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The13Fates

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Everything posted by The13Fates

  1. Rumors, gossip and more rumors. Nothing makes a city feel more alive than the people within it simply talking. These don't even have to be plot hooks or side missions, could just be a customer in a shop talking to his friend: "Heard Thompson bought a new house after his big win, never thought he had any luck with the dice but now, it's got me thinking I might have a chance over at Honeypot to do the same" "Jeb was saying he saw an undead 40meters out from the cordon, where was the guard!?" "Rent at my place has gone down halfa-scrip. I'm happy 'bout it sure; but ever since I'm being pressured to join the Union, coincidence?" "Was minding my own at the Cow and Crow and saw this mountain of a lady, 7ft tall and half as wide stroll in wearing a 'little' black dress, she orders a pitcher, sits down and starts looking at the time, every few minutes watching the clock. 2 hours pass and she leaves. All I'm saying is, keep an eye on the papers 'cz whoever stood that lady up is showing up in the obituaries."
  2. Yup, Quarantine Zone as well, I started my campaign before picking up it's source book so any scenes set there have been very "Stealthy in Slumtown" affairs. I'm looking forward to seeing what my players think about it's cannon contents. Outside of Malifaux I'm interested in exploring Ridley before (Blank) uses it for (Blank) (Northern Aggression penny dreadful) and the neighboring Ten Peaks residents. But let's be honest, everywhere in Malifaux is deep with both lore and interesting features and people that I'm excited to explore just about anywhere.
  3. Relatively speaking as well, Above the Law was released quite recently as well as the Obsidian Gate landing in Drivethrurpg not long ago.
  4. (Quoting on mobile is hard work, geez) The thing I liked, despite the core rules confusing terminology ("Discard a card" actually means "spend a fate point" for example) was that NPCs had the power to say to a player "choose the lowest of two cards and you can't cheat" simply by gaining a [+] to its attack flip and it's been So. Damn. Useful against 6+ AV defense flips to actually hit a Fated. And that's something a lot harder to replicate with Deck vs Deck. Just drawing from a single deck to gain a control hand is so easy and streamlined that I'm hitting myself for not thinking of it. Thank you. When I said "Switching Triggers off" I was referring to the common instance of: Enemy attacks > player flips Def, card has suit which triggers slow > "I cheat in a 5 crows" > Trigger no longer goes off. Which yes, is a good thing but when player values are so high, static TN "low" and the NPC has no way to ensure a trigger, it makes them worthless to have. Being able to say this attack WILL make you Slow unless you exceed my attack flip just feels better than "oh I'll still take damage, but no triggers". A cheat card for every fated, again an elegant solution to control hand size, again hitting myself and again thank you. A player of mine has an opening gambit of using the trick action with a [+] with built in trigger of a free attack which, due to the successful Trick has [+] to both attack and damage. He gets this off 100% of time due to Skill+Aspect+Rank of an NPC being average TN10 & he has an AV of 6... it's no longer a choice to make, it's just automatic, which is why I want to experiment with ways to make sure it becomes slightly less preordained. NPCs flipping a Red Joker (or hell a Black Joker) would be amazing, if only for that "Oh S#%!" moment when severe damage + weak critical hits them. If it can be done with static TN I haven't seen it created yet. This is actually a really good fix if I stick with Static TNs, it would mean if I were to do something crazy like add +2 to ranks (minions are now rank 7-8; enforcers are now 9-11 etc) the players would have a way to combat the higher numbers (and make the Dazed condition actually worth a damn like it should).
