Sightedjt
Everlasting Flames
So, I'm going to take a moment or several to talk about this game, because this game is a pet system of mine and I want more people to know about it. Also because there's recently been a lot of progress made on the translation of it, and by a lot of progress the first full translation has been made. The reason this is a pet system of mine is because I like the aesthetic it has, and the way the HP and combat system works fits the theme amazingly.
So, let's start with the premise of the game. One piece of GMing advice I've seen given to first time GMs is to make sure the party has something in common. Well, in Nechronia, the party will always have something in common- they're dead.
Okay, let me elaborate- everyone's dead.
Okay this isn't helping- Nechronia is a game set after the world has ended. Be it for one reason or another, depending on setting, the world is dead, and humanity is over. All that remains are ruins of humanity that was, ghosts, dust and echos... and the scrabbling of horrific things within the rubble of the old world.
For humanity is over, but life is not. And in the dark places of the world are the Necromancers. While what a necromancer may be varies from game to game and setting to setting, they have two things in common- they will usually have survived the end of the world. And they have dedicated themselves to the resurrection of the dead, with... various degrees of success. And thus, the world may find itself populated once more, with shambling undead driven by instinct, the failed attempts of bringing back humanity, with grotesque horrors of iron and flesh made by those with no interest in humanity that was, things made to live and thrive in this world of the dead. And lastly, with Savants and Dolls, the pinnacles of the necromantic arts; a successful resurrection, bringing back a person from beyond death, with their personality and free will intact, if not their memory.
While what reason a necromancer may have for bringing back the dead may vary, the fact remains that these Dolls and Savants are truly alive. And while their bodies may not be the same as they were in life, their personalities mostly are.
As you may have guessed, this is where the PCs come in. You play as newly awakened Dolls, opening your eyes for the first time in who knows how long.
In short, this is a game about being a party of cute undead horrors who roam the wilderness having tea parties and engaging in ludicrous violence with severe tactical dismemberment! You can find details on the translation progress here.
And with that, we head to character creation. In the core book, part of the intent is to clash innocence and growing up with the horror or the PCs bodies and the world, and so it recommends that PCs are all 8-17. I'd say that you could probably make it 18/19 or under, with older PCs being possible under special situations- namely, since part of the intended feel is to be growing up and coming to terms with the world, coming of age, etc, older PCs must be someone who has not. NEETs, Hikkis, that sort of person- someone who hasn't grown to deal with the world. Or maybe it's someone who, for one reason or the other, was just plain broken in life. Also age is only physical, so you can have someone who's personality doesnt quite match their appearance. The joys of being a patchwork horror brought back from the grave.
You begin by determining a premonition and two memory fragments.
A premonition is just a vague outline of a feeling your doll finds important, a thought lurking at the back of their mind. It's only purpose is to help shape your characters personality, and for the GM to use as a reference when or if the characters become whole.
Memory fragments are just that- a sensation you recall from life. It might be your own. It might be a lingering recollection from the borrowed flesh in your body. It might be something with no substance to it. But you may find more memories as you explore things related to your pasts. Mechanically, the number of memory fragments you have determines how much madness you are able to remove at any given time.
You also start with a treasure- a photo, an old phone, something dear to you, an object that brings you comfort in unlife. And in giving you comfort, it allows you to remove 1 madness point per treasure you have after any combat.
We now start making your character mechanically.
You start by picking one of 6 positions- this helps determine a role and may feed into your dolls personality. When you pick skills, you gain one skill form your position.
You then pick a main class and a subclass from the list of seven given. These classes help affect your combat style. You gain two skills from your main class, and one from your subclass. If you have both class selections the same, you may take the classes special skill.
We now move to your reinforcement points.
As the world is full of horrors, you can hardly expect a Doll with a baseline human body to survive. As such, your dolls are all upgraded somewhat.
Each class gives you a number of reinforcement points when taken, divided up into 3 categories, and you get one you may place wherever you want.
Mutation- writhing flesh, fang and claw. Flesh is malleable, and easy to be improved upon. Biological enhancements.
Armaments- blade and bullet- many weapons were made by humanity that was. Even against the undead, they might find use.
Enhancements- flesh is weak and easily broken. Only in cold metal may a Doll trust. Cybernetic enhancements.
Within each category, parts are divided into tiers.
