22 replies to this topic

[Dave ST]

So, I've been playing a lot of Mass Effect and I honestly think there is some potential for the ME universe to be used with the Trinity system.  One thing that came to mind was the skill system for it and how it gives those who possess no biotics the ability to still kick all kinds of ass by awarding special abilities as they increase their potential with weapons.

The only thing I noticed was that there would need to be something Neutrals would need instead of 'Psi' in order to fuel their greater than average capability and Willpower is a bit to steep of a cost IMO on some of these.

This is basically a standard that was recently set up with the nWoD fighting style Merits and I honestly think the system could mesh well.  Basically, just like a Psion who buys his powers one dot at a time and gets something for it, a soldier or any other 'Neut', could simply place their aptitudes in weapons skills.

Like Pistols for example...

O 'Quick on the Draw' - You automatically add your dots in Firearms (the ability, not the skill pool) to your initiative whenever you have a pistol at the ready.  Alternatively, you may quick draw your pistol as a reflexive action if you did not have it ready at the beginning of combat.  In this case you may add your Firearms dots to your initiative score on the round following your quick draw.

OO 'Click, Click, Boom!' - Swiftly you can ejects a magazine or power pack from your firearm and immediately load another one and you're good to go.  With this measure of aptitude with pistols you are capable of reloading your pistol a reflexive action.  If you are using two pistols at once you may reload both simultaneously with a standard action (requiring you to split you dice pool).

OOO 'Roomsweeper' - Any pistol in your hands is dangerous.  While this skill is used you half any dice pool penalties for multiple actions applied to firing a pistol and can ignore the weapon's Rate attribute for a single turn, up to twice the weapons' normal capabilities.  This ability costs 1 'Psi' point to activate for a single turn.

OOOO 'Gun-Fu' - Fire a pistol so swiftly and squeeze of rounds wit such fluid accuracy that it's almost like the pistol is another weapon entirely.  You may fire any pistol as if it were an SMG capable of burst fire.

OOOOO 'Marksman' - The gun, the bullet, the shooter; all are one.  At a nearly Zen-like level of mastery you are a lethal force on a battle field with nothing but a pistol.  While this ability is active you may take you total Psi score and divide it up amongst your pistols attributes and you may change them every turn on your initiative score.  Any multiple actions you take do not suffer a dice penalty but this ability does not let fire the weapon more than twice the weapon's normal Rate.  This ability costs 3 Psi and 1 Willpower.  It lasts for a number of actions equal to the characters' Psi score.

These might be a bit unbalanced and need tweaking, but it was just something I tossed together off the top of my head.

[Damon]

I agree some tweaking may be needed, but the concept is sound, for sure.

[jameson (ST)]

If you need some objective eyes, I've only ever played the first game for about 30 minutes.  I'm not sure I'd want to play but I could pitch in a non-fan viewpoint if you want it.

[Dave ST]

Vivi and I are in the process of beginning a Mass Effect Universe game using modified Alternity rules.  It seems pretty seamless so far.

Also I've crunched a few numbers and revamping a d10 ST system for ME would also be relatively easy.

[Chosen]

Cool.  Was it a personal preference or something in the systems that made you go with Alternity over Trinity?

[Dave ST]

Actually the Trinity Rules are excellent for conversion into Mass Effect.  For example almost the entire 'Electrokinesis' mode can be excellent ground rules for several 'Tech' abilities.

The main snag is that I'd have to do a lot of rewriting of the rules system and make a lot more stuff up and 'stat' it out.  I'm not opposed to this idea (I love inventing new ways to use rules systems) but the Alternity rules already had a lot of the tech and rules already in print that would translate well into the ME Universe.

So, basically, while we're playing the Alternity TT game here at the house I'll be working up, as a side project, a Trinity: Mass Effect set of rules to see what people think of them.  But this way we don't have to wait until I have them all finished before we can start playing.

[Dave ST]

Kind of a snag with Biotics...  Canon says:

Biotics is the ability of rare individuals to manipulate dark energy and create mass effect fields through the use of electrical impulses from the brain. Intense training and surgically implanted amplifiers are necessary for a biotic to produce mass effect fields powerful enough for practical use. The relative strength of biotic abilities varies greatly among species and with each individual.

There are three branches of biotics:
Telekinesis uses mass-lowering fields to levitate or impel objects.
Kinetic Fields raises mass and are used to block or pin objects.
Distortion uses rapidly shifting mass fields to shred objects.


Now, my problem is... where do powers like Reave and Dominate come into play?  What branch of biotics do these powers fit into?  Granted Dominate was an exclusive power of an Ardat-Yakshi, it's still biotic in nature and would have to fall into one of those three schools.

[jameson (ST)]

What do they do?  (non-Mass Effect player here)

[Dave ST]

Reave steals Shield Strength and Health from an enemy and grants it to the user (canon states the power is a biotic ability).

Dominate controls the minds of others and forces them to do what you command them to (which sounds like Telepathy to me)

[jameson (ST)]

Well those certainly don't fit into those three fields in any neat tidy way.  

You said Dominate was unique to a certain race, It could be possible that those 3 fields aren't the limit of all biotics, just what humanity know/is able to use.

Reave could be a distortion effect I suppose, shunting energy from one being to another.

[SalmonMax]

Dominate isn't a biotic ability. It's an offshoot of the natural capacity that Asari have for synchronizing their nervous systems to other beings. As such, only Asari could develop it (and only Ardat Yashi ever would). Simiarly, any Asari would have a 'Meld' power that allows them to share experiences with another subject. That's not a biotic power either though.