  5. Two of my main roadblocks theory wise have likely been brought up in the past, but: 1./ The way [-] & [+] work with opposed deck vs deck. The language in the book can be confusing but for core rules if I have it right in my head: if an NPC has a [+] to their ability (Focus, included in AV etc), it's in fact a [-] to a player to defend against it; if an NPC has a [-] to their ability (from Impose, some critical effects etc) it's in fact a [+] for the player to defend against it. Now, in my mind, positive & negative flips aren't part of the same coin, if I had the choice, I'd much prefer my player to have a negative flip for Def against an attack, rather than my NPC having a positive flip; the inverse is true for player side. You get better results if your target has the lower of two cards with no ability to cheat higher. This is the main thing stopping me from a full switch, it would be very hard to tell players "yeah I know it says my npc gets [-][-] but instead, you get a [+][+] and I'll cheat in this 13, GG"; how does not having this affect gameplay? 2./ Twist decks (control hands) and cheating cards. This is a big reason for the switch, triggers feel worthless when players can switch them off for little cost at will and it kills me a little inside when the phrase "I cheat in *yawn* a Five, they miss"; it's just the logistics of the thing I can't wrap my head around. Do the NPCs not cheat? Then I'd much prefer a static 8 for everything, it's at least a mathematically better choice. Do the NPCs have their own individual twist decks? That's a nightmare scenario, having 12 different decks on the table because I'm using a mix of creatures, no thanks. The best thing in my head would be to have a single GM deck and a single deck to use for cheat hands that all NPCs share, only now I have no basis for hand size. Standard 3? Not great if 5 NPCs are sharing it. Draw rank # for each? Maybe. Assign an "on the pursuit" for each NPC just to level the playing field? It's a lot of rhetorical questions which nothing outside of many one-shots would answer, have you run into/solved/found out it wasn't a problem to any of these concerns?
  6. I'd like to preface this by reminding all to remain civil, and that there isn't a wrong way to play your own games, nor should there be personal criticism against others for liking one method or another. So... I'm nearing the end of my campaign, players about to reach their last destiny steps and as a Finale, I've built from the ground up the BBEG using character creation rules and gave her the same amount of pursuit path steps, destiny steps and EXP. Originally I was just going to go Master rank and leave it there, but I also really love the idea of the final encounter being Fated vs Fated. Their Fate deck vs GM Fate deck, their twist decks vs GM twist decks; very excited about how it's going to go down. That's fine and manageable for the big last fight but I started speculating on doing it full time for my next campaign, being a big fan of M2E. The trouble I reached Theoryfaux-ing it was that; unless I raised all NPC stats up to match player stats (the typical 5-6 becoming a more common 6-7)... it doesn't change much player side. The question I want to ask is: for those that have experimented with opposed flipping vs TNs, what are the pros and cons to Both methods?
  7. It depends on the style, the party Comp (more combat builds vs non combat), the tone of your game and how much healing your party already possesses In the type of game I currently run, I'd just straight up give him Regen 1 (start of every turn or 6 seconds, heal 1 damage) but if this seems too much, check out "Juggernaut" from the Guard pursuit, it's a (0)ap Discard to heal 2/3/4, and little stopping you from offering that, or a version similar as a manifested power. This gives the illusion of constant healing without the problem of it being an automatic "I'm at full health" and makes for good role-playing choices as the player can decide to heal, or having more cards to cheat with.
  8. A favourite pair of NPCs I created to aid a player in becoming a Torakage were based on my pet rats that I had 5 years back, the rats were named after video game assassins: Corvo (from Dishonored) and Ezio (from Assassins Creed). Introducing Zio & Vo who I characterized as mob boss gang heads who shared territory with other gangs. Issue was, these were two characters, so to have them both speak to the player (and sometimes to themselves), I once again based them off of my rats. Corvo was always very attentive, alert and hyper, whilst Ezio was more sleepy and did things in his own time. This reminded me of another pair of rodents from my childhood: Pinky and the Brain; thus I had their voices and mannerisms. (My players are yet to find out however, which one is the genius, and which one is insane...)
