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Topics - Aminar

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1
Cinder Spires Books / So about these Cats.
« on: July 07, 2015, 03:13:30 PM »
Do we know their names? I figure naming a cat after one would be fun, but odds are I'm not going to be able to hold off getting a cat until the book comes out.

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DFRPG / About the Paranet Papers
« on: March 09, 2015, 03:13:34 PM »
Are we allowed to discuss the full book yet.  There are some exciting changes and additions.  I love how it's clear this board had a lot of influence over the thaumaturgy thoughts and the like as well.

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DFRPG / My Neighbor Trololo
« on: February 18, 2015, 03:23:30 PM »
http://kotaku.com/the-book-that-inspired-totoro-1686493227
Suffice it to say this has my brain rumbling in all sorts of fun ways.  Totoro versus the Gruffs.  Winter's cuddliest enforcers.  Santa's personal bodygaurd Totoro.  I'm tryi g to work this all into a cohesive story but felt the need to share.  Because who doesn't want to watch Totoro get starfished into tinier and tinier Totoros as he heroically saves a child from Summer Fey.

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DFRPG / Hiveminds...
« on: June 07, 2013, 05:40:31 AM »
I'm working on a concept for a DF session using Never Never based entities with the following criteria.
They are a hivemind.  For every Ten of them linked they are about as smart as a human being.
They are about six inches tall.  They are bipedal, and capable of using tools, but have chitinous skin.
Necessary powers.
Diminutive Size. -1
Inhuman Toughness.  -2(Gives them 4-5 Physical Stress, 1 Armor total always with diminutive size.)(In Fatecore this would just be Chitinous Endoskeleton -1.  Gain Armor 1)
Then the following long and complicated power.
Hivemind -1  This power may be taken multiple times.  For every 1 point spent the hive grows by ten.
Abilities included-
Multitasking-The Hive may perform any number of skill checks at a given time outside of combat up to the number of Hive members.  For every 2 Hive Members below 10 performing a task take -1 on the roll.(So a lone Hive member will take -4 on any task.)
Focus- For every ten Hive Members focused on a task add +1 to the roll.  Hive members focusing on a task being performed by another body may not take any actions of their own.
-Mental Link-  The Hive takes all mental stress as one.  Each member of the hive takes physical stress separately.  Whenever a member of the hive is taken out the Hive takes 2 mental stress.
-Mental Range-The Link has a radius of 1 mile from each body to the next.

Because the Hive is a never never entity, and not a faerie they cannot take magical abilities(Or really much of anything not directly above except for a few things.
I'm torn on the balance here.  I mean, on one hand, a player using this could take up the whole session just doing their own awful rolls.  Or they can focus everything together and gain some insane bonuses.  At the same time, in a physical fight they are severely handicapped by lack of feasible damage output and the fact that anyone finding their cowering pile of extra brainpower can take them out in just a few rounds.
Thoughts.

I'm actually hoping to balance these for Fatecore starting characters as well, given that I'm using them in Dresden to test them for another project that will be in fatecore.

5
Author Craft / I broke physics and now it's being obnoxious.
« on: May 16, 2013, 01:55:13 PM »
So, for the YA Sci-Fi project I'm working on I have a psuedo-magic system based around the concept of gates(read portals from portal, but with more room to play.)  There's quite a bit of backstory behind this, and more than a little Significantly advanced tech/life is magic.(I'm probably at a 2.5 on the Sci-Fi Hardness scale, but spaceflight itself is leaning towards a 3.5(works with physics at a basic level, but I'm not going to start throwing theoretical physics around much, just account for relativistic time dilation and the like.)
Anyway here's the situation.
Ship A(The Captain doesn't like to name ships.) is running low on fuel.  They have enough to either A-Get to travelling speeds(.9C) or B, slow down from (.9C) but not both.  The ship is being pursued, and is somewhat damaged from a run in with another pirate vessel.  They took the attacking pirate vessel without major harm to it via sabotage and portals.  Now the Pirate ship, Queenswyrd, needs to tow the other ship to travelling velocity.  They'll deal with the fuel trouble of that later, but they don't have the hull integrity to pull this off(because why would you have the hull integrity to tow a ship 6 times your size to .9C)  So what I want to do is put a gate on the back of the ship, fire the magnetic grapple through the gate, and then have it come out at a 180 degree angle to itself, so that the magnet hits a forward facing wall(that is involved in bracing the engines) on the Queenswyrd.)

