Hello Storyguides,
The fourth section in our manuscript is for you!
As a Storyguide you design the world your player character’s live in, the stories they pursue, and the obs...
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James Bell
1 day ago
Example Setting: Wrestling Matches
Hello Ultra Storypathers,
In the Building Blocks chapter for Storypath Ultra that backers received last week, we saw some examples of rules systems that could be dropped into y...
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Matthew Dawkins
3 days ago
What have you got planned for your SPU games?
I've been seeing a lot of folx on the Onyx Path Discord (https://discord.gg/TcFut7Y8AF) discussing the kinds of games they want to create or play using SPU. What games do you have in mind for this system?
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James Bell
3 days ago
BACKERS VOTE ON CONTENT
Hello SPUnky backers,
Over the past few weeks, I've shared most of the manuscript - the core rules, expansion, and building blocks chapters. On Wednesday, we'll have the next b...
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James Bell
4 days ago
FINAL HOURS TO VOTE and a preview of Relics
Hello Spuperstars!
I've got another preview from our example setting/game for you today, this time looking at Relics from Pinfall from Grace, Bodyslams from Hell.
While this ...
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James Bell
6 days ago
Building Blocks - Manuscript Preview #3
Hello Ultrasmart backers,
I've got the third section from our draft manuscript for you today! This section is all about Building Blocks!
With our two previous manuscript relea...
I've got the third section from our draft manuscript for you today! This section is all about Building Blocks!
With our two previous manuscript releases, you now know how Storypath works, and even how to build on it. However, sometimes you need something specific. Your game might involve a lot of building strange scientific items or breaking into secure locations on a regular basis. You can use the core Storypath rules, absolutely, but you might want a whole new subsection of rules to give some real heft to these specific activities. We call these building blocks because you can add or remove them as you see fit and put them in whatever configuration makes the most sense to you.
These are only some of the possible building blocks you can add to your games, but these offer the most benefit to a wide variety of worlds. If you see one from another Storypath game that you like, feel free to lift it and make any adjustments you need to use it in your own game, using this chapter as guidance.
International Shipping – Collected in the Pledge Manager
One quick note about Shipping before we get into the manuscript previews.
First up, it's amazingly expensive to ship, especially from Onyx Path's home base in the US. We get that, but there's not much we can do at this time. Onyx Path is in a difficult space where the company is big enough that they're not saving money by fulfilling out of Rich's garage, but small enough that they can't really set up international partners to handle portions of the fulfillment. So we are where we are - for now.
The best we can do at this point is to plan carefully, advise everyone up front that international shipping will likely be expensive (see our projections on the main page) and only charge what it costs us when the time comes. We’ll be charging for shipping in the Pledge Manager once the books are being printed and we can deal with the actual shipping charges rather than using our best-guesses this far out. If you live outside the US and aren't sure you want the hardcover or other physical items, you can pledge to the PDF tier now and upgrade your pledge in the Pledge Manager once we know the final shipping costs.
BACKERS VOTE ON CONTENT
The first of the included example settings, Pinfall from Grace, Body Slams from Hell, not only offers a complete game set in the parallel version of the year 2000, but also illustrates exactly how Story Path was implemented and adjusted.
The Onyx Path team has plans to write two more, and as a backer you'll be able to vote on which ones you prefer.
For the first poll, you'll be voting on a Sci-fi setting example. Your options:
Cyber-enhanced humans fly corporate-owned starships in search of new life and new financial opportunities.
Futuristic superheroes fight interdimensional monsters in order to keep them from destabilizing reality.
An experimental space flight flings the player characters into a distant galaxy full of strange and alien sights.
Voting will run until September 14th at 2:00 PM EST. You must be a backer of this project to vote for this setting.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY
Remember, thanks to BackerKit magic, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Reply to this Update" link on the bottom and I'll see you below the Feedback Form image.
WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK
I'm going to be sharing the manuscript in sections - building blocks, even - over the next weeks, Part of the reason for that is to keep focus on one section at a time so that the team can gather feedback to help guide the manuscript through the next steps of editing and development. To that end, they've created a special Feedback Form for you to submit your comments after reading each section!
I've been seeing a lot of folx on the Onyx Path Discord (https://discord.gg/TcFut7Y8AF) discussing the kinds of games they want to create or play using SPU. What games do you have in mind for this system?
Over the past few weeks, I've shared most of the manuscript - the core rules, expansion, and building blocks chapters. On Wednesday, we'll have the next big section from the manuscript, the Storyguide Advice chapter. Alongside those backers-only manuscript downloads, I've been sharing examples from - appropriately - our example game and setting, Pinfall from Grace, Bodyslams from Hell.
This example game setting is included in the book as an example of how to put together the different elements from this book to manufacture your own game. Of course, it's also a fun game premise in it's own right and can be played right out of the book!
