/SSSS /Stand Still Stay Silent General/

Communication is key edition

>What is SSSS?
Stand Still. Stay Silent" is a post apocalyptic webcomic with elements from Nordic mythology, set 90 years in the future. It's mostly a story about friendship and exploring a forgotten world, with some horror, monsters and magic on the side. The comic also updates 4 times a week, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. This General is for people to come together and discuss the comic, all whilst developing systems for games set in the world, as well as original content.

>The Comic
sssscomic.com

>Vikingr, the currently in development TTRPG set in the world of SSSS
github.com/GunmetalStuG/Vikingr

Other urls found in this thread:

github.com/GunmetalStuG/Vikingr/blob/master/Vikingr Core Rulebook Draft 9.pdf
sssscomic.co
github.com/GunmetalStuG/Vikingr/blob/master/Vikingr Core Rulebook Draft 9.5.pdf
twitter.com/AnonBabble

I'll probably get my group together to test out vikingr next weekend.
I'll probably link them player's handbook and the about page of the comic.
Is there anything else not covered in those that they should know?

Here's the latest page. Seems Lalli has somehow transcended the need for a voice and has achieved telepathy.

That probably happens when you go to sleep in someone else's dream.
I like this choice to let them communicate, though I still hope we get some scenes with Emil trying to learn Finnish

Hopefully this also leads to Emil learning magic himself. Because Mage Emil would be glorious.

Mage Emil just incinerating everything would be cool, but if I recall you have to be born a Finnish mage and I think swedes have "abandoned" the ancient gods of Iceland

>Mage Emil just incinerating everything would be cool, but if I recall you have to be born a Finnish mage and I think swedes have "abandoned" the ancient gods of Iceland
Doesn't mean that our favorite Cat-Boy can't end up giving him pointers. Besides, I doubt the Swedish Gods have abandoned *their* people. They're probably just waiting for a fitting worshiper to come around so that the cleansing may begin in full.

...

My concern with the mechanics of this system is that players are too tanky.
In this setting, where a single hit is lethal for the non-immune, having bloated healthpools is a death sentence.
Combat should be quicker and more deadly, or everybody should play an immune character.
In DND warriors can take 15 swords hits to the face and still be only half death, with combat lasting for minutes.
This is not the direction we should go in, because the non-immune are basically dead after one hit.
Having a max health of 8 wounds and some padding means that you can take 5 rounds from a AK47, and still have more 50 % of your health left.

I don't want to complain to much, because I have contributed nothing to Vikingr, but I love SSSS and I want to play this game.
So this is meant as constructive criticism, not as a hate rant.

If this bad puppy even gets a single hit on you, you are fucked beyond all reasoning.
It would matter if Lally was immune or not, because she would be impaled by a spear-leg the size of a lance.
I know that health-pool most often is seen as your ability to dodge at the last second and not your meat-pool.
but it still fucks over non immune players.

One reason is that after it all, it is a game and some things have to be sacrificed for playability.
And, though this might have been just Mikkel keeping everyone calm, there was a chance that Tuuri did not get infected .

Wounds could also be reflavored as Fatigue.

we are approaching levels of sameface that shouldn't be possible

...

How would you guys feel about giving non-immune mulligan dice?
The Troll manages to get into the train, but Wilmer spends a mulligan to reroll his dex check to quickly close the door.

From the op image, I thought this was going to be a thread about questing as a party all with Down syndrome.

>updates 4 times a week
How? Was it all drawn beforehand?

That is a mystery to all of us. She used to update 5 times a week but dropped Wednesday at one point

Maybe she's like Eiichiro Oda and is addicted to drawing.

System-user here with a brief explanation: 8 Wounds is the maximum Players can obtain, and it looks like a lot, but only Beasts and Grosslings have trouble dealing that kind of damage. Most trolls can dish out 4-6 Wounds, and Giants can regularly dish out double that easily. I'm still working on the mechanics of HOW they do that, but even vikingr in peak physical condition will not last long against Monsters in CQB.

I'm conflicted about Mulligan Dice. Non-Immune characaters CAN be involved in combat, provided it's at extreme range, and I'm thinking of including some PPE that will give them a fighting chance if bitten or clawed, but I still have to do some finagling.

