1/17

2/17

3/17

>>17421559
Thanks OP it looks like you're a talented artist. Any chance you could post in slightly higher res though? These are on the edge of readability.

4/17

>>17421577
holy crap, you're right.
My bad, I fucked up.
Give me a minute to fetch a higher-res version

I honestly hope this gets somewhere, I'd love to play this. setting, and the graph/ruler thing was pretty cool. Kinda suck to be a Somosa though, the description makes me imagine waking up one morning in a bath full of needles and shit with oaths to Samedi carved into your skin by a fucking psychotic Loa.

starting over at higher res (I hope my cellphone can take it):
1/17

>>17421593
Thanks, and it seems people agree with you. So far we have three Somosa stories, and two of them are pretty much about an innocent every-man waking up in a world of shit. Here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/shadowside/comments/o0uaj/possible_introduction_to_the_somosa_organization/

and here

http://www.reddit.com/r/shadowside/comments/o1u0b/chicago_slums_a_somosa_story/

2/17

3/17

4/17

>>17421608
Looks good OP.

Also I had a thought while looking over the original thread. (I haven't read it all so if I'm repeating an idea, my apologies)

Do you remember the copy protection on some old computer games that came in the form of a disc that had two wheels you had to revolve? And the center of the disc had a slit, or slits cut out that would reveal some code when you matched up let's pretend "OMEGA" on the outer disc with "CANIS" on the inner disc.

You could use that exact same thing to determine your target numbers for the Jacob's ladder. No lining up a ruler necessary. A nice looking disc would be a cool game accessory too.

>>17421613
I'd attempt to write something but my writers block is notorious for killing off most of my attempts before they get anywhere, unfortunately.

5/17

>>17421642
Here's a pic.

>>17421642
Oooh..... I like this idea. Actually, in engineering we had these discs (this was ages ago in high school) where you had a set of numbers in the inner wheel and you could make them match another set in the outer wheel, and the result would display through a little hole near the center.

I bet something like that could be built.

Hmm. You've made me think, man...

>>17421648
I always beat my writer's block by writing crap. I know it's crap, but I write it anyway and by the time I'm done the writer's block is gone.

I'm getting a blank screen trying to post the next page. wth. maybe this image will unclog the pipes

6/17

>>17421653
the beauty of this disc system is that you could get multiple results out of any two-values combination. Heck, there could be multiple discs too.

>>17421662
This has opened up some other possibilities for a game concept for me too. I'm thinking a game where magic is tied to the phases of the moon, and you line up the moon's phase on the outer wheel to the result of a die roll on the inner wheel.

All in all, it's just a table/grid in wheel form (I can't think of any circumstance in which it accomplishes something a table wouldn't), but it could be a pretty cool form to use in a game. You could save room and have a double sided wheel too.

>>17421702
I'm >>17421706

That's true. The disc would be more efficient in those circumstances than a grid.

7/17

>>17421706
Aye. I'll have to play with a prototype.. the rule has certain properties that I'm not sure if would still be there in a disc. For example, 5 vs 10 is the same as 6 vs 12 or 12 vs 24, or one shitload vs two shitloads -proportional, which allows you to handle very large numbers. Also, the chances of success of 5 vs 10 are the same as the chances of failure of 10 vs 5, so it doesn't matter who actually rolls the dice. I'll play with this.

8/17

I'm very interested in writing fluff and/or crunch with you, OP.
From what I've seen so far, this looks very well put together, and I've got to commend your industry. Looks neat. Polished. Fun.

9/17

10/17

>>17421738

Thank you sir! I gotta admit it's been a lot of work, but I think it's worth it. Which organization do you feel like writing for? The only one no one has written for yet is Big Sis, although I could use some more Malleus, too.

> reddit
... you have my moral support, and anything I can do from here to help I gladly will.

11/17

>>17421640
Why is the great plague of Sevilla in Valencia? Did it start in Sevilla and spread?

12/17

>17421760
I take it you don't like reddit; I can respect that, but let me just say this: you can unsubscribe from all the mainstream subreddits and only subscribe to the ones that you like, such as /r/rpg or /r/shadowside which is the place where all communication is taking place. I'm using it like a discussion board, basically.

>>17421760
I like what I'm seeing here btw, I just do't like going to reddit.

>>17421756
What sort of stuff do you need for Malleus?
I'll get back to you with some Big Sister by the end of the day.

>>17421734
Was just in Salem the other night. Not for the witch stuff, just dinner, but I recall there being a book that was used by one of the guys that led the persecution there. It was basically written instructions for how to determine if someone was a witch and how to try them. Might be some good inspiration for that alternate-earth feel. If I can find it I'll link. I'm guessing it's on project Gutenberg if someone has scanned it at some point.

>>17421768

I'm not really sure where it started. Peceno blames himself, because at the time it was believed vampires brought plague and viceversa. One of the themes of Sisterhood of Salem is that it welcomes a lot of freaks who loathe themselves for what they are.

