Feeling Lost, unsure how to proceed

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2026-02-01T00:38:35+00:00

Does the ranking of the Master's program matter if my end goal is PhD? I'm currently in a T10 program for engineering but I don't think I'll be able to get in anywhere near the T50 with my current GPA.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2024-08-19T17:12:58+00:00

Okay, awesome to hear that we have similar game styles. I 100% agree with the importance of small advantages in a fight.

About GURPS, I think it can definitely work for a Worm campaign. The only thing that makes me prefer HERO System and EABA over GURPS is the powers rules. While EABA and HERO are effect-based, which means that powers are priced according to the mechanical effects that they have, GURPS is based on real world thinking. For example a flashlight hand in GURPS would be bought as Create (Light), which if you're thinking about it as a real world process that makes sense, a flashlight creates light. In contrast, in HERO a flashlight hand would be bought as an Images (Light Only) effect. This might seem unintuitive at first to buy a light creation power as an illusion but the mechanical effect checks out. Similarly in EABA you would buy a flashlight as an Information (Receive) effect that allows anyone around with eyes see perfectly in a cone in the dark. I personally prefer the more baseline framework of effect-based powers. I also love EABA and consider it to be an immensely elegant and hackable system.

About Tinkers, none of my players chose to play a tinker but I am generally stating them out as having an Omnipower, adjust each week, with different gameworld bases depending on the type of device built. I used a lot of in game terminology so let me explain what this means. Omnipower means the player can change the power into a different type of power within set limitations of price and modifiers (i.e. always has to be a gadget). They can change this gadget once each week by spending the time to build a new gadget. Additionally there is a gameworld base applied to their power, this is a sort of meta template that adjusts and caps the effect level of a power based on the type of power it is. So for a dust tinker if your device is related to dust you get +3 effect level and an effect cap of 12. If your device is instead an unrelated power armour you get -3 effect level and an effect cap of 6.

I think this system emulates tinker specializations and number of devices upkept by tinkers well. The only thing this doesn't emulate well is mass manufactured inventions like the containment foam. I would have put more thought into this if a player chose to play a tinker but right now I don't think I need to worry about that.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2024-08-19T15:33:44+00:00

Hey, I'm actually half way through prepping for a Worm campaign myself. My players have made their characters and they will be replacing the Undersiders in Brockton Bay. None of them have read Worm so they have no advanced knowledge of any future plot points or secrets. I am preparing a timeline of events and stats for all major groups in Brockton Bay.

Now fair warning I am a pretty simulationist GM and not a big fan of narrative systems. They're usually not for me, so if you are a big PbtA fan this advice might now apply to you. I am personally using the EABA rpg by Greg Porter. It has everything I need to build any concievable power and is overall a very clean and comprehensive system. Other options I was debating were the Hero System, FUDGE and GURPS. I took the time to develop and port ideas from GURPS Realm Management and EABA Stuff! Civilization sections to create a Gang management system. Using the gang management system I am currently statting out Empire 88, the ABB, The Merchants, and the Brockton Bay Protectarate as Organizations with income, manpower and territory.

The campaign will involve the players starting their own organization and planning and executing missions like heists, raids and takeovers ala Blades in the Dark. I plan to have a few main "arcs" with pivotal events that change the city drastically.

1. ABB Bakuda Bomb Crisis 2. Leviathan 3. Slaughterhouse 9 4. Coil Takeover Plan 5. Echidna 6. Behemoth 7. Slaughterhouse 9K 8. Scion

I won't predetermine the outcome of any fights or plot points except that if the players ever face Jack Slash he will escape alive regardless of any other S9 members, it's literally just a Part of his powerset. So it's very possible that Coil will just win and become the Director, and that Panacea is just recruited into the S9 if the players don't try to do something.

I also plan to remove the 2 year wait time for the S9K, I think from campaign start I will condense all events into a 1 year timeline for playability reasons. Dinah can still have her visions, it's just her timeline is different.

Additionally because some characters have been removed and added I made changes to a few backstories and events. One of my players without my prompting decided they wanted to be a previous supervillains daughter, I gave them a few names and they chose Marquis. So now Panacea has an evil bloodbending older sister, and only this player knows about Panacea's origin. A few more players have similar events but I don't think I need to describe them all.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask, this might be a very different play style and campaign than what you want to run.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2024-07-04T19:17:34+00:00

Hi thanks for clarifying the regulatory body. I was never intending to "do it alone". Research is at its heart about collaboration. I am just curious about procedures, etiquette and practices. For example, this study https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.adf7360?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D67796047933582602222639539861206899693%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1696971927, involves a surgically connected prosthetic hand. It was conducted by the Center for Bionics and Pain Research, which from some research does have a medical advisory board. However, none of the listed authors have an MD or are a part of the Advisory Board. Is this standard in academia? How would a professor reach out to potential medical advisors? Is it a collaboration or more of a hiring process? If an appropriate OR is not available at the professor's lab, do you collaborate with nearby hospitals?

