Flashpoint
Introduction
SRTMOO's Flashpoint system has been built as a means to provide guidance and assistance to certain types of combat RP that otherwise are not easily created using the Kantaisen system. Some examples might be longer term missions that otherwise aren't solved in a single engagement. Infiltration missions where combat is not a strong focus. Or missions that involve complex objectives beyond the 'shoot at it' variety.
This system is in no way a replacement for existing types of RP. It is inadvisable to use this for most forms of PC vs PC encounters. That remains the domain of the Kantaisen system.
The system provides up to a six-round experience (five challenges and one result) with a prompt for RP with each, and a minigame to keep it interesting. The intent is for players to be able to do self-directed scenes, Flashpoints, that advance plot and character as well as gain lore and other IC rewards over time.
Flashpoints are not strictly limited to mecha encounters and can be used to represent on-foot ones as well. Though you will still need to use a statted mecha for the Flashpoint, as unit stats are still required (but can be used to represent on-foot concepts).
Expected Use
The expected use goes as follows:
1) The Flashpoint is created. Its creator will announce the Flashpoint to the public, specifying a time frame in which players have the opportunity to run the Flashpoint. Few, if any, Flashpoints will remain around forever, though they can certainly be available for long periods.
2) Players will take it upon themselves to organize parties to run through the Flashpoint. Teams of 2-6 are advised. Any more than 6 and it is recommended that a second party/run be organized instead.
3) Each party runs through the Flashpoint. Each player in the party takes turns GMing a challenge (the idea behind this is to split the GMing load from one player onto many) while the other players respond with their actions.
4) Upon completion of the Flashpoint, that party's success/fail will be automatically recorded.
5) Based upon the amount of successes/fails the creator sees, they can determine how to progress. Whether that's moving on to preparing another Flashpoint, or running a full scene as a finale, or whatever they like.
Mechanics
Commands
(Brackets show aliases for the commands... Not all aliases may be implemented yet)
+flash <#> - Like Deploy for Flashpoint. (+f, +fl)
+flashstats - Displays stats. (+fs, +fstat, +fstats)
+flash/create <#> - Creates a party for Flashpoint. (+f/c, +flash/party)
+flash/start - Starts Flashpoint. (+f/st, +flash/go)
+flash/join <player> - Where <player> is the name of the leader of the party you want to join. (+f/j)
+challenge or +challenge <player> - Where <player> is the name of the player whose current challenge you'd like to see! Defaults to your own if you're in a flashpoint. (+c)
+flash/draw - Draws a card. (+f/d, +f/c, +flash/card)
+flash/act <stat> <stat> - Selects an action based on the two stats. Must include the mandatory stat. Must be one pilot and one unit stat. (+f/a, +flash/use)
+flash/finish - Finishes a Flashpoint round. (+f/f, +flash/end)
+flash/leave - Leaves a party and the Flashpoint system. (+f/l, +flash/quit)
+flash/status or +flash/status <person> - Shows current status for the Flashpoint you're in, or that of a person you want to see! (+f/su)
+flash/charge <#> - Spends ID Charges. (+f/ch, +flash/spend)
Flashpoint
A Flashpoint is a series of up to five challenges, called Cards, which players will choose a stat to act against and then RP out. Flashpoints can be somewhat vague or fairly detailed in concept, allowing their use for generic pick-up scenes or to help progress plots.
TODO: Insert example of flashpoint here, along with description of the various components, once the command is implemented.
Cards
+--------------------< FLASHPOINT CHALLENGE: Exploration >---------------------+ | Mandatory Stat: PIL | | Terrain: Space | | Attributes: Breakthrough | +------------------------------< Oh No, Dummies >------------------------------+ | Suddenly, you find yourselves surrounded - the enemy has launched a field | | of dummy asteroids, each one equipped with a bomb! You'll have to make | | your way carefully through the field of dummies to avoid setting them off. | +------------------------------< Difficulty: 1 >-------------------------------+
( A card as visible after +flash/draw )
A Card is the name of a challenge that players will face multiple of during a Flashpoint run. Players will choose a stat of their own to act on the Card, in addition to the stat that is mandatory and listed.
