New thread for new topics.
I've looked over the mononoke (not at length mind you) and noticed some trends. This time, we'll be going over these and seeing if we can't get a good guideline for homebrew mononoke going.
Once we've hammered out the details, We'll get into the nitty gritty and start actually making some.
Baseline stuff
mediafire.com
Expansions and errata
pastebin.com
Google Docs Character sheet (for if you play online)
docs.google.com
To start with, lets go over what we're making, so there's no confusion. We won't be making aramitama, nor are we making bosses. We are making the base template to be made INTO bosses.
Kamigakari's foes work on a system of stacking templates on top of a base. Aramitama-fication, and Boss-ification, as it were. These two things can stack, and its explicitly stated in the rules for NPC creation that they do.
So what we are making will be that base, which can be changed and altered later using the rest of the systems rules and talents.
Next up is the general outline of the creature.
This is the senses, reaction speech, etc. These are generally non-mechanically influencing. They determine more how a mononoke acts, rather than directly influencing how the act works.
The important ones are Size, Reaction, ID, Weakness, and Movement. Senses can be, if your group has a way to get around sight or sound.
Size determines a few things, like how many people you can engage simultaneously. Generally speaking, this will be size 2 for anything generally humanoid. Size 1 is for things below half a humans size, and 3 and up are increasingly large scales of BIG. As an example, an Oni would be size 3.
Reaction determines how quickly the mononoke attacks the party. Hostile will be immediate. Anything else is fine.
ID determines the DC for the check to find out anything about a creature. These should be lower for more common things, higher for more obscure things.
Weakness is one of the most important. A baseline mononoke almost always has 2 weaknesses. Think about these carefully and make sure they fit the creature.
Movement is what determines how a mononoke moves. Most probably walk, but some fly, and some swim.
Getting into the meat of it though, what you guys want to know about is how to STAT a mononoke. Not how to make it act.
So there's a few guidelines i've found.
First, a mononoke in general has 2 high stats, and 3 middling to low stats. For a level one mononoke, this will be around 5-8 for high, and anywhere from 1-4 for low. They do not have strength or agility, like PC's do, but rather just have the derived stats, like accuracy and evasion. As mononoke get higher, so do their stats, so don't go overboard with them to start with. The lower any one stat is, the more likely they will have a stat bordering 8.
Second, the Fixed values of a mononoke's stats are all exactly 7 higher than the base. This is around the average for rolling 2d6. Oddly, PC Godhunters get 8 on their fixed value's over their base stat.
Next is initiative. First, reading the stat. The normal number is the actual stat, and the number in parenthesis is their movement speed. Initiative seems to be one thats more type based than on a per mononoke basis, so compare to others in its field for a good value. Generally, the speed will be about 1/2 to 1/3 the mononoke's Initiative value.
Armor and Barrier will all be really low. Most mononoke do not have much armor or barrier, but make up for it in having large health pools comparatively to PC's. Most mononoke are Below 10 in these stats, and generally will only have one of them be high.
And lastly, Attacks, Materials, and general descriptions.
For the last one, you can make one up yourself, or pull one from the inspiration. Doesn't really matter to badly in the long run.
For attacks, a mononoke in general has between 2 and 5 "Abilities". This includes their regular weapon attack, and some have abilities that buff themselves, like giving [Shift: Flying]. For these, comparison is the best bet. If you don't want to make an overpowered ability, compare it exhaustively to others of its type or level. Make sure you include the limitations an ability would have. The stronger the skill, the harsher the limitation.
As for materials, these can be homebrewed extremely easily. There are tons of comparisons to be made, and in general these are probably the easiest part. Generally speaking, a material will have 1 potency for every 500G its worth. Most mononoke have 2-3, but some will only have one at a really high rarity, others will have some weak stuff for its level but one at a super high rarity. Just remember that its a gamble your players are taking to get this loot. Or that you are rolling for them. However you decide to do that is up to you.
And thats the end of that spiel for the moment. If anyone wants to make any comments, complaints, corrections, or pose a question, Get to it.
Some comments on the above:
The Speed stat in parenthesis past the Mononoke's Initiative is almost certainly just calculated the same as a PC's. ({Initiative} + 5) / 3 (round up) Sq. So this saves some work.
As for Talents, all Mononoke have a basic weapon attack, then they will have 2-5 Talents on top of that, with Mononoke under level 5 tending to have two to three Talents, Mononoke between level 5 and 10 having three to four Talents, and 10 to 15 having four, maybe five. There aren't as many examples of 10-15, and basically none above 15 (that are translated, mind you).
