/twewy/ - The World Ends With You TTRPG - Thread #05

Music is like chocolate edition. Do we need thread names?

What is the World Ends With You?
It's a strikingly original Square Enix action RPG from 2008 for the Nintendo DS about trust, collective consciousness, desperation, imagination and fabulous outfits. Characters are swept into the Underground, a parallel dimension linked to major urban centers, where they run through a 7-day gauntlet of tasks and trials by higher-plane beings called Reapers. Band together and win the Reapers' Game and you have a shot at returning to the Real World. Fail, and you face erasure.

>What is this?
This is a Veeky Forums Homebrew RPG based on the above game. It's designed to be fast, simple and exciting, and it adapts virtually all of the mechanics from the source game to a form optimized for a tabletop experience. Most importantly, we've striven to preserve its core themes of cooperation, psychic powers and elaborate fashions.

>What system are you using?
We've adapted the core resolution mechanic from another Tabletop game Tenra Bansho Zero into our system. Roll a pool of dice based on your Stats, and count each die that's under your Skill or Psych as a success. It's fast, easy and dynamic. Characters only have four Stats based on your strength of will and mental condition, and only 9 Skills; mixing and matching Stats with Skills creates unique actions, such as rolling Protect:Rhythm to block a punch or Protect:Flow to dodge out of the way.

To flesh out your character, you come-up with free-form Tags like "The Gambler"or "Street Smarts" which describe unique elements of your character's personality and background which fills in the gaps in your Skills. Altogether, character creation takes all of five minutes.

Combat is fast and emphasizes cooperation. Players fight as a team, sharing their a common pool of HP and passing buffs to one another so that a different Player gets to the the superstar of each Round. Range is abstract, numbers are small and the action is lightning quick.

Other urls found in this thread:

docs.google.com/document/d/15kJXvBVinsbst0tMWmzwaUj5ddk0hotd3nifw3Hs720/edit
drive.google.com/file/d/0ByXuM4vUEk8kc2QwTFJZR19ZMGc/view?usp=sharing
drive.google.com/file/d/0ByXuM4vUEk8kVzZQdUFJSnFDdW8/view?usp=sharing
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

>What have you done so far?
Here's our main document, which contains all of our ideas recorded en masse. We're currently in the process of transcribing this into a properly composed PDF.
>docs.google.com/document/d/15kJXvBVinsbst0tMWmzwaUj5ddk0hotd3nifw3Hs720/edit

There are several supplementary files in the Google Doc, including character sheets and some appendices for Psychs (combat powers), Threads (clothing that grant abilities) and Noise (monsters).

>What's on the Agenda?
As said, we've got the basic mechanics down pretty solidly so we've got three main needs right now:

>1. Playtest
We're looking for anyone who's interested in helping to playtest at least the combat mechanics so we can know if we're on the right track or not. We've got the rules hammered out, basic character powers drawn up and simple monsters prepped, so now it's all about finding willing testers.

>2. Consolidation
As we said, we're starting to work on putting together the first draft of the finalized rulebook. you can see our progress here:
>drive.google.com/file/d/0ByXuM4vUEk8kc2QwTFJZR19ZMGc/view?usp=sharing
Which contains our Dice Mechanics and Character Building. Most of this is being compiled by poster Rhythm+Flow, based on the Google Doc.

>What we need
Fluff! We need pages of in-universe narrative and description and whatnot to cushion the Crunch that's being nailed together in the Rulebook. Anyone who wants to add their own flavor is welcome to pitch in!

>3. More, more more!
We're still adding more to our collection of stat-ed out Pins here:
>drive.google.com/file/d/0ByXuM4vUEk8kVzZQdUFJSnFDdW8/view?usp=sharing
And we're still building more Noise to kill and discussing the finer points of interacting with the world. If you've got input, or even if you just like the game, we're looking for all the input and feedback we can get.

Shamelessly stole these two posts from Rhythm+Flow.

Thanks for posting the new thread Jazzman. Good thread edition name too.

I was wondering something: should we come up with a subtitle name for this project? The tablet port of the game is the Solo Remix; maybe something along those lines?

