If Branch had an out would he take it? Go to Comment

What would he be willing to give up for that out? Go to Comment

The Robber fly may not be the most outlandish fly on the list but it is my favorite. A fly that steals coins...evil. 

 

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A nice item most would like to have on their character sheet, and the extras are also items that creative PCs could use to come up with novel solutions to problems.  Somebody once said for every uber saga and quest sword he need ten of these simple, easy, ulitiarin magic items

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are there magical body guards in this post?

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Okay I can see how this could be used ;)

Reasonable PC :Hey  META PC #1 do you still have that goat milk we got at the halfling village before the banshee encounter outside the Temple of Vulsadoom

Excitable PC:  And I am Priest! I place a rag in my pants and start jumping up and down.

Meta PC #1: I am sure I don't still have that with me, that was like a 4 years ago in game time.

Meta PC #2:  *snatch* You still have it on your character sheet.  So we are a good.   

Roleplaying PC:  What type of strange and wonderous item could this be....surely we must use it for the good of the people allow me to veiw these ancient tomes.  *a moment later after viewing the hand outs "seriously Ted?"*

GM (TED): And the Hyperion mines are beneath Vulsadoom's temple, looks like I will get to use the map after all.  

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Seriously I think this a nice write up and a fun read. Plus players tend to like magical stuff they can manipulate and fetishize.  But my the luke warm response to these types of items is that they bestow things on the character without bestowing or coming with any character growth.  Yes the character may have wings or can see ghost afters a swig from this safe bottle, but that ability is dissjointed from his person.   While questing for these items and having the manual for this item will increase the player's connection to it, it does not itself justify this things exsistance.  

Other items like your crown for example, have existance and a personality the player can manipulate and use but won't change the player unless they want it to.   Perhaps I am wrong about this and it would be a really fun item, but I think it might be overly complex and with too little a story hook to justify the dramatic effects (even positive) that it will have a player's character.  

Also technical:  how will the players know what powers they are removing with out a meta-game pick the item  

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Only voted Go to Comment

Hey if your group likes it, then it works, I wrote the most awkward magical weapon ever once--it is posted on the citadel----and the players had a great time with it. So if they liked it you have the 5 of the heart.

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I think it is fair to call this a subgenre of the coming of age story, but in sense that the anti-western is still a western. In these movies, I found that the kids in general did not come of age, or blossom. Rather at end they often chose to or were forced to return to their life before the supernatural events. Take the story Carrie for example. You have Carrie blossoming and maturing, but in the end she cannot embody that fully matured powerful person.
In other coming of age stories, like Great Expectations, or Stand By Me or even Dune or the Lord of the RIngs the young characters go through a change and can't come back from it, but instead must go on as adults. The childhood is lost In these movies the choice seems to be going back to childhood or death. In stuff like Teenwolf or the Craft, there is return to teenage normalcy at the end. I think these are stories about the ongoing state of adolscents. None of the kids in these stories are popular or well liked at the begining of the story, but deep done they are really special. Not just your mom loves you special, but super human special. What kids wouldn't want to think that. Also as teenager you get taste power, your a little smarter, a little stronger and more independent, perhaps these stories are also cautionary tales about the abuse of that power. Go to Comment

I had been thinking about this, not specific co-dependant brother builders, but a post that doesn't just present a moment in time to be used.  Your story gives us the all the information we need to understand the ambition of the character, the social view of thier works and the evntual consequences of what will happen.  But your plots hooks suggest a use of the general concepts.  By providing us with a complete time line, you give us the option to insert the characters at any point during the time.  The magic itself is like an item.  

 

Plot Hook: To aid in a rebellion, the hero must try and sow a rift between Sid and Jir in order make the evil over lord vunerable

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"Each transformer needs a size.

Size does not mean more power or more gadgets. It usually means that the bot is stronger, tougher, and more intimidating though. "
Size is included in the power rating, i understand what you mean about power not being size and i think the difference here is just word choice. As I have it here (or will have it here, every time I edit this something else is lost, its F**KING wit me ed.) Power is related to size, base damage done and base damage absorbed. Here is the listing of the size/power choices. That I can't to go into the main post.
A: Mega: Pretty self explanatory, if you turn into something that holds multiple other transformers. Omega Supreme, Metroplex, Scorponok
B: Max: These are like front lines units but for some reason in the toys and the in the narrative of the show they were just a little more robust and powerful. This includes the leaders, Galvatron, Megatron, Optimus Prime, Grim Lock
C: Front Line: These would be units such as Hound, Wheeljack, Hoist, Soundwave,
D: Secondary Unit: Smaller but still effective transformers: Bumblebee, Cosmos, Powerglide, and the Insecticons
E: Extension Units: These are transformers that don’t exist without another transformer. All the transforming cassette tapes would fall into this category and maybe Reflector.


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"Each transformer should have a motivation in addition to a purpose. This will help explain why they make each decision. Optimus leads the autobots, but he is willing to die to save one transformer. Starscream wants to please or overthrow Megatron, but he usually just obeys his orders."

I have a step D to character creation, I called it the character's Quirk or Bugs/disadvantages. Every transformer has one. Maybe the character has to speak in rhyme, maybe the character has constant ruthless ambition or maybe the character has a "simple brain". Go to Comment

"Some transformers can also have multiple alternate forms. One alternate form option is the ability to combine with other transformers. These combiners, like Devastator, have a new arsenal and abilities when combined."

