behold_the_void | Recent Entries

I'm constantly having ideas for new DWRP games, so I'm gonna throw them here. People are free to use them if they want - these are all games I'd love to see around and would potentially join - or even take inspiration from them in forming their own games and using the ideas. All I ask is that if you do grab a concept or idea from this, you link back to this post.

Feel free to discuss, suggest, or otherwise ask questions below! If there's a concept you'd be interested in seeing a game for but don't know how to make it work, feel free to drop a line and I can whip something up.

Suggested Game Name: Not sure, Pokemon Apocalypse?
Game Inspiration: Pokemon, Dungeons and Dragons: 4th Edition Default Campaign Setting
Game Format and Genre: AU, post-apocalyptic, action/adventure, Pokemon
Game Concept: Pokemon Apocalypse takes place in a setting where human civilization has been overrun and the remnants live in remote enclaves and cities surrounded by an often-hostile wilderness. This is long past the fall of civilization so many of the cities are likely in good shape with good tech, but contact between the other settlements is probably limited at best.
Game Mechanics of Note: The game would start in a large central city, likely the largest bastion of humanity in the world. The idea would be that this would be the hub, and as the players expand outward they could expand the map and contact with more human settlements and thus expand the setting. Naturally there would be Pokemon and pokemon capturing, but it'd bring the moral implications to the fore as well to make the concept less like idealized child-friendly cockfighting. You can get Pokemon to fight with you, naturally, but you don't have magic balls that brainwash them into doing so. Also since it's an original setting you can set the regions up somewhat "realistically" in what Pokemon appear where (so Sentrets and Bidoofs can be around and common as fleas just about anywhere you go).
Potential Issues: Route 29 exists, and as AU always is harder to get going, obviously there's competition. Also people tend to get very... strange about Pokemon so the concept may be borderline sacrilege to some. Also the expanding setting mechanic would probably require a skilled mapmaker.

Suggested Game Name: Yuusha Gakuen
Game Inspiration: Shounen anime, Real/Super Robot anime, Super Robot Wars Gakuen
Game Format and Genre: AU, wacky antics/humor
Game Concept: Yuusha Gakuen is a game about young shounen heroes going to school to learn their trade. It would take place in a school setting full of high-powered spiky-haired individuals learning about burning spirit and ass-kicking. There would also be a rival school, when I ran this as an OC Valor game the rival school was the private prep school Gundam Tech. Probably want to rename that, but the idea being that the rival school is for all the more serious HARSH REALITIES OF WAR characters and Yuusha Gakuen is for your goofy shounentarded heroes.
Game Mechanics of Note: This game would be unique in that it would have two RP comms, one for Yuusha Gakuen and one for Gundam Tech (or whatever). Players could watch and post in either of the comms, obviously, but it would give a physical separation as characters would mostly be using their own comms. Since the idea is two rival schools with differing philosophies, it would be a two-faction adversarial game and would kind of be set up to feel like two games joined together - the Yuusha Gakuens and the Gundam Techs normally post in their respective schools but occasionally jump the fence to rumble or have school sponsored competitions. This game would inherently be zany, likely with a "all characters fight at about even footing no matter what" so the Yuusha Gakuen guys are on foot and the Gundam Tech guys are in giant deathbots and they still are about equal in a fight. Events would generally be competitions between the rival schools. Faculty positions would be available on both sides, probably with a limit on faculty numbers but no preset "subjects." Instead, when apping in a faculty member, the player would create a subject for them - for example Kakashi from Naruto might teach a class called "Ninjas in the Night" while Char Aznable or Merquise might teach a class called "Masks, Alter-Egos and You". Faculty slots would probably be somewhat limited so that there are enough student characters, likely with a set number that increases as more students appear and/or potentially requiring at least 1 student character to app a faculty.
Potential Issues: AU games are always hard to get off the ground, and the two comm thing could prove troublesome (you could potentially just cut it down to simply Yuusha Gakuen, at least at first, and then have Gundam Tech or whatever be a rival school with NPC characters that could become open to apps later if the population becomes large enough and sustainable enough).

Suggested Game Name: Nobless Oblige
Game Inspiration: Eden of the East, Shadowrun
Game Format and Genre: Standard Jamjar, action, intrigue, some horror elements
Game Concept: This game takes the idea of Eden of the East and brings it to an original setting. Likely a dystopian future ruled by cruel Megacorps, the players are brought into the world and given a cell phone charged with an unlimited or arbitrarily high amount of money and "seven chances". They are invited to play a game - one they cannot refuse. They must take their money and their chances and save the world. If they manage to save the world they win, if not, they are killed.
Game Mechanics of Note: Obviously characters would be able to use their money to do crazy things, but it should also generally be known that if they throw their money around too freely the Megacorps will catch on. Depending on how one wanted to do it, powers could either be absent or be in full effect, an absent power set would make the game more like Eden of the East in execution where you can buy power but everyone is mundane. Powers present would make it more like Shadowrun, the setting would by nature be rather high-powered with Cyberware and Magic available to those with the funds and aptitude to use them. Also of note is that each person with a phone is dubbed a Selacao and given a number based on their join order. Every Selacao's expenses would be transmitted over the network, so whenever they purchase something everyone else would be able to see it (this would generally have to be up to the players to post). As with Eden of the East, brainwashing is probably available, but likely limited to unimportant NPCs or oneself. So you could wipe your own memory or get some police officers to gun someone down, but you can't force Megacorp leaders to do anything. Events would likely center around clashes with Megacorp operatives, which are central to the reason the world sucks so bad. The "chances" refers to lives, you have seven lives and after that the character is permanently dead and removed from the game.
Potential Issues: The game setup obviously has a great deal of freedom, but the scope could easily be abused. In the initial source material the Selacao all have a set but limited amount of money, and once it is all spent they are taken out by the supporter. This could conceivably be added to the game, but tracking money is NEVER a good idea. It would likely require some NPC presence for the Megacorp leaders and the like. Conditional permadeath is also an issue, although that aspect can be easily removed.

