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Cerulean Image RPG System; Long-running WIP of mine
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Topic Started: December 1, 2014, 1:51 am (268 Views)
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Knight of Tigers
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December 1, 2014, 1:51 am
Post #1
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Cat-Eared Complex Blitzkreig from the South
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This is a system I've been working on for a while now with a twofold purpose: firstly, to stat and balance out my characters in a unified setting; and secondly, to potentially run it in a proper roleplaying capacity.
I may or may not get to the setting itself in a later post. However, the only ready-to-evalate materials I have right now are the basic mechanics (in this post) and the Fire-Emblem-esque weapon/magic circles (in the next post). Please let me know what you think, any ideas for improvements or additions or if there's any details I've missed and need further explanation.
Attributes Strength - Physical might, lifting power and grip. Toughness - Physical resilience, stamina, immunity and recovery ability. Agility - Co-ordination, speed, balance and reflexes. Perception - Physical senses, discriminatory accuracy and ability to use sensory information effectively. Knowledge - Book smarts, depth of comprehension and technical skill. Willpower - Mental resilience and force of will. Charisma - Suavity, persuasive ability and expression (verbal, physical and artistic). Intuition - Metaphysical sensitivity, aesthetic sense and knack for 'winging it'. Output - Physical ability to generate, process and withstand magical energies and the mental ability to control them. (in a potential character sheet, these are displayed on an upside-down nonahedron graph, with physical attributes on the left, mental attributes on the right and Output on the bottom) Attributes are expressed with two numbers: Exhaustion and Effort. Exhaustion refers to the amount of dice you have in stock for that attribute. It shows how much energy the character can put into their actions before they become tired or burnt out. If a character runs out of Exhaustion in a particular attribute, they cannot use that attribute any more until their Exhaustion is refreshed, and must find alternative means to solve the challenges put before them in the meantime. Effort refers to the size of the dice you roll when you use that attribute. It shows the power and effectiveness of the effort they put into their actions. | Rank | Dice Size | | S Rank and Above | d12 + 2 to final result per Rank | | A | d12 | | B | d10 | | C | d8 | | D | d6 | | E | d4 |
Derived Stats are as follows: Vitality (Tough+Will) Wounds (Tough / Tough/2 / Tough/4) Initial Skill Points (Knowx5) Skill Growth (30+(Knowledgex3))%
Aspects and Skills Aspects are traits that are central to a character’s concept. They may describe attributes (Strong, Weak, Tough as Nails, Can’t Hold His Liquor), personality or behavioural traits (Honour Before Reason, Ladies’ Man, Always Takes a Bet, Daring), careers (Mercenary, Treasure Hunter, Artefact Collector, Engineer) or ties to people, places or objects (City-Slicker, Raised in Lockeswald Village, Princess Iris’ Personal Knight, ‘Daisy’ the 12mm Custom Anti-Tank Rifle). They may be good, bad or both, but must reflect an important element of that character.
When an Aspect is acquired (usually during character creation), the character gains one ‘box’ of that Aspect, represented like so: [] Mercenary (1) Aspects may be gained multiple times, with each time adding another level and another box, like so: [][] Mercenary (2) And then: [][][] Mercenary (3)
Players can use Aspects to turn the tides in their favour. After making a roll that is related to one of their Aspects (such as looking for secret doors with the Treasure Hunter Aspect or sword fighting with the Strong Aspect), they may check off one of the Aspect’s boxes and: - Reroll all dice and choose the best result of the two - Cause all dice with the maximum face value to 'explode' (roll again and add the result; loopable, so dice continues to explode as long as you keep rolling maximum face value) Aspects can also be used to cause a non-mechanical effect (in other words, gain minor control of the story). For example, a character with the Precognitive Aspect might invoke it to receive a small hint about the near future, or a character with the Noble Family Aspect might invoke it to declare that their family owns a vacation home in the district the players are currently visiting. Non-beneficial Aspects can (and should) also be taken; although players may find few instances to use them, they are a way to earn Hope Dice (see below).
