Dungeons and Dragons vs Alignment

I was going to write an adventure for Space Opera today. then I read this blog post by +Cody Connelly and I decided to write about a subject that has interested me for quite some time. The implications of alignment within the D&D cosmology. So tomorrow will be the adventure, today alignment.

Alignment, it's a simple concept really. Two axes, four directions the combinations of which give a simple description of your morality and worldview. It is far different from most ethical thought, though. For those who live within the D&D universe alignment is a testable observable law or force. It acts upon the world external to all agents within the laws of the D&D universe. Everyone in that universe must follow the tenets of one of the alignments.

There are actions that cause you to move from one alignment to another. In older games this change actually had serious physical repercussions. You would lose levels and the like. It was bad news. Also there are spells, devices, skills, and abilities that interact with alignment of beings in interesting ways. It can be detected, it can be blocked(wards and such), it is a tangible thing.

Even the gods must bow to alignment. You would think that a god would not view itself as evil. Yet within the cosmology they inhabit they can do nothing but admit the alignment that they inhabit. Alignment is about choice,but not in the normal sense of moral choice. This is closer to locational choice than to any internal struggle. Good is no better than Evil, which is no better than Chaos or Order. these are merely places to stand on a plain of existence. Like height, breadth, length and time, alignment is merely a way f locating an object on a specified plain. To me that is strange.

It gets stranger when you start to dig into the planar cosmology. You step outside the normal universe and the alignments system exists. No, not merely exists, it thrives. There are whole plains(universes really) devoted to specific alignments or groupings of alignments. The higher up you go the more locked into the alignment law/plain/force.

Now what could this mean? It seems to imply that the gods of D&D are not in control the universe, not even their little corner of it really. They are bound by forces larger than, and outside of, themselves. This itself has odd implications. If the gods do not dictate morality then it is inflicted on them by some outside force or law, or it is inflicted upon them by some outside intelligence. I could see this developing into an interesting campaign, provided all the players were into it. A sort of D&D ID debate, if you will;p.

Also the ability to know for certain if someone is good/evil with certain spells/abilities is very interesting. What kind of world would occur if D&D paladins exist? They are all lawful good(in non 4th ed games that is) and can detect evil. that means if you can prove you are a paladin in good standing with your god(say by healing someone) you are known to have to tell the truth, and you can detect evil. How the hell do evil people exist? I mean, think about it for a second, it would not do to simply act good, you would need to BE good. Be good or face the mighty smite. And it would be a lawful good thing to do. No one would question you. You may not be able to read minds, but you can smell evil.

And I think  that is where I will leave it. I would like to leave more questions than answers in this post. I would love to hear that you all played this to with your groups and you all got different answers to these questions.

Space Opera: The Basics

Working on fleshing out my Sharn Hack made me realize that there were a few ideas in that I would love to use in a slightly different way. Two different ways to be precise. The first would be to make a straight up DnD style hack. A hack that uses FATE to emulate the best bits of DnD in my mind. I will get to that HAck tomorrow. Today I will be focusing on the other thought I had. I want to do a game that is reminiscent of Star Wars, but is NOT Star Wars. What do I mean by this? Simply put I would like to use some of the themes that I see in Star Wars and put them into FATE. However this will not really be a hack, as I plan on doing actual world building. This will be a bit reminiscent of Traveller as well, in that the setting will be revealed in a series of adventure and through use of the rules(I hope). So this is going to be my own thing, but based on several other things. Other influences will be: Mass Effect(primarily the first one), Simon R. Green's Death Stalker, Saga of the Seven Suns, Guardians of the Galaxy, and just a touch of Buck Rogers and Farscape.

The game is High Space Fantasy. There is space magic(the force, biotics, psi, whatever) that can be learned by anyone. There are massive space fleets standing over single environment planets(ice planet, swamp, world, etc), habitable planets and sentient aliens abound, and everyone speaks english. The player will be playing members of a Space UN Task force that operates slightly outside the law to deal with threats to the galaxy.

Now, the Space UN only carries weight in a small percentage of the galaxy, there are two other general areas of space that are spoken of, the non-aligned worlds and Farspace. The Non-Aligned Worlds are the areas of space that refused to join Space UN when they were first met by explorers. this is usually a bunch of xenophobes, pirate clans, and petty warlords. Farspace is unexplored areas of space, the dark places in the galaxy. Here, they say, be dragons.