However, depending on the perspective I take this gets really weird.  If I go from Ship A's perspective it should be getting towed, but if you go from the perspective of the grapple it looks like the cable should be slackening, but then if the cable slackens the two ships will be getting closer together, but if that happens its getting towed.

I'm pretty sure I'm overthinking things, but I can't be certain and it's slowly driving me nuts.

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DFRPG / Sydney Australia. Looking for flavor.
« on: January 29, 2013, 03:31:24 PM »
My new party, made up of Dresden Fans with little RP experience, opted for Sydney as the location for our campaign.  That is awesome, as I have a long standing love of Dreamtime Folklore.(Blame Johnny Wulgaru(AKA Dread) if you know who he is.)
What I'm looking for is Sydney's character and feel as well as how to fit the supernatural into it.
I know I'll be using some of the motorcycle gangs, a little bit of the major Asian Mafias, and some White Court Drug runners.  I have a few historical prisoners(original colonists as Black Court.)  An outsider much like the villain from I am not a Serial Killer.  So the evil is worked out.
What I need is a feel for the city.  What's the general attitude.  Is it down and dirty like LA?  Busy and stratified like Chicago and New York?  Is it more like New Orleans in that it's kind of laid back and touristy in most of the parts people see? 
I'm hoping we have a few natives to give me assistance because short of talking in a bad Aussie accent the whole time I'd like to make this as flavorful as possible.  And I have no idea on city aspects.

7
DFRPG / Libriomancer(may have spoilers about the book sharing topic name)
« on: September 09, 2012, 05:50:23 PM »
So, If I were to try to put a Libriomancer into the DFRPG, because frankly best thing ever, what would be the best way to go about it?

I'm currently thinking
-4 Sponsored Magic-Libriomancy technically covers it.

Does calling out something cause mental stress and create the item? 

I'm worried that this might wind up OP.  Do I have the items they pull out take up item slots?  I would think so.  What happens when the player gets super creative, reaches into a novelization of a Spiderman movie and gets himself bitten by the radioactive spider(which is how vampires are created too within the book so it should work).  Or gets a green lantern ring.  That has to be an item of power, do I deduct it from their refresh until it's returned.(I would assume it grants armor 2 wings, and Channeling(green Light))

8
Author Craft / Is it appropriate?
« on: August 22, 2012, 01:40:39 AM »
I'm writing a short story for Writers of the future.  It's Urban Fantasy about a social worker looking for a few kids who have gone missing.  There's magic involved.  Can I use the line "What would Harry Dresden do?"  Because I really really want to.

9
Author Craft / Writing villains
« on: August 15, 2012, 03:11:20 AM »
When you're writing villains do you ever feel bad for making them do what they do?  I just wrote a scene that has my stomach turning, despite the fact it isn't truly explicit, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with it.

Basic summary
Sociopath assassin pulls an inmate from an asylum to help him.  Said inmate is a bodyshifter(Can heal himself and shift the properties of his body as he wills(Muscle mass and the like))  The bodyshifter is mentally incapable(Lacking in some crucial bits of sanity).  He's also a masochist that learned the golden rule very very well.  The sociopath is using the mentally deficient man as a tool of murder and mayhem and it feels so horribly wrong, but it works so well.

10
Author Craft / On the kinds of stories.
« on: August 01, 2012, 10:46:45 PM »
This thought process came to me today while listening to the audio book of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys.
There are two kinds of stories.  I don't have names for them, but Anansi Boys and everything else I've read by Neil Gaiman bar Neverwhere is the first type.  It's the kind of book I'll burn through in one sitting just to get to the ending and then I'll never read it again because the whole story is about the ending, the twist, or what will go wrong. 
The second kind is like The Dresden Files or War of The Flowers or The Wheel of Time.  It's the kind of story where you don't care about the ending, you want the story to go and go and go and go, where you could live that story for the rest of your life and love it every step of the way.