Pinfall from Grace, Bodyslams from Hell won't be the only example game in the book, though. You'll see two other examples of how the Storypath Ultra rules can be interpreted, implemented, and adjusted to express different themes and styles.
Over the first half of this campaign, backers have been able to vote on the second example setting, which will present a science fiction flavored take on the rules. This game has yet to be written, but our guidance will give the development and writing team a direction and basic themes to incorporate into their work.
With a narrow margin of 3% or just 15 votes, the winning theme is "An experimental space flight flings the player characters into a distant galaxy full of strange and alien sights"
We'll see how the writers springboard a game and setting from this concept in the final version of the Storypath Ultra Core Manual.
But we've got one more example game to add, this time with a fantasy flavor.
The poll for our third example setting will run from now until the end of the campaign. Only backers of this project are able to vote. The springboard scenario ideas that writers will use to launch their work on our final setting are:
A cozy fantasy game where explorers look for ingredients to help heal their sick dragon friend.
A war-torn world ripped apart by a devastating magic war, and a few surviving wizards try to prove who is the best among them.
A group of young heroes are blessed with magical armor and weapons in order to defeat an evil sorcerer queen seeking to destroy their land.
Again, these example settings will be about 30,000 words, so about double the size of a typical Onyx Path jumpstart supplement. That's enough to give you a pretty good overview and set you up for a few game sessions that you can build an ongoing campaign on.
So, let's start the voting! And feel free to discuss in the comments and on Discord! What fantasy scenario do you like best? What sorts of paths and powers would you like to see created for the fantasy example?
And let's keep this project growing! We're doing amazingly well, and I expect to keep rocketing right to the end.
I'll be back on Tuesday with another section from our first example setting, where I hightlight some of the Building Block ideas used to create Wrestling Matches, and then our next manuscript section for backers on Wednesday.
In the Building Blocks chapter for Storypath Ultra that backers received last week, we saw some examples of rules systems that could be dropped into your game to give certain aspects more structure or a different procedural process. That's the kind of thing that can flesh out a setting and provide an identity and point of differentiation for your game - it hightlights a bit that's important or unusual, certainly.
Wrestling Matches
Most of the time, when wrestlers want to fight in The Y2K World, it works the way you’d expect it to — people bring guns to knife fights, hide behind cover, aim for vital spots, and so on. In those situations, combat works the same way it’s spelled out in the Storypath Ultra action-adventure rules, with the added wrinkle of player characters using miracles to make the combat just a bit more interesting.
There is one exception to this, however: An angelic host can’t kill a demonic host outside of the ring, and vice versa. If they intentionally, willfully kill or allow a rival to die, they also die. If a rival dies unintentionally, the wrestler responsible instead gains the Taken Out status effect. The Storyguide should let players know of this rule before they make the decision to kill another character outside of a match. (Note that an angelic host can kill another angelic host with no additional consequence, and the same is true between demonic hosts — it’s only characters that should be facing each other in the ring as part of the war that end up getting slain by their own hand.)
Once a wrestler steps into the magically reinforced ring, however, things change. The predetermined conditions of the war between angels and demons supersede reality, and mere physics takes a back seat to the etiquette of the squared circle. Wrestlers are forced to confront each other in a very different way, and the rules of the game are adjusted to account for this surreal, supernatural state of affairs.
Summary of the Rules of the Ring
The following is a summary of the changes to the action-adventure rules for Pinfall from Grace, Body Slams from Hell wrestling matches.
You can’t purchase tricks or use miracles during a match; Moves replace them. Actions using the Close Combat Skill buy Moves at a higher cost.
Characters can’t go beyond short range within the ring. Moving the action outside the ring can lead to a character being counted out and losing the match.
Attacks with weapons can lead to a disqualification, which ends the match.
When a character successfully uses the End the Match Move, they win the match.
Bonds only work in specific circumstances.
The Rules of the Ring
Here is a list of exceptions, changes, and new rules to add to the existing action-adventure system.
Ranges and Areas
Characters can move to short range while within the ring Area. The Area outside the ring is called ringside, which is a different Area, but the character is still considered to be in the match. In tag team matches, the tag partner not currently acting in the match is at ringside, and thus at medium range from the acting wrestlers. (Moving past the ringside Area typically leads to the moving character being disqualified.)
The rules for moving are unchanged, so moving between close and short range and short and medium range is still a reflexive action, but a character who wants to go from ringside to close range in order to attack needs to take an action to do so. The same applies for moving from close range to medium to tag a partner.
If any active character in a match stays for their entire turn in the ringside Area, all subsequent actions have the Minor Complication of Countout. If the Complication is not bought off, the character is disqualified by the referee and loses the match. Moving from the ringside Area to the ring Area removes the Complication.
