Generally, I detest this: There's nothing that kills my interest in something faster than a clear and unambiguous reference to tropes. Except of course, using those tropes as a set of laws or principles, exhibited here where my interest in the otherwise marvelous Dr. McNinja was irrevocably tarnished:
See he's fighting worse because of the trope. That's the entire joke. Aren't you satisfied with this clever and in-no-way insulting comedy?
(Not to harsh on the comic, which is otherwise well worth your time. It's just... Ugh, I hate this "Tropes are reality" crap)
It's worse in games. Game mechanics are sometimes based on enshrining tropes, rather than challenging your expectations and creativity. Or rather, they do challenge your creativity... In about the worst way you can conceive of doing that.
Here's an example from the Fate srd (also it's in my copy of Fate core). I... hope it's legal to post this here? For review and critique purposes?
"Let’s look at an aspect like Computer Genius. The benefits of having this aspect are pretty obvious—any time you’re hacking or working with technology, you could justify invoking it. But it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of room for that aspect to work against you. So, let’s think of a way we can spice that up a bit.
What if we change that aspect to Nerdy McNerdson? That still carries the connotations that would allow you to take advantage of it while working with computers, but it adds a downside—you’re awkward around people. This might mean that you could accept compels to mangle a social situation, or someone might invoke your aspect when a fascinating piece of equipment distracts you."
The player's strategy with this mechanic is always exactly the same: "Argue that this means what I need it to mean"
It doesn't substantially matter whether your trope-mechanic is "double-edged" or written "well", it does whatever you want it to when you need that +2, and it gives you a low-impact boost to your plot-currency when you want it.
Look, let me show you what I mean:
GM: A huge musclebound brute guards the staff entrance. He looms over you and snarls "No admittance!"
NEEDS FATE POINT: I hold up my hands, having vivid flashbacks about being stuffed into my locker in high school. I'll wimp out for this compel. "W-Whatever you say, mister!"
WANTS IN THE CLUB: I stood up to blockheads like this back in highschool! I'll Invoke my "Nerdy McNerdson" Aspect to get +2 to outwitting this knuckle-dragger!
See? It's not hard to argue that your life experiences and character traits are applicable to anything and it's opposite. The skill you test, the problem you solve, is always "Make a case for why this Aspect allows me to use that rule"
You can change your aspects, reflecting character growth: for XP. This doesn't make them better, it just lets you re-write them. This means that you're taxed to update and evolve your character. "Jim? He became a world-renowned swordfighter. Me? I'm not the Nerdy McNerdson you once knew! I've become a Cool Nerd!". Thrilling.
The Kung-Fu in their first incarnations shared these problems and limitations. Sure, you could make somebody's head explode by poking them, and yes, that was completely rad. But why would you do that instead of just shooting them, which kills them just as well and has the safety of distance?
Fist of the North Star is a visual medium: not a game. It doesn't have to concern itself with the tactical "why?" because it can just show you Kenshiro exploding heads and that's enough. Over-analyzing whether that was the tactically optimum way to use head-exploding finger is counter-productive to your own fun.
You don't have that option in games: you interact with the medium by playing it, which inherently means asking those questions over and over again.
My current approach now emphasizes the strategic dimension of the design. That's made them intriguing to write. See if you can figure out the "intended strategy" for the newly re-imagined Golden Lions style:
(And stick around after for the answer and the Shadow Vipers style)
...
Heaven and Earth Romance
Novice
Stone’s Friend Attitude
- Cost: 5
- Rank: 1
- Facing: Any
- Effect: Increases your Power for moving or shaping earth and stone by 1 Additional Rank. Additionally, you may transmogrify a volume of stone equal to the weight you can lift into clay or mud, or harden an equal volume of such substances into stone.
- Keywords: Element Control (Earth)
- Skill: Power
Heaven-Gold Illumination
- Cost: 4
- Rank: 1
- Facing: 0-5
- Effect: A billowing aura of golden light envelops you, warding you from harm. Against ghosts, demons, and other beings of cosmic unwellness, this technique grants the Counterattack keyword. Additionally, you illuminate the area around you with the brightness of a bonfire. Sustainable.
