Rip we need you

[Rip]

(sample of play)

"Doom does not set aside his time for trifles, Modred. Speak your piece, and do try to surprise me."

Modred the Mystic gathered his enchanted viridian cloak about himself, though it did not seem to be from the chill of the flagstones here in Castle Doom. Indeed, Doom had noted the eldritch energies practically seeping from the old mage as soon as he had crossed the Latverian border; it was not like Modred to appear this pallid and powerful, unless of course his old master...

"I will not treat with you as if I were some lowly fortune teller from your gypsy hordes come to grovel at your feet, Doom. You have guessed why I am here, and your wasting time is not what drives me." Modred pointedly ignored Doom's tightening grip on the arms of his throne as he continued, a blacker-than-black sheen slowly growing over his eyes, "Strange has not been active in many months. The walls are thinning. Soon, very soon now, someone will take the opportunity. You know as well as I do that my master, Great Chthon, deserves this plane. Serve him, as I do, and turn your earthly resources to his will, and all that you have striven for, and all that you have failed to gain, will be yours."

The air practically crackled with electric tension as Doom slowly rose from his throne. His voice was low and steady as he glowered down at Modred, eldritch power popping and hissing to punctuate his words, "Your decades of bowing and scraping have finally ground away that fetid dungpile in your skull, Modred. You have truly forgotten your place: Doom. Serves. No one."

Doctor Doom
AFFILIATIONS:
Solo - d10, Buddy - d8, Team - d6

DISTINCTIONS:
Doom's Genius Knows No Equals!
Failure is for Lesser Beings
Ruler of Latveria

POWER SETS:
Behold The Genius of Doom!
d10 Superhuman Strength
d10 Superhuman Durability
d10 Energy Blast
d6 Cybernetic Senses

SFX: Always Prepared. Spend a 1 PP to step up a Tech Master stunt or resource and recover mental or emotional stress.
SFX: Impervious Force Field. Spend 1 PP to ignore physical stress or trauma.
SFX: Multipower. Add more than one Behold the Genius of Doom! power die to a pool. Step back each Behold the Genius of Doom! power die in that pool once for each die beyond the first.
SFX: Plans within Plans. When using a Behold the Genius of Doom! power to create assets, add a d6 and step up the effect die.
SFX: Versatile. Split Energy Blast into 2d8 or 3d6.
SFX: You Are Not Worthy of Doom! Spend 2d8 from the doom pool and reveal that the heroes have been fighting a Doombot instead of the real Dr. Doom.
Limit: Epic Arrogance. Step up the lowest die in the doom pool or add a d6 doom die to step up emotional stress from opponents that offend or otherwise anger Dr. Doom.

The Indomitable Will of Doom!
d10 Master Sorcery
d10 Psychic Resistance

SFX: Iron Will. Split Psychic Resistance into 2d8 or 3d6.
SFX: Practiced Ritualist. When inflicting a magical complication on a target, add a d6 and step up the effect die.
Limit: Conscious Activation. While stressed out, asleep, or unconscious, shutdown Master Sorcery. Recover that stress or wake up to recover that Master Sorcery. If physical trauma received, shutdown Master Sorcery until trauma recovered.

SPECIALTIES:
d10 Mystic Master
d10 Science Master
d10 Menace Master
d10 Medical Master
d10 Tech Master
d8 Combat Expert
d8 Psyche Expert
d8 Business Expert
d8 Crime Expert
d8 Psych Expert


Modred the Mystic (Empowered by Chthon)
AFFILIATIONS:
Solo - d10, Buddy - d8, Team - d6

DISTINCTIONS:
Magician Out of Time
Seeker of the Darkhold
Unwilling Servant of The Great Shadow

POWER SETS:
Disciple of Great Chthon
d10 Supreme Sorcery
d10 Mystic Blast
d10 Mystic Resistance
d10 Transmutation
d8 Enhanced Durability
d8 Telepathy

SFX: Eldritch Invocations. When creating magical assets or complications, add a d6 and step up your effect die.
SFX: Area Attack. Against multiple targets, for every additional target add a d6 and keep an additional effect die.
SFX: Multipower. Add more than one Disciple of the Ancient One power to your pool. Step back each Disciple of the Ancient One die in your pool once for each die beyond the first.
Limit: The Extent of Sorcery. When you add Supreme Sorcery to any pool, you may only create assets and complications as your effect.

