DiasExMachina 4ED Update

[DiasExMachina]

Never before had I ever encounter such bizarre gameplay like these past few weeks playtesting. One aspect of our podcasts I elect not to include involves conversations as we find breaks in our system. Quite often, though, what I discover is that a player had not read a power entirely before using it, often resulting in far-reaching effects that would appear broken. I know they are not cheating because this is not really a game, just a playtest, but every once and a while, I can see players wanting their side to win more than analyzing why they could be losing. It dawns on me that there is much more trust involved in 4th ED than in 3rd ED. You have to trust the players that they have only used their encounter powers once. You have to believe them when they say they have not cooked off their dailies yet. I find it ironic since accusations of deception from players to players resulted in the largest retroactive continuity shift in this game universe in the first place—the signature (and possible notorious) disruption rule.

Last game test, we tackled the Umbra Drake, the final boss in Sellswords of Punjar. It nearly destroyed them. Once the group got out of the tight confines of the dungeon and onto the roofs of the town, everything changed and the group was able to finally take it down…but not before nearly losing two team members. By the end of the evening, I went back and downtuned some of the later powers and rewrote the sniper’s marksman rules. Heavy weapons have been expanded.

We have hollered to bleeding ears about how techans require teamwork. They also need room to move. In narrow confines, it’s difficult to bring enough firepower to bear. In the open, a techan group can be a serious threat. As it was, in the single-square wide hallways and 4-square sized rooms of Punjar, it was a constant struggle to survive. By this point, I believe we are 90% from being completely ready on the techan side. It was the biggest job with the highest potential for errors. After we feel the system works, we hope to use that as a road map for other modern and science-fiction-based 4th ED games. The success of Amethyst will help us plot out that path.

MARKSMAN TALENT
When using powers with the Sniper keyword, you gain the ability to inflict additional effects depending on how much you defeat your enemy’s defense by.
Enemy’s Defense Beaten by Additional Effect
5 Target is slowed for one round
7 Target is weakened for one round.
10 Target is dazed for one round.
14 Target is knocked prone.

If the target is already suffering from the same effect when applying this condition, than the target fails its next saving throw against the effect. You only apply one condition listed above per attack and may choose which condition goes into effect you are able to (e.g.: If you beat the enemy’s defense by 7, you may inflict slowed or weakened, but not dazed). If you score a critical hit, you must still determine by how much you bit the enemy’s defense by.

You may decide to use Marksman Talent after resolving an attack. You can employ Marksman Talent as many times per an Encounter as your Wisdom modifier.

[DiasExMachina]

With a busy week ahead of us, blog posts have been lacking, so I apologize. Everyone should expect a Module for Free RPG Day on June 20th.

The real thought going through my mind (and yes, only one at a time) is the potential of science fiction role playing. Our group (as they have been going grinding through Punjar) has been talking about possibilities of future products. For me, I have always loved science fiction. I grew up with, not D&D primarily, but Mekton and Cyberpunk 2020. Anyone that knows me, is fully aware of my past with RTG and their Interlock and FUZION systems. I’d still be writing for that system if 3.0 hadn’t re-written every rule about role playing. Since then, hard science fiction has fallen on the wayside a tad and it bothers me. As I look over the 4ED landscape in front of me, I have noticed a marked lack of hard science fiction. Some fear breaking GSL stipulations while others claim that science fiction role playing is a fading if not dead genre. Some of you have been expecting a 4th Edition Modern, a title seemingly meant only for memories. Some have even hoped that Amethyst would fill that niche--a hope we are trying to satisfy. I won’t claim Amethyst is just about technology. Technology only accounts for about 30% of the setting, as it occupies around 30% of the final book (I am totally pulling that guess out of my posterior).

In many ways, the setting can be reduced to a world where a fantasy role playing game and a science fiction role playing game are at war with each other. I guess who wins will determine our next game line.

I never played Star Frontiers despite owning the first edition box. Never played Gamma World either and I owned that first edition as well. Played West End’s Star Wars quite bit and enjoyed the experience. I did manage to run a handful of sessions of Rifts but I gave up when the first of the World Books started coming out. Back then, Palladium also had Robotech and we really wore those books down, regardless of my feelings on their system. Although I owned and read Leading Edge’s Aliens game, I never ran a session.

No, for us, it was R. Talsorian. We ran homebrew sessions of Mekton and Cyberpunk 2020 for years. It was my bread and butter and when they opened Fuzion for legal use, I jumped at the chance. Those games occupied my entire role playing life from the late 80s to early 90s. Alas, a friend convinced me GURPS was the solution for Pathfinder (my mid 90s homebrew game) and I was forced to adopt that system for two damned years. Beyond that exception, it was RTG’s family of books, of which the Bubblegum Crisis RPG would be the last I would purchase. I guess we all have shelves of books of games we never played. Along with the one’s I just mentioned, there was Mechwarrior, Battletech (yes, I know, but not connected), WOTC’s Star Wars, and D20 Modern, though the latter I would use as reference for both Ghost in the Shell and the 3.5Ed Amethyst. Personally, I never thought D20 Modern was well constructed. First level characters were a joke and it had an abysmal currency system.

Now, it looks like the prospect of 4th ED Modern may be dead…but Amethyst was never coming close to being 4th ED Modern. At the very least, it was science fiction 4th ED. Some of you have asked how universal Amethyst’s system is and I believe it’s about 90% where anyone would want it (yes, another number, I pulling right from my colon). It would require some house ruling to adapt it but I believe I could do so with a solitary page. The job would not be difficult.

