So, I just got OVA...

[The Guest]

...And I'm wondering about how to scale the attributeswith tables above level five.

Why would I need to do that? Because my players love the setting of the game Exalted, but they despise White Wolf's trademark Storyteller system. Seeing as how Exalted is practically anime anyway, I figured to try this game. Given that the humans can usually hit three in an attribute, I figure I'd need the tables to go up to around 20 for Solars.

So, anyway, the problem is the tables increase in a very errattic fashion, like power level damage (4,5,7,10,15) or flunkies (2,4,8,12,20).

Say I wanted to be a general with an army at my command. What level of flunkies would I need then? Same questions for armor.

How do I scale?

[Clay]

The reason the tables go up in such a fashion is so that 5 represents an area of extreme power. It would be, in essence, your Solars.

I've only browsed Exalted, but I'm guessing you're looking for even MORE power. The reason OVA uses level 5 as the "ultimate power" is because the ultimate power, in anime, is never undefeatable. It's the David v. Goliath scenario that plays out over and over again.

But if you must, you have two options.

1) Invent a level 6 using a similar scale as its presented. For Power Move, 20 or 25 may be appropriate. For Flunkies, 32.

2) Combine with other (perhaps new) abilities. A character with both Strength AND Martial Arts at high levels will be dangerous power houses.

As a footnote, I think you're using Flunkies incorrectly. Flunkies refers to a core group of henchmen that are available almost instantaneously. Armies take time to move and deploy. You're looking for "Position of Power" instead. Flunkies are more like...bodyguards, perhaps?

[The Guest]

Ah, okay. Thanks.

Awesome game, by the way. I especially love the sample characters. Even the NPCs make me stoked. Acacia and Saspar in particular.

By the way, it's been three weeks. Even though I've got the .pdf, I'm wondering if other people had to wait this long for the dead tree version. How much longer should it take for rpgnow to deliver?

[Clay]

Print on Demand, the process RPGnow uses, is a neccessary evil for the time being. You not only have to wait for delivery, but however long it takes for lulu to print up your personal copy. I waited about 3 weeks for mine, so you should get it soon. Sometimes you get it sooner, and I've heard horror stories of months. (Admittedly, that was some guy in Australia, and quite frankly, EVERYTHING takes months.)

But I'm glad you like the game! And yes, I did my best to create sample characters that were not only varied but interesting. Makes me happy that someone gets a kick out of my effort.

Anyway, if you have any more rules quandaries, you're always welcome to post.

[TheBouncyPherret]

...And I'm wondering about how to scale the attributeswith tables above level five.

Why would I need to do that? Because my players love the setting of the game Exalted, but they despise White Wolf's trademark Storyteller system. Seeing as how Exalted is practically anime anyway, I figured to try this game. Given that the humans can usually hit three in an attribute, I figure I'd need the tables to go up to around 20 for Solars.

So, anyway, the problem is the tables increase in a very errattic fashion, like power level damage (4,5,7,10,15) or flunkies (2,4,8,12,20).

Say I wanted to be a general with an army at my command. What level of flunkies would I need then? Same questions for armor.

How do I scale?

The Thing is, you don't need to go past level 5. Just limit "normal" humans to level 2, maybe 3.

Remember, you can always get more out of what you want somehow. If you want your exalt to be more robust, give them Tough, or Vitality, in addition to armor.

For your "army," take Servent a few times, to represent your higher-up generals, etc. Then, give 'em "uber" Flunkies(see the note under Flunkies). Then, give those Flunkies Flunkies. Wash and repeat. Voila, an army!!

If you want to do more damage, your Power Moves can all take the Extra Damage Perk...and damage is a function of your attack roll, anyway...so having Combat Skill at +5 is a good start, and as Clay said, Martial Arts and Strong do indeed stack for melee damage.

Granted, I'm not too familiar with the new Exalted, but I know 1e pretty well...at least, I used to >.<

Hope I've been some help!!

TBP

[Bhikku]

Ha! My love for Fudge comes to the rescue: if the main characters and villains are going to be Exalted and creatures on par with Exalted, you can just adjust the scale of the game completely, so that no bonus dice = typical for an Exalt - or maybe +1 is typical Exalt, so a character with no bonus in a particular Ability is slightly below average for his power level - but combine that with an assumption that ordinary humans have a -1 scale. Essentially, whatever Abilities a mundane human may have, take 1 from the number of dice they roll. A really ordinary guy will only roll one die for most actions; a trained guard with Combat Skill will effectively be level 0 compared to an Exalt. (thus, a trained human guard and an untrained Exalt are fighting on equal terms.)

So, if the campaign is scaled to Exalt level, set the PCs at Scale 0, ordinary humans as Scale -1, and some spirits and i-don't-know-what could be Scale +1 or even +2. These figures would affect pretty much *every* roll, and as such shouldn't be adjusted in character creation or through experience. Only major story events should change a character's Scale, and preferably most of the group would be raised together so that the scale of the entire game is altered; otherwise one character will tend to outshine everybody else.

(scale can also be applied to subhuman games - Bunnies & Burrows would have bunnies as Scale 0, cats as probably +1, humans as idunno, +5 maybe. And if you really want, you could break scale into different types - physical, social, mental, blah blah. Have fun.)

