FATEsy Heartbreaker: Dungeons Deep

Beginners Guide to Crawling The Dungeons

Dungeons in Fate Core are tricky things. On the surface they are relatively easy, and should you come from a long line of Dungeon crawling games then making one in Fate is about equivalent. But that would just be a standard adventure. what I would like to do is enhance the dungeon crawl with Fate. Utilize what makes both fun and create something that is the same, yet different.

So to do this I must use the things that Fate is known for. I must make the players have an active roll in the design of the dungeon. That to me is crucial. So I went with something inspired by the system used in +John Wick's Wilderness of Mirrors. Basically the players would have a series of rolls that the players can make to design the dungeon. These would basically be a series of research rolls to create advantage and establish the aspects for the dungeon. The players would need to spend Wealth to gain these rolls. Every roll they cannot afford would be an aspect that the GM would be able to make up. But enough generalization, lets get down to the step by step:

Step One: Decide How Big The Dungeon Will Be
Gather the group together and decide on how big you wish the dungeon to be. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. There are three basic sizes of Dungeon: The Micro Dungeon, The Dungeon, and The Mega Dungeon. the Micro Dungeon will take around one session to complete. The dungeon should take around three to four sessions to complete, and the mega Dungeon will take nine or more sessions.

Step Two: Make The Rolls You Can Make

Each type of dungeon will have a number of aspects that can be discovered by player research. Micro Dungeons have 4-6 aspects that can be discovered, Dungeons have between eight and 12, Mega dungeons have twenty or higher. To gain the roll a wealth point must be spent for each roll. Fate points cannot be spent to gain this information, but they can be spent to gain success on the roll. On a successful research roll the player gets to make up an answer to one of the following questions, regarding the dungeon. On a tie the player can make up the answer to the question, but the GM gets to make up the aspect. On a failure the GM gets to make up both the answer to the question and the aspect. Should the player succeed with style they get a free invoke of the aspect they have created. If the players have no wealth points to spend, or do not wish to spend more wealth, then treat the roll as a failure, but the GM gains a free invoke of the aspect he creates.

The Questions for every dungeon
Who made the dungeon?
What was the original purpose of the dungeon?
When was the dungeon created?
What protects the dungeon?
Who/what lives in the dungeon?
What is the dungeon's treasure?
What are the unique features of the dungeon?
What prevented previous people from exploring it?
What is a secret of the dungeon?
What is the history of the dungeon?

Each question can be answered more than once, provided the second answer makes some sort of sense.  You can even have answers that contradict each other. How these two contradictory things can both be true should be explored in play.

Step Three: Finishing It Up
At this point the players can step back, job well done. Now it is time for the GM to step in and finish up. Each dungeon type will have a number of attack defense skills rated at between 1 and four. Each of these represents a random encounter or a trap. They can be mixed in with regular encounters or dealt with on their own as a singular event. You also get a number of consequences and stress boxes for your use with random encounters/traps.  these are used to keep your wandering monster or trap going for more than just one attack/defense. There are(currently) three types of Wandering monsters: Skulkers, Brutes, and Aberrations. Any attack done without any stress tracks attached to it is a trap. This gets one attack on everything in the zone and then is unusable unless someone spends a turn creating advantage vs the trap's attack/defense skill.

Skulkers get to attack first, but cannot have more than two stress boxes. They can only target one creature at a time, but if you put a few of them in the conflict they can be bothersome.

Brutes must have more than three stress boxes and hit everything in the zone with their attacks.

Aberrations can be anything, but they have weird powers. Choose one, when you make an aberration:
Fire/poison/weird persistent attack: when you deal stress to a creature you can choose to do one less stress this round and have the creature take one stress per round from now on. That creature must make an overcome roll against the aberration's attack/defense skill to remove this effect.
Flying/teleporting/weird movement power: the aberration ignores terrain aspects that would get in the way of its movement. it can begin each turn in whichever zone it wishes.
Vampiric: When the aberration does a consequence to a creature it clears one of its stress boxes.
There are probably loads more, and there are a lot of wonky ideas I still have to try with this, but this give you the idea.

Micro Dungeons

4-6 aspects
one (+5) attack/defense, Two (+2) Attack/Defense, and Two (+1) attack/defense
Eight Stress boxes
One minor consequence, 1 moderate consequence, 1 sever consequence
GM can arrange the statted monsters as desired at least one statted monster per aspect of the dungeon

Dungeons

8-12 aspects
one (+4) attack/defense, one (+3) attack/defense, two (+2) attacks/defenses, three (+1) attacks/Defenses
16 stress boxes
3 minor consequences, 2 moderate consequences, 2 severe consequences

Mega Dungeons

20+ aspects
three (+4) attack Defense, Three (+3) attack/defense, four (+2) Attack/Defense, and six (+1) attack/defense
30 stress boxes
4 minor consequences, 4 moderate consequences, 3 severe consequences, and one extreme consequence

Once the size of the dungeon is picked the GM must also come up with standard monsters for the dungeon. There must be as many standard monsters as there are aspects for the dungeon. That does not mean they must all be separate though. You can place them all together or group them however you like. Each one of these monsters will gain the players one wealth point each should they overcome them in some way. The GM can also place wealth points worth of Magical Items and the like in place of wealth points direct.

