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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12.24.09
Posted in Beast Hunters, Game Design, My Games at 7:10 pm by Christian
After reading one of those comments that always make me sad (i.e., “I don’t quite get Beast Hunters just from the text”), I spent a few hours writing up examples and adding them to the revised edition SRD. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, all of the rules of the game are written out in the SRD.
There are now new examples for each step of character creation, as well as for maneuvers, strikes, resource denials and recoveries, and achievements. I’m the first to admit that the absence of examples within the text, as opposed to the one long example of play at the end, wasn’t necessarily the best choice. Hindsight, etc. But adding more examples to the SRD was relatively easy, just time intensive.
I’d be curious to hear if this makes understanding the rules easier for any of you, and what other suggestions you have for things I could add.
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08.26.09
Posted in Beast Hunters, My Games at 8:58 am by Christian
If you speak (and more importantly read) Italian, and you’d like to read the Beast Hunters rules in that beautiful language, you can find a fan-made translation of the System Reference Document over here:
Italian Beast Hunters SRD
Thanks to Alessandro Gianni and Valerio Valenti!
(Also for pointing out that the example in the adversity creation section still has “offensive trait” and “defensive trait” in it, even though that distinction is removed in the 1.5 edition, now that traits can be assigned to either purpose. I’ll fix that in a minute.)
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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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04.05.09
Posted in Beast Hunters, My Games at 2:50 pm by Christian
Here is the System Reference Document that includes all of the rules sections, updated to 1.5:
Beast Hunters 1.5E SRD.
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Posted in Beast Hunters, My Games at 12:02 pm by Christian
It’s been two years since we published Beast Hunters. Many people have played it, and I’ve received feedback and made my own observations over the past 24 months. While I think that the original Beast Hunters is a great game, some of my personal preferences have changed. After discussing it, Lisa and I have determined that we wouldn’t make a whole new edition just to change something that’s preference-based; instead, we’re issuing this “unsupported” patch for the game. Use it if your preferences fit, ignore it if they don’t.
The main changes in preferences that I’m talking about are related to intensity and investment. The original Beast Hunters requires a significant amount of creative investment up-front (including strategic choices during character creation). For example, you have to create 10 freeform traits and 6 freeform resources. That’s a lot of investment; but it results in well-fleshed-out characters with lots of hooks and personality. Nowadays, however, I like to be able to start a little more quickly and be more flexible during the game, even at the expense of having characters that are not as complex and require less creative investment from the players.
This update has four main goals: make character creation faster, with reduced creative burnout; streamline adversity creation; allow players to use traits more flexibly, with added tactical potential; and rework the goals system to make it more suspenseful and rewarding.
A System Reference Document (SRD) will follow shortly. That means we’re going to actually post the complete rules sections from Beast Hunters (How to Play, Character Creation and Development, Negotiation, and Conflicts) in updated form. Half of this information is already contained in the free sections and the demo on our web site, but this will be the first time that all of the rules become publicly available–which also is more in line with my current preferences.
The following patch notes contain all of the changes. If you’re familiar with Beast Hunters, you’ll be able to grasp them really quickly. Again, this is an optional patch; check it out and see if it would work for you.
Character Creation
- Create just 1 trait for each step of character creation. Assign them a domain each and distribute the following ratings: +4, +3, +2, +2. Traits are no longer offensive or defensive per se; those assignments happen during conflicts and are changeable.
- Create only 1 resource for each step of character creation. Assign them a domain, determine whether they’re offensive or defensive, and distribute the following ratings: +4, +3, +2, +2.
Adversity Cost
- The rating for resources bought with adversity points is changed to a simple +2 per adversity point spent, just like traits.
- The initiative rating is changed to starting at 0, with +2 for each adversity point spent. With traits, resources, and initiative now all following the same simple progression (+2 for each point), Challengers won’t have to worry about referencing the table anymore.
- Adversity no longer is able to buy more damage boxes. They are always 1/1/1/1/1. If you want more protection for your adversity, buy defensive resources, which are now cheaper. The only exception to this is the last conflict of an adventure, for which the Challenger can buy damage boxes at the old cost.
