ICRPG Destiny

#1

destiny
destiny.jpg1920x1080 307 KB

Hello everyone!

A while back I posted on G+ about an adaptation (or “hack”, your choice) of ICRPG for the Destiny fictional universe, and the problem I faced: the respawning of heroes, or Guardians, is a mechanic they explain in Lore in that universe.

Maaaybe I found an acceptable answer.

The latest expansion for the game, Forsaken, features a Guardian dying. Explictly and, for this while, permanently.

How, you that are not familiar with the game, might ask, if Guardians can respawn almost at will? What revives them is a “Ghost”, a small robot-like figment of he power that chose them, The Traveler. They destroyed that, therefore the Guardian bound to that Ghost could no longer respawn.

So, for this adaptation, a small change on the Death Rules could suffice: In 1d6 (rounds/turns, I forget) they will be revived where they stand by their Ghost, but in that while the Ghost is exposed and can be killed if hit by an attack that rolled a nat 20. And only that way so far - I’m not exploring the rituals that exist in the lore of the game to extract Light (what gives a Guardian powers) from Guardians.

What do you think? Would it become too easy to kill a Ghost this way?

Thanks for the replies in advance!!

#2

Another great thing is how much found art can be used for standees, roll20 setups and the like… a great idea for some high action blast fests…

#3

I love this idea, there is so so much unexplored potential in the Destiny universe.

I’ve been trying to make a Dark Souls adaptation, and we might have similar problems to solve with the respawn mechanic. We’re discussing it here: Help me make DARK SOULS ICRPG

What else have you worked out for the Destiny hack? I think the Vault of Glass was a masterpiece, would love to see more done with that lore.

#4

Honestly I’m just trying to figure out how to make the classes work, as in what to drop and what to maintain. Also the granularity - Cooldowns, types of weapon which are important in the video game might just be a hassle on the tabletop - and how would the exotics work if they’re kept.

I’m still trying to get my hands on Destiny 1 with the expansions but it’s too expensive for me, not even Black Friday helped me with that so I can delve deeper in the lore from the game’s perspective.

#5

Cooldowns - if you wanted to keep them, maybe 1d4 turns would be exciting? Either that or you could use ICRPG’s spell attempts and spellburn to limit those abilities.

I think you’re right about simplifying it for tabletop. Have some broad weapon types, and let players roleplay the differences.

Exotics could definitely be awesome loot. Maybe start with looking at what mechanics are already attached to loot in ICRPG, and see if any of them could fit the exotics you want to adapt.

I have no idea if people are still playing Destiny 1. Probably worth doing some research to see if you’ll be able to find raid groups, if you do decide to splash out. Watching a Let’s Play is probably a decent compromise, though.

#7

This is absolutely true. I actually used a bunch of pictures from the Infinity game to make standees for exactly this reason.

#8

I think for weapons, the answer would be some sort of difference (in the monsters) for shields and whatnot, so kinetic and energy weapons deal weapon effort as normal, but if a player gets his character’s little greedy paws on a power weapon, it deals 2x Weapon Effort (I know in-game every player has all of them but I don’t want to box anyone into anything, might be a Hunter wants to travel light).

As for subclasses and stuff like that I think the way to go would be to mimic Milestone Paths from WORLDS but in a more strict way and to go with the game. Some time with a mentor might grant them a change in subclass (spending DAYS getting used to the new abilites, maybe, dunno).

Supers, however, should be Battlefield wrecking. No simple enemy should survive them. Stronger enemies should be severely weakened by them. Completely over the top anime-style effects.

@Ezzerharden will take a look as soon as I can! Right now i’m in the middle of writing a literature review, so very little free time. Your respawning-with-teammate-help definitely is better than the rigid form I had so far.

#10

I’m not at all familiar with the concept or game but in reading your suggestion I think the idea that applying a “ghost” a dice number (HP if you will) that for each time a revive is done, it drops a permanent number until perhaps on its last digit, it revives you and dies which means you are now on your last life. You can call it 9 lives and go with 9 as the number or if too high, use a 4 sided die and keep track of it that way by sitting the die on the table and flipping it so its lives number is apparent to everyone.

#12

You bet. Glad it fits

#14

Dunno, it’s a neat idea but not one I’d incorporate into a possible hack. Besides the ghost having to be exposed (it never is destroyed or dies until… well, it is destroyed or killed) for the duration of the resurrection, there are areas in game which are “Areas of Darkness” where they kinda switch off and can’t do shit for their Guardian, and that’s where, in my opinion, many moments in a tabletop rendering of the game should happen. A TPK in such an is a TPK, period.

My point is, when the stakes are high, there are enough mechanisms in place (basing myself on the game itself) to make them high.

