[19:30] <+Marco_JAGS> I’m Marco–the lead author and creator of JAGS (the game system) and Have-Not (the world book we’re talking about tonight)
[19:30] <+Marco_JAGS> JAGS is a universal system (Just Another Gaming System) and is found at w(Link: http://www.jagsrpg.com.)www.jagsrpg.com.
[19:30] <+Marco_JAGS> It is similar at a high level to GURPS or Hero using point-buy to create characters. Have-Not is an over-the-top post apocalypse setting
[19:31] <+Marco_JAGS> with mutants, all kinds of crazy weapons and armor, destroyed mega-cities, bizarre monsters, and no small amount of humor.
[19:31] <+Marco_JAGS> (well, as humorous as we could be).
[19:31] <+Marco_JAGS> That’s the high-level–I can talk about specifics as wanted.
[19:31] <+Marco_JAGS> (done)
[19:32] <~Dan> Thanks, Marco_JAGS! The floor is open to questions!
[19:32] <~Dan> What is the cause of the apocalypse in this setting?
[19:32] <+Marco_JAGS> So, it turns out there’s a kind of complicated backstory.
[19:33] <+Marco_JAGS> Sometime in our near future there is a scientific breakthrough — called The Breakthrough — which promises massive control over everything–huge leaps of technology–but is too complicated for humans–or even humans augmented
[19:33] <+Marco_JAGS> with computers to understand.
[19:34] <&Silverlion> Is it natural?
[19:34] <+Marco_JAGS> However, a branch of bio-genetic research accidentally creates a species of humans that have enhanced brains and *can* understand it. These (few) people come of age–
[19:34] <+Marco_JAGS> the Breakthrough is–it’s just an understanding of science that shows AMAZING promise–
[19:34] <&Silverlion> Ah. Cool.
[19:34] <+Marco_JAGS> but is too hard to take advantage of / fully comprehend
[19:34] <+Marco_JAGS> Imagine the book A New Kind of Science but going to 11
[19:35] <+Marco_JAGS> so these people–called, in retrospect, The Haves
[19:35] <+Marco_JAGS> understand this–and design the underpinnings of the New Age. It starts with Cornucoupias–giant fabrication plants
[19:35] <+Marco_JAGS> that can create almost anything–and then, gets going into the Age of Wonders–
[19:36] <+Marco_JAGS> a time–exact years unknown–where humankind had access to all kinds of amazing technology.
[19:36] <+Marco_JAGS> What we did was it was sort of take social-media into reality–which involved all kinds of nastiness–but since everyone was an avatar, nobody died.
[19:36] <+Marco_JAGS> Then one day, the machines stopped–
[19:36] <+Marco_JAGS> the Haves had since retreated to these distant glowing domes–
[19:37] <+Marco_JAGS> and had not been seen since. When the machines stopped–or, well, became unpredictable–the Age of Wonders ended
[19:37] <+Marco_JAGS> The Age of War began.
[19:37] <+Marco_JAGS> this was a period of time that started with the Great Warlords–people in charge of an “almost working” fabricator using incredible weapons
[19:37] <+Marco_JAGS> stasis bombs, Divide-by-zero grenades
[19:38] <+Marco_JAGS> Death Rays
[19:38] <+Marco_JAGS> massive war machines
[19:38] <+Marco_JAGS> and, over time, devolved
[19:38] <+Marco_JAGS> to the point where people were building machine guns.
[19:38] <+Marco_JAGS> and then … there had been enough global war that the Great Warlords were dead–and ruins were … everywhere.
[19:38] <+Marco_JAGS> Called The Now, this is where the players play
[19:39] <+Marco_JAGS> The age of wonders (and war) created all kinds of beneficial mutations, psionics, cybernetics, and other technologies
[19:39] <+Marco_JAGS> so there are all sorts of things–artifacts–from hand guns or HTH energy weapons–to swords–to disintegration guns and so on
[19:40] <+Marco_JAGS> (done)
[19:40] <~Dan> So the Haves just took their toys and went home, basically?
[19:40] <+Marco_JAGS> well, you don’t start out knowing.
[19:41] <+Marco_JAGS> The Original HN was published in 2003
[19:41] <+Marco_JAGS> and won an indie RPG award–and that book–similar but not *exactly* the same
[19:41] <+Marco_JAGS> had a section in the back for a bunch of different explanations
[19:41] <+Marco_JAGS> that the GM could use.
[19:41] * ~Dan nods
[19:41] <+Marco_JAGS> I’m not sure how value added that was.
[19:42] <~Dan> But is it the case that the Haves were initially a benevolent force that eventually withdrew, causing the advanced society they’d created to collapse?
[19:42] <+Marco_JAGS> but, in any event, that chapter–and, indeed, the whole original game–could be available online.
[19:42] <+Marco_JAGS> so–the thinking is that
[19:43] <+Marco_JAGS> (a) The Haves did set up a bunch of good stuff–BUT the Age of Wonders was, in fact, a nasty mix of consumerism, physical/real-world trolling
[19:43] <+Marco_JAGS> and petty status games
[19:43] <+Marco_JAGS> so (b) when *something happened* to The Haves, and the failsafes stopped, it was pretty . . . catastrophic.
