DiasExMachina 4ED Update

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

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


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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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Nice art on those guns.

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.

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...

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.