Rules
Aspect Generation
High Concept: You are the best of the best, a representative of your government and people to the galaxy at large. Keep this in mind when you are making this aspect.
Trouble: What is your greatest weakness? What causes you the most trouble in life? Are you aware of your flaw or is it a constant surprise?
Origin: Were you born planet side? What kind of planet was it? How did this affect your life and ambitions. A few sample planets will be added at the end of this, but feel free to make up your own.
Trial by fire: what was your great moment of recognition? what caused the powers that be to put your name forward as a possible candidate for the special task force? Are you proud of this act or moment? Or was it a terrible tragedy that you managed to survive? Perhaps it was stranger still than that.
Shakedown: once you were first assigned to the Task Force you were sent on a trial mission with an experienced agent overseeing your actions. Generally you are teamed up with other new recruits, these are the other player characters. THis is how you met and what you did. Talk it over with the other players and discuss what kind of mission it was, and how you went about dealing with that mission.

Skills
The basic skill list will remain largely the same, only the names have been changed(to protect the innocent).
Momentum(athletics)
Security(Burglary)
Contacts
Technology(Crafts)
Deceit(Renegade/dark side...well ok probably not)
Pilot(drive)
Insight(empathy)
Close Combat(fighting)
Intimidate(WAY Renegade/Dark side)
Investigate
Education(Lore)
Reconnoiter(Notice)
Physique
Rapport
Resources
Firefight(Shooting)
Stealth
Grit(Will)

Stunts: I think that space magic(whatever I decide to call it) will work a lot like my innate magic stunt from my Sharn Hack. So that is that. I will do more stunts as I go along in this design, should people want them.

Equipment
Weapons: each weapon has a rating, from one to four. if you would do less than your weapon rating then you do weapon rating in stress. If you roll higher then nothing changes. there are no lasers or blasters, most weapons are electrochemically driven or magnetically driven projectiles. Basically you fire a small shard of metal at incredible velocity toward your enemy. There are variants on this theme and not all cultures have the same level of weapons tech. There is also a preponderance of hand to hand weapons as Shields have made them viable on the battlefield once again.

Armor: Weapon technology has negated all traditional armors. The invention of The Shield has made many weapons untenable. If you have a shield it prevents stress over a certain amount from a given attack. basically it is the maximum stress you can take from an attack under normal circumstances. The Shield works by preventing objects moving at a certain speed or higher from passing it by. The shield can be bypassed by massed fire(shooting it till it collapses) or by slowing your attack(the slow blade cuts deep). Both of these are handled by creating advantages. If you use an advantage that negates the shield(overwhelming fire, slow blade, and the like) you can ignore the shield rating that round.

Weapons and ratings
Knife: 1
Sword/spear: 2
Axe/pick: 3
All ranged weapons: 4

Shields and ratings:
Civilian Shield: 2
Military' Grade Shield: 1

I think I may use some of the rules from my Aeon Trinity hack for space fighters and equipment(mostly for strange alien equipment(I like my Biotech rules and will probably use them for some alien tech)

Alien Races
Here are the primary Alien Races of Space UN(definitely need a better name for that) and a brief description of them. More information will be given as the adventures proceed.

Gura'oh: A militant meritocracy, the Gura'oh(Gura singular) are the living embodiment of survival of the fittest. They have several client races(read conquered races) they see Space UN as the best way to keep track of the rest of the galaxy and keep their space unmolested. They have the largest fleet, but most of it is spread out o each of its colony worlds. THey are large and fast semi-reptilians.

Taurai: Every member of this ancient and long lived race has access to space magic. they have a low birth rate but live for at least a thousand years. They are unified as a species only when dealing with outsiders, outside of that each is seen a a law unto themselves. They are relatively pacifistic, using ritual combat when dealing with serious areas of disagreement(generally over territory). They are a plant like species, tall and thin, there coloration blends into the background normally, shifting slightly from moment to moment to better match.

Tesh: Tesh are a short lived(forty years max) species. Matriarchal and masters of long term planning they have access to a racial memory of some kind, no one is quite sure how it works, but a Tesh has access to the memories of all those in its direct line. The further back the memory, the more difficult and hazy the memory. They are master manipulators, seeing the universe as one long game. Lineage is very important, as is mating. They are a short hairless race, delicate looking and wiry. They tend to react as though they new whatever was going to happen was in their plans all along, they have a very monotone voice.

