So I am trying my hand at creating a pen and paper role playing game based on Fallen London (and Sunless Sea by extension), a very amateurish attempt I have no doubt, since I’ve never attempted anything like it before. Needless to say there is no money to be made by this, it’s all non-profit and intended for fun only.
It’s really only in the alpha stage, I’ve got most of the rules established, but it hasn’t undergone any test playing yet, so a lot can change. The only area that I ‘know’ still needs expanding would be the perk list, so far I have a couple dozen, but they mostly relate to reducing Menaces or gaining advantages in skill checks. I figured it might be worth opening this to the community and seeing if anyone wanted to suggest possible perks, and I understand this is very vague request considering nobody but me knows the rules, which is why I want to make it clear that there are no wrong answers or bad suggestions. I’m just looking for people’s thoughts on what would make good perks for an RPG based on Fallen London, if I like the suggestion, then I’ll tailor it to fit the rules.
A few examples of perks I already have, to hopefully make things a bit clearer:
Time, the healer- Roll 1 d20 and reduce all Menaces by the amount rolled, this can be bought multiple times, every fourth time this perk is bought, your character gains one Trade Secret. Trade Secrets may be spent at any time to permanently increase one Attribute by a single point, gains by this method are independent of the usual means, so this is the only way to increase Attributes beyond the level cap
Exceptional friend- Begin each Storylet with an additional point of Fate, can be bought multiple times
Sudden insight- Once per Storylet, spend a single point of Fate to reroll a failed Skill check using the Watchful Attribute, this can be bought multiple times to increase the number of uses per Storylet
Dire straits- Once per Storylet, when a single Menace reaches 100%, you can remain at 99% at no cost. If for any reason, two or more Menaces reach 100% at the same time, this is Perk is entirely ineffective
All Accepted to the House of Chimes variants would make for good perks, I think.
A Rooftop Dancer - Increased Shadowy(possibly also Dangerous) when in the Flit.
An Unparalelled Grotesque - Gain a big amount of Fate, lose a lot of persuasive.
A traitor - Increased dangerous when taking action behind a living target of that action(a la backstab)
An Oenologonaut - Consume a wine bottle for a temporary boost in all stats.
A Blood-Cousin to Predators - Increased dangerous when taking action against beasts(living non-humanoids).
A Scarlet Saint - Lose some Fate, gain Shadowy and Persuasive.
DISOBEDIENT - For a cost in Fate, execute a dangerous action without doing the required check. Other stats are not affected.
I don’t know much about the system you use, but I think situation-based stat gain could be a cool mechanic.
ROUND 2:
A Possessor of Impossible Table Habits - Restore a big amount of wounds, but permanently lower persuasive.
A Player of Games - Increased Watchful when participating in a board game.
A Tormented Solipsist - Lower all stats. Increase Nightmares. Execute an action without passing the check. Can only be used Y times.
A Zeriouz Problem of Zpeech - Lower persuasive. Gain Connected: the Docks(or your equivalent).
An innocent - Gain fate. Can only be taken on levels below X.
A Robust Appetite - Consume a dead body to temporarily increase a stat of your choice, lower wounds and increase all other menaces.
edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 5/31/2016
Unaccountably peckish- starts with -3 to all stats, grows by 1 with each level. (I mean, putting these things in games is just too tempting)
It would be nice to have more insight into other parts of the system. How many items are there? How strong they are? Will a connected-like quality make a debut in your game az well? Are we allowed to create abilities tied to perks?
Yes! What is "Fate" in your system? Is that limited?
A Gentle Critic - Periodically, you will gain Scandal or lose a random amount of money. This allow the player to pick two more perks.
Legal Threat - Temporarily gain a large amount of Fate. When storylet ends, the character ceases to exist. Can only be used when not Unaccountably Peckish or Seeking Mr Eaten’s Name.
Cherty - Gain a permanence boost to Dangerous. Everytime you take Wounds, you may roll to shrug it off. Doubles all Wounds taken at all time otherwise.
