dafelsheim wrote:
andrew wrote:
I edited the main post with some explanations and more examples
First of all, your edits to the main post GREATLY clarify things. I mean, before obviously it made sense, from a linguistic stand point, but I'm not sure if that's the input you were looking for. :p
I will post the Social rules set if there's a possibility of constructive testing and critique that can help me adjust the numbers in the system. Right now it's the last thing that's holding up the release of Creatures from Fairy-Tale and Myth. The main sticking points are how does social combat affect combat. So we're running combats where denizens and dwellers mix combat powers and social powers. Getting the numbers right so both use a similar rune/action economy to a means to an end is what I'm working on. We'll get there.
dafelsheim wrote:
andrew wrote:
Anyone can play a Mental (blue) rune to initiate a social attack. It deals 1 social damage (plus any equipment or power/skill effects that may boost or hinder the attack).
The defender has an innate Social defense equal to half their Mental Trait (round up). They may also play a Mental (blue) rune to defend, reducing the Social damage by 1 (plus any equipment or power/skill effects that may boost or hinder the attack).
We tried something new last week. You play the runic symbol tied to your Social power to trigger it (same as Active powers). Base Social damage is equal to your Mental Trait, and for the defender, the base social defense is equal to their Spiritual Trait. The defender can play a rune tied to a social defense power to help counter the damage. Both attack and defend powers have metas (mostly Amplify, but there are others like Range and Abate).
A scenario that I recall from last night, my level 8 Bandrui was trying to get a Viking war-band to take on an Abbott and his crusader entourage. The Viking leader was level 12, so it wouldn't be an easy Provoke. I used a power that grants me a +1 to my Provoke attack, and I had 1 Mental trait, I also had an item that helps Provoke actions adding a +1 bonus, so my total was 3 Social damage. I have Destiny 2, so I amplified two times, dealing a total of 9 Social damage. The Viking chieftain had a Destiny of 3 and 6 Essence with a Spiritual trait of 2. He played a defend action that granted a +1 bonus and amplified it twice for a total of 9. We had a tie, and defender wins on ties, but we have a "help mechanic", where on a Social attack, 1 ally can weigh in by adding their Physical trait to the first round of Social combat by using their physical presence to drive the point home. An ally had a Physical Trait of 2 and helped bump my Social attack score to 11. Since I did at least 1 point of damage, I inflicted the Anger condition on the Vikings, with the crusaders as their target.
When a player chooses their Physical appearance, there are 3 types we've identified, but there may be more by the time this is all said and done: intimidating, charming or approachable. If I was trying to incite them to flee I would want another dweller's aid who has a high Physical trait and is intimidating. Someone who is approachable wouldn't be able to aid my effort to instill fear. However if I were trying to question the enemy, then I'd like them to come up beside me and I'd use their physical presence to boost my social score. So dwellers are forced to provide their physical appearance making the physical trait effective in certain types of Social conflicts.
dafelsheim wrote:
So, social damage is really a completely different, fourth kind of damage, then? Mental, Spiritual, Physical, and Social? Have you thought of how to balance the introduction of Social damage against how the other forms of damage are arrayed in existing publications? For instance, a lot of Powers (Active and Passive) that already exist seem like they would definitely interact with Social damage (list comes later.) Powers that deal with Mental Damage in general seem to do so, thematically, at least.
Oh, and on that note, according to page 85 of the core rulebook, wouldn't Spiritual Runes apply to Social Combat more?
See above
Suppose I had a skill like Lore: Personas where I had additional knowledge about the Viking chieftain or the Abbott, then I could add those skill ranks as a bonus. We limit the skill bonus to a single skill for expediency, otherwise looking for and trying to rationalize a huge skill stack would slow down the game too much. I am also thinking of limiting the out of combat Active power effects to a single relevant one for the exact same reason.
The formula for a Social attack would be:
Social Active power + Mental Trait + Social items + string bonus + relevant skill rank + relevant out of combat effect (if not in combat) + One assist from a dweller using their Physical Trait, and then the total could be amplified if the invoker chooses to do so.
The formula for a Social defend would be:
Social Active power + Spiritual Trait + Social items + string bonus + relevant skill rank + relevant out of combat effect (if not in combat) and then the total could be amplified if the invoker chooses to do so.dafelsheim wrote:
andrew wrote:
Social damage targets the Rune Bag (Essence) and brings the runes down to Stun. At the end of every combat round *all* runes from stun are returned to the Rune Bag (Essence).