[19:44] <+Marco_JAGS> Since the Age of Wonders’ reality was *highly* gamified
[19:44] <+Marco_JAGS> then shopping could be like a series of puzzles, mazes, monsters
[19:44] <+Marco_JAGS> In the books there are several installations (dungeons) described / illustrated to give a good idea
[19:45] <+Marco_JAGS> one is an Age-Of-Wonders era shopping mall
[19:45] <+Marco_JAGS> that is a massive cube where each side is its own plane of gravity
[19:45] <+Marco_JAGS> and the avatars of the people in the Age of Wonders were expected to have difficulty “going shopping” due to traps, hostiles, etc. — But, would not *actually* die.
[19:45] <+Marco_JAGS> for the people coming after the Age of War, it’s much different.
[19:46] <+Marco_JAGS> (done)
[19:46] <~Dan> (Howdy, GMTimD!)
[19:46] <+GMTimD> Hello
[19:47] <~Dan> What is the source of the mutant monsters that you mentioned?
[19:47] <+Marco_JAGS> In game? Or creative?
[19:47] <~Dan> In game.
[19:47] <+Marco_JAGS> In-game, the Age of War had bio-weapons
[19:47] <~Dan> Ah, gotcha.
[19:47] <+Marco_JAGS> so the warlords created various cyber-terrors
[19:48] <+Marco_JAGS> but there are also Toxin Monsters from the Age of Wonders
[19:48] <+Marco_JAGS> the systems that catered to desires had a lot of “dross” or waste—so there are barrels of DO NOT WANT
[19:48] <+Marco_JAGS> and NOPE-NOPE-NOPE
[19:48] <+Marco_JAGS> that, if punctured or leaking give rise to some more unusual monsters.
[19:48] <+Marco_JAGS> there are semi-solid avatars of different consumer brands
[19:49] <~Dan> (wb, GMTimD!)
[19:49] <+Marco_JAGS> that might try to bully you into buying things–or just consume you
[19:49] <+Marco_JAGS> there are, of course, a ton of robots
[19:49] <~Dan> Heh. Talk about consumerism.
[19:49] <+Marco_JAGS> yes–
[19:49] <+GMTimD> Thx. Will try not to touch anything on my phone son can stay
[19:49] <~Dan> (Welcome to #randomworlds, Guest44!)
[19:49] <+Marco_JAGS> There are just plain “mutant animals” or people as well.
[19:50] <+Marco_JAGS> so there’s a bunch of different monsters.
[19:50] <+GMTimD> (Thatโs Kristin)
[19:50] <+Marco_JAGS> –all illustrated!
[19:50] <~Dan> (Oh, hey there, Kristin! You can set your name with the /nick command; e.g., /nick Kristin. ๐ )
[19:50] <+Marco_JAGS> and, like, IDK–100+ weapons? all illustrated
[19:51] <~Dan> So did you set out to take a fresh look at Gamma World-style zaniness?
[19:51] <~Dan> With a new explanation?
[19:51] <+Guest44> Hi everyone!
[19:51] <+Marco_JAGS> yeah–I mean–that was a major factor
[19:52] <+Marco_JAGS> the idea of a post-apocalypse that was funny, colorful, had super tech but also stuff you’d recognzie
[19:52] <~Dan> For those of you just arriving, we’re discussing HaveNot, which sounds like a really cool gonzo post-apocalypse, post-Singularity setting. ๐
[19:53] <+Marco_JAGS> So we had to reverse engineer it–so you start the Age of War with flying golden submarines with disintegration cannons and end it with tricked out roadsters with machine guns.
[19:53] <~Dan> Nice.
[19:53] <~Dan> And you have psionics, cybernetics, mutations, and robots?
[19:53] <+Marco_JAGS> yes
[19:54] <~Dan> Awesome.
[19:54] <+Marco_JAGS> and you can play them.
[19:54] <+Marco_JAGS> (you can play an android if you want)
[19:54] <~Dan> Nice.
[19:54] <+Marco_JAGS> the strength of a generic rule-set
[19:54] <+Marco_JAGS> all that stuff is in JAGS Revised Archetypes
[19:54] <~Dan> Can you play a mutant animal?
[19:54] <+Marco_JAGS> so the 3-volume set–
[19:54] <+Marco_JAGS> yes–
[19:55] <+Marco_JAGS> although you will need to get permission to design the animal within bounds
[19:55] <+Marco_JAGS> a mutant elephant would not be a starting character
[19:55] <+Marco_JAGS> (for most games)
[19:55] <~Dan> (Tim, Kristin, the floor is open to questions if you have any. ๐ )
[19:55] <+Marco_JAGS> but JAGS Revised Archetypes is designed, explicitly, to let you make animal PCs
[19:55] <+Marco_JAGS> (among other things)
[19:55] <+Marco_JAGS> so it’s really quite well supported
[19:55] <+Marco_JAGS> you’d just have to start with an animal that was within the starting boundaries
[19:56] <+Marco_JAGS> (After The Bomb was a big influence too)
[19:56] <~Dan> How gonzo are the mutations? Are we talking things like laser-beam eyes?