As for Mulligan dice, it sounds like a good idea, but the instances where it might be useful will probably be so few and far between that they'll never really be in danger, and regular rolling will help protect them.

Also, Vikingr update within the next couple hours! I'll post a link when it's ready.

Mina is obviously a mage herself, and is having her own personal Luonto/ Helper Spirit aid her in her drawing.

Okay, smaller update this time around, but Character Creation is almost ready to go. I've been really busy with other stuff like playing Escape from Tarkov, but I'm pleased in the Quality section so far.

Attached to this post is the Game Master's Handbook, and the latest edition of the Core Rulebook can be found here: github.com/GunmetalStuG/Vikingr/blob/master/Vikingr Core Rulebook Draft 9.pdf

Changelog:

CORE RULEBOOK

All characters begin with 1 in every Core Attribute. This way, an attempt can always be made at any task.
Skills can now enter negative ranks, but this will not subtract dice from a dice pool – it will simply require Experience and training equal to the negative ranks to reach ‘0’.
Added some Backgrounds
Added Stats for Backgrounds.
Removed ‘Athletics’ Skill from available Skills. No reason a simple Fitness rule won’t suffice.
Added ‘Crafting’ Skill to available Skills. Allows characters to pursue a profession and trade outside their careers as vikingr, and a chance to provide better gear to their Expeditions.
Added Quality Section
Began Quality List (missing lots of Negative and Mixed Qualities, no point values assigned as of yet).
Adjusted casting rules for Seiður – Magic skill roll is now performed during casting, not during transcription.
Briefly reordered ‘Equipment’ sections.
Fixed a few mista/kes.

GAME MASTER’S HANDBOOK

Added ‘Reward Roleplaying’ subsection to GM Handbook.
Added ‘Reward Teamwork’ subsection to GM Handbook.
Added ‘Types of Campaigns’ section to GM Handbook.
Added ‘Flying’ Ability for Monster Creation.

There should be some kind of incentive for the players to build broad characters.
As it is now, you can put all your points in combat attributes and skills.
And with every point, you increase you combat ability linearly.

>Mimic: Though no monster can hide its true
nature for long, some are better at it than
others. This monster can shift into an extremely
accurate facsimile of its former self, or an
object.
Oh the possibilities for this are endless.

...

Right now, there is some, but it's harder to see in the Rulebook. If you focus all your skill points into Combat (like a certain Most Best girl), you will cripple yourself in every singe subject beyond it. They won't be able to assess any loot they find, often leading to them picking up stuff with basically random worth. Anything they do find will be extremely difficult to sell, because they 1. have no idea what it is, and 2. anyone who will buy it will rob them blind.
There's also the fact that they'll be useless in pretty much every place except the Silent World.

But you do raise a good point - broader characters should be incentivised. Anyone got suggestions?

I would see attributes as the following:

Rank 0 - Completely inept or disabled
Rank 1 - infant
Rank 2 - Younger child
Rank 3 - Child, elderly, impaired
Rank 4 - Below average; teenager
Rank 5 - Average adult
Rank 6 - Above average
Rank 7 - Well above average
Rank 8 - Gifted
Rank 9 - Highly gifted
Rank 10 - Best ever; peak of human achievement

All ranks should be at least at rank 4.
You can't have a teammate so impaired that he can't even carry his own ammunition.
Or so dumb that he doesn't know the sun raises in the east.
Starting at 1 is just enabling powergamers to put all their points into one thing and not spreading it out.

I am a slow writer, so my suggestion about skills will come in about 15 minutes.

Just as a disclaimer, the above post is completely ripped of from mutants and masterminds. (sort of)

First of all I think that the skills should be split up in basic skills and expert skills.
For the basic skills the lower limit should be at least 4.
While most people don't even get a single point in the expert skills.
Even if you are a best combat girl, you should be able to talk without drooling.
But we can safely say that she will never become a surgeon.

What I am suggesting will lead to dice bloating.
and even the most min/maxed characters will be rolling 8+ dice for their worst skills.
I don't know if that is a bad thing, maybe divide the skills and attribute ranks by 2.

