rules for asian mentor deus ex machina flashback

rules for asian mentor deus ex machina flashback, Orientalist Hand of God

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Wounded Ronin

Aug 20 2007, 11:01 PM

Post #1

Great Dragon

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At a very obscure bargain store on Pohnpei I found four books from a series called "The Destroyer" by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy from the late 70s. Reading these books has changed my life in ways previously unimaginable. Sweating and burning with orientalism, I reread this thread: http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...pic=13774&st=25

Now, I have decided to write rules so that in your SR3 game you can have an orientalist flashback which will save your character from a seemingly intractable situation. First, the flavor text, copied exactly from book 25 from the series "The Destroyer", entitled "Sweet Dreams".

QUOTE

Remo saw happy children laughing, big warm houses, and lovely women secretly smiling. But they kept bursting into flame. And what was worse, they didn't seem to notice. The children kept on laughing, the women smiling.

Remo woke up. He was sitting on a hot floor in the middle of a roaring inferno. One of his legs was stretched full length and the trousers had been burned through by drops of explosive gelignite. He pulled the leg up to his other which was bent to his chest.

The room crackled with flames.

Outside, the entire fire department of Edgewood University - two men and a truck - had arrived to fight the blaze. They had battled for ten heroic minutes until St. Louis had sent in more equipment and trained firemen, whose technique in fighting fires was a little more sophisticated than pumping in enough water to launch Noah's Ark. The Edgewood firemen immediately began to drift off to talk to the Edgewood police about the terrible violence on campus.

Editorial staff members of the Edgewood Quill were at the fire scene, trying to sell copies of their mimeographed [MIMEOGRAPHS PWN! - ed.] special edition on the violence, which reported that although Wooley and Woodward were dead, "there have been no reports thus far of student injuries. All's well that ends well."

The St. Louis Fire Department fought on for five more minutes, then the battalion chief in charge gave up on the house. He ordered his men to just keep it "wetted down" so that embers and sparks could not fly off and imperil any other nearby buildings.

"Let it burn out," he said.

"Suppose someone's in there," a fire captain asked.

"Nobody's alive in there," the battalion chief said and went over to buy a copy of the Edgewood Quill to look at until the photographers arrived at which time he would run back to the equipment and help his men haul hose.

Remo felt the heat blast at his body and the heavy hot air singe his lungs when he breathedk.

He rolled onto his stomach to be closer to the floor and slowed his breathing to reject any smoke that might find its way into his lungs. He raised his body temperature so that he would not feel the heat so intensely.

He looked around., He was in the center of the room, surrounded by flames. The walls and ceiling were burning, and the carpeted floor and the wood underneath had caught fire and the flames were now marching inexorably across Norman Belliveau's tweed pile carpet, $7.95 a square yard including installation, toward him.

He looked for a break in the flames but there was none. He moved himself to a crouch and then did what he thought he would never do. He ran.

He ran in his own mind. He could feel the flames lapping at his legs, and then in his mind, he moved into a room and he closed the door behind him.

The heat that singed his legs no longer hurt. He could breathe.

He thought he heard Chiun's voice and he yelled, "Get me out of here."

"Who are you?" Chiun said.

"Get me out of here. Save your silly games for later."

"If you were a baby I would carry you out," Chiun's voice said in that secret room in Remo's mind. "But you are not a baby. Who are you?"

"I am Remo Williams," Remo said.

"Not good enough," Chiun said.

Remo didn't want this to be hard. He wanted to be human and simple.

Now he could see Chiun. The ancient Oriental stood in a ceremonial white robe across the room from Remo. "Who are you?" he repeated. His voice seemed to be filtered through a tunnel because it resounded with echoes. [crappy late 70s movie effects - Ed.]

"I'm Remo Williams. I'm a Master of Sinanju;" Remo yelled. He felt tears coming from his eyes. They sizzled and disappeared before dropping halfway down his cheeks.

Chiun's face grew cold, almost angry. Remo opened his eyes and Chiun's face vanished. All Remo could see was flames. He closed his eyes again and Chiun's face demanded, "Yes, but who are you?"

And, in his mind, Remo stood and said, "I am created Shiva, the Destroyer, death, the shatterer of worlds. The dead night tiger made whole by the Master of Sinanju."

