Author Topic: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please  (Read 7409 times)

Crafty_Alex

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[MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« on: February 23, 2009, 05:59:06 PM »
Hey folks,

Work on the Mistborn RPG is now in full swing, and I thought I'd take a quick survey of some of the trilogy's biggest fans to see what YOU are expecting/wanting/desperately hoping for out of a game like this.

Some specific questions that might help frame your thinking:

* What's your favorite part/most anticipated element of a Mistborn RPG?
* What are some character concepts you were hoping to play/see at the table?
* What parts of the game world do you most want to see done "right"?
* Are there aspects of the Mistborn setting you would like explored further, beyond what the books covered?
* Are there any particular elements that you have a tough time visualizing or would like to see an artistic treatment of?

While we've already made a number of key decisions about the game and structure of the book, the sky's the limit - just don't expect that because you asked for it, that it'll automatically be there :) Thanks in advance for your time and input!

Alex Flagg
Crafty Games
http://www.crafty-games.com
« Last Edit: February 23, 2009, 06:01:26 PM by Crafty_Alex »

Miyabi

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2009, 06:10:42 PM »
*rubs hands together* muahaha I've been waiting for this.

(Do you have a potential release date yet?)

  • I like d20 type systems.
  • NO dual classing or gistaltalting(sp?).  It just doesn't fit the universe. (Unless you're a Hemalurgist which then I guess you kind of do.)
  • Hemalurgy.  Lots of it, but the reqs for it should be ridiculous and it should be a prestige class.
  • Prestige classes.  (I forget what they are called off the top of my head and I don't have my books here.) Like what spook did.  They would have super benefits, but also super hindrances.
  • Feruchemists broken down into separate pieces.
  • Make becoming a Mistborn difficult.  I am not one who would, but a LOT of people will want to start as Mistborn.  Maybe make it a level adjustment of some sort so that the person has to play as a normal person before they are able to 'snap.'
  • Normal people classes.  Classes for those who aren't Mistings or use Feruchemy or are Hemalurgists.
  • Have it set in a time while TLR is still in command, but is before Kell and everyone is alive.
  • I know I have more, but my brain suddenly died.  I'll add more later.
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douglas

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2009, 07:44:02 PM »
I want to see a) full Allomantic, Feruchemic, and Hemalurgic* details for all 16 metals, and b) details on what a combination Allomancer/Feruchemist can do and how.  The Lord Ruler is the only example in the books of someone actually using the synergy possible between Allomancy and Feruchemy, and it's never explained except in vague speculation.

I would like the mechanics to be capable of handling everything from The Lord Ruler himself all the way down to random skaa and everything in between.  Mistborn of various strengths, from the original few down to the last after the bloodlines get diluted too much, 16 types of Mistings with the same range of strength, 16 types of Allomantic savants including what it takes to become one, full Feruchemists ranging from TLR down to whatever the low end is, 16 Feruchemical "Misting" types, what happens for each possible combination of Misting + Feruchemy, etc.  Game balance, for those who want parties of mixed Misting/Mistborn and normal people, should be in terms of how badass a normal person has to be to match the metal user, not in toning down the magic system.

Optional rules for Atium and Larasium, and possibly their alloys, would be useful tools for making plot devices.

Ideally I'd like setting information for several time periods, but doing a proper job of all of them would probably require extra rule books.  Just to list them off, I'd like to see the time before Rashek and Alendi, the consolidation of the Final Empire under Rashek, a point or two during the millennium of TLR's rule, the time just before the trilogy (if it's significantly different in a way other than the typical strength of Allomancers), and a suitable period after the trilogy.

* I realize Hemalurgy is capable of some very complicated and advanced effects, like the creation of Koloss and changing mistwraiths to Kandra.  I don't expect all of those to be fully specified or even mentioned, but the simple "use X spike to steal Y ability, losing Z strength" stuff should all be there.

Dangerbutton

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2009, 12:56:31 AM »
Honestly, so long as the action flows, I'm good. With the amount of crazy action in the Mistborn books, I can see a single fight taking way too long if the mechanics aren't perfect. If you get that right, then I'm just fine with whatever else you do with the game.

douglas

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2009, 01:19:24 AM »
Optional rules for Atium and Larasium, and possibly their alloys, would be useful tools for making plot devices.
Oh, and I'd be interested and amused to see rules for Atium Savants.  I doubt it's even possible to become one without Ruin's (or Sazed's, after the trilogy) active cooperation, but it's still a detail that would make for a nice sense of completeness.

mking

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2009, 09:09:08 AM »
I've been gaming for a while now and find that I enjoy games with lighter mechanics that focus on the storytelling and characters. Part of that is due to my ever shrinking amount of free time.

