As I've mentioned at other points on this blog, the Palladium system is an advancement and refinement of old school D&D. One of those advancements was in the field of hit points. You see, before the 3rd edition of D&D all hit dice were rolled, even the first one. Which meant that if you were unlucky, it was possible to enter the dungeon with only one hit point.
Palladium starts you off with hit points equal to your P.E. score +1d6. Then gives you physical skills that can improve P.E., offer S.D.C. upgrades, and so on. Then armor provides its own pool of SDC (or MDC) to protect you. This means that your character has a better chance of surviving first level, which is good. But it also means that characters can very quickly wind up with unrealistic amounts of durability.
Stories circulate around the Palladium community of players exploiting this superhuman durability in interesting ways. Shooting themselves with assault weapons to intimidate a foe. Leaping on a grenade and expecting to walk away with only a small portion of their SDC gone. If you've got a fun story to share, feel free to drop it in the comments.
The important thing to remember is that, in D&D, hit points are an abstraction. They don't represent actual injury. D&D characters really only have one hit point (their last) and all their other hit points represent the character's ability to defend the one that matters. A friend of mine gave this concept a very clever name: "Ablative Awesomeness." When you make a successful attack, you're not hacking away at the other guy's spleen. You're hacking away at his ability to defend his spleen from later attacks. This is why experience (generally gained from fighting) grants more hit points.
The Palladium system doesn't seem to believe in Ablative Awesomeness even as it looks for ways to add more. The description of SDC in the main Rifts book describes a character taking an injury, but shrugging it off. The justification for increasing hit points as the character levels is that the character actually got tougher. Taking a hit in combat is apparently all about being a manly badass.
But with characters having all of these hit points and damage absorbing resources, the things that are supposed to kill them suddenly aren't scary enough. So you make up new stuff that is scary. In Palladium Fantasy, this is magic weapons, going all the way up to rune weapons. In Rifts, this is MDC.
But MDC adds a new wrinkle to this arms race. In Rifts, your MDC armor is your hit points. Without it, you are a 1 hit point mook. So as the weapons get scarier, you look to buy more powerful armor. Once you get more powerful armor, the GM has to look for tougher monsters and tougher weapons to fight you with. Leading to a little thing we like to call "power creep."
My current plan for BTR does include the potential for increasing hit points but nowhere near to the generous levels that Palladium provides. They will be available as a milestone attached to a character's combat skills. This should provide a balance, as there will be many other combat milestones to acquire as well. Playtesting will tell.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Magic & Technology
I touched a little on the way I want magic to work in the setting of BTR while talking about elves. But after reading a couple other blogs, I want to go into a little more depth on this subject.
There seem to be two major schools of thought regarding how magic and technology (specifically science) would interact.
1) Magic would supplant science & technology. Since spells can do wonderful things that medieval technology can't, everyone who wanted to do something cool would learn magic rather than science.
2) Magic would accelerate science & technology. Magic is an extra set of tools for discovery and experimentation.
So which option am I choosing? Both, really.
My current concept for elves fits rather closely to #1. They are highly proficient with magic, to the point where magic is their technology. But this doesn't mean medieval stasis. They have developed a starfaring culture and have colonies and outposts on several worlds. But they did it all using magic that could do what science can't or won't do easily. (For one thing, I'm thinking that they use stargates that are actually giant teleportation circles for FTL travel)
Humans fit in #2. Recall a few posts back that I used the word technomancer. While the Rifts setting does include Techno-Wizards, I'm actually thinking of something a bit different. Techno-Wizards seem oddly limited. Their main gimmick seems to be the creation of Techno-Wizard items, or converting technological devices to run on magical power.
That's cool and all, but they don't strike me as very techno or very wizard. While they can learn spells, these spells are reduced in effectiveness unless they are using them to power a device. Their techno side is limited as well, since they have a hard time picking up the skills that actually let them play with technology.