  9. An update! Game night last night and the session went well with resolving destiny, interrogations and the wanton destruction of more public buildings! (A Warehouse, a Church, a Gentleman's Club and now a Hospital, all destroyed indirectly by the players). The stat block: 3AP Henchman rank Death Marshal, removing Pine Box (see below) in favour of an AV15 vs WP attack that does 3 damage or a severe Crit, player choice (Penance Stare). Can 'discard' to heal 2/3/4, added blast damage to his attacks and four defensive triggers which amounted to "give Death marshal combat advantage, or take 2 damage. The gimmick for the fight was that along all the floors and walls were copies of the Pine box which only the D.M could interact with, allowing him to 'teleport' and also hide. Alongside all of this were a smattering of slightly modified Void Wretches that allowed the players a way to reach the hiding D.M and get a few hits in via 'Void Stutter' (I think it's called). Lastly, when the D.M received his first Mod-Crit of 10+, he switched stat block and gained Burning to all his attacks whilst also setting fire to the Pineboxes, which summoned the "Fire" stat block found in Into the Steam. He lasted 2 rounds. Funnily enough, the Void Wretches were getting in a lot more hits compared to the above, their bonus vs Fast Targets and having WP based attacks really hampered the players who all appear to have terrible Willpower stats. So would I go this far with an encounter again? Ehh, not really. For all the moving parts and abilities, tactics, stat-block switching and defenses, it still produced the same level of fun and enjoyment that a fight against a group of by-the-book NPCs would have given with a 10th of the prep-time. I think environment use and having different types of attack (Melee, Ranged, vs WP etc) is a better tuning option than a fancy complicated stat block would ever be; having minions act almost as fodder whilst the Enforcer rank + play off their abilities and help each other is the way forward.
  10. Well, game day is tomorrow evening, so fingers crossed. So far I have 4 Defense triggers and a discard effect to switch them to Willpower instead for the round (savvy players can use different attacks) The four triggers for each suit are different ways of saying "Choose bad thing; or take 2 damage" so for example: "When attacked, enemy chooses either to be unable to declare triggers this action; OR gain Burning +2." He can heal by staying in the void (in this case his Pine box) and I've included minion enemies that specializes in "remove from reality for round" catch is, he loses all defensive abilities whilst in there, so players can use that to their advantage (the void being the same space in my game). THEN when he receives a Moderate Critical of 10+; he switches stat blocks and becomes more offensive with Burning based abilities. Now I'm under no illusions that despite all this, this poor Death Marshal is still going to be curb-stomped, but I hope that he is curb-stomped in an interesting way at least.
  11. I'm currently designing a boss encounter against a two-pursuit-path-completed party, consisting of a focused damage dealer, a focused nigh-unkillable tank, a dedicated healer with a pair of maxed out constructs and a soul-stoned to the teeth spell caster. Safe to say, they hit like a meteor and shrug off most attempts at being attacked. My 'solution' (although purely experimental at this point) is to, rather than the Npc have stats in their 20s and a 8/9/11 damage track, have a homebrew creation that survives via Def/Wp triggers, heals regularly and chips away at wounds directly 1 or 2 at a time. Understanding that this is also a slog, I'm thinking of including ways for the players to do actions that could "turn off" these defensive measures temporarily; creating a hopefully interesting and memorable fight. Remembering my Malifaux days, Rasputina had a trigger which just ended a turn, other TtB NPCs have "when attacked, deal 2 damage" or similar & of course, black blood. What are other interesting, powerful defensive triggers could I include, with the assumption of a Death Marshal base and the fated having ability to turn them off?
  12. As the title says, what are things you know about the system now that would have been great knowing when you very first started? For me: * Understanding that Enforcer rank+ NPCs can be taken out of combat long before a 22+ Severe Crit. * That players improve Fast in this game and to expect that encounter which almost TPK'd them two sessions ago to be a cakewalk now. * To Always focus each session with a destiny step and ensure they crossover meaningfully, this goes hand-in-hand with the fast improvement above.
