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[LordBucket]

Super 80s Glam-Ninja Assault Squads of Doom!




Note:
This is the out of character and game signup thread for Super 80's Glam-Ninja Assault Squads of Doom.

The game thread is located here.

The setting
This game takes place in a cliche fantasy world of 80s ninja movies, in the United States and during the Glorious 80s! Al Gore hasn't invented the internet yet, nobody has cell phones or CD players, and video cameras are rare. A world where nobody knows the difference between Chinese and Japanese, all martial arts are either ninjutsu or karate because we all know Mr Miyagi but Jackie Chan hasn't made it to the states yet, and nobody thinks it odd that ninjas are white and have names like Bob Jackson.

Many tropes will be in play, such as Technicolor, and Highly Visible ninjas, Even native Japanese speakers will add an 's' to make ninja plural, and nobody will particularly vexxed if ninjas call their shuriken Chinese stars. Nunchaku are perfectly viable weapons, even for deflecting swords and machine gun fire, and beware the dreaded Conservation of Ninjutsu!

Rules may be subject to change if I missed anything completely stupid. Accepting 6 players (subject to approval) to start, possibly more later depending on workload. Rules are not complicated, but there kind of turned out to be a lot of them. Feel free to ask questions, but let's not let this thread be bogged down in twenty pages of rules clarifications for every possible contingency.

Spoiler: Character stats and creation (click to show/hide)

Ninja name:
Choose a proper ninja name. For example, SuperNinja, The Ninja Dragon, Death Dealer, Awesome McNinjapants etc.

Public identify:
Choose a proper 'real life' name. Like Bob Jackson. Or Michael Smith. Occassionally, ninjas might have Japanese names, though this is very, very rare.

Affiliation
Pick one: Red, black or blue. These will be your teams. Note that having more ninjas on your team is not necessarily an advantage due to the Conservation of Ninjutsu. If one player is attacked by two players, he will have all his stats relevant to the battle multiplied by two until one of the attacking players has been defeated. But neither is having lots of players on your team necessarily a disadvantage since you can choose to work individually.

At the present time, player slots are limited to 6 and no more than 3 players will be allowed on any one team.

Stats and gear
There are 5 stats, each of which start at zero and may be upgraded to infinity: combat, toughness, movement, stealth and ninja magic. You start the game with 10 ninja bucks to be spent at the ninja store. See the spoiler below. Every point of stat costs points equal to its value, cumulatively. For example, 1 stealth costs 1 point, upgrading from 1 stealth to 2 stealth costs an additional 2 points, etc. It is not necessary to spend all points, and any surplus ninja bucks may be retained.

Stat descriptions:
Combat: Your skill at doing damage in combat. This applies both a to-hit and to-damage bonus.

Toughness: Your ability to resist damage from any source, like combat, being run over by cars, falling off of buildings, being eaten by sharks, etc.. Toughness is added to your base health total of ten, and any incoming damage is reduced by your toughness. Toughness does not reduce damage incurred by using ninja magic.

Movement: Your skill at negotiating terrain, like climbing buildings, jumping between rooftops, etc. This is also your raw running speed.

Stealth: Your skill at being sneaky and going undetected, as well as your ability to notice others using stealth.

Ninja Magic: Your ability to do super awesome cool ninja magic. Note that using ninja magic directly depletes your health, and this damage is not reduced by toughness.

Starter gear commentary for new characters
Note that all melee ninja weapons are treated equal and all ranged ninja weapons are treated equal. Unlike non-ninja weapons, like machine guns which are clearly inferior. Also note that at game start, armed melee combat and unarmed melee combat won't be particularly different, as base damage is 1d6 in either case, so this is largely an aesthetic choice. It's not necessary to spend one of your starter bucks on a weapon if you don't want to, and unarmed combat is a reasonable choice in the early game but because of the way the upgrade paths will work, in the long run weapon combat will generally beat unarmed combat.

Spoiler: Death and Duels to the Death (click to show/hide)

Ninjas are awesome and hard to kill. No non-ninja npcs are capable of killing a player. A security guard or tank might fire on you and reduce you to zero health, but this simply results in you fleeing the scene defeated, as well as possible mission failure. Only players are capable of killing other players, and even player-vs-player combat may only end in the death of a player if a "Duel to the Death" condition exists.

Such duels may only occur if specific conditions are met:

1) Duel challenges may only be issued before you deliver any damage to that player. Players may have sustained damage from other sources, but once you deal any damage to another player you can't issue a duel challenge to that player until they've had the chance to return to base, heal up, etc.

2) A challenged player may freely accept or reject the challenge, provided that they are not unmasked to you. However, if a player is unmasked to you, they cannot refuse the challenge.

