[Q&A] Sanchit Sharma (Shades of Vengeance: Marked for Death)

[13:29] <+SanchitSharma> So, my name is Sanchit Sharma

[13:29] <+SanchitSharma> And I’ve written a FATE module called Marked for Death

[13:30] <+SanchitSharma> It’s about assassins, and the default setting is modern day (although if there’s interest, I’d love to make versions set in ancient times and futuristic worlds too). There is magic in the setting, which is fire/water based and is quite flexible.

[13:30] <+SanchitSharma> That is, you can take fire magic or water magic, and they each have different styles.

[13:30] <+SanchitSharma> This came about as the result of me attempting to make FATE a bit harder, and so it features a system to help the GM make situations difficult. It should be a given that assassins have a hard time, as they’re killing people for a living!

[13:31] <+SanchitSharma> There are three GM tools to make the games run more smoothly: Reaction Points, Mook Creation, and Squad Combat.

[13:31] <+SanchitSharma> I’ll go into those in detail if anyone wants me to.

[13:32] <+SanchitSharma> I’m working with Shades of Vengeance to make this happen, and we launched our kickstarter last week.

[13:32] <+SanchitSharma> We got funded pretty quickly, but the more we get the more we can do. Kickstarter is at (Link: http://www.tinyurl.com/mfd-kick)www.tinyurl.com/mfd-kick

[13:32] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[13:32] <+springogeek> Awesome 🙂 So if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask now. I’ll be creating pauses, so we don’t get too many questions all at once.

[13:33] <+springogeek> although, if the room is as quiet as it seems right now, that might not be necessary 😛

[13:33] <+SanchitSharma> maybe one person will have loads of questions? :p

[13:33] <+Agamemnon2> Why that particular focus of magic? Were you inspired by a particular thing to choose fire/water?

[13:34] <+SanchitSharma> Well, it originally stemmed from the Stormcaller system in the Fate System Toolkit

[13:34] <+SanchitSharma> I wanted to cut that down to it’s essence

[13:34] <+SanchitSharma> so I thought, at it’s most basic, what are the opposing forces there? Fire and water.

[13:35] <+SanchitSharma> Stormcallers, for those who don’t know, is a magic system in the Fate System Toolkit

[13:35] <+SanchitSharma> in which characters are aligned to a storm

[13:35] <+SanchitSharma> there are five in total and it can get a bit bogged down with what you can and can’t do. So I simplified it.

[13:35] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[13:36] <+whycantihavenumbersinmyname> Why do you like FATE? What made you want to use the system?

[13:36] <+Sandworm> Gah! That was my question!

[13:36] <+springogeek> 😛

[13:37] <+SanchitSharma> The simple answer is that FATE was the system I was playing with at the time I came up with the idea. I came up with it pretty much one or two sessions after getting the book.

[13:37] <+SanchitSharma> The long answer is that after a lot of playing FATE, I find that it tends to keep things simple and to the point

[13:38] <+SanchitSharma> Stunts can be a bit of a difficult thing for new players to cope with, but if you keep the number of fate points low and GM aggressively, it can still be a very good system to tell engaging and challenging stories in

[13:38] <+SanchitSharma> And part of my goal with this was to make it easier to do that

[13:38] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[13:39] <+Sandworm> You said you made FATE more challenging. I, personally, don’t play much FATE because I tend to find it a bit too easy relative to other systems. How have you made it harder for the more experienced gamers among us?

[13:39] <+SanchitSharma> Well, mostly by limiting things.