  13. A comment from another post sparked a thought, I'm curious how other FMs role-play members from Malifaux's factions; what base assumptions do use and what variations occur? For me: Guild: For your everyday guard, I tend to play them as friendly helpful police, but the further up the chain you go, the more nasty and vindictive they become. Arcanists: I play these off as English gangsters, willing to have a giggle, charming as all hell but when it comes to business, the gloves are off. Ten Thunders: Covert shadow ops are my go to, no one knows they exist, those that do are under the Thunder's thumbs and fully expendable if they betray them. Gremlins: Southern American and a lot smarter than they act. Ressers: I choose a Tim Burton character or movie and see where it goes, how would Edward Scissorhands react to a rat infestation? How would Oogie Boogie handle a drug trade? How do you play the factions members in your own games?
  14. I'll give this a go, I was a little apprehensive to just hand out a soul stone for free given that: A./ Lots of money tied up in those rocks; & B./ the legality and consequences of being found with one on one's person. I'm still a little foggy lorewise about the latter, in some instances it's permanently confiscated, others it leads to arrest and questioning, others it's "legal" so long as you don't use it or have it on show, it's all very confusing. I do have a couple of concerns regarding handing out a low quality low lade soulstone: 1./ How does one shut down the player who says "If they are getting a free 20scp item, can I also get for free..." ? 2./ What is a good number? Two seems right but I obviously lack table experience and it potentially causes the above question to crop up x2.
  15. I've been a Fatemaster for this game for almost a year, in that time I've ran a few one-shots, the Northern aggression Penny dreadful and now onto the final destiny steps of my homebrew campaign; and I run into a roadblock each time new characters are being made: Magic users seem to *really* struggle for the first 3-4 sessions before getting their stats up and getting necessary suits built in. New players would choose a School they like the sound of, choose a "magic pursuit" then create their grimoires but then get bummed out by repeatedly being incapable of getting a simple spell cast. My short-term "fix" is to use Oxford School with Reduce AP immuto but when there's so much choice and customization, it feels very limiting. What are some good first game choices to make casting magic easier on a new player? Such as good Talents to take, spell choice and early game immuto picks etc.
  16. My favourite pursuit comes from "Into the Steam": The Augmented It oozes with cool, at first it's a simple set of extra abilities but as the pursuit advances you feel more and more like a cyborg badass who can take on the world! And it has so much choice is how to approach problems, do I use Implacable Assault or Augmented Leap? Do I choose the ability-ignoring Path of Steel or the constant healing provided by Path of Sinew? At what point is having Spider Legs an issue? (Hint, almost never!) Are other pursuits more powerful? Sure Are others more versatile? Certainly But Augmented in my mind is easily the most fun and gets you pumped for the start of each session for the next step each and every time.
  17. Preach! It's refreshing to GM a game that allows for support characters to really shine.
  18. So far, brainstorming with suggestions written: Guild Advantage - Guild uses opportunity to rise public image of them. Interviews with loved ones, memorial services etc - Begin propaganda campaign on a scapegoat, blaming Arcanist bombings, perhaps "unstable Soulstones" to be the cause. - Can use more aggressive tactics in the form of "keeping the peace". Guild Disadvantage - Guild blamed for letting things escalate and endangering the public. "Why post guards if these atrocities still happen!?" - Protests and riots in the streets (possibly pushed on by Arcanists or Thunders maybe?) - Guild forced to take extreme measures, lowering public opinion further, to contain the situation, sparking Arcanist/Thunders members to step up as candidates for parliament. Any other ideas/additions?
  19. The closest analog would be Nicodem, although as my general Malifaux knowledge is mainly Arcanists with a dip in 10T, I decided on "powerful NPC necromancer" rather than the Master himself.