Buump

I don't think an infant could hit with a gun 3 out of 10 times. I think the power levels here are different.
Also I think the amount of dice thrown now are fine. Any more would just be silly.

The way Attributes and Skills work is thus:

A '0' doesn't mean you're a drooling idiot or anorexic or anything - much like Adepts in Dark Heresy, Vikingr are a cut above other peasants. They're determined, skilled, and adventurous. That's also why they all start with '1' in their Core Attributes - no matter what, they can attempt to succeed at any task.

Most challenging Hit Thresholds require 3-4 Hits though, which mean competency in a given skill requires about 7-9 dice. The most common Thresholds only need 1-2 hits though, and those represent moderately difficult tasks that require some focus.

The idea behind all this is that out of the gate, characters can either be amazing at one thing and one thing only, or be good at a bunch of different subjects, with potential to specialize across a few Expedition.

I agree - more dice at this stage are patently unnecessary.

Alright, I concede to your point.
But I do feel that the linear improvement, makes it so that specialization is a must.
To be a competent Vikingr you will need to put most of your points in a couple of skills.
If you spread out and make a broad character you will be bad at everything.
How about making the price of the attribute or skill the same as the value.
So 5 points for a rank 5 skill.
This way Best girl might buy a couple of low level ranks in barter.
Because if she gets a choice between 1 extra dice in combat or 1 extra dice in barter, she will always go for combat.
and I don't blame her, that 1 extra dice in barter still means she is bad at it and combat is the thing she does.
but with this new mechanic, she can improve a couple of low level skills instead of rising her combat even higher.

Hmm, that might be good idea at character creation. I'll look into what I can do, but I think I'd have to massively increase the available Skill Ranks just so they can be competent at their chosen skills. Anyone else have ideas?

As for after Character Creation, the Character Advancement section actually does something similar to what you proposed- skills at the lowest levels are stupid cheap, while advancing to the highest-tier Skill Ranks are almost prohibitively expensive.

It's actually rather unusual that the price of skills doesn't increase with the level.
Are you going to put the dm stuff in the github?

That is just my suggestion, it's my personal taste.

It is a shame I don't have anybody to play this setting with,
because really want to play as a Vikingr.

Good point. I think I'll increase starting Skill Ranks to 15-20, then have each Rank cost its equivalent.

And the next edition will be too large to post on Veeky Forums, so yes, it will also be on GitHub. I'll post today's edition later tonight.

If everyone keeps the thread alive for the next couple of days, I can make a few more updates to the GMH and Core Rulebook should makes things a bit smoother for you.

What did you think of the Qualities so far?

>Rank 10
>"Best Ever"
>Not "The Most Best Ever"
For shame user. For shame.

...

The one with the massive braid's a guy right?

Yes. He is Best Boy.

Perfect.

Well I'm hooked.

Can I download the series as a whole or do I have to read each page online?

Anyone have suggestions for what to tackle next in the Core Rulebook?

Once I finish Qualities, I'm going to try and finish the Magic section, but I don't know exactly where to go from there. More Equipment and weapons?

Bump.

I dont think you need more equipment, but you could expand on the rules.
According to the rules there is no difference between AK47 and rusty 1911.
Giving all the weapons there uniek stats might be a bit too much,
but you could put weapons in categories, like:
Assault rifles, submachine guns, pistols, shotguns and machine guns.

The entire webcomic is online and can be read with no shady dealings involved. Here's the link to it.
sssscomic.co

I would have looked for it myseslf, eventually, but thanks for the link man.

So is the system your working on the 'official' system or just a fan project without the authors knowledge?

>So is the system your working on the 'official' system or just a fan project without the authors knowledge?
Fan-system without Minna's knowledge. She likely has absolutely *no idea* that we are doing this.

As far as I know, it's a fan project without the author knowing, though I think eventually it would be cool to show it to her.

Honestly if I made something that someone thought was cool enough to put the time and effort to turn into a game for others to enjoy I would be pretty stoked.

She could be a cow though I guess. It does happen. She sounds like a nice lady though from what people have said.

So how long have you been working on this and how well do you think it would apply to other settings?

I've been at this for about a month now, and I like how it's turning out. I can't say much about how it'll work in different settings, but I think it'll fit nicely into any setting with firearms, magic, and heroes that are regular humans.