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[13:39] <+SanchitSharma> For example, one of the first things I did was make the skill list about 3x as long

[13:39] <+SanchitSharma> and it still gets longer with each revision

[13:40] <+SanchitSharma> then I cut down the number of skills each player had access to (and changed it from a pyramid to a tower, but that’s a different story)

[13:40] <+SanchitSharma> the second part of it is one of those GM tools I mentioned

[13:40] <+SanchitSharma> Reaction Points

[13:40] <+SanchitSharma> Again, it’s based on something I read in the FATE System Toolkit

[13:41] <+SanchitSharma> It gives the GM an easy way to track how much attention the PCs have drawn to themselves

[13:41] <+SanchitSharma> and then gives you an idea of what you might expect as a reaction to that, in terms of police or other groups of assassins

[13:42] <+SanchitSharma> What it comes down to, effectively, is letting the PCs get away with less for whatever they have

[13:42] <+SanchitSharma> skills mean less, actions mean less, fate points mean the same amount but there are generally less of them

[13:42] <+SanchitSharma> and I think I’m rambling, so done :p

[13:43] <+springogeek> Your kickstarter page says the game is comedic. Is that reinforced mechanically?

[13:43] <+SanchitSharma> No, it just tends to end up that way.

[13:44] <+SanchitSharma> Lately I’ve been running more serious games, but it’s very easy for a game to end up being the PCs constantly making mistakes

[13:44] <+SanchitSharma> Add the reaction point system in as well as compels…

[13:44] <+SanchitSharma> Last night I had a game where one PC couldn’t talk all but one other member of the party, and even then only in person :p

[13:45] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[13:45] <+SanchitSharma> couldn’t talk to all but*

[13:46] <+Sandworm> I have to ask this, cos Dan isn’t here…

[13:47] <+Sandworm> How cinematic is this game?

[13:47] <+Sandworm> 😀

[13:47] <+SanchitSharma> What do you mean by that?

[13:47] <+Sandworm> How wide-reaching, epic is it? How visual?

[13:49] <+SanchitSharma> Well, depending on what kind of story you’re playing, it could have very little impact on the game world or loads – it’ll tend towards the latter though as assassinations are normally of important people

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[13:49] <+SanchitSharma> in terms of how visual…

[13:49] <+SanchitSharma> well, that’s best answered by FATE

[13:49] <+SanchitSharma> In FATE, you either fail, tie, succeed, or succeed with style

[13:49] <+SanchitSharma> the last being a success by three or more

[13:50] <+SanchitSharma> so, if that’s what your group wants, you can be very visual by using those four categories

[13:50] <+SanchitSharma> if you’d rather play a numbers game… This probably isn’t for you, but you could do it.

[13:50] <+SanchitSharma> So I guess fairly cinematic, overall?

[13:50] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[13:51] <+whycantihavenumbersinmyname> Are there any non-RPG games which influenced/inspired you during writing?

[13:51] <+whycantihavenumbersinmyname> Or other media, etc

[13:51] <+SanchitSharma> Not games, but definitely Avatar

[13:52] <+SanchitSharma> It’s one of the reasons that I loved the stormcallers magic system

[13:52] <+SanchitSharma> and provided some of the ideas for the magic extras (which are effectively little tricks you can buy for your character, things that you couldn’t do otherwise)

[13:53] <+SanchitSharma> There are definitely other things, but I can’t think of them right now ^^;

[13:53] <+SanchitSharma> oh, actually, the Hitman games

[13:53] <+SanchitSharma> And thief, for that matter

[13:53] <+SanchitSharma> the whole sneak around and hide type thing, I quite enjoyed that

[13:54] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[13:55] <+Sandworm> What separates this module from all the other FATE modules out there?

[13:56] <+SanchitSharma> FATE believes that the character is awesome, and that they can do anything they put their mind to.

[13:56] <+SanchitSharma> Marked for Death, simply, doesn’t.

[13:56] <+SanchitSharma> If a character attempts something they’re not meant to be able to do, they’ll probably fail. Hard

[13:57] <+SanchitSharma> If the PCs don’t think things through, they’ll probably get caught.

[13:57] <+SanchitSharma> No amount of Fate points will counter that.

[13:57] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[13:57] <+springogeek> How does adding skills to the system make the game harder?