>>17421784
for some reason the javascript is not working when I click on a post number for a reply, but I wrote this one for you: >>17421781

>>17421794
probably the Malleus Maleficarum? It means WitchHammer, that was the name of the organization I used in this comic for the movie pitch. Now I call it Diabolus Malleus.

getting a blank screen again when trying to upload...

>>17421810
Yep think that's the one. You're way ahead of me :) Carry on!

13/17...
>>17421789
we're still deciding how big each chapter needs to be, but likely we'll require history, lingo, major characters, paranormal abilities and a short story. I'd say, between 7 and 10 pages worth.

14/17

>>17421781
>>17421810
Oh no, I'll defiantly pop in from time to time and look at it. I go there, I just don't like it.

Also, I'm surprised at the amounts of but-mad in the last thread over Jacobs Ladder.

Also also, what kind of setting are we looking at? Steampunk? Goth-Victorian?

15/17

>>17421828
From what I've read, looks like modern. I can't tell if the general populace is aware of magical shenanigans going on or not.

16/17

>>17421828

>Oh no, I'll defiantly pop in from time to time and look at it. I go there, I just don't like it.

Ah, cool. Well, looking forward to seeing you there man!

>Also, I'm surprised at the amounts of but-mad in the last thread over Jacobs Ladder.

Well, it's a new thing, and 90% of new things are bad so I guess there's some natural resistance. All I can say is that I've been using the ruler for a while and it's fast enough for me. I just move it as a I talk, and the players like knowing exactly how I come up with the minimum dice -they like the transparency and sense of fairness, so .. yeah.

>Also also, what kind of setting are we looking at? Steampunk? Goth-Victorian?

Modern. 2012. Check out the organization's descriptions in the archive thread, or here: http://imgur.com/a/dTRjH#7nstc

>>17421839
Ah, yes. I just got the orders in the first thread.

17/17

And that is that, gentlemen. I hope you liked it. Basically that's the spiritual basis for the Sisterhood of Salem group, and the Diabolus Malleos group.

Any interest to see the other comic, about Scavenger?

>>17421869
Go for it.

>>17421869
YES. GIVE US MORE OF YOUR DELICIOUS COMICS.

>>17421855
So are we looking at WoD/UA type adventures here? Because this all looks pretty awesome. If you want any help with designs for anything, that's more up my ally than writing.

Also, is the Diabolus Malleos emblem supposed to be a cross impaling dark magic, or is it showing them embracing dark magic as a tool?

>>17421869
It's beautiful. Gives us moar please.

>>17421875
>>17421881
>>17421887

You guys rule and brighten my jaded heart and stuff. Your wish is my command:

I wrote this one is with a different artist, and he had his own ideas about what the Shadowside looks like.... a little bit Giger. It won't necessarily be this way, but hey, it's still kinda cool.

1/17

>>17421884
I've been reading more on the Diabolus Malleos. They look like my kind of blunt justice type of organization. Clearly it's impalement.

2/17

>>17421884
Everytime someone brings up oWoD I feel it's like a huge compliment. I love the feeling of it. I don't want to copy nor resemble White Wolf in anything solid, fluff nor crunch, but I do want to have a similar feeling, the feeling of a cool RPG where you're deep into some shadowy world with people who have hidden supernatural powers and are involved with conspiracies, etc.

And about the Malleus logo, hehe, you got it. It's a templar cross striking through the heart of the devil... OR... the devil producing a templar cross. Both ways apply, the whole idea of this organization is that they can sanctify and use the tools of evil in the service of good.

>>17421921
So when it says "Roll: No further dice required- "
What exactly am I rolling 1d20 against?

> The scavenger logo looks like /x/
You did this on purpose didn't you?

3/17

>>17421909
they do feel they are saving the world, as in, the God of the Bible literally commands them to kick ass. So... a little bit self-righteous, a little bit holier-than-thou. But they do, in fact, kick industrial amounts of ass, and look cool while doing it.

This video inspired me while I was writing about them; it's the spanish version of the Pater Noster prayer, ending with a yell of EL SENOR ES UNA SOMBRA SOBRE MI MANO DERECHAAAA - the Lord is a Shadow over my Right Hand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lbm_Lebatk

Neat.

Think, the cool parts about DaVinci Code's Opus Dei, with a paranormal twist.

Taking Dominus Vitruem as an example, when it says equal to Belief Points, does it mean how many you have in stock, or how many you spend on casting? You're going to want to be very specific about that kid of stuff.

4/17

>>17421931
Yes, lol. I'm an /x/phile, and Scavenger is like three jumps away through the multiverse from the reality that is /x/, but hey.... it's nice to dream :)

>>17421928
Normally you only roll when you have a force opposing whatever it is you're trying to do. So, some skills have you increasing your own Traits for example, you would't oppose that, hence no further roll required. You just take the buff and use it.

There is always a roll needed to casting anything, you can always fail that. But once you harness the Belief Points and it's time to actually apply them to something or someone, you don't always need to overcome opposition.

I'll post the chapter on Mechanics by end of this week, I think it'll help.

