Making a new post because gosh dangit, five edits is too much.
I had an idea as to how to make Option Creep a little more manageable, inspired by, of all things, 4E D&D. See, 4E was really gamified, and had Power Cards for things you could do. This is what they look like:
So I was considering that if we created similar things for our characters, and templates for them, that could be put in their character sheets, it would make things substantially easier.
In the case of Marked for Death, it could very well allow the QMs a significantly easier time in deciding between options, because while they may be familiar with our characters, they're dealing with not just Team Uplift, but many other characters as well. This would make deciding between actions easier, and might even make it possible for us to standardize Team Uplift's response to things.
This 'standardized response' thing could even be set up as its own system with a template for basic ninja response that could be set on a per-nation level and fine tuned from there as appropriate.
There would, in fact, be very little work required to fill out a new one of these once we had the template down: Just data insertion, which is a relatively-easy task.
Hello! Long-time lurker emerging to have opinions on the subject of game design and choices.
I'm joining the voices suggesting Fate (free official online resource here; the online SRD has the core and a bunch of expansion books on it). It has several advantages - moderately granular-yet-abstract combat movement system, flexible and open-to-tweaking skill system, relatively fragile characters who depend on not getting hit as opposed to soaking damage, and a built-in system for "weird exception to how the rules work for this one character for reasons" (personal Aspects and Stunts).
Fate's open-ended skill system allows for bundling different Jutsu into skills in a way that allows for secondary Jutsu without having to spend a ton of XP on mostly-redundant choices, which in turn allows for creating a world that looks right in terms of experienced ninja knowing a lot of Jutsu without them having spent unreasonable amounts of XP on them (it could easily work similarly to how learning new seals has under the current system - use an "Offensive Earth Jutsu" skill, a "Defensive Water Jutsu" skill, etc, and then take time and possibly rolls to represent learning new options within that category).
Another advantage Fate has is that it's a fairly abstract system (useful for the forcibly-abstract quest system), while allowing for bonuses for being clever by using Aspects (essentially, you can roll to apply conditions to a person or the scene, which you can then get an automatic bonus for having created and others can tap into with some effort). The combat map is similarly semi-abstract (combat is split into zones, which you move between using appropriate skill checks to the situation - something like Tacmov for unstable terrain, something like Strength to push something out of your way, etc).
I imagine you'd need to change the skill list from default (for example, all ninja would otherwise probably put core Fate's "Fight" skill as their best ), but I don't think that would take an unreasonable amount of time and effort (and would be happy to contribute to any efforts in that direction). The advancement system may need tweaking to be more modular (it's rooted in advancing based on milestones, with bigger "XP" at more important milestones - probably too far on the narrative side of things for MfD, but shouldn't be too awful to change).
Finally, baseline Fate likely has some issues representing the massive gap between weak Genin and powerful Jonin (let alone Kage), so the numbers would probably need a little tweaking, but I doubt it would be much worse than most other systems in that regard.
Sadly, while I've had reasonably good experiences using BESM 3rd's Tri-Stat system to run Naruto tabletop, I haven't found any free resources for it online.
Last but not least, since this finally pushed me to make an account, I can now express my vast enjoyment of this quest for the last holy-carp-has-it-really-been-two-years, and how much fun it's been following everything (well, not quite everything, this thread is so very long ). @eaglejarl, @Velorien, @OliWhail, many compliments and thanks!
Hello! Long-time lurker emerging to have opinions on the subject of game design and choices.
I'm joining the voices suggesting Fate (free official online resource here; the online SRD has the core and a bunch of expansion books on it). It has several advantages - moderately granular-yet-abstract combat movement system, flexible and open-to-tweaking skill system, relatively fragile characters who depend on not getting hit as opposed to soaking damage, and a built-in system for "weird exception to how the rules work for this one character for reasons" (personal Aspects and Stunts).
Fate's open-ended skill system allows for bundling different Jutsu into skills in a way that allows for secondary Jutsu without having to spend a ton of XP on mostly-redundant choices, which in turn allows for creating a world that looks right in terms of experienced ninja knowing a lot of Jutsu without them having spent unreasonable amounts of XP on them (it could easily work similarly to how learning new seals has under the current system - use an "Offensive Earth Jutsu" skill, a "Defensive Water Jutsu" skill, etc, and then take time and possibly rolls to represent learning new options within that category).
Another advantage Fate has is that it's a fairly abstract system (useful for the forcibly-abstract quest system), while allowing for bonuses for being clever by using Aspects (essentially, you can roll to apply conditions to a person or the scene, which you can then get an automatic bonus for having created and others can tap into with some effort). The combat map is similarly semi-abstract (combat is split into zones, which you move between using appropriate skill checks to the situation - something like Tacmov for unstable terrain, something like Strength to push something out of your way, etc).
I imagine you'd need to change the skill list from default (for example, all ninja would otherwise probably put core Fate's "Fight" skill as their best ), but I don't think that would take an unreasonable amount of time and effort (and would be happy to contribute to any efforts in that direction). The advancement system may need tweaking to be more modular (it's rooted in advancing based on milestones, with bigger "XP" at more important milestones - probably too far on the narrative side of things for MfD, but shouldn't be too awful to change).
Finally, baseline Fate likely has some issues representing the massive gap between weak Genin and powerful Jonin (let alone Kage), so the numbers would probably need a little tweaking, but I doubt it would be much worse than most other systems in that regard.
I liked Fate for the most part myself, but, well... I'm unsure of how well the whole "fate points" part of the system would fit in with Marked for Death. Same for other systems with similar things (Edge in shadowrun, etc.). Thoughts on that?
Also, welcome! I'm very glad to see a new player. I hope you'll participate as actively as I have!
Fate points are tricky, yeah - baseline Fate uses ST-heavy give-and-take that isn't really appropriate to the quest setup. We could just have a pool of points that the QMs use as appropriate with possible input from the players, similar to how they run Chakra now. Or pull back on how many are needed, make it effectively cheaper to get bonuses based on Aspects. Maybe tweak them conceptually to be more Chakra-ish, or even just replace them with Chakra, and needing to spend it to take advantage of Aspects represents Boost (which does have the advantage of making Boost more about taking advantage of opportunities and less about "I have more Chakra than you which means I have a higher sword pool" - something you tap briefly instead of just spamming). I feel like there's room for tweaking without taking too much overall effort, and hopefully building something fairly straightforward to run.
I liked Fate for the most part myself, but, well... I'm unsure of how well the whole "fate points" part of the system would fit in with Marked for Death. Same for other systems with similar things (Edge in shadowrun, etc.). Thoughts on that?
Also, welcome! I'm very glad to see a new player. I hope you'll participate as actively as I have!
Like most RPG systems, but maybe a little more than most, FATE is interested in telling interesting stories using a random number generator rather than simulating a world.
That's not bad, but I don't know if it's what the GMS really want.
