Sunday, July 31, 2016

River Beds using Donjon and Wilbur

Aioskoru, Western Ekouinmanus Kapos Map Series
Aioskoru Solo Game: Map of area Western Ekouinmanus Kapos
 Lakes and rivers using GIMP and Donjon fractal maps
Automated rivers: first automated river attempts
River Beds using Donjon and Wilbur

I think I'm headed this way more for my intermediate and advanced technique of using the Donjon maps using Wilbur in addition to GIMP. They seem more lifelike and do a great job of creating rivers automatically. No drawing required.

It does however interpret rivers, mountains, and hills sometimes different than my other techniques, such as the topography map.

Here are three map areas that I have worked on in the past. I place the original clip that the map was based on after the new image.

[Click map to enlarge]




[Click map to enlarge]



The map above is the lower part of this next grid map, focusing around the four white mountain icons.



[Click map to enlarge]


As you can see, the rivers in the above image don't match up with the rivers from the original image.



Saturday, July 30, 2016

Automated rivers: first automated river attempts

Aioskoru, Western Ekouinmanus Kapos Map Series
Aioskoru Solo Game: Map of area Western Ekouinmanus Kapos
 Lakes and rivers using GIMP and Donjon fractal maps
Automated rivers: first automated river attempts


Today, I spent most of the morning trying to get rivers automated for the map chunk. Here are two of my main attempts.

Attempt 1) Easy, but wrong.
The rivers avoid the coastline, thinking that they are mountains.



Attempt 2) Correct rivers, but it doesn't know there is an ocean. I haven't figure out integrating the ocean and the rivers yet, which would make easier and more detailed maps.



Friday, July 29, 2016

JAGS: Brown Bear

For my wild west game using the JAGS system.
JAGS RPG is a universal game system that can be found as a free download at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg

JAGS wild west bestiary
Mountain Lion, Cougar, Puma


[Click stat block to enlarge and see entirely]


Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Lakes and rivers using GIMP and Donjon fractal maps

Aioskoru, Western Ekouinmanus Kapos Map Series
Aioskoru Solo Game: Map of area Western Ekouinmanus Kapos
 Lakes and rivers using GIMP and Donjon fractal maps
Automated rivers: first automated river attempts

Donjon maps are great. But I've overcome the lack of details by pulling out topographical and 3D information. Now I want some more rivers, lakes, and streams.

Attempt 1) This is my search for techniques to add rivers and lakes to a free Donjon fractal map, I began just by drawing in a river trying to use logic. In retrospect, I don't like the color and I wanted to test it with my 3D maps. It didn't line up as I wanted to exactly. So I decided to try something else instead.

I don't like this technique, I'll figure something else out.


Attempt 2) Instead of beginning with rivers, my second attempt was to begin with lakes. I changed my color to a light blue. I used one of my 3D maps to help recognize the places that lakes could be and water collects. I'll add rivers after lakes and see how that goes.

So far, I'm liking this method more than the first.



Tuesday, July 26, 2016

JAGS: first batch of directly converted wild west creatures

JAGS Fan Content series
The search for a fantasy or universal RPG: The winner and my choice.
Test played Reviews: JAGS Revised
JAGS: NPC templates for humans by type
JAGS: NPC list & skills
JAGS: Creating wild west creatures
JAGS: A) OGL 5e SRD conversion to JAGS

Here is my first attempt at some direct conversions from d20 5th edition to JAGS.

[click image to enlarge]


Monday, July 25, 2016

JAGS: A) OGL 5e SRD conversion to JAGS

JAGS Fan Content series
The search for a fantasy or universal RPG: The winner and my choice.
Test played Reviews: JAGS Revised
JAGS: NPC templates for humans by type
JAGS: NPC list & skills
JAGS: Creating wild west creatures
JAGS: A) OGL 5e SRD conversion to JAGS

JAGS is a free downloadable universal role-playing game found at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg. It also can be purchased in book form.

The first method that I will try will actually be a direct conversion from 5e SRD of animals.

I made this up using a little logic and reason. I'll experiment to see how well it converts compared to a direct creation following the rules. I'll convert derived stats from any directly converted stats such as DP and additional damage..



Sunday, July 24, 2016

JAGS: Creating wild west creatures

JAGS Fan Content series
The search for a fantasy or universal RPG: The winner and my choice.
Test played Reviews: JAGS Revised
JAGS: NPC templates for humans by type
JAGS: NPC list & skills
JAGS: Creating wild west creatures


There are three ways that I can try to create some creatures for my wild west game.