>>17421744
small typo: hartred
>>17421756
das unnatürliche, add some dots over that u
beside that it's a really awesome comic (and system), and i look forward to see more of it!

5/17

>>17421959
That's a good example of a buff, yeah. Dominus Virtutem, say you successfully cast it for 10 Belief Points and apply those to your STR. There's no further roll required -until- you actually need STR for anything (like say, punching a guy). At that point, the 10 points you stored there in stand-by kick in and you get a 10 point Bonus.

6/17

>>17422004
Ah, thank you sir! Google Translate only took me so far! I'll correct it. And glad you like this stuff! I hope to see you in the subreddit if you want to help!

7/17

8/17

is there some actual pasta related to this?

Are there, or are there going to be, rules for playing as someone who does not access Hierogamy, and/or someone who can access mild hierogamy-like paranormal skills without entering into an organization?

The second seems unnecessary, but may be a cool addition. However, the option to play without notable/any amount(s) of Hierogamy may be a cool addition.

>>17421959
>>17422006
And to avoid becoming guilty of on of my largest pet-peeves, I'm going to make a suggestion rather than just point out problem areas. See, when I first read Dominus Virtutem I thought it gave me a bonus equal to the number of BP that I had on hand when I cast it, not how many I dedicated to it's casting. So perhaps it could be worded,
"Roll: No further dice required: The Caster assigns a number of Belief Points to the casting of Dominus Virtutem. These Belief Point etc."

>>17422060
/x/ conspiracies.
Don't go down that road, it is dark, treasonous, asinine, and shrouded in bullshit.

>>17422071
From what I've gathered, Scavenger IS option 2.

I mean, if I wanted to learn magical bullshit, I'd go to google, then /x/.

>>17422081
bestow upon me your /x/ pasta!

9/17

>>17422060
Yes, it's called The Eisenhower Interstate, I think. Fun times.

>>17422071
>Are there, or are there going to be, rules for playing as someone who does not access Hierogamy, and/or someone who can access mild hierogamy-like paranormal skills without entering into an organization?

I don't think we'll have paranormal without Hierogamy, although Accelletrix gets very close to that -they neuter their ghosts entirely and just refer to them as "Energy Sources". See some stories about Accelletrix here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/shadowside/comments/o1f0k/meetings_accelletrix_short_intro/

and here

http://www.reddit.com/r/shadowside/comments/o0bhc/control_an_accelletrix_story/

About Belief Points: fair point. I'll make sure it's clearly worded, also in the Mechanics chapter to come later this week.

>>17422081
Well, it's hard to write good stuff for it, but it's possible.

See this

http://www.reddit.com/r/shadowside/comments/o0b9o/lowlife_scav3ng3_application_story/

and

http://www.reddit.com/r/shadowside/comments/o28ys/lowlife_2_scav3ng3r/

and the comic I'm uploading. It can work, with some effort, I think.

10/17

Btw, if you guys want to do me a favor, please upvote this shit: http://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/o2g7j/writers_of_rnosleep_i_need_your_help/

no sleep is a place full of creepy OC and 3 times out of 10 is actually very good.

What ever happened to filling in the Orderly Altruistic and Anarchic Egoistic sections?

I've gotta say, that is a pretty kick-ass character sheet you've made, dude.

>>17422148
Because they almost qualify as oxymoron.

11/17

>>17422148
We had some great ideas come out. My latest stand is that we'll probably develop this theme as an underlying thing, here, read these four: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/17376824/#17387113

12/17

>>17422176
thanks dude!

13/17

I am anonymous, and I approve of this thread. And the very tasty comic.

14/17

>>17422230
> Scavengers
> /x/iles
> Not Anarchic Autistic

>>17422252
That's /b/ and /v/ you're thinking of. /x/ is anarchic YOUARECONSPIRINGTOEATMYSOULGOAWAY

15/17

16/17

>>17422252
>Anarchic Autistic
>Autistic

I'm an /x/phile and I approve.

17/17

And that is that, gents. Scavenger is like a "superego" version of /x/ where we actually get out of the basement and go do creepy stuff. The cool parts of anonymous and Fight Club, and only a minimum of the realities of neckbeards and forever-aloners.

At it's best, I'd like to think of this organization as a modern, web savvy, younger and punkish John Constantine. Rogues, tricksters, fight-the-power, yadda yadda. Good foil to the stuffy Malleus and Accelletrix, for instance.

Hope you liked it.

This character sheet looks remarkably like what I'm doing... I actually have the same "derived from two base stats" thing going on.
Granted mine used Body Mind Soul, not Body Soul Life.
I like it OP. Glad to see that someone had similar thoughts on the subject.

OP, I came buckets.

You are a god among men.
You have my quill and my sword AND my axe.

I'll drop by the sub-reddit in a day or two because I'm not in the position to write anything for the next 2 days.

>>17422351
Best compliment ever!
Thanks dude!
>>17422346
Cool man, great minds think alike!