This chapter is being written using modified Dresden Files rules.
Important note: All the mechanics in this chapter were made up on the spot without consulting the other QMs, so this probably isn't exactly how we would do it if we actually moved to Dresden Files. Also, the scenario and characters were not vetted with the other QMs either, so the events of this may or may not have actually played out in canon MfD.
The basic rules will be shown in the story below. Here are the modifications:
High Lethality:
When assigning stress, also fill all boxes below the point.
You may not take Moderate or Serious consequences in order to reduce stress.
Any time someone attacks you, if you survive without taking consequences then you are allowed an immediate counterattack on their initiative. You still get your own actions on your initiative.
After physical combat, everyone on the winning team (conscious or not) gains 1 Fate Point (FP) per person on the losing team, regardless of which or how many opponents they were personally involved in defeating.
After social combat, everyone involved gains 1 FP for each opponent they personally defeated.
Uchiha Sasuke
Dresden Files rules. Power level 'Chest Deep': 8 refresh, 30 skill points, skill max Superb Assumed: 1 Significant advancement, giving 1 skill point and assorted other unused bennies
Aspects
Aspects are elements of your character that can help or hurt you. Sasuke's aspects are:
Last Scion of the Uchiha
Ninja of the Leaf
Balanced on the Edge of Darkness
Always Second Best...For Now!
Your Betrayal Only Strengthens Me
Never Tell Me The Odds
Brothers in Trouble
Calm in a Crisis
Bonus Aspect: Corrupted Will of Fire
Total Refresh: 1 [relates to how many Fate Points you get / how many powers you can buy] Fate Points: 7 [changes from session to session depending on player actions. At character creation it's equal to your Refresh, but we're assuming Sasuke's been around for a while so this number is chosen arbitrarily.]
Template: Ninja of the Leaf (total cost: -4 Refresh)
NotL is the Ninja Academy Graduate template with the 'Will of Fire' Aspect appended. Sasuke's history has twisted his view of the Will of Fire, changing the Aspect to 'Corrupted Will of Fire'. The normal Will of Fire is about sacrifice and service, while the Corrupted Will of Fire is more like noblesse oblige—the nobility are superior to others and therefore have a duty to control the poor ignorant peasants for the peasants' own good. Also, all Uchiha are superior to all non-Uchiha.
See below for full details of NotL.
Skills
NB: You cannot have more skills at a given level than at the level below. Therefore, if you want three skills at Fair (2) then you need at least three skills at Average (1). MfD characters start at the 'Chest Deep' power level, meaning 30 skill points at character creation. Sasuke has had enough adventures to have earned 1 additional skill point.
Survival: Average (1)
Weapons: Average (1)
Stealth: Average (1)
Endurance: Fair (2)
Rapport: Fair (2)
Alertness: Good (3)
Presence: Good (3)
Discipline: Great (4)
Athletics: Superb (5) (It's actually just Great, but Ninja Body bumps it up +1. Listed here as Superb for easier reference.)
Conviction: Superb (5)
Fists: Superb (5)
Powers and Stunts
Stunt, -1 Refresh: Hands of Death (Either Fists OR Weapons skill gets +2 and ignores normal armor. You may take it twice in order to get the benefit with both Fists and Weapons. NB: This stunt is strictly better than the similar Lethal Weapon stunt, which costs -1 Refresh. HoD should therefore really cost at least -2 Refresh. It's underpriced specifically to ensure that every ninja has it without crippling their builds, because that pushes MfD more towards the high-lethality setting we're looking for.
Power: Sharingan, First Stage. -3 Refresh
+2 Fists. +2 Alertness (including initiative), +2 Athletics (including dodge), +2 Investigation. To activate it you must spend a Fate Point and then pass a Discipline check with a TN of Good (3). If you fail the check then the Sharingan does not activate and you don't get your FP back.
Stress tracks
These are similar to hit points, although slightly more complicated. Attacks fill a given spot on the track and, if that spot is full, roll up to the next. (e.g., if you are hit for 2 stress then you fill in the second box and only the second box, but if that box is already filled in then you fill in the next available box to the right.) If you fill up the whole track or roll off the end then you are 'taken out' (dead or unconscious). You can prevent stress from being applied by taking Consequences, such as 'black eye' or 'broken arm'. There are limits on these that we won't go into here. Under MfD house rules, if you fill in a given box then you also fill in all the ones to the left of it.
Physical: _ _ _ (2 by default, +1 for having Fair (2) Endurance)
Mental: _ _ _ _ (2 by default, +2 box and +1 Mild consequence for having Superb (5) Conviction)
Social: _ _ _ _ (2 by default, +2 for having Good (3) Presence )
Sasuke's Superb Conviction means he may take 2 Mild mental consequences instead of the standard 1. A Mild consequence prevents 2 stress and gives a temporary Aspect that the attacker or his proxy can tag on the following round.
Character Background
High Concept: Last Scion of the Uchiha
Trouble: Balanced on the Edge of Darkness
Character Creation Phases:
Phase 1: Where Did You Come From?
(Aspect: Always Second Best...For Now!)
The second son of the Lord of the Uchiha, in line for the most noble house of the mightiest ninja village in the world, Sasuke was forever overshadowed by his older brother, Itachi. His family rubbed his nose in this in a thousand ways, large and small. Disappointed looks, lack of time from parents and elders, the constant refrain "Itachi did it better / faster / sooner." The only one who did not, the only one who stuck up for him, was Itachi himself. Sasuke idolized his brother and worked himself into the ground to be worthy of Itachi's praise.
Phase 2: Rising Conflict
(Aspect: Your Betrayal Only Strengthens Me)
One night, for no reason anyone ever understood, Itachi went berserk and killed every ninja in the clan except for Sasuke. Afterwards, Sasuke was the favored prince of the surviving (civilian) clan members. They treated him like a messenger from the Pure Land, devoting every effort to keeping him from going insane and growing his power so that he could rebuild the clan. They poured out treasure like water to buy him the best ninja trainers, the finest education, to weave connections with other clans and figures of power such as the jinchūriki, Naruto.
Sasuke's love for his brother has turned to hatred; he has sworn to avenge his family, yet that rage and hatred are tempered by the wisdom of his sempai. He knows he is not yet stronger than Itachi and may never be. He accepts that his vengeance will not be a solo task and trains to exhaustion with his team. His sharp tongue and uncompromising nature make it difficult to be his ally, much less his friend, but those who push past the harsh words and ready criticism will find a burning Will of Fire that manifests as unquestioned loyalty to those who fight beside him.
The elders of the Clan Uchiha are astounded by the strides he has made as a ninja and as a scholar, yet they fear the core of pain and hate that lurks behind Sasuke's eyes. When he comes into the fullness of his power he will be either the greatest Lord the clan has had in a hundred years...or a monster too horrible for words.
Phase 3: What Was Your First Adventure?