Humans are newcomers to the galactic civilization. Their first interstellar colony was discovered by a galactic scout a mere hundred and twenty years ago. Humans are the most militant and expansionistic of the races of the Space UN. in the short time they have been a member they have colonized twenty new worlds. This has alienated some of the other Space UN races. The Humans get along the best with the Gra'oh, though that may just be a ploy by that species to keep ones enemies close, so to speak. Humans have been trying to unify for all those years but there are still many factions of humans who do not wish to be ruled by anyone, not even in the face of multitudes of alien species.

Planets
Thoth: planet of learning. this is the great library planet of the galaxy, all are welcome but no violence in word or action is allowed. The Librarians will brook no violation of that one law. the Librarians are Bio-androids designed to be the ultimate being, programmed  to care for the library and its residents. the citizens of Thoth are those how maintain the Librarians and those who are descended from such people.

Bagdao: A dismal swamp planet on the edge of civilized space. few live there and it only has a token membership in Space UN. There are rumors that Bagdao holds many secrets of ancient star faring peoples, so it tends to attract a certain kind of attention. Archeologists, treasure hunters, and the disenfranchised are the majority of inhabitants of this small planet. there are many dangers in the swamp, creatures, disease, and worse.

Silence: the pride of the Terran Majority( the largest government of humans), Silence is a paradise. Green hills, purple mountains, waves of grain, all that stuff. Its primary resources are tourism and farming. People are happy, bored but happy. There are no large predators on the planet and the few viruses and bacteria have been eradicated for nearly a century.

Next post will be the first adventure: Silence Falls.

Fate Core Eberron Hack

So there has been a request for me to share my Eberron hack with the community. Doing so will be tricky as there is no unified set of rules for it. Also I will probably be making changes to the existing rules in response to playing through this game.I would like to thank +Evan Sayre , +Ryan Singer , +Jordan Dennis , and +Robert Hanz  for helping me get the specifics of this sorted out. Also I would like to thank +Rob Wieland for tweaking my rules a bit, this allowed me to see my hack from a different perspective. So here goes, my Eberron Hack.

The first issue I had was weaponry and items. Within the setting of Eberron there are a lot of weapons and items that are very narratively important. There is also a big difference between a magic item and a mundane item. Normally for Fate I like to go with a minimalist approach to items, but for this I felt a bit more granularity would be needed. I originally just went with weapon and armor ratings as described in the extras chapter. As I have played through the game I think I would do this differently had I to do it again. So for this public hack  I think I will go with a new rule. If your weapon/armor rating is higher than your current shifts on the roll it sets the minimum for the attack/defense. I am on the fence as to whether this will work better, but I think it will. I am also a bit wary of the armor rules. I am wary of creating a zero sum game. I am unsure how to fix this though, any thoughts would be appreciated. These are just mundane items, a magic item has one or more aspects attached to it. The more aspects the more powerful the magic item. So far this system seems to have worked out OK, though there has been some abuse. Here is a listing of the weapons and armor and their ratings:

Weapons
Damage 4 Greatsword, Great axe, Maul
Damage 3 Longsword, Long bow
Damage 2 Short Sword. Staff, Wand
Damage 1 Knife, light weapons


Armor
Armor 4 Full plate(heavy armor)
Armor 3 Half plate, Breastplate(heavier medium)
Armor 2 Chain(lighter medium)
Armor 1 leather/padded(light)

Character creation also provided a bit of a rethink when I started this. I went back and forth on replacing trouble with alignment and how to deal with race and class. In the end I decided to have a race aspect and a class aspect and leave the trouble as trouble. If I had been running any other DnD based game I would have swapped out trouble for Alignment, but in Eberron the focus was very much moving away from the traditional DnD cosmology/worldview. Here are the character creation Phases I set out for my players:

Class aspect: You must have an aspect relating to your class. This could be a simple as fighter/wizard/thief, but you could make up your own, or use one of the stranger ones from the DnD universe of games.
Racial Aspect: You should have one aspect relating to your race, this aspect will be used for any racial abilities you might have(low-light vision, tunnel sense), as well as any racial debility you will run into(elven arrogance, dwarven bluntness)

Then next three remain unchanged from the standard Fate core. there is only one crossing paths section though, so be aware of that.