I can either:
a) build them from scratch using the JAGS Archetype rules.
b) try to convert them from an OGL source.
c) or combine the results from both methods to form a hybrid agreement if possible.

I think I will try all three if possible and compare the results.

But first I need a list of wild west creatures. And that basically means creatures of the dessert, mountains, and plains of central and southern USA.

I'll focus on the italicized animals which are predators and hunted animals.

Many Biomes
vulture
hawk
eagle
porcupine
skunk
long-tailed weasel
gray fox
ground squirrel
ants
bee
wasp
white-tailed deer
moose (elk)
american badger
bat

Dessert
rattlesnake (western diamondback, copperhead, cottonmouth,)
scorpion
tarantula
gila monster
coyote
armadillo
black-tailed jack rabbit
cottontail rabbit
bobcat (lynx)
gopher
prairie dog

Plains
buffalo (bison)

Mountains
black bear
brown bear
mountain lion (cougar, puma)

Other terrain animals
alligator
crocodile
great white shark
coral snake

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Aioskoru Solo Game: Map of area Western Ekouinmanus Kapos

Tools Used
Aioskoru website
Aioskoru Adventure seeds
ABS12 System

Continued from this Aioskoru Story Series
Aioskoru part 1 : "Wild Horses"
Aioskoru part 2 : "Friendly Centaur"
Aioskoru part 3 : Experience Points award
Aioskoru part 4 : "Emotional Plea"
Aioskoru part 5 : "For Sickness or Work"
Aioskoru Solo Game: Map of area Western Ekouinmanus Kapos

Aioskoru, Western Ekouinmanus Kapos Map Series
Aioskoru Solo Game: Map of area Western Ekouinmanus Kapos
 Lakes and rivers using GIMP and Donjon fractal maps
Automated rivers: first automated river attempts

Western Ekouinmanus Kapos
[Click image to enlarge]

I made this map using my techniques found in Quick free world maps using GIMP filters and Donjon fractal maps.

This is the beginning of the Aioskoru map showing the story locations. I plan on updating the map as the story continues. I only drew in part of the main river and streams which continue and cover this region, just so that I have a basis for the story.

This map is about 350 miles wide and high. The small red dot shows the hill upon which I imagine the centaur village is locate just to the south of the northern stream. I haven't named that village, streams, nor river yet. It looks close, but it is really 20 miles away from the village. Andelin and Madi were caught to the northwest across the stream on that hill outcrop across the valley north of that same stream. About 50 miles to the northeast of the village you can see the rugged  far distant barren rugged hills and plateaus.

Friday, July 22, 2016

Aioskoru part 5 : "For Sickness or Work"

Tools Used
Aioskoru website
Aioskoru Adventure seeds
ABS12 System

Here are the stats for my two main characters. I've changed Madi's powers to the new magic system.

Madi the amateur magic user is PL1.
SpeciesLifeSpdDefDef TypeBPDamageD TypeMagSc/TcBPVerbAdj/AdvBPVerbAdj/Adv
Magic User223Cloth21d12/6Staff42Destroy1d12/62Fire2 range
BPVerbAdj/AdvBPVerbAdj/AdvCost
2Trap/Close2 duration2Organic substance Web2 range15

Andelin the amateur fighter is PL1
Fighter436Plate41d12/3Sword2Rescue22Tracking/hunting215

Madi = 4 EP
Andelin = 6 EP

Before I start, I want to test the new experience points for the two characters for the prior two scenes.

EP per Scene Goal reached - scene 1 - make a deal
Madi - scene 4 = yes
Andelin - scene 4 = yes

Character true to it's concept
Madi - scene 4 = yes
Andelin - scene 4 = unknown

Conflict with opposition
Madi - scene 4 = yes
Andelin - scene 4 = yes

New Awareness about something important
Madi - scene 4 = yes
Andelin - scene 4 = unknown

Total EP for "Emotional Plea"
Madi = 4 + 4 EP = 8  EP
Andelin = 6 + 2 EP = 8 EP

Powers
I have also redone the powers into 4 powers (2 verbs and 2 nouns): destroy, trap/close, fire, and organic substance - web. The damage 

Continued from this Aioskoru Story Series
Aioskoru part 1 : "Wild Horses"
Aioskoru part 2 : "Friendly Centaur"
Aioskoru part 3 : Experience Points award
Aioskoru part 4 : "Emotional Plea"
Aioskoru part 5 : "For Sickness or Work"


"For Sickness or Work"
By Ken Wickham
Copyright © 2016

The scent of the incense filled the centaur village.

Outside of their homes, centaurs had returned to their homes, each lit up an incense stick in some sort of funeral ritual.