(Aspect: Never Tell Me The Odds)
The week before Sasuke entered the Academy, Itachi was leaving on a mission. Sasuke begged to be allowed to come along, claiming that he would be safe enough with his big brother and that it would be an excellent training opportunity. At first Itachi refused, but eventually Sasuke wore him down. The mission was a milk run -- find and kill some chakra beasts that were bothering the local farmers -- and so he agreed.
As so often happens, the mission proved more complicated than expected. The 'chakra beasts' were actually a group of foreign ninja who were making trouble with the intention of luring out and ambushing Leaf ninja one by one. When Itachi found what was actually going on he tried to take Sasuke home, but the boy flatly refused. The farmers were real, they were really in danger, and the Will of Fire did not allow Leaf ninja to turn aside. Itachi was having none of that, but he was eventually convinced when Sasuke pointed out that the ninja would most likely escape if Itachi spent the time to take him home and return. Reluctantly, Itachi agreed. He left Sasuke with the farmers, barricaded into a basement panic room, while he went out to hunt the enemy. Sasuke, of course, immediately snuck out and took up a sentry position atop the barn roof. It was good that he did, because two hours after he left, one of the enemy returned. Itachi had torn through his squad like a hurricane through tissue paper, but the lone survivor had managed to escape temporarily. He knew that Itachi would find his trail eventually and that he couldn't outrun the elder Uchiha, so he thought he might take the farmers hostage and talk his way out. No sooner had he arrived than he was attacked by a clumsy civilian child wielding a pitchfork. The enemy ninja thought to slap the boy aside, only to be surprised when the 'boy' suddenly moved at ninja speed, lunging past him and slicing his Achilles tendon in passing. The child was completely overmatched, but the adult ninja had a useless and bleeding leg that prevented him from moving quickly. Whenever he tried to escape, Sasuke was in front of him. If he attacked, the boy would fade back or dive behind cover, staying out of reach and circling, forcing his enemy to keep moving on the bad leg. The ninja couldn't stop to bandage his wound without a stone being flung at him from behind with ninja-strength force.
By the time Itachi showed up, the enemy was bled white and barely conscious. Itachi dispatched him with ease, then spent the next ten minutes lecturing his little brother on how crazy that had been. The impact of the lecture was a bit diluted by the fact that he then demanded every detail, listened with rapt attention, and carried Sasuke home on his shoulders in victory.
Phase 4: Guest Starring
(Aspect: Brothers in Trouble)
Sasuke's greatest rival and greatest friend throughout his growing up with Namikaze Naruto, son of the Fourth Hokage and jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Naruto was the prankster of the pair, always managing to drag Sasuke into his adventures with an innocent look and a gormless "but Sasuke, sneaking into Uncle Jiraiya's sealcrafting library to steal his notes will be good training...." The number of times the two of them stood before the Hokage's desk for a tongue lashing was equalled only by the number of times that they ignored a tongue lashing.
Phase 5: Guest Starring Redux
(Aspect: Cool in a Crisis)
Today, Jiraiya likes to brag about how his sealcrafting never goes wrong. The emphasis in that is on the 'brag'. Naruto and Sasuke were hiding atop the reservoir retaining wall on the day that Jiraiya made his fifteenth wildly unsuccessful attempt to reproduce the Hiraishin. Fortunately, while Naruto's clones kept the semi-sentient balefire away from the unconscious Jiraiya, Sasuke was able to break open the retaining wall and flood the sealing lab. It was seven months before Jiraiya's hair grew back enough to use the Needle Jizo.
Template: Ninja of the Leaf
This is simply the Ninja Academy Graduate template (see below) with the added 'Will of Fire' Aspect. Refresh cost for this template is simply the -4 Refresh from the Ninja Academy Graduate base template.
Will of Fire (-0 Refresh)
The Will of Fire is a philosophy of duty and service taught to every ninja from Leaf. It is the source of the strength that makes Leaf ninja superior to foreign ninja. It includes a cluster of beliefs such as:
Ninja are the thin black line defending Leaf from a hostile world; they have a duty to protect the city and its people
Civilians are not inherently inferior to ninja
There is a duty of loyalty to comrades
The Hokage is the embodiment of the Will of Fire. His words are inherently true and his morality and honor are unquestionable. Yes, there are times when he needs to sacrifice a ninja in service to a higher good, but he will never do that if there is any other choice
Dying in the service of Leaf is a good death that will send you straight to the Pure Land. That said, it's much better to send the other guy to the Pure Land while you go home to report mission success and have some dango
Template: Ninja Academy Graduate (-4 Refresh)
Ninja Constitution (-0 Refresh)
You heal at normal human rates, but you heal fully (no scars, weakened bones, etc) from anything that doesn't kill you. You retain physical strength/speed/vitality much longer than civilians and have a slightly extended natural lifespan assuming you aren't killed.
Ninja Body (-2 refresh; downgraded version of Inhuman Speed + Strength)
Speed of the Wind: Move one extra zone with no penalty
Agility of the Monkey King: Athletics rolls +1, including for dodging.
Mighty: Roll Might at +1 when lifting, opening, or breaking
Ninja Magic (-2 Refresh; weakened form of Evocation)
Ordinarily Evocation lets you do essentially anything, within a certain framework. Ninja Magic (created just for MfD) works mostly like Evocation but has a lot more restrictions that cause it to work Naruto-style.
Skills of the Shadow Warrior (net of -0 Refresh [+1 Refresh because of significant required skill costs, -1 for the required Hands of Death stunt])
Characters with the Ninja Academy Graduate template must buy the following Skills and Stunts up to at least the indicated levels:
Alertness: Average (1)
Athletics: Average (1) (enhanced to Fair (2) by Ninja Body)
Conviction: Average (1)
Endurance: Average (1)
Discipline: Average (1)
Conviction: Average (1)
Fists: Fair (2)
Stealth: Average (1)
Survival: Average (1)
Weapons: Average (1)
Stunt, -1 Refresh: Hands of Death (Either Fists OR Weapons skill gets +2 and ignores normal armor. You may take it twice in order to get the benefit with both Fists and Weapons. NB: This stunt is strictly better than the similar Lethal Weapon stunt, which costs -1 Refresh. HoD should therefore really cost at least -2 Refresh. It's underpriced specifically to ensure that every ninja has it without crippling their builds, because that pushes MfD more towards the high-lethality setting we're looking for..
Sakura was going to blame him for this, he was sure of it. The girl had a horrid grip on reality.
Of course, the entire thing was ridiculous. Ninja didn't get captured, they got killed. The idea that two-thirds of a team—more importantly, of a Leaf team—could get taken alive and imprisoned, leaving the third member free to attempt a rescue, was insane. For that matter, why would the third member attempt a rescue? Why wouldn't he go back to Leaf to complete the mission and gather reinforcements? Going up against a foe that had already captured two of your peers (well, teammates) would be foolish. Also, what in every world ever imagined by human mind could possibly take Naruto captive, much less hold him? If the stupid proctors were going to do this, they could at least have made the decision as to who the 'prisoners' and the 'rescuer' were based on the abilities of those involved instead of making them literally draw straws.
