Monday, July 14, 2014

Hello, Ponies from EQD!

Hey, that's neat.  Based on my traffic monitor, apparently my blog has been linked by EQD!
...
...

So yeah, apparently I'm listed in the Equestria Daily Gaming Index as of some time in the last three months.  I was never notified about it in any capacity, just sort of started getting traffic hits from that page about two and a half months ago.  Didn't actually track it directly until these last few weeks when I was buckling down to finish the core. 

My RPG is listed second from the top of the "D100 (percentile dice) based:" category under the Complete Games heading, directly below the savage-worlds based PNP Fallout Equestria system.
(Ctrl+F "d100" will take you right there, since the page is sort of long). 

(And directly above a system that, not to be mean, makes me sort of laugh and cry simultaneously every time I look at its rules document.  Seriously, that poor person or persons who are responsible for that thing really ought to take it down... it's just not playable.  I should know, I tried.)

Dunno when that happened, but thanks for stopping by, EQD people.  I won't let my Trixie-based recognition go to my head.  :)

Drop me a line if you see something you've got questions about!

--Archer 

Saturday, July 12, 2014

New Version (v1.22 Complete) Posting Notification

Hey there Wastelanders?
How's everybody doin'?

I'm pretty excited myself. 

In honor of my new campaign that is starting tomorrow, "Post-War Ponies, Pre-War Problems," (coming soon to stores near me) I finally got over my perfectionism and said "To hell with it, I'm posting this now." 

That was approximately 8 hours ago.  After about that many hours of editing and compilation work (and fixing the table of contents - it's now 100% completely filled in for the first time ever!), I give you:



Here's a brief summary change log of what's new in this version... Sadly, one of my working changelogs was deleted by accident in a freak accident involving about 6 GB of Anime, so this is probably only about 80% of the changes this update actually captures. 

CHANGELOG
v1.22 (Pre [27])
- L15 and 30 Character examples.  ALL of them; that's what took so damn long. 
- Update the Character Sheet Guide pictures to match the Mk XIII sheet. 
- Finishing up the BBEG section
- Balancing tweaks including critical damage multiplier reductions
- Rules for continued-substance abuse relating frequent use to addiction chance. 
- Hind Leg Stance for Zebra, now an optional perk for ponies. 
- Unicorn Magic Limitations per spell level
- Wearing multiple sets of Armor (Variable ablation and degradation cycling; how much armor can a character wear?)
- Lightening Spell (for use with talismans, ala a skywagon)
- Repair talismans for powered barding. 
- Reduction of Unicorn strain pool (balance)
- Modifications to addiction rules (and corresponding perks, hindrances, traits)
- Friendly Fire Rules
- By Request: Zonkeys.
- Complete Overhaul of Flight maneuvers.  New maneuvers added referencing the pilot, MLP comic. 
- Authority and mirrored sunglasses give a bonus to Stare intimidate rolls.
- Complete reorganization of Perks.
- Addition to Initiative - Agility affects your rolls more directly now. 
- Altered requirements for several perks to make them easier to acquire based on playtester feedback and to align with Canon.
- First wave of Monster Templates added (Raiders, Ankha and Phoenix, Radscorpions)
- Double Team Fix
- Fixes to zebra talismans, including special ingredient clarification. 
- Throwing things with TK and STR
- Overhaul of Greater Dispel, all TK related spells to more clearly represent effects and interrelation. 
- Overhaul of multiple appropriate spells to reflect Willpower (a semi-derived stat that is actually a combination of CHA and INT; roll both, take best). 
- Talisman Creation overhaul (See Talisman Creator spell)

V1.22 ([27]-[33])
- Overhaul of Magical Arrow Spell tree for clarity
- Overhaul of Lighting effects (for use with shadow magic) - compression of level differences. 
- Zony Shaman Overhaul. 
    - Consume removed.
    - Explicit conversions of Zebra recipes to Unicorn spells and vice versa. 
- Monster templates: Talon Company Mercenaries, Gawdyna grimfeathers, Manticore, Radscorpions, Raiders, Enclave Soldier.  
- Drip, Faucet, copied to kinesis tree.  Their tier 3 and 4 remain elemental exclusive, because they have less to do with kinesis and more to do with smashing people ponies to death with water.
- Ward of Containment fixed.  (whoops!)
- SERIOUS overhaul of the Talisman Creator spell (*again*). 
- Corrections all Zebra spells for consistent grammar in usage. 
- Compression of Zebra spellcasting modes.
///END CHANGELOG


Still to Come: 

V1.23
- Finish the other 65 or so monster sheets I've outlined for myself. 
- Sleep, occasionally.  
- Wasn't I supposed to be working on my master's thesis?
- Also, some Matlab code. 