One thing I'd like to avoid is becoming too reliant on die rolls for the outcomes of things.  I hope it would be possible to re-create situations like when Vin fought the more experienced Shan in the first book. It would be nice to have to allow players to pull off the "impossible" every once in a while without worrying about how to make the die rolls work out.

Another thing that was important to the Mistborn universe was the influence of Ruin upon people and the gradual revelations about how pervasive Ruin was. I'd like to see that incorporated into the game somehow.

I think a lot of people, myself included, would want to play a Mistborn. It seems like that a party of Mistborn should be possible, even though in the books the Mistborn are very rare. So I realize this is unrealistic in the world of the books, but for me it would be one of the big draws to the RPG.  Maybe in the game it's just a lot tougher to level up as fast as Vin did in the books.

While I'd be curious about the history of the universe, I'd like the time period of the game to be during the Final Empire, shortly before Kelsier's revolution.

I would hope the system would encourage non-melee encounters and scenarios. While Mistborn fights are very cool, a lot of what I liked about the first book in particular was the intrigue involved with pulling off the plan. So if there were sometimes campaigns that were all about a heist and there was never a melee at all...  I think that could be fun.

That's all I can think of right now.  Thanks for being open to our ideas!


Miyabi

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2009, 04:22:42 PM »
One thing I'd like to avoid is becoming too reliant on die rolls for the outcomes of things.  I hope it would be possible to re-create situations like when Vin fought the more experienced Shan in the first book. It would be nice to have to allow players to pull off the "impossible" every once in a while without worrying about how to make the die rolls work out.
That is completely reliant on the DM.  He can say "Screw the die roll you just do it"
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Dangerbutton

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2009, 08:55:24 PM »
One thing I'd like to avoid is becoming too reliant on die rolls for the outcomes of things.  I hope it would be possible to re-create situations like when Vin fought the more experienced Shan in the first book. It would be nice to have to allow players to pull off the "impossible" every once in a while without worrying about how to make the die rolls work out.
That is completely reliant on the DM.  He can say "Screw the die roll you just do it"

While I agree that it is mostly the GM, I have seen some games where the rules actually support doing crazy cool cinematic things.

Turbolinux999

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2009, 10:10:16 PM »
What is it with you, miyabi, always making me have to single you out  :P :
How would no dual-classing work?  Isn't that the coolness of having a Thug that can also use a Pewtermind?
(I'm going to keep my mildly presumptuous names confined to my very presumptuous thread.)

Of all the requests here(Which I do love, truly) there is one that would make the most sense for the universe and the story itself: If the RPG were to take place in the post-Final Empire/remade-Scadrial time period of rebuilding the world.  Maybe two centuries after the end of MB3 so there are still Mistborn and there are new Hemalurgists and Feruchemical 'Mistings'
I think that's my only hope for the game because it would make the world perfect for playing.

What I would like to see:

-- The game taking place 200-250 years after the remaking of Scadrial.  It would fill in the spots of the story between series one and series two(Said to be set 500 years after the end of MB3).
-- The gamut of Allomantic Mistings and Feruchemical 'Mistings' as well as full Mistborn and full Feruchemists.
-- Hemalurgy as a "secret" class.  I could see the civilization that The Crew will have built would be hostile to Hemalurgy and Hemalurgists as a whole(They have to kill people to make themselves better.).  But, within a few centuries there will have to have been a splintering of societies, possibly into ones that have neutral or positive stances on Hemalurgy.  Either way, the PC could either start with spikes and have to secretly acquire more or have to start killing once in a play group.  It's a neat idea.
-- The ability to, if the DM and players so wish, play as those people that Rashek put at the south pole.  They, obviously, weren't in any of the storage caches and they weren't standing there when Spook and everyone else emerged from them.  This means that they are somewhere else on Scadrial because I don't see Sazed killing anyone.  Maybe as a limited form of play.  No Feruchemy, no Mistborn, possibly no Hemalurgy.  Just Allomantic Mistings could make for interesting play.
-- The Kandra and possibly even the Koloss as playable races.  It's on the spoiler thread that Sazed made the Koloss a true species and he changed their mentality so that they're not just killing machines.  Plus, being a Kandra would be cool.
-- Expansion books for 'Old Scadrial Era', 'Rise of The Final Empire Era'(Or maybe just 'Ascension Era'), 'The Final Empire Era', and, maybe after it starts being published, 'Modern Scadrial Era'
-- D20 all the way!