I guess the challenge and question fielded is can someone make a GSL compliant 4th Edition hard science fiction game? I think so.

[DiasExMachina]

Will Amethyst feature cybernetics? No, and for good reason. Amethyst is neither Rifts nor Shadowrun. It is not cyberpunk. Since you don’t have severed limbs in 4th ED, there is no need to include them unless using them for augmentation. That being said, it is not like we’re scared of that. When I did Ghost in the Shell D20, I went ballistic on cybernetics, so I know how to write them. I just chose to keep them out of Amethyst because I wanted to ensure a separation between Amethyst and other fantasy titles on the market. Higher TL bastions have nano-recovery units that repair damaged tissue and we do have micro-machine injections that actually offer permanent boosts and basically replace the bonuses offered by magical headgear in 4th ED. Let’s be serious, though…if I wanted cybernetics, it wouldn’t be hard.

I got power armour…is that good enough?

Second: Non-Combat rules. Do we have any? Well, there are no mirrors for rituals with technology. That being said, we do have stunt rules for vehicles, the disruption of technology, and… well… explosives…

DEMOLITIONS (Intelligence)
Trained skill only.
You can set and disarm explosives. This includes all manners of mechanical and electronic detonators.
Setting a simple explosive to blow up at a certain spot doesn't require a check, but connecting and setting a detonator does. Also, placing an explosive for maximum effect against a structure calls for a check, as does disarming an explosive device.
Attacking with Explosives: Using Demolitions involves setting an explosive prematurely to an engagement or during one.
Setting Explosives: Setting explosives takes a standard action in combat or can be used as part of a skill challenge.
Wiring Explosives Together: DC15 for every additional block wired up. Additional blocks increase damage and burst (See Grenades and Explosives).
Timed Detonator: DC10+2 / Tech Level of detonator to set timed explosives. Timed explosives detonate at a set time and cannot be prematurely detonated.
Remote Detonator: DC15+2 / Tech Level of detonator to set up a wired or wireless detonator. You may detonate an explosive by using a minor action. You may also detonate it as a readied action.
Triggered Explosives: DC15+2 / Tech Level of detonator to set up a triggered detonator which explodes when certain conditions arise. These detonate on their own and do not require a minor or a readied action. They go off when a target either crosses over it, or before it moves out of its burst area.
Failure: Failure means that the explosive fails to go off as planned. Failure by 10 or more means the explosive goes off as the detonator is being installed. You can make an explosive difficult to disarm. To do so, make a skill check and your roll is equal to the disarm DC.
You cannot detonate explosives when wiring them together. A failure with wiring explosives together means the extra explosives will not go off and additional time may be required to retry.
Proper Placement: You can carefully set the explosive in such a way to do maximum damage. If you beat the DC roll by 5 or more, you gain +2 damage from the explosive. If you beat the DC roll by 10 or more, you gain an additional +4 damage from the explosive.
Disarm Explosive Device: Disarming an explosive that has been set to go off requires a demolitions check. The DM can decide a DC or make a skill check of who planted the explosive. The DC to disarm is the Demolition roll made when it was set. If you fail the check, you do not disarm the explosive. If you fail by 10 or more, the explosive goes off.
Special: You can take 10 when using the demolitions skill in the setting of explosives, not in the disarming or when in a combat encounter. The DM may allow you to take 10 in disarming if there is enough time to do so.
Bide Time: If you miss the DC on a timed explosive by 4 or less, you push the detonator trigger point back one round.

General Detonator Demolitions DC
Heroic Tier 20
Paragon Tier 30
Epic Tier 35


Third: I will divulge that the work on Amethyst, and the success that hopefully follows it, will be used as a road map for a ruleset which will deliver everything you have all been asking for in a hard science fiction, GSL-compliant, 4th Edition game. I cannot say more than that other than fan support will be key in this regard. Though I won’t reveal the name of the product, I can divulge our internal designation for the ruleset: The Ladder.

[DiasExMachina]

I do apologize for the delays to the site of late. Priority was on the book. The final polish on the writing of Amethyst is done. Now it's in the hands of layout, artwork, and graphic design. Like everything in life, we're not sure if it's ready...but I don't think anyone on our position would say "Nope, no more testing, we're good." Heck no, we could test for another 12 months and still see other parts of the game untested or unproven. But we are confident with the results, and that's what's important. We're already 80,000 words into the second book and a third into the first module.

Someone was mentioning out of combat rules. Spurned by that, I went back into the Engineer skill and added this:

Building Technology: If you have the time and the parts but are nowhere near a bastion or a market that sells technology, you may try to build the item from scratch. You can only build items with a rated tech level (0-6). You must have the item’s cost in widgets (not the UC, the widgets) on hand. You must meet the level requirement for said item as well. The item’s level is also the time in days it takes to build the item. You need at least six hours of work on the item for it to be considered a day’s work. You cannot speed up this process but you can take your time. At the end of each day, you must make an Engineer roll to beat the build DC. If you beat the DC, you count the day in question towards the time required to build the item. You can take 10 on this roll. The DC is 15 + 2 x the item’s tech level.
--Creating grenades takes half the time.
--Vehicles take twice as long and require a facility.
--For techan armor, you must meet the listed price and the time for construction is the two highest values added together.
--You cannot build demolitions, medical, or repair kits. You cannot build boosters or medical injections.
--Items without a listed level take 1 day to construct.
--Ammunition’s tech level is equal to the weapon it is made for.
Failure: If you fail, the work time is wasted (1 day) but the widgets are not.

