Now, I haven't really heard of any RTDs running with this idea yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were any. Still, here we go:
The Path of the Master: a Martial Arts RTD!As the sun rises over the landscape of picturesque, mystical
Nebraska and its endless prairie, many a wandering soul is entering the state. What their purpose here is, nobody knows but they. However, they would soon leave an indelible mark on the history of the state, as each of them wields an arsenal of deadly weapons never seen before in real life by the average Nebraskan, though none of them carry anything but the clothes on their back. All of these unusual people, though they are hardly aware of it themselves, have been drawn here by the same goal. Nebraska, you see, is a magical, sacred place for them, as it represents a nexus in the mysterious flow of Chi that is inextricably intertwined with the force of life itself. And this Chi is something they intend to harness, whether through meditation, mortal combat or some other fashion, in order to become the deadliest martial arts master in the known universe!
So the idea is, each of you is a Martial Arts Master of a Style of your own creation. They can be of all sorts, and each Style has a certain number of Techniques, which can do any number of things. In addition, each Technique is tied into one of your Martial Arts Master Stats. To get a better idea of this, look within the spoilers.
Strength: used to smash, lift, throw and otherwise move or deform things the way you want to.
Dexterity: used for tasks requiring precise and deliberate movement of the body.
Speed: used to generally move fast and dodge out of the way of things.
Toughness: used to weather blows and withstand other sorts of physical or magical punishment.
Endurance: determines how long you can fight before starting to get tired.
Awareness: determines vulnerability to sneak attacks as well as the capability to use the environment to your advantage.
Intelligence: affects number of Techniques and ability to generally analyze things.
Willpower: determines ability to push beyond one's limits and not fall apart mentally when getting your ass handed to you as well as resistance against taunts and other things.
Charisma: determines ability to persuade people as well as to accept and teach students.
Chi Affinity: determines ability to harness Chi as a supernatural effect of some kind, such as jumping fifteen feet high or setting your fists on fire.
All stats start at 4, and all Masters can spend a further 24 points on them, with the number corresponding to the stat equaling the sides of the die used for the roll, as per Progressive RTD rules. There are several other stats derived from the ten above:
HP: equal to double Toughness.
Fatigue: equal to double Endurance.
Number of Techniques: equal to half Intelligence, rounded down.
Number of Students: equal to Charisma minus three (so a Master with 4 Charisma could have only one student, while a Master with 9 Charisma could have six).
Chi Pool: equal to half Chi Affinity, rounded down.
As you can see, these are pretty important. So make sure to spend points wisely.
You, as a singular and unique Martial Arts Master, are the only practitioner, originator and teacher of your Style. What this style is, you decide! When describing a style, you need to answer several questions:
What does it look like? Is it slow and deliberate, flashy, lightning-quick, based on puns?
What sounds do you make when you practice it? Is it more of an "oommm...", maybe a "kya!", perhaps even an emphatic "Yo' momma's so fat, she..."?
What is the underlying philosophy of your Style? What do you tell a student who wishes to understand your ways?
What Techniques does it have?
The first three questions decide the flavor of your style, the last one decides the functionality.
Techniques are your special abilities, the things that define your style. They can serve a multitude of purposes. When defining a Technique, it is important to answer these questions:
What does it do? Does it augment a punch, identify a weak point, create fire, let you move like a greased serpent or overwhelm people with your astounding sexiness?
What does it look like? Maybe there's a strange whispering, maybe you hoot like an owl and dance oddly when you execute it?
What stat does it use? This determines which stat is rolled to determine the technique's effectiveness, but the chosen stat has to make at least magic-level sense. So you can't identify an enemy's weakness using Strength without first violently putting your hands on the person to be identified.
Chi sounds like magic, and it most certainly is. You have your reserve of Chi Points called the Chi Pool. These Chi Points can be used to achieve supernatural effects - jumping high, creating fire and so forth. Using these points requires a Technique specifically devoted to it, and such Techniques cost at least one Chi Point, though they are quite powerful when they work. One point of Chi is regenerated every time you roll a result over 6 in combat, and Chi regenerates fully at the end of each fight you win.
Combat is handled with opposed roll, with Speed determining initiative and dodging, Strength determining damage and Dexterity determining hitting. Of course, with the proper techniques, the stats used can be shuffled around quite a bit.
HP is the measure of your physical health - lose all of your HP and you are unable to keep fighting and fall helpless, at which point your enemy can either finish you or leave you breathing. HP is regained with rest, Chi or some other method. Lose over half HP and you need to roll for will to avoid physical penalties. Also, you die when you accumulate negative HP equal to your Endurance.
The Fatigue stat determines the length of time a Master can fight. With each successive round of fighting, the Master loses 1 point of fatigue. With each round out of combat, the Master regains 1 point of fatigue. With each solely dedicated turn of resting, the Master regains 1+[Endurance roll] points of fatigue. With special techniques, a Master can damage the Fatigue of other Masters. When half of a Master's Fatigue is lost, they must roll for will to avoid physical penalties. If they fail, the maximum sides of their physical (top half of the stats) dice are limited by the Fatigue they have left.
Students, usually enterprising Nebraskans with an interest in the exotic, serve two important roles in the game - they are your incredibly expendable minions, for one, and one of your students - the best one - will become your heir, the new Master, in the event of your gruesome end. At this point, the player controlling the Master takes control of the heir and essentially starts anew. If no such heir is available, the style dies out and the player is out of the game.
Of course, an important part of having students is actually teaching them. To teach students, you make an appropriate action, roll for Charisma and halve the result. These are the stat points you can allocate across all of your students through your teachings on that particular turn. Most students start as normal people, with fives in all stats, though they may have particular specialties that translate to greater skill and ability in certain areas or weaknesses that mean the opposite. Oh, and students can't have more stat points than you. If they do, you cannot teach them any longer and they become Masters in their own right and you cannot exercise immediate authority over them anymore,
Here I believe I will go with a Perplexicon-style system - upon personally defeating another Master, whether you kill them or not, you gain a stat point which you can spend however you wish. This increases the more powerful Master's point value, so whoever beats him will gain two points and so on. You get the idea. Should several weaker Masters take on a stronger one, the points are split between them. The goal of the game is to assert complete domination of Nebraska with your martial might, magic and cunning, becoming the Most Formidable Martial Arts Master in the Known Universe. Emergent plot is also possible.
Whew. Got carried away there. Opinions?
And
The Hipster RTD sounds like an interesting idea, though I'm not sure it would last long after the initial novelty of the gimmick wears off. Maybe the hipsters could go on an authentic Hipster Quest to make it more worthwhile? Like, I dunno, a quest for the Record Nobody Has Ever Heard Of a.k.a. the Harbinger of the Hipster Event Horizon, a music album by an indie garage band so awful and avant-garde, the gods chose to eliminate its existence across every timeline so that
nobody would have heard of it, though closely-guarded hipster legends say it can be found in the darkest recesses beyond the confines of
mainstream spacetime?
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Topic: Roller's Block (RTD Brainstorming Thread) (HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY) (Derm is 5k) (Read 745675 times)