NUNA Devblog - Cultural Abilities

Here is an old version of the Cultural Abilities list.

Basically, these are non-magical abilities that reflect the skills you get living your life in a cultural role.

(The exception is Shaman Whisperer, which is connected to the supernatural trying to get back into our world).

I find most Feats or Abilities or what have you are rendered meaningless by combat optimization. In NUNA, there are three categories of abilities - Combat, Survival, and Caregiving. This reflects the fact that in the Arctic, combat is not the end all and be all, but that surviving in the environment and caring for other people is equally, if not more, important.

Enjoy thinking about these!

NORTH INUIT

COMBAT

Arctic Predator (Hunter)

Shaman Voice (Shaman)

Blade Expert (Healer)

SURVIVAL

Weather Sense (All)

Tundra Eyes (Hunter)

Immobility (Hunter)

Mystic Sense (Shaman only)

Whispers of the Dead (Shaman only)

Food Healing (Healer)

CAREGIVING

Ice Shelter (Hunter)

Food Provider (Hunter)

Healing Herbs (Healer)

Slow Thawing (Healer)

Dream Cure (Shaman Whisperer)

SOUTH INUIT

COMBAT

Rifleman (Trapper)

Weapon Modification (Tinkerer)

Unique Armament (Knowledge Keeper)

SURVIVAL

Traplines (Trapper)

Forest Eyes (Trapper)

Animal Ways (Knowledge Keeper)

Plant Ways (Knowledge Keeper)

Small Engine Repair (Tinkerer)

CAREGIVING

Slow Thawing (Trapper)

Healing Herbs (Knowledge Keeper)

Guiding Story (Knowledge Keeper) 

Small Engine Repair ( Tinkerer)

RIGGER

COMBAT

(All) Heirloom Weapon

(All) Improvised Arms

(Roughneck) Gun Slinger

(Whaler) Monster Slayer

(Engineer) Heavy Gunner

SURVIVAL

(Roughneck) Soak Pain

(Whaler) Ice Blood

(Engineer) Jury Rig

CAREGIVING

(Roughneck) Bodyguard

(Whaler) Warming Kiss

(Engineer) Med Tech

Viking

COMBAT

(All) Heirloom Weapon

(Berserker) Weapon Breaker

(Berserker) Human Weapon

(Valkyrie) Gun Fu

(Skald) Battle Hymn

(Smith) Hammer Wielder

SURVIVAL

(Berserker) Pain Soak.

(Valkyrie) Armor Flash

(Skald) Song of Full Bellies

(Smith) Fire Skin

CAREGIVING

(Berserker) Bone Setting

(Valkyrie) Warrior Death Dirge

(Skald) Song of Pain Ease

(Smith) Cauterize

NEW SCIENTISTS

COMBAT

Science Weapon

Pressure Points

SURVIVAL

Stasis

Pain Mitigation

Call of the Void

CAREGIVING

Healing Tech

Food Replication

Sword World & What Is An RPG?

 So this ad for the English edition of Sword World has been slamming my Facebook:

What is best in business?
To crush Backerkit,
 to see other FRPGs driven before you,
 and to hear the lamentations of gamer wallets.

Just like the Seven Part Pact, this really stretches the definition of what an RPG is. The ad picture has books, a book case, cards, special dice with trays, art prints, and plushies. It seems to be 50/50 playable game and art collection.

To be fair, if anyone can do it with the right attention to detail, it is Japanese creators.

But the whole 'kitchen sink' approach to crowdfunded RPGs has got me thinking - what exactly IS an RPG?

Let's do a little flashback.

RPGs At The Start of the Hobby

All you got were a book and some dice. This is the bare minimum of what you need.

Then came minis, useful but not necessary. This was followed by gameboards and dice towers. As these extensions proliferated, gameplay became more like a boardgame, with smaller battlefields and a higher financial buy in. Roll20 has brought all this online, saving your shelfspace but not your pocket book.