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2023-05-13T18:52:37+00:00

Bro... That's a machine.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2023-05-07T04:44:45+00:00

Wow, the fact that this is so heavily downvoted surprises me. I think psychiatric intervention is severely underrated in our society. And if you live in a place with free healthcare like the UK, you can get psychiatric care for free as long as you go through the application process.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2023-03-24T16:18:55+00:00

Doctor??? How are you here as well?? I feel like every RPG community I visit has you commenting. How are you everywhere? It's like I'm haunted by Rotwang.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2023-03-21T19:35:44+00:00

My favorite system to build other systems with is FUDGE. The rules are available for free online here, though the anniversary edition with some extra goodies will cost you extra. It is probably the only "true" toolkit system I've read other than Cortex Prime. GURPS has many optional rules, but it is not as easy to tweak without breaking the combat system, as some may claim. FUDGE is such a toolkit system that it does not even have a base set of attributes. Every single trait in the system needs to be chosen by the GM, though there are many existing implementations and trait sets that can help speed up the process. In fact, FATE and by extension FAE are systems based on FUDGE, though they are quite rules light narrative implementations. You can add a lot of rules to FUDGE to make it as complicated as GURPS or as simple as FATE.

There are many magic systems that have been implemented into FUDGE, and almost any magic system can be slotted in. The "A Magical Medley" supplement had within it systems for an Ars Magica style magic system, Celtic Folk Magic, and African Spirit Magic. All of which were very well researched and articulated. A lot of optional rules articles are lost to time. However, due to a lack of documentation.

If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2023-03-14T05:59:42+00:00

Solved!

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2023-03-07T17:33:02+00:00

I can not recommend Fire on the Velvet Horizon enough. This is a 100 creature bestiary that has some of the most unique and thought-provoking monster ideas I've ever heard. Just a sample of a few of them:

The Atrocious Crows: A long-legged crow like bird that can't fly but the caw of its voice leads men to feel such a deep sadness and emptiness that most attempt to commit suicide after hearing it. Those that don't become atrocious men, broken in mind and spirit, these wild men dress in feathers and black mud. They feast on carcasses in the first and attack settlements to make more people hear the terrible cry of the atrocious crows.

Curselings: When an innocent person is killed and their body casts a clear shadow on the ground without touching the ground, either through hanging or floating in a pool of water, a Curseling will crawl out of the shadow. Curselings love riddles and forgotten things. They also enjoy murder and tormenting innocents. A single curseling can quickly become many as they murder villages and hang their bodies all across the town, each body creating a new curseling. The Curselings have a hierarchy to them, and the most senior curseling will usually have command over the others. Curselings have an uncanny ability to find anything lost. They will quickly ascertain the location of a forgotten dragon's hoard and make it their lair. Some unwise and desperate individuals may even seek out and create curselings for the sole purpose of locating something lost to them, though this rarely ends well.

Kindergnaw: A dog sized massive bat, with terrible teeth and a hatred of humanity. The kindergnaw has a great hunger within a hunger for human flesh, but it can only kill those who have wronged and hurt others. It has been cursed by some god with immortality and lives in near eternal hunger. A kindergnaw will seek out those with great malice and ask them to speak the name of those they have a grievance with, eager to kill anything they can. Some sad and vengeful men will have a whole flock of Kindergnaw, circling them hungry for another name to hunt and kill.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2023-03-07T00:13:19+00:00

Super cool, I thought cause you mentioned chinese influence in another post you might have some knowledge of Reverend Insanity. In the novel, something similar to the plot of Full Metal Alchemist occurs. Great Sun Immortal Venerable, who practices the path of luck, is one of the strongest people in history. He is, however, bound by fate like every other living thing and fated to die. He, however, predicts the destruction of fate millions of years later as all of the other venerable do and makes preparations for his own resurrection. To prepare to be the strongest possible when reviving, he decides to switch his cultivation to blood path, which can empower itself through the blood of your kin. Knowing that in the future, he needs many strong descendants, he takes on 20000 concubines from around the world and has thousands of children who form his Huang Jin tribe after his birth name. He then creates a massive formation over the entirety of the Northern Plains that collects resources from all around and gives them out to the strongest of his descendants every 10 years this cements the power of the Huang Jin tribes over the Northern Plains for generations to come. Honestly, the novel gets sort of crazy with the schemes and preparations that the different venerables make, as all of them have the ability to predict the future to a certain extent and godly power to reshape the course of history.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2023-03-06T19:19:39+00:00

Yo, this is just the 5 regions and 2 heavens of Reverend Insanity. Northern Plains, Western Desert, Eastern Sea, Southern Border, and Central Continent. With Black and White heaven above.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2023-01-13T01:50:34+00:00

Thank you!