Note that the above applies only to Duels to the Death, and that refusing a Duel does not necessarily prevent combat from occurring. You may freely attack any rival player who is in uniform regardless of whether you have unmasked them, and you may attack any rival player who is unmasked to you regardless of whether they're in uniform. After defeating  player in non-lethal combat, you may then unmask them so that you are able to issue a Duel to the Death on your next encounter.

Spoiler: The Ninja code! (aka rules) (click to show/hide)

 
 * One post per turn. Once your turn has been processed you may post another turn. I won't be waiting for everyone to submit a turn before processing turns, so active players are likely to get 'more turns' than inactive players.

 * Don't abuse the edit feature. This is a pvp game. If you embark on a mission, and somebody posts five minutes later saying that they go to your mission location and then you edit your post to say you go shopping instead...that makes my life difficult and disrupts the turns of other players. I'm not going to say 'no editing posts' but if it becomes a problem, I will. Don't let it become a problem.

 * As a ninja, you have both a secret and a public identity, and wearing your ninja uniform is what determines whether you're in 'secret' or 'public' mode. You may not use any ninja abilities, or engage in any form of combat while out of uniform. You are assumed to always have your ninja uniform and weapons in a secret compartment with you, and you may change in and out of them at any time. Doing so takes no game time and is a 'safe' action, as ninjas are sneaky and you are assumed to be able to hide in the bushes or nearby telephone booths to change. However:

1) Changing out of uniform to avoid another player results in a mission fail for you and a sabotage win for them.
2) You may not change out of uniform to escape a Deal to the Death.

 * The ninja store is safe. No player may be attacked while shopping. Don't abuse this.

 * Players are assumed to heal to full after missions, sabotage attempts or other reasonably obvious 'stop points.'

 * You may only carry one melee weapon of each type, though you may carry as many different weapons of different types as you please. "Paired" weapons are considered singular. For example, you might have sai, a ninja to, a katana, a kusarigama and 20 shuriken on you, all concealed when not wearing your uniform, and all available once you put it on. However, you can't carry 2 sets of sai and switch out to the second set after losing the first. Note that at game start there's very little reason to worry about this, and it's more of an issue for more developed characters with better than starter gear and skills.

 * You may only ever wear a ninja uniform that clearly identifies you by your team. It would be dishonorable for a blue ninja to wear a red ninja uniform as a disguise for example. You may, however, wear civilian clothes, and when doing so you cannot be attacked by any ninja who has not unmasked you.

 * You may only forcefully unmask a rival ninja after you have defeated them in combat. Ninjas are sneaky, and attempts to follow them home or install cameras will always fail.

 * Unmasking is per player, and identities of rivals may not be communicated between players. For example, if Bob on the blue team unmasks Jeff on the red team, Bob can't tell Sara on Blue team who Jeff is to allow Sara to issue a Duel to the Death to Jeff.

 * If you are defeated in combat or leave to heal while attempting to sabotage a mission, you may not attempt to sabotage that same mission again.

 * Note that while mission status and player turns are generally known to all players, your ninja can't teleport to where your rivals are. It's legitimate to wait for a mission to have progressed before attempting to sabotage it, but if a rival player is in the underground inner sanctum of a mission location fighting the final boss, don't expect to simply appear in the room in a single turn and attack them to disrupt their mission.

 * You may not cooperate with rival ninjas. Because they are bad and it would be dishonorable to cooperate with evil. You may cooperate with ninjas of your own team if they're willing, but mission rewards are divided by the number of participants.

 * The Ninja Store may only be visited between missions. Making a purchase after a mission has been started is considered 'leaving to heal' and results in immediate mission failure.

 * Players may not teach ninja magic skills to each other.

 * Items may be exchanged between players on your team, but the ninja store does not do buybacks.

 * Ninja bucks are intangibles that cannot be given, traded or stolen.

 * Player participation is at my discretion and I reserve the right to reject character submissions from any player for any reason.

Spoiler: Missions and mission scoring (click to show/hide)

Players may request missions from the ninja master of their team. Players may also attempt to sabotage missions issued to players of other teams. Mission data, once posted, is considered to be known by all players. You may not sabotage missions from players on your team, but you may assist players on your team on their missions if they agree to allow it, though doing so results in rewards being divided among participants at the end.

Ninja buck rewards:

Players issued a mission:
 * +3 for successful mission completion
 * -1 for failing a mission

For players attempting to sabotage a rival's mission:
 * +2 for successfully sabotaging a mission

For all players regardless of mission status
 * +1 for defeating any rival ninja
 * +1 (GM's discretion) Doing anything really awesome or cool that either makes me laugh, or that just really oozes of 80s ninja movie nostalgia

 * -1 for declining a duel to the death
 * -1 for being unmasked
 * -1 for being defeated in combat by a rival player

Net scores below zero will be ignored. You can't lose ninja bucks points no matter how badly a mission fails. Ninja bucks earned above will be added to a player's running total to be spent at the ninja store for gear, skillups and specials.