[13:57] <+SanchitSharma> Well, it limits what the characters are able to do

[13:58] <+SanchitSharma> For example, in core, Shoot is a single skill

[13:58] <+SanchitSharma> To replicate that in Marked for Death, you’ve got to take something like 7 or 8 skills

[13:58] <+SanchitSharma> Which is unreasonable, as skills are expensive and limited

[13:58] <+SanchitSharma> so you specialise

[13:59] <+SanchitSharma> which means that when you’re not in your chosen element, you’re quite likely to have difficulties

[13:59] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[13:59] <+Sandworm> What forces you not to just plan well and be in your chosen element the whole time? I mean, surely if you’re skill with Sniper Rifles, you can make sure you snipe the person you’ve been told to kill…?

[14:00] <+SanchitSharma> Well, this comes down to the reaction points and the GM

[14:00] <+SanchitSharma> I’ll admit, I have a habit of being too passive

[14:01] <+SanchitSharma> In general, the intention is that if you’re GMing Marked for Death you should be pushing the PCs as soon as they spring into action

[14:01] <+SanchitSharma> sure, they’ll do a bit of homework and have a vague idea of what’s going on

[14:01] <+SanchitSharma> but one reaction point is all you need to have that change

[14:01] <+SanchitSharma> Which, incidentally, is given if they trigger an alarm

[14:02] <+SanchitSharma> so their planning could quickly be for naught

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[14:02] <+SanchitSharma> with a bit of luck and a lot of skill, they should be able to be in their element. Sometimes a kill goes off perfectly, and it feels great

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[14:03] <+SanchitSharma> but the GM needs to push them and make sure that they’re not having an easy time, and my hope is that reaction points make that easier for passive GMs like myself to do that

[14:03] <+SanchitSharma> although others won’t need that help, and they should feel free to ditch the system if it doesn’t add anything

[14:03] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

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[14:04] <+whycantihavenumbersinmyname> So, the idea I have of reaction points at the moment is being like stars on GTA – is this the right idea?

[14:04] <+SanchitSharma> Kinda

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[14:04] <+SanchitSharma> it’s quite similar, but there are strong suggestions for what they might be used for and how you gain them

[14:05] <+SanchitSharma> and it goes up to more like 10 (20 if you *really* go overboard)

[14:05] <+SanchitSharma> Now that I think about it, it was actually in part inspired by GTA

[14:05] <+SanchitSharma> 2 for killing a civilian, 3 for a cop

[14:06] <+SanchitSharma> but yeah, broadly speaking that’s not a bad way of putting it

[14:06] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:06] <+Sandworm> Can you lose Reaction Points over time in the same way as in GTA? (that happens, right? I’m really thinking more of Saint’s Row…)?

[14:07] <+SanchitSharma> oh, also, I’ve put up the character sheet if people want to take a look: (Link: http://imgur.com/tP64wui)http://imgur.com/tP64wui

[14:07] <+SanchitSharma> No, the only way you lose reaction points is by the GM spending them

[14:07] <+SanchitSharma> in theory they might run out over like, years. Maybe decades

[14:07] <+Sandworm> What does the GM spend them on? like 5 for a cop car or something?

[14:08] <+SanchitSharma> but whereas GTA stars are only an active system (the police are trying to find you *right now*), reaction points are passive as well (you killed someone, the police will find that body and might trace it back to you)

[14:08] <+SanchitSharma> A quick summary of the lower end of the spectrum

[14:09] <+SanchitSharma> 1 is to make a scene harder/different to what the PCs expected (change patrols, add new security, that kind of thing)

[14:09] <+SanchitSharma> 2 gets the cops on you

[14:09] <+SanchitSharma> 4 gets a large scale effort to arrest you

[14:09] <+SanchitSharma> 5 is a large scale effort to kill you

[14:09] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:09] <+Sandworm> So when they get spent on the large scale effort to kill you… do they go away then?

[14:10] <+SanchitSharma> the reaction points are spent, you just need to deal with the result!

[14:10] <+SanchitSharma> so yes, in theory if you had 5 reaction points and the GM spent those on getting a large scale effort to kill you

[14:10] <+SanchitSharma> you’d be down to 0

[14:11] <+SanchitSharma> if you evade them, you’re fine. They assume you’re dead or missing and eventually give up

[14:11] <+SanchitSharma> if you kill more though, you go straight back up to 3 (the amount earned for killing a cop)

[14:11] <+SanchitSharma> so it can spiral out of control, and this has lead to TPKs in the past :3

[14:11] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:12] <+Sandworm> What measures are there to prevent ridiculous overkill – like… blow up the building to kill a target inside?

