A Few Quick Questions, also Hi

[CursedEmbrace]

Hey there, I only just recently discovered OVA and its next edition's successful Kickstarter, that I definitely would have supported (if I'd have known about it!). I have a few questions, if someone doesn't mind answering them.

The first is, probably a pretty obvious one, perhaps even answered somewhere on the KS page, one of the updates or the hundreds of comments, but giving them all a quick scan I can't find anything, so I was just wondering whether you (the creator) planned on selling the PDF (when it's finished) through this (or some other) website. I see this site has a shop with a product in it marked 'coming soon' but I wondered whether that was a hard back (unlikely, given the content of some of the KS comment messages about exclusivity and such), a paper back, a PDF or multiple of the above.

The second question is about the sample character sheets posted on the Kickstarter. I've looked over them and have tried to work out how much Defence a character starts with upon creation (assuming no perks that increase it). From what I can gather, using a few scraps of info I've gathered of the effects of various perks from the previous edition & the sample sheets themselves (like Combat Expert, ect) it seems characters all start with a base of 2 Defence (or, at least all of my working out leaves me to believe they start with a base Defence of 2), is this the case or am I missing something?

Thank you for humouring me and taking the time out to give this message a read.

[Clay]

OVA will be available as a PDF at DriveThruRPG, and eventually as a paperback through your Favorite Local Gaming Store. The hardcover is, however, exclusive to the Kickstarter.

And that's correct! The default roll for any action is "2," so a character's unmodified Defense roll is also 2.

Welcome to the forums!

[cassius335]

And that's correct! The default roll for any action is "2," so a character's unmodified Defense roll is also 2.

So if you're using the "Combat Effectiveness" as written, Defense starts at 2 and can only go up another +3?

[Clay]

Combat Effectiveness limits your total bonus, not your total roll. So you could have up to +5 in Combat Expert, or +3 in Combat Expert and +2 Quick, and so on.

But if you surpassed that by just a point or so, I don't think it would really matter. It's just a guide to keep overzealous players from stacking +10 bonuses to all their major combat rolls because they TECHNICALLY can.

[CursedEmbrace]

Back again with even more questions! These ones require a little backstory first though...

I and my partner are planning to play a 2 player OVA (depending on when everything gets sorted determines the edition used, most likely using the first and making the jump to the 2nd at a later date) campaign and I wondered if it was a good idea (emulating an anime) and having a single of the two, three or however many characters the "hero" player is controlling be slightly stronger than the others in a sort of 'this is the main character' kind of a way.

Would this be best accomplished by using the Power Ceiling character creation method with a single, slightly higher amount set for this 'main character' and slightly less for all the others?


My second question is a more complex one (to my mind anyway!) and is brought up because of the setting my partner chose to play in. The setting is one I have used in a series of anime inspired short stories (each one being about 10-15 pages long and functioning as an episode for the series).

In this setting people wield weapons infused with the spirits or souls of (usually) powerful entities, sometimes giants, griffins, wolf demi-gods and so on. The weapons are inert until their name (often followed by a title of some sort) are spoken aloud, which unlocks many of their special abilities.

Now you may be thinking 'This sounds a lot like Bleach's characters weapons' and to a point it was inspired by that, except that the weapons themselves aren't bound to a person, nor are they automatically given to them (which as far as I know is the case in Bleach, I only watch the dub... so I wouldn't know if that changes later on).

One of the things mentioned in the stories are how the weapons have their own personalities, or rather they keep the personalities of the creature whose essence was bound into it.

One of the main examples given in one of the stories is how a weapon called Maruld, Breaker of Men hates Vhalas, the Frozen Fang because the wielder of Maruld (and the weapon itself, from its point of view) lost a fight some time ago against Vhalas and one of its previous wielders.

So, I wondered if a good way to represent this (in the first edition of the game at least) was to create a separate "character" sheet for each of these weapons (ignoring Health and such most likely), give it a bunch of strengths and weaknesses that represent its powers and personality (including power moves that could be used while the weapon is wielded) and then have those extra strengths and weaknesses effect the wielder so long as they have the weapon themselves.

Would trying to do this work or would the idea of a character who already has... say Strength at 3 wielding a weapon that might give him or her another Strength 3 throw the balance of combat out of wack?

Is there a better way to represent the myriad powers and personalities of the weapons without going quite this far?

Also, if anyone has any idea how this idea, or a similar one could be taken forward into the next edition that'd be cool to know too, since it seems the 'Weapon' trait has been altered or reworked (as it isn't present on Raine's character sheet but their Katana is still mentioned in their list of attacks).

Hope I've explained everything adequately, thanks again for reading.

[cassius335]

That sounds like the companion rules... Like Yuu's not-Shinx, but with weapons.

[CursedEmbrace]

That sounds like the companion rules... Like Yuu's not-Shinx, but with weapons.