Suggested Game Name: Men in Black RP
Game Inspiration: Men in Black
Game Format and Genre: Standard Jamjar, zany antics, action, some serious plot.
Game Concept: Dimensional rifts are opening up all over New York City or Washington DC or whatever, causing the PCs to arrive and immediately be contained by the Men in Black and given the option to join them or otherwise just generally be trapped on the base as they are aliens and can't really be going out except when under the rules.
Game Mechanics of Note: The idea here would be to capture the feel of Men in Black, with the sharp suits, shades, clever gadgets, and occasional alien uproars that need to be handled with high-powered guns and the red blinky light. Characters are generally agents but many anime characters would require disguises to go out in public (Nia Teppelin's pink rainbow cloud hair would not change, and is definitely not natural or particularly obtainable by regular Earth standards). The game would generally use a central city for the main events, but potentially allow people to go off-site to exotic Earth locales if warranted. Events would generally be monster of the week stuff, but you can probably get some more serious plotlines going as well. It also allows for dynamic character intros, some characters could enter the game with a bang and have to be subdued by their fellow PCs.
Potential Issues: Men in Black plots are always kinda weird, so you'd really have to figure out what you want to do with the plot. You'd really need to develop the game enough to make sure everyone has stuff to do and keep it fresh and interesting, it's a fun enough gimmick but you'd need to make sure there's enough going on to keep it going.

Game Description:

A MOBA based around objective control, skirmishes and team fights with no farming and balanced scaling to keep action constant and the stakes high throughout the whole experience.

Aesthetic:

The game uses a future-fantasy setting with some Cyberpunk influences. It takes place in the shadowed areas of major metropolitan cities where Agents work for major governments, corporations and special interests to conduct a secret war of espionage and intrigue. The maps the game takes place on are modeled after major cities in the world and will feature aspects unique to that city, as well as ideally music provided by local bands and musicians. Agents will run the gamut from ordinary humans of all stripes and alignment to fantastic creatures, urban legends, and new-age machines and cyborgs.

Gameplay breakdown:

There are 5 primary objectives, placed on the northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest sections of the map. The final primary objective is placed in the central section of the map. The map itself is broken up into a 3 x 3 grid, with the interior segments containing objectives and intersected by roads that are visible to both teams. Control of the primary objective gives charge that, when maximized, allows one team a window of vulnerability where they can strike at the enemy's base. Both bases are located on the west and east edges of the map. The game perspective is isometric.

Other segments on the map can contain a variety of other objectives, such as neutral groups that can be used to help the players push a primary objective, areas that can control vision of the map by removing open street vision from the opposing team or giving vision within the grid, and allowing for item purchases without having to return to base. The base interior will quickly heal allied heroes and repel enemy heroes, with the base core outside the interior that can only be targeted when a proper charge has been obtained from objectives.

The objective of the game is to pit two opposing teams of 6 players against each other in a battle arena for a match lasting 15-30 minutes. Players use their Agent to fight other Agents on the opposing team and secure control of set objectives.

Gameplay Mechanics:

Loading into the game will come with a 20 second prep time for players to buy items and confirm connection establishment. If a player is not connected, a bot will take their place. The base will bar movement during this time and will unlock at the 20 second mark.

Once unlocked, play begins and players can move around the map. The five primary objectives begin providing charge at a rate of 1 charge per 2 seconds. Controlling additional points reduces the accumulation by .25 seconds (1.75, 1.50, 1.25, and 1.00 respectively). Charge caps at 120 after which a 10 second cooldown starts and the Reaving buff activates automatically. The buff can also be activated prematurely by three Agents channeling for 2 seconds on their own base.

While the buff is active, Agents will deal enhanced damage to automated base defense, take reduced damage from automated base defense, and be able to target the base directly. The buff remains active for as many seconds as the team has charge. When all three lifebars on the base have been depleted, the game ends in victory for the other team.

The base itself is defended by two automated defense systems that fire regular targeted machine gun fire at the nearest target and fires a high burst AoE missile every 1 second, a turret essential. They target the first enemy that moves within their attack range but will switch to any Agent who attempts to attack either the Base or an allied Agent while in range. They can be destroyed but will slowly repair themselves over time (this feature subject to change).

On the map there are several objectives to interact with. Gangs roam the city and can be defeated to gain their services, which will cause them to move on the enemy base and attack it. Gangs benefit from the Reaving buff. Depending on the map and location, some gangs provide alternate effects, some will patrol an area and give vision while others will hunt down enemy couriers and Agents

Camera panels also appear on the map which control vision over the roads. Cameras can be hacked to disable road vision for the enemy temporarily on a given spot.

Roads intersect the battlefield and are normally in full vision of everyone. Roads provide a 10% movement boost while traversed.

Ping/Player Alert system:

Player Policing and Punishment system:

Agent Mechanics:

Agents are divided into five different roles, a Protector, who focuses on taking damage and defending their allies, a Scout, who focuses on maintaining vision and control over the map, a Support, who uses abilities to heal and buff allies, a Harrier, who uses abilities to debuff and disable enemies, and Commando, who focuses on dealing high damage. All Agents will have two roles, and will be able to improve their abilities along different paths that will emphasize one role or the other.

Agents possess a collection of 6 unique abilities - 1 passive ability, 1 auto-attack ability, 3 standard active abilities and an Ultimate ability acquired later in the flow of gameplay. Game would be combat and objective focused.