Something that might be of interest to the idea of creating Mononoke from scratch is to basically set up suggested templates. Something like D&D 4E had, where there are several "styles" of Mononoke--a bruiser (high damage meatshield), a skirmisher (mobile DPS), a grappler (focused on hindering/debuffing/being a nuisance), etc. This way you could set up a baseline for different types of enemies, then figure out a way to up their stats. It wouldn't need to be hard and fast, just a guideline and template.
For Talents, there's a lot that repeat, like Gaze: Fallen or Gaze: Pain. In fact some even have numerals, like Slam, Rampage, Elemental Strike, etc.
Just some ideas.
Wait, the book was updated?
One of GMs in a different game wanted to scale back the frequency of the sessions to every other week, and our group has been looking for something to run in the off week, probably with me GMing, and he brought this system up. It looks pretty interesting, just from skimming over the rulebook, once I got past the layout/ordering.
How difficult is this system to run?, from a gming perspective? I tend to be more of an improvisational GM, so am I going to have to come up with a ton of detail ahead of time?
How lethal is it for the players? I know a lot of Japanese TRPGs tend to make PCs kind of disposable, while a few of my players tend to prefer low-lethality games.
No, though I did add the Requiem Mononoke into the Requiem pastebin. Still working on 2.0/putting Requiem into a PDF.
I don't feel it's very difficult to run at all. It's a bit like D&D in that it has a bestiary. You just pick something out of the book and plop it down. Bosses do take a bit of prep work because it's basically applying a template (or two) to a base enemy, and having to pick a handful of Boss Talents, but that doesn't take too much time once you get the hang of it, I feel.
It does require a grid, but not necessarily a map. There's a PDF sheet included with the .rar download that has such a grid you can just print out if you feel like it.
Aside from that, the format the game asks GMs to put episodes into is fairly structured, but a lot of this can just be tossed out, honestly. The only sticking point might be Bonds, as well as doing Spirit Crest Checks after beating a boss, but... I mean, it's just something you have to decide how you'll handle ahead of time. For example I just tie everything to "when you beat a boss, you get a level up, and we do all the other stuff the game wants."
The game is pretty non-lethal. Everyone has a self-revive they can use once per combat. No one dies until a special, specific action is done to a "downed" character while outside of a spirit barrier, which is fairly rare. There is a system where if you burn up too much of your Crest resource you could die, but this is entirely something the player controls; just don't go into the negatives and you'll never be at risk.
That's my take, anyway!
l really good advice. Eventually i'd like to put this into a more concise format for the ease of use of the GMs here, so this helps a lot.
So far as speed goes, there's a couple that are way to high for that though. I've seen some with 5(4) for example.
Actually, now that i do the math on that initiative, that is correct. So nevermind.
I haven't played a game of it as the GM, but there's not a lot you need.
My DM used a map of the city, a blank grid, and whatever for tokens and simply ran one of the premades, but even then it still took us about a sessions average time (around 2-3 hours or so) of dicking around to get to the thing and kick its ass.
There's not a lot of work that goes into the nitty gritty, but that means you can focus more on the fluff and stuff.
Important question: Can I make a necromancer in this setting?
Y'know, thats one thing i hadn't thought about.
That said, there are both undead mononoke and a class that specializes in contracting with mononoke, so its not impossible.
Technically speaking, undead is one of the 4 types that you aren't capable of contracting for some reason, but a lenient DM Would totally allow it for a player.
If you wanna be the DM though, sky's the limit.
Alright, that seems good to hear.
One question, after rereading most of the main book. Is there any point to who in particular you bond with? From what I can tell, you basically just want to have 7 bonds per session, but there seems to be no incentive to make anything but the number of these bonds significant.
Its in the fluff a bit so you may have missed it, but it requires a significant amount of interaction. Something that made an impact.
The first 2 bonds are almost always dealt with. This is your first bond, which is always the same person, and the second bond which is usually the player on the right of you at the table.
The other 5 bonds are people that made an impact on your character. You can't get away with talking to joe shmoe the innocent moe, and hope to get a free bond from it. They have to be people of import to the session. They need to say, do, or want something that plays into the current happening. You can't just ask 5 random passersby if they like the weather and call that a "bond".
So while you are correct that the number of bonds is the important thing mechanically, from a gameplay standpoint actually getting that many may be more difficult because it requires a bare minimum amount of interaction.
I have a question! Or questions, rather. My group is just starting to learn the ropes and I'm transcribing this stuff.