The big difference for me is, back in the day, we bought a game to PLAY it, not just COLLECT it. More and more games are collector's items, and the Seven Part Pact makes you wonder is it even playable? Could you figure it out, and could you get 6 people together for enough time to give it a fair shake?

I dunno.

I don't want to yuck anyone's yum, but my platonic RPG ideal is gamebook + dice, pencil, paper, Pringles and let's roll.

What Is Sword World Like?

I had Sword World 1.0 and 2.0 in Japanese. It reads like a math text. You roll 2D6 plus mods (from classes that act like skills if I recall), then refer to a Results Table so long you had to unfold it.

I had 2.0. They doubled the artwork (including cute rabbit characters), but still very mathey.

Aside from the charts, it is no worse than say Barbarians of Lemuria.

Is It Worth It?

If you have money and shelf space, why not? I'll be giving it a pass, might just pick up 2.0 again next time I visit Japan. Second hand shops are lined with them.

Is it playable?

Japanese people I knew played it for years and liked it better than D&D, which has always trailed behind Call of Cthulhu in Japan. Is this pride in a homegrown RPG, or is it really better? From the art and what I recall of the rulebooks I read, it is closer to Final Fantasy with mechs and artificers, so seems to have popular appeal.

But honestly I dunno.

The FRPG space is totally flooded with competing and indistinguishable games, and has been since the OSR started. Maybe this is the shake up it needs.

I'm Alive & Three Things

Hello all,

I am alive. Reduce salt, avoid those kidney stones gentlemen. Mine was an 11mm banger, needed explosives to clear my pipes.

In intense pain but still voted

Anyhow...

1) Review of the Skraeling Tree

I had this written up ages ago but may have deleted it during my deliriums.

TLDR review:

The Good - More Elric! He doesn't do much, but good to hear his insights on dream couches and other lives lived on them. Reminds me of how the throw away reference to the Clone Wars ballooned into its own saga.

The Bad - Not bad per se but a big swing by MM that doesn't always pay off. First, there is the tripartite structure, starting with Oona as protagonist, then switching to Elric, then to von Bek. There is no sense of urgency or danger in any of it, and of course Elric outshines the other voices. Also, the revelation that Melniboneans are related to real dragons is a bit ho hum Mary Sue, although I can see it as a counterpoint to their devolution to Oleb in the books. Richard Miller has hinted at incorporating this into the new Stormbringer game, so we will see what he makes of it.

The Ugly - As an Indigenous artist in residence, the depictions of indigenous people kept hammering me as all flat or just wrong. I understand that Moorcock was pulling an Alain Moore and using literary indigenous figures, such as Longfellow's Hiawatha, and not depicting 'real' indigenous peoples. But making young Elric into White Crow as an equal to Hiawatha, having the baddies insect-related indigenous who kidnap Von Bek, and the mystical mumbo jumbo talk just seems to be playing with tropes best left alone.

2) NUNA Developments

NUNA final rules are coming along. Characters are MUCH more robust than vanilla BRP characters, probably closer to Cthulhu Pulp which I have glanced at. For example, Hit Points are CON + SIZ, and all characters have Cultural Abilities that don't require rolls to work. This fits the post apocalyptic Arctic survival vibe so next round of playtests should be fun.

3) Don't Tell Your Dreams

Lots of pipedreams in the works - a better job to support the work, some travel. As soon as it becomes reality I will let you know.

Nuna Art Test

 

GREAT Horror Writing Advice

 Right HERE

Real life update

I have never felt this sick in my life

On the plus side, a laser destroyed a stone deep inside of me so it was kind of like playing asteroids while asleep

I have a shelf full of opioids covered with warnings that I’m too scared to use and now I see why there is an opioid crisis

Another plus side, Canada‘s bill 37, Or as we like to call it rape the land bill, puts the Canadian government in the running for the big bads of Nuna

Back to sleep

Oh wait my son just stogged the toilet back to work

Blog Hiatus Incoming

Hi all,

Between the new job, raising sonny, and a sudden health emergency (11 mm kidney stone), I will be tapping out of this blog for a while to recuperate and work on NUNA.

Take care