Maid RPG - Discussion

I'm with him: Could we use the characters we already have up?

tl;dr: No, I'm not making you remake your characters, so you can skip most of that mega post, but make sure to read that first paragraph!

Actually, I'm just going through the book in something resembling order, while cutting out the tables: For the record, the basic character creation section takes up about 10 pages. All but one are dedicated to the tables for the roll results.

And I'm putting this up so you can understand what goes into character creation, as well as some of my comments on it.

/me reads through the gamebook...

Okay, the next 10 pages or so are the core game rules, which can't be cut down as much as the character creation rules.

Speaking of which, once I get the rules posted, we'll need to figure out which we'll be using and which we'll be ignoring...

Sounds good.

<insert generic synonym for agreeing here>

<Inset generic synonym for laughing here>

Okay, I've gotten something resembling a good night's sleep, and my body has decided it's time to wake up, so you guy get me hammering out another post or two on the rules!

—-

Okay, remember that first paragraph of that last mega post, the one on how dice are used in the game? If you haven't already read it, do so now... Done? Good.

For the most part, you actually do stuff by rolling 1d6 and multiplying the result by the stat used for the action in question. Now, what target roll you have to beat depends on what you're rolling against: For what the game calls "combat", it's whoever gets the higher result (and it will be covered in more detail in the next section). For most other stuff... well, the book has a little table giving the difficulty of various rolls, from "easy" to "very hard". It should be noted that if the roll is easy, you don't need the stat in question to be higher than one, but for the very hard rolls, you will need something higher (two or greater).

—-

Okay, next page, combat (yeah, that last section was only one page, same as this one).

"Combat" is a catch all term for when two maids are in competition with each other. This does not always mean that they're trying to bash each other's heads in, it could just mean that two or more maids are trying to do one thing and see who gets the best result. The maids teaming up to defeat something would also count as combat, except there, the "something" is often a GM-controlled NPC. Also, combat takes place at more or less the same time, no matter how many P Cs and NP Cs are involved.

Anyways, in combat, either the maid or GM will decide what stat you will use for the roll, and then you multiply that stat by the result of a 1d6 roll. This is the attack power of an action. Whoever gets the higher attack power wins that round of combat, while the loser takes damage in the form of Stress (it's winner's attack power divided by defending stat, and the result is taken as Stress). In a stalemate/tie, no Stress is taken. (You've probably figured out by now that Stress is the game's equivalent to Hit Points. This is sorta true, and we'll get back to it soon.)

It is possible to work together in combat, in which case each player involved rolls and the results are added together. If Stress is taken in this method, one maid is chosen to take all the Stress (and P Cs take priority over NP Cs, so you can't just dump all the Stress on an NPC. Unless the GM says you can...).

—-

Okay, Stress, part one. Stress is your character's hit points, and a few things (mostly, maid powers and items) allow you to incur Stress to use an effect. This means that the game uses a Cast From Hit Points system.

Anyways, your character's ability to deal with Stress is her Spirit: She can take Stress equal to her Spirit with no issue, but once it goes one point more... Stress Explosion time!

It's possible to avoid getting stress in combat by simply not participating, but this means that you go along with whatever the winner wants, which can bring up other issues...

—-

Okay, for the final part of this post, the maid uniform rules.

Long story short, if part of a maid's uniform gets dirty, damaged, destroyed, or just goes missing, the maid in question gets a penalty to her raw rolls. If it's any part of the uniform except the headdress, it's 1d6 -1, but the headdress is 1d6 -2. I think that for the sake of not causing me to have to figure out what the total penalty is, we'll just say that the greater penalty is used, so unless that headdress is affected, it's never greater than a -1, no matter how much of the uniform is affected (but once the headdress is affected, it's -2)

—-

Okay, I've spent about an hour or so on this post, so I think it's about time to wrap it up for this one.

