Fate Hack & Slash discussion 0

BESW

Sep 24, 2014 08:23

@doppelgreener It occurs to me that modelling PCs from LoL/WoW/TF2 characters might be a good way to experiment with the hack-and-slash Fate concept.

doppelgreener

Sep 24, 2014 08:42

@BESW that's a good point actually

BESW

'cause the one weird thing about that LoL conversion I just did was--no personality.

doppelgreener

@BESW there was none really in that video

... but I do want a personality in hack-and-slash Fate

holy cow

this is an ideal time to return to that

I think I should use your "what I am is what I can do" skill/approach hybrid thing for this

a warrior is not someone with +3 in Forceful, or +3 in Fight or Swordfighting, they're someone with +3 in Hack and Slash, or +3 in Burly Brute

Anything that hacking and slashing solves, a warrior does well. Anything that being a burly brute is useful for, a warrior does well.

BESW

+2 Bulging Thews.

doppelgreener

These may also be invokable/compellable: "Because you have Fearlessness, of course you'll accept the challenge."

@BESW Yes :)

Build of an Ox

It might be useful to give the players certain staple names, like this:

You are a warrior. This means you are:
- huge and imposing
- incredibly strong, with impressive muscles
- frightening
- used to solving problems with your fists or weaponry

Pick 3 of these, describe each in one or two words, and assign it as an approach.

BESW

This is where Atomic Robo's modes come into play.

doppelgreener

Sep 24, 2014 08:52

(or to an approach? flashily huge and imposing, forcefully huge and imposing... leaving it as the approach itself probably works better)

@BESW Yeah?

BESW

Yeah, but I'm making dinner and haven't actually read Atomic Robo yet.

doppelgreener

haha, alright

Oh right. Pick a skill package, assign scores to skills accordingly.

A Warrior is +3 Fighting, +1 Defending. A paladin is +3 Defending, +1 Healing. A cleric is +3 Healing, +1 Fighting. A barbarian is +3 Fighting, +1 Frightening.

And a Pyromancer is +3 Burninating, +1 Frightening.

and they all get the skills in those packages, or can come up with their own thing.

BESW

More like:

MODE: CASTER
Burninate
Heal
Fix
Break

MODE: WILDERNESS
Shoot
Track
Fix
Heal

If your character picks both those modes, she assigns a rank to each.

So if she's Caster +3 and Wilderness +2, each skill in the mode is rolled at that rank.

But if you've got a skill that's in BOTH modes, you roll it at highest-mode-it's-in-plus-one.

doppelgreener

Ok. 8)

So a +3 Wilderness +2 Caster has...

Shoot +3
Track +3
Heal +4
Fix +4
Burninate +2
Break +2

BESW

And of course they'd also have a +1 mode which could overlap.

If their +1 mode had Fix, they'd be at Fix +5.

doppelgreener

Sep 24, 2014 09:05

This ought to work really well. It allows for a hack-and-slash feel, whilst also breaking free from classes -- is the above a druid or a ranger? -- yet allowing you to keep the feel of them, because you make up your own basically.

BESW

I think ranger; druid would be Wilderness +2 and Caster +3?

doppelgreener

@BESW [slides up close, raises an eyebrow] Would theeeeeyyy...?

The difference is small and you could say you're either with either set! :)

though we could nevertheless package up a couple of classes:
RANGER: Wilderness +3, Caster +2, Rough and Tumble +1
DRUID: Caster +3, Wilderness +2, Leader +1

BESW

While Leader +3, Rough & Tumble +2, Wilderness +1 is... Robin Hood?

doppelgreener

... an inspiring leader who knows his way around?

i'm not sure XD It might be Robin Hood

BESW

Actually, Robin would probably be R&T +3, Leader +2, Wilderness +1. Assuming R&T contains Shoot, that gives him +4 instead of +3.

doppelgreener

Sep 24, 2014 09:21

It would make sense to. I was picturing R&T to have something like: Fight, Break, Wrestle, and... Shoot?

(Oh no not the grappling!)

BESW

"Fight" is too generic to also have Wrestle.

Maybe Blades?

doppelgreener

Yeah, I like that. Blades, Break, Wrestle and Shoot.

SNEAKY: Blades, Shoot, Sneak, ???

no wait why does that have blades and shoot

that needs sneaky stuff...

(we're totally on the voyage out here and might take the scope too far)

(or at least I am!)

BESW

Stealth, B&E, Appraise, Nimble Fingers...

doppelgreener

Break & Enter?

BESW

Yeah.

doppelgreener

Sep 24, 2014 09:26

Y'know what? I just realised SNEAKY WILDERNESS CASTER comes together as a build and a description

that may or may not be something we want to pay attention to

BESW

Well, put it this way: in Atomic Robo, three of your five character aspects are each keyed to one of your modes.

doppelgreener

Oh, neat.

So Robin Hood would have an aspect reflecting his leadership, one reflecting his wilderness knowledge, and one reflecting his rough & tumble prowess?

BESW

Yup!

He'd also have a high concept, and an "omega" aspect that's basically "DO SOMETHING ELSE WITH THIS."

(No trouble; they just talk about how aspects should be compellable.)

doppelgreener

@BESW i kinda like that

If we have someone pick three modes (for a +3, +2, and +1), then a skill in all three modes is going to wind up at +3 +1 +1 = +5. If they pick four, they can get up to a +6.

This means if we make a skill common among modes, it's going to easily end up at +5, even perhaps just by coincidence. Likewise if we make it only appear in one or two modes, it's going to be at +3 or +4 maximum.

BESW

In Atomic Robo, you pick only three modes, and it's really uncommon to be able to get skills in all three.

doppelgreener

Sep 24, 2014 09:38

Yes. Something tells me...
- there should be a maximum of a dozen modes, so as to allow the party to diversify, but not be so erratic that they each excel in mutually exclusive scenarios (like, the scenario where nobody can accompany the rogue because they'll just knock over the weapon rack.)
- most skills will be in 2-3 modes.
- if it's in 3 or more, that's a sign we either want someone to get up to +5 in it, or that it's a staple thing most people should be good at, or we're not making enough diversity available.

BESW

Robo has four default modes, and lets you pick/invent more if you're Weird.

In the default modes, you can only get +5 on Will and Notice.

doppelgreener

As a thought experiment, consider this:

There will be 12 modes: Rough & Tumble, Sneaky, Caster, Wilderness, others.
Each mode has one offensive approach: Blades, Burninate, Shoot. (Each of those will be in 4 modes?)
Each mode has or two unique approaches, which it and only it can do.
Each mode has one or two approaches shared by 1-2 other modes.

That ensures some viability, and consistency between skills. It also makes it likely someone will be good at attacking.

also ensures some overlap so people can specialise

(that feels too formulaic though!)

BESW

Good rough guidelines.

doppelgreener

yeah

BESW

I dunno the details, but AR budgets skills in modes by how many actions each skill can be used in.

So a mode would have more skills if they can be used for fewer of the four actions.

(Like I said, AR seems to be the crunchiest Fate I've ever heard of.)

doppelgreener

Sep 24, 2014 09:53

oh right.

i was just thinking in this case if you can justify creating an advantage with blades, go ahead and do it.

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