Brian Rogers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
subplotkudzu) wrote2009-02-03 08:43 pm
subplotkudzu) wrote2009-02-03 08:43 pm
Entry tags:
Girl Genius RPG
I just reread all 7 volumes of GG over the last week and something occurred to me: with the overlapping schemes and ever-changing loyalties, a Spark's natural toughness and presence and the overall uber-competence of the characters, there isn't a reason to invent a new GG RPG. Just run it in Amber.
I feel like a dolt for not thinking of this sooner.
Lucrezia, Klaus, Bill, Barry and others are all members of the previous generation, while the PCs are Agatha, Gilgamesh and their peers - active, changing the existing dynamic but not as powerful as their parents, and constantly trying to naviagate between the previous generation's plans and learn their secret history. The existing stat mechanics work fine, as long as you replace Pattern with Spark, perhaps charging it at various levels (15 pts = weak Spark; 30 pts = Spark; 50 pts = Strong Spark) so we can see the differentiation between the pie throwing spark in the circus, Slepneir O'Hara and Gilgamesh Wolfenbach. I'd probably add in the process I had in the primus game for bidding on positions of power to determine the strength of one's starting house, etc.
Hell, it would be easy.
I feel like a dolt for not thinking of this sooner.
Lucrezia, Klaus, Bill, Barry and others are all members of the previous generation, while the PCs are Agatha, Gilgamesh and their peers - active, changing the existing dynamic but not as powerful as their parents, and constantly trying to naviagate between the previous generation's plans and learn their secret history. The existing stat mechanics work fine, as long as you replace Pattern with Spark, perhaps charging it at various levels (15 pts = weak Spark; 30 pts = Spark; 50 pts = Strong Spark) so we can see the differentiation between the pie throwing spark in the circus, Slepneir O'Hara and Gilgamesh Wolfenbach. I'd probably add in the process I had in the primus game for bidding on positions of power to determine the strength of one's starting house, etc.
Hell, it would be easy.
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When I used Amber Diceless, I added a fifth stat: Intelligence (not as in IQ, but as in "military"). It seemed to work pretty well. I wonder if it would be useful here?
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(Anonymous) 2009-02-04 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)If I recall, Amber lets players have specific "magic items" or other signature gear, so it wouldn't be hard to make that the core mechanic for Sparky gadgets like Agatha's dingbots or Gil's lightning wand thingy. As you gain experience, you can buy more items, and the Gamemaster might let you "cash in" old ones.
I would make one suggestion for an actual GG campaign: do the auction bidding in secret, so nobody actually KNOWS how they rank -- hidden potential and surprising depths are a recurring theme.
Cambias
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You are correct in remembering signature items which can't be lost. Dingbot Prime is certainly an example of this. I'm not sure about Gil's staff, but I probably would gallow that (with the huge lightning generators he uses in Mechanicsburg being more an example of setting up a one shot 'spell'). Zeetha's swords would be another one.
Other minor tech that the character wants to carry with them on a regular basis might function as Power Words for very small but reliable effects, but I'm torn as to direct examples of this.
Of the four 'stats' Strength is an important but secondary one: any reasonable construct is going to be stronger than any Spark (witness one of the Jaagers carrying a hore over his head and running). Top keep the feel of things, there would probably be the options for Normal (in Amber, Human; in GG, Agatha), Athletic (in Amber, Chaos; in GG Gilgamesh) and Burly (in Amber, Amberite; in GG Klaus or Othar) for the PCs, with possible room for some bidded points in Strength that would indicate self-experimentation. (and what's the first rule: Don't experiment on yourself!). This would leave room for a 4th Stat, but I'm not sure what it might be.
Nobility is one option - Klaus' position is less sure than it could be because he is 'only' a Baron, while the Stirm Princes derive at least some of their power from their heredity. Zulenna would be someone with a high Nobility and Warfare (thought clearly not high enough) who didn't take the Spark advantage, and should be a viable character.
Bill's suggestion of Intelligence might be another, but I'd have to mull it over. Maybe the two combine?
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When can we start?
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Harder Challenges + More things going wrong = more opportunites to be brilliant + more time being seen to be brilliant. That's all a plus.
Grater Chance of Perverse Failure (i.e., it's not that there are more complcations, it's that your plan just fails) + People Instinctively Not Liking You = Looking Like a Shmuck. That's a downside. If people want to spend themselves into debt, I intend to be up front on what it will mean.
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This is in fact the case with my players as well, and I am inclined to believe that this attitude is the single best diagnostic of really good players. With the proviso that they have to be prepared to get it not by making themselves into GM attention vampires, but by doing stuff that entertains the other players.
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That said, I never again want having a high Bad Stuff mean that you get more spotlight time then the player with Good Stuff. The mechanical nature of the Amber 'Stuff' system is a way to balance character power without the need for a lit of 1-2 point fiddly bit powers or disads. So having Bad Stuff should really make your life Bad, or worse, Dull.
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Unt you vill be runnink it for us, yes?
[bad.Germanic.accent.off]
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