Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Jul 1, 2009 4:17:49 GMT -5
This is a Muse Aegis spinoff, not a restart. The current Muse Aegis will continue at some point, but a new chapter in Imagination is being written.
Though the exact cosmology will unfold as you progress through the story, the premise is simple enough: You have been transported into a new world, of fantasy and whimsy and adventure. You may want to go home, or to dominate this new land, or to explore, but whatever is going on, you are here for the foreseeable future.
By "you", we mean you, the reader. Like Muse Aegis, you are playing yourself. I will give thought to future multiple character options, such as in Muse Aegis.
Creating A Character:
Step 1. Determine Starting Attributes:
Start with your position right now. Rank yourself in the following attributes from 1-10. No one will start with above a 10, not even Olympians.
Be honest in this step. The progression of the game will insure that starting stats don't throw things off too much. Ideally, most people will have an average number close to 5, with few numbers above 7 or below 3.
Step 2: Apply Universal Bonuses
Every character gets a +4 to HP and to Energy simply from coming to the new world. This is a one-time freebie.
Step 3. Think About Character Concept:
You will all be choosing your character concept in game. However, having an idea before hand will be tremendously useful.
Once you figure out what you turn into on the other side, you will receive 24 points that will be distributed among your stats depending on the concept you chose. A warrior, for example, may see a rise in Durability and Strength, whereas a magician may see Magic and Intelligence go up.
No bonus will be above +4.
Step 4: Advantages and Disadvantages
The most important Advantage to start is Haunted by Imagination Past. With this, you may channel bonuses from any previous MA, ITM, TRoG or other character that you identified with as a direct avatar of yourself. HbIP gives a total of +20 to stats, again with no bonus being above +4, based on the past archetype chosen. My Buu Martial Artist, for example, would give me +4 Strength, Ki, Durability, HP and Celerity. HbIP also gives a predisposition to abilities similar to that past self. I will determine if you are eligible for HbIP.
Other than this, list all the relevant Advantages and Disadvantages you have as a real person right now. Advantages and Disadvantages are things about you that may not directly impact stats, or impact multiple stats in complex ways, but have game impact. We'll work out their relative worth, but they should be things like this:
Short-Sighted
Agoraphobia
ADHD
Broken Bone
Epilepsy
Inheritance
Allergy
Things like this are NOT what we're looking for:
Stronger Than Average [then that should be represented in a slightly higher Strength]
Advantages and Disadvantages can also be used to note tradeoffs. For example:
Creative Intelligence (more intelligent at creating art, music, writing, etc.)
Mathematical Debit (less intelligent at math, science, etc.)
If we determine that your starting Advantages eclipse your Disadvantages in terms of gameplay, I may put into place a few Disadvantages derived from your character concept.
If we determine that your starting Disadvantages eclipse your Advantages, on the other hand, you may purchase new Advantages (either immediately or over time - if over time, we will write them into the story appropriately). There are many possibilities, the following being a decidedly non-exhaustive list:
Berserker Rage
Resemblance to Nobility (resembles some noble family)
Lucre Magnet (get more loot on average from encounters)
Bloodline (inherited genetic ability or predisposition)
Use this opportunity to have some real fun, build out a background and some ties to this new world, etc.
The Attributes:
The following are the primary attributes of the game.
HP
Energy
Strength
Durability
Stamina
Speed
Precision
Celerity
Offense
Defense
Intelligence
Wisdom
Willpower
Craft
Charisma
Beauty
Magic
Psychic Power
Ki
Technique
Luck
The attributes scale by powers of 10, as follows:
1-10 – Echelon 1 (Human)
11-100 – Echelon 2 (Superhuman)
101-1000 – Echelon 3 (Supernatural)
1001-10,000 – Echelon 4 (Continental)
10,001-100,000 – Echelon 5 (Planetary)
100,001-1,000,000 – Echelon 6 (Stellar)
1,000,001-10,000,000 – Echelon 7 (Galactic)
10,000,001-100,000,000 – Echelon 8 (Cosmic)
Now let us explore each attribute in more detail.
HP:
HP is, simply put, how much damage you can take. While some provision for skill, willpower and the like are taken into account, this is generally just the upper limit of your body's ability to survive blows on a purely physical level.
HP regenerates at varying rates depending on the character. Inanimate objects, robots, etc. have "HP" too, referring to their ability to survive blows before being reduced to being broken.
