Indie Monday (Oct 7, 2002): Fighter-D Alpha Planescape

[Zak Arntson]

I wrote up a new system based on Donjon retaining the fact mechanics, but changing nearly everything else. Because my group is so obsessed with fighting games (see the last Actual Play thread), it's now a fighting video game system called Fighter-D Alpha.

Anyone interested can grab the character sheet and the first version of the rules for play. We had enough fun, I'm tempted to write this thing up as a full game.

Here's a quick summary of the rules: You have Power (which starts at 1), Abilities (5 of 'em), Danger dice and Special Words. Most rolls are Power + Abilities + Danger. If a Danger die matches a regular die, you discard the regular die and put the Danger die back into your Danger pool. Then you pick the highest value from what's left. So a ton of Danger dice can hurt you, by removing dice, or help you, by rolling high and NOT matching anything.

Special Moves are handled by rolling Power + Danger, but this time the Danger dice do NOT gobble any regular dice. Think of it as a fighting game's special bar, which goes up when you get hit.

The other big difference from Donjon is that 1 success = 1 fact + 1 optional Danger + 1 damage (if in combat) + 1 word (if using a Special Move). A single attack in combat is one roll (Power + Ability + Item + Danger), winner does damage to the loser.

We were continuing the Planescape adventure, sans the Swedish Werewolf (whose Player couldn't make it to gaming). So here goes, with spoilers for anyone playing To Baator and Back from Well of Worlds.

The party has just appeared in Hell and kidnapped a little guardian demon. They find out that the way home may be known by a crazy witch who lives in a cave. They head off and are blocked by a big river of blood. Using their abilities, we wind up with the Ninja jumping partway across and falling in (ick), the Mummy jumping in his floating coffin, which sinks and gets filled up with blood (ick). The four-armed guy uses his Find a Path skill to discover a giant, pushable stone column which he topples to make stepping stones. The Ninja, grumpy with the Four-Armed Thing, uses some deft Ninja combat to push the Thing into the blood (ick). So, with everyone all icky, they head off towards the witch.

Aside: The Fact and Danger systems work really well. When the Ninja pushed the Thing into the river, the Thing got bloody and the Ninja opted not to apply Danger dice or damage. So you can resolve things with a combat roll without hurting anybody, and just use facts.

The party hits the cave, preceded by a grove of soul-fruit (little whispering faces on them). A witch hobbles out, traps them in webbing, and checks them for demon-ness. Amazingly, she finds they're not demons and invites Mummy, Ninja and Thing into her cave. The party soon discovers that the witch doesn't know much, but she directs them to the Pillar of Skulls. So off they go. Oh, and the Ninja uses his Charm Others ability to get the witch to come along.

At the Pillar of Skulls, the thing demands some offering in order to reveal a way home. The party figures they'll feed the guide to the pillar (remember, we're dealing with a completely unscrupulous party). The Ninja rolls his Know Trivial History ability to remember something about a pillar of giant heads, and to get information from it you have to get them to fight. So the Ninja eggs them on and eventually, voila! A massive face forms in the pillar and tells them the way home (a portal a half-day's walk away, the key being a brick from a gigantic road). The party splits, ignoring the Pillar's plea for the offered snack.

So off they go, witch and guide in tow, and hit a bend in the river of blood. They need to get across, and more icky slapstick ensues as most of 'em wind up falling in. In an amazingly awesome move, the Ninja actually throws the guide all the way across the river.

Okay, they reach the road, and it looks like it's an hour's walk just to get across it. And they see the portal a ways away (in addition to some massive fortress at the beginning of the road, miles away). Just as they pick up a brick, they hear a low rumbling and see some massive shape as wide as the road come rumbling forth. Yikes! They start running. Luckily, they roll their abilities well enough to run across and get to the other side. The rumbling keeps getting louder, and they see that the shape is a gigantic army coming down the road. The party bolts to the portal.

They reach the portal, held within an ancient, crumbling stone tower. The entrance guarded by two statues and a leering gargoyle. As the party approaches, they come to life!

Using Facts, we wind up with the Ninja actually leaping onto one and turning it to dust as he jumps off, the Mummy poisoning another with his foul bite and the Thing obliterating the gargoyle.

Aside: Combat uses the 1 fact = 1 damage + 1 Success + 1 optional Danger. As GM, I would always use my facts towards Danger. Damage only applies to monsters (which start out with Hit Points = Power). As it turns out, the Characters were all at Power 1 and they made short work of three Power 2 monsters.

to be continued ...