SPECIALTIES:
d10 Mystic Master
d10 Cosmic Master
d8 Combat Expert
d8 Psyche Expert
d8 Menace Expert

Okily Dokily! The way the game works is that you look at the situation, think about what you think your character would do, check out your sheet and roll the dice, trying with each roll to get both a high total number (to beat either a resisting opponent or The Doom Pool [fate itself]) and a high effect die category to represent the Effect of your attempt, if successful. Your dice pool is assembled by taking one die from each category on your character sheet that is appropriate to the roll. In this way, your actions are very open-ended indeed.

I've ruled that both characters start with a single Plot Point, and since Doom got the last word, Modred will act first. Nothing too subtle here: he's going to launch a blast of mystic energy right at the enraged Doom and hope to catch him off guard! He first declares his action (blast 'im!) and assembles his dice pool.

He'll be acting alone, so he gets a d10 for Modred's Solo AFFILIATION. DISTINCTIONS always offer a d8, unless you choose to represent them as Negative traits, in which case you get a d4 + 1 Plot Point, which can be used for a variety of effects. In this case, Modred is using "Magician Out Of Time" to positively represent his skill with mystic blasts, so he takes a d8 and declines the 1 PP. Modred gets one die from his Disciple of Chthon POWER SET, and he naturally chooses the d10 Mystic Blast to represent his mystic blast. Note that his SFX, Multipower, allows Modred to use more than one die from this Power Set as an exception to the rule. We're keeping it simple now, so he declines for now. Lastly, Modred gets to add a SPECIALTY, and he chooses Combat Master for a final d10.

Modred's pool is now 1d10, 1d8, 1d10, 1d10 (Affiliation, Distinction, Power Set, Specialty). He rolls, and gets the following result: d10 - 3, d8 - 8, d10 - 7, d10 - 5. He needs to choose two dice for his total, and one die for his Effect. He adds the 8 from his d8 and the 7 from one of his d10s together for an attack total of 15, and he keeps the d10 that rolled a 3 as his Effect. The number rolled on the Effect die does not matter. Therefore, Modred blasts at Doctor Doom with an Attack Total of 15, d10 Effect. If successful, Modred is hoping to do a d10 worth of Physical Damage to Doctor Doom (we'll get to Health later; just know that in this game, there are no categories above d12).

Doctor Doom now gets to react to Modred's attack. Every action faces a reaction, either from the target or from The Doom Pool. In this case, Victor gets to use his own powers to resist and, hopefully, overcome Modred's assault. He looks over his character sheet and applies the following relevant dice to his pool:

Doom is acting solo, so he gets a d10 to start. Failure is for Lesser Beings is chosen to be a d8. Doom has two Power Sets so, if he can justify it, he can add one die from each to his pool. From Behold the Genius of Doom!, Victor adds his Superhuman Durability and from The Indomitable Will of Doom! he adds his Master Sorcery, representing Doom's armor and its magickal defenses for two d10s. As this is clearly a wizard's duel, Doom opts to use his Mystic Master Specialty for yet another d10, giving the ruler of Latveria a final dice pool of 1d10, 1d8, 1d10, 1d10, 1d10.

He rolls, and gets the following: 1d10 - 1, 1d8 - 4, 1d10 - 7, 1d10 - 6, 1d10 - 3. Poor luck for the monarch!

