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[Egan_BW]

POWER &&& PULSE: VYRKO DRIFT (3)
CHAPTER 3: GRUNTS
HISTORIES OF MACHINES AND MAGIC

Previous iterations of Power &&& Pulse:
Power and Pulse
Power & Pulse
Power & Pulse "On-Ship"

Google Doc with character options
Mission Thread
Here's a Discord too

Spoiler: general explanation (click to show/hide)

Power & Pulse is a PvP RTD where mages fight mechs. Each has somewhat complex mechanics which might get out of hand if there's a lot of them on each side, so this time I've decided to mix in a bit of Grunts (an RTD by my lovely arch-nemesis-for-life, Ozarck).
Missions will consist of one "hero" player on each side, while other players fill in as expendable soldiers with considerably less plot armor.

While playing as a Grunt character, you earn progression points from killing enemies and dying. These may be spent on respawning as more powerful classes.

Spoiler: dice rules (click to show/hide)

When you do a thing, roll 1d6.
1: critfail. 2: failure. 3: partial failure. 4: success. 5: critical success. 6: overshoot.
Narratively, this more determines your luck and the conditions; you won't suddenly become incompetent or insane if you roll a 1 or 6.
Your character's Traits may give some rolls advantage or disadvantage. A 6 is treated as being better than a 4 and worse than a 5.

Characters and equipment taking damage is "chunky salsa" rules, but Grunt characters will die more easily where Mages or Pilots may be merely injured.

Spoiler: mage specific rules (click to show/hide)

Mages are hero units and thus there can only be 1 per Mission. More powerful versions of the Mage class have more powers and cost more AP.

Mages require Mana to perform Simple, Focus, and Complex powers. By default you have 3 maximum mana, and this mana decreases by 1 each turn on which you use these powers. You can never lose more than 1 mana per turn. If you don't use mana on a turn, it refills to full.

Powers can be Passive, Simple, Complex, or Push.
Passive: These powers always work, even when at 0 Mana. They've just become a part of you.
Simple: These powers don't require much focus to invoke, but do use up mana. You may use as many different Simple powers in a turn as you like.
Focus: These powers require focus to use. You can only use one Focus (or Complex or Push) power per turn. They do require Mana.
Complex: These powers require careful effort and will result in a d6 roll. You may only use one Complex (or Focus or Push) power per turn. They do require Mana.
Push: Calling beyond yourself, upon deep and hidden powers. Results in a d6 roll, like Complex, but on a critfail or overshoot a big scary table of magical effects will be rolled on. You may only use one Push (or Focus or Complex) power per turn. Like Passives, Push powers don't use Mana (you're not harnessing your own power) and may be used when at 0 Mana.

Unlike previous games, using Push does not automatically refill your mana, it works the same as Passive (so if you use only Push and Passives, your mana will refill, but using Simple or Complex powers will result in losing 1 mana as usual.)

Note that mech cockpits are entirely insulated with an anti-magic material Gnospellium. In order to use powers (teleportation, mind control, etc) directly on a Pilot or the inside of a mech, you will need to physically tear a hole through the armor first.

Spoiler: posting etiquette (click to show/hide)

For this game you'll be expected to post your character sheet with your action post. Please keep it up to date. I'll tell you what needs changing on your sheet in [brackets].

Put actions in bold text. Please only post one action post per turn, if you change your mind you can edit or strikethrough a previous post.

Put out-of-character text in ((double parenthesis)).

State which faction you're part of outside your spoiler, and don't read character sheets for the other faction.

Spoiler: character sheet (click to show/hide)

Advancement Points: (You start with 2 AP when you make your first character, and gain 1 whenever you die or kill an enemy. You keep AP between lives.)
Favor Points: (You start with 0, and may gain some at mission end depending on performance. You keep FP between lives.)

Name:
Physical Description:
Personality: (optional.)
Backstory: (optional!)

Faction: (Haemic Corp for mechs, Starhammer for mages)
Class: (Pick any non-hero class and pay the AP cost)
Traits: (Pick one positive OR two positive and one negative)
Health: (Fine to start)

Equipment:

(If Mage or Pilot, list powers / mech details here)

Suggestions
This thread is for suggestions. Want to see a specific kind of mission or character option? Suggest it here.
Fully designing something yourself makes it more likely to be added because it's less work for me.
Other requests may be filled by spending your Favor Points.

[Egan_BW]

reserved a post just in case

[Radio Controlled]

IS THAT PANDAS AND PACMANS THAT I SEE??!?

Post-to-motherfucking-watch!

[Lenglon]

!! !! !! !! !! !! !!
INTERESTED! VERY INTERESTED! ALL THE INTERESTED!

[Naturegirl1999]

I’m interested

[King Zultan]

I'm also interested in this even though I never had anything to do with the previous versions.

[Knightwing64]

I’m interested. Tell me when it’s finished please,

[Egan_BW]

Woah, I summoned a Naturegirl.

[Radio Controlled]

Mission ideas:

- capture the flag data disk: capture one/multiple macguffins. Whoever makes out with the most intact wins.