That's my 37 cents... I'm sure there will be more to come.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2009, 10:21:05 PM by Turbolinux999 »

Eerongal

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #9 on: February 25, 2009, 10:27:49 PM »
as big a proponent as I am for D20, I can't see it working very well for a mistborn RPG. It would have to be something much more freeform/open ended to me, which is why I would want something like a  Palladium style of system.


Also, IMO the best way to do character creation is a point buy system sort of like shadowrun's. That way you can have normal people/misting/mistborn all from the get go, and it'll be relatively balanced, since the normal people will have more points to allocate to things that make themselves better, whereas being a mistborn is more expensive in points giving them less of an ability to spread around to other areas of their character
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Crafty_Alex

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #10 on: February 26, 2009, 01:56:26 AM »
Thanks for the replies everyone - and keep them coming!

Just to let you know where we're leaning right now: Mistborn will likely be a non-d20 system, for many of the reasons Eerongal and mking pointed out. My hopes are to make a game that reflects the fun, fluid action of the series, encourages creative play and use of powers, and is easy to get into and start playing. Not that d20 can't be that way, but moving a bit outside that box does present us with some interesting opportunities to do some very interesting things.

However, our new d20/OGL game, Fantasy Craft, will be releasing later this year, and I'm hoping, time and projects permitting, that we can do a treatment of Mistborn as a modification/supplement to that game at some point after the MBRPG hits. So you all can have your cake and eat it, too :)

Timelines are an interesting thing - Brandon's been great in letting us run about and play in the spaces he hasn't already established, but I doubt the base setting will be post-reboot of the world. First and foremost, we don't want to get into Brandon's way for any future trilogies; secondly, that's a bit off target for some of the broader audience who may discover Mistborn after finding our game on the shelves first (and trust me, there are MANY gamers out there who had no idea MB existed until we started talking about doing a game for it).

Presuming the core book is well recieved for us, I can certainly see us starting to do more in the different eras. I'm particularly intrigued by the dawn of the Final Empire, as TLR is marching on the many societies of the world, the environment is suddenly and catastrophically changing, Mistborn are everywhere, and the Terris are on the run. Ah, sweet dystopia.

Wherever we go, we're not the type of company to say "you know that cool thing you want to do? Yeah, you can't do that" :) Spycraft 2.0, our mainline product, is one of the most (if not the most) notoriously cinematic d20 game out there and I think you'll be seeing a lot of that spirit here too. Mistborn *should* be playable, as should kandra and all the other cool things you see in the books - but there will be tradeoffs, drawbacks, and limitations so the Dox's and lowly skaa of the world have their place and fun too. it's all up the GM and the players to decide what sort of fun they want to have and letting them have it. :)

Eerongal

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #11 on: February 26, 2009, 04:19:33 PM »
also, I would like to see something kind of action point/chtzupah system, where you have a reserve of points/whatever, that you are allowed to spend to do much more cinematic things. That way you can pull off some of the epic battles as shown in the books while not being able to do that sort of stuff all the time. I'm thinking along the lines of something you spend to give a temporary boost to stats/health/whatever to allow for the amazing, improbable comback in very dire situations.
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Rrikor

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #12 on: February 26, 2009, 06:33:37 PM »
I don't know if you need an action point system. The DM just needs to regulate the amount of metal you acquire and there needs to be rules on how much metal is burned doing certain actions. 

Oh and consequences for doing things like the pewter runs.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2009, 06:35:21 PM by Rrikor »

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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2009, 06:42:00 PM »
as big a proponent as I am for D20, I can't see it working very well for a mistborn RPG. It would have to be something much more freeform/open ended to me, which is why I would want something like a  Palladium style of system.


Also, IMO the best way to do character creation is a point buy system sort of like shadowrun's. That way you can have normal people/misting/mistborn all from the get go, and it'll be relatively balanced, since the normal people will have more points to allocate to things that make themselves better, whereas being a mistborn is more expensive in points giving them less of an ability to spread around to other areas of their character

What about using True20 or Mutants and Masterminds then?
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Re: [MISTBORN RPG] Your wish lists, please
« Reply #14 on: February 26, 2009, 06:44:46 PM »
as big a proponent as I am for D20, I can't see it working very well for a mistborn RPG. It would have to be something much more freeform/open ended to me, which is why I would want something like a  Palladium style of system.


Also, IMO the best way to do character creation is a point buy system sort of like shadowrun's. That way you can have normal people/misting/mistborn all from the get go, and it'll be relatively balanced, since the normal people will have more points to allocate to things that make themselves better, whereas being a mistborn is more expensive in points giving them less of an ability to spread around to other areas of their character

What about using True20 or Mutants and Masterminds then?

never played either, so I can't really say :P
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