As usual, here's the fillable character sheet PDF for everyone's enjoyment.

>subtitle name for this project?
Well, solo remix is because there's only one player, but this is more people than the original. Perhaps "In Concert" or "Symphony" or something. "Live Orchestra"? I think "Live in Concert" is probably the best I can think of.

... That or "In Sync". I was thinking "N-sync" but that might be a bit too close.

And once again, thanks for the pdf.

You guys are doing great work!

Oooo I like something with "Live" in it. That's an excellent idea.

Thanks! Interested in helping out? A few of our regulars have been busy lately so we can always use additional input and support.

This is a quick summary of the character creation rules. I'm going to add it to the end of the character Section so that it can serve as a quick reference for character building.

So here's something I posted previous thread about stuff that we still need to sort out:

>1.) Combat rewards like Cash and Pins. How should these be handled?
>2.) Psych improvement. We already floated and largely agreed on the idea of being able to "infuse" Ranks from one Pin into another to a limited extent, but what about Pin Points? Should it be a linear advancement or have a curve to get past Rank 3/4?

Also, we'd still love to see some Fluff that we can add to the rulebook, since right now it's all crunch.

Meanwhile I'm starting to work on the third Mag-0 Pin Sheet properly, with the Cores and all. That's gonna be fun.

I feel combat should award pins, which can then be traded for cash at UG shops. Fighting doesn't get you "money" (except boss battles) but nets you pins to trade for money.

Pins should be awarded based on a group's "combat rank", being S to E. E gets you no dice, D is 1, C is 2, B is 3, A is 4 and S is 5. Enemies have a "Swag catch" (or some other term) that says how many dice of what score. The standard frog noise might be SC 5x1, meaning you need to roll a 5 or less on at least 1 dice to get the swag. The harder the SC is, the better the pin.

The idea is you can get a fair amount of merely okay pins, but the harder ones could potentially be a 1/1000 roll.

This also means getting pins is based on how good you are at fighting, as 1x1 is not always harder than 6x3, especially if you're bad at fighting.

The only downside is implementing a combat ranking system. Should it be based on health? Rounds in combat? Damage taken? Combo/puck passes?

>Psych improvement.
I thought we were going to have Sync spent to level them up.

>I thought we were going to have Sync spent to level them up.
I think a lot of people are leery about forcing players to choose between temporary bonuses and permanent progression. We already moved Stat progression away from the Soul-Sync system and just said "you get 2 Stat points (or some number) after each day". Skill Progression could be done the same way,but not Pins, since Pins are by nature more transitory, so there needs to be a different system.

For some background, the reason why spending Sync to improve Skills and Psychs was originally considered is because it's a legacy from the Tenra Bansho Zero system, which is by design strongly in favor of temporary boosts over permanent ones. I'm not sure what the current mood is but I think we're moving away from that.

>Combat Rewards
I agree with this, though I think the cash-for-pins idea is an unnecessary step when you could just as easily award some amount of cash directly from Noise.

Bear in mind that compared with the source game, we can't expect there to be quite as much combat and grinding. Our goal is to make combat quick and easy, but even if combat vs chump noise lasts five minutes, which is extremely quick for tabletop, that's five times longer than most Chump fights in the game.

The question, of course, is how do we grade combat? We could just have a chart showing #Rounds on one axis and amount of damage taken to Group HP along the other, and you cross-reference to find your score. That could work, and it would encourage players to get fights done fast and fight efficiently.

>I'm not sure what the current mood is but I think we're moving away from that.
I think I agree.

So, what are we going to do then? Have it be enemies granting X pin XP each and they have to grind for it? Not everyone likes grinding though and if you're not good enough at grinding then you're going to have a bad time. I'd suggest money, by spending enough money you can "buy" a pin at a higher mag (cheaper than actually buying the pin) of the same type and brand.

Dunno how effective that will be though.

>We could just have a chart showing #Rounds on one axis and amount of damage taken to Group HP along the other, and you cross-reference to find your score. That could work, and it would encourage players to get fights done fast and fight efficiently.
To add to that, rounds+total amount of noise. Fighting a billion noise will always be a chore, even if they're chump noise. Assume 1 round per noise defeated, I'd say.

