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The stairs looking like the best path, the trader strides confidently up them. After all, the transmission didn't not mention stairs either, and getting lost is hardly a sin in an unusual place.

Tristan and his escorts approach the stairs next to cargo elevator. The elevator itself, looking rusted-over and crusted over with spilt cargo, hardly befits a visitor.

The elevators do have a stairwell nearby, wide enough to perhaps accommodate two Astartes side-by-side. Progressing further, the party notices several not-so-subtle shifts in the direction gravity. Looking back, it seems the corridor curves upward.

Though up is, among other things, relative when you are talking about the void.

---

The team enters a large room styled after a cafeteria, with two groups of eight tables aligned length-wise with the hall. At the other end of the room is another hall closed, and the floor is black with speckles of starlight. A group of crewmen languish in the corner, talking amongst one another and taking note of your arrival by staring. They have pistols at their waists.

The cafeteria is littered with half-eaten trays. It is as if, at one point, everyone simply stopped what they were doing and left.

Waagh half of all people violated the minimum stat of 3 rule.

Oh well. It was more of a recommendation. You can go 0 but you'll have to live with the consequences.

---

Specific comments:

ID: Gai Onotoyama

Real Name: Gaius Ontemius
Origin: 3rd Century Roman Empire
Description: A Roman Praetorian under the service of a Roman emperor, Gaius and his entire group perished in a palace fire, betrayed by the very emperor they served. When the praetorians began investigating into abuses of wealth, they began putting the pieces together that incriminated the emperor himself. Catching wind of this, He set fire to his own palace, burning his guard and staff alive, with them none the wiser until it was too late.

Your Phantasm: A burning roman city filled with countless locked buildings and alleys. they are filled with hired thugs battling with significantly outnumbered praetorian, all just out of reach of saving.
Primary Stats:
Defense -- 4
Power -- 6
Presence -- 3
Wit -- 3

A phantasm isn't explicitly a personal hell. A burning city is great, but the idea of being permanently unable to save people is a bit out of place.

Character Sheet
ID: Hamada Makiko

Real Name: Di Wu. it's not a name, as much as a number: fifth.
Origin: The fifth daughter of a peasant family in Rural China in the Three kingdoms era.
Description: Illiterate, uneducated. She worked the rice fields and died young.

Your Phantasm: rice paddies surrounded by bamboo forest, filled with kitsune and Oni. a small, rustic, two room house with a dirt floor. she never ventures into the back room of the house, as that was forbidden in life, and remains a dark, mysterious place, which Di Wu never properly knew in order to visualize it in the afterlife. She sleeps by the heart in the dust, if sleep comes in the Phantasm at all.

Primary Stats: Distribute 16 points related to the aspects of your soul. Minimum 3.
4 Defense -- Used for blocking attacks
3 Power -- Used for spirit actions and attacking in combat.
7 Presence -- Used for movement and evasion
2 Wit -- Used for predicting NPC's and for perception

Sleep is important to the soul.

That's why it's bad that you can't get any. D:

Well, this certainly looks interesting.

ID: Shin Managi

Real Name: Gunnulf Gunnhild
Origin: 10th century, Viking age. The first son of a renowned viking in Scandinavia.
Description: As the name would suggest, from the moment Gunnulf was born he was predicted to be a great fighter, yearning for adventure, much like his father. Needless to say, his family was terribly disappointed when he did poorly in every field that involved battle. Eventually he found his calling as a scholar and writer, greatly interested in subjects about the human psyche and how each of us perceive reality. His work was deemed pointless and eccentric, however, and the populace branded him as a lunatic. This rejection eventually drove him to suicide.

Your Phantasm: A seemingly endless room with the floor made out of a translucent material, giving way to a vast emptiness. Massive bookcases that go all the way up to the ceiling occupy the main portion of the area, each book having the face of a person as it's cover and their name written on it. In the middle can be found a wooden table made out of cheap wood and a few Norse figures carved into it's legs. A well made shortsword lay there, the gift given to him on his birth, and an old, unfinished manuscript left open next to some ink and a quill.

Primary Stats:
Defense -- 2
Power -- 2
Presence -- 5
Wit -- 7

Interesting concept. I can't nitpick it much. Suicide is a bit iffy as it suggests your character may have been willing to end it all, whereas Lost Souls are specifically in Limbo because they have something they still wanted to accomplish when they died.

