Those who are fans of the Tales of Hepian will notice a few changes with the blog. First, the name and the URL has changed dramatically. This is to reflect the better thought out name, Hepian Tales. This was changed do to the fact it sounded better and this probably more grammatically correct. For example, no one would say Tales of American. That is how the original name was set up. Like the phrase American Tales, now the game is called Hepian Tales.
The background and the header of this blog has changed as well! Not only does it have better graphics but it is also steamier and looks more mysterious. Maybe some should say, this looks better defined. This also goes along with the game's system becoming more defined!
Oh, so many changes which I have for the future. I cannot wait to implement them all!
Friday, April 12, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
A Pleasing Update
So, the first play test went better then expected. Five people played and I GMed. From a hind-sight prospective, I should have printed the “How to Create a Character” Section of my game as it would have explained better on how to make a character then my soon-to-be-tired-brain was explaining. Though, I am glad to report that it was simple enough that the player who had been looking at the section, my dearest Rachel and Adam, could explain without me opening my mouth to correct anyone. I felt accomplished at the moment.
Creating a character took about 45 minutes all together, which is pretty good considering the amount of options which are given. The players knew exactly what character flaws would happen if scores were at a certain level. I am glad that taking the time and spelling everything out is paying off.
Game play went as smoothly as it could for first trying the system. There were some bumps where I had to look up what to roll for certain situations but nothing which took too long. Another event which did not occur were any arguing about the fairness of the rolls I gave out. Everything seemed fair based on the character's stats and skill. Surprisingly enough, a character's disguise worked despite an average level skill being pitted against high level stats. Oh, the joys of bad rolls.
The plot is very interesting, and the players also made an underline plot as well which I am happy with. So far, we're in the world of the Hepian Island in a tropical sea on a island under known trade routes between the Hepian Empire and their numerous colony. A Dellish woman of the Fravur Caste (think High Class and almost royalty) has traded places with an air pirate to seek fun and adventure but has discovered she is in a group of psychopaths. The “Captain” Thaddeus is a good pilot but an uncouth brute of a man, Malok is the “First Mate” who is manipulative and has many plans of his own, Joti is a gun crazed woman who rather end disputes with her opponents in a pool of blood, and Jack is a man of fine words but greater brutality.
Malok discovers that the Dellish woman is not in fact their new crew mate Brunhelda (I am positive that was the name) but a rich Fravur woman after she is found tampering with their radio system. He guides her to the self-proclaimed Captain, Thaddeus, who is trying to build a thrown from palm tree leaves. After discovering the madness of the captain, Malok convinces his new found friend to stick with him.
Joti meanwhile is sitting watching the skies and sees an approaching airship caravan coming from the main Hepian Empire toward their general direction. She alerts the captain and signals the crew into action.
Malok meets with Joti and they scheme to ultimately distract their captain and ransom their “new crew mate” for a king's ransom. Though, this plotting is interrupted by both the captain and the need to board the ship. They board with the rest of the crew and take off preparing for their skirmish with the caravan.
They approach the caravan disguised as a innocent cloud but the caravan sounds an alert as if they see through the disguise. What will this caravan do? Will the band of pirates be able to capture some treasure? Will their new crew mate be used as a pawn for fortune?
I have to say that the next time we play test we'll have vehicles to test out, weapons to use, and hopefully some unexpected events to unfold. Also, we'll see if any new game mechanics can work while in an air battle. Exciting times will be had and hopefully more exciting game play.
Creating a character took about 45 minutes all together, which is pretty good considering the amount of options which are given. The players knew exactly what character flaws would happen if scores were at a certain level. I am glad that taking the time and spelling everything out is paying off.
Game play went as smoothly as it could for first trying the system. There were some bumps where I had to look up what to roll for certain situations but nothing which took too long. Another event which did not occur were any arguing about the fairness of the rolls I gave out. Everything seemed fair based on the character's stats and skill. Surprisingly enough, a character's disguise worked despite an average level skill being pitted against high level stats. Oh, the joys of bad rolls.
The plot is very interesting, and the players also made an underline plot as well which I am happy with. So far, we're in the world of the Hepian Island in a tropical sea on a island under known trade routes between the Hepian Empire and their numerous colony. A Dellish woman of the Fravur Caste (think High Class and almost royalty) has traded places with an air pirate to seek fun and adventure but has discovered she is in a group of psychopaths. The “Captain” Thaddeus is a good pilot but an uncouth brute of a man, Malok is the “First Mate” who is manipulative and has many plans of his own, Joti is a gun crazed woman who rather end disputes with her opponents in a pool of blood, and Jack is a man of fine words but greater brutality.
