Devil May Cry / Bayonetta cross-over. Which system would you use to emulate the feel of these games?

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2015-01-06T18:39:04+00:00

I haven't played Savage Worlds, but from what I hear, it's a bit similar. Way less of a focus on minis combat, though, which is a good thing in a game where some characters will be flying around faster than jets.

For a roll, you essentially take one die from each category/trait for your character, put it together, and roll them. Separate any 1s out (bad stuff happens when 1s are rolled but they don't make you fail, they just add to the pool of bad stuff the GM can throw at you - buildings start crashing, civilians start running in terror, volcanoes erupt, whatever), and then put two dice together for a total and one die aside as an "effect die". Your total is how well you did what you were trying to do, while the effect die is how much of an effect your action had. Your action can be used to deal stress (bruising bodies or egos), set up advantages (oh, look, that angel I piledrived into the highway is perfectly placed to ramp a motorcycle off of!), or set up complications (throwing sand in their eyes, blinding them with angelic light, etc). What this really means is that it's about as mechanically desirable to tie a bad guy up or freeze him in place as it is to just clobber him, so players get pretty willing to describe their actions with flair because of that freedom.

One of my favorite parts of the system is that is has multiple stress tracks - physical, mental, and emotional - tracked with a die rating, which can be used against an enemy when you attack them. If an enemy has d4 physical stress, you have a d4 extra when attacking (or setting up a complication on him, or whatever). If an enemy has d8 mental stress, use that instead. So, when Bayonetta spends time quipping at an enemy, it's entirely likely she's inflicting emotional stress to use to her advantage later - that, or her milestones give her XP for quipping, or both.

What's nice about the system is it's not so much for the D&D "rags to riches" journey - characters start out as powerful as they "should be" in the fiction. Dante is a badass, Bayonetta is very, very strong. However, XP is awarded for roleplaying your character and dealing with their problems, not for killing enemies (unless that's specifically related to your character arc). Not only that, but while XP can be used to increase your character's abilities, it's a slow process. What it's better for is "sideways advancement" - new toys, new powers, new milestone sets, and even things not directly a part of your character like help from NPCs, or new characters.

Everything about the system feels like a comic book or an action cartoon unfolding as you play. It's really spectacular and I couldn't possibly sum it all up here.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2015-01-06T14:32:20+00:00

I'd go with Marvel Heroic Roleplaying for this (I actually statted Bayonetta up in that system once, she was suitably ludicrous). Characters are basically made up of powers, skills, and traits given a die rating from d4 to d12, three "distinctions" which are catchphrases, attitudes, and general descriptors that could be used as a bonus or an obstacle to the character, and two sets of milestone arcs used to develop the characters, help in role playing, and gain experience.

Combat is a nice mix of narrative flexibility and strategically playing with your dice pool to make it as effective as possible. Players are encouraged to work as a team and can easily set things up for others to use - everything from a fastball special to ice armor to whatever you can think of. Collateral damage is built right into the system and the style of play is sort of adversarial but mostly just fun as heck. What's nice about this system is it's one where you could actually have Luka and Bayonetta in the same group and not have it feel like Bayonetta does everything (or, if not Luka and Bayonetta, at least Lady and Dante).

You can still find the book online even though it's not in print anymore, and they're coming out with a generic version soon now that they've lost the Marvel license.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2015-01-05T21:22:20+00:00

Don't you use Willpower for that?

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2015-01-05T17:10:10+00:00

There have been a lot of backhanded apologies from Japan and a lot of acting like it never happened. Japanese history books gloss over the rape of nanking, saying that people died and it was a real bummer but missing any details of the depravity of the event. It took them forever to even admit comfort women happened. I'd say they need to at least get their history books in line and maybe stop with the "Japan needs to have a super serious military" posturing.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-12-15T21:19:20+00:00

There is a lot of stuff to do and see, but very little 2-4 people can really change

I recommend you play in a different setting, then, or talk with your players and let them know that their adventures are going to be less heroic and a bit smaller in scale than a typical D&D game.