ID: Nagisa Tsumiya

Real Name: Giovanna Lamborgia

Origin: A budding apprentice to a selfish inventor.

Description: The female apprentice of an inventor in late 16th century Venice, Giovanna spent her life designing and improving contraptions that her selfish and lazy master passed off as his own. Wanting to become the next Leonardo da Vinci, Giovanna saw her master as a hindrance and plotted his demise. During a public demonstration on that fateful summer afternoon, the contraption Giovanna built for that occasion managed to sever her master's head from his body much to the crowd's horror. Later that day; however, the city guard suspected foul play and went to arrest her. Fearing that she was now destined for the executioner's axe instead of fame, Giovanna tied her heaviest inventions to her waist and leaped into the nearest canal.

Your Phantasm: A seemly endless workshop filled with various inventions and mechanisms of different sizes, this phantasm also contains shelves filled with tools and additional materials for future inventions. However, this so-called paradise is haunted by a dimwitted and domineering entity resembling a huge and morbidly obese man who is constantly on the prowl for assistants. Any unfortunate soul who are caught by this entity will be forced to attend to his needs as well as assist him in the workshop until they can finally escape. The good news is that there are plenty of places to hide in the workshop and he makes a lot of noise when moving around. The bad news is that he is surprisingly quick on his stubby feet and has great physical strength.

Primary Stats:
Defense -- 2
Power -- 3
Presence --5
Wit -- 6

Interesting phantasm. Whether the workshop's master is an echo or another soul might be an interesting plot point.

ID: Mitsuru Murai

Real Name: Ryzard Czajka
Origin:
Description: What did you do? Were you a pirate? A merchant? An astronaut?

Your Phantasm: A phantasm is a dream-like world formed by those trapped in limbo. Essentially, a wayward soul will attract forgotten memories from the world below, and those memories will weave themselves together into a miniature world. The kind of world it is depends on who you were--a nobleman may find himself inside an endless castle for instance.

Primary Stats:
Defense -- 0 (can I have no defense? I notice no one is paying any mind to the minimum.)
Power -- 7
Presence -- 4
Wit -- 5

Fascinating.

(please finish this)

ID:Fuji Ryo   (The name on the card)

Real Name:Lanfrank Wolff
Origin: A 14th century knight that trained his whole life believing that he could be the greatest knight the holy roman empire would ever know and live up to his family's legacy. In his first battle he received an shallow arrow wound before he even got to fight. The wound became infected and he died days later cursing the unfairness of it all
Description: A 14th century knight

Your Phantasm: A massive training ground complete with dummy's, smith, armory, stable jousting yard and bunk beds. The only oddity is the complete lack of people or animals. It is ever quiet with nothing but visitors actions making any noise.

Primary Stats: Distribute 16 points related to the aspects of your soul. Minimum 3.
Defense -5- Used for blocking attacks
Power -4- Used for spirit actions and attacking in combat.
Presence -3- Used for movement and evasion
Wit -4- Used for predicting NPC's and for perception

No problems that I can see.

"Nope. Pretty solid construction, this body,"

Cyfraith decides to head back with Brussian. While walking, she hovers close to Brussian, innocently peering at the ingredients and trying to sense them through her avenues of magical perception (try to get nature XP).

Quote from: Caellath on August 11, 2017, 09:24:25 pm

"That's odd." Tork pointed out after spending some time observing the workers.

"But at least we confirmed they are human, odd as they may be. A cold comfort, but a comfort none the less."

Tristan was watching over the proceedings patiently, observing the odd behavior with an interested expression.

"In any case, lets return these commodities to our ship. Perhaps they will shine some light on what, exactly, we are dealing with."

The plastic crates formed a neat--and steadily growing--pile. The foreign crewmen, as their supply of work dwindled, began to patiently... stand in place. They lined up, but other than moving into position, they stood motionless, with hollow eyes starting into the distance.

---

The Shark's vox team relays a communication sent to Indecent:
"The cargo is prepared. We are awaiting to meet your representative in landing number twenty-twelve. Pressurizing the hangar to enable flight to the outer wall."

At the edge of the colossal landing pad is an entrance to a pair of massive cargo elevators. No landing, however, let alone a numbered one.

Looking across at the wall, there are numerous circular doors scattered across, each with a unique glyph. These doors don't seem useful to those on the landing deck. There are no balconies, bridges, or stairs.

