I'm running a Fabula Ultima one shot and I could use some advice because boy do I not feel ready and I'm running this shit tomorrow. Part 1 would take place in a town during a festival, there would be a clock that fills up when players play festival games. If they win the clock fills up by one, if they fail it fills up by two. After the clock fills up 12 spaces we move to part 2 where a cult attacks the town and tries to summon a dragon to destroy it. I kind of wanted to do something with the clock here, where if it fills the players have to fight the dragon, and if they can stop it from filling then they fight the cultist instead but I don't really know how best to do this mechanically because I have zero experience with using clocks. So if you got any ideas please let me know you would use a clock here? Also general Fabula Ultima thread I guess?
>>98194223Have the cultists be led by an elite - a high priest or sorcerer or something like that. Make an 8 space clock. At the start of each of the head cultist's turns, the clock automatically fills in one space. Have the head cultist use one of his turns rach round to take the objective actuon to try and fill in extra spaces.
>>98194223>Part 1 would take place in a town during a festival, there would be a clock that fills up when players play festival games. If they win the clock fills up by one, if they fail it fills up by two.this sounds awesome. you should make each of the games a different check, and maybe even have equipment prizes for harder checks, gives a nice risk reward. one thing to keep in mind is checks that use two different attributes are technically more difficult, unless status ailments are in play or everyone is a minmaxed 10/10/6/6.speaking of, do you know what classes your players are?>we move to part 2 where a cult attacks the town and tries to summon a dragon to destroy it. I kind of wanted to do something with the clock here, where if it fills the players have to fight the dragon, and if they can stop it from filling then they fight the cultist instead but I don't really know how best to do this mechanically because I have zero experience with using clocks.if your players are new or itching for action, try to have a fight with some cultists to start things off as a sort of "tutorial" before possibly fighting a dragon. you could use this to introduce the clock as well, have one enemy use Objective during his turn and perform a check to start a clock (if he succeeds, a section fills). from there, might be a good idea to have a number of side goals that must be achieved. saving festival goers or trying to interrupt cultist rituals (also gives a chance for counter rituals). this should give a way for the cultists to progress the clock, either attacking people or completing rituals to advance the clock while the players act against them. can even give advantages based on how well they do, like save a lot of people and they request nearby militia to help stop the cultists or shoot arrows at the dragon.
>>98194223Have the clock become the dragon rather then just be an indicator of the summoning. The arms becomes its arms, the face warps and shifts into a reptilian form, and building itself twists into the body, wings, and etc. Describe the clock differently as it fills up too. Add features to the face as it goes along and maybe have the building sprout feet or wings. Make it twitch or groan in worrying ways.
I find that Fabula has decent tactical depth compared to, say, D&D 5e, but that is not a very high bar to clear.As far as gridless systems go, I have had a much better time with 13th Age 2e for an expressly weeb-y, anime-y game than with Fabula Ultima. I personally like it a lot, lot, lot more than Fabula Ultima. Sure, 13th Age 2e does not have as much build customization, but I find that the moment-to-moment, turn-to-turn decisions are significantly more interesting than in Fabula Ultima. (Also, I am just not interested in Fabula relying on opaque combat information at all. I would much rather that challenge be intrinsic to the enemies, rather than arise from lack of knowledge.)I have been keeping a combat diary of my 13th Age 2e game here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HQC2x2FfjnBDZDaicQDCLWO2-R6xMyUAa_rJcMABpfw/editNevertheless, I would still be interested in giving Fabula Ultima another try. I would like to see how much more tactical (if any) the combat is with the new Bestiary and its boss mechanics.
>>98194356>the new Bestiary and its boss mechanics.this shit got announced literally two days after i finished shitbrewing nearly an entire campaign's worth of enemies.yes im still made.
>>98194223I have yet to use a clock in my 4 sessions of campaign - I really should for events they have coming up in game. The festival is a neat idea, introduces it nicely and shows the passage of time without requiring too much. Like >>98194301 suggested, having the first leader be an active and apparent part of the summoning could reinforce the combat clock nicely. Currently running a Final Fantasy XIV campaign. Players are at their first dungeon this weekend and seeing this makes me think I should use the clock for the mid boss of Sastasha, summoning more or alerting the final boss. Also wondering how often people have mapped and routed dungeons vs the theater of mind they suggest. It's not crucial to the story, but there is still neat little side stuff like kidnapped maidens, shipping manifests. Probably describe it and let them search or give a hint that the guild wants info of collaborators, etc.
