The Riftmakers
There are those who can open rifts in the fabric of reality, tearing apart space itself to access other worlds.
And there are worlds where animals have evolved differently: beasts so varied, interesting... and terrifying... that mere humans freeze in their presence like deer caught in the headlights, about to be slaughtered.
But you are different.
You are not a mere human.
You are a Riftmaker.
The exact sciences of Riftmaking are jealously guarded and scrupulously upheld, but your abilities are clear, and your intentions are clearer:
Kill the other Riftmakers.
The Council of Riftmakers has contacted each and every one of you, saying you must exterminate a traitorous conspiracy network of Riftmakers, who are meeting secretly in the vast dungeons sprawling beneath the Council Tower. Each Riftmaker is teleported there, ready to take on the other wrongdoers, not knowing that they've been deceived into a fight.
The Riftmakers are summoners of sorts, warriors who do not fight with power, stealth or intellect - no, they take the back seat when it comes to deadly combat. They summon beasts to this world through energy rifts, which in reality are less like rifts and more like bridges, linking the hyperspace folds of one universe to those of another, targeting a specific location and time to open up in - thus creating a vacuum, drawing the beast into your own universe and then sealing up the rift.
As you might guess, it's a precise and difficult process, and takes years of study just to perfect the basics. The Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy must hold true, of course, and because the energy rifts consume mass amounts of energy to bridge the hypergaps within the omniverse, the energy has to come from somewhere...
That would be you.
Each Riftmaker has three statistics: Energy, Skill and Health.
Energy represents not just your physical stamina but your mental stamina as well - it measures the amount of riftmaking potency in your cells. Each rift, depending on the beast it summons, consumes energy. Thus energy is a maximum value, ie, if your maximum energy was 23, and you used up 5, your energy statistic would become 18/23. If you use up more energy than you have in opening a rift, the rift tears you apart, using your own body's natural energy to carve out the rift before it collapses, killing you in the process (and failing the summons).
Skill is different than energy in that it is not a varying number "out of" a maximum a value - Skill is a constant number that defines your abilities in riftmaking - it represents your experience, expertise, knowledge, level of training, and prowess regarding the ancient, powerful art. While energy may be the key stat in determining if you can open a rift, skill is the key stat in actually finding where to open the rift in the first place. With all the universes open to you, any beast you can imagine will probably exist, and the integral part of skill is to locate, among the complex omniverse, the exact creature you want to summon. Skill is also how well you've learned to channel your energy, and skill offers a limit on the types of beasts you can control.
Health is the more mundane factor of your statistics; it defines your overall physical well-being. Like energy, health is an "x out of y" varying quantity, and your actual health stat is the 'maximum' health, and as you fight to the death within the sprawling Council Dungeon, your health will inevitably be reduced. If it reaches 0, or below, you're dead! Health is primarily damaged by your enemies' beasts, which will be explained next, but there is also a correlation between health and energy. Any large hit in one affects the other - the exact formula is based on 30%. If a single drop in either stat (health or energy) consisted of 30% or more of the MAXIMUM value, 30% of that drop is also delimited from the other statistic. For example, someone opens a massive rift, costing 10 energy, and moving them from 17/20 to 7/20 in energy. This was a drop of 50% relative to the total energy (10/20 = 50%) and, being more than 30%, means a drop in health as well. The drop in health is 30% * 50%, which is 15%. The person's health was at 12/20, and 15% of 20 (NOT of 12) is 3, so their new health is 9/20. Other than this rebound-reduction correlation effect, there are only two other things that can reduce your health: a minor space-moving effort, but more importantly: beasts!
The omniverse is crawling with beasts of all imaginable species. Depending on the environments, evolution can take a wild turn. And with so many universes at your fingertips, you know that out there, somewhere, is the exact beast that you're looking for.
But can you find it?
That of course depends on the crucial statistic known as Skill. As you play, you will gain valuable riftmaking experience, thus increasing your skill level in the complex art, allowing you to do so much more. To locate a creature, first you must define exactly what you want... remember, you are from our home universe, and your imagination can't comprehend many things, so you are limited from the outcome: but don't let that stop you! First you declare what you want the beast to be - the numbers that define its abilities and behavior. Then, you must find it. If you make the beast within your Skill limit (ie, your skill value), you can find it. If the beast's Locate Difficulty (LD) is EQUAL TO your Skill, your chance of success is 2/3. If the LD is ONE GREATER than your Skill, your chance of success is 1/3. If the LD is higher than your skill by 2 or more, you are not abled enough in riftmaking to find such a beast.
