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Topics - Journey

Pages: [1]
1
Graveyard / Penumbra PBF - In Character
« on: December 18, 2009, 15:06 »
Maiden of the Dark


Somewhere in the Outer Rim, a black ship floated in deep space.  You would be hard-pressed to spot it, unless you noticed where its silhouette blocked the stars.  It was here a new group of rebels were congregating, with plans to strike at the Galactic Empire.  How would the ecletic group of beings get along?  How would they work together; would they come together as a well-oiled team?  And how would they fare in the dangerous missions to come?



"Welcome to the Half Shadow, fellow pilots."  The human male addressing your group in the pilot briefing room did not have any particularly distinctive features, a man of medium stature with brown hair and eyes and a small moustache.  "I'm General Salem, in charge of the starfighters on this ship.  I'm glad all of you have joined us on this task force, as we have important missions to perform as the Alliance moves forward to restore the Republic.  But make no mistake.  You have volunteered for some of the most dangerous jobs in the galaxy.  Our task force will be tackling unorthodox problems and engaging in deep strikes into the heart of the Empire, and most of the time we'll be unsupported.  So train hard, and learn to work with your wingmates, as all of you truly need to be at your best, to survive, and succeed.  Tomorrow, squadron evaluation and training will begin, so make the most of the rest of your day.  Send any communications you would like to make, as the comm blackout begins tomorrow.  Get to know your fellow pilots, as you'll need to rely on them.  Keep your commlink with you at all times when you're on the ship, in case anything comes up.  Dismissed."

With that, the pilots in the room broke into motion, doing various things.  Some began conversing, while others moved to the room's exits.  A rather young lady started to speak to the General, perhaps she was his XO.  Some of you looked at your datapads to learn more about the areas of the ship you could access as pilots:

Pilots' Quarters
- the pilots' personal rooms, and a place to sleep
Pilots' Mess Hall
- where to eat
Pilots' Lounge
- a social area for pilots - includes a bar, a holoprojector, jukebox, sabaac cards, holotables, and other recreational equipment
Pilots' Briefing Room
- where you currently are, usually the place where missions were given
Starboard Hangar Bay
- where your ships were currently parked
Aft Hangar Bay
- another place for starfighters and other small craft
Armory
- storage of personal weapons and useful equipment, much larger than the armories of most ships in the Alliance Navy
Personal Lockers
- lockers around the ship you can use to store your own things, most pilots were assigned two:  once close to their assigned hangar bay, and one close to their quarters
Medical Center
- the place to recover from injuries and have checkups
Simulator Area
- full of starfighter simulators where pilots train and are evaluated
Gym
- a place for physical training, with a comprehensive set of equipment
Library
- contains a small selection of holovids and datacards: for entertainment instruction, or information

There was also an order on the datapad:

Penumbra Squadron pilots - meet [tomorrow] at 0900 hours at the Pilots' Briefing room for our first squadron meeting.  Be fit and ready to fly.  We will go through some sim tests and squadron assignments will be finalized. - Commander Ittek.

2
Requests For Features / Recalling level special messages
« on: December 13, 2009, 17:05 »
Sometimes it would be useful when a player is in the middle of a level to be able to review what special messages appeared when entering that level.  If the player has played long enough on that level, these messages are no longer accessible in the log.

(Additionally, when the log reaches a certain amount of messages, it seems the entire log is emptied, rather than the more useful behavior of preserving most of the log by bumping one message off the top of the log to make room for the new one.)

3
Graveyard / Penumbra Squad (Star Wars Pilots/Agents!) PBF
« on: December 09, 2009, 23:10 »
A second Star Wars PBF based on the Cortex system will soon grace the forum.  You will all be part of a secret Rebel squad of starfighter pilots and agents operating in the time shortly after the Battle of Endor.  (Think Wraith Squadron, but far less lucky.)  General Cracken (not Starfighter Command!) will have many missions for you in the time to come, and perhaps other adventures will arise as well!  But things won't be easy.  The average lifespan of a starfighter pilot is rather short, and the risks for covert operatives is just as great.  However, those that succeed will find themselves accomplishing tasks that no others are capable of.  Will this group of people learn to work together to become a highly coordinated thorn in the Empire's side?  Or will they fragment and be crushed under the Empire's heel?