Spoiler: Combat notes, game mechanics, what attributes do, etc. (click to show/hide)

During a single round of combat a player may perform one melee or ranged attack, and one ninja magic.

Players have a health stat equal to 10 plus their toughness stats. For example, 3 toughness results in 13 health.

Toughness reduces incoming damage on a one to one basis. For example, a character with 2 toughness and 12 health who takes a hit for 5 damage will be reduced to 9/12 health

Gear may exist with stat bonuses.

Melee weapon base damage is 1d6. Ranged weapon base damage is 1d4. Combat skill adjusts both to-hit and to-damage rolls.

Base to-hit requirement for a ninja is 10. Non-ninjas will generally be easier to hit. To-hit is rolled on d20.

So...for example, a ninja with 2 combat skill using his preferred weapon rolls d20+3 to hit. Let's say he rolls a 9. Plus 3 is 12. His opponent has a -2 defensive bonus from armor, modifying it to 10, which is still a hit. He's using a melee weapon, so he rolls 1d6, and gets 4. 4 plus 2 from combat skill is 6 damage. His opponent has 3 toughness, so that damage is reduced to 3. Opponent sustains 3 damage.


Movement stat provides 1d6 per point for overcoming obstacles which will be assigned arbitrary difficulty targets. For example, leaping to the roof of a single story building might be assigned a difficulty of 6. So someone with two points in movement would get to roll 2d6 to attempt it.

If it ever comes up, movement will also be used as a comparative for raw running speed. For example, if will be difficult to flee from combat from an opponent with a higher running movement stat.


Stealth also grants 1d6 per point for overcoming detection attempts. For example, sneaking past a single security guard might be assigned a difficulty of 3. Stealth of 1 would give 1d6 to make the attempt.

Stealth skill is also used for detection attempts. So if a rival ninja with stealth of 2 attempts to sneak past you and you have a stealth of 1, you'll get to roll 1d6 and they'll roll 2d6 and whomever rolls higher wins.

Spoiler: Ninja magic (click to show/hide)

Every ninja magic ability will have base health cost and target difficulty. The health cost is paid whether or not the magic is successful. Target difficulty may be modified by circumstances.

New ninja magic abilities will/may be added to the ninja store as the game progresses.

Ninja magic effects last only a single turn and ninja magic may only be used once per turn. Using ninja magic does not 'use up' melee or ranged attack allowance. For example, you can attack with your sword and use ninja magic in the same round of combat.

Spoiler: Ninja store (click to show/hide)

The contents of the ninja store may change over the course of the game. This is the state of the store at game start:

Attributes increases
Attribute increases may be purchased at a cost equal to the new value of the attribute, cumulative per level. For example, increasing from 0 to 1 costs 1 point, from 1 to 2 costs 2 points, from 2 to 3 costs 3, etc.

Items
Cost 1: melee weapon, no bonus, base damage 1d6. (Examples: ninja-to, sai, nunchaku, kusarigama, etc.)
Cost 1: (10) shuriken, no bonus, base damage 1d4. Depleted on use.
Cost 1: (1) smoke bomb: provides a bonus 1d6 to stealth (not detection) rolls. Depleted on use.
Cost 2: climbing claw: provides a bonus 1d6 to movement rolls related to climbing (up to 2 at a time my be used)
Cost 2: combat claw: provides a +1 damage-only bonus to unarmed combat (up to 2 at a time my be used)

Skills and abilities
Cost 3: Weapon specialization: gain a +1 combat skill bonus when using the specified weapon type. May be taken multiple times to gain specialization in different weapons, but does not allow dual specialization for a single weapon.

Cost 8: Bonus health: gain +10 base health. This may be taken multiple times.

Ninja magic
Cost 1:
Walk on water
Health cost 1, base difficulty 3
Allows the ninja to walk on water

Cost 2:
Burrow
Health cost 2, base difficulty 5
Dig into soft ground to hide from enemies, or bypass simple obstacles

Cost 2:
Imbibed weapon
Health cost 2, base difficulty 5
Your weapon gains a +1 to hit and damage bonus for a single round of combat

Cost 3:
Deflect
Health cost 2, base difficulty 8
Use a melee weapon to deflect all incoming ranged attacks received for the next turn

[Funk]

i am the NINJA TERMINATOR and i will get all three parts of the golden ninja warror and become the ULTIMATE NINJA!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ninja name:Ninja terminator
Real name: Jaguar Wong
Affiliation:red
Combat: 1
Toughness: 2 (3)
Movement: 1
Stealth: 1
Ninja Magic: 1

Gear
melee weapon, ninja katana
(10) shurikenninja stars
climbing claw

edit: changed name.

