Jake has an issue, and maybe...A solution?

I was going to work on my game design today, and I will continue to do so as the days go by. However this game is kicking my ass. It is all the things I love about Mage: The Ascension, however the things I love about that game are the hardest things to do well in a game. I do think that Fate Core can do the job. The problem comes in with the idea of permanence. Fate is a powerful engine, in this case that strength is its weakness as well.

The power of Fate Core is the creation of advantages. The ability to create aspects, or to add free uses to existing aspects, is an amazing creative tool. In play this leads to a feeling of impermanence to everything. On the one hand I think that this feeling is awesome. It really fits into the impermanent nature of reality in Magi. On the other, it does suck when you spend a long time building something, and then it falls apart.

The real issue I am having is not related directly to Fate Core, and that is Styles of magic. How do you use the magic? What does magic MEAN to your character? How does the world react to your style? These are big issues, and they are only lightly tied to the mechanics right now. It seems that the more I link the style to the mechanics, the more complicated and unwieldy the game gets.

In light of these issues I have decided to work on another, easier, project so that I will have something to fall back on when I am having difficulty with Magi. So without any further ado, I present project number three:

http://georgespigot.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/buck-rogers-011.jpg

I have loved this show since I was a child. Well, to be fair, I loved half of this show since I was a child. The first season is fantastic, the second is...ok. I have always wanted a decent conversion of Buck Rogers, and I guess now I will have to make one. This will go along a simlar path to my other conversion, FATErnia.

I will be taking concepts from the show, as well as from the original books and comics, and adding my own twist to them. I will probably also add in some Flash Gordan too, as I love all of Buster Crabbe's work.


I will start with the major troubles of the world. Firstly, there are the Draconians. Ruled by the the Emporer Han the merciless, they have the largest fleet in the galaxy and there sphere of influence is dwarfs even the Earth's. The Draconians would have conquered Earth and her allies long ago if it were not for Earths superior technology, thanks to the leadership of the Robot Council.

Aspect: Looming War With Draconians

Now the secondary threat that I see is that Earth has a weak control over her systems. They are often self ruled. All the robot Council cares for is that Taxes and supply quotas are met, and no complaints are made. There is a lotof talk at the higher levels of Human rights, and the Rule of Law. but on the outskirts of human control, these are just words.

Aspect: Rules mean little on the Rim

There will be more threats and such as I move along through. Hopefully tomorrow I will have more Magi work done. If I don't you will see character creation for Buck Rogers, as well as a location.

The Sharn Codex session 0

I am taking a break from my design today. I have run into some issues that I need to think through a bit. I lieu of that I will discuss my campaign of Fate Core I am running, currently. I gathered a group together earlier today to play what I hope will be a full campaign.

The game is set in Eberron, a D&D setting. Initially there was a lot of discussion over how that would work. some of the setting is tied very closely to the D&D mechanics. We worked out a system that I think will suffice, we will see how this goes in play.

The players have taken on the roles of the king of Breland's Dark Lanterns.They set up their home base as Sharn. The Characters are Flint, a shifter archer, Sim, the changeling con man, Rantin, the human stealth expert, and Remiel, a Wizard outcast of house Denieth.

Mostly we worked on the world and the characters this session, the last forty-five minutes I ran them through a brief introductory scene. It was aimed at getting them into the mystery early, as well as showcasing some of the mechanics of the game with a conflict or two.

we did run into one Issue though. I think it has been answered, but we were unclear in the game. When a person creates an aspect and does so with style(basically they get two free uses) can both uses of the aspect be stacked? Can a person use the same aspect twice in a row, for the same roll? We ruled yes, because I recalled some discussions going that direction, but that seems a bit off to me.

If you want to check out the game here is the recording of the first session. I swear a bit, I am sorry.

Fate Core: Magi pt 4

http://www.randyscottslavin.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=16&p=1

One for sorrow,

Two for joy,

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy,

Five for silver,

Six for gold,

Seven for a secret,

Never to be told
                  ~Nursery Rhyme

In Magi, magic can change the world permanent level. this is problematic because in Fate there is not an easy way to accomplish this same feat. I have been having quite the discussion on the Google+ discussion group about how to do long term effects in my game. There appear to be three basic schools of thought on this matter.

The first method people suggest is that a certain number of extra successes would allow for long term, or permanent effects. the level of success required and when that excess is known became something of a debate, but the basic idea is that you need to go above succeeding with style by X amount(where X is the pet number that is being used in that particular argument). I like this idea because it allows for three things I think are important: it is attainable incrementally(in some arguments), multiple people can build on it, and it allows for spectacular success to really help out.