To me, a technomancer is a character that either uses their magic to do science or uses their science to do magic. Like casting a spell to detect radiation, or enchanting a Geiger counter to detect magical emanations. Maybe in later supplements, Techno-Wizards get something that is like this, but the main thing they seem to get in the core book is flying skateboards.
There seem to be two major schools of thought regarding how magic and technology (specifically science) would interact.
1) Magic would supplant science & technology. Since spells can do wonderful things that medieval technology can't, everyone who wanted to do something cool would learn magic rather than science.
2) Magic would accelerate science & technology. Magic is an extra set of tools for discovery and experimentation.
So which option am I choosing? Both, really.
My current concept for elves fits rather closely to #1. They are highly proficient with magic, to the point where magic is their technology. But this doesn't mean medieval stasis. They have developed a starfaring culture and have colonies and outposts on several worlds. But they did it all using magic that could do what science can't or won't do easily. (For one thing, I'm thinking that they use stargates that are actually giant teleportation circles for FTL travel)
Humans fit in #2. Recall a few posts back that I used the word technomancer. While the Rifts setting does include Techno-Wizards, I'm actually thinking of something a bit different. Techno-Wizards seem oddly limited. Their main gimmick seems to be the creation of Techno-Wizard items, or converting technological devices to run on magical power.
That's cool and all, but they don't strike me as very techno or very wizard. While they can learn spells, these spells are reduced in effectiveness unless they are using them to power a device. Their techno side is limited as well, since they have a hard time picking up the skills that actually let them play with technology.
To me, a technomancer is a character that either uses their magic to do science or uses their science to do magic. Like casting a spell to detect radiation, or enchanting a Geiger counter to detect magical emanations. Maybe in later supplements, Techno-Wizards get something that is like this, but the main thing they seem to get in the core book is flying skateboards.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
What Palladium can do to re-invent itself
1) Stop buying first drafts. While we've all heard the stories of writers who got screwed because KS had to re-write their work, one horrible implication that hasn't really sunk in is that KS pays writers for their first drafts. Any other publisher would blue-pencil that draft and send it back to the writer for a re-write rather than spend valuable executive time on that sort of work.
KS really needs to learn to be an editor, rather than a writer and designer. One of the things keeping Palladium back is the fact that so much of their output is from his sweaty fingers. If he would just let his people innovate, Palladium could keep being an industry innovator.
2) Playtest. Every other game company does internal playtesting. If a Palladium book gets playtested, it is because the writers took it upon themselves to do that. But then it gets the KS re-write anyway, invalidating about half that work.
And a writer's playtest is,. by necessity, limited. One group, maybe two if they're industrious. Enough to help the book conform to one playstyle, one set of house rules. But not enough to bang it into greatness.
Open playtesting (like Paizo does) could help Palladium go viral, but even closed playtesting with select volunteers has the potential to generate more buzz than KS can on his own.
KS really needs to learn to be an editor, rather than a writer and designer. One of the things keeping Palladium back is the fact that so much of their output is from his sweaty fingers. If he would just let his people innovate, Palladium could keep being an industry innovator.
2) Playtest. Every other game company does internal playtesting. If a Palladium book gets playtested, it is because the writers took it upon themselves to do that. But then it gets the KS re-write anyway, invalidating about half that work.
And a writer's playtest is,. by necessity, limited. One group, maybe two if they're industrious. Enough to help the book conform to one playstyle, one set of house rules. But not enough to bang it into greatness.
Open playtesting (like Paizo does) could help Palladium go viral, but even closed playtesting with select volunteers has the potential to generate more buzz than KS can on his own.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Space Elves That Don't Suck
It's funny. Now that I have that basic idea of Magical Space, a lot of ideas are just beginning to flow.
One thing I definitely want is elves. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1) I want BTR to be able to handle classic fantasy as easily as the big wacky gonzo stuff, and elves are a pretty good testbed for that.
