diceforbreakfast

[diceforbreakfast]

I finished grad school!

And then part 1 of my manual!

Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been quietly poking at mechanics and systems while I’ve been in school, but I just haven’t had the time (or energy) to keep this blog active. Now that I’m out, that’s going to change.

I finished the first part of my tabletop manual. A big thanks to the folks over at Wizards of the Coast, as I used the general format of their guide as a template for mine. I’ve never written a game manual before so I figured I’d better look to the best in the business for how to lay one out. 

Here’s a link to that first part. I’m going to start slowly adding the sections to my blog here and building out the index, but that’s a lot more work than a google doc so it’ll take a hot minute. 

[diceforbreakfast]

Back from Hiatus

The semester is over and I’m done with my break. The d20 bug bit me again and I’ve been spending my free time knee-deep in excel, playing with values and running models of stat systems.

I just made such a convoluted excel formula that I think I learned to code by accident. 

Basically, and with entirely made up cell references:

I needed A1 to take the value of B1 and reach the sequential sum (3 = 1+2+3 = 6). I then needed it to add the value from somewhere between D1 and D5, IF E1 = any value from C1 through C5. In other words, I needed to add a formula based on one thing to another thing, but only if a reference next to that other thing was equal to another reference elsewhere in the sheet.I then needed to repeat the relationship of C1:D5 and E1 with E2, F1, and F2.

Oh, and I needed to cap the "bonus" from D1 through D5 to a maximum of 5, so I needed another formula that added up all the bonus values, summed them, subtracted 5 from that number, and then subtracted what was left from the total from the first half of the formula.

To pull this off, I had to create a series of reference cells on a hidden sheet that compared my E1, E2, F1, and F2 values with the C1:C5 range. The MATCH formula throws an error if there isn't a match, though, so I had to create a second column with IFERROR that replaced the unusable #NA from the original reference with "NM" for "No Match". My formula checks to see if *that* reference is equal to "NM" or literally anything else. 

This ugly, disgusting formula came out as:

=(C16*(C16+1)/2) -IF(AC13<>"",3,0) -IF(U13<>"",3,0) -IF(AC10<>"",3,0) +IF(Resources!H45="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Q10,L33:P38,4,FALSE)) +IF(Resources!H46="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Y10,L33:P38,4,FALSE)) +IF(Resources!H47="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Q13,L33:P38,4,FALSE)) +IF(Resources!H48="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Y13,L33:P38,4,FALSE)) -IF((+IF(Resources!H45="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Q10,L33:P38,4,FALSE)) +IF(Resources!H46="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Y10,L33:P38,4,FALSE)) +IF(Resources!H47="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Q13,L33:P38,4,FALSE)) +IF(Resources!H48="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Y13,L33:P38,4,FALSE)))>5, (+IF(Resources!H45="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Q10,L33:P38,4,FALSE)) +IF(Resources!H46="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Y10,L33:P38,4,FALSE)) +IF(Resources!H47="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Q13,L33:P38,4,FALSE)) +IF(Resources!H48="NM",0,VLOOKUP(Y13,L33:P38,4,FALSE))-5),0) &"+d20"

The italicized portion is just one giant nested IF statement.

I should probably be lil' ashamed that this is how I used my free time, but I'm honestly too proud right now that this worked.

[diceforbreakfast]

Change Log, 5/17/17

AP is being increased, again, up to 10 per turn. The main two reasons are that, 1) this makes each point worth 1 dodge/block and that's very easy to visualize as a benefit, and 2) it grants a lot more fine control over what abilities cost. It effectively allows almost twice as many cost options which makes scaling abilities way easier. Multiples of 10 are cleaner to think in, too.

Move/Attack will be 4 AP as a result of this change.

Repeating an ability will no longer cost additional AP. It's an extra rule people keep forgetting and frankly, conceptualizing AP as units of time, there's no reason for it. If you want to hit a guy twice, I can't justify a penalty vs. hitting him and then choke-slamming him.

Formula for Melee Damage is now weapon + 1/2 STR, down from weapon + STR. This will keep melee-centric characters from wildly out-scaling ranged characters.

Ranged Damage is unchanged for damage and still receives no benefit from attributes. However, critical chance will increase by 1 for every 5 pts in SPD. This will directly benefit ranged and agile melee characters and not most tank builds.