It was especially galling that he had been the one to draw the short straw as the rescuer because, much as he hated to admit it, either of the others would have been a better choice. Sasuke's role on the team was diplomat and free safety, but this scenario didn't play to his strengths. He could apply ridiculous amounts of force in close- or mid-range, but not sustain it over an extended battle the way Naruto could. He could sneak and scout, but not as well as Sakura could. Naruto, with his utterly ridiculous chakra pool with which to power Rasengans and his total lack of thinking, would have simply carved a straight path to his team, cutting through walls and guards alike, all without slowing down. Sakura, with her ridiculous stealth skills and sensory jutsu, could have practically strolled in behind one of the guards, lifted the keys off his belt, and unlocked the cells. Sure, if she'd been spotted she would have been cooked, but the odds of anyone spotting her were pretty low.
So, yeah. He was the one responsible for the rescue, and Sakura was undoubtedly going to be pissy with him about not showing up sooner. Sage's mercy upon him if her 'captors' had mussed her hair in the process of locking her up.
Bah.
NB: Skill rolls are (your skill + 4dF (4 Fudge dice)). Fudge dice have six sides: two show -1, two show 0, and two show +1. You can burn a Fate Point (FP) to either reroll all the dice or to get a straight +2. You can also modify your rolls using aspects. (See below)
Sasuke, hide from the guard:
Stealth, Average (1). Sasuke really doesn't want to be seen, so he spends an FP to invoke the 'DARK AND PERILOUS NIGHT' aspect of the scene in order to get +2 on his Stealth check. Remaining: 6 FP.
4dF (4 Fudge dice): -1, 0, 0, -1
Crap! That roll was awful! Sasuke spends an FP to invoke his 'Ninja of the Leaf' aspect in order to get a reroll. (5 FP remain)
4dF: 0, 0, -1, -1
This is really not his night. Okay, -2 is more than he can afford but another reroll is too uncertain. He burns yet another FP to invoke his 'Calm in a Crisis' aspect in order to add a straight +2 on the roll, thereby canceling out the roll itself and leaving him with three successes (1 from his Stealth, +2 from tagging the scene) and 4 FP. This was an expensive roll!
Red Team genin, currently on patrol:
Awareness, Fair (2) + 4dF: -1, 0, -1, -1. Total: Poor (-1)
Sasuke's not the only one with bad luck tonight! The guard wanders by, completely oblivious.
Sasuke pressed himself a little tighter against the ground as the guard passed by. As soon as the enemy was out of sight around the building, Sasuke was moving, ghosting forward in the shadow of a passing cloud and straight up the side of the wooden tower. The logical place to put prisoners was in the basement, but this structure had been constructed specifically for the Exams. It was possible but unlikely that the proctors had taken the trouble to build a basement.
Of course 'unlikely' was for posers. Real ninja were certain that there was no basement, because they took advantage of the fact that one of their teammates was the adopted son of the Hokage in order to steal the blueprints before the Exams even started. (He carefully suppressed the surge of irritation at how pleased Sakura had been to think of that before Sasuke did.)
Pushing aside the distracting thoughts of soft pink hair and clever— Pushing aside the distracting thoughts, Sasuke climbed the last few inches and peeked up over the edge of the roof.
And cursed.
Okay, seriously? Why in the everloving fuck were there two guards up here? It was too dark and the woods too close for them to be terribly useful as sentries, so—
Oh, Sage's balls. The Old Man must have realized that they'd stolen the blueprints and dropped a hint to the enemy as an equalizer. Die in a fire, you obnoxious old bastard.
Sasuke has the option to go down and try a different approach or to cut his way through the guards. It would be smarter to go down, but the GM decides to put a Compel on his 'Never Tell Me the Odds' aspect. Sasuke has a choice: act on the Compel and gain a Fate Point, or spend a Fate Point to ignore the Compel. Guess which he does?
FP: +1 (5 remaining)
Screw this. The Red Team wasn't obliged to keep the prisoners 'alive' beyond a certain point, and he wasn't sure how long they would wait. Time to show these losers what it meant to face an Uchiha.
Base Initiative is equal to your Alertness, which can be modified by powers or stunts. Sasuke's 'Sharingan, Stage 1' power would give him a significant boost, but he hardly needs it for these two scrubs.
Sasuke, Initiative: 3
Red Team Ninja #1: 3
Red Team Ninja #2: 2
Huh, a tie. Maybe these guys aren't such scrubs after all. Okay, fall back to Athletics to break the tie.
Sasuke, Athletics: Superb (5) + 4dF: 0, 0, 0, -1. Total: Great (4)
RTN#1, Athletics: Good (3) + 4dF: +1, +1, +1, 0. Total Fantastic (6).
Damn, this guy's fast! Initiative order for the rest of the fight is RTN#1, Sasuke, RTN#2.
(Note that everyone has the Hands of Death (HoD) stunt, giving the +2 on their Fists roll against unarmored targets, and no one is wearing armor.)
Reminder: MfD uses high-lethality house rules, one of which is that you get to counterattack when someone attacks you, so long as you did not take a consequence. RTN#1 just took a swing at Sasuke, so now Sasuke is going to counterpunch the guy's head off attempt to disable his opponent.
Sasuke, counterattack: Fists, Superb (6) + 2 (HoD) + 4dF: +1, -1, -1, -1. Total: Superb (6). It's a bad roll and Sasuke wants to take this guy out fast, so he burns an FP for a reroll.
REROLL: Sasuke, counterattack: Fists, Superb (6) + 2 (HoD) + 4dF: +1, 0, -1, +1. Total: Beyond Legendary (9). That's better!
RTN#1, dodge!: Athletics, Good (3) + 4dF: +1, -1, +1, +1. Total: Superb (5).
RTN#1 takes 4 stress. He only has 3 boxes on his Physical Stress track, so he needs to shed at least 2 stress in order to avoid being taken out. He opts to take a Mild consequence (reducing the stress by 2) and gain the aspect 'Battered and Off Balance'. He's taking 2 stress; ordinarily only the #2 box on his stress track would be filled, but under MfD rules both the #1 and #2 boxes are filled. If, later in the fight, he takes a 1- or 2-stress hit it will roll up into his #3 box, thereby filling his stress track and taking him out. Unless you have extremely high Endurance or an appropriate power, you're only allowed to take one Mild consequence, so RTN#1 will not be able to shed stress again in this fight. Since he needed to take a consequence he is not allowed to counterattack. Time for the second enemy to get his licks in.
