So... the Arts... how do they come to be? is there a document for them or do you just make them up? Also it's sad to not see an Aggro mechanism. Are you still working on this?
Dark Elemental Affinity grants access to an aggro-drawing ability! Otherwise, aggro is meant to be handled more narratively, as with any other TTRPG - you might roll to goad someone, and describe how you do so, or roll to slip by someone's attention similarly.
It's been on the backburner for a while, but an expansion is still being worked on, and I'd very much like to release it eventually! Bugs and major balance issues will be fixed if they get brought up. Is there something you noticed or had in mind in particular?
Missed the question about Arts, oops. You get to make them up! If that's not a great proposition, you can start with ones from the game, see how you might reinterpret them in this system, and work from there! If you have any particular questions about interpreting a kind of ability or how a mechanic interacts, I'm happy to help, too!
Thank you for your response! I'm glad to hear that this is still being worked on. Aside an error in the text I haven't found a single flaw that breaks the concept, I'm just missing an aggro feature. While it is always possible to just narratively handle aggro, I think aggro + combo features (break -> topple -> launch -> knockdown in the video game) would make health/damage tracking kind of obsolete or at least secondary. It would really give the players the power to control combat and feel badass by just describing the action, while the old standard is too much math and min-maxing at least for my players. I think you also have that in mind with this concept, right? For my game I will also simplify the range and movement system, while in your concept it is a lot simpler than say dnd 5e, I was thinking about shortening it further by just having them use movement to maneuver around the enemy. This probably only works in my head, because I plan having my players take only one or very few enemies on at a time. I have already thought of a simplified concept of this ttrpg that I will try with a few friends. The whole math thing isn't the only reason. Some aren't familiar with XC2, which is why I want to only slightly introduce features... you could say I made it more XC1 like. Regarding the Arts, I'm personally fine with that, since I would include aggro as a more centric feature in my game. I just don't know if that will work for a broader audience. It actually took me a while before understanding that potency increases the dice pool by +x (starting with 1). It confused me when it said it increases power and precision and then just says +1. I wasn't sure if it means that you always add a success to a roll with that art or you add one if at least one was a success... eventually I scrolled far enough to the example to figure out it means that it extends the dice pool. I kind of blame my reading comprehension here...
I definitely agree with your disinterest in HP. It's something I've been exploring doing away with for a while — my other project, Fate/Last Chance, has no HP at all, replacing it with an abstracted "battle tension" system to increase the same action-feel I think you're searching for. We made the choice to embrace HP and the grid in Blades of Ether on purpose, though; our goal is for the grid tactics feel to encourage partner and party cooperation in the moment to moment of battle.
I'd be very interested to hear what changes you implement and how they work out! If you hit on something really fun, it very well could become a rulebook adjustment.
This is amazing! I was working on my own Xenoblade 2 inspired tabletop RPG and came across this. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is my favourite game and I am so glad to see other people love it as much as me. I’m still going to continue making my own version as well, but i’ll take inspiration from this for sure!
So how come there's not a single mention of Xenoblade in the book or in this page? Did you find it redundant? (It's obvious for the people who've played it and meaningless for the people who haven't?)
I you don't want references to Xenoblade on this page for any reason I'll delete this comment, just tell me.
I'm not the person who made this obviously, but I've talked to a lawyer about making derivative fan games before. Their advice was that , unless you have permission, even mentioning the original work at all would infringe on the copyright - which surprised me, my natural instinct was that it should be mentioned as an inspiration, similar to listing sources in an essay.
Obviously I have no idea if that's even 100% true and even less of a clue if that's what happened here, but I'm sure they weren't trying to be deceptive or anything.
Agreed I think a discord would be a good idea, I think it would be a good way to talk to other players, other dms, and potentially even the devs if they were interested.
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So... the Arts... how do they come to be? is there a document for them or do you just make them up?
Also it's sad to not see an Aggro mechanism.
Are you still working on this?