Skills are capabilities, proficiencies or areas of knowledge the character possesses. These are entirely free-form, but try to avoid being too specific or too general. They are measured in Ranks of E-A and give bonuses to any related rolls, no matter what attribute is being used for the roll. Each Rank gives a +1 bonus to the final result of your roll.
Despair/Hope Dice Despair Dice are the GM's ability to create despair and suffering. They are gained when all of the dice a player has used in a single roll are showing a '1' at a rate of 1 Despair Dice per '1' rolled (this is called a Despair Moment). These dice are used to create hazards and NPCs and otherwise stack the odds against the players. They can also be exchanged to force player characters to act in ways consistent with an Aspect or cause an event relating to the character’s Aspect to take place. The exact details should be left up to the player, but the GM sets the general gist of the behaviour; for example, the GM may decide that now would be a good time for a character with the Aspect ‘Anger Issues’ to lose their temper, or a ‘Cowardly’ character to reach the limits of their courage, or an 'Asthmatic' character to have an inconvenient asthma attack. When used in this manner, the Despair Dice used to enact this event is given to the targeted player as a Hope Dice (see below).
Hope Dice are like weaker versions of Aspects. Where skill and natural ability aren't enough to get the job done, sometimes it takes a bit of providence to get that extra edge. Hope Dice can be used to: - Recover a single point of Exhaustion in any attribute - Recover 25% of the character’s Vitality OR Wounds (starting from the heaviest Wounds) - Cancel a Despair Moment Hope Dice can be exchanged between characters through motivational speeches and other supportive actions (Performing, Rallying, etc).
Vitality and Wounds Vitality: Number of points equal to Toughness + Willpower. Vitality is an expression of your character’s exhaustion, pain tolerance and/or will to fight. Loss of Vitality points looks like narrow misses, shortness of breath and/or torn clothes (IYAAA~!) at best, and receiving small cuts, scrapes and/or bruises at worst. When your character’s Vitality runs out, they pass out or are knocked unconscious. Vitality can go into negatives; this just means a longer recovery time.
Wounds: Optional, but good for roleplaying, raising the stakes and conserving Vitality. Comes in various levels: Light Wounds: Number of boxes equal to Toughness. These look like flesh wounds, nasty bruises and/or coughing up a bit of blood or bile. There are no bonuses or penalties associated with Light Wounds. Heavy Wounds: Number of boxes equal to Toughness/2. These look like broken bones, torn muscles and/or heavy bleeding. Having Heavy Wounds gives you +1 Effort to all dice rolls. Critical Wounds: Number of boxes equal to Toughness/4. These look like injuries in dangerous or sensitive areas, losing the use of a hand, limb, eye, etc, and/or losing a body part completely. Having Critical Wounds gives you +2 Effort to all dice rolls, but you lose 1 Vitality Point at the start of your every turn. Dead: One box. Checking this box off requires the player’s approval. Once checked off, if their Vitality is reduced to zero at any time, the character is dead. They may be temporarily brought back for one last burst of strength and some final words, but this is their Episode 8; the end is inevitable. Checking off your Dead Box gives you +3 Effort to all dice rolls.
When determining bonuses and penalties from having Wounds across multiple levels, only count the bonus and penalty once i.e. regardless of whether you only have one Heavy Wound or have all your Heavy Wounds checked off, you still only gain one adjustment to your dice rolls. Furthermore, you only count the effect of the ‘deepest’ track (e.g. if you have three Light Wounds and one Critical Wound, you disregard the Light Wounds and only take the bonus and penalty from having a Critical Wound). For clarification, this means that if you have checked off your Dead Box, if you were losing Vitality points from having a Critical Wound, you lose that penalty.
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Knight of Tigers
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December 1, 2014, 3:02 am
Post #2
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Cat-Eared Complex Blitzkreig from the South
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Weapons Duel weapons are faster than Power weapons and have better distance than Close weapons, but cannot penetrate the defence of a Shield weapon and are outranged by Long weapons.