Rather than claiming spots, please simply post your character sheets and backgrounds, and I will select the most appropriate ones for the campaign.  Two spots are currently reserved, and I'm hoping for 4-6 players.  A significantly lower priority will be given to those who have been/are players in the other Star Wars PBF here.

Player Characters will start off as "Elites" under Cortex rules (54 attributes, 74 skill, and 8 asset):  please create a character that will be able to competently fly starfighters (one of X-wing, Y-wing, or A-wing), and also contribute to a covert operations team (running missions such as infiltration, sabotage, raiding, and information gathering).  If you take any of the strong, unusual assets (Talented, Force Sensitive, Cybernetic, etc.) or any non-military ability at high levels (d10+) your backstory needs to convincingly explain why they fit your character.  Keep in mind your GM isn't particularly fond of improbable coincidences or characters who are somehow better than the main characters of the Star Wars itself.

Interesting complications can lead to loads of plot points during the game.  And originality is valued highly, as long as it isn't ridiculous.  If you leave a gaping vulnerability in your character in order to pump up some other aspect of him/her, be prepared to suffer for it.  A cohesive set of stats, traits and skills along with a well written backstory will be looked upon more highly than a finely tuned, high powered character.

Some extras on top of the Cortex system specifically for Star Wars play:

Twi'lek race trait package:
Male (0): Ugly d4 (to non-twi'leks), Fragile d4, Enhanced Communication (lekku) d4, Fast On you Feet d2, Lighting Reflexes d2
Female (+4): Allure d4 (to non-twi'leks), Fragile d4, Enhanced Communication (lekku) d4, Fast On you Feet d2, Lighting Reflexes d2, Lightweight d4

Wookie race trait package (0):
All: Brawler d4, Formidable presence d4, Sure footed d2, Natural weapon d2 (claws), Tough d4, Anger issues d4, Impaired communication d8 (can't speak human languages), Gullible d6, Duty (can't use claws) d2

Feel free to play another species as well - put together a package that makes sense, as we haven't fleshed out trait packages for most species yet.

Assets:
I'll bet you have: d4 - as long as you have a blaster holstered, you have the blaster drawn! Simply, if you are equipped with a weapon, drawing it takes you no time, unless GM deems otherwise.

Your mind powers will not work on me, boy: d6 - be it due to alien physiology, mental conditioning, or simply extraordinary will prowess, you gain +5 skill steps trying to resist Force enforced mind tricks


To be honest I wasn't going to have any Force using player characters - but if your backstory really dazzles me, here's how they fit in:

Asset
Force Sensitive (d2+): You were born with midichlorian count high enough to use the mysterious Force. You may buy Force Training skill as per normal rules. This asset has no direct influence on gameplay, but Force Training skill can not exceed it, so if you have Force Sensitive d8, you can not train yourself in Force usage above d8, until you improve your raw power, represented by this asset.

Skills:
Force Training: It represents how well can you manipulate the Force, how much can you get of it, and how successfully you will be. Unspecialised, it allow for basic telekinesis, mind tricks etc. More complicated uses (Force Healing, Force Lighting and so on) require you to acquire a proper specialization for this skill. For the purposes of character creation, this asset is capped at d8, which is level of new knights.

Lightsaber Combat: specialization of melee weapon combat. Self-explanatory. Cannot exceed the level of Force Sensitive.


If you decide to have a loyal astromech companion, it will cost you only d6 in Assets for a Novice-level sidekick (rather than the usual d12), as everyone else will get a generic astromech for free.
A custom, modified starfighter will also be available for d6 in Assets, but how this works has not been fully decided yet.