>So, what are we going to do then? Have it be enemies granting X pin XP each
Not so much on a per-enemy fight but on a per-battle fight, with Fights at a certain Threat level giving a fixed amount of Pin Points.

Notably, PP gained from a battle would just go to a Player's collection of it, and he can spend it at will however he wants. So he doesn't necessarily have to level the Pins he's fighting with, he can spend it on lower-level Pins instead.

PP costs can increase at higher ranks, so it's relatively easy to get a Pin up to Rank 4 or so, but taking one to Rank 7 takes a serious investment.

If you manage to get a duplicate Pin too you can also merge it with an existing Pin to get a free Rank-Up.

>To add to that, rounds+total amount of noise. Fighting a billion noise will always be a chore, even if they're chump noise. Assume 1 round per noise defeated, I'd say.
Agreed. So one axis would be Rounds, and it would be "# Noise + X". I think that would work nicely.

One idea I had, which would require a lot of overhead on the GM's part, would be for battle rewards to be a stack of cards including Pins and Cash, and the better your battle rank the more draws you get. Rewards are ranked per-day so the Day 7 Swag Pile has better stuff than the Day 1 Swag Pile.

That's probably the "easiest" way to handle it from the perspective of "here's let's write down rules" but significantly harder to actually execute at the table. Would it require too much prep-work?

Just do it through fusion?

How about you get cash (pins) by fighting noise, then you can always buy pins at stores or spend them to upgrade your stuff?

You can't "just" do it through pin fusion because where would the initial ranks you're fusing come from? The idea of Fusion is that you can pass along some of your Ranks from one Pin to another so that you don't have to start from scratch each time, but you still need to put forth some effort because there's always some number of Ranks lost in the process. It strikes a balance between needing to start from the ground up each time you switch to a new pin and never needing to actually rank-up new Pins.

Speaking of new Pins, let me know what you think about the draft on the Flame Core Pin here. Does it make sense? As I have it a Flame Core will attack ALL Noise that it shares a Measure with (since the idea is that it's bouncing about speedily), but I could tone that down to just 1 Noise per Measure. This is running with the idea that you represent Core Psychs using actually physical objects placed on the battle-board.

>Would it require too much prep-work?
Yes. The DM already has his hands full with everything else, and particularly grindy parties could end up literally pulling every card possible for that day and still need more. The other idea is easier to execute, and would be easier to run at the end.

>Just do it through fusion?
I thought we were only able to fuse to a certain Rank? I'm all for this, but I thought we weren't using fusion for Ranks beyond 4.

Ok, I get it. I thought that fusing give ranks.

I've also got a dumb paragraph written up to head the fusion section. If you want that.

For Flame Core, I understand it, though you have to remember that the initial target is one noise.

Addendum,
Do we want to designate a party to be the manual example/tutorial party?

If we do that, I can reattribute the quotes in the paragraph.

If we make an example party, I can't yet because sleep. I'll be back tomorrow night though.

All the characters I've made are in the last thread though.

>Would it require too much prep-work?
>Yes.
That's what I figured. It was just a thought, one I'm glad to discard.

I've been using Jazz Carpenter, my Flow character, in a couple of places, and I used R.B., which was one of our filler characters, earlier in the System section. I'd easily replace that name with someone else.

I figure we should have one example character for each Stat, so Jazz for Flow and Rikki for Bravery would work very well. We just need 2 more for Insight and Rhythm (possibly Daisuke, if Jazzman wants to rearrange his Stats).

>For Flame Core, I understand it, though you have to remember that the initial target is one noise.
Right, which is in there under "Target: 1" For Splash Core, it's going to say "Target: Measure" to say that you aren't targeting a specific Noise but are planting a Splash Core marker in that space. Good note though, thanks!

Speaking of which, here's the Splash Core. I'm not as sure about this one; the idea is that you roll an initial attack when you summon it, and any Noise that move into the Measure where the Core is hanging out take damage from that attack.

