Tuesday, August 30, 2016

August 30th, 2016

https://the-hollow.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page

The game has been hit by a Hurricane... Like, everything has changed, and a lot is still missing, but just as much of what was missing before is now present. Its odd... but it also feels like its falling into place more quickly and easily? At least it was; more recently, I have hit a wall on the world building side of things which directly effects some of the mechanical rules, namely equipment.

Biggest changes are Test Rules: a d20 is now used, and the pool of d6 has been chucked. This has sent waves through all other rules, extensively changing how most everything within the game works. This is a good thing. Because it barely worked before, and is working a hell of a lot better now.

TONS of new rules. Like Falling, Throwing, changes to Cover, MASSIVE overhaul Awareness, and the introduction of Investigations.

The World of the Hollow section now has like... actual text and shit now. Its all very minimal currently, but just vague enough to give players an idea of things.

Races within the Hollow have been... vague-ified. The idea was that Humans do not follow a single universal culture, nor are they all the same, so why the hell would another intelligent species be as such? Ridiculous, really... I'm upset I ever wrote such trash. They are now shaped and determined by their physical nature and unique environmental factors.

Take the Divine: they've lived on interstellar vessels for centuries on the run from the Fae. That would shape a people both mentally and physically. They also don't have to sleep. So... there's that.

Origins have been improved, but are missing a lot of info right now... I have a lot working behind the scenes, but don't feel comfortable posting anything as of yet.

Equipment will be designed to fight or counter anything the character's may encounter. Building cool weapons and armor was cool, but really offset the balance... and alot of it didn't make sense for the Lore. If the Hollow is at war with the Fae, the equipment they use to fight them should reflect that, yeah?

Powers are... ugg... get back to me.

There are a few monsters to fight (FINALLY), but as I said before, equipment is still limited.


https://the-hollow.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page
Follow the Link! Tell me what you thing of the game thus far.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Oooh boy...

Well!!
I haven't had an update in some time, but there are been a rather large one over the past week or so.

https://the-hollow.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page

Changes are as follows but not limited to:


  • Changes to various Classes.

  • Descriptions of weapons and other equipment.

  • Major Overhaul of Exocortex.

  • Descriptions of Powers.

  • Major Overhaul to Powers. 

Future Changes?

  • Story and Monsters.

Thats basically it before I call this game good for formal testing. 

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Enormous amount of changes... Just...

I should really begin to try to find someone to help me work on this beast.

The game is now a leveling system... and currently looks like a Frankenstein's monster. Pardon the gap.

https://the-hollow.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page

Link above.
Please check it out! Sorry about the terrible formatting in the newer sections!
Take a look at the Classes located in the Origins tab.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Gone too long

I have been busy with a great many things, and lots have been going on outside of this project. Ergo, I have not worked on it in some time. However, I have done a lot of deving in the as week as there has been a major shift in the idea behind the Hollow.

First and foremost, the idea of consciousness and the definition of "life". This game is an exploration of that idea (sort of). It might be more accurate to say that I am plugging my own ideas on consciousness and the definition of life into this game. My research into this subject was restarted with the discovery of the "off/on" switch of consciousness.

 http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/elusive-on-off-switch-found-for-human-consciousness-140707.htm

Thus, i began to look again into the science and mechanics of consciousness, and discovered a great many things. However, the most influential piece of material was the video linked below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpUVot-4GPM&index=12&list=LLyeZ8eKmfe4w0_gskX2HFuA

Though I don't quite grasp the mechanics of everything he is saying, his ideals, at least, for the definition of consciousness versus intelligence align very nicely with my own.

What does this mean for the Hollow??? Well... alot.

The Field produced by all sentient being is now that of a Quantum Field. Sentient, conscious beings are Quantum Singularities, capable of collapsing Quantum Information.

The Observers create Quantum Information out of Chaos with their powerful Aether Field.

The Fae are Quantum Field Engines; they are not Singularities. They cannot create information, but they can breakdown and modify that information that already exists with their Anti-Causal Field.

 Singularities (the characters) are capable of influencing Quantum Information (i.e. Mancy), but they can only bend the rules, not break them as a Fae can.