-Passive: The Agent's passive gives it an inherent unique ability upon which the kit is based
-Auto-Attack: The Agent's auto-attack is its standard damage-dealing ability. The auto-attack's function are unique to the Agent and may provide additional abilities, or just be a source of consistent damage
-Standard Abilities: The Agent begins play with all 3 standard abilities unlocked. Standard abilities can have a wide variety of effects such as providing damage, buffs, debuffs, and healing. Abilities will typically consume an Agent's stamina
-Ultimate Ability: The Ultimate ability is the Agent's signature technique, often large, bombastic and giving them or their team a huge boost on the battlefield. Typically costly and carrying a high cooldown, a well-placed ultimate can change the tide of a battle.

Agents will gain levels as the game progresses, which will give them the ability to upgrade their abilities. All abilities will have multiple different ways they can be upgraded such as strengthening a debuff effect, widening the area or range, or increasing the damage. All abilities will gain some damage and increase in Stamina cost when leveled up. Each standard skill will have 3 different paths to upgrade, while an Ultimate ability will have 2.

All Agents have 5 core statistics which define how they function.

-Strength is a core statistic that, in addition to giving damage to strength-based abilities, gives defense against physical attacks. Agents focused around strength hit hard and have powerful abilities that can knock other Agents back or stun them momentarily.

-Agility is a core statistic that, in addition to giving damage to agility-based abilities, gives increased attack speed. Agents focused around agility are quick, nimble, and accurate.

-Spirit is a core statistic that, in addition to giving damage to spirit-based abilities, gives additional stamina so Agents have more lasting power in battle. Agents focused around spirit have powerful magic abilities and can often target wide areas.

-Intuition is a core statistic that, in addition to giving damage to mind-based abilities, gives resistance against magical attacks. Agents focused around mind have precise and unusual magic abilities that can create a number of effects.

-Guts is a core statistic that does not affect damage. Instead, it raises the health of the Agent, as well as their defensive capabilities.

All agents typically specialize in 2 core statistics. They feed into other variables, such as the maximum health and stamina an Agent has, as well as the damage they are able to deal.

When an Agent reaches 0 health, the situation has gotten too hot and they will pull out and retreat to base to recover before getting back in the game. A downed Agent will be on a timer that will be impacted by the flow of the game, the first downed Agent will open a chain that will last for several seconds in which other Agents on the same team downed at that time will be placed under the same timer. Timers are lower for teams that have taken significantly more base damage than the other team. When out of combat, health regenerates as a moderate pace.

An Agent's stamina is consumed as they use abilities. Stamina is balanced so Agents must be strategic about how they use their abilities in combat, although this can be mitigated by characters who have high Spirit. Stamina recovers rapidly out of combat.

Throughout the course of the game, Agents will acquire credits at a passive rate. Additionally, before the game begins Agents will be able to select a Focus that will determine how they can earn bonus credits. Focuses will reward things like dealing damage, absorbing damage and ensuring team survival, providing healing, shields, and buffs to allies (and the additional damage the ally was able to absorb or contribute by virtue of the buffs being in place), providing vision and taking objectives, or debuffing enemies (as well as damage mitigated and time enemies spend under the effect of negative status conditions). Overall credit gain will be balanced to have some swing potential for a losing team to keep some benefit for high performance but also ensuring that credit totals remain roughly even.

Credits can be used to purchase items from the Black Market. Agents only have access to a certain array of items through the Black Market, although all items will draw from a much larger pool. Items give players ways to customize their playstyle by providing bonuses to their Core Statistics, as well as additional effects and giving players means to enhance areas they are succeeding in or cover weaknesses that are causing them to fail. Agents start with enough credits to purchase one mid-grade item.

Item Overview:

Agent Design:

Player Account Mechanics:

Matchmaking Mechanics:

Matchmaking rating will be based on a number of variables - APM, use of pings effectively (are you communicating missing enemies and trying to make calls and plays), win ratio, Agent performance (win ratio on specific Agent, win ratio in specific role, etc), and Role Performance (Are you soaking the most damage as a tank? Doing a lot of damage as a DPS? Etc.). MMR will be calculated at a baseline and adjust up or down depending on how close you are to your ideal (the Agent and Role you have the best performance in).

Queue Mechanics:

-Basic Queue: When entering queue, a player selects up to 5 Agents they are interested in playing, ranking them 1-5 iF desired. When they enter queue Matchmaker will scan for MMR first and put you in a bandof similar ratings. From there it will begin to assemble a team, slotting in 1 of each role and filling the 6th slot with an Agent that balances deficiencies in the composition (if composition is already balanced it will just throw someone in). If it is taking too long it will expand the MMR band to expedite the process. Matchmaker will prioritize your first pick Agent but will move down the line quickly if it can place you faster with another Agent.

At any point in the queue, or even before entering it, you can toggle the "Chaos Queue" option. In this option it will no longer account for composition, only MMR and who else is in Chaos Queue.

Ranked Queues are Draft with 3 bans for each side. You will need to have 18 Agents available to take part in Ranked Queue. Players will still declare preferred Agents, and Matchmaker will place based on higher picks leading to a balanced composition. In Ranked, all your picks will be displayed to your team during the pick/ban phase. Ranked will put focus on MMR balance over party balance which can be achieved more fluidly in Champion select instead of auto selection from standard queue.

Story and Lore:

Story Mechanics:

Core story structure is a hidden cold war between a collection of Factions with individual motivations. Agents belong to a faction, upon release they have some associated lore and motivations, as well as relationships with other Agents and plot hooks for future agents.

Players will declare allegiance to a Faction which gives them discounts on allied Agents. When an account is opened the account is considered a Freelancer and has discounts on "beginner friendly" Agents.

Agents have special plot missions that further their storyline. Depending on the other Agents unlocked and the state of the player's compound and upgrades, they can unlock more story missions.