Which do you prefer to write.  How do you get that second feeling? How do you get the first?  I think it has to do with worldbuilding, but telling Anansi Boys and American Gods from The Dresden Files worldwise is difficult, the differences are minor.  Character is involved too, but I hesitate to say Neil Gaiman's characters are weak, because they aren't. 

11
And the wielder is too stupid to let go of the trigger?  I need this for a scene I'm writing at the moment.

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Author Craft / Word Density.
« on: February 01, 2012, 06:11:04 PM »
I found this great site.

http://rainbow.arch.scriptmania.com/tools/word_counter.html

It counts out all the words in your document, giving you an idea how many times you have used a certain word.  This can be a good way to watch adverb usage.  To make sure I don't use the word Massive too much.  To see if your writing fits the correct proportions.(For instance my "and" usage is much lower than other novels I've checked out because I use more semicolons.)

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DFRPG / Is my summoner Balanced?
« on: February 01, 2012, 04:45:18 AM »
I'm trying a route I think is new on summoning.
Required Powers
Channeling(Control)
Ritual(Summoning and Binding)
Demense(Never-Never Pocket to hold creatures(limiting this for wizards.)

Summoned creature guidelines.

Summoned creatures cost Summon points.  1 Enchanted item slot = 1 summon point.
1 point = 1 refresh.
1 point = Your lore in skills.
The creatures conviction score must be 1/2 the creatures refresh rounded down.

Examples.
Binder goon.
4 skill points
2 Guns
1 Endurance
1 Athletics.
8 with starting powers.

My Shadow Imp Pokemon.
5 refresh
Inhuman Speed-2, Claws, Cloak of Shadows, Diminutive Size
12 skill points 4 Athletics, 3 Fists, 2 Conviction, 1 stealth, 1 burglary, 1 alertness
Total cost 8 slots.

I can see this escalating with some advancement.  Especially with a 5 lore.
However, I have to give the creature orders, which is a channeled spell.
Attack, Defend, Summon, Unsummon, Search.  All of those orders cause 1 mental stress(Hence option 1 being really easy to hide while still combat effective.)  I think this seems fairly balanced.

Thoughts.


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Author Craft / Unconventional communication types.
« on: December 31, 2011, 07:22:12 PM »
I have a pair of cultures in my current novel that communicate by scripting letters across their skin.  For most of the book the relevant characters will know how to speak, and use that as their primary form of communication, but in the prologue I'm writing now I need to write a conversation using the scripted language and I'm unsure how to present it.  What are the rules for unconventional communication.

I'm debating using > instead of quotation marks.  The language scrolls so that seems like it could help to give a little subconscious help with the motion.

So for instance.

Iraisa scripted, >I have a bad feeling about this> across the palm of her hand, cupping it so only Keth could see.

15
DFRPG / Need some help reworking social conflicts.
« on: December 29, 2011, 05:09:08 PM »
This topic was inspired by an un-named RPG based on a book series by one of my favorite authors.  In it social conflicts are handled in a way I find much more comfortable than the ones in the DFRPG.  My party has never had a social conflict in DFRPG because it feels better to just roleplay them out(as the DM), skipping the whole damage bit.  In this other RPG social conflicts are used differently, they aren't used as witty banter back and forth trying to get someone to socially withdraw(Which has never made much sense to me...)  They are more like political campaigns, working to slander or defame your opponents, make yourself look better, etc.  This feels more right...(Especially in a group setting)  But it isn't perfect because in the DFRPG your reputation is twofold.  The Supernatural one and the Mortal one.  In addition it doesn't work as well with the consequences, seeing as most of the time damage dealt by this should be a permanent consequence like "Social Pariah."

Anyway, staring the session after my PC's get back from preventing Nicodemus from stopping the crucifixion I want to use this, but I'm not sure quite how to work it out.

Any thoughts.

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