>>98194301>Have the cultists be led by an elite - a high priest or sorcerer or something like that. Make an 8 space clock. At the start of each of the head cultist's turns, the clock automatically fills in one space. Have the head cultist use one of his turns rach round to take the objective actuon to try and fill in extra spaces.Oh, I see yeah that does make sense. Maybe I could do it like, the cultist has a larger clock to summon and like you said start of of cultist turn fill a space and then have them roll an objective check, and then I could have a player clock where every time they kill a cultist they fill their clock up to represent them climbing the tower to get to the cultist doing the summoning?>>98194337>you should make each of the games a different check, and maybe even have equipment prizes for harder checks, gives a nice risk reward.Yeah that's my plan. I had been trying to decide between giving them money or tickets and just letting them grab whatever they want since this is a one shot.>speaking of, do you know what classes your players are?I don't really know how to describe them, since Fabula Ultima is so multiclass focused. One is Tinkerer 3, Elementalist 1, Fury 1 (I think his concept is Potion Hulkster), another is Weaponmaster 3, Arcanist 1, Guardian 1 (I think his concept is counter attacking focused), and one is still working on her character but it's like a dancing priestess with Elementalist and Spiritalist levels.
>>98194356>Sure, 13th Age 2e does not have as much build customizationI like a lot of the class favor for Fabula Ultima even if I don't really care for the multiclassing aspect of the system. I could really see myself enjoying the Arcanist class if it was like a D&D class with 20 levels.
>>98194378>Tinkerer 3, Elementalist 1, Fury 1>Weaponmaster 3, Arcanist 1, Guardian 1>Elementalist and Spiritalist levels.the counter skill only activates against melee attacks, so if you want to "shoot the monk", you should have more melee focused enemies. given the comp i would also either be sparing with flying enemies or just ignore (or forget *cough*) the mechanic exists. are the elementalists taking damaging spells at all? if so, weaknesses are both fun to play around and functionally halve the HP of enemies so important to remember.
>>98194426>the counter skill only activates against melee attacks, so if you want to "shoot the monk", you should have more melee focused enemies. given the comp i would also either be sparing with flying enemies or just ignore (or forget *cough*) the mechanic exists.Luckily the only flying enemy I plan to have is the Dragon if it gets summoned, at which point it'll be a boss fight so it should be a bit more fair. I also have no idea what the elementalists are doing. I'll find out tomorrow and have to adjust encounter before hand. Which speaking of encounters, I want to make sure I understand this. When building the encounters for this one my players are level 5, does that mean the level 10 drake in the core rules would be considered an easy fight since it's within 5 levels, and a level 15 monster would be considered challenging? They'll have full Inventory Points to pull potions out of their ass without worry so does the balance rules of 3 Easy Battles, 2 Normal Battles, or 1 Hard Battle" still apply? If so would three battles with 2 Level 10 Mercenaries work out? And then I could custom build the Head Cultist/Dragon as needed? Or because of everything should I just go harder?
>>98194223>I'm running a Fabula Ultima one shotWhat level are you starting the players? I don't think this system is suitable for a one-shot but if you must I recommend everyone starts at least Lv. 20 because every class starts out with very few skills. It's definitely designed to play as a campaign and you basically level up every other session.
>>98194819We're just starting out at level 5, we were curious what we would think of the system and if we all enjoy it we'd continue playing it.
>>98194730one thing to keep in mind if you're only using the core rulebook is the balancing kind've assumes the party has at least one dedicated "tank" (guardian with Protect or fury with Provoke) or "healer" (orator with Encourage or Spiritist with Heal spell) to redirect, mitigate, or reduce damage. As a result, unless you're remembering to have enemies use Hinder or guard themselves/eachother often, they're gonna have pretty consistent damage output.For example if the merc uses Charged Attack and doesnt die before her next turn, she can do between 15~19 damage to two players, who if i recall only have about 40 HP to start unless they take tank classes or have 10 Might. and the other Merc can cover the charging one with Guard (actually a cool crisis gimmick for them), on top of them having double digit physical defense (in my experience, enemies with 10+ defenses are much harder to hit).Frankly a good way to mitigate this would be to have villain appearances, so players can gain Fabula Points to reroll any misses and help move the session along. Obvious choice is the cult leader appearing a few times, but a "rival" who appears a few times during the festival segment, and counts as a villain (and maybe actually is one), could also help pad the count.