Conflict
- The cost for Strikes is now 4 AP per D6. This replaces the strike cost chart completely.
- There are no longer limits on how often you can preactivate a trait within an adventure or Hunt.
- You can now use traits of any domain within any kind of conflict. For example, you can use a Mental trait in a Physical conflict. However, they only give half their rating as a bonus to your rolls if their domain is different from that of the conflict.
- Traits no longer carry an offensive or defensive designation. When you activate a trait, determine whether you’re activating it for your offense or your defense.
- As a result, there is no limit on having only three traits of any one type anymore. However, during a conflict, you can only use three active traits for offense and three for defense.
- When one Hunter aids another (see Multiplayer Rules, p. 126), the aiding Hunter’s trait can be in addition to the three active traits of the acting Hunter.
- A new action, Reassign Traits, allows you to change the designations of any or all active traits from offensive to defensive or vice versa.
- You can use a new action called Switch Target to turn advantage points against one enemy into advantage points against another. This works on a 2:1 basis (i.e., 10 AP against target 1 translate into 5 AP against target 2) and does not require a roll.
- There are no more Defensive Maneuvers.
Achievements
- Special effects are now simply called goals.
- Instead of an AP cost, a goal has a difficulty rating. Every goal starts at difficulty 1 by default. When the goal is created, each Hunter can add 1 to this difficulty, if they wish, and the Challenger can add 1 to the difficulty for each Hunter in the conflict. For example, a goal in a conflict with three Hunters is established as difficulty 1, then the Challenger could add 0-3 to that, and each of the three Hunters could add 1 to it, for a difficulty range of 1-7. Once the difficulty is established, it can’t be changed anymore.
- Achievements allow the players to add dice to their side of the outcome roll for a goal. The cost for this is 4 AP per D6, which is the same cost as for Strikes.
- Goals are resolved when both sides agree to roll the outcome dice. The Challenger rolls the difficulty rating in D6 plus any D6 that the adversity added with Achievements, and the Hunters roll any D6 they bought with Achievements, with the higher sum determining the outcome of the goal. Ties go to the Hunters.
- Any leftover goals are resolved at the end of a conflict. If the Hunters won the conflict, any Hunter who has AP remaining can use them to buy more dice for the leftover goals before they are resolved. Leftover AP from several Hunters can be added together for this purpose.
- The Hunters gain bonus reward points for any goals they achieve according to twice the difficulty of the goal (e.g., 4 reward points for difficulty 2), split up among those Hunters who bought dice for the goal.
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02.16.09
Posted in Game Design, My Games at 9:37 pm by Christian
I am aiming to create a system for face-to-face play that promotes character interaction and impacts. One that’s not usually concerned with resolving conflicts, but with bringing about interesting scenes in which characters affect and change each other. The mechanics shouldn’t just “jump in” at some point to tell you what happens; they should reinforce the meaning of the actions of the characters and nudge the players toward letting the other players impact their characters.
That’s the basis for Within Our Eyes.
To start, imagine a lush and warm-to-hot region called Andeia, a mix of Mediterranean and South American, with enough affluence to allow characters to focus on each other using the four venues: Passion, Violence, Intrigue, and Ritual. Characters have a couple of Venue Traits, each associated with one of the venues, and a Reward Trait given to them by other players. The players create several locales with one or more of the four venues available (e.g., the local temple is associated with Ritual, but the high priest’s back room with Intrigue). Both characters and locales are described with a few details about their dominant color, shape, scent, sound, and feel to allow players to imagine them in a sensual way–but vague enough that they don’t have to be tied down to anything or spend hours creating things.
When you play characters in a scene, each player uses a deck of cards. They may start out with some cards in their hand as well (more on that later). Now, whenever a character acts toward another character according to one of the available venues, the player puts down a card (random draw or from their hand) at that venue either face up or down. Face up cards add to the intensity of the interaction. For example:
A: “Serrin’s eyes linger on hers for longer than usual.” Puts a card face-down at his side of Passion.
B: “She smiles and brushes her fingers over his arm as they talk.” Puts a card face-up at her side of Passion.