Storyline events will be determined by performance of the factions in a number of different arenas, statistics such as frequency of Agent use and purchase, wins, tournament and pro play will all have a bearing on the storyline direction (pro teams will be required to represent a faction to encourage sports tribalism and drive fan engagement). This can impact in-game events, what Agents are released, what maps are released, etc.

Monetization:

In-game and money-based point currency.

Free-to-play with a cycling free Agent rotation. Should be able to purchase an Agent after ~25 games with in-game currency.

All cosmetics purchasable only with money, Agents with either money or in-game points.

Map Concepts:

This is an extension of the current Persona Valor being run by Professor Prof. These games will be taking place in the same universe and may have some crossover stuff over the course of it. Use Prof's posting as the core rules, but here's the premise for mine:

The cast will be high school students in Tokyo who live near or spend a lot of time in the Shibuya area. The area has been subject to a string of increased crime, in some cases bizarre and grisly, wholly uncharacteristic of Japan and of Tokyo. And in the midst of this, portions of the city are becoming consumed and altered by a mysterious fortress known as Barzakh. Imperceptible to all but the chosen few, the fortress continues to encroach upon the human world, and even the enigmatic master of the Velvet Room cannot discern its purpose. What is known, however, is that the fortress's appearance heralds a horror to be carried out in the area it emerges within.

Persona Theme

I'm open to a cultural deity pick, the ones I've had my eyes on the Celtic or Egyptian deities, depending on what people are interested in. I'm open to other suggestions as well.

This game will run every Wednesday from 7-10 PST. I will be instituting a hard stop, we will not go over time.

I'd like to get a Bleach Valor game going to test the ego weapon rules more intensively and also partake in the noble, age-old tradition of making cool swords and using them on evil monsters.

We'll be using the base Bleach setting but modifying a bit to suit our needs and do fun things. So, let us introduce the Soul Senate!

The Soul Senate is the seat of power for the Grim Reapers (known more colloquially as reapers) maintain the balance of Souls in the American region. As with their Shinigami counterparts in Japan, the Reapers wield blades that they use to purify wandering souls and send them to the Soul Senate, as well as cut down the Hollows, tainted souls that devour pure souls for sustenance.

Soul Senate governs the 13 regional states that make up the Soul States, the afterlife where American souls are sent and organized. Soul Senate is a democracy, all members of the Soul States may vote if they so desire. Each district has its own local government which can be elected from any resident of Soul States. Each Soul State also has two Soul Senators, who control the higher house. Between the two house committees and the Soul President, the Soul Senate legislates the law and maintains order within the Soul Society and the Grim Reaper action in the human world.

At its core the Soul Senate is a legislative body, but its duties do not stop there. They also control the Grim Reaper units, who patrol the human world and protect them from the Hollows. Each Soul State has its own division that has specialized duties. Additionally, the President heads his personal cabinet, comprised of high-level Reapers and politicians. However, each state has it's own Reaper Company that comprises the Soul States Army. Each state has a traditional duty within their own division of reapers, and each is fiercely proud of their own division.

1st Division - Command: The first division is the command division. Typically not likely to deploy on the field, the first Division is the division under the Soul Society Capitol and seat of power in the Soul Society. In the field, the First Division is typically seen communicating orders and organizing other squads through the Hell Ravens.

2nd Division - Infiltration: The second division is the infiltration division. Skilled in espionage and intelligence gathering. Secretive and well-funded, they have quite a reputation among the other squads and are generally not the most trusted division. Typically the second division will employ shady or otherwise under-handed tactics in order to succeed at their mission.

3rd Division - Special Ops: The third division is the Special Ops division, known for precise, surgical strikes against key targets. The third division is considered in some circles to be elite, and only officers tend to see combat action in the field whereas the bulk of their division is devoted toward intel and communication to facilitate their surgical strikes.

4th Division - Medical Unit: The fourth division is the support division. Most members were former doctors in life and they serve as combat medics and communications officers. The fourth division is known for higher levels of education and while their raw combat skill is much lower, they are respected as highly intelligence and tactical ability.

5th Division - Artillery: The fifth division is the heavy artillery division. They utilize powerful artillery in their units in order to blast away the opposition.

6th Division - Navy: The sixth division is the naval division, able to deploy over water with specialized aquatic scythes and powerful ships. The Navy division has somewhat limited deployment range but they are very powerful and well-respected.

7th Division - Air Force: The seventh division is the air force, having a wide operational range and speed from a combination of fighter planes and air or wind-based scythes. They specialize in bombing runs and hit-and-run maneuvers, allowing them to get in, do damage, and get out.

8th Division - Infantry: The 8th division is the core combat unit, making up the majority of the battle-ready forces. They handle the core combat and employ diverse combat skills in order to get the job done.

9th Division - Homeland Security: The ninth division is the security division, and they typically do not deploy into the human world. Their primary duties involve maintaining the Soul Society against threats from the outside world.

10th Division - Support: The tenth division is the support infantry. Trained to support the primary combat units, they train in flanking maneuvers, suppression fire, and other tactics that allow their allied units to utilize their destructive power to the fullest.

11th Division - Vanguard: The eleventh division is the Vanguard, the pure combat division who is always the first in in a combat situation. Known for fierce courage and pride, the 11th division lives and dies for battle.

12th Division - Research and Development: The twelfth division is the research and development division. Populated in large part by scientists of any number of disciplines, the 12th division is on the cutting edge of hollow combat and is constantly developing new equipment and technology to track and hunt hollows.

13th Division - Analysts: The thirteenth division is the analytic division. While they do mix in with the standard infantry and support, they spend a lot of time gathering information on the hollows and other enemies and compiling training manuals, tactics and strategies for the other divisions to employ in combat.

With so many people getting into League these days, I thought it might be nice to compile a list of people who play in the general plurk/DWRP circuit, that way we can play together since it's always more fun to play with a team than by yourself! If you're interested in being added to the list, go ahead and fill out the form below in a comment and I'll add you!