V2.01 (SEPERATE DOCUMENT - This is the splat book)
- Shadow Magic outlining of core mechanics and spells (completed - I have 77 spells prepared, and the mechanics are all pretty much finished)
- Cybernetics integration (I need a good picture of a Vitruvian Mare...)

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Temporary Version 1.22[28]

So the reason I haven't updated in a while is a bit of a doozy.  For those of you not in the know on this (which is everyone except my rule-breaker beta testing group, Knights and Exiles), the [28] in brackets is what I use to mark significant edit iterations for a given issue of the rules doc.  Usually, I get to version [8] or [9] and release with the new modifier.  This version is now quite far beyond that point.  Why is this?  Two reasons: 

1. Work
As some of you who have gotten in touch with me directly, I'm a master's student in engineering.  On top of that course-load, for the last 6 months I've been preparing to manage a gaming convention known as PolyCon in the beautiful little town of San Luis Obispo, California. (Stop by if you can - there will be two FoE RPG events running during the con!)

2. Goals

My Goal for version 1.22 is to have all of the 'essential' monster sheets done.  There are lots of other things that have come up in between point 1.21 and that goal, but I don't want to release until I can guarantee that that goal is met. 
Sounds simple enough, right?  Of course, if it was, I would have released the finished edition month ago. 
Sadly, the template I've sort of cornered myself into using for the monster sheets is Microsoft-publisher based.  I haven't been able to recreate it within my specifications in open office-based programs.  This is sad because it's fairly intensive to copy all of the data and abilities of each unique sheet into a consistent format for each of the 100 (exactly 100, by some complete accident) different encounter-templates I'm creating.  

All of that said, I have not abandoned this project.  Not in the least!   In fact, I've been working to make monster template sheets so that I can finish the first book.  When the main book is FINALLY done, I can  get to putting all of these new and crazy ideas I've been getting these last 5 months or so into the splat book (right alongside Changelings, Crystal Ponies, Dragons, Shadow Magic, and Robot player characters!) 


I have 31 of them completed, which is what I've been doing these last three months alongside convention-planning and some extremely intense MatLab and Comsol.  Now that I have the draft templates created for each of them, I can finish about one a day on average, assuming I have time each day to work on them (which I don't usually).   

So, because I recognize that I'm taking way too long, I'm posting an unfinished version (Again). 
The link is >>>HERE<<<
It's not hyperlinked, but the table of contents is accurate up to its point of completion.  (Which is the beginning of the monster manual section.)

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Splat Book Preview: Changelings!

Here's what I've been cooking on the side of late: Changelings as a character race

Changelings

Racial Ability: Shapeshifting: The changelings are an enigmatic race of shape shifters that hail from the lands far to the south and west of Equestria. They appear to be a cross between a pony and some sort of chitinous winged insect, with translucent insectoid wings and frightening looking fangs to compliment a mottled and pockmarked black exterior. Their legs look notably unusual, with deep holes and chunks taken out of them at odd places, often going completely through the center of the leg. The edges of these holes are razor-sharp, as if they were cut out using precision tools. Changeling eyes tend to lack clearly defined pupils (the same is not true of changeling queens, who have eyes similar in appearance to ponies). They have horns in roughly the same anatomical location as a Unicorn, and although the horn usually appears twisted and misshapen it is still used as the focal point for their race’s unique magical abilities. Pre-war, they were noted for being particularly ruthless and extremely deceptive in the pursuit of their one goal: sustenance.