Or
A: “She narrows her eyes and says, ‘Move before I make you.’” Puts a card face-up at her side of Violence.
B: “He shakes his head slightly. ‘I strongly suggest you reconsider. Artias is not who you think he is.’” Puts a card face-up at his side of Intrigue.
The idea here is that the flow of the scene is undisturbed; in fact, the cards actually serve to reinforce the action by making a statement about its nature and intensity. Players get bonus cards at a specific venue by playing out associated Venue Traits.
At the end of the scene, players can do one of two things: fold up their cards at a venue and not impact the other character for a gain in hand cards (i.e., future control over scenes), or try and impact the other character. Impacts are based on two things: highest face card and highest sum of number cards. So both characters could end up impacting each other, or one impacts the second one more strongly.
Impacts include gaining future advantages, inflicting handicaps, changing the other character’s traits (or even replacing a Venue Trait with a Reward Trait), and ultimately even dooming or destroying the other character. Hand cards, which are also earned by playing out Reward Traits, can also be spent on adding venues to a scene, removing handicaps, and so on.
I’m almost done writing up the first playtest document. Hopefully this will work out as planned. 
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08.17.08
Posted in Game Design, My Games at 4:57 pm by Christian
There are certain things I really like about a few games. Just for fun, I took the liberty of stealing them and forcing them all together into one distilled core. Here’s the fruit of that effort It’s a complete ripoff of Agon, Dogs in the Vineyard, In A Wicked Age, and Sorcerer. There’s also a PDF with one page of rules and two pages of examples.
If you don’t know those games, the system below probably will be a bit more difficult to understand…
Levels of Intensity
Pick one to use for an action. Which one you do is up to you and how invested your character is. You can up your intensity based on the declaration of others, but you can’t lower it once it’s declared. The levels are:
Calm D6 Invested D8 Passionate D10 Fanatical D12
Traits
Pick a trait to roll along with the intensity die. Main characters have three traits, one at D10 and two at D8. Examples: Smooth Talker D10, Gladiator D8, Love for Jila D8. Minor characters have 2 traits at D6.
Actions
Everyone says who they’re acting against and then rolls at the same time and compares highest single die. Highest number goes first (second die breaks ties). The defender can pick up one or both of their rolled dice to defend against the action. Dice used for defense can’t be used for offense anymore, so picking up both dice means forfeiting the action. Defense dice can be rerolled against any following attacks that round. A successful attack (i.e., one with a die showing a higher number than the defense’s highest-rolled die) causes an impact.
Impact
The successful attacker chooses an impact up to the rating of the action, effective immediately. The rating is determined by adding the highest actual single die result of the attacker to the intensity die maximum of the defender (i.e., the highest he could have rolled: 6 for calm, 8 for invested, 10 for passionate, 12 for fanatical). The defender can negotiate not suffering the impact in exchange for a fictional behavior or event.
Any Tax a trait (one step down in die size; ends after 5-minute rest period after the scene)
12 Gain 1 advantage point (AP) against the defender (used for special effects; see below)
14 Damage a trait (one step down in size until healed) – must be the one defender just used
16 Wound (all trait dice treated as one step lower; needs healing)
20 Fatal. Total control over the fate of the character: death, mutilation, incapacitation, etc. – this impact can be “held” until end of scene and used as negotiation material (see example 3)
Special Effects
Spend AP for the following effects with the character you have AP against. AP last until they are used up.
1 AP Reroll one defense die.
2 AP Count your own highest-rolled die as maximum value for impact purposes only.
3 AP Add four points to your defense after your roll.
4 AP Add four points to your highest roll after you roll for attack and impact purposes.
Healing
Characters need prolonged care and/or overnight rest to heal damage or wounds. One of these can be healed at a time. It needs to make sense in the fiction to do this, and you can’t do it more than once a day. Whenever a healing moment is requested by any player, all of the characters get to heal one impact. If a major character does not have a wound or damage, however, that character earns one (if opponent heals damage) or two (if opponent heals wound) advantage points against all of the healing characters with whom she was in conflict since the last healing, whether or not she was the one who inflicted the damage or wound.
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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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