RTN#2 attack: Fists (3) + 2 (HoD) + 4dF: 0, 0, 0, +1. Total: Fantastic (6)
Sasuke, dodge: Athletics 5 + 4dF: -1, 0, 0, -1. Total: Good (3). Oops, not Good enough! Sasuke burns an FP (2 FP remaining) for +2, boosting his dodge up to Superb (5), then takes 1 stress. He chooses not to take a consequence.
Sasuke, counterattack: Fists (5) + 2 (HoD) + 4dF: 0, 0, +1, +1. Total: Beyond Legendary (9).
RTN#2, dodge: Athletics Good (3) + 4dF: +1, -1, 0, -1. Total = 2. He's a total scrub with no FP to spend; he goes down hard.
Next round! Now that the pattern is established, I'll just show the final totals instead of spelling it all out.
RTN#1, attack: Fantastic (6)
Sasuke, dodge: Great (4). Yikes! Never fear, all is not lost. Last round, Sasuke placed the 'Battered and Off Balance' aspect on RTN#1. You're allowed to tag an aspect once for free immediately after you create it. (Ideally on the same round, definitely not more than 1 round later.) Sasuke gladly tags the aspect (special effect: push the enemy slightly off balance so as to weaken the attack). This gives Sasuke a +2 on his dodge roll, boosting it to Fantastic (6) and reducing the damage to 0.
Sasuke, counterattack: Legendary (8)
RTN#1, dodge: Great (4). He has no FP left, so he takes 2 stress. He's already used his only Mild physical consequence and the first and second boxes on his stress track are full, so the attack rolls up into the third box. That fills his stress track, so he goes down.
Sasuke wins! House rules kick in: After every combat, everyone on the winning team get +1 FP per person on the losing team. Sasuke gains +2 FP. FP remaining: 3.
The guards were slow and stupid; they didn't hear him coming until he was on top of them. He started a straight kick to the first enemy's back, intending to fling the boy right off the roof so there would be only one opponent to deal with, at which point—
Sasuke stifled an unworthy-of-an-Uchiha yelp and aborted his attack when his target, a tall redhead from Rock, launched a vicious no-look mule kick while simultaneously shouting "Intruders on the roof!" Sasuke barely managed to twist away from the kick, catching a painful but not disabling impact on the outside of his thigh. The redheaded pleb didn't seem to understand that he was dealing with the Prince of the Uchiha; Sasuke conveyed this information in the politest way that a hammerfist to the back of the head could manage. It knocked the taller boy to the ground, but he turned the fall into a (somewhat shaky) leg sweep intended less to cause damage and more to keep Sasuke occupied for a moment while the Rock ninja shook off the blow and got his feet under him. Sasuke contemptuously jumped over the sweep and started an axe kick that would snap the idiot's knee in half and—
"Kyaa!"
Oh, for fuck's sake. He'd momentarily lost sight of the second Rock ninja and now he had to pay the price as a punch materialized out of nowhere and crashed into his side, accompanied by an actual attack cry. An attack cry?! Really?! Well, apparently it was true what they said: 'Rock' didn't refer to their homeland, it referred to the contents of their heads. Yelling as you attacked was an insane thing for a shinobi to do, and would have had every taijutsu instructor at the Leaf Academy crying in their drinks if one of their students had done it.
He rode the blow, accepting a bruised rib in exchange for the chance to slam a side kick into the little idiot's chin. The impact lifted the Rock ninja off the ground and threw him a couple yards; he hit the ground hard, an unmoving lump with a shattered jaw that would need serious attention from the medics if he was ever going to eat solid food again.
The Red Menace was back on his feet and moving forward, still a little wobbly but with his hands up. He started a fast left hook but Sasuke leaned back away from the punch and popped a toe kick into his attacker's hip before the punch could get fully underway. The kick was rushed and there was no power in it, but it sufficed to make the bastard stumble a little, thereby defusing the attack. More importantly, it opened the enemy's guard so that Sasuke could move in for a vicious knee-and-elbow combination that bruised the liver and shattered the collarbone. The Rock ninja hit the ground with a gratifying thump and didn't move.
Sasuke sighed. The shouts and the multiple impacts on the 'ground'—really the roof of the building—must have attracted attention. On the bright side, there were two opponents down out of...nine? Twelve? Fifteen? Rock had a major presence at the Chūnin Exams this year, and Sasuke didn't know how many of them would have been assigned to the Red Team for this exercise. Especially if the Old Man was feeling peevish at Naruto for stealing his blueprints and was deciding to take a little not-all-that-subtle-really revenge.
Nothing of interest going on here. Nope, nope, nope.
Well, whatever, he couldn't hear anyone charging up to kill him so he probably had a couple minutes. He looked around to see what he had to work with. The roof was wide and flat except for the small 'hut' in the center where the stairs debouched. There were a few pebbles and sticks, probably dropped here by birds...speaking of which, that wasn't all the birds had dropped, and he'd just fought his way across a generous pile. Eew.
He scraped the soles of his sandals repeatedly across the roof, accomplishing very little. Fortunately, the pants of Mook #2 (as he had mentally tagged the chubby one) proved more absorbent.
No longer distracted by the awareness that he was walking around with gooey, sticking bird poop on his feet, Sasuke turned his attention back to the question of getting into the building. Going down the stairs was definitely not the way to go, so—
The door to the stairwell burst open and a Rock ninja came racing out, naked sword in hand and head swiveling as she looked for her target. Another followed on her heels, and pounding footsteps on the stairs behind that one muttered glumly about reinforcements seconds away.
Of course, the Lord of the Clan Uchiha would never panic. That was beneath him. Still, Sasuke did feel that perhaps this would be a good time to move quickly. And hit hard. Or run away. Yes, running away might be good. No, wait. The Lord of the Clan Uchiha did not run away, he relocated the engagement to more advantageous terrain. Yes. Still, before trying to relocate, he should probably do something about the goons on the roof with him.
1 FP spent. Remaining: 2
With the FP spent, Sasuke still needs to pass a Discipline check to activate the Sharingan:
Sasuke, Discipline: Great (4) + 4dF: Great. TN: Good. Pass!
Reaching deep into his soul, Sasuke called out to the power of his blood, invoking the strength that had made his ancestors the most feared clan in the Elemental Nations. It roared forth, racing eagerly to his call like a hunting cat straining at the lead. A burning pressure swept through his eyes and the world slowed around him as the Sharingan activated.
The first Rock ninja was barely three steps out of the stairwell and currently looking seventy-three degrees away from Sasuke, her head tracking oh-so-slowly to the right to find her target. The second ninja wasn't even fully outside—the open door was blocking Sasuke's line of sight, but the bottom edge of the door was a few inches above the roof, and the ninja-sandal-clad foot that was visible below the door revealed its owner's position: back foot still inside the stairwell, front foot about to touch on the roof outside, in the process of shifting his weight onto the front leg.