Once you've found the beast you want, you must summon it! To do so, you must create a rift, bridging ripples in the omniverse from any OPEN space orthogonal to you (up/down/left/right) to another universe altogether. The rift consumes an amount of energy known as the Link Source (LS), which is subtracted from your own energy score, unless you have an Energy Orb in your possession, an item which supplies energy for opening rifts.
First, I should describe how the game will progress. Everyone will be randomly scattered throughout the dungeon, with full health and energy... also scattered randomly will be Energy Orbs (EOs), Health Revival Kits (HRKs), Energy Elixirs (EEs), Skill Manuals (SMs), and Armor Plates (APs). EOs, depending on their value, supply an amount of energy to the user, and are gone when used up. They CANNOT be used to take the blow from the 30% rule. HRKs and EEs are used to recharge Health and Energy respectively. Again, the amount recharged per infusion and the number of infusions per item depends on the specific item. SMs are one-use objects which can be referenced during a summoning to add a fixed value to your skill score in order to find a higher-LD creature. After using a(n) SM, it is useless and consumed by the rift. As for APs, they cannot be used by people but only by beasts, and they'll be explained later.
I will roll to see who goes first. After that, game is turn-based, where one person at a time "moves" or "takes their turn" in a set order (which is revealed by me, after some dice rolling). The order stays constant for the entire game, omitting dead (or inactive) players. In your turn, you can do two of the following, in any order. You cannot do the same thing twice, and you have the option of doing nothing, or only one thing:
(a) open a rift [must locate beast successfully and then open the rift to summon it]. If you want to use a/n SM, specify it when you are finding the beast. You can only use 1 SM per summon, and the SM is destroyed afterwards
(b) move your character up to 4 spaces (cannot move diagonally). Or move 5 spaces to reduce 1 health, or 6 spaces to reduce 2 health. The maximum you can move is 6 spaces. If you land on a space with a powerup at any point along your movement, you can pick up the powerup
© control your beasts (remember, after being summoned into your world, they are under your command and will fight to the death if instructed to do so). This will be explained after a briefing on statistics
(d) use a Health Revival Kit or Energy Elixir. You do not have to use an Energy Orb, they start working the moment you pick it up. Neither do you have to use a Skill Manual, you can use one of those optionally while summoning. However using HRKs or EEs costs a turn action... when you use either of them, you can take as many infusions as you want from it
RIFTMAKER STATISTICS
You get 55 points to use for Energy, Skill and Health. The only requirement is that each stat must be at least 3 points, other than that you can distribute it how you please. Before the game begins, PM your stats to me and I will post them when everyone has PMed. Make sure you understand everything about the game before making this very important decision
BEAST STATISTICS
So what statistics define a beast and make it unique? How do you calculate the LD (Locate Difficulty, ie, how hard it is to locate the creature) or LS (Link Source, ie, energy it takes to open the rift)? Good questions
Beast Stats:
* Health: from 9 to 50. Works like human health, where 0/max = death
* Attack Scores:
_** Hit Chance (between 0 and 1, not including 0 or 1. Number of decimals go up to the tenth place, ie, you can have 0.74 but not 0.746)
_** Damage Per Hit (between 1 and 12)
_** Attack Cost (between 1 and 9)
* You can have a Secondary Attack too [optional], using those same three values
* Retriever Score: from 1 to 7, this represents the number of orthogonal counting spaces away from you a beast can pick up a powerup
.: Calculating LD and LS :.
Health = H
Hit Chance = HC
Damage Per Hit = D
Attack Cost = AC
Secondary Hit Chance = SHC
Secondary Damage Per Hit = SD
Secondary Attack Cost = SAC
[if you have no secondary attack, the above three values are each 0]
Retriever Score = R
LD = H + (HC * D)/AC + (SHC * SD)/SAC + R
But it must be a whole number, so you round according to this rule: from .00 to .49, round down. From .50 to .99, round up.