[FelixSparks]

I'm gonna borrow this spot and let you know what I come up with, yeah?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ninja name:
Black Dragon

Public identify:
Niko Berellius

Affiliation
Pick one:Black

Stats and gear


Stat descriptions:
Combat: 2

Toughness: 2

Movement: 1

Stealth: 1

Ninja Magic: 1

Starter gear:
Starter Weapon: Kama
Ninja Bucks: 0

[freeformschooler]

Oh dear.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I will add an extra batch of tropes. To start!

Spoiler: Angelic Ninja (click to show/hide)

Angel Cato
Blue Team
Combat 3, Toughness 2, Movement 0, Stealth 0, Ninja Magic 0
Weapon (Kusarigama)

[scapheap]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ninja name:
The Harvest Ninja

Public identify:
Clair Thomson

Affiliation
Blue

Stats and gear


Stat descriptions:
Combat: 2

Toughness: 1

Movement: 2

Stealth: 1

Ninja Magic: 0

Gear
melee weapon(kusarigama(because I'm the harvest ninja))
Smoke bomb

[GreatWyrmGold]

Why does everyone have Combat 2?

[FelixSparks]

If I had to hazard a guess, most people are putting the priority on combat, since I'm guessing a lot of that will happen.

[scapheap]

Why does everyone have Combat 2?

Because triffids in my case at least.

[GreatWyrmGold]

If I had to hazard a guess, most people are putting the priority on combat, since I'm guessing a lot of that will happen.

Yes, but it makes it harder for Angel to be unusually strong and stuff. I had to drop my Combat Claw!
Which actually wasn't that terrible. +1 to damage for 2 points, versus +1 to damage AND attack for 3 points? Especially since I wasn't using that one point of Ninja Magic? But still.

Why does everyone have Combat 2?

Because triffids in my case at least.

*checks sheet*
...Do you mean "In case of triffids"?

[scapheap]

Why does everyone have Combat 2?

Because triffids in my case at least.

*checks sheet*
...Do you mean "In case of triffids"?

I harvest triffids, you need to be fast and strong to have my lifestyle.

[LordBucket]

Ninja terminator

Character accepted.

Black Dragon

Couple things need clarification:

1) You spent 10 ninja bucks (possibly 11, see #2 below) so you wouldn't have 1 left over like your character submission states.

2) Your "knuckle dusters with blades" sound suspiciously similar to the combat claws listed in the store. Just need to know whether you intended those to be weapons that use the weapons rules, or unarmed combat enhancers, for which the math is slightly different. Either is ok, I just need to know which. Also, if you intended them to be unarmed combat enhancers rather than standalone weapons, the cost for one of them would be 2 ninjabucks rather than one for a weapon. I assume you intended this to be a weapon...but would like it clarified.

Angel Cato

Character rejected.

The Harvest Ninja

Character accepted.


Going to give it another day probably to fill out the remaining character slots, but will probably start tomorrow whether or not we fill. It's not a problem if people join later.

[FelixSparks]

Hmmm. I'll double check my math, and I guess I can change my weapon to something else if it'll make you feel better. But to clarify, do we need to purchase our first weapon? If so, I think that's where that extra ninja buck came from.

[LordBucket]

I can change my weapon to something else if it'll make you feel better.

Weapon choice is fine, I just want to confirm whether you intended it to be a "weapon" or a "barehanded combat enhancer." They're handled differently.

The weapon that you described is functionally identical to an item that exists in the store that is not "a melee weapon." So...it's possible you intended to buy one of those and were just calling it something else to invoke 80s ninja movie silliness. For example, like Funk, who bought "ninja stars." What are ninja stars? They're listed in the store as "shuriken," because that's what they're really called, but he's calling them "ninja stars" ....because ninja.

And that's fine.

But I need it clarified whether you're doing that, in which case your claws cost 2 ninja bucks and give you a +1 damage bonus in combat but can't be used for ninja magic like the "deflect" ability which requires a weapon...or whether you're not doing that and you were simply intending to purchase a weapon, in which case your claws cost only 1 but don't give a damage bonus, and can be used with deflect.

do we need to purchase our first weapon? If so, I think
that's where that extra ninja buck came from.

If you don't purchase a weapon you can fight unarmed. If you want to have a weapon, it does need to be purchased.

[FelixSparks]

Then that is where I went wrong. I'll just change my weapon, get rid of that ninja buck, and all will be well!

Edit: Done and done!