Close weapons slip in under the guard of those using Power and Shield weapons to exploit vulnerable angles, but cannot get close to wielders of Long or Duel weapons.
Power weapons crush the defence of Shield weapons and are good at parrying or even breaking Long weapons, but are too slow to cope against Duel and Close weapons.
Shield weapons excel at turning aside the attacks of Long and Duel weapons, but are overwhelmed by Power weapons and find Close weapons too agile to defend against. Shield weapons also grant a small amount of Vitality points and can be buckled to the wrist or held in the off-hand; if used in this manner, they cannot be used to attack with (unless you have the Dual-Wield skill), but still grant their Vitality point bonus.
Long weapons lock down the mobility and attack opportunities of Duel and Close weapons, but lack the right attack angles to get past Shield weapons and are easily ignored by Power weapons.
Range – and by extension, Siege – weapons are neutral to all other weapons and magic, but cannot be used against adjacent enemies. Siege weapons may have an even longer minimum range.
Magic Imposition magic, often regarded as the keystone of magic, deals in the manipulation of the raw magical energies (prana and mana) and using those energies to 'write' or 'weave' new realities into the world. It can be as blatant as bolts and barriers of arcane energy and/or telekinetic power or as subtle as enchantment, amplification and forceful mental affectation. Although its pseudo-scientific nature comes dangerously close to Dark magic at times, it is still reliant on patron spirits to utilise, and is widely accepted (and used) by the populace. Imposition magic sweeps aside Elemental magic and ignores the divine power of Divine magic, but is undermined by Dark magic and cannot affect or protect against a user of Empathic magic.
Elemental magic is as it sounds; it is the power to command the five elemental forces that compose nature; Fire, Water, Air, Earth and Electricity. Few Elemental mages master all five elements, instead focusing on one or two, either by choice or by the limitations of the power they receive from their patron spirit. Elemental magic overpowers Divine and Empathic magics, but is weak to the influence of Dark magic and fails to penetrate Imposition magic protection. Note: In instances where Elemental magic isn't being used against another magic class, it must always use the Elemental sub-wheel (see below) to determine its damage type.
Empathic magic falls into one of two categories; the conversion of one's raw emotions (willpower, anger, love, fear, etc) into magical power, or the subtle mental affectation of other creatures. In the former case, it can simulate the effects of the other magical disciplines, albeit less effective than the real thing (and, mechanically speaking, always does Empathic damage). In the latter case, it is about projecting and amplifying emotions and thoughts to achieve one's goals, rather than the Imposition magic method of rewriting the target's mental state entirely. Empathic magic confuses Dark magic and is effective at defending against and penetrating the defences of Imposition magic, but cannot outshine the fundamental strength of Divine magic nor protect against the natural forces used in Elemental magic. Note: tl;dr the first category is Spiral Power/magical girls and the second category is telepathic/telempathic bullshit.
Divine magic stems from the power of spirits who have achieved apotheosis, and is a type of magic that runs predominantly on a conceptual level. More often than not, Divine magic takes the form of blessings, protection and miraculous healing, but depending on the patron spirit and their circle of influence, all sorts of possible abilities are available, from conjuration and divination to curses and other expressions of the spirits' wrath. Divine magic purges Dark magic and overwhelms Empathic magic, but can offer no protection from the raw sorcery involved in Imposition and Elemental magics. Also does double damage to undead and dark dragons.
Dark magic is a heavily ritualistic magic that is more formulaic and mathematical than it appears. Rather than borrowing power from spirits and shaping magic with one's will, Dark magic takes inspiration from the anthropocentric magical disciplines (Closing and alchemy) and seeks to 'hack' into the metaphysical world and brute-force magical effects into the physical plane with numbers and the cosmic equivalent of clever sleight-of-hand tricks. As a result, it is seen as heretical by many, especially by both Closers and the Orthodoxy. Dark magic unravels the sorcerous power of Imposition and Elemental magics, but is in turn purged by Divine magic and fails to keep up with the illogical nature of Empathic magic.
