Intro: Don't worry, won't be getting into back story yet. The general idea of this game, Through The Portal, is to mix quasi-realistic sci-fi games with, well, fantastic fantasy games. And to waste my extra free time. And to try to polish-up my combat system a little. But mostly to mend two genres together and see what happens.
I may end up writing to much, but please to not be intimidated. If you want me to do the bare-bones for your character, I will comply. Don't worry, even if I write an essay for every turn, you can write a sentence response if you really want to.
-----Combat----
Like the general idea of the game, combat is supposed to mix the general idea of "pseudo realism" with high fantasy, mixing elements from GURPS, Dungeons and Dragons, and my own deranged mind. Here goes nothing!
When you get into combat, you will see a sheet that looks something like this:
[Enemy Name]
Health: [Approximate health. This will be what you can sense, not an exact number. For example, Good, Wounded, Almost Dead, Ect.]
Size: [Both approximate strength and how hard it is to hit. A dragon may be strong, but it is an easy target.]
Distance: [Distance, in a fictional distance which I make up on the spot]
Action: [The action the enemy is preforming, like aiming or picking his nose]
Additional Status: [Anything else, like if the character is bleeding.]
That means you have found an enemy! It is possible he hasn't seen you yet. For an example, we will use "Random Goblin #1" for the rest of this combat situation.
Random Goblin #1
Health: Perfect
Size: Small Human
Distance: 100
Action: Sleeping
Additional Status: None
As you can see, the RG hasn't seen you coming, due to him being asleep. This gives you a chance to make a sneak attack, which allows you to make a turn of movement yourself, without him being able to react. A "turn" is about two seconds, or the amount of time it takes to make an action in combat. Each post will be a turn, giving you time to react to your enemy if you want. During this time, you could preform a standard "combat action", which are:
Aim: Take a moment to line up that shot. This gives a bonus to being able to hit, as well as allowing you to aim for a specific object/body part.
Rush: Get closer to your enemy, so you can hit em with your close ranged weapon. You can also rush in the opposite direction.
Attack: The bread and butter of combat. Put two seconds worth of bullets in your opponent, swing your sword as fast as you can, or whatever your attack is.
Reload: Put some bullets back in your gun or some magic back in your sword.
which all take a turn to use. You can be as poetic or blunt as you want for each one. For example, you could say "I look down my X4 holographic scope, a nervous feeling filling my body as I move the cross hairs toward the goblin's head." to aim at the goblins head, or the much simpler "Aim: Head".
If you are not feeling the "combat actions" at the moment, there are also "Special actions", which are created by the player. These can be anything, but may take several turns to be able to do. These can really be anything your character should be able to do, allowing you for random bonuses or damage depending on what you are doing. For an example of this, you could crouch on the ground, to lower your size and improving your aim, but slowing you down. Or you could pull out your giant sword and threaten your enemy with it. Or you could start dancing the macarana.
For now, lets just start with the RG. Just aim at him, he wont wake up, and pull the trigger. What is that you say? You don't have a weapon? Well that won't do. Here take this!
Ranger Sniper Rifle [2d6][5/6]
This is a small gun to demonstrate weapon stats. The first brackets are the damage, based on an amount of dice. For this example, the sniper rifle would do 2d6 damage. That is 2 dice of 6 damage each, meaning it will do between 2-12 damage, depending on how I roll your dice. The second bracket is your chances of hitting. This is a percentage, based on the dice. For this example, you have a chance of 5 to hit on a six sided die. So if you rolled a one, two, three, four, or five, you would hit and do the damage. However if you rolled a six, you would miss. Aiming improves this score, aiming for a specific part is effected by the score, rather then a pure hit/miss. For this example, if you were aiming for RG's head, a one would hit his forehead, a two would be a little to the right, and so on and so forth.
So now take your new gun and shoot that random goblin!
Random Goblin #1
Health: Almost dead
Size: Small Human
Distance: 100
Action: Bleeding (Bad)
Additional Status: None
You aim your Ranger carefully at the center of the goblin, carefully pulling its trigger for the first time. A bullet travels above the speed of sound toward the unfortunate creature, hitting him right next to his heart. Blood begins to soak through his wool tunic, creating a red blot, as he falls over.
Good job! You almost killed him in one shot! As you can see, he is now bleeding. "Bleeding" is a mechanism added to this game in an attempt at some form of realism. As you can imagine, bleeding is a major problem. Exsanguination (blood loss) is the biggest cause of death in real battle fields, and this is no less true in this world. Bleeding can have several stages, any attack that does 2 or over adds to your bleeding. However, people in both worlds are rather sturdy, an average strength character would have to be at "Bleeding (Danger)" to start feeling the effects in a noticeable way. Random weaklings, like our goblin friend, are not usually so lucky, and the little blood he has lost is enough to knock him out and eventually kill him. Bleeding (Along with the rest of your damage) can be cured by healing, which will be covered later.
Look out! From behind you, a random goblin appears! He must have been the others friend, and had heard the gunshot!
Random Goblin #2
Health: Perfect
Size: Small Human
Distance: 5
Action: Attacking
Additional Status: None
As you can see, he is within a distance of 10, or melee range. You can now hit each other with swords, knives, and other assorted weaponry. And he has an ambush on you, giving him a free attack.