Aunt (Journalist) - Randomly decrease scandal periodically. User can exchange wines to gossips at a favourable rate occasionally. Gain a bonus to Diplomacy when in Carnelian Coast.
Aunt (Church) - Randomly decrease scandal periodically. User can exchange Glim to Church Favours at a favourable rate occasionally. Gain a bonus to Diplomacy when in Carnelian Coast.
Aunt (Servant of Master) - Periodically gain Fate OR Wounds. Gain a bonus to Diplomacy when in Carnelian Coast.
Well I’m glad this has garnered some interest, and there’s definitely some interesting ideas arising that I hope I’ll be able to make use of. I’ll just clarify a few aspects of the system in response to some of the questions:
The campaign/playthrough is known as the Story, so when the term ‘Storylet’ is used, is refers to when the overall story is broken up into episodes or separate sittings. For example, the GM may design it so the whole story revolves around hunting a criminal mastermind around London and maybe beyond, this is then divided into chunks, like the party begins by spending time in Spite trying to uncover information about their target, then the next part may be them working in The Flit to pick up the target’s trail, these scenarios are the Storylets. While this can be used as a guide for where to stop playing and pick up again, it’s mainly to establish a limit on certain things, like abilities that can only be used once every Storylet, or Fate…
Every character starts off with one point of Fate, the maximum amount of Fate they start off each Storylet with can be increased using Perks (I may add other methods). Fate can be spent freely throughout the Storylet, and will always be restored to the maximum at the start of the next Storylet. The default use for Fate is to spend one point before rolling for a skill check, which will turns the result from either a success or failure, to a rare success or critical failure respectively, which enhance the effects to add a more dramatic element to certain situations. Fate is also used to activate Perk abilities, like the Sudden Insight example I gave. So Fate is limited by how much you’re able to store, as there is no way to restore it during Storylets (as things currently stand).
There are the main four Menaces, but they are recorded by percentage, so you get arrested and sentenced if your Suspicion reaches 100%. There are other conditions your character may sustain which impact what actions you’re able to carry out, for example Vulnerable, where actions taken to defend against Menace gains are impaired, or Debilitated, where one or more Attributes/Skills are temporarily reduced.
Dangerous, Watchful, Persuasive, and Shadowy are the four Attributes, which each cover a list about a dozen Skills each, some examples are Navigation under Watchful, or Pickpocketing under Shadowy. All Skills and Attributes are measured on a ten point scale, with all four Attributes starting off at 1, and all Skills starting off at 0.
The 8 Quirks are involved, but they are in pairs so as you increase in Austere, you become less Hedonistic. These are used to shape your character’s reputation, which interacts to a certain degree with Connections, for example having high Hedonist will make you more popular with Bohemians, but less so with the Church. Connections with groups/significant individuals is measured from -10 to 10, with -10 being absolutely reviled, 10 being adored, and 0 being a complete unknown.
Other little details of note, you may only travel to areas if at least one person in your party knows the Route (although knowing how to get somewhere is one thing, actually getting there is another, e.g. the Empress’s Court), your characters can only store items in their personal inventories if there is some feasible way of them storing or carrying them, otherwise items need to be kept at their Lodgings (so I’m afraid no hauling your entire estate everywhere you go).
As I said, some good ideas that I’ll try to integrate into the Perk list, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I should hopefully have an early draft of the rulebook written out, which I’ll share here so people can read and judge for themselves.
[quote=Estelle Knoht]
Legal Threat - Temporarily gain a large amount of Fate. When storylet ends, the character ceases to exist. Can only be used when not Unaccountably Peckish or Seeking Mr Eaten’s Name.[/quote]
Wut?
Anyway here’s another:
Shroud - Gain Shadowy and Persuasive. The character can spend fate to ensure success when faking paranormal activity.
Indulging a Less Than Laudable Habit - The player can spend 1 Fate to ensure there’s always a bottle of Laudanum to deal with Nightmares.