No, we're not done, we just covered about 3 of 10 pages, so we still have about 7 to go. Although at least one of them is a table page, and some of the stuff is really only needed for a GM/player-controlled master, so who knows how much we still have to go (Well, I sorta do: no more than 7 pages for the core rules, and if we need more, I can put them up as needed).

One final question: Iniquitus, just who is that girl in your avatar?

&lt;insert generic synonym for being interested yet a bit confused here&gt;

edited 4th Feb '11 11:33:24 AM by sotnosen95

You're not the only one a bit confused, but i have the advantage of having the full rules.

Plus, there is always Rule Zero and House Rules to deal with any issues that come up...

House rules. One of the best types of rules there are.

Thanks for GMing and for posting the rules!

Also thanks from me. You're going pretty well so far.

Ah, she be Evangeline A. K. McDowell, from Negima.

Huh, must be adult form Eva, since I didn't recognize her, despite knowing what she looks like...

Also, I'm going through what's left of the core rules we haven't covered, and here's what's left:

Stress, part 2

Favor, meaning and use

NP Cs, the Mansion, and the Master (Mostly GM Stuff)

Random Events and the Random Event tables (Mostly GM Stuff)

Play Styles (i.e., how to run a game)

Assigning Favor (GM/Master Stuff)

So, let's see... that's about 2 pages to go through of non-GM Stuff. Yeah, that'll be one more mega post...

I'll also likely remove my maid from the game, in favor of a master. Makes things easier, since I don't have to separate my character's thought processes from my own as much as I would have to with a maid. Sadly, I can't use the character generator for this, as it doesn't support anything but maids...

Didn't the original poster say they intended to base it around Austria being the master?

Masters get character sheets, just like everyone else; they have stats for rolls, after all. Although that doesn't mean I can't pick and choose roll results. Actually, I'll likely have to to get the right personality. I'll also need to read up on the APH character page for him/her, not having watched/read the series...

Also, here's a little tip: Due to the way combat in general works, it is quite likely you'll end up using a weak stat (say, a 1) against someone using a higher stat (again, let's say a 3). Due to the whole "multiply roll by stat" thing, the character with 3 for the stat will be in an advantage for the combat.

So, what's the tip? Simple, to deal with this you need to somehow convince the GM to let you use a different, better stat. For example, if you brute force something, you would use the Athletics stat, but if you try something at random it would be Luck, or trying to puzzle it out would be Skill or Cunning.

Also, I'm working on the next mega post in Wordpad as we speak...

edited 4th Feb '11 7:12:38 PM by Hunter1

Isn't the GM supposed to work against the players? :P

Anyway, sounds good! You can just pick his personality from the list (is there a list?), if you want.

Okay, I'm getting through the rest of the player relevent core rules even if i have to pull an all-nighter to do it!

Not that me pulling an all-nighter is unusual, I often do them simply because I'm too busy playing a game and don't want to go to sleep...

—-

Up first, Stress, part two.

Okay, I mentioned that Stress is your HP, and the game sometimes Casts From HP if you want to use some items or maid powers. Here's how it works, in more detail:

Stress is recieved when you lose in combat, when the GM decides you get it, or when you use certian maid powers or items. For taking Stress in combat, it's determined by dividing the winner's Attack Power by the stat the losing was using, if the stat in question is 1 or 0, the Stress taken is applied in full.

Now, when your Stress exceeds your Spirit, your character has a Stress Explosion: your character's possible actions become restricted to ones that could convibaly be related to your Stress Explosion. Note that you are not out of control, you're just restricted in options; if you're in the middle of a battle, and the Explosion you have could allow you to damage the enemy, you can still do that, for example.

Now, according to the rules, a Stress Explosion reduces one point of Stress every real time minute, but since it's likely to be at least an hour between moves if we play by board, we'll need a different method, so I propose that I roll a d3 to determine how many turns the Explosion lasts.

Now, Stress can be removed by using Favor, and there are a few more ways to get rid of it...