[19:56] <+Marco_JAGS> yes–
[19:56] <+Marco_JAGS> so:L
[19:56] <+Marco_JAGS> every power in Archetypes has a “tag”
[19:57] <+Marco_JAGS> that is something like Super, Extreme, Natural, Psionic, etc.
[19:57] <+Marco_JAGS> so minor mutations get to pick things with the Natural Tag
[19:57] <+Marco_JAGS> which are things like horns, fur, teeth
[19:57] * ~Dan nods
[19:57] <+Marco_JAGS> that you’d find on normal animals
[19:57] <+Marco_JAGS> but the full on mutant can have anything–
[19:57] <+Marco_JAGS> with the exception of long-range movement
[19:58] <~Dan> Meaning what? No teleporters?
[19:58] <+Marco_JAGS> (we think a big part of the game is getting around–so having someone who can fly into orbit and go “let me see the whole map”)
[19:58] <+Marco_JAGS> well, tactical teleport yes
[19:58] <+Marco_JAGS> super long range, no
[19:58] <+Marco_JAGS> (well, yes: with GM permission)
[19:58] * ~Dan nods
[19:58] <+Marco_JAGS> so–there are a lot of ways to play HaveNot
[19:58] <+Marco_JAGS> but we have a few starting scenarios laid out
[19:58] <+Marco_JAGS> and one is that there is this road–The Road–
[19:59] <+Marco_JAGS> that runs from a giant city–on the edge of a massively poisioned lake–
[19:59] <+Marco_JAGS> this is Ultropolis–and it claims to have the last working fabricator factory
[19:59] <+Marco_JAGS> and the road runs down south into the deep desert and beyond
[19:59] <&Silverlion> I love the preview stuff, i love the mutant options and setting. I’m just missed by JAGS system. Any plans on a Jags-Lite Have not?
[19:59] <+Marco_JAGS> and it’s “more or less” intact–and along The Road and 100 miles north and south–small towns are hanging on
[20:00] <+Marco_JAGS> well, there will not be a “new version”–
[20:00] <+Marco_JAGS> but JAGS2 is lite
[20:00] <+Marco_JAGS> and is compatable.
[20:00] <+Marco_JAGS> you should be able to play JAGS2 and use all / almost all of the same rules
[20:00] <&Silverlion> Yeah. I love the colorful P-A stuff. as a Gamma World fan.
[20:00] <+Marco_JAGS> yeah–well, I’ll look and see if J2 is on the current site
[20:00] <+Marco_JAGS> if not I’ll put it up.
[20:01] <~Dan> How hard is high tech to come by for PCs?
[20:01] <+Marco_JAGS> also–we have an online character creator
[20:01] <+Marco_JAGS> not hard–
[20:01] <+Marco_JAGS> so–you start by picking 200 credits worth of “gear”
[20:01] <+Marco_JAGS> there is SOME tech available–but not that much
[20:01] <&Silverlion> Yay! Online Pc creator helps immensely is it specific to JAGS Have not or Jags in general?
[20:01] <+Marco_JAGS> (health pack)
[20:02] <+Marco_JAGS> It is in-genreal
[20:02] <+Marco_JAGS> and it is in beta–
[20:02] <+Marco_JAGS> (Link: http://character.jagsrpghost.com/)http://character.jagsrpghost.com/
[20:02] <+Marco_JAGS> but you can use it.
[20:02] <+Marco_JAGS> so – then you get one Level 1 weapon and one Level 1 Armor
[20:02] <+Marco_JAGS> these are GENERALLY mundane–
[20:02] <+Marco_JAGS> six guns
[20:02] <+Marco_JAGS> swords, etc.
[20:03] <+Marco_JAGS> however, if you spend a little more you can start with some energy or gyrojet weapons
[20:03] <+Marco_JAGS> and, in the starting set there are two Heavy Weapons
[20:03] <+Marco_JAGS> which require the Heavy Weapons skill to use well–but hit harder.
[20:03] <+Marco_JAGS> when you go into an installation we have rules for “how much treasure it should generally have”
[20:03] <~Dan> I imagine that there’s power armor out there, but not for starting PCs?
[20:03] <+Marco_JAGS> and so we would expect–
[20:03] <+Marco_JAGS> right
[20:04] <+Marco_JAGS> there isn’t power armor for starting PCs
[20:04] <+Marco_JAGS> there is power armor of various kinds in the game
[20:04] * ~Dan nods
[20:04] <+Marco_JAGS> one of the things we wanted was a massive amount of *collateral*
[20:04] <+Marco_JAGS> so there are tons of weapon choices, armor choices, and various kinds of treasure
[20:05] <+Marco_JAGS> and they all have different stats–so they represent different concepts of what you might want.
[20:05] <~Dan> Cool.
[20:05] <+Marco_JAGS> we also wanted to kind of “tell the story of the world” through the gear.
[20:06] <+Marco_JAGS> so the descriptions of Age of War stuff has little stories about the guns like the guy in the shop is trying to sell it to you
[20:06] <~Dan> Ah, yes… You mentioned something about that.