[DiasExMachina]

ROLE MODELS

Recently, I realized that some people may be confused by the indicated roles of our techan classes. In our attempt to think outside the box of traditional classes, we realized our classes may not fit into the ironclad rules listed in the player’s handbook. Some playtesters mentioned being confused by our listed roles in comparison to the definition. The PHB mentions healing, support, offense, defensive, support, and focused defence. These are detailed into four roles: Controller, Defender, Leader, and Striker. But we didn’t feel the techans needed to fit these roles exactly. So let’s break it down:

Grounder: The Grounder has the hit points of a fighter and the high kill abilities also associated with one. So you would assume Defender. But he also has the capacity to lay area effects at a distance. He cannot mark but can prevent enemies form attacking him or others. This would make it closer to a Controller. We decided upon Defender because, in the end, the Grounder is the heavy hitter.

Marshall: The Marshall and the Warlord are similar and so you would assume Leader…but our Marshall is deficient in healing and is able to not only move allies but enemies as well. In spirit, he is still a leader, though he is also a defender as well.

Operator: The operator is a heavy healer but he is not a leader. He cannot inspire, he lacks good defence and is not as trained in assisting allies as a Grounder and Marshal. We listed him as a controller because of his ability to ensure the stability of the group.

Stalker: The Stralker is listed as a Striker since he can deliver devastating damage to single targets but he also can commit to close attacks that strike multiple enemies at once. But he can also deliver status affects with his sniper attacks, making him closer to a controller.

I know, we could create new roles, but I figured that was unnecessary. With techans I hope players will read them thoroughly and understand the method of our madness. If I could see an argument for changing Operator from Controller to Leader but that that would be against what we think an Operator is designed for. I can see further complications with this in the future and we may end up introducing new roles that better explain our intents.

Another point brought up deals with the mixing of techans and echans (science-fiction and fantasy). Like I said, we designed the techans to operate on their own without mixing with fantasy players. The disruption rules support this but that doesn’t mean a group can’t try it. You can pick-and-mix whatever you like but some of these classes may not work well with others unless they are armed with machine gunes. For example, the Marshall has dozens of abilities that grant him and allies ranged basic attacks, a useless feature if the Marshal is surrounded by fighters and paladins. A Grounder is a heavy ranged attacker with support abilities that help other ranged attackers nearby, another useless feature if the grounder is the only one at range. Amazingly enough, a Grounder would not be a fighter in a fantasy party but a Wizard (another argument for them being a Controller rather than a Defender). A Marshall could replace a Warlord but would very much be bad at it. The same goes for Operator but he, at least, would be a welcomed and vital healer if a Cleric was nowhere to be found. A striker is the only class, I think, which would be able to hold his own if alone in a fantasy party. They have few supporting powers and feature a set of unique abilities no other fantasy player has. It would be a challenge but I believe that’s half the fun.

[DiasExMachina]

"Mission to Marsh"


Yes, that is the current internal name of our Free RPG Day module. We are not going for a clichéd dungeon romp but a nonstop scrub of gunfire from beginning to end as a group of gun-toting techans find themselves trapped in a wasteland and are forced to dive deeper into danger to recover a missing piece of technology they need to survive. The module will include 5 techan characters at 6th level pre-generated players can just dive right into.

AND in case anyone is in the Prince George area, Conan and myself will be each running the module for anyone interested at Great White Entertainment.

Meanwhile, despite the fact the game is done and off to layout, we are still testing the system. Alas, we've already found a couple issues that need clarifying but nothing currently that breaks the system or requires anything more than an erratum. For one, we list Demolitions as an Intelligence-based skill everywhere except under the Operator class, where it is listed as Wisdom. Stuff like that.

Oh...and we have a FOURTH Techan Podcast, which concludes our group's foray into Punjar. This is the funniest podcast we have ever recorded. We have trouble listening to it ourselves. If you listen to any of them, listen to this one. They players come across the biggest threat yet and I do everything in my power to kill them...

http://www.diasexmachina.com/Techan-Podcast4.mp3

[DiasExMachina]

In an effort to keep the word count down and make room for more artwork, we are pulling Medical injections from the book for now. They will pop up in the next one. Meanwhile, we have played around outside of the box s'more and created new powers for a few classes to replace some duplicates which are shared between them. This includes Operator attack powers that do no damage and massive heavy automatic burst attacks that only do 1 point of damage. We also got a look at our final cover.

As I have often said to friends, family...and people I pass in the street, that we have been blessed with a great artist/collaborator in Nick Greenwood. He is responsible for 90% of the artwork in the 3.5 book, nearly 100% in the 4.0 book, including out new cover. Suffice to say, this looks amazing. What's particularly interesting is that it is a full 16x11 wrap-around and unlike others you might have seen, there is activity through the entire image.

People whose opinion really shouldn't matter have convinced me to start a MySpace and Face Book account. I am not sure why. The face book page gets all the attention currently. I am uploading old and new Amethyst artwork there. You’ll find it under my full name of Chris Dias.