"Then walk out," Chiun said.

Remo stood and was back in the burning house. The flames engulfed him. The building shuddered, the flames seemed to roar in triumph.

But it could not match the roar in Remo's mind, the roar of realization and rebirth.

He ran forward through the flames, strongly breathing out, willing the flames away from his face and his eyes. It only took a split second to pass through the flames to a window and then roll through the window out onto the grass. He gulped clean fresh air, barely tained by the smoke from the inferno behind him.

A fireman saw him come through the window and dropped his hose. [Ha ha, he they wrote that a firearm dropped his hose. It must get pretty steamy at the firehouse at night... - Ed.]

Remo smiled and waved.

The fireman said dumbly, "Your back's on fire."

"Thanks, pal," Remo said, and he spun around, a dervish motion so fast it created a partial vacuum of thin air around him and the flames on his clothing sucked out and died.

"Take your time," Remo told the fireman. "Everyone else in there is dead."

Before the fireman could speak, Remo was running off from the house, across the greensward toward Professor Wooley's home.

So, basically, in SR we definitely need the ability to bust out a David Carradine style asian mentor flashback which, through circular philosophical claptrap, manages to instantly negate the most dangerous or hopeless of situations.

On the other hand, it's very difficult to introduce this sort of thing in a role playing game since the whole point of a table top role playing game is to have statistical difficulty and a possibility of failure. Furthermore it always upsets the people at the table if a given piece of cyberware or magic is ridiculously powerful since most people subscribe to the idea of game balance. (Not sniping; I can personally appreciate the role of game balance for the purpose of making a tactically challenging game that requires thought and planning if you're not looking to play a simulationist game.) So, writing the following rule was a real challenge.

Orientalist Hand of God, aka Asian Mentor Ex Machina:
In order to use the Orientalist Hand of God, the player character must first have an Asian Mentor contact ( http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...pic=13774&st=25 ) to star in his oriental old man ex machina flashbacks. Alternately, the Asian Mentor could be dead at the start of play and thus not be a contact, but this requires that the PC take the Hunted flaw, or the Compulsive: Avenge Asian Mentor At All Costs flaws without accuring any bonus points for them.

Orientalist Hand of God must be declared by a player before his character enters play (i.e. before the start of the character's first adventure or campaign, or in between the time that a character to replace a dead one is created and when it enters play) in order for it to be used by the character. In order to do this, the player must decide how many karma pool dice the character will "pre pay" towards the OHOG rule; a maximum of 20 karma pool dice and a minimum of 5 may be pre paid in this manner. This pre paid pool of dice is known as the David Carradine Pool (DCP).

The DCP may be applied at any time as though it were an ordinary karma pool, eg. reroll failures, Hooper Nelson, and so on. The exception is that a character who uses OHOG may not use the vanilla Hand of God rule, since that would probably be too powerful. (Woo, game balance!)

Another negative to this rule is that the character starts with 0 karma pool (instead of 1) and whenever the character would gain karma pool the karma pool dice he would have gained instead goes to filling the DCP pre-pay. So, in other words, if I started with a DCP of 20 dice, I would start with 0 karma dice, and I would not be able to start a karma pool until I had gained enough karma to accrue 19 more karma pool dice, as that would be the amount of karma pool dice needed to match the amount of karma pool dice in the pre-pay.

After the DCP has been paid for in the manner described above, the character in question may accumulate a karma pool as per normal, but the character never regains the ability to use vanilla HOG. As such, it might make sense to think of the OHOG as an emergency karma reserve rather than as something to blow entirely in the beginning of your character's career.

hyzmarca View Member Profile	Aug 21 2007, 06:20 AM Post #2
Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456	What exactly are the advantages and disadvantages of having a high DC pool? Since it can be used like regular karma pool, there is no reason not to have a huge DC pool. But, if the Asian Mentor HoG expends the entire pool like regular HoG does, then there is no good reason to have a DC pool higher than 1.

knasser View Member Profile	Aug 21 2007, 07:08 AM Post #3
Shadow Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 3,737 Joined: 2-June 06 From: Secret Tunnels under the UK (South West) Member No.: 8,636	If I have an oriental character, is it acceptable to have a Western mentor? Does the orientalism of the mentor apply to nationality, ethnicity or both? I.e. would an old chinese man from Manchester qualify or would he have to actually be born / raised in an oriental country? Likewise, would Batman's mentor from Batman Begins qualify as he was essentially western, but living and studying in the Orient? Also, are these books still in print / available? That's some awesome prose! -K.