[20:06] <+Marco_JAGS> yeah–well, we came up with that for a fantasy treasure book we were working on
[20:06] <+Marco_JAGS> and thought it was definitely the right way to go–
[20:06] <+Marco_JAGS> try to give everything some degree of character / history
[20:07] <~Dan> Right.
[20:07] <+Marco_JAGS> of course it wound up BIG
[20:07] <+Marco_JAGS> 3 books
[20:07] <+Marco_JAGS> about 250 pages each
[20:07] <~Dan> That IS pretty big.
[20:08] <+Marco_JAGS> yeah
[20:08] <~Dan> (Howdy, KJ!)
[20:08] <+Marco_JAGS> well, it didn’t start out that way
[20:08] <+Marco_JAGS> but …
[20:08] <+Marco_JAGS> eh.
[20:08] <~Dan> How common are cybernetics?
[20:08] <~Dan> (brb)
[20:08] <&Silverlion> But Marco is wordy ๐
[20:09] <&Silverlion> Which is awesome.
[20:09] <+Marco_JAGS> They’re a character choice–
[20:09] <+Marco_JAGS> so, each PC gets to start with 1 SPECIAL and one GENERAL TRAIT
[20:09] <+Marco_JAGS> the GENERAL TRAIT is stuff like much stronger, tougher, smarter, etc.
[20:09] <+Marco_JAGS> (there’s a list–they’re not as dull as that sounds–but they are not super-powers and generally more or less grounded in what you
[20:10] <+Marco_JAGS> you’d expect a low-grade action hero to have)
[20:10] <+Marco_JAGS> the SPECIAL can be things like Cybernetics, minor mutations, or Psionics.
[20:10] <+Marco_JAGS> It can also be stuff like: A symbiotic combat pet
[20:10] <+Marco_JAGS> or a racial package (Evolved Hyenas)
[20:11] <+Marco_JAGS> however: you generally need to have taken the SPECIAL to use that kind of treasure.
[20:11] <+Marco_JAGS> if you find cybernetics and don’t have the Cyber-SPECIAL then generally you can’t use them
[20:11] <+Marco_JAGS> although the GM could allow it.
[20:11] <+Marco_JAGS> the idea being that cyborgs use cyber-treasure
[20:11] <+Marco_JAGS> mutants get canisters of mutagen that can enhance their mutations (if they want)
[20:12] <+Marco_JAGS> etc.
[20:12] <~Dan> (back, sorry)
[20:12] <+Marco_JAGS> (np)
[20:13] <+Marco_JAGS> once again–that sort of thing wouldn’t be possible without the framework
[20:13] <+Marco_JAGS> that we built first.
[20:13] <+Marco_JAGS> the original HaveNot had like 30+ pages of mutations
[20:13] <~Dan> Hmm… What’s the in-setting logic for only cyborgs to get more cyber?
[20:13] <+Marco_JAGS> and rules for them–and cybernetics and rules for them
[20:13] <+Marco_JAGS> cybernetics in the Age of War were self-inplanting
[20:14] <+Marco_JAGS> so if you find them “uncoded” in original packaging
[20:14] <+Marco_JAGS> you can, with some minimal medical skill
[20:14] <+Marco_JAGS> and a LOT of pain (probably) hook them up to a “hard point”
[20:14] <+Marco_JAGS> or, you know, replace a limb …
[20:14] <~Dan> (wb, Guest44!)
[20:14] <+Marco_JAGS> so the idea is that you go into an Age of War installation
[20:14] <+Marco_JAGS> and you might find packs of cyber
[20:15] <~Dan> (wb, GMTimD!)
[20:15] <+Marco_JAGS> which could be specific things–but are more likely to let you go to the cyber-powers section of the Archetypes book and shop as you please.
[20:15] <+Marco_JAGS> since it is kind of a character development type thing.
[20:15] * ~Dan nods
[20:16] <+Marco_JAGS> a minor cyborg
[20:16] <+Marco_JAGS> is likely to start with like a cyber arm / cyber eye
[20:16] <+Marco_JAGS> or some bio-armor or what have you
[20:16] <~Dan> I notice that you haven’t mentioned anything about nanotech… Is that strictly a Have thing?
[20:16] <+Marco_JAGS> the Full Combat Cyborg could be non-human.
[20:16] <+Marco_JAGS> some of the medical tech references nanot tech
[20:17] <+Marco_JAGS> and the Consumer Culture (all devouring slime) is nano-dissemblers
[20:17] <~Dan> Ah, I see.
[20:17] <+Marco_JAGS> it’s just presumed to be part of the wonder-tech
[20:17] * ~Dan nods
[20:17] <+Marco_JAGS> no special call out.
[20:17] <+Marco_JAGS> the extreme mutagens might be nano-assisted
[20:18] <+Marco_JAGS> I can talk a little about the game design philosophy here–
[20:18] <~Dan> Are the domes of the Haves completely impenetrable?
[20:18] <+Marco_JAGS> well
[20:18] <~Dan> Sorry, go ahead. ๐
[20:18] <+Marco_JAGS> no, that’s fine.
