Lone Wolf Fists: Skills, pt.1

Working on the Skills today. I've come to a strange conclusion that I'm.... Struggling to articulate. So you guys get to hear my mind give birth to this idea.

There's a scene in Fist of the North Star where Kenshiro, our protagonist, encounters a passenger ship that's been driven through the highest floors of a skyscraper.

That's an amazing image! It forces the viewer to ask "What the hell happened to this world?!" Our minds naturally fill in the cosmic, apocalyptic circumstances that drove a ship through the roof of a skyscraper. That lone image paints a picture of this world's Armageddon that is at once fantastic and mind-boggling.

It's also total bull.

Physically I mean. The ship would have crumpled as it was driven through the building; not launched through it. Even if it did, it would have fallen into pieces because it's hull isn't built to withstand gravity like that; it relies on buoyancy, if it was suspended this way the stress on the metal would cause it to warp and it would collapse. Even if it could retain it's shape, there's no way the building's foundation would allow it to remain erect at that angle; it would collapse to the side, or just crumble under the added weight of the ship.

But the artist who brought us that brilliantly evocative and intriguing image didn't care about that. Possibly didn't even know. He saw the image in his mind and brought it to life on the page. It wasn't a mental exercise in physics; it was a statement about how the setting diverges from them.

While I'm re-working the Effect Charts for the skills, I'm researching the physical phenomena that they're based on. Weight for the lifting abilities of Power, or speed for the quickness of Agility, for instance. I'm trying to put both the physical measure of these things and in-setting examples together in the entires. For example:

"Rank 1 / Capable Mortal: Result 10-19 Deadlift about 200 lbs./100 kilos, lift an adult human or manhole cover"

There you have the rank of the roll next to a real-world approximate weight, and an example of an object that weighs that much.

The problem I'm having is this:

The real-world examples of physical phenomena are non-intuitive, and in many cases, actively resistant to their coolest and most compelling expression.

For example, which is heavier: lifting a polar bear, or lifting a motorcycle? A train car, or a battle tank? A space shuttle, or the statue of liberty?

The answers to these questions surprised me.  Who knew a polar bear and a motorcycle weighed the same? Or that a tank was significantly heavier than a train car? I sure as hell didn't.

And that's the problem. I didn't know that, why should I suspect that the GM or the players will? The entire raison d'etre of the effect charts is to link the cool stuff happening in your head with the cool stuff that happens in the game world.

The mental bridge between those things is wrong, though. Like, what if I told you that surviving in a coal oven was way more impressive than taking a bath in hot lava?

Do you see what I mean? When our intuitive understanding of physical phenomena doesn't rank up to it's real-world manifestation, a strictly scientific list harms, rather than helps, our ability to tell immediately compelling stories about it.

Because of this contradiction between intuition, physical measurement, and dramatic expectation, I'm not surprised to see that designers haven't bee-lined to mechanics like the Effect Chart.

Anyway, here are the effect charts for both Power and Agility. I'm working on Endurance today, and Intellect if I can get that done:

SKILLS

Power

The skill of raw physical strength. When characters use their muscles to lift, break, shove or otherwise leverage their sinew-studded frame, this is the skill they use. Use Power when:

·         Lifting and Throwing heavy objects

·         Improvising heavy weapons

·         Shoving, pulling, dragging, or otherwise moving weighty loads

Power Effect Chart

Rank 0 / Mortal: Unrolled Deadlift about 50 lbs./25 kilos., roughly 2 concrete blocks at a time.

Rank 1 / Capable Mortal: Result 10-19 Deadlift about 200 lbs./100 kilos, lift an adult human or manhole cover.

Rank 2 / Peak Mortal: Result 20-29 Deadlift about 400 lbs./150 kilos, lift a full drum of oil, or two adult humans.

Rank 3 / Enhanced: Result 30-39 Deadlift about 800 lbs./350 kilos, lift a motorcycle, or a polar bear.

Rank 4 / Superhuman: Result 40-49 Deadlift about 2 tons/2000 kilos, lift and throw an automobile; knock over an elephant with a standing shove.

Rank 5 / Titanic: Result 50-59 Deadlift about 23 tons/30,000 kilos, lift a train car.

Rank 6 / Minor God: Result 60-69 Deadlift about 55 tons/50,000 kilos, lift a tank, or a space shuttle.

…

Rank 7 / Demigod: Result 70-79 Deadlift about 300 tons/250,000 kilos, lift a barge, or pull a hydroelectric generator out of its moorings.

Rank 8 / Major God: Result 80-89 Deadlift about 650 tons/600,000 kilos, lift and hurl a battleship, or push over a building with your bare hands.