Alchemy is neutral to all other weapons and magic. The same applies to Implements and Props (used for supportive effects), but they cannot be used to attack at all. Closing is a specifically anti-spirit/magic discipline; as a result, it's highly effective against magic, but has little to no effect on the purely physical realm (i.e. weapons).
Elemental Sub-Wheel The Elemental sub-wheel is a simple ring, and lacks the pentagram design of the other two wheels. Any magic type (excluding Imposition magic) can replicate elemental damage to some degree. However, in magic-vs-magic combat, the overarching magic type trumps whatever elemental damage the spell itself is doing (i.e. a Dark spell used to deliver Fire damage is still stronger than an Elemental spell doing Water damage, and an Empathic spell doing Electric damage will still be weak against a Water-type Elemental mage's defences).
Fire consumes Air Air erodes Earth Earth grounds Electricity Electricity spreads through Water Water extinguishes Fire
Regarding Shifters and magical beasts: Natural weapons such as claws, fangs, etc. are neutral weapons. Dragon breath attacks are considered Elemental or Divine magic, depending on the level of the dragon’s divinity. Dark dragon breath attacks are considered Dark magic.
Regarding Divine magic, Dark magic and death/undeath: Yes, Necromancy is a function of Dark magic. No, death spirits are not Dark, they are Divine, as death is a natural process. As a result, yes, undead will still take double damage from divine 'death' spells/abilities; there's a long explanation involving how Dark magic 'programs' an alteration into the life/death state and how Divine magic forces the the alteration to accept that it's a self-contradiction, but it's a bit complicated.
Using an advantageous weapon/magic increases the attacker's final result by 2 and reduces the defender's final result by 2. Furthermore, defending against damage from an advantageous weapon/magic cannot reduce that damage below 1.
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Onime No Ryu
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December 1, 2014, 9:07 am
Post #3
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
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I'd love to play something like this, although I would definitely need some examples with step by step explanations. I think I understand it so far--it's basically a different spin on D&D style gameplay, right, with dice being rolled to determine whether an action succeeds or fails and stats, aspects, so on and so forth granting bonuses to those rolls like trying again and taking the best result or adding one roll to another?
It does seem complex at first glance, but after I read it through another time or two I think I should have it sorted. Maybe give an example of a character built with the system, and then run them through a few challenges? Combat's an obvious one, but maybe some other things too--How to solve a puzzle, how to overcome a terrain obstacle, and things like that?
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Knight of Tigers
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December 2, 2014, 12:07 am
Post #4
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Cat-Eared Complex Blitzkreig from the South
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Essentially, yes, it's a kind of tabletop system like D&D... but as far as tabletop systems go, it's quite far removed from the d20 system.
It does seem a little complex, and I spent all night wondering about a few problems, not the least of which regarding whether both Effort (size) and Exhaustion (stock) will both be increased using the same chargen point pool, or if they’ll be increased using separate pools, or if Exhaustion is intrinsically tied to how high your Effort is. Similarly, how do above S Rank attributes factor into derived stats, whether just adding more adjustments really reflects having a superhuman attribute, and stuff like that. I'm actually considering replacing the adjustments gained through S+ Rank attributes with just flat bonuses (+1, +2, +3, etc) to the final result. EDIT: Decided that was a good idea and ran with it.
Honestly, most of these problems come about as a result of the recent change in my system from a straight no-frills "roll x number of successes to pass the test" type to this experimental stock deal, and the resulting conundrum of losing in-between Ranks (C+, B+, A+, etc) and the flat numerical associations therein.
... If anyone's keeping up with all that jargon. Ehe.
ANYWAYS. Babbling over, mechanical stuff below.
