until you've satisfied your darker urges, you're completely out of your skull. While both the Camarilla and the Sabbat view Frenzy, and the Beast, in very different lights, it's important to note that neither of them think always giving in to it is a good thing. The Camarilla sees it as an absolute humiliation, an embarrassment - you've lost control and could have broken the Masquerade, for God's sake! The Sabbat see it either as a challenge, or as a balancing act, with some learning to embrace and work alongside or with their Beast and it's Frenzies - riding the wave in combat, so to speak. But either way, Frenzy too often, and you'll soon be left nothing but a mindless, ravenous killer.

[sys-aurastella]

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[tfrpg]

Playtest Results: First Preliminaries

Base Mechanics

Core five vital statistics renamed to Agility, Intellect, Psyche, Senses, and Strength in order to ensure compatibility with other Vector System products. Ranged weapons now key off Senses for their attack rolls, but may still require a minimum of Agility or Strength.

Circuits for characters now have variable pricing based on power and usefulness, rather than the original 1:1 exchange with Rank dice. Circuit points are now equal to twice starting Rank as default, but the budget can be altered at the GM's discretion.

Because of the pricing changes, circuits have been modified to be more potent, including rolling together some of the weaker ones into more effective "package sets".

Certain combinations that allowed for excessive damage, stunlocking, or other unintended bonuses have been fixed or curtailed to reasonable levels.

Rules for cannon fodder introduced to allow for easier mass combat scenarios.

Altmode

Altmodes now exist as a set of alternate statistics, from the same Rank, allowing characters to switch between them as a combat action to gain an increase in one statistic by sacrificing others.

Altmode circuits allow for a quick boost in abilities and statistics when in altmode, but only in altmode.

The purpose of this is to ensure that transforming is a valuable and strategic part of gameplay, rather than an extraneous thing that happens sometimes when players get bored or reminded that they have the ability to change forms.

Combat Circuits

Sonic Cannon now causes targets at melee range to be pinned, cannot be used at long range.

Tachyon Driver can be used without deployment at a damage penalty. Still causes damage feedback when used at melee range.

Fusion Cannon requires a combat action to charge before use, to compensate for its outrageous damage rate.

Brawler Build damage bonus in melee combat toned down to avoid one-shot kills on equal-ranked opponents under certain circumstances.

Phase Displacer given new drawbacks in the form of offensive penalties rather than an excessively long recharge time.

Slagmelter bleed reduced at short range, cannot be used at long range anymore, because it was never supposed to be usable at long range at all.

Pitfighting now allows for Strength to be used when moving from short range to melee range, rather than an Agility bonus.

Circuit-Su dodge bonus now only applies to melee range attacks.

Altmode Circuits

Flight now a ranked circuit, now gives a guaranteed success against any opponent with lower rank (including zero).

Firepower text revised to fix awkward phrasing, cost increased.

Holo-Emitter bonus to Stealth checks increased.

Tech Circuits

Armor now a ranked circuit, gives steady Endurance bonus per rank.

Diffraction Sensors now give a bonus in addition to eliminating penalties.

Inventive now has a minimum Intellect requirement, cost decreased.

Physician is now a ranked circuit, providing an increase in repaired damage when out of combat.

Uplink bonus to hacking attempts increased.

Tactician bonus reduced due to over-effectiveness in combat situations.

Imposing Presence bonus no longer applies when dazed.

Stealthmode now a ranked circuit, starting cost decreased.

Special Circuits

Matrix of Leadership and other artifacts are now ranked circuits, to allow for inexperienced wielders of such power to grow in maturity over the course of a campaign.

Junkion Resilience now has a limitation so it no longer makes Junkions effectively invincible.

Dark Energon no longer imparts an Intellect penalty.

Triple-Changer now works as intended with the new altmode rules.

Kiss Play removed due to overwhelming input on how some jokes aren't even funny.