I'm out of shit to post though, I only have some character art for the Unnaturals. Ah well, what the hell, might as well dump it:

This is a descendant of the founder of Sisterhood of Salem, seen in page 6.

This guy is Somosa, and when he gets sick of his companion spirit, he sends him "Montado" to the voodoo doll, named Chuck Fockles.

>>17422312
I like to think of them as friends of friends of friends of friends of one guy of that guy of one friend of another friend of a friend's friend (continue for a paragraph) -That get together occasionally and do whatever they want. However, because of their hobbies and interests, they often wind up working together (often only via im/e-mail) to look for 'proof.' Proof of what? That's the fun part, and a great opportunity for further character definition, as to what they're looking for and why.

I could see myself playing a Scavenger or a member of the Diablous Malleos, depending on the kind of campaign intended. As D.M. I'd be the full nine yards Justice for the sake of "JUSTICE!" Probably wearing a bomber jacket with an (blessed?) arming sword hidden underneath. But I think I'd also have a ton of fun as a Scavenger who goes urban exploring all the time and has gathered tidbits of truth, proof, and lies that he can't even being to peace together into anything resembling rhyme or reason, and therefore he keeps exploring to try and find missing pieces to explanations/proof for all the things that go bump in the night.

About playing non-casters: say someone wanted to play someone who didn't access Heirogamy. What if you made it so that their skill bonuses are slightly higher than those that do, because they've spent more time working on them as there was not the practices of Heirogamy also taking up time.

I really wanna know more about how the game works mechanically and how characters are made, because I would love to play this. It's similar to WoD, but different in many ways. The primary being the lack of my least favorite part of WoD: the convolution of diversion. You're either playing Mage OR Hunter OR Vampires, etc. There's more room for party diversity in your game, and the diversity of the thing you're fighting seen limitless. It may not do the individual things as well, but it more than makes up for it with the potential of variety.

Cassandra, a higher up in Malleus.

>>17422312
>>only a minimum of the realities of neckbeards and forever-aloners.

That could be part of the horror.

This guy is your ally. He's mutilated his body and soul to an almost unrecognizable state, and he doesn't care. It'll take all you've got to get what you need, and get away from this walking magical Chernobyl intact.

While I found your comic art questionable, this individual character art is top-notch.

>>17422437
Also, have you given thought to rules for making Paranormal Skills? Or perhaps, more simply, an expanded skill list for the different organizations?

>>17422386
Thank you.
I gotta say tho, your setting is MUCH better fleshed out then mine, and I'm really enjoying the comics. I will definitely buy (not pirate) this if it hits the shelves.

>>17422459
I kinda like the art in the second comic better than the character art.

>>17422437
Dude, wow. This is all music to my ears.

The way you interpreted both Malleus and Scavenger is awesome. Honestly, it makes me envious that I cant sit down at a table with my friends and roll dice anymore. ... .. man. But you can, and that's exactly the sort of things I was hoping to get with this game. Again, oWoD comparison is a huge compliment.

>About playing non-casters: say someone wanted to play someone who didn't access Heirogamy. What if you made it so that their skill bonuses are slightly higher than those that do, because they've spent more time working on them as there was not the practices of Heirogamy also taking up time.

This would certainly work. Instead of investing your points in "Dominus Virtutem" or whatever, you'd invest them in "Hand to hand combat" or "Explosives". It could still make for a powerful character, is just that he could not be able to do paranormal things without using items, or having help from other people.

I'll publish the rulebook real soon, I hope, but in the meanwhile you can see all the basics of character creation in the sheet itself: >>17421533 and the basics of ruling in the Jacob's Ladder. Technically, you could run things already, just find the way to frame every action into a contest between opposing forces (say, STR of the guy carrying punching the door vs END of the door's wooden frame) and it'll tell you what to roll to succeed.

But you won't have to wait long, I hope. As soon as the stuff with the seven writers is sorted out, we can put the PDF online with everything.

Pic relared: a Big Sis "werewolf".

>>17422504
> on the sheet it's self
> looks again
Oh, wow. I thought those were just random fluffy scribblings.

>>17422504
You are going to be selling it, right?
Or will it be free?
If you will be selling it, wouldn't the writers want in on the spoils?

>>17422454

Holy shit..!

>>17422459
>>17422490

I paid three different artists.

The artist for The Unnaturals is Hector Bustamante, from espektro.com
The artist for Scavenger is Adam Isailovic from antharra.com
The artist for the characters in the rulebook is Jesus Garcia Lopez, from jesusgarcialopez.com

Money well spent all around, imho.

Pic: Peceno the Vampire.

> I cant sit down at a table with my friends and roll dice anymore
Why not, no free time? I can only manage about once a month.

>>17422480

Honestly I haven't thought about rules for making new skills. What I plan to write in the rulbook for now, as advice to the StoryHosts, is basically "Copy effects from one skill, add a disadvantage from another skill, and test a lot of variations to see how it mixes with others". I probably should make actual rules, but honestly I haven't thought what they would look like... all help is welcome though!