Malok discovers that the Dellish woman is not in fact their new crew mate Brunhelda (I am positive that was the name) but a rich Fravur woman after she is found tampering with their radio system. He guides her to the self-proclaimed Captain, Thaddeus, who is trying to build a thrown from palm tree leaves. After discovering the madness of the captain, Malok convinces his new found friend to stick with him.
Joti meanwhile is sitting watching the skies and sees an approaching airship caravan coming from the main Hepian Empire toward their general direction. She alerts the captain and signals the crew into action.
Malok meets with Joti and they scheme to ultimately distract their captain and ransom their “new crew mate” for a king's ransom. Though, this plotting is interrupted by both the captain and the need to board the ship. They board with the rest of the crew and take off preparing for their skirmish with the caravan.
They approach the caravan disguised as a innocent cloud but the caravan sounds an alert as if they see through the disguise. What will this caravan do? Will the band of pirates be able to capture some treasure? Will their new crew mate be used as a pawn for fortune?
I have to say that the next time we play test we'll have vehicles to test out, weapons to use, and hopefully some unexpected events to unfold. Also, we'll see if any new game mechanics can work while in an air battle. Exciting times will be had and hopefully more exciting game play.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
The Train is on Track
It is almost the end of the month and I am glad to report that the game is with in a few days of being in a playable state. Or playable enough for me to see what needs to be changed and edit it.
A few more changes has happened in the 3 weeks since I have last posted. First, I got rid of averaging. My reasoning is due to thinking back when play testing the older versions in the morning before my first cup of coffee and trying to figure out averages of many many stats. Now, the unlockable parts of the skills will open when the category accumulates a certain amount of points. Which is like saying the average of but none of that "dividing by x amount" nonsense I thought was so stellar when first making this RPG system. I hope this will speed along the game play.
I have noticed from the skills and stats that fights/battles are going to go a lot faster. Depending on the player and how they have their stats/skills, a character could essentially knock out another player in 2 or 3 blows. I am not concerned with that, as I prefer to role play more then do tactile war games. Then again, some tactics and planning are not so bad.
Another thing I have been chomping at the bit to do is to write some plots down for the first gaming session. Though, I am not sure who is going to show up nor what they will want to do. I have plots for campaigns for thieves, mercenaries, air pirates, explorers, and also dramatically themed games. Of course, all of these are abstractly floating in my head.
Another idea I keep kicking around is to play the game myself and have someone else GM. I love Gming, but playing a game which I created is always a little different and then some of the blaring ticks are more apparent. Also, each person interprets rules and wording of rules differently. This may give me insight on how others would GM this game.
Hopefully, the next post is about how game play is going.
A few more changes has happened in the 3 weeks since I have last posted. First, I got rid of averaging. My reasoning is due to thinking back when play testing the older versions in the morning before my first cup of coffee and trying to figure out averages of many many stats. Now, the unlockable parts of the skills will open when the category accumulates a certain amount of points. Which is like saying the average of but none of that "dividing by x amount" nonsense I thought was so stellar when first making this RPG system. I hope this will speed along the game play.
I have noticed from the skills and stats that fights/battles are going to go a lot faster. Depending on the player and how they have their stats/skills, a character could essentially knock out another player in 2 or 3 blows. I am not concerned with that, as I prefer to role play more then do tactile war games. Then again, some tactics and planning are not so bad.
Another thing I have been chomping at the bit to do is to write some plots down for the first gaming session. Though, I am not sure who is going to show up nor what they will want to do. I have plots for campaigns for thieves, mercenaries, air pirates, explorers, and also dramatically themed games. Of course, all of these are abstractly floating in my head.
Another idea I keep kicking around is to play the game myself and have someone else GM. I love Gming, but playing a game which I created is always a little different and then some of the blaring ticks are more apparent. Also, each person interprets rules and wording of rules differently. This may give me insight on how others would GM this game.
Hopefully, the next post is about how game play is going.
Monday, March 4, 2013
An Unfortunate Stop but a Favorable Start
With a heavy heart I stopped writing the game play which was happening weekly. Frankly, I fell behind and then got too busy with certain things in my life. Then there also hasn't been game play for a long while due to people having lives themselves. I may write again on the Case of the Manor's Curse someday and write some of the other adventures which Morgan, Maxwell, and Oswald had. For now, I will try to make updates on what has been happening since it is exciting!