[20:18] <+Marco_JAGS> in the original game they were kind of the “end-game” of finding out what happened to The Haves.
[20:18] <+Marco_JAGS> here . . . it could just be a really high level dungeon.
[20:19] <+Marco_JAGS> When I wanted to commission art for the interior of a Have Dome
[20:19] <+Marco_JAGS> we had to talk about what could be IN there–that turned out to be a pretty hard conversation to have.
[20:19] <+Marco_JAGS> so I did a sketch of the interior of a dome–a cut-away–
[20:19] <+Marco_JAGS> in a 3d tool I use (sketchup)
[20:19] <~Dan> I’d think so. I mean, it sounds like for the Haves, if you can think it, you can make it, right?
[20:19] <+Marco_JAGS> and … after a bit …
[20:19] <+Marco_JAGS> well, yeah–sort of.
[20:20] <+Marco_JAGS> but what did they LIVE like in there?
[20:20] <+Marco_JAGS> was it just a virtual-reality holo-deck?
[20:20] <+Marco_JAGS> maybe–but that wasn’t very interesting
[20:20] <~Dan> Yeah, that’s no good.
[20:20] <+Marco_JAGS> so I decided that there were all these icons and symbols that they were creating
[20:20] <+Marco_JAGS> and that the interior of the dome was kind of like — have you seen the picture The Maze
[20:21] <+Marco_JAGS> inside someone’s head–disturbing–
[20:21] <+Marco_JAGS> hang on–
[20:21] <+Marco_JAGS> (Link: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiV_42qjJHdAhVGwVkKHTY5A2EQjhx6BAgBEAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmuseumofthemind.org.uk%2Flearning%2Fthe-maze%2F&psig=AOvVaw0AXoKgtGnqr8a57JU9HxkR&ust=1535592056755948)https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiV_42qjJHdAhVGwVkKHTY5A2EQjhx6BAgBEAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmuseumofthemind.org.uk%2Flearning%2Fthe-maze%2F&psig=AOvVaw0AXoKgtGnqr8a57JU9HxkR&ust=1535592056755948
[20:21] <+Marco_JAGS> hmm
[20:21] <+Marco_JAGS> (Link: http://museumofthemind.org.uk/learning/the-maze/)http://museumofthemind.org.uk/learning/the-maze/
[20:21] <+Marco_JAGS> so–that’s a really dark picture–
[20:22] <+Marco_JAGS> but the idea being that different chambers had different internal significance to the human condition
[20:22] <+Marco_JAGS> so I created walls with giant faces on them
[20:22] <+Marco_JAGS> a castle built out of the top of a stone human head
[20:22] <+Marco_JAGS> a throne sitting at the head of a table in a giant mouth with all the chairs around the table filled with floating swords
[20:23] <+Marco_JAGS> etc.
[20:23] <+Marco_JAGS> and figured that all of this is representative of the Have’s internal state–
[20:23] <~Dan> I would imagine that everything would be very mutable.
[20:23] <+Marco_JAGS> so, yeah–you could go in there.
[20:23] <+Marco_JAGS> probably
[20:23] <+Marco_JAGS> it’s one of the first pictures in the book
[20:24] <+Marco_JAGS> This is the first 100 pages of Book 1
[20:24] <+Marco_JAGS> (Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=17Eei96Bv-Wi5pdIlbAuC4BW7njsVfFE-)https://drive.google.com/open?id=17Eei96Bv-Wi5pdIlbAuC4BW7njsVfFE-
[20:24] <+Marco_JAGS> still being worked on / typeset
[20:24] <+Marco_JAGS> and it’s a big-ass PDF
[20:24] <+Marco_JAGS> but the dome picture is on Page 2
[20:25] <&Silverlion> How complete are the archetypes? Could I grab one and go?
[20:25] <+Marco_JAGS> book is finished
[20:25] <+Marco_JAGS> it’s on the main site
[20:25] <+Marco_JAGS> so–the way that works:
[20:25] <+Marco_JAGS> in JAGS you have Character Points–usually 30 to 75
[20:25] <+Marco_JAGS> and those are normal-character-things
[20:25] <+Marco_JAGS> skills, normal stats, normal traits
[20:26] <+Marco_JAGS> then you get Archetype Points
[20:26] <+Marco_JAGS> based on the gener and such
[20:26] <+Marco_JAGS> so in a Call of Cthulhu game–probably none.
[20:26] <+Marco_JAGS> just normal guys
[20:26] <+Marco_JAGS> in a super hero game you might get 256 AP (Archetype Points)
[20:26] <+Marco_JAGS> from the Archetype book
[20:26] <+Marco_JAGS> (the CP stuff is in the Core Book)
[20:26] <+Marco_JAGS> so you build your normal guy
[20:27] <+Marco_JAGS> and then spend you AP’s on super powers or whatever.
[20:27] <+Marco_JAGS> (or just “extremely good normal person type stuff”)
[20:27] <+Marco_JAGS> so all those rules are covered
[20:27] <+Marco_JAGS> and published
[20:27] <+Marco_JAGS> we built a combat simulator program to test them
[20:27] <+Marco_JAGS> against each other.