Being reduced to 0 HP is not death. That is a state of collapse. Just as with many of my other games, negative hit points can range from unconsciousness to death. But being at 0 or below HP is almost always perilous, even for those with special abilities that let them fight below 0 HP.
When determining starting HP, scale yourself as compared to an average healthy human. How much more or less punishment do you think you can take? Athleticism, muscularity and body size all do count for this total.
Energy:
Your physical, mental, spiritual and emotional reserves. Energy is depleted when using most techniques or actions that require focus. Spells, ki abilities, techniques... all will use Energy. However, your Magic, Ki, Tech or Psychic Power scores will give a bonus pool of Energy, make abilities more efficient, etc.
Energy is distinct from Willpower in that Willpower tends to refer to one's base level of will, resistance to pain and fear, etc. and is not usually depleted or reduced, while Energy is a maximum stat like HP. Energy is distinct from Stamina in that Stamina is depleted by any physical activity whereas Energy is usually depleted by special abilities.
Energy is NOT the former Muse Aegis bonus stat "Energy", which referred to the literal scientific definition of energy (like a power plant) rather than reserves of personal "energy".
Strength:
Your literal capacity to lift, carry, punch, and throw your weight around. Exactly how much is determined by one's Echelon: Humans might bench press anywhere from 30 to 900 pounds, whereas Continental characters may lift an island that weighs billions of tons.
Durability:
Your physical hardiness and toughness.
This is distinct from HP in that it describes not how MUCH abuse you can take but how WELL you can take it. Resistances, soak pools, S.D.C. totals... all would be determined by Durability.
When determining Durability for yourself when starting, think of how tough it is to hurt you, not how many times you can be hurt, versus the population.
Stamina:
Your ability to exert yourself physically for long periods of time. Physical activity DOES scale upwards in its use of Stamina.
When determining your starting Stamina, try to place yourself around commonly accepted "average" athletic stats and not the horribly poor state of American stamina thanks to obesity.
Speed:
Your literal ability to move around, run, jump, etc. at high speeds.
Speed converts to miles per hour or feet per second or what not due to the Echelon scales.
Speed will influence abilities like flight and movement techniques.
Precision:
Your ability to combine hand-eye coordination, long-range sensing and precise motions. Primarily used for snipers and marksmen.
Celerity:
Your general agility and dexterity.
Offense:
Your ABILITY (not predisposition but simple capacity) to resort to offensive means of solving problems and of combat.
Defense:
Your ABILITY (not predisposition but simple capacity) to resort to defensive means of solving problems and of combat.
Intelligence:
Your general problem-solving, logical, scientific, rational, deductive intelligence. Your IQ is a decent indicator of your starting Intelligence.
Wisdom:
The sum of your learned life experience, maxims, lessons, mottos, compassion, serenity and emotive knowledge and intelligence. Common sense is connected to Wisdom as much as to Intelligence.
Willpower:
Your mental toughness, resilience and capacity to hold up under stress, pain, fear, anger, and external influences.
Craft:
Your skill at combining hand-eye coordination, deductive problem-solving, etc. to craft material goods. Great for craftsmen, smiths, engineers and scientists.
Charisma:
Generally speaking, Charisma is your ability to charm, manipulate, lie to, cajole, attract, and convince people. Being able to do so by the weight of your emotional or intellectual APPEALS is Wisdom or Intelligence. This is that indefinable "it", that spark, that remaining 93% of body language, voice, tone, eye contact, etc. that marks truly impressive public speakers, con men and charmers.
Beauty:
Your physical beauty and appeal. When distinguishing Charisma from Beauty, think of Beauty as everything that someone sees in you before you open your mouth. This may not be all purely physical or sexual: Elements of personality and body language do come out in Beauty too. But Beauty is generally passive, while Charisma is active.
Magic:
Your comfortability with, mastery of, and power with magical forces.
When determining your starting Magic, Psychic Power, or Ki, operate by the assumption that real world practitioners DO actually cultivate some of these, but within the 1-10 limits of an ordinary person. A complete skeptic about magic may have a 1, but he may also have a 10 if he knows a lot about it. Alan Moore may be an 8 or a 9, whereas Criss Angel may be a 6 or a 7 [since Criss doesn't believe in magic but has practiced the skills to represent it]. That means that if you personally have never experimented with a Ouija board, read any mystical runes, don't know belladonna from hemlock in a spell, and have never had a shamanic experience, your Magic may be a 1-4, whereas if you are a practicing Wiccan, you may be 3-7.