2) They make a good "starter race" for first contact. Being very human-looking, they will be easier for humans to interact with than some intelligent slime mold. Slime molds can come in a supplement, but for the core product, it's good to keep things recognizable.
3) When I started brainstorming setting ideas initially, one of the images that jumped out at me was an elven druid piloting a tree like a mecha and fighting some technological (presumably human-built) mecha.
Space elves, and elves in general really, are a tricky thing to pull off and make cool.
Things that I want to do with Space Elves
1) Bio-tech. Elves have a long association with the natural world. But I don't think the whole "hippy-dippy elves" thing would stand up too well. Especially when you compare them to a technologically advanced human civilization. So they use magical DNA sculpting spells (shape changing spells, but the results are genetic as well as physical) to induce Lamarckian evolution.
2) Magic. Elves are inherently magical creatures. My thought here is to borrow a page from the Burning Wheel RPG. The elves provided in that system do not cast spells, but instead have a number of magical skills that they use to enhance their mundane skills. So in BTR, I'm thinking of including a number of elf-specific milestones that draw on a characters PPE supply to enhance mundane skills.
Magic items will exist, but they do not conform to economies of scale. Meaning that they cannot be mass produced. It is no more efficient to produce 100 magic swords than it is to make 1. Most magic items that exist in the setting will be custom made or civic-scale, like the magical monorail in Eberron. Although the elves will have enough of a history that magic items might even be common to a degree.
3) Spaceships. While there are many fantastical elements in this outer-space setting, this is not Spelljammer. I want to avoid magical "handwaving" as much as possible. I want elven spaceships to have to solve the same problems that human spaceships do (holding atmospheric pressure, moving in space, recycling air) but in ways that fit what's been established about elves. I want them to have bioships that are derived from plants. Elves are not above manipulating animals, but animal-based bioships seem a little too full of squick and elves are elegant beings above all.
One thing I definitely want is elves. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1) I want BTR to be able to handle classic fantasy as easily as the big wacky gonzo stuff, and elves are a pretty good testbed for that.
2) They make a good "starter race" for first contact. Being very human-looking, they will be easier for humans to interact with than some intelligent slime mold. Slime molds can come in a supplement, but for the core product, it's good to keep things recognizable.
3) When I started brainstorming setting ideas initially, one of the images that jumped out at me was an elven druid piloting a tree like a mecha and fighting some technological (presumably human-built) mecha.
Space elves, and elves in general really, are a tricky thing to pull off and make cool.
Things that I want to do with Space Elves
1) Bio-tech. Elves have a long association with the natural world. But I don't think the whole "hippy-dippy elves" thing would stand up too well. Especially when you compare them to a technologically advanced human civilization. So they use magical DNA sculpting spells (shape changing spells, but the results are genetic as well as physical) to induce Lamarckian evolution.
2) Magic. Elves are inherently magical creatures. My thought here is to borrow a page from the Burning Wheel RPG. The elves provided in that system do not cast spells, but instead have a number of magical skills that they use to enhance their mundane skills. So in BTR, I'm thinking of including a number of elf-specific milestones that draw on a characters PPE supply to enhance mundane skills.
Magic items will exist, but they do not conform to economies of scale. Meaning that they cannot be mass produced. It is no more efficient to produce 100 magic swords than it is to make 1. Most magic items that exist in the setting will be custom made or civic-scale, like the magical monorail in Eberron. Although the elves will have enough of a history that magic items might even be common to a degree.
3) Spaceships. While there are many fantastical elements in this outer-space setting, this is not Spelljammer. I want to avoid magical "handwaving" as much as possible. I want elven spaceships to have to solve the same problems that human spaceships do (holding atmospheric pressure, moving in space, recycling air) but in ways that fit what's been established about elves. I want them to have bioships that are derived from plants. Elves are not above manipulating animals, but animal-based bioships seem a little too full of squick and elves are elegant beings above all.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Wacky setting idea
As I'm running through ideas for the setting to use for BTR, I come up with some interesting stuff.