- prisoner exchange: you got some of their dudes/dudettes, they got some of yours, you agreed to a trade. But of course, those dastardly mages/mechs would never honor their word, so why would you? 2 'points' for every one of your dudes you extract safely, 1 'point' for everyone of theirs you manage to keep/bag. Side with most points wins (note: both sides playing things honorably and just exchanging should be an option, then it's simply a draw. Just make it so a draw means fewer post-mission rewards than a win, but still better than a loss.).

- VIP escort: get this dude safely from A to B. Other side: kidnap this dude (I suggest kidnap instead of kill because I think that makes the mission more dynamic/interesting and means the other side can't just carpet bomb to win).

One thing I tried was to design missions so that they don't all just devolve into what is functionally a team death match. Not sure if I succeeded, but hey I tried.  :v


Thoughts: if limiting each side to 1 mage/mech will help keep the game going for longer, I'm all for it! However it might limit certain builds that are more support-oriented. This might not be an issue depending on how powerful/capable the grunts are. If certain grunts can repair/heal, then you don't need a mech/mage for that, and if grunts have some real damage potential then a mage/mech that focuses on empowering/helping them can still be viable.

[Egan_BW]

Right, the idea is to have some grunts who can heal or do damage, and some hero abilities which make grunts more dangerous. Such as a Sacred Oath mage power which empowers one's allies' weapons.

It is true that Tech Gear's stated role of supporting bigger mechs doesn't make much sense with this setup. Though I was considering having a more high-cost Haemic Core class which can pilot a Rig (spider mech for less experienced pilots, less like expanding your body and more like riding a horse.) So a couple Combat Rigs supported by a Tech Gear could be a possible high-power team.

Also, any ideas for terrains / context for this missions? Do they happen in an empty field? Should I default to Poison Swamps?

[Radio Controlled]

Some ideas for grunt classes (written before I saw egan's last post so some of these were mentioned already):

rifleman
grenadier
heavy weapon
sniper
medic: patches up grunts and mages (and pilots, though probably not as relevant)
combat engineer: repairs mechs and other tech toys (like drones or turrets)
drone operator: get 1/multiple drones to operate. Spotter or support drones probably better for gameplay?
radio operator: stays in contact with the base, can call in arty strikes or care packages or reinforcements?
commander: bonuses to grunt rolls? Like maybe all grunts in range gain a positive trait as long as he's alive. Or just commands npc's?
driver: comes with small vehicle, like a technical or jeep equivalent, maybe higher tiers get better vehicles?
pilot: like driver, but for smaller/weaker mechs (or maybe even aerial vehicles?)
beastmaster: handles (non?)arcane beasts bred/tamed for war.



In terms of battlefields, you could try to combine it with the objective so that there are tactical options for either side. Nothing wrong with an occasional TDM in an empty field like last time (if it's setup correctly), but not every time, you know? You can maybe use the terrain setup to sort of balance out the mission objectives: if one side has a certain advantage like having the initiative to chose the engagement, then making the terrain more advantageous to the other side can help.

For example: "secure that important location", but which is rather in the open. Ok, bad defensive terrain for the defender, so maybe they'll want to relocate. But now what if said location has a thing that the attacker can not destroy (eg. important cultural artifact for mage/radar dish for mechs)? Now hugging the bad position makes it hard for the attacker to attack indiscriminately. So now there are potentially interesting decisions to be made: do defenders stick to close to the Macguffin, or abandon it for better terrain? Do the attackers try to draw out the defenders, or say to hell with it and risk destroying the Macguffin, which will reflect badly on their score? Giving point values is a bit gamey, but is just an abstraction of how well achieving the objectives helps the war effort for either side and lets you tailor the incentives more easily.


For specific examples: forests, mountainous/hilly, swamp, urban (high-rise or more suburban), caves or otherwise underground, in the water (assuming each side can get some sort of underwater gear), snowy areas, savannah, on the side of an active volcano full of environmental hazards. You have a whole planet to work with so whatever the hell you'd like really.

[Egan_BW]

Now realizing that P&P didn't have a trait list I can steal. Just let people make up their own traits. Does that seem like a good idea for this time?

[Radio Controlled]

Eeh, honestly, it's difficult to say. While letting people come up with their very own snowflake trait each time allows for more customization/characterization, we shouldn't forget that it's still a PvP game and so need to keep -some- balancing in mind. What I would suggest is that you come up with a standard set of traits (positive and/or negative). You could have peeps in here propose some or provide balancing feedback.

Then once you have a list you are happy with and is more or less balanced, you could still allow people to come up with their own afterward at chargen, but you'll have a existing list to compare to, to decide if a new trait is balanced (though ideally the majority or traits people want in the game will make it to the standard list). Or you make people stick to the standard list and deal with it, peasants!  :p

Also, in the interest of keeping things moving toward an actually playable game, I'd suggest some soft deadlines so we don't get stuck in eternally designing. Like have the trait list by date X, mech/mage powers by date Y, grunt loadouts and point cost by date Z, etc. Just a thought.

[Lenglon]

Now realizing that P&P didn't have a trait list I can steal. Just let people make up their own traits. Does that seem like a good idea for this time?

As much as I personally love freedom of character design and would love and make use of the chance to design my own custom traits, RC is right. If this became a PvE game I'd switch sides on this subject in a heartbeat, but in PvP balance takes priority.

[Dustan Hache]

Interested. time to bring back Adderson for another round of hell.