—-

Next up, Favor.

Favor is simply how pleased the master is with a maid. It can be gained from completing tasks, and lost if the maid screws up badly enough or somehow puts the master in danger. The Master is in charge of giving out Favor, which usually means the GM is in charge of this aspect of the game.

Anyways, Favor can be spent to do a few things:

Remove 1 point of Stress in exchange for 1 point of Favor.

To raise a stat by 1 point. This costs the new stat value x10 in Favor.

You can, for one action, add +1 to the die roll, or stat used for that die roll, at a cost of 1d6 Favor.

Spend 1d6 Favor to trigger a roll on the random event table, assuming the GM allows it.

Now, if you somehow manage to lose enough Favor to put your Favor total at a negative number, you get dismissed from the mansion (in other words, the character gets removed from play). You can get some quick Favor by reducing one of your stats by one point, gaining Favor to the tune of the new, reduced stat x10. Note that if you lose Favor, you can't use Favor until the lose is subtracted out.

—-

Okay, time to start copy/pasting from the PDF for this:

''The master’s mansion is the stage on which all of the game’s action occurs, and the game is ill-equipped to handle things that take place outside the mansion. Anything that takes place outside of the mansion is dealt with in the form of quick summaries, with no dice rolls involved. Events taking place over the phone are considered to take place in the mansion by the way.''

''A mansion doesn’t necessarily have to be something that appears to be such at first glance. If the game takes place in space, it could be a large spaceship, while in other settings it could be an island, a labyrinth, or a castle. In other words, the “mansion” is the limited area in which the activities of the master and his maids take place. Also, even while the characters remain constant, the location of the “mansion” can shift over the course of a scenario (e.g. from a house, to a hotel, to a camp site).''

''The master is at the heart of the game, and for the maids the most important character in it. The master is an NPC controlled by the GM, and roleplaying him or her is the GM’s responsibility. The master’s job is to command and evaluate the maids. While his actual abilities tend to be lacking compared to his maids, he is the highest authority in the mansion. The maids cannot directly oppose the master or his orders, though they might be able to do so in secret. Also, unlike a normal NPC, the master has a Stress Explosion just like a maid. The master can also be female, and this might help encourage the players.''

—-

Let's see, I've covered how random events concern the players...

Ah, the Play Styles, how do I explain them... Ah, I know!

You know how Supreme Commander has three skirmish modes? The basic "kill all the enemy comanders", the "kill all the enemy buildings and builders", and the endless mode? Maid has three diffrent game types listed in the rulebook:

Random play, using a lot of random events to create a play experience;

Favor race, where the game lasts a set ammount of time, and the maid with the most Favor at the end of that time "wins";

And scenario-based play, which is closest to the classic Dn D DM-made campagain.

For my first GM session, I'm inclined to use the random play option.

—-

...And that concludes the core game rules!

I think this is the point that I ask those of you who are still going to play to PM me their character sheets, or just give me a link to where you posted them before, so I can keep a master copy for myself.

Meanwhile, I'm going to go roll up the master!

EDIT: Also, Iniquitus, the answer is "not necessarily". I'm going to be trying to go for the style of the unnamed GM in Darths and Droids.

edited 4th Feb '11 7:57:02 PM by Hunter1

So, Stress Explosion is basically freaking out and panicking?

Anyway, I vote for Random Play, because if we're going to tell you to write up a campaign, it might take a while.

Here's the signup thread, where we posted the statlines using the random generator: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=12924108150A56458100

Got it.

Okay, we have...

Maria Holic as Natalia Arlovskaya

Iniquitus The Third as Victoria Plaisance

megamagikarp as Feliks £ukasiewicz

sotnosen 95 as Lili Zwingli

And me, Hunter 1, as the GM and the Master To Be Named Osutoria (FYI, that's what Wikipedia gives as Austria Japanese name, romanized) Roderich Edelstein.