>>17422485
>>17422532

Thanks guys. I don't think this will hit the shelves -it would require a publisher buying it, and I don't even know where to start for that to happen. What we're thinking instead is to just put the PDF behind a paypal button, and call it a day. It won't have a set price, it'll be a "pay whatever you want" deal. And yes, all monies will be split evenly among all writers, absolutely.

Pic: Sarah, she's gone a bit mad from Hierogamy.

>>17422543
I left my friends in Mexico. It's a bit of a baww story, but not really. It just comes down to me being 34 years old and feeling like a creeper whenever I go to a comic book shop looking for people to play RPGs with and they're all younger than me. Plus, time and all that. Real life job, etc....

Pic: bro-crush Torquemada

>>17422560
You should honestly look into publishing this, even if it is a self-gig.
There are places you can get to do both an advertising campaign for and publish your works. Hell, I'd even be willing to help you look for one. You've got something wonderful here.

Now, I've been awake for 30 hours and need sleep soon, but I'll definitely come visit your Reddit page to talk about this.
Consider it man.

This is my last pic, John UnDoe, he was my Mary Sue when I was writing the comic way back when. Greater Thelema Society.

Guys, you are the best. Seriously, you rule. I feel grateful for all the support, and this only makes me feel like writing and making up more and more stuff for you.

I hope to see you at the reddit place (again, just unsubscribe from everything else and use it like a board) and... yeah, let's see where this goes! I'll keep you posted.

>>17422600
>There are places you can get to do both an advertising campaign for and publish your works. Hell, I'd even be willing to help you look for one

Dude, if you did this for us we'd be in your debt! Hell, you'd get a share of whatever we made, of course!

Fuck, /tg/ cheers me up.

Okay, go get some sleep (30 hours is a LOT and soon you'll start seeing ghosts) and I'll go get some lunch before they close the cafeteria, but I'll check the thread during the day.

Thanks everyone!

I think an expanded Paranormal Skills list would be the way to go, with another ten or so PSs that they can chose from.
Perhaps consider a 'neutral' list that people with Heirogramy from anywhere could chose from. Very light, nondescript, low-power powers. That could also open the door for non-members to get some extremely mild Heirogramy going on where a random spirit or whatever latched onto them and gave them this 'neat little trick.' They could be completely oblivious to the Shadowside, and just think it's some kind of 'psychic power,' or 'magic.'

Also, you're going to include descriptions and rules for monsters and gear right? Vampires, Werewolves, etc, as well as the usual guns/swords/breast plate?

>>17422621
I have connections through connections, I might be able to get you a place.
My reddit name is Recapguy, I'll get some more info when I awaken and see what I can do.

And, what if, because their sources are random, Scavengers had this thing where they could get any ONE Paranormal Skill form other sets of skills. On top of working on their diversity, other groups (espeically upity ones like the DM or Accelltrix) could be up in arms and/or violently curious as to how these low-lives have managed something they have rituals and processes for.

I also had a really cool character, much like my go-to avatar Dean here, whom lives in Anywhere, small town America, and serves as a guide/father figure for lost unnaturals, normally of the Scavengers/Sisterhood variety. A completely unscrupulous man that offers sage wisdom and 'cures' to anyone who asks 'the right questions.' He'd be like a Scavenger with a magic watch that lets him use some modified variation Null Field, with five or ten BPs added to the pool for counteracting.

This is like everythnging I've ever wanted out of WoD and UA, with the bitchy drama and esoteric ridiculousness filtered out.

The character sheet could use some notation or different markings to make it more intuitive. Even thicker lines between layers would be neat. Is pic related how the stats break down?

Did OP died?

>>17422640
Sup.
Recapguy back. Can't sleep. Vampires will eat me.

I've been talking to some of my acquaintances, and the vibe I'm getting is that we should self-publish. I've been pushed towards a few programs that would walk a group such as ourselves through publishing and would both produce and distribute our works to major outlets (Major bookstores, Amazon, etc.).
Just wanted to let you know that this is a very real possibility.

OP here, stuffing my face full of delicious salisbury steak and scalloped potatoes.

>>17422640
I'll send you a message. You may be the hero Gotham deserves.

>>17422630
> expanded Paranormal Skills list

I like the sound of that. Would make for an awesome appendix. For flavor purposes I would still break down into organizations, but there's nothing preventing a character from learning a skill from a different organization provided he has a mentor willing to teach it, or some other valid means, storywise, to learn it. I could easily imagine a Big Sis teaching Empathy to Scavenger in exchange of Scavenger teaching Hunch, for example.

Now, there aren't really weak or strong powers. The strength depends on how many Belief Points you invest. You could create a Servitor with just two Belief Points for instance, and he would have stats of 1 all around and be flimsy as a manequinn, or you could create him with 30 Belief Points and now he's a juggernaut with 15s ready to wipe the floor with the opposition (granted, it would leave the Caster vulnerable to be One-Shotted with such massive loss of Body and Soul).