The Sharingan (or, at least, the level of it that Sasuke had thus far unlocked) did not actually enhance the user's speed. Instead, it accelerated his mental faculties, giving him plenty of time to measure angles, study the opposition, plan his attacks, and place them exactly where they would do the most good. It also suppressed emotions, allowing for clear and logical evaluations unimpeded by the stress of battle. In point of fact, it made the whole process of moving around tedious, since your mind seemed to be moving at normal speed while your body was swimming through treacle. It was even more tedious when you needed to cross twenty feet of roof while lugging a hundred and eighteen pounds of tubby mook with birdshit on his pants.
Movement in Dresden Files is handled with zones. Zones are an abstract region of space in which characters are close enough to interact. Zones are always defined by the GM. Characters in the same zone can talk to each other, or punch each other in the face. Characters one zone apart can throw things at each other (provided there's nothing in the way). Characters two or more zones apart can shoot at each other with (modern setting) guns or (MfD setting) bows / crossbows (again, provided there's nothing in the way).
You can move freely within your own zone.
In order to move between zones the GM chooses a target number (usually Mediocre (0) unless there are obstacles that make movement difficult) and you make an Athletics roll. You can move one zone if you equal the target number, plus an additional zone for each shift above the target. The 'Speed of the Wind' trait under the 'Ninja Academy Graduate' template means that anyone who graduated from ninja school can move an additional zone on top of whatever they roll.
This fight includes the following zones:
The roof, where we find Sasuke and four enemies (two of whom are already beaten to an unconscious pulp) as well as the walls of the building. Aspect(s): WIDE OPEN and MOONLIT
The ground at the base of the building, consisting of a couple dozen yards of overgrown grass and then steadily-thickening forests. Aspect(s): DARK AND SHADOWY, OVERGROWN, and UNTAMED
The staircase leading into the inside of the tower, access to which is available only through one narrow door and up which are charging an unknown number of enemy ninja. The staircase is accessible only from the roof. Aspect(s): CRAMPED, POORLY-LIT, and CROWDED.
TNs for moving from:
roof <=> ground: Mediocre (0)
roof => staircase: Superb (5). Once all the enemy ninja flee or are defeated it becomes Mediocre (0).
staircase => roof: Average (1). There's a door, and it's tricky to get through when you're fighting. Once all the enemy ninja flee or are defeated it becomes Mediocre (0).
Sasuke has his Sharingan running so he's suddenly a bit of a combat monster. Let's do initiative (i.e. Alertness).
Sasuke: 5
Female Rock ninja: 4
Male Rock ninja: 3
Sasuke, establish a block against people coming onto the roof from the stairs. Fluff: Throw the fat kid's unconscious body against the door.
Athletics Epic (7) + 4dF: -1, 0, 0, -1 => Superb (5).
Sasuke, counterattack: Fists (9) [base of Superb (5) + 2 (Sharingan) + 2 (Hands of Death)] + 4dF: Legendary (8)
FRN, dodge: Athletics, Superb (5) + 4dF => Good (3). Spend 1 FP to invoke her 'Fast as Lightning' aspect for a reroll. REROLL: FRN, dodge: Athletics, Superb (5) + 4dF => Great (4). Spend 1 FP to invoke her 'Sword Saint' aspect for +2. That leaves 2 stress. Take a Mild consequence, 'Mashed-up Face', to reduce that to 0.
Male Rock ninja, attempt to move through door (Might check): Mediocre (0). Fail! Can't come onto the roof yet.
Round 2!
Sasuke, punch out FRN: Beyond Legendary (9). It would be nice to tag the 'Mashed-up Face' for something, but it doesn't really lend itself to a combat bonus.
FRN, dodge: Good (3). She burns an FP to invoke her 'Fast as Lightning' aspect for a +2, then burns another to invoke her 'Sword Saint' aspect for another +2. Dodge is now 7. Take 2 stress. She's out of consequences, FP, and half of her 4-box physical stress track is full.
Round 3! Sasuke burns an FP to keep his Sharingan going. Remaining FP: 1
Sasuke, attack: Beyond Legendary (10)
FRN, dodge: Superb (5). She takes five stress and is out like a light.
Sasuke gets 1 FP for the opponent he defeated. Remaining FP: 2. He allows his Sharingan to close so as to conserve FP.
The Sharingan did not grant strength, but it gave you the time to use what you had most effectively. Sasuke looked down to verify his feet were placed exactly right, checked the position of his body, breathed in...and hurled the unconscious Rock ninja at the open door to the stairwell. It slammed back on its frame like a flail smashing into the threshing stone; the ninja who had been coming through it was knocked back inside with a startled yelp. Just as calculated, the body of the fat Rock idiot (a bit of redundancy there) slumped against the door, keeping it closed.
That left only one opponent on the roof with him, and she was suddenly up in his face, lunging for him so fast that she seemed to be half-speed sparring instead of crawling through space like an arthritic snail. Her sword whistled down in a perfect diagonal cut that would have bisected him from left collarbone to right hip if she'd done it with full force. Her timing and distance were perfect; he wasn't going to be able to swim through the treacle fast enough to evade the cut.
So he didn't.
Only the edge of a sword is dangerous; Sasuke reached out and placed his hand on the flat of her blade as it came down, pressing it gently aside. His snail-slow body barely managed it, and only the unnatural calm imposed by the Sharingan kept him from panicking at how close it came.
Still, it did miss and the Sharingan did keep him calm. Calm enough that he was able to step forward and smash both fists into her eyes as she completed her strike. That put him close enough that when the door bumped outwards with the force of the ninja inside attempting to force it open, he was in position to kick it shut again. It wasn't necessary; Fatty was doing a much better job as a doorstop than he had as a ninja.
He continued the momentum of his initial attack, stepping past her and smashing her in the back of the head on the way. The blow was hurried and not placed correctly because the infuriating woman saw what he was doing and was actually fast enough to start spinning her sword around behind herself such that if he'd placed the hit properly he would have cut his hand in half. Still, it rocked her offbalance and in perfect position for— No, damnit, she just dove forward into a roll and came up back at her perfect range. Sage's nose hairs, why couldn't this woman have been born in Leaf? She was taller than he was, with defined muscles, callouses on her hands, and hair cut in a pragmatically short style that was utterly unlike all the civilian girls (and even some of the kunoichi!) who liked to throw themselves at him. If she could think half as well as she could fight it might even be interesting to talk with her...maybe after he punched her lights out he should see about finding her later?
Eh, whatever. Focus on punching her lights out first. The power of the Sharingan was burning in his eyes, his nerves, his blood, making him feel as though his body was on fire even as it buoyed him up on an unstoppable wave of power. He calmed it, twined his chakra into cords with which he bridled his bloodline and reined it back, forcing it to spend its force as he directed instead of as it willed. And then he gathered that power, blurred forward past the enemy's feeble attempts at a block, and smashed a palm strike into the girl's solar plexus so hard that for a moment he honestly thought she was going to fly off the roof. Fortunately, her unconscious body bounced to a stop a good six feet short of the edge.
