Well, my aim was to find a crutch or muse for those who lack one or more of "the GM's three treasures": Inspiration, Imagination, Improvisation. I doubt I can replace them, but... Now, Weaknesses already mechanically work to prevent Mary-Sue characters who have only powerful Abilities, I s...

Wow! Those are cute, Clay! Props to Niko for getting all those gestures down.

I felt OVA benefitted from you incorporating different ideas from your varied RPG experiences, Clay, so it's good news you're still experimenting with new ideas. However you work them in, it will likely only strengthen the game. I noticed that OVA's Abilities are mostly ...well, character abilities ...

Thanks, Clay. :) A lot of these stories are just developments of certain Weaknesses (Obsession, Wanted, Secret, Servitude, Love Interest) played against each other. A theme common to all of these narratives is a choice among duty, personal happiness, and justice; one will be sacrificed for another (...

Ah! What poll option do I pick!?

Animal Companion and Human Arsenal follow the same pattern: you may not retrieve something from it of greater positive total than your level in the Ability. I would follow those rules for summoning instead of tracking individual experience for the monsters; make your monsters stronger by leveling up...

Goal: a way for the GM to consistently share story-creation duties with the players. Please punch holes in my ideas and mayhap offer your own! And now, to lessen the line between players and narrator... Currently it seems OVA uses the GM-centered practice of the GM telling the players what's what, ...

I'm surprised how closely you're using the game's mechanics for these effects. I wouldn't handle percentage as an extra step as you suggest; I'd use Perks and Flaws as-is (less complicated, less micro-managing); for example, Paralyze: I would just use Stun; the chance of being Paralyzed by the Power...

Hm. I've DMed two D&D campaigns that I also "replayed"; after the 7-hour first session, I went to the computer a typed it out before I forgot it. Depending on the session, most of the things to remember are either DM-instigated (already in my DM notes) or player-initiated (during break...

I feel similarly, but I don't know how much is left to reveal without giving out chapters. Perhaps the lack of updates means Clay's hard at work arranging the finished product!

On playing any gender NPC: If you're trying to do voices things can get silly/embarassing fast, but you can also narrate their parts 3rd-person, as an author would narrate a book (ie "...," so-and-so says, adjusting her grip on the bokken). As for character mindsets, playing one gender is ...

I just had an idea! Usually to register to a forum, one is presented with an image with distorted letters/numbers in it and told to repeat it, correct? I assume spam bots get in by using a character-finding image-scan device like that included in Adobe Acrobat for highlighting text in a scanned docu...

EddieTrr messaged me Thu 18 Feb 2010 1:22 & 3:06; joined 16 Feb 2010. Knowing their pattern could reveal their undoing.

They always message me twice in a row and they never post. The private messages are sent out probably soon after registering... Is there a way to disable private messaging for accounts that have never posted to a forum, or would this just create spam threads? Anyway, I never get PMs from anyone else...

It is well that refooting is more likely in one-on-ones; it keeps people antsy during the showdown. While the split-Defense-pool mechanic looks neat, I still think scraping by a big attack with a Counter would be more satisfying and dynamic (befitting an animé) when the victor compares to a defense ...