Given that base move is 4, base range is now 6. Range will be boosted by 1 for every 6 pts in FOC. Given that move increases by 1 every 4 pts in SPD, a fast character will still out-run a slow ranged character. However, range growth will diminish the number of enemies that can close the gap to a ranged squishy in a single move action.

Critical hits no longer deal double damage. Instead, you earn 4 AP immediately. This makes a basic attack free, or cuts the cost of more powerful abilities. It also means as a player you're less likely to get your face wrecked by a bad roll. Finally, it makes for some snazzy combo options.

I'm killing separate armor pieces and boiling all defensive gear down to "armor". Even at 1 armor, having 5-6 pieces of armor means deeply discounting damage taken to a degree that kills balance. Gloves, hats, etc. that have particular magical properties will be listed as Accessories, of which you can theoretically wear 3, if your GM is feeling very generous. You can still equip separate weapons. No weapons will boost armor.

Weapons will have block attributes like shields, but much weaker. 

Light armor now grants +4 Dodge.  Medium armor now grants +2 Dodge, +2 Block. Heavy armor now grants +4 Block.

Armor tiers have been adjusted so starting armor should be 1/2/3 instead of the 1, 2, 5, 6 your group had. This will do no harm to the squishies and make tanks capable of taking *some* damage. Human armor now = half their level instead of their full level, which still renders it the most powerful armor in the game at max level.

I've adjusted the health growth formula down from 5 per level to 4.

Health growth from CON has been changed from +1/level per 2 CON to a simpler 4 HP per CON. This is a flat rate of growth and will resolve CON-based characters rapidly outgrowing damage scaling.

I've decreased base health for a level 1 character to 16 from 20. This is a 20% drop while attributes drop 33%. This should give squishies a relatively small early game advantage while they have fewer skills to defend themselves with.

I'm dropping attribute growth down from 3 points per level to 2. I never intended for people to be able to fully max out two stats at all times but in practice with 5 stats and 3 points, you can always keep two capped out and put your third in something like FOC or CON to give yourself a practical edge. I min/maxed your sheets the best I could and you all effectively had hybrid builds as a result. Warriors had maxed CON and STR, for example, whether they were clubbin' types or Paladin types. Hybrid builds should be a meaningful choice and not something that stems from having surplus points to burn.

New characters are still given 12 pts to burn with a 4 pt cap per attribute. This is six levels worth of points instead of four. The additional 40 pts from hitting level 20 is therefore a 333% increase over level 1 instead of 500%. This should flatten growth a little bit and make level 1 characters feel less like wobbly toddler with sticks than reasonably experienced adventurers. Someone who specifically wants to play a wobbly toddler with a stick for roleplaying purposes will have special options for that.

I'm adjusting racial bonuses down to 2/1 from 3/2. Since a new character can place up to 3 points in a given category, 3 would have doubled their effectiveness in a particular attribute. 2 is still a 50% bump at level 1, which is pretty big.

Armor is being consolidated to one piece, like how D&D handles it. Magic gloves, hats, etc will take an Accessory space, of which you'll still have two.

All debuffs will be reworked to affect outcomes and not base stats. This will make them less abstract and also prevent resistances from being penalized as a result (so a blinded target won't get blinded repeatedly). Blind = -4 Accuracy Bleed = DoT (damage varies) Corrupt = -4 Spell Damage Cripple = -4 Dodge/Block Disease = -4 Melee Damage Stun = -4 AP

A new debuff has been introduced, Poison, which = Resistances -8. This debuff is stronger to reward the fact that it's a setup skill for future debuffs.

Dual Wielding is now -3 to Accuracy instead of -4.

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conversations with friends about LonLon

i love these people

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Skills, Traits, and Synergies

Leveling Up

Every level in Séon grants you a small handful of benefits. While Body and Mind levels confer different bonuses, such as HP growth for Body, every level in either Discipline will grant you a Skill, Trait, or Synergy. For information on the innate bonuses from each attribute, check out their full descriptions.

Skills

Skills are "active" abilities. They are the things your character can do, in or out of combat, and include everything from flying short distances to disarming a trap. In general, Skills are governed by either one attribute, such as Strength, or by a combination of two attributes, such as Speed and Magic. Fighting Skills rely on Body attributes, while social and adventuring Skills rely on Mind attributes. Some Skills also receive small bonuses from related attributes, too, such as Charm spells gaining Charisma bonuses.

A new Skill is earned every even-numbered level in Body or Mind.