What we could have is a list of Non Paranormal Skills; things like hand to hand combat, firearms, martial arts, explosives and the like. That would be cool and useful. Any help is appreciated!

(continued)
>Also, you're going to include descriptions and rules for monsters and gear right? Vampires, Werewolves, etc, as well as the usual guns/swords/breast plate?

I'm not sure about monsters... basically it's just people, some having better Traits and Skills than others. Probably every StoryHost would have to make up his own NPCs. Items, on the other hand, yes, definitely we need some lists. There're three kinds of items, items that simply add to your Trait, items that require you to have a certain skill before they can add to your Trait, and items that replace your Trait.

For the first kind, think of a sword. Your fist hits with, say, 4 points of STR, but wielding a sword with 8, it becomes a 12. But in order to fully utilize those 8, you need to have some sort of skill that applies to wielding swords. A gun, on the other hand, would always hit with 12 and doesn't care about the STR Trait of the guy who's pulling the trigger. That'd be the third kind.

It's explained a bit better in the rulebook, I think.

>>17422988
Dude. This sounds amazing. On my end, I'll make sure the document is as polished as it can be, and if you set us on the right track on your end, well... At the very least we'd have the incentive and the structure to write even more stuff if successful (this is why building a team of writers appeals to me a lot, right now).

Goddamn it, will someone please just run this bloody game already?

>>17422795
You got it very close, but Body is only made of the sum of three Traits and Soul is only made of the sum of three Traits.

<--- I have the page of the book here

>>17423103
I'll keep in touch however I can man.
I also just finished reading through your fluff; I'm gonna go re-read my setting and go lucid, see if I can't hit on anything for the angels and demons conundrum and keeping the religious stuff without the controversy.
I may not be creative, but I'm a decent problem solver.

But seriously, as much as I love you, your mechanics, and your settings, I must go now.

>>17423114

Speaking of this, has anyone actually run a /tg/ game with this yet? If not, I'd love to volunteer to try it out. The character creation really intrigues me.

rolled 2 = 2

>>17423138
To the dreamland with you! [casts Fe Nwa Bo]

>>17423170
If anyone runs something with this, PLEASE let me know. As much as I love some mechanics, skills, rules, etc, I'll get rid of them if they're proven not to work after some actual testing.

P.S. feeling serious envy right now.

Ok. Ok.
I'm still here. I've been on /tg/ for 27 and a half bloody hours and I'm still. here.

But I have a question. And I will ask it, take a shower, come back, read the answer, and HOPEFULLY then get to sleep, as opposed to popping livesaver mints like goddamn sugar tablets.

How are the spirit/ghost/things going to work. That the characters bind themselves with. Who plays them? Are they a part of the PC, and governed by the player? Are they an NPC with its own goals? Can another player exclusively play another player's spirit shaman thing?

>>17423192

Give me some actual straight up rules for lvl 1 equivalent characters and I'll run something for 2 or 3 people over IRC for a couple hours.

Problem is, not to much of the actual fluff needed to run has been posted in this thread.

>>17423198
The spirits should be played by a different person. That would be the GM by default (it's called "StoryHost" here) but it could also be another player, if one is willing.

If it's the StoryHost, the spirit should be played more or less in agreement to what the PC wants to do. Being in a "bad marriage" where the spirit and the mortal hate each other could only happen if the player actually wants it that way for story purposes.

<-- This is the page that describes Hierogamy.

>>17423237
This guy here

I've got a channel up, I'll run for a couple people, but because I'm not in the mood to read up on a huge amount of Fluff, I won't even try to run any of the canon factions at the moment (unless there's a unanimous agreement by the group )

What I want to know is, how quickly do you introduce Hierogamy to a group?

>>17423237
Assuming you're starting your game with regular mortals who haven't entered into Hierogamy yet, then you can just follow the character creation rules in the sheet itself: basically you can roll a D6 seven times (one per Trait) or you can split 23 points among the seven core Traits (noting that no Trait can start with more than 6 points in it), and for Normal skills (anything not paranormal) you could split 3 points.

When Hierogamy happens you gain 1 more skill from the paranormal list of that organization, and you can invest that sessions's experience point in it. (I'm thinking you should get one point per session to invest in any of your Traits and Skills, unless you guys think it's too little?) The maximum value of a Trait or Skill is 8, after that you need to start investing in skills.

I'm gonna type a new post for conflict resolution, but
<-- this is what you use for it; will explain it in the next post.

As for fluff, you probably get a bunch of ideas from the reddit site. For example, one guy wrote a story about several Malleus acolytes being sent to kill a rogue Apostate, an ex-Malleus priest who was performing Hierogamies for people outside the order and with spirits who aren't "Saint".

Just some ideas.

This is me volunteering to be a player.

I'll probably be monitoring this thread for the rest of it's life anyway, and I'll get a 'level 1' Scavenger ready to role right now.

>>17423271
> how quickly do you introduce Hierogamy to a group?