So that is how I see dungeons being handled in my heartbreaker. Well, this is the roughed out version. I will continue to play around with the rules and see what I can come up with. I would love to hear your thoughts on this system. How do you think it will work? Are there any major flaws that i am missing here? Questions, concerns, comments, and critiques are welcome!

Shadow Legion: Pirates of Antares

+Ron Frazier, +Brian Boring, +Frank Falkenberg, and I got together to play a game of Shadow Legion...in July. Yeah, I know. I should have put this up months ago, but I was so busy working on Jadepunk, that I kind of got distracted and didn't post this up on my site. I will be adding in the remainder of the actual play recordings shortly. As I am nearing completion with my first draft of my materials for Jadepunk, I should have a bit more time to work on the website more. Which is good, as I have the outlines of about fourteen posts or so, that I have not had time to flesh out and finish.

In this session our, "Heroes," have decided to lay a trap for some pirates so that they may steal the pirates ship and thus gain entry into the Pirate clans and the High Tortuga, flagship of the pirate fleet. their plans go forward with the normal amount of deception and convolution.

Overall the game went well. there were very few major issues, aside form a couple of times when the players got so into coming up with plans they forgot to actually do anything. Aside from that though, all went well. Check out the recording if you don't believe me:

Omnis Mundi: City of Book, Addendum

As the Mystic center of human civilization for over three hundred miles in any direction there are many other kinds of magic user within the borders of Book than I listed in my previous post. They did not fit within much of what I was looking for in the post. I was going for the military aspects of the setting, so here are a bunch of things that did not quite fit into yesterdays post.

Conjurers
Master of Summoning, Binding, Warding, and Name magic. You can summon spirits, and at higher levels living beings. You can create magical wards and circles to hinder movement from zone to zone, as well as binding specific beings. You can be a conjurer simply by taking the Conjure skill. The Conjure skill can be used to make overcome rolls relating to gaining information on summoning circles and wards. You can also Create advantage relating to learning the True Names and summoning circles and wards.

Gaining True Names is very dangerous, if you have a single persons True Name you may summon and bind that person, create wards against them and even seal them in place. If you gain the true name of a Type or subtype of thing, you can do the same thing with any member of that type or subtype. There is, among the Conjurers, a myth. The myth of Logos, the true name of the universe. Many Conjurers seek it and with it ultimate power. Many other conjurers believe that it has already been found and spoken, that it was the cause of The End.

Conjure Stunts
Binding: You may use Conjure to make mental attacks and defenses when in conflict with a summoned being.
Warding: You may use Conjure to make an overcome action on a Zone border to create a mystical barrier against a specific True Name, Type, or Subtype. If you have a Type True Name the difficulty starts at +6, If you have the specific subtype the difficulty is +4, and if you have the True name of a specific being the difficulty is +2. Any shifts above the difficulty will count as a increase in difficulty to any action trying to go through the zone border from that specific True Name
Summoning: You may use Conjure to summon beings and items to an area you have prepared. Most conjurers will use this ability to pull in beings from beyond the Tear, and then bind them to the Conjurer's service. Some enterprising Conjurers have crafted small summoning circles on the palms of their hands in order to summon small tools or weapons when they need. Inanimate objects are a difficulty of +2 t summon. Complex machines are a +4.  To summon a being you must roll Conjure against the beings Will skill.
Sealing: This works like a Ward, but on one specific being rather than on a zone border. A being that is sealed increases the difficulty of any physical or mental action(you choose when you set the Seal whether physical or mental actions are sealed).


Types of Golem
Yesterday I introduced the concept of Golems and the Gahlmi who merge with them. However I did not name or give stats for any of the Golems. So here is my attempt to fix that. Here are the names and stats for the four major types of Golem in the Armies of Book. I am using the format of FAE for NPCs, because it works rather well, and is easy to read and use.
Fast Golems: The Keleritu
Aspects: Fast attack Golem; Quicksilver Construction
Good(+4) at: Moving at high speed, Razor hands, focus on the task given
Bad(-2) at: Any social actions, abstract thought
Stress: [1] [2]
Special: their claws count as massive damage weapons and they have a massive damage armor skin

Tough Golems: The Gruendel
Aspects: Large and Indomitable, Nearly indestructible 
Good(+4) at: Resisting attacks, Unstoppable will, Hammer hands, lifting heavy things, enduring
Bad(-2) at: Social interaction, abstract thought
Stress: [1] [2] [3] [4] extra minor consequence
Special: Hammer hands and skin are Massive damage capable

Strong Golems: The Viise
Aspects: Endless Strength, Plodding inevitability
Good(+4) at: Lifting things, hitting hard, breaking stuff, Perfect focus
Bad(-2) at: Social interaction, abstract thought
Stress: [1] [2] [3]
Special: Hands and skin Massive Damage

Long Range Golems: The Iakulae
Aspects: Shoulder Cannons, Every problem must be shot
Good(+4) at: Shooting, tracking targets, Ignore all distractions, staying on the task at hand
Bad(-2) at: Social interaction, doing anything outside of orders
Stress: [1] [2]
Special: Weapons and skin Massive Damage

Previous Omnis Mundi Writings
1. Basics of the Setting
2. Basics of Character Creation
3. Solutuhz, the Unbound City
4. Tasmania by +Tom Tyson
5. The City of Book

Omnis Mundi: The Sanctus Mysticum and the City of Book

The City of Book
Built upon the ruins of an ancient city around a massive stone cathedral, Book was named by the followers of the Pure One a semi mythical being said to have led humans to the city. It was built up during the dark days following The End. The people lived like any other group after The End, living in a constant state of fear and warfare with the outside world. A small human supremacist cult known as the Sanctus Mysticum began to gain power a hundred years ago. Now they control all aspects of Book Society. As a result the City of Book has become focused on Mysticism and military might. Their armies have been preparing for a war of extinction with the corrupted lands surrounding them. With the recent alliance with the city of Echasse, the war is going to come sooner rather than later.