Reave is trickier. I can see how it might be possible to biotically "tap into" another mass effect field, but health? I can only conjecture that it's some kind of hybrid ability that asari developed using both their neural link AND their biotic potency. Of course, the game allows your main character to have it, but no conversion will be completely accurate to the source material. Mass Effect made concessions in the interest of gameplay even when it didn't make sense in the setting. Those concessions may require some spot-editing in order to make the background data make sense.

[Dave ST]

Dominate is actually a biotic power.  Asari a natural biotics and Dominate is result of their ability to tap into other nervous systems... the means by which they do this is biotic in it's nature.

I'm thinking there needs to be another classification of Biotics, since Asari are cited as having a form of 'telepathy'.  I see no reason that, with the right Biotic Amp that any other biotic could not duplicate the ability.

[SalmonMax]

I'm pretty sure that the asari "telepathic" abilities aren't biotic.

Biotics is very specifically the use of the nervous system to activate and control nodules of element zero to create mass effect fields.

The asari ability to synchronize nervous systems and 'meld' consciousness...and associated abilities based on that...is a racial trait.

Asari are considered natural biotics because they have such fine-tuned control over their nervous systems. When an asari has element zero nodes in their system, they can easily and naturally vary the signal strength in their nerves to learn to manipulate mass effect fields. That control they have is because they evolved with the capacity to sense and synchronize nervous systems with other individuals. So their biotic ability has a common cause with their "telepathy," but the two abilities are still two different things.

Thats as I understand the relatively extensive codex entries at least.

[Dave ST]

My overall point is: it's listed (as canon) as a 'Biotic Power', not a 'Talent'.  As such I'm stuck trying to categorize where among the Biotic Branches it belongs.

Were the hero not permitted to use it then I'd simply write it off as Asari only, but that's not the case.

[SalmonMax]

Fair enough. It's your game.

[Dave ST]

I've shifted from Biotics to Equipment.  Reave is a Distortion effect.  Dominate I've placed on hold for now.

As a side note, the Mass Effect system flows so smoothly with the Alternity system too.

[Dave ST]

Here is a very rough draft of the biotic power 'Barrier'.  I'm open for ideas an critiquing let me know what you think.

Barrier – One of the first (and arguably the most useful) ability a biotic learns is the control of mass effect fields.  Barrier surrounds the user with a high-gravity mass effect field that essentially strengthens the biotic by providing ‘biotic shields’.  Like standard kinetic barriers (shields) the barrier power do not protect against physical damage like melee attacks, debris or environmental hazards.

Although usually invisible to the naked eye until acted upon by a rapidly moving object, this power, once activated does not require any further upkeep on the part of the user.  Most biotic amps, like the emitters in kinetic barriers, power the barrier for as long as it is active.  Once collapsed however, the user must re-activate it with their personal reserve of biotic energy points.

System – Each rank in Barrier the character possesses translates into one point of shields.  Any damage to the character in combat is first subtracted from their shields.  As the biotic improves this ability they learn to strengthen their shields, making them better at resisting damage so their integrity remains during hostile encounters.

O 1 Barrier Point.  You might survive a pyjak attack.
OO 2 Barrier Points.  Barrier Soak (1B/1L).
OOO 3 Barrier Points.
OOOO 4 Barrier Points. Barrier Soak (2B/2L)
OOOOO 5 Barrier Points.
OOOOO O 6 Barrier Points. Barrier Soak (3B/3L)
OOOOO OO 7 Barrier Points.  Supercharged Barrier – At this level the character may supercharge their barrier.  A super charged barrier does not gain any additional Barrier Points, but instead gains a hardness score of 7.  Any damage pool that does not exceed the barriers hardness is automatically deflected, and all damage is ignored.  Over charging a barrier is taxing on a biotic however, the user must pay 1 biotic energy point for every turn she keeps her barrier supercharged.

[Dave ST]

All in all the Alternity conversion is going well and while that conversion is in the works I'm keeping separate notes for how to convert the Alternity conversion into an ST System conversion.

A new snag has cropped up though and that's how to convert the various races into 'Dots'.  The 1-5 dot system is hardly accurate 9 times out of 10.

What I did consider for a moment was using the Shadowrun method (since Shadowrun and the ST System are identical now) allowing humans a 1-6 range of attributes and modifying this range based on other species' strength and weaknesses.

1-5 will work too, but with the level of genetic modification going on in this era I figured giving the humans a bit of a boost couldn't hurt much.  Could even say that a human could select one category of atts (Physical, Mental Social) and those may go to 6 naturally.

[Dave ST]

Once I get around to it, I'll be adding the systems to this map.  The Hubble website is pretty cool...

[Dave ST]

I get the impression that no one gives a shit...

[SalmonMax]

I think it's pretty cool!

I confess, I'm not a big fan of the Trinity system, but I like Mass Effect enough that it more than makes up for that.

[Chosen]

I've been following along but simply haven't responded.  

[Dave ST]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

I think it's pretty cool!

I confess, I'm not a big fan of the Trinity system, but I like Mass Effect enough that it more than makes up for that.

Well, ya know one of the reasons I post my mad scientist projects here and keep updated is for feedback... if you have a system in mind that you think would work, let me know.

That's why I do this, so people can voice their input and add to the project.  I'm altering already copyrighted material, so this isn't for profit, it's for fan fun.   The transition of Mass Effect into the Alternity system has been practically seamless.  Weaponry, equipment, all of it has just blended into the system without a loss of game balance or hours and hours of rewriting things.  Actually the only thing that's taken time is Biotics, since I've had to create and stat each power.  Even then though, with the ease of the system, all that really takes time is the actual writing of the document, the mechanics write themselves.