So if you use a Splash Core and get 5 Successes, any Noise that comes into contact with it will be hit for 5 Successes, which will dictate how much damage it takes. It means you only need to roll once for each, not once each time a Noise trespasses into a Splash Core's Measure.

This could be tricky to keep track of though for two reasons:

1.) You'd need to remember what your initial activation Successes are
2.) If you have two separate Splash Cores on the field, they might each have separate attack values, which means you also have to keep track of them separately.

This doesn't seem like it would be TOO much work, but it's more than most Psychs require. Thoughts? Is there a better way to do it? Should we just have it do a fixed amount of damage and make it into, like, the Stealth Rock of our game?

We could have this mag 0 version of Splash Core do static or lightly scaling damage instead of rolled, and then the higher mag versions get rolls or better scaling.
You could also do it so that all Cores placed in one turn use the same roll.

I've got an idea for a character based around one or both of those.
I'm in the middle of something now, but I'll try making them in a bit.

That's definitely a way to go with the Splash Core. I'll leave it as is for now but if we end up testing it and it turns out to be a dud we can go with that.

I have no idea what to do for Spark Core though. How should that behave differently from the Cores we already have?

I suggested last time that Spark hit random targets.

Maybe HITS number of Noise, chosen at random in a target measure?
If you want it to persist like the other Cores, maybe have it only able to damage a certain number of Noise each round, so it expires when it uses up all its HITS.

I like the idea of the roll determining how many hits the Spark Core can dole out before disappearing, but I'm really struggling to find a way of coherently expressing that on as a Pin effect, as well as making it simple and straight-forward.

"Place a Spark Core marker in the targeted measure. At the end of each , deal 1 damage to a noise chosen at random in the measure the marker is on times. When a marker does damage, it disappears. You can't do more damage than in this way for each marker."

That last line's a bit PKMN TCG, but it should be fine until a large scale wording revision.

Alright I think we have something here. It's not EXACTLY what you wrote but it's pretty close.

It basically works kind of like the Pyrokinesis pin, where you roll your Successes and then apply them to any Noise within reach at will. The difference here is that you can either spend them all at once, or you can string them out over a couple turns.

I've also got Happy Beam, the first Energy Rounds Pin, up and running. Still need ideas for its Finisher though...

I also modified the effect write-ups for Splash and Spark Core to say "On use" at the start, which I think adds some clarity to their functions in comparison to Flame Core, which says "After your attack..."

One last thing before I'm off for now (slow day today I suppose), it's the updated Rulebook with the character summary & quick-gen notes added.

Long shot here, but if Archivist is still around, how's it going? Are you still onboard with this project or has it deviated too far from your own interests, which I can totally understand, being a crunchy type and all.

Your help with Noise is still greatly appreciated.

Was the name "Tags" more references to street art (ie. signature, style), or to clothes (ie. label, product info, brand, etc.)?

Also I hope Archivist sees that post, RF

It's from Tenra Bansho Zero, which this is pretty much a hack of.

The first one. As said above the idea is hacked from TBZ but the idea of calling them tags was proposed by a poster a long time ago and it was perfect.

It's why the space on he character sheet is big enough for someone to draw in

Bump

One more bump for the night.

I'd love some feedback on the Flame/Splash/Spark cores that We worked on today. I feel like at best they are just on the edge of overly complex, but should still be playable. Any input would be super helpful.

Looks ok to me. If anything, perhaps a rewording is in order. I don't think that's needed.
>Storefronts again.
I only ever get that one in this thread. Weird.

>if Jazzman wants to rearrange his Stats
Yeah, aight. Did you want to use my other character for Insight too?

What do you think other cores would do?

Splash/Flame/Spark are the only cores I remember. Am I forgetting one?

no

Okay good, thought I was going crazy.

Seems pretty awesome! If it isn't too far into development, could I possibly help with noise or pin adaptation?

Join uuuusssssss

Seriously though, there's a lot of pins to make and noise to stat.

I'll get to work on that. Is there an empty template for the Pin chart like ?

I don't have one, but if Rhythm+Flow is still kickin' it around here, he'll have one.

Until he comes back, we can probably make do with just typing it up and pasting it here to discuss.