There were repeated impacts on the door now. He couldn't make out the words, but there seemed to be at least three different voices and footfall patterns just inside the stairwell. Tubby wasn't going to keep that closed more than a few seconds, and even with the Sharingan Sasuke wasn't sanguine about his chances of fighting his way down a narrow staircase packed with enemies.
Time to get creative. He allowed the Sharingan to slip away from him; his bloodline was about precision and efficiency, which was the exact opposite of how the next few minutes were going to go.
He snatched a pad of storage seals out of one pocket and a pad of explosives out of the other and slapped one explosive on the roof a few yards from the staircase. It took only a moment to prime it, another second to unseal a big slab of iron on top of it, and then he backed away. The explosion sent the massive chunk of metal leaping into the sky like a scalded cat, but its weight sufficed to direct most of the force down, blowing a hole straight through the heavy timbers of the roof. He jumped into the hole, already pulling out another explosive/storage seal pair.
o-o-o-o
"Sakura?" he called softly.
There was a moment of near-palpable surprise and then Sakura's voice hissed from the third door on the left. "Sasuke? In here!"
He hurried to her door and slid the hatch back. The familiar (and, as expected, angry) face of his pink-haired teammate was waiting on the other side.
"What took you so long? I can't believe you left me stuck in here with him!"
"Yo, Sasuke!" came the (as expected) chipper voice of his other teammate. "Life treating you okay, Sourpuss?"
"Eh," Sasuke said, crouching down to inspect the lock. He hadn't found keys, which was a problem. The door was thick and heavily constructed with good steel for the lock and the fittings. He had some small explosives that would theoretically blow the lock out without killing everyone inside, but a lot of prison cells had doors that were....
He sighed and stood up. "Door's trapped. There's explosives in the lock that will kill everyone nearby, and there's likely more of the same in the door itself. Probably dummied up for the Exams, but it will still count as a kill if they go off."
"Keys?" Sakura asked, her tone making it a chastisement instead of a question.
"I was a little busy on the way in," Sasuke said defensively. "Seriously, I put down four of them, then blasted my way through three floors to find you guys. I blocked some of the holes behind me with junk I had in storage, but they'll be here any second. Can't you guys get out on your own?"
"We could," Sakura said, glaring at her blond teammate. "If someone weren't feeling lazy."
"Hey, I had to give Sourpuss a chance to show off, right?"
The hatch in the door was small and Sakura was blocking his line of sight to Naruto, but the sound of the other boy's voice told Sasuke everything he needed to know about Naruto's expression: that same insufferable, irritatingly engaging grin that always eventually led to a trip to the Hokage's Office.
"Seriously, Naruto?" Sakura said, hands on her hips and fire glaring from her eyes. "This is the Exams! Stop clowning around!"
"Hey, I was unconscious! They drugged me!"
"Damnit, Naruto," Sasuke said. "It pains me to say this, but Pinky is right. As freakishly fast as you heal, I'm sure whatever they gave you wore off five minutes after they put you in there."
"Did not! I only just woke up!"
"Liar!" Sakura said. "You've been awake for half an hour!"
"No I—"
"Enough, children!" Sasuke snapped, as the first squad of enemies came around the corner fifteen feet away. "Argue later, fight now!"
I'm not bothering to roll for the rest of this because it's pretty much a foregone conclusion.
Sakura was jostled aside as Naruto's face suddenly appeared at the hatch. The blond was obviously having to stand on tiptoe and crane his neck to be able to set eyes on the corridor.
"Mass Shadow Clone no Jutsu!" His teammate's voice had thankfully lost its bantering tone, because Sasuke wasn't sure how much more of 'playful Naruto' he could stand under the circumstances. Although, granted, those circumstances were made much less stressful by the appearance of a trio of short, stocky blond ninja in the hall between himself and the enemy.
Each of the three Narutos cut a handseal and shouted, "Mass Shadow Clone no Jutsu!" A dozen more appeared, packing the corridor all the way to the corner and leaving the trio of Red Team ninja helplessly pinned under a mass of clone pseudo-flesh. From the corner three copies of Naruto's voice said, "Mass Shadow Clone no Jutsu!" Startled yelps and thumps suggested that enemy reinforcements were no longer a concern.
"So, about those keys," Sakura said calmly. "Any chance you could go find them? This scenario is scheduled to run another two hours, so if at some point someone could think about letting me out of this cell so that I can interrogate these losers then we could find where their flag is and wrap up two events at once. Although, if you boys would like to sit and compliment each other on how amazing you are instead, that's fine too."
Sasuke sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute." Grumbling, he started moving down the hall systematically, searching each prisoner as he went. After all, someone had to do all the actual work.
XP AWARD: 0
Vote time! What scene would you like to see next? Voting ends on Wednesday, October 11, 2017, at 12pm London time.
Making a new post because gosh dangit, five edits is too much.
I had an idea as to how to make Option Creep a little more manageable, inspired by, of all things, 4E D&D. See, 4E was really gamified, and had Power Cards for things you could do. This is what they look like:
So I was considering that if we created similar things for our characters, and templates for them, that could be put in their character sheets, it would make things substantially easier.
In the case of Marked for Death, it could very well allow the QMs a significantly easier time in deciding between options, because while they may be familiar with our characters, they're dealing with not just Team Uplift, but many other characters as well. This would make deciding between actions easier, and might even make it possible for us to standardize Team Uplift's response to things.
This 'standardized response' thing could even be set up as its own system with a template for basic ninja response that could be set on a per-nation level and fine tuned from there as appropriate.
There would, in fact, be very little work required to fill out a new one of these once we had the template down: Just data insertion, which is a relatively-easy task.
Ah, yes, the 'Edition of Which We Do Not Speak'. I have no idea what they were thinking when they did that.
The standardized responses thing could definitely work. If y'all wanted to put together a list that we could work with, that would be great. Please just be sure to link it in the plans, because I know that otherwise I'll forget.
Hello! Long-time lurker emerging to have opinions on the subject of game design and choices.
I'm joining the voices suggesting Fate (free official online resource here; the online SRD has the core and a bunch of expansion books on it). It has several advantages - moderately granular-yet-abstract combat movement system, flexible and open-to-tweaking skill system, relatively fragile characters who depend on not getting hit as opposed to soaking damage, and a built-in system for "weird exception to how the rules work for this one character for reasons" (personal Aspects and Stunts).
Fate's open-ended skill system allows for bundling different Jutsu into skills in a way that allows for secondary Jutsu without having to spend a ton of XP on mostly-redundant choices, which in turn allows for creating a world that looks right in terms of experienced ninja knowing a lot of Jutsu without them having spent unreasonable amounts of XP on them (it could easily work similarly to how learning new seals has under the current system - use an "Offensive Earth Jutsu" skill, a "Defensive Water Jutsu" skill, etc, and then take time and possibly rolls to represent learning new options within that category).