Book's main feature is its libraries. The city it is built upon had three of the largest libraries in the world before The End. Much of the books were recovered in the early days of Book's history and placed in a single great Library. The Great Library of Book was one of the great wonders of the world. Until the Sanctus Mysticum took over. One of their first acts was to reduce access to the library. twenty years ago there was a fire. It is claimed that the library was destroyed. In reality the library was moved book by book to a secret location that only the highest level members of the Mysticum have access to. Knowledge is power, and in Book there is only one power.

Sanctus Mysticum
The Sanctus Mysticum sees itself as the saviors of humanity. two hundred years ago a prophet came out of the wasteland preaching the Supremacy of Man, a philosophy that has controlled the populace of Book more and more every year since. The faith and the city are ruled over by the Council of All Saints, a group of powerful magic users. Few know their identities, though all know their will. Within the city their primary tools are the Inquisitae, secret police and mind mages. They enforce the edicts of the Council and seek out any who would appose them. Outside of the city the Council's primary agents are the Sword Saints, unholy missionaries of the Supremacy of Man converting or killing as many as they can.

Armies of the Sanctus Mysticum
Sword Saints
Sword Saints are the most visible arm of the Sanctus Mysticum. They are the missionaries of hate and the foot soldiers of the cleansing fire. Their mission is to go out from Book into the corrupted lands and bring divine retribution on anything inhuman that deigns to abide in the world at large. Units of Sword Saints wander far and wide purging anything they deem inhuman or corrupted by inhuman ideologies. Because they travel out from the city, they are exposed to many other cultures and ideologies. This leads to the occasional defections,  which leads to the Inquisitae watching the Sword Saints far more closely than other citizens of Book.

The sword of a Sword Saint is a badge of office and the primary weapon in their fight against the impure. Formed from their will and ectoplasm summoned from their very soul this dread weapon is a channel for all of their mystical power. The sword forms from a black liquid or smoke that drips or leaks from their hands until it becomes a solid, metallic looking, black sword.

New Sword Saint Stunts
Soul Armor: you gain more control over you ectoplasm and can cover yourself in ectoplasmic armor. Your skin now counts as Massive Damage Armor.
Ectenic Force: You can use your ectoplasm to lift and move things. You may use your Will Skill in place of Might for lifting or carrying things at a distance.

Gahlmi
Also known as the unshaped, the Gahlmi have the unique ability to meld with a War Golem, combining the physical might of the Golem with the minds of Men. To become a Gahlmi you must have a high concept with Gahlmi in it also you must reduce your refresh by one. A Gahlmi can meld with a Golem, when you do this your physical attacks become Massive Damage, your skin becomes massive damage armor and you no longer need to breathe. You also gain a special ability depending on the type of Golem you meld with: a Fast golem, a Tough golem, a Long Range golem, or a Strong golem. Gahlmi can invoke their aspect to be physically superior to an obstacle or opponent. Gahlmi when melded are larger than normal humans, and have difficulty communicating, compel when these would be issues.

Golem Special Abilities
Fast: You can move an extra zone for free(normally two zones) when melded.
Tough: You gain an extra Minor consequence when melded.
Strong: When you are attempting to lift or break things when melded you may set one of your dice to a plus before the roll.
Long Range: When melded you have access to ranged weapons of the golem body. You have Massive Damage ranged weapons. once per scene you may do an extra two stress on a successful attack.

Inquisitae
The secret police of the Sanctus Mysticum, they are highly trained from a young age to be zealots for the cause. All of the, are Mind Mages of great power. Once they start investigating they will track their quarry until death. There are no innocents or guilty in their view, only the loyal and the disloyal. They have no pity, no remorse, and absolute authority when pursuing a heretic, criminal, or dissident.

• Mind Mage: Sometimes known as Psychics, Brainers, or Brain freaks, the mind mage is trained in the skills of reading and controlling the minds of others. To become a Mind Mage you must have an aspect relating to being a mind mage. This aspect can be invoked when reading or controlling minds and compelled when the sounds of the surrounding thoughts becomes overwhelming. You must also take the Mind Bending skill, which allows you to create advantage and attack(mental stress) relating to reading and controlling minds.
• Stunts for Mind Bending
• Deep Scan: When reading some one's mind you may make an overcome roll to find out information about that person.
• Unsubtle Power: You can choose to do physical stress rather than mental by manipulating the brain into thinking it is damaged.
• Mental Barriers: Use Mind Bending to defend against psychic attacks against your mind.

So there is the City of Book, one of the great threats of my little corner of Omnis Mundi. If you want to create your own part of the world, go right ahead, just give me a link in the comments so I can see what is what. Here is a listing of what has come before:

1. Omnis Mundi Basics

2. Character Basics

3. Tasmania by +Tom Tyson 

4. The Free Companies of Solutuhz

What its like

I do not know why I wrote this. I do not know what the point of it is. I am not asking for sympathy or anything like that. Mostly this is an attempt to get some thoughts out of my head. If it helps you understand me a little, fine. If it helps you understand someone you know, great. But that is not what I wrote this for. It is a bit all over the place, a little bit ranty, and a little meandery. Any way, here is what I wrote.