Traits

Traits are “passive” bonuses. In other words, Traits are perks your character receives that provide advantages under the right conditions. There’s a huge variety of Traits available to every Race and Creed, and each one is designed to help promote a style of gameplay. For example, the Brood have a Body Trait called Adaptive Defense that allows them to grow bonus armor for two rounds every time they take a hit; the LonLon, on the other hand, have a Mind trait called Saddest Face! that boosts their Persuasion after they’ve been denied once by an NPC.

Traits are selected every odd-numbered level in Body or Mind.

Synergies

Picking up a Synergy provides you a link between two attributes for a cause you specify to the GM. Synergies picked up from Body levels link a Body attribute to a cause it isn’t normally used for, and vice versa with Mind Synergies. Causes can be a specific Skill, a context, or anything else you can think of that makes thematic sense for your character. Here’s a few examples:

Mind Synergy: Tying your Wit (Mind) to your Persuasion (Mind) attribute. This bonus applies when a simple-minded NPC might be impressed by the intelligent persona you put forth.

Mind Synergy: Tying your Charisma (Mind) to a Charm Skill (Body). This bonus applies when casting Charm magic on a target who may find you attractive. The GM decides when that’s the case.

Body Synergy: Tying your Speed (Body) to your Strength attribute (Body) on a basic attack. This bonus applies when moving twice and attacking in the same turn.

Synergies are an organic system, meaning as long as your GM approves of your proposed link, you can tie any two attributes together. You’ll find some suggested synergies in the Skills and Traits section for your character, but those are just some helpful tips. Feel free to come up with synergies of your own.

Making Your Selections

To be able to learn a Skill or Trait, you must meet its requirements. Requirements always include a set of attribute scores and your race or creed, and sometimes they include pre-requisite Discipline levels or even other Skills.

Attribute scores are the minimum attributes you need to pull off that skill. They can be one score, such as 10 Strength, or a combination of scores, such as 8 Magic and 4 Focus.

Race or creed is simply what you’ve chosen to play as. For most players, this will be your race, such as Human or LonLon. For those that have chosen a Creed, such as Martyr or Lifesower, their creed is used instead of their race for determining what skills they can use.

To demonstrate an example, let’s look at requirements of the skill Super PUNCH!.

Race/Creed: LonLon

Discipline: Body

Attribute(s): 4 STR

Level: -

Skills: -

This means that in order to acquire Super PUNCH!, you just need to be a LonLon who has at least 4 Strength, and you can only pick it up when reaching a new even-numbered level in Body. That’s it!

When you level up, you can pick from any Skill or Trait you meet the requirements of, unless there’s a special note saying otherwise. That means if you’re torn between two Skills or Traits, don’t stress out about it – you can always get the other Skill the next time you reach an even-numbered level.

Note that Skills and Traits are separated by Discipline, just like attributes. As a result, if you want to snag that Trait you passed over at Body level 5, you’ll need to wait until Body level 7. 

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Change Log, 4/24/17

Updated "Improving Yourself". Removed XP cost for Synergies and made them an alternative to Traits. Moved Traits/Synergies from every 4th level to every odd, doubling how often they occur, to allow player the choice between Traits and Synergies.

Renamed “Combat” attribute group to “Body” - “Body” attributes will not only support combat, but also certain exploratory or social actions, such as dodging a trap or leaping across a crevice. 

Renamed “Explorer” attribute group to “Mind”. “Mind” attributes will continue to be primarily social and exploratory but may occasionally factor in to combat, particularly if a Synergy is created for such a purpose.

Added the phrase “Discipline” to describe either Body or Mind attributes/skills/etc. interchangeably. 

Instituted a rule where stat growth was capped at your level before any racial and trait bonuses. 

Lowered number of points distributed for Fixed Attributes to 3 from 6. Instituting cap of 2, down from 4. 

Broke out Synergies into a separate post with Skills and Traits.

Updated Kahl'Shan race description to make them a bit more playable from a roleplay perspective.

Under consideration:

Fixed Attributes - keep or toss? I had originally conceived of fixed stats as a method for adding some permanent character variation that stays constant throughout your adventure. I worried the bonuses may be too large, as they were providing up to 20% advantages on the roles they influenced, which is huge. Hopefully with the caps in place, and the max of 10% on any role, these will be a fun little bonus attribute that doesn’t overwhelm the mechanics otherwise in play.