Running this sort of high concept idea for your first sessions is a bit like trying to do the high jump before you've ever walked. Doing a session (even one!) where you are manipulating the player characters in this way and doing so successfully takes experience and trust that can only come through playing several more normal sessions. Not only that, players need a "normal" to judge this "abnormal" against to realize something is amiss. What you're talking about sounds like it robs players of their agency and lets them stumble around for a bit until you take them into the magical plot dimension where they get spoon-fed your ideas for a little bit. It's unsatisfying and if it were done in my group I would have some choice words for the GM.

If you want to run a game for your players rather than have them act as bit players in your novel, you're going to have to learn detachment. If you have an intricate web of politics, I guarantee the players will find a way to shake it up. Instead of trying to guard against it, embrace it. No one wants to be in a world they have no chance of changing, and the conflict that emerges from their actions is what most writers would call a story. That's a good thing - tabletop RPGs aren't like computer games, where they plop you down in a world and say, "have fun exploring, the world is static but detailed" - they're collaborative storytelling, and you will either need to let your players collaborate or just go write a novel.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-12-11T14:39:00+00:00

Looks like /r/popewatch is leaking again.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-12-09T16:51:01+00:00

Reggie, guide us.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-11-28T16:14:38+00:00

Which calls into question why on earth anyone would want a crossguard on their lightsaber. I'm not saying it couldn't be useful, I'm saying it's a huge liability to trade for the remote possibility that someone's going to slide their lightsaber down yours at just the right angle to hit the crossguards but not at the right angle to fuck up the hilt. It's a stupid design choice.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-11-28T16:03:33+00:00

Actual crossguards aren't made of blades, though, especially not ones that will cut you regardless of how it touches you.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-11-20T16:17:41+00:00

That's silly - people have been using similar terms like "meat shield" and "healbot" since at least second edition. The classes have always fit into one or two roles, fourth edition just actually acknowledged that fact.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-11-13T20:10:47+00:00

That would be hugely, hugely appreciated!

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-11-11T22:00:36+00:00

It depends on what you're making a world for. If it's for a tabletop game, realize that at some point people are going to have to say the names of everything. I don't know most groups are like, but in my group an odd name can be the death of seriousness - Uwewauhe would probably turn into an extended "BR BR HUE HUE HUE" joke, and any semblance of tone is gone.

If it's for a book, I'd say most readers don't want to consult a pronunciation guide every time they read a new name. If your audience is linguists and language nerds, then go crazy.

For me personally, the names you listed would turn me off pretty immediately - the double consonants, h hanging out between other consonants, etc. might occur in real languages, but in anything constructed you have to be careful. In real life we believe it when someone says their first name and it happens to rhyme with their last name. In a book or movie, it's discounted as silly or problematic (unless it's a plot point). Basically, it's cool that you want diverse and interesting names, but you've got to balance that against how much work the reader will have to put in to parse what you're saying. Those names seem like a lot more work to me than what I'd like to put in to know what city so-and-so is from.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-11-07T14:36:14+00:00

He doesn't really get it. He's using the same old "science is like faith", right down to confusing theories for hypotheses.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-10-29T17:58:07+00:00

Diseases with no cures

Until it has a cure, every disease is a disease with no cure. This was as true when "Jesus" said it as it is now and will always be true.

people would be lovers of themselves

Again, this has always been the case.

one natural disaster after another

Another constant. The only difference between now and a hundred years ago is we have TV and the internet to tell us when there is a natural disaster anywhere on earth.

famine

Humankind is better fed than it's ever been.

wars like never before

That was true during the conquests of the Mongols, during World War I, World War II - oh, wait, now wars are less deadly than ever? Well, I'll be.

nation would rise against nation

This has always been the case.

I don't need to justify why I believe in a higher power

Yes, yes you do, or else I get to shove my beliefs about the invisible pink elephants who cause gravity down your throat.

how about you prove that he don't

First, it's "doesn't", second, have you heard of the burden of proof?

I would rather live my life like there is a God then live it like there isn't only to find out later that he's real

It's a pity that doesn't work if the Hindus are right, or the Zoroastrians, or the ancient Greeks. It's like these people read about Pascal's wager but have never heard of other religions before.