You want to know what it is like? What it feels like to be me? To be mad? Think it is cool to be crazy? Somehow crazy makes you free, yeah? Let me tell you what it is like. What it is to be mad. I will start like this. I will ask a question, and then give the answer I believe to be true.

Have you ever had a bad day? Been sad, afraid, alone? Then something happens, you talk to a friend, or family, you see a funny TV show, took a breath. Then the bad started to fade, just a little. It became a bad memory instead of a bad day. And, in time, the memory faded as well. It became just a dim recollection in a sea of other memories. It is not as though it never happened, but mostly you just don't have to think about it. It is a tiny scar, long healed over. Is that how it is? Because that is how it seems to me when I look at human behavior.

I want you to remember a bad moment in your life. Not the worst. Not that, but a bad one. You know the one. Feels bad, yeah? Remember what it felt like when it was fresh. Now, imagine you did not have the numbness of distance to help deal with this memory. Imagine if the feelings were always fresh. Now, I want you to think of how many bad memories you have. Imagine if all of of those feelings were fresh and new. Every day, every hour, every moment, you can feel the sorrow, the panic, and the loneliness. Imagine that for me. That is who I am.

I can feel it all, always. I still feel the hurt from when I was five and my cousin told me I was a horrible ugly person and she hated me. I feel that right now like it was new. When my first girl friend dumped me, I feel that. When my Drill Instructor screamed at me, when my home loan was denied, when my best friends father died, when the love of my life married someone else, when my niece died, I remember it all. It is always in my my heart, this sorrow.

Every day I work incredibly hard to distract myself. I read constantly, watch countless hours of television and movies, and listen to music. All of this I do so that I can shut out my thoughts, shut out my feelings, if only for a moment. The second I stop it all comes rushing back, fresh and new. Every bad day is sitting there like a hungry coyote, liking its chops waiting for me to slow down. So I can't slow down, I must find the next distraction before I start to fall apart. This causes me to look at the world in short terms rather than long term. Short term world view leads to mistakes, more bad days. It builds. Like a vortex of anguish, building with each mistake, each accident.

Crazy is not fun. Crazy is not freeing or a release of normal social mores. It is not something you want. Mental illness is a trap you can't get out of. Your behaviors become erratic as you try to deal with a world that is rapidly spinning out of control. The more you try and deal with things, the worse they seem to get. Nothing makes sense and people start avoiding you. I get it, you know, the avoidance. When you have a chronic mental condition it gets tiring on the people around you. They ask, why can't you be happy, normal, or whatever? And its not like I don't understand, I ask myself that question all the damn time. I wish I could just wish myself normal. The worst of it is that we are conditioned by TV to see mental illness in a lot of ways that are just horrid for true understanding. Having a problem does not make you superhuman, nor is it fun, nor can it be solved in an hour.

I am lucky, sad to say. I am functional most days. I can deal, most days. I can take care of myself. Most days. There are bad days. Days when I can't. Days when I shut down. Days when I can do nothing but sit in my room and cry. But that is not every day. I have known people, friends even, who are not functional. I cannot tell their stories. I do not live in the world they live in. I can only tell my story. I don't even know if it makes sense.

Omnis Mundi: The Free Companies of Solutuhz

For those who have not been following along as we have worked on this project here is the stuff that has gone before:
1. Setting Basics and a little work done on some specifics
2. Character creation rules and a release of the setting into the wild
3. Tasmania a land divided by +Tom Tyson
That is what has come before, here is the next installment of Omnis Mundi. I hope you enjoy learning of the Free Companies of the Unbound City!

Solutuhz, The Unbound City

250 years ago a band of slavers found an intact bio tech lab from the final days of the Golden Lands. This became the home base for the Triangle Park Slavers. stealing people from the surrounding cities and lands, augmenting them and selling them back to those same cities for the soldiers or workers in their fields. Then came Cyrus, Eidolon of Freedom, and everything changed. Then came the revolt, and the Unbound City was born.

Sulutuhz has no kings. No single being rules over the people. The free Companies form the hub of a form of representational government. The companies bring law and order as well as money to the city by way of mercenary work. The hundreds of petty kingdoms and city states to the south and west of the city supply a nearly constant state of war that needs mercenaries. The free companies of the unbound city are the finest mercenaries in the land.

Technology and magic are allowed in the city, and any being is allowed, provided they are not overtly hostile. Many is the petty dictator who tried to take the city, but its great walls are strong and its mercenary protectors are devious and ruthless.

Cyrus, Eidolon of Freedom
Cyrus is not quite mortal. No one is quite certain what he is or where he comes from, but what is known is that he led the Revolt two hundred years ago and he stands against slavery and oppression of any sort.  He was offered the leadership of the city, but he did not take power. Throughout the history of Solutuhz he has appeared in times of great danger to lead the free companies in crucial battles. it has been twenty five years since he last appeared, and with the forces of Book and Echasse City readying for a war of extinction, the faithful of the city wait for the return of Cyrus.