The second Idea is really just a derivation of the first. Make a stress track for the the thing you are trying to change. when you fill its stress track, you get to write a new aspect or change an existent one. this is very similar to the first idea except it is linked into an existing mechanic in the game and so I like it a bit more.

The third answer I got was that Fate did not need a new mechanic, that the GM could just use his judgement on an aspect, and it exists until it no longer makes sense for it to exist any more. I have a couple of issues with this argument in specific,and this type of argument in general. First aspects in this type of system become very much the domain of the GM's idea of how they should work. when I first played Mage, I had an ST that decided I could not do what I wanted to do, even though the rules supported my claim. In those days the Mage rules had all kind advice to the STs about ignoring the rules. That is one of the things I am attempting to avoid in my game. I wish for the rules to be the rules no mater who is using them. If that makes sense.

My gripe about this type of advice in general(and I am not calling out anyone who has given it, this is my issue) is that it is basically useless advice. When I ask a question about the rules I am aware that using the rules as is is an option. I usually am asking how to alter a rule because I have found that the existing rules either don't work in a given circumstance, or are nonexistent in the circumstance. so telling me to use the rules as is does not work. Generally because I have found the rules to be lacking. Sorry if I got a little ranty there, I have a tendency to do that. It is just an issue I have had for a while.

So I have decided to use the stress track method of changing the world. Now I just need to work out a few more details on how exactly that will work. I am working on it right now. I am a bit flummoxed by a few issues, but I have hope that it will work out in the end.



So...on to Nodes then. as they will be key to the whole world thingy, I need to really nail down what they are and how they work. A Node is a focus for the world. A lynchpin for reality, if you will. they form a web. A web of Nodes all connected to a central Super Node. A Node is the sum of the laws of the world around it. It represents them and reinforces them. It is influenced by the Nodes connected to it, most dramatically by its Super Node. A Super Node represents and reinforces the nodes it is connected to. When you do magic that corresponds to laws of the node you are in, it is far easier than normal. When you work magic that is the antithesis of the Node's laws it becomes much harder to do.

I need a mechanic to represent this interconnectedness of nodes and how they influence each other. I also need some kind of mechanic or metric that represents the laws of the Node and how that changes the use of magic within its sphere of influence.

Here are a couple of ideas that have been put forward, not sure what direction I will be going in with this yet.

Treat each Node like a character. it would have a series of skills and aspects and a stress track (harmony). How I see it working is like this. When your style matches the Node's style aspect(or is close) it can't use its aspects to defend itself against your magic. when your style is opposed(or close to opposed) to the Node's style aspect then it can use its aspects against your magic...I don't know, something like that.

the other idea that has been put forward(this one by me) is a series of sliders, from -4 to +4. When you change a node it moves the sliders toward one end of the slider or the other. when your style meshes with the locations on the slider you get a bonus, or something. Honestly, I was very much in favor of this idea. I am, however, very much blocked on this. I will continue to work on it though.


I also thought I would mention a few more pieces of source material I am using for this game. SyFy's Alice was a large influence, mostly in how the world changed around them as needed. other movies/shows that had a good visual set for how I see the game running, What Dreams May Come, The Cell(the dream sequences in it specifically), The Matrix(just a bit), Neverwhere(just a bit), Dark City(a lot),Simon R Green's Nightside series,  and Inception. Check 'em out if you want some good visuals and ideas for the Magi.

Fate Core: Magi pt 3

http://www.randyscottslavin.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=6&p=1

Tom, Tom, he was a piper's son,

He learned to play when he was young.

And all the tune that he could play

Was over the hills and far away;

Over the hills is a great way off.

The wind shall blow my top-knot off.

Tom with his pipe made such a noise,

That he pleased both the girls and boys,

And they all stopped to hear him play,

'Over the hills and far away'.

Tom with his pipe did play with such skill

That those who heard him could never keep still;

As soon as he played they began for to dance,

Even the pigs on their hind legs would after him dance.

As Dolly was milking her cow one day,

Tom took his pipe and began to play;

So Dolly and the cow danced 'The Cheshire Round',

Till the pail was broken and the milk ran on the ground.

He met old Dame Trot with a basket of eggs,

He used his pipe and she used her legs;

She danced about till the eggs were all broke,

She began for to fret, but he laughed at the joke.

Tom saw a cross fellow was beating an ass,

Heavy laden with pots, pans, dishes, and glass;

He took out his pipe and he played them a tune,

And the poor donkey's load was lightened full soon

                                                                      ~Nursery Rhyme

Today I will be discussing the Factions within the magi. Here are a few of the basic faction ideas I have had.

Rationalists: Rationalists believe that the world should work the same everywhere. They believe that science is absolute. They follow the Method and the Theory. Currently they hold a majority of the planets nodes. However, there has been dissension in the ranks of late, and the masses are starting to revolt. They have pushed too far too fast, and now the masses are pushing back.