#16

Oh, you do you man, not criticizing anyone. Just figuring out what I’m using for mine, cause in the end I’m trying to get a Destiny ICRPG going and I’m picking what would work for my people and myself. If not sticking to the game too much, the Cat-style ressurection (9 lives, get it?) might work.

From my point of view, what giving them nigh-unlimited ressurection in some moments frees the players from worrying too hard about their character and getting moar heroic sometimes to get some epic moments. If they’re “man, I only have one last ressurect” they won’t go for crazy plans when they, in fact, should because it might make them get killed for a dumb reason. See, in lore, the Crucible - a training competition where guardians literally kill each other repetitively to improve their strategies and where a shitton on intrigue could happen on the tabletop - would be nulified in one stroke.

#17

I like the idea of the Ghost.

Here are some other thoughts while sitting here; I didn’t look at the PDF yet to see if these are in there:

When a Guardian rolls a natural 20, they generate a hero coin that gets placed somewhere in the encounter. Another Guardian (you can’t pick up your own coin) can pick it up to gain a free activation of their unique power.

Make a Guardian’s unique power act exactly like a spell in ICRPG. Change the word MAGIC to LIGHT.

#18

That’s a good one, works similar to the Light Orbs that can be generated in the game but I’d fragment them more to have characters not stick to cover all the time. An addition I’d make is that every enemy killed with a Super generates a Light Orb as well - put together 4 of them and you recharge your Super instantly!

#19

that was actually what I originally wrote but then I backed it out due to complexity. Like it would be cool to use clear colored beads for each player (different color per player) and when you roll a 20, drop like 4 randomly on the map. Collect 5 different colored beads (from other players or in your example monsters), and earn a free activation of your “super” power. That would definitely match the game mechanic but would also add a little more crunchy book keeping and I personally prefer simple.

#20

Yeah, no need for complex minigames indeed. I’m just thinking I can get them eager to trade 4 beads for 1 hero coin in the end. Dunno why but players love doing that.

#21

Challenge now is to find in what rate does Super power recharge without Orbs. Since ICRPG is always in turns, I’m thinking anything longer than moments fills Super. No need for anything more complicated than that.

#27

It’s great work too - whoever did it did a very good job. Honestly I stepped away from my project due to in-game (the videogame) community toxicity, even uninstalled it from my PC.

Another idea I’d like to propose is on those Unique Weapons - Malfeasance, Thorn, Crimson, most of the Exotics anyway - that is ONLY ONE IN THE GAME. No two exotics of one kind. Make them real exotic, get players to go on adventures to get them and make it be a differential for their playstyle and character. Same with Exotic Armor.

Also I was thinking about Ammo - how would you do it? My gut tells me to just go Spellburn style, but larger mags get larger dice. Would be simple enough and is a proven mechanic for such a thing.

#28

Just now read what is done in the Primer (great freaking work, btw), so suggestions for it follow:

  • GLIMMER: The explanation feels… incomplete? I think it merits a few more lines. Does the Speaker get to recharge Glimmer as well, getting the players’ when they use them, making for a pool of N dice that keeps changing hands?

  • TITANS: Might conflict with The Titan Archetype, confusing some people.

  • LIGHT POOL: “Grenades, Rifts and Jumps…” should be changed to “Grenades, Class Ability, and Jumps” to encompass all classes (right now it is clearly geared towards Warlock).

  • DARKNESS ZONES: Suggestion that some places may be so dark not even respawn works in there. Also, the regeneration of Light Points in such zones is covered twice in the Primer, is this by design?

  • CLASSES: Class Abilities (Rifts, Dodges, Barriers) could be presented before subclasses as they don’t change from subclass to subclass.
    -> Titan class has Hunter image (right at its beginning).

Really, really great job on the document. Will definitely use it as a basis for a Portuguese (I’m Brazilian) version of it.

#30

No worries man!

Just working towards completing one of your primers (saw the “unfinished works” post the other day) haha! It’s great to work with talented people, I’ve missed it.

Anything I can help, just gimme a shout!

#31

Regarding the death/respawn mechanic, someone mentioned 9 lives.

I think if you are interested in placing an overall limit on the number of times a Ghost can revive you, the Usage Die mechanic from The Black Hack fits the bill perfectly, IMO.

When they die, RESPAWN in d4 rounds, then roll GHOST USAGE.

GHOST USAGE: Roll the current usage die. On a 1-2, the current usage die steps down one level. So start at d20, then if they roll a 1-2, step it down to d12, and so on until you get to d4. When you roll a 1-2 on that final d4, the Ghost is destroyed.

To make it a little less lethal, combine GHOST USAGE with your “Ghost dies on a nat20 attack roll”: The player only needs to roll GHOST USAGE if it is hit, and enemies must roll the HARD Target number.