What if some Runes in Stun are not from Social damage?
Doesn't matter, Mental damage and Social damage have a synergy.
dafelsheim wrote:
andrew wrote:
The defender’s Social defense is lowered by 1 for every piece of critical information (called “strings”) the attacker may know about them (usually already known through the adventure or by using the question social action).
So this is effectively Pierce?
Rather than have addition and subtraction, we adjusted Social combat to be addition only. Strings boost attack and defense.
dafelsheim wrote:
andrew wrote:
Social combat introduces active powers that are social attacks and defenses. Social conditions act as either buffs or de-buffs for social interactions.
Now, this part I like a lot. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed at how little Skalds could do as far as Powers go, socially-speaking. But that also begs the question.. With Archetype Boards being static, how would any existing Archetypes access such Powers?
I plan to release a bunch of 7x7 social power boards that can be retrofitted to all legacy archetypes. So you'd get a Skald Social power board, an Ulfhednar Social combat board, etc... This means that each rune will be used to pick powers on 4 boards: active, social, passive and skill.
dafelsheim wrote:
andrew wrote:
Nature
Nature expresses someone's moral compass, alignment, ethics, personality and values.
Samples include but are not limited to: loyalty to a deity X, warrior's code, pragmatic, honest, cruel, destructive, knowledge seeker, protector of the weak, natural leader, fascination with X, chaotic tendencies.
This sounds very Burning Wheely/Torchbearery. A player of mine just started running a Torchbearer game a few weeks ago. I really do love the whole innate Nature idea.
andrew wrote:
They might, but right now they don't. I'm in the numbers balancing game right now.
Let me know if you want any aid with that. Everyone in my gaming group have degrees in hard sciences so we can definitely crunch some numbers and do some statistics.
I will take you up on this, since I need to broaden the circle of testers to get the numbers right.
dafelsheim wrote:
andrew wrote:
If you have a relevant skill, you can tap into it for an additional success per rank.
Wow. This actually sounds very similar to the custom rules I've made for chases/challenges. I'll PM you those!
You can post them here, this way more people can jump into the discussion. I'll update the first post as well with more recent developments to the rules.
dafelsheim wrote:
andrew wrote:
Can you give me an example? Are you referring to some social out-of-combat effects? If so, same as skills, if you can rationalize how they help, you can add a +1.
Well, some examples of Active Powers that would either directly or indirectly (in my estimation) apply to Social Combat-type scenarios:
Analytical Fortress Stance
Analytical Power Stance
Aura Augury
Any of the Cerebral Spells
Devour Thought
Some of the Howls
Insulting Parry
Mask of Mockery
Mental Celerity
Possess Opponent
Purging Tirade
Soul Transfer
Spiritual Abortion
Stitch Destiny
Stitch Kindred
Visage of Horrors
Bewitchment
Dredge the Past
Unearthly Beauty
Word of Command
Mesmerizing Gaze
Mimicry
Shade of Night and Day
Shade of Piercing Eyes
Thanks for this, I think this will help anyone jumping in on the beta test.
dafelsheim wrote:
andrew wrote:
I have a bunch of social conditions, some bad, some good and some in the middle. The goal is to bring the emotional spectrum into the game. Your hero won't be unfeeling. If you lose your thane, you will be struck by the grief condition.
How would existing Conditions like Charm or Taunt or Rage affect Social Combat? Surely they'd have a huge impact?
This is one of my current sticking points, how does the Anger and Fury condition blend/co-exist with Rage? If Fear/Terror the opposite of Taunt? If so how do they interact.
dafelsheim wrote:
andrew wrote:
The goal is that you can use both at the same time in one unified system. So picture a zoro movie where they fight, but also tant and talk with one another. That's what I aim to achieve with this next RGS evolution.
I've been kind of doing that in my games by allowing most Skill checks usually during combat – or using my chase rules. Is there a reason you didn't rely more on the existing Skill system for Social Combat?
My god. That was exhaustive.
As RGS evolves, skills will remain skills, but may get meta tags to unify them with the social and active powers. Rather than turn 24 of the 48 combat active powers into social powers, I opted to make the social powers separate, not cannibalizing the combat options for an archetype.
Exciting times!