The goblin quickly brings down his small dagger, cutting deep into your leg!
Don't panic. If you had a character sheet right now, you would have a small amount of health removed and would be losing a bit of blood. But to better teach your melee combat, here, take these.
Enchanted Long Sword (3d6)
As you can see, this is another weapon. A sword this time. As you can see, it has the same damage, in the same design of the gun. Why does it have more damage, you ask? Well, the wound produced by a long weapon like a knife or sword causes a large wound, more bleeding, usually magical, and can be used more times in a close combat situation. Alright, it is mostly for balance. But why doesn't it have an accuracy, you may ask? Its simple. While stats in gun combat give you bonuses, stats in sword fight give you a chance to dodge. Your standard chance to doge is your dexterity/2/6, that is half your dexterity over a six sided die. This can change if you are fighting a skilled opponent, or a blindingly fast one. You can increase your chances to hit your opponent, who doges the same way, by leveling up your weapon skill. Someone with a longsword 6 (Incredibly skilled) will be able to hit someone even with dexterity 12, someone with longsword 0 will have difficulty hitting someone with dexterity 3. If dodging is not your thing, you can also Block. Blocking isn't a very realistic form of combat, but you are using a magical sword, so realism is kind of out the door. Blocking is instead focused on your strength and skill with the weapon, but has much less a chance of succeeding, being your strength/4+your weapon skill /12.
What is that? You think this means ranged characters have a lot more advantages then close ranged characters? Of course they do, they have guns. Close ranged characters at HIGH levels and magical benefits may be able to doge a subsonic bullet, or even block them if you are using some crazy magic. But armor can help out a lot, giving close characters a chance to survive. And here is your armor!
Enchanted Mail (1d6) (-1)
As you can see, the armor has a damage rating like the weapons do. If you are wearing armor, you roll a dice then subtract it from the damage the enemy would do to you. For example, if your enemy would have done 6 damage, and you rolled to block 7 damages, you would not receive any damage. The second number is the penalty to doge and speed. A lower number lowers your ability to doge, for example if you rolled a 4 doge it would turn into a 3 doge with this armor. Most armors are magical, or really heavy high tech, making it the choice for close ranged characters. Armors are not perfect, however. Each has a weak spot that can be aimed for if you find it, negating damage. This is so someone in good armor isn't completely invincible. Now lets try it out!
Random Goblin #2
Health: Dead
Size: Small Human
Distance: 5
Action: Attacking
Additional Status: None
The goblin slashes his small dagger, but the attack clanks harmlessly off your chain armor!
Next turn:
You counter attack, your sword cutting through the Goblin's neck like butter!
Wow! You just killed the goblin in one hit! While it is certainly possible with normal attacks, what you just scored was a "critical attack". A critical attack happens when you score a perfect dice, for example a 6/6. This means you hit a vital. Or probably hit a vital. On weak enemies like the goblin, it will be 100% kill. On stronger/larger enemies, a separate dice may be added to see how much extra damage and bleeding is done. These can also happen to you, if you are unlucky.
Now that you have defeated your enemies, lets get you healed. Here, take this.
Healing Gel (2d6)
As you can see, this is a rather potent healing gel. Healing gel is an advanced medicine from our reality, it utilizes stem cells and pseudo stem sells to immediately heal minor damage. While it won't bring back your hand, it will patch up 2 dice of 6 damage and stop half of the healing in bleeding.
Now that you are completely healed and done fighting the enemy, go out and explore the world! It is pretty much a wide open sandbox, you can explore the ever expanding world. You can loot the villages, help and befriend them, whatever you want. Dice are thrown about whenever I feel like it, and it makes since. Now go forth, explore! I just wanted to get my new prototype combat system into the tutorial, the rest will just show up naturally.
Besides, I probably scared mostly everyone away with a ridiculously long tutorial. And everyone will probably have questions anyway, in which I will revise the tutorial.
-----Character Sheet-----
The most important part of the story, the main character. That is, you. The first choice you have to make is between "Our Reality", and "Fantasy". Each will get a small blurb explaining their overarching themes with a list of races you can choose from. To see what is going on with both of them, you can read the Fluff
---Our Reality---
The land of science fiction, in the near far future. The main focus of these creatures is guns and ranged weapons, with hundreds of models based of modern guns that I make up as we go along. The technology, everything from mechanical engineering to bio mechanics. As they have entered the portal on their own free will, for the most part, this can mean they are more aggressive, though that is not necessarily true. Raiders, looking for a quick dollar, are unfortunately common. However, many are there for peaceful purposes. Some are looking to explore, pushed forward by their sense of adventure or in a quest for knowlage, bettering the places they meet. Some are there in a quest for money or power, catching the untapped markets with their corporations. Some are just hired guns, getting pay checks for their family back home. Some are sociopaths, coming to this world to destroy and kill whatever they can get their hands on. But what you are, is up to you.