MECHANICAL STUFF Here's a quick breakdown of how to roll for a given test or conflict:
1: Decide Exhaustion expenditure (attribute) 2: Find the Effort of the dice you're rolling (base attribute + Wounds) 3: Roll 4: Add Skill bonus 4: Apply effects from Aspects
ALSO. Regarding Derived Stats, when it says something like (Tough+Will), that's referring to the Effort of each attribute. So if you have d8 Toughness and d10 Willpower, that translates out to (8+10). Maybe it was obvious, but it's something I should have made absolutely clear from the beginning to avoid confusion.
As a side note, I should have mentioned before, mechanical inspirations come from Classroom Deathmatch, Don't Rest Your Head and FATE, foundational inspirations come from Fire Emblem (obviously) and my own worldbuilding stuff (double obviously).
I will post a sample character and some example tests later, possibly tomorrow. I am currently out of town (hence why it took so long to respond), and may or may not have the opportunity to get something together. As it stands, I don't actually have a character generation draft ready, but I reckon I can retool the one from the previous 'edition' to work more or less the same; I just have to figure out what to do with the split between Effort and Exhaustion... Maybe make it 2 chargen points per Rank and 1 point per Exhaustion?
My dad, an avid roleplayer himself, is here with me, so I might run it by him and see what he thinks.
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Knight of Tigers
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December 3, 2014, 10:02 pm
Post #5
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Cat-Eared Complex Blitzkreig from the South
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EDITS Attributes section of Post 1; changes to S+ Rank Attributes, Initial Skill Points and Skill Growth. Advantageous weapon mechanics in Post 2. MAJOR OVERHAUL REGARDING THE FUNCTION OF SKILLS AND WOUNDS, INCLUDING CHANGING THE TIER I-III SYSTEM TO A RANK E-A SYSTEM LIKE ATTRIBUTES Rolling mechanics detailed in Post 3
BUYING SKILLS
Buying a Rank E Skill during character generation costs 3 Skill Points. You also acquire one new Rank E Skill any time you earn a new Aspect during play.
During character generation, you can use your Initial Skill Points to increase the level of your Skills. The cost of raising a Rank E Skill to RANK D is 15, and the cost of raising a Rank D Skill to Rank C is 30.
| Skill Point cost to increase Skill Rank |
|---|
| Rank E -> Rank D | 15 | | Rank D -> Rank C | 30 | | Rank C -> Rank B | 45 | | Rank B -> Rank A | 60 |
SKILL GROWTH
"That's great! But how do I make my Skill better during the course of the game?" you may ask. That's where Skill Growth comes in.
Every time you use Skills during a game, note down which Skills you used and how many times you used each one. At the end of each session, you can make one Skill Growth roll for each Skill you used per number of times you used them. If you succeed the roll, that Skill gains 1 Skill Point for each success.
Example: During a game, Rachel (our example character who you'll be introduced to later) used her Acrobatics skill once and her Dark Magic skill twice. This means she can make one Skill Growth roll for Acrobatics and two for Dark Magic.
The roll you make to determine whether or not your Skill has grown is performed with percentile dice. The number you must roll equal to or under to succeed is your Skill Growth derived stat (which is 30+(Knowx3)%). This means that, depending on your Knowledge Rank, your Skill Growth will be anywhere between 42-76%.
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Knight of Tigers
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December 8, 2014, 7:27 pm
Post #6
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Cat-Eared Complex Blitzkreig from the South
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EDITS Other magic types can perform elemental damage sub-types, i.e. elemental curses (Dark) or emotions expressed as elements (Empathic). Skill point cost for buying Skills during character generation has been reduced from 5 to 3.
ACTUAL CHARACTER GENERATION RULES
Took me long enough. There’s four steps to character generation (not including fluff): - Attributes - Derived Attributes - Aspects - Skills
Attributes all start at Rank C and 5 Exhaustion. You have 12 points to distribute in any way you wish. It costs 2 points to increase an Attribute’s Rank, and just 1 point to increase its Exhaustion. You can also lower Rank or Exhaustion as you wish in order to gain an equivalent number of points.