Similarly, if a character not participating in the match moved from the ringside Area to the ring Area to interfere with the match, their action also gets the Minor Complication of Interference. If the Complication is not bought off, the wrestler who benefits from the interference is disqualified.
Attacks
Attacks are performed with the following modifications:
Unlike the rules outside the ring (see above), angelic wrestlers can kill demonic hosts in a match, and vice versa.
When performing an attack, instead of a dice roll emulating a single kick or grapple, it covers an entire exchange of blows. If the attack succeeds, they do one damage as normal, but the attacker can also narrate the entire exchange. If the attacking character fails, their opponent gets to narrate the exchange.
Enhancing these attacks is done via Moves, which replace the use of tricks and maneuvers during a match.
Any attack in which a weapon is used comes with a Moderate Complication of Foreign Object. If the Complication is not bought off, the referee notices the weapon and immediately disqualifies the attacker, ending the match. Light objects that fit in one hand, such as a wrench or a pair of brass knuckles add +1 Enhancement. Heavier objects that require two hands, such as a steel chair or a metal road sign add +2 Enhancement. Large objects that require setup like a ladder or a table add +3 Enhancement. Other objects may offer different Enhancement or other benefits.
Any attack with the Close Combat skill increases the cost of all Moves by +1 hit, to a maximum of 3 hits. Moves that cost 0 hits do not have an increased cost.
Other Skills can be used for an attack in place of Close Combat, and still do damage. If the description of how the skill applies to the attack is reasonable, and the Storyguide agrees, the attack is made as normal, but there is no increase in the cost of any Moves.
Remember that antagonists don’t have skills, so the previous two points don’t apply to them — demons don’t care about how obvious or stale an attack is, as long as it gets the job done. However, the other rules do apply to them.
Damage
Damage works as normal. If a character takes an Injury but has no Injuries left, instead of gaining the Taken Out status effect, they gain the Pinning Position status effect. (Antagonists, who don’t normally gain the Taken Out status effect, also get Pinning Position if they lose all their Injuries. There are also other ways to give characters the Pinning Position status effect.)
Status Effect: Pinning Position (Combat) The character is exhausted, hurt, and unable to resist being defeated, as long as their opponent has the ability to take advantage of the opportunity.
Resolution: The character spends an action or a Momentum, or immediately takes an Injury, to remove the status effect, or an opponent purchases the End the Match Move.
Characters with Pinning Position can spend an action or a Momentum, or take an Injury, to remove the status effect from themselves during a match.
If a wrestler can use the End the Match Move on a character that has the Pinning Position status effect, they win the match. Typically this means the defeated wrestler has been pinned or indicated their submission to their opponent, but some matches may have specific scenarios for losing, such as the winner escaping a cage around the ring or the loser being forced to verbally admit that they quit.
All damage gained in a match stays with the character after the match, although once the match is over, the wrestlers can be healed as normal.
Other Rules
Miracles and other supernatural powers cannot be used during a match in either the ring or ringside Areas. However, Graceful Moves can be used during a match. Antagonists can only use powers marked as “match only.”
The only bonds a player character can use is their bond with their angelic partner (demons do not have bonds with their hosts). During a match, wrestlers can use bonds with a stablemate if they are both in the match at the same time as tag team partners, but the Enhancement generated by the bond can only be used to purchase Moves that have the partner keyword.
Under the Mask: Expanded Combat “The Rules of the Ring” is a section of rules that expands combat. Like the expanded combat section in Chapter Two they build on the existing action-adventure rules to give more nuance and flavor to this setting, but you may notice this section doesn’t use many of the options presented there. Specifically, these rules are here mainly to set up the utility of Moves, which we’ll cover below, as well as reframing Close Combat. As discussed earlier in character creation, Close Combat is a vital skill for Pinfall from Grace, Body Slams from Hell, but if it were the only skill used in wrestling matches, every conflict will ultimately boil down to the person with the most dice eventually winning. By adding restrictions like making it harder to use weapons (an easy source of Enhancement) and incentivizing the use of other skills instead, it opens up more tactical options for players as they make their way through the match.
No matter what, it’s often good to add a short list covering all the changes at a high level, so readers know going in what kinds of changes they can expect before digging into the details of what those changes entail.
Moves
A wrestling match is comprised of a variety of wrestling holds and attacks, collectively called “moves.” In Pinfall from Grace, Body Slams from Hell, rather than a move being a distinct, single action within a match, we consider the move to be the high point of a small segment of the match. For example, throwing a single punch is a wrestling move, but in Pinfall from Grace, Body Slams from hell we ignore just a single punch and focus on all the punches, kicks, and other moves that lead up to the bigger, more narratively significant move of the final punch that knocks an opponent to the ground or out of the ring. In Storypath terms, these are a kind of trick or maneuver, which we call Moves (with a capital M, to distinguish the game mechanic from the in-world wrestling term).