[14:13] <+SanchitSharma> totally not referring to anything, right? :p

[14:13] <+SanchitSharma> Well, I normally discount the target for reaction points – whilst they are a civilian kill, they don’t get you to 2 RP

[14:13] <+SanchitSharma> but blowing up buildings is ~6 or 7, I think

[14:13] <+SanchitSharma> I forget exactly what it is

[14:13] <+springogeek> What do you mean by “discount the target”?

[14:14] <+SanchitSharma> so killing a civilian is 2RP

[14:14] <+SanchitSharma> killing the target doesn’t earn you any

[14:14] <+SanchitSharma> so that it’s possible to get away cleanly

[14:14] <+SanchitSharma> however, that’s only the kill itself

[14:14] <+SanchitSharma> not collateral damage

[14:14] <+springogeek> ah

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[14:15] <+SanchitSharma> so if they blew up a building, they’d ~6RP

[14:15] <+SanchitSharma> if they snuck in, maybe 3 if things went really bad

[14:15] <+SanchitSharma> they’d get ~6RP*

[14:15] <+SanchitSharma> but they could get away with none

[14:15] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:17] <+Guest54> If the world is magical, is it possible to play non-human characters?

[14:17] <+SanchitSharma> That’s a good idea, actually

[14:17] <+SanchitSharma> At the moment, no

[14:17] <+SanchitSharma> It’s something I hadn’t thought of, and will potentially expand into in future

[14:18] <+SanchitSharma> at minimum for a possible sci-fi version

[14:18] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:18] <+springogeek> I suppose there is no reason a character has to be strictly human?

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[14:19] <+SanchitSharma> No, you could certainly use aspects and just say they’re non-human

[14:19] <+SanchitSharma> but there aren’t any mechanics for it

[14:20] <+SanchitSharma> Maybe a different race would have more consequences, for example. Right now you’re still going to have the same numbers as everyone else, even if the narrative is different

[14:20] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:20] <+whycantihavenumbersinmyname> Is there an in game explaination as to why there is magic in the world?

[14:20] <+SanchitSharma> Not so much an explanation

[14:21] <+SanchitSharma> more a history, if that makes sense?

[14:21] <+SanchitSharma> It’s kinda assassin’s creed style, where assassins are actually a separate race

[14:21] <+SanchitSharma> all of which have access to magic

[14:21] <+SanchitSharma> over time, it became more acceptable for other people to become assassins

[14:22] <+SanchitSharma> until the modern day, where there are as many people who just bear the title as there are descendants of the original race.

[14:22] <+SanchitSharma> there isn’t a scientific explanation though. It’s just like that because it is

[14:22] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:22] <+springogeek> Is magic a compulsory part of the system?

[14:22] <+springogeek> Could you play without it, if you wanted a more realistic game?

[14:23] <+SanchitSharma> No, no assassin is ever forced to take it

[14:23] <+SanchitSharma> and mook creation specifically allows you to make mooks that have no magic

[14:23] <+SanchitSharma> so you can cut all that out if you want to

[14:23] <+SanchitSharma> it’s a lot more fun with though – the compels you get from magic are brilliant :p

[14:23] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:26] <+springogeek> Almost half way through this fine Q&A, keep the questions rolling, folks 🙂

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[14:27] <+Catseye> hi

[14:28] <+SanchitSharma> Hi!

[14:28] <+Agamemnon2> oh, did someone ask about the comedic thing already?

[14:28] <+Catseye> The drama regarding my army being stolen continues.

[14:28] <+SanchitSharma> Well, someone asked if the comedic thing is reinforced mechanically

[14:28] <+Agamemnon2> Sorry, I had to go AFK a bit, but was wondering how comedic you’re talking about. Like black humor, or downright farce?

[14:28] <+Catseye> The guy contacted me again last night, outright extorting me for more money.

