Alternate Core Documents

[uSea]

We definitely do not want to increase the duration of combat drugs. However, I think increasing the duration of Rad-X is probably a good call. I'll check with uSea about it.

I think it's a good idea. Rad-X should probably have a much longer duration and other non-combat drugs should have a bit more too.

I also like the suggestion that an addicted character's Withdrawal should only kick in, say, an hour after the drug in question has worn off.

[Viewing_Glass]

We definitely do not want to increase the duration of combat drugs. However, I think increasing the duration of Rad-X is probably a good call. I'll check with uSea about it.

I think it's a good idea. Rad-X should probably have a much longer duration and other non-combat drugs should have a bit more too.

I also like the suggestion that an addicted character's Withdrawal should only kick in, say, an hour after the drug in question has worn off.

I agree. It makes sense that the drug, while it isn't necessarily effecting you, still is in your system. I might also suggest that, for the purposes of taking a drug back-to-back (increasing the chance of addiction) that, should you take a drug within an amount of time based on the following formula, the chance increases:

Addiction chance/5 hours.

Thus, Buck would have a back-to-back addiction increase every time it is taken in a two hour period, Dash every four hours, and PTMs every 7 hours.

[Ghostpony]

I prefur a simpler system, you have minor adiction where cravings are one a day, addiction where its hourly and very addicted wherethe cravings are constant. With a CHR check to resist them. You move up the addiction levels each time you roll an addition on the adiction chance by drug. This is not tosay that Viewing Glasses methods dont have merrit I just like the simplicity.

[Thanqol]

We definitely do not want to increase the duration of combat drugs

I would suggest lengthening the time PTM's last as they are used more for social than combat situations. As for combat drugs? most combats in my experience don't last 4 minutes, so they don't need an extension.

That's not the point. Take somepony who uses Dash or Med-X recreationally. Rules-as-written says that each drug-high they get will only last four minutes, meaning if they want to stay juiced for the duration of a three hour party they have to take forty five hits of Dash, which at 20 caps a pop is 900 caps. Also with 45 addiction checks, back-to-back, it is guaranteed that they will become so addicted that they will be unable to function for even short periods without more Dash without collapsing into jelly-boned wrecks OR spending 3-4 thousand caps a day to feed their addiction enough to maintain basic functionality.

Mechanically, the combat drug buffs work fine as combat drugs, not disputing that. Environmentally they wear off so incredibly quickly that there is actually no way that anypony could use them recreationally without spending hundreds of thousands of caps and instantly crippling themselves, which is weird. What I'm saying is that the mechanical bonus/penalties can wear off after the four minutes, that's fine, but the withdrawal should be delayed until about an hour after you've taken the drug.

Basically I think drug addiction is one of the coolest parts of the FOE setting and liked Lil'Pip's battle with Mint-Als hugely. However, to engage in the same thing I need a ridiculous outlay of caps and to turn my character 'off' in between hits, living entirely in four-minute bursts. It's not a slow seduction and growing reliance, it's a sudden, sharp plunge that you'd have to be a fool to engage in for anything other than combat.

I agree. It makes sense that the drug, while it isn't necessarily effecting you, still is in your system. I might also suggest that, for the purposes of taking a drug back-to-back (increasing the chance of addiction) that, should you take a drug within an amount of time based on the following formula, the chance increases:

Anything like this would be good.

[Ghostpony]

We definitely do not want to increase the duration of combat drugs

I would suggest lengthening the time PTM's last as they are used more for social than combat situations. As for combat drugs? most combats in my experience don't last 4 minutes, so they don't need an extension.

That's not the point. Take somepony who uses Dash or Med-X recreationally. Rules-as-written says that each drug-high they get will only last four minutes, meaning if they want to stay juiced for the duration of a three hour party they have to take forty five hits of Dash, which at 20 caps a pop is 900 caps. Also with 45 addiction checks, back-to-back, it is guaranteed that they will become so addicted that they will be unable to function for even short periods without more Dash without collapsing into jelly-boned wrecks OR spending 3-4 thousand caps a day to feed their addiction enough to maintain basic functionality.