He had heard from a few humans that Madi and he were lucky that the centaur would bring their request up to the elders. Although several before them had begged and pleaded, the centaur's hadn't considered those people's offers so kindly.

"You must have said something right," one of the older human's said. He looked strong despite his age. Maybe because of the constant work from his sentence.

"Yes. Maybe so," Andelin said, not wanting to mention the war with the scorpion centaurs.

[Do the elders come to speak today? This is another plot escalating roll, this time at -3. Roll = 3 - 3 =  0; No, also ...
2, Touch, 4, Smooth
10, character quality; 9 personality
Something about personality and smooth, I'll discard the smooth part and try something else]
[I'll also roll for a story idea for the first time. 9+10 = 19
  1. Daring - a bold leader sets out to obtain an object from or to fight against a powerful adversary.
I'll say that whatever killed that centaur - maybe after coming in contact with a contagious illness or disease which causes personality change before death -  requires obtaining an object, a substance, to help heal. The centaur village is upset over this and it has recently spread to several more.]
 While working later that evening, Andelin overheard from several that the illness is spreading.

Andelin kept sweeping the cobblestone floor, pretending as if he wasn't hearing anything important.

"You missed a spot over here," point one of the muscular centaurs towards the doorway. Andelin turned towards them and quickly hurried over to the spot.

The other continued. " They say he behaved crazy before it overtook him. They think that a root which grows in the clefts may cure the disease."

Andelin finished sweeping, looked off in the distance to see Madi weaving with several other people. He quickly finished sweeping the area, dumped the waste into a pile outside, and made his way to her.

She did not have a happy face at the moment. Andelin began to sweep around near her. He felt like he was doing something wrong, although he had to mention what he had learned - to warn her.

"Madi," he whispered, though he continued to focus on picking up dirt, straw, and clumps of mud on the stone below him.

He could see out of the corner of his eye her head turn to look at him. She then returned to weaving. "Anything new, " she whispered back.

"Just to let you know, there is a sickness going around."

"That's bad."

"Keep quiet about it."

"Okay."

He coughed and then moved off to sweep in other spots along the cobblestone path.

[Another plot based roll at -2. Do they come the next day? 10-2 = 8; Yes, however they want the two to help out and substance to help cure the disease as a test]

The next day, one of the centaurs came down the path calling out his name. It was Nefron. Andelin moved towards the centaur. His face wasn't smiling as it had since their capture and journey here.

He spoke with a unusually serious expression. "The elders are ready to see you."

Maybe they had a chance.



The gray hair and maned elders - about a dozen - stood in front of them at some distance, four guards armed between them. Some were studhes (studs) and some were markoes (mares). A few of them seemed uncomfortable, some even not looking at him directly.

"Leader Theda has informed us that you have a request." spoke one of the elder stud, who held a long staff which seemed to lean on to help keep his upper torso erect.

Andelin quickly spoke before Madi, " Yes. We have offered instead of serving our sentence helping to maintain the feed to serve it in a common defense with the humans against the scorpion centaurs."

Immediately many of the elders began to speak with each other. Andelin couldn't hear what they were saying.

Andelin rubbed his face and temples trying to ease the slight pain that throbbed in his head.

"Why should we trust fighting with you? How do we know that we can trust you?"

Andelin knew that they had to give them a reason to trust them. He was slightly unsure of what to say. His muddled thoughts went back to last evening overhearing the guards.

He took a deep breath and hoped for a good response. "We can help you find the root to cure the disease that is spreading among you. That can be a test of our intention."

A few of the centaurs that wouldn't look at him before now turned and looked towards him.

They spoke among themselves slower this time and without as much argument occasionally glancing at either him or Madi.

"Maybe they will give me my use of powers," Madi whispered to him.

He just nodded back. He wasn't really concerned with powers, but having her powers back would help if they were to find the root.

The answer came quick enough. The quickness of response took his breath away.

"Very well," the main elder said

A few moments went by and they seemed to discuss more details. One of them walked off down the hall and disappeared.

Nefron and Kado, they motioned forward. Nefron and Madi's centaur walked forward. They joined into the discussion. Kado seemed to shake his head often. He would look towards Madi and seemed to argue more.

Madi seemed to shrink back at his stare.

Soon all of them were nodding in agreement.

"Nefron and Kado will continue to be your escort while under sentence." With that Andelin saw Nefron elbow the other, Kado in the side. Kado somewhat snared at Nefron, who halfway grinned.

"My powers?" Madi asked.

The leader of the elders said a name he couldn't hear and motioned over one of the elder mares over who had a long smooth thin blue torso robe.

After a briefly conversing with each other, she made her way towards Madi.

