not my first steps, but …

I have now handed in my PhD thesis, and will be defending it sometime in the winter (I hope). In the meantime I’m ramping up work on some RPG projects that have been idling since last year, while also continuing to work as a researcher on a new project. So. Many projects.

On the RPG side of things I have several smaller projects that are growing in size, some will be previewed here as they are fan-made constructions. Others will be announced here when done, together with another announcement that could be exciting. This is a slow, nigh glacial, process though, so updates are unlikely to be any more frequent than has become the norm.

The fan-made constructions will include some new stuff for use with the Star Wars RPG, and some for use with Genesys. The Emporium PDF appears to be a long-winded success, that is in dire need of updating with regard to content and design. I have started this work, but need to pick it up again as the last 12 months were dedicated to research and writing the aforementioned PhD thesis. The updated Emporium is also going to serve as a proof or test of concept, that I hope can lead to some other creations.

I am playing around with various genres and game systems, to figure out what kinds of stories can best be told using these different systems. It is an inspiring process of reading games, adventures, and studying how various game designers think about stories, and how adventure writers make use of the game systems to best tell their story within the confines of the given system.

kickstarting rpgs

After managing to keep away from Kickstarter for a while, I caved this summer. Two new games on Kickstarter made me go weak in the knees, capitulate, and throw money at them.

Avatar

The first of these is Avatar Legends RPG, which set records and did very well (you can late pledge here). This is however not the one I’m going to write about today. Because the immensity of it speaks for itself; finally there’s an official RPG letting you play in the Avatar-verse, bend elements, and solve nefarious and mystical plots. If you loved the animated series of Aang or Korra (or both), then this is your chance to tell your own stories in that rich world.

carbon grey

The game I’m going to write about is a game that I knew nothing about before the Kickstarter, except that it was using the good old D6 system from West End Games (WEG), and that it is based on a comic books series of the same name, that I am unfamiliar with, and it looks really cool.

The game and comic books called Carbon Grey is set in a diesel-punk world, in an alternate and dystopian 1915 “Europe”, a great war is raging, axis nation clash with allied powers, and reality shifting powers provide suitably anachronistic aesthetics and mysteries. The setting is an original world introduced in the comic books of the same name, and Magnetic Press Play is producing game, the core book, miniatures and other game accessories are being printed as I write this (afaik). You can still pre-order the game, or the comic book (or both), so get on the bandwagon, this game is going to be incredibly fun! There’s also a subreddit and a Facebook group up and going, ready to be populated by enthusiastic gamers.

Whether you are a connoisseur of original settings, or just love the D6 system, this game has both. The setting is rich with potential for different kinds of stories and campaigns, from episodic mission-based military style games, to intrigue, espionage, to mystical time-wrenching madness, and more. Looking at the art and some of the decisions made with the system, I conclude that it is a brutal and lethal game. The core book contains everything you need, and while we are waiting for the finished version, there are already two free supplements to be found on drivethrurpg; 1) the setting primer is an invaluable PDF with everything you need to know about the world, and 2) the quickstart guide, which contains the rules (somewhat abbreviated) and a starting adventure: Operation Nursemaid.

This version of the D6 system, called D6MV (magnetic variant), is a modernised and streamlined version of the D6 system, perhaps not as streamlined as others, but the changes from the D6 Star Wars days stand out for those of us that didn’t stay deep in the D6 system after Star Wars moved on to greener pastures. Some attribute changes (merging Technology and Mechanical, and adding Willpower) makes sense, and the mystical powers seems to re-use the old force power system from Star Wars, with new names and new powers – and new gloriously potent consequences. The Wild Die remains of course, and is integral to the setting and can have even more drastic consequences than I recall it having in Star Wars. Force Points have been replaced with Hero Points, and they play a more central role both in game-play and character development. It looks to me as a very elegant and streamlined (but not too streamlined) modernisation and update of the D6 system. It is easy, accessible, and the basic logic is quick to learn.

As an unknown setting (to me at least), I believe the game faces a challenge with getting fans and spreading across the gamer nation, where big brand names seem to dominate today. However, that the game is based on an existing IP and comic book, helps. Today popular franchises populate the market (e.g., Star Wars, Star Trek, Conan, Alien, Dune, Fallout, Expanse, etc) and of course D&D. While new and original settings also exist and succeed (e.g., Mutant YZ, Coriolis, Symbaroum), and Carbon Grey could be said to fall closer to this latter group, it has one advantage over these: it comes with a fleshed out setting, a rich world, that not only exists in the core rulebook, but also as a comic book that can be bought with the game. This helps to show GMs and players what kind of stories and character populate the world, serving as an inspiration.

