06.16.10
Posted in Anima Prime, My Games at 6:00 pm by Christian
I just posted the pre-final text of Anima Prime on the Anima Prime website. It’s pre-final in that there may be a typo or two still in there, and one of the chapters remains unedited. Still, it’s a big step from beta 1.2, the rules are nailed down, and it’s going into the layout phase now.
Here’s an incomplete change log, so you know what to look for if you’ve read the previous version:
- Defense now starts at 2 for PCs, and inflicting a wound requires meeting rather than exceeding the defense. This makes the calculation of multiple wounds much easier (it’s a straight multiple of the defense) while leaving the dice balance the same.
- Added new conditions: Diseased, Hexed and Slowed.
- Changed Blinded to bring a penalty of one die before the roll rather than one success after (it was overpowered).
- Added some powers for the new conditions.
- Changed the way powers affect multiple PCs: instead of it being a function of the power, you now use Mass Effect.
- Upped the usefulness of Restore and Dispel.
- Added new weapon effects, including elemental eaters (gain charge dice when someone uses a specific element against you). Changed some others (Haste is more expensive, for example).
- Changed Disarm: it’s now part of an adversity Maneuver that costs the GM one Awesome Token and brings the disarmed character bonus dice.
- Changed Eidolon Action Pools: no more extra cost for Eidolon actions; summoners can use their own or Eidolon action dice (mix and match) for Eidolon actions; for balance, Eidolon Action Pools are reduced.
- The Ghostfield setting has been expanded a LOT. Two new setting seeds, many factions as inspiration for PCs or NPCs, and other additions.
- There are now many listed examples of effect goals with suggested difficulty ratings to make creating goals on the fly easier.
- Removed the essays (they were heavy-handed and felt like padding), but turned the one on Spontaneous Play into a GM chapter (that one might still need a bit of editing). Also removed the extra example characters. Both of those will be added to the downloads section of the website.
There are probably other ones I’m forgetting. Thanks to the many, many playtesters over the past 2+ years! Your input has made this game that much better.
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11.23.09
Posted in Anima Prime, Game Design at 11:19 pm by Christian
I am sooo close to finishing up the text for Anima Prime, finally. The part that’s taken me the longest is the setting. I’ve decided to flesh out Ghostfield to a degree that players will actually have enough variety from which to create their unique characters and stories.
If you know me and my games, you know that I have an affinity for tribal groups. I think tribes get a raw deal in many fantasy settings. Most often, the humans are civilized and urban and the evil monsters — orcs, goblins, and so on — get to be tribal. That’s sucky. On the other hand, I know that “tribes as benevolent keepers of nature” is just as much of a stereotype. So I try to make tribal society an equal alternative to, say, mercantile or feudal society: different, but not inherently better or worse.
One thing you may not know is that I actually base the tribes in my games on Germanic tribes. I think many people see Beast Hunters and think of Native American or maybe African tribes. But my inspiration lies in my own culture’s ancestry (and Angga’s illustration of the riding warrior that I posted before). So here’s the section I wrote for Anima Prime, not yet edited, but good enough to give you an idea of where I’m going with this part of the setting. I’m going for “short but evocative” here.
The Northern Tribes
The northern part of Enendia, spanning about one third of the land that’s free from Kanissian occupation, is ruled by three major tribes. These tribes have a long history of conflict with each other as well as the surrounding areas, and tales of their raiding parties are told to scare small children around Enendia and beyond.
The tribes believe that the Gods live in the clouds, and that we can feel their presence when the wind blows. Thus, when the air is still, the Gods are assumed to be casting their glance elsewhere. This leads the tribes to stop all of their activities when there is no wind, for fear that their Gods would not be able to bless and aid them. They also conduct all important matters out in the open and have a strong distrust of closed buildings, which keep the Gods shut out. Anyone who wants to make dealings with the tribes (and survive) needs to remember never to invite them into any kind of enclosed area, or the tribes will feel that they are being tricked or corrupted.
The tribes have no name for themselves; they simply use “we” when they talk about tribe members, their clan, or whole tribes. Most of them are born into their tribe, but outsiders willing enough to dedicate themselves to a clan or tribe can be accepted through the assent of the community. When tribe members die, they are burned, and their essence rises up with the smoke to join the Gods among the clouds.
Two of the tribes are still nomadic, and both of them tame horses for their warriors, hunters, and scouts. They are the ones who adhere to the old ways, while the third tribe has settled down at the southwestern edge of their territory and established more permanent trade relations with the remainder of Enendia (though all of their tents and buildings are always open in respect of the Gods).
The nomadic tribes have a custom that makes their members—all of them considered warriors—recognizable to anyone who’s heard of them. When a tribal child is ready, which it determines on its own, it undergoes this ritual. The child (or young adult) holds an overripe sunfruit in its hand. The left hand is customary for one of the tribes, while the other tribe uses the right hand. A tribal elder now presses the glowing-hot tip of a knife upon the child’s shoulder and very slowly runs it down the arm while the remainder of the gathered tribe members chant praises to the Gods. The ritual ends when the child either drops or squishes the extremely soft sunfruit, and the length of the scar forever indicates the Gods’ blessing upon the scarred. Only very few tribe members can proudly display a scar that reaches all the way down to the back of their hand, and they are often chosen as leaders of clans within the tribe.
There is a legend among the tribes of The Twice Scarred, a warrior who bore full-length scars of both tribes and who led them to victory in times when all of the tribes were in dire peril. The elders say that one day, The Twice Scarred will return to once again unite the tribes in their darkest days.
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08.11.09
Posted in Anima Prime, Game Design, My Games at 9:50 am by Christian
Those of you who have posted reports of your play, please send me the names of your group members, and a contact address, so I can add you to the book’s list of playtesters! Also, you’ll get a copy of the game per the beta promotion (PDF or book, depending on how many sessions you played and posted about), so I need your contact info for that.
Please do this within the next two weeks to be included. If it’s later than that, I’ll still send you your copy of the game, but may not be able to put you in the book.
Thanks!
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05.05.09
Posted in Anima Prime, My Games at 10:29 am by Christian
I’ve decided, for Anima Prime, to license existing art rather than commission it, for a variety of reasons. I just licensed the first 4 pieces. Here’s a taste.
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07.19.08
Posted in Anima Prime, My Games, Site Matters at 12:13 pm by Christian
I’m currently updating the text on AnimaPrimeRPG.com to reflect some changes resulting out of playtesting, primarily related to initiative and to Group Competence replacing GM-given dice. Things are going to be a little out of sync for a day or two until I’ve found all the references to changed parts and cleaned them up.
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