How does the Guard's (Form: Hammer weapon) secondary ability work? The one that says "[Targets] that fail their {Evasion} checks lose 2 {HP}." Does it mean that, upon hitting an enemy, they automatically lose 2 HP regardless of their Armor value? Or was it supposed to be that if the wielder fails an Evasion check, the attacking opponent loses 2 HP?
On that note, how does the Guard's primary ability work as well? The one that says "While [Equipped], treat as though [Equipped] with [Unarmed]." Does it still count as a weapon for the purposes of Arc Slayer abilities?
Why do magic weapons/talents have the ability to start out at a higher damage rank than physical ones? Is there supposed to be a balancing factor that lets physical weapons/talents keep up with magic in terms of damage?
Perhaps I should ask a better question: What are the options for playing a more wizard like character?
>guards
Yes. The Defending opponent loses the HP as is. This isn't magical or physical damage, this is an outright loss to HP.
>equipped with unarmed
This is just for the sake of talents and abilities. Some abilities require you to be equipped with unarmed, which is basically automatically equipped when you have no weapon. Guards, arm guards, and most gloves say this as a workaround to the restriction of that, allowing you to act as if you are unarmed, despite being armed.
Magic starts higher because its resisted by half by default, rather than avoided outright.
Well, if you wanna do the necromancy thing, Contractor B.
For general magey shenanigans, Elder mage.
If you are looking for something more elemental or supporty, Elemental adept, Digital sorcerer, and Divine talker would all fit the mold.
In addendum to magical rank tends to be harder to come by from self-buffing abilities or the like. Usually, magical rank is fixed per spell (for example if you have a Rank: 2 magical weapon, then use a Rank: 2 spell, you do not end up with Rank 4, just rank 2). Physical rank is more additive.
Right, my next character is going to be a summoner whose eidolon is a protective robot.
Totally viable. More power to you dude.
Out of curiosity, would this game be good for running a game like Ange Vierge? By that I mean a bunch of chicks with a variety of super powers (Magic, technology, cuhrazey martial arts, the whole kitchen sink) flying (Emphasis on this because they spend very little time fighting on the ground) and a zany power up system inside a school specifically designed for them. Having a specific hierarchy of powerlevels and lots of drama can be optional I suppose.
Dude, thats what this systems DESIGNED for.
Cool. Now time to see if I can make a robot and/or a character who can make pillars of rock come out and grab people.
>Robot
Legacy user B with the 3rd armor. That ones easy. Or if you mean being the robot yourself, cyborg. Conctractor can also summon mechanical stuff.
So far as rock pillars go, i think elemental adept MIGHT be able to do something like that? I know some stuff lets you make obstacles at least. Guards in the hammer weapons have additional effects that allow that kinda thing, at least.
If you're fine with heavy fluff, Legion B would be a good way to do this. They create obstacles (pillars of rock) and then can use them to stop enemy movement or damage them (which can be grabbing/punching/etc). It destroys the obstacle, but that's not a big deal.
>legion B is secretly a bunch of earth benders
Huh. Whoulda thunk it.
I want to play as a cute fox girl. What must I do?
Juan?
You need only play the Hanyou race, friend.
Yeah, pretty much
Thank you. I will be the cutest fox girl I can be!
Nope, just Phil.
Ah dang, our Juan was just talking about playing a fox girl and I thought I'd spook him. More power to you, then.
Spook him anyways by telling him he's got a doppelganger.
The love for fox girls is unbreakable!
I've found that ice based girls tend to be best girls. Kuudere, yuki-onna, anyone that can generally be attributed to have an "icy" quality is usually so far better than the rest that its barely a contest
You can fluff most of the magical weapons into being necromantic items. Then maybe Elder Mage A/Contractor B. That would give you offensive spells and the ability to summon an undead companion.
Yeah thatd be the easiest way yo necromancer
Too bad most of them want to murder you.
That is a risk I'm willing to take.
Not always user.
Hey, thats not entirely fair. Some of them only start out wanting to murder you. After that they are almost unilaterally best girl
>black frost
Man, dat nigga was OP in 4. he could carry you straight to end game.
Indeed. Snow women are the best servants. You can't trust your wife all the time but the gal who gets stuck to objects that are too warm you can trust with your life.
But what about frostbite on your dick? How can you love her when touching her will destroy your love muscle?
Better to get an Earth aligned waifu, so you can plow her fertile fields.
Or play out back in the mud for a while if you don't want to enrich her soil, if you know what I mean.
>not having the manly HEAT in your loins to counteract it
Its like you aren't even trying.
If KamigakariAnon is around, how goes the translation process? Fixing stuff? Doing new stuff? Etc?
Don't quote me on this, but if memory serves he is planning to do the second run of the PDF, now that he's gotten the requiem stuff down.
