PokeOps: Rift Stadium Brainstorming
Now that the semester has ended for me I have been considering promoting my Pokemon roleplaying board, Pokemon: Special Operations. I'm not sure how I should go about it exactly, but I'm sure it involves going to like-minded boards and advertising my board there. Of course getting them to come is one thing, but getting them to stay is another kettle of fish entirely. With a ruleset inspired by PokeWars! and the board itself inspired by Mega Man Crosswars, I set out to create a Pokedex for it but found I had no real drive to complete it. Now I'm thinking of adding something inspired by an aspect of Mega Man Crosswars that drew me in when I first arrived: The Reffed Arena. Since I don't have access to the data for it, though, I'll have to make my own Arena from scratch. I call it "Rift Stadium."
Now, you may notice that PokeOps has a Stadium forum already. That one is set up for free-form battling that essentially ends when someone gives up. Rift Stadium, like Reffed Arena, will use a stat-based combat system and a Game Master to determine a victor. Also unlike normal Stadium, this will have some form of continuity and maybe a storyline.
The first problem is coming up with stats. There are two systems I'm considering using and modifying. The first is the one that West End Games originally used for their Ghostbusters RPG. This one first asks the players to divide twelve points among four traits: Muscle (physical strength and endurance), Moves (speed, agility, accuracy, and perception), Brains (over-all intelligence), and Cool (grace under pressure), with each point representing how many dice they can roll when using said traits. Then for each trait they assign a talent, which can be anything as long as it fits the trait, which allows them three more dice when using that talent. For instance, if I had a Brains score of four, I could have an Occult Knowledge score of seven. Since this is all battle-based, though, I may do away with talents completely. Players are then given thirty Brownie Points, which, kinda like in the video game Killer 7, act as combination Health/Mana/Experience Points. I may do away with that, also.
The other system I'm considering is kinda the same thing as above, but with more points and Pokemon stats: Health, Speed, Physical Attack, Physical Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense. However, Speed may seems a little inconequential as turn order in Rift Stadium, like Reffed Arena before it, is more or less determined by who manages to post first. But I've already been kicking something around in my head that could make good use of Speed...
I call it the Momentum Meter. It has a minimum of zero, a maximum of 100, and all contenders start with fifty. At the beginning of each round, initiative is determined by rolling for each contender's Moves/Speed score. The highest roll gets a Momentum Bonus of Momentum Points equal to their Speed, but the lowest roll gets a Momentum Penalty and loses Momentum Points equal to their Speed. You can also gain your Speed score in Momentum Points by successfully damaging or casting spells on your opponent, but you can lose just as much by missing, failing spells, or getting damaged yourself. This is doubled for Critical Hits. Effects like Haste can earn you more Momentum per round, while effects like Slow or Paralyze can drain it. When your Momentum reaches zero, you become exhausted and can not act in the next round.
Momentum Points can also have other uses. For instance, you can spend them to buff attacks, perform extra actions, substitute for mana, or on Signature Attacks /Abilities. The default will be to multiply your Muscle/Attack by your Moves/Speed, and use that as the base stat of an attack, which may cost upwards of 50 Momentum Points. Using it too soon or too often can result in exhaustion. If you spend Momentum Points, you won't be able to gain them in that round or win the Momentum Bonus next round.
Something I assumed was unique to the Reffed Arena in Mega Man Crosswars is that, like the Blue Bomber that inspired the board, each character gets a Copy Unit that allows them to use the Signature Attacks/Abilities of fallen foes. This is alot like being a Blue Mage, which can copy the abilities of enemies. Since this will be on a Pokemon board, Rift Stadium will give each character a complementary Snag Machine. This device, featured in the Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness games, will allow players to capture certain enemies using PokeBalls, Dark Rings, Blank Cards, etc., and use them in later battles. I'm not sure how to implement their use just yet. Allowing each player to have a character's pet(s) fight along side them may make battles a tad character-heavy, while allowing the pets out for a single attack in any one round feels like I'm under-utilizing them. Maybe I'll find another solution, and I'll probably include a Beastmaster class anyway to specialize in their use. For the most part, I think giving your pet a command will cost Momentum Points.