For example:
Beast: Vargrool (amphibious doglike creature with tentacles)
H: 12
HC: 0.8
D: 10
AC: 5
[No Secondary Attack]
R: 2
LD = 15 + 3/5 or 15.6, which rounds to 16, which means a Skill of 17 or higher finds it with success, a Skill of 16 finds it 2/3 of the time, a Skill of 15 finds it 1/3 of the time, and a Skill of 14 or less will never be able to find it
LS = H * (HC + SHC)/2 + 2/AC
Then round down, even if you have .999 at the end
In the Vargrool's case, the energy to open its rift (ie, the LS) is 5
.: Controlling Your Beasts :.
You can have up to 9 beasts summoned at any one time, and if, during you turn, you "control beasts", then you can control all of them, or some of them, or even just one of them. It depends how many you have and what you want to do.
When you direct your beasts, there are four actions they can do: move, pickup, transfer, armor and attack.
Move, pickup and transfer are all managed with Movement Points. You get 10 of these to work with, and each point can move 1 beast 1 orthogonal space (up, down, left, right). It also takes 1 point to pick up a powerup, provided the beast is on top of the powerup space and is within Retriever range. If the beast is right next to its master, it costs nothing to transfer items between the two of them. Also, if the beast possesses AP (Armor Plates), it can apply them for 1 movement point. For each AP applied to a beast (it can apply multiple APs), 1 damage is removed from each attack on the creature. So if the creature had 3 Armor Plates on its body, each attack against it would be negated by 3 (to a minimum of ONE damage point) before reducing from the health. Armor is valuable because it never goes away.
You do not have to use all 10 movement points while controlling beasts, in fact you don't have to use any if you don't want to.
Now for the most important aspect of the beasts: attack! You get a total level of Attack Points equal to your 2/3 of your Skill, rounded up. Each attack done by a beast costs the Attack Cost. The beast can use their primary attack or secondary, there is no difference. Also, the beast must be 1 space orthogonally (not diagonally) away from their target, the target being either a riftmaker or another beast. If the number of Attack Points left is equal to or greater than the Attack Cost of the attack, the attack is performed, the Attack Cost is reducted from the Attack Points, and voila
To attack, the beast has a chance of hitting equal to... you guessed it, the attack's Hit Chance! For example, an HC of 0.83 has an 83% chance of hitting the target. The damage dealt is equal to the 'Damage Per Hit' score, making sure to include any armor plates that may be negating from the damage.
Regardless of the number of attack points you have, you can only do a MAXIMUM 4 attacks per turn, UNLESS you ONLY do option c, 'control beasts', in which case you can do a MAXIMUM of 5
Skill Progression: every time you successfully summon a creature, your skill increases by 1. It increases by 2 if you summoned a creature that had a certain chance of being found (2/3 or 1/3).
A Move In A Nutshell:
Do ZERO, ONE or TWO of the following actions:
[1] Open a rift: Define the beast you want and the space you want to summon it to. Now determine its LD and see if your skill matches that, add up to ONE skill manual if you so choose. If it's higher, go on. If your skill is equal or one less, and thus has a 2/3 or 1/3 chance of success, the randomness must be determined before continuing. If the summons is successful, subtract the LS from your energy (or have an Energy Orb absorb some of the blow), calculate the effects of the 30% rule on your health, and then add the beast in the necessary space if your energy and health are both still above 0. Then add 1 or 2 to your Skill, depending on the abovementioned criteria for skill progression. Your beast has been summoned!