Me? If I had my regulars that I used to meet with every Saturday, I'd probably do it by the second or third session. I know that won't help you in IRC right now, unfortunately, but that's just what I would do. The reason is this: many organizations are choosy about who they pick. Malleus for instance, regards "Communion with the Saints" as a reward given to the best and brights after years of service. Same with Accelletrix "Psychic Tempore Enablement".

So, from Character Creation, you should already have an idea of what organization you're heading to. Thelema recruits only among rich people, Somosa only on descendants of slaves, Fujin only from low-level thugs in their mafia organization etc.

You know what would make for a decent quickie? Scavenger. Have a bunch of urban explorers run into creepy shit and enter Hierogamy half by accident somewhere in the Shadowside.

You don't need to read much, but at a minimum you should know what the shadowside is.

<-- here.

>>17423291
>>17423324
http://webchat.freenode.net/
Room name is Shadowside, no password

For right now I'll just run sometype of urban crawl mixed with Hellsing until I get familiar with the in game factions, forgive me for not wanting to go read all of the faction fluff right now, but I'll definitely get into it if this system runs well enough.

>>17423337

Seems we've come to an agreement, looking forward to playing.

I'll take the first three players that make it in, but I don't mind Specs.

I need to get back in the saddle as far as web gaming is concerned and this definitely looks interesting.

>>17423344
Joined (I think) as Derick, my character name.
I'll be posting stats in a second to make sure I'm doing this correctly. Are we going to start with our Heirogamy in play, or gain it?

About Jacob's Ladder, read the instructions there in the sheet. It -should- in theory be easy, and it's very easy for me because I've done it so much.

Basically, you have to frame everything in terms of opposing forces. Easiest example: armwrestling.

You got Joe with a STR of 5 armwrestling James with a STR of 3.

What you do is put one end of the ruler on the big 5 on the left, and the other end on the big 3 on the right. Notice the ruler crosses the diagonal at 6? That's it. Joe needs to roll 6 or better in the D20 to beat James.

It doesn't matter who rolls. You connect the big 3 on the left with the big 5 on the right and then have James roll instead. Use the smallest scale that fits both Might and Difficulty, because the smaller the scale the easier is to set the ruler.

Might is simply the sum of Trait plus Skill, if any, plus Item, if any, plus Bonus, if any.

Difficulty if the other guy's Might, or, if it's not a guy, then it's whatever you think fits (the sheet has difficulties on the right).

Say, you have a thief balancing over a fence slick with rain. Put his AGI plus "Acrobatics skill" if he has it, plus "balancing pole" if he has one vs say, a 12 for difficulty.

<-- This pic shows some test lines to make sure everything matches.

As you can see, equal forces have a 50/50 chance, unequal forces have different chances, proportionately.

http://webchat.freenode.net/#

Still looking for a couple more that want to jump into this.

Room name "Shadowside"

Here's the quick and dirty on Melee combat:

Step 1: who hits who. Simply pit DEX vs DEX. Whoever wins hits. Whoever loses gets hit.
Step 2: how hard is the hit. Simply pit STR vs END. Say, if I needed to roll 12 or better, and I rolled a 20, that's 8 points of damage.

That's it.

Damage: Soul and Body are your "pre-HP" values. Storywise they are considered "no big deal", but once they run out, then LFE is the actual HP. Damage to LFE is serious business. For example, if you have gunfire going on, and someone takes 8 points of Body damage from a bullet, in the story you call it a fleshwound -you say the bullet just grazed the guy, whatever. Get a quick heal from your Malleus healer, or use a first-aid kit, etc. No big deal. However, if your Body runs out, and you take the next 5 damage to LFE, now the bullet went into your lung and you have internal bleeding, and will need to go ER, etc.

tl;dr: Body and Soul damage is easy to heal, considered minor for story purposes. LFE damage is the equivalent of a "Grievous Wound".

>>17423380
Just to clarify, i rolled 7d6 and got a 5, 5, 3, 6, 5, 4, and another 6.
I now assign one to each of the seven core stats of Life, Endurance, Strenght, Dexterity, Spirit, Mind and Charisma.

>>17423437

Thanks for the writeup.

Just so Passerbyes see, we still are looking for one more player in IRC.

Here's the quick and dirty on Magic and Paranormal skills:

You have a pool of Belief Points (I'll explain where that comes from in a moment).

You can choose how many of those points to use in your spell.. Say, you're casting Kaze No Te, a wind-flavored telekinesis. You invest 10 points in it.

Step 1: Conjuring the power: SPI vs 10. If you win, the power is in your hands, if you lose, it simply fizzles.
Step 2: Controlling the power: MND vs 10. If you win, the 10 points are yours, if you lose, the 10 points escape your control and wreak random shit at the StoryHost's discretion, always fun.

So, say you win both rolls? You have 10 points for Kaze No Te. That's it. What do you do with them? How about punching a guy? Use 5 for DEX and 5 for STR and punch someone; they cannot counterpunch the wind.

Now, where do Belief Points come from?

Every time you roll, when you succeed you win Belief Points and when you fail, you lose Belief Points.