She said a few things to her. Madi noded once in agreement.

The centaur mare began to mutter words while circling her hands in the air - almost like she was holding something. Silver speckles seemed to materialize in the air. Andelin slightly dropped his jaw and watched wide-eyed. She seemed to scope the sparkles from the air and pulled it to her lips.

Then she motioned her to come to her. She grabbed her by the shoulders, said a few words to Madi and then pulled her towards her and kissed her upon the forehead. The sparkles seemed to move and transfer to Madi's forehead and briefly should a glowing lip mark.

Soon they both smiled and the lady centaur went back to the group of elders.

"She did not give a full blessing. Her blessing is temporary this time. You will have three days to get the roots or the power use will cease once again in our lands."

Another elder who had disappeared earlier stepped forward bringing forth a parchment.

"This is what the root that we are looking for looks like. It grows in a cliff area from the derman bush. We haven't been able to get any since several scorpion centaurs took over that region of our border."

Andelin studied the drawings intently. He noticed the leaf patter, the shape of the bush and the various features, and even the coloring which had been painted on the image.

"Where are the cliffs located?" Madi said.

"Nefron and Kado know the region and will take you there. How well you four get along and successfully achieve getting the root will determine how much we will trust you. Ten bags of roots will be needed for now and in the future."

"Our weapons?" Andelin asked.

"They will be given to you as soon as you are outside the village."

[To be continued]


JAGS: NPC list & skills

JAGS is a free downloadable universal role-playing game found at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg. It also can be purchased in book form.

To go with the chart I made a skill list which has all the costs, grouped by stat or type of skill. I used the newer JAGS Archetype skill cost and mixed it with the level costs. Also I added a Tough type character to the template which might represent a farmer or smith - some that vary in reflexes. There is both physically or mentally tough.

JAGS human types
[Click image to enlarge]


JAGS Skill costs
These are grouped by type, expensive or standard cost, and stat. Towards the end are the eithor/or skills which can use one of many stats.

[Click image to enlarge]


Thursday, July 21, 2016

JAGS: NPC templates for humans by type

JAGS fan content
This begins a series of JAGS player made content that I will try making.

I wanted to try the game out with an elderly couple that likes the wild west stories. So I need some human NPCs to inhabit the game. Templates to be filled with outlaws, gangs, criminals, and town workers.

To do this, I want to make a JAGS template for NPCs sort of built off of templates so that I can make quicker NPCs.

With the advise found on page 32 and influenced with some D20 OGL open content, here is some potential stat blocks based on some possible types.

About the chart
Yellow shows the secondary stat changes.

It shows the stat CP costs so that the remaining can be filled with skills. Also bases for bonus melee damage, DP, Perception roll, grappling, and movement are also shown which can be modified by skills.

This can probably be used for any type of JAGS game that has regular humans.

[Click image to enlarge]


Monday, July 18, 2016

ABS12: minor update

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

I moved around some of the content from chapter 4, put it into chapter 3, renamed chapter 4, and then called experience content it's own chapter. I bumped up the other chapter numbers to reflect the change.

ABS12: Random Objects & Participants, v 1.08

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

ABS12 Solo Game Engine and Fact Generator
ABS12: Basic Fact Generator
ABS12 Solo Game Engine: Additionals, Branching, & Conditionals
ABS12: Synonyms for writing using the ABS12 Solo Game Engine
Testing the ABS12 Solo Engine and Fact Generator
ABS12: Story Engine
ABS12: Random Objects & Participants
ABS12: Drama Escalator

New version number
If you haven't  noticed, I upped the version now to 1.08 including everything changed or added last week. The current version is much larger than the last version update. Since the last version change I updated the intro to chapter 2, added and rewrote experience level (EL) and power level (PL), added powers text to help set up adjectives, and added two tables to the story engine.

I changed the wording of 'Verb Actions' to 'Action Verbs' mostly in chapter 2. I did so since that is a common phrase used in making job resumes. Using that term may be familiar to many already. I'm trying to make the descriptions and verbs more like a career information.

I wanted to make a generic list of random objects and random participants to go with the story engine. Use a 1d12 to find a number if you are using it for a random result. In addition, the fact generator and the solo game engine can be used to fill in descriptions and characteristics.

ABS12 Random Objects
  1. important/sacred item
  2. weapon
  3. healing item
  4. utility item (helps you do something eisier)
  5. clothing (it may be a special clothing)
  6. armor
  7. key
  8. clue to some mystery
  9. cure
  10. valuable item
  11. power/technology item
  12. food/drink
ABS12 Random Participants
For numbers 11 and 12 either use 1 or 2  of the 10 that are the most common for your world for increased odds, or pick two new ones not listed on the list.