For the sake of discussion, any experience in stage magic will give a +1-2.
Psychic Power:
When determining your starting Magic, Psychic Power, or Ki, operate by the assumption that real world practitioners DO actually cultivate some of these, but within the 1-10 limits of an ordinary person. A complete skeptic about psychic abilities may have a 1, but he may also have a 10 if he knows all there is to know about it. Uri Geller and Madame Cleo may have a 4-7, for example. If you've never believed in or experimented with telepathy, empathy, psychokinesis, precognition, communing with the dead (through psychic rather than parapsychological means), etc., you may have a 1-4.
Ki:
When determining your starting Magic, Psychic Power, or Ki, operate by the assumption that real world practitioners DO actually cultivate some of these, but within the 1-10 limits of an ordinary person. A complete skeptic about magic may have a 1, but he may also have a 10 if he knows a lot about it. The Buddha, Gandhi or O'Sensei may have had 10s (at least in their Earthly incarnations), while the average UFC fighter who has abandoned such mysticism may have a 4-7.
Technique:
Your general sophistication at skills that require a high degree of technique. This will matter in the game for measuring the power and prowess of things like sword techniques.
Luck:
Your luck vis-a-vis the general population.
Luck influences every stat insofar as it boosts the likelihood of positive outcomes (including good rolls or checks) and reduces the likelihood of bad ones. However, in many situations, luck can be largely moot. In this respect, Luck tends to be mostly a tiebreaker. Luck's biggest effect is in making positive encounters, events, loot, etc. more likely and negatives less likely.
Trainers:
As of now, the existence of trainers from other canons/continuities and how they operate is uncertain in the new world. Come up with a list and you may meet some, though.
Learning Abilities:
Learning abilities will be done in a variety of ways: Practice, intuition, luck, etc.
The world that we have come to seems to have in its cosmology an enhanced connection between weapon and wielder. This allows people who wield a weapon to learn some abilities from it.
Fate Points:
Just as with Muse Aegis, Fate Points will make a return. Everyone starts with 1. They will be awarded after major story events.
Though the exact cosmology will unfold as you progress through the story, the premise is simple enough: You have been transported into a new world, of fantasy and whimsy and adventure. You may want to go home, or to dominate this new land, or to explore, but whatever is going on, you are here for the foreseeable future.
By "you", we mean you, the reader. Like Muse Aegis, you are playing yourself. I will give thought to future multiple character options, such as in Muse Aegis.
Creating A Character:
Step 1. Determine Starting Attributes:
Start with your position right now. Rank yourself in the following attributes from 1-10. No one will start with above a 10, not even Olympians.
Be honest in this step. The progression of the game will insure that starting stats don't throw things off too much. Ideally, most people will have an average number close to 5, with few numbers above 7 or below 3.
Step 2: Apply Universal Bonuses
Every character gets a +4 to HP and to Energy simply from coming to the new world. This is a one-time freebie.
Step 3. Think About Character Concept:
You will all be choosing your character concept in game. However, having an idea before hand will be tremendously useful.
Once you figure out what you turn into on the other side, you will receive 24 points that will be distributed among your stats depending on the concept you chose. A warrior, for example, may see a rise in Durability and Strength, whereas a magician may see Magic and Intelligence go up.
No bonus will be above +4.
Step 4: Advantages and Disadvantages
The most important Advantage to start is Haunted by Imagination Past. With this, you may channel bonuses from any previous MA, ITM, TRoG or other character that you identified with as a direct avatar of yourself. HbIP gives a total of +20 to stats, again with no bonus being above +4, based on the past archetype chosen. My Buu Martial Artist, for example, would give me +4 Strength, Ki, Durability, HP and Celerity. HbIP also gives a predisposition to abilities similar to that past self. I will determine if you are eligible for HbIP.
Other than this, list all the relevant Advantages and Disadvantages you have as a real person right now. Advantages and Disadvantages are things about you that may not directly impact stats, or impact multiple stats in complex ways, but have game impact. We'll work out their relative worth, but they should be things like this:
Short-Sighted
Agoraphobia
ADHD
Broken Bone
Epilepsy
Inheritance
Allergy
Things like this are NOT what we're looking for:
Stronger Than Average [then that should be represented in a slightly higher Strength]
Advantages and Disadvantages can also be used to note tradeoffs. For example:
Creative Intelligence (more intelligent at creating art, music, writing, etc.)