The Jedi: this is used as a derogatory term for a group of newbie Magi who were heavily influenced by Star Wars, Kung Fu Movies, and other pop culture ideas of special powers. They are really into their world view and how cool all of this is. Generally they move on to another faction after a little bit of maturing.

The Mad: These are Magi who believe that rules just get in the way. They are absolutely opposed to entropy and love creation, they are not opposed to destruction. They believe in absolute individuality. most of them behave more and more erratically as the years(if there is such a thing) go by. The most powerful of the faction being almost completely alien in their outlook on all matters.

The Forgotten: old gods, mythical monsters, demons, and all manner of things that are no longer believed in still exist. Well, some of them do. When reality changed, they did not vanish. no one knows why. they are not human, but they have minds, they believe. They believe they should exist. They believe it so badly that it changes the world a little. they exist on the fringes, in the dark. beware their dark desires.

The Unity: In the beginning, there was one voice. then came the many, then came the conflict.The Unity believe that unity is absolute, that nothing is worse than conflict. They believe that unity is worth sacrificing anything for. Anything.

Returners: these magi believe that things were better before. Before what? Each returner has a different answer. They know that things were better, and they wish to return to that reality. Often they are followers of old religions. The Forgotten are often seen in the company of Returners.

Sons of the Devourer: Existence is a mistake. A fluke that never should have happened. That is what the sons believe. They are Nihilists of the highest order. The believe that everything must burn. they believe this. They tear down all they see. And when their work is done, when there is nothing left but them, they will turn their fires upon themselves. Liberty in death for all.





Also I will go over the skills ad how they work(I will expand on this as we go along). this game will focus almost entirely on Magic and controlling the world around you.

Stress tracks
Will stress track: keeps track of how well your mind stays together under stress, based on psyche.
Pattern stress track: keeps track of how well you can hold your image of yourself, based on pattern.

Skills
Every skill can be used to attack, defend, create advantages, and overcome obstacles.  it is your description of how they do so that gives the game its flavor. also each skill can be used to change yourself, to change others,or to change the landscape. each skill has only one of these facets initially, though you can pick up stunts that will allow for more.

Elan Vital: there is something that separates life from non life, though it is difficult for any to say what that something is. This skill allows understanding and control of life. some believe that this was the skill that caused the conflict, for you can create a living thing that is capable of disagreeing with you.this skill starts out with the facet of Self.

Matter: This is the skill of things, making things, breaking things, and holding things together. the building blocks of the non living universe are matter and this skill lets you perceive, control, and create matter. Starts with the facet of landscape, it changes the world, changing yourself and others with it is far harder.

Forces: Those laws that interact with matter and living things the same, fire, electricity, fission, and things that are far beyond the ideas of the world today. that is forces. Starts with the facet of landscape.

Spirit: There exists a world along side ours, call it the collective unconscious, or the dream world, or virtual reality, in the end it is the spirit world. It is deeply connected to every person in the world. in this world every person has a realm where their beliefs are supreme, where their will is law. This skill lets you manipulate that world and affect the things within it. Starts with the facet of landscape.

Affinity: This skill is difficult to understand. It explores the nature of connection. Everything i the universe is connected in some way. With this skill you can see those connections and manipulate them. It involves movement, yes, but deeper still it involves changing the relationships between things, or people. Connection starts with the facet of other it is easier to see the connections between other people than to see other kinds of connection.

Psyche: This is one fo two non-magical skills. this is your mind. you use this skill to do any of the tasks you would with your magical skills, there are certain tasks that you cannot do, however. Most notably you cannot create things from nothing with this skill, nor can you create permanent(or semi permanent) aspects with this skill. the best you can do is scene long. non magic starts with the facet of self.

Pattern: This is the other non-magical skill. it represents your physical representation(most likely, your body). it has the same restrictions that psyche has, only it is for pattern actions(physical actions in the current universal construct). Starts with the facet of self

You can pick one skill as your primary this starts at three, you then get one as your secondary this starts at two, then you take one as your tertiary skill this is at one, the rest are at 0.

That is it for today. Tomorrow I wil go into nodes a bit more as well as perhaps character creation a bit more. See you then.

Fate Core: Magi pt 2

http://www.randyscottslavin.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=2

Hey diddle diddle,
The Cat and the fiddle,
The Cow jumped over the moon,
The little Dog laughed
To see such craft,
And the Dish ran away with the Spoon.
                                     ~Old Nursery Rhyme

There are three pillars to the universe: Creation, Destruction, and Stasis. The players will take the role of Magi, defenders of the balance. They try to keep the world spinning on, no one side gets the upper hand.