Human: Even in the near far future, humanity has changed little. I assume you know the relative strengths and weaknesses of a human. They mostly focus on guns, where their skills are most suited for. The only other notable thing is that both worlds have humans. This makes it easier to disguise yourself, and also gives you a bonus to charismatic rolls.
Lupine: Man's best friend, joining them in the stars. Essentially, Lupine are a race of human/dog hybrids. The reality is a little more complicated, with extensive gene engineering and breeding, the end result is the only thing people can agree on. Lupine are larger then normal humans, as well as being stronger. They have hair all over their body, a dog like snout, and generally stand on four legs with the ability to stand on two if necessary. They can be any species of dog, though their general characteristics change are mostly only in looks to avoid the health danger. They don't, however, have quite the mental capacity humans have, being slightly dim witted. They also have trouble going against a human they are on the same side with, keeping the strong loyalty their ancestors are famous for. Thus they rarely enter the portal alone, typically either serving as a grunt for a group or as a faithful friend to an adventurer.
Augmented: Augmented are, at the base, human. But they have both gained and lost something. Something mechanical or biological has been done to their body. This makes them one of the most varied classes of all. Augmentation always comes at a price, however. This can be anything from a man who replaced his legs with tank tracks, allowing him to be faster but slows his reaction time, to making yourself a cyborg with a machine gun in your chest, giving you a greater amount of fire power in exchange for speed. Biological augmentation has similar effects, the change is mostly cosmetic. One thing all Augmented have in common is that they are looked down upon. Our reality doesn't hate them completely, with only a little casual racism left, but the fantasy reality sees them as a symbol of our reality, making them almost universally despised. If your choosing your character, please state the augmentation you have chosen and its desired effect in the bio.
----Fantasy----
The land of Magic, most of which is stuck in what you think of when the words "High Fantasy" are spoken. The lands vary greatly, with every town having its own culture and government, essentially making them their own country. Magic is present in most societies, often used in many of the same applications we apply technology, though this varies from country to country. Every country uses magic in the military out of pure necessity. The game mostly takes place at their home, meaning they have an even more varied amount of jobs, ranging from farmer to paladin. Some are defenders of justice, protecting the people from the more dangerous "invaders". Others have attempted to become heroes, but instead have become despicable terrorists. Some are just looking to live their lives and found themselves in dangerous situations.
Standard Fantasy Races: The lands are incredibly diverse, allowing for any fantasy race to be chosen, with the relative strengths and weaknesses. This include, but are not limited to, Human, Elves, Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves.... All of witch have their own advantages and disadvantages. I would list them all, but haven't I already written too much?
Wizards: Wizards, mages, spell slingers, whatever your location likes to call them. While not technically a race, there are enough differences to make this a separate race. Wizards wield spells instead of weapons, with the spells acting as a ranged weapon, with a turn limit instead of ammo. Wizards take many jobs depending on the country they are from. This can be anything from a respected head-of the guard to a hated outcast to a blue-caller repairman.
----Character Sheet----
Now finally, the thing you need to play. Just copy this and fill out the necessary information, and we can get started!
Name: [Your name, purely cosmetic]
Items: [Ill put them, but if it isn't clear from your job/bio just put a general weapon class.]
Profession: [Your job. This can depend on what reality you are from.]
Race: [Your race, chosen from the above]
Health: [Your hitpoints. Strength*2]
Additional Status: [Made for combat, much like on the enemy sheet earlier.]
Skills: [Based off of race/profession/bio. Leave this blank, to be filled in by me.]
Bio: [Your life before you started. For our reality, this includes reasons that you came, for fantasy this would be a short description of your job and the land you came from. I would also need to know your current location, if you choose fantasy.]
Stats: [Also based on your race/profession/bio. Please leave these blank, to be filled in later by me.]
Strength: [ Does what is described in combat, as well as being used to roll things involving your Strength. Also gives bonus damage to melee attacks]
Dexterity:[ See combat, has effect on speed]
Reflexes: [ An important stat in combat, giving bonuses to ranged combat and reflex roles]
Intelligence:[ A stat that allows you to manipulate magic and technology]
Charisma: [Gives bonuses to allies in combat, used for charisma rolls. Also helps in getting the locals friendly to you.]
Anything I forgot: [ A catchall term to get anything I forgot, because writing this took a long time and I got tired and forgetful.]
With that, you can now play!
----Back story----
To be honest, I didn't think I would start writing this much, so there is not much time for a back story. Ill write the full version tomorrow, and just get the bare bones up today. Sorry about this.
Generally, both sides were working on separate portal projects at the same time that had connected to each other, allowing a permanent hole to be formed. Our realty saw this as an opportunity, and thousands flocked to the new world, where untold bounty lay. The Fantasy world is almost unlimited, it seems that no matter were you go, there are only more and more nations, all with different people. And an untold amount of money. So yeah. I said it was bear bones, don't look at me like that.
I am sorry if I wrote to much and scared everyone away. I will finish the back story tomorrow, I want to at least gauge the reaction to this to see if anyone wants to play before I spend even more time writing this. Ill respond tomorrow as well, this took a LOT more time then I thought it would to write.
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Topic: Through the Portal: Fantasy-Scifi Combination *IT'S ALIVE!?* (Read 11499 times)