High Concept: Eidolon of Freedom
Trouble: Authority should never reside in the hands of any one person
Aspect: Unbound Spirit of Hope
Aspect: Let Slip the Hounds of War!
Aspect: He is not a Tame Eidolon

You should give him skills and abilities as suits your campaign. Maybe even a custom extra that lets him sway people to riot or something. I really like leaving it up to various GMs to decide.

The Free Companies of Solutuhz
There are many mercenary companies within the city of Solutuhz. I will list the three most influential and famous here:

The Grey
Most Famous, or infamous, company of the Free Companies. They will take anyone into their ranks, but once you enlist you are in for life. You give up your name and your history, renouncing all family and earthly ties, and accepting a blood oath to the Grey. The Grey are not the largest or most powerful of the Free Companies, but they are the most unique. they will take anyone with any skill set. They have Magic users of all varieties, as well as master of technology and esoteric martial disciplines. Often they have defeated armies that far out powered and outnumbered them through the use of underhanded or surprise tactics.

Felaudrian Brotherhood
Small in number but incredibly powerful, the ranks of the Felaudrian Brotherhood is filled with Ancient Elven Warrior Wizards as well as a few Dragons. Their goals are as strange as they are, they choose battles seemingly at random. Choosing one side or the other for their own arcane reasons and accepting moneys for their services as more of an after thought than a necessity of the mercenary work. Many believe that they are choosing who to work for based on some obscure prophesy or series of oracular visions. No one is certain who is in charge of the Company, but those in power make sure to keep track of what they are doing at any given time.

Machinae Vitae
The Machinae Vitae are the largest of the Free Companies. They have the best kit that can be created or scrounged. Their unofficial motto is, "Shoot it, Burn it, Bomb it, and Break it." They live up to expectations. Split into three divisions, they claim to have the solution to any problem. If the Powered Infantry cannot deal with it, the Mecha Rangers can force it. If the Mecha Rangers can't force it, the Engineers can solve it. Led by Colonel Sarah, the men and women of the Machinae Vitae are loyal and tough. It is said the ground shakes with the pounding of their feet and the heavens shake with the pounding of their artillery. The Colonel is concerned about this new alliance between Echasse City and Book. She knows that it will be the Machinae Vitae who will stand in the front lines of the coming war. She has begun to stockpile extra gear and supplies for this occasion, though her projections of the casualties of the coming war keep her up most nights.

Dragons
To be a dragon requires having Dragon in your High Concept as well as taking a reduction of refresh by one. Your Dragon Aspect allows you to shape shift at will, fly in your dragon form(using athletics when you need to make a roll), and to breath an elemental attack of some sort(fire, lightning, acid, steam, whatever) when in a dragon form, you can make shooting attacks without having a gun, bow, or other shooting weapon. You also gain a superhuman strength and endurance. For any roll involving physical might, or enduring a physical hardship you may set one of your dice to a plus before the roll. Your dragon aspect can be compelled when you are in another form to reveal your draconic nature. It also can be compelled to make you hunger for knowledge, power, or wealth.

War Singer
The Elves where the first beings to develop the Great Songs of Power. Since the coming of the Tear, many people who have come in contact with the elves have learned some of the Songs. those who learn the Battle Songs have become known as War Singers. To be a War Singer you must take at least one of the Battle Song Stunts that follow.

• Song of Advancing Aggression: Provided you can sing you may use Provoke to make Physical attacks with a melee weapon.
• Song of Graceful Retreat: Provided you can sing you may make physical defense actions with rapport. 
• Song of Blood: When using the song of Advancing aggression you may add an additional two stress to any successful attack.
• Song of Rage: While you are singing and in combat, once per session, you may downgrade the severity of a consequence you have taken(Severe to moderate, moderate to mild, and mild can be removed).

Machinae Vitae Stunts
The Machinae Vitae train with their technology far more than others. They are highly competent and well trained. Most members have been in at least one battle and have survived it due to their superior equipment. They hold their gear in a reverence that borders on religious Fervor. Here are a series of Stunts that you must be a member of the Machinae Vitae(or a former member) to acquire:

• Engineer: You gain a +2 bonus to any create advantage rolls with the Technology skill when dealing with fixing or souping up a gun, mecha, or suit of armor.
• Repairs on the go: you gain a +2 to any overcome roll with the Technology skill when dealing with fixing some piece of technology in a hurry.
• This is my gun: When you are firing a gun you can go an extra zone(three zones) without increasing the difficulty.

So here is the first of my world posts, the next one will be about Echasse, followed by one on Book. Finally I am looking forward to doing a huge post on the Lord Gene and his beast men. It should be a blast. Let me know what you think of what has been presented here. I am always interested in feedback and ideas. Also there is still much of the world free if you want to play in this particular sandbox. All I ask is a link in the comments so that I can look at it and add it to the world in links and such.

Blue 6: The Characters of Omnis Mundi

Here is my attempt at character creation rules for Omnis Mundi. Let me know what you think. I would like to announce that I would love to open up this world for other people to develop. Here is how I see this going. You pick a section of the world that no one else has covered and begin to make it weird, make it crazy. then give me a link back in the comments. We can make a whole big world together and then we can play in it. Isn't that awesome! I am currently working on the eastern seaboard of the United states, basically from Atlanta Georgia to NewYork to the Appalachian mountains. Anything else in the world is all yours!

Here is the first rough idea for the world as I understand it: Part 1.