Mechanically, the combat drug buffs work fine as combat drugs, not disputing that. Environmentally they wear off so incredibly quickly that there is actually no way that anypony could use them recreationally without spending hundreds of thousands of caps and instantly crippling themselves, which is weird. What I'm saying is that the mechanical bonus/penalties can wear off after the four minutes, that's fine, but the withdrawal should be delayed until about an hour after you've taken the drug.

Basically I think drug addiction is one of the coolest parts of the FOE setting and liked Lil'Pip's battle with Mint-Als hugely. However, to engage in the same thing I need a ridiculous outlay of caps and to turn my character 'off' in between hits, living entirely in four-minute bursts. It's not a slow seduction and growing reliance, it's a sudden, sharp plunge that you'd have to be a fool to engage in for anything other than combat.

I agree. It makes sense that the drug, while it isn't necessarily effecting you, still is in your system. I might also suggest that, for the purposes of taking a drug back-to-back (increasing the chance of addiction) that, should you take a drug within an amount of time based on the following formula, the chance increases:

Anything like this would be good.

Actually *it* was the point. I could go into a long discussion about how drugs work in real life. But the game mechanics have so little to do with real life why bother? Your system will crave it when the level of the drug drops below a certain point. The more addicted you are to a drug the more you will need in your system to keep above that point asthe body grows more dependent on it. The addiction system I outlined reflects that. Was I clear enough this time? If not when I get home and have access to my desktop system I can go into more detail. I just think we eedto keep things simple.

Oh as I didn't specify and it clearly needs pointing out, you only suffer 'withdrawl' effects when the cravings kick in.

Also google chrome sucks on tablets.

[TyrannisUmbra]

I agree with withdrawal effects being postponed for a number of hours after taking any kind of drugs, including combat drugs. Like Thanqol says, there's huge issues preventing more 'recreational' use of combat drugs (which for those of us who like RPing ponies with addictions, is sort of punishing). If at least withrdrawal is held off for a few hours, it would mean that using one of the combat drugs out of combat won't screw you over if combat starts after the initial effect wears off. At the least you'll be gaining a 'boost' from not having the stat penalties.

I'd also like to ask: Why such a hard restriction on the combat drugs? It's incredibly rare for multiple combats to run back to back in my experience. If a second combat happens, it's usually after a decent amount of time has passed in-game. I would suggest at /least/ that combat drugs be bumped up to 30min - 1 hour, to make them more forgiving to use and allow more 'free' use of them from an RP standpoint without having to worry about "Oh my character is craving Dash but I can't use it until combat starts". If the worry is that characters will be able to stay on the buff for multiple combat sessions, which I totally understand, I still believe that it's a fringe case that would only turn up on a minimal number of cases.

Again, I'm not saying they should last as long as noncombat drugs, just long enough that poeple don't have to feel completely restricted in when they have to use them.

[SilverlightPony]

In keeping to the FallOut skill set Kkat has kept the feel of the game but in a general RPG I often find myself having to stretch skill definitions at times. As an example if your not using Mad Modd's skill set what would Pilot fall under? What about professional entertainment skills (Ie Singing, Dancing, Playing an instrument, Stand up comedy? How about Investigation (the ability to identify clues and interpret what they may mean)? What about crew served weaponry? (Its not like a trebuchet would be that hard for a mechanic to build one))

Also what about skills like Botany? Its a science skill but as herbs are gathered using survival....

I feel skills could use some expansion and or clarifications. For instance Viewing Glass suggests that all entertainer skills fall under Speech. How does everyone else feel about that?

Anything involving verbal or written communication is Speech; non-verbal music, dancing, etc. could either be lumped in with Speech or made as a raw CHA check. Piloting would probably be Science, unless the player made a convincing argument to the GM to allow another skill to be substituted. Investigation would be whatever subject of the investigation is most closely related to, defaulting back to Science if nothing else fits. Crew-serviced weapons would be just like other weapons, as they tend to operate in the same fashion, just scaled up (a mounted heavy machine gun would be Firearms, for example, while a mounted Rotary Sparkle Cannon would be MEW).