Derived Attributes are just basic math. Remember, when it says something like (Tough+Will), that's referring to the Effort of each attribute. So if you have d8 Toughness and d10 Willpower, that translates out to (8+10). Furthermore, if you run into fractions when dividing, round up. Lastly, all characters have one Dead box after all their Wounds. There is no way to increase this; there are no such thing as degrees of death.
Aspects start off in the following way: 1 Defining Aspect: Defining Aspects are the core of who your character is. This is the core component or summary of their concept. You should only ever have one Defining Aspect. 0 Power Aspects: Power Aspects are used for any character with supernatural abilities. It is not mandatory to have a Power Aspect, but if you are a spellcaster or have any other kind of supernatural ability, this should be reflected with one of these. 2 Trait Aspects (two separate ones!): These are the general types of Aspects that were explained in the Aspects section above. Character traits, talents, careers, and ties to people, places and objects all fall under this category. 1 Disadvantage Aspect: Exactly as it sounds. Everyone has a flaw, and this is yours. These Aspects are rarely used by the player, and are mostly there to guarantee that a player doesn’t miss out on gaining Hope Coins. You’re welcome to have more than one Disadvantage, but you must have at least one. The content of the Aspects is entirely up to you, but these are the mandatory bare minimum. You then have 5 Aspect boxes to allocate as you wish, to either improve existing Aspects or buy new ones. Don’t forget; even a non-Disadvantage Aspect may work against you, but that’s not a bad thing! Try to leave a bit of room for the GM to exploit weaknesses; you’ll get Hope Coins out of it, after all!
Finally, Skills. This has all been mentioned across previous posts, but let’s consolidate all that information here. To find how many Skill Points you have to spend, multiply the Effort of your Knowledge Attribute by 5 (Rank C Knowledge will land you with 24 points, for example). From there, you can buy Rank E Skills at a cost of 3 Skill Points per Skill. You can increase the Rank of any of your Skills for the standard Skill Growth cost (from E to D is 15, D to C is 30, and so on), or put a few points towards advancing the Skill even if you don’t have enough to rank up all the way. It’s unlikely you’ll start off with a slew of Rank A Skills, but don’t worry; you’ll build that up over the course of gameplay.
Let’s have an example character! Meet Rachel Harding, a librarian who specialises in Dark magic and fighting with combat strings.
Name: Rachel Harding FLUFF FLUFF FLUFF DESCRIPTION STUFF GOES HERE
Attributes | ATTRIBUTE | RANK | EXHAUSTION DICE | | Strength | C | 4 | | Toughness | D | 5 | | Agility | A | 7 | | Perception | C | 6 | | Knowledge | B | 6 | | Willpower | C | 4 | | Charisma | B | 5 | | Intuition | C | 5 | | Output | B | 7 |
Vitality 14 Wounds 6/3/2/1 Initial Skill Points 50 Skill Growth 60%
Aspects (Defining) Librarian on the Run [] (Power) Thousand Witchstring (Dark Magic) [][] (Trait) Unsinkable Optimism [][] (Trait) "No Librarian Should Move Like That!" [][] (Trait) Studies Magical Theory [] (Disadvantage) Telepathic Weakness []
Skills Long Weapons E Dark Magic D Acrobatics (note: Skills like these can be used to roll for dodging) E Administration E Persuasion E History (General) E History (Magic) Lore (Magic) E (8/15 Growth) Lore (Spirits) E
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Onime No Ryu
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December 9, 2014, 10:11 am
Post #7
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I'll be your Undertaker this evening
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I'm gonna try and make a character using this system, once I've read through it again and am sure I understand it. It may not be completely serious, though, more along the lines of "Name: George McSword Class: Paladin Ability: Behead Monster" type stuff, but hopefully it'll be another helpful example of how the process goes.
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