If you level up, acquire new champions, or make a new alt just comment and I'll update the list accordingly.

Player Name/Alias: Awe
Account Name: AweStriker
Account Level: 26
Preferred Maps: Up for anything except Twisted Treeline
Favorite Champion Roles: Not Jungler
Main Champions: Syndra, Ahri, Janna, Irelia
Alt Account Name: N/A
Alt Account Level: N/A
Notes: I'm on rather sporadically during the summer but from mid-August through April I'll be more consistent. I may contact people if I need to fill a slot in an otherwise me-and-real-life-friends team.

Player Name/Alias: Eric
Account Name: King Lunch
Account Level: 17
Preferred Maps: Crystal Scar, occasionally Howling Abyss. Don't like SR or TT at all
Favorite Champion Roles: All over the board
Main Champions: Warwick, Janna, Graves, Garen
Alt Account Name: none
Alt Account Level: none
Notes: Always down for teaming up. Unfortunately I work evenings. Thusly, I am rarely around during peak gaming hours, but am frequently around earlier in the day.

Player Name/Alias: Prof
Account Name: ProfessorProf
Account Level: 8
Preferred Maps: Crystal Scar, what the heck is Howling Abyss
Favorite Champion Roles: Assassin, Mage, Jungler, Carry? No idea
Main Champions: Nidalee, Fiora
Alt Account Name:
Alt Account Level:
Notes: N/A

Player Name/Alias: Sheepy
Account Name: SheepPrincess
Account Level: 26
Preferred Maps: Crystal Scar & Howling Abyss
Favorite Champion Roles: Support
Main Champions: Nami, Sona, Soraka, Lulu
Alt Account Name: Wooly Vendetta
Alt Account Level: 7
Notes: Fairly open to teaming up. I tend to play evenings.

Player Name/Alias: Void
Account Name: Behold the Void
Account Level: 30
Preferred Maps: Crystal Scar, will occasionally play Howling Abyss and can be talked into Summoner's Rift under familial duress/for newbie training
Favorite Champion Roles Kind of all over the board these days, just not Supports.
Main Champions: Diana, Vi, Varus, Sejuani
Alt Account Name: Captain Void
Alt Account Level: 16
Notes: I am usually up for a game or two in the evenings, and if I'm around on the weekends I'll usually play a bit. I have a fair few friends and some family members I play with but am always looking for more, especially to play Dominion with. I am not fond of Classic mode, but if you're new and need help getting a hang of the game I'm happy to help if I have time!

Trying to get the first Valorous Realms session going this week, please post availability here.

All right, let's get this show on the road. Using this since it's easier to capture information in one place.

First off: We're going to have a group character generation session. I expect it to be 1-2 hours, possibly a bit longer since we've got some new folks. Let me know when you're available for that.

Second: Go ahead and post your basic character concept and what you're looking at and we can discuss it further.

These are the available demo builds for the Valor demo I am running at Sakura con for playtest purposes so I don't have to keep typing them out in plurk.

Luana Unger: Strength/Guts, angry woman with giant sword/Valkyrie (level 16)
Jesse Carpenter: Agility/Guts, trick shot cowgirl/Starcraft Ghost (level 16)
Mitsuho Oshiro: Mind/Guts, Malevolent Entity build, Dark King of Games mage/summoner
Han Feng: Strength/Agility, wuxia warrior
Emlyn Griffith IV: Spirit/Mind, white mage
Gaia Gal: Strength/Spirit, earth-based superhero, fighter/mage with more emphasis on mage
Sabina Vladmirescu: Strength/Mind, Vampiress fighter/mage, focus on life steal and harassing
Seth Hasson: Agility/Spirit, Skateboarder with tinges of Alteisen and Subaru Nakajima
Amethyst Clover: Spirit/Guts, Pokemon Trainer with companions and diverse moveset
Zetaman/Zetaman Omega: Agility/Mind, Megaman-esque fighter with diverse moveset and abilities

Hello everyone! I am looking to run a test of the characters and scenario I have developed to demo the system at this year's Sakura con. I need between 4-6 people to test the scenario I have developed (6 would be ideal since based on past experience it's likely about the number I will be running with).

The scenario is a level 6 game with premade characters. The base setting is the characters are students of Hero Academy, a school specializing in training the next generation of hot-blooded heroes. It's generally a more modern fantasy game, and there will be some combat and challenge scenes.

The following characters are available for play:

Amethyst Clover, a Spirit/Guts monster tamer who specializes in using her monster companions to attack and aid her in combat.
Emyln Griffith IV, a Spirit/Mind priest who specializes in holy and supportive magic.
Gaia Gal, a Strength/Spirit Superhero who specializes in attacking with the very earth itself.
Han Feng, a Strength/Agility wuxia warrior who specializes in swift, powerful strikes
Jesse Carpenter, an Agility/Guts sharpshooter who specializes in trick shots.
Luana Unger, a Strength/Guts warrior who specializes in hurting people with a gigantic sword
Mitsuho Oshiro, a Mind/Guts youth who holds within the malevolent spirit of the Lord of Games. He specializes in summoning monsters and spells from his deck of cards.
Sabina Vladimirescu, a Strength/Mind vampiress who specializes in draining life and attacking from the darkness.
Seth Hasson, an Agility/Spirit skateboard mage who specializes in moving swiftly along magical paths and attacking with his Revolver Fist magic device.
Zetaman, an Agility/Mind robot boy who specializes in diverse attacks and tactics based on the other robot masters he has defeated.

If you're interested in signing up for a test game, please post here with the times you are available this week and the character(s) you are interested in playing. I hope to get a game going sometime this week, possibly this coming weekend depending on availability. I'm not quite sure what tabletop program we will be using, but am open to suggestions. If you've got any questions let me know!