Current Players:

HighEndNoob (Gaius/Gai) (4Df 6Pw 3Pc 3Wt)
Ozarck (Di/Hamada) (4Df 3Pw 7Pc 2Wt)
Sir Elventide (Giovanna/Nagisa) (3Df 3Pw 4Pc 6Wt)
Wunderkatze (Ryzard/Mitsuru) (0Df 7Pw 4Pc 5Wt)
killerhellhound (Lanfrank/Fuji) (5Df 4Pw 3Pc 4Wt)


Waitlist:
Not listed in any particular order. I'll introduce new players into the game as opportunities arise, such as on a new day of school or some other checkpoint.

Bluexdog


On Leave:
Players here have entered the game at some point, but left formally. It doesn't give you any priority on the waitlist to be here, it just means that the character still exists in the game. You can also rejoin as the same character, if you wish.

Neoexdeath (Gunnulf/Shin) (3Df 3Pw 4Pc 6Wt)

DivideByZero, I'm pretty sure that, in a hexagonal grid, there's a specific way to determine tangental motion. In neither image of yours, your "tangental" motion wouldn't actually just be tangental. It may be a little hard for me to explain without images of my own, so I'll just paint a picture in your mind. Imagine one time on the grid, and mark all tiles adjacent to it. Call this a "circle" of radius 1, based on how all "points" on it (marked tiles) are 1 tile away from the center tile. Then, move all tiles 1 tile away from it. The west tile goes west, the northeast tile goes northeast, and so on. These now make the point of a circle of radius 2. And so on. Any tile between two neighboring points on the circle is an "edge" of the circle. Points on the circle are obtained by moving the radius amount of tiles in one of the six directions, while edges involve moving the total amount of the radius in two adjacent directions (nearest directions clockwise and counterclockwise). If a character is on a point of a circle, moving directly toward the center is non-tangental (let's call it direct speed/motion)forward motion, adjacent directions are tangental, and all others are direct away backward. If on the edge of a circle, moving toward a point on the circle would be tangental motion, while all others would be direct motion.

Yeah, confusing. Here's another way of putting it; Imagine a line going from the moving character going in each direction. If the center is on one of those lines, moving directly toward it on the line is direct forward motion, the adjacent directions are tangental, and the others are direct backward. If the center, instead, is between two of those lines, then those directions are direct forward, and the two directions adjacent to them (and not themselves) are tangental. Is that clearer?

Anyway, I think it's rather limiting to have most AoEs need to be skills. There are several simple ways to classify them, which can be used by weapons. As examples: Sphere X (target tile and all tiles up to X away from it), Ring X (target tile and all tiles exactly X away from it), Line X / X-Y (Target tile, X tiles in one direction from it, and Y tiles in the opposite direction), Ray X (all tiles X away from user in a certain direction), WideRay X / X-Y (All tiles X away from user in certain direction, as well as all non-user tiles adjacent to them except in that specified direction for the first Y tiles).

Hmm, what I'm thinking after reading your post is:

Step 1: Update player motion.



Step 2: Draw circle and trace a direct path from the original position, find out where the direct path would have intersected the circle



Step 3: Since the new position is 1 unit away from the intersection point on the circle, the target's Tangent Speed was 1 this turn.

EDIT: Then again, I don't think Tangent Speed is actually used for anything in the system... he he.

The shark prepared and ready to launch, and the hierarchy of command established, the away team set off into the brightened void, lit by the backdrop of reflectors numerous as sand.

---

Sub found his place in the ship, and so he stayed behind.

Amara too continued with her surveys. She managed to determine the climates of the terrestrial planets in the local subsystem: both should be cold, arid deserts based on distance from the star. Curiously, there are biosigns regardless.

---

Eggbert took the pilot's seat, maneuvering his craft toward the opening on the nose of the ominous habitat where all the cargo ships began to rendezvous, the cap of the titanic cylinder being made of many folding, almost organically-arranged pieces.

The maw of the habitat station appears like a cylindrical cross-section, a hundred meters wide, carved out of space rock. It seems as if the cylindrical exterior merely hides the base's origin: hewn out of an asteroid. The walls of the asteroid are hollowed out like a giant sponge, with numerous passageways visible to observation, though it is unclear as of yet if they use those hollowed-out spaces for any purpose.

