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Plot Ideas / Re: [One Shot] Lock, Stock and Three Smoking Souls
« Last post by Dianoga on August 26, 2010, 10:07:34 pm »There should be a pdf... I'll see if I can find the file.
Recent Posts
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Plot Ideas / Re: [One Shot] Lock, Stock and Three Smoking Souls
« Last post by midnightline on August 26, 2010, 08:50:52 pm »Is there a PDF for this adventure? Or is this post meant to be just a scaffold for the GM to build their own adventure?
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Fighting Styles / [New Move] Teleport
« Last post by Kaddar on August 26, 2010, 07:24:07 am »Teleport
Type: Positioning or Defence
Description: When used in a Positioning move you instantly appear up to one-half of your Stride distance from your starting position. If the following move is a Strike move, that move does 3 more damage.
When used as Defensive move you only appear a distance equal to your reach from your starting position and it must be followed by a Ready move to perform an attack in the same sequence
Governing Power:
Must have Teleporter Legacy.
Type: Positioning or Defence
Description: When used in a Positioning move you instantly appear up to one-half of your Stride distance from your starting position. If the following move is a Strike move, that move does 3 more damage.
When used as Defensive move you only appear a distance equal to your reach from your starting position and it must be followed by a Ready move to perform an attack in the same sequence
Governing Power:
| Distant Mind 1 | = | 1 use in a fire sequence |
| Distant Mind 2 | = | 1 use in a water sequence |
| Distant Mind 3 | = | +1 use in a fire sequence |
| Distant Mind 4 | = | +1 use in a water sequence |
| Distant Mind 5 | = | +1 use in a fire sequence |
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Campaign Discussion / Campaign Write-up: "Sibling Rivalry"
« Last post by baxil on July 29, 2010, 12:23:50 pm »So a few weeks ago I stumbled across this awesome gaming site called Obsidian Portal - it's an online campaign tracker, designed to let you collect maps, NPCs, setting information, and adventure logs all in one place for ease of reference. They don't specifically have Fireborn support (yet), but the resources are designed to be system-neutral. I fell in love with it and started transferring my extensive campaign notes there from Google Docs.
I mention this for two reasons: One is that OP is cool and you might find it useful. But more importantly, if you haven't had a chance to play Fireborn extensively, you can take a look at my campaign and get a feel for how the game unfolds over time!
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/fireborn-sibling-rivalry
For the overarching plot, I took the main villain from The Fire Within (and the Brood Bidding traits my players picked at character creation) and built up a mythic-age backstory for him and his siblings. While the ultimate enemies of dragonkind remain the same, my campaign is focusing on a subplot of that (a single brood's private war against the tainted gods). I've used NPCs and setting information from the books but adapted them for my own campaign style. So it's fairly faithful to the source material but goes in a slightly different direction.
The best starting points if you're reading through Sibling Rivalry as an observer are the front page, the beginning of the Adventure Log, and the game quotes (which are full of awesome).
I mention this for two reasons: One is that OP is cool and you might find it useful. But more importantly, if you haven't had a chance to play Fireborn extensively, you can take a look at my campaign and get a feel for how the game unfolds over time!
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/fireborn-sibling-rivalry
For the overarching plot, I took the main villain from The Fire Within (and the Brood Bidding traits my players picked at character creation) and built up a mythic-age backstory for him and his siblings. While the ultimate enemies of dragonkind remain the same, my campaign is focusing on a subplot of that (a single brood's private war against the tainted gods). I've used NPCs and setting information from the books but adapted them for my own campaign style. So it's fairly faithful to the source material but goes in a slightly different direction.
The best starting points if you're reading through Sibling Rivalry as an observer are the front page, the beginning of the Adventure Log, and the game quotes (which are full of awesome).
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Campaign Discussion / Re: An issue of aim...
« Last post by thenage on July 05, 2010, 06:29:04 pm »In the campaign I'm running at the moment, my players don't even know what game system we are using. I admit that's a bit extreme, it's been really fun. They literally have no idea that they are scions. All they know so far is that they have somehow developed this weird ability to telepathically communicate with a few other random people they have never met before, but who seem somehow familiar, and that they've been having strange visions about being in Atlantis together (in human form of course).