Name: Frozen Cool
Psych: Piercing Pillar (R)
Brand: D+B
Resonance: Insight
Range: 1-3
Target: 1
Damage: 1 per Hit
Damage Limit: 3(?)
AP:2
Uses: 3
Boot: Instant
Reboot: 7 Rounds

Effects:
If a Noise moves onto the same measure as the icicle, apply half damage rounded down


This one is kind of weird since the point of this pin is to rapidly tap to make an icicle spear rise up.

Unfortunately, I must bounce, but I'll be checking up on the thread. I'll try and get some more done once I come back.

No, that's all there are
I'm just thinking what if there were other types

I'd argue that you could give the pin 2 damage per hit and damage limit 4. that way, average rolls with your highest ranked stat will trigger the Combo but also max damage is 4, which isn't terribly massive.

And for Finisher, I'd say it could explode, dealing an additional 1 damage to each enemy in the Measure, or perhaps just giving the target a Knock Up status effect.

And I think it should have either more uses or a faster reboot, but that's just me.

>Store fronts again
the hell's with this thread and store fronts?

b-uuuump

Heck yes we do. right now we're focusing on working out the Magnitude 0 pins, which are the base version of each psych type. Off the top of my head we still need to work out Holy Light, Grave Marker, Lance Lunge, Patrol Rounds, Vulcan Uppercut and Street Jam for sure.

I figure that that version of Piercing Pillar would simply cost more AP to represent the extra effort need to conjure it.

Instead of knock-up, what if we have a universal Stagger effect which eats away AP? That way it can be used for more effects than just being thrown airborn.

Still don't think this should be insight

I thought that's what we were saying a/few threads ago.

bump

I think either you or Jazzman brought it up last time. It's a great idea that's really stuck in my mind. I'm suggesting that we broaden the definition of "knock-up" into a more general "stagger" effect which can be applied to more Psychs.

One more bump

Bump

What would you choose as a medium/ auto-psyche?

Morning bump.

Question for this morning for anyone reading: is there any interest in staging a playtest? Jazzman asked his group a while back but they narrowly voted against it.

I'm happy to join in, if I'm not asleep at the time it happens.

A pen possibly.

I would, but you guys seem to have weird hours.
So

I have weird hours for Australia.

You have weird hours compared to Australia, or you have weird hours because they are Australian hours?

I'm usually awake until well after midnight in Australia. It's nearly 5 now, for example.

The difference is, tonight I slept early and just woke up really early.

Random thought bump:
Grave Maker, as written, describes you as teleporting above the target and plunging down on them. How about if we tweak that slight so that it includes any kind of teleport+melee attack combination? That way players can be more creative in how they describe their attack

The psyche is Grave Marker, and I think the flavour is such that you teleport above them and stick them into the ground, with the noise being buried in their own "grave".

If you want to have it be what you suggest, we may have to change the name. Perhaps "Hidden Strike", as you're teleporting and hitting them in a weak spot?

Pre-dinner bump

Like the third time this weekend I snatched this thread from page 10

I wasn't watching the board, so I didn't know.

Hey I figure you'd be in bed by now!

Weapon replica from some game, probably
Most likely a sword

You're probably right. I was just looking for avenues to present present certain Psychs, which seem to represent extremely specific actions like Grave Marker and Vulcan Uppercut, as more varied.

Oh since this was requested, here's the blank Pin sheet.

I'm good for it. Long as I'm around when we do it, anyway.

I suppose the question then is, how can it be done?

Oh and I realized the Pin sheet I submitted has some basic Pin images already filled in. I'll fix that tomorrow.

I'd be up for it, but it might depend on the day
Roll20?

For the playtest, would you rather use a character you've already posted in the threads, or make someone new?

To be fair, I did go back to sleep after I posted this because I had a terrible night's sleep.

I'd say roll20, because i don't really know any other way to do this. Roll20 and skype or something.

I made 3 characters already, I'm determined to use one.

If i play, it's gonna be entirely through text

Fair enough. No skype.

System is definitely intriguing. I would like to help participate in the playtest if it happens in the next few weeks, though since I'm late on the project I'll have to figure out all the crunch.
(Timezone is american EST, seems bad for group compatibility.)