Rolling a 1 on any Dice results in an "opportunity". If rolled by a Player, then The Watcher (yours truly) can choose to "buy the opportunity" for 1 Plot Point. This means the Player gets 1 PP, and the Watcher gets to add a d6 to the Doom Pool, which opposes all actions and aids villains. In this way, your mistakes contribute to the overall Doom in this story, but give you a little boost as well. If The Watcher or a Villain rolls a 1, then Players can activate Power Set SFXs that take advantage of this, or add to their Effect die or stunts (which we can go over more later). Regardless, any die that rolls a 1 is "canceled", and cannot be used for the action.

This means that the best Doctor Doom can hope for is a total of 13, with an Effect die of d10. This means that Modred has beaten him with his total of 15, and would apply his Effect die as a d10 of Physical Stress to Doctor Doom...except that the good doctor has that single Plot Point in his possession, and spends it now to activate his Impervious Force Field SFX under his Behold the Genius of Doom! Power Set...negating the Physical Stress!

Doom grits his teeth as the eldritch energies collide and dissipate against his armor's crackling mystical defense array, flickering with strain; it is not like Modred to wield this level of power, and for the first time today, Victor raises an eyebrow in concern....

[Rip]

Health, Stress, and Trauma
Each character has three Health Tracks: Physical (representing owies), Mental (representing confusion, lack of concentration, mental fatigue, but mostly psychic assault), and Emotional (psyched out, depressingly devastated, blinded by fear, overcome with irrational rage, etc). Each track starts at 0 and increases by Die rating to d4, d8, d10, and d12; anything that steps your Stress, of any kind, up beyond the d12 level results in your character being "Stressed out" of the scene. You incur Trauma of the type you incurred over d12, and you must wait until a Transition Scene to try to recover...unless you have any ally present who can heal you somehow, stepping your Stress down and shaking you out of it.

As you might have gathered, you do this damage to an opponent or have it done to you through the application of an Effect die after a successful roll. In the example above, if Doctor Doom had not had a Plot Point to spend, he would have taken d10 Physical Damage, and be just two steps away from being stressed out of the fight. In this same situation, what if Modred had landed another successful hit over Doom's reaction total in another subsequent turn, and only had a d8 Effect die to apply? It would step Doom's Stress up by one, to level d12. One more successful hit would do it, unless Doom could heal somehow.

Clearly, Plot Points are important. So

Plot Points
Before you roll, Plot Points may be spent to…
- Push your dice pool with a d6 (basically, turn your 1PP into a generic 1d6 for a roll, representing your hero trying extra hard).
- Add in an extra die from a trait group (i.e., two powers from a Power Set, or two Distinctions, or two Specialties, etc.).
- Add a stunt die for your Power Set or Specialty (basically, describe something really cool, base it off a Power Set or Specialty trait, spend 1PP, get an extra d8 for one action).
- Activate certain special effects (SFX) in a Power Set (detailed on your character sheet if applicable).

After you roll, Plot Points may be spent to…
- Add an extra die from your roll to your total (instead of adding 2 dice together, spend 1PP to add a third!).
- Keep an extra effect die (want to hit two guys with the same attack, or otherwise affect more than one thing? spend 1PP to keep an unused die for an extra Effect!)
- Activate an opportunity rolled by the Watcher. (fuck, I rolled a 1! if someone wants to spend a Plot Point, they get to do cool stuff now [detailed below])
- Activate certain special effects (SFX) in a Power Set (detailed on your character sheet if applicable).
- Use an effect die from a reaction roll (the coolest: if someone attacks you, and you get a higher total than them on your Reaction, you can spend 1 Plot Point to apply your Effect die back at your attacker!).
- Change stress you’ve taken to another type (about to be Physically stressed out by that next blast, but you have a Plot Point? Spend it to change the Physical Stress you're taking now to Emotional, representing fear at how bad the battle is suddenly going, and stave off the reaper long enough to make a comeback!).