As a final sign-off before Christmas, I leave a gift...one ENTIRE Paragon Path... Merry Christmas (by the way, this one isn't finalized yet):

MUTAHARRIK CAPTAIN
Leading the Kannos Kavalry are the Mutaharrik Captains. You have probably spent more hours on your horse than others have on their own feet. Regardless if you raised your steed from birth or bought it from a stable, as an elite from Kannos, you can whip any animal for combat within a week. You do not afford yourself anymore luxuries than the men under your command. You wear the same light armor, ride a horse with no barding, and charge alongside the line rather than behind it.
You and your animal are now one combined spirit and you are no longer even required to whistle for its attention or whip it to speed. It only requires a few words or a nudge. It may even act on its own if you require it. The elite order of Kannos officers forego all other pleasantries in favor of their bond. You don’t bother with wives or children. It has even been said a Captain’s steed lives for the entire life of its master, dying the second its Captain does.
Prerequisites: Kavalier or Halfmaster lifepath. You must also return to Kannos for promotion. You must own a large natural beast as a mount. You must have selected the mounted combat feat.

MUTAHARRIK CAPTAIN PATH FEATURES
Whisperer (11th level): Any riding horse you own becomes a warhorse. It is only a warhorse while under your command. Your warhorse gains +2 movement during a Trample attack.
High Ground (11th level): You gain a +1 to attack with a melee weapon to adjacent foes if you are on your mount. You also no longer provoke opportunity attacks if you fire ranged weapons while on your mount.
Master Warhorse (16th level): If you spend an action point before initiating a trample attack while on your mount, you gain no additional action, but your mount ignores all opportunity attacks during said trample and it and you have Combat Advantage against anyone you strike until the end of your round.

MUTAHARRIK CAPTAIN EXPLOITS
Plow through the Lines Mutaharrik Captain Attack 11
You assault through an enemy’s flank, slashing down at those that move away from your steed’s assault.
Encounter * Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee Weapon
Requirement: You must be mounted.
Target: All targets in reach during the horse’s trample.
Effect: Your horse initiates a trample attack. Every target in your reach during the trample can be attacked by a melee weapon.
Attack: Strength vs. AC.
Hit: 1[W] + Strength Modifier
Special: This is not a charge attack so does not gain the Charger bonus with a warhorse when initiating a charge.

Equestrian Charge Mutaharrik Captain Utility 12
You leap from you mount, over the heads of your enemies, and land without injury.
Encounter * Martial, Mounted
Move Action Personal
Effect: If your mount moves more than 4 squares either as an attack (charge or trample) or a move action, you can jump from your mount as a move action. You are considered running for the jump and gain a +5 bonus to the Athletics roll. Pick an unoccupied square in range to land into. You provoke no opportunity attacks as you jump or land.

Unbridled Loyalty Mutaharrik Captain Attack 20
You need a quick escape in a dire situation and your mount is more than happy to comply. As the animal charges in, you take advantage of the distraction.
Daily * Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee Weapon
Requirement: You and your mount must be separated but within range of the animal’s trample attack.
Effect: Your mount initiates a trample attack and passes either by an adjacent square to you or through your occupied square. You suffer no damage from the trample.
Target: Any creature that is knocked prone by the trample and in reach from the square you occupy.
Attack: Strength vs. AC. (+2 for Combat Advantage) You score a critical on a natural roll of 19 or 20.
Hit: 3[W] + Strength Modifier.
Special: As the animal tramples by, you mount it. It continues its trample attack if it has any remaining movement.

[DiasExMachina]

Funny thing happened on the way to the blog

Yesterday was a big day for us. After 27 months, we finally concluded our Amethyst game. Of course, we were not playing Amethyst anymore but the second chapter after Amethyst. No, this is not the second book coming out late 2009. That’s still original Amethyst. Every book we are doing for the initial Amethyst run (about 4) deals with only the first three seasons of the original Amethyst campaign (there were 4 seasons). There is a lot to cover. All of it loosely based on the original campaign I ran with my players (one of which is still with the project). That lasted two and a half years. What we have been playing recently is the next chapter in a grand arc of which Amethyst is only one part. It still is Amethyst with the same setting and same rules. I have mentioned it before in a previous blog. It was an interesting game with an ending I think I could have done better.

But I digress. As I have closing this one chapter, I have been buzzing along with several others. There are two other writing projects due on the 15th I am polishing up. Meanwhile, we’re revving up the press release of our next product line. I know...I said two games. Here is how we work: I am spontaneous and my friends slap me. Seriously, what actually happened was that one project pushed itself to the foreground to such an amazing degree as to shove the other right off our 2009 line-up. It’s still being made but occasionally, you get an idea which is so impressive, there is just this little voice that confirms it. I get that sometimes. I think other people do as well. It reminds me of a Carl Sagan quote which... I actually can’t recall specifically. Basically this idea started off based from an old game of mine and a sudden inspiration pushed it into a direction that, when I shared it with the others, got an amazing reaction. Now they all want a piece of it and we can’t wait to start working on it. I really hope you can feel our enthusiasm for it when we announce it in a few days.

So the second project, though it will be developed this year, may not be released until the next. Besides, we still have more from Amethyst including more sourcebooks and modules.

As for a timetable, we’re going to be researching back-story for this new game (yes, it requires research) for the next month to two months while also developing a basic framework for the rules and classes. A prototype to be tested won’t occur, I imagine, until Amethyst is released, then we will offer basic rules to playtesters based solely on illogical and unreasonable conditions no one but us will understand.