  1. PC
  2. new NPC
  3. monster/creature
  4. animal
  5. group/organization
  6. relationship NPC
  7. nemesis NPC (new/old)
  8. friend NPC (new/old)
  9. powerful opposing force (natural, supernatural)
  10. race against time
  11.  -reuse or assign -
  12.  -reuse or assign - 


Here is the story engine as shown several weeks ago.

Story Engine
Here is an potential story engine for main storyline that I will experiment with. It is based on three literary plot structures. I am not sure I like the 2d12 probability.

#1 is hidden text. The blogger has numerical list which automatically starts at 1. I didn't feel like looking up how to remove it, so the list really starts at 2 since 2d12 lowest value is 1+1 = 2.

ABS12 Sory Engine v 1.0

Roll two 12 sided dice (2d12) adding the results together.
  1. By Ken Wickham 2016
  2. Descend - a character must descend to the very depths of despair to perform some great task.
  3. Maddening - a mad person versus the victim of the insanity.
  4. Tempted - a character must face their greatest weakness, distraction, or compulsion.
  5. Disaster - a power falls defeated by an enemy or informed by a messenger.
  6. Sacrifice - a character must struggle to maintain an ideal by sacrificing something great to satisfy a creditor or opponent.
  7. Obtain - a character asked by another, must struggle to obtain something great in order to aid against an adversary.
  8. Prey - a master or monster threatens or causes suffering to a victim or unfortunate character.
  9. Rescue - a character must deliver a unfortunate or supplicant from a persecutor.
  10. Pursue - a character must pursue a criminal and avenge the victim with the expected justice deserving.
  11. Escape - a character must escape from imprisonment or punishment from some conflict.
  12. Transform - a character goes through a dramatic change like a rebirth of power, form, or appearance.
  13. Mature - a character comes of age or knowledge through a challenging experience to reveal something important.
  14. Abducted - an abductor takes abducted from a guardian.
  15. Enigma - an interrogator posses a problem to the seeker and gives the seeker better ability to reach the seeker's goal.
  16. Rival - there is an object of rivalry and a preferred or superior side versus a rejected or inferior side.
  17. Revolt - conspirators plot to overthrow a tyrannical power.
  18. Metamorph - a character must go through a dramatic change into something by supernatural or severe natural means.
  19. Daring - a bold leader sets out to obtain an object from or to fight against a powerful adversary.
  20. Conspire - a hated character and a 2nd conspire against a character.
  21. Lost - an important object is lost by negligence. There character must find the object or remedy any consequence.
  22. Forbidden - a character must do something considered forbidden in opposition to sagely advice.
  23. Betrayed - a desirer and desired have betrayed a character. The betrayal is discovered by some means..
  24. Ascend - a character must climb some challenging task and raise above opposition to become one of the few to ascend to the top.
Based on a mixture of Polti's 36 plots, Tobias' 20 plots, and Booker's 7 plots.

A Basic System 12 (ABS12)
Index of my blog

Friday, July 15, 2016

ABS12: Powers edited text

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

I decided to write a bit better introduction to powers that describes the dimensions of reality - which is how they differ from verb actions. Also I edited the fireball example, removing references to the old skill power system. Power Poll and Power Level rules are added which replaces the older definition of power level - now referring to the strength of the power when deducting the cost of the power from the power pool.

Chapter 3 Adjective Verb Noun based powers
Powers can be described in terms of actions (verbs) and topics (nouns). This means that the power can do something to or with something. This uses the same type of system as the verb action skills except that powers go beyond the normal restrictions of reality. The powers can extend normal dimensions of reality - mainly by means of processes affecting the topic. If your character has learned to destroy things and also learned about fire, then your character should be able to destroy things with fire - a fireball, fire spray, or wall of fire.

The main dimensions of reality besides combining the action and topic are the dimensions of the affect which are described by adjectives (or adverbs). Damage describes how much damage to the target is affected (damage done or healed). Armor describes how much protection the power provides from damage and other effects. Duration describes how long the power remains in affect. Size describes how big of area the power affects. Range describes the distance that the power can reach.

Fireball - Adjective Verb Noun
Having 5 of the verb power Destroy and 5 of the noun power of Fire, combined to be called Greater Destroy Fire with the damage of 1d12/2 which goes at normal spell casting distance. Destroy and Fire would be two separate powers when combined create a manifested power.

Power Level (PL)
The Power Level of the power is the amount of the amount of verb action and noun that the character has. The PL of the power will be the greater amount in the manifested power. So if a character has unequal amounts of power, use the greater of the manifestation amounts. The PL is subtracted from the power pool (PP).