[14:29] <+Sandworm> (Catseye, we’re in a Game Q&A right now, about Marked For Death)

[14:29] <+Catseye> sorry

[14:29] <+SanchitSharma> In general, it ends up being comedic because the PCs mess up. As I said, it isn’t reinforced mechanically though

[14:29] <+SanchitSharma> so you could go in any direction you wanted with that

[14:29] <+SanchitSharma> normally downright farce though :p

[14:30] <+springogeek> (Catseye, I believe regular conversation is still possible in #rpgnet2, if you wish. Feel free to participate here though 🙂 )

[14:30] <+Agamemnon2> Would Paranoia be a good comparison in that regard, then?

[14:30] <+SanchitSharma> If people want to play it that way, absolutely

[14:30] <+SanchitSharma> that’s definitely the kind of thing you can do with Marked for Death

[14:31] <+SanchitSharma> although you’re not coming back to life if you get killed :p

[14:32] <+Agamemnon2> Sweet, thank you

[14:32] <+SanchitSharma> np 🙂

[14:33] <+springogeek> Any particularly good stories to tell from playtesting the game?

[14:33] <+SanchitSharma> so many stories

[14:33] <+SanchitSharma> I’ll stick to one for now, my personal favourite

[14:34] <+SanchitSharma> the players decided that they’d work for Iceland

[14:34] <+SanchitSharma> the company.

[14:34] <+SanchitSharma> So I sent them to go kill the head of Tesco

[14:34] <+springogeek> (Iceland and Tesco are supermarkets in Britain, for those who don’t know)

[14:34] <+Maelthra> >__> I got approve of this.

[14:34] <+Maelthra> *can

[14:35] <+whycantihavenumbersinmyname> tally ho old chap

[14:35] <+SanchitSharma> by deciding to work for Iceland, they pretty much established that in this world, supermarkets employ assassins

[14:35] <+SanchitSharma> So obviously, they go to Sainsbury’s (also a supermarket)

[14:35] <+SanchitSharma> In an attempt to frame them for a crime that has not yet been committed

[14:36] <+SanchitSharma> cut to a few scenes, a decapitation, and numerous explosions later

[14:36] <+SanchitSharma> and the SWAT teams catch up with them whilst they wait for the cover of night

[14:36] <+SanchitSharma> they try to ram the roadblock, and are swiftly killed.

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[14:36] <+SanchitSharma> Not one survivor :p

[14:36] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

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[14:37] <+springogeek> (Hey Dan)

[14:37] <+SanchitSharma> Hi Dan 🙂

[14:38] <~Dan> (Howdy, springogeek! Thanks again for filling in. Please proceed, as I’ve just been given a project to work on.)

[14:38] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, SanchitSharma!

[14:38] <~Dan> )

[14:38] <+SanchitSharma> Thanks 🙂

[14:38] <+SanchitSharma> you missed my favourite TPK story :p

[14:38] <~Dan> Awwww…

[14:39] <+springogeek> Sanchit, has anyone managed to be successful, in any of the games you’ve played?

[14:39] <+SanchitSharma> I think I did mention it in the book, briefly

[14:39] <+SanchitSharma> Yes, quite a few times

[14:39] <+SanchitSharma> including in the session we recorded for youtube (which will go up soon!)

[14:39] <+Sandworm> There was that guy who blew up the building, for starters >.>

[14:40] <+SanchitSharma> that was me being too passive :p

[14:40] <+SanchitSharma> but yeah, generally planning is quite important

[14:40] <+Sandworm> (By the way, I was the guy who blew up the building!)

[14:40] <+SanchitSharma> if you plan things properly, and don’t roll badly

[14:40] <+SanchitSharma> you can survive most scenarios

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[14:41] <+SanchitSharma> that’s not to say you’ll kill your target

[14:41] <+SanchitSharma> but at least get away without too many bruises

[14:41] <+whycantihavenumbersinmyname> Does the game have significant character progression?