[Zak Arntson]

- continued from previous post -

During the fight, Mummy uses a fact to declare some of the marching army to be heading their way. Another player uses another fact to announce that it just seemed the army was marching close, but rather marching around some road block. It was a great example of competitive facts.

Leaving the shattered guardian statues behind, they jump in the portal which causes groovy 2001: Space Oddessey effects (complete with viewing their infant and elderly selves) before the entire group appears in a the City of Doors (i.e., Sigil). They're now standing in a fountain, the witch cries wit glee and runs off. The rest of 'em look around. Well, except the Mummy, who takes the time to change the guide into Egyptian style clothing and hand him a children's Egyptian learner book.

Ninja uses Charm Others to have a gigantic friendly hairy monster (that looks like something out of Sesame Street) show up and befriend everyone. This includes gigantic bear hugs. The Mummy Player's face just before the bear hug was priceless (and subsequent spine snapping was pretty funny, too). Now they've got someone to show them around.

As GM, I declare the adventure over, but hell, we've got more time to game, so why don't they write an adventure using their facts? They head into a bar, looking for adventure. Four-Armed Thing (using facts) witnesses a portal opening from the coatroom's doorway and a little worm in a vest comes out. Questioning the bartender gives the explanation that the portal leads to a land of mud and dirt. Mummy befriends a gigantic sloth and tries (only partially successfully, because the sloth can't read the inspirational pamphlets) to recruit him to help build a pyramid. Ninja tries to pick a fight with the biggest drunk (and with our combined facts) who earns the Ninja's sympathy because he's going through a terrible divorce.

Aside: At this point, I tell the group flat-out that I need three words to define the quest. I get quill, sun and impressive. This worked wonders towards inventing some macguffin on the fly and getting the Players involved in creating their quest.

The drunk explains that he won't have any custody of his children unless he retrieves the Sun Quill from the Impressive Ruins of Gondarr. Ninja goes to the bar and learns that the Impressive Ruins lie beyond the portal in the coatroom, apparently having sunk beneath the muck centuries ago. Nobody at the bar knows the key, but the worm chap who appear from the portal most likely lives in the cemetery nearby.

Off they go! The cemetery is nearby and at the top of a hill, appropriately spooky. The heroes are stopped by a gate, but Four-Armed Thing's Make a Path ability sees them through. But oh! They are assaulted by a Power 4 zombie guard!

Combat ensues, with multiple disarms, crazy action, and the Mummy's Special Move, Snake Mist which eats into the zombie's brain and controls him temporarily. The zombie tells the party where to find the worm before shaking off the Special Move and attacking once more!

Aside: Encourage Players to drive the game. I noticed that the Players tended to say, for example, "He tells me where to find xyz" instead of "He says xyz lies beyond the gate." If a Player gave me a non-descript fact, I would flat out ask for the conclusion of their statement as part of the fact. That really started driving the fact system.

So, zombie loses its face and falls to the ground, dead, as snake eggs burst from its eyesockets and jaw, which then hatch (Mummy facts at work).

And so, with the Fighters preparing to enter the Worm Bar where the vested worm was said to be found, our night concluded.

[Zak Arntson]

Okay, last self-reply, I promise. We copied our characters from Donjon to Fighter-D Alpha, and after two hours of play, I allowed them to modify their Characters as they saw fit (in accordance to Fighter-D Alpha rules).

Original Characters at the beginning of this thread

Fighter-D Alpha Characters:

The Mummy (that's his new name)
Power: 1, Actions: 1
Abilities: Snake Control: 2, Poisonous Bite: 2, Occult Knowledge: 2, Pyramid Building: 2, Recruit Slaves for Pyramid Building: 3
Items: Coffin (signature): 2, Cowboy Hat: 1

Special Words: Sandstorm, Mist
Special Moves: Snake Mist: 1

Goro, Four-Armed Thing
Power: 1, Actions: 1
Abilities: Surprising Revelation: 2, Create a Path: 2, Sleight of Hands & Feet: 2, Four Forearm Stonewall: 2, Fucks Some Shit Up: 3
Items: Mighty Stone Axe of Mass Destruction (signature): 2, Four-Armed Chainmail: 2, Poleaxe: 2

Special Words: Crush, Arms
Special Moves: None

Ninja (we never called him by his first name)
Power: 1, Actions: 1
Abilities: Obfuscation: 3, Know Trivial History: 1, Charm Others: 2, Use Ninja Tools: 3, Jump: 2
Items: Katana (signature): 2, Shoes of Wall-Walking: 2, Bag o' Shuriken: 2, Screaming Fruit: 0

Special Words: Envelop, Silent
Special Moves: None