If you're referring to how long Minna's been working on the comic, unsure. The comic was originally launched in 2013, but Minna's had plans for it *loooooooooooooooong* before then (her first comic, A Redtails Dream, was actually practice work for SSSS in fact). I think she's even described the comic as her "life's work" on more than one occasion.

Sure it's not Outsider that updates 3 times a year.

Vikingr seems fine, you just gotta add details about the weapons and negative quirks.
Or make negative sides to the already existing ones

Has anyone playtested Vikingr yet?

What is this shit doing on Veeky Forums?

We're making a system based on the comic, so this is Veeky Forums. We're just posting pages for inspiration.

What about adding some non-combat equipment?
I remember you mentioning something about a tactical vest somewhere in the, reloading rules, maybe.

Good idea. I want to add some armor, apparel, tactical rigs, and gas masks.

Yeah, especially if you allow PC's to be not-immune you need to have a thing for the masks they use.

That is blatantly not Lalli

Holy fuck I am an idiot. I completely forgot to include the Character Advancement section I wrote up.

Hopefully, I'll be able to post a revised V9 of the Core Rulebook, with Character Advancement and some more qualities.

>Lalli
>Best Boy.
Second Best, really. Might even end up as Third Best because Emil exists.

It's criminal that all of you have forgotten about Onni.

New page, last one of this chapter.

>"By not being pathetic."
That's pretty damn cold, but coming from Kalli that's to be expected.

Fuck, two week break.

...

Okay, revised version 9. No idea how I forgot all that shit.

Changelog:

Changed Skill Rank purchasing.
Added Character Advancement Section.
Added some more Negative Qualities.
Added some Mixed Qualities.

Here's the link:

github.com/GunmetalStuG/Vikingr/blob/master/Vikingr Core Rulebook Draft 9.5.pdf

Let me know what you think!

I know I've asked this question in the thread already, but has anyone playtested Vikingr yet? Are there any barriers to running a game yet or is it just no one has gotten around to doing it yet?

Just realized I doubled up on the Weapon Overview section. Today is not my day.


Someone here is planning a playtest for this weekend.

IIRC she took a tone of CGMA master academy and schoolism courses on fast painting.

Since the /co/ thread is dead as shit. Can I ask you guys something?

Does anyone feel...as if the writing has gone a little downhill lately?

I agree with the other thread - the only real disappointment of this chapter was Emil and Lalli not talking more, though I think that'll be happening in Chapter 18.

Where do you think the writing's gone downhill? I love exploring more of the world and seeing more dream-stuff, so I might not be the best judge of the writing.

Let me clarify before I begin that I still love SSSS and how Veeky Forums finally is starting to appreciate this comic.(I'm like the only one of 4 people in the fandom that uses this place freq.)

I mean. My biggest issues right now is that the characters are kinda getting static IMO and any kind of nuance that they could progress to is being hindered by the constant new developments that Minna throws at us.

Take the lucid dream. Perfect place for 3 possible things to happen that IMO would be good developments.

1.Emil and Lalli discuss and introspect. Causing development. Nuances in their relationship occur. Ergo change.
2.Lalli sees some of emils backstory and feels sympathy because he can relate to not having parents in his life
3.We learn about emils past and what happened to his father

There would have been great developments for the comic to occur because not only has a character died but IIRC we are 3/4 the way through this story arc in itself. So this is a good time for change to occur.rather that we get Lalli inside of his head and a slight tease about Emil's past.

I personally think that Minna can still do it next chapter. There is hope that nuance can be overcome. I just hope that it is overcome.

But that's just like.My opinion man.

I think with Lalli and Emil now being able to speak, we are going to get some info on Emil and Lalli's pasts. I especially want to see if Lalli has always been like this and what his grandmother was like

>yfw you realize that just like there are nordic organized survivors in the ssss world; there probably are chilean/argentinean patagonians; canadian/american; russian/siberian survivor societies as well

There have been speculative maps on these threads about which places would survive.

Upper Alaska and the neighboring Russia has been suggested and the comic also references mountains in China.

You think I should give the players a vehicle on the first few expeditions?