Trouble aspect
First Adventure
Crossing paths

Magic was the next big thing in the setting. Originally I envisioned only two types Learned magic(wizardry) and gifted magic(Clerical). Having played for a bit I have added a third type of magic, Innate magic(this is sorcerous magic and the like). each is represented by a stunt, and each has its own set of rules, though they are similar.

Spells are treated as aspects, the controlling skill of the spell is used to charge up/create/change out the spells and the spells themselves will generally be used as an enhancement on other skills. The spells cannot be used to allow the controlling skill to do more than is normal for that skill(no using arcana to attack and the like).

Learned Magic: When you take this stunt yo must choose a skill to represent your control and knowledge of these magics. Wizards will take Arcana, Artificers would take crafts. You gain a number of spells(or infusions/augments if an artificer) equal to your rank in your controlling skill. You can swap these out if you are given enough time and a chance to roll Arcana. After the requisite game time you make an Arcana roll with the difficulty equal to the number of spells you wish to change out time two. If you succeed you have the new spells, if you fail you keep the old spells. After each rest period(about eight hours of rest/meditation) you gain one free use of each of your spell aspects. any use after that will cost Fate Points.

Gifted Magic: You have been granted power by some external force, be it gods, demons, or the forces of nature. You must choose your controlling skill much like learned magic(Will for clerics/paladins, nature for druids/rangers, and so on). each day your power(god/nature/demon) grants you a number of spells equal to your controlling skill. You must spend time in prayer/devotion to your chosen power. At the end of this time you must make a controlling skill roll versus your controlling skill's rating. If you succeed with style you gain the exact spells you wish to have and one use of each for free. If you succeed you gain one spell you wanted and the rest(if there are any) are chosen by the GM, you also get one free use each. If you tie you can choose between getting the same as a regular success or getting all the spell choices you wanted but only one free use of one spell. If you fail you choose between gaining a fate point and the GM chooses what spells you get(and you get only one free use of one spell), or you can choose the spells you want and get no free uses of them but still gain a fate point. this is one of the more complex ones, and as we have no gifted magic users, I am uncertain how this will work.

Innate Magic: You have magic in your blood. It just comes naturally to you, this could be psi or sorcery. You choose a controlling skill, probably something like will, sense, or lore, though it could be nearly anything if you can convince the table that it fits. you gain a number of spells equal to your rating in the controlling skill. These spells do not change, so choose carefully. You also get no free uses of the spells. What you must do, when you want to cast a spell, is spend at least one round rolling your controlling skill, success give you one free use of a specific spell you have. If you succeed with style you gain two uses of the spell. You can keep building up charges on a spell, but they must be used by the end of the scene or else they go away. Basically these are the focused and powerful magic users, but it takes time.

Fate Points Episode 1: Big Stompy Robots!

+Stacey Chancellor  and I have started a video podcast style Hangout about Fate Core and other FATE games. On our first show we had a guest, +Rob Wieland . He wrote the scenario CAMELOT Trigger, a Fate Core scenario involving King Arthur and Giant Mecha. It is pretty darn sweet. There were a few rough spots on the show, but overall it went well. Here is the recording of the show, I hope you enjoy it.

Fate Core: Aeon Trinity pt 8

Space combat in Aeon Trinity seems to fall into one of two categories. The first is incidental. You have a session that is about space combat or has space combat in it then it is back to the regular campaign. the second type is when the campaign revolves around space combat and space travel. The rules need to be a lot more focused in the second type of game than in the first. In the first style of game you still need rules that engage, but mostly you can hand wave a lot of the nitty gritty details. This post is going to deal with the second type of space conflict, as that requires more work. having too much is never a problem. It is when you need more and do not have it that problems occur.

If I am going to talk of Space Combat I need to talk about space ships. In the Trinity Continuum there are several different styles of space ship and there are two flavors of each. there are hardtech ships and there are biotech ships. I have already covered biotech in a previous post, but I will need to detail out a few extra bits for bio-fighters and the like. There are four basic types of space craft organized by size: fighters/shuttles, Frigates, Freighters, and Leviathans. I will be focusing primarily on the fighter craft as they are single and double cockpit making them the most PC friendly. I will have a brief bit on the larger ships further down the post.