Last, but not least, is the part of the Reffed Arena that most appelaed to me: the Hazard and Wyld Surge systems. These were events with random effects that could help or hinder or just be plain weird, sort of like Chance cards in Monopoly and other games, only crazier. One round you could recieve an e-mail consisting of twenty-seven random words, the next Kirby could show up and swallow everyone whose names begin with the letter "D." This is the part I most want to replicate. It adds a touch of insanity to an otherwise plain system. Its also the part that makes me think I shouldn't work on this alone...
Now, you may notice that PokeOps has a Stadium forum already. That one is set up for free-form battling that essentially ends when someone gives up. Rift Stadium, like Reffed Arena, will use a stat-based combat system and a Game Master to determine a victor. Also unlike normal Stadium, this will have some form of continuity and maybe a storyline.
The first problem is coming up with stats. There are two systems I'm considering using and modifying. The first is the one that West End Games originally used for their Ghostbusters RPG. This one first asks the players to divide twelve points among four traits: Muscle (physical strength and endurance), Moves (speed, agility, accuracy, and perception), Brains (over-all intelligence), and Cool (grace under pressure), with each point representing how many dice they can roll when using said traits. Then for each trait they assign a talent, which can be anything as long as it fits the trait, which allows them three more dice when using that talent. For instance, if I had a Brains score of four, I could have an Occult Knowledge score of seven. Since this is all battle-based, though, I may do away with talents completely. Players are then given thirty Brownie Points, which, kinda like in the video game Killer 7, act as combination Health/Mana/Experience Points. I may do away with that, also.
The other system I'm considering is kinda the same thing as above, but with more points and Pokemon stats: Health, Speed, Physical Attack, Physical Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense. However, Speed may seems a little inconequential as turn order in Rift Stadium, like Reffed Arena before it, is more or less determined by who manages to post first. But I've already been kicking something around in my head that could make good use of Speed...
I call it the Momentum Meter. It has a minimum of zero, a maximum of 100, and all contenders start with fifty. At the beginning of each round, initiative is determined by rolling for each contender's Moves/Speed score. The highest roll gets a Momentum Bonus of Momentum Points equal to their Speed, but the lowest roll gets a Momentum Penalty and loses Momentum Points equal to their Speed. You can also gain your Speed score in Momentum Points by successfully damaging or casting spells on your opponent, but you can lose just as much by missing, failing spells, or getting damaged yourself. This is doubled for Critical Hits. Effects like Haste can earn you more Momentum per round, while effects like Slow or Paralyze can drain it. When your Momentum reaches zero, you become exhausted and can not act in the next round.
Momentum Points can also have other uses. For instance, you can spend them to buff attacks, perform extra actions, substitute for mana, or on Signature Attacks /Abilities. The default will be to multiply your Muscle/Attack by your Moves/Speed, and use that as the base stat of an attack, which may cost upwards of 50 Momentum Points. Using it too soon or too often can result in exhaustion. If you spend Momentum Points, you won't be able to gain them in that round or win the Momentum Bonus next round.
Something I assumed was unique to the Reffed Arena in Mega Man Crosswars is that, like the Blue Bomber that inspired the board, each character gets a Copy Unit that allows them to use the Signature Attacks/Abilities of fallen foes. This is alot like being a Blue Mage, which can copy the abilities of enemies. Since this will be on a Pokemon board, Rift Stadium will give each character a complementary Snag Machine. This device, featured in the Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness games, will allow players to capture certain enemies using PokeBalls, Dark Rings, Blank Cards, etc., and use them in later battles. I'm not sure how to implement their use just yet. Allowing each player to have a character's pet(s) fight along side them may make battles a tad character-heavy, while allowing the pets out for a single attack in any one round feels like I'm under-utilizing them. Maybe I'll find another solution, and I'll probably include a Beastmaster class anyway to specialize in their use. For the most part, I think giving your pet a command will cost Momentum Points.
Last, but not least, is the part of the Reffed Arena that most appelaed to me: the Hazard and Wyld Surge systems. These were events with random effects that could help or hinder or just be plain weird, sort of like Chance cards in Monopoly and other games, only crazier. One round you could recieve an e-mail consisting of twenty-seven random words, the next Kirby could show up and swallow everyone whose names begin with the letter "D." This is the part I most want to replicate. It adds a touch of insanity to an otherwise plain system. Its also the part that makes me think I shouldn't work on this alone...
posted by Nicholas DeVivo at 4:09 PM
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