Changelings do not consume normal food; they can eat and drink as normal ponies, but to truly survive a changeling needs Love, or another powerful positive emotion. They can obtain their food of choice in a number of ways. A common way pre-war would be to trap a victim via ambush, cocoon them, and then, while their cocoon drained their first target of emotion, assume their form to absorb the love they received from their friends and loved ones. If this more subtle approach failed, they would often resort to over-running and cocooning entire settlements of different races, absorbing the love and sympathy exuded by their victims at the plight of their loved ones. Larger hives of changelings were noted to engage in the subtle infiltration method as a precursor to the more reliable method of mass-entrapment. Nearly all larger hives were hated by both sides, and those in known locations received megaspells from both sides during the last days of the zebra-pony war.

Changeling hives are ruled by a queen, usually almost twice the size of a normal changeling. While multiple ‘females’ exist within the hive and the queen is not thought to be the only source of new changelings (though the exact details of changeling creation or reproduction are not known– various theories abound, not the least noteworthy of which includes the magical removal of the heart of a living equine), the queen guides the hive as an absolute monarch towards the end of achieving its goals. It is unknown why the queen designation is female; neither the queen nor the drones has a physical gender except when transformed, as their ‘base’ form has no observable genitalia.

Changelings are demonstrably capable of independent thought, so it is implicit that they do not require direct input from the queen for their individual survival. It has been postulated that the changelings of a hive give their queen their own love, making her a sort of ‘champion’ to their cause as a consolidation of their strength; whatever the reasoning, changelings will follow their queen’s orders almost without question.

When several larger hives were destroyed in the last days of the war, many changelings took a proactive stance to ensure their own survival; at least one stable became over-run with the creatures, which used its inhabitants as a food source to ride out the storm. The ultimate fate of this stable is unknown. Many individual changelings lost their hives and survived on their own by supplanting individuals in shelters and stables, essentially taking over another creature’s life. Still other hives survived by forming small burrows in low-radiation zones and entering into a state of hibernation, only to be awakened when enough ambient love abounded for them to survive upon resurfacing.

Changelings receive a bonus attribute point to Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence or Luck at character creation. Their abilities grant them a unique place in the wasteland, where positive emotions are scarce. Love and hope are something that they seek to foster in order to stay healthy and alive, but these things tend to come with a price which perches them quite precariously in terms of karmic balance.

Instead of normal food and water, Changelings must interact with others to sustain themselves. A speechcraft roll MFD ½ generally allows a changeling character to garner enough affection from a character or creature to sustain them for 1d6 days. After that period, if they do not feed again immediately, they will begin to suffer the effects of starvation as would any other race. Changelings can receive love from other changelings to make this last longer, but receiving enough love to count as resetting the 1d6 ‘countdown’ causes the other changeling to immediately begin starving (they must roll on the starvation penalties table immediately). Changelings may attempt to feed on negative emotions as well (possible applications of this fact include influencing the attitudes of others), but doing so acts as it does for herbivores eating carnivorous food. Though they feel sated and are temporarily able to ignore starvation penalties, it ultimately does nothing to nutritionally sustain them (and may even make them feel ill).

Normal changeling drones are physically incapable of speaking anything that could be interpreted as a language by ponies, instead making only high pitched buzzing and chirping noises to communicate with one another. As a result, they must take the Dumb hindrance, though this neither provides them with a creation point nor counts towards their total hindrance limit. While transformed using Shapeshift, they may speak or make noise just as the target they are mimicking. Similarly to Alicorns and Hellhounds, Changelings are just too damn powerful. To compensate for this, at character creation they only receive 1 character creation point for every two hindrances taken, and their maximum recommended hindrance limit is extended to 8. Changeling magical abilities are linked to Charisma, rather than Intelligence.

Abilities:
Cocoon Changelings are capable of producing a sticky, viscous green gel from magical glands in their mouth and esophageal tract. They’ve been observed using this to cocoon individual dominated or restrained victims, and it is believed that they are able to absorb the victim’s emotions remotely via the cocoon. Given at least 5 uninterrupted minutes with a subdued, restrained or mentally dominated character, a changeling can fully encase them in a cocoon. If not fully cocooned, a character may attempt to break free with a STR check MFD 1; the difficulty of this roll is increased by 1 MFD step for every full minute the changeling has been working to cocoon them. While in the cocoon, they are completely physically and magically restrained – casting spells and making strength checks to escape are all at an incredible 3 MFD step penalty, magical strain is drained at a rate of 1 per hour and regenerates at half speed, and even sound is extremely muffled. Breaking out of a cocoon from the inside can only be attempted once every 12 hours, and requires dealing at least two wounds to the cocoon itself. Cocoons have 25 DT and damage per wound equal to twice that of the creature they contain. If damaged, they can be healed by a changeling spending a full minute to repair the damage. They can also be burst from the outside. Creatures inside the cocoon are kept hydrated and are able to sleep normally, but still suffer normal penalties for starvation. Many trapped in changeling cocoons will eventually die as a result of this fact, but it is theorized that characters stuck in cocoons for long enough actually become changelings themselves as their emotions are slowly drained out of them over the course of multiple weeks. While it has at least one living cocooned creature, a changeling does not need to feed on emotions.