Dark Elemental Affinity grants access to an aggro-drawing ability! Otherwise, aggro is meant to be handled more narratively, as with any other TTRPG - you might roll to goad someone, and describe how you do so, or roll to slip by someone's attention similarly.
It's been on the backburner for a while, but an expansion is still being worked on, and I'd very much like to release it eventually! Bugs and major balance issues will be fixed if they get brought up. Is there something you noticed or had in mind in particular?
Missed the question about Arts, oops. You get to make them up! If that's not a great proposition, you can start with ones from the game, see how you might reinterpret them in this system, and work from there! If you have any particular questions about interpreting a kind of ability or how a mechanic interacts, I'm happy to help, too!
Thank you for your response!
I'm glad to hear that this is still being worked on.
Aside an error in the text I haven't found a single flaw that breaks the concept, I'm just missing an aggro feature. While it is always possible to just narratively handle aggro, I think aggro + combo features (break -> topple -> launch -> knockdown in the video game) would make health/damage tracking kind of obsolete or at least secondary. It would really give the players the power to control combat and feel badass by just describing the action, while the old standard is too much math and min-maxing at least for my players. I think you also have that in mind with this concept, right? For my game I will also simplify the range and movement system, while in your concept it is a lot simpler than say dnd 5e, I was thinking about shortening it further by just having them use movement to maneuver around the enemy. This probably only works in my head, because I plan having my players take only one or very few enemies on at a time.
I have already thought of a simplified concept of this ttrpg that I will try with a few friends. The whole math thing isn't the only reason. Some aren't familiar with XC2, which is why I want to only slightly introduce features... you could say I made it more XC1 like.
Regarding the Arts, I'm personally fine with that, since I would include aggro as a more centric feature in my game. I just don't know if that will work for a broader audience. It actually took me a while before understanding that potency increases the dice pool by +x (starting with 1). It confused me when it said it increases power and precision and then just says +1. I wasn't sure if it means that you always add a success to a roll with that art or you add one if at least one was a success... eventually I scrolled far enough to the example to figure out it means that it extends the dice pool. I kind of blame my reading comprehension here...
I definitely agree with your disinterest in HP. It's something I've been exploring doing away with for a while — my other project, Fate/Last Chance, has no HP at all, replacing it with an abstracted "battle tension" system to increase the same action-feel I think you're searching for. We made the choice to embrace HP and the grid in Blades of Ether on purpose, though; our goal is for the grid tactics feel to encourage partner and party cooperation in the moment to moment of battle.
I'd be very interested to hear what changes you implement and how they work out! If you hit on something really fun, it very well could become a rulebook adjustment.
This is amazing! I was working on my own Xenoblade 2 inspired tabletop RPG and came across this. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is my favourite game and I am so glad to see other people love it as much as me. I’m still going to continue making my own version as well, but i’ll take inspiration from this for sure!
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is my favorite RPG of all time! I'm so happy you made such a quality game. Thank you!
This is incredibly well made.
So how come there's not a single mention of Xenoblade in the book or in this page? Did you find it redundant? (It's obvious for the people who've played it and meaningless for the people who haven't?)
I you don't want references to Xenoblade on this page for any reason I'll delete this comment, just tell me.
I'm not the person who made this obviously, but I've talked to a lawyer about making derivative fan games before. Their advice was that , unless you have permission, even mentioning the original work at all would infringe on the copyright - which surprised me, my natural instinct was that it should be mentioned as an inspiration, similar to listing sources in an essay.
Obviously I have no idea if that's even 100% true and even less of a clue if that's what happened here, but I'm sure they weren't trying to be deceptive or anything.
have you guys got a discord or something to find other players for this i would love to try and find a game.
Agreed I think a discord would be a good idea, I think it would be a good way to talk to other players, other dms, and potentially even the devs if they were interested.
Oh wow! Looks like a lot of work went into making this! Will have to download it and start going through the rules.
Looks awesome!