That seems like it may work certainly and would likely not be as troublesome to the rules (as it were) as having a full on character be a weapon, I might knock up some concepts or something, see what you guys think, but using the animal companion trait is definitely an idea.

[Clay]

Hey CursedEmbrace!

If by two players, you mean just you (as a GM) and a player, then by all means, throw "balance" to the four winds. The only real reason for characters to be perfectly balanced is so one Player doesn't feel left out or out-shined in the game, and that's not likely in this situation. On the other hand, if the power difference is so drastic that some of the party is getting knocked out in one blow and your "hero" is barely dented, that might be problematic. But as a rule, a less powerful character and a more powerful character can fight side-by-side with little problem. Power Ceiling would work, but you can also Zero with different gaps between Abilities and Weaknesses and that would be fine, too.

As for how to handle the weapons, I think the best way is to use "Transformation."

Wait, you say no one is transforming? But if you look at what Transformation does...it adds on to a character's natural Abilities after achieving a trigger (like, say, saying a magic command to activate a spirit sword) and requires no separate Health/Endurance totals like Companion does. It even stacks Abilities together, just like you'd expect a weapon to do. Looks like a perfect fit to me! If using the name "Transformation" distracts you, just rename it "Spirit Weapon."

I would, however, cap any stacked Abilities at 5. This isn't strictly necessary, as I don't think a +6 is going to automatically break the game, but it would keep with the precedent set in the rules.

Hope that helps!

[CursedEmbrace]

Hey CursedEmbrace!

If by two players, you mean just you (as a GM) and a player, then by all means, throw "balance" to the four winds. The only real reason for characters to be perfectly balanced is so one Player doesn't feel left out or out-shined in the game, and that's not likely in this situation. On the other hand, if the power difference is so drastic that some of the party is getting knocked out in one blow and your "hero" is barely dented, that might be problematic. But as a rule, a less powerful character and a more powerful character can fight side-by-side with little problem. Power Ceiling would work, but you can also Zero with different gaps between Abilities and Weaknesses and that would be fine, too.

As for how to handle the weapons, I think the best way is to use "Transformation."

Wait, you say no one is transforming? But if you look at what Transformation does...it adds on to a character's natural Abilities after achieving a trigger (like, say, saying a magic command to activate a spirit sword) and requires no separate Health/Endurance totals like Companion does. It even stacks Abilities together, just like you'd expect a weapon to do. Looks like a perfect fit to me! If using the name "Transformation" distracts you, just rename it "Spirit Weapon."

I would, however, cap any stacked Abilities at 5. This isn't strictly necessary, as I don't think a +6 is going to automatically break the game, but it would keep with the precedent set in the rules.

Hope that helps!

Yeah, the suggestions so far have been pretty major helps. I altered my sample character sheet (one I created, possibly badly for my partner so she could see how a character would 'look' on a page, up until this point the only pen and paper rpg we'd played was D&D 4e...) to include a 'Weapon Release' skill which is more or less a transformation as you suggested, I'd like to (try) posting a dropbox link if you don't mind to the .doc version of the file, so you (much more experienced) guys can look it over and tell me one, if it looks okay (the whole weapon release thing) and two if the character is set up right.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5vr5987aigfwb ... 0Sheet.doc

-- Oh, one minor note, the numbers in brackets where the skills are and such are what I'd imagine the values to be while under the effect of the Weapon Release pseudo-transformation.

As to the difference in power budget (or what not) for a main character over others, I didn't think it'd be like night and day huge or anything, just a little to emphasise that one of the PC's is the main character, who tend to be a little more skilled or powerful than your average cast member.

Obviously it isn't something I'd think of doing in a game with a bunch of people unless they were cool with it, but since its just the two of us I thought it'd be an idea to post, see if anyone thought it'd work or if anyone had tried it before.

[Clay]

I've played in a few OVA games where the Players created characters independently and really didn't try hard at all at any sort of balance, and the game went by just fine. Actually, before there even was an OVA, I once played in a Super Hero hack of Silhouette (Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles, Tribe where the characters ended up quite different in power. The fact that this seemed to matter so little in the game was part of what inspired OVA's very open character creation rules to start with.

Anyway, glancing at your sheet, seems like you did everything right to me! Good luck with your game!

[CursedEmbrace]

I've played in a few OVA games where the Players created characters independently and really didn't try hard at all at any sort of balance, and the game went by just fine. Actually, before there even was an OVA, I once played in a Super Hero hack of Silhouette (Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles, Tribe where the characters ended up quite different in power. The fact that this seemed to matter so little in the game was part of what inspired OVA's very open character creation rules to start with.

Anyway, glancing at your sheet, seems like you did everything right to me! Good luck with your game!

That's great, I wasn't sure if I had applied all the bonuses and what not correctly, was also pretty unsure of Logan's threat rating.