The news so far is I am working the the Hepian Tales version 1.6. Yes, this is the sixth and hopefully last version before I start calling it a finished and done game. So what does 1.6 have in it that the other versions did not? First, the skills are more laid out for the players and also better balanced. There are certain ways to counter skills with the stats already given. The skills also have 3 unlockable attributes which characters can get as they progress their characters through adventures. So, even though a character will start out with 4 Skills (yes, that changed too) it is really like they are getting 12 skills. This also leads a player to specify their character more since they can choose to unlock that attribute or not. In my opinion not unlocking the attributes would be a little short-sited of that player.
Also, I changed it so Stats and Skills are categorized under one of four categories. The Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Fisticuffs Categories. I did this to help out explain the stats more and also to make for better character customization. I did away with averaging stats to make new stats. That old was a cool concept but when playing the game 11 in the morning in a cafe before my anxiety pills kick in and trying to average a character's stat in my head just wasn't working. Instead, we're using categories, a little more stats, and letting the player divide a certain amount of points into these categories. Simple enough.
Here is the list of the old Main Stats:
Intelligence got split into Willpower, Skepticism, and Sagacity. Though, I wonder how heavy I am going to use these in game play. That will probably be determined by the group.
I mentioned that the skills have changed as well! This is the list of the older skills which three has to be chosen and then averaged out from the old main stats.
I will get everything to get this game playable this month sometime. I will keep trying to update this blog as things progress. There is so much I could tell you folks, but so little time to write it all!
The news so far is I am working the the Hepian Tales version 1.6. Yes, this is the sixth and hopefully last version before I start calling it a finished and done game. So what does 1.6 have in it that the other versions did not? First, the skills are more laid out for the players and also better balanced. There are certain ways to counter skills with the stats already given. The skills also have 3 unlockable attributes which characters can get as they progress their characters through adventures. So, even though a character will start out with 4 Skills (yes, that changed too) it is really like they are getting 12 skills. This also leads a player to specify their character more since they can choose to unlock that attribute or not. In my opinion not unlocking the attributes would be a little short-sited of that player.
Also, I changed it so Stats and Skills are categorized under one of four categories. The Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Fisticuffs Categories. I did this to help out explain the stats more and also to make for better character customization. I did away with averaging stats to make new stats. That old was a cool concept but when playing the game 11 in the morning in a cafe before my anxiety pills kick in and trying to average a character's stat in my head just wasn't working. Instead, we're using categories, a little more stats, and letting the player divide a certain amount of points into these categories. Simple enough.
Here is the list of the old Main Stats:
- Accuracy
- Brawn
- Elegance
- Fleetness
- Intelligence
- Luck
- Stamina
- Wisdom
- Prestige
- Pummel
- Resistance
- Sway
- Toughness
- Physical Category
- FLEETNESS
- BRAWN
- STAMINA
- Mental Category
- SAGACITY
- WISDOM
- ELEGANCE
- Spiritual Category
- LUCK
- SKEPTICISM
- WILLPOWER
- Fisticuffs Category
- ACCURACY
- DODGE
- TOUGHNESS
Intelligence got split into Willpower, Skepticism, and Sagacity. Though, I wonder how heavy I am going to use these in game play. That will probably be determined by the group.
I mentioned that the skills have changed as well! This is the list of the older skills which three has to be chosen and then averaged out from the old main stats.
- Blend
- Burgle
- Chemistry
- Curse
- Dazzling Dukes
- Dexterity
- Disguise
- Distraction
- Evade
- Focus
- Graceful Pardon
- Heal
- Hypnosis
- Intimidate
- Intrepid Fighter
- Marksman
- Pick Pocket
- Pyrotechnics
- Recall
- Sabotage
- Seduce
- Silver Tongue
- Sleuth
- Sneak
- Swift Hook
- Tinker
- Tripped
- Workhorse
- Physical Stats
- BLEND
- DEXTERITY
- EVADE
- MOXIE
- SNEAK
- SWIFTNESS
- Mental Stats
- BURGLE
- CHEMISTRY
- DISGUISE
- INVESTIGATE
- PICKPOCKET
- PYROTECHNICS
- SABOTAGE
- TINKER
- Spiritual Stats
- CHARISMA
- DISTRACTION
- HEAL
- HYPNOSIS
- MYSTICISM
- STUBBORNNESS
- Fisticuffs Stats
- AVERT
- DEAD-EYE
- IMPROVISED WEAPON
- MARKSMAN
- MARTIAL ARTS
- SWORDS PLAY
I will get everything to get this game playable this month sometime. I will keep trying to update this blog as things progress. There is so much I could tell you folks, but so little time to write it all!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)