Exploration - This simply means the Flashpoint is currently in progress. This will change to 'Failure', 'Success' or 'Strong Success' once the run is completed. Please see the Success / Failure section for more info.
Mandatory Stat - This is the mandatory stat that will be used in addition to whichever optional stat the player chooses. These two stats along with the terrain, versus the difficulty and a touch of RNG, will determine each player's Success/Fail for this round.
Terrain - The terrain that will be used as part of this challenge.
Attributes - Each Card has one or more attributes that will roughly describe the content of what's included in the Card. See the Attributes section of the Flashpoint creation for a list along with descriptions.
Title - Within the chevrons is the title of this Card.
Description - A description of the challenge. This can be as vague or specific as the creator desires, either encouraging large amounts of creativity from the GM or allowing players to run through a Flashpoint without the need to think too hard about GMing it.
Difficulty - How difficult the challenge is, rated from 1 to 4. Higher difficulties will make it harder to achieve Success.
ID Charges
+--------------------------------< Flashpoint >--------------------------------+ | Generic Space Battle - #4 (Standard) | | Terrains: Space | | Treize Khushrenada ID Charges: 2 Successes: 3 | | Rita Bernal ID Charges: 0 Successes: 3 | | Rau Le Creuset ID Charges: 2 Successes: 3 | | Akane Shinjo ID Charges: 0 Successes: 3 | | Sousuke Sagara ID Charges: 2 Successes: 3 | | Asuka Shikinami Lang ID Charges: 2 Successes: 3 | | Current Round: 4 | | Party Status: In Progress Tension: 0 | | Drawn Cards: 2, 3, 9, and 5 | | Current Card: #5: The Enemy Ace | +------------------------------< +flash/status >-------------------------------+
( +flash/status showing how many ID Charges the players have remaining, amongst other details )
An ID Charge is something which can be used to boost the chance of success during a challenge. You can apply as many charges as you have available to a challenge by using the '+flash/charge <#>' command.
TODO: Update the layout of this screen once it has been fixed.
+--------------------------------< Tension: 0 >--------------------------------+ | Treize KhushrenARM/SKL Charges Used: 0 Success | | Rita Bernal: ARM/INT Charges Used: 1 Success | | Rau Le Creuset:ARM/SKL Charges Used: 2 Success | | Akane Shinjo: ARM/INT Charges Used: 0 Success | | Sousuke Sagara:ARM/INT Charges Used: 0 Success | | Asuka ShikinamiARM/INT Charges Used: 0 Success | +-----------------------------< Round 4 Results >------------------------------+
( The results of a Card after it has been completed, showing how many charges were used for this challenge )
The default number of starting charges for players is 2, but this can be increased depending on what pilot and unit abilities the player has. Please see the Pilot/Unit Abilities section for more info.
The system does not indicate whether a charge was the final decider for success.
Tension
Tension is a rough indication of how well (or more specifically how badly) the party is doing. It is a percentage value that starts at 0 and rises with each failure a player has. It can be seen with each results screen of a challenge as well as in '+flash/status'
As Tension rises, the result of the overall run grows worse, with complete failure and premature finishing of the run occurring at over 50 percent Tension. See the Success / Failure section for more info on these potential states.
Pilot/Unit Abilities
The abilities that can be found both on pilots and units do have an impact on how Flashpoint runs go. Below is a list of those abilities and how they affect a run.
TODO: Insert list once we have it.
Success / Failure
Success and Failure comes into play in two locations in Flashpoints.
Individual
Each individual has an opportunity to succeed or fail a Card. This depends on your stats versus the difficulty of the challenge, sprinkled with a bit of random chance and can be nudged towards Success through the use of ID Charges.
Failing a Card will increase Tension, but it is not the end of the world! This is why you have team mates, to help pick up the slack when you falter.
Run
There are three possible results to a Flashpoint run, determined based upon the run's Tension at the point of completion:
Failure - Your party has completely failed the run. Generally this is a Bad Thing. But there is usually some kind of consolation prize, whether it be a new plot hook to try and make up for the failure, or simply some character development!