I've been playing Harvest Moon: a New Beginning and have been enjoying it fairly well. However, that is not to say it is perfect, far from it in fact. In this post I just want to collect some thoughts on where I think the game falls short, what could improve it, and some notes on what I think a good direction for the franchise would entail.

First, New Beginning introduces a new and rather compelling mechanic in the form of the heightened customization. I like this a lot, it introduces some great new mechanics like the blueprint and the crafting workshop, and the building up the town element is great too. As you progress through the game and unlock everything it really gives you a sense of accomplishment and a tangible end-game goal to achieve which is awesome (although you would think that single-handedly rebuilding the town like you are would make it easier to get married. That said building villager friendship isn't too hard so nothing wrong with that).

An area where it falls flat, however, is that the farm grows so expansive it quickly reaches an unattainable level. Currently, I have the first of the two farm expansions, a second barn, and a fair few fields. I could be utilizing MUCH more of the open land for additional farmland or a second chicken coop, but most of it has just become overgrown with trees. It's not that I don't WANT to use the land, it's just that there is literally not enough time to utilize it fully. I know when I get the second map expand it will lie barren and useless because the game does not allot for enough time in the day to make use of it.

The game does a decent job of giving you advanced items that speed things along, but the problem is I don't think it does enough. The problem, I feel, is livestock. Caring for chickens is a pain in the ass (evidenced by the fact that I am not going to make a second chicken coop). The stethescope definitely helps, but giving animals treats every day (which you need to be doing for a good chunk of the game if you want to have them at the high heart rating) takes forever. Grazing animals is even worse, the first instrument you get to do this is literally a trap, the bell is so bad at getting the animals out to graze and takes so much stamina to use you might as well not bother. It's upgrade, on the other hand, is hilariously good at bringing the animals out to graze, with no real in-between. The other option, the pets, are another issue, you have to take the pets all the way out to the town in order to train them which takes even more time, so if you're trying to manage a bunch of fields and livestock and still go out and meet the neighbors (or try to catch those damnable bottles) it's extremely inefficient.

This gets even worse once you reach a critical mass of cows, sheep, and what have you. Even with the speedy brush, milker, and clippers, it still takes a ludicrously long time to tend to the animals. In order to tend to the animals and still have time to do anything else in the game, I have found myself having to do the multiplayer twice before I start every new day. And while I have nothing against the multiplayer, it's extremely frustrating and flow-breaking to feel forced into doing it constantly if I want to have a decent amount of livestock.

I feel this issue could be solved in a twofold manner. Having a few more tools that make it easier to, for example, dispense treats to your animals would go a long way. A modern milking machine would also be appreciated, an apparatus that milks all of your cows in one go. These things do exist, after all, and they are not too high tech for the setting. Some way to speed up the shearing would also be nice. With the tending of the animals though, I admit it would be impersonal to have a mass brushing machine (although the functional equivalent of a cow car wash would be hilarious). What would be REALLY helpful, I think, would be a completely new system - the ability to hire farmhands.

One of the major aspects of Harvest Moon has always been the interaction with people, and I think having a number of people in town that you can hire to help work on your farm would be both awesome and completely in-line with the Harvest Moon feel. Think about it, there is always an eclectic group of good working class folk hanging around town, why not make some of them available to leave their job and come work for you? You could have a wide variety of people with different skills, likes, and dislikes that you can bring on. This would also allow for expanded events. Normally, the only real interaction events you get are the main heart events with the available romance options and a handful of random events with the other townsfolk. Why not give more townsfolk these special events? You can have meaningful interpersonal interactions with more than just the cute girls, after all. A more robust event system would be great for really getting to know the villagers, and the farmhand system would give you great incentives to make friends with a lot of people beyond the standard "some townsfolk might give you recipes or something".

On the subject of interacting with the villagers, why not take this one a bit further as well. Currently, in order to make people be your friend, you just load them up on gifts until they like you. Participating in events helps with this and that's definitely a step in the right direction, but I think Harvest Moon would be well-served to take a page from the visual novels and focus less on preying upon people's materialism and more on having varied and interesting dialogue options. Obviously this would require more writing muscle than Natsume seems to currently employ, but at its heart one of the main appeals of Harvest Moon is it is an addictive RPG with dating sim elements, so the least they could do is give us a proper dating sim (and no it wouldn't need to be pornographic either, those exist after all).

Another issue I've encountered is that money is basically useless past a certain point. I'm sitting on about 400k right now and that pile just keeps getting bigger with nothing to spend it on. The component requirements I think are generally fine (although the reliance on random drops in the mine can be frustrating), but it would be nice to have some stuff to spend actual money on. I think in this case, there should be a greater definition of "things to buy with money" and "things to craft". Right now, all of the useful stuff besides your initial animals and seeds (as you have to breed animals in order to get the better animals before super late in the game and breeding is free, albeit woefully inefficient for non-chickens) requires special items to craft. I think there should be more and better things you can just spend money on. The vacations are definitely a great idea, but they also run into the horrid time issue mentioned above, where you have to intentionally keep your farm operation small to be able to do the other, arguably more interesting things in the game. And since you are making good money hand over fist, what motivation do you have to expand your farm?

So here's my pitch for the next Harvest Moon game, Natsume I hope you are listening!

Our story opens with our intrepid young farmer or farmette moving to a new town. This town is bigger than Echo, but is in some serious debt. There's a rival town with its own thriving farm community that has been cutting into this town's local economy, so a lot of shops are closed down and a lot of people are out of work. Your job is to revitalize not only the local farm, but restore the town. This can take elements from both Tale of Two Towns and New Beginnings, you have the robust customization options and the rival town interplay which also gives the opportunity for more nuanced interaction between your character and the members of both your hometown and of the other, more successful town. There's some definite villain interplay as some characters will definitely not be looking out for your best interest, but it also gives you a bit more freedom to pick your friends instead of being shoehorned into making nice with jerks (lookin' at you, Neil). Also for the love of god give the ladies better Bachelor options, your fanbase is more female than male so you owe it to them to let them play their own damn gender.