Pssssst...I gave you all a little hint on what this game is...or rather what it’s based on.

[Reveille]

Thanks for the sale on RPGNow. Amethyst is very, very cool. I wish I would have bought it much earlier. I can see a lot of material that I'll be using wholecloth for my Mutants and Masterminds Guardians of Gaia game and a whole heck of a lot of stuff that will be modified for the Tale.

I also ordered the hardback at Lulu. Absolutely cannot wait to wrap my fingers around it! I feel all giddy knowing its on its way.

[DiasExMachina]

Originally Posted by Reveille

Thanks for the sale on RPGNow. Amethyst is very, very cool. I wish I would have bought it much earlier. I can see a lot of material that I'll be using wholecloth for my Mutants and Masterminds Guardians of Gaia game and a whole heck of a lot of stuff that will be modified for the Tale.

I also ordered the hardback at Lulu. Absolutely cannot wait to wrap my fingers around it! I feel all giddy knowing its on its way.

Awesome. Thanks. Alas, yes, the sale is over and the book is gone forever... (sniff)

I think you might have been our last sale off Lulu.



The comments on NeuroSpasta have been amazingly supportive and I hope it continues to spread. It really seems like there are quite a few of you out there that had been waiting for something like this to come around. Though we have a lot of the ideas in place, other responsibilities beckon us away until at least the 15th, when we start going full time into this.

Meanwhile, while carousing through Amethyst, yet again, I found I had listed 3 new skills when in truth, we had added 4. Sigh...just goes to show that some things still get missed. I fixed that little nugget and moved on. Meanwhile, Conan and his extremely significant other have been working on a new character sheet designed exclusively for Amethyst (making room for techan skills, lifepaths, and the sort). I have been spell-checking. Nick Greenwood finished our cover...

...yes...he finished our cover. Wanna see? Well...you can't...sorry. Have to leave something for a surprise. I will clip these two images for ya. These are EXTREMELY small crops of the full image. The originals are ginourmous.

[benensky]

Just a small portion huh? Wow each detail looks like it can stand on its own. The whole cover msst be killer. Thanks for the preview.

-benensky

[DiasExMachina]

Ohhh....you have no idea...There are certain elements you will simply love.


___________________________________

It will be interesting to see how our Free RPG turns out. I think it is as much of a challenge to players as it is to the GM. As stated before, it will have additional downloadable content which includes 5 premade techan characters and three additional encounters a GM can add to flesh out the module and extend the mounting tension before its conclusion.

I was dreaming of Gears of War the other day. This is strange considering I have neither played the game for any real length of time nor even own an Xbox. The dream was interesting enough and when I had woken, I had drilled my fingernails into my palm from a clenched fist. Apparently, the game is frustrating in every format. Upon recollection, I started to understand something about Amethyst. If playing as a techan party, a DM could recreate ANY first person shooter that has ever been made. From Doom, to Quake, to Half Life to Fear, to Gears of War, you begin with basic weapon, travel through a landscape killing monsters, all the while upgrading your weapons from crowbars and shotguns to plasma cannons and rocket launchers. Gears of War has an additional similarity because of its cooperative format—where multiple players can team up to tackle the game instead of trying to take each other out. In Amethyst, the players start with TL0 rifles and pistols and by the time they reach epic, they have upgraded to power armour, thumper rifles, and rail cannons. Although it was not our intent to create the possibilities of such empty storytelling, a group could go into the game with that mentality. This also means a GM could recreate nearly any one of these franchises with Amethyst with little to no modifications. Of them, I think Fear would be my favourite to see recreated using these rules. It was my favourite of those games.

[DiasExMachina]

Six more images exclusive to the new Amethyst 4.0 RPG have been uploaded. Where are they? They are not here. Three of them can be found on Nick Greenwood's official page. The other three are on my facebook page.

We finished the FREE RPG module, Hearts of Chaos last week. The primary adventure has three 5th level encounters, 1 puzzle, and a significant amount of role playing opportunities. The downloadable package available before FREE RPG day will have three more encounters and four pregenerated techan characters.

And let me tell you, the United Nations Charter is an astoundingly interesting read. I plan on the same level of obsessive detail over NeuroSpasta as I am about everything else I do. For example, I just outlined in loose note form how the Security Council gets reformed after an Emergency Special Session is convened to ratify Article 29 dealing with veto power over the permanent five members. Follow any of that?

[DiasExMachina]

The last lingering threads of Amethyst were sewed into place today. How it is now is how it shall be. I didn’t realize until this week that a large part of our techan—and thus, our science-fiction element—is based entirely on the success of one new rule. Yes, we added lifepaths, but those were easy and seen in so many other games already (actually, I’ve only seen it in Forgotten Realms, but the statement is probably sound). Ranged weapons…we’re not breaking the system adding them in. No, the real test will be people’s response to autofire. The entire rapid-fire system is very very touchy and it was the most ardently tested of any new rules in the game. How would a system like 4ED incorporate rules for burst fire. You can’t just make it a power…it’s got to be more than that. But it also can’t be overly complicated. In the end, we used a combination of powers and feats to establish what we wanted. If successful, NeuroSpasta will incorporate this same mechanic.