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Improving Yourself

In Séon you have two types of character level, or “Disciplines”, known as Body and Mind. The Game Master assigns experience points, or “XP”, at the end of every session. XP rewards for a single session of play can range from two XP through six XP. XP is split between Disciplines the same way as attributes, and it is up to the Game Master's discretion how many points go to each, as long as you receive at least one XP in each category. The Game Master also has the option of rewarding you bonus XP in either Discipline. This may be for protecting an ally from severe injury, talking your way out of a difficult situation, or taking a big risk that paid off in the end. In this way, campaigns can focus on combat or exploration and offer compelling, relevant rewards for developing your character.

XP has one purpose in Séon: purchasing attribute points. Attribute points cost 3 XP from that Discipline’s XP. That is, Body attributes cost 3 Body XP, and Mind attributes cost 3 Mind XP. Increasing attributes in either Discipline three times will increase that Discipline’s level by 1; in other words, 3 Body attributes buy 1 Body level, while 3 Mind attributes buy 1 Mind level.

The maximum number of points you can buy in any attribute is equal to your level in that Discipline. For example, if you’re level 10 in Mind, you can only raise your Mind attributes up to 10. Note that this restriction doesn’t include your racial bonuses, any special bonuses earned through Traits, or any attributes raised above 4 when you make a new character. For that reason, your attribute caps are clearly marked on your character sheet beside your total in any attribute.

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Attributes

Attributes are measurements of your proficiency in a particular area, such as Strength, Speed, or Persuasion. They determine the success, or degree of success, of nearly every action you may perform. Attributes are grouped into three categories: Combat, Explorer, and Fixed.

Combat attributes are primarily used for fighting and include Constitution, Strength, Speed, Magic, and Focus.

Explorer attributes are primarily used for social/exploratory actions and include Composure, Persuasion, Charisma, Perception, and Wit.

Most of the actions you perform in Séon will rely heavily on attributes, combining an attribute with a degree of chance. Defending against an action relies on attributes, too. For example, attempting to persuade a guard to let you into a restricted area would require you to roll 1d20 and combine the result with your Persuasion attribute. The guard defends with his Perception and Wit attributes combined. If your roll beats his defense, you attempt to persuade him succeeds. If it doesn’t, he can tell what you’re trying to do – and he might not be too happy about it.

0 - 5 points in any attribute is considered the range of average person. As you start your adventure at Level 4 and each level consists of 3 attribute points, you’ll have 12 total points to distribute at the beginning of the game. Chances are good, then, that at the start of your adventure you’ll be average in a few areas, and a bit above average in others. Your progression from there is up to you. Do you become a jack of all trades, being pretty good at almost everything, or do you pour all your time and energy into being the very best in a given area? Think about this carefully, as the skills and traits available to you on your adventure depend almost entirely on the attributes you develop, and will have a major impact on who you are in Séon.

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Action Points

When it comes time to fight, the most important feature in Séon is Action Points, or AP. Every action or skill you have at your disposal costs a certain number of AP, and repeating an action raises its AP cost by 1 for the rest of the round. Think of AP as a measure of the time and effort it takes to perform a given action. A movement action or a basic attack is 2 AP, for example, while a spell used to protect your friends from danger may cost 5 AP. At the end of your turn, any leftover AP provide bonuses to your defense, and at the beginning of your next turn, your AP regenerate in full.

Every new character begins their journey with 6 Action Points per turn. While there are ways to increase that number, they are few in number, and you’ll discover those as you explore the Skills and Traits at your disposal. In general, you’ll find yourself with enough AP to do perform between one and three actions per turn, depending on what those actions are. You might move toward an enemy, fire your crossbow, and save your leftover AP for defending yourself. Or, if your enemy is on the ropes, you might hit your enemy with your mace, then follow up with a crushing blow that deals bonus damage to wounded foes.

Of course, you may find yourself in a situation where you don’t have quite enough AP left at the end of your turn to pull off the surprise attack you’ve been planning, or you may want to focus your entire turn on making sure your defensive spell goes off without a hitch. For just these sorts of situations, there are two ways any character can trade AP for special defensive or offensive maneuvers.

Borrow  

At any time, including an enemy turn, you can choose to borrow AP from your next turn. You can use that AP immediately, or save it for the defensive bonuses. This might let you finish a combination attack that slays an evasive foe, or leap out of the way of danger. Be careful, though - each point of AP borrowed removes 2 AP from your next turn. You can only use what you have at your disposal, too, so for most players that means the most you can borrow at a time is 3 AP.