So a character with 3 in heal/repair, 1d12/4 and 2 in life, range of 20ft/6m would have a PL of the greater amount of 3 PL for the cost of the power. Subtract 3 from the PP.

Power Pool
Power Pool = 4 + EL + DL 
Power Pool (PP) is the measure of the amount of power that the character has flowing within them. A power will expend this pool in order to use their powers.After expending this power, rest is required to refill the expended power.


A Basic System 12 (ABS12)
Index of my blog

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

RPG vs Story Sequel: Reaction

RPG and Story Scene Series
RPG and Story Scenes: RPG scenes
RPG and Story Scenes: Writing and RPG methods
RPG vs Story Sequel: Reaction 



In the last section concerned mostly scenes though some of the techniques may be used to describe sequels. In this section we can look at the specific details and techniques needed in many reaction sequels. RPGs and story writing differ in focus and techniques.

Reactive Reaction Sequel

RPG reaction scene indicators
While the action scene mechanics are very defined in RPGs, the reactions or sequels is something that is less specified in RPG gaming.

It normally begins when the gamemaster (GM) tells the group about something majorly important. RPGs normally divide the game into player character (PC) reactions and non-player character (NPC) reactions. The GM controls the NPC reactions which may offer hints into the game story plot. The players experience the PC reactions and offer reactions.

What a GM says naturally creates a reaction in the players. First the players may feel something inside if the players feel connected to their characters. These feelings may or may not be expressed verbally or non-verbally. But sometimes they are expressed.

One code sentence that may indicate that the GM said something that might invoke a reaction is, "What do you do?" It means that they think that they have just finished telling enough background and setting material invoke some reaction in the player characters - maybe having dropped some hints here and there.

A few times, one mechanical technique used to indicate a character's reaction may be a resistance roll. These type of reactions are mechanical reactions to forces aimed towards the character. Several different mechanical examples can illustrate reactions. Sometimes before combat a roll to see if the characters are surprised or aware is rolled. An offensive attack may be reacted to with a defensive roll. A magic attack may be reacted to with a magical resistance roll. Some skill rolls have reactive counter rolls to test awareness. Another might be opportunity attack rules for when another enemy character or creature moves near another in combat. Some games even have lists of reactions, as actions.

Whereas the GMs control the NPC reactions and the players control the PC reactions, in story writing authors control both the point of view and non point of view character reactions.


Story Writing reaction scene indicators
In writing, authors must harness the point of view character's individual emotional reaction towards important events. The author may have to think and feel at times like the character, especially a point of view character. For non-point of view characters, they may have to think and feel in addition to imagining how those characters physically react. The character's emotional reactions must be sprinkled throughout the scene. If they don't react at least sometimes, the writing will loose the deeper emotional connection that readers may enjoy and connect with. The characters may seem wooden or robotic. That means that sequels are more defined in story writing than in RPGs.

Indicators begin with emotional and instinctive reactions - immediately following the event or awareness of information. The characters feel something. What they feel may be flavored and seen from the perspective. What does the cause character to feel? After initial instinctive reaction, thinking will begin. They then may think and talk about their possible actions. What can they do about the cause? Then they will come to some decision about their next action.

Story writing offers these specific detailed techniques of emotional reaction, analysis of dilemma, and making a decision, whereas RPGs only have hints and rolls. Looking into the story writing technique is more beneficial for exploring reaction sequels. Let's look at each story writing reaction step and evaluate them from a point of view and non-point of view perspective.

1) Emotional Reaction

The first part of the reaction sequel is an emotional reaction to something that occurred, is learned, or comes to surface. The characters have instinctual physiological descriptions and knee jerk reactions. Emotions may be described. What does this mean to the characters?.

Maybe the event startles the character - they feel tingling on theirs skin, their heartbeat races, and they fill a sudden rush of adrenaline.

Maybe they feel worry - they feel a loss of appetite or sick stomach, brings their hand up to massage their neck, and takes a few deep breaths.

For point of view characters, you can describe these emotional reactions in terms of physiological responses rather than adjectives describing general feelings. Don't just say happy, sad, angry, frightened, etc.. Describe how those emotions feel. Maybe the character doesn't know what they are feeling means and will rapidly try to change that instinct emotion when they think about it in a moment. Or maybe the reaction is tied to some subconscious thought.

For non-point of view characters, you have to describe the emotions in terms of viewable markers, facial expressions, instinctive behavior, and body language. Knowledge of some body language can help.

As awareness kicks in, the characters must analyse and think up options to turn what this means to them into some sort of new action..