Now enough of all that, on to the Character creation rules.

Aspects
The aspects are standard to Fate Core. You get a High Concept, a Trouble, and the Phase Trio as normal.

Skills
The skills in Omnis Mundi are basically the same as those presented in Fate Core. Lore has been split into a lot of skills as understanding of the world has been fragmented in the years since The End. aside from that things are the same.

Medicine: This is used for healing people and dealing with the consequences of stress. You are a student of both Physical medicine and Psychiatric medicine. Use for overcome rolls when dealing with consequences, and for create advantage related to mental or physical problems.
Technology: This is a skill for utilizing and understanding high technology of the ancients and high tech alternate universes. With this you can repair tech devices, and figure out how to use them. this can be used to Overcome obstacles dealing with technology and create advantages related to technology.
History: This covers more than just normal history. It covers the history of all worlds. Understanding of culture and behavior is part of understanding history. This is used for overcome rolls dealing with a thing or place's history and meaning. This also covers an understanding of esoteric ancient languages and the like. This can be also used to create advantages related to a historical or cultural understanding.
Lore: Magic, demons, monsters, gods, and all manner of supernatural beings are covered by this skill. It is the understanding of Magical theory(or theories depending on how many forms of magic you are dealing with) as well as understanding demons and supernatural monsters from beyond the tear. This is for overcome and create advantage actions in relation to the supernatural
Pilot: You can pilot aircraft, watercraft, Land vehicles, and robots. This is used for Defense(dodging and the like), create advantage, and overcome actions relating to piloting the specific vehicle.
Ride: this is for dealing with animal mounts as you would pilot a vehicle. Defense, overcome, and create advantage.
Survival: When in natural environments you use this skill for understanding the natural creatures and plants, as well as any overcome and create advantage roll related to an understanding of survival in nature.

Massive Damage
Basically your equipment is either  does or takes normal or massive damage. If you have Massive armor then normal weapons do one less stress, to a minimum of one stress(you could create advantage to get around the armor). Massive damage weapons cancel out Massive armor, and against a person not in massive armor they do one extra stress. however when you take an opponent out with a Massive damage weapon and they have no Massive armor they are disintegrated or destroyed beyond recognition. Their is no set for stun on a Massive Damage Weapon.

Equipment
You start with three pieces of equipment of your choosing from the following list: A standard weapon, a massive damage weapon. a suit of massive damage armor, A toolkit, a hand held computer(with either a library of informative books, a bunch of how to videos, or a set of specialty programs for hacking into other computers), Survival gear, a personal vehicle(or for two equipment choices a vehicle big enough to comfortably hold five), a riding animal of average quality, stylish clothes, sensor kit(like a tricorder),(needs to be more items here, any suggestions would be useful)

You also get an item of great personal significance to you.

Equipment can be treated like aspects and justification for actions for the most part.

Magics and Mysticism
Magic in Omnis Mundi is hard to define. All magics are possible here, and so magic cannot be defined as one thing. However here is what is known to be universally true about magic. It runs counter to the known laws of physics in some manner or another. It seems to be driven to some degree by the will of the magic user, and it does not always behave the same in the same situations. It will work one way in one place or with one person and work a completely different way with another person or in another place. However, all magic adheres to rules, it is just that the rules are different depending on who is using the magic and where they are.  Some magics are skills, some are stunts, and some are covered by an aspect alone. Here is a listing of some of the more common magics in this part of Omnis Mundi.

Pyrokine: This is a skill and an aspect. The Pyromancy skill lets you control fire and create fire, you must create an advantage with the Pyromancy skill to either create fire or gain control of an existing blaze. From then on you can attack and defend with that blaze, unless it is quenched. The Pyrokine aspect can be invoked to help with dealing with fires, and it makes you immune to heat of any kind. It can be compelled to make you burn things or make you react without thinking. You are a hot head, rash and dangerous.

Sword Saint: To be a Sword Saint you must be trained by an existing Sword Saint. The only known training ground are run by the Sanctus Mysticum. You need to have the Sword Saint or former Sword Saint aspect in your high concept. It can be invoked to make you a mystic warrior par excellence. It can be compelled to make people distrust and fear you, as most sword saints are rabid bigots who believe that anything they deem inhuman or unnatural must die. You now have access to an ectoplasmic sword made from your soul energy. It takes the form of a sword that fits the characters personality. It appears to be made from a black metal, that has a slight reddish gleam to it. You can use fighting as though you had a sword even if you have no weapon. You can gain access to a bunch of stunts to improve your soul sword or mystically enhance your fighting ability.

• Massive Soul Sword: Your soul sword is far more dangerous than the average soul sword. Your sword now counts as a Massive Damage Weapon.
• Aggressive Defense: When you are defending in hand to hand combat and succeed with style. Rather than gaining a boost you can immediately do two stress to the attacker(three if you have a Massive Damage Weapon and your opponent does not have massive damage armor you deal an extra stress).
• Mystic Will: You gain a +2 bonus to will defense actions when dealing with supernatural mind effects.

