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[10ebbor10]

I had quite a good Idea and a plan/plot/some rules for making a Submarine Captain RTD, but I already got four forum games running around. So if someone wants go ahead. It would have been slightly futuristic but quite realistic( Airsupply, depth, 3D movement and such taken into account)

[Tarran]

but that tends to wear out fast.

Do you mean wears out for the GM, or the players?

I'd say both, but more for whoever has to do deal with it the most.

[monk12]

And then Gatleos has a skull face suddenly.

Hmm.

HE HAS WITHERED TO NOTHING LIKE THE RTD HE ONCE INHABITED.
Seriously, it's been like that for two days.

You'd think derm's avatar would be a pile of dust, then

[Aninimouse]

I'd say both, but more for whoever has to do deal with it the most.

I don't think it'd wear me out, but I wouldn't want to use a complex system if the players wouldn't want it themselves. Maybe I'll just try to aim for the middle ground between simple and complex.

[Tarran]

I don't think it'd wear me out,

I always think that.

Then I get worn out.

[IronyOwl]

You really would be surprised how quickly things pile up, both in the rolling and bookkeeping senses.

[Gatleos]

And then Gatleos has a skull face suddenly.

Hmm.

HE HAS WITHERED TO NOTHING LIKE THE RTD HE ONCE INHABITED.
Seriously, it's been like that for two days.

You'd think derm's avatar would be a pile of dust, then

Touché
Not that I haven't thought about it since then. Many things have changed, and its return shall be glorious. Speaking of which, ERTD calls to me.


Anyway, Aninimouse, what exactly do you mean by a "complex" stat system? I know what I would use, but I want too hear what you have in mind. I already plan on joining if you go through with it either way.

[Dermonster]

The component quarks and such would have decayed into nothingness in relative comparison, really.

[Aninimouse]

You really would be surprised how quickly things pile up, both in the rolling and bookkeeping senses.

I do know what to expect as far as rolling and bookkeeping goes, this won't be my first time GM'ing.

Anyway, Aninimouse, what exactly do you mean by a "complex" stat system? I know what I would use, but I want too hear what you have in mind. I already plan on joining if you go through with it either way.

I meant it in more of a relative term. Simply put; More Stats and Skills than you'd see in the average RtD, that do more things. Going by the previous advice, I sort of decided against making things complex though.

The current system has 5 base stats, and 11 skills. 4 Pikmin Related, 4 Combat/Equipment Related, and then another three for Piloting Ships/Vehicles, Repairing/Creating/Upgrading items (Mechanic), and Medical/Healing Actions.

Stats directly give bonuses to rolls, and, in high amounts, give small bonuses to select Skills.

Skills, give small, passive bonuses to rolls and allow you to use certain passive, and activated abilities.

There is a leveling system, but its role is relatively small. It takes a little while to gain a Level, and you don't gain all that much of a boost out of it singular level ups. (But far into the game, the bonuses will start to add up.)

_{((And of course, high Stats and Skills still won't beat good strategy, Stats will just help counter bad luck and potential mistakes, and Skills (For Activated Abilities) will open up new strategies altogether.))}


Edit: Oh, and is there a... Name, for what you do when you use the whistle/tune in the game (The C-Stick) to control the Pikmin directly? There's a skill for that, but I have no idea what to name it.

[Gatleos]

My dusty old Pikmin strategy guide (it was a Nintendo Power re-subscription gift, okay?) calls the Pikmin movement "marching". What would a skill involving that affect in-game, anyway? I'm curious. So skills will give you the ability to perform certain actions? Is it a one time thing or are they upgradeable?

[Aninimouse]

What would a skill involving that affect in-game, anyway? I'm curious.

It'd help navigate Pikmin through traps and such with minimal losses, and with combat. Combat with Pikmin boils down to either straight up throwing the Pikmin at enemies, and using the 'Marching' skill to do things like swarm enemies, form a barrier around yourself to protect you from smaller enemies, and stuff like that.

So skills will give you the ability to perform certain actions? Is it a one time thing or are they upgradeable?

The non-passive abilities are basically just Spells, minus the whole magic bit. For example, there might be an ability that allows you to throw Pikmin at enemies with a bit more force for a single turn/round. The enemy will take more of a hit to their stamina, and allow you to tire them out/overwhelm them more quickly than you would through normal means. Only those who focused on the 4 Pikmin based skills would be able to use the ability though.

They probably won't be upgradable.

------

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A bit more for the stat and skills, names and effects aren't final, as I said, I haven't put a whole lot of thought into them yet.

Strength: Increases the effectiveness of Throwing (To a lesser extent than Agility), and Melee Attacks.

Agility: Increases the effectiveness of Throwing, and gives bonuses to any actions that would require speed/agility.

Dexterity: Increases the effectiveness of Throwing (To a lesser extent than both Agility and Strength), and Ranged Attacks.

Endurance: Increases Total Health, and gives bonuses to Resistance/Defense Rolls.