Its that, or translating the newer books. One user in particular was excited for the cthulhu mythos stuff.
At the moment the 2.0 PDF is the focus, though I'm wondering if I really have time to fix literally everything I'd like to. I've rewritten the prologue, made a decision to ditch the proper noun brackets (but the [] and {} brackets stay!), and am thinking even if it's a bit awkwardly grammar'd, I'd just keep the World Section and GM Section more or less the same, and focus rewriting efforts on Rules/Player sections so they are as clear as possible/have error fixing.
After that, I'm going to edit up the Requiem stuff and put it all into a PDF.
After that I may take a break from Kami to do something else for a little while, but if not I'll just jump on down the road to Damocles, translate the rest of it, then put it in a PDF, then do the same for Chronos. After that, I'm not sure!
I'd say take your time so you don't burn yourself out. The current version is useable, so just do what you can at a rate that won't make you want to ditch the game or hate yourself.
Hmm, still wish someone had a character cration example around. Would help a lot.
you mean like a sample character? or like, a set of guidelines?
Was thinking more of a sample character than guidelines.
There's actually a slew of them in the PDF's in the Mediafire link, but i can link a few of em here for ya.
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Ah, forgot about those. Time to make a character after I play some Vanquish.
And speaking of Vanquish, I wonder if Legacy User A / Legion A would work to make Sam Gideon.
I don't see why not, but i'm wondering what the logic is on legacy user A.
Was probably the Armored Titan part...and now that I think about it, Dragon Carrier would be a much better pick.
That would be legacy user B anyways.
A is arms, B is armor. Also, your probably right about dragon carrier being closer. Its good with all that transformation and armoring up jazz. Kamen riders, magical girls, kaiokens, you name it.
It's nice that I can get feedback on ideas here. Thanks.
>FEEL THE HEAT
Coincidentally, this system might handle a more fanciful Yakuza setting real nice.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't a yakuza organization already.
Thats why i put these threads up. Its the only english resource for the game, to my knowledge, so i do what i can to help everyone i can.
If i can't or i screw up, Kamigakari user usually corrects me.
That's basically Heilong. I did their bigger write-up because someone in my games wanted more info on them. You can read the blurb in the Damocles pastebin!
Basically they're like the Red Dragon Syndicate in Cowboy Bebop if half their members were Godhunters.
I knew there'd be at least one. It ain't a japanese system without at least mention of the yakuza.
Damocles had the most new rules and background next to Requiem, didn't it? Or are the Personality additions and new Cover rules that involved?
After seeing the new Mononoke, I hope you don't put Kami on hold before finishing up the ones from as many book as you can. A lot of those were really unique.
I'm looking forward to the Mononoke chassis rules that helper user mentioned about and all the tips that come with those. I have a few fairly thick books on yokai that I bought for Double Cross that I'd love to write-up for Kamikagari instead.
I also have a large Cthulhu research library and Chaosium collection, so I wouldn't mind bring those into Kami either as Mononoke.
I loved that the Deep Ones, King in Yellow, Nyarlethotep, etc. popped up in Requiem. That encouraged me to round things out with my own expy creations, if someone can help me find Japanese puns or appropriate names for them.
Mythology is one of my fun reads, invented like the mythos or based on real world culture. This is will be a good exercise in learning Mononoke construction as well!
Damocles had the most new rules and background next to Requiem, didn't it? Or are the Personality additions and new Cover rules that involved?
After seeing the new Mononoke, I hope you don't put Kami on hold before finishing up the ones from as many book as you can. A lot of those were really unique. I'm looking forward to the Mononoke chassis rules that helper user mentioned about and all the tips that come with those. I have a few fairly thick books on yokai that I bought for Double Cross that I'd love to write-up for Kamikagari instead.
I also have a large Cthulhu research library and Chaosium collection, so I wouldn't mind bring those into Kami either as Mononoke. I loved that the Deep Ones, King in Yellow, Nyarlethotep, etc. popped up in Requiem. That encouraged me to round things out with my own expy creations, if someone can help me find Japanese puns or appropriate names for them. Mythology is one of my fun reads, invented like the mythos or based on real world culture. This is will be a good exercise in learning Mononoke construction as well!
There's probably more background in Damocles than in Requiem. And Chronos has a fair amount too, as does Four Guardian Gods. As for new rules, Damocles has some new rules but not really anything ground breaking. Chronos has more, but mostly for higher level stuff. After Chronos, there's something about "small-scale supernatural incidents" in the Cthulhu book but I dunno what those are about.