2) Analysis of Dilemma

The next part of the reaction sequel is for the characters to come up with possible actions and figure out what to do. They may use different methods of evaluation based on their character personality, motivation, emotion, needs, lies, and ethics.

In the earlier example, maybe a startled character realizes that they are caught off guard. They may begin to think about how they need to control themself. Maybe they realize that their biggest fear has come true, and a depth of terror sets in. 

A worried character may speak with someone else about their discomfort. Maybe in speaking, another character reassures the worried character. But in their conversation, they discover something else which may lead to another worry.

There is the problem and then the possible solutions. Most of the solutions should be bad if the conflict is strong enough. The character(s) probably will choose the least bad solution.

For point of view characters, you can have internal dialogue of the actual thinking. They may also speak with other characters. Subtext can be wonderful. When characters may not directly speak exactly what they are thinking, and their body language and hints say otherwise.

For non-point of view character, you may just use descriptive text describing body language and dialogue to hint at what they are thinking.

The analysis of possible solutions, probably two or three, will lead to a decision.

3) Decision

This choice should be the next scene goal. The goal itself should be something simple, real, valuable, possible, and challenging. The reaction scene will then transition into a proactive action scene. Once a decision has been made, the sequel can change into an action scene.

For RPGs, the GM can continue to describe details leading to the next sequence of actions.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

ABS12: Power Level (PL) is now Experience Level (EL) & new character sheet

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

Power Level (PL) is now Experience Level (EL)

I decided that now that powers are more important in the game to change the terminology from Power Level (PL) into Experience Level (EL). Hopefully I found most of the references and acronyms and made the change mostly successful. I also made the terminology changes to many of the charts and graphics.

Experience Level (EL) will mean the same thing. I was just having trouble keeping the 'Power' portion of the old term separate from the new power system.

Character Sheet 1.03

I also tried several fronts of character sheets to reflect more current information. Here is character sheet 1.03 which now has simplified terms such as damage, defense, and speed which are changes I did a few weeks ago. I also added EP which was missing from v1.00. I removed the skills and bonus terminology to make add Verb Action and Adjective.



A Basic System 12 (ABS12)
Index of my blog

ABS12: updated intro with overall game summary and purpose, verb actions, and preview of future graphics version

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

Purpose of the game
Overview
No other players are needed for this game. It is built with a solo game system where you ask a question, roll, add or subtract modifiers if needed, and check a chart for the answer. You can also use the game without the solo components.

This is a single die linear system, with one stat. Skill proficiency are defined by Descriptions.

Purpose of the game
The purpose of the game is to break away from the normal boredom, pains, and worries of life by having a character go through a story, explore stuff, do neat things, and to have an adventure. It does so by allowing you to play a character that receives answers obtained at least partially by a random number.

Also I will be adding this to the Verb Action section as a brief summary before listing the details.

Summary of the Verb Actions
Initiative - used to figure out who goes first
Unskilled verb - used for actions that are done unskilled
Skilled verb - used for actions done skillfully
Special verb - used for special actions indicated within one's description
Combat verb - used to attack or defend against another
Combat damage - used to figure out the reduction of life

Power action - used for actions that use powers

Working with a graphics version
I've started making a basic graphics version of the game for myself. It's something that I want to do for layout practice. I may post it up to RPGNow in the future if I can get everything looking good enough for an amateur RPG release. Maybe I'll do a 'pay what you want' release so that followers can contribute if they wish.

But I want that version to be at least be in beta quality. Tested to the point where I'm comfortable with the overall system.




A Basic System 12 (ABS12)
Index of my blog

Sunday, July 10, 2016

ABS12 : version 1.07

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

New version number
If you haven't  noticed, I upped the version now to 1.07 including everything changed or added last week. The current version is much larger than the last version update. I changed the experience point system to be more narrative, added power verbs and nouns, added a power sheet, added chapter numbers, revised the overview and character section, added five new playable descriptions, and made a 1.06 PDF version.

Here is the new ABS12 1.07 PDF version. The date should read July 10, 2016, but I don't feel like changing it now that I've finished the conversion.


A Basic System 12 (ABS12)
Index of my blog

ABS 12: Powers - Nouns and Power Sheet

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

Here are the first batch of nouns to go with the verbs.