[ComicJam]

I'm actually working on an OVA/Exalted hybrid. It's on D10s, uses the Exalted stats but the game uses the core system of OVA. Also uses HP, like OVA. The combat's quicker than Exalted too as it's a mix of the two systems.

As much as I love the ideas of Exalted, I find there are too many and it slows the game down and has put me off from running it, hence this conversion. And I have OVA and Clay to thank for it! (I hope he doesn't mind me doing this).

I would say more, but don't want to get on the wrong side of Clay by posting mechanics here.

Cheers!

[TheBouncyPherret]

...
I would say more, but don't want to get on the wrong side of Clay by posting mechanics here.

Cheers!

Well, you can always post 'em on my message board, to avoid any issues with copywrited material and what not:

http://www.pherretink.net/Boards/YaBB.pl

Just mosey over to the OVA section, and be the first poster!!

I know, shameless self-promtion...but a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do ^_^

TBP

[Cloud]

for normal people, I always thought 1 was a good level.

[Wolfson]

There are normal people?

Anyway... The problem with some of these theoretical 'limitations' is that, try as I might, I still end up with Munchkins infesting my games. I end up by having to stand over them with a yard stick to whack them over the head with if I want to try limiting their power.

However, it would be interesting to try to convert Exalted into OVA... I've always liked the premis, if not the Storyteller system it was crammed into.

[Clay]

I would say more, but don't want to get on the wrong side of Clay by posting mechanics here.

As long as you don't start pasting extensive tracts of text word for word, I don't really care what you guys do. ^^ If people are desperate enough to cull message boards and piece together a rulebook to avoid the $9.95 entrance-fee, then more power to them. ^_^;

Anyway... The problem with some of these theoretical 'limitations' is that, try as I might, I still end up with Munchkins infesting my games. I end up by having to stand over them with a yard stick to whack them over the head with if I want to try limiting their power.

OVA is definitely not the wisest of game choices if you have a handful of barely controllable munchkins. I realized early on that the kind of system I wanted to create was going to have lots of abusable facets. I proceeded from there to not worry about munchkins much at all. Dealing with munchkins by exploiting their few weaknesses and their laughable in-character decisions tends to work better than "You can't do that" anyway.

Anyway, look forward to see how you guys handle Exalted. It's a game I've been considering picking up for a long while.

[ComicJam]

Since Clay, doesn't seem to mind (plus he can always modify this post if he so wishes) here are the basics:

It's the standard Attribute + Ability roll, with OVA mechanics: pick highest and add multiples to beat a target. However, if you roll a 1 and don't succeed, you botch.

Combat: I've made these modifications for playing speed so my players can concentrate on the descriptions more than the mechanics.
Initiative (Wits + awareness taking the highest), Speed plays no effect in the game
Roll attack (attribute + ability adding weapon damage to the highest) vs
Parry/Dodge (attribute + ability adding relevant soak to the highest).
Rates of weapons still apply and count towards parrying and attacking.
You can do multiple actions upto your Essence rating (Parry/dodge are free actions).
Multiple actions incur the same dice penalties as OVA. These dice penalties last on all defence rolls until the character's next turn.
Stunts: if a cool stunt is described add +1,2 or 3 to the value NOT dice pool!
After a round "refooting" can occur.

Hope that makes sense!

Though I do have a question, what difficulties levels would you use if you were going to play the game on D10s? I would use with multiples of 3: 3,6,9,12... etc.

Cheers!

[Clay]

Ricochet, in its earliest stages, actually used d10s. I'm afraid there were never any DN charts created for that version, however. :/

Due to there being more numerals to work with, it is substantially less likely to achieve doubles.

Only suggestion I can make offhand is that the 6 DN should be scaled to 10 (both being maximum results with one die). Try to work from there.

[ComicJam]

Ricochet, in its earliest stages, actually used d10s. I'm afraid there were never any DN charts created for that version, however. :/

Due to there being more numerals to work with, it is substantially less likely to achieve doubles.

Only suggestion I can make offhand is that the 6 DN should be scaled to 10 (both being maximum results with one die). Try to work from there.

Yeah, I was thinking of the number 10, but then I thought exactly what you thought: doubles are less likely, so I thought of trying 9 instead. Plus in Exalted, you toll so many dice, you're bound to get a double somewhere. My first DragonBlooded character (if you know what that is! ) rolls 11 dice to attack! But they are supposed to be über hard...

Cheers!

[Wolfson]

OVA is definitely not the wisest of game choices if you have a handful of barely controllable munchkins.

Heh. Well, the guy who mentored me as a GM, many, many years ago, pretty much let me know that the GM always has the power to drop a large rock on an unruly player.

Generally, I can keep the worst aspects of Munchkinism reigned in... Although the worst min/maxers get a little annoyed if I veto a really 'cool' character concept that is just too out of hand...

But, as you say, it's usually better just to let them have their lead. There's always an even bigger, badder, and nastier bad guy one can throw at them if they need enough rope to hang themselves.

Actually, I just try to scale the game to be both challenging and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of how powerful someone might get their character. In a game like OVA, though, you have already built in a number of checks by giving the GM an option to put certain 'limitations' on character building. I'm not too worried about the munchkins...