Mathematical Debit (less intelligent at math, science, etc.)
If we determine that your starting Advantages eclipse your Disadvantages in terms of gameplay, I may put into place a few Disadvantages derived from your character concept.
If we determine that your starting Disadvantages eclipse your Advantages, on the other hand, you may purchase new Advantages (either immediately or over time - if over time, we will write them into the story appropriately). There are many possibilities, the following being a decidedly non-exhaustive list:
Berserker Rage
Resemblance to Nobility (resembles some noble family)
Lucre Magnet (get more loot on average from encounters)
Bloodline (inherited genetic ability or predisposition)
Use this opportunity to have some real fun, build out a background and some ties to this new world, etc.
The Attributes:
The following are the primary attributes of the game.
HP
Energy
Strength
Durability
Stamina
Speed
Precision
Celerity
Offense
Defense
Intelligence
Wisdom
Willpower
Craft
Charisma
Beauty
Magic
Psychic Power
Ki
Technique
Luck
The attributes scale by powers of 10, as follows:
1-10 – Echelon 1 (Human)
11-100 – Echelon 2 (Superhuman)
101-1000 – Echelon 3 (Supernatural)
1001-10,000 – Echelon 4 (Continental)
10,001-100,000 – Echelon 5 (Planetary)
100,001-1,000,000 – Echelon 6 (Stellar)
1,000,001-10,000,000 – Echelon 7 (Galactic)
10,000,001-100,000,000 – Echelon 8 (Cosmic)
Now let us explore each attribute in more detail.
HP:
HP is, simply put, how much damage you can take. While some provision for skill, willpower and the like are taken into account, this is generally just the upper limit of your body's ability to survive blows on a purely physical level.
HP regenerates at varying rates depending on the character. Inanimate objects, robots, etc. have "HP" too, referring to their ability to survive blows before being reduced to being broken.
Being reduced to 0 HP is not death. That is a state of collapse. Just as with many of my other games, negative hit points can range from unconsciousness to death. But being at 0 or below HP is almost always perilous, even for those with special abilities that let them fight below 0 HP.
When determining starting HP, scale yourself as compared to an average healthy human. How much more or less punishment do you think you can take? Athleticism, muscularity and body size all do count for this total.
Energy:
Your physical, mental, spiritual and emotional reserves. Energy is depleted when using most techniques or actions that require focus. Spells, ki abilities, techniques... all will use Energy. However, your Magic, Ki, Tech or Psychic Power scores will give a bonus pool of Energy, make abilities more efficient, etc.
Energy is distinct from Willpower in that Willpower tends to refer to one's base level of will, resistance to pain and fear, etc. and is not usually depleted or reduced, while Energy is a maximum stat like HP. Energy is distinct from Stamina in that Stamina is depleted by any physical activity whereas Energy is usually depleted by special abilities.
Energy is NOT the former Muse Aegis bonus stat "Energy", which referred to the literal scientific definition of energy (like a power plant) rather than reserves of personal "energy".
Strength:
Your literal capacity to lift, carry, punch, and throw your weight around. Exactly how much is determined by one's Echelon: Humans might bench press anywhere from 30 to 900 pounds, whereas Continental characters may lift an island that weighs billions of tons.
Durability:
Your physical hardiness and toughness.
This is distinct from HP in that it describes not how MUCH abuse you can take but how WELL you can take it. Resistances, soak pools, S.D.C. totals... all would be determined by Durability.
When determining Durability for yourself when starting, think of how tough it is to hurt you, not how many times you can be hurt, versus the population.
Stamina:
Your ability to exert yourself physically for long periods of time. Physical activity DOES scale upwards in its use of Stamina.
When determining your starting Stamina, try to place yourself around commonly accepted "average" athletic stats and not the horribly poor state of American stamina thanks to obesity.
Speed:
Your literal ability to move around, run, jump, etc. at high speeds.
Speed converts to miles per hour or feet per second or what not due to the Echelon scales.
Speed will influence abilities like flight and movement techniques.
Precision:
Your ability to combine hand-eye coordination, long-range sensing and precise motions. Primarily used for snipers and marksmen.