[20:28] <+Marco_JAGS> I won’t claim it’s all perfect–but it was an interesting experience.
[20:28] <+Marco_JAGS> and should allow you to spend APs without worring about a bad build being catastrophic
[20:28] <+Marco_JAGS> (in general, to an extent, yadda-yadda, YMMV, etc.)
[20:29] <+Marco_JAGS> –for that matter all the treasure in Have Not is done using spreadsheets
[20:29] <~Dan> Now, does HaveNot require a separate JAGS rulebook, or are the JAGS rules incorporated in the books?
[20:29] <+Marco_JAGS> no–you need the JAGS Core Book
[20:29] <+Marco_JAGS> and the JAGS Archetype Book
[20:29] <+Marco_JAGS> both are free as PDFs from the site
[20:29] <+Marco_JAGS> there are also hard-cover versions
[20:29] <+Marco_JAGS> (and soft-cover for the Core rules)
[20:30] <~Dan> I see. Cool.
[20:30] <+Marco_JAGS> but you could download the PDF
[20:30] <+Marco_JAGS> (PDFs)
[20:30] <+Marco_JAGS> and then … use the online character workbench
[20:30] <+Marco_JAGS> and … start playing.
[20:30] <+Marco_JAGS> I started the book with the story of the world–
[20:31] <+Marco_JAGS> but then go straight into a sample adventure–
[20:31] <+Marco_JAGS> a mental asylum for deranged Artificial Intelligences.
[20:32] <~Dan> Awesome. ๐
[20:32] <~Dan> “I am doctor 010011101001. How are you feeling today?”
[20:32] <+Marco_JAGS> so, to an extent, there’s like a starting module.
[20:33] <+Marco_JAGS> well, the AI that’s in there is a nasty piece of work.
[20:33] <~Dan> I’ll bet. ๐
[20:33] <~Dan> Now, how aware of the past are the PCs?
[20:34] <+Marco_JAGS> they know the basics
[20:34] <+Marco_JAGS> there was an Age of Wonders–
[20:34] <+Marco_JAGS> then an eternity of war–
[20:34] <+Marco_JAGS> and now we’re in the aftermath
[20:34] <+Marco_JAGS> there isn’t good histories since the Age of War kind of screwed with time
[20:34] <+Marco_JAGS> so none of the computerized dates work (we don’t outright say that–but we say no one knows how long it lasted)
[20:35] <+Marco_JAGS> the PCs are kind of “expected” to have come from a small town–
[20:35] <+Marco_JAGS> or outpost-and be seeking fortune, something better, etc.
[20:35] <+Marco_JAGS> there is a set of tables
[20:35] <+Marco_JAGS> that you can roll on (if you want–entirely optional)
[20:35] <+Marco_JAGS> to determine where you started, what got you into adventuring, etc.
[20:37] <+Marco_JAGS> I also wanted to talk about the art
[20:37] <~Dan> Please do!
[20:38] <+Marco_JAGS> We *really* wanted the book to be amazing looking–the original HaveNot won an Indie RPG award–and, perhaps, partially because of the art?
[20:38] <~Dan> You also were going to say something about game design philosophy….?
[20:38] <+Marco_JAGS> it was a free game–yeah–1 sec
[20:38] <+Marco_JAGS> so for this one we got some really good people–
[20:38] <+Marco_JAGS> and I, myself, did a bunch of 3d art that I’m super proud of.
[20:38] <+Marco_JAGS> and we illustrated, like, everything
[20:38] <+Marco_JAGS> or almost everything
[20:38] <+Marco_JAGS> all the traps
[20:38] <+Marco_JAGS> all the monsters–
[20:38] <+Marco_JAGS> all the treasures …
[20:39] <+Marco_JAGS> so, yeah–very … it was pretty much the most ambitious thing we’ve ever done
[20:39] <+Marco_JAGS> one of the pictures has the PCs arguing over the Monty Haul problem.
[20:39] <+Marco_JAGS> (something I felt would be a funny thing to put in there)
[20:40] <+Marco_JAGS> so–as per the philosophy
[20:40] <+Marco_JAGS> JAGS is pretty rules-heavy
[20:40] <+Marco_JAGS> and HaveNot has a LOT of collateral
[20:40] <+Marco_JAGS> so there’s a big section of traps–
[20:40] <+Marco_JAGS> each with pictures inside installations–
[20:40] <+Marco_JAGS> illustrating the traps.
[20:40] <+Marco_JAGS> and there are several ideas here
[20:41] <+Marco_JAGS> 1. As I said: tell the story using items and pictures (a bunch of the pictures have embedded jokes and things that are very real in the game world)
[20:41] <+Marco_JAGS> 2. The rules-heavy part is supposed to provide players with a number of options “inside” a niche.
[20:42] <+Marco_JAGS> so let’s say that in a fantasy game, “everyone wants to be a thief”–
[20:42] <+Marco_JAGS> (in a D&D analogue)
[20:42] <+Marco_JAGS> we wanted there to be a really large number of possible ways to mechanically express that
[20:42] <+Marco_JAGS> so that you could do like a “thieves guild” game — but not run out of options for PCs)
[20:43] <+Marco_JAGS> so that required enough mechanical complexity to distinguish things.