Wager

Rather than act out of turn, you can act carefully within your turn by choosing Wager. Wager adds an extra 1d10 die to your Accuracy Check for every AP used. The tradeoff, of course, is having less AP left for your turn – which means a reduced number of actions, and worse, less AP remaining for defending yourself.

[diceforbreakfast]

Copyright

Finally got my copyright intentions sorted out. Gotta love the CC. I'm gonna drop some money in their tip jar soon.

Here it is. I would highly encourage you to take anything on this site, adapt, and share! Just don't sell it, and be sure link back to me. By using any of this material you are agreeing to perpetuating this license, and anyone who may take any of this material from you agrees to it, too, even if you've modified it already. 

Séon by Ben Rosenek is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at http://diceforbreakfast.tumblr.com/. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://diceforbreakfast.tumblr.com/.

[diceforbreakfast]

Playtesting, Round 2

Got a much smaller combat test going this time with a couple new race/skill combos. Two LonLon players this time, Bobbles and Bib, because this is playtesting and they’re small and cute and fight me.

Things went... much smoother. The changes made before were very positive and the risk/reward systems inherent in the combat system felt a lot more rewarding and less punishing. There were some balance issues (Bobbles was basically impossible to injure if he wasn’t reckless), but the players had fun, I had fun, and the poor mage that Bobbles canonballed onto from on top of a mountainside had considerably less fun. 

Once I get some exploratory skills nailed down, it’s time to move on to a 3-4 session "campaign”. A little bit of continuity and some accelerated advancement should help root out some more of the flaws in the mechanics, and it’ll be a chance to try out some of the lore.

I’ll be making more mechanics posts soon, but honestly, the changes have been so frequent over the last couple of weeks that now that combat is hitting something of a sweet spot, I have to go back over my WIP manual and completely overhaul about a third of it. I already have to go back to the HP/DG post and make some tweaks.

[diceforbreakfast]

Playtesting, Round 1

Some wonderful friends of mine were kind enough to throw some dice with me on roll20.net last night. We took a full Namshi party (2 Specter / 2 Brood) to the voidlands to maul some bandits. My change notes are below. Most of these stats and figures I haven’t posted about yet (because they needed some playtesting), but I’m obscenely excited about this and want to share for posterity.

System Changes

Remove guaranteed hit and miss, except on critical hit and failure. Consider extending criticals to 19 as a passive or bonus for obscenely high focus.

Rebalance the attributes so that they start at 0 and not 10. Given that the rolls use whole stat values, the system will be easier to learn and get into if there is only single digit math until later levels. Players leveling their characters will also see more value from adding +2 to strength, for example, if the base is lower. This will also make racial bonuses more meaninful at lower levels.

Rename Hit Roll to Hit Check or Accuracy.

Rebalance several skills (we knew this would be a thing).

Player Experience / Software Changes

Add AP bars to each enemy in Roll20 so that you can tell how much AP a given enemy has. This is easy to do and would have helped a lot for making informed decisions on who to attack.

Add HP bars for the same reason. I know it's non-traditional for players to see enemy HP, but honestly, in character you can see these dudes bleeding out the eyes or whatever so it's not like it's information you wouldn't have.

Add Attributes to Roll20 so it's easy to build macros.

Update sheets to include the values of the rolls whenever possible (like if something does Magic + Focus, add 10 + 12).

Update skill descriptions for some better clarity.

To Consider

Upping base AP to 6 and rebalance accordingly. I'm not sure it feels good to be left wide open if you move + attack. Having 33% left instead of 20% left after doing two basic things may be helpful.

Rebalance defense check so that 0 AP is more of a 25% chance to defend and not... almost 0% chance to defend. Possibly add a base value, like your level or something, so it scales.

[diceforbreakfast]

Hit Points (HP) and Death’s Grace (DG)

This is the first post on the mechanics in Séon, so I’m starting with something pretty fundamental - health.

Hit Points (HP)

Each player has a set number of “Hit Points”, or HP, based on their level and the amount of Constitution they have (see Attributes). Your Hit Points are lost by taking damage, either directly (such as from a sword, arrow, or spell) or as the result of a negative status effect (such as poison).