Overall, though, I like New Beginnings. Sure there's some definite room for improvement, but it does some really cool things with the old formula. Harvest Moon as a whole definitely has a bit of Pokemon Syndrome, but I think there's definite room and desire to innovate, it'd be great if they could go a bit more out of the box and borrow from some similar genres. I think there's a lot of opportunity here to make a really great game. Harvest Moon has always stood out as a game that can be successful without any combat-based conflict and it's a surprisingly compelling formula. I'd love to see it continue to evolve and achieve a better internal balance with new, meaningful and interesting features.

Mech Fight is a hybrid board/card game generally intended to have a shorter production cycle and squeeze in a revenue-generating product between Valor and Valor: Mecha. Very much a fun, lighthearted game with ideally a play time of 30 minutes to an hour. Drawing some inspiration from Monopoly, the point of Mech Fight is to either destroy your enemy mechs or capture certain important control points on the board and hold them all at the same time.

Here are some of the general ideas I've had for it, there are a few things that need definition and refinement but I'm pretty comfortable with how the mechanics are shaping up. I do want this to be a bit more complex, but not necessarily too complex, so I may be cutting some of the mechanics, we shall see.

-At the beginning of play, all players select a pilot card. Each pilot has 3 statistics, represented by stars ranging from 1-3: Power, Defense and Special, as well as a special ability.
-All players are issued a pre-determined amount of credits.
-Players then select a chasis. A chassis card is a large central card with five slots, four for limbs and one for a head. Depending on the chassis, the initial price is different. All chassis's (chassi?) have a certain defense and health level, as well as a special ability.
-All players then draw a certain amount of limb cards and head cards from the limb and head deck, and select (and pay for) four limbs and a head. Heads give some bonuses to defense, power, or special, and all limbs have a certain power bonus associated with them and may or may not have a special ability.
-All players then draw a hand of about 5 special cards, which can range from special abilities such as "flee a mech fight without any damage being dealt" to "add +2 power to an attack" to a Fuel Cell, which can be used to activate special abilities on various parts you have in play.
-All limbs and chassis's have a listed number range. When a Mech Fight occurs, the attacker and the defender roll Power and Defense 6-sided dice based on the combined Power rating of the pilot and the weapon vs. the combined Defense rating of the pilot and chassis. Any numbers that fall within the range of the listed numbers counts as a hit. After a Mech Fight, both players tabulate the amount of hits, whoever exceeds their opponents total hits reduces their opponent's mech's hitpoints by that number. In some cases, Special can be substituted for Power or Defense.
-Every 5 hitpoints a mech loses, it loses a limb. The attacker rolls on a spinner to determine which limb or if the mech loses its head. Heads and limbs lost in this manner go to the scrapyard, and can be picked up by other players. New parts can be drawn, saved, and added (or replace a part you already have equipped, putting that park back in your inventory) with special cards from your hand or by landing on a machine shop.
-Movement is determined by the roll of two six-sided dice, some parts or cards can alter your movement roll or be used in place of a roll.
-Acquisition of new limbs, cards for your hand, credits, and other resources are accrued as you move around the map, likely with random credit accruals even if you pass certain squares.
-Potentially, a number of maps for different amounts of players that can be mixed, matched, and combined if necessary. Also allows for potential expansion fodder.

I think that should be the majority of the mechanics. Most of the fiddly mechanics will be explicitly stated on the tiles and cards to allow for the dynamic variation in play. Complexity-wise, there's definitely some there but I don't think it surpasses Monopoly so I am fairly comfortable with it. If there are any thoughts and feedback definitely definitely let me know. I'll start working on this project in earnest once Valor is more complete.

Thus far it looks like Hero Academy is a total bust, or at least the teacher's game but I'll put up a last call. If I can get four or maybe even 3 for tomorrow's game I can run it, level 16 canon or non-canon, I'm pretty open.

In other news, I am going to start putting together the Valor demo for Sakura con in an effort to be able to do more ambitious things with it and get some actual proper playtesting so I'm not finding errors on sheets the day of and it all works together. I'm going to use the Hero Academy mentioned above as a base, but with a twist. Since I want to run 2 additional games at Sakura con, I want to run a teacher game, featuring some of the badass adults from various canon series for the second game of the day.

Here's the lineup I've been putting together thus far, I could definitely use some suggestions. Note some of these builds will be 3-stat balanced fighter types but will feature the two main stats fairly prominently. All of these will be built to either level 16 or level 20 if I'm feeling particularly hilarious.

Strength/Agility: Zoro
Strength/Spirit: Tentatively Goku but this could be about half of shounen casts ever
Strength/Mind: Dr. Franken Stein
Strength/Guts: Guts maybe? Zaraki Kenpachi would also work.
Agility/Spirit: Yukimura Sanada
Agility/Mind: Kurama
Agility/Guts: Kenshin Himura
Spirit/Mind: Lina Inverse tentatively, the full caster is an easy one to fill and Lina is a bit young
Spirit/Guts: Nanoha Takamachi
Mind/Guts: Roy Mustang

Gonna try again this Thursday at 6:00 PM Pacific, level 16, please sign up here if you can make it.

Due to the lack of sign-ups, I am attempting to reschedule this. All people who were signed up before please sign up again if you can make this new time.

The next mission will be a teacher mission. Traditionally, teachers from both St. Lucius's Hero Academy have a friendly working relationship and rivalry, and they tend to work together. The mission is to infiltrate a supervillain's base and uncover his dastardly plot.