Game Aspects
Unchecked Creation
Endless Destruction
Choking Stasis

Core concept: Belief
In the beginning the world was formless and empty. It remained so forever and for no time at all. Time having yet to be conceived. Then into this void came thought, the first thought. This thought led to others, and soon the void sang with the voices of many. The many became confused, dissonant, and discontent. Each voice had a way that the world should be, each was unique. This discontent led to conflict, to war. The first war. The war is not over. the war continues. The reality war.

Humans have a distinction in knowing their place in the universe. The have the gift of seeing how things are and how they could be. This is the source of the conflict. Humans beliefs affect reality. The more people that believe a thing, the more real that thing becomes. That is the big secret of the world, nothing is real, only believing it makes it so. The war is over belief, over the nature of reality.

Core concept: Nodes and Super Nodes
Every city sits on a super node, that many people all together creates belief energy, this has a tendency to focus on one point, this becomes the city center.  From that central super node spring several nodes.

Control the nodes and you can alter the nodes around them, control the super node and you can alter the super nodes around it. Each node has a protector of some kind, a genius loci. this protector must be defeated and reshaped. Reshape the genius loci and you reshape one part of the node. a node has three parts. Normally these are representative of the three pillars, a static aspect, a destructive aspect, and a creative aspect. sometimes the node becomes out of balance, that is when the Magi step in.

A super node is a entity that fights back, it can defend against magic, using the number of nodes in a city as its bonus. It can attack if you try certain moves, it does this through coincidence and bad luck. the world is actually your enemy.


Large scale conclusions
I need to work on rules for altering aspects, and statting out the nodes. Perhaps creation of the world(city, nation, world, whatever) needs to be fleshed out. Also, I need to specify what happens when a node becomes unbalanced, why that is a bad thing. And there need to be villains of some sort, one group that seeks to control the world.

Fate Core: Magi pt 1

I love Mage: The Ascension. I have loved it from the first moment I laid eyes on it. I have one gripe with it, though. That being the system was utter crap. It focused on all the wrong things, it stated it was attempting one thing, and delivered another. I can ignore that, but it is bothersome.

Basically the game said it was about changing the world, when it was really about doing no such thing. You were supposed to be on the path of awakening(either yourself or others), yet there was no rules on that. no rules to change the world, no rules to deal with awakening. and there were loads of rules on getting in fights, lifting loads, climbing walls, and all that mundane stuff. Mundane stuff.

I love Feng Shui . I have loved it from the first moment I laid eyes on it. Actually I loved from an article I read about it, long before I ever saw it, but that is neither here nor there. It focused on the right things...and then it went far beyond that. It was about Hong Kong action movies and it had loads of rules about fighting and the like. It also had this really clever set of ideas in it. The idea that there were fixed locations in the time stream, and by controlling those points one could alter the flow of history. Also that there were some points that were far more important than others. This game should be on everyone's shelf. Its that good. Its that fun.

The Invisibles is so freakin' out there, that it is hard not to love. This comic is so full of rebellion and insanity that it must be read to be believed. I really love some of the thoughts in it and the imagery is so on the nose for things I like, that I must mention it.

I am not certain if anyone really likes Risk. I know there must be a lot of people who do, but I cannot fathom it. The game is very boring. One day when my brother was forcing me to play it I had this strange moment. Everything that had happened in the game bled together and formed this glorious gestalt. I could see the march of all the different colored troops as competing waves slamming into each other and flowing around each other. it was beautiful and very strange. Then I snapped out of it and proceeded to win. It took me hours, but there you are.

Now, why am I saying all of this? what is the point of all this rambling?

Since you asked, I will tell you. I want a game that does what I love in all four of those things. I think Fate Core can do that. I think I can do that with Fate Core. So I am going to try. Fresh off my Eternia Hack i am going to try. I am currently calling this project Magi, though it is possible that I will change the name by the end.

The world is at war. Not a war of might, or skill at arms. Nor is it a war of ideas. no, nothing so simple as that. We fight a war for the very nature of reality itself. We fight for what we believe in. For in the long run all we have is our beliefs, and even they can change. Fight the power, change the world. We are Magi. We are the Wise. We are not to be trifled with.

Or something like that.

Tomorrow: I begin working out some of the high level details of the game.

Fate Core: Building Eternia pt The Last

I have compiled the total of my posts on Eternia and put them in a PDf as well as cleaning up some of the rules and adding a bit of history and fluff to the text. I hope you enjoy:


FATErnia

I also have it in epub format, though I was unable to get the picture to show up...not sure why.

Tomorrow: I begin a new project, a game I have been working on for years. I think FATE is the system for it, we shall see.