I have yet to test this game, but having read it, I am eagerly awaiting the finished product.

Crafting – expanded and meddled with…

This is an older post, but it checks out. We did some play-testing of these house-rules, and they did work fairly well. It is aimed at somewhat more enabling of power-play, and it was specifically designed for armour crafting (the only crafting rules out at the time of creation and play-testing). However, I do believe they can work with weapons also, and other items, although some tweaking may be in order.

I will test these further in my current campaign.

These customised crafting rules are aimed at expanding upon, but still be in the spirit of, the crafting rules in the FFG Star Wars RPG system, giving players some more control over their crafting.

When generating new crafting templates based on existing, published or home-brewed weapons, gear, armour and so on, follow these steps:

Cost:	~1/2
Rarity:	-1 to -2

For example: Take the Kyuzo Energy Bow (from Forged in Battle), halve cost to 1200 and reduced the rarity by 1, and you have the start of a template for a (heavy) energy bow.

Crafting difficulty is based on original rarity:	Rarity 1-2	Easy	adjust for complexity
	Rarity 3-4	Average	adjust for complexity
	Rarity 5-6	Hard	adjust for complexity
	Rarity 7-8	Daunting	adjust for complexity
	Rarity 9+	Formidable	adjust for complexity

The Kyuzo Energy Bow has an original rarity of 8, hence the difficulty would be Daunting, this could be adjusted up or down. I’d suggest to keep it at Daunting, it is not conventional, but not extremely unorthodox either.

Time:	Adjust by table and what seems reasonable, err on the side of too long.
Other:	Remove non-unique and non-core functionality qualities
	Consider auto-upgrade, difficulty increase or adding setback dice for unique qualities

Here the templates is basically designed and the final difficulty set.

Looking at the ranged weapons template table in Special Modifications, I consider the Heavy Energy Rifle to be similar enough, 24 hours is an appropriate time, although we may increase this to 36 if we want to signify some complexity or other in the creation of this bow.

The profile we base on the Kyuzo Energy Bow, so dmg: 9, crit 4, range long, encumbrance 6, and 2 HP. In spirit of the Heavy Energy Rifle, we also keep Cumbersome 3. The weapon has no unique qualities, but I’d consider allowing to keep one quality, to compensate for the Cumbersome 3 rating, and the base weapon’s lower damage, higher crit rating, and fewer HPs (compared to Heavy Eneryg Rifle). However, choosing to keep the Knockdown quality should warrant an added setback die to the difficulty. If we want to keep the Pierce quality instead, at a reduced rank, for instance 2 or 3, this may have they same modifier. If we are adamant to keep the Pierce 5, that could easily warrant an upgrade of the difficulty check. Keeping both qualities is not advised. We may also choose to not keep any but the Cumbersome quality for a more basic heavy energy bow template.

The following guidelines are for combining existing and new templates, as well as adding qualities to templates before the check is made, in essence potentially ensuring certain qualities to the finished crafted item.

Step 1	Pick base template from which base item profile is derived.
Step 2	Determine cost and rarity of materials needed:	Pick most expensive and/or rare template. Add half the cost of other template.
Step 3	Determine time needed to craft item:	Start with template with longest craft time and add an appropriate amount of time, I tend to go for half of second template or 6 hours, whichever is longer
Step 4	Determine craft difficulty:	Base this off the most difficult template and adjust further.

The idea here is that accomplished crafters, may combine different templates to create more complex items, originally intended to combine various types of armour templates. In effect gaining more benefits in one item. Adjusting the difficulty as suggested below.

Customisation	Difficulty adjustment	Cost adjustment	Time adjustment
Combining 2 templates:	Add 1 difficulty die	Increase cost as per above guidelines.	See above
Adding 1st new core quality (see appropriate crafting tables):	Upgrade difficulty once	Increase by total number of advantages required for chosen quality/qualities multiplied by 200, and/or by 800 per quality requiring a Triumph*	Add 5 hours to crafting time per added quality.
Adding 2nd and 3rd new quality (from tables):	Add 2 setback dice per additional quality or rank of same quality (max 4 setback dice)	See above.	See above.
Adding 4th new quality:	Add challenge die	See above.	See above.