I can take between 4 and 6 participants, the mission will take place Friday, October 5th, at 6 PM PDT. All teachers must be built to level 16. Let me know if you need the book or character sheet.

To sign up, post below along with your character's name and their general build and focus. As with Student missions, you are free to use canon characters or originals. See you there! I hope!

The first student mission has been completed! A party of five students descended into the old haunted mansion and confronted a Lich who was trying to open a gate into the realm of the dead. They thwarted his evil plans, but he fled before he could be brought to justice.

The next mission will be a teacher mission. Traditionally, teachers from both St. Lucius's Hero Academy have a friendly working relationship and rivalry, and they tend to work together. The mission is to infiltrate a supervillain's base and uncover his dastardly plot.

I can take between 4 and 6 participants, the mission will take place ~~Thursday, October 4th~~ Wednesday, October 3rd, at 6 PM PDT. All teachers must be built to level 16. Let me know if you need the book. While this is open to anybody, I do generally recommend more experienced players for this mission as the encounters will be built a bit tougher than normal (although with the asskicking that was handed out by a party of new players last night, that may not be a concern at all).

To sign up, post below along with your character's name and their general build and focus. As with Student missions, you are free to use canon characters or originals. See you there!

Edit: Totally forgot we had plans for Thursday, so it will have to be Wednesday.

The first Hero Academy mission will be Thursday, September 27th, at 6:00 PM Pacific Time. This will be a Student Mission, open to all Student Characters at level 3.

Members of the first year class at Hero Academy has been charged with investigating an old house said to be haunted by the ghost of a vengeful spirit.

Meanwhile, members of the first year class at St. Lucius have been given orders to enter an old house and obtain old documents locked in a safe in the basement. Both groups will be meeting en route and, per the official school policies, will reluctantly band together but will work to complete their missions.

I can take 4-6 people, I will need character sheets from those who want to play. If you want to get in please sign up in this post, along with the name and a brief description of your character.

ALL RIGHT LET'S DO THIS!

I will be holding a character generation session tomorrow at 6:00 PM PDT, where I will get a chat together over AIM as well as create a plurk to help people who need assistance with characters. I encourage everyone who wants to make characters to show up, whether they are making teachers or students. Remember, teachers level 16, students level 3. Going to try to get the campaign going by next week.

Everyone who wants to play let me know, even if you can't make tomorrow I will try my best to get everyone set up. Also let me know if you need the most recent copy of the book, which currently nobody has as it was just revised last night for some rules clarification and a bit of beefing on the Companion skills, and I can send it along, as well as the character sheet.

If you can make it tomorrow, please let me know here or in the plurk I will have up on this post momentarily. The chat name will be valorcharactergen, feel free to invite anybody who is interested who this may not reach. Also feel free to start discussing concepts, I am also happy to answer questions right now to help people make the character they want or help them define a concept. Have at!

So Valor needs playtesting. Let's get some playtesting on.

Hero Academy is a generally zany game centered around a high school for hot-blooded shounen heroes. It involves two dueling rival schools, Hero Academy, the rough and tumble public school meant to train the next generation of hot-blooded action heroes. The other school, St. Lucius Meriweather Academy of the Most Holy Cross and Her Majesty's Secret Service, is a private academy meant to train cunning, intelligent strategists who understand the HARSH REALITIES OF WAR.

Field classes and labs are a major part of the curriculum at both Hero Academy and St. Lucius's. Students are expected to go out and gain experience in the field. This generally means smashing the heads of n'er do wells for Hero Academy students and strategic strikes for important key points.

It is not uncommon for students to encounter each other on the field, and they often end up grudgingly teaming up while trying to fulfill their own objectives.

The Hero Academy campaign is open to as many players as would be interested. I'll likely try to run a game every Thursday or Friday, but I'm open to other evenings depending on what works well with people's schedules. Sheepy may also run some games just so we can get as many players going as possible.

Characters should be built to level 3, and can be from either of the two schools. Additionally, on occasion I will run "Teacher Missions" where players can play as Teachers from the two schools and will start at level 16.

As an additional note, for the hell of it, I will allow people to run canon characters if they want, either as teachers or students since I am interested in seeing how well canon characters can be made in the system. You can also stat as many characters as you want and swap them in or out as desired. Go nuts! Build characters! Sign up below and give me your ideas!

Edit: I am doing this SRWUG style so each game will be sign-up. We will be using Roll20.

I am calling for experienced Valor players to run a higher-level campaign of a generally more comedic style. This campaign will begin at Level 11. The basic backdrop is as follows:

There are two ancient Kingdoms. On one side is the Light Kingdom, the purveyors of all things good and righteous. With holy magic of light, healing, and cleansing, they have stood against the vile Dark Kingdom. With their vile necromantic and black magics, the Dark Kingdom and the Light Kingdom have lived forever in eternal strife, no side ever gaining ground, always at war.

Except for whenever there's another, bigger problem, in which the two kingdoms begrudgingly band together to face the threat. This can happen as often as once a month.

Most recently, the great General of the Dark Kingdom Ulterion Malignus and his counterpart, the great General of the Light Kingdom Grigory Lightbringer has been cut down by the poisoned knives of the Serpent and Spider Assassin clans, and now lie inches from death. The Dark and Light Kingdoms are in peril, and it is up to the PCs to unite the Kingdoms and beat back the Serpent and Spider clans before they destroy both the Light and Dark Kingdoms!

If you want in, please sign up here, as well as the character you want to play. You do not HAVE to be a Light or Dark Kingdom PC but you do need to be connected to the party. Light Kingdom characters are generally Paladin/cleric types, whereas Dark Kingdom characters are generally Dark Knight/Necromancer types. I can take between 4 and 6 players, and am looking at a Thursday game, probably around 6-ish. Let me know if you are in and the kind of character you are looking to make.

Sheepy and I are married!

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Austin

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Austin

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