I tried to deal with this also is character creation. So the player rate the relative importance of the various character aspects 1-5 or A-E. If you put a rank of A in power, then get to play a mega transformer-like a transforming aircraft carrier. If you put a rank E in power, then you play a transforming side car to somebody else's motorcycle.
The 5 aspect you rank are POWER, WEAPON, SKILLS, VEHICLE FORM, AND ADVANTAGEs.
ADVANTAGEs would deal with the issues you bring up.
I have yet to assign value to the different advantages but I brainstormed some above. One of those would be noncybertron construction, no prime directives, Examples of this would be the Combaticons and the Dinobots. Another advantage would be part of connector unit. So if you wanted to play a Combaticon type unit you would have to spend a enough focus you priorities on advantages. Go to Comment

"Each transformer should have a power rating for the power of their Spark"

Yes they should! could this be like experince, could extra spark be an advantage you buy? When you have a spark of five do get to the hold matrix? This particular point needs work. Go to Comment

What do you mean dull, an SUV with ramming armor and Futuristic Space vehicle with a multitool sound awesome!! They are way cooler than say a mini-van with a glue gun.

"I am looking at you G1 one Ironhide....there was reason you got it worst of all in the movie."

What were your character's personality like? If I am going to make tables that for people to roll up G1 characters, then they have to except that Bumblebees will happen. More than that if you are going to play with tables based character generation, then you have to commit to playing a random character.
Of course you can always leave the table behind. Just say I am putting A in alternate form and playing a robot that turns into shark.

My goal here is to get simple system that 5 people could make 5 characters in under half an hour and which uses intuitive rules. So I was toying with a different alternate form table for each power rating. So if you were a power A, you would roll on a different alternate form table for each rank you put into alternate form. But that would be too many tables. But unless we choose to just ignore mass as an issue like they did in the G1 cartoons, then we can't have a Mega transformer playing turning into a chainsaw. I think if we only gave A/5 power and an E/1 power have different table.

But as hybrid and multiple forms, burrowing, that is why a put mole in there, that is why I put advantages in there. You will get advantage points to spend on stuff, and then you can take disadvantages like "simple minds" to get more advantages.

How about this? If you are rank A or B alternate form you vehicle or animal has some sort of device or weapon it. So if you transform from those forms you get to keep the vehicle weapon, like the wrecking ball?


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The assumption was every transformer has an energy weapon, and can brawl "in all that". I think I say that in the write up but that needs to be more clear. But if you think we should take that out, I could see that, just give a weapon chart D-E and as you say allow players with weapon rating of C or higher to get two rolls. That could be fun, you'd get some more personalized weapons then the basic blaster for everyone. If we go with basic blaster idea, the power of that energy weapon is linked to your primary power rating. The Weapon chart is only for bonus weapons and doesn't necessarily mean offensive weapons. Then if chose alternate form RANK A or B. You also get a "primary" weapon or utility. Why don't you write up the weapon chart you think best fits.

As for the rationale why the "cost" for playing an animal. Well that is based on what I envisioning for the alternative form in game mechanics. In the robot form you have based power rating, this effects your speed, your resistance to damage and all types of attacks and your ability to dish out damage. Then in your alternate form your base rating is increased. For example in the system I am going to post, Grimlock in robot form would roll 4d10 for everything (except Skills). The strength of his actions would be based on the final number rolled, then in T-rex form he would either roll 6d10 is one thing I am considering but I inclinded to having it be 4d10+16 for Level 4 Transformer in alternate form. It is my belief that the animal forms are less specialized then the vehicle forms and are more versitile. An Ape may not have as big a gun as tank, but can it carry out a wider range of actions and it will be just as strong.


What we really need to work are the skills. How important do we want them to be? How specific do we want them to be? How much variation in skill levels do we want to have?
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I didn't mind the first M. Bay transformers movie with its "A Boy and his robot" plot. The two stories of the militaries exploration of the robots and the boys exploration. But you are right though they did not have the depth of the original G1 story line, which is saying a lot. Why did the writers have the Transformers come here looking for an artifact? I could get that they are looking for megatron, I could swalllow that Megatron is in some X-file/National Treasure like military facility, I could accept the kid and bumblebee form an ET-ELIOT bond, and that the "The Jesus" (his character was so over the top he might as well have been wearing that purple jump suit under clothes) was working for a secret government agency. could be made to accept that the boy might have some clue or item that would help the transformers. But it was amazing that after all that stuff they put in the film that there was no depth to the film at all. All of that and what story was left for us fanboys to expand on?
There were some very odd choices made in that movie, for example why the scene with Jon Voight and John Turturo trapped in the room with the little transformer? Did we need to redeem their characters? Go to Comment

All that movement and the movies still didn't go anywhere. Go to Comment

I have played and GMed with these types of lists before. Most recently with women who insisted she have a "wild magic misshap list".  I find that these things tend to be show stoppers.  (Aside from Echo's point that the game play should be about heroic choices....which I completely argee with and thought was well said.)  You have to stop the scene, roll on the list bring about the results and when the results are this powerful it can really structure the whole scene.  I guess you could do this as something the PCs do to NPCs, as a joke or cruel trick.

 

But as everyone has said, these thing have been around since GG gave us the deck of many things.  There is a place for them in the gaming world, and this is simply your take on it. 

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