Basically, it involves 1 feat, the burst fire feat. It allows you to fire five shots per attack roll and adding 1 more point of damage. Seems easy enough. The problem is, of course, that you need a weapon capable of firing those additional shots…soooo, you need Auto weapons. But the rate of fire for an AK-47 and a M134 Mini-Gun are radically different, forcing us to create a second class of weapon, the Heavy Auto. Heavy Auto weapons require a minimum strength to lift without a mount, you can’t move and shoot on the same round, but it does fire twice as many rounds as an auto weapon and does more damage depending on what tier your character is in. Not only that, we have dozens of powers (mostly Grounder) that specifically require Auto weapons and these powers carry additional effects based on if you wield an Auto or a Heavy Auto weapon. Auto weapons can be fired on the same round your character moves, but he suffers a penalty to hit if he does anything but shift (so if he fires and then attempts to move, he can shift only). We are simplifying it a bit here. There are a few more bits we haven’t mentioned (can’t tell you all the tricks, yet, right?).

What kinds of powers, you ask? Good question. The Grounder, though our heavy hitter, has two unique builds: One is a direct-fire on specific targets and the other lays down area effects. You can probably see where the Heavy Auto can come into play. Using combination of feats and powers, a Heavy Auto weapon has the potential of firing, quite literally, hundreds of rounds in a single standard action. Okay…not hundreds…maybe over a hundred…assuming you use a large area effect power…like this one:

Clearing the Room Grounder Attack 13
Your weapon fires back so fast and so loudly, most enemies recoil just from the noise.
Encounter * Auto, Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Ranged 5
Target: One, two, or three creatures
Attack: Dexterity vs. AC, three attacks
Hit: 1 [W] + Dexterity modifier damage and target is pushed back 2 squares. Targets that cannot move further back than 2 squares suffer an additional 2 [W] damage.
Special: If you use a heavy auto weapon, targets are pushed back 4 squares and suffer additional damage if they cannot move further back than 4 squares.

[DiasExMachina]

You would think now that Amethyst has moved onto the next step that things would temper. They have not. Now we are looking ahead with NeuroSpasta as well as polishing off the artwork demands. In total, we have twice the artwork from the original 3.5 edition of Amethyst with the majority of work that I was personally not happy with removed for the 4th Edition. I can’t say all this artwork will make it into the new book. For one, we have certain monsters drawn that won’t appear in until the second book.

We got Jeremy Simmons on board. This guy is a really prolific cartographer and artist and he is handling all our dungeons as well as our character sheet. Ah, yes, character sheet. I am going on a limb and saying that I have not felt comfortable with any 4.0 character currently out and I have seen a few. So we are designing one that 1) feels efficient, and 2) fits with both our fantasy and techan characters.

I hope to get back into talking about races again soon. I started with Damaskans and want to continue with all of them in time. Meanwhile, I have been trying to wrap my head around the Israel-Arab conflict for NeuroSpasta...yeah, you read right. It’s difficult to develop a possible outcome after 60 years that won’t totally piss off someone. You have to get used to the fact that some people just won’t like what you are selling. Though Amethyst had four 4-star reviews on RPGNow, we did have that one 1-star review that was deleted by the Staff because they felt the reviewer was simply mean spirited They also thought that he hadn’t fully read the book. He accused Amethyst of having a “Creationist” agenda. Yeah...a creationist agenda. Beyond DEM’s religious views (which are our own, if we have them), I can safely say there was never a Creationist agenda. In fact, quite the opposite. Still...I can’t lie and say there was not an agenda. Amethyst always had a lot to say about the world and the people living in it. Yes, it does paint mankind in a colourful image but I feel that’s realistic. We have surfed through the landscape of criticism surprisingly unscathed. We have yet to slam against any condemnation about the dealing of our subject matter—another reason why I am not worried about our use of modern religion in a 4ED GSL-compatible game. NeuroSpasta does aim the reticle a little closer to home, however, but I am still not worried.

[DiasExMachina]

Guns Guns Guns

I could go into a commentary about violence in games. I could mention that I have never even held a gun and that I have no desire to hold one, let alone fire or own, regardless of design or purpose. I am, and will forever be, a happy ignorant city-boy, never questioning the ingredients of my bratwurst (minced flower petals). That being said, there will always be a level of violence in the majority of our interactive entertainment. When it comes down to violence, you either wield firearms, blades, bows, or your own talented appendages. Amethyst allows for all of those. Thankfully, our friends at WOTC offered us most of these. Our primary responsibility is to supply the first one...guns.

We have mentioned before that Amethyst deals with increasing tech levels (TL) which coincides with enhancement levels—and the two figured are equal and function identically. So where a 9mm autoloader would be TL0, a phase plasma rifle would be TL5 or 6. That being said, there are 9mm weapons at both TL1 and TL2 and some advanced firearms (like caseless and electronically stacked projectiles) at TL3 and TL4 but the most powerful weapons are those able to cremate someone’s skin, like our TL6 vapour rifle.

Because this technology derives from separate and independent bastion states, a TL1 weapon from one city could look radically different than a TL1 weapon from another, despite operating exactly the same. As a result, it would be impossible to supply artwork for all of them.

When you account for the different TLs and the difference variety of weapons, I have calculated we actually have...155 weapons...wow...I didn’t think it was that high. This allows substantial amount of personality to any weapons a character possesses. They could, especially at later level, vastly conflicts designs in gear and weapons. They could have two identical gauss pistols from two different bastions and they could look totally different.

I mean you have the typical...


The advanced...


And...well...the bizarre...