Hit Points are healed when you sleep. Camping outside of a town restores as many Hit Points as you have points in Level + Constitution (see Attributes), while sleeping in town restores twice that amount. For example, if you have 5 points in Constitution at Combat level 6, you would heal for 11 Hit Points a night when camping, and 22 points while sleeping in town.

Injured players can also be healed by spells cast by themselves or other players, or by drinking potions they’ve purchased in town. Healing spells are only found amongst experienced mages, however, and drinking potions are highly expensive. Neither are likely to be available in most situations, so do your best to avoid injury as much as possible!

Death’s Grace (DG)

When your Hit Points reach 0, you are “downed”. Being downed is to be on death’s doorstep – a bit of bad luck or a cunning enemy could lead to your death. While downed, and after, you suffer multiple penalties:

You cannot use most skills. Skills that can be used while downed are specially marked in their description. (Some skills can only be used while downed or faking death.)

You roll a d10 on any attack rolls, instead of a d20.

You move at half the speed you normally do, rounded up.

While downed, your Hit Points (HP) are replaced by Death’s Grace (DG). The formula for DG is Level + Constitution + 5, so if your Constitution is 10 and your Combat level is 6, you will have 21 DG. If you take more damage than your DG within a single round, you will die. DG is restored each round. However, every round where you take damage, but don’t die, your maximum DG is reduced by 5.

While downed, if treated by a healing potion, skill, or spell, you receive half the healing you normally do – but temporarily recover. All penalties are removed until the end of combat or until you are downed, again. If you are downed again, you receive only the DG you had before you were healed.

When combat ends after being downed, your injuries catch up to you. Unless you have an adept healer in your party, you will need to seek medical treatment in a town, outpost, or similar settlement. If combat starts again before you do, you will still be downed.

Note that enemies of the playable races, as well as certain types of monsters, are also downed when their Hit Points reach 0. This gives you and your party the opportunity to spare your enemies and let them flee – or strike them down to take revenge, loot their bodies, and sometimes even harvest their magic.

The formula for enemy DG is simply total Constitution.

Notes for the GM:

When a player takes more damage than they have remaining health, they are simply reduced to 0. This makes the math much easier than attempting to carry remaining damage from HP to DG. From a story perspective, feel free to justify this however you see fit - divine intervention, a narrow escape by the player, an adrenaline rush, or sheer good luck.

When a player is hit by an attack that is more than twice their max HP, they are killed instantly.

Downing enemies is optional. If the tone or nature of your game makes this impractical or inconvenient, feel free to render enemies immediately dead or unconscious then their HP reached 0. DG for enemies is most effective as an experience against particularly adept enemies, who may have special downed skills or self-healing abilities. Use your best discretion for creating an enjoyable experience for your players.

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Progress

First mechanics play test will be Saturday, the 15th. Set a deadline with some friends to force myself to get enough together to roll some dice. Had a few realizations -

I really need to write some posts up about mechanics.

I need to create some navigation links on here to jump between races, lore, etc.

The names of the various sorts of magics are important for lore, but really don’t have to be for gameplay. The level of complexity that would be introduced by some sort of rock-paper-scissors magical relationship among elements that aren’t as simple as fire/water/earth/etc. would be... not worth it.

Facings (backstab, sidestab, etc.) are probably too complex, but some interesting skill interplay between classes would be intuitive and probably more rewarding.

Action-based trait growth (think elder scrolls) seems pretty doable and I am excited about this. 

Merits or masteries or whatever they end up being called are probably going to be one of the last things I bother with.

I think I’ll start posting about mechanics after the playtest, as I might end up changing some things around after I get some feedback. 

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This blog isn’t dead

I’m still working on these concepts. I will be back. I don’t think I actually have any followers on here that aren’t porn bots but if I do, sorry about the wait~

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Change Log

3/8/16 - 

Changed setting name from Eclyes to Séon. 

Updated the name of four magics; updated the function of all. A full post has been made for magic here. Name changes below.

Balance has now been named Ethos. 

Noise has now been named Din. 

Regulation has now been named Stasis. 

Renewal has now been named Rebirth. 

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Magic

There was a bit of confusion over the elements in the game world - what made them different, what they did. I’ve given them a fresh coat of paint. New names, some more explicit descriptions, etc. This section will be updated as the game develops. 