Feed – Changelings that are unable to absorb a sufficient amount of ambient love may occasionally be forced to resort to more drastic measures to ensure their survival. This technique is such a measure – by cornering a victim, a changeling can forcibly drain the emotion from them, sating their appetite. They roll magic opposed versus the target’s charisma or intelligence (they roll both and take the better of the two). For each MFD step they succeed by, the changeling extracts enough love and positive emotion to be sated for 1d4 days (maximum 14 days). Failures accomplish nothing. The target is stunned for a number of combat rounds following the feeding equal to the number of steps they lost by. This method of feeding requires that the target be surprised and/or cornered, and that they are experiencing at least some level of positive emotional response at the time of feeding. Changelings with mental influencing abilities often induce such states in their victims before feeding in this fashion.

Shapeshift – A very powerful natural form of illusory magic, all changelings are capable of using this ability from a very young age. In terms of scope and function, it is very similar to the Alter Form spell, though it has no time limit, can only affect the caster, and must use a mimic-form of a character that the changeling has seen before as a basis for the transformation. The caster must have a clear mental picture of whom or what they are imitating. Also unlike Alter Form, this spell will copy voice and speech patterns (similar to Voice Alteration). Shapeshift changes the physical appearance, feel, and sound of the caster to look like any other living creature of approximately the same size and shape, up to and including those of dramatically different race or with considerably different anatomy. Though it may physically alter the weight and stature of the caster by as much as ±50%, this spell has no effect on physical or mental attribute scores or damage per wound values. Using this ability takes a single action in combat, and creates the appearance of the changeling’s form being briefly enveloped in a flash of green fire. The fire itself does not produce heat, but is bright enough to dimly illuminate a 20’ radius, and it will damage any items held by the changeling during the transformation. Items touching the flames take 3d20 damage, and any flammable items (such as cloth) disintegrate. While shapeshifted, a changeling can only use the physical abilities of the form they assume. If the ability is not one they normally possess (like Dig), they gain that ability’s skill at rank 25. They do not copy natural venoms or other abilities that are not visible in nature (the claws they get from imitating a hellhound look sharp, but aren’t really. The tail they get from copying a radscorpion doesn’t actually inject venom. For copied natural weapons, treat damage as though it were done by a horn (3d6 + STR) for sharp piercing attacks or griffin claws (2d10+STR) for slashing attacks. Blunt attacks still do damage as hooves (STR). They do not assume the magical abilities of any form they copy – any magic they cast is their own, and their assumed shape not having a horn does not prevent them from casting magic (the glow of magic is visible in their eyes, instead of and in addition to their horn). Changeling magical auras are universally green, and do not change regardless of form.

Skill Bonus Ranks: +3 Speechcraft, Mercantile, Unarmed, Melee Weapons. Pick any two. No Lockpicking penalty. -40 Speechcraft vs. all other races unless disguised.

Racial Skills:

Flight: +5, Agility Based. Changelings cannot learn level 4 flight maneuvers. With the exception of basic (level 0) maneuvers, they must have witnessed the maneuver performed at least once to attempt to learn it. 


Magic +10, Charisma Based. Changeling magic is based off of imitation, making it exceptionally versatile but limited in power. Changelings can learn any unicorn spell up to level 2 and/or any spell in the Mental/Memory and Illusion/Stealth spell categories (including the level 3 and 4s). They have the same numerical limitations or spells at each level as Unicorns, but cannot learn intuitively or develop their own spells. To learn a spell, a changeling must have witnessed it being performed at least once. Otherwise, normal unicorn spell learning procedures apply. Changelings begin play with two spells: Telekinesis and Voice Alteration. It costs a changeling no strain to cast Voice Alteration, though it cannot be cast without Shapeshift being in effect. They may maintain it indefinitely.