This campaign will include new, experimental game mechanics on top of the Cortex system especially for space combat.  These will be detailed as they are finalized, and are subject to change if they suck.

PM for a link to the Cortex rulebook if you're interested but don't have access to it yet.

4
Nightmare! / [N!/56%/AoMC/YAVP]
« on: October 30, 2009, 13:02 »
--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.9) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Travels, level 12 Cacodemon Sergeant Major, defeated the Cyberdemon
 on level 25 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 38270 turns and scored 455736 points.
 He played for 57 minutes and 35 seconds.
 He opposed the Nightmare!

 He killed 602 out of 1069 hellspawn. (56%)
 He was an Angel of Max Carnage!


-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------

  UAC Star (gold cluster)
  Minor Icarus Cross
  Destroyer Silver Badge
  Destroyer Gold Badge
  Destroyer Platinum Badge
  Destroyer Diamond Badge

-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------

  ###########################################################
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #.....###.......................###........................
  #.....###.......................###........###.............
  #.....###.......................###........###.............
  #.............###..........................###.............
  #.............###..................................###.....
  #.............###............###...................###.....
  #....###.....................###...................###.....
  #....###.....................###.......###.................
  #....###...............................###.................
  #..........................||..........###.................
  #.............###..........}|.......................###....
  #.............###..X###.............................###....
  #.............###...###...##........................###....
  #...................###...###..............................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  ###########################################################

-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------

  Health 77/50   Experience 61750/12
  ToHit Ranged +16  ToHit Melee +16  ToDmg Ranged +3  ToDmg Melee +3

-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------

    Finesse          (Level 1)
    Hellrunner       (Level 2)
    Son of a bitch   (Level 3)
    Eagle Eye        (Level 2)
    Intuition        (Level 2)
    Triggerhappy     (Level 1)
    Cateye           (Level 1)

  EE->EE->Int->Int->SoB->SoB->TH->MCe->SoB->Fin->HR->HR->

-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------

    [a] [ Armor      ]   nothing
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [5/40]
    [c] [ Boots      ]   modified steel boots [1/1] (64%) (A)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   modified plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [40/40] (T1)

-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------

    [a] advanced rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1]
    [b] power cell (x13)
    [c] power cell (x50)
    [d] power cell (x50)
    [e] power cell (x50)
    [f] power cell (x50)
    [g] power cell (x50)
    [h] power cell (x50)
    [i] power cell (x50)
    [j] large med-pack
    [k] large med-pack
    [l] large med-pack
    [m] large med-pack
    [n] large med-pack
    [o] large med-pack
    [p] large med-pack
    [q] large med-pack
    [r] thermonuclear bomb
    [s] thermonuclear bomb
    [t] agility mod pack

-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------

    103 former humans
    75 former sergeants
    41 former captains
    125 imps
    26 demons
    48 lost souls
    4 cacodemons
    12 barons of hell
    1 Cyberdemon
    24 hell knights
    81 arachnotrons
    9 former commandos
    5 pain elementals
    8 arch-viles
    13 mancubi
    27 revenants

-- History ---------------------------------------------------

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 9 he found the Blaster!
  On level 16 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
  He fled the Unholy Cathedral seeing no chance to win.
  On level 21 he entered the Vaults.
  He came, he saw, but he left.
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.

-- Messages --------------------------------------------------

 Fire -- Choose target...
 
 Fire -- Choose target...
 
 You reload the plasma rifle with power cell.
 Fire -- Choose target...
 
 Fire -- Choose target...
 
 Fire -- Choose target...
 
 Fire -- Choose target...
 
 Fire -- Choose target...
   You hear the scream of a freed soul! Congratulations! You defeated the

-- General ---------------------------------------------------

 Before him 90 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 82 of those were killed.
 1 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 2 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 5 souls claim to have killed him...
 5 killed the bastard and survived.