Celerity:
Your general agility and dexterity.
Offense:
Your ABILITY (not predisposition but simple capacity) to resort to offensive means of solving problems and of combat.
Defense:
Your ABILITY (not predisposition but simple capacity) to resort to defensive means of solving problems and of combat.
Intelligence:
Your general problem-solving, logical, scientific, rational, deductive intelligence. Your IQ is a decent indicator of your starting Intelligence.
Wisdom:
The sum of your learned life experience, maxims, lessons, mottos, compassion, serenity and emotive knowledge and intelligence. Common sense is connected to Wisdom as much as to Intelligence.
Willpower:
Your mental toughness, resilience and capacity to hold up under stress, pain, fear, anger, and external influences.
Craft:
Your skill at combining hand-eye coordination, deductive problem-solving, etc. to craft material goods. Great for craftsmen, smiths, engineers and scientists.
Charisma:
Generally speaking, Charisma is your ability to charm, manipulate, lie to, cajole, attract, and convince people. Being able to do so by the weight of your emotional or intellectual APPEALS is Wisdom or Intelligence. This is that indefinable "it", that spark, that remaining 93% of body language, voice, tone, eye contact, etc. that marks truly impressive public speakers, con men and charmers.
Beauty:
Your physical beauty and appeal. When distinguishing Charisma from Beauty, think of Beauty as everything that someone sees in you before you open your mouth. This may not be all purely physical or sexual: Elements of personality and body language do come out in Beauty too. But Beauty is generally passive, while Charisma is active.
Magic:
Your comfortability with, mastery of, and power with magical forces.
When determining your starting Magic, Psychic Power, or Ki, operate by the assumption that real world practitioners DO actually cultivate some of these, but within the 1-10 limits of an ordinary person. A complete skeptic about magic may have a 1, but he may also have a 10 if he knows a lot about it. Alan Moore may be an 8 or a 9, whereas Criss Angel may be a 6 or a 7 [since Criss doesn't believe in magic but has practiced the skills to represent it]. That means that if you personally have never experimented with a Ouija board, read any mystical runes, don't know belladonna from hemlock in a spell, and have never had a shamanic experience, your Magic may be a 1-4, whereas if you are a practicing Wiccan, you may be 3-7.
For the sake of discussion, any experience in stage magic will give a +1-2.
Psychic Power:
When determining your starting Magic, Psychic Power, or Ki, operate by the assumption that real world practitioners DO actually cultivate some of these, but within the 1-10 limits of an ordinary person. A complete skeptic about psychic abilities may have a 1, but he may also have a 10 if he knows all there is to know about it. Uri Geller and Madame Cleo may have a 4-7, for example. If you've never believed in or experimented with telepathy, empathy, psychokinesis, precognition, communing with the dead (through psychic rather than parapsychological means), etc., you may have a 1-4.
Ki:
When determining your starting Magic, Psychic Power, or Ki, operate by the assumption that real world practitioners DO actually cultivate some of these, but within the 1-10 limits of an ordinary person. A complete skeptic about magic may have a 1, but he may also have a 10 if he knows a lot about it. The Buddha, Gandhi or O'Sensei may have had 10s (at least in their Earthly incarnations), while the average UFC fighter who has abandoned such mysticism may have a 4-7.
Technique:
Your general sophistication at skills that require a high degree of technique. This will matter in the game for measuring the power and prowess of things like sword techniques.
Luck:
Your luck vis-a-vis the general population.
Luck influences every stat insofar as it boosts the likelihood of positive outcomes (including good rolls or checks) and reduces the likelihood of bad ones. However, in many situations, luck can be largely moot. In this respect, Luck tends to be mostly a tiebreaker. Luck's biggest effect is in making positive encounters, events, loot, etc. more likely and negatives less likely.
Trainers:
As of now, the existence of trainers from other canons/continuities and how they operate is uncertain in the new world. Come up with a list and you may meet some, though.
Learning Abilities:
Learning abilities will be done in a variety of ways: Practice, intuition, luck, etc.
The world that we have come to seems to have in its cosmology an enhanced connection between weapon and wielder. This allows people who wield a weapon to learn some abilities from it.
Fate Points:
Just as with Muse Aegis, Fate Points will make a return. Everyone starts with 1. They will be awarded after major story events.