Wounded Ronin

Aug 21 2007, 07:36 AM

Post #4

Great Dragon

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QUOTE (hyzmarca)

What exactly are the advantages and disadvantages of having a high DC pool? Since it can be used like regular karma pool, there is no reason not to have a huge DC pool. But, if the Asian Mentor HoG expends the entire pool like regular HoG does, then there is no good reason to have a DC pool higher than 1.

Basically, you can get a sizeable advance on your karma pool but you sacrifice your ability to HOG. Also, regular karma pool is a renewable resource but DCP is not. So depending on your style of play you could either decide to put 20 into DCP and then burn karma as little as possible, or put in 5, burn regular karma a lot, and just keep that 5 there as a backup in case the poop really hits the fan.

Wounded Ronin

Aug 21 2007, 07:42 AM

Post #5

Great Dragon

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QUOTE (knasser)

If I have an oriental character, is it acceptable to have a Western mentor?

Does the orientalism of the mentor apply to nationality, ethnicity or both? I.e. would an old chinese man from Manchester qualify or would he have to actually be born / raised in an oriental country? Likewise, would Batman's mentor from Batman Begins qualify as he was essentially western, but living and studying in the Orient?

Also, are these books still in print / available? That's some awesome prose!

-K.

By 80s logic only asian mentors are awesome. So no, there is no such thing as a Western mentor who can give you these benefits, UNLESS he's David Carradine and he learned how to speak using circular logic from some asian dude. Or until you write your own rules for Western Mentors.

Orientalism is defined by 80s logic, rather than by anything defining a rational analysis of nationality and ethnicity. So, the old Chinese man from Manchester could qualify, but he'd have to say sterotypical things and spout weak and derivative asian pseudo-philosophy. By this logic, Batman's mentor from Batman Begins could be an Asian Mentor. I mean, honestly, Batman climbs a mountain which starts in China and ends up in Japan. It doesn't get much more mind-blowingly 80s than that.

Regarding the books: http://www.sinanju.com/mw_trader.htm

Daddy's Litt... Daddy's Little Ninja View Member Profile	Aug 21 2007, 08:30 PM Post #6
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 976 Joined: 16-September 04 From: Near my daughters, Lansdale PA Member No.: 6,668	Just admit it guys. Asians rock. We know it. We just accept your praise as our due. :D As a game aid this sounds like a real pain because it disrupts the play for the rest of the team as the member with a mentor goes off in his or her own little exchange. Like deckers doing a matrix run, while everyone else looks for that bag of cheetos that we missed and fetchs more cans of coke and gets mind numbingly board.

nezumi View Member Profile	Aug 21 2007, 09:42 PM Post #7
Incertum est quo loco te mors expectet; Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,546 Joined: 24-October 03 From: DeeCee, U.S. Member No.: 5,760	Wait, I missed the part where you say what the DCP can be used for. Is that just like another karma pool that requires flashbacks?

Wounded Ronin

Aug 22 2007, 12:56 AM

Post #8

Great Dragon

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QUOTE (nezumi)

Wait, I missed the part where you say what the DCP can be used for. Is that just like another karma pool that requires flashbacks?

It's like an advance on your karma pool you can take in exchange for your HOG.

Draconis

Aug 22 2007, 06:43 PM

Post #9

Moving Target

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QUOTE (Wounded Ronin)

QUOTE (nezumi @ Aug 21 2007, 04:42 PM)

Wait, I missed the part where you say what the DCP can be used for. Is that just like another karma pool that requires flashbacks?

It's like an advance on your karma pool you can take in exchange for your HOG.

You can't have my hog. It's mine! Quick GIR ride the pig!

hyzmarca View Member Profile	Aug 22 2007, 07:27 PM Post #10
Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456	Being an advance on karma pool, this would make starting characters absurdly powerful. Which, I suppose, is the point.

Wounded Ronin

Aug 23 2007, 02:25 AM

Post #11

Great Dragon

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QUOTE (hyzmarca)

Being an advance on karma pool, this would make starting characters absurdly powerful. Which, I suppose, is the point.