Like tricks and maneuvers, players can only purchase each Move once an action unless specifically mentioned otherwise.
Basic Moves
Basic Moves can be purchased by any character during a match. Some have a keyword, which indicates a specific source of bond Enhancement that can be used to purchase them:
Face: Enhancement from positive Audience bonds can only be used to purchase Moves with this keyword.
Heel: Enhancement from negative Audience bonds can only be used to purchase Moves with this keyword.
Partner: Enhancement from bonds with other members of your stable in this match can only be used to purchase Moves with this keyword.
These sources of bond Enhancement can be added after an action is determined to be successful.
Any basic Move can be purchased with hits, regardless of what keywords it has. Keyworded Moves simply mean that Enhancement from the specific sources can only be used to purchase those Moves. If the wrestler chooses not to use that source of Enhancement to purchase a relevant Move, that source of hits is gone.
Heel Turns Since any basic Moves can be bought with your roll’s hits, it’s possible to purchase heel Moves if you have positive Audience bond. However, these moves indicate flagrant cheating on the part of the wrestler, which alienates the audience. Any heel Move purchased while you have a positive Audience bond comes with a Major Complication of Heel Turn. If not bought off, the positive Audience bond reduces by one level, or is removed if the bond is already at positive 1.
Wrestlers with negative Audience bond have no penalty for purchasing face Moves. Sometimes it pays to be the bad guy! (However, from a design perspective, note that this is balanced out by Graceful Moves, below.)
Break the Pin (3 hits; partner): If your tag team partner is pinned, you can break that pin up. Remove the Pinning Position status effect from your tag team partner.
Break Up Grapple (1 hit; partner): When targeting a character who is part of a grapple (that you are not in) you may use this Move to end the Grappled status effect.
Critical Strike (3 hits): Deal an additional damage to your target.
Disarm (2 or 3 hits; face, partner): You pull or twist your opponent’s weapon or item out of their hand. You may spend an additional hit to knock the item to the ringside Area.
Distract the Ref (2 hits; heel): You cause a commotion with your exchange, distracting the referee. If your next action incurs the Countout,Excessive Violence, Foreign Object, or Interference Complication, ignore that Complication for that action. This also applies to your opponent’s next action as well.
End the Match (3 hits): When used on an opponent who has the Pinning Position status effect, you end the match and are declared the winner.
Establish Grapple (1 hit): You force your opponent into a grapple. Apply the Grappled status effect (p. XX) to your opponent. You may purchase any basic Moves on your attacks against them for 1 hit less, to a minimum cost of 1 hit.
Knockdown/Trip (1 hit): Knock your opponent prone where they stand.
Hulk Up (2 hits; face): You’re ready to really nail the next move. Add +2 Enhancement to your next action.
Pull Your Punch (0 hits): You choose not to deal damage to the target and instead gain 1 hit to spend on a Move.
Seize (2 hits; heel): You take an object held by (but not strapped or attached to) your opponent. You must have a free hand to use this Move.
Under the Mask: A Trick by Any Other Name…. Keen-eyed readers may have noticed that, despite the rule on p. XX saying that no tricks can be purchased during a match, many of the Moves here are quite similar to a number of Combat tricks. This is for two reasons. The first is to make the interaction between tricks and Moves cleaner — since so much of how matches work revolve around the use of Moves, its easier if you simply ban one entire category of rules and reincorporate the exceptions, instead of worrying about what happens if you buy one trick and one Move that are very similar. The second is the new Moves are not all completely identicalto their equivalent tricks, and it’s easier for players to understand and reference a complete list instead of parsing a number of exceptions and modifications to the existing tricks. Similar to the character creation section, the rules for tricks are so short it actually takes less space to reprint what’s necessary and adjust that text directly over writing a list of references.
We'll see additional Moves - we'll actually see the entire Pinfall from Grace game! - when that section of the manuscript goes out to backers next Monday, Sept 23rd!
Between now and then, we've got two more bits of the manuscript coming out for backers on Thursday and Saturday, along with one more example from our sample setting dealing with Storyguide Characters.
Remember, Pinfall from Grace, Body Slams from Hell is just our first example setting and game in the book to illustrate exactly how StoryPath was implemented and adjusted. We have plans to write two more, and as a backer you'll be able to vote on which ones you prefer.
For our Sci-Fi example, backers have chosen "An experimental space flight flings the player characters into a distant galaxy full of strange and alien sights."
For the final poll, you'll be voting on a Fantasy setting example. Your options:
A cozy fantasy game where explorers look for ingredients to help heal their sick dragon friend.
A war-torn world ripped apart by a devastating magic war, and a few surviving wizards try to prove who is the best among them.
A group of young heroes are blessed with magical armor and weapons in order to defeat an evil sorcerer queen seeking to destroy their land.