Mystech: To be a Mystech you will need to take the Mystech stunt. Mystechs channel magic through technology, creating a strange fusion of both. The Mystech Stunt is attached to the Technology skill that lets them use Technology in place of Lore when dealing with items and objects of power. You also must take an aspect in your high concept related to being a Mystech. The Mystech can use the Technology skill to add magical effects to regular equipment. normally this is just a simple create advantage roll where you add a temporary aspect to an item. the magic fades in time. But if you are willing to spend a point of refresh you can permanently add three facets to the item's aspect that are always true, or can be invoked for effect or bonus. You must also add in another facet that can be compelled. As Items gain power they start to gain the semblance of life or sentience. This has led down many strange paths as Mystechs have built devices beyond understanding. Here are some examples:

• Dweomer Goggles: Take standard goggles and add in these facets:
• You can see in the dark, this is always true
• You can invoke the goggles to automatically see magical auras.
• You can invoke the goggles to gain a +2 to understand to understand how a magical effect works.
• Compel to confuse one magical effect with another, as the goggles aura abilities are subtle and hard to differentiate.
• Sky Blade: This is a glider that is far too small to fly on its own. the wingspan is about nine feet across.
• You can fly when you stand upon the wing, this is always true
• When using the Sky Blade you can invoke to gain a +2 to your pilot roll
• You are immune to cold air and high altitude while flying on the Wing Blade, this is always true
• The Wing Blade can be compelled in rough winds, as it is light and hard to control against the wind
• Far Caster: This is a single shot breach loaded gun, with the following facets
• You can invoke to add an elemental effect to the shot, this places an aspect on the target of the attack
• You can invoke the Far Caster to gain a bonus to your attack of +2. These weapons are very accurate
• Invoking the Far Caster allows the gun to count as Massive damage for this shot
• Compel to state you are out of shells. You may spend a turn to construct a new shell from an old casing if any are still around. 

Worlds Walker: A master of dimensional magics, you understand the tears in reality far better than anyone else. You have special abilities that you can acquire through studying the Tear Phenomena. These are stunts you can get that will allow you to channel the energy of the Tear to do all kinds of interesting things. You can also gain the ability to summon beings from across the tear and travel through the dimensions even when you are not near the tear. You have a World walking skill you can take as well.

• Inhuman speed: You channel the power bleeding from the Tear into your connection to time. You can move with great speed due to the dilation of time. You can travel two zones in a conflict for free, or if you are rolling to move more count your roll as double. You can use this once per scene.
• Teleport: Through your connection to the tear, distance becomes meaningless. Once per session, for one scene, you can start every turn in any zone you wish. On a successful defense roll when you succeed with style you can instantly move to any other zone on the map.
• Rending: You can channel the magic of the Tear to do what it naturally does, break things apart and mash them together catastrophically. This allows you to use lore to make shooting attacks, so long as you can use your hands and still speak. You must speak the words of power, symbolic words for you, as well as gesture with both hands, a rending or crushing gesture. 

Augmented People and Dimensional Beings
The world is not as it was, but the world was not the only thing that has changed. There are many beings from beyond the Tear now loose on the world. Many are monstrous or demonic, but not all. Humanity has also altered and augmented itself to deal with these new threats. Here are a few samples of a few ways to do human augmentations and dimensional beings in Omnis Mundi.

Cyborg: these are a series of stunts you can get that represent cybernetic enhancements, if you want more than three you must take the high concept of Fully Body Conversion Cyborg. This can be invoked for benefits of being an awesome cyborg, but compelled when being eight hundred pounds of metal fury would be a problem. Here is a listing of sample cybernetic stunts

• Dermal Coating: Your skin has been replaced with a protective layer of super materials. You count as having Massive damage armor always.
• Skeletal Enhancement: You have had your bones replaced with super metals and advanced materials. You gain a +2 bonus to any overcome or create advantage roll related to lifting or breaking things using Might.
• Pseudo-Blood: there are millions of microscopic machines in your blood. They help you deal with damage. Once per session you can treat one physical consequence as though it were a magnitude lower for the purposes of healing. this does mean that you can make a minor consequence go away nearly instantly. This does not work on extreme consequences.
• Sensory Suite: You have enhanced your puny human senses to a superhuman degree. You can ignore any barriers or obstacles relating to hindered senses.
• Machine precision: You have advanced targeting programs and heightened senses and reflexes when dealing with shooting and spatial awareness. When you create an advantage relating to targeting with your Shooting skill you gain a +3 on the invoke of that aspect rather than the normal +2.

Amper: Sometimes being a the best is just not enough. Sometimes you need an edge. Ampers were the cutting edge of human augmentation in the Golden Lands. In the intervening centuries many have opted for the Amp process in order to fight the monsters and demons that have come through the Tear. Despite the side effects Amping was often the only thing that saved a town or a farmstead To be an Amper you need reduce your refresh by one and have the Amper high concept. You can invoke it to be physically superior to an opponent or obstacle. You can be compelled to have your enhanced metabolism and heightened adrenal response get in the way. You are immune to all normal diseases and age at twice the normal rate. You can see in dim light as if it were daylight. You also have a higher degree of mental instability than than other beings. You can take a mental consequence and add a bonus to your roll equal to the magnitude of of the consequence.

Robot Jock: You pilot the most dangerous war machines ever made. Mecha, Power Armor, Robots, Walkers, call them what you will they are the big guns of this changed world. Like the Knights of Old you step onto the field of battle in massive armor, whether for money or for honor. Where did you get the robot? Is it a remnant from the Golden age? Is it some alien machine from beyond the tear? You tell its story as well as your own. To be a robot Jock you must have an aspect related to piloting a robot and you must decrease your refresh by one. You now have access to a robot, for now I am using the rules for Armour from Camelot TRIGGER. I will put a couple of sample robots in a future post, but if you have Camelot TRIGGER go ahead and make your own. generally speaking robots in this setting are between nine and twelve feet tall.