To be fair, i have the rough outline for mononoke creation already laid out at the top of the thread.
In all due honesty, it comes down largely to comparisons between other mononoke of the same level, the same type, or both.
I swear I need to start paying more attention.I thought someone said something about more needing to be added to those construction guidelines.
I'll include these in my own little player handouts along with the race and style guidelines. I'll make up a nice looking PDF and drop a link here when its finished as well, if anyone wants to do anything with it.
I'm just keeping it in txt until I finish, but I have all the normal publishing program jazz. .AFter that if anyone has font suggestions or creative common art or something they want included, I will drop that along the text.
It'd also help if there were some samples. I know for me, I learn how to build stuff when there's an example I can reference.
Those guidelines for creating mononoke are as yet untested, so dont jump the gun
Once i have a bit of time, i'll see about making a couple "Test mononoke" for people to look over, see how that does.
I have a question about "Area" target.
From what I understand it means targeting everyone you want inside [Range] with the character in the middle right? So it's an area attack around the character? (And in an engagement, everyone engaged regardless of [Range]?
If that's the case, is there any difference in use between talents with (Range:Combat Zone, Target:Area) and (Range:Combat Zone, Target:Combat Zone)?
Target: Area means that it targets all characters who are currently in an [Engagement] or in a single square. It's in the Target Details section on page 244 of the pdf.
In an engagement. Not necessarily engaged to you.
Gotcha!
Yeah, while thats a good set of rules, it doesn't have any specifics. If anything, its just laying out the basis for it.
Once i get a bit more time, i've got a couple things i'm gonna try and make. Once i have em done i'll post em here, and i'll make a more concise version of that guide.
Well, here goes nothing
>Kappa/ Class:Humanoid/ Level 3
>Size:2
>Wits: High
>Senses: Normal
>Speech: Yes
>Reaction: Mercurial
>ID: 7
>Weakness: [Fire] [Shock]
>Movement: Walk・Swim
> | ACC | EVA | CNJ | RES | CHK
>Combat Stats | 8 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3
>Fixed Values | 15 | 13 | 8 | 10 | 10
>Initiative: 6 (4)
>HP: 43
>Armor: 3
>Barrier: 0
>Attack methods:
>[Weapon Attack]: Melee Attack / Engaged / 1#
>- [Form: Unarmed] 2d6+10 physical damage to the target.
>«Kappa Shell»: Unique / User / User
>- Target gains +5 [Armor]. 1/Round.
>«Drown»: Melee Attack Attack / Engaged / 1#
>- If Target is swimming, impose a Swim check immediately, As if in a swiftly moving river (Difficulty:10). 1/Round
>«Shirikodama Steal»: Attack / Engaged / 1#
>- User takes a -3 penalty to the result of an accuracy check to make this attack. If it Succeeds, Target gains [Shift: Downed]
>Materials (2d6)
>0~6: None
>7~10: Kappa Shell Piece/Armor+1: 500G (Potency: 1)
>11+: Kappa's Plate/ Swim+2 1000G (Potency:2)
>Description
>A Turtle-like humanoid mononoke with a plate on its head. Known for being a trickster, they are generally harmless to larger creatures, but may attempt to drown them given >the chance. Kappa will try to steal the "Shirikodama", the culmination of your spiritual energy, through ones butt. This leaves one completely incapacitated, if not dead.
And thats my first shot at making a mononoke. I decided to use something related to the universe, that i hadn't seen an entry for yet, to keep things on the up and up.
So tell me how i did.
Gonna bump with a cute kappa, just so that wall o text isn't the first thing people see of it.
Okay, checking the numbers, the stats are on the low side for the average level 3, but with an ability to cause [shift: Downed], i think that balances out.
Bumping
Holy crow! You included the Shirikodama ass pearl attack, players would hate that one.
If anyone has some good male art feel free to post it, I've found there's an overabundance of female art when the aesthetic is over-the-top anime.
Yep. Technically there's already a mononoke that says "is also called a kappa" but its only loosely related and did nothing a kappa did, so i made one of my own.
This is true. I have a shitload of females, and very few males.
I can hardly blame anyone though, girls are fun to draw.
True dat.
I've got art out the ass. Most of it is female though as usual.
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The design on that gun just irks me
Yeah, it's pretty wonky.
Thanks, I got it completely wrong.
When it says "any [Target] that is part of an engament" does it include allies? Or can you choose targets from an engagement?
it would be fine if they just flipped the handle. Otherwise, its just retarded looking.
There is no friendly fire unless you specifically try otherwise.
Also, it just hits the entire array of enemies in a single engagement.