The first reinforcement part you take must be T1. The second may be T1 or T2. The third may be T1, 2 or 3. And the fourth must be T1. And so on and so forth.
Each part has a listed body location, and some may be placed anywhere.
Each dolls automatically begins with a set list of basic parts. Heart. Eyes, Brain and Spine. Arms legs, etc. The basic human form to which you have enhanced with reinforcements.
Your treasures are also mechanically treated as a part, so you choose where your dolls keeps the things closest to them. This also means that you must be careful, as surely you don't want them to be damaged in a fight.
With the physical form of your doll complete, you must choose their emotional ties. These are your fetters, which are what keeps you sane in life.
All dolls have the "dependant on treasure" fetter.
And they start with one to each of their fellow dolls.
Fetters come inmany kinds, from adoration to rivalry. Mechanically, they keep you sane- Madness exists within the game, the stress of the worrld clawing at a dolls sanity. When you take a madness point, you must put it in one of your fetters. If, at any point, any fetter has 4 madness points on it, you go mad.
At this point, as long as you remain in this state, your fetter becomes twisted into a dark reflection of itself- a friendly rivalry with another doll could become a twisted need to surpass them, where you will hinder any attacks made by the one you are in a rivalry with.
Madness is gained by many different things, be it as a cost to use a skill, the horrors of war, or taking it for rerolls. Fortunately, there are ways of removing it, which mostly involve having tea parties or equivalents with your fellow Dolls.
Karma and favour determine character advancement- Karmas are various character objectives, and completing them earns favour points, which may be spent to recover madness, to learn new skills, or to obtain more reinforcement points.
The basic mechanical system of the game are rolling D10s, adding any modifiers that apply. 1 or less is critfail, 2-5 is a fail, 6-10 is a pass, and 11+ is a crit success. This system is very open ended to fluffing, situational modifiers and outcomes. Furthermore, you may wager any relevant parts in order to roll extra dice. These dice aren't added to the total, but they give you more chances of a high roll. However, they cause a critfail if all dice fail and any roll at one, in which case parts wagered are damaged.
But, with all the talk about mechanics, let me discuss the combat.
We begin with what I think is the greatest strength of the system- you do not have HP. You have your list of parts, which are broken up into location. When an attack hits, it hits a location, and it deals X damage to the location. For each point of damage, you break a part occupying that location. As an undead horror,you only become disabled when all your parts are broken, and even then you can be patched up after the fight, if sufficient spare parts are gathered from your fallen foes.
Naturally, this applies to your enemies as well. And so the best way of beating them is to TEAR THEM LIMB FROM LIMB
Combat takes place on a simple 5 position linerar map. Initiative is determined by action points and the action count. You begin with your action point maximum. The person with the highest AP max, say 10, means we start at initiative count 10. They take an action which uses 3AP, moving them to count 7. We then move down the tracker until we hit the AP count of someone else, who then acts, and so on and so forth. A round ends when the action count hits 0, when everyone returns to their AP maximum, and it begins again.
There are also many different reactions you can use when its not your turn, to hinder the actions of your enemies or bolster your allies- for example, if you have something that lets you move as a reaction, you can use that to move out of range of an attack, . It's also possible to use AP you dont have, by spending 3 when you have 2 for instance, which will put you at -1. This means you'll start with less action points in the next round.
And that's about all there is to the mechanics
You begin by determining a premonition and two memory fragments.
A premonition is just a vague outline of a feeling your doll finds important, a thought lurking at the back of their mind. It's only purpose is to help shape your characters personality, and for the GM to use as a reference when or if the characters become whole.
Memory fragments are just that- a sensation you recall from life. It might be your own. It might be a lingering recollection from the borrowed flesh in your body. It might be something with no substance to it. But you may find more memories as you explore things related to your pasts. Mechanically, the number of memory fragments you have determines how much madness you are able to remove at any given time.
You also start with a treasure- a photo, an old phone, something dear to you, an object that brings you comfort in unlife. And in giving you comfort, it allows you to remove 1 madness point per treasure you have after any combat.
We now start making your character mechanically.
You start by picking one of 6 positions- this helps determine a role and may feed into your dolls personality. When you pick skills, you gain one skill form your position.
You then pick a main class and a subclass from the list of seven given. These classes help affect your combat style. You gain two skills from your main class, and one from your subclass. If you have both class selections the same, you may take the classes special skill.
