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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Velorien said:
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
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It's clearly an Instance Of Class, but a well-done one for sure. Tropes Are Not Bad and all that. I also just can't get over the fact that you wrote that in, presumably, a couple of days. (!!)

I honestly would be quite happy with eternal Scenes From The MfDverse if this is what it gets us.

Speaking of which:
[X] Interlude: Hana learns Hazou's been adopted
[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: The Death of Shikigami
[X] Interlude: Ami's Chuunin Exams
 
[X] Interlude: Hana learns Hazou's been adopted

Other Clan reactions would be nice, too. And as I write that, I notice the troll potential of just reading any random clan react to whatever it is they were doing that day because I didn't specifically mention Hazo and Mist clans. You guys are all a bunch of rules lawyers, even in my head.
 
Tua said:
You guys are all a bunch of rules lawyers, even in my head.
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You're too kind.
e:
eaglejarl said:
Are you claiming that my woobie waifu would *lie*?

*thunder cracks ominously in the distance as EJ glares*
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I'm pretty sure the world would break more than a little if he ever successfully lied.

No, if Kagome isn't telling the truth it's because he's misinformed, not lying. :p

Also, obligatory waifu:

 
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Langevin said:
I also just can't get over the fact that you wrote that in, presumably, a couple of days. (!!)
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One day, actually. On Thursday night I was still cradling my head in my arms, whimpering "But how do you use AoE effects without a relative positioning system?" and "This Transformation Technique has no granularity. How do we stop them from turning into full-size gazebos?"
 
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Velorien said:
One day, actually. On Thursday night I was still cradling my head in my arms, whimpering "But how do you use AoE effects without a relative positioning system?" and "This Transformation Technique has no granularity. How do we stop them from turning into full-size gazebos?"
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On that note, if there's any particular things y'all need help with, I'm fairly sure I can safely speak for all the players in that we're happy to break any system you hand to us. ...

Uh, that is to say, if you need help coming up with mechanics, we can mutilate them.

...Hm. Well, you know what they say. Gotta know how to break it to make it.
 
Cariyaga said:
On that note, if there's any particular things y'all need help with, I'm fairly sure I can safely speak for all the players in that we're happy to break any system you hand to us. ...

Uh, that is to say, if you need help coming up with mechanics, we can mutilate them.

...Hm. Well, you know what they say. Gotta know how to break it to make it.
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The main pieces that need answers right now are ninja magic, sealing, and chakra under both Dresden Files and HERO. I'm thinking that DF sealing is probably a restricted form of ritual magic, ninjutsu is evocation, and chakra is a new mechanics. Suggestions welcome.

HERO is still an option in my mind but I don't think the other QMs have looked at it yet -- we've mostly been talking about DF and @Velorien tried to make BESM work for the most recent update before punting.

I'll probably do Sunday's update in HERO.


Question for the room: I tried to write "Cells" in such a way that it served as an introduction to the rules. How well did it work? Do y'all feel like you understood what was going on and could use / plan around the system as it was shown?
 
eaglejarl said:
Question for the room: I tried to write "Cells" in such a way that it served as an introduction to the rules. How well did it work? Do y'all feel like you understood what was going on and could use / plan around the system as it was shown?
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Considering I spared no effort in understanding the system and had never played any tabletop RPG ever. Not really. :p

I'll defer to the other players in this case.
 
Assuming OliWhail hasn't picked this up already... :p

[X] Lore Update (AU): eaglejarl's, Velorien's, and OliWhail's self inserts as a team in the chuunin exams with Kishimoto as sensei

@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail

My thoughts on FATE/DF:

First off, I think rather than using the milestone system, I think it would be better for MfD if training-time was used as the metric for advancement, similar to how XP was before. This would allow for, for instance, whatever skill Sealing is to take more time to learn than, I dunno, basics-of-punching-people :p

I'm mildly anxious about using Ritual Casting for the basis of sealing for reasons I've mentioned over the past few pages -- particularly regarding combat effectiveness, as it's something we've built Hazou around to large extent. I had some ideas for how to beat the system into working well, though. If you could figure out a way to convert between FATE-numbers (or whatever adjustments you use re: larger numbers for MfD-Fate) and HERO-or-GURPS-numbers, you could use the two latter's balanced-ish rules for inventions, etc to determine sealing difficulty. Heck, if you wanted to get really complicated with the conversions (you don't), you could just stick to MfD-system for sealing specifically (it would certainly make calibrating risk easier for the players :p).

Depending on how 'exciting' of mechanics you want for this, I had a few thoughts as well:

To properly calibrate for chakra boosting, you could do something like increasing the number of fudge dice rolled and making them 3[+], 2 blank, 1[-] instead, scaling number of bonus fudge dicebased on skill level/chakra spent, similarly to MfD-system (speaking of, we need something to call the old system). Alternately, you could adjust the system to be d12 instead so as to have the ability to change the fudge dice numbers in a more granular fashion.

