This is a thread for the discussion of Destiny Lore and it's viability as a TTRPG setting. Also open for dicussion is potential systems/modifications for existing systems that would be suitable for it.
Previous (First) Thread: I'm not sure what would be a good opening question for this. I suppose taking stock of options for systems would be good. Traveller has been thrown around a few times, and personally I've considered Eclipse Phase (if only because I know it).
GURPS has been as well.
If only because in its massive compendium of splats and options is possible to build yourself a system with damn near every component necessary to replicate stuff in Destiny.
Fair enough. It seems like it would contain everything from alchemy to space fighter combat.
I think one thing that's a real wrench in the works is the class system.Or rather, how to handle the class/subclass system. Would Guardian powers be left more open ended? Or would they be rigid like they are in game? Would distinctions, beyond self given ones, exist for Hunters/Warlocks/Titans?
I'd probably play it more rigid, since the Guardians do branch up quite a bit.
They could be generally light on species distinctions, each providing a little bonus here and there to roleplay and maybe a single small mechanical boost. After that, classes have their abilities, but weapons can change out pretty well.
I'd be a fan of just giving weapons straight stats and assuming that all players have proficiency in everything, just to simplify. Maybe they have class abilities which improve the use of a single weapon, or add some tricks to it, but ultimately the weapon's stats do not change in their hands (unless an ability would just add damage to whatever weapon).
Actually, if we go by Symbaroum's progression philosophy, experience is much harder to come by and character's stats do not advance very fast or very significantly, if at all. Armor and weapons provide whatever mechanical changes are applied, and skills and abilities add more tools to your toolkit to help deal with things.
This means enemies don't improve by grades, and encounters never start feeling pointless because the enemies are just cannon fodder at a certain point.
I like this thread.
Question of the day then, why does no one talk about the giant talking space whale (Leviathan) back on the Fundament, or why the traveller choose it as its main disciple?
As for distinction between classes, I think being able to choose a subclass is important, though I'm not sure you'd be able to change loadouts for abilities so cleanly.
If they are open ended, they should be fleshed out by subclass. And after that, a number of flavorful skills like cryptarchy, smithing, scavenging, and other skills should be thrown in, probably a few at character creation so our heroes have more means of interacting with the world at the start. More advanced skills might involve research into specific alien factions, technologies, and philosophies that have mechanical benefit. Of course, delving too deeply into them comes with drawbacks or risks associated with them.
Well, he shows up for a bit, but then the Hive eat him. He was probably just one of many disciples the Traveller had, and it chose him because he was big, wise, and powerful.
But then is it not coincidence that they bring up that one of the nine could be a leviathan in the seas of Europa? I don't know, a plot point like that doesn't just get forgotten for no reason ya know. Ifor it just so happenes to actually be a thing, I'd love to see some add on talking about how the new leviathan is the true speaker of the traveller, and the one on earth has been telling lies or somthing.
The Nine seems to have Nine theories about what they are. It's possible all are true. Maybe the Nine are the shadows of former disciples of the Traveller, or champions that have fallen from the Light, or have rejected the Darkness. Or something. Maybe it's all of the above and more, and the Nine are just a bunch of misfits that are very hard to define: one being, yet many; all of one origin, yet all of different origins. We don't have a concrete answer or even an inkling beyond hints and story coincidence scattered throughout the Grimoires.
Wish there was some kind of path to follow, heck even some "ilovebees.com" stuff would be rad, and we would be able to find it through reading about their grimoirs or somthing.
There's currently an ARG out for Rise of Iron.
Tying things into the Grimoires would be neat, but I figure it'd be better in-game rather than an ARG.
And, you know, that'd be a reason to have a Grimoire as part of the game rather than outside of it. You read a specific Grimoire, it gives you some hints as to where it might be from, where it was gained, or contextual stuff from what it talks about or what it references, and you look around the area and maybe a door that was closed before is open, or there's an opening in a cave you've never seen before, or suddenly you can actually jump to a new ledge somewhere, and you start a new, secret adventure.
Last bump for the night from me.
I do hope we generate discussion about possible systems and flesh out mechanics this thread, or at least outline them prospectively.
Same. I loved jerking off about how good the lore is last thread, but I'd also like to actually get to a point where I can run a game, if possible. I mean, I was going to use FF's Star Wars system but that got pretty cleanly shut down by everyone last thread, so obviously I don't know what I'm talking about.
I guess GURPS and the like just seem overly malleable to me? So I'm pretty apprehensive about using such an open ended system? Maybe that sounds silly. I don't know, like I said, obviously I'm not an expert otherwise I wouldn't be asking for help.
Savage Worlds will run anything like this pretty well.
Canon-breaking as it is, I sorta want to condense the timeline of events in Destiny somewhat, just so I can actually have players interacting with cool characters and not just reading about them.
For example, there was a lot of talk about Pahanin last thread. In-game he was killed by Dredgen Yor before it even started, but I think that's a bit of a wasted opportunity. Same with Eriana-3's failed assault on Crota. Why not establish these characters in the setting before killing them off? As it stands, it just feels like all the interesting stuff happened before we got here.
You could also have this happen in a slightly alternative universe where things might happen a little differently and in different orders. Just enough that some characters are around or some things haven't happened or things unfold in a different way.