[14:42] <+SanchitSharma> It has some, but not in the way that most people would expect

[14:42] <+SanchitSharma> if you consider D&D, for example

[14:42] <+SanchitSharma> as you level up, two things happen

[14:42] <+SanchitSharma> you get more options, and the numbers get bigger

[14:42] <+SanchitSharma> but the numbers get bigger for everyone, so it’s really an illusion most of the time

[14:42] <+SanchitSharma> in Marked for Death, the numbers stay the same

[14:43] <+SanchitSharma> you just get more options

[14:43] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:44] <+Sandworm> So there’s no levelling up, then?

[14:44] <+SanchitSharma> there isn’t any levelling up

[14:44] <+SanchitSharma> but there is progression

[14:44] <+SanchitSharma> think of spending EXP in a lot of games (the 40k RPGs and GURPS, to name two)

[14:45] <+SanchitSharma> you do a similar thing in Marked for Death, except you spend budget

[14:45] <+SanchitSharma> so the better you do, the more money your company/organisation are willing to spend training you

[14:45] <+SanchitSharma> and therefore the more things you’re capable of doing

[14:45] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:49] <+springogeek> Are the images on the kickstarter page indicative of the illustration style in the book? Why did you choose that style?

[14:49] <+SanchitSharma> They are, yes

[14:49] <+SanchitSharma> All of those images were made specifically for the book

[14:50] <+SanchitSharma> I decided to go with that style partially because I wanted black and white to fit with the general FATE aesthetic

[14:50] <+SanchitSharma> I also am going to have the book in A5 for that reason

[14:51] <+SanchitSharma> and partially because that’s a style that the artist I hired is good at

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[14:51] <+SanchitSharma> she normally does colour, but this fit well with black and white

[14:51] <+SanchitSharma> it also, I feel, suits the feel of the game quite well

[14:51] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[14:54] <+springogeek> You’ve been working with Shades of Vengeance to produce Marked for Death, isn’t that right? What was it like to work with them? What was their involvement?

[14:55] <+SanchitSharma> Yeah, so they’ve been great to work with because there’s so much I hadn’t considered back when I was planning on doing this by myself

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[14:55] <+SanchitSharma> My Marked for Death folder has three subfolders: original, kickstarter era, and shades of vengeance era

[14:55] <+SanchitSharma> and the last is by far the biggest

[14:56] <+SanchitSharma> Working with them got me to really think about how I was presenting the rules

[14:56] <+SanchitSharma> and I also managed to fill in the gaps with my skills

[14:56] <+SanchitSharma> For example, all the art was done by one of their contacts

[14:57] <+SanchitSharma> there’s going to be a few stories written by another of their contacts to flesh things out a bit

[14:57] <+SanchitSharma> the character sheet was their work

[14:57] <+SanchitSharma> and honestly, I’ve seen the kickstarter interface. It’s not something I want to have to handle by myself

[14:57] <+Sandworm> I think, if it’s okay, I’ll jump in here. I’m actually the guy who’s been working on Marked For Death with Sanchit.

[14:57] <+SanchitSharma> sure

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[14:58] <+Sandworm> I’ve had a few experiences now, helping people get their games from “I’d like this to go out” to Kickstarter and beyond.

[14:58] <+Sandworm> Each has been very different, what’s been needed has been very different.

[14:59] <+Sandworm> For the most part, it’s been a matter of improving the presentation of the project – I helped Sanchit find an artist that suited his style and also his financial resources.

[14:59] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, KenMatlock!)

[14:59] <+Sandworm> I advised him on the sorts of things that he might want to improve upon to make the book come across better.

[15:00] <+Sandworm> I, at his request, am currently in the middle of an edit of the whole book.

[15:00] <+SanchitSharma> yeah – the rules have constantly changed but that’s something that comes naturally to me. Without Ed, it’d look and read terribly though

[15:00] <+Sandworm> Now, the way we work is to make sure that he signs off everything we do – this is totally, 100%, still his game.

[15:00] <+Sandworm> I am just trying to work with him to make this book the best it can be, to meet his vision.