In addition to skype/roll20, a discord server might be a good way to centralize potential players and pin discussion.

Good morning thread!

Regarding the play-test, I'm glad there's interest though honestly I'm not sure what MY own participation would be. I basically do most of the work on this project during down-time at work, which is when I definitely would not be able to participate in a playtest.

On the schedule for today: finishing up the third Mag-0 Pin sheet and adding the rules for Intrinsic Psychs in the rulebook. After that I'll work on Combat.

I'm actually thinking of splitting Combat into two chapters: Basic Combat, which covers the flow of battle, movement, AP, Attack and Defense, and Advanced Combat, which talks about the Light Puck, Combos, Finishers and Fusion Attacks.

BTW while I'm working on the above, check out the last page of the Character section. Noise Symbols!

3rd set of Mag-0 Pins are drafted.

Stellar Flurry: when you score a successful attack, you can spend extra AP to add more Hits, making it fairly easy to reach maximum damage at the cost of using up all your actions for the turn. I think it's pretty evocative of a flurry of attacks.

Ice Blow: One of the simpler Psychs, it deals excellent base damage and staggers at least one Noise on the battlefield, but has a very high AP cost.

I've kept it as Insight for now for a very simple reason: there actually aren't that many Mag-0 Offensive Insight Pins. It's still up for discussion though nobody except flavoranon has really weighed in on it.

Thoughts? Adjustments? I'll add this to the running total of Mag-0 Pins if these are deemed good.

Hey guys, need help here.

Here's what I'm working on for the section on Intrinsic Psychs. What I need is an example to use, and I don't want to use just my own.

Can someone supply me with:

>1. A character
>2. His or Her Intrinsic Psych
>3. How the I.P.'s Attack and Defend abilities are Bonded to the Character's Tags.

Bump with updated Mag-0 Pindex. It's now got 18 Pins:

Shockwave (R)
Force Rounds (R)
Pyrokinesis (F)
Psychokinesis (F)
Thunderbolt (F)
Cure Drink (B, need to change to I)
Velocity Attack (B)
Massive Hit (B)
Vortex Saber (R)
Apport (I)
Explosion (I)
Entanglement (I)
Happy Beam (R)
Flame Core (R)
Splash Core (I)
Spark Core (F)
Stellar Flurry (R)
Piercing Pillar (I)

Next sheet is going to need to include some more Flow Pins, that's for sure.

Donating Rikki and her IP.

Here's Rikki's character sheet.

And here's her IP.

Gotcha, thank you! That should work perfectly. I'll update what I was working on.

I'm also messing around with the Basic Combat section. Here's the structure so far:

>Introduction to Combat
>Action Points
>The Battlefield
>Rounds
>Phases
>Player Phase
>--Move
>--Attack
>--Back-up (the "lend a hand" mechanic)
>--Wait
>Noise Phase
>--Defense
>--Taking Damage
>Combat Effects
>--Stagger
>--Attack Break
>--Defense Break
>--HP Drain
>--Immobilize
>Clutter


How does that look? Stuff like Combos, the Light Puck and other more complex mechanics will be loaded into the Advanced Combat section.

Am I missing anything obvious that should be in the Basic Combat section?

Seems like everything to me.

Anyone else?

Not right now!

Here's the update including Rikki as an example for setting-up an Intrinsic Psych. Does the way I described Attack and Defend Bonds make sense/read well?

I'm off for now but I've started work on the Basic Combat section.

Evening bump

Mid-game bump. Currently playing some Wild Talents tonight.

one more bump for the night. Hoping to really get some good work done tomorrow on the Combat rules.

>they time
I think is supposed to be "the time". Seems like a good starting point though.

Is it called "Defense Bonds" or "Defend bonds"? You say both here.

I'll probably stick with Defense. I had Defend originally because it fit the pin sheet better but the grammar is all wrong.

Okay, so, one of my friends has a character made up. Now all I have to do is get at least one more person to join in and I can playtest soon.

My friend has also asked if we need an editor for proofreading and stuff, so I can forward that to him or drag him in here if we want one.