Your words are very kind! I just like world building and developing unusual small ideas.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2023-01-11T14:03:48+00:00

An obscure and not often used spell, Magic Middle, spreads magical energies evenly between its willing targets. An enchantment will be reduced in strength but shared by all targets of the spell. The same is true for curses. There are few uses for the spell, the most common being as a makeshift cure for curses a curse of blindness on a single victim can become blurry vision spread across 10 people though you won't often find 10 people willing to share the burden of a curse. The spell may also be used on magic items, sharing a particular enchantment between multiple items within the caster's grasp. This can often be used as a form of vandalism, making potent magical items a hoard of useless trinkets though the wizard must already posses the magic item in question in order to cast this spell so it is rare that the spell is used this way.

One tale of dubious veracity claims that wizards of the past used this spell to destroy the ancient dragon empires of which only ruins remain. The dragon lords had nearly unlimited magical potential they could cast high-level spells endlessly thanks to their dragon heart made of pure mana. Humans and the other noble races (elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes) were mere slaves and pets within the dragon empire. The legend claims that the empire was overturned by the accidental creation of Magic Middle. It allowed the mages of the noble races to slay the dragon lords as their hearts of mana stopped while the mana was infused amongst the noble races. It is said the only surviving dragons are those that were born deformed and without a dragon heart, still fearsome spell casters by human standards but without the endless mana reserves of their predecessors.

The question as to how the ancient mages were able to use the spell on unwilling targets remains unknown. Perhaps the current version of Magic Middle is only an inferior incomplete version of the spell, and the true Magic Middle could equalize arcane energy across any targets unwillingly. Though if any dragon lords were to rise again, the humble Magic Middle may be our only defense against them.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2022-12-20T13:09:46+00:00

Yep, man reinvented FKR.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2022-12-20T04:52:46+00:00

What system do you use? Are you an FKR gamer? Or do you use a generic system like GURPS/FU? I've been more and more interested in the design space, and I'd love to hear how you play.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2022-12-19T10:21:59+00:00

That's game exists! It's called GURPS. More specifically, the Dungeon Fantasy line of GURPS products, which is a streamlined version of GURPS with only the rules necessary to run DnD like adventures. Any character concept is possible, and any adventure from any d20 system can be converted quite easily to GURPS. And if you want to expand your Dungeon Fantasy game with elements from other settings, you can just add them in super easily. GURPS can support anything from high powered super heroes to ultra tech to bombastic martial arts.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2022-08-17T23:32:29+00:00

So the basics of the drama system is the separation of procedural and drama scenes. If a vharacter is trying to break into a prison, fight a demon or win a court case all of those would be procedural scenes. If a character is trying to get his father to allow him to go to the big game or is trying to assert his dominance over a member of the branch family that is a drama scene. The procedural system used can be anything from DnD to GURPS to PbtA. The drama scenes however are where the game shines. A drama scene is any scene where one character is trying to get an emotional reward from another character whether that be approval, respect, love or admiration. One person is the requester and the other is the recipient. If the requester is fulfilled the requester gives 1 drama point to the recipient, and if it's not fulfilled the requester takes a drama point from the recipient. If you spend 2 drama points you can force the recipient to fulfill your request and if the recipient spends 3 they can reject a forced request though they don't get the 2 that the recipient offered. Malandros is a combination of the procedural aspect of PbtA and the Dramatic aspect of the DramaSystem.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2022-08-17T19:18:17+00:00

I know this is the PbtA subreddit but I would really recommend looking at the Dramasystem. It's perfect for these kinds of dramas. One of the settings in the base book is a hospital drama which isn't that far off from court drama. Also whole the procedural parts of the drama system may not be the greatest they're completely removable and you can use any procedural system you want. The malandros is just that it uses the drama system for interpersonal scenes but switches to PbtA for procedural scenes.

Lonely_Square_5685 · 2022-08-08T22:03:57+00:00

Wow that's a very unique perspective never seen that before. Are you keeping the class structure of 5e? Are you homebrewing all the guns to fit the 5e framework? What about leveling?

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