- Keywords: Defensive, Holy, Shield, (Counterattack)
- Skill: Endurance
Blade in the Master’s Hand
- Cost: (Varies)
- Rank: -
- Facing: -
- Effect: With this magic, you gain the skill of ten thousand swordmasters. This grants the following powers:
- Soul of the Blade: Any weapon you could reasonably improvise as a sword effectively becomes one when you wield it: treat it as a Balanced weapon in all respects.
- The Gentleman of all Weapons: You may add the powers of any other weapon type to a Balanced weapon when you invoke or pay for it’s effect.
- All Actions Correct: Grant any non-magical defense Counterattack for 2 Prana. You must have a Balanced weapon in your hand to make the counter.
- Loyal Friend’s Flight: When you stretch forth your hand, you summon any masterless blade, or blade which calls you master, to you hand. It flies from wherever it is to your hand as an Agility 6 action, going by the most direct route. You can use this power on any blade you can perceive, or on any blade in existence that you have used in battle.
- Keywords: -
- Skill: Agility (6 Prana)
Expert
Boulder and Landslide Motion
- Cost: 10
- Rank: 2
- Facing: Any
- Effect: Increases your Power for moving or shaping earth and stone by 2 Additional Ranks. Additionally, you may transmogrify a volume of stone equal to the weight you can lift into clay or mud, or harden an equal volume of such substances into stone.
- Keywords: Element Control (Earth)
- Skill: Power
Earth Current Meditation
- Cost: 9
- Rank: (2)
- Facing: (0-5)
- Effect: The cackling energy of earth suffuses your muscles and blood, transforming you into a living diode. You may direct this current to generate the electrical output of a large generator (around 30 kilowatts). While so energized, any person coming in contact with you (or hit by a weapon you’re wielding) is Electrified (a Rank 4 Hazard). Acting as a Hazard discharges this Technique. Values in parentheses are for use as an Endurance action. Sustainable.
- Keywords: Hazard (electric)
- Skill: Endurance
Grass-Cutting Attack
- Cost: 8
- Rank: (2)
- Facing: Random/ (Any)
- Effect: Roll 3d10; the resulting Facings may empower any attack or defense with a Balanced weapon until the end of the round, when they are discarded. They may not be moved into Focus or used for any other purpose. Non-defense bonus actions empowered by these dice must be at least Rank 2, as usual. Values in parenthesis are for use as an Agility action.
- Keywords: Balanced
- Skill: Agility
Master
Mountain-Moving Command
- Cost: 22
- Rank: 3
- Facing: Any
- Effect: Increases your Power for moving or shaping earth and stone by 3 Additional Ranks. Additionally, you may transmogrify a volume of stone equal to the weight you can lift into clay or mud, or harden an equal volume of such substances into stone.
- Keywords: Element Control (Earth)
- Skill: Power
Thunder Grenade
- Cost: Varies / (13)
- Rank: (3)
- Facing: (3-6)
- Effect: Generate sparking orbs of explosive electric energy.
- Each orb costs 3 Prana.
- You control them through your will; they move as you desire with the weightlessness of ball lightning and the precision of a homing missile. You can hurl them at a foe, leave a “minefield” of them hovering in midair, or otherwise employ them as traps, weapons or explosive tools.
- When they comes into contact with terrain or another character, or whenever they move beyond your perception, they detonate, creating a Rank-2 Explosion Hazard.
- Values in parenthesis are for use as an Endurance action.
- Keywords: Hazard (electric)
- Skill: Endurance
Heavenly Monarch Sword
- Cost: 13
- Rank: 3
- Facing: 4-7
- Effect: Attacking you is like sword-fighting a glacier; you turn every strike with the impenetrable parry of Heaven. The shield provided by this defensive technique takes the form of your own weapon, flashing to your defense with inhuman speed. This technique may be used to defend any subject who has sworn fealty to you that is within the same Field; when so used, it gains the counterattack keyword.
- Keywords: Defensive, Shield, Holy, Sustainable, (Counterattack)
- Skill: Agility
Ultimate
Avenging Finger of God
- Cost: 38
- Rank: 5
- Facing: 6-9
- Effect: You launch a pulsing bolt of magic lightning from your weapon or hand, devastating all in its path. If the bolt destroys its initial target, it continues traveling and attacking everything in its path. It is only grounded once it encounters something it does not completely destroy.