Another advantage Fate has is that it's a fairly abstract system (useful for the forcibly-abstract quest system), while allowing for bonuses for being clever by using Aspects (essentially, you can roll to apply conditions to a person or the scene, which you can then get an automatic bonus for having created and others can tap into with some effort). The combat map is similarly semi-abstract (combat is split into zones, which you move between using appropriate skill checks to the situation - something like Tacmov for unstable terrain, something like Strength to push something out of your way, etc).
I imagine you'd need to change the skill list from default (for example, all ninja would otherwise probably put core Fate's "Fight" skill as their best ), but I don't think that would take an unreasonable amount of time and effort (and would be happy to contribute to any efforts in that direction). The advancement system may need tweaking to be more modular (it's rooted in advancing based on milestones, with bigger "XP" at more important milestones - probably too far on the narrative side of things for MfD, but shouldn't be too awful to change).
Finally, baseline Fate likely has some issues representing the massive gap between weak Genin and powerful Jonin (let alone Kage), so the numbers would probably need a little tweaking, but I doubt it would be much worse than most other systems in that regard.
Sadly, while I've had reasonably good experiences using BESM 3rd's Tri-Stat system to run Naruto tabletop, I haven't found any free resources for it online.
Last but not least, since this finally pushed me to make an account, I can now express my vast enjoyment of this quest for the last holy-carp-has-it-really-been-two-years, and how much fun it's been following everything (well, not quite everything, this thread is so very long ). @eaglejarl, @Velorien, @OliWhail, many compliments and thanks!
I liked Fate for the most part myself, but, well... I'm unsure of how well the whole "fate points" part of the system would fit in with Marked for Death. Same for other systems with similar things (Edge in shadowrun, etc.). Thoughts on that?
Now that you've seen it in use, what do you think? I suspect that in practice I would handle Compels as "Okay, this is not the optimal choice but it's very in-character so I'm going to give him an FP for it."
Dresden Files is admittedly a pretty good form of FATE for handling super-powers. (I presume Sealing would be a hacked form of Thaumaturgy.)
So I presume we would give Hazou the Trouble Aspect, "Open Mouth Insert Foot" (or something similar) and watch the fate points roll in. Keiko would be something related to decision paralysis from the Frozen Skein and Noburi something about having to prove himself.
Genjutu takes its proper place of power if it can be used to inflict the ever-elusive Mental Damage as well as create mental maneuvers. Probably balanced by the face that you'll never get a Weapon bonus on it.
@eaglejarl Have you had a chance to look at Dresden Accelerated? If you are wanting to go FATE, it had some interesting ideas including a scale mechanic for different power levels.
Ah, yes, the 'Edition of Which We Do Not Speak'. I have no idea what they were thinking when they did that.
The standardized responses thing could definitely work. If y'all wanted to put together a list that we could work with, that would be great. Please just be sure to link it in the plans, because I know that otherwise I'll forget.
4e was an extremely well developed RPG and easily the most interesting and balanced D&D game to ever be released. The majority of the complaints about it don't actually have anything to do with the rules in the books and can be boiled down to people being upset that spellcasters no longer trivialize every other character type. Note that the actual power cards looked like this, not like weirdly modified Magic cards. Every other edition of D&D has been riddled with terrible rules and settings that don't make any sense. 4e did a lot in order to make the rules be very well balanced and well thought out and in the process made the nonsensical fluff much more rational. At the end of the day, 4e isn't even all that different in practice compared to 3.x or 5e. It just tried to be much more transparent, something that I assume people on this site would be slightly more receptive towards.
Alright, here's what I could see Skill Cards looking like for Marked for Death. Obviously, I'd have them key into the character sheets to pull directly from there if this were anything but a test.
I played a couple of long Dresden Files campaign, so I'm pretty well-versed in the system.
Stunt, -1 Refresh: Hands of Death (Either Fists OR Weapons skill gets +2 and ignores normal armor. You may take it twice in order to get the benefit with both Fists and Weapons. NB: This stunt is strictly better than the similar Lethal Weapon stunt, which costs -1 Refresh. HoD should therefore really cost at least -2 Refresh. It's underpriced specifically to ensure that every ninja has it without crippling their builds, because that pushes MfD more towards the high-lethality setting we're looking for..
@eaglejarl something you really need to understand about this stunt and use of weapons in general. When it says it adds "+2", that is only added if you "hit", which means equaling or exceeding your opponent's roll. So for instance, let's say you roll 4 to attack and your opponent rolls 4 to defend. Technically that's a "hit"... you succeeded, but because the damage in stress equals attack roll - defense roll, you did 0 damage. Ah, but what if you were using a Weapon 2 (let's say a tanto). Now you do 4 - 4 +2 or 2 stress worth of damage. However, weapon damage only applies if you hit. If you roll a 3 on the attack and your opponent rolls a 4, you do no damage even if you were using a Weapon 2. Hands of Death should really work that way. Your fists count as a Weapon 2, but do not add to the dice roll/
Now there are stunts that have give a straight up +1 or +2 to a roll, but those are always situation-limited. Like, the example in the book of +1 to Fists when counter-attacking, or +1 to Fists when making an assessment or declaration roll.
Now I would actually do Roki as a straight up skill substitution stunt.
Roki (Stunt)
You are trained in a martial art based around Deception. You may use your Deception skill instead of your Fists skill when attacking, applying bonuses from both Deception and Fists. However your opponent may defend with Fists, Athletics, or Empathy.
Iron Nerve (Bloodline Power, ??? Refresh)
Description: You can perfectly reproduce any motion on which you succeeded at once.
Skills Effected: Skills involving motion and fine motor control
Effects (at level 1): Works Every Time: Rather than roll fudge dice, you may choose to take a 0 before adding your skill bonus for any task involving physical motion (including physical attacks) on which you have succeeded at least once. The Iron Nerve guarantees consistent performance, but its reliability prevents last second adjustments that might lead to wild success.
I will survive!: Once per scene, reroll one failed physical defensive roll that would require Severe consequence or worse to avoid being taken out or that would auto-result in being taken out. On the reroll, take a flat +1 to the roll for every point of mental stress you voluntarily accept as the Iron Nerve strains mind and body in a supreme effort of escape.
Sealmaster: Whatever the equivalent of making Seal blanks ends up being in the revised Seals-as-Ritual system.
If you're gonna vote Zabuza Goes to Snow, couldja also provide reasons that he wouldn't infer the existence of skywalkers?
[x] Interlude: Anything involving inscrutable Nara conversations
[x] Interlude: Shikamaru's lovestruck assistant hears he might get married to Keiko
[X] Interlude: That one time Neji and Tenten had to wear youthsuits, and why it's never happening again
[X] Interlude: Hana learns Hazou's been adopted
[X] Interlude: "Naruto, even you couldn't eat all the ramen in Konoha."
[X] Interlude: Why Tenten's a pacifist