Special Trait Eligibility
- Changeling Queen – (3 Point Trait) – You are a young changeling queen from a small hive, perhaps one that was forced into hibernation to escape the balefire holocaust. You receive the Large perk for free, your eyes have defined pupils, you do not need to take the Dumb hindrance, and you have 1d4 normal changelings under your control. GMs may assume direct control of these changelings or even stat them out as player characters and give them to players, but their loyalty to the queen is unquestioning and they should be built and played appropriately to reflect that fact. Changeling Queens also begin play with the Mind Trick spell. If the queen dies, her loyal changelings will seek out a new queen.
- Changelings may take the Smooth Talker perk as a trait at character creation
- Built in Tools – Changelings are eligible to take this perk due to the unnatural-looking configuration of their legs. If taken, this trait represents their ability to use sharpened protrusions on their legs as natural lockpicks. In a pinch they can also be used as weapons! (Use the stats for a Knife).

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Version 1.22[20] Posted!

Hey There Wastelanders Life is pretty rough on me right now in terms of time I can spend working on this, but I can't wait any more. Here's version 1.22, pre-editing. I'll have a finalized and edited version for y'all by tomorrow... hopefully... but this includes a whole slew of rules doc updates, fixes, and new content. Pregen characters are done, and there are some more monster sheets too! Here's the file link - Sorry, it's still only a word doc, and I know the ToC page numbers after page 150 are just wrong. The wait was killing me! More frequent updates to follow when my classes stop kicking me so hard.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Status Update: Almost There!

Sorry to keep you all waiting... just a little bit longer now. I've got almost all of the pre-generated example characters finished, but it's taking me a lot longer than expected. The only four left to do are Flare (of FoE Heroes), Blackjack/Security, Calamity Leaf, and Velvet Remedy. The new version has many, many explanatory clarifiers and lots of balancing tweaks, and I fear my ability to include corrections has lagged behind my implementation. This is my first Quarter as a master's student and it's been kickin' my hind-quarters something fierce, so I can't give a concrete date on the release. That being said, if you leave a question in any place I can see it (including the comments, facebook group, Skype, or my e-mail), I can promise you an explanation and hopefully provide some clarity as to why a thing is the way it is, for those who want to know. Also, I'm looking forward to a partnership with an awesome artist who has spoken to me, interested in drawing art for the final version of the rules. I can't promise anything, but I think pretty pictures of post-apocalyptic ponies would spruce it up a bit, don't you? More on that as it develops.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Busy busy busy!

Hello there followers and watchers. I haven’t been able to post here lately because of an issue I keep having with blogspot’s internal post writing template. I’ve submitted a problem report, but I’m honestly not sure why it keeps happening. Editing in the HTML directly seems to allow me to bypass the error, but I only discovered this today. Anyway, I’ve continued to work on the system, overhauling and balancing things. Next update will have a slight modification to the character sheet, in addition to balancing tweaks made to 90% of the perks list, about 30% of the traits and hindrances, and the level 15 character examples. I’m about 70% done with the character examples at current due to unexpected delays. Also, I'm working with my so-far most reliable contact to get monster examples completed, though it looks like they'll be delayed significantly. This is the same wonderful human being who made publishing the spell lists possible, so I'm fairly optimistic. Personal whining follows: I wish it were easier for me to find level progressions for all of the characters in other peoples’ stories! Protagonists are easy enough, but the support characters often seem to lack a solid character progression that I can map out. Personal whining ends. Here’s a peek at the new sheet!
The only change made was the removal of the % hit penalty section. This was done for simplifying reasons; the % hit chance modifying hindrances and traits have been altered to provide a bonus (or penalty, as appropriate) to dodge rolls instead. This new sheet will be released (in the normal pdf and pub formats) alongside the upcoming update... when I finally made the goal I set for it. Setbacks have been significant. Bear with me people, I’m gonna get this finished if it kills me. This system has eaten more of my love than a starved changeling. Pinkie Promise.