[2] Move: you can move 1, 2, 3 or 4 spaces away from your current position (all orthogonal, ie, up/down/left/right, no diagonal) for no health cost, or you can move 5 spaces (and reduce 1 health) or 6 spaces at maximum (reduce 2 health)
[3] Control your beasts: you get 10 movement points and a number of attack points equal to 2/3 of your Skill, rounded up. One movement point is used to move one beast one space, OR to have a beast apply armor plates, OR to have a beast pick up a powerup (if inside Retriever range in orthogonal spaces). Transfers between master and beast can occur at no cost if one orthogonal space away. As for attacks, you can do a maximum of 4, or 5 if your only action this turn was #3, controlling beasts. This is a maximum though, and you probably won't even be able to do this much with your attack points, depending on your skill... because an attack's Action Cost takes away from attack points. If the attack is done, roll for hit chance, and if it hits, apply the damage, making sure to negate armor
[4] use HRK or EE
Clarification of the 30% rule
* After summoning a beast, if the amount of energy taken from you was 30% or more of your MAXIMUM energy, AFTER discounting Energy Orb, then this rule goes into effect. For example, you have 20/20 energy, and summon a creature with an LS of 6. This 6 energy is 30% of 20, BUT you have an Energy Orb with 1 point left, so 1 energy is absorbed from the blow. Thus only 5 is deducted from 20, and 5 is NOT 30% or more of 20. So you are at 15/20, and no effect on your health. But next turn, you open a rift which costs you 7 energy. The fact that you have 15 current energy points does not matter, what matters is your MAXIMUM energy, which is 20. 7 is 35% of 20, thus more than 30%. Thus not only does it drop your energy to 8/20 (15 - 7 = 8), it affects your health too! The specific effect on health is 30% of 35%, which is 10.5%. Say you have 23/25 health. 23 doesn't matter, but 25 does, cuz it's your maximum. 10.5% of 25 is 2.625, rounding (via normal rounding) to 3. 23-3 = 20. Your new health is 20/25
* I'm not going to re-say everything for the other way around, I think you get it. If you get attacked by a beast or whatever and your health drops by 30% or more of your max health, 30% of the drop is reduced from your energy. NOTE that Energy Orbs CANNOT absorb energy loss from the 30% rule in this manner. Ie, say you take a severe blow which is 80% of your health. 30% of 80% is 24%, and say your max energy is 27. 24% of 27 is 6.48, rounded to 6. Say you have an Energy Orb with some points left - too bad. The 6 energy is deducted directly from your energy
* In case you're wondering, the only possible way to have a double-rebound is if a blow used 100% of someone's health or energy. 30% of 100% is 30%, and thus with 30% deducted from the other stat, that's a double rebound, and 30% of 30% or 9% is deducted from the first stat (the one that dropped 100% already). Lol, it wouldn't matter though, because the 100% blow would kill you. It might be possible with a little less than a 100% blow via rounding, but you'd probably still die, either from having less than full originally or from rounding Remember, when your health OR your energy hits 0, you die
The Game
The last riftmaker standing wins. Do you have what it takes?
When a riftmaker dies, if their death was brought on by themselves (opened a rift that cost too much energy, had their own beast attack them, went 5 or 6 spaces to get minor damage which killed them, etc), they die (dropping their powerups on the ground), leaving the map, and the player's beasts are sent back to their home universes (taking their powerups with them).
If the riftmaker dies via hostile action by another player (much more likely ), the player leaves the map, dropping their powerups on the ground where they died (this happens no matter how the player dies), but the player that killed the riftmaker can choose which, if not all, of the dead player's beasts he/she wants to take over. Remember, each riftmaker can have a max of 9 beasts under their control, and the riftmaker victor can take any number (or none) of the victim's beasts, and banish the rest back to their homelands. The beasts do not change at all (they keep their powerups) except for the fact that they now take orders from their new riftmaker master
El Fin
Whoo, that was a long explanation! Yes, I did come up with this myself, over the past couple days, so I'm still not entirely sure on how the stats will play out, but I think it'll be pretty good. Just sign up if you're interested in playing, I'm not sure how many players we'll have, depends on the interest level I guess, and the size of the dungeon I make
Randomness
I'm mostly here to oversee the game and whatnot, but there are some times when random numbers are required.
* 2/3 chance of success if your skill equals the beast's LD during summoning
* 1/3 chance of success if the beast's LD is exactly one higher than your skill
* hit chances during beast attacks
Now we can do a couple of things:
(1) have me roll the die, getting on whenever I can. This could choke up the game, especially during the weekdays when I'm not so available. Which is why I'm in favor of:
(2) that website Sinistral posted, for online trackable dice rolling. This seems like the best solution, though Sinistral would have to re-explain how it works and everyone would have to be okay with getting an account there and stuff, but I think this is an awesome solution. Thanks Sinistral ;D
Anyway.... time for sign up, I guess
Host: Unreality
1)
Also, this thread will be for signups/discussion/whatever ;D Just post if you have any questions or comments