I'm planning to draw it out and give them lots of red herrings sprinkled with some real clues, deliberate misdirection, allies that seem very suspicious, and everything. I'm hoping to last about 25% of the way into the epic campaign before the finally get the big revelation that they are dragons. I'm hoping that when it finally happens, they will be blown away and then be in denial for the rest of the session. They've been having a blast and really like the intense air of secrecy that this has pulled into the game. Aside from how much fun it has been, my main motivation is that I wish that I could have been introduced to the game this way. I figure it's only something you can do once, so why not try it?
I'm planning to draw it out and give them lots of red herrings sprinkled with some real clues, deliberate misdirection, allies that seem very suspicious, and everything. I'm hoping to last about 25% of the way into the epic campaign before the finally get the big revelation that they are dragons. I'm hoping that when it finally happens, they will be blown away and then be in denial for the rest of the session. They've been having a blast and really like the intense air of secrecy that this has pulled into the game. Aside from how much fun it has been, my main motivation is that I wish that I could have been introduced to the game this way. I figure it's only something you can do once, so why not try it?
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Campaign Discussion / Re: Gaming Online
« Last post by thenage on July 05, 2010, 06:17:47 pm »Another interesting option would be to use MapTools. On the one hand, it seems to have been designed with more mainstream games in mind, but on the other hand, there are a lot of general tools and it does show you the individual results of all dice in the roll, so it would be fairly easy to adapt. I've been using it as a player in a non-Fireborn game, and it seems to work pretty well. It's open source, so it's free.
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Secrets of Fire / Re: Background Idea: Success Story
« Last post by thenage on July 05, 2010, 06:12:14 pm »I like the background a lot. The concept is perfect for the Fireborn setting. I think I would take the suggestion to go with 2 fighting style ranks, then as compensation, move stamina and athletics to secondary skills, and either add stealth as a secondary skill or bump Know:Finances up to primary. This way, the background is definitely professional level in what the character does professionally, but there is some flexibility with further skill purchases to decide how much he/she has kept up on the street skills and athletic ability.
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Gameplay Questions / Re: combat rules
« Last post by thenage on July 05, 2010, 06:03:45 pm »I think the previous answer is not quite right.
In the example given, first the attacker spends 1 success to dash to get in range. Now you take the remaining successes of both characters and compare.
If the attacker has more successes, he executes one move per *net* success. In the example, he needs one more success than his opponent to land a Fist Strike.
If the defender gets at least as many successes as the attacker has left (after spending one for the dash) then the attacker cannot execute any remaining moves in his sequence, so the defender avoids all strikes.
If the defender gets more successes than the attacker, then the defender gets to execute his own sequence with his net successes. While executing these, you still count defensive moves in the sequence even though the defender already successfully defends just by tying. This reflects how much more difficult it is to counter-attack, especially when the attacker is making multiple attacks in one sequence. In the example, the defender doesn't get to execute his Fist Strike unless he gets 3 successes MORE THAN his opponent. So in the example,
First subtract one success from the attacker for the dash, then
if the attacker has more successes than the defender, he hits.
If the defender has 3 more successes than the attacker has left, then the defender counter-attacks.
For anything in between, neither participant lands a blow.
The thing that is really cool about this system is the tactical decisions it requires. As an attacker, do I go for one powerful blow (power+power+power+fist strike) or three quick jabs (L fist+R fist+Ready+L fist) or something in between: (L fist+Power+Power+R Fist)? On the one hand, it is definitely more effective to land one powerful blow, because of how wound dice are calculated. On the other hand, not only do you have a bigger chance of missing (since you don't get a hit in unless you get to the last move) but you also open yourself up more for counter-attacks. This is because with only one strike in the sequence, my opponent only needs one defensive move (plus a ready and a counter attack), while with three strikes, my opponent needs three defensive moves (plus a ready and a counter strike). So the more strikes in a sequence, the higher the chances are that one of mine will hit and the lower the chances are that my opponent will hit back. Throw enough punches and the opponent probably won't have a base score high enough to even try to counter-attack. Intuitively, this makes sense - if someone is swinging very quickly at you, it's all you can do to block all the punches and its even harder to get a counter punch in. But if the big oaf rears way back to punch one time with all he's got, then it's actually pretty easy to sneak in a quick jab (or even two).
When you add the Power vs Press tradeoff in, the system becomes very rich with a lot of interesting options. Then with each participant getting both mental and physical actions each round, stance changes, etc.... it's just amazing. There's a lot to keep track of, but once you are used to it, it flows pretty easily.