[15:01] <+Sandworm> What it’s like to work with us is perhaps something I shouldn’t comment on, but Sanchit has been great to work with – he’s willing to go out and approach people about his book which, really, is the key to being successful in the long run.

[15:02] <+Sandworm> And now I’ll shut up again 😀

[15:02] <+springogeek> Thanks for your input, Sandworm 🙂

[15:02] <+SanchitSharma> And I have to say, the task of getting what’s in my brain onto paper is not an easy one. Ed’s done a great job in making it presentable 🙂

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[15:02] <+springogeek> Awesome. Half an hour left for the dedicated Q&A, so if anyone else has questions, now is prime time to ask 🙂

[15:03] <+SanchitSharma> I’ll also happily ramble on about something, if people want me to ^^

[15:04] <~Dan> Please feel free to ramble, SanchitSharma. 🙂

[15:04] <+springogeek> Do you want to throw another link to the kickstarter, in case anyone missed it?

[15:05] <+SanchitSharma> sure

[15:05] <+SanchitSharma> it’s (Link: http://www.tinyurl.com/mfd-kick)www.tinyurl.com/mfd-kick

[15:05] <+SanchitSharma> So one of the things I love about narrative games is that you can normally run them with little to no prep

[15:06] <+SanchitSharma> but over the past few months, I realised that my character creation was getting a bit too complex to allow a GM to make a character in the middle of a session

[15:06] <+SanchitSharma> during the inevitable planning stages

[15:06] <+SanchitSharma> this is why mook creation exists 🙂

[15:07] <+SanchitSharma> Basically, I simplified character creation down from eight steps to four

[15:07] <+SanchitSharma> and then simplified advancement to: primarily skill based, primarily magic, or primarily equipment

[15:08] <+SanchitSharma> and, having tested it a few times, I’m happy to say that it’s back to the point where you can make a character in ~30 seconds, if you want to 🙂

[15:08] <+SanchitSharma> which is exactly what people like me, who don’t prepare for sessions, need

[15:08] <+SanchitSharma> although full character creation will easily take half an hour

[15:09] <+springogeek> Do you have much support for people who like to plan their games more beforehand?

[15:09] <+SanchitSharma> There aren’t any tools to allow for it, but mook creation can still be done beforehand, and you can still plan things out in detail if you want

[15:09] <+SanchitSharma> I’m planning to make a mook character sheet as well, actually

[15:10] <+SanchitSharma> so people can use it out of session and write things down in a neat way, if they want to

[15:10] <+SanchitSharma> the main issue, I find, is that it’s very difficult to predict what paths the PCs might take

[15:11] <+SanchitSharma> imagine the target is a businessman who lives in a penthouse apartment

[15:11] <+SanchitSharma> obvious route is to try and ambush him in his apartment, hack into the security and plant bugs or explosives or just hide there and wait for him to come back

[15:12] <+Sandworm> Uh… Sniper?

[15:12] <+Sandworm> I’d go sniper.

[15:12] <+SanchitSharma> But, of course, players being players, they’ll set up a meeting with him

[15:12] <+SanchitSharma> Sniper is also vaild :p

[15:12] <+SanchitSharma> But yeah, they’ll try and set up a meeting and ambush him there instead

[15:12] <+SanchitSharma> or invite him to a party

[15:12] <+SanchitSharma> or even just tail him till he’s alone!

[15:12] <+springogeek> Or pretend to be a delivery person at night?

[15:12] <+springogeek> 😉

[15:13] <+KenMatlock> Candygram!

[15:13] <+SanchitSharma> I don’t think anyone but you and I will get that one :p

[15:13] <+SanchitSharma> XD

[15:13] <+springogeek> I suppose not.

[15:13] <+springogeek> 15 minutes left on this Q&A. 🙂

[15:13] <+SanchitSharma> but yes, people can plan as much as they like

[15:13] <+Agamemnon2> Blazing Saddles?