I was watching a documentary recently on the idea of "ancient astronauts" and how people are meshing the description of various mythological events with our modern understanding of the sciences.
Many years ago, I read a book by a French UFOlogist whose name I don't recall in which he describes certain encounters with "fair folk" and "little people" that meshed rather well certain aspects of the UFO phenomena.
Why are we looking at this stuff with such a scientific/technological perspective? What if our ancestors knew magic when they saw it, but us modern people try and force it to mesh with our own ideas of the universe?
What if the universe is magical? What if our science and technology is considered "backward" by the rest of the intelligent beings of the cosmos because everyone else is simply ignoring the physical laws that we are forced to live by?
Though I think humans would have an advantage in this scenario. Our inquisitive minds would start looking at magic as another science for us to master. And we would incorporate our existing scientific knowledge, as well. So humans would be the universe's first technomancers.
What do you think?
I was watching a documentary recently on the idea of "ancient astronauts" and how people are meshing the description of various mythological events with our modern understanding of the sciences.
Many years ago, I read a book by a French UFOlogist whose name I don't recall in which he describes certain encounters with "fair folk" and "little people" that meshed rather well certain aspects of the UFO phenomena.
Why are we looking at this stuff with such a scientific/technological perspective? What if our ancestors knew magic when they saw it, but us modern people try and force it to mesh with our own ideas of the universe?
What if the universe is magical? What if our science and technology is considered "backward" by the rest of the intelligent beings of the cosmos because everyone else is simply ignoring the physical laws that we are forced to live by?
Though I think humans would have an advantage in this scenario. Our inquisitive minds would start looking at magic as another science for us to master. And we would incorporate our existing scientific knowledge, as well. So humans would be the universe's first technomancers.
What do you think?
Thursday, November 11, 2010
A random thought
Yeah, I've kind of broken with my planned monthly update schedule. Largely because Project BTR has gotten to the point where I need to get past thought experiments and actually get something serious put together in order for it to advance. And that is difficult for me right now.
One thing that I can talk about is my thoughts on the role of randomness in character generation. Most Palladium games involve lots of die rolling in the character generation process. You roll 8 stats on 3d6, unless you roll well enough to get a re-roll. Then you roll to see how many hit-points you get. Then you roll to see if your character starts with psionics. And that's before you make the first real choice about your character.
This does have the ability to make a character interesting. Like figuring out how to play a character with a 6 P.B. and a 23 M.A. But poor rolls in the wrong places can make a character into a total gimp. And Palladium acknowledges this to a degree, by allowing players to take physical skills to bump up those stats that came up poorly. At least, those that matter in the dangerous worlds that Palladium publishes.
Though the real humdinger comes when they try to balance completely unbalanced options by giving them an incredibly low chance of appearance. Like randomly determined psionics. Sure there's a massive chance your character won't have psionics at all, but there's also the small chance that your character will roll "major psionics" and have not only awesome psychic powers, but the ability to take an O.C.C. as well. Put that psychic in a Glitter Boy or some other powered armor and all bets are off.
So I face another decision point in BTR. What role should randomness play in BTR? I'm thinking of making sure that you can roll your stats, though offering a roughly equivalent point-buy. Rolling hit points and power points are definitely on the table, again with non-rolling equivalent options.
One thing that I can talk about is my thoughts on the role of randomness in character generation. Most Palladium games involve lots of die rolling in the character generation process. You roll 8 stats on 3d6, unless you roll well enough to get a re-roll. Then you roll to see how many hit-points you get. Then you roll to see if your character starts with psionics. And that's before you make the first real choice about your character.
This does have the ability to make a character interesting. Like figuring out how to play a character with a 6 P.B. and a 23 M.A. But poor rolls in the wrong places can make a character into a total gimp. And Palladium acknowledges this to a degree, by allowing players to take physical skills to bump up those stats that came up poorly. At least, those that matter in the dangerous worlds that Palladium publishes.