This is part of the reason I'm in favor of a trait or perk for specialization within a field. Gain a bonus to skill checks for a certain subset of that skill, and a penalty for every other application of the skill.

[Thanqol]

Actually *it* was the point. I could go into a long discussion about how drugs work in real life. But the game mechanics have so little to do with real life why bother?

Refuge in nihilism. I like it!

Gun is overpowered? Why bother fixing it? We're all going to die eventually.

Your system will crave it when the level of the drug drops below a certain point. The more addicted you are to a drug the more you will need in your system to keep above that point asthe body grows more dependent on it. The addiction system I outlined reflects that. Was I clear enough this time? If not when I get home and have access to my desktop system I can go into more detail. I just think we eedto keep things simple.

How is this the simple answer when the alternative is 'drugs last longer'?

[Kkat]

In keeping to the FallOut skill set Kkat has kept the feel of the game but in a general RPG I often find myself having to stretch skill definitions at times. As an example if your not using Mad Modd's skill set what would Pilot fall under? What about professional entertainment skills (Ie Singing, Dancing, Playing an instrument, Stand up comedy? How about Investigation (the ability to identify clues and interpret what they may mean)? What about crew served weaponry? (Its not like a trebuchet would be that hard for a mechanic to build one))

Also what about skills like Botany? Its a science skill but as herbs are gathered using survival....

I feel skills could use some expansion and or clarifications. For instance Viewing Glass suggests that all entertainer skills fall under Speech. How does everyone else feel about that?

Communication-based social skills would fall under Speech, but honestly every pony should just innately know how to sing. Any character should be capable of bursting into song. In random places. At the drop of a hat.

Investigation would be a matter of Intelligence and Perception. Siege engines would depend on the weapon, and might easily call for mechanics or explosives. Botany is something that may be more up to the GM. Personally, I would Survival for Botany, although a pony with the right background could try the roll with Science, perhaps at a higher difficulty.

The games I've run have always used Agility rolls for piloting checks. Honestly, I would kinda like to see Piloting as a skill... but that's never going to happen. There aren't any existing skills that it fits with, and it's too rarely drawn upon in most games to stand on its own alongside the other skills. (Moreover, the skill system, with its Fallout-based skill set, is a core element of the game and is already geared around -- and successfully playtested for years with -- the current number of skills and acquisition of skill points. We wouldn't change it to add in a "magic" or "flying" skill, so we're certainly not going to do it for "piloting".)

One of the benefits of this system is that you don't need a skill to know how to do things like play guitar or fold origami -- you are free to decide that your character is proficient in such things without needing to spend skill points or perks on them. Likewise, esoteric knowledge (like a knowledge of comic books or flavored teas) does not require any specific skills. If circumstances arise where the GM thinks a roll is needed, then applicable SPECIAL rolls should suffice.

Should any of the above be actually mentioned in the rules somewhere?

[Kkat]

I think it's a good idea. Rad-X should probably have a much longer duration and other non-combat drugs should have a bit more too.

I also like the suggestion that an addicted character's Withdrawal should only kick in, say, an hour after the drug in question has worn off.

I would suggest lengthening the time PTM's last as they are used more for social than combat situations. As for combat drugs? most combats in my experience don't last 4 minutes, so they don't need an extension.

I've made the following adjustments to chem durations. Do these look good to you?

Rad-X duration 2 hours.
PTMs duration 20 minutes.

I've also added the following optional rules to the medical items chart:

Optional Rule: Highs
Addictive Chems have a "high" duration of two hours, even though the beneficial Effects last only as long as the chem's stated Duration. The character is immune to the effects of withdrawl and addiction cravings during this period.

Optional Rule: Dependency
For every cumulative level of addiction after the first that a character suffers for a drug, the length of the high is reduced by fifteen minutes (to a minimum of the chem's Duration.)

How do those sound? Not exactly what was being suggested, but I'm hoping this successfully serves the same purpose while being mathematically simple.

And on a completely unrelated matter:

The Raise This Barn perk, in addition to its other benefits, now allows the pony to grant a higher bonus when assisting with a skill check.