During a Transition Scene, Plot Points may be spent to…
- Add a resource die linked to a Specialty that lasts until the end of the next Action Scene: d6 for Expert, d8 for Master (Ex: Kitty Pryde has a d8 Tech Expert Specialty, meaning that during a Transition Scene when everyone else is healing, Kitty can spend 1PP to add a d6 Tech Device of some kind that she can use throughout the next action scene)

Plot Points may be earned when you…
- Use a Distinction negatively (Ex: Hawkeye has the Distinction "Cocky Rogue"; it usually gives him a d8, but Zengus decides that Clint is playing a bit recklessly today, and opts to use it as a d4 instead for this next roll, earning him 1 Plot Point).
- Activate a Limit on a Power Set (Ex: Deadpool has the Limit "Gear" on his Toys For Boys Power Set, which lets him choose to shut down either his Weapon or his Teleporter dice to gain 1 Plot Point. cain decides that, on a whim, Wade wants to use fisticuffs like a gentleman against this tentacled horror, and has thrown away his sword(s). He gets 1PP but cannot use his Weapon d8 until he takes an action to get his sword back!)
- Have an Opportunity on your dice activated by the Watcher or another player to add to the doom pool (this just means you rolled a 1, biatch! You can't use that die for this roll, it's useless to you! But I'll buy it from you for a Plot Point to let me add it to the Doom Pool that I roll against you, and no, you can't choose whether I do this or not, haha.)

We should probably go over EXP or something too I guess eventually. Any questions/anything that needs clarification NOW because you're getting lost, let me know and I'll help out

[Inferno]

This sounds like a pretty neat system., but I'm confused about why damage is measured in dice.

[Rip]

Perhaps the best way to answer that is with a short sentence, followed by an Example!

Damage is measured in Dice Levels, because all Effects are measured that way. For Example, if Kitty Pryde wanted to hack through a Hellfire Club-installed security system, I'd rule that she'd need to get an Effect die of d12 to crack it, because it's a very complicated program (d12 is hard because it is the highest die level, but it's not the hardest I could have made it, as I could have asked for multiple dice). She gathers her dice pool (1d6 for going Solo, 1d8 for her "Whizkid" Distinction, no help from her Power Sets, but 1d8 for her Tech Expert) and rolls 1d6 - 6, 1d8 - 2, and 1d8 - 7. She chooses to use the d6 and the highest d8 for her total, giving her 13, and an Effect die of 1d8 (using the d8 that rolled a 2, because with Effect die, the number it rolled doesn't matter, just the level). I'll roll against her using the Doom Pool (Fate Itself), but let's say her 13 wins out. She applies a d8 against the Security System. It's not enough, as she needs a d12, but now she is at d8, meaning she's two levels away from beating the system. That's it for her action, though. On her next turn, she tries again, rolling the same dice, and getting a similar result: total 12, Effect die d8. This bumps her level up by one, so she has done d10 "damage" to the Security System, and is one more success away, provided her allies can keep her covered now that they know where she's accessing from..! Damage against opponents (and players) therefore works a similar way.

In addition to "Stressing Out" an opponent, though, you can also try to "Complicate them Out" by applying "Complication" Effects to them, stepping up that Complication much as you would Damage on subsequent attacks, and trying to get them out of the fight that way. Spider-Man's webbing is a great example, but it could also be Hawkeye using a Bolo Arrow to inflict an "All Tied Up" Complication on a Hydra foot soldier for later interrogation, or Ms. Marvel could use her Subsonic Flight power to fly circles around a H.A.M.M.E.R. pilot and impose a "Complicated Maneuvers - Stalling Out" Complication. Either could be stepped up on subsequent turns, like damage, to try to remove an opponent from combat...or targeted by the victim (or their allies!) for removal. If the Hydra Soldier spends an action to hack away at the bolo on his legs, for instance, he could try to use his Effect die to lower the level of Hawkeye's Effect, in effort to remove it completely.