Alternatively, have the players focus on different areas of contention. They have their own rumors and legendary figures and mysterious strangers to follow, somewhat unrelated to the game's canon plot. In that way, interesting stuff continues to happen in the present, but it's its own stuff, probably on a smaller scale. The only limited there is your imagination, though it would take a little refining to get something that really fits with Destiny lore.
Also, it's usually a bad idea to introduce players to canon figures because players can really fuck that up.
Somewhat, weird, but 5e would actually work pretty.
Just make up a subclass for Paladian, Ranger, and Warlock that more closely represents what Destiny is like, and run it as a more melee-oriented version of destiny, there's already tons of magic, swords and shit.
Yeah but they can't fuck it up if I do it right.
Like, taking the Pahanin example, you could just send the players on an unrelated mission and meet him, and he could just be a swell, if eccentric guy with a talking heavy machine gun. Maybe he thinks you're there because 'Osiris must've finally remembered', but they have to tell him that, not only is Osiris not even a Vanguard commander anymore, but that you have no fucking clue what he's talking about. Then he can explain that he told Osiris everything that happened, but no one knew him, so they had no way to really believe him. This would lead them to the Vault of Glass, instead of just "oh zavala said to go do it".
Doesn't break canon too majorly because you can immediately have Dredgen Yor murder him. And it would actually give the players an excuse to try and hunt him down, thereby introducing them to Shin and helping track down Yor so that Shin can get the duel he's waited like twenty years for.
So unless the players actively try and ruin things by attempting to murder one of these people, there's not really a way they could fuck it up.
I'd fucking kill for a write-up of that. I wanna run Destiny tabletop, but damn do I not want to have to relearn a whole new set of rules by using Traveller or some shit. More so that I don't want to have to explain all of these rules three times each (because I know each player won't listen when I tell the others anything). If I could just use 5e, that'd be fucking sick, even if it isn't an absolute perfect emulation of the game.
Would be sad to lose all those killer guns though. Still. My enthusiasm for this remains.
>So unless the players actively try and ruin things by attempting to murder one of these people, there's not really a way they could fuck it up.
Well... That's the operative problem. There's really no reason why anyone would want to do anything other than murder Dredgen Yor, there's not really a reason to let Shin have all the fun, or just sit back and let narrative happen rather than actively tip the scales.
These stories should instead be templates for the kinds of things that can happen in-game. Fallen heroes, epic duels, forgotten legends, cryptic clues... You have so much more leeway when you use these as templates and patterns for creating something of your own, rather than clinging strictly to canon.
Also remember that no plan survives contact with the PCs. NPCs should be treated much the same. Unless you're good at ad-libbing or railroading them into canon encounters or making things up on the fly, you kind of have the potential to screw up Destiny's interrelated events. It's much more narratively malleable to introduce new and unique characters who can have their own stories grow organically through the PC's involvement in the plot. Lampshading characters is kind of unworthy of the kinds of interesting people described in the lore, and they are better served by having inspiration taken from them to make something new, personal, and able to grow organically.
Hunters already use Light-infused knives, and Titans could easily wield broadswords. Don't know about Warlocks, but they'd be the least melee focused as is, so it doesn't seem like it'd be a big deal.
Warlocks could use quarterstaves. Alternatively, give Titans Axes/Claymores and give Warlocks short-swords.
>another shitty "lore" thread
Why is it too hard to go to Veeky Forums for you retards? Do you get some kind of weird sexual pleasure out of shitposting?
user, /v/ and Veeky Forums are incessant shitholes where lore can't be discussed though all of the atrocious shitposting (/v/) or incessant circlejerking (Veeky Forums). Not to mention, most of this thread is about translating Destiny to a TT setting and how the lore could be used in such a translation.
So is anyone else following that reddit theory that Aksis was the progenitor of the Vex? I can post it if anyone's interested.
Warlocks use monk-like punching powers, simultaneously casting and channeling their power into a punch or rebuking push.
Still, the emphasis should be on guns because this is space where guns are hugely commonplace, and closing to melee should be opportunistic but risky, or a last-ditch to get something off of you. It'd make Hive Thralls that much more horrifying when they can overwhelm your abilities to crowd-control from range and mob you.
Melee weapons are fine, but they should be backup weapons, or used for heroic stunts. Possibly also utility as well, when you just need some shit cut without having to line up a shot or deal with explosive splash.
That's all well and good, but how do you propose we handle ranged combat. The user above was talking about 5e. Are we back on the GURPS train again?
Well... We use a system that handles guns and ranged combat well. If 5e has a module for as much, more power to it.
The 5e system is pretty good, but we all may just have different ideas of how to handle the system different in our own heads.
Guns have a 'sweet spot'.
If an enemy closes, player suffers a detriment to their aim, focus should be on getting out of melee or finishing the enemy therewith abilities.
If an enemy is too far away, the weapon suffers a drop-off distance detriment to damage. This is already in the game. Certain weapons (Snipers, Scout Rifles) have longer ranges before the damage drop off, Rocket Launchers suffer none.
We both know that these "lore" threads (Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, Wakfu etc) have absolutely nothing to do with Veeky Forums. Everybody knows. It's just a ridiculous alibi you use as an excuse for being too dumb to post on the proper boards. I mean, what do you broken assholes get out of shitposting on purpose? It seems to unnecessary.
How about you go fuck yourself you diseased, rancid cunt.
user, he literally told you why we don't go on the kther boards. Now how about you stop posting in threads you don't enjoy, you retard.
How about you stop infesting the board like a fucking disease?
look one post above you
He probably defends quest threads.