We now move to your reinforcement points.
As the world is full of horrors, you can hardly expect a Doll with a baseline human body to survive. As such, your dolls are all upgraded somewhat.
Each class gives you a number of reinforcement points when taken, divided up into 3 categories, and you get one you may place wherever you want.
Mutation- writhing flesh, fang and claw. Flesh is malleable, and easy to be improved upon. Biological enhancements.
Armaments- blade and bullet- many weapons were made by humanity that was. Even against the undead, they might find use.
Enhancements- flesh is weak and easily broken. Only in cold metal may a Doll trust. Cybernetic enhancements.
Within each category, parts are divided into tiers.
The first reinforcement part you take must be T1. The second may be T1 or T2. The third may be T1, 2 or 3. And the fourth must be T1. And so on and so forth.
Each part has a listed body location, and some may be placed anywhere.
Each dolls automatically begins with a set list of basic parts. Heart. Eyes, Brain and Spine. Arms legs, etc. The basic human form to which you have enhanced with reinforcements.
Your treasures are also mechanically treated as a part, so you choose where your dolls keeps the things closest to them. This also means that you must be careful, as surely you don't want them to be damaged in a fight.
With the physical form of your doll complete, you must choose their emotional ties. These are your fetters, which are what keeps you sane in life.
All dolls have the "dependant on treasure" fetter.
And they start with one to each of their fellow dolls.
Fetters come inmany kinds, from adoration to rivalry. Mechanically, they keep you sane- Madness exists within the game, the stress of the worrld clawing at a dolls sanity. When you take a madness point, you must put it in one of your fetters. If, at any point, any fetter has 4 madness points on it, you go mad.
At this point, as long as you remain in this state, your fetter becomes twisted into a dark reflection of itself- a friendly rivalry with another doll could become a twisted need to surpass them, where you will hinder any attacks made by the one you are in a rivalry with.
Madness is gained by many different things, be it as a cost to use a skill, the horrors of war, or taking it for rerolls. Fortunately, there are ways of removing it, which mostly involve having tea parties or equivalents with your fellow Dolls.
Karma and favour determine character advancement- Karmas are various character objectives, and completing them earns favour points, which may be spent to recover madness, to learn new skills, or to obtain more reinforcement points.
The basic mechanical system of the game are rolling D10s, adding any modifiers that apply. 1 or less is critfail, 2-5 is a fail, 6-10 is a pass, and 11+ is a crit success. This system is very open ended to fluffing, situational modifiers and outcomes. Furthermore, you may wager any relevant parts in order to roll extra dice. These dice aren't added to the total, but they give you more chances of a high roll. However, they cause a critfail if all dice fail and any roll at one, in which case parts wagered are damaged.
But, with all the talk about mechanics, let me discuss the combat.
We begin with what I think is the greatest strength of the system- you do not have HP. You have your list of parts, which are broken up into location. When an attack hits, it hits a location, and it deals X damage to the location. For each point of damage, you break a part occupying that location. As an undead horror,you only become disabled when all your parts are broken, and even then you can be patched up after the fight, if sufficient spare parts are gathered from your fallen foes.
Naturally, this applies to your enemies as well. And so the best way of beating them is to TEAR THEM LIMB FROM LIMB
Combat takes place on a simple 5 position linerar map. Initiative is determined by action points and the action count. You begin with your action point maximum. The person with the highest AP max, say 10, means we start at initiative count 10. They take an action which uses 3AP, moving them to count 7. We then move down the tracker until we hit the AP count of someone else, who then acts, and so on and so forth. A round ends when the action count hits 0, when everyone returns to their AP maximum, and it begins again.
There are also many different reactions you can use when its not your turn, to hinder the actions of your enemies or bolster your allies- for example, if you have something that lets you move as a reaction, you can use that to move out of range of an attack, . It's also possible to use AP you dont have, by spending 3 when you have 2 for instance, which will put you at -1. This means you'll start with less action points in the next round.
And that's about all there is to the mechanics
So in the end, it's a game which is fairly open ended in how it's basic mechanics work, with reasonable room for refluffing as you see fit, and with a really thematic way of doing HP and combat which more games should do things like it. And I've probably not done this explanation too well but this is nearing 2K words this has gone too far