Success - An average success, resulting in a good narrative reward. Your party wasn't quite perfect, but you nonetheless got the job done. Good work!
Strong Success - The best result possible! Congratulations! This will typically come with the best narrative reward possible. Time to celebrate!
Process
This is the process for running a Flashpoint that has already been created. See the Creation section for actually creating one.
Setup
+flash <uid #>
Firstly, each player chooses which unit they are going to be using for the Flashpoint. Take care to consider what terrains are listed in the Flashpoint's details. Unfortunately, subpilots are not available in the system. Everyone requires a unit.
+flash/create <flashpoint #>
Someone needs to choose to be the 'leader' of this Flashpoint. The leader's primary responsibility is to help organise (but not necessarily pose) the Flashpoint's rounds. While it is possible for anyone to do so, in order to avoid confusion it's best to leave it up to one person. That person will use the command above to create a party for running through the flashpoint specified.
+flash/join <player>
Once the Flashpoint party has been created by the leader, all the other players planning to run it will use the above command to join that player's party.
+flash/status
The status of the current Flashpoint you are part of can be seen here, to help make sure that everyone to be part of it has joined.
+flash/start
Once everyone is in and ready, the party leader starts the Flashpoint with this. This will trigger the first card to be drawn and thus the first round!
Rounds
+challenge
Each round, a challenge called a Card will be displayed (and can also be viewed again with the above command). See the Cards section for more information about these challenges. It's at this point that the player who is GMing this round will write and emit the pose describing the situation. The description of the challenge may contain details to include, but there is an expectation that player creativity is allowed, should you choose to do so. Just try and keep such creativity within reasonable bounds of what the challenge describes.
+fstats
This shows you your stats for this Flashpoint run. Note: +stats will not work (it's part of the separate Kantaisen system)
+flash/act <stat>
Using the challenge described by the Card and your stats, choose a stat to use as the optional stat. The challenge's mandatory stat will be automatically chosen. It's at this point that players will pose their response to the challenge situation described by this round's GM.
+flash/finish
Once everyone has acted, the party leader will finish off this round. This will display the successes/failures of the party. At which point the GM for this round will drop their pose outlining this result.
+flash/draw
Once the GM has posed, the party leader will use this command to draw the next round.
Finish
Once the +flash/finish has been performed for the final round of the Flashpoint, the results of the entire run will also be displayed along with a description of what happened. At this point the GM for the final round can pose out this overall result along with the round result.
The results of the run will be viewable until everyone involved has either used +flash/leave or left the room. After which only the recorded results will be available to the Flashpoint owner.
Creation
Coming soon!
Attributes
These are descriptions of the attributes that can show up in a Card, giving a rough indication of what kind of challenge it is. Cards may have more than one attribute.
Rally - Rally the hearts and minds of the people.
Overawe - Manipulate a conversation or other non-combat situation through impactful words or actions.
Coordinate - Command those around you to victory through strong leadership and tactics.
Resolve - Boost or maintain the morale of yourself and others.
Close Quarters - Fight in melee/tight spaces. Snipers need not apply.
Long Range - Fight at long ranges. No bringing a knife to a gun fight.
Swarm - Lots and lots of something. Death by a thousand paper cuts.
Disrupt - Combat tactics to disrupt the enemy, such as ambushes and similar.
Response - Showing grace under pressure when the enemy disrupts you, such as being caught in an ambush.
Breakthrough - Getting through hard defensive formations, Moving To A Point Under Duress.
Boss - Just one really Stronk guy. Opposite of Swarm. Problem is a Single Unit.
Installation - Problem is something 2L or larger that wants you dead. Or you want dead. Typically both.
Endurance - Problem comes to you for a really long time.
Beam - Problem is, shall we say, PARTICULARLY beamy.
Physical - Problem is, shall we say, PARTICULARLY physical...y.
Force - Problem is, shall we say, PARTICULARLY forcey.
Magic - Problem is, shall we say, PARTICULARLY magic-y.