--------------------------------------------------------------
I screwed this up - there was an invulnerability globe floor 24 and I let a Mancubus blow it up...sigh.  Could've gotten a double diamond game.

Arachnotron caves are so much more dangerous in .9.9.  Doubly so on N!  Triply so on AoMC.  Quadruply so when you have no defensive traits.  I must have seen half a dozen of them.  No pain elemental caves though, fortunately.

A mere former captain can kill you from just about full health in 2 salvos, dangerous.  Arachnotrons?  Hah.

5
This is of secondary importance, but it could be useful to have a button that cycles between visible targets, if there are more than one.  Press this key, and the aiming reticle is automatically switched to perhaps the next-closest one, but in any case will cycle through all targets visible as the button is repeatedly pressed.

6
Requests For Features / Follow-up on aiming interface.
« on: October 22, 2009, 22:51 »
Refer to this topic: http://forum.chaosforge.org/index.php/topic,2047.0.html

The changes in .9.9 on how the default position of the aiming reticle is somewhat of an improvement, but doesn't solve the problem it was supposed to, as the position is not saved when aiming into the dark (such as around corners), which was the driving force behind the proposal in the first place.

However, to remove any ambiguity, here's what I propose:

if there's an enemy in sight:
  if previously_fired_at is of type enemy AND that enemy is in view:
    aim at that enemy
  else:
    aim at closest enemy
else:
  if previously_fired_at is none:
    aim at player
  else:
    if previously_fired_at is of type barrel and that barrel is destroyed:
      aim at player
    else:
      aim at previously_fired_at


if the player moves:
  previously_fired_at = none
if the player reloads:
  keep previously_fired_at the same


The major ideas here:
1) If an enemy is in view, don't use what the player previously aimed at, at all - simply follow normal enemy aim behavior.
2) If the player aims at and destroys a barrel, presume that the player's intention is fulfilled and don't remember where the player aimed at.
3) Otherwise, aim at where the player previously fired, REGARDLESS of whether the position is in the player's line of sight or not.

7
Nightmare! / [N!/AoMs/25/YASD] Why was the BFG changed in .9.9?
« on: October 22, 2009, 21:39 »
--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.9) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Travels, level 13 Cacodemon Sergeant Major, killed by a Cyberdemon
 on level 25 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 47348 turns and scored 424716 points.
 He played for 1 hour, 17 minutes and 51 seconds.
 He opposed the Nightmare!

 He killed 815 out of 1257 hellspawn. (64%)
 He was an Angel of Masochism!


-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------

  UAC Star (gold cluster)

-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------

  ###########################################################
  #...............X..........................................
  #..........................................................
  #...........................###............................
  #...........................##.............................
  #...........................#..............................
  #..........................................................
  #.......................................................###
  #...............C..........................###..........###
  #............###...........................###..........###
  #............###.............##............###.............
  #.............#..............###...........................
  #................................................###.......
  #................................................###.......
  #.........................................###....###....###
  #........###..............................##............###
  #........#>#............................................###
  #........###...............................................
  #..........................................................
  ###########################################################

-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------

  Health -8/50   Experience 78272/13
  ToHit Ranged +4  ToHit Melee +4  ToDmg Ranged +3  ToDmg Melee +3

-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------

    Finesse          (Level 2)
    Hellrunner       (Level 2)
    Son of a bitch   (Level 3)
    Eagle Eye        (Level 2)
    Intuition        (Level 2)
    Triggerhappy     (Level 1)
    Cateye           (Level 1)

  EE->SoB->EE->SoB->SoB->Int->Int->TH->MCe->Fin->Fin->HR->HR->

-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------

    [a] [ Armor      ]   modified red armor [4/4] (144%) (B)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [0/40]
    [c] [ Boots      ]   modified protective boots [1/2] (44%) (A)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   modified chaingun (1d6)x4 [40/40] (T1)