Though the real humdinger comes when they try to balance completely unbalanced options by giving them an incredibly low chance of appearance. Like randomly determined psionics. Sure there's a massive chance your character won't have psionics at all, but there's also the small chance that your character will roll "major psionics" and have not only awesome psychic powers, but the ability to take an O.C.C. as well. Put that psychic in a Glitter Boy or some other powered armor and all bets are off.
So I face another decision point in BTR. What role should randomness play in BTR? I'm thinking of making sure that you can roll your stats, though offering a roughly equivalent point-buy. Rolling hit points and power points are definitely on the table, again with non-rolling equivalent options.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The 5 Minute NPC
An extremely late September blog, but here it is.
One thing that is pretty darn essential in any game that I run is the ability to write up an emergency NPC in about 5 minutes or less. If my PCs start a fight that I hadn't planned for, or I need to know what a particular NPCs skill chance is, I should be able to come up with that quickly, before play gets too bogged down.
Now, I'm sure that you Palladium GMs have this all figured out. You probably have a huge binder or similar full of NPC stats ready to whip out at a moment's notice. But it took you a long time to build up the material in that binder, didn't it? Whether you rolled up that binder all in one go, or it slowly accumulated as you planned for session after session, or some combination of the two, that's a notable chunk of your life that you'll never get back.
In GURPS, the 5 minute NPC is the order of the day for me. For the average mook, I just assign four stats and a skill level or two, do a little math (these steps are pretty quick for me because of my experience with that system, but they're not killers for the rookie), look up the Strength table to see his damage capability, hit the weapon and armor tables to determine what I want him to wield, and go. Non-combat NPCs are even easier, as I only need the first step.
One of my goals with BTR is to allow for the 5 minute NPC. Getting rid of classes and levels is a good first step, as they create extra layers and steps that makes things take longer. And most NPCs do not need to be built using the same rules as PCs. The same mechanics, yes, but not the same rules. Basic mooks might only have stats and a couple of skills with the success chances they need to threaten the PCs, but not much more than that. A notable fight might include an NPC with a milestone or two. Master villains will most closely resemble PCs, but only because they deserve the most detail. Even then, they will not typically be built using point, skill picks, or dice rolls, but based on the needs of the campaign.
One thing that is pretty darn essential in any game that I run is the ability to write up an emergency NPC in about 5 minutes or less. If my PCs start a fight that I hadn't planned for, or I need to know what a particular NPCs skill chance is, I should be able to come up with that quickly, before play gets too bogged down.
Now, I'm sure that you Palladium GMs have this all figured out. You probably have a huge binder or similar full of NPC stats ready to whip out at a moment's notice. But it took you a long time to build up the material in that binder, didn't it? Whether you rolled up that binder all in one go, or it slowly accumulated as you planned for session after session, or some combination of the two, that's a notable chunk of your life that you'll never get back.
In GURPS, the 5 minute NPC is the order of the day for me. For the average mook, I just assign four stats and a skill level or two, do a little math (these steps are pretty quick for me because of my experience with that system, but they're not killers for the rookie), look up the Strength table to see his damage capability, hit the weapon and armor tables to determine what I want him to wield, and go. Non-combat NPCs are even easier, as I only need the first step.
One of my goals with BTR is to allow for the 5 minute NPC. Getting rid of classes and levels is a good first step, as they create extra layers and steps that makes things take longer. And most NPCs do not need to be built using the same rules as PCs. The same mechanics, yes, but not the same rules. Basic mooks might only have stats and a couple of skills with the success chances they need to threaten the PCs, but not much more than that. A notable fight might include an NPC with a milestone or two. Master villains will most closely resemble PCs, but only because they deserve the most detail. Even then, they will not typically be built using point, skill picks, or dice rolls, but based on the needs of the campaign.
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