Heavy Weapons

Heavy objects may be lifted and used as crude weapons. Such colossal objects deal d10 additional Damage per Rank of Power required to lift them, but only if they successfully strike a foe. The dice are rolled and added to damage from the attack. For example, successfully smashing a foe with a polar bear (Rank 3 to lift) would grant +3d10 Damage!

Generally, such improvised weapons are smashed on impact or dropped onto the foe at the attack’s conclusion. If the Power Action used to wield the weapon is Sustained however, then the object may continue to be used as a massive weapon.

Note that the Attack with the weapon must be made with a different action; you cannot use the same action for more than one purpose.

Hurling

When you attack a foe, you may use a Power action to hurl them into nearby scenery (or launch them to the horizon).

After you declare your attack but before they declare a defense, spend a Power action to enhance the attack.

If the foe manages to successfully defend against the attack, the extra empowering is wasted. If they do not, they are launched.

Grabbed foes may be subject to throwing without defense.

If aimed at an Element, the structure takes damage as though it were attacked at a Rank equal to the Rank of the Power action. If aimed at the horizon, the character travels a distance equal to an equivalent Agility action to move.

When the character impacts, they take an additional 1d10 damage per Rank of power action used to hurl them.

Agility

The skills of balance, nimbleness, and speed. When characters need to move fast or far, when they need to tightrope walk across a power line; when they need to dance through a hail of bullets, they use this skill. Use Agility when:

·         Moving tactically

·         Travelling fast

·         Balancing or performing gymnastic

Agility Effect Chart

Rank 0 / Mortal: Unrolled Stand on one leg, jog at a moderate pace, dodge a thrown ball.

Rank 1 / Capable Mortal: Result 10-19 Walk a balance beam, run at about 12 mph/20 kph (as fast as a normal human’s top running speed), dodge thrown punches.

Rank 2 / Peak Mortal: Result 20-29 Perform complex gymnastics and tumbling, run at 28 mph/ 45 kph (the fastest recorded human running speed), dodge sword swings

Rank 3 / Enhanced: Result 30-39 Perform jaw-dropping feats of acrobatics, run at 60 mph/ 100 kph (as fast as a cheetah at a sprint) Dodge a bullet.

Rank 4 / Superhuman: Result 40-49 Walk through a rainstorm without touching a drop of water run 260 mph/ 400 kph (as fast as a modern sports car at top speed), dodge automatic weapon fire from point-blank range.

Rank 5 / Titanic: Result 50-59 Dance through an inferno without catching fire, run at 750 mph/ 1200 kph (the current land speed record), dodge a falling star in midair.

Rank 6 / Minor God: Result 60-69 Brachiate from clouds, or balance on a surface that cannot support your weight (such as water or a leaf), run fast enough to shatter the sound barrier (Exceed Mach 1), dodge a railgun shot

…

Rank 7 / Demigod: Result 70-79 Fly by surfing air currents like a wave, traverse a small country in forty heartbeats (Exceed Mach 2), dodge a laser cannon’s blast

Rank 8 / Major God: Result 80-89 Fly by swimming through the air with perfect 3-dimensional movement, outrun the fastest fighter jet (exceed Mach 3), dodge a bolt of lightning

Dynamic movement

Moving vertically and jumping large distances is part and parcel of the kung-fu heroes in this game. When characters need to push themselves to superhuman levels of mobility, this requires an Agility action.

Battlefield prowess: Characters using these actions move and weave through the obstacles of battle with grace and panache. They use acrobatics, parkour, sprinting, and other gymnastic movement to overcome obstacles and distance.

0-Normal human movement and agility. Characters can jump half their height vertically or twice their height horizontally without significant effort. This is enough to move within a battlefield, but not to overcome significant obstacles or leap between battlefield boundaries.

1-Superior human athletics. With significant effort, characters can leap their height vertically or four times their height horizontally. This allows them to bound over significant obstacles but is still ineffective for leaping across battlefield boundaries.

2-Olympian effort. Exceptional characters can leap twice their height vertically or six times their height horizontally. This is enough to scale buildings in a few bounds and leap between battlefields.

3-Beyond-human athletics. Characters achieving this rank can leap several stories in a bound. This allows them to cleanly traverse most obstacles and move between battlefields at a whim.

4-Superhuman movement. This rank leaps tall buildings in a single bound. Two Battlefields can be cleared with a leap of this power.

5-Titanic leap. This speed allows a character to streak across five Battlefields in a single instant.

Journeys of an eyeblink: Characters moving at these velocities depart measurement in Battlefields and begin to circumvent entire countries with their movement. They sprint through long journeys in the beat of a butterfly’s wing.

6-Small god’s motion. With this divine flight, a character may traverse a Region end-to-end in their turn.

7-Herculean heft. Two Regions may be traversed with this blinding shock of speed.

8-Diefic bound. Five regions are seared across with this godly display of alacrity.