That everyone? Is Cedi still out, or is he in?

edited 5th Feb '11 7:29:34 PM by Hunter1

Okay, issue: megamagikarp, your character's stats are not adding up. You've got a Will of 5 without Heroine, and there is no way you can have a stat of 4 in Affection with a maid type of Cool without Prue to cancel it out. In both cases, you would have had to get a 16 or better on a roll with a maximum of 12, and that's just not possible.

So, do you want me to reroll Feliks' stats, or do you want to do it yourself? Everything else can stay the same, including the maid types, with the one exception that the Maid Power might change...

edited 4th Feb '11 11:35:39 PM by Hunter1

...Huh, I didn't notice that... You can re roll them if you want, if I did it myself I'd just mess it up again.

Actually, Austria has a human name. Roderich Edelstein. Here's a character page so you can know his personality: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AxisPowersHetalia/NeitherHolyNorRomanNorAnEmpire

He's the guy with dark brown hair, glasses and a beauty mark. And just so you know it, four of the maids are characters from Hetalia and personifications of countries as well. Lili (Fan Nickname) is Liechtenstein, Feliks is Poland, Natalia is Belarus and Victoria (Fan Nickname) is Seychelles. But this'll probably be some sort of AU or something where they're ordinary humans.

By the way, here's photos of Feliks and Natalia:

Lili (and the brother mentioned in her backstory):

And Victoria:

Anyway, I approve of Random Play. That sounds like the most fun.

edited 5th Feb '11 10:40:03 AM by sotnosen95

Okay, I'll handle the rerolling, and I can change the name and hair color on the Master easily enough, and yes, I looked him up on Wikipedia before I did the personality, so he already has glasses, Handicapped (Former), and his Stress Explosion is Piano. What can I say, the nice thing about having a GM/DM/Whatever instead of a game engine is that the game engine is a lot more restrictive, a human, not so much...

But that will have to wait, since I'm going to be at my mom's for a little while, since it's my birthday today, and when I do this, I'm running the die rolls on my iPad and looking up stuff on the PDF on my laptop and the physical gamebook, and writing this down on pre-made Maid RPG character sheets I print out from PD Fs, and typing stuff in on a Firefox tab on the laptop.

Also, I made a minor mistake in my last post, a maid getting a 5 on a stat from the roll alone would need a 15, but that's still impossible when rolling 2d6. Masters use the same stats as maids, but they roll 2d6 and divide by 4 and don't get types, so the highest a stat can be is 3 (as you can guess at this point, my mind was in master stat mode when I typed 16). The one exception to that rule is Will, all masters have a fixed will of 2.

Ok, thank you.

Oh, and happy birthday!

Happy b-day from me as well!

Okay, mega, Feliks' new stats are (factoring in the use of Cool and Boyish)...

Athletics: 2 + 1 = 3 (Favored Stat)

Affection: 1 - 1 = 0 (That means 0 starting Favor)

Skill: 2 + 1 - 1 = 2 (Yes, Cool is plus 1, but Boyish is minus 1)

Cunning: 2 = 2

Luck: 2 = 2

Will: 1 = 1 (times 10 so Spirit is 10)

Maid Power: Weapon From Nowhere ("You can pull your weapon out seemingly from nowhere, and get in a surprise attack. If you make a surprise attack, you get to make an attack roll without the target getting to make an opposed roll.") (Note, I think I'll rule that you can only do that once per target, per battle.)

So, Maria Holic, please post so I know you're still interested...

Thanks for the Happy Birthdays, guys. And yeah, before you ask, my presents were nice: A 1TB portable hard drive for my laptop, and a $25 dollar iTunes card. I don't know what the last present from my second sister is, since she's currently out of town and didn't get it shipped in time for it to get here by today.

edited 5th Feb '11 7:55:52 PM by Hunter1

Thank you! I'll be sure to edit that later.

Oh, and happy birthday again!