[15:13] <+SanchitSharma> no plan survives contact with the players, as they say

[15:13] <+Agamemnon2> 😛

[15:14] <+SanchitSharma> so the tools I’ve made are more to account for the part that people find more difficult – the improvisation

[15:14] <+SanchitSharma> than to deal with planning out every possible solution to an infinitely large puzzle

[15:14] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[15:16] <+springogeek> Nice 🙂

[15:18] * +SanchitSharma waves hands for more questions

[15:18] <+springogeek> 🙂

[15:19] <+springogeek> Did you have to do much research into assassination techniques during the development of the game? 😛

[15:19] <~Dan> Actually, at this point, I generally like to ask if there’s anything we haven’t covered that you’d like to bring up. 🙂

[15:19] <+springogeek> or that

[15:19] <+springogeek> 😛

[15:19] <+SanchitSharma> well, I’ll cover both

[15:19] <+SanchitSharma> I didn’t really, because these things are quite well covered in media

[15:20] <+SanchitSharma> assassins creed, the hitman series, that sort of thing

[15:20] <+SanchitSharma> as a computer geek myself, I’m pretty comfortable with how hacking works in the real world as well

[15:20] <+SanchitSharma> (and so I’ve seperated hacking and persuasion :p )

[15:21] <+SanchitSharma> umm, in terms of things that we haven’t covered

[15:21] <+SanchitSharma> I don’t think there’s much

[15:22] <+SanchitSharma> except that with magic

[15:22] <+SanchitSharma> I should mention broadly how it works

[15:22] <+SanchitSharma> so you have the flexible roll your magic skill to do a thing

[15:22] <+SanchitSharma> but you can also buy specific spells

[15:22] <+SanchitSharma> for example, fireball will target all enemies in a certain region

[15:23] <+SanchitSharma> all of these spells are fairly powerful

[15:23] <+SanchitSharma> but they also set the identity of the element as it were

[15:23] <+SanchitSharma> I quite like the system, if I do say so myself 🙂

[15:23] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[15:23] <+springogeek> Nice

[15:25] <+Prince_Herb> What neat things ended up on the cutting room floor?

[15:25] <~Dan> If I could just take a moment, I’d like to heartily thank springogeek for going above and beyond in filling in for me today!

[15:25] <+SanchitSharma> Well, originally it was based on refresh

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[15:26] <+SanchitSharma> But that ended up being quite awkward because I had to use fractions of refresh to pay for things

[15:26] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, Guest62!)

[15:26] <+SanchitSharma> Not really a neat thing, but a thing, certainly

[15:26] <+SanchitSharma> And to start with I wanted to do all five of the elements from stormcallers, or at least the basic four

[15:27] <+SanchitSharma> Earth, Fire, Water, Air was my initial plan

[15:27] <+SanchitSharma> but in the end, I cut it down to fire and water to keep things simple, and to ensure that each flavour of magic had its own distinct identity

[15:27] <+SanchitSharma> Maybe that will increase again, maybe not

[15:28] <+SanchitSharma> it depends on the interest and how the kickstarter goes 🙂

[15:28] <+SanchitSharma> (done)

[15:28] <+springogeek> Thanks Dan 🙂 I hope I did a good job

[15:29] <+SanchitSharma> I guess that (done) should possibly be for the whole Q&A, too!

[15:29] <+springogeek> I think that draws this Q&A to a close now, but I think Sanchit will be sticking around to chat for a bit longer, so… awesome 🙂

[15:29] <+SanchitSharma> considering the time :p

[15:29] <+SanchitSharma> Yup, feel free to poke me

[15:29] <+SanchitSharma> hopefully not with sharp things :3

[15:29] * +springogeek puts away my bayonet on a sniper rifle

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[15:29] <+springogeek> 😛

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[15:29] <+SanchitSharma> :p

[15:30] <~Dan> I’m quite sure you did, springogeek!

[15:30] <~Dan> And thanks very much for joining us, SanchitSharma!

[15:30] <+SanchitSharma> thanks for having me 🙂

[15:31] <+springogeek> it was good fun 🙂

[15:31] <~Dan> You are certainly welcome to hang out with us as long as you like, and any time you like, for that matter.

[15:31] <~Dan> If you’ll give me just a moment, I’ll get the log uploaded and get you the link. 🙂