- The lightning leaves completely innocent beings unharmed, passing over them like a warm wind. The GM is the sole judge of what constitutes “complete innocence”
- Keywords: Offensive, Energy, Destructive, Holy
- Skill: Agility
Did you guess? I'll give you some space to think about it. I'll give you a hint: it has to do with how much Prana you have access to, and when.
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Did you get it? Check out the defensive slant to the Techniques; many that make you dangerous to attack (or even touch). What about the environment-changing powers that the earthbending gives you? Or the trap-setting Thunder Grenade?
This style is all about defense, delay, and battlefield control. It uses cheap, prickly defense to stay in the fight while changing the landscape (or trapping it) to your advantage. The final attack, a huge blast of lightning, is a capstone for all this delay; later in the fight, after you've charge it up (or opened a bunch more Chakra) it's your late-game offensive push, zapping the enemy with a super-powerful finisher.
...
The Shadow Vipers style had a lot of fun, squicky badguy stuff in it (like that handy vampire trick of turning into a swarm of bats, or the much-maligned but always hilarious shadow-hopping power). But, like the Abyssal charm set that inspired it, it lacked a broader focus that "Kind of a vampire, I guess"
I decided to lean more heavily on two iconic bad guys when re-writing it, and used a mesh of their tactics to inform the style:
Rebi Ra from Demon City Shinjuku
And this guy (whose name it turns out is Shijima. Who knew?)
One is a demon-lord, the other is a shadow-jumping ninja. Both of their strategies have a theme of darkness, but one has a Faustian angle, while the other emphasizes the deceptive, stealthy aspect of shadows.
In both cases, they kind of cheat to win: Rebi Ra's vorpal sword laser dismembers his foes, and he presses his attack against Genma in the opening battle mercilessly (also recklessly; he regenerates from an eviscerating reprisal. Clearly, he's got an offensive tilt to his strategy!). Shijima uses illusions, mind-control, and his signature shadow-leaping technique to work every dirty angle he can on his enemies.
So that was the strategic thesis of this style: dirty tricks, evasion, sneak attacks, mutilation, pressing the offense, exploiting weaknesses, and crippling the foe.
I'm especially pleased with the Ultimate Technique: I agonized for a few days because, for all their flair, most villains in these mediums are just generally "stronger" than the protagonists. They serve as a challenge for the hero, so can't meet their ultimate techniques with ones of their own.
Lacking inspiration for one big "kaboom" finishing technique, I instead designed a toolkit ultimate. It allows you to imbue all of your previous attacks with poison, opening up a wealth of new strategies rather than directing you towards a final epic strike.
Naraka’s Cataclysms
Novice
Summon the Hellish Armament
- Cost: 6
- Rank: -
- Facing: -
- Effect: This weird power fills a shadow with your killing intent, transforming it into a chalcedony weapon of diabolic power.
- This weapon fuses the abilities and bonuses of any two types of weapon.
- In the same round in which it is summoned, both of these powers may be evoked without further cost once each (which may empower the same terrifying action). In subsequent rounds, you may evoke one for free, but the other must be empowered as usual.
- You may reduce the weapon to shadows at will. You may only summon one such hell weapon at a time. However, it endures so long as you will it with no further cost nor effort.
- Rather than two weapons, you may create a Subtle Weapon tipped with any poison you have the skill to craft.
- Keywords: -
- Skill: Power
Thirsting Knife Satisfaction
- Cost: 4
- Rank: 1
- Facing: 4-9
- Effect: Your weapon vibrates with evil energy. Strikes deal 1d10 Physical Aggravation in addition to their normal damage.
- Keywords: Offensive
- Skill: Agility
Silent Spider Legwork
- Cost: 3
- Rank: 1
- Facing: 0-3
- Effect: You move with the grace and responsiveness of a predatory arachnid. In addition to the primary defensive effect, you gain the ability to adhere to surfaces as a spider or gecko. The adhesive effect is Sustainable.
- Keywords: Defensive
- Skill: Senses
Expert
Glint of Hellish Steel
- Cost: 7
- Rank: 2
- Facing: 6-9
- Effect: Your weapon emits a neon beam of demoniac energy that cuts like hot steel. Deals 2d10 Physical Aggravation in addition to it’s damage as it eviscerate the foe.