Fighters have a couple of features. Speed of the craft is measured in Vacuum Speed(VS). This is rated from one to five. Weapon Rating(WR), Sensors(S), and Handling(H) are also rated from one to five.These numbers represent the highest rating a character can have in a skill(barring use of aspects) when piloting the craft. This is where Bio-fighters have an advantage on hardtech fighters. when formatted to a system(weapons, engines, sensors, or controls) that system's rating is increased by one. A properly formatted bio-fighter is a terrifying thing indeed. A formatted fighter also allows you to use you psychic powers(should you have them).

Piloting as a skill is used for maneuvering and moving as well as dodging. Shooting is used for weapons. Notice is used for sensors. The ship itself has no stress boxes or consequences. All stress is taken by the pilot. as this is a campaign focused around ships, your consequences can be noted as damage to the ship. Space combat in Aeon Trinity is closer to to World War II than to actual space combat. To represent this I would like to use the dog fighting rules from Kriegzeppelin Valkyrie. Look to that document for more information on that.

Here are a few sample ships for the game:

Standard fighter(both hardech and biotech)
VS: 3
WR: 2
S: 2
H: 2

The Banji Hornet(Biotech)
VS: 3
WR: 2
S: 4
H: 3

The Raptor(hardtech)
VS: 4
WR: 4
S:2
H: 3

Fate Core: The Sharn Codex pt 4

Big day in Sharn. The game started with a flashback to the heroes first mission. They explored an ancient ruin deep beneath the city. After a harrowing battle with automita they escaped with their lives. Back in the present, our heroes have gathered at the Glitterdust to discuss the case. One of Sim's contacts at Morgrave University shows up, terrified. He explains what the codex is, and then runs from the building. He is slain by a pair of Warforged who seek the book. Rantin causes some troubles and starts a fight with the warforged. The fight goes badly for the 'forged. One is dead and the otehr runs. Flint gives chase. The emerald claw get the drop on them all. Sim fakes them out with some clever trickery. after a bit, they discover where the codex is located. And that is where we left it.

This session things went well. We had a bit of trouble as Jordan had some family issues so he missed the first half of the game. We had to wing it a bit. Basically the first half of the session was a big flashback. There was a bit of a problem on what to do about the consequences that were inflicted in the flashback scene. I am lucky to have players who are a bit forgiving, so there was no real issue.

Here is the recording of the session.

Loss of Patience pt 2: Danger in the dark

The character's spend a night in the sheriff's office after facing down the shadow beasts. The next day dawn hot and wet. They began their investigation. quickly they discovered a root cellar converted to a mass grave. Poison! Everyone in town was poisoned. A little more digging(heh, tracker was digging graves, pun) discovers that something came through the windows and poisoned them in their sleep. Night fall is coming, our heroes fortify the sheriff's office for the night. The animals are fleeing! Millions of bees! Shadow bees. The swarm attacks the office. A valiant struggle. Lives are save by lies and wolves. And there they stand poisoned and bloody, facing the dawn.

Today we added a new player to the mix. this was quite tricky. When adding a new character the phases seem to be a hindrance more than the help they were in the first session. I am not certain how to handle this. i would love any advice on ways to make this smoother in Fate Core.

On a lighter note, I think I really scared the players a bit. I threw a big nasty at them right up front and did some damage. Not much, just a couple stress and a minor consequence, but it really amped up the feel of the conflict. At least it did for me, I think it did for the players as well. That fight got crazy quick.

Had an odd moment in game, though. I was going to run several actions of the bees trying to get into the sealed up building and the characters trying to keep them out. However, we could not decide if this was a contest or a challenge. I would really appreciate any help in figuring out which goes where. How do you use these, what are they for? I mean, I get what they are for, and they seem simple enough, but it is just not really sinking in what I can do with these things, you know?

Also there was an issue with an aspect(not an issue really, more just something that happened). Basically what happened was I placed the aspect, "Poisoned," on the characters(bee stings). I then used that aspect in the conflct to give the bees a +2 on attack. I gave the player an immediate Fate Point for that. Was this the right thing to do? If not, I would like to know how this should have been handled.

And heres is the recording of play for those of you interested in such things.