Speaking of which, the vapour rifle is part of a strange class of weapons we have called Speciality Weapon which can only be used with Ranged Basic Attacks. Given this limit, we are able to play with the rules that we established for the rest of them. Here is the Vapour Rifle as an example...


Vapor Rifle
Critical: +8 damage per tech level
Effect: This weapon does not require a roll for damage. It inflicts maximum [W] damage with every strike.

[Voadam]

Nice art on those guns.

[DiasExMachina]

We have vehicles…yes we have vehicles. Vehicles take a backseat in Amethyst, something we decided early on. They are meant to punctuate a battle. They either drive in and ram something and the characters file out or you jump in and hit the accelerator for a quick getaway. They have stats and we have skills for their use (“Vehicle Operation”) but it was the least tested part of the entire process. I didn’t see a lot of opportunities for the vehicles to be active in combat. For one, they are fairly big and expensive and important to be put into harm’s way.

Our vehicles are not your standard cars and bikes. Most of them are ETVs. ETV stands for Echan Terrain Vehicle—insulated juggernauts that plough their way through fantasy, sealed off from the outside magic so the squishy humans and power system are safe inside. Some are not much larger than hummers, like the scrambler, while others are mammoth mobile bases, like the behemoth. Some have weapon mounts while others don’t. Some are designed for agility while many break and scar the environment as they thunder along. Some have wheels--four to eight--and some have tank treads. Some have rechargeable power packs with photovoltaic cells; some use a nuclear reactor.

We don’t have classes based around vehicles. We offer a variety of vehicle-based feats. A few offer additional bonuses while others include a new vehicle based utility or attack power. Vehicle Operation can be used for hard manoeuvres and stunt driving.

Here is a pair of driver power feats

Hull-Down
Prerequisite: Paragon
Benefit: You gain Hull-Down as a feat power.
Hull-Down Feat Power
You find a spot in the terrain where your vehicle gains an advantage against incoming fire.
Daily * Martial, Vehicle
Minor Action Personal
Requirement: Finish a move and stop the vehicle this round.
Effect: The vehicle gains cover from ranged attacks and area and burst effects until the vehicle moves again.

Jump the Crash
Benefit: You gain Jump the Crash as a feat power.
Jump the Crash Feat Power
Just before the end, you jump from a potential disaster.
Daily * Martial, Vehicle, Weapon
No Action Personal
Trigger: You are in a vehicle that crashes.
Effect: Shift 4 squares from point of impact and take no damage. You may pass through enemy occupied squares. You may then make a ranged basic attack at any point during the jump.

There are about six of these but, in the end, vehicle combat was not the priority in Amethyst so the rules may appear a little glossed over. NeuroSpasta will step from this baseline and include a slightly more complicated car-combat system…but, saying that, NeuroSpasta doesn’t have a nuke truck…



Nuke Truck: In order to combat the EDF interference outside their walls, Angel R&D created a vehicle with its own shielded micro-nuclear fission power pack. The result is an extremely expensive and risky long-range carrier simply dubbed "the nuke truck." The reactor, though miniature, does supply a full 1-year lifespan of power until needing service. Because of the reduced degradation of Uranium-235 in EDF and its increased resistance to shedding neutrons, scientists switched to Radium 226 and Thorium 232, which accelerate their decay while in magic. Since these materials cannot be found easily in nature, the only way to service and re-supply a nuke truck involves taking it to one of only two breeder reactors in Canam, one in York and the other in Angel. The breeder reactors expel more fissionable materials than they receive, but the process is not cheap and a full service and re-supply of a nuke truck takes a week and costs 25000 UC. The advantages are plain to see. This makes the vehicle sustain itself indefinitely save for the service. The extensive radiation shielding virtually removes a chance of shorting out in EDF.

[DiasExMachina]

Gimfen

Gimfen are both the kindest and the most controversial race in all of amethyst, more so than even the tilen. Although not a single voice has ever spoken in objection to their introduction, elements of their profile carry undertones readers may find unsettling. They are the de-facto Halflings of Amethyst. In literature, they are reflections of the playful and kind fairies that build toys and shoes as well as the annoying little elves that bother a family while they sleep. In various books and films, they are often presented as children, to reflect their playful dispositions, but also because it is easier to cast children as short fantasy creatures than adults or even those affected by dwarfism. Though the gimfen don't have wings, they are the most aloof and playful and innocent of the fae races in Amethyst…at least the ones the rest of the planet has had any exposure to. In comparison, all other fae races are dull and serious way too often.

Gimfen represent this common seen element in fantasy literature--childlike creatures whose intents, though mischievous or inquisitive, are rarely malicious. Despite not having overly large shoe sizes, the gimfen take pride in their nonchalant attitude towards life, indulging in whatever vices they desire from petty theft to recreational drug use, thus part of their controversial nature (more on that later).

Gimfen are one of the last fae branches. What once started as the statuesque laudenians moved onto the damaskans. The gimfen are a late step from this branch and despite some claims, never developed a branch to another species later. The three main divergences of the original fae became the chaparrans (mostly feminine), narros (mostly masculine), and damaskans. The latter, though not having a gender dominance, were more social to each other and outsiders and when the gimfen broke from the damaskans, they emerged greatly amplified if this trait. The damaskans would also eventually have branches with the skeggs, boggs, and the feral puggs. Gimfen share with the boggs and puggs an overt joy of life in general. Gimfen believe themselves the eventual final form all fae should aspire to become. They have yet to devolve into a lower form and have coincidentally gained an ability unique to their species many others both envy and decry.

