I finished Final Fantasy 12 last night. It was an entirely enjoyable game, but I really hit the point of “I want it to be done now” decently into it. The cheating, which consisted of setting up a Gambit system to auto-level over sixty hours, really helped me get through the game. Even with having an average level of ninety, I actually enjoyed the last bits of the plot. Fluffy said it was very pretty and I think she’s right. I also think there were a few other things they did right.
Since I have a week to kill, I figured I’d just sit down and do fun things for a bit. While I know that some people think it is strange, I want to review the Mandate of Heaven and see if I can come up with a version that I think fits more with the rules than what was given in the back of the Exalted Storytellers Companion. I got a decent start with it, it can actually handle what my gaming group wanted to do with it the first time we played the MoH rules.
Depending on how things go, I got it down to four basic chapters: Mandate of Heaven rewrite, a Civ-like expansion because I like pretty hex maps, Geomancy for handling my rules on Wyld with Shadowlands, and then a link between the MoH rules with the Mass Combat, including how to add armies to Dominions. I am planning on getting this peer reviewed, defn by zenbodhi and uteck, but probably by two of the Exalted forums. Have to get it through the first two, they suffer through my game rules creation and uteck is the one who whacks me for trying to do too much.
I’m also going to try cleaning up my map of Creation a bit more in the next few days, mainly because I think that is a “finishable” thing in a short period of time and I think it looks pretty nice. Plus, it would be more impressive with the mountain ranges put in.
On the other hand, I was going to work on Triumph but I got so far, then just stopped. It wasn’t that it won’t work, I think it will. I found a decent system (1 experience point per step, each step is a bonus die or some new ability) but I can’t spread out my creative writing game rules energies in too many direction and I think that the Exalted has the most need at this point in time.
I can’t do Turf Wars. I think the ideas is great, the images and I’m more than capable of doing it, I just don’t seem to be making the time to do it. For the last two weekends, Fluffy has been out of town, so I thought to myself, what a perfect time to work on Turf Wars! Eight days of no distractions, plenty of time to figure out some bugs and mayb make it start to resemble a game.
What I did instead of write stories, play Exalted, and relaxed. In itself, I wouldn’t have been bothered by it, but that is the same thing I’ve been doing for two months on the project. I basically haven’t touched it since before GenCon.
Also, at GenCon, I got Mr. Helfers interested in my Mudd Fournier novel (working title is “Muddy Reflections”). I already have the major parts written, I just need to merge the two short stories and novella together, change how they all end, and basically package it. Doing that, I know I can do. Writing isn’t a struggle for more, not like writing games is.So, while I’m going to stop on Turf Wars, I am going to work on a project I know I can do and want to do. It is due at the end of the year (Helfers looks at novels only in January, as I mentioned in the WBM entries).
It will also give me a chance to play with Triumph for fightertype. I know she would like to see Itrifore’s world done up properly at some point, so I’ll aim for that also. Both of those are things I’m much more comfortable with and maybe I won’t find myself doing “everything but.”
My Turf Wars stuff is stalling and I’m really not happy with it. I haven’t touched it in a couple of weeks and the first time I did was yesterday. Of course, that was after a really good game session for Sepia Throne, so I didn’t have the creative energy to do anything but set up the menu to show up on the escape key instead of RMB. I started playing around with Triumph some more though, mainly because I was silly and poked fightertype and she poked me right back. Well, I got what I deserved.
I’ve never been fond of perfect characters. Life is about struggles and failures, not to mention, I honestly don’t believe that people learn by succeeding. They learn by screwing up and figuring out a way that does work. This is partially related to a book Fluffy is reading and I’ll be reviewing at this point, but also various complaints and opinions both of us have had throughout the years. In books like Pyromancer (and Geomancer) and Shadow (Shadow Hunt, Shadow Dance, which I love this series), the main characters aren’t really threatened by their greatest skill. in Shadow, she is the best thief ever, for three entire books.
This is nice on occasion, but it reminds me of some of my players. I have one player who never fails a die roll. Not discussing the potential for cheating, but there is simply no reason to fail; and they always fail when they need to. Actually, I have two players like that.
For Triumph, the replacement for Balance, I think I’m going to have experience based on the rolls you fail. When you fail a roll, you put a check by it. When you botch, two. That is the maximum number of experience you can put into that ability until you fail it again. Training time just lets you do a check without failing a roll.
I’m also going to focus on flaws somewhat. Characters can take flaws, but when they actually play them out, they get a bonus toward a die pool for the session. This works like stunt dice in Exalted, but resets at the beginning of the session. This would encourage people to actually play good flaws instead of “terrified of left-handed men named Moe.”