Intelligence: Gives bonuses to some of the skill related rolls. (Micromanagement, Pilot, Mechanic, Medical, Armour, and Equipment)



Skills:

-Pikmin-
Throwing: What this means is obvious, The amount of Pikmin you can throw in quick succession, and the effectiveness and accuracy of said throws.

Whistling: A little less obvious, normally, if you're a bit unlucky, some Pikmin won't respond to your Whistling. But this helps with rolls where you call for your Pikmin to return to you, especially when it involves imminent death by traps/monsters.

Marching: Explained it Already.

Micromanagement: Increases the amount of Pikmin available to you at once. (Not sure whether it should be an increase to the total amount of Pikmin allowed on the Field at once, or just add a number of Pikmin that the player can only control themselves.)


-Equipment-

Ranged Weapons: Increases the effectiveness of Ranged Weapons.

Melee: Increases the effectiveness of Punches. (Probably not nearly as viable a choice for combat as Ranged Weapons, but could be good for Oh-Shit moments.)

Armour: Improves the effectiveness of Space-Suit Upgrades. (Which, for the most part, all provide defense for different types of Damage.), and the amount of Upgrades you can have at once. A high skill level in this is also required for some of the high-end upgrades.

Equipment: Same as Armour, only for types of Space-Suit upgrades, Equipment, Items and such.


-Utility-

Pilot: Used to pilot the ship(s). Probably won't play a major roll, but that depends on how everyone decides to play.

Mechanic: Weapon/Equipment/Ship Repairs, Upgrades, and Item Creation, among other things.

Medical: Increases the Effectiveness of Healing, of course.

[Gatleos]

I like the way this is going! I think the best way to handle a system based on Pikmin but revolving around the captains (players) themselves is to split the strategy cleanly between the two. Pikmin should fit together with the players' equipment and abilities like a puzzle piece, allowing a character with a knack for forcefully throwing to more effectively use purples or a player with a bladed weapon to sacrifice five white Pikmin to poison his blade. Player abilities and skills should produce different results when used with different Pikmin types.

How do you plan on handling movement? How close do players have to be to exchange Pikmin, and how will you communicate the location of unattended Pikmin to the players?

[Aninimouse]

That does remind me that I forgot to say anything about equipment and Spacesuit upgrades themselves.
Your spacesuit has a certain amount of "Slots" that upgrades can be applied to. (The amount of slots is increased by skills.) And most upgrades come in tiers. The second tier of a fireproof suit upgrade, for instance, takes two slots, but is more effective.

Your Spacesuit also has some similar slots for other, non defensive types of upgrades. Items like the Rush Boots from Pikmin 2, that increase movement speed, or the effectiveness of certain skills/rolls.

Some equipment also effects Pikmin directly. There are items that increase the abilities of Pikmin passively. (Right now I just explain them as radios that play tunes that, like the 'marching' tune, effect the way Pikmin act, increasing their abilities. They will probably require batteries, or energy cells of some sort to operate.)

How do you plan on handling movement? How close do players have to be to exchange Pikmin, and how will you communicate the location of unattended Pikmin to the players?

Haven't gone too far into that. As far as players exchanging Pikmin goes, within Whistling range would probably be sufficient. And, as for the locations of unattended Pikmin, probably by using the description of the area to point out where Pikmin are left, but I won't be reminding everyone that they're leaving Pikmin lying around.

Player abilities and skills should produce different results when used with different Pikmin types.

I haven't gotten too far into abilities themselves yet either.
I know this isn't what you mean but; The different types of Pikmin (And the Leaf > Bud > Flower varieties) all have their own stats, so abilities would naturally produce different results with different types of Pikmin. Using that "Power Throw" or whatever it'll be called would be a lot more effective with Purple Pikmin, but be a lot less effective with White Pikmin.


The Abilities and Stat Finalization are all that really needs to be done before the game is in a ready enough state to be started. I've done quite a bit of mapping already.


Fake Edit:

Oh, and I just remembered the Sprays from the Second Game. Can't believe I forgot about them, and I was missing a fourth Other/Utility Skill. Chemistry?

[10ebbor10]

Oh man, a Hitchhikers Guide RTD would be excellent. Were I not otherwise spoken for, I'd run it. RTD Subforum needs New GMs, badly!

Considering the nature of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy's universe, the RTD mechanics wouldn't be out of place. It would require good writing skill though.

[lawastooshort]

Oh man, a Hitchhikers Guide RTD would be excellent. Were I not otherwise spoken for, I'd run it. RTD Subforum needs New GMs, badly!

Considering the nature of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy's universe, the RTD mechanics wouldn't be out of place. It would require good writing skill though.

If I had nothing else to do I would love to sit down for a week, reread all the books, reread them again, and start it myself. It could be awesome. I'd have to cut down on the exclamation marks though. That and a vaguely Hunter S Thompson related rtd are my current literature inspired dream rtds to run, I think.

But I do have other things to do, and I'm enjoying them.