Well, you also have to blow starting researches on the Asian Mentor contact...and as a GM, I'd make the player actually act out his asian mentor flashback. So we'd all be entertained by people doing David Carradine "wise" impressions all night.

hyzmarca

Aug 23 2007, 03:09 AM

Post #12

Midnight Toker

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QUOTE (Wounded Ronin)

QUOTE (hyzmarca @ Aug 22 2007, 02:27 PM)

Being an advance on karma pool, this would make starting characters absurdly powerful. Which, I suppose, is the point.

Well, you also have to blow starting researches on the Asian Mentor contact...and as a GM, I'd make the player actually act out his asian mentor flashback. So we'd all be entertained by people doing David Carradine "wise" impressions all night.

:D

There is no way that it can be done right without a recording of the Kung Fu flashback sound effect.

It would be great for playing a Lone Star game where all of the characters are blatantly ripped off from Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.

nezumi View Member Profile	Aug 23 2007, 02:18 PM Post #13
Incertum est quo loco te mors expectet; Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,546 Joined: 24-October 03 From: DeeCee, U.S. Member No.: 5,760	See, reading the description, I"d assume the opposite. After all, the Mentor Flashback doesn't come up when you're training on your off time. It doesn't come up when you botch a critical negotiation roll. It only comes up when you're hiney is on the fire, right? So I'd assume that it would give you the bad karma flaw (1 KP every 20 karma, instead of 10) and in exchange you get an extra super HoG, like you suddenly come back with all health and stun healed and manage to vault out of the dangerous situation.

Kagetenshi View Member Profile	Aug 23 2007, 03:11 PM Post #14
Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,008 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802	Here's a proposal: Every other karma pool point you earn goes into your AMDEMF Pool, presumably starting with the zeroeth. Those pool points cannot be spent on other uses. You can burn n AMDEMF pool points to Super Hand-of-God, and may do this any number of times in a campaign. If you have less than n AMDEMF pool, you may spend it all and permanently lose the ability to gain AMDEMF pool to gain a Super Hand-of-God. Your normal Hand-of-God is also available, subject to its normal rules (it may or may not become a Super Hand-of-God)—this includes the one-use limitation. A Super Hand-of-God is like an ordinary Hand-of-God but better. In addition to simply not dying, you become stronger somehow—whether it be bonus dice or a TN bonus for your next test (or for the series of tests required to escape your immediate situation), wound healing, temporary immunity to wound mods or other mods, or something like that. The question then becomes what n should be—5 was my first though, but it might be able to go as low as 3 and not be too atrocious (since even a normal human will only get 3 AMDEMF after 40 karma, a metahuman or Bad Karma human after 80, and a metahuman/Bad Karma after 160). ~J

Wounded Ronin View Member Profile	Aug 23 2007, 11:44 PM Post #15
Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,640 Joined: 6-June 04 Member No.: 6,383	Oooh, there's some creative ideas.

Snow_Fox

Aug 26 2007, 03:31 PM

Post #16

Prime Runner

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QUOTE (nezumi)

Wait, I missed the part where you say what the DCP can be used for. Is that just like another karma pool that requires flashbacks? also it could be frustrating for a gm who thinks he kows when the player will use it, gets something worked out and then watchs as the player blows through that scene.

After i kick her but for the asian comment-you are so going to get it lady- I thinkshe's right, unless you do a solo run, it's gonig to get boring for the other players to sit around while you go off in your mentor rant

nezumi View Member Profile	Aug 26 2007, 05:46 PM Post #17
Incertum est quo loco te mors expectet; Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,546 Joined: 24-October 03 From: DeeCee, U.S. Member No.: 5,760	I was going to be worried, then I realized I never posted that line (at least in this thread). So either Snow Fox is reading posts from the future or...

hyzmarca View Member Profile	Aug 26 2007, 05:54 PM Post #18
Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456	Boredom can be dealt with by having the other players LARP other characters in the flashback.

Wounded Ronin

Aug 26 2007, 10:47 PM

Post #19

Great Dragon

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QUOTE (hyzmarca)

Boredom can be dealt with by having the other players LARP other characters in the flashback.

Or just force the player to act out the scene complete with goofy accents and all.

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