-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------

    [a] modified rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1] (T1)
    [b] modified plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [0/40] (T1)
    [c] modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [0/130] (B1)
    [d] modified blue armor [2/2] (100%) (A)
    [e] blue armor [2/2] (100%)
    [f] modified red armor [4/4] (186%) (B)
    [g] Malek's Armor [3/3] (100%)
    [h] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [i] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [j] 10mm ammo (x26)
    [k] rocket (x3)
    [l] power cell (x50)
    [m] power cell (x50)
    [n] power cell (x12)
    [o] phase device

-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------

    103 former humans
    105 former sergeants
    64 former captains
    157 imps
    71 demons
    89 lost souls
    50 cacodemons
    35 barons of hell
    31 hell knights
    23 arachnotrons
    8 former commandos
    8 pain elementals
    16 arch-viles
    24 mancubi
    31 revenants

-- History ---------------------------------------------------

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 4 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 11 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  On level 16 he found the Malek's Armor!
  On level 16 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
  He fled the Unholy Cathedral seeing no chance to win.
  On level 21 he entered the Vaults.
  He came, he saw, but he left.
  On level 23 he entered the Lava Pits.
  He decided it was too hot there.
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  On level 25 he finally was killed by a Cyberdemon.

-- Messages --------------------------------------------------

 missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The
 missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile
 hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile
 hits the Cyberdemon.
 Chain fire (full) -- Choose target or abort...
   The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The
 missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The
 missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile
 hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile
 hits the Cyberdemon.
 Chain fire (full) -- Choose target or abort...
   The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The
 missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The
 missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile
 hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon

-- General ---------------------------------------------------

 Before him 83 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 75 of those were killed.
 1 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 2 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 5 souls claim to have killed him...
 5 killed the bastard and survived.

--------------------------------------------------------------
So I've struggled mightily and managed to make it to floor 25 with the BFG, ample cells, and intuition to boot.  With the old BFG behavior - guaranteed win.  Except to my horror, the BFG is just a bigger rocket launcher now...what the heck?  If I had known the BFG no longer hit where you aimed, I would have managed my experience points more carefully to come to cybie with 200% health, not 84%.

One of the unique useful features that set the BFG apart from other weapons - gone.  I probably wouldn't have risked the Halls of Carnage if I had known the BFG couldn't be aimed this way anymore.  On AoMs/AoP, unlike other modes, the Halls of Carnage are a risk without envirosuits.  This missing BFG ability also made it very useful against crowds, since you could aim anywhere, such as in the middle of a monster pack even if there was no monster there, rather than having to rely on a wall, or hoping to succeed on your accuracy roll while aiming at a creature which might not actually be in the ideal spot to begin with.

8
Requests For Features / Include a message for N! corpse revival?
« on: October 15, 2009, 23:30 »
Right now when an Archvile revives an enemy in sight, we get a message (which we can give a very eye-catching color so we won't miss it as we play), is it possible for the same to be applied to a non-Archvile revival in N!?

Next version of course.

9
Off Topic / Another Doom-derived game in its early stages
« on: October 13, 2009, 05:32 »
It looks like someone has decided to make a tactics game based on doom, called creatively enough, 'Doom Tactics'.

http://www.doomtactics.com/about.php

Still very very early, I wonder how it'll turn out.

10
The '@' screen can provide a wealth of information, but it seems sometimes that information isn't complete.  For example, it doesn't provide information for dual reloading or any other special reload, among other things, and it seems that it doesn't take into account Eagle Eye.

If possible, please add that information to the @ screen, as well as hit chance at maximum range (please!), and alternate fire information if that hasn't been accounted for already.

11
I'm glad there's a lot of new features to look forward to, such as more uniques, badges, a new rank system, and such, but perhaps more development could be done on more enemy variety, level layouts, and such?  Although I suppose if the game's supposed to stay faithful to the source material perhaps not that much remains to be added.

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