>>98194849>we were curious what we would think of the systemThere is a starter one shot game you might take some stuff from. It helped me for my new players for >>98194372 as it adds in elements of the gameplay into specific chunks and unlocks and explains it for them. But, if you're all hopping into creation and stuff already, you're probably past that point.
>>98194878>But, if you're all hopping into creation and stuff already, you're probably past that point.Yeah they really wanted to mess with the character creation.
>>98194849>we were curious what we would think of the system and if we all enjoy it we'd continue playing it.me n my group are actually winding down our almost year-long campaign this month (i hope it was supposed to be april) before we play the epilogue modded minecraft server. you'll have to let me know if ya like it and I'll pass on some of my better shitbrewa (just warning you though our screenshots usually look like picrel)
>>98194931>DigmonNice.
>>98194223In my last game I had a gimmick where the players had about 16 hours before a dragon appeared to destroy the city. Every objective, be it a combat encounter, chase scene or other interaction where PCs could meaningfully fail, took roughly 1 hour to complete, and successes granted a level up (so you could be strong enough to stop the dragon), and a new ally (I made a table of factions and such). It also took 1 hour if they needed to procure anything from the city, be it an artifact (1 at a time) for an objective, or supplies and weapons (all at the same time), though you could send allies instead to procure those for you (spending the hour doing something else and meeting them briefly afterwards).
>>98194931>just warning you though our screenshots usually look like picrelNTA, but please do share everything you don't mind sharing.
>>98194223This is nonsense. How does failing at festival games increases the pace of a cultists attack( or worse, affects if they fight a dragon or not) and winning at them decreases it? Are cultists watching and going:>"Fuck! These adventures are too good at festival games! We obviously need more time to prepare!"or>"These adventures are so good at festival games that the dragon is now scared and won't come to out aid!"
>>98195420>This is nonsense. How does failing at festival games increases the pace of a cultists attack( or worse, affects if they fight a dragon or not) and winning at them decreases it?It doesn't. The carnival clock is just to show them how clocks work since I don't think they've ever used them either. It has nothing to do with the cultist summoning the dragon. It's just how long the carnival lasts.
>>98195782So how long the carnival lasts is tied to how good the PCs are at carnival games? I mean you COULD imply that the carnival just plain runs out of prizes and closes early because the PCs are THAT good but you are doing the opposite. It's completely arbitrary and clocks aren't supposed to be arbitrary. This is just a terrible way to showcase a mechanic.
>>98195833is there anyway to salvage the idea or am I just better off trashing the concept completely and just having it be a set amount of games?
>>98195844Ignore that retard. if in-world logic about a mechanic matters *that much* make it so winning is 2 pips (celebrations and gathering tickets) and losing is 1 (simultaneously a mercy system and shows the players just walk away after losing or start to try again without leaving the booth).
>>98195844Make it not arbitrary?Longer games could give you better prizes but move the clock by 2 or 3 ticks no matter if they win or lose.(Actual choice in time management, a lot of smaller prizes vs a big one)Multiple tries of a game add more ticks, so if they lose and try again the clock moves twice or thrice faster.(Cut your loses or double down)Add time-traps like drinking games or sexy/funny shows where the players plainly lose track of time and the clock moves a lot.(Teach them that fucking around may be fun but it has consequences) Run with the, "they run out of prizes" idea, I think it's fitting for old-school jrpg style game.(Thematic)Or listen to >>98195872 and not care about a mechanics in-world logic(which this isn't whats this thing is about anyway), in a ttrpg no less, and run your games in any wrong way you want.
>>98195057>please do share everything you don't mind sharingi have a few good screenshots, one of my players likes to talk to his coworkers about each session and in his words "a good pic of this campaign is a great conversation starter".if you want to know more, i can try and summarize some of the visual vomit you're seeing in each one.
>>98195905>if you want to know moreI do>i can try and summarize some of the visual vomit you're seeing in each one.I almost don't want you to, because trying to figure out myself is so fun, but please doThis one looks like your rogue and some kind of caster (or maybe charisma character) are hiding behind a tank and some wheeled abomination I'm assuming is either minmaxed but janky, or a plain joke character, while the GMPC fends off mind-eating parasites led by a dank slimy leader that spanws them.