Iron Nerve could reduce the number of - on physical dice by one in addition to other more narrative benefits like no-roll scribing.

Combat Frozen Skein could be something like starting out at 5[+]/1 blank while active for the first time it's used, and every dice after while not recovered given an additional [-].

These bloodlines may want to be given more room for growth -- I'm not sure how to handle that.

I'll do more research into DF over the next while and see what I can come up with regarding solutions to Ninja Magic, Sealing, and Chakra.

Regarding HERO:

I'm not gonna lie, my main problem with this system is the limiting nature of the power level system. It really, really grinds my gears that it effectively prevent Akane from punching over her level with a combination of macerators and explosive punching.

That overarching problem aside, the system seems particularly well suited, though I worry that it seems a little too... I dunno. I get weird vibes from d20 systems overall, mostly because 3.5 is a horribly balanced mess as you in particular, eaglejarl, well know. Stuff like the Advantage system being too easy to take advantage of at the power levels we're at, and Victory Points seem flat out unsuited for the setting, though they could probably be reworked into Chakra Points with some effort (and removal of options).

I haven't done as much looking into HERO as I have into Fate, so I can't say too much on the topic; I'll look into it some more later.
 
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Eh, I kinda don't want kishimoto as the sensei, since it'll turn into (well deserved) bashing.

I wanted to give the QMs a chance to simulate a combat encounter in a new system, get a chance to roll chars, and to make it a little less like work while they do it. (Arguing about how to build yourself in a system is fun)

I don't want to railroad them into a particular set of jokes.

But regardless, I think it's important our QMs get a chance to actually test run a few systems before making a decision.
 
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Jello_Raptor said:
Eh, I kinda don't want kishimoto as the sensei, since it'll turn into (well deserved) bashing.

I wanted to give the QMs a chance to simulate a combat encounter in a new system, get a chance to roll chars, and to make it a little less like work while they do it. (Arguing about how to build yourself in a system is fun)

I don't want to railroad them into a particular set of jokes.

But regardless, I think it's important our QMs get a chance to actually test run a few systems before making a decision.
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[X] Lore Update (AU): eaglejarl's, Velorien's, and OliWhail's self inserts as a team in the chuunin exams [with enough time to argue with fellow QMs about how they'd be built]
 
From what I've seen, I prefer DF to HERO.

I think you would have to do a lot of modding to make ritual casting simulate sealing accurately, though.

Things might just end up as "because you have explosive rings, you get +1 to fists, and take another +1 for youthful fist... dear god you're punching hard.".
 
eaglejarl said:
The main pieces that need answers right now are ninja magic, sealing, and chakra under both Dresden Files and HERO. I'm thinking that DF sealing is probably a restricted form of ritual magic, ninjutsu is evocation, and chakra is a new mechanics. Suggestions welcome.

HERO is still an option in my mind but I don't think the other QMs have looked at it yet -- we've mostly been talking about DF and @Velorien tried to make BESM work for the most recent update before punting.

I'll probably do Sunday's update in HERO.


Question for the room: I tried to write "Cells" in such a way that it served as an introduction to the rules. How well did it work? Do y'all feel like you understood what was going on and could use / plan around the system as it was shown?
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Does anyone have links to rules for both Dresden Files and HERO? I'm not familiar with the systems.
 
Cariyaga said:
Assuming OliWhail hasn't picked this up already... :p

[X] Lore Update (AU): eaglejarl's, Velorien's, and OliWhail's self inserts as a team in the chuunin exams with Kishimoto as sensei

@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail

My thoughts on FATE/DF:

First off, I think rather than using the milestone system, I think it would be better for MfD if training-time was used as the metric for advancement, similar to how XP was before. This would allow for, for instance, whatever skill Sealing is to take more time to learn than, I dunno, basics-of-punching-people :p

I'm mildly anxious about using Ritual Casting for the basis of sealing for reasons I've mentioned over the past few pages -- particularly regarding combat effectiveness, as it's something we've built Hazou around to large extent. I had some ideas for how to beat the system into working well, though. If you could figure out a way to convert between FATE-numbers (or whatever adjustments you use re: larger numbers for MfD-Fate) and HERO-or-GURPS-numbers, you could use the two latter's balanced-ish rules for inventions, etc to determine sealing difficulty. Heck, if you wanted to get really complicated with the conversions (you don't), you could just stick to MfD-system for sealing specifically (it would certainly make calibrating risk easier for the players :p).