The entire fae species, being a creation of magic and not evolved, lack the instinctual drive to reproduce or dominate the land and others they see. This obsessive push is a feature of evolved animals like man. This is why humanity created an industrial age in the same span of time while the fae were riding horses and brachiating between trees. But the gimfen, though not sharing the human's obsession for advancement, do share their curiosity. This caused the gimfen to begin asking questions no one else had until that point. In the short time they were on Earth before being banished to Attricana like all the other fae, they acquired knowledge no of the others had even dreamed. They added leaf springs to wagons, discovered the basics of chemical explosives, and even proposed the basics of steam power. Although much slower than humanity, the gimfen were beginning to develop technology. Alas, the EDF prevented them from pursuing past this point but, upon their return to Earth and their discovery of humanity, were able to springboard past this hurdle. In the modern age, the gimfen still have no idea how the majority of human technology works. They can recreate it but still have problems understanding the intricate nature of it all. They also do no generate the magical disruption field as all fae despite being a creation of magic. They can never be a replacement for humanity but are still the only species of fae able to enter bastions without breaking everything, by disruption that is. This has created a minor schism in gimfen society. There are those agrarian gimfen that keep to the old ways, maintaining farms and living in small houses, drinking and partying to the morning's rise. They keep no obligations and despise restrictions and bureaucracy whenever they find it. On the other side are the growing ratios that have embraced the machine. If you were to give them a Model T, they could recreate a Model-T but would take a thousand years before they could build a Prius. Even with that limitation, these gimfen had surrounded themselves with machines and gadgets, most of which don't work. Their society reflects this and nowhere is this more clear than in the grind towers--mammoth buildings sprouting from the soil that mark the towns and cities of the subterranean, mechanically adept fae. The people within them are adorned with a variety of ugly and shuddering machinery. The gimfen developed their bizarre talent to be able to reverse-engineer nearly everything they find and rebuild it with immunity to disruption. However, the task creates a device so clumsy and finicky that said gimfen is the only one able to use it.

So with one race, the gimfen represent not only the playful miniature elves of legend and lore but the tinkering and mechanically inclined as well--wrapped in a package we hope will be attractive to players. The only aspect that can never change is their appearance. Gimfen appear as children through their lives and though no taller than 4 feet, also never look a day over 15 until they shuffle on. Even still, they look even younger reaching adulthood and remain that way for hundreds of years. This only changes in the last few days and weeks of their life, as their age literally rushes onto their skin and they grow feeble and frail just before the end of their natural lives. But until then, they are gifted with the miracle all others envy.

This presents the uncomfortable conundrum. Regardless of their path, be it tinkerer, thief, soldier, serial-killer, etc, gimfen always present the childish image, making the application of many of these roles uncomfortable (or further uncomfortable). It presents an enigma, one recently dealt with in a minor degree in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (a film I recommend despite comments about the film's length). How does someone’s outward appearance affect how you address them? This is not about being ugly or fat but strictly how you age. In a scene in the film, Button is a toddler of 7 but with the face and body of a 73 year old trying to have a friendship with a 7 year-old girl. We are bothered by it as are those who don't know about Button's origin, but to him, this is who he connects to. When the roles are reversed, the film jumps away from a similar conflict. Button (played by Pitt) is seen in his teens, then again at 10 (played by another actor). The following scenes pass by quickly and the similar uncomfortable atmosphere we picked up early in the film is not repeated. Gimfen don't age backwards. They never age at all, so a gimfen adult of 250 years could still have the face of a 14 year old. This makes their presence on the battlefield a little disturbing. Similarly, as all fae are romantic, nearly every race has intermarried at least at one point with another race, including man. If you met a gimfen young in life, you would grow old but the gimfen would stop just before society would deem it acceptable to pursue them romantically. Yet it does happen. Hell, in Amethyst, all pairings are possible. In the novel, a nymph is seen married to a bear (That's a reference to Russian mythos for those unaware). To push this even further, in the game, there is a paragon path for gimfen called a Redcap, which turns your average diminutive gimfen into a jumping blender of death, all the while smiling and cackling like playground child.

When the races began to get established, I looked at the gimfen as the riskiest endeavor. I thought of literature, how they were presented in the various fictions of the world, and also, honestly, how they could easily be presented in a film without breaking the bank (yes, I actually had thought of that). Unlike the 3.5 Gimfen, which were clones of Halflings, our new variation is distinct with abilities all their own. They are still not my favorite race but they are no longer my least favorite and they offer great opportunities...if one is able to overcome one uncomfortable hurdle...

[DiasExMachina]

Just so everyone knows where we're at:

As Amethyst chugs along to its release, we already have nearly 90 pages written for the second book. I won't go into any details as yet because the feedback we receive from the first volume will dictate how much work will be required for the second. For now, what we CAN confirm is that there will be at least 1 additional race as well as lifepaths and paragon paths for that race. Our previously discussed Foundation Spells will finally make their presence known as well as Amethyst-unique epic destinies. We got some new monsters and perhaps, just perhaps, the Saints from the 3.5 book will FINALLY reveal themselves. We may also open the setting to Southam (South America). Other possibilities include finally going a little evil and opening up racial templates for pagus as well as corrupt lifepaths and paragon paths.