>>98195937>I almost don't want you to, because trying to figure out myself is so fun,well now i dont know if i should, your description made me audibly kek and now i wanna hear more interpretations>I'm assuming is either minmaxed but janky, or a plain joke characterboth actually.>I dodamn, where to even start? i guess the best thing that could give context is that while the story is *extremely* Final Fantasy (i have played every FF to completion aside from 16 and the 13 sequels and dumped over 6000 hours into ff14), the world itself is more like a fantasy-themed public minecraft server with All-the-Mods installed. there's numerous video game-isms worked into the world as well, you can survive a fall from any height by landing in a body of water (the players have utilized this twice), it's possible and actually kinda easy to hit someone so hard they quantum tunnel through objects or the floor. however an important thing is that none of the characters act like they are in a game, they have (sometimes alarmingly logical) explanations for everything they encounter and frequently utilize it. a key plot point early on is that zenit is described as "crystallized effort", and was invented because all previous currencies someone would find a way to infinitely duplicate within a few years. by using solid effort as currency, duplicating it either takes so much work it becomes a new minting process, or the "effort that took no effort" zero sums and disappears.
>98196074forgot pic. most of these are gonna be from the big end siege against the villains' capital (i literally just ripped off doma castle and ala mhigo dungeons from 14 and had them fight Evrae beforehand)
>>98196074>however an important thing is that none of the characters act like they are in a game, they have (sometimes alarmingly logical) explanations for everything they encounter and frequently utilize it.Kino, I've been hacking myself at my attempt at a gamist homebrew that still has logical explanations for everything, while inexplicably eschewing conventional physics/chemistry/biology (oh, yeah, being stabbed on your right side of your torso can fuck you up roally. Liver? what sort of thing is that? stabbing someone's right side is bad because it's not the wrong side).>by using solid effort as currencyBetter than the gold standard for staving off inflation, kek. One thing I use to justify fairer commerce in my setting is that willfully lying outside of cities can attract Manticores, and they're kinda terrifying mindfucky things in that setting, fighting one is akin to fighting an illusion-based saint from Saint Seiya. Good luck trying to get fair prices in cities though.
>>98194223>If they win the clock fills up by one, if they fail it fills up by two.I'm playing in a Fabula Ultima campaign atm and doing skill checks to fill up a clock is the most mind-numbingly boring gameplay to me.Honestly my main recommendation is to play into the strengths of the system: Fabula points allowing players to add to the story and playing around with resistances/vulnerabilities in combat.
>>98196125>doing skill checks to fill up a clock is the most mind-numbingly boring gameplay to meworks better if each section of the clock does something when filled. or if it's in the middle of a fight and you have to dedicate an action to do the roll.the real meme gameplay is projects
>>98196243Yeah, clocks as consequences are completely fine for example. It's not clocks themselves that I have an issue with, it's clocks that are some arbitrary meter that you fill with arbitrary actions.
again with this Spaghetti Eastern Ryuutama hack...
>implying you should care if a game is derivative of anothershiggydiggy i thought only /v/irgins did this
I ran my one shot. I fucking hated it. I don't feel like I understand encounter building so it all felt pretty weak. My players loved it and want to play more. I want to kill myself.
>>98199589What felt weak? You mean that the monsters got trounced?For me as a player the combat is passable, the real fun is the shared world building which you're lacking in a oneshot
>>98199589>it all felt pretty weakConsidering a base-level oneshot is basically permadeath unless you make a houserule, this is probably the best outcome for your first time running it.And keep in mind while obviously the desired difficulty is up to the table, JRPGs have never been known for being difficult games.
>>98199589Its very glass cannon, at least my game. Encounter design isn't intuitive to me either for Fabula; the party trounced every lv10+ enemy, but was almost wiped out by a pair of lv 5's. >>98200012You can absolutely do worldbuilding in a one-shot, it was the best part of the one-shot we did.
>>98200012>What felt weak? You mean that the monsters got trounced?Yes.>>98201303>Encounter design isn't intuitive to me either for Fabula; the party trounced every lv10+ enemy, but was almost wiped out by a pair of lv 5's.This is the big issue for me and lack of a decent bestiary in the corebook. Maybe I misunderstood the math here, but I have three level 5 players. I three three Brigands at them. Sure it says that within 5 levels is an easy fight, but it also says that a normal battle is equal the number of player characters. I did two of these battles before a boss encounter and the only resource that the players really lost was MP. It just felt like a snooze fest.
>>98194223looks fun