Magic

Magic exists within Séon itself as a tangible, visible substance, textured like steam and flowing like thick water through veins in the world’s crust. It is fundamental to the world of Séon – to its creation, to its continued existence, even to the people it bears life to. The majority of creatures on Séon, including most sentient peoples, host magic within their bloodstreams. The capacity to harness this power lies within all who hold it, to varying degrees. People learn to wield it both for peace and war; animals use it by instinct to hunt or forage. All things that hold magic release it when they perish in the form of a wisp, barely visible to the naked eye. The wisp travels to the dark depths of the Eternal Forest, called by its keepers, to be broken down and used anew.

Magic tends to the continued function of Séon, informing natural law and maintaining life throughout. Its existence, then, is broken down into elements of function; the magic of Form, for example, is responsible for the shape of all things on Séon, and its momentary disruption three hundred years ago resulted in the warping and destruction of an entire people, their culture, and their empire. In addition to these primary elements, there are dozens of forms of lesser magics practiced by the people of Séon - some by creatures blessed or cursed by gods or celestial powers, others by those searching for forbidden power.  

List of Magics (continually updated):

Elements

Each of the primary elements is tied to a specific race, and these races are known collectively on Séon as the Descendants. For millennia, the Descendants and the elements were tied closely together, their people uniformly blessed by their element and capable of bending it to their will. Since the cataclysm, the Descendant races have been severed from their elements, with the capacity to wield magic an increasingly rare gift passed through the generations.

Ethos

Master of the elements; believed by many to be sentient and responsible for natural law throughout the world. Ethos was responsible for setting the rules of the world in motion – gravity, thermodynamics, molecular structure. Until the cataclysm, Ethos had long been considered a dormant magic, resting after the effort of creation. After the cataclysm, Ethos was split into two new magics, each hostile in its own way – Void and Din. The Namshi, who were born with Ethos magic in their blood, were twisted and destroyed by this event.

Void

Emptiness. Nothing. The devastating, soul-rending absence of all sensation, all emotion, all life. The absence of natural law. Void is driven by a need to consume, rendering all it touches into oblivion.

The Brood, a mutation of the Namshi who lived in the south, are practitioners of Void. They wield it as a weapon, enhancing the sting of their teeth and claws and destroying the very structure of the flesh they touch or to warp reality around themselves, enhancing their speed and reflexes.

Din

All. Everything. The overwhelming, mind-rending sensation of all things, all knowledge, all time. The summation of natural law, free of governance. Din is driven by a need to consume, adding all it touches to its own mass and power.

Specters, a mutation of the Namshi who lived in the north, are practitioners of Din. They've learned to harness the knowledge within, using it to enhance their perception and their understanding of life. In combat, they use Din to craft illusions to trick, terrify, or injure their foes.

Stasis

Secondary to Ethos, and responsible for maintaining its decrees. Stasis is the application of natural law; it is balance, evolution, and function. Stasis ensures that Form, Flow, and Rebirth are kept in moderation. Its primary concern is the will of Ethos, and after the cataclysm rent Ethos in half, Stasis became aimless and confused. It began to enforce the status quo of the new world, despite the many perils it now held.

The Bloodkin and Snowcrest are practitioners of Stasis. They Bloodkin use it primarily as a weapon, especially its capacity to increase temperature and produce flame. The Snowcrest use it defensively, especially it's capacity to reduce temperature and produce ice.

Form

The shape of all things. Form is responsible for the passing of traits from one generation to the next, for the development of a species, for the way a plant reaches toward the sun to sustain its growth.

The Lesha are practitioners of Form. Most of their people are granted the gift of true sight -- the ability to comprehend the "construction" of a person, creature, or thing. Those not gifted with true sight are instead capable of altering their own physical form or, among the especially gifted, the form of others.

Flow

The motion of all things. Flow is responsible for the way that the wind moves, the way the crust of the world shifts, the way that water laps against the shore. On a deeper level, it governs the motion of molecules in all things.

The LonLon are practitioners of Flow. They are capable of controlling the flow of the environment around them -- earth, wind, and water, primarily -- to help them in fishing, foraging, and combat.

Rebirth

The path of life to death, and death to life; a guardian of magic and shepherd to the souls of Séon’s denizens. Rebirth recycles the magic of the world that has been gifted to the living, transforming it to meet the needs of the other elements, granting it to the young for its continued use.

The Kahl'Shan are practitioners of Rebirth magic. They use it to tend the Eternal Forest and to harvest the wisps of the dead, preparing them for their next journey through the world of the living.