[20:43] <+Marco_JAGS> In HaveNot that shows up as differnet kinds of amors, defensive fields, etc.
[20:43] <+Marco_JAGS> so you can have a variety of armors and weapons at the same “power level” and still have them play differently.
[20:44] <+Marco_JAGS> 3. we wanted the system to be “balanced.”–In quotes because, eh, the term has baggage–but the upshot was that–if you were more or less facing yourself
[20:44] <+Marco_JAGS> (a) we didn’t want overkill if you weren’t supposed to be pretty mortal
[20:45] <+Marco_JAGS> and (b) we wanted, within reason at least different builds to be roughly equal–so the fast guy who is hard to hit gets a similar level of defense as the armored guy who is tough to hurt.
[20:45] <+Marco_JAGS> for the same points. So we computer simulated that.
[20:45] <+Marco_JAGS> so–all of that came together to give the system, I think, a lot of flavor–but, hopefully, not so many complex rules that no one can figure it out.
[20:45] <+Marco_JAGS> (done)
[20:52] <+Marco_JAGS> did I bore everyone?
[20:56] <~Dan> Sorry — distraction on my end.
[20:56] <+Marco_JAGS> np
[20:56] <+Marco_JAGS> Are we wrapped?
[20:56] <~Dan> Well, we can, or we can talk a bit about the system.
[20:57] <+Marco_JAGS> if you’ve got questions
[20:57] <~Dan> First, do you happen to have a character sheet that we can see?
[20:57] <+Marco_JAGS> JAGS uses 4d6 (treating 6’s as zeros) roll under for everything
[20:57] <+Marco_JAGS> (Link: http://character.jagsrpghost.com/)http://character.jagsrpghost.com/
[20:58] <+Marco_JAGS> go to HTML on the left-hand side
[20:58] <+Marco_JAGS> that’s a blank character sheet
[20:59] <~Dan> Is this an attribute + skill system?
[20:59] <+Marco_JAGS> no–
[20:59] <+Marco_JAGS> your roll is either your stat
[20:59] <+Marco_JAGS> or skill roll
[20:59] <+Marco_JAGS> (roll under)
[20:59] <+Marco_JAGS> so if you have a 12 STR and are asked to make a STR roll
[20:59] <+Marco_JAGS> it would be roll 12 or less on 4d6 (6’s as zeroes)
[21:00] <+Marco_JAGS> if you have 14- Streetwise
[21:00] <+Marco_JAGS> and need to find a drug dealer in an unfamiliar city, roll equal or under a 14 …
[21:00] <+Marco_JAGS> modifiers for ease of difficulty can apply
[21:01] <+Marco_JAGS> (finding an expert forger in an unfamiliar city might be roll Streetwise at -5 so you would want a 9 or under)
[21:01] <~Dan> What happens if you have a score in excess of 20?
[21:01] <+Marco_JAGS> so–mostly, you can’t.
[21:01] <+Marco_JAGS> even super-powers don’t get you a Reason
[21:01] <+Marco_JAGS> of 30
[21:01] <+Marco_JAGS> you CAN have a STR of 1 million though
[21:02] <+Marco_JAGS> (or whatever)
[21:02] <+Marco_JAGS> so in the cases where that happens
[21:02] <+Marco_JAGS> there is a comparative roll rule
[21:02] <+Marco_JAGS> so if you are comparing a 50 vs. a 60 stat
[21:02] <+Marco_JAGS> then it is, we assert
[21:02] <+Marco_JAGS> more like 10 v. 12
[21:02] <+Marco_JAGS> so if you are the 10 and rolling you would want to roll an 8 or lower
[21:02] <+Marco_JAGS> if you are the 12, you would want to roll a 12 or lower
[21:03] <+Marco_JAGS> so a normal person might need to make a STR roll to force a door
[21:03] <+Marco_JAGS> a super hero wouldn’t even roll for that (a strong one). But might need to roll to push a boulder or something.
[21:07] <~Dan> So is there no relationship between skills and attributes?
[21:07] <~Dan> (wb, Drew!)
[21:08] <+Marco_JAGS> the cost for a skill
[21:08] <+Marco_JAGS> has a relationship to the attribute
[21:08] <+Marco_JAGS> (the character generator handles all that)
[21:08] <+Marco_JAGS> so if you have a REAson or AGIlity of 13+ then science or hth combat skills cost less
[21:09] <+Marco_JAGS> so yes–having a high stat will give you higher skills
[21:09] <+Marco_JAGS> although the relationship is slightly complicated (there is a chart)
[21:09] <+Marco_JAGS> (or you can use the character workbench)
[21:12] <~Dan> Did you cover what you wanted to say about game design philosophy?
[21:12] <+Marco_JAGS> yeah
[21:13] <+Marco_JAGS> I wrote a whole lot of blog posts on it
[21:13] <+Marco_JAGS> back when I was doing Archetypes
[21:13] <+Marco_JAGS> but for the short-term, yeah.
[21:13] <~Dan> Cool.
[21:13] <+Marco_JAGS> I think we’re good.