Sentient beings are protected by a Fae's Anti-Causal Field by their own Quantum Field; a Singularity cancels the Fae's ability to reconstruct Information... at least in close proximity. However, if a being were to drop unconscious, they are left exposed, and the Fae may destroy that being.

The Hollow was a bit much of a Hyper-Advanced Civilization... I had to downsize. 

That is, the Factories were OP... I really like the idea of distilling energy into matter which may then be programmed to construct anything and everything the peoples of the Hollow could desire... but... Star Trek did that with replicators, and they REALLY shouldn't work that effectively. At least, not on the level of civilization I want.

Sure, the Observers are technologically beyond anything else in the Hollow, but is it feasible to have one piece of hyper-advanced tech which is incredibly limited versus an infinite fountain of resources down at your local Factory.

Think of Ghost in the Shell and Mass Effect and add some Borderlands and Destiny to grunge it up a bit. Ideally, that it what I am looking for in a setting.

New Resource and Resource System

Orichalcum (Ore) is still a thing, but it has changed dramatically.

Ore are now solidified shards of energy used to power most things in the Hollow. Ore is "mined" in Factories as they were before, but they cannot be condensed into matter to form equipment and the like as they could before. They are still a standard currency used in the Hollow, but only for non-Restricted Equipment.

Glass is congealed, unbound Hadrons which are used to construct all raw materials required in the Hollow. It is a less common form of currency required for those less than common items on your shopping list. For anything beyond Restricted, or if you want to Upgrade your current equipment, you will need Glass.

If they character wishes to fence any of their Equipment, they may disassemble it at a local Factory of other such facility. The character is provided Glass equal to half the total cost (Ore AND Glass) of the item they are disassembling.

Cold Iron is the third, final, and most precious currency. Each piece of Cold Iron is a knot in space-time geometry which, upon activation, collapses its own bound Quantum Information, destroying itself. When forged into munition, it has proved incredibly effective against Fae. However, Cold Iron is incredibly difficult to produce, and is thus, very difficult to come by. Many will pay a great price for a single Blok of Cold Iron.



Friday, June 13, 2014

Major changes more than likely coming to Exocortex.

Basically...

They are going to become integral to all players.

Exocortex are going to, mechanically, supply the power that the Character's Armor and Weapons requires as well as boost the Character's Mancy and Tech power potential through what I am calling Hardpoints at the moment.

Characters may equip 1 set of Armor, and as many Weapon as they have Hardpoints to accommodate.
"THAT SOUNDS RIDICULOUS" you may say, but it really isn't... The Character may be able to equip up to 4 Compact Weapons after investing lots of Ore, or MAYBE 2 Large Weapons. This does not mean the character cannot use Weapons with their Hands... but they still require a power source, a portable Harpoint, as it were, which will be available as an Upgrade to Weapons as well as Armor.

Thus, if they really wanted to, the Character could equip as many as 6 guns. Damage output, however, will vary depending on the build, more guns may provide more shots and a higher potential damage output, but they will miss more often as well, and Soak is applied to EACH SHOT creating diminishing returns. Build carefully.

As for Mancy and Power users, for every Hardpoint which is unused by the Character, the Force of any Power is increased by 1. Powers are also getting a significant buff; base Damage is now 2d6+3 instead of 1d6+3 and other powers without damage are buffed in kind.

Ergo, Powers are now nukes the Character deploys between shots or artillery used behind cover to support those will all the guns. This, however, does make them vulnerable; to get the maximum Force out of an Exocortex, they must forgo Armor and Weapons.


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Basically a Title Update...

Yeah... lots of changes to just about everything to make things more balanced and friendlier to the players.

https://the-hollow.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page

Link above to all the rules thus far.

My hope is to be done with the mechanics and everything rules related by next year if not earlier.
After which, I will begin to process of publishing this monster.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Many things I have missed.

So, i am going back through everything, and adding things I forgot or haven't implemented yet.

As well... there are many things that I seemed to have overlooked when writing or rewriting rules.

Ergo, there will be MANY new updates to the game in the next few weeks. Updates will be hitting the Obsidian Portal Page soon!

STAY TUNED!!!