Depending on how 'exciting' of mechanics you want for this, I had a few thoughts as well:

To properly calibrate for chakra boosting, you could do something like increasing the number of fudge dice rolled and making them 3[+], 2 blank, 1[-] instead, scaling number of bonus fudge dicebased on skill level/chakra spent, similarly to MfD-system (speaking of, we need something to call the old system). Alternately, you could adjust the system to be d12 instead so as to have the ability to change the fudge dice numbers in a more granular fashion.

Iron Nerve could reduce the number of - on physical dice by one in addition to other more narrative benefits like no-roll scribing.

Combat Frozen Skein could be something like starting out at 5[+]/1 blank while active for the first time it's used, and every dice after while not recovered given an additional [-].

These bloodlines may want to be given more room for growth -- I'm not sure how to handle that.

I'll do more research into DF over the next while and see what I can come up with regarding solutions to Ninja Magic, Sealing, and Chakra.

Regarding HERO:

I'm not gonna lie, my main problem with this system is the limiting nature of the power level system. It really, really grinds my gears that it effectively prevent Akane from punching over her level with a combination of macerators and explosive punching.

That overarching problem aside, the system seems particularly well suited, though I worry that it seems a little too... I dunno. I get weird vibes from d20 systems overall, mostly because 3.5 is a horribly balanced mess as you in particular, eaglejarl, well know. Stuff like the Advantage system being too easy to take advantage of at the power levels we're at, and Victory Points seem flat out unsuited for the setting, though they could probably be reworked into Chakra Points with some effort (and removal of options).

I haven't done as much looking into HERO as I have into Fate, so I can't say too much on the topic; I'll look into it some more later.
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Hmmm...either I'm using the wrong name for the system or else it's changed a LOT since I played it. When I talk about HERO, what I really mean is Champions, the superhero variant. There's no power levels in that, just straight "do you have the points?" We'd need to do some careful approval so you don't just throw all the points into one thing, but that should be more manageable then the Augjev system that we're using now.
 
Cariyaga said:
What problems are you having with it? I'd be happy to try to explain it, as best I understand it myself.
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No problems per se, it's just a lot of material and I'm not sold on it being the best way for us to model MfD since FATE seems to be the main source of skill, and it doesn't have that many die (-2 to +4).

At the same time I haven't actually read that far :p
 
eaglejarl said:
Hmmm...either I'm using the wrong name for the system or else it's changed a LOT since I played it. When I talk about HERO, what I really mean is Champions, the superhero variant. There's no power levels in that, just straight "do you have the points?" We'd need to do some careful approval so you don't just throw all the points into one thing, but that should be more manageable then the Augjev system that we're using now.
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Ah. Is the Champions variant available anywhere online legally?

Personally I like the attribute-limited skill system we have now from a player perspective, but I understand it'd be a bit more of a hassle on the QM side, particularly in creating techniques.

faflec said:
No problems per se, it's just a lot of material and I'm not sold on it being the best way for us to model MfD since FATE seems to be the main source of skill, and it doesn't have that many die (-2 to +4).

At the same time I haven't actually read that far :p
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Yeah, that's a concern to me. I like the variance our eleven-thousand-d100 system induces in combat: even if as you hit higher skill levels the variance is decreased by the nature of things, it's likely that there'll be outliers. That's why I was suggesting chakra boost to add more fudge dice.

The aspect system is really cool, though. Lets us give Akane stuff like [Down But Not Out] or [Power of Youth] which is quite fun.
 
The thought occurs to me that we could increase the # of FATE die to, like...10? to represent variance, and have your "skills" themselves be the major determinant when rolling stuff. So like if Akane has 40 Taijutsu die to Hazou's 35, she's still likely to win an encounter but the FATE die could make it so Hazou could win some of the time.

Edit: Oh wait that's how it actually works HAH
 
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faflec said:
The thought occurs to me that we could increase the # of FATE die to, like...10? to represent variance, and have your "skills" themselves be the major determinant when rolling stuff. So like if Akane has 40 Taijutsu die to Hazou's 35, she's still likely to win an encounter but the FATE die could make it so Hazou could win some of the time.

Edit: Oh wait that's how it actually works HAH
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Yeah. Granted, I do like the idea of having higher skill numbers in general.

e: You know, we could just import skill numbers over wholesale. Would make that part of the transition easy.
 
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faflec said:
Wouldn't that inflate the difference between skill levels since our system has higher variance than FATE's?
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Not if you gave higher number of dice based on how high the skill was.

e: And if you went with the "Chakra boosting makes the dice 3[+], 2 blank, 1[-]" ruling I was thinking about, using chakra would make for positive-trending-variance, and having higher skill values would make for neutral-trending-variance.
 
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When I have free time, possible tonight, I want to build a test generic ninja in Hero System/Champions and see what I can get to work. The house rule I would suggest adding is setting something like a 20% of total points limit on any single item instead of active points or dice limits, to better reflect the optimization and specialization focus of this game.
 
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