Depends - they pretty much need one if they're exploring in Denmark or Germany. Maybe not if they're exploring mainland Scandinavia. All the areas around Copenhagen have been picked clean, so you need a vehicle to find (and keep) fresh loot.

In the contacts section you mention that the contacts have 2 stats: Dedication and ability.
Are these leveled separately?
If so, what does a, let's say, a 3 in Dedication and a 0 in Ability of a contact actually mean?

Also are the costs for new and improved sigils and runos somewhere or are they still underwork?

These are leveled separately - a Contact with 3 Dedication and 0 Ability means that the Contact is likely a family member or good friend with 0 skill in their chosen profession.

Not sure how to represent this mechanically, but I have an idea: I think Contacts should make a roll to determine if they can procure the desired results for the player, and their dice pool is made from their Dedication and Ability, with Dedication acting as a multiplier. For example, if they have a Dedication of 3 and an Ability of 2, they'll roll 6 total dice.

The Hit Thresholds can be rolled against multiple times, with each roll consisting of a week of effort.

Thoughts?

Sounds good.

One part I'm not sure about is the stunning wounds against Finnish Mages from their Luonto.
3 Days basically away from the table can get very boring very fast, though I don't know how to balance this with the inherent swinginess of spells.

They are still very much under construction.

Based on how often Encounters usually happen in the Silent World, 3 in-game days of healing means a half-session missed at most. Encounters don't happen every single day, and it takes a lot of time to crawl through the ruins of the Old World. Also, Noita can still do Dreamworld stuff while they're out.

Still looking for additional suggestions.

>Two Week Break.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Has anyone said anything about the Himalayas, Nepal, or Tibet? I feel like they're distant enough to avoid the worst of the Rash, there's plenty of Mountain Cats and Buddhist magic to play with.

I put yellow circles there and in other places for potential locations I've considered, but lack detailed information to place survivors in.

Mackinaw Island in Lake Michigan and some islands in the Puget Sound would also make excellent places of refuge.

They'd need to expand some in the years following the rash, but survival is plausible.

Mackinac/Mackinaw Island
>492 residents and as many as 15,000 tourists per day during peak season
Seeing as the outbreak starts going into winter they might stand a chance since tourism season would be long over. The great lakes can get shitty weather, though this year isn't the best example with all this warm weather.

Rough terrain, low population, forests, and cold winter weather. It seems to fit the bill.

Things against it that I can see:
-Airport (1,070 m paved runway) and daily charter air service from the mainland
-busy shipping lane

Overall I give it a thumbs up. They stand a far better chance than many. Aside from people on boats looking for refuge the biggest infection vectors I can think of would be bats and beavers.

>Puget Sound
Whoever made this map agrees with you.

System-user here, anyone got ideas for Finnish spells, Negative Qualities, or Mixed Qualities? I'm drawing a bit of blank at the moment.

Finish Spells seem to require a vocal element or such. Do remember that Finish magic-work is done through "runo" (literally a plea to spirits and Gods for aid against Evil), so trying to reflect that nature of their mage-craft is important.

I got that, I'm just at a loss for specific spells to include.

I've only just gotten to the point where Lalli and Tuuri have been recruited myself (you(?) provided me with a link to it earlier in the thread) but it seems like magic plays more of a supportive or secondary role instead of direct one like a lot of classic D&D style spells. If I'm on the right track about that then it's similar to how most of the spells in Serpent in the Staglands work. Might be worth looking into for inspiration and ideas.

Well, as you'll learn throughout the course of the comic, magic plays a lot of roles, but for Vikingr, the two mage schools focus on different aspects of casting.

Seiður (Icelandic Mages) are designed to be experts of Battlefield Mastery, and function better in a supporting role, though they can focus themselves to be personal powerhouses if they build themselves right.

Noita (Finnish Mages) are more traditional, D&D-style casters that are good at dealing direct damage, changing the weather, and navigating the wilds.

Going to bed, but I'm happy to say I got a lot of stuff done today. Even managed to start on Galdrastafur, and learned about the horrifying Icelandic magic that is 'necropants', or, wearing the skin a dead man's legs and stuffing a galdrastafir in the scrotum, which will then generate infinite money.

I think I'm going to have to change this one a bit.