Noun
life - organic properties of growth, continual change, functional activity, and reproduction prior to death
death - organism is no longer alive.
undead - technically dead but still animated; ghoul, lich, vampire, mummy, skeleton, zombie, wight, ghost, banshee, wraith
poison - substance is capable of causing illness and/or death.
disease - this is a disordered function or organ in an organism that produces specific symptoms.
fire/heat - increasing temperature creating combustion, burning, melting, and smoking and heat, light, and smoke are produced.
ice/cold - decreasing temperature creating cold, freezing, ice, or a solid from a liquid or gas.
air/gas - when a solid or liquid is turned into a gas; wind, oxygen, tornado, atmosphere.
earth/rock - soil, earth, dirt, rock, sand substances.
water/liquid - the state of being a liquid from either a gas or solid.
flesh/exoskeleton - covering of internal body of an organism providing some protection from the external stuff.
bone - essential framework of hard tissue in vertabrates.
wood - hard fibrous material in trees and shrubs that provides framework.
metal - a solid material that is typically shiny, hard, and malleable; gold, silver, copper, aluminum, bronze, iron, steel.
organic substance - a specific chosen organic substance such as web, plant fibers, milk, feces, urine, mucus, or blood.
animal - a none humanoid organism that eats and functions responding to stimuli.
plant - a living organism that derives nutritions from roots and photosynthesis.
monster - and inhuman or not a standard animal.
spirit - non physical part of an organism that has the essence of their emotions, thoughts, personality, and behavior.

And there are two new verbs I'm adding

Verb
trap/close - to stop, encase, shut, or imprison something.

open/release - to free, let loose, escape, or release something.

New Powers Sheet
For the new powers I've created a powers sheet to help construct powers



A Basic System 12 (ABS12)
Index of my blog

Friday, July 8, 2016

ABS12 : 5 new descriptions: Hunter, musician, disciple, elemental, and druid

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).


[click to elnarge]

Herbalism - this is to both use and find herbs for healing, curing, and treatment of ailments for both humanoids and kindred creatures.


A Basic System 12 (ABS12)
Index of my blog

ABS12: Overview & Character edits

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

Overview
This is a single die linear system, with one stat. Skill proficiency are defined by Descriptions.

  • This is a single twelve sided die/dice game. It may use up to two 12 sided dice at a time for rolls that have advantages or disadvantages..
  • This is a roll-over system which means that the objective is to roll as high as possible or to roll over another value..
  • It has a solo game engine, fact generator, and story engine built in to the game for solo play.
  • Descriptions describe the inhabitants of the game, both the player's avatar and the fictional characters within the game.
  • There is one single main attribute that describes how powerful a character is - based on experience; it is called power level.
  • The description level is a secondary statistic which represents the general learned ability of the character at this description level which is based on experience and power level.
  • All species and characters share the same benefit of experience and general ability as they progress.
  • Two species or characters of the same power level will have identical power level bases.
  • Individuals differ by their descriptions.
  • Two parts of descriptions are verbs and adverbs/adjectives. 
  • Verbs describe actions including physical, mental and power/magical. 
  • Adverbs describe actions, adjectives, and other adverbs. 
  • Adjectives describe nouns. They normally are damage, effects, descriptive nouns, rankings, or other descriptive values.
  • Adverbs and adjectives are considered similar or near identical - they represent values.
  • Life represents one's life force.
  • Speed represents one's travel and reaction speed.
  • Defense represents one's natural or worn armor.
  • Powers can be described using manifestations of adjectives, verbs, and nouns.
Chapter 1 Characters
With the knowledge of the overview of the game, create a character following the character creation summary. You may print out and record the information on the character sheet. Each of the part of a character created is discussed in further detail within this chapter. 

A character gets +PL an additional bonus for actions performed influence by their description which is called the Description Level (DL) bonus.

synonyms: sort, variety, kind, type, category, class, designation, specification, genus 

The description itself is a group of skills defined by the gamemaster or in solo play, the player, for whatever appropriate for whatever world is being played. Anything that fits in this definition in a game will get a DL bonus. 

For example. Thieves can do thief skills not mentioned in the special verb skill sections. They may get the basic DL bonus when picking locks - if that is something all thieves do in your game world. Maybe they are good at bar fights. Maybe they have underground connections.

Extra Build points

Magic Users get 3 build points to get new spells besides fireball. Fighters get 2 and thieves get 3 build points to buy verb actions appropriate for their description. For the power system, see the section for details to using an adjective verb noun power system.

Magic Users Spells: 


disease, poison, splinter smash, firecone, corrupt touch, fear, drain touch, corrupt stare, petrification, charm, dig, fly, immune (to one element or poison/disease), aware, defense (increase defense temporarily), covert (invisible), or offensive bonus. Each build point raises damage up the scaling damage chart from 1 to a current max of 6 damage levels [(1d12*3) /4].


A Basic System 12 (ABS12)
Index of my blog