  20. As FM, I've always ruled it that Minion rank and lower are "Taken out of combat" when they reach 0 Wounds: taking a page out of Feng Shui 2, I leave it up to the players if that means 'Dead' or merely 'Knocked Out'; I find it's a lot smoother for combat that way. As for Enforcer rank or higher, I make a case by case ruling on when they are incapable of further action. When an NPC has Deep Tissue damage, Bleeding out and is permanently on 1 less AP, I don't wait until a 22+ Severe Critical to have them "taken out of combat". 2-3 Severe Crits are my standard before I start asking why the dude with No Arms and a sucking chest wound feels the need to keep fighting.
  21. The Q-Zone building was a warehouse that a Resser group was stockpiling with... parts; the two other buildings were a Church and a Gentleman's Club (both unfortunately containing guild captains and guards at the time). So not "important" structures but can definitely be seen as an attack to both Guild and Ressurectionist parties, as well as making the movements of 10T and Arcanists more difficult because of it.
  22. Continuing with the rising tension of my campaign, my players have now been responsible for at least 3 buildings being demolished by explosives, 2 of these being in Malifaux City proper, one in the Quarantine Zone. So the Guild have pretty much set up military checkpoints everywhere to prevent further attacks and are putting a lot of resources into finding those responsible, by any means necessary. How far is the Guild willing to go to maintain control over 'their' city? How do you think other factions (Arcanists, Ressers, Thunders) will respond to these checkpoints and aggressive tactics?
  23. Combat could have the same problem but it doesn't have the same issue as Social checks because of agreed common sense. No one at my table has ever made a case that throwing a superman punch should use the Rifle skill because of needing to aim (to give an extreme scenario). This isn't an issue with naturally charismatic people vs Shy people either. I need to know what a PC's approach is regardless of if they use a 30 second theatrical prose or if you say "I lie to him"; you still need to tell me what your intent is and that Intent is what I base the TN of the check on. My problem starts when a PC with zero ranks in Intimidate, threatens an NPC with physical violence and then the player tells me that it's totally a "Convince" check because of the nightmare that is the english language.
  24. That's pretty much how its going down to be fair, a Deceive check is still lying, an Intimidate is still being socially aggressive etc... it's just when the lines blur, for example: Frank: "You're a Nice Guy, I wouldn't want to hurt you" *Bewitch* Rachel: "You're a nice guy, I Wouldn't Want to hurt you" *Deceive* Luke: "You're a nice guy, I wouldn't want to Hurt You" *Intimidate* About 30% of the social checks throughout a session feel like this; whatever their approach is, they can twist it to their chosen skill. Why use Convince when Deceive, Bewitch AND Leadership are all better options, create the same/similar result and have more versatility?
  25. Social skill checks are an issue I have with most RPG systems but it's a sticking point in TtB. It's to a degree where I just let it slide now (read "given up") due to it causing arguments at the table and stopping game flow; to make my point clearer, here's a common exchange I would have in the beginning: FM: "NPC says you're too late and she'll be happy to help you with this matter next week" Frank: "I try to tell her that it won't take long but we need help asap" FM: "Okay, that'll be a Convince-Intellect TN10" Frank: "Can I use Bewitch instead to sympathize with her about work and get her to like me so she'll help us?" Rachel: "If that doesn't work, can I use Leadership or Deceive? FM: "Bewitch would be useful long term but won't help you right now, Leadership would work if you owned this company or employed as a manager/supervisor. Deceive could work but you'll be up against her Scrutiny which rises the check to TN12, what do you want to do?" Frank: "But why wouldn't Bewitch work? I'm using my charm in such a way... Rachel: "And why would she instantly suspect a lie but be fine with honesty? The check should be the same if it isn't a huge lie, surely" And so on, what could have been a quick back and forth with options explained turns into a 10 minute debate over skill interpretation. So I've let it go and now simply say "TN# Social check of your choice" which takes away the point of having a skill list in my opinion. This campaign is near it's end point, but for the next, I would prefer to have a tighter grip around this aspect of the rules, how do I go about these skill checks without it being a massive headache each time a check is called for?
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