The harder the roll, the more Belief Points are at stake.

So, as StoryHost, you award them like candy with every roll, and you also remove them like candy when they fail.

You'll need some way to keep track of these numbers. in tabletop situations, everyone has a sheet of paper in front of them where they jot down what they have at the moment.

>>17423442
That's correct, assign them however you like in those seven Core traits.
Then calculate the Surface traits by just averaging the two Cores beneath, for example, AGI is the child of STR and DEX, AWA is the child of MND and SPI, and so on. Round up (I'm aware that having odd numbers in the Cores helps you during rounding up the Surfaces, but it doesn't concern me because of the character progression will force you, in the future, to turn all your odds into evens and your evens into odds, etc).

If you're starting with a regular mortal character, put three points in normal skills (normal here meaning "not paranormal"). I'd recommend just one useful normal skill at level 3.

That's it, that's character creation, hope your life story and background considers which organization you're heading towards, due to their recruitment preferences, etc.

captcha: session tratitu

There's one more thing Belief Points are used for, which is "fixing" failed rolls, but I don't want to overload you guys anymore. You'll probably be struggling with some sort of straight object on the screen for the Jacob's ladder as it is, and I don't want to slow you down anymore. But just have fun for now. May The Force Be With You.

A call to archive this thread.

And, heeeeres Derick.
I actually got rolls that I thought were a little 'too awesome,' so I toned a 5 down to a 4 and a 4 down to a 3.

That turttle makes a lot more sense with numbers on it.

>>17423660
Lucky SOB.
What font did you use?

>>17423694
Blackadder.
Also, fixed skills.

>>17423700
DAMN IT.
OKAY THERE. Done.

>>17423433
Here's Joe. College graduate sick of where he was headed.

>>17423815
> 1s
I'm sorry.

totally not the name of a pirate

>>17423820
Gives the character flavor, right? :(

Okay, here you go, for future reference and such: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/17421533/

>>17423841
We all play to our strengths. Besides, this doesn't look like the sort of game where such things matter as much.

>>17423832
>implying it wasnt easy to read

> A lying sailor
> A urban explorer demi-hipster
and
> a potential college drop out/ half-time athlete

What a party.

Let it be entered into the Record that the first roll of Enter The Shadowside has been made:

[15:44] <@GM-Lazius> Haha, seeing as how low it is on your guy, it's a long shot, but give me a roll Joe, you're aiming for a 14
(..)
[15:46] <Joe____> (( This feels weird as hell. I don't add anything at all to my roll?
[15:47] <@GM-Lazius> No Joe, I'm using the ladder, putting your pressence up against another characters
[15:47] <Christoffer___> ((Nope. It's simply a matter of determining the score to beat.))
[15:47] <Derick_> ((He already knows what you need to roll to succeed, so there's no extra math involved.))
[15:47] <Joe____> I rolled a 16.
[15:47] <Derick_> ((It's neigh-zero crunch. I think that's awesome))

It was a 16.

>>17423975
His name was Robert Paulson.

>>17424010
. . . and he rolled the first dice.


His name was Robert Paulson, and he rolled the first dice.

>>17424029

General observation: the GM is good.

I swear he planed all this.

Everything I've seen about this game is fantastic so far. If I had any talent as a writer I would totally help you OP.

Session over, Sisters and Acc, I'm calling it.

>>17425229
Gonna post that shit?

I think someone's going to post a summary, but I've got to go. If nobody has by the time I'm back, I'll see to it.

I have no idea what the HELL I just missed, or what the FUCK is going on in the comic, or what the SHIT the setting is like, but all the same, the tone and theming looks awesome, and the character creation and Jacob's Ladder look awesome.

I dunno what I'm missing, but it looks good.

>>17425384
Sounds good. I'm very curious.

http://www.mediafire.com/?o8tdyyssir39s4c

A notepad file with the session from the point i joined in. It has all the actual playing of the game, but is lacking some character description that went on before me.

And for those of you who do not appreciate me simply text dumping it, pic related.

Lazius, the GM here.

Game went great, I got a lot more praise than I deserve.

Will post up a Summary in a couple hours.

Thinking of making this a Pseudo-Living Campaign, so as to make it flexible.

Whoever called Sisters 2/3rds of the way through the game deserves to get slapped for their foresight.

Also, this couldn't possible have been the first game of this ever, could it? If so, it was an honor, the game worked really well. I like the system, and even though they weren't used here, I am REALLY looking forward to Belief because I easily see where it would fit in

>>17425390
It is pretty awesome actually. There is a summary of everything in the sidebar at reddit.com/r/shadowside

It looks kind of cool, but what is all this? Do you have a blog that could can write up summaries and introductions in or something?

>>17425425
Humble too.

Like a boss.

>>17425492
See >>17425447

>>17425492
Also this http://imgur.com/a/dTRjH#7nstc

Sean cometh.

>>17426388
Nice. I think you would have some trouble against a caster though. Low soul resistances.

mfw just finished reading both delicious comics and everything else about this game