An important thing to remember, however, which I have yet to bring up: any Stress or Complication die you have on you can be used by your opponent in every roll that targets you...and vice versa. Going all the way back to the Modred v Doom prologue, let's say Modred successfully landed that d10 Physical Stress on Doctor Doom. That means that in every subsequent roll made against Doom, Modred gets to use that d10 for free. Same would go for any additional Complications he has added with his Effect die, etc. Doom may get stuck in a situation where he is attacking his own Complications more than he is attacking his opponent!

[Inferno]

OK, that makes sense. How does the "bump up" mechanic work? d8 + d8 = d10, apparently. What other strange maths do you have in your bag of hats of rabbits? What is d6 + d8? Is d10 + d6 different from d6 + d10?

[Rip]

Yes, I feel I made that a bit too obtuse as well, and should have varied my examples more. BUT, basically, your first successful attack is where you start off, and you must build from there. Let's say your first hit could only land a d6 Effect die. Then, next turn, you succeed again and this time your Effect is a d10; it's bigger than your current Damage, so you move straight up to d10! Then next turn, you succeed AGAIN, because you're a lucky SOB, but only get a d6 Effect again. You apply this to the current d10, stepping it up to a d12. One more and your foe is out!

Similarly, let's say your first hit could only land a d6 Effect, and then next turn, you succeed again and get another d6 Effect. You step your d6 up to a d8. Then next turn, you succeed AGAIN, pissing me off, but still only get a d6 Effect. You apply this, and step up the d8 to a d10. You're slowly but surely getting there!

Stepping down works a similar way. Let's say you're in the heat of battle, and Ms. Marvel has taken a pretty devastating hit from The Abomination, putting her at d10 Physical Stress. Couple more shots and she's out, but Iron Fist has the ability to use his Stamina to Heal others. Samurai uses his action to roll against the Doom Pool, and comes out with a successful total (his 10 beat my 7, let's say) and a d6 Effect die. The d6 is not high enough to remove Ms. Marvel's Stress completely, but it DOES step it down a level; Ms. Marvel is now sitting at d8 Physical Stress. If Iron Fist had gotten a better Effect die to use, specifically a d10 or better, he could use it to wipe Ms. Marvel's d10 completely, as his Effect trumped her current level.

[Inferno]

OK, so

dn + dm = { dn if n > m ; d(m+2) otherwise }

And for the other way

dm - dn = { 0 if n > m ; d(m-2) otherwise }

Where dm is the current value and dn is the effect die being applied to it.

Makes sense.

[Rip]

That is exactly correct. The key thing to keep in mind is that this, and Plot Point management, is the entire game. If you want to do something, there should be a way to represent it with this mechanic. Basically, you should ask, "what can I do in this situation, and what Effect am I trying to have?" We then determine success by comparing Totals, and then measure that successful Effect on 1 - 6 level scale, whether it's bringing down a helicopter, punching a face, convincing a stranger, hiding from detection, scaring a mans, healing a pal, untying a captive, having your dragon set someone on fire, etc. etc. If you can justify the dice you can add them to your pool, and then it's just a matter of comparing Totals and Effect Levels against either the Doom Pool or an opposing character.

[Inferno]

So, mechanically, who is doing the rolls?

[Rip]

Ideally, you should be making all your rolls for your own character, and I should be rolling all opposing Doom Pool rolls and all Villains. Practically, I know that we can't all jaunt off to JarvisVisionUltronKevbot, so honestly, right now I'm feeling that we can work on the honor system and you guys can use your own online die rollers (or real life tactile dice!!!!!!!) and tell me what you got, and I'll do the same, keeping in mind that we're all trying to tell a story together, and the system itself practically encourages taking negatives to yourself to up the drama/Plot Points.

Of course once this falls apart I'll just start making everyone's rolls for them after like the first two sessions