Elves: The elves came through the Tear, or as they see it, humans came through the Tear. They are the first people, the blessed ones, the chosen. They come from a realm of light and beauty, a realm of treachery and intrigue. Elves are all emotion all the time. Elves are bound by rules. Elves are. To play an elf you must have elf in your high concept and you must reduce your refresh by one. The elf aspect means that you are immune to age. You do not get sick. Provided you do not die from your wound immediately you will eventually heal from any damage. You can see perfectly in even the dimmest of light. You can invoke your elf aspect to be better than others at any skill the requires fine motor skills. You can be compelled to be viewed as aloof. People feel like elves look down at them.


So that is character creation for Omnis Mundi. Let me know what you think. As I said at the beginning I would love to share this world with other designers and hackers. I think this setting is large enough to really make interesting and make unique corners of it. All I ask it that you link in the comments so that I can read your expansion of the world.

Blue 6: Omnis Mundi basics

There was a shining golden age of Man. A time when technology allowed for nearly unlimited potential.   Mankind lived together in peace and harmony, at one with themselves and the world. No one knows how long this utopia lasted. No one say what caused the end to come. All that is known is that four hundred years ago, everything ended. Where once there was one world, one future, one past, no there where an infinite number. All possibilities collided and merged. Billions died in the first few weeks. in the months that followed more and more died. Demons, monsters, and stranger things came to dwell on the world. Magic returned to the land and powers never before seen became a reality.

Some embraced this new world. Some fought against it. Some hid deep in the planet or in orbiting stations, we have not heard what happened to them. Where once there was only Man, now a hundred races from a thousand parallels are trapped on this damned world.

Know this, it has been four hundred years since the fall of the Golden Lands. Nothing is the same. Nothing can ever be the same again. The Two Great CIties of Man are about to embark on a genocidal war of conquest, and only the Free Companies of Solutuhz, The Unbound City, stand between them and total domination.

This is a project I have been sort of working on for quite some time. It is an attempt to capture a very specific era of gaming for me. When I was a lad of thirteen or fourteen there was a game. I played the hell out of that game, as it was everything I loved in the world all in one setting. As I grew older I discovered a great many flaws in that game, and decided to try and convert it to another system. This was problematic for many reasons, most are unimportant here. 

Much of the trouble I had was that I was attempting to alter someone else's vision to fit my own. I did this because they had pulled from a lot of things I loved as a child and placed those disparate elements together in a very artful way that spoke to thirteen year old me. However, I think that where I went wrong was pulling from someone else's work, rather than pulling from the original source material. SO here is a list of source material I will be pulling from:

He-Man(naturally), Thundarr the Barbarian, Lord of the rings, Elric of Melnibone, John Carter of Mars,  Robotech, Gamma World, TORG, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Dino Riders, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Life After People, and a whole bunch more. 

I have a list of some of my influences and I have a rough idea for what I am looking for. I want a crazy, wahoo, gonzo, post-apocalyptic wonderland. I also would like there to be some unambiguous bad guys. A lot of my sources are saturday morning cartoons and I think that having unapologetic bad guys really would get the ball rolling pretty well.

As this is the first post in the series I would like to get the themes and threats somewhat down, before we sign off for the day.

One theme I really love is that you are in a familiar world, but it is dramatically changed. Firstly, Omnis Mundi has significantly smaller population than earth currently supports. There are probably only twenty million people world wide. ALso it has been four hundred or more years and so a great many cities and roads and such have been reclaimed by nature, or altered by the weather and time. Another factor to consider is the earth has been merged in someway, with a great many other "earths" the landmasses we see today are drastically changed in Omnis Mundi. So I think the first theme should cover that.

Theme: A shattered world between realities

Another thing that I think is important to have is the world on the brink of tearing itself apart again. Echasse City, Human supremacists and technologists have recently signed an alliance with the Sanctus Mysticum, a magical cult of Human supremacists who rule over the city of Book. It is only a matter of time before these two cities use there armies and power to dominate the region and kill anyone who does not fit their definition of "human."

Threat: War, and rumors of war

I would also like to add in a secondary threat. Something a little different. As I really dg mutant animals I think that adding them in here would be very useful. So I will add in a new menace to the north. Maybe not new, so much as recently rediscovered. Lord Gene is one of the few who remembers the Golden Lands from the Time Before. He is a master of genetics and had made himself nearly immortal when The End happened. He has spent the last few centuries going mad and designing the perfect world where this will never happen again. He has a vast army of Hybrid soldiers. The Pride-Runners are his scouts and commandoes, and the Rhino-Hawks are his heavy hitters and laborers. There are many  more varieties as he is constantly tinkering with things. He is nearly ready to begin his conquest of the world. To make sure the world never ends again.

Threat: Beast Men in the Northern Hills

So this is part one of Omnis Mundi. I will get to character creation in part two. The next few parts after that will be defining the world a little bit more as well as adding in more options for players and GMs. I hope you like what you see so far, I would love to hear what you think of this as well as any ideas you might have to add things to the world. I will be dealing with only a small portion of the world here, so the options are open.