- Keywords: Offensive, Ranged, Energy
- Skill: Power
Opportunistic Carrion Lunge
- Cost: 9 (6)
- Rank: 2
- Facing: 4-9
- Effect: After you attack a foe, roll a d10 and add the result to your attack. The foe may spend an Effort die to negate this effect.
- If your initiative is higher than your foe, use the cost in parenthesis.
- Keywords: Offensive
- Skill: Agily
Assume the Unwholesome Flesh
- Cost: 9
- Rank: 2
- Facing: 0-5
- Effect: In response to an attack, you transmogrify your body into a mass of bats, rats, roaches, snakes, or other vermin. In addition to the defense provided, this has the following effects:
- Your Effort converts to Ferocity while you remain transformed. Your body follows the Swarm mechanics, and your abilities are limited by your form as a swarming mass of pests. You gain the abilities of the creatures who compose your swarm body.
- You can split the swarm, dividing your Ferocity and Health Boxes among them. Each segment must have at least one of both.
- Injuries to your health boxes result in masses of dead creatures. If your health is depleted while transformed, your body reforms and you suffer the normal fate.
- Imbalances whose Dramatic form makes no sense while transformed must manifest their Mechanical penalties instead.
- Each swarm has full access to your mind, abilities, and powers while within the same Tract; those wandering further crumble into shadows and blood, returning their power to the central swarm.
- Keywords: Defensive, Transformation
- Skill: Senses
Master
Cruelty’s Mischief
- Cost: 17
- Rank: 3
- Facing: Any
- Effect: You laugh at the foe’s agony, filling your strikes with sadistic power. For every Rank of Physical Imbalance possessed by the target, reduce the cost of this Technique by 3, down to a minimum cost of 2 Prana.
- Keywords: Offensive
- Skill: Power
Shadow Waltz
- Cost: 13
- Rank: 3
- Facing: 0-3
- Effect: Your body blurs into shadow, evading danger. Additionally, you count darkness as your ally. This allows you to do the following for the remainder of the round:
- Enter any shadow and emerge from any other you can perceive as though there’s no space nor matter between them.
- Control darkness that you cast or are within: growing or shrinking it, deepening or dispelling it like a gossamer sheet.
- This powerful technique is Sustainable.
- Keywords: Defensive, Element Control (darkness), Shield
- Skill: Senses
Devil Scorpion Sting
- Cost: 22
- Rank: 3
- Facing: Any
- Effect: Your weapon moves with a mind of its own, thirsting for blood and hungering for flesh. Deals 3d10 Physical Aggravation in addition to damage
- If you’re striking from surprise, reduce the cost of this Technique by 7.
- If your initiative is higher than your target, reduce the cost of this Technique by 5. This is cumulative with the previous discount.
- Keywords: Offensive
- Skill: Agility
Ultimate
Ten Thousand Poisons
- Cost: (38)
- Rank: (5)
- Facing: (6-9)
- Effect: You imbue your weapon with the essence of one of five terrifying poisons. Alternatively, you can transmute one of your bodily fluids (sweat, blood, mucous, etc.) into poison. Costs are listed in parenthesis next to the poison’s name. The cost and rank listed for the Technique are for use when it enhances a Senses action. You are immune to any poison you create. Finally, all five of them venoms can be delivered in a single attack of horrifying potency.
- (1) Emerald Scorpion Sting: Virulence 1, Physical (Effort), Dramatic: Intense physical pain in the abdomen
- (2) Heart-Weakening Oil: Virulence 2, generates Emotional Aggravation towards a Fear Imbalance.
- (3) Albino Asp Venom: Virulence 3, Physical (Focus), Dramatic: Nightmarish hallucinations, similar to head trauma
- (2) Black Lotus Essence: Virulence 2, generates Emotional Aggravation towards an Anger Imbalance
- (7) Devil King’s Bite:Virulence 5, Physical (Effort), Dramatic: Prolonged spasms of body-wracking agony with occasional heartbeats of lesser suffering
- (14) Five Ultimate Venoms: Virulence 7, Spiritual, Deadly, Dramatic: Your heart darkens and you thirst for the suffering of others; you resort to whatever depraved method you can of inflicting pain and horror including torture, cannibalism, and other acts of madness and sadism
- Keywords: Infuse
- Skill: Senses
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