[21:13] <+Marco_JAGS> I encourage anyone who downloaded the PDF to take a look at it
[21:14] <+Marco_JAGS> give me feedback at mchacon@gmail
[21:14] <~Dan> You touched on this earlier, but how extensive is the bestiary?
[21:14] <+Marco_JAGS> big.
[21:14] <+Marco_JAGS> uhm … maybe … 70
[21:14] <+Marco_JAGS> monsters?
[21:14] <+Marco_JAGS> maybe more?
[21:14] <~Dan> Very nice.
[21:14] <+Marco_JAGS> I haven’t counted–we have some coming in.
[21:14] <+Marco_JAGS> all illustrated.
[21:14] <+Marco_JAGS> –oh–
[21:14] <+Marco_JAGS> and: the monsters section is in 2 pards
[21:15] <+Marco_JAGS> there is a color picture and description
[21:15] <+Marco_JAGS> with a kind of power-factor
[21:15] <+Marco_JAGS> showing the performance against different levels of PC
[21:15] <+Marco_JAGS> and then the stat block is in the back
[21:15] <+Marco_JAGS> so the players can look through the monster section
[21:15] <+Marco_JAGS> without reading the stats (if they don’t want to know)
[21:16] <+Marco_JAGS> in a few cases the monster write-up–done in the voice of someone talking about them–is slightly misleading
[21:16] <~Dan> Sort of like the hacker commentary in Shadowrun books?
[21:16] <+Marco_JAGS> like “It doesn’t appear to be mobile–at least if it can move, not very fast” (stats write up: surprise–it’s pretty fast)
[21:16] <+Marco_JAGS> I’m not familiar–but I suspect so
[21:16] <+Marco_JAGS> the junkard guns have the guy out-and-out lying
[21:17] <+Marco_JAGS> “THIS IS THE GUN FOR YOU!”
[21:17] <+Marco_JAGS> so, yeah–maybe?
[21:17] <~Dan> Heh. ๐
[21:17] <+Marco_JAGS> “Why is the handle wrapped with electrical tape? It’s new–comes out of the box that way”
[21:17] <~Dan> ๐
[21:17] <+Marco_JAGS> There are weird weapons
[21:18] <+Marco_JAGS> there’s a gun called the Friend Zoner that turns you into a ghost
[21:18] <~Dan> O.o
[21:18] <+Marco_JAGS> who can’t interact–but can be seen
[21:18] <~Dan> Yup, pretty weird.
[21:18] <+Marco_JAGS> yeah–bunch of stuff like that.
[21:18] <+Marco_JAGS> gun that fires monsters
[21:18] <~Dan> Fires monsters?
[21:18] <+Marco_JAGS> grenades that explode into cash (money bomb)
[21:18] <&Silverlion> Huh…
[21:18] <+Marco_JAGS> yeah–
[21:19] <+Marco_JAGS> shrunk monsters in stasis bubbles
[21:19] <+Marco_JAGS> it’s called a “Cat-a-pult”
[21:19] <+Marco_JAGS> but they are not actual cats.
[21:19] <&Silverlion> “I’ve launched three dozen kobolds…at you flee flee in terror before my donut demanding hordes.”
[21:19] * ~Dan chuckles
[21:19] <+Marco_JAGS> yeah, pretty much–
[21:19] <+Marco_JAGS> you fire it down-range and the monster goes wild.
[21:19] <&Silverlion> (Kobolds in my SMITE game, are suckers for donuts, but brave enough to be the only ones to workj in the sewers..)
[21:19] <+Marco_JAGS> ๐
[21:20] <+Marco_JAGS> the disintegration grenade is the DIV / 0 grenade
[21:20] <~Dan> In the time remaining, is there anything we haven’t covered that you’d like to bring up?
[21:20] <+Marco_JAGS> that blows a hole in space-time
[21:20] <+Marco_JAGS> I think that covered it.
[21:20] <+Marco_JAGS> it’s supposed to be funny, fairly rich in texture, hopefully well explained and gives you a lot to work with
[21:21] <~Dan> I’ll just mention that, as usual, gratuities are welcome at (Link: https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/the-gmshoes-tip-jar/)https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/the-gmshoes-tip-jar/ ๐
[21:21] <~Dan> Now, if you’ll give me just a minute, I’ll get the transcript posted and link you!
[21:21] <+Marco_JAGS> fantastic
[21:21] <~Dan> Thanks very much for joining us, Marco_JAGS!
[21:21] <+Marco_JAGS> My pleasure
[21:21] <+Marco_JAGS> Oh–I have a blog on RPG net that talks a bunch about this stuff
[21:22] <~Dan> Oh, want to include that in the log?
[21:22] <~Dan> What’s the URL?
[21:22] <+Marco_JAGS> getting
[21:22] <+Marco_JAGS> (Link: https://forum.rpg.net/blog.php?75-Marco)https://forum.rpg.net/blog.php?75-Marco
[21:22] <~Dan> Got it.
[21:23] <+Marco_JAGS> It includes a bunch of artowrk from the game too
[21:23] <~Dan> Okay, NOW I’ll get the log posted.