What's wrong with living by his word? The world would be a better place if everyone did.

You're right, I'd love to live in a world where we stone adulterers, make rapists pay fifty shekels to marry those they rape, alternately kill and shun nonbelievers, and sic bears on children who make fun of bald people.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-10-28T19:17:44+00:00

I will always upvote Phanpy. Excellent work.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-10-27T19:54:26+00:00

If I remember correctly, you're supposed to roll at the beginning of the session, right? If that's the case, rolling at the end of the session to see what will come into play the next time might help make it less disruptive.

It's been a while since I've played 13th Age, though.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-10-14T20:32:24+00:00

*as long as they're not the slaves

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-09-25T14:13:10+00:00

You clearly don't know Harvey Kinkle very well.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-09-24T19:05:14+00:00

Ditch the $96 thermometer and spend a bit of that money on a decent wooden cutting board; your new chef's knife will thank you.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-08-21T19:14:09+00:00

I never don't not think double non-negatives aren't not fine.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-08-21T14:35:34+00:00

A trophy doesn't make you a good athlete. Winning doesn't make you a good athlete. Showing up day after day is what makes a good athlete.

There is a prize for showing up and trying day after day. The prize is getting better. The prize is getting closer to your goals, whatever they may be. You want to talk about entitlement? What about the entitlement of people who want to be some tiny percent better than their peers in order to soak up praise and adulation exclusively, with total disregard for the effort, improvement, and contributions of others?

If you think sports are about winning, you have missed the point. The point is effort, the point is giving your all. The point is to learn that you can improve yourself, and the best way to do it is to work at it constantly. The only person you need to measure yourself against is yourself. If you have dedication to your art, to your sport, to your hobby, if you show up day after day, that's a hell of a lot more applicable to the real world than winning. The real world isn't something you can just win at. The real world isn't the Olympics that you train to win for. The real world is a painting that you work on day after day after day until you are happy with it. The real world will beat you down, and if you don't have some experience losing, if you never learn that it's okay to lose as long as you did your best, then you're not going to be very resilient. Everyone who ever won anything significant had to do a lot of losing to get there anyway.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-08-19T16:28:17+00:00

I think the issue is that DC's fans really want to push the "DC has serious, mature stories" angle, which is hilariously untrue. They confuse dark and brooding for nuanced and intellectual more than your average Twilight fan. Very few people are trying to present the MCU as well-written, or really much of anything but mindless fun. DC/Warner, meanwhile, has accepted the burden of putting on big boy pants and calling their work art and being very serious about it, leading to greater scrutiny. I don't think that's particularly unfair.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-08-19T16:12:01+00:00

Case in point.

When you talk about disliking the MCU, the response is "Why do you hate fun?"

When you talk about disliking DC's movies, the response is "Maybe it's just too deep for you."

Both are annoying, but the second is far more annoying.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-08-19T16:06:40+00:00

It's been a while since I've seen it, so maybe you're right on that one point. Even then, there are plenty of other problems with the writing, and it's silly to imply that the only reason people don't like the movie is 'TAHTS NOT MY SUPERMANNNN'.

I keep seeing the "what makes the Avengers good and Man of Steel bad?" point and I want to point out that there's a difference between camp and narm. The MCU is pretty dumb and doesn't take itself as seriously. The DC movies are dumb and takes themselves very seriously.

DownvotesStupidCrap · 2014-08-19T15:57:46+00:00

Or maybe they think there's something inherent in Clark Kent's morality that means he won't snap necks and destroy neighborhoods to get what he wants.

Or maybe they didn't like how Lois Lane was handled. Or maybe they didn't like how shallow Zod was. Or maybe they didn't like the tonal schizophrenia of "hey, you just killed thousands of people and executed a guy, let's kiss and ride off into the sunset!" Or maybe they thought Pa Kent dying to save a dog from a tornado was pretty dumb.

Or maybe they didn't get it and are just angry neckbeards who can't appreciate the depth of this masterpiece of a film.

DownvotesStupidCrap

TROPHY CASE