The landing pads lie out of sight engulfed by the darkness hundreds of meters below. There are no lights inside the tunnel whatsoever, a far cry from a proper imperial dock.

So, I wanted to do a combat system which involves players flying at each other and shooting lasers and stuff. Think anime. Probably for a supernatural game of some sort.

Here's the gist of it.

Mechanics

Every combat round you specify a number of actions and allocate a number of dice to block enemy attacks. All dice succeed on a 4+.

Defense determines how many dice you can use to block.
Power determines how many dice you can use to make actions and attacks. Also, you can only throw a total of 2 x Power dice.
Agility allows you to spend dice for a guaranteed change in position instead. See Positioning below.


By default half of your Defense dice are allocated to blocking physical attacks, and the other are allocated to blocking magic attacks. You can attempt to predict what your opponent will do instead, and your dice will all get +1 if you guess correctly. You can allocate dice toward blocking specific attacks.
Blocking an attack simply lowers the damage you take by the number of successes.


You can split your Power dice on as many actions as you'd like. There's no limit to how many.

Weapons/Abilities

A weapon has the following properties: Power, Cost, Range, and Area.
Cost: The minimum success needed to pass with the weapon. Unlike unarmed attacks, a weapon attack will only pass if you meet the cost. Usually 2-3 for most weapons, though a powerful weapon might require 4-5.
Power: The bonus damage you get when you succeed with the weapon. Typically half the cost.
Range: Add 1 Cost to the weapon for each unit of distance beyond the weapon's range. 0 is Melee.
Area: The minimum distance you need to move in order to dodge this attack. (see Positioning below)

Weapons can be actual weapons, like swords and guns, or they can be spells like Magic Missiles and whatnot.

Abilities(s): Choose 2-3 abilities.
Abilities are like weapons, except that they have a bit more fluff to them. That fluff translates into game mechanics and alterations to the rules for your character. For example, you can have an ability that stores charge over time and lets you make one powerful attack. You can have an ability that spreads damage among multiple enemies if it hits, at a higher cost.
Abilities can also modify enemy positioning, which can make it easier to attack them or make it harder for them to hit you.

Typically the effect of an ability is variable depending on how many dice you put into the ability. They can still have a cost, power, speed, range, etc. like normal weapons.

Finishers

Damage is relative. Both combatants in a fight will accumulate damage indefinitely since it's their souls accumulating damage rather than their physical bodies being hurt.
To end a fight, you can attempt a Finisher if your damage dealt minus damage taken is greater than your opponent's Defense.

To do this, roll your extra damage plus your Power as the total number of dice. If the result is higher than the target's Defense, you knock them out. Otherwise, your opponent gets reset to your own current level of damage.
You can attempt as many finishers as you'd like, and the dice you roll as part of a finisher don't count as spent. You can try a finisher right after a normal turn.

Exhaustion

If the loser's total damage taken is greater than your Defense, you count as Exhausted. If you fail a finisher while Exhausted and your opponent isn't currently Exhausted, your opponent can attempt a finisher using twice their Power as the number of dice.
If both are exhausted, then the battle ends inconclusively.

Positioning:

All characters have a Distance from each other and a relative speed. Distance is measured as both horizontal and vertical, while speed measured as both toward/away from, and tangent (sideways) motion. Enemies will lead their targets, meaning that the attack is aimed at where you will be based on your current speed.

During your turn, you can spend as many dice as you have Agility to change your positioning. You can either accelerate at the cost of 1 dice per guaranteed point of speed, or move a fixed distance at the cost of 2 dice per point of distance.
Before attacks hit, your character's Speed toward your opponent is subtracted from your horizontal distance to the target (positive is toward, negative is away). You can consume speed toward an opponent to use as dice in a melee attack, and this doesn't count toward your 2 x Power total.
Vertical distance, if positive (above your target), can also be spent in the same way.

Attacks have an Area associated with them and are automatically aimed at where the target will be given the target's current speed. If the target changes sideways speed, or moves a fixed distance to the side, the attack is dodged. Speeding toward an opponent will not help you dodge projectiles, however.
You can also move tangent to your opponent, simply spinning in a circle around them without changing distance or speed. This can help dodge without sacrificing positioning.

---

I'd like to get feedback, if it sounds interesting at all as an alternative to the "roll to hit, roll for effect" that I sometimes see in places.