In the example given, first the attacker spends 1 success to dash to get in range. Now you take the remaining successes of both characters and compare.
If the attacker has more successes, he executes one move per *net* success. In the example, he needs one more success than his opponent to land a Fist Strike.
If the defender gets at least as many successes as the attacker has left (after spending one for the dash) then the attacker cannot execute any remaining moves in his sequence, so the defender avoids all strikes.
If the defender gets more successes than the attacker, then the defender gets to execute his own sequence with his net successes. While executing these, you still count defensive moves in the sequence even though the defender already successfully defends just by tying. This reflects how much more difficult it is to counter-attack, especially when the attacker is making multiple attacks in one sequence. In the example, the defender doesn't get to execute his Fist Strike unless he gets 3 successes MORE THAN his opponent. So in the example,
First subtract one success from the attacker for the dash, then
if the attacker has more successes than the defender, he hits.
If the defender has 3 more successes than the attacker has left, then the defender counter-attacks.
For anything in between, neither participant lands a blow.
The thing that is really cool about this system is the tactical decisions it requires. As an attacker, do I go for one powerful blow (power+power+power+fist strike) or three quick jabs (L fist+R fist+Ready+L fist) or something in between: (L fist+Power+Power+R Fist)? On the one hand, it is definitely more effective to land one powerful blow, because of how wound dice are calculated. On the other hand, not only do you have a bigger chance of missing (since you don't get a hit in unless you get to the last move) but you also open yourself up more for counter-attacks. This is because with only one strike in the sequence, my opponent only needs one defensive move (plus a ready and a counter attack), while with three strikes, my opponent needs three defensive moves (plus a ready and a counter strike). So the more strikes in a sequence, the higher the chances are that one of mine will hit and the lower the chances are that my opponent will hit back. Throw enough punches and the opponent probably won't have a base score high enough to even try to counter-attack. Intuitively, this makes sense - if someone is swinging very quickly at you, it's all you can do to block all the punches and its even harder to get a counter punch in. But if the big oaf rears way back to punch one time with all he's got, then it's actually pretty easy to sneak in a quick jab (or even two).
When you add the Power vs Press tradeoff in, the system becomes very rich with a lot of interesting options. Then with each participant getting both mental and physical actions each round, stance changes, etc.... it's just amazing. There's a lot to keep track of, but once you are used to it, it flows pretty easily.
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Gameplay Questions / Re: Skills and RRs - statistical analysis
« Last post by thenage on July 05, 2010, 05:22:37 pm »You are forgetting one very important aspect of RRs: they increase your chances of getting all successes on a roll and thereby recovering karma instantaneously. By the time you are rolling five or six dice, getting all successes is pretty rare, but with a few rerolls, it's not too uncommon, and getting 6 karma back in the middle of a fight can be a huge boost. Also remember that if you have more rerolls than the number of dice that do not come up successes, you can reroll the fails and then continue to reroll any of those dice that don't come up successes as well. For example, if I am making a Fire[Athletics] test with 6 dice in my pool and 3 RRs, and if I roll 4 successes, I can reroll the two failed dice and still have one reroll left. So if one of my rerolls is a success and the other is not, I can get one more chance to reroll the last die. That can be a big deal.
You might argue that with higher aspect and skill levels, this becomes less of an issue again, but it can still be very valuable. Let's say I have Fire 5 and Athletics 5, so now I'm rolling 10 dice with 4 RRs. I don't have much of a chance to get 10 successes even with the RRs - at least not while I'm healthy and alert. But if I have 3 wound dice and disadvantaged physical 1, now I'm down to 6 dice with 4 RRs and my chances of getting all successes become reasonable again. This is cool because the RRs are more likely to help you get a big boost when you need it most.
You might argue that with higher aspect and skill levels, this becomes less of an issue again, but it can still be very valuable. Let's say I have Fire 5 and Athletics 5, so now I'm rolling 10 dice with 4 RRs. I don't have much of a chance to get 10 successes even with the RRs - at least not while I'm healthy and alert. But if I have 3 wound dice and disadvantaged physical 1, now I'm down to 6 dice with 4 RRs and my chances of getting all successes become reasonable again. This is cool because the RRs are more likely to help you get a big boost when you need it most.
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Gameplay Questions / Re: Assumption
« Last post by Ironchicken on June 21, 2010, 09:43:14 am »Assumed its permanent for scions. Dragons have two sets of spells. Slots they always know and slots they decide each adventure.