I wrote up a bunch more info on the setting for my gf and now I'm waiting for her to come up with some characters / concepts for them so we can get closer to starting, however I was just wondering about creating npcs.

How / when do you create the npcs for your campaigns? Do you create your big bad (or... lower middle management bad) when your players have written up their characters or later on when you expect some kind of confrontation (whatever form that may take) taking into account any growth the pc's may have undergone since the campaign's initiation?

Do you come up with ideas for npcs and stat them up before the campaign really gets rolling irrespective of your player's characters or do you create all/some of them in responses to said characters and their back story's?

Here's another one for everyone, has anyone tried having an npc aid pc's in a confrontation with a big bad guy? Did your group just take it in their stride and thank the npc for help against a potentially unbeatable foe or do they resent the aid they receive?

I know answers given to this question and the one above likely vary from group to group or from campaign to campaign, just wondered what your experiences were with npc help as well as when and how you guys make your npcs.

[Clay]

I can't say I stick to any particular plan or another. I'd venture to say I have the "big bad" in mind pretty early on, but his actual form may change as the adventure progresses (and before his first appearance.) I would definitely take the player's stories into account...since nothing makes a villain interesting like a personal tie to one or more of the party.

A lot of my gaming was done with my brother alone, so I've had a lot of experience with the game master "filling in" with additional NPCs, or even having the Player control multiple characters. I think either solution can work...it's just a matter of how much of a burden you want on the Game Master (or the Player, for that matter.)

[CursedEmbrace]

I can't say I stick to any particular plan or another. I'd venture to say I have the "big bad" in mind pretty early on, but his actual form may change as the adventure progresses (and before his first appearance.) I would definitely take the player's stories into account...since nothing makes a villain interesting like a personal tie to one or more of the party.

Well, one of my problems (as I see it!) is my imagination is too active, while I've been waiting for my gf to come up with some character ideas and what not I've already thought up loads of stuff I can't help but be excited by and feel like writing down.

I do a lot of writing and have created 4 or so story series with my own settings (including the one we're going to play in) as well as fan fiction for stuff too.

A lot of my gaming was done with my brother alone, so I've had a lot of experience with the game master "filling in" with additional NPCs, or even having the Player control multiple characters. I think either solution can work...it's just a matter of how much of a burden you want on the Game Master (or the Player, for that matter.)

That sounds great, and quite similar to our own situation... in a sense anyway... me playing a PC hadn't occurred to me but it seems like something I'll give a shot, it'll give someone for my gf's characters to bounce off of when npc's aren't around, as I'd guess role playing three different characters in a conversation would be pretty hard for a beginner and / or something most people just wouldn't want to do.

Although, something I've been wondering the past day is about character development for villains and everyone's experiences with it... now in animes (or the ones we watch anyway!) the show will sometimes cut to the point of view of the villains and have a chat about their nefarious schemes, sometimes you'll learn about a particular character's personality (like one evil guy being particularly quick to anger during a discussion about the nature of art) or even back story (how they came to be a bad guy). Now I'm not sure if these kind of non-player cut scenes are a good idea for a pen and paper style role playing game because, obviously it doesn't involve the players really (although if the scene is kept brief enough that may not be a huge issue)

And perhaps more importantly if may give the player(s) information they shouldn't otherwise have gotten and may change the way certain events or confrontations play out in future.

Now obviously, without these kinds of scenes and the development they can give a villain I wonder how much harder it'll be to make a bad guy anything more then a two-dimensional character, that is without resorting to large exposition dumps during the few times the player(s) may encounter said bad guy face to face.

How have you guys handled it in the past for your games and what do you think is the ideal way to go about giving the bad guys the development they deserve without dropping lengthy monologues on the rare occasion they meet with the players?

Also - thanks for reading and taking an interest in all my questions and musing.

--- Actually on the subject of villains (or npcs in general) I have another question.

I've read and re-read the sections about creating npcs many times but I just don't know exactly how to apply the threat value of the campaign's player characters to create an appropriately (or near enough) powerful villain.

I created my player character who (if I did it right) has a Threat Value of 22, now, assuming all of my gf's characters have around a TV of 20 then that'd give the four of them combined a threat value of 80 some odd.

What do I do with that number? Do I use it to point buy Strengths for this proposed big awesome adversary or is 80 supposed to be the Threat value of the baddie intended to fight all four of the player characters at once (if a threat value that high is even possible)?

Sorry if something somewhere in the book makes this crystal clear but I just haven't been able to find it, thanks again.

[Clay]

There's a table in the Game Master's section that states how to compare threat value based on how difficult you want the fight to be. If I recall, 75% is challenging, 100% is even chances of winning and losing, and something like 150% turns the tide against the players. Just consult this chart and make the enemy party have a TV roughly equivalent to that amount. (So for a challenging fight, you would need 60 TV-worth of villains for them to fight.)