*A quality requiring 2 Advantages, costs an additional 400 credits to craft.

Using the template created above, where we in this example choose to keep the Pierce 5 quality in the template, gives us a starting difficulty of an upgraded Daunting (RPPP) mechanics check. Now we want to add the Knockdown quality, upgrading the check once more, and increasing the cost by 400 credits (1600 total). We also want to make it Accurate 1 out of the gate, adding another 800 credits to the cost, and 2 setback dice to the check, ending up at RRPPSS. For another 2 setback dice, we could also add Concussive, adding another 800 credits to the cost. Adding another quality would add a challenge die to the pool.

If the check is successful, you now have a seriously nice heavy energy bow. Any advantages produced can of course be spent on other modifications, and of course, at this difficulty there is a real chance for a bunch of threats, and even despairs, making your weapon that much more … interesting.

As the summer (holiday) is coming to an end…

… in these parts of the world, I must reorientate my attention to research and students once again.

Over the last weeks I’ve published a few short posts on a project I’m working on. Two project actually.

The first project concerns various Force traditions we know from WotC days and Legends. This is currently on pause as I’m letting the various specialisations I’ve made (Jensaarai, Zeison Sha, etc) marinate in their current form and in the back of my mind. For this project I’m also going to introduce some new Force traditions, as exemplified by the Shao Meiti. My hope is that this will be a short PDF with fluff and stats for each tradition, placing them in the timeline, how to use them in the game, and how – perhaps – to orientate a game around these new specialisations (in other words, suggesting how to turn them into full-fledged careers).

The second project is related to the most recent posts. I guess you could call it the Taiban-project. It’s a new sector in the Star Wars galaxy, where my current Star Wars RPG campaign is taking place. You can find more on it over on World Anvil. I use WA because it has a setup that is very practical and useful for creating worlds, sorting articles by types and categories, as well as many useful prompts when creating various types of world elements. I hope this project leads to a good WA site, and eventually I hope to publish summaries of it in a PDF, perhaps together with the Force tradition-project, or more likely, with the revision of Cartol’s Emporium.

It could also be mentioned that a long-term plan is to completely reskin Cartol’s Emporium, to become setting agnostic. It is obvious to me that the original work has lost much of its usefulness over the years. Most starships, weapons, and armour, have already appeared elsewhere in an official manner. What is left is a scenario area, which arguably can suit many different settings. This is however not something I’m focusing on now. Cartol will first be revised for use with FFG’s Star Wars RPG, removing that which now exists officially, a process that is slow and arduous.

Now I must go back and continue on a paper for a deadline on Monday.

Jemtii – ambassadors of nature

A branch of the Church of the Force, the Jemtii

A small religious group of adherents to nature living in enclaves all over the galaxy. They live off what the land provides, cultivating only what they need to survive, for instance for medicinal purposes. They interact with the local wildlife, and on Imeneer they sometimes use the Fernix as beasts of burden, but the Jemtii tend not to domesticate or tame animals for personal benefit or that of others.

Jemtii are largely ignored by the Jedi Order and the Republic during the time before the Empire. With the rise of the Empire, and the persecution of anything related to the Jedi, and the Force, the Jemtii is also at risk of persecution. They are however mostly present in the outer rim regions and the unknown regions, following their intuition as to where the Force and Nature is at most harmony and where they can learn the most. There are a few Jemtii enclaves in the inner rim, core worlds, and other more civilised and heavily populated sectors and regions. These enclaves are facing stricter sanctions and violent persecution with the rise of the Empire.

On Imeneer the Jemtii live in an enclave east of the city.

Structure

The Meiti is considered the first among equals, however most enclaves go without the presence of a Meiti most of the time. The organisational structure of the enclaves is usually one of egalitarianism and equality. Younger and newer members are guided by more experienced members, but all enjoy the privilege to voice their concerns, observations, and experiences.

Public Agenda

To maintain balance between civilisation and nature, by devoting their lives to getting to know various ecospheres, learning about its flora, fauna, rhythms and tides, all essential aspects of the Force according to Jemtii beliefs.